Please see Styx thread on the Registered Shipmates consultation for the main discussion forums - your views are important, continues until April 4th.

Heaven: I feel I ought to like this but I DON'T

2456710

Comments

  • But have you watched cricket - not the quickly-over T20 stuff, but a proper 5-day Test Match? Here is Bill Bryson's view: http://www.wandererscricket.com/Yank_view.html
  • PriscillaPriscilla Shipmate
    Puccini has already been mentioned - could I particularly mention "O mio babbino caro", which is both horribly soupy slushy and an ear worm to boot.
  • Another Only Fools and Horses agnostic here and I will throw in Friends and Seinfeld as well. Literature-wise I loved Jane Eyre but hated Wide Sargasso Sea with equal passion. I also love sci fi from Forbidden Planet to The Expanse but every flavour of Star Trek makes me want to bash my brains out with a gold brick wrapped in a slice of lemon. Probably the one which causes the most grief to my family however is my complete ambivalence to Scotland despite my scottish parents and it being my place of birth. They keep sending me little reminders of my former home country, nothing useful like whisky or tablet but tourist tat that would shame Edinburgh during the festival.

    Right that should give me an excuse not to visit my cousins for a few months...
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    Jane Austen. I've had so many goes at her (so to speak) and just can't get on with her at all.

    Great to see you, Bob Two Owls! Always appreciate your posts. :smile:
  • LolaLola Shipmate Posts: 49
    Anna Karenina - I just cannot be bothered to finish it. In fact pre 20th Century Russian novels in general. And Thomas Hardy too. And The Greatest Showman.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Nenya wrote: »
    Great to see you, Bob Two Owls! Always appreciate your posts. :smile:
    ... even when you're being rude about Scotland. :naughty:

    [tangent]
    Re: the Shipping Forecast - I don't mind it these days. As we live abroad, we only hear it occasionally when we're home on holiday, and it has a certain nostalgic poetry to it. Also, it reminds me of my dad, who had an abiding interest in all things meteorological, and never turned it off, as the rest of us would have done.

    We bought him a tea-towel with the shipping area map on it when we were on holiday in the Isle of Man many years ago, and he always had it in use whenever we went to stay with him. When we were over for his funeral earlier this year, we took it away with us, and I think of him whenever I use it.
    [/tangent]
  • Nenya wrote: »
    Great to see you, Bob Two Owls! Always appreciate your posts. :smile:

    Thanks, I'm always lurking but can't always remember my password...
  • EirenistEirenist Shipmate
    Dad's Army.
  • TrudyTrudy Heaven Host
    stetson wrote: »
    Trudy wrote: »
    Huia wrote: »
    Annie Proux's book, The Shipping News

    I would be happy to introduce you to a whole island full of people who mostly dislike that book.

    I've only seen the film, but one thing I thought was interesting about it was how Newfoundland was portrayed, for better or worse, as an entity unto itself, rather than as part of Canada. It wasn't like Kevin Spacey says he's going up to live in Canada, and then Newfoundland happens to be the province he goes to; it's just "I'm going to live in Newfoundland", and there we are, almost as it it's its own country, with no connection to anything else.

    But yeah, stuff like...

    A: If he died at 12, he couldn't have been my grandfather.

    B: You don't know Newfoundlad.

    ...probably wouldn't endear it much to Newfoundlanders.

    It was interesting to see Gordon Pinsent doing something outside of the CanCon ghetto.

    That part -- how Newfoundland has always seen itself as separate from Canada and still does long after Confederation -- is one of the more accurate bits. But for the rest of it ... the bits of "entertaining local colour" just read SO much like "I'm a writer who spent a couple of vacations in this place so I think I can get the details right." And she really really didn't.

