Game: Ask the Person Below You

[papayahed]

Tough one but I am an ol' softie so this is my favorite:
"The world is more interesting with you in it. "



If you were invited to dinner at Hannibal's house, who would you take with you?

[Hawkman]

Someone I didn't like, someone who had a habit of rudeness. In short, someone who deserved it lol. We all know how Dr Lecter feels about discourtesy!

If you were cooking for Dr Lecter, what would you prepare?

[Pompey Bum]

someone who had a habit of rudeness.

I'm busy. :)

Sorry. If you were cooking for Dr Lecter, what would you prepare?

[Snowqueen]

Something he never tasted before - mashed potatoes!

Do you think he would like it?

[Hawkman]

If he didn't, you'd be the first to know :D

Who is your favourite literary detective?

[Pompey Bum]

Sherlock Holmes, of course.

Who is your least favorite celebrity?

[papayahed]

It's hard to say but I'm going with Kim Kardasian just because of the whole weddings thing.


Will you help me move?

[Pompey Bum]

No.

Will you forgive me?

[papayahed]

eh, I wouldn't help me move either.

What would your best friend say is your best attribute?

[Hawkman]

Absence. :D

What has been your most unpleasant pet experience? e.g. being bitten or finding it dead and decomposing after two months of neglect...

[Pompey Bum]

Cancer. Sorry to bring things down. It was a long time ago. And it seems to have been pretty curable.

Would you rather be too hot or too cold?

[Hawkman]

To be honest, I'd rather not be either, but the older I get, the less I like being cold. I'm cold now. It's about 15 deg C in here and I've been sitting in front of my computer, working solidly, for about 12 hours. My feet are freezing and I've got a pain in my neck and shoulder. Give me warmth.

What's the weather like where you are? Is it raining?

[papayahed]

Right now it's blue skies and 50F (10C).


What Stepehn King novel did you like best? If not Stephen King and popular writer will do.

[Pompey Bum]

Dracula?

Who is your favorite character from Scooby-Doo?

[Sancho]

Rut-Row, The Scoob himself of course.

Bullwinkle or Bugs?

[Pompey Bum]

Well, Peabody, actually, but if I had to choose...probably Bugs.

Roadrunner of Coyote? (Which one did you want to win?)

[Clopin]

Coyote of course.

How many kilometres do you think you could run if your life depended on it?

[Pompey Bum]

Miles.

What does the H in Jesus H. Christ stand for?

[papayahed]

Helvetica

Why is War and Peace soooo long?

[Pompey Bum]

Because Tolstoy just had to stick all that tedious business about love and courage in between the thrilling sweep of his historiographical analyses.

Is marriage worth it?

[papayahed]

erm, not sure.

What stresses you out the most?

[Ms. Reading]

Housekeeping.

Won't you come and play the "Let's Make a Story" game?

[Pompey Bum]

Well I think

What's the worst movie you ever saw?

[Snowqueen]

The Grudge

What's the last movie you watched?

[Pompey Bum]

Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale.

Is there any substantial difference between ziti and shells?

[papayahed]

yeah! one looks like a shell and the other looks like a tube.


Have you ever been kicked out of a bar?

[Hawkman]

Not actually kicked, but I've been asked to leave, usually after closing time when the landlord wants to go to bed.

Have you ever been locked inside a bar?

[Pompey Bum]

Not actually kicked, but I've been asked to leave, usually after closing time when the landlord wants to go to bed.

Have you ever been locked inside a bar?

Never without politely requesting it.

What is the most unusual animal you have ever eaten?

[Dark Muse]

I would have to say Octotpus

What is the most exotic fruit you have tried?

[Pompey Bum]

Prickly pear or lychee, I suppose.

What is the most distant place you have ever been from the place you now call home?

[Dark Muse]

Italy

What is your favorite Alcoholic beverage?

[Clopin]

Coffee with some sort of appropriate alcohol mixed into it like brandy, rum, kahlua, whiskey, etc.

What do you think of people who don't vote?

[Dark Muse]

A part of me can understand that impulse. There are times when voting feels like a meaningless gesture that doesn't really accomplish anything.

What do you do on a typical Friday night?

[Clopin]

The same thing I do every night haha, nothing. Well nothing that involves other people (in person) anyway.

[papayahed]

Lately, not much.


What is your most prized possession?

[Pendragon]

My razor sharp wit!

Who is your favorite character from JRR Tolkien?

[Dark Muse]

That is a tough one but I have to go with Beorn

What is your favorite pizza topping?

[Calidore]

Most places offer a "deluxe" option, which is usually most or all of sausage, pepperoni, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and olives. That usually works for me.

The most unusual pizza topping I've had was pineapple and jalapeno, which was pretty darn good. It was the regular order of the two coworkers I ate with once on a temp job, and I've never found anyone else interested in trying it.

What's your favorite ice cream flavor?

[Dark Muse]

Chocolate Chip

What is the last movie you saw?

[Iain Sparrow]

Fury.
I'm a sucker for WWII movies.

Last movie you watched that made you cry?

[Pendragon]

The Green Mile

Last horror movie watched?

[Pompey Bum]

World War Z. (It was a long flight).

What was the first movie that made you cry?

[papayahed]

Benji?


What movie can you watch over and over?

[Dark Muse]

I have to say Jaws, I just love that movie.

What is the most exotic pet you have, or had?

[Pompey Bum]

Five hermit crabs, one of which crunched up and ate the other four one night, while I slept the sleep of a kindergartener.

Would you rather eat a rat's brain or a dog's testes? (C'mon, c'mon, it's one or the other...)

[papayahed]

A dog's testes. They always seem to licking them.

What's the worst tasting thing you have ever eaten?

[Calidore]

My dad told me once that they tried brussels sprouts on me when I was very young, and his permanent definition of a nanosecond is the amount of time it stayed in my mouth. He recalls me getting good distance on it, too.

What's your favorite breakfast cereal?

[papayahed]

Count Chocula


If you could have free soup or free sandwiches for the rest of your life which would you choose?

[Dark Muse]

Definitely free sandwiches

Where is the farthest you have travelled from where you live?

[Calidore]

That's a tough one. I'll go with soup, because the best soups can be a lot more complex and expensive than the best sandwiches. So I'll do the cheaper and easier one myself.

If you could have a free lifetime subscription to one magazine, what would it be?

[Pompey Bum]

Where is the farthest you have travelled from where you live?

As of now, I live in two places on opposite ends of the earth, and I've traveled as far as possible from both of them without going into space.


If you could have a free lifetime subscription to one magazine, what would it be?

Oh, Ranger Rick, Fishing Facts, maybe Cat Fancy if it's not about something dirty. It's kind of hard to say.

What was the scariest moment of your life?

[Pendragon]

When the Genetic Bomb called "BiPolar", a gift from my absentee father, went off in 1994


Are you really serious about playing these games?

[Calidore]

Can't be too serious about games or they stop being fun.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, anyway?

[Pompey Bum]

The Shadow knows but he ain't saying.

According to Plutarch, the ship that Theseus used when he sailed to Crete to defeat the Minotaur was kept for centuries as a relic in Athens. As parts of the ship decayed, they were replaced. Eventually no original component survived. This, Plutarch says, excited debate in the philosophical schools about whether it was the same ship. Whether or not the story of Theseus has some kind of historicity, was the fully repaired ship the same one that the Athenians originally preserved?

[Clopin]

That's hard. I don't know. I tried to find a similar debate concerning really old, damaged paintings which are retouched until they no longer contain the same paint, applied by the same hand, but I wasn't sure how to search for it.

I would say that it's not the same ship, but it's a pretty convincing effigy, and it doesn't matter anyway.

Can the word effigy be applied to non human replications, or am I wrong in doing so? (is my question)

[Pompey Bum]

Damned Aristotelian! :)

I think most definitions will tell you that effigies are made to representations of (or maybe "especially of") people. But it doesn't matter in the case of the ship, because you could just say "reproduction."

