Actors Studio 10 Questions

This past weekend, we watched a little Inside the Actor’s Studio since there is no longer any football on TV. I always kinda enjoy the show. If you are unfamiliar with the show, it is basically an interview show featuring those in the movie biz. Lots of actors and directors. They pull big time guests too. Granted, it usually a big love-fest, not exactly hard ball questions or anything, but the long format lets the subjects to be a little more real. If you would like to watch some clips, go here.

Anyway, every show they ask 10 questions of the guest. Every time I see it, I get thinking about my answers to the questions and figured, that would make a great blog post. One caveat, I will undoubtedly go longer on each answer than they do on the show. I got unlimited space here, and some of the questions will have multiple answers.

Also, I would like to invite all of you out there to answer the same questions. You can either do it here in the comments section, or if you have your own blog, answer them there, then link to your answers in my comments section. Could be interesting.

Without further ado…

1.) What is your favorite word?

This one is difficult. I’ve not much thought about my favorite word. Also, does “favorite” imply you like the actual word itself (how it sounds, etc) or that you like what the word represents? Who knows. Some are: Idea, Autumn, Absolutely, Technology, Sweet. Or, other words I just think are interesting sounding Kinesiology or Gastroenterology. I guess I like “ology’s”. I think this is my least favorite question.

2.) What is your least favorite word?

This one I have a strange answer for this one. “Adjacent” Here’s why. Back in school, from time to time I would zone out to what was being said by the teacher/professor, either through sleepiness or just sheer boredom. Well, when you aren’t paying attention and someone says the word “adjacent” it sounds an AWFUL lot like “Jason”. To which I would instantly pop to attention and wonder if I had been called on or not. I pretty much shun the spotlight anyway, so to be called on in class is one of my least favorite things, followed only by being called on in class while not paying attention. The rush of adrenalin would shoot through me and my eyes would bulge out of my head as I would be on hyper-alert to try to figure if my name had in fact been called or not. 99% of the time, it hadn’t, but it didn’t stop the effect. Ugh.

3.) What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Spending time with Jess, deep in conversation or just sharing comfortable silence. Entertaining close friends or family. Cooking. Creative writing on my blog. My very amateur photography. Reading a terrific novel. A chance to create something creative-technical on the PC (invitations, christmas cards, etc). Trivia. Solving a technical problem at work.

4.) What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Having to engage in small talk. Being in crowds of people I don’t know (forced social situations), or being stuck in large crowds that aren’t moving and I can’t move freely. Public speaking. Being the center of attention. Having too many events on the calendar. Gee, why did my first marriage fail again?

5.) What sound or noise do you love?

The stadium announcers at college football games and marching bands. Accented English (Boston, New York, Georgia, Wisconsin, Texas, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Sydney). A lawn mower in the distance on a summer day. Wind in the trees. A river. Killdeer calling in the morning (it just sounds like morning to me). A Ferrari engine. Frank Sinatra’s voice. The silence of falling snow. Food sizzling on the grill. The “new email” sound. Car tires on a gravel road. Bagpipes. A golf ball falling into the cup.

6.) What sound or noise do you hate?

Dogs barking in the middle of the night. Magpies and crows in the morning. Screaming children. An insanely loud motorcycle on the road when you’re trying to have a conversation. The slow beep of a smoke detector with a dying battery. People laughing too loud or in inappropriate places (like the cackling broad at my old office… satisfied both conditions). My morning alarm sound being used in commercials. Anything that is repeated too often (commercials, songs, etc.)

7.) What is your favorite curse word?

Woo… boy. This one is tough. I like to curse. Sorry, but I do. I like the word “fuck” but it is usually too powerful to use in all companies. “Shit” however, can be used almost all the time (even on basic cable) and is fun when stretched to a southern-drawl like “sheeeeee-it”. I also like to ‘almost curse’ too. I seem to use these a lot in my everyday life. Words like “douchebag” especially, “dickhole” or “assface”. It’s fun to mix and match. Pretty much anything you can fit in the following sentence “What is this ______ doing!?”

8.) What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

If I was a different person, I would want to be an entrepreneur. Start up businesses. Grow them. Sell ’em. Start something new. I have a lot of ideas for products or services or businesses that could work. But, I just don’t have the personal gravitas to make them happen. I’m not the kind of person who can sell. I can be daunted by the unknown when I am in unfamiliar territory. What I need is a proxy with vision who I can lease all my ideas to for a cut of the profits…

9.) What profession would you not like to do?

One of my least desirable would have to be something like landscaping. Spending all day in the sun, performing back-breaking manual labor? Uh, no thanks. Which is why I work with my brain instead. Also, any position which is about confrontation like say a police officer or trial attorney. Not for me.

10.) If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

“You weren’t perfect, but you are a legitimately good person who never deliberately treated anyone wrong. Now to your right you will see the statistics room. Have fun.”

See, I’ve had this one desire ever since I saw this particular Saturday Night Live skit back in the 80s about a guy who dies and goes to heaven. Up in heaven he is talking to an angel, and was able to ask questions about his life. What career he was best suited too or who secretly had crushes on him.

Deceased: Well. Let’s see.. what’s the grossest thing I ever ate?
Angel: You don’t want to know.
Deceased: Oh. Okay. What about the 200th grossest thing?
Angel: Okay.. that would be some butterscotch pudding that had a dead earwig in it.
Deceased: [ grimaces ] Oh, gross! You mean I never tasted it!
Angel: Well, you made this very funny face.. but you were watching a football game on TV at the time..

I have an interest in statistics. I think it would be awesome if you could get stats for every conceivable question about your life. How may miles did I walk in my life? What song did I hear the most times? How many pieces of pizza did I consume? Or those questions that the answers seem to change, what was my favorite movie? Favorite place? etc. Also, you could get answers to the questions that we don’t know… Who really shot JFK? What is Stonehenge really for? Or, almost better would be to get answers to hypotheticals, like how would history have been different if X happened instead of Y. What if D-Day had failed? What if Columbus was lost at sea before “discovering” the new world? What about if history’s biggest mistakes didn’t happen or incompetent leaders never gained power? Tell me about people who would have changed the world but they died as children or in war. So on and so forth. It would be like the History channel times about a billion. I honestly think I could spend the first 100 years of my eternity in paradise in there.

Anyway, those are my answers. I look forward to seeing yours!