What interests us? LOAP wants to know.

[_Blixa]

In a Terrestrial thread, LOAP asked what his fellow posters "believed in" and were interested in (outside of Mormonism). I'm not sure that this was a sincere query, or just some round about jab at people being, in his eyes, "unhealthily obsessed" with Mormonism. SatanWasSetUp gave an answer in terms of his religious beliefs and Sethbag gave a quick survery of his extra-curricular interests. Here's my effort to catalog some of the things that take up my time and brain:

I'm a college professor and I teach classes in literature and film that also make use of a great deal of history, art history, cultural theory and philosophy--the usual interdisciplinary mix. I teach a course in detective fiction quite often, as well as a film and lit course, 20thC non-western and gay and lesbian lit. Next semester I’m teaching a course in Nature Literature for the first time and I’m working out the details of that now. If you’re interested you can see examples of my courses (syllabi and at least one assignment) in my board blog, Youthful Harlot’s Curse. Its friends only so you may have to pm me for an invite.

I write at a variety of levels and for a range of publications: scholarly work and articles for mass market magazines and journals on art, music, fashion and asian pop culture. Right now I’m working on an article about a little known bit of Japanese American history (that happened in Utah) and I’m going to offer it to Giant Robot magazine. I’ve not written for them before, but I have written about them (for the Hong Kong based fashion and lifestyle magazine West/East).

In contemporary literature my areas of focus are mostly non US: contemporary British, Japanese and some German lit/history (though with german culture its mostly confined to cultural texts from 30's and 70's). I do have a thing for some contemporary american authors, but its kind of hit and miss. My area of expertise for my doctoral exams was 19th and 20thC British literature and I still read a lot of modernist literature and have a kind of sub-area of expertise in literature of World War I.

I'm also interested in contemporary copyright law; intellectual property is the battleground where the global future is currently being negotiated. Its in this light that I'm interested in the cultural/political/legal issues that surround digital communications technology. While I’ve not published o this topic, I have delivered a number of conference papers on the subject and its relation to education and pedagogy. I have also published on and am cited in the literature of contemporary pedagogical theory.

I spend far more time thinking about and working on art than I do literature, though. I'd like to find a way to change academic disciplines and teach courses more based in art theory. Ideally I suppose I would like to teach at an art and design college. I’m interested in and quite knowledgeable about photography: its history and contemporary work including digital imagery. My other areas of art expertise are conceptual art, minimalism, latin american art and so-called "land art."

Right now I'm doing work in western americana: this is entirely outside of my previous academic/scholarly/intellectual work and that's why its so interesting to me. I like challenge of working up a competency in a new disciplinary field. My current project(s) are also tied to Mormon history, so that’s another reason for my fascination as well as my presence on boards like this. This work is also not unrelated to other projects I want to take up: issues of public monuments, monumental art and public art in general. .

I like design: I'm mid century modern junkie and casually collect Russel Wright and Eva Zeisel. With more money I could feed my Eames jones and get entirely out of control. I used to have a pretty big collection of Bakelite jewelry but I sold it to finance our last shift in residence. I also have a fascination with the history of perfume and for a while was collecting vintage perfume/perfume bottles. I seem to have managed to kick that habit.

I am also deeply fascinated by the art/commerce interface, something which is never more nakedly observable than in the fashion industry. Because I live in NYC and have many friends who work in fashion (designers, retailers, writers, stylists and models) I see a lot of “behind the scenes” scenes: I attend many fashion shows and after parties. My thing is Belgian and Japanese avant garde, but I have a real soft spot for one local boy: Marc Jacobs.

Living in NYC also allows me to indulge in my love of live music: I go to a lot of shows. I used to amateur DJ at a famous art gallery/bar and would love to do more of that. By DJ, I don’t mean I’m on the one and twos: I play off my ipod or CDs and my only draw is my extensive and eclectic mixes.

I like to knit. A sweater of mine was featured in a show of the New Crafts Movement that toured southeast Asia. That sweater has traveled more than I have. I also embroider and sew. I have crocheted and quilted too, but not for centuries.

I adore cooking. Southwest Mex was long my specialty, but I honed my Chinese cooking kung fu under the tutelage of some Hunan roommates and now claim that as a talent. I also love baking: bread, pastry, cakes etc.

I like hiking, camping and poking around in nature. I haven't done much of this while living in the east and I'm dying to do more of it---just one reason I'm going to relocate west in the future. I had a glorious time in Utah recently scrambling over rocks and kicking about in salt water and playing with some wild horses that I’ve visited with over the last few years. I like horseback riding, too.

I've probably left out somethings, and this is all very general, but I hope this satisfies LOAP's inquiring mind somewhat...

Anybody else? I like hearing about other people's lives. That's why I post in online forums like this one.

