Maico's Proust Questionnaire

From FenWiki
Revision as of 15:39, 1 June 2013 by Robkelk (Talk | contribs)

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search

Sometime in the late 2010s, Maico Tange started an irregular feature on her website: the Fenspace Proust Questionnaire. She's asked many people, both famous and obscure, to answer the questions, and she publishes the answers she does receive.

Here are some of those articles.

Noah Scott

Your favorite virtue
Perseverance, or I suppose you could call it stubbornness if you wanted to be unkind.
The quality that you most admire in a man
The ability to take a stand for what he knows is right, even if he's wrong.
The quality that you most admire in a woman
Their willingness to put up with men!
What you appreciate the most in your friends
They aren't afraid to tell me when they think I've made a mistake, and they're willing to listen to why it isn't a mistake.
Your main fault
I spend too much time working and not enough time with my family.
Your favourite occupation
Raising my daughters. I hope I've been doing a good job of it.
Your dream of happiness
Doing what I'm doing now, where I am now.
Your idea of misery
My wife and daughters being unable to support themselves when I'm gone.
If not yourself, what you should like to be
Sometimes I've wondered what it would be like to run a restaurant. Not the family-friendly places that are part of my space stations, but a fancy, Michelin-three-star establishment.
Where you would like to live
Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history. <g> Seriously, I have a happy home that I built with my family; why would I want to live anywhere else?
Your favorite authors
Robert A. Heinlein, Ian Fleming, Patrick O'Brian, "Doc" Smith, Spider Robinson, Kosuke Fujishima, Douglas Adams.
Your favorite composers
John Philip Souza, John Lennon (an odd choice for a magnate, but The Beatles had a huge influence on my childhood), Dr. John (there are a lot of Johns on this list), Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Yoko Kanno.
Your favorite artists
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Andy Warhol, Kosuke Fujishima.
Your favorite fictional heroes
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, James Kirk (the original version, not the one from the reboot), Podkayne, Ahiru/Tutu.
Your heroes in real life
Neil Armstrong, John D. Rockefeller, James Watson and Francis Crick, Blackstone.
What you hate most of all
In my personal life, alienating two people who I could have been close to, if I wasn't blinded by my relationship with someone else. In general, the idea of the negative-sum and zero-sum situations - people shouldn't gain at the expense of other people losing.
Historical figures that you despise the most
There's the obvious mid-20th-century fascists, of course. But I don't have much good to say about Thomas Edison. He was everything a leader shouldn't be - hungry for the spotlight, dismissive of the people he hired, and desirous of taking all the credit for himself. And how he treated Tesla should have been a crime.
How you wish to die
Saving someone else's life.
Your present state of mind
Reflective, because I'm answering all these questions about myself.
Faults for which you have the most toleration
The ones I have myself: stubbornness and working too hard.

