Innocuous things that make you irrationally embarrassed

there's always the guy who insists on giving his personal history with the artist's work as if anyone cares

Oh man yeah you should try sitting through the Q&A part of a panel presentation at a Star Trek convention. Star Trek fans have some serious personal connection to that franchise and really want to talk about it. LL, I think you would probably have to leave the room.

I always feel like apologising to the person for having to put up with it, it's a real cultural cringe although I know q&a audiences are probably terrible everywhere

They are probably slightly worse here tho

I mean, I, too, could stand up and tell a story about how Voyager helped me through personal tragedy and I would probably end up getting a hug from Captain Janeway but I would rather have a cavity filled and a cervical biopsy in the same day than publicly overshare about that.

Like Weird Al is probably one of the nicest, most fan-service-focused performers out there, and even he seemed vaguely annoyed.

Did I ever tell you about my mom randomly decided c. 1998 that I should meet and marry Weird Al? She was dead serious and so adamant that me and Weird Al were meant to be together. It was very strange.

i want to leave the room just thinking about it
if these people managed to annoy weird al, i'm even more curious about them

That is strange.

ppl who overshare their personal stories are forgiven when they're interesting and/or concise; it's the rambling "me and my buddies back in the day" stories preceding a lame question that stand out as myopically self-centered because they're disorganized and always boring.

it's reached the point in Ny that questioners get heckled by the audience fairly regularly.

these are not innocuous btw

The one time I saw B.B. King was a lecture/performance at Northwestern. Before his last song, he took questions. One was a guy who shouted, "DID YOU KNOW THAT I OWE MY MUSICAL CAREER TO YOU? DID YOU KNOW THAT?!" King seemed happy about that, even if the audience was visibly annoyed. Another guy asked, "What do you think about guitarists like Eddie Van Halen and Joe Satriani citing you as an influence?" Other audience members groaned loudly at this, but King diplomatically said, "I think it's great!"

And starting a Q&A off with, "After your questions, B.B. King will play some more!" is a surefire way to keep it short.

there's always the guy who insists on giving his personal history with the artist's work as if anyone cares

― Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Thursday, May 28, 2015 12:10 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I was at an art opening w/lecture thing and had to listen to someone frame her question with an explanation of the excellent hotel with cool music and art of the walls and other weird signifiers meant to mean the questioner was worldly and cool before she asked something kind of trite

The crying gay marriage guy also admitted to being an improv comedian.

The long-long-long question was actually hilarious b/c he so effectively ran the whole thing off the rails. He got heckled, but after a while even the host and Weird Al were LOLing with him. (His question was about the Change.org petition to get Weird Al to headline the Superbowl, but it went into some bizarre territory, with _theories_ and strategies.)

CSPAN and CSPAN2's BookTV have some crazies on live call-in, although I think they filter them better now. The best-handled was this guy who addressed Susan Sontag and the female host by their first names, in a mock-deferential tone. Sontag sait there a second, looking thoughtful, then suddenly asked, "What's your first name?" He just stammered, and the host said, "Next."
Even better, in part because it involved several questioners, was the Robert Altman Film Festival, starring Robert Altman. This was at my alma mater, back in the 70s. "Mr. Altman, I've been watching your work since the TV days, those series episodes and That Cold Day In The Park and so on, and you've certainly come a long way, and I wonder, when you go to bed, do you see your name up in lights, and get all turned on?" Altman: "I'm a brand, and the chairman of a committee, People bring me ideas, and respond to my ideas, and we figure out how to do something, if it seems worth doing."
A woman started a question based on the premise that Pinkie opened her eyes while supposedly comatose in Three Women, and a couple of people started arguing with her about that. Altman: "I didn't see her open her eyes..." Woman: "No, she did!" other audience members: "wtf? stfu!" Altman: "Hold on, people! Now---I didn't see her do that, but if you did, then that's your movie. How did you interpret that?" And she replied, of course, that this proved Pinkie was manipulative, which seemed the point anyway, so Altman said something like, "I thought she was, too," and went on to the next question.
So I totally related to Woody Allen's take on Q&A weirdos in Stardust Memouries, even though some filmies seemed butthurt.

Altman otm

sorry for typos, tiny screen

Somebody should've stood up after that one guy and asked Weird Al a question about a HAY CARRIAGE, like why is Iowa always on the forefront of these things?

I'm IE about authors reading from their books. Like, that's not the way they wrote it (most of the time) and that's not the way you're supposed to absorb it (most of the time.)

I once saw Nicholson Baker read from The Fermata, and boy. whew.

they don't like it either fwiw, at least not the one i know

my favorite talkback was at a moma film that i went to when i first moved to nyc and was on the autodidactic film school tip and it was an experimental thing from the late seventies without narrative playing on a wednesday afternoon matiness and there was a constant return to a kaleidoscopic shot of some guy jacking off for the camera with emokid voiceover and this went on for like two hours. most of the audience left but i was in full-on "I WILL LEARN SOMETHING HERE" mode and I stuck it out until at the end it was me and 7 senior citizens and the film ends with nothing offered except i think the dude finally came i guess? so they bring the director out and whattayaknow, it's clearly the jackin' it dude. "Questions?" and each of the seven senior citizens got up and lectured the guy about the filmmaking process and what was he thinking, etc along the lines of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svGAQJYIRqQ

Yes, readings by writers in general are often IE. Writing is one skill and orating is another altogether, and it's rare to find someone who's spent time honing both skills.

