Fan of the Week: Midnite Duke

[Le Jones]

Er, congrats @filcat ?

(Goes to take smelling salts and lie down)

 

[filcat]

Part II Addendum​

Pushkin? Hmm. Better keep a look out for French cavalry officers…

Regaining the mental faculties for memory after a while, realised it's not that the associated-visual causing a problem, but it was a neat convoluted-ref joke to connote the demise of the novelist.
Then why the bloody hell had the urge to make that unnecessary explanation ~6 hours ago?

Oh. Right, you;

It's a reasonable close physical approximation of physical similarity...

TBC!

And TBC cannot be visually portrayed or alluded to without angering the heavens.

Bold of you, mate, bold of you to say that.

In order of appearance:
- Gargamel and Brainy Smurf (Schtroumpf à Lunettes), from The Smurfs - Les Schtroumpfs by Peyo (Pierre Culliford, 1958-59)

 

[filcat]

Part III​

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my pen sleep in my hand:
Till we have given this Award,
To filcat the Noble and Pleasant Fan.

congratulations filcat , from both me and William Blake!

wow.

No son más silenciosos los espejos	Mirrors are not more silent
ni más furtiva el alba aventurera;	nor the creeping dawn more secretive;
eres, bajo la luna, esa pantera	in the moonlight, you are that panther
que nos es dado divisar de lejos.	we catch sight of from afar.
Por obra indescifrable de un espejismo	By the inexplicable workings of a written mirage,
escrito, te buscamos vanamente;	we look for you in vain;
más remoto que el Ganges y el poniente,	More remote, even, than the Ganges or the setting sun,
tuya es la soledad, tuyo el secreto.	yours is the solitude, yours the secret.
Tus palabras condescienden a la morosa	Your words allow the lingering
rimas de mi mente. Has admitido,	rhymes of my mind. You have accepted,
desde esa eternidad que ya es olvido,	since that long forgotten past,
el amor de esta mente enigmática.	the love of this enigmatic mind.
En otro tiempo estás. Eres el dueño	You belong to another time. You are lord
de un ámbito cerrado como un sueño.	of a place bounded like a dream.

Cheers mate!

End of Part III​

Appropriated from A Un Gato - To A Cat by Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986).
Should have replied with one from Pablo Neruda or Federico García Lorca. Or Yiannis Ritsos.
But Borges is good enough to counter Blake, and this one fits the allusion.

 

[coz1]

It's a reasonable close physical approximation of physical similarity...no idea how much Coz paid the cat to have him appear as peak Brad Pitt.

My finances are not in question here, sirrah! How dare you suggest that I paid a bribe?!

That said, I do not now nor have I ever looked like Brad Pitt. When I was much younger (c. 1989 or so), maybe Dennis Quaid or James Spader around that time. Now? You've both seen me so...I know not. But I'll take Pitt.

 

[filcat]

Told you. Many and long.

---

Part IV
<...and after Bullfilter, more people arrive to join them at the bAAR>


​

< @Midnite Duke congratulates and asks curiously>

< @nuclearslurpee rolls eyes>

< @stnylan sends regards>

< @Idhrendur enters through a portal>

< @Wraith11B waves hand>

< @HistoryDude congratulates, but frustrated for being missed from the reply>

< @Le Jones feels dizzy>

End of Part IV

​

In order of appearance, by rows:
[1] Duke Nukem and Cycloid Sentry; characters from Duke Nukem 3D by 3D Realms (1996)
[2] (i) A Young Soldier, by Theodor Rombouts (1597-1637), signed 1624; (ii) Autoportrait, yawning, by Joseph Ducreux (1735-1802)
[3] (i) Odorico and Pope John XXII, from Livre des merveilles, 15th century; (ii) Toda Möngke and His Mongol Horde, Mughal painting, from History of Chingiz Khan, commissioned by emperor Akbar, 16th century
[4] (i) Generic fan-art image, usually used for the House of Elros, here used as Eärendur of Andúnië, unknown source; (ii) fan-art, Fuinur, by Isabella Pavani (unattested); Númenóreans
[5] Alec Ryder and Garrus Vakarian; characters from Mass Effect by BioWare (2007)
[6] (i) Herodotos, 19th century, at the entrance-ramp of Parlamentsgebäude in Vienna; (ii) Atlas, 2nd century, displayed at Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Napoli
[7] (i) Detail from Saint Rosalie Interceding for the Plague, by Antoon van Dyck (1599-1641); (ii) Pope Leo X (after Raphael), by Fernando Botero, signed 1964


Edit: Added the missing row.

 

[Wraith11B]

Gah, the man knows me all too well... (Probably from that coffee/cocktail get together where I demonstrated my... ahem... massive collection of Mass Effect and N7 kit)

 

[Idhrendur]

Seven stars and seven stones and one white tree. An appropriate pic to use to reference me, even if it's generic instead of specific.

