I thought lissener was a girl.
I can see why you’d make that mistake, seeing how easily he gets sand in his vagina.
Just for full disclosure’s sake–in for a penny, in for a pound and all that–here’s a list of almost everyone I’ve ever met that other people might’ve heard of. There are more authors than I’ve remembered, from when I worked at Barbara’s Bookstore in Chicago. And there are more musicians than I’ve remembered, from working at record stores, radio stations, and various music festivals (not to mention the occasional fanboy activities). Note: two of these are highschool friends; one is a college friend; one is a cousin; and one is in my immediate family. Only a couple are really famous, and only a dozen or so would I say I “know”–meaning they would know who you were talking about if you mentioned me to them; the rest I’ve met once or twice and wouldn’t know me from Adam.
Kathy Acker
Sherman Alexie
Laurie Anderson
John Anderson
Adam Ant
J.G. Ballard
Warren Beatty
Lynn Book
David Bowie
Jensen Buchanan
Jeff Buckley
Neko Case
Warren Casey
Sheila Chandra
Holly Cole
Elvis Costello
Mary Coughlan
Quentin Crisp
Bob Crosby
Julee Cruise
Joan Cusack
Andy Cvercko
Evan Dando
Patrika Darbo
Ron Dean
Brian Dennehy
Charles Dickinson
Divine
KK Dodds
Faye Dunaway
Karen Finley
Diamanda Galas
Victor Garber
Kaye Gibbons
Allen Ginsberg
Danny Glover’s dentist
Beth Grant
Ellen Greene
Matt Groening
Larry Heinemann
Katherine Hepburn
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Billy Idol
James Earl Jones
Michael Jordan
Milla Jovovich
Ted Levine
Lene Lovich
Kirsty MacColl
John Mahoney
John Malkovich
Joe Mantegna
James McManus
Larry McMurtry
Christopher McQuarrie
Bette Midler
Sue Miller
Willie Nelson
Mary Margaret O’Hara
William Peterson
Martha Plimpton
Christopher Plummer
Michael J. Pollard
Robert Redford
Lou Reed
Julian Schnabel
David Sedaris
Jane Siberry
Tom Skerritt
Alexis Smith
Sting
Syd Straw
Donna Tartt
Tommy Thompson
Lily Tomlin
Tom Waits
David Foster
Andy Warhol
John Waters
Victoria Williams
Oprah Winfrey
It’s not who you know. It’s how you use them.
Don’t be an asshole and you won’t have a thread devoted to you and name-dropping. Practice humility and people won’t care that you have the worst taste in film of any filmy there is.
Defending yourself isn’t going to work so long as you’re a confirmed ass. Either stay out of your pitting or change and improve. You’re not going to achieve anything by joining this thread except proving to more people what a prick you are.
In the context in which Cervaise used it, it was clearly not intended to be a racial slur.
Unless, as has been said, one is a Neanderthal, which could explain your exclamations of outrage.
See, right there, that just shows your bias. He likes 2-3 films that in the popular culture are considered “bad” (talking, Showgirls, Starship Troopers and something else he gets derided for that I can’t remember) and that means he has the “worst taste in film of any filmy there is”? Jonathan Rosenbaum (and Cervaise, for that matter) like those movies too, so their taste must be at least as bad. Now you go talk to someone who is a fan of serious film criticism and you mention that Jonathan Rosenbaum has shit taste in movies. You’re gonna be laughed at like the ignorant ass you are, because, whether you’ve heard of him or not, and I assume you haven’t heard of him, even though he wrote reviews for The Reader (you know, The Straight Dope’s Reader) for, what, something like 15 years, he is very highly respected as a film critic.
And of course, those aren’t the only movies lissener likes. His tastes are wide and varied and run the gamut from silent films, to French noir, to smart blockbusters (like The Dark Knight). I don’t always agree with him when he doesn’t like something, but I know for damn sure that if he DOES like something, it’s a good movie. There’s something, something about it worth looking for even if it’s hidden under the surface.
