February 2011
18 posts
I want to go to there.
Interviewer: In your opinion, what’s the most significant case the ACLU has litigated in the past five years?
Me: … Well…
Me: …that’s a tough question…
Me: …
Interviewer: It’s alright if you don’t have an answer.
My favorite awkward interview experience—for a job as a grant writer for a foundation that helps kids with autism:
Interviewer: Tell me your opinions on capital punishment, gay marriage, abortion, and Bush-era tax cuts.
Spring cleaning to the tunes of Josh Ritter. Thanks for helping me find my missing sunglasses, Josh!
Then came Top Gun. The man calling the shots may have been Tony Scott, but the film’s real auteurs were producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, two men who pioneered the “high-concept” blockbuster—films for which the trailer or even the tagline told the story instantly. At their most basic, their movies weren’t movies; they were pure product—stitched-together amalgams of amphetamine action beats, star casting, music videos, and a diamond-hard laminate of technological adrenaline all designed to distract you from their lack of internal coherence, narrative credibility, or recognizable human qualities. They were rails of celluloid cocaine with only one goal: the transient heightening of sensation.
… But Top Gun is awesome.
So if you spend half a phone interview talking about Charleston, Bobby Cremins, and basketball, is that a good thing or a bad thing?