Your earliest influences & changing tastes

[shereads]

The first song lyrics you learned?

The first book you remember reading for pleasure?

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money?

The oldest book in your collection?

The first movie that made you cry?

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?

The first book & first movie that scared you?

The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her?

Your first encounter with erotica?

How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown?

 

[shereads]

Okay, okay. Don't push. I'll go first.

The first song lyrics you learned?

(ulp...I think I stood on the sofa and danced to this one when I was four. I felt like a rock n' roll rebel.)

Johnny I said we were through
Just to see what you would do
You stood there and hung your head
Made me wish that I was dead!

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The first book you remember reading for pleasure?

Tales from the Brothers Grimm

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The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money?

"Four Way Street," Crosby Stills Nash & Young

Fell in love with Neil Young's crackly unattractive voice. Inexplicable, I know. But there's a rough grace to his singing, and such poignancy. Plus, when I sing along I sound better than he does, which is so flattering. I guess I should have added a question,

First singing voice that broke your heart?

Neil Young.
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The oldest book in your collection?

Lad A Dog

a dog-eared paperback

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The first movie that made you cry?

Bambi



Stupid hunters!

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The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?

My first business trip to the big city, all by myself. The Metropolitan Museum in NY had opened the new Egyptian Wing with the reassembled Temple of Dendur.

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The first book & first movie that scared you?

Book: The Amityville Horror. Jody the red-eyed demon pig!

Movie: Hitchcock's "The Birds." My mom's parakeet leered at me for days afterward.

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The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her?

Joan Didion. I'm afraid so.

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Your first encounter with erotica?

I have no interest in erotica. I like dirty stories.

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How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now,

All except that first song. As for Bambi, I can see how shamelessly manipulative it is, but hey, it works.

and how many have you outgrown?

That first song.

 

[wishfulthinking]

Your first encounter with erotica?

Whoa! I'll just answer the one for now!

I just came across one of the first if not the first erotica stories I ever read [black lace - Helena's Conquest], and have to say, the style and voice influenced my own erotic writings to a great extent without me even realising it!

 

[English Lady]

The first song lyrics you learned? hmmm I'm really not sure about this and I am sure these were not the first song lyrics I learnt but I have very vivid memories of singing "Eternal flame" as an eight/nine year old with a group of my friends.

first book you remember reading for pleasure?I think i still have a few of them. The Meg and Mog books by the ladies with the big names *L* My daughter now loves them too!

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money? My own money? hmmm well I never had much so I bought music with any birthday money I would recieve.

The oldest book in your collection? hmm I have a copy of wuthering heights that my aunty gave me which is kinda old. hmm the book i've had the longest? probably my meg and mog books *L*

The first movie that made you cry? ET I think. It's the first film I remember seeing. It always makes me cry.

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to? hmm i don't ever remember goig to a museum and not loving it

The first book & first movie that scared you? The book was Mayflower by Brian Jaques, I was 10 ish and it gave me nightmares! First film? hmm probably scream as before that I'd avoided scary films!

The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her? Roald Dahl , CS Lewis, Lloyd Alexander...all around the same time and I still read them all with pleasure.

Your first encounter with erotica?

My darling hubby(boyfriend at the time) had a ton on his computer. He worked sorting the post for a while when we were together so often he'd do the night sorting, meet me in the morning and we'd get to his,say hello (wink wink) and he'd fall asleep. I'd read erotica on his pooter till he woke

How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown?

I think it shows I'm a big kid at heart but I don't think I've outgrown any of'em! I still read erotica whilst my husband is sleeping

 

[Guest]

The first song lyrics you learned?
Shaun Cassidy. I wasn't allowed to play with Parker Stevenson's character when we played Hardy Boys in the back yard, so i fell for Shawn by default. I bought his first 45 Da do ron ron and played it for hours.

The first book you remember reading for pleasure?
Green Eggs and Ham

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money?
I suppose see question 1. However, Im not so keen on that answer...

The oldest book in your collection?
I lost most my books in the divorce so I really have no idea now.

The first movie that made you cry?
Terms of Endearment.

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?
All the museums in DC. My fav. being museum of History.

The first book & first movie that scared you?
movie: The Initiation of Sarah. Yes, it was on T.V. but I was far too young to be watching it.
book: Stephen King, Pet Cemetary.

The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her?
Margaret Mitchell. GWTW. outgrown? possibly.

Your first encounter with erotica?
True erotica? This is too subjective. Some romance books are mushy porn. i think it was my grandmothers copy of Coffee, Tea or Me?

