Explain Yourself!
 

On this, the occasion of my 100th POST, I thought I'd start a thread about something that I've been wondering about for a while now:

I'd love to know the stories behind the names that Cellar Dwellars use here.

Some Dwellars have already 'fessed up in other threads. We've seen explainations for the origins of Undertoad, dhamsaic, and even yours truly. And some names we can make confident guesses about. I'd bet a fair sum that there's a real Lisa behind Lisa... Galadriel probably went through that awkward JRR Tolkien phase in 8th grade... ndetroit is probably... mmmmm... in Detroit? Or, maybe not.

Some are just plain mysterious. What are we to make of Warch, for instance? Or Slight? Chewbaccus? Scopulus Argentarius? The ubiquitous Sycamore? And a bunch more too numerous to list here.

In a way it would be nicer to preserve the mystery... but I wouldn't be here in the first place if my curiosity didn't usually get the better of me. So, if you feel like sharing your etymology, please don't hold back.

on this, the occasion of my 200th post... oh, nevermind...

sycamore posted his. but i forget what it was. and why. and where. so really, i'm just here to take up space.

for those too lazy: my name is dave ham, and i work at saic. real simple.

most places, though, i go by the handle "becoming"... so i'll share that one with you:

there's a song, by nine inch nails, called "the becoming"... track 7 on halo eight... it has a very special meaning to me, and it's been with me through some very defining moments of my life... the song fit me pretty well... and it's just sorta stuck... i'd recommend hunting down the lyrics (probably at www.nineinchnails.net, i think they still operate) and reading them for a better understanding...

[Edited to remove comma after URL]

Galadriel... Cate Blanchett... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... Cate Blanchett....

the perfect woman? I think so. :)

Hmmmm...mysterious eh? Here's the mystery busting scoop- Warch is an old tag given accidently when I was 10. I won a swimming contest (big deal for my kid ego) and while triumphantly (I thought) recieving my award, my last name was mutated into Warch in the presentation and on the ribbon. My family had a great laugh at this and as they are given to relentless goodnatured torture, never allowing one to get to big for their britches, it has been in continuous use celebrating my humble status, rather like "Biff". Elementary (school) my dear Hubristic one.
:)

"The me that you know, he used to have feelings..."

Great song, dham. I believe I briefly explained my story when NBN brought up the Terence Trent D'Arby lyric in another thread. Ah, I like the full story though. :)

So, how did one Terry Blastenbrei of St. Louis become a tree? It's rather simple.

Sycamore is the name of the musical project that I started in 1993, of which I was the primary songwriter and vocalist. Don't ask where the name came from...it just sounded cool. Sound--think "Psalm 69"-era Ministry meeting a hokey drum machine. The whole Sycamore project consisted of two (very bad) recordings in 1993 and 1995, one (bad) performance at a school theatre guild party in 1994, and two appearances on KDHX 88.1 FM in St. Louis in 1993 (The station is listener-supported. A buddy of mine had an alternative show on Thursday afternoons...we came on and sang the theme to "Small Wonder."). I keep threatening to resurrect it, but I wouldn't fit well in a band, and I'm really only interested in doing spoken word these days.

When I started whoring myself big time to the internet in 1997, I settled upon the "Sycamore" moniker, which I prefer as my nickname today. In high school and college (and still to a degree today), my nickname was "T-money." For whatever reason, my friends and I thought it would be cool to have hard hip-hop nicknames, circa 1991. When we first started Sycamore, I was known as T-money, the Round Mound of Sound. When I lost 70 pounds in 1994, it changed to T-money, the Lean Mean Sound Machine. Furthermore, I hate my real name, and so many people on the 'net know me only as Sycamore (which is primarily here and in old Depeche Mode fan circles). In real life, most people just call me T.

What is funny is what people THINK the name means. Some quote the Terence Trent D'Arby lyric from "Wishing Well." Others think I am some sort of hippie. *laughs* But it's not an "internet persona" of sorts...I act no different here than I do in real life. NBN can vouch for that.

Myinvisible nick
 

Only those who remember me from the "old days" remember the nick I used to use. Keymaster.

Even though I retired that name years ago, I still hear it now and then from old friends and I will post it's genesis one more time for those who don't know/remember whence it came.

In my computer infancy (1984 or so), I was looking for a handle that wasn't like all the others (famous personalities, comic book characters, etc) and was a bit original. So I decided on Keymaster. As in Master of Keys. Follow that thought a little and you get Master of Keyboards or Master of computers. Simple, no?

