Interviews With Bloggers Part 18 : Claire Zulkey of Zulkey.com

The Bella Rossa Interview With Claire Zulkey of Zulkey.com.

Claire Zulkey is a Chicago writer who, with her friend John Green, started the "Funny Ha-Ha" series of literary humor readings, which is a hilarious night of readings from books, monologues, sketch comedy, and a short film or two. She will receive her Master's in Creative Writing from Northwestern this spring. Claire edits MediaBistro's MBToolBox, an invaluable resource for freelancers, and has been published in ElleGirl, the Chicago Tribune, Glamour and Modern Bride. She has scored interviews with authors and comedians you probably already know and love, and has published a very funny book called "Girls! Girls! Girls!" 

BELLA:
Claire, I gotta give props. My humble "Interviews with Bloggers"
project was inspired by your series of interviews with writers and
other creative people,  including T. Coraghessan Boyle, Augusten
Burroughs, Andrei Codrescu, Eugene Mirman, Dan Savage, Andy Borowitz,
Susan Orlean, and Michael Ian Black. How did that project get started,
and what's your secret to getting so many well-known people to
participate?

CLAIRE:
For some reason I knew when I first started that I wanted to do
interviews every Friday--it just seemed like a fun project, a fun thing
to look forward to and end the weekend with. So it started with family
and friends--the secret to getting the more well-known people is Neal
Pollack.  It's true.  A friend of mine was pals with him and told me to
ask him to do one. Neal was my first author who people other than just
my friends knew--once you have that 'bait', once you can tell one
famous person that you've interviewed  another famous person, you sound legit.

BELLA: You've said that you love Chicago, and you love
being a writer in Chicago. What is unique about the writing community
in Chicago, and under what  circumstances would you consider living
elsewhere?

CLAIRE: It's hard for me to really compare concretely as I've
only really lived here and no where else as a writer: I'd probably just
be speculating. But it does strike me as being more supportive than New
York--probably just a matter of numbers, since we're smaller, there's
less space to compete for.  I'd live anywhere (well, anywhere I can get
Diet Pepsi) for a period of time but I'd always want to return here. My
boyfriend is a filmmaker though for instance and I tell him if he ever
needed to go to NY or LA then we'd do it, since he moved here to be
with me.

BELLA: We live in an age where instant communication and
access to information make writing a different proposition that it was
even ten years ago. If you had come of age as a writer before the
advent of the internet, what do you think your writing and your life
would look like right now?

CLAIRE: It's hard to say. I don't know that I could say I'd
have the perserverence to keep trying without the internet's ability to
get instance gratification, quick communication and ability to
multi-task. Sitting at home and typing up stories and putting them in
the mail and then waiting for the mail to come...that might drive me
crazy.

BELLA: You once said that your number two favorite movie is
"Gone with the Wind." As it happens, the man who designed the jewelry
for that iconic film was my Great Uncle (who was also from Chicago). In
your estimation, does that make me cool?

CLAIRE: That depends-did he create Ellen O'Hara's earbobs? (Ed: Darn, I don't know. Probably?)

BELLA: You interviewed "A Million Little Pieces" author
James Frey in 2003. What was your reaction when the shit hit the fan
last January, and it was revealed that he had fictionalized a lot of
what was supposed to be a "true story?" Did you feel for him as he sat
on Oprah's couch, squirming under her disappointed gaze?

CLAIRE: Yes, absolutely. You know I can see some people's
point of view about what happened to him but I think a booing on
national television was too much. And honestly when the whole story
came out it didn't really bug me as a reader because I had read the
book a few years previously and the things that were in question
weren't a part of my memory of the book.  He'll come out of this and do
great--and I'm totally biased and subjective of course because he's
been a nice guy to me and that goes far.

BELLA: I'm guessing you've been a fervent reader since you
were quite young. What are some of your favorite childhood reading
memories?

CLAIRE: My mom always read to my brother and me when we were
younger, and definitely the most fun was Roald Dahl. I'm tempted to go
into a detailed reverie about where we sat for the readings and what
our little routine was but that's kind of sappy.  Also I enjoyed the
excitement of a new Baby Sitter's Club book.  And the Ramona Quimby
books were great.

BELLA: What are your regular must-reads in terms of online content and periodicals?

CLAIRE: Basically the Chicago Tribune is my homepage so
that's my news. Then the rest of it is gossip, other than the research
I do for mbtoolbox.com.  So please don't ask me for a detailed rundown
of what's happening between Israel and Lebanon. I just know it's bad
and I'd prefer then to think about Brandon Davis' unserious attempt at
rehab.

BELLA: You wrote a funny book called "Girls! Girls! Girls!"
Is it true that that project came about through the realization of the
fondest dream of many bloggers (i.e., an unexpected e-mail with an
offer to publish you)?

CLAIRE: Yes, it did. I got an email from a Ben Brown and in
it he professed that he loved me, which is always an intriguing email
to get from a stranger.

BELLA: You and John Green host "Funny Ha-Ha," a series of
literary humor readings that also feature sketch comedy and what we've
been told are brilliantly twisted short films by Steve Delahoyde. How
did that get started, and what part of the "Funny Ha-Ha" events is the
most fun for you?

CLAIRE: John and I started it because we realized we knew a
whole lot of funny writers who maybe didn't get enough exposure, so we
just wanted to do something fun like that. It was going to be a
one-time thing but the turnout was so huge that I felt this Catholic
obligatory thing to keep it going. Again, I'm being very biased but I
date Steve so it's always great when his videos get good laughs.  And
I'm always happy when the show is about 2/3 over because then I can
relax AND be on stage.

