Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion
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I've just noticed the library book i'm reading is from 1973, thats pretty old... i think... i mean i can't say i've ever noticed how old a library book was before :) . hmmm... old book smell... aaaaah...
I love old library books, I've had some really old editions in the past, mainly obscure classics from the late 1800s. It almost doesn't feel right that I can borrow them!
Ha! "Finland tops podium for most Olympic medals won per capita"
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/201...
Btw, is anyone watching the Opening Ceremony?
Steve wrote: "This is totally off-topic for the group, but I binge-watched Season 5 of Homeland last couple of nights. Wow! Some of the best writing and acting coming out of Hollywood."I'm currently reading a book about this new era of television as a form of expression. It's called Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad. It's an inside look at the show runners and, to a lesser extent, the other writers of many of the most popular and critically acclaimed series of the last two decades. It discusses a lot of the new innovations of the era. Very fascinating so far.
A series of books that I have really come to like is The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series, which takes pop culture (bands, movies, tv shows) and pairs it with philosophical concepts. The books feature essays by (mostly) philosophy professors. It seems like it would be really dry, but they're actually very engaging. There's also a new series of books with the only difference of using psychology instead of philosophy which I'm pretty excited about since I know less about psychology.
Here is the book about Homeland for anyone interested. I've actually just started watching season 1 recently, so I'm not ready for the book yet, but I've read enough of the series to feel confident that it's good: Homeland and Philosophy
It's nice when you can find a new series of books that can expand your passion for other things!
Yes, I am watching under duress. I'm not really interested. Well, maybe Giselle will trip or something.
I have always watched the Olympics. I don't care what sport they are showing, if something is going on, I will follow it if possible, even at night. My favourite sport is the modern pentathlon, in the last games I managed to pick the winner as my favourite to follow throughout the day. He had that look in his eyes.
I am also the person my pub quiz team usually relies on knowing something about sports.
I like gymnastics and swimming. Giselle was, as always, without flaw.
Well I like any sport we have a chance of getting a medal but modern pentathlon is such a versatile sport and something you only see in the olympics AND they ride horses, too.
Impressive if hard to keep track of! The gymnasts didn't walk. Guess I need to check the schedules.
Did you see Tongo! Yum!!! I'm watching Taekwondo now.
I'll probably watch some of the women's soccer (Go Team USA!)And team handball is in the games this time around. Not sure if any of that will be on tv but if it is, I'll watch that. Its not very popular here in the US but its fun to watch when it is on.
I may watch some of the shooting events but that will depend on what they show and when.
I need to check the tv schedules.
Might watch some rugby this year too. The US is the reigning Olympic champion (because we won in 1924! Lol)
I'll be watching most of the Olympics, I especially enjoy swimming, gymnastics and athletics, but I often get sucked into watching sports that I don't think I'll enjoy, such as rowing, cycling or shooting. I'm not a fan of team ball sports though...football, rugby, hockey, basketball etc. I watched clips of the opening ceremony, most of the news today seemed focused on Tongo! That was quite a lack of an outfit, but it's got him noticed!
Without any conscious planning on my part, I ended up reading the rest of the book Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad throughout the night. I wish there was some tell that would let me know when I'm going to go into nuclear mode with my reading, but there doesn't seem to be any. The writing turned out to be great, but as a non-fiction book about television, you couldn't exactly term it a "page-turner". End result: I will spend much of today either functionally useless or napping.
Lena wrote: "Impressive if hard to keep track of!"Well it's not that hard to keep track of those "medal sports" when there are not that many to begin with, but it feels so much nicer if we get any. (If that's what you meant.) There's even a tradition that if a Finn wins gold, the sportscaster says: "Helsinki, Porilaisten marssi". (March of the Björneborgers is the honorary march of the defence forces.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wowi...
