Rabbit in the headlights

[altariel]

Ah. Well, since I foolishly entered into this meme by posing some questions to edrys, here is the last bit of it.

"I want everyone who reads this to ask me 3 questions, no more, no less.

Ask me anything you want.

Then I want you to go to your journal, copy and paste this, allowing your friends (including myself) to ask you anything."

Comments

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

1. Do you have plans to attend the Q conference this fall?

2. Who, in your humble opinion, is the coolest sci-fi character of all time?

3. What is the strangest thing you've ever eaten?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

1. No, it's too expensive and don't have a grant this time :-( Are you going?

2. Easy. Plain, simple Garak.

3. I had a sharkburger on holiday on the Scottish coast once. It was delicious!

[applegnat.livejournal.com]

1. What do you think of Eowyn?
2. Who's your favourite Silm character?
3. Do you like teaching? (You Do teach, right?)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

1. Feminist icon. Heroine, not deserter. Lucky, lucky woman.

2. (I won't count Galadriel, because it's her rejection of the Ring that is her best moment, so I can pretend she's a LotR character.) Ar-Pharazon. I think he's misunderstood, and that history was written by the victors.

3. I do like teaching, and find it very rewarding when it's going well - although because I'm an introvert I do find it very exhausting. And I'm too chicken to teach school-age children. They'd have me for dinner.

[applegnat.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Teaching college must be so much more intellectually exhausting - but then that's the whole point of it, isn't it? :)

Teaching school *must* be scary. Children are bloody-minded, critical creatues.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Teaching college must be so much more intellectually exhausting - but then that's the whole point of it, isn't it? :)

:-D Plus they have about ten years on me, and can stay sharp past midday. The effects of this differential will only get worse, of course...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It makes for a much more interesting story, I think, if Ar-Pharazôn isn't characterized as evil, but as a player in a geopolitical game, with some other powerful players on the board (the Valar, Sauron, the remaining Elvish realms in M-e).

He attempts to make Númenor not solely reliant on the goodwill of the Elves and the Valar. Let's think of this as disestablishing the church ;-D

Ultimately, the gods destroy him for it. And Elendil (and company) get to sail off and say what a completely evil bastard he was, with little in the way of actual evidence to back up their claims. (Isn't there something about all the surviving sources about Númenor being brought or written by Elendil?)

I bet if we had access to more sources, we'd find Ar-Pharazôn had progressive social policies, and wanted to enfranchise the working class, that kind of thing.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

What an interesting thought!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It would make a great story, wouldn't it ;-D

[kathyh]

Wow! What a great idea. I love it. I hope you have a story in mind to showcase this *g*.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I do, in fact, have quite a long story in mind to showcase it - chapters scoped out, all plotted - but I doubt it will ever get written :-(

[kathyh]

Shame! It really appeals to my inner mediaeval historian. All those monks who ruined the reputation of kings by sticking the knife into them in chronicles. It makes so much sense to have a Middle-earth equivalent.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of Richard III as I was writing :-)

It probably wouldn't be too mediaeval though - I'm convinced Númenor had at least begun to industrialize.

[kathyh]

I was thinking of Richard III as I was writing :-)

He wasn't the only sufferer. A very similar thing happened to Richard II. Obviously monastic chroniclers didn't like the name Richard *g*. You could say that Elendil was more like King Alfred, who kept control of his own publicity!

I'm convinced Númenor had at least begun to industrialize.

It certainly should have done. No matter what Tolkien's prejudices against industrialisation may have been, no society could have been completely technologically static.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

No matter what Tolkien's prejudices against industrialisation may have been, no society could have been completely technologically static.

Over thousands of years too. Plus industrialization is the symbol of civilization going wrong for Tolkien. What is the Temple of Morgoth other than a great big factory complex, described by people hundreds of years later, who don't have the technical language to describe it? :-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'd really love to write it - the problem is there just aren't enough hours in the day :-(

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Obviously we need to make more hours!

The story idea sounds fascinating, and I really would love to see you write it some day.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Obviously we need to make more hours!

You hit on a formula for that, you'll make millions!

Fingers crossed I get the time to do it. As I say, the chapters are scoped, the characters are worked out, the plot is worked through... it's just that writing takes up so much flippin' time! :-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I've always been suspicious of him because I just don't understand anyone who thinks that immortality would be a good thing

Again, I think it's more interesting to think of what 'trying to get immortality' might mean. Does it mean that he wanted his name to go down in history, to be remembered after his death; for example, as the king who forged a new path for Númenor (and hence came into conflict with the Valar)?

