Buddies,  half assed posts,  illos,  Slow News Day

The Whoorly Interview

There’s another meme going around and even though I’ve already played it, I asked Whoorl to interview me because I adore her (like the rest of the masses) and I was pretty curious to see what she might ask me. Also, it’s an easy blog post that I don’t have to think about too hard. Except I had to go and decide I wanted to illustrate us on a talk show or something. She hasn’t seen this illustration yet so if it’s suddenly gone, you’ll know why.

Okay here goes:

1. Describe your ideal living space.

Hmmm… I could go in so many different directions with this question. Part of me would love a spacious loft in San Francisco with perfect clean lines and modern minimalist furniture. Another part of me wants a house in the country with a wrap around porch and a big long wooden kitchen table where friends could drop by and drink coffee while I make apple pie. Another part of me loves the craggy chaos of a city like Paris. I wouldn’t mind if things don’t always match or the paint was peeling and the doorways were too narrow to fit a couch through. I just want a place that exudes charm and tells a story.

2. Only one for the rest of your life- brownies or ice cream?

This is an easy one! Brownies forever!!! I don’t really like ice cream all that much. I know, I’m strange and freakish. I think it’s mostly because my front teeth are thin and it’s somewhat painful for me to eat cold things. I don’t have any cavities but my teeth are sensitive. Ice cream is yummy but I’d rather have fat and sugar and chocolate any day. Mmmmmm chocolate. The darker the better. Can I have one right now?

3. What is the last thing you do before getting into bed?

Unfold my futon.

4. Who is your favorite artist? Why?

Oooh that’s a hard one. I don’t have an obvious favorite. I tend to favor illustrators who do childish vector art like I do. I’m fascinated by it for some reason. I love art like this but I actually know very little about the artists. If I had to pick a famous artist, I would probably pick Georgia O’Keefe. Mostly because I visited her gallery in Santa Fe and I was inspired by the way she painted what she loved. Sometimes I didn’t like her paintings but they always conveyed a deep emotion and that is amazing to me. Who cares how trained you are, it’s your ability to convey a feeling that matters.

5. Twizzlers or jelly bellies?

What! Is this another one of those Whoorl questions where I don’t like either of the choices and you’re going to make fun of me like I’m from another planet just because I don’t watch football and eat that funny cheese dip with jalepenos in it or something? Hmmm… well I guess I’d have to say twizzlers because jelly bellies are just too sweet and yucky. Except the coconut ones. I could eat a few of those. Either way they both taste like sugary plastic. Plah. Gag.

Okay, I’m done. That was fun.

I’m going to be a spoil sport and I’m not going to offer to interview anyone. I already have too much on my plate right now with my banner drawing contest. But if you want to play and you didn’t get a chance on whoorl’s blog, I think you should answer the questions she asked me and leave your answers in my comment box. Yeah! It’ll be fun. Or you can tell me all about why I’m an idiot because I don’t like football, ice cream, twizzlers or jelly bellies. Bring it on! I can take it.

20 Comments

  • familymclean

    This is fun, I will take you up on it.
    1. This one is a tough one for me too. Either an ultra modern contemporary with huge glass walls and looking out on the ocean or a tree fort with rope bridges between the trees or a Santa Fe Ranch house with a courtyard and pool..hmmm I could go on…

    2.My mouth is watering at the thought of warm brownies,mmm, but I do love ice cream on a warm summer day. Ice cream with brownie chunks, is that allowed?

    3. Tell my husband to get me water and put on fresh breast pads.

    4. Another tough one, I don’t have a favourite artist, I think I have favourites in every catagory. Truth is I love to paint and create, and I love art, I just don’t give loyalties to one artist.

    5.Twizzlers! Jelly-bellies hurt my teeth, way to much sugar!

    Do you like hockey then? Usually it’s one or the other, well up here in Canada anyway.

    SAJ says: Oooooh Santa Fe Ranch house with a courtyard pool! I didn’t think of that. I’d love that with a bunch of aloes…I love me some sunshine. I don’t like hokey either. I just grew up without this stuff and I’m horribly unathletic.