One problem with your answer, Clopin, is that it begs the question: well, at what point did it stop being the same boat? When the first replacement was made? But ships are refitted all the time. When the last change was made? But what if it was only a splinter? At 51%? But what about 50.00000000000000001% or some smaller number? Isn't the answer necessarily arbitrary? A Platonist, on the other hand, would say that it's the same ship, because the ship is the idea of the ship rather than the material it happens to be made from at any given time. I think the problem of Theseus' ship exists today with the USS Constitution, terror of the Atlantic during the War of 1812, which has slowly but surely lost every original component.

Should boxing be outlawed?

[Clopin]

I would say at 100% replacement it becomes a reproduction of the original, sorry Plato. But I'm not sure or anything. I definitely wouldn't want to argue with Plato though, he'll slap you into a Socraric dialogue so fast people two thousand years hence will still be laughing at you.

Of course not. Neither should UFC or whatever other stupid thing people want to do to give each other concussions and permanent brain damage.

What's the best team sport sport out of baseball, American football, soccer, Canadian football, hockey and basketball.

[Pompey Bum]

Baseball, the proper metaphor for life.

If gladiators could be freely recruited (even if they were only in it because they were desperate for money), should gladiatorial combat to the death be made legal again?

[Clopin]

No, and the distinction between circus maximus and modern era blood sports may only be a difference of degree, but it's still an important difference.

Haha should hockey fights be banned? And I don't mean contact scraps, I mean fights where two guys just stop the game and have a fistfight for about thirty seconds.

[Pompey Bum]

I think they are banned, aren't they? Hockey players who do that should just be banned from the game the first time it happens. But baseball players should still be allowed to slide at the second baseman with their cleats up. It's a question of degree, right? ;-)

Should the British monarchy be abolished?

[Clopin]

Nah, you just get a penalty, but both teams do and it doesn't actually go to 4 on 4 so it's a token gesture.

I don't really care, unless the queen dies and we have to suffer William on our money. No thank you.

Proportional representation or first past the post? (speaking of England).

[Pompey Bum]

Well, I don't really feel qualified to be tell the British people how their democracy ought to work. My gut instinct would be to have first past the post elections, and then to run them off. Proportional elections do seem more representative on the whole, but from a practical view, they could give the crazies (Nazis, Stalinists, Maoists) more power than I would like to see them have. I guess I'm cautious about it, but not closed minded.

Little pretzels covered in white chocolate or Cheese Wiz?

[papayahed]

Wiz!!!!

What book should I read next?

[Pendragon]

Death Warmed Over - Kevin J Anderson (A Dan Shamble - Zombie Detective novel)

If you change something and realized it has made no difference, did you really change anything?

[papayahed]

Yes. you may not notice the affect.



where are you going on your next vacation?

[bounty]

I think I don't have traditional vacations but im hoping this summer for a day or two of canoeing or kayaking in central new York with an old friend from undergraduate days.

although, I would like to go to Ireland. rather, id like to be in Ireland--im not too keen on the "going/getting there" part.

if you had a chance to rewrite the ending of any one book or movie, how would you change it?

[Pendragon]

Every fairy tale would NOT end with "and they lived happily ever after!"

If you were offered a role in a movie, who would you like to play?

[bounty]

boy, too many choices! some historical figure, a loner who seeks justice on the behalf of others, a superhero, an explorer, a fatally flawed character in a romance, a brilliant but misunderstood fellow? and on and on...

I lean towards something/somebody on a quest or mission that involves comrades and succeeding with both brains and brawn. maybe Aragorn, or Odysseus.

on another hand---someone on a spiritual journey that involves a lot of soul searching is appealing too, like if pilgrim's progress were made into a movie.

would you rather walk the Appalachian trail, ride bikes coast to coast, paddle the Mississippi, or some other epic physical challenge?

[Pompey Bum]

Given those choices (and a younger me), I would rather take the river journey, though probably not along the Mississippi, which is too big and too industrial; maybe along the Saco River in Maine, which I did when I was a teenager. It was wilderness in those days. I hope it still is.

You can spend an all-expenses paid year soaking in the sun (and eating fine foods and wine) on the beaches of the Riviera or backpacking rough around the world with a three friends. But you can only do one. Which is it?

[Clopin]

Riviera right now probably since I've been sick pretty much constantly for the last six months and I don't feel up to the backpacking.

Would you rather be exceptionally gifted in the traits and manners of Dionysus, Appollo or Athena?

[Pompey Bum]

I hope you feel better, Clopin.

Hermes. I'm a ramblin' man.

Same question

[Clopin]

Tybb

And okay, Appollo.

Which BRIC nation would you rather be born in?

[Pompey Bum]

None, but okay, Brazil. Lots of gangsters, but sweet ladies.

[Clopin]

Come on, Russia all the way. Your question too.

[Pendragon]

Walked over 125 miles of the AT, it crosses the highway about five miles up the road. I would chose a section and leave a car at the other end. Most walked in one day was about 15 miles. Some parts I walked both ways, short sections of less than 6 miles. Two long stretches I walked part way in, marked my place, and then walked in from the other end to that place. About 12 miles both of them, six in and six out. Oh for those days again!

I am like Apollo.

Would you set off an a 15 mile hike with just the contents of a fanny pack and three bottles of water?

[Pompey Bum]

Come on, Russia all the way. Your question too.

Oh sorry. No, Russia's too cold. Amazing culture/history, though. But after living in the Far East for a bit, I must say my favorite country is still the American republic. Freedom is everthing.

As far as the hike goes, it depends on what I was hiking through, what was at the other end, and what was chasing me. So maybe.

Would you convert to your fiancée's religion if it would make her happy and if her family insisted?

[Clopin]

I would for sure, yes; doesn't really matter to me and I would happily observe the faith as well as long as I'm not expected to be REALLY devoted.

Would you ever become a priest/minister?

[Pompey Bum]

Only in the sense of the priesthood of every believer. I don't believe ordained clergy are necessary and I have little official use for them; same with churches (for me). Everyone is "in church" all the time as far as I'm concerned. Orthodoxies run by priests are highly problematic and, in my opinion, unnecessary and often very harmful.

Would you marry clergy from a religion you did not believe in?

[bounty]

a tough question, love is huge, but even as hopeful as I am, I cannot help but think the differences in worldviews would be likely insurmountable.

have you read some books that were better (or as good) as movies?

[Pompey Bum]

Um, yeah. Like all of them. :)

Would you marry someone you knew you wouldn't see for years afterwards?

[bounty]

hmm I think maybe you took my meaning oppositely pompey. have you read some books, and the movie versions were better?

I would say yes, but it depends on how many years and if there could be other communications in the interim.

who was your favorite james bond and your favorite bond movie?

[Clopin]

Craig and Casino Royale win by default for being the only Bond I've seen, so somebody else should give a real answer.

What's your favourite food?

[Pompey Bum]

The only Bond is Sean Connery, and the best movie is--maybe Thunderball? It's got the cutest girls, plus, what does the title mean? Absolutely nothing!

If you have a chance, here is a hilarious audio interview with John Barry, the composer who wrote the music for the early Bond films. Really, check it out.

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/04/133372739/remembering-james-bond-film-composer-john-barry

[Pendragon]

Hamburgers, to my shame. I need to lose weight!

If you were training to be a priest and the "Oath of Celibacy" came up, would you quit the training?

[Clopin]

Yes, but I would hope I had an idea about that before I started my training and wasted everyone's time.

Do you tend to vent your feelings or bottle them up?

[Pendragon]

Both. I have Bi-Polar2. When I am in manic phase, I vent. When I am depressed, I bottle things up.

Would you befriend someone with an incurable mental illness?

[farnoosh]

Yes. I always do :)

Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?

[Pompey Bum]

Yes and no. Fate is a process of universal interplay that, in effect, drives itself. That means we are in a world where almost anything could happen to us--including some really nasty things. But my belief is that there is a reason we are in such a place.

Would you be willing to sacrifice a significant amount of civil liberties if it meant a significant reduction in the risk of domestic terrorism?

