"I don't think they got the irony of trying to ban a book about book banning." Mark Twain said "Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't." Or as my friend Patrick Laffey (RIP) used to say, "You can't make this shit up." Comedy.
That's a good quick read, don't remember what morals I learned from it, have some sympathy, maybe. Gulliver's Travels kind of poked fun at society, too, and was a bit more pointed about it.
The Day of the Triffids is the one I remember, and I heard that they made a decent movie out of it. I don't recall if it had any thought-provoking exposition, though, just a good, fun read.
Ooh, good call. Solipsist comes to mind, a good way to kick off a discussion of the nature of reality. And of course Arena, I don't remember reading it but it's one of the great classic Star Trek episodes. Most of what I remember were the hard-drinking newsman stories but he did write some cool sci-fi and fantasy stuff. Always a good read though- I never could figure why so much of his stuff went out of print.
I guess I equivocated too much. The cold water survival times were useful data, which has found purpose, but indeed the other stuff was incredible mad-scientist stuff that clearly illustrated deep derangement on the part of the psychos doing the work. I wish I still had that book, it was truly INcredible, and I'd like to show it to some of the stupid Nazi-symps in my ghetto hometown.
It's making me notice that I haven't read much of any fiction for the last 30 years (Jean Auell and Jo Rowling are all I can think of), just history and other non-fiction. If flogger can winnow three good picks, that he didn't know of, out of this/. string, then it'll be worth his while. Heck, I might even take someone's suggestion, if they can give a better reason than "it's a classic" or "not to be missed", mpphh.
Yeah, LoTR is a hell of a lot of book to show that it's important to stand up, when duty calls. A worthy message, to be sure, but someone ought to know a briefer version of that issue. (I can't think of one right now, War and Peace, Gulag Archipelago, not only comparable length, but not even fantasy...)
This is why I wouldn't recommend The Hobbit, or any of the Heinlein kid's books (Red Planet, Podkayne...) because they're fun to read, but don't really provoke a lot of deep issues. Well, Heinlein was always good for iconoclasm & cynicism, start 'em young, eh...
The Book:Movie conversion ratio is a whole 'nother issue worthy of it's own class, IMO. (i.e. the Daphne DuMaurier story lent absolutely nothing but a title and some rogue birds to Hitchcock's movie). I'm just saying it might motivate some of the back-of-the-room types to actually try reading their assigned texts, or at least give them away when they start discussing the plot line from the movie instead.
It's been about 40 years since I read it, but AFAICR it had a message that is relevant to the Political Correctness thing... Wait, that issue is not really considered much these days, is it. Well, IMO kids need some deprogramming from the groupthink that is imposed on them by TV talking heads, or we will end up in an "Orwellian" world, (Are we there yet?) And 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and A Clockwork Orange are a nice complementary trilogy. I never did get to read it all together, I had the U.S. paperback, and then about ten years later got to read the ending when it was printed in Playboy magazine.
That reminds me of A Clockwork Orange. Is there an unabridged edition available in U.S.? It's a good book for issue discussion, free will and all that.
That was the problem, per him, the show was fun, but got old in the context of a movie. I did a (tiny) bit of work in the movie biz, and higher production values can suck a lot of the spontaneity out of a scene, it takes a lot of different skills than low budget TV skits, which are more likely to hit the spot on the first take. I think Holy Grail did it for him, and I imagine any of the different scenes would have been fine as bits on their own, on TV. He's a bit of a snob, actually.
One thing that might generate extra interest is stuff that has been adapted into a movie. Daphne du Maurier's "The Birds" comes to mind, but I'm pretty antiquated.
I used to have a rather gruesome book detailing some of those experiments, and while I don't think a lot was gained by transplanting spare heads onto victims &c., I understand that the data from dropping "test subjects" into ice water to see how long it took them to die has been quite valuable for things like Naval Air rescue planning. Always look on the bright side, mate.
When I went to school, I told them I didn't want to do Windows, but wanted to learn Unix admin. They said it was "much to complicated for a novice" and I "had to learn Windows first to understand the basics". Translation: they didn't have a Unix curriculum.
The Honeymooners spawned The Flintstones (good), and I Love Lucy has been regrettably imitated by virtually every sitcom on American TV since (I hate Lucy). As far as influence goes, IMO the good shows have been influenced by Monty Python, and I Love Lucy can take credit for influencing practically every sucky sitcom in the years since.
My Dad was a big fan of the TV show, but he claims he didn't like the films. I've been trying to get him to watch "Life Of Brian", as I believe it is more linear and coherent than the others. (And simply too good to miss). What say you?
I don't think the Telcos are finished punishing us for de-regulation yet. They want us to cry for Ma Bell, and then when the rates go through the roof, we might be forgiven.
I change sigs often, this one fit my Godwin first post yesterday. It drew a parallel with a hero of the ditto-heads, so last I checked it was a troll again.
Slashdot Mirror
"I don't think they got the irony of trying to ban a book about book banning."
Mark Twain said "Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't." Or as my friend Patrick Laffey (RIP) used to say, "You can't make this shit up." Comedy.
