Pelle Cass 10 Questions

What did you have for lunch two days ago?
One slice of bread, some peanut butter, an apple, and some leftover cheese popovers from the night before that Melissa cooked. She was our hostess in NYC, where we went for the weekend. She's an ex-linguist, along with her common-law husband Joel, also an ex-linguist. 

What type of ancient sport would you most like to be able to see?
Well, I've seen most of the ones I know about, like marathons and discus throwing and footraces, since I doubt they've changed much. I don't think I want to see that one from the Aztecs where they kick your head (yes, it would probably have been my head) around a dusty clearing in the dark rainforest. I guess I'd like to see cavemen throwing things at the moon, seeing who comes closest.

What's in your pockets?
It's evening and I've already emptied my pockets. I see on my desk my phone, a roll of tape, some headphones, a Cafe Nero Loyalty Card, a Turquoise brand pencil, white headphones, some memory cards, a nickel and a dime wrapped in tape that I had been planning on using to customize my tennis racquet but on such task I've given up, an Op Art coaster, a Longwood Dental Group Eucalyptus Flavor tube of lip balm, and, aw Jeez, I just wanted to list some pockety things so bad.

Do you have a favourite museum? 
I love all art museums if they are in cities with over 500,000 people or have large endowments, and I love them just about exactly equally (I hate non-art museums. What are they saving all that crap for?) I suppose I've been the happiest I've ever been in a museum at the Menil in Houston, Texas.

Right or left handed?
I am proudly and profoundly right-handed. If I try to, say, throw a ball, my left hand feels about as coordinated as an unattended garden hose spurting around on the lawn.

Ever been injured taking a photo?
A squirrel once ran up my tripod leg and scared the living shit out of me. I've always been afraid of animals, so I can claim a searing psychic injury. A dog once ran into my tripod and badly bent one of the legs. It was the bottommost segment and I used the tripod for a long time even though it only extended up to my chest. My pictures were always from a little lower angle than I'd like.

Autumn or Spring? 
I hate the fall. I love the spring.

Do you have a favourite movie set in Boston?
The Departed. Second is Love Story, a terrible movie but my wife ‘went to school in Boston’ which is what Ivy Leaguers say when they went to Harvard.

Do you remember the first time you saw a time lapse film?
I kind of think I remember a documentary about bugs taking over the world and somehow eliminating civilization. Sounds like a pleasant enough way to go compared to what we're actually looking at. 

Dogs or cats?
100% cats.

Look for a 16-page section of Pelle's work printed on paper in the latest issue of the literary quarterly McSweeney's (Issue 55)
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