    I think my favourite/least favourite bit was when a character encounters "squid burgers" in a roadside cafe in rural Newfoundland, and everyone is just like sure, this is something we eat. I guess because she knew people catch squid here, so just thought it would be a fun thing to put in. If you got "squid burgers" ANYWHERE in Newfoundland, it would be some incredibly trendy St. John's restaurant where they were bragging about how locally sourced everything was (and even that would be more likely now than at the time the book was written and set, some 20 years ago). A typical roadside Nfld restaurant, then and now, would be distinguished by the exciting choices of: fish and chips, chicken and chips, hamburger and chips. There are just a lot of little details like that that ring so false.
  • I can understand that someone who knows Newfoundland might not be endeared by it, but actually, I found the book and film quite pleasant. I suppose I see it as a story, and don't need it to be accurate.
  • TrudyTrudy Heaven Host
    I think it's quite often the reaction of people who read books that are set in the area you live in but written by an outsider, that purport to be showing other outsiders what "this place" is really like. It does make me question the authenticity of every book I've read that's set anywhere else!!
  • I've read books by locals that are so authentic I can identify possible models for characters. But then there are authors who just get things that slight bit wrong and are maddening to read - American authors who set their books in England are often offenders at this - Elizabeth George and Martha Grimes, I'm looking at you.
  • That's like stumbling across an article on a place you know well, in an in-flight magazine.
  • TrudyTrudy Heaven Host
    This is an interesting tangent and I'm going to start a new thread on it....
  • bassobasso Shipmate
    But then there are authors who just get things that slight bit wrong and are maddening to read - American authors who set their books in England are often offenders at this
    I recall one such where the detectives drove out of London on their way to the northeast, and found themselves passing through Herefordshire. I know the author meant Hertfordshire, but it's a mistake that a Briton probably wouldn't make.
    That happens in other locales, too. I recall reading a mystery set in San Francisco that described a trip so muddled that I asked the writer "you've never been to San Francisco, have you?"
    I turned to the back of the book to read her bio. Sure enough -- Los Angeles.
  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited July 2018
    I read a detective book, written by an American but set in a (highly improbable) English village. One of the characters was diabetic (this was crucial to the story) and needed to take her medication at certain intervals. She used an "autoinjector" which is a term I've never heard as everyone says "Epipen". Perhaps the author was trying to avoid breaking copyright rules, but it just sounded wrong.

    I also remember a story set in north London where someone takes refuge in a church I knew well. The description given was of a typical Anglo-Catholic church complete with paintings, statues and candles. However it is in fact Evangelical, has none of these appurtenances and is whitewashed throughout! Trivial I know, but annoying.

    Of course my pet gripe is authors who get trains and the like wrong. A detective story set in the late 1940s made two mistakes. It talked of the "Brighton Belle" train being blue, but that only came in around 1970 in British Rail days; in the 40s it was umber and cream. More importantly (spoiler alert!) the culprit was a bus driver who hid the victim under the stairs of his double-decker while returning to the depot at the end of his shift. So where was the conductor? - well-nigh universal at the time. That really did spoil the denouement for me.
  • Fake location shots happen all the time in film and TV and are very annoying to people who recognize what the venues really are.

    One of my favorite TV series, Criminal Minds, once staged an episode called Reflection of Desire about a young man who kept the body of his dead mother preserved as if she were still alive (remind you of something else?). A significant chunk of the action was ostensibly set in Union Station, the railroad terminal in DC, but was actually shot in Union Station Los Angeles.
  • Anyway, getting back to what we're supposed to like but don't . . .

    Bob Dylan. What's so special about someone who sings through his nose?
  • Anyway, getting back to what we're supposed to like but don't . . .
    Fish.

  • Ditto. How could we eat anything that essentially lives in a toilet?
  • Ditto. How could we eat anything that essentially lives in a toilet?
    Well, I probably can’t go quite that far, because I love shellfish. But otherwise, yeah.

  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    Any kind of football, regardless of nationality.

    The Chicago Cubs.

  • stetsonstetson Shipmate
    stetson wrote: »
    Trudy wrote: »
    Huia wrote: »
    Annie Proux's book, The Shipping News

    I would be happy to introduce you to a whole island full of people who mostly dislike that book.

    I've only seen the film, but one thing I thought was interesting about it was how Newfoundland was portrayed, for better or worse, as an entity unto itself, rather than as part of Canada. It wasn't like Kevin Spacey says he's going up to live in Canada, and then Newfoundland happens to be the province he goes to; it's just "I'm going to live in Newfoundland", and there we are, almost as it it's its own country, with no connection to anything else.


    I don't know when the book is set -- but if before 1949, then Newfoundland was a totally separate entity.

    I don't quite recall when it was set, but at the time I definitely had the impression that it was post-1949.

    You can check the hair styles etc in the poster

  • Mr SmiffMr Smiff Shipmate
    Michael McIntyre, the British stand-up comedian. Everyone else (including my family) seem to find him hilarious and spot-on in his observations: I just can’t see it, it seems to be more “stuff he thinks should happen in life because it’s funny”, rather than stuff that actually does happen.

