alkan

In the interests of gender equality, I would just point out before someone else does that the real Aron Ralston hardly stands up (as if many of us would) to a comparison with James Franco who plays him. I have not seen the film but it is a very remarkable story and it seems, judging by your comment, sex appeal did not have much to do with the cinematic version either.

In the interests of gender equality, I would just point out before someone else does that the real Aron Ralston hardly stands up (as if many of us would) to a comparison with James Franco who plays him. I have not seen the film but it is a very remarkable story and it seems, judging by your comment, sex appeal did not have much to do with the cinematic version either.

As someone who has spent a large part of the past thirty years avoiding large scale social interactions, I am the last person whose advice I myself would listen to. Nevertheless, how about thinking of it not in terms of what you would get from attending, but instead what you could bring to it? You could set some quite limited goals for example, by aiming to say something particular to each person there that you are fond of, mentioning something that you admire them for, or reviving a happy memory, something to bring them each at least a momentary smile. You might also aim to leave after a set amount of time if this is possible.

As was stated in the other thread the pics are of a male model, who is actually Colombian though he could, of course, have moved to New Zealand. Last I heard he was in Mexico but that is about a week ago.

The pics belong to a certain male model (who has a pop music video on YouTube - possibly the most distressing event of my musical existence). I didn't know about the New Zealand connection but he is well travelled, so not impossible.

The photos are of a well-known Australian ex rugby player.

How about Thailand? It would seem to be sufficiently different from your previous trips and has a particular approach to food.

The shots in both profiles seem to belong to a well-known fitness model whose stats do not seem to match either set of details.

Perhaps the Politics Forum should have had a warning about the possibility of reading views that one disagrees with.

Yes, and I would be for leaving the thread alone except when I see things that seem to indicate that his view of his situation is distorted, like his remark about his "good" doctor. (Obviously, @Avalon, I'm not saying the doctor is incompetent. as he can only act on symptoms that are presented to him, it is your belief I am challenging.)

Yes, I think that is how it seems to us. For him, as he says, the internet and this forum are his human contacts and all he is doing is making conversation. Hence the scattershot new threads. The trolling part is when he doesn't quite answer direct questions.

But at the moment it is not a choice, is it?

So then would it not be better to be that as a matter of choice rather than as a form of imprisonment?

Agreed. At this point, @Avalon, you are almost self-prescribing. Why do you say you are "happy at home"? Would it not be better to be more mobile and then make the choice to remain at home if that is what works best for you? Or is your phrase merely a representation of your feeling that changing your situation involves too much inconvenience?

Yes, I asked several other residents, not saying what I had seen, if they had been conscious of anything odd but no-one reported anything.

I have lived on the top floor of this block of flats for about twenty five years. The block and the two neighbouring blocks were converted from a single commercial building and the staircase in this block used to be the main staircase for the whole complex. A couple of years ago, before I retired, I was going to work very early one morning before anyone else would usually be stirring. I went out into the stairwell not bothering to turn on the light and saw that there were people thronging the three flights of stairs. In the dim light it took me a moment to realise the moving figures weren't substantial. I got to the last flight of steps in a bit of a panic to find some one sitting on the stair and obstructing the way. I pushed past and somehow through this last figure, saying, I think, "excuse me" and saw the hand that was resting on his knee was a skeleton hand. As I passed, I felt the hand reaching to grasp my trouser leg. I got out the front door, breathing rather heavily (all right, my heart was thumping). Later that day I was told that one of the residents of the next door block had died the previous day. I didn't see the moving figures again but during the ensuing week I got used to the seated figure (same time every morning). As the days passed he became sort of fainter but also seemed increasingly on the point of speaking (I had started to say "good morning"). The next week he had gone. I never saw anything else, even following the occasional deaths of other residents.

I believe the true test of a singer's musicianship is how well they sing Schubert. Of those that I have heard in person, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau appealed to me the most. In a way, it might seem an odd way to assess a voice but, to me, he "sounded" like someone worth knowing. Among women, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, for much the same reason. Of course they both sang in opera as well but opera shows off a great voice, whereas lieder needs a great singer. Of course most of the names in earlier posts mean nothing to me, so I suppose my choices won't have much resonance with or interest for others but I am putting them out there in the name of good internet forum etiquette!

I remember the book quite well, a thick hardback edition belonging to my father. It was written in that typical-of-the-period style, as if from the beginning intended as the basis of a screenplay. My memories of it belong to that period of my childhood when I was looking out for the slightest hint of "gayness" to cling onto (I must have been about ten when it was published). The author, Allen Drury, wasn't quite a one-hit wonder but this was undoubtedly his best selling novel.

But they are, to @Gymowner. And, after all they ARE modelling but I understand what you mean of course. The last three have or had careers modelling, just not fashion modelling.

And the other three are Johnny Steinbach, Marc Andre Lapare, and Attila Toth.

I am trying to remember but I have a feeling that a statue in that location would not have been visible from any where close to the walls. You would have had to stand at some distance away and the "advantage" of an elongated head would be lost. In other words the distance would be more significant than the angle. The enlarged head and hands give more emphasis to the salient features. In any event, for whatever reason, the plan to place statues around the lesser domes was abandoned and that was probably a good thing. As mentioned further up the thread, I was in Milan recently and went up on the roof of the Duomo. We were astounded by the statuary on the top of the very highest pinnacles.

Do you remember the experiment they did by placing the replica David in its designed original location? https://www.seeker.com/michelangelos-david-as-it-was-meant-to-be-seen-1765138881.html . I found that to be a quite convincing explanation for the size of hands and head.

Yes, the expression on the face as seen from the front is different from what the usual side-on view suggests. But also, if Michelangelo was working within the Greek tradition of sculptural aesthetics, he may have been aware of one tradition which valued a small member as signifying a greater degree of self-control and intellectual attainment.

I agree that that sense of reaching out and grabbing is what it feels like. I was in Milan a month ago and went to see Da Vinci's Last Supper and it was exactly like that. As though the work of art had a spirit or presence independent of its materials and greater than any analysis of it. But if that is actually what is happening, surely everyone should be affected more or less in the same way if not equally. The Mona Lisa does not have that effect on me (could be to do with its surroundings) and the Van Gogh Sunflowers seem like mere daubs to me! While in Milan I went with a sculpture enthusiast friend to see the Rondanini Pieta. For me, an intense experience, for him, hardly a flicker.

I missed this post earlier somehow. Your phrase "one reason Claudius gave" suggests it wasn't the real reason. But are you saying that a stronger nation has a right to invade a weaker one if it believes itself to be morally superior?