The next person to post in this thread...

[Rube E. Tewesday]

Nah, even as a kid on the farm, had professionals paint the barn. Usually travelling types who could not be trusted any farther than you could throw them, but weren't afraid to pain on top of a barn.

TNP watched the All Star Game.

[Elendil's Heir]

Nope. Haven't my entire life.

TNP wants to water ski this summer.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

Not one little bit.

TNP suffers from acid reflux.

[Elendil's Heir]

Hardly ever for a long time but a little more of late, yes.

TNP will be following the Republican National Convention next week relatively closely.

[Jizzelbin]

No, just the headlines.

TNP thinks most people hold completely wild ideas in their heads such as thinking Mayor McCheese is based on a real person

[Rube E. Tewesday]

Oh, I think that's quite likely. Given how many strange things I hear people say, I can't even imagine what they think.

TNP is fond of gin.

[Elendil's Heir]

Not even sure I've ever drunk it, so no. I'm more of a beer, wine or whiskey guy.

TNP has had a beer, wine or whiskey in the past hour.

[Jizzelbin]

I'm officially breaking the fast since Sunday, just cracked open a beer right now.

TNP plans to tea-partial (i.e., not tea-total, but not tea-none) over the weekend.

[Elendil's Heir]

No plans to. Too hot for tea around here; I typically only drink it in the late fall or winter.

TNP has heard a song by Genesis in the past week.

[Jizzelbin]

No. I've never even thought about Genesis for a long time until someone brought them up in another thread. I still have my *Lamb Lies Down on Broadway* on vinyl from when a friend gave it to me fifteen years ago. Then a few years later, I heard it all.

TNP thinks some things, like bands, or whatever, you have to listen to. Just because.

[Elendil's Heir]

Well, sure. Who doesn't?

TNP will probably see the new Ghostbusters movie soon.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

Ehh, probably not. In all honesty, I've always thought the first one was a little over-rated.

TNP has been having bad dreams.

[Elendil's Heir]

Fortunately not.

TNP can remember a dream from last month.

[Jizzelbin]

Well, I'm curious that one ever really remembers dreams. My trip for the past year or so is trying to pay attention to dreams, but I don't write them down. What was it Plato said, all writing is like writing on water, or something like that? I'm comfortable just letting them go, while paying close attention when I can't avoid it.

TNP has worn a houndstooth silk sportcoat in the recent past, but still isn't that happy about it, to the extent that he or she thinks about it.

[Elendil's Heir]

No, don't have one of those in my closet. I do have a couple of houndstooth silk ties, though.

TNP will be on the beach somewhere in the next two months.

[Jizzelbin]

Not likely. I've done my beach stuff on a few occasions this summer. In fact, I'm done taking my mental vacations for a while as well and am back to regular same-old.

TNP has never been to the "Jersey Shore."

[Elendil's Heir]

Incorrect. I spent a long weekend in Cape May a few years ago, and had a good time.

TNP thought about the Apollo 11 Moon landing today.

[Jizzelbin]

Not one bit. Before my time, I'm afraid.

TNP thinks compelling executive control over the core affect (or what people used to call the "unconscious") is a fine hobby.

[Elendil's Heir]

No, I prefer reading, canoeing and cycling.

TNP has been in a canoe in the past 60 days.

[Jizzelbin]

Never been in a canoe ever.

TNP is extremely interested to know if Daisey Ridley is a goer.

[Elendil's Heir]

I certainly am, say no more, say no more, nudge nudge wink wink!

http://www.ew.com/sites/default/file...?itok=5OPoQa8s

TNP thought Rey was the best thing about the most recent Star Wars movie.

[Jizzelbin]

Absolutely. The character was compelling, she really drove the whole movie. I didn't much care about emo-Vader or the "sexy fighter pilot." Finn was kind of cool, and I liked seeing Grampa Solo get so much screen time. Did I mention Daisey Ridley is teh hawt? Well, despite that, without her or her character, the movie would have been not much at all. Despite my being a raging sexist pig, and proud of it, I like good women in movies who are more than T&A.

TNP has a strong opinion about historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and will share it.

