Fandom-specific

[DCU] shadowvalkyrie: DCU musings: "Specifically, porn. [...] Even more specifically, kinky porn. And the discrepancy of why the Bruce/Tim variety tends to be a great deal more popular than the Bruce/Jason one."

[Torchwood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer] firefly124: Okay, so everybody else has probably already read this AfterElton article (the article compared Torchwood and BtVS in regards to character death, and the post builds on that. I'm not being more specific because I'm unsure whether details about Torchwood's third season are still considered spoilers.)

General

thete1: "I know it's racist, Te, but the special effects look awesome!": "This has been on my mind -- harshing *my* squee -- since that first Transformers movie came out and so many of you were full of excuses about why you were going to see it anyway. Despite the racism."

In a post titled Saying Goodbye, yourlibrarian talks about important changes in TV, reality shows, the demise of the WB, and that the cause for the popularity decline in music games could be "a stranglehold on copyright".

cluegirl: Thoughts Contingent on Reader Entitlement; the fandom edition: "So what is it that makes us as readers so much more ready to be spiteful about work we DID NOT have to pay for? Other than the fact that we can, and the writer in question is unlikely to have highly paid lawyers who might give us a telling-off for acting like arseholes, I mean?"

skuf: Where's all the meta?: "Remember back in the day - e.g. 2006 - when [metafandom] issues were posted about every other day and had shitloads of links? What happened? Brainstorming: ..." (Cross-posted to DW, where the big discussion obviously seems to happen, but I decided to link the IJ version on principle.)

xie_xie_xie: metafandom and its discontents: "But the last three or four times I submitted a link, either mine or someone else's, either QAF-specific or "big picture" fandom meta, it was just ignored. I never knew if they just didn't like it, or didn't get it, or what the problem was."

I woke up this morning with my lower back going into full-on bitch mode at me.

I of course blame this on the Plow Snot that had been dumped at the end of my driveway that came up to — OhSweetJeezus — my chest. Now, I admit I be short (5-feet, 1-inch in my stocking feet to be precise), but that's a fuckload of snow.

Even in snow that wasn't pushed into a tiny mount of Plow Snot, it came up to my knees, which is roughly 16 inches (I have long legs for my shortness). I figure...drifting snow. And I'm being a baby about this (I mean literally, because I was whining the entire time I cut through the Plow Snot just so I could see my car, let alone reach it.)

Thanks to my local paper, I can now officially say that I was not being a baby. My town got whammed with 14 inches of snow. So there.

And my lower back is still in full-on bitch mode, although giving myself a nice big stretch seems to make it happy and calm it down for an hour or two.

In other news, Sing-Off Live Finale Tonight! Go Beelzebubs! Okay, not a chance in hell you're gonna win, but I'll be happy if you beat Voice of Lee, if only because their fans over on the NBC community are kind of ass-hatty.

[Side note: Stay the hell away from from the NBC boards for this show if you want to prevent cranial trauma by head-desk. The FAIL is great there. And I mean FAIL on a scale that I never thought I'd witness this side of a newspaper comments section.]

This entry was originally posted at http://liz-marcs.dreamwidth.org/386310.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Current Mood: in pain

Remember the dyed fleece from last summer? I took it to KM's last week, and we decided I should run it through the picker before trying to card it. I sort of divided it by color, and this is the result. I think I'm still going to card it.( my dyed fleece, the next step )

I'd never used the picker before, so that was interesting. I still want to spin this for my Ravelympics project, although the entry names aren't really helpful. The amounts of each color vary wildly, so it'll be interesting to try to come up with a repeat that isn't completely goofy.

Current Mood: calm

So, yeah. I still love the snow. I'm just pissed at myself right now.

The snow fell from Friday night to Saturday night here. About 24 hours worth. In my town, we got 21 inches. So not a full 2 feet but pretty damn close to that. I didn't have to go into the library on Saturday, which was nice. So I spent Saturday sleeping and writing and watching the snow fall. I finished Season 5 of Deep Space 9 and got caught up on the Sneezefic Archive. We're now at 500 stories!

I slept in on Sunday as well and then participated in Do Nothing But Read Day. I finished 5 books, which is great: http://katekintailbc.livejournal.com/41929.html

On Monday our offices were to open at noon, so I got up a few hours early to dig my car out further (they had plowed our street overnight). I made it down the Steep Hill of Icy Death(TM) to work and found that the snowplow had made one pass through our parking lot. There was only one place to park right in front of the building and no one else was there (I was half an hour early because I didn't know how long it would take me to get there). The worst part was that the snowplow had pushed all the snow in front of the building so there was a pile of snow that came up to my breasts blocking the way in. Luckily, I had brought a shovel with me so I shoveled a path through the wall of snow and then up the curving walk to the building. That took about 45 minutes. Then I spent another 30 minutes or so starting to dig a spot in the parking lot for anyone who came after me. I fell on my ass twice and, as I'm writing this now, it's starting to hurt. I think I bruised my tailbone (and I definitely jammed my wrist. Goody-goody). Anyway, I went inside and found the internet down. I tried to call IT on campus but no one picked up. And I checked my phone messages but there weren't any except from the library telling me not to come in on Saturday(which was nice of them). Anyway, I checked my cell phone (which I DON'T use) and had a call from a coworker. Not my boss; a coworker. She said the boss told them to call each other and tell each other not to come in because the road was bad. So... I could have stayed home the whole day.

