Cool memes, cool beans

Ezra Klein wants to know where all the cool memes have gone.

Yes, once giants walked the earth, men and women went naked and were not ashamed, the lion lay down with the lamb, and cool memes bounced hither and yon across the vastness of cyberspace, touching hearts, challenging the best minds, and inspiring millions, to the relief of many a burned out, blocked, or harried blogger traveling over the holidays who needs something quick and easy to write about because he is trying to post from his mother-in-law's kitchen while she is bustling about cleaning up after breakfast and biting her tongue to keep from asking when she can use her own phone.

Ezra's question about the missing cool memes was brought on by his being tagged with the Meme of Four during a temporary lull in the holiday festivities when he was bored enough to actually tackle the Meme of Four.

The Meme of Four is a simple "Tell the class a little bit about yourself" meme arranged in lists of four.

Four places you've lived.

Four jobs you've worked.

Four albums you can't live without.

Etc. etc. etc. etc.

And as befits a Meme of Four, the memed is then asked to meme four fellow bloggers.

Ezra has tagged me.

This shows that even brilliant young men like Ezra Klein have their lapses when their minds wander.  Perhaps a pretty girl walked by, perhaps he was watching a football game and his team scored a touchdown.  Whatever he was doing, he wasn't thinking.  If he wants more cool meme-ing, he should tag only the certifiably cool and I am the uncoolest guy on the left side of bandwidth.

Even Kevin Drum is cooler.  Kevin gets points just from living in California and from never ever bothering to even try to act cool.  I routinely prove my utter lack of cool by trying to pass.

Once, back in college, there was a moment when I was cool by association---this really cool girl thought I was cool, but the arrrival of the police and Interpol nipped that romance in the bud.

Answering the questions honestly would just prove how uncool a life I lead and send me into a George Bailey on the bridge existential funk.

To avoid that, I’ve decided to make some changes in the questions.  Won’t make me any cooler, but the answers will be more fun to type.  Anything is better than having to type Muncie, Indiana as anything other than a punchline.

Four jobs they couldn’t pay you enough to do: Hospital orderly, steeplejack, game show host, Sean Hannity’s barber.

Four movies you used to love and watched over and over to the point that now you have them memorized and the prospect of watching them again causes your eyeballs to bleed: The Philadelphia Story, MASH, It’s A Wonderful Life, Barefoot in the Park.

Alternatively, four movies you loved when you saw them in the theater but don’t dare watch again for fear they won’t hold up: Shakespeare in Love, Lost in Translation (Hello, Roxanne!), Big Night, and Election.

Four places in the United States you've always thanked God you don't live even when you were living in Muncie, IN: Dallas, Texas; Burlington, Iowa; Youngstown, Ohio; Waycross, Georgia.

Four places you would like to visit on an extended vacation: Paris; Edinburgh; Melbourne, Australia; Juneau, Alaska, no kidding.

Four TV shows you are strangely tempted to watch but have so far resisted: Lost; Charmed; Beauty and the Geek; The Iron Chef.

Four Websites that aren’t on your blogroll that you visit daily: Like hell I’m going to tell you!  The blonde reads this.

Four foods you don’t really like and can’t understand why you eat them but you eat them anyway and feel bad about it afterwards: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; chocolate iced donuts; lentil soup; onion rings.

Four albums you never listen to anymore but can’t bring yourself to trade in at Tower Records: Baseball’s Greatest Hits; Wagner’s Parsifal; Grover Washington's Next Exit; the original Broadway cast recording of Man of La Mancha

Four places you’d rather be but sadly won’t be any time soon: Upstairs at Christians in Chatham; in the audience at any of the theaters at the Stratford Festival; Carson’s Ribs; a table by the fireplace in a cozy back room in some great bar with all of you on New Year’s eve.

Four people who are now tagged: Claire Helene, Bill Nothstine, Pepper, and Kevin Wolf.

Feel free to answer the original questions, my variations, or any variations of your own.  And of course all of you reading are tagged and requested to answer any and/or all of the questions in the comments.

Word of warning:  The Countess, Trish Wilson, has also tagged me with a similar meme.  Ezra tagged me first, but I'll get to Trish's later in the week---and hers is a meme of seven!

Comments

[Claire]

How fun! I got tagged! Lance, I'll get on it as soon as I can (and my post about Mr. Copperfield), as soon as I can. I'm visiting and have to share the computer with the whole family.

[blue girl]

"Sean Hanity’s barber" --?

But think of all the fun you could have!

I'd pay you A LOT to shave him with a straight razor!

[Linkmeister]

I got caught up in this over at Making Light and put my answers there. If you want eclectic answers from the readership, that's the "go-to" thread.

[grishaxxx]

O - I have been very tempted to just go off on this one myself (like Roy), but you topped the meme, my man! This one begs for commentary and a little contrarian expansion.
And, btw, I worked with a woman who had done a stint in Juneau - other than only being able to leave by boat or plane (and roads that just petered out on the edge of town), she loved it.

