| Aug-23-03 | | sleepkid: ...sadly, there are too many TV viewers now, and not enough book readers. |
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| Aug-23-03 | | Kenneth Sterling: We were lamenting that forty years ago. It is now worse beyond anything we could have then imagined. Anyone read a good book lately? |
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| Aug-23-03 | | pawntificator: I just finished Isaac Asimov's "9 Tomorrows." He wrote some excellent stories there. Granted, they are only short stories, but "Profession" was very good. I also just finished "This Side of Paradise." I liked "The Great Gatsby" a lot when I read it in High School, so when I found this other book by F. Scott Fitzgerald I had to get it. Even though it was written back in the 1920s, it is surprisingly relevant to our times today. Also reading CS Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters" for the second time. I can't get enough of Lewis. Excellent Christian writer, he is. |
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| Aug-23-03 | | pawntificator: (I don't watch TV. Although I do enjoy movies.) |
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| Aug-28-03 | | pawntificator: Now I'm halfway through Shelters of Stone, the fourth instillment in the Clan of the Cave Bear/ Earth's Children Series. Man that is a huge book. I take it nobody else likes to read books, then? heh heh, I mean besides chess books. Well, that's ok. You aren't missing anything that an episode of "Crossing Over" wouldn't be a perfect substitute for.... God, I hate that show. |
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| Aug-28-03 | | PVS: FITZGERALD
Gatsby may be a perfect novel for its size. The only thing Fitzgerald did that approached it was the unfinished Last Tycoon. I read This Side of Paradise in college, it reminded my of my grandparents' youth. I did not enjoy Tender is the Night and have never read The Beautiful and the Damned. |
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| Aug-28-03 | | PVS: RECENT NOVELS
Gilligan's Wake was absorbing and funny, but uneven. The best recent novel I have read is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Going back a few years, the two greatest American novels since 1960 are Gravity's Rainbow and Blood Meridian. |
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| Aug-28-03 | | pawntificator: I haven't read either of those recent novels, but even if I had I would be hesitant to say they were the greatest since '60. There are a lot of talented writers out there. I will check those two out, though, on your advice. And of course I realize that Anne Rice is merely popular fiction, but she is really quite good. I recommend Memnoch the Devil to anyone. |
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| Sep-19-11 | | whiteshark: Incredible! Over eight years w/o further comment. |
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| Sep-19-11 | | Benzol: Anyone remember the British TV series that had actor Alfred Burke as a private investigator. IIRC it was called Public Eye. As I remember it was a good show that was realistic and well written and acted. |
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| Sep-19-11 | | SimonWebbsTiger: good grief, a TV viewers page? Before you know it, there will be one devoted to ducks, like the famous FICS channel.... |
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Sep-19-11
 | | OhioChessFan: This can't possibly show up in Karpov's game page, can it? |
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Sep-19-11
| | OhioChessFan: A quick search shows it does show up on Karpov's game page. I'm with <whiteshark> in disbelief that it hasn't been commented on. As for books, I just finished a thriller novel called "Vertical Run". Premise: Man shows up for work, and everyone is trying to kill him. He has no idea why. Fast paced, sort of predictable, obligatory superflous romantic interest, lot of fun, real page turner. NY Times review: <A man named Dave (mid-40's, successful, admired) arrives at his high-rise Manhattan office building, where everyone, it seems, wants to kill him. Even his wife screams, ''There he is! Get him!'' to the team of international mercenaries he is desperately evading. Meanwhile, Dave, a Vietnam veteran, clatters around the building slaying adroitly. And trying to figure out, Why is this happening to me? > http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/b... |
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Sep-19-11
| | OhioChessFan: The Paper Chase was the best TV I ever saw. Tragic how it didn't last. I've never seen an episode of the second version. |
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| Sep-19-11 | | I play the Fred: Many stereotypical anti-TV comments from years ago, as if there were no such things as quality TV shows or poor books. There is quality and dreck in every medium. |
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| Sep-19-11 | | lost in space: dreck is an english word? I am astonished about that. I thought it is deeply German for dirt/waste |
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Sep-19-11
 | | Sneaky: < The Paper Chase was the best TV I ever saw. > It's a great one. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say the "best I ever saw" but it's on my short-list. It's one of the best ever. I think my favorite TV show of all time was Twin Peaks. There are some episodes, especially the ones that Lynch directed, which outshines nearly any Hollywood movie. Remember the chess-obsessed killer Wyndam Earle? The lady with the log? And Nadine, who got a clonk on the head and then possessed super-powers combined with delusions? Remember Gordon Cole, the near-deaf FBI agent (played by Lynch himself) who couldn't help but to shout all the time? He'd yell at the top of his lungs, "I GOT OFFICIAL BUSINESS IN OREGON ... STRICTLY HUSH HUSH!" That show would slay me every week. When it went off the air I boycotted television for about 15 years. |
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Sep-19-11
| | Sneaky: I've gotten caught up in watching Breaking Bad. Not sure how to rate it. Some early episodes were awesome in a corny way. That's not a put-down; for a show like that, "awesome but corny" is about the most it can hope to achieve. My girlfriend loves "The Wire". |
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Sep-19-11
 | | HeMateMe: Only movies, hbo, showtime, PBS or documentaries. Haven't watched sit coms since i was a kid. The Wire was the last thing I watched as a regular series. But, then Glee came along, like a shot in the arm. Its a cut above network programming. |
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| Sep-19-11 | | Calli: I just watched an old Johnny Cash show. Ray Charles, Arlo Guthrie and Liza Minnelli on the same episode. No big stars, though ;-) |
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Sep-20-11
| | HeMateMe: The Johnny Cash variety hour delivered BIG on musical stars. Neil young, Bob Dylan..... |
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Sep-20-11
 | | WannaBe: b00b tube, how quaint, and also ironic...
My list of the last 4 books I read in the last 7 weeks: Area 51, Lost in Shangri-la, Unbreakable, and Our Kind of Traitor. Got another 3 coming from Amazon, should be here any day now. (Forgotten 500, 1421, and 1434) |
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| Sep-20-11 | | whiteshark: <Mister Rogers' Neighborhood <Introduction Theme Song>>: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaYR... |
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| Aug-08-12 | | I play the Fred: Ian Rogers' Neighborhood
Welcome Back, Baadur
Ree's Company
Albin the Family
Magnus PI
Everybody Loves Ray Keene
Grischuk the Night Stalker |
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| Jul-19-14 | | GumboGambit: According to Rybka, their time would have been better served by meeting people and learning valuable skills. These exchanges would have advanced both personal and professional development, leading to a more beneficial endgame. |
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Kibitzing
