16 posts tagged “vox hunt”

Casio

I had digital watches for years, but now that I have to wear glasses to read I've gone back to analogue because I can see which way the hands are pointing, even if I can't see the numbers. 

Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Share your favorite quote from the 16th President of the United States. 

"Get the fuck out of my way, I can't see the stage."

Show us a corkscrew.
Submitted by Scott.

_1405525_corkscrew300

Video: Show us a music video you'd gladly watch over and over again.

Show us the best creative artist or crafter that you know personally.

Mj01

Show us a picture of where you'd like to live and tell us why you want to live there. 
Submitted by Warhead.  

I just realised I'd already answered a similar question once before, but the answer's still the same.

Village

Ever since I first saw The Prisoner on TV thirty years ago, I've had a fascination with the place.  I didn't realise it was a real place until sometime later, and then found that it was close enough to visit for a day.  It looks a lot bigger on TV, but you can walk around the village itself in around ten minutes. It's set in acres of woodland on the coast, has beautiful flat beaches and views across the estuary to hills on the far side.  If I have to be a prisoner, kept in one place for the rest of my life, this is the place I'd like to be incarcerated.

Show us your sunglasses.

My new Maui Jim shades

Actually, they're not new now, but they're still the dog's wossnames.

Book: Show us one of your favorite works of fiction.

This was Terry's first Discworld book and it's still one of my favourites.  It wasn't the first one I read, I can't remember what that was now, but I'd never heard of the guy and it was a period when I was borrowing books from the library rather than buying them.  Sci-fi and fantasy were my main interests, but our library only had a small selection, only a couple of shelves, in fact, and I'd soon read just about everything they had.  Terry's books were almost always on loan, so I didn't see them for a long time, but I was borrowing just about anything I hadn't read before. And one day a Paratchett book was on the shelf and like countless other readers I was hooked by the end of the first chapter.

The-colour-of-magic-1

I borrowed a couple of others, then realised I'd better go back to the first book and work my way through them chronologically, as although the plots are independant it makes it easier to follow the development of the characters who appear in subsequent books. 

One of the other things I like about Terry is that I can reread his books and still get almost the same enjoyment as I did the first time.  I like the way he slips in references to the 'real' world, and the way he oblique way he pokes fun at our ridiculous society.

And if I could have one magical gift from any work of fiction, it would be The Luggage.

Book: Show us the latest book you bought, borrowed or received.

Fred: The Definitive Biography of Fred Dibnah

David Hall

My wife bought me this for my birthday because I was being uncooperative and not telling what I'd actually like for pressies.  Unfortunately (so she thought) she'd bought it after I'd been saying that the last few biographies I'd read had been pretty crap reads.  However, it was autobiographies that I was really talking about.  Some of the celeb/pop star/comedian autobiographies I'd read in the last year were badly written lists of who they'd met or hung out with at various times in their careers.  There was one bio of Spike Milligan that wasn't bad, but that was all.

This bio of Fred Dibnah isn't bad so far.  I read a few chapters on the day I received it as I had nothing better to do, and it was quite interesting to learn about his early childhood and how his love of mechanical engineering had developed.

Fred was one of those people who became famous by chance, purely because a TV documentary maker made one short programme about Fred's work as a steeplejack in the cotton towns of the north of England.  People were so enthralled by his lack of pretentiousness and natural good nature that they were soon making more programmes about his life which lead to him being allowed to present his own programmes about the industrial revolution.  He was totally unaffected by his fame, except maybe it gave him more money to get on with his pet projects.

I'm not sure that the book tells me a lot more than I've learned about him by watching the programmes, but it's certainly not as bad as some of the tripe I've read recently.

Audio: Share a song that reminds you of a current or past relationship.

I can't, because there are no songs that remind me of current or past relationships ... in fact I don't have any past relationships, only a current one.  I wonder what that says about me?