Game: Ask the Person Below You

[Clopin]

You should skim through the Hark a Vagrant archives if you liked the cartoon, Kate Beaton is a history graduate who just does cartoons about (mostly) historical figures.

And okay I will repost it here.

Oh, and adventurous, but I do plan to get to Europe eventually.

Would you rather own a yaht or a lot of horses, a stable and country to ride in?

[Clopin]

Miyazaki for anime films, they are literally all good. Spirited away is his best, but I would also recommend:

My Neighbour Totoro (His most famous movie, cuteness and whimsy mask what is actually a fairly dark premise)
Howl's Moving Castle (Not beloved by critics, but I love the animation and art style, the dub is great too, unfortunately it gets a little preachy)
Princess Mononoke (Beautiful film, overboard on the preach, but that's how Miyazaki is)
Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (Preach city, but watch the trailer, it's an interesting world with a lot of beautiful animation)

Okay and as for series available on YouTube I would recommend the following.

The Tatami Galaxy
The series has a fun artsy style and the premise is pretty unique. A freshman in college attempts to reinvent himself through clubs, social activities, working out, etc and ultimately fails each time. In every episode he spends his first two years of college chasing a "rose colored campus dream life" and when he fails the clock goes back and he starts over again with something else.

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Giant aliens periodically invade Tokyo III while a secretive defense organization fends them off with... what else but giant cyborgs piloted (reluctantly) by fourteen year old kids. One of the most influential and well known series ever, the plot is complicated beyond belief and the ending is so awful the director received a stream of death threats until he remade it with the film End of Evangelion. A story more about personal struggles with depression, social anxiety, sexual timidity and parental issues than with giant aliens or monsters, he also bankrupted his studio and the last five or so episodes are noticeably marred by poor animation quality and editing.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes
This one might be your jam, a long space opera based on a series of short novels (never translated into English) and one of the most critically acclaimed series of all time. It's politically deep and mulls over a lot of questions about human society, nations, nationalism, how to govern a state, how a democracy should function and why democracy is important among others.

Two factions exist in space, The Galactic Empire, an autocratic state ruled by a Kasier, and the Goldenbaum dynasty which has existed for five hundred years, now on it's last, decadent legs. And The Free Planets Alliance, an offshoot of rebels who escaped the Empire and run a democratic society. These two are fighting a sort of hundred years war, on and off, with no end in sight.

There are two main characters, one from each side, on the FPA you have:

Yang Wenli
A history student who enrolled in the army to pay for school and ends up as the alliance's star admiral and commander of their most successful fleet. He staunchly believes in governing society through democratic rule and refuses every opportunity of power. Pompey you once said that sometimes a democratic society means working hard for change which you know you won't see in your lifetime, so I think you would like Yang, who embodies this principle; if he can't win his war by acting through legal channels as authorized by the constitution written by his country then he doesn't want to win it. A thirty something year old bachelor/slob, who drinks a lot of alcohol and tea, and whose greatest ambition is to come through the war in one piece so he can retire, the character is also funny and charming, and the voice acting is actually brilliant.

And the imperial main character is:

Reinhard Von Musel
An ambitious and talented young man (based very clearly on both Napolean and Alexander the Great) born into a family of destitute nobels. When he was young, his sister (who he has sort of a weird obsession with) was taken as a concubine for the Kaiser and he has sort of borne a grudge ever since. Other incidents in his youth (such as witnessing the rape of a common girl by a nobleman) caused him to further dislike the Goldenbaum dynasty and system of nobility itself. He was promoted on a combination of merit and the favour owed to his sister by the Kaiser and is so heavily unpopular with the old guard nobility that their battle plans often include using his fleet as canon fodder. A political maneuverer and genius admiral, Reinhard is somewhat less likable than Yang, he embodies the autocratic system of government in the series. Throughout the show he enacts a lot of very good changes, but he's still a tyrant, and some of his actions are less than savoury.

So basically you have an autocratic empire with a very strong leader versus a rather realistic democratic state. There are incidents in both societies which raise moral questions; when Reinhard is fighting a civil war with the high nobility he intercepts plans they have of nuking a small planet of farmers (population two million) and instead of stopping this attack he and his advisor decide to let it happen so that the common soldiers in the high noble army will lose their will to participate and abandon their leaders, and the war will be won without expending many millions of soldiers, or even taking a few more years. When Yang captures a key strategic point, the Alliance council of leaders vote against negotiating a favourable peace treaty and instead vote to send an enormous invasion fleet into imperial territory; because their polls show they won't win the next election without a major wartime victory very soon.

The score is also entirely classical music with lots of Dvorak, Tchaikovsky and Mahler, if you're into that.

Planetes
Hard science series about a sort of tech company in the near future, the main characters are all astronauts who work in the lowest paid and least respected section of the company; debris collection. It's mostly a lighthearted show with a romance story, but there's some drama in later episodes when the main character tries out for the crew of the first manned expedition to Jupiter, and a terrorist organization (concerned with the welfare of the poorest on Earth) attempts to halt the mission.

Trailers...

Evangelion (note, do NOT watch the dub)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d8w1bVAHZ60

The Tatami Galaxy
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GpctdMcHhUw

Legend of the Galactic Heroes (crappy, melodramatic, low quality, fan made trailer, still shows off more of the series than the real trailer)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3nPc2DBe9tk

Planetes (trailer makes it look more dramatic than it is. Under absolutely no circumstance are you permitted to watch the dub)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zosnCjiXKbU

End of Evangelion
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk72E4qgEng

Ghost in the Shell (film, not series, cyberpunk, transhumanism and discussion on what makes consciousness and experiences real, this movie heavily influenced every aspect of The Matrix, if you have seen that)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SvBVDibOrgs

And concealed handguns on college campuses? I think no, but it doesn't really matter, I don't think someone carrying would be more likely to go on a shooting spree than someone who just brings one from home one day. Accidents would be my concern.

[Pompey Bum]

Thank you so much, Clopin. I really appreciate the effort.

Given that choice, I'll take the equestrian life. I think I would have been a good 18th century country squire--maybe like the crazy one in Tom Jones (which I can't believe Lykren didn't like, by the way).

Should a fraternity have its charter revoked (or however they do it) because its members shouted insults at parading combat veterans?

[Clopin]

Without having any idea how fraternities or their charters work, or who is in charge of revoking them, I really can't say, but I lean towards not... I mean, big deal, insults; I'm sure combat veterans can handle it.

Should people serve jail time for non violent drug offenses?

[Clopin]

Haha also this one is sort of funny and silly.

http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=375

[Pompey Bum]

Should people serve jail time for non violent drug offenses?

It depends on the case, but as a general rule: for using, no.

How about for dealing?

[Clopin]

No jail time unless they have committed some violent offense, or theft, etc.

Is there any real difference between a drug dealer of illegal drugs, a bartender and a pharmacist?

[Lykren]

Yes. The first one is unregulated.

Have you ever changed someone's mind about an important personal belief through debate alone?

[North Star]

Is there any real difference between a drug dealer of illegal drugs, a bartender and a pharmacist?

Yes. The first one is unregulated.
Not to mention that drugs, the bad kind, destroy people's lives far more easily and are far more addictive and damaging than alcohol. Even marijuana, let alone the other usual suspects. And it is nothing short of asinine to think that a pharmacist and a dealer of illegal drugs have something in common, unless the said pharmacist also does illegal drug dealing on the side. Then he or she would be a dealer of illegal drugs, just as a classics professor who dealt illegal drugs is a dealer of illegal drugs. But the profession of a pharmacist is as far from that of the illegal drug dealer as possible. There might be police officers who are also criminals, even contract killers, but that hardly means that there is no real difference between an assassin and a random police officer. The job of a pharmacist is to help people find a medical cure to their ailments, advising how to administer said cure, and to make sure that the customer can take the drug/medication safely, or to advise them go see an MD. I haven't heard of a dealer of illegal drugs doing any of those.
I should have thought that you, Lykren, might have mentioned some more of the differences, as you have some experience of dealing with pharmacists. And the noble profession of the bartender need not be slandered either, as usually it would be much worse if alcoholics drank on the street or in their own apartments. Not that that doesn't happen, and those with severe problems with alcohol don't tend to frequent bars so much.



Have you ever changed someone's mind about an important personal belief through debate alone?
No.

Same question.

[Clopin]

I disagree. Repost here and I'll respond fully.

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?80344-Psychedelics/page2

[Lykren]

I haven't changed anyone's mind in a debate, but I sure enjoy seeing people duke it out.

If you want me I'll be lurking the psychedelics thread.

Is preserving dying indigenous languages important?