    But I’m beginning to think it’s me that’s missing something...
  • ClimacusClimacus Shipmate
    Comedy is very unique. I have friends roll about with laughter when one comedian speaks, and I'm still waiting for the joke. You're just different. And that's not wrong/bad.

    Salmon. Tuna. No thanks. I just don't like the look of it. Give me my fish in batter with a serve of hot chips. Or potato scallops, or potato cakes as they are known here.

  • Mr Smiff wrote: »
    Michael McIntyre, the British stand-up comedian. Everyone else (including my family) seem to find him hilarious and spot-on in his observations: I just can’t see it, it seems to be more “stuff he thinks should happen in life because it’s funny”, rather than stuff that actually does happen.

    But I’m beginning to think it’s me that’s missing something...

    No - I am with you on that. I don't find him funny at all. ANd I do have a broad range of stand up I find fuuny.
  • Lily PadLily Pad Shipmate
    edited July 2018
    I read a detective book, written by an American but set in a (highly improbable) English village. One of the characters was diabetic (this was crucial to the story) and needed to take her medication at certain intervals. She used an "autoinjector" which is a term I've never heard as everyone says "Epipen". Perhaps the author was trying to avoid breaking copyright rules, but it just sounded wrong.

    @Baptist Trainfan, you have no need to be miffed any longer. Epipens contain epinephrine. They are used for severe allergic reactions. For a long time, the brand name, Epi-pen, was the only supplier. When Allerject came out with their autoinjector, most pharmacists and doctors started calling them autoinjectors instead of by the brand name. There are also generic brands that deliver epinephrine.

    On the other hand, diabetics can receive insulin by autoinjector. Many just call these pens now. There are autoinjectors for a bunch of different medications that have to be delivered by syringe. They are either pre-filled with the exact dose or the dose can be dialed in and the injection part is done with a spring-loaded action rather than the typical syringe and needle set up.

  • I can lay my hands on three different makes of adrenaline auto-injector now, because that's what how prescriptions have currently been filled, but colloquially we call them all Epipens*. And if someone is on injected insulin, auto-injected or not, we'd call it insulin. That's English usage, however incorrect. And how I, too, would prefer my English characters in an English setting to speak.

    * talking to the paramedics, I'd be precise as to which version we'd used and be holding the empty canister for them
  • My point exactly.
  • Anyway, getting back to what we're supposed to like but don't . . .

    Bob Dylan. What's so special about someone who sings through his nose?
    Because of things like this:

    Ring them bells, ye heathen
    From the city that dreams
    Ring them bells from the sanctuaries
    ’Cross the valleys and streams
    For they’re deep and they’re wide
    And the world’s on its side
    And time is running backwards
    And so is the bride
  • Ditto. How could we eat anything that essentially lives in a toilet?
    Veggies grow in shit. Same diff.
  • Ring them bells, ye heathen
    I might like it if he had written "Ring those bells" and had someone else sing it.
  • edited July 2018
    Ring them bells, ye heathen
    I might like it if he had written "Ring those bells" and had someone else sing it.
    You and I are going to play crokinole one day.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Anyway, getting back to what we're supposed to like but don't . . .
    Fish.

    Well indeed. How anything that smells like it's been dead for a week when it's barely dead can be a delicacy is beyond me.

    (Cue people telling me fish doesn't smell if it's fresh. Yes it does. It reeks the moment you start cooking it)
  • A Feminine ForceA Feminine Force Shipmate
    edited July 2018
    Soccer. OMG, the excitement of watching twenty two dudes running laps for two hours.

    Basketball. OMG the excitement of watching ten dudes take turns standing around to see if one dude can pitch the ball into the net, then wandering down to the other end of the court to do it again. For 90 minutes.

    Baseball. OMG the excitement of watching grass grow while nine dudes pick their noses, scratch their butts and spit.

    Cricket. Like, WITEF?

    Golf. Robin Williams classic routine about sums up how I feel about a bunch of rich white dudes strolling through a chemically engineered ecological holocaust zone.

    AFF

  • KarlLB wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Anyway, getting back to what we're supposed to like but don't . . .
    Fish.

    Well indeed. How anything that smells like it's been dead for a week when it's barely dead can be a delicacy is beyond me.

    (Cue people telling me fish doesn't smell if it's fresh. Yes it does. It reeks the moment you start cooking it)
    And cue Jim Gaffigan saying you know it’s bad if the best thing people can say is that it doesn’t smell or taste “fishy.”

