tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post94411868583347246..comments2024-03-14T11:50:14.761-04:00Comments on DarwinCatholic: Mid-Week Quick TakesDarwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-8544873366796165272010-10-08T17:32:04.016-04:002010-10-08T17:32:04.016-04:00Mrs. D, you haven't aged a day since I last sa...Mrs. D, you haven't aged a day since I last saw you. Neither has Darwin, but then I just saw him last month. :-)TShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17118362963139092279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-3238367094945272492010-10-08T08:30:29.137-04:002010-10-08T08:30:29.137-04:00Though I have to admit: While there were elements ...Though I have to admit: While there were elements of ASOTGW that just felt odd or untrue to me, it's a curiously magnetic book and really sticks with you. I think it was around three years ago that I read it, but it seems much more recent.Darwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-11756899551368027072010-10-07T22:41:22.187-04:002010-10-07T22:41:22.187-04:00[should be "her spare time"][should be "her spare time"]Darwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-76274084657612508332010-10-07T22:40:45.672-04:002010-10-07T22:40:45.672-04:00Kyle,
I'm assuming that Halprin actually got ...Kyle,<br /><br />I'm assuming that Halprin actually got it wrong, as Alessandro makes a fairly big deal of it, and then the moon comes up just as predicted. So it's not as if Alessandro gets it wrong in the context of the story. I suppose one could hypothesize that Helprin intentionally set the novel in a world in which the moon works differently, but that seems a bit odd.<br /><br />It's hard for me to explain why that mistake stuck with me, though astronomical mistakes do really bug me (I guess for family history reasons -- it's why I found X-Files totally unwatchable) other than that the story as a whole involves a lot of absurd or unlikely events -- the Austrian noblewoman who grows so huge she takes up a whole room, the cavalry unit which rides around through the entire war pretending to fight battles but never doing so, the secretary who sends supplies and death warrants out at random to fit his ideas of mathematical perfection, the accountant who fakes accounts in beautiful ledgers to fit his sense of aesthetics, etc. It seemed to me that all of these were designed to evoke a deeper reality through an unreal description, and yet they mostly just rang false to me.<br /><br />Joel,<br /><br />True, though the parole office apprently spends he spare time wandering around topless in front of her parolees (or at least Marv), so she seems at least to be a cop with a stripper sensibility.Darwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-49853018906029468322010-10-07T20:23:41.276-04:002010-10-07T20:23:41.276-04:00I hadn't noticed the factual inaccuracy about ...I hadn't noticed the factual inaccuracy about the moon in SOTGW. I don't think it would have bothered me if I had. <br /><br />I'd be interested in knowing if Helprin himself was ignorant of this fact or if he was well aware of it but gave the line to Alessandro with a purpose.Kyle Cupphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14607703830461449390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-64758284963454978752010-10-07T19:02:08.007-04:002010-10-07T19:02:08.007-04:00Getting the moon wrong also had me rolling my eyes...Getting the moon wrong also had me rolling my eyes during "Apocalypto", since there's a solar eclipse in that film, and then a full moon just a couple days later. Sheesh.<br /><br />Also, darwin wrote, "all women in Sin City are apparently employed as either prostitutes or strippers," which is generally true, but there is also Marv's parole officer, so apparently the cop profession can also extend to women.<br /><br />JoelAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-14268850420696448982010-10-07T14:26:38.565-04:002010-10-07T14:26:38.565-04:00Your point about the moon is the sort of detail th...Your point about the moon is the sort of detail that always ruins things for Hannah (eldest daughter and nature lover) as well. She is often driven crazy by movies where the moon is in the wrong phase. You'd be surprised by how many movies there are where there is actually some off-handed reference that allows one to be driven crazy thusly.Julie D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/08384291674560438678noreply@blogger.com