Second, we have three official followers! Thank you to James, Mary Kate and Jeanine! All we need now is a Frank, Chet, Bess, and Marvin, and we can write our own Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew novel.
Mary Kate, Jeanine, and James read Blog Built for Two together
Since my name is Gen, I will probably have to be the oriental villain in this mystery novel, but I'm ok with that as long as we preserve a wholesome, 1950's American image. Just kidding. Thank you guys. I appreciate you signing up. We've received some positive feedback on a handful of our posts and it's been interesting to see what types of Google searches get redirected to our blog. Who whould have known that there are Romanian pornstars named Gen and Nadia? Crazy.
So, I promise this has a point. Given that we could use a little less serious/more fun and I am curious to know who our readership is, how about some off-topic interactive questions for everyone. I'm bored. Here we go.
What is the worst thing about the city you live in now?
Have you ever been to Africa? Do you want to go?
What is the saddest song you can think of?
What is your favorite wine?
What is the best vacation you have ever taken?
Do you cry during movies? If so, which ones/what kind of films?
I will answer first to get this going.
1. Other than the overall crime rate in St. Louis, lack of easy access to the ocean. The mighty Mississippi and Ozarks are really cool, but it doesn't beat the sea.
2. Never been. Would love to go...to some places, like Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, Egypt. I would take a pass on places like Congo and the Central African Republic.
3. This is next to impossible to answer. But three songs immediately come to mind: "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke, Johnny Cash's remake of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails, and "The River by Bruce Springsteen.
4. I'm a big fan of Cameron Hughes' new releases, particularly his Napa Cabernet.
5. This is a tough one - I would probably have to say Panama with Nadia. But I've taken a lot of great vacations.
6. I don't usually cry during movies, but three scenes have got the best of me. First, the end scene from The Shawshank Redemption where Morgan Freeman reads the note left for him by Tim Robbins under the tree, leaves the halfway house room where Brooks had previously committed suicide, and hops a bus to Mexico. Second, the final scene in Field of Dreams where Kevin Costner plays catch with his dad's ghost. Third, the scene in Saving Private Ryan where the old Private Ryan in the cemetery asks his wife to tell him that he's lived a good life and that he's a good person.
I am so glad you have an interactive post! I often feel like I can rarely contribute anything worthwhile to your offbeat, sometimes whimsical, sometimes disarming, and always interesting blog. This is mostly because any worthwhile knowledge I have is about things that no one except me care about (lately I've been all steamed up about bin Laden's code name of "Geronimo" and why even NPR staff hosts don't understand why that is very problematic.) But I digress. Allow me to get to what you "really" care about.
ReplyDelete1. Well the worst thing about living in Arlington is all the white people. I've never lived in such a homogeneous place and its Stepford-like atmosphere is sometimes disquieting. And DC in general lacks that cultural amalgamation that other cities have that make them so unique. Kind of wish we had more of that.
2. I have never been to Africa, and was not really interested in it until I started getting into Postcolonial Literature/Theory later in college. But many of the world's greatest Postcolonial writers (Soyinka and Achebe come to mind) are African. I'd be particularly interested in recently postcolonial nations, like Algeria or Zimbabwe.
3. Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now," hands down. That scene in Love Actually when Emma Thompson realizes her husband bought her CDs instead of a gold necklace breaks my heart every year when I watch Love Actually everyday between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
4. The thing about wine is, I like it all, in any form at any time. My favorite white is probably Moselland Ars Vitis Riesling, and my favorite red is probably the Alamos Malbec, both available at your local grocery store (clearly I still have cheap taste in wine).
5. The best vacation I've ever taken would probably be a tie between high school senior year spring break to Playa del Carmen (Nadia may disagree, but that's because she spent a lot of her time holed up in a hotel room with her boyfriend at the time heeyyyyy. Just kidding) because it was probably the first time in my life being totally free and uninhibited (which meant smoking cigarettes, dancing on tables and letting boys grope me) and could be with all of my best friends. And it was the tannest I've ever been. The other would be the first time I went to Europe; it was something I had craved so deeply for such a long time, it meant a lot to me. And I got to make out with hot English boys and spend time with one of my best friends.
6. I cry watching commercials. And just about every movie I've ever seen.
What is the worst thing about the city you live in now?
ReplyDeleteThe worst thing about living in DC is that is is A) far from Michigan and my family...okay, not that far. B) It is far enough from water that if I want to head to the beach for a weekend, I have to rent a car and therefore plan ahead. boo.
Have you ever been to Africa? Do you want to go?
I have never been to Africa, but would love to go. I have good friends who grew up in the Sudan (and then Kenya) and have always wanted to go back with them camera in hand. It is pretty dangerous for a white girl like me to make the trek, especially in this day and age, therefore it might be awhile before I go.
What is the saddest song you can think of?
