Author Topic: A moral dilemma  (Read 16519 times)

Brian Reilly

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on: January 20, 2007, 11:17:51 AM
The topic of reading books in order to please a significant other has come up on another thread.

The questions I have are- What books would you be prepared to read for Love*? Or what have you read for Love*? Where would you draw the line? How cute would he/she have to be to make you read something you detested

Personally, I read through the entire Narnia series (as an adult, I reckon I would have enjoyed it had I been a kid at the time). But I drew the line at more than a few chapters of Atlas Shrugged (different girl here).

What would I do if I had the Da Vinci Code foisted on me? I've tried to read it and gave up after a chapter. I don't know if I'd grit my teeth and stick it out to please a woman, though.




*Substitute "getting laid" for "Love" if applicable.

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SFEley

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Reply #1 on: January 20, 2007, 03:46:07 PM
The questions I have are- What books would you be prepared to read for Love*? Or what have you read for Love*? Where would you draw the line? How cute would he/she have to be to make you read something you detested
*Substitute "getting laid" for "Love" if applicable.

If they really love you, they should accept your reading preferences and not try to make you read anything you don't wish to.  On the other hand, there've been many books I've read because my lover said "This is really good, I think you'd like it," and I trust my lovers on things like that. 

Getting laid is a different matter entirely.  Though if you can find someone for whom the books you've read is a primary criterion for sex, you might have found a keeper.  >8->

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jrderego

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Reply #2 on: January 20, 2007, 04:09:45 PM
The topic of reading books in order to please a significant other has come up on another thread.

The questions I have are- What books would you be prepared to read for Love*? Or what have you read for Love*? Where would you draw the line? How cute would he/she have to be to make you read something you detested

Personally, I read through the entire Narnia series (as an adult, I reckon I would have enjoyed it had I been a kid at the time). But I drew the line at more than a few chapters of Atlas Shrugged (different girl here).

What would I do if I had the Da Vinci Code foisted on me? I've tried to read it and gave up after a chapter. I don't know if I'd grit my teeth and stick it out to please a woman, though.




*Substitute "getting laid" for "Love" if applicable.

Here's a weird bit of confulence... It wasn't until after I married Cindy that I realized she was a constant Jane Austin rereader. I never really liked her works when I was forced to read through them in high school and college. Something about the nature of the characters being so alien to me and the society I was used to that the whole world was just as bland and boring as possible. It wasn't until I was on a business trip in Kansas (the flattest state in the union) that I sort of "got" Austin. Cindy seruptitiously packed Pride and Prejudice in my suitcase. There was nothing on TV so I started working through it, and realized that through the eyes of a more experienced adult, that the story was very, very funny. I breezed through it in about five hours and laughed often.

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Bdoomed

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Reply #3 on: January 20, 2007, 05:16:11 PM
Cindy seruptitiously packed Pride and Prejudice in my suitcase. There was nothing on TV so I started working through it, and realized that through the eyes of a more experienced adult, that the story was very, very funny. I breezed through it in about five hours and laughed often.

ugh really? i had to read Pride and Prejudice 2 months ago, and although i like the class itself, and i got all the "funny" parts, i cant stand that book!  might have to read it again in a few years...  as for other Jane Austin novels i dont know i havent read any others.

as for readin books for love, i've only had one book "pushed" on me, but it was The Little Prince, which is a good book, so ive had no problems there.  As for the Da Vinci Code, it is actually a very good book (you might want to read Angels and Deamons first, you might like that better) but the book does not get much anywhere till about maybe 6 chapters in, and after then its pretty good, and ya just get lost in it.
also, you can allways say that you read the book (watch the movie to get the basic plot so you can bluff!) if its THAT bad.  Otherwise i would say that its a pretty good sign if your partner has "required reading" unless its something like The Chronicles of Narnia...

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


wakela

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Reply #4 on: January 30, 2007, 11:22:30 PM
My wife has started a few books that I recommended.  But since she hasn't finished them, I stopped recommending.   :-\



Steven Saus

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Reply #5 on: January 31, 2007, 04:31:36 PM
What would I do if I had the Da Vinci Code foisted on me? I've tried to read it and gave up after a chapter. I don't know if I'd grit my teeth and stick it out to please a woman, though.

It's quite possible that if your tastes diverge that much that it's a good indicator of other, deeper differences.  If one of you is forcing the other to change for those radically different things... well, that's a huge problem.  IMHO.

