The Hall of Fire

I'd like to see WILD! For the scenery, since like V, I've walked parts of that trail and would like to walk more. On the plane I saw BOYHOOD, and it made me think about life. :) (Appropriate New Year's behavior!) In short: Is life a story--or a collection of moments? Seems to me that the "story...

'Tis the season for movie viewing: 1. The Hobbit/BotFA 2. Force Majeure 3 (today). Interstellar Force Majeure was terrific, and Interstellar was very interesting. Kind of a remake of 2001, with a dash of Solaris. But I would say Interstellar insists on making "real" things that 2001/Solari...

I love Jude's version! Surprise us by not surprising us--that would've been great.

Have fun! focus on that merry-go-round!

Saw it last night, and I did like two things very much: --Bilbo and Gandalf sitting together, while Gandalf fiddles with his pipe; --the broken merry-go-round in Dale. They remembered about the toys of Dale! SOMEONE read the BOOKS! Also the dwarves getting into battle formation do pretty cool things...

Oh, Dave, thanks for that recap! I enjoyed it (your recap) more than the last Hobbit film, which I saw last night. :D I know the LOTR films had grievous flaws of various sorts, which I complained about and in some cases continue to complain about, BUT they touched my heart, made me care, and made me...

In Shanghai all the students were talking about Interstellar! It really seemed to have resonated with them. "I cried," said one film student confidingly.

Too bad I hadn't seen it yet--maybe I'll get to go in NY.....

So lovely!

How great to have Telemachos in the house! I mean--in the hall.

Inanna, it would be great to see you! I'm in NY for more than a week, so I hope we can figure something out....

Alatar!!! Quick--clone yourself!

V, I might even be in NYC on the 19th! Wouldn't it be fun if we met up at the movies, on the entirely wrong side of the country?

Just heard from someone I know that there ARE character drawings at the end. Somebody was wondering about that in some thread!

Frelga, you could call his school, I think, and get the message to him that way. I might do that, if I were you. I think we can say this was the wrong decision even without seeing all the evidence--because in a case like this one, best to err on the side of openness, and a trial would bring the evid...

The argument is that these ideas, false though they be, make it impossible to get Congress to pass a national health service plan that would take out the extra layer of middleman profits (health insurance) and make coverage truly universal.

I watched the trailer, and enjoyed it. That's more than I can say about the first two Hobbit films, so I do not have high high hopes for the film--but I have some little low hopes.

One of the first science fiction stories I read was about astronauts visiting some other planet and finding a variant on the Manger scene happening and saying, "So this is how it happened here!" (Don't remember the title or author of that story, of course, but it might be from that book th...

oh, yes! My daughter and I sat in the car yesterday TRANSFIXED by that interview. The 16yo said: Mom, we have to buy his book!

And usually she wants to switch the radio to music when she gets into the car, but not this time. He's amazing and inspiring.

I'd say there may be a third source of opposition, other than the "pride" and "lack of empathy" PtB mentions: that's the reluctance of some basically very decent people to believe that in a country that has many virtues, there can still exist such inequality as PtB describes. It ...

I had an intense (and lovely) introduction to Scotland this spring, when we were invited to give talks at St Andrews and turned it into a two-week adventure. I was surprised to find the academic community quite supportive of independence--largely because they are FED UP with the Conservatives in the...

Faramond, I was glad to see you here in the Hall. And to answer your question to me, it was myself I was trying to educate--that is, I understood something I hadn't quite understood before.