What are you reading, watching and listening to?
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
I am presently reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, which is really rather good.
I've been playing Fable III lately, which is quite good. The story is not quite as fluid as in the second game, but the characters feel more... likely? Whereas Fable 2 felt like a journey, the third game feels more like a to-do list. Still, it's been a very enjoyable one.
I've been watching the West Wing box set that my boyfriend puts on constantly. This is the first time I've seen episodes in the correct order. It's rather good.
I've been playing Fable III lately, which is quite good. The story is not quite as fluid as in the second game, but the characters feel more... likely? Whereas Fable 2 felt like a journey, the third game feels more like a to-do list. Still, it's been a very enjoyable one.
I've been watching the West Wing box set that my boyfriend puts on constantly. This is the first time I've seen episodes in the correct order. It's rather good.
- Risla
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Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
That's my favorite book. I love it to bits.Gulliver wrote:I am presently reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, which is really rather good.
- LinguistCat
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Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
The stars are an ocean. Your breasts, are also an ocean.
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
I'm listening to the album Yu-Gi-Oh!: Music to Duel By. I'm not kidding.
I watched Starcrash last night. IMPERIAL BATTLESHIP...HALT THE FLOW OF TIME!
And, I'm playing Dwarf Fortress. Yeeahh.
I watched Starcrash last night. IMPERIAL BATTLESHIP...HALT THE FLOW OF TIME!
And, I'm playing Dwarf Fortress. Yeeahh.
- Risla
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Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
Did you get that idea from the thread a few days ago where I posted "Face Up, Face Down"?dhokarena56 wrote:I'm listening to the album Yu-Gi-Oh!: Music to Duel By. I'm not kidding.
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
No, although that is indeed an awesome song; I found it for $1 at a yard sale and couldn't pass it up, it looked so stupid.Risla Amahendir wrote:Did you get that idea from the thread a few days ago where I posted "Face Up, Face Down"?dhokarena56 wrote:I'm listening to the album Yu-Gi-Oh!: Music to Duel By. I'm not kidding.
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
currently listening to Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers
scientists have discovered a capsule that makes you not a gullible fucktard!
- the duke of nuke
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Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
So true.Radius Solis wrote:I don't much read books or "watch" anything. As for listening, I last night ran across the good old Ieva's Polka by Loituma (it's in Finnish, for the unaquainted) and goddammit it's been repeating itself in my head ever since. Continuously. The song does not stop when you turn it off, or at all.
Have you tried this? *shameless plug*dhokarena56 wrote:And, I'm playing Dwarf Fortress. Yeeahh.
The last thing I watched was an episode of How I Met Your Mother, which has forced me to concede that my girlfriend actually has good taste in TV. (Normally I don't watch TV.)
And as I type this I'm listening to The Don, by The View.
XinuX wrote:I learned this language, but then I sneezed and now am in prison for high treason. 0/10 would not speak again.
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
I tried, what version does it work with? 'Cause it doesn't work with 31.16.the duke of nuke wrote:So true.Radius Solis wrote:I don't much read books or "watch" anything. As for listening, I last night ran across the good old Ieva's Polka by Loituma (it's in Finnish, for the unaquainted) and goddammit it's been repeating itself in my head ever since. Continuously. The song does not stop when you turn it off, or at all.
Have you tried this? *shameless plug*dhokarena56 wrote:And, I'm playing Dwarf Fortress. Yeeahh.
The last thing I watched was an episode of How I Met Your Mother, which has forced me to concede that my girlfriend actually has good taste in TV. (Normally I don't watch TV.)
And as I type this I'm listening to The Don, by The View.
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
I'm currently reading Stiglitz, "Globalization and Its Discontents". I find it vaguely interesting, although I know nothing about economics so I don't get around 50% of what he's writing about (e.g. what is the link between a currency being overvalued and drops in domestic production/rises in imports). But the basic argument just seems to be "IMF is Stupid" (and World Bank less so).
High Eolic (PDF)
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Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
Was reading a bit of The Economy of Cities by Jane Jacobs and listening to Bohemian Rhapsody.
"There was a particular car I soon came to think of as distinctly St. Louis-ish: a gigantic white S.U.V. with a W. bumper sticker on it for George W. Bush."
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
So happy about Thanksgiving break, means I have time to read
I've been reading Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, which I bought in China for less than $2...it's pretty fascinating (I've already seen the movie/documentary/whatever-you-call-it adaptation in my World History class 5 years ago, and I've been meaning to read the book for some time).
The last movie I saw was the new Harry Potter movie, which I was very excited for...enjoyed that very much.
I last listened to Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Talk about orgasmic music.
