I think Hollywood should make a movie based on Morphy's life considering Morphy's level of legendary. Hmm,.. which actor do you guys think is suitable enough to play as Morphy?? 
Fiveofswords--" he didnt descend into insanity"
I guess you haven't read his biography, then.
well no i didnt...
Of course, you could remedy that HERE.
thankyou :)
and don't neglect the "Morphy Madness" part
and remember:
wise people talk because they have something to say
stupid people talk because they have to say something
Fiveofswords--" he didnt descend into insanity"
I guess you haven't read his biography, then.
well no i didnt...
Of course, you could remedy that HERE.
Big thank you, batgirl for this excellent link.
I have a copy of Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess by David Lawson....one of my favourite books. Your link provides really good supplemental reading material. Keep up the good work.
why do you guys care so much about how black he was? its actually racist to even care. Do you think it would mean something if he was 1/16th black? He was just a person. Black humans are also human. his 'accomplishments' should compliment the whole race and not just louisiana french elitists. we really dont need to worry about his pedigree.
When you dismiss a post without even knowing the content of the link, you advertise your commitment to ignorance.
Google Susan Guillory Phipps. Her legal case from 1982 demonstrates that the State of Louisiana cares a great deal about the race of a person. Their main intent is probably to help you cherish the delusion that you are white.
As for the "delusion of white" I offer James Baldwin's talk to teachers, Berkeley, 1979. Look it up if you want to pretend that your commitment to ignorance was only a momentary lapse.
It may be worth noting for other readers that Ayn Rand's definition of racism, which you employ, is not generally considered even close to sensible by anyone with knowledge concerning race relations in US history.
His mother came from French/Creole "stock", and his father came from Spanish/Irish "stock". Therefore, his skin would have a little "colour" to it. As he did not have any American/African genes, it would be highly unlikely that master Paul would have an excessive amount of Melanin in his skin. A Latino complexion would have been more than likely, no ?
Probably so, though Morphy was primarily Irish/French. Rumors of Paul's black ethnicity came about from James M'Cune Smith's little article on Morphy which itself was conjecture and possibly an unconscious attempt to identify with a man people at that time were calling one of the few geniuses of that time.
There's considerable research that suggest that the typical white person in Louisiana is 1/16 black. But that research concerned the typical person in the late twentieth century, not Morphy's day.
See http://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/30/us/suit-on-race-recalls-lines-drawn-under-slavery.html
Thanks. Creole is a nearly meaningless term because it can mean so many different things to so many different minds. I've always subscribed to Morphy's Creole ethnicity or, more likely, cultural background, along the lines that the Vieux Carré people at the beginnings of the 19th century saw themselves - descendants of Europeans who settled the area. They mostly identified with the French but not exclusively. Complexities came sometime later. Since we happen to know a lot of Morphy's heritage and genealogy, there's no doubt about his race or whatever today's correct term might be.
Some Atlanticists (people who study the Atlantic basin and adjoining lands as a region) use the term creole loosly for all mixed race and multicultural peoples, making creole the core population of the New World. Whether Brasil or Barbados or Boston, creoles were the normative groups. The specific meaning of the term, however, varied dramatically from place to place and time to time.
When you dismiss a post without even knowing the content of the link, you advertise your commitment to ignorance.
Considering who you are talking to, I think he gets a bulk discount on advertising space.
why do you guys care so much about how black he was? its actually racist to even care.
Actaully, it's not racist to care. Racial identity is important to most non-whites in America.
whats behind that?
A lifetime of working with non-whites on a daily basis. I can assure you, Blacks, Latinos and Asians in America are quite proud of their heritage and want it acknowledged.
It's also extremely important to those whites who want to sweep it under the rug. That's precisely why they try to pin the label racist on anyone who expresses knowledge of the history of racial classification and the persistence of racial inequalities.
the "racial inequalities" persist only in the mind of the professional shit stirrers (Jackson, Shrapton, Obama etc) and those who stupid enough to fall for their shit.
Yeah, another big-mouth European who doesn't know anything about America.
the "racial inequalities" persist only in the mind of the professional [explicative deleted] stirrers (Jackson, Shrapton, Obama etc) and those who stupid enough to fall for their shit.
Do you have evidence? I have mountains.