 

[filcat]

Part V - Epilogue
THE NOMINATION

<Beer and music, wine and meat, vodka and joy; AARlanders at the bAAR revel from the end of the day until dawn of the next; congrats and woo hoo's, tunes and drinks, talks and cheers slowly diminish; commentAARs and lurkAARs, present or unseen, prolific or unknown, loud or reserved, all await the silence of the new day.>​

filcat falters around the tables.

Idhrendur and Wraith11B are still at the stage, joining their words to follow the music of the karaoke, now almost incomprehensible after heavy drinking until the dawn.

Le Jones passed out hours ago; but DensleyBlair and TBC are still engaged in the heated debate of theirs, for an almost unknown topic to anyone involved by now. nuclearslurpee, sitting beside them, smirks at every reply, brings another perspective to the subject.

Midnite Duke is lingering at the dance floor, eyes closed, slowly moving at the tune heard from the stage. stnylan is sitting at the table next to the floor, eyes closed, slowly shaking his head to the tune. Bibliophile stands up after finishing the book, realising the loss of balance after all the drinking, tries to reach the shelves for another read, unaware of the hour.

Macavity116 stands next to the counter, still energised without a flinch after all the drinking, browsing the liquors for what to try more. Qorten, shaking head, warns: "Isn't it enough, mate? It's almost dawn." coz1, sitting on a stool next to the counter, laughing joyfully at the ones on the stage, turns to them: "Don't worry about it; let Mac have another." Qorten sighs, Macavity116 cheers: "Tequila! Woo-hoo!", whereas Bullfilter starts for another AAR, while struggling to hold on to the pen. HistoryDude already prepares for a two-line comment, but unable to find the pen nor the keyboard, about to pass out, sits at a random table.

CommentAARs and lurkAARs, present or unseen, prolific or unknown, loud or reserved, all enjoy the celebrations.

filcat falters around the tables, somehow finds the way to the door, and goes out.

*​

The gentle breeze of the outside hits him, but he brushes away the effect with a short pause. He walks into the frontyard, and he finds Specialist290, looking at the street, ready to awaken in a couple of minutes for the new day. filcat approaches, then stops beside; the two share a look, and filcat tries to keep his eyes open. In a moment, filcat stands completely still, eyes closed, waves his head sharply; in the next moment, he comes to himself, without any sign of the intoxication.

"Cheers mate!", says filcat.
"Cheers to you, and congrat's!", replies Specialist290.

filcat then looks at the street with the open eyes and fully aware. He pulls out a pack from his jacket, slowly opens, takes out a cigarette. Before reaching for his lighter, he speaks again.

"That song, Stray Cat Strut; that was beautiful. Cheers for the kind words!"
"You liked it? Cool!"

filcat tries the lighter once; it does not light up. "But I have a problem with what you said."
"Oh?" Specialist290 looks at him curiously, raising one brow.

filcat tries the lighter the second time; it fails again. He stops, and continues: "Yeah. You said Unfortunately don't have the talent to rewrite song lyrics like you do. No. That is an invalid argument."
Specialist290 sighs while smiling, thinking here comes another filcatic long-speech. "You think so? Why is that?"

filcat smiles back, thinking Oh yes. "Yes, talent, that concept is non-existing, inapplicable, does not correspond to any real concept at all."
"It may be so but - "
filcat tries the lighter the third time; sparks, but no fire. "No. Talent. Talented, skilled, gifted, born to do it, natural, et cetera. Such are false linguistic devices we fall into, and all are just..." stops, tries the lighter for the fourth time; no luck. "...bollocks, all such words and concepts and meanings."
Specialist290 shakes his head, "What are you talking about? I think you went really heavy on the drinking side, mate." He finishes with a smile.

filcat tries the lighter for the fifth time, it does not fire up, thus admitting defeat takes the cigarette off his lips. He takes a breath, continues: "I mean it. There is no such talent to have or born into. One does practice, repeat, retry and fail, persist and redo, do exercise and study, to achieve the skill. Those words, gifted, naturally talented, whatever, these are just bollocks terms to hide behind, or for some, having the hysteria of being unique. That does does not work as such."

Specialist290 frowns in trying to understand as filcat blabbers. "The ones at the bAAR, you, I - all are unique, none is born to do, but gained the skills by writing every letter, every word, every paragraph, every page, every chapter. And sod off with the garbage phrases as If all are unique, then no one is. Utter garbage." filcat stops for a moment, and quickly hurls the words:

"One does not paint Saturn Devouring His Son overnight, but practices for years with every stroke of the brush on the canvas. One does not compose Moonlight Sonata out of thin air but creates it over years of training, thinking, living in the notes. One does not run hundred metres in nine seconds in a day but goes through training everyday. One does not find out the total linear momentum equals to the sum of external forces on the control volume, out of that deriving the volume integral of density times the sum of the time-derivative of velocity vector and the velocity vector times the divergence of velocity equals to the volume and surface forces. A petty artist that sculpted thousand times and failed is more a sculptor than one that never touched the material, that never thought about it, that never dreamed about it. Words do not come to one from any bollocks entity, no such exists, but one trains, practices, designs, dreams over days, years, decades. From all those retries and redoings and rewritings, out of those one achieves the unique to create the aesthetic."

