Search found 5353 matches

by vison
Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:29 am
Forum: The Library of Rivendell
Topic: Ray Bradbury: RIP
Replies: 13
Views: 18447

I remember hearing him say he saw himself as the guy in the tribe who couldn't hunt, being nearly blind and not very athletic, but he felt as a storyteller he would have earned his place by the fire.

No kidding.
by vison
Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:51 pm
Forum: The Library of Rivendell
Topic: Ray Bradbury: RIP
Replies: 13
Views: 18447

My absolute favourite writer for most of my life. His stories have stayed with me for many decades.

He had a good life, and must have been proud of what he accomplished.
by vison
Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:00 pm
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: The sleaze factor (The John Edwards trial)
Replies: 57
Views: 29614

Primula Baggins wrote:Yes. My point is that the men I've known well have largely been able to use their higher mental functions (and maybe to some extent their moral convictions) to govern their instincts. Which is to me pretty much the definition of "civilized."
Exactamundo.
by vison
Mon Jun 04, 2012 9:26 pm
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: The sleaze factor (The John Edwards trial)
Replies: 57
Views: 29614

At some ancient psychological level, sex is the whole point of power. If your mind operates on that level, to win the power game and then turn down the sex would be a bit winning the lottery and then telling the board to keep the money because you were only playing for fun (it would actually be sub...
by vison
Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:37 pm
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: The sleaze factor (The John Edwards trial)
Replies: 57
Views: 29614

Lord _M, I seldom disagree with you, but I do disagree quite profoundly with you on this issue.
by vison
Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:53 pm
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: The sleaze factor (The John Edwards trial)
Replies: 57
Views: 29614

I could have almost respected Pres. Clinton if he had said, "Yeah, I screwed around." Men like him usually do screw around. Power is a powerful attractant, women "go" for men like that. Combined with his looks (he is sorta handsome), evident charm, and position, it is not surpris...
by vison
Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:07 am
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: The sleaze factor (The John Edwards trial)
Replies: 57
Views: 29614

Ah, yes. But Wampus, I am so not a churchgoer, and I regard comments like that as a kind of . . . .whatever.

There are millions of decent men in the world. Why persons such as Edwards rise to the top is not because cream rises to the top but because sometimes rot does.
by vison
Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:28 am
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: The sleaze factor (The John Edwards trial)
Replies: 57
Views: 29614

As to the parents, vison, did you mean you can't forgive him for requiring them (if he did) to stand by him publicly? If not, I have to say in all fairness that I'm sure the last thing he wanted or thought about when embarking on his affair was to put any of his family or himself through such a pub...
by vison
Sat Jun 02, 2012 2:11 am
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: Occupy Discussion
Replies: 206
Views: 63965

I am sort of not following all this right now. But in Quebec, a group of polisci students are obejcting to, you know, actually having to pay for their education. A little bit more than they have been This is "tyranny"!!!!!!!!! If there is one thing Canada does not need it is another French...
by vison
Fri Jun 01, 2012 9:47 pm
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: The sleaze factor (The John Edwards trial)
Replies: 57
Views: 29614

I guess the thing is, for me it has nothing to do with the law.

It is him.

And if you want to close the thread, V, that's okay. I just had to vent a little. :D
by vison
Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:18 pm
Forum: The Library of Rivendell
Topic: Health books
Replies: 5
Views: 10229

So how do you feel knowing that plastic in your environment has been acting like estrogen in your body, and everyone else's, for decades?
by vison
Fri Jun 01, 2012 2:25 pm
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: The sleaze factor (The John Edwards trial)
Replies: 57
Views: 29614

The sleaze factor (The John Edwards trial)

Haven't really been paying attention to the political scene lately. But I have to comment on John Edwards. That man is the bottom of the bottom. What particularly offends me - I guess more than anything else - is the sight of his poor old parents standing there looking as though they could die of sh...
by vison
Sun May 20, 2012 4:40 pm
Forum: The Library of Rivendell
Topic: Most annoying character in literature?
Replies: 77
Views: 77548

Hi, I'm new to the group. I was intrigued by this topic and the comments. After reading your posts on Emma, I have to reconsider my thoughts on her, because I do find her irritating. For me the most irritating character in literature is Don Quixote. I know that the book is considered one of the gre...
by vison
Fri May 04, 2012 9:59 pm
Forum: Tolkien Movies: The Road Goes Ever On
Topic: The Cinemacon footage
Replies: 89
Views: 39518

I was assuming they were talking about the BBC's long habit of shooting all interiors on videotape (and often shooting "exteriors" on tape in a studio with a painted backdrop). The effect was like American soap operas, which had the same constraints. I don't think they were talking about ...
by vison
Thu May 03, 2012 9:53 pm
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: Cordon Sanitaire
Replies: 32
Views: 16596

Yet, I understand that for long years, Germans mistrusted themselves (I still do mistrust myself) and felt the necessity to be "safe" - kept safe from the temptation to listen to those words again. In what way do you "mistrust yourself"? Nin, of all the people on this forum, you...
by vison
Wed May 02, 2012 9:51 pm
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: Cordon Sanitaire
Replies: 32
Views: 16596

You have a point. However, we "took" Mein Kampf in high school. This was . . . let's see . ..1960, so 15 years after the end of WWII. I guess "we" looked at things differently then. Many of my teachers were veterans, many of our fathers and uncles were veterans, the war was still...
by vison
Wed May 02, 2012 5:59 pm
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: Cordon Sanitaire
Replies: 32
Views: 16596

Whatever else it is, it's boring, badly written, largely incomprehensible to an English reader reading what could have been a crappy translation. Most of what I remember (read it many years ago) I recall as truly being the tedious ravings of a more or less loony guy. A mish mash of various kinds of ...
by vison
Sun Apr 29, 2012 3:26 pm
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: Last First World War Combatant Dies
Replies: 20
Views: 11522

WW I was, from an infantryman's point of view at least, as bad as war gets. And absolutely pointless. And fought with modern weapons and old-fashioned stupidity. The romantic patriotism, the "dulce et decorum est" sort of thing, all dead and ridiculous in the face of the savagery. The ord...
by vison
Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:40 am
Forum: Lasto Beth Lammen
Topic: Last First World War Combatant Dies
Replies: 20
Views: 11522

It was Nevil Shute who pointed out that for many men (and some women, obviously) The War was The Best Years of Their Lives. He didn't say it as if it was a "good thing". Just a true thing. :( Remember what they used to say? "What if they gave a war and nobody came"? Maybe one day.
by vison
Wed Apr 25, 2012 3:15 pm
Forum: Tolkien Movies: The Road Goes Ever On
Topic: The Cinemacon footage
Replies: 89
Views: 39518

Dave_LF wrote:Except they're not dead, and that fact is an essential part of what they are.

I guess they could just be "tombs" in the sense that the Nazgûl are locked away there and (supposedly) can't get out.
That was my thought, too.