Ask Me

[vovat]

I've done this before, but since jazzsammich did it again, I figured I might as well follow his example. Then I'll follow him in jumping off a bridge.

A) Recommend to me:
1. a movie:
2. a book:
3. a musical artist, song, or album:

B) I want everyone who reads this to ask me three questions, no more, no less.

C) If you are up to it, copy and paste this into YOUR livejournal and allow your friends the same pleasure.

Comments

[jazzsammich.livejournal.com]

A:
1. Bridge Over The River Kwai
2. Gentle Bridges: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on the Sciences of Mind by Jeremy W. Hayward and Francisco J. Varela
3. "The Bridge" by Sonny Rollins, featuring Jim Hall

B.
1. What's that blue thing doing here?
2. Who's your favorite 20th-century visual artist and why?
3. What is your favorite story to tell about you and Beth?

(Sorry about all the bridge stuff. I couldn't resist. Also, I haven't actually read that book. But the song and the movie are both amazing works.)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

A2. Why not this (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764550152/qid=1101046379/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/104-5400403-4408749), or this (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0064401847/qid=1101046379/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-5400403-4408749?v=glance&s=books)? {g}

B1. The backstroke.
B2. Well, I have a fondness for Salvador Dali and M.C. Escher. I bought several posters of their artwork in college. I guess part of what I like about them is their warped view of reality (or something like that).
B3. You know, I'm not sure I really DO tell that many stories about us. One that's fun to remember, though, is when we went up to New York to meet colleenanne and themall. My general stupidity ended up getting Beth and me locked in a stairwell at the Museum of Radio and Television. We had our first kiss on the bus ride back. That's not really a story, but it's a description of one. {g} I'm sure I could provide more details, if you're interested.

[loz]

A) Recommend to me:
1. a movie: UHF
2. a book: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
3. a musical artist, song, or album: george - polyserena (an Australian band)

B) I want everyone who reads this to ask me three questions, no more, no less.
1. What is it about Fantasy that attracts you?
2. Who is your favourite Harry Potter character?
3. Have you memorised the Alien Language 1 in Futurama ?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

A1. I've seen it many times. I have the video, and bethje has the DVD. Great movie!
B1. I think it's a combination of wish fulfillment (i.e., I often wish I could be live in a fantasy world) and a general appreciation for the ridiculous. It also helps that I love mythology.
B2. I have a particular fondness for Hagrid.
B3. No. It might actually be fun to work out, but I don't have very many episodes on tape, so I can't freeze frame the instances of it. Maybe if I ever get the DVDs.

[3x1minus1.livejournal.com]

a - space age theme!
1) woody allen's "sleeper"
(i love all of his older movies, that i've seen, but i think this is my favourite)
2) kurt vonnegut - slapstick
3) jean jacques perrey


b) 1) what is your favourite elective or extra-curricular class you ever took?
2) what is the best cd/album you own?
3) ...are you ever going to change your icon? {g}

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm going to see if I can get this to post WITHOUT all those excess italics.

A1. I actually saw that, years ago. Maybe I should watch it again.
A2. I've read other Vonnegut books (Player Piano, Cat's Cradle, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Breakfast of Champions, and Hocus Pocus), but not that one. Those were all my mom's old books, and I don't think she had Slapstick.

B1. The first class that comes to mind was my Apocalyptic Literature course. (I think that's what it was called, anyway.)
B2. I'd probably have to go with my old standby, XTC's Skylarking. I keep wanting to do a Top 10 (or however many) Albums post, but I always get overwhelmed pretty quickly. And I've probably heard less albums than the average person, so I don't see how so many people CAN do this.
B3. I changed two of them recently. I'll probably change them again before too much longer, but I don't really like to get rid of the ones I have. I wish I could use more than three, but I don't wish that enough to give money to livejournal. {g}

[vovat.livejournal.com]

In case anyone is curious, the deleted post was the same thing, but I forgot to close the italics tag.

