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      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2012
    Looks good. I've been meaning to read more books on the history and early influence of religion. Also, have you seen any of Harris's videos? His debates are particularly good. If you haven't, here's an excellent 'lecture' on his thoughts on religion in general. If only more people were like Harris! (And Dawkins.)
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      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2012 edited
    Bregt wrote
    But that doesn't mean I don't agree with his approach, certainly the right way instead of going the supernatural way.


    It is unfortunate that "spiritualism" has supernatural connotations, though unsurprisingly so. To me, and clearly to Harris too, it's simply an area of human experience relating to states of the brain that give rise to certain feelings of elation, wonder, awe, and various other 'transcendental' experiences without ascribing any unjustified claims about the nature of reality to them. That, at least to my mind, is worthy of much praise since so many fall victim to interpreting 'spiritual' feelings with religious bullshit. (And it's funny how they interpret their experiences to whichever religion they've either been brought up to believe in or have had the closest contact with.)
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      CommentAuthorsdtom
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2012
    I read the short story "The Birds" where the Hitchcock movie came from. Very well done.
    Tom
    listen to more classical music!
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      CommentAuthorSteven
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2012
    Ha. Speaking of Dawkins, this is an entertaining (and equally infuriating) interview from Dawkins. People that say he's an 'angry', 'militant' atheist have it assbackwards... as the top comment says, the man really does have the patience of a rock!
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      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeNov 4th 2012
    Steven wrote
    Ha. Speaking of Dawkins, this is an entertaining (and equally infuriating) interview from Dawkins. People that say he's an 'angry', 'militant' atheist have it assbackwards... as the top comment says, the man really does have the patience of a rock!

    Holy shit. That is an awkward interview. I couldn't watch it all. Of course it's easy to pick someone like this woman to make such interview creepy, but it appears her organisation is quite big. I hope it is not subsidized!
    Kazoo
  1. I am enjoying reading Jon Burlingame's book on 'The Music of James Bond' at the moment. But I do wish that there was more time spent on each film. It all feels a bit like a whistle-stop tour.

    Maybe I am being a bit unfair and that's all there is to say - the book is extensively researched.

    My interest is definitely centred more on the older Bond scores and I am hoping that my interest is maintained now that I have reached The Spy Who Loved Me.
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeMar 21st 2013
    With the very sad passing of horror writer James Herbert yesterday I was wondering which book or books scared you?

    As I've only just thought of this question I'll get back after deliberating and answer my own question.

    Over to You...
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeMar 21st 2013
    I'll try and think of something more specific soon but the first stories that scared me as a kid were Herbert Van Thal's horror anthologies, from a time when I was too young to devour an entire novel these short stories did the trick though I can't remember any specific title I would guess the stories were by the likes of M R James, Robert Bloch and the like.
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt
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      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeMar 21st 2013
    When it comes to scary, the 'obvious pick' for me is Stephen King. In fact, he's one of my favourite authors regardless of genre. THE SHINING is seminal, but so is the long shortstory "The Langoliers". What a nerve! They managed to recreate some of the bleak atmosphere in the TV movie, but not to the same extent.

    Other books that have made an impact include Blatty's THE EXORCIST (before I saw the movie) and a book about aggressive bugs I can't remember the name of, nor the author.
    I am extremely serious.
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeMar 21st 2013
    I'd read everything King had written up until the mid 90's, I find some of his stuff more unnerving rather than outright scary, his two creepiest works, to me, are IT and Pet Sematary ( the latter a truly appalling film adaptation ) which was a great up-date of the classic Monkeys Paw. My favourite King book is Dead Zone, a book with moments of horror but not a horror book.
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt
  2. Call me conservative, but when it comes to horror it's

    Sheridan Le Fanu
    John Polidori
    H.P. Lovecraft
    Mary Shelley and above all:
    Bram Stoker

    Honorary Mention:
    Anne Rice

    I never was a big fan of Steven King but I like "Salem's Lot" and "Pet Sematary"

    Volker
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeMar 21st 2013
    H.P. Lovecraft will always hold a special place for me.
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt
  3. I am not sure that I have found any books that I have read, scary.

