After a few days of racking my brain and a fairly extensive stalk through my list of Facebook friends and posting a status to check if anyone out there would be an exciting soul interested in partaking in an interview with me for this class, I hit some grand ideas of who I could speak to! I’m quite keen to be conducting interviews with these characters as I’ve always really enjoyed finding out information about hobbies, jobs, collectables etc. which I don’t have a wealth of knowledge of/in. Such as when I interviewed a taxidermist for a short documentary in first year and got to be so up close and personal with these intricate and delicately crafted (dead, but re-assembled) creatures. It became something tangible for me, rather than seeing it in a museum and not being able to appreciate the detail. Discovering these new crafts etc. will open your mind and inspire different views about a realm of topics.

I work in a second-hand / vintage clothing and goods store in Brunswick and absolutely love it there. If you know anything about Sydney Road in Brunswick, you should be able to gather that the store would definitely have it’s quirks as well as it’s fair share of excessively outlandish, enthusiastic, eccentric and/or extroverted customers! Which is exactly what it has. There are several people who come into the store who I find really interesting and they’re great conversationalists. There’s a few people who collect certain objects and will always check for them. There’s several hoarders who buy up big. Then there’s also the cheeky shoppers who haggle an already cheap price, down and proceed to whip out a huge wad of cash, give you a 50 or 100 note for their $5 item… Ridiculous. Not so much the hagglers (that was just a rant because I can’t stand the cheek of it), but the hoarders and the collectors I would love to stop and plan an interview with them about what their lives are like, how they began what they do and why they do what they do. As well as the customers, the bosses there are also interesting subjects because they’ve been in the business for about 10 years and have seen it all!

A university friend who I met recently, alerted me to the fact that he’s involved in Swordcraft which is where people dress in medieval attire and (pretend) fight each other in Royal Park once a week. Here’s a little taster of what that’s like…

The closest thing to this I have ever involved myself in, is performing in Shakespeare plays in high school… and I’ve watched Lord of the Rings about… once? So you can get an idea of how far removed I am from the nature of this hobby. However, in saying that, it has not stopped me being wildly intrigued.

Talking to people who are internet / Instagram famous would be interesting and focus the interview on combatting keyboard warriors! I have a few friends in mind that are within that bracket. A friend said he’s really good at the kazoo, which would actually be rather entertaining (if he’s actually being serious). Another friend of mine taught himself how to throat sing. Another collects CDs, something which not many people seem to do anymore in this internet age. A friend’s father collects a number of collectable cards as well as has many records. Another collects rare currency and she claims some would be worth around $2k!

There are a few taboo-type subjects I’d be interested in exploring through interview, to help inform others. I have connections to people who work in the ‘CamGirl’ and ‘CamBoy’ industry… basically like sex work / online pornography but they get paid to stay by themselves in front of a camera for another person to view. I also know some people who are into graffiti / street art – to discuss the ideas someone has, who actually takes part in this form of expression could possibly open eyes of people who really don’t like it, but are looking from an outside perspective.

I have several other interview ideas, but these are a few for the minute, my discussion in our next class will contain the rest!