[SAP]

Silly nerd that I am, I did both and posted them here.

[burritoboy]

Dude,

I lived in Muncie too, as a kid.

Carsons Ribs = heaven

[burritoboy]

Silas,

I lived in Naperville as a kid too (my parents could sure pick 'em)!

[SAP]

burritoboy,

Could've been worse. You could have lived in Romeoville.

Woo. *shudder*

[Anne Laurie]

I like your questions better than the originals, which seemed kinda Up-with-People to me. As for those Four Foods You Don't Really Like... sounds like you may have a "fat tooth". Fat being a great energy source & not easy to find in a state of nature, some of are genetically primed to crave the stuff like bears crave honey. Of course, once we're on the metabolic downslope of our wild-human careers (i.e. anything past, say, age 25), we don't digest the now-all-too-easy-to-acquire fatty foods very well. So the chocolate-iced donuts & fried onions are irrestistable until they're past our esophagi, whereupon the rest of the internal organs spend the next several hours nanny-nagging us about our nutritional crimes. I've known recovering alchoholics who've said it was harder to give up donuts (or burgers) than booze, though...

[Roxanne]

The reason I hate Lost in Translation has everything to do with the four places I've lived. And I don't blame you for not wanting to watch it again.

[The Countess]

Sean Hannity's barber? Would you clip his ear and nose hair? ;)

I love the original cast recording of "Man Of La Mancha". I see why you don't want to get rid of it.

You should try "Lost" ASAP. Rent it from Blockbuster. That show is addictive.

One place I don't go to anymore but I wish I could is the bar Lucky Ned Peppers, in Maryland. It's closed now. Developers bought the place, and turned it into the clubhouse for a golf course. It is an old and huge Revolutionary War-era house. A Union sympantizer was hanged on the grounds, and his ghost supposedly haunts the place. There are nooses all over the bar to commemorate poor Ned, who wasn't so lucky. I used to grab a book, and sit in the sitting room, in between the bar and the dart boards in the back. There was always a roaring fire in the sitting room. I'd get my drink, read my book, and hang out. I miss that place. Wish I saw a ghost, but I never did see one there.

[blue girl]

Oh, sure -- make it look like I can't spell Hannity -- !

[Linkmeister]

"...kinda Up-with-People"

Ahem. As an alum of one of its local feeder groups (NoVa, 1968) I should feel offended by your tone, but when they affiliated with the Moral Majority they lost me, so... ;)

[Fledermaus]

but the arrrival of the police and Interpol nipped that romance in the bud

Lance, if you had not only the police chasing you but also Interpol when you were in college, I dare say that increases your coolness by a factor of 10.

[Mad Kane]

Very funny, and far better than the original questions.

[nothstine]

Oh damn. I've been tagged. It was all such smug fun watching everyone else get the treatment.

Well, I'm home from my holiday road trip [staying with a sister who has a faster internet connection than I, but has IE instead of Firefox--a wash at best], so I'll have to get cracking.

And like burritoboy, I also lived in Muncie IN for some time, although as a faculty member, not a kid [the punchline's right there, folks--don't be shy]. So that one's going to be a little tricky.

thanks
bn

[The Heretik]

Lost in Translation kicks ass! Consider that a late Christmas present, brother.

[Roxanne]

If I was some old washed-up dude with a fantasy of having a a young girl in love with me, I'd love Lost in Translation, too. ;-)

[The Countess]

I couldn't get into "Lost In Translation", and I love Bill Murray. Some American comedies just leave me hanging. Another one that was recommended to me was "I (Heart) Huccabees". The Count and I hated it. Sorry, but you don't tell viewers what Existentialism is. You have to show it to them, and let the comedy flow from the showing. I don't think Americans can handle Existentialism in a movie. The movie ends up being pretentious and boring. As far as I'm concerned, only the French can do an Existential action movie. Anything with Jean Reno in it is a good bet. We just saw L'Empire des Loups (Empire of the Wolves). THAT was an Existential action movie, and we loved it. Jean Reno rocks!

[Elise]

Waycross, GA! Ha! That's where my Dad's whole side of the family lives. He couldn't get out of there fast enough, and whenever I go visit my Grandma, I think "Man, I'd kill myself if I had to live in Ware County."

Now, Athens is another story ...

Great questions. Much better than the original.

[The Heretik]

O great Mememeister! Creator of words wise who waxes profound! O great Mememeister who whacks the wicked with wit! Beware! Another meme virus is headed your way.

O, do you have immunity yet?

[litbrit]

Big Night! How I adored that movie. It does indeed hold up during repeated viewings on the small screen, and what's more, the soundtrack on CD is SO worth buying. You play it while you cook, preferably something garlicky and delicious. And you drink a bottle of Brunello all the while.