So, the loser had to reskin their blog. The first week had to be the theme selected by Ryan, and then after that it can be anything they want. Go see Taylor’s blog. It’s cute. Thanks to Ryan for moderating the debate. Back to regular posts soon.
(this is the final post in the blogagauntlet. see history here.)
Ryan, thanks. This was a fun one to think about. How does one define the best video game character of all time? One has to think about the history of characters. Read the rest of this entry »
Taylor seems fit to ridicule me and my two lovely hats (and yes, for your information, I did pick the scally cap today. Though, you may recall, yesterday I wore no hat. How exactly does that align you with Barack’s history of telling the truth, again?), and compare himself to a Shaolin Warrior-Monk.
May I retort with a Buddhist Koan. Permit me to state two facts.
- The Chinese character “Wu” and the Japanese character “Mu” are used as a total negator - a sort of “no way” or “none of the above.”
- Taylor, by all accounts, is a dog. I don’t feel as though I need to explain myself here.
May I remind you now of the Koan known as “Joshu’s Dog”
A monk asked Joshu, a Zen master: `Has a dog Buddha-nature or not?’
Joshu answered: `Mu.’
Now how, I ask you, can Taylor ever be a self-proclaimed Buddhist Monk, when he, as a dog, at once can and cannot have Buddha-nature? It makes as much sense as saying it is guaranteed Schrodinger’s got a living cat in the box. The essence of being a Monk is attaining an enlightenment that transcends this identification you seem fit to place upon yourself. You are not a monk, so much as the man scrubbing the lavatories drunk on plum wine at the the dojo, calling yourself a Monk while so drunk on sake you can’t hear the shakuhachi blasting in your ear.
The Hagakure may let you be a self-proclaimed Samurai, though you will not know for sure until death. But you had to be the Monk, and that just cost you the argument.
Now that I have laid Taylor to waste, let’s see what the topic is for the final round. Oh, Ryan?
ROUND 5 (THE FINAL ROUND)
The Debate:
Who is the best video game character of all time, and why?
The Hunt:
Embed a piece of media that has the best interpretation of the original Mario Bros. theme song.
And so, as a blog-war only should, it comes down to video games. Taylor, prepare for your own Babality.
Edit: T-bett, I can’t believe you didn’t post this video as further illustration of your Obama post. Found care of Colin.
In an attempt to really stir up the pot I’ll ask: Why are you more of a man then you opponent?
The Hunt:
Embed the “manliest” piece of media you can find to further illustrate your commitment to being a man’s man.
I’ll have a response up when I damn well please. Taylor’s going to run home and cry and watch artsy movies. um. Grunt.
In the meantime, the pipsqueek posted a video montage by fellow Hobnoxeual and friend of the blog Paul Proulx. Paul does these video montages by directors that are flat-out badass. Today’s feature is the Tarantino:
Man-oh-man. So good. Reminds me of a post Ryan made about some typography artwork surrounding Pulp Fiction.
The Blogagauntlet is on. Ryan’s challenge today is nothing short of epic. At least half of it, anyway.
ROUND 3
The Debate:
Who would you consider to be the most influential artist of your lifetime? The Hunt:
Find the best sports blooper.
Such a bold statement needs some conditions set. Here’s my criteria.
- The artist has to have been actively creating during the same time that I’ve been actively consuming music, and at a good level. I’ve left out bands like R.E.M. and Nirvana since they were (and, in the former, still are) creating good music, but the good stuff was really before my time;
- Influence should not only be of breadth but of depth. A lot of people, in a big way; and,
- Influence is not only of music, but of mentality.
And it is that point that brings me to my nomination for the most influential artist of my time.
(this is the response to round two of the Blogagauntlet)
The early 1990s series “Twin Peaks” was perhaps David Lynch’s most popular piece as a writer and director. The series chronicled a small town in Washington state near the Canadian border and its coping with the murder of a young high school darling, Laura Palmer. Due to circumstances that linked the case to a few others, the FBI is brought in to investigate. And that’s when we meet my favorite character in television: FBI agent Dale Cooper. His calm but peculiar reason made him a treat to watch.
Watch him explain how Tibetan philosophy solves crimes:
Marvel as he mitigates tough social siuations:
And, I can’t find a clip of this online, but he states a mantra that, no joke, I use in everyday life. “Every day, once a day, give yourself a treat.” In the episode he uses it for a cherry pie and coffee break, but I’ve applied it to a lot of sweet decisions. I even dressed up as him at Halloween one year. Coop’s the man. He’d be awesome to hang out with.
The Debate:
Taking a cue from this recent EW Photo List, if you could pick one fictional TV star to be your best friend, who would it be, and why? The Hunt:
Embed a piece of media to illustrate your point, specifically, why your selection would make the BEST friend to have around.
So, Taylor has made his post. While his rhetoric is decidedly more boring then mine (Taylor, old white financial managers called. They want their copy of the Atlantic back). He leads with a neat analogy.
the facts are that Barack is Cleavon Little from ‘Blazing Saddles,’ whereas Hillary Clinton is Annette Bening from ‘American Beauty,’ and John McCain has just finished morphing from ‘On the Waterfront’ Marlon Brando to ‘Apocalypse Now’ Marlon Brando, with the final dreaded transformation into ‘Island of Dr. Moreau’ Brando set to commence upon his loss to Barack in November.
Not bad. But I think we can do better. Considering how hip and in the know Barack is, and how we made that a key point in both of our entries, wouldn’t it make more sense to take this metaphor out of the NYU film school and on to the streets of the Lower East Side? I’m speaking, of course, of Flight of the Conchords. Read the rest of this entry »
(This post is in response to today’s Challenge in the Blogagauntlet. See here for details)
Last winter I read a book called Blink by Malcom Gladwell. In this book Gladwell explores the idea of “thin-slicing:” the phenomenon of making snap decisions in the moment and the accuracies and inaccuracies of this system. In the spirit of Gladwell, I hope to attack Ryan’s question.
Friends, I am a Hopester (a term beautifully coined by a friend of a friend of mine, which I sadly cannot claim as my own). No surprise there. Obama is my candidate. I know it is Taylor’s too. And I could go down the laundry list and point out how I agree issue by issue, but let’s try thin slicing the men and woman in this debate.
So much of Presidency is about character. And this begs the question, How do we judge character? Both Longfellow and The Muppet Christmas Carol suggest we count the measure of a man by his friends. Seems sound enough to me. In that spirit, let’s look at friends: Read the rest of this entry »
