Oblomov
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Posts posted by Oblomov
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In several ways. Your fingers get exercised by hammering on the keyboard; ;our facial muscles from constant scowling and grimacing; your arms from doing the Boris Becker fist shake each time you win something (or kill something?); and so on.Er, and how do computer games exercise the body?
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You're on!Next time I am down that way I will let you know then ! -
I am closer to Avebury and there is a real mystic pub there called the Red Lion.Why not, if I am ever down your way ? I live in Surrey, but go to Stonehenge sometimes - are you far from there ? -
You have not upset me at all. Quite the contrary in fat, realising that there is yet another like minded person. How about a drink sometime?Didn't want to upset anyone ...
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I have come across countless books where the author has forgotten to compensate for the time difference, particularly if it is in the same country. For example, according to the book a flight from New York to Los Angeles departs at 11am and after a 5-hour flight, arrives in LA at 4pm; in reality, it would arrive at 1pm because LA is 3 hours behind New York.
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Was only expressing my opinion - working for an electrial retailer that sells these things, most of the games that we do seem to revolve one way or another around violence quote]
I beg your pardon! I misunderstood what you meant by "games"! I know nothing about computer games and don't want to, thank you; I would bite my own tongue rather than even suggest that computer games help to focus one's mind! I meant outdoor games like cricket, football, basketball, hockey and so on. Of course, there are indoor games like Chess that are intellectual, but heaven forbid, no PC games!
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It depends on how you define a "mistake". Errors related to dates and times are usually typographical - at least we usually assume so. With historical events - like WW2 for example - most writers claim a certain amount of artisitic licence. For example, the German writer H H Kirst has written an excellent book about the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler on 20th July 1944 - the book is called The 20th of July. In it, the chronology of someevents is slightly altered to suit the storyline where real-life characters mingle with fictitious ones.
Some mistakes are very obviously due to poor research. I have seen the Titanic referred to as a "Cunard liner" in quite a few fiction books, whereas any serious student of the Titanic knows that the ship was built by Cunard's rivals White Star. I have seen some cheapo thrillers where the author tells us that The Koran is a holy book for Muslims as well as Hindus...and so on.
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I am sorry, but that is manifestly untrue. In fact, physical excercise is a very good therapy for stress and even depression to some extent. Games do help to focus one's mind a lot better and give that "feel good" feeling.games may exercise the body, but not the mind ! -
I would very heartily recommend World's Fair by E L Doctorow. It is written through the eyes of a young boy growing up in the Depression era of 1930s New York; his hopes and aspirations for the future, with the light at the end of his tunnel represented by the famous 1939 New York World Fair. A real classic.
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Here is the Abe Books link to the book and quite a few of the dealers are in the UK. It is occasionally available on e-Bay as well.
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Collins&sts=t&tn=The+Fifth+Horseman&x=57&y=12
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Of course you can; look!I can't find it on Amazon.http://www.amazon.com/Fifth-Horseman-Larry-Collins/dp/0380547341
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With me it depends on why the book failed to thrill. If I liked his/her writing style but could not get interested in the plot, I would certainly give the author more than one more chance. On the other hand, if poor writing style (or at least the kind that did not appeal to me) spoiled what was essentially a good plot, I will not go back to that writer. For example, IMO The Da Vinci Code had a good presumed plot, but poor writing style, poor narration and eventual dissipation of the plot itself ruined it for me and I'll never go back to Dan Brown. Conversely, I did not particularly like the violent thriller Red Dragon, but love Thomas Harris' writing prowess and will always read his books.
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Right! Why have a Lobster Thermidor when you can make do with a banana?Well, food is the same - only eaten, and therefore only used once!
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I am sure that I can quote as many reasons why books are better than PC orientated information, but here are a few.
- You can curl up with a good book just about anywhere
- Books don't run out of batteries, freeze or crash.
- Books do not overload you with spam and other unwanted information.
- Books cannot get spies or viruses and the only cleaning they might need is a bit of dusting off.
- Books don't need expensive updating after a couple of years
....to quote a few.
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In the mid-70s or thereabouts, Larry Collins & Domnique LaPierre wrote a book called The Fifth Horseman where terrorists place a Hydrogen Bomb somewhere in the middle of Manhattan and send an ultimatum to the President to meet their outrageous demands. It was quite good but somehow does not seem to be that well known in the West. Have any of you read it?
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I suppose you could call some alternative history novels like Len Dieghton's SS-GB or Robert Harris' Fatherland as 'dystopic' because they depicts the Nazis truimphant.
Daniel Keyes' classic Flowers for Algernon is dystopic from a very personal perspective.
Of course, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess depicts a very dystopic future.
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I have said it before and I'll say it again. The book that I would really like to inflict on as many people as possible is The Consort by Anthony Heckstall-Smith.
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Not exactly a favourite, but the most unusual first two sentences that I have ever read are:
She only stopped screaming when she died. Then he started to scream.
That's from Jeffrey Archer's bestseller Kane & Abel, of course.
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I guess that figures.No but she is blissfully happy single and does not regret it one minute she will be 70 soon and mad as a box of frogs!!!
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Did she?Wuthering Heights changed one of my friends lives, it made her realise she was not happy in her marriage and leave her marriage and embark on finding a passionate love!!!! -
There are quite a few good books on The East India Company. We have 4:
1. The Honourable Company by John Keay
2. The East India Company by P Lawson
3. Lords of the East by Jean Sutton
4. The East India Company by Anthony Wild
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I hated that grossly overrated original and so the blurb would put me right off. If I wanted more twists, I'll listen to Chubby Checker.More twists than the Da Vinci Code (groan) -
The subject matter is too narrow to be called a real "hobby", but consider it an eccentric interest....I have quite a few of those. I have special interest in some subjects like Roger Bacon, The East India Company set up by the British just before the Raj in India, The Titanic, Martin Bormann, JFK (in particular his assassination), Interstellar Travel and so on.
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I am getting tired of thrillers with the cover blurb "as good as" or "better than" The Day of the Jackal, surely the most quoted title in recent times; but that blurb is still an incentive for me to consider the other book
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The alarm clock in "Walk Don't Run"
in Music / TV / Films
Posted
For over 30 years I have been trying to find an alarm clock that plays the same tune as the one in the 1966 film Walk Don't Run with Cary Grant. In the film, the clock used to wake Grant up in the mornings with its crazy tune much to his irritation. I think it is some form of Japanese morning call and very catchy. Any ideas would be appreciated.