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Post by Reba on Oct 23, 2022 19:29:51 GMT -5
i don't need PDFs anymore, as i just discovered that every lemmity snorkel book is available to check out on archive.org ... OOPS
i think i like this book more than the main series, much like TUA. but we shall see.
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Post by HAL 10,000 on Oct 24, 2022 19:36:51 GMT -5
Chapter 1: You gotta love Snicket calling Theodora one of the world’s great difficulties.She kind of gets on my nerves. How is Gracq pronounced? I like Marguerite, but kind of wish she had a bit more to do. Chapter 2: Oliver’s kind of cute, and I like that name. Cool, I didn’t know what amaranthine meant.It just made me think of amaranth. Eye doctor in Paltryville?Orwell, maybe?
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Post by Reba on Oct 25, 2022 19:25:33 GMT -5
aah, what a delightful book. much like TUA indeed. a fascinating, hilarious, mischievous, audacious little literary gizmo.
i remember when i first realized there were "misfiled" conclusions in between every chapter. i read the book while flipping back and forth, without flipping straight through the back pages, and i was so baffled when i noticed one of the fake answers. it took me so long to even notice their existence at the time, i definitely didn't notice the abundance of clues and foreshadowing in them. although most of them are of course very amusing, there are also a lot of heavy hints about amphibians in the clusterous forest. someone ought to put all these paragraphs together for easy viewing.
a lot of these mysteries feel more like lateral thinking problems, although there's certainly enough there for the type of reader who likes to "figure out" the answers. and it's quite refreshing for a Snicket fan to be given so many rapid, light-hearted, logical-enough conclusions -- in one tome! that old Brooding narration doesn't really crop up again until the last chapter, where DH accomplishes his typical rhetorical flourish, recounting all his miscellaneous previous subjects in such a way that they seem to have a great shared significance. even the pie thief! hats off, Danny.
some of the greatest Snicket wisdom: "Threatening nudity is a powerful way to be left alone, and alone is the best way to do certain important tasks."
DH should write more short stories.
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Post by Reba on Oct 26, 2022 11:03:42 GMT -5
all of the misfiled conclusions: DEEP MINE. What Dagwood failed to realize was that the mysterious sound from the mine continued even after the electric equipment was turned off. Therefore the buzzing was of natural origin and the sack of spare batteries would have been useless. As with many suspicious incidents, the solution was to keep digging, which is why the shovels and notebooks were found by museum authorities the next morning.
BACKSEAT. The inside of a car would not have been warm enough to hatch reptile or amphibian eggs. As veterinarians, the Doctors Sobol would have known this, and would have smuggled the eggs in their coat pockets, which were likely lined with fur, or scaly skin. But Bertram found the coats hanging on the rack near the drafty window, so therefore it was the heated suitcase, stored near the stove, that contained the stolen items, which were returned immediately. Many have described the taste of root beer, but that afternoon it tasted like justice.
QUIET STREET. Blotted Boulevard is a perfect place for a shadowy meeting by sinister cohorts working in secrecy, but so many organizations were using it that a sign-up sheet became necessary to reduce the chances of confusion, embarrassment, and duels. Violetta Frogg-Drifter turned out to be a fake name used only on such paperwork.
BENEATH THE STREET. “Drain-Leads-to-Sea” is a phrase which here means “a passageway ideal for small lizards and amphibians to travel to the Clusterous Forest.” The noises in the echoey passageway would have carried to other underground structures, such as basements and mines.
SMALL COURTYARD. The key was in the cobblestones. If they could be pushed aside by the growth of small plants, they likely wouldn’t hold up against violent animal life when used in the construction of clinics and schools. Both Dagwood and Violetta would have known this from their father, a geologist and former travel agent who lived in the same neighborhood.
MISSING PETS. Armadale’s lizards were transported in a large tank originally designed for amphibians, large enough to hold the reptiles comfortably but small enough to fit into the trunk of a car. When confronted, Mrs. Flammarion admitted as much and returned the keys and wig.
