this is what happens when you ask me to talk about myself

[ontology]

I'm a bit overdue on this one, but -- comment and I will name you 3 interests from your list, and 3 userpics, and you explain them in your own post, asking the same of your f-listers.

from vana_tuivana:

daleks do ship
HEEEEE. Er. Well. Um. Well. ressie_noldo and I are currently bickering engaged in earnest and scholarly discourse as to the shipping tendencies of Daleks. I think they are Harmonians. They also fancy Paul McGann, frighteningly enough. Noldo says they don't ship at all (although she seems to agree in regards to the fancying of Paul McGann). Clearly, she has not seen the light and must be further educated.

portmanteau words
One of my favourite things about the English language is how marvellously flexible it is -- it lends itself beautifully to expression and creativity. Portmanteau words -- so dubbed from Lewis Carroll's description of such, as he coined some of the more famous ones in 'Jabberwocky' -- are new words made out of old ones, and I am very fond of this, when it's done well. Words like cracktastic and -- I can't resist! -- conspiriusy are colourful and interesting. I have difficulty coming up with examples of portmanteau words I've coined or borrowed because their very nature is spur-of-the-moment, unless you count the ones so ingrained into the language that we hardly remember they don't have a "proper" etymology: infomercial, smog, spork, televangelist, and their ilk -- not to mention all of English's built-in portmanteau aides such as -o-rama and -palooza and -thon. (Bill Bryson's Made In America has a nice bit on these suffixes. Read it, it's a good book about the history of America through its words. Or the history of some words through American history. Either way, it's fabulous.)

 I have been finding portmanteaux especially useful lately in genre-tagging my iTunes collection: I got very, very tired of everything showing up as 'rock', 'folk', 'country', and 'alternative & punk', so I've been giving things more telling genres that make at least a marginally better effort at encompassing the sound and feel of the music. Sufjan Stevens' Come On! Feel the Illinoise! album I've tagged as 'folkistra', several artists such as Aqualung, Ashtar Command, and Snow Patrol are currently going by 'melodica' (Imogen Heap is 'meloditronica' and Solas' The Edge of Silence is 'Celtic melodica'). There are even some 'official' portmanteau genre titles -- newgrass, for example; bands like Nickel Creek making something modern out of bluegrass. (I haven't got very far in this re-tagging venture, however -- finding apt tags for my vast and genre-bending music collection is rather daunting!)

telepathy
I've been fascinated with the concept of telepathy for years -- particularly after reading and re-reading Kathy Tyers' Firebird Trilogy (lady_moriel 's fault, as most many things in my life are). It's not just being able to communicate mind-to-mind I find intruiging, though it is, but it being connected to memories. I'm deeply fascinated by memories and how the mind retains information and distorts it, and I find the concept of being able to access forgotten memories, or someone else's memories (and possibly even be able to tell actual memories from distorted ones) completely mesmerising. And, hey, wouldn't everyone love to know what people are thinking about them?



I love this icon because it's pretty, simple, and sort of Edwardian -- and I find bicycles very picturesque. I also find it moderately necessary to have at least one icon to represent the early twentieth century with which to accompany my posts about the Evangeline project, as sparse as those may be. And italian_jewels is one of my favourite iconmakers, as is evidenced by my current collection.



I generally use this icon when attempting to express comfort -- I love the soft colours (and the contrast of the red! contrasting red is something that always impresses me in artwork) and the sense of reaching out. And again, italian_jewels is brilliant. I have pages and pages of her icons saved in my memories.



BECAUSE I DO. Ten's nerdiness ("Eliot saw that, too" *fangirlfangirlfangirl*) is one of the splendidest things about him, I think. :D hobbitholes' little doodles never fail to charm me, and this particular icon batch is one of my very favourite batches of icons in existence. Seriously, there's even a Ten/Reinette icon, which I would have nicked if I had more icon space. (I really quite fancy fanart icons in general, especially if it's sort of quirky or sketchy or done in watercolours. Speaking of which, does anybody have any Doctor Who fanart recs? Besides The Best Dalek Picture Ever, I mean.)

from aohdwyn: 

burma! (i panicked)
Monty Python's Flying Circus for the win! This is something I keep meaning to work into conversation, but haven't quite managed yet.

girl in the fireplace
Only the best new series Doctor Who episode not containing Eliot, Shakespeare, or kittens ever. :D It has Madame de Pompadour (Sophia Myles' accent is gorgeous, too) and a fifty-first century spaceship and eighteenth century France and clockwork robots and angst and tragedy and Arthur the horse and Ten being awesome and lovely music and is also one of New Who's most visually appealing episodes. (And that bit includes Reinette's costumes? They are lovely and I want to study them. Her earrings make attractively swishy noises and her hair is exquisite.) And, Neil Gaiman liked it!

pointy black pens
All pens must have very fine pointy tips and black ink (except when they have red ink). I love the feel of a sharp nib on the paper and the lovely contrast of black on white. Writing is a very sensual experience for me. BIC pens just aren't the same.



