How's my Bukowski quiz?
Any constructive criticisms?
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/4935329723386948696/Bukowski
Any constructive criticisms?
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/4935329723386948696/Bukowski
My Bukowski Quiz (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter nomadi00
- Start date
Chinaski is spelled with an "i" not a "y." And it's not really a pen name, per se; rather his alter ego. A pen name is when you write something under another name. At least I think it is.
Other than that, some of the questions are pretty easy, but it's a good quiz for someone who hasn't been reading him for 20 years. Fine job.
Other than that, some of the questions are pretty easy, but it's a good quiz for someone who hasn't been reading him for 20 years. Fine job.
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
I only scored a 76%. Very sad. Some of the questions were very easy to me, bt others were surprisingly hard.
For example, I forgot what buk called Lydia's car.
I'm an embarassment to this forum. Please forgive me. At least those of you 77%ers and above. I can still look down on everyone that gets 75% or less.
Bill
For example, I forgot what buk called Lydia's car.
I'm an embarassment to this forum. Please forgive me. At least those of you 77%ers and above. I can still look down on everyone that gets 75% or less.
Bill
90%.
sorry Bill...
sorry Bill...
mjp
Founding member
Well, in your defense, he didn't name the car "The Thing," that was the actual name of the car. A Volkswagen sold only for a couple years in the early 70's...
Plus you're assuming he/she has all the correct answers to the questions, which may not be the case. A few of those questions don't have definitive answers yet. ;)
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
Bill, my brother. I got a 73% and I am proud. Like mjp says, They have questions that they may not know the answer to.
So now we are registered to some match makers web site and the e-mail address I used is going to now get even more spam.
Just wait, this will be in the junk mail folder. Other cheating married women in your city.
I'm too old for that crap. Thank you nomadi00 I'm looking forward to many hours of deleting more junk spam. Do you think they can find a friend for the corgi?;)
Father Luke
Founding member
:D
Too funny. Until those e-mails start showing up, of course.
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
http://spokane.craigslist.org/com/692258658.html
Yes Father Luke we tried that but they want the dog to live with you for the rest of her life. The corgi just wants a short fling. He's not so heartless to dump them off at the pound when he's through with them. Besides those people are getting rid of her because she has issues and the corgi doesn't need someone else's baggage.
Thanks, that was thoughtful.
Yes Father Luke we tried that but they want the dog to live with you for the rest of her life. The corgi just wants a short fling. He's not so heartless to dump them off at the pound when he's through with them. Besides those people are getting rid of her because she has issues and the corgi doesn't need someone else's baggage.
Thanks, that was thoughtful.
Hmm, which questions aren't verified? I got the questions from things I saw or read Buk or his people say. Like, one interesting thing I was going to put in was from an interview I read of his wife, with Mike Watts. She said that toward the end, he got into meditation. I don't know if the interview is in the archives here, but here's an excerpt:
linda: "...he would sit 20 minutes a day, twice a day, and meditate. And man, it was something to see him there, because I knew the power. The power of his power was immense, as a being, a living being. Which was just sometimes exploding, or imploding, so much throughout his life. I think meditation allowed him to just allow it to ease through and in and out of him. "
linda: "...he would sit 20 minutes a day, twice a day, and meditate. And man, it was something to see him there, because I knew the power. The power of his power was immense, as a being, a living being. Which was just sometimes exploding, or imploding, so much throughout his life. I think meditation allowed him to just allow it to ease through and in and out of him. "
Certainly the number of times Buk was married is in question (as Petey mentioned above). The FBI files indicate that he was married to Jane Cooney Baker (well, they spelled it wrong, but you get the idea), but Buk never indicated that anywhere else in writings, interviews, etc.
Another potential controversy is Buk's first publication, although I personally don't think it's a controversy. Most of us think of "...Rejection Slip" as his first publication, and it probably was, but some of his bios indicate a poem and story in Write magazine. Problem is, that magazine was only published in 1940. And, three of the four known issues have been ruled out. There is a fourth, allegedly, that has not been seen in this context. But, the bio also puts "...Rejection Slip" as being before the alleged poem and story in Write. So, if there was another publication of the same name in the 1944-1946 period, he may have some work in it, but "...Rejection Slip" would still be first. Other folks have postulated that the poem/story may have been in the 1940 maggy of the same name...