Historically the Olympics have been important, some have even said that Finland was run to the map of the world especially in 1912 when Finland even won Russia in football while still being a part of the Russian Empire (though an autonomous Grand Duchy), so the spirit of of independence was already showing. Also at the opening ceremonies Finns marched separately, after the Russian team.
I will probably just keep the tv open all (the Brazilian) day, they are showing little else on two channels, over 12 hours and most of it live, and then there is the web tv for anything they don't. Of course they will show when Finns are competing but they will show something even if there isn't.
My kids DVRed the opening ceremonies to watch tonight but weren't too it interested. Here are sports we may or may not watch keeping in mind that it's still baseball season and our team is in first: girls- gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, women's basketball, soccer- mens and women's. 10 year old boy-mens basketball, men's soccer, some track and swimming. Me- everything listed above and maybe rowing which has piqued my interest since I read Boys in the Boat. Truthfully if there's baseball available I probably will just watch highlights. Also NFL preseason starts tomorrow!!!
Okey, they are actually showing the olympics on one channel 24/7, it seems. I have to be careful and remember to sleep, too. LOL I actually like longer, more traditional sports a lot, like cycling yesterday that lasted over 6 hours. It's also easier when I don't have to worry about how Finns are doing. As I said, I will watch almost anything.
Has anyone seen the Netflix Original of "The Little Prince"? I thought it was really good. It has an additional real life story going in tandem with the fairytale . I thought it was really well done.
I added it to my Netflix list, Sue. I saw a really touching movie called "Little Boy." It's a box of Kleenex movie. It's about a little boy who believes that through faith and magic he can bring his dad home from the war. It's a good one but it'll make you cry!
Sherry wrote: "I added it to my Netflix list, Sue. I saw a really touching movie called "Little Boy." It's a box of Kleenex movie. It's about a little boy who believes that through faith and magic he can bring hi..."I've wanted to see Little Boy. I picked The Little Prince the other night because I assumed it would be short but it was around 2 hours! I had wanted something to get my mind off the creepy Amazon prime version of The Yellow Wallpaper. Ended up being up way later than I wanted but it was good.
The Yellow Wallpaper. 25 pages of dynamite for Catching up with the Classics discussion! Lol I'm still reading that thread. It's very busy!
Sherry wrote: "The Yellow Wallpaper. 25 pages of dynamite for Catching up with the Classics discussion! Lol I'm still reading that thread. It's very busy!"It sure is! I've tried to stay out of most of it because of the strong opinions on how to treat depression currently. I too have done a lot of research. We have a Neurosurgeon in the family who has continued to vigorously study the brain, having an interest in nonsurgical solutions to problems of the brain also. I've learned a great deal from him. Discussions with him prompted me to do a lot more of my own research.
I have my personal opinions of what is good but I didn't want to put myself in a certain camp because ultimately, the science is not settled. You can't get agreement from Doctors, Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Neurologists and they've all studied it more than myself or anyone else not in those professions. It comes down to the fact that no treatment is one size fits all, for any sickness really. It was hard for me but I decided to keep my mouth shut so has not to offend anyone.
What I will say though is that no one's comments on that thread were irresponsible. Everything said there is something you could find someone in the medical profession agreeing with. Regardless, even if it weren't, this is a literature discussion group board. I doubt anyone here would take medical treatment advice from something said here without doing their own research or checking with a doctor.
I never expected to see that discussion go that far! I disagreed with a few statements about the book but I'm keeping out of it. I'm no expert on depression or the brain so it's best to just read at this point. You could say what ever you want though. You actually know what you're talking about.
Sue, I just watched The Little Prince. What a sweet story.
Sherry wrote: "The Yellow Wallpaper. 25 pages of dynamite for Catching up with the Classics discussion! Lol I'm still reading that thread. It's very busy!"I've been happy to see how much discussion has been generated by The Yellow Wallpaper! Speaking for the mods, I do want to say that our highest priority is to encourage all members to participate in our discussions, and we definitely don't want the tone of conversations to become such that members feel uncomfortable contributing. We are keeping an eye on the more contentious conversations, and our hope is that all members will strive to be respectful and diplomatic in their disagreements.
