jelly beans

[pianistimo]

this should be a poll - but i'm too lazy at this point to create one.  just say yes or no.  do you like them? 

[ilikepie]

jelly belly

[thalberg]

I cannot leave jelly beans alone.  I eat them till I'm sick and even then I can't stop.  So I never buy them and I keep them away from me at all times.

[cmg]

Wdojitvzeit slavit benaitiyets?? 

Really, it's very hard to comment on such a lascivious statement made here on a public forum.  But, NO.  I never wanted to "sleep with" (slavit benitaiyets) Ronald Reagan.  His jelly bean fetish was a remnant of his Hollywood years.  Nancy ws a "B" actress.  Like most things about America, it's tacky, shameful and embarrassing. 

[ahinton]

No.

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

that's it, alistair - this is the end of the road (until tommorrow).  i suppose my saving your face with that spat with soliloquy about the carter sonata meant nothing to you?  i spent a good 15 minutes giving the 'other side' of elliott carter.  hmph.  i will listen to offenbach and not think another thought about you for a day (or anyone else on here) that does not like jelly beans.  it's an indication of someone's willingness to taste different flavors.  at least thalberg has some sense.  albeit - overdosing on jelly beans can be bad and probably induce some kind of diabetes overnight.

[schubertiad]

I'm definitely in the 'like' camp, but out here in China they cost an absolute bomb. My favourites are jelly belly. Some packets used to have 'recipes' on the side of the box, which showed you how to combine different flavours for magical results. I've just googled it and found this:
https://www.weirdweb.net/jelly/

What's not to like about jelly beans? The scientists in the jelly belly lab have got the flavours down so well that saying you don't like them is pretty much like writing off apples, bananas, cherries, chocolate pudding, sizzling cinnamon and any other flavours which they make.

[pianistimo]

thanks, schubertiad!  oddly - i think this is becoming my best way to chose my closest friends on this forum.  *goes to experiment with recipies.  (banana-split sounds good)

[ahinton]

that's it, alistair - this is the end of the road (until tommorrow).

The end of what road?

i suppose my saving your face with that spat with soliloquy about the carter sonata meant nothing to you?

I read what you wrote, just as I have read what others have written in that thread. My "spat with soliloquy" is no "spat" on my part and was not about Elliott Carter's Piano Sonata (the thread topic) on his part in any case; it was about someone else's (pies) quotation of a passage from Sorabji that had nothing to do with Elliott Carter. I am happy that you wrote what you did, but I don;t quite see that you or anyone else "saved my face" there, especially since I don;t think that any facesaving was either necessary or apparent.

i spent a good 15 minutes giving the 'other side' of elliott carter.  hmph.

Soliloquy happens to find that Carter's Piano Sonata just doesn't do anything for him. some time before you made your contribution to that thread, I had already sought to pour some oil on the troubled waters of his making by reminding readers that this is evidently the case and that no amount of talk about the piece is likely to change his mind about it - nor need it do so. I take a very different view of it to his and I'm not sure what you think about the piece; have you played it?

i will listen to offenbach

Well, that can't be a bad idea!

and not think another thought about you for a day (or anyone else on here)

Well, Susan, ma chère, you don't have to think about me, you know; I'm sure it's nice when you do, but you mustn't feel under any obligation. A day is soon over, anyway!...

that does not like jelly beans.  it's an indication of someone's willingness to taste different flavors.  at least thalberg has some sense.  albeit - overdosing on jelly beans can be bad and probably induce some kind of diabetes overnight.

A willingness to taste different flavours and a liking for jelly beans are not synonymous, you know; after all, I would not know whether or not I'd like these things if I'd never tasted one, any more than I'd have any idea as to your ability to learn Brahms 2, Rakh 3 or the Busoni concerto if (as is the case) I've never heard you play.

Are you having a bad day, Susan? If so, I'm sorry to hear it. If it cheers you any, might I opine that I know of no one else as capable of switching their attentions from religion to jelly beans to Elliott Carter with quite the alacritous mental legerdemain that you display here!...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

has it escaped your medieval mindset that some people can get things 'back on track' - even if they are known to diverge from the track.  we have a lot of trains here in pa - and perhaps jumping the track is something i feel akin to. however, in terms of the solioquy/alistair - mouse and cat game -  you would have preferred to widen the tracks to a quotation search? 

i suppose that i am having a bad day.  although - it wasn't bad until ramseytheii distorted what i said to look like gobbledegook and laughed about it.  anyone can do this to anybody.  but, why doesn't he use common sense to rebut anything he disagrees with.  i understand why people leave the forum.  those who don't like what someone else says don't offer reasons.

and - i feel that free speech is not respected.  in america we can agree to disagree and still discuss without reproach.  a one world system will be tightly structured and more like a homeowner's association gone bad.  fines would equal pies statement - ban pianistimo.  for what?  he never says.  maybe because i am FOR freedom of speech, religion, etc.  when tolerance goes - controls take over.

someday, alistair- you will see (if you don't already) that what i have said about religion and politics might take away your national rights and replace them with who knows what.  2010 is supposed to be some kind of benchmark for government.  right now - no government is truly it's own.  2000-2010 is a sort of governmentless period.  once banking becomes all electronic, funding is outsourced (international debts repaid to a central bank), and people agree to give over some national sovereignty for the 'good of the whole' - we'll have some happy periods and some terrible emperical structures imposed. 

