Tagged by @the-last-homely-url
Rule 1: Always post the rules.
Rule 2: Answer the questions the person who tagged you asked and write 11 new ones.
Rule 3: Tag 11 people and link them to the post.
Rule 4: Actually tell them you tagged them
1. Most re-watched TV show or movie?
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It's great, for what might be the wrong reasons: everyone is terrible, and though exaggerated, the ways the characters on Sunny are terrible are some of the most accurate depictions of human awfulness I have ever seen. Fun fact: I have literally seen arguments on tumblr, made in complete seriousness, that mirror the awful statements and actions of Sunny's characters. Always it's grunt dinged hilarious.
2. Most influential book (or other form of media if books ain’t your thing)?
Kind of cliche cyberpunk nerd revelation, but Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, and not for the reasons you think. Yeah, sure, it and Neuromancer basically patented the wraparound chrome sunglasses, jacked-in-decker, katanas in 2051, modded out sort of new cyberpunk that Shadowrun, me, and everything that followed aped on, but it stood out for me for one spectacular reasons that is really two now that I'm considering:
Representation and Sexism: When I first read the book, one thing occurred to me. In a sea of white-led, white-populated scifi, fantasy, you name it, Snow Crash was an excellent book staring one of the most gloriously hackneyed, confidently portrayed pieces of literary self-congratulation since Sonic OCs became a thing: A half black, half asian, dual-katana wielding Founding Hacker, Rocket-Car Driving, complete godamn nonsense protag, literally named Hiro Protagonist. And lo, did I fall in love with that book. No matter how problematic or silly it may be on further readings, the sheer balls-to-the-wall nonsense that is Hiro never fails to make me smile. Not only was someone that looked like me the headliner, he was as superbly, impossibly skilled as the white characters in similar roles. (See also, Aragorn, Eragon, Luke Skywalker, etc.)
As for sexism: The other thing that occurred to me with Hiro is that you could literally put together as many badass traits as your thirteen year old self can scream into your adult mind from the past, and as long as the character is a male literally only a small minority of people will care. Take a fourth of those traits, put them on a female, and holy shit do the cries of 'MARY SUE!' come out. That's kind of fucked, isn't it?
3. Name an important concept (or three) taught to you by a book, game, or other bit of ~*entertainment*~ media:
Subversion and surprise. The Book of the New Sun is a hilariously problematic series, for myriad reasons, but it taught me the importance, both in writing and real life, of pulling the rug out from under people. I wont spoil it, but the series kind of gets you in an interesting way. Anathem does similarly, but is much more up front about it. I try to strive for that level of unpredictability in some of my writing.
5. Tell me about the most daring thing you’ve done?
Moved from Texas to the East Coast, alone, at what I consider young, to be with a very special lady who's watching me type this, two birthdays later.
7. What’s your most prized possession?
My prized possession moves depending on what's most useful to me, for as for sentimental value, there's this really nice, hard-back pocket notebook Nadia got me, that I've only ever written a few pages into because man it is just too nice to sully.
8. If you were to pick a career other than the one you’re in (or working towards), what would it be?
Something with game design. I'm working towards being an author, or at least a paid writer, but I've always had a place in my heart for anything creative, really: I'd like to be an artist, as well, and to learn to code.
9. What’s a book, TV show, or movie character you especially relate to?
Besides Hiro, I am all about Static Shock. A combination of Static, Hiro, and Rage Against The Machine inspired me to get 'locks, which I kept from eight grade to about three years ago. Literally all about Static, for real.
10. What’s the coolest thing that’s happened recently?
I was deemed worthy to wield Mjolnir. Also, I discovered something called a 'heath' bar and I am just going insane over it
11. What’s something you’re proud of about yourself?
I'm getting back in the swing of writing! I actually finished an outline for a story I want to publish, somehow, about five minutes before I started working on this post.
1. What is your opinion on the idea of celebrity?
2. What do you miss the most from your childhood/teen years?
3. If you could have any one superpower, (barring any that give you whichever you want) what would it be?
4. Given the chance and zero consequences, would you be a hero or a villain?
5. What is a quote, (from anything!) that inspires you to act in some way?
6. What's it like in your dream video game/literary setting/tabletop game?
7. What piece of media would you call a guilty pleasure?
8. What genre/media type/interactive molyneaux experience do you think informed your current personality and interests the most?
9. What's your favorite gif on the entire internet, bar none?
10. What song could you listen to on repeat for the rest of your life?
11. What fictional character would you like to interview the most, and what are a couple sample questions?
