Interview

So, I found this through Tohu Bohu. Basically it's like a chain. I read V's answers and then requested some questions (since that is what the adventurous are meant to do). Now I answer them and anyone reading who feels like making me rack my brains for five questions for THEM can feel free to post a comment stating so.

1. Of course you are tired of explaining, yet that’s what interviews are all about: The Nippophilia (not to say otakuosity)—what blend of ethnic pride, exoticism, good luck, good taste and trendiness led to your particular fondness for the culture of the Island Nation?

Well, it certainly started with good luck. I always had a certain fondness for drawings of a particular unnamed style. I had no idea they were Japanese until I fell in with the right crowd of geeks during high school. They introduced me to anime and the moment I saw my first subbed episode (of Slayers...*nostalgia wave*) I knew I had to learn J-speak!

Trendiness definitely has nothing to do with it. I may have become slightly more popular (in the circle of geeks) for being able to instruct others in elementary kana and the like, but I wasn't jumping any waves or anything. Incidentally, I"m not quite as otaku as I used to be. If given the choice between a book by Murakami Haruki or GunXSword, I'd gladly take the former. Although, I guess he's pretty trendy now, too. These aren't things I know before I get into them.

Ethnic pride doesn't really figure in at all, unless you suspect me of some sort of reverse ethnic pride involving distaste for America and a yearning to turn Japanese, which (while the US has it's faults) isn't the case (and so does Japan...)

That leaves exoticism and good taste. I think it's rather in good taste to have at least a slight flair for the exotic. If you stick to much to the hum drum you're liable to become BORING o_O That said, I think my friends on my study abroad in Paris thought I was all a bit crazy for spending the vast majority of my time doing J-things, as opposted to the French things we were ostensibly there to experience.

2. If you were casting a remake of Barefoot in the Park, who would you cast? Who would direct? Who would adapt the screenplay? Who would do the music? Would you release it to audiences, or just make your own copy to show personal friends?

Oooh...this is sort of an exciting one. I can't say that I'm quite as big a film buff as I like, though, so the directors and writers aspect pretty much eludes me. I think, though, I would probably adapt the screenplay and then have my friend the aspiring filmmaker direct. I actually have a friend who composes as well, and while an electronic score might seem a little out of place in a romantic comedy...it could work. We'll keep it in house. Ha. Who would I CAST? Well, my sister acts, but she's not old enough for any of the parts... There is a Woody Allen movie coming out with Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson. I'm curious to see how that pairing turns out. Maybe if it's good we'll have them do the couple. They're cute enough, and it'd be fun to see Hugh Jackman as a stuffed-shirt. As for the other two, I honestly don't know. There's no one I can think of who could match Charles Boyer... I'm sure David Tennant would have no trouble getting up all those flights of stairs, but I wouldn't mind having him in there as Harry Pepper.

3. How long have you been bespectacled? How do you think your life would be different if you had really good eyesight?

There was a brief time in third grade when some goofy eye doctor thought I needed glasses. My "good taste" was apparently not formed yet, because the pictures of me in the specs I picked out are HORRIBLE. Red wire-rims. Yick. That didn't last very long, however, because we learned after that that my eyes were fine *shrug* Then in seventh grade it came up again and that's when I really started wearing. I still had geeky ones back then, but not as bad as the first pair. It was sort of fun to get them because a friend of mine got hers at about the same time, so we would spend all of homeroom having contests to see who could read the highest posters on the wall without her glasses. In high school there were two or three years where I put up with contacts. In the end, though, they weren't for me. Dried my eyes out and took away that pretty frame. People who wear glasses don't need eye make-up because they're already focused on. It's nice that way.

If I had better eyes? I guess I would've been able to see the ocean better when I was doing my homestay near Nantes in France. They just told me we were going swimming at the beach, not at the OCEAN. It's entirely different! Anyways, I left my contacts at the house so I wouldn't have to putz with them in the sand. Left my glasses too, since I didn't want to lose them and didn't really feel like I needed to see all THAT clearly, but obviously in retrospect, it would've been nice. I wonder if I would look as smart if I didn't wear glasses ;p I sorta like them, anyways. You get so used to it. For instance, sometimes, if I have taken my glasses off obviously I can't see as well, so I "push up" my glasses, thinking that things will come into focus. That's real cute ;p

4. I was born in the summer of 1969; you were born in the summer of 1985. I have vague memories of Nixon’s resignation; you probably have vague memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall. What Big-News cultural, political or scientific events from, say, 1975-1987 do you wish you had been able to follow as they were happening?

That is probably the area of history I know the least about, no joke. I do, however, have at least one answer. COMPUTERS. I'd get in right away. In fact, lately I've been really lamenting the fact that I was born so "late." It would've been really cool to be an ubergeek back when things were just speeding up (err literally :D)

5. What were the five best things that happened to you today?

Well, I don't really remember well enough what happened on the day you asked, and today has only just started, so maybe we'll settle for yesterday. Unfortunately, yesterday was a rather uneventful day, mostly consisting of watching/listening to the boy play The Ur-Quan Masters. I'm sure I can manage five good things, though:

1: I took a shower (really needed one.)
2: Finished reading Villa Incognito.
3: Finished reading Critical Theory Today.
4: Had a chocolate croissant.
5: Ate a bacon cheeseburger with fries and didn't feel TOO guilty (which is especially surprising given number 4.)

Of course, there are more situational things, such as being with the boy, being in San Francisco for the summer, etc etc, but as yesterday-specific things go, that would probably be the list, I think.

TA-DA, hopefully my answers are found satisfactory. If you want questions, let me know and I'll try my best to furnish you with a handful.