Perhaps it's another translation back into pre-industrial terms of something which we would describe differently in modern terms. To take a current example: perhaps Ar-Pharazôn put a lot of money into what we would call medical research, e.g. to increase longevity. Perhaps the more traditionalist Elendili saw this as blasphemous, as interfering with nature.


Any chance we can convince you to write a story about this?

To do it properly (and I wouldn't want to do it badly) would just entail so much work (learning Adûnaic for starters!).

[seemag.livejournal.com]

1) What is the single most important invention in the world, your humble opinion?

2) Which of your stories is your favorite?

3) So, exactly how do you write that wonderful dialogue?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

1. Liberalism.

2. The forthcoming one...? ;-D Of my online DS9 stories, Closure. Of all my stories, across fandoms, The Burial of the Dead.

3. It's not me, it's the voices in my head. I listen to what they say, then repeat it out loud, in character (and badly).

[hafren.livejournal.com]

1. What do you think happens after (if) Blake wins the revolutionary war?

2. Can Eowyn posibly settle down with Faramir?

3. Based on current experience, what would a world government of fen be like?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

1. Power corrupts. Avon kills Blake. Everybody dies. No future :-(

2. Yay, yay, and thrice yay. However! He doesn't know much about women beyond what he's read in books. She knows what she doesn't want, but isn't quite sure what she wants. They fight. He learns to stop treating her like an icon. She sees she has a genuine stake in the politics of a new age. Some serious heartache, but they sort it out in the end. Future!

3. Long periods of truce interspersed with sudden and violent bloodlettings.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

1) What's your favourite pop song?

2) What are you going to do tomorrow?

3) If you could change one thing in LoTR (book), what would it be?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

1. "There's No Other Way", by Blur. It's groovy, reminds me of being a student, and has a menacing blancmange in the video.

2. Get up around 9am, drink several cups of coffee, and then write until the keyboard smokes.

3. I want the Appendices to be longer, with all the stuff that was cut put back in.

[paranoidangel]

1) Describe your perfect day

2) If you were writing Blakes 7 back then and you were told to get rid of one of the main characters (ie one who's been in a few episodes), which one would it be and why?

3) What's your favourite chocolate? Have you eaten any you didn't like?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

1. It would be spent somewhere almost completely empty, probably around Lake Wanaka in the South Island of New Zealand. After a morning glut of coffee, I'd spend the day walking, staring at the landscape and stopping now and again to sit and read for a while. It would be sunny, but not hot. In the evening, Mr. Altariel and I would see a good film in the cinema there, and then have an extremely nice dinner. Then we'd sit and look at the stars and argue amiably, just for the sake of it. The other perfect day is spent wandering round a new city, working out how the streets connect up and sifting through second-hand bookshops, with the same company.

2. I think they made the right choice when they killed Gan - the character was going nowhere. If I have to choose another character, it would be Jenna, even though I don't like losing a female cast member, for the same reasons - the character isn't essential to the dynamics of the show. You could do B7 quite well with Blake, Avon, Vila, Cally, Orac and Zen. (And Servalan and Travis.)

3. My favourite chocolate at the moment is M&S double chocolate whips. They come in a three-pack. I had some Romanian chocolate when I was a kid - it tasted of ash. Not a big fan of a lot of American chocolate either.

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

I think they made the right choice when they killed Gan - the character was going nowhere. If I have to choose another character, it would be Jenna, even though I don't like losing a female cast member, for the same reasons - the character isn't essential to the dynamics of the show. You could do B7 quite well with Blake, Avon, Vila, Cally, Orac and Zen. (And Servalan and Travis.)

In hindsight, it may have been better to kill Jenna. That would then allow Gan to take up the Doubting Cally dialogue in Star One, and indeed that episode may have been even better with Gan and Cally at opposite extremes,with Cally being all gung-ho. The only downside is that we would lose all those fantastic Jenna arse shots in "Voice From The Past".

[altariel.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting thought... Although would Cally being gung-ho detract from Blake's part in the episode? I do like Jenna in 'Star One' (despite the line fluffing) - she is practical and focused. And who would wish to deny you your arse shots?

