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Aristus

(72,206 posts)

36. Harlan Ellison.

Fri Jan 27, 2012, 08:13 PM

Jan 2012

With the caveat that he's not always arrogant/obnoxious. I had the honor and pleasure of having dinner with him and some of his literary 'groupies', for lack of a better term. It's common wisdom that one can discern another's true character by the way he treats the staff at a restaurant. As cranky, profane, and curmudgeonly as Ellison is (rightly) viewed, I was worried what might happen when we sat down to dinner in the restaurant of the hotel that was hosting the science fiction literature convention he was headlining.

I was very pleasantly surprised. In addition to being a spellbinding dinner companion, he was witty, polite, charming, and utterly captivating to the young man who was serving us. Did my heart a world of good. Ellison is famously liberal in his politics, and I was glad to see he wasn't letting our side down with boorish, right-wing-style behavior.

Me with the man himself:

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Are there any arrogant/obnoxious people that you admire? [View all] Wait Wut Jan 2012 OP

Alas, no. But I certainly know/know of a lot of them! NRaleighLiberal Jan 2012 #1

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Hmmmm... Wait Wut Jan 2012 #26

To be fair, it could also have been the circumstances in which I met him. arbusto_baboso Jan 2012 #28

Weird. I met him once, too Nevernose Jan 2012 #104

Musta just been the circumstances, then. arbusto_baboso Jan 2012 #106

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And that cackling laugh! geardaddy Jan 2012 #18

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It's cool that you had dinner with him. UnrepentantLiberal Jan 2012 #58

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