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Barbelith's Fantasy Aunts and Uncles

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paranoidwriter waves hello

16:47 / 19.07.06

Ooo, Stan Lee's a good one. How about:

Kenneth Williams: he'd be fun and have loads of stories, which he'd no doubt tell better than almost any other human who has walked (or will walk) the Earth (save for maybe David Niven, and a handful of others). I heard once that Kenneth Williams used to learn a new word every morning and repeat it five times in general conversation (etc) to make it stick. Wow. With an uncle like that I'd have no problems with grammar, diction, or spelling. Plus, he did "Willo the Wisp" when I was a kid and I could showed off to my mates.

Bertrand Russell: cause (as far as I know) he was (quite frankly) fucking ace, and he'd have saved me years of unnecessary confusion and thinking.

subcultureofone

17:05 / 19.07.06

Lily Tomlin for an aunt. Not sure why. She just seems like she'd make a great aunt.

lily tomlin was my first thought, too. she seems like she'd be tons of fun but would have really good advice if you had a serious problem. for uncles, kevin kline and steve kilbey. of course i have to second patti smith for my other aunt. tom waits would also be a very interesting uncle.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

17:57 / 19.07.06

Ooh, I forgot Christopher Lee. He has some great war stories, and tells them well. What more could you want from an uncle?

Spaniel

18:06 / 19.07.06

My Mum met him and couldn't stand him. Said he was total egomaniac and a bit scaryweird.

Still, could be an interesting uncle.

Mourne Kransky

18:15 / 19.07.06

Perhaps Aunt Clara from Bewitched, who reminds me anyway of a real great aunt, deceased since the Pleistocene.

paranoidwriter waves hello

19:21 / 19.07.06

Aunt Clara would be definitely cool.

Typing of magic aunts, I'm surprised no-one's mentioned super cool Aunt (JK) Rowling yet. She'd get my vote.

Char Aina

19:23 / 19.07.06

why?

paranoidwriter waves hello

19:37 / 19.07.06

Heh... I thought I'd get away with that...

For me, I really like the fact that, much like Roald Dahl before her, JK Rowling has played a role in keeping new generations of children interesting in prose fiction, and at a time when other mediums are excelling in leaps and bounds. She's not alone, of course. But when I see my friend's kids enthralled like I was when read writer's like Dahl, and talking about how ace reading is, I take my hat off to her. Also, although as a writer I don't rate her technical ability as highly as Dahl's, I do admire her ability to spark imagination, and construct good and not so easy to solve narrative puzzles. I think as an aunt (for me anyway, and I'm screwing around with time, Big Time!) ), she'd have been encouraging and a great resource for my own writing. Also, I think she comes across a really balanced and thoughtful person when I've seen her interviewed, and I like that.

alas

22:12 / 19.07.06

Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, naturellement

Jawsus-son Starship

22:21 / 19.07.06

Stephen Fry would be the best. He could just be interesting, or helpful, or express emotions for me when I couldn't. And I bet he can drink. He's probably got a great CD collection. And he drives a cab. He probably lives at the national history museum. He can throw a cricket ball. His look down the glasses when being stern. Narrow boat trips in the summer. Teaching you to garden in spring. Winding walks whilst discussing books in the winter.

Can he be my dad, actually. Better than the one I've got. Stephen Fry's never gonna marry a 22 year old, or get her knocked up.

stabbystabby

04:36 / 20.07.06

yeah. Fry or Laurie. or a bit of both.

I'm here all week, folks.

Spaniel

06:39 / 20.07.06

God, yes, of course Stephen Fry. I think it's a shocking indictment of Barbelith (and myself) that it's taken so long for him to get a mention.

Olulabelle

07:50 / 20.07.06

I should have liked Lady Ottoline Morrell to be my Aunt. Quite apart from anything else, it would have been wonderful to sit on the stairs and spy on the Bloomsbury group when I was supposed to be in bed.

Olulabelle

07:54 / 20.07.06

And yes, of course Stephen Fry. Or perhaps Stephen Fry as Gordon Deitrich, because then he could make me those egg-in-bread-things.

Mistoffelees

08:21 / 20.07.06

What´s so great about Stephen Fry? I only know one of his novels about boys and a hippopotamus, and that he played Oscar WIlde in a movie.

illmatic

08:29 / 20.07.06

I can't remember where I read this - in a big compilation of diary entries my girlfriend owns, I think - but Kenneth Willliams was a right foul mouthed bugger IRL, and used to delight in telling the filthest stories possibly about anyone he could. Whether this would make him better or worse as a uncle, I don't know.

Brigade du jour

10:35 / 20.07.06

What´s so great about Stephen Fry?

He's clearly very intelligent and articulate and yet not a smug bastard. Not that the two have to be mutually exclusive, but in my experience they can seem to be.

That's a start, isn't it?

Spaniel

10:43 / 20.07.06

Fry oozes a kind of modern, positive, yet quintessential, Englishness that might be a little difficult to explain to someone not brought up on these shores, Mist.

Spaniel

10:45 / 20.07.06

He's also very funny, and feels very approachable.

Mistoffelees

11:52 / 20.07.06

Aha, thanks for the answers. Maybe I can find one of his movies the next time I visit my video store.

Spaniel

12:09 / 20.07.06

I should also point out that Fry has a ubiquitous presence on our screens.

Brigade du jour

12:13 / 20.07.06

That's right, it's more from the telly that we're gleaning this image of Mr Fry as a big cuddly avuncular lovely thing. Especially his guest appearance on Room 101, in my humble.

Brigade du jour

12:16 / 20.07.06

Come to think of it, you do get a sense of these qualities from his supporting performance in V For Vendetta, it that helps at all. He plays Gordon Dietrich, the dude with the stash of forbidden art in his basement who isn't V.

Olulabelle

12:46 / 20.07.06

Did I not say that just a bit ago? Have you got me on ignore?

Brigade du jour

13:06 / 20.07.06

Certainly not, Olulabelle! I've just got a memory like a sieve, as my nan used to say. Sorry about that!

Shrug

15:57 / 20.07.06

You know when I originally looked at this thread I thought it might be asking which 'lither you'd like as an aunt/uncle/auncle. Although, I'd probably have problems picking exactly who, it was kind of a nice idea.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

16:06 / 20.07.06

I still can't figure out why I like Stephen Fry so much. On paper, as a concept he just doesn't work for me- however, in reality (well, on telly and the radio anyway) he rocks a snow leopard's ass. Perhaps it's the fact that it would have been so easy for him to end up being John Sessions, and spectacularly hasn't.

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