Gehayi's meme
Gehayi, over on her LJ (sorry, don't know how to do links to other LJs; she's on my friendslist) challenged her readers to this. Basically, you respond to her post with the word "Words," she picks five words that she associates with you, and you write about those five words.
Right, then, here goes nothing:
Chinese
Well...my college major was East Asian Studies, with a heavy concentration on China, I studied abroad in Taiwan and the so-called "People's" so-called "Republic" of so-called "China" (I refer to it that way because it includes and subsumes large areas, such as Tibet and Xinjiang, that are no more Chinese or part of historical China than Iowa is), I can speak (and, after a fashion, read and write) Mandarin (although the "simplified" characters tend to baffle me in a hurry) and my best-beloved is Chinese-American. So China and matters Chinese do loom larger in my life than in most people's around here.
Norway
Norway's where my father's whole family originated from, I've been there, and my college, St. Olaf, was founded by Norwegian immigrants and still had a strong flavor of the Old Country. I don't speak but a few words of Norsk, but I retain a fondness for the place and would love to go back alone.
sporks
Since, to my best knowledge and memory, I have never commented on sporks-the-eating-utensils, I shall discuss, instead, the "sporking" of historical films. Being a history buff and rather knowledgable on the subject, I find this ridiculously easy---all too often, Hollyweird craps up and destroys stories that would be wonderful as cinema, due to their own insane prejudices. So WHAT if, forex, Queen Christina of Sweden had, AFAWK, no particular interest in s-x? Her life was incredibly interesting even without an ahistorical Spanish ambassador for her to faw in wuv with! And do NOT get me started on Braveheart...not unless you've a fire extinguisher handy to shut me up with! Why they do this absolutely escapes me...about the only answer I have is that Heinlein was right in saying that editors (and, by extension, film studio execs) like to piss in a story so they like the flavor better.
Fantasy
Some of my friends love it, others dislike it. Me, I like it a lot, as long as it's well-thought-out and the rules don't mysteriously change from book to book. Also, if the heroes start out with limited, strictly delineated powers, and do not endlessly acquire handy new Bat-Powers whenever needed, I am quite happy.
Medieval. I've been fascinated by the Middle Ages since I was a "wee nipper." By now I'm quite knowledgable, particularly on periods and places that interested me especially---I'm probably more knowledable on Yorkist-period England than about 99% of the people on LJ.