[Clopin]

Well reducing the risk from near zero to slightly nearer zero isn't worth ceding anything, and hypothetically I always go for civil liberties. However If I had children whose lives were constantly being threatened by terrorist activities (say a bomb, in my town, every week) I would be more inclined to deal with email and phone tapping or whatever else they want to do to reduce the threat. Oh and my town has a population of around eight thousand, so one bomb a week would be pretty grim.

Anyway I say no except in the most unbelievably dire circumstances.

Would you support someone in public office (politician, president, chief of police, etc) acting illegally or outside the confines of the law if it meant they were genuinely able to do a better job?

[Pompey Bum]

Not unless I get to break the law because of my own incompetence, too.

If you were a cop, and you discovered that your mother had been a political radical who had committed murder long before you were born, and no one else knew, and the chances were virtually nil that anyone would ever know that you knew, and even she didn't know that you knew, would you have her arrested?

[Clopin]

Definitely not.

Police body cams, yes or no?

[Pompey Bum]

Yes. It protects all parties.

Affirmative action, yes or no?

[Clopin]

Big no.

And yeh body cams are a great idea, I don't understand the debate.

Are slippery slope arguments serviceable or is it always just fallacious reasoning?

[Iain Sparrow]

Big no.

And yeh body cams are a great idea, I don't understand the debate.

Are slippery slope arguments serviceable or is it always just fallacious reasoning?

Police officers should not wear body cams.
I'm really surprised there's seemingly so little debate on the matter; what of the privacy of those being arrested, and by law are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law? What of the privacy of witnesses being questioned, who may want to remain anonymous for various reasons, such as there own personal safety and threat of retaliation from the accused.

Body cams are a slippery slope, that inevitably leads to Global Warming.;)

Would you be willing to wear a body cam at work?

[Clopin]

The videos aren't going to be uploaded to YouTube or anything... There are 900'000 officers in the U.S so you're looking at over a million hours of footage (at least) every day. This isn't feasibly going to monitored by anyone and will exist as evidence in cases where it needs to be looked at; such as when lethal force has been used and there is a question as to whether it was legitimate self defense or otherwise justified or a gross use of excess force. It's important to know.

As for witnesses, this has already been solved with voice scramblers and... not showing their face, so that's a total non issue.

Innocent until proven guilty means you somehow can't be filmed? Okay, why?

And my job? Well actually I work in childcare and if there was some reason the public wanted body cams installed (for example if childcare workers were molesting or suspected of molesting their charges at an endemic rate) then I would go along with it. The comparison is pretty stupid though; the police are targeted for body cams over say, office workers, or teachers, because they carry guns and are authorized to KILL PEOPLE in extreme situations, which is totally unique to law enforcement.

How much popcorn is too much?

[Clopin]

Double post

[Iain Sparrow]

The videos aren't going to be uploaded to YouTube or anything... There are 900'000 officers in the U.S so you're looking at over a million hours of footage (at least) every day. This isn't feasibly going to monitored by anyone and will exist as evidence in cases where it needs to be looked at; such as when lethal force has been used and there is a question as to whether it was legitimate self defense or otherwise justified or a gross use of excess force. It's important to know.

As for witnesses, this has already been solved with voice scramblers and... not showing their face, so that's a total non issue.

Innocent until proven guilty means you somehow can't be filmed? Okay, why?

And my job? Well actually I work in childcare and if there was some reason the public wanted body cams installed (for example if childcare workers were molesting or suspected of molesting their charges at an endemic rate) then I would go along with it. The comparison is pretty stupid though; the police are targeted for body cams over say, office workers, or teachers, because they carry guns and are authorized to KILL PEOPLE in extreme situations, which is totally unique to law enforcement.

Really, you trust public servants to guard your privacy... are you insane?

Will the police have to tell everyone they encounter, or even pass by, that they are being recorded – with the intent that the recording may be used against them? What of filming inside an eyewitnesses house, it would be a breach of an innocent’s privacy. How long is the video retained, where and what government entity would manage the millions of hours of footage, who all has access, will 'Right to Information' laws apply?

And btw, "deadly force" is not unique to law enforcement.
Self defense laws, especially here in Florida, include deadly force... why not force everyone to wear body cams? Public safety is certainly more important than individual freedoms, isn't it?

[Clopin]

Uh huh, better to trust public servants to wield deadly force with little to no accountability right? Police body cams aren't so the police can institute a big brother state where they film the inside of your house (the horror), they are to protect individual freedoms in the face of excessive police violence, or to protect police officers from undue recriminations when suspected of using undue force, when the force was really justified.

Forcing everyone to wear a body cam at all times is not even close to analogous to having police officers wear them while on duty, performing their jobs as public servants who are given a very large amount of power, including the power to act with deadly force.

[Clopin]

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?81735-Police-Body-Cameras-y-n-(taken-from-ask-the-person-below-you-a-question)&p=1288778#post1288778

New thread

[bounty]

if I eat too much popcorn----somewhere just over a half a bag of the standard microwave popcorn size---I get a constricted feeling in my upper chest...

back to my earlier question---have you read some books that were better movies? (which ones?)

(and Daniel craig is my favorite bond)

[Calidore]

Harlan Coben's novel Tell No One was very much improved by the French film version. I didn't read the original of L.A. Confidential, but enjoyed the movie and have read opinions that the movie improved on the book. Ditto the film versions of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, though people go both ways on that one. I also enjoyed the movie of The Bridges of Madison County, and have never seen anyone claim that book is better (or even good).

And while it may be sacrilegious to many, I thought the Lord of the Rings movies worked better as movies than the novels did as novels. I certainly genuflect to Tolkien's astonishing depth of world-building, but page-turners they are not.

While I like Daniel Craig's Bond very much, I really have no problem with any of them. All except Lazenby were excellent actors, and I think he was perfectly fine but gets much worse than he deserves just because he followed Connery. I do wish Dalton's run hadn't been cut short, though, because I liked his gritty Bond very much, and would have liked to have seen him develop it over a few more films. License to Kill is still my favorite Bond movie.

Continuing the anti-snobbery line (one of my favorites): Have you ever seen a remake that you preferred over, or even liked just as much as, the original? (Three of mine: Sorcerer/The Wages of Fear, The Ring/Ringu, and The Grudge/Ju-On.)

[Clopin]

I prefer The Once and Future King to Malory's original Le Morte D'Arthur.

Aside from that, probably but I can't think of anything I've seen or read which is a remake off hand.

Life of leisure or life of accomplishment?

[Pendragon]

If I have a life of accomplishment, I'll be able to afford a life of leisure!


Travel or stay home?

[bounty]

ive not seen any old film adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac yet, but it would be hard pressed to top the steve martin/Darryl Hannah film Roxanne, which was just precious.

I thought the princess bride was a better movie than book, same with forrest gump, and the fault in our stars.

I like both---I live in a cozy place in the country and I love being here. but there is something gratifying and good about being in other places. that said, life doesn't really occur unless we at least "travel" some. so id have to say, it would depend on when you asked. right now id really enjoy some travel.

if you were going to be stranded on a desert island for the rest of your life, and could only have five foods (or small combinations, like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or macaroni and cheese, or a salad), which five foods would you choose? (assume you have fresh water)

[Pompey Bum]

Human flesh


I didn't read the original of L.A. Confidential, but enjoyed the movie and have read opinions that the movie improved on the book.

The book was better (in my opinion) but both were overrated.

I like the (original) Lord of the Flies movie was better than the book, though. And David Lean's Doctor Zhivago, while not as good as Pasternak's novel, is a great movie nevertheless. I liked The Ring, but never saw Ringu, so I can't compare them. I don't think it had the kind of budget that The Ring got, but that doesn't always matter where scares go. The whole zombie apocalypse genre was started by George Romero for on about a dollar and change!

Even at the height of their beauty, were Elizabeth Taylor or Doris Day even remotely attractive?

[Pendragon]

Liz maybe, not Doris, but, hey, different strokes for different folks.

