dira | Reading

GryphonsLair/Diane Echelbarger died peacefully this afternoon in hospice.

We were close and then very close and then not close. We reconnected some in October. She was stubborn, ferociously independent, kind, difficult, strong, smart, funny ... I will miss her, I will mourn her, I will remember her.

What else is there to say?

Crossposts: http://commodorified.livejournal.com/423395.html

resonant

The Boycat has spent the past week at the vet; he's still a very sick kitty, and one whose health and life expectancy are unknowns at this point, but he came home today, and ate a little bit, and is now sleeping under the kidlet's bed, purring whenever anyone speaks to him.

It's kidney failure, just like the Ladycat, except that he's young and was pretty healthy before. There's some hope that the failure might have been the result of some other problem (like a bladder infection) and that if the problem is taken care of, the kidneys will be functioning well enough for everyday life.

Or possibly not. At this point there's no way of knowing.

Bleakly funny, though: When the spouse took him in last Friday, the vet said, "I estimate this has a 50/50 chance of saving his life, and we're closed all weekend, so we'll call you Monday with an update." So we spent the entire weekend not knowing whether he was alive or dead -- we had a literal Schrodinger's cat.

ellen_fremedon

If I were not already resolved to find a new apartment when the lease on this one runs out, the service request form I just submitted would have decided me:

The hinges in my kitchen cabinets have begun exuding a tarry, black substance. When I scrub it away, more appears within a week or so, and it's also appearing at the joint in the wood closest to the hinge, which leads me to suspect it may be a product of the breakdown of some adhesive used in the cabinets' construction.

Whatever it is, it keeps coming back and it has a tendency to grow mold, very rapidly. I think at this point all the cabinet doors probably need replacing, and the facing on the cabinets themselves may also need to go if this stuff has gotten too deeply embedded in the wood.

I just-- HOW? How is this even a thing in my life?

riverlight

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Crossposts: http://riverlight.livejournal.com/144106.html

ellen_fremedon

Bread has become a sometimes food at my house. I can't eat a whole loaf before it goes stale, and I'm not very good at using up breadcrumbs and croutons. So when I do splurge on some bread, it needs to be my staple starch for the week.

I had a hankering for tuna melts, so I bought a loaf of a very nice seedless rye last weekend, and I thought ahead when I bought it of what I could do with it when I got tired of sandwiches. I had a block of cheddar on hand, so I considered getting some beer and cream and making Welsh rarebit. And I had a bag of onions and a freezer full of goat stock, so I thought I might make French onion soup, only with rye and cheddar instead of a baguette and gruyere.

And then I realized I could combine them.

And then I thought, is there any way to incorporate bacon into this dish? And my mind immediately went to the Hot Brown sandwich, which is topped in a gratineed cheese sauce.

Hence, the Brown French Rabbit:

Step 1: Make French onion soup**. Use whatever recipe you like, but substitute porter for the wine.
Step 2: Make Welsh Rarebit. I used Alton Brown's recipe.
Step 3: Cook bacon. Toast rye bread. Fill each heatproof individual serving bowl with soup, top with toast, crumbled bacon, and rarebit. Pop into very hot oven, or under broiler, until the top is bubbly and turning brown and crispy in places.
Step 4: Serve, with the rest of the bottle of beer you cracked for the rarebit. FOODGASM OMG.

This is pretty much the definition of sometimes food-- I couldn't imagine making it more than once a year, and my entire dinner was a comically tiny bowl of this stuff-- but dear god is it good.

(The quality of your bread, beer, and cheese will determine the quality of the dish, so use the good stuff. I'm using Flying Dog's Road Dog Porter in the rarebit and the soup, and it's quite tasty.)

**A note on the soup. I took a shortcut and cooked my onions all day in the crockpot with a bay leaf and some thyme and half a bottle of beer. They didn't pick up a lot of color, though there was some browning, but they turned out almost as sweet as if I'd roasted them in the oven.

To get a little Maillard reaction, tonight I took the crock-pot out of its cradle, spooned a third of the onions into a sieve, and set the sieve over the crock-pot to drain. I cooked the bacon in the bottom of a dutch oven, and when it was done I put the drained onions in to brown in the bacon fat (and spooned another third of them into the sieve to drain and added them after a couple of minutes). I cooked two-thirds of the onions over medium heat until they were browning noticeably while I prepared my mise en place for the rarebit (which needs it. Measure everything ahead of time; it comes together fast, but once you start the roux it's all active time.) I deglazed the pot with my stock, added the rest of the onions and their liquid from the crock-pot, and brought the whole thing to a simmer while I heated the broiler and made the rarebit. The result isn't the richest possible onion soup, but it is a very satisfactory onion soup and it came together in the time it took to do everything else.