Instead, I went to work and, like a good little Hufflepuff, I tried to do something nice and shovel the way to the building. I did a damn good job, too. But will anyone thank me? No. Because they'll just laugh and think I'm stupid for trying to go in and not realizing I wasn't supposed to. Because I'm an idiot. So, yeah, I'm pissed at myself. And my backside hurts (I think my wrist is okay). Did I mention that there was a car with an old couple in it who had pulled into our parking lot momentarily for some reason when I got to work? Yeah. I fell RIGHT in front of them and they didn't even say anything to me. WTF?

Ugh. Stupid. I could have had a snow day. Instead, I just wasted, like, 3 hours of my life for no reason at all. I'm mad. And hurting. Ow.


Anyway... here are some photos of the snow that I took:
( Snow )

Current Mood: angry

Maureen Ryan posts an article detailing the most important changes in TV during the past decade. I think one important fact she left out (which I'd substitute for her discussion of the 3 Davids) is the shortening of the television season, something a critic at the L.A. Times wrote about this past week. I think this ties in to her first point about DIY viewing. Or at least that's what I'm calling it, given that I wrote about that a few months ago as being the single most important development in our lives in the last decade.( Read more... )

Something else I was disappointed to see Ryan only touch on as an afterthought, was the demise of the WB. Although the WB was largely a 90s phenomenon, I think it's a testament to its popularity and programming that its last surviving shows, Smallville and Supernatural, are the backbone of the successor CW network to the point where Smallville is being dragged out into a 10th season and SPN is clearly being pushed past its natural lifespan into a 6th (that's not official yet, but I don't see what choice the network will have). I know many people were angry with the cancellation of Angel, though I'm fairly sure it's something the network regretted. However before cable became some promised land for innovative programming targeted at neglected viewers, there were the netlets. I'm not sure anyone has any great nostalgia for UPN, but I'm certain a lot of people do for the WB, which had a great internal marketing department and which made a lot of savvy choices in terms of writer/producers. Most of the people I've come across on LJ are here because of something the WB commissioned. Without that network our viewing in the last decade would have been a lot poorer. So how about a little love for the long lost Frog, too? It's hard to believe it's only been 3.5 years since it took its bow.

Although we have a Wii, I could not count myself as a gamer. But I found this article about the popularity decline in music games specifically DIY rock star ones (there's that word again), rather interesting to speculate about. Not knowing that much about the industry, I'll buy the author's explanation that oversaturation of the market is behind the decline in growth. However, I found the general failure (at least failure to meet expectations) of the Beatles' game more up my alley. I have been a Beatles fan for decades but I wasn't rushing out to buy this game either. That probably has something to do with my general disinterest in video games and complete disinterest in trying to play along with them (if I wanted to do so that much I would have continued playing the piano). But I couldn't help wondering if part of the relative failure is a general decline in interest in the Beatles themselves as well as their catalog. A longstanding question among music fans was always "The Beatles or The Stones?" What I found remarkable about a report back in August was the absence of some major musical figures in the sales records of downloaded songs, including the Beatles. And while the Stones were represented with 2 tracks from the 60s, they remained musically relevant through the 1970s (in fact, I'm fairly sure that was their most successful decade financially). Why were they not on these lists then?( Read more... )

Lastly, I will be heading out for holiday travel tomorrow but will be back for New Year's Eve. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday.

I took over maintainership of anime_manga, which was abandoned in 2004. Time to get it running again, right?

This is a community dedicated to all things anime/manga. Fanart, fanfiction, doujinshi, graphics, cosplay photos, general discussion, news, questions or live reports - it's all welcome here. We are multi-fandom here, not restricted to one or a few specific series/shows.

Find rules and guidelines here.

brokencity_ic
( A Post-Apocalyptic Super Powers Game )

Bored? Got some time to yourself and nothing to do? Feel inspired by something you saw on television, at the movies, in the paper, from a book, on your computer, read in your ebook etc?

Then how about trying Fanfiction? Yes, the wonderfully creative world of fanfiction!

At alikelyscenario we give you 21 challenges/scenarios on which to base your fic upon. Each scenario comes with 5 prompts associated with it to inspire your writing. Come sign up and try your hand at fic writing.

Already have something written? We have a few fandom specific journals that are waiting for you.

heroes_fiction - The Heroes fandom burst on the scene four seasons ago. Since then there has been a lot of good fic. Come and share yours here.

sanctuaryforall - For the Webseries turned television series Sanctuary. Here you can post not only fanfic, but fanart, icons, challenges, news about the show, and anything else related to the fandom.

startrek_redux - Beam yourself up to this asylum for the new movie. Like the asylum above, anything related to the new movie is accepted.

Got something not associated with any asylum listed above, multi_fiction welcomes any and all fandoms. No matter what genre, we want it.

• ratcreature: random poll - if you've been in fandom a long(-ish) time, do you ever feel nostalgia for fandom how it used to be? ("Fandom" in this case intentionally vague as I just mean whatever form of fandom you were involved in the era you are nostalgic for.) And if so, for which time period? -
  
  (tags: fandom history poll)


• katta: Some clues on how not to write deaf characters - The disability fanfic site has uploaded a bunch of stuff, so I've been reading quite a lot, and there are a couple of things that bother me. -
  
  (tags: disability fanfic)


• box_in_the_box: WHY SUPERHERO COMIC BOOK CREATORS SHOULD NOT INTERACT WITH FANDOM: - It occurs to me that what we have here is a microcosm of the exact same sort of tension between entertainment media producers and consumers as exists in just about any other genre or medium now, in which the whole movement toward "the author is dead" has inspired a backlash from the authors themselves, who aren't content with telling stories so much as they want the power to dictate how their audiences should react to their works. -
  