I've been reading Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, which I bought in China for less than $2...it's pretty fascinating (I've already seen the movie/documentary/whatever-you-call-it adaptation in my World History class 5 years ago, and I've been meaning to read the book for some time).
The last movie I saw was the new Harry Potter movie, which I was very excited for...enjoyed that very much.
I last listened to Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Talk about orgasmic music.
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
Watching and listening to Gunslinger Girl.
Reading this in between episodes.
Reading this in between episodes.
- Colonel Cathcart
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Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
It's pretty intuitive. Say, for example, the dollar is overvalued relative to the yuan. Since a dollar buys more yuan than it should, currency traders with dollars buy more yuan, which means American importers buy more Chinese goods, which are then cheaper to American consumers. American demand for Chinese imports goes up, which means demand for competing domestic goods goes down. Meanwhile, since the yuan doesn't buy as many dollars as it should, American exports are more expensive for Chinese consumers, which means Chinese demand for American goods goes down, which pushes American production down further.Cathbad wrote:(e.g. what is the link between a currency being overvalued and drops in domestic production/rises in imports)
In a nutshell, and ceteris paribus, and blah blah blah.
</nerd>
Anyway. I'm currently reading The Waxman Report: How Congress Really Works by Rep. Henry Waxman. It's pretty good, even if it is less about how Congress really works and more about how awesome Henry Waxman is.
Listening to... I've been on kind of a Fiery Furnaces kick lately.
Watching... I signed up for the trial of Hulu Plus since I have one of those Roku boxes, so I spent most of yesterday catching up on the current season of House. I cancelled Plus, though, because it was cool to have Hulu on my TV but I'd rather keep my $8 a month if they're still going to make me watch ads.
kuiva ja pölyinen
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
Reading: I recently began reading Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age by Peter Green. It's a hefty-ass book and I'm a slow reader, so I'll likely be on that for a while.
Watching: Over the weekend I rewatched the Lord of the Rings films. I hadn't seen them since probably 2006 or so. In review, I think the first one is superior to the second two. Also I'm watching The Event on Hulu, since Netflix doesn't have the second season of Dollhouse on Watch Instantly, and I like to keep myself watching 1 (no more, no less) tv shows at a time.
Listening: As always, if I ever listen to music it's either original video game music found via Youtube, or remixes from ocremix and other such sites. I think the reason I like video game music over other kinds is that it has no lyrics; "normal" music is almost always lyric-centered and the melody gets the shaft, but really, when's the last time a song had lyrics that seemed original or clever or interesting at all to you? Cause for me it's been a coon's age.
Watching: Over the weekend I rewatched the Lord of the Rings films. I hadn't seen them since probably 2006 or so. In review, I think the first one is superior to the second two. Also I'm watching The Event on Hulu, since Netflix doesn't have the second season of Dollhouse on Watch Instantly, and I like to keep myself watching 1 (no more, no less) tv shows at a time.
Listening: As always, if I ever listen to music it's either original video game music found via Youtube, or remixes from ocremix and other such sites. I think the reason I like video game music over other kinds is that it has no lyrics; "normal" music is almost always lyric-centered and the melody gets the shaft, but really, when's the last time a song had lyrics that seemed original or clever or interesting at all to you? Cause for me it's been a coon's age.
"It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be said, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is.' Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it."
– The Gospel of Thomas
– The Gospel of Thomas
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
See, this is exactly the bit I don't understand. I'm massively thick w/r/t economics anyway, but I still don't get it: why do such financial speculations encourage imports? It's not as if currency traders now have more Chinese money on hand which has to be spent by importers or something. Shouldn't importers simply be importing from the country which gives the lowest aggregate prices for its goods, no matter the currency?Colonel Cathcart wrote: currency traders with dollars buy more yuan, which means American importers buy more Chinese goods
EDIT: Oh, also, I've started reading my first ethnography in a while, Nationalism and the Genealogical Imagination by Andrew Shryock. It's on oral history in Jordan. So far, it seems to be standard half-baked American cultural anthropologist fare (with very cursory ethnographic detail and contextualization, just a lot of Excerpts Which Show How Really Postmodern I Am By Giving My Informants A Voice), but I'm waiting to be more positively surprised.
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Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
That's the point. If 1$ buys 100 yen instead of 85 yuan, that'll make Chinese goods a good bit cheaper, hence lots of Americans will buy Chinese goods. The opposite happens when a country devalues, like the UK did pretty recently.Cathbad wrote:Shouldn't importers simply be importing from the country which gives the lowest aggregate prices for its goods, no matter the currency?
