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Bukowski Moments (pg. 2)
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by Meat187
- Orwell's 1984: Had to read this in class and still think it's utter crap. Badly written, uninteresting and generally not enjoyable for the reader at all. It may be intersting in a political or sociological sense (although it's main implication today is a stupid reality TV show) but that doesn't change the fact that I think it's a bad book.
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- The Beatles: Most people will strongly disagree on this one but I find their music completely unspectacular. Not really bad, just nothing special and not woth any of the fuss.
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You're not alone. |
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| astroboy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
You're not alone. |
Lol it's easy to laugh at 1984 now that the term "big brother" has become a cliché. But at the time it was written it was a fairly dystopic vision that was relevant (height of Soviet tyranny and all that).
Have you read Orwell's Animal Farm?
Also I'd be interested to know your opinion of Huxley's A Brave New World.. I found it more relevant than 1984 for some reason. |
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| EgosXII |
| quote: | Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
I liked Portrait and found it quite readable. I don't really see what's hard to understand about it.
Ulysses I can see being difficult. I've only read excerpts of it (which I liked) for a course, but I picked up the book recently and will start on it soon. |
i liked ulysses.. i guess it depends what you're trying to get out of it though..
as a piece of writing it's brilliant, if you're looking for clear narative etc then you're not going to be keen on it.. the last chapter is awesome imo :)
i agree that there are heaps of pieces of 'art' that are completely e in reality though... might be worth setting a standard for what's wrong with them..
just because you personally didn't enjoy it, or didn't get it doesn't really make it bad...
| quote: | Originally posted by astroboy
Lol it's easy to laugh at 1984 now that the term "big brother" has become a cliché. But at the time it was written it was a fairly dystopic vision that was relevant (height of Soviet tyranny and all that).
Have you read Orwell's Animal Farm?
Also I'd be interested to know your opinion of Huxley's A Brave New World.. I found it more relevant than 1984 for some reason. |
i'm an orwell fan as well... :p
1984 = win imo
that huxley vs orwell comic is awesome too :D |
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| Lews |
Lord of the Rings
Christianity |
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| bas |
| The Beatles - For the life of me I can't understand what people see in them. |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by astroboy
Lol it's easy to laugh at 1984 now that the term "big brother" has become a cliché. But at the time it was written it was a fairly dystopic vision that was relevant (height of Soviet tyranny and all that).
Have you read Orwell's Animal Farm? |
No, after I read 1984, I promised myself I wouldn't read anything by Orwell's any time soon.
But, the reason why I disliked 1984 is not because it is cliché. It's because it is shallow and far-fetched. I don't know if you were born in Australia but, if you weren't, we both have in common the fact that we were born under dictatorships - so 1984 should not be that much far from home. Yet, it is.
The whole "newspeak" thing made me cringe. It relies too much on an extreme version of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis that is not taken seriously in science these days. Sure enough, Russians are quick to spot the difference between "siniy" and "galuboy", whereas English speakers need some more time to notice the difference between these two shades of blue (as they perceive it). Having two different words make it easier to work in some contexts, but lacking a distinction doesn't mean you can't perceive that difference. And I feel it all starts from this mistake. When Winston read Goldsteam's book, and later when he was captured and tortured, it felt like I was being dragged along with a snowball based on erroneous assumptions, crafted by an angry chubby teenager with a cute delusion of grandeur thinking that (s)he had come up with the deepest insight ever in the History of political science and psychology... when it's actually something that you're more likely to hear from a clueless crank.
| quote: | Originally posted by astroboy
Also I'd be interested to know your opinion of Huxley's A Brave New World.. I found it more relevant than 1984 for some reason. |
All right, I will read it in December :)
Ps.: By the way, what Sartre recommendation? You said you recommended me something by Sartre in another thread, but I don't remember :conf: |
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| floyd741 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Meat187
- The Beatles: Most people will strongly disagree on this one but I find their music completely unspectacular. Not really bad, just nothing special and not woth any of the fuss.
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+1000000, The Beatles are way overrated. I can understand that maybe a person who grew up with this music may like it. You know, they were there when it was the big thing, they were swept up in it. To them it was something new and different. What I cannot understand is all the stupid high school kids who are so ing obsessed with The Beatles. Their music is dull and absolutely uneventful, I would even say it's bad. They are that thing your parents love that you'll never understand because you didn't live it yet somehow all these ing hipster kids jack off to The Beatles. It's ing retarded.
/rant |
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| bananas |
| Pink Floyd, other than the cover of 'The Other Side Of The Moon' they can go themselves with their money till they're numb |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
The whole "newspeak" thing made me cringe. |
Newspeak may be hyperbolic or just not be a very plausible idea, but why do you think the whole book stands or falls based on that? |
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| SYSTEM-J |
JM Coatzee. He won a Nobel prize for literature, but his books are good only for academics to write papers about.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This book is ing awful. The critics of its day panned it, and they were right.
Battle Royale. Not a highbrow film as such, but definitely critically acclaimed. I found it nonsensical, derivative and severely over-rated.
V For Vendetta. Again, not very highbrow, but it baffles me that so many people seem to think this is a good film. Political stances are being put before critical sensibilities, methinks. |
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| Cpt.Cocaine |
| Definitely didn't like 1984. It was one of the first books I read and it almost turned me off of reading altogether. |
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