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@arbutus  — well, John Cage’s argument is a simple and strong one — “If I put a frame around it, that makes it art”, with the frame being the recital hall, no musicians necessary (Warhol, with his soup cans, argues the same).  But that vast perspective leads into impossible places where art and philosophy overlap in waffle-y ways.  It’s kind of…[Read more]

Um, somebody? Have the episode by episode discussions of S8 gone someplace new here?  They used to be listed on the  home page, I think, but now the only way I can find, say, “Flatline” is if somebody else has posted there recently and their post shows up on the “Activity” page.  ??

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Jones continues to be a witless snob; okay, long as I don’t have to read his stuff.  Gods, can you imagine T. Pratchett trying to sound like Henry James, of all people?  To please stuffy little mouthpieces like J. Jones?   Anybody here read any Henry James recently?  Yes, it’s art, sometimes, and for some people.  For others it’s a dreary scho…[Read more]

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“Did something happen?”

“No.”

“Was it recent?”

“Yes.”

What a hook!

@purofilion  Yes, I live in New Mexico — we came here in 1970 from New York, stayed ever since.  I was at the local SF convention, small until George Martin flew into the stratosphere with GoT; he came on Saturday, mobs of orderly and excited fans, some good panel discussions.  An SF convention *ought* to be a Festival of Dangerous Ideas, but ra…[Read more]

@whisht  Or colonies of living things that the Tardis transports but keeps hidden from the Doctor for its own reasons (our current refugee crisis comes to mind — maybe refugees the Doctor doesn’t approve of).  Why not?  Since they went to the trouble of establishing the Tardis as a personality, with goals of its own and immense powers of se…[Read more]

@purofilion  One of the elements of the show that I’ve seen exploited with glee and imagination in some fanfic is the enormousness of the interior of the Tardis and its changing variety, since some writers have the Tardis adding and shifting variously purposed “rooms” around more or less at will.  Does that happen in the show?  Is most of the Ta…[Read more]

@purofilion  So good, on the virtues of ItFotN — yes.  I like it better now than I did originally.  The lighting and the setting remind me strongly of the way my artist dad illustrated the kid-books he worked on for Little Golden Books — the shifting dapple of light that shows up best in watercolors by a deft hand, and the sparkling at…[Read more]

@purofilion  In the case of Mr. Rochester, I’d say in reality he’d be about as attractive a romantic partner as any arrogant, self-centered putz flaunting his romantical locks (that will surely never fall out) while  and casually, coldly confident of his general dominance.  What he gains by getting his comeuppance for his bad behavior (losing hi…[Read more]

@purofilion Jeez, I actually *forgot* that odd switch in meanings of “public school’ and “private school” — I have either a cold, an actual flu-bug, and have been sleeping for days, only getting up to feed the cats and go buy soup. So, some people here have seen the Magician’s Apprentice, and must now keep mum until after public release on the…[Read more]

@purofilion   The private school I taught in was a bit of a special case; no uniforms, that’s for sure.  It was in Manhattan, at the north end of Central Park, bordering Harlem, and it was pretty bare bones.  Most of the staff were old commies, as I recall, and most had had careers in the “real world” (the maths guy had been a printer, had gone ba…[Read more]

@purofilion   Okay, you’re right; and I did read some Big Books back in college etc., and enjoyed them.  But lately, I’ve had no urge to return to them for a re-read, or pick up a Tom Wolfe novel for the first time.  Might have something to do with, um, the prospect before me, now that I’m in my mid-seventies.  When I was a student teacher, my Mas…[Read more]

@arbutus  Sounds to me as if Jones is an elitist goon, doing a bit of very conscious shit-stirring just for the hell of it.  Well, now *he’ll* never get knighted — the Queen is a Pratchett fan.

@missy  Maybe he was thinking, “Wow, that sure felt better than when Clara nearly smacked my head off inside that Dalek!  Must have a chat with her about this, sometime when we’re not busy liberating a dungeon.”

@purofilion  Might be Proudhon, might not be; wouldn’t want to jump to conclusions . . . Darned if I know!  I’ll look it up sometime *when I’m not catching a god damned cold*!  I think I picked up a cold at the convention — will go tend to trying to fight it off, but I think it’s already got a solid hold.

I won’t do 600.  If you can’t tell you…[Read more]

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