Showing posts with label Norse mythology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Norse mythology. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Too Much Homework. . . x.X

The xiy that is typing this post is a reincarnation of a previous xiy, who died tragically while trying to complete the overwhelming amount of homework she was given today.

Haha, just kidding. But I did get tons of homework today, which explains the reason I'm posting later than I usually do. Not that it's really *that* late, but still.

Well, the whole reincarnated-me thing reminds me of this one book, Kraken, and since I've got nothing better to do than complain about my workload, I shall explain why reincarnation reminded me of it.

Kraken is a novel by China Mieville, and in it there's this character (I forget the name) who can teleport things by breaking them up into tiny pieces and then putting the pieces back together at the other end (apparently, this is reminiscent of Star Trek, although I don't know anything about that). However, the catch is that if he tries to transport living things, the process of breaking-up actually kills the living thing, and then the putting-back-together sort of clones them. It's a totally new them at the other end, but with the same memories and everything, so you can't tell the difference. But, in essence, they died and were reborn.
So the teleporting guy has teleported himself many times before, and it's come to the point that there's a ton of vengeful ghosts of past hims who are all very, very angry.
[By the way, teleporting-guy is not a main character, but it's totally cool and weird all the same.]


So, yeah.

Vote in our Norse-mythology book poll! Currently, D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths, Gods and Heroes from Viking Mythology, and Favorite Norse Myths are all tied for first place with three votes each. The Usborne Illustrated Guide to Norse Myths and Legends only has one vote.

I made a 6LCF banner over the weekend.
Isn't it pretty?
Yeah, that's about it. NaNoWriMo's in one month and sixteen days! :D I've got a few chapters outlined and a lot of the backstory, so I'm pretty much all set. I'd be happier if my characters were out of hibernation, but I suppose there's plenty of time to wake them up before November.


Happy Tuesday!
~xiy



Sunday, September 12, 2010

Book Club Choices

Okay, guys. We really need to get started on our 6LCF book club. After doing a Google search on "Norse mythology for children," I have found the following books.

Curly Fries, vote either in the comments or on this post itself; readers, if you so wish, vote in the comments, please. We'd love to hear your feedback! <3
ACTUALLY, nevermind about voting in comments. I'll just make a poll. (*feels stupid* >.<)
If you want to vote in the comments, go ahead, but make sure to choose the two you want in the poll.
Suggestions will still go in the comments, 'kay?


D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths [amazon info]
Apparently, the d'Aulaires have written other books on mythology and other things, and I like the illustrations. Pic of the book cover in the link.


Gods and Heroes from Viking Mythology [amazon info
It's technically "young adult" and there's 152 pages, but there seem to be a lot of illustrations (well, it says "full color" in the description, whatever that means). The one review of it on Amazon is four stars, so it seems okay. Pic of book cover in link.


The Usborne Illustrated Guide to Norse Myths and Legends [amazon info]
I don't like the cover illustration at all; it's a bit overdone and just sort of ickily green. It's a short book--only 48 pages--so I guess some of the lazy people in our group (*coughthepeoplewhoaretoolazytomake6LCFvideosevenwhenwe'reallinthesameplacecough*) won't have to exert themselves overmuch to get through it.


Favorite Norse Myths [amazon info]
I like the paintings in this book, from what I've seen of them. There aren't pictures *everywhere*, but the ones that are there are really good. It's 87 pages and 14 myths.


--
There are lots more--just go on Google/Amazon and start searching "Norse mythology for children" and you'll get tons. It's silly to list them all, so I just stuck with four.
If any of you, Curly Fries or readers, have any extra books you think would be good for the topic [that being "a children's book of Norse mythology with lots of pictures"], please tell in the comments.


For now, choose two books maximum; then, if there's too close of a competition, we narrow it down to the top two and then choose again.



Voting closes in two weeks; that should be enough time.


~xiy

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

It's Theme Week #3!

So, as was agreed yesterday, this week shall be another theme week, in an effort to fuel some creativity and break the monotony of school and such.
Theme week number three consists of picture-oriented posts (aka posts with at least somewhat-related pictures in them, at least four).

Ergo, I am posting today with a collection of bad icons and assorted pictures.

