This week's member has had enough of the ever evolving list of Pokemon, yet it continues to draw him inward like quicksand in the middle of a tar pit; welcome Danny to GTPlanet fame!
1. First and foremost, you're officially the Member of the Week so what were your thoughts going into this and how does it feel to be recognized amidst the hundreds of thousands of other members here?
It’s pretty neat. Normally I spend my time spouting abstract nonsense, but I’ll try and do this seriously.
Try. All the MOTW interviews so far have been pretty awesome, so it’s a lot to live up to.
2. What brought you to GTPlanet and what keeps you coming back?
I didn’t so much arrive at GTPlanet, so much as collided with it in 2003, flailing wildly. I joined initially for two reasons: to talk about Gran Turismo 3 and to talk about how brilliant I am. I don’t talk about GT3 any more.
3. There's a lot to do around the forums so I have to ask: what sub-forums/threads do you frequent most often and why?
I tend to drift in and out. Some months I’ll haunt the corridors of the GT5 subforum, sometimes Cars in General. I’ve more recently found myself scanning the Latest Posts feature and just going through whatever strikes my attention.
Having said that, the one that I’ve frequented most often has been The Rumble Strip, and the Infield. It’s a great place to get to know people better outside of Video Gaming and Auto news. Some of the stuff that pops up is pretty freakin’ hilarious. Sometimes intentionally, too.
4. What was it that sparked your interest in Gran Turismo?
I’ve always been a fan of cars. Not a car nut, I have nowhere near the attention span for that. But as a child I always kept up with all the news and gossip.
I started with the original Gran Turismo, and I’ve pretty much followed it all the way through. I’ve never been any good, mind you. I have a very unconventional driving style. It’s based around the principle of inconsistency and closing your eyes. If
I don’t know what I’m going to do, how will my opponents? I dunno, it’s in The Art Of War or something. Probably.
5. It'd be kind of foolish to ask how you came up with your name considering it was given to you, but what I ask is this: what prevented you from using a pseudonym?
I’ve had 5 or 6 usernames in my time here. I started off as ultrabeat, I couldn’t think of a username when I was signing up so I just stole the name of a House music act that was around at the time. I’ve also been Danachronism for a while, which is a portmanteau of my name and Anachronism, because sometimes I think I belong in the early 80s.
My highlight was many years ago, I adopted the username Rx7_AnD_gTr_SuPaDrIfTeR (I can’t remember the exact spelling and wording) when the drift scene on GTPlanet really began to take off. I thought it was mildly amusing, but Der Alta (I think?) decided it was too long and it was butchered to something a lot smaller.
But yeah now I just use my name. I know a few people on GTP quite intimately so it’s just easier to do that.
6. Controversial question time: Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport or both?
I haven’t played Forza for more than 10 minutes so I can’t give a balanced answer. Are you asking this to gauge numbers for the impending war? Team Gran Turismo.
7. You're often found in the Opinions & Current Events sub-forum, what drives you to post there knowing it usually ends in not-so-constructive ramblings?
I would disagree, I don’t think I
do spend much time there. GTPlanet has a lot of strong characters, and behind a keyboard, everyone’s an expert. I’m a fan of picking posts apart bit by bit, and I know that if I spent too much time there, I’d be there forever. Ain’t nobody got time fo’ that. And besides, Cody pretty much has all the same opinions I do about everything. I don’t need to be there at all. I’m outsourcing.
8. Mechanical or Membrane keyboard?
I don’t know what this means so I’m going to tell you about the time I fed chocolate to my cat.
My friend was round and he suggested I give a chocolate button to my cat and I was all ‘yeah ok’. But then I found out that chocolate was poisonous for dogs and I realised it’s probably not safe for cats either. I picked him up and sort of whooshed him around in my arms for a while on the off-chance that he’d be sick but he wasn’t. I forget the rest of the story but the cat was fine. Anyway the moral of the story is don't feed chocolate to your cat. Or do. I'm not your mother.
