Desperate Yearning; TNF XLV
Hello, TNFers. This is Erikk Geannikis, one-half of the top-tier "Fite" leadership of '05-'06, along with one Mr. Schuyler Sturm. It's nice to be back on the commentary again. There was a bit of drama this Tuesday, prior to the traditional 9PM TNF commencement, discussed below in Issues. The War Room Council met sans BJ and Vec, and perhaps this led to the kind of whilly-nilly attitude, and a few TNF precedents. A discussion of the potential "Fite" Cold Turkey vs. Whole Hog led to this amazing 2-Hole. But, I'm getting ahead of myself; without further ado, here's the forty-fifth installment, Title in caps, winners in bold, scores in parenthesis.
The Tuesday Nite "Fites," Wk XLV
THOUGHT vs. FEELING (20-22)
Peaches vs. Peaches (23-19)
JFK vs. KFC (27-15)
The Girl Next Door vs. The Man Upstairs (27-15)
Notables: Toph 1-3; Neck 1-3; Margot 1-3; J Lowe 3-1; Misha 3-1; BQ 3-1; Dalton 3-1; Matt 2-2; Abrille 3-1; Gusky (R) 3-1; Julia 0-4; Kast 1-3; Schuy 1-3; Planet Stone 1-3; G-Hink 0-4; Gamin 3-1; JP McI 3-1; Brag 2-2; Rehana 2-2; Throop 1-3; Vec 2-2; BJ 2-2; Bea 3-1; Erikk 3-1; Anna Schall 3-1; Williams 2-2; Anna Ahern (R) 1-3; Thorp 3-1; Edel 3-1; Jack-o 1-3; Nicky G 2-2; Hohman 2-2; J-Boogs 1-3; Bridget 3-1; Letz 2-2. Congratulations to Clarke, Max, Weasel Boy, Sven, O'Keefe, and Christine Gregory for their trip to 4-0. And an extra-special, double-orgasmic congratulations go out to co-archon Nicky Steiner, for his first 4-0 in the long and storied 45-week history of TNF. :-* This is truly amazing, as he has been one of the only people to vote each week of TNF existence, not to mention his 35-week (and counting) stint on the War Room Council. 42 voters, 32 on-site. Weak as hell.
Commentary: The Hegel "Fite" continued to be all but entirely disassociated with GWF Hegel. A lot of people thought that the Man Upstairs had some of the negative connotations of "The Man," the nebulous force whom we all strive to fight. This is perhaps correct, but there was also a pretty prevalant argument for The Man Upstairs coming through in the clutch, given by none other than the heartily irreligious Aaron Brager. Now for me, and a few others, the Girl Next Door was the paradigm of the unattainable, constant temptation forever out of reach. While this is what won her my vote, many people voted for TGND precisely because she was not a seductress. Jackson Ferrell surprised us all though, when he discounted The Man Upstairs for soliciting an inaccurate portrayal of God, and went with the breast-endowed Girl Next Door. The Brian Jones "Fite" is the first non-Title bout to be in all caps, by virtue of it being an all-abbreviation "Fite," also a first. Let's face it: regardless of how much the man did, and I wonder if he truly "put a man on the moon," JFK was blown to shit. How much of his concept was preserved? Did he truly embody a charismatic American ideal? and if he did, what kind of weight does that lend his notion? KFC has the luxury of being a style, at least this is what I argued. Chicken, fried in a Kentucky way. What is this Kentucky way? To me it is something beyond a secret recipe, but rather a way of doing things; an order of being. My intrigue was heightened when Schuyler informed me that Colonel Sanders (of whom a postmodern drawing was on the chalkboard in McD12) left the KFC enterprise thinking that the product had gone down the tubes. There really must be something behind the KF in KFC, if that's the case, but nevertheless, the former president cleaned house. The 2-Hole is clearly a precedent, since we've never had an identity bout before. I don't think it's quite safe to say that this boiled down to Left vs. Right, since the Peaches clearly came into play. My rationale for L-Peaches was hard to put my finger on, but I kept thinking: If you're gonna vote for Peaches, which you clearly are, there's no reason not to do it now, on the Left. I also heard talk of a good argument in TNFChat, about the Peaches on the right-hand side being but a copy of the one on the left. This reinforces an idea that I've always had about TNF - that the left-hand side always has the cognitive advantage by virtue of appearing first. More to come on this topic.
