eyelessgame: (Default)
So I haven't actually read all that much fantasy. The following list is close to exhaustive, not counting a half dozen or so that feel much lighter (e.g. Spellsinger or Stasheff or Xanth) addendum: or young adult fantasy like Harry Potter, Dark is Rising, and Narnia.

Fantasy I like:
Tolkien - though if I wasn't seven when I first read it, I might not have liked it so much, maybe
Brust - both Vlad and Khaavren
Black Company, maybe except for the last two books
Pern, at least six books of it
Belgariad - I enjoyed reading it, but I didn't like the racial stereotyping when thinking about it afterwards
Elric
Amber

Stuff I liked the first two books of, but then dropped:
Melanie Rawn - about one too many (or more like four or five too many) people had long passages whining about how Andry wasn't cuddly any more
Donaldson - eventually my urge to defenestrate Covenant overwhelmed the beautiful descriptions

Stuff I didn't like:
Jordan. I got through one book and part of a second. Very little happened, and took a whole lot of words to fail to happen. And I really didn't care much about the premise and conflict - not sure why.
MZB Darkover
Shannara
Bujold, Paladin of Souls - I was astonished I didn't like this. But... too much nothing happened.


In general, my big reasons for putting a book down are boredom. I can hate a protagonist and still like a book.

The way to keep my interest is either (a) tell me the premise and make me care (Pern, Tolkien, Black Company first trilogy, Belgariad), (b) make things happen so fast I want to keep reading to figure out what's next (Black Company, Taltos, Amber), or write so well it's just a joy to turn the page (Tolkien, Khaavren, Donaldson initially).

What doesn't work: (a) paint a world slowly and painstakingly, where the world doesn't immediately capture my imagination (Darkover), (b) drop mysterious hints without much art or quick payoff (Shannara), or (c) create fascinating angsty characters who angst about their angstful angstiness (Bujold, Rawn @ Sunrunner's Fire, Donaldson eventually).

So. My open question. What else would I like?

baaa

Jun. 17th, 2007 09:26 pm
eyelessgame: (Default)
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next three sentences in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.


"Vespucci came to the world's attention chiefly through the publication in 1503 and 1504 of two brief letters he purportedly wrote to Lorenzo de Medici about a voyage undertaken for the king of Portugal. Obviously the work of an educated man (the Vespuccis were a prosperous family in Florence), the letters managed to be both scholarly and entertaining, combining a sober discussion of navigational issues with the news that the natives of the New World would have sex with anybody, including Mom. Vespucci, or perhaps his anonymous publisher, also had the wit to entitle the first letter Novus Mundus, the New World, an audacious and, as it turned out, accurate claim."
eyelessgame: (Default)

HowManyOfMe.com
LogoThere is:
1
person with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

eyelessgame: (Default)
ok, this was fun, stolen from hzatz. Hugo-winning novels, bolded if I've read them, italics if they're on my shelf but I haven't read them yet. Actually, come to think of it, it's nearly depressing... if nothing else it will keep people from trying to loan me books...Read more... )
eyelessgame: (Default)
Heh. Not much for the 'mood' tags. Who knew it would indict me?

eyelessgame is emotionally distant.
I bet no one's surprised that you never post your current mood. In fact, I bet most of your friends are so sick of you locking them out of your life that they hate you behind your back. Shame.
brought to you by interim32. wanna know your lj's moodring color? enter your user name and hit the button. (discussion thread)

eyelessgame: (Default)
I took the 'rate my life' test that others have taken.

Not going to post the answers. But it suggests I might benefit from socializing more, and it's probably right. Not sure how to work that, though.

It asked a good question which stumped me -- how many "good friends" do I have?

I have a ton of acquaintances. I have a lot of old friends whom I see occasionally. I see gamers more or less weekly, feed them dinner and torture their alter egos.

But. Other than my wife, I don't have any contemporary confidantes -- friends I see and socialize with regularly, other than in a gaming context. This may partly be because I don't watch sports or drink.

By confidantes, I mean... what do I mean? I have this probably apocryphal notion regarding What Men Do ... men are supposed to go sit at a bar and drink beer, complain about their wives, discuss the local sports teams, and thereby Bond (tm). That seems kinda odd. I seem to have gotten all my spectator sports mojo out when I was a kid -- wasting hours watching sports seems, these days, like playing Dungeons and Dragons probably seems to a lot of former geeks; watching sports is something you did when you were a teen and had time and no life. And as for having people to complain to about my wife? I dunno, I don't think I could ever bring myself to. Not that I have a perfect life -- no one does -- but any complaints I might ever have would seem far too private to discuss with anybody else. Gauche. Rude. Oversharing. You know what I mean.