[ahinton]

has it escaped your medieval mindset that some people can get things 'back on track' - even if they are known to diverge from the track.

No, because I don't have such a mindset (and if I really did write non-tonal music, such a mindset would surely be a very real encumbrance) but yes, all kind of derailed things can in some senses be "re-railed", if you like.

we have a lot of trains here in pa - and perhaps jumping the track is something i feel akin to.

As long as you don't do it literally!...

however, in terms of the solioquy/alistair - mouse and cat game -  you would have preferred to widen the tracks to a quotation search?

I note the order of your words here and am pleased that, if you must see that exchange between soliloquy and myself in that way, you have the grace and decency to define me as the cat! That said, however, I did not widen any field - or tracks - at all there; pies cited a passage by Sorabji, soliloquy responded to it and demanded that I reveal its specific source and motivations and I invited pies to take over by providing those rather than hog the thread about it (since the thread topic was not Sorabji but Carter) - I then added a related quotation from Sorabji which I thought might be of interest while awating pies's response (if any) and I cited the source and motivation for that, although what soliloquy may or may make of that remains to be seen (or not).

i suppose that i am having a bad day.

Well, as I said, I'm sorry to hear that.

although - it wasn't bad until ramseytheii distorted what i said to look like gobbledegook and laughed about it.  anyone can do this to anybody.  but, why doesn't he use common sense to rebut anything he disagrees with.  i understand why people leave the forum.  those who don't like what someone else says don't offer reasons.

I think that it was just intended as a joke. I didn't find it funny and indeed remarked that a point had been made and that it was now time to move on from it.

pies statement - ban pianistimo.  for what?  he never says.  maybe because i am FOR freedom of speech, religion, etc.  when tolerance goes - controls take over.

Well, for one thing, pies is not Nils and for another I am certainly not urging that anyone ban you from anywhere (other than those potentially lethal Pennsylvanian train tracks!), as I would hope you will be unsurprised to hear.

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

ah.  the irony.  you, alistair, and cmg - are two of my very favorite pianoforumers.  sort of like humphrey bogart and gene kelly or something.  in no particular order.  and, in some very odd charismatic, gentile, and at the same time sarcastic manner - i find you both still worth getting troubled about.  ramseytheii - however - is in very dark waters right now.  the only thing that will get him out is a white flag with a red cross on it.

[ahinton]

someday, alistair- you will see (if you don't already) that what i have said about religion and politics might take away your national rights and replace them with who knows what.  2010 is supposed to be some kind of benchmark for government.  right now - no government is truly it's own.  2000-2010 is a sort of governmentless period.  once banking becomes all electronic, funding is outsourced (international debts repaid to a central bank), and people agree to give over some national sovereignty for the 'good of the whole' - we'll have some happy periods and some terrible emperical structures imposed. 

I omitted to respond to this bit of what you wrote as I had to go and do something else. I doubt that anything you say about either will take any such things away, but I think you probbly meant that the things that you're talking about might do that if and when they may come about. Personally, I think that the entire governmental thing is is a permanent state of flux and in any case varies from place to place and time to time. I don't see any consistent movement towards giving up national sovereignty as such - more a case of some days it might seem to go that way, other days it goes the other way. Europe and Russia have fragmented over recent years rather than all joined together; the EC is still a very loose and far from pan-European institutional arrangement. People's desire for personal independence may itself risk undermining national sovereignty to some extent in any case.

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

good points. 

*went and did 'other things.'  two can play at that game.  i am going to attempt some kind of barely there housekeeping. 

[ahinton]

good points. 

*went and did 'other things.'  two can play at that game.

Is that an invitation, Susan?

i am going to attempt some kind of barely there housekeeping.

Oh, OK - I can see that it isn't...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

it wasn't bad until ramseytheii distorted what i said to look like gobbledegook

Think yourself honoured.

Most of your posts don't need to be changed to look like gobbledegook.

Thal

[ahinton]

After all that cut and thrust (and lack thereof), I still wouldn't go near a jelly bean if you paid me (well, not unless you paid me a very great deal of money and even then I'd almost certainly only go near one rather than actually consume one)...

