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May. 2nd, 2005 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cpolk1. sex or books?
Dangit! Can't we start off with something easy? um. hmm. er. Books, but by this much.
2. Do you think the question reveals anything about the person who asked?
It might reveal something about the person who asks, but in order for it to happen, the third party witnessing the anonymous question would have to know the questioner, the questioned, and the dynamic between the two well enough to be sure. take the twenty statemonts meme that shot through here last week - there were some very interesting reactions on the part of the readers of the statements. I noticed it because of the contrast between my reactions to the lists from someone who knows me not at all, and so none of the statements could apply to me, and my reactions to the lists from people who do know me, so there *could* have been something in that list that was directed at me. But I was never, ever entirely certain if any of them were.
Of course I realized that it wasn't important if someone had me in mind for one of those statements. what was important was which of those statements penetrated to me. Some people really reacted with anger to people's lists - and I think it was because they were seeing something about themselves that penetrated, but it was something that caused them to react uncomfortably. In both cases we're talking about a behaviour the headshrinkers call projection - if they clung to the idea that Number 3 was directed right at them. That's the obstacle - the reader picked up Number 3 for himself, but that's hard to realize without being really self-aware in the painful, every step of the way fashion that usually only those who have spent ages in therapy even bother thinking about.
3. Why do you think Livejournal and Blogger (and other web-based public journals) have become so popular?
Because it's a good idea.
No, really. you remember five six years ago when it was geocities and everybody will have a home page with pictures of your cats and angelfire and all that crap? people tried that. it didn't work. It didn't work because the average person doesn't know a damned thing about aesthetics and the average person doesn't know a damn thing about programming languages - no, not even a text markup code as simple as HTML - and the average person doesn't know how to ftp and the average person doesn't know how to design beauty and functionality in a way that is incredibly easy to upgrade...
and nobody wants to look at pictures of your fuckin' cats anyway. so homepages sucked. but they were trying to address something people wanted and needed out of the internet - someplace to be their place, and someplace to be heard, and someplace to feel a community of other people. In short form, we're talking Identity, Validation, Community - and blogs serve those needs. different blogging services adress those needs in different measures, according to their style. I use LJ because I have community needs that can't be satisfied by blogger, for example. there are people here and communities here who do want to look at my cats, and they will admire them and their elegantly goofy cattish ways. and that's good!
4. Do you believe in fairy tale true love?
I don't.
the thing about fairy tale love is that the stories very often aren't really about love. Take a look at Cinderella - there's a great example. That story isn't about love - it's a story about identity, and it's got the message that if you work hard and take abuse cheerfully, you'll reap the rewards later. to which I cynically reply, "Arbeit Macht Frei."
I believe in something else. I believe in the love that sees, as opposed to the love that's blind. Psyche is a perfect example - she literally couldn't see Eros at first, and again, it's not a story about love, it's a story about trust, and the nessage is that you have to prove yourself by meeting unreasonable and impossible demands set for you by someone else. Can you believe that I love fairy tales? I do, though. I adore them. I'm just way too romantic to abide by their notions about love.
5. Pick a favorite musician or group and tell us why you like them. (I guess that's not a question.)
I like Sloan. Because they're GOOD. And that's what's playing on my list right now.
Okay, Background. Sloan is a rock group from Halifax, Nova Scotia. they've produced seven or eight albums, and one song is always a rock anthem suitable for FM radio airplay, like Money City Maniacs or If It Feels Good, Do It. But Sloan is good to me because they are darned clever lyricists, if not terribly deep ones, and their treatments of topics are usually pretty wry. they're a shaggy haired quartet of arts major kids who get called kids even though they're over 30 and still wear converse chuck taylor all-stars just like they have been since 1985 and think about things like, "wow! this t-shirt is cheap! I wonder if it's because it was made by child labor? Well it might have been, and I'm sure some irritating person will point it out to me in the effert to illustrate what a bad scenester I am. So hmm. do I buy it or not? ARGH!"
Consumer angst is the new black.
