(no subject)
First of all, I got voted as two awesome (okay, cocky, homicidal and angsty) characters in the second regular character meme over at westerosorting . This was so amazing that I requested banners with two different kinds of fanart, and I might even be getting another one showing that I'm sharing Loras with aikodestiny . 
Both banners by misstopia . Hilarious, wansta!Theon art by regendy . Hilarious, A-OK!Loras art by zweihand . Hot versions of both by some professional artists I don't know.
Hm, Things sure have changed since I was voted sweet, "innocent" Margaery last year. XD
And now, onto the thing I've been working on for like a week (things got deleted several times. I don't even want to talk about it). It's time for the question meme! I answered five questions from deeplyunhip and five questions from cloud_wolf. The answers are below the cut. (And Sahar, sorry if yours are a bit shorter than Kim's. *sweat drop*). If you want me to ask you questions, anyone, just write "resistance is futile" in a comment.
From deeplyunhip
1. Describe your top three theatre-related memories thus far in your life (you can name more if you have trouble deciding).
My top three moments being involved in theatre were:
1)Playing Agnes Gooch in Mame at the end of my senior year of high school. This was significant for several reasons. One was that our school, Edward R. Murrow High School, had an incredibly competitive drama program and this was my first time having a lead (okay, supporting lead) part in an official production. I was really proud of my performance. I think the part fit me rather well and I got to show off my skills (namely, self deprecating comedy, a moment of sexiness and a singing). It was also the last performance I had with a bunch of people I really liked, including my two close friends, Kim (who asked this question!) and Ellie. Okay, Kim and I performed together in a revue later in life but still...it was my last performance with Murrow folks, and Kim was a huge part of my life there. Finally, I really like the "open a new window" message of the play...and the music! Top drawer!
2)Senior year of college, my friend and roommate Jeanne was doing her senior project by directing one of my plays, Ships. There was a lot of drama here, partially because of our temperaments, partially because at least one scene in the play was inspired by a falling out she and I had two years before and partially because I was actually completely rewriting that play that year. Somehow, despite our very tumultuous partnership, it was really successful. Jeanne's partnership with me on this remains the most daring and artistically helpful one I've ever had in a theatre setting ( I can't imagine the play without her idea to have the flashback scenes filmed and projected, for instance) and any problem I had with the play had to do with the resources available to her and not her ideas, in the end. My memory is that during one rehearsal we had to step outside the room to have a really ugly fight about costumes and then eventually stopped, accepted each other's points of view and then out of nowhere she told me that one part needed more dialog to be clear. Normally I would have been defensive about that but after fighting with her and really being honest like that for ten minutes about something else I was able to hear it, go back into the room where the actors were literally cowering and write about four lines of play saving dialog for the last scene. I can't explain it better than something in the collaboration between Jeanne and I was wild and uncontrollable and challenging and really, really worked. And I'm forever grateful for that.
3) Two years ago, my friend Sam and I finally got it together to produce a staged reading of my play, Sweet Prince. I believe we were rehearsing the first scene, which ends with Joey, my main character, slitting his wrists. (What a way to start a play, right?) Anyway, it was early in the process and rehearsals were going fairly well. But Sam said something to Micah, the actor who plays Joey, like "I need you to feel more of this" and I guess he took it as a challenge because he was suddenly bawling his eyes out and almost threw one of the chairs. I was dumbfounded with the idea, very suddenly, that this was going to be really, really good. It had never really registered with me that I had written something that could make someone feel that intensely. It had never registered as real to me before that in some small way, I had created something greater than myself.
Because you said I could cheat a bit on this, I'm also going to describe two memories of being an audience member.
One was when I was seven and saw Damn Yankees on Broadway This was the second Broadway show I had ever seen and I was really, really into it. When it was over I remember vividly walking back and forth, looking at the partnered carpet in the lobby and pretending I was telling a bunch of other kids about the show, leading them in a rousing rendition of "Heart". I think this is what really started my love affair with theatre.
The other was in my junior year of college when I saw The Seagull performed by some of Purchase college's amazing conservatory actors. Now the funny thing is, I'd never much cared for Chekov but I guess it's true that you have to seem his work performed (well, I think I saw boring rendition of the Cherry Orchard once or something) because this was really intense. I wont go all spoiler on you but that last moment literally had me shaking in my seat and reminded me why I love theatre so much. I believe watching this play, which was supposedly Chekov's "response to Hamlet" directly influenced my writing Sweet Prince the next year.
