19 February 2009

Literary lovers: Speed dating for book lovers, Fri 20 Feb, 6.30pm - single men wanted!

| qwerky
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[First filed: February 18, 2009 @ 09:15]

Book a night of romance

Guests are invited to bring their favourite book as an ice-breaker and take a chance on meeting a like-minded, book-loving new friend at our event Literary Lovers: Speed Dating for Book Lovers.

It’s not just for singles – it’s also for people who just like talking about their literary loves.

Everyone will be treated to a complimentary glass of wine on arrival and to the romantic side of jazz trio As Famous as the Moon.

Friday 20 February
The event starts at 6.30 pm
Cost: $30/$25 concession
Bookings: 02 6262 1271 or bookings@nla.gov.au

UPDATED: As they have rather a lot of women going at this point the Library is kindly giving away two tickets for blokes. The first two to email hpritchard@nla.gov.au will be the lucky winners.

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Melbourne Dating? Melbourne?? Have I gone wandering again?

lol

hi this is andhra. Heidi needn’t worry qwerky, e.g. the institution she is posting from didn’t mind publishing Donald Friend’s unfortunate “repartee” with Balinese children, after all, and went on the record defending it! The National LIbrary has a very thick hide indeed .

Andhra.
Melbourne Dating “>

Have any males emailed Heidi yet or were they all too *chicken sound effects* ?

qwerky said :

Heidi1 said :

OH NO!! Johnboy kindly posted that I am prepared to give away two free tickets to the first two blokes who email me, but my address is wrong on the top post. The first two guys to email me on hpritchard@nla.gov.au will get free tickets.

The gauntlet is down, where is your sense of adventure?

Oh dear, I’m starting to wonder if you organised this whole event solely for your own purposes. Do you not think it is somewhat career limiting to put your work email address in a public post like this, particularly in your line of work and after some of the repartee you’ve been a party to?

Heidi needn’t worry qwerky, e.g. the institution she is posting from didn’t mind publishing Donald Friend’s unfortunate “repartee” with Balinese children, after all, and went on the record defending it! The National LIbrary has a very thick hide indeed …

I actually love top gear and have a weird girlie crush on clarkson, his wit appeals to me:)

I will have to take The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart. Its my second choice, I just can’t find my first choice anywhere.

johnboy said :

You’ll find a hell of a lot of women are really into Clarkson.

Not as many as are into Richard Hammond * drool*

As a short Pom who’s recently returned to CBR after 10 years in London I must be his worst nightmare after reading his latest book.

You’ll find a hell of a lot of women are really into Clarkson.

It must irritate him.

I’ll bring the latest from Jeremy Clarkson and be told I’m a male chauvinist pig with the brain of a three year old and told to eff off. Oh well, another night with the zombies at O’Malleys.

I love ZAMM, it was given to me many years ago by a good friend and I never lend it out.

I would have maybe thought about turning up if i knew just one person would be able to discuss the genius of Stieg Larsson:)

Give a girl a break qwerky, she’s trying to promote the event and she agreed to posting her email as the quickest way to organise a ticket give-away.

I’ll note the address I was using was serviceable but have changed to the preferred one.

Heidi1 said :

OH NO!! Johnboy kindly posted that I am prepared to give away two free tickets to the first two blokes who email me, but my address is wrong on the top post. The first two guys to email me on hpritchard@nla.gov.au will get free tickets.

The gauntlet is down, where is your sense of adventure?

Oh dear, I’m starting to wonder if you organised this whole event solely for your own purposes. Do you not think it is somewhat career limiting to put your work email address in a public post like this, particularly in your line of work and after some of the repartee you’ve been a party to?

OH NO!! Johnboy kindly posted that I am prepared to give away two free tickets to the first two blokes who email me, but my address is wrong on the top post. The first two guys to email me on hpritchard@nla.gov.au will get free tickets.

The gauntlet is down, where is your sense of adventure?

Ja, das is richtig, Heidi.

I’ve looked into cloning technology so I can attend everything I’d like to get to and have a patent pending!

If you have another of these, I’m there. Festivals, weddings, corporate events, trivia quizzes, other clients, etc. notwithstanding.

Sing out! (No pun intended.)

I love anyone that starts a post with ‘Oi!’.

It’s all about choices Bill.

