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This is an amazing likeness of Stephen Hawking Geoffrey. You are very talented. A man of many 'talents' really.

Cheshire gal wrote:This is an amazing likeness of Stephen Hawking Geoffrey. You are very talented. A man of many 'talents' really.

thank you for these gracious words, Cheshire gal

Cheshire gal is spot on g. You really are a man of many talents. Please mate, more.

Boss wrote:Cheshire gal is spot on g. You really are a man of many talents. Please mate, more.

thank you so much, Boss. i have for a while now been enviously following your incredibly successful and creative 'melbourne story' thread. i have always been quite reticent about revealing personal details, and have therefore preferred to lurk rather than participate - but in time hope to have as much courage as yourself. it is in any case a wonderful social document you have started, with much poetic content. as for my "many talents"; although very flattering i am not sure if it is totally true. i possess no television and therefore use energy elsewhere, whether it be playing guitar, making meals for guests, visiting friends or writing. i enjoy painting, especially portraits; my home is full of them, not a millimetre of empty wall space in my bedrooms and lounge and they are stacked several deep in every corner - but yet hesitate to claim it as a talent, more of an obsession. sometimes, when i have no more canvas, i paint on cupboard doors or directly onto the bathroom walls - even make salt cellar drawings on the table (see below). well, now i am revealing some personal details, so it looks like your 'melbourne story' thread is beginning to rub off on me - so thank you for that

I see you like to write, g. And I enjoy it very much indeed. You suck the marrow out of ideas, out of anything. Whether you're a troll or what doesn't concern me. I like to understand, and this you're very good at providing. You could be Michael or Sue or Geoffrey or Snowdrop - it is the thought behind the words that is of importance. And whoever you are, you write good shit. I try to write. Really it's the only thing I 'do'. I've never tried to paint, well a little in high school. Jackie was good. Your paintings, are terrific. Television is awful at the best of times. I don't watch much except for football Grand Finals from the past and lately, cricket. I read you and Leonard are not for sports. I love them, used to play as a youngster. I was good. I realise I've opened up on this forum far too many times over ten years. Still I hardly 'know' a soul here. It saddens me. I thought of taking back stuff, of deleting, but know I can't; I think there is something good in my writing. So g I end my tirade and I know some here would think me stupid for chatting to you but I don't care. I like you. Boss

Boss wrote:
>I see you like to write, g. And I enjoy it very much indeed. You suck the marrow out of ideas, out of anything. Whether you're a troll or what doesn't concern me. I like to understand, and this you're very good at providing.

thank you for your kind words, boss. whether or not i am a troll, or perceived as one, does not bother me too much either. popeye's catchphrase was "i yam what i yam" - and that's not a bad motto to have.

>You could be Michael or Sue or Geoffrey or Snowdrop - it is the thought behind the words that is of importance. And whoever you are, you write good shit.

thank you again. michael is sue, sideways, johnny - plus a whole host of other identities. i am geoffrey. snowdrop is officially a neighbour, but unofficially a close companion.

>I try to write. Really it's the only thing I 'do'.

you do it entertainingly well, very natural and honest. it's difficult to stop reading your pieces once i have started.

>I've never tried to paint, well a little in high school. Jackie was good. Your paintings, are terrific.

you are too generous. i cannot paint anything except the human face, unfortunately - so i am quite limited. once you understand light and shadows, contours and proportion, it really is easier than it looks - especially with a little practice.

>Television is awful at the best of times. I don't watch much except for football Grand Finals from the past and lately, cricket.

the last television broadcast i saw was the funeral of princess diana. a long but excellent programme lasting the whole day. television is ok, but i can get virtually anything i need from the internet for free - including all the latest movies and tv series before they are even released. tv is too passive a pastime for me; i thrive better if i am able to interact. i learned cricket when attending school in england, football too, but sneaked away most times to a cafe along the road where they had a jukebox with many elvis records.

>I read you and Leonard are not for sports. I love them, used to play as a youngster. I was good.

well, there is a poster in another thread called LisaLCFan, and she came with some yarn about leonard playing hockey. since then i have been trying to visualise him doing that but just can't manage it, though it could be true. i know a figure skating competition is best suited for women, although it's also an activity in which effeminate men often excel. it can be compared to ballet dancing, perhaps? ice hockey is surely only a small step up from figure skating; you would not see macho men like arnold schwarzenegger or sylvester stallone doing it - of this there can be little doubt. i simply cannot imagine leonard balancing on skates and prancing around an ice rink like a fairy, but who am i to say? i could be wrong, as i sometimes am. admittedly, he has never been a manual worker, has well cared for teeth, he likes using cologne, has a weakness for shiny bracelets plus an occasional ring - and back when he smoked often used a long cigarette holder. so i understand he does have a strong effeminate side to his personality. yet on the other hand his testes do apparently produce more than a normal amount of testosterone that is sent into his body, as can be ascertained not only from his extremely deep masculine voice, but also from early pictures where his arms and chest are shown to be covered in a blanket of thick black hair that would make a grizzly bear proud. leonard has also always been very slim, and it is common knowledge that men with large amounts of male hormone seldom suffer from obesity. until i know for a fact whether or not he ever played hockey it is nigh impossible for me to compile an accurate psychological profile on him. so to be honest i don't know what to think.

