Category Archives: Misery

When I first read this, I imagined for a moment that 1204 and 1453 had been nothing but bad dreams. Reality dawing on me felt like a fist in my guts

By terje | Published: November 21, 2008
“Constantinople was an impregnable city …” — Robert B. Kebric, Roman People (4th edition), epilogue.
Also posted in A Moistening of the Eyes, Greek stuff, Grief, Hallucinations, Hist2125, History, Hope, Irony, Language, Literature, Love, Medieval stuff, Nostalgia, Oh noes!, Pain, Quote of the day, Regret, Roman stuff, Wistfulness | 3 Comments

Interview with the Vampire

By terje | Published: November 19, 2008
Man, I did not until a few seconds ago realise what an inane title Interview with the Vampire really is; it is scary to see just how much an article can matter… Anyway, I had my sister over for dinner a couple of days ago, and we watched this thing, mainly because we both remembered the [...]
Also posted in Annoyance, Boredom, Death, Disappointment, Language, Links, Literature, Movies, Pain, Panic, Review, Speculative fiction, Weird stuff, lol, meh. | 2 Comments

For better or worse, you just don’t get life stories like this anymore (Or, the only thing missing is piracy)

By terje | Published: November 10, 2008
“Raised in an Ibo village (in modern Nigeria), Olaudah Equiano (ca 1745-1797) was kidnapped by African raiders and slod into slavery. He survived the horrors of the Middle Passage to the New World, where an English naval officer bought him ito serve as a cabin boy and renamed him Gustavus Vassa, after a sixteenth-century Swedish [...]
Also posted in Awe, Conflicting emotions, Education, English, History, Impressions, Literature, Nostalgia, Quote of the day, Relief, What I Learned Today, Whoa, Wistfulness, Words | 7 Comments

Conan the Barbarian

By terje | Published: October 18, 2008
He also strangles a chicken (well, not strangle, really) pucnhes a camel, punches a horse, clobbers the same camel again, and for a second there it looked like he was going to do something to the elephant too. Conan HATES animals. — MegamanIXI, on the IMDb boards. In Conan the Barbarian, an adaptation of Robert E. [...]
Also posted in Annoyance, Discomfort, Hodge-podge rambling, Impressions, Links, Literature, Movies, Quotes, Review, Speculative fiction, Weird stuff, meh. | 4 Comments

Neuropath by Scott Bakker

By terje | Published: September 27, 2008
Neuropath by Scott Bakker 2008. 306 pages (with afterword). Orion TPB. “Only a small fraction of your brain is involved in conscious experience, which is why so much of what we do is unconscious. The bulk of your brain’s processing falls outside what you can experience; it simply doesn’t exist for your consciousness, not even as an absence. That’s why [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Conflicting emotions, Discomfort, Education, Help!, Literature, Pain, Panic, Paranoia, Pessimism, Regret, Revelations, Review, Scepticism, Speculations, Speculative fiction, Stress, Whoa, Wistfulness | 7 Comments

A TV Dante

By terje | Published: September 24, 2008
My sister is one of the most important students at NTNU’s Department of Nordistics (or whatever) and Literature, primarily through her role as founder of the departemental body responsible for arranging events related to the relevant field of study (primarily Nordic linguistics and literature, as well as literature in general). Yesterday, she had arrange a [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Art, Conflicting emotions, Discomfort, Goosebumps!, Literature, Medieval stuff, Movies, Pleasant surprises, Poetry, Potential, Recommendations, Religiousity, Revelations, Review, Roman stuff, Scepticism, Speculative fiction, Television stuff, Whoa | Leave a comment

Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

By terje | Published: July 17, 2008
2008. 536 pages (Gollancz Fantasy trade paperback). “Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.” — Paul Gaugin. This being the opening quote of Last Argument of Kings, the concluding volume in Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law series, one can perhaps perceive that this is a bleak affair. As I remarked in my reviews of the first [...]
Also posted in A Moistening of the Eyes, A Praise Chorus, Ambiguity, Art, Awe, Conflicting emotions, Death, Discomfort, Evilness, Goosebumps!, History, Literature, Oh noes!, Pain, Panic, Paranoia, Pessimism, Recommendations, Regret, Review, Speculative fiction, Whoa, Wistfulness | 13 Comments

A Plague! A Plague on Our Houses!

By terje | Published: May 24, 2008
In my Last.fm shoutbox, I was recently asked by one of my readers to post more frequently in my blog, and seeing as your whim is my law, I bring you this: an essay of sorts about the last topic you’d expected me to write about! One of the things you might not know [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Annoyance, Boredom, Conflicting emotions, Disappointment, Discomfort, Dumb luck, Evilness, Failed attempts at subtility, Family, Football, Forums, Glee, Gloating, Goosebumps!, Great Expectations, Grief, Hallucinations, Help!, History, Hope, Impressions, Irony, Language, Laziness, Links, Lists, Lotta, Media, Megalomania, Music, My microcosmos, Norse stuff, Norway, Nostalgia, Oh noes!, Opinions, Optimism, Pain, Panic, Paranoia, Pessimism, Pettiness, Pleasant surprises, Politics, Potential, Pride, Procrastination, Roman stuff, Scepticism, Speculations, TMI, Television stuff, This Blog, Various, Videos, Weird stuff, Whoa, Why do I think anyone cares?, Wistfulness, Words, Yay!, lol, meh. | 11 Comments

Amadeus

By terje | Published: May 12, 2008
Had quite the movie-athon yesterday. Here’s part two, Amadeus, with three and four coming as soon as I can find the time to read them. Amadeus is often portrayed as the lifestory of one of if not the best musical composer in the history of mankind. (Disagree? Go listen to his Requiem while you wait for [...]
Also posted in A Moistening of the Eyes, A Praise Chorus, Art, Awe, Bliss, Goosebumps!, Love, Megalomania, Movies, Music, Opinions, Recommendations, Revelations, Review | 6 Comments

The definition of preaching to the choir

By terje | Published: May 7, 2008
You need to have flashplayer enabled to view this YouTube video Seriously, I don’t know why these people bother. I mean, I agree with much of what the guy said, but jeez, does he honestly believe he is going to win many religious people over by antagonising them? Is this rational behaviour? And what’s up with the islamophobia of these prominent atheists? (On a concluding note, I’d like [...]
Also posted in Ambiguity, Annoyance, Disappointment, Discomfort, Impressions, Irony, Language, My microcosmos, Pain, Rant, Regret, Religiousity, Scepticism, Videos, meh. | Leave a comment