Someone should start making Viking Fiction Memes
You find a piece of Viking fiction that looks quite good. It's got shieldmaidens. It's got magicians.
Then you discover that the magician are all male - not a völva, not a spækona, not a wife doing simple protection spells with a spindle. And the male magicians and seers aren't even a tiny bit effemminate or even just rumored to be gay. Also, no ( Read more... )
Then you discover that the magician are all male - not a völva, not a spækona, not a wife doing simple protection spells with a spindle. And the male magicians and seers aren't even a tiny bit effemminate or even just rumored to be gay. Also, no ( Read more... )
Alas, you're right. We only learn a few things, and then we think that's all that there is to it because nobody ever bothers to tell us otherwise. It's kinda depressing, thinking about the kind of stuff we're missing out on everyday.
Still, one would think that people writing fiction about ancient societies should have the most fun researching on them and getting them right. But that's probably just me having too much faith in mankind again ... *sigh*
You know, Vikings started fascinating me in the first place because it seemed like there was just so little about them. I mean, it was like we had Greeks and Romans handed to us on a silver platter, and there was something about Egyptians too in our textbooks ... but what about them?
Now that I'm older I know that there is still LOADS of stuff we don't know even about Greeks and Romans and that we can only theorize about, but back then it seemed a bit unfair, somehow. It was like, those Viking guys had brilliant legends and poems and even discovered America (... Canada, but still), how could they be just raiding/pillaging/raping barbarians? The two pictures just didn't fit together.
Well, I get carried away all the damn time, so I can't really blame you for that! XD I think it's just natural, when you get passionate about the topic you're talking about. :)
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"Still, one would think that people writing fiction about ancient societies should have the most fun researching on them and getting them right."
Yup, that's me. I often do lots & lots of research even when I'm writing about the present, to be honest. I spent days looking into famous flying aces, once, and one memorable time I studied a map of London for hours just to know if my character could actually walk from point A to point B in the amount of time I needed her to. Maybe I'm just mad. XD
But it's fun, as you were saying, and I do learn many very interesting things. And yes, maybe I'll never have a use for them again, but fuck it: it's knowledge, however strange or particular or short-lived, and to me knowledge is always good. u_u
With Vikings (and all the other "ignored" or "forgotten" civilizations) it's exactly like that: you start getting curious because our history books make it like they just got from being nothing to sail all the way to North America, leaving out all the transitions. And I, being a big sucker for "origin stories", hate not being able to retrace the facts. XD
So yes, I agree completely and I'm happy that there are still people who enjoy learning more about what they like. :)
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I remember once I spent a lot of time researching the Winter War to write a Hetalia fanfiction for a prompt - which wasn't even actually about Finland. And I don't even like Hetalia that much anymore, to be honest. So yeah, it was more a giant excuse to dig deeper into the topic and look into the pretty unknown stuff without having to openly face my own weirdness. XD
Knowledge is knowledge even when it's pretty much useless, yeah. And who knows, we could always amaze people with utterly unknow trivias and details. XD
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OMG, see? That's why I think you're awesome! THE WINTER WAR? Nobody ever tries to actually remember the Winter War, let alone study it in detail! I love you. *_*
"So yeah, it was more a giant excuse to dig deeper into the topic and look into the pretty unknown stuff without having to openly face my own weirdness."
Yup, that's exactly it. I mean, I probably should spend a lot more time studying for my exams, instead of filling up brain space with all these things, but, well, we only live once! *pathetic excuses for my bad case of laziness*
And you know what? In my perfect little world I would make a man fall in love with me by reciting the names of all the kings and queens of Sweden (which no, I don't know - just to be clear), or some other oddity like that. It'd be the nerdiest love story ever, don't you think? XD
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My fascination with the Winter War began, of course, with the "OMG FINLAND IS SO AWESOME IT EVEN DEFEATED SOVIET RUSSIA" meme. XD But really, I wanted to see what the big deal really was - oh, and also I'm obsessed with Finland. Have I ever mentioned that? (Okay, I most probably did, knowing me.)