BELLA: What would you say are essential tools and resources
for aspiring young writers? The Writer's Market? A MediaBistro account?
A copy of the Chicago Manual of Style? A flak jacket?

CLAIRE: It depends on what a writer wants to accomplish I
think.  But lately I'm just amazed by the advice available online for a
nominal fee.  Ask Metafilter.  Freelance Success.  Those sort of
things.  I'd rather ask a couple hundred real people something than
look it up in an old reference book.

BELLA: Sometimes young writers discount the importance of
networking, and putting in "face time" among other writers and creative
people. You seem like a good example of a writer who realizes that life
is not an entirely text-based experience. How important has socializing
and mingling been to your life and career?

CLAIRE: I feel a lot of it has been luck: a lot of people I
genuinely like and respect have good things happen to them and then
share the wealth. So, have talented, generous friends! Once you do
that, you find that you don't have to network as much as you'd think.

BELLA: And finally, well-placed sources tell me you're one
of the "best connected people in Chicago." You write for lots of
publications in lots of styles and formats, you produce events, you do
film - where would you like to see your creative explorations go in the
next ten years?

CLAIRE: First things first: I want to publish a second book!

Interviews With Bloggers, Part 9: Reese Witherfork of "Speak of the Devil"

The Bella Rossa Interview With Reese Witherfork of "Speak of the Devil."

Reese Witherfork is a Canadian blogger who explores pop culture with an entertainingly irreverent viewpoint with "Speak of the Devil," and writes "2 Minute Movie Reviews" ("written by and for adults with ADHD") with contributions from friends. She also conducts "penetrating, pulse-quickening, spine-tingling, soul-altering interviews with all the greatest writers in the enticing, alluring, enchanting world of Trashy Fiction" with her site "Interviews With Trashy Novelists," and soon will be returning to the world of academia to pursue a Master's in Creative Writing.

BELLA: How would you describe your blog?

REESE: My blog is the place where I give my alter ego, Reese
Witherfork, free reign. I'll write about anything under the sun, but
almost nothing on my blog is serious. I goof around constantly.

BELLA: Why do you blog? What was your original goal or
intention when you started, and has that changed with time? Is your
blog a means to an end (finding work, developing creative ideas, making
money, meeting people), or does it exist for its own sake?

REESE: I first started blogging in order to meet other writers. My first site, "Interviews with Trashy Novelists," consists solely of interviews I conducted with other writers.

Then I started up my second site, Speak of the Devil,
which is my main site now, because I wanted a place to put the writing
I'd done that didn't seem to fit anywhere else. I did a few movie
reviews on that site, and enjoyed doing them so much that I started a
third site, 2 Minute Movie Reviews, and I managed to reel in a few really talented writers to contribute reviews to that site.

BELLA: Is there one particular post that you think exemplifies your work, or represents your best writing?

REESE: I'm fond of all of the interviews I did with "trashy novelists." I also like the review of the Clive Owen movie "Inside Man,"
where I pretended to be a crazed fan, because I like to parody "crazy
woman" behaviour. For quite a while I was pretending that I wrote
letters to inmates, and I posted these phoney letters on my blog. That was fun.

BELLA: Is there one particular post that garnered you an
atypically large reader response or number of referrals from search
engines? If so, why do you think that is?

REESE: I've done about 2 or 3 posts with "Steven
Seagal" in the title and that brings a lot of referrals from Google.
I made reference to "human trafficking" in one of my posts and that
still brings daily traffic, although I'm sure those people are all
disappointed, since my post was - as usual - not serious.

BELLA: How often do you Google yourself, check yourself on Technorati, and/or pore over your referral logs and visitor statistics?

REESE: I have a technorati button on my blog and I
check it now and then but, honestly, the information you get there
seems wildly innacurate, so I rarely bother. I check my stats now and
then, mainly just to see if there's any big jump or decline. When I
check them, I'm mostly curious about where the referrals are coming
from.

BELLA: What are some of your favorite, "must-read" blogs?
What keeps you going back again and again? Have you ever totally lost
interest in a blog that you once really enjoyed, and if so, why?

REESE: The first blog I ever went seriously gonzo for was "The Darkhat,"
a celebrity gossip site. The writer's humour is very original and
really over-the-top. I still use that site as a kind of standard for
me, because it's always packed with jokes and it's never, ever boring.

The
blogs that are linked on my site all have quality writing; I think
they're all amazing. I'm so impressed by the quality of writing I've
found on the Internet. I read less and less print material, because I
rarely find it to be as interesting as the stuff I find written by
people who often don't consider themselves to be writers at all.

BELLA: What kind of person is the likeliest reader of your blog? What would you hope they get out of reading you?

REESE: Well, I think anyone who reads my blog
regularly has a good sense of humour because, if they don't, they're
just going to be confused. I like to entertain people and give them a
laugh. Plain and simple. I try to write only comical stuff, but if I
write something that's not funny, I really try to make sure that it's
worthwhile. I would never want to waste anyone's time with boring
crap. There's enough boring crap in the world.

BELLA: Are there people in your life who don't "get the
whole blog thing?" How do you explain it to them without feeling as
nerdy and defensive as I usually do?