There are so many wonderful beans around - haricots, canellini, borlotti, scarlet runners, you name them - so who needs these horrid and horrific specimens of tastelessness?...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

why can't you just stick with no?  how come the 'horrid and horrific' part? i find nothing horrid or horrific about jelly beans.  perhaps you are not satisified with simple pleasures.  cut and thrust was never my idea of eating them anyways.  what are you proposing?  a steak knife?

[wotgoplunk]

why can't you just stick with no?  how come the 'horrid and horrific' part? i find nothing horrid or horrific about jelly beans.  perhaps you are not satisified with simple pleasures.  cut and thrust was never my idea of eating them anyways.  what are you proposing?  a steak knife?

Of course a steak knife! We have to rip out their beating hearts to sacrifice to the invisible pink unicorn.

[ahinton]

why can't you just stick with no?

Well, look how you reacted when I did precisely that in message #4 in this thread - you wrote (in message #5)

"that's it, alistair - this is the end of the road (until tommorrow).  i suppose my saving your face with that spat with soliloquy about the carter sonata meant nothing to you?  i spent a good 15 minutes giving the 'other side' of elliott carter.  hmph.  i will listen to offenbach and not think another thought about you for a day (or anyone else on here) that does not like jelly beans.  it's an indication of someone's willingness to taste different flavors.  at least thalberg has some sense.  albeit - overdosing on jelly beans can be bad and probably induce some kind of diabetes overnight."

So - in answer to your question - maybe that's why...

how come the 'horrid and horrific' part? i find nothing horrid or horrific about jelly beans.  perhaps you are not satisified with simple pleasures.  cut and thrust was never my idea of eating them anyways.  what are you proposing?  a steak knife?

I'm not "proposing" anything at all. My remark about these things was my genuine opinion. You don't happen to agree with it. What's wrong with that? You'd not want me to be dishonest, would you? And as far as "simple pleasures" are concerned, if you refer to prandial ones, it is entirely unclear to me how or why you would seek to extrapolate from any of my remarks here or elsewhere that I would not enjoy, for example, such things as a simple dish of fresh raspberries or a relatively simple salad...

In any case, my reaction to these things is hardly an issue of earth-shattering importance, is it?

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

it is most reasonable to eat raspberries and probably far healthier.  if only i could go back to the way it was before.  before i ate my first jelly bean.   

[ahinton]

it is most reasonable to eat raspberries and probably far healthier.  if only i could go back to the way it was before.  before i ate my first jelly bean.   

You can if you want to - or at least you can't do it literally, of course, since you cannot turn the clock back, but you could give up eating jelly beans if you so desired. Perhaps I should encourage you to give them up by sending you some nice fresh Scottish raspberries, wonderful things that they are! Yes, raspberries are undoubtedly healthier than jelly beans in almost every case, as indeed are blackberries, tayberries, boysenberries, the ever-increasingly scarce loganberries, etc. The French (and others, too, although in most instances the French do it best) make lovely liqueurs and eaux-de-vie from some of these; unsurprisingly, however, they don't make any out of jelly beans...

Best,

Alistair

[bachundrach]

*Alacritous mental legerdemain*

WOW  - such wordsmithing powers that reside on pianostreet.  It is very humbling indeed.

In re to jellybeans - I like them but keep them away from me with a ten foot pole.  Diabetes is too much of a disease to have to cope with.

[bachundrach]

Hi Alistair,

*Governmental thing seems to be in a permanent state of flux*

How true, how true dear sir.  But, to put a fine point on it - look at the constituency that votes for that type of government?  Is it any wonder?  Or, is it so that the same constituency that voted in *that* government is now so frightfully embarrassed that it does not wish to claim responsibility for having voted in that government in the first place?

Being a voting constituent is hard work.  Anyone over 18 years can vote but the hard part is hold the elected representatives feet to the fire. 

In America you have a President with a 25% voter approval but a Congress with a 12.5% voter approval.  How fares it with Gordon Brown and the Parliament?  30% for Brown but 15% for Parliament?  We certainly do get the government we deserve 

Cheers,

B&R

[ilikepie]

I finally gave in to my jelly bean cravings and bought a 2lb bag of assorted jelly belly beans...

[ahinton]

Hi Alistair,

*Governmental thing seems to be in a permanent state of flux*

How true, how true dear sir.  But, to put a fine point on it - look at the constituency that votes for that type of government?  Is it any wonder?  Or, is it so that the same constituency that voted in *that* government is now so frightfully embarrassed that it does not wish to claim responsibility for having voted in that government in the first place?

Yes, that argument has often and understandably been aired on many an occasion and it is at least partly true that, in a so-called "democracy", the voters get what they deserve; I say "partly", because, in such a so-called "democracy", it is not compulsory to vote and therefore those many people who do not exercise that right cannot literally be said to get the government that they deserve and, of course, there are also those who have never voted for a political party that has gotten into power, so it's not perhaps quite as clear cut as you suggest, although I do agree with the general thrust of your point.

