I.
I've finally seen "Wonder Woman" (it did come out later in the Netherlands and then I was travelling and had no time to breath). I left in love - it was a flawed movie (that boat trip was just hilariously wrong), but oh, did it do things right. I did stay out of the overall discussion, for various reasons, but two thoughts that I keep coming back to.
1. Am I happy that they went for the "wrong war". I am so, so, so tired of American stories using WWII as a backdrop. I know that it is part of the history of the character, but well ... Sometimes, if we tell the stories anew, we need to change them.
2. When writing this, I am sitting on a plane, the passengers boarding walking past me on the way to their seats: people flying from Munich to Amsterdam, from Germany to the Netherlands. And it brings it home once again: Gal Gadot would stand out among them - for being somewhat darker, somewhat different, foreign enough to be seen as "not one of us". Is it my own experience talking? Perhaps. I'm pretty sure they have not thought of this, making an American movie. But to me, with my experience of being the other in Western Europe, with the movie taking part in UK, Belgium and France, with Gal Gadot's own Israeli background, this is an Jewish woman, a woman representing an ethnic minority, a woman representing a certain Middle-Eastern look that would draw racism and discrimination, being powerful on screen. This gives me so freaking many feelings.

II.
American Gods. (Thanks, giallarhorn!) I'm two episodes in and I love it. I found the Bilquis sex scene less impressive than the online discussion let me to believe, but it *was* well done. The casting so far has been superb - different from what I thought (in my imagination, Shadow was rather Native American than black), but working in a way that is definitely overwriting my assumptions. The only thing I wish for were proper prononciation for the Zorya's names, especially among the Zoryas and Czernobog. But oh well.

III.
They did change Druckfrisch to a bi-monthly schedule, didn't they? I am so freaking sad about it, it still is perhaps the only German TV show worth watching D:

IV.
Also seen the two first seasons of Voltron. Meh. I will give it another try - in the end, the next season has Lotor. But so far it gives me zero feelings. It does certainly not help that even as a kid, I loved the vehicle Voltron version a lot more than the lion one. I'm kind of sad about this - I really wanted something else to be fannish about (not that I grow tired of Marvel/Loki but I have the distinct feeling that the whole universe goes into a direction I do not like). Oh well.
(Both Wonder Woman and American Gods are too good. Fannish needs a story with enough holes to feel them up with imagination but at the same time not enough to totally throw me off. I'm strange like that, it's hard to get me there, only very few shows ever managed.)

Crossposts: http://pax-athena.dreamwidth.org/777244.html. There are comments over there.

About a month ago, I've been to a mini conference/workshop on what one could call public outreach. "Translating research into stories". Now I am rather critical of the "everything has to be a story" approach because yes, it works. But also yes, we lose too much going this direction. This is even more so when it comes to people, to our "stories", because, to repeat the quote of Neil Gaiman's from my profile (does anybody ever look at it at all?) "I like things to be story-shaped. Reality, however, is not story-shaped."

(I am an extremely narrative-oriented person. I find it easy to tell stories. To turn anything into a story. To engage.)

But anyway, this is not about this - what this is about is the fact that I took notes and have no idea what to do with them. They sit there in my notebook, preventing me from throwing it away. But they are in the wrong notebook, not the one I want to keep. So - here they are. Who knows, you may find them interesting?

• making the research easy to understand without losing the rigor
• how memory works: "chunking"
  MDPHD is much easier to remember than a random string of letters
  [later research: the these does not quite hold up to the newest research. Duh.]
• tweets with images are more likely to be shared
• take people into your lab when you are telling your story (both metaphorically and literally)
• imagine yourself telling your story to a 12 year old
• make people want your news to be shareable on social media
  --> "fun", "I want to click it", "I want xy to see this, too"
• layer information, give the reader the chance to explore more (but let the upper layer be fully understandable on its own)
• podcasts: intimate, involve relationships --> if you are listening to the same podcast over years, you develop a trust into it
• talking about failures is really good
• medium (website): nice for storytelling, but somewhat old-fashioned (text)
  fold (website): atomized storytelling --> readers can re-arrange and read on their own
• I don't feel confident discussing this, I don't know much about it
• Walter Benjamin: history has decayed into images
• sound can connect images & thoughts (in a movie), even if they don't connect on their own
• "putting yourself" into a story
• start-up mentality: bubble-burst (vs. more traditional, build a proper foundation)
• "explainer" --> things like "10 things you need to know about xy" [the concept is not new; the word for it is, for me]
• "hobbyist" [the word is new to me]