  • Kuky

    I’m being a spoilsport and not playing. But I will call you an ….ok couldn’t do it. I can’t call you names. But I will say you should reconsider your answer for #2. In my opinion ice cream is a much better choice. There are so many different flavors of ice cream that you can have yum yum chocolate and whatever else too!

    SAJ says: Phoey! Flavors schmavors. I pick dark chocolaty yumminess every time.

  • Alissa

    This is a good way to get to know your readers more.
    1. Where do I start? Clean, little clutter, well-proportioned, high celings, great views, largish windows, no plastic, natural.
    2. another one for brownies but I do like ice cream as well
    3. get kisses from hubby, snuggle in with my son and give thanks
    4. Duchamp as he’s such a revolutionary but I much prefer architecture
    5. Twizzlers. I went on a jelly belly binge for a bit and now I’m so sick of them. YUCK!!

    I love that illustration of Whoorl. If she dosen’t like it she’s mad. I think you look much better in your photographs than you do in your self-illustrations.

    SAJ says: Me too on the no-clutter rule. Thank you on the illo. Whoorl liked it. Yay! And regarding me looking better in photos… thank you but what you don’t know is that I edit my photos heavily. No double chin photos are allowed.

  • BeachMama

    That is a fun illo! Love your answers, I am not the biggest ice cream fan either, but on a hot day it is grand. As for sugary sweets like twizzlers and jelly beans, yikes, I wish I didn’t like them, I have yet to find a candy that is too sweet!

  • lynne

    I’m with you on the twizlers, I bought a bag once in an US airport on the way home as I’d heard so much on them via Blogland. I too was disapointed in their plastic, tastlessness with just a faint whiff of strawberry flavouring. Jelly belly beans are ok once in a while, I like the butter popcorn flavour, but my favourite US sweet would be Mike and Ikes or Swedish Fish which only IKEA sell over here.

  • OMSH

    I’m with you – not a fan of licorice and refuse to consume jelly beans.

    Oh, and brownies DEFINITELY.

    But I’d rather have a house in the country with a wrap-around porch AND simplicity in function and design inside … but not so much that you lose cozyness. :)

    Lovely interview – perfect graphic!

  • lynne

    Whoops I re_read the post and see u want us to answer all the questions.

    1. I’d say the wee garden flat I’ve just moved into, it has great light and is in Primrose Hill a beautiful quiet, corner of London full of early Victorian houses, close to Regents Park and just a round the corner from the canal, the Zoo and funky Camden Market.

    2. Probably icecream, I’m fairly new to brownies and they often have nuts in which I can’t have.

    3. Ummm hurl my dirty washing into the wash bag? Pet the cat?

    4. Probably Andy Warhol I’ve ben a fan since I did a project on him and read his diaries in High School. I’m a big fan of his illustration work prior to his pop art fame and once visited the gallery dedicated to his work in Pittsburgh, which I can heartly reccomend.

    5. See previous entry.

    SAJ says: Can I come visit you and your cat in your wee garden flat?

  • Jen

    This will be fun! Here I go:

    1. I’m a city girl so I’d have to be somewhere urban, and preferably new (hm, maybe I should change that to a somewhat spoiled city girl?!), with lots of storage space and counterspace in the kitchen!

    2. Ice cream, definitely – brownies are too sweet for me and I’m not really such a chocoholic. Nothing is better on a muggy, sticky summer day than a scoop of ice cream (or three).

    3. Kiss my boyfriend goodnight.

    4. Hm, this one is hard. I like Monet because I find some of his works to be so peaceful and calming.

    5. Jelly Bellies – in particular, equal parts Raspberry Jam and Peanut Butter. Place one each in mouth and chew. Mmm.

  • whoorl

    I love your illos!! LOVE LOVE LOVE! In fact, I might steal it for my sidebar and give this interviewing thing a go!

    SAJ says: Phew! Cause I didn’t have a back-up graphic. And YES you should become a professional interviewer!!! I second that.

  • Jenifer

    Ooooh great answers. I’d love to see Paris, and remember it, because of all the history that it has…and the great food.

    As for Twizzlers or Jelly Bellies, ewww to both. I don’t like rubbery/plasticesque foods. BOOO to me, I know.

    How is the banner contest coming? Are you getting flooded with requests?

