Reading this article* while halfway through reading The Iron Heel does not help cheer a person.
However this Really Useful Book does. See, it's not affluenza if I recognise that I don't need it and it will not make my life better/happier/healthier. But I still want one!

*And if I recognise that this "edited extract" that appears in The Age is another marketing strategy do I get the book for free?

This time it's Richard asking the questions.

1. You recently attended a series of seminars. Have they affected your thinking about any issues?
Well they got me thinking about "issues" which I have not done in a long time. Having been so wrapped up in home-life for the last 18 months I kind of forgot that there is a whole other world out there where people do think about things, and, on occasion, even act on their interesting thoughts.

2. How cool is Continuum going to be?
Ultra Mega Cool.

3. What project should Tim Burton do next, and how should it involve Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder?
How about 'Through the Looking Glass" with Ryder as the Red Queen and Depp as Tiger Lily.
Or a prequel to Beetlejuice: Ryder plays Lydia from the future and Depp plays a previous incarnation of Juno.
Or a series of short films based on Oyster Boy. Depp would play the aforementioned mollusc and Ryder could be Pin Cushion Queen.
Or he could write a whole new story that no one ever heard of before and Depp and Ryder could act as his personal slaves while he did so.

4. What's something that has been truly timeless for you?
Umm, what? Hey check this out (from Online Etymology Dictionary):
...timeless "eternal" is 1628, earlier it meant "ill-timed" (1560)...
So taking the old skool definition, the most ill-timed thing in my life would be...no that didn't help. I have no idea how to answer this quesion.

5. What would you do to encourage sustainable living?
Is this designed to guilt me out because I haven't even turned the compost heap in months? Huh Huh? What's your point?
Sensible answer: I have to lead by example because I am really bad at getting other people to do things.

Great interview with Joss Whedon at DarkWorlds. Spoiler-free for Serenity.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Toby asks; I reply.

1) Have you ever though of going back and doing something in film, or do you feel you've left it behind?
No. There is nothing I want to do less than try and organise other people to tell my stories or work with my ideas. I suck at it and hate it with a nauseous passion.
There is no romance for the film industry left in me. Working at Panavision revealed all the ugly truths that the gossip mags find too boring to discuss.
However, this does not exclude the option of handing my ideas over to other people to explore or work with. I'm still interested in screenwriting as a craft or exercise, but I doubt I'll ever have the self-confidence to direct. Or the money to self-fund. Or the wherewithal to get funding.

2) What is your biggest hope for Abbey's future?
OK, I can probably narrow this down if I take for granted that she reaches an age where she can live independently without having had any major diseases or injuries - because that's my biggest hope. Otherwise I hope she is happy and brave and self-confident and well-fed. And not right-leaning in her politics. (Actually that's my Dad's biggest hope.)
I honestly think that I have no expectations of her, or I'm very good at fooling myself. Mostly I'm curious to find out where her interests will lie and what choices she will make for her life.
As for what sort of world I hope for her -- (OK I just typed a gnat onto the letter H. Gross. Maybe I should remove that letter, from my keyboard at least.) -- I hope it's not a world of persistent fear or imminent danger.
I sound pretty relaxed about her life don't I? I've had a lot of conversations with my Dad about this recently and about his hopes and fears as my brother and I grew up. He's so happy that we both turned out sane and responsible (and left-leaning) that I have no doubts that Abbey will have a similar veil-lowering, wool-pulling affect on me.

3) What's your favourite beer, and, if you have an opinion, do you prefer English or Australian beers (or indeed, those of any other country)?
Richard's the real beer fan. I'm just glad he introduced me to better beer than Carlton Cold. I like Hargreaves Hill Pale Ale at the moment, and the Cascade seasonal ones are fun. I probably prefer Australian beers, but I don't really know. The "best" beer I ever had was at Oktoberfest in Munich, but that had nothing to do with the quality of the beverage.

4) If you were to remove one letter from the alphabet, which would it be, and why?
Some argument has been made for the removal of the letter X because phoenetically it can be replaced by 'cks' or 'z'. I like it though. It means more than its' sound alone. X marks the spot, of course, and you can sign with an X, and play noughts and crosses.
So I'd like to remove K please. No real reason other than it's sort of spikey (or, spiney).

5) What's the strongest memory you have from the last five years?
Jeez, ask a harder question. I'm going to have to think about this a bit. I have a shocking memory. Couldn't remember Abbey's year of birth the other day. Got the day right at least! So five years. That's 2000. I was living in Malvern then, I think. But not married yet. (I just asked Richard what year we got married in - just to check. He didn't know either! Ha ha ha! OK, checked wedding certificate, we got married in 2001.) See I wasn't kidding about the bad memory.

Strongest memory is hard. It all depends on context. I have one particularly strong memory of you, but I won't share it on the internet for the sake of your criminal record. (!)

Big ones include:
Giggling during the ceremony of my own wedding.
Trying to physically climb the walls of the birthing suite whilst in labour. And people say you forget the pain. Ah, no.
Having a weird-looking, squirming, slimey baby handed to me after having her yanked out by forceps and thinking she's the most perfect creature ever to grace the earth.
Printing out the "You did it!" certificate after completing NaNoWriMo. (50,000 words in 30 days.)

[comes back after two hours thinking and watching Dr Who] That's a rundown of the most important things I have done since 2000. That's probably cheating in terms of a "strongest memory" so here's one that's important to me that has no impact whatsoever on anyone else and I've never told anyone until now.
When Abbey was about nine months old, I was pretty depressed. I hadn't had a full night's sleep in over a year, was sick of the endless washing, cooking, cleaning, feeding that goes with parenting a baby and I felt like I had no friends I could discuss this with who didn't have a stake in the situation, would understand or weren't in the same situation themselves. I went for a walk by myself in Yarran Dheran - a nearby nature reserve - and it reminded me of all the solo walks I took as a kid, just looking at stuff, chucking stones in puddles, picking up leaves and sniffing the wind. I realised all at once that I had lost myself somewhere along the way. I had forgotten what it was like to be me, to think about stuff I was interested in, not what someone else told me was interesting, or I felt obliged to know about. Sounds fairly hokey, I know, but it was eye-opening to me. I believe at that moment I leaned over the railing of the bridge I was on and spat in the creek. Heh heh hee!

Instructions:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your LJ (or whatever) with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Oh, I crack myself up sometimes.
But, really, you should buy a t-shirt. Because then I will make one US dollar. When I have a hundred they'll send me a cheque. And then my bank will go "Ha-ha-har!" and steal half of it. See, it's so worth your time. Because at least you'll have the shirt. I'll be able to buy a lollipop.

I've been going to a local gym recently. Pretty odd for me to consistently do organised excercise, but at this point in my life I can't achieve anything without at least a modicum of organisation. Anyway, I've been impressed on the whole by the facilities, the people and the general atmosphere. It's congenial, without being in your face. Everything usually works and there are staff to answer questions or save you from fatal mistakes without hassling you to death about the number of times you are attending.
The space is open and clean; a large cardio area with televisions, huge aerobics rooms, a creche and general gymnasium equipment area. It's off this last space that there are a row of offices, each neatly labelled; 'Massage', 'Fitness Assessment', 'Management' and the like.
It's the last cubicle I'm worried about. I've never seen it in use, but it's cordoned off with heavy blue curtains. In such a nice place, with so many nice people, where everything is bright and clean wouldn't it worry you that the only sign outside reads 'Programming'?

LAY-YA: Help me, OBall-Wind Ka-Knitby, you�re my only hope.
LA: Who is he?
C3-2front: Someone of some importance, I believe. He may have been a knitblogger.

Stash Wars by Jen