Spotlight on Silverwhisper

[Mac98]

let's see...of the four main characters, i dig kyle. i identify with him fairly strongly, truth be told.

but for the other recurring characters, i'd have to say lemmywinks.



no, just kidding: i think i most like timmy. i know they aren't using him lately but i always liked him. and they get good mileage out of wendy.

i think the early south park is the best, in general. great exceptions can be found in the return of the lord of the rings to the video store episode, the WOW episode, and the 2 parter in which terrorists have taken over our imaginations. i thought they were absolutely hysterical.

and i loved the ep in which they killed off chef.

did you ever see the original video christmas card that matt and trey did? i saw like a 4th generation copy of it. it was beautiful.

ed

Oh God, I was mortified when they killed off chef (it was funny, but Chef was so damn awesome). But whatever, scientologists are hard to understand at times. I don't think I ever saw the video christmas card. I remember seeing an episode when I was a young kid (maybe 9 or 10 years old) of a really, cheesy, half-assed, low-budget South Park episode where most of the voices sound alike... I can't remember what it talked about though. And to this day, IMAGINATIONLAND is my favorite "episode" (or 3-part episode). I thought it was very symbolic of what's happening in the newer generations and the generations to come...

 

[silverwhisper]

dude, scientologists are evil, pure & simple.

um...the imaginationland storyline was about the bush administration, dude. ?!

ed

 

[Cattypuss]

can i cheat by saying that i'd grab the photo album and my flash drive, which contains a lot of that same data on it? :>

If you must

My next question: if you found out you had 24 hours to live and you weren't allowed to spend it with your loved ones and you weren't allowed to contact your loved ones, how would you spend your last 24 hours on earth?

 

[silverwhisper]

cattypuss queried:
if you found out you had 24 hours to live and:

1. you weren't allowed to spend it with your loved ones and
2. you weren't allowed to contact your loved ones

how would you spend your last 24 hours on earth?

if i couldn't do either, it wouldn't much matter to me. perhaps constructing a goodbye letter/message to the people in my life that mattered most.

that's a pretty ugly little hypothetical.

ed

 

[jenniferbaby]

right now, i'm thinking those little plastic things folks put in the middle of a pizza box to keep the lid from touching the cheese.

I love these things. When I was little, I could never figure out what they were used for, and I thought of them as little picnic tables that mirrored the table on which I was eating the pizza. The crazy things our child heads think up.

Question for you, silverwhisper, something I've been wanting to know: why are you called silverwhisper?

 

[Cattypuss]

if i couldn't do either, it wouldn't much matter to me. perhaps constructing a goodbye letter/message to the people in my life that mattered most.

that's a pretty ugly little hypothetical.

ed

LOL - love how you reformatted my question lol.

 

[silverwhisper]

hi there, jennifer! to be honest, i had the same thought. :>

this is a question i've been asked before a few times so i actually wrote a blog entry about it a few years back. i hope you'll forgive the copy & paste, but it's probably the single most accurate telling of the tale. :>

i quoth:
i’m a player of roleplaying games, or RPGs. about 15 years ago or so, i played in one game in which my character possessed a unique plane. being a proud, boastful and not particularly intelligent sort, the character, who was modeled after porthos from the three musketeers, dubbed his plane the golden mirage, thereby simultaneously being distinctive as well as perhaps telling more about himself than he might like. several years after that game, i played in a RPG that was based upon star wars where my character was a smuggler. a somewhat cocky but cool customer, his ship was dubbed the silver mirage.

some of you have come to notice that i tend to prefer using lower case. i once spoke on the phone with someone from a discussion forum i frequent who observed to me that i also speak in lower case.

about two years after that, i joined lit and for various reasons, i wanted to obscure my identity. remembering the plane, starship and that observation, i hit upon this.

i hope that answers your question. :>



cattypuss: i thought it important to emphasize how i was interpreting it. i hope you aren't annoyed by it?

ed

 

[Cattypuss]

No Ed - it just tickled me - I know your leanings (I'm an editor too - it's how I earn my crust).

My LOL was an actual, hearty, simple one, rather than a sarcastic one.



