Batgrl (Book Data Kept Elsewhere) > Recent Status Updates

"In 1984 the [Orlando] Sentinel's Sunday magazine reported that the Tasmanian Mock Walrus...seemed to be a perfect pet. "Although homely," the story said, "it's quite loveable, resembling in temperament a hamster or a tame white rat."" - Also it was only 4 in. long, and would kill all your home's cockroaches. It also purred.

I had completely forgotten the mania behind the Cabbage Patch Doll in the 80s - and the Milwaukee radio station hoax that a bomber would be dropping hundreds of dolls. People actually showed up at the "drop site" ready to catch them.

BTW while I'm not posting about censorship in That GR Thread I totally think that's what is happening due to GR not making a clearly worded policy before enacting it. Everyone else is making excellent anti-censorship points, so I'm just popping in to talk about data deletion specifically.

I'm sticking with GR for now: I'm moving in about 4 months and I need GR to keep track of books so I'll know what's in storage and what's gone to the used book store. But thanks to recent events I'm also using Booklikes and the GR csv file as backup. And maybe LibraryThing if I can import to there as well.

Recently posted in the monster GR thread: "My American lit prof in college told us that Thoreau went home regularly to have meals and get his laundry done..." - so if anyone here has a clue what history/biography that's in, would love any book suggestions. (I believe my old prof., just want to read info myself.)

Here we go: Washington Post: Is Good Reads’ new policy really censorship? - now it's in a traditional media newsite.

Response to GR policy issue (no short name for it yet) online: Dear Author, MediaBistro and... (see comments)

"...the Armed Forces Radio Service in Tokyo reported that a monster was advancing toward Tokyo. It was May 29, 1947, and the announcer for Station WVTR warned that a twenty-foot sea serpent had come ashore and was approaching the city. ...An hour later the announcer reported that the monster had been stopped by soldiers using flamethrowers."

So I've made a test shelf for Dickens: Author Treated His Wife Cruelly. Now that I look at it, that's too polite and probably within policy. Considering Author Was Right Bastard to Wife...

Randomly some headlines by the Hurst paper Chicago American were printed in red text in the 1900s. I actually didn't know they ever used another color than black on front pages. (This is why I reread books, especially ones that I previously had focused on reading only specific chapters.)

Note to those trying out BookLikes:
None of the formatting or links from your reviews will be saved in your exported GR file. (Or is that just me?) Also in the blog/review interface there's no way to use blockquote, or any quote format that I can find. And I quote a LOT. Bummer.

It's still a good place to backup bookshelves though. Also I feel for their IT people since I bet their servers are swamped today.

Folks, if you're following the GR issue of the moment:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
The author vs reader issue won't be solved quickly. But what EVERYONE can agree on - DATA DELETION without notification is a huge problem. Focus on that and management will understand/address that part at least.

Canto XXIX, 52
"He's naked, he's crazy, his eyes are rolling, but he's still Orlando after all...
He does not deign to speak, but with his mouth shut
he gives them an answer as clear as clear can be,
kicking the donkey in the chest to send
it high in the air where it sails end over end.
----
The donkey flies about a mile away and lands on a hill.

GR posted this today
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
And deleted some folks' shelves titled Authors Not To Buy (in various levels of language). I'm not going anywhere (yet), but BookLikes seems like a great place to backup my GR shelf data.
http://booklikes.com/page/18/faq
I'm:
http://batgrl.booklikes.com/

Canto XLVI,123
"Had the helmet not been magic, the sword would have cleft
it and the skull and the rider at one blow,
and maybe even the horse, and what would be left
would be two disgusting but matching halves but, no,
the magic worked."
---
Instead of rider I accidentally typed reader, which made the scene much more personal.

XXXIX,84-5
"...while he still has his hand
on the gunwale it gets cut off. (I understand
the phrase "all hands on deck," in the light of this
grisly moment.) The rest of the body falls
into the water..."

XXXIX,58 - Orlando, cured of madness, has no idea what he's been up to:
"...He regrets
that he seems to be, for whatever reason, nude,
which strikes him as both indecorous and rude."

XXXIX,51 - after mad Orlando hits Oliver in the head, suddenly it's a helmet commercial:
"I ought not to interrupt the narrative flow
but one must observe the value of having the best
helmet one can find. There would have been no
chance for Oliver otherwise. Invest
in excellent equipment before you go
off to fight."

After Astolfo hung out with Saint John on the moon he's somehow got this uber prayer power hotline to God. First he prays, rolls rocks down hill - and bam, they turn into horses. Later he does the same thing to turn leaves into boats to transport his army.

XXXVI,37 - Bradamante vs Ruggiero
"...here they are advancing
with dangerous hardware as if they were two foes
instead of a couple who have been romancing."

XXXIV,85 - huge amount of flasks full of lost wits:
"...who down on earth can we suppose
has all his wits or, lacking some, may still
think himself totally sane? Nobody knows,
but clearly a lot of our reason is here to fill
these flasks on the moon. We have no idea we're sick
and everyone more of less is a lunatic."

Canto XXXIV,79
"There are also many ruined cities and ghost
towns in which one can still see much treasure
that someone has hoarded up and somehow lost.
...There are snakes with the faces of ladies of pleasure,
which are representations of counterfeiters and thieves
and of card sharps with aces up their sleeves."

Canto XXXIV,75 - on the moon you can find many things people have lost; money, fame, vows, time, health, etc:
"...And books of ours
that we intended to study rather than taste.
Those can often be heavier losses than
material things in the life of any man."

Canto XXXIV,72
"On the moon there are rivers and lakes and hills and dales
like those we have but different. And also towns
with houses and public buildings, but on such scales
as we are not accustomed to. He frowns
in amazement and concentration, for earth pales
in comparison. There are also woods and downs
where nymphs and fauns are hunting fierce moon beasts
and celebrating afterwards with feasts."

Saint John (who folklore claims never died) and Astolfo take Elijah's chariot to the moon. To find a cure for Orlando's madness. Because everything is completely logical after Orlando can suddenly punch a mule a mile into the distance.

Canto XXXIV,64 - another narrator aside about a bit of the backstory:
"...(the story of this is
in Orlando Innamorato, which you ought
to read one of these days)..."

Canto XXX,9
"...They never seemed to object,
but then the dead very seldom argue with you..."

Canto XXX,4 - except now at the beginning of the next Canto our narrator apologizes about the anti-women rant.
"I say stupid things sometimes and am in as sad
case as Orlando nearly, but with less excuse
than he had, wandering Spain, utterly mad
and dragging a dead horse behind him, the use
of which escapes me, but we know he had
a distorted frame of mind and different views."

Canto XXIX, 74 - an anti-Angelica bit, which is odd as she never pledged herself to Orlando, instead he and all other men assumed she belonged to them. But now it's ALL women are ungrateful:
"In or out of his mind,
he was right about their ingratitude for our
many services.
...you see this often enough so it can sour
your outlook..."

Canto XXIX, 71-2, Orlando and horse problem (she = the horse):
"...At length she drops and dies, but he does not
notice. He keeps on going at a trot.
What makes this strange is that he drags a dead
horse behind him."