Sandman (I am hope)
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Lucifer (The Yahwe Dance)
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EDEN - It's an endless world (This is the first time I've ever felt this way)
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The Authority (We are forcing change on the country. You can't expect it to be easy.)
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DC: Trinity (And what do you usually do when I act like this? // I am the void.)
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Michael Moorcock's Multiverse (Sorry Sam, did I scratch you?)
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The Incal
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Watchmen
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Batman: Hush (You know, for a loner, you certainly got yourself a lot of strings // ... there is one thing I wouldn't have a slightest clue how to mend)
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Saga
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If you haven't read "American Gods", don't read the citation. It's not spoilery, not at all, being from one of the interludes, of short-stories within the big narrative. But it's different from the rest of the book (as every interlude is different from the rest of the story and from any of the other interludes in story and style) . There are no layers of betrayal, no plans within plans (and oh, how they all come together on the second reading, all the little clues left along the way), no tricksters and no Gods, no magic and no coin tricks. It will not tell you what the book is like and why I love it as a whole (and I love it dearly as it was my gateway into Gaiman's work), it may trick you into either expecting something different or not reading the book and none of this is something that I'd want. But it is one of the passages that makes me swallow and shiver:

You know how I whined about my favorite teacup being broken a few posts ago? Guess what the most amazing diello has sent me!

( <3 <3 <3Collapse )

It's one of a kind! Nobody else has such a great cup! Dream! Oh, Dream!

I may have squeed very loudly when I opened the package and have seen it. I may have scared the neighbour.

So, tomorrow I'm going to drink great new tea from my great new cup, wearing my new great snuggly scarf :D And search for a place for a wonderful Death-postcard (I did not know this particular painting of her!)!

Normal service will resume shortly. I have most of the meme answers half-written, but ... do you see why I had to post it? Do you?!

I am very close to panicking now. So I guess that's the right time to do something distracting, right? Bullet points post, that is.

• Life can be mean sometimes. I bought 600g shortbread and I can't open it. Because there is no way I'll eat it up before I leave for the conference on Sunday (uhm, I also have to make a talk for the conference, but I ignore that for the moment, because - thesis) and it's all one package. I mean I *could* eat it, but I definitely should not. But ... Shortbread! I want shortbread!

• This SMBC comic made me bawl like whoah. Really, really beautiful. But you may not want to click it if you feel sad already.

• 23 Signs You're Secretly An Introvert -- or not so secretly in my case. But I loved the list anyway. I could identify with the most, but 2 (You go to parties -– but not to meet people.), 7 (Downtime doesn’t feel unproductive to you.) and 8 (Giving a talk in front of 500 people is less stressful than having to mingle with those people afterwards.), 14 (You screen all your calls -- even from friends.), and 16 (You have a constantly running inner monologue.) are so spot on and so me it almost hurts to read it spelled out. Especially given how I'm one of those introverts, and I am very much one, really, whom people usually don't perceive as introverted.

• Scary thing on Charles Stross's Blog The next moves in the Spooks v. News cold war (UK-centric) and on Sean Carroll's blog National Science Foundation Cancels Call for New Political Science Grant Proposals (US-centric - that made a round in the astro community, so I was not unprepared, but still). (I should also get something Germany-centric, for the symmetry of it, alas I seem to read few German blogs.)

• Got my absentee ballot paperwork (for the Bavarian elections, not the federal one, in case you start worrying why you haven't gotten yours yet). I'll not be in B. for both elections anyway.

• Some very pretty fantasy and Art Noveau inspired Art by one Thomas Canty can be found here. (I stumbled over him in the comments to an entry on Ray Bradbury covers on tor.com - he has made a really pretty one for "Dandelion Wine".)

