Getting to Know You : A Survey ......... (please contribute if you are as eager to talk about yourselves as I am to know about you all!)

Fav Band: Varies

Fav Movie: Gattaca

Fav TV Show: I don't have a tele

Fav Book: The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky

Fav Actor: either Christopher Walken or Steve Buschemi

Fav Actress: whichever hot bitches takes her clothes off

Fav Food: pizza/tuna sammiches/schnitzel

Fav Sport: badminton

Fav Athlete: they're all buncha weenies

Drink of Choice: Brandy (at least VSOP)

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): EPHEDRA

Smoker?: Sometimes

Occupation : student ... at least until May.

Do you work out? : that depends on if you count masturbation ...

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : OH I'M DROP-DEAD SEXXXY, BABUH

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : Parents love me! Kids cry when I'm around! Teenage girls want me in their beds! The 'scene' wherever I go thinks I'm a wacky but fun outsider!

Add anything you want people to know:
Public Transit 4-eva

Name: Orbit (Chelsea)
Age: 40
Height: 5'8

Fav Band: That's hard. The Clash, Blondie, The Charlatans a million others

Fav Movie: Casablanca

Fav TV Show: Sex and the City and Rockford Files re-runs

Fav Book: Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

Fav Actor: Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant

Fav Actress: Doris Day! (perky perky!)

Fav Food: oh geez! Lamb, bastillah, foie gras in context....

Fav Sport: Hockey and baseball

Fav Athlete: I used to like Luc Robataille but now I don't really have one.

Drink of Choice: WINE!!!

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): Context-dependent.

Smoker? : No.

Occupation : Consultant

Do you work out? : NO. I am a flab monster.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : 7. (10 if you like pudgy cheerful brunettes.)

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : You either like me or you hate me.

Add anything you want people to know:
I am a collosal feminine failure. I need liposuction, botox, collagen, breast implants or reduction, a wax job, unassertiveness training, cash, and a future. I desperately need to avoid signs of aging, feminine odor, dry eye, dishpan hands and spots on the china, can you help me?

Fav Band: pavement

Fav Movie: spaceballs

Fav TV Show: all of them

Fav Book: shampoo planet, douglas coupland

Fav Actor:

Fav Actress:

Fav Food: pizza

Fav Sport: figure skating [i used to skate competitively] or ice hockey

Fav Athlete:

Drink of Choice: tomato juice with lemon / cosmopolitan

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): ew, gross!

Smoker? : ew, gross!

Occupation : paying gig: assistant to the director, kelly writers house, university of pennsylvania; non-paying gig: promoter, plain parade

Do you work out? : 3 times a week, plus i ride my bike all over this city. doesnt help, since im borne into a family of fat people.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : 6, if im wearing my nice clothes: 7

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : 5

Add anything you want people to know: im allergic to seafood and shellfish. i dont like mayonnaise. doritos and peanut butter cups are my downfall.

Fav Band: XTC, Cure, Blackalicious, Wu Tang Clan, T. Rex, Mott the Hoople

Fav Movie: Five Easy Pieces

Fav TV Show: Freaks and Geeks

Fav Book: Goodbye to Berlin

Fav Actor: Burt Reynolds

Fav Actress: Bette Davis

Fav Food: Homemade bread

Fav Sport: Swimming

Fav Athlete: Fuckin' ... Mo Vaughn back in the day.

Drink of Choice: Belgian Ale

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): Dope

Smoker? : Recovering, but occasionally relapsing.

Occupation : Screenwriter / Grad Student

Do you work out? : Daily.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : ihttp://img68.photobucket.com/albums/v208/jcoombs/?

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? :
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/jcoombs/profx02.gif

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/jcoombs/Picture5.jpg

Fav Band: XTC

Fav Movie: Brazil

Fav TV Show: Goodies

Fav Book: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Fav Actor: n/a

Fav Actress: n/a

Fav Food: chocolate

Fav Sport: cricket

Fav Athlete: n/a

Drink of Choice: ouzo & coke

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): alcohol

Smoker? : no

Occupation : IT

Do you work out? : yes

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : i wouldn't

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : yes

Name: Andrew
Age: 21
Height: 184cm

Fav Band: WHAT?! Impossible to answer.

Fav Movie: The Blues Brothers

Fav TV Show: Family Guy (Comedy), Six Feet Under/Twin Peaks (Drama)

Fav Book: A Scanner Darkly by Phillip K Dick

Fav Actor: Edward Norton

Fav Actress: Franka Potente or Audrey Tautou

Fav Food: I've no idea.