6. Lemons or limes?
Limes. I think. hmm. in its own way this is as bad as Sex or books. But Limes.
7. If you had to go back and change one thing in your life, what would it be? Would you want to?
I wouldn't have quit acting when I turned 13. I was a child actor. not like I was on TV or anything, it was all stage, and all community theatre, but I got into it because a director, who was doing a big audition with a pack of kids, took note of the ones who were the most patient and capable of sitting quietly. the director was deeply gratified to discover that I could read with inflection and behave utterly selfconsciously - I never broke the fourth wall to the audience. my place was assured after that. Our elementary school did big musical productions, and I'd been plucked out of the chorus to have a big role in next year's production - but then I got yanked up to live in alberta and I was so angry that I quit drama entirely. and dancing, too. I've missed it, because it was so fun.
8. Peanut butter: crunchy or creamy?
Creamy. If I need peanuts I can add 'em.
9. What was the first book you read?
I'm not sure which one it was. It could have been a Walt Disney story book, the kind that came with a 45 sized record that you played at 33.33 and turned the pages in the book when you heard a bell or a brid chime. or it could have been a Golden Book. or it could have been Dr. Seuss. I was pretty young. I remember my favorite book when I was 5 was The Orange Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.
10. What colour is your favouite?
Right now I'm very fond of green and blue.
11. If you had one super power what would it be?
Teleportation. Easiest question I've had so far!
12. Which doctor (of doctor who fame) would you be a companion of? (so sue me I am a geek)
Christopher Eccleson.
13. Warren Ellis or Neil Gaiman?
Neil. I've never read Warren Ellis.
14. Favourite Movie?
I don't think I have one.
15. Movie that is being released soon that you are most looking forward to?
Unleashed, I think. Luc Besson! ohyeah! JET LI! OHYEAH!!!!
16. If you could have a game of Monopoly with any person from history, who would you choose?
Queen Hatshepsut. I'd derail her with feminist questions and assure her that you were indeed supposed to drop ten bucks in the pool for the free parking square.
Dangit! Can't we start off with something easy? um. hmm. er. Books, but by this much.
2. Do you think the question reveals anything about the person who asked?
It might reveal something about the person who asks, but in order for it to happen, the third party witnessing the anonymous question would have to know the questioner, the questioned, and the dynamic between the two well enough to be sure. take the twenty statemonts meme that shot through here last week - there were some very interesting reactions on the part of the readers of the statements. I noticed it because of the contrast between my reactions to the lists from someone who knows me not at all, and so none of the statements could apply to me, and my reactions to the lists from people who do know me, so there *could* have been something in that list that was directed at me. But I was never, ever entirely certain if any of them were.
Of course I realized that it wasn't important if someone had me in mind for one of those statements. what was important was which of those statements penetrated to me. Some people really reacted with anger to people's lists - and I think it was because they were seeing something about themselves that penetrated, but it was something that caused them to react uncomfortably. In both cases we're talking about a behaviour the headshrinkers call projection - if they clung to the idea that Number 3 was directed right at them. That's the obstacle - the reader picked up Number 3 for himself, but that's hard to realize without being really self-aware in the painful, every step of the way fashion that usually only those who have spent ages in therapy even bother thinking about.
3. Why do you think Livejournal and Blogger (and other web-based public journals) have become so popular?
Because it's a good idea.
No, really. you remember five six years ago when it was geocities and everybody will have a home page with pictures of your cats and angelfire and all that crap? people tried that. it didn't work. It didn't work because the average person doesn't know a damned thing about aesthetics and the average person doesn't know a damn thing about programming languages - no, not even a text markup code as simple as HTML - and the average person doesn't know how to ftp and the average person doesn't know how to design beauty and functionality in a way that is incredibly easy to upgrade...
and nobody wants to look at pictures of your fuckin' cats anyway. so homepages sucked. but they were trying to address something people wanted and needed out of the internet - someplace to be their place, and someplace to be heard, and someplace to feel a community of other people. In short form, we're talking Identity, Validation, Community - and blogs serve those needs. different blogging services adress those needs in different measures, according to their style. I use LJ because I have community needs that can't be satisfied by blogger, for example. there are people here and communities here who do want to look at my cats, and they will admire them and their elegantly goofy cattish ways. and that's good!
