It's going around again

[ng_moonmoth]

Been a while since I joined in on any of the non-friending memes. Lots of people are doing this one right now, and I had fun with it the last time, so here goes again:

Ask me my top five anything.

As usual, I won't promise to answer anything I consider too personal, or personally identifying. But as long as I can be creative enough, I might be able to come up with something. Also, I am picking out my personal favorites, with no implication that they are the best of their category. Just that I like them the best, or value the most.

Comments

[lyr]

Top five favorite scents?

[ng_moonmoth]

• The just-cleaned, ozone-scented air after a summer thunderstorm has swept through and rinsed all the junk out


• The mingled aromas of life that are unique to an old growth forest ecology that has reached equilibrium.


• The special aroma that a BBQ pit gives off when it's almost time to take the meat out. The best BBQ chefs are sensitive to that smell, and respond to it. There's always something that's almost ready in a really good BBQ restaurant, so it smells like that all the time.


• The scent of lactofermentation. This is the outcome of a process, used in many places, of allowing lactobacilli to convert sugars in food into lactic acid and preserving it. Most notable source foods are cabbage (sauerkraut, kimchi), cucumbers (pickles), and milk or cream (yogurt). Commercial processing kills the bacteria, so one won't get the scent from there; only from batches that still contain the live culture. Interesting bit of synesthesia: I sometimes smell this scent when I listen to something composed by Bartok.


• Spouse's own natural scent, unencumbered by odors of the day or perfumes.

[lyr]

I especially like that post-storm scent, too. There's something so sharp and new about it.

[brujah]

Herbs/spices? =)

[ng_moonmoth]

Going with the ones that I view as core, and which I would sorely miss if unable to get them. Presented without further comment.

• cinnamon


• garlic


• ginger


• hot peppers


• mint

[st_aurafina]

Top five TV series?

[ng_moonmoth]

I'm going to define that as a show that is/was intended to run for multiple seasons, has a central continuing cast, and for which the show is in some sense about that cast. The idea is to set up a definition that makes Downton Abbey and The Carol Burnett Show and The Late Show with (whichever host) series, and Roots and Monday Night Football and The PBS Newshour not series.

• Firefly. Because Joss Whedon. And because of the richness and depth of the stories. And despite quite a few questionable plot drivers.


• Original Star Trek. The inspiration for so much of the media science fiction that has followed it, not to mention some real-world devices available now. And they got recognized science fiction writers to write some stories for them, and adapted a few more stories by recognized authors.


• Thunderbirds. I didn't get to see many of these, but the ones I have seen I enjoyed greatly.


• Top Chef. I say this counts. It has a core ensemble (Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi), a "cast" (the contestants) that continues for an entire seasion, episodic form, and, once they worked out what qualifications for their contestants made a good show, something they can present year after year without it becoming old. What makes it for me is that the challenges highlight things that real chefs wanting to succeed in the arduous restarant business must face as part of their job, and while the challenges may be eccentric from time to time, they are very seldom all about the gimmick. The results are judged on the basis of their merits, by recognized experts in their field. And the winner winds up being someone who has a good chance to succeed, and obtains the recognition and stake to give it a go. Many have, often successfully.


• The Wild, Wild West. Steampunk well before it became recognized or codified as a genre. Leavened nicely by the humorous interplay between the leads. And ironically cancelled because occasional gunplay and a couple of fight scenes per episode were deemed "too much violence", when quite a few present-day series seem to me much too laden with automatic weapons fire and hand-to-hand combat.

Just missed: The Orville. STO fanvid by Seth Macfarlane. Took a season to get its feet under itself, and still a bit too many crude jokes for my taste (OK, so you get that with Macfarlane), but overall an interesting modern-day spin on some Star Trekky plot setups, and some stuff the TV audience was in no way ready for then. Also, part of the miss was their warping over to planet Hulu.

Also: Colbert. Love most of his stuff. But the guests that work are the ones who are there to be part of the show, as opposed to the ones who are on for promotional reasons. So it usually gets turned off when those start.

[used_songs]

How about your top 5 cold drinks?

[ng_moonmoth]

• Diet cola. Caffeine delivery vehicle. Or not, if available and not seeking drug effect.