Why does a perfectly good movie suddenly cut to a gratuitous sex scene that has nothing to do with advancing the plot?

[Dark Muse]

Two possible reasons

1. Sex Sells
2. The makers of the movie want an R rating

What is the most adventurous thing you have done?

[bounty]

it might have been hitch hiking around Europe for a couple of weeks during college years...

I started in England, went to Belgium from there, through Holland into Germany, up to Denmark, back down to Germany and then over to france.


what's the weirdest food combination you eat?

[Pompey Bum]

Porcupine-monkey stew. Rat if there was no porcupine to be had.

Okra: disgusting or slime-o-licious?

[bounty]

I grew okra in my garden a few years ago but didn't get to eat any. a sad okra story. I grew some last summer, and didn't get to eat any, another sad okra story...I might grow some again this summer.

I think ive only ever had it fried, so delicious minus the slime (more or less).

have you ever watched a movie (or movies) that have made you interested enough to go read the book that inspired it?

[Pompey Bum]

If you ate shellfish, you could try Louisiana gumbo. All the taste and none of the slime!

Yes, I saw Doctor Zhivago before I read Pasternak's book. As I said somewhere else, they are both excellent (the book a bit better) but fundanentally different somehow.

If you were diagnosed with lung cancer, with less than a year to live, would you tell your friends? (Family doesn't count).

[bounty]

maybe I could do the gumbo without the shellfish...smiles...I have a recipe for roasted okra that I was looking forward to trying before the sad okra stories ensued.

I read watership down (which is one of my favorite books), the hunger games, insurgent, the fault in our stars, and the princess bride, all after seeing the movies.

I can see not telling my friends, yet at the same time, they are all so busy with their married and parenting and work lives, that I think telling them might be really helpful in making it so that I could spend time with them before I pass on. so id probably tell.

what are your three all time favorite cartoon strips?

[Calidore]

Humor: Calvin & Hobbes, Mutts, and Zits (it kills me to leave out Peanuts--can I do four?)
Adventure serials: Milton Caniff's original Terry and the Pirates, Dick Tracy through the '50 or early '60s, and Alex Raymond's original Flash Gordon (though I could see Modesty Blaise replacing Flash Gordon maybe)

What was the first comic book you remember buying?

[Pendragon]

Hummm... My mother was anti-comic-book, but I bought a boxed set of paperbacks that followed the first adventures of Spiderman and The Hulk as I recall.

What is your darkest desire?

[Pompey Bum]

To use Kim Kardasian's *ss as a writing desk while she's standing up.

There, PD, that's got to make you smile. :)

If you could relive one year of your life (without being able to change anything--just to experience it again), which would it be? In other words, how old would you be?

[Clopin]

Six probably, I loved grade 1.

[Pompey Bum]

Okay, so in the absence of another question from Clopin, I'll ask: if you had to choose (you know, hypothetically) would you take a son or a daughter?

[Lykren]

Daughter, I'm a guy and I think sons and fathers tend to fight more often than daughters and fathers. Probably because men try to mold their sons into people like them, I guess.

What's your favorite artistic medium (as a consumer)? Speculate on the reason a little too.

[Clopin]

Son if I have to pick, I want both though.

Literature by far, I think it's the most personal and also very didactic. Then music, then a long gap before film and painting/drawing, then whatever else.

Would you rather be blind or deaf and dumb?

[Pompey Bum]

Well, maybe not surprisingly, the written word. It's because with writing, the actual art takes place somewhere between the writer, who is encoding a certain vision or meaning or aesthetic into language, and the reader, who is decoding the message in his or her own moment of experience. This happens with all art to some extent, but with writing-reading, the actual experience of art seems to happen much closer to the recipient. The relationship between writer and reader seems more interactive. This is why I don't enjoy books on tapes. To me, it feels like someone else is doing the decoding.

Deaf and dumb by far.

Would you read (and pay for) a book by a confessed and convicted serial killer?

[Lykren]

Phew hard one. Deaf and dumb because being blind would still be a bigger inconvenience in day to day life I think. Though I'd miss music hugely of course.

I like literature most 'cause you can pretty much half-sleep through any other medium and kind of claim to have at least experienced it. Reading is powered solely by your attention, though.

What's the most you've gotten away with, in any sense of the phrase, during the course of a salaried job? I'm asking because I'm 'working' as I type this, haha.

[Clopin]

If I wanted to read it, yes.

Would you grant Charles Manson parole?

[Lykren]

Whoops, sorry Pompey.

I don't think the book would be interesting so no.

Same question I just asked.

[Clopin]

Phew hard one. Deaf and dumb because being blind would still be a bigger inconvenience in day to day life I think. Though I'd miss music hugely of course.

I like literature most 'cause you can pretty much half-sleep through any other medium and kind of claim to have at least experienced it. Reading is powered solely by your attention, though.

What's the most you've gotten away with, in any sense of the phrase, during the course of a salaried job? I'm asking because I'm 'working' as I type this, haha.

As a telemarketer doing debt consolidation I used to make my quota of transfers and then piss around doing crossword puzzles all day... I was still pretty productive though so whatever.

That's it, in most of my jobs you're always sort of watched.

[Pompey Bum]

What's the most you've gotten away with, in any sense of the phrase, during the course of a salaried job? I'm asking because I'm 'working' as I type this, haha.

There are things that happened in the in the early 80s that ought to stay there. Let's just leave it at that. :)

No parole for Manson.

Should those teachers who helped their kids cheat on standardized tests really have gotten 20 years for racketeering?

[Clopin]

Wait what? Twenty years? No... that's insane.

Execution for politicians who betray the public and for white collar criminals?

[Pompey Bum]

Yeah, it just happened in Georgia. With no possibility of parole (I think). And of our media's attitude is, now that'll teach 'em! Completely nuts.

Nay--but they're the one's who need long jail terms.

Going to a hockey game on a first date?

[Lykren]

Definitely not.

From the title of the book whose author I am contacting on behalf of the bookstore I work at: What makes you feel loved?

[Clopin]

Tsk, they need to be strung up.

I would, I'm not a giant hockey fan but it's the only sport where I can watch an entire game and not be bored.

Execution ever, for any reason?

[Clopin]

Definitely not.

From the title of the book whose author I am contacting on behalf of the bookstore I work at: What makes you feel loved?

Cuddling
U
D
D
L
I
N
G

[Lykren]

No - and since when did this turn into the aye or nay thread?

Same question I just asked, haha.

EDIT: nvm answered. Me too.

[Clopin]

Getting the threads confused is a tradition of the forum games.

How come no capital punishment?

[Pompey Bum]

Oh it's probably because I screwed up somewhere.

Looking at the road we've walked and our lifelong journey together makes me feel loved.

With the right lady, a hockey game might be okay. And it gets things physical from the start.

Do you have any secrets you would never tell another person, no matter how close they were to you? (I'm not asking for the secret).

[Clopin]

Secrets? No. Unpleasantries about myself I don't need to burden anyone with? Yes, probably.

How much (on a scale of 1-10) would you recommend marriage? If whoever answers this is not married, how much do you want to get married?

[Lykren]

Not married, 8 or 9 out of 10 want to.

I said, because killing's mean! EDIT: thought I typed that somewhere, guess not.

Single most pleasurable moment so far?

[Pompey Bum]

Marriage is not for everyone. If you decide to get married, make sure you love each other and that you have a financial plan. Getting along with one another's families is a big plus, but not absolutely necessary (as the other two are). Be prepared to sacrifice and work like hell. I also wouldn't do it if you didn't see it as a fairly permanent arrangement. There are cases where marriages need to end, but don't go in with a "what the hell, we can always get divorced" kind of attitude. And hold on with all your might during the storms.

So, I dunno, an 8?

My most pleasurable moment is none of your business! :)

Your scariest moment?

[Clopin]

I've never had any BIG moments, like winning a huge sporting event, or big chess tournament... I've never even graduated from anything. I guess I would have to say any Christmas from about five to eight.

Scariest is almost being run over when I was like eight.

