The next person to post in this thread...

[Jizzelbin]

No, I went on a vacation when I was working in France once....I'd like to most visit again Genova, with the lovely hills and the park and all those burly men working on the docks...wait...what?

TNP is thinking that if one is to flee a country it would be better to head north or south. And has specific ideas in mind, such as, Mexico, Canada (pace, pero me disfruta le dice!), Sweden, Cuba, Niger, Argentina, España.

[Elendil's Heir]

Probably north, to Canada, since my non-English language skills are pretty bad (what little I can remember of high school Spanish, and then the even less French, German and Russian I've picked up over the years).

TNP has a language other than English in mind that he or she would love, by the wave of a magic wand, to become skilled in overnight.

[Jizzelbin]

Sure. I think Finnish is a very particular language, but it not being an Indo-European language, it's kind of gruesome to learn these very strange words with no cognates. My Spanish is getting better....more like Spanglish, but it's enough to communicate for my purposes now. It would be nice to have it beamed down into my thick skull directly, but since we don't do AI fantasies and neurolinks at my place, that will not happen in my lifetime nor that of anyone here. It's easier to know Latin very well first for Spanish and Italian, and French is too bizarre to be useful.

TNP will choose: "Oye cómo va, mi ritmo / Bueno pa' gaza, mulat'" Versus the classic "Pedro stole my car believe t!" (the latter is amusing to "sing" when performing.. even though it was an old joke fifty years ago. .in fact it was the singer and organist Gregg Rolie who came up with the latin beat for the tune and permitted Carlos to do his thing,

[Elendil's Heir]

I really have no preference, but if I must choose, I'll go with the first.

TNP knew that JRR Tolkien based one of his Elvish languages, in part, on Finnish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quenya

[Jizzelbin]

Yeah, I probably heard that somewhere or other. Not sure. Never read any Tolkien and only saw the known deviant Peter Jackson movies with the Rifftrax commentaries. That is interesting to recall, however, and I have no reason to doubt EH's word on that.

TNP can probably tell the difference between a spring at 7.5 lbs and at 12 or 13 lbs. just by how far it launches into the distance of one's room (although recoil and magazine springs are never to be seen again....it is ape law). Damned handguns...they can put somebody's eye out with those things, ferchrissakes!

[Elendil's Heir]

That was certainly a recurring theme in A Christmas Story.

TNP has seen that movie in the past three years.

[Jizzelbin]

No, I've never actually seen that. Something about a boy and a BB gun and licking a frozen flagpole and stuff, I think is the one.

TNP could very happily go the rest of his or life without ever seeing another christmas-themed movie. Exceptions could be allowed....maybe *Die Hard* or some "very special" adult entertainment training films.

[Elendil's Heir]

Well, first off, as all right-thinking people know, Die Hard isn't actually a Christmas movie (it's set at that time, yes, but is much too violent and non-Christmasy to be accurately called one), and secondly, nah, I don't mind a Christmas movie now and then.

TNP has licked a frozen flagpole in the past three years.

[Jizzelbin]

Sir, I don't think you really want to know what I've been licking in the past few years. But it hasn't been no flagpole.

TNP is kind of pleased to learn that the Seattle Seahawks won out against the confusing, but still evil and tainted other team from over there. In the Superbowl...or Stupidbowl....however one wishes to call it.

[Elendil's Heir]

I had no particular favorite, but my dad was rooting for the Seahawks, so I'm glad for him. If the Browns or the Steelers aren't playing, I really don't give a damn.

TNP has been to an NFL game in the past two years.

[Jizzelbin]

No. Never, in fact. Perception is: too loud, too expensive, too many assnecks breathing my oxygen at pretty much any mass event like that. I prefer to read the play-by-play in real time and try to imagine what's going on behind each decision/play, and might see some highlights on leTube eventually.

TNP thinks scholars should get off their lazy, endowed-chair-seeking asses and produce an annotated version of the Finnish national(ist) epic, the Kalevala, preferably in biface Finnish and English (or some other modern Western European language that isn't Polish or Hungarian or another Nordic language). They do it for Joyce, dammit!

[Elendil's Heir]

Absolutely! And if JRR Tolkien were still around, I bet he'd agree. Come to think of it, this thread may interest you: https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to...alevala/711536

TNP has visited Finland, and loved it.