Those "fecal stirrers" do so because their existence stirs the fecal matter that exudes from every word of their critics.
the "racial inequalities" persist only in the mind of the professional shit stirrers (Jackson, Shrapton, Obama etc) and those who stupid enough to fall for their shit.
Why are you sticking your nose in America's affairs, anyways? Are you reading Italian right-wing tabloid papers and coming on here to impart your expertise on what is wrong in other people's countries?
I think balente enjoys a wide perspective of every affair around the world since he did fall from Andromeda galaxy.
If it were any other perspective than the trash from right-wing tabloids that he is regurgitating...it might not be so annoying
I don't know. According to Leontxo García, Labourdonnais was a hefty guy, imposing but entertaining, prone to curse during their games, while McDonnell was the typical phlegmatic British, although probably he was more nervous deep inside. We are talking about five matches, 85 games during five months if I'm not wrong, on an environment typical of a festival. And both gladiators had a sad end. I think it could be a great movie.
It might be interesting to note that M'Donnell was about 3 years younger than Labourdonnais and a far more "Romantic" player, willing to take chances. He was witty and well liked by people who knew him and was considered possibly one of the best odds-givers on his time (Deschappelles had retired). Labourdonnais didn't traveled to London in order to play a match or matches with M'Donnell (nor was it his first such trip), but acquiesed to George Walker's suggestion for a match. During his stay he was playing daily at the Westminster Club where M'Donnell was the leading player. Labourdonnais was famous for being a fast player, often reaching for a piece as his opponent was setting his down. M'Donnell wasn't a fast player, but I'm not sure he was a slow player either. However, M'Donnell was a very sick man, probably even before the match began and certainly during the match. He died during a break in the match (the break was called by Labourdonnais who had to attend to business at home).
But I'm with you... this match blended so many elements and contrasts that it captures the imagination. I'm not sure exactly how cinematographically exciting an 85 game match(es) would be though.
Seems like a job for Peter Jackson! The movie could be longer than the matches I think.
Unfortunately, in the rules of evidence, you are obliged to present the evidence to support your statement.
Of course, I too am obliged to present proof to support my statments as well.
As to my statement that you are a big-mouthed European who doesn't know what he is talking about, I wold refer everyone to pretty much everything you have said here so far.
And, lastely, that's MR. ladyboy to you.
Intimately what?! Is that "water" in Italian?
This discussion is of great interest to me, because I am in the process of looking for financing on "An American Genius", a feature film screenplay about the life and times of Paul Morphy. Anyone who would like to read the script can find it online at Sarah Cohen's marvelous Paul Morphy website. I would love to know what you think!
I think Hollywood should make a movie based on Morphy's life considering Morphy's level of legendary. Hmm,.. which actor do you guys think is suitable enough to play as Morphy??
I hate to throw a wet blanket on your dreams, but Hollywood only cares about blockbusters, the first week's kill money-wise. They couldn't even get a tall, gangly actor to play Fischer in Pawn Sacrifice. You have the actor John Turturro more attuned to Fischer's idiosyncrasies in The Luzhin Defense (2000).
There are very few scripts written today that are truly interesting and have superior character development; special effects often triumph over good writing. Perhaps if you could get a Brit or Continental to write the script and one to direct you might have something. Wait, bannish that thought, maybe Alexander Payne would be capable of writing and directing it, or perhaps David Lynch since he knows how to humanize outsiders. On the other hand, Quentin Tarantino would make up a scenario where Morphy meets Staunton just so that he could have them throw heavily weighted pieces at each other until they're bloody pulps.
No, it will never be made, not in these times. Now if you could turn back the clock to 1955 where a small, beautifully written film about a middle-aged, Bronx butcher and a lonely school teacher meet at the Stardust Ballroom and fall in love wins the Academy Award for best picture, then you would have reason to hope.
is that "Marty" (1955) you are referring to then?
Yes, it certainly is, Churchill-W.
This is off the subject, but did you ever see the film Young Winston (1972) starring Simon Ward and Anne Bancroft? Also, I was thoroughly entranced by the Masterpiece Theatre productionWinston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981) with Robert Hardy as Sir Winston. If you haven't watched it, you should; it is available on DVD.
They called Morphy "The Pride and Sorrow of Chess" for a reason, bud.