Game: Ask the Person Below You

[Pompey Bum]

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?"

Sure, if I thought that serious harm to me or my family was likely and that the cops were not taking the threat seriously or waiting to respond to actual violence. And if I lived in or near an area where the cops don't do business anymore; as, in recent years in parts I don't know if it is ongoing) in Oakland and Detroit. I wouldn't take relish in to doing it, but like North says, if it were the only option, I would.

Would you be less inclined to favor social programs if you made enough to be very heavily taxed for them? Alternately, would you favor a flat tax if you had children and a mortgage (which are major tax deductions)?

[Lykren]

I hope not and I don't think so.

Do you enjoy shopping for clothing, or accompanying someone shopping?

[Pompey Bum]

No, I hate it with all my heart and soul and mind and strength. I buy almost all my clothes from the LLBean catalogue, and I only do that when something I need wears out. I've considered writing an autobiography and calling it Bad Consumer.

Same question.

[Clopin]

Yes, I love it, though I buy most clothes online as well. Honestly I pretty much love buying anything, but clothes and books especially.

How important do you think a good sound system is to your enjoyment of music?

[North Star]

I rarely buy clothes, and when I do, I don't do it online, and it can be very nice indeed, unless you happen to be in a rush to find something.


How important do you think a good sound system is to your enjoyment of music?
Good is mandatory, but relative. I listen to music for hours daily on my computer, but the speakers didn't cost more than 25 € new, and I'm certainly happy with them. If the system doesn't sound good to you, though, you're probably not going to enjoy the music.

Who is your favourite contemporary novelist?

[Pompey Bum]

It's very important if you want to get the most from your music. But you can also get joy from a cheap system, so it really depends on what you're looking for.

Favorite contemporary novelist: it's a fairly pedestrian choice, but I really dig Donna Tartt. Not Proust, I know, but fun in a compulsive sort of way.

Have you ever considered joining a cult?

[Lykren]

No cults, and I like Anne Carson, though I've only read one novel by her and it was in verse.


Would you rather die of a heart attack from excessive consumption of cuteness, or a really fun drug?

[Pompey Bum]

If it can't be from a totally unexpected shotgun blast point blank to the back of the head, I would probably go for the heart attack. Drugs are bad, m'kay? Only I want to consume ice cream, not cuteness.

How would you choose to die?

[Clopin]

Painlessly in my sleep of course.

If you had to join a cult (and you had to be really serious about it) which major cult would you join (past, but recent cults are fair game)?

[Pompey Bum]

Coed naked Bible study.

Come on, fess up, how many seasons of South Park have you watched?

[Lykren]

Smothered in girl, if that would do the trick.

Shotgun blasts work too.

EDIT: no south park, but an episode or two with friends. Honest.

How do you feel about dancing?

[North Star]

E: Not a big fan of dancing, but I have nothing against it either.
None of South Park, not even a full episode.

Excessive consumption of cuteness?
Really fun drug? I didn't see this question before I posted in This or That.
Smothered in girl sounds good to me.

Haydn's String Quartets or Symphonies?

[Clopin]

Coed naked Bible study.

Come on, fess up, how many seasons of South Park have you watched?

Well quite a few, I used to watch it all the time when I was younger and I still think some of the stuff can be pretty funny though the latest episodes have been garbage. Probably like four or five complete seasons.

Is the Simpsons better than Seinfeld?

[Lykren]

E: Not a big fan of dancing, but I have nothing against it either.
None of South Park, not even a full episode.

Excessive consumption of cuteness?
Really fun drug? I didn't see this question before I posted in This or That.
Smothered in girl sounds good to me.

Haydn's String Quartets or Symphonies?

Symphonies; but I don't really know well enough to judge...

Simpsons or Seinfeld?

[Clopin]

And Lykren if you're going to answer something like "I don't like either" you can just leave.

[Lykren]

And Lykren if you're going to answer something like "I don't like either" you can just leave.

I didn't answer! I like both, but I'm not really into them so I left it for someone else! Sheesh.

[Pompey Bum]

Smothered in girl is an interesting possibility, but remember the limitations of the "all women are goddesses" theory.

What has been your favorite calendar year so far?

[Pompey Bum]

I like a certain period of the Simpsons a lot--a couple years in, then for a few years after that. But it's been a completely different show (and much less funny) for many years now.

And I've never seen Seinfeld, like I've never played chess and don't know the rules to basketball.

Best year so far?

[North Star]

E: Best year so far? 2010 was a rather nice one for me.

I haven't watched Seinfeld - I've only seen some bits of it. The early seasons of Simpsons (up to the eighth season or so, and gradually decreasing in quality after that.) can be brilliant.
Who is your favourite TV show character?

[Lykren]

Best year of my life is this one.

Don't watch TV so I'll pass it on; favorite TV character?

[Clopin]

Well yes Simpsons has clearly declined in quality, but seasons two to eight are brilliant.

Favourite character is gonna be George Costanza.

Favourite hero of myth/legend/epic, from any culture and time period.

[Pompey Bum]

Sun Wukong for mythological character. Butters (from South Park) for TV character.

Character from a book who you most identify with?

[Lykren]

Narrator of Dickinson #721.

I'm deep, bro.

Do you ever ignore real life in favor of the internet? How much? Is it a problem, do you think, if you do do it?

[Pompey Bum]

Nah, I'm retired.

Will Lykren's boss eventually catch him messing around on the computer?

[Clopin]

Sun Wukong for mythological character. Butters (from South Park) for TV character.

Character from a book who you most identify with?

Hmmm...Bazarov from Fathers and Sons and Bernardo Soares from The Book of Disquiet come instantly to mind, as do Mordred/Agravaine (T.H White versions), The Underground Man from Notes, and Peter Walsh from Mrs. Dalloway... also Andrey Bolkonski.

[Lykren]

Nah, I'm retired.

Will Lykren's boss eventually catch him messing around on the computer?

Hah. I'm at a cafe right now.

And omg Clopin, Prince Andrei is such a dweeb.

How thoroughly do you inspect translations, when you have to?

[Clopin]

Hah. I'm at a cafe right now.

And omg Clopin, Prince Andrei is such a dweeb.

How thoroughly do you inspect translations, when you have to?

Wow okay, uhm no? You prefer Pierre?

[Lykren]

Wow okay, uhm no? You prefer Pierre?

Did I say that? I prefer Natasha. Of the novel's male characters, I prefer... no, I hate them all. The narrator is male, right? Him, then.

[Clopin]

I never forgave Natasha for banging Anatole, sorry.

[Pompey Bum]

Andrei is not a dweeb. He's a strong male, and a good choice for Clopin. Pierre, by the way, was me in my 20s. But he grows through it and so did I.

Did you find Natasha sexy?

[North Star]

How thoroughly do you inspect translations, when you have to?
Often very. I think my family members don't necessarily want to hear every single mistake I notice in translations (of English language movies/series).

I'll have to repeat this one (can't think just now who it'd be for me): Character from a book who you most identify with?

[Pompey Bum]

I never forgave Natasha for banging Anatole, sorry.

Oh thanks for the spoiler alert, man. Now I'm not reading it.

[Lykren]

Andrei is not a dweeb. He's a strong male, and a good choice for Clopin. :rolleyes:

Natasha was hot.

Her or Kitty? Andrei or Levin, if someone who likes guys suddenly pops in.

[Clopin]

Oh thanks for the spoiler alert, man. Now I'm not reading it.

Haha, and yes, I'm sure Natasha was plenty sexy, though maybe not so much as Helene Kuragin.

Natasha over Kitty and Andrei way over Levin (sorry to all you romantic, misogynist, pastoral, landowner, Tolstoyans but I do not love Levin).

Greatest single character in Russian literature?

[Lykren]

Laptev. No, actually, Levin from what I've read.

