Lena Lena’s Comments (group member since Nov 17, 2014)



Showing 1,641-1,660 of 7,888

Jan 03, 2021 07:03PM

116885 84-DC076-F-0-D73-40-CA-9-CB0-5-C194-F6-C0-F29
Looking Through Lace by Ruth Nestvold ★★★★★
Best First Contact story! Nestvold has you fully engaged in figuring out the intricacies of the Mejan culture. It is so hard to look at another culture and not make immediate parallels to your own potentially blinding you to the truth. “Like looking through lace - the view isn’t clear, the patterns get in the way.”

Fiona’s right, the story was never weighed down by the linguistics.
116885 A Southern City with Northern Problems The Reporter (12/19/1969) ★★★★☆
Thompson hometown of Louisville was, at least on paper, an example of seamless racial integration. In reality that was hardly true and rather complicated. While there was little hate speech, burning crosses, lynchings - the ugly violence accompanying southern hostility - there was an intolerance of fast change and a bone deep fear of what the neighbors might be thinking.

“Simple racism is an easy thing to confront, but a mixture of guilty prejudice, economic worries and threatened social standing is much harder to fight.”
116885 Good point.
116885 J. wrote: "Just don't forget what made Hunter, Hunter.”
I expected more grapefruit and clear Neutrogena.
116885 When-illustrator-Ralph-Steadman-accepted-an-assignment-with-writer-Hunter-S-Thompson-at-the-Kentucky
The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved Scanlan’s Monthly (June 1970) ★★★★★
This was hilarious! Thompson returns to his old stomping grounds to cover the Kentucky Derby, but not to watch the horses.

“We had come here to watch the real beasts perform.”

Thrown into the deep end with Thompson was Ralph Steadman, a British illustrator who would become famous for his collaborations with the writer.

“We both went completely to pieces. The main problem was my prior attachment to Louisville, which naturally led to meetings with old friends, relatives, etc., many of whom were in the process of falling apart, going mad, plotting divorces, cracking up under the strain of terrible debts or recovering from bad accidents. Right in the middle of the whole frenzied Derby action, a member of my own family had to be institutionalized.”

Link: http://brianb.freeshell.org/a/kddd.pdf
116885 Fear and Loathing in the Bunker The New York Times (1/1/1974) ★★★★★
From his cursing ‘this stinking year that just ended’ to his analysis of the post Watergate Nixon administration it read eerily current. You could have replaced Nixon with Trump and published it this year.

“Nixon, at least, was blessed with a mixture of arrogance and stupidity that caused him to blow the boilers almost immediately after taking command. By bringing in hundreds of thugs, fixers and fascists to run the Government, he was able to crank almost every problem he touched into a mindbending crisis.”

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/01/ar...
116885 C33-BB837-74-C9-43-EC-9-FF7-3-FC9-E2-D3-E284
2020 gave me gift: Hunter S. Thompson the greatest writer of my time.

This year I will attempt to read all of the Gonzo Papers, collections of his published articles starting in the late 60s.
Jan 01, 2021 09:35PM

116885 Good job! My train is on to next year because we missed our stop. Might need some new trains too.
Jan 01, 2021 11:09AM

116885 My Favorites: An Anthology is on sale today: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087NHPML5?...
This was published in October and we lost Ben Bova in November. I always meant to read his work and if you did too this is a good deal.
Jan 01, 2021 12:27AM

116885 The Man with the Golden Balloon by Robert Reed ★★★☆☆
I enjoy stories with fabulously long time scales and a bit of romance, that’s why I’ve given this story some slack. For its lengthy and breadth there should have been an impactful mysteries-of-the-universe denouement. This felt off-piste and irrelevant to the main story never received.

“...Maori cattle herder in Kenya who happens to be the tall strong lord to his herd.” Lol Fiona, I think you are right, he mixed up Maasai and Maori.
Dec 29, 2020 04:28PM

116885 1729-B469-F531-4023-9582-26528-D7398-B0
Invisible Empire of Ascending Light by Ken Scholes ★★★★☆
Even gods deserve to choose death. It was a sad strange thing to feel the wrench of a society going from a true religion to a fictional one. I don’t see it working better.
Dec 27, 2020 02:09PM

116885 Section Seven by John G. Hemry ★½☆☆☆
That was a story about quiet sabotage to aid in conformity and peace. Fine. But it was impressively boring.
Let’s Chat 2 (3056 new)
Dec 23, 2020 07:46PM

116885 the little things
A dream cast of hardcore actors, the story of killing women is sad, typical, tired, but I’m willing to give them a chance: https://youtu.be/wg1sXsuLioY
Let’s Chat 2 (3056 new)
Dec 22, 2020 10:03PM

116885 Nicolas Cage is taking us through the meaning, the history, the medical benefits, and the sheer joy of cursing: https://youtu.be/XByiHpUvrj0
Let’s Chat 2 (3056 new)
Dec 22, 2020 09:25AM

116885 Coming to America 2!!! https://youtu.be/sY8gUtyeAKE
If it’s even half as good as the original it will be worth seeing.
Let’s Chat 2 (3056 new)
Dec 21, 2020 09:53AM

116885 ✨ Don’t miss The Great Conjunction tonight! ✨
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essent...
Dec 20, 2020 07:20PM

116885 58-EDAB36-09-ED-4-A32-B34-D-4690-B648-E451
Utriusque Cosmi by Robert Charles Wilson ★★★★☆
This slow burn intergalactic romance was about fighting for life, for survival, for the joy of living and discovering the wonders of tomorrow!
Dec 20, 2020 05:51PM

116885 The Impossibles by Kristine Katherine Rusch ★★★☆☆
An intergalactic lawyer wins her first case then quits.
116885 You must! Glad I was able to pass the love on for these rocking ladies!
116885 Vampyr by Jane Yolen ★★★★★
Dorthy or Bishop Briggs must slay this rocking anthem of a poem!!!