| Sunday is not made for working. But at least I have pizza. |
[30 Sep 2007|01:59pm] |
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music |
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ZZ Top - Cheap Sunglasses |
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Went to see Iron & Wine at 930 with ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) page5grrl and heard an interesting opening act, Arthur and Yu. Sort of folk-indie -- their vocal arrangements are very Dave Carter and Tracy Grammar, but with more tempo going on in the rhythm section. One song, "Afterglow" actually sounds very BRMC. The recorded songs (at least those up at their MySpace page) have a bit of a lo-fi affect as well.
Also have made first use of MySpace's song-purchasing feature to pick up "Afterglow" and "Come to View." May end up getting the whole album. (Though it's definitely time to buckle down and go buy that extra hard drive so that I'm not constantly debating between storing a few more things on my PC and having operational memory.)
Am now at work w/ the rest of the office -- new website is almost ready to launch in a few weeks, so we're all in doing a bunch of back-end prepping and tweaking, editing captions and double-checking various bits and pieces. I really can't wait - the new site is going to be so fantastic, and I'm so sick of servers not working half the time and the searching function generally sucking.
Made muffins to bring in for all of us, adapting my mom's basic muffin recipe:
Apple-Rosemary Brunch Muffins
2 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1/3 c. sugar
salt
1 cup buttermilk (I didn't have enough buttermilk to make a full cup, so I topped it off with regular milk.)
1/4 c. oil (olive in this case)
1 egg
1/2 apple
dried rosemary
Used the cast-iron muffin pan I picked up at Eastern Market a couple weekends ago, and topped each one off with a drizzle of honey and a couple shakes of sea salt before sliding them into the oven. Oven 400 for 20 minutes.
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| "I'm a little confused about what a blitz is" |
[12 Sep 2007|03:01pm] |
To bastardize a little Velvet Goldmine, the sweep of Tim Riggins' eyelashes could rewrite history.
Not that I watched FNL until 1:30 in the morning or anything. *cough*
In the meantime, I've somehow accumulated nearly 3000 links total on del.icio.us -- and a full 900 of those are ficrecs. No wonder I don't read as many books as I used to!
Breakdown by fandom:
Exactly half of those 900 are Supernatural.
Next-most is Stargate: Atlantis at 116.
Everything else is well below those -- 55 Angel | 61 BtVS | 35 HP | 33 LotR | and 35 SG-1 (though I'm not reading as much in those fandoms, so most of them are older).
There's also a random few of Boondock Saints | BSG | Dark Angel | Doctor Who | Farscape | Firefly | Neil Gaiman-related (not Good Omens) | Good Omens | Heroes | Highlander | X-Men | PotC | West Wing | Narnia | miscellaneous fandoms (fandoms with only 2 or 3 stories)
By type:
5-things fics | apocalyptic/post-apoc stories | AUs | crack!fics (mostly SPN) | crossovers | future-fic | horror stories | humorous stories | long (some as much as novel-length, others more like novella) | OT3s (of which there are many) | pre-series | PWPs (for when you just need that pr0ny kick) | Real Person Fic | and wingfic (which is not unsurprisingly, all SPN.)
548 gen fics, 121 slash, only 81 het, and 136 Wincest, which gets its own category.
And something like a hundred vids (though this is not just fanvids, it's also any video footage, including episode clips, public appearance clips, and some music/concert clips.)
I feel so accomplished, and yet, a little pathetic that I consider this an accomplishment. *sigh*
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| Scheduling madness |
[11 Sep 2007|12:13pm] |
I'm feeling like phillyexpat now -- but my fall weekends are already filling up, and I've been paranoid about double-booking myself.
So, for my own reference, ( Sept/Oct schedule )
If any of you in DC are interested, on Saturday Oct. 6th, my friend Karen's church has their annual service day. There's a choice of projects - at DC Central Kitchen, Christian Community Group Homes, Capital Area Food Bank, and Washington Parks and People.
The organizing church in question is the Church of the Pilgrims (which some of you may know as "that one w/ the big rainbow flag banner across from the Brickskellar"). If any of you are interested in participating, let me know so I can give an RSVP count to my friend.
