Complaint Department discussion
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I am in a dilemma that whether free books in iBooks of Apple are abridged or not. Does anyone have an idea?
Anil wrote: "I am in a dilemma that whether free books in iBooks of Apple are abridged or not. Does anyone have an idea?"My understanding is, not. Here in Germany, there is a law whereby books can be given away (other than that, their price must remain constant no matter where it is on offer), but only with no strings attached, which I assume includes somehow altering the work. From what I've read, free iBook offerings are the real deal, but I cannot be sure. (Which I guess counts as my complaint)
Thank you, Goesta. I think they should indicate that it is an abridged version. The books I have read seem to be a real deal, because there are even half blank pages as in printed books. I had a doubt, because the shortest printed version of Sense&Sensibility is around 280 pages, and, I think, probably 5-6 pages of iBook is equal to 1 page of printed books, which means e-book is around 204 pages. In other words, 76 pages shorter than the shortest printed version. So, I thought those iBook versions might have been abridged. That is my complain--for doubting everything.
Anil wrote: "Thank you, Goesta. I think they should indicate that it is an abridged version. The books I have read seem to be a real deal, because there are even half blank pages as in printed books. I had a do..."Well, on a text in the public domain, of course I'm not sure (again, with the ignorance... mutter, mutter). Also, whether alternate versions exist. Though in this case I suspect your math. They wouldn't gain anything from abridging a text that you could get elsewhere for free. S&S as epub from Project Gutenberg is 692 pages and has exactly 50 chapters. Just checked. 251 pages when imported as text into open office, 122600 words incl. the Gutenberg blurb.
That a problem with my Maths must be the case indeed. Thanks for taking time to check things out, Goesta.
Images like this, irk me to no end!
Because I dislike shirtless men and puppies
You can get more pissed off here
http://www.dnamagazine.com.au/article...
I'm discombobulated that something like this might be getting kick out of some place in Saudi Arabia.
Hail the beard!
I'm disturbed that as much as I want to smack him for his 'art', I want to bite his nose so hard is not even funny.
Gabbo wrote: "I'm disturbed that as much as I want to smack him for his 'art', I want to bite his nose so hard is not even funny."
Growing up around indigenous cultures, tattoos on bored and vain westerners have never impressed me.
BTW I'm extremely chaffed that we don't have a clear policy regarding Speedos and other esoteric swimwear.So what's the word on that St Lucas of the WashBoardAbs?
Goesta wrote: "I must add to the chorus of disapproval about how much this speech from the NZ legislature made me laugh and smile; I almost want to move to the land of rainbow kiwi to become a politician.Mauric..."
Did you see this? I learned this New Zealand Maori song myself when I twelve, growing up in Papua New Guinea (don't ask), and my heart was full to bursting when I sang along with them on the video. The words came right back, as the New Zealand parliamentary legislature rose up spontaneously, to sing this very well known traditional love song.
http://youtu.be/DW4DXOAXF8U
I'm chagrined and kicking myself for not checking first. I scrolled up scores of posts only to discover that Jerry had already posted the video.
Gabbo wrote: "I'm discombobulated that something like this might be getting kick out of some place in Saudi Arabia.Hail the beard!"
But seriously, how much photoshopping has been done to that photo? Even I could have skin as beautifully flawless, and a beard as well trimmed if photoshopped enough!
I might have to join you Gabbo in a bit of nose biting :)
I'm peed off with Gabbo for posting a link with the promise of more sheer beauty to look at, and then to find out that you have to join up with the site to access any proper filth. Heaven help me if I ever have to get my laptop fixed!
Its amazingly annoying that you leave this thread to do a bit of creative art and come back to a brand new Goesta who isn't green anymore, a very clever and mathematical Anil with no smutty boyfriend stories and Gabbo porn king and perve master extraordinaire of all things down and dirty posting pictures of cute men with puppies.....yes PUPPIES!!!! Aves singing New Zealand Maori love songs, which I must admit made me feel all warm and fuzzy and Danni talking about trimming her beard and biting noses which I happen to know are not really the things she likes to bite!! Whats this thread coming to? Harrrrumph!
