What Are You Reading 4

[raisindot]

Just finished Eric Idle's autobiography, called (what else), Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

A real disappointment. Basic premise is, "Boy born in WWII, grew up without a father, harsh school years, rose out of obscurity to become a Python who hobnobbed with celebrities, slept with lots of women before marrying a super model, and wrote a song they sing on battleships and soccer games."

Hundreds of pages of name-dropping and boasting, with little discussion of his former Pythons, and revealing absolutely nothing new about these years you can't find anywhere else. Entertaining but ultimately empty fluff.

 

[Quatermass]

Just finished Eric Idle's autobiography, called (what else), Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

A real disappointment. Basic premise is, "Boy born in WWII, grew up without a father, harsh school years, rose out of obscurity to become a Python who hobnobbed with celebrities, slept with lots of women before marrying a super model, and wrote a song they sing on battleships and soccer games."

Hundreds of pages of name-dropping and boasting, with little discussion of his former Pythons, and revealing absolutely nothing new about these years you can't find anywhere else. Entertaining but ultimately empty fluff.

I much prefer Michael Palin's diaries. A bit dry at times, but they give some insight. That, and "The Pythons Autobiography by the Pythons".

Personally, I found Eric Idle to be the most...attention-seeking of the Pythons, IMO, the one who actively seeks out fame and fortune. John Cleese isn't far behind.

 

[RathDarkblade]

To be fair to Cleese, he has to pay off his alimony. That's the only reason he's still touring.

 

[raisindot]

I much prefer Michael Palin's diaries. A bit dry at times, but they give some insight. That, and "The Pythons Autobiography by the Pythons".

Personally, I found Eric Idle to be the most...attention-seeking of the Pythons, IMO, the one who actively seeks out fame and fortune. John Cleese isn't far behind.

Agree. I don't find most of Idle's songs all that memorable. "Bright Side" is only a great song because of its original context, as the closer to Life of Brian. I find "The Galaxy Song" to be rather tedious. "The Money Song" is great, and "I LIke Chinese" is quaintly humorous but mainly because of the sound effects on the recording. And he didn't write the two most iconic Python ditties, "The Lumberjack Song" and "Spam."

And, other than "Nudge, Nudge," most of his Flying Circus sketches consisted of him doing a monologue as a smarmy TV show announcer or game show host. His sketches have dated the worst out of all of them. He didn't have the wordplay talent of Cleese and Chapman, or the story-telling/characterization/cinematic talent of Palin and Jones.

 

[RathDarkblade]

Um, quadruple post for raisindot there? :-|

Some of Idle's other great songs (other than "Money Song" and "I Like Chinese") are "The Bruces' Philosophers Song", "Eric the Half-a-Bee", "FCC Song", "I Bet You They Won't Play This Song on the Radio", "Medical Love Song" and "Sit On My Face".

Idle was probably the one who was prepared to push the boundaries furthest than any of the Pythons. He even let George Harrison become a pirate.

Idle wouldn't have been as successful as he did become without the other Pythons, but that's no reason to take a massive dump on him.

 

[=Tamar]

Somehow, back in 1988, I seem to have missed a book. I got it a few months ago at a thrift shop, and somehow never was in the mood to read it. Today I read it and loved it. I present 1988's most lush wonder tale: Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty, by Avram Davidson and Grania Davis.
Readily available on abebooks in two editions: the first edition paperback from Baen Books with a gorgeous cover by Neal McPheeters,
and for about the same price, the print-on-demand paperback reissue with a completely different cover.
I recommend the original. The copy I have has not yellowed noticeably in its 30 years.
The Epigraph: "This tale of Marco Polo's secret journey, is, we hope, complete and entire of its own, and does not depend upon any tale ever told anywhere else, by any other person in any detail or manner. The Marco Polo of this book is not necessarily the Marco Polo of history. The Marco Polo of this book is not necessarily not the Marco Polo of history. The "Cathay" of this book is in an Asia of mystery, fantasy, and poesy. That is not to say that it may not be Asia of geography as well.
The writers hope that the readers will accept this mystery as a book, and this book as a mystery. The readers are advised to look straightforward and straight ahead. Lastly, the readers are advised to keep a careful lookout from the corners of their eyes."

 

[Quatermass]

I much prefer Michael Palin's diaries. A bit dry at times, but they give some insight. That, and "The Pythons Autobiography by the Pythons".

Personally, I found Eric Idle to be the most...attention-seeking of the Pythons, IMO, the one who actively seeks out fame and fortune. John Cleese isn't far behind.

Agree. I don't find most of Idle's songs all that memorable. "Bright Side" is only a great song because of its original context, as the closer to Life of Brian. I find "The Galaxy Song" to be rather tedious. "The Money Song" is great, and "I LIke Chinese" is quaintly humorous but mainly because of the sound effects on the recording. And he didn't write the two most iconic Python ditties, "The Lumberjack Song" and "Spam."