REESE: I "discovered" the internet late last year when
I started my first blog, and I've been really fascinated with it
since. I've learned so much (including how a computer works) and I've
been exposed to so many new things that I would have been oblivious to
otherwise. I've had people criticize me for spending too much time at
the computer, but I generally tell them to mind their own business. If
I'm interested in something, I'm going to engage myself in it - end of
story.

BELLA: What's your relationship with your readers? How much interaction do you encourage?

REESE: I really appreciate my readers a lot. I doubt
I'd be interested in writing my blog if nobody was reading it, and I
really love writing it - so they're important to me. If they're the
type to write commentary, I interact with them, I take interest in
their comments and, if they have blogs, I always read them.

BELLA: How much do you self-censor, knowing that your friends and family might be reading?

REESE: I don't let anybody I know (in person) read my
blog. Nobody. It's been a bit strange, because I've become good
friends with some of the people who read my blog, and I've always felt
the need to say "you know, I'm almost always kidding, right?" My
mother and brother used to read my blog, but I kicked them off. I
found I wasn't able write what I wanted to write knowing they'd be
reading it. When I was sure they were off for good, my writing
improved vastly.

BELLA: Have you ever blogged something that later you regretted and/or deleted from your blog?

REESE: I edit my posts fairly thoroughly before I publish them, so I'm usually okay with them by the time they're up on the blog.

BELLA: What are your thoughts on the phenomenon of
"doocing," wherein someone loses their job because of things they
posted on a personal blog? Are you careful to maintain a clear line
between your online self and your real world self?

REESE: If an employer found my site, I doubt they'd be
very impressed with me. That's one of the reasons I keep my internet
identity to myself.

BELLA: Are you conscious of creating an online persona? How is that persona different from the real world you?

REESE: When I write on my blog, I take the bare
essentials of my life, or my opinions on this or that - and I blow them
way the hell out of proportion, or sometimes even switch them and write
from the complete flipside. That's one of the reasons I don't want
people I know to read my site - I don't want to have to be constantly
explaining myself to them. I've tried to write earnest stuff about my
own life, but I even bored myself silly. So, yes, I'm not Reese
Witherfork and she's not me. I've been lucky that the people I've met
on the Internet tend to not be overly confused about who I actually
am;
then tend to know I'm joking around. (I did receive hate mail once,
though, from a college aged boy who, for some reason, included a
photograph of himself).

BELLA: How long have you been online, and what kinds of
things have you done online (chat rooms, message boards, games, aimless
surfing, etc.)? How has this changed your life, for the better or worse?

REESE: I surf the blogs, but that's about it for me.
I've learned an enormous amount from reading and writing in this kind
of a forum. Among other things, I've learned how to edit the bejeezus
out of my writing, and I think that's a good skill to have. People who
read stuff on the Internet will lose patience with you if you're not
concise.

BELLA: How long do you think you will continue to blog? What are the circumstances under which you can imagine yourself quitting?

REESE: Well, I'm going back to university in the fall
to do a Master's degree in Creative Writing, so all my creative efforts
will be focussed there. I'll be writing mostly short stories and those
are too long to post on a blog. If I don't have the time to continue
to do a decent blog, then I'll probably give it up, although I'm sure
I'll do the movie reviews for quite a while to come.

BELLA: What's the coolest thing that's come out of your blogging experience?

REESE: I think my writing has improved a lot and, also, I've met some really amazing people.

Interviews With Bloggers Part 8: Mr. Bali Hai of "Eye of the Goof "

The Bella Rossa Interview With Mr. Bali Hai from "Eye of the Goof."

Mr. Bali Hai is currently reading Aku-Aku by Thor Heyerdahl and listening to Highly Strung Vol. I, a compilation of British instrumentals
from the 1960s, Yma Sumac - Mambo!, and Hawaiian slack-key guitar tunes
from the 1920s and 30s. Now there's a guy who knows what he likes, and it's not Top 40. His blog reflects his eclectic interests, and features some really unique cultural gems.

BELLA: How would you describe your blog?

MR. BALI HAI:
I think my pal, Humuhumu, said
it best when she described the Goof as, "Pop Culture with a Tiki Tinge."

BELLA: Why do you blog? What was your original goal or
intention when you started, and has that changed with time? Is your
blog a means to an end (finding work, developing creative ideas, making
money, meeting people), or does it exist for its own sake?

MR. BALI HAI:
I'm creatively frustrated, and I live in a place where almost no one is
interested in the same things I am. Blogging is a great way to meet
like-minded people.

BELLA: Is there one particular post that you think exemplifies your work, or represents your best writing?

MR. BALI HAI:
I really can't pick just one. My travelogues, like the ones documenting
my trip to Beijing
provides a good writing sample. My primary claim to minor blogospheric
fame are my collections of ephemera; this gallery of Trader
Vic's recipes is my personal fave. Far more people visit my
collections every day than visit my 'blog.

BELLA: Is there one particular post that garnered you an
atypically large reader response or number of referrals from search
engines? If so, why do you think that is?

MR. BALI HAI:
Without question, it was my history of the founding of L.A. punk 'zine,
Flipside.
The post got picked up by bOINGbOING, MetaFilter, and still generates
hundreds of hits per week from search engines and various bulletin
boards. It also put me back in touch with everyone I wrote about in
that story, most of whom I hadn't seen or heard from in more than 30
years. Why was it so enormously popular? Well, everyone who was
involved in the late-70s punk-rock scene has hit their mid-40s in the
past couple of years, so I think it struck a nostalgic chord for a lot
of middle-aged weirdos who grew up reading badly mimeographed fanzines
like Flipside.