The eyes of Specialist290 are blinking in a never-ending struggle, as the words of filcat getting ever-more. filcat tries the lighter, for the sixth time, with a rigorous determination. The sparks meet the thin gas erupting from the little tank, the fire is now dancing on the tip of the lighter, the cigarette is lit finally. He draws on it after the small victory.

"I do know that, and you do not need to shy away due to any lack of talent. You have already made the first step with that song; besides, to come up with that, you have been practicing, you have been working your neurons, your dreams have been clashing over one after another, since perhaps years, probably months, maybe weeks, could be for days, at least for hours, definitely for minutes. You have the interest. You have been developing your skills. If you insist sticking on that non-existing term, then I'll give you that compromise: You already have that talent, but in fact you have been developing that talent. The others at the bAAR, writAARs or readAARs, commentAARs or lurkAARs, I, you: You are not like everybody else. And I know this."

The dawn turns the blue into the red, the orange envelops the sky. The sounds of the street awaken very slowly, though the birds have been earlier than the humans. filcat draws another smoke, and walks to the gate of the yard, towards the street. He stops before the gates.


"I know it, because you, @Specialist290, you are the Fan of the Week."


Words hit before any chance of reply for rebuttal. As the other walks out of the gate, Specialist290 turns and looks at the horizon and the sun arrives, the blue proclaims the rule of the sky, the sounds rise, yet distant, as the week of the new fan begins.

*

<The camera-eye hovers over Specialist290, and rises above, looking at the same direction. Then slowly the camera-eye turns to the other side while on the spot, where filcat has left. It retreats and the view metamorphoses into a panorama, seeing both filcat walking towards an unknown destination, until becoming smaller and diminishing and fading away into the unknown, and Specialist290 looking at the birth of the day in the upcoming week.>

Spoiler: The music starts.

[*]​

[*] I'm Not Like Everybody Else, by The Kinks; originally released as single of B-side for Sunny Afternoon in 1966; the link is the version from 1994 live performance of The Kinks. The version is significantly different in performance than the original. Otherwise known as That song from the Sopranos fifth season episode ten Cold Cuts, what was it again?

Edit: Corrected semantic, typographical, grammatical, formatting mistakes. Added the missing lines.
Necro-edit: Corrected the equation.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Congratulations @Specialist290. Thank you, @filcat for a wonderful hand-off. While I may be moving and music may be playing, my sense of rhythm means that the two are independent events.

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

That's certainly one way to hand over...congrats Specialist!

 

[DensleyBlair]

Congratulations @Specialist290 !

 

[Bullfilter]

"I know it, because you, @Specialist290, you are the Fan of the Week

Hear hear! Congratulations @Specialist290

 

[Revan86]

Dang, how did I miss @filcat getting fan of the week?!

Yeah, I am Jack's complete lack of surprise. Well deserved, sir - congratulations, however belated they come!

And congratulations as well to @Specialist290!

 

[stnylan]

Many congratulations @Specialist290

 

[coz1]

Many congratulations @Specialist290 ! Truly deserved each and every time.

 

[Idhrendur]

Congrats @Specialist290 !

 

[Bibliophile]

Belated congratulations to @filcat and a non-belated congratulations to @Specialist290 !

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

Congrats @Specialist290 !

Does that sendoff qualify @filcat for WritAAR of the Week?

 

[HistoryDude]

Congrats @Specialist290!

 

[Specialist290]

Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise! Yes, I do always say that. It also is always true.

Of course, I have to show my deepest appreciation to @filcat for that incredibly well-composed and poignant hand-off. And on further reflection, you're absolutely right -- it's not so much a lack of talent that I was suffering from, so much as a lack of time and (above all others) confidence -- two things I have admittedly struggled with both here in AARland and in the wider world beyond. Still, I'm glad to see that my own gift was accepted in the spirit it was given, and reciprocated in kind. Seriously, the Kinks are probably one of my favorite bands of all time, and "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" is an absolute gem.

Naturally, I appreciate the congratulations and well-wishes as well. Lots of familiar faces, young and old, even some returning from a long absence. Glad to see each and every one

Unfortunately the FotW Curse seems to have struck again -- this would, of course, be the same Monday where I had to take my laptop into the shop because I'm afraid my hard drive has started failing. So far it seems to be holding out -- fingers crossed! -- but I've been spending time backing up my essentials and looking for a replacement.

At any rate, though I again appreciate the award and the well-wishes, and I'll continue to do everything I can to make sure that I'm handing it off to a worthy successor in turn when the time comes