![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calvinahobbes and kabal42 each picked six of my interests to expand on in this meme. If you want me to pick 6 of yours, let me know in the comments.calvinahobbes: Ancient GreeceWas. Literally, as it's not really ancient anymore. Anyway, I tend to have these fascinations with time periods - I'm currently having fun with the Viking period, a few years ago it was Age of Sail - and even when I move on, I never quite let go. Ancient Greece was back when I was a teenager - I took Ancient Greek in gymnasiet, though if that was cause or effect, I don't remember. Anyway, I read plays and Herodotus and Xenophon and Sapho, I read Mary Renault and Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist and - and then one day I, I didn't stop, I just. There were other things making me go "oooh, quick, go to Bibliotek.dk and request ten books about that" (leading to the inevitable "uhm, that's an awful lot of books"). Which isn't to say that I don't still find Ancient Greece interesting (if really not a place I'd want to visit), but - maybe some day I'll cycle back? I haven't tried yet, but then, I'm only 30 - plenty of time for new things to happen in, right?
Asexuality
Is queer. At least, if queer is taken as an umbrella term for things not fitting in the heterosexual norm, then asexuality is queer. Except I hesitate to call myself queer, mostly because half the time asexuality gets mentioned in even borderline mainstream media there seems to be so much - resentment? I dunno. Sometimes you'd be forgiven for feeling like queer built a clubhouse and invited everyone not comfortable in the big hetero house to come party - except asexuals, because they're not really anything. Sometimes. Except bi- or homoromantics, of course. But not aromantics, oh no, because clearly they need to be grouped with the heterosexuals (isn't that a bit like saying that atheists should be grouped with Christians because they're clearly not Muslims or Hindus or Scientologists or adherents of Great Cthulhu? (I'd totally be an adherent of Great Cthulhu, except blood is so annoying when it comes to getting it out of ceremonial robes...) (Also, I need to stop reading comment threads on the internet). And I'm pretty introverted - I've never been the sort to join clubs or seek out new things - and anyway, I know some asexuals spend years of feeling wrong and all that, but me - it was never that big a deal. I had my interests and I had this vague idea that I'd probably get around to it, that one day I'd meet someone and want to, maybe, but it was never - it was never a big deal or anything worth pursuing. A few years ago the word started to crop up in the fandoms I hung around and I did a bit of reading and went "oh, that fits" and then, well, nothing. I've added some asexual communities and I've read Bogaert's book, but there's so many other things that are more interesting, you know? Except. A couple of years ago I went to see (A)Sexual - it was shown as part of - I can't even remember if the festival had changed it's name to Mix Copenhagen at that point. Anyway, it was shown at Cinemateket, so I went to see it, because I wanted to, alone, because that's just how it turned out - and it was a very interesting and funny movie, but - watching it I found myself feeling a bit alone. See, there was a lot of other people in the cinema and sometimes a lot of them would laugh, except they wouldn't be laughing at the right places, if you know what I mean? I dunno. This has gotten way too longwinded, really. Next.
Elverhøj
is a fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen (well, and it's other things too, but it's the fairytale I like in this case.) It's funny, though, because as far as stories go, it's - not that much. It reads - actually, it's a bit like fanfic. Folklore fanfic, I mean. A nice little, fluffy crossover between Danish and Norwegian folklore, with more time spent remembering to include a list of all the party guests (even the helhorse and the church grim are invited) and to detail the fingerfoods than on the story, but that's alright, because the story doesn't really matter. The setting does, the worldbuilding. It's very good with the worldbuilding - someone could probably use it as a stepping stone to a Danish urban fantasy? That'd be kinda cool...
Lord Peter Wimsey
Is a series of mystery novels by Dorothy L. Sayers and the main character thereof. Lord Peter is, well, remember that Monty Python sketch with the upperclass twits? He's that - except not, because he's very smart and somewhat fucked up with PTSD and has a loyal, competent butler. And then he meets Harriet Vane (and it vaguely annoys me that she is no so few of the books) and they get to be adorable and clever. Eventually. I really need to get around to rereading Gaudy Night, dog collar and all. And I need to get my hands on the two television series one of these days, just because (it's a bit odd that they aren't on DR's list of eternal reruns of British mystery series, isn't it?) Also - is it just me who suspects Lord Peter might have ended up reincarnated as a hyperactive Vor named Miles?
Spinks
Are a species of bird from in about 5 million years time. They're from this science fiction series Animal Planet did some years ago, back when those cgi dinosaur and mammoth tv programs were, well, bigger than now. Anyway, the show was called The Future is Wild and was an attempt to guess how evolution would shape animals (very often squids, for some reason) after the time of man - and spinks are these tiny, burrowing, adorable birds. Sort of like moles, except birds. And they're adorable. Yeah. Nobody claimed my interests were necessarily sophisticated...
