Interview Time!
Here's how it works:
1. If you want to be interviewed, leave a comment here with some random neat thing like a link or a rec or a poem. Whatever.
2. I'll ask you five questions.
3. You'll post the answers on your own blog or lj, along with these rules.
4. If anyone replies, asking you for five questions, you'll ask them.
My answers:
o1) Pick your favorite show and explain to me, in more than one or two sentences, why you love it so much.
Star Trek. When I was a kid, all I ever watched was classic tv. I moved to the States when I was eight, and I turned on the tv at the furnished apartment we were staying at at first, and a Get Smart marathon was on on Nick@Nite. I never looked back. So when I was in sixth grade, in Hong Kong, with two local English-language channels and one satellite one, and the satellite channel started showing TOS, I was easy to hook. Of course, the problem with watching shows--especially the not-most-popular shows--overseas is that you don't get to keep up with the latest ones. Especially ten, fifteen years ago. So I saw all of TOS (except 'The Man Trap', which I'm saving for my deathbed) and one season of TNG. I bought the movies in a VHS box set. I read alt.rec.startrek and its related newsgroups. I subscribed to these magazines put out by Starlog that were basically episode summaries with accompanying pictures. Once in a while I bought VHSes of DS9 and VOY episodes (or rented them, if I was on vacation in Hong Kong, as by then we had moved up to Shanghai).
Which is to say maybe it was partly the experience of trying to fan it from afar that was the allure. Then again, maybe it was because I loved it so much that I was willing to put in all that effort.
The show itself, or shows. They are so incredibly optimistic, so full of hope. This is the usual line when people talk about why Star Trek is good, but that's because it's true. I've never been much of a fan of dystopian literature--it feels preachy to me--but Trek was full of characters, humans, who were smart and brave and selfless and adventurous, who had curiosity in spades, who wanted nothing more than to explore and learn, from each other, from other species, worlds, experiences. They respected one another and loved one another (mostly as friends, though if the circumstances were right, as lovers too). They were by no means infallible, but they were willing to see their faults, and as faults went they tended to be pretty mild.
They were interesting.
And then there was the world! Free of material worries, everyone who lived in the Federation (okay, the fringes are a little less prosperous, but there was, also the opportunity to move into the center if that's what you wanted) were able to pursue the things they felt passionate about, to do what they were each best fitted for. And they tended to be good, productive things, because everyone had had the benefit of education and good nutrition, and the example of everybody else to learn from. And the principle of IDIC--not just sensible, but aliens are cool! They're fascinating as mirrors of ourselves, especially in a universe like Star Trek, where these aliens are living and interacting with a whole lot of humans. So, these Starfleet officers, they sail the stars, and they have adventures that are not overly saddled with questions of romantic relationships, and at the same time, there's characterization, there's development, there's comedy and seriousness. And they managed this (to varying responses) for many, many seasons and some very wonderful novels. (We won't talk about the Spinoff That Must Not Be Named.) And it inspired so much, it paved the way for so many shows we love today.
I may not actively do much in Trek nowadays, or even think about it a lot, and it is downright strange to pop in one of my DVDs and see a show that's not done in widescreen. But I still love it dearly, and always will.
o2) What'd you want to be when you were a kid?
A writer, mostly. But then I had a little breakdown, just when I should have been honing my skills, and couldn't write anymore, and even now, there are a lot of things I can't write. Fanfic (and RP) has been amazing, though I don't write that much, if nothing else because it's brought me back to writing something, to having that impulse and being able to use it, again.
o3) If you had one wish - but could only use it for another person - what would the wish be and who would you choose?
I would wish that my mother could be happy.
o4) Most attractive man of all time?
