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Belated Introduction

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Hi all,

I joined not too long ago. I'm a second-year philosophy major at the University of California, Davis. I got turned onto Ayn Rand about three years ago - my first taste was the wiki article on Objectivism. Just reading the basic tenants was all I needed.

I'm currently working on my philosophy department to let me take OAC for credit.

I was raised in a non-religious, capitalist household by a mostly rational mother and less rational, but hard-working rags-to-riches step-father.

My boyfriend (user=West) and I are an Atlasphere success story (yay!).

Interests: indoor plumbing, self-improvement (slow and steady wins the race), sushi (maguro!!), pho (vietnamese soup), museums, libraries/musty ol' books, yoga, Ron Paul, looking and feeling fabulous to myself, finding new affirmable art.

Art: Victorian Neo-Classicists (Bouguereau, Godward, Leighton, Boulanger, Alda-Tadema, Waterhouse, Baker, to name a few), Tamara de Lempicka, Ingres, Rockwell, Caillebotte, Blake, Frank Lloyd Wright, Raymond Hood (Ansel Adams, even though photography is not art).

Non-AR lit: Homer, Aristotle, Hugo, Walt Whitman, Shakespeare, Rostand, Henry James, Orwell.

Films: Ratatouille, Antz, Dick Tracy, the Illustionist, 300, His Girl Friday, Funny Face, Desk Set (Katherine Hepburn!!), les Parapluies de Cherbourg, Thank You for Smoking, the Thin Man, the Man in the White Suit, the Fountainhead, Amelie, Delicatessen.

To preemptively answer the inevitable question one of you will ask, I've read:

Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Anthem, We the Living, IOE, OPAR, and assorted/most essays in tVOS, PWNI, CtUI, tRM, ROtP, AR:Q&A, as well as browsed AR's journals and letters.

Yours in Liberty,

Athena

Edited by athena glaukopis
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Welcome to the forum Athena!

Glaukopis must be from Homer (since you list it as one of your interests) - bright/silvery eyed/faced right?

Now, I got to ask indoor plumbing? THAT needs abit more explanation...

Edited by ~Sophia~
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well, indoor plumbing allows for comfort, privacy, and convenience. not to mention intense pleasure in the form of warm baths!

Running water means ease of cooking, cleanliness, well.. i could go on, but i think you all see where i'm going!

think of how many people take indoor plumbing for granted!!

Glaukopis must be from Homer (since you list it as one of your interests) - bright/silvery eyed/faced right?

Grey (or silver)-eyed Athena (her Homeric epithet)

Edited by athena glaukopis
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well, indoor plumbing allows for comfort, privacy, and convenience. not to mention intense pleasure in the form of warm baths!

Running water means ease of cooking, cleanliness, well.. i could go on, but i think you all see where i'm going!

think of how many people take indoor plumbing for granted!!

Grey (or silver)-eyed Athena (her Homeric epithet)

True. After all, what did the Romans ever do for us?

Edited by Tenure
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Hi Athena!

You have an intriguing, and with the addition of indoor plumbing, a well rounded set of interests there! As someone who knows a few plumbers (or more properly Heating Engineers) I've seen the skill and hard work which goes into the trade for myself; plus having a practical skill saves quite a lot of money in the long run. :thumbsup:

I hope you gain as much from this forum as I have and just enjoy your time here.

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True. After all, what did the Romans ever do for us?

Do I detect a Monty Python reference or am I just inadvertently applying British stereotype?

"All right ... all right ... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order ... what HAVE the Romans ever done for US?"

"Brought peace?"

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Do I detect a Monty Python reference or am I just inadvertently applying British stereotype?

"All right ... all right ... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order ... what HAVE the Romans ever done for US?"

"Brought peace?"

so that's why i didn't get it. i was like "what are you SAYING?"

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Do I detect a Monty Python reference or am I just inadvertently applying British stereotype?

"All right ... all right ... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order ... what HAVE the Romans ever done for US?"

