(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

Tonight I learned that dropping dry ice into a bowl of washing up liquid produces a quite unbelievably splendid amount rapidly evolving foam, frothing away like mad and making an astonishing roaring hiss. (Isn't Science wonderful?)

Anyway, I am feeling cheerful and frivolous as a result, so I feel like trying a meme I saw somewhere on LJ earlier.

Ask me anything about my fandoms (for which purpose we will count anything I've written fic for, plus Discworld, Falco, Star Trek, and Star Trek: DS9, though I should note that if you want a considered opinion of, say technical production details of telly, you would be better off asking someone who actually knows about it.)

Comments

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

The dry ice and washing up liquid effect used to be deployed at DocSoc meetings every time there was a change of president...

[tree_and_leaf]

Heh. Substitute for the regeneration sequence?

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Yes, very much. We had 'assassinations' and new presidents coming on with identical scarves. It's all a long time ago now, but we were really fanatical about that society in the early part of the 'Wilderness Years'.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Dry ice and washing up liquid?
(Does this mean you have dry ice in your kitchen? ;-)

[tree_and_leaf]

No, alas. But I have a Cub pack to entertain... ;)

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

Falco!?!?!?!?

[tree_and_leaf]

Um, M. Didius Falco, protagonist of Lindsey Davies' witty and romantic Roman detective novels. Is there another one?

[estelyn-strider.livejournal.com]

I suppose the deceased singer Falco isn't well-known outside the German-speaking world.

Anyway, I am a great fan of the Roman Falco, so here's a question for you:

Would you like to see him achieve a higher status and at least a little more money, or do you think that his character depends upon the squalid surroundings and the struggle to survive daily life?

[tree_and_leaf]

Well, Falco has got pretty middle class of late, hasn't he? (Which may be why so many of the recent books involve travel, as being a plausible source of domestic chaos...) So I think it works as it is - mind you, I'm just waiting for Domitian to get into power and for Falco to have to go off into pre-emptive exile - to Britain, of course. Poor Falco. At least he enjoys the oysters.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

"Jeanny! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stqv_miBsZ0), quit living in dreams! Jeanny! life is not what it seems!"

[tree_and_leaf]

AAAAAGH! Make it go away!

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

Yep. That's the guy I was thinking of... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG-cA0vu9-Y)

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I once managed to work the line "Alles klar, Herr Kommissar?" into a piece of fanfic. But I fear it was pearls before swine. *sigh*

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

Philistines!

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Shocking, ain't it?

[el-staplador.livejournal.com]

I forget whether you're familiar with the Dickson McCunn books. If so, who would you rather be: Alison, Saskia, Mary, or the old lady in Huntingtower? If not, why not?

[tree_and_leaf]

Of course I've read the McCunn books!

Alison. (Saskia is too obviously a Symbol of a Doomed People).... Although if you mean Dickson's 'Aunty' rather than Saskia's cousin, who does nothing but eat chocolates, I might have to reconsider, because Dickson's 'Aunty' is magnificently resourceful and unflappable. I wish I could remember her name.

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

Thoughts on John McNab?

[tree_and_leaf]

It's great fun. It actually makes me think that stalking would be enjoyable (up to the shooting part, anyway). I love Leithen, I enjoy Archie's travails as a political candidate, and I like him becoming more of a human being and less of a Bertie Wooster knock-off as he falls for Janet Raden. (I'm not sure he's quite worthy of her, but when did that ever come into it...?)

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

That sounds excellent Science! (cubs?)

Re. fandoms, is there anything in particular (idea, place, society etc.) that you would like to see Pratchett explore in Discworld.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, it was Cubs. They were very impressed...

I'd like to see more about the trolls, actually - we don't know very much about them outside the context of Ankh-Morpork society. As far as bits of society goes, I would have said that I'd quite like something about doctors or medicine/ healthcare - there's the new-ish Lady Sybil Free Hospital - but in the circumstances, I'm not sure... that might just be distressing to all concerned. Though this being Pratchett, it would probably be funny, as well as heartbreaking.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

Not sure if this counts as one of your fandoms, but which Archers character would you like to see traveling with The Doctor, which would you send to Hogwarts (or send several and tell me which houses they would have been in), and which one is most likely to find Narnia in a wardrobe and how they'd react.

[tree_and_leaf]

Hm. I'd send Phil off with the Doctor. I know he can be a bit dull, but he's one of the few characters who are unfailingly interested in things that aren't their jobs, and I think a wider perspective would do him no end of good.

Houses: Hm. Not always easy. Jenny is a Hufflepuff, fairly obviously, Brian and Matt are Slytherins. Ravenclaws are in extremely short supply (unless we count Phil, who is pretty driven about music) - the nearest Ambridge has to an intellectually oriented character is probably Usha, and I think she's probably more of a Gryffindor, really (same thing probably applies to Alan, despite his compulsive niceness). Susan is a Slytherpuff.

The Narnia one is rather difficult! Shula might find it most educational, ultimately, on the Eustace model...