Fill This Blog Up With Love, Haters!

gots from here

So I’m off on a little micro-journey to the FSU campus tomorrow and won’t be hanging around these electronic parts. By the time I get back tomorrow night, I want to see at least 50 comments from people about what they love—and I don’t want any of it to be about ponies. Things ya loved you saw or read or heard or whatever. Just things that brought you joy. But none of that Hallmark Greeting Card joy.

If there aren’t at least 50 comments, I am going to unleash waves of blog hate like you haven’t seen on the blogosphere since…erm, twenty minutes ago. If nuffin joyful happened the last two decades, go back another few years.

Remember, if you include a link, like a proper hot-link, my spaminator may perceive you as a blubbery e-meat-byproduct thread.

71 comments on “Fill This Blog Up With Love, Haters!

  1. Ann VanderMeer says:

    I love it when Neo looks at me like I am an alien from outer space (as if he’s never ever seen me before…). But, Neo! I am the feeder person.

  2. How many comments can I publish to get us toward the 50-comment count? Right now I’m playing this post-apocalyptic video game with acting by Andy Serkis—it’s incredibly handsome and full of character. I just started it tonight and I already think I love it. It’s Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and from its acting to its user-interface design, it’s pretty. Yay! This isn’t a sequel, isn’t a game based on a movie, isn’t a reboot of a beloved franchise. It’s a new game with new characters, which is a rare thing sometimes in this business. Good stuff.

  3. TNT-Tek says:

    I love to stare at pictures of deep space objects and imagine what it would be like to see them with naked eyes. I love that people have the capability for such imagination. That the universe can be an exciting frontier and if the right minds are given the right motivation, it just might be possible for dreams to come true. For fictions to become realities. I’m only a little bit sad that the ignorance of a relative few unimaginative people with a stick in their pants have the ability to quash the dreamers because ultimately, those without the imagination to make the future will die out with the past.

  4. Larry says:

    I love the thought of spamming this post with 50+ responses full of links to squirrel porn! Oh wait, wrong blog. Sorry about that…well, not really ;)

  5. I love green vegetables and walking instead of driving.

  6. I love kittens who slay their amphibian overlords and wear the heads as helmets just to freak the enemy out. (And I also am enjoying BOOKLIFE).

  7. David says:

    Lovin Mark Twain’s autobiography.
    Lovin the New Orleans Saint’s 6 and 3 record
    Lovin Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone
    Lovin that you chose Orange Eats Creeps as top ten
    Lovin The Walking Dead
    Lovin new holiday cups at starbucks
    Lovin Russ Feingold ( Run Russ Run for President…some day)
    Lovin my new job because I’m blessed to be working and writing right now.
    Lovin my research on Jean Genet
    And always, for life: Lovin my family and Snoopy.

  8. Kevin Siegl says:

    I love Physics. By which I mean doing physics, actual physics, back-of-the-envelope calculations, experiments, crunching data. Just any problem I can throw my entire brain at, gives me unending delight.

  9. Well, I will forgo the “I love my daughter” stuff since that might land us in the dreaded Hallmark Territory, a land of corn syrup rivers and maudlin-colored hobbit-holes, where perky cherubs dance in faery circles with chirping mushrooms watered by the tears of those who have fallen prey to the wiles of a gold-etched, mass-produced card.

    Books are my joy: working with them, selling them, finding the right one to enrich an argument or surprise a stranger, and hopefully one day writing them.

  10. I will go to the “I love my daughter” road. She’s beautiful, smart, funny, opinionated, and a pretty talented dark ambient musician. Also, she’s about to turn 2.

  11. James says:

    I love the above comment, because I am a similar sap when it comes to my offspring. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

    I love that the crummy, spiral-bound 5-by-3-inch notebook where I’ve jotted the titles of the books I’ve read for the past fifteen years has never been lost or damaged, and will be filled by the end of December.

  12. Jha says:

    But but but! PONIES!

    I bought a bunchload of ebooks the other day. Mostly spec fic magazines. And I went waterfall hunting on Saturday. It was neat.