[Clopin]

No, not really.

Is preserving the ethnicity of a geographical landmass (E.G Japan is populated by 95% ethnic Japanese, should it stay that way?) important?

[Lykren]

I have no idea whether it's important, but what with globalization it's a lost cause anyways.

Do you go to your local library much?

[Pendragon]

No.They don't have a great deal of the stuff I read. I have quite a library of my own!

Don't you hate it when they advertise that a book will be available in Feb. and it still has not been released?

[Buckthorn]

Don't you hate it when they advertise that a book will be available in Feb. and it still has not been released?

Yes that happens with a certain book series in the UK (an ebook novella is released in the states but not in the UK (even though Amazon lists it as being published), until 2 novellas later when a physical bind up of all 3 is released - then all 3 novellas get released. Its happened 4 times now). Its almost as bad as waiting for the last book in a trilogy when the author spends years getting it right (Kingkiller chronicles).

On a slightly less serious note that some of the previous questions, do you have a favourite flavour of Jam?

[Lykren]

Strawberry FTW.

What is the longest amount of time you've spent playing a game (of any kind)?

[North Star]

Oh gosh, finally we arrive on a favourite topic, and asked by Buckthorn, too. ;)
My favourites are all made by my mother, from the apples and sea-buckthorn from my childhood home, currants from my uncle's plot, and from cranberries and lingonberries (lingonberry/apple is a nice combination) picked in the forest. The apple jam is particularly nice when seasoned with cognac :) That and the cranberry jam are my favourites.

E: Longest amount of time playing a game? Many hours on some boardgames / cardgames with friends.

Who is your favourite writer older than Shakespeare?

[Pompey Bum]

Homer, if I really had to choose.

Is the Bruce Jenner story being over covered by the media?

[Lykren]

I haven't heard a thing about it aside from one post a friend liked on Facebook. So no. Life is good underneath this rock!

Is reading the news and staying informed a moral responsibility?

[Dark Muse]

No I don't think it is a moral responsibility.

What is your guilty pleasure?

[Iain Sparrow]

I haven't heard a thing about it aside from one post a friend liked on Facebook. So no. Life is good underneath this rock!

Is reading the news and staying informed a moral responsibility?

Definitely not.
The news is usually only partially accurate anyways. I just finished reading a book on the Columbine High School Massacre, and almost everything I thought I knew about that day turned out to be wrong. The two murderers weren't being relentlessly bullied, nor were they part of the Goth crowd, both had good grades and were socially active, the local police department had over 20 registered complaints against the two boys and a judge authorized search warrant which was never executed... so you see, staying informed requires not being lazy, and reading books written long after events have played out.
Best to remain blissfully ignorant.

If you were a journalist and could go back in time, which historical event would you want to cover?

[Iain Sparrow]

No I don't think it is a moral responsibility.

What is your guilty pleasure?


I am totally addicted to the Impractical Jokers tv show, those guys are hilarious!

same question, what is your guilty pleasure?

[bounty]

salty crunchy things like potato chips and corn chips and the prices at the local big lots are making the guilty pleasure even more difficult to resist!

same question...whats your guilty pleasure?

[Pompey Bum]

If I take pleasure in it, I don't feel guilty about it.

Do you wish you were more emotionally sensitive or less?

[Pendragon]

Less. I have emotional problems.

Do you find yourself compelled to avoid someone just because you don't want to go to jail?

[Pike Bishop]

I've never been there. I make it a habit to avoid people the moment they prove they aren't worthy of my attention.

Do you find that Karen Carpenter has been criminally ignored as a great singer just because most of her music was kitsch?

[Pompey Bum]

Do you find yourself compelled to avoid someone just because you don't want to go to jail?

No. I avoid people 'cause I'm too busy reading.

Do you think more people exercise for their health or because it lifts their butts?

[bounty]

there's a t-shirt out that says "I run so I can look good naked"

hard to say for sure which reason is predominant without looking (there are studies on that very topic!) but im going to give the slight edge to the former. there are so many people for whom their behinds are not on their minds (no punning there)...smiles...but who still want to be, and can be otherwise healthy.


there are a handful of really popular books/movies lately where the major characters are essentially still kids---harry potter, twilight, hunger games, insurgent, enders game, and they find themselves in very adult situations. has literature/cinema always been this way, or is this a relatively recent trend? and if the latter, what do you make of it?

[Pike Bishop]

I'm not a film historian in any way, but I believe most "kiddie" films and teen films were always of lesser quality made with a belief the youth audience was both unsophisticated and too small of a ticket-buying contingent to merit high-budget, high-quality fare. They were probably wrong on the first account, but right on the second, as most kids and teens very often did depend on direct supply of money from Mom and Dad to be able to purchase tickets. Another factor is the YA fiction market wasn't nearly as big or of high quality as it has been in the last 25 years.

What has changed this is three things.

1. The quality of YA fiction from The Harry Potter books to Fault in our Stars to Colin Fischer has greatly improved in the last 25 years. Publishers are starting to realize what young people have known since the advent of the Neanderthals: kids aren't stupid and are, in many ways, smarter than the grown-ups.

2. Teens of all economic classes are working more now for spending money and economic independence, as much as they are for college and other necessities

3. Most YA fiction and films are savvily made and marketed to also appeal to grown-ups as well, so the market has greatly expanded. I saw The Maze Runner with my son and thought it was a very good science fiction film, as well as a teen struggle analogy.

[Pompey Bum]

there are a handful of really popular books/movies lately where the major characters are essentially still kids---harry potter, twilight, hunger games, insurgent, enders game, and they find themselves in very adult situations. has literature/cinema always been this way, or is this a relatively recent trend? and if the latter, what do you make of it?

It's a marketing trend, partially driven by the fact that children and teenagers love fantasy, but also because they go to a lot of movies, so fiction can be floated to them as potential franchises.

What sports accomplishment do you take the greatest pride in?

[Ecurb]

It's a marketing trend, partially driven by the fact that children and teenagers love fantasy, but also because they go to a lot of movies, so fiction can be floated to them as potential franchises.

What sports accomplishment do you take the greatest pride in?

I once climbed the North Face of Mt. Edith Cavell. http://www.summitpost.org/north-face-main-summit/649044 I was more accomplished in other sports -- but they aren't as cool to brag about.

What intellectual accomplishment do you take the greatest pride in?

[Pompey Bum]

Perceiving the folly of pride? ;-)

What book are you the most embarrassed about having read?

[tonywalt]

Nancy Mitford - Love in a cold climate. I was asked to read it by a girl - these things happen.

same question.

[Clopin]

I'm not embarrassed by having read any book I don't think.

Considering the custom of culturally mandated tipping why is the tip set to a percentage of the cost of the bill? If I order a $200 bottle of champagne does it somehow cause the wait staff significantly more strain to deliver it to my table than their cheapest, $20, bottle? Because in both cases the exact same action of carrying a bottle of wine to a table has been performed, yet the tip should be ten times the size?

[tonywalt]

good point Clopin! The same argument could be put forth for an expensive dish, say...truffle. What if you ordered truffle and i ordered a fish salad. Your dish costs many times more. I suppose we conform to this custom.

Would you stop speaking to a parent or sibling (shunning) for long periods of time in order to inflict pain, make a point, or out of pure revenge? (I will snap my fingers and say, "damn, now that's honest" if someone says 'yes' to this question).

[Pompey Bum]

Global warming.

Oh sorry, tony, that was for Clopin. Yes, I'd do that, and have done it with a friend of about 35 years, but not to cause pain. It was just necessary and I didn't flinch from doing it.

Would you ever join the military (assuming there was no draft?)

[Clopin]

Ugh I have no idea about whether man made climate change is real, I do however know that a few billion people in China and India as well as the rest of the developing world are going to want cars and homes and refrigerators and other luxuries we enjoy in the West, which contribute massively to pollutions, etc, and there's no way to stop that.

Yes I would join the military, but not in today's world.

Would you ever want a very exotic pet, like a lynx or a small deer?

[Lykren]

I want a fennec fox all the time! Pandas would also be great. But I shouldn't have one.

What do you want for your next birthday?

[Clopin]

Woah fennec foxes are cute!

I don't really celebrate my birthday, my parents will probably just get me some books.

Antique furniture or new?

[Lykren]

Anything minimalist, so probably new.

Should an artist's education emphasize standardized practices or a 'do what you feel like' approach, if you had to choose?

[Pendragon]

Do what you feel. Then it isn't forced by any preconceived standards.

In art is realism or abstract more your style

[Pike Bishop]

Do what you feel. Then it isn't forced by any preconceived standards.