LARGE MEAL. “A simple sauce of unsalted butter” was flatly impossible, as any good butcher knows that preparing the meat of lizards and amphibians requires a great deal of salt, easily gathered from land that was once the ocean floor. Local diners expressed relief and gratitude, and the stew has never been advertised again.
OTHER NAME. The reverse side of the newspaper had an article on party refreshments, including The Salty Mess, a recipe containing caviar, salted meat, and six slices of honeydew melon arranged into two initials. If the paper had been truly folded in half, the villain would have been warned either way.
SAND AND SHORE. “What once was desert is water,” the slogan said, but it did not mention what happened to what once was water. Three forgotten ships would have had more than enough rope on board to tow anything—or anyone—that heavy.
POOR JOKE. “Because blueberries are yummy,” explained the young rabbi, and the entire congregation laughed and coughed nearly until sunrise.
MESSAGE RECORDED. Minutes from meeting at Stain’d Station: T: Good afternoon. Q: Good afternoon. T: Did you bring the castanets? Q: What? T: Are they in your hat? Give it to me. Q: What are you talking about? Leave my hat alone? T: Wait, are you in a secret organization? Q: Of course not. T: My apologies. I thought you were someone else. Q [?]: Who? T: Nothing. Excuse me. Pardon me. Good-bye.
NERVOUS WRECK. In some instances, eliminating every other word from a speech in a play results in a secret message, as in this scene from Mother of Icarus: Naucrate: There she is, offering nothing more to Icarus’s report card at school. This terrible time must stop! I’m looking desperately for something—a brilliant message, perhaps!
LAST WORD. “_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .”
i suppose the first question is how many details are jokes based on the main stories, and how many are relevant to the plot of ATWQ. that said, the main gist seems to be DH yelling at us, "THE BB IS AN AMPHIBIAN!!" and the BB lives in the Clusterous Forest. and it can travel through the sewers.
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Post by HAL 10,000 on Oct 27, 2022 0:27:14 GMT -5
Chapter 3: Lysistrata?Who names a dog something so hard to pronounce? What does serious arms even look like? I was going to ask who would want to visit a hairdryer emporium, but then I remembered that the emporium shares its world with a guy who's obsessed with bananas. Chapter 4: I didn’t like Jake at first but the muffin scene really endeared him to me.
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Post by R. on Oct 27, 2022 5:46:49 GMT -5
[quote author=" HAL 10,000" source="/post/951785/thread" timestamp="1666848434" I didn’t like Jake at first but the muffin scene really endeared him to me.[/quote] What did you have against Jake?
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Post by HAL 10,000 on Oct 27, 2022 8:03:59 GMT -5
I didn't dislike him per se, but I found him kind of irritating at first.Idk how to explain it.The muffin scene completely changed my opinion though.
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Post by HAL 10,000 on Oct 28, 2022 9:29:20 GMT -5
Chapter 5: God, the Mitchums are so irritating.At least Stew isn't with them. Being denied a library card sounds like literal torture. Chapter 6: The description of the sky is pretty.Then again, I have a thing for skyscapes. The drifters scene is strangely heartwarming. Chapter 7: I kind of preternaturally dislike that butcher too.
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Post by HAL 10,000 on Oct 29, 2022 9:35:48 GMT -5
Chapter 8: Hard or soft cider? I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t like sledding. Chapter 9: Cozy’s sounds like absolute bliss. Idk why, but I really like scenes in the dark in general.