Full details: ( within )
Lastly, I posted some music last night, including a very awesome Ray Charles mash-up.
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| Emotionally repressive, occasionally violent, and in search of a good whiskey |
[07 Sep 2007|05:58pm] |
Happy Birthday, kepkanation!
The first two discs of Friday Night Lights came in from Netflix yesterday, and y'all were totally right. I watched all of disc one last night even though I didn't get back from the bar until after 11, and I just want to go home and watch disc two RIGHT NOW.
The one danger of this show is that my mental voice suddenly acquires a thick Texas accent, which I have to adjust before I open my mouth.
I know you are all SO SHOCKED by this:
Which Supernatural character are you?
You're Dean! You're like those M&Ms you love so much -- hard candy shell on the outside, soft chocolate center on the inside. You're a huge flirt, and quite proud of it, even though you'd rather chew off your own arm than talk about your real feelings. You kick ass and you're smart, but without any special powers or a silly college education -- all your kickass is purely your own, baby.
Take this quiz!
| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code
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| futility and sweetness (but no lace) |
[06 Sep 2007|06:14pm] |
Happy belated birthdays to zeplum and ltlj!
***
How my afternoon has gone:
Me: website publishing system is down.
Tech dept: Fixed now!
Me: No, it's not.
Tech dept: Now?
Me: Nope.
Tech dept:Maybe this time?
Me: Still, no.
Tech dept: Definitely, now.
Me: And yet, no.
Rinse, lather, repeat. For two and a half hours. *beats head against wall*
***
So, as some of you may know, I have something of an interest in fair trade issues, through my flatmate C. One of the problems with learning about fair trade industry, is that you find out all sorts of unpleasant news about your favorite things -- like, say, chocolate. Cocoa farmers in western Africa - which produces nearly 70% of the world's crop - see about 5 percent of the profits from their product, and because of their poverty frequently employ child labor; labor often obtained through trafficking.
Back in 2001 members of the big U.S. chocolate manufacturers, including Mars, Hershey's, and Nestle, signed the Harkin-Engel protocol, which was supposed to develop industry-wide standards and independent monitoring of cocoa bean production and processing. However, by the self-imposed deadline of July 2005, the U.S. chocolate industry had taken no visible steps to certify that its products are free of child labor, and the International Labor Organization filed suit. 2006 update.
Makes it a bit difficult to justify a candy bar, but fortunately Divine chocolate has improved their recipe in recent years, and added yummy hazelnut and mint varities.
***
Apologies to anyone who's on my del.icio.us network and not an SGA fan, as I went through something of an SGA reading-and-tagging marathon on Saturday.
Now, to meet up with [Bad username: sheikh_dejibouti], albatrosswoman, and C at Red, Hot & Blue to see some old friends from out of town.
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| The moon takes up the wonderous tale |
[30 Aug 2007|01:26pm] |
In the Shadow of the Moon — Remember when the whole world looked up
My brother was much more into astronomy and space flight than I was, but some of his interest couldn't help but rub off on me. And there is something about watching the shuttle launches, about the idea of space flight and exploration that still moves me, makes me choke up at the rumble of flame and the steady mission control voice; that fragile instant of ignition when the supports fall away and fire bears the astronauts upward into the sky.
(I blame this for Armageddon's ability to make me teary, even though I know it's total schlock.)
Frankenmix 16 - Just an Urchin Living Under the Streets
( GNR, Townes, Cabas, BB King, Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, Cory Branan, etc. )
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| The IJ Porn-a-thon |
[20 Aug 2007|10:57pm] |
From theantijoss by way of kita0610:
On September 1, all of fandom here on IJ posts a piece of art or writing that has some sort of smut factor. It can be implied, it can be graphic, it can be raunchy (I vote for this one *cheeky grin*), it just needs to be.
Why?
Because after all the censorship issues, fandom needs to bring back the p0rn!
Don't tell me you can't- one sentence, a doodle, all of it will do.
