I am the fountain of affection

Alien invasion!

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:33:12 GMT

... is the theme of the sci-fi movie marathon I'm in right now. And we just watched Alien Raiders, a really excellent low-budget sci fi suspense/thriller. Perhaps because they shot it during the writer's strike, they got some really excellent cast involved, including Carlos Bernard, Mathew St. Patrick, Rockmond Dunbar, and an actress who I haven't noticed before but who I liked a lot--she reminded me pleasntly of Maggie Gyllenhaal--named Courtney Ford.

I've got a Donnie Darko vibe about this movie, in that I saw it in a theater before anybody knew about it and it enormously exceeded my expectations. It's just really well done suspense, that knows when to show gore and when merely to suggest it, and that is written, paced, edited really well. We had the director, Ben Rock, for Q&A afterwards, which was enjoyable, though he didn't reveal any deep dark secrets. He comes out of The Blair Witch Project and related projects, but I promise, the shaky-cam is minimal, used in a couple expository bits, that's it. It was shot entirely in a supermarket and surrounds, and it uses its resources really really well. Big thumbs up for the foley and editing. Big thumbs up in general, and rmd concurs.

It's direct to DVD, coming out this Tuesday, and I highly recommend.

[Thanks for birthday wishes, folks. The winter blues get me enough that maybe I should have a birthday-observed at a sunnier time of year!]

[[I have a movies tag and a films tag? Must fix.]]

hd_worldcup roundup

Fri, 23 May 2008 06:29:44 GMT

Those who don't care about Harry Potter fanfic may ignore this post.

All others, read on.

I'd been meaning to post this for a week or more, but then I kept thinking the reveal of authors at hd_worldcup was imminent, so I figured, wait and properly credit each story. The reveal has finally been posted, so... congratulations Team Epilogue, and congratulations Team Canon for winning my personal tally ;-) and below are my favorite stories/art. (Though really, the mod said only 10 points separated first and fourth place--very close! Boy am I glad I voted on every piece.)

For those who didn't follow the H/D Worldcup, there were four teams: Canon, Fanon, Epilogue, and EWE (Epilogue, What Epilogue?) and the prompts were almost entirely tarot-based.

After Eden by rickey_a for Team EWE [Judgment]
15,000 words, rated NC-17

The Well of Memory by sherant for Team Canon [Cups]
image-heavy, rated G

Shadow Play by melusinahp for Team Canon [The Devil]
5,500 words, rated NC-17

Better the Devil You Know (Mehen) by chaeldub for Team Epilogue [The Devil]
14,800 words, rated NC-17

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by faynia for Team Fanon [The Devil]
14,066 words, rated R

At Childhood's End by mahoganyhandle for Team Fanon [The Magician]
38,000 words, rated PG

The Magician's Gifts by rurounihime for Team Canon [The Magician]
32,854 words, rated R

Reaching for Redemption by oldenuf2nb for Team Fanon [Coins]
click each card! I think I like the seven best; rated NC-17

The Price of Fulfillment by ships_harry (whose IJ now contains a nifty behind-the-scenes for the piece) for Team Epilogue [Coins]
large images, rated R+

Ring A-Ring O' Roses by melusinahp for Team Canon [The Tower]
20,000 words, rated NC-17

DIY Messiah by scoradh for Team Epilogue [The Tower]
27,000 words, rated R

Precious Things by charlotteschaos for Team Fanon [The Tower]
15,200 words, rated NC-17

These Five Years by lillithium (who is posting some of the gorgeous individual slides on her LJ) for Team Fanon [Swords]
flash movie, entirely worth the long download; make sure your volume isn't muted; rated NC-17

Lamp in the Cooling Room by sansa1970 for Team EWE [The Lovers]
9,000 words, rated R

No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy by themostepotente for Team Canon [The Lovers]
15,000 words, rated NC-17

Beneath Boundless Skies by blamebrampton for Team EWE [Death]
29,800 words, rated M

Still Life in Wood and Parchment by scrtkpr for Team Canon [Strength]
6,500 words, rated PG-13

Life's Hidden Forces (can only be discovered by living) by kabal42 for Team Epilogue [Strength]
17,600 words, rated R / NC-17

Priori Incantatem by aluinnsearlait for Team Canon [Wands]
art, rated PG

The Arc of the Pendulum by brummell for Team EWE [The Hanged Man]
30,262 words, rated NC-17

No Fury by meri_oddities for Team Epilogue [Wheel of Fortune]
24,000 words, rated Adult

Perfect Day by scrtkpr for Team Canon [Wheel of Fortune]
24,500 words, rated R

The Touch of Your Hand... by naadi for Team EWE [The Most Important H/D Moment from the Books]
VERY large animated images, rated PG-13

The Most Important... by glockgal for Team Canon [the Most Important H/D Moment from the Books]
requires flash, rated PG-13/teen

The Hermit by ravenna_c_tan I beta-ed for Team Canon [The Hermit]
16,000 words, rated NC-17/adult

Who Can Stand? by oldenuf2nb for Team Fanon [The Chariot]
22,000 words, rated R

Homecoming by novembersnow for Team Epilogue [Temperance]
27,000 words, rated NC-17

... and I'll add a couple more as I re-skim.