2. If you could have any pets you wanted, but no cats, what kind of animals do you think you'd decide to own (pretend you're older and rich enough to afford taking care of anything)?
The answer to this would almost definitely be dogs since dogs are the only animals I can remember knowing in my life, besides cats, that I feel like I loved (I am thinking of my godmother's dog, Sparky and my boyfriend's dog, Willow, in particular) . Like cats, dogs seem to have surprisingly distinct personalities, which I find important. I like to love animals because of who they are, not just what they look like. But yeah, they're also cuddly.
And that being said, I always kind of wanted a bunny.
3. What's one fear you've had (or maybe still have to some degree) that you've made progress in getting over? How'd you make that progress?
I think I have some pretty big social anxiety when it comes to approaching people I don't know. I'm really afraid of looking stupid to the point where I wont speak up if there's even a chance I will get shot down by a stranger. A lot of social situations in high school and college helped me cope with this but the best was just interviewing for jobs and working in offices. That's something you just plain have to get over when in the professional world, at least to some degree.
4. Name your top seven favorite computer and/or video games.
Okay, these are the top seven games that I have enjoyed in my life. I do not, in any way, mean to imply these are the best games in the world, or even the best I've ever played. However, I personally, have enjoyed them the most. I am very much a casual gamer at best, just fyi.
Escape from Castle Wolfenstein was my first gaming experience. It's a first person shooter from the people who made Doom, before Doom actually came out. My dad had it and he would sit with me, either on his lap or next to him and have me help him, finding where treasure might be hidden, exploring the maze and generally killin' nazis (and their dogs...). To this day, the experience of playing this...actually rather violent game...with my father is one of my warmest memories of gaming. Do with that what you will
Treasure Mountain was the first game I played on my own. It is a children's side scroller. I still have that theme music in my head and it makes me happy. The puzzles were really easy, but the feeling of adventure was epic for me at the time and escaping that guy's hand when climbing up to the top could be tricky. I was always begging my dad to let me on the computer to play.
The Tekken series was my first real foray into fighting games, starting one epic night when my friend Phil and I played 100 rounds of Tekken 4. I'd never seen the game before, but he busted it out as something to do and it amused us to pretend the characters were characters from our Harry Potter wold based RPG having epic crack battles (what? I'm being honest.). At the time I knew little more than button mashing, but in the years that followed, I slowly did learn more, getting a sense of some stuff you're actually supposed to do in fighting games (leading me to play other series', particularly Soul Caliber) without ever having to memorize combos . It's pretty user friendly that way, with unique character designs and fighting styles based on actual martial arts styles. I also feel I should mention that when I recently watched Spaced and was pretty sure Daisy was me, seeing her imitate Nina Williams' "I won" pose kind of cinched it. I <3 Nina. Another cute memory re:Tekken is when we were first dating, Rajiv who always said he was much more of a 2D fighter guy (he like won a few tournaments, actually, I think, back in the day with Guilty Gear) bought Tekken 5 because he knew it was my favorite. Of course, he like immediately outclassed me. But I don't mind...much... being beaten in Tekken. I just like playing.
World of Warcraft . Heh. Guys, I feel hella silly hotlinking info about WoW. Anyway, the world of...um, warcraft is amazing and beautiful. There is an amazing amount to explore and I love being swept up into it. Unfortunately, I have penchant for getting lost, so my best memories of WoW are from those four or so months that I actually owned the game and was playing frequently with other, more experienced, people (namely Rajiv, Phil and Jeff). WoW is social and it was great way to connect with friends I couldn't see as often, and especially to do something with my long distance boyfriend. I love being part of a team and feeling useful and accomplished that way, I can totally see the appeal of guilds. I got particularly attached to my highest level character (actually not high level at all cause I'm totes a noob, she's like 50-something), Nyymeria, a female Troll Hunter. I absolutely love everything about being a hunter. I love having a pet, I love archery, I love traps, I love feign death...everything...though I've enjoyed other classes (and races) as well. There's really so much you can in WoW and if you have people you enjoy playing with it's a good way to spend time. It became too time and money consuming for me, but the way thing's are currently going I am considering trying another month sometime this year. That's the other awesome thing about WoW...your account is always there to pick back up whenever you come back. Nyym...we will fight again. FOR THE HORDE, YO.
