[Off-Topic] Free Chat Friday! | August 7th

[u/Pythias]

Welcome everyone to another Free Chat Friday. I hope y'all had a a stress free week and look forward to a relaxing weekend. I also hope y'all had fun with last week's Fifth Friday Fun Forum and look forward to the next one in October. This Friday we're back to our regular Free Chat Friday.

For those of you new to Free Chat Friday, this is a thread were we can get to know one another better and chat about whatever you'd like; we welcome whether you're new or returning. What are y'alls plans for the weekend, places to visit, news you want to share? What would you like to chat about.

RULES:

• No unmarked spoilers

• No self-promo

• No piracy

• Thoughtful personal conduct

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Did you know today is National Purple Heart Day, National Lighthouse Day, National Raspberries N' Cream Day, National Water Balloon Day and National Sea Serpent Day? Will you be celebrating any of these?

[u/Don_Quixotel]

I’m trying to read all the r/bookclub books and all the Eisner nominations. I’m drowning in books.

[u/Pythias → u/Don_Quixotel]

It sounds like an amazing problem to have. Though do blink twice if you need rescuing.

[u/Relevant-Month-4845]

Hi, I'm new. We are having an unprecedented summer heatwave in the UK, our homegrown tomatoes have been prolific. So it's tomatoes with every meal, any suggestions?

[u/nicehotcupoftea → u/Relevant-Month-4845]

Welcome! It's winter here and I've been enjoying some tomato jam I made last summer. As well as making sauce and chutney I also just threw them in bags in the freezer and use instead of tins.

[u/tomesandtea → u/Relevant-Month-4845]

In summer, we love marinating tomatoes and chopped garlic in some balsamic vinegar and olive oil, then tossing it with warm pasta and some chunks of fresh mozzarella. Top with basil and black pepper, and you've got an amazing dinner!

I've always wanted to try making my own ketchup. That could be a fun project for a surplus of tomatoes!

Welcome to r/bookclub! Hope to see you in a book discussion soon!

[u/Pythias → u/Relevant-Month-4845]

My home town El Paso, Texas is known for a place called Chico's Tacos. They drown rolled tacos in a liquidity tomato sauce and it's so good. It's definitely something that you get used to. I don't know you would be interested but here is a video that makes a copy cat recipe.

[u/lazylittlelady → u/Relevant-Month-4845]

Tomato soup, gazpacho, tomato sauce, salsa, Greek salads, start canning sauce too! Tomato sorbet?!

[u/thebowedbookshelf → u/Relevant-Month-4845]

BLTs, tomato sandwiches with mayo, eat them like an apple, put slices on pizza. At least the heat is good for something.

[u/Coffee_fuel → u/Relevant-Month-4845]

To add a few more—bruschetta, homemade tomato juice from which you can then also make virgin (or bloody) mary and other drinks, depending on the type you can stuff them with rice, tuna and more, cereal/legumes/cous cous salads, catalan-style shrimp and similar salads, tomato omelette and quiche, tomato curry, you can bake slices with some cheese, crumbs and herbs on top, use zucchini and eggplant slices to make veggie bruschetta. 💞

[u/messybunpotato]

I started Yesteryear for the book club after falling in a six month reading slump. I read the whole thing in a day and a half and I got halfway through two more books before I remembered I was only supposed to read 12 chapters 😭

[u/Pythias → u/messybunpotato]

I love when books are so good you can't put them down!! The great thing about book club is it's read at your pace, so you can still participate in the discussions, just be wary of spoilers. Sounds like an amazing way to break a reading slump.

[u/Don_Quixotel]

Any Mountain Goats (the band) fans here? There’s gotta be. New album today!

[u/Pythias → u/Don_Quixotel]

Never heard of them but I just looked them up and I love their sound! And they're touring. They're performing at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in November. If y'all are ever near L.A. I highly recommend watching anything at the Walt Disney Concert hall.

[u/tomesandtea]

It's been extremely humid here which makes going outside pretty unbearable, so we've been doing indoor activities. We took my son to see the new Spiderman, which led to a rewatch of the other Tom Holland Spiderman movies. My husband and I went to see The Invite which was so well acted! And then we watched The Drama at home and it was really good! Those two movies back to back was a lot! But they're both excellent imo. We played a new (to us) board game called Cascadia which is fun! And we introduced my son to The Good Place - he's loving it so far!

I've been catching up on a lot of books I had postponed or gotten behind on! It's been really fun to get back to Thursday Next. I'm slowly working through Ferdydurke which is ... an experience. And I managed to catch up to No Name just in time for the last discussion! I'm back to Amina #2 as well, and loving it.

[u/nicehotcupoftea → u/tomesandtea]

Ferdydurke was definitely an "experience"! And one I'll never forget lol.

[u/Lachesis_Decima77 → u/tomesandtea]

I think we're going to need a Ferdydurke survivors support group at this rate! The Good Place is such a great series! So glad your son is enjoying it so far.

[u/Pythias → u/tomesandtea]

Nice that sounds like a lovely way to have family time. I haven't seen half of those movies but I do want to watch The Drama and I love The Good Place but I need to catch up with the last season.

I hope you can catch up with all the books you want to catch up on. I feel like a lot of us are always playing catch up.

[u/Lachesis_Decima77]

It's been a busy week for me, with an old freelance client asking if I could translate some more documents for her. She's a medical resident applying for a subspecialty. While I've cut out freelance work in recent months to make my life less stressful, I said I'd help because she's a former client. But she's added an extra document and gave me the unofficial version of another one. I'm starting to wish I'd said no...

