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Interview notes (January 2023)
Interview notes (January 2023)


To do:
== Questions ==


* Collage, mom
# [[Interview notes 1 (January 2023)|Tell me about yourself]]
* Early works:  finger painting, story
* My need to document
* Photographs
* Screenshots of work in progress


* A puzzle.  [[What's in a mashup?]] 
# [[Interview notes 2 (January 2023)|Where I'm from]]
** Answer on the wiki page
** [[Why I Love MediaWiki]]


* Evolution of Gnomon Chronicles
# [[Interview notes 3 (January 2023)|What I do with the Gnomon Chronicles]]
** Notes at hand for social media posts


* Evolution of Twitter account
# [[Interview notes 4 (January 2023)|Where did the name Gnomon Chronicles come from?]]


== Tell me about yourself ==
# [[Interview notes 5 (January 2023)|Inspiration]]


[[Interview notes 1 (January 2023)]]
# [[Interview notes 6 (January 2023)|Synchronization - wiki and Twitter]]


"Tell me about yourself. Not as the chronicler, that’ll come later, but as the person."
# [[Interview notes 7 (January 2023)|Aims]]


I was born in Minneapolis in 1961.  Grew up in a middle-class household in a nice neighborhood.  My parents were both liberal intellectuals who encouraged reading, art, science — whatever I wanted to study, they encouraged it.
# [[Interview notes 8 (January 2023)|Which tweets do I reply to?]]


My dad read science fiction, so I was exposed at an early age to the works of Philip K. Dick, John Brunner, and Bruce Sterling, among other writers.
# [[Interview notes 9 (January 2023)|What keeps my twitter account going]]


Satire appealed to me very early in life.  I remember being eight or nine years old.  My dad worked for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, so we got the paper delivered free.  Dad had a custom:  on Sunday mornings, he would make a big skillet breakfast for the family, with cinnamon rolls and orange juice.  After breakfast we would all — Mom, Dad, my brother Geoff, and myself — would sit down in the living room and read the Sunday paper.  For the kids, this meant reading the funny pages.  Then the real fun began.  Dad would pull out this book of classical art prints, so thick old volume.  He would pick out some particular plate:  I recall one with Napoleon atop a rearing horse.  Dad would pick a comic panel, carefully cut out a talk balloon, and paste it over Napoleon's head.  I forget what the talk bubble said, but whatever it was, we found it hilarious.
# [[Interview notes 10 (January 2023)|Online community]]


Another pleasure from around that time was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacky_Packages Wacky Packages].  Oh, I loved Wacky Packages!
# [[Interview notes 11 (January 2023)|Trouble, trolls]]


== Where I'm from ==
# [[Interview notes 12 (January 2023)|How to people feel]]


[[Interview notes 2 (January 2023)]]
# [[Interview notes 13 (January 2023)|Personal updates]]


"Now tell me a bit about where you’re from! What it’s like, what does it mean to you , any particular places you love visiting?"
# [[Interview notes 14 (January 2023)|Inventing movies]]


== What I do with the Gnomon Chronicles ==
# [[Interview notes 15 (January 2023)|Favorite films]]


[[Interview notes 3 (January 2023)]]
# [[Interview notes 16 (January 2023)|Inspirations]]


== Name ==
# [[Interview notes 17 (January 2023)|Inspirational words]]


[[Interview notes 4 (January 2023)]]
== To do ==


"Where did the name Gnomon Chronicles come from?"
=== Why satire ===


== Inspiration ==
Because I can be original.  Do something never before seen on Twitter.


[[Interview notes 5 (January 2023)]]
I tried political argument, but I am one voice of many.  So too with science news, and with movie reviews, and with famous birthdays on this day.  I might be more right in some circumstances.  I might have some useful detail to contribute to a thread.  But no matter how hard I do these things, ''others are doing them too''.


== Synchronization ==
But satire stands out.  It demands attention — satire is an aggressive art — by deliberately defying expectations.


[[Interview notes 6 (January 2023)]]
=== Payoffs ===


== Aims ==
* Subscribers
* Commissions
* Employment
** Syndication
** Writing, screen writing


[[Interview notes 7 (January 2023)]]
=== Media ===


== Which tweets do I reply to? ==
* Photographs
* Screenshots of work in progress
* YouTube links


[[Interview notes 8 (January 2023)]]
=== Art ===


== What keeps my twitter account going ==
* Collage, mom
* Early works:  finger painting, story


[[Interview notes 9 (January 2023)]]
=== Writing ===


== Online community ==
* My need to document


[[Interview notes 10 (January 2023)]]
=== About GC ===


== Trouble ==
* A puzzle.  [[What's in a mashup?]] 
** Answer on the wiki page
** [[Why I Love MediaWiki]]


[[Interview notes 11 (January 2023)]]
* Evolution of Gnomon Chronicles
** Notes at hand for social media posts


== How to people feel ==
=== Social media ===


[[Interview notes 12 (January 2023)]]
* Evolution of Twitter account
 
== Personal updates ==
 
[[Interview notes 13 (January 2023)]]
 
"Alongside the usual satirical posts , you often provide lovely updates on what you’re up to , what the weather is like or how your day has been. Do you find this is important to the idea of the gnomon chronicles / building a community, or is there a different motivation for this."
 
Yes, it's true, I like to sprinkle in occasional personal post among the satires.  One reason I do this is because people like it, they respond to it, and naturally I am pleased by the attention.
 
