Where oh where has my ogre gone?

m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
> SAMK wrote:
>
>> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
>>
>>> SAMK wrote:
>>>> (whose college degree is in English Lit. Really.)
>>>
>>> Truly? How did you survive all the classes?
>>>
>>> (I minored in English Lit., but you only needed to take 4-5 classes
>>> for that, and I made it through with mostly Shakespeare courses.)
>>
>> Well... It helped that I did the degree in 5 quarters. I had done AP
>> English in high school and scored 5/5 on the test, so I could take
>> both years of the core courses concurrently. I tuned out the teacher
>> in one, then annoyed her no end when I informed her that a degree in
>> English Lit was not made for keeping one fed...
>
> Five quarters? Great googly woogly... They should teach more
> science/math in K-12 -- English majors have *such* an unfair head start
> on their class work when they get to college. When compared to
> engineering majors. <envious sigh>
>
Well, the first two years were spent as an astronomy and astrophysics
major. That's why 5 quarters, I punted on that 2nd qtr of my 3rd year,
and said I'm not going more than another year. One year, 2 summers, done.

> Doesn't sound like that second teacher had too good a handle on the
> realities of job hunting. Weird, since the fight for teaching positions
> in English departments of universities is scaaaaarily difficult, and
> presumably that teacher made it through the mob to get a job.

Well, since I had no desire to teach, or be a professor, which is not
always the same thing, the earning possibilities were even lower.

>
>> Then I got to do some fun stuff. Early American writers-- James Fenmore
>> Cooper, Mark Twain, some others. Women in Lit-- that was hard; all
>> those whiny women that I could not relate to. Japanese Literature.
>> Art History-- Oriental. Shakespear-- the Problem Plays (A GREAT class).
>> Chaucer, The Canturbury Tales. And I got to use my classes I had taken
>> for fun-- comparative religions, creative writing.
>
> James Fenimore Cooper? In a class? Cool... I read the Pulitzer winner,
> _Cooperstown_. The Cooper in question there was James F.'s father. His
> own life interacts with JFCooper's novels in interesting ways.
> (According to the Cooperstown author. I've only read one of JFC's
> novels myself, so I can't judge.)
>
> Sounds like you managed to work out a not-too-terrifying combination of
> English classes. :> I've never yet read Chaucer, though he's somewhere
> on that long 'to read' list I keep.
>
> You dodged 'War and Peace', anyway.
>

Yeah, I took Chaucer because it was on my "should be read" list, and I
knew that this way I'd be forced to read it. And would have support for
the language and other things. It was a very interesting class. Do you
know, no one knows what order the tales were truly written in? Our
ending paper was like trying to work a logic puzzle to determine what
the best order should be. I didn't do so well.

But the teacher I mouthed off to asked about my next class in the same
room, and when I told her it was Chaucer, she said snidely that it would
never help my English career. So I responded...

SAMK
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

>> I believe they were 'borrowing' from the destruction of Sodom and
>> Gomorrah (and Admah, and Zeboim (thank you wikipedia)) and Lot's wife
>> turning to salt because she looked back at the destruction, gazing upon
>> God when you know you should not.
>
> That's entirely likely...never said Hollywood was Biblically
> accurate. Kudos to them for trying...

If Hollywood was accurate Mythbusters would would lose half of their
myths to bust!

--
I'm glad my Mom named me Aaron,
That's what everybody calls me.

Hemidemisemideity of Anonymous Eponymity
Patron Saint of Hair Color Changing
Currently: Dark Intense Red - Hydrience 3RR.
Holder of a provisional pedant licens/ce
(limited to the area of physical sciens/ce)
Member of ABMLNCSC - Base singer, very base
"Mommy, make daddy stop singing".

I dye my hair so much my driver's license
has a color wheel. Nancy Mura
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

Aaron wrote:
>>> I believe they were 'borrowing' from the destruction of Sodom and
>>> Gomorrah (and Admah, and Zeboim (thank you wikipedia)) and Lot's wife
>>> turning to salt because she looked back at the destruction, gazing
>>> upon God when you know you should not.
>>
>> That's entirely likely...never said Hollywood was Biblically
>> accurate. Kudos to them for trying...
>
> If Hollywood was accurate Mythbusters would would lose half of their
> myths to bust!
>


LOL At least for all their Hollywood specials. *G*


Next week is the MacGyver Myths!!!! *bouncy* At least they will have
better luck with those.