Worst taste in film, based on two movies. Sheesh. Fuck off.
I have to make a list of every asinine thing he’s ever said about any movie or song ever? He doesn’t just like two bombs. He’s got a long history of bashing and praising movies on merits and demerits that have little to do with what’s on the screen, and to do so a perfectly shit-throwing, monkey fashion.
And like I said, everyone has different taste so that’s not the issue. The issue isn’t that he has poor taste in movies, it’s that he’s a complete and total prick about it. If he wants to figure out “humility” then he’ll find himself not being pitted and people caring about his opinion. But going up and farting on anyone he disagrees with, there’s not a person in the world who’s going to give credence to what he’s added to the films from director interviews and whatnot that no reasonable human being could discern minus that info.
Thank you. I was wondering why someone would write a smear on a tombstone.
You know, I usually just ignore this; you don’t spit into the wind. But whenever I do respond to this accusation, with a request for an example of such behavior, the responses I get range from silence to apologies; no one can ever find a post in which I’ve actually “attacked someone simply for disagreeing with me”–that’s the meme, right? They only find examples of other posters making the same accusation. I have defended myself–perhaps overzealously–when I feel that I have been personally attacked for my opinions. Again, I’ve probably overreacted in such a case, but I have never been abusive to anyone simply for a difference of opinion. So I’m calling this an urban legend until you find me an example. In which case, I’ll apologize. Until then, you’re just repeating accusations without any basis.
Clear to you, not clear to me. But I guess you’ve never had an Asian girl call you crying because her dad called her that. Like I said, personal bias + loooooots of experience with one use of the term and very little experience with the other use of the term + the way the terms are related. If Cervaise says he meant nothing racial by it I can only take him at his word. At this point I no longer give a shit and am not going to allow myself to get worked up by it any further either way.
For the record I like lissener (most recently said so publicly less than two weeks ago), Showgirls and Starship Troopers both entertained me - I’ve seen the latter at least 5 times - The Dark Knight was too long and the action scenes sucked, and pretty much nothing anyone online can say would convince me Henry Rollins is gay. I’m not saying lissener is lying, but I would bet a toe that his friend is either bullshitting or had sex with someone who claimed to be Rollins. It happens. A lot.
So there’re my opinions on the topics at hand, for those of you who think I came in this thread just to shit on lissener.
Well let’s use statistics. Total number of pittings per year:
Diogenes the Cynic: 16/6 = 2.7 PPY
Bricker: 15/9 = 1.7 PPY
tomndebb: 14/9 = 1.6 PPY
lissener: 9/8 years = 1.125 PPY
Peter Morris: 4/5 = 0.8 PPY
lekatt: 3/6 = 0.5 PPY
Guinastasia: 2/8 = 0.25 PPY
Sage Rat: 0/4 = 0 PPY
Now let’s see, Dio and Bricker are both very active in GD. tomndebb is a moderator. Peter Morris and lekatt have a few pet topics which they go bonkers on. Guinastasia has a very large number of posts so it’s only natural that she would draw some attention. You post in CS. You don’t have an insane post count. You aren’t a moderator.
So why do people pit you? Because you like Stormship Troopers? No, that would be silly. Why do people say they pit you? Because you’re a jerk.
Is your PPY very high? Yeah, I’d say so. Say you hypothesize that eventually some one of anyone’s posts will make someone pit them, even if they’re a pretty innocuous poster 99% of the time. Well, Guinastasia has ~33,000 posts, and yet neither of her pittings have to do with a particular post. So that hypothesis looks pretty dead; unless you’re doing something in particular to draw attention, you’re not going to get pitted. While as you’re getting pitted more than yearly.
And assuming that Dio is pretty near the top of the heap, that 90% of everyone has never been pitted at all, and you’re in the middle of those who have, and that pittings follow a pareto distribution, I’d venture to guess that you’re in the top 10 most pitted and that, that top 10 accounts for 90% of user pittings.
