tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post8602322247976220693..comments2023-12-14T18:17:52.957-08:00Comments on The Train Wreck Love Life: splitting, splitting sound, silver heels spitting, spitting snowEmilly Orrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-37801176590972119832010-03-19T17:29:37.143-07:002010-03-19T17:29:37.143-07:00I haven't, but it sounds interesting. And yes,...I haven't, but it sounds interesting. And yes, those would be the people to help out in such a situation--SCA members, and to another extent, Roundup/frontier recreationists. (Though they do deal more with gunpowder and flintlocks, to be fair.)Emilly Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-79907907761166616382010-03-19T16:52:16.808-07:002010-03-19T16:52:16.808-07:00Fascinating, Miss Emilly ~
I wonder: have you rea...Fascinating, Miss Emilly ~<br /><br />I wonder: have you read the 6-book series (to become 7 in September of this year) by S.M. Stirling that begins with <i>Dies the Fire</i>? If not, I believe you'll enjoy it.<br /><br />The set-up is 'alternative timeline meets post-disaster'. Suddenly, critical things like firearms and internal combustion engines cease to work: the laws of chemistry have been altered, world-wide. Among the successful survivors are people who taught themselves skills from an earlier time, as members of the SCA.Lalo Tellinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07711076861284942835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-77294018478766680922010-03-19T16:24:38.342-07:002010-03-19T16:24:38.342-07:00And Mr. Telling,
Yes and no, and the why behind t...And Mr. Telling,<br /><br />Yes and no, and the why behind <i>that</i> I've always found fascinating.<br /><br />From the SCA's earliest inception, it has been a costume recreation of medieval western European life. But when I came in, my first experience of the SCA was with the group my friend camped with--a tribe of Huns, who took the Mongol lifestyle very seriously. Most of the main tribe members (though not the allies) had yurts, dinners were authentic (at least as poor California college students and their hangers-on could make them), and we learned enough Mongolian to get by when the Khan spoke formally. <br /><br />In return, most of the local SCA folk? <i>Hated us</i> with a fiery vengeance. In fact, the first event I attended, there was a petition in Court to have us formally evicted. Literally--and I do mean this--run out with pitchforks and torches. We could see the glow of the torches over the hill.<br /><br />So in an odd sense, <i>that</i> was an absolute reflection of the times. There was no acceptance workshops for people of other races, creeds or castes--it was pure and undisguised loathing for Not-Us. When I asked some of the founders of the SCA (for most of them lived in Cynagua still), they told me--and records uphold this--that any culture with a set of rules for honor and merited good behavior that falls within accepted historical periods is good.<br /><br />Which is <i>fine</i> if you want to play a merchant from the Ukraine wandering around France in 1395; people tend to complain, and loudly, if you want to play Mayans, Egyptians, or the one I ran into--a 7th-century Aqatiri cook and seamstress who allied with the tribe of Mongols who destroyed her village, rather than die, and traveled with them, learning their culture. (This is what I played for more than ten years in the SCA, yes.)<br /><br />To this day, you're gold if you want to play a Western European of any stripe; but if you don't have a tremendous will and stubborn streak, you're not going to survive long playing anything else. That, at least, <i>is</i> period.Emilly Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-27702359876058814262010-03-19T14:15:32.315-07:002010-03-19T14:15:32.315-07:00To answer these out of order:
Mr. Dagger,
Apart ...To answer these out of order:<br /><br />Mr. Dagger,<br /><br />Apart from those, yes, save for the contingent of humanity who still believes fervently those missions were faked.Emilly Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-74729568448828517812010-03-18T08:17:42.485-07:002010-03-18T08:17:42.485-07:00Apart from the manned lunar missions, of course.
