Stuff we're reading / watching / listening to

[Marduk]

I don't know the Mormon one Uffish. Could you elaborate?

[UffishThought]

The very first Sherlock Holmes story, "A Study in Scarlet," revolves around a girl and her father who were first taken in by Mormons and then trapped by them. She was forced to marry one of two Mormon guys, instead of the man she loved, and when she and her father tried to escape the night before her wedding, the father was killed and the girl was taken back and forced to go through with it. She died of a broken heart a month later, her new husband wasn't sad at all, and the former fiance tracked the widower and and other marriage option across the globe and finally caught up and murdered them in England--and it's those murders Holmes was solving. If you're interested, here's Wikipedia's bit on the story's depiction of Mormondom.

According to a 1994 Salt Lake City newspaper article, when Conan Doyle was asked about his depiction of the Latter-day Saints' organization as being steeped in kidnapping, murder and enslavement, he said: "all I said about the Danite Band and the murders is historical so I cannot withdraw that, though it is likely that in a work of fiction it is stated more luridly than in a work of history. It's best to let the matter rest". However, Conan Doyle's daughter has stated: "You know, father would be the first to admit that his first Sherlock Holmes novel was full of errors about the Mormons." Years after Conan Doyle's death, Levi Edgar Young, a descendant of Brigham Young and a Mormon general authority, claimed that Conan Doyle had privately apologised, saying that "He [Conan Doyle] said he had been misled by writings of the time about the Church."[5] However, in a preface to Volume II of The Complete Novels and Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Loren D. Estleman noted the implied criticism of the Mormon Church. He states that the story was not controversial at the time of the story's release, probably due to the recent memory of the Mountain Meadows massacre and the small membership of the church.

In August 2011, the Albemarle County, Virginia School Board removed A Study in Scarlet from the district's sixth-grade reading lists following complaints from students and parents that the book was derogatory toward Mormons. It was therefore moved to the reading lists for the tenth-graders, and remains in use in the school media centres for all grades.

[bobtheenchantedone]

I actually skipped the second half of the Mormon storyline when I read A Study just now. I'll admit that it bothered me a little, and the end result was that I didn't care enough about tying the two story lines together to slog through the rest of it. Skipped straight ahead to the The Speckled Band.

[Dead Cat]

Finally got around to watching Merlin. Dragoon the Great is probably one of my all-time favorite characters.

[Dragon Lady]

Finally got around to watching Merlin. Dragoon the Great is probably one of my all-time favorite characters.

What season is he in?

[Whistler]

someone mentioned _In the Land of Invented Languages_ as a fun linguistics read, do you know of others? I liked _The Stuff of Thought_.

[Dead Cat]

Finally got around to watching Merlin. Dragoon the Great is probably one of my all-time favorite characters.

What season is he in?

He's introduced in 3 and makes some reappearances in 4.

[Dragon Lady]

Finally got around to watching Merlin. Dragoon the Great is probably one of my all-time favorite characters.

What season is he in?

He's introduced in 3 and makes some reappearances in 4.

Gotcha. I just started season 3. Which explains why I have no idea who you're talking about.

I'm currently hating a character right now (which I shall leave nameless to avoid spoilers, but I'm sure you can figure out) mostly because was one of my favorite characters AND SHOULD BE GOOD.

[Katya]

Watched Captain America last night in preparation for watching The Avengers some time in the near future.

[UffishThought]

I just saw The Avengers. And now I want everyone else to watch it too so we can laugh together.

[Whistler]

Just borrowed Iron Man 1&2 and Captain America! I am afraid they will be lame, but low expectations is a set up for hooray.

Also, checked out Reamde! My Provo library card still works yay! (Spanish Fork library doesn't have... much literary fiction.)

[mic0]

I like the Iron Man movies a lot (the character is pretentious and annoying, but somehow hilarious and cool), but I didn't like Captain America very much. Annnyway, low expectations are good

Uffish, The Avengers was great. In part because of how silly some parts were, and yet great other parts were. Super hero movies... geez.

[Katya]

Captain America and the Iron Man films are very different in tone. I enjoyed both of them, but they're hard to compare. (Whistler, I don't think you'll find any of them lame. I'd say that Thor was the weakest of the four, and I still really enjoyed it.)

[Humble Master]

Avengers Assemble!

[Dragon Lady]

Just read Goose Girl for book club and am starting The 5 People You'll Meet in Heaven. And when I want to listen to a book, I'm listening to Way of Kings. Again. Until I check out some more audiobooks from the library. I got partway through Emma and it expired. I need to check that one out again. That and Northanger Abbey. Then I'll be done with Jane Austen.

[mic0]

I just finished The Snow Queen. It was great.

[krebscout]

I'm reading a book called Evertaster.

So here's the deal — the author of Evertaster is a friend of mine, and I'm helping him to promote it through blog outreach and social media. It's legitimately published through a literary agent and everything.

Well I'm reading it now, and I genuinely like it. Whether I had a personal connection to it or not, I would like it. It's a young adult adventure story about a family who goes on a quest for a legendary recipe through a dangerous world of "culinary intrigue." It's actually very clever and funny.

There's currently a sweepstakes going on for a free copy of the book and an Amazon gift card, for any who might be interested: http://www.evertaster.com/2012/05/23/bl ... eepstakes/

[bobtheenchantedone]

I finally saw Clue and loved it.

[Fredjikrang]

Yay for Clue! I hope you watched all of the endings too!

[bobtheenchantedone]

Yep!