karkarinus

I guess that makes me a "very small portion." Or a mere nibble of that portion. :unsure: Kinda disappointing, really. *hrumphcoughthirtycoughtwohrumph*

Finished The Colour of Magic, and now reading The Light Fantastic.

...."War - HURGH! - yeah! Good God, y'all - What is it good for? Absolutely - NOTHIN' - Say it again, y'all!.... bingle bingle boop... You've reached the Edwin Starr-Fleet Command Centre. Please note that repeated use of copyrighted Edwin Starr lyrics, as detected 3 posts ago, may cause Mr. Starr to swing his celestial pelvis and shout "HURGH!" in a rather unseemly manner for his age. If you wish to speak to (good) God (y'all,) y'all found him; if you wish to settle old scores, war is good for absolutely nothin' HURGH! And should you wish to contact late friends and family, please leave a message and song dedication after the bingle bingle boop. Bingle bingle......

FINALLY got round to reading Terry Pratchett. Starting, of course, with The Colour of Magic. So far, it is great, (half way through so far, which is quick for me, so that's a good sign :D )and I can only imagine that it just gets better. Will update as and when........

......suddenly, back on the planet's surface, one of the Cheesy Lounge-Lizards did a kind of Bat-Fink protective cape caper, and Jane's fondue beam was reflected back at her, instantly turning her into Jane Fondue, a.k.a. Barbarella: half-naked, not-quite-as-erotic-as the-first-time-I-saw-it, space-travelling sex kitten from the late 60s. Beaming back to the Counterpoise, Jane adopted a 'sultry' poise at the entrance to the Bridge, where Zaphod fiddled aimlessly with many buttons. She appeared to have an itchy leg. Zaphod had just figured out a way to circumvent the language security to be able to say "D¡ck" when.......

(ooc> was that i/c?!? Oh, I see! Anyway, in the newcomers' defense, they need to get into the swing of things a bit, and to try not to Uber-do things. But don't worry, Gab - we have no intention of letting anyone end the Neverending Story. As Malchik says, we blatantly ignore any miscreants, and try to keep some semblance of - ahem - order to the story! :) ) i/c> Her immediate reaction was to....... head for the small planet not far from Betelgeuse, and seek out the answers to the 'cheese incident' and to thoroughly reprimand Zaphod for his recent tête-à-tête with himself. The Starship Counterpoise hovered overhead in exactly the same way that a brick doesn't. Zaphod nearly sued for plagiarism. Jane Greenaway was not a huge fan of cheese, but gritted her teeth and donned her Cheese-Gone 2000 pince-nez readings specs, and stepped out onto the gruyère-like surface of the planet. To her dismay.................

.... or would have done, if it hadn't been for the lightning reflexes of ....Da-da-da-daaah.... Zaphod Beeblebrox and his marauding balloon-animal suicide squadron!!!! Leaping into action, numerous non-descript species of inflatable fauna threw themselves between Bobo's rather ungentlemanly attack and Mr. Simmons's head, while others made annoying squeaking noises of approval. Several sausage dogs, giraffes and phallic symbolisms later, Zaphod rose victorious, flaunting his new first head for all to see - that of Gene Simmons himself! Consequently,....................

…subjecting them to an unprecedented display of Origami Air-Biscuits. “Thou shalt feel my brrrp wrath!” He bellowed, (literally) and out popped a finely-crafted paper elephant, which thundered (literally) towards onlookers, spreading rancid terror in its wake. “Have some of farrrrp that, mortals!” Zephyrus boomed, (literally) and a god-awful-smelling, (literally) though exquisitely-fashioned paper butterfly fluttered by, evoking..............

......Then, still emotionally traumatized by his recent discovery (2 posts ago) that Milli Vanilli had been lip-synching all along, he decided he had to get to grips with it - and, for that matter, with his ligneous equine quadruped as, looking behind him, he saw the ROCK slide accelerating ominously towards him. Billy Idol precipitated snarlingly down on him, Sniff 'n' the Tears managed a one-hit-wonder on the way down to certain anonymity, and - NOOoooooooo..................! The last thing he saw before blacking out was a hulking mass of Meatloaf hurtling towards him, singing "A Very Long Song Indeed (With an Even Longer Title, More Than Half of Which is in Brackets)"..................