[kerravonsen]

1. How did you discover Tolkien?
2. If you ruled the world, how would you organize it?
3. If you could make any one fictional character from any media real, who would you choose and why?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

1. My dad was a Tolkien fan, and used to read LotR every year. I can't remember a time when there weren't Tolkien books around the house. I think my brother read The Hobbit and bits of LotR to me when I was very small. And I definitely remember my brother, my dad and I listening to the radio adaptation when it was first transmitted, so round about when I was nine.

2. Badly. I would take on the job with high hopes, and great faith that folk respond to consensus-seeking and moderate, reasoned debate - and I'd quit less than a year later knackered, in a foul mood and bitter. And then I'd do it all over again, and again, and again...

3. Good question, it really set me thinking... Gandalf the Grey, I think, because the world would be a better place. Or else Methos, because the world would be a more interesting place.

[edrys.livejournal.com]

I haven't forgotten about answering your questions, honestly. But I do know at least three questions I want to ask you.

1. What is your favorite piece of children's literature, and why?
2. Glomming on to an answer you made to applegnat, what is it about Ar-Pharazôn that makes you see him as misunderstood?
3. If you could put yourself in Éowyn's shoes - figuratively speaking - what might you do differently?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Phew, it's taken me a while to answer these, sorry! :-D

1. I'm going to give honourable mentions to Tove Jansson's Moomin books, Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books, and Elizabeth Enright's Melendy books. But I'm going to pick The Far Side of Evil by Sylvia Engdahl, which is about an observer from an advanced society on a planet about to destroy itself with the Bomb. Several reasons why. Firstly, because it blew me away when I first read it (when I was about ten or eleven). Secondly, because it is about all my most favourite themes (the individual in society, the workings of totalitarianism and authoritarianism). Thirdly, because it might be responsible for turning me into a sociologist (which is not a cause for blame!). And, finally, because it was out-of-print for years and, when I first got active on the Internet, I found the author's website. I wrote to her gushing about the book, and she wrote back, and arranged to send me a signed copy. (And, while I have the chance, I'll plug one of her other book too, Enchantress from the Stars, which is a brilliantly constructed narrative about different cultural perceptions of magic and science, switching between three POVs.)

2. I gave some answers to this up-thread, but the short answer is that we get history written by the victors (Elendil and the Faithful) and that if we (as fictional historians) were able to look at more Númenorean sources, we might find a very different picture of what happened during the Downfall. Basically, I just like being contrary! ;-D

3. I don't think I would do anything differently. Éowyn's actions always seemed perfectly explicable to me. I might move in a bit more quickly once Faramir started showing interest.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

1. I would really like to visit the west coast of America, starting at Vancouver and working down through Seattle and Portland to San Francisco. Or else Antarctica.

2. New Zealand. I've had a couple of holidays there (my brother emigrated there about ten years ago), and I want to go back. I hope it hasn't got too busy these days.

3. Hm, you know, I think if time travel was an option, and the not changing history rule was still in place, then I would rather have a look into the future than a peek into the past. Either the near future (100-150 years), or see ahead a millenium.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Better late than never!

1. If you could change one thing about the country you live in, what would it be?

2. How did you discover fanfiction?

3. If an alien spaceship visited your house and the friendly aliens offered to take you with them when they left Earth, would you go? Would it make a difference to your answer if the trip was one-way and you wouldn't be coming back to Earth again?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

1. I wish that Tony Blair wasn't Prime Minister.

2. My brother let me read some of the Blake's 7 zines he brought back from a convention he attended in 1979 (when I was seven year old!). I was writing B7 fanfic in my head from then onwards, but didn't put it onto paper till my early twenties.

3. I wouldn't hesitate a second. Even if it was one-way and I wouldn't be coming back. Tho' I'd smuggle Mr A. with me, if that was the case.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'd like to know too! :-D

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Sure you can! I asked it, in fact, because someone once asked it to me, so I already know how I'll answer it. When I was in graduate school, I was a member of the school's astonomy club. One night, a bunch of us drove up to our dark-sky observing site; almost as soon as we got there, the sky promptly clouded over. It was a nice, warm night, so we decided to sit around and see if the clouds would lift. Of course, people got to chatting, and someone brought up this question (with the catch that it would be a one-way trip). Of the dozen or so people who were there, I was the only one who answered "no, I wouldn't go".

Told you I was a homebody!