In art is realism or abstract more your style

Definitiely abstract and/or abstract realism. It is very difficult for realist art to actually be art. In painting or sculpture, realistic art usually just connotes a high level of craft without much, if any, artistic vision. In literature, it is often the same. Realist literature rarely involves artistic use of language, artistic use of narrative, or philosophical profundity. Of course, many--including me--would argue that abstract Modernist/Postmodernist art is a more accurate presentation of reality than "realism."

How inferior to your taste could your significant other's artistic tastes be before you could no longer be with him or her?

[Pompey Bum]

Do what you feel. Then it isn't forced by any preconceived standards.

In art is realism or abstract more your style

I like both. That means twice the pleasure, right?

What is the largest animal you have seen in the wild?

[Pike Bishop]

Definitiely abstract and/or abstract realism. It is very difficult for realist art to actually be art. In painting or sculpture, realistic art usually just connotes a high level of craft without much, if any, artistic vision. In literature, it is often the same. Realist literature rarely involves artistic use of language, artistic use of narrative, or philosophical profundity. Of course, many--including me--would argue that abstract Modernist/Postmodernist art is a more accurate presentation of reality than "realism."

How inferior to your taste could your significant other's artistic tastes be before you could no longer be with him or her?

[Lykren]

I like both.

What is the largest or strangest animal you have seen in the wild?

I've seen a blue whale and also some kind of huge ray when someone caught one while fishing off the wharf.

Did you doodle when you were bored in school?

[Pike Bishop]

Definitiely abstract and/or abstract realism. It is very difficult for realist art to actually be art. In painting or sculpture, realistic art usually just connotes a high level of craft without much, if any, artistic vision. In literature, it is often the same. Realist literature rarely involves artistic use of language, artistic use of narrative, or philosophical profundity. Of course, many--including me--would argue that abstract Modernist/Postmodernist art is a more accurate presentation of reality than "realism."

How inferior to your taste could your significant other's artistic tastes be before you could no longer be with him or her?

[Pompey Bum]

That's awesome, Lykren. I've mostly seen humpbacks--what amazing lifeforms!

No because, um, I never got bored in school. :blush5:

Would you rather live in an ant farm or a bee hive?

[Lykren]

No because, um, I never got bored in school.

That is more awesome.

Ant farm? Both seem terrifying though.

What animal are you most afraid of?

[Pompey Bum]

Second from the bottom. Highly toxic, strike at anything, and like to hand around Taipei gutters. Really bad news.

http://www.formosanfattire.com/feature/snakes_in_taiwan/poisonous_snakes.htm

Same question.

[Lykren]

Wow, even the Latin name is scary.

I'm not aware of any animals I need to be scared of, but I'll go with Black Widow Spiders.

Would you keep a snake as a pet?

[Pompey Bum]

That sounds more like Clopin's thing. My wife won't even let me have a dog anymore. :(

If 99.9% of the human population died in a sudden extinction event, would you wan't to be among the survivors?

[Lykren]

No.

Do you own art books?

[Pompey Bum]

I did, but I've given most of them to libraries at this point.

What is the longest car trip you've ever taken?

[Lykren]

Santa Barbara, CA to Vancouver BC.

What kind of food was the best you've ever had?

[Pompey Bum]

It's hard to say. The streets of Taipei are paved with good food. In America--I dunno, I like ice cream.

Do you like modern ruins or do you just pass by without really thinking about them?

[Lykren]

I just pass by them.

Does this sort of question (http://www.livescience.com/22037-pink-girls-blue-boys.html) interest you?

[Pompey Bum]

Not really. It seems kind of trivial compared to ruined buildings in the desert. :)

If you could eliminate two national holidays (you'd still get the days off) which ones would they be?

[Lykren]

Not really. It seems kind of trivial compared to ruined buildings in the desert. :) Indeed! haha.

Christmas and Independence Day. I would replace them with National Pretty Flowers Day and National Forget National Boundaries Day if I could.

Same question.

[Pompey Bum]

I'd get rid of Memorial Day and Labor Day and replace them with
Sundress Awareness Day and Buy Your Husband an Amazon Card Day, respectively.

Georgias Horse (no apostrophe) is pretty obscure. This is my favorite of theirs:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jN5giw9np7c

Which sounds like a stupider way to pass your time: knapping (learning to make Stone Age tools, you know, just in case); or golf?

[Lykren]

Knapping, but dang that's a close call. I like Sundress Awareness Day, by the way!

Would Keats have gotten even better?

[Pompey Bum]

Yes, eventually, although he would have gone through a "fat Elvis" phase first.

Was Byron banging Mary Shelly?

[Lykren]

Bangin' away. (http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/11-23-2014/lHaRTL.gif)

How often do you crack your knuckles?

[Calidore]

Pretty much daily since I was a kid. Fun fact: My sister, who doesn't crack her knuckles, has developed arthritis. I, who do, have not.

Do you crack anything besides your knuckles?

[Lykren]

My neck, spine, carpo-metacarpals, toes, and elbows. My fingers I crack, like, every ten minutes at least. [crack addict joke]

How often do you think about the vanished past?

[Clopin]

I just pass by them.

Does this sort of question (http://www.livescience.com/22037-pink-girls-blue-boys.html) interest you?

Interest would be a mild word for what it does to me.

Modern ruins are very cool.

I think about the vanished past pretty much every single day.

Same question.

[North Star]

I certainly think of past and history often. 'Vanished past' is such a nice phrase. What exactly do you, Lykren, mean by it? Past that nobody remembers anymore? Past that isn't recorded? Just past in general?

Modern ruins tend to be very unappealing, and that says a bit about modern architecture in general, and the shift in building materials. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruin_value
Some modern architecture is really nice, of course. But it rarely makes for good ruins, and the buildings that have ended up as ruins so far certainly aren't among the finer examples of modern architecture.

What do you think of Sally Mann (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Mann)'s photographs of her children?

[Lykren]

I love her book Immediate Family, one of my favorite photographs is The Perfect Tomato (http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1kdn6gwWh1qzhl9eo1_1280.jpg).

Do arts such as literature, music, and painting differ meaningfully from so-called 'decorative arts?'

EDIT: By 'vanished past' I mean a past that happened to you, but that seems to have happened to someone else, as you were so different then.

[North Star]

I love her book Immediate Family, one of my favorite photographs is The Perfect Tomato (http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1kdn6gwWh1qzhl9eo1_1280.jpg).
Splendid!


Do arts such as literature, music, and painting differ meaningfully from so-called 'decorative arts?'
Ah, now we're entering the tangled web of art for arts sake and arts & crafts the movement. Painting can be decorative obviously, and I'd count the music composed for courts to play in background, too (and contemporary examples like muzak and perhaps even e.g. Rothko Chapel). I notice you didn't include sculpture, architecture or ceramics. They aren't necessarily 'just' decorative, you know. ;) Decorative differs in the way it was made, and for what function it was made, but that doesn't make it inferior, the opposite might be true in some cases. The Hudson River artists painted on kitchen cabinet doors. There are meaningful differences, but no clear-cut ones.

Same question.


EDIT: By 'vanished past' I mean a past that happened to you, but that seems to have happened to someone else, as you were so different then.
I don't really feel like that even of my most distant childhood memories. I don't think I have really changed that much, just grown and developed.

[Pompey Bum]

Modern ruins tend to be very unappealing, and that says a bit about modern architecture in general, and the shift in building materials. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruin_value
Some modern architecture is really nice, of course. But it rarely makes for good ruins, and the buildings that have ended up as ruins so far certainly aren't among the finer examples of modern architecture

There are interesting ruins in the American Southwest from the 19th century (old forts and "ghost towns," etc.), but also ruined structures from the 20th century (an abandoned gas station from the 30s, a gutted stone house where the desert has reclaimed everything else). For me, those are the real ghosts. I think it would be an interesting project to photograph them. There are plenty in Texas, New Mexico, Nevada; all the places that are dying from the drought right now. I got interested in the obscure quasi-avant garde Georgias horse when I heard the songwriter say that their weird sound had been inspired by those places (although I think that band may be a ghost town at this point). For me, there is a "living dead" quality to modern ruins--a kind of cultural still life--that is more or less reduced to a corpse on a slab when and if the archaeologists ever get there.

Sally Mann was sort of asking for trouble.

Should an indigenous tribal population have more claim to prehistoric remains (including human remains) than a more recently arrived group, when the tribal people (despite their beliefs) are demonstrably a different group than that represented by the remains?