I'm PO'd that I just realised that the deadline for LHNB is only 25 days away, and I probably should think about getting some writing done, but I'd rather be looking at pictures of nekkid men :(
I am unamused by photographic evidence of Japanese yayoi twinks being manufactured in outer space. I always knew this to be true, where else could those hair cuts actually stay so perfectly in place.
Danni wrote: "I'm PO'd that I just realised that the deadline for LHNB is only 25 days away, and I probably should think about getting some writing done, but I'd rather be looking at pictures of nekkid men :("I'm razzed off for Danni in her moment of panic but I know she can do it.... Come on Danni, that awesome game of Xrated twister is nearly finished... If you finish it they will come! Go the distance ...
Danni wrote: "I'm PO'd that I just realised that the deadline for LHNB is only 25 days away, and I probably should think about getting some writing done, but I'd rather be looking at pictures of nekkid men :("
Danni you can do it :-D xxx
Danni you can do it :-D xxx
Macky wrote: "Danni wrote: "I'm PO'd that I just realised that the deadline for LHNB is only 25 days away, and I probably should think about getting some writing done, but I'd rather be looking at pictures of ne..."Aww thanks Macky, I am such a lazy writer - I think I've done about 6000 words so far. I don't even dare looking at Kaje's updates cos it sends me into further panic!
So my big complaint of the day is that I'm a bit bored (yes really!) and I was wondering seeing as a few of us seem to be around, would anyone be interested in chatting - I guess maybe in the M/M Romance group's chat room?
Helle wrote: "Danni wrote: "I'm PO'd that I just realised that the deadline for LHNB is only 25 days away, and I probably should think about getting some writing done, but I'd rather be looking at pictures of ne..."Thanks Helle, I will have to squeeze a few more words out, but it ain't happening today I fear.
Helle wrote: "I am frustrated because I have no idea what movies your are talking about?!? And never have seen any of the movies, so I sit here and see what the talk are going."
Helle, don't be frustrated. Be glad you did not see the 1971 movie these member/friends of mine are celebrating: Death in Venice starring second-rate Hollywood actor Dirk Bogarde.
The movie is as repugnant and nauseating as was the autobiographical work it was based on and as sickening as was the way the child who played the boy in the movie was victimized by the director at after its screening in France.
It was a repulsive film about an ugly, gray-haired, middle-aged man who was a disgusting sexual pervert with carnal fantasies about an adolescent child of 13.
In the book by Thomas Mann on which the movie was based the child was 13 but he was played by a 15 child actor named Björn Andrésen and was based on Thomas Mann's own real-life pedophilia-driven lust for a prepubescent 10 year old boy, Władysław Moes.
The pedophile in the movie decides to make himself look younger and goes to the barber who dyes the man's hair, powders his face white, applies rouge to his cheeks and lipstick so that the pervert ends up looking as morally corrupt outside as he is inside.
The old man is not only is morally sick, he is physically sick an gets caught up in a cholera epidemic and to my great delight dies. His death the only justice the film.
Björn Andrésen who played the boy in the story is now 58 and after the movie refused to play any roles having to do with homosexuality although he claims not to be homophobic according to an interview.
Andrésen himself now now in the older side of middle-age feels exploited and harmed by how he was treated after the the making of the movie. He has stated that in 1970 at the Cannes Film Festival, "I was just 16 and Visconti and the team took me to a gay nightclub. Almost all the crew were gay. The waiters at the club made me feel very uncomfortable. They looked at me uncompromisingly as if I was a nice meaty dish."I knew I couldn't react," he says. "It would have been social suicide. But it was the first of many such encounters."
The now divorced former actor is bitter about his picture as "Tanzio" being published in later years especially on the cover of a book by Germaine Greer without his consent. He feels the unwanted attention affected his relationships. He complained to a writer of a 2003 news story in the Guardian "I feel used."
Andrésen, the heterosexual former actor stated in the interview "I have a feeling of being utilised that is close to distasteful. Adult love for adolescents is something that I am against in principle. Emotionally perhaps, and intellectually, I am disturbed by it - because I have some insight into what this kind of love is about." He has said "The worst thing of all is that no one pays attention to your ambitions, your dreams or who you really are."
