Gaelic
Why do a lot of classic books censor the date? For example there will be a sentence that says "In the year 18--"
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Gaelic
Why do a lot of classic books censor the date? For example there will be a sentence that says "In the year 18--"
Haha I don't know, but on that topic how come a lot of older novels (specifically Russian novels) just give you the first letter and a dash for a town name, like "in S- town"? This practice has always puzzles me.
Lol because the name is too long for the translators to spell out?
Do you think that parents who forget that their children are in the backseat of their car all day should be charged with child abuse?
Indeed. You forget an appointment, to pick up a loaf of bread, or to take out the trash. How do you forget that your KIDS are in the backseat? Idiots!
Were you ever spanked as a child?
Never.
Were you a very obedient kid who tried hard in school or the opposite?
I was a good boy till girls turned out to like the other.
If you wan't to learn a language, Clopin, hire a tutor or tutor yourself from books, and make friends of native speakers (even if you have to advertise for them) with whom you only speak the language.
I'm not sure about the Monsieur G--- who lived in C--- in the year 18--, either, but I think it was done to give the fiction a "realer" feeling (as if the author was really talking about someone), or simply to make it seem more mysterious.
What movie or book made you cry as an adult?
Haha, moi aussi! Help me convince Lykren of this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pompey Bum
And well, I haven't actually cried any full on tears during a book or movie -that I can remember at least- but I sometimes get a little misty or feel very emotional. It happens really often but oddly I can't think of very many examples, the ending of The Brothers Karamazov definitely brought me pretty close though.
Same question, maybe we will have some overlap.
I was very moved by the end of The Brothers K, but I didn't cry, probably because Dostoyevsky is masterful enough to move readers without getting sentimental. The death and vision of Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities made me cry as a young teenager, and again a few years ago when I reread it as an adult. Also, for some reason, the scene at the end of Watership Down when the Black Rabbit finally comes for Hazel (and he doesn't recognize him at first). I read that one alone in Africa, so I probably just didn't care about bawling out loud.
Have you ever felt sentimental at the loss of an inanimate object (as if it were a person)?
I still haven't read any Dickens, but I agree about Watership Down being sad.
Yes I have, I received an enormous teddy bear for my first birthday and apparently (though I can't remember) it was my absolute favourite thing as a very young baby/toddler, and then a bit later on I slept on it as a pillow until I was about seven and kept it on my bed until I was maybe twelve and after that I don't know what happened to it.
Are you very good at any bar/pub games, such as darts, pool, etc?
When I lived in the South I was good at pool--though only eight ball, nothing fancy. The trick (for me) was to slowly drink one and a half bottles of beer and then to stop drinking altogether, while my opponent (typically) got hammered. I only played for fun, though, and the real players played for money. But I can't play anymore (or even drink much) because of a physical condition.
Have you ever known a professional musician?
No.
Would you be sad if your favourite daycare baby was moving to Australia, or happy because, you know, one less baby to deal with?
Aw croikey! All jess be 'appy if thoiy kin koip th' dingoes off the li'ell toik!
It's okay to care, Clopin.
What books would you recommend to your 22 year old niece who wants to be well read and sees you as the family intellectual?
Well I'm 23 so i would just recommend whatever I read myself probably (though i'm definitely not 'well read', quite yet) It depends on what sort of a person she is, I think I'm usually good at tailoring book recommendations for people.
If someone is new to reading (literary fiction) my recommendation is always Dostoyevsky. Hemingway, Salinger, Orwell and Austen also make sense to me for beginners. Right now my rec's to anyone would be:
Chekhov, Stories (any collection)
Alice Munro, Stories (any collection)
Italo Calvino, Folktales, Invisible Cities
Yeats, Mythologies, Poems
Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
Gogol, Stories
C Bronte, Jane Eyre
Adams, Watership Down
White, The Once and Future King
And modernist picks even though you hate them:
Joyce, Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist as a Young man
Woolf, Mrs Dalloway, The Waves, To The Lighthouse, Orlando
Eliot, Poems
Pound, Poems
Ovid is also incredibly fun to read if the reader has any interest in Greek mythology in the first place.
Who is your favourite author from my list and who is your least favourite - is my question?
Depends on her personality: The book thief is good if she's into heavier stuff or Norwegian Wood by Murakami. (I'm pretty atypical for linet and don't dwell on very old classics, especially for someone who is 22)
What book has made the largest impression on your life in terms of it's psychological content? (The intellectual's equivalent of self help)
I read The Brothers Karamazov when I was sixteen and it caused me to pretty much reevaluate everything. After that I think The Book of Disquiet made a pretty strong impression on me, I honestly could have written that book (I mean... I couldn't have, but it consists of ideas very pertinent to my life and personality, most of which I had considered before but nowhere near as lucidly).
Same question.
Best is Ovid, of course. Pound was kind of full of himself, so he makes a good least favorite, but I haven't read some of them (or much of Pound for that matter), so it doesn't mean much.
Gogol is high on my list of unread authors. What should I read by him (besides, obviously, Dead Souls)?
I would read his short stories before Dead Souls, and probably The Inspector General too, though it's included in a lot of Gogol story collections. Avoid the often recommended Pevear and V- (something hard to spell) translation because I think they do a **** job on Gogol, accurate or not.
Yeh Ovid really blew me away and I can only read in a plebeian Germanic dialect.
Have you read the Ted Hughes translation of Ovid and did you like it?
I have, it's very good.
What is the best book that was made into a movie post 1970?
Stephen King's novella 'The Body', adapted to the big screen as 'Stand by Me'... the movie was every bit as good as the original story.
same question...