So I don't know. I suppose I should get out more. But where, how, with whom, and more to the point, why? The job makes it a bit difficult -- I already spend one and a half evenings a week away from Sherilyn, so the idea of spending any other time "out" just feels unfair, and frankly not what I want to do. I was gaming for a while on Wednesday nights, but that just increased my exhaustion. I don't have any interest in getting together with people from the church, the only neighbors I feel I have much in common with are moving away.

This seems to come across as more of a downer than I really feel. I have a great time socializing at lunch at work. I am by and large happy with my job, and my family is absorbing and wonderful. I see my bay friends when they visit, and I am largely content with my life at present. I don't feel like I'm missing something; instead, I feel a little like I ought to feel like I'm missing something.
eyelessgame: (Default)
Use the meme, Luke. I have the feeling this could be the beginning of a beautiful meme. Rule 1 about the meme is that we don't talk about the meme. The meme was a sled. I have a bad feeling about the meme. I ate his meme, with some fava beans and a nice chianti. What is the airspeed of an unladen meme? You think you can do these things but you just can't, Meme! One meme to rule them all, one meme to find them, one meme to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. To the meme -- and beyond! Well, a meme is a poor substitute for a lover. It's a Sicilian message -- it means Luca Brasi sleeps with the memes.


 

scroll to bottom to copy the html

IMDB's Top 100 Best Movies of All Time
generate this HTML for your own page at ObeytheFist.com


The Results )

Which movies have you seen?

eyelessgame: (Default)
Yay, the one I expected to be.

You scored as Kaylee Frye. The Mechanic. You are a natural mechanic, and you are far too sweet and cheerful to live out here. How you can see the good in everyone around you boggles the mind occationally. Still you don't seem to be any crazier than that, and it is a nice kinda crazy.

</td>

Kaylee Frye

81%

The Operative

75%

Simon Tam

69%

Hoban 'Wash' Washburne

63%

Capt. Mal Reynolds

56%

Shepherd Derrial Book

50%

River Tam

50%

Zoe Alleyne Washburne

44%

Inara Serra

25%

Jayne Cobb

25%

Which Serenity character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Hah.

Oct. 3rd, 2005 02:43 pm
eyelessgame: (Default)
Being as smart as [livejournal.com profile] tavella is no easy feat... I had to guess on authorship, but the others were pretty simple, I thought...

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!
eyelessgame: (Default)
1. Go here.
2. Pass it on.
my answers )

Meme

Apr. 8th, 2005 02:11 pm
eyelessgame: (Default)
except I'm doing it a little differently.

The TV Show Meme
1. Post a list of 10 TV shows you watch (current or cancelled!)
2. Have your friends list guess your favourite CHARACTER from each show
3. When guessed, tell us why you like that character


I found I was more interested in making these three lists. But feel free to play the meme game about the first or second list.

10 shows I watch right now, in rough order of how much/little I care about them:
1. Lost
2. Veronica Mars
3. Scrubs
4. Numb3rs
5. Cold Case
6. Joan of Arcadia
7. CSI:Miami
8. Alias
9. Smallville
10. Desperate Housewives


10 shows I watched and greatly enjoyed, which are now cancelled (or, in a few cases, degraded past the point of caring):
1. Sports Night
2. West Wing
3. Buffy
4. Angel
5. Once And Again
6. NYPD Blue
7. X-Files
8. My So-Called Life
9. Firefly
10. Andromeda


10 shows I've watched none of, or very little of, but want to someday, in no particular order (or are sorry I'm missing):
1. Gilmore Girls
2. Babylon 5
3. CSI
4. Battlestar Galactica (new series)
5. ST:DS9
6. Law and Order
7. Seinfeld
8. 24
9. Sopranos
10. The Daily Show

totem

Apr. 1st, 2005 11:30 am
eyelessgame: (Default)
You scored as Slug. You are the Slug. You are quite slimy and leave a trail wherever you go. You disgust people and eat their flowers and hedges. You fascinate small children, who try to pour salt on you. Eventually you will be stepped on and expire, looking like a used kleenex.

