Five Questions

This has been making the blog rounds; you agree to be interviewed by a fellow writer. Your responses are then posted on your blog and theirs. You then agree to interview anyone/someone who would like to be interviewed. So here we are, five questions for moi from White Hot Truth.

[If you'd like to be interviewed, read the interview rules following this post.]


Hey, Old Soul Ink...
1. So, like, what's the big deal with typefaces? Why does it matter? Could a normal person possibly be obsessed with a...typeface? I mean, really. Please explain the lunacy. {FYI: Helvetica is the only way to go. Ever. Just my opinion.}

(Could a normal person possibly be obsessed with a typeface? Absolutely not!) Language is endlessly fascinating to me. Typefaces are a language unto themselves. They are tiny little systems of visual communication, a message within a message. Lines, sizes, serifs or a lack thereof, spacing--each typeface has its own identity and evokes its own particular sort of emotion. Using the right font for the right project means that it's probably not going to be the first thing you notice; you're going to notice the overall message. Then you'll realize that the font helped to project that message. (You know...if you like that sort of thing.) The wrong font brings the party to a screeching halt. Many a battle has been waged over a typeface, and if that sounds like I’m kidding, I’m not telling it right.

As for your love of Helvetica… .

2. Are you an old soul?...how do you know?
I've heard it all my life, more times than I can count: "You're an old soul." I am. Not in the sense that I've been around before (that's not part of my belief system), but in the sense that I've always been older than my years. Felt older, thought older. We've all met people much older than ourselves who seem much younger than we are; I am the opposite, I think.

3. What 3 books rocked your world?
* William Gibson's Pattern Recognition, for an ultra cool storyline, economical style, and a main character whose peculiar sensitivities to advertising and marketing mirror my own, to an astonishing degree. (That's code for "Cayce Pollard may not be a real person but she makes me feel like less of a freak.")
* Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, for its gorgeous, mosaic-like quality and his understanding of the most delicate and complicated human experiences.
* Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess, for being a children's book that addresses the uglier details of life without losing its grasp on the uncompromising beauty of life. It's a bit of a primer, I think, for growing up. And it's extremely smart, to boot.

4. The best thing about LA is....?
Where to begin? The weather. The Pacific Ocean. The sunsets. The fact that any landscape you'd like to visit is no more than a couple of hours away. The amazing fresh produce. The Mexican food. The incredible variety of people. The stereotypes you expect and don’t find, and the ones you find and don’t expect. It's a constantly-shifting landscape with many, many pockets to explore. A treasure chest with a surprise every time you lift the heavy lid.

5. What's your big dream? Please tell me.
In my Big Dream, I…
• Develop a wildly successful consulting business. This is still in the delicate planning stages, so I can’t share much detail about it, but I’ll be doing what I love and helping lots of people in the process (it just doesn’t get any better than that!).
• Own a house near the ocean, with an extensive vegetable garden in the backyard.
• Am able to do a handstand.
• Acquire a degree in linguistics.
• Learn to speak French. And Portuguese. And Japanese.
• Have the opportunity to sing onstage with Neil Finn. (For the extended remix, see the column on the right, near the bottom of this page.)

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THE INTERVIEW RULES
* leave me a comment saying: "interview me"
* all comments will be published
* I will e-mail you five questions of my choice
* you can then answer the questions on your blog {with a link back to my blog}
* you should also post these rules, along with an offer to interview anyone else who e-mails you wanting to be interviewed
* anyone who asks to be interviewed should be sent 5 questions to answer on their blog
* it would be nice if the questions were individualized for each blogger