The Proust Questionnaire
Found in the book Tony Kushner In Coversation. “Created by French novelist Marcel Proust, this questionnaire is used ‘to discover the preferences, passions and regrets of artists.’”
Feel free to join in yourselves in the comments section. It’s fun!
My chief characteristic: Wit. Either that or ego.
The quality I prefer in a man: Kindliness.
The quality I prefer in a woman: Humor, intelligence.
What I appreciate most in my friends: Sensibility. Strong, smart opinions. Being funny. Compassion and an abiliy to see another’s point of view. Help. Smarts, especially if it’s in areas I know little or nothing about. Knowing when to tease, when to love, and when to do both.
The talent I would most like to possess: To be able to play the piano.
My main flaw: Waiting for someone to save me by asking just the right questions at just the right time in just the right way.
My favorite occupation: Writing. Writing anything. Words, words, words.
My idea of happiness: Lying in bed on my back with someone I love curled up under my arm with their head on my chest.
My idea of misery: Lonely.
What I would like to be: A playwright with an audience.
The country I prefer to live in: Northern California, probably San Francisco.
The color I prefer: Forest green.
The flower I prefer: Lillies. And there’s one person on the face of the earth who knows why.
The creature I prefer: Women, cats. I have better luck with cats.
My favorite writers in prose: Eric Idle, Paul Cornell, Harlan Ellison, Tolkien, Kenneth Tynan, Jonathan Carroll
My favorite poets: Shakespeare, cummings
My favorite fictional characters: Tara & Willow in Buffy before they were destroyed, The Doctor in Doctor Who, Charlie, Josh, Sam, and pretty much the whole ensemble of Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing before it was destroyed, Darlene & Dan Conner from Roseanne before they were destroyed (do I detect a theme?), all the characters in my plays, Shade the Changing Man from the comic of the same name…before he was destroyed (oh dear, we’re back to that), Jay Endicott from the comic Crossfire, Ben in Stephen King’s It, Dave Nelson, NewsRadio, Pippin in LotR (the movies), Milo from Bloom County
My favorite composers: Joe Jackson, Kirsty MacColl, Neil Tennant & Chris Lowe (Pet Shop Boys).
My favorite painters: Don’t really have many…probably Renoir, though, and those who worked on great animation from Pinocchio to Nemo.
Which ficticious male characters attract you: Angel, before, etc etc, destroyed.
Which ficticious female characters most attract you: Darlene Conner, scores of others.
My heroes in real life: Penn Jillette, Larry Gelbart, see list of composers, George Burns, John Lennon, Aaron Sorkin
My heroines in real life: Molly Ivins, Linda Ellerbee, Nadine Strossen, wonderfully smart women everywhere
My favorite names: Heaven.
What I hate most of all: Willful stupidity.
Characters in history that I most dislike: It’s hard to dislike characters in history since like most people I define it as anything that happened before I was born. I can intellectually disapprove, but not really dislike. So: Characters in recent history that I most dislike: George W. Bush & company.
The military action I most admire: Even harder. The revolutionary war and WW2, I suppose.
The reform I praise most: The continuing evolution of civil rights, esp. for gays & lesbians.
My favorite food and drink: Burger King hamburgers, Crackerjack, Coke, skim milk, Green Squall flavor Powerade.
How I would like to die: With a lot of advance warning so I can select the music for my own memorial service, in bed surrounded by people and feeling their love.
My present state of mind: You tell me.
The faults for which I have the most toleration: Smoking.
The season and weather I like best: I’m from California, we have no seasons…that said, spring and fall generally kick the shit out of winter and summer. Otherwise pretty much okay with anything as long as there are no holes in my roof and I have warm clothes and/or a good heater.
My motto: “You have to throw the stone to get the pool to ripple.”–Squeeze.