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Russell Nash

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Reply #6 on: February 03, 2007, 10:26:40 AM
What would I do if I had the Da Vinci Code foisted on me? I've tried to read it and gave up after a chapter. I don't know if I'd grit my teeth and stick it out to please a woman, though.

It's quite possible that if your tastes diverge that much that it's a good indicator of other, deeper differences.  If one of you is forcing the other to change for those radically different things... well, that's a huge problem.  IMHO.

If you don't have the same tastes you really have to get rid of them.










(This was a joke, it was only a joke. Please refrain from attacking me ;D)



Steven Saus

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Reply #7 on: February 03, 2007, 03:22:19 PM
Quote
It's quite possible that if your tastes diverge that much that it's a good indicator of other, deeper differences.  If one of you is forcing the other to change for those radically different things... well, that's a huge problem.  IMHO.
If you don't have the same tastes you really have to get rid of them.
(This was a joke, it was only a joke. Please refrain from attacking me ;D)

Er... why should it be a joke?  Sure, there's people who overcome vast differences, and I'm not suggesting that you ditch your S.O. because they hold that Lucas' last three films are better than anything Whedon's ever done (or vice versa)... but it sure as hell makes a relationship more difficult if they don't share your interests.   

Or to put it another way:  If on your first date, they say "What's sci-fi?  Isn't that something with, like, space?  Gaaaah!  Fantasy?  Swords are so booooring!"  the typical user here may just want to consider continuing to search for that special someone.  Just sayin'.
« Last Edit: February 03, 2007, 07:34:31 PM by Russell Nash »

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fiveyearwinter

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Reply #8 on: February 07, 2007, 03:33:10 PM
I submit that video games present a much vaster gulf to separates lovers. Books can be reconciled. But when your girlfriend plays crappy video games?


Inexcusable.



SFEley

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Reply #9 on: February 07, 2007, 04:55:49 PM
I submit that video games present a much vaster gulf to separates lovers. Books can be reconciled. But when your girlfriend plays crappy video games?

Heh.

Luckily, Anna and I have enough coincident taste in our gaming.  Right now our two games to play together are Guitar Hero and Guild Wars.  (Nothing keeps a relationship together like "You kill, I'll heal!")  >8->

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fiveyearwinter

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Reply #10 on: February 07, 2007, 05:34:04 PM
My girlfriend enjoys old school platformers and not much else. I think she enjoyed the first case in the first Phoenix Wright, too.

That's fine with me. So long as I can get my Resident Evil on.



Thaurismunths

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Reply #11 on: February 07, 2007, 06:25:10 PM
That's fine with me. So long as I can get my Resident Evil on.

"Are you playing, what I'm playing Pinky?"
"I think so Brain, but where are we going to get Resident Evils our size?" : )

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fiveyearwinter

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Reply #12 on: February 07, 2007, 06:27:28 PM
 ;D On the Nintendo DS, where they've ported the first RE.

(I'm a DS fanboy.)



SFEley

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Reply #13 on: February 07, 2007, 06:38:40 PM
That's fine with me. So long as I can get my Resident Evil on.
"Are you playing, what I'm playing Pinky?"
"I think so Brain, but where are we going to get Resident Evils our size?" : )

Resident Evil is very old-fashioned thinking.  The problem with resident evils is that they consume memory all the time, and you can only run so many before your system starts to slow down.  It's frustrating when you're constantly swapping evil.

This is why many overlords have taken to using dynamically linked evils (DLEs) instead, or assemblies in Microsoft's .NO Framework.  (Named after the PhD researcher who first developed global domination science in the sixties.)  Some even use Remote Pernicious Calls to make use of evil services on a local network, or Wicked Services to access evil worldwide.

With the rise of Evil 2.0, things are getting a lot simpler and a lot more global.  There are easy-to-use asinister libraries, so dominators can focus on their twisted logic and not worry about the low-level details.  And with formerly unpromising companies like Google and Apple taking on dominant market share...  Suffice to say, I predict great things for evil in the years ahead.


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fiveyearwinter

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Reply #14 on: February 07, 2007, 06:53:00 PM
I'm actually going to be starting my Residency at Arkham Memorial this month. I have heard wonderful things about the city - there are even bus tours to this place called R'lyeh(?), apparently a really happening vacation spot.

I've heard odd things about their religious practices, though...



