Monday Mission (courtesy of Kat Lively

1. Who are your favorite cartoon characters?

That’s a tough one. As a wee fellow I really liked all the junky Hanna-Barbera sixties stuff (Space Ghost, the Herculoids, etc.). I still have a soft spot for them, I suppose. Later I became a Woody Woodpecker fan (let’s not forget Chilly Willy and Andy Panda, either).

2. Have you yet reached the point where you feel like you are from a different generation than today's youth?

I felt that way when I was a youth among my own kind, are you kidding? (I know, that’s just what the young lady said, but she was right!)

3. What was the first music video that really impressed you? What made it so amazing?

That’s a harder question than it seems. I was a fanatic about music videos for a few years, but then I decided I was too cool for them. (We had a local music video show before MTV. I watched the local show, FM-TV, a whole lot more than I ever watched MTV or its eventual progeny.) I haven’t thought that much about videos since. There was one from ’80 or ’81 called “The Thin Wall” where a guy was running down a narrow corridor and hands came reaching out of the walls to grab him. That was a scene I had dreamt of before ever seeing the video, so that made a big impression. “Two Triple Cheese Side Order of Fries” was good for a laugh, as was “Jack’s Got a Problem”. “Under Pressure” didn’t come out until shortly before the whole video thing went stale for me, but I think it was overall the best of the videos because all of it worked on many levels. The clips from Nosferatu and the reverse run of the engine explosion were brilliant. “Controversy” was a pretty good introduction to Prince’s whole career. Of course, since I was a teenager, I eagerly watched videos like “Superfreak” that were, at best, near occasions of sin.

4. Name a song and an era that comes to mind when you hear the word "Retro."
“Ain’t That a Kick in the Head” and the years between Sputnik and the Cuban Missile Crisis. (I wasn’t yet born, but that’s when lots of my folks’ furniture and housewares originated.)

5. How has your life been affected by HIV or AIDS?

I never got to meet my brother-in-law who died of AIDS three years before I met my wife. She still misses him very much. Seems like a guy I would have liked to have known.

6. Yesterday in the USA, we celebrated "Mothers Day," a day where we honor the mothers in our lives. If you were on a "special day" nominating committee, whom or what would you recommend that we create a day in honor of?

Folks who smoke, drink and dance the hootchie-koo -- preferably all at the same time. (Of course they’d have to be meat-eaters too.)

7. Last week, we had several tornadoes tear through many neighborhoods, destroying homes and devastating the lives of the residents. How would you feel if you lost every possession you owned? Or would it matter? How would you go on with your life?

I’d be miffed, but not devastated. Losing my family or losing my mind would be so much worse.

BONUS: Do you remember the 21st night of September?

IIRC, in 2002 that wasn’t a particularly happy evening. Let’s back up a year or two, shall we? I think that was a very nice evening in y2k – really.