On Paths Unknown discussion
The Anything Goes chit-chat thread (subject to tiny fine-print rules)
Traveller wrote: "Has anybody gone to see Mr. Holmes yet? Looks like something worthwhile catching?"
It looks interesting. I just watched Maggie :
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1881002/
It is not your typical zombie fare. I thought it very well done. And don't worry...no zombie hordes and mayhem. It is a subtle quiet movie.
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Mr. Holmes yet? Looks like something worthwhile catching?"
It looks interesting. I just watched Maggie :
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1881002/ "
Hmm, funny, I've never really enjoyed the zombie trope. Even as a teen, I was far more attracted to the vampire and werewolf kind of thing than zombies.
To me, as a kid, zombies always did seem frightening in the way that tanks or robots can be in that they sort of just mechanistically keep going, but meh, if you think about it, they're kinda boring, too.
But Maggie does seem as if it approaches the thing from a different angle. Does she lose her (view spoiler) like the average zombie, Jennifer?
Boo, and now I went and forgot to go see Mr Holmes. Wonder if it's still showing. I'll catch it on the vid circuit then...
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We do. We have some exciting looking series starting next week including the third season of Bron (the original of The Bridge, a Swedish-Danish collaboration). We are really looking forward to that.
Traveler said: "Does anybody around here watch any TV shows, btw?" The ones that are still going on that I watch are The Big Bang Theory, Bones, NCIS and The Vampire Diaries.
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...but in any case, I have discovered one or two Canadian shows that are pretty nice. To anybody who enjoys both mysteries/detective and steampunk, there's an excellent show already in its 7th or 8th season called Murdoch Mysteries .
The show is set in Toronto at the turn of the previous century (it starts in the late 1800's).
It's very cute in how it presages modern technology, and even just modern little sayings and things - for example, they invent how to take fingerprints and call them "fingermarks", and you see how they started using the saying "it's not my cuppa tea", in quite humorous vein.
The show opens where people are introduced to the possibility of electricity for domestic use, and all kinds of devices are invented in the course of the show, like the telegraph, the telephone, later on the petrol engine, and so forth.
These are just a backdrop to the (mostly episodic) show, though - detective Murdoch is a very intelligent and forward-looking person who loves approaching his murder mysteries from a scientific angle.
Anyway, I could say lots more about the show, but hey - they're not paying me to promote it (yet). :D
Traveller wrote: "Well, I am a terribly curious and impatient person, so the only 2 shows I watch while it's still airing, is Silicon Valley and GOT, - don't ask me why the latter, what with all the horror and rape ..."Wow that Canadian show sounds very interesting. It reminded me that I have a French show I also watch: "Engrenages" or it's English title is "Spiral." I love that show, I was introduced to it by my French lecturer at University. I watch it with English subtitles. It's also more or less a detective/police series.
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Otherwise, I get them as rentals. I prefer getting my shows this way, because I like to binge. XD
Will look out for the show you mentioned.
It's about this woman detective Laure Berthaud and her team who investigate and try to solve various crimes from serial killers to terrorism, drug cartels or smaller crimes. A lot of it is also about the personal lives of these characters. I love how tough Laure is and that she holds her own in this usually male dominated profession. Then there is the magistrate Pierre Clément and the judge he usually consults or works with, François Roban.
In each episodes there are usually multiple cases going on where they shift from the cases of Laure to the cases of the magistrate and judge. Usually there's also one that links up with the two departments where they are working together to put someone in jail or gather evidence. The series also gives a look into corruption in the legal system where, for example, some high profile characters try to stop Pierre Clément from getting higher up in his career because he cannot be bribed to turn a blind eye to the underhand dealings of these people.
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Wow, it sounds like a very interesting look into the French system. The only French shows I have ever seen, have been more romantic type things - oh, with the exception of - I think they used to have a show about Arsene Lupin that I saw a few episodes of? ..but I mean, most of the few French shows I saw were not set in a modern-day setting. The show you describe sounds modern.
I must try and find an outlet for foreign language shows. The thing with French movies, though, is that I find they talk too fast for me to be able to pick up anything they say, even if I know the words on black-and-white... :P
Traveller wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Has anybody gone to see Mr. Holmes yet? Looks like something worthwhile catching?"
It looks interesting. I just watched Maggie :
http://www.imdb.com/title/..."
Well it is a virus without a cure....
Traveller wrote: "Does anybody around here watch any TV shows, btw? "Doctor Who (I was away when the new series started, so I have two weeks to catch up on). I'd also say I watch GoT and Orphan Black, but I still haven't got past episode 5 of last season's GoT and haven't even started Orphan Black...
I've seen the odd episode of Murdoch Mysteries (probably when visiting my mother), but I've read many of the books : Except the Dying, etc.
Dr Who and Orphan Black for me too (series 3 of the latter starts this week), and we recently binge watched the whole of Breaking Bad. We don't watch a lot of other TV though, other than films.