[revme.livejournal.com]

a) Movie: Save the Green Planet (this movie is _awesome_, but very hard to find as it wasn't released here. If you've got a region free player, YesAsia's got a real one, and there's boots on ebay all the time. If you want something that's actually _available_, Forbidden Zone, even though I figure you've probably already either seen it or heard of it.) Actually, I'm changing my answer. The American Astronaut.
b) Book: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. (This is one of my favorite books ever. My all-time favorite, though, is probably Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami.)
c) Record/Band/Whatever: Uhhhhh... Hm. Thing is, I get the impression our record collections have a _lot_ of crossover. If you haven't already, check out Polysics. (Probably Neu, although I guess they're releasing a new best of, "Polysics Or Die!!!!" in America pretty soon, and I've got the Japanese issue of that, and it's pretty awesome, so I guess start with that one. Or if you don't care about dropping $30 on a CD by a new band, _For Young Electric Pop_ is probably their best, but it's only available in Japan right now.)

I am lousy at coming up with questions.
1. Do you dig the artier/stranger side of rock music, like the Residents or Noise bands? (I suppose that if you like the really early TMBG, like, the Pink Album And Earlier type stuff, you'd probably dig the Residents, just because in the real early days, like with a bunch of the Dial-a-Songs and stuff like that J&J were pretty Residentially Inspired.)
2. Can I steal jazzsammich's question about the visual artist thing, because that one was a good one?
3. Who would win in a fight: Jesus or a Puppy? I figure that Jesus is usually pretty docile and wouldn't want to fight a puppy since it's not a tree or a moneychanger, and a puppy usually just wants to sort of snuff around and fall down adorably a lot. But I think both could really get into it if they needed to.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

c) I don't think I've heard any Polysics music. Maybe I should check them out.

1. I'm not so much into the noise stuff. I'm generally all about catchy melodies. I can appreciate a certain degree of weirdness and experimentation, but I usually like it to have some element of melody as well. I actually have a few Residents albums (Not Available, Wormwood, and The King and Eye), and they have some interesting stuff on them, but they're kind of hard for me to really get into. Not Available is my favorite of the three. With Wormwood, I think I like the idea behind it more than the actual songs. It's been a while since I've listened to it, though. I'd kind of like to hear The Commercial Album, based on what I've heard about it. (Wasn't Andy Partridge involved on one of the tracks on that album?) As far as early TMBG songs go, some of the more experimental songs are great, while others aren't so much. For instance, I love "Boat Of Car," but I'm not particularly fond of "Mr. Klaw."
2. You can, if you explain to me exactly what you mean by "visual artist." (I'm pretty dumb when it comes to artistic terms. {g})
3. Well, Jesus did send evil spirits into a herd of swine, which then drowned in the sea. I don't think those pigs were doing anything wrong, yet they still suffered. So maybe he'd do the same to a puppy, although I don't think they had the same stigma against dogs as they did against pigs. Jesus would probably win, though, unless he were to LET the puppy win, which would be possible, I suppose.

[revme.livejournal.com]

Polysics are one of my all time favorite bands. They're quite a bit like DEVO, but more so, and even more high-energy. It's almost like musical speed.

1. That's cool -- I think it's actually kind of funny, since those are 3 of the albums I don't really care for. (It's sacrilege w/r/t Not Available, since that one's always been called The Best Thing Evar by most Rz fans, but it just never clicked with me. Wormwood -- I pretty much agree, though the Live/Roadworms versions of the songs tend to be better, and King And Eye -- assuming you mean the original issue, and not the RMX CD that just came out -- is a cool idea, but sort of uninspired in execution; although with that one, there's a bit of a reason. Up 'till that point, the Residents has recorded everything themselves, and they wanted to see what it was like in a Real Studio. So, they booked one, and it turned out to be very expensive (as studios tend to be), and they ended up sort of doing a rush job and they weren't terribly happy. The RMX, though, is actually pretty good, and it tends to cut some of the chaff. But yeah -- Andy played on "Margaret Freeman" from Commerical, though it is _nothing_ like XTC. It's really harsh and noisy (more so than most Residents stuff, actually). I actually really like the track, but yeah. It's closest to Early XTC, but that's just because Late XTC is all Mellow for the most part. To do a lame comparison, what Go2 is to English Settlement, "Margaret Freeman" is to Go2. If you're looking for Residential Recommendations, like, if you want to give them another go, Duck Stab, Commercial Album (a new DVD just came out of this, actually -- you might go with that. 52 short films based on the original 40 tracks, plus 2 bonus songs that came from a teaser single), Freak Show and/or God in Three Persons (This, however, is mostly spoken word. You might check out RzWeb to see the lyrics/story to see if you'd like it. I read the story beforehand, and it got me really interested in tracking it down (it was at the time, out of print. Actually, it is again; aside from Commerical, WB:RMX and King & Eye: RMX, they're all out of print, but you can still find them pretty easily in record shops.), and when I did, it became one of my favorite Rz albums. Though, at the time, I basically only had one other one, so that wasn't hard, but now that I have 99% of them, it still is.)

