Oversharing

Stacking up the embarrassing truths...

I don't usually tend to overshare (at least, I don't think I do) so this might be fun. And scary. (meme via Stefanie)

Name the singer/band/performer you are most embarrassed to admit you actually paid good money to see in concert.
Hmm. I haven't been to too many concerts or shows. The ones I have been to have been pretty carefully selected and I stand by my choices (Tom Petty, The Cramps, Iggy Pop...), but I guess it would have to be my first concert, which was actually pretty cool -- Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie -- but the seats were such nosebleed seats that the sound was so distorted I actually had to crouch down in a stairwell to hear the music (through some weird acoustic trick that was the only place the music wasn't totally distorted). I couldn't even tell which performer on stage was David Bowie (who I loved, loved, loved). I went with this guy from my work who I really, really did not like -- I only went with him for the ride. It was not a date in any way, shape or form. It was awful to drive up there with him, and even worse to drive home with him. But I was very proud to have actually finally gone to a concert. I think I was 19 or 20. But it was a pretty bad experience, actually.

Oh, but I know! When I was an exchange student (I don't know if I paid money or not) I waited in line, in a huge crowd, in a terrible mall in a small Finnish city to see the actress who played Caroline on the soap The Bold and The Beautiful, which I was addicted to while living there. That's pretty embarrassing.

Which reality TV show have you watched more than once (come on. I don’t believe you if you say “none,” unless you don’t own a TV)?
Well, if we're oversharing, I'll just go with the worst of the worst: I watched Flavor Flav's Flavor of Love, and I also watched Bret Michael's Rock of Love. I don't even know why I liked the Flavor show; I wasn't ever really much of a Flav fan, and the show was beyond trashy. I think I was just fascinated by the complete trashiness of it. I also loved seeing what outfits the women wore on elimination nights. It was like prom wear from the .99 cent store.

I watched Rock of Love because when I was about 12 or 13 I had a massive crush on Bret Michaels, and I just had to see how he had aged (kind of puffy and surprisingly short). This show was also nice and trashy although nowhere near Flavor of Love.

I have to say I am extremely surprised by how much I enjoy reality TV. I don't really like American Idol or Dancing with the Stars or Real World or any of the shows where people are put together in houses to see what happens. I tend to like some of the 'creative' competitions: Top Chef, Project Runway, Top Model (okay, that's stretching the definition of 'creative'). I can't stand The Bachelor or any of those romantic reality shows -- only trashy B-list celebs looking for love for me!

Which complete trash novelist have you not only read but enjoyed enough to read more than one book of his/hers?
Well, I tend to read a lot and I'll pretty much read anything (although I have a hard time with most penny Harlequins and I don't do so great with paperback mysteries or thrillers), so I've read quite a few trashy novelists. I used to really like Judith Krantz (well, enough to read one of her books per summer). My favorite was Scruples. I also have read plenty of Laurell K. Hamilton's books and those are supernaturally trashy. I don't like Danielle Steele, but I did love those Jean Auel books, those Earth's Children books about prehistoric men and women. I actually really enjoyed Clan of the Cave Bear and probably would read that again, but the rest of them were pretty bad. My mom read Clan of the Cave Bear when I was pretty young and I was fascinated and would ask her about what was happening in the book all the time.

What sappy musical could you watch over and over and over again?
I don't actually know of any musicals that I love and could watch over and over. Um, does Rocky Horror Picture Show count? That's not exactly sappy but I have watched it over and over again...

Who was your first celebrity crush?
Ricky Schroder (hello, child of the 80s!). I even sent away to the fan club and got an 'autographed' photo of him. I think I also had a thing for Ralph Macchio. Oy.

Who is the most embarrassing celebrity on whom you have a slight crush today?
Hmm. Well, I don't know about celebrities, but I have an embarrassing attachment to the whole Twilight book series and am on pins and needles for the new book and movie.

What movie that everyone else and his cousin and even his dog has seen have you never seen?
That would be "many" as I generally do not watch movies. I seem to have stopped watching movies altogether about seven years ago and only catch them through Netflix (rarely) or even when they finally come out on TV. But, I've never watched There's Something About Mary because it just seemed too bad. I started to, but I actually walked out of the theater (and that never happens with me -- if I'm in the theater, I'm staying. Usually).

What were you drinking the first time you ever got drunk?
That would be Lapin Kulta, a Finnish beer. I think that night (I had just turned 18, the legal drinking age in Finland) I had a tequila shot, some other mixed drink (something green, a Tom Collins?) and then we went to this fun music bar called Grammari and had a beer or two and that did me in. That was a bizarre night. That remains one of the strangest nights of my whole life, actually. It's a much longer story than I want to take up space with, but yeah. Totally, completely wacky night. It was like, wacky night, plus oh and I also got drunk for the first time (not wacky night because I got drunk). That is a story for another time.

Which old re-run will you still pause to watch if you’re flicking through the channels and see that it’s on?
Oh no. Um, The Brady Bunch? And sometimes Little House on the Prairie? And I would totally pause for Grizzly Adams. I would also pause for MacGyver. And any old Monty Python episodes, definitely. And maybe Seinfeld (is that old, now?).

I tend to be kind of a creature of habit when it comes to visual entertainment... I would probably rather watch old episodes of TV series that I've already seen, old movies that I've already watched, and books written long ago (that I possibly have already read) than watch new stuff. Why is that? I'd much rather eat food that I've never eaten when I go to a restaurant, and I'd rather go someplace I've never been when travelling. I think I tend to be disappointed in most movies and TV shows so I just want to watch something I already like (since we're already talking mindless entertainment, right?). And old books are comforting.

What book/movie/t.v. show that only a fifteen-year-old would think is funny makes you laugh?
I sort of don't understand this question because I think fifteen-year-olds probably have a pretty sophisticated sense of humor but I have been known to watch SpongeBob Squarepants very occasionally when I'm sick, because it's so stupid and makes me laugh.

OK, that was completely embarrassing. Your turn.