flight paths discussion

Bird Brian wrote: Nice to meet you Jim!
I see Ian has appeared, genie-like, when you invoked his name!

So what's up for reading in 2012? This year, I'm going to try to read some things outside my established habits this year, but I'm not yet sure what that will be. I just feel like I need to do something new.
..."

Hi Brian!

I don't know what's outside your habits, but over in the Brain Pain group, we're dipping our toes into Derrida and finding it a bit confusing. I'm considering a remedial lit-crit read centered around Flaubert's Bouvard and Pécuchet mashed-up with things like Plato's Cratylus, Descartes' Discourse on Method, a bit of Levi-Strauss, and possibly a soupçon of Aristotle, since he wields more influence than people like to admit...

RL held my attention for a short period.

Metamorphoses springs to mind as it mentions both the Moon and Gagarin - Jean Michel Jarre.

And has our cockatiel gone walk about ........

Talking about the Tardis passing by, I might not particularly like the 11th Doctor but I do think his theme music is better.

Music lyrics being poetry .... I dont know my history but I guess these things have often been combined.

Ice wrote: "Talking about the Tardis passing by, I might not particularly like the 11th Doctor but I do think his theme music is better.

Music lyrics being poetry .... I dont know my history but I guess the..."

The Greek poets (and many others, I suspect) sang their poems accompanied by stringed instruments - or so Homer would have us believe.

"Lyrics are poems are lyrics are poems..." - Gertrude Stein

Moving in the realms of artistic connections.....

whilst on the subject of France, I think the group 'Space' came from their. Electro Pop - almost revealing my age. They had a hit single 'Magic Fly' and on the reverse was 'Ballard for Space Lovers'.

Vinyl - perhaps making a comeback

Bird Brian wrote: "Speaking of satellites passing by:
http://www.businessinsider.com/awesom..."

I had the oddest reaction to this picture, it was more sadness mixed with shame.Maybe cause there wasnt much green, but I saw the earth as an old rock, scarred and battered by millemeum of "civilization".Like those scrappings made by shovels. and a sickly light more like a wound.

one good thing to come out of it(civilization)is the arts.
poetry is not always lyrical but rhythmical.The music is hidden in the cadence of the poem.we have never lost it, the emphasis shifts

see for example Canadas very own Leonard Cohen for modern troubedour. Before there were books there were minstrels.

http://music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Leonard...

http://www.youtube.com/user/LeonardCohen

I can empathise with the environmental impact that the satellite picture suggests as well as its stark beauty.

For those Dune fans, I am hopeful that we have not yet reached the state of Giedi Prime.

Or for the more pixar'd of us the portrayal of earth in Wall-E.

Magdelanye wrote: "Bird Brian wrote>This year, I'm going to try to read some things outside my established habits

since that has been the driving force behind my reading choices over the last two years, May I offer..."

another method is to go into a used bookstore and buy the books that leap out at you or fall as you pass :-)Works well in a library as well.

Is this our alternative to a Pilates class !!

I have found that I can still focus on reading even with music playing at low volume in the background, but not the radio.

I am told that the tunnel vision approach also applies to conversations, which I am not sure I hear even when not reading !

Auto Pilot time for me.

The timing almost seems like 'exit stage left pursued by a bird'

Good Reading all !

Ice wrote: "I have found that I can still focus on reading even with music playing at low volume in the background, but not the radio.

I am told that the tunnel vision approach also applies to conversations, which I am not sure I hear even when not reading ! "

My books welcome music with the same disdain my wife, F.M. Sushi, reserves for my ex-girlfriends.

Its gotta be the right music, preferably instrumental or in the native language of the author if the book is in translation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSAORw...
al-anadlus

and subramaniam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwLQgz...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPbLrX...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPbLrX...

Space walking back to the starship, will put the auto pilot to bed soon, whilst some of you are already there.

Its September 13th 1999 and putting aside Prince's song on the radio we are off to Moonbase alpha.

Films,TV & Space.

Can Sci Fi Films do justice to the depth of a book ?

Blade Runner - maybe
Dune - No

Whats your take ?

Before jumping to 2001 lets step back to 1984.

Numbers that make challenging reading.

Ice wrote: "Before jumping to 2001 lets step back to 1984.

Numbers that make challenging reading."

2666

Time for me to engage auto pilot for awhile.

If Monday turns out to be my next step, then have a good weekend across the globe.

2001 or 2010 sometimes the binaries get confusing.

What turns a good book into a great book ?

Does Sales volume make a difference to our perception, we would probably like to think not, but the reality ???

Still in orbit and trying to avoid a solar flare.

'Read-a-longs' or should they be relabelled 'Tail-offs' - can this really be done in virtual time & space ?

I'm sorry-except for the reference to the Tardis, I can't figure out what people are saying-and yes, Ice, I mean you!

I think I've gone brain dead. It's very depressing.

I used to love Bouvard Et Pécuchet. *sigh*

Now all my energy seems drained by work worry. :(

Ellie wrote: "I'm sorry-except for the reference to the Tardis, I can't figure out what people are saying-and yes, Ice, I mean you!

I think I've gone brain dead. It's very depressing.

I used to love ..."

It is a depressing time of year, and I know this feeling of my brain in hibernation. I dont even know waht Tardis is and I am questioning the whole thing in fact while tring to keep in mind that spring is close and all things are unfolding as they must

The Tardis is Dr. Who's home/transportation: it looks like a phone booth but when you go inside it's enormous & travels through space & time.