*Anyone know of a breed of brown French rabbit that doesn't contain the name of another color or foodstuff? I can find the Argente Brun and the Brun Marron de Lorraine, but neither of those sounds quite suitable.

lamardeuse

Cinda of the Big Apple, if you are out there, could you please get in touch with me? I tried emailing you on the addys I had, but they do not seem to be working! lamardeuse at gmx dot com, please and thanks! I have a Thing for you! :)

Crossposts: http://lamardeuse.livejournal.com/1040546.html

cereta

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Crossposts: http://cereta.livejournal.com/970851.html

nemo_r posting in

kink_finders

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kass

...that someone really ought to write a story where the TARDIS travels into some Biblical narrative and hijinks ensue.

If this doesn't get written for

purimgifts, I am totally going to suggest it for

in_the_beginning. I'm just saying.

Crossposts: http://kassrachel.livejournal.com/970197.html

patrickrothfussblog_feed

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PatrickRothfuss/~3/uJDAskDZ9bw/

So Worldbuilders wrapped up yesterday. While we still have a lot of work to do, assigning and shipping out prizes over the next couple weeks, there was a general sense of exhausted triumph in the air.
I won’t lie to you, it’s a lot of work making worldbuilders happen. It’s exhausting at times. But y’all made [...]

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PatrickRothfuss/~3/uJDAskDZ9bw/

commodorified

The Catholic Church placed an ad in Montreal newspapers Thursday encouraging people to pray for an eighth-place finish — and a playoff spot — for the Montreal Canadiens.

The ad shows the Eastern Conference standings with every team listed except the Canadiens. In eighth place, the final playoff spot, it simply says, "Let Us Pray."

ETA:

kyriacarlisle brings us the full glory:

Crossposts: http://commodorified.livejournal.com/423061.html

commodorified

So I found one of these coats at a vintage store yesterday:

Only blue:

(I didn't like the conch-and-tassel detail, so I trimmed them off. I am not sure if I regret this. Googling suggests it's not a vital component, just one trim style among many)

With no tag on it. When asked, the woman behind the counter said, $40.00.

I was sort of wavering over it, not because I don't know what a Woolrich blanket coat is worth but just, oh, I dunno, was it like or was it love, you know?

... until she pointed out that she was putting all the winter coats on 1/2 price in a week anyway and offered it to me for $20.00.

I am torn between extreme snugness and mild guilt.

But having actually worn it, not to mention lent it to

lookingforserenity at the hockey last night, it's definitely love. It makes me miss my late lamented Australian leather hat, but it will set off my nice new Tilley winter hat extremely well.

*gloats*

Crossposts: http://commodorified.livejournal.com/422744.html

celli

For those of you new to the taxfic challenge, it's like this:

1) write a fic in any fandom
2) put some kind of taxes in it
3) YOU WIN!

Kinds of taxes: income, sales, estate, payroll, self-employment, VAT, sin, excise, penalty, and more.

This year's Brownie Points Round: include the phrase "Premature distribution," (because

out_there and I are 12), with or without a tax connotation, and/or write a story exactly 1040 words long.

Deadline is Tuesday, April 17, your federal tax deadline (the 15th is a weekend, and the 16th is a holiday in DC, so everyone gets the extra day, taxpayers and taxwriters alike).

Where do you put your fic? Well, you can post it on the journaling service/website of your choice and link me. You can also post it to AO3, and mark it as part of the Taxfic Collection - here is this year's, all ready for you.

Got a question? Need a prompt? Come find me!

Crossposts: http://celli.livejournal.com/1296983.html

commodorified

kd5mdk and I are Running Off this weekend for Super Sekkrit Getaway.

We have just found out that we cannot hike Turtleback Mountain.

Most probable alternative?

ELEPHANT BUTT[E] PARK.

ETA: Benet has just drawn my bemused attention to the Battle of Frenchman's Butte. As one does.

Crossposts: http://commodorified.livejournal.com/422617.html

toft

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kass

Hi hi internets!

I have a new haircut and I feel adorable. I am planning to wear a kicky dress and boots tomorrow just because I feel so awesome. (It will, of course, also be work-appropriate. Just...work-appropriate and cute.)