Greatest character in French lit?

[Clopin]

Haven't read much but I like Enjorlas from Les Miserables and Frollo from Notre Dame.

Emma Bovary or Anna Karenina?

[Lykren]

Anna duh. (EDIT: though are either really likeable?)

Read Proust, Clopin.

Clytemnestra or Medea?

[Clopin]

Haha I love both, but Medea for sure.

The house of Atreus or the Oedipus family?

[Lykren]

Atreus.

What is wrong with me, why can't I stop listening to K-Pop and start reading again?

[Clopin]

Myrrha or Oedipus? Also what do you think of the Ted Hughes renditions of Ovid if you have read them?

[Lykren]

I haven't read them. Myrrha, goddesses over kings.

Answer my question! It's urgent dude.

[Clopin]

Andrei is not a dweeb. He's a strong male, and a good choice for Clopin. Pierre, by the way, was me in my 20s. But he grows through it and so did I.

Did you find Natasha sexy?

Pierre does get the girl in the end though, instead of uh... dying.

And Lykren I can answer that after you tell me why I can't stop playing melee and get to reading.

You should check out the Hughes' translation/imagining, I really liked it, his Myrrha was a high point for me.

[Lykren]

Which character is your favorite to play? Maybe choose one that is somehow more literary than the others? Also video games are instantly rewarding and literature takes time to absorb so the former is more tempting of course. Same with K-Pop. We should grow up.

[Clopin]

I exclusively play Marth who is already the most aesthetic, literate, poetic and stylish character.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ZHTA0LJdw

[Lykren]

Christ the guy playing Marth in that vid is good, even I can tell. No compunctions about jumping off the side and doing battle in unsupported midair, is that a common thing at top level?

[Clopin]

It's common, here's an actual high level tournament match if you want to see what the game looks like at top level, it's very fast paced.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv74JXJBFwk

What is your favourite video game?

[Lykren]

When I was a kid it was Pokemon Red Version, the only one I've ever done well at against my friends was Pokemon Stadium, but I guess Smash Bros. Melee was fun, so sure, that one. But like, I never play them.

Girls sneering, is it kind of attractive sometimes, or am I just odd that way?

[Clopin]

Show me a picture of what you mean so I can determine how I feel.

Favourite fast food chain?

[Lykren]

The Habit, it's local but there are multiple locations, so I think it counts as a chain, yeah?

9544

How often do you hang out at cafes?

[Clopin]

That facial expression is not particularly attractive.

And sometimes, I prefer them to bars and what not for social interactions. Banff is not exactly a cool town in the sense that there are a lot of artisan coffee places or whatever, or even nice ones, so there's no real reason to hang out at the coffee shops we have here.

Do you like reading in libraries for extended periods of time?

[Lykren]

Extended? Usually not more than an hour or so, then I... listen to K-pop and talk to you, lol.

Can you cry on command?

[Clopin]

No, and I can't cry even when I really want to.

Titled poems or just numbers/first line titles?

[Lykren]

No, and I can't cry even when I really want to.

Ditto, I just have to release my feelings with emoji :grouphug: :bawling:

Wallace Stevens for titles, Dickinson for untitled.

Which foreign accent in English is the most adorable?

[North Star]

Irish. Or do you mean foreign as in from a country where English isn't the mother tongue? French in that case.
Titles are nice when they are good. And it's so much easier to discuss 'The Emperor Of Ice-Cream' than 'Poem no. 712'. First-line titles can be bad, though.

And I can cry on command, just tried it. :D Not a river, though..

Who's your favourite Beat writer?

[Clopin]

I dislike them all with varying degrees of intensity.

Oh and Russian is the best because both men and women sound adorable, French girls sound nice, but Christ, I hate to hear French men speak.

Someone else can answer that one before I ask another.

[Lykren]

Kenneth Rexroth - do you really hate him, Clopin?

What drink goes best with a salami sandwich?

[bounty]

is jack Kerouac a beat writer? I have "on the road"---can I read it and get back to you?

the accent question---my top three (in no order) are irish, French (partial to the women yes) and a little known british accent called Geordie (listen to Cheryl cole on Britain's got talent, or x-factor or whatever she's on these days!)

does anyone else feel a dark oppressive force has just been lifted? like we are all david copperfield and mr murdstone didn't come home from work today?

[bounty]

salami sandwich...im a vegetarian but id say ginger ale with cranberry juice mixed in, served really cold in a tall glass with ice cubes.

[Lykren]

salami sandwich...im a vegetarian but id say ginger ale with cranberry juice mixed in, served really cold in a tall glass with ice cubes.

Woah, that's a thought!

How much does your ability to concentrate fluctuate?

[North Star]

I'd have some hefty red wine or darkish beer with a salami sandwich.

My concentration can fluctuate quite a bit.

Do you like Wodehouse?

[Calidore]

Dammit, North Star beat me to the post and ruined the joke.

I don't find Wodehouse uproarious, but he's still good for a grin. Like Saki.

How about Saki?

[North Star]

I haven't read Saki, I might have to give him a go, though.

Whose writing do you find uproarious?

[Pike Bishop]

Philip Roth

Whom do you consider an unrecognized genius?

[Pompey Bum]

Whose writing do you find uproarious?

Wu Cheng-en, or whoever the actual author of Journey to the West was.

What is the most significant work of history in the Western tradition?

[Pike Bishop]

I haven't read Saki, I might have to give him a go, though.

Whose writing do you find uproarious?
Also Thomas Pynchon at times.

What philosopher/theorist's work is most compatible to literary criticism?

[Lykren]

Wu Cheng-en, or whoever the actual author of Journey to the West was.

What is the most significant work of history in the Western tradition?

The Recherche and then Ulysses, heh heh. What a century that was!

Same question.

EDIT: Oh, history. I have no clue. Herodotus for getting their first?

[Clopin]

Hahaha, does anyone here read Hark, a Vagrant!

http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=30

[Pompey Bum]

Yeah maybe, although Thucydides is a better critical thinker (and writer); and Gibbon's prose is next to God. In terms of his influence on secular ideas, I'd probably say Gibbon.

Would you rather read by the fire on a crisp autumn night or read on a beach in summer, stealing glances at the mermaids?

[Clopin]

Crisp autumn evening, I get distracted and uncomfortable reading out of doors.

Swimming in the cold ocean or in a heated pool?

[Pendragon]

I prefer reading in a climate controlled room in an easy chair. My eyes are not what they used to be and I'd be pressed trying to read by firelight, and my medications make me very sensitive to heat.

Sorry I was slow. It doesn't really matter as I cannot swim all that well anyhow.

Would you rather read classic or modern fiction?

[Lykren]

I'll have to read Gibbon someday then.

EDIT: Modern probably.

EDIT: Also heated pool by far.

Would the glances lead to other things? But they're mermaids right? Plus I have a problem with sand. Crisp autumn night, though I don't know what might be crisp about it.

How reliable is your memory? Not how good is it at pulling up random facts at random times, but how well can you manage it, so that you get what you want when you want it?

[Pompey Bum]

Hahaha, does anyone here read Hark, a Vagrant!

http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=30

Hilarious, Clopin. Actually Herodotus is more important than Thucydides (even though Thucydides is a better historian), not exactly because he was first in line, but because he proposed the then radical view (that we and Thucydides have been able to take for granted) that history can be understood as a critical system, in the way that his contemporaries were developing critical systems for understanding things like ethics and aesthetics. Unfortunately his approach was marred by some notorious credulity. He repeats a story he picked up that in India, giant ants mine for gold in giant anthills, for example; and another that Sennacherib had to lift the siege of Jerusalem (famed of the the Bible and Lord Byron) because an army of field mice stole into the Assyrian camp and chewed up their bowstrings. As the comic suggests, Thucydides was more careful about his sources.

