Keeping in with the Ides of March theme I went looking for interesting related sites and came across this fun site on Squidoo

You can purchase the game from Amazon Roman Ruins

the article goes on to tell us How to Dress for the occasion, what to eat and how to set up the space to replicate Ancient Rome

for example the Tunica worn by Pullo and Vorenus in the photo to the left


What to Wear : Men
Roman men generally wore two garments, the tunica and the toga.

The toga was specifically meant as a public display garment, the tunica was worn within the comforts of a private home. This is the handiest costume for your gentlemen guests.

The easiest tunica is a large oversize white Tee Shirt with a belt worn around the waist, giving the impression of a two piece garment.

Men may also like to drape a white sheet across one shoulder and wrapped loosely around the waist with a couple of safety pins.

It's also perfectly fashionable for men to wear a piece of ethnic clothing to demonstrate their prior military experience overseas. Or for merchants to show their cosmopolitan tastes. Short pants to the knee in checks and tartans is a concession to the clothing style of the Gauls and worn in much the same sense as I often wear a batik blouse from Indonesia.

The crowning touch for men is, in fact, a crown. A wreath of leaves. You should make up some wreaths yourself to present to male guests (in case they don't arrive with one). An old coat hanger, straightened out, bent and with rosemary branches tied around it is perfect. Any leaves will do, even plastic ones.

In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B.C. Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman Senate by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The group included 60 other co-conspirators according to Plutarch.

According to Plutarch, a seer had foreseen that Caesar would be harmed not later than the Ides of March and on his way to the Theatre of Pompey (where he would be assassinated), Caesar met that seer and joked, "The Ides of March are come", meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Aye, Caesar; but not gone." This meeting is famously dramatized in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March." Julius Caesar was stabbed 33 times (three and thirty wounds) according to Shakespeare's play (23 times, in real life). taken from Wikipedia

While Julius Caesar was being assassinated what was Vorenus doing....

_Coldplay will perform live from the Cinecitta Studios, with ancient Rome as a backdrop exhibitionism and also to present their new work, Mylo Xyloto .

Source

thanks to drvanessa for more information :
Coldplay will be guest on the Italian show "Il Più Grande Spettacolo Dopo Il Weekend" on Monday 21th Nov. and in that occasion they will live perform from the set of Rome in Cinecittà.
The show starts at 21:00 (9 pm) in Italy - that is GMT 8 pm!

Pop on over to the IMDb and vote for Rome in there Daily Poll (Rome needs your help)....you need to be registered on IMDb and logged in to Vote....HERE

thanks to Nomad Rome Movie Group on Facebook

--It was exciting for me to get to go and visit Cinecittà Studios and to have the opportunity to visit outdoor sets.
It was interesting to see how a film is made, from filming to post production, and to see how all of the effects and sounds are added afterwards; it makes you realize all of the work there is behind a movie.

The Gangs Of New York set is a permanent one, it was realized by Dante Ferretti (worldwide famous set designer). This set is being reused for an Italian film at the moment, actually it was forbidden to take photos on a part of it.

The highlights for me was the set of Rome obviously, since Lucius Vorenus has been there ;)
Anyway, the set is amazing. I felt small in there because all of the structures are really big - although the proportions are out of scale compared to real monuments (this is what we were told!)
The tour-guide allowed us public to touch the set as usually people just stop and stare and take pictures. Knocking on the walls and columns you could feel they’re empty, but if you looked at them they seemed real.
The colours are still vivid, which is great considering some years have already passed.
I took the tour of the set twice, during daylight and by night - since I was curious to see the different atmosphere - the light and shade effect at night is suggestive and during sunlight you can focus on all of the details.--

..While writing I went through the pictures I took inside the studios, I found one of a sign about Rome all written in Italian, it practically said what the fiction of Rome is about. I translated some parts since there are information about the set:
“The bearing structure are wainscoted and also sheet of glass were used; columns, pediments and gables of the temples were realized with hardened polistirene to resist the prolonged external exposure. Besides the evident monumentality, main characteristic of the set is the strong chromaticity. Red, blue and green together with bright decorations make the public discover the original colours of Republican Rome.”

It also tells the name of the monuments you get to visit inside the set that I wasn’t able to name:
“Set designing presents, on one side, the classical style of the main civil and religious buildings of the Roman Forum – with Sacred Road, Julia Basilica, Janus arch, Venus and Jove temples – on the other side the slums zone, that is people’s habitations and artisan’s workshop”

--Vanessa
Thank you Vanessa for sharing your photos and story
CineCitta Studio website has been updated new Rome set images and is available in English and French
http://www.cinecittastudios.it/

Rome

The grandness and epic scope of HBO's Rome ultimately became its undoing. It was a ratings hit for the premium cable channel but it was also a co-production with the BBC and when the two year production contract was up, so was the BBC's end of the money chain – leaving HBO with the lot of the notoriously expensive and expansive bill. Knowing that they were only get to tell their tale in two seasons, the writers and producers had the show jump ahead many years in Season 2, soaring over the rest of the story they wanted to initially tell and leaping ahead to the end of the saga. So what was really missing from this series might not have actually been an extra season, but all the potential seasons they skipped over.

Journeyman This cool time travel series followed Dan Vasser (Rome's Kevin McKidd – making his second appearance on this list), a reporter who mysteriously found himself jumping through time, encountering people whose lives he is meant to change. Dan's discovery that his presumed dead girlfriend, Livia (Moon Bloodgood), was also a time traveler added a very interesting element to the story.

