After waking up on my birthday to discover that there was a critical upgrade to WordPress and spending much of the morning updating an invisible site twice, I remembered that my FTP client hadn’t been updated when my site was moved to a new server. It’s all up to date now, though, but I’m too tired to actually write a new post, so I stole this from The Solitary Walker.
Anyone for an end of year getting-to-know-you quiz, or are we all totally sick of games, quizzes, crossword puzzles, paper hats, mince pies, family arguments and all other things Christmassy by now? You must answer quickly, without too much reflection, and you must give one answer only – no hedging, or giving several alternatives etc! (Of course, it goes without saying that many of the answers will change every time we do the quiz.)
1. Best band/rock ‘n’ roll band?
2. Favourite pop/rock/whatever single?
3. Greatest classical composer?
4. Best novel?
5. Favourite poem?
6. Greatest painting?
7. Just one meal before you die – what would it be?
8. Cats or dogs?
9. Town or country?
10. Blogging or jogging?
11. If a famous contemporary or historical figure could accompany you on a long walk, who would you like that person to be?
12. Favourite film?
13. If you could visit just one country you hadn’t been to before, what would that country be?
14. Most sympathetic religion/philosophy of life?
15. Favourite city?
16. The dark wood or the airy hill?
17. Most compelling actor/actress?
18. Most memorable holiday?
19. Solitary walks or walks with a companion?
20. Christmas or Easter?
My answers: 1. Creedance Clearwater Revival 2. Van Morrison: Dweller on the Threshold 3. Bach 4. Jude the Obscure 5 Hardy’s “The Darkling Thrush” 6 La Guernicca 7 Lobster 8 Dogs 9 country 10 blogging 11 Walt Whitman 12 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 13 Scotland 14 Buddhism 15 Seattle 16 Airy Hill 17 John Wayne 18 Christmas 19 Solitary Walks 20 Christmas, see 17
1. Best band/rock ‘n’ roll band? Beatles
2. Favourite pop/rock/whatever single? Take Five
3. Greatest classical composer? Rachmaninoff
4. Best novel? TOO many to name one – but Anthony Adverse.
5. Favourite poem? anything by ee cummings
6. Greatest painting? Crucifixion by Dali
7. Just one meal before you die – what would it be? lobster
8. Cats or dogs? bth
9. Town or country? town
10. Blogging or jogging? blogging!
11. If a famous contemporary or historical figure could accompany you on a long walk, who would you like that person to be? One of the more well-known pharoahs
12. Favourite film? Dr. Zhivago
13. If you could visit just one country you hadn’t been to before, what would that country be? Egypt
14. Most sympathetic religion/philosophy of life? The Golden Rule
15. Favourite city? Rome
16. The dark wood or the airy hill? dark wood
17. Most compelling actor/actress? Judi Dench
18. Most memorable holiday? New Year’s Eve (in the past)
19. Solitary walks or walks with a companion? with a companion
20. Christmas or Easter? Christmas
Strangely enough, my middle name came from your favorite novel, one I’ve never read but my mother did just before I was born.
1. Beatles 2. Like a Rolling Stone (Dylan) 3. Bach 4. Half a dozen by Dickens 5. Four Quartets 6. Rembrandt’s self-portraits 7. Fish and chips 8. Cats 9. Country 10. Blogging 11. Hermann Hesse 12. Death in Venice 13. New Zealand 14. Buddhism 15. Naples 16. The airy hill 17. Bruno Ganz 18. Rome over Christmas and New Year 19. Solitary 20. Easter
Aha, I see many of the answers are different this time!
1. Best band? The Waterboys
2. Favourite single? Fisherman’s Blues (Waterboys again)
3. Greatest classical composer? Mozart
4. Best novel? Raj Quartet – Paul Scott
5. Favourite poem? Wandering Aengus – WB Yeats
6. Greatest painting? Girl in a Turban – Vermeer
7. Just one meal before you die – what would it be? Lamb curry and rice; mango ice cream for dessert. Real champagne!
8. Cats or dogs? Definitely dogs.
9. Town or country? Town
10. Blogging or jogging? Blogging
11. If a famous contemporary or historical figure could accompany you on a long walk, who would you like that person to be? Queen Elizabeth I
12. Favourite film? Moonstruck
13. If you could visit just one country you hadn’t been to before, what would that country be? Spain
14. Most sympathetic religion/philosophy of life? Without knowing enough about it – Buddhism probably.
15. Favourite city? London
16. The dark wood or the airy hill? Airy hill
17. Most compelling actor/actress? Helen Mirren
18. Most memorable holiday? A week in British Columbia.
19. Solitary walks or walks with a companion? Companion is more fun.
20. Christmas or Easter? Christmas.
Well, since it is (was) your birthday….
