Laurus Nobilis (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
laurus_nobilis) wrote2010-03-31 07:56 pm
laurus_nobilis) wrote2010-03-31 07:56 pm
Something I'd forgotten about
About a million years ago, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sha_chan posted this meme:
Comment to this entry saying you want to play. I will pick seven interests from your profile and you will explain what they mean and why you're interested in them. Post this along with your questions in your own journal so others can play.
And this is what she asked me about:
Star Trek
These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.
And I'm not posting the intro to be cheesy. I'm posting it because that, right there, says nearly everything you need to know about why I love Star Trek. It's a show about a spaceship full of nerds!
Seriously, though... I love this show. And by "this show" I mean TOS (plus Reboot) and TNG; those were the ones I caught on TV, so I've never seen Voyager or DS9 or Enterprise. Just so we're clear. I can't even remember which one I saw first. I have very clear memories of watching TNG when I was 11 or so, but I know I also liked TOS back then, if only because of the movies. My dad is a huge TOS fanboy, so chances are that's what I was introduced to first.
I'm not very fannish about Star Trek - I don't feel like writing or reading fic, except the occasional crossover, and I'm not really in the fandom. I'm not too interested in the fandom. But, at the same time, it's my Ultimate Geeky Dream or something. My love for this show knows no bounds. It's corny, it's simplistic, it hasn't aged all that well (even TNG shows its age, by now) and I just can't bring myself to care.
Because it's about casts of characters that I adore - TOS especially, true, but the TNG cast is very dear to me too. Because it's about The Power Of Friendship. Because it has very different people who work together by complementing each other and bringing out the best in everyone. Because in spite of the fights, they're not out there to conquer anything, but to explore and learn and discover things. Because it's very, very optimistic - and yes, it goes into simplistic territory too, many times. But I appreciate the intention. This is a show that believes that people are basically good, that we will learn, that we can build a future that isn't perfect but it's much, much better than the present and that can still improve. And I just don't care if that sounds cheesy, or if the writing isn't so good and comes up with really over simplified examples. The idea behind it makes me happy.
Also: it has Spock. Spock might just be my most favourite character in the history of ever. I'd like to say I couldn't choose just one, or mention someone from a more "serious" source, but honestly, after my reactions to the 2009 movie... no, I'm pretty sure it's Spock. :P
And I could go on and on and on, but I've rambled enough and there are still six more interests to talk about.
Michael Ende
He owns my heart. ♥ The Neverending Story is still my favourite book, to this day - and I'm not saying it just because of nostalgia factor, I can confirm it for certain because I've just finished rereading it last week. :P
Say what you will about fantasy. Say what you will about children's books. (He wrote for adults, too, but it's his children's books that I like best.) Ende is proof that those can be really, really good, that they can be deep, that you can enjoy them at any age.
He is also the reason I started writing. I was around 10 or 11, I think, and I was worried because I was quite aware that soon enough I'd stop playing around in my fantasy world. That this wouldn't happen because People Told Me To, but because it would change just like all my other childhood interests were changing. And I really, really didn't want to lose all of that. And then I read The Neverending Story and it finally clicked that there were other ways to play around in those worlds and... it sounds incredibly cheesy, I know. But it's the truth.
(I don't know if I should blame this book on my mum or my dad. My mum is the one who loves Ende, too, and kept talking about how I'd someday love the book since I was tiny and loved the movie; but my dad was the one who got me the book just at the right moment.)
Ende makes me happy, what can I say. He also makes me cry a lot. And he makes me think. But most of all, he leaves me with such a good feeling, you know?
Jostein Gaarder
If Ende owns my heart, Gaarder *pwns* my brain. I started reading his books when I was 13, because my grandfather got Sophie's World and The Solitaire Mystery for me. (Actually, getting it from my grandfather was one of my Great Moments Of WTF with TSM, later. :P) I loved Sophie's World, in spite of the dryness.
