curttheprophet

[NaddiaAoC]

Curt,Apparently so. The gods must favor you. They are trying to keep the evil, Satanic, scientific writings of Dawkins from infiltrating your brain. But you're strong, Curt. Resist the gods and join us in pursuing our evil ways.Cheryl

[curttheprophet]

I've haven't been around here lately, because of my job and my new website, which you can find at http://www.iliketoast.com. Since I can't make the Dawkins chat, I haven't been so keen about participating lately. Hopefully I'll get my enthusiasm back when we start reading Pinker--if I can even get a copy, stupid Amazon.ca.Anyway, enough bitching. I started reading The Power of Myth, which is a series of interviews with Joseph Campbell, covering his work. It's fascinating so far. Very interesting.I've been making progress on my non-fiction book and my novel--both of which I'm still outlining, mainly because I don't have access to the necessary books for research purposes. Okay, I could bluff my way through the novel... but I don't want to, because I hate finding obvious errors in books that could have easily been done right if the author had just bothered the even research the basics.Oh, I'm also reading Mordecai Richler's Joshua Then and Now (I think that's the title) for people that are into fiction. Author is very highly recommended. I've been working my way through his library at work, and though some books are better than others of course, I haven't really been disappointed yet. This is my fourth book by the guy this summer.. Yee Haw!Well, off to wander the other forums.

[Chris OConnor]

CurtI spent some time checking out your new site today. Good job. Chris "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward,for there you have been, and there you will always want to be."

[curttheprophet]

Thanks. We just started. I am going to post another book review right away.

[curttheprophet]

Well, I took all that time off from Booktalk and my writing projects to set up a website, and it's all for naught. No one except me has posted for nearly a week. They claim that they will start posting soon enough. Not to worry. Blah blah blah. But something tells me that if they aren't even posting now--while the project's supposedly still new and exciting--what are they going to do when it gets a little monotonous. I think I should start over with just my own site--featuring essays and book reviews and short stories and excerpts from my novels. I suppose I should have seen it coming. My friends are great with planning out stuff, but they aren't the best at actually accomplishing anything. That sounds mean, but it's just the truth.Well, off to decide what to do. Curt.

[curttheprophet]

Well, Blank Slate still isn't available from Amazon.ca, so I am probably going to bow out of this month's festivities. That really sucks, but I'm ordering some other books from Amazon.ca and can only afford to do so when I get free shipping. Hopefully I'll be able to participate next month.Curt.

[Jeremy1952]

Um. . . I just checked the web site, and they show it in stock. Or are you holding out for the paperback? It hasn't been released anywhere yet. Here's an idea: why not buy it used? You always pay a few dollars shipping on used, but the price difference leaves you net ahead.www.elephantbooks.com/ has it for USD$10.89, and they ship internationally. Science is neither a philosophy nor a belief system. It is a combination of mental operations that has become increasingly the habit of educated peoples, a culture of illuminations hit upon by a fortunate turn of history that yielded the most effective way of learning about the real world ever conceived. E.O.Wilson

[curttheprophet]

Ah, that would be why. Yes, I never buy hardcover--too expensive. I guess I could buy it used. We'll see if I can raise the money, I guess.

[curttheprophet]

I just bought three more books; unfortunately, I couldn't afford that Pinker one, so I'm not participating this month. Next month, though... hopefully.In other news, I'm gearing up for Nano by writing a novel next month. I'm outlining it right now and it's shaping up real nice. I'm going to upload a PDF file to www.lulu.com and get it published through them, so that I can give a few copies to my friends to read, because it's about the coffee kids culture in Saskatoon, where I live. In fact, they'll notice that though the characters aren't based exclusively on any of them, each one would fit right into our group. I could replace each of my friends with one of the characters. Oh the possibilities. I just need a literary-to-reality machine. Any science geeks think they could rig one up for me!?! Hahahah.For Nano itself, I'm writing a sprawling, multi-character, dueling narrative with a buddy of mine. We're setting it in the same coffee kids culture of my other novel, because that's what I know and love. Each of us is going to follow a few different characters, and narrate a few weaving streams that will occasionally merge. These special scenes we're going to create using MSN Messenger; we'll set the scene before hand, each take a character or two, and dive right in. It'll be a hoot, I guarantee. Wicked energy in those scenes... and of course, one of them will serve as our excerpt, because they'll no doubt kick ass.Between starting school and my writing, it's going to be hard to find time to participate here. But I really want to try and fit everything in. Hopefully the next book will grab me more. I voted for it, but when it came time to lay down my cash, I just couldn't do it. See what happens next time around. By then, maybe I'll be back in Stoon, and I can find the book in one of our many libraries. We'll see.Until next time, keep reading between the lines, Curt.

[curttheprophet]

Well, I'm back for now. One week until I move back to Saskatoon and start school again. Almost done at the mill. Don't know if this will give me more time for Booktalk or less. Not sure yet. I've been really busy at work and then my hard drive quit, so I had to rig my computer with an old one I found in a box in my brother's jam room. It was screwed into a metal case with two other ones, and neither of them worked, so I was lucky that this one did. Of course, it could quit at any time. Oh well.I didn't read the Pinker book or the new selection. They sounded interesting, but not interesting enough to spend my tuition money on. See what happens when I get that paid. Not sure how much they're going to gouge me for this year. Every year they raise it by ten or twelve percent, the freaks. Trying to make sure no one can afford an edumacation, cept rich people like them. Oh well. I'll have to work this year while going to school. No sleep. That's okay, don't need it anyway.Curt.