Interview meme

[resonant]

So skuf interviewed me, and now I'll interview you, if you like.

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview Me!" (or something of that ilk)
2. I will respond by asking you five questions.
3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.



1) Muaha, I have been wanting to ask you this for ages, but there never seemed a good time for it (or a good way to phrase it): if I were feeling brave and wanting to read outside HP fandom, judging by reader-response, which of your non-HP fics should I tackle first?

Going strictly by reader response? Higher Education. It's from the movie "The Breakfast Club," but some people have told me they enjoyed it even though they either haven't seen the movie or don't remember it. Everybody in the movie was a type, anyway, so all you need to know is that Brian's a brain and Bender's a delinquent.

The drawback there is that that's my one and only Breakfast Club story; I mean, it's nice and long, but when it's over, it's over. If you wanted to fall into a new universe and stay there for a while, I'd suggest either Abstain (Stargate Atlantis) or American Way (Due South).

2) I remember you talking about being Episcopalian in the 10 things meme: how does that differ from generic Christian to you?

American Protestants don't argue about dogma all that much. If you searched the creeds of various denominations, you'd find things to disagree on, but you really don't get, say, Lutherans and Presbyterians in passionate arguments about predestination these days.

But it seems to me that the difference between one denomination and another is that each one is filling a different role in the greater world of religious people. (Different religions may be doing the same thing; I'm only familiar with Protestantism, so I can't really say.)

Presbyterians are here to model civilized, orderly, respectful processes and ways of disagreeing. Methodists are here to keep broadening the definition of "us" until it includes everyone. Black Baptists are the passion and compassion of Christianity. (I don't have anything nice to say about white Baptists at the moment, so I'm going to keep my mouth shut about them. Present company excluded, of course.)

And Episcopalians? We're here to praise the creation.

There's the most amazing, gorgeous music in the hymnal. There are beautiful words in the Book of Common Prayer. We like our pleasures, large and small; we like good food and good wine and pretty churches in pretty gardens.

Where that goes wrong, it goes wrong in smugness and self-satisfaction (and also occasionally in reducing the social life of the church to alcohol and adultery).

But when we do it the way we're supposed to do it, we do like God in the creation story: We're here to look at the world and say that it's good.

(Actually I've been told that in the Hebrew, God looks at the world and says that it's delicious. Better still.)

3) What, if any, are your expectations for Book 7?

I'm really, really hoping that we're going to get an acknowledgement that the Gryffindor-Slytherin Light-Dark thing is insanely oversimplified.

I want to know what's up with the centaurs, and I hope they'll be more than just a sidelight.

It seems to me that we still don't have the whole story on the Marauders and Snape. At least, I hope we don't; I'm looking forward to more of those puzzle pieces.

I'd like a more detailed picture of Grimmauld Place.

Snape's going to die, of course; I hope he gets a chance to explain himself first.

4) What is the most overrated piece of canonical/popular literature (i.e. not fanfiction) today, do you think?

With the current hype, I'm tempted to say The DaVinci Code, but I haven't read it, so that wouldn't really be fair.

Actually I don't often read highly hyped things; eventually I did read The Bridges of Madison County but not until years later when a co-worker forced it on me. (It was worse than any badfic I've ever read.) Most of what I read is either just as good as one could reasonably expect, or so obscure that I have no expectations at all.

5) So, if you were to be reincarnated as an animal, what would you choose :o) ?

Ooh. Otters seem to have a lot of fun. But I don't know; I'd be inclined to fall back on the good old housecat. Now that's a good life.

Comments

[birdsflying]

Oooh, I'm up for another round of this meme. (anything that will prevent me from murdering the students cluttering up my lab has to be a good thing, really. :g:)

Would you like five in return?

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Sure, why not?

And here are yours:

1. What's the absolute worst book you ever read?

2. If you could live in any fictional place (Narnia, Kim Stanley Robinson's terraformed Mars, Bogart's Casablanca), which would you choose? And where would you vacation?

3. What's something you've learned from one of your jobs that most people don't know?

4. If you end up working in a library, do you think you'll still like being in a library? (Or do you like it now?)

5. Tell me some of your pet peeves.

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I always like this meme, and will happily field questions if you've got 'em.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

1. Who'd live longer after a shipwreck on a desert island, House or Wilson?

2. Of all the things you know how to do, which one impresses your family the most?

3. Do you like adventure? Or are you a hobbitlike person who enjoys comfort more?

4. Can you see anything in common among all the fandoms you've written in?

5. How many books are you currently in the middle of?

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

Oooh. These are really good questions. Thank you!