  (tags: tptb fandom comics spiderman)


• sailorptah: Sigh. - But other times? Other times the discussion, while it may have started in a fannish place, has left that context behind long ago. Which means that, unless you were involved with it from the beginning, it boils down to this: "People you have no connection to (except that you both use the same blogging service, and/or enjoy watching TV and writing about it) said something which sounds like it was ill-advised (although you can't say for certain, because until five minutes ago you were not even aware this conversation had taken place) and now you get to hear a deconstruction of why they were wrong." -
  
  (tags: fandom meta)


• cupidsbow: meta twitter? - Maybe all the huge discussions of the last two years have actually changed the face of meta, because we feel more comfortable in just using that language and making short comments, rather than having to scale up our meta thoughts into full-blown essays. -
  
  (tags: meta fandom)


• crabapplered: Metafandom needs to re-evaluate. - The point is, if someone wants to talk about the mechanics of chakra in Naruto, they don't really want people to pop up and go "pft! Chakra! Now there's some fine cultural appropriation in that series" -
  
  (tags: fandom)


• rubyfruit_pixie: Also I Am A Horrible, Horrible Person (And That's Okay). - And I can think and squee at the same time. The two are not mutually exclusive, and I really wish people would stop thinking that they are. -
  
  (tags: discussions)


• renay: PSA to Emerging FFXIII Fans: Don't Do Racist Shit! - If these are the actions and behavior I have to look forward to from fans of Final Fantasy XIII, so help me, I am going to explode in rage on a near-daily basis. I mean, this is Racism 101 stuff. -
  
  (tags: finalfantasy race icons)


• renay: An Interesting and Heartbreaking Addition to the Debate At Hand: SEXISM! - My bottom line, to him and everyone else: the problem stopped being just the icons when people started defending their usage with extremely problematic words. Stop using the icons, yes, and then come back, because you defended them and you have to fix that mess you made, as well. -
  
  (tags: finalfantasy icons race gender)


• justira: Time to discuss racism and humour! aka how about them mildly infamous icons? - The relationship between humour and kyriarchy is... pretty complicated. It's quite easy to fall into a trap here: attempt, with the best intentions, to deride things worthy of derision, and yet in making the joke end up perpetuating those same ills. -
  
  (tags: humour race gender disability)


• vi: Bingo in FF fandom - It isn't this specific instance (Sazh and fried chicken jokes) itself, but that it is part of a larger trend of representing non-white characters in stereotyped ways, and the reaction of white-privileged fans being told that it's Not Cool. -
  
  (tags: finalfantasy race)


• heebeeAnyone else finding the "ironic" fried c - Anyone else finding the "ironic" fried chicken and/or watermelon-themed Sazh Katzroy icons in poor taste? -
  
  (tags: icons finalfantasy race)

yesmeansyes - Anti-rape/sexual violence blog
blackandmissing - Blog that focuses on highlighting the Black missing & murdered ignored by mainstream media

• djin7: On Reviews, Concrit, feedback or flames, what not to do on the internet - However, if you do not want uninvited critical reviews mixed in with glowing, positive reviews? You must hand pick and select your audience to only people who will do your bidding, and instruct them to do so, whether it's to your best interest or worst. -
  
  (tags: reviewing feedback comments concrit)


• solarcat: A Question about Default Icons (Or, It's Amateur Sociology Time! \0/ ) - What impact does a default icon have? Do we draw conclusions about users based on their default icon? -
  
  (tags: icons)


• londonkds: The honeymoon between fandom and Dreamwidth faces its first test - It has been reported that Dreamwidth has received legal letters from Marvel related to the ever-controversial scans_daily community. -
  
  (tags: copyright dreamwidth)


• elf: [in scans_daily] Some Copyright Basics - The basic principles, from a non-lawyer perspective (i.e. do not quote me in court unless you are attempting a defense of "not guilty by reason of mental defect or insanity"): Copyright law is *psychotic.* -
  
  (tags: copyright fandom)


• das_dingsi: Heads-up: You don't get to respect only the "good" trans people and still call yourself an ally. - When a person asks you to use a certain pronoun for them, you use it. When they say they are trans, you act accordingly and don't question their identity. The self-identity of the trans person overrides everything else. If you don't respect that, you propagate transphobia. -
  
  (tags: transgender fandom)

Title: First Member of the Real Slug Club
Author: KateKintail
Rating: G
Pairing: Horace Slughorn/Nymphadora Tonks
Disclaimer: JKR’s characters. I play for free and for fun.
Summary: Tonks runs into Slughorn at Hogwarts.
Notes: Written for the LJ hpdaisychain Slughorn/Tonks pairing link. I thought it would be fun to try writing a drabble for each pairing that comes up.

The toe of Tonks’ boot caught the edge of a step and she tripped down the last stair. She tried to save herself before she hit the floor, but the rail was too far to the side and the smooth stone wall on her other side gave no assistance. She threw her arms forward to brace herself, and suddenly found herself falling into a man passing by the bottom of the stairs. He saw her just in time and held his arms out as well.

Tonks fell into his arms, full of apologies. “I’m so sorry, Professor!”

“Not at all, my dear. Not at all.”

She righted herself, smoothing her robes out as best she could. They were still a bit wrinkled in places, and not from the trip. “I’m such a clutz sometimes,” she explained.

“Perhaps you merely had your mind elsewhere,” he said kindly. Then he stuck his hand out and she shook it. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. I’m Horace Slughorn, Potions Master here. And you’re one of Dumbledore’s Aurors?”