Kat
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

Kat Hein wrote:
> Aaron wrote:
<snip>
>>> That's entirely likely...never said Hollywood was Biblically
>>> accurate. Kudos to them for trying...
>>
>> If Hollywood was accurate Mythbusters would would lose half of their
>> myths to bust!
>
> LOL At least for all their Hollywood specials. *G*
>
>
> Next week is the MacGyver Myths!!!! *bouncy* At least they will have
> better luck with those.

MacGyver myths next week? Oh, cool! I saw someone mention that there
would be a MacGyver special sometime this season, but no mention of when.

Not that I'd miss my Mythbusters. :>

They could probably get a whole *season* out of busting MacGyver myths --
MacGyver pulled a lot of wacky, crazy tricks in the umpteen years he was on
the air. But I suppose they have to spend some time proving that pyramids
won't sharpen razors and the like.

I hadn't even known that anyone thought pyramids *would* sharpen razors,
until that episode. Speaking as someone who reads books full of spaceships
and dragons and elves... pyramids sharpening razors is a _weird_ thing to
believe in.

--
Megan
Journeyperson Dancing Barbarian
Keeper o' the FAQ: http://home.earthlink.net/~m_thomas3/abml/
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
> Kat Hein wrote:
>> Aaron wrote:
> <snip>
>>>> That's entirely likely...never said Hollywood was Biblically
>>>> accurate. Kudos to them for trying...
>>>
>>> If Hollywood was accurate Mythbusters would would lose half of their
>>> myths to bust!
>>
>> LOL At least for all their Hollywood specials. *G*
>>
>>
>> Next week is the MacGyver Myths!!!! *bouncy* At least they will have
>> better luck with those.
>
> MacGyver myths next week? Oh, cool! I saw someone mention that there
> would be a MacGyver special sometime this season, but no mention of when.
>
> Not that I'd miss my Mythbusters. :>
>
> They could probably get a whole *season* out of busting MacGyver myths
> -- MacGyver pulled a lot of wacky, crazy tricks in the umpteen years he
> was on the air. But I suppose they have to spend some time proving that
> pyramids won't sharpen razors and the like.
>
> I hadn't even known that anyone thought pyramids *would* sharpen razors,
> until that episode. Speaking as someone who reads books full of
> spaceships and dragons and elves... pyramids sharpening razors is a
> _weird_ thing to believe in.
>


The thing about the MacGyver myths is that I bet most of them will come
out as plausible, at the least. Those writers did a LOT of research when
they were doing the show. Sometimes, you'd have to get incredibly lucky
to make things work, but it's my understanding that almost everything
was possible...

Kat
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:06:41 -0800,
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:

>They could probably get a whole *season* out of busting MacGyver myths --
>MacGyver pulled a lot of wacky, crazy tricks in the umpteen years he was on
>the air. But I suppose they have to spend some time proving that pyramids
>won't sharpen razors and the like.

Actually, my supervisor told me the other day that, in fact, the
writers and producers of MacGyver made sure that EVERYTHING that
they did on the show worked. Even the explosives. With one
caveat... when MacGyver mixed up explosives, they always left out
key steps and/or ingrediants to prevent the viewer audience from
doing EXACTLY what it is that Mythbusters does.

I believe that Jamie and Adam have already tried some of the
things from MacGyver and, so far, everything they've tried has
come out as, not only plausible, but confirmed.

Tristaan (found a new favorite song... check out the sig)
--
Beware Spam Trap!: "us" is an "ogre"
*******************************************************
Ogre-Monk, AIM TristaanOgre
"So good-bye for now and I'll see you again
Some way, some how
When it's my time to go to the other side
I'll hold you again and melt at your smile
Now I have all the ones that I am with
You taught me not to take for granted
The time that we have to show that we care
Speak into their lives and their hearts while they're here
And say I LOVE YOU!!"

