look on my works ye mighty, and despair

Ask me for a letter and I'll give you one. Then you can fill out these questions on your own blog.

yhlee gave me J!

Something I hate: juniper. Blech. Including when it's in the form of gin.

Something I love: Japanese stage musicals!

Somewhere I've been: Japan!

Somewhere I'd like to go: Jordan (Petra, specifically).

Someone I know: two that come to mind are isquiesque and ooshiny, neither of whom start with that letter on here. :D jearl, maybe?

A book I like: Jennifer Government by Max Barry, maybe? I'll be honest, I drew a complete blank here, and then stared at my bookshelves and it still took me ages to spot a single title beginning with J.

A film I like: Jean de Florette, perhaps? While I do love that film and the sequel, I have to say that answering with a French classic is probably not what I'd have done if I had any other films beginning with J in my DVD collection.

Via communicator, a list of the Locus poll of 'best' SF and fantasy novels of the 20th and 21st centuries. Bold means I have read it, italic means I didn't finish it.

( 20th Century SF Novels )
( 20th Century Fantasy Novels )
( 21st Century SF Novels )
( 21st Century Fantasy Novels )

I think I align with communicator in that I've been put off reading modern SF somehow, although I can't really work out why.

Otherwise, well, I am planning on reading more Zelazny, I might try some non-Earthsea LeGuin (I read A Wizard of Earthsea when I was quite young, and I just remember not enjoying it much) and one of these days I'll get around to reading Game of Thrones, since the whole series so far is lurking on our shelves.

My evenings at the moment are filled with cosplay-making and playing Tales of Vesperia (yeah, still haven't actually finished it yet; this game is *vast*).

The cosplay projects continue. I've pretty much finished Machi from Apollo Justice; everything remaining can be done tonight I think (I'm wearing it to an event on Thursday, so that's just as well). The Zoolander cosplay I'm doing (for MCM Expo the saturday after next) should really just involve putting on the wig and these snakeskin clothes I've accumulated via ebay. I'm also starting on making Guybrush's outfit from Monkey Island 2 (mostly I just really want his coat) for some unspecified future event. Busy busy!

Meanwhile, let's boot this old thing up once again:

Day 22 - A song that you listen to when you're sad

When I'm sad I guess there are two sorts of things I want from music: either to lift myself out of the sadness or to wallow thoroughly in it.

(I'll add video links later when I have more time.)

In Pursuit of Happiness by the Divine Comedy provokes a sort of fierce and determined righteous glee that tends to lift my spirits. I Believe I Can Fly by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes produces glee also (where the original bored me stupid). And lots of comedic musical soundtracks also tend to make me laugh.

To a certain extent the music I choose for wallowing depends on what I'm sad about. Play Dead by Bjork and David Arnold is a big favourite for melodramatic sadness. Brick or Fred Jones Part 2 by Ben Folks Five for certain types of secondhand-mournfulness. Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz for general angst at modern life.

This was interesting because I don't tend to select songs by mood as such; I just know that these tracks are ones I don't skip past when I'm in those moods.

( Full meme question list behind here )

Back to this!

Day 20 - A song that you listen to when you're angry

Hmm. When I was a teenager I used to listen to stuff like You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette when I was annoyed by breakups.

These days I tend to listen to things like Black Water or The Gates of Hell if I'm annoyed, because I'm usually at work and videogame music soothes me.

( Full meme question list behind here )

Also, because I did not mention it before: people who borrow volumes of manga from the library and *rip out* several pages in the middle are going to a special hell.

Even if I'd already basically concluded that I wasn't going to want to read any more than the first volume.

Day 18 - A song that you wish you heard on the radio

This seems like a really odd question. As I said, I don't really hear the radio much. I guess it'd be nice if I heard more of the stuff I already liked when I *did* hear the radio, but then I'd almost never hear new music.

What would be really good is if the radio often played me lots of the music I'd end up liking after I'd heard it. Hard to name those songs, obviously. So I'm cheating again and not naming anything today, because the answer is 'I'll know it once I hear it'.

