Meet Charles from charlesvalek!
Who is Charles Valek? Glad you asked! He’s a traditionally trained animation major who designs and builds acrylic signs and other assorted knick knacks in sunny, depressing southern California. You don’t see the connection between animation and plastic signs? He wishes he could enlighten you, but it’s confusing to him as well…
When he’s not busy working, he can be found reading comics, playing World of Warcraft, or spending time with fuzzy woodland creatures and muttering to himself in an incoherent manner. Or, typing in an incoherent manner. He also drinks lots of coffee, which is most likely correlated with the aforementioned muttering.
1. Amon Amarth or Dimmu Borgir?
Kind of an apples to oranges question, but I’ll go with Amon Amarth. Melodic death metal based on Norse mythology is possibly the best thing since sliced bread.
2. What is your opinion on the reemergence of Furbies into the children’s toy market?
I had no idea that Furbies were making a come back… Sounds like a staph infection.
3. The zombie apocalypse is upon us and you have to choose one weapon of short-ranged zombie destruction: a cricket bat, a chainsaw, a prop replica of a Klingon bat’leth, or a machete?
Okay, chainsaws are heavy and require gasoline to operate (outside of Doom), so I can’t go with that. And never use a replica weapon, even if it is associated with one of the coolest races in Star Trek… They’re poorly made, don’t hold a good edge, and will likely break if you do attempt to use them. It’s between the cricket bat and the machete, but I’ll say the machete wins on the principle that it’s not only good for hacking zombie heads, but also quite useful if you find yourself in a forested area.
4. Firefly is one of the best Science Fiction shows ever. Are you a fan? If so, what is your favorite episode and why?
Am I a fan of Firefly? Is Jayne Cobb a fan of grenades? DOUBLE YES!! It’s not easy to pick a favorite episode, because there are so many that are really well written (like all of them, for example.). That being said, I’d have to say one of my most replayed episodes is Jaynestown.
5. Since I happen to be a college buddy, what is one thing you miss the most about the good ol’ college days?
So much of college was fun, so it’s also hard to narrow down. (You’ll learn that I’m notoriously bad at playing favorites.) Let’s see, there was the senior studio project and late nights spent working on the crack head animations, the brain shaped poo that some inhuman beast squeezed out in the men’s restroom in the studio building… I also particularly enjoyed turning our figure drawing models into bizarre, unnatural looking freaks on paper, since that’s something I haven’t done in a while. So many good memories…
6. What is one thing you were happy to be rid of once college was over?
Hmm… That’s a harder question to answer. Um… Peeing in the sink? You probably wouldn’t want to know.
7. What was one of the stand-out college experiences you had?
Why that would have to be meeting my awesome friends. ‘Nuff said.
8. What is your favorite organization/cause to support and why?
I like being involved with skeptical organizations like the Center for Inquiry and the James Randi Educational Foundation. For many years, they have been strong supporters of bringing science, and rational thought to the general population. With all the woo out there, critical thinking is something we need to see more, and I’m glad that there are people who are actively testing extraordinary claims from a scientific perspective.
9. With St. Patrick’s Day last month, what is your get-drunk drink of choice?
I don’t really do the “getting drunk” thing anymore, but I really dig Old Rasputin. It’s a hoppy imperial stout that has a picture of a crazy bearded Russian guy on the label. What more can you ask for? Boobs. That’s what.
10. Would you trade your wood for sheep?
I’m really tempted to make a Scottish or New Zealander joke here, but I’ll pretend that I’m one of those culturally sensitive types. I’ve got road building to do. All your wood are belong to us!
11. During your recent trip to Scotland and Ireland, what was your favorite location?
Edinburgh. Never have I found a cozier cemetery than that of Greyfriars Kirkyard. I wish I could teleport there every day to just sit back and sketch. Also, pretty much anything else you see in old Edinburgh looks like it belongs at Hogwarts.
12. If you could live in any Blizzard Entertainment franchise, which would you choose: Warcraft, Star Craft, or Diablo?
I’d probably make an excellent Terran, but I’m going to have to say Diablo, since there’s a warm fuzzy place in my heart for dark fantasy worlds where you slay boat loads of demons and undead on a regular basis. Wait, how did my heart get all fuzzy? Oh crap…
13. What is the most overused internet meme?
Do Chuck Norris jokes count? Barrens general chat made questing there epic suckville.
14. World of Warcraft plug-ins: Necessary or Cheating?
I don’t use them anymore, but when I was part of a guild that raided on a semi regular basis, it was handy to have Recount to see what kind of dps I was doing compared to others. So, I suppose they can be helpful if you want them, but I wouldn’t exactly call them necessary anymore.
15. SAY BLUE!!!!!!!
BLUE!!!!!!!