...who would it be?

We've all been asked or seen this question popping up occasionally, and it always makes you think. Let's say you could hang out with someone "famous"/a celebrity for one day. Who would you pick and why? You can pick more than one.

I cna think of three:

Hugh Laurie: He seems liek a very cool and itneresting individual. And I also liked his Black Adder and House work. I think we'd have a very interesting conversaiton together.

Peter Laird: Co-author of the Ninja Turtles. Lots of people don't know that the Ninja Turtles were firstly a comic book which was VERY different from what we've gotten afterwards. People always assume that the "real" and original Turtles are the 1987 cartoon, but no. The TMNT universe is very diverse with each version being quite different from the other. peter Laird didn't like the 1987 Turtles much and he helped write a lot of scripts for the 2003 cartoon episodes. That series drew more comic influences due to Laird having more input, something he barley had in the 1987 series.

I'd love to talk to Laird about the Turtles and I'm sure w'ed disagree in our vision of them, since I like elements from pretty much every TMNT version... except Michael Bay's. FUCK THAT SHIT.

James Rolfe aka the Angry Video Game Nerd: Been following him on youtube since 2006. Seems like a cool guy who really loves games. Could see myself talking about games and movies with him all day. Not to mention I could possibly try and get him to include me in one of his AVGN episodes.

What about you? Who'd your choice(s) be?

Also, let me make it clear to you that by "hanging out" I mean talking to them and possibly having dinner with them, playing golf or video games with them for a day(not 24 hours, but a whole afternoon or so) and then never seeing them again. Something like that. No sex whatsoever. You know why? Because then 70% of the replies would consist of "Scarlett Johansson", "Sofia Vergara" and the likes. The point of this thread is to make people think about this for a second, unless you really just want to discuss politics, Bugs Bunny and Ancient Rome with the previously mentioned women and nothing else, that is.

Les Claypool. Without a doubt. I'd love to have a chat with him about how he got going on bass and what it means to him. Of course, I'd have some wine and cheese as well, because that's how he rolls. He's the reason I'm into music at all, and I'd love to just hear what he has to say about anything really. I'd also cherish a chance to maybe jam with him or have him show me a few licks. And not to be petty, but if I got my 60th Anniversary signed by him.... oh man my dude my buddy my guy, that would be sick.

I'll also add: David Ellefson. I'm a huge fan of his as a bass player, but I think he's one of the kindest and most down-to-earth guys in all of metal. His story is one I'm quite fond of, and it would be cool to hear him talk about the beginnings of Megadeth and his testimony (beating drugs, how he came to the faith, etc.).

Henry Rollins. I may disagree with some of his opinions, but he is probably the most intense, coolest famous person I know that I think I would get along with. Just have some coffee, play an unhealthy amount of music and talk. Sounds like an ideal afternoon to me.

Apart from that, I don't have anyone in particular I'd like to meet and hang out with. If George Carlin were still alive, I would also mention him, because he is/was my favorite comedian ever and a big inspiration.

Honestly would love to fly business class or whatever one day (if I could ever afford it) and have a chance meeting with Lars Ulrich. For all his bad reputation I think he'd actually be a really smart and knowledgable guy to chat with, hear his visions of what he'd do with Metallica and everything if conditions were ideal, just a general chat about ideas and what could be possible or would be cool.

Also, I believe that in a fifteen minute chat with Yanis Varoufakis I'd probably learn more about the world than the average person does in 18 years of school/college.

I honestly hadn't thought of politicians. I guess lots of them could teach you useful stuff.

Someone mentioned dead people. Well if Lemmy was still alive, he'd be one of my choices, without a doubt. As for living musicians, I dunno. I like Iron Maiden and Bruce seems like a cool guy and all but I dunno much about him to know if we'd have much to talk about other than Maiden.

Johnny Depp. Not only is he my favourite actor, he also seems like a pretty cool guy.

Varg Vikernes: I've been following this youtuber for a long time. He likes old Ruski cars, living off the land and ancient European history, subjects I'm very interested in. I've been told he might not like me being a South American Christian but nah, he seems like a chill dude.

Varg seems to be an arrogant douchebag.

Arnold Schwarzenegger or Cormac McCarthy.

I'd say Don Cherry, because I enjoy sitting around watching hockey. Also I'm really curious to see whether his everyday self is anything like his on-screen persona. There's no way that's real... and if it is, well, good thing the thread states we're only hanging out for one day!

I'd bring Roddy Piper back from the dead and just listen to him ramble for hours. The 15 minutes that I had with him at a convention years back revealed him to be an incredibly warm individual, in complete contrast to his best known persona, and being around that type of mad genius would be one hell of an experience.

If it's "alive only," then I'm grabbing a bite and a drink with Rosario Dawson. Gorgeous woman who's an admitted colossal nerd and has a fantastic sense of humor to boot? Fuuuuuuck yeahhhhhhhh

If we could bring people back from the dead, then William S Burroughs, Hunter S Thompson, or George Carlin. WSB and HST are 2 of my favorite authors, and both were nuts and would be a trip to be around, I'm sure (as with George Carlin, of course).

