Comments on: Barack knew something terrible had happened

By: PH

PH — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:14:39 +0000

Obama rlzzz

By: Chloe

Chloe — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:39:51 +0000

I always read your amazing website every week, its great fun and got lots of interesting information to take in and lots of interesting articles.

By: Cybrludite

Cybrludite — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:06:51 +0000

“A Sound Of Thunder” is the title. If memory serves, the author was Issac Asimov. (Google says my memory is full of fail. Ray Bradbury was the author)

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:39:25 +0000

My personal favorite is still “Room With a View….OF HELL! Staircase…OF SATAN!”

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:36:21 +0000

If by “invented” you mean “cobbled together from other languages” then yes, yes you did. That said, don’t even get my started on the way we just butcher words over here because idiots can’t spell. Sulphur, potatoes, and who knows how many others. It’s gotten so bad, even spell check doesn’t even know how to spell “sulphur.”

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:33:19 +0000

Never saw “The Riches.” It, unfortunately, never made it onto the list.

I never had that much problem w/him being so manly because I rarely watched him do stand up. I listened to it. When I watch it all I can think about is how bleeding uncomfortable that would be.

By: Rory

Rory — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:34:40 +0000

Hang on now, we invented the language. You just lazily dropped a few ‘u’s.
It took all the colour out of your words.

By: Kimberly Martin

Kimberly Martin — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:36:28 +0000

actually time travel is possible and has been proven, but only forwards, look up space travel and how time slows the faster you go.

By: slan agat

slan agat — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:44:32 +0000

You say 'erb and we say herb. Because there's a fùcking h in it.

By: DeathWyrmNexus

DeathWyrmNexus — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:20:54 +0000

Awww, well if I had possessed a way to message you while I am at work, I would have.

By: dissimilitude

dissimilitude — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:11:23 +0000

You can’t imagine how much it annoyed me that they cancelled “The Riches” without resolving any of the plot lines. The second season was uneven, but the first? Brilliant. I blame the delays and problems caused by the writers’ strike for the weird, short, unsatisfying second season, which probably led to the cancellation.

By: dissimilitude

dissimilitude — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:59:50 +0000

I'm in agreement with you, AC. Not being a Lit major or anything I can't say exactly what the difference is, but I know Dubliners predates the novels. The short stories are a lot more accessible from my point of view.

By: AC

AC — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:45:51 +0000

I've only read Dubliners, but that seemed very readable. (I suppose they were short stories tho)

By: Uncle Fester

Uncle Fester — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:42:21 +0000

Just as an off the cuff comment… Under Milk Wood had quite the ‘saga’ edge to it…

By: Seth

Seth — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:32:07 +0000

I rather liked him in the series “The Riches.” After I accepted the fact that that butch looking guy was, in fact, Eddie. Quite a talented actor, unlike some other stand ups turned actors I could name.

By: Starrfade

Starrfade — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:20:14 +0000

I reccomend checking her out, then. In
terms of older authors, I’d add L.M.
Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, George
MacDonald, and Annie Fellows Johnston (who
you have to read with a grain of turn of the
century salt) to your list.

By: TS.

TS. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:47:41 +0000

I’m willing to bet if you asked the Afghans in Kandahar a good chunk of them would describe what Canada did as an invasion. At the very least as an occupation.

By: TS.

TS. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:43:33 +0000

Just don’t tase him!

By: TS.

TS. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:42:38 +0000

Reading further on fail. Sorry folks.

By: TS.

TS. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:41:11 +0000

There’s a great Ray Bradbury short story on this theme, but it isn’t dinosaur hunting, it’s dinosaur sight seeing. Very chilling.

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:25:39 +0000

It never ceases to amaze me how many people wander onto this board and make the assumption everyone here is in the US. What did amaze me is that this guy assumed everyone wasn't.

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:22:49 +0000

I can’t think of a single person, actually.

Man’s not only hilarious, but a damn good actor.

By: dissimilitude

dissimilitude — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:57:08 +0000

Ok, then! It made sense, I just wasn’t sure as everyone had been talking about other types of authors. And, yes, like wading through mud.

By: Jane St.Clair

Jane St.Clair — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:33:01 +0000

Even Eddie Izzard admits that there are too many unnecessary letters in English words, and if we can’t trust Eddie Izzard as our guide to English culture, who can we trust?

By: viking gal

viking gal — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:17:18 +0000

Interesting story & wiki page. Reminds me of what I have heard of the only available translation of Simone de Beauvior’s ‘The second sex’. Apparently, that is a dreadful translation, full of miss-interpretations, and some folks who read French claim that the mistakes are intentional. That might be true, since I found the ‘as is’ English version pretty radical for something written in the 1950′s. Some also claim that Knopf’s refusal to allow a new translation is a political inaction. Interesting thought…

By: eddiepscetti

eddiepscetti — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:12:22 +0000

I think Seth closed this chapter nicely. I can’t wait for the next installment of “For Whom The Bell Trolls” or, as we call it here, “STFU!”.