What I'm taking away from all this is... 1) clearly melusina is queen of my personal worldcup, as both of her stories made my faves 1a) or oldenuf2nb, 1b) or scrtkpr, 2) The Devil and The Tower are apparently my favorite cards, and 3) lots of the writers and artists I listed above are totally unknown to me, so I have some new folks to follow!

Thanks for a lovely worldcup, everyone.

Now on to the Snarry Games....

first line song meme, redux

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:44:00 GMT

Oh yes, another one of these....

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.

Step 2: Post the first line (unless the first line reveals the song title) from the first 30 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3: Strike through the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game, post your own!

(ganked from miss_bowtruckle this time)

1. ~~We're talking away, I don't know what I'm to say~~

2. ~~Clearing webs from the hovel, a blistered hand on the handle of a shovel~~

3. Shall I shy down, that's boring, snoring [I predict this to be a toughie--actually, I think this came up the last time I did one of these memes]
I'd like to teach me to sing in perfect harmony

4. ~~No man, no madness, though their sad power may prevail~~

5. ~~When we wore a heart of stone we wandered to the sea~~

6. ~~Couldn't ask for a better day, two by two~~

7. Dance dance, dance dance dance all right, dance dance dance, everybody dance! [okay, this was just a tease -- skipping ahead]
The mama pajama rolled out of bed and she ran to the police station

8. ~~Come out, Virginia, don't let it wait~~

9. ~~You want to lose your only friend? Well, keep it up, you're doing fine~~

10. ~~Ahh, now I don't hardly know her~~

11. ~~I'm John, Hinkley, you are, Stephen Sondheim on high~~

12. I remember the nights I watched as you lay sleeping
Your body gripped by some faraway dream

13. ~~Oh yeah? That's what you think!~~

14. ~~It's not often that time turns itself around~~

15. ~~Hey, pal, feelin' blue?~~

16. ~~(spoken) Gather round, handmaidens of sorrow! (sung) Sound the flute, blow the horn...~~

17. (dialogue skipped) ~~Everyone's a little bit unsatisfied~~

18. Today I strike out on my own.
The dog is dead, the kids have grown.

19. Here I'm debating time, I'm waiting, chime the wake
Free fall the cannonball volcanic shatters on the lake

20. ~~Benjamin, you nasty youth!~~

21. I peeked in to say goodnight
And I heard my child in prayer

22. ~~Why are there so many songs about rainbows~~

23. Someone else's world goes by
As my train runs through this night

24. ~~Andy would bicycle across town in the rain to bring you candy~~

25. ~~Hands touch, eyes meet, sudden silence, sudden heat~~

26. ~~Why is it that as we grow older and stronger, the road signs point us adrift and make us afraid~~

27. Love endures, it clings away
When asked to leave, it begs to stay
Like the perfect song in imperfect times
It's the way the chords struck with the rhymes

28. Even without our help, look at the way he won
Everyone sold him short! {Think they'll ask for a recount?}

29. ~~Joan was quizzical, studied pataphysical science in the home~~

30. ~~Early in the evening, just about suppertime~~

Edit: 9:19 PM EST, 40% done, and two Sondheim songs still up for grabs? Shocked. Shocked, I tell you. (Three other showtunes too.)

And, uh, half the post was struck due to an html error. Better now.

Edit: 12:17 AM: of the 9 songs left, 6 are by three artists already identified for other songs.

Added more lines for the songs that are still mysteries.

And a great squee went up...

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:52:55 GMT

Thank you sparkymonster for telling me this first when the news was hot off the presses. Now, of course, it's 12 hours later almost exactly. I bibbled in IM rather than here, initially.

What? Oh, have you not heard?

Dumbledore.

Is.

Gay.

Boo on Newsweek for apparently giving this Friday update the same update date as its original story about JKR's L.A. appearance. (The revelation occurred in NYC.) For a few minutes I thought I had somehow not heard for three days. Now there's an Editor's Note explaining. But isn't that what the Updated header is for?

My favorite quotes were spread across several different articles when I first hunted. I assume they can now all be found in one place somewhere, but I can't be bothered.