    Also there was that one semester I got straight As.

  13. I love the fact that for the first time in several years, I have access to cable television in my apartment, allowing me to vegetate on my futon and watch all those episodes of the new Futurama that I’ve been missing out on.

  14. Jha says:

    Oh! And last last New Year’s Eve, I had a low-key party with just me, my brother, two cousins from my dad’s side, a cousin from mum’s side and a longtime family friend. We watched Stardust, until 11.45, then we clambered onto the roof to watch fireworks being set off from a nearby resort.

  15. Jha says:

    Also, can I just say I really like the pony thread? Because it has two grown-ass men horsing around being excruciatingly funny without relying on tropes stomping on others? I mean, seriously, it really does bring me joy. Or at the very least, I can’t stop laughing while reading it.

  16. I love Larry’s squirrel porn.

    Oh, wait, sorry…

    At the moment, I’m loving The Mountain Goats’ All Hail West Texas album.

    And double dactyls. There should be more double dactyls in the world.

  17. jeff vandermeer says:

    Jha–I’m with you on the ponies thread. It still cracks me up re-reading it. (okay, all…carry on!)

  18. I don’t know why it took me so long to watch Pan’s Labyrinth, but I loved it with the sort of love that had me weeping a lot- Well, all that death and violence does lend itself to tears- singing that lullaby, I’ve been replaying the images over and over again in my mind. It was perhaps one of the most excruciatingly beautiful fantastical journeys I’ve ever taken on screen, even in storytelling for that matter. And it has me now interested in a part of history I wouldn’t have necessarily thought twice about. And as it happens, the International Center of Photography has a new exhibit “The Mexican Suitcase” about thousands of photographs recovered from famous war-time photographers during the Spanish civil war that I look forward to visiting, learning more, and catching up on all things del Toro.

  19. I love words. I love how, in spite of my better efforts, they don’t leave me alone. I love how they flit about my brain between waking and sleeping–hell, when waking, too–unbidden, arranging themselves, whispering. I love the seduction of a new word, the tantalizing hints of a muttered phrase I can’t recognize. I love the sound of foreign words, mystery words, nonsense words. I love accented words; I love words that lie. I love the stories words make. I love their promises, too. And their absurdity.

  20. Doreen says:

    Transcribing my great-grandfather’s Civil War diary. Reading his daily entries: boring days, marching days, waiting for mail days, no rations days, battle days, riding on (train) cars days, going down the river on a steamer days; he wrote on all those days. It brings me great joy to hold the very diary he held and wrote in 145 years ago, to read those words and to transcribe and share them with my children. It’s one of the sweetest things I’ve ever done.

  21. Mark says:

    I am loving the fact that I have books such as Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded to enjoy.

  22. Stina says:

    I love that while in Ohio for WFC I went vintage shopping and found the first wristwatch I ever owned. (Not the exact watch, I’m sure, but one exactly like it.) My Aunt and Uncle gave it to me when I was six or seven years old. It even works. Listening to it tick took me back to when I was a little kid.

  23. Tucker Cummings says:

    I love putting the finishing touches on a new story. I love searing steaks in a hot pan, and then making a sauce from all the browned bits at the bottom. I love the first snow of the year. I love the love of my life, and I love the way he says my name. I love that we are all thinking about things we love, instead of the frustrating minutiae of our lives. I love warm chocolate chip cookies and tall, cold glasses of whole milk. I love new socks. I love playing the guitar, even though I am terrible. I love Saturday mornings. I love old comic books. I love the smell of linseed oil. I love the weight of my comforters and the way that my pillow supports my head like a tender parent. I love the fact that my mom thinks I’m brilliant, even when I’m a mess. I love sushi for breakfast and cake for dinner. I love starting my Christmas shopping in July. I love the bruised sky at sunset. I love that I never have to stand on tiptoes to reach the top shelf in the kitchen. I love crunching numbers. I love daydreaming about the future.

  24. James says:

    You asked for it, Matt.