Anyway, the bracing sting of salt seawater is eminently preferable to chlorine and little kid urine; I prefer classic to modern fiction (although I enjoy both); and my memory's okay.

Can everything be understood in empirical terms?

[bounty]

id say no---there are mysteries beyond the human senses.

do you know all the words to meatloaf's paradise by the dashboard light?

[Pike Bishop]

Would you rather read classic or modern fiction?

Modern Fiction

If someone made you listen to all their horrid music on a road trip because it was their car, would you put in some music you knew they hated on your music list, when it was your turn to drive on your road trip driving turn?

[North Star]

E: do you know all the words to meatloaf's paradise by the dashboard light?
No.

E: If someone made you listen to all their horrid music on a road trip because it was their car, would you put in some music you knew they hated on your music list, when it was your turn to drive on your road trip driving turn?
Some perhaps, but certainly not all of it - I'd try to find a common ground.


Things that can't be demonstrated experimentally are awfully hard to understand empirically.

What is your favourite era of literature? (50-100 years)

[Pompey Bum]

Never mind. :)

[Pike Bishop]

What is your favourite era of literature? (50-100 years)

1890-1940--The core years of Modernist literature

If you could marry one literary character, whom would it be?

[Pompey Bum]

id say no---there are mysteries beyond the human senses.

do you know all the words to meatloaf's paradise by the dashboard light?

Yes, but not the Phil Rizzuto part.

Actually, I really like the 18th century for English lit (and 19th century for Russian).

If Jesus and the Buddha had a boxing match, who would you bet on?

[Pike Bishop]

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

A lot of popular music is art music, and vice versa, and they will continue to flourish, change, and stay the same.

What will be the genre of the next great television series, and what will be new about the series?

[Lykren]

Yes, but not the Phil Rizzuto part.

Actually, I really like the 18th century for English lit (and 19th century for Russian).

If Jesus and the Buddha had a boxing match, who would you bet on?

Jesus, who was lean and mean.

Proust wrote of "the impossibility of finding pleasure when one is always searching for it;" what's your take on this?

[Pompey Bum]

It sounds like a concept from Zen: seek a thing and it flies from you; fly from it and it seeks you. In short, Jesus could have kicked either of their butts.

What is the longest period of time you have spent without seeing another person?

[Lykren]

Probably one night's sleep.

Same question.

[Pompey Bum]

I used to spend up to a week at a time alone at a remote cabin in the White Mountains (in New Hamlshire). I loved it, being a misanthropic recluse at heart.

What is the biggest crowd you've ever been in?

[Lykren]

Obama's 1st inauguration!

What's the quickest you've made friends?

[Pompey Bum]

I picked up a guy hitchhiking back in the 70s, and we were friends from that point for about 10 years (when he moved to Mexico and we lost touch).

How many friends (not girlfriends) have you intentionally and permanently broken off with?

[Lykren]

None.

Same Q

[Pompey Bum]

Three, including one I knew from Middle School until we were in our forties. I've never regretted the decisions in the least.

Is Brett Easton Ellis a good writer?

[Lykren]

I read a little of American Psycho and didn't like it, so no? I know you like him though.

Do we place undue moral dignity on those who adopt maltreated pets, but not human children?

[Pompey Bum]

Not necessarily. Adopting needy children is the more worthy goal, but that doesn't mean patronizing the arts isn't important, too.

Ellis is a too nihilistic for me. Or more to the point, I find him upsetting. I actually don't enjoy reading his books, but later, reflecting on the moral implications (these vapid, narcissistic, sadomasochistic kids are no damned different than their socially acceptable parents, for example) I sometimes find myself saying: Yup.

Should people keep wild animals like ferrets as pets?

[Lykren]

I said pets not arts but I guess your answer fits both.

I don't know about wild animals, but probably not?

Do you keep drinking a cup of tea after it gets cold?

[Pompey Bum]

Yes, good tea is better at room temperature. Coffee, too, although I like hot coffee on cold mornings.

Would you feel less guilty about eating bacon than wearing fur?

[Lykren]

Yes, I'm not trained to feel guilty about eating bacon :/

But my tea right now is like, really cold for some reason!

If you were born in, say, some period in Ancient Egypt, how much of your personality do you think you would retain?

[Clopin]

Hard to say, it also depends on the class I were born into. From very little to quite a lot depending on whether I were a slave or a prince, etc.

Would you marry a wealthy woman you weren't totally in love with, knowing that if it came to divorce you would end up rich anyway?

[Lykren]

If I wasn't in love at all, no, but if I knew we could at least be friends, probably.

Friendship is part of romantic love, right?

Same question.

[Pompey Bum]

Not if I wasn't in love with her in the first place.

Yes, friendship is part of it, but they are not to be confused. And becoming lovers almost always. means you can't be friends again.

If you were transported back to ancient times (with the same personality), and had enough money to get by, would you buy slaves?

[Lykren]

I bet I would. I hear 'slaves' in ye olde days were often more like servants, or am I hopelessly naive, Pompey?

Do you enjoy dressing up formally?

[Pompey Bum]

I bet I would. I hear 'slaves' in ye olde days were often more like servants, or am I hopelessly naive, Pompey?

Not for field slaves, no. Life was hell for them. And domestic slaves of either sex could be freely raped by one free family member or another. You weren't supposed to have sex with slaves, people would look down on you if you did, but that wasn't because of rape, it was because of the stigma of having someone so low and unlucky as a sexual partner. That bad luck, for example, is what drives the plot of The Golden As s, which starts with an illicit (though consensual) affair between a slave and a houseguest, who is also the narrator. Anyway, being a slave was no fun.


Do you enjoy dressing up formally?

On rare occasions, sure.

Are women more attractive dressed down or dressed up?

[Lykren]

Ah okay. No then.

Down usually.

How much caffeine do you drink a day?

[Iain Sparrow]

I can't say if you're hopelessly naive or not, but no, by any reasonable standard servants who are owned by a master are indeed slaves. Under no circumstances would I own another human being, and no matter how rich would I keep servants about... I would however have several concubines, and perhaps I could get them to tidy up the palace.:)

I hate dressing up... give me the day, and my cargo shorts, t-shirt with sleeves cutoff, and my trusty Timberland hiking shoes. I will perhaps dress respectfully for my own funeral, but perhaps not.

And I don't consume anything with caffeine in it, gives me the jitters...

Do you enjoy costume parties?

[Lykren]

I doubt I would, but I've never been.

How much caffeine/day?

[Pompey Bum]

Welcome. Iain! In principle, yes, although I've been to a lot of bad ones in my time.

In the West, about a pot and a half of coffee per day.

What's the best or weirdest costume you've ever worn to a costume party?

[Iain Sparrow]

One year I went as a vampire slayer... oh I think I'll post a pic, it's pretty damn weird.
And thanks for the welcome!:)

If you had to set sail on a doomed ship, which would it be... the Titanic, Lusitania, or the Mary Celeste?

[Lykren]

Titanic!

Yeah, welcome Iain!

What's the thing you've become most addicted to? If it's embarrassing, answer this: is The Onion funny?

[Calidore]

Ice cream. Also, the Onion's headlines are usually funnier than the stories.

What was the last RL game you played?

[Lykren]

I just got slammed in chess 4 times in a row by an old man! :(

How often are you on Facebook?

[Pendragon]

Every day and I'm an old man, youngster! Uncle Pen to many here!

Do you prefer Batman or Superman?

[Calidore]

I'd rather be Superman, but I'd rather read about Batman.

Do you prefer heroes with superpowers or ordinary men who made themselves extraordinary?

[Lykren]

The latter.

Do you ever get massages?

[Pompey Bum]

Only from the wife. Paying for it is sucker's game.

Is it more important at the moment to pressure the Turkish government into calling what happened to the Armenians a genocide, or to develop more cordial diplomatic relations to facilitate an effective response to ISIS?

