AMA

[sabotabby]

Ask me things.

I will most likely answer.

Comments

[mycrazyhair.livejournal.com]

Two part question. What's the best book ever? What about the best author?

[sabotabby]

I can't answer that properly because I'm not literary enough to determine what is objectively the best book or best author, and also because the answer to that is probably toiling somewhere in obscurity, or else something that would likely bore me.

So I'll go with personally significant, though not objectively best. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, as that's what turned me into an avid reader and also shaped my warped sense of humour, and China Miéville, because he's the only author I can think of where I must buy his books the second they come out, like before I even read the summary.

Now, now, Miss Tabby!

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

I can't answer that properly because I'm not literary enough to determine what is objectively the best book or best author...

I'm sure you were just being coy, but in case not, no one can answer that question!

I'm a little surprised by your subjective answer, though. I'm now curious to know how old you were when you were converted into an avid reader.

[anarqueso.livejournal.com]

What's your best trick for talking yourself down?

[sabotabby]

I think about future outcomes.

What is the worst case scenario?
What is the most likely scenario?

What will happen if the worst case scenario comes to pass?
What will happen if the most likely scenario comes to pass?

Are there any good options, and how likely are they to happen?

If the worst case scenario is something survivable—which isn't always the case—I plan for it. I also plan for the most likely scenario, as well as anything that is likely to push things in a good direction.

This is the only thing that I've ever found consistently works. Otherwise, I just drink or hug my cats a lot.

[mle292.livejournal.com]

In your profile, you say that you dislike "penis shaped architecture." What is your least favorite penis building?

[sabotabby]

I should really update my profile.

Okay, for worst penis-shaped building, the Burj Khalifa is symptomatic of why penis shaped architecture is a problem. But I will probably never go to Dubai, so it doesn't affect me personally. Accordingly, I nominate Frank Gehry for the biggest architectural dick and the symbol of everything that is wrong with modern architecture.

[mle292.livejournal.com]

Hooray! Frank Ghery is also my least favorite living architect. I dislike Frank Lloyd Wright more, but he's dead.

The real heroes of Frank Ghery's buildings are the CADtechs in the partner mechanical design firms that figure out how to get the toilets to stack, the framing to stay out of the way of his open floorplans, and the air handling systems to line up. Ghery is just the guy that fucks up a city skyline. In Minneapolis, he put one of his monstrous tinfoil balls right on the edge of the riverbank. There's birds, there's trees, there's parks, and, over there is what the dog shat out after he ate the wrapped leftovers.

[angiereedgarner.livejournal.com]

I will throw down for the Burj in a small way, but over on my own journal so you don't have to see it. :D

[princealberic.livejournal.com]

I assume you don't believe in past lives, but if you did, what/who do you likely think you were in a past life?

Did you have an embarrassing celebrity crush when you were young?

What's the clothing thing (a fad, a plan of your own, etc.) that you did that makes you cringe really hard now and wonder if you even had mirrors or lights in your home?

[sabotabby]

I assume you don't believe in past lives, but if you did, what/who do you likely think you were in a past life?

I was an impoverished child in a medieval village. I died of cholera before my fifth birthday. This is why I'm a socialist now.

Did you have an embarrassing celebrity crush when you were young?

Oh God, I had tons. I tend to go on about my non-embarrassing celebrity crushes, like Tom Baker and David Bowie, but it is probably telling that (granted, at an older and thus more awkward age) I also fancied Axl Rose.

What's the clothing thing (a fad, a plan of your own, etc.) that you did that makes you cringe really hard now and wonder if you even had mirrors or lights in your home?

Can hair count? Because I had terrible hair. Like, really terrible.



The. Worst. What was I thinking? Why did a hairdresser allow this?

[elsewhereangel.livejournal.com]

Will you tell the truth in your responses?
How will I know?
How do you feel about the movie Labyrinth?

[sabotabby]

Will you tell the truth in your responses?

Absolutely! :D

How will I know?

First, take a cardboard box. Put some of your hair in it—it can just be a few strands; that's fine. Write down on a scrap of paper your latest dream, seal the box, and bury it outside.

Next, take a necklace with a heavy pendant. Hold it above a candle. Read each of my answers aloud.

If the pendant spins clockwise, I am telling the truth. Counterclockwise, I am lying through my teeth.

How do you feel about the movie Labyrinth?

You know how most people know their sexual orientation at an early age? I didn't. I had all kinds of crushes but it wasn't really sexual.

Then I saw Labyrinth and The Package and, hello, burgeoning pre-pubescent sexuality! Which did not actually clarify matters but at least confirmed that I had one.

Also, the story is pretty great and I like the puppets.

[ironed_orchid]

Yiff or Yith?

[sabotabby]

^ obviously.

[fengi.livejournal.com]

I know I'm late to the party, but what do you think of the DaVinci shows? Are there any other decent shows which really revel in their Toronto-ness?