That's a good quick read, don't remember what morals I learned from it, have some sympathy, maybe. Gulliver's Travels kind of poked fun at society, too, and was a bit more pointed about it.
It may be fantasy, but it might not entertain the kids.
The Day of the Triffids is the one I remember, and I heard that they made a decent movie out of it. I don't recall if it had any thought-provoking exposition, though, just a good, fun read.
Ooh, good call. Solipsist comes to mind, a good way to kick off a discussion of the nature of reality. And of course Arena, I don't remember reading it but it's one of the great classic Star Trek episodes. Most of what I remember were the hard-drinking newsman stories but he did write some cool sci-fi and fantasy stuff. Always a good read though- I never could figure why so much of his stuff went out of print.
I guess I equivocated too much. The cold water survival times were useful data, which has found purpose, but indeed the other stuff was incredible mad-scientist stuff that clearly illustrated deep derangement on the part of the psychos doing the work. I wish I still had that book, it was truly INcredible, and I'd like to show it to some of the stupid Nazi-symps in my ghetto hometown.
It's making me notice that I haven't read much of any fiction for the last 30 years (Jean Auell and Jo Rowling are all I can think of), just history and other non-fiction. If flogger can winnow three good picks, that he didn't know of, out of this /. string, then it'll be worth his while. Heck, I might even take someone's suggestion, if they can give a better reason than "it's a classic" or "not to be missed", mpphh.
Yeah, LoTR is a hell of a lot of book to show that it's important to stand up, when duty calls. A worthy message, to be sure, but someone ought to know a briefer version of that issue. (I can't think of one right now, War and Peace, Gulag Archipelago, not only comparable length, but not even fantasy...)
This is why I wouldn't recommend The Hobbit, or any of the Heinlein kid's books (Red Planet, Podkayne...) because they're fun to read, but don't really provoke a lot of deep issues. Well, Heinlein was always good for iconoclasm & cynicism, start 'em young, eh...
The Book:Movie conversion ratio is a whole 'nother issue worthy of it's own class, IMO. (i.e. the Daphne DuMaurier story lent absolutely nothing but a title and some rogue birds to Hitchcock's movie). I'm just saying it might motivate some of the back-of-the-room types to actually try reading their assigned texts, or at least give them away when they start discussing the plot line from the movie instead.
It's been about 40 years since I read it, but AFAICR it had a message that is relevant to the Political Correctness thing... Wait, that issue is not really considered much these days, is it. Well, IMO kids need some deprogramming from the groupthink that is imposed on them by TV talking heads, or we will end up in an "Orwellian" world, (Are we there yet?) And 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and A Clockwork Orange are a nice complementary trilogy. I never did get to read it all together, I had the U.S. paperback, and then about ten years later got to read the ending when it was printed in Playboy magazine.
That reminds me of A Clockwork Orange. Is there an unabridged edition available in U.S.? It's a good book for issue discussion, free will and all that.
Did the EULA forbid reverse-engineering? If so these guys could be in a lot of trouble.
That was the problem, per him, the show was fun, but got old in the context of a movie. I did a (tiny) bit of work in the movie biz, and higher production values can suck a lot of the spontaneity out of a scene, it takes a lot of different skills than low budget TV skits, which are more likely to hit the spot on the first take. I think Holy Grail did it for him, and I imagine any of the different scenes would have been fine as bits on their own, on TV. He's a bit of a snob, actually.
One thing that might generate extra interest is stuff that has been adapted into a movie. Daphne du Maurier's "The Birds" comes to mind, but I'm pretty antiquated.
I used to have a rather gruesome book detailing some of those experiments, and while I don't think a lot was gained by transplanting spare heads onto victims &c., I understand that the data from dropping "test subjects" into ice water to see how long it took them to die has been quite valuable for things like Naval Air rescue planning. Always look on the bright side, mate.
When I went to school, I told them I didn't want to do Windows, but wanted to learn Unix admin. They said it was "much to complicated for a novice" and I "had to learn Windows first to understand the basics". Translation: they didn't have a Unix curriculum.
Even if you want Windows, it's nice to get the MS disc without the Bonus Crapware/TrialWare. Or even get a disc at all. :P
As when Officer Willenholly stops the busload of nuns in Jay and Silent Bob strike back.
Stealth punchline.
Thanks for answering my (YMMV, redundant?) post 28 minutes before I made it.
Mod parent up.
The Honeymooners spawned The Flintstones (good), and I Love Lucy has been regrettably imitated by virtually every sitcom on American TV since (I hate Lucy). As far as influence goes, IMO the good shows have been influenced by Monty Python, and I Love Lucy can take credit for influencing practically every sucky sitcom in the years since.
My Dad was a big fan of the TV show, but he claims he didn't like the films. I've been trying to get him to watch "Life Of Brian", as I believe it is more linear and coherent than the others. (And simply too good to miss). What say you?
I don't think the Telcos are finished punishing us for de-regulation yet. They want us to cry for Ma Bell, and then when the rates go through the roof, we might be forgiven.
I change sigs often, this one fit my Godwin first post yesterday. It drew a parallel with a hero of the ditto-heads, so last I checked it was a troll again.
Prepare to be modded to oblivion.