Are divorce courts fair to both parties?

[Pompey Bum]

Probably not, but I hear a lot of it depends on the judge. But don't get divorced. You might as well flush your paycheck down the toilet for the rest of your life. Just be prepared to stick with someone through thick and thin. And keep your pecker in your pocket where other women are concerned. You know, just be smart.

How many times have you been knocked unconscious by some kind of trauma?

[Lykren]

Never by trauma but once I had a seizure after overdosing on antidepressants. I was at work in the kids room and I collapsed and started shaking and freaked out the little guy nearby :(

You're scaring me re: marriage. Sounds hard.

Weirdest music you've enjoyed?

[Clopin]

I like drone a lot so maybe Earth 2. Really weird music doesn't usually do it for me.

Haha and I don't want marriage but do want kids, oh well.

Would you ever be unfaithful in a relationship?

[Lykren]

I doubt it, even if I was tempted I'd hold back for fear of losing what I've got.

Have you ever been unfaithful? Be honest!

[Clopin]

Yeh but it wasn't really a relationship and I was fourteen the first time and sixteen the second. I planned on being unfaithful once but ended up not doing it, more because it didn't seem likely to happen or convenient, than out of moral consideration though.

Are you particularly patriotic?

[Lykren]

No. I don't understand loyalty or love for a country.

Are sunglasses cool?

[Lykren]

Secrets? No. Unpleasantries about myself I don't need to burden anyone with? Yes, probably.

I need to learn to embrace this attitude.

[Clopin]

Pinko traitor.

Sunglasses are not cool but they can be practical.

When you wear sunglasses do you find yourself looking at cleavage

More
Less
Unaffected

?

[Lykren]

I never wear them but I would imagine more.

Do all events have a cause?

[Pendragon]

Cause has effect

Do mocking birds sing anything original?

[Lykren]

Not really an answer... aight, fine.

Yes but mockingly.

Favorite Beethoven piece? If you don't listen to Beethoven you must listen to multiple recordings of all his middle and late works plus the Eroica, then come back and tell us.

[Clopin]

Ninth, sorry for being cliche.

Would you be up for some heavy s&m if your partner wanted to?

[Lykren]

Sheep, all true aficionados know that the Große Fuge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjUh11EPGcM) is where it's at.

How heavy is heavy? Actually scratch that just no.

Same question.

[Dark Muse]

It does depend on just how heavy, I am open to some bondage and s&m but I have my limits.

Are you for or against legalizing pot?

[Lykren]

For because I like it, no other real reason.

Do you agree with Erwin Schrödinger's statement that:

"The sensation of color cannot be accounted for by the physicist's objective picture of light-waves. Could the physiologist account for it, if he had fuller knowledge than he has of the processes in the retina and the nervous processes set up by them in the optical nerve bundles and in the brain? I do not think so."

[Iain Sparrow]

I do not agree.
How our eyes determine color and relay that information to the brain isn't horribly complicated.

What's the one thing your eyes have seen, that you wish you could forget?

[bounty]

I had a friend once say to me "the ability to forget is as important as the ability to remember." I find a lot of truth in that.

I wouldn't say any "one thing" specific, but rather in general, anything where suffering, and/or great loss have occurred. perhaps it is enough that we are left with the impression of it on our souls as opposed to having to relive it in our mind's eyes.

whats the funniest book you have read?

[Pompey Bum]

Never by trauma but once I had a seizure after overdosing on antidepressants. I was at work in the kids room and I collapsed and started shaking and freaked out the little guy nearby :(

You're scaring me re: marriage.

Jesus, Lykren, I'm scaring you? Glad you made it through okay. Take care of yourself, man.

I'm with Clopin: 9th Symphony, chiche or otherwise. It's like looking into the face of God.

And no s&m/b&d for me. It's about the least erotic thing I can imagine. Granted, tastes differ, and I don't care what consenting adults do. But no, not for me (although not a few women asked for it when I was single).

The funniest literary fiction I've ever read was Straight Man by Richard Russo. Nobody's Fool and The Risk Pool had their moments, too, and were both better books. But all were fun.

What is the most boring book you've ever read?

[bounty]

my funniest books all belong to Patrick McManus, a non-fiction writer who I suspect stretches the truth quite a bit for comedic purposes. ive read all his books and they make me laugh right out loud.

the boring book question is close to my answer for how many books have you started but not finished.

the competition would be between moby dick, a catcher in the rye (both of which I finished), mrs Dalloway, a small town in Germany, the accidental tourist, and zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. maybe a 6-way tie?

what was particular discouraging to me about moby dick was, high seas adventures are one of my favorite story sources, and moby dick could have been that (a high sea adventure), but it absolutely was not.

inspiration for the next question then: have you read some classics that left you wondering, how on earth is this considered a classic?

[Pompey Bum]

Not really. I've had that problem with some modern books by supposedly good writers, but classics seldom let me down.

Have you ever been near death, and aware that you were near death? I don't mean have you ever had a "near death experience." I mean have you ever had an experience in which you said, in effect, "Okay, this is as far as this story goes: I'm not getting out of this one alive."

[Lykren]

I have a fondness for Beethoven's 7th meself.

Yes, and it was the same incident that caused the seizure. I had to go to the hospital for a few days, but luckily no permanent damage, though I did have back pain for a year after.

Another close shave was when I was 12 and got separated from my dad while hiking. I got picked up by a helicopter!

Are you ever troubled by seemingly highly abstract philosophical questions?

[Pompey Bum]

Yikes! I've had some close calls, too; one more or less a miracle. Anyway, glad we met, Lykren. :)

No, I'm not troubled by abstract philosophical questions. The best ones are like good mysteries--even if some don't have solutions.

Do you enjoy abstract expressionism in painting less that art with more recognizable subjects?

[Lykren]

I'm glad we met too :)

Yes but don't tell Stluke! I love Turner's abstract stuff though.

In the same vein, what are a few works of art (any mediums) that for you are the limit beyond which lies the inaccessible? That is, what's the farthest you'll venture into the avant garde before calling it quits?

[Pompey Bum]

It's hard to say. There is a Jackson Pollack at the Boston MFA called "Troubled Queen" that I am very fond of. But it's probably at my limit for real appreciation. (I don't think I would have cared for "Totally Bonkers Queen"). But a limit for appreciation is not the same as a limit for tolerance. I smile patiently a lot of conceptual art without really having much use for it. A few years ago, an art student walked through an airport with a fake bomb strapped to her (I think it was) chest as a conceptual art project. That crossed a line for me.

Should Stalinist-era art be conserved?

[Lykren]

Why not, maybe we'll come to like some of it.

I have a friend who is sexually aroused by really avant garde theater and installation pieces.

Do you think science is approaching the truth?

[Pike Bishop]

Science is always approaching the physical truth and always proving itself insufficient for determining ethical and aesthetic truth.

What will be the next new genre of literature? Will it build on or break away from postmodern literature?

[Lykren]

I think it'll confuse (purposefully) the notions of building on and breaking away with former traditions. Though maybe that's just called postmodernism. I don't know, the label 'postmodernism' is either too vague or I really don't get it.

If science is always approaching the physical truth, but never, by implication, reaching it, how can we say it's even approaching it? Like what is the reference point it is approaching but never reaching.

[Clopin]

I... don't know?

Given the enormous market demand when do you think we will see safe and reliable products, treatments or surgeries to;

1. Enlarge penises
2. Regrow hair
3. Lose weight without dieting or exercising

?

[Lykren]

I don't know either, but I want to. I think its approach is an illusion but I would waver if you pinned me down.

1. 2100
2. 2040
3. 2025

Is androgyny cool or sexy?

[North Star]

We can never say that science has 'reached its goal', but when scientists find new things, our scientific knowledge increases. The reference point would be a state where mankind knows everything about all matter that makes up our universe, how it interacts, and how worlds and living things have developed, and exactly how they work. And what was before the Big Bang. Oh, and man will have mastered cold fusion ;)

What will happen to popular and art music in the next 20 years?



E: No.

