Questions that receive Answers
By Alex Ness
October 9, 2022
It is Q & A time again. I could write daily answering some questions I get regularly, but I think most of the people writing to me asking questions would prefer I write about movies, books, comics, games and music. So, I will answer some questions here, and the rest will be left to individual responses via email or group emails. My email address is AlexanderNess63@Gmail.Com and I tend to be responsive to email. I hate being on the phone, in person is uncomfortable, no one asks me to speak before their large group, and I am not yet a media star (nor will I ever be) who is invited to give a Ted Talk or Lecture. So enjoy this, if you will, this is it.
BTW, I've heard it quoted, attributed to numerous people, but, whoever said it first, "Prefer questions without answers to answers that cannot be questioned" is a statement I think is honest and fully true. In life people who possess power or influence will try to force you to accept their versions of answers, but often they are not truth, instead the answer is an attempt to convince you to agree with their perspective. I'd say you could argue that I am doing the same, but I don't have a stake in what you will consider an answer or not.
I used to say when told someone doesn't agree with me, that I don't care. It is true that it doesn't move me to change my views, since I try to be honest, and whatever I say might be wrong but it isn't coming from an insincere place. I'd given my reasons for believing in a certain view, someone became upset and angrily told me "You are wrong", I shrugged my shoulders, said ok, and watched them as they were upset that I'd suggest their views don't matter. But truth isn't about popular opinion. A wrong idea might function as truth in your mind, but truth is not malleable, it isn't based upon agreement. It simply is. So, if you disagree with my answers, don't worry that I am thinking you are wrong, I simply don't construct ideas and measure out the truth by popular vote. But I should say, I do care that you are hurt if you are, or care that you have an equal right to differ from me, and do care that you think your words and experience are valid.
When growing up, without video games or anything like kids have now, what did you consider to be fun?
Space was the rage. My brother and I loved superheroes so comic books and cartoons too. We also enjoyed GI Joe. I loved the Peanuts characters. Snoopy was great. It shows how much of a kid I was still that when I went off to college I notice the figures Micronauts on the shelves and thought, I wish I was younger so I could play with that stuff.
What comics do you consider childhood favorites, and what did you read outside of comics while growing up?
TV & MOVIES
I can tell you, King Kong Vs Godzilla, UnderDog and Flash Gordon I had watched many times, but Ultraman, that was a program that I had to see, but only saw it rarely, and never as whole. It just wasn't available on broadcast where I live, and we never had cable. I did read magazines that featured it, but the concept, a Japanese team fighting monsters with the help of a powerful, giant hero, was brilliant. As an adult I watched it and loved it. So maybe it wasn't directly in my viewing list growing up, but it was something I very much wanted to view.
What do you have playing, like music or movies or television, in your office while you write? Does the difference between prose and poetry have a need for a different background noise?
My cat princess Katya is playing when I am writing. I don't listen to much music while writing poetry, but when I do the Swallows and Sleeper Pins. Mostly I watch documentaries during my prose writing but as much for company and voices in my room than to learn or think deeply. I listen to music in my car, and one of the requirements for buying a car for me is : it is black, and has a CD player. Katya is my sole source of pain relief often, so, she serves a purpose well beyond pushing things off my desktop.
I know you watch football, what are your favorite teams, and what other sports do you enjoy?
I like Baseball very much, but the truth is, I love the Minnesota Twins so much I don't care if they win or lose, I love them. I don't watch baseball usually unless they are playing. It was a big bonus when they won the World Series twice, but even then, they did little wrong in my eyes.
Football for me connected me with my father, and even now with him gone for 24 years I still want to call him when a play happens that he'd appreciate or just talk. The UM Gophers (not shown below) and NDSU are my college teams, the Jets of the NFL and Argonauts of the CFL are my co-favorite football teams, and the Galaxy from Frankfurt, originally a World League team in the 90s, now playing European Football was/is my team there.
My undergrad school was the University of Minnesota Duluth, and I also enjoyed watching the Gophers, so there isn't any team of college hockey that compares with that duo. I don't really have a favorite team in Hockey in the current run of the NHL, but I like the Islanders and Caps. I loved the MN North Stars, the Winnipeg Jets, and Quebec Nordiques, before they all moved. I love the players for the KHL and two teams Helsinki Jokerit and Riga Dinamo are my teams, but with the mess in Russia/Ukraine, both of those teams left being affiliated with Russian Hockey.
As you are a historian and worldly person, I wonder why you say you don't travel well, and haven't gone far beyond North American borders. Why not, and if you could travel what would you most like to visit and why?
I am 6'4" and about 250lbs. I don't fit in planes, trains or many automobiles. Ships are slow, and I don't want to go anywhere they might take me. I've anxiety such that I rarely sleep in any bed that isn't my own. If I go someplace for more than a few days, I tend to worry about my cats, my mail building up, emails unanswered... all for no good reason. I'd love to go to a few sites of battles of note, or great monuments of human architecture, but ultimately, I'd mostly like to live in a huge home, with no neighbors, and cats galore. My son and wife are welcome to be there with me. But other visitors and any neighbors? They are not welcome.
About Getting Reviews from Me
I can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email Alexanderness63@gmail.com. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address. If you send hard copies for review I will always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.
MY LINKS:
My Poetry AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
Published Work AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html
Amazon Page Amazon.com/author/AlexNess
Cthulhu Horror CthulhuDarkness.Blogspot.Com
Atlantis & Lost Worlds AlexNessLostWorlds.Blogspot.Com
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