"Brought peace?"

Correct! I just thought Athena's passion for something so vital to modern life, yet so often overlooked, reminded me of that scene. :) I think an initiation ritual for this forum should be the watching of 'The Life Of Brian'.

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I think an initiation ritual for this forum should be the watching of 'The Life Of Brian'.

Meh... I prefer the Holy Grail, can we watch the Holy Grail instead? It's got a three-headed monster, shrubberies and multiple references to swallows.

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If you'd like any help navigating the world of American academic philosophy, I can answer questions and give advice.

I'll join the choir and commend your impressive tastes and interests, particularly in my hobby-horse, cinema. I don't believe I've ever seen anyone mention The Thin Man in a list of likes.

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If you'd like any help navigating the world of American academic philosophy, I can answer questions and give advice.

I'll join the choir and commend your impressive tastes and interests, particularly in my hobby-horse, cinema. I don't believe I've ever seen anyone mention The Thin Man in a list of likes.

I don't agree with Nick and Nora's substance abuse, but the repartee is worth it. ;)

Edited by athena glaukopis
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Amelie

Would you recommend this movie? I am interested in seeing it myself. I have no idea what it is about, but I discovered it a while ago, the music of it that is. I think one of the tracks (I have only listened to I think at most 3) the one I think is titled: Comptine d'un autre ete (whatever that means). I think it is one of the most beautiful piano solos I've ever heard. I want to see the movie, just because of that, and find out the atmosphere, environment, situation, scene it is played in.

You've named names I've never heard of before in several of your interest categories. Of the ones that I do know of, I think I will look at the ones that I don't, simply because some of those listed are ones that I've been interested in, too.

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Would you recommend this movie? I am interested in seeing it myself. I have no idea what it is about, but I discovered it a while ago, the music of it that is. I think one of the tracks (I have only listened to I think at most 3) the one I think is titled: Comptine d'un autre ete (whatever that means). I think it is one of the most beautiful piano solos I've ever heard. I want to see the movie, just because of that, and find out the atmosphere, environment, situation, scene it is played in.

You've named names I've never heard of before in several of your interest categories. Of the ones that I do know of, I think I will look at the ones that I don't, simply because some of those listed are ones that I've been interested in, too.

The movie is very beautiful, aesthetically. Genet is a very creative film maker. The plot, in short, is a girl who starts doing quirky, though altruistic-y things for others (regardless, it is presented in such a way that i find it nearly impossible to be disgusted), and in the process learns that the key is finding happiness in pursuing her own values (ie- a looove interest). This film has an incredibly positive, bright, and beautiful sense of life which is projected very well through both the film maker's vision as well as the acting of Audrey Tatou.

Of Jean-Pierre Genet's films, "Delicatessen" is a film whose plot and character(s) I affirm more, simply because the plot is a typical hero-overcomes-teh-badguy!. The plot, in short, is based in an orwellian future where all plants have stopped growing (thus: food shortage), and the hero (an ex-circus clown) moves into an apartment building of a murdering butcher in response to a wanted: superintendent ad (the butcher kills people and chops them up for his tenants' food!!). The movie is equally quirky and cute - and the hero is lovable, though the set is a little darker - how could it not be in a setting such as that? (but it is not a horror film!) and the hero prevails by his wit, ability and intelligence. Oh, and he gets the girl, to boot!

Both are worth a viewing, IMO.

That being said, Genet has a tinge of what I try to put my finger on as a kind of weird French-ness. After having appreciated (and not appreciated) many pieces of French art, i can conclude that there is a sort of strangeness to the french that at worst is complete PoMo crap, and it best an acute malevolent universe complex, or at least a tinge of cynicalness that manifests itself as a whisper of absurdity in an otherwise affirmable piece of art. Genet is the latter, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Oh, and I agree, the soundtrack of Amelie is faaaaaaaaaaantastic (Yann Tiersen (sp?) is quite talented indeed)

Edited by athena glaukopis
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