1. Which charitable organizations do you think do especially meaningful work?
There are many that do good work. But from my biased perspective, I will go with Assistance League (of Hawaii). I am their website administrator, photographer and newsletter editor. Our mission statement:
"Assistance League volunteers transforming the lives of children and adults through community programs."
In other words, we provide needy children and families with school clothes, supplies, baby items, emergency supplies, education services reading enrichment (through our OWL and literacy services programs) and much more.
2. When has someone recently appreciated your giving them your time?
The member volunteers from Assistance League of Hawaii like the work I do for their website and monthly member newsletter.
3. When have you asked someone to give you a little space?
I keep my distance and rarely have to ask anyone to give me more space.
4. What do you simply not give a darn* about, despite its mattering to your friends or relatives?
Dogs. High maintenance, costly waste of money, messy, noisy, smelly, jumpy and sometimes biting. Yuck! How can people put up with such creatures... especially indoors, on bedding, furniture and everywhere else these stinky things go. Ugh!
5. What are you close to giving up on?
Hulu, Paramount+ when the 1 year promotional trial rates expire.
1. What is an ideal career for someone who’s your exact opposite?
Communist party chancellor, president or dictator.
2. What do most people not know about your job?
That for the last few years, I occasionally work there.
3. Which stereotypes about people in your job are pretty close to accurate?
Government bureaucrats.
4. Which movie or TV series has a pretty good portrayal of your job?
I can't pinpoint any to the nth degree. But thinking back on most of the jobs I had, it would be within the legislative profession, photography or the advertising/marketing area.
5. Which wild animal would be best suited to doing your job?
Donkey... plenty of those there.
The public arena where I have spent several years working, lately though only part time.
You probably don't want to be in the same room with me if that happens.
2. With whom do you have a friendly, long-running argument, and what is it about?
A person I know who supports rail and I don't. Been simmering since 1992. "Rail is not a right".
3. What was your most recent argument about?
Alexa.
4. When did you most recently overhear an argument between people you don’t know?
From the upper floor of my building where I live occasionally we can hear late night arguments on the street with who know who! Sometimes very loud and police are called.
5. What’s an unpopular opinion you have about food?
Organic food is just a way for the food industry to push more expensive food on consumers.
I use Bard. It is a good writing aid. Write your prose as normal, get Bard to fix it, and then rephrase it somewhat to make it your own. Will use Bard as long as it remains free. It is a nice tool to use in writing or editing.
1. What is your favorite thing to learn about?
Learning is a lifelong process. There are all kinds of subjects that I pursue more knowledge of. Top of mind for me include keeping up with the latest news on cord cutting, best ways of getting tech without spending too much money, discovering both new and old music, political news, local news and issues, and much more.
2. What is your favorite thing to do with your friends?
Eat, walk around taking photos of stuff, talk about or listening to music, whatever.
3. What is your favorite place you’ve ever been?
Any place on Hawaii, the Big Island…. Hilo, Honokaa, Volcanoes National Park, Waimea, Kohala, Laupahoehoe, Ookala, Kalopa, Akaka Falls, Rainbow Falls, Waipio Valley.
4. What is your favorite way to relax?
Listening to music on my stereo or devices at home.
5. What is your favorite thing to cook
I'm not good at cooking. I can make hamburgers and spaghetti with meat sauce (hamburger).
When I'm walking to certain locations, I tend to think what is the shortest way to get there and then follow through.
2. How do you make up for one of your shortcomings?
Most of the time, I try to avoid those once they happen.
3. What does your favorite pair of shorts look like?
Old with a bunch of pockets... Well worn.
4. What was meant to be short-term but lasted much longer than planned?
Recurring seasonal employment for the last five years.
5. Which short films do you especially like?
My favorite from when I was a kid until today is The Red Balloon, a French film that came out in 1956. I first saw it in school a long time ago for one of our classes.
The DUST Channel on YouTube have a ton of great short, science fiction films. I can't remember the titles of specific films, but for the most part they have all been good.
NPR has the Tiny Desk short in-studio concert series and KCRW have some good concerts. Don't know if they qualify as short films, but I enjoy them.
Lastly Michael Jackson's long form video for "Thriller" is also a good short film.
Bullies. If you know someone who is a bully, the best thing to do is to avoid them whenever possible. I always take this to another level by avoiding "bully locations" such as...er... um Kalihi and Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki during the night time hours. Those areas and several others in Honolulu are high crime areas where bullies, drug pushers, gangs, etc. could strike at you in a very negative way. So yes... B is for BULLIES.