Newsweek:

One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, had ever loved anyone. Rowling smiled. "Dumbledore is gay, actually," replied Rowling as the audience erupted in surprise. She added that, in her mind, Dumbledore had an unrequited love affair with Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort's predecessor who appears in the seventh book. After several minutes of prolonged shouting and clapping from astonished fans, Rowling added. "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy."

HPANA:

Rowling also said she had read through Steve Kloves' script for the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and corrected a passage in which Dumbledore was reminiscing about past loves by crossing it out and scrawling "Dumbledore is gay" over it.

Also: She was surprised that no one had ever asked her what Dumbledore’s wand was made of. If ever asked this question she would have simply said "It’s made of Elder" and left it at that. Well, yes. That's why I wouldn't have asked.... Oh, wait, she means before book 7 came out. When eight-year-old Mia asked an Aberforth question, Jo asked her age and said that just for her the answer would be "that the goats were easy to keep clean and that they had curly horns," as the audience roared with laughter. Really, the second (HPANA) link has all the stuff of greatest fannish interest, as you'd expect.

IHT:

She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."
Today in Culture
Breakthrough by Chinese shakes up contemporary art market
Lucky Dube, South African reggae star, is killed in carjacking
Jan Wolkers, Dutch novelist, poet and sculptor dies at 81

Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy."

"Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction."

...

Rowling, finishing a brief "Open Book Tour" of the United States, her first tour here since 2000, also said that she regarded her Potter books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority."

Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.

I'm amused. As saylee said in IM, "It does confirm my theory that JKR does better gay subtext than straight romance." Ayep. The vibe from just that one description of the picture of the young Dumbledore and Grindelwald was quite clear, and, I must agree, more convincing than any of the overt, straight romantic relationships we were shown.

Yes, not the gay subtext many would have liked to have seen. It does cause a bit of a problem of double vision--confirming one gay identity puts the nail in the coffin of others that were not confirmed. But I have great faith that fanfic-writing fandom can not only only accept JKR's interviews when it wants to, but also accept them with one hand and ignore them with the other. Carry on!

Yet more Harry Potter roleplaying

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:56:58 GMT

I'm still in veiledintention, a post-book-6 game where we can always use Death Eaters or characters of Marauder age or older or just more players in general.

But now I'm in a post-book-7 game too, aww_rpg. Is there anyone on my friends list who cares about Harry Potter spoilers but hasn't read Deathly Hallows yet? Heck, I'll cut the post anyway.

So, aww_rpg is "All Was Well", from the very end of the book. I'm playing Harry. All of the next-generation characters in the epilogue (Teddy, Scorpius, and the kids of many Weasleys) have been cast, and a bunch of original next-generation characters have been added. But there are lots of vacancies among people of Harry's age (or older!) including Hermione, most Weasleys including Ron, and, well, all but nine canon characters who existed before book seven. Take a look.

A Harry without his Wheezy is a sad thing. Hermione too. Anyone interested in playing growed-up Ron or Hermione? Or a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw student? Or another Weasley cousin? Or those older than Harry's generation? *bats eyes prettily* Look at the aww_rpg community page for how to apply. Love to have you.

Pocker pocker pocker

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 01:38:24 GMT

Time for the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker yet again. Proving I'm me:

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7593104

she never posts

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 23:20:38 GMT

and when she does, it's just a meme. I know, I suck.

Still, how cool is that?

Though really, the test ought to take the gender information it collects and differentiate between nerd kings and nerd queens.

... I have just illustrated my own nerdiness, not that it was in doubt.

There is one question I only knew the answer to because I looked it up after watching a friend take her test yesterday. But given that I did that out of geeky curiosity, I don't think it counts as cheating.

Harry Potter speculations (no spoilers in post, inevitably in comments)

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:09:17 GMT

ravenna_c_tan and I sat down and wrote our last-minute guesses (in the hour before Deathly Hallows went on sale) on some plot points we expected would be addressed in the book. She posted hers here (and yes, the comments are spoilery). Here are mine. We sort of shorthanded the questions to each other so may not have answered exactly the same questions. ;-)

1. Does Dumbledore come back?

Not resurrected, but Fawkes and the portrait will be active and represent him.

2. Whose side is Snape on?

Harry's. (I was very precise about this after reading some fanfics in which Snape is working for Harry's benefit rather than being 'Dumbledore's man'.)

3. Who dies?

Voldemort, Ron or Hermione but not both, Neville or Ginny but not both, Snape, Lucius, not Harry, not Draco.

These were all wild-ass guesses except Voldemort, Snape, not-Harry.

4. Does Harry get back together with Ginny? Do Ron and Hermione end up together?

H/G: Yes but ew. R/H: no because someone's dead.

5. Who gets forgiven or redeemed?

Snape does, Dursleys don't but it is irrelevant to the story, Draco remains ambiguous, Voldemort and DE's not individually named don't.