...Apart from the manned lunar missions, of course.<br /><br />-iDIcterus Daggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05540131959894781663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-36789633743474591722010-03-18T07:17:03.116-07:002010-03-18T07:17:03.116-07:00Miss Emilly ~
Your comparison to the SCA is cogen...Miss Emilly ~<br /><br />Your comparison to the SCA is cogent. The SCA, and mediaevalists generally, are a <i>fandom</i>. Yea, though individual members may also be historical researchers, or craftpersons reviving auncient skills, for the most part they are "cosplaying" fans of a genre of literature which, as early as the 1300s, had already romanticized a period 300 to 500 years in <i>their</i> past. (cf. Malory's <i>Le Morte d'Artur</i>) We derive the very word <a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=romance" rel="nofollow"><i>romance</i></a> (and the French and Germans, <i>Roman</i> for "novel") from the Old French <i>romanz</i>, which first described a style of writing (for example, <i>Roman de la Rose</i>).<br /><br />I would put forth -- from the outside, as it were -- that the generic term <i>steampunk</i> also is, in is broadest sense, a fandom like the SCA or Science Fiction fans. That is (not to gainsay the scholarly among them), they are enthusiasts for a period and a style which <i>begins</i> as a romanticized vision and proceeds from there.<br /><br />My first exposure the subgenre of science-fictional literature now dubbed steampunk was through the works of the late Keith Roberts. They were set in an "alternative timeline", if you will, in which the internal combustion engine held no sway and steam still reigned; thus, there was no connection with Victoriana, never mind the portmanteau "Victorientalism".<br /><br />All of which above is a long-winded way to agree with you: "If it's the-past-as-it-never-was does it matter?" No, it doesn't.<br /><br />After all: If science fiction set in the future were held to the strictest verisimilitude to be gained from our present, there would be no stories of manned space travel beyond low Earth orbit.Lalo Tellinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07711076861284942835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-61052310248516097262010-03-17T16:50:28.940-07:002010-03-17T16:50:28.940-07:00Wau.
Thanks for the link, and when I have more ti...Wau.<br /><br />Thanks for the link, and when I have more time (when it's not the Feast of Padraig), I will definitely read through.<br /><br />It's a thorny topic to be sure--does simple like for steampunk as a genre mean embracing all the bad things about an era? If it's the-past-as-it-never-was does it matter?<br /><br />Does remind me a bit of the SCA--all that love for medieval life and times, save that it's generally the love of a medieval section of history where people miraculously didn't have to work fourteen hours or more a day to make ends meet; had access to health care; had better personal hygiene; assistive devices and surgical solutions...the list goes on, and that's without getting into the fact that there are female fighters in the SCA and that, for the most part, women are accorded the same status as men.Emilly Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-26335838315873555032010-03-17T16:39:17.251-07:002010-03-17T16:39:17.251-07:00This post has been added to a Linkspam roundup.
A...This post has been added to a <a href="http://linkspam.dreamwidth.org/27631.html" rel="nofollow">Linkspam roundup</a>.<br /><br />A Linkspam ModAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-37688626815850268822010-03-16T17:11:07.172-07:002010-03-16T17:11:07.172-07:00Miss Kamenev,
I do understand that, I just picke...Miss Kamenev, <br /><br />I do understand that, I just picked up on what hit me directly. As far as the actual time, and the neoclassic/Oriental reflections on society at large, I think Gatehouse is <i>mostly</i> right when they say it was, more or less, innocent in nature, not racially damning.<br /><br />What they miss, how'ver, is that the sense of innocence sprang directly from stripping the identities from those deemed 'exotic' to upper-class Victorian eyes: anyone who wasn't white, or English, or upper-class became, in this sense, absolutely charming and enthralling. Not because their cultures <i>weren't</i> that interesting--some cultures were and are--but because to the upper class Victorians, at least as a group, these were attractively attired--well, not animals, precisely, but obviously cute indigenous <i>things</i>, to be gawked at and marveled over.<br /><br />I suspect I'm preaching to the choir on this one, though I did find it somewhat stunning that a modern-day magazine, even one focusing on past events, would hold a similar attitude.Emilly Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-83362140842735015912010-03-16T16:15:30.451-07:002010-03-16T16:15:30.451-07:00Oh, it's not that I didn't have any reacti...Oh, it's not that I didn't have any reaction to the rest of the "Defending Vicorientalism" post, but others on Twitter and blogs had gone toe-to-toe with the other parts of the post and I thought to leave them to it rather than risk apoplexy or resigned cynicism.Magdalena Kamenevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15704815488913145647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-30967490947828856472010-03-12T16:37:29.404-08:002010-03-12T16:37:29.404-08:00Mr. Dagger,
