Zompist Bboard Again

I just watched Love, Simon.
The beginning was awful but as a whole the movie is just amazing.
Also fuck Martin. He should know a thing or two if his brother really is gay. Then again, knowing, some people I know who also had friends or family who are queer, I guess it's believable. Still, fuck that dude.

And fire that vice principle

mèþru wrote: ↑Sat Sep 15, 2018 7:56 pmThe beginning was awful but as a whole the movie is just amazing.

This is how I felt about a Bollywood movie called Aitraaz.

This is a performance of a very old Afghan folk song in Dari called "Bacha Jan Logari":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEPhAYi2mYY

This is a Bollywood song deliberately using the same tune. This movie was one of the earliest I was introduced to as a kid. It's (mostly) set in Afghanistan and is apparently very popular there. The tunes to the other songs are apparently also heavily Afghan-influenced:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXgiVG2P_Uc

And a Tajik pop version of the same song performed by Farzonai Khurshed. Note especially the part between 1:34 and 2:26:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp7Z5LC8Eco

Another Tajik pop song by Shabnam Suraya:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjAGNCQWzmw

And another (the first Tajik song I ever heard besides maybe the national anthem):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2iODXQ85og

This is a ghazal in Dari, I think possibly from the US:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQTdEm4JE3w

This is probably the first (slightly modernized folk) song I ever heard in Pashto, from a Pakistani TV program called Coke Studio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwb793n2kDs

A Pashto song from Peshawar with a few lines in Urdu (sung by a Punjabi model) in it. It always cracks me up that the title of the video is "Our day our day our our our" because those look like completely different words in English...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZFj5NfrjZg

This is a Pashto wedding song (with subs in Dari) whose title means 'remove (your) tears':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luXFYMZMo1M

This is a Pashto song from Paktia in Afghanistan during the communist era, before the Taliban years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2gHd6uNGrA

This is a Pashto song probably from Kabul around the same time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teCV421RoRU

And another I think from the US:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKOqsDu4ans

Salmoneus wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 6:41 pm

Linguoboy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 4:19 pm

Zaarin wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 3:47 pmI don't read a lot of modern fiction because a lot of it is influenced by Hemmingway's style (which I loathe--prose should be beautiful, not composed of hijacked newspaper headlines--give me Tolkien or Le Guin or Austen any day), but having recently forayed into fiction published in my lifetime, he seems to be finally going out of style. Then again, maybe Kazuo Ishiguro and David James Duncan aren't really representative of modern style...

Modern fiction for manly men tends to be concentrated in certain genres, like noir or hard SF. I don't read those much so I rarely come across it. The main claimant to his mantle seems to be Cormac McCarthy. I read one book by him and that was enough.

Which book?

The one with the horses in it.

Salmoneus wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 6:41 pmI've never been really persuaded by McCarthy's content, but his style is just gorgeous - incredible talent as a prose stylist, imo.
[I've read Blood Meridian, which is stunning as an artwork, and the Border Trilogy, which work much better as novels. The Trilogy has a more mundane, though still beautiful, style, while the prose of Blood Meridian is this ridiculous, neogothic edifice...]

I've never been persuaded that he's a good stylist. If anything, Myers' savaging of him in his "Reader's Manifesto" convinced me of the opposite. But if Blood meridian represents a radical departure for him stylistically, then perhaps it's worth a glance.

I'm still slowly working my way through Y pla. It's a tiny bit ironic that I was drawn to it because of Roberts' reputation for narrative innovation in Welsh prose and I'm getting annoyed with his narrative choices. There are two narrative streams and they seem to belong to different novels altogether. Neither is altogether convincing given the historical setting.

I've also got an Algerian French novel (Le village de l'Allemand by Boualem Sansal), an English translation of『沈黙』by 遠藤周/Endō Shūsaku, and just yesterday I picked up a recent novel from Wilhelm Genazino which I may or may not decide to start reading now. I liked his Bildungsroman well enough; this one seems to focus on middle-aged ennui, which is more relevant to me these days. I tried reading Endō once before and wasn't impressed but I've been urged to give him another try; so far it's a quick read. I picked up the Sansal based solely on the title and, if nothing else, I'm picking up some good contemporary French vocab from him.