Remember - Bring Back the P0rn - September 01, only on InsaneJournal!
Your Mission is...
(1) Pimp this in your journal
(2) Write or Draw fandom smut
(3) Post on September 01
(4) Comment, Comment, Comment
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| Why no love for Samuel L? (pie = yum) |
[20 Aug 2007|04:01pm] |
Have made my first strawberry-rhubarb pie -- go me! (Ignored crust recipe, used my mother's.) I think next time I'll want to try the orange-and-cardamom variation.
Also made proper dinner the other day - lamb chops marinated w/ rosemary & balsamic, topped w/ a bit of red pepper and rasberry wine jelly, a nice salad, and mint juleps. (phillyexpat, I finally used the cocktail shaker you gave me! Not that that's quite correct procedure for juleps, but I'm not about to go run out and buy a wooden muddler and silver cups specially. I will, however, experiment next time w/ making a mint simple syrup.)
Achievement of the weekend: finding a strapless bra that's seamless along the top of the cups and stays up. Granted, it stayed up so well that I have slight blistering along the sides of my breasts from all the jumping around/dancing we were doing, but I didn't feel them at the time and they weren't bad enough to bother me the next day, so I'm counting it a win all 'round. And the topper? The bra only cost me $15 at Target. Halle-fricking-lujah.
I didn't post anything in particular during "Blog Against Racism Week" in part because I have no relevant life experiences, and in (larger) part because I had nothing insightful to say. (My brain is most frequently like a Western's establishing shot of the desert; only occasionally does a tumbleweed bounce dustily and desultorily across the empty plains.)
However, I just recently borrowed Snakes on a Plane from sheikh_djibouti and albatrosswoman, and I have this tiny observation to make:
What is up with Samuel L. Jackson and Julianna Marguiles spending all-movie developing chemistry together, only to part with a vague dinner invitation, while Other Stewardess and The Witness Guy (aka the MacGuffin Muffin) get an on-screen kiss? While I don't see SLJ as the sort to put up with any nonsense squeamishness from suits (especially on a movie that he had so much direct input into), it was very jarring to see that only the white couple, not the mixed-race couple, gets any bodily interface.
(However, I do have to give deep, abiding thanks for the cameraman who made the long, slow, loving pan up Taylor Kitsch's body while he was boning the bimbo in the bathroom. That is a gorgeously put-together young man.)
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| Fic: All the redemption I can offer girl is beneath this dirty hood [SPN, gen] |
[01 Jan 2007|06:13pm] |
Title: All the redemption I can offer girl is beneath this dirty hood
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: PG, gen
Notes: This is sort of a love song to the Impala, by way of John. Pre-Pilot. Thanks as always to freedomfry for declaring it fit for human consumption.
( The Impala was Mary's. . . )
I started off this fic with "Thunder Road" in my head, obviously, but ended with "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall." For what that's worth.
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| SPN drabble, Dean |
[31 Dec 2006|06:19pm] |
Imagery inspired by Bruce Springsteen's "City of Ruins." I don't know where Sam is.
The doors of the small, square church hang open on broken hinges, releasing into the still air the baroque ornamentations of an organist hard at practice. Dean stands listening in an empty parking lot off an empty, sun-baked street, shotgun loose and easy in one hand. The tune isn't any hymn he knows, but he bows his head a little anyway. Over the heavy chords come the lighter, flute-like notes of the organ's upper pipes, spilling out a melody that once praised or begged for mercy from on high.
Dean knows that mercy never came. This town is dead, like the one before it, and the one before that, and he doesn't have the heart to dispel its last ghost.
The church door's thrown open
I can hear the organ's song
But the congregation's gone
My city of ruins
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[30 Dec 2006|06:20pm] |
was soooo sleeepy this morning. coffee ineffective. However, have been restored to good spirits by lunch w/ phillyexpat, skate97, and kdm23.
