figmo | Five questions from carol

1) What made you get into filking?

Blame it on the gang from CUSFS, the Columbia University Science Fiction Society. I'd been writing songs that fall under the "filk song" category long before I found fandom. I was using some of my material as "data" to learn the editor "emacs" on Columbia's DEC-20. When I showed up on a "Top 10 CPU Users" list the rest of the gang who hung out in the computing center were curious about me and looked at the files in my directory. When they saw my guitar in tow they knew they had to recruit me. I resisted, but it was futile.

2) What made you get into journalism?

Note that I adore broadcast journalism, but I detest writing for print. I first got a glimpse of pro journalism when I was an intern at NJ Public TV. I watched one of the news anchors go after a story about a woman who died in a parachute accident. It had no video or photos to go with it, but I saw how the anchor was busy calling out, asking all kinds of questions about the woman, and how much went into that one 30 second piece on the news. Something just caught me, and I realized that was where I wanted to be career-wise.

3) If you could be anywhere in the world where would you be?

That varies, depending on my mood. I wish I could have a home in Los Angeles and a job down there. I also wish I had time and money to spend travelling around the world.

4) Who is the greatest influence in your life?

It's a toss-up between my father and my maternal grandmother. Both had qualities I admire, and both had aspects to them I hope not to repeat in my own life.

5) Your favorite movie.

"A Night at the Opera" by the Marx Brothers. It never fails to make me laugh.