Being a voting constituent is hard work.  Anyone over 18 years can vote but the hard part is hold the elected representatives feet to the fire.

Well, whoever they are, they're not going to let that happen, are they! - at least not beyond the ability of the electorate to vote a government out of office when it's kind enough to call a general election...

In America you have a President with a 25% voter approval but a Congress with a 12.5% voter approval.  How fares it with Gordon Brown and the Parliament?  30% for Brown but 15% for Parliament?  We certainly do get the government we deserve 

I don't! I didn't vote for it! I don't care if the past and present prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer are all Scots, I still didn't vote for it!...

Here's a quote from another thread which is not so far from where this topic has gone here (i.e. off topic completely!):

"Many people often accuse "Brussels" of undue and absurd bureaucracy - and, I openly admit, not without plentiful good reason - yet nothing the emanates from that Belgian city has yet succeeded in undermining the homespun variety in an EU member state, as illustrated by this amusing little diversion:

https://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/7003325.stm"

Now let's not only get back on topic but also remember who initiated the thread; where in the Bible are jelly beans mentioned? The battle of jelly beans? No, that can't be right. Come on - someone must know, surely?...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

figs, dates, or grapes had to suffice.  or honeycomb?

[ahinton]

figs, dates, or grapes had to suffice.  or honeycomb?

No five loaves, two fish and a jelly bean, then? (just as well, really - that Bible did get it right sometimes!).

Anyway - no loaves and certainly no jelly beans for me right now; I'm off to pan-fry myself a nice fillet of wild sea bass line-caught just yesterday from off the south Devon coast with a nice green salad of fresh organically grown watercress, rucola (rocket) and Swiss chard from Italy (dressed à ma façon with a whisked mix of extra virgin olive oil from Espolla [Catalunya] / an old balsamico di Modena / some freshly chopped chives and oregano / a little honey and mustard / a few drops of bordeaux blanc ordinaire) and some organic Jersey Royal potatoes shaken in beurre doux Charentais, accompanied by a Château Malartic Lagravière 2000 Grand Cru Classé de Graves from Pessac that I picked up a while ago for a fraction of the price that it ought to have fetched; one of life's simple pleasures, Susan - you know, of the kind that you recently doubted that I'd even want to try to enjoy (and, believe me, I'm quite certain that my cooking skills are but a fraction of yours!)...

Best,

Alistair

[thalberg]

Think yourself honoured.

Most of your posts don't need to be changed to look like gobbledegook.

Thal

As of today, thal-mad has 6288 posts.  Are ALL of them insults to pianistimo?  Considering she has around 12,000 posts, he could have arrived at this post count simply by insulting every alternating post of hers.  Insult one, skip one, insult one, skip one.

That said, I do like pianistimo as a person, but your comments are actually sort of funny.  I bet you two would be friends if you met IRL.

[pianistimo]

met irl?  i'm married.  what are you suggesting here? 

and, alistair - your meal is making my mouth water.  forget the fact i have skipped breakfast and lunch and am about to skip dinner.  randomly, the day you pick to elaborate on a meal such as this could not have been better timed.  unfortunately, after reading the menu - my cooking is also disgraced.  although, as you seem to imply - organic/fresh veggies are definately the better tasting.  one doesn't have to do so much TO them.  it's getting the proportions of ingredients right.  inevitably i put too much of one thing or another in.  on the luck that i make a tortallini salad just right - i act like it was the recipie.  as a matter of fact, it's just calculated dumping. 

well, this is all off the topic of jelly beans.  i suppose one should worry about food coloring, etc. - as we don't truly see how our bodies attempt to process chemicals and additives. 

children seem to get nice and handy dispensers for jelly beans and gumballs.  i think adults should catch on to this and control eating by making the dispenser only dispense a set number per day.

[wotgoplunk]

i have skipped breakfast and lunch and am about to skip dinner. 

Plunk 19:19: And thou shalt have three meals a day, or thou shalt have great punishment: listening to Lang Lang butcher Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody.

[pianistimo]

aw.  lang lang isn't that bad.  everyone makes him out to be some sort of super-villian.  i think in real life he's probably a very nice guy.  maybe a little hyper.  but a lot of pianists are hyper.

[ahinton]

met irl?  i'm married.  what are you suggesting here?

I think that what was being suggested was, quite simply, the possibility that you and Thal might like one another if you met in real life. What does your marital status have to do with that? You refer to it quite often, I notice.

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

i hope thal's girlfriend is working out.  haven't heard anything about that one in a long time.   

[ahinton]

I think that what was being suggested was, quite simply, the possibility that you and Thal might like one another if you met in real life. What does your marital status have to do with that? You refer to it quite often, I notice.

Do we get an answer to that, Susan?...

Best,

Alistair