[Elendil's Heir]

Yes, a smart and talented historian who was JFK's court intellectual and wrote a very good book about the Kennedy years.

(Agree absolutely with you as to Rey).

TNP has read at least two books by Schlesinger.

[Jizzelbin]

No, fail Just *The Age of Jackson*. I'm still suspicious of him -- I'm pretty sure I'm wrong, especially what with the Kennedy association, but I could have sworn I heard he did some anti-Catholic screed. Not that I'm especially devout, meaning at all, or observant, but I like to pick my battles. And by "pick," I mean search for perceived insults and attack ad hominem viciously. So, yes, William F. Buckley, Jr. is, on the other end of the extreme, on my good list. Plus, the harpsichord and Bach thing is awesome.

TL;DR!

TNP wishes David McCullough had written more about topics of greater interest to him or her than, in my case, say, the building of the Brooklyn Bridge.

[Elendil's Heir]

I've never heard even a hint of anti-Catholic bias by Schlesinger. None. If there had been, I'm sure he never would've worked in JFK's White House.

As to McCullough, I must disagree. His books Truman, Mornings on Horseback, 1776, John Adams, Brave Companions (an essay collection) and The Wright Brothers are all excellent.

TNP knows, without looking it up, where David McCullough and I (many years apart) went to high school.

[Jizzelbin]

No. I think I've read all his books, but I'd have to guess someplace in Indiana or Ohio.

TNP thinks William Henry Harrison was a pretty bitching guy -- Tyler kept up the steam, but the US world might have been quite a bit different if Harrison held the reigns for more than, like, a month or whatever. Typhoid fever is a hell of a drug, I guess.

ETA *Brave Companions* was pretty good -- well, I liked the bit about the "painter" Remington. The TR stuff was not to my taste, given more recent biographies, and the entire book about HST could have been put into the size of a postage stamp, although Truman was indeed kind of a queer duck. Personally, I think McCullough was a giant ween for not doing a whole book about Jefferson.

[Elendil's Heir]

McCullough and I both went to Shady Side Academy, just outside Pittsburgh. I've met him twice at book signings, some years apart, and both times introduced myself with my name, adding "SSA Class of 1983!," and he broke out in a big grin.

Don't know enough about Harrison to really have an opinion. He seemed to be a good soldier; not sure how well he would've done as President, had he completed his term.

Not a big fan of Jefferson, so I don't mind McCullough not having written about him.

TNP watched President Obama's speech at the DNC last night.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

Nah, the older I get, the less U.S. politics interest me.

TNP sometimes thinks vacations are more trouble than they're worth.

[Jizzelbin]

Affirmative. I'm getting way too old to even consider a peripatetic lifestyle, assuming I don't want to spend my feeble years eating cat food out of a dumpster, but I couldn't imagine spending a lot of money to go spend what amounts to a few days in a cool overseas place, like Genova or something. Being hassled and feeling rushed are two things up with which I will not put, if possible.

TNP is wearing or has recently been wearing a ball cap.

That's a pretty cool story about DM, EH, actually. Disappointed there was no secret hand signal, though! I didn't know he was from Pittsburgh, I had it in my head Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky somewhere like that. Jefferson was a goddamned saint, damn your eyes!

[Elendil's Heir]

Hardly. I'm more a critic than a fan of Jefferson - a brilliant man and a talented wordsmith, but also a hypocrite, schemer and spendthrift. Secretly funding an opposition newspaper while serving in Washington's Cabinet, and then lying about it until the editor turned on him, was just beyond the pale. Enslaving your own kids is also uncool.

I wore a Cleveland Indians ball cap a few weeks ago when I went to a game.

TNP has been to Progressive Field in Cleveland for a game.

[Jizzelbin]

Negative. I think I've driven through Cleveland once, at most.

TNP is unsure if ballcaps (team-agnostic) are better headgear for a ballgame than the good old beer-helmet.

[Elendil's Heir]

No, I'm quite sure they are.

TNP drinks at least three beers daily, on average.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

Nah, I suppose I might have gone through a stage of doing that mid-twenties, but now beer is mostly a weekend thing, if that.

