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Christina's September 2020 Five Questions
1. When was the last time that you laughed out loud? What made you laugh?
I need to laugh out loud more often. I have not socialised in meatspace in a very long time, so my opportunities for social joy usualy come through the screen, keyboard and handset. I had a wry chuckle with my Grandmother during our morning greetings (after she got up early this afternoon) - I think I had a belly-laugh last night watching an episode of "Upload".
2. Do you like re-makings/re-imaginings of films and TV series?
I am stronly enamoured with the exploration of alternates
I invest a statistically significant part of my time into this space, and find myself weaving this interest into my creative endeavours and even into other aspects of my life, to ensure I encounter onging nuggets of joy, motivation and amusement. Hence, I enjoy seeing other
I enjoy this exploration of "other" both in my fiction consumption, and in exploration of the real and actual world around me. This is heavily woven into my love of the situationist derive, the creative photo walk and in travel in general. I love finding nuanced differences betweem places, cultures and people. I'm a scifi nut, so of course I like the fantastical worlds that people imagine. This applies equally to alternate interpretations of texts and stories, and I appreciate many efforts to re-contextualise or update old favourites to make them reflect a different time, culture or aesthetic. Some of my favourites include:
3. You are assigned to write two or three fortunes to be put into fortune cookies. What will they be?
4. If you are in a bad mood, do you prefer to be left alone or have someone to cheer you up?
If you see cranky-Bronzie, leave him well enough alone. I'm a sociable loner, and I need my periods of space and time to contemplate the world. If I am however sad or melancholy, the laugh or hug of a good friend can be the best tonic.
5. What would have been your dream subject at school, or your dream syllabus lesson?
My favourite subjects at school were the creative or geeky ones - English, Computer Studies, Systems and Technology, Video Production, Architectural Drawing, Technical Drawing, Graphic Design and Ceramics. My dream syllabus would have been one that integrated these effectively.
At my first high school we had decent networked 8-bit BBC Micro labs with an engaging array of software and games available on a central file server, where we could also save our own data. We were also blessed with teachers who were adept in use of the BBCs, and also in sparking creativity and folding the use of the computers into our syllabus. Almost all classrooms has Econet ports, many had at least 1 or 2 BBC micros in them. All students had basic computing classes in the computer labs twice a week, and the school also allowed us access to the computer labs at lunch time.
In my second high school, we initially had labs with far less inspiring Apple IIes and XT clones, none of which were networked and which predominantly featured very boring productivity software like MS Works, Lotus 123 and Word Perfect for DOS, or juvenile edutainment games like "Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiago". Fine for kiddies, but not really High Schoolers. We later got 386 machines with VGA graphics for a special Systems and Technology tertiary award programme I was part of. The teacher leading that programme was inspiring and engaged, but once again we were limited by unispiring software and lack of networking and file services.
I was lucky that I was given free reign by teachers who must have seen *something* within me - they let me use the computer lab office's teachers' 486 (that at least ran Windows 3.1 and had software like Ventura Publisher and Corel Draw on it). I was also allowed to use the Video Production lab's Amiga 1000 and its genlock etc whenever I wanted to. It would have been good if the teachers could have woven these tools into our non-computing-studies coursework, but it appears that was beyond them at that point in history (even the Amiga was not formally used in the Video Production class). I was lucky to be given access to those tools, and had enough gumption to work them out by myself, but his was by no means something everyone had access to, and not a set of tools or skills most of the teachers seemed equipped to teach with or about.
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