I'm sure there are uses for FaceB...Mr. Dagger,<br /><br />I'm sure there are uses for FaceBook, and good ones: a very dear friend of mine uses FaceBook to keep in contact with friends and family not me. Occasionally he will offer his services as a tour guide to the site. I've always said no.<br /><br />I can also see their side of it, but by the same extension, I'd much prefer, if they really need to know who's behind the curtain, what SL and other sites do: fine, keep your handle, you tell US who you are. And I'm perfectly okay with that; I just don't want RL ties to a sprawling stalker complex like FaceBook. I'd invent a new identity <i>anyway</i>--I am <i>never</i> giving them RL details, I just don't trust them.Emilly Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-34845575071022218802010-03-12T16:33:52.594-08:002010-03-12T16:33:52.594-08:00Mr. Telling,
I have longed to live in Winterfell ...Mr. Telling,<br /><br />I have longed to live in Winterfell since I first discovered it, back when it was only one sim. I'm in much the same position--if local finances improve, I might well be able to buy in, somewhere. If they don't, there's no sense worrying over it, which is also why I tossed up the Winterfell Absinthe parcel. One, because some Wulfenbach supporter may well buy the plot and set up another dance garden, or some such. But two, because if I can't get it, then someone <i>should</i>.Emilly Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-60384921426971086662010-03-12T11:14:44.950-08:002010-03-12T11:14:44.950-08:00As much as I agree with your notions on a Facebook...As much as I agree with your notions on a Facebook-like model for SL, I have to say that I do find FB useful. But I am not on of those who update statuses every 5 minutes or play their farming or zoo games. I use it to stay connected with my family, most of whom live quite far away from me. The one application I use regularly is a birding app that helps me keep track of my life list and manage important sightings. <br /><br />Their insistence on RL information - meh, I can see both sides of it, and for now it doesn't irk me personally, though I do sometimes fail to see why it's so damn important to them that no SL avatars and the like have accounts to network there.<br /><br />It's all in how you use the tools, I guess.<br /><br />-iDIcterus Daggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05540131959894781663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-67076972058115422932010-03-12T08:03:09.672-08:002010-03-12T08:03:09.672-08:00I spent a handful of wonder-filled hours photograp...I spent a handful of wonder-filled hours <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lalo.telling/Winterfell#" rel="nofollow">photographing</a> the Winterfell regions this past December (using a contest at Koinup as an excuse to explore). By the time I was done, I had enabled the world map's function of showing land for sale, and was lingering over a 1024 on the north coast of Ebonshire... Winterfell is <i>that</i> enchanting, and that enticing as a place to reside.<br /><br />But... these are the times that try men's and women's pocketbooks, and as mine currently has no input, I must be penurious about its output. Translating those L$500's into their approximate US$2 equivalents yields an annual cost of $106 for half the Mainland 1024 I homestead now (group land; my annual Premium + $5/month = $132). You can see: $0.21/sq m in Winterfell vs $0.12/sq m in Luskwood... and if my Irish-style thatched stone cottage didn't pass thematic muster, there'd be the additional expense of a new home.<br /><br />Maybe by December (when my Premium is up for renewal), I'll have an income, and thus a larger entertainment budget. Maybe I'll drop Premium and apply those funds toward living off the Mainland, in a literally fantastic community like Winterfell. Maybe the horse will learn to sing...Lalo Tellinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07711076861284942835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-2145230838123742992010-03-12T04:14:13.281-08:002010-03-12T04:14:13.281-08:00That's my one flamingly big complaint. And whe...That's my one flamingly big complaint. <i>And</i> when I had my six-day account, I signed on with my SL name. Screw them and their rules, I wasn't going to hang around, they don't need my RL info.<br /><br />Also, haiii! *hugs you* Hope things are going well. Or, as well as can be expected.Emilly Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-64790877898495413982010-03-12T04:12:41.282-08:002010-03-12T04:12:41.282-08:00Am I the only person who'd be happy if Faceboo...<i>Am I the only person who'd be happy if Facebook spontaneously exploded? I can't be. Come on, now. Complaints of slow service and things not loading and stalkers and weird formats...I cannot be the only one.</i><br /><br />No, you're not. I'd be just as thrilled if they spontaneously combusted in the near future. *Especially* because of their insistence on RL info, which I see no need to hand out to a social site. :)Sphynx Soleilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08384124029613452884noreply@blogger.com