Pixeljunk Monsters (note: it was really hard for me to choose between this and Castle Crashers, another game I've played extensively with Rajiv, but I ultimately picked this one because it's the only Tower Defense on the list.)
This game is for the PS3 so I have only played it with Rajiv but I loved it so much that I actually wrote a personal story for the Playstation site about it (under their feature Pixeljunk couples). Basically, this game was the first game Rajiv and I had really played together for years and it was something we started doing very shortly after we got back together. It was definitely a rebonding thing as this game works really well with team work. I never played a Tower Defense game and I have to say, this made me really enjoy them. Man, the hard work it takes to rainbow levels, you wouldn't realize! Also, dancing on towers to level them is good time to make out. Just sayin'.
Kingdom Hearts is an action rpg combining final fantasy, disney and original story elements. I was vaguely obsessed with this series for a while from watching Rajiv play, hearing about it from Phil, reading some of the manga adaptation, playing a lot of Chain of Memories on Rajiv's gameboy and even getting stamped in some stamping community about it (as Ariel, lol). I even played some on Rajiv's save file before owning a PS2 of my own. The funny thing about me and this game is that I found it frustrated as hell. I'd never played very long into an RPG before and it took a long while for me to think in that specific way...hell, I'm not sure if I'm there completely. After owning the game on my own it actually took me two years and fifty hours of game play to complete (as in, see the regular ending). I probably never would have done it if I didn't set the goal for myself. That being said, something about the game is magical and drew me to it and I'm glad I did it.There was a supreme sense of acomplishment in completing some of those fights. I know, it has disney, it's kind of childish game but man, I would have never been able to do some of that stuff as a child...next is Kingdom Hearts 2.
The_Sims_ (by which I mainly mean Sims 2 and sort of 3). There's really nothing like the Sims and it can be used it such a variety of ways. I've created characters based on books, rpgs, plays and just for the sims and had them live their lives. Every day tasks are challenging and rewarding. Who knew getting out of bed to go to work was so hard? (Okay, maybe we all did?) And playing god is deliciously fun.
I feel sort of bad for leaving out any singing or music games since I've played so many and am certainly better at singing than I am at most other video game skills but...*shrug*
5. Tell me about the most frightening dream you've ever had.
I don't think I've ever had the typical monster chasing me dream, or if I have it was more exciting and anxious than truly frightening. Most of my frightening dreams have been either really sad or disturbing. I think I'd rather describe sad so let's just say that during the summer before I went away to college I had a really emotionally vivid dream where my mother died and I had to accept what it was going to be like to live without a mother.
From cloud_wolf
1. What's your favourite play?
Hamlet.
But so as not to give you one word, obvious answers...here are my top picks for several different genres.
Classic: Medea, Lysistrata
Shakespeare: Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet.
"Straight Drama": A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, The Baltimore Waltz, The Invention of Love and The Effect of Gamma Rays on the Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.
Musical: Gypsy, Man of la Mancha and Guys and Dolls.
Okay, so this feels like cheating since I had so many links for Kim's questions...but you did only ask me for one ;). I'm going to just that the reason why I say Hamlet above these amazing plays as well as tons of others is not just because of how famous it is. Hamlet is ridiculously complex. You can definitely see something different in any time and yet it's simple, being very much about the human condition more than about the plot.
2. Which country's cuisine do you think is best?
I've been well known for years by my friends for my love of Chinese food. In fact, there were times when I used to get chicken with broccoli like...more than once a day. (Of course, american Chinese food is more american than Chinese, but that's another story.) But since I stopped eating meat (okay, I had meat one weekend. :/) I think Mexican food has moved up as my favorite type of cuisine. I love rice, I love beans, I love cheese and I love avocado. Seemed kind of natural this would happen. Okay, I also love spices and tortilla chips ;)
Some other types of cuisine I really like are Japanese, Thai, Indian and Italian.
3. Sorry, I like this question so much that I'm going to ask you too: Which greek god would you take on a date?
I feel like as a Gemini I should answer this question with Hermes. And that woulddd be fun, though I doubt he'd sit still for a date. I kind of have pretty huge admiration crushes for all the goddesses too, so I'm tempted to say I could just go to dinner with like, Athena. I feel like Athena might disapprove of me though. I don't know.
