AspiringObjectivist

I distinguished between the two because I saw this Borders display quite a while ago, when this Waldenbooks display seemed to be a recent thing.

I also saw a similar display in Borders. To be fair, though, Ayn Rand has always been incredibly popular- just not in "popular culture".

Ouch. That might be the most scything criticism of an entertainer that I've ever seen, heh.

Next book is released this January. ;D

Yeah, Goodkind is fantastic. I read a whole lot of historical fiction - the Camulod Chronicles was stellar, about Arthur's ancestors, down to him, and the new book in that series is released this September. Harry Turtledove is also good. If anyone here has read the Camulod Chronicles and has a suggestion anything like it (not about King Arthur, but about a soldier's life told with roughly the same amount of detail to war, love, thought, etc.), I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions.

Perhaps you could say "necessity of art in your life"? Addendum: I also like "Death Cab For Cutie".

The visuals were incredible, but as Andrew mentioned, the plot was pretty water-thin. Light light spoiler: - - - The "arrow storm" in the calligraphy school was very, very nice, as was the fight in the ring of Qin soldiers.

"Walk Away" by the Dropkick Murphy's is really fun.

Have you heard "The Tain"? It was insanely good, live.

Thanks. I'm a big piano-pop fan, I'll check them out.

I'm a huge fan of Ben Folds and The Decemberists.

I congratulate you, Stephen! Thanks for making my understanding of the world that much closer, 1,000 steps as a time.

Things I'm a huge fan of: Literature. I write and read, A LOT. American Football. I play tight end and cornerback. Baseball. Oddly enough, unlike most young males, I'm not a huge hitter, but I love love love pitching. I'm sixteen, and very proud of my 80 MPH pitches at my age.. Then there are my two biggest physical hobbies: running and weightlifting. I run a mile in about 5:50 seconds, and I can benchpress about 280 pounds. Linguistics. I'm hoping to be semi-fluent in four to five languages by 30. I obviously know English, and at one time or another in my life I've been competent in German, Japanese and Spanish. Right now German and Japanese are pretty much wholly forgotten.

Oh, Oakes, I agree that the altruism is sad, but when I said "in the right", I meant about his comparison, and his statement that Bush hadn't "lied". I meant that his points were right, not his moral (or lack thereof) gibberish.

Just taking a glance around this forum that seems prophetic of my life thusfar. I'm happy to have discovered Objectivism so early in my life.

I've got the entire interview; honestly, Moore's like a big goof in the interview. Moore looks like he's about to giggle the entire time, and regardless of Bill's faulty philosophy, O'Reilly is clearly the superior of the two combatants when it comes to oration and live discussion. Plus, he's in the right.

I'm also living in Philadelphia, and I agree about the greatness of this site. It's really, really been a pleasure. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have, and still am.

Hehehehe.

Absolutely every assertion you've made is correct (in my situation), and every question's answer is yes. Pretty phenomenal.

Again, Kevin, thanks.

NAS - I can say with a large degree of confidence that you are about to experience an intellectual orgasm that puts all hitherto experiences to shame, in regards to sheer pleasure and revelation. I can say that because I recently underwent the same thing. I, like you, read Rand when I was too young (I believe that I was thirteen when I first read The Fountainhead) to realize the validity and import of her ideas. I, again like you, read them again and began to comprehend the startling clarity and truth of her thoughts.. and again again like you, decided that I needed to formulate my own philosophy, and chose Rand's publications to be the catalyst for my thoughts. So far, other than a few stumbling steps (which I have corrected), I have found no contradictions between her conclusions and mine. If you have any questions or comments, speak - and most importantly, think. Life's going to be great for you in the next few years. I know that, for the last year and a half, I've been in an almost constant state of orgasmic euphoria from discovering what I've discovered. Now I'm curious - is your screenname referring to the rapper Nas? EDIT: the book that they are referring to (OPAR) is pictured here, along with my beautiful pants:

Sounds good. Thanks man. I guess I'm just looking for a magic solution that doesn't exist, heh. I realize that I have my entire life ahead of me to pursue the females that attract me, I'm just sort of impatient.

We have been friends for ten months, good friends for half a year, and in the past few months we are pretty much as close as I can see us getting without dating. If this level of intimacy in a friendship doesn't permit the sharing of convictions, I don't know what does. And, I don't lecture her - it may appear that way because of how I summarize what happened, but I am paraphrasing, and there's much more to what is said. I don't approach her as though she's a small child and lecture her. I've already said that she is not mentally slow and indeed is wittier and "sharper" than most people I know that are her age. I accord her that respect, and don't treat her as anything less.

We are not currently in a relationship - we are very, very good friends, and I have been open with her about my thoughts, and she knows completely how I feel about her, the good and the bad. She "likes" me, too, but is not ready to date yet because of an experience in her past. And, my assertions might be considered light philosophy, but definitely nothing intricate or "heavy"; one example of an assertion is "well, that is what they believe, so they must have reasons for that" - she answered "not necessarily" - at this point, I thought she was somewhat close to a practical truth in modern society (that people think without rational thought). Instead, she elaborated, saying that nothing I think is real, and that I should go off of my emotions, because even if I die young because of poor decisions, I would have "lived by [my] heart". When I began to contest by (in layman's terms) mentioning that man needs reason to survive as man, she started to change the topic and though my tone held no malevolence or condescension, accuse me of trying to "force" her to think "my way". And - the problem here isn't so much my situation with her, though that's on my mind as well. My main question is, in a situation like this, is it possible to love the person? This situation is more a scenario for you to understand to better answer my question. I do, of course, also value the input I've received about the specific situation which I'm in.

1.) Are you asking how we met? We, at one time, had common interests (Japanese animation) and met at an anime club place thing. 2.) When I make an assertion she, instead of attacking its rational merit, evades the assertion's relation to reality and prefers instead to change the subject, say "that's your opinion" or, and perhaps most offensively, chuckle and tell me that I shouldn't act so much like a scientist and should be more "relaxed". With that last reason, perhaps I might consider it a valid critique of my attitude, and in such a case, I would not mind - but I know, from discussion with her, that she means exactly what I think her statement implies: reaching conclusions rationally should be left to math, heh. 3.) Thought that would come up, and I imagine that it may alter your perception of my situation and logical capabilities. I'm sixteen - granted, a rational and intelligent sixteen, but the experience is not there. To Stephen and MisterSwig: thank you, I will consider your words.