• And another article from tor.com: Collateral Damage: Blockbusters and the Changing Narrative of War. Now the text itself is not the most wow thing on the topic you'll read, but what it made me realize (next to the fact that I really did not like the second instalment of NuTrek, although I loved the first and that I'm still firmly on the side of "love DC comics, hate their movies") is that what established The Authority as different from other superheroes and what marked Midnighter as a relentless killer, was how he drove the Carrier into the city Gamorra. That ... that wouldn't be something special anymore, right? And as much as I love The Authority (hey, I even have a tag for them!), it makes me very sad.

• And to finish the entry on a happier note: Oh, and how comes that I did not remember that "American Gods" is dedicated to Roger Zelazny?

Ah, Mr. Gaiman, why so awesome? Why so spot on? "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" is an awesome book. And, I think, one that avoids the fallacy of some of Gaiman's book of telling that story again (not that I mind, but I know that some people do and I understand why). Though it is not the book to be read at night, not even with someone sleeping next to you. I tried.

But it's less about the book (though it is a recommendation) and more about what it looks like on the inside.

I looked up Randall Munroe, the author of xkcd and stumbled over the fact that he is hardly a month older than I am. Prompted by an article on egg dotation (which is forbidded in Germany, but let's not start a discussion on this, this is not what it's about), I looked it up and I am definitely closer to what is usually listed as an upper limit on age of the donor than to the lower.

But what does it look like on the inside? On the inside, it does not look different than it looked 10 years ago. I haven't crossed a magic line. Meanwhile, I don't think I ever will. Sure I have changed. Everybody changed and I am not the same person who started this post and not the same as the one who'll click the "post to pax_athena" button.

Somebody used the word "mature" in a conversation a few days ago^[1]. And I stumbled over it, hard. Because this word is not part of my vocabulary - not when it comes to myself, that is, though I'll use it for cheese^[2]. Perhaps because a "mature" now implies an "immature" before. But ... On the inside, it does not look different than it looked 10 years ago. (Yes, I know, objectively seen, it's nonsense. It is not the same on the inside. But we talk about the "look like".)

I have friend who re-invent themselves from time to time. To me, it feels like a continuous stream, from here to there. A before and after, yes, a better and worse, perhaps, but no right and wrong, no regrets. No regrets.

And yet, I read newspapers and realize that when they refer to the young people, they may not mean me anymore. And I don't know when this happened, because it still looks the same on the inside.

Perhaps it's a matter of language. The same way I will count to twenty in German and than switch to Russian^[3] , the same way I think toes and fingers to be basically the same just on different extremities (because there is one word for both in Russian), the same way there are three age levels for women: Девочка - Девушка - Женщина^[4]. Now let's not talk about the social implications of these (though if there are any scientific studies, point me towards them). But while I am not the first (which is girl) and not the last (which is woman, but one, in my mind, of more advanced age), I would feel well with the middle one (except in those situation when I need to be the last - when teaching and on committees, for example, but those are masks worn and well fitted and we talk about what it looks like on the inside). Only: there is no word for it. Neither in German nor in English. (And yes, I'm aware that quite a few will tell me that I'm too old for this one, too - and shouldn't I long have two kids and a flat of my own?^[5])

A few more months, and people - especially in Germany, with its love for titles - will address me as Dr. pax. And I know, it will not feel different on the inside, not a bit. I will still angst over e-mails and over the impressions I make on people. I will still look on my visa documents and find them intimidating. (Though I may end having enough experience with visas at some point to stop this - it seems not to work with people, we had enough attempts on this front.) The only thing that will change will be the way people see me. And perhaps the strength of my glasses, I may need new ones.

Why I write this? Perhaps, because I believe Neil Gaiman on this one, sometimes (and sometimes I'm afraid that I am the only one). Perhaps, because I feel like sometimes we use the masks where there should be no place for them. Perhaps, because I got the feeling that sometimes the grown up masks grow into people's skins (There is this old, incredibly good piece by Marcel Marceau, The Maskmaker - and if I think back to what the me who did pantomime looked back, the one who wasn't even 12. It still looks the same on the inside.). Or perhaps, just so. And if you remember one things from the entry, let it be this: Neil Gaiman wrote another really good book. Oh, and there are cheese recommendations below.