Jet Jaguar

Your favorite virtue
The ability to think on your feet.
The quality that you most admire in a man
Trustworthiness.
The quality that you most admire in a woman
Patience.
What you appreciate the most in your friends
The fact that they still stay with me, in spite of everything. Maybe a dozen or so people who don't really realise they're the reason I amn't a villain.
Your main fault
I leap before I look. I lack forethought. The fact that I keep going anyway, in spite of knowing this. I've paid the price.
Your favourite occupation
Martial Artist. It's peaceful.
Your dream of happiness
Helping a student find their feet and find themselves and grow to accept themselves - especially if they're having a difficult transition. Doing more interesting things, while having people around me to share it with and feel human with. Maybe being able to share a bed with my partner for real....
Your idea of misery
Life alone. Having nothing to do but wait.
If not yourself, what you should like to be
I should've been an engineer.
Where you would like to live
I've always loved the canyons of Mars. Noctis will always be beautiful - especially after terraforming - but I'll hold a special place in my heart for the early morning Carbon Dioxide mists.
Your favorite authors
A little Jim Butcher, a little Stephen King. I've read books by John Scalzi. I tend more to read books, rather than authors - if at all.
Your favorite composers
Roger Water's The Wall is something I've always treated as a warning, about the dangers of being closed off. I saw it live right before I boosted to space, sitting on a stadium roof. Otherwise, I normally like music with energy.
Your favorite artists
Whoever it was that added a plaque with his name on it underneath a standard fire extinguisher hanging off the wall of the museum of modern art. I like that sense of humour.
Your favorite fictional heroes
Montgomery Scott. Why I went to college to study Mechatronics. And Shinji Ikari, for showing the strength of the decent.
Your heroes in real life
My first instructor, Max Armblessed. He died ten years ago. He helped define a lot of who I came to be.
What you hate most of all
Politics. Comstockery (I love the word though). I hate the people who made me hate them.
Historical figures that you despise the most
There're some figures I hate that only became historical because of me. A few are still out there. Those who've appointed themselves 'morality police'.
How you wish to die
I wish to avoid answering this question for as long as possible. But, I think I know how I'll die.
Your present state of mind
Frustrated. Feeling like I'm always ten years too late to the party. Fandoms. Fenspace....
Faults for which you have the most toleration
The ones expressed by the woman looming over my shoulder while I write this.

Ford Sierra

Your favorite virtue
Being able to come through and stick by your word
The quality that you most admire in a man
Respect.
The quality that you most admire in a woman
Honest to her own ideals.
What you appreciate the most in your friends
They know when to tell me I'm wrong. And I try to do the same.
Your main fault
I was impulsive as a teenager. I tended to think that the law didn't apply to me because I wasn't doing anything 'wrong'. I bend the rules too much.
Your favorite occupation
Bounty Hunting. It's exciting. And it does some good.
Your dream of happiness
A fast car, an open road, a full tank of gas and someone to share it with.
Your idea of misery
Working two jobs to meet the mortgage payments on a house. I try and avoid debt
If not yourself, what you should like to be
I might've been happy with the Crystal Millennium, but I arrived before they did.
Where you would like to live
It's hard to beat the allure of the open roads of California/Nevada/New Mexico.
Your favorite authors
I think the last book I read was by Dan Brown. Hah! I enjoyed Eric Flint's 1632 stuff.
Your favorite composers
I'm almost ashamed to admit I have a soft spot for Jazz and R&B. Something between Aretha Franklin, Jake and Elwood (I'll be killed for saying that) and Ornette Coleman
Your favorite artists
Jack Kirby
Your favorite fictional heroes
I've always liked the Man with no Name.
Your heroes in real life
My Aunt Irene. Who taught me there was an alternative to the college - office - house - debt life my mom saw as the ideal outcome of a successful life. She taught me to be true to myself and stand by my lifestyle.
What you hate most of all
Feeling like I owe someone something - that they own a part of me. The people who see me as nothing more than another personality template, or coslifer of a well known character.
Historical figures that you despise the most
Giuliani count as historical, or is he too recent? The people who drafted the Dangerous Substances bill of 2007 after the mutation incident, then rammed it through Congress just to get that dick into the White House.
How you wish to die
I don't want to die alone, with nothing to do to save myself but watch an oxygen gauge ticking down to nothing and hope. I would like to go in someone's arms, with a smile on my face.
Your present state of mind
Excited. I have a chance to do something I love, and make a lot of money doing it, I just need to reach for it now.
Faults for which you have the most toleration
I've learned to tolerate a certain level of arrogance. It comes with the territory. I was never one of the real fan-people, especially in the early days.

