Home FAQ 1.1: David Mack on David Mack
Besides the biography featured in the Kabuki trade paperbacks, David Mack has shared the following descriptions of himself on his message board:
11/7/01, 10:35 a.m.
Well, I try to resist the urges [to jump over a table] when I'm in public now.
But sometimes after I eat, I get lots of happy energy and jump (or flip...or leap) over things, on things, off things, and generally around.
11/17/00, 3:24 p.m.
The list you mentioned was the Nine Intelligences that have been attributed
to homosapiens. It was in Kabuki #7.
I do have interests and practices in the topics that I mentioned in that book, but like writing and art, these others are probably more passions and enjoyments, rather than talents.
I'll list 'em here and mention something that I enjoy doing in each realm. Everyone else can list their own as well if you like.
The list is:
1) Linguistic: A mastery and love of language and words with a desire
to explore them.
Obviously I enjoy working with words. Written and spoken. In high school
I've won some awards for speech competitions and for work in other languages.
And I guess some plays/acting i've done overlaps into this categoy.
2) Logical-mathematical: Confronting & assessing objects & abstractions
& discerning relations & underlying principles.
I enjoy theoretical math more than one plus two. Anh is a natural at the latter. I can still negotiate a contract with a graduating scale, but I'm more into the logical, abstractions and underlying principles that
I can apply to my art. I wrote a big math paper in college that documents the logical-mathematical principles involved in production schedule of a comic book from start to finish. I found this in my basement the other day and it cracked me up. I should print it in
Reflections or something. I found it with a lot of old drawings and school papers and wondered if it would be funny to include that kind of stuff in a Reflections.
3) Musical: A competence not only in composing & performing pieces with pitch, rhythm & timbre but also in listening and discerning. May be related to other intelligences such as linguistic, spatial, or bodily-kinisthetic.
My father is an amazingly accomplished and versatile musician. I don't think that the noise I make on instruments qualifies as music but I'm interested in it anyway. I intend to approach it more seriously in the future the same way I do art. In that I may not be very gifted at riffing it, but by focusing and layering and composing, I can collage it together in a
way that communicates.
My friend Andy is good at straight guitar and so is Ron from this board. He was very impressive with Andy's guitar. He writes and sings his own songs.
But I can dance like a man possessed.
4) Spatial: An ability to percieve the visual world accurately, transform
& modify perceptions, & recreate visual experiences even without
phisical stimulai.
I definitely do a lot of this nonsense everyday. From drawing to playing
chess.
5) Bodily-Kinesthetic: Controlling and orchestrating body motions &
handling objects skillfully.
This one is probably my favorite. Martial arts, acting, dancing, sports,
physical comedy, and all around goofing off and playing around would be
covered in this category. The most fun category for me. I've been doing
rock-climbing and pilates yoga lately (with my friends Ean and Andy) which
also qualifies.
6 & 7) Personal intelligences: Accurately determining moods, feelings, & other mental states in oneself (intra-personal) and in others (inter-personal) and using the information as a guide for behavior.
Boy, do i have to do a lot of this so I don't come off like a freak to people I haven't met before.
8) Naturalist: Recognizing and categorizing natural objects.
I won a science fair award for a long term study I did on the genetics
of mice. I used to have hundreds of rats and mice that I bred and documented
for many generations. My brother and I had a basement filled with aquariums
and homemade cages. We used to sell them and fill customized orders. We
could breed you any kind of mouse or rat that you wanted. Red eyes, black
eyes, fluffy or sleek coat, white, black, any shade of grey, brown, or tan
and any combination of spots or stripes, crooked tale, straight tale. Huge
ears, small ears, big, small. We started with just two mice and bred thousands,
documenting every life cycle, dates of birth, death, mating, amount of
litter, temperment, birth cycle, etc. We had charts and graphs, notebooks,
and when one died we sealed each in their own little plastic container
that had all their info, names, dates, geneology, etc. for future reference.
O.K. Now you know that I'm insane.
9) Existential: Capturing and pondering the fundamental question of existence.
You already know some of my considerations of this from the Kabuki issues. Anyway, I think I have said to much already.
Your ticking-time-bomb,
David
2/23/01, 8:59 a.m.
I guess I'll be the first to give some stats.
I'm the same age as you, 28. Not married yet, but been with the same girlfriend for the last 4 years. No kids yet. I'm saving that for my second childhood as an excuse to play with them all day. But I play basketball, skateboard and soccor with the neighborhood kids.
With my peers, I also like rock climbing (just came back from this in Atlanta) Yoga, martial arts.
Oh yeah, and long romantic walks on the beach.
9/28/01, 4:14 p.m.
How do we know which David is our David?
I would say that your David is the one that writes the books. But since
someone else tried using that name, that too is confusing. Though that
David Mack called me on the phone and said that he would no longer write
books under the name David Mack because people keep asking him about Kabuki (and several other problems that naturally arise in such a situation. Too numerous and disturbing to mention).
Who is Docter Dave and Mister Mack, and how did all this
stuff get started anyway?
Rick Mays coined the term about 6 years ago. Before that I was just me.
Are there two of you?
Legions.
Fight Club?
Art club.
Weirdo?
Unconventional problem solver.
Who is Guskey?
Gusky is a friend of mine that I met about ten years ago in Karate. Since you mentioned him, and since you refered to yourself as a "patient", perhaps you know of him?
Most people don't see his genius side. He's a brilliant person who occasionally stops by when one of us can help the other.
He asked me to safegaurd his artwork at my house some years ago when he had to become a paitent for a while.
I spoke to him at length two days ago on the phone when I read to him the entire book of Revelations from the Bible.
We are sources of endless support and fascination for each other.
7/25/03, 12:11 a.m.
I'm a black belt in name dropping! Ha! Actually, I got that quote from Andy Lee who is sick of mentioning my name and Bendis' and said that in one of his bios. That he holds a black belt in name dropping. Hilarious. That Andy Lee. Oops, there goes another name. But like Samuel Jackson and Lawrence Fishburne once told me... Just Kidding! Actually, you should hear the stuff I don't tell! That is the real name nonsense.
I'm holding so much in that it hurts! Time enough for that in my memiors! I'll tell you more stuff when we are older.
Recommended Links:
CityBeat.com - The Devil in David Mack
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