The Interview Meme
Feb. 2nd, 2004 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanThis has been making the lj rounds, and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ntamara was kind enough to ask me some questions. I had a lot to say (especially concerning question three), but it was a lot of fun to fill out. Bombs away:
The Interview Meme
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed
1. What is the weirdest thing you've encountered in Japan?
There's loads of weird stuff in Japan, especially when Japanese culture meets the West. I'll tell you about the most recent example I've encountered.
A new building was under construction right across the street from the city's JR station. This building is over fifteen storeys tall, which means it's one of the tallest (if not the tallest) buildidng in the city, and its construction was a big deal.
For reasons unknown to mortals such as myself, the Japanese cover all of their construction work with blue tarpaulin - even buildings that are thirty, forty storeys tall. This building was no exception.
The Japanese also love Christmas, even though they don't quite grasp its underlying concepts. This past Christmas, the firm building this skyscraper across from the station decorated it with about ten or so life-size Santa manniquens grappling up the face of the building and then hung the whole thing with white faerie lights.
So you have a fifteen-plus storey building (visible from pretty much anywhere in the city) swathed in blue tarpaulin with a dozen G.I. Joe Disco Santas scaling its edifice.
Weird.
2. How did you discover Peter Gabriel (and what's you favourite Peter Gabriel song?)
I always knew who Peter Gabriel was - my parents listened to the radio and watched MTV constantly throughout my childhood. One of the first cassettes I bought was a Peter Gabriel single.
I had a few of his albums, but it took another decade or so before I got a lot of the situations his lyrics described. If you asked me who my favorite artist was, Gabriel wouldn't immediately spring to mind, but I've listened to him for most of my life, and I'm always impressed with his music - it's sophisticated without losing its sense of fun, and there's just so much going on that it rewards repeated listenings. All of his songs are immediately identifiable as Peter Gabriel songs, but they aren't cookie-cutter copies of each other, either.
My favorite song would have to be I Grieve, off of the UP album. That song floors me whenever I listen to it. The music and lyrics are so sparse and minimalist; it's just one of those songs that cuts to the heart of its subject matter without needlessly wasting words. The sense of weariness the song communicates is just so beautiful. And I love the structure and progression of the song as well.
3. What is the oldest grudge you can remember (and still have), and against who?
The oldest grudge I can remember dates back a decade, but since it no longer makes me angry to think about, I'll go with a more recent grudge that still pisses me off.
I am a damn good student. I show up for class, do homework regularly, participate in discussion, and genuinely enjoy learning. Thanks to this, I've had consistently high grades since elementary school and am one of the students schools point to when protesting to taxpayers that they don't have drinking/disciplinary/apathy problems within the student body.
Enter the final semester of my senior year. In order to graduate, I needed a certain amount of credit hours which had nothing to do with my my East Asian and Gender Studies majors. (The Uni calls this "being well rounded." I call it "a colossal waste of my time.")
One of these courses was a math course. The previous semester, I'd visited three advisors (East Asian, Gender Studies, Honors College) before enrolling. None of these advisors saw any problems with my tentative course selections.
Fast forward to about five weeks before graduation, when I notice that the computerised advising system keeps insisting that I can't graduate because my math credits are lacking! Of course, I run to the nearest advisor. As it turns out, of the six statistics courses offered by the University, five of which have the same course number I've managed to enroll in the one course that doesn't count for math credit, and none of my advisors caught this problem. The course I'm enrolled is the only course which forces students to do the math by hand (as opposed to using computers), and is more math-intensive than those stats courses which do count as math credit.
I petition to have the course count as math credit. I take my petition to the Dean of the College. She refuses to grant it because it's an interdepartmental dispute between the math and stats depts, and she has no power to change it. (Um, excuse me, but you're the Dean of the College. These people are your EMPLOYEES.)
She then says I'll have to graduate next year. I can't do that, because I'll lose my job for JET. I end up spending over $1,000 out-of-pocket to take a correspondence course for an August graduation, and to top it off, the cow WON'T LET ME DROP THE STATS COURSE. So I'm spending an extra 16 hours a week on these two courses, I don't get to attend my graduation ceremony, and the school milks another $1,000 out of me.
