Daniel_Doyce

11 hours ago, T-Pac said:

Finished reading Silas Marner (1861) by George Eliot.

  Reveal hidden contents

Silas Marner is the story of a high born family and a reclusive weaver, and the colorful overlap of their lives in the old English town of Raveloe.

As a young man in a religious order, Silas Marner is framed for a crime his best friend committed - and he runs away to live in seclusion as a weaver on the outskirts of a rustic, insular village. The community there views him with trepidation as a miserly outsider, since he largely keeps to himself and finds joy only in his hoard of gold. It is his only consolation after the betrayal robbed him of his brotherhood, his fiancee, and his faith.That is, until his money is stolen and he becomes the foster father of Eppie, an orphan who seeks refuge from a snowstorm in his home at the stone pits (where her mother died of an opium overdose). In his new function as a caretaker, Silas turns to the Raveloe townspeople in an effort to raise Eppie well, subsequently indoctrinating himself into the community, their faith, and a new lease on life. Fifteen years later, Silas is approached by Godfrey Cass, a Raveloe nobleman who seeks to bring Eppie into his family so she may live in gentility. Cass reveals himself as her biological father, who kept this tie a secret for 18 years that he might hide the shame of his ill-fated first marriage and maintain his reputation. Now as circumstances have brought his past to light, he desires to do right by his daughter and provide for her. However, Eppie refuses to part with her beloved foster father, and they continue to live by their meager means as happy Raveloe townspeople, while Cass contents himself by becoming landlord and benefactor to Silas, Eppie, and her new husband.

Silas Marner is cited for its fairytale parallels, which hold true in the setting and happenstance nature of the plot. Even the homespun dialect of the Raveloe villagers gives a folk charm to the work. However, George Eliot’s broadly omniscient narration illuminates all the character’s thoughts and internal motivations in a way that brings depth to the story beyond the scope of a mere fairytale. The dimensionality of Godfrey Cass in particular would be lost without a glimpse into his inner struggle between deceit and duty with regard to Eppie’s upbringing.

The novel is also much like a parable, which concerns losing what you want to find what you need. Marner embraces his new fortune in spite of being wronged, and he lets go of the grudges and frustrations of his betrayal and robbery even without closure. He is content to know that he can’t change the past, and he wouldn’t know the joys he has now if not for the ill circumstances that shaped his life. This sentiment is voiced in the story by Eppie’s godmother Dolly Winthrop, who maintains that God’s plan for us is in our best interest - even if it may seem like we’ve been abandoned or mistreated, it’s all a means to finding our way in the end.

And likewise, Godfrey Cass learns to accept the grief of his abandoned responsibility and take this pain as a type of penance. In this way, he embraces lost opportunity as a means to grow, and as a lesson against running from what’s right until it’s too late to make amends. And he, too, sees that he may not have one of the greatest joys of his life, Nancy, without having walked the road that became his greatest source of grief and regret. Acceptance is his solace, even without the easing influence of restitution.

Silas Marner was a great read. I’m slightly bitter for having most of the plot details spoiled in the introduction to the Everyman’s Library edition, but that didn’t detract from the story’s charm and I’m glad I finished it out anyway.

 

George Eliot rules. I saw a BBC miniseries of it too.

Middlemarch is probably her best work, although Silas Marner is up there.

Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy are great turn of the century classics.

2 hours ago, McBryce said:

Got Dirty Harry done yesterday.

Those jumps in level 2 when the boats are firing rockets at you is a beast. Well done!

At least once a day. I listen to several ancient history and Byzantine history podcasts, and am rereading the Aeneid at the moment.

Even though he's pre-Empire, Caesar's influence still resonates to this day. Diocletian and Constantine I are right up there too in terms of impact on European history up until the Renaissance.

Wow, now I feel older than usual. Sorry to hear the news, but you really have to drink like a champ to get Wernicke's encephalopathy. Alcoholism is no joke, and it sounds like he suffered from it for quite a long time.

Blank Check podcast did a runthrough of his movies recently that is a great listen for all JC fans.

Also, once he retired, he mostly likes to chill out and play video games, which sounds pretty fun.

35 minutes ago, Kguillemette said:

Has anyone ever wanted to suck a cheetah's dick after listening to WW? No?

Only with hoison sauce or Price Chopper Imitation Vanilla Extract, you numbskull!

WW's most important Public Service Announcement was the Cut The Mullet trilogy, though

All right @Reed Rothchild, I'll add a few anecdotes then for ya

One of my old coworkers went to a WW concert and got the signature headbutt. I was supposed to go to one of his concerts in late 2002, but had a conflict and ended up never meeting Wesley in person.

Wesley had a concert near the college I attended, and ended up crashing at the house of one of my friends and his roommates. He apparently was a very nice and super charismatic guy and just rolled out next morning to his next gig.

When I quit my job in 2006, I did donuts in the parking lot of the Evil Empire while blasting Wesley's "F*CK YOU" until I got it out of my system. It's still a banger of a song to jam to when you want to let off some steam after a shitty day at work.

I promise this isn't yet another fcgamer logorrhea thread... I missed it by a day, but Wesley Willis died 20 years ago on 8/21/2003.  It seems like only yesterday that he was whupping a llama's ass with a belt and taking yell down war hell rides on city buses.

Rest in power, Wesley. I hope you finally escaped your demons and are headbutting fans while rocking with your Casio in heaven.