And The Solitaire Mystery? Heh. If you've known me for more than a few months, chances are I HAVE found the chance to ramble about that book already. And yet I never know how to describe it. The Allegory of the Cave with a roadtrip and living cards...? It's hard to explain why I love it so much, but I do, and it's always felt as if it was written Just For Me. Sometimes people think I'm obsessed with cards and solitaire because of this book. It's the other way around.
... and then there was Maya. You know, the one with a philosophical biologist and reptiles and museums and more cards? The Solitaire Mystery is still my favourite, yes. But after that one and Sophie's World, reading Maya was like... OKAY GAARDER PLZ TO BE GETTING OUT OF MY HEAD NOW.
Except not really, because it's awesome. Slightly creepy, too. But awesome.
Oscar Wilde
When I was very, very little, about 4 or 5, my other grandfather bought me a collection of tiny books, 10 pages or so. They ranged from fairytales to adaptations of children books to adaptations of things that later made me go "wow, they really adapted that one?"
One of those was The Happy Prince. So you could say that Wilde has been part of my life since pretty much forever. And later I read The Nightingale and the Rose on a children's magazineback when those were still good, blah blah get off my lawn. And then there was The Selfish Giant, and The Canterville Ghost, and so many others. And then Dorian Gray, when I was older. And The Importance of Being Earnest. And so, so, so many things.
He makes me cry like a baby. He makes me laugh out loud. He makes me laugh out loud on rereading, which is something I can't say about a lot of people. He's got some of the best lines ever. And Wilde himself, as a person, was fascinating. In a really, really sad way, but still.
Oh, and my favourite of his stories is The Canterville Ghost. But I love mostly everything.
Dumas
The interest didn't say so, but I mean Dumas père.
Another of the books in the collection I mentioned up there was The Three Musketeers. (Yes, it's also one of those that made me go "....... wait what how".) And then there were increasingly longer adaptations. And cartoons (Dogtanian!). And that ridiculous but still loveable Disney movie.
I loved playing Musketeers when I was kid. I loved it SO MUCH and dragged my poor siblings and/or friends into it. |D And then when I was in my teens and got my hands on the actual book I was like... ahahaha these guys were so not a good example. |DDD Honestly, I have no idea why they're shown as these paragons of Honor and Virtue when they're anything but.
But the Power Of Friendship thing is true. Which might explain why I love them so, in spite of everything. :P
And, yes, I love Dumas himself. Even if it shows that he was paid for length. Even if his books weren't the Best Thing Ever. Even if there's a lot of Values Dissonance (but, well, that also have to do with his time and not just with Dumas himself.) Because Dumas's books have a very important quality: they are fun to read.
And really, that's the best any book could ask for. ♥
Discworld
I know I first got my hands on Discworld books because of my flist, but I honestly couldn't say who recommended it to me. I'm pretty sure it was several different people. So if you're in my flist and you like Discworld, you've probably mentioned it to me, because as many of you can confirm, my tastes are extremely obvious. :P
It was love at first sight. ♥ I remember I started with Pyramids - I'm lucky enough to get them at a reasonable price here, really, so I never cared about order and just bought what I could find at any given time. Pyramids, as a one shot, was a good start, and it really got me hooked.
And the I read about witches. And Death. And wizards. And the Night Guard. I've only read seven of the books so far, actually, I've got a long way to go. But I just love them all so very much.
Pratchett makes me laugh while making fun of Tolkien, people. No one else can do that. XD
... and I could go on and on just about wizards but I kind of do that in every other post, so.
Okami
This one is entirelyrainmage's fault, and for that I'll be forever grateful. =D She knew I would love it, for very accurate reasons like "AND YOU MAKE PLANTS GROW". It looked incredibly shiny, but I had no hopes to ever play it; I didn't even have a PS then.
And then a real life friend told me "LAU YOU'VE GOT TO TRY THIS GAME YOU MAKE PLANTS GROW!" XD So I started playing it at her house, until we got a PS at home. It took me ages to finish it, because I'm a horrible gamer and I hadn't played anything since Super Mario 3. But I loved it. So very much. ♥
It's beautiful. The characters are adorable. The story is really good. It has gorgeous landscapes, and you get to make everything alive and pretty and green, and it has characters who do their best to be good people, and characters who are braver than they think, and a quirky sparkly mentor figure, and dragons, and [SPOILER]even random aliens ahahaha my pings[/SPOILER], and yes the ending made me cry. In a good way.
