Community Thread VII

8'sReverse · Post #1021 » by **8'sReverse** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:02 am

$1000 a month? Sure it's possible... are you ok with a male roommate? :lol:

hermes · Post #1022 » by **hermes** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:30 am

docta J, read "I an America and so can you" by steven colbert

and miles, iowa qualifies for about everything except the weather, i wouldn't come here if your worried about that
but then all the nice weather places cost too much, its give and take i guess

Post #1023 » by **milesfides** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:54 am

Harry Potter to Stephen Hawking? Wow, quite a jump. I read somewhere that his works are pseudo-science and he admitted his theory on black holes was false.

My recommendations:

-Popular fiction: Curious Incident of the Dog at the Night-Time. Clever and very moving story about an autistic kid who fights against his mental condition to unravel a murder mystery - and more. Brilliant in many ways.

-Sci/fi: Ender's Game - surprisingly moving story about a kid who gets chosen to join a school of geniuses to defend earth.

-Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl. Boy and his father live outside of societal bounds.

-humor: Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - memoir of a guy trying to keep his stuff together through some pretty tough times - and he does it with a heartbreaking sense of humor. Also, The Year of Living Biblically, about a guy who tries to follow Jewish and Christian rules/laws/commandments to the fullest in modern-day New York City, including stoning adulterers

-politics: End of History and the Last Man, argues that modern liberal democracies have proven to be the highest and best form of government, and that world governments have been inevitably evolving towards it. He generally argues against military intervention, and instead takes the approach that countries will eventually, over time, evolve on their own through a variety of mostly economic factors, such as technology. He argues that technology and science pushes countries inevitably towards the same direction. I think he envisions an eventual pan-world government, and one large market economy. He cites the EU as a model of things to come. Interesting stuff.

-history: Lies Across America. About memorials all across America that are wrong. Confederate monuments in Montana. KKK monuments that people don't know about. Sculptures of a Hawaiian leader that an Italian made - and gave it Roman features. Misleading monument about the Dutch buying manhattan island for a few beads - they bought it off the wrong tribe - the enemy tribe that lived in brooklyn. How the Louisiana Purchase was bunk, French weren't even certain of their boundaries, and didn't even control it. Native Americans were living there, but it gave the US an excuse to kill them or chase them out.

One thing I found out as I've gotten older is that the books they made you read in high school are pretty much among the best out there. You tend to appreciate them more from a more mature standpoint.

Sedition, yeah, somebody recommended the Stephen King's Dark Tower series but that looks like it'll suck time out of my life. I liked The Long Walk, Misery, The Stand, Mist, etc., though.

EE, Crime and Punishment is such a powerful story. I remember auditing a Russian Lit class in which the teacher critiqued it as melodramatic, overly long, static, etc., all of which may be true, but I guess it doesn't affect people in the same way.

Time Magazine put together a top-10 list by surveying 125 famous writers:

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
4. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
7. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
9. The Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov
10. Middlemarch by George Eliot

Which is interesting because Ulysses and Don Quixote get ranked at the top of critics' lists. I was able to read only 4-7 on that list. War and Peace is impossible to get through, so is Proust.

Post #1024 » by **milesfides** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:58 am

8'sReverse wrote:$1000 a month? Sure it's possible... are you ok with a male roommate?

I'm too old for roommates.

and hermes, Iowa can't be cheap. It's too nice to be cheap.

8'sReverse · Post #1025 » by **8'sReverse** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:47 am

I really shouldn't be laughing, I'll probably end up moving withing a year or two too, then the tables will turn. On top of that I don't make nearly enough. I don't envy you miles, finding a nice place to live with all the bonus stuff you mentioned is a pain in the ass. Hope you find something atleast decent.

DoctaJ · Post #1026 » by **DoctaJ** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:54 am

Haha yeah, I used to read a lot back in like elementary school.. haven't really read anything since. Well, other than what I had to to pass English class, lol.

But yeah thanks for the list Miles, I'll look into as many of those as I can.

If any of you know any other good Theoretical Physics books (other than Hawking) that would be cool, too. I'm getting into Astrophysics this September.

Hermes, I just put that one on hold at my local library this morning. Can't wait to read it :lol:

RJM · Post #1027 » by **RJM** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 5:59 am

Guys, I was just watching Game 2 of the 00 Finals.....Man I miss those days. The NBA was still pure-ish, Shaq was on another planet, NBC did the games, and the Lakers were truly the best team in the league without a doubt. I miss those days so much....a beautiful time to be a Laker fan...in the hunt for that Championship that eluded us for 12 years. It's just not the same nowadays with ESPN mucking things up.