2. With whom would you like to have dinner?
Just off the top of my head, there is no one I personally know that whose name starts with the letter B. That said my other choice would be the actor Bruce Boxleitner. So B is for BRUCE BOXLEITNER... and we have a double B here. Yay!
3. What would you like to learn how to do?
Bake a cake or pie? Sounds delicious. I have never considered myself a cook. I can make edible stuff to just get by. Baking I don't have much patience for, but it does yield something delicious, most of the time... Oh and baked chicken I guess. That is good. B is for BAKE.
4. Where will you find what you’ve been looking all over for?
Ben Franklin Crafts store. I may be able to get some materials that I need to cut and shape and use to replace light baffles in several of my aging film cameras. B is for BEN FRANKLIN CRAFTS STORE.
The place is Earth 1993; The show is Babylon 5. It premiered on the now defunct PTENnetwork in 1993 (the pilot) and launched into a full blown TV series lasting 5 more years through 110 episodes. Babylon 5 had a focused storyline with interesting characters, plots and sub-plots that carried from one episode to another forming a long, planned story arc that lasted for five years (seasons).
Babylon 5's creator and writer of nearly all of the episodes J. Michael Stravinsky (JMS), pitched the series as a "five year novel for television." First run episodes of the entire story ran from 1994 to 1998 on the PTEN network and TNT cable. The show was released to DVD and is streaming on TUBI TV and the Roku Channel.
After the original series finished its network run, a short-lived sequel series titled Crusade was produced for 13 episodes in 1999 before being cancelled by TNT. Four made for TV movies were also produced and aired between 1998 and 2000 on TNT.
Warner Brothers television, the franchise rights owner toBabylon 5 announced a re-imagined series that is supposed to debut on the CW networkwritten by JMS. Since 2020 the series is in development limbo due to a number of factors impacting the show's production.
This year a Babylon 5: The Road Home, an animated movie written by JMS will be released to home video and possibly run on a streaming service such as Amazon Prime. An official announcement regarding the movie's streaming schedule and channel has yet to come. Orders are now being taken for the DVD.
Speaking of which, JMS also announced that Babylon 5 will be released to Blu-Ray DVDfor the first time ever. For many years fans had to be satisfied with releases on VHS and standard DVDs. I have all of the standard DVDs.
Above: Civil war breaks out between the Earth Alliance and Babylon 5. This clip is from the Season 3 episode Severed Dreams which won a Hugo Award back in 1994. All of the music for Babylon 5 was composed by Christopher Franke of Tangerine Dream.
1. If you could dispense one condiment from each finger on your left hand without its ever running out (and without losing any normal use of your fingers), which condiments would they be?
Salt
Pepper
Cinnamon
Sugar
Oregano
2. Which you is the realer you: real-world in-person you, or online you?
Probably a blend of the two.
3. Who’s a better actor: Leonardo DiCaprio or Matt Damon?
Matt Damon nailed it for me in “The Martian”, one of the better science fiction movies of recent times. He also gave a good performance in the recent Amazon Prime movie, “Air” which is about how Nike wooed Michael Jordan to become their spokesman back in the late 1980s, early 1990s. He was also good in the “Bourne” series of movies.
I only remember Leonardo from the movie “Titanic” and it is a good thing he sank to the bottom of the ocean. Heh!
4. If you had to watch (and stay awake during) the same movie repeated for 24 hours, which movie would you choose and why?
While I would prefer not to watch any movie on repeat for 24-hours, any of the three original Star Wars movies would do fine for me. Probably the “Empire Strikes Back” would be the best one, even though I love the original “A New Hope” a lot.
One of the neatest things to do is to binge a movie series that you like a lot all in a day or whatever time it takes to go through them. I did it with Star Wars 4, 5 and 6 and also the entire 5 movies of the original Planet of the Apes series.
5. Who are the five most visually recognizable people in the world?
Just because I mention someone, it does not mean I am a fan of the person. I am going to break these down into categories….
DEAD PEOPLE
President Abraham Lincoln
President John F. Kennedy
President Ronald Reagan
Marilyn Monroe
Michael Jackson
POLITICIANS
President Donald Trump
President Barack Obama
King Charles III (U.K.)
Kim Jong Un (North Korea)
President Joe Biden (current)
MUSIC INDUSTRY
The Beatles
Madonna
Mariah Carey
Ed Sheeran
The Rolling Stones
CELEBRITIES
Tom Cruise
Tom Hanks
Kim Kardashian
Dwayne Johnson
Angelina Jolie
Category: Dead people, music industry and celebrity.
