Questions to Malte

Campion1 · **Reply #160 on:** February 27, 2011, 11:05:59 PM

Gosh why didn't I see your answers to Myrkin in this... You're doing a great job in the rp.

I don't know if I asked you this before, but what are some of your favorite movies? (aside from historical

)

Malte279 · **Reply #161 on:** February 28, 2011, 04:05:09 AM

No, regreteably we don't. I suppose that with the right equipment one could receive it, but I don't even have a TV but only an antenna allowing me to watch TV on my computer. As for the documentaries I watch it is usually historical stuff which I may either come accross by checking out for keywords on topics where I feel there is a certain likelihood for documentaries to exist or sometimes documentaries are also recommended to me by other GOF members (thank you Kacie and thank you Katie

).
For example recently I had watched a rather well made documentary on the French and Indian War titled "The war that made America" while at the moment I am watching a series of documentaries titled "Ancients behaving badly" (where I must say it is rather clear that the focus there is on appealing to the masses sometimes at the expense of objectivity and under the inclusion of background sounds that would befit a thriller better than a documentary, but it still is interesting to watch that interpretation of history).

oogaboo · **Reply #162 on:** March 04, 2011, 06:16:00 PM

If you had a chance (and the money) to leave your home country and go to one of the most historic places in the world where would it be?

Malte279 · **Reply #163 on:** March 04, 2011, 06:23:23 PM

That is a very tough question if one place it is. Currently I take particular interest in some historical places in the US, but that's not so much because of the history of the places as such as it is for the 150th anniversary events to take place there now (so in case of those places it is more of a matter of time than the place as such). If all implications of specific time to be at a place were to be ignored it would be sensible to pick a place where one is not likely to get as easily as one would to any of the locations in the US. Machu Pichu in Peru or Angkor Wat in Cambodia could be such locations. However, I'm sure there are also many places not so exploited for tourism with all the pros (places not adabted for the comfort of tourists) and cons (places likely to be in a state of decay without any efforts to maintain them) this would bring.
There is not one single place on which I could fix myself at this time without any ifs or buts about the decision.

Pangaea · **Reply #164 on:** March 15, 2011, 02:39:17 AM

Forgive me if this question is a little silly (and if you already explained it elsewhere), but I was curious: what does the quote beneath your avatar mean or refer to?

Malte279 · **Reply #165 on:** March 15, 2011, 05:19:51 AM

It is not a silly question at all.
The quote: "Dream of the Great Valley, but don't forget to build up your Great Valleys in real life as well." means that on the one hand we can can derive joy from dreaming and thinking about the land before time or whatever other fiction may give us happiness. But on the other hand we should never forget to create and built up what gives us happiness in real life as well. It is dangerous to base all ones happiness on fiction and dreams only and therefore one should always make sure to seperate fiction and real life so that, when one wakes up, one still has real reasons to derive happiness from rather than having ones happiness be so entirely based on fiction that it might suddenly all be lost.
As for: "I conduct sufficient blunders to earn my right of not being placed on an uncomfortably high pedestal." I noticed that some people are shy to criticize me, seem to be intimidated, or appologize by me quite frequently when there is nothing at all they did to appologize for. I often make mistkes, I fail, I blunder and I therefore don't want to be treated about any of those in any way different from anyone else. It sometimes is a burden to me that people whom I would like to get to know better seem to be shy around me and I hope that perhaps that statement in the signature might encourage them to abandon the exaggerated restraint towards me.

jansenov · **Reply #166 on:** March 15, 2011, 06:06:12 AM

I think Pangaea asked you about "I'm a historian. I MUST be like that!" This one is sort of a professional joke, right? A member of a profession makes fun of that same profession. A historian wearing a viking helmet would be like the popular image of a scientist, a weirdo in white with glasses conducting experiments with colorful chemicals, which usually result in explosions.

Malte279 · **Reply #167 on:** March 15, 2011, 06:41:37 AM

Oh okay, that one is kind of an insider joke

Back in 2007 I was on holidays with an aunt, an uncle, and two cousins of mine. We had a really great time and somehow nearly every one of us ended up with a catchphrase that he or she had said during the holidays. I do not remember the exact context anymore, but on some occasion (likely when I was holding unasked for history lessons

) where it was quite funny I had given this statement: "Ich bin Historiker! Ich muss so sein!" (which translates to the phrase under my avatar). I liked the statement as my enthusiasm for history really makes up for an integral part of my personality and since it seemed to fit well to the avatar (which I had used before) I decided to make it my phrase there.

Pangaea · **Reply #168 on:** March 17, 2011, 12:40:55 AM

I have a sort of double question here, both parts of it relating to your LBT fanfiction preferences.

First, I know you have said in the past that you have had a hard time finding any LBT stories that are free of non-LBT elements such as humans, crossovers, wars, etc.; I was wondering: have you read any of FlipperBoidSkua’s LBT fanfictions? They tend to be very dark in tone (though not descriptively gory), but other than that, I think they fit the bill for what you look for in a LBT story, so I would recommend them to you (particularly “Guilty Until Proven Innocent”) if you haven’t seen them yet.

The second question is, what do you personally consider to be too dark for a LBT story? I’m pretty sure that a story full of character deaths or vividly detailed scenes of copious violence would be too much, but as was established in the very first film, dark elements such as death do have a place in LBT. So where would you draw the line? (Forgive me if this is one of those excessively vague questions.)

Malte279 · **Reply #169 on:** March 17, 2011, 06:23:18 PM

Thank you very much for the hint Pangea. I need to take a look at the story when I get the chance. Thank you indeed for by now I consider crossing overs and non-LBT stuff in fanfictions so much the norm that unless it is specified otherwise I guess I expect fanfiction to be not strictly LBT.

As for what is "too dark" for an LBT story I suppose that quite a lot of dark stuff can actually happen in LBT. However, for it to be credible there must be some sense / reason for the dark stuff happening. For example with stories where Sharpteeth built up armies to "conquer" the Great Valley just because... It really doesn't make any sense to me at all. When violence is included without any reason or explanation for it just because people love to write and read about fighting and killing I feel that the result tends to be very poor. Also I think that if such violence is included people should also have the guts to go all the way and not just have a character killed in a fight and leave it at that but also show the consequences. Characters don't simply die to entertain crowds. When Littlefoot's mother died for example a lot of time in the original movie was devoted to show what this meant for Littlefoot. In fanfictions I have read there seems to be very little emotional effect or consequences in the death of a character other than thirst of revenge resulting in more LBT warfare without a real cause.
Personally I enjoy dark stuff in stories including LBT stories. But I must say that the kind of massacres I have seen in stories hardly qualify as "dark stuff" at all as so much of it was just written because the authors and readers loved fighting and killing. So joyful an affair these slaughters seemed to be that personally I felt nothing really dark about it or anything else either

pokeplayer984 · **Reply #170 on:** March 20, 2011, 09:28:37 AM

What is it that you enjoy most about Dink, the Little Dinosaur?

Malte279 · **Reply #171 on:** March 22, 2011, 10:28:03 AM

Shrugs, it is always difficult for me to answer about one single superlative and in this case in particular I think it is the combination of several factors each individual one alone would not suffice to make me like it. The general interest that made me watch it in the first place was of course the similarity of some basics with LBT (dinosaurs and stuff). I do like the characters and think that in spite of some similarities it is interesting for a change to see some characteristics not ascribed to the same kind of dinosaur (Flapper isn't sporting Petrie's nervousity for example). I also liked most of the plots and found it interesting to see how they sometimes obviously inspired later LBT sequels. I cannot name a single factor but only this combination of several factors that contributed to me liking the series.

Pangaea · **Reply #172 on:** April 10, 2011, 11:56:55 PM

Did you do anything last month to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the outbreak of the American Civil War? (I had the impression you had been planning to do something like that for a long time.)

Malte279 · **Reply #173 on:** April 11, 2011, 07:14:13 AM

It's actually the 150th anniversary and tomorrow will be the exact date of the 150th anniversary of the official outbreak of the Civil War with the shelling of Fort Sumter.
My long hope had been to write a dissertation about the events conducted these days in the US to commemorate the events. Life rarely goes according to plan and my hopes and plans to be in the US in 2011 to attend, observe, and write about the events in this year will not be realized. I do hope that I'm not going to regret this for the rest of my life, but short finances as well as the difficulties put in the way of anyone from abroad wishing to temporarrily work in the US (and in most countries of the world for that matter) did not allow for it

I still hope to be able to attend events in the next year (which would among numerous battle anniversaries include the anniversary of the proclamation of emancipation). Till then however I would be really most obliged to anyone here living in the US who could share own expierences, expressions, anything related to the comemorative events. I am especially interested in newspaper / magazine reports, but also in everything else that our American members might come across these days.

Pangaea · **Reply #174 on:** April 11, 2011, 08:52:06 AM

Sorry; 150th anniversary.

It's a good thing I'm not pursuing a career in accounting…

That's a shame to hear.

You have my sympathy.

