Questions to Malte

Pangaea · **Reply #80 on:** March 09, 2010, 09:45:11 PM

Can you name any LBT fanfictions you have read in the past that you enjoyed?

Serris · **Reply #81 on:** March 10, 2010, 03:20:40 AM

What do you think of the Swedish power metal band Sabaton?

Some sample music:

Angels Calling

Primo Victoria

40:1

Malte279 · **Reply #82 on:** March 10, 2010, 04:36:08 AM

Quote

Can you name any LBT fanfictions you have read in the past that you enjoyed?

You sort of got me on that one

I have never actually come across any pure LBT fanfiction the kind of which I am always advocating. I did enjoy the style of what I have read of Jason's "Battle of the Sacret Essences" a lot. If ever there was a pure LBT fanfiction in that style it would make my day. I dislike sounding so overcritical (and this in particular because I don't want anyone to think of my opinion on fanfiction to be a sign for any kind of personal aversion against authors

).

I had never heard of Sabaton before (which doesn't say much as I must confess that I could probably pass by famous stars which some people would kill to meet a single time in their lives and I probably wouldn't even notice). Having listened to the samples you posted there are parts which I like and some which are not quite my cup of tea. Did you ask about this band in particular because of their songs dealing with historical topics?
In this respect I find the songs interesting of course. From the musical aspect I tend to prefer the kinds of songs where I have a melody that I could imitate by humming or whistling and I am not a big fan of electronic instruments and drum kits. Power metal is not my genre. Then again it may be that such music may be a much better representation of war than the often very pretty and "glorious" music often used in movie soundtracks. Summing it up I find the songs interesting to listen to though I wouldn't listen to these songs to "enjoy" them, but I doubt that these songs have been written to be "enjoyed" just like that.

Thank you both for the questions

pokeplayer984 · **Reply #83 on:** April 25, 2010, 10:24:39 AM

What books would you recommend for those that are just starting to write their own story?

Malte279 · **Reply #84 on:** April 25, 2010, 11:57:52 AM

What exactly do you mean? If one has a story to tell I think one should start writing and one might develop ideas one hadn't originally planned during the writing. If ones starts reading books with the main purpose of writing an own story I'm afraid one must carefully guard against merely ripping of what others have written already. There are many excellent books I can recommend you which are very interesting, exciting, thoughtful etc. but I never read a book with the main idea in mind to use ideas from another book for an own story.
It is almost impossible to write something that does not partly borrow from already existing stories and it is quite alright if that's the case. But I think one should write a story and have such similarities appear during the story rather than reading a book with the purpose of writing something similar.

Amaranthine · **Reply #85 on:** May 06, 2010, 10:56:46 PM

This has been on my mind for awhile, and I just wanted to know what you thought of it.

This might be an odd question, but do you believe in the term "guilty pleasure" as in having "LBT as a guilty pleasure" due to certain circumstances of what seems to be socially acceptable in society, or do you kick out the labels and just like what you like even if other people would call them guilty pleasures?

Malte279 · **Reply #86 on:** May 07, 2010, 02:12:00 PM

I have not heard the term "guilty pleasure" anywhere outside the GOF and only through Anna's response to the same question did I realize that there was also a sexual connotation to the term. Either way, to feel in any way guilty about something it must be an action which causes harm either to others or to myself. In case of the land before time I see neither being the case. There have been moments when I wondered what I would be if all the time I have devoted to the GOF would have been time devoted to historical studies or other more "real life" focused stuff. But if the pursuit of happiness is to be considered part of human nature than there is really nothing to feel unhappy and less even to feel guilty about.

Pangaea · **Reply #87 on:** June 03, 2010, 01:14:07 AM

While reading back through this thread, I noticed one question I had asked that you had never answered: :!

Quote from: Pangaea,Sep 21 2009 on 07:47 PM

What varieties (note plural ) of dinosaurs interest you the most?

By the way, did you get the e-mail I sent you regarding a change in my contact information?

Malte279 · **Reply #88 on:** June 03, 2010, 05:02:47 AM

Hi Pangea, thank you for the question,
yes I did get the email (the arcor address is the one I use) and responded to it. Did you not receive the response? I invited you to MSN for a chat, but I am not sure whether or not you received the invitation.
As for dinosaur species, there is none that doesn't interest me at all. I am fascinated by Iguanodon's hand with something that comes close to an opposable thumb, I find the various representatives of the family Ankylosauria quite fascinating (well-armed, but unlike the extremely popular raptors strictly defensive), I can also relate to the "sprinting species"

Pangaea · **Reply #89 on:** June 03, 2010, 05:20:09 PM

Quote from: Malte279,Jun 3 2010 on 04:02 AM

yes I did get the email (the arcor address is the one I use) and responded to it. Did you not receive the response? I invited you to MSN for a chat, but I am not sure whether or not you received the invitation.