Bdoomed

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Reply #15 on: February 08, 2007, 02:31:23 AM
That's fine with me. So long as I can get my Resident Evil on.
"Are you playing, what I'm playing Pinky?"
"I think so Brain, but where are we going to get Resident Evils our size?" : )

Resident Evil is very old-fashioned thinking.  The problem with resident evils is that they consume memory all the time, and you can only run so many before your system starts to slow down.  It's frustrating when you're constantly swapping evil.

This is why many overlords have taken to using dynamically linked evils (DLEs) instead, or assemblies in Microsoft's .NO Framework.  (Named after the PhD researcher who first developed global domination science in the sixties.)  Some even use Remote Pernicious Calls to make use of evil services on a local network, or Wicked Services to access evil worldwide.

With the rise of Evil 2.0, things are getting a lot simpler and a lot more global.  There are easy-to-use asinister libraries, so dominators can focus on their twisted logic and not worry about the low-level details.  And with formerly unpromising companies like Google and Apple taking on dominant market share...  Suffice to say, I predict great things for evil in the years ahead.



oh i dont know about that, a lot of villains these days just dont listen to Edwin Winsor...  You can only do so much evil before the costs outweigh the income.  I mean how can you expect to pay your minions even minimum wage when you only destroy and maim, and dont rake in the cash?

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Steven Saus

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Reply #16 on: February 08, 2007, 04:13:20 AM
oh i dont know about that, a lot of villains these days just dont listen to Edwin Winsor...  You can only do so much evil before the costs outweigh the income.  I mean how can you expect to pay your minions even minimum wage when you only destroy and maim, and dont rake in the cash?

I just gave my GM for a superhero RPG the podcast from that.

I hope I don't regret it.

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oddpod

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Reply #17 on: February 08, 2007, 08:34:42 AM
Quote
Resident Evil is very old-fashioned thinking.  The problem with resident evils is that they consume memory all the time, and you can only run so many before your system starts to slow down.  It's frustrating when you're constantly swapping evil.

This is why many overlords have taken to using dynamically linked evils (DLEs) instead, or assemblies in Microsoft's .NO Framework.  (Named after the PhD researcher who first developed global domination science in the sixties.)  Some even use Remote Pernicious Calls to make use of evil services on a local network, or Wicked Services to access evil worldwide.

With the rise of Evil 2.0, things are getting a lot simpler and a lot more global.  There are easy-to-use asinister libraries, so dominators can focus on their twisted logic and not worry about the low-level details.  And with formerly unpromising companies like Google and Apple taking on dominant market share...  Suffice to say, I predict great things for evil in the years ahead.

LMHAO!!!!

thats fab

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Reply #18 on: February 08, 2007, 11:50:24 AM
I'm actually going to be starting my Residency at Arkham Memorial this month. I have heard wonderful things about the city - there are even bus tours to this place called R'lyeh(?), apparently a really happening vacation spot.

Congratulations!
A friend of mine got an engineering degree from AU. Between bought of raving insanity he designs the most amazing buildings…Too bad they can't be built on this plane of existence. Now that I think of it, I haven’t heard from him in a while, not since he got that big job working for a Mr. Thulhu anyway.

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fiveyearwinter

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Reply #19 on: February 08, 2007, 01:15:20 PM
Yeah, I almost failed infernal calculus II. I can't seem to wrap my head around non-Euclidean geometries. I will say, however, that I got an A in my painting class. My professor mentioned my skillful use of a certain color...



ClintMemo

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Reply #20 on: February 15, 2007, 11:03:54 PM
And now a message from the old fart....

I've been (mostly) happily married for about 18 years.  We were together for about 4 years before that, so I've been with my wife for over half my life.   My wife has little or no interest in anything that is fantasy or sci-fi related. She liked the LOTR movies and she saw the Matrix trilogy because she has a thing for Keanu, but beyond that, not much.  She is watching Lost, I think.  I'm not.  AFAIK, she's never read a fantasy or sci-fi book.  Meanwhile, I've been playing/running D&D games since before we met and spending hours playing games on my PC. I used to go to conventions, but I haven't gone to one in a few years.  I would go to Gencon every year, since it's only a  two hour drive from where I live, but it just happens to be on or around my anniversary every year (because God hates me. :P)

Anyway, one of the reasons we are still happily married as that we each have our own interests.  When you have everything in common, you spend all of your time together.  I don't care how great your SO is, at some point you need a break. It's a lot easier to do that when you can go off and do something the other doesn't want to do and they can go off and do something you don't want to do.  And sometimes you find those things you didn't like before aren't as bad as you think once you try them.


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