Delusions of grandeur
353325
Chrissie you treat fans like garbage but really you're the one making us take the trash out ! This album is a complete turd and by the way ... I've seen more attractive road kill than this hideous album cover .
3853554
Amazing evening for Professor Langdon! A I and the singularity are concepts that are difficult to wrap one's mind around.  Personally, I hope "enlightened religions" continue to exist!
1658150
Melmoth was presented with an oppurtunity perhaps a bargain to "...go conquering and to conquer,..." the world ageless and omnipotent for 150 years. However, at the end of this hourglass, like Faust, he must enter the folds of his dealer. Melmoth the wanderer is a cursed man. He hasn't choices yet chooses.
 Maturin holds mirrors at the world reflecting vertiginous glimpses of beauty, injustice, greed, malice, and fear somehow marrying them all. Melmoth is a questioner and his actions are the answers. Convolutions are real. Beliefs wed and divorce. Men fear what they consist.
A vast novel well worth the read. Alchemic, Poe, the sea, olive green winds...
2564348
The details of the investigation and the careful documentation of the haunting leaves one persistent conclusion:  There are entities that are hazardous to one's health that can somehow enter this dimension in rare situations--even repeatedly.  Some call such houses a portal to another world--for mostly unknowable reasons.  My feeling after this reading experience is that it is largely true and sometimes upsetting to think about. Overall, one must conclude there exist another dimension which is populated by spirits of an evil nature.
3261826
This book was very interesting to me.
My opinion is that the parents of this young should have been brought in for counseling.
Maybe the whole family. I sometimes had trouble figuring out if some of the things that
happened to her were part of her delusions. Whole family very troubled.
1515911
When the charismatic and daring Frenchman Philipe Petit saw a drawing of the projected twin towers of the World Trade Center, he immediately knew.  Even though they had yet to be built, he knew that someday he would have to cross them.  This intense and exhilirating documentary aims to show us how and why.  The how is easier to tell.  Its effort to explore the why is what makes this documentary much more than merely exciting.  We all need a reason to live, a passion to drive us.  The greatest passions are those that push the limits of the conceivable.

In one of the opening scenes of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Thus-Spoke-Zarathustra/dp/0521602610/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Thus Spoke Zarathustra</a>, the would-be teacher arrives in a crowded marketplace to preach the possibility of the "overman," the inventor of new values who would elevate humanity towards higher pursuits than merely pleasure and pain and the avoidance of death.  The crowd misunderstands him, thinking he refers to the tightrope artist who was to appear above them.

Watching this remarkable documentary, about Philipe Petit's criminal act of performance art, it would be hard not to see that he is no ordinary man.  It would be difficult not to see in his story possibilities for a life unconstrained by the merely pragmatic concerns of day-to-day living, that reaches out beyond the possible and accepts risk in order to achieve something truly remarkable.

Of course, as the film makes clear, Mr. Petit is by no means an "overman" -- he is remarkable and talented and charismatic but at the same time deeply flawed, notably in his seeming inability to see the immensity of the sacrifices that his friends (and lover) make for the sake of his visions.  While his crossing of the twin towers was astonishing and beautiful, it stunned me that just afterwards he could forget his friends (and lover) to pursue an amorous encounter with an admirer.  The film does not shy away from presenting his flaws, and perhaps the greatest strength of the film is to show how much his accomplishments depended on the skills and efforts of many collaborators.  It was a team project, and while the film strongly suggests that their friendships had become damaged or broken in the aftermath, it does give a strong voice to the perspectives of the many participants.

The film is edited brilliantly, combining actual footage and newsreel with interviews and re-enactments.  The filmmakers tell the story as if it were a heist film, meticulously portraying the complex preparations that were required, with the crossing as the final prize, and gradually lay in back story to add emotional depth and significance to the final event.  I found it to be at least as intense and entertaining as any fictional heist film I've ever seen -- and I've seen quite a few.  The pacing of the film is just right.

The music is perfect -- combining classical pieces with original compositions.  It was only on second viewing that I realized I'd heard some of the most intriguing music before, in the work of another brilliant British auteur, Peter Greenaway (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Draughtsman-s-Contract/dp/B000Y14U5Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Draughtsman's Contract</a>, and Drowning by Numbers).  The film won top prizes at Sundance, where I had the chance to see it for the first time, taking both the Grand Jury prize and the Audience Choice award in the World Documentary category.  They were well deserved.  The film is both astonishing, complex and enormously entertaining -- and nicely gives a beautiful crime to remember in connection with the World Trade Center, as a counterpoint to the more recent atrocities.  This film is definitely not one to be missed.

