Happy Meme answers - letter Q, Idlewild_
I am totally still taking letters for the Happy Meme (it's fun!), but I thought I'd get started posting, because I have seven letters. Which means seventy things that make me happy. :D
idlewild_ asked me for things that begin with Q.
* Well, first there is Q, of course. Because he is incredibly pretty annoys Picard is a really fun deus ex machina to play with ...well, JOHN DE LANCIE. Guh. XD I mean, who else looks best in spandex? (Well, he looked even better in that torn-up floofy Civil War shirt and suspenders, but any guy can look good in those. *g* They're like kilts that way.)
Also, Q always winds up having done the right thing for (apparently) the wrong reason. Which intrigues me.
(Also also, JdL has a face kind of like mine - sleepy gray eyes, pouty downturned mouth, a bit of a double chin - and he's unqualified-ly gorgeous. Which is encouraging.)
I was going to put a picture here, but I would wind up putting ALL THE PICTURES, so check out my Q icon set from the fabulous lolmac Beth. (I chose the images, she cropped them. So it doesn't quite show off my slight obsession with widow's-peak hairlines, but... *g*)
* Quenya, and Elvish in general. Because it's gorgeous, both to speak and to write, and also it makes so much sense. Tolkien was a fantastic linguist. Now, I am going to cheat, because the picture I have for this entry has no Quenya in it at all, just tengwar (Elvish lettering). But I think you will agree that One Pumpkin To Scare Them All (via dbskyler, many thanks) is worth it. :D
* Quark. By which I mean this guy (here seen with a tribble on his head, for really no reason at all except that showrunners can make fanart too) - because he is awesome. Well, in-universe he's more sort of "no really, I'm a bastard, pay no attention to that sweetie behind the curtain", but he is played by Armin Shimerman, who is ADORABLENESS. And who wanted the role of Quark so he could try to help make the Ferengi a three-dimensional race, because he felt bad about having helped make the Ferengi a one-dimensional joke on TNG. (He succeeded, btw. Gloriously.) I mean, that is some quality adorableness right there. :D
Plus he's just about as good an actor as René Auberjonois (Odo, in my icon), and they are the best. They are even better together. "Prophet Motive", a Quark-centric ep directed by René with a stellar script, is possibly the best thing in DS9 ever (except all the other best eps. It has at least fifty. XD)
Also wemblee is right - he's quite good-looking for a Ferengi. *g* And he looks smashing in a tailcoat.
(I do not primarily mean the subatomic particle, although the existence of "charm quark" and "strange quark" make me want to do DS9 macros... I also do not primarily mean the Doctor Who robot, but primsong's silly Two/Jamie/Zoe AU Just a Little One does make me smile. There is also a type of cheese called quark.)
* Quotables. Such as the ones lost_spook puts on her text icons. I mean, I barely know any of her fandoms, but they're still hilarious. "There is no logical reason for aliens to be hairy"! Oh B7 - someday I must watch you.
* Queerplatonic relationships, primary friendships, asexual romantic relationships, and all the other stuff on that bit of the sex/partnership spectrum. Because. :-)
* Quimby, Ramona. Well, I'm not terribly fond of Beverly Cleary's works really (I always preferred stories where people do know how to manage their surroundings), but Ramona and the Blue Box goes on this list. Because Ramona Quimby in the TARDIS with Four and K-9 (while Romana has inadvertently been left on Klickitat Street) will never not be awesome.
Also, Ribsy.
* Quoodle! The Flying Inn is a painfully racist and alarmist book, and also manages to incorporate a something-ism against grocers of all people - and it's a sort of casual racism without hatred behind it, which is in some ways even worse - but it does have some good poems. I prefer "Who Goes Home?" really, and... um, the one about roads that hasn't got Beachy Head in it (please excuse me; not having a searchable version on Gutenberg decreases my literacy greatly, for books I didn't read when I was twelve or less), but they don't start with Q.
"They haven't got no noses,
The fallen sons of Eve;
Even the smell of roses
Is not what they supposes;
But more than mind discloses
And more than men believe.
"They haven't got no noses,
They cannot even tell
When door and darkness closes
The park a Jew encloses,
Where even the law of Moses
Will let you steal a smell.