[Clopin]

Urban exploration is sort of a hobby involving ruins and bunkers, etc, though I think it's more popular in Eastern Europe.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=urban+exploration&client=safari&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=E4JDVcW1DMjHogSjk4GoCw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=768&bih=878

Quite cool honestly.

And probably not. I dislike the special privileges given to the indigenous populations of North America and "being there first" doesn't tend to constitute ownership of territory if you lose it during a war, so I don't see why Mayans should have more claim to something than modern Mexicans really.

Would you think differently about me if I said I think every Neutral Milk Hotel release is a perfect ten and modern classic?

[Pompey Bum]

No. Even if I had a different opinion about that, it wouldn't effect my overall assessment of you.

Do you think taking a trip to Antarctica to stand briefly on the shore (just to say you've done it) would be worthwhile?

[Clopin]

Not for that reason, no, though I think a boat trip to Antarctica could be interesting and worthwhile.

I saw an exhibit on old maps made from the middle ages and on and they were pretty freakin accurate, at least considering Europe... How the Hell do you make a relatively accurate map of entire continents with nothing but ships?

[Pompey Bum]

Early on, navigators would just make "charts" of bits of shoreline. The older ships had to hug coasts in any case, so they tended to think in terms of where they were in the specific and less so about where the coast actually was located in relation to the whole. The technique could be extended as far as ships explored along a coastline. Detailed charts of the coast of West Africa existed, for example, when Europeans still thought that Africa and Antarctica were connected in the south. In time, once improved sails and other technological advances opened whole oceans, detailed world maps appeared with accurate-looking continents, but huge blank areas in the interior. It gave the appearance that people knew more about the world than they really did.

Should the concept of "genocide" be abandoned; if so, what should replace it?

[Ecurb]

Concepts need not be abandoned. However, they can be more aptly applied. Also, I've always wanted to go to the arctic or antarctic (I was in Narvik once, which is north of the arctic circle), but not just to say I've done it.

Would you go on a guided climb of Mt. Everest, or would you prefer to bag a lower, less famous, but less crowded Himalayan peak?

[Pompey Bum]

The only part of an Everest climb that appeals to me is seeing the wind mummies of climbers who cashed it in near the summit. I guess it's part of the "modern ruin" mystique we were talking about before. But the danger/challenge of any given Himalayan climb (even if I could plausibly attempt one at my age) doesn't interest me when there is just so much natural beauty to see in North America.

Will the protests/riots in Ferguson and Baltimore contribute to a major conservative backlash in the coming presidential elections (as, it has been suggested, race riots and other street violence seeded the "Silent Majority" victory of Richard Nixon in 1968)?

[Clopin]

Hopefully it will. The decision not to indict Wilson was totally valid and I am sick to death of this "kkk, neo nazi police officer guns down innocent African cherub, on his way to college with honours who was kneeling in the street and praying like the good boy that he is" narrative, and they should arrest all of the witnesses who lied about the circumstances surrounding Brown's death (he was kneeling down saying "don't shoot me" when he was shot). Even if this was a police murder destroying your own community is a real smart idea right?

If you were reasonably sure you had cancer and then found out that you didn't what would you do to celebrate?

[Lykren]

I would use the organ I had thought was cancerous ;)

What is the appeal of death metal, etc.?

[Clopin]

I'm not a death metal fan but I do like drone metal, doom metal along with (some, very select) black metal groups and (even fewer) crust punk bands. I just really like the aesthetic behind the two black metal bands I listen to which are Burzum and Peste Noire and I like the sound of the music, not much more to it than that. Crust punk in Japan and G.I.S.M in particular had quite an influence on some current Japanese menswear designers as well, which is something I'm interested in.

Do the politics of a band turn you off the music (e.g The Knife are super liberal social justice warriors and Burzum is incredibly right wing with even a possible neo nazi connection).

[Pompey Bum]

BOOM BOOM BOOM TIMMY!

What's not to like?

I don't follow a bands closely enough to know their politics. I generally hate them for other reasons.

Has fake dog sh*t actually ever fooled anyone?

[Lykren]

If a band has political beliefs at all I don't listen to them, haha. No, actually, the only band I listen to whose politics I am aware of is Radiohead, and their politics are something I don't have a problem with, though I don't understand Yorke's concern about the world's impending demise due to global warming -- should I be bothered about that? :D

EDIT: I bet it has.

Do a politician's tastes in music affect your opinion of him or her?

[Clopin]

BOOM BOOM BOOM TIMMY!



Haha, how did you discover your love of South Park? Do you find the show to be decent social commentary or just funny in general?

[Clopin]

If a band has political beliefs at all I don't listen to them, haha. No, actually, the only band I listen to whose politics I am aware of is Radiohead, and their politics are something I don't have a problem with, though I don't understand Yorke's concern about the world's impending demise due to global warming -- should I be bothered about that? :D

EDIT: I bet it has.

Do a politician's tastes in music affect your opinion of him or her?

It definitely could, actually, not that I know of any politicians' music tastes. Honestly politicians in most countries don't act like real people so they would probably have some PR rep do their music listings and it would just be dumb and fake and stupid.

[Lykren]

I remember in our '08 election the candidates were asked what music they had been listening to recently, and McCain said ABBA and Obama said Dylan, 'Maggie's Farm' in particular.

[Pompey Bum]

Haha, how did you discover your love of South Park? Do you find the show to be decent social commentary or just funny in general?

The first year that South Park was on, I had a friend who was an Evangelical Christian, but who laughed at South Park like he was going to pee his pants--especially the parts about Jesus (who was a character in the beginning). We used to watch it together sometimes, I think because he was embarrassed to watch it with his fundie friends, and because I was his token free-thinking Christian. I saw the first three or four seasons with him, and I've since seen some other years on Youtube (although they keep taking them off). I heard an NPR interview with Trey Parker, in which he said that he didn't like the show all that much for the first five years or so. From my admittedly limited experience, I couldn't disagree more. Early South Park is a cartoon. As far as I can tell, it eventually got to be more like a TV comedy, but with animated stars. Do you know about the lady who played (and basically invented) all the female characters, who killed herself during the 4th season? I think it was never really the same after that, although I am probably in the minority in thinking so. My favorite episode is Starvin' Marvin in Space, even though (I think) it was the first show after she died.

Do medium-sized breasts look better than boob jobs?

[Lykren]

Yes.

Have you ever hurt yourself on purpose?

[bounty]

no complaints at all concerning medium sized breasts, or small ones for that matter either!

I haven't---not in the sort of cutting/biting/hitting oneself way I think you might be asking about.

who is your favorite literary couple?

[Lykren]

EMMA AND MR KNIGHTLEY 4EVAH <3 <3 <3

What is your favorite work for solo piano?

[Pendragon]

My piano playing stinks, so Chopsticks would probably be my speed.

What kind of guitar do you play, if any?

[Lykren]

Steel string, badly.

What would the flag of your personal nation look like?

[Pendragon]

A Raven rampart on a field of crimson.

Same question

[Lykren]

Pretty much like this t-shirt (http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzI5WDc1MA==/z/nkcAAOxy0QBSRNt-/$(KGrHqIOKp0FIoWls,4tBSRNt-Ijh!~~60_35.JPG).

How often do you cook with rice?

[bounty]

lately, its been barely, but usually its a couple of times a week. I love brown rice and chili beans.

I read an enjoyable book recently about the MIT students who took las vegas (and other casinos) for many millions. the book is called bringing down the house. the movie version is called 21. I would recommend both.

the students didn't do anything illegal, but what they did was highly frowned upon by the powers that be. one of them was caught roughed up pretty badly, and the risk of that was always present.

if you had the mental capability they did---would you go to casinos and use it?

[Pompey Bum]

No, I'd go to Wall Street and make some real dough.

Should the Colorado movie theater shooter get not guilty by reason of insanity?

[Lykren]

No, I'd go to Wall Street and make some real dough.

That sounds less ethical though :)

As for the shooter, he seems crazy from what I hear. I don't know exactly how the sentencing would change to reflect that, but a life sentence seems fair and reasonable.

Have you ever known someone who became schizophrenic?

[Pompey Bum]

No, I haven't. Me neither.

What is your favorite kind of flower?

[Lykren]

Haha. People with schizophrenia don't really develop multiple personalities, though, you know.

Some kind of orchid I guess? I don't know much about flowers.

What was the topic of the best essay you've written?

[Pompey Bum]

The persistence of a Christian Jew hatred.

How about you?

[Lykren]

An analysis of the femme fatale in Dickinson's 764, Macbeth, The Homecoming by Pinter, and Hitchcock's Vertigo. I don't know what I was smoking, but it was fun to write.