Your response to my question, however formatted , was quite touching - I have asked that question of a lot of people and the typical reply is something like "Motorbiking thru mountain passes at 100mph without a helmet" or "Maxing out my credit card" etc etc etc. You have more heart than most!

 

[Cattypuss]

No Ed - it just tickled me - I know your leanings (I'm an editor too - it's how I earn my crust).

My LOL was an actual, hearty, simple one, rather than a sarcastic one.



Your response to my question, however formatted , was quite touching - I have asked that question of a lot of people and the typical reply is something like "Motorbiking thru mountain passes at 100mph without a helmet" or "Maxing out my credit card" etc etc etc. You have more heart than most!

 

[Mac98]

dude, scientologists are evil, pure & simple.

um...the imaginationland storyline was about the bush administration, dude. ?!

ed

Agreed. I have a theory that Tom Cruise is actually Damien's child. One day, Tom Cruise will be on top of a mountain looking down upon the sheep he's converted into scientologists, then he'll dance around a bonfire and Lucifer himself will rise up from the ashes... it's just a theory though, I have no evidence that would support it... or that it's even possible.

As for imaginationland, I'm 95% sure that it's the episode where the government find a portal that brings you into imaginationland and Eric desperately wants Kyle to suck his dick for a lost bet (or some retarded thing like that) and in the end, they end up in imaginationland where they meet Santa Claus, The Woodland Critters and anything and everything that's ever been imagined (Jesus is there too). I'll go back, but I know for a fact that on "stansdad" (dot com) that episode is called "Imaginationland".


Here's another question. If you had 5 bullets and a 9mm and God himself (let's say he exists) came down and told you "You can murder any 5 people in the world and you'll get away with it. However, 3 of those people have to be people you've never met and 2 of them must be people you have. Lastly, you must pick people who you wouldn't have any regrets shooting".

question 1: Would you be capable of doing so?
question 2: Who would you shoot?

I know it's a little sadistic and dark, but my brother and I had a long debate over it. It's a psychologically challenging question, imo.

 

[silverwhisper]

cattypuss: coulda gone either way, and i didn't want to assume. :> i'll confess, i'm very surprised by the responses you've gotten previously, though.



mac: o, it's about that, sure...but dude, "the terrorists have taken control of our imaginations?" how do you possibly interpret that as anything other than a searing condemnation of w's presidency?

mac queried:
if you had 5 bullets and a 9mm and god himself (let's say he exists) came down and told you "you can murder any 5 people in the world and you'll get away with it. however, 3 of those people have to be people you've never met and 2 of them must be people you have. lastly, you must pick people who you wouldn't have any regrets shooting".

question 1: would you be capable of doing so?
question 2: who would you shoot?

i know it's a little sadistic and dark, but my brother and i had a long debate over it. it's a psychologically challenging question, imo.

just b/c i can, doesn't mean i must. so no, i would not. i don't have to exercise the power of life and death, so i wouldn't. the moment i accept that the notion that i can, i open the door to someone else making me their target, ethically speaking. thanks, but no.

ed

 

[Mac98]

cattypuss: coulda gone either way, and i didn't want to assume. :> i'll confess, i'm very surprised by the responses you've gotten previously, though.



mac: o, it's about that, sure...but dude, "the terrorists have taken control of our imaginations?" how do you possibly interpret that as anything other than a searing condemnation of w's presidency?


just b/c i can, doesn't mean i must. so no, i would not. i don't have to exercise the power of life and death, so i wouldn't. the moment i accept that the notion that i can, i open the door to someone else making me their target, ethically speaking. thanks, but no.

ed

Then you're a stronger man than I am... because when I was asked, I replied: Only 5??? I'm somewhat anti-social due to years of realizing there are more assholes out there than decent people, but I can be sympathetic towards the right people... I just don't like being played... at all. I'm a nice guy (sarcastic, and perhaps rough around the edges for some) but generally nice. I always give people the benefit of the doubt and try to hold back from judging people. However, when I'm crossed, I have trouble accepting it and usually seek to get back at whoever crossed me. If someone pissed me off enough and I had the power to murder and get away with it, I'd exercise that power. But, like I've said in other threads, I'm a rational guy and know that the end result wouldn't be beneficial for me (what with the jail and all) so I control myself. But I admire you for being much stronger than me... OR my brother, for that matter...