Fav Sport: No sport for me!

Fav Athlete: I don't care enough to have a favourite. Does Anna Kournikova count?

Drink of Choice: Vodka Tonic

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): Weed, although I like it a lot less these days.

Smoker? : Not when I can help it.

Occupation : Software Developer

Do you work out? : Just started - let's see how long it lasts.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : I prefer to let other people do this for me. I'm not that egomaniacal.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : 4

Nobody fucking stocks ouzo anymore. Now I have to give it up for the same reason I stopped drinking Pernod in the '90s.

Name: Kenan
Age: 30
Height: 5'11"

Fav Band: fuck you very much for asking

Fav Movie: hmmm... maybe Goodfellas?

Fav TV Show: easily The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Fav Book: hmmm... maybe Lolita? (BTW... I hate the way "lolita" has come to mean an innocent young girl. People should read more.)

Fav Actor: Dirk Bogarde, or maybe the young David Hemmings

Fav Actress: Ingrid Bergman, Faye Dunaway, maybe Nathan Lane

Fav Food: ass falafel

Fav Sport: baseball, by a wide margin

Fav Athlete: Freddy Roach

Drink of Choice: bourbon

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): pot, if that's my thing at the moment

Smoker?: sadly, yes. I don't apologize in font of people, but I will here.

Occupation: butt-monkey for people who make a lot more money then me

Do you work out?: No. I should, but then again, I shouldn't. I want to look good and be healthy, but I don't want to be vain. (too late.)

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks?: Zero. I am a horribly disfigured monster.*

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality?: I can't rate it on a scale, but I can say that some people find me charming, some find me charming enough, some find me a bit cloying, and some find me completely disingenuous and distasteful. These reactions, if charted, would almost certainly directly relate to the degree of discomfort I felt around that person.

Add anything you want people to know: I'm a really good kisser.

*This answer given on the assumption that false humility makes you more attractive.

Name: Barry
Age: 30
Height: 6'3"

Fav Band: Too many to mention, Google my name on ILM and you'll be spoilt for choice

Fav Movie: I am not a movie person.

Fav TV Show: The Apprentice, WWE RAW, ER (I am not really a TV person either, I watch TV less out of love and more out of habit)

Fav Book: V/A -- All Music Guide to Electronica, Walter Koechner -- Solid State Laser Engineering, Werterbukh English-Yidish Yidish-English Modern -- Weinreich Uriel

Fav Actor: Chris Jericho

Fav Actress: can't pick

Fav Food: beer

Fav Sport: baseball

Fav Athlete: can't choose

Drink of Choice: rye and ginger

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): music

Smoker? : no

Occupation : student

Do you work out? : I'm in shape.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : 2 if you hate long hair, 8 if you like long hair

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : 2 if I'm in a good mood, 8 if I'm in a bad mood

You've got me pretty-much spot on there.

Name: Samantha
Age:30
Height: 5'4"

Fav Band: this year - the Riverboat (motherfucking) Gamblers, best rock band evah! ; elliott smith ; Slick 57 and still on top for 19 years running. . . .the Beastie Boys!!! yay! What's 2400 miles when it's for guys you love?

Fav Movie: Giant (1956)

Fav TV Show: Don't have TV anymore but when I did I was into Law&Order (svu please) like it was a bag of potato chips.

Fav Book: Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte. Read it at least once a year.

Fav Actor: Jake Gyllenhaal. Come sit in mommy's lap.

Fav Actress: I liked his sister when she was getting her ass spanked but let's see. . . Christina Ricci continues to surprise me.

Fav Food: currently Paydays. Overall, whatever's easy.

Fav Sport: skateboarding

Fav Athlete: who to choose, who to choose, Bucky and Bam

Drink of Choice: water, especially Evian. Sonic slushes aren't bad either.

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): Wellbutrin has done me well over the years in a plodding, loyal dog kind of way. Fancy a bit of Xanax when I'm feeling nervous.

Smoker? : nope. Have you heard that shit gives you cancer?

Occupation : secondary English teacher

Do you work out? : unfortunately no. I do walk about half a mile each day at school and must sometimes walk when using the bus. Thankfully my rainbow of prescribed pills keep me generally thin.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : 7. when in stockings and tall boots, straight devestating.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : hmm, hard to say. Depends on how well you like fast-talking, strong-headed, too honest, bipolar bitches. Personally I'd say about a 6.