    Writing and editing,
    Jeff and Ann VanderMeer
    Gift us with weirdish words
    Laden with dread.

    Capital couple of
    Crackpot Floridians,
    Latest accomplishment:
    Last Drink Bird Head.

  25. Alexander K. says:

    I know it sounds a bit odd, but I love turkeys. So much so that I haven’t eaten turkey since I was 16 (minus a few accidental slip-ups). My heart just smiles every time I see a big ol’ tom waddling around and making his turkey sounds.

    There’s no art or artifice to it, turkeys just make me happy.

  26. I love it when I get so into a book that I don’t want to do anything else besides read it forever.

  27. David says:

    I love Tucker Cummings’ name. I really do.

  28. Joe Crow says:

    B-but I love to hate! That sweetly bitter, burn-y, death-hatred for people who’ve wronged me, or wronged somebody I like, or wronged somebody I’ve heard of, or just been kinda annoying, or caught me at a bad time, or- well, really just about anybody, honestly. Mmmmmm, hatred. It’s what’s for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner!

    I also love ponies. They taste like chicken!

  29. I love the sense of accomplishment one acquires when after months of preparation a huge project actually goes according to plan. This applies equally to work, art or love. :-)

    I also love that you can still find this quiz about telling which things *aren’t* ponies on teh Intarwebs:
    http://www.brunching.com/pornorpony.html

    (running away now)

  30. thor says:

    Loved … seeing “Monsters” (from your recommendation) … reading “The Great Bay: Chronicles of the Collapse” by Dale Pendell … hearing The Head and the Heart – Seattle based listening joy: http://www.theheadandtheheart.com/

  31. Jim Steel says:

    I love finches. And so does my cute li’l cat.

  32. Narcissus says:

    Why is there no mirror on your website?

  33. Guess whose webmaster will lock comments on this post when they get to 49.

  34. Right now, I love the Ghostbusters video game for the Wii because it is allowing me to fill a life-long dream of…well…busting ghosts. There is nothing better than at the end of the day pretending Slimer is that annoying, gross co-worker and just throwing him into the containment unit. Has saved me thousands on therapy. : )

    I also love finding real world motivations to learn other languages and with just a few words being able to open up a door of communication with someone you could not have spoken with previously.

  35. I love literate comment threads, and complex sentences, and how easily available Victoriana is online. Re-reading Around the World in 80 Days and the Project Gutenberg translation is *much* better than the edition at my library.

  36. I love coffee. I love blogging. I love tablet PCs. I love drinking coffee while browsing the blogs on my tablet PC. Or I would, probably, if I had one.

    I do have coffee, though. And it’s pretty good.

  37. Hypno-toad! He wants us to love kittens. Either that, or he has a feline id.

  38. At the moment really loving an image from a TED talk I just watched, of our gut-brain as being the size of a small cat, so we have small cats curled up in our gut-areas. I’m thinking of drawing a picture.

    I quite loved the movie How to Train Your Dragon recently; and love the humor and gentle intelligence of the HBO show Bored to Death.

    Loved words of the day: pearl, cedar, murgatroid (Heavens to mergatroid!).

  39. Sam M-B says:

    Thank you for coming to RDU (Chapel Hill) last winter for Finch. I ended up loving the book, sure, but even more I’m so grateful that through the event I got to meet Natania, Mur, and Jaym, and Andy Neal, and Badger, and all the rest. It’s been almost a year and my life hasn’t been and won’t be the same for it.

    Recently loved: The Magicians (Lev Grossman).

    Currently loving: Who Fears Death (Nnedi Okorafor) — though the chapter I just finished was ridden by waves of: “NO. No. Just… no. Wait, what? NO NO NO. STOP. NO.”

    Having a great visit with my sister (and brother-in-law and niece, named after me…) and brother back in my home state. (Though having come down with the shingles just before the trip is a bummer, not letting it suck out the love of seeing them.)

  40. Angie says:

    I saw a little girl laughing as she ran along a corridor in the train station the other day… she was just laughing her head off because she was enjoying running so much, it was awesome :) How did we lose that when we grew up?