9. You're a lover of all things Pokemon, what do you think of the way the series is being handled now that it's gone on for more than two decades?
There are too many. You caught all 151! Congratulations!
Oh no wait, there are 498 more that we just casually forgot about.
No. I'm not having it.
10. Aside from being an advocate for all things silly, do you have any other joyous hobbies?
I have a borderline addiction to films and shoes. I have a frankly ridiculous collection of each and it is the reason I live in perpetual poverty. I’m very aware that the life of luxurious excess I live could all be a fantasy, and in reality I’m actually sprawled out in a ditch somewhere, clinging to vodka. Maybe none of this is real.
11. Given the opportunity, what would you do as a Moderator here?
1) Get new furniture for the Rumble Strip.
2) Clean up tha streets.
3) Look in the Super Secret Naked Babe Thread that only the mod team has access to.
4) Exact fiery vengeance upon all.
12. Are you driving anything special at the moment?
I have a characterful Focus called Fernando. He’s special in that sometimes he’s on fire and sometimes he’s incontinent.
13. Where and when was your very first post here and how does it differ from your posting style used today?
My first few posts were horrific. They still are. Although my spelling and grammar have improved and I’m using a great deal more run-on sentences because I just don’t know when to finish them.
My problem is that there is no filter between my brain and my mouth (or keyboard) whatsoever. My posts tend to be more a stream of consciousness than legible prose.
14. How many of your controllers have died because of heavy physical abuse whilst playing a PS3 game?
Surprisingly few! I’ve only got through 2 of them, and that’s been because I’m remarkably clumsy. I have the hand-eye co-ordination of Helen Keller and if there’s a thousand to one chance that something will go wrong, it’s gonna happen to me.
15. Have you ever accessed the website during an unusual time and/or place?
Nowhere particularly unusual. Although I do remember that casually browsing GTP with a Margarita at sunset in the middle of Times Square, NYC was a personal highlight.
16. What's the longest you've gone without logging on to GTPlanet since joining: Years, months, weeks, days, hours?
I’ve never been away for more than a month. I tend to leave it open in one tab all the time so I’m never really away.
17. Who (in your own opinion) is the most inspiring person / people here on GTPlanet?
Me. I inspire myself. But seriously, probably Dennis, Steve, Antony and Allyn. Dennis is just generally neat. Steve proves that it’s OK to be old. Antony writes things sometimes and Allyn has met Vanessa Feltz twice. Oh, and I admire how Famine stays composed when writing lengthy responses to morons. I’d be tearing my beautiful, lustrous hair out.
18. Now it's time for the "Daniel Special": If you could cross a hippo with any other animal - what will the animal be, what will it be called, and why? (Bonus points for creativity!
And it can't be another hippo because that's incest)
I would cross a Hippo with an Anaconda to form a Honda. In my mind it’s an overweight grey snake with a hippo’s head that swallows marbles whole. Or if that’s confusing you, just imagine a hippo in a sleeping bag.
19. What's the funniest thing you can remember from all of your time being a member here?
Nothing that really jumps out at me. Rather than one major 100% Hilarium-filled event, it’s loads and loads of small, chuckleworthy things. Although having said that, sUn’s April Fools rampage was moderately funny. Y’know. Looking back.
20. Have you ever participated in any of the racing series' found here?
No, because of my aforementioned driving style. However I do take part in the
Used Car Challenge in the Infield. I’ve yet to win anything though. And do you know why? Because it’s a fix and the T(h)oms are cheats. That’s the only possible explanation.
21. Have you ever considered developing your own racing series, and if you have where can we find it?
I haven’t because it would be ridiculous and disorganised. I couldn’t run a shower, let alone a race series.
22. If you could change anything about GTPlanet what would it be?
I think it would be cool if everyone was forced to speak only in haikus. I would pay good money to see the Drift subforum have a crack at that.
Get out of my clan.
The Silvia is better,
your opinion’s wrong.
23. Anything else you'd like to say?
Keep watching the skies.