Traveller’s Comments (group member since Jan 14, 2015)

Traveller’s comments from the On Paths Unknown group.

I was not too surprised at the idea of a Hindu and a Christian getting together, but a Hindu and a Baptist? That seemed a bit off-beat to me, because Baptists tend to be pretty observant of their religion and not generally... shall we say, as tolerant of other religions as Hindus generally tend to be. ...but anyway, as to the obvious ethnicity of the actor, maybe they simply could not find a good Indian actor outside of Bollywood? ...but then, why not recruit from Bollywood? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe all of them were tied up with Bollywood contracts? Maybe language concerns? How many Indian Americans (see, this is why native Americans should not be called Indians- it's confusing!) are there, anyway?

I really must read more of them. Pyramids happens to be one of the very few I have read. But you're right, now is indeed a good time to be reading his books.

Sumant wrote: "Here is my review of 1st book in huge discworld series."

oooh, Terry Pratchett! May he rest in peace.

Ted wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Ted wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

Glad you found it interesting, Ted! Have you read some other Borges? Some of it can be quite strange, but all of it forces reflection."

I have [b..."

I am taking note to read the Secret Miracle, and also to start on Lydia Davis whom I haven't tried out before. Any suggestions on where to start with her if I enjoy twists and turns?

This also seems like an interesting Le Guin The Dispossessed .

Ooh, Bee Gees, right? I adore Bee Gees. They have such an unusual sound.

Ha ha ha. I'd actually blocked that part out of my brain.
We can always do a different Le Guin right here, like The Lathe of Heaven, for example.

Puddin Pointy-Toes wrote: "Who needs discussion when you can have POLLS?!?!? ;)"

Yeah! Cuz polls rock! (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]

....or, we could do a poll. *winks at Derek*

I wouldn't mind at all if we discuss Homonids. There's material for lively discussions in there!

I'm game for Calculating God, if you like, or, we could also tackle one that nobody has read yet - up to you. :)

Sawyer's work would make VERY good fodder for discussion material, if one can handle the bad writing. :P

Ted wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

Glad you found it interesting, Ted! Have you read some other Borges? Some of it can be quite strange, but all of it forces reflection.

Linda wrote: "Traveller wrote: "That sounds lovely, Linda! I've never seen a book with color illustrations of Dickens, but we used to have a lovely leather set with black and white illustrations.

I've been wond..."

This is all extremely interesting, Linda! I am not a linguist by profession, (though had touched on it briefly in other studies) but I do seem to gravitate towards...-well, I mean I find the history of languages, and the interplay between culture and language, etc, very interesting. I love how you have sketched a great tapestry of Spanish dialects and accents there. I suppose it is quite similar with variations of English, but you make it sound a lot more picturesque! :D

Jennifer wrote: "I just saw the film yesterday, so this is my first visit to this thread.

I was disappointed that the Indian guy was turned into a mixed race gentlemen. I thought the book reflected a very diverse..."

Glad you had an overall positive experience with the movie, Jennifer, despite it's faults and lacks. :)

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Puddin Pointy-Toes wrote: "I also found it unfortunate that the movie sacrificed so much of the feeling of isolation. For a story ostensibly about a man alone on Mars having to fend for himself, the sense of loneliness was not, I found, particularly well captured---compared to, say, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Moon, or Alien, even."

I agree with this. I am also mystified by it. I really thought that the movie would carry this in a way the book couldn't, because of the visual, but there was just no sense of it at all for me. Still mulling over why this is (aside from the relentless inevitability of rescue in the movie, the lack of dramatic tension that has been discussed).
..."

Hmm, I think I know what the problem was with that. I think that had to do with the cinematography. The 3D didn't really help, (it tends to make one feel a bit hemmed in, since it tends to make many objects feel closer) for starters, but even with 3D, he could have given us more long shots of endless open planes (or plains - planes of plains :) ) and vast open spaces. That kind of thing was pretty well done in a film like Oblivion. There are too many short and medium shots in The Martian, and not enough long shots. I know they couldn't really shoot on actual Mars, but, hey, earthly deserts and CGI?

Also, aspects of the soundtrack could have helped to give a feeling of isolation, but, it didn't. (Yeah, of course he played the disco music for company, but hearing disco music doesn't make you feel isolated, heh.)

Cecily wrote: "And even if they did have to broadcast everything live, they'd surely have a 5-second delay, as they do on radio phone-ins for example, so they have time to bleep out anything offensive."

In fact, the time delay was explicitly mentioned in the film when (oops, this is thread one - careful of spoilers)(view spoiler)[ the whole world was listening in to the final effort when, er, the final transfer took place. (Trying to be as unspoilerific as possible here.) (hide spoiler)] We should actually be discussing this in the second spoiler thread, you know.

Puddin Pointy-Toes wrote: "Sean Bean was in The Lord of the Rings. I never realized. "

Wow, just wow. :O I ...... can't think of a polite way to respond to that.... :O :O :O

Perhaps "Thou shalt not pass!" might be a fitting response? :P

Cool! With, "I liked the positive story" I had meant, not only that "humans look out for one another" . I also meant that I really dug the character of Watney. Many people would have just laid down and died. Would have said: it's impossible to survive here; may even have said: let me just kill myself and get it over with.

But not Watney. He keeps fighting, keeps fighting, keeps fighting innovatively - uses his brain, thinks of solutions, keeps experimenting, and never says never until the fat lady sings. :)

That's the kind of spirit that got us up in the stars in the first place, and might - just might save our species against all odds of us destroying ourselves in the long run.

Ruth wrote: "We had no choice about 3D. I didn't want it (but we had one shot--beggars can't be choosers), and saw no need. But I'm really glad I saw it. I hadn't visualized how big the ship and the hab were. I..."

Glad you're pleased about seeing it, Ruth! Do you agree that the book would have spoiled it for you?

From what I glean of what Derek said, in his e-book, the sign that they're all on about, in his ebook looks like this: (Y) instead of (.Y.) .

What I really liked about the story, is that it portrays that in humanity which makes us different from animals; that huge adaptability in homo sapiens that has us living in the icy snows of the arctic as well as the scorching arid Sahara.

But above all, I suppose, it's an ode to human ingenuity and the human spirit; how we strive towards something bigger than just ourselves etc etc - all the little homilies and so forth. Homilies they may be, but I still find them uplifting.

Also, it's nice to experience a modern book/film that is positive for a change. I think I was getting a bit tired of and jaded by all the cynicism about humanity that one encounters nowadays. It's nice to be reminded that humans also have some good aspects.

Did he make a boob, as well as a boob of himself when referring to boobs? I had actually meant it in all of the senses that the term can be used: http://dictionary.reference.com/brows...

In any case, my take on breasts: of course breasts are not offensive; mammals could not live without them. They are wonderful things - very well designed; no matter how hard we try, we cannot artificially match them. (I mean with bottles and formula milk; we haven't managed to artificially create colostrum, for example, and babies have a different drinking action when drinking from a bottle.)
(I've just realized/remembered that some/many people see them as decorations instead of what they are there for - as feeding mechanisms for our babies, of course.)

I'm not sure if I find embarrassment and silliness around them offensive as much as just rather silly. If I had been his boss, it's the childishness of his gesture that would have embarrassed me, I think, but then, other people have already said as much.