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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 11:01:55 GMT -5
I personally feel that guilty pleasure books are integral to sanity. To that end: I frequently reread books that I loved when I was younger. Like the Animorphs series, the Mindwarp series, Diana Wynne Jones's books, Tamora Pierce's books. I also love trashy sci-fi. See, I keep debating about posting here, because the only thing I read that would be considered a "guilty pleasure" is the massive pile of sci-fi paperbacks. But every time I read another one and see all of the social commentary and philosophy that's there, I refuse to believe that I should feel guilty for it. Although, maybe your sci-fi is trashier than mine :-P
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Tattoos
Jun 1, 2011 10:29:25 GMT -5
Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 10:29:25 GMT -5
Adding waves to the comma is a nice touch -- adding flair to the stereotypical English major's tattoo. It's a bass clef, not a comma. The two little dots are kind of buried in the wave, heh.
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 10:24:14 GMT -5
Ah, ellipses. The one major downfall of my writing. I became obsessed with them when I was a very young kid watching the Star Wars movies, and now they feel appropriate...everywhere... it's a problem sometimes. This makes me chortle. AND THIS MAKES ME ECSTATIC. I get way too happy whenever a Carrollian term appears.
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 10:20:51 GMT -5
In response to the gender question, you can choose one and then later go into your profile and choose to hide it. It's not the best solution, but it works. But it really doesn't... I supply this hypothetical: You're taking a poll on the Internet, and it asks you for your ethnicity at the end, which is something real polls often do. You click the little down arrow, and what do you see? You see "White," "Black," and "Asian." Sorry everybody else, but that poll only wants whites, blacks, and "Asians" (even though Russians and Arabs are also Asians -_-). -- Having only "Male" and "Female" as options tells everyone that is not "Male" or "Female" that they are not "desired." It's fucking disturbing. I wholeheartedly agree with you, and if this wasn't something that came as part of the boards, it wouldn't have existed at all. I really wish we could change it
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 10:18:21 GMT -5
Does anyone have any recommendations for good mythology books? I love mythology but I seem to have a hard time finding books that make myths sound more interesting than a surgical procedure, lol. I learned a lot of Japanese mythology in my Japanese history class, and I think it's fascinating. I've absorbed a lot of Greek mythology just because it's so prominent in literature and culture. I'd love to read up on Norse mythology more - I really don't know anything about it aside from some of the names of the gods. And my grandfather (and a lot of his family) is from Norway, so I would like to know more about it than I do. For Classical, Edith Hamilton's Mythology is a very good place to start. My copy is beat to hell, and I love it :-D
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 9:05:35 GMT -5
Because it's the backbone of most classic literature.
Discuss your favorite mythologies (Norse? Classical? Native American?), your favorite myths, your favorite re-tellings and interpretations.
And as a final note: I greatly enjoy the fact that my boss refers to me as Persephone. He even started doing that before he knew about my obsession with pomegranates...
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 9:03:10 GMT -5
And I'm really thinking there should be a mythology thread somewhere on this forum. I was debating making one earlier, but I needed to work on my paper. We definitely do need one! Why did I not think of this earlier. Off to start one! Also, nice to meet you.
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 8:57:43 GMT -5
Ah, ellipses. The one major downfall of my writing. I became obsessed with them when I was a very young kid watching the Star Wars movies, and now they feel appropriate...everywhere... it's a problem sometimes.
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 8:35:08 GMT -5
I did that once. I later got a compliment from the professor that I did a good job "understanding a difficult article". Haha, fantastic. Yeah, every semester there's at least one research paper with a minimum number of academic sources, and a certain percentage have to be print (I had one prof let me use a whole two online sources!). I've also discovered that wikipedia + google books = instant print citation. And I've never, ever been marked down because of anything related to my "research."
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 8:30:46 GMT -5
Fiction, to put it broadly. I'd love to actually make a living off of writing some day, big expansive novels but... it doesn't quite work out that way.
Most of what I am doing now is a kind of realistic short-short, and the occasional poem. I'm an avid sci-fi reader, and I'd love to write it, but every time I start the premise just feels... cheap. I think I might have read too much good sci-fi to ever think that mine is passable, heh.
