You're having a dinner party and can invite five guests.

[5er]

Only five guests, but they can be anyone, dead or alive, and for one special evening (where you may or may not burn the roast, they don't care) they will be sitting around your table for better or worse.

So who do you invite?

My picks:
1. & 2. NASA astronauts Shannon Lucid and Kathryn Thornton because I've always been in awe of them.

3. Bill Watterson, in the hopes I can talk him into starting "Calvin & Hobbes" again.

4. Madeline Kahn -- Funny, intelligent, and a beautiful woman with a beautiful voice who left us too soon.

5. Jodie Foster...because she'd be able to interact easily with Lucid and Thornton, and because she's HAWT and if I don't burn the roast, I might get lucky.

[Angua]

1. & 2. Would be NASA astronauts again -- but this time Eileen Collins and Catey Coleman -- they were the Captain and Mission Specialist on STS-93
3. Wehrner von Braun -- he was, by all first hand accounts I've heard, a super awesome guy and I'd love to talk to him about well, everything.
4. Tom Lehrer -- hey, we need some entertainment, right.
5. Antonio Banderas -- he can sing, and he's hot. Hey, my cooking may mean I get lucky, right?

[5er]

5. Antonio Banderas -- he can sing, and he's hot. Hey, my cooking may mean I get lucky, right?

Someone like this should be included in every selection. Because you just never know.

[The Original An Gadaí]

1. My girlfriend
2 - 5. Whomever of you wants to come over and cook for me.

[What Exit?]

I have different ones in mind.

One would be Albert Einstein as the man was not just a genius but apparently really interesting. I would invite Samuel Clemens as he was brilliant and interesting and could hang out in any circles. I would invite Nikola Tesla another genius and a friend to Mr. Clemens. Carl Sagan as he could talk science at almost any level but could also be interesting at any level. I would round it out with Robert Heinlein who would enjoy the group and I wish I had had the chance to meet.

Another group that would be great would be Theodore Roosevelt, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Alice Roosevelt and Doris Kearns Goodwin who would love the opportunity and is always good on interview shows.

I think a night with John Lennon, BB King, George Carlin, Kevin Smith (who is a great raconteur besides being an indy director) and Arlo Guthrie would be loads of fun.

A group of good friends from the Navy I have mostly not seen since my wedding. Monty Bevers, Craig Miller, Greg Waltman, Jim White and Dan Linwood who died of Leukemia before my wedding. Jim is the only one I have not lost contact with and it would be great to catch up with all of them or just see Dan again. The first four were my groomsmen. We did a lot together when we were in the Navy together but like most drifted apart as we live so far apart and started our real lives. (I've been lucky enough to keep in contact with one other friend over the years and have seen him several times now. He posts here very rarely.)

I could probably keep doing this as a baseball groups seems needed for me. I should stop here but can't resist.

Partying one night with Billy Martin, Whitey Ford, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Boomer Wells sounds like it would be a lot of fun and quite the experience. I would have wanted to do this when I was a lot younger though.

Another one with Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Derek Jeter, Paul O’Neill and Thurman Munson would be great. This would be fine now and the baseball talk should be epic.

[What Exit?]

3. Wehrner von Braun -- he was, by all first hand accounts I've heard, a super awesome guy and I'd love to talk to him about well, everything.

Who was he? Can you tell us a little about him.

Also can you and 5er both tell us a little more about the four astronauts that you picked? Were they role models? what specifically inspired?

[OtakuLoki]

Hmm...

1. Donald "Kirby" Ross, one of the Pearl Harbor Medal of Honor winners.
2. Robert Heinlein, former squid, did some writing.
3. Grace Hopper, first woman to make flag rank, computer pioneer.
4. Hyman Rickover, father of the nuclear navy
5. Summer Glau (for the obligatory "Hey, it could happen," factor, and from what I've heard, something of a geek.)

I imagine it would be a rather argumentative evening, but one with plenty of respect, too.

3. Wehrner von Braun -- he was, by all first hand accounts I've heard, a super awesome guy and I'd love to talk to him about well, everything.
4. Tom Lehrer -- hey, we need some entertainment, right.

Somehow, I have trouble imagining this meeting to be friction-free. von Braun might hold a grudge, and Lehrer certainly was not among von Braun's most ardent admirers.




I'd love to have a chance to meet either man, I just don't think they'd mix well together. :wink

[ivan astikov]

Oscar Wilde
Bill Hicks
Robert Mitchum
Timothy Leary
Woody Allen

Or The Spice Girls

[Angua]

3. Wehrner von Braun -- he was, by all first hand accounts I've heard, a super awesome guy and I'd love to talk to him about well, everything.
4. Tom Lehrer -- hey, we need some entertainment, right.

Somehow, I have trouble imagining this meeting to be friction-free. von Braun might hold a grudge, and Lehrer certainly was not among von Braun's most ardent admirers.




I'd love to have a chance to meet either man, I just don't think they'd mix well together. :wink

I think you're probably right, especially given Mr Lehrer's songs. But I'd still like to meet both of them.

WhatExit?, Wehrner von Braun was a WW2 German rocket scientist, who was taken to the USA after the end of WW2, and basically developed the US Space Program -- starting with the Mercury orbiters and going on to the Saturn rockets (cool fact -- the Saturn V was a significantly different design to the previous Saturn rockets, but it was decided to keep the name because they had funding for the Saturn project! ), and eventually the Apollo program. He was actually arrested a couple of times by the Nazis whilst in Germany because he didn't swallow Nazi propaganda wholeheartedly. He surrendered to the Americans in May 1945, and in June was taken to the USA under Operation Paperclip/Overcast.