Ohhhh that's a really really tough one. Like anybody, my passions and tastes change with time, so it's hard to say what one man is the most attractive of all time. There was a librarian, at my college, who maybe wasn't for any particular reason especially attractive, but I had a dream about him, and then after that, every time I see him, I would literally go weak at the knees, and my heart would race, and my breath would go shallow. It was intense. That was actual attraction, I think, and it was different even from when I'd go out with somebody and end up being attracted TO them; this was visceral. Exquisitely visceral.
o5) Pretend you're in jail. What are you in for?
Public indecency, probably.
1. Favorite food to cook/bake or make in some manner?
This is hard. There's that question of, is it about the preparation of the food, or the eating of it? Because I really enjoying making the sort of food where you root around in your pantry and compose something out of what you find there, but it's different every time. Like the time I had some ciabatta and ended up with a grilled chicken, cipollini mushroom, lettuce, pesto sandwich? I think I may have shown you a picture.
Alternatively, I rather enjoy making chocolate pots de creme, because yummy.
And bread. Kneading is fun.
2. If you could have performed/taken part in one historic musical production, which would it have been?
Leonard Bernstein conducting Tristan und Isolde. As Isolde. Or um the incredibly long celebration that Jimmy Levine conducted for himself at the Met.
3. Ideal place to live? (Fictional places and times are good too for answers.)
Wellesley.
4. Imagine it is the end of the world. you have taken up residence in a library. but there are just books there, all other things already have been scavenged. but nature calls, and you need tp. so which book deserves that?
One of the Norton's anthologies, because the pages are plentiful, the paper is thin, but I think ultimately absorbent sort (and less likely to give paper-cuts than higher-quality paper), and all the stuff anthologized in them are available in other volumes anyway.
5. John, Ianto, Sam (Tyler), the Master: marry, fuck, murder, have as an in-law?
Murder: Ianto, because he hurts so pretty. (Sorry, love.)
Marry: Sam, because he's sensitive but not too sensitive (see above), and cooks chicken with mangoes and chilis and serves this with wine, even though he's stuck in a horrid little brown-paisley flat in 1973.
Have as an In-law: John. He would be laid-back and have cool stories, and um I would be very very careful not to hurt his darling daughter or son. Yes. And he would take me flying. And I would not have a crush on my father-in-law, no, not at all.
Fuck: the Master.
(On the other hand, if you leave out the in-law addendum, I would fuck Sheppard. Hmmm.)
1. What is your totem animal?
Kant's dog. (Or really any other philosopher's.) I like to sleep, and I like to be petted, and I'll probably hump your leg embarrassingly, and I love to eat. But I'm filled with metaphysical horror and big words. I am not, however, German.
2. Desert island. One book, one CD, one movie. (How you're supposed to listen to the CD and watch the movie? Completely not addressed. A wizard did it.) What ones do you take?
This reminds me a lot of Sheppard's one personal item. Can I bring a beer too? And maybe a giant poster of Johnny Cash my favorite actor boys?
Book: In Search of Lost Time. But if that doesn't count, since it's technically several volumes, The Norton Anthology of Children's Literature"
CD: *flails* You slay me. Jacqueline Du Pre, The Concerto Collection
Movie: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Though I'll probably live to regret it. Can I just bring a disc o' pr0n?
3. You're given a time machine. What's the first date you visit?
Fall 2001, to instruct myself on making optimal academic choices in college.
4. Do you have a "type" of character you tend to find as your favourite in a fandom? What's the unifying feature(s)?
The martyr. The woobie, the one who gets whumped a lot, emotionally or physically, but not in a slapstick, comic way. Helps if they're tall and skinny, pale skinned and dark haired, too, although I'll divert to that sort of sandy-golden colouring like Jim Kirk and Sam Tyler.
5. What's your earliest memory?
I don't really have a reliable chronology of my early memories, but here's one: I'm in preschool, and we're going on a 'field trip' down to this sort of overpass thing in our housing estate where you can look down and see the traffic going by on the road below. Our teacher points out a truck. The word for truck in Cantonese is a lot like the word for train, and I am mildly confused. The end.
