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Post by jklinders on Nov 8, 2015 4:08:36 GMT 1
Book burning is a horrible horrible thing. It stinks of the attempt at thought control, the authorities burning books they don't want the people to read, and in a less government / totalitarian way, just making a petty point about 'evil' books. I remember reading a while back about how some people burned piles of Harry Potter books because of the witchcraft thing - how friggin' stupid is that?? Also a waste of books. And a waste of money - they had to buy the books to make the pyre with, after all, as far as I know...Ironically contributing to the success of the author in doing so. Seriously these folks are mental.
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Post by Mr. Glow on Nov 8, 2015 20:35:32 GMT 1
Did anybody else ever read His Dark Materials? That was much the anti-Christian/religion screed the book burners and concerned parents were worried Harry Potter was. I guess when the film adaptation is apparently mediocre, nobody really notices, though.
Also, from googling it again, I found out the BBC are apparently adapting it as a series. After the great job they did with Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, I'm pretty excited for that.
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Post by jklinders on Nov 8, 2015 23:31:57 GMT 1
I wouldn't mind seeing an adaptation of that that does not die at the end of a cliffhanger. Sometimes starting with a smaller budget is a good idea. Especially since making coin on a big budget requires the financial support of the distinctly non atheist US audience.
Never read the books. I tend to lump atheist fiction and theist fiction into the same group of stodgy old cranks who are too wrapped up in their own beliefs to see that the reason they can't find the obnoxious drunk at the party is because they are the that guy. Harry potter was pretty harmless stuff. For the most part they were Scoobie Doo mysteries in a magical realm. However I consider any work that is marketed towards kids that is specifically to enforce a worldview on them as pretty vile. That applies as much to the Narnia books (theist) as it does to His Dark Materials(atheist).
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Nov 9, 2015 15:50:31 GMT 1
I did read His Dark Materials. I was losing around near the end of the 2nd book for some reason. Still, I like to see a BBC series version
Also I couldn't get into Narnia. It didn't held my interest enough to realise it's a theist fiction.
Harry Potter is very harmless. Yes they are known to have Witches and Wizards, but to me it felt like I'm reading another fantasy book back in my adolescent days. The early books were almost kid friendly, something you could read to a six year old as a bedtime story. It's the later ones that seemed to be a bit to dark for a children's literature, but it's still not as bad as His Dark Materials.
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Post by jklinders on Nov 10, 2015 2:03:04 GMT 1
I don't know if was deliberate or not, but it seemed to me that the potter books were the kind of thing that could grow with the reader. When they first came out, a year or two in between it could have been something that a early adopting fan could read as they were coming out and be at the right age. If that was an accident, that's fine, if Rowling did that on purpose it was farking brilliant.
as for narnia, i never read any of it,but I saw a couple of the movies. If you look at Aslan (the lion deity thing) as a Jesus analogue everything falls into place.
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Post by Clint Johnston on Nov 10, 2015 2:17:50 GMT 1
It was intentional. CS Lewis was a world renowned apologist (defender of Christianity) and included allegory in his work. He and Tolkien differed on using it. I find it very good and sometimes quite insightful. I have never read "His Dark Materials" but out of curiosity I watched the movie, and noticed the Atheist views within. In all honestly they seemed rather blocky and blunt "God is bad, duh" as opposed to Lewis' work which while painted in broad strokes, was never "You non christians are idiots"
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Post by jklinders on Nov 10, 2015 3:46:40 GMT 1
Oh I knew Lewis was putting those themes in intentionally. That is precisely why I labeled it as theist. Tolkien did similar things but was a fair bit more subtle. Not surprising since he and Lewis were actually pretty tight. Again I do not find having such themes in fiction to be objectionable, I simply find it objectionable to place them in children's lit.
The little I know about "His Dark Materials" suggests a very blunt and rather nasty message to be honest. This is not terribly surprising since most of the atheists I have run across are substantially less polite or subtle than agnostics such as myself tend to be. People often get defensive about their belief sets whether that belief is science or faith based. Possibly comes from thinking you already have all the answers. No issues from the more educated ones such as Dawkins, but the less educated ones who frequent comment boards make me want to puke.
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Post by Lily Ariel Linders on Nov 10, 2015 3:47:15 GMT 1
I liked the Narnia movies a lot - the newer ones, anyway... and in looking them up on Wikipedia tonight, it seems as if "The Silver Chair" will be the next one adapted to film... so, I may be excited here...
I saw the movie "The Golden Compass", which I had not realized was part of a larger series / "His Dark Materials" until after I saw the movie and wondered why it seemed to not have a proper ending, and looked it up online for clarification. This was not a very good movie, and I have not read the books so I am not sure if it was well-adapted or not... I mostly watched it because I really liked a lot of the actors in the movie. Is the book as bluntly Atheist as the movie? I will say I did not take away a "God is Bad" message from this movie - though to be fair, it's been a few years since I saw it...
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Nov 10, 2015 8:11:20 GMT 1
I haven't seen the movie so I can't judge it.
Also, another pet peeve is Telstra and the shitty Australian internet connection as usual. Not only we're still using copper wire, but in my area I can't switch to cable for ungodly reasons. Mind you my area was like a few trains stops before reaches downtown Melbourne, it's pretty close. I mean what's the problem?
Bottomline, this is bullshit. I just want to watch Hitbox in peace.
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Post by jklinders on Nov 10, 2015 10:51:10 GMT 1
That sounds remarkably like how "high speed internet" in Halifax was a few years back. I would describe it as middling decent now. Heck, you can even get plans that don't have data caps. I thought Canada was at the bottom of the pack in the first world, but it looks like Aus is a little worse.
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Nov 10, 2015 17:21:48 GMT 1
There's a reason why I won't be streaming Skyrim on Hitbox anytime soon sadly. I have some cool mods I want to showcase, such as "The Grey Cowl of Nocturnal". Seriously, copper wire? That's like 90's shit right there. Even fucking Singapore had better telecommunications than Australia, that's just sad. Then again, Singapore is much more technologically advance than us Aussie plebs, figures.
Speaking of which, more bad news. Turns out there's a mass disruption with the phone line and internet connection and it's going to be ongoing until 6th of December. Fuck, now I'll miss out of Tietuesday's streams, this blows.
At least with the silver lining is that I'm not the only one, plus I found a service that might provide me with cable. The catch is I have to wait until my plan has expired, before I can switch ISP. Okay, I can live with that.
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Post by Mr. Glow on Dec 10, 2015 12:35:56 GMT 1
I hate Christmas. There, I said it.
If I wanted to, I could eat a turkey and buy myself Mad Max or whatever today. What's the point?
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Dec 11, 2015 23:20:55 GMT 1
Peace and good will to all mankind, you son of a bitch!
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Post by Clint Johnston on Dec 12, 2015 15:50:28 GMT 1
Work drama. Apparently the pizza place where I work part time has got restrictions on drivers who have certain amount of points, and my last ticket bumped me over that limit. But they sent my manager (who has the staying power of a Mushroom) to deliver the news. Now I have to figure out what is is they are saying AND what what there is I can do about it.
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