If alive only, that's a bit more difficult. Pee-wee Herman, maybe. No, I take that back. Werner Herzog. I think he'd be greatly amusing to hang out with for a while. Some of the shit he says in interviews is just awesome. (There's a site dedicated to "Werner Herzog inspirational quotes" which is good for a laugh.)


Aw, bummer. I was going to say I need a time machine and a sex change due to my disturbing crush on Elton John circa 1977. I know I'm not his type, though.

Yeah, I think Herzog is my final answer on this.

Kurt Cobain, most fucking definitely. That guy is one of my biggest influences in pretty much everything ever. My admiration for him and his work can't be described. Seriously.

If we talk about living people, it'd be Flea and Jason Newsted. They are my 2 biggest influences as a bass player.

Doug Stanhope or Jim Jefferies would be great comedians to talk to, just sort of no bullshit types and with a unique perspective on comedy from being out there for so long doing it. George Carlin too, would probably be fascinating to talk to. Barry Crimmins, who is a similar type of iconoclastic, political comic, would be great too.

I think comics are interesting people I guess. Stephen King, Dennis Lehane and Hunter S. Thompson would be up there too. Super insightful people and good at writing.

Agree with the Henry Rollins post up top. He used to be a bit of a dink, but I think he's a pretty reasonable and interesting guy, especially in his old age. He's such a pleasure to hear speak. I think it would be really cool to just chill and listen to weirdo music on vinyl with him.

I guess non living would be H.R. Giger, David Bowie, Pete Steele, River Phoenix, Brandon Lee, Heath Ledger, Tupac, Christine Cavanaugh, Elizabeth Peña.
David Bowie, everything I've heard leads me to believe this man was a genius and I'm betting he was. Henry Rollins said he was incredibly down to earth and those two ingredients are more than enough for an awe-inspiring arvo. River Phoenix like Heath Ledger and like Brandon Lee seemed on the cusp of greatness, Brandon Lee seemed so intelligent and humble, these guys had the looks but they never exploited it financially and they really stood by their art until the end. Integrity is an elusive thing in Hollywood.

Living: Clive Barker, Jim Lee, Eric Rutan, Todd McFarlane, Julianne Moore, Eric Hersemann, Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal, Patrick Stewart, David Fincher, Trent Reznor and Bruce Campbell.
Chrisitan Bale has a mystique about him, he's incredibly talented yet rarely does interviews or appears on talk shows, a lengthy conversation about his acting roles and his outlook on life would be awesome. Eric Rutan and Eric Hersemann seem like the nicest, most laid back guys in death metal and to top it off they're mega talented at it, an arvo having beers and kicking back as they create music in the studio would be fucking great.

Australian: Luke Kenny, Leigh Whannell, Portal, Abbie Cornish, Radha Mitchell, Hugh Jackman and Guy Pearce.
Hugh Jackman just seems like such a stand up guy, never full of himself and a good sport with fans. It'd be fun to discuss about films as passionately as he does.

When I was younger I wanted to hang out with a few comedians but they'd probably do something awkward like shit themselves for a laugh and be a burden.

Donald Trump just to make people angry

James Angleton, Khalid Sheik Mohammed*, JRR Tolkien. There's too many musicians to just choose one, two, or even three.



*provided he truthfully answered every question I asked him, of course

Yeah no argument there but... nonetheless I wouldn't mind hanging out with him either, as long as the topics of race and politics never came up. On the things "We agree to disagree..." well, I would just deliberately not bring them up.

Its like the guy who mentioned Henry Rollins- you might not agree with all the guy's opinions, but... I dunno, I used to be really into fantasy RPG's, I am a total history buff, I love nature and the idea of living off the land, and old Russian cars are interesting.

But a more obvious choice for me would be a female- someone like Ronda Rousey- or someone equally sexy and beautiful who would be fun to be with (and not narsissistic and vain.)

I don't find Varg interesting enough for me to want to talk to him. And what else would he have to offer asides from his batshit crazy views on politics and race? He doesn't even care about metal anymore, does he?

Since some have brought up dead people, at least someone like Hitler or Stalin left their mark in History, so a conversation with them would be interesting despite me not seeing eye to eye with them. Ofc if we're being realistic here, neither man probably spoke English and my German wouldn't be good enough to talk to Hitler, who seemed like a very talkative man when eh wanted to...

Rick Moranis or Larry David.

Anthony Bourdain, Chuck Palahniuk or Christian Bale

I'd hang out with myself, which I get to do every day already. I love being me.

Out of all the dead people in history, some would choose Lemmy or fucking Kurt Cobain? Seriously? Not Joan of Arc, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Boudica, Gilgamesh, Jesus, Buddha, Einstein, Kepler, Aristotle, Shakespeare? Fair enough then.

I've read that they're now saying Jesus was probably based on dozens of Jewish "messiahs" at the time, so that could well count as more than one person.

What would most of us have to talk about with Julius Caesar? I'd rather learn about some of these from history books, honestly. Some philosophers could be fun, though.

I wouldn't mind hanging out with Ludwig Wittgenstein.

At least hanging out with Lemmy would likely be a good time.