[Pendragon]

We need to focus on ISIS as it is an ongoing threat to cause WWIII if we aren't careful. The classification of the destruction of Armenians as genocide should be a given, but if it isn't the world will still know that is what happened.

Would you say that Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci was the better artist?

[Pompey Bum]

I like Mike.

Do those who were not alive before the African slave trade bear any responsibility for it by virtue of their skin color?

[Pike Bishop]

We need to focus on ISIS as it is an ongoing threat to cause WWIII if we aren't careful. The classification of the destruction of Armenians as genocide should be a given, but if it isn't the world will still know that is what happened.

Would you say that Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci was the better artist?
ISIS isn't even close to the threat the Nazis were. They are not an established army with an established homefront. They do not have the greatest scientists in the world as the Nazis did at the time, And while, they are committing loathsome horrors, they are not systematically marching members of a certain ethnic/religious group from all over a continent to their deaths. They are not yet worth the deaths of young American men or women.

Michelangelo...not even close.

Will there ever be any new great jazz artists and new forms of jazz or will jazz remain primarily a nostalgic art form?

[North Star]

I like Mike.

Do those who were not alive before the African slave trade bear any responsibility for it by virtue of their skin color?
Michelangelo for me too.

No they don't, all of that should be buried by now in the US, a proper welfare and free health insurance established, and the education system improved.

Pike: "Will there ever be any new great jazz artists and new forms of jazz or will jazz remain primarily a nostalgic art form?"

Jazz will continue to mix various influences from popular and classical music, but it will stay in the niche position it has.


Should da Vinci have not wasted his time with all those war/flying machines, and done some more paintings or even anatomy study?

[Pike Bishop]

Should da Vinci have not wasted his time with all those war/flying machines, and done some more paintings or even anatomy study?
Absolutely not. Da Vinci's true genius lay in his scientific genius and prescience and his demonstrating the possible fluidity between the scientific and artistic mind. I'll stand corrected by a more informed person with a better argument here, but DaVinci just wasn't one of the greats in painting. He wasn't particularly innovative in vision or style, and his technique was surpassed by his contemporaries--Michelangelo not included--as well.

Is Abstract Expressionism the final rung on the painting "ladder," or is there another substantial innovation to come?

[Lykren]

da Vinci is allowed to do whatever the hell he wants.

The drawings are great.

How often do you expect Christian people imagine God to be a corporeal presence?

[North Star]

When encountering unintelligent or very young Christians.

What's for supper?

[Lykren]

Probably two slices of sourdough with jalapeno yogurt cheese and tapatio sauce and and habanero sauce and some salami. It's been my nightly dinner for weeks now.

Kinda makes sleeping hard though.

What to do when your coworker thinks WB Yeats is a local author on consignment?

[Pompey Bum]

Retire. :p

Every time an orthodox Trinitarian (the vast majority of Christians) imagines Jesus, he or she is conceiving as God as corporeal. Or were you talking about the doctrine of Transmutation of the Host?

For dinner is lentils on jasmine rice with spinach or kale if we're out of spinach.

Does a sovereign nation have a right to ratify a constitution in which homosexuality is criminalized?

[Lykren]

I don't believe in intrinsic rights, (I think they are arbitrary), so no, but they may as well have.

Does construction fascinate you?

[Pompey Bum]

Constructing buildings? No.

Does theology fascinate you?

[Lykren]

Yes.

For some reason my mother's side of the family can't pass a construction site without pausing and looking for an hour or two. It bugs me.

Do debates about the nature of reality and the knowable fascinate you?

[Pompey Bum]

Yes.

You didn't answer about theology.

[Lykren]

I said yes :)

Theology does fascinate me.

Do clouds fascinate you? Did they ever?

[Pompey Bum]

Oh sorry.

Yes, all the time.

Do you find 60s-era folk music as interesting as delta blues?

[Lykren]

No, but I'm not super into either one.

Do you ever lose track of current music, and just explore older things? Do you ever keep track at all?

[Pompey Bum]

I don't keep track and listen almost exclusively to youtube music while playing on my Ipad.

What is your first memory?

[Lykren]

I was about five or six and I was wandering around my father's large backyard which was full of yellow sourgrass flowers. I'm not actually sure if that's the earliest because I have other similarly blurry memories but I have no idea of their chronology. I really don't have a lot of memories of my childhood left at all, for some weird reason I literally woke up one morning in middle school and it felt like it had all happened to someone else, and it's been that way ever since.

Same question.

[Pompey Bum]

It's hard to say. I may have had a religious experience during my baptism, although it's hard to imagine an infant remembering something. One really cool early thing I do remember when I toddled home one day to find my mother crying about something; I asked her why, and she said that Winston Churchill had died. I guess the wartime was a part of her youth and she felt sentimental about the milestone. I remember especially that she said Winston Churchill because it's a weird name to a kid, and at first I thought she said that Winnie the Pooh had died. (Oh God!). It's a cool story because Churchill was, you know, a Victorian soldier who had fought in the Boer War and against the Mahdi army and all that long before he was Prime Minister, so that memory sort of links my personal experience on earth with that now remote-ish time in history.

Will Queen Elizabeth II ever die?

[Lykren]

Never.

Have you ever become spontaneously obsessed with something outside your usual range of interests?

[Clopin]

I like Mike.

Do those who were not alive before the African slave trade bear any responsibility for it by virtue of their skin color?

Nobody answered this but of course not. No guilt, no apologies.

Pike, Isis are a threat for WW3 because they are a great casus belli.

[Clopin]

And yeh, Lykren, not usually a video game guy nowadays but I am totally obsessed with https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9ht7f0vHvY

How many books do you want to get through by the time you die?

[Lykren]

Imma give you the Sarah Palin answer: all of 'em.

No, but like, more realistically, another 5-6,000.

What's your craziest relative like?

[Pendragon]

He's like, my brother... (But he would tell you that I am the crazy one!)

Why does every physics assignment begin with "Imagine a..."?

[Lykren]

Physics teachers are John Lennon fans, I don't know.

What level of tolerance do you have for sappy sentiment?

[Pendragon]

About 40% As you grow older maudlin sentiment looks better and better through bifocals...

Will you just get older, or grow up?

[Iain Sparrow]

My energy is boundless, as is my immaturity... whenever that final day arrives, I will die young.

The worst realization/revelation you've had as an adult?

[Pompey Bum]

What's your craziest relative like?

I'm my craziest relative. You already know what I'm like.



The worst realization/revelation you've had as an adult?

That everything my late mother said turned out to be true.

If you went back in time and met yourself at 13, what one piece of advice would you give?

[Lykren]

I don't think anything I could say would make a difference. Maybe I'd say, cry while you can.

Who is your favorite guitarist?

[Pompey Bum]

Bert Jansch

What mythological creature do you most relate to?

[Lykren]

Sisyphus isn't a creature, so the Sphinx.

Would a living bicycle (c.f. Calvin & Hobbes) be cute or scary?

[Pompey Bum]

Scary.

The Egyptian sphinx, which just sit there, or the Greek sphinx, which eats people alive if they miss a quiz answer?

[Lykren]

I'm a know it all, so Greek. I wouldn't eat them though, I'd pat them on the head and tell them the correct answer.

Are you good with kids?

[Pompey Bum]

Yes, but I don't have any, so I hang out with you and Clopin instead. :(

Same question.

[Buckthorn]

I'm a know it all, so Greek. I wouldn't eat them though, I'd pat them on the head and tell them the correct answer.

Are you good with kids?

Pretty bad, I really don't like them, except my niece who is my favourite person in the world

Do you believe in UFO's/Aliens?

[Pompey Bum]

Hey Buck. Nope.

Do you think human nature is fundamentally good, bad, or neutral?