Chris Marsden

Your favorite virtue
Tenacity. Never give up, even when it seems impossible.
The quality that you most admire in a man
Honesty. The ability to say what you really want, what you really believe in, and take no shame in it.
The quality that you most admire in a woman
Honesty. The ability to say what you really want, what you really believe in, and take no shame in it.
What you appreciate the most in your friends
That even after all I've done, they still believe in me.
Your main fault
Self-centeredness. I'm just willing to admit it.
Your favourite occupation
Making things work.
Your dream of happiness
Comfort, friends, family, and something interesting to do.
Your idea of misery
Being alone in a locked room, with nothing to do.
If not yourself, what you should like to be
Commanding an independent exploration ship.
Where you would like to live
Everywhere.
Your favorite authors
Rudyard Kipling. David Weber. Diane Duane. Jim Butcher. Steve Miller and Sharon Lee.
Your favorite composers
Gordon Bok. Tommy Makem. Gustav Holst. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Heather Alexander.
Your favorite artists
I've honestly never been much on art. I know what I like, but I don't know particular artists.
Your favorite fictional heroes
James Kirk. Nathan Ford. Honor Harrington. Kirigaya Kazuto. Kato Marika.
Your heroes in real life
Bill Gates. Steve Jobs. Ronald Reagan. George Washington. Nikola Tesla.
What you hate most of all
People who mask intolerance and greed with pretend concern and caring.
Historical figures that you despise the most
Oh, I can come up with so many for this one. Hitler, Lenin, Mao, Stalin, Marx. I could go on.
How you wish to die
Saving others from the same fate
Your present state of mind
I have a dinner date with a gorgeous redhead as soon as I finish this. What do you think I'm thinking?
Faults for which you have the most toleration
Honestly trying to do the right thing when you don't really know what the right thing is. Also, any that you can acknowledge and try your hardest to correct.

Malaclypse Fnord

Your favorite virtue
Cooperation. We're social animals, and when we work together we can do so much more than if we're all isolated.
The quality that you most admire in a man
Honesty.
The quality that you most admire in a woman
Perserverance.
What you appreciate the most in your friends
That no matter what happens, how far we get separated, they'll always have my back. And I theirs.
Your main fault
I am an arrogant man. Sometimes this works to my advantage, but not enough to call it a virtue.
Your favourite occupation
Being right in the heart of the vortex.
Your dream of happiness
That everything I've worked for all these years comes out right in the end. All jaded cynics start out believing in the happily ever after, that's why the world hurts us so much. Some of us never quite stop believing.
Your idea of misery
I've already lived it.
If not yourself, what you should like to be
As weird as it sounds, I'd be happy being a busker. Did it for a while in college, and every now and then I get the urge to take a guitar and just light out, play the wandering troubador for a while.
Where you would like to live
On my ship with my girls by my side, free and clear with the Universe at our fingertips.
Your favorite authors
There's so many. Marx of course, but that's almost required. Robert A. Wilson. Hunter Thompson. Vonnegut. Tolkein, naturally. Charlie Stross. Iain Banks. Ken MacLeod that old Trot. Grew up on the old masters: Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein. Grant Morrison. Jon Krakauer. I could be here all day.
Your favorite composers
Robert Johnson. John Lennon. Billy Bragg. Leslie Fish (don't tell her). John Denver - I think there's a law about Coloradoans liking John Denver somewhere. I've always been a fan of movie music: Williams, Horner, Kamen, Giacchino, that sort of thing.
Your favorite artists
Picasso. Jim Steranko. Dali. I like to think I've an appreciation of the Dadaists, but then they'd probably tell me I'm doing it wrong. So it goes.
Your favorite fictional heroes
Hagbard Celine, Superman, Masaq' Orbital, Jean-Luc Picard and Satan.
Your heroes in real life
George Orwell, Emma Goldman, Joe Hill and all the forgotten anarchists who've stood against tyranny.
What you hate most of all
Those who take something noble and twist it to evil ends.
Historical figures that you despise the most
There's the usual suspects: Reagan, Thatcher, fascists in general. The great capitalists of the 19th through 21st centuries. Cecil Rhodes.
How you wish to die
I have absolutely no intention of doing so. I expect that means it'll be a surprise.
Your present state of mind
Bemused.
Faults for which you have the most toleration
Hypocrisy. If you're an evil sonofabitch, own it. Don't hide your slime under weasel words about freedom or God or 'the children.'