Quote of the Whenever
Quote of the Whenever:
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a
concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and
immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could
be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would
no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be
crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane
he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to;
but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved
very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and
let out a respectful whistle.“That’s some catch, that Catch-22,” he observed.
“It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.
-Joseph Heller, Catch-22
Books, Quote | Comment (0)Great Books list
As recommended by someone I was chatting with online, I’ve decided to try reading through the Modern Library’s 100 great novels (written in English after 1900) list. I’ve already read a few of them; I’m skipping some of those and using this as an excuse to re-read the others. Should be fun, although I’m a little worried about “Ulysses”, because I’ve been warned that it’s tough to get through.
Anyway, if anyone’s dying to know my progress through the list, I set up a Goodreads profile to track my progress. Right now they’re all listed as “to read”, except the one I’m currently reading, but that’ll be changing.
Books | Comment (0)James Bond Gambling
I am still capable of posting things other than chronicling my agony over what happened with Christmas. Really.
I’m reading “Casino Royale”, the first James Bond book. I’ve read it before, but that was ages ago–back in high school, probably–and I don’t remember much of it. Here’s my issue with it so far. James Bond is being set up for a big gambling tournament against this bad guy, with the idea that he’ll bankrupt the bad guy and discredit his organization. Now, since James Bond is the hero, I’m guessing that he’s going to win the big tournament. But the problem is, the game they’re playing for the big tournament is baccarat. Baccarat, as I understand it, is really a game of luck–boiled down to its essence, it’s not much different from War, with both players getting one card and the higher card winning. There’s no bluffing, and the only decisions to be made are how much money to bet. So how heroic is it for James Bond to beat the bad guy by sheer luck? That’s kind of lame, really.
In the movie, they wisely changed the game to poker, which has a much stronger component of skill.
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