[Jizzelbin]

No, never. I like this guy based out of Helsinki who makes the TOOB Metro compact guitar and bass speaker cabinets...good product....and this pianist/cellist out of Turku, who was a very good pen pal for a while there (she taught me some Finnish and likewise....her English is very good, but she has very strong feelings about the Swedes and an odd affinity to the Russians...haven't corresponded with her in a few years....excellent musician and indeed hän on sisukas suomalainen nainen, to hear her talk about her exploits with her chainsaw, and her ice toilet, and her sauna during her vacations every year by her lake). TNP thinks it's kind of neat to carry a handgun concealed, with a license. As a check or balance to decide if one is responsible enough to handle that massive burden. Keeps one's head clear and reminds one of what it is to be both capable, burdened, beholden, and yoked to that piece of steel, which should never, ever be drawn. Or, TNP thinks that's kind of a ridiculous self-justifying fantasy of knowing one has a bigger stick to throw into the woodpile, should things become desperate. Which they should never be, i.e., "things."

[Elendil's Heir]

Probably a bit of both. But all in all, guns make most situations worse, not better, IMHO.

TNP knew that firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and teens. For more: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2024/gu...dren-and-teens

[Jizzelbin]

No, I didn't know that. I would have guessed drowning, or something with vehicular traffic, or falling on their heads, but I suppose children don't venture outdoors so much these days. I guess IQs have dropped sharply, in that apparently parents in increasing number seem to be ignorant of how to raise their children such that they remain alive.

TNP tends to have a plan of which books to read and in what order (the plan may be strict or rough, and the order can be none, concurrently, and so forth).

[Elendil's Heir]

Yes, I do. At any given time, I usually have two books underway - an audiobook for in the car or when I'm out walking, and another dead-tree edition on my bedside table - and least two or three others in the on-deck circle.

TNP is looking forward to the new baseball season.

[Jizzelbin]

Honestly, not especially. I haven't been following any baseball for a few years and I'm still pissed off my little cow town lost its AAA team, and some soccer bullshit now plays in the old baseball stadium. No doubt I'll keep an ear out for what's happening, roughly, but the closest thing to a team I'd root for are the Seattle Ms....and reflexive distaste for the Giants and the Royals. No Yankees, no BoSox....none of that shit, either, because fuck them! I'd be happy if Toronto continued coming out strong, as well as Cleveland. No particular reason, just they're part of a handful of teams I don't hate.

TNP is a pretty big old nerd about MST3K and Rifftrax, when it comes to television and such. If so, I wouldn't need to prompt the next poster to elaborate.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

Nah, I have trouble getting into it. I can razz bad moves on my own, and sometimes they seem to trash people like Roger Corman who were actually bringing a lot to the party.

TNP thinks any movie with Dick Miller in it is worth watching.

[Jizzelbin]

Ehhhhh.......maybe not *any* movie! He's a known person, let's say! No, I can't really commit to that stance! But, sure, probably watch a random Dick Miller movie if I were unconscious! And many of them just for fun's sake. You know, it's not all bad!


Yeah. that's a fair cop about Corman, although I think they razzed some of his movies in good fun....just like one would about Ed Wood or somebody who had nothing to hide ad some amount of savvy or accumen. There's no denying that to watch the movies today without the Corman would be much different. To live like the Cor-man, and to become the Cor-man! Very difficult task! Pretty sure RogCorm or his people sent some kind of legal notice to MST3 of some kind...not sure what the basis was, but it was promptly ignored. Anyway, they really did go pretty far against directors like Rick Sloane (who I think had a good sense of humor about it, dir. of "Hobgoblins" and a few others....they really shredded him on a personal level during the closing credits....I blame Crow!) and Coleman Francis and lots of others, including mere actors. Reportedly the "Pumaman" guy, the actor, was none too pleased....I think he's actually a respected attorney now, and might even be Canadian...not sure. IIRC that was a Rifftrax one, not MST3K.

TNP feels no shame about re-learning old skills from the beginning. Say, testing out a new pedagogical approach to Latin or playing piano using Bach's 2-part inventions, or whatever is applicable.

[Elendil's Heir]

Sure - if I need to do it, I need to do it.

TNP heard a bird singing outside today.

[Jizzelbin]

Not yet, but I look forward to it this morning.

TNP is "triggered" or "conditioned" or maybe "habituated" to think of a tune or several when thinking about bird songs. And TNP will share if yes.

[Elendil's Heir]

Hmm, not really. I love to hear a robin singing in the spring, through.

TNP finally heard a bird singing outside today.