Taxi
Is a French movie. Movie series, actually, but honestly, the sequels are alright, but the first one is the best (and the American remake is enough to make you shout "why??????????", but let's forget about that - delete it from ours minds completely, okay?). It's a movie about a taxi driver with dreams of becoming a race driver and a cop who wants to catch a bunch of robbers specialising in making their escape in race cars. And it's fun and somewhat adobrale. And I really need to stop starting my sentences with and.
kabal42: Jack ShaftoeIs a fictional character from Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle trilogy, sometimes referred to as Half-Cocked Jack Shaftoe due to an unfortunate incident involving a minor accident during an attempted treatment for syphilis (at least he'd managed to become a father prior to said accident?) He's a very picaresque sort of character, wandering the world, getting up to no good on basically every continent except Antarctica. Or carrying on criminal enterprises in London, undermining the Mint and pissing off Newton. As you do. And there's some pretty good fanfic out there that tends to slash him with Jack Sparrow (and I actually did read the novels before coming across said fanfic, not the other way around, no matter what you might think of me).
Kindred: The Embraced
Was a vampire tv series and it was shown in Danish tv and I cannot remember a time when I did not enjoy a good vampire story (without sparkling - sparks are alright, as long as the vampire in question is Nikola Tesla ;-) ). In retrospect, it was one of those shows that was done too soon - like Profit. If they had just waited a few years, until HBO got off the ground, it might have been so much better. It might actually have done justice to White Wolf's World of Darkness. As is, to be honest, you really wouldn't have to make that many changes for it to be a pretty run-of-the-mill show about organized crime (but then, it was Spelling - I suppose it's just fortunate it wasn't, well). You had five clans running around, but they all had pretty much the same powers, and apart from the episode that had an Assamite show up, there wasn't really anything from the larger world (no werewolves - considering the general level of 90s tv shows special effects, that was probably just as well, but dammit, I like the Garou). Maybe that would have come in season two, except that never came. I still liked it - though maybe that's just cause I didn't know any better. I lurked and shipped Julian Luna/Frank Kohanek (because I'm predictable like that) and let's be honest, I liked it. Anyway,
isagel did a very pretty K:tE fanvid last Festivid, so you should stop reading me rambling about silly stuff and go watch that instead, yes?Mark Frankel
Was an actor. I first saw him as Julian Luna in Kindred: The Embraced and I liked him. He was a good actor. Also one of the first cases of me going "I sort of want to see everything he's been in". Which wasn't really that much, but sadly, as this was back when the internet was a lot slower and thus no real help, I had to make do with what television had to offer (I still want to track down A Season of Giants at some point). Which was a few movies and this really crappy show were he played some sort of retrieval specialist, the only part of which I can actually remember today involved an episode where he had to work with a woman and there was a tent they needed to get into with a guard in the way and when our hero suggested the woman distract the guard with her feminine wiles she said no, hero should go, because clearly the guard was gay (which didn't turn out well, and thinking back it's a bit iffy, really, but this was back in the before and usually alternate sexualities was the province of fanfic (at least I'd discovered fanfic), so even iffy mentions etc.). Anyway, Mark Frankel was an actor and I liked him and I first saw him as Julian Luna in Kindred: The Embraced and I'm fairly sure that by the time I first saw him he had already died in a motorcycle accident. Which is just typical...
Nikola Tesla
Is a fictional - no, wait, he's real. Earthquake machines and all. Still, I mostly encounter him in the form of fiction, whether he's teaming up with Mark Twain to build steampunk mecha and fight Lovecraftian horrors FOR WORLD PEACE! or he's creating machines to copy hats and magicians or he's a vampire who keeps neglecting his scheemes for world domination in order to help the heroes save it (he's not very good at the world domination) (also, I'm convinced Sanctuary!Nikola is asexual - well, real!Nikola probably was. Possibly. Probably. It's one of those "were they something people invented a word for later" things. But Sanctuary!Nikola, he's snarky and he's always flirting, yes, but with Helen, the one person he pretty much knows for certain isn't going to actually take him up on it. But that's probably just me.) He's actually sort of a selling point, as far as I'm concerned - write a novel or make a movie or a tv show or whatever, include a Nikola Tesla. I'll check it out. I might not stick around beyond the pilot episode of a late 19th century Canadian tv series, but I'll check it out.
Also, I'm still not entirely convinced he isn't fictional. I mean, he could be. He sounds like he ought to be, doesn't he? I mean, come on - death rays??? (I read a short story a couple of years ago which focused on the idea that Lovecraft was fictional, created by a circle of 1930's writers and editors - not a particularly brilliant short story, but I liked the premise).