• Ginger beer. Not the wimpy stuff sold as "ginger ale". The kind with a real ginger kick.


• Limeade. First choice among similar citrus drinks. Only the ones made with real fruit count here.


• A malted milkshake. Normally with a chocolate component, so chocolate or mocha are first choices. Great as a dessert drink


• Water. Still or sparkling. A bit of flavor in the sparkling water, please.

[used_songs]

I agree 100% on the sparkling water and the limeade. I do t think I’ve ever had ginger beer, though, I’ll have to try it.

Re: ginger beer

[ng_moonmoth]

Fever Tree and Bundaberg are decent brands you might find while wandering about. Not sure what's still open for business in your part of the world right now. The big-box beverage stores would probably be your best bet; many of them also stock non-alcoholic beverages. Although you might also come across some real ginger beer from England, which actually has been fermented and has a little alcohol content. That's a completely different experience.

[fuzzyred]

Top five fandoms or books? (If narrowing it down that much isn't impossible.)

[ng_moonmoth]

I'm choosing to interpret this to cover storylines or collections by authors, to avoid having to pick individual books from one of those lines.

• [any and all of her many books] (Doris Kearns Goodwin): A knowledgeable historian who has written works covering a number of important periods. All are very readable, give a vivid sense of actually being there, and provide context for the choices that were made and their effects.


• Guns, Germs, and Steel, and Collapse (Jared Diamond): An entertaining scientific exploration of the factors that led to the global dominance of "Western" culture. Soundly based on scientific methodology, comparing successful and durable cultures with less successful and extinct ones to work out what a culture needs to succeed. And, in Collapse, what a culture does that causes it to fail. With special cautions and warnings that our current culture is vividly displaying. A real eye-opener.


• The Laundry Files storyline (Charles Stross): Resolution of an important question in the theory of computing renders what we think of as magic tractable and computable. Computer program don't just look like magic, they can replace the magical formulas of the past with effective applications. Problem is, doing magic of any sort weakens the fabric of the universe, and the tech explosion of the late 20th century is causing the universe to come apart at the seams. Entities that are careless of or hostile to human intelligence are prone to emerge through the gaps. These are stories about the dedicated people who like their universe intact, thankyouverymuch, and are working feverishly to prevent its dissolution. Loaded with easter eggs for techies, horror fans, spy story fans, and anyone with more than a passing awareness of science fiction.


• Polychrome Heroics storyline (Elizabeth Barrette): Take all the superhero comics books ever created. Dump them all in a pile. Pull some out, clip out the good stuff, and leave behind the parts about acting out their issues by destroying things and beating one another up. Mix together. Now see what stories come out of what you've got. If you don't have what you want yet, go back and pull some more out.


• Worldwar/Colonization storyline (Harry Turtledove): Another trope stood on its head. World War II is raging when green-skinned lizardlike aliens from another star system show up with designs on conquering Earth to add to their colonial empire, and advanced technology to support this aim. Thing is, when they scouted Earth several centuries before, the most potent military force was armored knights on horseback, and the pace of their history is such that that was what they expected to have to, and were prepared to, conquer. Their colonization fleet is on the way, and things will not go well if the conquest is not complete when it arrives. The fate of our world hangs in the balance.

[fuzzyred]

I think you have given me new books and authors to find. Polychrome Heroics is the only one on your list that I have read.

Also, I've really enjoyed reading all your answers! This was a very fun meme to stumble across.

[ng_moonmoth]

>> I think you have given me new books and authors to find. <<

Glad to be of service. Stross and Turtledove both have lots of other books and series that you'll also enjoy if you like what you read in the series I highlighted. As does ysabetwordsmith, but you knew that already.

>> Polychrome Heroics is the only one on your list that I have read. <<

Which is likely to be completely different from the experience of a lot of people who see this post. But still cool. *holding up under ysabetwithdrawal, at least for now*

>> Also, I've really enjoyed reading all your answers! This was a very fun meme to stumble across. <<

Where's the fun in just a boring list of answers? I view memes like this as opportunities to provide insight into me. Glad you enjoyed the answers.

