Culture From Your Country

[Sophus]

I'm sure everyone knows its famous stories and this old building:

WHERE'S THE BASEMENT?!

[skwurll]

I've already told you about my country! AND written you poetry!

Lol, Just putting in my contribution.

[Cecilie]

I've already told you about my country! AND written you poetry!

Lol, Just putting in my contribution.

Phht.

[The Magic Pudding]

As a person living in Australia, but not a typical specimen.
Sport, Sport, Sport.
Times are tough the politicians say, we have to make cutbacks, but don't worry we won't touch the sport budget.
There was an some Olympic games some decades back, where we never won a gold, a moment of national crisis.

Science
Howard Florey, together with Ernst Chain and their team made penicillin work.
Barry Marshall and Robin Warren were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery that peptic ulcer disease (PUD) was primarily caused by Helicobacter pylori.
Elizabeth Kenny's polio treatment.

I'm sure we could have done better if wasn't so much sport, sport sport around here.

Film
Geoffrey Rush, Kate Blanshet, Hugo Weaving, Joss Whedon, Nicole Kidman and so many more.  
If New Zealand doesn't want Russel Crowe I'll count him as one of us, he lives nearby some of the time.  
I watched "The Insider" recently, brilliant.

Music
There was some good stuff made here that never caught on elsewhere.
ACDC is not our best band.

Our Minister for Cultcha
"Sir Lesley Colin Patterson is a fictional  character portrayed by the Australian  comedian  Barry Humphries. Obese, lecherous and offensive, this farting, belching, nose-picking figure of Rabelaisian excess is an antipodean Falstaff".

I'll do Literature some other time.

[Dretlin]

I decided to be quite stereotypical in this post and I realized when doing it, these are actually a few of the things I love about Scotland.

I could not find that many decent videos of a Ceilidh band. I stumbled upon the one below and realized I may have  danced to this band before at a wedding in St Andrews. I say may as I was most likely smacked off my tits at the time (if you pardon the expression).

[youtube:lj2kklb9]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI-siD26dks[/youtube:lj2kklb9]

Also, a few places I really enjoying being: Glasgow Uni, Edinburgh Castle, Glen Coe and Loch Lomond.

Fun Fact - "Loch" is not pronounced "lock", put the back of your tongue to the roof off your mouth as if your about to gather spit. That is how your pronounce the "och"

[Thumpalumpacus]

ACDC is not our best band.

But they're pretty goddamned good.

[Sophus]

I could not find that many decent videos of a Ceilidh band.

I'll check them out! Currently, these are my favorite Scottish musicians  

Paolo Nutini

[youtube:3gus2y8z]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYKz24dMsV8[/youtube:3gus2y8z]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYKz24dMsV8

Frightened Rabbit

[youtube:3gus2y8z]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzjERZU3wbY[/youtube:3gus2y8z]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzjERZU3wbY

[Cecilie]

ACDC is not our best band.

But they're pretty goddamned good.

Agreed.

[zerofivetwoseven]

ALISTAIR REYNOLDS :

This man is the greatest living exponent of Space Opera.

He is to science fiction what Jimi Hendrix is to the electric guitar - seriously.

He is an astrophysicist, so he knows his shit.

He takes an idea, pushes it to it's absolute limit, and then some. THEN he starts writing.

Anything with his name on the cover should be read, but his best is Revelation Space.

If you prefer novellas instead, try Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days - especially if you're a mathematician.

If you read one of his books and are unimpressed, there is something wrong.

He's not actually English, he's Welsh, but that's irrelevant.

KONTROLL :

This isn't English either, it's Hungarian, but a brilliant, dark,funny film about a group of ticket inspectors and their daily experiences.

[The Magic Pudding]

ALISTAIR REYNOLDS :

Yes Yes Yes I love Alistair Reynolds novels and I'm ready to have my brain digitised.

This man is the greatest living exponent of Space Opera.  

Probably, I haven't read all novels in the genre.

[Tank]

Another Alistair Reynolds fan! I have all his books. He is my favourite author after Terry Pratchett.

[zerofivetwoseven]

I have also read Peter Hamilton as well. He too is a science fiction writer specialising in space opera, but Alistair Reynolds is head and shoulders above him. His attention to detail is phenomenal and his imagination is limitless. There are only two authors whos entire back catalogue I would happily re-read and he is one of them. The other is Sven Hassel. He was a Dane who fought for Germany in a penal regiment. There is some doubt as to this, but even so, his first two novels, Wheels Of Terror and Legion Of The Damned - which were banned at the time - should be read by everyone. Harrowing, raw and brutal, they are to World War Two what All Quiet On The Western Front was to World War One. His subsequent novels are arguably works of fiction as he merely cashed in on the notoriety of these two. Nevertheless, he pulls no punches in describing the despair and depravity of the human condition when staring apocalypse in the face. Not for the faint hearted.

[The Magic Pudding]

Reynolds makes some suggestions, acknowledges influences at the end of one novel, I found them useful.
I don't have the details.

[Tank]

I have also read Peter Hamilton as well. He too is a science fiction writer specialising in space opera, but Alistair Reynolds is head and shoulders above him. His attention to detail is phenomenal and his imagination is limitless. There are only two authors whos entire back catalogue I would happily re-read and he is one of them. The other is Sven Hassel. He was a Dane who fought for Germany in a penal regiment. There is some doubt as to this, but even so, his first two novels, Wheels Of Terror and Legion Of The Damned - which were banned at the time - should be read by everyone. Harrowing, raw and brutal, they are to World War Two what All Quiet On The Western Front was to World War One. His subsequent novels are arguably works of fiction as he merely cashed in on the notoriety of these two. Nevertheless, he pulls no punches in describing the despair and depravity of the human condition when staring apocalypse in the face. Not for the faint hearted.

Well I didn't know that, I'll have to dig those out of the local library and read them.

[zerofivetwoseven]

I have also read Peter Hamilton as well. He too is a science fiction writer specialising in space opera, but Alistair Reynolds is head and shoulders above him. His attention to detail is phenomenal and his imagination is limitless. There are only two authors whos entire back catalogue I would happily re-read and he is one of them. The other is Sven Hassel. He was a Dane who fought for Germany in a penal regiment. There is some doubt as to this, but even so, his first two novels, Wheels Of Terror and Legion Of The Damned - which were banned at the time - should be read by everyone. Harrowing, raw and brutal, they are to World War Two what All Quiet On The Western Front was to World War One. His subsequent novels are arguably works of fiction as he merely cashed in on the notoriety of these two. Nevertheless, he pulls no punches in describing the despair and depravity of the human condition when staring apocalypse in the face. Not for the faint hearted.

Well I didn't know that, I'll have to dig those out of the local library and read them.

If you are interested in history and specifically World War Two, I can also recommend Hitler by Ian Kershaw, a monumental work in two volumes - although I have the single abridged version - still quite a hefty tome at 969 pages. Also Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor.