(no subject)

[rj_anderson]

Gacked from multiple friends, it's... the Interest Meme!

Pick an interest from my LJ User Profile that:

you've never heard of, but would like to know more about; OR

you've heard of, but can't figure out why I would be interested in it.

And all shall be explained.

Comments

[kizmet-42.livejournal.com]

Unreliable narrators.

I'm fascinated by the concept - and would love to write a story using the technique.

How about you?

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Mary Stewart was the first one to show me what clever things can be done with an unreliable narrator, in her book The Ivy Tree, and I've been fascinated by the concept ever since. Dorothy Dunnett also does it very well.

When I found out that JKR was using unreliable narration in the HP books (although Harry isn't deliberately unreliable, at least not so much -- he's just young and ignorant, and inclined to get his information from the wrong people sometimes) I was positively gleeful. Especially since, so far, the truth has usually come out in Snape's favor. :)

[jadekitten01.livejournal.com]

blue blaze irregulars

I have no idea what this is and I'm very curious...

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Blue Blaze Irregulars, or BBI's, are fans of the quirky 80's SF movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086856/) (BB for short). In the movie, the BBI's were Dr. Banzai's volunteer assistants (http://www.figmentfly.com/bb/q23.html).

It's a really bizarre movie, but lots of fun. I've been a fan of many things in my lifetime, but the BBIs were the only official fan club I ever bothered to join...

[rocky-t.livejournal.com]

Good grief, that movie was the first one my husband and I saw together when we were dating. It certainly gave us something to talk about afterwards!

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

Aztec camera?

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Aztec Camera (http://www.randysrodeo.com/alternative/aztec.php). Sadly, I have to agree with the near-universal assessment that their first album was the best and everything after that was downhill. I was terribly disappointed in the third album and never bought a thing after that. But the first two albums, and the "Backwards and Forwards" EP -- wow. Among other things, they did a slow, bittersweet acoustic guitar cover version of Van Halen's "Jump" that was quite, quite brilliant -- unlike the original. :)

[angelofthenorth.livejournal.com]

connie willis, please.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Award-winning SF author, but her SF is much more character-centred than the norm, she doesn't bog the reader down in technical explanations, and she can also be enormously funny. Half her stuff -- generally, the more light-hearted stuff -- I absolutely adore, and the other half I loathe with a passion. Love: To Say Nothing of the Dog, Bellwether, most of Impossible Things. Hate: Fire Watch, Lincoln's Dreams, Doomsday Book.

[serenasnape.livejournal.com]

"Amazing race" - got my attention:

"blah blah blah amazing grace bl- wait a minute, amazing race?!"

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

The Amazing Race (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race/index.shtml). Otherwise known as the only good "reality" TV show ever. Instead of people sitting around endlessly whining and scheming and generally boring themselves and the audience to tears, they race around the world in teams (the teams being composed of two people who are close to each other in some way, such as sisters, father and son, married couples, best friends etc.), getting lost in strange exotic locations, performing radical feats of derring-do (i.e. there is at least one colossal bungee jump and/or skydiving stint per Race) and suffering from Killer Fatigue. The winning team gets a million dollars. Oh, and the host, Phil Keoghan, is dreamy and has a brill Kiwi accent. :)

[ravensnape.livejournal.com]

I know what Amazing Race is. I loved it both seasons. My question is have you heard if there will be another season. If I liked to fly I'd seriously consider doing it. But I drove 30 hours to Nimbus rather than fly so that should tell you something.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

It's too late to get in for TAR 5, which has already been filmed and will be airing this summer. And nobody knows if there will be a TAR 6.

It would be too cool to see somebody I know in the Race, though!

[sibylle]

right, I'll bite: "Girl Most Likely"?

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Girl Most Likely (http://www.mirrordance.net/hpfic/girl/index.html). lizbee writes by far the most believable grown-up Harry I've ever read in fanfic (at least, in my opinion), and it's a really well-written, intriguing story. I keep pestering her to finish it -- she is so close to having it all done. I've even drawn her fan art for a part of the story she hasn't posted yet (*looks pointedly at Liz*).

