Social Hooper McFinney's RPF Bar & Grille 7.5 - "Loving the lens flare since 1977!” -!

The notice you're talking about doesn't have the X, only the music one does. It's all set to turn off in 17 minutes anyway (It's programmed for 2 April 0 AM GMT - 3 AM GMT), so it'll be gone shortly.

 

Sure.

 

I don't know if this is another April Fools thing, but Star Trek's Spock has an entry on the SW Wiki!

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Spock

 

Yep, that's part of the Wook's April Fools day thing.

Like Ep VII being a crossover between SW and Abrams-verse Trek.

 

That'd be kind of awesome, honestly. If only because you just know Spock would say "Perhaps we should try... using the Force, captain?" at some point during the climactic battle and there'd be this exchange of incredulous looks.

 

Finished The Grapes of Wrath, on to Wizard's First Rule.

Grapes of Wrath was surprisingly underwhelming. I think that's because Steinbeck stopped telling a story and started preaching at me. Sorry, but whenever a fiction author uses the word "Marx" or "Lenin" in anything other than a humourous context I switch off quicker than halfway through the first chapter of Ayn Rand. Chekov was right: the author's job is to pose questions, not answer them. I found myself skipping bits and trying to get ahead far too early for my liking.

Don't misunderstand me, the book is a masterpiece of English expression; Steinbeck is wonderful at dialogue and slang/cultural dialogue in particular, being able to faithfully represent the way people talk without it getting utterly irritating. I remember making a note "To show a connection to a piece of land, tell the reader about a birth that happened on it, and a death". Its representation of people suffering in sheer starvation is masterful and does break the heart. But it's stronger when it talks about groups of people rather than the individuals Steinbeck is focusing on. The book intersperses chapters about the Joad family and their struggle with chapters talking about the entirety of the movement of the Okies into California during the Depression, but it's the more general chapters that work better.

I can understand how it would've been shocking to the luvvies in 1939 when it was first published. It dared to be communist when communists were shooting child princes in Russia and steamrolling over Poland under Stalin. It was also an anti-Western, spitting in the face of the American mythology of "headin' West" for a piece of the Great American Dream, spitting in the face of Biblical epics where you cross the desert to a land flowing with milk and honey that you can freely take. And some of what happens is just brutal, an exposition of what desperate people will do.

But at the same time it isn't terribly even-handed: Steinbeck doesn't content himself with going overt anti-capitalism, he goes overt anti-technology, too, proclaiming that the dude riding a tractor and cultivating his lands that way is a soulless drone who don't know nuthin' about the land he's working - while the guy who was using a horse-drawn plough is somehow a more spiritual, more connected soul to the earth. That's a load of horsepucky. And Steinbeck also misses out that, as a group, while sharecroppers -- people who were content to just be tenants on the land -- were hit hard during the Depression, subsistence farmers -- people who owned their land and tilled it for their own supplies -- in some areas did not suffer at all. But that's getting into monetarism and big economic themes not for discussion here.

Reading Wizard's First Rule because I promised myself I would despite the evil that surrounds Terry Goodkind's name, and going by the first 70 pages thus far it's been a pleasant surprise. Uneven in parts, but you get that with a first novel, and it's at least keeping me wanting to know what happens next.

 

Okay, thank you for clearing that up. I crossover between the two universes would be awesome.

 

...between The Grapes of Wrath and Wizard's First Rule???

 

In Steinbeck's defense, that silly yeoman crap was a pretty common myth in the United States riiiiiight up until the 1950s got their 1950s all over everything, and even then it still pops up.

 

Pops up with everything, really.

 

I finished the Sword of Truth series myself just this past winter. For me the high point of the series was Faith of the Fallen, which is book 6 IIRC. Overall the books were decent. Not amazing by any means, but good enough to keep me coming back.

Though I don't know of the evil that surrounds Terry Goodkind. Then again, I have been living under a rock in the Mid West for the past six years....

 

Nonsense, it never popped up in Gundam!


Because Cucuruz Doan's Island never happened.



Pictured: nothing whatsoever.

While, for the record, I have not read any of his books, Goodkind's philosophy and politics are... ... famously distinct. And of course the usual fantasy community traditions of nitpicking things that don't conform to genre expectations, which I always find kind of hilarious.

 

To be truly honest, I have really only gotten into the fantasy genre in the past few years. Mostly I stick to sci-fi or modern urban fantasy in the form of The Dresden Files or The Iron Druid Chronicles. So as to whether or not he conforms to genre expectations really isn't clear to me.

As for Goodkind's politics and philosophy, well, it seemed like it really boiled down to an argument between reasoning and faith, self-determination and blind loyalty, and laissez-faire economics and communistic economics. Whether or not I agreed with his views is irrelevant. I do, however, feel they worked in the context of the tale Goodkind wrote. I get the point he was trying to make. I just didn't realize his views were so....polarizing.

 

In other news, this made for a somber reflection on the downside to Digital Media.

Admitting to confirmational bias, but I agree with the article. It seems like every time I watch a live performance of someone, anyone, on TV, the audience seems to be a burgeoning field of iPhones being held up to tape the show. It's like people would rather make a crappy, second-rate recording of the performance to watch, like, never, rather than, y'know, watch the damn show.

 

I really wish I had a witty pun to make here. It feels like the sort of situation where one would be needed. However, after having read that article and agreeing with Saint, I am unable to come up with any. The author makes a great point. It's unfortunate that society is heading down that path and even more unfortunate that a children's book author had to point out the problem to parents.

In all, the article made me feel disappointed in humanity.

Ramza, permission to institute the EMERGENCY IMMATURITY INJECTION protocols?

 

A site to redress your fears.

 

Yeah, I agree. I was just watching the Rangers/Astros game with Yu Darvish one out away from throwing a perfect game, and people were in the stands watching through the screens of their phones. If I was there, that device would be the last thing on my mind.

(Sidenote: He lost the perfect game)

 

Exactly. I was watching a car on fire on the highway in Philly last week, and people were filming the firemen getting there to put it out. It was like they were at a zoo exhibit and it felt strange seeing them filming these guys doing this dangerous job.

 

I think in the case of accidents or emergencies, what's truly odd is people just rubbernecking in the first place.

As far as concerts go, whatever, people can do that as far as I care, I might snap a photo or two, but I'm there for the music and performance.

 

I felt that I needed to share this. Enjoy.

 

Rampani that makes me think of The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

But in more important news: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/bb2e/
Sure, it'll keep you warm...but what will it smell like?

 

Make an X?

Maybe by crossing fingers at an angle? Typing the key on the keyboard? I'm sure there are many ways.

Edit: That's what I get for post a reply and forgetting I haven't read nearly all the new updates yet....