see, when you talk like this its hard to imagine you dancing naked balancing an M on your head.
While I can admit to being a rare breed, I was also surprised to find that I wasn't as rare as I might have imagined. For a long time I have been in the company of the intellectual elite; so much so that I didn't actually recognize the extent of how elite. I used to understand the folks at MENSA (which I inquired about once in relation to a contest giving $1,000,000 away to the first person to solve a puzzle/riddle hidden in a book I had purchased back in 1990) to be "those smart people" that would be far more qualified to fix this ****ed up world than I. It is only in the last decade that I have felt any sort of social responsibility, due to discovering that I, much to my surprise and horror, am intellectually qualified for MENSA membership by evidence of my SAT scores. It was, in fact, another dancer with whom I worked that enlightened me when I expressed admiration upon discovering that SHE was a member of MENSA. The burden of responsibility came when I understood that as poorly equipped as I might be to solve the worlds complex problems, I was among the top 2% of the American population in terms of the tools at my disposal. Scary. If it is left up to folks like me to save the world, the world is in a whole heap of trouble!
I also find it an extreme irony that the first actual person I met that was a member of this elite IQ club was another stripper. Plus some of the wisest and most profound statements I have heard or read have been under the roof of the clubs I've worked in all over the country. One of my semi-regular visitors (who I didn't manage to frighten off when I forgot myself on occasion and accidentally used a word with more than two syllables) was an unusual young man just turned 18 years old who's gentlemanly manner put the other clientčle to shame by comparison. He presented me with a copy of his favorite book for my birthday one year (which I have yet to read),
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, along with a book of insights collected by Susan Hayward that has become one of MY favorites:
A Guide for the Advanced Soul. Collecting in the dimly lit world of the Gentleman's Clubs... apparently this is what America is doing with its top minds, or at least what the top minds in America are choosing to do. Kinda depressing either way. Even more so when I realize it was one of the best jobs I've ever had, both financially and in terms of how much I enjoyed it.
ok, ok i'll definitely queue up buffy then. I think the title's silliness had put me off for a while but your rave review has convinced me to give it a go.
If you liked Firefly (I'm now at Ep. 4, thanks!) then you won't be disappointed. You may like Angel even more though, and beware of puns in both shows. And if you're my age then the references won't be lost on you either. It would seem that Joss is a child of our generation. (One of my favorites is a moment in the later seasons of Buffy when Spike inquires about the recipient as Buffy picks up a telephone: "Who you gonna call?" He asks innocently, only to pause briefly before shaking his head and muttering, "That phrase is never going to useable again, is it?" )
Also if you like those for any of the above reasons, I recommend checking out The Venture Bros. cartoon on cartoon networks adult swim if you haven't already. In a way its kind of the "anti-comic" in the style of "The Tick" as per the animated rendition of the comic, not the live action show.
And thanks for the heads up on Firefly- Too bad its only a seasons worth of eps, as I'm sure I'll be through those in no time. Which came first, the movie "Serenity" or the "Firefly" series? (and a side note- this WAS entirely unrelated to the sci-fi book I read. That one was Piers Anthony, I think.)