Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion
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Dawn wrote: "Darcy wrote: "I'm Canadian and abhor hockey. There isn't a sport I hate more than hockey, though curling puts me to sleep. It's like golf to me, fine if you're playing; what's the point of being a ..."Isn't [or wasn't] curling an Olympic winter sport?
I think curling was approved for the Games four years ago. There is a funny scene in The Beatles' second movie, "Help" when they are curling.
It's definitely an Olympic sport. And there is a movie called Men With Brooms about curling that is very funny. Though possibly only to Canadians! :)
I agree that American football has become a very dangerous game. Recently, I heard that watching football is edging into the "guilty pleasure" category of things Americans do. I still watch selected games because doing so reminds me of my Father. When I was a kid in the 1950s, he and I used to watch football on Saturdays and Sundays. He played in high school and club after that. I have a picture of him wearing a leather helmet in the 1920s. And, on summer nights, we'd listen to the baseball games on the radio. The historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin tells of this sort of father-daughter relationship wonderfully in: Wait Till Next Year
Portia wrote: "Hey, Derek! Did you watch The Ice Bowl? What a good game! Down to the final seconds. I had a feeling SF would win because they were hyper-aware of the weather being a disadvantage for them."
I sure did, Portia. Great game! I do not miss the NFL playoffs or the NCAA national championship game. I'm an unrepentant American football freak, so those things are what I consider must see TV.:) GO SAINTS!!!
I sure did, Portia. Great game! I do not miss the NFL playoffs or the NCAA national championship game. I'm an unrepentant American football freak, so those things are what I consider must see TV.:) GO SAINTS!!!
Linda wrote: "Derek, I watched the game."
Another great game, Linda. That was the best national championship game in quite some time.
Another great game, Linda. That was the best national championship game in quite some time.
Darcy: you abhor hockey? It pains me to say that we can no longer be friends :( I will miss you lol.
Dawn wrote: "Allie wrote: "WHAT??? You don't care much for hockey and curling isn't that big of a sport? Are you sure you're Canadian? ;)..."lol
I still say 'eh' and I can pronounce Tsawwassen, Squamish, Oso..."
Dawn, what is this language you speak of??? :D
Allie wrote: "Darcy: you abhor hockey? It pains me to say that we can no longer be friends :( I will miss you lol."I betcha she can still speak hockey, even if she hates it. :)
Allie wrote: "Darcy: you abhor hockey? It pains me to say that we can no longer be friends :( I will miss you lol."It's one of those things that involve imbalances in my family and how priorities were set. Also, I witnessed a young man who loved playing, and when it became apparent he could make the big leagues his mother took over his life and ruined it for him. There's a reference to it in the film Bon Cop, Bad Cop
As for curling, yeah there's some of that here too. The Tournament of Hearts I think is located around here. It comes from Scotland and there are plenty of those here. Admittedly I didn't see many curling rinks in Nova Scotia though. The last time I went to Scotland my travel partner who curls (she's from Green Bay though) and we stopped at a curling rink in Pitlochry. It also doubles as the local radio station.
Dawn wrote: "Allie wrote: "Darcy: you abhor hockey? It pains me to say that we can no longer be friends :( I will miss you lol."I betcha she can still speak hockey, even if she hates it. :)"
Yup. My entire family are hockey people. My niece plays hockey and every time is see her now she talks about all the cute local OHL players. Probably I should pretend interest more.
Agreed! It's actually quite good at depicting the language issue in Canada as well as some good and bad stereotypes. Plus the whole hockey mania thing.
I missed so much since I signed off.Dawn, I would love to move to Seattle but we need two jobs there and I need to pry the girlfriend away from her family.
Hockey? I love, love hockey (even though our local team isn't that great-so far we lost 5 and won 4 games). It is also a great way to cool down in hot weather.
I also like soccer but agree that American football isn't for me either. I just don't get how 32 seconds that turn into a half hour is exciting.
Has anyone ever watched pool league championships? Its so very awesome!
Dawn wrote: "Darcy wrote: "...There's a reference to it in the film Bon Cop, Bad Cop..."That was a good show!"
Going to see if I can get here.
Lisa wrote: "No for me it's cricket. I hate it, there is nothing good to be said about it, it has no redeeming features, and in a country that gets as hot as Australia does, it is the stupidest sport in the wor..."Oi!! *goes red* I...have..you....what...no. Just no.