I just watched my hero aca. The quality has declined, though

Linguoboy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 11, 2018 12:15 pm

Salmoneus wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 6:41 pm

Linguoboy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 4:19 pm Modern fiction for manly men tends to be concentrated in certain genres, like noir or hard SF. I don't read those much so I rarely come across it. The main claimant to his mantle seems to be Cormac McCarthy. I read one book by him and that was enough.

Which book?

The one with the horses in it.

Well, that narrows it down to all of them... though I'm guessing, for maximum horsiness, All the Pretty Horses. That's my favourite of his, although I seem to recall there being better bits in the sequel (but the book as a whole maybe not being as solid).

Salmoneus wrote: ↑Mon Oct 08, 2018 6:41 pmI've never been really persuaded by McCarthy's content, but his style is just gorgeous - incredible talent as a prose stylist, imo.
[I've read Blood Meridian, which is stunning as an artwork, and the Border Trilogy, which work much better as novels. The Trilogy has a more mundane, though still beautiful, style, while the prose of Blood Meridian is this ridiculous, neogothic edifice...]

I've never been persuaded that he's a good stylist. If anything, Myers' savaging of him in his "Reader's Manifesto" convinced me of the opposite. But if Blood meridian represents a radical departure for him stylistically, then perhaps it's worth a glance.

I wouldn't call it a radical departure, but I would call it "everything turned up to 11". It's him - it feels like - going all out to stand out, from the parasols of human skin to the refusal to use proper punctuation (the hallmark of Literature, apparently). Did it work? No, in the sense that I didn't think it was a great novel, but yes, in the sense that I thought it had some great sentences in it, and it certainly stood out. All the Pretty Horses felt like the more mature, toned-down version.

Style is, of course, a matter of taste...

I'm still slowly working my way through Y pla. It's a tiny bit ironic that I was drawn to it because of Roberts' reputation for narrative innovation in Welsh prose and I'm getting annoyed with his narrative choices. There are two narrative streams and they seem to belong to different novels altogether. Neither is altogether convincing given the historical setting.

That's the problem with "innovation". 30% of the time, you end up going "ok, that's innovative, interesting, I see that, but... was it really necessary...?" - and 60% of the time I just think "your 'innovation' is just refusal to do something everyone else does because it's been proven to work. Other authors haven't innovated like this because this innovation is shit." Sure, 1 time in 10 it actually benefits the book, but...



Anyway, personally, I've just finished re-reading Enid Blyton's The Island of Adventure, and I intend now to go on to a translation of the first six books of Philippe de Commynes' Memoirs. It's not often, as a fantasy fan, that I get to read something by and about a character in a novel I've recently read... I'm also, alongside, reading through Legends, the seminal 1990s epic fantasy short story anthology - and only twenty years late...

Salmoneus wrote: ↑Thu Oct 11, 2018 3:13 pmthough I'm guessing, for maximum horsiness, All the Pretty Horses.

That's the fellow.

Salmoneus wrote:I wouldn't call it a radical departure, but I would call it "everything turned up to 11". It's him - it feels like - going all out to stand out, from the parasols of human skin to the refusal to use proper punctuation (the hallmark of Literature, apparently). Did it work? No, in the sense that I didn't think it was a great novel, but yes, in the sense that I thought it had some great sentences in it, and it certainly stood out. All the Pretty Horses felt like the more mature, toned-down version.

Cool! I can go on ignoring him like before.

Salmoneus wrote:That's the problem with "innovation". 30% of the time, you end up going "ok, that's innovative, interesting, I see that, but... was it really necessary...?" - and 60% of the time I just think "your 'innovation' is just refusal to do something everyone else does because it's been proven to work. Other authors haven't innovated like this because this innovation is shit." Sure, 1 time in 10 it actually benefits the book, but...

To be fair, I'm not really his audience. Narrative innovations in particular assume a high level of competency on the part of the reader. I assume that fluent Welsh-speakers would have a much easier time connecting the dots than a learner like me. I do like modernism (and postmodernism), but it really is a bitch when you're still learning your verbs.