So why? People say it’s because you come across as a puffed up asshole. What evidence do you have to the contrary? That it’s hard to prove someone an asshole from a single paragraph, isn’t evidence. Going by your PPY, I’d say that it seems to take at least 11 months for your general personality to show through enough to bring life to a pitting. But it consistently does, regardless of whether someone can find a single quote from you that summarizes your assholeness for all to know.
A musical interlude:
I know some famous Danes, what does that make me?
Met em when they were on the cusp.
I stiull don’t know if they pronounce their name Yoo-taw, in the Denmark, or OO-Tah.
What’s Danny Glover’s dentist really like in person? I’ve heard from some that he’s snooty and works “when I was extracting Danny Glover’s wisdom teeth” into every conversation, and from others that he’s decent enough but really gay in person.
Oooh, that’s worth a “three cleanings around Danny Glover’s bicuspids and back for a rinse-spit” snap!
That’s a non sequitur. The number of times he’s been pitted doesn’t address how many times he’s initiated an attack based on another person’s opinion about art.
Eh, pick a margin for error and use it to mentally adjust him up or down as you will. I’m sure he comes off as an ass regardless of what he’s talking about, but that’s the one he’s famous for. Stereotypes aren’t born out of air.
Exactly. Scots and Jews really are tight with money, and the vast majority of Africans are lazy.
Addendum to previous post. Let’s see what the actual number is:
lissener, video clerk to the stars lissener starts shitting on an actor, someone gets offended and pits him
Jesus, lissener… lissener shits on someone who doesn’t like Be Kind Rewind, gets pitted
lissener, you’re a shitstain. lissener shits on Gary Larson, gets pitted
Let me tell you about Lissener… lissener shits on Chris Sigh (from American Idol), gets pitted
Lissener finally comes clean as to what he really is. lissener shits on sports as valid entertainment, gets pitted
Lissener vs. his students (mild) lissener shits on pop music, gets pitted
lissener lissener starts shitting when its pointed out that his contribution doesn’t fit the topic, gets pitted
Being for the pitting of Lissener Showgirls, pitting
Lissener, stop helping the bigots! Shits on a religious person over homosexuality, gets pitted
So, 8 of 9 are entertainment based shittings.
The following thread is pretty representative of him: Most unenjoyably Pretentious Movies - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
Respectively, those are based on the foundation of modern Capitalism in Scotland (Adam Smith, et. al.), that Jews were the bankers and lenders of Europe for 500 years or so, and because slaves had no motive to work hard.
Stereotypes are usually born out of something. Yes, not always, and the perception doesn’t always have much to do with the reality (e.g. being viewed as negative where it should be viewed as positive), so it’s worth studying the history that lead to the stereotype.
Is your contention that the history doesn’t match the negative view of the stereotype in this case?
To be honest, I don’t really know or care.
I was reading the thread for mild entertainment and your original comment stood out. Your subsequent clarification is excellent, thank you.
ETA Balls, shit, arse (Sorry, thought this was GD for a second).
lissener, I have no trouble at all believing that you have met or known all of the people that you listed. By the time most of the posters are your age, they will have their own lists. By the time you are my age, you may have added another twenty or thirty names.
Part of it has to do with the fact that you are aware of who people are. Others might walk past a famous author without a second glance.
There may be lots of people who don’t like “name dropping.” There are others (hello! over here!) who enjoy these stories of run-ins and adventures with the famous.
BTW, you and I are separated by only two degrees. I knew Oprah when she was in high school forensics. I was a teacher at another high school, but both of us participated in local meets. I remember being a judge for one of the small group competitions she was in. We talked briefly afterwards. She was memorable even then.
I never took your criticisms of me seriously and I hope that you knew that I was teasing you in comments that I made (as best I remember).
If you’ve ever thought that you would like to teach or might be good at it, some universities have “no homework” classes for retired citizens. Everyone who shows up is motivated by interest. They are lots of fun and very casual.