Journeyman completed its initial thirteen-episode order but when the writers' strike hit, NBC declined to extend the show and that was that. Only a modicum of closure was given in that thirteenth episode, with plenty of unanswered questions about what was happening to Dan that unfortunately were never answered. But wouldn't it have been great if they had?

see the rest of the list here [link] IGN

One of our member from our forum has just returned from her trip to Rome. As we posted last month that Cinecitta studios  has opened its doors to the public until November 2011 [see article posted here].  "Hopew" managed to take advantage of  this opportunity and visited the studio, and the HBO Rome set.  She has posted 16 photos up on our forum, we are sharing a few here with you and a short write up that "Hopew" has provided ....

The major part of the set that you can see is, obviously, the temples, etc... around the "forum." There are no interiors open.  The buildings appear to be constructed from a combination of light wood and fiberglass, all finished to look (even pretty close up) like stone.  But we were there on a windy day - - the tall columns were literally moving in the wind.  It was a funny reminder that it was all made up, but in a very skillful way!

The "Egypt close to Rome" picture (right) just made me laugh.  In the series, the events take place across the Mediterranean from each other.  On the set, there is a Roman house literally connected to the door into Pharaoh's palace. 

Thank you to "Hopew" for sharing her experience at the Cinecittà studios (Rome, Italy) with us.

Many thanks to Vanessa for emailing us this information....

Looks like Cinecittà Studios are opening there doors to the public allowing us lesser beings to visit the studios.
This means it will be possible to visit the set of Rome !!! :D

The exhibition is called "Cinecittà Si Mostra" from 29th April till 30th November 2011

It is possible to buy tickets from the 20th April, the price is 10 euro, there are also some reductions.
All of the information I found on this website: www.cinecittasimostra.it 


Vanessa in her email kindly Translated the information from the website ....

CINECITTA'SIMOSTRA
An extraordinary journey in the Studios of Cinecittà to discover the secrets of Cinema.

It will be open to public on 29th April Cinecittà Si Mostra, for the first time the Studios of Cinecittà will be open to public, in occasion of 150 years of Italy.

The exhibit will trace the history of Cinecittà: scenes, costumes, sets, characters – actors, movie directors, producers – who have been in what was defined “factory of dreams”

Cinecittà has always been the place where a dream becomes “real”, where creators and professional people have the possibility to make their dreams come true: they go in with a screenplay and come out with a finished movie.

All of this is possible thanks to theatres and laboratory where the entire production process fulfill, but specially thanks to the experience and professionalism of people who work in Cinecittà.

The exhibit starts as a tribute to all of the people who have made Cinecittà so great, and to all who work “behind the scenes” and with their talent contribute to the creation of a movie.

The expositive route introduces every specific phase of production of a movie, from the screenplay to post production, retraceing the job and crafts of figures involved on the realization of finished product.

In the hall dedicated to costumes it is possible to admire the talent of costume designers and dressmakers, in the scenography hall the inventive and ability of set designer and handicrafts.

Cinecittà Si Mostra is even for little ones with Cinebimbi, laboratory dedicated to children to experiment, play and have fun.

Many expositive spaces, both inside and outside, from Palazzina Direzione Generale, to Palazzina Fellini,

passing by viale Broadway crossing the set of Gangs of New York of Martin Scorsese, to the set of imperial Rome.
 
 
EXPOSITIVE AREAS

A path in the magic world of Cinecittà among protagonists of cinema.

The exhibition Cinecittà Si Mostra offers, for the first time to public, the possibility of walking through Cinecittà like many protagonists of Italian and international cinema who have shot  in this Studios: to walk along  theatres of drama, laboratories, properties, open-space sets and to run into people who work here every day and with their job have contribute,and still do, to make Cinecittà a unique place and the boast of art of Italian cinematographic industry.

Fil rouge of the exhibit is the magic of ‘making cinema’, retracing the realization of a movie in its various artistic and technical elements.

The public will be welcome at the entrance with words from films screenplays shot in the Studios: crossed the entrance of Palazzina Presidenziale Direzione Generale visitors will be in the heart of the exhibition: lights, images, sounds that wrap oneself. Then continues in the hall dedicated to costume to admire the ability of costume designers,by a selection of item of clothing wore by cinema's divas during some important films.

The scenography  hall emphasises phases of studio and preparation of scenography from the moment when the set is equipped.

Then there is the post production hall to explain all of the process that fallows filming of a movie, cutting room, press.

Next is Palazzina Fellini with the history of Cinecittà and of cinema’s protagonists equipped with movie theatres dedicated to producers.

There is also CineBimbi, laboratory for little ones, place to play,  be creative and have fun.

From indoors  to open areas, crossing Avenue of Broadway, set of Gangs of New York by Martin Scorsese, arriving to the great set of ROME of Ceasar straordinary construction where the magic continues.


Tickets can be purchased from this site Italian/ English(Google Translation)

The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martii)

is the name of 15 March in the Roman calendar, probably referring to the day of the full moon. The term ides was used for the 15th day of the months of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th day of the other months. The Ides of March was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held.

In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date that Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B.C. Julius Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman Senate led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus and 60 other conspirators.

On his way to the Theatre of Pompey (where he would be assassinated), Caesar saw a seer who had foretold that harm would come to him not later than the Ides of March. Caesar joked, "Well, the Ides of March have come", to which the seer replied "Ay, they have come, but they are not gone." WIKI

HBO Rome ~ While Caesar was being assassinated Kevin's Character Lucius Vorenus was dealing with the death of his wife Niobie.  See clip below ...

Kevspa has made a You Tube Playlist of all and only Vorenus' scenes, its still a work in progress, but please pop on over and check it out HERE