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But anyway, sorry to change the subject, but I just -had- to share this:
Do not ask me how he manages to make it defy gravity in that astonishing way! :O
It looks as if, if someone could sit on his head, they would have some very convenient handlebars to drive him with! :D
Traveler, that is truly astonishing! I wonder if he would enjoy you sitting on his head? :P
This whole renewal of the facial hair phenomenon is just.....no.
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I suspect he would be using wax or hair spray to keep it in shape.
There's an annual beard and mustache competition; I hope Traveller's one was an entrant:http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/
Oh, I'm just laughing. Came across an open thread re Purity. I don't care if it's good or bad; once I take to a contemporary writer, I'm interested in her/his development and read all their works with interest. Just as they do Ferris and Lethem (but not DFW, because it's a sin not to take him unto to your bosom whether you've read him or not), they're tearing Franzen apart. I think it's hugely interesting and a privilege just to watch a writer at work. And I have my opinions. But only time will tell.
As George Meredith (1828-1909) wrote of a contemporary of his (named, hmm, let's see, Dickens):
"Not much of Dickens will live, because it has so little correspondence to life. He was the incarnation of cockneydom, a caricaturist who aped the moralist; he should have kept to short stories. If his novels are read at all in the future, people will wonder what we saw in them."
You do have to laugh. A little humility is a good thing, I like to say, and so is a little humor.
As George Meredith (1828-1909) wrote of a contemporary of his (named, hmm, let's see, Dickens):
"Not much of Dickens will live, because it has so little correspondence to life. He was the incarnation of cockneydom, a caricaturist who aped the moralist; he should have kept to short stories. If his novels are read at all in the future, people will wonder what we saw in them."
You do have to laugh. A little humility is a good thing, I like to say, and so is a little humor.
Traveller wrote: "Hmm, I started Orphan Black Season 1, but I'm too far behind, and Dr Who is just too way out for me. :P
But anyway, sorry to change the subject, but I just -had- to share this:
Do not ask me ho..."
Oh, that's just creepy. I bet he leaves the lid up on the porcelain convenience...
But anyway, sorry to change the subject, but I just -had- to share this:
Do not ask me ho..."
Oh, that's just creepy. I bet he leaves the lid up on the porcelain convenience...
Nell wrote: "As George Meredith (1828-1909) wrote of a contemporary of his…."And George Meredith is sooo well known today. Literally, poetic justice.
Traveller wrote: "Dr Who is just too way out for me."
Well, sure, but I've been watching it since 1963 (though there are a couple of years in the late 80s that were not available in Canada that I've recently acquired and haven't seen yet), so it's a case of having too much invested in it to quit now!
Traveller wrote: "In my defense, I also used to roller skate as a child/teen, and thence feel a need to distinguish between the two types of skating. ;)But yeah, salt brine is definitely a tautology, isn't it? Li..."
From my grandmother, RIP: "Sugar diabetes"
I used to do both types of skating, too!
[Name Redacted] wrote: "Paul wrote: "Anything goes? Oh well.... yesterday I went to London and found myself on Mile End Road, sitting in a pub which was bang opposite the front door of the notorious East London Mosque. Th..."I'm not sure about the number/title, but yes, it did seem as though there were a bookstore every 10 feet.
The best one?
https://www.google.com/search?q=el+at...
Whisking us in and outta there in 20 minutes, as I say, was a particularly cruel form of torture.
Traveller wrote: "But yeah, salt brine is definitely a tautology, isn't it?"No. All brine is salt (so "salt brine" is redundant), but not all salt is brine. And sugar diabetes is not so much a tautology as just incorrect. At least, as I understand it, we used to have "sugar diabetes" and "juvenile diabetes", now they're known as "type 2" and "type 1", respectively, because the old names were at best inexact.
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You're a Franzen fan? Hmm, as a person I find him rather cocksure and rather sexist - will point you to the essays he wrote that makes me feel that way when I find them. But hey, what did we just say in the other thread about not letting personal dislikes of authors get into the way, eh? So yeah, I should cut him some slack, I suppose.
Speaking of contemporary writers, I am glad you mention them, since I was hoping we'd gain some traction in this group for reading some of them soon.
And talking of contemporary, I was hoping we could have a look soon at the pièce de résistance of the new kid on the block, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
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And yet, calling Dickens a caricaturist is not far out. He was dead wrong about the durability and future popularity of Dickens though, eh? Ha.
Yes, he was a caricaturist. I doubt Dickens would have objected to that characterization. It was the "…who aped the moralist" part that got me. I can only imagine from that, and "it has so little correspondence to life", that Mr. Meredith only had the slightest inkling of how "life" was in his own social stratum. Far from wondering what the Victorians saw in them, I can only wonder why Meredith didn't see anything.
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I started one here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
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Yes, nothing inherently wrong with caricature, and after all, those of Dickens became classic.
That said, I loved Great Expectations most, perhaps because it presented itself as more subtle to me?