[Lykren]

Clopin and I are mature young men, okay??

Humans don't have natures. We just flit chaotically from moment to moment, no pattern or personality involved!

Strangest thing to make you tear up?

[Pompey Bum]

Clopin and I are mature young men, okay?

My sons would have been mature young men by now, too, get it?

Aeschylus' gravestone is the weirdest thing. The only thing he wanted people to remember about him was that he had fought like a man at the Battle of Marathon.

Same question.

[North Star]

Clopin and I are mature young men, okay??
Bah! A mature man wouldn't have used two question marks. And I know people whose children are also mature young (or middle-aged) men ;)


Humans don't have natures. We just flit chaotically from moment to moment, no pattern or personality involved!

Strangest thing to make you tear up?
So your answer would be neutral, as is mine 8)

Strangest thing to make me tear up? I'm pretty sure the right answer is onions.

What do you want to read next?

[Lykren]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFf4AgBNR1E

Not even kidding, I cried a little at that.

EDIT: Journey to the West.

What is bravery?

[North Star]

Bravery is the forgetting of fears. Those who are most brave, manage to do so for a longer time than others.

Who will be the next president of the United States?

[Lykren]

Hilldog surely.

Which will be the next party in power in Finland?

[North Star]

Center Party. There's no reason to assume that anyone else would have a better chance to build a cabinet.

Have you actually followed the elections?

[Lykren]

Nope, haha. I have no idea who the president of my own country is -- I think it's this guy named Toby.

Did you know that certain red dyes are made with beetle blood?

[North Star]

Yes I did. Campari at least used to get its colour from one such dye. A friend's father actually made the Finnish alcohol monopoly (for ABV over 4.7%) to start importing it many a decade ago.

Did you know that sepia comes from the cuttlefish sepia?

[Lykren]

No I did not! Interesting.

Thing (abstract or physical) you most want to come in powdered form?

[North Star]

Happiness. Although not in the form of drug.

Should the Alabama law against fake moustaches that cause laughter in church be abolished?

[Lykren]

Absolutely not. Such laws are the pride of our democracy.

Most giddily excited you've ever been? What was the occasion?

[North Star]

Absolutely not. Such laws are the pride of our democracy.
I'm glad you know what is the purpose of the state :D


Most giddily excited you've ever been? What was the occasion?
Giddily excited? Probably when I've received a parcel of book(s) or CDs in the mail.

What are your favourite pieces of music?

[Lykren]

Koln Concert
Beethoven 7
Beethoven 9
Hammerklavier
Goldberg Variations
Visions
Blood on the Tracks
Either/Or
For Long Tomorrow
In Rainbows
Kind of Blue
My Favorite Things
Vespertine
American VI
JPN
Daydream Nation
Pink Moon
Loveless
St. Matthew Passion
10 Intermezzi - Brahms
EDIT: Forgot Zauberflote and
Clarinet Quintet - Mozart

no particular order and I'm forgetting some surely

same Q

[North Star]

Visions? I'd like to interpret that to mean Visions fugitives. ;)

Hmm, lets see... This is a rather long list, but I haven't the time to make a shorter one now.

Miles Davis: Nefertiti, KoB, Miles Smiles
Coltrane: MFT, Olé
Mingus: Ah Um
Bill Evans & Jim Hall: Undercurrent
Grant Green: Idle Moments
Herbie Hancock: Empyrean Isles
Sonny Rollins: The Bridge
Thelonius Monk: Monks's Dream
Wayne Shorter: JuJu, Speak No Evil
Stevie Wonder: Innervisions
Deep Purple: Machine Head
Dire Straits: Dire Straits
Queen II
Rory Gallagher: Irish Tour


Alkan: Etudes in all the minor keys
Beethoven Sonatas op. 106, 109, 110, 111, SQs op. 59, 130&133, 131, symphonies nos. 3-9
Bach: Cantatas, Clavier-übung III, sonatas & partitas for solo violin, cello suites, SMP, GV
Bartók: Dance Suite, PCs, VC2, Out of Doors, Contrasts
Bernstein: WSS
Berlioz: Harold en Italie, Roméo et Juliette - III. Scène d'amour
Berg: VC, 3 Pieces, PS
Brahms: Nänie, Deutsches Requiem, pretty much all the chamber music, PC2
Britten: Serenade for tnr & horn, Les Illuminations, Nocturne, VC, Peter Grimes
Bruckner: Symphonies nos. 8 & 9
Chopin: Mazurkas, Barcarolle, Ballades, Scherzi, Etudes, Preludes
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Debussy: Preludes, book I, Images L.122, Sonata for Flute, Viola & Harp (1915), Cello Sonata, Six épigraphes antiques for piano, four hands,
Dowland: Lachrymae
Dutilleux: String Quartet 'Ainsi la nuit'
Dvorak: PQnt no. 2
Elgar: The Music Makers, CC, VC, Dream Children, Falstaff
Faure: Nocturnes
Feldman: Crippled Symmetry
Gershwin RIB, AIP
Hartmann: symphonies, Concerto funebre
Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 76
Ives: Holidays Symphony, Unanswered Question, Central Park in the Dark
Janacek: String Quartets, Violin Sonata, Pohadka, On the Overgrown Path, In the mist, PS, VC, Sinfonietta, Cunning Little Vixen
Josquin: Miserere
Ligeti: Etudes, Atmospheres, Lontano, Melodien, PC, VC, Requiem
Martinu: Nonet, Double Concerto for 2 String Orchestras, Piano and Timpani, Folk cantatas
Mompou: Musica Callada
Monteverdi: Vespers
Mozart: La nozze, Gran Partita, the mature PCs
Mussorgsky: Pictures (piano, Pletnev's recording)
Nielsen: concertos, symphonies nos. 2-5
Pergolesi: Stabat Mater
Poulenc: Sonatas for winds & pf, vc & pf, Concerto for 2 pf & orch.
Prokofiev: PC2, VS1, Romeo & Juliet, The Fiery Angel, PSs, Visions fugitives
Pärt: Fratres, Cantus, Tabula Rasa, Stabat Mater
Ravel: PCs, PT, and pretty much everything else
Rakhmaninov: Symphonic Dances, All-night Vigil
Satie: Socrate
Schumann: Piano Quintet, Carnaval, Kreisleriana, Kinderszenen, concertos
Schubert: SQ no. 15, String Quintet, late PSs, the last two symphonies
Schoenberg: 5 Orchestral Pieces
Shostakovich: PT2, Piano Quintet, String Quartets, Symphonies nos. 4, 5, 7, 8 10, 13, 14 & 15, VC1, CCs 1&2, Preludes & Fugues
Schnittke: Choir Concerto, Requiem, Faust Cantata
Sibelius: Symphonies nos 3-7, Tapiola, Luonnotar, Pohjola's Daughter
Silvestrov: Silent Songs
Stravinsky: Petrouchka, Rite of Spring, Symphony of Psalms, Mass, Agon
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies nos. 4-6, PT,
Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia, Symphony no. 5
Varese: Ameriques, Ionisation
Villa-Lobos: Choros
Zelenka: Missa votiva
Ysaÿe: Solo vln sonatas

E: And Enescu's 3rd VS, Langgaard's Music of the Spheres, Liszt's Yeas of Pilgrimage


Who's your favourite musician that you've seen live?

[Lykren]

Visions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visions_%28Grimes_album%29)

Bob Dylan, Lang Lang, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, New York Phil performing The Messiah was great. Annie-Sophie Mutter Trio was even better. Dylan live was awful.

Do pain and pleasure really, like Socrates said, follow each other wherever they go?