Rock Over London,

Rock on Chicago,

Diet Pepsi, Uh-huh

4 hours ago, BlackVega said:

That is some nice amount of shitposting going on around here recently

We definitely need a dedicated quarantine thread for fcgamer's random musings

On 8/4/2023 at 4:53 AM, TheGameDisplay said:

Nobunaga's Ambition both I and II are now complete. I spent the past couple of weeks playing them. On difficulty Level 1 neither is too tough, it's just a matter of going through the paces and building up your armies, moving them around, carrying out the battles. Everything really adds up time-wise. It's interesting to see how Koei uped their game as time went on. Bandit Kings of Ancient China feels like a more refined version of Nobunaga II, and it or Gemfire would probably still be my go-to NES strategy game if I had to pick one. I think in terms of Koei games left to play I still have Romance I and II, and Uncharted Waters. I'm honestly amazed they localized so many of them.

Koei HYPE! Nice work!

Tremors 5 and 6 have Ass-blasters, Jamie Kennedy, and, of course, Michael Gross

RIP Cormac McCarthy, formerly the greatest living American novelist. I have his 2 newest books but haven't gotten around to them yet. This also seems like an appropriate time for a revisit of Blood Meridian and Suttree.

4 hours ago, Tulpa said:

Yep, that's Snow Job.

https://www.brooklyncomicshop.com/shop/gi-joe-snow-job-v1-w-weapons/

Which years later I caught the joke they snuck in on his name. 

 

Also, I forgot how much Batman stuff they made in the 90s.

What's the joke? Snow Job is a real term that fits his personality. If you're thinking of something rhyming with that, you're reaching...

I had that AT-AT and some of those Star Wars action figures as a kid. The AT-AT and Admiral Akbar ruled. I doubt they're worth, much, though, especially in well-used condition.

The Batman stuff looks awesome. I would have gone apeshit for that stuff back in '89

Good lord that green font...

Real question is, what is an enumerated list of the favorite treats of the members of the extended Mario universe?

On 5/12/2023 at 11:13 PM, twiztor said:

$80/year to "prove" that i'm intelligent? no thank you. 

Most legit two or three standard deviation smart people aren't in Mensa. It's got the same cachet as those Who's Who books they try to scam college kids into paying to get an entry in.

On 4/2/2023 at 10:47 PM, TheGameDisplay said:

This is a really neat project! Is it possible to retroactively claim a few games that I beat earlier this year?

The Last Starfighter:

Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade (Taito)

Laser Invasion - Beat March 01 2023

Kings of the Beach - Beat February 13 2023

Legend of Kage - Beat March 14 2023

L'Empereur - Beat March 27 2023 (Done on an Everdrive because my cart doesn't reliably hold a save file)

I'll stop there. Sorry for intruding as the new guy.

Anyone who beats L'Empereur is ok in my book. Congrats on the Koei goodness!

2 minutes ago, RH said:

Ah, ok.  That makes sense.  I didn't think about selling a business.  If you had a business, and then all of a sudden the value of the company materialized as personal income, then that makes sense.  Ouch that it happened on 12/31 but I assume that was to benefit the buyer (I don't really know much about those types of details.)  But I'd assume if you had $40k to pay in taxes to Uncle Sam, it was probably a nice pay day, so congrats on that.

Sorry, it wasn't "my" company, just the one I work at, that was acquired. That was ambiguous.

2 hours ago, RH said:

How does one owe $40k in taxes?  I mean, what do you do that you have to pay that much above tax withholdings/quarterly tax payments?

I'm not asking about specifics of your income but man, that's a lot of money to owe at tax time, regardless of your tax bracket.

Two reasons; I realized a lot of long-term capital gains in 4Q, and I also had an accelerated earning of some ESPP shares that were revalued at a much higher level due to my company being acquired in 2022 and the merger happening on 12/31 (and which no taxes were deducted earlier for). Many of the shares were also reclassified as short-term capital gains as a result, so treated as normal income. Since I live in a state with a lot of courageous people like @Hammerfestus that stunningly and bravely raise other people's taxes at great personal sacrifice to themselves, I got hit hard by all this on the state level too.

That was all in addition to the normal taxes I had to pay but were seized during the year.

Just sent in 40 grand total to the fed and my state along with what was already seized from each of my paychecks during FY 2022. Not a fun year. I'm sure it will be spent wisely and prudently by our government, though

Every imaginable cut of beef cooked into submission due to my parents not understanding that medium rare <> uncooked

12 hours ago, Link said:

https://antiquehomestyle.com/plans/sears/1916sears/sears-264b179.htm

 

My parents bought a Sears house in the early 1970s. Apparently the workers came, built the foundation and other underground stuff, and just plopped the house down basically. It's still holding strong. I believe it was $25K all in.

1 hour ago, PII said:

I was just gifted this Sixer of Brit. Beans = hello Full English Breakfast.  ...gotta figure out how to make blood pudding though.

For those not aware, "Muricans" tend to favor the sweet kind that get mixed w/brown sugar and molasses and often get eaten beside hot dogs for dinner, whereas Brits favor these that are in a Savory tomato based sauce.  They are damn good too and a better breakfast food than one who wasn't brought up on them might imagine...

Does Heinz recommend you eat 5 cans a day?

@G-type Woodbridge is one of those places I've known about since a young age from the Traffic on the 8s on WTOP That and silently fuming at that whole I-95 corridor there on the few occasions I need to drive through there anymore. What's it like living there, other than having a nice sushi place, a Smegmas supermarket, and Potomac Mills, which Marylanders also avoid like the plague? Since you work for VDOE, I guess at least you don't commute into DC, an absolute Sisyphean goatse of a drive that anyone not from this area or Atlanta or LA cannot understand.

Tim Burton didn't direct Nightmare Before Christmas, BTW, and Henry Selick will never let you forget that. Selick seems to be a pretty good dude based on his recent run on the Blank Check podcast