Tonks coughed, surprised. “Ah, I’m one of the Ministry’s Aurors assigned to watch over Hogwarts. We’ll all be taking shifts throughout the year.”

“Indeed. And we all feel much safer for that,” Slughorn assured her.

That was nice of him to say. Heck, it was nice of him to catch her and not call her out for falling right into him.

“Could I interest you in a drink in my office sometime, perhaps? When you’re off duty, of course. That is, unless you are spoken for.”

Tonks hesitated. This was more than she had counted on, but it was only a drink he offered. And she couldn’t spend every moment of her life pining after a wolf who clearly didn’t want her. So she nodded in agreement.

Given the recent outcry about ending check service in the UK, I was surprised to see the statistic that 64% of Americans use online banking (which presumes more tech familiarity than, say, using an ATM). Most of this seems to be just checking balances rather than actively doing things with the accounts though, so maybe we're not in a better state after all.

I loved the Angel shout out in yesterday's Dollhouse, though I thought it went farther than simply a reference ( Read more... )

• noracharles: International fandom, again. - When you are in a discussion about tensions between cultures and prejudices against certain nationalities, and how Westerners (hint: especially Canadians and U.S. Americans) are generally ignorant, dismissive and fearful of people from certain countries, don't reframe the discussion to be about your own nation and culture, erasing and dismissing the actual people from actual different countries than your own whom you are currently talking to. -
  
  (tags: ethnicity fandom btvs ds sentinel)


• branchandroot: untitled - Were 6A ever called capitalist pigs? Multiple times in every heated post? Were they referred to at every turn as Americans or San Franciscans as though that somehow explained why they were bad? -
  
  (tags: sup lj ethnicity)


• bell: one discussion leads to another - However, the main reason I wanted to make this exchange public was to ask anyone reading my journals, on DW or on LJ, to not stereotype Russians in a similar way in comments to my posts. I feel it is phobic language in its own right, and just as I am trying to do away with ableist, racist, homophobic, and cis-privileged language, I would like to do with terminology and references that does not respect the complexity of a given culture and nation. -
  
  (tags: ethnicity fandom)


• cupidsbow: diigo vs delicious, and how to set up diigo - There are several reasons I have accounts on two social bookmarking sites. Mostly, I began by wanting a back-up site for my recs on delicious; but having now compared the functionality of diigo and delicious, diigo is the clear winner in nearly all respects. -
  
  (tags: delicious diigo howto)


• facetofcathy: Historical AUs and race--my thoughts and questions and no real answers. - We seem to have some kind of unspoken fandom consensus on this with respect to women in historical AUs, where they get to achieve a level of awesome about equivalent to a Jane Austen heroine, but are never quite too unbelievably modern, but I can't really find the conversation about race in historical AUs. -
  
  (tags: merlin sga race fanfic au)


• amber: come and play in my sandbox. - This isn't a Beginner's Guide to Dreamwidth, nor is it a comprehensive list of all the cool stuff the site has to offer. It's intended to be useful for people who want to RP here, and assumes prior experience in using a similar website to do so. -
  
  (tags: rpg dw)


• noracharles: Call for contributor guidelines to metafandom, and for more dw meta - How would you as a reader like to be made aware of interesting meta posted to dreamwidth, including the sort not accepted by metafandom? -
  
  (tags: dreamwidth meta poll)


• 51stcenturyfox: Let's talk about sex, baby - Sex means something, even PWP sex. -
  
  (tags: writing fanfic)


• marina: untitled - Now, we all know (well, maybe you don't) that ever since LJ was bought up by a Russian company the wank in English speaking fandom over THE KREMLIN TAKING OVER has been utterly insane. I remember when it first happened, I remember the initial panic (yes, panic) and how many people talked about feeling like LJ was on the verge of being purged of all that was "non conforming", everything that was "problematic" content. -
  
  (tags: lj sup ethnicity)

It's no secret: I love snow. I love snow days, especially, but it always seems to snow on the weekends around here (grrrr) so I've been out of luck for years. But it's snowing here (we're supposed to get, like, 20 inches) and I'm soooo excited! You know if I have Monday off, I get to stay in and write snow drabbles all day. SO everyone cross your fingers for me!

My weekend plans:
Saturday- sleep in on a Saturday for the first time in years. Write as much as possible. Enjoy large amounts of hot chocolate and gingerbread while watching the snow fall outside my window. I was going to go to a friend's holiday party but will have to see what the roads are like.

Sunday- I was told earlier this week that Sunday is Do Nothing But Read Day! http://donothingbutreadday.blogspot.com/2009/12/introducing-first-ever-do-nothing-but.html I'm going to try to participate. I've got all the requirements on hand: LOADS of books, slippers, Eeyore pajamas, snacks, hot chocolate, sleepy cats, blankies-- I'm set! Who's with me?!


Today was a nice day. I got a lot done at work, then we had our annual lunch. It was at an Indian restaurant so I didn't eat much. I sampled everything that was vegetarian and not curry-- none of which I liked and some of which I really hated-- but the rice was fine, as was the bread. But then people went out for drinks to say goodbye to a coworker; it was optional and I don't drink, so I went home and went out with my mother to buy groceries so we can survive the weekend (the lines were crazy bad LOL) and we bought & delivered a Hanukkah present to our former neighbors. For dinner I had vegan fettucine alfredo left over from the publications department holiday lunch on Thursday. And my kindred spirit told me I could open my Yule gift a few days early (I can wait, but in honor of the snow, I went for it). Robin Hood audio books read by Richard Armitage! Squeeeee! Oh, and my 2010 calendar arrived in the mail! It's the Calendar of WRock (proceeds of which go to the Harry Potter Alliance). And I started listening to Jingle Spells 3 today. And the Capitals are playing a game that starts in 20 minutes. All kinds of great things today. I just hope it's a good weekend. Can't wait to get snowed in and relax! :-)

Current Mood: chipper

Second rec installment for 2009... ( Read more... )

Seems to me it was past time to be doing this but at least one cancelled show is going to air its already produced episodes on YouTube. Then there is the new reality show that is going to air on Hulu before it gets broadcast on TV (but hey, if you're a "select international audience" you'll be able to watch it, too.)