But anyway, I decided to stick around when I got to the less known, less heroic part of the story. Actually, I know a few basic things about the war tactis (read: "Seriously, didn't the Russians bother checking the weather or the territory? Man, Finnish guerrilla suonds awesome!"), but I got hooked on minor stuff like the way the war was portrayed by foreign press and weird stuff like the drug abuse in the Finnish army. Oh, and the sometimes-true-sometimes-not anecdotes, let's not forget those!
In my perfect little world, my ideal man would romance me with either Greek lyrical poetry or skaldic poetry. <3
(Or by talking Finnish to me, but, shh! That's just one of my oddest kinks. I still wonder why the heck I can't just find French and Spanish cute and sexy like everyone else ...)
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I admit I've never really analyzed the Winter War in detail, but from what little I know and from what you're telling it seems to be a part of European history which would be very interesting to examine in depth. There's so much we never really bother to learn about... I don't know about you, but I know close to nothing of my land's history, too, and it's quite sad, if you think about it... One day I'm certainly going to change that. ;)
Oh, well, if it's Greek and/or skaldic poetry you're looking for, you'll probably have plenty suitable admirers at university. I mean, I met someone who tried to romance me with latin poetry, so... XD
Btw, I like French and Spanish all right, and I usually prefer soft sounding languages, but those few times I heard Tuomas Holopainen speak his mother tongue? Yeah, I almost had a heart attack. *brofist*
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... Okay, maybe I went a little overboard. XD
Yup, the Winter War is really interesting stuff. I feel like people usually just remember Simo Haya, but there's a lot more about it, really.
I think not knowing about the place you grew up in is pretty common - it's just so close to you that you never think there could be something interesting and special about it. Like, I never knew Garibaldi had been in my town until my school called a schoolar for a lecture about the Risorgimento in our area - and I live five minutes away from a Piazza Garibaldi, where there supposedly is some "Garibaldi was here" plate I've never even seen. XD
And it doesn't stop at that. Apparently, years ago they found lots of Roman and pre-Roman artifacts in my dad's hometown in Basilicata ... but people thought they wouldn't be allowed to build their houses where they wanted to if they told anyone, so they just took them or sold them or whatever. My grandma even gave my dad a Roman lamp she had once, though I don't really know how ancient it could actually be.
Luckily, people got more considerate in time, and know they have an archeological dig and a little museum.
Latin poetry? Oh god, did he try with Catullus or something like that? And what were the results? XD
I actually quite like French, it sounds cute and melodious and a bit funny to listen to. But Spanish, I just can't get into it, it just sounds too much like a weird version of Italian. XD
Finnish sounds just so much ... well, not really like a song, more like a nursery rhyme or something like that, with all those "k"s and double letters and those wonderful "r"s. It's really soothing. Tuomas speaking Finnish is the hottest thing, but you can't imagine the eargasm I had when I listened to Taikatalvi the first time. XD
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The gay bondage stamps are awesome, btw. And I thought UK's Doctor Who stamps were unusual... XP
Crazy coincidences everywhere! I live nearby a Piazza Garibaldi too (no plaques or historical landmarks there, though) and - more to the point - my father is from Basilicata as well! I can't believe it! *_* He and my uncle have lived in Rome for as long as I've known them, they both still do with their wives and children, but their parents - my granparents - live all the way down in Potenza. I used to go there to spend the winter holidays quite often when I was younger and they were in better shape, but now their health is failing and I, living in Sardinia and having lessons and exams almost all year long, unfortunately seldom manage to go visit. :( Anyway, that's some coincidence, isn't it? If I may ask, what's your dad's hometown? Who knows, maybe I've even been there... ^^
But picking up our original topic again: what you said is very true. It seems that quite often the closest we are to something, the less we know about it. It's the same as when, for example, you live just two doors away from some cute restaurant everybody loves and you've never been, only because "it's just down the street, I can go whenever I want". Same with monuments or museums or whatever: if you know you have the opportunity to visit whenever you'd like, it's easy to postpone day after day after day. It's often happened to me to finally go see some famous city landmark that's right in front of my eyes every day only when I had someone else to bring there, someone who maybe came from another town and wanted to go sightseeing. XD It's nuts, if you think about it, but I suppose it's just human nature. We get curious about the exotic far more than we do about familiar things, things we think we already know when in truth it's often quite the opposite.
