http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Tue, 22 Mar 2005 05:14:43 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/21/071537.php#comment-131152 I have read tiny snatches of some of his experiences that contributed to his writing of 1984. By no means exhaustive, but I know of some people who've only read about his experience of communism and draw the assumption that 1984 is purely about communism. I do intend to read some proper stuff about his life at some point, my only problem is I have so little time and so much to read. I will also try, EC, to split my reviews up more...it *is* a big problem I suffer from. Comes from writing - I mean typing - stuff as and when I think of it, and using Notepad as opposed to e.g. Word. And laziness. Heh. Maybe I *am* cut out to be a writer for a newspaper...lol 131152@blogcritics.org Tue, 22 Mar 2005 05:14:43 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/21/071537.php#comment-131009 Even you really want to understand 1984, you should read about Orwell and his experiences, and his views on totalitarianism stemming from what he saw in pre-war Europe, and the Spanish Civil War. 131009@blogcritics.org Mon, 21 Mar 2005 19:55:22 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/21/071537.php#comment-131001 yes, has to be from US Amazon Jon, also, I know it's the right thing in the UK, but please put a space between paragraphs and make shorter paragraphs - pages on the Internet appear very cluttered if they aren't broken up into small chunks. Thanks and keep up the great work! 131001@blogcritics.org Mon, 21 Mar 2005 19:42:45 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/21/071537.php#comment-130974 i did put in ASINs, the problem is, Amazon seems to use different ones between the US and UK versions of their site for almost every item. Seeing as by default i go to the UK one, I sometimes forget to change the .co.uk to .com before I go get the ASINs. Also, the formatting appears to have screwed up. it was Ok earlier. It's done this on my other post from today as well 130974@blogcritics.org Mon, 21 Mar 2005 19:10:45 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/21/071537.php#comment-130970 I'll second that emotion. Thanks for the review. 1984 is absolutely brilliant. I'd add Farenheit 451 to the list of "negative utopia" books that are a must read. 1984, Brave New World, and Farenheit take the idea of a bleak future and spin it in three different and brilliant ways. PS don't forget to add amazon links to your postings. PPS, yeah Brazil if freakin' great too. 130970@blogcritics.org Mon, 21 Mar 2005 19:01:15 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/21/071537.php#comment-130752 thanks! i've also got to punch out a review of Brazil, the DVD of which I got recently. According to imdb.com, its working title was "1984 1/2" and the similarities are about as striking as the differences...but I'll save that for that review 130752@blogcritics.org Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:58:21 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/21/071537.php#comment-130744 Jon This is one of my favorite books and thank you for your review. This book along with Brave New World by Aldous Huxley are fantastic examples of authors with incredible foresight with regard to the possible future or futures of our society. From the NEWSPEAK language which is remniscent of today's political correctness to the "major newspaper" company changing their listed facts to adapt to current and changing events, the book delivers terror on a slow and creeping climb. Let's not forget about Big Brother and the "technological" advances of the telescreen which allows the Government to peek in on its citizens at any time. Go through the entire novel and match many of the key points and items in the book with our world today and you'll spend weeks. The movie for 1984 with Burt Lancaster was very good and sucessfully captured the dreaded and hopeless atmosphere of the book and I highly recommend it to everyone. 130744@blogcritics.org Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:39:00 EST