Meme-ories
Tuesday, 17 February 2009 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaffy_rFive Questions
1. Leave me a comment saying anything random, like your favorite lyric to your current favorite song.
2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions
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belsum asked me these questions, and I hope I answer them to her satisfaction!
Did you always want to be a journalist or it come to you as you were already in school?
No. I thought I wanted to be an actress, and even made it to acting school (University of Alberta) for a year. They dropped me after freshman year, telling me I was too "literal minded." I was all set to finish life as a cashier, when my mother suggested I try for a one-year practical journalism course at a community college a couple of hundred miles from home. I tried to screw up my interview with the Professor in charge of it, but my mother managed to wangle me another interview, and told me not to screw up further. Then I got into the program, discovered I loved being a reporter about two weeks in, and never stopped loving it. Got my first job before I graduated the course. That was in February, 1975.
If you could live anywhere besides Chicago, where would it be?
Oh my. I've thought about it, and I might possibly narrow it down to a couple of places. Halifax, Nova Scotia, London or Glasgow (UK fan, me) or somewhere south of Los Angeles. But really, I'd love to have a house here in Chicago - and then go travelling!
Do you think that fanfic gets enough respect as a legitimate art form or is the mainstream scoffing largely earned?
The answer is yes. To be specific, there's a lot of grade Z sub-basement level wish-fulfillment, grammar-challenged word salad out there - devoid of plot, characterization, or acquaintance with dictionary or thesaurus. I don't even mention Mary Sue or Marty Stu, because they've been unfairly maligned in some ways. I'm simply talking about Bad Shit. But there are also some amazing pieces of fiction out there to be enjoyed, and loved, and respected. Fiction written by fans of a subworld - any subworld - and done brilliantly. I'm a tough critic, and I've read stuff that has made me laugh for the right reasons, made me cry for the right reasons, made me think and filled me with wonder. Some of the pieces I've read have been written by professional writers and some by people who make their way in life by means other than writing. But they all meet the true meaning of "amateur"; the best meaning of the word - some one who does something for the pure love of it. That's an honorable thing. The fact is that a lot of people who write professionally in the field began by writing fan fiction. (Hey, mythology is fan fiction of a sort, when you come to think of it - an established pantheon of characters, and established canon. Which then gets confused, tangled, reversed and re-reversed by the writers. Heh.)
What’s your earliest Doctor Who memory?
Coming home from elementary school (second grade, I think) to watch One and Susan, Ian and Barbara meet in the junk yard. I never recovered, even though I spent a good number of years away from the Whoniverse.
One trip in the TARDIS and it has to be music related: where and when and who and why?.
Oh, my. It would change by the day, but I'm thinking ... the Hot Club of Paris, Django Reinhardt; or on this side of the ocean, Duke Ellington, or maybe some of the after-hours battles between Chick Webb's band and Benny Goodman's. But if I think too long, there would be way too many jazz greats I'd want to visit.
1. Leave me a comment saying anything random, like your favorite lyric to your current favorite song.
2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions
belsum asked me these questions, and I hope I answer them to her satisfaction!Did you always want to be a journalist or it come to you as you were already in school?
No. I thought I wanted to be an actress, and even made it to acting school (University of Alberta) for a year. They dropped me after freshman year, telling me I was too "literal minded." I was all set to finish life as a cashier, when my mother suggested I try for a one-year practical journalism course at a community college a couple of hundred miles from home. I tried to screw up my interview with the Professor in charge of it, but my mother managed to wangle me another interview, and told me not to screw up further. Then I got into the program, discovered I loved being a reporter about two weeks in, and never stopped loving it. Got my first job before I graduated the course. That was in February, 1975.
If you could live anywhere besides Chicago, where would it be?
Oh my. I've thought about it, and I might possibly narrow it down to a couple of places. Halifax, Nova Scotia, London or Glasgow (UK fan, me) or somewhere south of Los Angeles. But really, I'd love to have a house here in Chicago - and then go travelling!
Do you think that fanfic gets enough respect as a legitimate art form or is the mainstream scoffing largely earned?
The answer is yes. To be specific, there's a lot of grade Z sub-basement level wish-fulfillment, grammar-challenged word salad out there - devoid of plot, characterization, or acquaintance with dictionary or thesaurus. I don't even mention Mary Sue or Marty Stu, because they've been unfairly maligned in some ways. I'm simply talking about Bad Shit. But there are also some amazing pieces of fiction out there to be enjoyed, and loved, and respected. Fiction written by fans of a subworld - any subworld - and done brilliantly. I'm a tough critic, and I've read stuff that has made me laugh for the right reasons, made me cry for the right reasons, made me think and filled me with wonder. Some of the pieces I've read have been written by professional writers and some by people who make their way in life by means other than writing. But they all meet the true meaning of "amateur"; the best meaning of the word - some one who does something for the pure love of it. That's an honorable thing. The fact is that a lot of people who write professionally in the field began by writing fan fiction. (Hey, mythology is fan fiction of a sort, when you come to think of it - an established pantheon of characters, and established canon. Which then gets confused, tangled, reversed and re-reversed by the writers. Heh.)
What’s your earliest Doctor Who memory?
Coming home from elementary school (second grade, I think) to watch One and Susan, Ian and Barbara meet in the junk yard. I never recovered, even though I spent a good number of years away from the Whoniverse.
One trip in the TARDIS and it has to be music related: where and when and who and why?.
Oh, my. It would change by the day, but I'm thinking ... the Hot Club of Paris, Django Reinhardt; or on this side of the ocean, Duke Ellington, or maybe some of the after-hours battles between Chick Webb's band and Benny Goodman's. But if I think too long, there would be way too many jazz greats I'd want to visit.
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no subject
Date: Thursday, 19 February 2009 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 19 February 2009 05:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 19 February 2009 09:23 pm (UTC)No, I was pleased with the depth of knowledge I gleaned. If the whole point was to "get to know your LJ neighbor" then it was successful. I love that you just sort of accidentally stumbled into journalism!
no subject
Date: Friday, 20 February 2009 04:29 am (UTC)