Writers you hate

[version]

No, the best bit is when he sees a beleaguered warship and its malarial crew lobbing cannonballs into an indifferent jungle, before they even get to the river.

Reminds me of L. Ron Hubbard's naval career.

Hubbard was sent to submarine chaser training, and in 1943 was posted to Portland, Oregon, to take command of a submarine chaser, the USS PC-815, which was under construction. On May 18, PC-815 sailed on her shakedown cruise, bound for San Diego. Only five hours into the voyage, Hubbard believed he had detected an enemy submarine. Hubbard spent the next 68 hours engaged in combat, until finally receiving orders to return to Astoria. Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, commander of the Northwest Sea Frontier, concluded: "An analysis of all reports convinces me that there was no submarine in the area." Fletcher suggested Hubbard had mistaken a "known magnetic deposit" for an enemy sub.

The following month, Hubbard unwittingly sailed PC-815 into Mexican territorial waters and conducted gunnery practice off the Coronado Islands, in the belief that they were uninhabited and belonged to the United States. The Mexican government complained and Hubbard was relieved of command. A report written after the incident rated Hubbard as unsuitable for independent duties and "lacking in the essential qualities of judgment, leadership and cooperation". The report recommended he be assigned "duty on a large vessel where he can be properly supervised".

 

[maxi]

I read out loud or at least move my lips, good habit to get into I reckon.

I do that sometimes but it always makes me think of this

 

[Mr. Tea]

Reminds me of L. Ron Hubbard's naval career.

Hubbard was sent to submarine chaser training, and in 1943 was posted to Portland, Oregon, to take command of a submarine chaser, the USS PC-815, which was under construction. On May 18, PC-815 sailed on her shakedown cruise, bound for San Diego. Only five hours into the voyage, Hubbard believed he had detected an enemy submarine. Hubbard spent the next 68 hours engaged in combat, until finally receiving orders to return to Astoria. Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, commander of the Northwest Sea Frontier, concluded: "An analysis of all reports convinces me that there was no submarine in the area." Fletcher suggested Hubbard had mistaken a "known magnetic deposit" for an enemy sub.

The following month, Hubbard unwittingly sailed PC-815 into Mexican territorial waters and conducted gunnery practice off the Coronado Islands, in the belief that they were uninhabited and belonged to the United States. The Mexican government complained and Hubbard was relieved of command. A report written after the incident rated Hubbard as unsuitable for independent duties and "lacking in the essential qualities of judgment, leadership and cooperation". The report recommended he be assigned "duty on a large vessel where he can be properly supervised".

"Have you fucked up literally everything you've attempted? Why not start your own religion!"

 

[IdleRich]

Reminds me of L. Ron Hubbard's naval career.

Hubbard was sent to submarine chaser training, and in 1943 was posted to Portland, Oregon, to take command of a submarine chaser, the USS PC-815, which was under construction. On May 18, PC-815 sailed on her shakedown cruise, bound for San Diego. Only five hours into the voyage, Hubbard believed he had detected an enemy submarine. Hubbard spent the next 68 hours engaged in combat, until finally receiving orders to return to Astoria. Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, commander of the Northwest Sea Frontier, concluded: "An analysis of all reports convinces me that there was no submarine in the area." Fletcher suggested Hubbard had mistaken a "known magnetic deposit" for an enemy sub.

The following month, Hubbard unwittingly sailed PC-815 into Mexican territorial waters and conducted gunnery practice off the Coronado Islands, in the belief that they were uninhabited and belonged to the United States. The Mexican government complained and Hubbard was relieved of command. A report written after the incident rated Hubbard as unsuitable for independent duties and "lacking in the essential qualities of judgment, leadership and cooperation". The report recommended he be assigned "duty on a large vessel where he can be properly supervised".

Seems like he figured out the leadership thing.

 

[Benny Bunter]

Looks like I don't hate Conrad after all, that was great.

Lol at this being one of the top results in Google when you type in heart of darkness:


Why is Heart of Darkness so hard to read?

Conrad intentionally made Heart of Darkness hard to read. He wanted the language of his novella to make the reader feel like they were fighting through the jungle, just like Marlow fought through the jungle in search of Kurtz.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Looks like I don't hate Conrad after all, that was great.

Lol at this being one of the top results in Google when you type in heart of darkness:


Why is Heart of Darkness so hard to read?

Conrad intentionally made Heart of Darkness hard to read. He wanted the language of his novella to make the reader feel like they were fighting through the jungle, just like Marlow fought through the jungle in search of Kurtz.

Adjectives are the undergrowth of language, when you think about it.

 

[Benny Bunter]

Luckily I had my cognitive machete to hand to hack through the dense verbal foliage

 

[Benny Bunter]

Transposing the story to Vietnam for Apocalypse Now was such a genius idea - the idiot pilgrims blindly shooting their Winchesters from the hip into the jungle

 

[Benny Bunter]

Last saw AN about 15 years ago or something which I think explains why I managed to get into the book this time around, having that distance from it. First few times I tried to read it I just got bored probably because my view was so coloured by having recently seen the film.

 

[Benny Bunter]

Oi @william_kent ! Why did you delete that post? Don't do a version on us

 

[william_kent]

Oi @william_kent ! Why did you delete that post? Don't do a version on us

heh, so drunk thought I'd regret it in the morning, but not so fucked i can't recreate:

30 pages, such a slog

Apocalypse now is actually better I think

3 hours long, where did the time go? where can i get the mythical 6 hour unedited cut?

 

[william_kent]

"will that do?"

 

[william_kent]

i once read a quote which went somewhere along the lines of "the worst books make the best films"

 

[Benny Bunter]

I stopped watching films years ago so I don't like to comment on them but apocalypse now used to be my favourite film of all time, so the book was always going to be a let down.

I assume 99% of people nowadays have seen AN first and that inevitably colours their response to the book. But it's nowhere as much of a slog as what I first thought.

 

[william_kent]

I stopped watching films years ago so I don't like to comment on them but apocalypse now used to be my favourite film of all time, so the book was always going to be a let down.

I assume 99% of people nowadays have seen AN first and that inevitably colours their response to the book. But it's nowhere as much of a slog as what I first thought.

it was a slog for me, never finished "the book of the film"

however, "The Secret Agent", that's another story

 

[Benny Bunter]

Gonna give the secret agent a go at some point definitely, jenks already mentioned that one

 

[william_kent]

Gonna give the secret agent a go at some point definitely, jenks already mentioned that one

recommended by me, for what it's worth

 

[woops]

if you're tempted to read victory take it from me that Conrad his introduction is much better than the novel

 

[Benny Bunter]

I used to have a copy of nostromo but I don't think I ever got past the first page before putting it in the "one day" pile

 

[william_kent]

and that is where my copy of Nostromo remains, in the Gravity's Rainbow stack

W S Burroughs rated Conrad highly though, so there must be something