[Pike Bishop]

Ok Computer
Pet Sounds
Revolver
Appetite For Destruction
Lost in Space--Aimee Mann
Temple of Low Men--Crowded House
Aching Baby
The Bends--Radiohrad
Under the Iron Sea--Keane
The Art of Pepper--Art Pepper
Grey December--Chet Baker
Guitar Town--Steve Earle
Killing Time--Clint Black
Van Halen
Houses of the Holy--Led Zeppelin
Never mind--Nirvana
In Utero--Nirvava
Vs.--Pearl Jam
Superunknown--Soundgarden
Secret Samadhi--Live
Altered Beast--Matthew Sweet
Automatic for the People--R,E.M.
Life's Rich Pageant--R.E.M.
Fables of the Reconstruction--R.E.M.
The Beatles (The White Album)
Tea for the Tillerman--Cat Stevens
Sam's Town--The Kilers
Born to Die (The Paradise Edition)--Lana Del Rey
Born to Run--Bruce Springsteen
The Ghost of Tom Joad--Bruce Springsteen
Sketches of Spain--Miles Davis
War--U2

My favorite musicians I've seen live are:

The Boss
R.E.M.
U2
Crowded House
Metallica
Steve Earle

[North Star]

Visions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visions_%28Grimes_album%29)

Bob Dylan, Lang Lang, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, New York Phil performing The Messiah was great. Annie-Sophie Mutter Trio was even better. Dylan live was awful.

Do pain and pleasure really, like Socrates said, follow each other wherever they go?

Cool, Mutter playing Mozart & Rihm with an ensemble of musicians of BPO & VPO is among my favourites as well - almost as good as Barnabas Kelemen's Brahms VC a week before that.

Yes they do, as the body releases endorphins. I'm not sure if pleasure inevitably leads to pain, though.

Did you actually read the whole list? ;)

[Lykren]

No :) about 70%.

I'm listening to the Tallis Fantasia on your say-so right now, by the way.

Do you like the taste of mint mouthwash?

[Pompey Bum]

Yes, it's okay, although toothpaste is usually sufficient for my talkin' and kissin' needs.

Do brush your teeth with baking soda like some kind of a hippie or something?

[North Star]

E: No I don't brush my teeth with baking soda. . .


No :) about 70%.

I'm listening to the Tallis Fantasia on your say-so right now, by the way.

Do you like the taste of mint mouthwash?
Excellent!

Not a big fan of the taste of mint mouthwash.

What's the latest thing you've read?

[Pompey Bum]

Plutarch's Life of Fabius Maximus--I'm slowly reading an unedited complete Plutarch.

Same question.

[Lykren]

The Beggar Maid (Who Do You Think You Are in Canada)

Coral (the color) or lilac?

[Pompey Bum]

Coral the color. Gorgeous. The exoskeleton thing is nice too.

What kind of sea mammal do you most closely relate to?

[Lykren]

These cuties:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aykEV2wv_ag

What did you read as a kid?

[North Star]

Tolkien, Rowling, lots of Disney comics (Barks, Rosa in particular).

Same question.

[Lykren]

Also Tolkien, Lewis, L'Engle, Pullman, Rowling, just tons and tons of fantasy, crap and otherwise.

Wait, North Star, you read Rowling as a kid? How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?

What games did you like to play as a kid?

[North Star]

Also Tolkien, Lewis, L'Engle, Pullman, Rowling, just tons and tons of fantasy, crap and otherwise.
Wait, North Star, you read Rowling as a kid? How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?
What games did you like to play as a kid?

24.
I played some SNES games, some card games.

Who's your favourite living composer?

[Lykren]

You're the only person qualified to answer that, but as I said before, I do like some Pärt.

Is there a reality beyond social construction?

[North Star]

I'm not sure (partly because I haven't heard too much of it) how good Pärt's more recent work is. Silvestrov is one you should check out, and one I need to investigate in more depth. Others include György Kurtág, although I don't know if he's composed much lately.
Some that have died during the past ten years: Ligeti, Dutilleux, Elliott Carter, Henze, Ronald Stevenson (whose Passacaglia on DSCH is among the grandest piano pieces ever written). And Boulez has written some very good music, although he has written very little in total. Electronic music is an area I haven't explored in much depth yet.

And yes there is, but it's not possible to experience it.

Whose poetry should I read now? I got two nice anthologies in the mail this week. (Hulse & Rae's The 20th C. in Ptry, Moore's Penguin Book of Am. Vse)

[Lykren]

Her:

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-imaginary-iceberg/

and him:

http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/wh-auden/in-praise-of-limestone-3/

I feel the same way about reality, though I also can't quite accept it.

Does complexity necessarily have more potential than simplicity?

[North Star]

Her: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-imaginary-iceberg/
and him: http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/wh-auden/in-praise-of-limestone-3/

Does complexity necessarily have more potential than simplicity?
Ah, Auden and Bishop. Nice choices. :)

The potential of complexity vs. simplicity? Complex things have more variables, but the difference between, say, two orchestra configurations is often much smaller than that between two trios - a piano trio and some wind trio, for example. To quote the composer Roger Sessions' paraphrasing of Einstein: "I also remember a remark of Albert Einstein, which certainly applies to music. He said, in effect, that everything should be as simple as it can be but not simpler." Complex things should be complex only because they demand it - i.e., a scientific theory must be presented as clearly and simply as possible, but not more simply than that (well, to some audiences, of course), and likewise, writing, music, painting, photograph, whatever, shouldn't be obscured by unnecessary complexity, irrelevant details. Simpler expression has greater potential than complex ones. Think of all those catchy melodies of Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Schubert, Chopin etc etc. They all mastered every technical aspect of composing music, but it's those melodies that made them great, in the end. Think of a haiku, think of Whitman - there is something simple in every great artistic expression, for that's what it essentially is, showing the essence of something.

Auden or Bishop? :) (not asking which I should read)

[Lykren]

Auden by a good deal. Read both of course.

Have you read Proust? I'm obsessed with him right now. I bring him up because I think he is an unusual counterexample to your valid point; he reveals the complicated heart of things, the great fugue of perception that is the link between the experiential and the real.

Do you write poetry?

[North Star]

I haven't read Proust, apart from small snippets. I should, though - but again, I'm always a bit less keen to read a translation to a second language, but then again, my English is about as good as my Finnish.

I don't think of myself as even aspiring to be an amateur writer, but it's only natural that reading inspires one to write.

I wrote this earlier this year, and a couple of entries in the poetry competitions here.

The tree is unlit,
And all that is left at dawn,
Is the Christmas table -
The celebrators have split.
Once again a year has gone,
And the same old fable
Goes on and on.




I saw from your blog post that you do. Written anything recently?

[Lykren]

Oh, my blog -- that horror :blush:

Yeah I have. I'm trying to publish so I'm not posting them on here but if you're curious I can PM something to you.

Have you ever felt religious, even briefly?

[North Star]

Sure, PM away. Comments on that ditty I wrote as a response to another poem on the subject of Christmas in about 10 minutes are welcome. :)
I can't say I have, I don't even remember ever believing in Santa Claus, when all the other kids still did. My immediate family isn't religious at all, but my maternal grandpa was actually a traveling preacher, and mom's sis married a very Christian man (she drank sparkly wine at my high school grad party only after her daughter had left...), and the cousins are in the faith. It was priceless to be at the wedding of one of them - the minister talked endlessly about hell and damnation - at a wedding sermony.
I feel something when in the midst of beauty - nature, music, literature even, but not anything I'd call religious. I wouldn't mind knowing what made the Big Bang happen, though.

E: Same question.

[Lykren]

I don't remember whether I believed in Santa but I never understood how order or reason or meaning could exist, and those things seem to be part of the package with religion. That's just my delightful personality shining through though ;)

I would also like answers regarding the idea of cause, the infinite, etc.

What's the most danger you've ever been in?

[tonywalt]

Not of organised religon - but i do believe ALL THIS came from somewhere, something.