Heidi1 said :

The radio station just rang me, disappointingly ALL THREE of the male winners of the contest have chickened out, but the one female winner is BANG UP FOR IT proving once again that girls are more adventurous than boys.

Oi!

I’m one of those males and I am so ‘bang up for it’ that the time watershed here does not allow me to elaborate on exactly how ‘bang up for it’ I am, but the tyranny of distance will have me approximately 180kms away at kick-off time.

Oh, indubitably! I sit around scantily draped over my computer all the time! Other people’s cars too, if I can find ’em ….

No, I spend my time draped over sheep while both of us are scantily clad – there’s no point overdressing if you’re in a secluded back yard, shearing a hot and sweaty sheep.

Then there’s cleaning the bottom of the stock tank – taking off your top means no trying to get the smell of pond slime out of it. It wears off skin in a couple of hours.

JB will need to set up more surveys and trust to our honesty.

Heidi’s right though. I do spend a lot of time draped overmachinery while scantily clad. I’m sure Granny and Sheepgroper find the same thing.

We have just realised we have no idea (which is terrifying). We know what the male:female ratio is and let me just say, it is weighted in the boy’s favour. We didn’t think to ask the age of participants, we just invited everyone. We figure it is a great way to meet people with a book in your hand!

Whats the average age of this thing, and the typical male:female ratio?

*asking on behalf of the readers who aren’t vocal members*

Oh poptop you duffer, OF COURSE there are women on the internet, we are just scantily clad and draped over various bits of machinery.

Clown Killer4:52 pm 19 Feb 09

Poptop and Heidi1 … can you guys get a room?

This is the internets – there are NO women.

SURE! I wasn’t sure that this was appropriate, but I’m in if you’re in!!

neanderthalsis4:40 pm 19 Feb 09

Johnboy is the editor, moderator and chief RiotAct overlord. Hit the “Contact” button at the top of this page to send him an email.

Johnboy is our RiotACT Editor, Overlord and occasionally benevolent dictator.

I still have my copy of ZAMM. It is one of the books I never lend out.

Who is Johnboy? I could probably be convinced!

I read ZAMM when I was at uni too, it all made so much sense at the time (MAN) that I went out and got a bike and I’ve been on motorbikes ever since. The book has dated a little, but it will always be important to me.

neanderthalsis4:32 pm 19 Feb 09

I loved Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Brings back memories of my slothenly days at uni when I was taking philosophy units instead of more productive things like ecomonics…

Go on Heidi , give the free tickets to Johnboy to raffle off to male Rioters.

You know you want to. =-)

Perhaps Slavegirl of Gor AND any book by Andrea Dworkin.

Hello all

I’ve just been sent to this site by half of the National Library. HOW DID I NOT KNOW YOU EXISTED! What a top site, I can’t wait to get home and have a proper look!

Anyway, I’m hosting this event tomorrow and I for one cannot WAIT to meet the Sheepgroper and Carroteyes. The radio station just rang me, disappointingly ALL THREE of the male winners of the contest have chickened out, but the one female winner is BANG UP FOR IT proving once again that girls are more adventurous than boys.

If you are male and up for an adventure, you can call us to book on 6262 1271.

But to continue the game, I’m torn between taking Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintence or Fight Club.

Damn! Just won a free ticket to this from a local radio station (not mine, of course) but I can’t go because I’ll be en route to the Cobargo Folk Festival.

The book I nominated to take (not realising there was a competition for tix) was ‘The Satanic Verses’ by Salman Rushdie. Conversation starter: religion, sex, politics, mythology, etc.

Or you can just play, ‘Spot the appropriate metaphor of the book to the reader. Long, verbose, prosaic, complex.’

The poetry of fishing, I presume?

sexynotsmart said :

Which is disappointing, because I like women who quote poetry unexpectedly.

Like: “Oh god, oh god, I love your rod”?

sexynotsmart7:50 pm 18 Feb 09

LoveBumps won’t let us to play with literary types any more. We had two in a row that – how does one say – had a few issues.

Which is disappointing, because I like women who quote poetry unexpectedly.

Will the federal government be getting people to sign any sort of waiver in case of misadventure arising from this interesting direction for government enterprises?

I’ll bring Modesty Blaise!