I posted a vid today! and even though so far I'm not sure anyone has watched it yet, I am in love with it, so that is a happy thing.

And I've been idly toying with more id-fic in my head, and even though I'm not sure this one merits writing down (seriously: it is every cliché in the book), it is pleasing me greatly.

And the sun is shining and the sky is blue! And tonight I get to leave the kidlet with a sitter and have dinner out with

squirrelhaven.

And then my sweetie will come home (probably after I'm already asleep, but still), and on Saturday we get a

sanj. FTW.

Crossposts: http://kassrachel.livejournal.com/969896.html

copperbadge

BUDGET: MOTHERFUCKING OWNED.

I met with my bosses this morning to get next year's budget approved, and as I was able to show my work in calculating consultant fees and travel expenses, they gave me the go ahead. I just logged into our finances website and entered next year's budget. This is exciting to nobody but me, because:

1. Accountants and other financial people: do this shit all the time, very unimpressed.
2. Everyone else: will never have to do this shit and therefore has no context for the glory of my accomplishment.
3. It's not like I climbed a mountain and fought a werewolf with a sword or something. I typed a bunch of numbers into a cloud-based spreadsheet.

But let me tell you: IT'S GLORIOUS.

lamardeuse

Day 2 of the Lewis Week of Love is here, and you can post your links/recs/icons/meta/artwork/fic/etc. at today's post, which is about love in a different setting (AUs). Here's my contribution:

Life During Wartime (Lewis/Hathaway, PG, 950 words)

I'm going to try to write something for every challenge I can, but I'm a little stumped on tomorrow's prompt, which is "dark and twisted love". If anybody has any Lewis/Hathaway ideas, feel free to let me know in comments! :)

Crossposts: http://lamardeuse.livejournal.com/1040373.html

lamardeuse

Laurence Fox, I love you.

(to save you the trouble: definition of a henman)

ETA: And btw, this is what Kev's hair looks like at the moment:

(source)

Crossposts: http://lamardeuse.livejournal.com/1039926.html

celli

A Cry For Help (2875 words) by

Pistol
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Losers - All Media Types, The Losers (2010)
Rating: Not Rated
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez/Jake Jensen
Characters: Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez, Jake Jensen, Linwood "Pooch" Porteous, Franklin Clay, William Roque, Jolene (The Losers)
Summary: A short and cracky Office!AU where Jolene is probably the sanest person in the building.

"Fucker was at MIT getting a degree in computers or some shit when Jennifer, his sister, tried to light me on fire. She..." Clay winces. "may have found me in bed with my former secretary." Clay wanders over to refill his glass. "The next day Jensen dropped out and was listed in HR as my new secretary. No one remembered hiring him, and every time we fire him he's back on the payroll by the next day."

I may have to go outside so I can laugh hysterically and not freak my coworkers out. WHAT HOW AWESOME I CAN'T EVEN.

Rec of recs:

grlnamedlucifer has a whole page of Once Upon a Time recs that are totally on my todo list for the near future. Mostly Red/Ruby-focused, but Emma and Regina and the Charmings too.

And did I mention that

talumin made my Die Hard vid? Because yes, and it remains awesome, and I have all the love for it. :)

***

Someone said of me yesterday, quote, "You are a truly amazing human being with a mind like a steel trap." I read that to slod and she made a very unflattering face. (Unflattering to me; she looked fine.) I had done some really tricky tax research to earn that compliment, so I'm happy. Even if my mind is the opposite of a steel trap when taxes are not involved. I actually spent about ten minutes on the train this morning freaking out because I was desperately worried about something and I couldn't remember what.

***

I've started answering questions from yesterday:

the first fandoms I wrote in

my inappropriate relationship with Mt. Dew

the layman's version of Earned Income Tax Credit

my ~feelings~ about taxes (long) and my kittehs, with illustrations (of the cats, not the taxes. so far.)

my non-ambitious ambitions

Still working on the others, and still open for new questions, if you are so inclined.

***

Does anyone here have Peggle on their Android phone? I can't freaking beat one of the Zen levels and it is DRIVING ME BATTY.

(...I HEARD that.)

Crossposts: http://celli.livejournal.com/1296886.html

lamardeuse

OMG, you guys,

misspamela has written the most smoking hot Esca/Marcus ficlet involving the boys and a bath. \o/

"You can educate me on how wrong this is later," Esca said, and that was all the warning he got.