</td>

Slug

92%

Dragon

83%

Bull

83%

Dog

83%

Crow

75%

Stag

75%

Eagle

67%

Salmon

67%

Wolf

58%

Ram

58%

Bear

50%

Deer

50%

Horse

33%

Snake

25%

Which animal totem best suits you?
created with QuizFarm.com


Read more... )
eyelessgame: (Default)
perhaps because I just had to create an extensive powerpoint presentation...


Warning
- in A.M. (cold, humid)
- no evident source
- regarding powerful time
- everyone busy
- danger to plant reproduction
- children morose
- shivering (cf. cold)
- canine scavengers operating cameras (poss. metaphorical)

Punishment
- due to betrayal, quiet
- extreme
- causes appeals to deity
- remorseless

Requirement for assistance
- Greek allusion

Reasons for presence
- Removal of obstacles to contentment
- Act as supplicant
- conflict (rev. 2)

Greetings
- entertainment promised
- Norse allusions

Contents of show
- supra-auditory combative roosters
- decollated clergy (brined)
- terrorism
- lamentation
- ecdysiasm
- eschatological haberdashery

Section II covers topics 7+
eyelessgame: (Default)
10 things I've done that most people probably haven't

1. Went door-to-door campaigning (for Hubert Humphrey) when I was two
2. Broke my femur (at age 3)
3. Wrote a six-part choral arrangement of a Broadway song, then conducted it for my high school choir
4. Elected to editor of the college newspaper
5. Petitioned successfully for reinstatement to college three times after unacceptable GPAs, then had all three expunged from my record after grades were later changed
6. Given software tech support to Alan Alda
7. Wrote software that won a PC Magazine editor's choice award
8. Accidentally pissed off James Randi (then had an essay printed in his newsletter after I apologized)
9. Been in total eclipse umbra and seen live lava flow on the same day
10. Found Neptune with a telescope, armed only with almanac and star chart
eyelessgame: (Default)
I think I should trade actors with Flit, though.


My LiveJournal Sitcom
Life With eyelessgame (FOXFAM, 2:30): eyelessgame (Elizabeth Hurley) wipes yessod (David Schwimmer)'s laptop. On the other side of town, tavella (John Turturro) is allergic to marith (Mickey Rourke)'s yearbook. In the next town over, flit (Denis Leary) draws a picture on czr (Neil Patrick Harris)'s forehead. Later that day, tamago (Julia Roberts) and jimweasel (Erika Christensen) don't believe in Scientology. That same day, tayefeth (Harry Belafonte)'s new shirt bleeds in the wash and stains all of silkblade (George Carlin)'s underwear pink. TV-PG.
What's Your LiveJournal Sitcom? (by rfreebern)
eyelessgame: (Default)
Democrat
Threat rating: High. The Bush administration is
concerned that it may not get a second term.
Therefore, we are going to change the rules so
that each Democrat vote only counts as 0.2
votes because Democrat is a shorter word than
Republican


What threat to the Bush administration are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
eyelessgame: (Default)
The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to the First Level of Hell - Limbo!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
LevelScore
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)Very High
Level 2 (Lustful)High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)Very High
Level 7 (Violent)Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)Very Low

Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test
eyelessgame: (Default)
Came a bit late to the party, but this is my list of the opening lines of my top thirteen (sorry, can't get it down to ten) works of fiction... and even so I started by eliminating anything that showed up on Sherilyn's journal, a couple of which would otherwise have displaced something here.

A couple of these are sets of stories as opposed t osingle novels, and I picked either the first, best-known, or favorite among the stories (sort of arbitrarily).

The unfair bit is that I'm so utterly conventional that I'm not going to attribute them. Very few people who are the sort to read my journal will fail to identify at least nine or ten. No particular order...



How to explain? How to describe? Even the omniscient viewpoint quails.

In the nighttime heart of Beirut, in one of a row of general-address transfer booths, Louis Wu flicked into existence.

"No good!" said Lamont, sharply. "I didn't get anywhere."

Callahan's Place was pretty lively that night.

Fins had been making wisecracks about human beings for thousands of years.

The volcano that had reared Taratua up from the Pacific depths had been sleeping now for half a million years.

Once upon a time there was a Martian named Valentine Michael Smith.

Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach.
This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face.


When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.

When Mr. Dildo Bugger of Bug End grudgingly announced his intention of throwing a free feed for all the boggies in his part of the Sty, the reaction in all Boggietown was immediate -- all through the messy little slum could be heard squeals of "Swell!" and "Hot puppies, grub!"

How could I have died and gone to hell without noticing the transition?

"Wake up, sir. We're here."

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