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Motokid said:Thanks Direstraights...living so close to Philadelphia, Pa. the letters AI have been permenantly tattooed on my brain to mean Allen Iverson (basketball player for the 76'ers)
god that's so sad....especially as I hate basketball....
Yossarian89 said:the movie platoon had a big impact on me
direstraits said:Fountainhead, here's what I, a general reader, understand from the Fountainhead.
In the book, there are the Creators, who are those that stand up for their vision and principles, never wavering to popular voices or people's opinions. Those who are self-reliant and produce work from their own energy. Then there are the Second-Handers, who live off the work of the Creators, who put the opinions of others above their own needs and desires. Second-Handers thrive in the environment of altruism, where everyone is supposed to sacrifice themselves to others.
Rand taught that Second-Handers emotional leeches that off people's opinions and feelings, therefore bad. Creators propel advancement, therefore good.
I said it's weird because I believe the world is not simply these 2 extremes. The book is 'weird' because the characters' behaviour, to me at least, seem to be either one or the other of these 2 extremes, white or black, with no gray in between.
I suppose I agree to a point of her Creator portion of the novel (not the Creator's actions, though), but I don't know if people actually see the world at all like Toohey/Second-handers did in the novel. The 'exhort mediocrity to destroy genius' is a little too unrealistic for me.
ds
novella said:Movie that changed the way I think:
When that pile of pigslop Titanic won the Academy Awards I realized that the US is accelerating its cultural decline.
If you liked Run, Lola, Run (which was German) it might be worth trying to get your hands on the film it was inspired by 'Blind Chance' by the Polish director Krzystof Kieslowski.MonkeyCatcher said:A couple of films that opened my eyes to a couple of things and/or made me mull over them for a while were:
Run, Lola, Run (foreign.. at least for me I think it may be German??)
I also highly recommend this book. It completely changed my view of the world.Ell said:Sar, try these:
Non-fiction
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. He examines the course of human history and the emergence of industrial/technological societies from a geo-biological perspective. Thought-provoking for those of us who've been educated with a western European bias.
Thanks for the tip - I'll look into itKenny Shovel said:If you liked Run, Lola, Run (which was German) it might be worth trying to get your hands on the film it was inspired by 'Blind Chance' by the Polish director Krzystof Kieslowski.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-6756810-4386827
francesca said:As far as books are concerned, there are too many to list. Probably everything I read challenges me in some way or another, thats the beauty of literature.