Oh, it was Latin poetry of all sorts. I remember both Catullus and Virgil and I'm sure there was Horace as well, because we were analyzing his satire in our Latin literature classes, but it's been a couple of years ago and I wasn't really interested in the guy, so I kinda forgot the details. Now that I think about it I'm sure he also tried with some Greek poets, at some point (Homer, mostly; maybe Sappho), but he was specialized in Christian Latin culture and it showed, while I'm more of a Greek-geek kind of girl: it couldn't work out, too many artistic differences. XP
Our tastes, however, match really good (quelle surprise, eh? ;P): I'd very much like to learn French, someday, but Spanish? I mean, I don't think it's ugly, per se, but I wouldn't try and study it either.
And Taikatalvi it's eargasmic, indeed. *w* And yes, "southern" languages usually appeal to me the most, but amongst norse languages (and my inner linguistic is seething, right now, because from a scientific point of view I'm making some veeeeeeery wrong categorizations, here, but let's ignore all of that) I think I like Finnish the best: I don't know about Danish, I've never actually heard it, but I can't really get into Swedish or Norwegian. Icelandic isn't bad, though.
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Oh, the Scots! Another wonderful people. *-* I didn't know about the cheese-rolling, to be honest, but I love the thing with the tree-trunk. XD
Now that I think about it, Finns and Scots are both known for drinking ... but surely that doesn't have anything to do with their tastes in sports! ;)
... My dad's hometown IS near Potenza! Wow, this is starting to look like Voyager-worthy stuff! XD My dad and his sibling went to live in Lombardy when they were pretty young, but we still have lots of relatives down there and we try to go there every Summer.
My dad comes from Banzi, and I've never met someone who didn't come from there who knew where it was. XD
Anyway, here it is: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banzi
So, if I can ask you too, where's your father from? :)
Aww, I don't know if that sounds desperate or cute. But yeah, I guess some differences are just too much. XD
I studied French in middle school and I was pretty good at it too, but now my French got a bit rusty. I'd like to refresh it a bit, really ...
Yeah, I don't think Spanish is really ugly either, though it does sound funny to me, but it's so weird because it sound kinda like Italian and I understand a few words so it sounds like I should be able to get what people are saying ... but my experience in Spain last Summer proved that no, Spanish just makes me go WTF everytime. XD
I've heard a little of Norwegian, but I couldn't really get into it either. And I know Swedish is basically Norwegian with a somewhat clearer pronunciation and Danish is Swedish with a potato stuck in the mouth, so I didn't even really try. XD Though once I watched a video with two characters speaking in standard Swedish and Finland-Swedish, and the Finland-Swedish was really cute. <3
I'd love to learn Icelandic, if only because it's the closer one to Old Norse. **
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I love Scots too much for my own good, but what can I say? They're ginger, rowdy and they wear skirts (and are very good knitters, I hear): how can I not love them? Top it up with all the trunk throwing and there you go, perfection! XD Cheeserolling is actually Welsh, if I remember correctly, but well - they're all Brits, I guess it runs in their possibly highly alcoholic blood. XD
Banzi... Can't say I've been there, no, but I'm quite sure I've heard it mentioned by my former professor while reading Horace (speak of the devil)! My dad is from Potenza, I'm not sure if his parents were both born in the city, though, or if at least one of them originally came from some nearby little town. Anyway, Basilicata is a beautiful region, is it not? Maybe it's nostalgia speaking, but I loved going there - especially around Christmas, when it snowed... *_*
You should pick French up again, it's a beautiful language - and knowing more than one foreign language is always good. ;) I never studied it at school, unfortunately. I can understand it a bit, thanks to my good ear for languages, but if I have to speak it myself I stop at bonjour and bonsoir and little else. Spanish I can understandish, sort of, but again: I can't utter a word of it. XD
Oh my, "Danish is Swedish with a potato stuck in the mouth", really? Ok, now I most certainly know I won't like it. X°D
Icelandic is cute. Well, maybe "cute" isn't the best way to describe it, to be honest, but it's got that strange kind of roughness that makes me smile. I've met a couple of Icelanders at several editions of an international competition of folk wrestling (they were Glíma wrestlers) and when they talked to each other I couldn't help but listen, even if I obviously didn't understand a word they were saying. Then again, anything even remotely connected to Old Norse has to be fabulous!
