reverancepavane | five questions memage (Reply)

According to whiteadelphi the meme goes something like this:

1. If you'd like to participate, leave me a comment of much niftiness

This was done, with much aplomb.

2. I will ask you five (5) questions.

In return I received the following five questions of such discerning wit and enlightened observation that I shall indeed be hard pressed to answer in a manner worthy of their penetrative nature.

Oh dear, I'm channelling Stephen Fry again.

And doing a total hash of it, too.

3. You must then go and answer them in your own journal, along with these instructions.

1) Why the name reverancepavane?

It was a nom d'plume that I had used on and off-line for more years than I really care to remember. It's actually two words: Reverance Pavane.

A "pavane" is a slow and stately processional (or "progressive") dance common to 16th Century Western Europe, where couples progress around the dance floor, essentially in a column. While it did give rise to very similiar, but far more energetic dances, such as the allemande and the volta, the true beauty of the pavane is that it allows a great opportunity for the dancers to chat in relative privacy (and away from chaperones). If one cannot make one's partner laugh, smile, and blush with this opportunity, then one is simply not trying.

A "reverance" is the formal courtesy ("bow," "curtsey," or "showing a leg") that traditionally proceeded such a dance, where one introduced oneself to one's partner for the dance. For men this generally meant sweeping one leg back, whilst leaving the other extended, and bowing with straight back, so the "butt" does not protrude in an unseemly manner. For a lady, generally a bob and rise sufficed, as no one could possibly see her legs anyway. Given that the time alloted for such activity varied from a couple of beats (where one barely has time to acknowledge one's partner before the dance begins), to 16 or so beats (where one, quite honestly, could take one's partner away to Venice for Carnivale and still have her back in time for the actual dance to begin), the intricacies and flourishes that one could add vary immensely according to the flavour of the ~~woman [1]~~ occaision.

So, after all that has been said, it is essentially it is an invitation to come dance with me for a while, and to see where we shall end up.

Rumours aside, the choice of the name had nothing to do with a certain character in the Illuminatus Trilogy, whom I had quite forgotten about when I quickly needed a name for a set of articles I was writing for a magazine, even if it was one on Discordian philosophy.

2) Wherewithal not withstanding, how would you go about achieving total world domination (i.e. if money/requisite ingredients of your cunning plot were readily available...)

Clanks. Lots and lots of clanks. And a flying castle built into a gigantic zepplin, complete with jägermonsters and ... hang on this seems to have been done somewhere before. One must be original.

And Orbital Mind Control Lasers ["Tomorrow's Technology Today. Up There!"] are far too passé. Besides, anything that can be stopped by a tinfoil hat is of questionable effectiveness when it comes to world domination.

I suppose that just leaves actually having already taken over the world, and altering everyone's perception so they just haven't noticed it yet. That would allow me to continue recording their hopes and dreams, whilst cloaking their remaining existence in exhausted soul-wrenching despair. It's probably a good thing that this doesn't sound very familiar, isn't it?

3) The most interesting late night encounter you've ever had?

The problem is that all the interesting encounters occurred during daylight. All the stuff that gives a sense of wonder to the universe (which is probably my definition of an interesting encounter) has occurred during the daylight hours. Even the scarey interesting stuff (assuming people firing automated weapons in your direction is a valid definition of "may you live in interesting times and those not in government take an interest in you" as the not-so-old and not-so-Chinese curse is want to state), generally happened in daylight (discounting the occaisional mugger who didn't quite realise when he jumped out of the bushes how big his victim was – and why he should possibly be smiling at the prospect of being mugged...). I am, of course, assuming random encounters here. Planned encounters (regardless of who actually did the planning), especially between consenting adults, are nobody's business but their own. Unless sheep were involved, in which case it might be permissible to contact the relevant authorities. Not that any sheep were involved in any of my amorous encounters. Goats on the other hand... [2]

I mean I'm usually the person people avoid at night, especially when they see me lurching down the street (I've scared at least three nurses near to death by emerging from a dark and locked part of the hospital in search of caffeine). Most of the encounters I've had were exceedingly mundane, even quite pedestrian (even those where 9 seperate police officers asked me why I was cycling home at 2am on a Tuesday morning [3]).

The encounter which probably best sticks in my mind was when the giant huntsman spider ate the moon. In actual fact it had crawled across the window near where I was sleeping and simply eclipsed the moon, but the change in light intensity was enough to wake me, whereupon I discovered I was staring at the underside of the spider from a distance of less than a foot. At this point of time I spontaneously developed the ability to teleport because I don't remember passing through the intervening space to reach the far side of the room.

Pitiful, isn't it?

4) You've got Usagi Yojimbo listed as an interest! :D Favourite character?

Stan builds such wonderful and very human, if you will excuse the expression, characters and stories, so you can't help liking most of them. It is difficult to decide. However, while Murakami Gennosuké ("Gen") and Kitsune are useful contrasts to Miyamoto Usagi, and it will be interesting to see what happens with Chizu now she has gone rogue, I would have to say that my favourite character is, for his monomania, dedication, superhuman prowess and total unrelenting insanity, is Jei ("The Sword of the Gods").

OK, so I also cheer for the villian in panto!

5) What's one act that you'd like to be remembered for after your death?

I'd say "not dying" but that's probably a bit too paradoxical.

Whilst there are a number of people that wouldn't be around if I hadn't been there, and thus I am almost guarenteed of being remembered fondly by them, there is no single act I'd like people to remember me for. Rather it's the multitude of small acts of kindness, the smiles, and joy, that I hope people will remember when I'm gone, of having said the right word at the right time to have helped someone.

Of course, that being said, I always wanted to be guilty of the genocide of the entire human race. That way, if there was an afterlife, I might have a chance of sneaking in amongst the crowd...

~~[1] Kissing the hand in the pavane is a wonderful way of introducing oneself and gauging the taste of ones partner. Literally, in some cases.~~

[2] They ate our picnic lunch.

[3] Apparently some smarty-pants in the police department thought that anyone cycling in the early hours of the morning was sufficient grounds for suspicion of illegal activities to stop and question the person. After all no sane person would cycle then. (I like it. Traffic is light. It's cool and quiet, and you can think.)

Now, how do I answer these instructions? <ducks thrown boot>