1. Best band/rock ‘n’ roll band? Beatles
2. Favourite pop/rock/whatever single? Anything released by Three Dog Night in the early years
3. Greatest classical composer? Mozart
4. Best novel? The Lord of the Rings
5. Favourite poem? Ode on Melancholy by John Keats
6. Greatest painting? Vincent van Gogh’s Autumn Landscape with Four Trees
7. Just one meal before you die – what would it be? Macaroni and cheese
8. Cats or dogs? Cats
9. Town or country? Town
10. Blogging or jogging? Blogging
11. If a famous contemporary or historical figure could accompany you on a long walk, who would you like that person to be? George Washington
12. Favourite film? To Kill a Mockingbird
13. If you could visit just one country you hadn’t been to before, what would that country be? Australia
14. Most sympathetic religion/philosophy of life? None of the above?
15. Favourite city? Boston
16. The dark wood or the airy hill? Dark wood
17. Most compelling actor/actress?
Katherine Hepburn
18. Most memorable holiday? Christmas in Vermont
19. Solitary walks or walks with a companion?
Solitary
20. Christmas or Easter?
Christmas
(Of course, if you ask the same questions next week, you’ll probably get 20 different answers. )
Happy Birthday!
Thanks, Shelley, and I think you’re right about these changing the next time you do them.
I love so many songs and so many books that it’s virtually impossible to rank them. I have so many 5 star songs in iTunes that I constantly have to go back and mark a few songs down.
1. Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
2. Stars and Stripes Forever — Eubie Blake– WOW
3. Mozart
4. Too many to name — Huckleberry Finn?
5. I don’t dig poetry, but you’re teaching me,Loren
6. Almost anything by Van Gogh
7. My own enchiladas y frijoles negros
8. Dogs
9. Town (small)
10. Blogging
11. George Carlin
12. The Old Lions
13. France
14. Golden Rule
15. Oaxaca, Mexico
16. Airy hill
17. Clark Gable
18. A week on the canals of England
19. With a companion
20. Christmas, Christmas, Christmas
Thanks, folks. These are certainly keeping me on my feet, and on the net looking some of the answers up!
Better late than never…
1. Best band/rock ‘n’ roll band? Beatles
2. Favourite pop/rock/whatever single? So long Marianne – Leonard Cohen
3. Greatest classical composer? Tchaikovsky
4. Best novel? East of Eden
5. Favourite poem? The wind at dawn – Leonard Fleming
6. Greatest painting? Rembrant – De Nachtwacht
7. Just one meal before you die – what would it be? Mussels
8. Cats or dogs? Dogs
9. Town or country? country
10. Blogging or jogging? Blogging
11. If a famous contemporary or historical figure could accompany you on a long walk, who would you like that person to be? Diana
12. Favourite film? Afterglow – Nick Nolte
13. If you could visit just one country you hadn’t been to before, what would that country be? Italy
14. Most sympathetic religion/philosophy of life? Buddhism
15. Favourite city? Orleans, France
16. The dark wood or the airy hill? Airy hill
17. Most compelling actor/actress?
Yul Brynner
18. Most memorable holiday? Six months cycling in Europe
19. Solitary walks or walks with a companion?
Solitary
20. Christmas or Easter?
Easter
1. Bachmann Turner Overdrive
2. Doc & Merle Watson – Under The Double Eagle
3. Beethoven
4. (sorry too many)
5. Under Milkwood
6. The latest my wife has painted (Hey I’m not stupid you know)
7. A hamburger – Kobe beef stuffed with foie gras
8. Cats
9. country?
10. Blogging – what is this jogging thing you refer to?
11. Darwin or Sir John A. MacDonald
12.201
13. Bali
14. none
15. Kyoto
16. The dark wood
17. Jack
18. racing several motorcycles faster than mine down coast 101 to Laguna Seca
19. Solitary walks unless it’s with my wife
20.neither
Funny, a friend from Vermont just called me and referred to this post. I’d almost forgotten it.
When you first posted this, I wrote my answers down on a piece of paper but can’t find that piece of paper now. They were different answers for some, but some have remained the same.
1. The Band.
2. Hallelujah — Jeff Buckley’s version (the first one I heard, years ago).
3. Bach.
4. Always Coming Home, Ursula K. LeGuin.
5. “Of Being” Denise Levertov.
6. “I and the Village” Marc Chagall.
7. Steamed salmon, Brussels sprouts, Olive oil, sesame oil, pistachio nuts, sparkling water, brown rice.
8. Cats.
9. Country.
10. Blogging.
11. Ishi.
12. Cinema Paradiso / Smoke Signals
13. Scotland.
14. Anonymity.
15. Bellingham (-:
16. Airy hill.
17. Willem Defoe in “Platoon” and playing Jesus in “The Last Temptation of Christ.”
18. New Year of the Trees (Jewish)
19. Solitary walks.
20. Easter.