BELLA: How often do you Google yourself, check yourself on Technorati, and/or pore over your referral logs and visitor statistics?

MR. BALI HAI:
Incessantly. I'm a total publicity whore. Plus, referrals are a great
way to discover new bloggers and like-minded individuals.

BELLA: What are some of your favorite, "must-read" blogs?
What keeps you going back again and again? Have you ever totally lost
interest in a blog that you once really enjoyed, and if so, why?

MR. BALI HAI:
I don't much care for recycled linkage. I prefer 'blogs that come up
with fresh, interesting material.  The Cartoonist, The Nonist, Jart In My Head, and Bubblegumfink are always
great sources of amazing, original content with a pop-cultural bent.

I think that MetaFilter really jumped the shark a couple of years ago
when it got hijacked by political partisans who wanted to use it as
their personal soapbox. I have zero interest in extremism of any
stripe, and people who are absolutely convinced that they are right and
everyone who disagrees with them are evil. I'll also lose interest
pretty quick in any 'blog that starts taking links from me without a
referral. You gotta tip the hat.

BELLA: What kind of person is the likeliest reader of your blog? What would you hope they get out of reading you?

MR. BALI HAI:
Probably someone like me who's far too eclectic for their own good. I
seem to be what I'd call a "blogger's blogger", meaning that my general
readership base seems to consist largely of other bloggers. I'd hope
that my readers find cool, fun, and mostly original stuff that piques
their interest.

BELLA: Are there people in your life who don't "get the
whole blog thing?" How do you explain it to them without feeling as
nerdy and defensive as I usually do?

MR. BALI HAI: 
My wife and kids "get it", but they aren't particularly interested in
reading it. My 12-year old daughter stops by occasionally, but she's
far too cool to tell me if she enjoyed it or not. Maybe she'll confide
in me on my deathbed.

BELLA: What's your relationship with your readers? How much interaction do you encourage?

MR. BALI HAI:
Most of the people who read the Goof on a regular basis seem to be the
kind of folks that I'd be happy to have dinner or a drink with, and
I've actually done so with a fair number of them. I love to receive
intelligent comments, and they often point me to related links or facts
that I hadn't considered.

BELLA: How much do you self-censor, knowing that your friends and family might be reading?

MR. BALI HAI:
I don't like to work "blue", and I know how much trouble indiscreet
blogging can get you into. Therefore, I never mention my family by
their real names. I've got a strong streak of Midwestern
love-of-privacy mixed in with my Californian tendency towards
self-promotion.

BELLA: Have you ever heard yourself say something like "If
you really cared about me/were really interested in me, you'd look at
my blog"? Is this a fair thing to throw at, say, your sister, during an
argument over who gets the nicest drumstick at Thanksgiving?

MR. BALI HAI:
I've never said anything like that to my family, but that's a question
I'd probably ask the bloggers that used to link
to me frequently, but now seem to be totally indifferent to what I do.
I'd be very interested in knowing why that is. I often get frustrated
when I see other 'blogs that are much newer, and in my opinion, far
less interesting or original, become overnight successes, particularly
when they did it with my help. I'm very proud of the work and care that
I put into my blog, so it seems odd to me that I'm not bigger than
bOINGbOING yet.

Yes, I'm paranoid and delusional.

BELLA: Do you video blog? Would or will you? Are there any video blogs that you look at? What would you video blog about, if you did?

MR. BALI HAI:
I've had a YouTube
account for a while now; I think it's the greatest thing since
individually wrapped slices of processed cheese-food.

BELLA: Have you ever blogged something that later you regretted and/or deleted from your blog?

MR. BALI HAI:
Just my passive-aggressive attempts at 'blog suicide. For further
information, please refer to the Nonist's helpful public-service
pamphlet, What
Everyone Should Know About Blog Depression.

BELLA: What are your thoughts on the phenomenon of
"doocing," wherein someone loses their job because of things they
posted on a personal blog? Are you careful to maintain a clear line
between your online self and your real world self?

MR. BALI HAI:
Unless your posts are libelous, or cause your employer to lose
business, I think it's totally unjustified. However, I'm very careful
to keep my employment separate from my blogging because in the end,
don't think it's very interesting, nor is it anyone's business but mine.

BELLA: Are you conscious of creating an online persona? How is that persona different from the real world you?

MR. BALI HAI:
Being alive is all about creating personae, so I think it's only
natural that would extend to my life online. I'm a lot more fun and
interesting online than I am in real life because I get to leave out
all the boring, trivial parts of my day-to-day existence. LiveJournal
and MySpace accounts were created to blog about that stuff.

BELLA: How long have you been online, and what kinds of
things have you done online (chat rooms, message boards, games, aimless
surfing, etc.)? How has this changed your life, for the better or worse?

MR. BALI HAI:
I first got online back in 1986, when I discovered the Usenet newsgroup
alt.chocolate.bondage by logging on to a VAX mainframe at NASA/Ames
Research Center. I soon was posting
movie reviews in a Usenet newsgroup devoted to cult film, then I
started posting short stories in another newsgroup called talk.bizarre,
which led to my meeting a number of fun, highly-evolved,
creative people (along with a couple of total assholes), several of
whom I am still friends with today. In 1994, I created my first webpage
which was devoted to cult film, then in 1996 or so, I unveiled Technopapal Indulgences,
wherein I posted fiction, book reviews, interesting links, rants, and
other strange stuff that was kind of like blogging, but with less
structure. I joined MetaFilter
in 2000, and posted there on a semi-regular basis, building up a small
coterie of readers who kept encouraging me to start my own 'blog. I
finally relented in 2003, and created Eye of the Goof out of spit,
bailing wire, and very, very bad Moveable Type markup.