Do you make principled stances at work (specifically) when you know it will cost you real damage? (ex. of real damage - seriously taking you down a notch for a promotion)

[Lykren]

No - I spend a lot of time at work goofing off.

Danger?

[North Star]

The most danger I've ever been in? Close encounter with a common adder (they're not that poisonous or aggressive), crossing a road by foot or bike, and obviously none of those is really dangerous. I did witness an idiot trying to overtake a car directly in front of us a road which has a ~30 mph limit, hitting a truck, and lots of near misses of idiotic drivers on highways. Oh, and some time after one of the few Finnish school shootings, there was a written threat on my pulpit of one to be committed there. It turned out to be a hoax, as far as I know.

Same (danger) question.

[Pendragon]

I was in a mental hospital and stepped between a raging schizophrenic man I had just watched bench press 400 pounds and his intended victim, a poor fat guy who was out of it but harmless. If I ever read death in a face it was then. He respected me and backed down, but warned me this was the only time. The next time I got in his way it would be over. When I got back to my room I fell apart and had to be given something for it. But if I had shown a sign of fear during the confrontation, I'd have died right there...

Continue question...

[Lykren]

Continuing the cheerful nature of this conversation, I took a massive overdose of Wellbutrin and Abilify.

Do you like to read biographies?

[Pendragon]

Sometimes, but I am morbid, so they are about people like Lizzie Borden...

Who would you like to read about>

[North Star]

E: Who would I like to read about? Mostly the great artists - composers, painters, etc. of the past. Writers' autobios, of course. This (https://edithwhartonsociety.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/reply-edith-wharton-on-henry-jamess-asking-for-directions/) wonderful bit about Henry James' asking for directions has me wanting to read Wharton's autobiography.

I have to say that those drugs are not good for ending it all. That's a good thing, of course.

A good biography can be very nice reading, especially if it's about someone interesting. I have Jean Renoir's Renoir, My Father on the back burner at the moment.

Same question.

[tonywalt]

I'd probably like to read Mick Jagger's AUTObiography

what percentage of books do you put down/not finish?

[Lykren]

I have to say that those drugs are not good for ending it all.

Nope, they are not.

I always finish books.

What is your relationship with exercise for the sake of exercise?

[North Star]

I'm not a fanatical exerciser, but cycling, skiing, swimming (in the summer in particualr) and jogging are regular activities.

E: When was the last time you saw your parents?

[Lykren]

1 minute ago.

How much do you spend on clothing?

[Clopin]

Well, lots. The most I've paid for one thing was this leather jacket, second hand, for $850ish, after shipping.

http://i45.tinypic.com/16lwbr6.jpg Mine is dark brown suede however.

Same question.

[Pompey Bum]

As little as necessary.

What time do you typically hit the sack?

[Lykren]

For a long time I went to bed early ;) at about 8 or 9. A few years ago that changed to midnight.

How in need of attention do you feel, on average?

[Pompey Bum]

At present, I really just need to have my life companion with me. Everything else is frosting.

Do you talk to yourself when you are alone?

[North Star]

I do not talk to myself. I might read aloud alone, but that's not quite the same thing.

Do you sing in the shower?

[Lykren]

No, except when I'm very excited.

EDIT: No singing in the shower either.

What were your childhood dreams?

[Pompey Bum]

Actual dreams? When I was about seven, I dreamed that my brother and I were dead and in the afterlife, but kept popping back as ghosts until some kind of scary being told us to cut it out. But if you mean aspirations, I wanted to play for the Red Sox.

Have you ever dreamed that you were in hell?

[North Star]

My childhood dreams? Gosh, I don't know. I never really fantasized of any particular line of work for instance, or traveling, or whatever. I suppose I concentrated in living in the moment.
Oh, and I rarely see dreams. I remember seeing some dream with a pink elephant in kindergarten. And of course I've dreamed of waking up late to an exam morning, only to wake up and realize its not a school day.
And no, I've never dreamed I was in hell, the closest thing is a dream of waking up late.

Same question of dreams.

[Lykren]

Only when I wake up :D No but I've had lots of terrible nightmares :(

My dream was to be a poet, then a chemist, then a biologist, then a clarinetist, now a poet again.

What was your best (non-erotic) dream?

[Pompey Bum]

My best non-erotic dreams usually involve swimming without the need to breathe. Also, sometimes I find ancient Roman coins lying around, which for some reason is very important. My erotic dreams (as an adult) have been pretty disappointing, just because I am overly skeptical. As soon as anything good happens, I say: Hold on, this ain't my life!--then wake up.

Do your erotic dreams involve real people or made up people?

[Lykren]

Real people *blushes*

Do you enjoy or relate to the word 'squee?'

[Pompey Bum]

Sorry. I didn't mean to get too personal.

Hardly.

Have you ever dreamed of the zombie apocalypse?

[Lykren]

No! I have dreamed I was a serial killer however. *shudders*

Does mathematics ever interest you?

[North Star]

Yes.

Same question.

[Lykren]

Yes, in the most impractical way. I have no head for actually working out logical problems, but I'm interested because I think humans have an often-unquestioned instinct toward logic that mathematics is an exploration of, an attempt to see more clearly into.

Would you go down Niagara (or any big fall) in a barrel?

[North Star]

Would you go down Niagara (or any big fall) in a barrel?

No I wouldn't.


Yes, in the most impractical way. I have no head for actually working out logical problems, but I'm interested because I think humans have an often-unquestioned instinct toward logic that mathematics is an exploration of, an attempt to see more clearly into.
Would you mind expanding on that?

[Pompey Bum]

Mathematics seems too inhuman--too perfect--to be of much interest to me. I love language because it has all these flawed rules. But my wife is a math genius. Some how it all adds up. :)

And Lykren, some of my most upsetting dreams have been about killing people. Usually it's in self-defense, but one time I was a hit man who felt really bad about what I was doing. It was really awful. Thank God I seldom get that kind of dream.

Would you be a vegetarian if you had to slaughter your own meat?

[North Star]

Would you be a vegetarian if you had to slaughter your own meat?
No, I'd be a butcher.
Same question.

And I'm more interested in chemistry than maths, but that's more to do with how it relates to nature than to the 'imperfection' compared to 'pure' mathematics.

[Lykren]

Would you mind expanding on that?

Well, do numbers describe reality? That question seems fundamentally the same as, do words describe reality? We assume they do, in both cases, but when we look more deeply into it it seems to become more, not less, confusing. I like that kind of meditative thing, although maybe that's more 'philosophy of mathematics' than 'mathematics.'

Yes I would be a vegetarian, slaughtering animals seem tiring.

What will you read your child, if you have one, or if you won't have one, what would you read them?

[North Star]

Well, do numbers describe reality? That question seems fundamentally the same as, do words describe reality? We assume they do, in both cases, but when we look more deeply into it it seems to become more, not less, confusing. I like that kind of meditative thing, although maybe that's more 'philosophy of mathematics' than 'mathematics.'
They describe reality as surely as we can experience reality, however distorted it appears through our senses.


What will you read your child, if you have one, or if you won't have one, what would you read them?
What would I read to them? Some poetry, Lewis Carroll.

Same question.

[Lykren]

Tolkien, Lewis, Pullman, Frost, Dickinson, Shakespeare, early Blake, Wordsworth, Austen, those are what I can think of now.

You did say we can't experience reality on page 1312! But I see what you mean, sorry to nitpick.

What's the biggest thing you've ever forgiven someone for?

[Pompey Bum]

I have forgiven my parents for not being gods.

Same question.

[Lykren]

Same answer as a matter of fact, though maybe I'm not fully done... :argue:

Do you read webcomics? If so, which?