But yeah, the truth is, I don't think I could turn down a date with Apollo. I mean, is it just me, or does everyone picture Apollo as like the epitome of male beauty and mystery? Kind of...dare I say...Jaime Lannister-eque? I'm kind of obsessed with Apollo, in any case. I even wrote a play with a character sort of kind of not really inspired by him. I figure we could have a good time. He might be too beautiful to look at, but he'd probably go to see a play with me. He was the patron of music and fine arts, after all. Maybe afterwards we could get some baklava. It's true that some have hypothesized that he may have been gay or in love with his sister...or at least a really terrible boyfriend. But he's a god. What did I expect?
4. What's, in your opinion, the best movie/tv show featuring NYC?
Best I really can't say. Look at this list of films set in New York. I ask you, how am I supposed to choose between Guys and Dolls, Midnight Cowboy, Westside Story, Annie Hall and...I could go on? You get the picture. But as for tv shows that I think feature New York City really well, I'll pick three.
Seinfeld really captured the (pre-911) New York attitude, with jokes about New York sites (the Soup Nazi!) and concerns (finding a parking space) as well as not being afraid to have a lot of jewish humor. The show is already dated but considering how little it actually tried to appeal to middle america is kind of amazing.
Sex and the City certainly has it's flaws and it's depiction of life in New York portrays a fantasy that most women will never be able to afford. BUT it also had way more shots of the actors actually interacting with the city than any other show before and that it helped remind me, a native who takes it for granted, that this really is a beautiful town. Sometimes.
Gossip Girl doesn't even pretend to relate to what real New York life is like for most people. And it surreptitiously has them constantly in the most beautiful, fantasy parts of New York (Central Park, Fifth Avenue and the Met, etc). It's easy and familiar, reminding you that New York is not all grit and that if you're there you could be part of someone's fairy tale. Yet this season, since several of the characters are attending NYU, I've enjoyed seeing them pass by trendy downtown places, fulfilling that hipster fantasy...and realizing that those are places I've been. And...I want you to know I almost named the places but decided to not be that pretentious. XD
5. Which language would you most like to learn?
Well, I took French in school so I guess I'd like to continue with that. It is really beautiful, you know. I also took Latin, but continuing with that would be juuuust for pretension at this point. I also really wouldn't mind learning Italian, since my relatives speak it. Or Spanish, cause it's useful and cool. Or Russian, for my heritage. Or Japanes for um...anime.
Hrm. Let's stick to French for now.
Both banners by misstopia . Hilarious, wansta!Theon art by regendy . Hilarious, A-OK!Loras art by zweihand . Hot versions of both by some professional artists I don't know.
Hm, Things sure have changed since I was voted sweet, "innocent" Margaery last year. XD
And now, onto the thing I've been working on for like a week (things got deleted several times. I don't even want to talk about it). It's time for the question meme! I answered five questions from deeplyunhip and five questions from cloud_wolf. The answers are below the cut. (And Sahar, sorry if yours are a bit shorter than Kim's. *sweat drop*). If you want me to ask you questions, anyone, just write "resistance is futile" in a comment.
From deeplyunhip
1. Describe your top three theatre-related memories thus far in your life (you can name more if you have trouble deciding).
My top three moments being involved in theatre were:
1)Playing Agnes Gooch in Mame at the end of my senior year of high school. This was significant for several reasons. One was that our school, Edward R. Murrow High School, had an incredibly competitive drama program and this was my first time having a lead (okay, supporting lead) part in an official production. I was really proud of my performance. I think the part fit me rather well and I got to show off my skills (namely, self deprecating comedy, a moment of sexiness and a singing). It was also the last performance I had with a bunch of people I really liked, including my two close friends, Kim (who asked this question!) and Ellie. Okay, Kim and I performed together in a revue later in life but still...it was my last performance with Murrow folks, and Kim was a huge part of my life there. Finally, I really like the "open a new window" message of the play...and the music! Top drawer!
2)Senior year of college, my friend and roommate Jeanne was doing her senior project by directing one of my plays, Ships. There was a lot of drama here, partially because of our temperaments, partially because at least one scene in the play was inspired by a falling out she and I had two years before and partially because I was actually completely rewriting that play that year. Somehow, despite our very tumultuous partnership, it was really successful. Jeanne's partnership with me on this remains the most daring and artistically helpful one I've ever had in a theatre setting ( I can't imagine the play without her idea to have the flashback scenes filmed and projected, for instance) and any problem I had with the play had to do with the resources available to her and not her ideas, in the end. My memory is that during one rehearsal we had to step outside the room to have a really ugly fight about costumes and then eventually stopped, accepted each other's points of view and then out of nowhere she told me that one part needed more dialog to be clear. Normally I would have been defensive about that but after fighting with her and really being honest like that for ten minutes about something else I was able to hear it, go back into the room where the actors were literally cowering and write about four lines of play saving dialog for the last scene. I can't explain it better than something in the collaboration between Jeanne and I was wild and uncontrollable and challenging and really, really worked. And I'm forever grateful for that.
