A meme, gacked from just about everybody.

[penmage]

Pick an interest from my interests page that either 1) you know nothing about but sounds intriguing, or 2) you know something about but can't fathom why yours truly would be interested in it, and request an explanation.

Edit: feel free to choose more than one. I'll happily explain any and all.

Comments

[bethofalltrades.livejournal.com]

"the old penguin edition" or "constructed languages"

I couldn't decide. :)

[penmage.livejournal.com]

"the old penguin edition" - I'm can get picky about my books. For one thing, I like to keep them in good condition - if I lend them to someone and they come back bent and dog-eared, I get pissed. For another, I like them to last. As a History major, I've ended up buying a lot of Penguin classics. I like them. They're usually a good translation, and the old Penguin edition (example: here) lasts and lasts and lasts and lasts and still looks as good as new. Recently, they've come out with a new style of book (example: here)- which looks spiffy, but I don't like it half as much. They cover is easily scuffed, they fall apart really easily. Therefore, I am addicted to the old Penguin edition - whenever I go to Gotham, my local used and new bookstore, I always ask them to dig up the old Penguin edition.

It's the kind of thing you don't notice unless you're me.

"constructed languages" - these are really cool. I wrote a speech on them, and I find them fascinating. Tolkien had 14 of his own, including different forms of Elvish. Klingon is a conlang. There are hundreds of websites listing hundreds of conlangs in existance, totally speakable - most only known by thier own creator. They are complete languages, crafted and invented deliberately.

Some cool links, if you're interested: A Conlang FAQ - answers some basic questions. This site guides you through constructing your own language - complete with grammer, syntax, vocabulary, the whole deal.

[arib.livejournal.com]

My friend vaxjedi has invented his own language called Sinnish. It's surprisingly complex. One of his recent posts discusses the primer he just wrote. Give it a look.

[fshk.livejournal.com]

Although it should be noted that one of the reason Penguin editions are so cheap is that they are cheaply made. Well, and they publish things from the public domain so they don't have to pay royalties or anything. I may just be bitter, though, as Penguin is one of our competitors. And, as an English major, I had to buy a fair number of them in college. I had a prof who edited one, a particularly evil anthology of abolitionist writing that the prof referred to as "ma book" (he was from Alabama). Um. Anyway.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

I actually really like the old penguin edition (hence the interest on my list ;). I've found that they're really well made, and good, etc etc. The new penguins are teh suck, though.

[darcydodo]

Except maybe you should change it to "the medium old penguin edition," because there was an even older edition that's mostly all black, though with a color picture. :) Which is what I think of when I think of the old penguin edition. Especially as I didn't know about the new ones.

</pedantry>

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Good point - I've seen the old old penugins. But "the medium old penguin edition" is 5 words, and that wouldn't fit as an interest ;). And besides, the yellow ones are what I regularly refer to as "the old penguin edition," so.

[darcydodo]

"medium-old"...? ;) OK.

[rosaleendhu.livejournal.com]

*is far too hopelessly distracted by your icon to follow directions*

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Spiffy, innit? More can be found here, but Mina is definitly my favorite. Feel the Mina love.

[vass]

A lot of them I liked and understood - including the old Penguin edition - but I didn't get "the bones tell me nothing".

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Willow is one of my all-time favorite 80s fantasy movies, and has been since I was very small. It's chock-full of great lines and memorable characters. In one scene, the High Aldwin (the village wise man and wizard) declares that he'll consult the bones to tell him what to do. After examining the bones closely, with interested "hmmmm" sounds, he calls over the main character, Willow, and whispers "the bones tell me nothing!" He asks Willow's opinion - and then announces, loudly "The bones have spoken!"

Maybe you had to be there. But it's this really great silly movie moment that my family's been quoting for years, a sort of phrase for when someone acts really pretentious and smart for no good reason. Also, I can't show my appreciation for Willow by simply writing "Willow" - because people always assume it's a Buffy reference.

I have to say, I highly recommend Willow.

[skywriting-----.livejournal.com]

tell me stuff about richard iii.

[shellefly.livejournal.com]

#wyverns?

Most of your interests are interests I have as well. :)

[penmage.livejournal.com]

One of the earliest online communities I was involved in was Elfwood. (The only ones earlier, I think, were the MFF and WoT boards on AOL.) Elfwood was, in fact, the reason I got an LJ - when Elfwood was down for a long period of time, I discovered the elfwood lj communities - and that was the beginning of the end ;).

The branch of Elfwood I'm involved with, being a writer, is Wyvern's Library, the writing section. One of the nice things that's come from that is the IRC chatroom #wyverns_library, or #wl. It's a community, it's a group of friends, it's generally fun.

[amea.livejournal.com]

YOU LIKE PATRICIA WREDE! **glomp**

I echo the richard iii question. ~_^

And I'm adding "simple joys of maidenhood" to my list, if that's allowed, since, er, it's also my journal theme. ^_^

[jenavira.livejournal.com]

endicott studio?