Then along came Ghostbusters. I haven't lived that down even yet. And me without even copyright protection to sue under.

I just made lemonade out of that particular lemon and went on with my pitiful excuse for a life.

Please keep the name reverently in KAOS g-files and don't profane the bandwidth with it.

Brian

i like ziggurats :)

I got this name from my dad.

BTW, Cate Blanchett can't be the perfect woman as long as Charlize Theron is around.

ugh.

Charlize Theron is kinda cute... if the light hits her face the right way, and you're really really tired, and you haven't had sex in a month... if those conditions were met, I could understand her being considered "desireable"... and she was definitely cute in "The Cider House Rules"...

however, examine: http://us.imdb.com/Name?Theron,+Charlize

notice the "headshot" picture... now, I of all people understand that a picture is just what you looked like at that moment from that certain angle... *but*... and this is a big *but*... Charlize Theron constantly looks awful. Or, at least, awful to me. Now. This automatically rules her out of the "perfect" running. She may well be an exceptionally nice person, compassionate, intelligent, etc. But the term "perfect" would seem to imply that one found her attractive at all times. And that, my friend, is just not a very becoming picture, meaning that she, therefore, cannot be ruled to be "perfect".

Note that Cate Blanchett is stunning *and* cute in every photograph taken of her. So she's got that one licked. From listening to her talk and reading about her on various magazine sites and whatnot (no, I'm not stalking - I've read about Charlize Theron and Kevin Spacey and just about everyone else - *movie addict*), I can have a reasonable expectation that she's above average intelligence as well. In addition, she even has an accent! Perfect in that I could give her a hard time for being an Australian. :)

Feh. The ignorance of youth.

The perfect woman is CNN's Christiane Amanpour. In the last 24 hours, she's gone into ex-Taliban houses looking for, and finding, evidence that they were gathering information on nuclear weaponry. She's bold, driven, knows what's important, gets her sources and shows no fear in the face of conflict.

"In the last 24 hours, she's gone into ex-Taliban houses looking for, and finding, evidence that they were gathering information on nuclear weaponry. She's bold, driven, knows what's important, gets her sources and shows no fear in the face of conflict."

I believe the proper word for that is stupidity.

Actually, the perfect woman (to me) isn't Cate Blanchett, but I can't say who it is here, 'cause then you'd all know. Toad knows what I'm talking about. But that's all I can say... Cate Blanchett is pretty cute though :)

Nope. It's intelligence in various definitions.

I have to edit this. And be more carfull!

:)

Could you point me to a reference? And also, what is the definition of this intellegence of which you speak? :)

Duh...well no...but Christiane could...um..but shes not in town right now...sorry;)

hey I need all the help I can get! I'm kinda challanged.

*watches in amazement as yet another thread careens out of control*

Bah. You're ALL wrong!

Theron and Blanchett are Barbie dolls. Amanpour's just a Trouble Tourist with a camera. The PERFECT woman is... *drumroll* National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

Man! What a package! Intelligence. Power. Guts. Nice legs. It doesn't get any better than that!

Hubris, how old are you?

Do you realize that Condoleeza Rice is almost FIFTY?

Though she is pretty striking for that age. Not to say that 50 year olds are ugly. But she is exceptionally good looking for 47 or whatever it is.

Condie Rice ain't bad. Although I have to admit, given that her and I are probably at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, that takes something away from her on my end.

This is all dham's fault...him and his damned obsession with Cate Blanchett. ;)

aaaah, Cate Blanchett.

:D

Man... she is a cutie :)

I would start a new thread... but since all of it has already been contained here... :)

Maybe we should just start another "Explain Yourself!" thread and leave this one for the "Perfect Female" debate :)

Well... I'm not 40 yet, but I can see it from here. :cool:

Saw Theron tonguing her brother on national TV, even out here this gets her dropped from my list. I honestly can't remember who Cate Blanchett is... maybe I'm gonna beat Hubris to forty. My feminine ideal tends to run toward the lady atheletes Paola Pezzo (sp?) mountain bike champ or that Norwegian speed skater. Of course my old lady is the full package (brains soul looks lungs) and she is extremely patient with Mr. Procrastinator (hmmm... I sposed to be doin something right now..what was it?)

Feh feh feh.