3) Two years ago, my friend Sam and I finally got it together to produce a staged reading of my play, Sweet Prince. I believe we were rehearsing the first scene, which ends with Joey, my main character, slitting his wrists. (What a way to start a play, right?) Anyway, it was early in the process and rehearsals were going fairly well. But Sam said something to Micah, the actor who plays Joey, like "I need you to feel more of this" and I guess he took it as a challenge because he was suddenly bawling his eyes out and almost threw one of the chairs. I was dumbfounded with the idea, very suddenly, that this was going to be really, really good. It had never really registered with me that I had written something that could make someone feel that intensely. It had never registered as real to me before that in some small way, I had created something greater than myself.
Because you said I could cheat a bit on this, I'm also going to describe two memories of being an audience member.
One was when I was seven and saw Damn Yankees on Broadway This was the second Broadway show I had ever seen and I was really, really into it. When it was over I remember vividly walking back and forth, looking at the partnered carpet in the lobby and pretending I was telling a bunch of other kids about the show, leading them in a rousing rendition of "Heart". I think this is what really started my love affair with theatre.
The other was in my junior year of college when I saw The Seagull performed by some of Purchase college's amazing conservatory actors. Now the funny thing is, I'd never much cared for Chekov but I guess it's true that you have to seem his work performed (well, I think I saw boring rendition of the Cherry Orchard once or something) because this was really intense. I wont go all spoiler on you but that last moment literally had me shaking in my seat and reminded me why I love theatre so much. I believe watching this play, which was supposedly Chekov's "response to Hamlet" directly influenced my writing Sweet Prince the next year.
2. If you could have any pets you wanted, but no cats, what kind of animals do you think you'd decide to own (pretend you're older and rich enough to afford taking care of anything)?
The answer to this would almost definitely be dogs since dogs are the only animals I can remember knowing in my life, besides cats, that I feel like I loved (I am thinking of my godmother's dog, Sparky and my boyfriend's dog, Willow, in particular) . Like cats, dogs seem to have surprisingly distinct personalities, which I find important. I like to love animals because of who they are, not just what they look like. But yeah, they're also cuddly.
And that being said, I always kind of wanted a bunny.
3. What's one fear you've had (or maybe still have to some degree) that you've made progress in getting over? How'd you make that progress?
I think I have some pretty big social anxiety when it comes to approaching people I don't know. I'm really afraid of looking stupid to the point where I wont speak up if there's even a chance I will get shot down by a stranger. A lot of social situations in high school and college helped me cope with this but the best was just interviewing for jobs and working in offices. That's something you just plain have to get over when in the professional world, at least to some degree.
4. Name your top seven favorite computer and/or video games.
Okay, these are the top seven games that I have enjoyed in my life. I do not, in any way, mean to imply these are the best games in the world, or even the best I've ever played. However, I personally, have enjoyed them the most. I am very much a casual gamer at best, just fyi.
Escape from Castle Wolfenstein was my first gaming experience. It's a first person shooter from the people who made Doom, before Doom actually came out. My dad had it and he would sit with me, either on his lap or next to him and have me help him, finding where treasure might be hidden, exploring the maze and generally killin' nazis (and their dogs...). To this day, the experience of playing this...actually rather violent game...with my father is one of my warmest memories of gaming. Do with that what you will
Treasure Mountain was the first game I played on my own. It is a children's side scroller. I still have that theme music in my head and it makes me happy. The puzzles were really easy, but the feeling of adventure was epic for me at the time and escaping that guy's hand when climbing up to the top could be tricky. I was always begging my dad to let me on the computer to play.