[Jizzelbin]

No...mostly just traffic from the roads....the big freeway interchange is a few miles away, but living in a canyon, essentially, it...I dunno. Sound waves propagate downwards? Yes, robins do have a good tune (and yes, I think of the movie *The Conversation* for that tune), but among the corvids and various nuthatches or woodpeckers, it's very rare to see or hear a red-breasted robin here outside my place unless one goes onto a more domesticated piece of flatland. Not as many worms and such, I suppose, and I could see the Steller's Jays easily driving them off, if not some of the night raptors like the owls or other predators like coyotes or even squirrels or what kinds of mustellae. I shouldn't think they'd dare to nest here. It is delightful to hear robins sing, but it's not that often for me. Rather the workaday like hammering of the peckers and the vocal squabbling of tribes of corvids. Occasionally hear some burbling up of a house finch or sparrow, but not too often.

TNP thinks this old saw "traduttore traditore" (translating is treason, pretty much) is somewhat true, and, regardless, will supply another brief aphoristic bit of home spun wisdom.

[Elendil's Heir]

No, translating is necessary for people to understand each other. Better that than ignorance or suspicion. For another brief aphoristic bit of homespun wisdom, how about: "Better to hear something twice than not at all."

TNP agrees with that sentiment.

[Jizzelbin]

Maybe. It depends on who's "speaking"....certain political figures I'd rather not hear any illiterate barbarisms from at all, ever, and indeed never do, insofar as it can be helped. But for an actual person or author....yes, crude translations (and they are all of necessity crude) can be an important tool towards understanding, even if one doesn't have the resources to dive deeper into whatever text is in question.

In a competition among eyeglasses, who does TNP think would (or should) win? Montblanc or Gucci?

[Elendil's Heir]

Of the two, I prefer Montblanc. But my personal favorite is Ben Silver of Charleston, S.C.

TNP will check out the Ben Silver website, and let us know which eyewear, in particular, he or she likes: https://www.bensilver.com/View-All-E...tYbIjhHvT7WmWb

[Jizzelbin]

Sure. I did just now. They look like very good frames, and in a range of styles/shapes. Nothing that really matched my pedestrian needs for sturdy, single-vision lenses in an utterly simple style, though. Will keep them in mind, though. Maybe a bit more fashion-forward than I can confidently wear with my usual off-work mufti of sportcoat and regular pants and shoes (and shirt!). But for the right person, I can see those being just the thing. TNP will think fast and answer fast: among bombastic actors with a lifetime of accolades behind them, was it Marlon Brando or Orson Welles who was more entertaining in his senescence?

[Elendil's Heir]

Hmm, tough call. I'm gonna go with Brando, specifically in Apocalypse Now, fat and sweaty and pointlessly riffing on his role as a villain ("I swallowed a bug").

TNP has seen the very entertaining documentary about the making of that movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts...27s_Apocalypse

[Jizzelbin]

I can't remember, but may I be so bold as to introduce you to this fact about snails I recently discovered during a recent visit to my island. Oh....I think I swallowed a bug.... But please in all humility may I be so bold as to suggest that an actor's worth is not measured by the size of his pants by the quality of his or her spirit, and with that, I must leave you!

TNP can and does safely operate a shotgun. And TNP thinks that is probably a good thing for any adult to know, along with reading a clock, driving a manual transmission car, and washing dishes.

[Elendil's Heir]

I can, and it can certainly be a useful skill, but I understand that some people are uneasy around guns, or even hate or fear them, and might go their entire lives without ever having to touch one.

TNP really wants to see a particular one of the Best Picture Oscar-nominated movies in the next few weeks.

[Jizzelbin]

No. For the simple reason that I truly have no idea what pictures have either been released or were nominated or won anything. I just don't pay attention to celebrities and celebrity "news" anymore, although I'll grant that master thespians are more than mere celebrities and can be great artists, as can photographers, editors, directors, and word people, among the many other talents of those "in the business."

TNP will say what Oscar-type movie from the past year one could bother with, and why.

[Elendil's Heir]

Only one, actually, although there others I wanted (and still want) to see. I did see Sinners and liked it - an interesting mix of Delta Blues, antiracism, romance and vampire thriller.

TNP is not a fan of vampire movies, all in all.

[Jizzelbin]

Did one say TNP is a YUGE fan of "Vampire movies," even when there's no vampire in them.

Yup. If Nicolas Cage is in it, I'll probably see it. Eventually, you know.

TNP thinks it's kind of amusing to have a pretty decent chopping block, plus a wicked sharp Chinese chef's knife (it's not a cleaver....it just looks like one....but it's for doing regular stuff with), some Roquefort, some salami, and some Turkinpippuri on top of one's Hammond organ....all freshly used. Alternatively, TNP thinks one should not most of one's food preparation on top of fairly delicate musical instruments, chopping block or no.