top | item 769843

The Whore of Mensa

85 points| gnosis | 16 years ago |woodyallenitalia.tripod.com | reply

37 comments

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[+] lucumo|16 years ago|reply
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that the owner of that site doesn't have permission to have that story on his site.

Edit/Elaboration: This is pirated content. I don't think pirated content should be spread on a site like HN. It's very similar to blog-jacking, only now the original content is a book. If you want to read it, you can buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Without-Feathers-Woody-Allen/dp/034533...

[+] swombat|16 years ago|reply
Assuming that there's more than one story in this book, chances are that those of us who do occasionally buy books are now that much more likely to purchase that book, if we liked this story.

The percentage of us who both a) buy books, and b) enjoy reading books on a computer screen, is so vanishingly small that it is unlikely to cause any financial damage to Mr Allen. In any case, Woody Allen is already filthy rich (deservedly), so I doubt he gives a toss.

[+] dkarl|16 years ago|reply
It's one small step better than blog-jacking in that he gives proper attribution to the legal publishers of the content and doesn't pretend to have any affiliation with the author.
[+] jobenjo|16 years ago|reply
Not sure why it's posted here, but this is one of my favorite stories by Woody Allen.

In high school, I used it as a Humorous Interp piece for my debate class and ended up winning state.

Even with his flops (I couldn't stand Whatever Works) Woody Allen is one of the few artists who's made an incredibly vast series of excellent works and managed to effectively move between different genres without sacrificing his own vision. Can't say that about many people, and it's certainly something I aim for myself.

[+] dylanz|16 years ago|reply
I didn't even realize this was Woody Allen. Awesome read.
[+] quizbiz|16 years ago|reply
Tripod hosting still exists?
[+] dylanz|16 years ago|reply
That was awesome. I wish I was understood half of those undertones, but the story was fresh and somehow sexy in a bizarre, sociopathic, way. Thank you for sharing that gnosis :)
[+] jacobolus|16 years ago|reply
It was mostly just name dropping “intellectual” people/books/periodicals for effect... the specific references didn’t really affect the story, or have any particular significance. (Still fun though.)
[+] chrischen|16 years ago|reply
At first I was like , this looks long, better go watch some tv. But before I knew it I had already finished it 'cause it was so interesting.

That was so I intellectually stimulating my mind almost exploded!

[+] sielskr|16 years ago|reply
Since I like smart women, the story got me a little excited :)
[+] adam_feldman|16 years ago|reply
context?
[+] seshagiric|16 years ago|reply
Writers are hackers too.

Adding because of the (-)ve votes. What I meant is the play of words is quite close to what I hacker would do with his code. At least I think so.

[+] diN0bot|16 years ago|reply
two columns of text is the bomb.
[+] jacobolus|16 years ago|reply
If it all fits on your screen, maybe. Otherwise, having half the visible content completely disconnected from the other half, separated by a few pages of scrolling, is absolutely pointless.

But I copy things into http://amarsagoo.info/tofu/ to read. That is “the bomb.”