No, I didn't receive it. Sorry.

(Darn it, I knew I should have asked you which e-mail servers yours is compatible with before I changed mine!

) I still don't have an MSN account either, I'm afraid.

Anyway, here's a new question that relates to the one I asked about Viking helmets a while back: Are you familiar with a tapestry from the Oseberg ship burial mound in in Norway, that supposedly depicts a horned-helmeted figure? (The sources I've found suggest that it depicts a religious figure or a chieftain.)

Malte279 · **Reply #90 on:** June 03, 2010, 07:08:32 PM

Thank you for the question

The Oseberg Tapestry is not the only example of a depiction of a helmet with horns or other decoration and in this respect I need to relativaze an earlier statement of me. There are individual examples in some other documents. However, one is harder pressed to find depictions of such headgear worn in actual battle. Same as with crowns there is a certain likelihood of helmets with equipment that would have proven an impediment in battle to be used for representative or cultic purposes. In nordic mythology cows played significant roles for example Au?umbla, a cow who pretty much created mankind by licking a salty rock. It wouldn't be uncommon for "priests", "druids", or other religious servants to use horned helmets for ceremonial purposes. Religious use of horned helmets can be found among other people in the world too. Examples can also be found among the Celts and even ancient Mesopotamia. In battle however such helmets would have proven to the disadvantage of whoever wore them.
One will also find rather extreme show of headgear being used in certain tournaments (not actual warfare) where sometimes it was even the main purpose of the tournament to knock or tear the headgear from the helmet of the opponent. In real battle however there is no sign that such disadvantageous headgear was worn by the vikings even though the depiction of vikings wearing such helmets was popularized in 19th century.

Amaranthine · **Reply #91 on:** June 04, 2010, 06:06:33 PM

Hey Malte, have you ever thought of taking psychology?

Malte279 · **Reply #92 on:** June 04, 2010, 06:23:29 PM

Thank you for the question

I don't plan to study psychology on an academic level.
I did get a glimpse at some psychology courses at the university when I was still studying for a teacher's degree. Those courses however were so extremely theoretical, unworldly, and useless that any ambition to pursue this in an academic manner has been pretty much suffocated. I am quite interested in trying to understand the minds of others, how other people see the world, and what may make them think the way they do.
What I have seen in psychology courses at the university has been of no value whatsoever in this respect however. I think that the psychology classes in English or American universities or colleges are likely to be by far superior to the classes I have seen over here. I'm afraid the quality of psychology classes at German universities is suffering a lot from a primarily theoretical ivory-tower like approach to a subject that should be a lot more practical oriented

babidikrakenguard · **Reply #93 on:** June 04, 2010, 07:10:13 PM

Ever seen Disney's The Black Cauldron? Heard anything about Disney coming out with a DVD sometime around June? ^_^

Sorry, two questions kinda and their really out of the clear blue sky, i've been wanting to watch the movie ever since i heard it was coming out on DVD..

Malte279 · **Reply #94 on:** June 04, 2010, 07:37:52 PM

Thank you for the question

I saw it once several years ago, but prior to that I had been familiar with the story of the movie because of an audioplay of the movie which I had since about 1991 and which I had listened to frequently.
It is a funny coincident that you happen to ask this just now because a few days ago I listened to some audioplays I had borrowed from a local library. They were the chronicles of Prydain on five CDs (based on the books rather than the movie).
As for a DvD release of the movie, I haven't heard of it so far, but I hadn't investigated about it specifically.
Now this is not a replacement for a DvD of course, but I think that The Black Cauldron can be found on Youtube too if you haven't seen it so far.

Pangaea · **Reply #95 on:** June 18, 2010, 08:05:57 PM

Since no one else has asked or guessed, and I'm too historically illiterate to guess,

what WAS the historical speech/document your opening speech for the 2010 Award Voting was based on?

Malte279 · **Reply #96 on:** June 21, 2010, 10:32:50 AM

It was very loosely based on excerpts from Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address to the Nation
Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address to the Nation which became noted mostly for his warning of the increasing influence of the military industrial complex (and a resulting popularization of the term).

Mumbling · **Reply #97 on:** June 21, 2010, 10:35:49 AM

Have you found your bread knife yet?

Malte279 · **Reply #98 on:** June 21, 2010, 10:48:48 AM

Nope, it is still gone and I have absolutely no clue where that one foot something long blade went <_<

Serris · **Reply #99 on:** June 21, 2010, 11:29:13 AM

What exactly do you have against dark LBT fan fiction?

I mean PokÈmon has tons upon tons of dark fan fiction.

One of the most famous is Latias' Journey. It is based on the very light PokÈmon anime but it is far, far, far, far more violent and darker than any episode of the anime.