Picked up from meret, maybe we'd get more female writers writing in Hollywood if no one ever met them. (And if you think the story is depressing, the comments have got quite a few more stories).

To offset the depression, my favorite outtake from Colbert's Sports Illustrated photo shoot.

If you are interested in becoming a link compiler, please send an e-mail to metafandom at gmail dot com.

• ladyoneill: sometimes it's like I'm thirty two all over again - So, please write what you want the way you want it! Don't change your stories because someone doesn't like it. Use constructive criticism if you must, but don't let it outweigh your own desires. -
  
  (tags: fanfic)



• kaigou | contemplating the leap: fanfiction and original fiction - The reviewer goes on to suggest that fanfiction works on a basis of potential plausibility, that is, giving the reader a situation or behavior not seen in canon that, when argued/presented by a skillful fanfic writer, become plausible (believable) extrapolations of the original character. But this also means paying more attention to the character's actions, mindsets, mannerisms, whatever, both to reinforce the character's shared story-origins -- eg speaking patterns, or facial expressions -- and then to overlay the subtle changes introduced by the fanfic's author. -
  
  (tags: fanfic creativity reading writing)


• synecdochic: wow. just .... wow. - Gender will be a mandatory field at account creation...LiveJournal is removing the Unspecified option for the gender field. That's right: you get to be male or female. Period. That's it. -
  
  (tags: LJ gender)



• skuf: Where's all the meta? - What do you think has influenced the seeming decline in general fandom meta as indicated by the fewer links in metafandom issues as compared to a couple of years ago -
  
  (tags: fandom poll meta newsletters)



• flourish: Fans, cultists, and enthusiasts - But it does help me see that we need greater granularity in our discussions of fandom. And yet, as was made crystal clear in my last post, it's always most appropriate to call people what they want to be called - and that's probably why I have such a knee-jerk negative reaction to the idea of being called an 'enthusiast.' I'm not a Harry Potter enthusiast, dammit! I'm a fan! -
  
  (tags: fandom terminology)


• thete1: "I know it's racist, Te, but the special effects look awesome!" - The simple fact of the matter is that every dollar you spend on these films (and TV shows, and books, and everything else) is a dollar telling Them -- yes, Them -- that it's just fine to piss all over me and other people of color for the sake of 'entertainment.' You're part of the problem. -
  
  (tags: media race)



• sheafrotherdon: The Stories We Tell - Yesterday I read...an AU set in the American Midwest after the War of 1812, and follows the fortunes of Sheppard, McKay, Weir, and Lorne as they travel west to lands granted to them, or bought, in northern Illinois. There they meet Teyla and the Athosian people who are, in this story, Native American.
  
  The story modifies the real historical record in several key ways, the most troubling of which was, to me, the erasure of the region's actual Native communities from the narrative....
  The author has, however, given me permission to post my thoughts here, and to reference our email conversation, in the hopes of promoting a larger discussion about historical AUs and the challenges and responsibilities inherent in writing about diverse cultures.
  
  (tags: sga mammothfail culture race privilege au history)

That I have some snowflake cookies on my user page! Yes, I am that dense. Thanks mabiana, entrenous88, and denyce! They're so fun and pretty and make me want to eat cookies RIGHT NOW!

Still suffering from my migraine, if it's not gone by Friday I'll call the Dr and see if I can go in and get a shot to break the cycle. For some reason my pills aren't working which is very unusual.

I got a christmas card from libco! Thanks so much sweetie.

Okay, it's 10:45 now and I need to try again to get some sleep as I have to get up at 4:30 so I can be at work on time. Night all!

OMG You must watch this! Dangerous Wands:

Okay, so only Nerdfighters are going to understand this but... Yetibaby is a boy! Congrats! WOW! A little baby nerdfighter on the way. Awwwww :-)

Tonight after work I went to see Where the Wild Things Are at the theater across from where I work (literally; I can practically pick up my organization's wireless network from there). There was about an hour to kill, though, so I sat down and wrote Spanderfic. Which was funny because the people who worked at the movie theater were standing around talking and suddenly started talking about Buffy. LOL One made a deal with another that if she finished Buffy before the end of the year, he'd buy her another DVD as a reward. Reward for watching Buffy? Where can I get one of those?! I just found it funny that I was writing in the fandom and then, half an hour later, they started talking about it. heehee

Anyway, the movie... made me feel stupid. I didn't quite *get* it. I keep trying to make sense of the strange... but I can't. Of course, I didn't fully understand Velvet Goldmine the first time around either and I ended up naming my cat after that movie. LOL But I don't think that's the kind of movie this is. Besides, my cat is already named Max. LMAO But, yeah. It was weird. And... disturbing. And... frustrating because I can't figure it out. Also, I spent a good THIRD of the movie trying to figure out who the voice talent was; I really should have looked it up before going to save myself the effort. The music was great. The Wild Things were really well done. But... I don't think I understand it. It eludes me.

And Maxwell is sitting on my keyboard.