  41. Kater says:

    I love corvids. When I hear a raven caw overhead, and turn to see the black silhouette behind that “cronk cronk” sound, it makes me happy. Feels like a good omen.

    I also love reading about science and the wonder of new research.

    I also love watching reality television at my brother’s house. Something about the drama of cute gay men baking cakes makes me want to clap my hands with delight.

  42. David Jay says:

    I love having a hour of incubation time during an experiment and being able to sneak away to finally read All Clear (Connie Willis). I’ll love it even more if my experiment works.

  43. Jena D says:

    I love my Kindle. I love knowing that I have over 400 books in my purse. I love that when someone tells me I should read a particular book or author, I can get my Kindle out and look it up and usually buy immediately (not always with my dad who recommends SciFi from the 40s & 50s LOL). I love that I always have books at my fingertips and even if I forget my Kindle, I have the app on my phone so I can read from there.

    And I love chocolate. Good chocolate. While reading good books. Oh yeah!

    And on a sappy note, I love my kids and husband too. And really wonderful human beings who create awesome summer writing camps for kids and then make said child’s day by remembering them later.

  44. jukkahoo says:

    I like traffic lights. Even when they’re red. I also like books. And my wife. Actually, I love my wife. And books. But not as much as my wife. I’m also pretty fond of our little doggie.

    I love fandom. I love the company of like-minded, yet different people.

    I love wasabi covered peas.

    And Cherry Coke. *sigh*

    Love.

  45. Helene says:

    I love love reading : losing myself in other worlds , discovering new ones or an unknown corner of this one.
    I love kittens, climbing up piles of books.
    And I love what I call my own “sagrada familia”.

  46. Lisa Stowe says:

    I can’t decide between two things to post so here’s both.

    I love trees. Not in the hippy tree hugger sense (well, okay, I’ve patted a few barks in my time) but in bringing them home, planting them, giving them a good home, watching them stretch upward and downward. My husband calls me a tree-aholic. I live in the woods, bordered by the national forest, trees old and young all around me, and I still find room for another. And another.

    As a child I loved the The Borrowers series. I knew they lived in home and I used a screwdriver to punch holes in the walls to give them back doors. Recently I discovered that a final Borrowers book had been published in the 1980’s, that I had somehow missed. I bought it, read it, and loved that dip back into childhood. Some books remain treasures no matter how many years pass and no matter how your reading tastes change with age.

  47. ignacio sanz says:

    Hi, Jeff. I’m sorry for not contacting you, but my computer has been down for several weeks in wich I’ve been disconnected from Internet and I fixed the problem recently, (I cross my fingers this time it works!). My e-mail is lorenlay_s12@hotmail.com. If you read this message, please let me your answer in the comments. Thanks!

  48. jeff vandermeer says:

    ignacio–got it. will email tonite. no worries.

  49. I’m loving the fall/winter weather that’s finally here. Love connecting with new and old friends. Loving the writing life. Reading so much good stuff. I also love traffic lights–but only when they’re green.

  50. I love being comment number 50. Woohoo for fifty!

  51. Aidan says:

    I love travelling.

    So many new experiences. Learning about different cultures and meeting people from all over the world.

    Like the time I did a night scuba dive in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras.

    We finished the night dive near a school of plankton and then switched off our flashlights. It was like swimming through stars. When we surfaced the real stars were waiting above us.

  52. This reminded me of my love for Ogden Nash, and this poem seemed like an appropriate demonstration of why I do.

    TO MY VALENTINE

    More than a catbird hates a cat,
    Or a criminal hates a clue,
    Or the Axis hates the United States,
    That’s how much I love you.

    I love you more than a duck can swim,
    And more than a grapefruit squirts,
    I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,
    And more than a toothache hurts.

    As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,
    Or a juggler hates a shove,
    As a hostess detests unexpected guests,
    That’s how much you I love.

    I love you more than a wasp can sting,
    And more than the subway jerks,
    I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,
    And more than a hangnail irks.

