He said
I'm going to select one living person and one not-so-living person.
The first man was killed in 1948: Mohandas Gandhi.
Gandhi was such a phenomenal person. He inspired peace in a time of violence between England and India, when India was still under British rule.
I would imagine Gandhi exudes a humble aura of greatness and the man has some of the best quotes ever. He would be a journalist's dream because we love awesome quotes.
"An eye for an eye makes the world blind."
That's one of my favourite quotes, and it's attributed to the little bald Indian man who wore Harry Potter glasses, long before those glasses were cool.
"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent."
This guy is full of wisdom. He is the kind of person who makes the world a better place. If the world was made up just of me, it would probably be about the same place, but if there were six billion Gandhi's running around, there would be no war. I would say there would be no starvation, but he was well known for his fasting. At least there would be food available, and if one of the Gandhi's felt like fasting for a few weeks, he could still end that anytime and have lots of good food.
The living person I would want to sit down with has gigantic hair and an even bigger voice: Claudio Sanchez.
He's the mastermind behind the band Coheed and Cambria and is one of the most talented individuals in music today. He's a great guitarist and has one of the most electrifying voices on the planet. I think a friend of mine suggested he was like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant all rolled in to one brilliantly musical person.
He also writes some of the most interesting lyrics of the day, as the band's albums follow a sci-fi/fantasy storyline in a fictional universe of 78 planets called Heaven's Fence. That sounds nerdy, and it is, but the lyrics rarely just play out as a narration of a story, they deal with the characters' emotional states.
"Decision sits so make it quick/a breath inhaled from an air so sick/I cursed the day that I learned of the web you spun."
The lyrics take a little deciphering, but he also writes a comic book to further illustrate the story. Sanchez is maybe the coolest nerd out there, so a coffee would be great, though I would request he bring his acoustic guitar.
She said
I can't decide on just one celebrity. It's too tough, as there are so many that I'd like to meet. How do you pick one person to be the most interesting, most inspiring and most awesome to enjoy coffee with? Impossible.
First, I'd like to visit with J. K. Rowling. She's definitely an inspiration, being (in my opinion) single-handedly responsible for getting kids to read again. She was once a single mom struggling to get by, and now thanks to a little series about some kid named Harry Potter, she's the world's richest author, having made over $1 billion.
It's not her success that makes her so exciting, though. It's the Harry Potter books themselves. As a huge fan of the series, I appreciate the detail she has put into each story, and the cleverly constructed plot that ties them all together.
If I could visit with J. K., I'd probably ask her all about coming up with the idea behind Quidditch, the wizard sport. I'd want to know what happens to Harry and Ginny's kids, and if Lucius Malfoy went to Azkaban following Voldemort's defeat. So many details that I'd make sure she was contractually obliged to tell me as part of our coffee date.
My second person(s) would be Marianas Trench. I know, that's not one person, and the only reason I'm so fixated on them at the moment is because I'm seeing them in concert this weekend. Fangirl mania has fit, for sure. But their interviews are always funny (trust me, I've watched them all this week), they seem very down to earth, and they seem like they'd be able to carry on a conversation among themselves, which would be convenient since I would definitely be dumb-struck and just sit their staring. And probably spill my coffee everywhere.
It would sort of be like our ongoing Twitter relationship, in which I read their tweets and laugh to myself, but never say anything in return.
Plus that time I e-mailed their manager about doing an interview and never got a reply. Which I wasn't upset about and didn't sulk around over for any amount of time.
So, in summary: I'd go for coffee with J. K. Rowling because she's very interesting and inspiring, and Marianas Trench because, uh, well for other reasons.
