30 days - 30 people from the giraffe

Day 01 - Your favorite actor

I grew up enjoying Sellers in the Pink Panther films (thanks Dad!), but his work with Kubrick earned my utmost respect for his ability. The first time I watched Dr. Strangelove I didn't even realize he was playing the titular character until it ended, and the fact that he could play 3 different roles in the same film speaks volumes. Few actors today come close to inhabiting the characters they play to the point you forget who's on screen, which is too bad. Sellers did it in every film of his I've seen, and that's what ranks him above the rest.

Day 02 - Your favorite actress

That was my introduction to her (as Venus in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen), and between it and Pulp Fiction I've not only found her visually appealing but a great actress in her own right. She may not always make the best choices in films (The Avengers, Batman & Robin), but even when the film sucks she's great in it.

Day 03 - Your favorite director

Technically not my favorite (that'd be QT), but he's a close second. Admittedly PT Anderson hasn't made many films in his career so far, but all of his films have highly impressed me (Magnolia ranks as my second favorite film of all-time).

I could also have said: the Coen Brothers, Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and several others.

Day 04 - An underrated actor/actress

Day 05 - An actor/actress you haven't seen enough movies from

An underrated character actor whom you probably recognize from the first 2 Godfather and/or Rocky films. The above is from Maniac which he wrote and played the main character in, and after seeing it I've realized I need to check out more of his films.

Day 06 - A favorite classic actor

Maybe not a versatile actor, but Groucho always makes me laugh.

Day 07 - A great character actor

Day 08 - An overrated actor/actress

As far as I can tell from the films I've seen her in she's merely OK. Why she's such a big star I've never been able to figure out.

Day 09 - An actor/actress who can be great but rarely is

Too bad his dramatic roles never rack up huge profits like his comedies, or else maybe he'd do more of them. His best films are easily Punch-Drunk Love, Reign Over Me and Spanglish (and in that order), and in each he turns out a great performance.

Day 10 - Your favorite screenwriter

I could listen to QT's dialogue all day, and all of his films take fresh spins on pre-existing story ideas. Even when he doesn't direct his scripts are still great in my book (see True Romance, From Dusk Till Dawn and - to a lesser degree since it was altered before filming began - Natural Born Killers for proof).

Day 11 - Music artist you relate to the most

From the moment I started listening to NIN back in 1992, I kept hearing lyrics that I swore were plucked from my head (despite Trent Reznor being about 10 years older than me). I can't even count how many NIN songs have reflected what's going on in my world and/or head at any given moment, but my relating to NIN doesn't stop there. Trent Reznor and I often have similar music tastes, as reflected by his choices of opening acts over the years and the bands he's mentioned that he listens to in interviews. Also, Trent has said that the presidency of George W. Bush changed his attitude toward politics from one of apathy to a genuine concern for it, and I could say the same.

Day 12 - Your favorite band/artist from wherever you live

Austin, TX

And they've been one of my favorite bands since long before I moved here.

Day 13 - An underrated band

Also my favorite current band. They've released 5 albums so far and count Trent Reznor and the members of Radiohead among their fans. And yet their headlining shows are still mostly played in small clubs. Sigh.

Day 14 - A band you miss the most

I miss them because their music always made me happy. I miss them because their live shows were some of the most fun I ever attended. I miss them because I saw them so many times that we wound up becoming friends. And I miss them because the death of guitarist Wes Berggren forced them to break up long before their creativity ran out.

Day 15 - A band you wish you'd seen live

Preferably on one of the nights Jim wasn't too drunk/high to perform.

Day 16 - An artist that sums up what great music should be

Genre-hopping, expectations-defying, intelligent, humorous, sincere, and challenging all describe Zappa's musical output. Zappa's work is both widely respected and influential, yet he never achieved any level of mainstream success...nor did he want to. Between his time with the Mothers of Invention and his solo career Zappa incorporated many genres into his music, and carved out his own sound that listeners either love or hate. Those of us who have taken the time to truly listen to his music and appreciate it are consistently rewarded for doing so, while those who can't find their way in probably don't deserve to. All of these things I respect about Zappa, and seek out in the other bands I listen to.

Day 17 - Favorite dead musician

Best guitarist ever, sure, but also an underrated lyricist (see "If 6 Was 9" and "Stone Free").