So there you have it. :D
Edited to add: What do you have as an answer to the number of times married question? Did you have him married to Jane?
Another potential controversy is Buk's first publication, although I personally don't think it's a controversy. Most of us think of "...Rejection Slip" as his first publication, and it probably was, but some of his bios indicate a poem and story in Write magazine. Problem is, that magazine was only published in 1940. And, three of the four known issues have been ruled out. There is a fourth, allegedly, that has not been seen in this context. But, the bio also puts "...Rejection Slip" as being before the alleged poem and story in Write. So, if there was another publication of the same name in the 1944-1946 period, he may have some work in it, but "...Rejection Slip" would still be first. Other folks have postulated that the poem/story may have been in the 1940 maggy of the same name...
So there you have it. :D
Edited to add: What do you have as an answer to the number of times married question? Did you have him married to Jane?
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
"Story" Magazine was his first "major" publication. I believe that Buk mentioned this before. Although 1944 and Story may be his actual first, it is still possible that he did not consider a very, very small mag that would have predated this. There has been some talk about this issue of "Write". If Abel has it pegged down to when he believed the issue would have been out, that would have been 1942?
Again, locating that damned issue would turn the history on its end as it would make that release the first and would drop "Story" to spot #2.
Still, I'll take a copy of #2 anyday...
Bill
Again, locating that damned issue would turn the history on its end as it would make that release the first and would drop "Story" to spot #2.
Still, I'll take a copy of #2 anyday...
Bill
i only scored 86.
:-((
but then - is a question like no5 of any value? (and what is the answer btw?)
- question 11 is a tough one. what are we supposed to answer?
- no 18 is only to be answered right, together with the following question. otherwise one could think about Buks letter in the school/university-mag and think of age 19.
- sorry to be a prick, but the iron cross we see on his rear view mirror is not the one of his grandfather, but has been bought in Alpine Village.
- what am i suppose to answer to no 30? i think a,b,and d could all be possible.
beside that:
i LOVE your quiz!
some of the 'alternative' answers are really funny!
:-((
but then - is a question like no5 of any value? (and what is the answer btw?)
- question 11 is a tough one. what are we supposed to answer?
- no 18 is only to be answered right, together with the following question. otherwise one could think about Buks letter in the school/university-mag and think of age 19.
- sorry to be a prick, but the iron cross we see on his rear view mirror is not the one of his grandfather, but has been bought in Alpine Village.
- what am i suppose to answer to no 30? i think a,b,and d could all be possible.
beside that:
i LOVE your quiz!
some of the 'alternative' answers are really funny!
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
I would suspect that no one would beat you. I guess that 93% will be the highest that anyone can get....
Bill
Bill
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
I expected that from you Mr hank solo and I ask that no one tries to post a higher score than that. If some one does I won't be able to handle the disappointment and I'm not alone in that.
Thanks for the post!
To "Purple Stickpin", yeah, I got Jan. Although maybe that's the reason no one is getting 100? Is it Jan or Jane, because my answer is Jan.
Ques 5 should've been worded better. Paul Giamatti said in Sideways he thought Bukowski wrote that line. It kind of doesn't really belong in the test - or at least not on that page - but that's where I first heard of Bukowski :rolleyes:
Hmm, about the cross, I assumed that was it. And I figured the crack in his car's window in the same scene of Born Into This was the one described in Women, from when he was trying to move a chair to Lydia's (or what's-her-name ... Tamie's new place.)
For ques 30, I have the answer as recluse, because he said that - maybe jokingly. I recall him saying in the Bukowski Tapes he didn't think of himself as a misanthrope - that he liked humanity, just not the individual. Also, he frequently talked about how he hated to use the word genius. If I had to choose a word I think he might have described himself as, it'd be artist .. or maybe just writer. About 'criminal' though - you may have a point. Though it's been said, by John Martin, and by Buk himself, I think, that all his brawling and bad-ass stuff were mainly hype.
