oh yeah! well ask Dlowan about Billy Pilgrim...(don't mention Lola Montana)
I know Billy Pilgrim - and ain't it Tralfamadore?
Who is Billy Pilgrim? Is he worth hopping into a hot tub with? *waggles eyebrows*
Dys may or may not have been drinking out of Gus's bottle, but he has definitely been reading Kurt Vonnegut
And Billy traveled in time to the zoo on Tralfamadore. He was forty-four years old, on display under a geodesic dome. He was reclining on the lounge chair which had been his cradle during his trip through space. He was naked. The Tralfamadorians were interested in his body - all of it. There were thousands of them outside, holding up their little hands so that they could see him. Billy had been on Tralfamadore for six Earthling months now. He was used to the crowd.
Escape was out of the question. The atmosphere outside the dome was cyanide, and Earth was 446,120,000,000,000,000 miles away.
Billy was displayed there in the zoo in a simulated Earth habitat. Most of the furnishings had been stolen from Sears Roebucks warehouse in Iowa City, Iowa. There was a color television set and a couch that could be converted into a bed. There were end tables with lamps and ashtrays on them by the couch. There was a home bar and two stools. There was a little pool table. There was wall-to-wall carpeting in federal gold, except in the kitchen and bathroom areas and over the iron manhole cover in the center of the floor. There were magazines arranged in a fan on the coffee table in front of the couch.
There was a stereophonic phonograph. The phonograph worked. The television didn't. There was a picture of a cowboy killing another one pasted to the television tube. So it goes.
There were no walls in the dome, no place for Billy to hide. The mint green bathroom fixtures were right out in the open. Billy got off his lounge chair now, went into the bathroom and took a leak. The crowd went wild.
Billy brushed his teeth on Tralfamadore, put in his partial denture, and went into his kitchen. His bottled gas range and his refrigerator and his dishwasher were mint green, too. There was a picture painted on the refrigerator. The refrigerator had come that way. It was a picture of a Gay Nineties couple on a bicycle built for two.
Billy looked at that picture now, tried to think of something about the couple. Nothing came to him. There didn't seem to be anything to think about those two people.
Billy ate a good breakfast from cans. He washed his cup and plate and knife and fork and spoon and saucepan, put them away. Then he did exercises he had learned from the Army - straddle jumps, deep knee bends, sit-ups, and push-ups. Most Tralfamadorians had no way of knowing that Billy's body and face were not beautiful. They supposed that he was a splendid specimen. This had a pleasant effect on Billy, who began to enjoy his body for the first time ever.
He showered his exercises and trimmed his toenails. He shaved, and sprayed deodorant under his arms, while a zoo guide on a raised platform outside explained what Billy was doing - and why. The guide was lecturing telepathically, simply standing there, sending out thought waves to the crowd. On the platform with him was the little keyboard instrument with which he would relay questions to Billy from the crowd.
Now the first question came - from the speaker on the television set: "Are you happy here?"
"About as happy as I was on Earth," said Billy Pilgrim, which was tru
Billy Pilgrim´s Two Characters
John Harrigan
War can destroy. War can teach. In Kurt Vonnegut?s book Slaughterhouse Five, the central character, Billy Pilgrim, is the outcome of a test. In creating and developing Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut?s intention is to show the effect of modern war on a sensitive person who tries to play the game the way society expects. This, along with family influence, shapes how Billy acts in his two different lives: life in the military and life alone.
Torn inside and out, Billy Pilgrim was forced to make a choice. He had to choose the way he would live his life. Learning from his father, Billy could respond by taking his father?s drive toward dominance over people and environment. Billy could also follow his mother, confusing him with her excessive demands for gratitude. Forced to decide, Billy chooses neither, which to him, is the easiest way to survive. He yields to his father?s attitude without adopting it as a model, while withdrawing from his mother without complaint, without hurting her. He believes that sharing the guilt of aggression is more complicated than simply turning the other cheek, which shines through in moments under pressure.
Denial is also crucial to Billy Pilgrim?s character. The Dresden bombing intensifies the damage to his personality. He can survive only by denying his experiences at Dresden and he divides himself into two halves: a social half that says, "Yes," and a private half that says, "No." His conflicts force his "surrender to the world," first with a mental breakdown, then with an escape into fantasy. Publicly, he agrees with the Marine major who wants more bombing, more Green Berets, while internally, he sees a war-film backwards, in which he wishes to undo the ravaging effects of war. Looking for an outlet, Billy discovers science fiction, which gives him perspective and consolation. This perspective forces him to teach others, to improve not people?s physical sight but their spiritual vision, which eventually leads to his commitment.
Billy Pilgrim is two characters, two lives, which consist of a life in the military, the outer, public life, and his life alone, the inner, internal life. In the Army, Billy is numb and confused, but in civilian life, he is more expansive, more exploratory, even showing a quiet love of dramatic irony. In whole, Billy stands for pacifism and tolerance. In such a world, in this environment, Billy Pilgrim can only appear as a clown.
Just in case some of you are lost, the Kurt Vonnegut book lovers thread is about three blocks down on the left. It ain't here!
I love Kurt Vonnegut in a man......
Really? Well then, by all means, Welcome to the monkey house!
LOL!!!!! But not hairy backs.....I mean, I could love a man with a hairy back, of course, - but, aesthetically speaking, I love them not...
Okay, women don't want hairy backs. Duly noted.
That reminds me of a friend I had growing up. He was so hairy that when we played basketball if you went for a rebound against him and he didn't have a shirt on, coming down against him would be like sliding down a big wet rug.
Yeah - not wanting hairy backs is unfair - they come with the territory, if you are a fella.
Some guys wax, you know....
Gee dlowan, you read my mind! This was going to be the very topic I brought up...hairy backs! Although there must be at least one woman out there who likes them, and I'm sure there are a few who can tolerate them...every woman I have asked has had the same response. Ick! (Or a variation on the theme.) I wonder if any of the ladies here at able2know have a differing response on the matter.
Waxing...yup...it can be a good thing.
Speaking of hair, how do you ladies feel about guys who wax or shave . . . well . . . down below, if you get my meaning?
You mean pubic hair? Or legs? Or both? Gee kickycan, you never struck me as someone who would be shy!
For me it would all depend on his reasons for doing it. I can see the upside of it. (Pubic hair that is.) But the "au naturel" look is quite fine with me too.
What prompted this question? Or do I want to know!
I'll tell you what I don't want in a man...
He doesn't bother asking me to the footy game
He does not fart 'Advance Australia Fair' as a party trick.
He doesn't hog the doona