    Books that have a horrific aspect to them, definitely instil a response. But these are more non-fiction books and aren't really what's being asked for here!
    The views expressed in this post are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of maintitles.net, or for that matter, anyone else. http://www.racksandtags.com/falkirkbairn
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      CommentAuthorBregje
    • CommentTimeMay 2nd 2013
    I just finished that book with essays on time. I skipped parts because I thought it was horrible. I also wondered why I simply can't just quit reading and take the book back to the library. I have to finish it some how. Like with bad movies, I finish watching them anyway.

    Some parts of the book were fine. It was when it came to art and literature and even a music composition when I thought 'what a load of crap' . I just can't stand it when a painting that consists of one or two colours can be so overanalyzed in 20 pages and how much that piece of art means and what it says about time and bla bla. Sorry.

    So, now that I am done I have time for better books and for keyboarding and drawing... Hmm, what to do first?
    It's great to have two weeks off!
  4. I just began reading the book "Mythos Determinismus" by Brigitte Falkenburg. She is teaching philosophy at the University in Dortmund. She holds a doctorate in theoretical physics and philosophy. You don't find much people with such a profile. She arguments for a mentalist concept of the human mind, refering to post-mechanical concepts of modern physics. She goes against the view that free will is an illusion.

    Just started, so I cannot say anything about her arguments in any detail.

    Volker
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeMay 3rd 2013 edited
    This one's for Martijn...

    CREEPING DREAD

    biggrin
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt
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      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeMay 8th 2013
    Thank heavens.
    For a minute I thought you were pushing a biography of a paraplegic reggae singer on me.
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeMay 9th 2013
    A Zombie Bob Marley, surely a creepy dread.
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt
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      CommentAuthorBregje
    • CommentTimeMay 10th 2013
    There are a couple of things I like to do during holidays. Drawing and playing keyboard are two I already did, and reading a book is another one. I mean fiction. I like books for kids / young adults and I got Inkheart from the library. Now I now why I don't do this more often. Reading stories is very addictive...
  5. Bregje wrote
    There are a couple of things I like to do during holidays. Drawing and playing keyboard are two I already did, and reading a book is another one. I mean fiction. I like books for kids / young adults and I got Inkheart from the library. Now I now why I don't do this more often. Reading stories is very addictive...


    Tintenherz by Cornelia Funke is a great fantasy novel. I sits on my fantasy shelf right next to Die unendliche Geschichte (The Never Ending Story) by Michael Ende.

    Volker
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  6. I thought Tintenherz was massively overrated. While being a truly great and original idea, I thought Funke dramatically failed to use her own concept to its full potential, which was a real shame. It´s never a good idea to hold back the best possible stuff just for potential sequels (which seemed to have been already sold at that point, which might explain it).

    Beside that, the adult protagonists in the book were acting on the lowest possible level of intelligence, making stupid decisions left and right. I´ve rarely been that dissapointed by a book and consequently never got to the sequels. It´s obviously possible that those have been better. Any info on that?
  7. Star Trek - Movie Comic Book Collection

    http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Movie-C … y_sw_img_y

    When I was a child a neighbourhood buddy of mine owned the German language edition of the comic of Star Trek TMP. I was enthralled!
    For that and other reasons I would love to get my hands on the item indicated above. Probably for licencing reasons they wont export it to Germany, though.

    My question is: Could anyone of you North American people get that thing for me and forward it to Germany? I would refund you via PayPal or wahtever way there is!

    I'd love to return the favour!

    Volker
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  8. Captain Future wrote
    Star Trek - Movie Comic Book Collection

    http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Movie-C … y_sw_img_y

    When I was a child a neighbourhood buddy of mine owned the German language edition of the comic of Star Trek TMP. I was enthralled!
    For that and other reasons I would love to get my hands on the item indicated above. Probably for licencing reasons they wont export it to Germany, though.

    My question is: Could anyone of you North American people get that thing for me and forward it to Germany? I would refund you via PayPal or wahtever way there is!

    I'd love to return the favour!

    Volker


    OK, forget it. I just bought it on Ebay!
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  9. I noticed the much bigger, complete collection of every ST comic ever done a couple of months ago. I´d love to sink my teeth into that one, but it also doesn´t ship here, and it´s too expensive just to satisfy some nostalgic feelings.
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      CommentAuthorBregje
    • CommentTimeJul 1st 2013
    Ralph Kruhm wrote
    I thought Tintenherz was massively overrated. While being a truly great and original idea, I thought Funke dramatically failed to use her own concept to its full potential, which was a real shame. It´s never a good idea to hold back the best possible stuff just for potential sequels (which seemed to have been already sold at that point, which might explain it).