That's very good to hear Christine. It's a very intelligent group and it's probably the longest book discussion I've seen. Its pretty amazing for a short story!
Thank you Christine.
Doing my once a year big clean because I ordered a sleep number bed and I want to impress the delivery men with my clean home for some absolutely useless reason that I was raised to believe was important. So here I am scrubbing and facing the black gunk just inside my sink that should never be seen by mortals, replacing every hanger with the slimline velvet ones and organizing, washing every sheet and organizing, dusting above light fixtures and organizing, vacuuming with a new dyson that informs me I'm the filthiest person in the world and organizing, carefully tackling the aged and possible explosive cleaning products under the sink and organizing, polishing mirrors until I can see tomorrow and organizing - all of this for two or three sweaty strange men I will never see again. Yet my mother would absolutely freak on me if she knew I hadn't. Don't raise your kids this way, it's exhausting! Hell, it's why I need that sleep number bed.Miranda Lambert is helping me through it.
Lena you aren't nuts. I do this every year before Passover. At least for three glorious days the house is clean.
Lena wrote: "Doing my once a year big clean because I ordered a sleep number bed and I want to impress the delivery men with my clean home for some absolutely useless reason that I was raised to believe was imp..."I really have to do a thorough cleaning like that also. It never seems to stay that way for long though!
Mod
LOL
Oh Lena what would we do without your wonderful thoughts & comments -- your life is so real -- I do the same.
I'm due to clean like that but after the heat wave! Early fall is perfect.Lena let us know how you like th bed!
Thanks guys. I'm so tired, and it's definitely just the first day, but the bag and bags of recycling/donation/trash in my garage are part accomplishment part guilty capitalist catharsis. I'm one person, how/why/when did I buy this stuff? A hot pink 80s floor length dress with lace edging will never come back in style (no matter how much in some moments I might want it to), so why am keeping it? And why did I buy it in 2003? I kept the purple leg warmer, purchased in 2010, because they are awesome. I opened an old lunch box in the back of my closet and found a wig. Who the heck was I when I did something that spooky?!?! Ok, so maybe my last annual cleans have been lacking effort but this week I'm digging in. Delivery date is the 20th and judging by contents of my lunch box I will need every single day between now and then. I'll let you know about the bed. Thanks for listening!
I missed your comment before Sherry. Glad you liked The Little Prince!
Thank you Christine and the all the rest of you moderators. You guys do so much with this very active group. I highly appreciate it.
Lena wrote: "Thanks guys. I'm so tired, and it's definitely just the first day, but the bag and bags of recycling/donation/trash in my garage are part accomplishment part guilty capitalist catharsis. I'm one pe..."Your clothes finds made me laugh! I know I have some amusing past fashions tucked away in my cupboards, but nothing quite as exciting. That could be quite a look you're putting together, which could be trialled when the delivery men bring your bed. Just think of their reaction when you open the door to your clean and polished house while sporting the hot pink dress, purple leg warmers and wig!
Sue wrote: "Thank you Christine and the all the rest of you moderators. You guys do so much with this very active group. I highly appreciate it."
And we highly appreciate all of your contributions as well :)
Sue wrote: "Thank you Christine and the all the rest of you moderators. You guys do so much with this very active group. I highly appreciate it."I agree. You all do a wonderful job. There's one other large group I've joined, then got out of, then joined just to remember why I got out the first time. You are all organized and involved and make it a delight.Thank you!
Sue wrote: "I missed your comment before Sherry. Glad you liked The Little Prince!"I'm going to read the actual book now!
I echo everyone else here. Thanks to all of the moderators. You do a wonderful job in keeping things running smoothly in the discussions.
