fahye: ([bsg] pilotlove > everything)
Fahye ([personal profile] fahye) wrote2007-05-28 07:46 pm
Entry tags:

it seems to be a day for memes

1. My username is fahye because a long, long time ago in a high school not very far away, I was just starting to befriend a group of people who watched Buffy and anime, and read manga, and all had something called a livejournal. When I persuaded them to give me an invite code (yeah, remember the days of invite codes?) I had to come up with a name on short notice. I'd been watching some Cowboy Bebop and liked the name Faye (and it started with the same letter as my real name, handily) but needed something to set it apart as a pseudonym. So I added a silent 'h'. SILENT. PLEASE NOTE. YOU PRONOUNCE IT EXACTLY LIKE 'FAYE'. JUST CLEARING THAT UP.

2. My journal is titled kicking at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight because it's in keeping with the PILOTS!!! theme of my LJ - it's a mutated line of lyrics from the Barenaked Ladies song 'Lovers In A Dangerous Time', which is a very piloty song indeed.

3. My subtitle is ancient and naïve astronomies because I came across this phrase in a book, years ago, and really, really loved it. The book was Ratner's Star by Don DeLillo, which is one of the most challenging and breathtaking books I've ever made my way through. It's....um...here, have a review:

In an attempt to save the world by communicating with aliens, an adolescent mathematical prodigy from the Bronx is enlisted by a group of mad scientists to decode a message from outer space--a planet known as Ratner's star. DeLillo's comic novel, influenced by Lewis Carroll's ALICE books, is infused with concepts from science, mathematics, and technology. DeLillo commented in an interview, "It seems to me that RATNER'S STAR is a book which is almost all structure. The structure of the book is the book. The characters are intentionally flattened and cartoonlike. I was trying to build a novel which was not only about mathematics to some extent but which itself would become a piece of mathematics."

DeLillo is such a freak. But as a scientist and a writer myself, this was...awe-inspiring.

4. My friends page is called Beautiful enemies because once again, I found it in a book! This time it was (I think; I'm not absolutely certain, though) from an essay/review called 'Kith' written by Robert Dessaix, my secret hero, and tucked away in a collection of stories, essays and reviews called (and so forth), which you should all buy immediately. It's a review of a Graham Little book, but also an essay about the power and joy of 'communicating friendships', friendships which are based on "adventurous, playful, dangerous talk over many hours or weeks or years between two people". He quotes the phrase 'beautiful enemies', originally from Ralph Waldo Emerson, as a flippant way of describing friends. I like it.

5. My default userpic is this one because it matches my layout. And come on, it's kinda clever :)

[identity profile] bop-radar.livejournal.com 2007-05-28 10:34 am (UTC)(link)
Cowboy Bebop! Whee! Nice story. I would have guessed it was said like 'Faye' but it's good to be sure.

My journal is titled kicking at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight because it's in keeping with the PILOTS!!! theme of my LJ - it's a mutated line of lyrics from the Barenaked Ladies song 'Lovers In A Dangerous Time', which is a very piloty song indeed.
Ohhh, very piloty indeed!

Robert Dessaix is your secret hero?! Yay! He is so elegantly erudite. I have not read all his works but have greatly enjoyed the ones I have.

[identity profile] proggrrl.livejournal.com 2007-05-28 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for this...I love hearing our "origin stories"...*g*

(Oh and btw I LOVE DON DELILLO! Pattern Recognition and Americana are two of my faves...)
ext_12491: (Duality)

[identity profile] schiarire.livejournal.com 2007-05-28 04:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Ironically, Dessaix himself could be a real battleground for us if I had criticism more constructive than "Sometimes I really, really wish someone would tie him up and whip him until all the préciosité bled out."

Notwithstanding you should post more Dessaix quotes because there are SO MANY good ones!

Did I tell you I got away with quoting Dessaix in my 40/40 "Thank you for getting so much out of my class!" final Politics & Memory paper?