But it's not just self-serving calculation.  Mine is a restless, mercurial mind.  (Some might say disorganized and flighty.  Enduring such opinions with grace is an essential skill.)  I like to try different things.
 
In principle (I tell myself, from time to time), posting only satires to Twitter builds a better brand:  readers know what to expect:  all satire, all the time.
 
But I prefer to play things the way I do:  mostly satire most of the ime, but with an occasional touch of personal thoughts, personal photos.  I also like to occasionally retweet posts by others which I find compelling, intriguing, deserving yet underappreciated, and so on.
 
== Inventing movies ==
 
[[Interview notes 14 (January 2023)]]
 
"You are a man who spends his time inventing movies , so I must take some time to ask you about them. Firstly, how up to date are you with popular culture? Do you make an effort to keep on top of the latest releases for the account, or do you simply watch what you want to and build on that."
 
I don't rate myself as being up to date on popular culture, not for the present day, nor for any era of the past.  It's true that I know a lot of things about a lot of things:  but this is a fishing line in the ocean.  I catch fish most every time.  Yet I can see from my boat that the ocean is unimaginably vast, and populated by creatures equally unimaginable.
 
Put another way: I'm not a cineaste.  I don't know films like film buffs know films. In the course of making Chronicles, I have watched hundreds of trailers for films I've never seen. 
 
Movie mashups have been very successful for me.  They find a ready audience: people respond to them.  And I enjoy making movie mashups.  But perhaps I have drained some of the vitality from my awareness of movies.  Often they are like tools, something I pick up and use then I need them, then put down without further thought.
 
== Favorite films ==
 
[[Interview notes 15 (January 2023)]]
 
[[File:Baron Munchausen - I am going to see that movie eleven times.jpg|thumb|I am going to see that movie eleven times.]]"What would you say are some of your favourite films ? Tell me and the readers why it is you love them."
 
"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (1988)
 
I distinctly recall telling my friends, as we debouched from the glamorous Uptown Theater into the milling Saturday night crowd:
 
I am going to see that movie *eleven times*—!
 
And I did.
 
I watch a lot of movies, and I enjoy them.  But as I noted elsewhere, I tend to use movies like tools, for making new imaginary movie.
 
== Inspirations ==
 
[[Interview notes 16 (January 2023) ]]
 
"Do you have an inspiration for what you do ? Someone or something that made you think, 'I could do this'!"
 
First let me admit that I have always — since early childhood — had a firm and entirely unjustified belief that I can do *anything at all that I put my mind to*.  Sad to say, this is ridiculously untrue.
 
Nonetheless, I have what I think are a formidable array of talents, and if thinking too highly of myself means I experience both amazing successes and predictably stupid failures, so be it.
 
Now, there are examples in the world which inspire me.  I remember being eight or nine, reading excerpts from Ambrose Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary".  Another example of the pleasure I took at a young age in satire!  At the time, I did not say "I'm going to do that when I grow up!"  But the seeds of the idea were there, waiting for someday.
 
== Inspirational words ==
 
[[Interview notes 17 (January 2023)]]
 
"Words of inspiration for readers on doing what they love?"
 
Believe in yourself. 
 
"Follow your bliss." (Robert Bly)
 
Don't give up.  Keep trying.  Find a way.
 
I met a smuggler once, back in the nineties.  Nice guy, Don.  "Antiquities, and gems", he would emphasize: "Not drugs." Great story-teller.  He would get onstage and keep an audience captivated for a hour or more.
 
Don would say, There I was, in the desert at the edge of South America, carrying illegal emeralds, with four native guides I couldn't understand and didn't trust.  And if I managed to reach the ocean, and hire a boat, and head towards the United States, more problems would come at me.  Problems and more problems inherent in smuggling.  And so smugglers have a creed:
 
"There is always a way."
 
There is always a way, yes.  There has to be.  Art demands it.
 
Don't give up.  Keep trying.  Find a way.
 
Believe in yourself.


== In the News ==
== In the News ==

Latest revision as of 09:42, 1 February 2023

Interview notes (January 2023)

Questions

  1. Tell me about yourself
  1. Where I'm from
  1. What I do with the Gnomon Chronicles
  1. Where did the name Gnomon Chronicles come from?
  1. Inspiration
  1. Synchronization - wiki and Twitter
  1. Aims
  1. Which tweets do I reply to?
  1. What keeps my twitter account going
  1. Online community
  1. Trouble, trolls
  1. How to people feel
  1. Personal updates
  1. Inventing movies
  1. Favorite films
  1. Inspirations
  1. Inspirational words

To do

Why satire

Because I can be original. Do something never before seen on Twitter.

I tried political argument, but I am one voice of many. So too with science news, and with movie reviews, and with famous birthdays on this day. I might be more right in some circumstances. I might have some useful detail to contribute to a thread. But no matter how hard I do these things, others are doing them too.

But satire stands out. It demands attention — satire is an aggressive art — by deliberately defying expectations.

Payoffs

  • Subscribers
  • Commissions
  • Employment
    • Syndication
    • Writing, screen writing

Media

  • Photographs
  • Screenshots of work in progress
  • YouTube links

Art

  • Collage, mom
  • Early works: finger painting, story

Writing

  • My need to document

About GC

  • Evolution of Gnomon Chronicles
    • Notes at hand for social media posts

Social media

  • Evolution of Twitter account

In the News

Fiction cross-reference

Nonfiction cross-reference

External links

  • [ Post] @ Twitter (30 January 2023)
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