6. Is Draco Marked?

Yes, by the end.

7. Was that the Horcrux locket they saw at #12? Who had it, Kreacher or Mundungus?

Yes, and Mundungus.

8. Was R. A. B. Regulus?

I didn't write this question down, I snagged it from ravenna's post, but I'd have said totally yes, that introducing a new R.A.B. would be lame.

9. What was the real reason Albus trusted Severus? Was it, as was said before, because his remorse over the Potter's deaths was real? Or is there another reason? Something we don't know?

Another Unbreakable Vow.

10. What about the life debts? Will Peter Pettigrew's life debt to Harry be important? Was Snape's to James passed on to Harry, or not, since we don't know how life debts work?

Peter's will matter and be paid off; Snape's, if relevant, will be answered by his working to defeat Voldemort and by his death.

fanfiction recs (Snarry Games)

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 01:43:37 GMT

The Snarry Games ended not long ago, and I've finally read every single story in it. Here are links to the ones I found worthy of bookmarking.

Things you might like to know:
Snarry is Severus Snape/Harry Potter slash.
I hate fluff, not that there was a lot of it in the Snarry Games. (Fluffy Severus?!?)
I love angst.
I also love happy endings if I feel they're earned.
This go-round, the teams in the Games were Wartime vs. Postwar. Writers on those teams chose from the same set of genres and prompts, as the basis for their fics. (Wartime won, which says next to nothing about the quality of any individual fic by a member of either team. It was really quite close, and there was lots of excellent writing.)
These are in approximately chronological order as they were posted, but really I'm just working backward through my bookmarks.
Some of the links might need updating in time, as the stories go to permanent archives. I'll try to keep an eye on that.

I hate warnings on fanfic, so there are no warnings below, unless my reasons/descriptions include them accidentally. But the links are all to the snarry_games community, where there are warnings you can read if you highlight them. So go forth and choose for yourself.

No Way Back by meri_oddities, Wartime, 77,779 words (what, she couldn't delete 2?): a whole novel of a fic, with an alternate universe through a mirror, where Harry Potter got to be about 35 before popping out as a 15-year old. (It's both AU and not, as we follow what happens in the universe of the books with the one twist of the mirror's existence... except that Harry can change events through his future knowledge. I love time travel fics, which this almost is.)

Covenant by auctasinistra, Wartime, 8,900 words: angst and espionage and one really hot sex scene.

Sheer Dumb Luck by rexluscus, Wartime, 7,800 words: ... so suppose Harry really needed to get past Severus's Occlusion, and the throes of orgasm was his most vulnerable time?

Beacon by venivincere, Wartime, 2,300 words: aw, it's short, just give it a try if the headers don't faze you.

Fields Before Each Other by aqua_alta, Wartime, 7,420 words: exquisite angst.

Surrendering the Mark by igtow, Postwar, 16,700 words: did we mention angst? If, like me, you don't like warnings, then don't read the headers when you click the link *off* of LJ--they forgot to hide them there.

In the Gloaming by joanwilder, Wartime, 40,200 words: angst and romance galore. And it's all about trust. This may be my favorite, for its lovely pacing.

Out of His Mind by captain_tulip, Wartime, 11,367 words: angst angst desperate angst. And Legilimency sex.

Aftertaste by swtalmnd, Postwar, 8,350 words: Harry is Severus's only hope. ;-) Disclaimer: I beta'd this one.

Every Wand I've Ever Sold by diagonalist, Postwar, 12,172 words: excellent use of the prompt "Ollivander's".

Be Good and Don't Make a Sound by sevenmes, Wartime, 18,000 words: alternate universe where James is alive. And kind of evil.

Help Wanted: God and Executioner by pir8fancier, Wartime, 20,000 words: angst, and this one's got a bodycount.

The Red Cloak by synn, Wartime, 2,250 words: short and sparse and gorgeous.

Two Lockets by sinick and ac1d6urn, Wartime, 57,000 words: combines snarkeriffic Snape with a living breathing Grimmauld Place that sometimes seems Disneyfied but it works.

Just Another Soldier in the War by ziasudra_fic, Wartime, 35,000 words: I said I like time travel fics. This one takes in the first and second Voldemort wars, but either way it's wartime.

Morior Animus by vain_chan, Wartime, 15,200 words: It's a miniature If You Are Prepared. By which I mean to say sob-inducing levels of angst. And a hollow feeling at the end. And it's exquisite. I lied above, this is my favorite. I'd just blocked it out of my mind.

The Trial of Henri Blanc by klynie1, Postwar, 20,000 words: dark!Harry. Disclaimer: I beta'd this one.

Shades of Grey by snakeling, Postwar, 17,800 words: really awesomely done morally-ambiguous Snape.