[rodneyscat.livejournal.com]

Ask away!

(I bet you already regret not making this friendslocked...)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I hate to lock things, unless I have a really good reason. But I am reserving the right to re-use questions.

1. What's the best live-music performance you ever saw?

2. Are you multilingual? What language do you dream in?

3. Can you play any musical instruments?

4. If you could force your favorite writers to write only for you, what would you make them write more of?

5. Do you have a favorite pair of socks? (Hey, don't laugh. I do.)

[rodneyscat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the questions, I've answered them here (http://dutch-eowyn.livejournal.com/533430.html).

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

Hey, groovy. Interview me.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

1. Tell me some cool words that I don't know.

2. What food from over here do you miss most when you're over there? What food from over there do you miss most when you're over here?

3. Does Harry secretly like to imagine having a threesome with Snape and Bill? Does Snape know about this?

4. What's the weirdest compliment anyone ever gave you?

5. Do you still have your wisdom teeth?

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

Oooh, *I'm* bored. *G* Interview me!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

1. Suppose I told you you could add five people to the Atlantis cast, taken from any show, book, or movie, or from real life. What five characters would you send to Pegasus, and what would they get up to once they got there?

2. Think about your favorite settings for writing -- I mean the music you listen to, where you sit, what time of day, etc. Are they the same for making covers, or different?

3. Do the people on Atlantis do their own laundry, or is it done for them?

4. How mad to you think it makes ZELenka when people say zeLENKa?

5. What's your superpower?

[etben.livejournal.com]

I'll take questions, if you've got them, but I'm really commenting to say that your response to the second question is making me ridiculously happy. You are right on so many levels, and you've expressed it beautifully.

And the world is delicious, even when Chicago is being cold and rainy.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks! (You're in Chicago? Wave southward; I'm about three hours away.)

1. Who on Atlantis uses pet names, and who would rather have their tongue removed? How do Athosian pet names sound? What about Satedan ones?

2. Is John Sheppard ticklish?

3. Would you want to switch genders for a day? (And what would you spend the day doing?) Would you want to switch genders for the rest of your life?

4. Are you an adventurous eater? What's the strangest thing you ever ate? What's the strangest thing you eat on a regular basis?

5. Is there a word that you just can't pronounce, no matter how hard you try?

[myalexandria.livejournal.com]

you could interview me!

also, what role do you think Catholics are serving in the broader Christian spectrum? I liked your episcopalian answer and got curious ;)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

The spouse was raised Catholic, so we've talked about this, but I don't know Catholicism from the inside, so this is strictly a Protestant view.

Having said that, I think Catholicism is the religion of the incarnation, the religion of carnality, with all that that implies. Sensuality, reproduction, childbirth, old age, death ...

And clearly this is something the church is deeply, deeply conflicted about. I mean, you can sort of sum it all up as: Mary. Celibate priesthood. Mary. Celibate priesthood. [head explodes]

It's like they're scared to get all bloody and stinky with human stuff, and I want to yell at them: Bloody and stinky is what you're here for!

Ahem. Got a little carried away.

1. What's the most interesting live music performance you ever heard?

2. I see you're decluttering. Have you found anything strange or forgotten?

3. If you close your eyes and reach out your left hand, what do you touch?

4. Have you ever dreamed something that seemed really meaningful to you? Dreamed yourself a proverb or a new insight?

5. What's the oddest thing a stranger has ever said to you?

[myalexandria.livejournal.com]

re: Catholicism: that makes sense to me :)

these questions are hard! which is why it took me so long to answer.

1) the most exciting was the Magnetic Fields doing all 69 Love Songs at Lincoln Center a few years back. The most intriguing/weird/whatever was seeing this group Anjuman (www.kaliproductions.org) a few days ago: an Afro-Caribbean-Indian fusion.

2) no, not really; my clutter is mostly paper.

3) (1) an apple on (2) a kitchen towel on (3) the end table next to my couch.

4) and 5) I'm drawing a *complete* blank. But the oddest thing I ever said to a stranger was to tell someone on a bus that I was pregnant. (I wasn't.)

[sandalstrap.livejournal.com]

Mmm, hey, a stranger here, but what you said about Catholicism has gotten me thinking.