I also wrote one on Adrienne Rich's poems in Dark Fields of the Republic, but that one was, uh, for a friend, so I don't know if it counts... heh.

What about the worst essay you've ever written?

[Clopin]

EMMA AND MR KNIGHTLEY 4EVAH <3 <3 <3

What is your favorite work for solo piano?

God I hated Emma... "You can't marry him, he's a farmer! Blah blah blah, I'm an annoying entitled skank".

[North Star]

Worst essay I've ever written? In education theory exam, I suppose.

Favourite work for solo piano? Impossible to choose one. Janáček's In the mist (and the piano sonata and On the overgrown path), Ravel's Gaspard & Miroirs, Bartók's Out of Doors, Suk's About Mother, Ligeti's etudes, Mompou's Musica callada, Debussy's Preludes, Scriabin's late works (Vers la flamme, the last sonatas, poèmes), Brahms's late pieces - the last two opuses in particular, Liszt's Annees des Pelerinage, Schumann's first sonata, Fantaisie, Carneval, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, Chopin's mazurkas, and pretty much all of the rest, Fauré's nocturnes & ballades, Mussorgsky's Pictures, Busoni's elegies and sonatinas, Alkan's etudes in the minor keys, Satie's Gnossiennes & Gymnopedies, Schubert's last sonatas (nos. 14, 15, 18-21), Beethoven's sonatas, Mozart's later sonatas (no. 10 and later), Fantasy in c minor, K.475, Rondo in a minor, K. 511, Adagio in b minor, K. 540, Haydn's Op. 50 sonatas are corkers, too. And Shostakovich's Preludes & Fugues, Op. 87.

Which are your favourite pieces for solo piano?

[Pendragon]

I believe I mentioned that I play keyboards very badly? Now if we are doing Beethoven's Fifth on my bass guitar, that's different!

Favorite song and why?

[bounty]

ohh way too many to pick just one favorite....I might have a top 40 though!

go your own way, give a little bit, the ecstasy of gold, little black submarines, the letter, wild mountain thyme, come to my window---just to name a few.

have any of you heard "voice inside my head" by the Dixie chicks? as far as I can tell the song is about giving up a baby for adoption, and then regretting it as an adult and dealing with the guilt.

or springsteen's "worlds apart" which I take to be about an American man and a muslim woman caught up in loving each other despite the circumstances in which they find themselves.

the short answer to "why" would have to be, the songs just resonate with something inside and create a strong emotional response.


who's your favorite marvel avenger? (the choices would be iron man, the hulk, thor, captain America, black widow or hawkeye)

[Pompey Bum]

The only Avenger who ever interested me was Mrs. Peel.

Do you know how to sail?

[bounty]

you might enjoy black widow then...

if you count rigging a tent fly onto a canoe in order to get across the lake easier, yes.

if you mean on a sailboat, no--ive only had a couple of occasions to be out on them.

I recently read an account (book) of the 1998 yacht race between Sydney and Hobart (on Tasmania) where a lot of lives were lost.

knowing there is sometimes a risk of death, does doing a yacht/sailboat race sound more appealing, or less appealing? or put another way, do dangerous situations attract you?

[Pompey Bum]

No, not anymore. (And I don't sail, btw).

In your opinion, is their a substantial difference between Protestant and Catholic Christianity?

[Lykren]

One is better organized?

How ironic is that the day before our bookstore closes down for good, we are celebrating California bookstore day?

[Pompey Bum]

Very ironic, Lykren.

What are you going to do when the goose that laid the golden egg closes?

[Lykren]

This! (http://www.middlebury.edu/ls/japanese) :)

Do you ever not read for long periods of time, say a few weeks?

[Pompey Bum]

Good luck! :)

No, I almost always read some every day or night.

Would you like to live overseas for a period of your life?

[bounty]

I think if I had a good friend, or girlfriend or wife to do it with, id say yes.

who was your favorite bond girl?

[Lykren]

I'm not really fond of any of them.

If everyone does it, does that make it alright?

[Pendragon]

No. Everyone could simply be sharing the same delusion. Or people could just be doing it to fit in.

What is a good excuse for skipping your shift at work?

[Pompey Bum]

Global warming.

What should I get my niece for her confirmation?

[Pendragon]

A nice white dress

Do you ever argue with yourself?

[Lykren]

All my conversations with myself are arguments.

What was the worst party experience you've had? If it's too embarrassing, what was the occasion for celebration?

[Pompey Bum]

It was an undergraduate party long ago, and the occasion was for everyone to get drunk

Do more good things or bad things remain in your memory over time?

[Clopin]

All my conversations with myself are arguments.

What was the worst party experience you've had? If it's too embarrassing, what was the occasion for celebration?

I got extremely drunk off of someone's home made bathtub beer one New Years and made out with a couple girls not up to my uh... standards. It was also the first and only time I've ever been truly blackout drunk with no memory of what happened for several hours. A female friend of mine told me I was her New Year's kiss and that her boyfriend almost started a fight with me (which would have been my first and only fight), but I don't remember any of it happening. I didn't throw up but I should have, I felt terrible the next day.

And Pomp I remember bad or embarrassing situations forever, often I'll be lying in bed and remember something stupid I've done or said and just say "nooooo" out loud and be unable to sleep for thinking about it.

Ever had a sexually transmitted disease?

[Pompey Bum]

And Pomp I remember bad or embarrassing situations forever, often I'll be lying in bed and remember something stupid I've done or said and just say "nooooo" out loud and be unable to sleep for thinking about it.

Me too, although it usually doesn't interfere with my sleep. It's strange that the good things a person does require more effort to remember, but maybe that's just natural selection's way of keeping us from making the same stupid mistakes again.


Ever had a sexually transmitted disease?

Not unless crabs count, and I'm pretty sure I got that from a coat I found in a thrift store.

Same question.

[North Star]

Haven't had any STDs.

What do you think of Frank Sinatra?

[Pompey Bum]

Talented crooner.

How about Bob Dylan?

[North Star]

Don't care for his singing, but the music is good.

What about Jimi Hendrix?

[Pompey Bum]

Talented guitarist, but I don't often care to be jarred like that by music.

Janis Joplin?

[Pendragon]

Rusty vocal cords, but love her "Me and Bobby McGee."

David Bowie?

[Calidore]

One of my favorite bits from the Monterey Pop film is when Joplin and her band are performing "Ball and Chain", and the camera cuts to Cass Elliott in the audience just sitting open-mouthed. I think if Joplin had survived her lifestyle, she would have become an astonishing blues singer.

Edit (too slow again): Bowie is an artist in the best sense--creative, fearless, and seldom does the same thing twice.

Billie Holiday?

[North Star]

E: Holiday is one of the greats.
Joplin is alright, can't say I've listened to her that much, though
[Do Little Wing, Castles Made of Sand and The Wind Cries Mary jar you too, or All Along the Watchtower?]
Gary Moore?

[Pike Bishop]

David Bowie?

Ardently always

Medieval theology?

[Pompey Bum]

E: Holiday is one of the greats.
Joplin is alright, can't say I've listened to her that much, though
[Do Little Wing, Castles Made of Sand and The Wind Cries Mary jar you too, or All Along the Watchtower?]
Gary Moore?

Moore was okay, but only borderline as real blues goes.

Orson Welles?

[North Star]

I have seen too little of Orson Welles' work, but I've liked what I've seen, Touch of Evil in particular.

Rory Gallagher?

[Pompey Bum]

See Gary Moore. :)

H.G. Wells?

[bounty]

the 2-3 books of his ive read, ive enjoyed, so on a limited basis I have to say yes to wells.

there's an interesting contemporary book where the author (his name escapes me) placed Sherlock holmes and professor challenger smack dab in the middle of the war of the worlds.

should Sylvester stallone left it at one rocky movie?

[Dark Muse]

I admit as a kid I loved those movies so I would not say he should have left it with one but maybe there were more then need be.

What is your favorite meal of the day ( breakfast, lunch, dinner etc.)?

[Pendragon]

He might not even have had to make the first one, but it became a habit really quickly. (too slow!)

Brunch

Mark Twain?

[bounty]

breakfast is my favorite meal. I love it!

I like mark twain---huck finn, a Connecticut yankee, prince and pauper---all enjoyable---but ive got a few more twain to read still, so ask me in a few years?

if you've seen the rocky movies---what's your favorite scene from any of them? or some memorable scenes?

[Dark Muse]

I like the scene when we and Apollo became friends and they are racing down the beach. I also like the training montages with using the meat as a punching bag. Of course the fights are always good.

Since we are on Stallone

Do you think he should have made more than one Rambo movie?

