Moominbrooke

My Intent Word is Dynamic. I am trying to bring more of that energy and action into my life. Writer, musician (I play Irish trad.pennywhistle and flute), art historian,color guard/ winter guard mom, NaNoWriMo participant,racquet sport addict...I write cd reviews and interviews on folky and psychedelic music in "Scram! The Journal for Unpopular Culture" and an arts column in "FolkWorks-The Source For Folk Arts, Music and Dance in the Greater L.A. Region." www.scrammagazine.com and www.folkworks.org Favourite colours are jewel tones. Love the aqua/turquoise/teal and lavender/violet/purple families as well as hot pink, and electric green. Don't let this hem you in, though.I tend to prefer jewelery in silver, turquoise, coral and opal. Celtic designs are good, too and Steampunkness. Renaissance Faire stuff. Quirky weirdness. Someone recently turned me on to the delights of Cram Cream and San-X.Those little steamed bun, tea, sushi and bread people crack me up. I like Skulls and Steampunk aesthetics. I am currently trying to get my Steampunk costume together. :0) I also have a soft spot for Rupert Bear and Hamtaro...Moomins...Froud Faery Whatnot...Sisu (and other members of the black licorice family)...Cloudberries...and marzipan...and stuff with flames on it.Especially blue flames. My daughter likes Tokidoki and dark Lolita stuff.

If we are in a Christmas swap, note that my version is Yule oriented rather than Christian.

Irish Traditional (Not new-agey), Brit-folk, Psychedelic, "World Music", and my own stuff http://www.myspace.com/murderchangesghosts which I'm calling, "Literary Neo-Trad" (or Music to Read Charles DeLint or Neil Gaiman by).I also like Masive Attack, Belle and Sebastian, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Flaming Lips, Underworld, Vashti Bunyan, Grateful Dead, Nick Drake, King Crimson, Baroque and earlier, Rasputina, Neutral Milk Hotel, Northside label (Hedningarna, Gjallarhorn), Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh, electronica if it's good, some punk-oriented whatnot, driving stuff that makes you jump up and down or ask, "What the Bleep was THAT?" or laugh uncontrollably, or wonder why everything sounds so much better in gaelic or icelandic...and Italian musicians Jovanotti, Max Pezzali ( of 883 fame) and Cesare Cremonini.

I just started playing ukulele a few months ago, so if you see any cheap used uke books, any style, we can arrange a swap, I betcha! :0)

If we're in a CD swap, don't try to guess what I might like. Go with what you think is Wicked. I'm in this to Learn! I just got some mash-ups and I think they're super! :0)

Shaolin Soccer, Latcho Drom, Totoro (Miyazaki in general), Wes Anderson movies, Mel Brooks movies, Mr. Hulot's Holiday, Adam Sandler movies, Terry Gilliam, Steve Martin,Jim Jarmusch movies, Kurasawa,Wim Wenders, Eternal Sunshine... Science of Sleep, Being John Malkovitch and Adaptation, The Prestige, Elf, Ugetsu, Something About Mary, Harry Potter, Rupert and the Frog Song, Prospero's Books, A Christmas Story, Harry and Kumar go to White Castle, anime,all movies called Casino Royale, and Skyfall

Dr. Who, Game of Thrones, Wilfred, House,The Mighty Boosh, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Father Ted, Dollhouse, Defiance, The Dodgers (in season), School of Golf, Masterpiece Theatre, Kung Fu, Father Ted,TG4 music programs archived on the web, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, The Guild, Star Trek ,Deep Space Nine, and The Next Generation. and I've been playing with the Wii.

These days, we are bingewatching Lost Girl and The Expanse

I like to make sock critters and soft toys of all descriptions, fairies, elves and gnomes, monsters, snails, dragonflies, dragons, kirigami, hats, beading earrings,making ice cream, re-purposing and recycling clothing, drawing with coloured pencils, ATCs, collage,...

I think my favorite swaps to make have been the Tarot cards and the Steampunk-related themes.I love weird brooches.