(Also, your interest in Patricia Wrede shows you to be a person of excellent taste in crap 80's fantasy.)

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Endicott Studio is a circle of writers and artists who write and create fantasy. Terri Windling, one of the leaders of Endicott, is one of the people I'd like to be when I grow up. Everyone involved are just generally cool. If I could have anything, I'd want to be part of Endicott. The website is chock-full of excellent stuff - articles, art, and poetry (including Carabosse, one of my favorite poems.) I could spend all day reading the Endicott website.

[arib.livejournal.com]

By "historical science fiction," do you mean science fiction that was written a long time ago, or science fiction that takes place in the past?

Oh, and why thunderstorms? (I'm fond of them too, just curious as to what you see in them.)

[penmage.livejournal.com]

By historical science fiction, I mostly mean time travel SF - SF that takes place in the past. Like Connie Willis's excellent time travel books (Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog) and Kage Baker's Dr. Zeus books (In the Garden of Iden in particular.)

Books that combine history and science fiction? How could I not love them? ;)

As to thunderstorms, I love the storm. I love the rain. In high school, when it rained, I used to take an umbrella to school specifically so I could go for walks in the rain during lunch. Rainstorms are cozy - thunderstorms even more so. I love the power of the storm, the sheer might of it all. It takes my breath away. What I really love is a thunderstorm during the wee hours, when all the world's asleep, and you're writing by candlelight to the music of the storm. Or a sudden summer storm that catches you unawares and soaks you till you don't care that you're soaked, and you dance around in the massing puddles, reveling in the glory of the storm like a gleeful madwoman. Totally breathtaking.

Oooooh, literature.

[wizardwhately.livejournal.com]

'walking away from omelas.' If that's the story I *think* it is, then I want your thoughts on it, please.



Actually, I'd like your thoughts on elphaba and ender's game too, since those both affected me pretty deeply.

Re: Oooooh, literature.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

"walking away from omelas" is indeed a reference to the Ursula le Guin story. It's one of the most important stories I've read. You know, I'm having trouble explaining exactly why it's so important to me. Every time I reread it, I find it powerful and important all over again. Perfect happiness, at a very small cost. And walking away from it all. It's one of my favorite stories, and one of the most powerful images - walking away, alone, from the city of happiness, to a place that may not exist. I'm struggling for words again. The best I can say is, reread the story. Is it not powerful? I think it is.

I was captivated by the character of Elphaba since I finished the book a few years ago. What is wicked? How does someone become evil? Elphaba's prickly, odd, passionate character also intrigued me. She's one of the most fascinating characters I've read.

As to Ender's Game, it was one of the first real SF books I read, and I loved it. It blew my mind. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. It's one of my old-time classics. I still think Card is a brilliant writer. My favorite of the Ender books is, btw, Xenocide. Which makes everyone give me funny looks. But it is.

[liv]

Hello. darcydodo thinks I ought to read your journal, and she says it's mostly FO. So if you felt like adding me, that would be very cool. If not, I'll happily just hang out in the public sections.

If I'm entitled to ask about an interest, as a newcomer, who or what is 'elphaba', please? It sounds like a pretty word, but I have no idea what it means.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Hey, nice to meet you! You're all added back, welcome to the flist, all that ;).

Elphaba is the name Gregory Maguire gives to the Wicked Witch of the West in his very excellent book, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. It explores the character of the witch, from childhood up - who she was, how she became the broom-flying green baddie in the movie we've all seen. It's a fascinating book - Maguire dips into Oz politics and backstory. Even cooler, according to me, anyway, is that Maguire uses references from both the Frank L. Baum book The Wizard of Oz, AND the movie - which have differences, trust me. If you're familiar with both, it's even more fun to read - but even if you're not, it's a fascinating and excellent read about a really complex, interesting character.

As well, Wicked has recently been adapted into a Broadway show, which is also excellent, though in many ways quite different. I highly recommend both book and Bway show.

[darcydodo]

Oops, did I never tell you to read Wicked? ;)

Go. Read.

Glad to have finally remembered to put you two together. :)

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Woohoo, flist matchmaking!

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

...soap monkey?

Whassat?

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, the soap monkey. I think the easiest way to explain this is to link you to the Soap Monkey saga posts.

Where it all began.
It continues here.
And then here.
More here.

Basically, to flesh out the story a bit - my roommates and I had this monkey. In our soap. And it became a running room joke, until someone (really me!) hid it and replaced it with a panda. For a week, all we did was accuse each other - it was awesome. We'd be in the middle of studying, or about to go to sleep, and we'd start theorizing about who did it. The accusations flew, until finally I confessed. The soap monkey is still a running joke - we even have a soap monkey song.

What I want to know is, who else is listing soap monkeys as an interest, and what's her excuse? ;)