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KidInTheDark666 said:
I never think of Dave as a homophobe. And I don't think that saying the f word a few times makes him one.
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He's on record saying he's against homosexuality on the basis of his Christianity - so the slurs aren't the only thing people are going off of when it comes to that assertion.
 
Funniest part is that he was raised as a Jehova's Witness, and many, many Christians would tell you that's not Christianity at all.
Not that it makes any difference to me, just saying.
 
Black Wizard said:
It's about 90% of Brazil's tourism
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It's not even 90% of Rio de Janeiro's tourism. It actually stares directly at the main source of Rio de Janeiro's tourism - the beach.

LooseCannon said:
Considering the crimes done on his behalf, I'd be OK with it.
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It'd be a great artistic loss and Jesus Christ himself isn't a problematic enough figure for me to be able to stomach that loss, personally.
 
Don't worry, Agent Orange has his back.

EcQPBz3XQAI8KxL
 
I'm not saying to tear it down. I'm just saying if someone did, I'd go, "Yep, that's fine."

I'm only in favour of dynamiting things like Stone Mountain.
 
The Flash said:
I disagree completely. It's a stunning piece of sculpting and engineering. Its positioning also adds to the scenery of Rio de Janeiro in a major way - it's one of the more picturesque statues when looked at from a far distance.
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It's a phallic symbol of domination, into the rio with it!
 
Magnus said:
It's a phallic symbol of domination, into the rio with it!
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Are you sure you're not thinking of the WASHINGTON monument?

ANYWAY, back on topic... y'all know, BOOKS.

Speaking of Brazil, finished The Spy by Coehlo. On his writing. My GF dismisses it as "self-help" and I completely disagree. Calling Coehlo "sel-help" is like calling Nietchze, self-help. Sure, you can read one of their books, be moved and woken up in a way, but it's not their primary goal. The self-help industry, like Chicken Soup for the Soul and the like, write directly to YOU, and what YOU should/need to do. Clean that closet, get rid of toxic people in your life, believe in yourself, go for that promotion, etc. Coehlo doesn't do that. I lke @Mosh's despcription a tad better. It's comforting. I personally think he aims for "inspirational." The Spy is no exception.

It's a "biography" of Mata Hari, 20th century stripper/hooker charged with espionage during WWI. I say "biography" because let's face it, Coehlo is far from a historian, much less a biographer. The narrative is divided into 3 parts, All of them in first person, the first two from Mata Hari's POV and last from her lawyer's. His style is far from detailed unlike Isabel Allende and other Latin American counterparts. To his credit he openly admits he glossed over details, rearranged some events and created dialogue all to serve the narrative. He also provides a great list of sources for those who are truly curious, some from the UK archives themselves.

Another reason I put biography in quotes is because the story is classic Coehlo, staying true to his recurring themes of personal freedom, living your truth and chasing your dreams at any cost. Here is where he glosses over some important shit. According to him Mata Hari was raped by her middle school principle (he did this to many girls) and later married a Dutch diplomat living in Indonesia, Java, to be exact and she merely did it chasing adventure, escaping her boring life in small-town Netherlands. This diplomat was VERY abusive. He would beat her, rape her and humiliate her. Finally she had enough and left to the Netherlands and claims to have "seduced" the French embasador in order to get a ticket to Paris, her dream.

Never mind she had a daughter she basically left behind and only mentions twice more in the whole book. He focuses the whole book in her living a fast life, always chasing adventure and danger. My GF showed me a TV series in which they potray her as a woman who did everything for her daughter, who was taken from her, NOT abandoned by her. Coehlo paints her rather selfish, but, who cares!? She's living life her way.

Given her abuse I am not surprised she ended up being a stripper and high class prostitute in Paris, she learned to weaponize sex to manipulate powerful men into providing her with a comfy life. It's a pattern I've witnessed professionally and personally among victims of abuse. What happened to her is still tragic and all signs point to her, in fact, being executed for crimes she did not commit.

It's a horrid biography, but a great story and I enjoyed it as such. Even with the questionable translation. I read it in Spanish since it is closer to Portuguese than English and even then I have my doubts. The translator used the latinzed FLIRTEAR for FLIRT. WE HAVE A WORD FOR THAT! IT'S "COQUETEAR!" This is her job, she makes a living and she can't be bothered to use the words in the language? She italiziced STRIPTEASE and that's fine, but we have a word for flirt for fuck's sake.