And, other than "Nudge, Nudge," most of his Flying Circus sketches consisted of him doing a monologue as a smarmy TV show announcer or game show host. His sketches have dated the worst out of all of them. He didn't have the wordplay talent of Cleese and Chapman, or the story-telling/characterization/cinematic talent of Palin and Jones.

'Bright Side' is definitely his best song, though I personally think the 'Galaxy Song' had a great ending ('Pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,/'cause there's bugger-all down here on Earth!'). I actually loved the Philosopher's Song. I'm not sure which sketches he did on the TV show off the top of my head, though. "Nudge, Nudge" doesn't really do it for me, save for the punchline. Looking at Wikipedia, I found a few of his sketches of his I liked, like the salesmen ones.

One book about Python that I used to have and which I wish I still had was Monty Python: The Case Against. I bought it secondhand, but lost it somewhere I didn't remember, and I've never found another copy since. Basically, it was a book analysing the times Python came up against censorship and protests. I think it had, broadly, three main sections: the British transmission of the original series, the debacle about the ABC editing down the episodes, and, of course, the controversy around Life of Brian. It was a very interesting book.

 

[RathDarkblade]

Quartermass ... here is the book on:

a. Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/MONTY-PYTHON-AGA ... 0413486605
b. Amazon UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Monty-Python-A ... 0413486605
c. Abe Books - https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/ti ... t-hewison/
d. eBay - https://www.ebay.com/p/Monty-Python-The ... 1301420887

...and...

e. Archive.org (only a text file, though) - https://archive.org/stream/MontyPythonT ... 9_djvu.txt

Enjoy!

 

[Dotsie]

I'm reading The Paper Menagerie, by Ken Liu. Its a collection of short stories, and it's lovely but sometimes sad.

 

[Dotsie]

I should also say that the stories are a mixture of regular fiction, sci fi, and urban fantasy.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

I'm halfway through John Scalzi's The Consuming Fire sequel to The Collapsing Empire , its about ships travelling great distances between planets using the flow, a bit like using worm holes in Babylon 5.
There is conflict between the fractions politics and religion, amongst the upheaval of the flow collapsing and leaving the outer reaches stranded.

 

[Quatermass]

Now, I've read one of his, but it wasn't in that series. I think it was called Agent to the Stars, where a Hollywood agent is enlisted by a species of slime aliens to help pave the way for them to make first contact.

Ah, yes, it was that, and I've also read his novel Redshirts. Three guesses as to what that's about, and the first two don't count.

 

[RathDarkblade]

I'm currently reading Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. Very interesting approach to novel writing.

 

[hnorwood]

I recently read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. It was suggested to me a few years ago. Sort of steam-punk set London (and Japan) Hard to pin it down to one genre; Thriller? Love story? A good read, however.

I'm currently re-reading My Family and Other Animals by George Durrell (for some gentle escapism).

 

[Tonyblack]

I'm currently reading: "Diatribes Vol.2 - 50 more essays from a Scathing Atheist" by Noah Lugeons.

This is a collection from the Scathing Atheist podcast. I have read vol.1 previously. Noah (not his real name) really hits it on the nose so many times.

 

[Toothy]

I'm about to start reading 'Blowing the Bloody Doors Off' - Michael Caine's autobiography... Brace yourselves, I'm going in!

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

I have just started The Father of Lies by T.J.Parker AKA Tom holt it's a collection of short stories quite good so far.

 

[RathDarkblade]

Does it have anything to do with Herodotus, Dug? Herodotus, an ancient Greek, was the first person to try and write history properly (rather than mythology). Made a decent fist of it, too, which is why he is known as "The Father of History" today, but his enemies called him "The Father of Lies".

 

[Catch-up]

I recently read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. It was suggested to me a few years ago. Sort of steam-punk set London (and Japan) Hard to pin it down to one genre; Thriller? Love story? A good read, however.

I'm currently re-reading My Family and Other Animals by George Durrell (for some gentle escapism).

I really enjoyed that one! She wrote a sequel that was really good as well.

Right now I'm reading Hannah Green and her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence by Michael Marshall Smith. It's fabulous so far! I'll withhold full judgement until I see how it ends. If I love it right up to the end, I'll have to try his other books.

Side note - I've had an awful time getting into and sticking with books recently. I'll come home with a pile from the library and discard a bunch of them after the first few pages. Or, I'll get as much as 3/4 of the way through and realize I just don't care how it ends and move on to the next book.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Does it have anything to do with Herodotus, Dug? Herodotus, an ancient Greek, was the first person to try and write history properly (rather than mythology). Made a decent fist of it, too, which is why he is known as "The Father of History" today, but his enemies called him "The Father of Lies".

Rath not as far as I know but the name would have been changed anyway I think, I'm on the second story it is gods type one (downfall of the gods) but the ones that are referred to are similar to the ones in myths, there is a reference to Prometheus but uses a totally different name for him.