I don't think I've ever kept an icon quite as long as this one. It's in keeping with one of my favourite, er, conspiriusy theories (and what I use on all posts tagged 'conspiriusy' except I have to fix those cos I accidentally deleted this icon a while ago and had to put it back) -- especially because SIRIUS IS HIDING IN MY TOWN. THIS IS TRUE BECAUSE I HAVE SEEN HIM, AND I AM NEVER WRONG.



This comes in useful, as I can comment on anything at all in regards to Doctor Who, new or old, whichever Doctor or companion or arc I please (especially as I currently do not have room in my limited icon space to have all of the related icons that I want). Also, I just kind of adore the TARDIS. I mean, it's a police box. And it's, you know, bigger on the inside!



Desmond inna scarf! ♥ One of my favourite icons I've made, actually -- not just on account of the Desmond, but because I really like how it turned out, with the blurring and the colours and all. It actually almost looks like I know what I'm doing, even. (Because I really don't. I've had the GIMP for two years but I never have enough time in regards to computer usage to figure out how to use it properly.) I think it's safe to say that Desmond has finally surpassed, you know, everyone, as my favourite Lost character -- a slightly mad and angsty Scotsman who sees the future, was almost a monk, was in the army, was dishonourably discharged and imprisoned, tried to win a sailing race around the world, spent three years pushing a button to save the world, and only wants to get back to his beloved Penny. What is not to fangirl love? And I adore the scarf. I love scarves. I have scarf almost exactly like that one, actually, and was elated when I discovered screencaps of Des in a plaid scarf, which I could not resist iconing.

And today was a good day. I bicycled to my guitar lesson in spectacular weather, thereby getting some much-needed exercise (and sun!), and then I stopped by Rosie's Bookshop on my way home and was redeemed for That One Time when they had two copies of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and I didn't purchase either of them because there was a new copy on the shelf and it is now mine (!!!). (I will have to post about the book when I am finished re-reading because it is amazing and possibly the only book that comes close to being comparable to Tolkien in any substantial way.) I also found The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (!!!) and a new copy of Anne of the Island (mine has pages missing, and the book itself might actually have finally got itself lost, as it is not in my bedroom nor the box with M-authored books in the basement), and got a little sack of chocolates, and made cupcakes when I got home (cupcakes that were not sour).

Comments

[last-archangel.livejournal.com]

Yes! Someone else who thinks Sophia Myles is exquisite! I use that word to describe fairly often when defending her from the scary teenagers obsessed with David Tennant.

In any case, I am commenting.

[ressie-noldo.livejournal.com]

Sophia Myles is fabulous, and it is very scary when the wee insane-fangirls write about her being run over by a truck. (Or suchlike. There was actually a fic about how Sophia was run over and in the meantime DT discovered his true and undying love for Billie Piper; it was frightening.)

[last-archangel.livejournal.com]

Oh Lord, that's heinous. I am horrified by that.

[ressie-noldo.livejournal.com]

I know, it really was rather horrific! It's sort of like 'well, dear fanbrat, how would you like it if I, say, wrote a fic in which I bumped you off so I could shag your boyfriend?'.

(Actually, that sort of comment was made. I believe the response was "But it's just fiction!")

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

Why would the David Tennant fans loathe Sophia Myles? They make a lovely couple. ...Oh, wait, that's why. Silly me. *is a barmy David Tennant fangirl, but not that kind ;D*

For you:

commodore norrington
food
reading
(I'm always curious as to how other people relate to the experience of reading; ought to go on about that sometime myself)

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

Agh, and I completely forgot the userpic bit, so here's that:

[ressie-noldo.livejournal.com]

DA-LEKS DO NOT SHIP. DA-LEKS HAVE NO USE FOR SHIP-PING AND DO NOT UN-DER-STAND ITS PUR-POSE (THOUGH THEY SEE SOME CHARM IN PAUL MC-GANN THIS IS TRUE).

Anyway. Yes. I love portmanteau words (& more than that, I love the word 'portmanteau' which is pretty) and, erm. Stuff!

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure whether to be amused or disturbed by the word 'charm' issuing from the mouth (speaker? er...talky bit?) of a Dalek. 'HE-LLO MR. MC-GANN. MY RACE FINDS YOU QUITE CHAR-MING.'

[wanderlight.livejournal.com]

!!!

You two have just MADE MY DAY. :D :D :D

[charismitaine.livejournal.com]

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell = <3!

I want to play!

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

I need to re-read it forthwith. I never know a book properly when I've only read it once, and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is the sort of book that needs to be read several times over before one even begins to completely comprehend it. :D

For you:

moleskin notebooks
scarves
tam lin





(Ooh, I see you also love warm laundry! ♥ I had warm laundry today. Unfortunately today is also very warm so the laundry wasn't much appreciated, except by cats, who think warm piles of cloth were made for them to sit on.)

