Random Thoughts Showing 1,001-1,050 of 17,689

[Dawn]

That was a good catch Margaret, I just read the book last month and it sailed right over my head. :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Off to do some xmas shopping today, so I won't be around much. No fighting or scratching! Keep it clean. (Although Dawn will be around I suppose to break things up) :-)

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Dawn wrote: "That was a good catch Margaret, I just read the book last month and it sailed right over my head. :)"

I am fortunate (or maybe not so) that if I read something often enough, chunks of it will sit in my memory. I used to be able to recite whole chapters of Watership Down from memory.

Also, HHGTTG is one of my all time favorite novels. I adored the radio series and the TV adaptation. There was something about Douglas Adams' weird sense of humor that delighted me.

[David]

Lol, Terri. Have fun. :)

Margaret, that's a great skill. I lived in Germany for a while when I was 18 and some kids were watching the movie 'Highlander' dubbed in German. I didn't speak any of the language yet but they were all amazed that I knew the entire dialogue of the film. Of course I had watched it about a hundred times by then. I can't do that with written material like you can, but if I have seen it or heard it, especially more than once, I can usually replicate it, especially lines from the movie that won the Academy Award for greatest movie ever made.

HHGTTG is one of the most all-around, tour-de-force, fun, intelligent and thoughtful pieces of writing I have ever encountered. My favorite was the BBC TV adaptation, especially the narrated bits from the Guide. And as much as I'm a fan of Bill Nighy, Richard Vernon's Slartibartfast might be my favorite character, although Mark Wing-Davey's Zaphod is pretty cool too. :)

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

David wrote: "Lol, Terri. Have fun. :)

Margaret, that's a great skill. I lived in Germany for a while when I was 18 and some kids were watching the movie 'Highlander' dubbed in German. I didn't speak any of the..."

OMG. You are the first person I know that also loves the BBC TV adaptation. Everyone else I know who loves HHGTTG thinks it's awful. The actor who played Ford Prefect (can't remember his name) was terrific. He looked like I pictured Ford in my mind. I found it on dvd a couple of months ago. Been trying to schedule a HHGTTG marathon. :)

[David]

I think it's 'cause most people are totally spoiled by slick production values and have lost the ability to suspend their disbelief. I also watched a lot of old Dr. Who when I was a kid and didn't mind having to imagine SFX being way cooler than they actually were.

Ford was great, I think his line deliveries were bang on for the character as written. I loaned out my DVD of HHGTTG and can't remember who has it. Will have to re-buy it at some point as it's definitely worth re-watching. :)

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

The actor was David Dixon. He also turned in a fantastic performance as Prince John in the BBC TV version of Robin Hood (with Paul Darrow from Blake's 7 as the Sheriff of Nottingham).

I'm the same. I loved Dr Who (circa Jon Pertwee) and also Blake's 7. All I need was the lines and the imagination..the SFX, or lack thereof, didn't worry me.

[David]

I like Pertwee a lot, but I'm a big fan of Tom Baker as well. Never saw Blake's 7 -- but I just looked it up and it sounds really cool. Will have to look for it on Netflix or some other source. Noticed B7 was created by Terry Nation, who created the Daleks. A friend of mine once asked the very astute question of why people didn't just walk up some stairs when being chased by those overgrown shop-vacs. Still...they were kind of menacing.

A trip down Dalek memory lane - which at this point, I do believe, does qualify as ancient history. Lol ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5bKQx...

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

LOL. I went to a telethon in Auckland, NZ where someone had made a life sized, remote control Dalek. I was in my early 20s. I was fine...until the bloody thing moved. I freaked out. I was absolutely terrified.

I loved Blake's 7. The acting was good, but the writing was better. The scripts were awesome with many lines still memorable after 30 years.

[David]

:) Will definitely check it out.

[Bryn]

Who mentioned BLAKE'S 7? I was the biggest fan.
I bet I can quote whole episodes.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Bryn wrote: "Who mentioned BLAKE'S 7? I was the biggest fan.
I bet I can quote whole episodes."

