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The Nose: Politicans, Proust, 'Lightning Rounds' & Holograms

http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Commodore%20Skahill/Colin%20McEnroe%20Show%2004-20-2012.mp3

There are many versions of the so-called "Proust questionnaire," which is meant to tease out a portrait of a person based on hopes, dreads, likes and dislikes.

I just filled out one on the website of Vanity Fair, a publication which has put many hundreds of famous people through its own version of the Proust questionnaire. The site crudely analyzed my answers and suggested the people I most resembled were Dustin Hoffman and James Brown -- but the former much more than the latter.

We do this a lot during the political season. We watch debates where candidates are asked about their cars and their baseball favorites and the books they read and the music the like.

It all starts to seem a little silly, but then I have to admit I find this stuff very meaningful and distrust politicians who respond in drab or inept ways. Today on the Nose, we'll consider Proust and politics and the hologrammic resurrection of Tupac Shakur.

Special thanks to Tracy Wu-Fastenberg for filling in for Chion Wolf today.

Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.

Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Colin can be reached at colin@ctpublic.org.

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