Christine Bernat was made from a different mold than us mere mortals! This Albany Native evolved from a well rounded normal girl, to a highly developed pyrotechnician, comic enthusiast, beer connoisseur, and has successfully altered and crossed the dna of a manta ray with an M1 Abrams tank! So I had to get an interview with her!
So, tell me what does it mean to be "Normcore"
Normcore is a joke trend that the fashion conscientious hipsters of the world latched onto around early 2014. Essentially the idea is the Seinfeld of fashion. It's cool being uncool. It's totally fashionable wearing sneakers, a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. Despite the fact that it was some hipster in-joke, I started using it to describe my (lack) of fashion sense. T-Shirt, Jeans, Cap, Hooded Sweatshirt for about 9 months out of the year.
Do you sleep with your baseball cap on?
 |
| Surprisingly, this penguin had a lot to say about beer. |
SHOTS. FIRED.
No, I do in fact take my hat and glasses off when I shower and sleep. My hair is super thick and always gets in the way. I started wearing a cap to work, just to keep my hair out of my face. Wearing it to work turned into wearing it all the time since I'm always working. And honestly, it's turned into my uniform, and how most people recognize me on a show site.
You know of the musical majesty that is Hall and Oates, what is your favorite song by them?
Currently, I would have to say Family Man. There's something about the desperation in Daryl's voice mixed with John just waaaaaaling on the guitar that just makes this song a complete banger. Well, as much of a banger as a song about adultery can be.
Tell us when you realized that John Oates is Bae?
 |
| Mirrored Oates. Can you handle it? |
Ah, I was seeking out some H&O music on YouTube and came across clips from the 1985 Liberty Concert in Jersey, and just became a fan. I mean, it's fun watching Daryl and his beautiful blond mullet rocking bouncing around, but John is just back there, holding down the fort with his guitar and bomb-ass mustache.
(Also, Some kind soul put the entire concert on YouTube in its entirety last year. [https://www.youtube.com/watch
John Oates, mustache or sans mustache? which way do you like him better?
It depends on the day. the mustache is his hat. His signature look. But at the same time, He's just so much more refined looking without it.
I got his memoir out of the library a couple weeks ago and just started reading it. I'm curious what his opinion on mustache is now. I guess I need to keep reading it to find out.
As a pyrotechnician, how many stages have you rigged up and worked on? What does that include?
 |
| Feel the heat, burning you up. Ready or not! |
Oh man, I've worked on stages of all shapes and sizes. The most impressive are probably the main stages from TomorrowWorld, which was this massive EDM festival in the middle of Georgia. (This is from year one, and was a terrifying/awesome climb: http://fuelyournights.com/wp-c
Each show is unique. Sometimes it takes up to a week to load in (these huge EDM Festivals) other times you get there a couple hours before and set up (birthday parties, smaller community events.) It really just depends how much stuff is on the show.
How did you get into being a pyrotechnician?
Well, I originally went to school for theatre production/design. I was working in Pittsburgh as a freelance lighting tech for a bit when I saw a listing for an apprentice/intern at this pyro company that was an hour north of me. I've been interested in pyro and lasers for the longest time, but never really went for it. I saw the ad, said screw it... and it worked out!
 |
| Now that's impressive! |
What was the the one event that you loved working on?
There is this music festival a couple hours north of Vancouver (Pemberton Music Festival), that I've fallen in love with. You're in the middle of the mountains, so gorgeous views, good vibes from the attendees, and I've been able to sneak away for a little bit and see some of my favourite bands (Chromeo, Metric, Fucked Up). It's just a great event all around.
How many months out of a year are you on the road?
 |
| Invasion AF! |
Depends on the season, really. I would love to say "I'm never home", but some months are much busier than others. (May through September are probably the busiest for me.)
When did you get into comics and can you recall what comic book that got you coming back for more?
I can 100% blame this on my brother. He was (...actually, still is) huge into the Marvel Universe. Mainly X-Men. So, growing up I used to read some of his stuff. Once I got into high school, I stopped reading comics. Just too busy I guess. I'm not really sure why.
I got back on the bandwagon a few years ago. I had some health issues and needed surgery, and ended up going to a surgeon back home to have it done, so I was taking the bus back home twice a month for almost a year. (Which is about an 8-10 hour drive one way), so I had plenty of time. I decided to pick up some trade paperbacks from the library, and just kept devouring them. I was able to catch up on 15 years of comics in a couple months. During this time, the two comic series I REALLY jumped into were the Cassandra Cain Batgirl (She's still my favourite bat-family member. Just an all-around badass), and Sweet Tooth (Which got me into the wonderful world of Jeff Lemire, who quickly became my favoirite comic artist/writer/storyteller.)
This was also a great time to jump back into monthly books, since it was the beginning of DC's New 52 (too bad most of the series were kind of awful... but you gotta re-start somewhere.) I ended up finding a great comics/crack dealer who I still get my pulls through. The new Detective Comics and Lemire's Royal City are currently my two faves circulating right now.
What is your favorite comic book character and why?
John Constantine. You got to love that he's your stereotypical anti-hero, yet he's a full on humanist. Yeah, he's done some shady shit, and fucked several people over throughout the course of his life, but he will ultimately do whatever it takes for the greater good to survive. You've got to respect that.
 |
| A staple to any comic book lover. Booze! |
When did you get into collecting swamp thing and his figures?
 |
| A growing collection of anthropomorphic bipedal plant man! |
I actually started getting into Swampy AFTER I started blasting through the Hellblazer series. (It's usually the other way around!) I fell in love with the Saga of the Swamp Thing series, and started slowly collecting figures after that. My brother is huge into toy collecting, so he's been funneling me the 80s-early 90s action figures when he finds them. (Bad influence!) My favourite is probably the swampy that has a button on his back. When you press the button, his arms start moving up and down. It's so silly, but it's fun to just harass folks with.
Who got you into beer? what was the first beer you've ever had?
Ah, my first beer? I'm pretty sure it was a Keystone Light at a party sophomore year of college. (Isn't that how it always starts?) As far as getting into craft beer, I think it was probably senior year of college. On a whim, I just headed into the craft beer section of Wegmans (aka the greatest grocery store in the universe) and just decided to pick up a mix-six based on brews I've heard other friends/coworkers/family rave about. The only two I remember out of that pack was Brewery Ommegang's Hennepin (a saison) and Ommegang's Three Philosophers (A Belgian Quad) and thus, I became attached to Belgians early on. I'm sorry, wallet.
Do you have a favorite type? ale, stout? etc?
 |
| This sweater is lit fam. |
 |
| Shots. Fired. Had to be repeated. |
It would behoove you to follow this awesome on instagram @bernasky
No comments:
Post a Comment