The Tekken series was my first real foray into fighting games, starting one epic night when my friend Phil and I played 100 rounds of Tekken 4. I'd never seen the game before, but he busted it out as something to do and it amused us to pretend the characters were characters from our Harry Potter wold based RPG having epic crack battles (what? I'm being honest.). At the time I knew little more than button mashing, but in the years that followed, I slowly did learn more, getting a sense of some stuff you're actually supposed to do in fighting games (leading me to play other series', particularly Soul Caliber) without ever having to memorize combos . It's pretty user friendly that way, with unique character designs and fighting styles based on actual martial arts styles. I also feel I should mention that when I recently watched Spaced and was pretty sure Daisy was me, seeing her imitate Nina Williams' "I won" pose kind of cinched it. I <3 Nina. Another cute memory re:Tekken is when we were first dating, Rajiv who always said he was much more of a 2D fighter guy (he like won a few tournaments, actually, I think, back in the day with Guilty Gear) bought Tekken 5 because he knew it was my favorite. Of course, he like immediately outclassed me. But I don't mind...much... being beaten in Tekken. I just like playing.
World of Warcraft . Heh. Guys, I feel hella silly hotlinking info about WoW. Anyway, the world of...um, warcraft is amazing and beautiful. There is an amazing amount to explore and I love being swept up into it. Unfortunately, I have penchant for getting lost, so my best memories of WoW are from those four or so months that I actually owned the game and was playing frequently with other, more experienced, people (namely Rajiv, Phil and Jeff). WoW is social and it was great way to connect with friends I couldn't see as often, and especially to do something with my long distance boyfriend. I love being part of a team and feeling useful and accomplished that way, I can totally see the appeal of guilds. I got particularly attached to my highest level character (actually not high level at all cause I'm totes a noob, she's like 50-something), Nyymeria, a female Troll Hunter. I absolutely love everything about being a hunter. I love having a pet, I love archery, I love traps, I love feign death...everything...though I've enjoyed other classes (and races) as well. There's really so much you can in WoW and if you have people you enjoy playing with it's a good way to spend time. It became too time and money consuming for me, but the way thing's are currently going I am considering trying another month sometime this year. That's the other awesome thing about WoW...your account is always there to pick back up whenever you come back. Nyym...we will fight again. FOR THE HORDE, YO.
Pixeljunk Monsters (note: it was really hard for me to choose between this and Castle Crashers, another game I've played extensively with Rajiv, but I ultimately picked this one because it's the only Tower Defense on the list.)
This game is for the PS3 so I have only played it with Rajiv but I loved it so much that I actually wrote a personal story for the Playstation site about it (under their feature Pixeljunk couples). Basically, this game was the first game Rajiv and I had really played together for years and it was something we started doing very shortly after we got back together. It was definitely a rebonding thing as this game works really well with team work. I never played a Tower Defense game and I have to say, this made me really enjoy them. Man, the hard work it takes to rainbow levels, you wouldn't realize! Also, dancing on towers to level them is good time to make out. Just sayin'.
Kingdom Hearts is an action rpg combining final fantasy, disney and original story elements. I was vaguely obsessed with this series for a while from watching Rajiv play, hearing about it from Phil, reading some of the manga adaptation, playing a lot of Chain of Memories on Rajiv's gameboy and even getting stamped in some stamping community about it (as Ariel, lol). I even played some on Rajiv's save file before owning a PS2 of my own. The funny thing about me and this game is that I found it frustrated as hell. I'd never played very long into an RPG before and it took a long while for me to think in that specific way...hell, I'm not sure if I'm there completely. After owning the game on my own it actually took me two years and fifty hours of game play to complete (as in, see the regular ending). I probably never would have done it if I didn't set the goal for myself. That being said, something about the game is magical and drew me to it and I'm glad I did it.There was a supreme sense of acomplishment in completing some of those fights. I know, it has disney, it's kind of childish game but man, I would have never been able to do some of that stuff as a child...next is Kingdom Hearts 2.
The_Sims_ (by which I mainly mean Sims 2 and sort of 3). There's really nothing like the Sims and it can be used it such a variety of ways. I've created characters based on books, rpgs, plays and just for the sims and had them live their lives. Every day tasks are challenging and rewarding. Who knew getting out of bed to go to work was so hard? (Okay, maybe we all did?) And playing god is deliciously fun.
I feel sort of bad for leaving out any singing or music games since I've played so many and am certainly better at singing than I am at most other video game skills but...*shrug*
5. Tell me about the most frightening dream you've ever had.
I don't think I've ever had the typical monster chasing me dream, or if I have it was more exciting and anxious than truly frightening. Most of my frightening dreams have been either really sad or disturbing. I think I'd rather describe sad so let's just say that during the summer before I went away to college I had a really emotionally vivid dream where my mother died and I had to accept what it was going to be like to live without a mother.