( Full meme question list behind here )

Whoops, yesterday got a bit hectic and I missed posting. So, I'll post now and later instead.

Day 16 - A song that you used to love but now hate

I do have a tendency to overexpose myself to songs that I love (though I don't quite end up hating them; I just go 'no too much' and try not to listen to them for a while).

The last thing I think I overexposed myself to was probably the Muppet version of Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear.

( Full meme question list behind here )

Today a gardener came around to give us a quote to 'sort out' the garden; it's going to cost about half as much as I would have thought, which is nice. But I am sort of bemused at someone who is so clearly a surfer dude running a gardening company.

Day 14 - A song that no one would expect you to love

There's a reasonable amount of overlap here with yesterday's answer, you'd think.

So, uh, I guess people might be a little surprised at my deep affection for older music; I'm especially fond of Nat King Cole and also Nina Simone.

Or they might be surprised that I really liked Rihanna's Pon De Replay. Who knows.

( Full meme question list behind here )

Argh so tired.

Day 12 - A song from a band you hate

Gosh, I don't know that I invest much effort in hating bands; this gives the same problem as the Day 2 question. As a Blur fan I should really be nursing a hatred of Oasis, I suppose, but even at the height of that particular fandom war I still went and bought both their singles.

So, I dunno. I can't name a specific song. If you really want an answer, um, look up some horrifically bigoted BNP-affiliated band, assume I'll hate them, pick any song.

( Full meme question list behind here )

The new Pratchett book is good. Recurring characters make me happy.

Day 10 - A song that makes you fall asleep

Hrm. I have lots of music I'll choose to listen to when I'm going to sleep; I'm not sure they *make* me fall asleep.

I started making a list but frankly I might as well just list the Blur songs--I can't help it, I think I've been listening to Damon's voice for so many years that it seems safe and comforting to me, and a good way to fall asleep. Yuko and Hiro and Sing and No Distance Left To Run all have a slightly soporific, lulling sort of feel to them (the last of those comes with an official video of the band sleeping, even). This is a Low is still the most fall-asleep-ish of Blur tracks to me, though--I spent so many nights at school falling asleep with my headphones on, listening to that album.

( Full meme question list behind here )

Day 08 - A song that you know all the words to

I know all the words to lots of songs--I listen to more instrumentals now than I used to, but I'm still primarily about the words when it comes to music. So I'm a little bemused by this one, really.

So. I guess I do know the words to Monkey Bee from Monkey: Journey to the West though I can only remember the translation to about half of it (it's my favourite track from the opera). I also know all the words (and the translation) to Complainte De La Butte by Rufus Wainwright (which I first heard on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack and fell in love with completely; this was the first track by him I heard and I'm so glad I looked up the rest of his word).

I'm also word-perfect on at least two Daft and Punk songs.

( Full meme question list behind here )

Oops, didn't post yesterday! Was too busy sewing and pinning fabric to remember. Oh well.

Day 06 - A song that reminds of you of somewhere

Again with the vagueness.

Flower Girl by the Crocketts reminds me of attending gigs in Aberystwyth Student's Union.

Laura by the Scissor Sisters reminds me of the HMV I first heard it in; I bought the first Scissor Sisters album based entirely off that hearing of it. And am glad I did; I love that album. (And that's a great video, too.)

Hm, those are both 'where I heard it' answers. But that tends to be my main association for places with songs; where I heard it first or most often.

But I guess Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head and Singing In The Rain both remind me of Stockwell--I had a random happy-joyful day once when I started singing on my way home, and wound up dancing along happily in the rain as I sang, twirling my umbrella and not really caring about how silly I looked. It was fun! I can't remember why I was so gleeful and unselfconscious, mind you. (Yes, it's an association more with the event than the day, but still; good times.)

( Full meme question list behind here )

Day 04 - A song that makes you sad

Eeesh, vagueness. I am choosing to go with the interpretation of 'sad' as meaning the sort of sadnesses that are occasionally desirable.

For No One by The Beatles gives me a sad, wistful sort of empathetic sadness.

