On the other hand, the question doesn't actually seem to require that you live the exact life of Buzz Aldrin - you just "have walked on the moon." Maybe they stow you away and then you get to go about your business as you like. Whereas you actually have to be a Beatle, which is a rougher trade. I could dig being Ringo at this point, but John and George both died young and all of them seem to have gone through extensive, ugly bummer periods, in large part drug-related and, I just dunno.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:18 (eleven years ago) link
Its true. You can't choose to walk on the moon now, but you can choose to have walked on it 40 something years ago. A subtle distinction.
right, you get to have a 70 year old's memory of something that happened for 7 hours tops over 40 years ago.
― wk, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:21 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah but also you would have been an American hero throughout your life and you are part of a very elite group, bc only several people have done what you did.
― Treeship, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:23 (eleven years ago) link
nobody here is saying they would do it for the heroism though. they're just saying "WALKING ON THE MOTHERFUCKING MOON."
― wk, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:24 (eleven years ago) link
I don't buy that as a motivating factor -- if it was, can I interest you in being part of the elite squad that raided bin laden?
― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:27 (eleven years ago) link
Lol i wonder if kathryn bigelow would choose that.
― Treeship, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:28 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqm4BVFYHd8
― emil.y, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:29 (eleven years ago) link
you are part of a very elite group, bc only several people have done what you did.
People who walked on Moon - 12Beatles - 4*
*ok 6 but who the fuck wants to be Pete Best or Stuart Sutcliffe?
― The Parvenu Fucktard (onimo), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:32 (eleven years ago) link
Would you rather have been a 5th Beatle, or the guy who stayed in the capsule while the other guys walked on the moon?
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:33 (eleven years ago) link
Michael Collins is a cool dude, I'd be okay being him
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:35 (eleven years ago) link
Wouldn't really want to have been one of the dudes who got shot either.
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:36 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah there are 4 beatles but thousands of known, accomplished musicians. The Beatles are a singular entity bc of their historical importance, but what they did is similar to what a lot of other people do, even if you think theyre the greatest band ever ( i do not, but i like them.)
― Treeship, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:37 (eleven years ago) link
The average age of a moon walker was almost 40 - that's a lot of pre-moon time being a military pilot/engineer type while everyone else was getting off their faces and listening to the Beatles.
― The Parvenu Fucktard (onimo), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:38 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, but I would pick the life of almost any of those other musicians over being an astronaut.
― wk, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:39 (eleven years ago) link
wk speaks for many of us there
― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:40 (eleven years ago) link
Oh i'm with you wk. just trying to clarify the "stakes" of this question.
― Treeship, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:41 (eleven years ago) link
Is being Klaus Voorman an option here? That dude is pretty cool.
― Huston we got chicken lol (Phil D.), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:42 (eleven years ago) link
there are no beatles song with "moon" in the title (I mean composed by them).coincidence ?
― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:45 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqBH-9yyQMU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvL5FVFVX1c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0KcgXQ2fl8
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:58 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V9quPcNWZE
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 16:02 (eleven years ago) link
TS: Wang Dang Sweet Poontang vs. Tang
― wk, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 16:03 (eleven years ago) link
Actually by the time of Apollo 17, they were camped out there for three days and spending 7 hours every day out on the surface.
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 21:32 (eleven years ago) link
that's a vacation I want to take
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 21:45 (eleven years ago) link
sounds like a drag
― wk, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 21:48 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAC-eIuvqhg
The moon is deadThere is no life upon the moonAnd it's cold even when it shinesTotally empty, no one homeThe moon is dead,The moon is dead.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 21:50 (eleven years ago) link
^^^ catchy but not as good as the beatles IMO
I'll never get to be a Beatle, but two weeks ago I did get to walk on that volcanic plain where the astronauts trained.
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 21:51 (eleven years ago) link
wow elvis that's awesome! I love that panorama you made!
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 21:55 (eleven years ago) link
The Beatles are a singular entity bc of their historical importance, but what they did is similar to what a lot of other people do, even if you think theyre the greatest band ever ( i do not, but i like them.)