1. If you want to be interviewed, leave a comment here with some random neat thing like a link or a rec or a poem. Whatever.
2. I'll ask you five questions.
3. You'll post the answers on your own blog or lj, along with these rules.
4. If anyone replies, asking you for five questions, you'll ask them.
My answers:
o1) Pick your favorite show and explain to me, in more than one or two sentences, why you love it so much.
Star Trek. When I was a kid, all I ever watched was classic tv. I moved to the States when I was eight, and I turned on the tv at the furnished apartment we were staying at at first, and a Get Smart marathon was on on Nick@Nite. I never looked back. So when I was in sixth grade, in Hong Kong, with two local English-language channels and one satellite one, and the satellite channel started showing TOS, I was easy to hook. Of course, the problem with watching shows--especially the not-most-popular shows--overseas is that you don't get to keep up with the latest ones. Especially ten, fifteen years ago. So I saw all of TOS (except 'The Man Trap', which I'm saving for my deathbed) and one season of TNG. I bought the movies in a VHS box set. I read alt.rec.startrek and its related newsgroups. I subscribed to these magazines put out by Starlog that were basically episode summaries with accompanying pictures. Once in a while I bought VHSes of DS9 and VOY episodes (or rented them, if I was on vacation in Hong Kong, as by then we had moved up to Shanghai).
Which is to say maybe it was partly the experience of trying to fan it from afar that was the allure. Then again, maybe it was because I loved it so much that I was willing to put in all that effort.
The show itself, or shows. They are so incredibly optimistic, so full of hope. This is the usual line when people talk about why Star Trek is good, but that's because it's true. I've never been much of a fan of dystopian literature--it feels preachy to me--but Trek was full of characters, humans, who were smart and brave and selfless and adventurous, who had curiosity in spades, who wanted nothing more than to explore and learn, from each other, from other species, worlds, experiences. They respected one another and loved one another (mostly as friends, though if the circumstances were right, as lovers too). They were by no means infallible, but they were willing to see their faults, and as faults went they tended to be pretty mild.
They were interesting.
And then there was the world! Free of material worries, everyone who lived in the Federation (okay, the fringes are a little less prosperous, but there was, also the opportunity to move into the center if that's what you wanted) were able to pursue the things they felt passionate about, to do what they were each best fitted for. And they tended to be good, productive things, because everyone had had the benefit of education and good nutrition, and the example of everybody else to learn from. And the principle of IDIC--not just sensible, but aliens are cool! They're fascinating as mirrors of ourselves, especially in a universe like Star Trek, where these aliens are living and interacting with a whole lot of humans. So, these Starfleet officers, they sail the stars, and they have adventures that are not overly saddled with questions of romantic relationships, and at the same time, there's characterization, there's development, there's comedy and seriousness. And they managed this (to varying responses) for many, many seasons and some very wonderful novels. (We won't talk about the Spinoff That Must Not Be Named.) And it inspired so much, it paved the way for so many shows we love today.
I may not actively do much in Trek nowadays, or even think about it a lot, and it is downright strange to pop in one of my DVDs and see a show that's not done in widescreen. But I still love it dearly, and always will.
o2) What'd you want to be when you were a kid?
A writer, mostly. But then I had a little breakdown, just when I should have been honing my skills, and couldn't write anymore, and even now, there are a lot of things I can't write. Fanfic (and RP) has been amazing, though I don't write that much, if nothing else because it's brought me back to writing something, to having that impulse and being able to use it, again.
o3) If you had one wish - but could only use it for another person - what would the wish be and who would you choose?
I would wish that my mother could be happy.
o4) Most attractive man of all time?
