Jessica Calvello (Mink in "Dragon Half," Cutey Honey in "Cutey Honey,"
Yuri in "Dirty Pair") and Brett Weaver (Carrot in "Sorcerer Hunters," Damaramu
in "Dragon Half," Tora in "Ushio & Tora") sat down with akadot at this year's
Project Akon and agreed to be the first victims of our Random Q&A. Find out
more about your favorite anime celebrities by hearing their candid answers to
some not so typical questions.
What kind of car do you drive?
JC: I used to drive, um, Mazda Protégé, but I left it in Texas so I don't have a car.
BW: Jeep Wrangler.
JC: Well his car's awesome!
What's in your tape deck or CD player at this very minute?
JC: I actually have the soundtrack to "Run Lola Run" in it. Which is bad a! Bad a! Bad a~! It's so awesome. I have it in there. And if I do put a tape in, it's usually like a compilation thing that someone's made. The last tape I had in there was Mazzy Star. I don't have her own CD. But Run Lola Run, I've been addicted to it. I got it like a week ago, and I've just been like "Run, Lola Run!" Hahaha. Ah, it's good!
BW: I have a "Cowboy Bebop" soundtrack. I've got They Might Be Giants. I've got, a very obscure band called the Billies and a local group called Austin Lounge Lizards.
JC: In my CD-ROM I have J-pop. I love it.
What do you like in your omelets?
JC: Feta cheese, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, cheddar cheese, no not cheddar cheese, just feta. I like the Greek omelet thingy or the vegetarian omelet. Like House of Guys, it's House of Pies, but I call it House of Guys in Houston. It has the best. It's called the Hang-over omelet. And it has like cheddar cheese and tomatoes and onions, green peppers and red peppers…
Are you a vegetarian?
JC: Half.
BW: So your answer would be no.
JC: I eat chicken, turkey, and fish. No red meat, no pork. He's a big old carnivore.
BW: Yeah, I'm an omnivore. My omelet, I put a little bit of a cheddar cheese, black pepper, and then top it with picante sauce.
JC: That's good too. I love it!
Have you seen a ghost?
BW: When I was living at a cooperative, there was an old mansion, there was a ghost in my room. One night, around Christmas when everybody else in the house was gone, and I was downstairs working on something. I took a break, and my bedroom was right above. I knew, cuz, ten minutes before, I walked through the house just to see if anybody was home, everybody was gone. It's a three story old building and well, it's gone now. But I was downstairs and I took a break about one o'clock in the morning and all of a sudden I hear upstairs someone walk from my front door in my bedroom and I could hear him walking across the floor, cuz we have wood floors, and I'm hearing steps walk across the floor and I said, "You know, somebody's up in my room and I don't know about it. They better be paying rent", and the footstep stopped. And I just said, "Okay, as long as we have that understanding"…but it was never a frightening spirit. I was never afraid. I just kind of went, okay, I've got somebody living in my closet, you know.
JC: You've heard of how theaters are haunted, right? Well, supposedly every theater has a ghost. And at my college, his name is Ramsey, and he was like the first professor at SWT (Southwest Texas State University), that's where I went to college to get my acting degree. And students would say, "Oh, I saw Ramsey last night." I go "Oh, whatever, you did not." And I never believed it until one night; we were practicing in our black box theater. We were all there, and I can't even explain it but this streak of blue light went whew and made a sound. We all stopped and we looked around. We looked at each other and I said "Did somebody just take a picture?" I thought a flash had gone off and they were like "No." And we all knew and we're like, "Rehearsal is over tonight." And we just left. And we talked about it the next day and we're like "What was that?" "It's Ramsey. It's Ramsey."
What was the last book you read?
JC: The last book I read was a play called "Uburoi" it was the first absurdist play written by Alfred Jerry. I auditioned for it in NY. I was so mad. They didn't use me. God and I was so good. I was such a freak. I was everything they wanted me to be and a bag of Doritos. And they didn't cast me. Ah! I was heart-broken. It was very cool.
BW: I reread "Out of the Silent Planet" by CS Lewis. It's a great series. Always has the religious undertones. It talks about a guy who is captured by these two guys. He's walking the countryside. He's a language professor. And these two guys capture him and drug him and take him on a ship to Mars. And drop him off to give him to the people to check him out and the other two guys get killed in the process and he runs off. And then he meets the different species that are on the planet and how he becomes part of them. And just trying to figure out the planet. It's cool.
Do you use a toothpaste or a gel?
JC: I use whatever's on sale.
BW: What's cheap whatever cleans the tarter off.
JC: But you know I just found this great 99 cent toothpaste it's called Ultrabrite. It is the cheapest stuff in the world and it's like rated number one for polishing teeth. So I use Ultrabrite I'll never go back to anything else.
Do you still have your tonsils?
JC: No.
BW: Yes.
JC: I was sad without them. They took them away from me. I was like 19. It hurt. Me. Didn't talk for 2 weeks. You knew I had to be in pain if I didn't talk for 2 weeks.
If you had to lose one of your five senses what would it be?
JC: Touch. I have to have eyes. I have to have ears. I have to be able to smell. And tasting and smelling go hand in hand. If you lose your smell you lose your taste, if you lose your taste you lose your smell. But what does that mean? I wouldn't know if something was sharp if I touched it.
BW: You wouldn't be able to feel things….Sight. Hearing and feeling are really important to me. And taste. That's all the joys in life. Sight is just a really great extra.
JC: How would you be able to dub?
BW: You wouldn't.
Do you speak any other languages?
JC: Sign language. I'm rusty but I did take a course in college. I could carry on a very slow slow conversation with a deaf person. I could do it.
BW: I speak a little Spanish and some French. I'm currently trying to be able to speak in 16 different languages being able to say the phrase "I am a cow."
Have you ever had braces?
JC: Oh yeah. I still have a retainer. You haven't? You have perfect teeth. Smile. Aaaaah! Look how pretty they are.
BW: Nice and yellow.
JC: I also have a bottom retainer and a top permanent retainer to keep these straight. I got braces when I was in the 3rd grade. And then they were off when I was in the 5th grade. And then I wore a retainer for years and years and years. And then I quit wearing my retainer. And then my teeth started moving so I went back to the orthodontist and had a bottom retainer cemented. It will never come out.