That would be me. *grins* I adored Blake's 7. Especially Kerr Avon. :D

[Bryn]

Margaret wrote: "That would be me. *grins* I adored Blake's 7. Especially Kerr Avon. :D"

Ah yes. Kerr Avon, and I came to like Roj Blake about as much. Great to meet a true B7 fan in these parts. I have the dvds of course but I know them too much by heart to watch them these days. If only I'd forget a few lines...

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

I haven't got the dvds. Didn't fit my budget at the time, and now they aren't available. :(

I loved the Avon/Vila dynamic.

I wrote some pieces of fan fiction at the time, some of which was published in fanzines.

[Bryn]

Margaret wrote: "I haven't got the dvds. Didn't fit my budget at the time, and now they aren't available. :("

Aren't they? That's terrible. Not even from overseas?
I have a fanwriter past. Back in the days of paper fanzines.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Bryn wrote: "Margaret wrote: "I haven't got the dvds. Didn't fit my budget at the time, and now they aren't available. :("

Aren't they? That's terrible. Not even from overseas?
I have a fanwriter past. Back ..."

JB Hi-Fi occasionally has them. Keep hoping it will fall in with my budget one day. Overseas they are just way too expensive. Especially when you factor postage in.

My Blake's 7 writing was in the days of the paper zines. :) My NCIS fan fiction is internet based. How times have changed.

[Bryn]

I find the go for tv boxsets is January sales at Amazon UK. I've saved masses that way - can't afford over the counter in Australia. Postage not bad from UK for dvds (unlike books).
Times have changed in fandom, you're right there.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

LOVED Blake's 7. It was the greatest show. I was only young when it was going around, but I remember how all us little kids were devastated when the show finished.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

RE Running up stairs when being chased by Darleks...are there stairs on spaceships? :)

[Bryn]

Oh, you too, Terri. This is just great.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I don't know it enough to quote anything. :) But my bro and I loved B7. My whole school did. I went to a primary school with 25 kids in it, so we all watched it and gabbed about it at school the next day.

[David]

Gee, it sounds like I really have to watch Blake's 7! :)

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

I was heart broken when the stopped production at the end of season 4. Did love the ending though. :D

[David]

Found this piece of fairly recent news. :)

http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/blakes-7/...

[Dave]

Bernie wrote: "Has anyone watched the new series on the History channel called Battle Castles or checked out the web site. Saw the first castle today and it was very cool, very well done and informative. check th..."

Yeap good series. First episode sounds like the basis for the classic D&D module Keep on the Borderlands.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

David wrote: "Found this piece of fairly recent news. :)

http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/blakes-7/..."

Oh my! I hope it goes ahead and I hope they do it justice.

[Simona]

For the people among us that also like to read Fantasy, I'd like to mention an anthology that the GR author R.T. Kaelin is publishing: Triumph Over Tragedy: an anthology for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
You can receive the ebook for $7 (...up, since it is a donation that will be given 100% to the Red Cross).

I hope this is the right thread to mention this.
If not, Terri, please feel free to shift this post in any other thread that you feel to be more suitable.

[Tasha]

That is a wonderful idea! I am not into the fantasy genre but I hope it does well. I have donated elsewhere for the red cross but always feel I can do more, which I will but probably not through this book. It is a fabulous idea though!

[Simona]

If you click on the link for the book, you'll find
this other one: http://www.indiegogo.com/TriumphOverT..., where the initiative is better explained.
(Kaelin says that it is possible also to make a donation without buying the book).

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

100% of earnings to go to Red Cross? That's brilliant.
This is the perfect thread for it Simona as it is more about the charity than promoting a fantasy book.

I shall pop a copy of your post in the fantasy thread too. To double up the exposure.

[Simona]

Thank you. :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

R.I.P Bryce Courtenay.
I was never a fan of his books, but I know many who are.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/na...


Bryce Courtenay

[Linda]

Gates of Fire The following is a truly random thought because I am deviating from the aforegoing random thought. I have started GATES OF FIRE several times, but my mind wanders to another book that I read wherein one boy-soldier goes out of the fort or the city walls to get or do something. While he is out, the enemy destroys the city/fort leaving the boy alive to tell the tale. Can anyone in this group tell me whether or not that book could have been GATES OF FIRE given my poor recall of details?