Still holding that grudge. Ain't lifting a finger when the alumni fundraising drives come around, either.
4. HP: books vs fandom?
I can't enjoy one without the other. Rowling spins a good yarn, but she's far from the Writer of Great and Enduring Literature some people make her out to be. Her plotlines and characters are derivative, predictable, and often two-dimensional. I like fandom because the good authors (of fics and META both) can inject originality and unpredictability where those aspects are lacking and approach the characters from new angles, which helps me appreciate the books more. Good authors also do a lot to correct plot holes and omissions, and there are a lot of fics out there whose take on canon is a lot more inventive than Rowling's ever was.
Finally, for all that they deal with "adult" issues, the HP books are still very much "children's" books. This means readers will never see Harry & Co. dealing with sexuality, graphic death, lasting betrayal, or the good guys not coming out on top. I need fandom to fill in these blanks for me, to show me how the characters would react in the situations Rowling ignores.
On the other hand, fandom does nothing for me if it strays too far from the books. I'm a hardcore Canon Stickler, so I like the characters in the fic I read to be recognisable as those Rowling originally penned. In other words, if a writer's going to posit that Snape never did anything horrible in his life, that he's a fwuffy lovey bunny on the inside, and that Harry's perception of him is wildly distorted - I won't dismiss her out of hand, but she'd better work to convince me that her interpretation is plausible. And the thing is, when an author does convince me, it's magical.
Of course, the badfic:goodfic ratio is weighted heavily in favor of the badfic, but that makes the gems I manage to turn up all the more valuable. (It's also why your recs are so praiseworthy! Your lj is like the shock troops of goodfic-location.)
5. What was the worst present you ever received, and who gave it to you?
I've received my share of lame presents - like socks and underwear. But rather than getting crappy presents, I hate it when people ask me what I want and then get me something completely unrelated. If I've given you a list of 500 Irish music CDs, why the hell did you think I'd like an N'Sync greatest hits compilation? And if you were planning to give it to me in the first place, why did you bother asking what I'd like?
Don't get me wrong, I love getting surprises; otherwise receiving gifts is no different than having someone else do your shopping for you. But if you know my tastes (and they are wide), there's no reason to buy me something I'll in all likelihood not want.
That will be all.
(Tris is available for further comment in her live journal.)
ntamara was kind enough to ask me some questions. I had a lot to say (especially concerning question three), but it was a lot of fun to fill out. Bombs away:The Interview Meme
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed
1. What is the weirdest thing you've encountered in Japan?
There's loads of weird stuff in Japan, especially when Japanese culture meets the West. I'll tell you about the most recent example I've encountered.
A new building was under construction right across the street from the city's JR station. This building is over fifteen storeys tall, which means it's one of the tallest (if not the tallest) buildidng in the city, and its construction was a big deal.
For reasons unknown to mortals such as myself, the Japanese cover all of their construction work with blue tarpaulin - even buildings that are thirty, forty storeys tall. This building was no exception.
The Japanese also love Christmas, even though they don't quite grasp its underlying concepts. This past Christmas, the firm building this skyscraper across from the station decorated it with about ten or so life-size Santa manniquens grappling up the face of the building and then hung the whole thing with white faerie lights.
So you have a fifteen-plus storey building (visible from pretty much anywhere in the city) swathed in blue tarpaulin with a dozen G.I. Joe Disco Santas scaling its edifice.
Weird.
2. How did you discover Peter Gabriel (and what's you favourite Peter Gabriel song?)
I always knew who Peter Gabriel was - my parents listened to the radio and watched MTV constantly throughout my childhood. One of the first cassettes I bought was a Peter Gabriel single.
I had a few of his albums, but it took another decade or so before I got a lot of the situations his lyrics described. If you asked me who my favorite artist was, Gabriel wouldn't immediately spring to mind, but I've listened to him for most of my life, and I'm always impressed with his music - it's sophisticated without losing its sense of fun, and there's just so much going on that it rewards repeated listenings. All of his songs are immediately identifiable as Peter Gabriel songs, but they aren't cookie-cutter copies of each other, either.
