Other worlds, other languages

Remember how I apologised in advance for that rash of papermaking posts? The ones that never showed up? Yeah, I have a feeling this will be the same way, but just in case, I apologise for a rash of conlang/worlding posts to come.

Now that that is done, and I have a yummy banana ice lolly to eat, I thought I'd do a quick post about what I've been up to these last few days.

I'm a conlanger. Well, I prefer geofictionist...

A whosit? A whatsit?

If you don't already know, lemme throw some definitions at you. Stand still, this shouldn't hurt:

Conlang: A constructed language

Conlanger: A person who makes a constructed language

(Not to be confused with a canlang, or a Canadian language. Those are infinitely more frightening)

Geofiction: fictional worlds, geographic fiction

Geofictionist: A person who makes geographic fiction

Conworld: A constructed world

I'll let you figure out consports, conreligion, etc.

So yes, there, I've admitted to this oh so secret of vices. I know one other person, personally, that does it, along with a slew of internet folks, maybe two or three thousand as an upper guess (compiling all the numbers I know from a few forums and mailing lists, some of which are likely duplicated (like me!)), but I know there must be more lurking in the shadows.

So when you hear constructed language, what should you think of?

Well, think of Na'vi as a current example. The language spoken by the blue cat-people in Avatar? Yup. That's a constructed language. The people making that language hired a professor with a doctorate in linguistics to make a language for the movie. If you want to read more, wiki is a good start: Na'vi Language.

Want something a bit less current, but still alien? Reach only so far as Star Trek. The Klingons of that series have their own language which has become a major player in the field of conlangs. The language wasn't really intended, they mostly used nonsense "words" to get a feel of an alien tongue. But leave it to Trekkies to blow that up and out. Klingon is now a full fledged language with speakers around the world. You could even take classes at some point (This may still occur?) I unfortunately never really got into Star Trek, so my info is a bit dusty. However I have studied Klingon in a cursory manner, as it has structures similar to my conlang. You want to learn more, try the Klingon Language Institute.

So we want less current, but not alien. How about Tolkien? There's a reason that the secret vice quip was linked.

Tolkien made Elvish, and it seems that one reason he made the Lord of the Rings was to not seem crazy when putting forth the language. Neat, mm? Now Elvish I know as much of as anyone who never read the series (don't shoot!), but there are certainly a lot of resources about for it. So why don't we just direct you to the wiki, and you can put the knives down: Elvish Languages.

One more, then I swear I'll move on.

Esperanto. No, that's not some Spanish cowboy. It's a language developed by L. L. Zamenhof (Quite the mouthful, mm?) and his goal with this language was to have Esperanto be a politically neutral language spoken everywhere, allowing people of different nationalities to make an equal play towards peace.

A lofty goal.

And while it never reached that height (they don't teach you Esperanto in international business courses!) it is still the most widely spoken auxiliary language. There are 10,000 to two million fluent speakers, some of which are native speakers (that is, Esperanto is, or is one of, their first languages) Pretty big for something some guy just made up! Though, it has been around a while, the first book about it was published in 1887.

There is obviously tons of material about Esperanto out there, so I'mma leave you with just a Google search for Esperanto.

Now that you know a little bit about conlangs, I thought maybe I could share some information about how to go about making one, but I've kinda run out of space, plus you've probably wandered on to thinking about your dinner plans. That's okay, I ran out of ice lolly a paragraph and a half in, and I'm thinking about food too.

So I think I'll say:

ĝis la revido,

Qapla'

Mára mesta

kìyevame

or goodbye, in Esperanto, Klingon, Elvish and Na'vi respectively.

Banana Nut Cheerios

So as many of you know, I love bananas. They are my favourite fruit. Aside from their unfortunate phallic connotations, they are definitely the best.

So it should come as no surprise that my mum bought me Banana Nut Cheerios the other day(along with some banana ice lollies, yay!) so I'm going to try them.

But what is the point of trying new things if it can't be a SCIENCE EXPERIMENT?