2. Basically, say, painters/sculptors/designers. Stuff like that. Not musicians mainly. Maybe video artists (though not really like, film directors. More the kind of people who have video installations in art galleries).

3. Hm. I suppose Jesus _would_ let a puppy win, maybe. Depending on how badly he, you know, wanted it. He might just be in a Winning Mood though. I mean, looking at the Bible, Jesus could be a real jerk when he wanted to be.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

1. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the original issue of King and Eye that I have. I got it from a used CD rack for around $2.

What does Andy play on "Margaret Freeman," by the way?

2. As I told jazzsammich, I'm rather fond of Dali and Escher. I had posters of their work hanging up in my dorm room at college.

[revme.livejournal.com]

Guitar and vocals; I read a thing where he talked a little bit about it (maybe it's in the Song By Song guide? I can't recall), and he said that the Residents played him the backing tape and gave him the lyrics, and said he could play/sing however he wanted, as long as it was a minute long. The way they mixed it, he's actually pretty foreground.

[shadarko.livejournal.com]

A) Recommend to me:
1. Imposters
2. Glory Lane by Allen Dean Foster
3. Band: Oysterband Album: The Granite Years

B)
1. any intersting train adventures lately?
2. which fictional character do you most relate to?
3. whats your favorite oz book?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

B1. Not unless you count that dream I had a few nights ago. I used to ride the train all the time back when I went to school in Philadelphia, but since I graduated and got a car, I haven't been riding it much.
B2. Um, Milhouse from The Simpsons? {g} I can never come up with a good answer to this question. You'd think I would be able to, but no.
B3. I might say The Patchwork Girl of Oz, because it's a good quest story, which introduces a lot of cool new characters, and has a little bit of everything. I guess it was sort of the model for a lot of the later Oz books, especially in Thompson's run.

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

A) Recommended...
1. Movie: Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
2. Book: The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle (The unabridged version, if you can find it. I haven't read the rereleased one, but I know it's been editted for "a modern audience.")
3. Artist/Album: David Bowie, Low (heavy Brian Eno influence)

B) Questions...
1. Is it: soda, pop, soda-pop, or coke?
2. What was your most memorable childhood library experience?
3. When you were 7, what did you want to be when you grew up?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

A2. Yeah, I've never read it in any version, but I remember hearing that there was a version with some racist references removed.

B1. I call it soda. Most people in my area do, but when I went to college in western Pennsylvania, a lot of people called it "pop." I've seen a map showing the areas where each word is the most common.
B2. Well, I was in a summer reading program before I started kindergarten. My mom actually managed to get me into it a year early.
B3. I can't remember exactly. I think there was a period where I wanted to be a teacher. Interestingly enough, I think I also considered becoming a librarian around that time. (I considered it around that time, that is. I didn't think I would be a seven-year-old librarian. {g})

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

Yeah - it does use some racist terms in it. But, I'm rather of the opinion that some things have to be taken in context. I can see where parents might not want their children to read racist words in a childrens book, but I also think that there's something to be said for experiencing the unalderated versions of works too. Perhaps, they'll rerelease a non-edited version so I can replace my tattered paperback copy (that was originally my mother's). :)

[onib.livejournal.com]

A1> movie: Princess Mononoke

A2> book: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

A3> music: Stuart Davis would be my foremost suggestion. However, I've also really been enjoying the Dresden Dolls cd we just picked up.

B1> You have no obligations, and cannot get together with any of your friends. How do you prefer to spend the day?

