SpotLight: Calixus Voom

The SpotLight Column introduces the most interesting, famous and exquisite Citizens of Swing Times. The questionnaire is almost the same and what makes each interview unique is the subject’s answers and reactions. This week, Mr. Calixus Voom, owner of The Hammerwielder - Poster & Art Gallery, is under the Spotlight.

*SL Name: Calixus Voom

*Rez day:  February 15th, 2007

*Best moment in SL: Actually, spawning for the first time in SL was great and it all got better by each moment.

ST: What brought you to Swing Times?

CV: Foremost memories. I took a long vacation overseas and on returning and looking for a place to settle, I remembered the first place l, I did set shop in SL, which was quite similar to Swing Times and equally atmospheric.

ST: Tell us a bit about your background.

CV: Being a fairly baroque person from old Europe, I used to travel quite a bit until I came to a rest here. After a fair military career, I studied this and that, worked as a gallerist, an entertainer, a builder and then took some long vacation, which some would call "to get a real life". After that, I decided to turn back to the gallerist in me and help to make the world a brighter place.

ST: I know you are always incredibly busy, but fill us in on your daily tasks.

CV: Well, after the daily necessities, I usually turn to a cup of coffee and some toast, while studying the newspapers.

After that, I stroll down to the gallery and review, which posters my correspondent sent to me and which might be interesting enough to be on display. I fancy, framing those, dusting the exhibits and tending to customers is not a terribly busy task, but it fills the day, while you get a chance to view artistic work everywhere around you and meet nice people.

ST: What do you like to do in the spare time you find?

CV: I adore discovering new things, so I normally travel a lot. If i stumble above some piece of artwork I like, I buy it to have it in the gallery and make the artist happy. Besides that, I spend my time conversing with mostly interesting people, go out dancing and scratching plans for buildings on my drawing board.

ST: What was your proudest moment in regards to Swing Times?

CV: To stand on the roof of my newly built gallery and overlook the skyline.

ST: If you were offered one million dollars or the ability to have one superpower for the rest of your life, what would you choose and why?

Definitely the power to beam from one place to another and burning calories by sheer force of mind… We lose so much lifetime on transportation... on the other hand with hopping around on a whim, we would get fat by not moving our limbs, I guess, so burning calories would have to be the other side of the medal...

ST: What or who is your favourite and why…

*Animal? Cat. It offers beauty, character and if it had thumbs to open tuna-cans, it would not need anyone.

*Superhero? The Shadow… mostly because of the dapper hat...

*Place to vacation? The Town of Doolin, on the Irish west-coast. Brilliant stout, loads of traditional Irish music and a weather as changing as haute couture in Paris.

*Season of the year? Fall. I adore the colours and the feeling of longing for the coming cold.

*Hobby? I normally cannot decide between stamp collecting or bull riding. But then I settle for the more exciting and turn to the stamps.

*Movie? "Dead Men Wear No Plaid" with Steve Martin. Brilliant parody on noir films.

*Book? "Moscow-Petushki", also published as "Moscow to the End of the Line" by Venedikt Yerofeyev. The story follows an alcoholic intellectual, Venya, as he travels by a suburban train to see his girl and is the most hilarious description of being under the influence, I did read since Joyces "Ulysses".

*Celebrity? Buster Keaton, for saying all without a word or even a smile.

*Place to live? Somewhere I can watch life without being spotted and being harassed by it.