So I was poking around on the Tom Waits website recently (pause, here, to let everyone reflect on how cool I am for mentioning Waits) and thoroughly enjoyed a piece in which in interviews himself. Fun stuff. So I’ve cherry-picked the questions that I thought were interesting, and left out the ones I thought were boring…essentially allowing Tom Waits to interview me while also interviewing himself. Anyway. My answers are below, and in subsequent days I’ll interview other semi-famous bloggers (maybe even the Truly Famous Kevin DeYoung) with the same set of questions. In the process, perhaps I’ll start some good old Evangelical Blog Fights and get back some readers.
Q: What’s the most curious record in your collection?
That’s easy, a self-titled release by Bad English which includes the power ballads “When I See You Smile” and “Price of Love,” as well as some under-the-radar gems including “Tough Times Don’t Last (Lovers Do).” Listening to this record always makes me think of a period of time between, roughly, 1989 and 1993 and that period of time makes me smile. Every time I play these ballads for Kristin I also sing them, resulting in lots of eye-rolling. Other curious records owned: Lisa Loeb, Marty & Elayne at the Dresden. Number of Tom Waits records I own: 0.
Q: List some artists who have shaped your creative life.
George Plimpton, David Foster Wallace, James Dean, JD Salinger, The Onion, Van Halen, Iggy Pop, Jane Austen, Metallica, Wes Anderson, Cameron Crowe, Walter Payton and Brian Bosworth.
Q: What’s hard for you?
Failure, which is a part of everyday life for an author…it’s sort of like being a hitter in baseball - if you hit the ball 4 out of 10 times to the plate you’re considered an unbeliveable success. Bad reviews (see: failure). Losing at anything (see: failure, bad reviews). Mathematics. Practical things, like building things out of wood, putting together toys for my kids, or repairing things. Keeping my car running - taking an old car to the shop is like taking an old person to the doctor…they always find something. Prayer. Waiting in line at restaurants. Waiting for anything. Staying in a good mood during some large family functions. Sleeping through the night.
Q: What’s wrong with the world?
Sin. But I get what you’re really getting at. In this list I would include instant replay (NFL), the BCS dilemma, the fact that you have to have a $500 cable package to watch hockey on television, the length of the NBA playoffs, a disturbing trend that has people tattooing things on their necks, the fact that MMA is now more popular than boxing, and the fact that there are only two kinds of Christian novels (Amish Girls and Spiritual Warfare).
Q: Favorite scenes in movies?
The “have a catch” scene in Field of Dreams; the scene in Friday Night Lights where they’re walking through the tunnel to the song by Refused; the “This car has a dent in it” scene with Dudley in The Royal Tenenbaums; the scene in You’ve Got Mail where Tom Hanks and his dad are mixing martinis on the boat; Tom Hanks rounding the corner to meet Meg - also in You’ve Got Mail; any scene with Lester Bangs in it in Almost Famous; any scene in The Darjeeling Limited involving Francis Whitman’s itenerary; and the bowling scene in Lars and the Real Girl which is one of the most romantic things I’ve ever seen on film.
Q: What is a gentleman?
My grandfather.
Q: What would you have liked to see but were born too late for?
Any of the Ali/Frazier fights; the Dick Butkus “Monsters of the Midway” era; and the fedora/suit/pocket-watch era in men’s fashion. The pre-conference pre-publishing pre-blogosphere era where people just went to church…not necessarily because I think it was better, but more because I’d like to experience what it felt like.
Q: What are some sounds you like?
Flashbulbs popping in movies, drums at high school football games, my kids laughing, my wife sneezing, the sound of a football hitting my gloved hands, people laughing at my jokes, newspaper/newsroom sounds in movies, fight bells and then the quiet sound of the fighters’ shoes shuffling on the canvas.