    I swear to you by the stars above,
    And below, if such there be,
    As the High Court loathes perjurious oathes,
    That’s how you’re love by me.

  53. Paul B. says:

    A couple of “joy”ful reads that came to mid:

    Bukowski short story – “All the A**holes in the World and Mine” – a hilarious account of his haemorrhoid operation. First time I read it I couldn’t stop laughing out loud – on the Chicago El.

    Also: George Singleton’s book “These People Are Us”

  54. Rob Davies says:

    Dexter: Season 4; Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way; Michael Moorcock has a Doctor Who book!; vacation in Budapest & Prague in two weeks!; Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks

  55. Tucker Cummings says:

    @David LOL thanks! You and my mom both, I think. What can I say…I have interesting parents who wanted an interesting name for their little girl. :)

    @Lisa OH MY GOD THE BORROWERS! I haven’t thought about those books in years! I lost them all in a house fire when I was young, but now I feel compelled to go buy the whole lot and read them again! I love that you reminded me about something I had forgotten!

  56. Tucker Cummings says:

    Okay, this one might be a bit self-indulgent, so forgive me. I love the fact that Mom has already pre-ordered her copy of The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities. She really is the most wonderfully supportive person.

  57. Ben Jones says:

    Um, Jeff? From the first comment it looks like your wife is keeping Keanu Reeves prisoner. Were you aware of this?

    Anyway, I love to death the music of Sly and the Family Stone, and that Sly seems to be coming out of exile.

    I love the way dogs see the world. Seriously, you might see a dog sad or angry or scared, but they let it pass. Our canine friends know just how to find something to enjoy in life.

    And put me down for “loves reading” as well.

  58. jeff vandermeer says:

    I love that I got fifty plus and don’t have to rage and hate on everyone tomorrow…It was fun to read these. Made me feel good. Hope others enjoyed it..

  59. Jha says:

    Also, daffodils. Had to talk to a student today about Wordsworth’s Wandered Lonely As a Cloud poem and it reminded me of how much I love daffodils. They’re so silly-looking.

  60. jeff vandermeer says:

    Daffoponies!

    Wait. Someone said they loved vegetables?!

  61. Dominik says:

    I love reading a short story from a different anthology/magazine every night before bed. The constant variation in tone, style and content ensures an endless supply of entertainment.

    I also love re-reading Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita.” That book always makes me smile…

  62. Josep says:

    I love a great fantasy book, and there are not many out there. When I find one I start reading it slower so the enjoyment lasts longer…

  63. Paul Smith says:

    I love my new 58 reissue Gibson Les Paul more than any man should love a piece of wood (I wonder if there is a name for that).

  64. Samuel S says:

    I love plg’lugn hwahghi shoggoth’hu gnu’ingldyah, hfir’ln plg’luinh ph’thahnl […]

  65. I love:

    Pizza.
    Twin Peaks.
    Zombie movies.
    The indent at the bottom of the neck.
    The novels of James Morrow.
    The novels of Kurt Vonnegut.
    The novels of Jim Dodge.
    Time off.

  66. Cat Rambo says:

    Frogs in the rain, fireflies, and fat crickets.

  67. Jess Nevins says:

    Combing my son’s hair after his bath. Making him giggle.

  68. Well, I go all high-road and don’t talk about my kidlet and now I feel like a bad father. Thanks Jess and Jess. Bastards.

    So, I will amend my previous comment to say that I love my daughter because she is only 19 months but loves Wookiees more than Elmo and can take an ear infection with a smile. I’ve never met a child so merry.

  69. My bike, lentil soup, Mighty-O Donuts, BOOKS, my iPhone, seven-year-old ginseng oolong.

    My bestest friends.

    I was going to proclaim my undying devotion to Cthulhu, but it seemed so…

    I’m glad Jeff didn’t have to go all hatin.’ I like nice Jeff.

  70. Egg says:

    Me?
    I love my family and friends.
    I may not like them all of the time,
    but I love them still.

Comments are closed.