Monday, May 16, 2011

Chuck Klosterman & my friend Jenny Mae

I have an online friend named Jenny Mae who I intend to meet one day. Until then, I enjoy her via ye olde internets. Jenny is a gardening, plug-wearing, red/baking/Jesus/music/tattoos/family loving, kinda-sorta anarchist in Columbus, Ohio. She’s also on Twitter, where she provides good thoughts and hilarity.

A while ago she passed on her responses to Chuck Klosterman’s 23 questions that he asks people before deciding if he can love them. You can read all of Chuck’s questions here and here (plus the answers that each of those bloggers gave), and if you google his name + 23 questions, you’ll find even more. But now, I’m going to share with you a couple responses Jenny Mae gave that show why I love her . . .

7. Defying all expectation, a group of Scottish marine biologists capture a live Loch Ness Monster. In an almost unbelievable coincidence, a bear hunter in the Pacific Northwest shoots a Sasquatch in the thigh, thereby allowing zoologists to take the furry monster into captivity. These events happen on the same afternoon. That evening, the president announces he may have thyroid cancer and will undergo a biopsy later that week.

You are the front page editor of The New York Times: What do you play as the biggest story?

i'm far more interested in the paranormal, mysteries of the world than politics so the president is the low man on the totem pole right off the bat. if the president DIED, sure but a biopsy? i say good day sir! i'd run sasquatch because he was shot and an injury is more sensational and interesting than just being captured. HOWEVER! the loch ness monster was most certainly captured in scotland so this might finally be my "in" with david tennant (who is scottish, duh) if i profile nessie.

8. You meet the perfect person. Romantically, this person is ideal: You find them physically attractive, intellectually stimulating, consistently funny, and deeply compassionate. However, they have one quirk: This individual is obsessed with Jim Henson's gothic puppet fantasy The Dark Crystal. Beyond watching it on DVD at least once a month, he/she peppers casual conversation with Dark Crystal references, uses Dark Crystal analogies to explain everyday events, and occasionally likes to talk intensely about the film's "deeper philosophy."

Would this be enough to stop you from marrying this individual?

i can deal with the dark crystal if he can hang with my doctor who. win/win & lose/lose

18. You have won a prize. The prize has two options, and you can choose either (but not both). The first option is a year in Europe with a monthly stipend of $2,000. The second option is ten minutes on the moon.

Which option do you select?

I WOULD LOVE TO BE THE FIRST PERSON ON THE MOON!

(Jenny doesn’t believe we’ve been to the moon)

20. For whatever the reason, two unauthorized movies are made about your life. The first is an independently released documentary, primarily comprised of interviews with people who know you and bootleg footage from your actual life. Critics are describing the documentary as “brutally honest and relentlessly fair.” Meanwhile, Columbia Tri-Star has produced a big-budget biopic of your life, casting major Hollywood stars as you and all your acquaintances; though the movie is based on actual events, screenwriters have taken some liberties with the facts. Critics are split on the artistic merits of this fictionalized account, but audiences love it.

Which film would you be most interested in seeing?

the real one. i’m much more concerned about people's opinions that i know and love and clips of my actual doings than someone else's interpretation. however it'd be boss to see who plays me.

*  *  *

And here are a few more questions that I simply thought were funny.

23. Consider this possibility:

a. Think about deceased TV star John Ritter.

b. Now, pretend Ritter had never become famous. Pretend he was never affected by the trappings of fame, and try to imagine what his personality would have been like.

c. Now, imagine that this person—the unfamous John Ritter—is a character in a situation comedy.

d. Now, you are also a character in this sitcom, and the unfamous John Ritter character is your sitcom father.

e. However, this sitcom is actually your real life. In other words, you are living inside a sitcom: Everything about our life is a construction, featuring the unfamous John Ritter playing himself (in the role of your TV father). But this is not a sitcom. This is your real life.

How would you feel about this?

5. You meet your soul mate. However, there is a catch: Every three years, someone will break both of your soul mate's collarbones with a Crescent wrench, and there is only one way you can stop this from happening: You must swallow a pill that will make every song you hear--for the rest of your life--sound as if it's being performed by the band Alice in Chains. When you hear Creedence Clearwater Revival on the radio, it will sound (to your ears) like it's being played by Alice in Chains. If you see Radiohead live, every one of their tunes will sound like it's being covered by Alice in Chains. When you hear a commercial jingle on TV, it will sound like Alice in Chains; if you sing to yourself in the shower, your voice will sound like deceased Alice vocalist Layne Staley performing a capella (but it will only sound this way to you).

Would you swallow the pill?

14. For reasons that cannot be explained, cats can suddenly read at a twelfth-grade level. They can't talk and they can't write, but they can read silently and understand the text. Many cats love this new skill, because they now have something to do all day while they lay around the house; however, a few cats become depressed, because reading forces them to realize the limitations of their existence (not to mention the utter frustration of being unable to express themselves).

This being the case, do you think the average cat would enjoy Garfield, or would cats find this cartoon to be an insulting caricature?

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