(Quite a lot of seconds later.........) Trotting solemnly off into the sunset aboard his newly-acquired rocking horse, Zaphod adjusted the rim of his recently-purchased Ascot millinery headwear, so as to reduce the glare from the twin suns (and their older brother, Martin.) A wan and poignant hue of ochre tinged the fading sky as Zaphod mulled over the recent events, immersed in a retrospective daydream. Suddenly..............

Been listening to Wolfmother recently, and yeah, it's quite fun, but takes a bit of getting into. Not bad for Australians. ;) Kind of WhiteStripey-Darkness-FolkRocky Stuff with Occasional Punk Interjections. Ohhh yeahhhh the Kategorizor strikes again!!!!!

"Gun" is actually quite good fun so far. And I just uninstalled NwN to make space on my hard drive, which can't be a good sign! :unsure: Kept all my savegames just in case, though! I was tempted to buy the sequel the other day for €12, in the hope that it would be better, but I can't help thinking that Shadows of Amn is more worthwhile. The frustration of not having complete control over all the PCs is just too much! NwN was such a god idea, as Stampede says, but just doesn't do it for me like BG did. Even so, NwN is not as bad as Peregrine says - I still think the Final Fantasy series is much worse! I too have been slacking recently. I just hope that it is a passing phase - not old age getting the better of me! :(

Just bought "Gun" for the 'Cube for €10, so I'll be looking at that tonight. Gave up on NwN some time ago, though I can't quite remember why! :unsure: Waiting for the re-release of Baldur's Gate 2 in a couple of months (I think)..........

I still haven't got round to seeing the DVC film, but from what I've heard it's fairly true to the film but misses the mark somewhat. Having said that, my mum thinks that the book goes o.t.t. about some aspects. I still maintain that it was a compelling read, although it lacks re-read appeal. Loveme: could that book have been "Empire of the Sun" by J.G. Ballard? It was made into a film by Spielberg. Autobiographical and I suppose deeply moving, although I haven't read the book or seen the film - myself, I prefer more 'escapism' when I read. I need to be transported away much further than even Japan! :D The closest I've got to gritty realism is "Hard Times" by D¡ckens, and "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoievsky, the latter of which I haven't finished yet. I have to force myself to read it, which can't be good! Deathmatch: I was wondering if your first language is English, because from what I have seen, DVC seems to lose a lot in translation to other languages. Another 'adventures of an orphaned child' story, although dramatically different from anything you've ever read is "The Perfume" by Patrick Süskind. I think it was originally in German, but even in Spanish it was absolutely enthralling. Do not be put off by the title - you will not believe your... er.... nose! (EDIT: That dawg-gawn anti-swear again! Can't even write D¡ckens without it bleeping me out!)

And after that brief, if somewhat uuuuwooop-pang-flibble-burble, word from our sponsors, it's back to the programme. (So shopping it was, where) .............sadly, due to the fact that his new head had previously belonged to an electronic monk designed to believe things for you, Zaphod suddenly found that he believed everything. Yes, everything! Sure, it had an eye for a bargain, a nose for quality and and ear for the market, but his second head lacked that savoir-faire, that je-ne-sais-quoi, and that voulez-vous-coucher-avec-moi-ce-soir of his first head which he didn't have yet. Now highly susceptible to any old sales pitch, gab or jargon that happened to fly his way, he................

Can anyone give me any insight into the work of H.P. Lovecraft or Edgar Allan Poe? I was kindly given a selection of Poe's short stories for Christmas, but sadly it is in Spanish. I imagine that in its original language, his work has a dark, misterious air about it, and kind of whisks you off into his worlds, but this feeling is lost in translation, and only manages to do my head in with long cumbersome sentences, far too long for their own good! Or is it like that in English too? I am also thinking of buying a couple of Lovecraft books: "The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre," and "The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories." These have always been really enticing to me, but I've never got round to reading them. Any comments?

