This is topic Conan O'Brien classic in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Clive Candy (Member # 11977) on :
 
What a talent.
 
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
 
See personally, gingerbread houses have never been my thing. I mean, I like ginger, I like cookies, and I like houses, but the combination just doesn't win me over. I like beer and a I like peanut butter... but I can't imagine liking peanut butter beer.

Wait, on second thought, I might *like* peanut butter bear. :ponders:

Anyway, gingerbread houses are for the birds. Ginger beer on the other hand- now that I like.
 
Posted by Clive Candy (Member # 11977) on :
 
Do you always think about food?
 
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
 
I like gingerbread. Especially if it's soft.
 
Posted by Clive Candy (Member # 11977) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Lisa:
I like gingerbread. Especially if it's soft.

Of course you do.

*has seen Lisa's picture*
 
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
 
Stop being a putz (edited to be less abusive), Clive.
 
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
 
I'll tell you what's classic.


Mozart.
 
Posted by LargeTuna (Member # 10512) on :
 
I'm personally more of a Brahms fan than of Mozart, but tbh I could listen to almost any classical music. Some of Mozart's piano sonata's are truly classic (and great!).
 
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
 
You know, derailing each and every Clive thread is probably unnecessary. This one was not even objectionable. It didn't particularly invite discussion, but that's OK. It could just drift off the front page on its own.
 
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
To put it more bluntly: Sam, it's not your job to drive people off the forum.
 
Posted by LargeTuna (Member # 10512) on :
 
I was gonna ignore it, but then I kinda got carried away with the classical music talk. [Big Grin]
 
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by TomDavidson:
To put it more bluntly: Sam, it's not your job to drive people off the forum.

I'm sorry, did I send everyone here to derail this thread? Was I doing it myself?
 
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
It appears to be your personal crusade to discuss baked goods on every thread Clive starts. As obnoxious as he is, that doesn't excuse your being obnoxious.
 
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
 
Am I talking about baked goods in this thread and it's just invisible to me? Do I do this 'personal crusade' in my sleep?

No, I'm serious. What are you talking about.
 
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
 
Yeah, Tom you of all people should be a little bit less trigger happy on crusade accusations. If anything, I'm much more to blame when it comes to obnoxiousness- but since you've discovered you can't cure me, you've been leaving me alone of late. It's been nice, don't get me wrong.
 
Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
 
Unless Sam is Orincoro, I'm confused too.
 
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
Sorry, Sam. [Smile] *laugh* I actually read this thread something like three times before posting, and still kept inserting your name for Orincoro's. No idea why.

Orincoro: be less obnoxious.
 
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
 
Be less perspicacious.
 
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
 
Be less precocious and ostentatious!
 
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
Heh. As I think this thread demonstrates, no one wants me to be less perspicacious.
 
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
 
More then. Change it up. Surprise yourself.
 
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
 
If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it.
 
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
 
Could you get any more perspicacious?!?
 
Posted by rollainm (Member # 8318) on :
 
*looks up perspicacious*
 
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
 
Hey, a secret for looking up words in mere seconds (if you're a Firefox user).

It's called Ubiquity (Mozilla Labs, Ubiquity).

All I needed to do was highlight the word, type Alt+Space and 'define' and the definition is there. Mere seconds.

[/complete tangent]
 
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
 
I usually do not watch Conan, but I do remember one occasion when candidate Barack Obama was on the show, and the two of them made an amusing riff on the idea of O'Brien being Obama's running mate, so it would be an all-Irish ticket.
 
Posted by Fusiachi (Member # 7376) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Orincoro:
See personally, gingerbread houses have never been my thing. I mean, I like ginger, I like cookies, and I like houses, but the combination just doesn't win me over. I like beer and a I like peanut butter... but I can't imagine liking peanut butter beer.

Wait, on second thought, I might *like* peanut butter bear. :ponders:

Anyway, gingerbread houses are for the birds. Ginger beer on the other hand- now that I like.

Just because it's a Conan thread doesn't give you the right... Only gingers can say ginger.
 
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by The White Whale:
Hey, a secret for looking up words in mere seconds (if you're a Firefox user).

It's called Ubiquity (Mozilla Labs, Ubiquity).

All I needed to do was highlight the word, type Alt+Space and 'define' and the definition is there. Mere seconds.

[/complete tangent]

I like my method better. Change pulldown multi-search to the M-W.com option. Highlight word, right-click, select "search M-W.com for perspicacious". Also mere seconds.
 
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by TomDavidson:
Sorry, Sam. [Smile] *laugh* I actually read this thread something like three times before posting, and still kept inserting your name for Orincoro's. No idea why.

Okay, good — i was utterly confused.
 