How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown?
Most of these influences are still fresh in my mind. I think anything that ever influenced you, shaped you in some way even when you outgrown them.

 

[SensualCealy]

The first song lyrics you learned?
Actual song from a record- Barry Manilow (sp) Copa Cabanna.
Song from school, Jamacan Way ( I think thats the title).

The first book you remember reading for pleasure? Besides picture books or early learner books, Judy Blume, Are You there God Its me Margret.

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money?
Santana's Rosanna.

The oldest book in your collection?
Samuel Clemens , The Innocents Abroad ( The New Pilgrims' Progress) 1884. Second from the same year The Prince and the Pauper, Samuel Clemens.

The first movie that made you cry?
Either Endless Love, or The Blue Lagoon.

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?
I volunteered for a school trip with my son, I had lived in town for 14 yrs before checking it out.

The first book & first movie that scared you?
Carrie

The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her?
Judy Blume, and not as long as she continues adult books.

Your first encounter with erotica?
Reading stories in my dad and brothers story magazines.

How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown?
Id say about half, other things not mentioned are much more closer to the surface.

Good Post , really makes you think of what influenced your life.
Thanks,
C

 

[Colleen Thomas]

The first song lyrics you learned?

You fought all the way, Johnny Reb, by Johhnny Horton.

first book you remember reading for pleasure? RLS's Treasure Island.

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money? Jeeze. Eddie Rabbit, I love a rainy night


The oldest book in your collection? Oldest? Probably some of my Kipling. Oldest that has been with me longest? Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of Nimh

The first movie that made you cry? Bambi

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?
National Young leaders conferene in Washington. I skipped a mok congress to visit the smithsonian

The first book & first movie that scared you?

Movie: Empire of the Ants
Book: The Funhouse I think or Amityville Horror

The first author whose writing style you admired? Outgrown?
Louis L'amour. Nope, still love his ability to tell a story.

Your first encounter with erotica?

Um...Hmmm... A book called the happy hooker. Not the one by Hollander. My brother heisted it from my room & subsequently got busted at school with it. I've never seen it anywhere since.

How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown?

Well, I've outgrown Eddie Rabbit, I don't read much horror anymore, otherwise it's still pretty much the same. Guess I am really a creature of habit

 

[CharleyH]

The first song lyrics you learned?

Good God, this is a lot to answer, but hell, what the hell.

The first book you remember reading for pleasure?
Truly, I do not recall the title as I was too young, but it was the first book I signed out of the library and it went "I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly, I don't know why she swallowed a fly, I think she'll die."

What can I say? I had a dark streak!

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money?
Well, I always got (gulp) "records" as gifts, and my parents were young parents, so the latest music was always available. With my own little savings? Blondie's Parallel Lines.

The oldest book in your collection?
Damn, this one is hard. Used to be a book of Kafka short stories until some ass borrowed it and never returned . . . so many have come and gone. Does a world Atlas I didn't return to school in grade 6, when Russia was still the USSR, count? :|

The first movie that made you cry?
Without a doubt that movie with Glyniss O'Connor and Robbie what's his face, where he is moested and then jumps off the Talahachee bridge? Don't recall the name, but it made a huge impression when I snuck watching it on TV in grade 5.

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?
Don't recall when, but it was an overview of Ancient Egypt, and no, not King Tut.

The first book & first movie that scared you?
John Saul's The God Project and
Carrie

The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her?
Aldous Huxley, and I will never outgrow him.

Your first encounter with erotica?
My mother's Playgirl, part number 11, an overwhelming close-up Who cared about the stories!

How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown?
Except for that one movie, whose name I don't recall, it all seems vivid. Damn! How'd I get so old

oh, and first song lyrics?
DeFranco Family's only hit, "It's a Heartbeat, it's a lovebeat, and when we meet, it's a good vibration . . . "

 

[Kassiana]

The first song lyrics you learned?
--I don't remember.

The first book you remember reading for pleasure?
--I remember reading a kids' book with only words under the pictures. It's probably one of the first I ever read.

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money?
--Amy Grant, My Father's Eyes, in high school.

The oldest book in your collection?
--Old as in "age of publication" or old as in "how long I've owned it"?

For age of publication I'd have to say the 16th century French Bible my grandmother gave me. For age I've owned them, probably the few kids' books I still have at home.

The first movie that made you cry?
--The only time I ever have cried in a movie theater that I remember was during Toy Story 2.

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?
--Hm. I think high school, Grand Rapids, dinosaurs.