I may have to go with Jeanine's response. Several of Joni Mitchell's songs get me everytime- "Both Sides Now" and "the Circle Game" leave me in tears, or near tears, just about everytime. The Circle Game which talks about the circle of life and growing old and changing..its hard to beat.
What is your favorite wine?
Malbec. Hands-down. Argentina rocks. I love Sauvingon Blanc too though..mmm
What is the best vacation you have ever taken? The summer before my senior year of college, my mother and I decided to pack up and go to Paris. We decided one weekend we wanted to go, and within a week we were there. It was the first time I saw my mother's flaws- that she was not the super mom, always-perfect and never allowed to mess up-mama I had always pictured her to be. It was also the first time I saw her as the friend she now is to me. We became extremely close. It was a beautiful trip. We also ate our way through the week and a half which was awesome.
Do you cry during movies? If so, which ones/what kind of films?
I cry during everything. Not just movies, but cheesy advertisments. Anything that has to do with family, love, relationships and i am a babbling, snotty, tearing mess. Movies that always get me: You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle (anything by Nora Ephron) Up!, (lord, those first 15 minutes were the most profound animated emotional punch in the stomach I have ever received), any Pixar film for that matter. Most recently I watched Temple Grandin and pretty much sobbed through the whole thing. The part where her mom announces that she was "different, but not less," WATERWORKS.
PS. Follow me: tactilenecessity.com
What is the worst thing about the city you live in now?
ReplyDeleteLA sucks. It's crowded and full of the most phony people you will meet in your life. My answer used to be traffic, but I've gotten used to it.
Have you ever been to Africa? Do you want to go?
Been to Egypt. Bad-ass. I would probably like to go to South Africa but am not interested in the rest of the continent.
What is the saddest song you can think of?
No Surprises by Radiohead. Hands down. You almost believe that Thom Yorke is going to commit suicide at the end of the song.
What is your favorite wine?
Not much of a wine drinker. I prefer beer.
What is the best vacation you have ever taken?
I can't answer this. It will give away my anonymity.
Do you cry during movies? If so, which ones/what kind of films?
I can only remember one - Terminator 2 when Arnold dies.
Thank you Gen (and Jeanine!).
ReplyDelete1. DC, wonderful city that it is, clearly has a whole host of classic socio-economic issues, but I just don't feel up for getting in to that right now (after all, it's been a loooooong work week of examining socio-economic issues in urban settings at work...) so I'm going to be trivial and say that the following are my little complaints about DC -
A) no BYO policy! no wawa! no good delis! After living in Philly for 4 years ... the lack of these institutions feel like robbery.
B) I do wish the nats and wizards were just a bit better ... and that tickets were a bit more affordable.
C) I see cyclists get hit by cars ALL the time. This corresponds to DC's general traffic problem and is really traumatizing (I don't think I'll ever ride a bike in DC based on the accident I saw last week).
D) that my friends in san fran/ny/chicago/michigan/paris/london/LA/boston/etc. don't live here ... we'd have a lot of fun.
2) No. Yes.
3) Are we talking achingly beautiful sad? or just uber depressing sad.... hmmm either way, I think that generally Ne Me Quite Pas by Jacques Brel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvy7kdziHYQ&feature=related) and Leo Ferre's Avec le temp ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiXcUTTLud4 ) are heartbreaking but I'm also just a hopeless romantic and associate them with my grandfather who passed away and I miss a lot. I also find the Band's versions of I Shall Be Released to be incredibly moving in sort of a social justice-y way http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1yq9HWq9rI&feature=related.
4) A favorite vacation in recent memory was my family's most recent trip to Corsica. It combined a lot of my favorite things... reading, snorkeling, fishing, eating local products and gastronomie!, hiking, beach, visiting ruins, family, etc. in a fantastically beautiful setting and everything went perfectly.
5) I never cry during movies. I never cried audibly in the theater during Avatar and I never tearfully asked Gen if Home Tree was destroyed forever during the movie's second act.
What is the worst thing about the city you live in now? The crazy traffic, particularly at the Farmers’ market.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever been to Africa? Do you want to go? I’ve always wanted to go to Madagascar and Cape verde.
What is the saddest song you can think of? For gloom and doom, no one beats Richard Thompson. Perhaps the saddest is “How will I ever be simple again?” the best anti war song I know.
What is your favorite wine? Vernaccia di san gimignano. A crisp white wine, with nice mineral finish. Long story.
What is the best vacation you have ever taken? Northern Spain, late 1990s. In particular, a wonderful hike in the Pyrenees that began in great blues skies and ended in a glorious thunderstorm people are still talking about.
Do you cry during movies? If so, which ones/what kind of films? Well, of course it is not the manly thing to do, so I never cry at movies. But the tear jerker to end all tearjerkers is “The Best Years of our Lives”.
“the Secret of the Beehive” would be my esoteric choice; and of course “Black Beauty”