Alteran's Amazingly Anachronistic, Altruistic, and Antagonistic Random Banter #123

[Quincunx]

Under Milk Wood is a fearful title. No, I haven't read it nor could I quote you lines from it, but I know it touches on the subject of the dead, unless I'm mashing it together with Our Town. However, cemeteries in the U.S. are, in my experience, open and cultivated lawns, where the only trees permitted are collared with iron or pruned to passivity. When I read about people in their graves under trees, I can only imagine that the liquid forest has flowed over them and drowned their graves in a second death. Trees oughtn't to walk.

Come to think of it, why do we fence in the dead? They're not going anywhere. That is more than an American peculiarity at least: the American cemeteries were hemmed with wrought-iron fencing, the Swedish ones with low stone walls little more than straight piles, the Irish ones (how few! how fewer without a church attached!) with walls of dressed stone.

[dish]

It was the Mel Gibson 'Hamlet', though...

Ah, well, they cut quite a lot of the script for that one.

@Quincx: "Under Milk Wood" is a lovely play, all about daily life in a Welsh village. I don't recall any death being involved in it.

[Coidzor]

I have deep issues with the Bard over Romeo and Juliet and fools who take it as inspiration instead of caution.

But that is a discussion for another time, eh! Enough! Now is the time of merriment, come friends, join me in wine and song!


Quincx: We do not want the dead to get out, nor do we want spirits who need some special invitation to get over a two-foot high fence to get in to muck about with the lingering bodies/spirits.

[Hannes]

I personally dislike the use of coffins. Why? First, they're expensive. Now, I know not having coffins would make many people lose their jobs, but I just don't think wasting wood on coffins is really useful.

Second, they're a hindrance. How? Well, think about decay. The main reason it exists is to enrich the soil. Now, if you take a perfectly good piece of dead, ready to decay matter and stuff it into a wooden, lacquered box which is kind of made decay-resistant, then what do you get? Anti-nature.

I understand that some people need them, but if you can't remember your loved ones without having to go to a grave, then did you really care about them that much?

EDIT: @dish: Ah, I seem to have messed up things. Damn confusing IMDB. And for some reason it seemed longer than 130 minutes. And it's the 1990 version. My bad.

[Coidzor]

I personally dislike the use of coffins. Why? First, they're expensive. Now, I know not having coffins would make many people lose their jobs, but I just don't think wasting wood on coffins is really useful.

Second, they're a hindrance. How? Well, think about decay. The main reason it exists is to enrich the soil. Now, if you take a perfectly good piece of dead, ready to decay matter and stuff it into a wooden, lacquered box which is kind of made decay-resistant, then what do you get? Anti-nature.

And just wait until you learn about embalming.

*sigh* Dark thoughts for dark times. Just as well my lips have not supped upon the fruit of the vine yet this eve.

The bell tolls for the living, not the dead. And who knows the hearts of mankind well enough to say for certain what it is that we seek in the houses of the dead.

[dish]

I have deep issues with the Bard over Romeo and Juliet and fools who take it as inspiration instead of caution.

But that is a discussion for another time, eh! Enough! Now is the time of merriment, come friends, join me in wine and song!
...

If you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray, come and crush a cup of wine.

(I'll stop now, mainly because I'm going to bed.)

@ Hannes: you can get biodegradable cardboard coffins, or choose to be buried in just a shroud. It's unusual, but possible.

[Hannes]

@ Hannes: you can get biodegradable cardboard coffins, or choose to be buried in just a shroud. It's unusual, but possible.

Sure, you can, but most people feel that that's... Cheap, I guess. But I don't want to get buried anyway. Burning and being thrown to the winds is what I see fit for myself.

[dish]

...The bell tolls for the living, not the dead...

Nah, it tolls for thee.

Again @ Hannes: either cheap or eco-friendly. Or both! Win.

[Hannes]

Again @ Hannes: either cheap or eco-friendly. Or both! Win.

Cheap as in not being low on the money end but cheap as... Cheap. You know what I mean.

