Philistine.
The title of this blog, because it's the pretty word I learned today.
I'm going to start reading On The Beach by Nevil Shute tonight. Had this book for years, got it in high school, but never actually read it. Since it's in English, I'm more than willing to give it a chance.
"In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but with a whimper.
T S ELIOT"
Anybody here read and liked the book?
I'm also hoping to buy some new books within the next 2 months. My short wish list so far:
- Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates.
- Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock.
- I Play The Drums In A Band Called Okay by Toby Litt.
I know many people have read Knockemstiff and Revolutionary Road, but what about the Toby Litt book?
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A Philistine features prominently in the novel I'm working on. Someday I'll finish it...someday...
Also, I can't hear that Eliot poem without thinking of that horrible Southland Tales movie.
...I wish I had more to contribute to this blog...
Is that the one they made the movie off of? It sounds like it. The movie is freaking great! They just ran the remake of it the other day with Armand Assante in the lead. It was alright but didn't even compare to the original.
Oh, I didn't know there was a movie! Neat.
What's a Philistine? Sounds like a combination of Phil and Palestine.
"a person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values"
'philistinism' is also a great world. one can rant about the philistinism one comes across in daily life, if one is that way inclined
revolutionary road is great. dark, depressing, moving. i actually cried. haven't seen the film though.
'not with a bang but with a whimper' is a line i like to regularly drop into conversation, usually after a punchline...
toby litt wrote a collection of shorts called adventures in capitalism, which is great, although i have't read i play the drums yet. try the shorts, and read 'launderama'. read it in a laundrette. it rocks!
LG
i think i invented a word the other day:
'offable'
(like a mix between affable and offal)
what should it mean?
i'm going to try and sneak it into the oxford english dictionary, on a slow day. (i work at the place they write that bloomin' thing and i have to be there over christmas...)
suggestions welcome...