Interviewed by Tom Mangan

Patrick Keller, recent graduate, movie aficionado, software trainer

His Web site is here. Netwits page here.

What's with you guys who never outgrew comic books at age 12 like the rest of us?

The self-deprecating answer: I discovered girls, but they never discovered me back.

The silly answer: I didn't discover comics until I was 17, so I'm just catching up.

The honest answer: There are lots a great stories out there that don't involve guys in tights. Plus, it's still cheaper than smoking.

You seem particularly embittered by your experience as an intern with Movieline magazine. Can you share a single anecdote that seems to sum it all up?

It was so long ago, I finally thought I'd managed to block it out. But no... You just have to bring it all back!

Well, I could tell you about the various random goose chases they sent me on across LA without money for gas. Or the hundreds of times they bumped into me as I was filing and never apologized or even acknowledged I was there.

But what really sticks in my mind is how, about two and a half weeks before my internship was up, I asked if I could switch a day with another intern so that I could leave my apartment a day early, thus avoiding a month's worth of rent. I'd switched shifts before with no problem, but I had made the mistake of leaving at 2 o'clock the day before, which was when my shift was supposed to end but never actually did.

So the editor in charge of the interns decided that she didn't like my attitude, and sent me an e-mail telling me not to bother coming in anymore. Two months of working for them, and she cuts me loose over a shift change. Over e-mail, no less.

For the record, I finished out my internship, but made arrangements to report to a different editor. I don't think the first editor ever made eye contact with me again.

What did you learn about the movies in college that you couldn't have figured out by just watching them?

Nothing, except that I could get college credit for watching movies.

What's your favorite movie cliche?

Well, my current favorite movie cliche, though it runs rampant in almost all media, is the concept of "the chosen one" (inevitably a man) who single-handedly turns the tide.

If you'll excuse some AOL-ish behavior, this has to be said in all caps: WE KNOW YOU READ JOSEPH CAMPBELL IN COLLEGE. DO SOMETHING NEW. THERE ARE OTHER KINDS OF STORIES OUT THERE. Thank you.

What's one of the unexpected bonuses of owning a DVD player?

I could say "multi-angle porn," but of course I never watch anything like that. The best part is being able to listen to things like the non-stop stream of cussing in Pulp Fiction in other languages. You never know when things like that will come in handy.

What peculiar insights has your job as a software trainer given on the nature of computer users?

There is no such thing as an intermediate user. People either have no clue what a computer is and seem genuinely surprised that it turns on each time, or they can have named their firstborn Linux (and know how to pronouce it correctly as well).

What did you learn in one of your journalism classes that comes in handy when dealing with your company's clients?

It isn't always necessary to wait until someone has left the room to mock them. If your delivery is good, you can sometimes do it right to their face without them even knowing it.

However, you'll never know whether your delivery is good or not until after the fact.

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