Anywhoo - there's my 2 cents.
on Jan/Ian vs Jane:
Her REAL name was Jane Cooney Baker, but in Factotum she's named Ian(or Jan) - maybe you should make very clear in every question whether you refer to a WORK by Buk or to his REAL Life.
on #5: sorry, but i don't know Sideways. What is it? would a Buk-fan NEED to know it?
#30: recluse would be right (although i think he himself uses the word 'loner' [and 'true loner' too]).
it's right, that he says in the Tapes, he doesn't like to use the word 'genius' (it's in the bit about James Thurber, right?), but he sure had a sense about 'genius' that equals Schopenhauer's view on the subject. (also, i think he more than once says about himself, telling his women something like "I'm a genius only nobody knows it!", when he was younger. of course, 'the genius of the crowd' is a completely other cup.)
i sure would call him a misanthrope (also meant in the Schopenhauer'ian sense). He may would have liked to love the human race, but seeing and experiencing its stupidity all day, this obviously was difficult ("humanity! you never had it - from the beginning!") - and maybe i'm wrong, but i think he was more against the 'masses' than against the single individual. (with exceptions of course.)
so, this question (or its alternative answers) is/are maybe a little confusing, even for some 'true' fans.
and still: what is your answer to #11?
anyway, in my oppinion, your Best alternate takes were in # 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 13, 15, 17, 20, 29. some of them are a good laugh.
fine done!
Her REAL name was Jane Cooney Baker, but in Factotum she's named Ian(or Jan) - maybe you should make very clear in every question whether you refer to a WORK by Buk or to his REAL Life.
on #5: sorry, but i don't know Sideways. What is it? would a Buk-fan NEED to know it?
#30: recluse would be right (although i think he himself uses the word 'loner' [and 'true loner' too]).
it's right, that he says in the Tapes, he doesn't like to use the word 'genius' (it's in the bit about James Thurber, right?), but he sure had a sense about 'genius' that equals Schopenhauer's view on the subject. (also, i think he more than once says about himself, telling his women something like "I'm a genius only nobody knows it!", when he was younger. of course, 'the genius of the crowd' is a completely other cup.)
i sure would call him a misanthrope (also meant in the Schopenhauer'ian sense). He may would have liked to love the human race, but seeing and experiencing its stupidity all day, this obviously was difficult ("humanity! you never had it - from the beginning!") - and maybe i'm wrong, but i think he was more against the 'masses' than against the single individual. (with exceptions of course.)
so, this question (or its alternative answers) is/are maybe a little confusing, even for some 'true' fans.
and still: what is your answer to #11?
anyway, in my oppinion, your Best alternate takes were in # 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 13, 15, 17, 20, 29. some of them are a good laugh.
fine done!
I would say that Chinaski was more a misanthrope, and Buk was more a recluse/loner. I was thinking more of Chinaski than of Buk here, but then again, I answered Jane and not Jan.
Sounds like things are a bit too subjective at points. I got 86%, but perhaps I should have gotten either 80% or 90%. Who knows?
Sounds like things are a bit too subjective at points. I got 86%, but perhaps I should have gotten either 80% or 90%. Who knows?
mjp
Founding member
Oh, that would have been even worse to put in.
Bukowski was never "into" meditation. He tried all kinds of ridiculous homeopathic voodoo bullshit at the end of his life (not that meditation is ridiculous homeopathic bullshit, I just lump it in because he did not do it before he was told he was dying). We probably all would. Why not? Meditation was certainly not something he came to on his own. Like the rest of the insence-wafting and dead-chicken-waving, it was sugested by Linda.
And like the rest of it, it did absolutely no good.
Sometime you get something, and it just kills you, that's it. The end.
Lukemia is generally one of those things. No matter how quietly you sit or what kinds of oils you spread on your body.
Not to mention that meditation was never intended as a means to prevent death, but rather as a means to deal with both life and death peacefully. All that homeopathic association with one of the fundamental tenets of Buddhism is just so much bullshit. It's not that it cannot do one good, but it's supposed to allow one to accept things as they are, not how our ego might want them to be. To wish away death is an ego thing; one of the fundamental concepts that Buddhism wishes us to destroy.
nothing prevents death, except being dead.
heh. spot the drunk guy.
heh. spot the drunk guy.
LickTheStar
Sad Flower in the Sand
80%. I'll take it.