Current Mood: confused

I finally stopped flipping out long enough to remember what I read about giving permission. I gave myself permission to be crazy, and I gave the swirling worry permission to exist. Magic. Went from pacing to sitting down and finishing a sock to relatively functional calm. Not that this is a permanent change. But it's a lovely step in the process.

Of course, not until I'd bombarded alh with too many emails, but she's gracious, so it was OK.

I've been folding clothes and talking to myself, which may seem odd, but that's OK. It's helping. Later, I go get trained in PetCo's method of kitty care-taking for their contingent of CAT cats.

Current Mood: moody

It's 4 degrees below zero. I'm glad it's warmed up a bit. Yesterday, I had to bring in the bird feeder, scrape ice off it, and run hot water over the lid so that I could open and fill it. But it's very pretty out there, with lots of snow on the ground.

It's also nice to see Christmas decorations going up. My favorite so far is about a half mile from my house. Someone has set up store mannequins in pink prom dresses and attached gold wings as part of his display. It looks like he's filming Attack of the Freaky Paris Hilton Angels.

During the time it took to write this, the temp dropped to minus 3. I'd probably feel warmer if I got rid of the Weather Bug at the bottom of the screen.

It's not the end of the year yet, but I'm leaving town next week, so I figured I'd start posting some recs for the year this week and wrap up when I return. ( Read more... )

( ramblings, not coherent, ignore )

In saner news, my back isn't bad today. Standing around on cold asphalt over the weekend wasn't really good for it, so this is a win. I think Terminator Stout is much better for it than oxycodone--I can still walk around, and I'm not nauseated, and my back just relaxes. Oxycodone involves passing out and waking up shaped like a pretzel, with even more back pain. That just isn't right.

We survived a total of eight hours of standing in the cold (two shifts, four hours each), working at the Holiday Express fundraiser for the Portland steam engines and their new home. The fun part was watching the 4449 in action. And I wore antlers. Frightened two dogs and three children.

The wildlife refuge area on the other side of the train tracks is pond-like, and froze in the cold; yesterday, it attracted walkers, skaters, and few sleds. I was a little worried about that, as the temps were rising, but we didn't see anyone fall though the ice. (We were on the trail next to the train, warning bicyclists and runners of the traffic jam ahead during loading and unloading.)

I could not have done a longer shift; as it was, when we got home Saturday, I staggered around and did a little laundry, and then fell asleep. Yesterday, I was wound up, so I didn't sleep in the afternoon, but I did crash early in the evening, after a lovely hot bath.

OH!! There's a roller rink at the park where we were. I didn't know that, or I'd forgotten. I think I want to go skate! I wonder whether that skill comes back...

I've been practicing doing the half-right thing, which actually led to some of the mess in the bedroom dwindling. It's not gone, but I think if I hadn't reminded myself, it would still all be a huge pile. Instead of a half-pile. ;-) It seems to be rewiring the thing in my head that's confused about time, just a bit.

And now, after a brief bout of freaking out, I'm going to go eat, and then empty the dishwasher. No, I didn't really need to tell anyone that, but I want the record. If you weren't used to the boring you wouldn't be here.

edited several times because I don't make sense

Current Mood: hopeful

Last weekend was spent baking. Started this weekend off with decorating the house, doing the last of the shopping - only I still have to go out at least once more as one of the big presents for DH will have to be ordered - and doing my Christmas cards for work. I had other plans for today but the migraine that's been hanging at the fringes for the last week settled in to stay today. DH was wonderful about making sure I took my meds and took it easy but I still feel bad. I guess I scared him a bit, he kept asking me how I was doing and told me I was super pale. I'd like to take another pill now but that would most likely mean no sleep tonight and I need to get my rest.

Tomorrow we go back to the surgeon to make sure DH is okay for the second surgery. If all looks good they'll start the process to get it scheduled. He's in a really positive frame of mind right now, I hope that holds through the actual surgery.

It was rather cold here last week but it's warming up nicely now. We're expecting rain most of this week. I'd rather have some snow but I could pass on the ice. It was so cold our fish pond froze over with several inches of ice. We have a small opening for the pump so the fish can get oxygen but that's it. The sooner that melts the better. The plug for the main pump blew in the cold and froze while we were sleeping. Once it thaws we'll check it out and see if it was ruined by freezing. I sure hope not as those are super expensive. And this one is brand new! Not even a year old yet I don't think.

Night all, stay warm and safe!

• vito_excalibur: from the point of view of a lay user who knows very little about anything - The problem with trying to improve social media is that the important part of that noun phrase is the social.... So DW improves the medium part of the LJ clone social medium, and it doesn't matter that much, because the social part is much worse. -
  
  (tags: fandom blogging LJ dreamwidth)



• traveller: so you want to write fanfictions on the internets - A loosely organized and certainly incomplete manifesto for you, Dear Writer, containing advice, suggestions, tips, positive affirmations, and a great many four letter words. -
  
  (tags: writing fanfic)

Title: The Hangover
Author: KateKintail
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Rubeus Hagrid/Horace Slughorn
Disclaimer: JKR’s characters. I play for free and for fun.
Summary: That much elf-made wine can get you into trouble
Notes: Written for the LJ hpdaisychain Hagrid/Slughorn pairing link. I thought it would be fun to try writing a drabble for each pairing that comes up.

( The Hangover )

Two interesting bits of info from Nielsen. One from last month noted that TV viewing hours are higher than ever in history, even though you wouldn't expect it from the all the constant fretting about declining network ratings. In fact "The average household watched eight hours and 21 minutes a day."