Act of Faith by amanuensis1, Wartime, 8,350 words: alternate universe, the Spanish Inquisition. I kid you not. Impeccably done.

Can't Take the Sky by cluegirl, Wartime, 58,500 words: turns out the cost of destroying a horcrux is high. Angstfest.

The Impossibility of Crows by loupgarou1750, Wartime, 41,000 words: ... or maybe this one's my favorite. I'm reluctant to say anything about it other than, it's good.

... that's a lot. This is something like, my top third of the Games. But there ya go. There's good stuff I didn't rec, too--it's all a matter of taste.

Edited to add "Just Another Soldier in the War", which my imperfect filing system led me to lose.

Harry Potter fans...

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 13:41:26 GMT

please see wrog's ideas about book 7, so far superior to my own.

In case you hadn't heard ... (Harry Potter)

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:23:31 GMT

I'm sure some people's friends lists are afire with the news, but amazingly few people have said anything on my f-list and besides, I wanna talk about it!

So. Harry Potter book 7's publication date has been announced: July 21, 2007. A mere fortnight after the rumored 7/7/7, but this way it comes out more than a week after movie 5 rather than several days before. I assume the movie side of things is just being inflexible. Oh well.

(But ya see, 21/7/7 = 3x7/7/7, which is equally nifty in its own way. See the 3, and the three sevens? Okay, I'll put the prime factoring subprocess back in de box for now. Don't be scared.)

I don't want to quote J.K. Rowling about what will or won't happen in the book. Go ahead and do that in comments if you like--I just don't follow her interviews closely, nor do I care to. I just read the books. And the fic. And play the RPGs*. ;-)

And I just want to talk about what I want to see, and what I think I'll see.

What I want:

Harry lives.
It is shown that Snape was working for Dumbledore all along, not just hedging his bets.
Something dramatic "on screen" reveals this. (Okay, I think this is a pretty sure thing.)
Harry goes "oh!" and realizes Snape was working for Dumbledore all along. (Ditto.)
Snape lives. (oh hush--this is what I want)
Precious little time devoted to any romances at all.
Remus is gay! (All right, maybe not really. He's got metaphorical AIDS already--that might be laying it on a bit too thick. I'll settle for some sympathetic character being gay. This is actually not a huge deal for me, because the books are doing so much else more subtly regarding otherness. But as long as I'm making a wishlist.)
Dumbledore is really dead. (Live with it!)
Neville comes into his own.
Draco... hrm. What do I want for Draco? That's a puzzler. I guess I want him redeemed. Not so much for his own sake (I do feel sorry for the boy we saw crying in the bathroom, but that only goes so far) as for Dumbledore's death to have redemptive power, not just strategic worth.
Luna to play some really startling crucial role.

What I predict:

Dumbledore is really dead.
Someone close to Harry dies.
Snape dies.

SOB

* Oh yeah, my RPG is still looking for a Bellatrix and other characters, though I know there are applications pending for some characters. Come play! Personally, I want to see more Death Eaters and more older characters, but the more the merrier! *bats eyes*

Harry Potter Book 7

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 16:39:44 GMT

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

That's nicely evocative.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6200745.stm

I saw another article that said it was Deathly Hollows, but I know which one is likeliest to be a misreading of the other. Anyway, you can go to J.K. Rowling's site and see for yourself.

EDIT: Deathly, not Deadly. Purely a typo on my part. *facepalm*

lyrics offensiveness

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:34:10 GMT

Everything below the cut is a query about how offensive some song lyrics are. Click or no, it's up to you.

Just try to see it, and you will soon agree, señors
Why invite regret, when you can get the sort of rape you'll never ever forget?

You can get the rape emphatic, you can get the rape polite
You can get the rape with Indians (a very charming sight)
You can get the rape on horseback, they all say it's new and gay!
So you see the sort of rape depends on what you pay,
It Depends On What You Pay

View Poll: rape

Just try to see it, and you will soon agree, señors
Why invite regret, when you can order an abduction you will never forget?

An abduction that's emphatic, an abduction that's polite
An abduction done with Indians (a truly charming sight)
An abduction done on horseback, they all say it's new and gay!
So you see the sort of rape depends on what you pay,
It Depends On What You Pay

Okay, next question:

There were...
Hottentots with rotten tots and baskets on each mother's head
And Zulus, they concluded, never understood a thing they said
Effendis[okay, this word is wrong, anyone know what it is?] who were ganging up on natives who were being fed
And Swazi who were goosing all the Bushmen in the line ahead

It was dreadful!

The Pygmies had their noses stuck in everybody's business
While Watusis had their business stuck in everybody's nose
But the truth of the matter, if you really want to know
Was that everybody's business was about to decompose

View Poll: Watusis

Last question...