^[1] If you are this someone: this is not a critique, not at all. The word just made me think - or rather my own reaction to it.
^[2] Hmmm, yummy cheese, hmmmm ... Ahem. Tête de Moine and Turkish braided cheese are my two addictions at the moment and very much recommended.
^[3] German numbers are not logical - one-and-twenty instead of twenty-one.
^[4] [edit to add because the maidem-mother-crone trinity was brought up in the comments:] it's girl - young woman - woman, there is a crone/old woman equivalent, but it's one more step on.
^[5] I did quite a bit of volunteering in the Russian-speaking immigrant communities and I did, more than once, run into the same question posed by parents: but how can it be that our daughter will only finish university at 26? By that time here friends back home will have a family! Wouldn't it be better to send her to a less demanding school?

Photo meme, part II

ellie1928 said, that if I had a pet, she would have liked to see it. Well, I do not have one, but nevertheless there is a very cute dog I love and which is certainly part of the extended family. freakingmuse asked for my bookshelves and for something Neil Gaiman related (and I'm really sorry for the quality of the photos, girl - I'm not a photographer, I'm afraid). xray_beachy puzzled me with his request, so I guess my answer will not be satisfactory, but it's the best I could come up with. And finally kseniair asked for my slippers.


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Somebody posted excerpts from "The Sound of Her Wings", the Sandman story I was praising a few post earlier over at Scans Daily. Finally I can spread some love for it adding some of the great art to my constant rumbling! Unfortunately, one cannot leave out even a single page if the story is to keep it's full impact, but at least it's something (though missing the "idiot"-scene my icon is from :/).
There is also an excerpts from an other great Death-Story, "The Time of Your Life". I guess, ‘Absolute Death’ will be one of the things I'll be saving for.

Anyway, when re-arranging all of my books I came along some which I feel like giving away. Reasons? Either I loved them so much that I bought a better edition, e.g. one in the original language, or I'm just not interested in them anymore (that goes for the Star Trek books) or I just got the at some point when buying packages on ebay or a flea market and was never actually interested in them ...
I don't want any money for them except if you feel like paying some, that you can buy some inexpensive (Reclam or Penguin ^^") book for me, I just want them in good hands, knowing that they will not be thrown away. What I want, however, are the postage costs - preferable transferred, in the worst case as stamps.
I give no guarantees on the state of the books. Many of them were bought as "Mängelexemplare", so they have a little stamp on the side, but they all are in an OK condition. Just take a look, OK?

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( English: Books and AudiobooksCollapse )

( German: Star Trek & X-Files NovelsCollapse )

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Take as many books as you like, I want to get rid of all of them. Whoever comes first will be served first, as far as people from my fl come. Feel free to tell others about the books. And you can also ask for the books when you are not from Germany, we will figure a way to get the books to you and the postage costs to me somehow.
The Star Trek books are currently in Munich, therefore allow for a delay of two to three weeks till I will be able to send them to you.

It is time again - a meme!

1.Comment to this entry saying 'ICONS!' and I will pick 6 of your icons.

2.Make an entry in your own journal and talk about the icons I picked!

( 6 from chijaCollapse )


( 6 from dooropener plus a comic recommendation and a movieCollapse )

And for those of you who made it through the text this far or just skipped it - sometimes I feel this urge to do things with my hands. And even if it's just threading some beads, it's nice to see a quick result:

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I seem to lost the old ones I had - one of wooden beads A.'s (the Berlin-A.'s) father gave to us when we were 15 or 16 and the red coral one I bought together with my mum - or at least I've put them down somewhere at my parents or ♥'s place and can't find them any more. But I had this owl pearl I bough in the USA, to be exact in San Diego's Balboa Park. So now I had to combine it with some wooden pearls.
Forgot to put on my usual ring on the right thumb for the photo. But oh well ... The goodies in the background are Selina, of course, and the newest Batman collection by Neil Gaiman - just because it was the nearest fully black book to grab, I did not think that one would see the bat-sign. Have to write a review on this one.

And yes, my camera is terrible. And it gets worse the older it gets. Nevertheless, I think I want to strain it even more, so one more meme:

Photo Meme

Ask me to take a picture of any aspect of my life that you're interested in - it can be anything from the house I live in to my favourite shoes. Leave your choice here as a comment, and I will reciprocate by taking the pictures and posting them as an LJ entry. Ask as for as many as you want. That way you get to know a little bit about my life, if you're remotely interested in it.