Romkugler
Are yummy. One of my favourite pastries (especially the ones with multicoloured sprinkles - yes, I know you can't actually taste the difference, humour me), and I haven't actually had one in forever, come to think of it. I never did get around to trying one of Øieblikket's famed ones :-(
Strife
Is a minor, minor character from the Hercules/Xena 'verse. He's a trickster, a nasty one - and unlike most of the gods he actually starts out by managing to beat Hercules, mostly because his victory involves manipulation behind the scenes rather than outright violence - not that it lasted, but hey, Hercules is the hero. Also, he's a bit - annoying. Not the character (well, yes, that too, a little) - but see, he dies. In the show, he dies, very dramatic - and we never see him come back to life. Except, except there are some episode set in the present, were he's shown to be alive. Bloody inconsistent tv shows... Anyway, he's not really what you'd call a developed character - fandom tended to slash him with Cupid (aka Karl Urban in white wings and not much else), despite the pair never having actually been on screen at the same time. That's fandom for you.
From:
no subject
It was good to hear your thoughts on Kindred: TE. I never got to watch it, despite starting playing the game shortly after. Something about timing and I couldn't really download things at the time. So yeah, it was good to hear. And I'd never heard of Mark Frankel, so thanks for that too!
Nikola Tesla totally sounds like he ought to be fictional. I'm also quite fascinated by him - who wouldn't be! - so that's why I asked about him. Thanks :)
Romkugler are totally my favourite cake too. I prefer the ones without coloured sprinkles ;) Clearly we must share a mixed bunch some time.
Strife and Jack Shaftoe I'd never heard about, but now I know! Thanks again. You gave great answers!
From:
no subject
I hope I didn't stress you out asking about asexuality! I know it's not something you talk about a lot, and I guess I just wanted to hear your thoughts. To me, asexuality is queer, and yeah it totally doesn't make any sense when other queers try to tell us we're "basicaly straight".
I really get that, and I think that's how most people feel most of the time? Because defining yourself by a 'lack' is just... weird. There are lots of ways I think of myself in the day-to-day but "not blond" and "not sexual" are pretty far down the list. I'm sorry your experience of watching (A)Sexual was not-fun. I still haven't watched it. And it depressed Linden, apparently, so now I'm not sure I want to.
I didn't expect Elverhøj to refer to the fairy tale! I don't think I've read that one. Must rectify.
I just read Lord Peter Wimsey! Which you now know. I had forgotten he's the one with Harriet Vane, whom you've talked about before. In that case I'll stop being huffy about the foreshadowing of their relationship in book 2 just because it's het ;)
What the hell is that documentary, that is so weird! But spinks are awesome.
From:
no subject
You didn't stress me - it's just, it's something I do have opinions about (admittedly, they mostly surface upon random media mentions or surprise appearences in really crappy dating shows), but asexuality just isn't something that feels like it has that much of a daily impact. I dunno. Though (A)Sexual is a perfectly good documentary and interesting and you should see it (though yeah, there's some pretty depressing bits, mostly towards the end) - and I wouldn't say it was a non-fun experience, just, well, I don't think there were very many actual asexuals in the cinema that day.
Though about defining oneself through lacks (hmmm, need a different word - I'm not lacking, thank you very much) - I'm aromantic asexual, atheist, childfree. I sometimes suspect that my default mode is 'not'. Except for fannish ;-)
You haven't read Elverhøj? But, but - how?
I think you'll like Harriet Vane/Lord Peter. Their relationship has a bit of an unfortunate start, true, but they are terribly sweet. Gaudy Night is an awesome book.
From:
no subject
Romkugler are delicious, though they should be from a baker. The supermarket ones never taste remotely close to right - I suspect it might be because they're made in one go, so to speak. Hmmm, maybe I should try to make some myself - except I'm not really in the habit of letting perfectly good pastries sit around long enough to go stale ;-)
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
I'm glad to know you were okay talking about it -- and I have noticed you having Opinions, which I think is really nice, reading about them that is. I should get around to watching that doc eventually. At this point I kind of expect I will have Opinions about that ;)
Oh you are right, lack is not a very good word! Negations are better. But it's still so much about defining yourself in opposition to the majority, when really you're just you... You know?
It is clearly a major flaw in my upbringing!
I will look forward to Gaudy Night. I am at Clouds of Witness and sort of looking desultorily at it -- something about the start didn't engage me at all.
From:
no subject
Except I don't, not really. I mean, the majority are heterosexuals, right, and strictly speaking the opposite of that is homosexuality. Me, I'm not even on the scale and I don't really have much use for it when all is said and done. Which I suppose might have to with some parts of the lgbt world's resentment towards asexuals - to invest so much of your identity in this particular facet of yourself, only to meet people who seem to consider that particular facet superfluous to demand.