Tell you about them sobbin' women who lived in the Roman days
It seems that they all went swimming while their men was off to graze
Well, a Roman troop was riding by and saw them in their me-oh-my
So they took them all back home to dry, least that's what Plutarch says

Oh, yes, them a-women was sobbin', sobbin', sobbin' fit to be tied
Every muscle was throbbin', throbbin' from that riotious ride
Seems they cried and kissed and kissed and cried
All over that Roman countryside
So don't forget that when you're taking a bride
Sobbin' fit to be tied, from that riotious ride

...

When their men folk went to fetch them the women would not be fetched
It seems when the Romans catch them their lady friends stay catched
Now, let this be, because it's true, a lesson to the likes of you
Rough them up like them there Romans do, or else they'll think you're tetched

View Poll: sobbin

EDIT: Want context? Check my initial comment.

A friend found this modern re-enactment of the third song on youtube. It's notable for being an actual family of men, and for a slavish devotion to the original blocking and camera angles. Also, Cheryl explained the story context for it better than I did.

... this leads me to hunt youtube versions of the other songs: It Depends on What You Pay, A Difficult Transition

come play with me!

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 19:47:35 GMT

... that is, if a Harry Potter LiveJournal roleplaying game sounds at all appealing. I'm Severus Snape. :)

I haven't really gotten rolling in an online RPG before. It's somewhere between collaborative fanfic and improvisational acting, and I'm enjoying it even more than I thought I might.

The setting is, about 2.5 years after the end of book 6. The golden trio defeated Voldemort; everyone but him and Narcissa Malfoy who was alive at the end of book 6 is still alive and available as a player character (yeah, I know, unrealistic, isn't it? but it's to allow as much participation as people want, so I excuse it); Lucius Malfoy is setting himself up as the new Dark Lord; Snape was exonerated. It's 1999 and Harry and his cohort are 19-ish.

The game started just over a month ago, and we've just hit a point where the plot is about to seriously start.

We very much need Death Eaters. Come be villainous! Our Bellatrix has been kidnapped by so-called Real Life, so we very much want a new Bella. But any new player is a good thing.

There is teh sex in this game... anything but incest, really. Ron and Hermione are sleeping together. Severus and Draco are sleeping together. But it was necessary, really! I can totally defend that. ;-) So can Draco. Just don't tell Lucius. ravenna_c_tan has a Draco-centric index of the story so far here. At this point it's a super-set of what the Severus-centric index would be, so... take a peek if you're curious. I may be biased, but right now Draco looks like the central character of the game (so it's good that his player's an excellent writer, isn't it?)

Interested?
Rules
Available/Taken Characters
Application
Also, I understand Minerva McGonagall has been cast, though she doesn't show up there yet. I also keep hearing people have applied for Remus Lupin, but I haven't heard anyone was cast--if not, we very much want a Remus for our lonely Tonks.

Personally, I want more older characters Snape would choose to interact with. Senior Order members and so forth.

Come and play! Tell friends you think might be interested to come play!

What a let-down

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:22:13 GMT

Trading standards officers have ordered the Black Mountains Smokery in Powys, Wales to change the name of its Welsh Dragon sausages on the grounds that they are made with pork, not dragon meat.

Courtesy of the Language Log, one of my favorite LJ feeds. languagelog

dear Harry Potter pornographers

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 18:11:20 GMT

... and other fanfic writers. And other pornographers. You know who you are, and you're probably not reading this. (Nobody take this personally. Every one of these I found in more than one place by more than one writer.)

I have conducted an... ahem... careful study of a broad swath of fanfic over the last several weeks, and here are some pairs of words I would like you to be sure you know the difference between.

discreet, discrete: You almost always mean "discreet". Secret? Discreet.
palate, palette: The first is the one in someone's mouth. Google doesn't actually back me up on this one, but I know it to be so. Is this a British/American English distinction I was previously unaware of? Please advise.
prone, supine: Just look it up. No more bizarre sexual positions because you flipped one of the characters over, thank you.
compliment, complement: I think this is perhaps the trickiest one on my list. Flattery? A compliment. But a shirt that flatters you may complement your eyes, meaning perfecting your look. Careful!
principle, principal: Morals are principles. The main something is the principal something.
illicit, elicit: Is it sekrit and naughty? Use the first one. Is it a verb? Use the second one.

Oh, just look it up:

taut, taunt
breath, breathe
loath, loathe
baring, barring
bound, bond

The phrase is just deserts, unless you're actively punning at the time. It does sound like "desserts", but that's because it's not the sandy "deserts", it's "deserts" derived from "deserve".
dominate, dominant: I don't even understand where this comes from, but it's really common. Dominate is a verb. Dominant is an adjective or noun. There is no such thing as "the dominate" in a scene or relationship. No really.