Tomorrow is my birfday, and I'll be 38. And all these purty little blonde actresses seem like nothing but silly exuberance. When they reach a certain age, they disappear and are replaced by whatever clone of them is considered fasionably good looking at the time. It is extremely rare for any of them to have a career longer than 10 years.

Where is Dana Delany? Helen Slater? Jennifer Beals? Phoebe Cates? All would have been "A" listed 10-15 years ago...

Happy Day Toad. and we women of the world thankyou for your insight. I will toast.:)

Happy bday young man! (I've got you beat by a good 4 months):cool:

Indeed, Happy Bidet, Mr. Toad.

I can see forty from here, but I'm looking in a somewhat different direction.

And not all Cellar names are as simple as Lisa's may appear. For example, I was not named Margaret at birth, and indeed was known Cellerwise as JaniceL for quite some time back in the dial-the-Cellar-direct-and-edit-your post-with joe days.

But then I wasn't born "Janice" either. :-)

holy crap!
 

I am gettin old (mentally), I won't be 38 until next year... grumble... grumble... maybe geritol would help...

misc
 

First, Happy Birthday Tony. I'm not too far behind you. (Dec 19)

Second, perfect woman... mine is Cassandra Peterson, better known to you lesser folks as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. But then, I'm weird.

Lastly, I have to agree with UT, most actresses don't last and tend to be faddish. Few make it more than a decade.

Brian

...............some very odd tastes here *laughz
but heck i am 1/2 - 1/3 of the age of most people here i think....

Echo Griff's sentiment, nail on the head UT =)

Hm - few people have cynicism wise i was 16 going on 60.....never knew hwo to take that one.

Re: Explain Yourself!
 

Simple... Scopulus Argentarius is a psuedonym I've use since high school. It is simply two latin words that have a meaning associated with my real name. Hope that clears it up....


sa

My own curious handles explained:

A long time ago (circa 1991-2), at a university far, far away, I was introduced to an addictive little Internet game called netrek. Now, just to set this straight from the beginning, you need not have any knowledge of or affinity for the Star Trek universe to understand and play netrek. Which is good, as I have little love for the Star Trek Sequel Factory. Or the Star Wars Sequel Factory, for that matter. But I digress.

Actually, netrek is still around, and with the advent of DSL even Win98 dweebs like myself can play at full speed. www.netrek.org tells the tale. But, again, I digress.

Netrek allows you to select a name of up to 15 characters. This allows a fair amount of creativity, and eventually I became the Sybil of the netrek world, rarely using the same name twice. But I was just starting out at this point, so I wanted to think of a name that I'd stick with for a while.

As it happens, I had Jello Biafra's first spoken word album in heavy rotation in my collection at that point. One of the tracks is titled "Names For Bands," featuring Jello bemoaning the lack of thought that goes into many band names and suggesting a few twisted concepts of his own. Eventually, he starts running them off in rapid-fire fashion, with gems like Cancer Cures Everything, Dracula Was Gay, and the Ku Klux Flintstones.

One of them fit in the fifteen-character limit, and sounded bizarre enough to pique my interest: "Video Sex Pope." And, so, a nom de plume was born.

I've used variations of the name (usually vsp, sometimes simply pope or vspope) in my mail account names for years now. Old habits are hard to break.

Those of you who remember me from my dialup days may remember "Innocent Bystander" as my secondary name; that was (a) the name of my feature column for the NCSU newspaper for a year or two, and (b) the name of John Palumbo's first solo album, which was also in heavy rotation in my head at the time.

jeff. who's glad he wasn't as into Zappa then as he is now, or who knows what monstrocity of a name I'd be using

Oh, please. Her headshot is worse than Theron's....

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Blanchett,+Cate

Dana Delany is in "Philly" (destined not to make it to a second season, I'm betting), and if the huge pictures of her on the SEPTA buses were any indication, she's still pretty cute.

Helen Slater is doing movies no one ever heard of, and I couldn't find any recent pictures.

Same story for Beals and Cates, though I never found either that attractive to begin with.

I'm pretty sure I saw Cates guest on CSI last season.

Well she's married to that Kevin Kline. But that's not the point!

Saw the last post and realized I'd missed Tony's becuase I don't really have much interest in "rating women". So, I went back and found the above.

Anyhow, Happy Birthday, Tony! I didn't know it was coming or I'd have mentioned it on my last visit! :)

As for the other comment, as warch said, bravo! It's good to see a guy noticing that and saying it aloud.