Add anything you want people to know: I'm currently eating from a bag of inside-out Reeses. Excellent. I choose to live in poor, non-white, "dangerous" neighborhoods and would do so even if I became suddenly wealthy. I have a beastie boys and an elliott smith tattoo. My brother's a rapper who's recently begun performing in Europe. If you're German, you might have saw him on MTV last month.

enough. night night.

Also, was I the first person here to declare you an asshole? You were far less-assholish in person so I've gathered it's just a Web thang.

sorry, hijack

What I meant was, I've heard "lolita" used to describe young girls in many contexts, none of them true to the book's intention. The book's intention, as I read it, was that she was a young girl who aspired to dirtiness but had no idea what it meant. This certainly makes no less a monster of Humbert, who is IMO one of the greatest villians of literature, but it makes Lolita no more "innocent." So you have the dirty little girl and the exploitative old man. To cast Lol as a complete innocent is not.. right. Not getting it. Not getting the give and take that makes the book so interesting. Of course Humbert is an awful man, but throwing the word "lolita" around as if it has an unsubtle definition hurts the work of art that Lolita is. It doesn't get it.

Anyway.

Sam, has anyone already expressed the degree to which we're all happy you're back? I don't want to bandwagon or anything, but it's really nice to see you.

albeit as a naiive and playing-with-fire type

Makes all the difference, don't it? If you didn't read that book and think that Humbert was an awful man, however charming, there's something wrong with you, and I'm sure Nabokov would agree.

Because you took advantage of a sin
when I was helpless moultng moist and tender
hoping for the best
dreaming of marriage in a mountain state
aye of a litter of Lolitas

Because you took advantage of my inner
essential innocence
because you cheated me--

Because you cheated me of my redemption
because you took
her at the age when lads
play with erector sets
a little downy girl still wearing poppies
still eating popcorn in the colored gloam
where tawny Indians took paid croppers
because you stole her
from her wax-browed and dignified protector
spitting into his heavy-lidded eye
ripping his flavid toga and at dawn
leaving the hog to roll upon his new discomfort
the awfulness of love and violets
remorse despair while you
took a dull doll to pieces
and threw its head away
because of all you did
because of all I did not
you have to die"

Read together the first and last lines. The rest is tapdancing.

How could Nabokov done that accidentally, though? How can you read that from even the subtext of a book and not understand that it's the whole point?

Fav Band: Couldn't say.

Fav Movie: Prob. Crooklyn or something.

Fav TV Show: Mr. Show (I know, I know, it's not on anymore)

Fav Book: Hebrew-English/English-Hebrew Dictionary

Fav Actor: Ronnie Burkett

Fav Actress: No idea

Fav Food: Thai (anything hot sweet and sour)

Fav Sport: Sitting on my arse

Fav Athlete: None.

Drink of Choice: Mohito

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): extacy

Smoker? : Occasionally

Occupation : Student

Do you work out? : I go to gym every day of the working week.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : 4

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : 2

Name: Gemma
Age: 28
Height: 5'4" (i think)

Fav Band: too many

Fav Movie: i have a lot, i guess maybe cinema paradiso, city of the lost children and metropolis are pretty important ones though.

Fav TV Show: lateline. and i used to love the fast show when it was on. and blackadder.

Fav Book: too many too. but definitely heroes and villains by angela carter; perfume by patrick suskind; the outsider by albert camus

Fav Actor: i don't really have one

Fav Actress: ummm audrey tautou, audrey hepburn, frances mcdormand

Fav Food: roast lamb/japanese/thai

Fav Sport: i don't play or follow any sport

Fav Athlete: *shrug*

Drink of Choice: vodka and soda.

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): i like recreational drugs although i rarely use them these days. no pot anymore.

Smoker? : reformed.

Occupation : policy writer/law student

Do you work out? : no. but i go to the beach most days for a walk and do yoga.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : about the middle. probably a 6.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : same same as for looks.

Name: bulbous
Age: 42
Height: 5'11"

Fav Band: 23 skidoo

Fav Movie: taxi driver

Fav TV Show: iron chef

Fav Book: the erl king

Fav Actor: dirk bogarde

Fav Actress: molly ringwald

Fav Food: masala paneer or rocket dhosa

Fav Sport: soccer

Fav Athlete:

Drink of Choice: pleb beer

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): acid

Smoker? : vaguely

Occupation : information management

Do you work out? : no

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : 6

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : erratic

;-)

Half of these answers are from when i was 19 because the answers to them have been of no interest to me since then.

This is great, and truer for me than I was willing to admit before. Thanks, bulbs, for breaking the barrier.