[Clopin]

I like the Rocky movies up to the one where he fights his protege on the street, that one was pretty bad.

I've never seen a Rambo movie actually.

How important are looks to you considering a potential relationship partner?

[tonywalt]

uuum, character and personality are much more important thank looks- I suppose i'm like most guys...

Do you have periods of time where you are very active on litnet then periods when you are inactive?

[Pompey Bum]

Do you think he should have made more than one Rambo movie?

How many did he make? One less would have been perfect. ;)

Should Harrison Ford have left it at one Indiana Jones movie? (Or at least should the subsequent movies been a lot better)?

EDIT: I've been pretty active since joining, although sometimes I actually read books. :)

[Dark Muse]

I really liked all the Indiana Jones movies except the newest one, that one should never have been made.


Should they keep making more Star Wars movies?

[Clopin]

I'll tell you after I see the next one. George Lucas though, should definitely not be making any new Star Wars movies.

What is your opinion of the Star Wars original trilogy?

[Pompey Bum]

If there's still a market (and there is) they should keep making them. Not for me, but hey.

How important is money to you in choosing a life partner?

Edit: First movie was good, second was meh, third was reasonably good. Jabba was funny, though.

[Clopin]

Not important at all, though it would be nice. If I get married we will just open a daycare, easy money.

How much should the government subsidize parents who need childcare?

[Pompey Bum]

Sounds great, Clopin. You could get your own children's childcare taken care of that way, too. Now stick a good (painful) percentage of what you take in away in low to moderate risk investments, and retire rten to fifteen years early. Congratulations. :)

This is a very difficult question, and I don't really know the answer. When I lived in New Orleans, the standard practice was for poor girls to get pregnant as soon as they were physically able, drop out of school, and collect government checks while watching Oprah and letting Gramma raise the kid (Daddy being long gone). I'm not saying that practice was wide spread elsewhere in America--I don't really know. Pre-Katrina NOLA was an unusual and shocking place in many ways. But it was a really bad situation that led to children having children and lots of alienated and angry boys with no dads but plenty of gangs and guns.

So if a permanent violent underclass of destroyed lives is what it leads to then give nothing, because "nothing" would be better than that. But if there were accountability--genuine widespread accountability--then in my opinion it would be worth investing in; because "nothing" may be better than the nightmare I saw, but it's still not very good. And babies are innocent. So I don't know. It troubles me a lot, though.

Same question.

[tonywalt]

As much as the general population who subsidizes government is willing to pay.

How many large concerts have you attended in the last 5 years?

[Pompey Bum]

Zero--in almost 40 years.

How many baseball games have you attended in the last 20 years (approximately)?

[tonywalt]

0, then again we don't play baseball much in the Cayman Islands.

How many traffic tickets do you have in the last 10 years?

[Pompey Bum]

Several warnings, no tickets. It's the damnedest thing, Tony, but after a certain age they just let you go.

How many people have you known who have killed themselves?

[Clopin]

Several warnings, no tickets. It's the damnedest thing, Tony, but after a certain age they just let you go.

How many people have you known who have killed themselves?

None so far that I know of.

How many eggs would you ideally have with breakfast?

[Pompey Bum]

Ideally? All of them. Practically, two (or so).

What should happen to frozen embryos a couple no longer needs?

[Clopin]

Stem cell research, though I am absolutely and totally opposed to abortions past a certain date except in life threatening (for the mother) circumstances.

How many people do you know who have killed themselves? I was actually named after my dad's best friend who was a suicide.

[tonywalt]

3.

In what way are you most creative? And, which creative talent do you enjoy the most? (They may or may not be one in the same thing).

[Pompey Bum]

Were you named before he did it?

I've known four, by the way. One was a really good friend who I had lost touch with. I called last year and got his wife. "So where's -----?" I said. Awkward moment! The other three were neighbors. One was a "grown up" in the house across from the one where I grew up. Two were the son's of a neighbor after I grew up, about three years apart from each other. I always despised the guy, but no one deserves that.

If there's no next question, how about: do you have any severe allergies?

[Clopin]

No, after.

I don't know where I'm most creative because I don't have any artistic ability yet. I think I'm relatively creative in my own thought though, often I'll read a sort of out there theory or something by Borges and know that it's something I've considered and thought of on my own.

Severe allergies? No, but I used to have what felt like life threatening asthma which was triggered by cats, dogs, dust and a few other things; when I was a kid we often had to go to the hospital so I could get some sort of vapour mask.

Should women be portrayed differently in video games?

[tonywalt]

no.

In what way are you most creative? And, which creative talent do you enjoy the most? (They may or may not be one in the same thing).

[Clopin]

I answered already!

Okay I think I enjoy drawing/painting the most but I just started.

[tonywalt]

Sorry, only saw your first answer.

Does Buddhism appeal to you in some way?

[Hacienda]

I was 'born' a Buddhist - insofar as the majority of my family and ancestors were at least nominally Buddhist. Being born a Buddha or a Bodhisattva of course would be a different matter and a more daring claim. Unlike Hinduism, from which Buddhism draws both its theological pedigree and superstructure, the human is the agent of his own 'salvation'; that's a very attractive proposition, especially in the context of secular humanism which prevails in many elements of our societies the world over. Without necessarily allying myself with this mode of thinking, in that sense Buddhism is the only major religion that can answer to the existential crisis that follows the possibility that there is no Divine moral arbiter, i.e. 'God is Dead' (though of course that's not quite what Nietzsche meant).

I still feel very fond of the cultural objects related to Buddhism as a religion-in-practice. However, a religion's theological principles in-vacuum (if such a thing is even possible to construct), its practice in daily life, and its organisation in the form of religious denominations are of course separable things. As an analogy, what is the Scriptural or exegetical antecedent for the christmas tree? Whether it be Tibetan prayer-wheels (spin them faster for more-prayers-per-minute!) or the animist antecedents of Therevada Buddhsim in the Mekong Delta area (spirits living in trees festooned with coloured cloth), or the myriad wild and quixotic demons of the syncretic folk-Mahayana Chinese Buddhsim, I find it all very charming and I'm happy it makes people happy - but the common practice of praying to the Buddha doesn't strike me as faithful to Buddhism's essential tenets - then again, I am no authority to any man save myself. I also don't feel offended or proprietary regarding the rather hackneyed appropriation (and I use that term neutrally) of Buddhism in the 'Western World' - again my adage is 'whatever floats your boat', but that doesn't mean I can't find it a bit silly that I saw a giant Buddha head for sale in an outdoor Gardening superstore or that he (meaning the Buddha Siddharta Gautama) is often thought of as a portly Chinese chap. With that in mind, it begged the question: if, philosophically speaking, the essential tent is the paramountcy of human agency, what is the (strictly theological) purpose of all the other accouterments?

My question is: is it still possible to do a 'Great American Road Trip?' (not just literally)

[Pendragon]

Yes, if you are willing to get off the Interstates and take secondary roads. Secondary roads pass through interesting places. On the other hand, I went through the whole state of South Carolina on Interstate 77 headed for Augusta, Georgia, and saw nothing but Pine Forest and the occasional water tower or fast food sign above the trees.

Do you like to explore caves?

[Sido]

Yes, I have always found caves to be fascinating...Especially sea caves.

Would you go on a tour in the Sahara desert?

[Pompey Bum]

I've flown over it, and frankly no. To quote the character Alex Guinness played in Lawrence of Arabia: "There is nothing in the desert; and no man needs nothing." I love the American deserts, though. But they're bush league.

Would you rather explore the Amazon or Arctic/Antarctic wilderness?

[Dark Muse]

That is a tough one I do like the cold a lot but I would love to explore the rainforest so I think I would choose Amazon.

What is your greatest phobia?

[Pompey Bum]

Driving over suspension bridges.

Same question.

[Pike Bishop]

What is your greatest phobia?

Claustrophobia...with snakes a close 2nd.

Who is our greatest living director?

[Pendragon]

That's a tough one. I like Tim Burton

Why is education the thing that Congress always cuts when they complain about unskilled labor and social programs all the time?

[Pompey Bum]

The less educated people are, the better for their careers.

What was the smartest choice you ever made?

[tonywalt]

A conscious decision(a few years ago) to always pursue knowledge and my own artistic interests - it's made all the difference. (Backstory: I was previously following the herd of society, rather unhappily)

same question

[Pompey Bum]

Sounds like a good choice. Mine was to marry the woman I did. And, okay, if that's too trite, then to have planned early that Social Security wouldn't be there.

Did you ever foresee a disaster coming (and that actually came)?

[tonywalt]

No - and can be a worry wart.