"I loved them so much I should be spening much money on them so it would show I loved them."

But that's just me, and if anyone feels offended, I am gravely sorry and apologize.

[Dogmantra]

Merchant of Venice is okay, but I disagree with everyone casting Shylock as the villian.

I had to write an essay on pretty much this subject as English Coursework. It surprised me too, how many people wrote about Shylock being the villain, because I saw him as more "evil from necessity".

The only Shakespeare plays I like, though, are his comedies.

[Phase]

I realize Shakespeare's intricate writings, but I prefer my works to be easily followable. The Scottish Play was better than I expected, but I would have preferred the writing itself to be more straightforward.

[Alteran]

I had to write an essay on pretty much this subject as English Coursework. It surprised me too, how many people wrote about Shylock being the villain, because I saw him as more "evil from necessity".

The only Shakespeare plays I like, though, are his comedies.

The only Shakespeare play I actually read in its entirety is Richard III. I did enjoy it, Richard was the epitome of a Magnificent Bastard (no TVTropes link, you're welcome).

I must have seen three different versions of Romeo and Juliet, but I never actually read the play.

[Coidzor]

Cheap as in not being low on the money end but cheap as... Cheap. You know what I mean.

"I loved them so much I should be spening much money on them so it would show I loved them."

But that's just me, and if anyone feels offended, I am gravely sorry and apologize.

And now you know the true power of the man in drab black who studies the corpse with a practiced eye.

I'm surprised there wasn't a dragon-marked house for that.

Let’s wright a play together,
We’ll call it “The Scottish Play,”
Just to mess with drama geeks
And their oh-so thespian lovers
For all that ado they do so well
About sound and fury with pomp
But meaning, slightly less than
Nothing.

[Phase]

But that's just me, and if anyone feels offended, I am gravely sorry and apologize.

I am gravely sorry and apologize.

gravely

gravely

...

[Coidzor]

Oh come off it, Phase! It's not like anyone's buried in you...

Or is there?

[CurlyKitGirl]

Phase is the Moon. He has the Clangers living in him! And I think Blue Peter owns a small piece of him too.
He has more things to worry about than the occasional corpse, rocket, inter - planetary litter and Dracula's moonbase. I doubt he'd be offended over the odd corpse anyway, they wouldn't even rot much.
I think.

[Hannes]

There was no pun intended, folks!

...

Okay, that sucked. Now for something completely different!

...

That sucked even more.

Anyway, I just came from walking my two dogs. One is from a pound, the other raised in our house. The one from the pound hasn't been properly trained, we're thinking, so I'm trying to teach him to stay. Only, today, as he bolted towards the door, I blocked his way but accidentally made him get stuck between me and the doorjamb. He didn't like it, so he bit me. Though I've noticed that he's getting less brutal in his attacks - about three months ago he would've kept going on and on until I'd retreated or pulled him away with the leash or something, but this time he only bit me once or twice. It also doesn't help that he's a small bugger, ergo being about four times faster than my other dog with who I have to struggle with to claim ownership of my shoes from time to time.

So my Achilles tendon hurts and this is a good thing. Go figure.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Dracula's moonbase.

That was supposed to be a secret!

[YPU]

No that one is the distraction. Everybody will be looking up at the sky so that nobody notices the one burrowing down below. Remember? We would let slip word about it so they knew, Oh wait…

[Dallas-Dakota]

Oh yes, no wait...Oh yes, but those were both distractions so that the ones not looking up would look down and then we could strike from the third base!

[YPU]

Which leaves us only one problem. Where did we leave that one?

Eindhoven, perhaps?

[Dallas-Dakota]

Yeah, we'l have to figure that out.
Eindhoven? Naah, I think we put it more to the west....Somewhere in Zeeland I think...

[Nameless]

That was supposed to be a secret!

Not really, everyone knows about it.

Random note:
Bleh, my braces were tightened today, they hurt.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Oh yeah.