(Usual reasonable limits apply - but everyone can play :D ).

P.S. Jup, again a citation as the entry-title. And it should be pretty obvious from where.

I. So, I've been to the evil bookshop again. This time: three books by Christa Wolf, two by Bertolt Brecht, one by Peter Handke, a book on greek myths by Michael Köhlmeier and the Nibelung in a two-language-edition in two volumes: old and modern German. Don't ask when I'm going to read them, but I will. Also I got two books by wonderful arylla - again Brecht and also Schiller. And some time ago I bought an almost full collection of Milton's work and James Joyce's ‘Finnegan's Wake’.Yeah, my SUB is growing instead of becoming smaller!

II. Did I ever mention that what I love most about reading is the meta-level, all the existing and imaginary references and cross-references, all the other books resonating with the one I actually read, the first, second, third harmonics? Do you know what I mean, do you read the same way?

III. There we go - there is the most wonderful ‘Study in Emerald’ by Neil Gaiman, where I do not even dare to claim to see half of the literature- or history-related references made. But the story sings with them. And I could read and re-read it. And perhaps even imagine, that Gloriana is a subtle reference to a certain book of the same title (which it is not, but did I ever say that the harmonics have to be real?).

IV. Or did you know that ‘deus ex machina’ used to be the plotting device with the Greek tragedy? I did not know before reading a commentary on Sophocles' ‘Philocletes’. It makes me think of the first time I met this term, reading Roger Zelazny's ‘Creatures of Life and Darkness’, one more of those books I have to re-read in English. And this reminds me of ‘theology is science fiction’, as said by - who else? - Neil Gaiman here.

I.
I think I have fallen in love with a comic even before reading it. The art can be found here :
http://www.wizarduniverse.com/092408topcowspotlight.html
Doesn't it sound great? The Angel. One author, 12 books of 86 pages, fully painted, character oriented story-telling. Oh, and the angel. And the art. And have I mentioned the angel?

II.
I thought that I have had every kind of a headache I could have. I was wrong. I had a new one: starting at the back of my neck, crawling up the jaws, leaving my teeth throbing to lay itself around my head in a burning band. I really could have lived without it.

III.
Reading 'Sandman' I fell in love with two English verbs: 'to mope' and 'to schlepp', the second one being clearly of some Yiddish origin in my opinion. Now I need a possibility to use them. Perhaps I should also hunt for a books about Yiddish words in English - though I'm afraid that that will make whatever I write ultimately unreadable.

IV.
Have you ever realized how hard it is to find classic thick woollen socks for women? They never are with other women's socks and start with shoe size 39-42. Don't women wear woollen socks? I want to. And my shoe size is 37, quite a common one, not my mums 35 - though again, she might be able to find wool socks for children, albeit in strange colours. And please don't tell me I should knit some myself. I can't knit; though U can both crochet and embroider, but that does not help you a lot when it comes woollen socks.

V.
Written on the plane of my way to Germany:
You really, really need to flight to understand what a perspective change is, to understand what the word 'vast' really means. Or just imagine a world in which everyone has been to space, has seen, how small and vulnerable and beautiful our world is, has understood how fragile we humans are and how great a damage we can cause.

VI.
The new James Bond? - Gosh, the man has blue eyes!

VII.
A very cheesy understandable and nice video on gravitational wave detection (and a bit of advertisement for LIGO, but nevertheless):
http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/mmg_disp.cfm?med_id=58443&from=vid.htm
Why GWs? Because they are a fascinating topic, because I did one of my diploma exams so far half on them (the other half was on compact stellar remnants, btw.) and because I really thought the video to be nice. And that some people here who have a general interest in astronomy might enjoy it. As always: ask me, if you have any questions and I'll try to answer them.

VIII.
More than 10 pieces of baklava (or any others of these delicious Turkish sweets) is certainly too much, even for me. OK - at least in one go. But I can do 14 on one evening. Yay!

IX.
Written, part of a longer discussion between two characters. Do not like the rest, but like this one:
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That goes in hand with a series I've just finished reading. A mildly amusing one, not more, but with a nice sentence in the end of the last longer story. And with a lot of discussions I had over lunch lately. And some other ones. Also inspired by the writing style of Sándor Márai's most wonderful book "Embers".