Here, initially at Fort Bliss in Texas, he started the beginnings of the US Space Program, training US Army personnel in rocketry techniques etc. In 1950 he was transferred to Huntsville, AL, and after the formation of NASA in 1958, von Braun became the first director of Marshall Space Flight Center (in Huntsville), in 1960, where the Saturn series of rockets were developed.

I've heard an awful lot about him from people who knew him and worked with him, and they say he was an awesome guy, so he's on the list because I'd like to be closer than 2 degrees of separation from him.

As for the astronauts, Eileen Collins and Catey Coleman were respectively the Commander and Mission Specialist on Shuttle Mission STS-93 -- the mission that launched the Chandra X-ray satellite into orbit 10 years and 2.5 months ago. The shuttle, Columbia, suffered an electrical fault and subsequent fuel leak about five seconds after launch, which could have proved fatal, but fortunately didn't and Columbia achieved orbit and eventually launched Chandra. Coleman was actually the astronaut charged with the responsibility of deploying Chandra and ensuring that it made it into its first stage orbit (before its own inertial upper stage booster shifted Chandra into a higher, more eliptical orbit). If anything had gone wrong in that flight, I wouldn't have a job right now, and 20+ years of very hard work from my boss, his colleagues and friends would have gone up with a large kaboom. Not to mention the lives of five astronauts. These people risked their lives for science, and having met the entire crew briefly, I'd really love to talk some more to Collins and Coleman.

[Revs]

Hunter S. Thompson-He would definitely make for some interesting conversation.

Dr. Richard Feynman-Smart as hell and just as funny to boot.

Iggy Pop-Just for kicks

Irvine Welsh-Could talk about literature and music

Johnathan Richman- He could provide the musical entertainment

John Cusack-Seems like a fun guy to hang out with.

[Queen Tonya]

5er
Jali
Zuul
OtakuLoki
and
Johnny Depp

[OtakuLoki]

5er
Jali
Zuul
OtakuLoki
and
Johnny Depp

Cool! I'll help Jali and 5er kidnap Depp.

[Zuul]

5er
Jali
Zuul
OtakuLoki
and
Johnny Depp

Now that sounds like a fantastic dinner.

[5er]

Wait. I might be busy that night. What're you cooking?

[Queen Tonya]

I may or may not be burning a roast, but no worries, there will be beer!

[5er]

There always is. I'll be there.

What Exit, Shannon Lucid has always been a NASA idol of mine, for many, many years. She's been around forever and is still there working mission control, and I just think she'd be fascinating to converse with. I actually spoke to Kathryn Thornton about fifteen years ago when an old buddy of mine worked as a NASA contractor -- He became friends with her. She happened to be nearby when I called him one day, and he said, "Hey, wanna talk to a real astronaut? Here." And she was so gracious, and so spiritual, that I wish I could spend more time with her to be able to understand how that spirituality was affected by being in space (she alluded to this.)

So there you go.

And well, Madeline Kahn, that one just speaks for itself.

[Oliveloaf]

I've made this list before...and it always changes, though my number one guest is on every list.

1. George Orwell
2. Kurt Vonnegut
3. Harper Lee
4. Paul McCartney (or Paul Simon)
5. Ray Bryant (jazz pianist great)

Alternatives: James Garner, Chicago mayor Herald Washington, Bill Murray.

Single-guest dinner: Grace Kelly or Emma Thompson.

[Zuul]

1. Ada Lovelace, who is generally considered to be the world's first computer programmer and was the only legitimate offspring of Lord Byron.
2. Virginia Woolf
3. Oscar Wilde
4. Walt Whitman
5. Bram Stoker

This would be a fabulous literary dinner and at least 50% gay.

[pepperlandgirl]

Zuul, have you read Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land by John Crowley? It's an unbelievably good book that...well, I'm not even sure I can describe it. But if you want to know what an epic novel by Byron might have been like, and you're interested in Ada Lovelace and the life she led, it's a must-read.

[Zuul]

pep, I haven't read it, but it's now on my "must read" list! Thanks for the suggestion.

[OtakuLoki]

Just as an aside, I hadn't heard about this book of Crowley's, but his works are wonderfully rich, dense delights that read like opera cake eats: Done slowly, in little tastes so you don't overwhelm yourself - and you end always wanting a little more...

[pepperlandgirl]

Just as an aside, I hadn't heard about this book of Crowley's, but his works are wonderfully rich, dense delights that read like opera cake eats: Done slowly, in little tastes so you don't overwhelm yourself - and you end always wanting a little more...

That's a perfect description of his style. I can't think of any other author's whose work can linger with me for so long (it's been at least 2 years since I picked up that book and I still think about it regularly).

[OtakuLoki]

Thanks, Pepper.

[silenus]

1. My father
2. Elizabeth Tudor
3. Robert E. Lee
4. William Shakespeare
5. changes daily

[Clothahump]

Well, let's see.

If I could have book-type folks:

1. Terry Pratchett
2. Isaac Asimov
3. Robert Heinlein
4. J. R. R. Tolkien
5. Joseph Campbell

If it were a guitar-pickin' and singin' session:

1. John Denver
2. Karen Carpenter
3. Al Stewart
4. Dave Nachmanoff
5. Michael Hedges

If it were a martial arts evening:

1. Haeng Ung Lee
2. Bong Soo Hon
3. Chuck Norris
4. Morihei Ueshiba
5. Bruce Lee

[jali]

5er
Jali
Zuul
OtakuLoki
and
Johnny Depp

I'm honored to be listed. You are a sweetheart!