Interrogate the Asshole Beyond the Wall

[Semicolon]

No. But I have climbed over it.

Looks like some folks went straight through it.

[DirtDawg]

No. But I have climbed over it.

Looks like some folks went straight through it.

Those folk had powers, along with a kind of determination of will that I see fading from our (I do not mean "our" as we Americans. I am talking about the entirety of the human race) populace.

I would love to see real strength return to those who are challenged these days.

[Queen Victoria]

DirtDawg, you do know that the picture is from Game of Thrones and was probably not terribly accurate?

[Lestat]

Hung over?

I'm not surprised you felt a little sick after that, drinking toilet will do that to you

[DirtDawg]

DirtDawg, you do know that the picture is from Game of Thrones and was probably not terribly accurate?

You are kidding, right? You thought My comment was random?

IN your mind there must be this place where I have not been a fan of George R.R Martin since before it ALL started on Cable TV?

Did you know that I actually spend a great deal of my free time reading? I read more than I type.

So, allow me to help you the way you have tried to help me; there were awesome books available written about this fantasy world well before there were fanbased "TV Movies."



OH, and to be honest, I bought my first GRRM book off the used paperback section at Half Priced Books in about 'ninety eight, due to how intrigued I was by the cover. SO, there you go.

 

[Queen Victoria]

Yes, Dirt Dawg, I do know that Game of Thrones is a literary series.  I've never seen GoT on TV because I don't subscribe to that channel (whichever one it is.)  I merely inspected the element and saw it was GoT, so knowing how much emphasis television places on accuracy in fictional shows, I was commenting on the accuracy of fictional TV series. 

HOWEVER, I give George R. R. Martin the top spot in this argument.

I also spend a whole lot of time reading, much to the detriment of family time.  If I'm eating, then I'm reading.  If I'm bored, then I'm reading.  If I'm tired I'm reading.  Well you get the idea.  At any one time I have over 8 books in various stages of being read or re-read.  They're in the house and in my car.  And yes, I'm the only person I know that has ever read the unabridged The Cloister and The Hearth (G_d awful book.  Read it out of sheer cussedness because someone said it was the most boring book ever written - all what 800 pages of it?).

I cut my teeth on Murray Leinster and Lester del Rey in the early 1950's when the inside covers of the SF books had beautiful illustrations of space ships and other SF related matter rendered in marvelous shades of grey.  I tried Lady Chatterly's Lover when I was 10, but gave that up as a lost cause.  I read Dad's Stag, Male, Argosy, porn books, etc.  If it stayed still long enough I read it. 

My parents would give me money and say, "DON"T buy any books." 

Before I married my entire apartment, save hall, kitchen and bathroom, was wall to wall shelves, crammed with books.  Of all kinds: historical novels, science fiction, archeology, anthropology, astronomy, how to, cookbooks, history books, self-help books (obviously didn't work), biographies, autobiographies, travel, popular fiction, etc.  About the only things I had/have no interest in are romance and western novels. 

[DirtDawg]

Seems as if we have a great deal in common.

I went through long series of massive tortures deciding which books to "donate,"  when it came time to give up my library room and allow my young son to have his own room.

Obviously he NEEDED to have his own room, but giving up my thousands of books and almost as many thousands of LPs was tough to get through.

I managed, some how. I cheated a bit and stored about four thousand books under the house in the crawl space. They are well packed and the crawl space is dry, so one day I will have and incredible treasure to share with my young readers.

I have already brought up a few and presented the youngsters some of my treasures, with hit-and-miss results. It seems to be more about timing, associated with the subject matter,  than the actual value of a book which decides whether my idea of a great book is accepted or not.
 

