Stevil does an interview...LIKE A MAN. New Edition

You were chosen. (He's so awesome he turned something that wasn't even a question into a question)
Woah! I’m that popular? I just thought I was a C-Lister scraping the bottom of a box of B-Movie delights.

Why did you start blogging? Why Destructoid?
Well, I like to write and I guess I like being funny too. That helps, right?!

Long back-story short, in my spare time I’m a contributor to a culture guide publication in Cardiff. A while back, our ex-editor dropped the games section and while I love writing “witty” and “hilarious” music reviews, I felt that I lost an outlet for my love of videogames.

I always read Destructoid for news but I never thought much about blogging, but I saw there was an active like-minded community just blogging ideas I was interested in. That’s what I like about the website, it has a face. By that I mean there’s an interactive identity with strong personalities that respond to you (staff and bloggers alike) and not because it has a robot head on the front page.

I pretty much wrote the Gamer Obscura blogs as way of getting the ball rolling and anything after that, like being on the front page, was a bonus. I’ve been really lucky to find a bunch of readers who like my writing enough to keep at it. I’d love to write for Destructoid properly one day, but mainly I just really like getting a laugh out of people and if somebody walks away vaguely educated, then that’s brilliant; it’s basically why I’m here.

I think what really made me stick around through was the fact I ordered a t-shirt off the site and asked for the wrong color, so I sent an email asking for a correction and Niero answered saying “no problema”. Even on the order form, he wrote “change this to greena”.

I thought it was pretty cool that the head of a website (no matter the size or popularity) would actually go out of their way to change a lousy t-shirt order. Actually, it was probably somebody else who wrote on the form, but I don’t want to spoil the illusion, okay?
After that I thought, “yeah, this is where I want to write inane worthless opinions”.

I also had an email off Anthony Burch once. It said something like “passing this on to the shipping department.”

It didn’t really have the same effect on me though.

What Continent are you on?
Europe. It sounds kind of suave considering I’m a Welshman.

How did you get your name and avatar?
I got called Stevil by a girl who thought I was pretty blunt and tactless when it came to my honest opinion. It’s basically a combination of Stephen (my real name) and Evil (not my real name). I’ve been stuck with it since 2002, which I don’t mind since my last nickname was Spunky.
Don’t ask and it’s not what you think.

I didn’t really want to show my face early on, so I basically had Emma (my lovely other half) take a photo of me with a painting of Totoro - from the movie My Neighbor Totoro - as my face. It was kind of inspired by that cult phenomenon Sleeveface, where people covered body parts with those matching on a vinyl record cover.

The t-shirt features a defunct underrated UK rock band called yourcodenamieis:milo. It wasn’t a statement though; I just had it on at the time.

The reason why it looks like the ceiling is caving in is because we live inside the roof of a huge house. So now you know!

One word to describe yourself.
Supersmashinggreat.

It’s one word. Jim Bowen from Bullseye used it all the time. Look it up.

Your favorite movie.
It’s usually Memento or Chungking Express, depending on which one I saw last!
I’m a massive fan of Wong Kar-Wai movies and Chungking Express was the film that introduced me to his work, while I love Memento just for the way it turns a simple story into a puzzle just by playing events backwards.

Your favorite game.
Hands down, it has to be Silent Hill 2. I love a game that presents itself as deceptively simple with a specific genre, but scratch the surface and it hides a complex issue or two.

Silent Hill 2 comes across as a horror game, but it’s really about the frustration of failed relationships and the fear of meeting the “the next one” in your life. I think that was the first videogame I played where I realized they were capable of discussing the human condition in a mature way.

If you could punch anyone here, who would it be and why.
I try not to get angry with people on the internet. What say do they have in your life once you’ve logged off anyway?

One guy did drive me up the wall at one point, mainly because he was provoking me into agreeing with his opinions. I had a front page blog that said Okami’s story was terrible and inconsistent, but because it was his favourite game, he’d send me PMs about Wikipeda articles and blatantly tell me my opinion was wrong. It was all patronizing, condescending and just plain childish. Not everybody is going to like what you like at the end of the day, so get over it.

He got banned soon after that, but for something unrelated to me. So like I say, don’t get angry. They always end up pushing their luck and blowing it.

For the record, Okami still sucks.

You would hug...
I’d hug Occams Electric Toothbrush, but I’m afraid that since we have such similar tastes in music, mid-90’s TV references and a fondness of the facial hair, we’d just glue together like that scene from Time Cop; you know, the bit where the equally bearded Ron Silver (RIP) merged with himself and melted in a visual spectacle of crappy CGI.

I’d also probably hug all the people who took an interest in my stuff and stuck with it (Ali D, Kraid, Elsa, Beyamor, the rest who add me to their lists, etc), but I’m scared that we might merge in the same way as those people did in horror movie Society. Have you ever seen that film?

Holy shit! How did that movie get made?

I clearly have a fear of theoretical “body horror” merging, don’t I?

When I grow up I want to be...
In a real job.

Not that I'm old I can...
Get a real job.

Your favorite video on youtube (sorry, I couldn't find a link)
I think it’s got to be the Grape Stomping Accident on some breakfast show. It’s the epitome of hubris.

In Soviet Russia....
Wow, do people still do that joke? What next, an outdated MacGuyver parody being turned into a movie? Oh…

If you were the opposite gender, what would you do?
Fear my period. Who thought that was a good idea?

If I were to tell you that you had one more day to live, what would you do?
Are you threatening me son?

Tough question though. I’d probably pay tribute to the amazing actor Lance Henriksen by watching all his best films; all three of them. Hey, I only said he was an amazing actor; his script choices suck.

Scandal or else I'm canceled.
I answered all of this in just a thong with Xzyliac’s beaming face on it.

*nods*

Ladies….

BOO!!!(It's a question)
That word reminds me of way back in the day, when a friend’s dad told us about The Missing Finger. I can’t remember the details, but it involved some woman meeting a guy by a grave and he (shock horror) has a missing finger. She nags him about this missing appendage for what seems like an eternity, but the guy is sworn to secrecy.

The gist is you’re supposed to tell the story slowly and quietly, while pretending to have no index finger, until the graveside guy says, “you really want to know who cut off my finger?”

There’s supposed to be a pause and then…

“ITWASYOOOOOOOU!”

I absolutely shat myself as a kid. Thinking back, I’m not even sure if the story makes much sense, it’s basically an excuse for a grown adult to scream in a child’s face without Social Services getting involved.

Sorry, what was the question again?

Did I do a good job?
Yeah, whatever, baby. Go clean yourself up. Money’s on the dresser.

If you could ask any question, what is it and answer it.
What’s Your Favourite Cheese?

Mine would be Goat’s Cheese. It’s the ultimate cheese in a world of fake-ass dairy products.

Notes: Anyway, past interviews are linked in my about me section and Friday's interviewee will be .....

Friday may also see a dreaded double post cause depending on what happens from now till Friday something big might happen. It's interview related I swear so don't burn me.