*thud*

Crossposts: http://lamardeuse.livejournal.com/1039640.html

riverlight

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Crossposts: http://riverlight.livejournal.com/143774.html

kass

I made another Doctor Who vid! Because I am in that stage of fannish love where everything reminds me of my characters and my show, and this song leapt out at me and demanded to be vidded.

title: Luckiness
vidder: Kass
fandom: Doctor Who (2005)
artist: Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3
duration/filesize: 3:08, 31.9 MB
spoilers: all of Eleven through "The Wedding of River Song"

Eleven is lucky.

Many thanks to

kouredios for sharing my squee, and to

heresluck for tech help!

Stream the vid at blip.tv (or below the cut-tag); download from my vids page.

(I'm not sure that blip.tv streaming always works on lj; lj users, I apologize, please click over to the dw version of the post or to blip.tv to see the streaming vid.)

( Lyrics )

( Notes )

( Streaming vid, right this way! )

Crossposts: http://kassrachel.livejournal.com/969678.html

cofax7

I can't get to Tumblr during work hours, so this is just a placeholder for later: this is what a scientist looks like. (H/t to BoingBoing)

*

There's a new EPUB reader for Macs called Bookle. I rather disagree with its characterization of Calibre (which I find generally useful, if not perfect in its interactions with the Kindle Fire), but I thought folks might want the heads up.

*

The Mary Sue has a surprisingly political post about the portrayal of abortion in two different genre properties. I know TMS is a corporate site, but I like it--and it doesn't crash my browser the way so many others do.

Alyssa Rosenberg, on the other hand, is quite happy to get political in her posts. Here, she examines what Glee is saying about the public education system.

I had the privilege of meeting Anita Sarkeesian, of Feminist Frequency, last year (and sharing fic recs with her, hah!). So it's nice to see that she's getting a lot of justified attention with her series of videos on Lego's gender fail.

For the Downton Abbey fans: Anibundel has a great post by JHarper on the staffing woes of the Crawleys.

As for me, I'm finally caught up on DA. Thank you PBS for streaming episodes!

Crossposts: http://cofax7.livejournal.com/870548.html

tevere

I think it took me four years to finish this story because, early on, I realised I was basically writing it for an audience of one *g*. Hands up anyone who even remembers this canonical pairing!

You'll have to have seen the Season 1 episode 'Vick's Chip' for this story to make much sense.( Or maybe you could get away with just knowing this much about the episode. ) I could write paragraphs of meta about how much I love that episode: the complex, layered parallels between humans who protect and kill, and machines who do the same; Sarah's compassion and sorrow; John's realisation of the true alienness of machines.

"All of us wear masks. They can be worn out of love and the desire to remain close to those around us. To spare them from the complicated realities of our frayed psyches. We trade honesty for companionship and in the process never truly know the hearts closest to us."

God, I miss this show.

Fandom: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Title: Someone I Used To Know
Pairing: Barbara Chamberlain/Vick Chamberlain
Length: 12,055
Rating: Some het sex of the human/robot variety
Warnings: There's nothing in the story itself, but if you've seen the episode you'll probably be reminded of its scene of horrific domestic violence.
Summary: This is the story of Mr. and Mrs. Vick Chamberlain.

Crossposts: http://tevere.livejournal.com/61002.html

toft

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mark posting in

dw_maintenance

Hi all,

We are currently working around a problem with our static file serving -- i.e., JavaScript, CSS, and image files. I had to move these back to our main web frontend instead of using the fast static frontend.

The root cause is that our hosting provider, ServerBeach, reassigned the IP address we were using for static content. They assigned it to one fo the new machines they are building for us. Given the vagaries of networks, I can't unassign that IP easily on my end. I have to kill the machine and it's still in provisioning, so I don't have access to it yet.

In order to work around this problem, I've had to make two changes -- use the main Perlbal infrastructure and turn off an optimization we use -- this is going to cause things to load a little slower. I will be working this evening to resolve the problem in a more efficient way.

My apologies for the issue here. I don't know why they reassigned our IP address, but as soon as I figure out what happened, I will let you know.

Thanks for your patience.

alchemia posting in

fanlore

I just received the email below. Is there some way Fanlore can try to prevent high-volume/mass emailings from the site (especially from newly created user accounts like this one)?( Read more... )

mollyamory

Woe! For I am cranky. A number of things are making me cranky, actually. For ease of reading I have compiled them into a list.

