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[QUOTE=Fiona]Mellow is good. I like all of the people you mention but as song writers. I like words. But real folk is the traditional stuff and the fusion you get now from different traditions. I don't think you can persuade anybody to music and I know it isn't popular here. But I love this stuff. I don't really understand why anybody else doesn't. Only the metal fans think the same, so duh[/QUOTE]

Hmmm, I think I get it. Folk music, being what must be the oldest form of song on the planet, is a way of hearkening back to the traditions of yore but in such a way as to also make them relevant in the present. I may be misinterpreting somewhat, but I understand that. The feeling I get listening to traditional bagpipes is transcendental: they're an instrument that's hard to come by hear in American culture, but something stirs in me when I hear them. I have a cd I bought a long time of just one solitary bagpipe playing all sorts of melodies that, if I'm in a certain state of mind, can move me to tears. Maybe that isn't a great comparison, but at least I know what it means to love music.


:laugh: Hahaha
Don't worry, I'm not judging you .

Tony you are a very loveable man. Thank you for that. But I still don't want to be a pain about it, so I will say no more on the subject. Neither can I talk about cars, knowing nothing of them. What else you got?

[QUOTE=Fiona]Tony you are a very loveable man. Thank you for that.[/QUOTE]

You better be careful because that's just the alcohol talking now.:speech:

No but you aren't being obnoxious if I could somehow pound that into your head . I was hoping that last post would convey that I'm genuinely interested in such a discussion, but that's fine. I don't know anything about cars either, so we're on the same page there .

How about... Books. Yeah books. Read any lately?

Reading less lately cos I'm here. I re-read the Patrick O'Brian series last and just started 44 Scotland Street, though I have formed no opinion of it as yet. You?

Reading a book about how "Shakespeare became Shakespeare". It's an interesting book that's managed to blend historical evidence and literary criticism of his plays into a psychological interpretation of just what may have molded him. An interesting read, though it's been slow going.

What's 44 Scotland Street about?

It seems to be a sort of study about a peculiar group of people in a tenement flat in Edinburgh. I bought it because the guy that wrote it also wrote the No1 Ladies Detective Agency and although I did not think that particularly well written his observation was close enought to make me think he had taught me something of the culture of that part of Africa. Worth a second shot, I thought. So far this book is interesting enough but I suspect that at least one of the characters is supposed to be sinister and if so it isn't quite working. But it is early days

Ah, the No 1 ladies detective agency I've heard of. It was supposed to be good, if I recall, but I've never read it myself. Is popular enough here. Maybe the author is going to follow a popular trend of not revealing the antagonist until an ultra-knock-your-socks-off twist is revealed . Surprise.

Have you learned anything culturally from this book? If it is located in Scotland I see a negative answer in my future, but...

Like I said, it is too early to judge. I just started it yesterday. I don't read very fast.

Have you read the Patrick O'Brian books. I thought they might have appealed to you since I had the impression you like history?

I haven't, but that doesn't mean I haven't heard of them or wouldn't be interested in reading them because I am a history buff. Can you give me titles or summaries of some sort?

You will likely have heard of the film Master and Commander? It is based on these books. But the film is disappointing. Master and Commander is the title of the first of a series of, I think, 13 books which essentially trace he history of he Napoleonic Wars at sea. O'Brian is immensely well researched, and many of the characters are historical. Many of the battles and actions are also based on life, although he acknowledges that he has had to distort the sequences at times to make the fiction work. So these books work for people who are interested in naval history and there is a lot of detail about the life of the sailor at the time. He is also strong on admiralty politics and as I judge from commentary from historians which are often included as prefaces much of what he says is accurate on this front too. Remarkably O'Brian also draws is main characters believably and in the course of the books his two main characters grow from young men into middle age and beyond. They have lives outside the sea and those lives are well observed and sustained for the series (although it has to be said the the secondary female is somewhat larger than life)

Master and Commander might be a little slow to start with since there is a lot of description of the parts of a ship. I did not find it so, and I am no engineering buff, but I have heard others say so. But I enjoyed this series and I felt I learned a lot, though I would never read naval history per se.

Any help?

Edit. oh and there is a lot about natural history and medicine as known at the time too

Ah yes, I did see that movie and know what books your talking about. My brother read Master and Commander a while ago, maybe I'll jack it from him while I'm home. This does sound interesting, and I very well may look into it. Thanks for bothering to type all of that out. Did you read all 13 of them then?

Twice

Edit. Tony I am losing most of tomorrow and I am closer to sober than is plausible considering where I was two hours ago. I am going to bed. goodnight, and thanks for your patience

Twice eh? That's commitment .

Goodnight Fiona, it's been a fun little chat as always. Your welcome for whatever patience I have, though you've yet to test any of it . Hope your hangover isn't too bad tomorrow.

Bye.

[QUOTE=Tony]How about... Books. Yeah books. Read any lately?[/QUOTE]

The irony on what I was just typing up.

So now I'm drunk. Anyone oot and aboot?

Morning all!!!

Anybody here???

Answering the call 2 hours later... Yes!

Aloha.

G'day.

Yar. Still drunk says I. In accordance with the prophecy.