Topic: Who would you want to have a conversation with? (Read 19696 times)

yellowfoliage · « **on:** 18 Mar 2009, 19:41 »

If you could sit down (perhaps over a nice meal) and have a conversation with any person, living or dead, who would you want to talk with?

I would love to be able to talk with Orson Welles. It would be great to try to get inside the mind of such a unique and brilliant dude. Plus, the meal would probably be really large and tasty, considering the company. I also think it would be pretty cool to talk with Andy Kaufman or Richard Nixon.

But that's just me. What do you guys think?

Dunxco · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 19:47 »

Johnny Cash, Hunter S. Thompson, and Trent Reznor. Johnny Cash was allegedly good friends with most Presidents up until his death, and he just seems like the kind of bloke I'd want to sit down at the pub with and pick his brain. Reznor is a more a "Let's go get completely wasted and muck around with drum-machine programs when we're done with this meal". I think it'd be nice to meet someone who's generally had a positive influence on your life. On that note, I'm also adding Adam Duritz to the list. As for Thompson, well... Why wouldn't you? Other than the fact that he'd probably be several days late. Or early.

-Karamazov- · « **Reply #2 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 19:53 »

Teddy Roosevelt. Shit would be awesome

JD · « **Reply #3 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 19:57 »

Buddy Holly perhaps?

squawk · « **Reply #4 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 20:02 »

CONAN

Dimmukane · « **Reply #5 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 20:05 »

Quote from: squawk on 18 Mar 2009, 20:02

CONAN

FYP

nobo · « **Reply #6 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 20:06 »

The Dalai Lama and Ghandi
Bear Grylls
Einstein

I think each one of those people have/had a great approach to life and i would love to talk to them about it.

squawk · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 20:13 »

Wait what did you do

Christophe · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 20:19 »

Guy Picciotto
Steve Albini
Frank Herbert
Matt Groening
President Josiah Bartlet

Drill King · « **Reply #9 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 20:31 »

Ghandi
Hitler
Eva Duarte Peron
Daniel Quinn
Freddie Mercury
Stalin
Siddhartha Gautama

Oh man, so many. Fuck.

Inlander · « **Reply #10 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 20:31 »

Quote from: squawk on 18 Mar 2009, 20:13

Wait what did you do

He Froze Your Post. You know, for posterity.

Alex C · « **Reply #11 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 20:32 »

Screw musicians and philosophers, I want to talk to famous traitors and controversial figures throughout history and get a sense of what they were like. Guys like Aaron Burr and Brutus.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #12 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 20:43 »

Oh, so that's what that means. Things I thought it meant:

For Your Perusal
Fine Young Pineapples
Four Yellow Parakeets
(the idea is that I had no clue. I just think Conan is totally fucking awesome)

Inlander · « **Reply #13 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 21:04 »

Quote from: Dimmukane on 18 Mar 2009, 20:43

Four Yellow Parakeets

<o)
==O==
^\

<o)
==O==
^\

<o)
==O==
^\

<o)
==O==
^\

IN THIS THREAD I CONTRIBUTE NOTHING OF VALUE.

squawk · « **Reply #14 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 21:18 »

What are you talking about, I will be danged if that is not the best text parakeet I ever saw

Dazed · « **Reply #15 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 21:22 »

Douglas Adams
Neil Gaiman
Jim Morrison
Aristotle
Thomas Hobbes
Buddy Rich, so I could kill him, eat his brain and gain his powers.
Terry Pratchett
Ridley Scott

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #16 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 21:44 »

Teddy Roosevelt and Shigeru Miyamoto

Alex C · « **Reply #17 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 21:52 »

I dunno if I would say I've had a long enough conversation with them to really count for this thread's purposes, but I have talked to Lemmy, Darryl Hall and that douche Art Alexakis. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to ask about Oates' shorn but much loved moustache.

Actually, I must say Lemmy definitely doesn't really count. It was extremely brief and I don't really speak tired Kilmister.

Slick · « **Reply #18 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 22:05 »

Gryff...

Johnny C · « **Reply #19 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 22:53 »

James Joyce - The dude was a writer almost without peer. His grasp of language and form was sublime.
Adam Smith - It would be really interesting to talk to the founder of capitalism about what it's become.
Louis Riel - Uh the dude led a rebellion and thought he was the voice of God so obviously super interesting
Anton Maiden - Not sure how to explain this one, the idea just fascinates me.

