Eighties movie sweetheart Molly Ringwald still has a lot of fans on Reddit. Her live interview with the site’s users Sunday was the most popular all week. It might have been low on revelations, but it made up for it with entertainment value (“I drink the blood of Kristen Stewart” to look better with age,” she joked).
This week’s crop of r/IAmA entries offered a lot of behind-the-scenes insight on other cult favorites. Designers of the indie PC game Magicka came by, as did Reddit’s second-favorite astronomer (no one can touch Neil deGrasse Tyson) and the creator of Metalacoplypse and Home Movies .
Below, we’ve compiled the top seven posts (seven being our lucky number) from Reddit’s r/IAmA this week, as voted by redditors themselves. We’ve also included a sample question and answer from each. For the complete list, check here.
A note on terminology: AMA stands for “ask me anything,” while “IAmA” is simply “I am a;” AMAA means “ask me almost anything.”
Q. 1) You have been in so many classics. Which is your favorite? Which was the most fun to be in?
2) Do you still keep in touch with any of your co-stars from the Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, etc? If so, who?
3) Most insane fan encounter, both when you were a huge star in the 80s and now as folks run into their teen crush?
4) Can you tell us where you stumbled across the fountain of youth being that you look as if you have not aged a day?
5) How did you discover Reddit? (BinderGang)
A: 1) Breakfast Club was my favorite. Sixteen Candles was the most fun.
2) I see them all from time to time but not every day. Weirdly, I was having dinner with Bret Easton Ellis who I hadn’t seen in a decade. We were seated at the Chef’s table when we saw James Spader touring the kitchen. I think it was surreal for everyone involved, like a wormhole from the eighties opened up.
3) When I was sixteen a fan tried to give me his brand new car. I was psyched but my mom wouldn’t let me take it. At a book signing last year, a woman literally handed me her baby. Yeah.
4) That’s very sweet. I have good genes. (Thanks, mom!)
5) My friend and current typist Dan. He is now regretting it.
Q. I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about the genesis of your idea for Metalocalypse. I know you are a big metal fan and a fantastic guitarist, but where did you get the idea for a band so influential it controls world economy? (reburn)
that idea came about because we found that every other musical comedy was about a ‘band that can’t get it together’ and it’s been done brilliantly by Spinal Tap, Tenacious D, and Flight of the C- so we thought: why not make a show about the biggest band ever??? simple right?
Q: Do you think the U.S. military is a jobs program? How can U.S. reduce defense budget without sacrificing capability? (TycheSD)
A: Sadly, it’s the nation’s only real jobs program. And military contractors have cleverly spread out their (and their subcontractors’) work across key congressional districts, in order to make it especially difficult to terminate any weapons system. I think we can reduce the defense budget substantially by cutting stuff that’s outmoded and doesn’t work — but the challenge is really a political one. How do we do this without generating a political firestorm?
Q. How long does it take your iPenis to inflate? What kinds of apps does it have? (Joobeejoo47)
A. well it’s not really a robot in there, The inflation is done manually by me or my girlfriend. It takes less than 15 secs, if I hurry! Like a poster said above, much like the old Reebok Pumps, about the same amount of time to to that perfect fit!
5) I am Phil Plait, astronomer/author/blogger/some time TV host. AMA.
Q. What is the craziest misconception that you have had people tell you that they believe? Also what is your greatest achievement in life? (Rocker232)
A. There is no craziest misconception, I’d say. People believed Nancy Lieder when she said you could see a giant planet everywhere in the sky (which turned out to be lens flares in pictures) but not the big bright comet Hale-Bopp. One guy claims comets are hot and bigger than planets, and he has followers. There’s no idea so ridiculous you can’t find people to believe it.
Greatest achievement (mushy, but true): I have a good marriage and a good kid.
Q. Is vlad a vampire? (Nacbee)
A. This is a very common misconception. Like we say in the office – if being labeled as a vampire just because you are pale, come from eastern europe and stay up late at night and sleep during the day then that means Magicka was coded by a bunch of vampires. So no.
7) IAmA technology journalist. I’m leaving the internet for a year at 12:01am
Q. If you had to guess what your one cracking point would be, what would it be? (Zeu4s)
A. Porn.
Photo via Molly Ringwald