BELLA: How long do you think you will continue to blog? What are the circumstances under which you can imagine yourself quitting?

MR. BALI HAI:
I'll probably keep blogging until they pry the keyboard from my cold,
dead hands.

BELLA: What's the coolest thing that's come out of your blogging experience?

MR. BALI HAI:
Meeting people who've become good friends, and reconnecting with old
ones.

Interviews With Bloggers Part 14: Shroom Monkey of "Shroom Monkey Eats Worms"

The Bella Rossa Interview with Shroom Monkey of "Shroom Monkey Eats Worms."

Shroom Monkey is an Atlanta blogger who does creative and sometimes dirty things with Paintshop and photos of celebrities (so be careful where you click) and might still be a little bitter about having flunked drama class in college. She mixes off-kilter silliness with unexpected poignance, sometimes within a single post, and shares my fascination with the unbelievably horrible movie "Killer Klowns from Outer Space." Like so many bloggers, she enjoys the freedom that the anonymity of blogging offers to be lippier and bolder in print than in everyday life, and values the connections she's made with people by way of her expressions online.

BELLA: How would you describe your blog?

SHROOM MONKEY: It is purely random thoughts, likes, dislikes, some sprinklings of
relationship hell with some celebrity news, and sock monkeys thrown in
for entertainment value.

BELLA: Why
do you blog? What was your original goal or intention when you started,
and has that changed with time? Is your blog a means to an end (finding
work, developing creative ideas, making money, meeting people), or does
it exist for its own sake?

SHROOM MONKEY: Ummm, I do because I have nothing to do and I am bored. I started
at first to piss off a few people but the blog is evolving into it's
own little world. It has become a place to air some of my dirty
laundry, to criticize strangers, and a view in what really is happening
in my little head. I have no goals- but can this kinda stuff really
land me a job because that would be ROCK!

BELLA: What are some of your favorite, "must-read" blogs?
What keeps you going back again and again? Have you ever totally lost
interest in a blog that you once really enjoyed, and if so, why?

SHROOM MONKEY: Speak of the Devil -cuz she is the coolest chick in the whole world. Bacon Bits and Midget Parts - cuz he scares me, but I love him anyways. Angela's Magic Carpet Ride - cuz she keeps it fresh and interesting.

BELLA: What kind of person is the likeliest reader of your blog? What would you hope they get out of reading you?

SHROOM MONKEY: Anyone who is a closet freak-a-zoid.

BELLA: Are
there people in your life who don't "get the whole blog thing?" How do
you explain it to them without feeling as nerdy and defensive as I
usually do?

SHROOM MONKEY: Most of them think that I'm retarded. But seriously, this is
mine, this is me, and this is what I am enjoying at the moment. So
leave me alone!

BELLA: What's your relationship with your readers? How much interaction do you encourage?

SHROOM MONKEY: I am totally surprised that anyone reads it at all. But I love
that they do. I get a kick out of everyone who reads the blog and
although we may be in little corners all over the world, I really
think if we were to meet, we could have a really kick ass barbecue.

BELLA: How much do you self-censor, knowing that your friends and family might be reading?

SHROOM MONKEY: Ideally none! I don't post pictures of myself or family. My
name is not posted so I not really worried. I left my government job
so I should be ok.

BELLA: Have you ever blogged something that later you regretted and/or deleted from your blog?

SHROOM MONKEY: Yeah, I have managed to severely anger some friends, some ex's and
a few family members. Maybe telling the virginity story wasn't such a
good idea. Oh well...

BELLA: Are you conscious of creating an online persona? How is that persona different from the real world you?

SHROOM MONKEY: Oh yeah, I can be a bit more obnoxious in blogger world. I am
kinda shy in my real life. Yeah I know you would never know it but I
am. I can voice the little strange thoughts that come to my head with
no consequences. In the real world, I get too many dirty looks and
attorneys calling, so I will keep on trucking in blogger world.

BELLA: How long have you been online, and what kinds of
things have you done online (chat rooms, message boards, games, aimless
surfing, etc.)? How has this changed your life, for the better or worse?

SHROOM MONKEY: Well not counting the S & M chat rooms (if you're reading, this
I'm sorry, Master) and the online porn- not very long. I just recently
became a blogging fool.

BELLA: How long do you think you will continue to blog? What are the circumstances under which you can imagine yourself quitting?

SHROOM MONKEY: As long as it is entertaining. As long as I have the time. As
long as my computer functions. Basically until I get bored, or until I
feel completely healed whichever comes first.

BELLA: What's the coolest thing that's come out of your blogging experience?

SHROOM MONKEY: I have met some kick ass people. I have made a network of
strangers my new family. I have gotten really good at attaching
celebrity heads to ridiculous cartoons. I have strained my eyes and had
to start wearing glasses (I look much smarter now, so that is cool). But
the coolest thing is now I truly feel alive. Ha, ha, ha.

Interviews With Bloggers, Part 12: Nick from "DVD Trash"

The Bella Rossa Interview With Nick of "DVD Trash."