[North Star]

xkcd.com, and I suppose the two Finnish ones I read on the website of a newspaper might count, although they are traditional comic strips, three panel format (although not necessarily three panels). Those are in Finnish, of course. Some of one of them has been translated, although a good deal of the humour is linguistic in nature and untranslatable.
http://www.expat-finland.com/living_in_finland/fingerpori.html

Same question.

[Lykren]

xkcd.com for me too, but Clopin has got me reading Hark! A Vagrant and I love it more now.

Do you like gum?

[Pendragon]

Gum, no.

As for being vegan if I had to slaughter my own meat, I am a hunter

Have you ever felt yourself die in a dream?

[North Star]

E: No, never.

xkcd.com for me too, but Clopin has got me reading Hark! A Vagrant and I love it more now.

Do you like gum?
Chewing gum is good, particularly for the teeth (I'd never chew other than xylitol gum), but I don't tend to chew in public.
I should clarify that the ones translated in the link above seem to be ones that don't suffer in translation.

What are your favourite paper comics?

[Calidore]

As for being vegan if I had to slaughter my own meat, I am a hunter

I'm not a vegan or vegetarian, but I have slaughtered my own vegetables before, because ethics.


Have you ever felt yourself die in a dream?

I have died in dreams, but I don't remember if I've still been dreaming at the moment of "death".


What are your favourite paper comics?

I think this one came up recently in another thread, but that was limited to three, which was tough.

Humor: Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, Far Side, Doonesbury, Zits, Mutts
Serials: Pre-moon Dick Tracy, Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, the first few years of Li'l Abner, Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon

And probably more I'm forgetting.

If you could have the complete recorded works of any one musical genre or style, what would it be?

[North Star]

I'm not a vegan or vegetarian, but I have slaughtered my own vegetables before, because ethics.
Humor: Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, Far Side, Doonesbury, Zits, Mutts
Serials: Pre-moon Dick Tracy, Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, the first few years of Li'l Abner, Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon

If you could have the complete recorded works of any one musical genre or style, what would it be?
Have you read Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac? A C&H fan will probably like it.

Complete recorded works of any musical genre or style? is 'classical', i.e. Western art music, too wide? But I don't know if I really wanted all of any genre - it's going to be an enormous amount, and at least 50% of it is going to be of below-average quality.

What's the weather like there?

[Lykren]

Sunny and warm, year in and year out.

Worst weather you've ever experienced?

[North Star]

Worst weather ever? -35F.

Same question.

[Lykren]

Snowstorm and stuck in a car on Grant's Pass in Oregon, I don't know the temperature.

What is the most absent-minded thing you've ever done? 'Cause I just found out that I left the key to the store I work at hanging out the front door for the last twelve hours.

[Clopin]

Sunny and warm, year in and year out.

Worst weather you've ever experienced?


It snowed here today... quite a bit too.

Worst weather? I dunno, minus 40 celcius, or even lower temperatures.

What's your favourite brand of commercially available pop/soda? Don't give me some hipster ****, microbrewery rootbeer either.

[Lykren]

I like Crystal Geyser's lime sparkling water a lot.

Do you drink dark beers?

[North Star]

Coke from the well known brands, although there are two Finnish ones I might prefer. But it all depends on what we're diluting with it. ;)


Snowstorm and stuck in a car on Grant's Pass in Oregon, I don't know the temperature.

What is the most absent-minded thing you've ever done? 'Cause I just found out that I left the key to the store I work at hanging out the front door for the last twelve hours.
The most absent-minded thing? I'm not sure how that can be measured, as forgetting to do a part of your routine is the absent-minded thing, and it's extremely unlikely that you'd realize you didn't do it. A rather expensive and recent one, though: separating the keys that I don't need regularly, and then going out with those keys.

E: Yes I do drink dark beers.

Same question.

[Lykren]

I love dark beers!

What do you love acquiring other than art?

[North Star]

What do I love acquiring? Hmm. I like good clothes, and shopping for them can be nice. Buying food, too - particularly finding good discounts. But I'd rather starve, or buy cheap food, and wear out my old clothes and buy books and CDs.

Same question, again.

[Pendragon]

Books and DVD's usually. There are other things I collect, but these are more essential.

Latest book you read?

[Sido]

Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams. It's the 3rd book in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book series.

What is your best childhood memory?

[bounty]

i just finished again to carthage by john parker. its the sequel to his cult classic once a runner.

if we count childhood as pre-adolescence, I cant identify one specific memory as best. rather I have this very deep and abiding sense of having had a great childhood. these grand broad memories of constantly playing, being outdoors, and being with great friends.

is there something (or somethings) from your childhood (physical or otherwise) you wish you still had?

[Sido]

hmm...when I was around 3 years old, I got this Easter egg, which had a miniature figurine of a penguin with a midnight blue coat, and a camera around it's neck. I was very fond of it...but then one day, not long after I received it, it was gone. We searched for it everywhere, but it was no where to be found. I do wish I hadn't lost it. It was so very beautiful. Oh well...

What is your favorite comfort food/drink on a rainy day?

[Pendragon]

Animal Crackers

Do you sleep on your left, right, stomach, or back?

[Lykren]

Side mostly.

What's the best birthday gift you've received?

[Buckthorn]

Hey Buck. Nope.

Hi Pompey!



What's the best birthday gift you've received?
My sister bought me a Kindle Keyboard a few years ago, I love it because unlike most Kindles/Tablets now, when I use it I don't get disturbed by emails
On the same lines, what was the worst birthday gift you ever received?

[Pendragon]

Nothing. Everyone forgot that year.

Same question.

[Pompey Bum]

I keep birthday presents in the same synaptic file I use for pessimism: never expecting anything good, I've never met a birthday present I didn't like.

What is the stupidest fortune cookie you ever got?

[Calidore]

A blank slip of paper. Except lately that's turned out to be pretty accurate.

An ex-girlfriend once got "Say no to drugs", which we both thought was astoundingly lame. Except that one also turned out to be accurate, to my dismay.

What's the most accurate fortune (cookie, horoscope, whatever) you ever got?

[Pendragon]

Never had one that came close to being accurate, just random saying that could in a broad sense apply to anyone

Do you check your horoscope each day?

[Lykren]

No.

Do you get irritated by casual imprecisions in language?

[North Star]

Yes, to varying degrees, and not as much as by causal imprecisions.

Same question.

[Lykren]

Bit by bit I am losing my patience.

Do you feel emotionally affected by disasters like the Kathmandu earthquake, assuming you don't know anyone who was nearby and were not there yourself?

[North Star]

Can't say that I do that much. They are often things that can't be helped, and it's better to direct our energies to preventing man-made tragedies, or curing diseases.

What are you most looking forward to from this week?

[Lykren]

On Sunday we're having a barbecue for employees at the bookstore I work at, since we're closing. I'm also having coffee with two friends tomorrow, that will be nice.

Same question.

[Pompey Bum]

Do you feel emotionally affected by disasters like the Kathmandu earthquake, assuming you don't know anyone who was nearby and were not there yourself?

Yes, much more now than when I was younger.

I'm looking forward to reading more Plutarch. I'm really having fun with him.

Will private drones be used for murder or terrorism in the next five years?

[bounty]

now that is a tom Clancy or Jeffery deaver book waiting to be written; I say yes.

does hot air ballooning sound like a good time? would you go?

[Clopin]

It looks amazing I would love to!

Do you like bright light and heat, or cool temperatures with dimmer lights.

Also Pomp did you ever see the anime I recommended you in the aye/nay thread?

[Pompey Bum]

I know you didn't give this option, but warm temperatures and dim lights. Summer nights in a big city are awesome.

Count me in for ballooning, too. One thing I've never done.

No, I didn't Clopin. Repost the thread if you like, or I can go fish it out myself. I loved the cartoon about Herodotus and Thucydides, by the way.

Would you rather travel to a prosperous but relatively tame place (like London) or a more adventurous place, but with shocking poverty (like Cairo)?