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The nine circles of Dante’s hell in Legos. So there you are, if you were looking for that.

The first emperor of China ordered all the histories burned, so that his reign might be thought of as “the beginning of history”, as I recall…

Just saying’ ….

Argh ….. Bleeding spellcheck is a fascist….

According to a WHOIS search, whitehouse.gov was first registered on 21 Jan 1999. Bill Clinton walked off with the good china, but had enough self-esteem not to carve his initials on the furniture.

Obama is a seriously needy, and demanding, child, to order the history of the Presidents have a self-referring blurb on each biography. It’s the MO of Mao and Kim.

Oh yeah, I thought y’all would find this interesting.

You are what you read: How we naturally become similar to our favourite fictional characters

Which explains a lot. I devoured every science fiction and adventure book I could find, while growing up.

What does it say about YOU?

Every time this narcissistic president injects himself into others stories like this, I’m reminded of a quotation from the movie Gladiator:

Maximus (to Emperor Commodus): The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end… Highness.

…until you think of Obama and his huge throbbing ego.

Thanks for that mental vision, Stoatie. Ugh!

Isn’t that more of effect then cause, Feyn?

Let’s let Barky use his head to chisel his effigy in a pile of frozen cat turds. About what he deserves. Asshat.

I categorize my childhoodadolescence by the books that I read at the time, and I recall daydreaming about living the stories and acting out the characters. I was obsessed with reading, and I do think remember mimicking the character traits of the heroes and heroines.
The chasm that exists between the way my mother attempted to bring me up, and the way I turned out is implausibly vast. So, I have often attributed my perspective and characteristics to science fiction/fantasy novels. I am quite certain that Heinlein and McCaffrey had more to do with my personality than either of my parents, despite their most sincere efforts.

Actually it probably is merely an effect for most people. I’m just odd that way. 🙂

I can’t find any parallels between what I read as a child, and who I am now, but when I overdose* on Jane Austen, I become extremely introspective, and have excruciatingly polite dreams.

*if I read one, I have to read them all. I can’t help myself.

Thanks for the plug M’aam.

I’ll keep adding volumes so do check back.

Amusing article, Feynmangroupie, and yes, I agree with you. I strongly suspect that Heinlein, McCaffrey, (Spider) Robinson, and a whole long list of others had a much stronger influence on my overall personality and paradigm than my entire fam-damily.
In my case, this is not a bad thing! 😉

Perhaps you are drawn to characters/situations/places that reflect who you are. I like happy places, funny snark/observations, good endings, good over evil. My books were good friends.

One reason why I quit going to ‘book club’ was too many participants were choosing Oprah style books – frustrating anger and dysfunction. Same kind of reason I moved far far away from family.

Yeah, this is really pathetic. I half expect all the pictures in the White House to be replaced with images of him when he leaves. This guy’s ego is absolutely shameless and complete, he seems almost totally unselfaware.

I refer people to the phrase “Cult of Personality”, defined here. http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Cult_of_personality

This is not accidental. This reflects either what Buraq Hussein himself demanded, or what his sycophants thought would please him. If the latter, you can be sure that it was brought to his attention; and the fact that he did not tell them that they were BFC and to put it back the way it was means that “he looked upon it and said it was good”.

This is not the mind of a person who will accept the possibility of being defeated by mere mortals in something as plebian as an election. November 6, 2012 and/or January 2013 may be dates cited by historians as turning points; and not in a good sense. Are we ready for that?

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Comment from Feynmangroupie
Time: May 15, 2012, 10:40 pm

From what I can see of the article, losing yourself in non-fiction should affect you too. Till I was 12, I read non-fiction; paleontology, biographies, and history, mostly military history exclusively. At 12, I discovered Science Fiction. Asimov’s Foundation trilogy, followed by everything by Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, and Heinlein I could find. Then I discovered other fiction. Much of my twisted personality is explained.