You know - one of the big positive sides of working in my field are the people. Or the possibility to learn to know great people. All this is due to astrophysics. All of it.

And xray_beachy  (or on other words "duuuuuuuuuuu!" ^.~ ) ... You are wonderful!

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with best, best, best thanks to xray_beachy , two other people and a further person who had to carry it all the way from Germany to the Netherlands :)
It's such a huge book! According to amazon 40,4 x 23,2 x 5,8 cm ( 15.9 x 9.1 x 2.3 inches), weightung good over 3kg (7.5 pounds)...

Also, the wall over my bed becomes steadily more colourful. Here is, as I'm already posting pictures, a snapshot (even though the photo is anything but good, sorry):
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Thank you all so much for the postcards!
And thanks to hoelder1in for the posters - which have a special meaning for me. The Einstein poster is from a conference held the very year I started studying. Funny, isn't it? The two smaller ones hung, though in bigger versions, next to my office back in Munich. So all three are great reminders of what I am, where I have come from, what I have already reached and what I still want to reach.
For those who like memes as much as I do: you might want to like to take a look (or even to take part in) hoelder1in's Proust Questionnaire.

Also, will be leaving to Germany Saturday in the very morning. Will perhaps not be much around next week. Except live in Munich. But than only for two and a half days. The rest - well... Next time, when it's over.

First of all - thank you for voting om the last entry :) Poll closed, but I'm still open to any comments.

Secondly, this will be a link entry. I think I pointed out seanan_mcguire 's blog already. I do it again here, because there have been two entries which I thought to be particularly great:

1. An essay on good and bad critique here. I especially like the part on the usage of the word "you", as things as "supported by text" should be self-evident. I guess that's something to take into account not only when commenting on writing. (Though of course there are exceptions, etc.)
2. An essay on reading as a writer here. Beware, I do not like the essay itself especially, but the very premise, the italicised part.

If you decide to take a look on her blog, don't forget not only to click the links I've given above, but to look on her entries as they are shown in her blog. The text she uses for the cuts for the essays is as important as the essays themselves.
Clearly, I'm rather with her on both topics... Funny, I do not think that I'll enjoy her books as she seems to write just not the kind of stories I like. But I'll give them a try. Because I love her writing-related essays. And who knows? Did you for example know that Neil Gaiman mentioning Zelazny below made me squee with glee?

As always, Neil Gaiman has a lot to say on topics which are important to me. And he does it so much better than I (ever?) will. Here.

And I have decided that Carroll/Ostlie's "An Introduction to Modern Astronomy" is one great book. Which does not cover everything I need for all the lectures, but still. They describe the, almost classic for an astronomy book, flight into a black hole:

Oh, and anybody ever worked with AWO? (It's a German charity organization, one of the biggest here - or rather there? hm...) I'm thinking about volunteering again once I'm settled somewhere - I really need this feeling of accomplishing something. And those guys and what they do look interesting so far, especially the young migrants part. Thought they might need my special background.
Anyway, nobody of my rl-people have ever worked with them or needed their help, so I though I'd ask here... I value personal experience a lot when it comes to such things.

diello  - this is official, I love you!!! And if somebody wants to know the reasons why, here they are:

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Actually, this is not even all - there is one more book, "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman. Well, about it - I had to take it to the university today, to read on tram/bus and in the pauses of my lecture and promptly forgot it on my desk there *sniiiiff* Otherwise, I'd be reading right now! I want to know how things go on - I WANT!

And since I'm on the things which make my life great already, here are two more, found at astro-ph today:

Galactic Internet via Cepheids: arxiv.org/abs/0809.0339
Uhm yeah, this is pure science fiction (though it would be so cool if it wasn't). Which does not make the idea less fun. Or less sensible than say SETI.

And here, arxiv.org/abs/0809.0209, some guys calculated what the record of Usai Bolt, the Olympic Winner in the 100 meter sprint, would have been if he did not start celebrating before reaching the finish. And I can say nothing but - just read it. Including the aknowledgements, the pun in the title (it is an astrophysics article as it is about stars, isn't it?) and the wonderful graphs :)

Yes, it is a real scientific work. Not yet submitted, but I have the feeling that it could good be that it will be accepted. At least, it would be fun.