It s a sick movie based on a book by a sick man made by a sick director in a sick system of money and power.
It represents everything about pedophilia that makes it so harmful and the exploitation of children by "artists" and their retinue who give homosexuals a bad reputation by association.
The "appreciation" of a film of that sort and its filmmakers is not endearing to the public at large and certainly not by me.
Photos: the real Tadzio ( Władysław Moes) lusted after by Thomas Mann and the exploited child actor who played Tadzio (Björn Andrésen.)
Helle, don't be frustrated. Be glad you did not see the 1971 movie these member/friends of mine are celebrating: Death in Venice starring second-rate Hollywood actor Dirk Bogarde.
The movie is as repugnant and nauseating as was the autobiographical work it was based on and as sickening as was the way the child who played the boy in the movie was victimized by the director at after its screening in France.
It was a repulsive film about an ugly, gray-haired, middle-aged man who was a disgusting sexual pervert with carnal fantasies about an adolescent child of 13.
In the book by Thomas Mann on which the movie was based the child was 13 but he was played by a 15 child actor named Björn Andrésen and was based on Thomas Mann's own real-life pedophilia-driven lust for a prepubescent 10 year old boy, Władysław Moes.
The pedophile in the movie decides to make himself look younger and goes to the barber who dyes the man's hair, powders his face white, applies rouge to his cheeks and lipstick so that the pervert ends up looking as morally corrupt outside as he is inside.
The old man is not only is morally sick, he is physically sick an gets caught up in a cholera epidemic and to my great delight dies. His death the only justice the film.
Björn Andrésen who played the boy in the story is now 58 and after the movie refused to play any roles having to do with homosexuality although he claims not to be homophobic according to an interview.
Andrésen himself now now in the older side of middle-age feels exploited and harmed by how he was treated after the the making of the movie. He has stated that in 1970 at the Cannes Film Festival, "I was just 16 and Visconti and the team took me to a gay nightclub. Almost all the crew were gay. The waiters at the club made me feel very uncomfortable. They looked at me uncompromisingly as if I was a nice meaty dish."I knew I couldn't react," he says. "It would have been social suicide. But it was the first of many such encounters."
The now divorced former actor is bitter about his picture as "Tanzio" being published in later years especially on the cover of a book by Germaine Greer without his consent. He feels the unwanted attention affected his relationships. He complained to a writer of a 2003 news story in the Guardian "I feel used."
Andrésen, the heterosexual former actor stated in the interview "I have a feeling of being utilised that is close to distasteful. Adult love for adolescents is something that I am against in principle. Emotionally perhaps, and intellectually, I am disturbed by it - because I have some insight into what this kind of love is about." He has said "The worst thing of all is that no one pays attention to your ambitions, your dreams or who you really are."
It s a sick movie based on a book by a sick man made by a sick director in a sick system of money and power.
It represents everything about pedophilia that makes it so harmful and the exploitation of children by "artists" and their retinue who give homosexuals a bad reputation by association.
The "appreciation" of a film of that sort and its filmmakers is not endearing to the public at large and certainly not by me.
Photos: the real Tadzio ( Władysław Moes) lusted after by Thomas Mann and the exploited child actor who played Tadzio (Björn Andrésen.)
Lucas wrote: "Helle wrote: "I am frustrated because I have no idea what movies your are talking about?!? And never have seen any of the movies, so I sit here and see what the talk are going."
Helle, don't be fr..."
Damn Lucas now I am just so confused and poor boy, pedophilia hate them they should go to jail *yuck*, if it about that then I do not want to see it :-( I know I need to read what you have write 2-3 times more to understand it all, damn confused and dizzy.
Helle, don't be fr..."
Damn Lucas now I am just so confused and poor boy, pedophilia hate them they should go to jail *yuck*, if it about that then I do not want to see it :-( I know I need to read what you have write 2-3 times more to understand it all, damn confused and dizzy.
