Because of the annonymity that these forums allow (a condition that I enjoy) I assume we all try to get some sort of idea about whom we are communicating with through the avatar we all choose or not choose. Why do you/did you choose the avatar that you have now? How does it relate to your choice to be a commuter? I chose mine because Albert Einstein is one of my favorite people from history but I also wonder if you all think I look like that or I am some sort of a bicycling liberal zionist theroetical physics poseur ( actually some of those adjectives apply )

I have pretty thick skin so I won't mind if you feel the need to give me ***** about this thread. I was just curious.

I chose mine to see if anyone would understand it and the tagline that goes above it (spec-ops 27). So far no one has commented. It says something about my literary tastes and sense of humor. My screen name is a famous person in my spiritual tradition who I had just been reading when I signed up.

I'll be interested to read other folk's responses.

Uh..

Emerson, Its a Dodo, right?

It is indeed a dodo bird. A dodo is a character in a favorite book of mine. I want to see if anyone knows the book. If no one gets it, I will post the name.

I'm actually interested in Slvoid's. Creeps me out.

actually, I may not be interested in the story behind (so to speak) Slvoid's. I fear it may fall into the "I wish you hadn't told me that" category

The dodo was a character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, right? If I remember correctly, the character represented Lewis Carol.

The dodo does feature in Alice, a book I am indeed fond of, but I am thinking of another, more recent, book.

I fear I may have inadvertantly hijacked this thread with my mystery bird. I am enjoying people guessing, but tell us your stories as well.

doolittle?

Ralph Waldo Emerson has been writing lately?

Did I miss something? I'm not posting to a little cartoon einstein?

My avatar is all me, searching for that perfect 'caveman' facial expression....

I don't recall a dodo in Doolittle, or do I? Nope, not Doolittle.

doh... brain fart... now the SpecOps-27 thing makes sense.

Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next books. I've only read one of them - Something Rotten - and it was a long time ago!

<-- favorite cartoon ever, The Far Side.

Hey, the prize goes to Stubacca. Pickwick the dodo is the pet of Thursday Next, an oddly named Litera-tec (literary detective) in Jasper Fforde's wonderful series. For some odd reason, the dodo character really amused me.

Well done. Now tell us the story behind the funky looking kid.

Back to the question... no real reason for the avatar. I'm actually kinda jealous of the little guy... he's got more hair on his head than me!

literary detective serialist, you mean like Sue Grafton? Bleaugh. That's not lit.

Brautigan's "Dreaming of Babylon" now, that's a literary detective story, although i'm quite fond of the "Black Mask" serialists, the hard boiled Chandlers.....

John McLaughlin is my favorite grouch and it's a great picture of him doing his thing.

yeah, now i come to think of it, neither do i . . . nevermind. just ignore me.

my kid woke me up once laughing at far side cartoons in his sleep. #4 on the list of things that reassure me i must have done a good job.

Pretty self-explanatory, if you've seen the toon.

If not: https://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/magical+trevor/

-Trevor

I don't see an avatar for you... is it just me who can't?

No, the Thursday Next series is more like Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchet. A weird blend of sci-fi, mystery, fantasy, etc. There are lots of subtle references to various bits of literature, word-play, and general strangeness in Fforde's vaguely parallel universe where her uncle is named Mycroft (a Heinlein reference) and people own genetically reconstructed pets like dodo birds.

Literary detective is Thursday's job. She investigates crimes involving literature. In her world, the general populace love literature far more than most of us do--there are streetfights about who actually wrote Shakepeare's plays, protests against Expressionist art, etc. If you like mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, and classic literature then you may well like these books. They are quite well-written and are pleasantly self-referential like the Simpsons.

No, it's not just you.

I realized after I'd replied that I never did upload an avatar here.

So I just now uploaded it.

I use that avatar in other forums, and somehow never noticed that it wasn't attached to my posts here.


-Trevor

great. thanks. got that song in my head now. just what i needed right before bedtime, thank you.