Seriously. Gorgeous. ♥
sha_chan posted this meme: Comment to this entry saying you want to play. I will pick seven interests from your profile and you will explain what they mean and why you're interested in them. Post this along with your questions in your own journal so others can play.
And this is what she asked me about:
Star Trek
These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.
And I'm not posting the intro to be cheesy. I'm posting it because that, right there, says nearly everything you need to know about why I love Star Trek. It's a show about a spaceship full of nerds!
Seriously, though... I love this show. And by "this show" I mean TOS (plus Reboot) and TNG; those were the ones I caught on TV, so I've never seen Voyager or DS9 or Enterprise. Just so we're clear. I can't even remember which one I saw first. I have very clear memories of watching TNG when I was 11 or so, but I know I also liked TOS back then, if only because of the movies. My dad is a huge TOS fanboy, so chances are that's what I was introduced to first.
I'm not very fannish about Star Trek - I don't feel like writing or reading fic, except the occasional crossover, and I'm not really in the fandom. I'm not too interested in the fandom. But, at the same time, it's my Ultimate Geeky Dream or something. My love for this show knows no bounds. It's corny, it's simplistic, it hasn't aged all that well (even TNG shows its age, by now) and I just can't bring myself to care.
Because it's about casts of characters that I adore - TOS especially, true, but the TNG cast is very dear to me too. Because it's about The Power Of Friendship. Because it has very different people who work together by complementing each other and bringing out the best in everyone. Because in spite of the fights, they're not out there to conquer anything, but to explore and learn and discover things. Because it's very, very optimistic - and yes, it goes into simplistic territory too, many times. But I appreciate the intention. This is a show that believes that people are basically good, that we will learn, that we can build a future that isn't perfect but it's much, much better than the present and that can still improve. And I just don't care if that sounds cheesy, or if the writing isn't so good and comes up with really over simplified examples. The idea behind it makes me happy.
Also: it has Spock. Spock might just be my most favourite character in the history of ever. I'd like to say I couldn't choose just one, or mention someone from a more "serious" source, but honestly, after my reactions to the 2009 movie... no, I'm pretty sure it's Spock. :P
And I could go on and on and on, but I've rambled enough and there are still six more interests to talk about.
Michael Ende
He owns my heart. ♥ The Neverending Story is still my favourite book, to this day - and I'm not saying it just because of nostalgia factor, I can confirm it for certain because I've just finished rereading it last week. :P
Say what you will about fantasy. Say what you will about children's books. (He wrote for adults, too, but it's his children's books that I like best.) Ende is proof that those can be really, really good, that they can be deep, that you can enjoy them at any age.
He is also the reason I started writing. I was around 10 or 11, I think, and I was worried because I was quite aware that soon enough I'd stop playing around in my fantasy world. That this wouldn't happen because People Told Me To, but because it would change just like all my other childhood interests were changing. And I really, really didn't want to lose all of that. And then I read The Neverending Story and it finally clicked that there were other ways to play around in those worlds and... it sounds incredibly cheesy, I know. But it's the truth.
(I don't know if I should blame this book on my mum or my dad. My mum is the one who loves Ende, too, and kept talking about how I'd someday love the book since I was tiny and loved the movie; but my dad was the one who got me the book just at the right moment.)
Ende makes me happy, what can I say. He also makes me cry a lot. And he makes me think. But most of all, he leaves me with such a good feeling, you know?
Jostein Gaarder
If Ende owns my heart, Gaarder *pwns* my brain. I started reading his books when I was 13, because my grandfather got Sophie's World and The Solitaire Mystery for me. (Actually, getting it from my grandfather was one of my Great Moments Of WTF with TSM, later. :P) I loved Sophie's World, in spite of the dryness.