What was the largest prize you ever won in a contest of any kind?











h

[Pompey Bum]

I won some awards at work that I don't care about anymore (retirement will do that to you). But my all time favorite award was from when I was a Cub Scout and I got a ceramic plaque for being the best writer in my pack. 47 years later, and it is still on my desk. :)

Would you leave your country if there was a totalitarian takeover?

[Pike Bishop]

I won 3rd prize in an 8-10 surfing competition. Of course, there were only 6 people in my age-level. There were a few other competitors for my wife, so she has to be my largest prize, of which she reminds me often.

What was the scariest film you ever saw?

[tonywalt]

Rosemary's Baby.

Same question

[Pompey Bum]

I can't think of a really scary film, although I've seen plenty of horror. Not really believing in any of that crap takes a lot of the fun out of it. The Ring was pretty good, though.

What is the worst musical comedy you have ever seen?

[Pike Bishop]

The Exorcist

Funniest movie?

[Pompey Bum]

Excuse me, Pike, I know you can't read this, but The Exorcist is the funniest (and least scary) movie ever made. ;-)

Worst musical comedy movie?

[Pike Bishop]

I will sometimes read your posts that follow mine, Pompey. After your sophomoric troll response to my Lost post, I thought that would be a good idea. So, please share what exactly you consider to be the aesthetic requirements of a scary movie and how The Exorcist fails to meet those standards.

I truly hope you're not just trumping the experiences of millions who were terrified by The Exorcist with your own personal aesthetic experience. That would be both solipsistic and poor criticism. So, please go ahead with your actual analysis of the film...as opposed to your unfounded musings. I'm looking forward to your actually doing so.

[tonywalt]

Spice World would be the worst musical (althought I have not seen it).

Best movie of the last two years?

[Pike Bishop]

Top Ten:

1. Her
2. Whiplash
3. Nightcrawler
4. Under the Skin
5. Edge of Tomorrow
6. The Lego Movie
7. Guardians of the Galaxy
8. The Imitation Game
9. Upstream Color
10. John Wick

Same question

[tonywalt]

Midnight in Paris (although it's 3 years), also Stories we Tell (Documentary).

Best Director of the all time?

[Pike Bishop]

Top Ten:

1. Alfred Hitchcock
2. John Ford
3. Charlie Chaplin
4. Martin Scorsese
5. Steven Spielberg
6. Ingmar Bergman
7. Akira Kurosawa
8. Jean-Luc Godard
9. Frederico Fellini
10. Quentin Tarantino

Same question:

[tonywalt]

Martin Scorsese.

Which member of your family do you resemble most, in terms of personality and interests?

[Pompey Bum]

My Dad.

Will David Cameron still be Prime Minister after the coming election?

[tonywalt]

It's possible.

What country would you live other than where you currently reside?

[Pike Bishop]

Paris, France...no contest

What are the three greatest television shows of the last 25 years?

[tonywalt]

Fawlty Towers
Cheers
The Office (American version, but British close 2nd)

What are the last countries you visited?

[Pike Bishop]

France and Italy

Who is or was the last great Rock band?

[tonywalt]

Led Zeppelin

Who is the author who you think should have done better commercially, but has not or did not? (Granted they gained/gain critical acclaim).

[Pike Bishop]

Wow, you don't think much of Rock in the last 40 years...;)

There are a few:

Philip K. Dick
Paul Auster
Cynthia Ozick
John Banville
W.G. Sebald

All of them are or were excellent novelists who never sold as much as they should have. Dick, of course, had a lot of his works made into films after his death, but he never saw the French and American academy recognize his works as brilliant Borgesian literature. Auster is esteemed even higher in France than in America and his Postmodernist aspect scares away readers. The same with Ozick who also doesn't sell because she's a woman who doesn't write about woman's issues per se. Banville is simply too difficult for readers, except for his Benjamin Black mysteries, and Sebald is too difficult for many as well.


What were the last three masterpieces of American film?

[tonywalt]

I will choose post-war films:

Deer Hunter
Godfather II
Annie Hall
Dr. Strangelove

What make is the computer/smart phone you are now using?

[Pike Bishop]

Apple...always

Who are the 3 greatest actresses working today?

[tonywalt]

I will name actresses working fairly actively now: Streep, Kate Winslet, Julianne Moore is certainly talented and versatile. I think Jennifer Lawrence a bit too young to say she's great, but has talent and charisma.

Would you be an effective person working the telephones at a suicide prevention centre?

[Pike Bishop]

For awhile, if trained well, sure. After too long, though, I couldn't bear listening to all that pain.

Would you change your relationship with your best same-sex friend if he or she revealed he or she were gay?

[tonywalt]

No.

Does your primary friend or primary circle of friends have the same or similiar depths of literary, musical etc tastes as yourself?

[Pike Bishop]

Not even close. Most of my closest friends are my surfer/stoner friends from high school or fraternity brothers from college.

Would you defend a friend's unjustified rudeness against someone you didn't like or would you rightly criticize it?

[tonywalt]

I tend to be less forgiving with people I don't like due to the lessons I've learned in life about niceness - and where it does and does not get you.

Would like to remain working or in the future work in academia?

[Pike Bishop]

But my question wasn't about forgiveness, my question was about criticizing rudeness. Do you always let rudeness slide, or do you just never criticize anybody over anything? You can both criticize and forgive.

So, that question and my last one: "Would you defend a friend's unjustified rudeness against someone you didn't like or would you rightly criticize it?"

Answer to yours" I've enjoyed working in academia for over 15 years, and plan to do so for at least 20 more.

[tonywalt]

I would defend a friend if he was exercised unjustified rudenes to someone i didn't like - strictly for machiavellian reasons. This is a newer characteristic of my personality.

Do you set up a christmas tree?

[Pike Bishop]

Always.

Would you teach such unethical Machiavellian behavior to your children, or would you teach them to do the right thing?

[tonywalt]

I would teach them the right thing.

Would you live in a highrise?

[Pike Bishop]

Once my daughter grows up.

Why would you teach them to do something you yourself don't believe in? If you think Machiavellian, unethical behavior is ok, why not teach them that or do the right thing, yourself? I'm sincerely curious

[tonywalt]

Because there are many instances where doing the right thing is good for all. I cannot teach Machiavellian strategies as, in my view, such things are a bit like sex - you figure them out yourself. (the context I speak is unduly flavoured by work(corporate world) at this moment, and this is environment is absolutely machiavellian, after a certain level)

how old were you when you stopped believing in santa claus?

[Pike Bishop]

But if you think defending a friend's unjustified rudeness against someone you don't like is the wrong thing, and you'd teach your kid to do the right thing and not do so because the right thing is good for all, then you shouldn't defend your friend's unjustified rudeness. You have to see that contradiction. If the right thing is good for all, then it has to be good for you as well.

So, teaching your kid to do what you consider the right thing for all, then not doing that right thing yourself, is both hypocrisy and hypocritical parenting. I say that as a parent of two who has had to walk that line myself. Being Macchavellian in no way negates the unethical nature of one's unethical behavior, particularly when one is a parent.


As to your question, what do you mean stopped believing?


What are the movies that have truly scared you?

[tonywalt]

I navigate an unethical world, particularly at the corporate level - doing the right thing doesn't mean jack diddly. We could go on and on, but being ethically right has never benefitted me. Again, I refer mostly to work. And I am having a bad day which makes me a little crazy.

Rosemary's baby.

What movie had the best cinematography?

[Pike Bishop]

I get it, but when you excuse yourself from being ethical, you can't blame others for being unethical. And if you think being ethical isn't beneficial, you shouldn't teach your kids to do the right thing and have a less beneficial life.

Lawrence of Arabia

Who are the three best looking women and three best looking men in movie history?

[Pike Bishop]

I get it, but when you excuse yourself from being ethical, you can't blame others for being unethical. And if you think being ethical isn't beneficial, you shouldn't teach your kids to do the right thing and have a less beneficial life.

Lawrence of Arabia

Who are the three best looking women and three best looking men in movie history?

[tonywalt]

I've got time for one each:

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan of India
Paul Newman

What is your most prized peace of art or perhaps a rare edition?

[Pike Bishop]

I'm not much of a collector. I have a signed re-print of William Gibson's Neuromancer and an original edition of Pynchon's Mason & Dixon. I'm not anticipating a house invasion for them.

What is the most significant problem in the world today and what needs to be done about it.

[Pendragon]

The most significant problem in the world today is attitude. Always remember those you push down may get back up and kick your fanny. Learn to live and let live

What makes people think everyone except them needs to change?

