More interests explanations

[mikekn]

danabren asked about:
charles vess
One of my favorite artists. He's done comics (including several with Neil Gaiman), and illustrated books as well as numerous other things, usually with mythical or fantasy subjects. I'd love to own more of his original work.

diesel sweeties
Amusing webcomic with all of the artwork done in a pixelated style. My "It's fun to use learning for evil!" t-shirt comes from there.

elfquest (HA!)
:) The first comic book I ever read. I was frequenting the book stores at the mall and there were the Donning/Starblaze editions of the Elfquest graphic novels. I was pretty active in the on-line fandom for years (alt.comics.elfquest, rec.arts.comics.elfquest, EQUEST-L). I maintained a website (currently very out of date) and wrote articles for Sendings. I still keep an eye on it, buying and reading what little new material shows up. (interestingly, I've never seen a furry connection)

emperor norton
Good old Emperor Norton I! 19th century San Francisco businessman who tried to corner the rice market and lost everything. He vanished for a bit, but when he returned he was dressed in an old military uniform and declared himself "Emperor of the United States" (later added "and Protector of Mexico" to the title). The people of the city humored him, the taverns feed him, the newspaper printed his proclamations, one printer printed his money, he rode the trains for free and when he died 30,000 people turned out for his funeral.

lorraine a' malena
Lorraine a' Malena are a musical duo with a folkie/goth/celtic sound. I've been a fan of Lorraine's music for years and this is her latest venture. I got to meet and hang out with them a little at Balticon a while back.

studio ghibli
The Japanese animation studio of Hayao Miyazaki (and others). Creators of some of my favorite films: My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away.

zenarchy
"ZEN is Meditation. ARCHY is Social Order. ZENARCHY is the Social Order which springs from Meditation. As a doctrine, it holds Universal Enlightenment a prerequisite to abolition of the State, after which the State will inevitably vanish. Or - that failing - nobody will give a damn."

complexated asked about:
blue monday
A comic series by girlmod. Lots of New Wave/Mod influences, great art and fun story. She's recently started a sketch blog. (which I just added to my LJ comic feed)

zenarchy


winnowill
One of the "villains" from the Elfquest comic series. She was given an interesting back story showing what she was like before turning "evil", but remained a villain through out the story (never redeemed, which I always felt would have made a very interesting story).

pvp
The PVP webcomic, follows the lives and adventures of the staff of PVP magazine. Some bits are more enjoyable then others, but overall it is a good strip.

tanith lee
One of my favorite authors, and one whose work I collect (she's got her own shelf, same as Emperor Norton). Her earlier works were mostly sword and sorcery stuff, but then she started writing more and more dark fantasy (gothic?). Excellent story teller with a strong ability to set a mood and environment.

starry knights
Starry Knights is an SCA household based out of the Midrealm. dame_margarete and finnfinnegan are members, and so through them I've gotten to meet and hang out with many of them. Cool folks :)

weirdness
Weird stuff for weird reasons. I.e. Discordian prayer mat / deadly ninja throwing carpet.

singewulf asked about:
zenarchy
"'Tis an ill wind that blows no minds!"

silver rylle
The Shire of Silver Rylle is our SCA neighbor to the west (mostly Lancaster county) - good folks, though I have a very poor record at making it to their events.

jasper fforde
Author of the Thursday Next and Nursery Crime books. Fairly well written and both with a playful take on literature. The Thursday Next books feature the police force that works within the books, while the Nursery Crime books have the nursery rhyme characters existing outside of their stories (like main character Detective Jack Sprat).

gleann nam feoraq dubh
The Incipient Canton of Gleann Nam Feorag Dubh (aka the Shire of Fred), is the SCA group based around Media, PA in Delaware county. Lots of friends of mine have had a hand in the founding of this group, and I hope to see them become an official group some time.

clam chowder
Not the soup, which I have no interest in, but rather the musical group out of Maryland. Founded many years ago at a science fiction convention, they do a nice mix of folk songs, sea shanties and other interesting tunes.

blue monday
See above

tanith lee
See above