I wouldn't call myself religious now, but I *was* raised Catholic, in a thankfully younger, more family-oriented church. It was fun, and when I'm not being cynical, it's memories of that parish that remind me of the potential of my religion. I was too young then to see it as carnal or body-oriented, but looking back? yes, yes it was.

But. Aside from that, Catholicism has always been the religion of ritual to me. Everything about being Catholic -- outside of those kid-memories -- has always seemed heavy with the past. It's very much -- repetition, habit, conditioned response. The belief that certain things are sacred and unchanging.

My mom and I joke about it [that she's "trained me well"] but whenever I hear or say particularly crude, unkind or blasphemous things, that first instinctive reaction is to look up at the sky and worry about thunderbolts. It's ingrained.

[alex-s9.livejournal.com]

Me too! Me too!

Pretty please please.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

1. What's the best thing you've eaten this month?

2. Can you play a musical instrument?

3. What's the best advice anybody ever gave you?

4. How did you come to be in fandom? How long ago?

5. What day-to-day annoyance drives you much crazier than it ought to?

[alex-s9.livejournal.com]

It's done. References to your work are purely accidental.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I feel so influential now!

[wordwitch.livejournal.com]

*waves arm* I'll bite!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

1. What have you learned from the kids?

2. If you could have one trait from animals, what would you choose? (Flight? Gills? Fur?)

3. What do you wish you could do that you can't?

4. In a disagreement, who would ultimately get his way: Rodney McKay or Benton Fraser?

5. Do you have a favorite weather?

Interviewing.

[wordwitch.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That was fun. I've placed the answers here.

Methodists

[jenna-thorn.livejournal.com]

Methodists are here to keep broadening the definition of "us" until it includes everyone.I, personally, love this definition and I'm betting our (Methodist) minister would like it just as much. 8-)

Also, if you still have questions and didn't intend to limit this to your flist, I'm game.

Re: Methodists

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that rings true to someone on the inside; I've never attended a Methodist church, but I lived at Lake Junaluska for a while, so I absorbed a certain amount of it through the air.

1. What's something you've learned from one of your jobs that most people don't know?

2. Is there something that you're really, really bad at -- and yet you like to do it anyway?

3. What article of clothing have you owned the longest?

4. What's the scariest dream you ever had?

5. What's the best advice you ever got?

[reginagiraffe]

Ask me some ilk questions! Er... or something like that.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Ilka one of us should answer a question!

1. Suppose you could take parts of existing fandoms and build yourself the perfect fandom. (For example, I might want my fandom to have cool f/f relationships like Buffy, lots of desperate loneliness like Harry Potter, characters all over 30 like Atlantis, and CKR like Due South.) What would your Frankenfandom look like?

2. I'm asking a lot of people this one: What's something you've learned from one of your jobs that most people don't know?

3. What article of clothing have you owned the longest?

4. What's the weirdest compliment anyone ever gave you?

5. Are most of your clothes the same color?

[font.livejournal.com]

You know, I think that's the nicest (and most accurate) thing anyone has said about us Presbyterians. And I did have a passionate (and distressed) discussion about predestination with my minister fairly recently; he's of the opinion that everyone is among the Elect. Which is sweet, I think, but intellectually shaky; the whole concept of Election still feels flawed to me.

I wouldn't mind being interviewed.

[wordwitch.livejournal.com]

"everyone is among the Elect" is the definition of Universalism. *heh* Good souls keep coming up with the same answers ...

[janet-carter.livejournal.com]

Heh; I remember the minister kind of skimming over that in confirmation class.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it worked for you. I'm a member of a Presbyterian church (because the Episcopal churches here are under a bishop who still opposes the ordination of women), and while it doesn't sing to my heart, I greatly admire the way it handles conflict. Plus: really, really efficient meetings. I like that in a church.

As an outsider to the denomination, though, I can look at Election and go: "Oh, sure, historical baggage, like Henry VIII's divorce. No big deal."

I once heard a street preacher saying that everyone would be saved. Someone in the audience asked him, "You mean you think Hitler's in heaven?" And he said, "I hope so." Chokes me up a little sometimes.

1. This one is re-used because I like it so much: Suppose I told you you could add five people to the Atlantis cast, taken from any show, book, or movie, or from real life. What five characters would you send to Pegasus, and what would they get up to once they got there?

