The Reading Room

DVK-on-Ahch-To

00:38

@TimE.Lord You rang?

Lurch - You Rang

►

Rand al'Thor

@BESW Authors who depict social media well in their books, or authors who are active on social media in real life? VTC as unclear!

BESW

[snerk]

Rand al'Thor

@BESW I can't stop laughing at the naked TARDIS party.

BESW

01:28

Spike Milligan once jokingly sent a telegram to his paranoid friend, Peter Sellers. It read, "IGNORE FIRST TELEGRAM."

Tweeted by LettersOfNote on February 27, 2012 at 10:48 AM

It’s that time of year again. Best of luck to those participating in Nano Rhino in November.

Tweeted by scottjohnson on November 7, 2017 at 2:04 PM

Hamlet

@Bookworm ah, I remember why I took a break from the site

Hamlet

02:05

It's almost as if this community is determined to make asking questions as difficult and as frustrating as possible.

BESW

You do tend to push the known edges of the site's tolerances. It's not surprising you'll get conflicting and dramatic feedback on those kinds of questions.

And, well. I take it as a sign of growth that the site didn't just close your Kevin Spacey question for no research.

Hamlet

@BESW hehe I guess

and lol another downvote for what is actually a really interesting question

BESW

It was kind of like someone with a "Superman" user name asking why Christopher Nolan chose to make Bruce Wayne an orphan.

Hamlet

@BESW yep

BESW

My first response is going to be "You're trolling."

2

Hamlet

02:14

I know nothing about shakespeare btw

BESW

The answer to your Olivier question is that Olivier was a stickler for historical accuracy but didn't have any proper consultants on set, and Shakespeare's character assassination was so thorough that it's actually difficult for the layperson to track down Richard's real history --and even then if you're putting on Shakespeare's Richard III you're going to have to do SOMETHING to acknowledge/justify/subvert the king's motivation.

Hamlet

@BESW the hope is if I do all the pushing now then maybe things will be easier for actual experts

BESW

But I don't have the citations at hand to make that a proper answer anyway.

Hamlet

@BESW feel free to edit that question to make it not about Kevin Spacey

BESW

That'd make it a completely different question and invalidate its existing answers.

(This is why we should vote to close fast and hard.)

Hamlet

02:20

@BESW I think your answer would still work.

well, this has been enough Stack Exchange for me. Changed my password to something I don't remember, see you all later

DVK-on-Ahch-To

> В школе по литературе на дом было задано провести анализ какого-нибудь стиха. Забыв выполнить это домашнее задание в течении следующего урока сам сочинил стих и произвёл его же анализ. Получил 4 с пометкой "не достаточно раскрыт замысел автора".

Rough translation:

> At school in literature class had a homework to analyze any poem. I forgot to do the homework, so improvised during class: composed a poem and analyzed it myself. I got a "B" grade, with the note "the author's intention is not sufficiently illuminated."

DVK-on-Ahch-To

02:38

Also:

> ... ну написал мне Валентин Петрович сочинение, заданное в школе на тему «Образ главного героя в повести Катаева „Белеет парус одинокий“». Самое интересное, что он получил за него тройку и потом дико хохотал, изучая мою тетрадь, всю испещренную красными замечаниями, начинавшимися со слов «В. П. Катаев хотел сказать…" Из автобиографии Дарьи Донцовой

> ... well, Valentin Petrovich {{Katayev -famous Soviet author}} wrote an school essay for me; on the topic of "The image of the protagonist in Kataev's story 'The lone sail is whiting'". The most interesting thing is that he got a "C" grade for it and then laughed wildly, studying my notebook, all covered with red markups, beginning with the words "V. P. Katayev wanted to say ... " - From the autobiography of Daria Dontsova

Librarian

06:59

0

Q: Should we bowdlerise obscenities in question titles?

For example, In "Fuck Blocher", why does Bligg say he speaks for the swiss youth and secondos? - should the title say "Fuck Blocher" or "F*** Blocher"? Arguments for F***: it avoids displaying NSFW language on anyone's screen unless they actually click on the question; it decreases the likeliho...

