Who Am I, Anyway?

 

 

Who Am I, Anyway?

Okay -

I have been known on the internet as Milady Daniel for more years than I care to admit. My legal name is Jean Daniel, so I combined the two names for most of my projects.

My most important roles in life are being a wife, mother, grandmother, and cat person. 

In my work life, I'm a self-taught poet, artist, screenwriter, author, web page designer, songwriter, numerologist - I also am an unschooler, an armchair activist, a reclusive radical, and a would-be anime studio mogul. But I am, sadly, an extreme introvert - that makes it nearly impossible to do the things I truly want to do in regards to my writing.

Every kids’ story I write I see as anime - whether any of it actually becomes anime is up to the Fates, I guess, but that's how I see it as I'm writing it.

Every mystery I write I see as Film Noir, my favorite genre.

People always wonder why someone decides to be a poet or an artist or a writer or a musician - I think you don't really decide to - it's just something that takes you over, like a passion or a disease (depending on how successful or unsuccessful you are) and you either give in to it, or bust!

But the main thing in life, I believe, is to be creative. Creative people live forever in their work - if you don't leave something behind to remember you by, well, you're just dust in the wind, as Kansas used to sing.

On a lighter note, here are some of my favorite things:

ART! Modern, ancient, impressionist, as long as it's true, and not pretentious, I dig it!

ANIME! Series, films, shorts - you name it! I LOVE it! Especially GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES, WOLF'S RAIN, and ANYTHING made by Hayao Miyazaki!

I'm also crazy about black and white films, especially monster movies from Universal Studios, sci-fi features from the 50's, and strong women's melodramas of the 30's and 40's from Warner Bros, though the gangster flicks and the CASABLANCA type espionage films are great, too.

FILM NOIR – of course! The murder mystery serials and thrillers from the 30s, 40's, 50's, and a few from the 60's are cool. I really enjoy the beautiful color horror films made by Hammer Films in the late 50's and early 60's.

Hitchcock is my favorite director - Shadow of a Doubt my favorite of his films, though I love Notorious, Suspicion, Rebecca, Rear Window, Psycho, The 39 Steps, Marnie and so many more.

John Huston is my second favorite director, with The Maltese Falcon being number one on my list, then The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

I watch a lot of westerns, series and films: Gunsmoke (I like the early 30 minute episodes best), Cheyenne, The Virginian, Have Gun Will Travel, Wanted Dead or Alive, etc... Films like High Noon, The Oxbow Incident, Winchester '73 and The Naked Spur are great studies in human nature.

I love watching Asian masterpieces such as those done by Akira Kurosawa, serious dramas from France, Sweden, Russia, Italy and England and really good action films - really good HONG KONG action films in particular.

Manga, if it isn't too goofy - I like the serious stories best.

Books and plays! Mainly old ones like Hound of the Baskervilles (I used to read it once a year as a child), or Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, anything by Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, fairy tales, etc...

Poetry - the best poets were Poe, Byron, Shelley, Donne, and so on, but I love Sara Teasdale as well. A lot of the songwriters of today are truly gifted poets.

Any kind of music that sounds original - from alternative to opera, J Pop to jazz, bluegrass to punk, heavy metal to classical.

CATS, dogs, rabbits, chickens, birds, HORSES, especially Arabians, and miniatures, koalas, dolphins, unicorns, dragons...

Australia, Ancient Egypt, Japan, Great Britain, California in the 30's or the 50’s, South Africa...

Star Trek (the first series and TNG - anything beyond those two is redundant),

CHOCOLATE! Peach Yogurt, Lightly Salted Peanuts, Shrimp, Fried Rice, M&M McFlurries, Salads,

Log houses, barn houses, Mid Century Modern houses, Japanese houses, straw bale houses, dome houses, farmhouses,

Zen gardens, Old English gardens, French gardens …

The colors purple, bright red, teal, and pink, blue skies, springtime, wild roses, calla lilies, fish ponds,

French words, Cockney accents,

I could go on and on, but I won't…