Subotai Bahadur

Feynmangroupie, I know I’ve been affected by what I read or watched. The earliest I can remember is Roy Rogers (and gee, I just bought one of those Whitman RR “Adventures for Young Readers” on AbeBooks). Then Napoleon Solo and James Bond (who really aren’t very much alike), Archie Goodwin, Ellery Queen (whence my love for hunting down patterns in data), Kirk and Spock, and Travis McGee. Later came Heinlein and his self-reliant characters, Larry Niven, and Stephen King.

Um, it’s not Wikipedia. I mean, suppose they’d all done this, beginning with Clinton? Would they get to delete the previous entries? Dispute them? So when the school kiddies go there for a history lesson: Flame wars on the Presidential bios! Woohoo!

Dang, I was hoping for more of a depiction of the actual Inferno in that link. Instead, and I quote “Lego artist Mihai Marius Mihu says: I didn’t read the Divine Comedy, only the small descriptions of the circles I found on the websites. I didn’t want to be much influenced by the original descriptions because I wanted to give a whole new fresh approach for each circle. I thought more about the significance of titles and from then on it was only my imagination.”

Yeah, don’t read some of the photo captions before lunch. 🙁

Subotai,

Absolutely non-fiction had an affect on me! I’ll never forget the months of self-scrutiny after reading C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters. Plus I had a great interest in War stories from a young age, and would cry and cry from reading about the things that soldiers had to go through. I found an old book in a barn when I was about 13, it was about the Andersonville Civil War prisoners; I had nightmares for weeks after reading that. Most of the books that I read were, in retrospect, not meant for juveniles, but I am still glad that I read them.

Jon
WTF? What kind of artist doesn’t want to be “influenced” by the original work? I’m feeling a severe case of getoffmylawn-iness.
Dante Aligheiri’s The Divine Comedy is scarier and more graphic than any horror film or Lego set could ever convey. Although, if Dante had written it today, I am certain that he would include the eternal reading of modern congressional legislation as one of the punishments. Either that, or eternally updating the White House website to include highlights of Obama’s genius.

Comment from Feynmangroupie
Time: May 16, 2012, 6:43 pm

Another story about my dad. Just before I turned 11, I got my first “real” library card. I was burying myself in Dewey Decimal 629.13 and 940.54 areas. Specifically, I was working my way through the Official US Naval History of WW-II by RADM. S.E. Morison. All 14 thick, highly technical volumes. [I now have my own set on a shelf across the room.]

The librarians were sure that I really belonged in the Children’s section. They were rather insistent. I am, and always have been, more than passing stubborn. They sent a note home to my dad saying I belonged in the Children’s section.

Feynmangroupie, as we have discussed; my dad was born in China, had a 6th grade, WW-1 era Chinese education, and came here alone when he was 12. But he passed to me a reverence for learning and books. He wrote a note back:

“… if he is reading it, it is good. If he can carry it, he can check it out.”

They left me alone after that.

Subotai Bahadur

Subotai Bahadur, I hereby offer your father a standing ovation, with much cheering, for that note to the librarian. 🙂

Feynmangroupie, I read the Screwtape letters, as well as his Space Trilogy – which resulted in a lot of thinking and pondering on my part. I never read the Andersonville book, but I got plenty of nightmares from reading “All quiet on the Western Front”. Not a book I’d recommend to younger people, (I read it while in elementary school), but definitely worth reading, especially for people who have delusions of ‘the glory of war’.

George Washington the first President of The United States of America. In 3rd grade Obama played George Washington Carver.

@Argentium G. Tiger: That’s one of my favorite films.

Chris Muir (“Day By Day” online comic) did a strip in homage of “Gladiator,” with Obama in the Commodus role:

http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/2011/05/22/#006109

Hi! Would you mind if I share your blog with my twitter group?
There’s a lot of folks that I think would really appreciate your content. Please let me know. Thank you

Incredible! This blog looks exactly like my old one!
It’s on a totally different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Excellent choice of colors!

Comment from Moveable Feast
Time: August 6, 2013, 8:45 pm

Spammers now using Hemingway titles?