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
 
Fox News Channel has announced that NBC has agreed to pay Conan O'Brien $45 million dollars as compensation for ending his contract early. Conan emerges as the real hero, or at least, the real winner. Plus he can work for any other network as soon as September. Fox has indicated an interest in him. How they would use him has not been said.

Leno had higher ratings than Conan, but Conan has greater appeal to the young adult demographic, that buys the most, according to FNC.

Who would have thought that the Peacock would turn out to be a Phoenix? But we'll have to wait and see what, if anything, emerges from the ashes.

I wonder if the fact that Comcast has purchased NBC has anything to do with all these convolutions and conniptions.

[ January 21, 2010, 04:50 PM: Message edited by: Ron Lambert ]
 
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Fusiachi:
Just because it's a Conan thread doesn't give you the right... Only gingers can say ginger.

Kinda like how only a ninja can sneak up on another ninja.
 
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Ron Lambert:
Fox News Channel has announced that NBC has agreed to pay Conan O'Brien $45 million dollars as compensation for ending his contract early. Conan emerges as the real hero, or at least, the real winner. Plus he can work for any other network as soon as September. Fox has indicated an interest in him. How they would use him has not been said.

See, this is how I know I was never meant to be rich. If someone gave me that kind of money, I would disappear into the mists forever. I would travel the world, fund weird projects, and have fun. I would never work again a day in my life.
 
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
 
Huh. I guess we do have something in common.
 
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Me three!
 
Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Orincoro:
quote:
Originally posted by Ron Lambert:
Fox News Channel has announced that NBC has agreed to pay Conan O'Brien $45 million dollars as compensation for ending his contract early. Conan emerges as the real hero, or at least, the real winner. Plus he can work for any other network as soon as September. Fox has indicated an interest in him. How they would use him has not been said.

See, this is how I know I was never meant to be rich. If someone gave me that kind of money, I would disappear into the mists forever. I would travel the world, fund weird projects, and have fun. I would never work again a day in my life.
I would work...but probably not for anyone, and probably only toward a very specific, short or medium-term goal. Working to eat has never really seemed like the most fun. Of course, with the crappy jobs/bosses/coworkers I've had, I'm probably biased.
 
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Orincoro:
quote:
Originally posted by Ron Lambert:
Fox News Channel has announced that NBC has agreed to pay Conan O'Brien $45 million dollars as compensation for ending his contract early. Conan emerges as the real hero, or at least, the real winner. Plus he can work for any other network as soon as September. Fox has indicated an interest in him. How they would use him has not been said.

See, this is how I know I was never meant to be rich. If someone gave me that kind of money, I would disappear into the mists forever. I would travel the world, fund weird projects, and have fun. I would never work again a day in my life.
See, me, first I'd dance in the street and start a production line. THEN I'd do all of those things you mentioned.
 
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by sarcasticmuppet:
quote:
Originally posted by Fusiachi:
Just because it's a Conan thread doesn't give you the right... Only gingers can say ginger.

Kinda like how only a ninja can sneak up on another ninja.
I was wondering when someone would Minchin that.

quote:
Originally posted by Orincoro:
See, this is how I know I was never meant to be rich. If someone gave me that kind of money, I would disappear into the mists forever. I would travel the world, fund weird projects, and have fun. I would never work again a day in my life.

I'll grant you that if I were suddenly given forty-five million dollars all in one go, I'd be hard pressed to keep working for someone else. But I get the impression that O'Brien really enjoys what he does, and keeps it up for love as much as money. I mean, let's be honest, how many of these Hollywood or network television stars really need the money anymore? I suspect there's something deeply satisfying for a lot of them about just being an entertainer, so that they might not be as happy just settling down and doing nothing except being rich.
 
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
 
Underneath the shiny made up exterior, the frenetic performances, the whirlwind of handshakes and writing sessions and the hundred decisions that have to be made every day and not by anyone else, past this sand-shoveling maintenance of a public image, there appears to be a terrifying void. The self is so outwardly invested, the interior is unmapped. To slow down is to see that blank frontier loom, to stop is to plunge into it unprovisioned.

At least that's my guess why rich famous entertainers don't just go on permanent vacation.
 
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
 
Actually, according to news reports, Conan himself is getting $33 million--the rest is for his large staff. I'm glad he did not forget them in the settlement.

Tonight (Friday) is supposed to be Conan's last show.

David Letterman has been enjoying all the opportunities for poking fun at NBC and of course Leno. Letterman said last night that as part of the settlement, Conan had to promise not to bad-mouth NBC. Then David smiled and said, "That's OK, I'll take care of that!"

I still wonder what Conan might do if he accepts Fox' offer. Have his own Conan show on Fox Entertainment?