I'm slowly (veeeery slowly) finding a rhythm for work, learning and something like a private life. Still need to find time for all the things I should be doing, but this will work out somehow. Also heard that they will be selling permanent accounts on LJ in November. Really, really thinking about one. OK, not thinking. I know that I want one actually. Silly me! So let me know if there are some more news I might miss, please! Pretty, pretty please!

And three more parts of the alphabet meme:

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( Energon UsersCollapse )
( FriendshipCollapse )

P.S. And one more observation: the more I have to speak in English, the worse my English gets. Thinking and speaking English the whole day at work makes me all dizzy; I forget even the easiest words and my sentences get really, really weird.

First a small advert: NINJA, my writing homeland on the Internet, is online again :)

Then a small notification: I've changed my LJ to a plus account, because I just needed more userpics. Hope, the advertising isn't too bad. If it is, feel free to tell me. Or just use firefox :)


And last but not least: I'm officially in love with "Sandman"-comics. There were so many little details, which turned my opinion about it from "good" to "absolutely ingenious" while reading and I'm not even done. Have I just shortly said, that I do not want comics to go under the skin, to be profound and touching and dark? Forget it. This one belies it almost more then EDEN does.

The Endless
There is Dream. And I melt away, almost the same way I melt away for Spider (from "Anansi Boys"), but Dream is darker and therefore even more my character. I feel this urge to write and will not tell too much about him, because this will end in endless fangirling, and squeeing, and glee.
There is Death. And there is so much and therefore nothing to say about her. She is Death. And she is just gorgeous in every imaginable way. And she is Dream's older sister and she is the one to call him idiot and she is the one to throw things at him, when he sinks too deep in self-pity. And he is afraid to ask her, whether she has to take mortal flesh one day every century, the price she pays for being what she is. And she is the one who just comes by to fullfill wishes, sometimes. And... There is so much to say, but no description will live up to what she is.
There are the others: Destiny, Delirium, who once was Delight, Destruction, Desire, Despair.

I love personifications, I love symbols and the idea of anthromorphism when well written. And this - this is more than just well written. It is just right.

The battle
There is the battle between Dream and Chronozon:


And Dream wins this battle. And this is such a perfect battle. Not last,  because it is hope he uses (for me the trinity "spes, justitia, innocentia" has a special meaning). Because it is beautifully drawn. Because it is the best idea for how gods and endless and demons can fight and this down in the hell, where there are no rules and no laws.

Lucifer
And there is Lucifer. And he is what he already is for Milton, the fallen angel. I know, I still have to show you a story where I do not like him (Milton "Paradise Lost", Angel Sanctuary,  Lautréamont "The Songs of Maldoror" being just few examples for where I love him...), but yet he is great here once again.

Milton
There is the Milton citation. Not a Milton citation, but the Milton citation. The one I used as my signature for so long. Some of you might even remember it, back from my animexx-times, back from the beginning of NINJA.


Reading the sentence I thought that this can't be. Not this one. And then Lucifer himself refers to Milton. Yay!? What else is there to say?

You do not know Milton's "Paradise Lost"? Go and read it! It is just beautiful. There is a monument for this book, in front of UCSD's Geisel library:


And there is... But I should stop. "Sandman is wonderful" - you'll here more about it. You'll have to stand my new icons (though being the nice girl I am I probably will never use the "idiot" one). And if you decide to read it or Milton - enjoy. And tell me, how you liked it.

[EDIT] I'm contagious and have infected milulala. If you need a second opinion on "Sandman", ask her ;) 

I try for the "50 in 2008" as some of you do, too. I'll not comment on all the books, just because not all are good and even of those which are a good read, I'll not recommend all to others. But here are - no, no recommendations or real reviews - but my very personal thoughts on two books I highly enjoyed:

Malibu by Leon DeWinter

( MalibuCollapse )

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

( Spider!Collapse )

...and on a comic, likely read by anybody of you, but which is nevertheless great:

EDEN - It's an Endless World # 15 by Hiroki Endo

( If you think that the former humanity of flesh and blood still has a chance, Lethia, you should do it...Collapse )