At the same time, the most time-shifted programming on TV is sci-fi heavy whereas the highest rated stuff is sports, reality programming, and the obligatory procedural. This data suggests that many sci-fi viewers (nearly half the audience for the top ten shows) have other things to do while the show is actually on.

And this isn't even counting all the people who watch it through torrents or streaming sites.

And now, a question. Does anyone use water filters in their homes that are either carafes, faucet attachments or counter top filters, and if so what do you use and are you happy with them?

All righty. Here's the page where all the magic will happen!
http://tgsrealm.beastlet.com/stories/12Ficlets12Days/

As of this posting, there are 4 spots open still. If they don't get filled, I will write surprise gifts of my choice. But if you want your request included, go back a few posts to see what info I need you to give me.

Current Mood: excited

I rarely look around YouTube, but when I stumbled over this tonight I suspected many on my cat-loving flist would want to see it as well. A lovely vid of firefighters saving (quite a few) cats from a fire.

[Babylon 5] spacelogic: meta: squicks and siblings: "Claudia Christian mentioned in a blog post the other day that a B5 director (...) had told her to play her scenes with Sheridan more "sexy and coquettish" and I had such a strong "EWNOGROSS" reaction that I had to step back and analyze why."

[Stargate/SGA] rood: On Stargate And Why It Will Never Be Among My Favourite Series: "And not only are the languages pure decoration and occasional plot device: the cultures are, too."

As part of her reply to a five-questions meme, the_rck responds to Does it feel weird being a 'mom' in fandom?

IJ-related:

Permanently Insane accounts are on sale throughout December, until January 3rd.

squeaky explained that the issues with email notifications are apparently caused by spammers using the site. Some sub threads deal with different email providers and how to circumvent their blocking of IJ messages. It also says that, if your account is being suspended by mistake, you should open a support request in the Abuse category.

Is it just me, or do the Salvation Army bell ringers come out earlier and earlier every year? This year I think they hit the streets near me on November 15th or 16th. There used to be this especially aggressive bell ringer at the local Wal-mart, who would literally get all up in your face ringing his bell with a very stern "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" if you didn't put anything in his kettle. So... I would park and then walk to the other side of the parking lot and use the smaller entrance just to avoid the guy. But he's sort of the crazy exception.

I always feel extremely awkward when approaching & passing the Salvation Army bell ringers. I refuse to donate to them because:
1- I don't give money to religious organizations
2- Their treatment of gay people is unfair and awful
3- I give my hard-earned money to plenty of other organizations I do agree with who do good in this world

Most of the time I feel guilty while passing them anyway because they're there IN PERSON. It's harder to ignore people face-to-face than it is over the phone or by mail. Which, I presume, is the whole point of their existence. I feel like I'm a bad person when I walk towards them and they say Hello or Good Day or Merry Christmas all nice and cheery-like and I don't even drop a quarter in. But wouldn't that just encourage them more? And I don't want them there. I end up panicking almost, wondering how close I can walk or if it will look stupid to duck around that column and into the doors on that route, vs. walking straight past. Once or twice I've done the "is there something in my pocket? Let me pat them and check. No? Okay, sorry" thing but that just makes me look like an asshat. LOL So I just smile back and wish them a good day, too. Even though I don't WANT them there, judging me and watching me and wanting my money. I don't want them to have a good day, really. I mean, I'm sure they're incredibly nice people (though, the things I've heard about the members of the church in general which highlight that they're a kind of secret society with their own traditions; some even get married in full Salvationist outfits and there's something about how Salvationist officers are only allowed to marry other officers and cake is allowed only if the couple says grace before eating) and I have nothing against the people, except that they're supporting an organization that discriminates openly and unapologetically against people. And maybe I'm no different; maybe I'm discriminating against them the way they are with gay people. but the point is, they have their moral codes and I have mine. Good on them to want to help people... but I disagree with the way they do it.

And then you've got the other 1% of times I walk past them and suddenly that bit of dialogue from Queer as Folk between Brian and his mother springs to mind.
Mrs. Kinney: I hope you've come to ask forgiveness.
Brian: Not exactly.
Mrs. Kinney: It's the only salvation there is.
Brian: What about the Salvation Army?
And that makes me smile and smiling over a line in a gay drama series while passing by the kettle of an organization which is against gays is just a strange irony.

As soon as they start helping everyone equally I'd be happy to give them a quarter every time I pass them. But, until that day comes, I hate having to go through this awkward song and dance and guilt trip every time I want to pop into the grocery store for food.

Current Mood: annoyed

So, I think I might be getting sick with whatever the parents are getting over. Goody goody. And guess how much sick leave I have left before January 10? 1 hour. Not one day, mind you. 1 hour. Which means I'll have to use annual leave if I take a sick day or two. Which.. I might do if I get worse than I am now. I'd say I'm at, like 75% right now.

It's a good cold, though. Honestly, just a headache that I've had for days and sneezing/a runny nose. I NEVER have a cold like this (it's always the really awful kind with the sore throat and coughing which results in v-ing). So it's kind of nice to have one that's simple and painless for a change. With the exception of the normal misery which is SO much cuter when it's a cute guy going through this and not me. LOL!

The worst part about taking sick days is that, being sick, I get nothing done except for sleeping. I hate not feeling up to *doing* anything. And I have sooooooooooooo much I need & want to do at work. And a lot I need to do at home as well. *sigh* I wish I could take sick days when I'm not sick so I could do fun stuff. But I'd feel so guilty the whole time. LOL And, I'll reiterate that I only have 1 hour of sick leave. So I'd be taking a vacation day regardless.