1. I bought a Kindle Fire today, for no discernible reason. I have an iPad. My room mate has been berating me all night, first via text message, then in the car, and the rest of the evening through stern, bemused looks. I don't know, what can I tell you. The shiny has been calling to me for a WHILE. Let's try not to think of it as me being ridiculous right now. Instead, concentrate on how strong I was not to buy it before!

2. I am two days into my new job, and suddenly, instead of writing deathless prose about how not to fuck up on twitter and cute little pieces about how to improve your heart health, they expect me to do actual work. Like. WORK. You know!? Suddenly my serene cube is not quite so serene. There's PAPER in it. Paper, with big black clippies holding it together!

3. I have this new Kindle Fire coming, but sadly, all books are suddenly bad. I don't know what happened. Is it age? Am I just too old for everything being written now? All I want is a book with an actual story in it, in the sci-fi or fantasy or horror genre -- a story which is not merely the stage upon which some plucky smart-ass heroine runs around trying to choose between supernatural boyfriends. It is maddening how many books of this nature you have to wade through to find one single book that is about the actual story, and then once you do find this rare gem of a book, upon opening it you find that it is boring or badly written. Or both.

Don't get me wrong, I am no critic of romance as a genre - I love the stuff, particularly if it comes with old English manors and ... old English manners. But of plucky smart-ass heroines and their tattoos and leather pants and werewolf demon angel vampire ghost wizard warlock boyfriends I have had enough, okay? Get thee behind me, Charlaine Harris! I am over you and your wannabes in particular. I just want a book in which somebody gets EATEN, okay? And when that happens I want it to be about the eating, not about whose hairy or undead arms the protagoine falls into after she witnesses it.

(I know, I have ranted this rant before. But it's STILL HAPPENING. Stephen King is hit or miss these days, I'm totally up to date on Temeraire, and I finished The Serpent Sea mere minutes after it came out (and if you haven't read The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea yet, omg, what are you still doing here? GO!)

In other words, book recs appreciated. *kof* kthxbai.

4. I rented Apollo 18 the other night because I had heard it was decently scary and it turned out to be about ( ZOMG! ) Ugh. I did not approve. By which I mean I have a PHOBIA. No more of that. Thank you.

Here, though, are a few things NOT making me cranky:

1) Supernatural, which is still so much of the awesome I can't handle it. Honestly, I have just had to come to terms with the fact that I'm broken where it comes to this show. Sam and Dean could spend the entire episode kicking puppies and I'd be happy as long as they explored their feelings about it together afterward. But in particular, the last two episodes have made me happy, with their teasing and banter and saving of each other and just generally being together and happy about that even if they're miserable about everything else. YAY SHOW!

2) White Collar, which is suddenly the Season of My Utter Happiness and Joy. They have not done a single thing I don't like in SUCH a long time. I love them ALL. I am like. I am FIZZING with happy over how this show is going.

3) Justified, which is still bringing so much crazy I can't even. I think what I love best about this show is that underneath all the other things it's about, it is MOSTLY about the burden of being smart while surrounded by stupid. I think this is a burden everybody in eyeshot of my flist has labored under at some point, so you can understand how brilliant it is to watch a show where there are like majorly smart good guys and majorly smart bad guys who spend a big chunk of their time commiserating with each other about how stupid everybody else in town is. (Not to mention watching Raylan and Boyd have a simple conversation leaning against a bar is hotter than watching any two other people fuck. I'm just SAYING.)

4) Person of Interest, the sleeper joy of my Thursday nights. I saw the previews for this show and was like, whatever, those guys are not even hot! (*kof* I never pretended to any great depth in my viewing choices, thank you very much.) But

dorinda taught me the error of my ways when she was visiting a few weeks ago, and oh, oh, it makes me SO VERY HAPPY to watch Reese and Finch tapdance around each other and depend on each other and be THEM against the world, each so brilliant in their totally opposite ways and so very alone until they found each other. It is AWESOME.

I never know how to end a post when I am done rambling on. Um. THE END!

Crossposts: http://mollyamory.livejournal.com/59328.html

aethel posting in

fanlore

Hello, everyone! The Wiki Committee is still in the process of collecting itself for the 2012 term, but

esskay has suggested some excellent challenges for February. They were all so good, I couldn't pick just one. We now present....

Fanlore Valentines!

1. Look up the Fanlore article on a fanwork you love to see if any reviews of the work are quoted on the page. If not, express your love by finding a review and adding a brief quote (with link) to the page. (If Fanlore doesn't have a page for this fanwork at all, feel free to start the page. Tell us why you love it!)

