Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42315016

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1) everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;

2) anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;

3) anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.

Apply this list to movies, rock music, word processors and mobile phones to work out how old you are.

-- Douglas Adams, "How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet"

https://douglasadams.com/dna/19990901-00-a.html

I love this

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42202288

Points: 4

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Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42191587

Points: 2

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Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42191366

Points: 1

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He gave some controversial statements, that's true, but "diehard worshiper" is simply false.

> "The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation was illegal. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms," he said via video link.

> "Also, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was not unprovoked, so I also condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms."

> He continued: "So what do the voiceless millions have to say? They say thank you for hearing us today. We are many who do not share in the profits of the war industry.

> "We do not willingly raise our sons and daughters to provide fodder for your cannons.

> "In our opinion, the only sensible course of action today is to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. Not one more Ukrainian or Russian life is to be spent, not one, they are all precious in our eyes."

source: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64580688

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42006969

Points: 2

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This is a good selection from above: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/53454/the-sagas-of-the-icela... (notably missing: Njal's Saga, but that's also available separately).

There are more sagas, though. Just not of the Icelanders.

For example the saga of the Volsungs.

If you are interested in general norse mythology then yes, Gaiman's book is really nice. The Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda are primary sources and not a difficult read.

Everything I mentioned (except Gaiman's) is published by Penguin and is a good translation.

Also his masterclass on writing was great to listen to, and I'm not interested in writing. His ideas about writing/creation = magic have stuck with me.

He's always lucid, and clear, and has a stark sense of observation.

One of my favorites: https://alanmooreworld.blogspot.com/2019/11/moore-on-jerusal...

Here's an excerpt:

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What was the impact of popular heroes comic books in our culture? Why are people fascinated by alternative realities?

I think the impact of superheroes on popular culture is both tremendously embarrassing and not a little worrying. While these characters were originally perfectly suited to stimulating the imaginations of their twelve or thirteen year-old audience, today’s franchised übermenschen, aimed at a supposedly adult audience, seem to be serving some kind of different function, and fulfilling different needs. Primarily, mass-market superhero movies seem to be abetting an audience who do not wish to relinquish their grip on (a) their relatively reassuring childhoods, or (b) the relatively reassuring 20th century. The continuing popularity of these movies to me suggests some kind of deliberate, self-imposed state of emotional arrest, combined with an numbing condition of cultural stasis that can be witnessed in comics, movies, popular music and, indeed, right across the cultural spectrum. The superheroes themselves – largely written and drawn by creators who have never stood up for their own rights against the companies that employ them, much less the rights of a Jack Kirby or Jerry Siegel or Joe Schuster – would seem to be largely employed as cowardice compensators, perhaps a bit like the handgun on the nightstand. I would also remark that save for a smattering of non-white characters (and non-white creators) these books and these iconic characters are still very much white supremacist dreams of the master race. In fact, I think that a good argument can be made for D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation as the first American superhero movie, and the point of origin for all those capes and masks.

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The Odyssey; David Copperfield; Moby-Dick; Anna Karenina; Borges' short stories, in particular Ficciones & The Aleph

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41622702

Points: 1

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- Emily Wilson insights on some of her translations: https://www.emilyrcwilson.com/emilyrcwilson-scholia

- Compare a few passages from the Odyssey: https://www.exodusbooks.com/odyssey-comparisons.aspx

- "The Homeric version", by J.L. Borges: https://gwern.net/doc/borges/1932-borges-thehomericversions....

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41553865

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Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41529828

Points: 2

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Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41519262

Points: 3

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