I could take my favourite Book: Manifold Destiny – Cooking on your car engine.

Great book. No I’m not making it up, it’s real.

eyeLikeCarrots said :

I can only guess that most people wouldn’t care that I once totally pwnd a Street Samurai in the face with my Level 97 Mage…

You’re kidding?! How’d you manage that! Had to be based on a ranged attack?

eyeLikeCarrots5:31 pm 18 Feb 09

The geek of my dreams is more the moderate kind of geek….

You should definately take something like that along.

You may find the geek of your dreams.

eyeLikeCarrots4:55 pm 18 Feb 09

Well the Shadowrun is more my style, perhaps I could take some William Gibson to lend it a more literary image.

I can only guess that most people wouldn’t care that I once totally pwnd a Street Samurai in the face with my Level 97 Mage…

eyeLikeCarrots said :

eyeLikeCarrots == bloke

In an attempt to not appear like a bogun I’ll leave the footrot flats at home, maybe we can save that for our first date ?

But isn’t the book supposed to give some indication of what you (are) like.
Maybe take along the GURPS or Shadowrun Players Guide.

eyeLikeCarrots4:18 pm 18 Feb 09

eyeLikeCarrots == bloke

In an attempt to not appear like a bogun I’ll leave the footrot flats at home, maybe we can save that for our first date ?

So I should bring along a collection?

Actually I’m female, but closer to your age than you’re after judging by post #9.

eyeLikeCarrots3:34 pm 18 Feb 09

SheepGroper said :

eyeLikeCarrots said :

I wonder what they’ll say when I walk in with my Footrot Flats compendium.

You’d get me making a beeline for you – but you might not want that . . .

If you have the right genitals I might ?

eyeLikeCarrots said :

I wonder what they’ll say when I walk in with my Footrot Flats compendium.

You’d get me making a beeline for you – but you might not want that . . .

eyeLikeCarrots2:28 pm 18 Feb 09

CanberraSingle said :

So will there be any SINGLE men there? Do you at least have SINGLE male friends you could bring along? Sure, I’m there for the book talkin’ but c’mon, you’re killin’ me…

Moi

Then off too Green Square for a few drinkies and some swapping of phone numbers with any luck.

Ha.. I wonder how many people are going to show up with James Joyce, I wonder what they’ll say when I walk in with my Footrot Flats compendium.

CanberraSingle2:13 pm 18 Feb 09

So will there be any SINGLE men there? Do you at least have SINGLE male friends you could bring along? Sure, I’m there for the book talkin’ but c’mon, you’re killin’ me…

eyeLikeCarrots1:27 pm 18 Feb 09

Well, I’ll be there. Now I just have my fingers crossed that some actual single women roughly 30+ will show up with a ceiling age of >40

Oh, and I’ll have to try and develop some social skills between now and then too :-\

For $25-30, that glass of wine is hardly complimentary!

It appears to be on at the National Library.

I’m just confused about an event advertised as speed dating encouraging coupled people to turn up.

I’m really not sure how many coupled men are going to be able to explain going to this to their better halves.

“Oh don’t worry we’re just going to forge emotional and intellectual bonds on a level you’re not interested in”.

Nothing to be concerned about there?

Pity it’s in Feb.
If it was in April, I’d be taking along a copy of “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”.
It covers a wide range of literary tastes in the one book.

Pommy bastard11:16 am 18 Feb 09

+ 2 for Dan “I only copied bits of it from another book” Brown.

eyeLikeCarrots11:10 am 18 Feb 09

neanderthalsis said :

Sounds like a fun night, I should turn up with “Spot gets a new red ball” for a few giggles.

I like the updated version of the Dick and Jane books like, “See Jane Run from Dick after he has taken the little blue pill”.

+1 for throwing Dan Brown fans into the lake.

neanderthalsis10:39 am 18 Feb 09

I too fit into that category PB. It does say not just for singles. So I guess it depends on whether Mrs PB has a problem with you meeting female literary types. There maybe a few that have read too many bodice rippers…

Sounds like a fun night, I should turn up with “Spot gets a new red ball” for a few giggles.

Anyone who turns up with a Dan Brown should be thrown in the lake.

Pommy bastard10:15 am 18 Feb 09

I’m not single, but I’m a man and a bibliophile, two out of three any good?

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