The PIMP YOUR INTERESTS MEME: one that Myself has come up with...

[capri0mni]

Okay... so there is this Ranting Meme going around, and .... welllll...

While rants can certainly be therapeutic -- it's good to get things that are really bothering you off your chest, and while they can certainly be entertaining (nothing quite like watching your freinds get witty and snarky as they introduce you to a potentially new perspective on something), but to deliberately come up with a rant because someone else asked you to?
meh...

There's enough to be angry about in the real world, boys and girls. No need to go digging around for stuff.

So, I said to Myself: "Ann: since you don't want to do the rants meme, why don't you come up with your own meme, instead?"

And Myself said to I: "You know, Ann, that's a very good idea!"

So, here it is:

Go to your profile page, and click on three to five interests that you think might be obscure. If fewer than a dozen users turn up, that counts as truly obscure. So pimp those interests to your flist. Tell your friends what those interests are all about, and why you listed it, and why they might be interested, too. [Edit: if you have a short interest list, or you don't have really obscure interests, write about the one "smallest" one on your list -- or just one you think is woefully underapreciated.]

Then post these instructions, and pass it on. Here are three of my interests:

ABC Music Notation: This is very nifty. It's an ascii code devised by a fellow named Chris Walshaw. With it, you can write tunes, and post them on the internet. You can post them to usenet, or in your LJ, or even jot them down in a paper notebook without needing special music paper. And anyone can use it to reproduce the tune -- you don't even need a computer, if you know how to read the code, though there are many downloadable shareware and/or cheap programs for turning an abc into a playable midi. A tutorial on ABC notation is here: How to interpret abc music notation, and, of course there is the online Tune-O-Tron: Converter, that I've linked to, here, before.

If you've ever doodled around with a keyboard, and come up with a nifty tune, and thought: "Dang! I wish there was some way I could share this nifty new tune with my online friends!" ABC Music Notation is how you do just that. I've had no formal music education beyond compulsary music class in elementary school, and even I find it's an easy code to learn, albeit bit by bit.

Profun: This is a concept that was born in that infamous newsgroup, Rec.Arts.Drwho. The "Pro-Pertwee" and "Pro-McCoy" Trolls were going at it, hammer and tongs, as usual. When I admitted that I came onto the newsgroup to have fun, a poster, going by the nick orinoco, said (in jest): You are a pro-fun Troll are now in my killfile . . .

And I thought: why not -- why can't we post provocative messages to threads, and deliberately stirring up replies, drawing lurkers and newbies into the conversation -- but provoke laughter and fun and (sometimes) deep thought, instead of anger and vitriol and flames?

It even worked, for a while, and Pro-fun threads got to the top of the weekly NG stats for volume and variety several weeks in a row. The first rule of a profun thread was to praise before you criticize, and second, never sink to calling something "stupid" (I did that at the start of this entry, if you'll notice). Although it began in RADW, I think the concept is definitely applicable to any online forum (or even the 3-d world, if you think about it). And anyway, that's where my mood theme comes from, in case you were wondering -- that little green critter is Eloise, my pro-fun troll alter-ego... [Edit again: Since I'm pimping, how could I forget these?! There have even been 4 official, almost-annual Pro-fun Troll Round Robins with their very own Home Page, and there's the pro_fun community, too! Go -- Join Up! I'm seriously considering having a pro-fun all-out crossover party RPG there in the nearish future!]

Wonder Tales: this is basically just the scholarly, technical term for what most folks call "Fairy Tales" (I have both terms in my interest list, "fairy tales" gets lots o'more matches). Technically, "Fairy Tales" have fairies and sprites in them. Wonder tales is just a broader umbrella (and therefore, often more accurate, imnsho) of any story that contains wonders of magic, encounters in the Otherworld with Otherbeings. Also, I think the term leaves the mind open to to the darker side these stories can evoke.

Comments

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

Now this is a lovely meme:). Thank you! *nicks it*

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Hooray!

(looks forward to reading about snowgrouse's obscure interests)

[jekesta]

Oooh, good meme, I maybe do one day when I get typey or actually probably in a few minutes when I can be bothered:)

I like wonder tales, it's not a term I've heard before but much glove yay:):)

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yes. Wonder Tales are yayful. Without a doubt. Maybe someday soon, I shall post about my favorite Wonder Tales -- the ones I bet Disney Eisner never heard of.