I've been getting a little bit more into creative non-fiction lately, working through some life experiences. Actually, a lot of my short fiction starts as non-fiction, but if I'm in the right mood it takes its own path after a few lines. I love it when that happens.
I've got a 10 page fiction story that one of my professors urged me to get published... still waiting to hear back from 9 out of the 10 literary magazines that I sent it to. We'll see how that goes!
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 8:14:02 GMT -5
Yeah. My ex had gotten me started on Salvatore (Drizzt was basically his father figure growing up... oh my), and after I got through... 17 or 18 of his books? He turned my onto Eddings, and I whipped through The Belgariad and The Malloreon. I stopped there because that's all that my ex owned, but when I stopped at Barnes & Noble I noticed his other series... I had to walk away before I wound up reading them all at once, because the semester was starting and I had other things to get to. So I turned to Asimov's Foundation trilogy next. Never did find time to go back to Eddings... If those series were the Elenium and Tamuli, read them read them read them! I honestly think they're a lot more entertaining than the Belgariad/Mallorean. The plot is a little less formulaic, and the reinterpretation of Medieval Europe is great. It's a little darker, and has as much political maneuvering as it does action. It's probably his best six books. If it was any other series...eh. I haven't read them yet, but haven't heard great things. If it was his "psychological thriller", turn and run in the other direction. Quickly. I couldn't get too into Foundation. I read the first book and liked it. I love Asimov, but the method of storytelling (stories taking place every couple hundred of years) left little to really get into. I might get around to reading the rest of it, but it's not high on my to-do list. Yeah. I'll admit, Foundation can be a little... dry. But it was one of those classics of Sci-Fi that I had to read, and since someone had been nice enough to give me the most boring, grey leather bound edition of all three, I figured I'd do it. I'm glad I did, but I don't think I'll be re-reading it ever.
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 7:36:24 GMT -5
I've got a few. For instance, - Doorknob. I don't know why, I just... like it.
- Celestial. Beautiful word, and I have a fascination with the night sky.
- Glauben. German word meaning "to believe." I don't know why, but I love saying it, and all of its conjugations.
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 7:31:43 GMT -5
I always just stick to the cheap composition notebooks. You know, the cliche speckled cover, the cheap college ruled paper. I don't feel bad about beating them to hell or half burying them in sand, but since they've got a harder cover than spiral bound, I can still write anywhere. I had a Moleskine, once. I just didn't enjoy writing in it... it felt like it deserved a second draft, not a first. Plus, it was a ridiculously tiny size.
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 7:25:07 GMT -5
I'm not the first person to have said this one, but "your" and "you're" being confused drives me nuts, as does "its" and "it's". The apostrophe may not seem like much, but it changes the meaning of the word completely! I hate when people don't bother to use them correctly or fix them if they make an error....it gives the impression that they don't really care about what they're saying! The "it's/its" thing. I'll forgive it if it's a very hasty draft, a text, a facebook message, whatever. But if it's something that you know more than one other person is going to look at, for the love of god pay attention. I had a fellow English major turn in a story for a class, and when I read it, he used the wrong its every. single. time. About a week later, he applied for a job at our writing center. I nearly cried. But, apparently, he didn't get it. And I didn't even have to intervene!
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Post by Olive on Jun 1, 2011 7:15:14 GMT -5
I also kind of want "bookworm" on my knuckles, but I don't know if that would fly since I plan on being a librarian... Yeah... damn this whole "body mods frowned on by legitimate employment." I really want to get the Heinlein quote down the inside of my right forearm (it's about writing, so that feels appropriate), but I realize that would probably jeopardize tenure track... so, I'll stick to keeping them all under my t-shirt, for now. Speaking of, I bring photos! The first, which I had to take another picture of with my crappy cell phone camera, because I hadn't gotten a picture since it was touched up. My second, my favorite. Took just over 4 hours, one sitting. Third. Ignore the redness, this was the photo the artist took immediately after finishing. The first memorial tattoo, done in the back of a motorcycle shop (it was a legitimate parlor, believe it or not). And free, thanks to my fantastic best friend. Also, no hepatitis, yay! My most recent, and the first one from my new local shop. The artists are kind of... pretentious, but they do fantastic work. So yeah, there we go. Sorry about the giant post!
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