Why Piper? Have you ever seen
the painting "The Spirit of '76" by Archibald M. Willard? See the
person on the right from the viewer's perspective? The one playing the
flute? The Piper. That's all the explanation I'm willing to give. Those
who need to know the rest of the story already do. Okay, so why tmpiper?
First, Piper was already taken on LiveJournal when I signed up, by a
user with a permanent account. Second, I signed my name on usenet
groups for years as "The Merry Piper." My last name is not Piper, my
initials are not TMP, my first name is not Tim. My birth certificate
name does not resemble, in any way, tmpiper or any variation thereof. The Merry Piper?
Yeah. I'm a happy guy who believes that a positive person is a greater
force for change than a negative person. I choose my attitude ... I do
not let me attitude choose me. Why do you refer to your workplace as OLPM?
OLPM stands for Our Lady of Perpetual Motion. I use a fictitious name
so I may freely talk about work without being overly concerned about
what I'm saying and whether it is something that will get me
pink-slipped. Did you really work in the prison system? Weren't you afraid? Did you like the job?
Yes, I did work in the prison system -- specifically the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice and the Texas Youth Commission. I took
care of State Jail inmates and State Prison inmates, both male and
female. No, I wasn't afraid, though a few of the offenders made me
uncomfortable. Working as a health care professional in the prison
system isn't all that different, once past the superficial
characteristics, from working in a small health care clinic. Yes, I
enjoyed the job very much but I do not wish to discuss why I left. Did you really go to Texas Womans University?
Indeed I did. The question which almost always follows is how many
women and how many men? There were 19 male undergraduates the year I
enrolled and the ratio of female to male students was around 200:1. In what style did you earn your black belt?Tae kwon do. I should say, however, my instructor was a student of
Bruce Lee's jeet kune do philosophy. Basically, he taught us techniques
from a variety of fighting styles. Additionally, he was a
non-traditional instructor in the way he taught us in TKD. I have also
studied Yang style t'ai chi from an instructor who has passed on and I
miss very much. I am currently studying kuk sool won at a very good school here in Austin. So, you play the drums, and you've even made money at it. Why, therefore, did you choose to learn the flute? I don't know. I have no clear answer to that question. I guess because I like the flute. Why "The Casual Critic"? Why do you write movie reviews at all? As
far as the name goes, I just like the alliteration of "Casual Critic."
I grew weary of the pseudo-intellectual reviews panning films which I
and
everyone I knew enjoyed immensely. The final straw came when a
critic blasted "E. T." in a newspaper column. I understand beauty
is in the eye of the beholder but it appeared to me as if this guy felt
tearing a film part everyone enjoyed somehow made him better than the
average person. I decided I could write film reviews, too. I
write them as an average film-goer, that is, someone with no
understanding of studio politics or film-making, but rather as a person
who knows what he likes in a film. Understand, I do enjoy a wide
variety of films ranging from obscure indie productions to massive
pop-culture hits but I try to approach each film at the level it seems
most appropriate to do so. It would be rather inappropriate,
in my mind, to review "The Cider House Rules"at the same level as "Star
Wars III: Revenge of the Sith." In other words, a casual review,
not the words of someone who has money to make or an editor, or studio
exec for that matter, to impress. I am on your kill file list and I want off!
No. Once on the list you are blacklisted for life. You are
killfiled because I find you to be: (a) Intolerant, (b) Judgmental,
(c) Bigoted, (d) Opinionated beyond the point of reason, (e) Unable to
refer to anyone with an opposing viewpoint without using obscene or
vulgar language, (f) Excessive sarcasm, (g) Inability to think for
yourself, (h) Prone to put words in my mouth to make your own point,
(i) Lacking in the ability to read what I wrote.
No. Once on the list you are blacklisted for life. You are
killfiled because I find you to be: (a) Intolerant, (b) Judgmental,
(c) Bigoted, (d) Opinionated beyond the point of reason, (e) Unable to
refer to anyone with an opposing viewpoint without using obscene or
vulgar language, (f) Excessive sarcasm, (g) Inability to think for
yourself, (h) Prone to put words in my mouth to make your own point,
(i) Lacking in the ability to read what I wrote.