What book are you reading at the moment?

[I, Brian]

Monty Python are/were a very big British comedy group - I hear they only have underground status in the USA, though.

Anyway. Holy Grail was a send-up of the legend of King Arthur, and is a generally very funny and silly film.

Here's one of my favourite scenes, where King Arthur meets some peasants digging dirt. It's all inthe acting, though.

Scene 3

[clop clop]
ARTHUR: Old woman!
DENNIS: Man!
ARTHUR: Man, sorry. What knight lives in that castle over there? DENNIS: I'm thirty seven.
ARTHUR: What?
DENNIS: I'm thirty seven -- I'm not old!
ARTHUR: Well, I can't just call you `Man'.
DENNIS: Well, you could say `Dennis'.
ARTHUR: Well, I didn't know you were called `Dennis.'
DENNIS: Well, you didn't bother to find out, did you?
ARTHUR: I did say sorry about the `old woman,' but from the behind you looked--
DENNIS: What I object to is you automatically treat me like an inferior! ARTHUR: Well, I AM king...
DENNIS: Oh king, eh, very nice. An' how'd you get that, eh? By exploitin' the workers -- by 'angin' on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic an' social differences in our society! If there's ever going to be any progress--
WOMAN: Dennis, there's some lovely filth down here. Oh -- how d'you do?
ARTHUR: How do you do, good lady. I am Arthur, King of the Britons. Who's castle is that?
WOMAN: King of the who?
ARTHUR: The Britons.
WOMAN: Who are the Britons?
ARTHUR: Well, we all are. we're all Britons and I am your king.
WOMAN: I didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective.
DENNIS: You're fooling yourself. We're living in a dictatorship. A self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes--
WOMAN: Oh there you go, bringing class into it again.
DENNIS: That's what it's all about if only people would--
ARTHUR: Please, please good people. I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?
WOMAN: No one live there.
ARTHUR: Then who is your lord?
WOMAN: We don't have a lord.
ARTHUR: What?
DENNIS: I told you. We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week.
ARTHUR: Yes.
DENNIS: But all the decision of that officer have to be ratified at a special biweekly meeting.
ARTHUR: Yes, I see.
DENNIS: By a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs,-- ARTHUR: Be quiet!
DENNIS: --but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more--
ARTHUR: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!
WOMAN: Order, eh -- who does he think he is?
ARTHUR: I am your king!
WOMAN: Well, I didn't vote for you.
ARTHUR: You don't vote for kings.
WOMAN: Well, 'ow did you become king then?
ARTHUR: The Lady of the Lake, [angels sing] her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. [singing stops] That is why I am your king!
DENNIS: Listen -- strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
ARTHUR: Be quiet!
DENNIS: Well you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
ARTHUR: Shut up!
DENNIS: I mean, if I went around sayin' I was an empereror just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me they'd put me away!
ARTHUR: Shut up! Will you shut up! [grabs Dennis roughly]
DENNIS: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system.
ARTHUR: Shut up!
DENNIS: Come see the violence inherent in the system! Come see the violence inherent in the system!

[Postulant]

Thanks for the scene!

Unfortunately, I am only vaguely familiar with the stylings of Monty Python, but I am a fan of John Cleese (post Python).

Building an acquaintance with the work of Monty Python is on my list of things to someday amongst the clutter in my brain.

My curse is knowing a little bit about a lot of things, but never truly being a master of any one thing. I am also a collector of seemingly useless information. Then again everything does have a time, a place, and a purpose.

Perhaps my user name should have been Master Novice

[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by Postulant

Thanks for the scene!

Unfortunately, I am only vaguely familiar with the stylings of Monty Python, but I am a fan of John Cleese (post Python).

To many people, John Cleese was at his peak in Python.

Originally Posted by Postulant

Building an acquaintance with the work of Monty Python is on my list of things to someday amongst the clutter in my brain.

"Life of Brian" is a great film, as is "Holy Grail". Always recommend people watch those (excepting maybe certain Christian Fundamentalists ).

Originally Posted by Postulant

My curse is knowing a little bit about a lot of things, but never truly being a master of any one thing. I am also a collector of seemingly useless information.

Absolutely the same here.

[Anzac]

Flying Circus was amazing, especially with the Gumbies (does anyone remember the anesthetist sketch??); The Upper Class Twit of the Year and the Bookshop sketch (the bloke going to buy a book but in the end doesn't know how to read - it's quality).

+ has anyone got a hold of that recent Python book release and is it any good?

(if you're looking for good post-python Cleese - "A fish called wanda" is a good starting point and includes our local boy Michael Palin and Jamie Lee Curtis in the cast).

[Susma Rio Sep]

Originally Posted by Anzac

...and the Bookshop sketch (the bloke going to buy a book but in the end doesn't know how to read - it's quality).

( . . . )

Try this one:

A guy went to the optometrist for reading glasses. He could not read with any of the lenses tried on him by the optometrist.

"But can you read?" asked the optometrist.

"No, that's why I am here for reading glasses," was his reply.


Susma Rio Sep

PS People doing posts here, please tell me what to you is the main message or the most important or any message that strikes you in particular of the book you have read or are reading -- in less than 50 words.

[Fern]

Originally Posted by Zazen

Im currently reading "The complete I Ching" by Alfred Huang

"CHINA" by Fox Butterfield

"Norse Mythology" John Lindow

I just finished "Beyond Illusion and doubt" by srila prabhupada

Amitabha

Hi! Can you tell me the age range for this book? I have a 16 year old son who loves mythology & am wondering if it is written in a manner for high schoolers or is is college level?