"The brilliant smell of water,
The brave smell of a stone,
The smell of dew and thunder,
The old bones buried under,
Are things in which they blunder
And err, if left alone.
"The wind from winter forests,
The scent of scentless flowers,
The breath of brides' adorning,
The smell of snare and warning,
The smell of Sunday morning,
God gave to us for ours
"And Quoodle here discloses
All things that Quoodle can,
They haven't got no noses,
They haven't got no noses,
And goodness only knowses
The Noselessness of Man."
* Quinn, Septimus, aka "here is the Age of Sail1 series I have read". An adorable dork of a fifteen-year-old, spectacles-wearing midshipman... has adventures by being one of those people who attacks insoluble problems in a very logical, totally unconventional, ridiculously awesome way. (My favorite of the series is the second book, "Quinn of the Fury", wherein young Mr Quinn starts by being put in charge of a slow and smelly captured ship because he is in disgrace, and ends by bringing in three ships, several rescued French royalists, and a rather kickass young Countess.)
1: That term always confuses me, because I'm much more obsessed with American sail, which reached its peak nearer 1860-ish.
* Quik, Eek, Eeny, and Cousin Augustus, who are mice. Also Freddy (a pig) and Jinx (a black cat, my favorite) and Charles (a rooster) and Henrietta (his wife) and Mrs Wiggins (a cow) and the rest of the denizens of the Bean farm. (Why are farm animals always denizens?) Which is to say, the 26 talking-farm-animal novels that Walter R. Brooks wrote between 1928 and 1958 - which are awesome, in a hilarious-and-also-insightful way with a fair bit of loving social satire on the side (did you know the purpose of a butler is to provide dignity when it is required so his employer doesn't have to?), although the later books require increasing suspension of disbelief from about the point where Freddy (who is a pig) learns to ride a horse, and eventually go completely AU with the Animals' Revolution and the Baseball Team from Mars. O_O
But if you have a high tolerance for silliness, fair-to-bad poetry, excellent illustrations (Kurt Wiese), and some of the best character-driven writing this side of Deep Space Nine, you should really try these out. "Freddy the Detective" is the best starter.
* Quatermain, Allan (the character - I'm only halfway through King Solomon's Mines yet). So far, anyway. The character voice is an absolute hoot, all deadpan and slightly snarky.
idlewild_ asked me for things that begin with Q.
* Well, first there is Q, of course. Because he is incredibly pretty annoys Picard is a really fun deus ex machina to play with ...well, JOHN DE LANCIE. Guh. XD I mean, who else looks best in spandex? (Well, he looked even better in that torn-up floofy Civil War shirt and suspenders, but any guy can look good in those. *g* They're like kilts that way.)
Also, Q always winds up having done the right thing for (apparently) the wrong reason. Which intrigues me.
(Also also, JdL has a face kind of like mine - sleepy gray eyes, pouty downturned mouth, a bit of a double chin - and he's unqualified-ly gorgeous. Which is encouraging.)
I was going to put a picture here, but I would wind up putting ALL THE PICTURES, so check out my Q icon set from the fabulous lolmac Beth. (I chose the images, she cropped them. So it doesn't quite show off my slight obsession with widow's-peak hairlines, but... *g*)
* Quenya, and Elvish in general. Because it's gorgeous, both to speak and to write, and also it makes so much sense. Tolkien was a fantastic linguist. Now, I am going to cheat, because the picture I have for this entry has no Quenya in it at all, just tengwar (Elvish lettering). But I think you will agree that One Pumpkin To Scare Them All (via dbskyler, many thanks) is worth it. :D
* Quark. By which I mean this guy (here seen with a tribble on his head, for really no reason at all except that showrunners can make fanart too) - because he is awesome. Well, in-universe he's more sort of "no really, I'm a bastard, pay no attention to that sweetie behind the curtain", but he is played by Armin Shimerman, who is ADORABLENESS. And who wanted the role of Quark so he could try to help make the Ferengi a three-dimensional race, because he felt bad about having helped make the Ferengi a one-dimensional joke on TNG. (He succeeded, btw. Gloriously.) I mean, that is some quality adorableness right there. :D
Plus he's just about as good an actor as René Auberjonois (Odo, in my icon), and they are the best. They are even better together. "Prophet Motive", a Quark-centric ep directed by René with a stellar script, is possibly the best thing in DS9 ever (except all the other best eps. It has at least fifty. XD)
Also wemblee is right - he's quite good-looking for a Ferengi. *g* And he looks smashing in a tailcoat.