Ah, the Title. This match-up was a true heavy-hitter, and that's what we wanted. I'm glad that the score was close, even closer than Peaches vs. Peaches. Considering this is truly the Fite at the heart of all that interests me in the world (maybe second only to Body vs. Mind), and since I wasn't privy to most of the argument on it last nite, I don't want to say too much here. But for me, Thought seems inextricably tied to language, and the whole rational process in general seems tied to it as well. Maybe as humans we are just prone to language (de Saussure has said so, gross summarization), but I don't think Thought can capture the prior vote no matter how you flap it. For me, Feeling seems unadulterated but still cognitive-- you need a working brain to have a feeling. Though sense perception starts at sense receptors, sense-certainty begins in consciousness. This raw quality is at the root of our conscious minds, and might be what so many modern neuroscientists want to simply discard as "phenomenology." But it's not bullshit for Hegel, and not for me.
Issues: Apparently the directress of the Graduate Institute, who has some bullshit bureaucratic reign over the Barr-Buchanan Center, became unhappy with TNF's disruption of a GI Greek Preceptorial that meets in The Nelson Room, our lifelong home. There were words exchanged, and, because I didn't know enough to discount the possibility that perhaps TNF people really did cause such a disturbance, The "Fites" are in McDowell 12 from now until further notice. I hope to talk to Ms Silver, the aforementioned directress, and see if we can compromise. No change on the absentee front. By the way, it is still me who is responsible for tabulating the absentees, so those of my buddies from Long Island and elsewhere needn't reintroduce yourselves.
I hope you enjoyed this rather thrilling TNF45, and the rather lengthy commentary. As Sturmy mentioned toward the end of his last post, it probably will only get shorter from here. Let's up the voting numbers! When the calender says Tuesday, remember that you have a battle to "Fite."
Rikk
The Tuesday Nite "Fites," Wk XLV
THOUGHT vs. FEELING (20-22)
Peaches vs. Peaches (23-19)
JFK vs. KFC (27-15)
The Girl Next Door vs. The Man Upstairs (27-15)
Notables: Toph 1-3; Neck 1-3; Margot 1-3; J Lowe 3-1; Misha 3-1; BQ 3-1; Dalton 3-1; Matt 2-2; Abrille 3-1; Gusky (R) 3-1; Julia 0-4; Kast 1-3; Schuy 1-3; Planet Stone 1-3; G-Hink 0-4; Gamin 3-1; JP McI 3-1; Brag 2-2; Rehana 2-2; Throop 1-3; Vec 2-2; BJ 2-2; Bea 3-1; Erikk 3-1; Anna Schall 3-1; Williams 2-2; Anna Ahern (R) 1-3; Thorp 3-1; Edel 3-1; Jack-o 1-3; Nicky G 2-2; Hohman 2-2; J-Boogs 1-3; Bridget 3-1; Letz 2-2. Congratulations to Clarke, Max, Weasel Boy, Sven, O'Keefe, and Christine Gregory for their trip to 4-0. And an extra-special, double-orgasmic congratulations go out to co-archon Nicky Steiner, for his first 4-0 in the long and storied 45-week history of TNF. :-* This is truly amazing, as he has been one of the only people to vote each week of TNF existence, not to mention his 35-week (and counting) stint on the War Room Council. 42 voters, 32 on-site. Weak as hell.