Ohhhh that's a really really tough one. Like anybody, my passions and tastes change with time, so it's hard to say what one man is the most attractive of all time. There was a librarian, at my college, who maybe wasn't for any particular reason especially attractive, but I had a dream about him, and then after that, every time I see him, I would literally go weak at the knees, and my heart would race, and my breath would go shallow. It was intense. That was actual attraction, I think, and it was different even from when I'd go out with somebody and end up being attracted TO them; this was visceral. Exquisitely visceral.
o5) Pretend you're in jail. What are you in for?
Public indecency, probably.
1. Favorite food to cook/bake or make in some manner?
This is hard. There's that question of, is it about the preparation of the food, or the eating of it? Because I really enjoying making the sort of food where you root around in your pantry and compose something out of what you find there, but it's different every time. Like the time I had some ciabatta and ended up with a grilled chicken, cipollini mushroom, lettuce, pesto sandwich? I think I may have shown you a picture.
Alternatively, I rather enjoy making chocolate pots de creme, because yummy.
And bread. Kneading is fun.
2. If you could have performed/taken part in one historic musical production, which would it have been?
Leonard Bernstein conducting Tristan und Isolde. As Isolde. Or um the incredibly long celebration that Jimmy Levine conducted for himself at the Met.
3. Ideal place to live? (Fictional places and times are good too for answers.)
Wellesley.
4. Imagine it is the end of the world. you have taken up residence in a library. but there are just books there, all other things already have been scavenged. but nature calls, and you need tp. so which book deserves that?
One of the Norton's anthologies, because the pages are plentiful, the paper is thin, but I think ultimately absorbent sort (and less likely to give paper-cuts than higher-quality paper), and all the stuff anthologized in them are available in other volumes anyway.
5. John, Ianto, Sam (Tyler), the Master: marry, fuck, murder, have as an in-law?
Murder: Ianto, because he hurts so pretty. (Sorry, love.)
Marry: Sam, because he's sensitive but not too sensitive (see above), and cooks chicken with mangoes and chilis and serves this with wine, even though he's stuck in a horrid little brown-paisley flat in 1973.
Have as an In-law: John. He would be laid-back and have cool stories, and um I would be very very careful not to hurt his darling daughter or son. Yes. And he would take me flying. And I would not have a crush on my father-in-law, no, not at all.
Fuck: the Master.
(On the other hand, if you leave out the in-law addendum, I would fuck Sheppard. Hmmm.)
1. What is your totem animal?
Kant's dog. (Or really any other philosopher's.) I like to sleep, and I like to be petted, and I'll probably hump your leg embarrassingly, and I love to eat. But I'm filled with metaphysical horror and big words. I am not, however, German.
2. Desert island. One book, one CD, one movie. (How you're supposed to listen to the CD and watch the movie? Completely not addressed. A wizard did it.) What ones do you take?
This reminds me a lot of Sheppard's one personal item. Can I bring a beer too? And maybe a giant poster of Johnny Cash my favorite actor boys?
Book: In Search of Lost Time. But if that doesn't count, since it's technically several volumes, The Norton Anthology of Children's Literature"
CD: *flails* You slay me. Jacqueline Du Pre, The Concerto Collection
Movie: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Though I'll probably live to regret it. Can I just bring a disc o' pr0n?
3. You're given a time machine. What's the first date you visit?
Fall 2001, to instruct myself on making optimal academic choices in college.
4. Do you have a "type" of character you tend to find as your favourite in a fandom? What's the unifying feature(s)?
The martyr. The woobie, the one who gets whumped a lot, emotionally or physically, but not in a slapstick, comic way. Helps if they're tall and skinny, pale skinned and dark haired, too, although I'll divert to that sort of sandy-golden colouring like Jim Kirk and Sam Tyler.
5. What's your earliest memory?
I don't really have a reliable chronology of my early memories, but here's one: I'm in preschool, and we're going on a 'field trip' down to this sort of overpass thing in our housing estate where you can look down and see the traffic going by on the road below. Our teacher points out a truck. The word for truck in Cantonese is a lot like the word for train, and I am mildly confused. The end.