We finished off the pumpkin pie, caramel cake, creamed corn, green bean casserole and stuffing yesterday. My husband and I have been grazing since Thanksgiving Day. I will go to the Health Plex pool today and bloat around

[Anne]

Caramel Cake (sigh)!

[Simona]

MMm, Linda, that seems a huge marathon of cooking (and eating).
You should learn from our brother the anaconda, that after ingesting a buffalo goes to sleep for a week under a bush.
Health Plex, hah.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Linda wrote: "Gates of Fire The following is a truly random thought because I am deviating from the aforegoing random thought. I have started GATES OF FIRE several times, but my mind wanders to another book tha..."

You will just have to keep reading to see.

[Linda]

Terri wrote: "Linda wrote: "Gates of Fire The following is a truly random thought because I am deviating from the aforegoing random thought. I have started GATES OF FIRE several times, but my mind wanders to

Keep reading. What a novel idea! Notice my little pun?

[Linda]

Simona wrote: "MMm, Linda, that seems a huge marathon of cooking (and eating).
You should learn from our brother the anaconda, that after ingesting a buffalo goes to sleep for a week under a bush.
Health Plex, hah."

Thank you for the suggestion. I will cozy up to the next anaconda I find eating a buffalo and we can share a bush. Lol

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

So hot here. I have finally given in and booted up the air conditioning. I have been trying to save electricity costs by going as far into summer as we can with only fans....but today the heat is finally getting me and I have turned on the air con.

Now I wait for the room to cool down...come on baby...

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Terri wrote: "So hot here. I have finally given in and booted up the air conditioning. I have been trying to save electricity costs by going as far into summer as we can with only fans....but today the heat is f..."

We hit 38c here tomorrow! It's only November!

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

It is crazy isn't it! I mean, we are Queensland, so it isn't surprising to have 38 degree days in November, but it doesn't make it any easier to tolerate. :)
We are in drought right now and the world is very depressing when everything is dying and no rain is coming and it is also this bloody hot. It is the kind of downer that only a swim in the dam and a sit in the air con can cure. :)

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Terri wrote: "It is crazy isn't it! I mean, we are Queensland, so it isn't surprising to have 38 degree days in November, but it doesn't make it any easier to tolerate. :)
We are in drought right now and the wor..."

I'm in Melbourne. It's usually only around 22-24 down here this time of year.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I know you have been having some stinking hot summers these last few years. You don't get the humidity (count your lucky stars :)..) but you guys have had some sweltering summers.
I have a bunch of family in Melbourne. Cannot recall the suburbs. I know both the families (my Aunties and their families) have houses out of Melbourne for holidays and weekends. One family have another house at Mount Martha and the other family have another house at Mornington Peninsula. So they all get to escape to the hills and the coast when the city gets hot.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Terri wrote: "I know you have been having some stinking hot summers these last few years. You don't get the humidity (count your lucky stars :)..) but you guys have had some sweltering summers.
I have a bunch of..."
Oddly enough the last really hot summer was 2009 - the year of the Black Saturday bushfires. The last two summers have had occasional hot days, but have mostly been quite cool and overcast - and wet, which has meant they have been humid summers. Actually looking forward to some dry heat this year.

[Bryn]

I seriously have to move to another country. NZ or at least Tasmania. Here I am in Sydney, in terror of another summer in the 40s. I can cope on stay-home days, even without air con - wet towels kept in the fridge - but when I have to bus to work and transit between buses, I wonder I get to work alive. I'm English, I am heard to complain at this time of year.

[Linda]

You are in summer and using Celsius. What would 40° be in Fahrenheit?

[Mark]

About 104.:)

[Linda]

Oh my, that is hot. I was adding 32°to 40° and getting 70° which is a far cry fron 104. How did you do that?

[Mark]

Cheated I got an iPad app. I just select the conversion needed and fill in number and select what I need. ;)

[Linda]

Well I cannot add and you cheat, so don't ever try to sell me anything. lol