[Lykren]

Nothing much, besides ceaseless rapid change.

Do you listen to music while reading?

[Pike Bishop]

I think it'll confuse (purposefully) the notions of building on and breaking away with former traditions. Though maybe that's just called postmodernism. I don't know, the label 'postmodernism' is either too vague or I really don't get it.

If science is always approaching the physical truth, but never, by implication, reaching it, how can we say it's even approaching it? Like what is the reference point it is approaching but never reaching.

We can say we're approaching it because the universe is spatially and temporally finite and we learn more about that finitude every day...bit by bit it erases the Kantian sublime. As to postmodernism; it's not a vague concept, though it is often misunderstood. It's a branch of modernist literature that particularly resists narrative, character, or thematic closure. An excellent Top Ten Primer would be:

Gravity's Rainbow, New York Trilogy, Beloved, Neuromancer, Barthelme's The Dead Father, McCarthy's The Crossing, O'Connor's The Violent Bear It Away, Ozick's The Messiah of Stockholm, Stephenson's Snow Crash, and most Robbe-Grillet novels.

If you want to read scholarly texts on the subject: McHale's Postmodernist Fiction, and Constructing Postmodernism, as well as Linda Hutcheon's A Poetics of Postmodernism are all excellent.

[Pike Bishop]

Nothing much, besides ceaseless rapid change.

Do you listen to music while reading?

All the time

What is the best film adaptation of a novel you have enjoyed?

[Lykren]

You are clearly more learned than I. But I still don't see how 'resists closure' is not part of a larger movement to merely 're-define closure.' That is, wouldn't the patterns of non-closure become a form of closure? It seems to me it is the world that resists closure, and we who struggle to adapt.


the universe is spatially and temporally finite

Sorry to ask dumb questions, but how can one know this?

edit: Solaris, Tarkovsky's version.

[North Star]

Nothing much, besides ceaseless rapid change.

Do you listen to music while reading?
Yes, although it depends on what I'm reading - and what I'm listening. If either requires more concentration, then no.

[Pike Bishop]

You are clearly more learned than I. But I still don't see how 'resists closure' is not part of a larger movement to merely 're-define closure.' That is, wouldn't the patterns of non-closure become a form of closure? It seems to me it is the world that resists closure, and we who struggle to adapt.


No, resisting closure is not re-defining closure or else everything would become closure and nothing closure. The term would become redundant and useless.

[North Star]

We can say we're approaching it because the universe is spatially and temporally finite and we learn more about that finitude every day...bit by bit it erases the Kantian sublime.

Except space is expanding. But, in any case, the universe isn't writing any new laws.

[Lykren]

No, resisting closure is not re-defining closure or else everything would become closure and nothing closure. The term would become redundant and useless.

I think I was unclear, sorry. I meant, regardless of what the artist perceives their intent to be, aren't they subject to an impulse towards order and finality? So that the apparent tendency to reject closure is rather an unconscious decision to follow (adapt to) the world's curve and change?

[Lykren]

the universe isn't writing any new laws.

Why rule this out?

[North Star]

Why rule this out?
A different universe might have different laws, if the cyclic model is true, and there will be infinite big crunches/bangs, but I highly doubt that there could be a world where the conservation laws don't apply.

What's the last thing you want to hear before dying?

[Pike Bishop]

We may discover new rules of the universe, but for the universe to re-write rules itself, it would have to alter the nature of its matter and energy. As North Star noted, the laws of thermodynamics, as well as the laws of entropy, counter the possibility. So, the universe "writing new laws" is a nice concept for coffee-house metaphysics, but it has no scientific basis, whatsoever.

[NikolaiI]

The last thing I'd want to hear before dying would be. . . "With a purple umbrella"

Nah, just kidding but I don't know -- I think it wouldn't matter since I was about to leave anyway.

Where would you hide your gold, if you were a leprechaun?

[Lykren]

In an abandoned gold mine? Like Calvin hiding in the bathtub so his mother can't give him a bath. Kind of.

Why does using a Q-tip feel so good?

[NikolaiI]

Nice. . . I wonder if anyone here's ever been to an abandoned gold mine. . .

Hm... I think it feels good because. . . okay - definitely because we have fond memories associated with it. Also feels comfortable. . .

Same question!.

[bounty]

simple pleasures in life---lying down when youre tired, eating when youre hungry, drinking when youre thirsty, getting dry when youre wet, getting cool when youre hot, getting warm when youre cold, voiding your bladder when its full---and unclogging things that are clogged.

what's your favorite monty python scene from holy grail?

[Pike Bishop]

The part when God tells Arthur his plan about the Holy Grail, Arthur responds "Good idea, Lord," and God--incensed by Arthur's hubris--snorts "of course it is." If I hear the elderberries scene quoted once more...I will never see the movie again.

Are video games art?...why or why not?

[Pendragon]

Yes. They take a lot of skill in digital painting and computer graphics and CGI

Did you ever play "Pong"?

[Calidore]

Sadly, I am that old. Darn fun it was, too.

Looking forward to the NFL draft?

[bounty]

theres a funny commercial for something, I cant remember what even---with andy Roddick playing pong in tennis.

I think even when I was younger and paid more attention to the nfl, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the draft. so no for me.

of all the remakes/re-writes of Sherlock holmes, both in tv, movies and books, which have you enjoyed the most? or found the most innovative? or refreshing? or true to the original? or some other question(s) ive not asked...smiles...

[Pompey Bum]

None has been true to the original with the possible exception of a BBC radio version I heard back in the 1970s. Unfortunately I can find no trace of it now.

Did Oswald act alone?

[Lykren]

Jah, Occam's Razor, also that's what my dad told me.

Are there wrong reasons for loving someone?

[Pompey Bum]

If you mean romantic love, then yes, lots of them.

Are erotic and spiritual love really different aspects of the same thing?

[Pike Bishop]

There's a litany of wrong reasons for loving someone: shallowness, residual need from psychological trauma, adolescent admiration for transgressive behavior, need of or desire for money, narcissistic appreciation for their subjugating themselves, and many more. Love can be a dark fun house.

What musical genre will replace Hip-Hop as the favorite of America's youth?

[Pompey Bum]

If you mean romantic love, then yes, lots of them.

Are erotic and spiritual love really different aspects of the same thing?

[Lykren]

If you mean romantic love, then yes, lots of them.

Are erotic and spiritual love really different aspects of the same thing?

Hopefully.

re: new music, hardcore noise. That's what my hipster friends like, anyways.

what kind of bagel do you like?

[Pompey Bum]

Hopefully.

How religious! ;-)

Raisin cinnamon

Same question

[bounty]

hmm, I bet that's archived somewhere---I like the hunt, maybe i'll take that up...

ive enjoyed benedict cumberbatch as holmes...and grudgingly enough, even Robert downey jr.

larry millet, who was a journalist for the st paul pioneer press, brings Sherlock holmes over to Minnesota for a number of adventures in a handful of books. and laurie king (spoiler alert!) does a really far out thing and marries holmes to a teenage girl named mary Russell, and they subsequently find themselves involved in a number of adventures. its interesting to consider the question of fidelity to canonicity as compared to artistic license (maybe that can be a question sometime soon---i have one in mind actually!)

i don't know enough to say definitively about Oswald, so i think my answer might be disappointing from a content perspective...but from what i can tell, id lean towards not alone. the whole "there had to have been a second spitter" Seinfeld episode you know.


one of my very favorite books is tom brown's schooldays, a 19th century English children's literature book. in that book, there's a villainous character named flashman. many decades later in our lifetime, an author named George macdonald fraser resurrected flashman and wrote a handful of books about his adventures.

i like the vince Flynn novels, and ive developed a small literary crush on one of the characters, Irene kennedy. vince Flynn's deceased now but i find myself wondering is Irene kennedy would have been worthy of her own books. i think tom Clancy did a similar thing when he found out how popular john clark was becoming.

have you ever read something that had a character in it that you wish would appear in his own book? or in fact that some later author did indeed do just that?

