This week in “Paddysmack” we asked people, “If you could be any character in any film ever made, who or what would you be?”

As examples, I gave Indiana Jones in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” or the Shark in “Jaws.” I got some great answers from folks around town.

Sayre Weir is a senior at Woodlawn who was recently accepted at Middlebury in Vermont. She wanted to be “Kat Stratford” in “10 Things I Hate About You,” because Kat was a very independent woman.

Karen Toney, the manager of Ben and Jerry’s, wants to be Hawkeye Pierce (played by Donald Sutherland) in “M*A*S*H” because he’s a great surgeon and is also funny and daring.

Elisabeth Brown, a senior at Davidson College and my Spanish tutor, says that she would like to be Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep) In “Julie & Julia” because she would like to live in Paris and eat great food.

Will Terry, a Presbyterian minister and former Dean of Students at Davidson College, would want to be the runner Eric Liddell in “Chariots of Fire.” Eric’s parents were Scottish missionaries, so he refused to run in the Olympics because the race was being held on the Sabbath. Dean Terry admires Eric for having made a difficult yet honorable decision to stand up for what he believes.

Michael Muchane, an 8th grader at The Woodlawn School, would like to be B.A. Baracus (played by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) in the “A-Team” because he felt close to the character.

Elizabeth Marie Melchionna, Associate Rector at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, wishes she could be Tinkerbell in “Peter Pan,” because the advantages of flying and pixie dust outweigh the risks of being stepped on or trapped in a lantern by pirates.

Stacey Schmeidel, Associate Vice President for College Communications at Davidson, loves movies so much that she regularly attends “EbertFest”, famous Film Critic Roger Ebert’s annual movie festival. If she could be any character, she would want to be Babe in everybody’s favorite pig movie, “Babe.” Who doesn’t want to be a little pig having adventures with friends?

Walter Rabb, a Gym teacher at Davidson Elementary, wants to be Superman in the Christopher Reeve version of “Superman” so that he can fly. Plus, he gets to wear that nifty Spandex outfit.

All of these responses were funny, smart, and/or honorable characters. In MY mind though, the one character in a film that I would most like to be is Luke in the “Hey Beach” Series. This is because although the entire character is based on one guy’s ability to annoy Beach, who doesn’t love a classic Beach Galloway overreaction?

NOW, ANSWER THIS:

I have a couple of questions for upcoming PaddySmack columns, and I am hoping DavidsonNews.net fans will e-mail with answers.

Question 1. This question is designed to help the Davidson Town Board: “What is the one business that Davidson should recruit to move to Davidson? (For example my dad thinks Mayor Woods should bring us a professional Arena Football team.)

Question 2. “If you are a kid and you could ask adults one probing question what would it be” or “If you are an adult and you could ask a kid one thing that you really want to know, what would it be?” (For example, an older man might ask a kid, “Why do teenage boys wear their pants so low?”  Conversely, a teenage boy might ask, “Why do some grown-ups wear their pants so high?”

Feel free to email me any time in the next two weeks or so at padmancan@gmail.com and I will incorporate some of your best answers into one of my new columns.

PREVIOUS COLUMNS

Jan. 20, 2011, “What was your favorite music when you were 13?”

Jan. 4, 2011, “Curry, Wildcat hoopsters offer resolutions for 2011.”