THE INTERVIEW

Yeah, smells like a meme, doesn’t it? But it’s strictly “Voluntary Participation,” so keep those torches, axe handles, and pitchforks at bay.

This one was lobbed at me by (or, more properly, I snarfed it up from) Katya Coldheart, who has been patiently waiting from me to return from my California Excursion and answer her questions.

1. Who would your ideal dinner guest be, past or present?
   
   By “past” or “present” I’m assuming you mean “dead” or “alive.” Tough question. Leaving historical figures of great antiquity out of the field - no Moses or Jesus here - I would probably want to spend time with someone like Abraham Lincoln (for moral vision and historical perspective), or Dorothy Parker or Groucho Marx (for wit).
   
   
2. What three items would you take to a desert island?
   
   Item One would be a large, serrated knife. Item Two would be a broad-brimmed hat. Item Three would be a mirror...not out of vanity, but to get the attention of passing aircraft (by flashing the sun’s reflection) in order that I might be rescued. ’Cause living on that desert island gets old after a while.
   
   
3. If you could live in any period/era what would it be?
   
   Right now seems to be pretty good. We have good medical technology, including anesthesia - don’t sell that short. We live in a world in which men have walked on the Moon and in which more humans than ever have a shot at a decent existence.
   
   With foreknowledge, though, I wouldn’t mind living in the mid-1940’s and early 1950’s - knowing what was to come, I could amass enough wealth to make putting up with 1950’s attitudes more tolerable.
   
   
4. If you could be a character from TV/Book/Film who would you be, and why?
   
   Buckaroo Banzai comes to mind...
   
   
   
5. What would you save from your house if it were burning down (family and pets excluded)?
   
   Photographs. I’d definitely go after the photographs, because thay are irreplaceable. After that, the wedding contract (because I wrote it myself) and the books.

And now, the rules:

• Leave me a comment saying “Interview me, please.”
  
• I will respond by asking you five questions here on my blog (ideally, not the same questions you see here.)
  
• You will update your blog or website with the answers to the questions.
  
• In that same post, you will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else.
  
• When others comment, asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Simple, innit?