It's a quick, entertaining read and I couldn't help but think of Joan of Arc as both of them were put to death by men who feared them.
 
Onhell said:
the WASHINGTON monument
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At a later stage, perhaps. As far as I can see, current fashion is vandalizing anthropomorphic monuments exclusively.

Back on topic: today's chapter of J.K .Rowling's The Ickabog. I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to read something serialized over a long period.
 
Finished The Drop by Dennis Lehane. Overall I like Lehane and his style, but I miss his mysteries. His first five books follow Patrick Kenzie and Angela Genaro as a pair of private investigators. The stories were suspensful, funny, engaging, had you guessing. Probably his most famous is Mystic River, I believe the first not starring the P.Is and it was made into a very good movie starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins, among other well known actors. Shutter Island was a piece of shit, both the book and the movie. Never saw the movie for The Drop, but the book is not bad.

Takes place in Boston, retired "mobsters" Marv and Bob run a bar Marv used to own, but got bought out by the Chechen mob and is now used for money laundering, for "drops" hence the title. Plot A deals with the drops and them being robbed and how they'll deal with that, plot B deals with a decade old cold missing person's case. At the center of both with have the bar, Marv and Bob. Like Shutter Island, I feel Lehane is resting on his laurels and phoned it in, he can and has done better, but it was still an entertaining read.
 
Finished The Mastery of Love by Dr. Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements.

I read this at my therapist's behest. She nailed it. Awesome read for me, but definitely not everyone's cup of tea. The "Doctor" in "Dr. Miguel Ruiz" is MD, not psychiatry. So why does he write inspirational self-help books? He it's in his blood. His father was a Shaman and his mother a healer. Against their wishes he became a medical doctor, but after a near death experience he decided to go back to his roots and learn from his Toltec ancestors. Even though he's Mexican, like myself he writes in English. I read the book in Spanish and the translation was OK except for ONE WORD... I know... AGAIN. Not going to go into it, but it was annoying.

His thesis is rather simple and just reafirms my current outlook and epiphanies I've had in the past. Basically life is a dream and it is up to us whether it is a nightmare or a beautiful dream. We are no longer children and we can't keep blaming others for our current situation. We need to take responsibility for ourselves, our hypocricies, our actions. Only then can we begin to heal and begin living our truth. I'm paraphrasing a lot, but it is either for you or it isn't. It was definitely for me. I'm adding it to my canon.

I go back to work Sept 7th and I was stuck in the conundrum of reading 4 more short books or tackle one longer book. I chose to go for the longer book as who knows when I'll be afforded this kind of time off again. I'll be reading Collumn of Fire by Ken Follet. The third book in the Pillars of the Earth saga. Pillars of the Earth is one of my all time favorites, the sequel, A World Without End, is OK and based on how the first 15 pages of Collumn of Fire started I have little hope for it, but here we go.
 
Onhell said:
Finished The Mastery of Love by Dr. Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements.

I read this at my therapist's behest. She nailed it. Awesome read for me, but definitely not everyone's cup of tea. The "Doctor" in "Dr. Miguel Ruiz" is MD, not psychiatry. So why does he write inspirational self-help books? He it's in his blood. His father was a Shaman and his mother a healer. Against their wishes he became a medical doctor, but after a near death experience he decided to go back to his roots and learn from his Toltec ancestors. Even though he's Mexican, like myself he writes in English. I read the book in Spanish and the translation was OK except for ONE WORD... I know... AGAIN. Not going to go into it, but it was annoying.

His thesis is rather simple and just reafirms my current outlook and epiphanies I've had in the past. Basically life is a dream and it is up to us whether it is a nightmare or a beautiful dream. We are no longer children and we can't keep blaming others for our current situation. We need to take responsibility for ourselves, our hypocricies, our actions. Only then can we begin to heal and begin living our truth. I'm paraphrasing a lot, but it is either for you or it isn't. It was definitely for me. I'm adding it to my canon.

I go back to work Sept 7th and I was stuck in the conundrum of reading 4 more short books or tackle one longer book. I chose to go for the longer book as who knows when I'll be afforded this kind of time off again. I'll be reading Collumn of Fire by Ken Follet. The third book in the Pillars of the Earth saga. Pillars of the Earth is one of my all time favorites, the sequel, A World Without End, is OK and based on how the first 15 pages of Collumn of Fire started I have little hope for it, but here we go.
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I might check this out. I loved The Four Agreements!
 
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