Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The Proust Questionnaire: The James Lipton Version

I noticed this little meme floating around not too long ago. My husband and I were fans of Inside the Actors Studio for several years, and our favorite part was when the host, James Lipton, would pose the following questions to his guests. He borrowed the idea from Bernard Pivot, a French journalist and interviewer.

I enjoy it when fellow blogger Florinda sometimes shares with us her husband's responses to questions and memes she takes part in. I decided to follow her lead with this one. Anjin's
responses are in italics.

What is your favorite word?


Me: Sorrow (I know it is a sad word, but I like it more for the softness in the way it sounds than the meaning itself.)

Anjin: Precise

What is your least favorite word?

Me: Cruelty

Anjin: Intolerance

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Me: Nature, kindness, gentleness mixed with strength, thoughtfulness, good deeds, and humor/laughter.

Anjin: Seeing what other people have created.

What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Me: Crowds, filth, loudness, willful ignorance, arrogance, prejudice, rudeness, closemindedness, disrespect, thoughtlessness, and cruelty.

Anjin: Pretentiousness

What sound or noise do you love?

Me: A F-16 doing a fly by, birds chirping in the morning, my dog's chain clinking as he wanders around the yard or house, my cat's meow, my husband's laughter, and rain falling (Not necessarily in that order.)

Anjin: 1) My wife's breathing in her sleep, 2) the level up sound effect in World of Warcraft

What sound or noise do you hate?

Me: Yelling and the blaring horn at the railroad crossing (I like the sound of the actual train whistle and horn--just not that contraption they put up outside the railroad crossing that is horrendously loud and obnoxious.)

Anjin: Squealing tires

What is your favorite curse word?

Me: Fuck

Anjin: Motherfucker

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Me: A helicopter pilot

Anjin: Novelist

What profession would you not like to do?

Me: President of the United States

Anjin: Glass eater

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Me: "Oh good! We have an opening for you in the choir!"

Anjin: "Aren't you glad you were wrong?"

As an aside,
Anjin posted a list of his top five books today, so while I may not be talking about books, at least he is. Take a look!

18 comments:

  1. OH I love this meme. I love that you posted your husband's responses too. It made for some fun reading. I love the word sorrow too...for the same reasons as you, it just has a sound to it that...I don't know...it's just a great word.

    By the way I tagged you for a quick and easy book related meme.

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  2. I enjoyed reading this, Wendy (and Anjin) - thanks for sharing it! If I decide to do this meme, I'll have to get Tall Paul to participate too, just to keep the couple-thing going. :-)

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  3. It was fun reading your responses. Is there any better favorite curse word, lol? Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Great meme!! And I agree with your husband - a novelist would be a wonderful profession to try!

    Thanks for stopping by - definitely make room for "The Pact" it's wonderful!! I can't wait to get some more of her books!

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  5. Bless you. "Willful ignorance" is one of those things that just infuriates me to no end. Maybe that's why I like the company of readers.

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  6. What a cool meme! I agree that despite its meaning "sorrow" is a pretty word.

    And I'm with Anjin on pretentiousness! The things you mentioned are terrible too, but pretentiousness really drives me crazy.

    Helicopter pilot, that made me smile. I would never have thought of it, but it must be a fun job!

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  7. Enjoyed you & your hubby's answers.

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  8. This is a fun meme. I really enjoyed reading your and your husband's answers. And I'd hate someone to be pretentious too!

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  9. This was great! I loved reading both of your answers. I gotta check out Anjin's top books :)

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  10. Sonia - It's a fun little meme to do. I thought it was interesting how I was attracted to the sound of a word but my husband went more towards meaning.

    Thanks for tagging me! I'll probably play along at the end of the week.

    Florinda - I hope you don't mind that I borrowed the idea. I keep threatening hubby that I would. ;-) I hope you and Tall Paul will take part. It'd be fun to read both of your answers.

    Trisha - It's one of the more basic curse words. :-)

    Tara - I think so too, and I almost answered that way but decided to go with one of my other lifelong dreams.

    Kookie - It is very infuriating. And I bet you are right about that being one of the reasons we are drawn to fellow readers.

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  11. Nymeth - Pretentiousness annoys me and I probably would have used that word too had I thought of it--although I probably overdid it with what I did list. LOL

    I've always loved helicopters and wished I could fly one. One of the best birthday presents I ever received was when my parents paid for me to go on a five minute helicopter flight. It was so much fun! I was so shy though, and so I didn't ask the pilot any of my questions. He probably thought I was scared, which I wasn't at all. I'd love to ride in a helicopter again someday.

    Juli - Thanks!

    Melody - It was a lot of fun to fill out. I liked seeing what my husband's answers were too. Some of his answers, I wish I'd thought of first. Haha

    Iliana - Thank you! I love little questionnaire's like that.

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  12. I love that you two did the meme together! Great answers! I would not like to be a glass eater either!

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  13. That was really fun reading you and your husband's answers. I wouldn't like being president or a glass eater either. :P

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  14. Jaimie - It sounds like it would hurt, doesn't it? Ack!

    Tanabata - They both sound like tortuous jobs. ;-)

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  15. What fun! I loved reading both your answers and your hubby's answers! I may snatch this meme and see what answers I can come up with. :)

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  16. April - I hope you will play along! It's a fun meme to do.

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  17. Some of the answers you and your husband gave sent me into giggles. I secretly wanted to be a harpist... hmmmm...

    Anyway, I dislike hypocrites. A few days back, I did a post on integrity vs. duplicity. It calls us to examine our motives for doing certain things that we did.

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  18. Alice - Harps are the source of beautiful music!

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