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Messages - SarahG

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46
Books / Re: Meyer Stops writing next twilight book
« on: April 16, 2009, 09:50:12 PM »
Quote from: little_wilson on April 16, 2009, 08:57:35 PM
Those absolutist statements are in reference to the Cullen's, since they're the vampires that the reader really gets to know. Yeah, I know the Volturi and pretty much all the other vampires are evil. But the Cullen's are the main characters.
My understanding was that most people (perhaps not you) were objecting to the fact that Meyer messed with the myth so much.  My point was that her vampires DO possess the one most important characteristic of the myth - the desire to drink human blood.  To me, the fact that the Cullens resist this desire is an interesting twist on that myth.  Now, I'm no vampire expert, so there are probably plenty of other evil aspects to the folklore which Meyer casually ignores.  But you can't say she threw ALL the evil out.

Quote from: little_wilson on April 16, 2009, 08:57:35 PM
Resisting the urge to suck blood is not a flaw. It could be considered a flaw, if one of them gave into the impulse. But none of them do.
Jasper does.  Or at least he tries to, and is restrained by his family.  All the other Cullens except Carlisle and Rosalie have also succumbed to the impulse, at some point in the past.

Quote from: little_wilson on April 16, 2009, 08:57:35 PM
I can't think of a single flaw in the Cullens. They're perfect.
Flaws and internal conflicts I see:
  • Emmett is too fond of fighting and violence.
  • Rosalie is vain and (at first) jealous of Edward's attention toward Bella.
  • Alice is too fond of manipulating others.  She also has a weakness for fashion and fast cars.
  • Rosalie has not come to terms with her thwarted maternal instinct.
  • Edward is tormented by the belief that his soul is condemned.
  • All of them struggle with self-control, especially Jasper, as noted above.  And while most of this struggle is off-screen, in the past, we do see a little of it at Bella's birthday party.  We also see a good deal of Edward's bloodlust, both toward Bella in several places and toward her would-be-rapists in the first book.
  • All of them have way too much fun killing and dismembering animals.
  • All of them are prejudiced regarding the wolves, and they allow this prejudice to make them unreasonably hostile and antagonistic.  (Of course the wolves share this flaw, in reverse.)
  • All of them disregard the law when it suits their purposes (speed limits, fake IDs).
  • All of them lie when they need to.
I would never argue that the Cullens are the most well-rounded, realistic characters I've read.  But I think it's an exaggeration to say they're perfect and completely unrelatable.

47
Dan Wells / Re: Buy Dan Bacon?
« on: April 16, 2009, 09:17:36 PM »
I saw this and thought of you.

48
Books / Re: Meyer Stops writing next twilight book
« on: April 16, 2009, 08:41:20 PM »
It seems to me that Twilight does not remove all the evil from the vampire folklore; in fact, most of the vampires are still villains, at least in the sense that they live on human blood and thus survive through killing humans.  Even the vegetarian vampires are not without flaws and struggles.

I'm not saying Twilight is great literature (that statement, in this community, would take more courage than I possess - besides which, it's not true).  It's just that absolutist statements bring out my desire to play devil's advocate.

49
Rants and Stuff / Re: Revenge of Grumpy Bear
« on: April 16, 2009, 07:47:35 PM »
It was just this year that I realized what a large percentage of taxpayers hire professionals or buy software.  I've always done mine myself, by hand, even when I was self-employed - and this year, I also filed for my sister who lives overseas.  It's a pain but it's not impossible if you're willing to spend a few hours at it.  In fact, the most time-consuming part was collecting all the relevant financial records - which needs to be done in any case.  I'd recommend anyone with moderate intelligence and ability to follow directions trying it, if they want to save a little money.  You can get all the forms and instructions online, and the IRS also has helplines to call if you have questions.

50
Rants and Stuff / Re: Revenge of Grumpy Bear
« on: April 14, 2009, 08:10:02 PM »
Quote from: little_wilson on April 14, 2009, 05:24:57 AM
I went to the doctor today. He told me I have bronchitis. So now, when I really should be preparing to leave the country in two weeks, I will be completely drugged up.

Look on the bright side, you could have been diagnosed with bronchitis two weeks from now, just before your trip.  As it is, you have a chance to recover first.  (Which I hope you do, soon!)

51
Rants and Stuff / Re: General Religious discussion
« on: April 14, 2009, 08:07:34 PM »
Quote from: miyabi on April 14, 2009, 07:24:06 PM
Zealots can be crazy. I once counter protested a group from Topeka, Kansas(I think that's where they are from.) Here and here are just two of their sites.

Yes, Fred Phelps is a nut, and most of us who live in Topeka are ashamed that he does too.  His protests aren't very logical, either.  I once saw his people protesting outside of a large church (Topeka Bible Church) that is morally conservative  - for example, that very Sunday, among the announcements made in the church service was for a talk they were hosting later that week by a recovered homosexual from Exodus International.  So I confronted one of the Westboro Baptist protesters about the fact that the church they were protesting essentially agrees with them that homosexual practice is a sin, though they certainly disagree about the proper Christian response to the issue.  The lady's response was, "Well, are there any divorced people in the church?  The Bible says that's wrong too."  I might have found this a valid point if the question of divorce had been the one dominating their posterboards.  It was this incident that persuaded me that Fred Phelps does not choose his protest targets with regard to the issues, but with the goal of maximum publicity and exposure.  Their hatred is universal, unlimited, and indiscriminate - just as they believe God's is.