Some stuff I had to guess on (anything related to the films, or the books they are based on), a couple other minor things... Guess I know more than I thought I do :p
Some stuff I had to guess on (anything related to the films, or the books they are based on), a couple other minor things... Guess I know more than I thought I do :p
ok. well I wasn't gonna do this.. but I caved... then I wasn't gonna post it .. but I caved... so what. I scored an 86%, but at the bottom of the page it says, add five points for being a classy fucker, or something like that, so I'm gonna take the 91. ah yes, I feel so much better now. ;)
number6horse
okyoutwopixiesoutyougo
That was one of the funnier lines in the film, IMO.
Thanks for including it.
I scored 83%
cirerita
Founding member
I don't know about the homeopathic bullshit, but B did try a few Ayurvedic remedies. Ayurveda is one of the oldest -if not the oldest- natural branches of Medicine in India. It has been used there for ages with stunning results. Problem is, you don't use Ayurveda -or any other natural remedy- as a last resort, but as a way of life. B never believed in Ayurveda and he used it as a last resort. Had it worked, it would have been a miracle. That is, if you believe in miracles.
We don't know for sure if meditation did him no good at all. Maybe it gave him peace of mind. Who knows? Who cares?
mjp
Founding member
Yeah, Ayurveda. I have nothing against natural medicine. My great, great grandmother was full-blooded Oglala Sioux, and they knew a thing or two about healing with plants and the four winds (and hallucinogenics). Problem is, they couldn't cure or fix everything, and again, something like lukemia isn't fixed by a plaster or a tea. The Sioux certainly died en masse thanks to Europeans, and those who are left continue to die, as do Ayurvedic practicing Indians and everyone else, regardless of the medicine they believe in.
Then again, plains Indians like the Oglala probably didn't get lukemia, as they weren't exposed to the carcinogens that we are today. So, for what they had to deal with, their healers were pretty effective. But ask any doctor, Ayurvedic, medicine man or PhD, and if they are being honest they will tell you that when people become ill they either get better or they don't, and they (the healers) have very little to do with the outcome. They are there to make the patient feel better.
Not really the topic anyway, I think the real issue is Bukowski was scared, as I suppose most of us will be when we're near the end, and he was up to try anything.
He mocked and ridiculed Linda's beliefs repeatedly, for years and years, so there is no reason to believe that he suddenly saw the light and embraced meditation or anything else that he tried out of desperation. When Linda describes him meditating, she is projecting her own transcendent feelings onto him. But she doesn't really know what he was thinking as he sat there.
Then again, plains Indians like the Oglala probably didn't get lukemia, as they weren't exposed to the carcinogens that we are today. So, for what they had to deal with, their healers were pretty effective. But ask any doctor, Ayurvedic, medicine man or PhD, and if they are being honest they will tell you that when people become ill they either get better or they don't, and they (the healers) have very little to do with the outcome. They are there to make the patient feel better.
Not really the topic anyway, I think the real issue is Bukowski was scared, as I suppose most of us will be when we're near the end, and he was up to try anything.
He mocked and ridiculed Linda's beliefs repeatedly, for years and years, so there is no reason to believe that he suddenly saw the light and embraced meditation or anything else that he tried out of desperation. When Linda describes him meditating, she is projecting her own transcendent feelings onto him. But she doesn't really know what he was thinking as he sat there.
cirerita
Founding member
Of course B didn't firmly believe in Ayurveda, etc. As I said, he tried it as a last resort, and probably jokingly. Ayurveda does not cure leukemia, obviously. But that's not the point. The point is that Ayurveda helps to prevent leukemia and many other illnesses. For Indians, it's a way of life. It's almost stupid (and very Western-ish) to use Ayurveda as a last resort because you know it won't work.
But you have a very valid point when you say that natural medicine might not be as effective in modern times.
Sorry for the off-topic.
But you have a very valid point when you say that natural medicine might not be as effective in modern times.
Sorry for the off-topic.
This initially confused me as well. I think what you saw was something to the effect of "you have answered 30/30 questions." Then you logged in and got your 91%. What the 30/30 means is that you have finished the test, not that you got 30 correct/30.
That's my take anyway.
That's my take anyway.