Nick is a Glaswegian film enthusiast and an Honors Grad with a BA in Marketing and Foreign Languages. He contributes DVD and film reviews for genre sites Cinema Nocturna and 10kBullets. If I had posted his interview closer to the time he gave it, his comments on his Italian heritage affecting his enthusiasm for the World Cup would seem more timely. Bella Rossa is grateful for his contribution to the ongoing "Interviews with Bloggers" project, and not only because it gave her a chance to use the word "Glaswegian."

BELLA: What current books, music, tv, movies, hobbies, sports, etc., are currently holding your interest?

NICK: Books - Nick Carter pulp novels, Kathy Reich's
novels, just holiday reading at the moment, but I have a stack of books
to get through, just hard to find the time. The last great book I read
was Jenna Jameson's autobiography - could not put it down, very frank
and honest.

TV - 24, The Sopranos, The Shield have been top viewing this season.

Music - Again nothing too highbrow, just whatever is on the radio -
like Gnarls Barkley and Shakira. Been getting loads of cult soundtracks
from Gialli and Spaghetti Westerns in particular. The OST for Kriminal
is next.

Sports - Just one thing - the Soccer World Cup and my team Italy
(due to my Italian mother) are in the final. Getting ready to party!

BELLA: How would you describe your blog?

NICK: Simply - The Best Horror, Trash, Gialli and
Exploitation that DVD has to offer. Just a place for fans with similar
interests to get news, reviews and pictures of Brigitte Lahaie! It goes
beyond just genre movies though as it covers anything weird or
wonderful, horror or art movie, it doesn't matter.

BELLA: Why do you blog? What was your original goal or
intention when you started, and has that changed with time? Is your
blog a means to an end (finding work, developing creative ideas, making
money, meeting people), or does it exist for its own sake?

NICK: Just decided to do it for fun to see how it goes.
Loads of other people seemed to do it and I thought I'd like my 2 cents
out there so I logged onto Blogger and away I went. I did not realise
or intend to review movies for sites such as 10k Bullets, Cinema
Nocturna or AVPlay, it just kind of happened. I originally only
intended to do some reviews of my own and post them on the blog. I just
really enjoy writing about subjects I love. An upside has been meeting
really nice folk who are also passionate about cinema, definitely not
for money but if someone were to pay me to watch movies it would be
hard to say no!

BELLA: Is there one particular post that you think exemplifies your work, or represents your best writing?

NICK: Definitely my reviews of Shoot the Piano Player and 4
Times that Night. In my opinion of course. Normal Hollywood movies
generally do not tax my brain so creatively my writing suffers. I'm a
sucker for Mario Bava and French New Wave directors - some combination!
However it is fair to say that my writing in general gets better after
each review although it is dependent on what film I'm covering.

BELLA: Is there one particular post that garnered you an
atypically large reader response or number of referrals from search
engines? If so, why do you think that is?

NICK: The Brigitte Lahaie Interview and any info I post about the imminent DVD release of A Lizard in a Woman's Skin in Italy.

BELLA: How often do you Google yourself, check yourself on Technorati, and/or pore over your referral logs and visitor statistics?

NICK: I look at my stats everyday, not for self
gratification, I'm just really interested in who comes to the site and
where they were referred from.

BELLA: What are some of your favorite, "must-read" blogs?
What keeps you going back again and again? Have you ever totally lost
interest in a blog that you once really enjoyed, and if so, why?

NICK: Every link under the "Friends of DVD Trash" banner on the blog, but especially Whiggles (fellow reviewer and genre movie fan), Winged Avenger (great cult music blog) and What Would Tyler Durden Do? (Hollywood gossip)

BELLA: What kind of person is the likeliest reader of your blog? What would you hope they get out of reading you?

NICK: I'm not sure, anyone with a passing interest for the
cinema and genre movies in particular. Just hope they like the blog,
that it offers something different and that they enjoy the reviews. I'm
sure "eclectic" is the correct word to describe the variety of movies
that are reviewed.

BELLA: Are there people in your life who don't "get the
whole blog thing?" How do you explain it to them without feeling as
nerdy and defensive as I usually do?

NICK: Most of my friends do not know much about blogging but
they do find it interesting and most of them seem to enjoy what I write
and ask to borrow movies I review which can only be a good thing.

BELLA: What's your relationship with your readers? How much interaction do you encourage?

NICK: I try to encourage a lot via comments and in fact I
would like more feedback from my readers as I'm interested in who they
are and where they are from.

BELLA: How much do you self-censor, knowing that your friends and family might be reading?

NICK: I don't. I'm an adult and I'm sure the odd curse word or nude picture will not do anybody any harm.

BELLA: Do you video blog? Would or will you? Are there any video blogs that you look at? What would you video blog about, if you did?

NICK: Not something I've thought about - not enough time
anyway. I would like to get involved in Podcasting though, so if anyone
needs an opinionated movie reviewer then please get in touch!

BELLA: Have you ever blogged something that later you regretted and/or deleted from your blog?

NICK: No, I'm quite careful before I post.

BELLA: What are your thoughts on the phenomenon of
"doocing," wherein someone loses their job because of things they
posted on a personal blog? Are you careful to maintain a clear line
between your online self and your real world self?

NICK: People ought to be more careful - they should not write something they are not willing to say in person.

BELLA: Are you conscious of creating an online persona? How is that persona different from the real world you?

NICK: I think I come across a fairly normal and well balanced
despite my taste in movies - and that's how I am in real life. I'm
really friendly and outgoing and not a geek stuck behind a PC all day.