52
Everything Else / Re: 403 Forbidden error
« on: April 09, 2009, 09:00:20 PM »
I'm with Miyabi on this one.  The hot-pink-and-green combination definitely says super-villainous-unbannable-troll.  You could always add a fake mustache, and I might even make you a pink and green cape, if you post enough funny spam.

53
Everything Else / Re: In Utah for a couple weeks
« on: April 09, 2009, 07:55:58 PM »
Sorry, I'm not very kind online sometimes.  I just get this irresistable temptation to say mean stuff.  I don't really mean it.

You'll thaw eventually.

54
Writing Group / Re: OK, ok, Ok, oK
« on: April 08, 2009, 10:05:12 PM »
Or you could write it out as Oklahoma.

55
Everything Else / Re: In Utah for a couple weeks
« on: April 08, 2009, 09:44:58 PM »
Ah, I see.  That makes sense.

And it also gives you an excellent excuse for not returning people's calls - "Really, dude, I wasn't avoiding you, it's just that my wife doesn't know how to check voicemail."   ;)

56
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 08, 2009, 09:33:01 PM »
Quote from: Used to be an Important Bookstore Guy on April 01, 2009, 09:24:47 PM
I kinda packed all the books I was going to read, so I had to go to Borders and grab something.
And that was easier than just unpacking a book or two?

Quote from: miyabi on April 04, 2009, 12:27:49 AM
The books with a single dash will be read as soon as they come out, that is just where I assume I'll be when they come out. (With the exception of Dragonsteel which will be read as soon as it gets to my house.)

The one with the double dashes will be read as soon as I decide I need a break from WoT. ha ha.
Miyabi, that is an impressively detailed and organized list of books to read!  I generally wait till I'm done with one book before I decide what to read next.  Or sometimes I get bored with one book and add another simultaneously.  Currently I've got 3 books on my nightstand, and pick up whichever suits my mood each night.

57
Books / Re: My readthrough of WoT (**Spoilers**)
« on: April 08, 2009, 07:41:18 PM »
Quote from: miyabi on April 08, 2009, 04:05:27 PM
So, they go looking for the Eye in this book then the Horn in the next one right?
Hmm, can't really answer that.  But by your reasoning, they would later need to seek, among other things, a path of daggers, a knife of dreams, and a crossroads of twilight.

Quote from: miyabi on April 08, 2009, 04:05:27 PM
Does Min end up joining the group later?  I like her. ha ha.
Not sure you'd call it joining the group, but you'll definitely see her again.

Quote from: miyabi on April 08, 2009, 04:05:27 PM
This section was interesting.  The dream sequence, again, was well done.
Good thing you like Jordan's dream sequences, because there are a lot of them throughout the series.  Personally, I thought they got old and started to skim them, which probably accounts for a good deal of my confusion about what's going on.   ;)

As for your predictions, I can only say that they're getting more and more accurate as you go along.  Either you're coming to know the book and its characters better, or you're choosing safer events to predict.   :)

58
Rants and Stuff / Re: Revenge of Grumpy Bear
« on: April 08, 2009, 06:43:34 PM »
I think we all agree with your basic point, that lack of education makes you more likely to be chosen.  The thing that makes the lawyer and the judge stories memorable is the fact that they are exceptions to the rule.

59
Everything Else / Re: In Utah for a couple weeks
« on: April 08, 2009, 06:19:20 PM »
Quote from: Skar on April 06, 2009, 05:04:53 PM
My wife usually has the phone and she's a bit of a technophobe.

I just gotta ask, why do you let the technophobe carry the cell phone?  I mean, my husband lets me carry ours because he hates phones as a general category, but I actually know how to use it.

60
Rants and Stuff / Re: April Fools!! Tell your stories here.
« on: April 08, 2009, 06:14:02 PM »
My boss told her 9-year-old daughter Becca that school was cancelled because of all the snow.  Becca says, "What?  There's no snow."  And her mom says, "Dude, did you LOOK outside?"  and Becca's like, "Yeah, when I let the dog out."  And mom says, "You'd better look again."  And Becca goes to the window and gets this extremely puzzled look on her face.  Once she got the joke she thought it was hilarious.

My favorite April Fool's story involves a four-year-old named Trevor who hated taking baths.  His father Keith had been explaining April Fool's Day to him, saying that it's a time to tell silly stories that aren't true, but you shouldn't tell anything really mean like saying someone died.  So Keith gets Trevor up in the morning and says, "Trevor, your hair is so dirty we're going to have to wash it seven times."  Trevor starts to get really upset, and his dad says, "April Fool's!", and Trevor says, oh so reproachfully, "Dad, that's like saying somebody DIED!"

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