[sabotabby]

I thought for a second you meant the artist, because there was a show of his stuff here recently that I didn't go to. But I assume you mean Da Vinci's Inquest? That's set in Vancouver. It's very Vancouver. It's based on a real guy, who is pretty awesome, and involves an approach to crime that would never be tried in Toronto because we suck.

Toronto shows, though, yes. The very best one is Orphan Black. Admittedly, it's not brilliant because it's set in Toronto so much as it is the best new(ish) thing on TV right now in every single possible way, but it is set in Toronto after some early fumbling where they tried to make it maybe-New York and that didn't work. The second season premiere opens with a scene in the diner I hang out in weekly.

Lost Girl is also set in Toronto and is pretty good, though I'm not up to date with it and apparently they killed off the best character. As the actress is going over to Orphan Black, that's probably permanent. It is not a good show in general, but it is a good Toronto show.

Going back to older stuff, I haven't seen any of these in a while so I have no idea how they stand up, but Ken Finkleman's shows (The Newsroom, More Tears, Good God, etc.) were excellent satires of Canadian media and politics. Actually, Good God was pretty recent, and it was hilarious as fuck.

Twitch City probably doesn't stand up, but I loved it at the time. It's about an agoraphobic TV addict living in Kensington Market who has to rent out his spare room after his roommate accidentally kills a homeless guy with a bag of cat food.

Speaking of Kensington Market, King of Kensington was so culturally important that they erected a statue of the guy.

And of course there is Forever Knight, which was basically Angel before there was Angel, and spawned a very early international fandom. Again, not very good, but no one watched it for quality. We all watched it for glimpses of landmarks and also because there wasn't much out there if you were into pudgy vampire detectives in the early 90s.

[radiumhead.livejournal.com]

do you/have you read any comic books?

[sabotabby]

Yes!

I didn't grow up reading comics, which is weird considering I drew all the time, but little girls were seldom encouraged to read comic books back then. But in Grade 9, a classmate gave me Sandman comics, and I got massively hooked.

I've got a few shelves devoted to comics. They're mostly of the Alan Moore/Warren Ellis/Neil Gaiman/Mike Mignola-ilk, but I also really enjoy weird little indie comics. And I do like superhero comics, but there's a certain intimidating factor because there's so much out there, so I tend to read them on other people's recommendations rather than my own initiative.

My favourite comic of all time is, of course, Watchmen. My favourite comic that is not an epic work of literature is Jason Lutes's Jar of Fools, which I read years ago but is a tiny, perfect gem that fully uses the medium for everything it's worth.

I wish I liked webcomics more, but I got burned on a few (Lackadaisy Cats and Hannah Is Not a Boy's Name, both of which stopped updating regularly), they don't work with the physical aspects of my reading patterns, and I really like the double-page spread as a storytelling mechanism.

I prefer to read comics in collected volumes rather than by issue. For one thing, I have a hard time keeping track of running titles, but also I am paranoid of something happening to them.

I was writing scripts for a comic for a while, which was an alternate universe thing with giant bugs, but that fell apart for reasons. I would still like to write for comics, but I'm not a good enough artist. Okay, I'm not a patient enough artist.

Oh! In exciting news, I modelled for bcholmes contribution to the Toronto Comics Anthology. So now I and my kitchen chair have actually been in a published comic.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

When did you start dyeing your hair and why? What are your favorite colors to do so?

[sabotabby]

I started dyeing my hair at 14. I really wanted purple hair, cos why wouldn't someone want purple hair? It was a tragedy that, while I had been born with what I considered a cool colour of hair (strawberry blond), by the time I was old enough to care about such things, it had turned to mousy brown. I felt that, if I were to have natural hair, it should either be jet black or red, and since that was unlikely to happen, I should have brightly coloured hair.

Unfortunately, the easily available dyes when I was that age weren't very effective. I did not look punk rock at all; in fact, it was barely even noticeable. So I settled for the colours available at the drug store—black and various shades of red. I was really into Tori Amos, so I inevitably settled on red, which was my hair colour for so long that ultimately people thought it was natural.

I started dying my hair weird colours again a few years into teaching, when a) I could afford it, and b) I had a bit of seniority and they couldn't boot me out for it. The reason was that I looked in the mirror and saw a grey hair and freaked out. :) But I kept doing it because it made me happy and the kids paid more attention. I think I look better with brightly coloured hair, anyway.

Blues and greens stick better in my hair (reds and purples don't last and fade really badly), so I tend to alternate between those. Teal is the #1 choice, but I don't want to get sick of it, so right now my hair is emerald green, which I'll probably stick with until the summer at least.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Can you even?

[sabotabby]

I can't even

[begundan.livejournal.com]

How do you make decisions when your politics conflicts with your humanity?

[sabotabby]

As a lizard alien overlord, I don't have any humanity to conflict with my politics.