Halfway down the Danube

Keep my shoelaces tied.

This site has the solution to your problems. (Or at least that particular problem.)

1. Seven things to do before I die

(i) Help my daughter through primary school. (ii) Visit Portugal. (iii) Get my second novel (the proper one) written. (iv) Develop self-control. (v) Hear Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera. (vi) Tease the naughty. (vii) Prepare myself.

2. Seven things I cannot do

(i) Drive safely. (ii) Integral calculus. (iii) Play the flute. (iv) Bake bread. (v) Keep my hair neat. (vi) Electrical engineering. (vii) Make an omelette without breaking eggs. (Who can?)

3. Seven things that attract me to [Canberra]

(i) The big skies. (ii) The hospitality of the people. (iii) The work. (iv) The restaurants. (v) The bus network. (vi) The Wig & Pen. (vii) The National Gallery.

4. Seven things I say most often

(i) "Good heavens! Is that the time?" (ii) "I'm here to help you." (iii) "Crikey!" (iv) A laugh of disbelief. (v) "Don't mind if I do." (vi) "I think you're beautiful, [pet name]". (vii) "I think we have to go back to what our intent is here."

5. Seven books (or series) that I love

(i) The Lord of the Rings. (ii) The Book of Common Prayer. (iii) PG Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves series. (iv) Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow. (v) Small Gods. (vi) A Distant Mirror. (vii) Oxford Concise Australian Dictionary.

6. Seven movies that I could watch over and over again

(i) The Blues Brothers. (ii) Dragnet. (iii) The Seven Samurai. (iv) Casablanca. (v) Babette's Feast. (vi) Singing in the Rain. (vii) Young Einstein.

Intriguing! I think I will put in some pimp links later today.

I'm game:

1. Seven things to do before I die

i. Get a PhD
ii. Finish that damned novel (I'm sensing a theme, here)
iii. See B*ssior for myself. All visible objects, Carlos, are but as pasteboard masks.
iv. Control my cholesterol
v. See the girls graduate from college
vi. Defeat Brad Delong in a steel-cage-match. Two go in, only one comes out!
vii. Visit China and India.

2. Seven things I cannot do

i. Understand bra-ket notation.
ii. Find inner peace.
iii. Calculate quickly and accurately in my head.
iv. Run a four-minute mile.
v. Drink my wife under the table.
vi. Do whatever I'm _supposed_ to be doing.
vii. Play basketball.

3. Seven things that attract me to [Upstate NY]

i. lotsa trees
ii. not so many people
iii. cheap land
iv. well-water
v. low mountain range between me and NYC
vi. the Thruway
vii. abundant wildlife in the backyard

4. Seven things I say most often

i. "Basically..."
ii. "Jesus Christ!"
iii. "For crying out loud."
iv. "Love you, sweetie!"
v. "He's the Mole."
vi. "Mmmm-hmmmm."
vii. "The p-value is less than 0.05" (bad habit I must break myself of)

5. Seven books (or series) that I love

i. "Rise And Fall of the Great Powers"
ii. "A Free Nation Deep In Debt"
iii. "A New Economic View of American History"
iv. "Angela's Ashes"
v. "Buy Jupiter"
vi. "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes"
vii. “Expanded Universe”

6. Seven movies that I could watch over and over again

i. "Escanaba In Da Moonlight"
ii. "A Mighty Wind"
iii. "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World"
iv. "A Fish Called Wanda"
v. "Akira Kurosawa's Dreams"
vi. "Saving Private Ryan"
vii. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill? Cool! Particularly since his amused-and-yet-terrified feelings towards Pesci's character fit my view of the world nicely. I really don't believe Syd's ever so much as said a nasty word to a croc, though.

I really don't believe Syd's ever so much as said a nasty word to a croc, though.

Crikey! This one's a nasty beggar. Watch me dangle my boiby in front of 'im.

It's all about the crikey.

All right, all right.

1. Seven things to do before I die

i. Run a half-marathon.
ii. Write a novel that someone actually wants to publish.
iii. Travel to Nepal.
iv. Get my brain back.
v. Learn scuba diving.
vi. Beat Doug at Backgammon. (Hah. I can dream, eh?)
vii. Travel into space. (Ditto.)

2. Seven things I cannot do

i. World Peace.
ii. Math.
iii. Real New York Bagels.
iv. Not shriek when W says something stupid.
v. Being a nice person in the mornings.
vi. Beat Doug at Backgammon.
vii. Travel into space.

3. Seven things that attract me to [Bucharest]

i. The parks.
ii. My friends.
iii. Our house.
iv. The restaurants.
v. The expat life style.
vi. Our elusive cat.
vii. The beautiful architecture (inbetween the horrible architecture).

4. Seven things I say most often

i. "Lift both lids, Alan."
ii. "Flush the toilet, Alan."
iii. "Wash your hands, Alan/David."
iv. "Oh, my goodness."
v. "If you can't drive, get off the street, darn it!"
vi. "Guckemal."
vii. "Hey, love."