Aside from my current "am I getting sick?"ness today, I've had a good week. I saw Amelia with friends in the theater on Tuesday. It was just as good the second time around. In fact, this time I was just as squee-y over Ewan and in awe of Amelia and incredibly impressed with Christopher's acting.

On Sunday we had our annual BookCrossing holiday party. So many of our group turned out, and it was a lot of fun to see them and talk to them all. We repeated the fun activity of wrapping books and putting their first lines on the outside, so we have to choose the books we want based on the first lines alone, then rip off the wrappings and see what's inside. I ended up with a couple books I'd already read/acquired (which makes sense, actually, that I would be attached to those particular lines a second time around) and one off my wish list that I'm THRILLED to get. It's such a generous, fun group of book lovers. I feel very lucky to have them in my life. Now all we have to do is put together a huge convention together without ODing on the excitement or killing each other. LOL

And, speaking of book news, I'm SO behind on my book reviews. But I'm almost finally done with Hunk House. Which is a great thing because it's one of the worst books I've ever read! I've been listening to the 5 new Wizard Rock albums I got this week (there's a duet about Sirius & Regulus that just rocks my socks off... and another about the Snape & Lupin relationship that is so good... and how could you resist "My Dad Is Rich (On a Boat)"?) so I haven't been earreading at work or in the car. But I look forward to finding out how Harry Potter 4 turns out... again. heehee

OH! Wizard Rock news! Tickets for Sonorus 2010 went on sale today! If anyone's looking to go to a Wizard Rock concert and can make it to Sonorus, I highly encourage you to do so, because it's going to be all kinds of awesome! http://sonorus2010.com/ I'm especially excited about it because there are so many bands I've never seen before coming, and a lot of great ones I have seen as well. I'm dying to see Swish and Flick a second time. Same goes for Nagini. Standing in Line was supposed to have been a huge hit at Wrockstock. And I love Bella and Le Strangers' song on the Draco and the Malfoys Tribute album. Not all the bands have been announced, but as of the current listing, there will be 6 bands I've seen before and 7 I've never seen in person before. And it's so close to home for me. No driving to Pennsylvania or New York or Chicago. It's the first time there's ever been anything like this so nearby and I can't wait for the awesomeness to begin!

Current Mood: sick

I'm still racked with guilt over the hundreds of fics I've promised y'all and have not delivered on. I'm actually pretty far ahead with a few more of them, but I wanted to reassure you that I haven't forgotten them!

But this year, I'm going to try something different in hopes that it will work. This year on my journal I'm planning on doing The 12 Days of Ficlets! Starting Christmas and continuing for the full 12 days, I'll post 1 a day. Which means that I've got 12 vacant slots.

So what do you need to do?
Be one of the first 12 to post a reply to this post on my IJ or my LJ!
In your post, tell me what fandom, pairing, situation, rating, and/or character you want me to write for you.

Limitations:
It's got to be original fic or a fandom I'm really familiar with. I can't do really obscure things that requires research & source material reviewing because I won't have time for that. I can't do elaborate situations either if I'm writing one every day. So keep your demands short and sweet (but as specific as you want within that scope).
If I reply and say I can't write what you want and I need you to pick another, you won't lose your "spot". But you need to suggest something the first time around.

So... who wants a ficlet? *rubs hands together over keyboard in preparation*

Current Mood: contemplative

I picked up a rec for this from veni_vidi_vids and have to agree that this is one of the best series vids for Queer as Folk I've yet seen. I love the way the various characters get their moments and there's a real feeling of the large ensemble that made up this cast. If you haven't seen it yet, check out Unconditional by dreamrequiem.

Wow, are we having a winter storm here. Barely any snow as of yet but I couldn't sleep this morning from the force of the wind outside rattling the building. It's even distracting me now that I'm awake, and we had to go rescue some of the balcony Christmas stuff already. I'm just really glad I don't have to go catch a bus today.

I've posted the following to sim_studies but also wanted to include it here.( Read more... )

Back from dentist with freshly-filled tooth; it was the last old amalgam, which had been getting looser over time. Still numb. Tried drinking a little coffee, but it's not safe yet (got more on my chin than in my mouth), and I'm currently at the stage where I have to be careful to not bite myself.

( Dentist wasn't so bad. My brain is a strange place. )

Current Mood: cold

1) ICONS! On DW: "You can now rename icon keywords and the comments that use that icon will continue to use it -- it will no longer revert to default."

One of the main reasons people need more icon space is so that their old icons don't disappear if they want to add new ones. This is a much needed, great new feature. (There are some nice new features for community maintainers too). Also, DW is running a poll asking people how many icon slots they would like to see offered in the future, so if this matters to you, go vote. Plus, there is another poll about whether you would like to be able to "retire" icons from your icon page. This means that the icons will remain attached to their old appearances in posts and comments, but you won't have them currently available for use, and thus won't have to sort through them on your icon page when you're looking through the batch of icons you currently are actively using.

Just as an aside, it's pretty nifty to have new options spring out of current discussions so quickly. There is a major personal touch in the way DW is run.

2) Reading this Sequential Tart posting that asked "Are Dolls at all culpable for crimes committed by imprints? Do we ever really stop being ourselves? Do our selves really exist at all?" made me think of the latest Castle episode. About partway through I asked Mike, "Doesn't this make you think of Dollhouse?" all the more so due to Marc Blucas' being a guest star. Then, too, the "ice holes" made me think of Stephen Colbert.

3) Speaking of that Sequential Tarts post, there was this line: "As Topher pointed out to Boyd …we're programmed every day, by the media and by our social interactions; does it really matter how the programming is done?" ( Read more... )