Questions: September
Director — My favorite director is Christopher Nolan, but Stanley Kubrick is a close second, though I haven't seen all of Kubrick's oeuvre.
Author — William Gibson. Own all his books. Love … most of them, anyway.
Musician — Trent Reznor! Also, David Bowie. Nine Inch Nails and Bowie were the soundtrack to my adolescence, and if these two men have nothing else in common, they're both incredibly talented and versatile musicians.
Are you interested in anything from the Villainness Bad Apples update? Oh, Discord, of course, but I've never gotten to try anything from Villainness, either, so if you want to look elsewhere for other soaps that would "go with" some of my favorite oils … If you have a pet, would he/she/they like to receive a treat or a toy as a gift? Does your pet have any dietary restrictions or other preferences w.r.t. said treat? I'm sure D'arcy would love any sort of cat toy. She doesn't have any dietary restrictions, and loves catnip. She's not much interested in "people food," even foods her sister Onyx loved. What are your top three "I want to try them but I think I'll never get to try them" (or, "I've tried them and I want moar moar moar, but I don't think I'll ever get any") scents/bath oils/sprays? BPAL-wise, my pipe-dreams are Skadi and Black Lace — I got a sniffy of the latter in a purchase from sarandipitee on these forums, and it smells divine, but there wasn't enough to test. Is there a particular artist and piece that you would like a print of? If so, what is your max size that you could spare on your walls? I talk extensively about some of my favorite art and artists below in the "oil painting" question — my walls are mostly bare right now, so I could accommodate something up to, oh, four feet on its longer side. I really enjoy art nouveau as well and think that would make great wall art in my current room. Do you like coffee or tea? Would you be interested in trying some different types? I like tea, and I'm slowly getting into loose teas. We recently got a Teavana near me, and I've tried their Peach Tranquility and Earl Grey Creme — the peach was a little weak for me even after prolonged steeping, but I love the Earl Grey. I've also been a big fan of orange/ginger blends in the past, and I absolutely love hot chai in wintertime. I'm less a coffee person, but I do treat myself to a Starbucks drink now and then (usually only if I'm driving a long way!). Are there any CDs/Albums you've been wanting but haven't bought yet? What format do you prefer? (i.e. mp3, actual cd, record, etc) I do prefer actual CDs to mp3 downloads just so that I also have the physical backup. I really like the treatment of CDs from Godspeed You! Black Emperor and associated projects — I already have all of GY!BE's music, but don't yet have Kollaps Tradixionales by sister-project Thee Silver Mount Zion or anything from HṚṢṬA, Fly Pan-Am or Set Fire to Flames. Are you going away for any part of this round? Nope! My winter sidebar to Arizona to visit my boyfriend and remind myself what the sun looks like is slated for the new year. Would you like to receive a mix-CD from your Witch? YES. Even if my witch doesn't necessarily share my music tastes, if sie wants to make a CD of songs sie thinks I'd like, I love discovering new music that way. If your witch were going somewhere on a vacation during the round, would you want a little souvenir? Probably — or just send me a postcard. 9 September Is there a particular myth/folktale/legend/fairytale/godstory that you're drawn to? Yesterday I mentioned I was a Discordian, but I haven't elaborated on what that is here or in the questionnaire. Discordianism was created by Gregory Hill — known as Malaclypse the Younger (or Mal-2) to Discordians — and both he and it were both later fictionalized in the Illuminatus! trilogy. It's almost a pastiche of the Zen sentiment that gained popularity in the US later, relying on what read like koans and self-subverting humor. People regard it as a joke religion, including most Discordians, but humor is just the vehicle used to relate the core philosophies of Discordianism. The Principia Discordia, the main holy text of the religion, isn't very long and is freely available under "copyleft" all over the internet. The patron goddess, Eris (Discordia to the Romans), and her sister Aneris (or Concordia, "Harmony") are in a constant struggle over "apparent order" and "apparent disorder" of the universe, which Discordians believe are just distinctions drawn between a deeper level of chaos. I talk about the Judgement of Paris below, which is causally related to what Discordians refer to as the "Original Snub" — Eris was not invited to a wedding, so she came and threw a golden apple with the inscription "Kallisti" — "For the fairest." Paris was chosen to judge which of the goddesses the apple should be awarded: Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite. Each offered a bribe; Aphrodite's bribe was the love of the most beautiful woman in the world (Helen of Troy). The Trojan War and the exile laid the groundwork for Aeneas, then to Ascanius, Alba Longa, and from there to Romulus — so slighting a goddess of Chaos actually led (in legend, at least) to the founding of Rome. It's a very good story, if it's nothing else. If you RP, tabletop, forum, or otherwise... Do you have any original characters you'd like to see art of? If so, please give information! Even if it's a link to a web page or a profile or picture! Yes, yes, oh my god yes! I would love to get art of almost any of my Warcraft characters (I have descriptions written up for each of them). I can put together a précis on my WoW characters, my Dark Heresy character, and my retired Shadowrun character. I'll come back and edit with links once I have. If you could see anything, what would it be? Can be a person, an event, a landmark or monument, an object, etc. And it doesn't have to be on this planet, or in this time period, or in this reality! I would actually really like to visit a Roman bath. In even-less-likely scenarios, I'd like to tool around in the Los Angeles of Blade Runner or the Sprawl of Neuromancer. When you are having a really rough day, what do you like to do/have to make it a little brighter? I like to make myself a cup of hot cocoa and draw or, more often, color. Coloring is a great de-stress activity for me. Sometimes I'll read or watch a show on Netflix instead to take my mind off whatever's bothering me. What are your thoughts on comics? Any you like? Any you have been wanting to try? Favorite characters? I answered a lot of this under the comic-strip heading, so I'll give a shorter breakdown here — my favorite DC supe is Batman; my favorite Marvel supe is Captain America. I've really loved a lot of the new superhero movies (I didn't see Superman Returns, and probably won't because I don't generally care about Superman — Red Son, where he crash-lands in Russia instead, was a really good read, though). I haven't picked up any of the DC "New 52" because I don't know where to start, but I loved Watchmen, naturally, and I'm a big Warren Ellis fan (and Neil Gaiman of course!). Are you musical? Do you play an instrument, and if so, what? If not, what do you wish you could play or do? I like to sing/do karaoke, but as far as music goes I'm woefully untalented. I thought about picking up ukelele because I'd convinced myself it was easier than guitar, but still haven't done either. One of my RP characters is a singer and I like to record songs for her, but I have a ahrd time finding someone to do the instrumental accompaniment. Does anyone garden? And if you do, what do you grow? If not, would a starter garden kit be something you'd be interested in? We had a very small herb garden this summer and some tomatoes, not very much and it didn't really turn out that well. I'd like to garden more, but it's not something most of my family members are interested in or knowledgable about. Just remember, I live in Upstate NY, where it looooves to snow and be cold. Do you decorate for Halloween? Is your decorating taste elegant, kitschy and fun, or scary? Not as much as we used to, sadly. Witchee, do you have any symbols or totems that have special meaning for you? Crows/ravens are a big one; my initial interest was in my early teenage years, and it's remained somewhat constant (hell, in 40K fandom my favorite Space Marine legion is the Raven Guard, so …). Is anyone fond of programs like Adopt a Tree/Highway/Library/Manatee/Acre of Rainforest/etc?: My environmental activism club in high school would make an annual trip up to Farm Sanctuary usually in October, and each year we'd adopt an animal, usually a turkey or another small animal, but I haven't done much like it since. 8 September and earlier Wishlists Amazon Etsy BPAL Dick Blick