4. Do you believe in fairy tale true love?
I don't.
the thing about fairy tale love is that the stories very often aren't really about love. Take a look at Cinderella - there's a great example. That story isn't about love - it's a story about identity, and it's got the message that if you work hard and take abuse cheerfully, you'll reap the rewards later. to which I cynically reply, "Arbeit Macht Frei."
I believe in something else. I believe in the love that sees, as opposed to the love that's blind. Psyche is a perfect example - she literally couldn't see Eros at first, and again, it's not a story about love, it's a story about trust, and the nessage is that you have to prove yourself by meeting unreasonable and impossible demands set for you by someone else. Can you believe that I love fairy tales? I do, though. I adore them. I'm just way too romantic to abide by their notions about love.
5. Pick a favorite musician or group and tell us why you like them. (I guess that's not a question.)
I like Sloan. Because they're GOOD. And that's what's playing on my list right now.
Okay, Background. Sloan is a rock group from Halifax, Nova Scotia. they've produced seven or eight albums, and one song is always a rock anthem suitable for FM radio airplay, like Money City Maniacs or If It Feels Good, Do It. But Sloan is good to me because they are darned clever lyricists, if not terribly deep ones, and their treatments of topics are usually pretty wry. they're a shaggy haired quartet of arts major kids who get called kids even though they're over 30 and still wear converse chuck taylor all-stars just like they have been since 1985 and think about things like, "wow! this t-shirt is cheap! I wonder if it's because it was made by child labor? Well it might have been, and I'm sure some irritating person will point it out to me in the effert to illustrate what a bad scenester I am. So hmm. do I buy it or not? ARGH!"
Consumer angst is the new black.
6. Lemons or limes?
Limes. I think. hmm. in its own way this is as bad as Sex or books. But Limes.
7. If you had to go back and change one thing in your life, what would it be? Would you want to?
I wouldn't have quit acting when I turned 13. I was a child actor. not like I was on TV or anything, it was all stage, and all community theatre, but I got into it because a director, who was doing a big audition with a pack of kids, took note of the ones who were the most patient and capable of sitting quietly. the director was deeply gratified to discover that I could read with inflection and behave utterly selfconsciously - I never broke the fourth wall to the audience. my place was assured after that. Our elementary school did big musical productions, and I'd been plucked out of the chorus to have a big role in next year's production - but then I got yanked up to live in alberta and I was so angry that I quit drama entirely. and dancing, too. I've missed it, because it was so fun.
8. Peanut butter: crunchy or creamy?
Creamy. If I need peanuts I can add 'em.
9. What was the first book you read?
I'm not sure which one it was. It could have been a Walt Disney story book, the kind that came with a 45 sized record that you played at 33.33 and turned the pages in the book when you heard a bell or a brid chime. or it could have been a Golden Book. or it could have been Dr. Seuss. I was pretty young. I remember my favorite book when I was 5 was The Orange Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.
10. What colour is your favouite?
Right now I'm very fond of green and blue.
11. If you had one super power what would it be?
Teleportation. Easiest question I've had so far!
12. Which doctor (of doctor who fame) would you be a companion of? (so sue me I am a geek)
Christopher Eccleson.
13. Warren Ellis or Neil Gaiman?
Neil. I've never read Warren Ellis.
14. Favourite Movie?
I don't think I have one.
15. Movie that is being released soon that you are most looking forward to?
Unleashed, I think. Luc Besson! ohyeah! JET LI! OHYEAH!!!!
16. If you could have a game of Monopoly with any person from history, who would you choose?
Queen Hatshepsut. I'd derail her with feminist questions and assure her that you were indeed supposed to drop ten bucks in the pool for the free parking square.