And The Solitaire Mystery? Heh. If you've known me for more than a few months, chances are I HAVE found the chance to ramble about that book already. And yet I never know how to describe it. The Allegory of the Cave with a roadtrip and living cards...? It's hard to explain why I love it so much, but I do, and it's always felt as if it was written Just For Me. Sometimes people think I'm obsessed with cards and solitaire because of this book. It's the other way around.
... and then there was Maya. You know, the one with a philosophical biologist and reptiles and museums and more cards? The Solitaire Mystery is still my favourite, yes. But after that one and Sophie's World, reading Maya was like... OKAY GAARDER PLZ TO BE GETTING OUT OF MY HEAD NOW.
Except not really, because it's awesome. Slightly creepy, too. But awesome.
Oscar Wilde
When I was very, very little, about 4 or 5, my other grandfather bought me a collection of tiny books, 10 pages or so. They ranged from fairytales to adaptations of children books to adaptations of things that later made me go "wow, they really adapted that one?"
One of those was The Happy Prince. So you could say that Wilde has been part of my life since pretty much forever. And later I read The Nightingale and the Rose on a children's magazine
He makes me cry like a baby. He makes me laugh out loud. He makes me laugh out loud on rereading, which is something I can't say about a lot of people. He's got some of the best lines ever. And Wilde himself, as a person, was fascinating. In a really, really sad way, but still.
Oh, and my favourite of his stories is The Canterville Ghost. But I love mostly everything.
Dumas
The interest didn't say so, but I mean Dumas père.
Another of the books in the collection I mentioned up there was The Three Musketeers. (Yes, it's also one of those that made me go "....... wait what how".) And then there were increasingly longer adaptations. And cartoons (Dogtanian!). And that ridiculous but still loveable Disney movie.
I loved playing Musketeers when I was kid. I loved it SO MUCH and dragged my poor siblings and/or friends into it. |D And then when I was in my teens and got my hands on the actual book I was like... ahahaha these guys were so not a good example. |DDD Honestly, I have no idea why they're shown as these paragons of Honor and Virtue when they're anything but.
But the Power Of Friendship thing is true. Which might explain why I love them so, in spite of everything. :P
And, yes, I love Dumas himself. Even if it shows that he was paid for length. Even if his books weren't the Best Thing Ever. Even if there's a lot of Values Dissonance (but, well, that also have to do with his time and not just with Dumas himself.) Because Dumas's books have a very important quality: they are fun to read.
And really, that's the best any book could ask for. ♥
Discworld
I know I first got my hands on Discworld books because of my flist, but I honestly couldn't say who recommended it to me. I'm pretty sure it was several different people. So if you're in my flist and you like Discworld, you've probably mentioned it to me, because as many of you can confirm, my tastes are extremely obvious. :P
It was love at first sight. ♥ I remember I started with Pyramids - I'm lucky enough to get them at a reasonable price here, really, so I never cared about order and just bought what I could find at any given time. Pyramids, as a one shot, was a good start, and it really got me hooked.
And the I read about witches. And Death. And wizards. And the Night Guard. I've only read seven of the books so far, actually, I've got a long way to go. But I just love them all so very much.
Pratchett makes me laugh while making fun of Tolkien, people. No one else can do that. XD
... and I could go on and on just about wizards but I kind of do that in every other post, so.
Okami
This one is entirely
rainmage's fault, and for that I'll be forever grateful. =D She knew I would love it, for very accurate reasons like "AND YOU MAKE PLANTS GROW". It looked incredibly shiny, but I had no hopes to ever play it; I didn't even have a PS then.And then a real life friend told me "LAU YOU'VE GOT TO TRY THIS GAME YOU MAKE PLANTS GROW!" XD So I started playing it at her house, until we got a PS at home. It took me ages to finish it, because I'm a horrible gamer and I hadn't played anything since Super Mario 3. But I loved it. So very much. ♥
It's beautiful. The characters are adorable. The story is really good. It has gorgeous landscapes, and you get to make everything alive and pretty and green, and it has characters who do their best to be good people, and characters who are braver than they think, and a quirky sparkly mentor figure, and dragons, and [SPOILER]even random aliens ahahaha my pings[/SPOILER], and yes the ending made me cry. In a good way.
Seriously. Gorgeous. ♥