nikki.

Kelandon. Never change. You have reached perfection, and I lay my SW account at your feet. Do with it what you will.

There's also the fact that we talked about this on CalRef recently.

Haha. It is getting increasingly harder for me to get any further into that bottom-left corner. I'm sure I wasn't this bad last time: Economic Left/Right: -10.00 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -9.03 EDIT: Noooooo! I actually made it lower down last time: http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/17947-political-compass-round-infinity/#entry237574 :(

Since I last updated, I've not read all that much. What I have read, though, seems mostly to have been American literature, which is making a nice change of pace. Highlights have been Wharton's Ethan Frome. Melville's 'Benito Cereno' and Moby Dick. Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs, and Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I've also reread Hesiod, some of Lawrence's short stories, and some Hemingway.

Yay, more Salmon!

http://io9.com/5413428/official-twilights-bella--edward-are-in-an-abusive-relationship (not the most robust of sources, but eh. immediately sprang to mind)

Ahhh, so many huge images!! Welcome back, Marlenny! I watch neither show, so I won't bother taking either of the quizzes.

My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets! It's good because it's about planets, so you don't need to remember which one it's for. For the rainbow I use 'Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain'. I guess because I'm English?

tablets tend not to have a 'u' key. if you want to offer help, that's awesome, but please read the OP to make sure you're offering advice that is actually relevant.

Okay, you guys. Quiet down - the supply of these jokes has clearly overtaken demanned.

Secret doors operate a bit different in later SW games (and Avernum: Escape from the Pit falls into this category). Rather than "pushing" in to the wall where you think the secret passage may be, you need to look around for a small brownish button on a nearby wall. Tapping that should open up the passage. Also, welcome to the boards!

I know the section of 'February' (by Boris Pasternak) that appears in Regina Spektor's song 'Apres Moi' by heart. But otherwise, no.

Over-rated. But, seriously. What's up with your posts? They're even more Harehunter-y than usual.

This kind of stuff is really what makes Nethergate, for my, SW's best game. Lots of stuff is packed away in here, and quite a lot of it goes unexplained.

I'd just like to note, for the second time in as many days, 'Jera "Commander" Keen' is perfect. Good work, D.

...and this is probably your best post of all time. Stop slacking and start posting more.

i came to this thread expecting little, was pleasantly surprised, and then had all my hopes dashed by the end. 2/10

Don't you have tomatoes to can, or something?

Yeah, we all still play occasionally, as far as I'm aware. Certainly not as much as before, though.

Hmm. I don't know that 'relevant' is the right word here. Absolutely some of the classics require more thought than The Hunger Games, but I wouldn't argue that's necessarily the case all the time. And certainly, they're 'relevant' to a wide array of people, even if they're not as accessible as the Harry Potter series. I mean, I agree with your general point, but yeah. 'Relevant' and 'accessible', and even 'of interest to' are all different things.

And yet I (and Kelandon) would argue that you'd enjoy them more for studying them. Your post addresses a point that I've seen raised elsewhere though. Why is appreciation of art/literature considered accessible only to people with excess disposable funds? Reading essays and lectures when I was younger (Tolkien's 'On Fairy Tales' is a great example!) was something I not only enjoyed, but, after a while, something I craved to do; I began to actively hunt out this kind of material in order to really get a good grip on the world I was inhabiting, and the kinds of worlds the people of my world could create. The very best way to escape material poverty is to read, in my opinion - literature is a great leveller (assuming one is literate, which is unfortunately not always the case), and yes, sometimes survival comes first, but after that, I'd imagine stories and literature comes next, not a science. Anecdotally, I've read voraciously for as long as I can remember, and I'd say that throughout my life my economic background has progressed only slightly from lower working-class to working-class. Of course, yeah, comparatively I'm well off, but if I could find these books, and grow as a result (and hopefully I'll end up contributing something that benefits others), then so could other people. Libraries and book-schemes exist everywhere (heck, I posted on reddit just yesterday about an old telephone box I found in a poorer neighbouring town that somebody had converted into a book-exchange). Literature, and the appreciation of it, is something EVERYBODY can enjoy. Now, whether or not studying English contributes to society is another question, but I guess I inadvertently gave a half answer in the above post. In addition to the points I raised in a post way, way above, criticism of literature, and essays, and articles in the back of books (and heck, even the cheapest editions of books seem to have introductory notes by some professor or another) can absolutely reach the poorest of people in ways that certain sciences can't. Not that no science can, but as has been pointed out elsewhere, there exists certain jargon in some science fields that makes physics et. al unapproachable. I'm not so sure English, or a lot of it, has that problem. (edit: Disclaimer. It is late, and I am tired. I fully expect somebody to roll their eyes, or poke right through this.)

you magnificent lizard, you. congratulations. i only wish i had pearl jammed for my anniversary.

Actually, I believe you began this thread by stating that yeah, getting a degree in English is exactly 'like getting a degree in gourmet dining', which 'takes a highly educated palate to savor', but is 'not a useful trade, to anyone'. Maybe you didn't say it was like wine appreciation, but I'm struggling to see any meaningful difference between fancy wines and fancy foods here. So I can defend my field, but in doing so I have to phrase it in such a way that I don't reject the notion that it is useless, or mere 'fiction appreciation'? And finally, since I have all but given up with this thread: An 'ideal' market would hopefully have room for criticism of literature, and studies of historical fiction, and, goddamit, appreciation of beautiful prose, rather than just churning out $$$ and weapons and machinery.

YES. Good job, old boy.

Yeah, same. Sorry, OP. No advice from us two. Oh, they're plenty funny.