>I realise I've opened up on this forum far too many times over ten years. Still I hardly 'know' a soul here. It saddens me. I thought of taking back stuff, of deleting, but know I can't; I think there is something good in my writing.

if i were you i wouldn't delete anything, unless you don't want to be remembered. the stuff you have composed will leave clear footsteps after you are gone. each word you write will weave a sort of asbestos gown for you to wear through the furnace - and you will live forever.

>So g I end my tirade and I know some here would think me stupid for chatting to you but I don't care. I like you. Boss

people think all sorts of things, and they must be allowed to do so - but it's quite hard for someone to say anything about another person without them revealing twice as much about themselves. i like you too

Geoffrey wrote:...some yarn about leonard playing hockey. since then i have been trying to visualise him doing that but just can't manage it, though it could be true. i know a figure skating competition is best suited for women, although it's also an activity in which effeminate men often excel. it can be compared to ballet dancing, perhaps? ice hockey is surely only a small step up from figure skating; you would not see macho men like arnold schwarzenegger or sylvester stallone doing it - of this there can be little doubt. i simply cannot imagine leonard balancing on skates and prancing around an ice rink like a fairy, but who am i to say?...

You have not seen much hockey, have you (or, you pretend not to know...)?

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen" is a delightful documentary on Leonard from his days as a poet. It is there that I first heard about his hockey playing (from LC himself). Perhaps he was embellishing.

Nice painting of Stephen Hawking. He has a fascinating mind.

LisaLCFan wrote:
>You have not seen much hockey, have you (or, you pretend not to know...)?

no. i remember having inadvertently seen little snatches of the game while flipping television channels, but have never seen it in reality. from what i could gather it looked like grown men excitedly hitting a dollop of dung with upside down walking sticks. words escaped me.

>"Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen" is a delightful documentary on Leonard from his days as a poet. It is there that I first heard about his hockey playing (from LC himself). Perhaps he was embellishing.

well, playing hockey was not through choice, but part of the school curriculum - he was merely a young lad in his preteens. from my research it seems the montreal population was incredibly occupied with hockey at that time, 'a more popular religion than catholicism' - i read. to gain acceptance leonard would have exploited that fact. it is a documentary slanted towards increasing his popularity; and he just pretended to be interested in the game, that's all. at the end of the documentary he admitted as much when he wrote 'caveat emptor' ('let the buyer beware') on his bathroom wall. he explains: "i have had to act as a double agent, for both the film-makers and the public." while the cameras were running he had to pretend to be sleeping, pretend to be alone in his bathroom, etc. rest assured, as a young man and adult he had zero interest in hockey.

>Nice painting of Stephen Hawking. He has a fascinating mind.

thank you, lisa. yes, an intelligent and heroic person
-geoffrey

ps:
it was a surprise to find your message down here in this lower section, but a nice one!

Johnny, a serious question for you. I am an admirer of your paintings for sure. Question- who do you think would win in a fight between Mohammed Ali and Stephen Hawking? I don't mean in their prime when Hawking was much fitter than he is now when he tends to sit around all day, but I mean today, or next week, each within their own disability.

Sue (WHOLLY UNRELATED TO ANY GOLDSMITH)

Geoffrey wrote:...lisa...it was a surprise to find your message down here in this lower section, but a nice one!

I lurk in these parts from time to time. I like art.

Sideways wrote:Question- who do you think would win in a fight between Mohammed Ali and Stephen Hawking?

i've got no eye, dear. ideal in fax, not high pathetical speckled elation.

LisaLCFan wrote:I lurk in these parts from time to time. I like art.

well, just be careful, there's a lot of con artists down here, lisa

Geoffrey wrote:

LisaLCFan wrote:I lurk in these parts from time to time. I like art.

well, just be careful, there's a lot of con artists down here, lisa

Geoffrey, your confession was not necessary Putting your games to one side you are a talented writer, painter, pilot, and boxing expert, despite your weird failure to answer my serious question. If you are troubled by whether Ali would taunt Stephen with the "float like a butterfly" line, then I think you are becoming over-cynical. I know that is a common trait in the over 70's.

I am away in Vancouver for a few weeks at a top Semi-pro Naked Ironing Free-fall Jamboree. Wish me luck!

I will next post om April 27th in the early Canadian morning.

Sue

Sideways wrote:I am away in Vancouver for a few weeks at a top Semi-pro Naked Ironing Free-fall Jamboree. Wish me luck! I will next post om April 27th in the early Canadian morning.

ok, but why do you post messages exclusively to this section only? has the webmaster said you have to stay in this box, or don't you have enough confidence or knowledge to try somewhere else?