BELLA: How long have you been online, and what kinds of
things have you done online (chat rooms, message boards, games, aimless
surfing, etc.)? How has this changed your life, for the better or worse?

NICK: Been online since 1994. Done the whole gamut online -
games, forums and aimless surfing I excel at - I'm better off for it as
well, quite PC literate and more informed about the subjects I'm
interested in.

BELLA: How long do you think you will continue to blog? What are the circumstances under which you can imagine yourself quitting?

NICK: As long as I have spare time to write and watch movies
and DVD's kindly supplied to me, I'll continue. Only if work really
took over, which is a possibility over the next few months, then I'd
have to cut back, but DVD Trash will be online for a long time to come.
Would be very sad not have it.

BELLA: What's the coolest thing that's come out of your blogging experience?

NICK: Fulfilling an ambition to write about something I love
and other people actually thinking I'm good at it! Meeting some very
cool people online (Steve Genier at Cinema Nocturna, Mike den Boer at
10kBullets) and of course interviewing Brigitte Lahaie!

Interviews With Bloggers, Part 1: Donny B of "Everything in Moderation, Including Moderation"

The Bella Rossa Interview With Donny B of "Everything in Moderation, Including Moderation."

Donny B recently took time out of his glamorous life to consent to an intimate interview with yours truly. Donny is a Chicago blogger with actual real life writing credits. According to his blog, he is currently reading "Stories of Hawaii" by Jack London, watching "Everyday Italian" on the boob tube, listening to "St. Elsewhere" by Gnarls Barkley, and recently visited the cinema to take in "Art School Confidential." When he reads this interview online, he will likely wonder why the heck he thought this was a good idea.

Bella: How would you describe your blog?

Donny B:
Like a hot bed of Brie with sheets of chutney and fruit pillows. In
other words, pop culture + food and Chicago - useless celebrity gossip
= my blog.

Bella: Why do you blog?

Donny B: Initially as a creative vent, now more so just to have fun.

Bella: What was your original goal or intention when you started, and has that changed with time?

Donny B: My original goal was to use a blog as host to my
writing samples when looking for jobs (many were looking for blogging
experience as well as writing samples).  But now I do it just to post
silly pictures and talk about whatever pop culture nugget crosses my
radar.

Bella: Is your blog a means to an end (finding work,
developing creative ideas, making money, meeting people), or does it
exist for its own sake?

Donny B: I definitely don't make money, except for the cash
people voluntarily send me to STOP blogging, which hasn't convinced me
yet to stop, so I'll need more cash to be persuaded.

Bella: What are some of your favorite, "must-read" blogs
(besides mine, of course)? What keeps you going back again and again?
Have you ever totally lost interest in a blog that you once really
enjoyed, and if so, why? 


Donny B: WaiterRant.net,
laurenpoulin.blogspot.com, justbraise.blogspot.com,
thecookbookcritic.com, Bookslut's blog, fourfour.typepad.com,
GapersBlock.com.  Some I read because they're by my friends and I like
them.  Others I read for the content and/or writing.  I've lost
interest in blogs where I realized the content doesn't compensate if
it's really poorly written and vice versa, or if the blogger's quirks
were cute and entertaining at first but then became annoying, redundant
and one-note.

Bella: What's your relationship with your readers? How much
interaction do you encourage? How much do you self-censor, knowing that
your friends and family might be reading?

Donny B: Usually other people react supportively (is that even a word?) and I'm like "Really? Don't you think it's kind of dorky?"

Bella: Have you ever heard yourself say something like "If
you really cared about me/were really interested in me, you'd look at
my blog"? Is this a fair thing to throw at, say, your sister, during an
argument over who gets the nicest drumstick at Thanksgiving? 

Donny B: I
say it's totally fair to play the blog card whenever you can,
especially if it's over the nice drumstick.  I can't really think of a
better reason.

Bella: What is the history of your relationship with
computers and the internet? How long have you been online, and what
kinds of things have you done online (e-mail, chat rooms, message
boards, real-time multi-player games, aimless surfing, etc.)? How has
this changed your life, for the better or worse?

Donny B: My relationship with computers is basically
dysfunctional. I rely on them yet they often let me down. I turn to
them for support - technical, physical, spiritual, medicinal - yet they
often reject me. I've even had abusive relationships with some and
found myself the next day lying to my friends about bruises from
"falling down the stairs."  But I've been to support groups and feel a
lot better.

Bella: How long do you think you will continue to blog? What are the circumstances under which you can imagine yourself quitting?

Donny B: I think about quitting every day, yet it keeps
pulling me back in. Seriously, it takes up a lot of time and I figure
if I'm going to write something, maybe I should do something with it
other than just posting on my blog, but now I sound like a writerly
snob, so scratch that. I love blogging. I would never quit. Ever.

Bella: What's the coolest thing that's come out of your blogging experience?

Donny B: Um, this interview? Well, this and all the positive
feedback I get from both random strangers across the country and from
friends and family. And did I mention the cash people send me? That's
pretty cool, too. Actually, cash would be the coolest part, then this
interview, then the good feedback. Sorry, but money always wins.

Stand-Up? Siddown!

Mom and Dad were here for a visit over the weekend. They wanted to hug their Olympic director son and their comedian daughter. We watched my latest clip together at my brother's house and it was then that I realized I'd given the finger during the Cosmo joke, and I said "God damn it" twice. (You may remember that I was admonished to use clean language by my mom, and actually apologized to her at the end of my first open mic because I used both "bitch" and "ass" in my first set.)