I love cricket. :-)
Darcy wrote: "Agreed! It's actually quite good at depicting the language issue in Canada as well as some good and bad stereotypes. Plus the whole hockey mania thing."I need to find this movie.
I'm a full fledged hockey girl. My moms side all loves it (grandpa, uncles, cousin's all played & my mother figured skated so I practically grew up in a rink). My grandpa would flood our backyards in the winter and we all learned how to skate that way. My dad (his family is Canadian) hates it! Go figure.
I was a Broncos fan when I was little because of the great J.E. but couldn't watch a football game to save my life now. Don't know anything about soccer except that David Beckham looks great all sweaty in shorts ;)
Mark wrote: "Watching the bad weather in north america on the bbcnews stay safe you people."Thanks for the well wishes Mark! In the last two days I've heard three different cities turn their emergency sirens on! I'm afraid to go outside. Zombies can't survive in the cold can they??
So if you guys don't hear from me...either the zombie apocalypse has finally struck (I've been watching too much of "the walking dead") or my house is buried in snow.
Allie wrote: "Mark wrote: "Watching the bad weather in north america on the bbcnews stay safe you people."Thanks for the well wishes Mark! In the last two days I've heard three different cities turn their emer..."
According to World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, zombies freeze solid until they thaw out in the spring so you should be safe from zombies for now. :P
Oh awesome! These sirens had me worried. I can deal with being buried alive by snow. I have tea & books! Lol.
Alicja wrote: " According to World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, zombies freeze solid until they thaw out in the spring so you should be safe from zombies for now. :P ..."Wow. Lucky. ;-)
I've been hearing about the big chill in the US on the news. Pretty serious shizzle. Thinking of you all!
I think its weaning off...the wind shield warnings end after tomorrow. Then temps are supposed to go up into the 30s by me for the next two weeks. Of course that could all change!
Mark wrote: "Watching the bad weather in north america on the bbcnews stay safe you people."Thanks, Mark. I appreciate your thoughts!
Finally we got our first cold day of the year today. 58//14 F/C degrees. I feel bad for those up north but am loving it so cold down here. Sorry guys.
Bahahaha sorry Terri! I just don't get it! Who the hell wants to stand out in the hot hot sun, waiting for a ball to come to them. And I especially don't like them after Ricky Ponting, carried on like a pork chop at Sydney airport, demanding that the team be put in an exclusive area so they didn't have to be " mixing with cattle class". Very classy.
Lisa wrote: "Bahahaha sorry Terri! I just don't get it! Who the hell wants to stand out in the hot hot sun, waiting for a ball to come to them. And I especially don't like them after Ricky Ponting, carried on l..."When Ricky Ponting was captain he had his head so far up his own arse I was surprised he could get his sunglasses on.
I am not a fan of the Australian cricket team. They are ungracious in both defeat AND victory. That pathetic chant of 5-0 was just bloody childish.
I hope South Africa beats them into the ground.
Ricky Ponting isn't in the team anymore. He retired. I didn't like him either and went through a phase of not watching any cricket because I couldn't stand the teams ego under Ponting.I like this current team. They haven't been ungracious in defeat at all, in my opinion that is.
There is a reason why they are rubbing this Ashes win in England's face. Chanting 5-0.
Because of the way England won the last Ashes. It was not good and stirred up Cricket Australia and fans of Cricket. This Ashes was pay back for England's tactics in that last Ashes.
Two wrongs don't make a right though.Just because the English team behaved like a pack of brats doesn't mean Australia has carte blanche to do the same.
The didn't NEED to behave like that; they chose to. That is pretty contemptible in my book.
There is no wrong or brattishness in gloating about the Ashes. It's the Ashes. It is expected from both sides when they win.I can see how it would look to people who aren't into the cricket though. The rivalry surrounding the Ashes is a special and unique rivalry and gloating and boasting is a strong part of the Ashes culture. On both sides. It has always been the way and will continue to be the way. It is not bad sportsmanship in this case, it is the Ashes.
Unless someone is passionate about the cricket and into the Ashes they are never going to understand the rivalry.
We do it to England, England does it to us. We laugh about it, England laughs about it. We do it to England and they say 'those bloody Aussies'. England does it to us and we say 'those bloody poms'.
That's Ashes cricket.
I am into the cricket and I am very proud of our team. They have played incredible cricket this summer.