Day 18 - Favorite lyricist

Sample lyrics:

"Hopeless"
I played connect the dots with your beauty marks and I ended up with picture perfect sheet music.
I read your musical notes with a composer's eyes
And heard our song for the first time
My spine is still tingling.
Mental images of your fine tune is what I've been nodding my head to lately,
Every now and then you can catch me humming your nudity under my heavy breath.
I heavily suggest you resurrect your ancient neglected dust collector
If you distrust the distance in my seldom-plucked heart strings.
Sit stripped before your full length
Perform your reflection backwards.
Maybe then you will understand the rhythm in my movement
Listen when the news is sent
Extend when the rules are bent
I'll be waiting to take your leave.
Make me a victim of your two step.
Make me an apprentice of your body parts.
Teach me to dance to your beauty marks.
I'm stepping on toes here and I don't care
It's hopeless, it's hopeless,
It's hopelessness holding this openess to blow a kiss
So close your lips but don't get pissed
and throw a fist at this vocalist.
I'm not emotionless, in fact I broke my wrist
when I wrote the list of all those I miss.
THIS is my poker face, Mister Feel Nothing.

Day 19 - Best lyricist

Sample lyrics:

"As I Sat Sadly By Her Side"
As I sat sadly by her side
At the window, through the glass
She stroked a kitten in her lap
And we watched the world as it fell past
Softly she spoke these words to me
And with brand new eyes, open wide
We pressed our faces to the glass
As I sat sadly by her side

She said, "Father, mother, sister, brother,
Uncle, aunt, nephew, niece,
Soldier, sailor, physician, labourer,
Actor, scientist, mechanic, priest
Earth and moon and sun and stars
Planets and comets with tails blazing
All are there forever falling
Falling lovely and amazing"

Then she smiled and turned to me
And waited for me to reply
Her hair was falling down her shoulders
As I sat sadly by her side

As I sat sadly by her side
The kitten she did gently pass
Over to me and again we pressed
Our indifferent faces to the glass
"That may be very well", I said
"But watch the one falling in the street
See him gesture to his neighbours
See him trampled beneath their feet
All outward motion connects to nothing
For each is concerned with their immediate need
Witness the man reaching up from the gutter
See the other one stumbling on who can not see"

With trembling hand I turned toward her
And pushed the hair out of her eyes
The kitten jumped back to her lap
As I sat sadly by her side

Then she drew the curtains down
And said, "When will you ever learn
That what happens there beyond the glass
Is simply none of your concern?
God has given you but one heart
You are not a home for the hearts of your brothers

And God don't care for your benevolence
Anymore than he cares for the lack of it in others
Nor does he care for you to sit
At windows in judgement of the world He created
While sorrows pile up around you
Ugly, useless and over-inflated"

At which she turned her head away
Great tears leaping from her eyes
I could not wipe the smile from my face
As I sat sadly by her side

Day 20 - A band you wish people would get over already

Don't get me wrong, I like The Beatles too and they made some great music (most of it while on drugs). I understand why so many people love them. But in the 41 years since they broke up there have been plenty of other bands that have made music that's vastly more interesting and worth listening to for the rest of your life. When someone tells me The Beatles are his/her favorite band, I assume that he/she is stuck in the past and has boring, middle-of-the-road taste in music. You may as well tell me you enjoy breathing or tasty food. Venture out a little, expand your horizons...I'm here to tell you it's worth the time & trouble.

Day 21 - Favorite author - fiction

I've read every book he's written and they're all brilliant. He tells a great story, makes me think, and makes me laugh all in the course of each of his novels. For that he's earned my utmost respect.

"The world is a wonderfully weird place, consensual reality is significantly flawed, no institution can be trusted, certainty is a mirage, security a delusion, and the tyranny of the dull mind forever threatens -- but our lives are not as limited as we think they are, all things are possible, laughter is holier than piety, freedom is sweeter than fame, and in the end it's love and love alone that really matters."

"If a person leads an ‘active’ life, as Wiggs had, if a person has goals, ideals, a cause to fight for, then that person is distracted, temporarily, from paying a whole lot of attention to the heavy scimitar that hangs by a mouse hair just about his or her head. We, each of us, have a ticket to ride, and if the trip be interesting (if it’s dull, we have only ourselves to blame), then we relish the landscape (how quickly it whizzes by!), interact with our fellow travelers, pay frequent visits to the washrooms and concession stands, and hardly ever hold up the ticket to the light where we can read its plainly stated destination: The Abyss.
Yet, ignore it though we might in our daily toss and tussle, the fact of our impending death is always there, just behind the draperies, or, more accurately, inside our sock, like a burr that we can never quite extract. If one has a religious life, one can rationalize one’s slide into the abyss; if one has a sense of humor (and a sense of humor, properly developed, is superior to any religion so far devised), one can minimalize it through irony and wit. Ah, but the specter is there, night and day, day in and day out, coloring with its chalk of gray almost everything we do. And a lot of what we do is done, subconsciously, indirectly, to avoid the thought of death, or to make ourselves so unexpendable through our accomplishments that death will hesitate to take us, or, when the scimitar finally falls, to insure that we ‘live on’ in the memory of the lucky ones still kicking."

