Simple questions often prompt interesting answers, so with this in mind I created a list of thirteen (fourteen, this time around) questions for a new interview series. Some of the questions I borrowed from the Proust and Pivot questionnaires, and the others are my own. The questions are meant to be fun - for the interviewee and the reader - so I cut out the ones regarding organic chemistry.
Scott Meyer's online comic strip, Basic Instructions, is starting to garner some well-deserved attention - in part because Scott Adams discusses Meyer's work on The Dilbert Blog, but mostly because Basic Instructions is a funny, intelligent comic. Like HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, Meyer's work focuses on the minutia of everyday situations. From caffeine-withdrawal to dancing-avoidance, Meyer instructs his readers on how to tackle life in all its wonderful oddness.
How has your life changed since Scott Adams started his "online reality series" about you and Basic Instructions?
How has my life changed. Interesting question. My [web site] traffic has shot right up. My ad revenue and t-shirt sales have increased from a trickle to a small, but noticeable amount. I'm spending a portion of each weekend answering fan mail, which is the coolest thing ever.
Scott Adams has given me two huge gifts.
1. Proof that what I'm currently doing is of value to someone other than me. As a blogger, I'm sure you know the feeling that you're just throwing this stuff up on the net, but you're not sure if more than one or two people are really enjoying it at all. I now have proof that quite a few people think what I'm doing is pretty good, and that is a feeling you cannot buy.
2. Certainty that I'm being taken seriously. I know that the syndicates are looking at my stuff, and not just tossing it on a pile with the rest of the rejects.
Now I have some really big decisions to make. Primarily, stay online (the medium of the future, I'm convinced) where I have control, and can make whatever kind of strip I want, but have to fight it out on my own, or alter my strip enough to make it palatable to the syndicates and news papers (a medium that's struggling, but is where the vast majority of Americans go for their comics at the moment).
That's the most convoluted sentence I've ever created, but my thinking on the subject is kinda convoluted. There is the possibility of doing both, but having your cake and eating it too is rarely successful.
What is your favorite book?
Last Chance to See, by Douglas Adams. I love pretty much every word the guy ever wrote, but this book is his masterpiece. It's the only time he ever really showed everything he was capable of as a writer. One moment you're horribly depressed about the plight of the white rhino, the next you're laughing at a researcher wearing a special hat so that birds will mate with his head.
What is your favorite album?
It's hard to pick a favorite album, but the album I listen to most is They Might Be Giants - Then: The Earlier Years. It's actually several albums' worth of material (yes, I'm cheating), and every song is a surprise. I bought it when it came out in '97, and I still discover songs on it that I didn't appreciate at first. I went through a phase a couple of months ago where I was constantly singing "Weep Day." It was not a pleasant time for my wife.
What is your favorite film?
Raiders of the Lost Ark. When I saw it for the first time I was the perfect age to appreciate it (not quite a teenager), and no film since has had as large an effect on me.
What is your biggest pet peeve?
People who take pleasure in making other people unhappy.
Practical jokes, jerking people around, gloating, it's all the same thing. Making someone else feel much worse to make yourself feel a little bit better.
What is your favorite place?
Disneyland/Disney World, (I see you rolling your eyes, but hear me out) because people thought Walt Disney was crazy, and in fact, he was. He bought some orange groves and said, "I'm gonna make tourists from all over the world come here." He wanted to carpet part of it. The story is his wife had to talk him out of it.
After that succeeded, he set up a secret cluster of fronts/companies and secretly bought huge tracts of uninhabitable, gator-infested swampland in Florida to do the same thing again, only bigger.
He hired engineers to build robot pirates. How does it get any cooler than robot pirates?! The original Pirates of the Caribbean (before they PC'd it up) was little more than a musical salute to rape and alcoholism, and we all bought into it as family entertainment.
His original idea for EPCOT wasn't a theme park. He was going to build a city. I couldn't help but think about that as I played BioShock.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
I'd have loved to have been in special effects in the 70's and 80's back when it was all about building robots and blowing up models.
Disney Imagineer would be pretty cool too.
What is your biggest indulgence?
Electronics. I'm a horrible addict when it comes to gadgets. I've so far been able to resist the iPhone, but that really has more to do with the termination fee on my current phone than with any will power on my part.
What is your favorite food?
Pizza. It's the world's most perfect food.
What is your favorite word?
Splendid. Nobody expects anyone to use it anymore, so it shocks people a little when they hear it, almost like cursing. Also, It works well as a sincere statement or as sarcasm.
What is your least favorite word?
Any of the big seven curse words. Not for any moral reasons (they're just words) but because lazy people, myself included, use them as a crutch.
Who do you least respect?
Same answer as my pet peeve.
Who do you most respect?