I've started collecting and creating Weird, Zetti, Celtic and Celestial rubber stamps to make my ATCs with. What I'd like to try next is needle felting. Color and texture are what I go for.

Just got an Instax mini 9 at a thrift store and am having fun with it 0)

I do enjoy oracles. Pagan affinities: Green Man Totem Creature: Dragonfly

Stuff I do Not particularly wish for: Dixieland or New Age music,and lime flavored anything. Also, nothing to do with snakes. I have way too much felt, yarn and socks, Hope this helps!

My favorite crafts to receive are crafts that are useful items, not just decorative.

I collect stuff with blue and white flames

I collect monkeys wearing fezzes. also...Dodger related items and Book Store, Museum and Library related T-Shirts, size M or L.

Favorite Celebrity: Novak Djokovic

Favorite cartoons, comics and animated critters:

*Moomins *Totoro *Pogo *Bone *Smurfs *Hamtaro *Hikaru No Go *Wallace and Gromit *Rupert Bear *Power-Up Mushrooms *Baby Grooooooot!

*Steampunk * Trilobites *Fossils *Horseshoe Crabs * Cthulhu *Gnomes *Mushrooms *Hedgehogs *Snails *Mail-snails *Moomins *Totoro *Sock Monkeys *Froud Faery *Blodeuwedd *Ganesh *Buddha *Octopi *Tarot * BEER CHAN *Runes *Mermaids *Dragonflies *Weird, Zetti, handmade or Celtic rubber stamps *Craftsman/Arts & Crafts Movement Style (Stickley, William Morris, PRB, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Dard Hunter, Archibald Knox, Liberty's) *Sea Glass *Marimekko *Lotta Jansdotter *Eames *Frank Lloyd Wright I like hearts with wings, and pigs with wings, eyeballs with wings,woo hoo- Flaming Eyeballs!! :0)...and the noble Squid.

I like books about writing and creativity, and my favorite novels of the last few years have been The Time-Traveller's Wife, The Bone People, The Shadow of the Wind, Cryptonomicon, Goodbye Tsugumi, all of A.S.Byatt, The Diamond Age, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, The Book of Lost Things, the Abhorsen trilogy, and books by Gene Wolff, U.K.LeGuin, Umberto Eco, Calvino, the George R.R.Martin Song of Ice and Fire, Brandon Sanderson, Charles de Lint, China Mieville...

As for YA books, I love Philip Pullman, Jasper Fforde's "Thursday Next" series and Nursery Crimes..Ursula K. LeGuin, Anne McCaffrey, Harry Potter books, the Bartimeus books, Hunger Games series, Garth Nix (Sabriael, Lirael, and Abhorsen), the Moomin books, and am open to suggestions!

Tennis is mainly what I play and obsess over. I enjoy watching soccer/football and baseball - Go Dodger Blue! I belong to the Baseball Reliquary (an alternative Hall of Fame where players, fans, writers, and other folks involved in baseball are inducted into the Shrine of the Eternals annually by vote of the membership)and the United States Tennis Association.

New sport obsession alert!! @@@ Disc Golf @@@

Just now I am currently obsessed with Bollywood movies, history of Indian films, and taking a Bollywood exercise dance class. Fun! I am but a noob but would love to have suggestions of good stuff to watch. So far I am loving films with Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, SRK, and Raj Kumar Rao. Also Kajol, Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Hrithik Roshan and the omnipresent Anupam Kher! (have I missed anybody? Sunny Deol? Preity Zinta?) Educate me! :0) (Alia Bhatt...Shahid Kapoor...)

If Paresh Rawal is in it, I am practically guaranteed to like it!

I sail around in a boat called China Cat (with an image of a sunflower next to the name so as to disambiguate), therefore I like China Cat/ China Cat Sunflower themed stuff. (see Grateful Dead)

In Recipe Swaps I am predominantly interested in Super Tasty Vegetables. I am a Weight Watcher For Life and love fruits exotic cuisines and hate Liver & Onions and Fennel (yuck). I love licorice, however. Milk chocolate over dark. Rhubarb Rhules!