Yesterday’s competition was tough: alcoholic spy and inspiration for a classic novel, versus a creepy author who inspired a beloved Disney franchise.
It turns out that Milne was a spy too! Isaac reports:
Philby worked for MI6, and Milne worked for MI7; 7>6, so Milne wins.
Which inspired Daniel to ask:
Is there really rock-solid evidence they’re not the same person?
But it sounds like Milne would be a better fit for our seminar. From Bob:
His undergraduate degree was in mathematics. In one writing he stated, “And nine men out of ten really believe that, if you toss a penny five times in the air and it comes down heads each time, it is more likely to come down tails than heads next time.”
In that same work he wrote, “If a man who makes a false quantity, or attributes Lycidas to Keats, is generally admitted to be uncultured, I resent it very much that no stigma attaches to the gentleman who cannot do short division.”
No stigma, or maybe two sigma?
Dmitri fired back with:
I feel like we need to ding Milne for the math “mistake” in this very story, which wafted across the internet yesterday: https://americanliterature.com/author/aa-milne/essay/a-lost-masterpiece
Though it is possible that the mistake is there on purpose, in which case we are dealing with a betrayal of Philbyesque proportions.
Sorry, but as someone who proved a false theorem myself, I can hardly hold it against a speaker that he made a mathematical error. At least he was trying!
So Milne it is. Cottleston pie all around.
Today’s matchup
Michael Keaton, brilliant star of Johnny Dangerously, Mr. Mom, and various other good-but-not-great movies, is in the “Duplicate names” category, as he was originally named Michael Douglas. Meanwhile, singer Shakira has had some tax issues, which is what got her into this competition. Shakira has a better voice than Keaton and much better hair, but Keaton’s gotta be much funnier.
Who’s it gonna be?
Keaton without question. He’s friggin Batman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QxVYlK74e4&t=231s
Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse
One of the pluses for Milne was his qualifying in multiple categories. You may have to give this one to Shakira given the lyrics to Hips Don’t Lie, which has “Shakira Shakira” in the first verse. Though Dan brings up a good point about Mr. Beetlejuice, not to mention Keaton starring in the movie “Multiplicity”, where he replicated himself. Reifying replication!
Doug:
Believe it or not, I saw Multiplicity when it came out, as I’m such a Michael Keaton fan. (I didn’t actually ever see Batman, but that’s not really a Michael Keaton movie.) As usual, Keaton was brilliant in Multiplicity but the movie itself was only ok.
I don’t really care about either of them, but as I am currently in a boring part of a Zoom meeting I visited Skakira’s home page, which has a large button marked “Discover Shakira’s Perfumes.” I did not click, but nonetheless it led me to think: (1) hopefully the finals of this matchup will be in person and not online, and (2) given that, I would rather discover Shakira’s perfume than Michael Keaton’s perfume.
I don’t care who wins, and I don’t think either one is going all that far in this contest, but Keaton was really good in Dopesick.
No one wants either of these people. I suggest a strong write-in campaign for Daft Punk! If we’re lucky, they’ll keep us up all night!
Besides, they’re Harder, Better, Faster, and Stronger than either of these guys…
come on, come on, come on, come on, come on….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Sf0gi-mGI
That doesn’t compare to Shakira’s “hippies don’t lie” which is a boomer anthem about tax evasion.
How about the Soul Train version?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ8vp7D1hrI
Also I nominate “Doin’ it Right” as the blog theme song.
So now the French have compromised Daniel and kidnapped Andrew and are using them to commit voter fraud on the internet?
This world is going to hell… I wanna meet Shakira before it all ends.
What do you mean “compromised?” I’ve been a Sans-Culottes from the beginning.
actual portrait of me https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-culottes#/media/File:Sans-culotte.jpg as JRC will readily attest.
Yes! I vote for Daft Punk instead of these losers. Or even better, LCD Soundsystem, creators of “Daft Punk is Playing At My House” and a potential entrant in the initials category.
… and this links back to Raghu’s comment about perfume, as Daft Punk clearly have ‘Giorgio by Moroder’ as their signature scent.
(Originally misposted in today’s blog)!
I’d love to hear from the wild boar that stole Shakira’s handbag; perhaps they could make a cameo alongside her?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58747464
I think Keaton, because Shakira really need to be reserved for another competition, with a Globally Famous Latino/a-Lebanese category (Salma Hayek, Soraya, Carlos Slim …)