Currently re-reading Lord of the Rings yet again. I can stop any time I want.

JT the Ninja wrote: ↑Thu Oct 11, 2018 3:55 pm Currently re-reading Lord of the Rings yet again. I can stop any time I want.

No, you can't.

Don't even try!

(Just finished the umpteenth reread myself a couple months ago. Am eager now for Beren & Luthien et al)

Speaking of things Tolkien I'm reading works by two great men, contemporaries after a fashion. A fascinating contrast in temperament, wisdom and literary might:

Mein Kampf
v.
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

I'd actually suggest reading the two at the same time. (If only because Mr Tolkien keeps us sane!)

I also have Beren and Luthien, as well as The Fall of Gondolin...will finish them eventually...


Mein Kampf and Tolkien? Well there's a contrast for you! Know thy enemy?

JT the Ninja wrote: ↑Thu Oct 11, 2018 4:22 pm I also have Beren and Luthien, as well as The Fall of Gondolin...will finish them eventually...


Mein Kampf and Tolkien? Well there's a contrast for you! Know thy enemy?

Yep, FoG is on the List!

And yeah, you can't get much further apart in mind-set.

Vijay, you have excellent taste in music! I enjoyed some of those songs that you posted actually.

These are some songs I’m listening to
A children’s song from Indonesia from about 1996, about an aunt
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HJzmJ5am_ow
Of course, Tunak Tunak Tun
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_T_MOxNGsks
A medley of folk songs in Ambonese Malay, released around 2010
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r1D9-AN7lSw
Ambonese reggae
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lDi849Vfcgk
Some Somalian songs
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6fm1Rd1gQ
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hPvOmHWrXwc
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NlLMKo6RciU
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=anjG5lG4nKo
Interesting how it’s similar to Ethiopian music
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uWq3kkWAs4c
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=25ajA8neIks
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v-JME_myY78
And Eritrean music too
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujp8QmQufZ8
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VOsv8n8RKpg
This one looks like a protest song
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A5yXYw8ztA4
And Djiboutian music is similar too
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8p9XEZKxzZc
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KBTe5_Ff5h4
What language is the Djiboutian stuff in? Is that Oromo, Somali, or Afar?

Reading: The India Construction Kit
Watching: Law & Order
Listening to: “Lovesong” by The Cure

Linguoboy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 11, 2018 3:52 pm Cool! I can go on ignoring him like before.

Since I happen to have blood meridian; or, the evening redness in the west directly in front of me, I may as well give a taste. This is just random stuff, not picked to be best or worst or whatever.

The opening goes:
See the child. He is pale and thin, he wears a thin and ragged linen shirt. He stokes the scullery fire. Outside lie dark turned fields with rags of snow and darker woods beyond that harbor yet a few last wolves. His folk are known for hewers of wood and drawers of water but in truth his father has been a schoolmaster. He lies in drink, he quotes from poets whose names are now lost. The boy crouches by the fire and watches him.

Night of your bith. Thirty-three. The Leonids they were called. God how the stars did fall. I looked for blackness, holes in the heavens. The Dipper stove.

The mother dead these fourteen years did incubate in her own bosom the creature who would carry her off. The father never speaks her name, the child does not know it. He has a sister in this world that he will not see again. He can neither read nor write and in him broods already a taste for mindless violence. All history present in that visage, the child the father of the man.

At fourteen he uns away. He will not see again the freezing kitchenhouse in the predawn dark. The firewood, the washpots. He wanders west as far as Memphis, a solitary migrant upon that flat and pastoral landscape. Blacks in the fields, lank and stooped, their fingers spiderlike among the bolls of cotton. A shadowed agony in the garden. Against the sun's declining figures moving in the slower dusk across a paper skyline. A lone dark husbandman pursuing mule and harrow down the rainblown bottomland toward night.

Some great bits and some awful bits in that, I think.