RJM · Post #1028 » by **RJM** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:14 am

Update: Shaq finished with 40-24!!!! INSANE!!! :jawdrop:

Post #1029 » by **Slava** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:10 am

milesfides wrote:On that note, are there any secret awesome places to live?

Where's the cheapest place in America or the world that you guys know of?

-cheap housing
-generally safe (no war zone, no inner city)
-weather isn't miserable
-preferably where English is a more or less understood

Somewhere you can get by, for say, $1,000 or less a month. Impossible?

Welcome to Rolla, Missouri. :lol:

SashAlex · Post #1030 » by **SashAlex** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:17 am

Iceburg Slim wrote:Guys, I was just watching Game 2 of the 00 Finals.....Man I miss those days. The NBA was still pure-ish, Shaq was on another planet, NBC did the games, and the Lakers were truly the best team in the league without a doubt. I miss those days so much....a beautiful time to be a Laker fan...in the hunt for that Championship that eluded us for 12 years. It's just not the same nowadays with ESPN mucking things up.

Man, I wish I could see that game too !

Shaq was putting up 40 + 20 making it look like a simple 12 + 10 double-double !
Add to that all the assists and blocked shots, and steals !

He was unreal !

SashAlex · Post #1031 » by **SashAlex** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:35 am

The fromt page finally got updated, but whenever I want to open a thread it tells me that "The requested topic does not exist." I'm upset !

hermes · Post #1032 » by **hermes** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:07 pm

milesfides wrote:
8'sReverse wrote:$1000 a month? Sure it's possible... are you ok with a male roommate?

I'm too old for roommates.

and hermes, Iowa can't be cheap. It's too nice to be cheap.

it is nice but no one wants to come here to drive up the prices, because there isn't a lot to do
unless your looking to buy farmland then you'll need an arm and a leg

Erik Eleven · Post #1033 » by **Erik Eleven** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:54 pm

Miles,

New Hampshire is absolutely beautiful. It has cheap housing, no state income tax and it's safe (unless you like to roam the woods during hunting season). NH has some of the perks of places like Wyoming etc, maybe not as breath taking but still has an absolutely vibrant countryside vibe. The Lakes region is absolutely gorgeous ("On Golden Pond" was shot up there)

The only negative if you rent a lake front home is that you probably might not be able to afford to keep your place summertime. They get up to $2,000-3,000 per week for a place on the water. The upside is that for the rest of the year, you have breath taking scenery surrounding your home and you pay next to nothing.

EDIT: You might get cabin fever up there in the fall/winter months. There is not that much night life to talk about, but, it's in places like that where you can find a relaxed, chill, down to earth, good-hearted babe, if you're lucky.

RJM · Post #1034 » by **RJM** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 6:45 pm

RIP to the one and only George Carlin.

Post #1035 » by **milesfides** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:31 pm

Wow, EE, I really like the idea of New Hampshire. Rolla, Missouri, not so much. Sorry j-far!

Isolation, quiet, that's exactly what I need.

Post #1036 » by **Slava** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:57 pm

haha....ok miles!

The best part is that this place is its dead cheap. Enough activity to not get bored, extremely safe (I never even lock the doors to my apartment and so far nothing has been stolen) and its only 90 miles from St. Louis, which is a wonderful city.

The next best part is that I'll be graduating in December and can move elsewhere when I start making money. :lol:

Post #1037 » by **LLcoleJ** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 9:51 pm

Docta J- How about " The Last Season" or "The Show" ..

Miles - New Hampshire? Celtic Land? I couldnt do it.. ( San Diego is gods country)

J-Far - Misery? lol

TonyMontana - Check your Text messages, Mang

Post #1038 » by **milesfides** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:23 pm

San Diego is WAYYYYY too expensive for a writer's retreat. That would be the dream though.

Post #1039 » by **LLcoleJ** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:26 pm

I will put you up in my loft. However, baby changing and sitting a must.

8'sReverse · Post #1040 » by **8'sReverse** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:15 pm

I wish Leno would stop using Laker jokes when opening his Tonight Show monologues. Pisses me off. And I like Leno's comedy. I guess since the show is based in LA he thinks it's warrented... f****** bulls***.