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Post by HAL 10,000 on Nov 7, 2022 10:42:23 GMT -5
Chapter 10: As much as I hate the Mitchums, I love how their “don’t be a” argument literally goes backwards. Smell of Mitchums?Wonder what that smells like. I now have a craving for blueberries even though it’s still pretty early. Hey a Zombies in the Snow reference. Chapter 11: Cereal without a bowl sounds depressing. I went through a phase as a kid where I would count my Cheerios.Lemony thinking a single flake was a serving reminded me of that. I think this is my fave chapter.The conversations are so funny. Chapter 12: Now I can’t unsee an oyster shell looking like a virus. Chapter 13: It’s kind of cute that Lemony wakes up all grouchy but then gets cheered up by Jake and his waffles.
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Post by HAL 10,000 on Nov 7, 2022 18:40:41 GMT -5
Final thoughts: I'd say this is my favourite of the series.Part of me wishes it was a bit more tied together, but I liked the use of interconnected vignettes.
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Dec 2, 2022 5:58:40 GMT -5
I just discovered that the pictures in the house in the first case were named after Finnish poets. I found that interesting.
I researched them. I certainly read about it the first time, but I don't know why it faded from my memory.
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Dec 7, 2022 5:25:31 GMT -5
the Quite Street case. The cases involving Bertrand, Violetta and Dagwood evidently predate the cases involving Snicket. I think the resolution of the Quite Street case is important. The fact that Violetta Frogg-Drifter proved to be a false name indicates that the person solving the case was not Violetta, despite her being a member of VFD. (Violetta as a pre-name is in fact a character from FU13, as indicated by the Samall Courtyard case). Therefore, there were several VFD members acting at the same time in SBTS. More than that: the fact that Blotted Boulevard was used by several organizations that could clash, indicates that there were several secret organizations acting at the same time in SBTS. Organizations that knew of each other's existence, but entered into a truce for a while. This partly justifies Hangfire's actions in ?1. He feared not only the VFD but also the other secret organizations, which must have been much more efficient than the VFD at keeping themselves secret. In SBTS many people already knew VFD at least by name and reputation. So Hangfire must have had a VFD member steal the figurine so other secret organizations wouldn't stop him from stealing the figurine. The non-interference agreement between secret organizations is exemplified in the Quiet Street case.
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Gregor Anwhistle
Formidable Foreman
Volatile Fungus Deporter and Ichnologist
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Post by Gregor Anwhistle on Dec 8, 2022 1:31:07 GMT -5
Chapter 11
I like the reveal that Lois Dressing is a V.F.D. agent sent to test Lemony with the missing postcard. Also, her name being an anagram for real-life writer Doris Lessing reminds me of Lena Pukalie/Pauline Kael from LSTUA.
Qwerty's sad "We live here now" response to Lemony's inquiry about what happened to the Yamgraz. The Yamgraz have faded to nothing more than a street sign, and Stain'd itself is now fading. And as we see by the time of the Baudelaire orphans, V.F.D. has in large part faded from its glory days. This theme in his writings reminds me of where I live and various institutions that are not as vibrant as they used to be.
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Dec 12, 2022 8:28:25 GMT -5
Possibility of injustice in the case of three suspects: This case has always bothered me. A man was found guilty of stealing blueberry pies simply because a single witness with a history of having poor eyesight claimed that a man wearing similar clothing to that of the accused was seen guarding blueberry pies. The man in question is employed and has no reason to steal blueberry pies when he could just buy them. The man in question admitted that his favorite food was blueberry pies, which is why he could have had blueberry pies with him and soiled his shirt with the blueberry pies. But in addition, in 13 Suspicious Incidents we find stories of people who were wrongly arrested because they were framed by others. We saw attempts to forge alibis, use of disguises, use of trickery to steal food. And of course, we saw Snicket miss. All this leads me to believe that the accused man may be innocent.
Another important detail is that one of the marks left by the blueberry pies on the accused's clothes has the exact shape of a question mark. I do not believe that a mark of this form can form through food scraps that randomly accidentally fall on clothing. Evidently, that mark was intentionally made by a human. This invalidates the clothing evidence, since if one mark was made on purpose, what prevents all other marks from being made on purpose with the intention of incriminating the accused?
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