I asked the incomparable dale if he wouldn’t mind shooting me some interview questions, as I had really enjoyed reading the interviews with bloggers he has conducted in recent weeks. He was very, very gracious to agree to interview me.
Here are his questions, and my answers.
1. Whether you’re using the written word, audio clips of your own voice, or creating new art by manipulating Toni Basil’s Hey Mickey! with excellent results, the many ways you get your point across keeps me in awe and thinking “I wish I’d thought of that!” Considering your film production background, have you ever considered video blogging?
Thank you so much for the kind words. I am honestly a little ignorant of video blogging. I saw a recent post by Jess, a blogger I regularly read, about some video blogging done by some Baghdad locals, but haven’t checked it out yet.
At this point, I don’t feel confident to undertake something of that nature, but maybe as I get more comfortable it could be something I’d like to explore. My wife bought a Mac laptop recently. I want to load Final Cut Pro, a really nice video editing suite, onto the computer, and learn how to use it. I have some video ideas that I want to play around with, so maybe that eventually could transition into a more regular video blog. I really have a fun time with old-fashioned writing, though.
2. Trapped on a long flight, would you rather sit next to Watchmen creators Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore (so you could discuss your geeky and exciting discovery) or Jim Woodring (so you could discuss your avatar)?
Either would be great, but I’d haveta go with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. I’ve read a lot of fascinating interviews with Alan Moore in particular, and would just relish being there to have a conversation. He’d probably hate sitting next to me and my stupid mouth, but before he got irretrievably perturbed perhaps I could get to ask him, “Hey, is Rorschach related to Seymour, the chubby red-haired assistant at the New Frontiersman, or am I just batshit crazy?”
3. If you were to make a feature film, a short film or even a porno flick, who would your top choice be for doing the score?
Wow, that’s a tough one. A tough, tough question. I actually envision scenes to a film in my head sometimes, and more often I imagine it set to a song I really admire, kinda like how Scorsese does the whole pop song to match up with some bit of action (I’m not putting myself up with him, I’m merely talking about his style of assembling a soundtrack).
Still, there’s something to be said about having an original score. I love Italian film composer Piero Umiliani, but he died a few years back. Mark Mothersbaugh (of Devo fame) has done some great soundtrack work.
However, the soundtrack to the Roman Polanski film The Ninth Gate was something that really bowled me over, composed by Wojciech Kilar. It was so great that I would want to make a movie that he would wanna score. Great stuff.
4. I regret not paying closer attention to your review of the film Fracture before renting it last week. Which film do you find yourself stopping time and again to watch at least part of when you come across it on television?
A few years ago, when Gladiator was on every goddamn pay channel on every goddamn half hour, I would find myself stopping to watch it ridiculously often. If I’d come across the Mickey Rourke or Clive Owen parts of Sin City, I’d stop to watch it (some nice stylized violence, coupled with the loveliness of Carla Gugino and/or Rosario Dawson). And, I must admit, I have a completely nonsexual mancrush on Clive Owen at this point in time. This crush may be the reason that the most recent stop-and-watch movie for me is Spike Lee’s Inside Man.
5. You’ve launched many successful series on your blog such as Actor Adoptions, Who’s In Charge and The Green Monkey Mix Project. Were you born with these ideas or do they just come to you? Is there an entire family of bloggers living in your brain? If someone snapped up the film rights to your blog, who would play the actors?
The ideas just come to me. I have a pretty active imagination, but haven’t really given myself an outlet for it for several years. I think it’s gushing out a bit at this point. With regards to having an actor or actors play some sort of bizarre (and boring!) dramatization of my blog, this is such an easy question to answer, and I am truly serious — David Patrick Kelly would be the first choice. It’s not a coincidence I picked to adopt him — I feel some sort of kinship with him. Perhaps that comes across as creepy, or disturbingly stalkerish, but I just like the man’s work, I reckon.
Thank you, Dale!
If’n anyone reading this post wants to be interviewed by yours truly,
You can:
Leave me a comment saying “Interview me.”
and…
I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
then…
You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions.
and you can optionally…
include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post
and if you do…
When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