Lols I posted on here last year when england won the ashes hands down, that the great cricket they was playing wouldnt last.
You guessed right. :) I wonder what happened to them. i figured it was the heat. I was kind of disappointed. While my hubby likes to see the opposition get thrashed, no matter the sport, I like to see a close match. I kept willing the poms to lift and make it a tougher competition. But they just got more and more disinterested in playing full test matches. They would only show up, mentally, for a day of cricket.
We decided to finally shed our dependence on dairy and go vegan after watching Forks Over Knives documentary. If anyone has Netflix, it is on there and it is worth watching.
Terri wrote: "I love my animal protein too much to turn vegetarian or vegan. :-)"Just check out the documentary. It isn't about animal treatment like most but about the research behind the health benefits. It is actually very scary what we have been consuming.
I do like soccer though, I think that's my Maltese heritage coming out. I don't like league but like union. Motorcycle racing, is more my thing actually. I would love to win lotto so Chris & I can go to the Isle of Mann races. I would think that just the bees knees. I have a friend who has told her husband that if she is ever diagnosed with a terminal illness he is to sell everything he can get his hands on to fulfil her dying wish of going there, lol.
Alicja wrote: "Terri wrote: "I love my animal protein too much to turn vegetarian or vegan. :-)"Just check out the documentary. It isn't about animal treatment like most but about the research behind the health..."
I don't mind consuming scary things. Besides, my grandparents are in their mid 90's, still living like regular folk in their own home holding dinner parties etc, and playing Golf twice a week. They look in their seventies. Animal protein foods never hurt them much. I intend on following in their footsteps. ;-)
Alicja wrote: "We decided to finally shed our dependence on dairy and go vegan after watching Forks Over Knives documentary. If anyone has Netflix, it is on there and it is worth watching."Cannot go vegan. I like my dairy food too much. My diet is around 95% vegetarian.
The interesting thing is everyone is different. Everyone absorbs nutrients in a slightly different way. For example, I cannot eat nuts or corn. Not allergic, but my body hates them. If I was to go vegan, I would not get the nutrients my body needs.
On the opposite side of the coin, my body adores milk. I seem to get maximum nutritional mileage from a glass of milk.
I read a theory that makes some sense to me that our bodies digestive abilities are linked into our DNA. That the ability to absorb most nutrients from milk suggests a genetic heritage from a herder culture, where the main source of nutrition was from the milk from the herds, and everything else was secondary when you could get it.
Lisa wrote: "I do like soccer though, I think that's my Maltese heritage coming out. I don't like league but like union. Motorcycle racing, is more my thing actually. I would love to win lotto so Chris & I can..."I like tye Australian Soccer. Don't like International soccer much. Too much falling over and faking injuries in European Soccer. The Aussies play a tougher form of Soccer and I enjoy that.
Also like the V8 Supercars.
As an animal rights activist, I wish I could cut meat/dairy completely but its not going to happen. I have limited myself though to once a day. If I have bacon at breakfast, that's it... only salad or pasta for lunch/dinner. On a healthy note...my philosophy is that we're all gonna die anyway, I'm gonna eat whatever & be happy :) Besides, as a single member household, I need my milk. Cereal or ice cream is usually what's for dinner!
Good luck though Alicja!! I'm rooting for you!
Indeed you did get royally trounced. It was a disaster. There was only one test match out of the five where England had some fight in them.I don't think it helped that the first match was in my state of Queensland. We really sledged them hard in that first match. The poms got Queenslanders fired up because they got off the plane and straight away started trashing our state's capital city and our State in the media. Saying at the airport after arriving "Brisbane is the only Australian city that nobody has even heard of" and "We're not interested in seeing any of Brisbane, this state has nothing worth seeing".
So, naturally, the crowds gave the team a gobful during the test match and I think it really took the wind out of England's sails for the first two test matches.
Margaret wrote: "I read a theory that makes some sense to me that our bodies digestive abilities are linked into our DNA. That the ability to absorb most nutrients from milk suggests a genetic heritage from a herder culture..."You mean you're a Mongol. Me too. I live and thrive on milk.
Books mentioned in this topic
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Allan Hands (other topics)
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Is there small curling leagues out east too?? That's how I think of curling. You join a small league, go play on Tuesday and Thursday night, have a beer..... :)
Kinda like bowling!