2. What challenges, fests, gift exchanges, etc., are running right now? Check to see if Fanlore has articles about them. If the article exists, add up-to-date information; if the article doesn't exist, create it!

If these don't tickle your fancy, check out esskay's list of Valentine challenges. And you are always welcome to take up a previous challenge at any time.

Here are some resources to get you started: ( Read more... )

ellen_fremedon

A year and a half from now. /o\

BUT ANYWAY. ~~I have two Doctors and two courses yet to assign~~ I have assigned all the courses! And they really sound good; I want to make this menu now.

Well. It's not like I don't have time to plan...

( Extremely long-term menu planning behind the cut )

cesperanza

So, you know, I've been fannish about Sherlock since it started, but suddenly I feel that weird crazy fannish obsession thing really kicking in. Please rec me stories? As you know, Bob, I'm a fan of classic first-time slash stories, but I'd be interested in reading the stories you guys think are best!

In return: possibly this art got my attention (gacked from

lamardeuse). Like I might have made it my wallpaper. Guh.

Brand new: Acceptable Risk, by astolat (John/Sherlock), post Reichenbach, YUM.

New to me: There's A First Time For Everything by Kate Lear - I did say I liked first times, didn't I? This story's got lots!

Vid rec: Get Your Coat

Please please rec me things! Fic, art, vids!

astolat

This one doesn't really qualify as a Canadian Shack anymore, as I had started it before Reichenbach aired and then it completely ran away from me afterwards, but WHATEVER, finished new story YAY. \o/

Acceptable Risk (3483 words) by

astolat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sherlock (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson

With heaps of thanks to Ces and lim! All fb loved as always! ♥

Crossposts: http://astolat.livejournal.com/254735.html

abominable_feed

Posted by karl

http://www.abominable.cc/2012/02/08/insomniac/

http://www.abominable.cc/?p=2036

I didn’t sleep much last night. So on my way to the studio this morning, I was thinking:

I should do a strip today about an animal who can’t sleep. But what animal? I’d certainly like to be sleeping right now. But it’s the middle of the day. It’s bright and there are all sorts of noises that would keep me awake. People do it, though. People work night shifts and then sleep all day. I was one of those people when I was twenty, except for the work part. I was practically nocturnal. What about bats? Bats are nocturnal. And their hearing is amazing and supersonic. That would be terrible for sleeping. You’d super-hear everything. Okay, there’s today’s comic. I would like some coffee.

That was a brief behind-the-scenes look into how this comic is made. Then I sit down and draw it and colour it and hope it’s okay.

Speaking of COLOURING… big congrats to Cheyanne Tillery, who was the big winner of the Abominable Colouring Contest! Her piece was picked randomly by my son (I have a video which I’ll post later) and you can see her entry here. She gets a free book with a custom sketch of her choice. Thanks, Cheyanne, and everyone else who participated! I hope to do more of these in the future!

http://www.abominable.cc/2012/02/08/insomniac/

http://www.abominable.cc/?p=2036

sage

I can haz a VALENTINE! It is addressed to Benton Fraser (c/o Marriott Pinnacle Hotel in Vancouver, checking in Feb 12th, heee!) from both Rays & the envelope says:

*Do not open before February 14th!*

Poll #9441
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 28

View Respondents

What do I dooooo???

View Answers

Open it NOW NOW NOW!!
8 (28.6%)

Follow the instructions! Wait until the 14th!
20 (71.4%)

*stares at it*

*stares more*

Can I? Can I? Yes, FRASER would follow the instructions, but the Rays would tell him to wait JUST for the giggles of frustrating him.

*waaaaaaaaaant*

No, really, do I open it?

rydra_wong posting in

disobey_gravity

Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall celebrating their birthdays by attempting to climb Master's Edge (E7 6c) in fancy dress.

It's unclear whether the ascents were successful; they've both climbed it before, but a blog source reveals that "Pete fell on his first few attempts, complicated by the fact that his banana costume obscured his view to the holds in any direction other than straight in front."

lamardeuse

Sorry, folks, meant to mention that my website is temporarily tango uniform, but you can still find all my fic at the AO3 for now, most of my vids at Critical Commons...and oops, it looks like jinjurly might be screwed too, so I won't send you there for podfic! Yikes! I'll let you know when things are back up and running.