 

[silverwhisper]

mac quoth:
however, when i'm crossed, i have trouble accepting it and usually seek to get back at whoever crossed me.

i used to feel like this. but something i've learned about myself is that the act of taking revenge makes me less of the person i want to be. it gives that person more power and influence over me, my thinking and my life. to me, that's simply not acceptable.

it's taken me a while to get to that point, though: quite literally years.

ed

 

[Mac98]

i used to feel like this. but something i've learned about myself is that the act of taking revenge makes me less of the person i want to be. it gives that person more power and influence over me, my thinking and my life. to me, that's simply not acceptable.

it's taken me a while to get to that point, though: quite literally years.

ed

I'm not bragging about my almost-uncontrollable urge to seek revenge because A) It's hardly anything to brag about and B) Most people don't agree with it.

I myself never used to believe it was right. My parents always taught me that bullies usually were the way they were because they were probably suffering or people were mean because of 'x' or 'z' reason... What that ended up turning me into was a doormat. I was being walked all over until one day I decided to make it stop. Now, when I don't like something someone did, I get even and only then do I feel I can forgive them. Unless it's a friend, I always give my friends chances. I just don't like being taken for an idiot.

Perhaps this philosophy'll change with time. I'm not ashamed of it, though, but I don't think it's healthy either. I guess I'll have to learn to find a middle ground between being walked on and being too vengeful.

I know... between this and my "seeking advice" story, I need lots of help

 

[Quoll]

Silver, what jobs have you had and how do you rate them/it?

so another question: if you had to make one book--and only one book--mandatory reading for everyone in the world, what would it be? (not so funny now is it huh?)

doth spake ed:
want most: to finish a manuscript and get it published. i have every confidence that if i can do that, i can get it published. maybe the path to publication for me is to write short stories & get them published in an anthology first, i don't know. all i know is i have these stories in me and i want to share them, and ideally be paid for it. :>

It can be done.

 

[silverwhisper]

mac quoth:
guess i'll have to learn to find a middle ground between being walked on and being too vengeful.

that's basically one of the things that this period of life is supposed to help us figure out, IMHO. :>

quoll queried:
silver, what jobs have you had and how do you rate them/it?

let's see, let's go by job title...

assistant editor. glorified data entry at a database publisher. i type fast. i now type very fast. not a bad job, but soul-crushingly tedious. however, i made one very, very good friend there with whom i remain on very good terms. it was a useful job, b/c it led to...

senior editor. managed up to 10 temp & permanent staff. fun, largely managing glorified data entry at a database publisher. good title but lousy pay. managing people was fun though. yes, fun.

data acquisitions. scrounged for data sources for a start-up. it was interesting work, and i liked the experience of working for a start-up, but a crappy job b/c on my one year anniversary, the VCs pulled out and i was left jobless. this job was useful b/c it led to...

market data. looking for data sources for a household name-recognition wall street corp--or rather, its start-up-like subsidiary. in such a large organization, knowing who to ask questions of was the difficulty. fortunately, i'm good with figuring that kinda thing out. actually a good job, but the hours are hard to manage and work had a tendency not to stay in the office. the name recognition is also helpful.

operations manager. liaison between customers and 4 internal locations, including factories in asia and HQ in asia, which meant most nights, work didn't stay in the office. in fact, it followed me home on the work-provided mobile phone, usually even onto the train. this was easily the worst job i ever held--but i loved the people. still do, in fact.

generalist. this was basically a wacky manager in training position. candidates with this title were thrown into various departments for 3-6 months at a time. not a bad job, good people, but the corporate culture is seriously weird.

quoll queried:
if you had to make one book--and only one book--mandatory reading for everyone in the world, what would it be?

ah, i'd quite forgotten about this question!

hm...one book? heh...maybe the first book i write that gets published?

