Twenty questions... about me

[fajrdrako]

Got this from tudorpot: Twenty questions.

1. Elaborate on your default icon. Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood and Doctor Who. I've been using him for a while now, cycling through some favourites. This is one I made myself. I like the 'time travel' aspect of the character.

2. What's your current relationship status? Single. Would like a relationship, if I could only figure out what kind.

3. Ever have a near-death experience? A few times.

4. Name an obvious quality you have. Curiosity.

5. What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now? A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. Torchwood fans will know why.

6. Name a celebrity you would marry. Marry? Not likely. I don't intend to remarry, ever.

7. Who will cut and paste this first? What silly kind of question is that?

8. Has anyone ever said you look like a celebrity? No. Wait, yes, actually, when I was in my teens people said I looked like Genevieve Bujold. I never saw it myself, but I heard it from various people.

9. Do you wear a watch? Yes, always, on my right wrist.

10. Do you have anything pierced? Ears, but I seldom wear earrings now. I've developed an aversion to wearing metal.

11. Do you have any tattoos? No.

12. Do you like pain? No.

13. Do you like to shop? Not usually. Sometimes. I love browsing bookstores.

14. What was the last thing you paid for with cash? Groceries.

15. What was the last thing you paid for with your credit card? A book, online.

16. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? maaseru

17. What is on your desktop background? Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, in a screencap from The Empty Child, part of the hospital scene where he's talking to Dr. Constantine.

18. What is the background on your cell phone? I don't have a cell phone.

19. What was the last movie you watched? Eragon, in a theatre. My Fair Lady, on DVD at my friend Sheila's place.

20. What was the last book you read? Blue Screen by Robert B. Parker.

Comments

[wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com]

but even so there are many places about which I am totally ignorant.

Me too, for example I know almost nothing about Eskimo or Zulu but I know relatively much about Europe (and therefore about America because like I've said above American culture is a heir of the west european culture) because I'm living here. But the west european ignore entire east european culture and believe or want to believe there is none.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Seems to me most nations either pay no attention to Canada (not that there's much reason they should do otherwise!) or lump us in as being "the same as the United States" - a perception that I hope is changing with time. In Europe I had to go to great efforts to convince people I was not "American". Even though they all seemed to have cousins in Vancouver or Toronto!

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

We generally regard Canada as the more civilised bit of N America... ;-D

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I think we are, on the whole, rather good at being civilized. In a polite and low-key sort of way.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

A bookshop owner I know in St As said that she could always tell the difference between US and Canadian customers because of their manners. In St As, most of the Americans who tend to come over are either rich golfing holiday-makers or spoilt, preppy 'junior year/semester abroad' (or even 4-yr) students. I remember overhearing one student in the shop going on about how she liked the 'Scatch' accent because her father had a Scottish caddy!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Canadian manner is very different from the American. I've never been sure why. Our history is similar, and our language, but there's been a divergence in culture - and not because of the French influence, I don't think. I'm not sure what caused it. To a Canadian, the differences are glaringly obvious.

[wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com]

The European even mostly don't know how different the USA are - for example it's very hard to compare Chicago with Luissiana (I think so, I've never been there). For an average German or Austrian an Ami is an Ami- nothing to add.

Sorry, I today spit my bitterness all over you. I have to train Joga or Kung Fu to gain some distance from this things but believe me, I'm living here and I meet this sh*t every single day.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, I certainly think yoga is wonderful - and really should be doing it myself. More than I am doing. I've been using my head cold as an excuse to do nothing. Okay: a promise to both you and me - tomorrow I will do a session of hatha yoga. There! Now I've said it, I have to do it.

Hope you're feeling more cheerful soon.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

But the west european ignore entire east european culture and believe or want to believe there is none.

Sorry, but that's total nonsense. I can't think of a history department that doesn't teach at least some Eastern European history. Also, many universities here in the UK teach East European languages, and some also art. My own doctorate was on how 19C Russian history painting treated subjects from the Petrine era (17-18C). The University of London has the School of East European and Slavonic Studies.

[wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but that's total nonsense.

Have you read Henryk Sienkiewicz, Adam Mickiewicz, Boleslaw Prus and Stanislaw Reymont? Have you ever hear to the music by Stanislaw Moniuszko?

They are all great writer and composers. And there can be a differece between single European countries, I think England and France have a little positiver attitude to the east european countries than german speaking countries.

Oh, I guess you've read Quo Vadis by Sienkiewicz. The German and Austrian I've met didn't even know he was an polish author.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

And there can be a differece between single European countries, I think England and France have a little positiver attitude to the east european countries than german speaking countries.

I think it depends more on the educational level of the people you're talking to. Most people in the UK seem pretty oblivious to their own culture, never mind anyone else's.

Also, it's a matter of age. With cheaper travel and the end of the Cold War, younger people are travelling more. I'd love to go to Budapest: Hungarian history and culture fascinates me because it's a completely different language group to its neighbours.