  • stetsonstetson Shipmate
    Soccer. OMG, the excitement of watching twenty two dudes running laps for two hours.

    Basketball. OMG the excitement of watching ten dudes take turns standing around to see if one dude can pitch the ball into the net, then wandering down to the other end of the court to do it again. For 90 minutes.

    Baseball. OMG the excitement of watching grass grow while nine dudes pick their noses, scratch their butts and spit.

    Cricket. Like, WITEF?

    Golf. Robin Williams classic routine about sums up how I feel about a bunch of rich white dudes strolling through a chemically engineered ecological holocaust zone.

    AFF

    Gotta say, your knowledge of the numerical makeup of the teams is better than I could have done. The only number I recognize is "nine" for baseball, and that's probably just from "The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day".

  • Baseball. You are right. Very very boring. Endless.

    Fish on the other hand. Please bring me the stinkiest you can find. I like it all.

    Cheese as well. Though there is one that smells like butt and another of armpit. Not those.
  • The best cheese smells like stinky feet.

    Sport. Organized rudeness. Pushing, shoving, grabbing, hitting, stealing, etc. all done to a set of rules.
  • The best cheese smells like stinky feet.
    Yes, but no one says “Something smells cheesy around here.” :wink:

  • Bagpipe music at close proximity
    The last night of the Proms
    Charlie Chaplin films
    Most mime artists, including Marcel Marceau
    Lloyd Webber musicals
    Margarine or "spread" instead of butter
    Advocaat/ egg nog
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    Tangent - but no French person would ever think one is supposed to like margarine instead of butter :wink:
  • ClimacusClimacus Shipmate
    I grew up with margarine. For some reason dad got butter while we got margarine. I remember my first taste of butter. Wow.
  • I agree Climacus - only it was my mum who got the butter and the rest of us, including dad got marg. I too remember my first taste of butter..........heaven. I use marg for baking though.

    Bagpipes played properly are the music of heaven: not just Scottish but Irish, Welsh, Portuguese, Breton and Romanian too. (Try the Welsh group "Calan" for good bagpipe music that is sweet)

    Smelly cheese - to me it's gone off. Give me Teifi (a Welsh cheese) with seaweed (laverbread) in in any day.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Can't say I like the taste of butter or margarine - they're alright (and butter is better) for cooking in and spreading on stuff but as individual things they're not pleasant.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    WildHaggis wrote: »
    I agree Climacus - only it was my mum who got the butter and the rest of us, including dad got marg. I too remember my first taste of butter..........heaven. I use marg for baking though.

    Bagpipes played properly are the music of heaven: not just Scottish but Irish, Welsh, Portuguese, Breton and Romanian too. (Try the Welsh group "Calan" for good bagpipe music that is sweet)

    *cough* Northumbrian *cough*

  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate, Glory
    Jane R--

    Re "Crouching Tiger":

    You might try watching the *final* 20 min. or so. ;) Worth it!
  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate, Glory
    Partial list:

    --Joyce's "Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man". Made it through one chapter or so. Weird and dull. And "pretty little moo cows", indeed. Irish-American author Adela Rogers St. John wrote in her wonderful novel "Tell No Man" that Joyce pulled off the greatest hoax ever perpetrated by an Irishman! :)

    --The "Summa Theologica", by Thomas Aquinas. Dull--but, more importantly, totally anathema to my approach to God and faith.

    --Licorice. As in actual licorice flavor, not the red or grape "licorice" whip candies.

    --Coffee. Though coffee-flavored ice cream is ok.

    --Horror films.

    --Messes between people.

    --A particular Jell-o dish from childhood parties and potlucks:

    {Grossness alert!}
    Lime Jell-o containing pineapple and cottage cheese.
    {/Grossness}

    --I mostly don't like hip-hop, though I can stand small doses. Not a huge fan of rap, unless it's light and happy. Generally not a fan of heavy metal.

    --Most kinds of fish. I do like calamari, but my stomach has a decidedly different opinion. I do like things like shrimp and tuna.

    --The novel "Focault's Pendulum", by Umberto Eco. Got more and more depressed as I read.

  • Golden Key wrote: »
    coffee-flavored ice cream

    The devil's dessert.
  • MooMoo Kerygmania Host
    There are big differences in the quality of butter. Around here, I can buy Amish butter, which tastes much better than what you buy in the supermarket.
Sign In or Register to comment.