Tigris

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Knuckleheads

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Saw a concert there last year. Great recommendation, they have a solid line up of bands and great acoustics.

Another that gets overlooked is the Arabia Steamboat Museum. My brother has a friend that is in the family that found it. They were looking for a steamboat that had a gold shipment when it wrecked. Instead, they found a steamboat that was full of supplies for the frontier. So they ended up running a museum, much to their surprise. If you have any interest in the history of the country in frontier days (it sank in 1856) it's a great place to visit. The amount of artifacts is almost overwhelming. Where it sank was oxygen free so everything is in excellent condition. It was under a corn field when they found it. Keeping pumps running to get the water out nearly broke them.

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The Lend Least Act was in March 1941 well before Pearl Harbor. The FDR administration "Arsenal of Democracy" gave 10 billion in aid to Soviet Russia.

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True, but Lend Lease was passed to send aid to Britain. Russia was an afterthought in 1941, and only after Hitler invaded Russia in June of 1941. I did not know that we sent aid to Russia before we were at war with Germany, so that is interesting. But our first aid to Russia was in October of 1941, 8 months after Lend Lease passed and only 2 months before Pearl Harbor. England started sending aid to Russia very shortly after Hitler invaded them, so basically our Lend Lease to Russia cut out the step of shipping to England, then to Russia. As Churchill said on the German invasion of Russia “If Hitler invaded Hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.”

Sean Connery

The rest

I do agree with Gene Siskel who wrote:

"By now, after seven films, my opinion of Roger Moore as James Bond is pretty well fixed. His supercilious, smirking manner undermines any tension these thrillers attempt to achieve. How can you root for Bond when he`s always got a prissy grin on his face?"

I've always liked Robert De Niro as heating engineer Harry Tuttle in Brazil.

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Don’t they realize that you can be gaining ground and losing at the same time if the cost for the gains is more than the gains are worth?

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Hence this graph I ran a few days ago. Russia maybe gaining land slowly, but it is VERY slowly. And at an increasingly high cost. The graph is before Russia took back the Ukraine occupied land in Kursk; that was about 1,200 km2 so it's pretty much a blip compared to the total. Total Ukraine land area is 580,000 km2.

I'm not sure it is the "best" though it is my favorite of his. I'd just find something less relentlessly negative between your reading of Cities on the Plain and The Road. No Country for Old Men would be good, and The Orchard Keeper would be fine. Or something by another author. No Country was my first Cormac book. I knew nothing about him and had low expectations since it was a Hollywood movie. I loved it and have been down that rabbit hole since. NCFOM is my favorite road trip listen, have done that many times.

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Debating whether to read The Road before or after Suttree.

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I'd pick Suttree for sure. Cities of the Plain and The Road are both pretty relentlessly grim, Suttree at least has some humor and mixes things up a lot more.

4 foot tall at the knees, 7 foot tall total. Maybe a baby giraffe?

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Why do you think a fat, old, balding white dude can easily bring home a Filipino chick who will take care of his every need and desire?

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I met a friend over there early this year. Just happened to be in his city. Just under a year as an expat, and he loves it. His fiancée was there too, well under half his age. He's not coming back unless he a very serious medical problem. Met a few other expats too, it's a very real thing. Not for me but I can see the appeal. It's a very poor country but beautiful and the people are laid back and friendly.

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I want to read some Pynchon, but I need something more accessible. Maybe the "lot" one?

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The only other Pynchon I've read was Against the Day. From the local library, it had well over 30 CD's. I mostly liked it. Plenty of weirdness, but toned down to the point that there was a comprehensible story.

If you decide to give Gravities Rainbow a go then my hat is off to you.