BESW

07:30

14

A: Is profanity allowed on RPG.SE?

After discussion, the mods believe we should stick to the standard SE "no expletives" policy to promote a friendlier and more civil site. As on English.SE, exceptions can be made for actual technical terms. If, as seems oddly likely, there is "An Apocalypse World move called Fuckbunny" then tha...

Rand al'Thor

09:46

@Hamlet The figures would seem to suggest that people in general find answering questions more daunting than asking questions. (Which of course is true in general, but especially so on this site where the total numbers of questions and of answers are almost the same.)

b_jonas

12:31

I see Rand posted his story-id question now

Shokhet

17:06

@BESW Oops. @Mithrandir

Bookworm

17:26

0

Q: What are the parallels between The Odyssey and The Time Traveller's Wife?

Author Audry Niffenegger chose to include an excerpt from The Odyssey at the end of her debut novel The Time Traveller's Wife. Now from his breast into his eyes the ache Of longing mounted, and he wept at last, His dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms, Longed for As the sunwarme...

the-odyssey the-time-travellers-wife audey-niffenegger

Rand al'Thor

18:27

is this available online, for free, anywhere? — Vekzhivi 2 hours ago

@BESW any idea? (pinging you since you proposed it originally)

Tim E. Lord

19:11

@Randal'Thor Not on the usual dark corners of the internet I go to for this kind of thing :/

@DVK-on-Ahch-To You live!

(Wait a sec)

Tim E. Lord

19:25

Nevermind, read this and was satisfied

Sorry :/

Tim E. Lord

19:49

Oh, and I started reading Night Watch, @Randal'Thor and @DVK-on-Ahch-To

Bookworm

0

Q: Why different editions of Rabelais' "Gargantua and Pantagruel" novels contain different texts?

While looking for the original text of Rabelais' novels in French, I found that different editions have significant differences. Let's compare the first sentence in the beginning of the first chapter. Edition of 1530: Ce ne sera point chose inutile ne oysifve de vous remembrer la premiere sour...

french-literature

Rand al'Thor

@TimE.Lord Awesome! How far have you got?

Tim E. Lord

@Randal'Thor On the third story right now

Got here since this morning :D

Rand al'Thor

@TimE.Lord Third book, or third substory in the first book?

Tim E. Lord

Humble Sex and Science Bundle

@Randal'Thor Substory

Rand al'Thor

19:55

Damn, now I'm trying to remember what all the different substories were.

Night Watch: 1) Egor and Svetlana; 2) Maxim? 3) More Svetlana?

Day Watch: 1) Alisa; 2) Mirror; 3) Prague trial.

Catija

It's been too long since I read them.

Rand al'Thor

I think there's a very rich political subtext in those books.

I still have an unanswered question here about that. Hoping for @DVK to answer it :-)

Tim E. Lord

Humble Multi-Genre Fiction Bundle

Guardian of the lost children

20:20

0

Q: Heart of darkness first page

On the book of Joseph Conrad called Heart of Darkness, page 1, it says "between us there was, as I have already said somewhere, the bond of the sea" The problem is that, as far as I understand, he never clarified that before. Have you noticed or have an answer for that sentence? Here an image of ...

untagged

Tim E. Lord

Lol, that guy Semyon just admitted he drank with Alexandr Kuprin

Rand al'Thor

Semyon is quite a character. He's been around the block a lot.

Tim E. Lord

Drinks Smirnoff for 200 years now, I imagine he has

Tim E. Lord

20:48

Gosh, what a self-pitying whining child

Why do books have to have a protagonist like this

Witcher shares the same sin

Niiiiiiiiiice jab at Europe and North America

Bookworm

21:01

0

Q: What does it mean when spaces blow in Crow's ear cluelessly?

In "Crow Hears Fate Knock On The Door", The lines ending the second part of the song are: He walked, he walked Letting the translucent starry spaces Blow in his ear cluelessly I'm trying to understand what did Hughes possibly mean in the last line: What does it mean to blow "c...

poetry song-lyrics

Bookworm

21:30

0

Q: Is the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt a joke, or is it serious?

I'm watching two adaptations of Romeo and Juliet that take two different approaches to the play: Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film Romeo + Juliet and Zeffirelli's 1968 film Romeo and Juliet. There are some obvious differences between the two: one is set in 14th century Italy, and the other is set in the m...

william-shakespeare romeo-and-juliet

Tim E. Lord

Okay, I finished Night Watch

Time to start Day Watch

Actually time to start Tower of Secrets

Rand al'Thor

21:52

@TimE.Lord Oh, there's more of that to come :-D

Just wait for the American airman towards the end of Day Watch.

@TimE.Lord Day Watch is an interesting one. Different protagonist, for a start. Different take on the whole business.

Tim E. Lord

MY library status is "BLOCKED" now. It used to be "DELINQUENT". Apparently 6 overdue books is just too much

Rand al'Thor

@Bookworm I want to downvote this, because surely the answer is obvious, regardless of liberties taken in some later film adaptations. But ... I'll just refrain from upvoting it instead.

Mithrandir

@TimE.Lord Turn in your Literature.SE user card, please.

Rand al'Thor

^

Tim E. Lord

I guess I have to go and give those back tomorrow. And pay the fee...

Mithrandir

22:04

The library didn't care that I had a book out for an extraordinary long amount of time until it passed 120 days. No fees or anything though, just bring the book back :D

Rand al'Thor

"Pay the fee! Pay the fee! Pay the fee!"

Tim E. Lord

My backpack is going to be so heavy :|

@Randal'Thor Can't figure if it's Anton or the author that's homophobic, or neither

That moment when I can't tell the author's opinion from the character's

DVK-on-Ahch-To

@TimE.Lord Ahem. At least he wasn't going to go to Toschi station to get those power converters. And he doesn't hate sand.

@TimE.Lord Yah there's plenty of that. Lukyanenko is a big time Russia patriot.

Tim E. Lord

Yay for that

@DVK-on-Ahch-To I didn't get that :D

DVK-on-Ahch-To

@TimE.Lord What were you referring to? I don't know the author's views, but Russian culture in general is far more homophobic than the worst parts of Bible belt.

Tim E. Lord

22:10

Day Watch was written with a guy called Vladimir Vasilyev

I wonder why

DVK-on-Ahch-To

And were under socialism, which is why I have so little respect for most western lgbtq activists (except Log Cabin Republicans) who somehow thing that Socalism is The Way for minority rights.

@TimE.Lord An experiment in co-writing. Think many Baen books.

Tim E. Lord

@DVK-on-Ahch-To Surely Strugatsky brothers are a more known example

DVK-on-Ahch-To

@TimE.Lord True, that :) But they were actual brothers :) I think Lukyanenko covered that in some interview

@TimE.Lord Later books aftrer #6 were all different authors, he basically let the universe be free and anyone can play with his approval. There's like 15 books by now, some not too bad.

Tim E. Lord

It's not that it's outright homophobic, it's just that those words have generally been left for homophobes' use lately in Russian-speaking circles I hang out in

Or maybe not

Tim E. Lord

22:44

I have to pick a less depressing avatar

... they're all depressing

Rand al'Thor

23:14

@TimE.Lord Wut? Why?

@TimE.Lord Wut, it was co-written? Really?

@TimE.Lord I wondered if your latest sad-looking avatar was a reaction to @Zyera pulling so far ahead of you in the rep leagues ;-)

user61230

23:38

@DVK-on-Ahch-To This is... a complicated topic. Social policy isn't the prior, but it is a consequence of certain desired changes. And "socialism" is an extremely broad umbrella that covers a wide range of political philosophy.

user61230

And "socialism" in that sense isn't broadly accepted to mean the death of inequality, or the sudden disappearance of injustice.

user61230

See also: M-L socialism, and the flaws in its historical implementations.

user61230

In that sense, the prior is the effort to combat inequality, and the consequent is the enactment of a socialist state geared towards sustaining the negation of structural inequality.

user61230

The two are conjoined, but the discussion towards social policy should be considered distinct from the discussion towards the end of social injustice.

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