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Grex > Books > #79: The Mysterious Quote - Winter 1999 Edition | |
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| Author |
Message |
| 21 new of 195 responses total. |
cyklone
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response 175 of 195:
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Mar 17 23:57 UTC 1999 |
For you M-netters, I was going to say irvingp, who blatantly stole that
excerpt for his plan (without attribution)
OK, here's a new fave of mine. My mother, of all people, turned me on to
this:
There were three other people at her sitting. Mrs. Ormerod from
Belsize Park, in a dark green hat that might have been a flowerpot in a
previous life; Mr. Scroggie, thin and pallid, with bulging colorless eyes;
and Julia Petley from Hair Today,* the hairdressers' on the High Street,
fresh out of school and convinced that she herself had unplumbed occult
depths. In order to enhance the occult aspects of herself, Julia had
begun to wear far too much handbeaten silver jewelry and green eyeshadow.
She felt she looked haunted and gaunt and romantic, and she would have, if
she had lost another thirty pounds. She was convinced that she was
anorexic, because every time she looked in the mirror she did indeed see a
fat person.
*Formerly A Cut Above the Rest, formerly Mane Attraction, formerly Curl Up
and Dye, formerly A Snip at the Price, formerly Mister Brian's
Art-de-Coiffeur, formerly Robinson the Barber's, formerly Fone-a-Car
Taxis.
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jazz
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response 176 of 195:
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Mar 18 00:14 UTC 1999 |
Tom Robbins?
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md
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response 177 of 195:
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Mar 18 00:42 UTC 1999 |
Helen Fielding?
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valkyrie
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response 178 of 195:
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Mar 18 00:57 UTC 1999 |
Terry Pratchett
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cyklone
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response 179 of 195:
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Mar 18 02:34 UTC 1999 |
OK Brenda, you have half of it, now who's the other? ;)
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mcnally
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response 180 of 195:
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Mar 18 06:15 UTC 1999 |
Unless I miss my guess It's from "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and
Neil Gaiman. I'd say, though, that Brenda should get credit.
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cyklone
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response 181 of 195:
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Mar 18 13:11 UTC 1999 |
Yup, Mike got it right, with the names of both authors. However, since he
deferred to Brenda, she's up next. BTW, if you like Doug Adams, you'll
love "Good Omens", a humorous look at Armageddon and the bureaucracies of
Heaven and Hell . . . . .
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mooncat
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response 182 of 195:
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Mar 18 13:18 UTC 1999 |
(Good Omens is wonderful. :) Have to love a book that has a HellHound
named 'Dog' -no spoiler, there is a 'cast list' at the beginning of the
book- and an angel who didn't fall, but sauntered vaguely downwards...)
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valkyrie
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response 183 of 195:
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Mar 18 16:56 UTC 1999 |
I knew good omens, just didn't have it in front of me for the other author's
name :). I'll post a quote later today.
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valkyrie
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response 184 of 195:
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Mar 19 12:17 UTC 1999 |
Ok, I expect someone to get this fairly soon, since I don't have any
obscure books :).
When I was in middle school there was a spate of magazines publishing
fantastic stories, not alone ghost stories, but weird yarns of every sort.
magic ships plying the ether to other stars. Strange inventions. Trips
to the center of the earth. Other "dimensions." Flying machines. Power
from burning atoms. Monsters created in secret laboratories.
I used to buy them and hide them inside copies of Youth's Companion and
Young Crusaders, knowhing instinctively that my parents would disappreove and
confiscate. I loved them and so did my outlaw chum Bert.
It couldn't last. First there was an editorial in Youth's Companion:
"Poison to the Soul--Stamp it Out!" Then our pastor, Brother Draper, preached
a sermon against such mind-corrupting trash, with comparisons to the evil
effects of cigarettes and booze. Then our state outlawed such publications
under the "standards of the community" doctrine even before passage of the
national law and the parallel executive order.
And a cache I had hidden "perfectly" in our attic disappeared. Worse, the
works of Mr. H. G. Wells and M. Jules Verne and some others were taken out
of our public library.
You have to admire the motives of our spiritual leaders and elected
officials in seeking to protect the minds of the young. As Brother Draper
pointed out, there are enough exciting and adventurous stories in the Good
Book to satisfy the needs of every boy and girl in the world; there was simply
no need for profane literature. He was not urging censorship of books for
adults, just for the impressionable young. If persons of mature years wanted
to read such fantastic trash, suffer them to do so--although he, for one,
could not see why any grown man would want to.
Have at it :)
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jazz
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response 185 of 195:
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Mar 19 14:02 UTC 1999 |
On the bright side, what's come to replace them is Neal Stephenson and
Anne Harris and Janet Hagan.
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void
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response 186 of 195:
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Mar 19 14:14 UTC 1999 |
robert a. heinlein?
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aruba
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response 187 of 195:
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Mar 19 15:16 UTC 1999 |
It sounds like Heinlein, but I can't quite place it. The line about there
being enough stories in the Bible for everyone is familiar, though.
Hmmm. I'll guess Asimov.
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jep
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response 188 of 195:
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Mar 19 15:40 UTC 1999 |
It's a familiar quote, and it does sound like Heinlein. I cannot place
the story, though.
Oh, yes I can, it's from "Job: A Comedy of Justice" by Heinlein.
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valkyrie
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response 189 of 195:
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Mar 19 16:35 UTC 1999 |
Looks like void got it. I was hoping it'd last a little longer than
a couple hours, but oh well :).
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flem
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response 190 of 195:
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Mar 19 21:28 UTC 1999 |
Heinlein isn't likely to last long around here. Even I'd have gotten that
one, had I been timely enough. :)
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void
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response 191 of 195:
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Mar 20 02:16 UTC 1999 |
i have a quotation in mind, but don't have time to enter it before
i go to work tonight so it will have to wait until tomorrow.
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void
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response 192 of 195:
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Mar 20 13:15 UTC 1999 |
hmmm. looking at the date, would anyone mind if i wait until agora
rolls to enter the quotation?
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aruba
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response 193 of 195:
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Mar 20 18:50 UTC 1999 |
Sounds like a good idea.
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davel
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response 194 of 195:
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Mar 21 22:58 UTC 1999 |
Someone please link the new item into Books.
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remmers
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response 195 of 195:
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Mar 23 12:59 UTC 1999 |
It's been done. The new item is #83 in Books. (item:books,83)
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