Thanks.

Fern

[Zazen]

im not sure, if he loves mythology im sure he'll enjoy it..umm i took mythology in highschool and it was so easy i never even had to try, but thats just me..just making a point that im not exactly the best person to ask about reading levels since i never had one..

but i mean, if he loves mythology..i strongly reccomend it, it is more like a scholarly type of read though, not really all stories and such its basically for someone whos familiar with norse mythology and wants to study it indepth

but its definately worthwhile for an aspiring student of mythology

amitabha

[Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine]

Originally posted by Postulant
My curse is knowing a little bit about a lot of things, but never truly being a master of any one thing. I am also a collector of seemingly useless information. Then again everything does have a time, a place, and a purpose.

Ditto here, Postulant, ditto here.

I've finished some of the books I've previously listed, and am starting on some new ones, so here's my current list:

The Longest Way Home by Robert Silverberg
a couple of Ann Rule books that I can't recall the titles offhand
Operation Excaliber by some guy by the name of William H. Keith
Sadie Shapiro's Knitting Book; a novel by someone I can't quite recall right now
Tevye's Daughters (albeit a translation) by Sholom Aleichem

Those are it for now (until I can get my hands on some more.)

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

[Susma Rio Sep]

I an at this moment reading The Merck Manual, 9th edition, 1956. I picked up this book from the flea market book stalls for US$1.00.

An officemate is feeling very dizzy and experiencing nausea. I looked up the manual. Did not find anything useful.

The officemate must be having either very low or very high blood sugar or very high or very low blood pressure, according to my own university of hardknocks diagnosis. He is a diabetic and has normally high blood pressure for which both he takes daily medications.

But his one touch reading is just a bit above the average range, and his blood pressure is just his normal high.

So I told him to keep quiet and relax on getting home; it's just his body's way of telling him to slow down and de-stress himself from all the X'mas and New Year's over-stimulation of hormones and foods and drinks.

The Merck edition I now have even gives common cupboard remedies for all kinds of your day to day ailments. And they make sense.

Susma Rio Sep

[juantoo3]

I am impressed with the amount of reading going on.

I thought I was doing well to get through "New Realities" by I forgot who, a quick read for a scholarship paper, and to be currently working on "The Golden Bough" by J.C. Frazer. In the morning "library" I have been going through a series of pages I printed off the web pertaining to prehistoric religion.

[Fern]

Originally Posted by Zazen

im not sure, if he loves mythology im sure he'll enjoy it..umm i took mythology in highschool and it was so easy i never even had to try, but thats just me..just making a point that im not exactly the best person to ask about reading levels since i never had one..

but i mean, if he loves mythology..i strongly reccomend it, it is more like a scholarly type of read though, not really all stories and such its basically for someone whos familiar with norse mythology and wants to study it indepth

but its definately worthwhile for an aspiring student of mythology

amitabha

Hi -
Just wanted you to know that I got this book for my son. He loves it. Thanks again for the suggestion. Any other book about mythology that you could recommend - please let me know the title. My son is an avid reader & for about 3 years, mythology/religion have been his favorite topics.

Thanks again!

Fern

[Susma Rio Sep]

I am reading a very smal thin volume bought by my wife in the supermarket: Tips for everyday living useful to the working woman.

Here is a tip for handling scratches in your car body:

Look for the right color nail polish collection. Clean the scratch and wipe it dry. Apply several coating of the nail polish, limiting the paint to the borders of the scratch. Rub with bathroom cleansing powder-paste. Finish a good buffing of Turtle Wax.

Praise the Lord, it works!

Susma Rio Sep

[Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine]

Zdrastvuitsye, hola, shalom, salaam, Dia dhuit, namastar ji, hej, konbanwa, squeak, meow, :wave:, juantoo3.

Originally posted by juantoo3
I thought I was doing well to get through "New Realities" by I forgot who, a quick read for a scholarship paper, and to be currently working on "The Golden Bough" by J.C. Frazer. In the morning "library" I have been going through a series of pages I printed off the web pertaining to prehistoric religion.

You're reading Frazer's The Golden Bough!!?? And I thought I was a bibliophile. I tried reading it, but I quickly lost interest with all of the inconsistancies I found in his text (I've read quite a few different versions of the different myths he used in his text, so I kinda came a little too prepared, you could say.)

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

[Vajradhara]

Originally Posted by Fern

Hi -
Just wanted you to know that I got this book for my son. He loves it. Thanks again for the suggestion. Any other book about mythology that you could recommend - please let me know the title. My son is an avid reader & for about 3 years, mythology/religion have been his favorite topics.

Thanks again!

Fern

Hi Fern,

you may want to consider a book called World Religions by a fellow named Huston Smith. it's quite an outstanding book. very accessible for all readers and it does a very good job of explaing the basic beliefs of all the major world religions.

[Vajradhara]

Originally Posted by Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

Zdrastvuitsye, hola, shalom, salaam, Dia dhuit, namastar ji, hej, konbanwa, squeak, meow, :wave:, juantoo3.



You're reading Frazer's The Golden Bough!!?? And I thought I was a bibliophile. I tried reading it, but I quickly lost interest with all of the inconsistancies I found in his text (I've read quite a few different versions of the different myths he used in his text, so I kinda came a little too prepared, you could say.)

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

Namaste Phyllis,

i read that text many, many years ago... it didn't make much sense then and it hasn't since. eh... what can i say.. i found other systems to be more internally coherent.

have you read The Golden Dawn? that's a pretty good one too... it's been.. what... 15 years since i read it last... anyone know if there is an updated version?