Hey! I’m Marc-Alexandre, also known as Laogeodritt. It seems you’ve stumbled into the Realms of Arenthil. This website is a showcase of my projects: short stories and other works of fiction, poetry, lyrics and musical compositions. I’ll also be posting some of the programs I write and electronic gadgets I design.
One of the major reasons I made this website is to move and entertain people. It’s not about fame or money (not that a poor little Uni student like me wouldn’t appreciate the latter!) — what motivates me to create is a passion for the arts I exercise and the knowledge that others enjoy my work.
That said, I hope you like what I have to offer! As you browse around, please leave a comment and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is also very much welcome — after all, I’m always striving to improve!
Maybe you’re wondering who I am. Well, I’m a
20-year-old Chinese-Canadian student currently living in Montréal, Québec, Canada, where I’m studying Electrical Engineering at Concordia University. However, my interests and hobbies go quite far beyond engineering, or even science.
I’m a writer, musician, composer, programmer, engineer-in-training and scientist-at-heart. I’m also an open nerd-geek, an occasional gamer, an otaku (in the American sense, of course!), and a bit of a language and linguistics geek.
As a writer, my ideas tend to be dark and serious, exploring themes of the human condition, human relationships, psychology and emotion, most often through fantasy or historical-fantasy settings. I write stories of passion or tragedy (and maybe some lighter, cuter stories, too!) that I hope will move and captive my readers.
My interests in music are mostly in Romantic and Impressionist eras, along with video-game music, film score and progressive rock/metal. I started off on the cello as a kid, which planted a seed that later developed into a passion for music (ironically after we had moved and I had stopped playing!). Currently, I play the cello, the flute and the clarinet, and I have composed since 2003, mostly in video-game music and progressive rock styles.
With regard to science, my interests are somewhat across the board. I’m most interested in physics (particularly quantum mechanics and astrophysics), engineering (electrical, computer, software, mechanical) and pure mathematics, although I still enjoy reading about other fields like biology and chemistry. Overall, I find the natural world, as well as the possibilities we have in using empirical knowledge of how it works, fascinating.
When I’m not in the mood to work on my projects, I can usually be found scouring the Internet for interesting material. I’ll also occasionally go binge-reading on Wikipedia! On occasion, I watch anime and the occasional Asian drama, read, or play video games (single-player FPSes, SRPGs, Western and Japanese-style RPGs, etc.).
Here’s my mini-list of awesome stuff I’ve been reading, playing, watching, or listening to!
- Internets: Reddit, some League of Legends communities and MyLifeIsNerdy (psst, fellow geek-nerds! Join us!)
- Anime: [[Angel Beats!]], [[Fullmetal Alchemist]], [[Death Note]] and [[K-On!]]
- Video games: [[The Witcher 2]], Minecraft, League of Legends, [[Portal 2]], [[Half-Life 2]]
- Books: [[Katherine (novel)||Katherine (Anya Seton)]], the works of [[Isaac Asimov]], [[The Pillars of the Earth]] and other historical fiction by [[Ken Follett]]
- Music: (prog rock) Ayreon, Circus Maximus, Dream Theater, Rush; (video-game) Yasunori Mitsuda, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Masashi Hamauzu, Nobuo Uematsu, Yuki Kajiura; (classical) Maurice Ravel, Francis Poulenc, Philippe Gaubert, Claude Debussy, Alexander Scriabin, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi
Well, I suppose that’s a summary of, well, myself. I guess I got a bit carried away… I’ll make it up to you! I promise! (Note to self: Make a gift for readers who’ve gotten all the way down here).