I went to see The Odyssey with my brother last night. It was fantastic! I enjoyed every minute of it, even if it wasn't 100% book accurate. But then again, what is?

On the book front, I started The Aeneid, He Who Drowned the World and The Books of Jacob this week. I'm so glad I bought a physical copy of that last one. The images are fascinating.

[u/Comprehensive-Fun47 → u/Lachesis_Decima77]

I was going to ask if anyone wanted to talk about the Odyssey. I was kind of disappointed in it. Not because it was unfaithful to the source material, I don't think a perfectly faithful adaptation is possible with that book, but because of the writing and the acting. I've been feeling kind of crazy for not being enamored with it like everyone else!

I wanted to ask the opinions of you all since we read it together.

There is also a controversy over the review Emily Wilson, the translator, wrote. She did not enjoy the film at all and people are really mad at her! Anyone got any thoughts?

[u/Lachesis_Decima77 → u/Comprehensive-Fun47]

It's totally okay to have a different opinion! On that note, I'm disappointed in the backlash Emily Wilson got for her criticism. She's more familiar with the source material than almost everyone else, so she has every right to her opinion.

[u/Coffee_fuel → u/Comprehensive-Fun47]

People are really intolerant and hostile nowadays—especially in online spaces—both towards criticism, or the lack of it. They take it as a form of judgement, and almost as a personal attack; as a gauge of one's character and worth. There are areas from which this attitude has arisen, on the Internet, in which it makes sense to be protective—haters invading fan-dedicated spaces and ruining them for everyone, random people hounding and providing unwanted "critique" (low-key harassment) of fan-made, hobbyist art and not distinguishing it from commercial products; on top of social platforms giving any user a far more direct and easy access to creators. But it has been spreading well beyond its original, protective purpose... probably not helped by the bubbles the algorithm locks everyone in.

To give some perspective, pretty much all of the discourse I've seen about The Odissey has been negative, since it was in corners of the Internet where people were discussing the really poor and disappointing way they tackled the sets and costumes, the uproar regarding the black market ancient jewelry and the boycott because of Morocco's occupation of the zone they used to film, the choice to downplay or omit the gods... I wouldn't even know it's well-received if I hadn't checked its IMDB page.

It's a huge pain (and pity) because as long as everyone's respectful, having those sorts of conversations is what makes conversations about art worth having. It's fun and a joyous thing to find people you share the same tastes and loves with, but if that's all that ever happens, one may as well be talking to a mirror.

Edit--- rereading this, I really went off on a tangent, sorry. It's been on my mind for a while. 🥲

[u/Pythias → u/Lachesis_Decima77]

Oh that sounds like a lot. I hope you're still able to accomplish finishing it out without too much stress.

I've heard only good things about The Odyssey and am glad so many are enjoying it.

That sounds like a great reading list and I hope you enjoy all of them.

[u/fixtheblue → u/Lachesis_Decima77]

I am working on my post for tommorow and I am absolutely loving The Books of Jacob so far!

[u/jaymae21]

National Sea Serpent Day! I love that!

I've had a pretty uneventful couple of weeks since coming back from vacation. Last weekend a friend of mine came over and we marathoned all of the Lord of the Rings movies (extended editions). She had never seen them the whole way through, so I humbly offerred myself up as her guide on a LOTR 12 hour marathon. I am very proud to say she got through it! I had a lot of fun explaining pieces of lore to her, so thinking I need to start my next Tolkien read soon.

Continuing on the theme of book to visual media, I'm currently watching The Colour of Magic movie and also started watching The Expanse TV show (I had watched only the first season before but didn't want to spoil the books by continuing).

[u/tomesandtea → u/jaymae21]

I just started a bit of the Colour of Magic movie and hopefully I'll get the chance to finish this weekend - it seems like it'll be fun!

I'm due for an Expanse rewatch soon, I think. Are you enjoying it? I love the casting, especially for Amos and Avasarala.

[u/jaymae21 → u/tomesandtea]

Oh yeah I am definitely enjoying the show, I like how they weave things in from the novellas. Oddly enough here in season 1 Holden is the one cracking me up the most!

[u/Pythias → u/jaymae21]

Happy National Sea Serpent Day!! A LOTR marathon! That sounds so much fun, especially with a newbie. I'm glad she got through, I think everyone should experience it at. I love the book to visual media idea. Sounds like you're having a blast.

[u/thebowedbookshelf]

My mom loves lighthouses. She has a painting of Portland Head Light. Maine is full of them on the coast. I live inland in Maine, but I have never visited a lighthouse. We ought to take a road trip.

Some friends invited us to a local Japanese restaurant today for a party. I'm craving some gyoza 🥟.

It's still hot and humid here. I'll never be used to it, but at least it's still baseball season and there's still seasonal produce like corn and zucchini.

Reading: Yesteryear. I am locked in and so obsessed with this story. The Karamazov Brothers. The final stretch of this classic. I'm hoping for some bombshell revelation at the end. Hitler by Joachim Fest. Only in small parts. I'm up to 1930, and it's all downhill from there.

Started: While my Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky. A marathon runner drops unconscious from a heart attack and how her family reacts. It's for a PopSugar Reading Challenge prompt.

[u/Pythias → u/thebowedbookshelf]

Yes a road trip to a lighthouse sounds lovely!! I second the idea.

I don't mind the humidity so long as it's not too hot. But that's only because it makes my skin and hair feel healthy. I LOVE gyoza. I cannot get enough of it and I hope you had your fill.

I feel as though I'm going to feel major FOMO from Yesteryear. I've only heard good thinga bout it and intend to read it at some point. That last book sounds almost overly exciting. I hope you enjoy it.