(I do not primarily mean the subatomic particle, although the existence of "charm quark" and "strange quark" make me want to do DS9 macros... I also do not primarily mean the Doctor Who robot, but primsong's silly Two/Jamie/Zoe AU Just a Little One does make me smile. There is also a type of cheese called quark.)
* Quotables. Such as the ones lost_spook puts on her text icons. I mean, I barely know any of her fandoms, but they're still hilarious. "There is no logical reason for aliens to be hairy"! Oh B7 - someday I must watch you.
* Queerplatonic relationships, primary friendships, asexual romantic relationships, and all the other stuff on that bit of the sex/partnership spectrum. Because. :-)
* Quimby, Ramona. Well, I'm not terribly fond of Beverly Cleary's works really (I always preferred stories where people do know how to manage their surroundings), but Ramona and the Blue Box goes on this list. Because Ramona Quimby in the TARDIS with Four and K-9 (while Romana has inadvertently been left on Klickitat Street) will never not be awesome.
Also, Ribsy.
* Quoodle! The Flying Inn is a painfully racist and alarmist book, and also manages to incorporate a something-ism against grocers of all people - and it's a sort of casual racism without hatred behind it, which is in some ways even worse - but it does have some good poems. I prefer "Who Goes Home?" really, and... um, the one about roads that hasn't got Beachy Head in it (please excuse me; not having a searchable version on Gutenberg decreases my literacy greatly, for books I didn't read when I was twelve or less), but they don't start with Q.
"They haven't got no noses,
The fallen sons of Eve;
Even the smell of roses
Is not what they supposes;
But more than mind discloses
And more than men believe.
"They haven't got no noses,
They cannot even tell
When door and darkness closes
The park a Jew encloses,
Where even the law of Moses
Will let you steal a smell.
"The brilliant smell of water,
The brave smell of a stone,
The smell of dew and thunder,
The old bones buried under,
Are things in which they blunder
And err, if left alone.
"The wind from winter forests,
The scent of scentless flowers,
The breath of brides' adorning,
The smell of snare and warning,
The smell of Sunday morning,
God gave to us for ours
"And Quoodle here discloses
All things that Quoodle can,
They haven't got no noses,
They haven't got no noses,
And goodness only knowses
The Noselessness of Man."
* Quinn, Septimus, aka "here is the Age of Sail1 series I have read". An adorable dork of a fifteen-year-old, spectacles-wearing midshipman... has adventures by being one of those people who attacks insoluble problems in a very logical, totally unconventional, ridiculously awesome way. (My favorite of the series is the second book, "Quinn of the Fury", wherein young Mr Quinn starts by being put in charge of a slow and smelly captured ship because he is in disgrace, and ends by bringing in three ships, several rescued French royalists, and a rather kickass young Countess.)
1: That term always confuses me, because I'm much more obsessed with American sail, which reached its peak nearer 1860-ish.
* Quik, Eek, Eeny, and Cousin Augustus, who are mice. Also Freddy (a pig) and Jinx (a black cat, my favorite) and Charles (a rooster) and Henrietta (his wife) and Mrs Wiggins (a cow) and the rest of the denizens of the Bean farm. (Why are farm animals always denizens?) Which is to say, the 26 talking-farm-animal novels that Walter R. Brooks wrote between 1928 and 1958 - which are awesome, in a hilarious-and-also-insightful way with a fair bit of loving social satire on the side (did you know the purpose of a butler is to provide dignity when it is required so his employer doesn't have to?), although the later books require increasing suspension of disbelief from about the point where Freddy (who is a pig) learns to ride a horse, and eventually go completely AU with the Animals' Revolution and the Baseball Team from Mars. O_O
But if you have a high tolerance for silliness, fair-to-bad poetry, excellent illustrations (Kurt Wiese), and some of the best character-driven writing this side of Deep Space Nine, you should really try these out. "Freddy the Detective" is the best starter.
* Quatermain, Allan (the character - I'm only halfway through King Solomon's Mines yet). So far, anyway. The character voice is an absolute hoot, all deadpan and slightly snarky.