- Neither fact works well as a pick-up line.
- The last CD I bought was Cake's Pressure Chief. My favorite CDs are Electric Soft Parade's Holes in the Wall, The Avalanches self-titled debut and The Doves' The Last Broadcast. If you haven't heard of these bands, don't worry. Most of America hasn't. But they will, oh yes, they will.
- I believe pop culture is the easiest way to do two things 1) Hold a conversation with a random stranger and 2) Snobbily measure whether someone is above or below you. These things are important, and shouldn't be forgotten. Otherwise, we'd all talk about how it stinks that it's raining out, but how the farmers are thankful.
- My favorite movie of all time is Pee Wee's Big Adventure, which everyone thinks is a big joke after I tell them I am a part-time movie critic. But some day, I will finally explain how this movie creates a fantasy fun world, not devoid of trouble, but that I can continue to travel to for a good time.
- My second favorite movie is L.A. Story, I am pretty sure, and after that there are a whole bunch of candidates. Of recent movies, I abnormally liked Magnolia, Rushmore and Almost Famous.
- A few summers ago, I took part in some wacky ritual where almost all the guys I knew had blond hair. I am really not sure what happened, except for the recent discovery of airborne psychedelics found in pig droppings.
- I read a lot of books, mostly nonfiction,, butmy favorite novel is Youth in Revolt by C.D. Payne. Unfortunately, no one I've ever recommended it to liked it.
-Cool kids love Quick Hits.
I am currently 24 years old, looking forward to a string of meaningless number birthdays, which, for all of those sending presents, is August 1. I am a news editor for NI Publications, working for such papers as The Midweek and Take ONE, and living in DeKalb, Ill. My family includes my brothers Neal and Mark and my mother, named Kathy. I also have a brother named Jim, who moved out a while back and currently lives in Indiana happily married to Susan and with daughter Cynthia and son Dylan (Word of Mouth's biggest fan).
As you can probably tell from the nerdy-sarcasm-slash-desperation-slash-wussy-sentimetality I spent the greater part of my high school life reading Superman comics, discovering Radiohead and looking to the "Wonder Years" for assistance in dealing with the opposite sex, always seeking opportunities to find that certain someone to annoy or write bad poetry about. Somehow, I think that simple fact drives a lot of the other things that make up the Ultimate Hank Experience. In any case, I believe that many people are a combination of random bits of information that form themes, so here is a drive-by-shooting approach.
Oh, and one more thing. I'm working on a book, and I've been saying that for the last two years or so. It's really at a good simmer at this point. Anyway, the tentative title of the novel is "101" and it's the story of a college student government election. I've written four chapters thus far, but I'm still learning and plotting out all the action. It looks as though it gets more difficult once you get past the 500 word mark newspapers seem to favor.