Yeah, I was gonna say that judging by the context it could be geriatric. The general consensus of opinion on Cantata-140 seems to be that it is not one of Mr. D¡ck's (ha-haa! I beat the system! :P ) best works, and that his style is to use a kind of jargon that is apparently well-established in his imaginary societies, but does little to explain it to the reader.

Um, yeah, the damn anti-swear bag of pants went and bally well anti-sweared me flipping links, the blighter! :blush: Shame you didn't like the story - I had hoped it might be a good one for me to read. Can you post a quotation with "jerry" in some kind of context?

Just finished DVC last night. You'll be surprised when you find out that Robert Langdon is...... lol, not really! I think the best way to describe it is enthralling. No literary masterpiece, but you won't be able to put it down until the end. See how many of the codes you can break! I got 2 of them. Just started reading a book in Spanish about a woman author who goes to live in a huge mental asylum to write a book about her experiences. I'll probably leave it for a while though, 'cos I've vowed to start reading Terry Pratchett! Loveme, I presume you mean Philip K. D¡ck, but the anti-swear system got the better of you! :D I've never read any of his work, but it looks fascinating. Check out the entry on him in Wikipedia! and particularly the part about his visions. Anybody read Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach? If not, do so!

No, Da Vinci Code is not well-written in a literary sense, but is does keep pulling you on and on through your own relentless quest to find out what the hell is going on. To keep me interested is a merit in its own right! If all authors throughout history should suddenly disappear except one, it should definitely be Tolkien. J.R.R. that is - not Christopher's attempts to milk the legend dry. Admittedly, he has exposed previously unknown material, but now he's just living off the name, IMHO. I've never read King either, but Salem's Lot does attract me. As soon as I finish DVC, I'm going to start on my Dad's (complete) Terry Pratchett collection. He met him many years ago, and had him dedicate a hardback copy (of "Mort", I think) to me! Anybody ever read any Jack Vance? A true magician with words, but so hard to find :( .

....... stuck a haddock in his ear and popped off for lunch at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. High above, on the edge of a cliff, stood the sombre figure of an electronic monk that believes things for you. Realising that all this was verging dangerously on plagiarism, he................

Don't know if this has ever been done, but I would like to start a "Currently Reading" Thread. I am not an avid reader, as the book has to be superb for me not to get bored after the first page, but I'm half way through The Da Vinci Code after 4 days! What are you lot into ATM?

"On an Island" by David Gilmour. Takes a bit of getting into like any good Floyd album, but well worth it.

.... "Right, stop that. It's silly. And besides, it's only June." Brushing the cake-crumbs from his impeccably pressed Hammy Titfinger designer loincloth, he drew himself to his feet and placed his hands on his hips in a defiant, somewhat melodramatic stance. Tossing his head aloft, he cried...........

Stampede: What do you mean "There, I said it " !?! What's wrong with trance music? There is (or was) loads of decent trance around. Take the king himself Paul Oakenfold (check out his Goa Mix for a beautiful journey through several moods and acoustic sensations.) My dad will never admit to liking it, but even he says that it is "very well orchestrated." I like some Vangelis, although there are only a few selected pieces of classical music that I really like. Carmina Burana, Beethovens MoonlightSonata, and The Concerto de Orange Juice ( ;D ) or rather the Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo is beautiful. Currently listening to the Utah Saints from years ago - nice upbeat melodic semi-trancey electronic stuff from early 90s. For harder kicks I like Messiah's 21st Century Jesus. (Stampede don't have a go at me for mentioning religion so often! ;) ) Also just listened to Yögen Fruz - I mean Jurgen Vries :rolleyes: , which is not bad at all - kinda happy dream house with a trancey twist. Let nobody say I'm not a dab-hand at music classification!!! :wacko: If any of you like ElectroPunk, check out the Weak on the Rocks album by Cycle.