Nate Andersen
[...]
4408677
These modern conspiracy theories are nothing more than the latest manifestation of magical thinking.  Humanity has enslaved itself to superstitious nonsense since it crawled down from the trees. The brain stitches together accidents and coincidences into convincing patterns to support its notions of unseen demons of the spirit world.  Just so, the modern conspirators are equally hidden and mysterious, and invariably interconnected by a byzantine network of coincidences and apparent chains of cause and effect.  This is likely due to our origin as scared monkeys trembling at the unseen leopard, imagining threats at every turn.  Don't be scared monkeys!  The author has spun his tale so thick he's lost in his own web.  Where is the author's skepticism of his own skepticism?  As Carl Sagan said, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".  Where is the evidence?  No doubt, it was destroyed with 100% efficiency by the unidentifiable conspirators.  Where are the whistle blowers?  Every one is cowed by threats of death, no doubt.  I believe there may also be elements of racism involved in this.  These conspiracy theorists can't believe that Arabs could possibly execute such a complex plot without the assistance of the white man, or worse yet, being mere dupes of the white man.

As an exercise in creative writing, it's quite entertaining, but a product of reason it is not.  How easily we might slip back into the dark ages.
1398465
I had no idea who Richard Dadd was when I ordered this book. Actually, I had seen his work without being familiar with his name or his story. Dad was a popular Victorian painter of fairies and supernatural figures/objects. He knew many celebrated figures of the era and was considered a little daft or mad. This explains this book's title. In all probability, he was probably a paranoid schizophrenic. It apparently was an inherited trait as his siblings were also hospitalized as such. Eventually, Dadd was committed to an asylum where much of his popular works were executed. This is an interesting story of tragic descent into madness, a black hole from which Dadd would not emerge. Very interesting.
3836371
This man will make you feel invincible and like you have fallen short of what the human species is capable of all at once.

Had the pleasure of seeing him twice (in a row;))) with the equally as incredible Devil Makes Three and I could not keep my jaw shut any more than I could stop my feet from stomping.

The CD arrived with a crack in it, which is unfortunate because it is a gift.

The music surpasses words and anything I have ever heard before. If your hearing and/or sight are in tact, I beg you to see this man for yourself. Seeing is believing!!!!
2257840
I couldn't put this book down!  It's horrifying to consider that someone so seemingly sane by all accounts could turn on you without warning because of his or her own delusional, narcissistic thought process.  It could be your neighbor, sibling, spouse.  Deep-seated resentment, past hurts, and/or feeling a need to keep up appearances could put anybody over the edge ((shudder)).  Having lived in Pittsford and frequented Mendon Ponds Park often made the scenarios even more awful for me.
1813620
Whats the difference between a magician and a mystic? The magician tricks you into seeing visible things that aren't really there, and the mystic opens your eyes to invisible things that really are. Whats that got to do with Bert Ghezzis new book? Its mystics use all sorts of inexplicable marvels  visions, healings, prophecies, you name it  to help you see your way to the ultimate unseen reality: God.
The miracles are mind-blowing, no question about that. Were talking otherworldly, occasionally bizarre incidents  phenomena that would seem like so much sleight of hand if not for the sanctity of the souls around whom the jaw-dropping oddities regularly occurred. St. Dominic raises the dead. Padre Pio receives the wounds of Christ and is physically present in two places at once. St. Theresa Margarets body refuses to decay, to this day, since her death in 1770. And so on.
But consider yourself forewarned: If its a sideshow you're after, youll waste your time and money on this title. For Ghezzis only so interested in the signs and wonders that followed his subjects wherever they went. What hes really after is the unfailingly generous way they answered Gods call to holiness  and what their example can teach us about answering that call ourselves.
Ghezzi excels at combining concise, fast-paced biographical sketches with carefully selected, illustrative anecdotes that show the mystics faith in action. Yet its his personal, sometimes bracingly candid, reflections on the impact the mystics have made on his own life that, for me, set this volume apart from others of its kind.
I also like the way Ghezzi helps make sense of the mystical phenomena he cites by separating it into six categories  miracles of love; miraculous prayer; dreams, visions, and other wonders; miracles of conversion; miracles to awaken us; and miracles that changed the course of history.
About the only thing I would have liked to see more of, particularly when reading about some of the more eye-popping occurrences, is direct referencing to sources and eyewitness accounts. Alas, thats probably the journalist in me. Or maybe its my inner Doubting Thomas. Either way, I don't think Im the only reader who will be tempted to ask, when reading about, for example, Jesus appearing to St. Gertrude and transporting her from her cell to a separate part of her convent: Come on  did this really happen?
And maybe my skepticism is a sign of how much I need a book like this. Not so much as a reference work, but as a guide to prayer and contemplation. Ghezzi was way ahead of me on that thought.
...
No argument here. And heres hoping my enjoyment of Ghezzis book is not the fascination of a bystander drawn to the believe-it-or-not hour, but rather a manifestation of rightly ordered mysticism, or some small semblance of it, at work in my own life.
...
2352367
I can't say I understood it all, but I found his theories extremely intriguing. I ended up purchasing his follow up The Grand Design. Maybe some more of his brilliance will sink into my dense skull after I read that one.
1426636
In this novel, Barbara Michaels uses the device of a club in Victorian London populated by (the ghosts of?) Harry Houdini, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, and others who gather to discuss famous paranormal cases. The men in the club ponder all the known facts about the matters and then offer their opinions as to the nature of the events. In some cases the noted gentlemen argue that the cases were fraud and in others that genuine preternatural forces were at work.