~Disciple "Things Left Unsaid"
*******************************************************
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

On Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:47:40 -0800, "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:

>Kat Hein wrote:
>
>> Yeah, but I've seen some really terrible versions of Shakespeare! That--
>> thing ---with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, for one. Ugh.
><snip>
>
>Oddly, that is my favorite movie variation of "Romeo and Juliet". I
>thought it caught the impulsive, extravagant, over the top emotiveness of
>the characters involved. A key idea to get across, since otherwise the
>extreme solutions Romeo and Juliet chose at the end don't make sense, and
>they have to make sense for the play to be a true tragedy.

I have not seen that version, but DH likes it as well. He
particularly likes what they did with the relationship between Romeo
and Mercutio.

The Bookwurm
--
Goddess of Libraries ™,
Pedant in Chief
Keeper of the BotRoM
Sister Hand Grenade of Sweet Reason
Believer, Church of the Cosmic Muffin
<spam trapped - remove the fish from address>
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

On Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:29:49 -0800, "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:

>I've read that Fanny was one of Jane Austen's own favorites, of her
>characters. But Fanny is about as far from modern sensibilities regarding
>appropriate heroine behaviour as it is to get. I don't ever recommend
>"Mansfield Park" to regular folks, when they ask what Austen to read.

I didn't mind Fanny so much when I finally got around to reading the
original. (IMNSHO the "sensible" sister in S&S is at least as
passive.) The Austen I have never really "gotten" is Northanger
Abbey. It's a send up of the horror novels of the time and I don't
know enough about them to get the joke Austen is telling.

The Bookwurm
--
Goddess of Libraries ™,
Pedant in Chief
Keeper of the BotRoM
Sister Hand Grenade of Sweet Reason
Believer, Church of the Cosmic Muffin
<spam trapped - remove the fish from address>
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:55:01 -0600, Bookwyrm <Bookwyrm RemoveThis @comcast.net>
wrote:

>Edna wrote:
>> In article <13qsetatmgoos8a RemoveThis @corp.supernews.com>,
>> "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
>> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>>> SAMK wrote:
>>>> Daughter just finished _The Great Gatsby_ for school. We agreed it was
>>>> full of whiny characters who never did anything but complain.
>>
>>
>>>> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
>>> Never read that one, though I begin to fear I may be the only USA citizen
>>> who hasn't.
>>
>> Make that two of us. My high school didn't require very much in the way
>> of reading, and I was a science major in college. I did read a lot of
>> classics on my own in high school, but only the ones that looked
>> interesting at the library
>>
>> Edna
>
>Never read Gatsby -- the movie was stupid enough for me.
>(Mia Farrow and Ryan O'Neal -- *shudder*)
>
>'wyrm

I read it. You didn't miss anything.

Not a durned thing.

The Bookwurm
--
Goddess of Libraries ™,
Pedant in Chief
Keeper of the BotRoM
Sister Hand Grenade of Sweet Reason
Believer, Church of the Cosmic Muffin
<spam trapped - remove the fish from address>
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

On 2/11/2008 12:19 PM, Tristaan wrote:
> On Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:21:12 -1000, victoreia stomped through my
> brain with:
>
>>> Tristaan (could be worse... could be dressed in a dress and
>>> hanging out in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in South Korea)
>> (trying desperately to get a Section 8 to go home, only to decide to stay
>> in South Korea when the war's over....)
>
> I still contend that the TV series of M*A*S*H was NOT a comedy...
> yes, it had a laugh track, but it was NOT a comedy...
>
A 'dramedy" perhaps...... they definitely had too many serious episodes
to be a
straight comedy. (Or even a sit-com.)

>> victoreia (me? showing my age?)
>
> No more than me...
>
> OO! Oo! Mr. Kottah!

Look! It's the Fonz!