Most of us don't speak Latin, ancient Macedonian, whatever language Boudica and the Iceni spoke, Sumerian, Aramaic, etc, so presumably most people just don't want to spend the entire day trying to teach their favourite historical figure their first language so they can actually communicate.

In seriousness, assuming language is no barrier-- in terms of living people I'd like to hang out with... Somebody mentioned Henry Rollins earlier, which is a good pick; he's a fairly well-traveled and experienced person, so he definitely has a lot to talk about, but he also seems like the kind of person who'd be curious about what you have to offer the conversation as well. There are way too many politicians, policy makers, public figures, etc, around the world that I think I'd like to speak to in order to better understand their intentions and ideas, or for clarification on their policies, but for just hanging out and chatting, Henry Rollins seems a good pick.

If we're hauling in the dead too, Richard Feynman is a temping option. Obviously an incredibly intelligent and creative person, but also-- as both interviews and his written works will attest-- a naturally humourous and good-hearted guy who seemed to just love life and curiosity. On the other hand, I might just choose Iry-Hor, if only because there's a certain poignant enlightenment in asking the earliest known historical figure about their worldview and the universe as they know it.

Matt Pike & Al Cisneros from Sleep. I think they'd be proper dudes and we could just get all emotional about Black Sabbath together.

Of all the dead people, Winston Churchill and Christopher Hitchens, probably. Both meetings would involve two quarts of whiskey.

Of the living... I dunno, really. Living people are boring.

Like Rykov said, first of all there's the linguistic barrier that would prevent us from communicating with most of those people.

Second, most of them have been dead for centuries. They'd just go mad or gawk at modern day architecture, technology, etc... or just get run over by a car if they travelled in time to the present.

Third, what would I have to talk about with Caesar and Alexander the Great? I mean, think about it. And again, think of the clash of generations it'd be. I'd have zero interest in telling them how much the world has changed since their death. Instead of learning history with them you'd be the one playing history teacher with them.

Fourth, being this a metal forum where so many people are passionate about music, it's not exactly surprising many would mention the likes of Lemmy and Kurt Cobain.

Are we really discussing the logical rules of a ""possible"" encounter with Alexander the Great or Caesar?

Well, I guess if you're suspending disbelief about bringing a dead person back to life you might as well go another extra mile and eliminate all linguistic barriers like in the movies.

But my point still stands about not having much to talk to them about. They lived a really long time ago and things changed a lot. We'd just not be able to talk, I'd fear. All the changes in society and technology would already make the jaws of people like Tolkien, Churchill, Hitler, Stalin, etc. drop. Imagine those of Alexander and Caeser.

(M) Noam Chomsky
The linguist if sober, or the critic after a few beers.
(F) Lisa Gerrard (of Dead Can Dance)
Hoping her serene disposition would rub off on me.

Half the people on this list have been dead for ages or speak an entirely different language but fuck it.
Spoiler for going overboard as usual.

Interesting list, DBR.

But Eminem? What interests you about him per se?

Wrestlers? Jericho seems like a funny guy. And I wouldn't mind meeting Undertaker either.

He seems like one of the few people in the mainstream that doesn't come across extremely fake or shallow, to me at least. I feel like he actually has something to say. Him & Marilyn Manson were the first mainstream artists which made me go "hmm, this actually has balls for a change". Plus he is like the Metallica of hip hop so there is that too & I basically grew listening to him along with your other edgier rock & nu/alt metal bands.

Jericho is a swell dude, his band kinda' sucks (sorry!) though. I enjoy listening to his podcasts once in a while.

I honestly never listened to Fozzy. Always been meaning to but never get around to it for whatever reason.

Another wrestler who seems like a cool dude is Mick Foley.

Some of the people that I would like to hang out with have already been mentioned (Henry Rollins, Werner Herzog, Yanis Varoufakis, Rosario Dawson). I'd also add the following:

Neil Gaiman: Arguably the best fantasy writer of the past 20 years. Seems like a really interesting guy as well so I'd gladly spend some time in his company.

Mikael Akerfeldt: As well as creating some of my favourite music of the past two decades, he's also a very funny guy who has a real passion for music and seems to enjoy discussing it with others.

Michael Palin: He's always been my favourite member of Monty Python and I'd love to pick his brain about Python and all the other projects he's done over the years as well as his extensive travelling. Plus, he's supposed to be the nicest guy in the world so I'd like to know how true that really is.

As for those no longer with us, I'd have definitely spent some time with Hunter S. Thompson. I have no idea what would happen but the one thing I can guarantee is that an encounter with him would not have been dull! Same goes for Salvador Dali who was just fascinating and I'm pretty sure was an alien from another planet! George Orwell is another one that comes to mind. A fantastic writer who was also remarkably prescient. I'll also add Peter Cook for being so damn funny and being one of the greatest satirists of the past 50 years.

Fifth, only on a metal forum would certain autistic people be pissy about other peoples choices of famous people they'd like to meet.

I don't think he's pissed. Just disappointed.

^Eh, it seemed like a pretentious "look at my wealth of historic knowledge" remark regardless. Contribute to the thread and leave your sad violin at the door.