Overall expectations: Low.

I mean, there are so few banana flavoured things, and a lot of them suck. There must be something about bananas that make them difficult to work with or something.

Opening the box, first comes smell test:

They smell like cereal. No distinct banana or sugar smell. Just Cheerios.

Look:
Dude, they're Cheerios. However they seem to have a skinnier, less puffy, opener look to them. I may just have not seen Cheerios in a while, but these ones look a little skinny.

Dry taste:

They have a... something to them. Kinda like banana bread? Sweeter than regular Cheerios, and a surprisingly pleasant taste.

Texture:

Think Cheerios. Exactly.

With Milk:

Unfortunately we are out of milk. That is just depressing.

However, we have 10% cream, and water. So with a splash of each in my bowl, let us proceed:

With Creamy-water:

Good. They have that banana bread taste, in a more pronounced way.

Texture:

They seem to sog down faster than other cereal, and feel a little slimey, though that might be the cream-water.

Smell:

They smell like baking banana bread! Except colder? (Does it make sense that I can smell temperatures?)

Overall reaction:

Pleasantly surprised. They taste good, smell good, and are easy to eat. I like them.

For next time:

Milllllllk!

Anonymity, the Internet and me.

So I'm reading on Cracked.com (yes, you are welcome to change your perception of me, however I've mentioned this habit before...) and this article came up.

And I realised, I had this discussion with a friend the other day. Or at least a similar one. Which is what sparked the Housekeeping post last Friday. But it has been festering in my mind, so I thought I'd go more in depth. Which is your cue to put on your spiraled infinity glasses, because this will get convoluted.

Any way. For the most part I don't mind being transparent to the internet. There is nothing I do or say that I consider odd or wrong enough to warrant my eminent arrest/murder/virgin sacrifice. So I put pretty well everything I do and say under that handy-dandy pseudonym ekobor, and call it a day. ekobor is directly linked in many places to my real name, people in real life know I go by it and see my actions. Many things I do and say around the web are linked directly into my Facebook account for perusal by my family, friends, peers, possible employers...

I like it that way because it lets me feel like a cohesive person, even in a place filled with empty shells of anonymous ghosts. If I say or do something in one place, a quick search allows anyone to find things I've said or done in other places. My slow accumulation of distaste for lobster can be chronicled by anyone who feels the need to do so. (Side note, if you feel the need to do so, please contact anyone, any where. Your life has reached an all-time high level of boredom, you may soon die of it).

Of course, this means if there is anything I ever want to do that I don't want people to see, it gets stickier. Like watching Rubik's cube solves. While I openly admit to learning how to solve a Rubik's cube and not being a natural solver, maybe I don't want people to see me asking questions of the people I learn from. It makes me feel less smart. (Though it was the Square-1 this occurred with).

Now, that is a bit petty, I admit, but it is something I try to avoid for the most part. I like feeling smart. But there are other things and places that I do and go to that I might not want others to see.

For a while in my life I frequented a forum for people in crisis, Suicide Forum. (Side note, if you are feeling depressed, this is a great community to get some casual help) There were things I was feeling that would scare people if I put them publicly out there, and I would have to deal with uncomfortable questions. So you'll note that there is no ekobor in the member list. (And if there is, it isn't me). When I go to 4Chan I use a different name (Though I don't stick with the plain "Anonymous" either) because the only reason I use 4Chan is to get away from myself from time to time.

I can count the number of places I am intentionally not open on one hand, and I like it that way.

Sure, I don't want any Joe-blow knowing my phone number, library card, SIN, Drivers License, etc, but I walk around showing people my face and heritage, telling them my name and age, and most can guess my sex. So I see no reason to leave that out from most places. I'm not going to jump into a rant on the heteronormative, androcentric, misogynistic state of the world to any random passer-by, and so similarly keep such out bursts to myself online as well. My desire to use gender-neutral pronouns and to be seen gender-neutrally, as well as my sexuality, I will mention if asked, and am the same way online.

