July 08, 2004
That Teachout List
Some of these pairs I know neither of, or know both and care for neither. Others fall into the "Would you rather sleep with a pillow or the window open?" category. All of them are clearly thought provoking, altho, as one commentor to the original post indicated, the Who and the Stones are but points on a spectrum. Elvis and the Beatles, and the Beatles and the Stones were suggested; other polar combinations from the same realm are certainly possible.
I've seen a number of responses to this already. Altho I am doing this bareheaded I will note that it was astray occurance of it which inspired to post my own responses.
1. Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly?
Kelly, for the rotating room. Bling over smoove, as it were.
2. The Great Gatsby or The Sun Also Rises?
Sun, lesser evil.
3. Count Basie or Duke Ellington?
The one Edward Kennedy worthy of the title Duke.
4. Cats or dogs?
We haven't been without multiple cats in 30 years. I love Hunter, and miss her while she's away this month, but I wouldn't seek out a canine as a pet.
5. Matisse or Picasso?
Matisse
6. Yeats or Eliot?
Neither
7. Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin?
Keaton
8. Flannery O’Connor or John Updike?
Wouldn't know
9. To Have and Have Not or Casablanca?
I don't know To Have and Have Not, but I can't imagine it replacing my all-time favorite.
10. Jackson Pollock or Willem de Kooning?
Pollock
11. The Who or the Stones?
The Who; as noted above
12. Philip Larkin or Sylvia Plath?
I doubt I'd care for either of them
13. Trollope or Dickens?
Dickens, but only in small doses
14. Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald?
Regardless how good Ella Fitzgerald was, Lady Day was special
15. Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy?
Can I answer Lermontov?
16. The Moviegoer or The End of the Affair?
I know neither
17. George Balanchine or Martha Graham?
I know neither
18. Hot dogs or hamburgers?
Hamburgers. I sprinkle the patties with sausage seasoning, and grill over lump charcoal.
19. Letterman or Leno?
Steve Allen, especially given that I know neither as personalities. I like Leno's approach to spending a fortune on automobiles.
20. Wilco or Cat Power?
I know neither
21. Verdi or Wagner?
I'd rather sleep with the window open.
22. Grace Kelly or Marilyn Monroe?
Kelly
23. Bill Monroe or Johnny Cash?
Johnny was, at his best a far better singer, but for overall contribution I'd take Bill Monroe. Open choice on the category? Doc Watson
24. Kingsley or Martin Amis?
No
25. Robert Mitchum or Marlon Brando?
Mitchum
26. Mark Morris or Twyla Tharp?
I know neither
27. Vermeer or Rembrandt?
Vermeer
28. Tchaikovsky or Chopin?
Tcaikovsky
29. Red wine or white?
A wee dram of island single malt. No ice. As much water as ice.
30. Noël Coward or Oscar Wilde?
"Only the modern can ever be truly out of date." Oscar Wilde
31. Grosse Pointe Blank or High Fidelity?
I know neither
32. Shostakovich or Prokofiev?
Prokofiev
33. Mikhail Baryshnikov or Rudolf Nureyev?
I know neither
34. Constable or Turner?
I know neither well enough to judge; I recall liking both.
35. The Searchers or Rio Bravo?
I know neither
36. Comedy or tragedy?
I know neither...
But seriously, folks, comedy
37. Fall or spring?
Autumn
38. Manet or Monet?
Monet
39. The Sopranos or The Simpsons?
I enjoy a bit of Simpsons now and again. I doubt I'd bother watching the Sopranos if I had access.
40. Rodgers and Hart or Gershwin and Gershwin?
The Gershwins
41. Joseph Conrad or Henry James?
Conrad
42. Sunset or sunrise?
Dawn
43. Johnny Mercer or Cole Porter?
Porter
44. Mac or PC?
PC - Mine are assembled from scavenged, purchased and carried forward components.