[Anonymous]

My interests:

-Exercise (an hour a day on eliptical or bike and 20 minutes of free weights 3-4 times a week)
-My family and friends (talking about both complex stuff or just bullshitting) Also have recently had mixed success getting back into the dating game after a long absence.
-Reading (mostly History books (Roman History, 20th century history, history of empires), but also some political theory--Nietzsche has recently been kicking my ass) I love historical fiction (such as the Master and Commander series by Obrian, the Masters of Rome series by McCullough, etc). I also like lightweight material like Grisham (who's work since the Rainmaker has really disappointed me....honestly his books have been crap since Runaway Jury or so) but also stuff like Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Crichton and the ilk. I also like more literature (high brow?) stuff like Tolkien, Tolstoy (my favorite book is a almost mint condition hardback copy of War and Peace printed in London in 1943). I also am an avid book collector and also like to focus on older books. I think I have 20 or so that are 75+ year old hardbacks.
-Video Games
-Nature/my dog/watching the wind blow the leaves/campfires
-I also like to cook, mess with my computer, learn random stuff, walk around campus watching people. I like good food, TV, movies, hiking, basketball. I also like to talk to the people on this board about how their doing, cause they're my friends and I"m interested.
-oh yeah, music! Of many forms.
-I also collect coins on a limited basis (something my grandmother turned me on to...not to mention working at a bank allowed me to fulfill)
-I'm also learning Mandarin Chinese, can read/speak Latin decently (or used to be able to) and also can get by in Spanish.

As to religion....I just came to the conclusion that it's a McGuffin cooked up by people who can't accept reality. See aesthetic ideals and Nietzsche for more thought on that. Really I just kinda like an existential existence. I really don't care what I do, I'm not really looking for any greater truths or whatever. I'm all hedonistic and trying to not worry bout religion, cause to me it's all bunk.


(many edits)

[_Runtu]

Although I spend altogether too much time here, Mormonism does not dominate my every waking hour. Probably the love of my life (outside my wife and kids, that is) is literature. I do love a great book, and I feel cheated every time I read a bad book (*cough*John Grisham*cough*). I just started Dickens' David Copperfield again (though my favorite Dickens novel is Bleak House). I recently reread Wright Morris's The Deep Sleep (one of my all-time favorites), Anna Karenina, and Elmore Leonard's The Hot Kid (damn, that guy can write).

Related to that is my keen interest in literary theory, particularly poststructuralist and Marxist theory (I think Cogs just had an aneurysm). If I were to pick some personal favorites of literary theory, they'd be Foucault's Archeology of Knowledge, Barthes' A Lover's Discourse, Bachelard's Poetics of Space, and maybe Hayden White's Metahistory. I guess I gravitate toward the readable (though I have a soft spot for Heidegger). And Levi-Strauss's Tristes Tropiques is just a beautiful book. Years ago a fellow grad student at BYU said I drove him crazy because I took an eclectic approach to theory; I don't necessarily adhere to one unified theory, but have kind of a grab bag of beliefs.

One of my undergrad degrees is in Latin American Studies, and I am still fascinated with Latin American history, economics, and politics. Blixa was more than a little disconcerted to hear me say that I don't consider the Cuban revolution to be a true revolution. But that's neither here nor there. My focus is usually on countries that have a large indigenous population (like Bolivia). I'd like to travel there in the future and do some humanitarian work, but I have a house full of kids to raise first.

As many of you know, I'm also an avid writer, with mixed success (as any reader of my blog knows). I'm slowly, inexorably putting down on paper a novel tangentially related to my experiences as a naïve 13 year old working at a gas station in West Los Angeles in the late 1970s. Still trying to figure out where I want to go with it, but much of the first chapter is written.

Growing up, my father always had a huge garden and a lot of fruit trees. I swore I wouldn't ever have a garden, but these days I have apples, peaches, apricots, grapes, and plums in my yard, and I have learned to enjoy making jams. I also love cooking and am quite good at it, if I may brag. :) I picked up a big smoker/grill in Texas, and I'm getting really good at slow-smoked meats. Yummy.

For exercise, I run and swim. Now that we've rented our house in Texas, I can afford a pass to the Provo Rec Center so I can start swimming regularly again. I have a weakness for BYU sports, the Houston Astros, and the LA Angels.

Oh, and I like dark chocolate. A lot. And I've acquired a taste for Guinness. Too bad my current meds don't allow me to partake of this heavenly brew.

[_Bond...James Bond]

I do love a great book, and I feel cheated every time I read a bad book (*cough*John Grisham*cough*).

OMG! So true.....do you like any of his books after Rainmaker or Runaway Jury?

[_The Nehor]

According to some posters here, I just masturbate a lot.

[Guest]

asta la vista

[_Runtu]

According to some posters here, I just masturbate a lot.

Well, besides that, what are your interests? Sarcasm can't be a full-time occupation, can it? ;)

[_LifeOnaPlate]

My question was not in jest or otherwise; it was a legitimate question.

[_Runtu]

My question was not in jest or otherwise; it was a legitimate question.

I know that. Read our responses, which were not in jest, either.

[_The Nehor]

According to some posters here, I just masturbate a lot.

Well, besides that, what are your interests? Sarcasm can't be a full-time occupation, can it? ;)

Is plotting world domination a valid hobby?