Crossposts: http://lamardeuse.livejournal.com/1039478.html

celli

Okay, I know, reading, writing, beta, la la, but I'm kind of itchy and wired today, and I need things to multitask on...so is there any question you've always wanted to ask me? About my life, my views of the universe, my writing, anything?

rules: 1) obvs respect should be given and granted.
2) if I find it too flamingly personal to post publicly (unlikely) I will tell you.

Crossposts: http://celli.livejournal.com/1296613.html

otw_staff posting in

otw_news

Here's a roundup of stories on fannish technologies in the news that might be of interest to fans:

The new site WorldCosplay is making an effort to connect cosplayers across the globe. "Though still in beta, the network already comes in an impressive 12 languages." WorldCosplay has some differences from existing sites. "There are already three big social network players in the cosplay community: the American based Cosplay.com, the Japanese Cure, and the general art site Deviant Art. Since the first two focus on their home countries and the third was never designed to be a cosplay community, Botea said WorldCosplay might have a chance to become the cosplayer’s social network of choice."

Apple's recent effort to promote textbook publishing for the iPad prompted this discussion of the need to simplify epublishing. "Ebooks have blown open that world of exclusivity — but the ease of use still isn’t there. There’s a long list of tools that try to make ebook creation easier, from big names (Apple’s Pages, Adobe’s InDesign) to smaller ones (Scrivener) to open source alternatives like calibre. But it’s still a complicated enough business that there’s a healthy ecosystem of companies offering ebook conversion services." Indeed the growing simplicity of online posting and content hosting sites helped fan fiction's distribution grow enormously, but few sites replicate the print book experience. "But if publishing is dirt simple...how would publishers (book, news, and otherwise) respond to an even greater flood of competing content than the ebook world has already produced?"

YouTube was also a milestone, not just in the distribution of video content, but in its revealing look at the diversity of fan-created visual works. However the site is moving away from the amateur creator. As YouTube increasingly promotes partnerships with professional producers "what will happen to the “little guy,” those who make content to share with people—not for profit?" Various critical reactions have sprung up. "“I don't want my TV to invade YouTube,” commented Porcelanesa on the promo video. “I came here because it was YOUtube, people talking to people and sharing their lives, videos of their kids, their pets, something exciting that happened during the day they wanted to share with someone else. Normal people, like you and me.”"

If you cosplay, write fan fiction, or create videos, why not contribute to Fanlore? Additions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW. Mirrored from an original post on the OTW blog. Find related news by viewing our tag cloud.

celli

Beautiful singer, beautiful woman, oh god so depressing. And yet, my brain.

Anyways. I made it through my job apps this morning with only a medium amount of whining (seriously, after the 50th or 60th app you start to question your earthly purpose, not gonna lie). I got a couple more recruiter nibbles, though, so that makes me happy.

And then I did tax research. \o/ A really thorny state residency question. I was like BRING ME ALL YOUR NUMBERED PUBLICATIONS *nom nom nom*

(some people juggle geese.)

***

Reading has really fallen by the wayside for me, partly because I'm so tired all the time (I hate this cold, haaaate) that I keep falling asleep when I try, and partly because I read fic rather than books when I'm sick. The laptop keeps me warm. :)

But I'm going to try and dig into Raylan (the novel, digging into the dude is just weird) today. I find that to truly appreciate Leonard's style, I have to immerse myself in it and take as few breaks as possible, so some of his tendencies (he and I DO NOT agree on punctuation) stop being noticeable.

***

Today's writing: drunken soulbonding, Die Hard plottiness, and coming up with the 113th idea for my picfor1000. I am super picky this year! I dunno. I still like my second idea, if only Tim Gutterson had been a Marine instead of a Ranger. Sigh.

Crossposts: http://celli.livejournal.com/1296377.html

ellen_fremedon

I am not planning on doing anything like this. (This year. Possibly next year for a Doctor Who fiftieth anniversary celebration, but certainly not this year.)

But! Purely as a thought experiment, and prompted by discovering the existence of savory Thai fish custards and a Brazilian sweet called brigadeiros-- what would one serve in an eleven-course Doctor Who-themed meal? Assume one course for each Doctor, but with the Doctors in any order because wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.

So. Hor mok, for Eleven, as a starter or a fish course; brigadeiros, for the Third Doctor, as mignardises at the end of the meal. What else? Should One get noodles, for "Marco Polo," or cacao for "The Aztecs"? Should Two have something Tibetan, for the Yeti, or something on fire, for burnination? And are there any good recipes involving jelly babies?