[bounty]

oh man i am sooooooo slow!

i love all bagels, they are my friends. but im partial to the everything bagels, or the onion ones.

[Pompey Bum]

Yes, I've read a few of the Flashman novels; in fact, I was just thinking about the character. ;-)

Maybe Mycroft Holmes. I always wished he had a bigger role in the Doyle stories.

Would you rather have go to a three hour concert or eat a three hour gourmet breakfast?

[Lykren]

Concert for sure. It might be something cool like Mahler. I can't handle that much food, in any case.

Does art become dated after a certain period, regardless of how good it is? Does the skill of the artificer produce longer or shorter lasting works? How does all this stuff work?

[Pike Bishop]

You claimed "artworks don't respect dictionaries." So. according to you, nobody can call art "dated," or "good," since both of those words are in dictionaries. So, if we followed your claim, your question would be pointless. We couldn't say whether art is dated or good.

Has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame unfairly ignored Hip-Hop artists?

[Pompey Bum]

Does art become dated after a certain period, regardless of how good it is? Does the skill of the artificer produce longer or shorter lasting works? How does all this stuff work?

Yes, values and perspectives can change dramatically over time. It has to do with the narrowness of the human mind at any given point in comparison to the relative vastness of the historic experience.

Can you really ever be friends with an ex-lover?

[Lykren]

It has to do with the narrowness of the human mind at any given point in comparison to the relative vastness of the historic experience.

Yeah, that makes sense to me. I like the way you put it.

As for your question, I have no idea - someone else should answer!

[Pompey Bum]

Aw! :( (The answer is no).

Should the US have mandatory military service for young people, as in Israel and Taiwan?

[Lykren]

(The answer is no)

How confusing! Why do you think this is?

No, no mandatory anything past literacy and basic math, at least far as regulating large swaths of people's lives goes.

I'm working at my bookstore right now; what music should I play next (it's coming through my laptop and I have a lot of classical music)?

[Pompey Bum]

Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols

If you found a worm in an apple, would you still eat the part that didn't have the worm?

[Lykren]

Never Mind the Bollacks Here's the Sex Pistols

If you found a worm in an apple, would you still eat the part that didn't have the worm?

Haha, no seriously! I don't even have that album on my computer.

Yes, though I might feel a little creeped out.

[Pompey Bum]

Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis?

If you were spending a few days alone in a remote cabin, would you still close the bathroom door when you showered?

[Clopin]

If you mean romantic love, then yes, lots of them.

Are erotic and spiritual love really different aspects of the same thing?

No, they aren't even close.

And no friends with ex lovers (at least it hasn't worked for me).

And no to eating the apple.

Would you send back food at a restaurant if you didn't think it was very good?

[Pompey Bum]

Sure, but I'd be discreet about it. I hate it when people try to show off by bullying food staff.

Total elimination of tipping.

[Lykren]

Yes and raise the minimum wage accordingly.

Blue ink?

[Clopin]

Aye... the rest of the world has it right on this one.

Awhile ago I was at a bar with some friends and I ordered one drink and I think my girlfriend and her friend ordered one, anyway after I got my drink (a beer, she handed it to me) and was walking away the bartender said "hey you know, it really helps to tip your bartender" and I said "no thanks" and she refused to serve me after, though there were other bars in the club.

Waiters and waitresses also make way way too much money, especially here in Banff where it is absolutely not uncommon for them to bring home $300 or $400+ in a night.

So yes, get rid of it, pay them $15 an hour or something normal and raise food prices 5%.

Thomas Mann?

[Pike Bishop]

In America, waitressing is the number one job for single mothers, and very few of them make $4-500 dollars a night, so their children live on their tips.

As to Thomas Mann: he's ok; I'd take Goethe or Sebald over him, tough guy.

Reality television?

[Clopin]

In America, waitressing is the number one job for single mothers, and very few of them make $4-500 dollars a night, so their children live on their tips.

As to Thomas Mann: he's ok; I'd take Goethe or Sebald over him, tough guy.

Reality television?

What do I care? People are going to be poor and work **** jobs no matter how much money you throw at them. Single mothers also aren't sacred.

Nay.

Ricky Gervais?

[Pompey Bum]

Thomas Mann?

Aye.

I completely agree about getting tipping. I personally know Taiwan Chinese who have opened restaurants in the US, who laugh themselves silly that Americans want to give them money for nothing.

Football for elementary students?

[Lykren]

Nay on Ricky Gervais, nay on football for the kiddies.

Video gaming: a sport?

[Pike Bishop]

What do I care? People are going to be poor and work **** jobs no matter how much money you throw at them. Single mothers also aren't sacred.

Nay.

Ricky Gervais?
Wow, you're quite the classy, compassionate guy. "Single mothers aren't sacred." My lord, I'm going to have to remember that jewel.

Yay to The Office Ricky Gervais; no to the post-Office Gervais...and video gaming is not a sport

Bill Maher?

[Clopin]

Aye, an esport at least, and they command pretty huge followings and viewership, especially in Korea.

Football shouldn't be in elementary school, no contact sport should be and none should be mandatory. One concussion is too many.

Do you watch/enjoy UFC?

[Clopin]

Wow, you're quite the classy, compassionate guy. "Single mothers aren't sacred." My lord, I'm going to have to remember that jewel.

Yay to The Office Ricky Gervais; no to the post-Office Gervais...and video gaming is not a sport

Bill Maher?

They aren't, and neither are children while we're at it.

[Pike Bishop]

They aren't, and neither are children while we're at it.

Yeah, I get it, you're callous and cool; It's all very impressive. I'm sure you'll never need compassion yourself, so don't worry about it.

Bill Maher?

[Lykren]

Aye, an export at least, and they command pretty huge followings and viewership, especially in Korea.

Football shouldn't be in elementary school, no contact sport should be and none should be mandatory. One concussion is too many.

Do you watch/enjoy UFC?

No.

Is chauvinism sensible?

[Clopin]

Yeah, I get it, you're callous and cool; It's all very impressive. I'm sure you'll never need compassion yourself, so don't worry about it.

Bill Maher?

Fine then... children and single mothers are sacred for... reasons, right?

[Pike Bishop]

It' not a matter of them being sacred, it's a matter of your dismissive, callous statement negating the fact they are the most vulnerable, most needy members of our society. If you weren't so wrapped up in your being impressed with your own callousness, you would have grasped that.

[Clopin]

It' not a matter of them being sacred, it's a matter of your dismissive, callous statement negating the fact they are the most vulnerable, most needy members of our society. If you weren't so wrapped up in your being impressed with your own callousness, you would have grasped that.

Vulnerable because of their own decisions. They can work at Walmart, why am I supposed to care? And why are single mothers more vulnerable than the homeless? I am so sick of hearing about single mothers.

[Pike Bishop]

Of course you are, you're callous and lacking in compassion for those less fortunate than you. And if you actually blame them for all of their difficult situations, you're as deluded as you are unsympathetic. I myself have no time for people who think like you. So, congratulations, you get to be the seventh and final--for a while at least--member of my ignore list. Ciao, kid.

[Clopin]

Of course you are, you're callous and lacking in compassion for those less fortunate than you. And if you actually blame them for all of their difficult situations, you're as deluded as you are unsympathetic. I myself have no time for people who think like you. So, congratulations, you get to be the seventh and final--for a while at least--member of my ignore list. Ciao, kid.

There are billions of people less fortunate than me who are not single mothers. Why do single mothers get this special privilege of consideration?

And cya.

[Lykren]

Yo... is chauvinism (in the sense of opening doors for women more than men, little favors) sensible?

[Clopin]

Yes, provided people stop whacking me about the head with the male privilege card.

Should all education be entirely equal so that everyone of all socio-economic backgrounds are on the same level? No homeschool, no private schools, no grammar schools, etc?

[Lykren]

I'm confused, how does eliminating every form of education make education equal?

[North Star]

Yes, provided people stop whacking me about the head with the male privilege card.