[fuzzyred]

>> Stross and Turtledove both have lots of other books and series that you'll also enjoy if you like what you read in the series I highlighted. As does ysabetwordsmith, but you knew that already.<<

I will definitely check them out, I'm all for finding new books. :D Funnily enough, I did know that about ysabetwordsmith, but I had never read anything other than LIFC and Polychrome Heroics, and also the Moon Door series. But after reading this, I gave her other series a look, and I found a WHOLE BUNCH more lovely things to read, so thank you for the reminder. :D

>>Where's the fun in just a boring list of answers? I view memes like this as opportunities to provide insight into me. Glad you enjoyed the answers.<<

I really liked seeing this extra little glimpse of you, and I will keep it in mind the next time I do one of these. It makes it more fun to share a little bit with everyone involved. :)

[antisocialite_forum]

Favorite trees?

[ng_moonmoth]

• Cacao. Without which, there would be no chocolate.


• Cherry. For the blossoms and the fruit.


• Mangrove. Vital for coastal swampland, which is a nursery for a great variety of marine life, everywhere. Also really spooky-looking, in a fun way.


• Orange. We have one in our back yard, which keeps us in fresh juice from right about now until around midsummer. Juice that fresh is so different from what one gets at the store, whether in a carton or from the oranges there.


• Redwood. Knowing trees can get that big doesn't really prepare you for actually seeing one that big.

[paulamcg]

musicians?

[ng_moonmoth]

• Alexander James Adams: Extremely talented multi-instrumentalist. His concerts are always full of energy, and his songs are clever, well-written, and I enjoy them.


• Johann Sebastian Bach: In addition to being a master composer, was a supremely talented keyboard virtuoso, in an era where people who combined these skills were much in demand. An important driver for his prolific output was that frequently writing interesting new music was a desired skill for the positions he held; its quality was a reflection of his wanting to have something worthwhile he could play.


• Miles Davis: Never got a chance to hear him in concert. I have several recordings.


• Alicia de Larrocha: Heard her several times. Very big, yet nuanced, sound from such a small package.


• Yo Yo Ma: Knows how to make a cello really sing. I also appreciate his commitment to introducing people to music from around the world via his Silkroad organization. I played cello for a while growing up.

[paulamcg]

I seem to have asked a question that suits your interests well… Oh, but I can see that you explain wonderfully your answers to other questions, too! In any case, what an interesting, diverse list! Out of these, I’ve listened to Bach only, and besides him, heard about Miles Davis only. You make me feel like listening to the others, too.

[ng_moonmoth]

>> Oh, but I can see that you explain wonderfully your answers to other questions, too! <<

Getting to say something about things I like is a big part of what makes memes like this fun for me. Perhaps someone will check them out based on what I said, and the world will be at least marginally a better place for that.

"Aja", as his fans generally refer to him, has a website and lots of music you can readily find by searching for him. For Miles Davis, any decent jazz source will no doubt have plenty to choose from. The earlier stuff might be a bit more accessible than the later stuff, although if you ever liked funk or Motown, you'll get where he's coming from there. There are undoubtedly still lots of recordings available in classical departments featuring de Larrocha, even though she was no longer able to perform much or tour at all for some years before her death in 2009. If you can find some of her solo performances of compositions by Spanish musicians, you may well find a new category of music to enjoy. And for Ma, I would suggest you combine my interests by looking for any of his recordings of the unaccompanied cello music by Bach, as well as checking out the Silk Road Ensemble.

[paulamcg]

Thank you for the more detailed suggestions! These will make it easier to check out your favourites. It’s the best way to find new things when people with whom you share at least one interest write about other things they like. That’s what's fun about these memes, too! :)

[teigh_corvus]

Top five colors?

[ng_moonmoth]

• The blue one can see in the ocean near the shore of a tropical Pacific island. Especially clear from the air, when one is flying in.


• The green of newly-growing vegetation. A color of vitality.


• Lavender. A color I look really good in. My go-to dress top is this color.


• There's a range of colors around a very light tan, ranging over toward cream, which are good neutral colors for me. I have several items of clothing in that range.


• Yellow: a bright, saturated one. Like the sun on a brilliantly clear day.