B2> What do you find most appealing/enjoyable about the Oz books?

B3> If your safety was guaranteed, is there any extreme/dangerous sport or activity that you'd like to try once?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

A1. Yeah, I've heard quite a few people talk about how good that movie is.
A2. I've never read anything by Gaiman, except for Good Omens.
A3. I think revme was talking about the Dresden Dolls recently. They must be the current Band To Talk About, or something. Anyway, what do they sound like?

B1. Well, usually when I'm in that situation, I spend all day on the Internet, looking at the journals of people I don't know and various forums. I might also play video games.
B2. I think they have a good mix of excitement, fantastic weirdness, and humor. Oz strikes me as a place I would want to go, if it were real.
B3. Now that you mention it, I might want to try hang gliding, if my safety were guaranteed and all that. I've always wanted to fly (under my own power, that is, not in an airplane), and that might be the closest I could ever get.

[onib.livejournal.com]

A2> Neverwhere is (to me, anyway) a fascinating book. You could probably best descibe the genre as Urban Fantasy. Amy had me read this after she finished it, and I got hooked. I've read several of his children's stories, his short stories, and the series of Sandman Graphic Novels, which he wrote. I really enjoy his style and his sense of wit.

A3> Actually, if you go to their website, they have 5 of their songs available for download as well as a couple of videos and some live footage. They look like they should be goth, and some of the music is quite hard, but their lyrics and style are what draws me in. At their site, you can see an example of their very different sounds by comparing "Coin Operated Boy" with "Girl Anachronism," both of which are available in video format and (I think) audio format.

[colleenanne.livejournal.com]

A) Recommend to me:
1. a movie: The Incredibles, if you haven't already seen it (Sarah Vowell!)
2. a book: Stardust or American Gods, Neil Gaiman (I heart Neil Gaiman)
3. a musical artist, song, or album:
Jeez, we have so many musical likes in common already.
Ok, the artist Carbon Leaf.

B) I want everyone who reads this to ask me three questions, no more, no less.
1. puppy or kitten?
2. If you could do anything you wanted and make a decent living at it, what would it be?
3. Do you like mushrooms?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

A2. Wow, a lot of people seem to be recommending Gaiman books. Okay, just two people, but that's a lot out of eight, isn't it? Incidentally, I remember hearing a co-worker talk about how he didn't like American Gods, but I don't think his complaints were anything that I would have found to be particularly bothersome.

B1. I'd probably be more inclined to get a kitten, but I like puppies, too.
B2. I'm not sure. I sometimes think I want to be a writer, but then I realize I'm too lazy. "Lazy writer" doesn't count as an occupation, does it? {g}
B3. Sometimes. I don't think I've ever just eaten a mushroom all by itself, but I think they're usually pretty good on pizza and in spaghetti sauce.

[onib.livejournal.com]

I heart Neil Gaiman

Gaiman is a god.

My wife & I actually have a bit of a shrine to him growing in our house. It takes up like 3 shelves in our bookcase.

[yosef.livejournal.com]

A)
1. a movie: _The Italian Straw Hat_ (from 1927)... I don't really know if it's available, so another suggestion is one I talked about in my journal a bit ago, _Good Bye, Lenin!_
2. a book: somehow I have the feeling you've read most of the books I've read... how about Roald Dahl's autobiographies... _Boy_ and the next one (I forget the title and Amazon doesn't seem to have it)
3. a musical artist, song, or album: _The Secret Garden_ soundtrack from 1993

B)
1. When did you read your first Oz book, which was it, and how long did it take you to finish the FF?
2. If someone had you at gunpoint and said you had to write books under a pen name, what name would you use?
3. Do you have a favorite boardgame?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

B1. I first started reading The Wizard of Oz in December 1988, when I was eleven years old. The last book in the FF that I read was Pirates in Oz, which I finished when I was 21. So it took ten years to finish, but if it hadn't been for that troublemaker Pirates, I think it would have only taken about five or so.
B2. I've written some stuff under "Damon Z. Pythias," because I'd heard that my mom wanted to name me Damon. I'm not sure if I'd stick with that for a professional pseudonym, though.
B3. I have a particular fondness for a game called Dungeon!, which was put out by TSR.