Author Topic: PC217: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Part 2  (Read 25290 times)

Anarquistador

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Reply #25 on: August 08, 2012, 01:29:02 PM
The story itself, doesn't hold up.  If my wife were attempting to use this story to distract me from killing her, she wouldn't have made it past day one. \(oO)/  The Bible has interesting stories as well.  Interesting, that is, until you actually read it.

I think people were more easily-entertained back then. Or maybe the caliph had a morbid sense of curiosity; he wasn't enjoying it, but he just had to know how it ended.

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Reply #26 on: August 08, 2012, 01:41:49 PM
I think people were more easily-entertained back then. Or maybe the caliph had a morbid sense of curiosity; he wasn't enjoying it, but he just had to know how it ended.

Yeah, I think we're pretty jaded compared to those days.

What was humorous was the translation itself.  How often have any of you used the word "behooveth" in a conversation.  I've used it twice already today.  

The one that stuck out to me was how everyone "marveled exceedingly".  Even when what they were looking at didn't seem particularly remarkable.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2012, 04:54:44 PM by Unblinking »



chemistryguy

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Reply #27 on: August 08, 2012, 02:59:22 PM

I think people were more easily-entertained back then.

I think it's all a matter of availability.  If you're carrying around a mobile device with a Kindle app (as I do), you have access to millions of books at any time.  When the availability to fiction is limited, you're going to go with the best you've got.

Saying that makes me think back to the 80s and my pre-cable days.  We watched all the network shows.  Crummy as they were, we would watch them all multiple times.  Why?  Partly cuz I was young and unrefined, but also because that's all there was



Anarquistador

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Reply #28 on: August 08, 2012, 03:21:50 PM
Well said, Tortoise-Rider Guy.

Although there is something to be said for crummy 80s network shows. They're like really greasy food: awful, but satisfying when you're in the right mood.

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LaShawn

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Reply #29 on: September 10, 2012, 04:36:42 PM
I guess what you can conclude from both stories is: wealth makes you incredibly dumb. Ali Baba was pretty clever when he was getting his hands on the robbers' loot, but by the second story, he  had become just as clueless as the robbers.

And yeah! Those two robbers who were imprisoned for their stupidity. I'm thinking the first few days no one shows up, the cave was echoing with: "Hellllllooooooooo? Anybody out there? Someone let us out. HELLLLLLLOOOOOOOOO...." And then after some time pass, the caves fall silent, until Ali Baba shows up and says, "Well, no one here. I'm good!"

Wow...that's...really morbid.

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Unblinking

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Reply #30 on: September 11, 2012, 01:39:39 PM
I guess what you can conclude from both stories is: wealth makes you incredibly dumb. Ali Baba was pretty clever when he was getting his hands on the robbers' loot, but by the second story, he  had become just as clueless as the robbers.

That totally makes sense!


Wow...that's...really morbid.

Yes, but probably not as morbid as the servant serially killing 40 men with scalding oil.  :P



lisavilisa

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Reply #31 on: October 02, 2012, 05:17:53 AM



TheTrueBrian

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Reply #32 on: October 08, 2012, 07:20:31 PM
I, for one, am just fine with the two-parters. Mostly since I am so far behind on podcasts that I'm not waiting week-to-week to catch the stories. I got these back-to-back when listening.

And by all means, more classics. Not all the time, but scattered about. Maybe even have a few recorded and "banked" so you can pull them out when a story falls through and you need a last minute drop-in for the 'cast.

Just a thought.

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Reply #33 on: December 11, 2012, 11:11:25 PM
I have no issues with the two-part experiment. Since I rarely listen to any story immediately, banking them up to listen together is pretty easy for me.

I did find the image of Morgiana killing the 37 men haunting.  Kind of disturbingly hilarious in a very strange way.  I'm not sure that boiling oil is a real reliable way to kill someone.  To hurt someone, sure, but not kill.  And it would be the last thing that I would choose for a QUIET death.  Most likely the first man would scream to holy hell when he got scalded, and even if he died 36 other thieves would be out of their baskets in moments.

Even though I had my Faery Story suspension of disbelief, the silent murder of 37 men in close proximity to one another through the use of one container of boiling oil (equal to the size of the vessels holding the bandits) broke the suspension. The head-squeezing version makes a lot more sense. Why did she use an elaborate scheme to kill them all when she has proven that she's handy with a knife. Pop the lid, clamp your hand over their mouth, and slit their throats seems far more effective.

I'm also glad to note that I was not the only one running the math and looking for at least a sentence of exposition concerning the fate of numbers 39 and 40.

Was I the only one hearing The Beastie Boys' Rhymin' & Stealin' for a preponderance of the story?

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eytanz

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Reply #34 on: December 12, 2012, 12:36:44 AM
Wait, weren't 39 and 40 the two thieves that had failed to find the way back to the correct house, and thus either imprisoned or killed (I forget which)?



Fenrix

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Reply #35 on: December 12, 2012, 07:15:12 PM
Wait, weren't 39 and 40 the two thieves that had failed to find the way back to the correct house, and thus either imprisoned or killed (I forget which)?

Imprisoned, but they were never mentioned after their incarceration. Smelly corpses in the sesame cave would be pretty obvious. It just seems like an oversight.

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danooli

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Reply #36 on: December 18, 2012, 11:44:05 PM
Smelly corpses in the sesame cave

That sounds like the title to a short story anthology.