Day 22 - Favorite author - non-fiction

For the same reasons as Tom Robbins, plus the fact that he makes all other journalism pale by comparison.

"Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio."

Day 23 - Favorite poet

I came across Saul Williams when he toured with The Mars Volta performing his poetry. After that I started searching for his books. Then I found out he'd recorded an album and I tracked it down (he's now recorded 4). And all along my love for his poetry has grown. Every time I meet someone I think would appreciate it, I give them my copy of his book/poem , Said the Shotgun to the Head. And then I go out and buy another copy of it.

From the song "Surrender (A Second to Think)":
I found the spot where truth echoes
And know each beauty mark by heart
But I just can't keep her still enough
To render perfect art

'Cause the truth is ever changing
And although she loves my touch
I've had my way, but I when I pray
She kisses back too much

And it's hard to feel real gangster
When you're always getting kissed
But you jump at every pucker
'Cause your fear of getting dissed

I try not to fight the parts of me
That want to kiss her back
Egos should be illegal
Mine just don't know how to act

He tells me I don't need her
And I should walk this path alone
She's make believe, she's up my sleeve
That I'd do better with a clone

But could it be?
It seems to me that she's my other half
My inner Tarzan monkey girl
Who's raised mainly by giraffes

And besides she makes me laugh
'Cause deep down, I think she's stupid
But deeper down, I'm just a clown
Starting bar room brawls with cupid

Like, "Fuck that naked baby angel, yo
And gimme two more buttery nipples"
And God just re-invents herself
As ice-cubes in my ripples

Day 24 - Favorite comic book/strip artist

One among many many brilliant strips he produced. I also respect him for his persistent defense of his art, which (sadly) eventually led to his early retirement because (awesomely) he didn't want to give in to the limitations that newspapers insisted on.

Day 25 - Author you need to read more books from

I've read Slaughterhouse Five and several of his short stories, but that's it. The fact that most of his books are sitting on my woman's bookshelves suggests I need to check out more of his work.

Day 26 - Movie character you relate to the most

Joel Barrish from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Decided to go with Joel this time instead of Rob Gordon again. His journal entries/thoughts seem to have been taken from my head.

Day 27 - TV character you relate to the most

Nate Fisher Jr. from Six Feet Under

I related to Nate from the start because he'd gone off trying to get away from following in his father's footsteps, but couldn't completely avoid it after all. He doesn't want to be surrounded by death and sadness, and wants to do something meaningful with his life but can't see how that fits into his father's expectations of him. Plus, as pictured above, he has a daughter (as do I).

Day 28 - Fictional character (literary) you relate to the most

Dough Lunt from Tender as Hellfire

Dough is an 11-year-old boy who has been moved from his former hometown (which he loved) to a trailer park surrounded by rednecks. When I was 12, my parents moved us from Springfield, IL, (which I loved) back to Dallas, TX, where I was surrounded by suburbanite kids and some rednecks too. Our similarities run even deeper than that, but to go into them would require wandering into spoiler territory. Go read this book, then come back and ask me for more details. ;)

Day 29 - Favorite fictional villain (any area)

So many villains come to mind, so I've decided to look to comic books for this one...
Gary "The Smiler" Callahan from Transmetropolitan

Evil personified. The Smiler is a presidential candidate who proves to be solely out for power. He kills off his campaign manager to gain election votes, he takes a personal interest in the series' protagonist Spider Jerusalem and does everything in his power to cripple Spider physically and career-wise, and he's not above sacrificing innocent lives to get what he wants. Every election year I worry that one of the final candidates will turn out to be just like him.

(Those interested in my favorite comics supervillains should check out Pumpkinate's list.)

Day 30 - Favorite fictional character (any area)

(Again, I could choose from many.)

John Galt from Atlas Shrugged

Galt is shrouded in mystery for most of the book, which only makes him more compelling as a character. Then when he finally emerges, he delivers a speech unlike anything I've ever heard or read before. Anyone who can read his words and not be affected I worry about. He may not be a well-rounded character, but he ranks very highly for me anyway.

From wikipedia: As the plot unfolds, Galt is acknowledged to be a creator, philosopher, and inventor who symbolizes the power and glory of the human mind. He serves as an idealistic counterpoint to the social and economic structure depicted in the novel. The depiction portrays a society based on oppressive bureaucratic functionaries and a culture that embraces stifling mediocrity and egalitarianism, which the novel associates with socialistic idealism. In the novel's ideology, the industrialists of America were a metaphorical Atlas of Greek mythology, holding up the Earth, whom Galt persuades to "shrug," by refusing to lend their productive genius to the regime any longer.

See also: The Flagship's review