Howard Hughes wouldn't, if she were you.

Jun 29, 2007 11:47

This will be the disorganized sort of entry.

They happen, sometimes.

Yesterday, I wrote 1,197 words on The Dinosaurs of MarsIt wasn't a bad day, all in all. Just after dark, as we were getting ready to walk, thunderstorms rolled in, and it rained until after midnight, I think. Which was nice, even if we didn't get our walk. What's a little muscle ( Read more... )

tdom, summer rain, clark ashton smith, john steinbeck, sirenia, paleoanthropology, biographies

Leave a comment

Comments 5

docbrite June 29 2007, 18:21:40 UTC
I recall, at some point, Poppy (docbrite) saying to me how the thing she hated about biographies was that they almost all ended the same way, with the main character's death.

I was mostly joking, but yes, they can be depressing reads -- especially writers' biographies, since writers' lives tend to be fairly depressing in general. If I read a biography now, it's more likely to be about a pioneer of some sort: two recent favorites of mine were The Lady and the Panda (about Ruth Harkness, the first person to capture and bring home a live Giant Panda from China) and The Knife Man (about John Hunter, an innovative 18th-century surgeon and medical collector). Yes, they are both dead now, and Mrs. Harkness' death was particularly depressing, but they were fine books.

Reply

chris_walsh June 29 2007, 18:37:48 UTC
The official biography of Douglas Adams -- Wish You Were Here by Nick Webb, not that unofficial one whose name and author I won't mention (long story) -- is one of the rare exceptions I've seen, as it jumps around chronologically at the start and finish. The book begins with Adams's premature death, and then the book's last line is about Adams's birth. Adams did enough things in unusual ways; it's appropriate his biography does, too. It kind of adds to the wistfulness of it (Webb was a longtime friend of Adams).

Reply


regenzeit June 30 2007, 01:49:53 UTC
unrelated:

hey, i installed second life. (it took me two hours, because i am using linux and i'm not too good at that).
finally, it was up and running.
after 10 minutes i quit the client.

if i want to work i get a job. if i want to see my friends i call them.

maybe it's just because i am already a huge tattoed winged orc in real life.
--

for me, second life really'd be great if it wouldn't involve currency.
-
even the fantasy utopias are capitalistic. no fun, at least for me.

Reply

greygirlbeast June 30 2007, 16:10:50 UTC

finally, it was up and running. after 10 minutes i quit the client.

While I wholeheartedly agree that far too much of SL revolves around currency, I would also say that you can't begin to draw any sort of accurate opinion of the experiment in ten minutes. I've been on almost a month now, and I have only just begun to get some general idea of what's what. I wish you'd given it a chance, if only because many of the best aspects of SL require no currency whatsoever.

Reply

regenzeit July 1 2007, 13:16:28 UTC
Well, of course I'll give it another chance..

Reply


Leave a comment

Up