First line memage fun continues. What I've done so far (though I'm criminally incapable of sticking to actual drabble-length):
( for musesfool / 236 words / HP )
( for fox1013 / 263 words / Buffy )
( for trollprincess / 342 words / Witchblade, dead_earth 'verse )
( and for freedomfry / 142 words / x-files )
Stargate fen, get thee to UK Amazon and pick up juliefortune's Sacrifice Moon. Is v. excellent early SG-1 story.
I said it in the amazon review (::waits impatiently for it to upload::) but I'll say it again -- characterisation is really spot-on. So often, a lot of tv/movie tie-in authors (and fanfic writers) feel as if they're doing the characters by form: Teal'c says nothing and looks expressionless (and as a consequence almost fades out of the story altogether); Jack's the not-so-bright military hardass and impatient w/ Daniel & Carter, sprinkle liberally with "ya think?" "for cryin' out loud!" and hockey/fishing references; Daniel is absolutely useless in any military/combat situation and just brimming over with psychological scars from any number of childhood traumas that leave him an emotionally fragile mess. (I can't think of any awful Carter cliches, except for where she can solve any vaguely science-related problem at the drop of a hat, regardless of what field it's in.) But Julie really captures all of their aspects fabulously - Teal'c doesn't speak often, but his presence is always felt, and he actually has emotions/a sense of humor. Jack has his playing dumb moments, his making bad jokes moments, and his cold-blooded soldier moments, but he's also astutely observent of his team's personalities and emotional needs. Daniel is still hurting from losing Sha're, and unused to military tactical thinking, but he's adaptable and not a bloody pushover. (And thank the dear Lord and Lady, there's no "Danny.") And it's a v. chilling story - Julie mixes in her mythological elements v. well.
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| Third Age Ficathon entry |
[28 Dec 2006|06:23pm] |
untitled (for now)
1,638 words
Apologies to voleuse for blatantly stealing her regular story formatting scheme, and thanks to freedomfry for making me, y'know, explain things and use people's names and stuff. I mean really, who does that?
For the Third Age Ficathon, the results of which are posted at mathoms - the story of Castamir and Gondor's civil war.
Oh yeah, and extra apologies for this being ridiculously long in coming.
( Everybody wants to rule the world )
Crossposted to mathoms here.
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| Fic: Daydreams would darken [LotR. Éomer, Grima] |
[28 Dec 2006|05:39pm] |
title: daydreams would darken
rating: PG
pairings: Éomer/Gríma, some shades of Éomer/Éowyn
author’s notes: Written as a backup fic for voleuse’s Rohirric ficathon, (which was, um, ages and ages ago, sorry), for freedomfry, who requested movie’verse Éomer/Gríma, only not explicit, as she had no wish to flush her eyes repeatedly with bleach. I was more than grateful for that stipulation.
disclaimer: Title is from a quote by Logan Pearsall Smith – “How many of our daydreams would darken into nightmares if there seemed any danger of their coming true!” Characters, etc. belong to Tolkien, the movies to PJ and New Line.
( Read more... )
I'm not thrilled by Eowyn's dialogue (eeek! dialogue, nooooo!), but it's amazing, I only used semi-colons two or three times!
ETA: Now linked at ff.net here. Posted at ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif) meduseld here.
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| poking fun of stupid people via fic |
[27 Dec 2006|06:41pm] |
apparently I decided the RPF Special Hell express train wasn't going fast enough, and decided to hop on the God!slash train.
Wait, let me explain.
penknife was explaining about Virginia's new 'Marriage Affirmation Act', which not only bans gay marriages and civil unions, but also bans any "partnership contract or other arrangements that purport to provide the benefits of marriage." Benefits such as medical power-of-attorney, child custody, health insurance coverage, and joint property ownership.
And a pathetic little troll - who apparently has forgotten about the "separation of church and state" part of the Constitution - replied.
And since a lot of people made actual constructive replies, explaining first ammendment, constitutional, basic humanitarian reasons why it's an offensive, horrible Act, I decided to give a silly answer. Which obviously means writing Vishnu and Ahura Mazda snickering at "the new kid's" silly followers over the morning paper. In bed.
( Replicated here, for your amusement/appallment )
Aaaaand my work here's done for the day. ::bows::
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