i don't know: i find that prospect quite daunting! i'm not sure that compulsory reading assignments on that scope are a good idea. i would ideally like the choice to be a book that speaks of our indebtedness to one another in a million small ways, both to the people that are around as well as those who've come before. certainly, the holy texts of several of the world's major religions speak to that, but i think that choosing such a book is fraught with risks: it would have to be translated, and translation is really tricky. and i feel a certain amount of arrogance is required in choosing a single work.

ed

 

[Cattypuss]

You may not be familiar with the long-running UK radio show "Desert Island Discs". Each week the guest chooses things to take to a desert island (the idea is that they are going to be stranded forever on an island, all alone - they never are, of course - the show is just a way of getting them to talk about their lives and their favourite things).

Anyway, every person gets to take the complete works of Shakespeare and their chosen holy text (e.g. Bible or Koran). They also get to take -

eight pieces of music
one other book
one luxury item (must be inanimate and of no use in survival or escape).

What would you choose? And why?

 

[silverwhisper]

intriguing question. before i answer, can you please define what "8 pieces of music" represents? if i say 8 albums, is that satisfactory? by contrast, does all 12 hours of the ring cycle constitute a single piece of music?

ed

 

[Cattypuss]

In this context, a piece of music is a "track" - so e.g. a song, or a movement.

 

[silverwhisper]

in that case:

bible, protestant. yes, there's a difference. preferably parallel bible featuring NIV, NRSV & KJV translations. NIV is easy to read, i dig the NRSV on principle and the KJV just sounds good.

8 pieces of music: the entirety of born to run.

a positively enormous notebook and pen so i could write and try to retain what sanity i can when faced with the prospect of slowly going mad from the absence of human interaction.

ed

 

[jenniferbaby]

Hi ed, your answer to my question gave rise to another. Why do you prefer to speak and write in lower case? I definitely speak in lower case and sometimes it bothers me. I write in lower case during IM chat, mostly because it's easier and quicker, but other places I stick to correct capitalization because the English major in me can't stand to look at something I've written that isn't grammatically correct.

 

[Mac98]

How does one "speak" in lower case... I don't get it...

 

[jenniferbaby]

How does one "speak" in lower case... I don't get it...

In my case, I tend to speak quietly, without much emphasis unless I'm really excited about something. Maybe most people speak like this and don't call it lower case, but I call it lower case because generally I'm very timid and not very demonstrative. ed may have a different take on it.

 

[silverwhisper]

jennifer queried:
hi ed, your answer to my question gave rise to another. why do you prefer to speak and write in lower case? i definitely speak in lower case and sometimes it bothers me. i write in lower case during IM chat, mostly because it's easier and quicker, but other places i stick to correct capitalization because the english major in me can't stand to look at something i've written that isn't grammatically correct.

i do it for several reasons:

1. i type faster without having to hit the shift key.
2. i'm lazy.
3. as one former english major to another, we know from having studied earlier writings that capitalization was originally used in english solely to provide emphasis to a word: if samuel johnson did it, who am i to quibble? :> besides, i prefer that the reader infer what words or ideas ought to be stressed from my word choice, syntactic choices and context. besides, IMX, stress is always assumed in the case of proper nouns (hence rendering it unnecessary and/or redundant), and very rarely applies in the case of the first word of a sentence.

yes, this flies in the face of contemporary grammar rules. i recognize that it doesn't, and frankly, don't care, at least WRT casual usage such as discussion forum posts or blog entries. more formal situations (e.g., professional communication), that's another matter entirely.

but that's the point, isn't it? posting on lit is certainly not professional communication.

and besides, i honestly find uppercase ugly. :>



re: speaking in lower case: i tend to speak rather softly, i tend not to enunciate particularly clearly and speak somewhat quickly. at least, that's what my online acquaintance told me. :>

ed

 

[bobsgirl]

I've got on my black lace corset and garterbelt, and I'm zipping up my thigh-high spike heeled black leather boots even as we speak.

So really only one question remains.

Flogger or riding crop, young man?

And don't keep me waiting.


Oh Ed. You knows I s you tremendously.