I often thought about what it must be like for a young woman actor. Knowing (if she sees reality) that even if she "makes it" she won't last nearly as long as her male counterparts. Now, not that I think it's litigatable (is that a word?), it is IMHO, a form of discrimination.

I sat one day and thought about many "big stars" that I remember who had effectivly disappeared: Kim Bassanger, Kelly McGillis, etc, etc. It seems that there are very few women who last very long in the movie industry. Oh, there are a few, but look at the alternative.

Arnold, Travolta, Connery, Eastwood, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss.... I could go on... Men whose "star" status has lasted 20 years or more.

I suppose it's just the age-old story of our values in society -- to many, only young women are attractive, while men are sometimes more admired with age until some limit, of course. But that limit is much higher for men than women.

I don't know why I'm ranting about this... I suppose it just struck a nerve given my age. :)

i like older women. i think that there are *many* older women that are exceptionally attractive. and i don't rule anyone out based on age (unless they're 14!). it just so happens that *my* ideal is 19... but age really has nothing to do with it... i'm friends with quite a few "older" women - from 26 up to 45...

btw, i think julia roberts will probably last at least another 5 years... maybe 10... who knows... and she's been around 10 already... meg ryan is also still pretty popular...

Well that'll change.

Hey Lisa,
Travolta is an interesing case,because as he aged, he did effectively disappear and was perceived as just a pretty boy. With Tarantino's help he broke back in with a character role and has managed to jockey back to leading man.

There are some women working at it. Ones who I think will stick around: Holly Hunter, Susan Sarandon...

john travolta is a very mislead (or evil) man.

very mislead!

I forgot he was into Scientology! Poor Vinny.
Years ago I had a strange experience in Oslo with some Scientology "personality researchers". Through an elaborate experiment involving soup cans and telephone wire, they found me to be "too critical". and L Ron could help with that. Trouble was, I argued that being critical was not only a good thing but essential. They revealed themselves to be not only stupid but evil, trying to con me into buying a lovely volume on dianetics by telling me that my companion (who was separated from me) wanted to buy it but didnt have enough $. No way you piranhas.

Saw a trailer for some new Tom Cruise movie where he's hooked up with Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz, it goes on and on. My sister-in-law is a struggling stage actor in LA and not getting any younger. I wonder if the bias crosses into the "legitamite" theatre?

Wrong Delany. Dana Delany is on the show "Pasadena." I'm not sure what network it is on (I want to say Fox or the WB), but last I saw, it was tanking.

Kim Delaney (ex-NYPD Blue) is the star of "Philly." It did not start well, but I think it has promise.

Yeah, it's been starting to grow on me. But I still prefer "The Practice."

Re: Explain Yourself!
 

Wow...I made the top 5. I feel...wait hang on. It's not despair, not really shame...more the opposite of that...WAIT, I know! It's pride! I read about it before, but damn... I mean, this feels pretty good.

Anyhow, "Chewbaccus" has a good history behind it.

In the beginning, there was a website, ({shamelessplug}www.worldwidewop.net{/shamelessplug}) conceived by the body known only as THE TRIAD. When the site came into being, it was determined among Them that Their names would be revealed to the general populace. Therefore, They decided to choose names that were ancient, Greco- and/or Roman-sounding, and thus, impressive.

However, peace was only to reign for a short time. For one of Them modeled His name after what the other two of THE TRIAD called Him personally. Whence He found out what the significance of that which the other two of THE TRIAD called Him, a name change for the mortals was deemed necessary. So, this member of THE TRIAD went into hiding and pondered upon a new name suitable for the masses to embrace. After many movements of the sun, He decided to merge two of His favorite fictional characters into one, allowing the people to acknowledge him as "CHEWBACCUS MAXIMUS".

And for shits and giggles (and to save space), chopped it down to "Chewbaccus" and made it the handle you have come to know and, apparently, puzzle over. The end.