The two incidents covered in Other Worlds were the infamous Bell Witch haunting of antebellum Tennessee, and a less famous but in some ways more shocking case--equally grounded in fact--of a New England family of the mid-1800's, whose home was seemingly invaded by a very creepy poltergeist phenomenon that begins making strange, eerie noises, moves on to rearranging furniture (while the family is IN the home) and from there proceeds from creating menacing "dolls" of each family member, twisted and shaped out of articles of the family's clothing. The case, inexplicably forgotten today except in the most scholarly of paranormal journals, reaches a crescendo I won't give away here but which surely, if true, reveals something stunning about what we hold to be reality.

This book seems to have frustrated some because it does not conclusively debunk or confirm these cases, it tells the details as they are known, composes some possible explanations, and then lets the reader form her own views. I think many wanted a revelation along the lines of "this is how it happened". And of course that's impossible.

This is a fun book for those who have an interest in events that fall outside what we like to feel are "everyday mundane" and its literary tone makes a nice touch considering the period the stories took place in.
501933
Thank you Mr. Dubay. Even though this is the grandest of all conspiracies I have yet come to know, I am sure there will be something in the near future that will only build upon your work. That which man uses to control others is slowly being depleted. The knowledge you have thrown into the modern day arena can not be beaten. Those choosing to ignore this freshly rehashed reality will soon find themselves in a world of confusion and frustration, not to mention mental and physical pain. Cognitive Dissonance is not a friend of the mind. It is the manual self- decapitation of one's mind. A task very few can complete. Once again, thank you for your hard work.
573354
This novel is like being inside the head of someone with a schizoid personality disorder at worse or Asperger's at best. Unable to recognize himself as a "being", the main character spends the novel in a way both trying to lose and find himself. The beginning of the novel he imitates a Steve Martin imitator but when he gets tired of that, he finds it difficult to be something else.

Interspersed with this strangely compelling narrative is the narrative of various movies and books that pop into the character's mind as he tries to make sense of his self. Most of the novel is the main character looking at himself. In a way, it's a meta novel."
1669241
As I read Brin's series, I felt as riding a roller coaster of many manifestations.  Mental imagery, sometimes silly and nonsensical, interwoven with mathematical concepts on the fringe of modern science, imbracing a cast of alien races, all different yet bound by the reality in which they exist. If love and acceptance by these disparate entities could exist then so could egotism and the need for dominance by one race over the other. The Jophur's relentless pursuit of the Earthling (Wolfling), Seeker ship across megaparsecs of space lifts the humans to achieve the impossible, while revealing the frailties of all sapients, even the trancendants. At times I thought the story inane, at the end I was brought to tears, confirmed in me Brin's soul.
1127042
Loved the photography of the bears but watching this movie is the experience of watching a delusional person who believed he had  special gifts and relationships with wild Alaskan Grizzly  bears and obsessively sought personal  fame and attention  at life and death  risks for himself and his
mostly hidden companion.