My favorite song would have to be I Grieve, off of the UP album. That song floors me whenever I listen to it. The music and lyrics are so sparse and minimalist; it's just one of those songs that cuts to the heart of its subject matter without needlessly wasting words. The sense of weariness the song communicates is just so beautiful. And I love the structure and progression of the song as well.
3. What is the oldest grudge you can remember (and still have), and against who?
The oldest grudge I can remember dates back a decade, but since it no longer makes me angry to think about, I'll go with a more recent grudge that still pisses me off.
I am a damn good student. I show up for class, do homework regularly, participate in discussion, and genuinely enjoy learning. Thanks to this, I've had consistently high grades since elementary school and am one of the students schools point to when protesting to taxpayers that they don't have drinking/disciplinary/apathy problems within the student body.
Enter the final semester of my senior year. In order to graduate, I needed a certain amount of credit hours which had nothing to do with my my East Asian and Gender Studies majors. (The Uni calls this "being well rounded." I call it "a colossal waste of my time.")
One of these courses was a math course. The previous semester, I'd visited three advisors (East Asian, Gender Studies, Honors College) before enrolling. None of these advisors saw any problems with my tentative course selections.
Fast forward to about five weeks before graduation, when I notice that the computerised advising system keeps insisting that I can't graduate because my math credits are lacking! Of course, I run to the nearest advisor. As it turns out, of the six statistics courses offered by the University, five of which have the same course number I've managed to enroll in the one course that doesn't count for math credit, and none of my advisors caught this problem. The course I'm enrolled is the only course which forces students to do the math by hand (as opposed to using computers), and is more math-intensive than those stats courses which do count as math credit.
I petition to have the course count as math credit. I take my petition to the Dean of the College. She refuses to grant it because it's an interdepartmental dispute between the math and stats depts, and she has no power to change it. (Um, excuse me, but you're the Dean of the College. These people are your EMPLOYEES.)
She then says I'll have to graduate next year. I can't do that, because I'll lose my job for JET. I end up spending over $1,000 out-of-pocket to take a correspondence course for an August graduation, and to top it off, the cow WON'T LET ME DROP THE STATS COURSE. So I'm spending an extra 16 hours a week on these two courses, I don't get to attend my graduation ceremony, and the school milks another $1,000 out of me.
Still holding that grudge. Ain't lifting a finger when the alumni fundraising drives come around, either.
4. HP: books vs fandom?
I can't enjoy one without the other. Rowling spins a good yarn, but she's far from the Writer of Great and Enduring Literature some people make her out to be. Her plotlines and characters are derivative, predictable, and often two-dimensional. I like fandom because the good authors (of fics and META both) can inject originality and unpredictability where those aspects are lacking and approach the characters from new angles, which helps me appreciate the books more. Good authors also do a lot to correct plot holes and omissions, and there are a lot of fics out there whose take on canon is a lot more inventive than Rowling's ever was.
Finally, for all that they deal with "adult" issues, the HP books are still very much "children's" books. This means readers will never see Harry & Co. dealing with sexuality, graphic death, lasting betrayal, or the good guys not coming out on top. I need fandom to fill in these blanks for me, to show me how the characters would react in the situations Rowling ignores.
On the other hand, fandom does nothing for me if it strays too far from the books. I'm a hardcore Canon Stickler, so I like the characters in the fic I read to be recognisable as those Rowling originally penned. In other words, if a writer's going to posit that Snape never did anything horrible in his life, that he's a fwuffy lovey bunny on the inside, and that Harry's perception of him is wildly distorted - I won't dismiss her out of hand, but she'd better work to convince me that her interpretation is plausible. And the thing is, when an author does convince me, it's magical.
Of course, the badfic:goodfic ratio is weighted heavily in favor of the badfic, but that makes the gems I manage to turn up all the more valuable. (It's also why your recs are so praiseworthy! Your lj is like the shock troops of goodfic-location.)
5. What was the worst present you ever received, and who gave it to you?
I've received my share of lame presents - like socks and underwear. But rather than getting crappy presents, I hate it when people ask me what I want and then get me something completely unrelated. If I've given you a list of 500 Irish music CDs, why the hell did you think I'd like an N'Sync greatest hits compilation? And if you were planning to give it to me in the first place, why did you bother asking what I'd like?