Some people like to do what they are doing. Isaac Asimov did not stop writing just because he finally became rich. Most of today's really successful writers do not stop writing after they have made it big. Many of them actually step up their production, eagerly capitalizing on all their ideas the publishers have been slow to approve in the past. Some of them (like Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler) franchise themselves, and take in partners to help them produce. David Weber (famous for his best-selling Honor Harrington series) has several other writers he partners with, one for each new series.

The way all that money likely impacts someone like Conan, is that it represents APPROVAL, and that encourages further achievement, not less.
 
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Orincoro:
quote:
Originally posted by Ron Lambert:
Fox News Channel has announced that NBC has agreed to pay Conan O'Brien $45 million dollars as compensation for ending his contract early. Conan emerges as the real hero, or at least, the real winner. Plus he can work for any other network as soon as September. Fox has indicated an interest in him. How they would use him has not been said.

See, this is how I know I was never meant to be rich. If someone gave me that kind of money, I would disappear into the mists forever. I would travel the world, fund weird projects, and have fun. I would never work again a day in my life.
Nancy Kress has a short story, "Nano Comes to Clifford Falls", that deals with the impact that everyone becoming financially independent of how they spend their time, more or less at once, has on society. It's worth finding a copy of.
 
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Noemon:
Nancy Kress has a short story, "Nano Comes to Clifford Falls", that deals with the impact that everyone becoming financially independent of how they spend their time, more or less at once, has on society. It's worth finding a copy of.

That's a good one.

"The Green Leopard Plague" by Walter Jon Williams also does a good job of describing how the job-market/working-for-a-living works in a society where working to feed yourself is no longer necessary.
 
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
 
"Forever Peace", which we were talking about the other day, deals with that to some degree, both with money now being used only to buy luxuries (alcohol, movies, eating out, etc.), and with the global resentment caused by the US refusing to share the new bounty at any but its own terms.
 
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
I've checked Forever Peace out from the library, but haven't gotten to it yet.

Cory Doctorow explores the idea of an economy based on reputation/being well liked/well respected in Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. I ended up disliking the book, but it was an interesting idea nonetheless.
 
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Sean Monahan:
quote:
Originally posted by Noemon:
Nancy Kress has a short story, "Nano Comes to Clifford Falls", that deals with the impact that everyone becoming financially independent of how they spend their time, more or less at once, has on society. It's worth finding a copy of.

That's a good one.

"The Green Leopard Plague" by Walter Jon Williams also does a good job of describing how the job-market/working-for-a-living works in a society where working to feed yourself is no longer necessary.

Kind of funny--I initially typed "Nano Comes to Leopard Falls[/i] when I was posting about Kress' short story, and had to correct it. I've read "The Green Leopard Plague", so I suspect that I was combining the two.
 
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
 
Robert Heinlein used to tell the story of how he wrote specifically to pay off his mortgage and then stopped cold, bragging to a writer friend that he didn't have to write any more. His friend predicted he'd be back at the typewriter very soon and within a few weeks (I think) Heinlein couldn't help himself.

I would still want to do something, millions or not.
 
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
I'd absolutely be doing things. They just wouldn't necessarily be all that productive.
 
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
 
I think I would do a whole helluva lotta travelling before I actually starting producing anything, other than income for tourist-related businesses. My own what-if-millions would probably look a lot like the movie book or movie Jumper, though not as fast-paced of course.
 
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
 
Incidentally, did anyone watch the final Conan last night? I've been so far out of the habit of watching television that I never got around to actually seeing how he was handling "The Tonight Show", but I tuned in last night to see the last one. Mainly because I read online that Neil Young was going to be on. He did a wonderful rendition of "Long May You Run" that was very touching under the circumstances. I would have liked for Conan to have sat down to talk with him a bit, though; I know he had a lot of material to get through in only one hour, but I would have been quite happy if they had left out Will "the Human Skin Disease" Ferrell singing "Freebird". Having America's worst comedic actor singing classic rock's most dreadful song was not a particularly good finale when they already had Neil Young right there, in my not-particularly-humble opinion. Ah, well. Conan got to end it the way he wanted, and in the final analysis, that's what counts.
 
Posted by Dobbie (Member # 3881) on :
 
Yeah, what was that all about? Was he (Will Ferrel) supposed to be someone?
 
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
Amusingly, my five-year-old daughter absolutely loved that rendition of "Freebird," even though Ferrell in particular (as he almost always does) grated on every single one of my nerves. At one point she asked me, "Daddy? Daddy! What are they doing now?" I replied, "That's called 'jamming.'"
 
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Noemon:
I'd absolutely be doing things. They just wouldn't necessarily be all that productive.

Exactly.
 
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
 
Yeah, I said I wouldn't work, not that I wouldn't be doing stuff.
 


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