Fav Band: If I said the Mile Davis Quartet in 1958, you'd think I was a pretentious asshole, wouldn't you? I can't win.

Fav Movie: If I cited something from Bergman, you'd think I was a pretentious asshole and a tremendous downer, wouldn't you? I can't win.

Fav TV Show: If I said that I wouldn't watch TV at all ever if I wasn't otherwise forced to, you'd think I was a pretentious asshole, wouldn't you? I can't win.

Fav Book: If I said that I don't actually read much fiction anymore, you'd think... I don't know what you'd think. I don't care much, either. The best books I've ever read and that I continue to read do not have plots, themes, or characters, except for the naturally occurring ones. My favorite books are good journalism.

Fav Actor / Fav Actress: same as before.

Fav Food: pie

Fav Sport: fucking

Fav Athlete: me, while fucking

Drink of Choice: same as before

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks?: 7

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality?: 7

Fav Band: Steely Dan

Fav Movie: The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant

Fav TV Show: Twin Peaks

Fav Book: Naked Lunch

Fav Actor: Marlon Brando

Fav Actress: Catherine Deneuve

Fav Food: peanut butter and jelly

Fav Sport: no

Fav Athlete: no

Drink of Choice: ginger ale

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): w33d

Smoker? : yes

Occupation : no

Do you work out? : used to, meaning to start again

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : 5

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : 7

Add anything you want people to know:
all above answers (except maybe height) subject to change at any time.

Fav Band: Nick Drake, Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Ray Lamontagne, Red House Painters, Kings of Convenience, John Martyn, Matt Pond, Black Keys, Cream

Fav Movie: Kicking and Screaming

Fav TV Show: Currently "Lost", Seinfeld, CSI

Fav Book: Stay Here With Me

Fav Actor: Deniro, Pacino, Tom Hanks

Fav Actress: n/a

Fav Food: Ice Cream, Pasta, Sushi

Fav Sport: Baseball and Hockey

Fav Athlete: Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Cam Neely

Drink of Choice: Wachusett Ales...local flava.

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): beer and nicotine, xanax

Smoker? : yes, unfortunately

Occupation : Financial Analyst, my title has changed over the years.

Do you work out? : used to, meaning to start again

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : 5

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : 7

Add anything you want people to know:

Im really not such an ass in real life.

Fav Band: probably Wire or Aphex Twin

Fav Movie: Alien and This is Spinal Tap

Fav TV Show: Probably "Aquateen Hunger Force"

Fav Book: A Maggot (by John Fowles)

Fav Actor: i don't know

Fav Actress: i don't know

Fav Food: Italian

Fav Sport: I fucking hate sports

Fav Athlete: I fucking hate sports

Drink of Choice: ice water

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): marijuana (but only once i a while)

Smoker? : no

Occupation : unemployed dipshit/wannabe "musician"

Do you work out? : hell no

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks? : 7

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality? : 5

Add anything you want people to know: I just want to be loved.

Age: 25 this June

Height: 5'11"

Fav Band: It's hard to say... Air Liquide, Dead Prez, Outkast, Pole, Flora Purim, Eve, Pharoah Sanders, and Herbie Hancock are the first to spring to mind.

Fav Movie: Farewell My Concubine, Down by Law, Rashômon, Mary Poppins, Street of Shame, Dr. Strangelove, My Neighbor Totoro, Human Resources, Stalker. This is the official cineaste list, but generally speaking I love musicals, animated features and romantic comedies.

Fav TV Show: Downtown, The Maxx, Northern Exposure. Nowadays I don't own a TV set, so I have no idea about the current shows.

Fav Book: "Blindness" by José Saramago, "Notes from the Underground" by Dostoyevsky, "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis, "Winnie the Pooh" by Milne, "Tintin" by Hergé, "Corto Maltese" by Hugo Pratt, "Ghost World" by Daniel Clowes.

Fav Actor: Cary Grant, Koji Yakusho

Fav Actress: Catherine Deneuve, Angela Basset

Fav Food: Falafel, beetroot steak.

Fav Sport: I don't really follow sports, but I guess it's football.

Fav Athlete: None.

Drink of Choice: Dark Beer.

Drug of Choice (if that's your thing): Weed, though I don't do it regularly.

Smoker?: Used to be, nowadays I only smoke when drunk.

Occupation: An uni student, hoping to pass my master's degree on Third World studies next year.

Do you work out?: Occasionally.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your looks?: 6.

On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your personality?: 8.