A wet weekend here in Melbourne and I have a quiet weekend, which is fantastic considering the madness starts next week.
Good questions this week, thanks, as always, to Bev at Sunday Stealing.
1. If someone wanted to really understand you, what would they read, watch, and listen to?
Read: Other than The Guardian newspaper to get my politics right, give anything by Louis de Bernieres - he encapsulates my English barking mad streak better than anybody else.
Watch: Emily in Paris - although I speak better French than Emily, she has a bit of the life I would love to have (including the chef...)
Listen to: Talking Heads seminal album, Stop Making Sense. Love that album. (If not, try The Pixies Doolittle or Surfer Rosa - they get the angst.)
2. Have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? if so, who?
I remember reading Charlotte Wood's The Natural Way of Things and thinking, I wish I had written that. She's amazing. The book is incredible.
3. Do you care about your ethnicity?
As a white Australian, with Cornish and Welsh roots, I think my ethnicity is very boring. Very bland. I can't say I care about it. When researching my family tree I was half hoping to find some aboriginal blood there (as there is a part of the family with dark skin and curly hair - that's possibly a bit of the rustic Gaelic Cornish coming out.)
4. What musical artists have you most felt connected to over your lifetime?
You mean other than The Pixies and Talking Heads. I saw Robbie Williams last week - and I love that he's a walking, talking, singing work in progress. I love Angie McMahon's rawness. I loved The Verve in the late 90's. They spoke to me. (Angie McMahon is Australian - and wonderful).
5. Are you an artist?
I am not an artist, but I love being creative and I try to be creative every day.
6. Dog person or cat person?
I love both, but I own a cat - or I am owned by a cat, and I love their independence and quirky personalities.
7. Inside or outdoors?
I like both, but I do need my inside time.
8. Five most influential books over your lifetime
.1) Who Moved My Cheese by Dr Spencer Johnson.
2) Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
3) All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
4) Le Petit Prince by Antoine de St Exupery (in French even)
5) Too Many Men by Lily Brett.
9. Would you rather be in Middle Earth, Narnia, Hogwarts, or somewhere else?
Hogwarts thanks. I've not read The Lord of the Rings or the Narnia series. And I'm a Harry Potter fan (Go Gryffindor!).
10. List the top five things you spend the most time doing, in order.
1) Writing
2) Watching telly/phone scrolling
3) Sleeping
4) Walking
5) Reading
11. Have you ever felt like you had a “mind-meld” with someone?
Do you mean have I ever bonded with somebody almost instantly and felt bonded to them. Yes. It is very strange when it happens. bust most pleasant.
12. Could you live as a hermit?
As long as I had books and internet, yes. I could live as a hermit quite easily. I'm a bit of a hermit now.
13. Do you feel like your outside appearance is a fair representation of the “real you”?
No. I feel like the real me is in there, but I don't feel like me with the weight I'm carrying. There are parts of my body that are me - the long legs and broad shoulders and long hair, but I feel like my body isn't serving me properly at the moment. But I'm working on it.
14. Three songs that you connect with right now.
There's always a song running through my head, but these are the three that I've been singing along to for the last few days. The first two I blame on the death of Shane MacGowan. I've still no idea how he lasted this long, but bless him, he was a legend.
The first song is The Fairytale of New York.
The second is Sally MacLennane by The Pogues. I was surprised to hear that this was a Shane MacGowan original and not an Irish Folk song.
15. Pick one of your favorite quotes.
"Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse."
I love T.S. Eliot - and this line from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock always gets to me. I love the The Crash Test Dummies wrote a song about the poem.
I know I've mentioned on my blog that I saw Talking Heads on their Stop Making Sense tour in Saratoga Springs, NY, one of the two greatest concerts I've ever seen. This year, I finally saw the concert movie on the large screen, and the first part, I felt as though I WAS THERE again. One of the backup singers was Lynn Mabry, who I met in 2019 because she and my niece Rebecca Jade were singing backup for Sheila E.
ReplyDeleteMy kids were (are?) huge Talking Heads fans. My son met David Byrne once. Not my style of music, but I enjoyed when they played their recordings. I recently saw a fascinating interview of the Talking Heads on the 40th anniversary of Stop Making Sense. Talked a lot about how they started, which was exactly how my kids' band started...The Talking Heads just got farther!
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