What do you currently do for a living? What do you want to do? What role does contributing to this site play in your current or future goals?
Currently, I am working for the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee as a Teaching Assistant. I’m also a tutor at my campus’s Writing Center. As for my academics, I’m focusing on history with a special emphasis on the American Civil Rights Movement, circa 1960. In my spare time, I write fiction and maintain a blog over at my homepage. You should visit. I’ll wait.
When I grow up, I want to be a professor of history and write academic and fiction works. Although it may not seem like contributing to this site will help me achieve my goals, this will help me maintain a steady practice of writing critical analysis. Although the phrase “review” gets tossed around a lot, I think “critical review” may be more appropriate. After all, you could barf up a couple hundred words, but are you really contributing anything?
Although, to be fair, that’s my rationalization for producing multiple reviews in excess of 2,500 words.
What is one book you could read over and over again and why?
I don’t really do that, to be honest. I used to read Tailchaser’s Song at least once a year growing up. But it’s been a really long time since I sat down and read a fiction book after going through it once. I have the same problem with movies, really.
If you could only read books in one genre, which one and why?
Tough to say. I think horror, because they tend to be the most consistently entertaining. But, and this is a issue, good (as in actually scary) horror tends to be very hard to come by.
Of all the characters you have read, which one seems to have a personality most like yours?
Ah, yes, the reflection question. How I hate thee. In any case, before I matured into my beautiful butterfly form, I was an angsty twit, endlessly pontificating but trapped in place. As such, the narrator from Fight Club. You know. Before be descended completely into madness. And without the ability to throw a punch.
On second thought, Hermione Granger.
Who is your least favorite character or couple in a book? Why?
Lev Grossman’s The Magicians had some of the most unappealing characters I’ve read. The only one I liked doesn’t get nearly enough screen time, and the remaining others were so utterly useless and petty that I actively started wishing for them to die. I’ve hated characters before, but they really tested my patience by the end of the book.
And then, of course, the main character takes all of his development and chucks it out the window. Incredibly frustrating.
If there was one character you could emulate, either looks, personality and or ability, who would it be and which traits in particular?
I’m pretty happy with myself as-is. But if I had to pick someone, McReady from Who Goes There? would be pretty awesome. Particularly, his ability to remain calm under duress. I’m a worrier by nature, and it would be nice to be able to be somewhat more detached. Not too much, though.
Also, coming up with the badass blood test was pretty awesome.
What movie have you watched the most? Any particular reason?
I have the same problem with movies as I do books – I usually watch them once. The fact that one particular former significant other would obsessively watch the same movies endlessly over and over again makes me far less likely to return to any particular movie. A great way to ruin comedies is to watch them seven times in the course of one week.
However, there are a few exceptions. The Beast of Yucca Flats, because Mystery Science Theater 3000 made fun of it. I could probably quote it’s odd and confusing narration verbatim by now. Galaxy Quest is another that I’ve seen a million times; one day, my father and I contracted some horrible 24 hour bug. We were deposited (surprisingly) upright in the living room, the TV was turned on and changed to one of the movie channels. Galaxy Quest had apparently just arrived on home video or something, because we saw nothing but that movie until noon, when we were finally able to muster up the strength to change the channel.
The movie I’ve watched the most of my own volition was The Thing (1982). Because it is awesome.
Are there any movies that you felt were a waste of time and or money? Elaborate.
Ha. Yes
It’s pretty typical to go and point a finger at a particular bad director. Uwe Boll’s films, for instance, are pretty universally terrible, but there’s a certain hilarious earnest charm in them. Although House of the Dead reminded everyone that sometime’s it’s okay to crush a child’s dream of being an actor/film maker, there’s such a wonderful glee about the entire thing that I can’t stay made at it.
I get mad at movies where competent people are clearly fucking with the audience. Stephanie Meyers Presents: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part One (Of Two) is a great example of a director/editor treating their audience like a bunch of idiots. Unnecessarily long shots, extended music montages, and periods which have no baring on the plot all combine to make what thin story there is stretch to beyond a reasonable point. There is no reason the movie should be as long as it is without understanding that 1) Harry Potter’s last book was split into two cinematic outings and 2) the producers like money. I felt utterly insulted being in that theater, and this is coming from a guy who actually stepped up to bat for the series at one point.
Then there are movies which are made which are weird for weird’s sake and people sit around and actively perpetuate and unnecessary opinion. Eraserhead is one of those films that is a series of disconnected scenes which could have been creepy if handled better, but it just gets so lost in its own weirdness that ceases being a movie. I’ve heard people describe it as “bleak” and “scary” and the ultimate “what the fuck”. But the fact of the matter is that it doesn’t really succeed at anything other than being loosely connected shots about a puffy haired dweeb who knocks a girl up and their offspring looks like a Thing forgot to fully transform into a dog. Art! Or something, I guess.
Are there any books that you would make a conscious effort to avert others from? Why?
Tisha. I had to read that shitty thing in my high school Freshman English class. To be entirely fair, I’m sure it was just that teacher who mishandled the book in class that ruined it for me. But I just remember every chapter being an unbelievable slog. I didn’t care what was happening, even though ten years later I would be reading very similar stories in my academic career. In any case, I ended up unusually hostile toward this book. Maybe I’ll give it a try again, but definitely not in the near future.
If you could pit two characters form different movies played by the same actor/actress against each other in a fight, which two characters and why? Who would win?
Kurt Russell as Snake Pliskin from Escape from New York against his creepy kidnapping rapist from Overboard. Why? Because I want a eye-patch wearing badass to stomp the ever-living shit out of that redneck. Think it’s okay to enslave someone because they’re mean to you? Two in the head, asshole. And then, Kurt Russel as R.J. MacReady from The Thing could scream “Yeah, fuck you too!” before chucking a lit stick of dynamite on the guy’s quivering corpse.
Talk about why a character from a book/game turned to movie where the character is considerably better in the book/game. One that is considerably better in the movie.
Luna Lovegood was better in the books, because she had more time with the audience than in any of the Harry Potter movies. That’s simply a matter of screen time – the actress they got to play her was awesome, and anyone who doesn’t think so can walk into an open sewer.
The narrator in the movie adaptation of Fight Club is significantly more sympathetic. It’s better on some levels, but not on others.
What are some titles that fall into your "I need to read/watch/play" list.
I need to finish up the Hunger Games series. I really adored the first book, and I look forward to how everything plays out... even if I haven’t heard the best things about the finale.
Further, I need to finish reading Fear the Hunted by my friend Jinn Nelson.
But both of those are going to have to wait until my thesis is finished.
If you had to come up with a cross over story, which characters would you chose to unite, and what would the basic story be?
See, here’s the thing: I’d want to write a story where all the characters in all the plays I’ve written and Project Northwoods have a huge battle. As it turns out, the big bad of one of the stories has figured out a way to merge realities and, in an effort to annihilate all existence, is using this big war to trigger something particularly nasty.
Yes, I’m sure it’s been done before, but this is my fantasy.
But, relying on actually published stuff, I want to see the protagonists of twenty four random bestsellers square off in an arena, fighting to the death. Namely so I can giggle maniacally when Christian Grey is pierced by the hard shaft of an arrow (see what I did there?).
If you could share a meal, or a cup of coffee with any five authors, who would they be? What two questions would you want most to ask?
Tad Williams, H. P. Lovecraft, Hideo Kojima, Dr. Seuss, Stephen King
1) What scares you?
2) What keeps you writing?
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