I can't believe this hasn't been listed so far because it might be one of the most innocuous, most embarrassing things ever: Q&As at movie screenings/book readings/etc.

― Immediate Follower (NA), Thursday, May 28, 2015 11:14 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

THIS x1000

I saw Kathleen Hanna recently and I'm drawing a blank but some of the questions that people asked were just horrifying.

Oh god - One gay guy got up and talked about how since he was gay he used terms like "girl" and "bitch" a lot when talking to his friends and that made him feel conflicted so he asked what she thought of this. She was like, "Uh, maybe don't call people "bitch"?"

Also - I once saw Nicholson Baker read from The Fermata, and boy. whew.

― pplains, Thursday, May 28, 2015 3:11 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

omg

public q&a is always embarrassing to me

ppl are terrible at asking questions

Every time someone gets up to the microphone at any Q&A inside I'm going "no just sit down this isn't going to end well for anyone please control yourself dude just sit down!".

Also - I once saw Nicholson Baker read from The Fermata, and boy. whew.

― pplains, Thursday, May 28, 2015 3:11 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh wow.

Like good speeches, the only good Q&A questions are those that begin with "Webster's defines...".

it is a rare person who asks a question that anyone would ever want/need the answer to

like, if you said the question out loud to yourself in the car beforehand you would have never opened your mouth but here we all are watching u have yr moment :/

even webinar q&a's at work just devolve into such mundane myopic stupidity THERE ARE OTHER PPL WHO HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOU STOP BEING SO LAME

The little girl asking WAY about his favorite cartoon is extremely cute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1nDZEPHzmg

Oh god another art one I went to involved an artist who did sketches/designs of these weird magical creatures and the exhibit was mostly three dimensional ones made by a Hollywood-style creature shop. Half the questions were " so you did not actually make these?" And variations along that line

when an actor who is known for doing impressions/voicing a cartoon is on 'inside the actors studio' and james lipton is like "can i speak with..........Mr. Al Pacino please?" and the actor makes this 'i'm getting into character now" face and then responds in the voice. it's the worst thing, ever.

"Who else is in there?"

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1DZjLKIMlhc/UsF9VUUDnuI/AAAAAAAAEAQ/14aslBq4S1U/s1600/the-shining-redrum.jpg

This thread: What sounds 'cutting edge' in 2015?

i was about to post 1,000 words or so of "the life cycle of a leaf" on that thread earlier, but then i decided i didn't even want to contribute that.

Like many things that make me embarrassed, it reminds me of myself when I was like 18/19.

people who have bumper stickers displaying the college they went to

non-americans who say or write 'mom'

adults who call their parents 'mummy/mommy' or 'daddy'

People who call their significant other/spouse mommy or daddy.

And not like, in front of the kids.

calling sneakers/tennis shoes "tennies"

people who have bumper stickers displaying the college they went

I know this is going to encompass a lot of people I know and love but I have a hard time with serious alumni boosterism in general. Like people who dress themselves and their babies in school gear and have their pictures taken or who go on alumni golf outings.

yesssss

the idea that college sports is our common touchstone that binds us together

holy shit that is not me

hah, the UT fanaticism I see in my neighborhood is mind boggling

we have a neighbor who carved a big tree stump in their front yard into a giant hook 'em horns hand, which is illuminated at night. They have a trailer that they presumably bring with them for tailgating at big games that opens up to reveal a big screen TV. On many weekends we see them with a bunch of friends sitting on lawn chairs in their driveway watching the game on their big screen TV trailer. In December they have an illuminated santa with sleigh, except it is all in orange and the sleigh is pulled by a longhorn.

hook em santa

EMBARRASSING THINGS

• While entertaining a visitor, one hears some servants chatting without any restraint in one of the back rooms. It is embarrassing to know that one's visitor can overhear. But how to stop them?
• A man whom one loves gets drunk and keeps repeating himself.
• To have spoken about someone not knowing that he could overhear. This is embarrassing even if it be a servant or some other completely insignificant person.
• To hear one's servants making merry. This is equally annoying if one is on a journey and staying in cramped quarters or at home and hears the servants in a neighbouring room.
• Parents, convinced that their ugly child is adorable, pet him and repeat the things he has said, imitating his voice.
• An ignoramus who in the presence of some learned person puts on a knowing air and converses about men of old.
• A man recites his own poems (not especially good ones) and tells one about the praise they have received -- most embarrassing.
• Lying awake at night, one says something to one's companion, who simply goes on sleeping.
• An adopted son-in-law who has long since stopped visiting his wife runs into his father-in-law in a public place.

Awesome, mookieproof! <3 :D