I told Mom that it was going to be pretty hard to leave bad language out of comedy, and she might just have to get more comfortable with the idea. She is therefore agreeing to chill a little with her policy about my use of bad language in my sets. "Maybe you could just leave the 'God' off of the "God damn it,'" she suggested brightly. I agreed, and yet now, as I type this, I'm realizing what a bunch of crap that is, because if a linguist had conducted studies in our home while I was growing up, I know they would have collected enough data to prove that nobody in the universe cusses more than Catholic moms with five or more children. I love you, Mom, but you are now officially busted on this one.

So, a little more on the whole stand-up thing. It's fun to post clips to let people see my evolution, but of course, I want to be writing and offering my insight into the whole process as well, both for interested readers (not that I have a lot these days - my readership may have peaked about a year ago when I did the "Interviews With Bloggers" series), and also for myself. Because as much as my early writing life was filled with private scrawls, I don't really keep a personal journal these days, per se. I keep a writing notebook with me at all times, for notes from conversations with writing clients and colleagues, and comedy notes (which pop into my brain at all hours of the night and day), but I don't keep a diary lately, and I know that it will be very important to the me of about a year from now to be able to look back at these early comedy experiences, for many reasons.

(For whatever it's worth, all of the sudden I think it's really cool that this blog started off as the internet reading journal of a small town Indiana dog walker and house sitter. All I did was make comment on stuff I saw online, never referencing myself, using my real name, putting up a picture, or anything. And now it's becoming this chronicle of creative evolution. I'm doing stand-up comedy, writing for a living, and writing a book, which I sort of can't believe. And who knows where things are going to go from here? I really can't rule anything out at this point. That's how my life feels to me right now - wide open - and that's certainly not how my life felt to me two years ago, when I was writing wank like this: British Crime Is More Literary and Complex Than American Crime.)

Anyway, back to the stand-up. Two things I'm really happy about with the comedy right now -

#1 - Being able to immediately watch (and, yes, rewatch) clips of my performances. SO SO SO valuable as a learning tool. So valuable that I'm thinking about starting a Contribute To Joy and Laughter (By Buying Elizabeth McQuern a Video Camera) Fund to make sure I can always tape myself. So far I've been lucky enough to have Sloan there to tape, or had a kind friend point, shoot, and e-mail me the raw footage the next day (which is awesome, because I love editing my own stuff), but I don't know if that's always going to be the case, so I'd love to have a little tiny handheld Sony Something 'er' Other Camera at some point in the near future.

#2 - Also, I'm very happy about making new friends along the way. I'm talking about my new Blewt!-related friends who are marching around the open mic circuit in a pack of 3-10 people, which is totally cool. One of them blogged about the night at Pressure that was my third open mic, including clips of himself (Bryan) and another performer, Paul (AKA the Noob, on whose tv show I was an off-camera guest about six months ago). Dan, who was nice enough to film my set, declined to post his own set from this show, but he can be seen here. I'm also talking about Brandipants, the little sister I always wanted (who maybe just arrived about 24 years late?), and my new open mic bud K., whose first time immediately followed mine at Bad Dog lo those many weeks ago. K. is an art student who has managed to whip my butt and has performed stand-up about three times more than I have so far.

Okay, back to stand-up. Last time, I opened with a crack about going onstage after a bunch of really tall people, because I felt like I was swiping for the mic like a little tamarind monkey trying to slap fruit off a mango tree. Part of my pack of friends for that night included three guys who range in height from about 6'0" to 6'5". They all went up before me, and the guy right before me was Ross Hyzer, who gave me lots of good laughs during my set, and with whom I had a nice chat after the show - and who must be 6'6". And I'm about 5'3 1/2". I just think that's funny.

Like the other times - and maybe this is just normal and now I can be cool with this - right up until the very last second before my foot hit the stage, I was terrified. My mind was racing and I was absolutely sure I was going to forget everything. I felt like a fraud who shouldn't even be sitting there in that room. I was hungry but my stomach was so knotted with fear that I couldn't eat. Granted, I had written most of my material that day, and hadn't spent days and days memorizing, but that's pretty much how I've done it every other time, too. Still, I was spazzing, and rewriting stuff from my notebook onto an index card, cutting it down from paragraphs to phrases to words. Pointless. Pointless and sort of rude when I could have been talking more to my new friends and making them more comfortable, too. Oh, and I could have eaten some of the fries and chicken fingers that were being passed around. (Damnit.)

But somehow, when I took the mic, I felt totally fine. I felt clear and calm and absolutely fine. I could feel that all of these people were totally cool with me, and I could play whatever game I wanted to with them. I didn't feel relaxed enough to really have fun the way I want to next time, but this was the first time for this sort of experience, so I kept my thoughts very organized and focused, while feeling like I had everything I needed to do whatever I wanted. The crowd was awesome and receptive and energetic, and I even got through the German jokes while getting solid supportive laughter, even though I had given myself the option of leaving them off if I felt jittery or unsure.

And I really did do and say things that I hadn't planned on (and, in some cases, didn't realize I'd done until I saw the tape). And, I won't lie, I was concerned enough about not having the mic close enough to my mouth (a boo boo I perpetrated the first time around) that I overcompensated a bit and three times I actually touched the mic to my lips. Hope the dude that went after me likes the smell of Kiwi Strawberry MAC lip gloss, because I sauced that thing.