TSF Book Club
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[quote name='Crucial' timestamp='1365116284' post='356950'][size=3]A curmudgeon's reputation for malevolence is undeserved. They're neither warped nor evil at heart. They don't hate mankind, just mankind's absurdities. They're just as sensitive and soft-hearted as the next guy, but they hide their vulnerability beneath a crust of misanthropy. They ease the pain by turning hurt into humor. . . . . . They attack maudlinism because it devalues genuine sentiment. . . . . . Nature, having failed to equip them with a servicable denial mechanism, has endowed them with astute perception and sly wit.<br />
Curmudgeons are mockers and debunkers whose bitterness is a symptom rather than a disease. They can't compromise their standards and can't manage the suspension of disbelief necessary for feigned cheerfulness. Their awareness is a curse.<br />
Perhaps curmudgeons have gotten a bad rap in the same way that the messenger is blamed for the message: They have the temerity to comment on the human condition without apology. They not only refuse to applaud mediocrity, they howl it down with morose glee. Their versions of the truth unsettle us, and we hold it against them, even though they soften it with humor. [/size]<br />
[right]- JON WINOKUR[/right][/quote]<br />
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Yeah, so like I said: BSG.<br />
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<img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/rugby/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> -
Damn... I guess I am a curmudgeon ... now all I need is a rocker and a porch.
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[quote name='Baron Silas Greenback' timestamp='1365217915' post='357438']<br />
Damn... I guess I am a curmudgeon ... now all I need is a rocker and a porch.<br />
[/quote]<br />
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I don't think so, you'd be frustrated merely ranting at passers by. The keyboard is mightier than the porch.<br />
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Btw did you know our Governer General is a huge fan of homeopathy? Good thing he has no real power. -
[quote name='jegga' timestamp='1365221206' post='357443']<br />
I don't think so, you'd be frustrated merely ranting at passers by. The keyboard is mightier than the porch.<br />
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Btw did you know our Governer General is a huge fan of homeopathy? Good thing he has no real power.<br />
[/quote]<br />
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He is a fool then.<br />
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You can also get it on th NHS, I never said the world didnt have an abundance of fools.. and some have power to do foolish things. -
[quote name='Baron Silas Greenback' timestamp='1365243204' post='357651']<br />
You can also get it on th NHS, I never said the world didnt have an abundance of fools.. and some have power to do foolish things.<br />
[/quote]<br />
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Indeed, look at Steve Jobs, very smart guy yet decided he could cure his totally cureable cancer with smoothies. And by the time he realised he was wrong... ooops...<br />
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People often look at people who are good at one thing & decide they should advise them on everything. Who was the Al Black who fronted a company that utterly raped its investors a few years back? While of course in the UK this week -<br />
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[url="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/05/swansea-measles-epidemic-mmr-jab"]http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/05/swansea-measles-epidemic-mmr-jab[/url]<br />
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"Take-up for the MMR vaccine dropped by 14% in south Wales in the late 1990s after research, subsequently discredited, raised health concerns over the jab and prompted a campaign against it by the South Wales Evening Post.<br />
Public Health Wales said: "It is just a matter of time before a child is left with serious and permanent complications such as eye disorders, deafness or brain damage, or dies"." -
And nows theres a measles outbreak in Swansea http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22036576<br />
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Fuckwit parents. -
I've got 250 titles in my library centering on late 19th to mid 20th century European literature (mostly Russian), science fiction and alternative history themes if any one wants to discuss.
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For the Joe Abercrombie fans with little time on their hands<br />
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[url="http://www.firstlawcomic.com/"]http://www.firstlawcomic.com/[/url] -
Bought the book through Google Books and just polished it off now.<br />
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I actually got a bit more emotional about this one given the finality of the content for some characters. Overall though it was a good read.<br />
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Now let us never speak of this again. -
[quote name='NTA' timestamp='1366952733' post='361892']<br />
Bought the book through Google Books and just polished it off now.<br />
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I actually got a bit more emotional about this one given the finality of the content for some characters. Overall though it was a good read.<br />
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Now let us never speak of this again.<br />
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I'm confused... is that an endorsement of the final book!!? I've been trying to work out if I should read that ones written after 'his' passing. -
Fiction: I'm probably late to this party, but after watching Jack Reacher I've decided to read Killing Floor by Lee Child. Half way through and I think I'll read the other half.
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'Dune' Frank Herbert.<br />
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Sorry - what an overblown bunch of baloney.<br />
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I suspect my nerd sci-fi brain expired somewhere around 1982 - which is when I read it the first time. I found it hard going then but this time I just found it boring.<br />
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I know it's "a classic" and one [i]should [/i]like it and rave about it's significance, but my advice: Avoid. -
The 100 year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared - by Jonas Jonasson.<br />
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Imagine Forrest Gump meets a 100 year-old man who climbed out a window and disappeared. Very funny especially the bit where he meets Kim Jung il. Also involves an elephant. 8.5/10 -
I just finished reading all 10 of the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series back to back.<br />
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Firstly, fuck me what an undertaking. That is a serious body of writing Mr Erikson has put together. That's 10 very sizeable paperbacks, with untold characters and story arcs, and all running at kind of the same time. I don't know how long it has taken me to finish.<br />
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Secondly. Brilliant. Hands down best story i have ever read. He may have ruined other fantasy work for me now, as there will always be a comparison. Right from the start of "Gardens of the Moon" where you jump into the story (the first time i read it i thought i had missed a book, there is no scene-setting like with most series, it is straight into the middle of developed characters with the story already up and running), through all 10 as he obviously decides which bits of the massive world he has created to focus on, it's all go all of the time.<br />
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There is a shit load to keep up with, so many characters, so many different stories. And, not all of these are tied up at the end. If, halfway through you are thinking "i hope we find out how this ends for these people" prepare to be disappointed. It does flow, and by the end it is obvious what the main story was throughout the books, it's just early on it is pretty hard to see, and what i thought was the main story arc was pretty much not (and wasn't "resolved").<br />
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But, for all that, i fucking loved it. And will read it again, one day, when i have a spare year. It will make more sense the 2nd time i think.