Similar yes. There are thousands who did similar thing to men walking on the moon. Lots of explorers, lots of people who hopped around on rocky surfaces, lots of people rode in really fast vessels on long journeys. Yes, no one else has walked on the fucking moon, just like no one else has been the most famous fucking band of all time.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:09 (eleven years ago) link
There are thousands who did similar thing to men walking on the moon.
not really. closest thing is maybe the guys who first scaled Everest (w/out oxygen).
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:11 (eleven years ago) link
afaik other explorers all had access to air and gravity which are, you know, kind of a big deal
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:12 (eleven years ago) link
yeah. honestly i think walking on the moon is "more different" than anything else than being a Beatle is, even though being a Beatle is also a singular distinction. if being a Beatle was just like being any other rock star this wouldn't be a good question and i wouldn't have made the poll. i wasn't arguing that.
― Treeship, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:14 (eleven years ago) link
lol @ ppl getting worked up
good work treezy
― Moldy ★☆☆☆☆ (wins), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:18 (eleven years ago) link
thanks wins. i'm very satisfied with this thread.
― Treeship, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:19 (eleven years ago) link
Going on record here.
Walking on the moon, taken purely as experience in isolation, with no reference to what comes before or after, is radically awesome and probably ranks as near the top as one of the most amazing possible experiences for a human. If we are talking about a make-a-wish-and-snap-your-fingers-wow-it's-true scenario, then I'm there in a flash.
All but one of the moon-walking astronauts were military officers. If walking on the moon meant becoming a military officer and putting up with all that implies, then walking no the moon would have been a fleeting glory within a largely miserable existance.
Being a Beatle would not be my idea of heaven, either, tbph. At least it did not require spit and polish, regimentation, or complete subordination to a heirarchy ending in the Pentagon at a time when we were killing a couple million Vietnamese.
― Aimless, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:20 (eleven years ago) link
that's a good answer aimless. yeah, being an astronaut would mean being a military man and that would 1.) be miserable and 2.) be incompatible with my sense of "who i am" in a way that being a beatle wouldn't be.
― Treeship, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:22 (eleven years ago) link
hmm, get mountains of trim and make hundreds of millions of dollars, or walk around a closed set in culver city while teamsters shine moon lights on you. tough choice
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:22 (eleven years ago) link
fallen comrades c24151n & outdoorfishes never achieved this, you should feel proud xps to treefish
― Moldy ★☆☆☆☆ (wins), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:24 (eleven years ago) link
lol who is outdoorfishes?
― Treeship, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:25 (eleven years ago) link
you iirc
― Moldy ★☆☆☆☆ (wins), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:27 (eleven years ago) link
(jk!) a shortlived sock basically
― Moldy ★☆☆☆☆ (wins), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:28 (eleven years ago) link
well said, Aimless. though c'mon - astronauts for the most part were not just 'military men' though, that undersells it by a large margin. half of them were fucking badass PILOTS. and being a pilot flying a p-51 mustang is not the same as being 'in the military'. that's like saying dragracers are in the automobile industry.
H4A I am banning u forever
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:28 (eleven years ago) link
well haha let's be fair and remember what most badass pilots were doing at the time.
still moon tho.
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:29 (eleven years ago) link
lol do you actually believe the moon landing was faked H4A? xpost
― Treeship, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:29 (eleven years ago) link
would prefer being stanley kubrick to at least 50% of beatles.
― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:31 (eleven years ago) link
xpost treeship: what cankles believes or doesn't believe is largely irrelevant
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:32 (eleven years ago) link
Being a BADASS PILOT would require me to alter my personality so far out of itself as to kill it entirely. then what would be the point?
― Aimless, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:34 (eleven years ago) link
huh? they had to go through military training, cut their hair, follow orders, and a couple of them served in the korean war. they were "military men" who were "in the military" by any definition of the term.
― wk, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:35 (eleven years ago) link
yeahhhh, i wouldn't want to be a military man at all, even if i got to be napoleon
― Treeship, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:36 (eleven years ago) link
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, May 15, 2013 6:12 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
OTOH they often starved to death or ran out of fresh water or got stranded at sea or murdered by hostile natives. It's not diminishing the accomplishments of the moon missions to note that "exploration" as a thing was hardly a walk in the fucking park.
― Huston we got chicken lol (Phil D.), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:37 (eleven years ago) link