Aves wrote: "I'm chagrined and kicking myself for not checking first. I scrolled up scores of posts only to discover that Jerry had already posted the video."
I'm upset your upset Aves. Do not be chagrined that you reposted the link to the overwhelmingly joyful spontaneous singing of the Maori Love Song by lawmakers after passing New Zealand's bill to legalize gay marriage in their most beautiful country.
Here it is the link again. As our dear friend Jerry said, get out your handkerchiefs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW4DXO...
I'm upset your upset Aves. Do not be chagrined that you reposted the link to the overwhelmingly joyful spontaneous singing of the Maori Love Song by lawmakers after passing New Zealand's bill to legalize gay marriage in their most beautiful country.
Here it is the link again. As our dear friend Jerry said, get out your handkerchiefs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW4DXO...
Gabbo wrote: "BTW I'm extremely chaffed that we don't have a clear policy regarding Speedos and other esoteric swimwear.
So what's the word on that St Lucas of the WashBoardAbs?"
First I must complain that that you only mentioned washboard abs instead of more correctly descriptive deep-cut wondrous washboard abs and there was no mention of dramatically deep, beckoning big broad chest nor broad shapely shoulders, bursting biceps, perfect pecs, lovely large lats, delicious deltoids, fantastic forearms and tremendous triceps or the most gorgeous glutes known to humankind.
This is the Complaint Department. I rarely find a reason to complain about good looking guys in speedos so I do not consider a photo like that to be a valid complaint.
You my sexy friend, along with everyone here concerned with posting photos of men exposing as much skin as possible, are in the wrong place here in the Complaint Department for that sort of thing. I believe that you, a greatly esteemed member of this group, and the other respected members here who post photos of sexy guys are looking for the Porn Department so I respectfully suggest everyone with your interests go to the M/M Romance group for pictures of guys in speedos and out of speedos, both singly or paired and both flaccid and erect in positions both nonsexual and ones of oral and anal sexual intercourse at: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...
Goesta has posted a respectable but lovely photo of a young desirable fellow in the TWINK section if that sort of thing is of interest else there are plenty of older hot guys including musclemen in their abundant sizzling hot photo categories.
Have fun~!
So what's the word on that St Lucas of the WashBoardAbs?"
First I must complain that that you only mentioned washboard abs instead of more correctly descriptive deep-cut wondrous washboard abs and there was no mention of dramatically deep, beckoning big broad chest nor broad shapely shoulders, bursting biceps, perfect pecs, lovely large lats, delicious deltoids, fantastic forearms and tremendous triceps or the most gorgeous glutes known to humankind.
This is the Complaint Department. I rarely find a reason to complain about good looking guys in speedos so I do not consider a photo like that to be a valid complaint.
You my sexy friend, along with everyone here concerned with posting photos of men exposing as much skin as possible, are in the wrong place here in the Complaint Department for that sort of thing. I believe that you, a greatly esteemed member of this group, and the other respected members here who post photos of sexy guys are looking for the Porn Department so I respectfully suggest everyone with your interests go to the M/M Romance group for pictures of guys in speedos and out of speedos, both singly or paired and both flaccid and erect in positions both nonsexual and ones of oral and anal sexual intercourse at: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...
Goesta has posted a respectable but lovely photo of a young desirable fellow in the TWINK section if that sort of thing is of interest else there are plenty of older hot guys including musclemen in their abundant sizzling hot photo categories.
Have fun~!
Danni wrote: "I'm peed off with Gabbo for posting a link with the promise of more sheer beauty to look at, and then to find out that you have to join up with the site to access any proper filth. Heaven help me ..."That is so odd, I'm not a member *cough*, actually it came from my facebook page. You do a little tour there and find it. It's in the DNA group.
Danni wrote: "Gabbo wrote: "I'm discombobulated that something like this might be getting kick out of some place in Saudi Arabia.Do you think he's photoshopped? I've seen beauties like that in real time (we have a very hot Arab community in Panama), but I cannot vouch for this one, hahahahaha.
