5 Silly Questions

5 Silly Questions: Garrick Van Buren

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When it comes to podcasting in the land of 10,000 lakes, the first name that comes to mind is Garrick Van Buren. Garrick has produced over 70 podcasts since debuting The First Crack Podcast back in October 2004, featuring episodes on wine tasting, exotic peanut butter, and pontooning. Van Buren has expanded his empire to include Podcast Minnesota, MNInteractive, and the WorkBetter Weblog. I decided to see if he could still type, so I sent him 5 Silly Questions and this is what he wrote...

1. Which talent would you rather have: the ability to play the banjo with your toes, or the ability to guess other people's middle names?
Middle names. It's much more acceptable in mixed company than removing your socks.

2. What was the last thing you put in your mouth that you sincerely regretted?
The mic I use for podcasting. Tip: It doesn't improve sound quality.

3. If you could play donkey basketball (one-on-one) with anyone in history, who would it be? Grizzly Adams's friend Mad Jack the Mountain Man. He'd be a formidable competitor on the court.

4. If your life were a comic strip, would the final panel be more likely to have a woman in a bathrobe holding a rolling pin or an obese cat with lasagna residue on its face?
There's a comforting making-fun-of-your-own-faults quality to lasagna residue.

5. Who should have stopped doing what they do a long time ago: Stephen King, Bon Jovi, or Alan Greenspan?

Stephen King. He's jumped the shark so many times I recommend he start a water stunt touring company.

Thanks, Garrick! I'm sure we both agree Bon Jovi's music is timeless and the dulcet tones of Sir Jon will enhance senior proms for decades to come! Read and listen to Garrick at The First Crack Podcast and check out 75 other Minnesota podcasts at, yep, Podcast Minnesota.

Posted by Corey Anderson at March 10, 2006 12:30 PM | Comments (0)

 

5 Silly Questions: PZ Myers

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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris. For almost three years he's been blogging on culture, politics, and most notably, the evolution/Intelligent Design debate at Pharyngula. It's the resurgence of the debate over evolution and Myers's intelligent, humorous, and, at times, incendiary commentary on the subject that quickly made his blog a popular destination. His being a biologist and a professor, I thought it necessary to send PZ five really stupid questions to get his thoughts on subjects ranging from Tony Danza to dogs and monkeys fighting. Here's what PZ had to say...

 

1. If you could have anyone in history on your Pictionary team, who would it be?
Gary Larson. And I would hope that many of the questions would involve cows. I suppose my team would be saying, "I don't get it" a lot, but it would still be worth it.

2. Who's luckier - those Powerball-winning meat packers or Tony Danza?
Don't meat packers use really nifty power tools on large dead animals, scooping out piles of entrails and splattering walls with blood, playing with very sharp knives and hacking and sawing through bone and tendon? Who cares about this Powerball thing... I'd rather do that than be Tony Danza.

3. If PZ Myers fell in the woods, and no one was around to hear him, would he make a noise?
Oh, I've done that. It was a lovely Spring day in the Hoh rain forest; it was drizzling -- it's almost always raining there, of course -- and I slipped while clambering over a slick and mossy fallen tree. There was a soft squelch and a kind of soggy crunch as the rotted wood gave way, against a background of hissing rain and soughing wind and the burbling of the river nearby. There was also a delightful scent of cedar. It was a glorious sensory experience which, unfortunately, you missed... because you weren't there. Don't you regret asking, now? There was a moment in time which you did not share, a small, perfect event which no one but I witnessed, and the rest of the universe must lament missing.

4. You're an animal guy, if a dog and a monkey got into a fight, who would win? The monkey, easy. The dog would have some dignity, while the monkey would fight dirty. Real dirty. You'd feel filthy and ashamed just watching it. You ought to feel embarrassed for even proposing it. Do you hate puppy dogs or something?

5. If you could drive 500 miles in any direction from Morris, where would you prefer to end up?
Dang. I had to look it up on a map to see what was 500 miles away from me. It looks like that would put me in Rockford, IL, or northern Missouri, or in Rapid City, SD, or somewhere in the howling wilderness 150 miles north of Winnipeg. Can I just stay home?

Feeling filthy and ashamed reminds me I'm still alive, PZ! Thanks for answering these silly questions! Read PZ everyday at Pharyngula and check out Mike Mosedale's cover story on Myers here.

Posted by Corey Anderson at March 2, 2006 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

 

5 Silly Questions: Mary Lahammer

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In a new feature at Culture To Go, I've sent out five silly questions to a local blogger to find out about their life beyond being chained to their keyboard. First up is Mary Lahammer, a host and political reporter for Almanac on TPT2. When Mary's not blogging at the Almanac site, she's on the capitol beat for public television. Mary has scored a few Emmys and City Pages named her "Best Newscaster" back in 2002. We also think her last name means "The Hammer" in Italian, but our knowledge of things Italian don't really go beyond eating Chef Boyardee everyday. I thought of the silliest, most inane questions in the five minutes I allotted myself and fired them off to The Hammer. Here's what she had to say...

 

1. If you could choose anyone living or dead, who would you really enjoy playing shuffleboard with?
Abe Lincoln. I'm tearing through Doris Kearns Goodwin's great Lincoln biography right now. I'm learning he was quite a good athlete and still being a little spunky jock myself, I like nothing better than taking on tall politicians.

2. What medication are you on right now, if any?
Well, since I just finished playing shuffleboard with Abe Lincoln on what I assume to be a big cruise ship (where else do you play shuffleboard?) I assume I'm sea sick. So I'd be taking Dramamine.

3. What song would you like performed at your funeral and by whom?

"I'll Be Missing You" by Sean Puffy P. Diddy Whatever-he's-going-by-today Combs. I love how it samples The Police's "Every Breath You Take." I'll take Sean or Sting.

4. Name something you eat that other people think you're weird for eating.
Everybody thinks everything I eat is weird. I eat healthy and I eat a lot. We keep a quote board in the office and my photographer was quoted as saying, "for a little girl she sure eats a lot."

5. If you could drive 500 miles in any direction from the Twin Cities, where would you prefer to end up?

50th and France in Edina. Oh, it sounds so shallow but I'm on the biggest "Anthropologie" kick right now. No matter how much good journalism you do on TV the only thing people seem to remember is what you're wearing. Plus, I have been to every tourist destination in the 5 state area as a kid stuffed in an overcrowded old wood-paneled station wagon. I don't need to experience another family road trip to see gynormous presidents' faces carved in a hill ever again.

Thanks for image of Abe Lincoln in Bermuda shorts on the Lido Deck, Mary! Pretty sure that will be in tonight's nightmare. Check out Mary on Almanac every Friday night, 7:00 p.m., on TPT Channel 2.

Posted by Corey Anderson at February 24, 2006 9:51 AM | Comments (1)