Hah, Mo Farah is really trying to do "the Virens"! Lasse Viren also fell during the 10,000 metres on his gold medal (and WR) run in the Munich Olympics. (To this day he is the only man who has won both 5,000 m and 10,000 m in back-to-back Olympics, 1972 and 1976.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkXsj...
Tytti wrote: "Hah, Mo Farah is really trying to do "the Virens"! Lasse Viren also fell during the 10,000 metres on his gold medal (and WR) run in the Munich Olympics. (To this day he is the only man who has won ..."I know, I was watching him race and the commentator had just mentioned Viren doing the 'double double' and falling in one of his races, a few moments later Mo fell...and then went on to win! I was so pleased for him, he was quite emotional in his interviews afterwards, as was Greg Rutherford after 'only' managing bronze in the long jump. I've really been enjoying all of the Olympics, even the sports that I don't usually like...haven't done much reading this past week though!
I've been reading shorter books just to get reading in. My girls love the gymnastics and swimming and I have been watching more of the Olympics than I originally thought. Plus track is starting too.
It was a shame, though, watching those pictures of the former Olympic venues. We held the Summer Olympics in 1952 and most (all?) of them are still in use. The Olympic Stadium is under renevation at the moment and it was built for 1940, like many of them.Check how the athletes break ranks (?) when Paavo Nurmi comes with the Olympic torch! I haven't seen it happen elsewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRjHQ...
If you need a bit of lovely whimsy, here's a great collection of photos from an artist who creates and photographs meals based on scenes in classic novels: http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/201...
Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ wrote: "If you need a bit of lovely whimsy, here's a great collection of photos from an artist who creates and photographs meals based on scenes in classic novels: http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/201......"Cool find! Thanks for sharing. :-)
I came across this short article and thought it a wonderful idea. Does anyone here read French and, if so, would you please translate the note in the picture for me? Thanks so much!!! ;-)http://goodereader.com/blog/bookselli...
That sounds great Bat-Cat and reminds me of the books on the underground project on London's tube. They mostly give away newer published books, by leaving them on different tube lines and stations for people to find. It's been happening for years now but I don't use the tube often enough to have found one. Sorry I can't help with the translation in the picture, my high school French is far too rusty. I hope people are out hunting for the books!
Bat-Cat wrote: "I came across this short article and thought it a wonderful idea. Does anyone here read French and, if so, would you please translate the note in the picture for me? Thanks so much!!! ;-)http://g..."
What a great idea. The note in the picture roughly translates to:
"Hello!
I´m a book in freedom! Take me, read me and then set me free in nature again so others can profit as well!
More information on the facebook page "Chasseurs de livres"."
Thanks Pink (my college French is WAY to rusty to attempt this too) and Jonathan (for the great translation - rough as it may be). I thought it was a really great idea as well and I may just try to attempt something similar in my community. It certainly sounds like a great way to clean out my bookshelves and well... you just never know what will come of it. One thing the world (and people) could use is more good books. ;-)
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
They Were Sisters (other topics)The Wind in the Willows (other topics)
The Wind In The Willows (other topics)
The Consequence of Anna (other topics)
The Consequence of Anna (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Kate Birkin (other topics)Robert Coover (other topics)
Ray Bradbury (other topics)
Kate Birkin (other topics)
Kate Birkin (other topics)
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But they don't seem to succeed in that very often. Though I am not sure who decides what kind of a hit it should be, I think usually the hitter, but the game leader tells the runners during which pitch they should run, "the sign is on", as they say. And that's what happened in the clip I posted.
Also for the hit to be "legal" it has to touch the ground between the lines first, and fly balls are "illegal" but a catch only "wounds" the runners, they don't "get killed" unless they are "burned" to the base. The runners are out of that situation but it's not an out. And the players have different roles when on the infield, too. Some are better runners, the others are "changers" (they try to advance the runners in the field) and some are more like "scorers", they try to get the runner home from the third base.