The world is different these days. Hell, these kids come with ideas presented at school which are totally false, according to the history I was taught. The fact that we still have to pay an exorbitant book charge each year and YET we are never presented with ACTUAL books that we paid for is a bit disturbing.
We get little copied from a computer pages that the kids have to fill out and return.   BUT, if it is some part of calculus or factoring that I have forgotten about due to non-use (and could easily remind myself with ten minutes using an actual high school book) I find myself struggling until I go into some university site with page after page of some of what I need to help my kid.
Finally after taking the college course again, I can go help my kid finish his homework.
Not having the actual books from the school is a problem. Considering we paid a book charge of four hundred bucks per student and we get NO BOOKS!


Anyway, when I noticed that Game Of Thrones was going to be available on Blu-ray disc, I did not even hesitate. I have bought them all on disc. I can tell you that the series appears on HBO, but since we rarely watch television (we generally watch discs) at this household, we do not subscribe. I DO have cable, so that I can get high speed internet and local news without worrying about whether the huge maple trees are blocking the aerial signal in summer or not.

BTW, My parents told me not to buy any more books as well.   

 

[odeon]

The kid wouldn't have his own room if it had been me.

I do not donate my books. I do not throw them away.

[DirtDawg]

The kid wouldn't have his own room if it had been me.

I do not donate my books. I do not throw them away.

All I can say is that my son is more rich for having his privacy, especially now that he is fifteen years old.

Our local library is also more rich for all my donations. Admittedly, it was very difficult to decide which to keep and which to allow other readers to enjoy.
I feel that I fed karma a huge meal. I have to think that I made a proper decision.

Had I not lost my best job ever, about ten years ago, we would still own our dream house and this would not be a conversation.
 

[odeon]

Not sure I would have been able to cope.

[DirtDawg]

Not sure I would have been able to cope.

I am not saying it was done in a short amount of time. 

It took me months, literally.
 
I am not even sure which LPs I saved underground (mostly sixties and seventies rock, jazz and Detroit funk - but, none of those I just had acquired for some band to learn the hits from, unless I liked the music myself).

Maybe if I could stop buying "new" ones (so many incredible Deutsche Grammophon efforts available in pristine condition these days, I can not control my urge to buy), I might have time to go down stairs and explore a bit.

Now that all the Xmas music has finally been pulled from shelves, I can find ...


...   I found a 78rpm Furtwangler collection a few weeks ago. WOW! My 78s are mostly collectible, such as Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, etc but I sometimes indulge myself. (yes, I have a specific turntable set up properly for 78s)


My "huge-ish"  closet is already becoming fullish. MAy have to get rid of some old amplifiers or saxophones.

 

['andersom']

I live small, donating books is a chore I have given myself. There are times I am not allowing myself to buy new books, till I have at least a bit of space on a shelf. Emptied 6 meters of shelves two years ago. Somehow it got easier, after my ex had taken his pick from the books, before leaving. And I realised I could live without them.
My parents never told me not to spend my money on books. My dad was a huge reader, my mother loved her books too. So, they would never have been able to be convincing in telling me not to buy books.

[Lestat]

'furtwangler' sounds either like some sort of foreign food the origins of which are better left unasked, or something that might appear in a sex-offenders register.

[Pyraxis]

I guess I'm the only one who hasn't tasted A Song of Ice and Fire (or Game of Thrones for that matter; I don't have a heck of a lot of time for watching TV and WolFish likes lighter stuff).

I agree though about the return of strength. I'm getting increasingly sick of the victim-contest among people a few years younger than me. I get that millenials are being screwed over, but I wish their answer to it wasn't to go schoolmarm on the English language about what sociopolitical rhetoric was and wasn't acceptable. Outrage is cheap. Action is not.

[Queen Victoria]

I guess I'm the only one who hasn't tasted A Song of Ice and Fire (or Game of Thrones for that matter; I don't have a heck of a lot of time for watching TV and WolFish likes lighter stuff)

I've not seen either or a lot of movies in the past 3 or 4 years.  I play musical TV with the PR.  She jumps around between the TV in our bedroom and the TV in the living room and the computer.  And announces to us that we "can have the... now."  She has a TV in her room, but doesn't have a remote for it.  Her behind is about to be put in a sling because I'm tired of being shit man on the totem pole.