Infinite Variety

[rj_anderson]

Dear Stephen Fry:

You are a very funny and talented man, and I am not at all surprised that you are also an enormous geek. I am amazed, however, by the sheer insane length of your first blog post, and the fact that it is all about electronic gadgetry. I don't know why I expected you to still write everything down on parchment with a fountain pen and use only public telephones, but for some reason I did.

Really, the sheer complexity of people never fails to surprise me.

Which has inspired me to create a meme of sorts:

1. Tell me one thing about yourself that you think I might be really surprised to hear, and/or
2. Tell me one thing about myself that really surprised you when you found out.

And now I must go and unravel part of Chapter Four which isn't working, so that I can feel happy about carrying on with Chapter Five.

Comments

[robinellen.livejournal.com]

1. Um...I've never read an actual adult fantasy book. not even one.

2. There is something that I remember being surprised about...was it that you were really shy? If that's not it, then it was something else you said on Verla's (that I've clearly already forgotten), but it truly was surprising.

Okay, that wasn't really worth it for you, was it? Oops...:)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I'm not really shy, at least not in general, so that probably wasn't it. Now I'm really curious to know what I said at Verla's that was so surprising!

And I am indeed truly surprised by your #1! Though I've found that the lines between YA and adult fiction sometimes get blurred, and books which were originally marketed as adult get re-released as MG or YA (like Patricia Wrede's Sorcery and Cecilia, for instance, or some of Robin McKinley's stuff). So we may have read some of the same books that I think of as adult fantasy. Maybe.

[robinellen.livejournal.com]

I've read Robin McKinley, but only her 'blue sword'...I'll have to look for that surprising thing :)

[newport2newport.livejournal.com]

Oh, fun meme!

Would you be surprised to know that I once performed a dance routine (along with other teachers), as part of a school-wide talent show? We wore gold and black leotards and strutted our stuff to the Dirty Dancing theme song, "The Time of My Life."

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Hee!

[tybalt-quin.livejournal.com]

If you can catch a showing of Stephen Fry's brilliant and honest account of bipolar disorder, there's a scene where a psychiatrist follows him on a shopping trip and he talks about his love of gadgets. It ends with him in one of the Tottenham Court Road stores (sans Death Eaters) and the guy's practically drooling over some gizmo-doodle. It was great. I loved him even more for seeing it.

He's done another documentary on living with HIV and AIDs due out this autumn, which promises to be equally as good. I am such a Stephen Fry fangirl.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I fangirl Stephen Fry so much that I'd probably swoon in an Eighteenth Century manner if I was very in the same room as him.

Love the Fry-guy.

[becominghuman.livejournal.com]

Stephen Fry rocks. He's so right on. I have that mobile-device disease, and I recognize a fellow suffering the same symptoms. Except, I would have both that FOLEO doohickey, the only think ever made he wouldn't buy, just because it's a mobile electronics doohickey.

Warren

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm....

1. I'd be legally blind without my contacts...does that count as surprising? :-)

2. I remember being quite shocked to see photos in which you seemed to be wearing a head covering, because most people I know who do that are extremely (and I do mean to-the-point-of-crazy extremely) opposed to anything that even smells of SF&F fiction, and they wouldn't be caught dead surfing the internet, much less have a blog and use lolcats grammar in their post headings. :-) So it was a very pleasant shock. (and do correct me if my assumption was wrong, btw.)

[kerravonsen]

Yes, I remember being surprised about the head-covering, myself.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Well, if it makes things any clearer, I only wear the head covering during church meetings, not all the time. The idea is that when believers in Christ gather together, a woman should voluntarily and of her own free will cover her own glory (i.e. her hair) in order to symbolize her willing obedience to God's authority in the church, and so that the focus may be on His glory instead.

It's interesting to me that to this day the idea persists that men should uncover their heads in church as a sign of respect, but the idea of women covering their heads for the same reason has fallen out of disfavor. I suspect this is because the head covering for women has been mistaken for a sign of oppressiveness, an attempt to hide women from view and treat them as second-class citizens in the church, but that's not what it means at all.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I kind of figured it was a church-only thing with you (having seen other pics where you're *not* wearing it). :-)

And I'm aware of the Scriptural idea behind it. I don't do it myself, partly because I have never met a head covering (hat, hood, what have you) that agreed with me in terms of fitting or not making me feel off balance (I've just never liked hats), and also because I don't think that people need to be that literal about the sign of authority. To me, it's in the same category as taking the passage about dressing modestly "without the braiding of hair or the wearing of gold jewelry" to absolutely forbid doing my hair up in some fashion for church (as opposed to leaving it hanging down), or wearing earrings or a pendant or the ring my parents gave me.

But I certainly don't have a problem with other people doing it, because it is a thing done to the glory of God.

I suspect this is because the head covering for women has been mistaken for a sign of oppressiveness, an attempt to hide women from view and treat them as second-class citizens in the church, but that's not what it means at all.

You're so right, it doesn't mean that...but I'm pretty sure, based on some people I know in certain churches where I grew up, it has sometimes been used exactly like that. Which is depressing--people in our generation question the true meaning of such a gesture or tradition, without it being obscured by those who misuse it.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

::waves:: Hi, here at random from a certain community post, originally to express my admiration for your Five/expletives icon (and to ask if it's swipeable?), but now also to thank you profusely for pointing me to Stephen Fry's blog. I love that man to bits and really want my very own, and, well, it's not quite the same but a blog is better than nothing! Have you seen Kingdom? I've been catching it here and there and just adore it. I also desperately need a Fry icon, and must get to work concocting one...

/random

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure, why not? As long as you credit me for the icon (and if you want to do it properly, Lance Parkin for the quote from Cold Fusion), swipe away.

And I'm glad to have given you the link to the blog! I have not seen Kingdom, but I've enjoyed some other things Fry has done, including (since I have a two-year-old) his hilarious narration on Pocoyo.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you! That icon is just the perfect combination of text, image, and background :) I keep hearing great things about Cold Fusion and will have to get my hands on it some day.

Kingdom is nothing terribly unusual or ground-breaking, but it's sweet and fun and definitely comfort TV. I haven't heard of the narration you mention, but considering narration, I have to say that his Guide was the best part of the Hitchhiker's Guide movie. I need to own a copy of it just for that.