Question meme
Nov. 24th, 2022 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI have finished the draft of my Yuletide story! \o/ Now to work on the treat I have also started on…
Questions fromregshoe:
1. What was the first book that you really loved or became obsessed with?
Of course I may have forgotten some, but Lord of the Rings is what stands out in my memory. I was perhaps nine, I think? I found it quite scary (the black riders!) but was absolutely riveted. And of course went on to nerdily obsess.
2. Do you have a favourite folk song, or otherwise share a folk song that you particularly like?
I’ll share one I have a long history with: De två systrarna, which is the Swedish version of The Twa Sisters. Or versions, I should say--of course there are many of them, and I collected them, along with English versions. I'm sure you have heard the Folk och Rackare version. That's the version which I myself learned first, and my sister and I would perform it together, singing the verses in turn. Since I was the oldest sister, I always sang the evil one.
3. What do you most like about bryophytes—the plants themselves, and/or learning about them and observing them?
Well, they are quite beautiful up close. I also like that when you look at them under the microscope, most of the time you don't have to spend a lot of time preparing the specimens. Often it's enough just to strip some leaves off with sharp tweezers, or put a whole shoot in some water on a slide (but this is not to say that it's necessarily easy to determine the species). By contrast, lichens and fungi are usually easier just at the beginning, when you’re just using a hand lens, but then the learning curve grows steep quickly. Fungi are just so messy and difficult under the microscope!
4. Who is your favourite fictional Jacobite, apart from Ewen Cameron?
I flailed around for a few seconds thinking of possible candidates, but then realized the obvious answer: Alison Grant. : ) She is certainly the fictional Jacobite I’ve spent the most time writing and thinking about, besides Ewen.
5. What is the most beautiful and/or memorable bird you've seen in Sweden?
Since you say beautiful, my answer must be fjällabb (long-tailed skua, or long-tailed jaeger). It’s an incredibly graceful bird in the air, and very beautiful with its slim body with gradations of white, grey and black. Arrgh, I can’t describe it well! But its temper is not graceful—it will dive aggressively at your head. Had you said charming, I would have chosen the Siberian jay. : )
Feel free to ask for questions!
Questions from
regshoe: 1. What was the first book that you really loved or became obsessed with?
Of course I may have forgotten some, but Lord of the Rings is what stands out in my memory. I was perhaps nine, I think? I found it quite scary (the black riders!) but was absolutely riveted. And of course went on to nerdily obsess.
2. Do you have a favourite folk song, or otherwise share a folk song that you particularly like?
I’ll share one I have a long history with: De två systrarna, which is the Swedish version of The Twa Sisters. Or versions, I should say--of course there are many of them, and I collected them, along with English versions. I'm sure you have heard the Folk och Rackare version. That's the version which I myself learned first, and my sister and I would perform it together, singing the verses in turn. Since I was the oldest sister, I always sang the evil one.
3. What do you most like about bryophytes—the plants themselves, and/or learning about them and observing them?
Well, they are quite beautiful up close. I also like that when you look at them under the microscope, most of the time you don't have to spend a lot of time preparing the specimens. Often it's enough just to strip some leaves off with sharp tweezers, or put a whole shoot in some water on a slide (but this is not to say that it's necessarily easy to determine the species). By contrast, lichens and fungi are usually easier just at the beginning, when you’re just using a hand lens, but then the learning curve grows steep quickly. Fungi are just so messy and difficult under the microscope!
4. Who is your favourite fictional Jacobite, apart from Ewen Cameron?
I flailed around for a few seconds thinking of possible candidates, but then realized the obvious answer: Alison Grant. : ) She is certainly the fictional Jacobite I’ve spent the most time writing and thinking about, besides Ewen.
5. What is the most beautiful and/or memorable bird you've seen in Sweden?
Since you say beautiful, my answer must be fjällabb (long-tailed skua, or long-tailed jaeger). It’s an incredibly graceful bird in the air, and very beautiful with its slim body with gradations of white, grey and black. Arrgh, I can’t describe it well! But its temper is not graceful—it will dive aggressively at your head. Had you said charming, I would have chosen the Siberian jay. : )
Feel free to ask for questions!
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-25 04:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-25 08:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-25 04:30 pm (UTC)I'd love some questions, thanks!
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-27 01:50 pm (UTC)2. Do you have a favorite art technique/medium?
3. Do you have a favorite fannish exchange or challenge?
4. Do you reread fic (or books) a lot?
5. Tell me something about New Zealand that I probably don't know and might find interesting?
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-25 04:34 pm (UTC)thanks for introducing me to Folk och Rackare -- they're awesome. Seems to be the Swedish cognate of Pentangle: diverse instrumentation, beautifully polished tone and pitch. I'd love to know of other performers in that vein.
About the Two Sisters: Did the English folk-song tradition travel east to Sweden? Or were songs translated in the "Folk Revival" periods (in the USA that's from 1920s on)?
I've experienced skua behavior in the wild and moldy toast are they annoying.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-27 02:00 pm (UTC)About the Two Sisters: Did the English folk-song tradition travel east to Sweden? Or were songs translated in the "Folk Revival" periods (in the USA that's from 1920s on)?
The influence didn't necessarily go from Britain to Scandinavia. : P Many of these ballads go back, in various forms, to medieval times in Sweden, as they do in large parts of Europe. There are various theories of origin, but from what I've read it seems to possibly have been part of a widespread European culture where songs traveled all over and changed and grew.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-27 09:05 pm (UTC)Yeah, I woke up this morning bopping myself on the head, thinking well shit JK, the Two Sisters could have traveled West!.
Actually, they still have albums for sale, so I'll buy them!
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-25 06:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-27 02:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-25 08:34 pm (UTC)I would like some questions, if you like!
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-27 02:12 pm (UTC)1. If you look at all the fandoms you have been in, is there anything they have in common that drew you to them?
2. You have moved around a lot. What are the most important things that you want in a place to live?
3. Tell me a cool thing about the human voice that I might not know.
4. Tell me about the relevance of being Muslim to your Star Wars fannishness? I think I've seen you say something about that in your journal...
5. Did you have a crush on any fictional character when you were young?
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-26 12:57 pm (UTC)Funnily enough, I tried to read LotR at about the same age but couldn't get into it—then I came back five years later and absolutely loved it.
That is interesting about microscoping bryophytes vs. fungi and lichens! I'll have to try it some time.
Aww, the long-tailed skua is very beautiful, excellent choice :D I have seen Arctic skua before, but it was a very long way away (I only knew what it was because the more experienced birders there told me), flying out to sea, so I didn't really get to appreciate it properly. Hee, that contrast between graceful appearance and aggressive manners is funny—it reminds me of Arctic terns, lovely elegant birds by which I have been memorably dive-bombed. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-27 02:20 pm (UTC)