Don't get me wrong, I love getting surprises; otherwise receiving gifts is no different than having someone else do your shopping for you. But if you know my tastes (and they are wide), there's no reason to buy me something I'll in all likelihood not want.
That will be all.
(Tris is available for further comment in her live journal.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2004-02-03 05:58 am (UTC)Man that sucks! I remember you were majorly stressed about a science component one year, and having so much trouble getting an appointment to talk to the advisers. Same thing?
Interview me, please :)
Re:
on 2004-02-04 02:16 am (UTC)1) It's been less than a week since your appointment as Minister of Fangirling, Sockpuppetry, and Promotional Affairs. How are you feeling?
2) Have you ever changed your mind about one of the Big Issues (the death penalty, existence of god/s? What made you do it?
3) Your first encounter with slash fandom. When was it, and what did you think?
4) What's the most recent book you've read, and was it any good?
5) What's your TV-viewing guilty pleasure?
Have fun:-)
no subject
on 2004-02-04 01:54 am (UTC)Heh.
But if you know my tastes (and they are wide), there's no reason to buy me something I'll in all likelihood not want.
God yes. Why do people bother if they don't really care? (Speaking from personal experience) Do you know how many gifts I've received from the Dollar Store? Do you? You really wouldn't care to know, I can tell that much. Why not just give me the dollar, that way I can go buy myself a pack of gum rather than some boring ass trinket I could honestly never find (nor would I want to find) a use for. But let me stop here because I'm getting bitter. I think i'm just moody. XP
Anyway, I'd like you to ask me some questions if you please. :)
Re:
on 2004-02-04 02:26 am (UTC)I'm right behind you. Perhaps we could lobby to have GCs listed as terrorists under the Patriot Act III? We'll get rid of useless school staff and finally have a PA that accomplishes something.
Why not just give me the dollar, that way I can go buy yself a pack of gum rather than some boring ass trinket I could honestly never find (nor would I want to find) a use for.
Amen. The thing is, I'm always going into stores like that for school supplies, candles, etc. So I know what the stock looks like. And it should be pretty embarrassing if I can recognise that you went to all the trouble of getting me a Dollar Tree gift.
Anyway, I'd like you to ask me some questions if you please. :)
Coming right up!
1) You seem to monitor a fair amount of fandoms. What brings you to a certain fandom, and what will make you leave?
2) Name a movie that you thought would be really, really good only to discover that it really, really sucked. What was the movie and why did it turn out so bad?
3) You make a lot of icons. How do you decide what to make, and what makes a good icon stand out?
4) Back to fandom again. You read fics in several fandoms, but do you write any? Why or why not?
5) If you could automatically gain five skills or learn five things, what would they be and why?
Re:
on 2004-02-04 03:12 am (UTC)Oh god, can we? Please, oh pretty please! It'd be a dream come true.
And it should be pretty embarrassing if I can recognise that you went to all the trouble of getting me a Dollar Tree gift.
That would be true, wouldn't you think? But year after year they buy it for me and I throw it out. This kind of stuff is mostly from non-closely related aunts and such. This is the kind of BS that i'll remember when I'm older (read: they're not getting shit from me because I can hole a grudge for a long ass time). I don't care about saving face because it just doesn't affect me like it does some people. (*coughmymomcough*) I'm assuming they just buy garbage for me so they can say they actually bought something for everyone. *gags* Superficial @$#!&%.
What's really sad is that during Christmas my mom spent more money on other people then she did on us. All just to save face. XP
I just don't like non-creativity. I don't want an expensive gift, I just want to know you care. It could be those little things you throw on the ground that explode (like mini firecrackers, which are also found at the dollar store) because I love those things! That would be an awesome gift. ;)
Thanks for the questions, i'll get on them asap. :D
Re:
on 2004-02-05 12:50 pm (UTC)Thanks for the questions, i'll get on them asap. :D
Amen to that! What's wrong with giving someone som Christmas cookies or even store-bought candy? It doesn't matter if it's consumable, especially if you're just throwing out the crap they give you year after year.
I'd rather get something good to eat than a st00p1d santa figurine I trash as soon as the giver's back is turned.
Oh, and my comments on your questions are coming shortly;-)