    SAJ says: I am getting flooded with requests. Not in the hundreds or anything but enough to make my head spin a little. I was going to pick based on who’s five things I fancied the most but there are so many neato people I think I’m going to have to draw out of a hat. Or do more than one a month. It’s tough!

  • Bethany

    deeleea, Twizzlers are cherry-flavored licorice twists.

    I am so excited I get to play! I don’t have a blog so I never get to do these. :-)

    1. My husband and I have given a lot of thought over the years to our perfect living space, because we’re a Navy family and have lived in lots of different houses. Right now we live in a two-story house and it just doesn’t work for me. So I think what I would want is a one-level house with a fairly open floor plan and a fireplace somewhere and built-in bookcases in various places. And I’d love to live in an old city neighborhood with huge trees.

    2. Pfft, no contest–brownies. I don’t really like ice cream all that much either. I mean, I like it, but if you give me a choice between almost any other sweet and ice cream, I will take the other.

    3. Check on my daughter and give her another good-night kiss.

    4. My favorite right now is Normal Rockwell. I also love folk art of all different kinds.

    5. I think Jelly Bellies are fun because of all the different flavors you can play with, but after I eat about ten of them I’m done. However, I can go through an entire movie-theater package of Twizzlers all by myself in about ten minutes. I also love Peeps and eat the creamy center out of Cadbury Creme Eggs and think cherry sour balls are one of the best things on earth. (I eat whole grains and vegetables, too!)

  • Margie

    1) Ideal? I’m so used to making do with what we have (because it’s paid for!), or simply pining over having more space, that the idea of having my ideal is too much to fathom. More than one bathroom, plenty of closet space, more land (for gardening and privacy) and a nice view (ocean or mountains, both are great) would be plenty. OK, while we’re at it, let’s have more garage space, a second “living area” (family room, whatever, so that the kids–mine are teens–can have a space to entertain friends without parents breathing down their necks), DSL, and a pool (unless a nearby lake or ocean suffices). And now that I’ve lived in the arid west (grew up in New England), I’m a wuss with humidity, so it would have to be dry or else always have a cool breeze. Better stop thinking about all the possibilities or I’ll ask for the moon.

    2) I adore brownies! Chewy, gooey, chocolatey not-too-sweet goodness. With or without nuts, it matters not. Preferably warm with ice cream on top. But if I had to choose one or the other (what a cruel question!), it would be soooo hard. I’m not one to eat ice cream very often, but I gotta concur with Kuky–so many possibilities when it comes to ice cream. And I’ve had some bad brownies (too dry, burned, crumbly). Suffice it to say, that if I were blindfolded and went “eenie, meanie, miney, moe… ” I’d be happy either way. :)

    3) Set the alarm, if it’s a week-night. Then once I’m it bed, I snap my night-guard into my mouth and set the TV timer.

    4) I’m ignorant about fine art and can’t name many artists, so this isn’t a good question for me. I’d need a good art appreciation class before I could answer that honestly. Plus, there are so many different kinds of art–music, photography, sculpture, architecture, fashion are all art, too (not to mention body art, performance art, literature…). At the risk of sounding corny, I’ll say “mother nature.” I love photographs of nature, flowers, earth and sky best of all.

    5) I’m with SAJ–really don’t care for either, and haven’t had either in years! I take that back; my daughter let me taste a couple jelly beans she’d bought at the “Candy Jar” at the mall a few weeks ago (buttered popcorn and jalapeno, iirc). But I do like football (I actually won the football pool at work–weekly winner something like 4 times and overall winner to boot!) and jalapeno cheese dip if that counts for anything.

    I don’t have a real blog (I’d like to, but spend too much time reading others’ blogs and posting to message boards), however I participated in this at my sister’s blog (http://melstra.livejournal.com/) a few days ago.

  • reddirtroad

    I sooo love your illustrations and that one is totally great. You make it look so easy, but I’d be fiddling around with one for hours. How long did it take you to whip that one up?

    SAJ says: It did take me a bit of time and I’m not 100% happy with it but it’s okay. Sometimes I like illos that are a little fast and rough on the angles and shadowing etc… I think it took me about an hour. But I really don’t know because when I get in the zone I have absolutely no concept of time. Regarding the compliments, I could say the same about you and coding. I’m sooooo jealous of your coding skills.