From cloud_wolf
1. What's your favourite play?
Hamlet.
But so as not to give you one word, obvious answers...here are my top picks for several different genres.
Classic: Medea, Lysistrata
Shakespeare: Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet.
"Straight Drama": A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, The Baltimore Waltz, The Invention of Love and The Effect of Gamma Rays on the Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.
Musical: Gypsy, Man of la Mancha and Guys and Dolls.
Okay, so this feels like cheating since I had so many links for Kim's questions...but you did only ask me for one ;). I'm going to just that the reason why I say Hamlet above these amazing plays as well as tons of others is not just because of how famous it is. Hamlet is ridiculously complex. You can definitely see something different in any time and yet it's simple, being very much about the human condition more than about the plot.
2. Which country's cuisine do you think is best?
I've been well known for years by my friends for my love of Chinese food. In fact, there were times when I used to get chicken with broccoli like...more than once a day. (Of course, american Chinese food is more american than Chinese, but that's another story.) But since I stopped eating meat (okay, I had meat one weekend. :/) I think Mexican food has moved up as my favorite type of cuisine. I love rice, I love beans, I love cheese and I love avocado. Seemed kind of natural this would happen. Okay, I also love spices and tortilla chips ;)
Some other types of cuisine I really like are Japanese, Thai, Indian and Italian.
3. Sorry, I like this question so much that I'm going to ask you too: Which greek god would you take on a date?
I feel like as a Gemini I should answer this question with Hermes. And that woulddd be fun, though I doubt he'd sit still for a date. I kind of have pretty huge admiration crushes for all the goddesses too, so I'm tempted to say I could just go to dinner with like, Athena. I feel like Athena might disapprove of me though. I don't know.
But yeah, the truth is, I don't think I could turn down a date with Apollo. I mean, is it just me, or does everyone picture Apollo as like the epitome of male beauty and mystery? Kind of...dare I say...Jaime Lannister-eque? I'm kind of obsessed with Apollo, in any case. I even wrote a play with a character sort of kind of not really inspired by him. I figure we could have a good time. He might be too beautiful to look at, but he'd probably go to see a play with me. He was the patron of music and fine arts, after all. Maybe afterwards we could get some baklava. It's true that some have hypothesized that he may have been gay or in love with his sister...or at least a really terrible boyfriend. But he's a god. What did I expect?
4. What's, in your opinion, the best movie/tv show featuring NYC?
Best I really can't say. Look at this list of films set in New York. I ask you, how am I supposed to choose between Guys and Dolls, Midnight Cowboy, Westside Story, Annie Hall and...I could go on? You get the picture. But as for tv shows that I think feature New York City really well, I'll pick three.
Seinfeld really captured the (pre-911) New York attitude, with jokes about New York sites (the Soup Nazi!) and concerns (finding a parking space) as well as not being afraid to have a lot of jewish humor. The show is already dated but considering how little it actually tried to appeal to middle america is kind of amazing.
Sex and the City certainly has it's flaws and it's depiction of life in New York portrays a fantasy that most women will never be able to afford. BUT it also had way more shots of the actors actually interacting with the city than any other show before and that it helped remind me, a native who takes it for granted, that this really is a beautiful town. Sometimes.
Gossip Girl doesn't even pretend to relate to what real New York life is like for most people. And it surreptitiously has them constantly in the most beautiful, fantasy parts of New York (Central Park, Fifth Avenue and the Met, etc). It's easy and familiar, reminding you that New York is not all grit and that if you're there you could be part of someone's fairy tale. Yet this season, since several of the characters are attending NYU, I've enjoyed seeing them pass by trendy downtown places, fulfilling that hipster fantasy...and realizing that those are places I've been. And...I want you to know I almost named the places but decided to not be that pretentious. XD
5. Which language would you most like to learn?
Well, I took French in school so I guess I'd like to continue with that. It is really beautiful, you know. I also took Latin, but continuing with that would be juuuust for pretension at this point. I also really wouldn't mind learning Italian, since my relatives speak it. Or Spanish, cause it's useful and cool. Or Russian, for my heritage. Or Japanes for um...anime.
Hrm. Let's stick to French for now.