Interview with Blogger Buddy: Great White Snark, Part 1

In my casual trolling about the inter-web, I happened across yet another comical character (emphasis on "comic") who is a self-proclaimed Buffy the Vampire Slayer geek, a Star Wars geek, and a comic book geek. (Yes, he has the Batman tattoo to prove it, folks.) The blogger buddy I speak of is "Mr. Great White Snark" who keeps up a daily blog called ---wait for it--- Great White Snark. (You probably saw that one coming.)

And when I see someone this amazing and this geeky, I can't afford to miss out on the opportunity to decipher the madness that goes on in this geek ringleader's head. Luckily, Mr. Snark was a willing participant.


Quest: So, Great White, what is the inspiration for your blog?

Great White Snark: One part geeking out, and two parts desperately crying out for attention. With a sprinkling of firm belief that every red-blooded American should have access to my insights and opinions on geeky matters on a semi-daily basis.

Quest: What is the inspiration for how you came up with the name of your blog?

Great White Snark: A very clever friend of mine came up with it. I like that it's a play on words, but it's still literal. I just knew I wanted something with the word "snark" ...for obvious reasons. And it was better than "Great White Geeky Dry-Witted Jew."


Quest: Why did you feel the need to mention that you're jewish in that last response? Is it because of a need to relate that to your audience? Because going through your archives, I definitely did not detect any religious overtones in any of your posts, unless your consider Star Wars another religion.

Great White Snark: ...because I feel the need to make punchlines. The fact that I'm Jewish is quite beside the point. "Great White Geeky Dry-Witted Jew" sounds pretty funny to me. Of course, that farting sound that sixth graders make with their armpits also sounds funny to me, so... you be the judge.

I also take the Lord's name in vain quite a bit, but it's not because I personally have anything against the Man. Or... um, wo-Man. It's just that blasphemy is (a) second-nature to me and (b) gleefully fun when it's done right.

Quest: I guess, what I mean to ask is, I'm a black female stand-up comedian. But it's not obvious in my writing. I don't rail on and on about being black. But I don't hide from it either. In a couple of posts, I do mention it because it relates to my experience as a comedian and as a female, so thereby very necessary in my blog.

But your blog is just for fun, right? And built out of a pop culture (nowhere near political). Nor do I see any mention of Judaism in your blog. So why mention it now? In the blogosphere, you get the added benefit of choosing what degree of anonymity one wants. But by answering your question like that, it surely casts a different light, an issue you were hoping to shed some light on, it seems.

Great White Snark: Now look what you've done. I can't very well be flippant in my response to a question like that, now can I? Way to take me out of my comfort zone. (Sigh.)

Quest: That's my job. No comfort zone is safe with me.

Great White Snark: As you know, any creative expression is more interesting when the author reveals a bit of him, or herself, in the work. (And now I've gone and implied that blogging is some form of High Art. Look at me! I'm an artiste with an "e" on the end!) Whether we're talking about stand-up, or writing, or pottery... no, wait. Pottery is a bad example. If you think you can reveal a part of yourself in pottery, then someone has been hitting you over the head with a hippie stick for too long.

So, yes, I do reveal parts of myself in my writing, because it's more fun for me to write that way... and it makes my writing more fun for my readers. Especially when my dating life comes up. Oh, the guffaws.

Quest: All right, I'll take that. Let's get back to the softball questions: Where are you blogging out of?

Great White Snark: San Francisco. Home of the free, land of the brave, and hovel to the soft, round, and furry. Aging hippies, that is.

Quest: However, you're originally from D.C.?

GWS: I'm actually from the Virginia suburbs outside of DC, but if I say I'm from Virginia, four out of five people would assume that I'm Southern. And we wouldn't want that, would we? I haven't had incestuous intercourse with a cousin for at least seven or eight years, now.

If you're wondering what gives me license to rag on Southerners, it's the 10+ years I spent in Atlanta and Tampa. Fair warning to anyone considering an extended stay in Trampa: You can never get that time back.

Quest: How long have you been blogging for?

GWS: Since March of this year. Which is approximately twice the average tenure of most bloggers, which basically makes me a village elder. So watch it with the backtalk, missy.

Quest: So you've designated yourself a humor blog, officially? Why? What do you think makes your blog humorous?

GWS: My blog is about geeks and geeky stuff like Star Wars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, comic books, zombies, and other goodness. Given the subject matter, half the jokes practically write themselves.

Quest: You state in your blog that you plan on blogging about "forthcoming mental vomit about comic books and related geekery..." Does that in essence, make you an expert geek? Do you profess that you're a geek?

GWS: Wow, way to go back in the archives.

Quest: Clearly, you never read any other of my interviews. I'm a snooper.

GWS: I don't just profess that I'm a geek. I am a geek. Don't be fooled by my high-functioning social skills, hygienic habits, and ability to dress myself.

Quest: You make a distinction between nerds and geeks. "Nerds spend inordinate amounts of time with Photoshop and Final Cut Pro to produce stuff that geeks love to consume." What is the be-all-end-all distinction between a nerd v. geek?

GWS: As is the case with most matters, the be-all-end-all distinction is a matter of my opinion.

Nerds are awkward and big-brained. They're the ones who spend countless hours in front of their computers and in their labs, forgoing a social life so that they can invent brilliant stuff for the rest of us. Geeks love the contributions of nerds, because geeks don't have the intelligence or attention span to create these wonderful things themselves.

The guys who did the hard work of building the Xbox 360 are nerds. The ones figuring out all the exploits to Halo 3 are geeks.

Click the hyperlink for PART 2 of this interview

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