All-knowingly,

~Mike

Re: misc
 

I'm back. At least those from the KAOS days would recall my handle here. Yep, it's the guy who brought the 'DIE LAMERZ!!!' banners for the Reading Terminal meets. I was also known as Chowderhead #1. The current name was my original one at KAOS and IAI. I decided to use it strictly as a last minute decision. At the time there was a chess playing computer called 'Mephisto' and I was tempted to use that, I used the shorter version of 'meph' only because it seemed too egotistical to use the full version. I later became CH#1 only after a humorous rant by Rev. P-K (AKA Brian Siano). I popped in a few years back when I was living in San Diego, I'm back in Dallas now. No, not the Dallas, PA prison.... Dallas, TX. [slap] Yes dear, I'll get back on topic.
Color me weirder but I've always thought Teri Garr a little more to the attainable perfect woman though I always had a hankering for Stella from Saturday Night Dead. (There's an oldie for you trivia buffs. What station did she appear on?) She ripped off Elvira but most Philly-area people never knew who she was until after Stella got canned.

Elvira still does gigs on the Left Coast. I caught her in civvies at a California Guitar Trio gig a year or so ago in SD. She's pretty cool in real life when I met her. No airs, just real nice to everyone. You wouldn't know she was there except that someone pointed her out to me.
[back to pointless bantering]

I now hit usenet as Cujo. That's from post-KAOS times when I got the nickname at rib-eating contests at the Reading Terminal Market. I'll be bouncing in and out of here as the mood suits me. Glad to see the place is still together.
Kevin.

DAMN, dude! Welcome! Talk about goin' back... how'd you even think to check the address?

I was here a few years back when I lived in SD, I left this computer with this URL bookmarked and just happened to be weeding out stuff that no longer exists and spotted it. I did have an account *then*. Either you weed out people who no longer stop in after a certain time or when you redid the place you bumped me.

Re: Explain Yourself!
 

The cellar was my first foray into online communications.

(I found the number for the BBS in Delaware Valley Computer User and thought, "why the heck not.")

I was confronted with that blinking cursor that was prompting me to enter my login name.

Now, I could have chosen a lot of different things.

Looking back I'm still surprised my name wasn't Wumpus ...

but anyway ...

I just up and typed "wolf"

as in SilverWolf

Which was a recurrent dream image ...

It's also my name.

Well, one of them.

But it _is_ my cool Cellar name ...

and ultimately became my first login name for the 'net.

So maybe it's not as much of a story as some of the other folks here, but it's mine.

DUDE!
 

Welcome back CH! I was beginning to forget you.

I hope you stick around this time. I've missed your opinions on various topics.

Brian (KM)

Re: DUDE!
 

OhmiGHOD! Keymaster?!
Still crazy after all these years...

Re: Myinvisible nick
 

Heh. Guess you missed that one :)

Re: DUDE!
 

I'll pop in from time to time, I guess I should have popped in after the Cowturds got their asses kicked by the Beagles. That's something I miss, the Philly fans. Most of the places (like sports bars) in the area of Dallas I live in are anything but Dallas fans, there's a Bronco group, a Packers group and a few others. No Eagles or Cowboys groups I've run across. When I was living in SD, I didn't notice many fans for the Chargers fans either, go figure.

I will confess that the one thing I loved and miss about SD was the skybox at Qualcomm stadium, I got tickets twice a year because I worked for the Padres owner.

Other than missing Taylors pork roll (I could get that in SD at 8 bucks a pound!), I get all my Philly favorites here in Dallas. Birch beer and Tastykakes are available across the street (literally) and I certainly don't miss scrapple. I sure don't miss the 4.94% Philly wage tax.
There's a killer place for pizza about a mile away, but every other place I've tried here in Cowtown *sucks*. SD was the same deal, only a place called Bronx Pizza had good pie. Believe it or not, Pizza Slut was called the best pizza in SD the last few years.

For the few who have wondered what I've been doing the last 6 years or so:
I've been a consultant/contractor in Boston, NY, LI, TX, and CA and finally got nuked out of my last job by those wonderful people who brought you the WTC bombing/collision. I've taken "advantage" of this to get some of the stuff I should have done finally accomplished.
I'll be popping back every once in a while, so DIE LAMERZZZ!!!!.
Kevin.

jenno = jenni (my name) with a typo... happened about two or so years back, and it just kinda stuck as a nickname

fay = fairy. i like fairies.

and thats that. :)

m = matt(hew), my first name
mesker = last name

So m + mesker = mmesker. Or mm(m) esker... *drools*

Do I win the award for least creative? Actually, I usually masquerade as bluemysteryboy (on AIM and such), but I was feeling honest when I registered here a few days ago. :P

'tw' is just his initials. Undertoad used to be "Tony Shepps", which is just his real name. We've already been over mine though. But it's not creative either.