Selfless, Cold and Composed by Ben Folds Five is a slightly different sort of sadness; it gives me an intensely cathartic burst of sadness (as do quite a few Ben Folds / Ben Folds Five tracks).

And somewhere on my iPod there's a live version of Blur's This is a Low which makes me well up with tears every time I hear it; I don't know that it's quite due to sadness but I have so many associations with this song that the heartfelt delivery in the live version makes my heart break a little.

(And I get sympathy tears when I listen to the version of Tender that was recorded at Glastonbury last year, because I know how emotional and teary-eyed the band were when they played it. Mmmm.)

( Full meme question list behind here )

Oops, a bit late posting this. But I'm still awake, so I still think of it as day 2.

Day 02 - Your least favorite song

Hmm. Well, this is (again) a question where I can't just name one song I dislike; I don't think I can really point to a 'least favourite song'. There are, for example, several artists I don't like, and I avoid listening to their stuff (which means I can't point out a least favourite there). There're entire genres where I'd listen to maybe 2% of the songs willingly.

But these days it's actually not that hard to avoid hearing most of the types of music I don't want to listen to. I'm rarely exposed to music I dislike enough for the emotion to ferment into hatred; I'm trying to think of a currently-popular song that I'd like never to hear again and I can't really sum up a more negative sensation than 'enh' about any of them.

And even stuff I used to genuinely hate years ago has a sheen of faint nostalgia about it to me now; I'll even tolerate small doses of those schmaltzy movie-theme ballads that topped the charts in the 90s without wanting to stab everyone. It's unnerving.

Having said all of that, I could of course happily live without ever hearing 'Mull of Kintyre' again.

( Full meme question list behind here )

* Day 20-something: still not king toothachey. It does feel like the infection's gone, at least, but the gum tissue and the nerve are still very sore. But there are hours where it's a muted enough pain that I can ignore it (if I'm suitably distracted. I'm horribly aware that I keep fidgeting with that bit of my mouth, which is not helpful for healing).

* I'm vaguely wanting to post more about music. I might dig up (or make up) one of those 30-day memes on the topic; 'favourite artist beginning with the letter..' would fill 26 days even if I couldn't think of a better way of approaching it.

* Today has been a chatty companionable day at the office. Huzzah.

* Long weekend soon! There shall be tidying up, there shall be haircuts, there shall be scones and there shall be costume-making. *firm nod* I'm also planning on raiding the library a bit: I want to see what manga they have, for a start, but I'm also sort of out-of-touch on recent interesting SF or lit-fic stuff. Anyone have any specific recommendations?

From various people..

The problem with lj: We all think we are so close, but really we know nothing about one another. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you.

Since this is an unlocked post, I'm wary of answering stuff about work/family here--so you can ask about those in a poll if you want, and you might get the answer in a locked post sometime. :)

[Poll #1474722]

'These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users (as of today). As usual, bold what you have read, italicize what you started but couldn't finish, and strike through what you couldn't stand.'

Okay, I'm only bolding the ones I'm certain I've read. Some of the others I think I might have read, but in the interests of not over-reporting...

( the list )

For despotliz - and everyone else, too: lolcat trek.

Today has been a day of broken showers, semi-automatic weaponry¹ and obsessive rewatching of this Take That video².

Tomorrow Iain gets home from California. About time, sez I.

¹ wielded by TA recruits at the nearby training HQ, before anyone wonders.
² Naturally, the small 17-year-old corner of my brain is absolutely horrified by my liking of this song and this video, but I'm trying to ignore that.

Over the weekend, Iain and I bought 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It's pretty eclectic (and has some weirdnesses), and I've been finding it fairly interesting reading. The bare bones of the list can be seen here - go, boggle at what made it and what didn't. And I've seen the justifications for including Britney Spears, and I'm still not convinced.

Obviously, the first thing one does with a book like this is check to see how many of the albums named are ones you've owned and/or have heard. And so, LJ meme time:

( Read more... )

My Johari Window, as per most of lj this morning. Choose words to describe me, etc etc.

(and yeah, I haven't posted in ages, and I'll maybe explain why at some point.)