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Also they have David Tennant and John Barrowman, which just adds to their glory. <3
Ah, I should have expected it was the Welsh! XD I mean, people going around telling each other stuff like "whyllwlylwlyw" and understanding it ... there's just something not quite right but seriously crazy awesome about them.
I'd be careful in labelling all of them Brits - I'd at least consider the English separatly, first. XD
I'm not surprised because you've never been there ... but I am because you remember that thing in Horace! ** He did write a poem about Fons Bandusiae, which some people claim actually was in Banzi - the only famous thing about it! XD
I've never seen any snow in Basilicata, as we only go there in Summer. When I was younger, I didn't really like going there: we had to travel for hours by car to get to this tiny little town where everybody was either an over-affectionate relative who talked way too much or a noisy bored kid smoking in the park ... all the small places problems, you know. But in time I started to appreciate the town's strong points, like the medieval Norman parade or the tarantella & pizzica nights - I couldn't dance to save my life, but it's fun watching and listening to the music.
But yeah, Basilicata is a really beautiful land. For example, I've always wanted to go on the Dolomites. :)
French is really quite easy to understand, yeah. The words are pretty similar to Italian and the grammar isn't too hard to make out even when you're just hearing it. :)
That's how Swedes and Norwegians usually describe it. XD I read somewhere that Danish and Norwegian (Bokmal, at least) are more alike when it comes to grammar, but Danish has such a weird pronunciation that Norwegians understand spoken Swedish better. And then, of course, there are all the "not even Danes understand Danish" jokes. XD
Wow, I didn't even know modern glìma existed! It sounds so cool! ** Everything Old Norse is awesome, you're right, and I think I get what you mean about the "cute roughness". <3
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I understand all too well, I had to fly all the way to Rome and then go down to Potenza by car with my dad: it was a hell of a trip. But then I got to go up in the mountains and play with fresh snow... I know, I know, I seem obsessed by it, but I don't get to see much of that down here in Cagliari, as you can imagine, so it was pretty exciting. But a couple of times I went during the summer and it was definitely duller, so I understand you well. ^^ Dancing tarantella, or just listening to some little band playing it live in the town square, is always a joy, though. *_*
You know what? Now you got me curious. As soon as I have some time, I'll definitely look for some Danish speakers on Youtube, just for kicks. I mean, it's gotta be funny, at least. XD
Glíma is beautiful to look at. I've become quite a fan of folk wrestling, recently (bringing the Scots back, did you know they wrestle wearing kilt? How cool is that?), and I must say: Icelanders have a very powerful and elegant style. Not to mention, the strange belts they put on to fight make their perfect butts really stand out. *cough cough*
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I get you - snow just makes the world seem like such a quiet, magical place, doesn't it? I've always linked it to fewer cars on the street, warm blankets and warm drinks. :) Oh, and the hope of closed schools, but that doesn't really matter now. XD
You know, talking with you made me remember a couple of comics about Danish and the other Scandinavia languages, and of course Welsh ...
http://satwcomic.com/language-lesson
http://satwcomic.com/stop-talking
http://satwcomic.com/just-a-number
http://satwcomic.com/talk-to-me-2
http://satwcomic.com/size-matters
http://satwcomic.com/welsh-smash
Yeah, I do love Humon to death. XD
And now I'm gonna look up some folk wrestling videos. I can't resist kilts and cute Nordic butts. *-*
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Exactly, you got me. I love the sound of silence (random Simon & Garfunkel quote, here! XD) more than anything else, and snow softens everything and I've always found that beautiful.
OMG - actually, I'm going for OhMyLoki, from now on, so... OML! THOSE COMICS! I'm in love with Sweden. And Wales, also Wales. And - well, truth be told, I should say I'm now officially in love with Humon, too. *w*
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But the Welsh win everything for coming up with overlong words not even the Welsh themselves can't pronunce. XD
Another thing we have in common. :) I love the way snow makes everything softer, quieter, clearer, and more orderly in a way - like the world slows down for a bit, and you can just relax.
Come to the Dark Side ... we've also got threesomes, femdom and lots of slash. ;) And you just wait until you read some comics with Finland ...
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Oh no you don't. You won't bring me into another beautifully insane fandom. You cannot!
...or maybe just a teeny tiny bit?
*her resolve weakens by the minute*
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