tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post8502025146696271151..comments2024-03-27T21:47:38.050-07:00Comments on stevereads: dark days at the TLSUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-83900067343930154342007-03-11T06:42:00.000-07:002007-03-11T06:42:00.000-07:00From the High School Musical article: "Ryan, one o...From the High School Musical article: <BR/>"Ryan, one of the six lead characters (the one who sometimes wears a newsboy cap at a jaunty angle)."<BR/><BR/>This pretty much sums up the reason that I will never be as enthralled by High School Musical as Steve. That, and I'm not a big girl.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-15835259718663843652007-03-10T20:54:00.000-08:002007-03-10T20:54:00.000-08:00Wow. HSM 2! Someone at Disney is gonna get a big, ...Wow. HSM 2! Someone at Disney is gonna get a big, fat promotion and raise for coming up with THAT idea!<BR/><BR/>I can just imagine the weekly staff meetings:<BR/><BR/>Boss Mouse: "Boy, this High School Musical is through the roof. The ratings, the sales of the soundtrack and dvds, the touring shows. If only there were some way to keep this money-printing machine going... Nothing? Anyone? No? Okay, let's move on and talk about those Lilo & Stich pilates dvds..."Locke Peterseimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05320507157893341941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-61949200655344544592007-03-10T15:44:00.000-08:002007-03-10T15:44:00.000-08:00Steve is going to be pretty excited about this: Hi...Steve is going to be pretty excited about this: <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/arts/television/11stei.html?ref=arts" REL="nofollow">High School Musical 2</A><BR/><BR/>“It’s like ‘High School Musical’ on crack."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-64349518816686571322007-03-10T07:51:00.000-08:002007-03-10T07:51:00.000-08:00Geez, Jeff, I just re-read the last sentence of yo...Geez, Jeff, I just re-read the last sentence of your comment. There goes another rib.<BR/><BR/>You guys are good for my soul.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-90332407445490994902007-03-10T07:37:00.000-08:002007-03-10T07:37:00.000-08:00Jeff - I think what sealed it for me was the quest...Jeff - I think what sealed it for me was the question about the perfect job. So I like my home...sheesh.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-58179360124046314652007-03-10T07:31:00.000-08:002007-03-10T07:31:00.000-08:00"Still, this test was better than the personality ..."Still, this test was better than the personality test I took a couple years ago while, in a state of unemployed inebriation, I applied to work at Red Lobster."<BR/><BR/>I'm laughing so hard that I think I've broken a rib.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-20049060013066914722007-03-09T10:16:00.000-08:002007-03-09T10:16:00.000-08:00I was also a crab, but I found the results quite o...I was also a crab, but I found the results quite oddly unrelated to my input. I put in things about being calm and thoughtful, and it was like, "You are a crab: outwardly mean, you don't like people; on inside you're overly sensitive." <BR/><BR/>Maybe I'm just being overly sensitive, but I just don't like those quiz-making people.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-1675128061014827722007-03-08T22:12:00.000-08:002007-03-08T22:12:00.000-08:00I'm an octapus......yay.I'm an octapus......yay.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-36270820463624836952007-03-08T20:02:00.000-08:002007-03-08T20:02:00.000-08:00Oooo, goody, a quiz.I'm apparently a crab. (Shut u...Oooo, goody, a quiz.<BR/><BR/>I'm apparently a crab. (Shut up, Steve!) Hard shell, soft inside, prefers to be alone and seems to follow rules. Who knew? I prefer to think of myself as having a soft outer skin and a hard underbelly, but what the heck.<BR/><BR/>In either case, I'm not turning in my manatee wings(flippers?)yet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-67776666751244910382007-03-08T17:22:00.000-08:002007-03-08T17:22:00.000-08:00According to this quiz, I'm more of a sea horse.According to <A HREF="http://www.quizilla.com/users/truly-dippy/quizzes/%3F%3F%20Which%20Creature%20Of%20The%20Sea%20Are%20You%3F%3F/" REL="nofollow">this quiz</A>, I'm more of a sea horse.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00289597293731183865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-29437990012425117012007-03-08T15:07:00.000-08:002007-03-08T15:07:00.000-08:00"In preperation, I snuck into Steve's apartment an..."In preperation, I snuck into Steve's apartment and read his copy of "300". Don't tell."