Lucas is right. Having read his impassioned speech about Death In Venice Ive looked at it in a different light and agree when looked at in its base form the subject matter is based on a very taboo and nasty subject that I also hate and abhor so in that vain Im removing any posts made about it. I can't be hypocritical and change how I did perceive it but I must admit its made me think about how I would look at it now in an age when paedophillia is rife and currently in the public eye.
@Lucas I'm traumatized to let you know that at the beginning of Christianity it was usual to use only the first letters of certain attributes of the saints, like in the case of Saint Joseph, Jesus' Pater Putativus, thus PP, which later became the nickname Pepe in Spanish. So I used WashBoardAbs because the resulting acronym of all your magical attributes would be something like this:
Saint Lucas of DPWADDBBBCSSBBPPLLLDDFFTTGG
And that mouthful not even my expert mouth can handle.
I seriously doubt Frühjahrsmüdigkeit can handle it.
Any adventurous mouths available?
The portrayal of young beautiful people in art is a touchy matter to which I do not wish to contribute too much discussion, as it always ends up being upsetting. However, the exploration of feelings of whatever kind in an artistic manner ought to be permissible. Certainly on-screen said movie does not breach any proprieties in that respect, though it does make me uncomfortable. I feel even more discombobulated (ha!) however by Donatello's bronze David, wearing only boots and a helmet, both of which represent Hermes. An amazing work of great art and a very disturbing, voyeuristic, fetishistic nude portrait of a boy dressed up (or down) for pleasure.
Gabbo wrote: "Any adventurous mouths available? "I unravellingly implore Gabbo not to go there.
discombobulated thank you Goesta now I Got used to it, and you are amazing with words :-)
Sorry Lucas did not mean to break any rules :-(
Still tired and now pollen, so now I'm even more tired and the pain is the same, later tonight I will see a old movie with Dirch Passer, lot of funny scenes and love to see movies with that moviestar.
Sorry Lucas did not mean to break any rules :-(
Still tired and now pollen, so now I'm even more tired and the pain is the same, later tonight I will see a old movie with Dirch Passer, lot of funny scenes and love to see movies with that moviestar.
Gabbo wrote: "And that mouthful not even my expert mouth can handle."
No I wouldn't expect that it could.
No I wouldn't expect that it could.
Goesta wrote: "I feel even more discombobulated (ha!) however by Donatello's bronze David, wearing only boots and a helmet, both of which represent Hermes. "
Sadly I must deflate your argument by pointing out that Donatello's bronze David is a girlish bodied boy with a pimple where his legs meet. Hardly something disturbing—laughable perhaps.
Sadly I must deflate your argument by pointing out that Donatello's bronze David is a girlish bodied boy with a pimple where his legs meet. Hardly something disturbing—laughable perhaps.
Lucas wrote: "Gabbo wrote: "And that mouthful not even my expert mouth can handle."
No I wouldn't expect that it could."
So you did it on purpose. Bad Lucas, bad.
Lucas wrote: "Sadly I must deflate your argument by pointing out that Donatello's bronze David is a girlish bodied boy with a pimple where he legs meet. Hardly something disturbing—laughable perhaps. "To healthy men who prefer healthy men of more or less legal (if not mental) maturity, I quite agree. But I know high-class porn when I see it. Ditto Amor Vincit Omnia. The sexual prowess or lack thereof of the object of the gaze is hardly the issue. And I really have no problem with the art, just the hundreds of art-historical commentators who skirt around the obvious. The fact of his androgyny supports my case. Read some Greek poems.
Now THIS is truly disturbing. One of these two is definitively underage.
Goesta wrote: "Now THIS is truly disturbing. One of these two is definitively underage."
Pretty sure is little Zac, that sponge looks past its prime.
Goesta wrote: "Now THIS is truly disturbing. One of these two is definitively underage."
I'm aggravatingly intrigued to know if anyone else thinks it looks like Spongebob has got a thermometer on his head?
Gabbo wrote: "Lucas wrote: "
Gabbo wrote: "And that mouthful not even my expert mouth can handle."
No I wouldn't expect that it could."
So you did it on purpose. Bad Lucas, bad."