--
victoreia
Goddess of Dark Chocolate
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

Kat Hein wrote:
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
>
>> Kat Hein wrote:
<snip - TV>
>> MacGyver myths next week? Oh, cool! I saw someone mention that there
>> would be a MacGyver special sometime this season, but no mention of when.
>>
>> Not that I'd miss my Mythbusters. :>
>>
>> They could probably get a whole *season* out of busting MacGyver myths
>> -- MacGyver pulled a lot of wacky, crazy tricks in the umpteen years
>> he was on the air. But I suppose they have to spend some time proving
>> that pyramids won't sharpen razors and the like.
<snip>

> The thing about the MacGyver myths is that I bet most of them will come
> out as plausible, at the least. Those writers did a LOT of research when
> they were doing the show. Sometimes, you'd have to get incredibly lucky
> to make things work, but it's my understanding that almost everything
> was possible...

They researched all those tricks?

I'm impressed. I assumed they, well, did what Hollywood usually does.
Exercised creativity. :>

--
Megan
Journeyperson Dancing Barbarian
Keeper o' the FAQ: http://home.earthlink.net/~m_thomas3/abml/
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

SAMK wrote:

> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
>
>> SAMK wrote:
<snip>
>>> Well... It helped that I did the degree in 5 quarters. I had done AP
>>> English in high school and scored 5/5 on the test, so I could take
>>> both years of the core courses concurrently. I tuned out the teacher
>>> in one, then annoyed her no end when I informed her that a degree in
>>> English Lit was not made for keeping one fed...
>>
>> Five quarters? Great googly woogly... They should teach more
>> science/math in K-12 -- English majors have *such* an unfair head
>> start on their class work when they get to college. When compared to
>> engineering majors. <envious sigh>
>>
> Well, the first two years were spent as an astronomy and astrophysics
> major. That's why 5 quarters, I punted on that 2nd qtr of my 3rd year,
> and said I'm not going more than another year. One year, 2 summers, done.

Done must have been fun. ;>

>> Doesn't sound like that second teacher had too good a handle on the
>> realities of job hunting. Weird, since the fight for teaching
>> positions in English departments of universities is scaaaaarily
>> difficult, and presumably that teacher made it through the mob to get
>> a job.
>
> Well, since I had no desire to teach, or be a professor, which is not
> always the same thing, the earning possibilities were even lower.

Teaching is tough. Teaching English is brutal, especially if you have a
fondess for correct grammar!

(Sentences have periods at the end, yes? Involve a subject, and a verb,
working together to form a meaningful unit? Not according to some students...)

<snip English classes>
>> Sounds like you managed to work out a not-too-terrifying combination
>> of English classes. :> I've never yet read Chaucer, though he's
>> somewhere on that long 'to read' list I keep.
>>
>> You dodged 'War and Peace', anyway.

> Yeah, I took Chaucer because it was on my "should be read" list, and I
> knew that this way I'd be forced to read it. And would have support for
> the language and other things. It was a very interesting class. Do you
> know, no one knows what order the tales were truly written in? Our
> ending paper was like trying to work a logic puzzle to determine what
> the best order should be. I didn't do so well.

Support in reading older forms of English can be veeeeeery nice. I
appreciated my English professors walking me through some of the more
convoluted Shakespeare, and Shakespeare's English is downright modern,
compared to Chaucer.

> But the teacher I mouthed off to asked about my next class in the same
> room, and when I told her it was Chaucer, she said snidely that it would
> never help my English career. So I responded...

Hmmmph. Response was too rude to be repeated in a public forum? Ah, well,
that teacher was asking for it.

In more ways than one. If the teacher of the Chaucer class found a
colleague was bad-mouthing his/her class... catfights in the teacher's lounge!

--
Megan
Journeyperson Dancing Barbarian
Keeper o' the FAQ: http://home.earthlink.net/~m_thomas3/abml/
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone? 

> On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:55:01 -0600, Bookwyrm <Bookwyrm DeleteThis @comcast.net>
> wrote:
>> Edna
>> Never read Gatsby -- the movie was stupid enough for me.
>> (Mia Farrow and Ryan O'Neal -- *shudder*)
>>
>> 'wyrm
>
How in all the names of all the gods could they possibly make
a movie out of that book? NOTHING HAPPENED. There was no
plot. There was no action. Two hours of listening to
people whine? I'd rather be water-boarded.

SAMK
 >> Stay informed about: Where oh where has my ogre gone?