<BR/><BR/>I, of course, meant "preparation"...or perhaps "pepper ration" but, really, I've got to go with what makes sense given the rest of the sentence.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-53892881210018099722007-03-08T14:59:00.000-08:002007-03-08T14:59:00.000-08:00I just finished reading "Fluke" by Christopher Moo...I just finished reading "Fluke" by Christopher Moore. He tells us that all killer whales are called Kevin. I know that is not the same as all Kevins being killer whales, but it has helped me form a mental image of our own Kevin when he's at home.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-49121828712045999742007-03-08T08:36:00.000-08:002007-03-08T08:36:00.000-08:00Slick.Slick.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-68362198936440069782007-03-08T07:12:00.000-08:002007-03-08T07:12:00.000-08:00In preperation, I snuck into Steve's apartment and...In preperation, I snuck into Steve's apartment and read his copy of "300". Don't tell.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-40032621843846372292007-03-08T07:11:00.000-08:002007-03-08T07:11:00.000-08:00I'm not sure where that lagoon was, Sam, but it su...I'm not sure where that lagoon was, Sam, but it sure was lonely.<BR/><BR/>Let me quickly sum up my Tolkienless life. As a teen, I read and enjoyed "The Hobbit". I started the first volume of LOTR and for some reason didn't get very far. (my shiny object comment from earlier seems as good a reason as any)<BR/><BR/>For many years, I had two very used mass market paperbacks on my bookshelves, and hoped to find the third to match. I can't even remember which two they were. Eventually I got rid of them and now have a pretty set done by Quality Paperback Book Club, as well as the big three volumes-in-one trade that came out around the time of the movies. From this information you should understand that I always meant to read them.<BR/><BR/>The only reason that I didn't go see the movies was that I wanted to read the books first. The only reason I didn't read the books was...oh, I don't know. Moon fever, maybe. The hype (and the endless end-caps) didn't really figure into it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-30148498712742246972007-03-07T20:53:00.000-08:002007-03-07T20:53:00.000-08:00"End-caps", eh? Look at Sam tossing around the re..."End-caps", eh? Look at Sam tossing around the retail jargon. I managed an end-capless retail store for years, and just recently read about end-caps for the first time in an article about Wal-Mart pushing fluorescent light bulbs onto the average American consumer. <BR/><BR/>My LOTR maneuver was to read all four volumes (yes, the Hobbit too) for the first time in October 2001, in preparation for the plainly awesome movie that was about to come out in December 2001 (and 2002 and 2003). Reading the books first has seemed like a very wise decision in hindsight.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-10390440923104853672007-03-07T11:18:00.000-08:002007-03-07T11:18:00.000-08:00I don't remember Tolkien's attention to detail riv...I don't remember Tolkien's attention to detail rivaling anything Herman Melville wrote, but maybe I need to go back and read them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-63254333870163307402007-03-07T09:48:00.000-08:002007-03-07T09:48:00.000-08:00By the way, I've avoided seeing the movies just on...By the way, I've avoided seeing the movies just on the off chance that I might someday read the books. So it'll be all new to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-28089282151607247682007-03-07T09:41:00.000-08:002007-03-07T09:41:00.000-08:00Locke, I understand how much you love Tolkien. Yo...Locke, I understand how much you love Tolkien. You did make that clear in your comments from yesterday. I think if I examined my bookshelves I would find examples of books I love whose writers have a hard time writing good prose. I just found it odd that your promise of bad prose made the book more attractive to me, not less. I'm generally in the prose-over-story camp. To give you an idea of my taste, one of my favorite authors is Henry James - not a master of the page turner. Give me an author who is master of both and I may just follow you into hell.<BR/><BR/>But I consider myself very good at the art of compartmentalising my reading based on what I want from it at the time. Sometimes I read just to hear a ripping good yarn and thus am not afraid to dip into the science fiction/fantasy waters. Thus, I see "Lord of the Rings" floating my way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-84494707363218026042007-03-07T08:57:00.000-08:002007-03-07T08:57:00.000-08:00I read Lord of the Rings for the first time just a...I read Lord of the Rings for the first time just a few years ago.