Facts, factoids, tidbits and schtuff about me:
I’ve saved writings of mine that go as far back as a third grade newsletter from 1983.
I started taking pictures in 1984. Photography, both the taking and the handling of pictures, is a good pick-me-up if I’m feeling down.
I wrote for the magazine Film Score Monthly from 1995 to 1997.
My writing’s been translated! Stories I wrote for FSM about two film music record labels were combined into one and reprinted rather lavishly in a Swedish-language film music magazine.
My family’s centered in the Pacific Northwest, but members of my family also can be found in Denmark and Guam. My Guam cousin Neil Weare ran for Guam’s Olympic team in Athens this summer.
I sing the opening synth-percussion notes of the theme to The Terminator almost every time I turn on a gas stove and listen to it click-click-click on.
The words of mine seen by the most people were from a Hermiston Herald headline in December 1999, when I was a reporter. A false alarm made people think chemical weapons had leaked from the Umatilla Chemical Depot west of town. The next issue of the Herald had the banner headline FALSE ALARM, REAL FEAR. That headline got shown on at least one Portland news report.
I volunteer for the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, leading tours through the theatre buildings and ushering elementary school students to their seating areas for Oregon Children’s Theatre shows.
As of this writing, here are the singers and groups I’ve seen in concert: Elton John, Tori Amos, the third Lilith Fair tour (1999, including Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Liz Phair, Luscious Jackson and Sandra Bernhard), Ani DiFranco, Sleater-Kinney, the Oregon Symphony, the Trail Band (created by Quarterflash couple Marv and Rindy Ross), Randy Newman, and Rasputina. I’ve also seen a comedy performance by Janeane Garofalo. And when Mark Knopfler next tours, I have GOT to get to a show…
One of the coolest interview subjects I’ve spoken with was composer Michael Kamen, who spoke with me over the phone in 1996 about writing the music for Terry Gilliam’s films Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. He was driving home from food shopping at the time: "The wife and I are making dinner for Bryan Adams and the Sheriff of Nottingham," he said.
I moved into Portland on January 1, 2001. It’s very easy to measure how long I’ve been here…
My previous homes, in reverse chronological order: Hermiston, Oregon; Dundee, Oregon; Eugene, Oregon; Oakton, Virginia; Vienna, Virginia; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Camarillo, California; Rancho Bernardo, California; and Virginia Bach again, where my family lived when I was born.
My very earliest memory is from July 1976, in an apartment complex parking lot, when my family was moving into Rancho Bernardo. We lived for a few weeks in that apartment until our house was ready. I was 2 ½ at the time.
My dad was Navy from 1968 until 1994, as you may have guessed from all of the coastal-city moving.
I nickname my cars. My lumpy red 1985 Honda Prelude was "The Spudmobile." My current vehicle, a white 1988 Honda Accord Hatchback, is called either "The Wedge" or "The Me-Mobile."
Some of my science-fiction-geek credentials: I’ve watched "Star Trek" since 1983, been to two major SF conventions (William Shatner spoke at one, Patrick Stewart spoke at the other), been to two other smaller SF fan gatherings in Northeast Oregon, contributed to my high school friend Mike Pearl’s beautifully smart-assed fanzine "This Space For Rent," and wrote a letter lobbying for the saving of the show "Farscape" without even ever having seen the show, because people I trust vouched for its quality. (I’m glad I did, too; it’s a strong show.)
My not-so-great-an-SF-geek-credential: I saw Star Trek: The Motion Picture in its original theatrical release. I fell asleep. (C’mon, I was six.)
Some of my all-time favorite TV shows: "Moonlighting," "Max Headroom," the 1985 revival of "The Twilight Zone," "Twin Peaks" (which I still have on tape), "L.A. Law" (especially Seasons Two and Five), "Homicide: Life on the Street," "Cupid" with Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall (why isn’t she working more?), "Babylon 5," "The Simpsons" (of course), and "Star Trek" – especially the original series and "The Next Generation," though each series has had its pleasures. My TV guilty pleasures have included "Night Court," "ALF," "Beavis and Butthead," the British and American versions of "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" and the mid-90s morning show "FX Breakfast Time," where I started drooling for Laurie Hibberd.
I laughed so hard during the chase sequence in Raising Arizona that I made myself ill.
I know all of the lyrics to the original Rice-A-Roni jingle.
Okay. Twenty items. A good start.
chris_walsh) wrote,