Alex C · « **Reply #20 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 23:18 »

Oh, god yes, Louis Riel is a great choice. I think I would also like to talk to pretty much everyone who was around during the Enlightenment, particularly rulers like Catherine and Frederick. Weird time to be a monarch.

Also, I was thinking of saying Otto Von Bismarck, but on further reflection the cagey bastard scares the hell out of me.

McTaggart · « **Reply #21 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 23:34 »

Senator Steve Fielding, even though I'm nowhere near a good enough communicator to persuade him to change his mind on internet censorship.

De_El · « **Reply #22 on:** 18 Mar 2009, 23:37 »

I'd like to speak to Allen Ginsberg, because he wrote words that make me cry and I'm grateful for it. I love the sound of his voice and I feel he'd have a lot to say.
I'd sit in a room and drink sake with Yasujiro Ozu and he'd point to various objects and angles in the room and tell me why they were beautiful.
I would also like to speak to J. D. Salinger, as I gather he doesn't do that much.

Jace · « **Reply #23 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 01:12 »

Bruce Lee.

I mean come on, what would you expect from me?

snalin · « **Reply #24 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 04:48 »

Quote from: Ptommydski on 18 Mar 2009, 21:41

I have had conversations with Guy Picciotto, Steve Albini, Neil Gaiman and Douglas Adams. I can strike those four from this thread on everyone's behalf. Feel free to join in if you can do the same.

Tommy, can I kill you and take your life?

I'd like to speak to some ancient people, like Caesar or Octavian or Cleopatra or something. Also Genghis Khan, the man would be the best to party with.

And the historic Jesus and Mohammad. And the Buddha. And at last the last emperor of the Aztecs, Moctezuma II.

Dunxco · « **Reply #25 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 05:17 »

Quote from: Jeans on 19 Mar 2009, 04:55

Bill Hicks

Bastard, that one's such a good choice I wish it were on my list.

Jace · « **Reply #26 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 05:18 »

Jens is as predictable as I am.

(I knew you were going to say Ian Mackaye, I just knew it)

David_Dovey · « **Reply #27 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 05:20 »

Quote from: Johnny C on 18 Mar 2009, 22:53

James Joyce - The dude was a writer almost without peer. His grasp of language and form was sublime.

JOHHNY I WROTE YOU A LETTER

Scrambled Egg Machine · « **Reply #28 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 06:56 »

Generals Patton, Eisenhower,and MacArthur.
War hero "Chesty" Puller
Alan Turing
Charles Babbage
Drs. Watson and Crick
Einstein
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
Hemingway

(Lots of war heroes and scientists.)

MrSteevo · « **Reply #29 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 09:26 »

Salvador Dali
Leo Tolstoy
Elliot Smith
Napoleon

Get all of them in one room? That would be fun.

Reed · « **Reply #30 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 09:32 »

I'd have to go for Avery, MacLeod, McCarty and throw in Pasteur as well.

As for Watson and Crick...maybe you should chose people who did their own work? Unless you're planning on bitch slapping them for stealing the work of poor Rosalind Franklin and many others I would have no interest in them

pwhodges · « **Reply #31 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 10:02 »

Franklin's data was used by Crick and Watson under possibly dubious circumstances, and should have been clearly acknowledged (the group she was in was acknowledged); but note that Franklin herself argued against its interpretation as a helix which was the core of their discovery.

My school sent me on a course at Cambridge run by Crick and Brenner in 1963, so I've met them already, and have the photo I took of Crick's model of DNA in his office. The person I would like to talk to is Alan Blumlein, the greatest genius of all in the field of electronics; also J S Bach, but to experience the depth of his religious belief, and the way it informed his work, rather than his musical side.

Metope · « **Reply #32 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 10:02 »

Vincent van Gogh and Frida Kahlo.

Drill King · « **Reply #33 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 10:03 »

Oh I'm stealing Frida Kahlo and putting her on my list.

Metope · « **Reply #34 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 10:05 »

Nuh uh, find your own god damn awesome artist.

Caleb · « **Reply #35 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 10:06 »

If language wasn't a barrier I would pick Sun Tzu.