[sheryll.livejournal.com]

Saffron cake. I've heard you mention it, ages and ages ago. Likely back when there were about 100 of us on HPFGU. Am intrigued enough to wonder if it's something I'd like. :)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Saffron Cake (http://www.aboutfood.co.uk/articles/recipes/recipe-15.html), though it's not exactly the same as my mother's recipe so I can't say how it would turn out. People either love it or hate it, it seems. My family, who grew up with it as a Christmas treat, loves it; my kids, who are picky eaters, seem to like it enough to pester me for more; but my husband thinks it's some sort of horrible punishment and I must be mad to want to eat that stuff. So... your mileage may vary. :)

[sheryll.livejournal.com]

Thanks, have bookmarked the page. Andy is the baker around here, so I'll try to talk him in to doing a bit of baking for me. It usually doesn't take much prompting. :)

[kerravonsen]

Um, okay -- what's "clay aiken"?

[reveilles.livejournal.com]

LOL! :)

Actually, maybe I shouldn't be laughing. The only reason I know what a clay aiken is is because my gym plays inane radio stations incessantly and the radio hosts seem to be inordinately excited about American Idol.

Clay Aiken is the guy who won the second season of that show.

Weird phrase-- "won the second season."

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Clay Aiken is the guy who won the second season of that show.

He didn't, actually, but you'd never know it, would you? Ruben Studdard was the "official" winner.

[reveilles.livejournal.com]

oh! whoops! shows how much I pay attention... :)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Clay Aiken (http://www.clayaiken.com). Came second in last year's American Idol competition, but even if the competition wasn't rigged to his detriment (and a lot of people think it was), he's certainly eclipsed the "real" winner in record sales and general popularity since.

Otherwise known as proof that even the geekiest geek, with no native style or fashion sense whatsoever, can become a superstar when armed with a phenomenal singing voice and a very determined stylist. :) Pity his taste in music seems to be fairly lame, and most of the songs on his debut album are generic pop-pap. He's a riveting live performer. And he's also got a snarky sense of humour, which amuses me.

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

You have piqued my interest. Why might you be including 'nicholas rowe'?

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Rats, his unofficial fan site seems to have disappeared. Here's his CV (http://www.pfd.co.uk/scripts/get.py/commercials/?commercials+ROWEN) at his talent agency's site instead. Basically I developed a monster crush on him at the age of sixteen when he appeared in Young Sherlock Holmes, and have followed his career with interest ever since. He played the young King George in Longitude, for instance, which I much enjoyed; and one of the explorers in Branagh's Shackleton miniseries, which is on my to-watch list...

[(Anonymous)]

Indian food!!! more on that please.what kind of indian food have you tried and liked?

muddledminerva

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

My favorite Indian meal so far consists of onion bhaji and samosas as an appetizer, with some salad and Nan bread; then chicken tikka (or tandoori chicken, but for some reason tandoori always seems to make me ill) and beef vindaloo, with basmati rice, and mango lassi to drink. And I forget what those little spongy balls in rosewater and syrup are called that they serve for dessert -- oh, yeah, papadums. But really the main course is the best part...

[(Anonymous)]

!!!!
I'm so happy to know that you love Indian food.Makes me proud of my country :]
Papadums are actually crisp,fried salty rolls and they are a South Indian speciality.The spongy balls soaked in rose/saffron water are called gulab jamuns.You should try vegetable curries with paneer (cottage cheese) or Tandoori Paneer...

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Papadums are actually crisp,fried salty rolls

Oops! I knew I'd got something wrong. Gulab jamuns -- that's right. Don't know why I mixed that up, because I've never even eaten papadums, just seen them listed on restaurant menus.

As for paneer -- I've made it myself, at home, back when I had the time to do Indian cooking (I have a wonderful cookbook that a friend gave me). But I stupidly used low-fat milk, and then wondered why I ended up with so little paneer... heh. The recipe was good, though.

And I always get annoyed with people who tell me they're sure they wouldn't enjoy Indian food because they "don't like curry", by which they mean the prefab curry powder that you buy in supermarkets. I'm not a big fan of that either, but when you make your own recipe-appropriate curries with fresh spices, they're delicious...

I really enjoy a recipe I found in my Indian cookbook that I've not seen anywhere in a restaurant, I talked about it and gave the recipe here in my blog (http://rjanderson.blogspot.com/2003_04_01_rjanderson_archive.html#91864558).

I have some friends whose family was from Kerala -- I used to eat over at their house sometimes when I was younger, which is how I was introduced to Indian food. Except back then, I had a very sensitive stomach and couldn't enjoy it properly! Oh, to turn back time...