<BR/><BR/>I liked the prose.<BR/><BR/>I also liked the way Tolkien would pause in the telling of the quest to save life-as-we-know-it to describe the dew glistening on a particular bit of shrubbery.<BR/><BR/>Call me crazy.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00289597293731183865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-14120051618708653652007-03-07T08:12:00.000-08:002007-03-07T08:12:00.000-08:00Well, before I get tarred as "hating" Tolkien, I w...Well, before I get tarred as "hating" Tolkien, I want to point out (as Steve no doubt would, if he wasn't busy chasing the ball), that prose and dialogue are only one part of a writer's appeal or a work's worth -- how LARGE a part is up to the individual reader's taste. I find, as I get older, that I have less and less tolerance for really thudding, tone-deaf, cliched prose. I like modern detective novels by folks like Lawrence Block, James Lee Burke, Pellicanos, and even Michael Connelly, but anymore, when I go to pick one up, it always takes me a chapter or two of tamping down my gag reflex before I get "used" to the prose style and settle into the story. <BR/><BR/>Sadly, it's becoming the same with Tolkien for me -- I just have to hold my nose a bit whenever I start re-reading the Sacred Texts.<BR/><BR/>BUT, my point is that there is SO much more than the prose and dialogue to love about LOTR -- one can argue that complaining about the prose is like complaining about the shape of the stones used in building the Great Pyramid -- it's the overall effect and purpose that is impressive and wonderful.<BR/><BR/>Still, what I was saying yesterday was that when you are handing LOTR over to someone who isn't pre-disposed to liking fantasy and has, in fact, perhaps avoided it all their reading lives BECAUSE they don't care for the genre's primary elements, Tolkien's prose becomes an early sticking point for them. They read a few pages and say "bah, this is exactly the sort of crap I feared it would be -- this is WHY I don't read 'this stuff'".<BR/><BR/>I fully understand WHAT about LOTR appeals to me and WHY, and yes, a LOT of it has to do with the age at which I discovered it. It's silly to hand LOTR to a 30-yr-old who's never read or really been that interested in fantasy and say 'here, read this -- you'll love it' and expect them to plug into it the way you once did.Locke Peterseimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05320507157893341941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-77069103904524025682007-03-07T07:24:00.000-08:002007-03-07T07:24:00.000-08:00I am realizing a very perverse little aspect of my...I am realizing a very perverse little aspect of myself. Steve mentioned once something about Alice Munro being a talentless gassbag and I immediately thought "I should give her a try." Locke talks about Tolkien's horrible prose and I think "Maybe it's time I read 'Lord of the Rings'". Even taking into account that it is early and I'm craving a decent cup of coffee (something the size of a paint can sounds about right), what the hell is wrong with me? (shut up, Steve)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-52652418979833915792007-03-06T18:04:00.000-08:002007-03-06T18:04:00.000-08:00Did somebody mention throwing a ball?Did somebody mention throwing a ball?stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00411174345391126343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-63181876348143283262007-03-06T10:49:00.000-08:002007-03-06T10:49:00.000-08:00(it would help if I backed up my supposed love for...(it would help if I backed up my supposed love for Tolkien by spelling his name correctly... what can I say? not that STRONG a speller... and I was taking my cue from "hellmo"--he confuseded me!)Locke Peterseimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05320507157893341941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32302521.post-34001995111904693542007-03-06T08:57:00.000-08:002007-03-06T08:57:00.000-08:00(um, and before some Tolkienista slaps me down as ...(um, and before some Tolkienista slaps me down as being a wet-behind-the-ears Hobbitling who clearly hasn't read the books ENOUGH, I should point out to those who don't know me that the crack about being 11 in 1996 is, sadly, very much a joke. 1976 would actually be much more accurate.)Locke Peterseimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05320507157893341941noreply@blogger.com