TNP likes ale better than lager.

[Elendil's Heir]

Nah. About the same for me.

TNP will have a beer with dinner tonight.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

No, don't think we have any in the house at the moment. Maybe some cider or gin.

TNP will be eating pizza tonight.

[Elendil's Heir]

Nope. Bagel, chips and a pickle.

TNP knows off the top of his or her head who Umberto Eco was.

[Jizzelbin]

Absolutely. When I heard he died, I was kind of kicking myself for having sold his *In Search of the Perfect Language* (or whatever it was called), mainly because I wanted to look something up in it and was reminded that I had the book on my shelf when people were yapping about him.

TNP can think of a third movie (besides *Blue Velvet* and *The Last Detail*) that has an amusing reference to the beer Heineken.

[Elendil's Heir]

Hmmm, no. I can't. I remember there was a Coors gag in The Great Santini, though.

TNP will supply the name of that third movie (and maybe more).

[Jizzelbin]

No clue. I was hoping for a third one, for some odd reason.

TNP sometimes hopes someone does something awful just to catch them in the act & upbraid them in person.

[Elendil's Heir]

I do, I admit it. Sometimes I like to self-righteously criticize people, even though I know I really shouldn't.

TNP will tell us his or her Top Five favorite movies.

[Jizzelbin]

No, I can't narrow it down, really. *Citizen Kane* really is my favorite movie, though -- I can't speak for all those movie critics, but there are people out there, I assume, who agree with me, and aren't just saying that to be cool.

Since I failed:

TNP will at least list five movies at the top of his or her mental shelf.

[Elendil's Heir]

Glad to, although my list changes from time to time:

Casablanca
Breaker Morant
Notorious
Limitless
The Incredibles

TNP has seen at least three of those movies.

[Jizzelbin]

All except *The Incredibles*, in fact, all of those multiple times. Out of some compulsion when I got home the other day I started writing a list of favorite movies -- I filled an index card's "long side" using a pencil, but to narrow it down is really not something I'd care to commit to. I make lots of lists, but I don't actually like lists.

TNP has five favorite novels/fiction pieces (including stories) of all time, and will list them. Poems don't count, though -- that's a separate category.

ETA EH lurves scandal-making homewrecker Ingrid Bergman!!!!!

[Elendil's Heir]

:: sigh ::

Yes. Yes, I do.

Top five favorite novels or fiction pieces. Another toughie. Hmmm. For now, I'll go with:

Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin
Aztec by Gary Jennings
Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

TNP has read at least two of those.

[Jizzelbin]

Wow. Do I get some kind of box bonus if I've never read any of these? I have at least heard of *Starship Troopers*, and actually have a copy at home -- the prose looks good from when I last looked into it, just don't want to read it. ETA sorry about the size 20 font -- I'd been into my Franzia box and sort of regretted what I did later. I did back up a WC Fields movie (can't remember which) with *Notorious*, though. *Notorious* gets better the more times you've seen it, at least for me. Like the similar "look" to the famous shot from *Topaz*, with the overhead fainting/dying woman.

Fine, tough people of the mellophant: do the same, but for five rock albums (including, you know, all the subgenres -- something that a hypothetical "rock radio station" could program, even if late at night).

[Elendil's Heir]

Hmm. OK:

Abbey Road by the Beatles
Stereotomy by the Alan Parsons Project
A New World Record by the Electric Light Orchestra
Alpha by Asia
Genesis by Genesis

TNP will do the same.

[Jizzelbin]

Sure.

Led Zep. II
*Aja* by Steely Dan
*Stuff* by Stuff
White Album by the Beatles
Led. Zep IV, Zoso.

TNP has walked more than twenty miles in a day, just for fun.

[Elendil's Heir]

While hiking and camping with the Scouts, yes. Many years ago.

TNP will tell us his five favorite rock or pop singles since 2000.

[Jizzelbin]

Dur....I can't think of a single one.

TNP knows five Amy Winehouse singles and will share the lyrics to one.

[Elendil's Heir]

No, you got me there.

TNP can name five cats owned by family and friends.