Really the only thing I can think of that changes between online and "IRL" (in real life, for those not acronystically savvy) is that I am more bold online. That doesn't come from the anonymity though, it comes from the ability to quickly fact-check, to use words more fluidly than in real life, and from talking to people with a world view vastly different than my own.

So, yes, where was I? Oh, yes, while I don't have any great reason to be all mysterious and anonymous online, I still have times where I want to be free of being me, and being seen. And an internet without anonymity would be a sadder place for me, in some respects.

Thoughts?

Pacing in filmography

Today I watched Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland followed directly by Eminem's 8 Mile. And I noticed something. While the two movies are obviously disparate, there was one thing that really stood out to me, and that was the timing between the two movies, the pace and how it lent itself to the narrative.

Alice in Wonderland lets you just float and trail along for the most part. There is no real force in any direction, just the most minor hint of a push forward.

8 Mile comes at you like a bullet train to the back telling you that you either go forward of get run down.

That push and drive is something that really kept me in the movie, despite my interest waning near the middle. They throw thing after thing at you, questions of a sort, and then hold a gun to your head asking you to answer them. Which is kinda neat. It makes you feel involved in the film and important.

The only problem with a push like that is that, as media consumers, we are accustomed to being brought down from a high slowly. Led there, hand held the whole way. 8 Mile didn't do that. At all. When the end credits started rolling I was left with a "that's it?" feeling, and I think what happened there is I got so used to the pushpushpush that the sudden... nothing didn't feel right.

I mean, it makes sense, being a biography of sorts, life just isn't so kind as to wrap up all the loose ends for people. But it still felt a bit... rough, I guess.

As for Alice (who is a character in 8 Mile, I laughed when the name showed up), there is that lull I mentioned, just a slight ebb in the right direction. Which is a nice alternative to the pushiness. It lets you rest and listen, not needing to provide to the story, or fill anything in. It feels like a story tale (which it is, so kudos there Mr. Carroll and Mr. Burton), and plays like one.

In a way that is almost disappointing though, in comparison. It doesn't give you any hand hold to grab onto and wish it were all real. From the very moment we reach the engagement party everything takes on a varnish of fakeness that is hard to get over. The story is being told to you, and that is that. A large wall of "It's not real folks!" surrounds the whole movie, keeping you firmly here, and them firmly there.

Which kinda sucks.

(Though I wouldn't want to deal with that frumious Bandersnatch, no matter how cute it is.)

So there you have it. Some late night (Early morning, actually) ramblings about symbolism through video pacing. Have fun with that.

Housekeeping!

No, I'm not referring to my job, I'm referring to a scary thing called web presence. Specifically, mine.

For a while there if you searched my name on the Googles, I was result number one. Numero uno. Now I'm back to number two, alas.

Now, I'm not sure if I want to be number one, it feels like a lot of responsibility. But what I do want is for my internet self to be well organized.

I'm a member of a lot of sites on the internets, and recently I've been trying to pull them all together into an interconnected web of stuff.

So I thought I'd make a running list. If you can think of a place you've seen me, or want to see me, comment and I'll add it to the list!

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Blogger
• Google
• Ravelry
• Flickr
• Tumblr
• StumbleUpon
• Youtube
• DeviantArt
• ConceptArt
• Kongregate
• Gaia Online
• Goodreads
• VisualizeUs
• We Heart It (Eclipsed by VisulizeUs)
• Pintrest
• Imageshack
• Etsy
• eBay
• Formspring

Those are the main ones that come to mind, but there are literally hundreds of them. Those that I can connect to my Google or Facebook accounts, I do, however.

I'm not sure just how to bring all these thing together, I'm not even sure it is possible.

But you can expect to see some links in the sidebar ---> in the future, giving you access to some of these places. I'm nothing if not a transparent web persona.

So enjoy. And remember, take a look for ekobor on your site of preference, if there is one, say hi. Chances are to betting that it's me, and I'd love to hear from you!

Image favouriting sites.