People who have their own thing going. They Might be Giants and Ben Folds are the first two examples that come to mind. The guys from Penny Arcade are also a good example.
When and where did you answer these questions?
At my desk around dawn on a Thursday.
Scott Meyer's online comic strip, Basic Instructions, is starting to garner some well-deserved attention - in part because Scott Adams discusses Meyer's work on The Dilbert Blog, but mostly because Basic Instructions is a funny, intelligent comic. Like HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, Meyer's work focuses on the minutia of everyday situations. From caffeine-withdrawal to dancing-avoidance, Meyer instructs his readers on how to tackle life in all its wonderful oddness.
How has your life changed since Scott Adams started his "online reality series" about you and Basic Instructions?
How has my life changed. Interesting question. My [web site] traffic has shot right up. My ad revenue and t-shirt sales have increased from a trickle to a small, but noticeable amount. I'm spending a portion of each weekend answering fan mail, which is the coolest thing ever.
Scott Adams has given me two huge gifts.
1. Proof that what I'm currently doing is of value to someone other than me. As a blogger, I'm sure you know the feeling that you're just throwing this stuff up on the net, but you're not sure if more than one or two people are really enjoying it at all. I now have proof that quite a few people think what I'm doing is pretty good, and that is a feeling you cannot buy.
2. Certainty that I'm being taken seriously. I know that the syndicates are looking at my stuff, and not just tossing it on a pile with the rest of the rejects.
Now I have some really big decisions to make. Primarily, stay online (the medium of the future, I'm convinced) where I have control, and can make whatever kind of strip I want, but have to fight it out on my own, or alter my strip enough to make it palatable to the syndicates and news papers (a medium that's struggling, but is where the vast majority of Americans go for their comics at the moment).
That's the most convoluted sentence I've ever created, but my thinking on the subject is kinda convoluted. There is the possibility of doing both, but having your cake and eating it too is rarely successful.
What is your favorite book?
Last Chance to See, by Douglas Adams. I love pretty much every word the guy ever wrote, but this book is his masterpiece. It's the only time he ever really showed everything he was capable of as a writer. One moment you're horribly depressed about the plight of the white rhino, the next you're laughing at a researcher wearing a special hat so that birds will mate with his head.
What is your favorite album?
It's hard to pick a favorite album, but the album I listen to most is They Might Be Giants - Then: The Earlier Years. It's actually several albums' worth of material (yes, I'm cheating), and every song is a surprise. I bought it when it came out in '97, and I still discover songs on it that I didn't appreciate at first. I went through a phase a couple of months ago where I was constantly singing "Weep Day." It was not a pleasant time for my wife.
What is your favorite film?
Raiders of the Lost Ark. When I saw it for the first time I was the perfect age to appreciate it (not quite a teenager), and no film since has had as large an effect on me.
What is your biggest pet peeve?
People who take pleasure in making other people unhappy.
Practical jokes, jerking people around, gloating, it's all the same thing. Making someone else feel much worse to make yourself feel a little bit better.
What is your favorite place?
Disneyland/Disney World, (I see you rolling your eyes, but hear me out) because people thought Walt Disney was crazy, and in fact, he was. He bought some orange groves and said, "I'm gonna make tourists from all over the world come here." He wanted to carpet part of it. The story is his wife had to talk him out of it.
After that succeeded, he set up a secret cluster of fronts/companies and secretly bought huge tracts of uninhabitable, gator-infested swampland in Florida to do the same thing again, only bigger.
He hired engineers to build robot pirates. How does it get any cooler than robot pirates?! The original Pirates of the Caribbean (before they PC'd it up) was little more than a musical salute to rape and alcoholism, and we all bought into it as family entertainment.
His original idea for EPCOT wasn't a theme park. He was going to build a city. I couldn't help but think about that as I played BioShock.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
I'd have loved to have been in special effects in the 70's and 80's back when it was all about building robots and blowing up models.
Disney Imagineer would be pretty cool too.
What is your biggest indulgence?
Electronics. I'm a horrible addict when it comes to gadgets. I've so far been able to resist the iPhone, but that really has more to do with the termination fee on my current phone than with any will power on my part.
What is your favorite food?
Pizza. It's the world's most perfect food.
What is your favorite word?
Splendid. Nobody expects anyone to use it anymore, so it shocks people a little when they hear it, almost like cursing. Also, It works well as a sincere statement or as sarcasm.
What is your least favorite word?
Any of the big seven curse words. Not for any moral reasons (they're just words) but because lazy people, myself included, use them as a crutch.
Who do you least respect?
Same answer as my pet peeve.
Who do you most respect?
People who have their own thing going. They Might be Giants and Ben Folds are the first two examples that come to mind. The guys from Penny Arcade are also a good example.
When and where did you answer these questions?
At my desk around dawn on a Thursday.