[quote]Great wit and madness near abide, and fine a line their bounds divide.[/quote]
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Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
Well, keep in mind Chinese companies (and only Chinese companies) accept payment in yuan (and only yuan), so there's only three things you can do if you've just bought yuan in America. You can use it to buy goods in China, you can use it to buy Chinese stocks and bonds, or you can just sit on it until it appreciates in value. Over/undervaluation can have a big effect on speculation and investment, but in general, if you have more money you can buy more stuff. Consider also that imports as an investment strategy are easier than buying foreign securities and less risky than speculation.Cathbad wrote:See, this is exactly the bit I don't understand. I'm massively thick w/r/t economics anyway, but I still don't get it: why do such financial speculations encourage imports? It's not as if currency traders now have more Chinese money on hand which has to be spent by importers or something.
In international trade, price is as much a function of exchange rates as production costs, if not indeed more so. It's basically what Declan said, except when you're dealing with overvaluation of the dollar or undervaluation of the yuan (either way it's the same effect), the point is that a dollar buys more yuan than it should. It's not about what the numerical value of the currency is, it's about what the exchange rate actually is versus what the market rate says it should be. If a dollar can normally buy 5 yuan, then whatever. But if tomorrow the Chinese central bank devalues and suddenly you can get 10 yuan for a dollar, suddenly yuan are more attractive because, basically, they're on sale.Shouldn't importers simply be importing from the country which gives the lowest aggregate prices for its goods, no matter the currency?
kuiva ja pölyinen
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Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
I am reading Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan.
Terrible world creation, awful failed attempt at a conlang, but just about an interesting enough a story and characters to keep me interested.
Terrible world creation, awful failed attempt at a conlang, but just about an interesting enough a story and characters to keep me interested.
Don't worry Girls, Explosions fix everything!
He who is also known as Ben
He who is also known as Ben
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
Reading: Frankenstein
Watching: Bruce Almighty, Sneakers, Firefly
Musicking: Scala's cover of Radiohead's "Creep"
Watching: Bruce Almighty, Sneakers, Firefly
Musicking: Scala's cover of Radiohead's "Creep"
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
Reading: Finnegans Wake
Listening: Sweetheart Like You- Bob Dylan
Watching: Absolutely Fabulous
Listening: Sweetheart Like You- Bob Dylan
Watching: Absolutely Fabulous
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
the last book I read was some provegetarian panphlet a krsna guy gave me in hungary
Listening to... my brother's playing Debussy's Claire de Lune on the piano... not that well, but still
the last thing I watched on TV was France24's international news [good news channel, by the way, didn't know it until now]... and as far as movies go, Adam Sandler's Grownups, the comedy
the last game I played was some lame miniclip flash game involving monster trucks and NOS bottles
yeah, my cultural content consumption patters have been incredibly lame as of late... but, on the other hand, I'm in europe, so its not all that bad.
Listening to... my brother's playing Debussy's Claire de Lune on the piano... not that well, but still
the last thing I watched on TV was France24's international news [good news channel, by the way, didn't know it until now]... and as far as movies go, Adam Sandler's Grownups, the comedy
the last game I played was some lame miniclip flash game involving monster trucks and NOS bottles
yeah, my cultural content consumption patters have been incredibly lame as of late... but, on the other hand, I'm in europe, so its not all that bad.
- Nortaneous
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Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
Reading: A few pages into The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Its Critics by Christopher Lasch
Watching: I have to watch Straw Dogs for class sometime in the next few hours, so...
Listening: Whatever hipster rap my roommate is blasting
Watching: I have to watch Straw Dogs for class sometime in the next few hours, so...
Listening: Whatever hipster rap my roommate is blasting
Siöö jandeng raiglin zåbei tandiüłåd;
nää džunnfin kukuch vklaivei sivei tåd.
Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei.
nää džunnfin kukuch vklaivei sivei tåd.
Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei.
Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
Reading: "Red Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson
Listening: one of Hedningarna's albums has just finished so I might listen to something else.
Watching: Nothing recently but QI and a bit of Tintin.
Listening: one of Hedningarna's albums has just finished so I might listen to something else.
Watching: Nothing recently but QI and a bit of Tintin.
- Nortaneous
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Re: What are you reading, watching and listening to?
Oh man I just love movies where the characters are all complete and utter scum except the guy who's apparently supposed to be the villain. That class is going to be interesting.Nortaneous wrote:Watching: I have to watch Straw Dogs for class sometime in the next few hours, so...
Siöö jandeng raiglin zåbei tandiüłåd;
nää džunnfin kukuch vklaivei sivei tåd.
Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei.
nää džunnfin kukuch vklaivei sivei tåd.
Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei. Chei.