    Beside that, the adult protagonists in the book were acting on the lowest possible level of intelligence, making stupid decisions left and right. I´ve rarely been that dissapointed by a book and consequently never got to the sequels. It´s obviously possible that those have been better. Any info on that?

    I forgot to share here that I finished the Inkheart trilogy. I didn't have time really but I couldn't stop reading. So while I planned to read part two and three in the summer, I finished them before summer even started.

    The beginning of part two wasn't very promising but once it got rolling I thought it was good. And I think part three was even better. The stories got a bit more complex.

    I'm wondering of it matters if you look at them as kids books. That would be weird because that would mean that kids books doesnt have to be as good as adult books and that doesnt make sense. Perhaps it did matter that I started the books without any expectations, I had never heard of these books or writer before.
  10. Thank you for sharing that. smile

    I don´t know, I think I was a bit spoiled by the Harry Potter series at that time. It raised the bar for kids books so much that I was much less willing to be bored by a book, so maybe I shut down internally after two thirds of the book.

    I didn´t think it was a simple concept or too "childish" or something. I just thought it didn´t live up to its potential, especially considering that it was a book for children and YAs. Instead of going full throttle, considering she could use any book character ever created, it just felt restrained, as if Funke was afraid of copyright infringements at every corner. I didn´t like the setting too much, and, as I said, everyone was making stupid mistakes just to give the protagonist a chance to shine. It felt forced.

    I also tend to be much less forgiving with books than I am with movies, since I´m a rather slow reader and usually have to invest a lot of time into a book. If that feels wasted then, I´m not happy. wink The Potter books were, in contrast, not only a great reading experience (much more complex and entertaining than the movies!!!), but also one of the fastest reads I ever had, so they were satisfactory on many levels at once. biggrin
  11. I am currently reading the novel “Existence” by David Brin, a writer I appreciate a great deal. The novel is set into the near future. It’s about extra-terrestrial live, the whole thing is a bit reminiscent of “2001” in the onset, but the plot is quite different.
    Anyway, on p. 94 (Orbit edition) I came across the following:
    ________________________

    With his teeth rattling, Gerald subvocalized a command:
    Music! Theme based on something by Elfman. Free-improv modulo, matching tempo to ambient sonic rhythms.
    A blare of horns and thumping of percussions suddenly pealed forth, interwoven with wild violin sweeps, taken from the composers 2025 theme score of Mars Needs Women, but ai-libbed in order to crescendo with the capsule’s reverberations. You could only do this with a few human composers. …
    _________________________

    LOL! LOL!!!
    Volker
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
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      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJul 7th 2013
    He, he....cute!
    I am extremely serious.
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      CommentAuthorBregje
    • CommentTimeJul 11th 2013 edited
    I will go to the library today. Any recommendations?

    I think I like adventure, fantasy, perhaps sci fi (haven't tried yet), mystery. All preferably 12+ category.

    I'm also interested in historical fiction about scientists or philosophers. The search engine came up with only two titles*, for the age 9-12 (one that has something to do with Christaan Huygens and the other with Spinoza). But 12+ would be nicer.

    *at my local library. I don't want to travel to the big one today
    • CommentAuthorTimmer
    • CommentTimeJul 11th 2013 edited
    I don't know if it would be your thing, at the moment I'm reading Bernard Cornwell's Warlord trilogy ( The Winter King, Enemy of God and Excalibur ), a retelling of the King Arthur legend, Cornwell sets it in 5th Century Britain and a country split into warring kingdoms, it's basically fantasy as it might have been in reality and Cornwell researches his material so well you could easily believe this is most likely how Arthur lived. I'm loving it and I really like the way Cornwell draws 'realistic' parallels for his characters from the legends.

    I also recently read THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin, a very enjoyable post apocalyptic adventure in the vein of Stephen King's The Stand.
    On Friday I ate a lot of dust and appeared orange near the end of the day ~ Bregt