Yesterday, I was experimenting with icons and such, on a website called Picnik, which lets you upload and edit pictures (I think five, but I don't know) for free. It's really fun.
What I came up with were:
This quote-from-Don-Quixote icon, which is rather difficult to read; it says, "when life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?" It's not that great. >.>

and
I quite like this one; it's a 6LCF icon, which immediately ups the awesome-factor. xD Also, it's easier to read and very colorful. It's nowhere near what most LJ icon-makers do, but it's okay for a beginner without Photoshop, I think. ^.^
and
This one happens to be part of my birthday present to House, as we are both editors and so we understand such editing-in-purple-related jokes. This is, like, my most legit icon, and I really, really love it. It's my favorite out of the three. <3
You can use these icons wherever; as long as you don't edit them, I'm fine. No credit necessary, but it's nice to be appreciated, y'know?
Not that anybody would ever want to use any of these, I don't think. . . -.-;;
--
Anyway, we have finally decided on what to do for our Six Little Curly Fries book club. 
*drumroll*
We've decided on a kids' book of Norse mythology, exact title TBA. None of us are very familiar with Norse mythology, I don't think; I myself know most of the gods and such, but I'm not familiar with the individual myths themselves.

So I thought I'd give you guys a run-through of the main Norse deities.

Odin is, like, the Zeus of Norse mythology; he's the "father of gods and men." He has two ravens, Huginn and Munin, who fly around and give him information. He exchanged his eye for inner wisdom. Wednesday is named after him; he is the god of logic/thought/wisdom/etc. He's got an awesome eight-legged horse named Sleipnir.
My terrible interpretation, MS-Paint-style:
"i haz speer!1!"
Thor, the Thunderer, is sometimes thought to be the son of Odin and sometimes thought not to be. He's very buff and manly and such, since he's power personified. Thor has a giant hammer called Mjollnir, which causes lightning/thunder. Thursday is his day.
Note the LARGE, DANGEROUS HAMMER. Now stay away from the LARGE, DANGEROUS HAMMER. Got it?
 Freyja is the goddess of love/beauty, but she's also a warrior. Also, she and Freyr, her brother, are one of the Vanir; the other guys in this bunch (except Loki, who's neither) are Aesir. Aesir, Vanir, Loki-the-outcast-but-we-love-him-anyway. Everybody clear on this?
All right, back to Freyja.
Freyja is also sometimes called the Queen of the Valkyries, and has this super-awesome magical necklace called Brisingamen. Friday is her day.
Isn't she perty? Oh, and I know that the way I'm drawing them makes it look like they're not actually holding the weapons; sorry about that, but I'm too lazy to go back and fix 'em.

Freyr is, of course, Freyja's twin brother. His sacred symbol/animal is the boar; he is also the god of fertility/success. Apparently, he likes fighting with elk horns more than he does with swords. He doesn't seem to have a day of the week associated with him.
"i can haz boar?"

Tyr is the god of war and the lawgiver of the gods. He used to be the *leader* of the gods, but then Odin took over. He's very good at fairness and righteousness and stuff.
Yeah. . . I really suck at MS Painting swords. . . Tyr is awfully hairy too. >.>
Also, he only has one hand. (He sacrificed the missing hand so that the big bad wolf Fenris could be bound.) Tuesday is his day.

Loki, my favoritest god ever (my favorite goddess being Athena, just FYI), is also called the Trickster, the Sly One, or the Sky Traveller. He, as previously mentioned, isn't Aesir or Vanir, but he's descended from the Ettins (aka Elementals). His element is fire, and he's sort of half-demonic because of his heritage.
His alignment is sort of ambiguous; he helps and fights against the gods, and eventually he gets strung up on a big rock with a snake spitting venom into his face (he probably developed severe ophidiophobia from this xD) as a punishment--mostly for killing Baldur.
He also is the father of some of the craziest people/monsters on earth, including Fenris (big bad wolf), Jormurgandr (the World Serpent), and Hel (the goddess of death).
<3 [I also fail forever at drawing fire on MS Paint. >.<] 
Heimdall is the golden-toothed guardian of the rainbow bridge, Bifrost, which leads to Asgard (aka the home of the gods). Heimdall has a giant horn; he will blow said horn to alert the Aesir that Ragnarok is coming.
So, y'see, rainbows are totally manly. ^.^
Did I mention the golden teeth?
Then there's Skadi, who's all icy and vengeful and stuff. She's married to Njord, the god of the sea, but they have sort of a rocky relationship. She wanted Baldur, but Baldur got killed by Loki, so Skadi hates Loki (actually, I think most people hate Loki). She's the goddess of righteous anger, justice, and vengeance.
I made her background blue so her hair could be white; I like the idea of Skadi with white hair. Also, the fact that she's carrying a whip comes from the book Runemarks, which is a very good book. It's sort of Norse-mythology related, but it's a novel. so obviously we're not doing it for book club.
 
There's loads more, including Frigga, Odin's wife; Baldur, the god of spring; Hel, the goddess of death whose face looks sort of like this:
 So, yeah, I can't possibly list/draw them all; I hope you enjoyed this little mythology lesson (which took me, like, an hour to draw >.<).
Happy Theme Week!
~xiy