Maybe the Merchant Ivory production of Howards End. Certainly not Lord of the Rings.
Do you know your Chinese horoscope animal offhand?
Year of the GOAT, though I used to claim it was dragon when I was a kid and we talked about our Chinese horoscope, I thought goat was really lame back then but now I'm happy with it. I am also a leo.
Do you believe even remotely in anything related to any kind of horoscope?
I am year of the Dog. No I think they can be fun to read but I don't believe in them.
Have you ever been to a fortune teller of any kind?
Not unless you count watching the weatherman on TV.
I'm a pig, by the way, and my wife is a rat.
Erich Ludendorff, German hero of WWI, and sometime Nazi, sometime pacifist, expressed a theory at one point that the natural human state was war, and that periods of peace were imposed from time to time by governments. His other nutty ideas notwithstanding, do you think he was right about that?
if you read hobbes' leviathan, I think that's close to his premise and "civilization" is one of the purposes and impetus of government.
and if you argue from Christian theology, that is a part of the "natural man" (as opposed to the spiritually regenerated man) condition also.
so I lean towards at least a partial yes.
favorite scene from either the hunger games movies, harry potter or LOTR? (or all three)
I like the first Harry Potter movie, my favourite scene might be when they first get to Hogwarts, but I honestly think it's just a well made movie (I don't like any of the sequels though, even if I quite like the first four books of the series). Lord of the Rings, again, I only like the first movie and my favourite scene is Bilbo's party right at the start.
Most sympathetic anti hero in literature?
I like Wormold, the intelligence fabricator/vacuum cleaner salesman from Our Man in Havanna. Same question, and also who is the least likable anti-hero in literature? (My choice is Alex from A Clockwork Orange).
Ah well, Raskolnikov springs to mind first (as most likable), though I'm sure there are others. Least likeable? Well since you reminded me of Greene (and Alex) I definitely didn't have much sympathy for Pinky. I like Fowler though, is he an anti hero for killing off poor Pyle?
Mixing alcohol and coffee?
Edit: also eh Pomp, since I know you keep one yourself, have you read Graham Greene's dream diary and is it worthwhile?
Yeah, I'd say he counts.
I didn't know about Greene's dream journal so I can't say. He wrote some dreamlike short stories when he was an old man, one of which ("Under the Garden") was outstanding, but I never heard of a journal.
And yes: amaretto is wonderful in coffee, so is Kalua, brandy (use coffee brandy--not the Courvoisier), and even Irish whiskey. Someone else should drive, though.
Did you ever hang out with a theatre group?
I looked the journal up on Amazon and the synopsis makes it sound pretty stupid. Someone whose opinion on literature I don't hugely respect heavily recommended it to me though and I'm still waiting for someone else to tell me it's amazing before I pick it up.
I did in high school I guess, I find most people my age who are involved in theatre, art or music to be pretty insufferable usually.
Your favourite author who you don't think gets enough recognition or credit?
Ford Madox Ford. Poor guy.
Same question.
Alan Dean Foster
Same Question
Ursula Le Guin doesn't get enough recognition for her books despite being copied/stolen from repeatedly.
Who are your favourite characters from mythologies around the world (one character per region), list as many as you like or know.
That's a big question and probably deserves its own thread, but here's a fast answer:
I like the Virgin Spring recast as the Grim Reaper in Proserpina, the Roman version of Persephone.
Ishtar (from Mesopotamia) is a much sexier goddess than Isis, her Egyptian equivalent; but my favorite Mesopotamian figure is Siduri, the wise harlot who gives Gilgamesh rest for a time.
Loki is the coolest Norse god because he doesn't really need the rest of them.
Sun Wukong, from Chinese tradition, is my favorite character from mythology and his war against the Taoist Heaven is my favorite story.
Ganesh is my favorite character from Hindu myth because I like the idea of elephants as wise.
Mucalinda is my favorite character from Buddhist folklore. Mucalinda was a snake who wanted enlightenment. The Buddha told him to forget it, but because Mucalinda tagged along, he was eventually made head of security, with the idea that maybe he'd have a better shot at enlightenment in his next incarnation.
I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot, but that's it for now.
Same question.
Loki is my favourite figure of Norse mythology, though I like Odin too.
Dionysus or Hecate for Greek/Roman
Krishna for India
I don't follow much beyond that.
How many of these questions would you get right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAdDUD6L1nc
I got three. Pretty poor showing.
Would humankind be better if there had never been an internet?
The internet as an invention is about as valuable to the facilitation of knowledge and the spread of ideas as the printing press was, so no, we would be much worse off (though I feel I would personally be more productive haha).
Should Al Gore be credited with inventing the internet or saving the environment on his tombstone (he only gets one)?
Edit: Also three is good! Most of the time Canadian questions on Jeopardy are either not answered at all (note how they left the entire category until last), or answered incorrectly!
If he only gets one thing, it ought to be having the biggest *ss in human history.
Rank the following presidents in badness, with the worst at the top of the list:
George W. Bush
Jimmy Carter
Richard Nixon
Barack Obama
Obama
Bush Jr
Carter
Nixon
Clinton was also bad.
Which president represented on U.S money was the best, and (briefly) why?
Lincoln. Best sense of humor.
Rank the following regimes in badness with the worst at the top:
Maoist China
Nazi Germany
Apartheid-era South Africa
Jacobin France
Stalinist Russia
Stalinist Russia
Maoist China
Jacobin France
Nazi Germany (Assuming we're not considering WW2 here and only focusing on the operations of the regime itself)
Huge, enormous gap
Apartheid
How much praise does Nelson Mandela deserve?