Josefbugman · « **Reply #36 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 10:11 »

If language is not considered a bar I would have (for a big dinner party)
FDR
Fredrick the II Holy Roman Emperor
Terry Prachett (as lots of people have mentioned)
Disraeli
Bismark
Pope Joan (if she existed)
Mata Hari (for dancing later)
Bob Fosse
and the classic Churchill.
oh, and Zhuge Liang

Ceiling Cat · « **Reply #37 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 10:15 »

Mega list coming up:

Tutankhamen
Cleopatra
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
Alexander the Great
Emperor Nero
Pliny (Elder and Younger)
Homer
Buddha
Muhammad
Jesus
Attila the Hun
Genghis Khan
Joan of Ark
Guy Fawkes
Sir Francis Drake
Shakespeare
Mozart
Beethoven
Rachmaninov
Raphael
Karl Marx
Hitler
Edgar Allen Poe
H P Lovecraft
Rudyard Kipling
Winston Churchill
Edif Piaf
Emeline Pankhurst
Einstein
Virgina Woolf
Audrey Hepburn
Sylvia Plath
Neil Armstrong
Andy Warhol
Stephen Hawking
Carl Sagan
Richard Dawkins
Douglas Adams
Terry Pratchett
J.K Rowling
Neil Tennant
Thom Yorke
David Bowie
Debby Harry
....and that dude who does the dramatic movie voiceovers.

Although knowing me, if I ever did manage to have a conversation with these guys, I would probably end up talking about the weather or something lame like that.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #38 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 10:20 »

Jesus Christ (i got some questions, motherfucker!)
Kurt Vonnegut
Hunter S. Thompson
Dick Proenneke

Avec · « **Reply #39 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 11:42 »

In no particular order...

Friedrich Nietzsche
Adolf Hitler
Albert Einstein
Ivory Watson ( The Ink Spots )
Billie Holiday
Jack Johnson
Aristotle
Julius Caesar
Stuart Murdoch ( Belle & Sebastian )
Sean Danielsen ( Smile Empty Soul )
Che Guevara
Leonardo da Vinci

The list is endless, but they're probably the top candidates.

JimmyJazz · « **Reply #40 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 12:03 »

John Lennon
Jesus
Che Guevara
Hitler
Richard Pryor
Gandhi
Abraham Lincoln
Henry Rollins
Miles Davis
Hunter S. Thompson
Mozart
Karl Marx

Only one live person on the list. But Henry Rollins seems like he would be the coolest guy to talk to about anything.

öde · « **Reply #41 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 12:22 »

Most people I admire make me feel like an inarticulate and simple person when I read or hear interviews and such, I imagine I'd just embarass myself in a conversation with them. I definitely value what they have to say though, it has a massive effect on how I conduct myself in life.

michaelicious · « **Reply #42 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 13:15 »

I would like to have a conversation with Henry Miller.

J-cob9000 · « **Reply #43 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 13:29 »

Quote from: JimmyJazz on 19 Mar 2009, 12:03

John Lennon
Jesus
Che Guevara
Hitler
Gandhi
Abraham Lincoln
Mozart
Karl Marx

Them.

And I would also love to talk with Voltaire.

Cartilage Head · « **Reply #44 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 14:18 »

The Incredible Hulk.

J-cob9000 · « **Reply #45 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 14:21 »

Quote from: Ceiling Cat on 19 Mar 2009, 10:15

....and that dude who does the dramatic movie voiceovers.

Don LaFontaine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_LaFontaine
I love his voice so much.

Thiefree · « **Reply #46 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 14:39 »

Jesus of Nazareth. Now THERE'S a pivotal historical character; I'd love to get some things straightened out with him!
As for alive or dead, I'd go for alive. The dead usually aren't very conversational.

Coward · « **Reply #47 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 16:01 »

Marilyn Monroe.

'What was it like being murdered by the Secret Service?'

Thomas Edison · « **Reply #48 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 16:02 »

Joseph Kittinger.
Burt Munro.
Andy Green.

onewheelwizzard · « **Reply #49 on:** 19 Mar 2009, 17:19 »

Adam Weishaupt
Terrence McKenna
Albert Hoffman
Robert Anton Wilson
Alan Watts
Aleister Crowley
Grant Morrison
John Lennon
Aldous Huxley
Tom Robbins
Rob Breszny
Mantak Chia

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Who would you want to have a conversation with? (Read 19696 times)