From NPR's Monkey See Monkey Do Blog:
1. What has been your biggest pleasant surprise of the last three months? (This takes you, so you don't have to do math, back to late May.)
2. What has been the rudest surprise of the last three months?
3. What are you most looking forward to between now and New Year's?
4. What are you dreading most between now and New Year's?
5. If, at this moment, you could only watch television between now and December 31, or you could only see movies between now and December 31, which would you choose if you knew you couldn't go back later and catch up on what you missed?
6. If you could press one book you have read this year into the hands of ten strangers when they were trapped during a blackout with nothing to do but read, what would you give them?
7. What are you currently trying to like and finding it difficult to like?
8. If you could guarantee that five people -- actors, writers, directors, whoever -- would have their calendars filled with funded projects for the next five years, to whom would you grant full employment?
9. What do you love in spite of being outside the target demographic? (Example: "I am a nineteen-year-old dude and I loved The Proposal.")
10. If you could personally wave your wand and stop one trend -- toy movies, remakes, crime procedurals -- what would be your target?
1. Probably the comic Chew, which I expected to be OK but was instead great.
ReplyDelete2. How disappointed I was in Star Trek after all the great buzz.
3. Since Chuck, Burn Notice and Lost are all coming back in 2010, TV is off the menu, and as much as I'm looking forward to Avatar, I'd say Beatles Rock Band.
4. Dread is a strong word, but I'm not looking forward to discovering some new show in the fall season which will get low ratings and get canceled.
5. Normally I'd choose TV without a second thought, but since we're getting Avatar and *not* getting Chuck, Lost or Burn Notice, I'd say movies.
6. Darwyn Cooke's Parker The Hunter.
7. I keep trying to like Blackest Night, New Avengers, other popular comics, but I just can't do it.
8. Shane Black (writer/director), John Ostrander (writer), Nathan Fillion (preferably in something more genre and better than Castle), Mark Shepperd (in the lead role he deserves, rather than the always-entertaining supporting roles) and Aaron Sorkin (on TV, where he belongs, *not* over-doing the self-indulgence)
9. I'm not sure what target demographic I'm really out of. Maybe Jeff Smith's Little Mouse Gets Ready, which was for kids but was really entertaining?
10. Big-budget dumb-as-hell action movies... or maybe sequels, since with rare exceptions, they suck.
This is all supposed to be entertainment-related, right? Like, "What has been the rudest surprise of the last three months?" should be answered with the name of a movie or something, not "I found out I have gonorrhea?"
ReplyDeleteYep, pop culture related.
ReplyDeleteAnd c'mon, Dave... how could the gonorrhea have been a surprise?
1. Playing 40K again. Good times.
ReplyDelete2. Playing 40K again. That shit is expensive.
3. A new Cruxshadows album.
4. I'm not dreading anything.
5. Movies. I don't watch much TV anyway.
6. How are they reading during a blackout?
7. Blackest Night.
8. John Allison (creator of webcomic Scary Go Round), Yoji Yamada (Japanese director), Colleen Coover (comics artist), MC Frontalot (Nerdcore rapper), and Brandon Graham (comics creator).
9. Marvel Adventures comics.
10. Special covers on comics. They fucking suck and I want them gone forever.
>>6. How are they reading during a blackout?
ReplyDeleteBlackouts don't turn off the sun ;)
>>Blackouts don't turn off the sun ;)<<
ReplyDeleteIt says they are trapped with nothing to do but read. If they have access to the sun, they can tan. Thus, there must be no sunlight! :p
I...can't argue with that.
ReplyDeleteThey have magical light globes that only work when you read, if you try to do anything else they turn off. Or set fire to your skin.
ReplyDeleteJust answer the goddamn question. ;)
Alright, lemme take a shot. I'll even include the questions so my answers aren't as confusing as y'all's :)
ReplyDelete1. What has been your biggest pleasant surprise of the last three months? (This takes you, so you don't have to do math, back to late May.)
George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. Finally got around to it and lived up to the hype, big time.
2. What has been the rudest surprise of the last three months?
Hmm, gotta copy Randy: Star Trek.
3. What are you most looking forward to between now and New Year's?
Going slightly abstract here, but I'm really looking forward to funning a few more RPGs with the FLEX system. Maybe something spooky, come Halloween.
4. What are you dreading most between now and New Year's?
Whatever awfulness I skim from Marvel and DC comics as I try to keep current with 'em.
5. If, at this moment, you could only watch television between now and December 31, or you could only see movies between now and December 31, which would you choose if you knew you couldn't go back later and catch up on what you missed?
Are there still new episodes of Breaking Bad coming out? I catch it on DVD, but by the qustion's parameters I'd miss it if I picked movies. My answer depends on this. If there ARE new episodes, I pick TV. If not, I pick movies so I can see Where the Wild Things Are.
6. If you could press one book you have read this year into the hands of ten strangers when they were trapped during a blackout with nothing to do but read, what would you give them?
My instinct is Motel Life by Willy Vlautin, but it's depressing as hell. I should probably think of other folks and go with the crowd-pleasing Game of Thrones.
7. What are you currently trying to like and finding it difficult to like?
Dungeons & Dragons. Folks in my gaming group shouldn't take this as commentary on them - it's more a case of me finding it a harder system to GM because of my personal style.
8. If you could guarantee that five people -- actors, writers, directors, whoever -- would have their calendars filled with funded projects for the next five years, to whom would you grant full employment?