2. Are people getting crazier, or is it just getting easier for crazy people to command a large audience?

3. Would you want to switch genders for the day? What would you do with your new body? Would you want to switch genders for the rest of your life?

4. How many pairs of shoes do you have? How many of them have you worn in 2006 so far?

5. Do you like the color of your hair?

[lomedet.livejournal.com]

ooooh...do you remember where you got that Genesis 1 translation? I'm kind of a Biblical Hebrew geek, and I've never heard that interpretation of tov me'od/very good' before.

and I'd ask you to interview me, but we don't really know each other (or more accurately, I've been fangirling you from a distance *g*), so it doesn't seem quite fair.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry -- I don't remember where I got that translation! I have no Hebrew whatsoever. And the person who said it may have only said that it was the phrase you'd use if you were talking about good food.

How about a short version of the interview?

1. Tell me about your icon!

2. Tell me about your username!

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

i love your answers to the Religious Question. if i say anything else, my foot will end up in my mouth, so i'll just sit here quietly & fangirl you.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Aww. Thanks! I know i have an eccentric way of looking at religion -- but on the other hand, my religion makes me happy, which it seems to me puts me in the minority.

[norah.livejournal.com]

Interview me if you like. Or not, if you are regretting the offer...

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

1. What was your first fandom? Does it still interest you? Did you look at other fandoms first, without enthusiasm, and then there was something about this one that just grabbed you?

2. (I didn't make this up, but I can't remember whose LJ I stole it from.) What minor superpower would you like to have? (Always having exact change? Always finding a good parking space? Never losing a sock in the laundry?)

3. If you could force your favorite writers to write only for you, what would you make them write more of?

4. Which is cuter: baby clothes that are babyish (like those little hats with the rabbit ears) or baby clothes that are itty bitty versions of adult clothes (like little denim jackets)?

5. Do you have a recurring nightmare?

[volari.livejournal.com]

Love your answers. You aren't missing anything with the Da Vinci code--as a book I thought it was fun and I was interested by all the little details and clues that were thrown in, one of my friends thought it was too dry and rather boring. We both agree it was only as popular as it is because of the controversy.

I also liked your definitions of the different Protestant denominations. That's them in a nutshell.

Interview me?

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Usually I get around to reading the big-hype books in sci fi/fantasy, eventually, but the ones outside my genre I don't even bother with. I'm afraid the Da Vinci Code in particular would be lost on me because I'm a bit of a lazy reader -- I never would have known there was a chess game happening in Through the Looking-Glass if I hadn't had the annotated version.

1. Are you superstitious? In general or only with one or two minor things/

2. (I'm afraid I'm re-using this one a lot because I like it) Suppose I told you you could add five people to the Atlantis cast, taken from any show, book, or movie, or from real life. What five characters would you send to Pegasus, and what would they get up to once they got there?

3. Was there actually a flaw in Rodney's musical talent, or was his teacher just having unreasonable expectations/jealous/looking for an excuse to get out of trying to teach Rodney McKay anything?

4. Are you an adventurous eater? What's the strangest thing that you ever ate? What's the strangest thing you eat on a regular basis?

5. What's a scene that never happened that ought to have happened? What's a scene that never ought to have happened and that you'd like to remove from canon? (Any fandom, though of course I'll only follow you if it's Atlantis.)

[skuf.livejournal.com]

1) Higher Education is the one I did brave, and it was great :o)

2) There's the most amazing, gorgeous music in the hymnal
Would I know any Episcopalian hymns - any of them "mainstream"?

3) I'm hoping for more on the centaurs, too - and not just that they decide to fight for the side of light, and so are extras on the battlefield.

4) With the current hype, I'm tempted to say The DaVinci Code, but I haven't read it, so that wouldn't really be fair.
Heh. It's ok good, I thought, but not brilliant, and it certainly had parts that made me cringe.

5) Otters and housecats, mmm.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

1) Glad you liked it!

2) I started uploading, and then figured I'd share with everyone, so there's a bunch of hymns here. (http://resonant8.livejournal.com/127814.html)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

Isn't it hard to come up with five questions for anyone asking?

Did you choose your church or did it choose you or was it in your family/your husband's family?

Do you see underlying or structural or emotional similarities in the kind of hyms you like to the rock/pop songs you like?


Is there anything you want to know from/about me?