I'm looking forward to spring.(tonight the clocks go ahead one hour)

sounds fun to me!
Here's something for the Tardis to grapple with>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRkDic...

where does that hour go?

Very cool-and so is the quote beneath. Bill Hicks is my son's absolute hero! He was thrilled.

Thanks.

In between the chaos there are glimmers of perspective in the FP mode of thought.

All dressed up and nowhere to go.

I was reflecting on the way consumerism was rapidly developing in China. As opposed to Eastern values being adopted in the West, now that it is so indebted.

Given that there is no perfect solution, what past or present culture would we prefer to live in.

I wish I could live in New Mexico about 30 years ago. I'm lazy - and a consumer type but not (I hope) excessively (except for books). I don't want to live in a very harsh time or place but I think even just 30 years ago, New Mexico was less developed and "trendy."

And I'd still have the Internet to look forward to!

I am leaning towards being a Viking - Norway despite a holiday love of Gozo. It's the starkness of the fjords and the Northern Lights ..... and the snow !!

There's nothing like poverty to sharpen one's appreciation of necessity. Instead of expending energy bucking the trends, I ignore them. Don't have tv or follow the fashions or the lives of the stars or other sports. I live in my own little world, with links to the outside greatly expanded by my reading and by GR.

I guess you could say I practice the beatnick culture, a zen flavored existence, not so austere but with the same blythe disregard for the rules and regs and society in general.

Magdelanye wrote: "There's nothing like poverty to sharpen one's appreciation of necessity. Instead of expending energy bucking the trends, I ignore them. Don't have tv or follow the fashions or the lives of the star..."

So then, poverty is the mother of necessity? LOL!

I know what you mean. Mid-40's I was laid off and never found a comparable paying job. Younger people work for less and their insurance costs way less. The catch-22 of the job market is that you need to work into your 60's to survive, but no one wants to employ you for that long.

Luckily, I've found a safe-haven in the South of France where I can live much cheaper. No TV, could care less what pseudo-celebrities are up to, and wouldn't know a fashion trend if it bit me on the ass...

A favorite quote from my favorite bohemian, Henry Miller:

“I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.”

Well, I don't watch a lot of tv but the only 2 men I'm "involved" with since my separation are Mark Harmon (NCIS) and all the men on Criminal Minds.

I'm not quite ready to cut them loose. :#

Bird Brian wrote:! Our old tv broke down five years ago, and we just decided not to replace it...I didn't realize how much time I was wasting on tv until we got rid of it."
Bravo BB! I believe it more than wastes time,it distorts and devours it. It infiltrates a persons own time and dominates it,imposing its own schedules.

Ellie wrote: "Well, I don't watch a lot of tv but the only 2 men I'm "involved" with since my separation are Mark Harmon (NCIS) and all the men on Criminal Minds.

I'm not quite ready to cut them loose. :#"

LOL Ellie, forgive me, it was the "men on criminal minds" that really set me off, not having tv so having no reference. Sounds pretty dicey. Have no idea who Mark Harmon is, or what the attraction factor is.
That said, I have gone through a couple of tv infatuations, unlikely as it may seem. My foster daughter came with a tv, and she was a serious addict. At the beginning, I had to devise a strategy to wean her. That involved me watching two programs with her, and to my shock I easily got totally involved with The Young and the Restless and Hercules. Perhaps influenced by my teenage foster daughter,who had a number of crushes, I realized I was indulging in just such a crush on Hercules (actually I can't remember his real name)and decided it was about time I got myself a new "real" boyfriend. Interestingly enough, as soon as that became clear to me I met Roland, who looked a bit like Hercules, and we had a great fling for the next few years.

LOL Magdelanye-after 20 years of marriage I don't know if I'll ever choose "real" life again-and in the case of Mark Harmon, a man close to my age, married in real life for over 20 years, kind looking as well as classically handsome, the attraction factor is high-based probably on the said "kind" look + twinkly eyes.

Speaking of husbands, mine had a stroke this week. It's a tough time for my daughter.

I'm just having a tough time, no fault of his. Keep me in your thoughts if you can.

I HAVE been thinking of you, in a non-specific way.
Sorry to hear about your ex,and hope you will not get hooked back in as part of his care team or whatever. Was it mild or severe? Will he be functionally impaired?

Take care of yourself and keep in touch

Thank you-I have only been in touch with him by texting (he hates that but it's the only way I can do it). I don't know how severe the damage is. My daughter reports his speech is impaired but the insurance refused to pay for a rehab.

I'm not part of the care team. I haven't been involved at all this time except by sometimes driving my daughter there and back. She's really borne the brunt of it.

Ellie wrote: "Thank you-I have only been in touch with him by texting (he hates that but it's the only way I can do it). I don't know how severe the damage is. My daughter reports his speech is impaired...She's really borne the brunt of it..."

Thats so unfair, seems to me. I think I recognize the type of person your ex is, and your good-hearted daughter is vulnerable. Maybe he will learn from the experience and appreciate her support...

Flying to Portugal, first flight for the grandson, I think I may be more child minder than reader on this holiday.

oh it must be silly time for me, I just had the most charming vision of Ice Bear, cape flapping in the breeze, on his streamlined broom with his charming child, flying to Portugal !

looking for a different thread I found this.
quite entertaining even with deleted comments.
Ice Bear, I miss our early morning communications!