Last day of Pompeii

[Count of Montesano]

Anybody see the Last Day of Pompeii on the Discovery Channel. Amazing special using modern geology and very cool computer animation to recreate the final hours of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The show's developers also took records and surviving artifacts found in the rubble (for example, historians knew who were some of the richest citizens to die in the disaster because of contemporary records, as well as names and titles from surviving frescoes) to write back stories about what the experience must have been like for those trapped in it.
Although I didn't completely dig the whole "day in the life of Quintus the Thracian," the thought of having my skin turned to charcoal and my brain boiled in split seconds from a super-heated cloud of volcanic dust was incredibly sobering.

I also learned some interesting tidbits, like what a Fuller's shop was all about.


Comments, anyone?

[Nowake]

Well, in the times of the french revolution, they observed that the heads they chopped with the guillotine bit from the baskets where these were falling. A chopped head lives for 30"-60" after it's chopped.


Better to burn..

[eldaran]

While the head may technically 'live' for up to 60 seconds after decapitation ('up to' being key words), you'd loose consciousness within 2 or 3 seconds, due to the sudden drop in blood supply to the brain.

Now, to get on-topic. Pompeii is probably one of those places i'd most like to visit. The idea of seeing a preserved Roman town is almost mind-boggling. I'm also told by friends who've been that it's also very moving, to see people as they died, over 2000 years ago.

[Lord Stronghold]

Just saw it. I thought it was interesting but nothing truly noteworthy.

[Acutulus]

I saw it when it first aired, and I really liked how they presented it. The bit about brain broiling is what got to me too. I really didn't like the Michael Moore-esque bit at the end, with the "geologist"/muckracker. When a very large man presents something concerning politics in that fashion, it's humorous and thought provoking, but when a small woman who glares at the camera drops lines like "3,000,000 dead within three minutes", it's a little more annoying. I really think they should have kept the whole show about Pompeii itself, and if they wanted to cover her subject, they should have given it their full attention after the main event.

[Sulla]

I thought it was well done. Some of these documentries mixed with actors playing parts can really give you an idea of how it must have been. Hope to see more done in that style in the future *wink* .