I'm afraid I'm not aware of any commemorative events going on in my area, but I'll keep my eyes open for the kinds of articles you're looking for.

Pangaea · **Reply #175 on:** June 05, 2011, 12:51:58 AM

I have the impression that books and other forms of archived information are more your field, but do you also own (collect?) any artifacts of archaeological or historical significance?

Malte279 · **Reply #176 on:** June 05, 2011, 06:31:03 PM

Yes, I do if I can. My dad always called a "hunter and gatherer" with the emphasis on gatherer. Sometimes books too may be of historical significance and I own some which are to be considered "historical sources" rather than "books" in the most neutral sense of the term.
I got something that is claimed and certificated to be a piece of the Berlin Wall. I surely don't believe it (with all the pieces of the wall sold on the flea markets in Berlin you could probably build the wall multiple times) but in any case it is a piece significant to the "cultural impact" in public perception rather than the actual matter of the wall itself

:
More authentic stuff I got is a WW2 time American Pilot cap (likely never actually worn during the war but stockpiled and never used back then), a British WW2 helmet, a piece of shrapnel. I also got several 1000 Reichsmark bank notes of 1910 (apparently an ancestor of us won the then phenomenal sum of 30 000 Reichsmark in a lottery but didn't really benefit from saving the money when in 1923 it ended up all worseless). I also got some other coinage from older days and some that may be more interesting in decades to come (after all it is just almost a decade ago that Germany and other European countries adopted the Euro). I also got some items that will increase in historical significance. In the late 90s, when I was about 14 -15 years old I started contacting WW2 pilots trying to interview them / corresponding with them. I recorded an interview which I did with one of them on a casette (tape cassettes same as floppy disks also are so rapidly disappearing that before long they too may get an air of being "historical items") and got the letters and photographs of quite a few others. Most of them have died since.
I also started at an extremely young age to gather newspapers about specific stories. Had it not been for a friends telling me that "God would hate that" which back then made me throw them away, I probably still would have had the newspapers reporting about the gulf war of 1990/1991 (so as a six / seven year old kid my interest in history was showing). The oldest original papers I collected and still have are from 1995 and ever since I tried to keep papers reporting on events that will be considered of historical importance.
Most of the stuff I collect is of personal nostalgic importance however, rather than of "historical" value. I got a lot of stuff saved that I did as a very young kid (remember that first ever LBT art?) including long stories I wrote as a primary kid (one is titled "Jack the seaman"), wishlists of long past birthdays or christmases and a lot of other personal items which would be insignificant to others but which have a very high personal value for me.

Thank you for the question

The Chronicler · **Reply #177 on:** June 08, 2011, 04:36:47 PM

Have you gotten the chance to watch that show on the History Channel about Gettysburg (thanks to the YouTube videos I showed you)? If yes, what are your thoughts about it?

I'm just curious, since I managed to watch it both times that it was on TV last week.

Malte279 · **Reply #178 on:** June 08, 2011, 06:07:06 PM

Yes indeed I watched it

I consider it a good thing that the documentary was not as shy as many movies are to depict war as gruesome and I admit that it was kind of an "experience" to watch Pickett's charge for a change without awesome music playing in the background. I also liked the fact that the documentary focused on some parts of the battle which are often neglected (probably partly because they were not shown in the 1993 movie), namely the battle on Culps Hill as well as the fighting that took place on the streets of Gettysburg itself. The documentary focused on the perspective of the fighting men rather than limiting itself to high ranking generals only.
The documentary however also focussed very, very strongly on the actual fighting and spend a lot of time depicting the fighting. This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but I think that it could have been further improved if they had given a little more of an idea about the significance of the battle in the course of the war respectively the course of the battle itself (there is the risk however that through either of these additions the "fighting men's perspective" of the documentary would have been lost). An addition that would not have meddled with the "fighting men's perspective" would have been if there had been a little more information on the life of the soldiers (in which the actual fighting was but one element in a war in which two soldiers died from disease for every soldier killed on the battlefield). This too however probably would have shifted the focus from the actual battle the documentary was about and I acknowledge that a documentary cannot cover just everything. But I would really like it if this was one in a series of documentaries which covered other aspects as well.
Just to repeat lest this be forgotten with all these remarks, I found the documentary very interesting and enjoyed watching it. Thank you very much for the link

The Chronicler · **Reply #179 on:** July 11, 2011, 04:54:17 PM

I thought of this question just today: Of all the periods in history, why is the American Civil War your favorite? What is it about that particular time in that particular part of the world that makes you so fascinated in it over everything else?