Go ahead. Ask me stuff.
Recent Responses
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It took about 15 solid years of professional clawing (and an extra year of education) to get there. The best advice I can offer is: write constantly, make your writing available to the public, and always assume you need to step up your game in terms of what you can offer your readers (and your clients).
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Past (although still active): Marva Whitney, because she could never be accused of understatement. (Start with "What Do I Have To Do To Prove My Love To You" and go from there.)
Current: probably Merrill Garbus from Tune-Yards, who has a very interesting vocal instrument and has figured out how to do spectacular and original things with it. -
It's really just been a couple hundred dollars here and there--the Nature Conservancy, various literacy organizations, etc.
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I adore Don Rosa's "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck," which just got reprinted--it's a riff on Carl Barks' old Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge stories, which are of course great too (I read Sterling some of them a few months ago), but for some reason Rosa's sense of humor is closer to mine.
I also LOVE Sheldon Mayer's "Sugar and Spike" comics, although almost all of them have been out of print since the '50s and '60s. (The ones that are in print are in that recent book The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, which has lots of good stuff if kind of an old-fashioned vibe.) -
When you're trying to woo somebody, it's not so much what you cook as THAT you cook. But people really do seem to like the beet risotto with lemon zest & golden tofu that I make occasionally.
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Oh, God, much more. MUCH more.
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I don't think so. There are some I've cooled on a little, but nothing that makes me think "ugh, how did I ever love that?" In retrospect, I'm slightly embarrassed that I sincerely believed Shudder to Think's "Pony Express Record" was going to be huge, but I still think it's a terrific album.
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I had a great experience there. Beyond the specific subjects I studied, which I suspect isn't what you're asking, I think the biggest principles I learned were critical thinking, clear and careful argument-making, deadline-meeting and the joys of research. I had a lot of incredibly great teachers, fascinating classes, and an environment that encouraged curiosity, creativity, openness and hard work (and punk rock, but that was my sub-environment of choice). I would go there again in an instant.
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Maybe, but I'd want to work up to it by writing some more short fiction first, and it's hard for me to write even short fiction without some kind of prompt/commission. (I actually did write a novel for NaNoWriMo back in 2001, but it was really, REALLY bad.)
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Sex would interfere with the MISSION.
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I usually consult the Oblique Strategies, actually.
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I still need to read it! It's sitting there on my shelf. In related news, I noticed yesterday that there's a listing on Amazon for Acme #20, which appears to be an extended version of the story Ware did for "The Book of Other People."
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Helpless without 'em, for the most part, although I've internalized the tofu things I cook most often (esp. the ginger-garlic tofu that Lisa and I both love, which is ultra-easy).
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Almost certainly James Brown. Not a surprising answer, but I never promised you surprises.
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I think that's a matter of record.
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Yes, but I am reticent to give them away. They're mostly things I am not yet qualified to write, and hope to get to a point where I can do them justice.
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"What was the last time you changed your mind about a matter of policy, and how did you realize you were in the wrong?"
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Liz Phair's self-titled album.
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Why the hell not, I say. As far as I'm concerned, she's Lady Miss Kier, except she dresses even better.
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It's hard to actively address blind spots when there are so many things front-and-center in my taste that I'm still getting so much out of. That said, "vaguely intending" is a good way to put my attitude toward learning more about Francophone comics and manga. And maybe metal.
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