Should all education be entirely equal so that everyone of all socio-economic backgrounds are on the same level? No homeschool, no private schools, no grammar schools, etc?
All education should be available for free, possibly supplemented with private schools.

If you had a week's holiday now and a thousand dollars, what would you do?

[Lykren]

Panic, most likely: too many options.

Do outside forces influence a person's place in life, or is it all up to us?

[Lykren]

Yes, provided people stop whacking me about the head with the male privilege card.

whack whack

[North Star]

Panic, most likely: too many options.

Do outside forces influence a person's place in life, or is it all up to us?
If you ever find yourself in that situation, I will happily help to spend the money so that you don't need to panic ;)

Of course outside forces influence a person's place in life, otherwise we'd all be rich and idle.

Would you rather live in London or Florence?

[Lykren]

Florence, for the opportunity to learn a language.

If we were all idle, and our fate was up to us, wouldn't we be poor?

Kyoto or Taipei?

[Pompey Bum]

Well, I do live in Taipei, although I'm not there at the moment. Kyoto is a far more beautiful city, but I like the weird more-Chinese-than-the-Chinese culture on "the Rock"--plus the prettiest girls and best food on the planet. It's not for everyone, though. I'd rather live in Taipei (except in August) but I think Kyoto is a better bet for a holiday.

Will Taiwan rejoin mainland China in the next 30 years?

[Lykren]

I don't think so? Your guess is going to be way more informed than mine though.

In a text, when you encounter a reference to another text, or something that involves particularly specialized knowledge, what effect does it have for you? Would you describe that act of reference as an aesthetic decision on the author's part?

[bounty]

I think by the time I get this out, someone else might have replied and i'll be behind the curve!

just today I was looking through a little book I have called the quotable runner. its a collection of quotes about running, often times by famous/world class runners themselves, or the people who coached them. one of the odd quotes is from a fellow named jumbo Elliot, who was the coach at one time of villanova, and he said "live your life like a clock."

just a little while later, I started the sequel to a very well acclaimed cult classic, "once a runner", called "again to carthage." in the book, these two (fictional) world class athletes are out for a run, one facing the disappointment of just having won the silver medal at the Olympics and wondering what he was going to do with his life now, and the other, a former gold medalist, told him "live your life like a clock"

I got this wonderful warm fuzzy...and smiled all over.

and id say yes...and in this case, one that added legitimacy to the story---its as if Quinton Cassidy and bruce denton (the two runners in question) are real characters, I mean, afterall, they are talking about real things and people we know.

im not sure if that's what you were going for lykren?

when screen writers and producers of movies add characters or story lines that aren't in the original novel sources, do you like that? can you go with the flow? or does it somehow ruin the experience?

[Pompey Bum]

No, a movie is a director's artistic vision. It's fine.

And I wish I knew the future of "the other China," Lykren. One of the things I'm doing at the moment is trying make arrangements if I ever had to get out fast.

Will the United States and China go to war in the 21st century?

[Lykren]

I suppose I wouldn't be surprised; but I'm not really paying attention to whatever signs there may be.

Do you ever purposefully starve yourself so that when you do eat, it tastes great?

[Pendragon]

No. I'll die fat and happy

Does anyone realize that a lot of these questions fall into the realm of "politics" and the admin and moderators have forbidden "politics"?

[Lykren]

I thought of that, yeah. They have yet to speak up, though...

What to do when all the beautiful things in life just hurt you?:bawling:

[Pike Bishop]

It's never happened. Most of the beautiful things in my life never hurt me. And if they do, it usually just part of what comes with their territories, as when I wipe out when snowboarding or surfing, or when my wife laughs at my singing. It's all good.

Do you amend your taste or aesthetic preferences to adapt to what you think others will consider cultured and/or sophisticated?

[Clopin]

Sometimes, yes, with people who I am in awe of, or whose taste I really respect. In general, no.

Lykren I have never hurt you ;)

What makes The Great Gatsby a masterpiece?

[Lykren]

Aw. Of course not.

You know it better than I. I haven't read it since high school, but alongside the juxtaposition of a lush prose style fraught with romantic, delicate metaphors and a cynical depiction of material (as opposed to the prose's spiritual) excess, there is as you once pointed out to me, the way Fitzgerald tangles the notions of truth and falsehood. Luv dem paradoxes.

Will culture eventually be free? Or is that a utopian ideal promulgated by the advent of the internet, but ultimately impractical?

[North Star]

Never completely - owning a Rembrandt for example. But viewing art reproduced might be, and what with the development of monitors, the difference between viewing the actual artwork and seeing it on screen will diminish.

Can professional artists exist in an environment where art is free?

[Pompey Bum]

No, they need to make at least as much as waiters. :)

If a psychotic takes himself off his meds, then murders someone he hated in the first place, would he be not guilty by reason of insanity?

[bounty]

holy cow what a conundrum! if that's not a law and order episode waiting to happen! I suspect there are indeed cases like that out there. I lean towards thinking what you are suggesting would have to be the case. it seems though there must be some other distinction out there, "insane, but still guilty?"

during the recent sony hacking event, some emails were uncovered bandying about the idea of a black james bond. it caused all sorts of hubbub on the internet with people talking about it and disagreeing over it. so this kinda speaks to the issue of canonicity vs artistic license. (I hope lots of folks answer this one).

what would your reaction be to the idea of, or the reality of, a black james bond?

[Pike Bishop]

It would depend on the Black James Bond, if it were Idris Elba, I'd be thrilled. If it were Chris Rock, not so much.

Would you think less of a work of art just because it was extremely popular?

[Pompey Bum]

what would your reaction be to the idea of, or the reality of, a black james bond?

There's nothing wrong with the idea. I think people are silly to fuss over it. I think that to the current generation, M is a woman (and Dame Judy Dench, no less). That seems weird to me, growing up with a clear Idea of a male M, but I guess the sky didn't fall in. Somehow I suspect that Hollywood would screw it up, but in principle, a black James Bond would be fine.

Would you purchase a hand gun and teach yourself to shoot if you were convinced it was the only way to protect yourself and your family?

[North Star]

what would your reaction be to the idea of, or the reality of, a black james bond?

My reaction to it is: Yes! I can't wait to see Idris Elba play the character.

Would you think less of a work of art just because it was extremely popular?
No.


Would you purchase a hand gun and teach yourself to shoot if you were convinced it was the only way to protect yourself and your family?
I doubt that I would be convinced, but of course I would if I thought it would be the only way.

As to the earlier question, they'd be not guilty by reason of insanity, and locked away in a mental asylum for an indefinite time.

Who are your favourite contemporary poets?

[Pompey Bum]

YesNo and _Joe_

Should the US make common cause with Putin and Assad in opposing ISIS?

[bounty]

I think the fuss grew out of, first, people were saying, out of fidelity to fleming, that you simply just cant have a black james bond. (it would be interesting to see how those same people reacted to the female m) and then the response to that created the fuss when the original people were accused of racism. I think its a neat topic. its interesting too that in the last bond (spoiler alert!), they killed off judi dench and the next m is male.

I think there is something to be said for fidelity, and something to be said for experimentation and fictional stretching. the tension between the two is fun to figure out. ive not given the cbs show "elementary" a viewing yet, with lucy lui as Watson.


hmm, a good question...I am very pro 2nd amendement but I personally don't like guns. I think I would say yes, but id more than likely go with a shotgun than a handgun (if that doesn't change the spirit of the question).

lemme just pass your question along to the next fellow..."Would you purchase a hand gun and teach yourself to shoot if you were convinced it was the only way to protect yourself and your family?"

[Pike Bishop]

Firstly, as to fidelity, the Bond film series abandoned fidelity the moment it left the 60's, so having a Black James Bond is no more untrue to the novels than having a Bond film set in 2015. As to many of the critics of Elba, many--if not most of the criticisms--of Elba were racist, as were the criticisms of Michal B. Jordan for Johnny Storm.

As to the handgun question, I don't think there is any place in America one would need a handgun to protect their family, certainly not one where the danger to my family would outweigh the danger of the gun to them.