45. New York or Los Angeles?
I can barely tolerate Chicago. I would not care to visit either of those two again.
46. Partisan Review or Horizon?
I know neither
47. Stax or Motown?
Stax Bling over smoove, as it were.
48. Van Gogh or Gauguin?
Van Gogh
49. Steely Dan or Elvis Costello?
The earlier one, from Yokahama
50. Reading a blog or reading a magazine?
Yes
51. John Gielgud or Laurence Olivier?
Gielgud.
52. Only the Lonely or Songs for Swingin’ Lovers?
I have a CD of selected sessions with Red Norvo which is my pick when I wish to listen to the Chairman.
53. Chinatown or Bonnie and Clyde?
I know neither; from what I've heard, Chinatown
54. Ghost World or Election?
I know neither
55. Minimalism or conceptual art?
I consider conceptual art to be unattainable
56. Daffy Duck or Bugs Bunny?
That wascally woodland cweature
57. Modernism or postmodernism?
Modernism
58. Batman or Spider-Man?
Batman. He taught me to read
59. Emmylou Harris or Lucinda Williams?
Emmylou. Again, for area under the curve
60. Johnson or Boswell?
Johnson
61. Jane Austen or Virginia Woolf?
Jane Austen
62. The Honeymooners or The Dick Van Dyke Show?
Since I've lost weight, I don't need a big belt to hold my pants up any more. I can get by with a little belt. You know I like a little belt now and then.
63. An Eames chair or a Noguchi table?
The chair
64. Out of the Past or Double Indemnity?
I know neither
65. The Marriage of Figaro or Don Giovanni?
I have no use for barbers
66. Blue or green?
Blue
67. A Midsummer Night’s Dream or As You Like It?
MSD
68. Ballet or opera?
I know neither
69. Film or live theater?
text
70. Acoustic or electric?
yes
71. North by Northwest or Vertigo?
I know neither
72. Sargent or Whistler?
Whistler
73. V.S. Naipaul or Milan Kundera?
I know neither
74. The Music Man or Oklahoma?
Last night, driving the wee wifey to work, just about twenty five hours ago, I noticed a billboard advertising a luxury romantic motel. "Either you are closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are unaware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of pool suites in your community."
75. Sushi, yes or no?
I tried some sushi one time. Took it home, fried it up. Warn't half bad.
76. The New Yorker under Ross or Shawn?
Ross. It's what the R in Emrack stands for.
77. Tennessee Williams or Edward Albee?
Williams
78. The Portrait of a Lady or The Wings of the Dove?
On The Wings of a Snow White Dove.
79. Paul Taylor or Merce Cunningham?
I know neither
80. Frank Lloyd Wright or Mies van der Rohe?
He was an @$$hole, and I wouldn't want to live in anything he designed that I've been in but I'd still take Wright.
81. Diana Krall or Norah Jones?
I know neither
82. Watercolor or pastel?
Pastel
83. Bus or subway?
Bus
84. Stravinsky or Schoenberg?
Eh.
85. Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?
Yes
86. Willa Cather or Theodore Dreiser?
I know neither
87. Schubert or Mozart?
Mozart
88. The Fifties or the Twenties?
I'm loking forward to the Twenties
89. Huckleberry Finn or Moby-Dick?
Dolphin over whale.
90. Thomas Mann or James Joyce?
Thomas Mann
91. Lester Young or Coleman Hawkins?
The Hawk
92. Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman?
I know neither
93. Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill?
Churchill
94. Liz Phair or Aimee Mann?
I know neither
95. Italian or French cooking?
Italian; both "immigrant" and gourmet.
96. Bach on piano or harpsichord?
Piano
97. Anchovies, yes or no?
Yes, in salad rather than on pizza.
98. Short novels or long ones?
Yes
99. Swing or bebop?
Swing
100. "The Last Judgment" or "The Last Supper"?
The Sedar
Posted by triticale at July 8, 2004 12:12 AM