Commentary: The Hegel "Fite" continued to be all but entirely disassociated with GWF Hegel. A lot of people thought that the Man Upstairs had some of the negative connotations of "The Man," the nebulous force whom we all strive to fight. This is perhaps correct, but there was also a pretty prevalant argument for The Man Upstairs coming through in the clutch, given by none other than the heartily irreligious Aaron Brager. Now for me, and a few others, the Girl Next Door was the paradigm of the unattainable, constant temptation forever out of reach. While this is what won her my vote, many people voted for TGND precisely because she was not a seductress. Jackson Ferrell surprised us all though, when he discounted The Man Upstairs for soliciting an inaccurate portrayal of God, and went with the breast-endowed Girl Next Door. The Brian Jones "Fite" is the first non-Title bout to be in all caps, by virtue of it being an all-abbreviation "Fite," also a first. Let's face it: regardless of how much the man did, and I wonder if he truly "put a man on the moon," JFK was blown to shit. How much of his concept was preserved? Did he truly embody a charismatic American ideal? and if he did, what kind of weight does that lend his notion? KFC has the luxury of being a style, at least this is what I argued. Chicken, fried in a Kentucky way. What is this Kentucky way? To me it is something beyond a secret recipe, but rather a way of doing things; an order of being. My intrigue was heightened when Schuyler informed me that Colonel Sanders (of whom a postmodern drawing was on the chalkboard in McD12) left the KFC enterprise thinking that the product had gone down the tubes. There really must be something behind the KF in KFC, if that's the case, but nevertheless, the former president cleaned house. The 2-Hole is clearly a precedent, since we've never had an identity bout before. I don't think it's quite safe to say that this boiled down to Left vs. Right, since the Peaches clearly came into play. My rationale for L-Peaches was hard to put my finger on, but I kept thinking: If you're gonna vote for Peaches, which you clearly are, there's no reason not to do it now, on the Left. I also heard talk of a good argument in TNFChat, about the Peaches on the right-hand side being but a copy of the one on the left. This reinforces an idea that I've always had about TNF - that the left-hand side always has the cognitive advantage by virtue of appearing first. More to come on this topic.
Ah, the Title. This match-up was a true heavy-hitter, and that's what we wanted. I'm glad that the score was close, even closer than Peaches vs. Peaches. Considering this is truly the Fite at the heart of all that interests me in the world (maybe second only to Body vs. Mind), and since I wasn't privy to most of the argument on it last nite, I don't want to say too much here. But for me, Thought seems inextricably tied to language, and the whole rational process in general seems tied to it as well. Maybe as humans we are just prone to language (de Saussure has said so, gross summarization), but I don't think Thought can capture the prior vote no matter how you flap it. For me, Feeling seems unadulterated but still cognitive-- you need a working brain to have a feeling. Though sense perception starts at sense receptors, sense-certainty begins in consciousness. This raw quality is at the root of our conscious minds, and might be what so many modern neuroscientists want to simply discard as "phenomenology." But it's not bullshit for Hegel, and not for me.
Issues: Apparently the directress of the Graduate Institute, who has some bullshit bureaucratic reign over the Barr-Buchanan Center, became unhappy with TNF's disruption of a GI Greek Preceptorial that meets in The Nelson Room, our lifelong home. There were words exchanged, and, because I didn't know enough to discount the possibility that perhaps TNF people really did cause such a disturbance, The "Fites" are in McDowell 12 from now until further notice. I hope to talk to Ms Silver, the aforementioned directress, and see if we can compromise. No change on the absentee front. By the way, it is still me who is responsible for tabulating the absentees, so those of my buddies from Long Island and elsewhere needn't reintroduce yourselves.
I hope you enjoyed this rather thrilling TNF45, and the rather lengthy commentary. As Sturmy mentioned toward the end of his last post, it probably will only get shorter from here. Let's up the voting numbers! When the calender says Tuesday, remember that you have a battle to "Fite."
Rikk