[Pike Bishop]

Narcissism and arrogance, which usually go hand to hand and are present within most people in the world.

Why are people so un-accepting of those different than they and automatically assume they are the ones who are right?

[Pendragon]

People have set values they cling to. This doesn't mean that they are always right. They can learn from mistakes. The trouble is, people don't want to allow compromise. They want complete agreement or they will hassle you. Tolerance is a two way street. If you expect it, give it.

Why is it that people get a mad on about other people and no matter what that person does, it is never good enough to stop disliking them or what they believe?

[Pompey Bum]

Global warming.

Do you have floaters?

[Pike Bishop]

People have set values they cling to. This doesn't mean that they are always right. They can learn from mistakes. The trouble is, people don't want to allow compromise. They want complete agreement or they will hassle you. Tolerance is a two way street. If you expect it, give it.

Why is it that people get a mad on about other people and no matter what that person does, it is never good enough to stop disliking them or what they believe?

People don't always get mad; they forgive. They just hold out hope the people they like will relinquish the beliefs they don't.

Why does every generation bemoan the music of their children's generation once they, themselves, start to get old?

[Pendragon]

Everyone is only hip to their own jive, daddy

@ Pompey Bum That's a disgusting question! :)

What kind of job do you think you'd be an expert at?

[Clopin]

The one that I do, which is childcare, and if parenting is a job chalk that up because I already know I will be an expert parent. I also suspect I would be a very good teacher in a field I was passionate about and I think I could make it as some sort of political pundit; I like arguing.

What types of jobs do you think you would be totally incompetent at carrying out?

[bounty]

quick aside. hey everyone---I just started a thread in the general literature section and I hope you will all join in.

[Pendragon]

I would never make it as a Politician. The intense pressure to make competent dissensions while juggling all special interest groups while changing horses in mid-stream and trying to somehow please everybody would wear me out. Look at our Presidents over the years and how much even a four year term ages them. My mind couldn't deal with it.

If you had your dream job, what would it be?

[Pompey Bum]

@ Pompey Bum That's a disgusting question! :)

Floaters are probably not what you are thinking, Pen. They're just little squiggly lines in your vision. Your mind though...yuck! :)

My dream job would be a food taster for a king who ate nothing but coffee ice cream.

Do you get visual migraines (aka "migraine aura")?

[Pendragon]

Yeah. I'm in the midst of a migraine cycle right now, and auras are part of them. I need a dark cool room to lie down in.

@Pompey. Yeah I have those eye floaters, but you brought up the subject so I wasn't sure toilet humor wasn't what you had in mind! :)

Do you read every day?

[Pompey Bum]

Me too. I'm in the middle of a bad cluster right now. Aren't migraine auras the weirdest thing ever?

Yes, every day, and many hours each day.

Have you ever eaten a snake?

[Clopin]

Snake blood in Vietnam, but never the flesh.

Ever eaten dog?

[bounty]

im a vegetarian since the mid 80s but I think even prior to then, I would not have eaten dog meat, or cat, or horse...and it was kinda those revelations that got me asking well why then am I eating cows, and chickens and other critters too.

have you ever gone "streaking?"

[Clopin]

No, haha, I don't get out much.

Are you more susceptible to conspiracy theories or snake oil panaceas?

[Pompey Bum]

Pretty immune to both, but since some things actually do require conspiracies, I suppose I'm more suceptable to them.

Did you drink the gall and/or venom, too? I did all that nonsense years ago in Taipei. Poor snakes.

Do you change your car's oil yourself or do you take it somewhere?

[Pendragon]

I used to do it myself, now I have to take it somewhere. Cars get more difficult to do anything yourself every day.

Have you had anything published at any time?

[papayahed]

Only if a patent counts.

Are you a procrastinator?

[Pompey Bum]

Ask me tomorrow.

Do you own a Ouija board?

[Dark Muse]

Yes I do

Have you ever stolen anything?

[tonywalt]

Yes

What year (as best you can remember) did you buy cell phone(mobile) or car phone?

[Dark Muse]

Well I never really did, I don't really like phones, but it was decided by others I should have one so one was given to me as a gift roughly in 2004.

What is your favorite music listening device?

[bounty]

id have to say its a tie between my plain ol' computer, where I have tons of music, and the car radio in which I usually have on the local country station.

when I have high speed internet, the computer might take a nod because of a few Pandora stations I listen to.

I have an ipod nano---maybe this summer i'll use it more.

where does your screen name come from---how/why did you pick it?

[Iain Sparrow]

"Sparrow", was a nickname I came by after a rock climbing incident with a... sparrow.
Don't know if it was in reality a sparrow, might well of been a robin for all I know as I never saw it. The bird in question flew into the side of my head, and just as quickly was gone. My friend said it was a sparrow, so he called me "Sparrow", and it stuck. Perhaps it's my spirit animal.:)

Have you ever had, or currently have a nickname?

[Pendragon]

I am Uncle Pen to many on here, I was the Wildcat in high school, I go by Raven on my book review blog, I went by Blade since I like knives...

Did you have a class in school or collage you particularly hated?

[Dark Muse]

I don't know about hated but I had one class that I found utterly mind-numbingly boring. It was a pre-requisite for another class I needed/ wanted, but it didn't teach anything I didn't already know. I got a good grade even though I began skipping the class on a regular basis because I couldn't bare sitting through it.

Do you give money to people on the street who ask for it?

[bounty]

I think I usually do...im not in places much where it happens though. the last time was maybe a year and a half ago and the guy actually gave me grief with all how little I gave him (I think it was all the change I had on me at the time, I was just about to go for a run). I should have asked for a refund I think.

what are your favorite lennon, McCartney, Harrison and starr songs post beatles?

[Pompey Bum]

Lennon: #9 Dream
McCartney: Mull of Kintyre
Harrison: Peace on Earth
Starr: um, um, um...It Don't Come Easy (which Lennon wrote)?

Aside from The Beatles and The Stones, who was the best "British invasion" band?

[Pompey Bum]

Double

[Pendragon]

Queen

Which music would you not want to hear: soft rock, punk rock, hard rock, rockabilly, or heavy metal?

[tonywalt]

hard rock - as in classic rock, zeppelin, the who etc...

What was your first musical purchase of music, after, of course children's music?

[Hawkman]

Hard Day's Night, on vinyl (45rpm). Still got it. It's got Things We Said Today on the b side.

What was your last musical purchase?

[bounty]

boy that answer is lost in memory---it has to be something vinyl from way back in the 70s...maybe the 80s when I was in college.

whats your favorite movie role that liam neeson played?

[tonywalt]

Schindlers list.

What is the best movie about war(any war)?

[Pompey Bum]

Dawn of the Dead. That's what war is.

What was the first R-rated movie you saw?

[papayahed]

Blue Lagoon.

How many times have you seen Star Wars?

[Pompey Bum]

The original, I think three times. But I could pretty much follow the plot after the second. ;-)

How many rodeos have you ever attended?

[Lykren]

2 or 3.

How many languages do you know how to greet someone in?

[bounty]

when I was in grad school, maybe 6-7, now just 2 besides English.

how many states (in America) have you been to/through?

[North Star]

Haven't been in the USA at all.

In how many language do I know how to greet a person? Ten or more, some greetings are pretty much the same in several languages, though, so that would make it closer to twenty.

How many countries have you visited?

[bounty]

Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Holland, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and I wont count layovers in Iceland. so, 10.

I'd love to visit Ireland.

taking the odds of getting someone else besides tony, who already answered:

what's your favorite movie role played by liam neeson?

[Dark Muse]

I like Liam Nesson but dosen't he just sort of play the same role in differnt settings?

Is there any movie you thought the sequel was as good as or better than the original?

[papayahed]

He was cute in Love Actually but obviously I'm going to say Qui-Gon Jinn.

What's with Liam Neeson?

[papayahed]

Dang, too late.

Dark: Empire Strikes Back was slightly better than Star Wars.

Same question: What's with Liam Neeson?

[bounty]

do you mean my asking about him twice papayahed? or is there actually something going on with him in real life outside our thread?

I asked twice because I think sometimes the questions are either good enough to bear repeating, or I just wanna hear what other people say.


to dark muses question---I thought catching fire (the sequel to hunger games) was fantastic, and yes better than the first. but would you properly call that a sequel since the story is already written and in place?

I thought (in the recent incarnation) that dawn of the planet of the apes was better than rise of the planet of the apes.

im on a roll! I liked x-men days of future past better than x-men first class.

and oh my goodness, star trek: the wrath of khan blows star trek: the motion picture right out of the water!

i'll leave that question out there for everyone else...