I really thought... you know... like your so 'artsistically' talented, and...um, deep, so you could handle anything big guy.
Gabbo wrote: "And that mouthful not even my expert mouth can handle."
No I wouldn't expect that it could."
So you did it on purpose. Bad Lucas, bad."
I really thought... you know... like your so 'artsistically' talented, and...um, deep, so you could handle anything big guy.
Goesta wrote: "The portrayal of young beautiful people in art is a touchy matter to which I do not wish to contribute too much discussion, as it always ends up being upsetting...Certainly on-screen said movie does not breach any proprieties in that respect, though it does make me uncomfortable. "
On screen the character Tadzio was not abused, but off screen the director Visconti was guilty of child abuse by taking the actor who played Tadzio, an underage child, to homosexual nightclub and having him feel "used" and "uncomfortable" by the treatment he received there.
When I wrote "the exploitation of children by 'artists' and their retinue" I wasn't referring to Donatello or any painter or sculptor but to the director, Visconti and crew in that incident and repeatedly as Björn Andrésen said "...it was the first of many such encounters."
I have no problem with representing beauty in art, but I have a big problem if the real-life beautiful child that is the subject of the art is corrupted or exposed to abuse by the artist.
Goesta wrote: "Now THIS is truly disturbing. One of these two is definitively underage."
I am disturbed (but not surprised) by Spongebob's actions. He's a disturbed character.
What a shocking development in the world of Gay Film. I am bedrubbled to find that the script of the 2013 Gaybie Award winner for Best Gay Romance Film Private Romeo was by William Shakespearealthough the setting is contemporary and both Romeo and Juliet are male. (But then Shakespeare's actor who played Juliet was also male so perhaps it wasn't much different from the original production.)
Actually I own a DVD of this film and although one of my friends gave it a thumbs down and another gave it a shrug, I loved this film especially the ending which was the only part that deviated from Shakespeare's words because it had a (view spoiler)
On the left Juliet in white t-shirrt played by Matt Doyle and on the right Romeo in black played by Seth Numrich
Congratulations to Shakespeare on his Gaybie!
The difference in the original would have been that the boy playing Juliet would have been young enough for his voice not to have broken and would be wearing women's clothes except backstage where he would be servicing the patrons of the fine establishment, probably wearing not much. Without which Elizabethan convention the works of Shakespeare would never have seen the light of day. I do believe we need more than the word of one disgruntled, unhappy man with a sad career to condemn someone without access to further facts and circumstances.
Furthermore, while I would like nothing better than for R&J to have had a happy ending, and I think both actors are scrumptious, it doesn't, which is the whole point. Using Mr. S's words only to then alter the ending is tantamount to the worst excesses of the Victorian era's rewriting & -editing of the Bard's works to serve their own prudish and philistine ends and I'll have none of it. I'd rather have my eyeballs seared out watching the wretched, lurid Luhrman version.Harrumph.
Goesta wrote: "Furthermore, while I would like nothing better than for R&J to have had a happy ending, and I think both actors are scrumptious, it doesn't, which is the whole point. Using Mr. S's words only to th..."Well, there is another difference which is an important factor. In the new version, Juilet is a top and Romeo is a total bottom boi.
Lucas wrote: "Goesta wrote: "The portrayal of young beautiful people in art is a touchy matter to which I do not wish to contribute too much discussion, as it always ends up being upsetting...Certainly on-scree..."
I am discombobulated by this discussion and need to think about this more for my personal understanding.
A question that comes to mind "can art be seperated from the artist?". Is the music of Wagner still considered beautiful and something a decent person can enjoy even though he was an anti-Semite and adopted as a favorite composer by Hitler?
@Boyd: well, in that case I'm gonna HAVE to watch it now! Thanks a lot, you distracting, discombobulating man.@Jerry: which is part of why, even though it's been keeping me up half the night in my own head, I'm just not gonna have this discussion. Though I'd not put Visconti into a category with that second-rate watercolorist for taking a (possibly, don't know what the legal drinking age at the time was) underage person into an establishment that serves alcohol. Which certainly didn't ruin me for life.
Complaint Department
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