And please, for the love of all that is holy or unholy, learn the difference between
prostate, prostrate: The fun thing for men having anal sex? Only one "r".

Thank yew.

EDIT: tongue tongue tongue Accept no substitutes. (courtesy of kjc007)
baited/bated: Breath is bated. Traps are baited.
rein/reign: Oh, where to begin. Horses are controlled with reins. Kings reign. The idiom is rein in your emotions. No really. (these two pairs courtesy of calanthe_fics)

Finally, Pirates

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 03:12:55 GMT

I was, well, out of the country when PotC 2 came out... but I still want to see it. miss_chance, rmd and I are going to see it tomorrow, 3:15 at the Boston Common theater. Want to come? Lemme know, or just see you there. :)

Yarrrr!

(To those on my friends list of a certain disposition, I apologize that my icon isn't inclusive of all Captains Jack. ;-)

meme-ity

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 23:29:19 GMT

Oh, all right already. This is, as rmd says, strangely compelling.

LIVE TRUMPS 1.1

watch clauclauclaudia fight

CREATE YOUR CARD

Gaius, is that you?

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 20:53:23 GMT

So, as if I didn't spend enough time on LJ (no really! I spend infinitely more time reading than posting), I've gotten involved in a Battlestar Galactica roleplaying group here: actionstations. I'm Six! Well, the Six in Baltar's head. ;-) But there's no Baltar yet, which means me and others NPC-ing Baltar until there is one.

So if you want to play Baltar, or Galactica's Boomer, or Tigh, or Kat, or Tyrol, or any of the other uncast characters, come on over. The more the merrier!

Note that things not yet out on DVD are considered spoilers in this little community. But hey, they're back near episode 1-2 (Water), so that shouldn't be too restricting just yet.

I can't believe there's only one Cylon so far!

hearing test

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 18:55:08 GMT

Yo, you college types (but everyone can play!)

Turn your volume *low* so you don't kill me for killing your eardrums, then take vvalkyri's poll.

I'd also be curious to know how well you can hear each of the three reference tones in nikolasco's comment here.

Despite the news coverage graphic showing the ring tone as being around 17 KHz, it appears to actually be 15,011 Hz. Which is why I ask about the three reference tones. I can hear the 15, but not the others, but I'd love to try the others on equipment where somebody has been able to hear them so I know whether it's my ears or my headphones (hey, my earbuds wouldn't even reproduce the lowest tone properly).

Yes, I hear the tone of a silent TV too.

Note that, as atrustheotaku comments, it's not an all or nothing "I can/can't hear this tone". Rather it's a decibel falloff, where the average person in their 30s can hear the 16KHz tone only when it's 22 decibels louder than the point at which the average person in their 20s can hear it. So. Take the poll. :)

proto-geek yay!

Sat, 17 Jun 2006 05:30:20 GMT

This evening, rmd and I babysat for a 6-year-old, M, so that her parents could have a date night for their anniversary. She claimed to be very good at math, so after we Sudoku-ed for a bit, she asked our ages. Regis set her age as a subtraction problem which she simplified a bit for M. M then guessed that my age was somewhere between 20 and Regis's age (correct!) I told her that my age was also a perfect square, so she figured out the two possibilities and which one was correct.

Then I told her *her* age was a perfect number, and we defined that for her (perfect numbers). She asked me whether there were any odd perfect numbers, and I said if you didn't consider 1 one, then I didn't know. I'm glad to know I wasn't missing any obvious deductions there. ;-) She said that 1 and 0 are special numbers and often exceptions. She asked if primes could be perfect numbers and we thought aloud about that until she agreed that they couldn't.

I said I could think of one other perfect number that was fairly small, that she could count to within a minute. She said that meant a number up to 20, so I had to revise my statement slightly. She pounced on that with glee. "That's a clue!" and I had to admit that the number I was thinking of was higher than 20. We then played an arithmetic 20 questions as she narrowed in on what number it might be. (Is it over 30? Is it prime? (No, we'd already figured out it wouldn't be prime. Oh, right.) Is it odd?) Once she'd essentially figured out what number it must be, she wouldn't say it out loud; first she had to confirm it for herself by finding and adding up the factors, so she went around muttering numbers while she worked that out.

She needed help with division at several points, but she'd never outright ask the answer to the question she was working on, but would simplify it as best she could and then ask. So it wasn't "is 28 divisible by 4?" Instead she clearly found 28-(2*4) first and then asked "is 20 'even in 4s'?" Which is how the six-year-olds say it these days, I guess.

There was a rough spot where she thought 13 was a multiple of 3 and 5, and I had to keep track of all the factors and prompt her to add them up when she'd found enough of them to be interesting, but it was really an impressive bit of work. I wish I'd had someone to play numbers aloud with like that when I was a kid.