Do you groan in annoyance or just frown/sigh/eyeroll when I seem to completely misunderstand this meme? Don't - I even bought some asparagus and eggplant in your honour.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Hee! Actually I was just lamenting that I didn't get to talk more about me me me! So you've given me the opportunity.

1. It isn't hard to come up with five questions, but it's hard not to do this thing where my friends get interesting, personal questions, while people I don't know well get generic "if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?" kinds of questions. But I was a journalist for a long time. I'm good at coming up with questions.

2. If by 'church' you mean 'the parish where you attend church,' I chose my current church, with great research, because the last church I was involved in was one I sort of fell into, and the relationship ended up being kind of traumatic. If by 'church' you mean 'the Episcopal church,' I inherited that from my parents. My mother was raised Baptist; I think she was very happy to have an excuse to switch denominations!

3. I like traditional folk a lot, and folk and hymns share a lot of chord progressions, harmonies, etc. In fact, they often share melodies; it's very common for someone to take a traditional folk tune and write a hymn to go with it.

This can be kind of unsettling if there's a big content mismatch. Someone took the tune from O Waly Waly (which is one of those accidental-pregnancy folk songs: I would the babe within my womb were laid upon the nurse's knee, and I myself in yon churchyard, for a maid no more I'll ever be) and used it for a hymn on that quote about how "if I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a clanging gong," and I have to struggle not to laugh every time I hear it.

4. Yes! What language do you dream in?

You can answer all the Atlantis questions, too; I may even post them in my LJ for everyone to answer, I like them so much. (Who would use pet names and who'd rather tear their tongue out? Are they doing their own laundry, or is someone else doing it for them? If you could bring in five characters from other sources and let them loose on Atlantis, who would you choose?)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

I was just lamenting that I didn't get to talk more about me me me!
I live to serve *bows*

1. Yep, that's what I meant.

3. *g* But how about e.g. The (English) Beat or Bishop Allen and folk songs or hymns, do you see them as different in the way you like or enjoy them? I'm asking because there's that bit in the Brandenburg Concertos, just a few notes, that does exactly the same to me as a chord or riff in an alternative band's song might, so I think even if the music might sound different to others, we all look for or find the same basics in our favourite sounds.

4. Huh. I don't dream in language, I think. Nor in colour and until recently not in smell either. I used to live in another country for a long time and when woken up I might speak my mother tongue, or vice versa when returning, but even when I speak with people in my dreams, it's more content, if that makes sense. So I guess whichever language I am using when waking I would use to transcribe and tell others or my journal about my dream (which is too psychoanalytical already but I could never see that as something seperate) ...

So erm, those were the questions? Mkay ... Teyla wouldn't use pet names, John might be as a way to tease or joke only, Rodney might, Carson for sure.
They have someone looking after the washing machines and stuff but have to do half the work, i.e. carring it there, picking it up (I just make that up now).
I always wanted Malcolm Reynolds and Ray Kowalski and one of Ben Browder's characters there, but they are too similar. Hah! Q. They so need a Q there *nods* and Spike. Although again - there might be too much self-mockery already. Gosh, that was boring, ask me something else if you want *hangs head*

[neery.livejournal.com]

But I don't know; I'd be inclined to fall back on the good old housecat. Now that's a good life.

But the food! Not that the appeal of being able to laze around in the sun all day and getting petted isn't really huge, but I really wouldn't want to have to live off cat food and mice for the rest of my life.
Personally, I'm always surprised when people don't answer this question with "a bird", but then, it's probably a stupid assumption that everyone would want to be able to fly.

I'd love to be interviewed. Feel free to reuse questions, of course. They're all very interesting.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I hadn't thought about the food. That's a big drawback.

Actually, if cats thought like humans, do you think they'd be worried about the way the housecat lifestyle separates the hunting-and-stalking aspect from the eating-and-nourishing aspect? Maybe for housecats that would be the equivalent of the "soulless-casual-sex" argument.

1. What's something you've done that I probably haven't done?

2. What housework tasks do you like, which ones do you not mind, and which ones do you absolutely hate?

3. What's an element that has convinced you to read stories you actually didn't like very much, just because you wanted that element? (Like there was a period in my life where I'd read a vampire story even if it was a really terrible vampire story, just because. This disappeared when I discovered slash, so evidently I was repressing something.)

4. You get to make any two male celebrities kiss. (You're the Faerie Queen or something, so you can make them enjoy it.) Which ones do you choose?

5. What's in your pockets now?