Moominbrooke

Writer, musician (I play Irish trad.pennywhistle), 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 black+red. Don't let this hem you in, though.I tend to prefer jewelery in silver, turquoise, coral and opal. Celtic designs are good, too. Silly toys. 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 sushi...and marzipan...and stuff with flames on it.Especially blue flames. My daughter likes Tokidoki and dark Lolita stuff.

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, 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 Cesare Cremonini. 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), 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, The Prestige, Something About Mary, Harry Potter, Rupert and the Frog Song, Prospero's Books, A Christmas Story, Harry and Kumar go to White Castle, anime,that last James Bond movie...

Game of Thrones, Wilfred, True Blood, House,The Mighty Boosh, Father Ted, United States of Tara, The Dodgers (in season), Masterpiece Theatre, Kung Fu, Father Ted,TG4 music programs archived on the web, Firefly... and I've been playing with the Wii

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

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

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.

I do enjoy oracles. Stuff I do Not particularly wish for: Dixieland or New Age music,and lime flavored anything. Hope this helps!

Favorite cartoons, comics and animated critters:

*Moomins *Totoro *Pogo *Bone *Smurfs *Hamtaro *Avatar - The Last Airbender *Hikaru No Go *Postman Pat *Wallace and Gromit *Rupert Bear

*Steampunk * Trilobites * 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) *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 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... Currently absorbed into the George R.R.Martin Tale of Ice and Fire. Read the first 4 books over the month of January and boy my eyes are killing me...!!

As for YA books, I love Philip Pullman, Jasper Fforde's "Thursday Next" series and Nursery Crimes and Shades of Grey...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!