5. Seven books (or series) that I love

i. Schott's Miscellany.
ii. Das Glasperlenspiel.
iii. The collected poems of Else Lasker-Schüler.
iv. The Vlad Taltos series.
v. Ditto on the Calvin and Hobbes.
vi. The Sandman series.
vii. Lord Peter Wimsey series

6. Seven movies that I could watch over and over again

i. Zugvögel - Einmal nach Inari
ii. I hired a contract killer
iii. Der bewegte Mann
iv. Dinner for One
v. The Thin Man movies
vi. Star Wars (sorry, all of them)
vii. Erleuchtung garantiert

Carlos,

I think Noel's emblem should be something less sketchy than Scarface, as the eighties are so, like, the age of mastodons and gaslamps.

I find all of your lists interesting and informative; I'd love to see y'all wrassle with the other meme I've seen floatin' about; I shan't say it. For if it is a meme, it'll arrive here eventually.

Finally; I think it improper to refer to Rev. Webb as a "pimp" as it is so discrespectful to the clergy; ah, well. Such is the heathen American set of mind.

[Insert P.I.M.P lyrics here]

Cheers

L

George Lucas and Aki Kaurismäki on the same list? Jesus.

Watch out for the last movie of the trilogy, "Laitakaupungin valot" ("Lights at the Edge of the City"). The Finnish premiere on February 3rd.

Cheers,
Jalonen

Well, I'm nothing if not versatile! :-)

I haven't seen anything of Kaurismäki lately - he's not really played in Romanian theaters. [Sigh]

There's always DVDs, I guess.

hmmm, Irwin, Liotta, Pacino and I get a gimp looking fellow with no chin :-)

A warning to choose your online personas with care.

Poor Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Bt, not much the artist can do with that face.

Yes, yes the internet tag. I can honestly say I have been mulling it over since Wednesday.

But for whatever reason I cannot come up with sufficiently amusing answers.

So be prepared for dreck.

Oh What the Heck- here goes, I am tired and there is no way I am going to make my choices sound transgressive or interesting:

Seven things to do before I die

i. Get Buff (from once in my life I’d rather not be the scrawny kid in the corner)
ii. Be the Center of Attention (for once in my life, etc.)
iii. Boogie oogie oogie Till I just can't boogie no more
iv. Have a successful gallery Opening (corollary, learn to paint)
v. Publish a successful novel (corollary, learn to write)
vi. Set reasonable goals
vii. Tell ‘em all where they can get off

Seven things I cannot do

i. Argue
ii. Get Down, Boogie oogie oogie
iii. Trill my /r/ “carro”, no, “carro” dammit!
iv. Tell a joke
v. Finish the things I start
vi.
vii.

Seven things that attract me to [Atlanta]

i. It is near my family
ii. The very fact that it is so unsettled, unfinished and on the make
iii. I am amused by paradoxes.
iv. The People. Of course I, Sir Francis of Sunnybrook Farm, get along with everybody so perhaps that is no great shakes in ATL's favor.
v. It is where they deliver my mail
vi. It is just far enough away from my family
vii. I reck'n I don’t know no better

Seven things I say most often

i. “I’m fixin’ to”
ii. “um”
iii. “you can email me”
iv. “you’ll have to remind me”
v. “how are you?”
vi. “I’m sorry or pardon me or excuse me”
vii. “well…”

Seven books (or series) that I love (well Love is a might bit serious word, let us say that I still respect these books and promise to call them in the morning)

(I’ll limit this list to fiction, although I overwhelmingly read non-
fiction, and cheat a bit by not limiting to just one title per author)

i. “Gulliver’s Travels” - Jonathan Swift
ii. “Far from the Madding Crowd”, “Return of the Native”, “The Mayor
of Casterbridge” and “Jude the Obscure” - Thomas Hardy
iii. “Heart of Darkness”, “Lord Jim”, and “Nostromo” – Joseph Conrad
iv. “Dubliners”, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”, and
“Ulysees” – James Joyce
v. “Animal Farm” and “Nineteen Eighty-Four” - George Orwell
vi. “The Sound and the Fury”, “As I lay Dying” and “Absalom,
Absalom!” – William Faulkner
vii. “Wise Blood”- Flannery O’Conner

OK reviewing this list – Have I actually _read_ a novel since high
school?

Honorable mention – “Any Pratchett book”, “Diamond Age”, “All Tolkien
except The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Farmer Giles and Leaf by
Niggle- there _is_ a limit”, “The Rediscovery of Man: The Collected
Works of Cordwainer Smith”, “The Stars My Destination”, “The Majipoor
Cycle”, “Schismatrix”

Seven movies that I could watch over and over again

i. His Girl Friday
ii. The Third Man
iii. North by Northwest
iv. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
v. Stars Wars Episodes III-V
vi. Raising Arizona
vii. Delicatessen