As a way of getting to know folks, I thought it might be fun to have people post what book or movie best represents something about who they are or how they see themselves.
So tell us the book or movie that best represents you and why. If it's a work of fiction, is it the protagonist that best captures who you are? Is it a mood that the movie or book creates that conveys something about you? What?
Cheers,
Eric
EDIT: Oooh, I'm going to avail myself of this wonderful power that we have here in the Birthday Forum (and only here) and modify my post to include music too. So if neither books nor movies tickle your fancy, tell us what piece of music best represents you.
The book of Job in the Bible. (Heinlein's version doesn't cut it....)
QuoteThe book of Job in the Bible. (Heinlein's version doesn't cut it....)
Ooooh, good answer. Job is perhaps my favorite of all the books in the Hebrew Bible. You can't go wrong with a guy who is so persistent in getting G-d to answer him and so bold in his challenges to the conventional pieties espoused by his friends.
To be a bit pedantic, it's The Old Testament, or to us, simply The Bible.
Hebraic is wrong as The New Testament and The Quran also fit the Hebraic or Abrahamic religions. Hebrew as language is wrong all over the place.
Thunder God,
I'll forgive your pedantry if you'll forgive mine.
My wife is a biblical scholar and the term "Hebrew Bible" is preferred over either "Old Testament" or "The Bible" among most (though by no means all) scholars because "Old Testament" smacks of Christian supercessionist tendencies while "The Bible"--when speaking specifically about the canon of material that preceeds the Christian testament (aka "New Testament")--is an inaccurate label that fails to recognize that for both Christians and Muslims "The Bible" refers to a book containing two canons of material, not just one.
Hence, the preference for "Hebrew Bible."
Ok, I retract what I say, what I meant by Hebraic is covered under "Hebrew".
I also have some opinions about not using The Bible. And I hate The Old Testament term for exactly the reason you mentioned, but then the reasonings to not use it should lead to one using The Bible.
I'll call it Geek Fallacy on the researchers' part and hope to not offend anyone that should not be offended.
Thunder God,
Hey you cheated, though!! You posted here without saying what book, movie, or music you'd be.
So fess up. What would you be?
Eric
Would it have been better if he or I had used Tanak, the term I prefer?
(Torah, Nevi'im, and Kituvim, of which Job is in the Kituvim, of course)
But yeah. The "you, G-d, come here and talk to me! Explain this!" combined with "The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Bless the name of the Lord."
Tanach is the right term indeed.
Me? I'm The Black Company by Glen Cook. Make of that what you will.
QuoteThe Lord gives
What were the stakes?
Quote from: Thunder_God on April 05, 2006, 04:19:22 PM
[snip]
Me? I'm The Black Company by Glen Cook. Make of that what you will.
[Looks sheepish] I'm embarrassed to say that I've never read it and have no idea what it is about. Sorry.
Quote from: Calithena on April 05, 2006, 04:21:03 PM
QuoteThe Lord gives
What were the stakes?
Satan will make Job's life a living hell.
With the follow up contest "...but Job won't sin anyway."
Quote from: Eric J-D on April 05, 2006, 04:25:04 PM
Quote from: Thunder_God on April 05, 2006, 04:19:22 PM
[snip]
Me? I'm The Black Company by Glen Cook. Make of that what you will.
[Looks sheepish] I'm embarrassed to say that I've never read it and have no idea what it is about. Sorry.
Go read it, read at least the first four books. See what a brutal writing style is, from a meta viewpoint.
I'd like to be The Codex Seraphinianus (book) or Amélie (movie), but I think I'm actually Pi (movie).
I think I'm Bukowski's Factotum.
Hmm.
The movie Magnolia, not top be confused with the Steel variety. The film really resonates with me on the level of the interconnectedness of people, and the possibility of loving (real love, not fluffy-sentiment love) even in the midst of utter fucked-up-ness. I love Tom Cruise's scene of rage and reconciliation at his father's deathbed, the romancebetween the cop and the cokehead, and above all, William Macy's line:
"I really do have a lot of love to give. I just don't know where to put it."
It would be The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (the book NOT the film), because it is about keeping your childish imagination, and it is about telling stories.
And maybe Mirror in the Mirror also by Michael Ende, because stories comes from dreamers.
- Anders