The first book & first movie that scared you?
--I don't really remember, though I still remember the first movie I ever saw in a theater. It was Raggedy Ann & Andy Meet the Tickle Monster. The monster was green. I must have been only three or four at the time.

The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her?
--Again I honestly don't remember. I do admire Dickens for A Christmas Carol and have for quite some time. He might be the first. I haven't outgrown ACC.

Your first encounter with erotica?
--I might have seen a Playboy magazine when I was in junior high.

 

[rgraham666]

The first song lyrics you learned?

Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce

The first book you remember reading for pleasure?

Hothouse by Brian W. Aldiss

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money?

Tarkus by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

The oldest book in your collection?

I'm not sure. It's either a first edition hard cover of The Demon Breed by James H. Schmitz or The Age of Discontinuity by Peter F. Drucker

The first movie that made you cry?

Probably Paths of Glory by Stanley Kubrick

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?

I can't remember.

The first book & first movie that scared you?

Book? A collection of H.P. Lovecraft's stories which included The Call of Cthulhu, The Colour Out of Space abd Dreams in The Witch House. They still give me a shudder.

Movie? X, The Unknown, a movie about a radioactive blob. The scene where a man's face melted kept me awake for a week.

The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her?

Either Ray Bradbury or Harlan Ellison. And no.

Your first encounter with erotica?

Erotica? A Night in a Moorish Harem, a mildly famous book of Victorian erotica.

How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown?

They all still affect me. If they didn't they wouldn't have been influences.

 

[oggbashan]

The first song lyrics you learned?

Muss I Denn - the original German folk song that Elvis turned into Wooden Heart.

The first book you remember reading for pleasure?

Red Squirrel Goes For A Ride - he rode along the telephone wires and went bumpity bump over the telegraph poles.

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money?

Tubby the Tuba

The oldest book in your collection?

Depends what you mean by oldest. The oldest I have owned was a Geneva Bible of 1574. I have a few dozen from the 18th Century. I think the oldest of them is 1739 - An Hiftorical Account of the Antient Parliaments of FRANCE or States-General of the Kingdom....Vol II. The Whole written in French by that accurate and Faithful Hiftorian The Count De BOULAINVILLIERS, The Merit of whofe WORKS has caufed them to be prohibited in FRANCE. And now tranflated for the Ufe and Infruction of fuch BRITISH Lovers of LIBERTY, as cannot read the ORIGINAL: By CHARLES FORMAN, Efq; LONDON: Printed for J. BRINDLEY in New-Bond-Street, Bookfeller to his Royal Highnefs the Prince of Wales M DCCXXXIX

The first movie that made you cry?

Dumbo

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?

About age 8. The Horniman Museum in South London had toys, musical instruments and weird animals.

The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her?

Charles Dickens. Yes.

Your first encounter with erotica?

In a cupboard in the Sergeants' Mess when I was about 10. No, don't ask what I was doing in the Sergeants' Mess. My father was never a Sergeant.

How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown?

None and all except perhaps the Horniman Museum. Still worth a visit.

Og

 

[woodnymph_O]

The first song lyrics you learned?
House at pooh corner-kenny loggins and jim messina
"winnie the pooh doesn't know what to do, gota honey jar stuck on his nose"

The first book you remember reading for pleasure? Dr. Suess'
Marvin K. Monney
Grown up book: Joanna Lindsey- When love awaits

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own
money?
Salt and Peppa- Push it

The oldest book in your collection? 1st edition wizard of Oz

The first movie that made you cry?
Untamed Heart, with Christian Slater

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?
1997

The first book & first movie that scared you?
Texas Chainsaw massacre

The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her?
Joanna Lindsey and no way

Your first encounter with erotica?
My dad saved me an article out of hustler magazine about Alice Cooper, It had a erotic fiction story, or rather half of one on the back.


How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown? For the most part I stil love them all
Nymphy

 

[cheerful_deviant]

The first song lyrics you learned? 'Country Roads' by John Denver

The first book you remember reading for pleasure? Besides little kids books, 'The Secret of Nimh'

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money? Can't really remember, probablly Aerosmith.

The oldest book in your collection? The Secret of Nimh (still have it)

The first movie that made you cry? Can't remember

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to? Boston Museum of Science. (I used to bug my parents to go there)

The first book & first movie that scared you? Book: 'The House With the Clock in it's Walls'. Movie: Terror at 10,000 feet (or something like that. Bad 1970's or maybe early 80's horror flick, but it was terrifying to a 6 year old. I still remember it was playing on the TV at a local pizza shop when we were eating. I couldn't sleep for weeks)

The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her? Michael Chriton, Loved Jurasic Park when I read it in High School, couldn't put it down. Still enjoy his books but maybe not as much as I used to.

