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About Us: Juliette


Here is the next installment of our About Us Interview series. Juliette just joined the site to review Star Trek: Voyager and, someday soon, lots of other tasty goodies, including The West Wing.

What area of the world do you live in, and what do you do? (Because we all know you don't make any money doing this.)

I live in Birmingham, UK and I'm an ancient history lecturer. Birmingham is in the middle. It's about an hour from Stratford-upon-Avon (this seems to be the only other town in the UK many have heard of).

My parents live not far from Portmeirion. It's a nightmare trying to drive past the giant white balloon that covers all the exits.


If we just handed you a million dollars (you never know), what would you spend it on?

Lots of things! Holidays, mainly. To places where the sun shines more than one day a year.


What random skill would our readers be surprised to know you have?

I can pick up the exact right number of paper napkins in which to wrap the clean cutlery that's just come out of the potwash. It's a pretty useless skill.


Are you a dog person or a cat person, or is there another animal involved?

Cats. When I grow old, I will be a crazy cat lady.


What show would you recommend everyone finally get around to watching this summer?

I just came off a major Fringe marathon, just in time to catch the last 13 episodes along with everyone else, and loved it. I would always recommend True Blood over the summer, for silliness and (for UK viewers) an opportunity to fantasize about a place with much better weather, and its story arcs work better in a DVD marathon than week by week. The Classicist in me is honour-bound to mention Rome, but it was the BBC's I, Claudius that made me think Ancient History would be a cool degree—it is probably my favourite show of all time, or one of them. I watch it once a year, the same way some people read Lord of the Rings every year.


Of all the shows we don't cover, list your: (1) guilty pleasure, (2) favorite reality show, and (3) favorite from childhood.

I'm thoroughly ashamed to admit it, but I've watched Four Weddings so many times I caught one episode twice. My favourite reality show used to be Strictly Come Dancing (UK version of Dancing With the Stars) but I think I prefer The Apprentice these days, or maybe Dragon's Den. I like to pretend I might come up with an idea that makes money one day, though I don't even understand half the business stuff. There are loads of shows I remember very fondly from my childhood, mostly cartoons (Around the World with Willy Fogg, Cities of Gold, Belle and Sebastian, Dogtanian, Sharkey and George) and sitcoms (Dad's Army, Allo Allo) but the BBC dramatisation of the Chronicles of Narnia changed my life. My love of SFF started there.


Fill in the blanks: If ___ weren't already reviewing ___, I'd want to do it.

The X Files, partly because I have the complete DVD set. Farscape, because I never did get around to catching up on all of seasons 1 and 2. Buffy, because it's awesome (though I might want to skip 'Seeing Red').


Which character do you identify with the most?

Right now, probably the Dean from Community. I work at a community college, don't have much of a love life and can belt out 'Kiss from a Rose' with enthusiasm. I'm not that into dalmatians though, and I definitely don't have his sense of style. For similar reasons, I also identify with Ted from How I Met Your Mother and Leonard from The Big Bang Theory.

What's your favorite television show of all time? (Okay, top five will do if you can't narrow it down to one.)

Too hard! OK, quickly and off the top of my head: I, Claudius, Star Trek Voyager, The West Wing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friends


You are hosting a dinner party for 8 TV characters and/or actors. Who would you invite?

Talbot from True Blood, to organise food for Eric Northman and Spike. Buffy Summers, because I don't want to get eaten. If Eric didn't behave himself, I'd swap him for Lafayette, who I love in an entirely different way and who could also help with the cooking for the humans. President Jed Bartlet, but he has to promise not to give everyone a history of the yam in Latin. Luka from ER, because yum and also to recite from Hamlet in Croatian. Captain Janeway and Captain Kirk, because they're the fun captains. As a feminist, I feel very guilty about how testosterone-heavy this list is, but I can't help it. Given the choice between a woman and Eric, Spike or Luka, there's just no competition!

Next Week: J.D., movie guru!

11 comments:

  1. Welcome to the site, Juliette!

    I remember the BBC adaptation of the Chronicles of Narnia. When they aired it over here, I begged for TV privileges for a night (that is, I got to pick what the family watched) only to be horribly disappointed that they'd changed a few lines of dialogue. Because I'd read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe so many times that I'd memorized it entirely.

    While we're on the subject, can someone explain the allure of Turkish Delight?

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  2. this version in interesting :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnT7FN92hTA

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  3. Thanks! :)

    I actually don't like Turkish Delight, it's sickly (though I can see how a kid on wartime rations would love it). We made peppermint creams in primary school that looked like the BBC version of Turkish Delight, so I used to pretend the White Witch was handing those out instead!

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  4. Loved it. And loved the Prisoner reference. We're not geeks, are we?

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  5. Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds: now there's a blast from the past. It must surely be up there with Hong Kong Phooey.

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  6. What fun. I just realized that it was Wednesday - yes I am working too hard - and that another interview was up. So nice to learn about you Julliette. Accurate napkin counting can be very useful in some situations :). I know it sounds weird but I would love some English weather right now. We are baking where I am and the farmers are very sad.

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  7. Thanks drnanamom :) We'll swap climates...

    Billie - not at all! ;) I went there after a convention in Prestatyn earlier this year and it was full of people in Dr Who coats and those fab black and white jackets from The Prisoner...

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  8. Ancient history lecturer, cool. Made me think of a university comp lit. professor who gushed over Star Trek: TNG. When we were covering Gilgamesh, she referenced "Darmok", and the defeat of the Borg in "Best of Both Worlds." (Gilgamesh's quest to bring back Enkidu failed for the same reason as the Borg.)

    "Farscape, because I never did get around to catching up on all of seasons 1 and 2."

    A worthy goal. I actually prefer the first two seasons over the later stuff. The episodes may not be as sophisticated, but they're also more grounded. (It was before "truly bizarre" became ordinary for the crew.)

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  11. bravo again Juliette on joiing the Billie Doux team! I look forward to more Voyager reviews!

    Fringe is definitely worth getting in to, so glad you did in time for the final season!

    I think I finally tasted Turkish Delight in the past couple of years on a trip to visit my sister in London. I was a bit disappointed! I had imagined something absolutely wonderful and irresistible and found something sickeningly sweet instead. :p

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