Random paragraph:
Glanton's horse reared and Glanton flattened himself along the horse's shoulder and drew his pistol. One of the Delawares was next behind him and the horse he rode was falling backward and he was trying to turn it, beating it about the head with his balled fist, and the bear's long muzzle swung toward them in a stunned articulation, amazed beyond reckoning, some fould gobbet dangling from its jaws and its chops dyed red with blood. Glanton fired. The ball struck the bear in the chest and the bear leaned with a strange moan and seized the Delaware and lifted him from the horse. Glanton fired again into the thick ruff of fur forward of the bear's shoulder as it turned and the man dangling from the bear's jaws looked down at them cheek and jowl with the brute and one arm about its neck like some crazed defector in a gesture of defiant camaraderie. All through the woods a bedlam of shouts and the whack of men beating the screaming horses into submission. Glanton cocked the pistol a third time as the bear swung with the indian dangling from its mouth like a doll and passed over him in a sea of hone-coloured hair smeared with blood and a reek of carrion and the rooty smell of the creature itself. The shot rose and rose, a small core of metal scurrying toward the distant beltways of matter grinding mutely to the west above them all. Several rifleshots rang out and the beast loped horribly into the forest with his hostage and was lost among the darkening trees.

Random sentence:
The riders pushed between them and the rock and methodically rode them from the escarpment, the animals dropping silently as martyres, turning sedately in the empty air and exploding on the rocks below in startling bursts of blood and silver as the flasks broke open and the the mercury loomed wobbling in the air in great sheets and lobes and small trembling satellites and all its formed grouping below and racing in the stone arroyos like the imbreachment of some ultimate alchemic work decocted from out the secret dark of the earth's heart, the fleeing stag of the ancients fugitive upon the mountainside and bright and quick in he dry path of the storm channels and shaping out the sockets in the rock and hurrying from ledge to ledge down the slope shimmering and deft as eels.

As you can see, at this point in his career, McCarthy hadn't yet learned how to say no - everything is big and elaborate, and usually the biggest and worst and most dreadful in the history of mankind. But it does create a distinctive atmosphere for the novel...

Meanwhile, I'm apparently the last person on the planet (or at least in the UK) to have watched Bodyguard*. But I'm caught up now.

Despite the hype, it's actually really good! The finale, unfortunately, makes no sense, in the way that the finales of crime and conspiracy dramas generally struggle with*. And the actor, Richard Madden, is far too wooden. He does have fantastic presence, however, and there'll be riots on the streets if he's not the next Bond now. Overall, it's well-written and well-acted, and pleasantly intense.




*so apparently 1/6th of the entire UK population were watching the finale, or 48% of the TV-viewing adult public.
**you know, where the audience works out the plot, so it's over. So instead of, as in real life, all the characters saying, or continuing to say, "this is all circumstantial evidence, it'll never stand up in court! Your chain of custody of the evidence is poorly documented!" and the next six episodes being a drawn-out lawsuit, instead the villains accommodatingly confess right at the point where the audience would otherwise lose interest, and everything concludes far too rapidly. They should at least have spun that out into one more episode...

My reading is all over the place and changes by the hour(all in english):

• the bible - new american standard bible

• Blacklisted by History by M. Stanton Evans

• The DaVinci Code

• A Delusional of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials by Frances Lee and Karen Armstrong - for my nano project, it's a horror/thriller/paranormal novel whose premise is that a historian investigating the trials uncovers a conspiracy to keep secret the fact that there really were demonic possessions going on...and the demons still are active today. It's supposed to be dan brown meets stephen king with elements of more demonic possession type horror thrown in

• Re-reading Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Series

For watching, i actually got some non-english! lol

• The Spanish scifi series El Barco

• The spanish channel's morning show...barely speak any spanish but seriously, i once turned it on to find one of the hosts sitting on a snowtub on top of a stool with a sombrero on

• Covert Affairs

Currently trying to read Hendrik Kern's translation of the Lotus Sutra. However, at this point, the Lotus Sutra seems to be about how awesome the Lotus Sutra is and how a tentasquillion celestial beings in a flibdillion worlds were enlightened by it, and I'm not actually sure where the enlightening part is. I may try easier Buddhist texts first before coming back to this one…