Your first encounter with erotica? The reader letters in Penthouse. Probablly in Jr. High.

How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown? Still like John Denver & Aerosmith, although maybe not as much as before. Still love the Science Museum. Not many books, movies scare me anymore and when I saw Terror at 10,000 feet again about ten years ago, I almost laughed at how bad it really was. And I haven't read a Penthouse in years.

 

[shereads]

Re: Re: Your earliest influences & changing tastes

Your first encounter with erotica? The reader letters in Penthouse. Probablly in Jr. High.

Lord yes. How could I have forgotten the Penthouse Letters? One of my dorm-mates would read aloud from Penthouse Letters while the rest of us painted our fingernails. Just like "Little Women."

"Dear Penthouse,

I never thought this would happen to me. My husband, Larry, and I are having some work done on the house. Larry had to leave town unexpectedly on business, leaving me alone with our surly Latino contractor, Raoul, and the half-dozen buff college boys who work part time as his crew..."

 

[Guest]

Very good questions, Sher. I enjoyed answering them. P.

The first song lyrics you learned?
After Midnight (or Walking after Midnight) sung by Patsy Cline; heard it on the radio all the time when it came out.

first book you remember reading for pleasure?
The Tale of Peter Rabbit; I was so frightened for him being chased by Mr. McGregor.

The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money?
In 1956 (I was 10) my brothers and I saved together to buy an Elvis Presley album. I actually thought it was going to be like a photo album—a collection of 45s in one book. However, I ended up keeping all the money and spending it on candy. I didn’t begin buying albums regularly til h.s., started with Bob Dylan and Joan Baez in the early 60s. I think they cost about $3.00 then.

The oldest book in your collection?
The Autobiography of Teresa of Avila (paperback copy I bought in h.s.)

The first movie that made you cry?
Don’t recall the title. I was 4 or 5 and watched it in a field in Mexico, projected from a truck onto a sheet. An old lady in the film died and I thought it was real. I rarely cry at films now, especially not tear-jerkers.

The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?
In h.s. I was an ‘art’ major; spent most of my weekends at the then very fine Detroit Institute of Arts.

The first book & first movie that scared you?
Book: I’m sure it was a Grimm brothers story and involved trolls. Movie: Disney’s “Snow White” (I thought the evil queen represented my mother.)

The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her?
Dostoevsky (in h.s.) I loved the reality of his characters and still remember how viscerally exhausting it was to read of their suffering. I could never outgrow an author like that.

Your first encounter with erotica?
A pop magazine for teens which had a story about a boy trying to seduce a girl. There was no real smut or sex in it but I still remember a scene where he trailed his finger down the middle of her chest. Made me squirm.

How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown?
I think you can tell how many are still fresh. I’ve outgrown Elvis, Dylan and Baez, but not Patsy Cline. I still go back to Teresa of Avila, can’t imagine not. Still love art museums. Don’t like being scared by books or movies but still love “Snow White”. As for erotica I don’t see ‘outgrowing’ it, but I’ve developed as strong a critical eye for it as for any writing.

 

[neonlyte]

The first song lyrics you learned?
The first book you remember reading for pleasure?
The first music you liked so much, you bought it with your own money?
The oldest book in your collection?
The first movie that made you cry?
The first time you visited a museum because you wanted to?
The first book & first movie that scared you?
The first author whose writing style you admired? Have you outgrown him/her?
Your first encounter with erotica?
How many of those early influences still seem fresh to you now, and how many have you outgrown?

I find this an astonishingly mean series of questions - for me personally. The trouble is that I simply have no memory for such things.

All my memories are linked visually, or by smell, or sound. It took me twenty five years to track down a piece of music I once heard at an art exhibition in Milan. Even today I can remember the exhibition, the weather, the sounds and smells of Milan - but I can't remember the artist's name.

Trying to answer these questions almost frightens me.

The oldest book I own is 'An Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth - Buckminster Fuller'. it was the first book I bought, before that, I used a Public Library.

As for music and movies - pass, I remember the girls I bought records for and 'going to the cinema'.

First encounter with erotica - an erotic event - a cousin, many years older than me, she introduced me to her breasts, the tale is told elsewhere.

neon

PS The music was Satie. It wasn't until I recognised it as the underlying score to the film Chocolat that I manged to track it down.