Job Discussion Forums

Bebsi · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958

I know where you're coming from, John.

In the past decade, however, TV channels in KSA have improved dramatically in both quality and choice.

At the end of the day, tho, a good book is all you need. I like detective fiction and thrillers, and Jonathan Kellerman, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill and...yes, I admit it...John Grisham, got me through many a night in Saudi. Plus a healthy dose of non-fiction.

Whatever you like to read, OP, take plenty of it.

johnslat · Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:03 pm Post subject:

Dear Bebsi,

I'm very fond of that genre myself - James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly, Laurence Shames,Harlan Coben, Andrew Vachss, Richard Stark, John D.. McDonald, George V. Higgins, P.D. James, Robert Parker, Reginald Hill, Lawrence Block, Robert Crais, Stieg Larsson, Elmore Leonard - to name but a few.

Take a Kindle, loaded.

Regards,
John

Bebsi · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958

Ah, John, I discovered James Lee Burke only recently (In the Electric Mists with the Confederate Dead - which I believe is also now a movie with Tommy Lee Jones). It was a great read, and I look forward to more.

Lawrence Block is an old favourite, especially the Matt Scudder series. I believe there's a new one? Do you know about this? Poor ol' Matt must be getting on age now!

Or as TJ might say, gettin' on in years, Piers. Lookin' the end in the face, Trace. Thinkin' o' the grave, Dave.

Bebsi · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958

...ain't no spring chick meself, Ralph.

johnslat · Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:36 pm Post subject:

Dear Bebsi,

We may be getting older, but we'll never get old Very Happy

.

Regards,
John

P.S. Love the Scudder series - and who can beat Parker's "Spenser" for dialogue (well, maybe George V Higgins.)

It's Scary! · Joined: 17 Apr 2011 Posts: 823

O.K., you two go find a libraty cubicle together somewhere... Embarassed

It's an act of public affection that we're looking for! Remember, John, you can't have your Bebsi and drink it too!

johnslat · Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:40 pm Post subject:

Alas - envy rears its ugly head Very Happy

and it's scary.

Regards,
John

sharter · Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 878 Location: All over the place

Re the Op, Saudi, saving and nut jobs.

I didn't save as much as I should have after 3 years at QP even though I was direct hire married status. I partied a lot and do did my wife. The main expense is drink in a place like that, where a round can cost 50-60 quid easily.

Here in Kuwait, I save almost $3k a month, but it's as dull as Saudi. Yeah we have nice flats, the money is ok but it's just sterile and utterly devoid of 'life'. If you want to meat a woman, you pay some filthy old hag from Asia.

I much prefer the money of the rotation with the regular leave. I'll be going back to Libya as soon as the oil company recalls me, which thankfully they've recently said they will do.

Colleagues can make or break the decision to stay in a place. Here we've got people who are so mean they think medical insurance is a waste of money;people who argue over 500 Fils in a cab and those who won't leave a 250 Fil tip in a restaurant. One person in particular questions every single bill he gets. A Yank had a barny about paying for the bottle of water the waiters automatically put on your table here. Another recently refused to pay the $1.50 cab home for the female 3rd world national he'd just used. Talk about low. One real nut job has just been fired. I don't know what it is in the Gulf, but people can sure go weird here. Some of the lads have serious porn addictions too. I'm no angel but I find it all really depressing. My friends in ELT in Eastern Europe are all really cool and 'normal'.

I'm not a racist but at times I have found myself really questionning the religion here, the societies it produces and the moral vacuum that is the reality on the ground. I try not to think about it too much but I don't want it in Europe.

Badar Bin Bada Boom · Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 10:39 am Post subject:

Bebsi · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958

Yeah, Sharter, gotta admit, ya do indeed meet a few oddities out there from time to time. To put it very mildly! Being an oddity myself - but now relatively normal (dunno bout the cool, tho) in Eastern Europe - I won't be too hard on the others! Very Happy

On a more serious note, there is indeed a lot of hypocrisy in that part of the world, and the locals don't have a monopoly on it by any means.

John, age is all in the mind. Mrs Bebsi here keeps me eternally young, so I have a lot to be thankful for. When you remember 60s hits being played regularly on the radio, and cannot find your classmates on Facebook - only their children - then it's scary.

I was back in my home-town in Ireland a few years ago, and spotted a girl on the street whom I remembered from schooldays. I commented to a friend, "Wow, X has really aged". He looked at me in amazement, and replied, "That's not X, it's her daughter".

Thanks for that, Badar. I will try to get the European version, then. I've noticed that the US version of many movies differs significantly from the European or other versions. When Ridley Scott released 1492 - Conquest of Paradise in the '90s, the first transatlantic voyage took place in calm weather, just like in real life. Then, I saw a trailer for the US release, and it showed the Santa Maria being thrown around in a storm that made Cape Horn look like a Japanese Koi pond. Can anyone explain why it was felt that the US market would require a dramatic storm scene?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Bebsi · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958

VS wrote

Badar Bin Bada Boom · Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 6:37 am Post subject:

Bebsi · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958

yes, you're right about trailers.

I must say, I am looking forward very much to watching "in the Electric Mists..."

I have already seen some clips, and it looks to be very atmospheric - pretty much in keeping with the book, in fact. After reading the novel, I went on Google Earth to try to find out where exactly in his imagination Dave Robicheaux lives. I think I managed to place it! Smile

My point is, the book captures Louisiana so evocatively, I want to visit the place. In high summer, at that!

Badar Bin Bada Boom · Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 4:59 pm Post subject:

Oh, absolutely. I sometimes head out east from Houston to the counties in "Electric Mist" and drive around the swamps with "Born on the Bayou" playing on the stereo. Seriously.

Mah name's Dave Robicheaux. Ahm an alcoholic. Sometahms ahm tempted to take a drank...but ah never do...

One little nugget about the two versions: In the European cut, John Goodman, local evil goombah, beans Tommy Lee with a well-placed line drive of his baseball. This causes Tommy to conk out and confer a bit with the long-departed Confederate general John Bell Hood--a gracious Southern gentleman, indeed suh.

We miss out on that scene in the US version, where it's been excised. A pity, suh, a pity. However, ya'll need not feah, suh, for good ol' boy Tommy Lee still gets other opportunities to discuss affairs with the General...in the misty swamps...