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What's the deal with your nickname? How did you get it? If your nickname is self-explanatory, then tell everyone when you first started using the internet, and what was the first thing that made you say "wow, this isn't just a place for freaks after all?" Was it a website? Was it an email from a long-lost friend? Go on, spill it.

Ottimo is the name of a character from a novel that I like. I consider it a tribute to the William Carlos Williams line, "no ideas but in things."

Nietzsche suggested that we shall be known for the things we love, and Rushdie says that we should define ourselves according to what we love rather than what we hate.

So here are a few of my favorites:

Painters: Hopper, Magritte, and Schiele
Comics: Calvin & Hobbes and The Far Side
Novelist: T. Coraghessan Boyle
Poets: William Stafford; Denise Levertov
Movies: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Beauty
Play: True West
Wine: Sancerre
Grilled cheese toppings: mustard, scallions, and tomatoes; slightly burnt
Pickles: dill
Milk: whole
Coffee: no sugar (I drink it bitter)

Dictum: E.M. Forster's "only connect." The most disparate juxtapositions can be the most enlightening: ROUND thyself.

Recent reads: Room by Emma Donoghue; Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Quote: If a book isn't written, no one needs to burn it--ignorance can dance in the absence of fire. (William Stafford, "Burning a Book")

Jack Kerouac quote: From The Scripture of the Golden Eternity, "When you've understood this scripture, throw it away. If you can't understand this scripture, throw it away. I insist on your freedom."

Book that could replace the Bible: The Odyssey.

Native language: English.

Judgmental comment about me on MetaFilter: "A little loopy." (Bless the desultory squiggles.)