My kitchen is a shell. It has barely three walls, a floor and a ceiling. Nothing else in it but two acros (ceiling supporty thingies as we've demolished one of the supporting walls of the house), some wood, a bag and some dust.
No sink.
No cooker.
No washing machine.
No tumbledryer.
Sarting tomorrow there's no shower; no bathroom sink and only a very temporary toilet. They've alreay started smashing up the shower tiles so anyone taking the last shower for a while had to wear flipflops to avoid tiles shards and stuff.
It is a surprisingly large kitchen actually. It echoes.
And they're taking the 'utility' room roof down soon as well. That's also empty aside from some building materials.
Did I mention it's raining rivers of rivers here?

Speaking of that. My sister had the most unfortunate credits reward today.
Quick backstory. My old secondary school operates on a credits system. You do good you get a merit. Three merits is a credit. You can be awarded multiple merits and credits.
After I left the school they implemented a rewards scheme. Anyone who earned over fifty credits a term (something which is incredibly hard to do, especially for those not participating in after school clubs) get a reward, fully paid by the school.
Little Sister, naturally, has got those fifty plus credits every single term from her ridiculous number of clubs and extra - curricular activities.
This term they decided in advance that people who got fifty credits would get to go to the open air pool by the sea and have an ice cream. School's treat. Today.
Did I mention that it rained rivers of rivers today? And that it was cold?
They still went swimming.

I guess it wasn't too bad as they would've gotten wet in the pool anyway. So the rain wasn't much of a problem.
But not many people enjoyed it. Poor Little Sister.

[Nameless]

Oh yeah.

My kitchen is a shell. It has barely three walls, a floor and a ceiling. Nothing else in it but two acros (ceiling supporty thingies as we've demolished one of the supporting walls of the house), some wood, a bag and some dust.
No sink.
No cooker.
No washing machine.
No tumbledryer.
Sarting tomorrow there's no shower; no bathroom sink and only a very temporary toilet. They've alreay started smashing up the shower tiles so anyone taking the last shower for a while had to wear flipflops to avoid tiles shards and stuff.
It is a surprisingly large kitchen actually. It echoes.
And they're taking the 'utility' room roof down soon as well. That's also empty aside from some building materials.
Did I mention it's raining rivers of rivers here?

Sounds like fun.

It's raining here too. <3

[Thufir]

I missed the Shakespeare discussion?

Always rather liked the tragedies, myself, though there are many Shakespeare plays I haven't read. (That's a vague many, not a troll many). And of the ones I have read, most are tragedies.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Sounds like fun.

It's raining here too. <3

Naturally. I only pray that the abysmal weather means the work'll progress faster.
Londinium is in Britland. It is 'summer' in Britland. So it is therefore raining everywhere in Britland.
[insert cynical British wit over the weather here]

ION: I hate declensions.

[Nameless]

Naturally. I only pray that the abysmal weather means the work'll progress faster.
Londinium is in Britland. It is 'summer' in Britland. So it is therefore raining everywhere in Britland.
[insert cynical British wit over the weather here]

ION: I hate declensions.

All hail Britannia!

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[Hannes]

On the weather fact, I am willing to accept the fact that it was 40 degrees Celsius in the sun today. Fun fact: it is quite impossible to travel in Tallinn without being exposed to the sun for about 65-75% of the time. How did I spend my day? Wiping rivers of sweat off my back during a five minute badminton game. Also, yesterday the same kind of weather turned almost instantaneously into a MASSIVE fog, in which the maximum vision was about... 20 metres or so. Had real fun at the coastline during night There was a small ledge. The sea wasn't there. I dropped off the edge of the world. That was real fun.

I literally dropped down though, almost jumped. The coastline was really rocky. My shoulder hurts, but no bones are broken, and you know, no pain, no gain!

[Coidzor]

All hail Britannia!

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...Interesting. Never associated Britannia with the wing-serpent.

hmm. I have the strangest desire to go walk through the deepest, darkest, heaviest summer storm I can recall.