interests meme

[sabotabby]

Via one_serious_cat:"Comment on this post and I will choose seven interests from your profile. You will then explain what they mean and why you are interested in them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal so that others can play along."

art terrorism was a lot funnier before some douche from OCAD used it as an excuse to call in a bomb scare at a fundraising event for AIDS research. But I appreciate it when Banksy replaces gallery and museum pieces or viral marketing goes awry.

biotic baking brigade: I used to be really into these guys. I don't think they do much as a collective anymore, but the idea has caught on and now pompous asshats are getting pwned by pies (usually vegan) all over the world. The pie's the limit!

gwendolyn macewan is one of my favourite poets. She lived here in Toronto and wrote poetry and plays and drank herself to death. I used to live across from a park named after her. She was a depressed, broken person but utterly brilliant and prolific. Some of her poems are here but you really should check out some of her books. Also, she was a total cat person and sort of looked like me.

leftist trainspotting is a major pastime of mine. It refers specifically to the study of leftist sectarian splits. My basic worldview is similar to that of most of the people and organizations that I mock, but that doesn't matter. Most splits occur for hilarious reasons.

Here are some fine examples of leftist transpotting: U.S. | Nepal

Also check out pemm.

nestor makhno was a Ukrainian anarchist who fought basically everyone during the Russian Revolution, on horseback, and with a wicked mustache. If the Bolsheviks are to be believed, he was an utter dick in almost every way. I find him rather interesting even though I suspect that they're probably right.

phil ochs: Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan were, respectively, the Tupac and Biggie of their day. Bob Dylan told Phil Ochs that he was a journalist, not a folksinger. I gather Phil Ochs told Bob Dylan some things that can't be repeated in polite company. Both had some self-destructive tendencies but Phil Ochs died of his, whereas Bob Dylan sold out and became a Christian. Guess which one I like better?

the coming beecopalypse (OR zombie porn): I'll talk about the beepocalypse, because it's more interesting. Bees all over the world have been dying of something called Colony Collapse Disorder. There are many theories as to what causes this, but the bottom line is that if the bee population is drastically reduced, the current food shortages we're seeing (which aren't really shortages but distribution problems but that's a whole other rant) are going to get even worse. Bees die, you die. I find the idea fascinatingly horrifying. (Also see: peak bee, peak banana.)

Comments

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

cynghanedd is another thing about Welsh poetry: it's the patterns of sound, a bit like rhyming or alliteration only about a dozen times more complicated and beautiful. This time I get to point you at Wikipedia only because I actually wrote that article, which means I got to pick the example; I rather gleefully chose the wonderful "Cywydd y Cedor" by Gwerful Mechain, arguably the greatest female Welsh bard in history, which is full of her explanations (in strict metre and perfect cynghanedd) of how much she loves women's genitalia.

not being a goth: After I dropped out of grad school, lost contact with the uninterested friend whom I'd fallen in love with, and my undiagnosed depression started getting worse, I started wearing black clothing as a way of mourning all of this, and thinking about how sad and pointless the world was and how it was all going to end soon anyway. And my friends started taking me to goth clubs and things. And I realised that rather than deciding I was a goth and then looking up what to do, I had surprisingly ended up in goth territory without knowing it, which seemed backwards; I ended up repeating a good deal what another SGO-ish person, simont, also says on his home page: I'm not a goth. Many goths say this, but I'm really not one. Well, OK, I wear black. And I like goth music. And regularly go to goth clubs. Argh, and I've been known to wear silly goth outfits when I go. But I'm still not a goth. In addition, there's a prevalent idea among goths that to claim that you're a goth is a sign that you're not one, so "not being a goth" is... oh, you get the idea. But mostly it's the ending up there without realising it.

Questions on this or anything are welcome...