What's with the sudden rash of them, anyway?

We Heart It, Vi.sualize.us, Pintrest... The fact that there are three reasonably major ones means there were probably a number of minor ones that floundered.

Trouble is, what do you pick?

Well, if you're like me, all of them. Then narrow it. I started on We Heart It, and liked it a lot, but I found their off-site favouriting so clumsy it didn't do it for me.

Then I found VisulizeUs, which allows me to add a widget to my browser, letting me right-click and favourite the image that way, and even share it to social medias from there.

That is what I currently find to be the best.

Howeverrrrr, I heard about Pintrest. So I thought I'd try it. However they are in invitation-only mode, so I put in for an account. With luck it won't take too long and I can start scoping the place out. I want to pick one, and stay there. (Moving 1000+ images will not be fun if I move from VisualizeUs), but I want the one I pick to be reasonably permanent on the web and to have enough user-friendliness to it that I don't hate it every time I think about it.

There is also the issue of things like Ravelry and DeviantArt. There are things I like (sometimes love!) and I want to share that with people. However, they have their own individual built in favouriting systems, and I have to wonder if it would be weird to "Visualize/Heart/Pin" them. So I tend to use the built in systems first, then post things if that doesn't work/isn't available.

Which really goes against this whole connectivity/conglomerate/single page thing I want going on.

Ah, what is an internet addict to do.

I feel like asking reader questions this week, so I'll do another:

Do you use a favouriting site? Which one? If not, how do you keep track of all the things you see/do on the web and want to remember?

The art of paper making

So some of you may know that I'm a crafty geek, and enjoy fibre arts the most.

How many of you have thought about paper making before? It is a fibre art too! Just, different fibre.

I got into making paper maybe five years and a house ago. Set up a vat, blender and screen in our basement laundry room and churned the stuff out for a few months. Then school, cold weather and depression put a kibosh on it.

Oh, and moving to a house that doesn't have a drain in the floor of the basement. And had a fully carpeted basement for a time.

So I slowly ditched all the made up pulp, cleaned the vat, stored the screen and pressing boards, ditched the old cloths.

I made journals for all my teachers in grade ten, cards, backings for poems and neat art paper. Even a box to hold 105 tiny paper stars (about 5mm or .20in across) for a very special person.

After stopping I got into writing, geofiction, conlanging, reading, crochet, knitting, spinning, weaving, braiding, sewing and more all over again. (The first three were more prevalent for the first two years while I dealt with the aforementioned depression.) So I'm happy I stopped, it opened the door to a lot of other things I had ignored.

Fast forward to about a month ago. First year of college was ending, and I was looking forward to a summer of boredom, work and boredom.

So I thought, hey, paper!

Well, that and I was thinking about things I could add to an Etsy shop or similar, and dying/spinning wool seemed to expensive/time consuming for a start up. (Plus I'm not sure I would be able to give up the things I made >.>) Then I remembered the paper, and how so many people fawned over it and wanted things made from it, and thought it would be a good idea.

So I tore the old screen off and got a new, tighter one. Found and washed my old vat. Spent days trying to find a second hand blender, and eventually my mum said I could use the house one. If she ever wants one, she'll get another. (She barely used this one. A nice new blender for me!)

The furnace room was stripped of carpeting last year after the oil spill. (Torn up by a friend and I), so I do most of the work there (Until I can convince mum to tear up the disgusting carpet in the laundry room.) I've made two posts of sheets in the last three or four days, and will probably pull another today (Though I may experiment with some other fibres. I never got too far into the experimental last time.)

I hope to make some pulp out of old blue jeans and dryer lint soon. Maybe next summer try out some plant fibres. (Probably have to wait longer than that. I'll be done school then. Looking for permanent employment and housing...) You will probably soon get sick of the flurry of paper-making posts I feel are to come. Pictures too, hopefully!

I hope to make gift/greeting cards, some finer stationary, envelopes, boxes... Things are looking crafty around here.

So tell me, intrepid reader, what kind of crafts do you do?