Author Topic: Pseudopod 052: That Old Black Magic  (Read 18800 times)

DDog

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Reply #25 on: September 18, 2007, 10:23:55 PM
I probably got lucky (for some value of luck) in that I've only seen one Woody Allen movie and it never crossed my mind that the protagonist's voice was supposed to be a reference to him. Took a little bit to get used to, but after that it made perfect sense. (Although the protagonist is clearly a transplant or a summer-houser; native full-time Connecticut residents have a distinctive accent.)

I enjoyed this one. Loved the pentacle thing, and the idea of the "unholy trinity." Execution was simple and sweet as well.

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Chodon

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Reply #26 on: September 19, 2007, 01:44:35 AM
2)  Apples don't grow in the Middle East and could therefore never have been the forbidden fruit.  The symbol of the apple came about simply, because it was a fruit all of Europe knew. 
I heard something interesting on the History Channel about this very topic.  Apparently the literal translation only says "fruit".  When the Romans translated it into Latin they decided to have a little play on words.  Apparently the Latin word for "apple" is identical to the Latin word for "evil", so they went with apple.  According to the History Channel it was more likely a fig or pomegranate. 

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eytanz

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Reply #27 on: September 19, 2007, 04:39:57 AM
2)  Apples don't grow in the Middle East and could therefore never have been the forbidden fruit.  The symbol of the apple came about simply, because it was a fruit all of Europe knew. 
I heard something interesting on the History Channel about this very topic.  Apparently the literal translation only says "fruit".  When the Romans translated it into Latin they decided to have a little play on words.  Apparently the Latin word for "apple" is identical to the Latin word for "evil", so they went with apple.  According to the History Channel it was more likely a fig or pomegranate. 

This reasoning always confuses me. God created one such tree, and forbid man to taste of it. What makes people think that the fruit was of any variety found in Earth?

As for figs and pomegranates, both fruits are mentioned, by name, several times in the Hebrew bible. If it was a fig or pomegranate, why doesn't it say so explicitly?

My assumption is that if the story of Eden is true, than the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is unlike anything any mortal man has ever seen.



Chodon

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Reply #28 on: September 19, 2007, 04:07:22 PM
2)  Apples don't grow in the Middle East and could therefore never have been the forbidden fruit.  The symbol of the apple came about simply, because it was a fruit all of Europe knew. 
I heard something interesting on the History Channel about this very topic.  Apparently the literal translation only says "fruit".  When the Romans translated it into Latin they decided to have a little play on words.  Apparently the Latin word for "apple" is identical to the Latin word for "evil", so they went with apple.  According to the History Channel it was more likely a fig or pomegranate. 

This reasoning always confuses me. God created one such tree, and forbid man to taste of it. What makes people think that the fruit was of any variety found in Earth?

As for figs and pomegranates, both fruits are mentioned, by name, several times in the Hebrew bible. If it was a fig or pomegranate, why doesn't it say so explicitly?

My assumption is that if the story of Eden is true, than the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is unlike anything any mortal man has ever seen.
Very possible.  The whole point of this documentary I watched was to find the actual Garden of Eden.  Some people believe it is a physical place.  I think most of the bible is one huge metaphor, but that's just my take.  Either way I'll bet the fruit of knowledge (if it existed) tasted damn good.  Mmmmm...sacrilicious.....

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Reply #29 on: October 01, 2009, 08:13:49 PM
I enjoyed this story.  I'm not really familiar with Woody Allen movies, so the voice didn't really bother me, and really fit the character very well.

It did bug me a little bit that Satan and Lucifer were portrayed as different entities.  If anything, Satan should be the one who acts younger since his name is the newer one.  But I enjoyed the separate characters enough that I put up with it. 

I didn't understand while listening why he sent the apple, but other's comments make sense on that one, so she can be the source of her own downfall.



Fenrix

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Reply #30 on: November 18, 2009, 07:49:20 PM
I disliked the reading on this one, and felt that it detracted more from the story than it contributed. I thought the ums, ahs, and throat clearing were just bad reading or editing. The voice acting on Lucifer and Satan were good, the woman was fine, but I disliked the protagonist. After reading this thread and seeing the glowing reviews, I gave it another listen.

After the second listen, I liked it less as it became clear that the stuttering was deliberate, as much of it felt unnatural and injected at points where there wouldn't be expected stumbles in conversation or the relation of a story. In addition, if it's being told by the protagonist, why is the protagonist affecting the voices of the other three? And when he affects their voices, why does he lose his stammer? If the reader wanted to better separate the protagonists's voice and the voices of the other characters, the transition words between characters ("said Satan" etc) should have been done in the reader's own voice without the stammer.

I'm glad others liked it, but I found the voice work to be a mixed bag.

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Millenium_King

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Reply #31 on: August 10, 2010, 08:28:17 PM
Yuck.  Sorry, this is one of the rare few where I hit the "next" button.  I couldn't stand the voice, the diction or the actual content.  It felt like a bad impression of Woody Allen doing even worse (and totally not funny) stand-up comedy.  The allusion to Monty Python ("I got better") was utterly groan-worthy and totally out of place.  The other opening lines were just really lame jokes and I expected a "rimshot" at the end of every sentence.  No thanks.

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