[anthon1.livejournal.com]

daleks do ship: I cannot disagree with this. Daleks do ship. Or rather, apparently, Daleks ship on video with people for money.

This is why conventions are scary, scary places. The friend who discovered it for sale backed away very, very swiftly.

portmanteau words : I think my favourate portmanteau word ever was one that my father and I coined whilst waiting outside a shoe-and-handbag shop in which my mother and sister ensconced themselves for over half an hour: we came up with 'abdominable', which means, roughly, 'so terrible that it makes your stomach hurt'. :D

(And, as it happens, I used one for genre today, although a book rather than music; I was attempting to categorise Mortal Engines, and having ruled out fantasy, sci-fi, steampunk and cyperbunk, I eventually decided to call it cogpunk. It is made of win.)

telepethy

Have you seen this? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_perception_%28paranormal%29)

(Also, I want to take this opportunity to tell you that I think your icons are brilliant. Because they are. So there.)

I ended up passing through the market by accident on Saturday, as I had to go to the bank because Monday was a bank holiday and they were therefore shut, and the book stall that is there on a Saturday had a couple of copies of the beautiful English hardback edition with the raven for five quid. Despite the fact that I have a copy of the lovely paperback edition (also with a raven on the cover, but on a glorious red background rather than the striking black-on-almost-white or almost-white-on-black verzsions) and bought a second copy of it in a bookshop once for someone else before I knew who I was going to give it to because it was extraordinarily cheap and it is that wonderful, I only just resisted. I really, really hope that it is still there someone has bought it by next week...

(Also, I'm, er commenting. Just to make that clear... :P)

[safebox.livejournal.com]

*joins Dalek-shipping brigade* With you to the end, sergeant!

And I love love love that middle icon of yours, so much. It's really lovely. Off to go investigate italian_jewels now!

[builtofsorrow.livejournal.com]

Was in Barnes & Noble over Easter hols and they had gorgeous, hardcover copies of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell on sale for something like $7, and I picked one up 'cause it sounded rather familiar, read the back, paged through, smelt it, and angsted over the fact that I HAD NO MONEY, for it was lovely. Only back then I didn't remember you mentioning it, although I'm sure that's why it seemed familiar. Now I must get my hands on a copy. (-adds it to insanely long list-)

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, I can't remember if I did mention it before Easter hols (aww, you said 'hols'!), though I read it sometime in the autumn (October, I think). I kept meaning to post about it but I needed to re-read it first (I never understand a book properly the first time round) and when one has a lot of library books, it is difficult to find a space for a slow re-reading of an 850 page book.

But it is fabulous, and it has EXTENSIVE FOOTNOTES. There was one bit where the footnote went on for two or three pages, and I squeed privately. Also, it has proper fairies, and Byron being a git, which made me happy. BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT! It is very pretty in every way, and my paperback copy has a paragraph in the back about the history of its typeface, as seems to be the Thing To Do nowadays. I approve of this new custom heartily.

[builtofsorrow.livejournal.com]

It's very possible that you didn't. I do definitely remember you mentioning after and thinking, "NO!!! Banui loves it; why didn't I STEAL it??" Err... something to that effect. And I definitely understand, especially when it comes to books one loves: I'm still trying to get through Ayn Rand's Fountainhead for my first time 'round, and beyond all the madness of school and work and what-have-you, it's taking me a long time because some of her phrases are so painfully beautiful that I have to stop reading after two minutes and just be.

I LOVE FOOTNOTES. I didn't know you loved them too!! (I swear I'm the only person in my classes who reads footnotes. This brings me private joy because the people who don't obviously don't know what they're missing and I also seem smarter 'cause I know things they don't.

I definitely shall buy it; I promise!

[In my Handbook to Literature, which is a dictionary of Lit terms, every section begins with its letter, and each letter is a different typeface, and then they give the name & history of the typeface. It is fantastic.]

[wanderlight.livejournal.com]

I love reading your entries and having little, "So I'm not the only person in the universe who does that! Banui does it too!" moments! ♥ This time round it's music genres: I went through a phase where I re-labelled everything obsessively depending on exactly what it was -- more specifically what mood it conveyed (desolation, pensiveness, etc.). At one point someone I gave music to was under the impression that they were actually all music genres, and, er ... yeah. Anyway. :D

Anne of the Island is love. When I was a booksale the other day I tried to buy a lovely old copy of it -- but the person I was with restrained me, unfortunately. (The fact that I already own matching editions of the entire series should not play into any future purchasing decisions. One can never have enough copies of good books.)

Hee, nerdy!Ten. Also, have I ever mentioned I'm in love with your girl-holding-heart-balloon icon?

Daleks = evil; Harmonians = evil; therefore Daleks = Harmonians. Theory seems to check out to me. *nods* Though, Daleks are rather cuter than Harmonians (but not when they're human!Daleks, which are really just sort of creepy).