I have a soft spot for A Tale of Two Cities, which is one of the few books I read for high school that I really enjoyed. I read David Copperfield at five, so it's arguable that Dickens has had an immense effect on my entire reading life, even though I haven't actually read much of him (my mother has a complete set, in leather binding, that she inherited from her father—who, honestly, I'd have thought was more a Meredith type than Dickens—but it's been promised to my older sister...grrrr!).
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Ugh, I feel your pain. My father had a similar set, as well as a leather set of "Punch", also of Balzac, but I lost out on a lot of his books in a similar way. >:(
I really should re-read A Tale of 2 Cities (found it a tad boring as a kid, but because it was over my head)- but, you know, HUUUUGE TBR...
Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "I have a soft spot for A Tale of Two Cities, which is one of the few books I read for high school that I really enjoyed. I read David Copperfield at five, so it's arguable..."
Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "I have a soft spot for A Tale of Two Cities, which is one of the few books I read for high school that I really enjoyed. I read David Copperfield at five, so it's arguable..."
I'm a huge fan of Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend. Dark, dark books...
Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "I have a soft spot for A Tale of Two Cities, which is one of the few books I read for high school that I really enjoyed. I read David Copperfield at five, so it's arguable..."
I'm a huge fan of Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend. Dark, dark books...
I have never read Dickens. I have been thinking of reading Bleak House and I also want to read The Moonstone. Yes I know two different authors.
Jennifer wrote: "I have never read Dickens. I have been thinking of reading Bleak House and I also want to read The Moonstone. Yes I know two different authors."Those both sound good. I read a lot of Dickens when I was a teen, but this one has evaded me so far.
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I have also missed out on Bleak House, and by all accounts, I have missed out on a lot. So what do you say we do a buddy-read/discussion for it here on the group sometime in 2016?
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins? I wonder if we'll get some takers for that, but yeah, that's another one I've had on the TBR a long, long time. Btw! Of course Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens were friends(/rivals) - and if you're interested, their lives are dealt with in an interesting way in the novel Drood by Dan Simmons.
Traveller wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "I have never read Dickens. I have been thinking of reading Bleak House and I also want to read The Moonstone. Yes I know two different authors."I have al..."
Oh...a buddy read. That sounds great.
Mod
Wow, you are putting terrible thoughts in my mind here, Jennifer... huge, ambitious thoughts like a kind of reader's orgy involving one big project consisting of reading and discussing Bleak House, Drood and the Moonstone all together..... *enter scary Gothic music*....
*must not think such thoughts - bound for failure* *remember that BIG TBR list*.....
Traveller wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "I have never read Dickens. I have been thinking of reading Bleak House and I also want to read The Moonstone. Yes I know two different authors."I have al..."
I'm down for that! For both, bc I've heard so much about Collins.
I haven't read Drood, but we did read the Dickens book and "The Last Dickens" as a companion piece (in a F2F I used to be a part of).
Traveller wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "I read Drood. Which made me want to read those stories."Wow, you are putting terrible thoughts in my mind here, Jennifer... huge, ambitious thoughts like a kind o..."
Well, great minds must think alike, as they say, because the same thoughts were running through my head! :D
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I haven't read Drood, but we did read the Dickens book and "The Last Dickens" as a companion piece (in a F2F I used to be a part of).."
Oh dear oh dear oh dear...... *Wrings hands* ...it's coming TRUE!!!!!! :O:O
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LOL. *Traveller capitulates and melts into a ball of marshmallow*
It seems as if resistance is futile. :D Okay, let's make it a date. But for when? Bleak House is BIGG.
Traveller wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "I have never read Dickens. I have been thinking of reading Bleak House and I also want to read The Moonstone. Yes I know two different authors."
I have al..."
I didn't know that! How interesting!
I have al..."
I didn't know that! How interesting!
Traveller wrote: "Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens were friends(/rivals) - and if you're interested, their lives are dealt with in an interesting way in the novel Drood by Dan Simmons. "Really? Dan Simmons is an author I have a complicated relationship with. I can't say I've ever really liked anything he wrote, but they stick in my mind.
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Really?..."
I enjoy his style but he's been accused of being anti-Islam, and they may be right...
Traveller wrote: "Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens were friends(/rivals) - and if you're interested, their lives are dealt with in an interesting way in the..."Really?? What has he written that is anti-islam? I wish I hadn't learned that..:(
I used google. I am not signing up to read what is on his websites forum. I still like what I have read.
Here is my review of Blade of tyshalle 2nd book in Acts of caine. Really hated this book and stopped reading it after 75%.
On Paths Unknown
Books mentioned in this topic
Infinite Jest (other topics)Infinite Jest (other topics)
The Tell-Tale Heart (other topics)
First Person Singular: Stories (other topics)
Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Bruno Schulz (other topics)Fyodor Dostoevsky (other topics)
Umberto Eco (other topics)
Dan Simmons (other topics)
Anthony Doerr (other topics)
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Mr. Holmes yet? Looks like something worthwhile catching?