Come help me brainstorm!

riverlight

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Crossposts: http://riverlight.livejournal.com/143567.html

fan_eunice

Signing up for the planned parenthood auction and coming off of Festivids, I am pondering the difference between making a vid and making a vid for someone else. I actually really like making vids for other people, and I think I'm pretty good at it? Please feel free to contradict that if I've ever made a vid for you, I won't be insulted and I want any future vid recipients to be happy so knowing where I missed in the past is always helpful.

Anyhoo, for me, what I like about it is...okay, I have mentioned before that I am a horribly indecisive vidder. Nine times out of ten if I am stalled on a project or it is going sloooooooowly, it's because I can't narrow focus enough to make decisions. But the thing about making vids for someone else is that decision making process is narrowed automatically. 'Cause, okay, I can't vid stuff I don't feel/think myself. So, when making a vid for someone else the process is all about finding the common intersection between what they want/what I feel. Find that point and expand on it. And there's always some point of intersection.

I'm still doing me, so it doesn't feel forced or unnatural, but the range of directions/options comes pre-limited which makes it easier to get down to business and discard lines of thought instead of wandering down every tangent but refusing to commit to any.

So anyway, yeah. That's what I like/find different about vidding for other people. What about y'all? Fic too.

Crossposts: http://fan-eunice.livejournal.com/297802.html

misspamela

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lamardeuse

Day 1 of the Lewis Week of Love is here, and you can post your links/recs/icons/meta/artwork/fic/etc. at today's post, which is about friendship and familial love. I've got it started with a wee ficlet:

In the Family (Lewis/Hathaway, G, 550 words)

Crossposts: http://lamardeuse.livejournal.com/1039301.html

riverlight

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Crossposts: http://riverlight.livejournal.com/143278.html

cofax7

NEVER BUY FIRST GENERATION TECHNOLOGY. Dumbass.

Yes, I have a Kindle Fire. No, Calibre doesn't recognize it as an e-reader. No, side-loading doesn't really work. No, it won't recognize anything except books purchased from Amazon as a "book". No, it won't put the title or cover on anything from Gutenberg. No, I still haven't found a useable alarm clock.

And it's a present. Which is even worse: I can't trade it in without hurting someone's feelings.

Argh. Amazon, why so dickish, with your walled garden?

... to be fair, the streaming video function seems to work pretty well. But the purpose of a Kindle is to READ SHIT, and it's not making it easy to do so, unless I'm happy to only read things I bought at Amazon.

Crossposts: http://cofax7.livejournal.com/870280.html

alethia

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Current Mood: cheerful

tishaturk

Vidders and vidwatchers! If you want to help renew the DMCA exemption we won in 2010, now's your chance: submit your comments in support of the exemption proposal by February 10th, 5pm Eastern Time.

You can send comments to OTW's Legal or Vidding committees, or you can send them directly to the Copyright office. If you're submitting directly, be sure to note class “7B” if your comments focus on decrypting DVDs or class “7C” if your comments focus on decrypting legally streamed or downloaded video where the video is not available on DVD. Or you can comment on this post and I'll make sure the comments get where they need to go!

Questions you might want to address (answer as many or as few as you have time for):

1. Why are you interested in making sure video remixing isn’t chilled by legal threats?

2. Why do you make videos? What message or statement do your videos convey? What audience do you want to reach? Or, if you're not a vidder: Why do you watch vids? What's valuable about them for you?

3. Why do you use sources that require decryption (such as DVDs, Amazon Unbox, etc.)?

4. How important is it that the video clips vidders use are high quality?

5. How important to you is getting timely video clips of current events?

6. Is there anything else you want to tell the Copyright Office?

In case you don't know the background on this:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) have put together a DMCA exemption proposal asking the Copyright Office to declare that breaking the encryption on DVDs in order to use video clips in primarily noncommercial videos does not violate the DMCA.

We won a similar exemption in 2010, but it will expire if not renewed. Plus, now we're asking for a new exemption for breaking the encryption on video from online download or streaming services (like Amazon Unbox) that’s not available on DVD.

Please signal-boost if you can!

Crossposts: http://tishaturk.livejournal.com/10280.html

commodorified

As I have been meaning to do this post for ages, and now I am suddenly motivated.

If I ever cook for you, or if I might get to cook for you in future, please list your loves, hates, likes, dislikes, restrictions, intolerances, and allergies in a comment.

Comments are screened to protect your privacy; if you want to be able to point other people here please let me know in your comment and I'll unscreen you.