*Quentin Tarantino (Basterds was great! Eat it, haterz!)
*George R.R. Martin (I need him to finish the series now that I've started it)
*Willy Vlautin (novelist guy mentioned earlier)
*Vince Gilligan (creator of Breaking Bad)
*Jonathan Blow (creator of the arthouse video game, Braid; I wanna see what he does next)
9. What do you love in spite of being outside the target demographic? (Example: "I am a nineteen-year-old dude and I loved The Proposal.")
That Disney flick, Enchanted.
Fuck you, it's cute.
10. If you could personally wave your wand and stop one trend -- toy movies, remakes, crime procedurals -- what would be your target?
Not to be obvious, but...reality TV. I don't watch enough TV to notice it, really, but I'm pretty sure it's deadening our culture.
Heh.
ReplyDelete"Funning."
I made a typo.
1. What has been your biggest pleasant surprise of the last three months? (This takes you, so you don't have to do math, back to late May.)
ReplyDeleteProbably Orphan. Strong horror movie.
2. What has been the rudest surprise of the last three months?
Evan Kasprzak's performance throughout So You Think You Can Dance
3. What are you most looking forward to between now and New Year's?
Sarah Langan's new novel, Audrey's Door
4. What are you dreading most between now and New Year's?
The next announcement from Permuted Press, zombie micropress who doesn't pay their authors shit and then sells off their books to Pocket for a huge profit.
5. If, at this moment, you could only watch television between now and December 31, or you could only see movies between now and December 31, which would you choose if you knew you couldn't go back later and catch up on what you missed?
Television. new season of So You Think You Can Dance coming up!
6. If you could press one book you have read this year into the hands of ten strangers when they were trapped during a blackout with nothing to do but read, what would you give them?
Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects
7. What are you currently trying to like and finding it difficult to like?
Movies. In general.
8. If you could guarantee that five people -- actors, writers, directors, whoever -- would have their calendars filled with funded projects for the next five years, to whom would you grant full employment?
Laird Barron, Jack Ketchum, Tom Piccirilli, Ken Bruen, and Charlie Huston
9. What do you love in spite of being outside the target demographic? (Example: "I am a nineteen-year-old dude and I loved The Proposal.")
Um, that would be So You Think You Can Dance
10. If you could personally wave your wand and stop one trend -- toy movies, remakes, crime procedurals -- what would be your target?
Twilight
This was hard. Turns out, I'm not really a pop culture guy.
ReplyDelete1. What has been your biggest pleasant surprise of the last three months? (This takes you, so you don't have to do math, back to late May.)
Star Trek. Randy and Dave are haters.
2. What has been the rudest surprise of the last three months?
My big ass HDTV dying. F-f-f-f-fuuuuuu
3. What are you most looking forward to between now and New Year's?
Getting my TV fixed.
4. What are you dreading most between now and New Year's?
Being too poor to get my TV fixed. I'm starting to think maybe I put too much emphasis on my electronical geadetry. My TV has been a response to three questions already.
5. If, at this moment, you could only watch television between now and December 31, or you could only see movies between now and December 31, which would you choose if you knew you couldn't go back later and catch up on what you missed?
That's actually super hard for me to even guess at. I don't generally watch TV as it comes out or movies in the theatre, so I really don't even know what I would be missing in either arena since I don't keep up with what's coming out. Uh... TV?
6. If you could press one book you have read this year into the hands of ten strangers when they were trapped during a blackout with nothing to do but read, what would you give them?
A Game of Thrones (only book I've read this year)
7. What are you currently trying to like and finding it difficult to like?
When I find it difficult, I stop trying?
8. If you could guarantee that five people -- actors, writers, directors, whoever -- would have their calendars filled with funded projects for the next five years, to whom would you grant full employment?
David Martindale - Um... as a set photog, oooh or a promo photog for movie and TV ads!
JMS - Hey, I'm watching Babylon 5 for the first time and about to finish it up... I want some more :P
Clarke Peters - Lester Freamon on The Wire. Where da fug has he been since The Wire?
Michael K Williams - Omar Little on The Wire... same.
Jason Murphy - He's a friend. I wanna see his films and see him get paid lol.
(This was hard. I'm more into discovering new talent than loyally following people)
9. What do you love in spite of being outside the target demographic? (Example: "I am a nineteen-year-old dude and I loved The Proposal.")
American Idol - I don't think of myself as a 13 year old girl, a Fox watcher, a Hollywood gossip follower, or a moron... but there it is, I watch American Idol and love it.
10. If you could personally wave your wand and stop one trend -- toy movies, remakes, crime procedurals -- what would be your target?
Ooooooh! MTV turning into something other than Music Television. If MTV were suddenly MTV again, I would want cable.
"A Game of Thrones (only book I've read this year)"
ReplyDeleteThanks, D3. You have depressed me.
Depressed over the specific title or the number of books?
ReplyDeleteNumber of books. But the average reader only reads one book a year. Just the trend depresses me.
ReplyDeleteDepressed over your atrocious sentence structure!
ReplyDeletePFFFT!
ReplyDeleteWell I do read a rather large number of comics; I just chose not to count them.
ReplyDeleteI'd answer the questions, but then you'd all find out I'm just a big hater. Or something. Except I'll answer the funding question, because it's easy, as D3 has already pointed out:
ReplyDelete1. Me
2. My family
3. My friends
Everyone else is somebody else's problem.