MOFETTE results!

[Jean-Joseph Cote]

Aussie writes:
> Then I realized we could, actually, fictionalize names pretty well - I 
> have visual images to go with a lot of your names which have
> nothing whatsoever to do with what you actually look like.

Yeah, I also have mental pictures of some of these people.  But I'm going
to burst your bubble on a few of these (like when you finally find out
what a radio personality looks like, and it's completely "wrong"):

> the solid New England charm of Hutch

Pffft!  I think Hutch has spent a total of maybe 48 hours in New England
(although he did spend part of that time bowling duckpins!).  Hutch is a
wild Colorado mountain man, who had a big beard and a braid down to his
waist until a few years ago, when he got a shave and a haircut in an
attempt to look respectable in the eyes of prospective employers.  (I'm
sure they saw right through the disguise.)

> Pierre Abbat in his sackcloth,

Maybe, but...

> Jean-Joseph as some wild French photojournalist in Mongolia,

That's how I actually picture Pierre.

> David as a sort of Rube Goldbergian mad inventor with coke
> bottle eyeglasses,

That's *me*, except my prescription isn't really that strong.  And I'm
the one from New England, not Hutch.  But maybe the Rhode Island
grandmothers have more solid New England charm.

> Elliott looking like the picture on the back of the bookcover with 
> tweeds and pipe.

Well, when last I saw Elliott (and it's getting to be a while ago by
now!), he was an angel-headed hipster, complete with beret, who spoke
German fluently thanks to his stint as an au pair over there.  But he's
paradoxically from Mississippi.  And he bristled when Janus called him a
"cracker", and indignantly drew a population map of the South showing the
location of crackers, rednecks, and other such groups.  I don't remember
what the folks from his area were (white trash?).  So when you imagine a
fellow from Oxford, yes, that's him, but we're talking about the Oxford
of Faulkner, not the one in England.  But what becomes of beatniks after
a decade or so?  By now he probably has moved on to tweeds and a pipe...

> We won't even get into Ranjit, who sounds (and 
> sometimes acts) like some kinda monkey wrench.

If I could meet anyone on the list, who would I want it to be?  Hard to
choose, so many good options.  I think I might go for Kir.  A Vermont
housebuilder has to be cool.  Ranjit sounds interesting, too, but I think
I'm too afraid.

Jean-Joseph