By: ubr

ubr — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:09:52 +0000

very nice dwn… wish i had read this earlier in the day, i could’ve used a good laugh…

By: ubr

ubr — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:06:14 +0000

being drunk in vancouver and yelling, ‘eh?’ at cops is not a good way to spend your vacation…

By: ubr

ubr — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:05:29 +0000

rofl. very nice seth…

By: Seth

Seth — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:02:13 +0000

Awesome! I’ll head down to the library tomorrow.

By: Seth

Seth — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:44:03 +0000

Hi. Welcome to the Internets! You may be wondering why some people here spell things differently than you. You see, a long time ago, some of decided that the rest of you spelled things like dolts, and so we dumped all of our Ts into a horbor or something. Well, anyway, we formed a new team, or ‘eam’ as we like o call i. And because there is no ‘U’ in ‘team,’ we got rid of a few of those, too. Then in the war of 1812, we traded all our lorries in for trucks and we made our footballs oblong just to spite you guys. But that was a long time ago and we’ve since forgiven you for continuing to spell things like dolts.

By: viking gal

viking gal — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:35:37 +0000

Emma Bull: War for the Oaks
Kay Kenyon: Maximum Ice
C.S. Friedman: In Conquest Born
and for a bit of fantasy
Judith Tarr: the Hound and the Falcon
Robin McKinley: Sunshine
Have fun Seth!

By: viking gal

viking gal — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:16:31 +0000

Thank you LG!
I was starting to wonder if my sense humor was marooned alone on Planet Claire!

By: eddiepscetti

eddiepscetti — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:07:29 +0000

Oh, try Oath of Fealty.. that one wasn’t too bad either.

By: Danbala

Danbala — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:55:23 +0000

I think I’ve managed six times in Swedish and five times in English. ;p
I don’t love it, but it’s a good way to spend some time.

By: Danbala

Danbala — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:48:49 +0000

Except the fact that Eowyn kills the King of the Nazgul with just a little help from Merry nearly makes up for it. Ah, ha, ha. In the notoriously bad first Swedish translation*, the perpetrator (I mean the guy who translated it) managed to change that, so that Me rry kills the nazgul. *)There's a whole wiki page on the English wikipedia about his translation.

By: eddiepscetti

eddiepscetti — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:41:55 +0000

Geez, maybe I should go back and reread it. Afterall, it has been like 15 bazillion years since I did the 1st time.

By: froofrou

froofrou — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:40:12 +0000

I’m already married, darling

By: slan agat

slan agat — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:56:30 +0000

I’m more in favour of that fine British approach described in technical terms as “lop their goolies off.”

By: Seth

Seth — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:52:22 +0000

James Joyce. Difficulty wading through+mythic structure.

By: Seth

Seth — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:46:58 +0000

Oh, no doubt. I didn’t want to be the first to say it, but BLECH! [LINK] Thomas Covenant, what a Mary Sue.

By: Uncle Fester

Uncle Fester — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:44:03 +0000

I blame Joyce for ‘”Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Tick-Tock Man!”… along with beat- Zen in general, and Kerouac specifically…

By: Uncle Fester

Uncle Fester — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:40:12 +0000

The Time you thought ‘Covenant! you need a solid punch between the eyes!!!’

By: slan agat

slan agat — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:37:13 +0000

I think it was strictly a comparison of difficulty getting through each author’s prose – a bit tedious in some parts of Prof. Tolkien’s obsessive world-building tour de force *cough*Silmarillion*cough*, but well nigh impenetrable in Joyce’s case. There is something that can almost be called a school of thought among certain writers of modern spec-fic in particular that it is one of the terrible failings of modern literature that Literary Merit has been to a significant extent divorced from Good Storytelling. These “Pre-Joyceans” don’t exactly blame james Joyce for this, but certainly decry his role in it, and have dedicated themselves to producing Literature that has Merit while still telling a Rollicking Good Yarn.
[LINK]

By: Jane St.Clair

Jane St.Clair — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:12:25 +0000

Actually, no. I know who she is and while I’ve read quite a bit of modern children’s lit, I have a huge collection of older stuff. Things like the previously mentioned Wizard of Oz series, Louisa May Alcott and Frances Hodgeson Burnett, as well as things like a Wrinkle in Time, Dark is Rising Sequence, and so on.

By: dissimilitude

dissimilitude — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:09:32 +0000

At least it isn’t like trying to wade through Joyce. Ugh.

Wait, is this an author I’m not familiar with or did James Joyce somehow end up in a discussion of fantasy and sci-fi authors?

(If so, I like his short stories, but have to admit that Ulysses holds the record for Book I’ve Started the Most Times Without Finishing, so the “wade through would definitely apply.)

By: Jane St.Clair

Jane St.Clair — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:07:51 +0000

Mmmmmmmm

By: Seth

Seth — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:03:00 +0000

Will do. Always nice to get recommendations from other fans of the genre. I’ve too often been disappointed trying out authors I don’t know, which is why I tend to stick to the ones I like.

By: slan agat

slan agat — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:52:06 +0000

I’m a total pre-Joycean.

Apropos, you should hie thee hence to the booksellers at once and buy everything they have by Emma Bull. And whatever money you have left over you ought to spend on Steven Brust.

By: slan agat

slan agat — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:49:25 +0000

The first Thomas Covenant was one of the first – possibly the first – I ever sent fling-thunk against the wall. I bet you can guess at what point in the book it was, too.