And then it was a couple minutes past her bedtime, so I read her a chapter of a Charlie Bone book while she used rmd for a jungle gym, and then it was time for lights out. Hee.

Yay, proto-geek.

"uno de los momentos mas WTF"

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 19:25:57 GMT

Link from heavenscalyx...

Monty Python meets Utena: Dispuestos a revolucionar la comedia! , second graphic down.

Aeeeiiii!

apropos of recent LJ controversy...

Sun, 11 Jun 2006 00:35:58 GMT

rmd and I were talking, and I wonder: how many people could one put "on tilt" at once by breastfeeding at the average poker table?

View Poll: poker boobies!

Full credit to rmd for option 3.

lyrics meme update

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 17:51:34 GMT

At this point I suppose my main hope is fresh LJ-friends pay attention to the meme, as it's mostly the songs known by fewer people that are left. ;-) I'll just edit this version from now on.

Italicized ones are answered, but the answers are hidden under the cut.

Titles and artists/albums sought:

3. You think you're denying me of something
well, i've got plenty
you're the one who's missing out
but you won't notice

4. Roy rode into Houston on the 15th of July
they brought him in to help clean up the town
He worked the Exxon building down at 21st and Main
from the 42nd floor down to the ground

5. Shall I shy down? that's boring. snoring
I'd like to teach me to sing in perfect harmony
And I'd like to change the world.
It's easier than changing me

(I recognize this song by the sound, not the lyrics, myself, but it's also obscure)

6. People pointing, finger-painting the world
Leaving me their silouette on my life
And I'm filling in the negative space with
positively everything

8. Thursday afternoon you cast a shadow 'round my room. The breeze moved the curtains and lifted my perfume into the air and danced with lazy curls in your hair. The sun was in the sky like pink champagne and it glistened in your eyes all day.

(I googled this and apparently it doesn't have line breaks.)

10. Swaz hie gat umbe
daz sint allez megede
die wellent an man
alle disen sumer gan

(and all of a sudden I'm one of the top google hits for some forms of these lyrics)

12. Well you like what you're given
a lot of us are standing in line
and you find that you're missing
what others thought you had all the time

13. I don't care what shirt you wear
And I don't want you to know my show
You make me feel so nice
Get off your horse and kiss me... twice

16. Little children did I tell you how the mockingbird
Called the animals together tried to say a few words
But the squirrels began to chatter and the bees began to buzz
Just the way it is just the way it was

24. Jerry's got a squeeze box
Johnny got a big drum
Tonight we'll play some music and have fun!

26. It's a crime to fall in love
Heart and mind, and soul in love
It's a crime to fall in love
So hard, so hard

28. Lumina, come and wrap around me
Lumina, take me through the snow

Eve took a train, Eve took a train
Went to see her man
Melting inside, melting away
Like butter in the pan

29. 4:15 Friday afternoon (Friday afternoon)
I took a trip on a train (Took a trip on a train)
On a train to you (Took a trip on a train)

30. I guess I'm fortunate
For you to be on my mind

I guess I'm fortunate
For you to be so kind

33. Open mine eyes that I may see
Glimpses of truth thou hast for me
Open mine eyes, illumine me
Spirit divine

What do you do for your living?
Are you forgiving, giving shelter?

37. When we wore a heart of stone
we wandered to the sea
Hoping to find some comfort there
yearning to feel free

38. In a forest pitch dark
glowed the tiniest spark
It burst into flame
like me, like me

previous meme post

4. Window-Washing Cowboy, Da Vinci's Notebook
5. Shine, Carbon Leaf
10. 9th movement(?) Uf dem Anger: Swaz hie gat umbe, Carmina Burana
33. Song of the Soul, Cris Williamson
37. Drawn to the Rhythm, Sarah McLachlan

linkies

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 22:29:50 GMT

Plucked from my friends list:

The drama, it unfolds before our eyes. How not to steal a Sidekick

Find your Dead Celebrity Soulmate. My favorite result so far is Mata Hari, but I haven't tried men yet.

Words of linguistic expertise: Geeks are only truly perverted when they avoid coitus and other sex acts. Okay!

And two Rock-Paper-Scissors items: Judge tells stubborn lawyers to settle dispute via rock paper scissors. It's not just for LARP gods anymore!
RPS 25: rock crushes woman; woman steps on cockroach; cockroach stows away with alien; alien destroys sun; sun melts scissors; scissors stab monkey; monkey rips up paper; paper outlaws gun; gun shoots snake; snake drinks water; water rusts axe; axe reflects moon; moon terrifies devil; devil casts lightning; lightning strikes man; man slays dragon...

(also, I updated my lyrics meme post with more lyrics from songs as yet unidentified)