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Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
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1:45 pm - Dragon*Con
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There's a special hell for people who decide to keep shopping ten minutes after a store closes. Also, the pre-Rosh Hashanah rush + a bunch of kids still in training = pain. And that's all I have to say about today.
On a happier note, a while ago I decided I needed to see what this whole con thing was all about. And naturally, seeing as I live in Boston, the city of Anime Boston, Arisia, and, um, a bunch of other cons, I bought tickets to ... Dragon*Con. In Atlanta.
This actually turned out to be a good move, because I didn't want to run into anybody I know while dressed as a newsie.
Anyway, I still don't entirely know what this whole con thing is about, because I went to exactly three official events/panels, and most of those just because I was tagging along with people. One was a Peter Beagle reading, and on the one hand, The Last Unicorn was a formative reading experience for me and he has a nice voice; on the other hand I don't really enjoy being read to, so I was fidgety and felt bad about it. On the hilarious hand, at the end he announced that he identifies with Anya from Buffy at cons because he's going around all "please give me money! thank you for giving me money!" and forever after my mental image of him will be about 50% Emma Caulfield.
Oddly enough, my favorite ended up being a demonstrate of Wheel of Time sword forms. This is odd because I haven't read the Wheel of Time books. The demonstration was mostly stage swordfights, though, and it's hard to make stage fighting boring, especially when Robert Jordan seems to feel the need to make every sword form name about six words long and vaguely Utena-duel-song-esque. (Utena sword forms would be BEST. "And this is how you draw the sword ...") Last of all I dragged ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) genarti and bookelfe to a T:SCC panel, which was an interesting hour, but kind of a terrible panel. Of everybody attending Dragon*Con, I refuse to believe that people who do not remember (for example) Derek's name were the best people to run a panel about the show.
( The rest of the panel... )
Sadly, I missed the, er, one panel I was actually interesting in going to. And now I'm extra sad because apparently Thomas Dekker talked at least a little about what season three would have included, and that included resistance soldier Riley. I want to go to there. :(
( My costumes )
The best part of the con -- and, er, just about the only part of it, for me -- was wandering around looking at other people's costumes. Highlights for me included: several Princess Tutus (in addition to the fabulous Tutu crew I was with), a fantastic leather-vested Zoe I saw in passing, a Kaylee with an amazingly detailed "Shindig" layer cake dress, two Uhuras walking past each other and grinning, the Eva pair, the Batman carrying around a potted petunia and a trowel, the three Illyrias I saw in the space of about an hour, and the non-genarti Catherine Weaver we ran into Sunday night. There were others, but I can't remember them anymore because, like an idiot, I didn't take any pictures, since I figured everyone else I was with had them covered.
What was funny was how many costumes I didn't recognize. I felt like such a bad nerd! Half the time when I was with my any combination of my comic-reading friends, it would go like this:
Friend #1: Hey, there's the second reincarnation of [character]'s older sister's astral projection!
Friend #2: Right, the future version!
Me: What?
FRiend #1, patiently: You can tell because two of her belts are reflective.
Me: What?
Friend #1: Oh look, it's [character]'s second past self from the acornverse AU!
Friend #2: With a FORK!
Friends: (laugh uproariously)
Friend #1: That's genius.
Me: What??
What the fuck, comics. Next year I'm dressing as giant flying fetus Sandalphon from Angel Sanctuary and nobody better raise their eyebrows at me.
Since I didn't actually remember to take pictures for the most part, most of the ones on my camera were taken by bookelfe or somebody when we stopped to photoshoot our own costumes. So here are the rest (minus the ones that included people I have yet to check in with about pasting their faces across my LJ): ( under the cut )
Hopefully I'll post other people's pictures later, once I've actually checked with everyone to find out who doesn't mind their face being plastered across my LJ and once everyone's finished uploading. Um, this is of course assuming I will have the energy to type words into the internet again in the next few months, which is a big assumption given my track record lately. I miss you, internet! I'm just tired.
I need a haircut.
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| Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
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9:30 pm - this is just to say ...
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| Friday, July 17th, 2009
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10:07 pm - every post needs a pink hat
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I'm too tired to type actual words, so here is a post in sequential icon form about my face the other day when I decided that reading The Lion Hunter in the sun would be a good way to relax.
( But under a cut, because there are spoilers. )
Someday the lesson will stick, and I'll stop trying to read Stephen King while I'm eating or Elizabeth Wein when I'm trying to relax. Right?
current mood: possibly delirious
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| Thursday, July 9th, 2009
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1:46 am - I exist in a reality that is adjacent to the reality you're familiar with.
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Okay, so I'm on kind of an Infernal Affairs (/無間道 ... I don't know what title people would know it by!) kick, so I decided to watch The Departed, and -- I don't know how this happened -- but, like, I watched the first twenty minutes or so while I was cleaning my room, so I wasn't really paying attention, and then I sat down and gave it about 50% of my attention, and then I was like, "Wait, did they collapse Andy Lau and Tony Leung's characters into one person? That's weird," and then I was like, "Is Matt Damon's hair different in this scene?" and then I was like, "Matt Damon's accent is great sometimes, and then not so great other times! How strange," and then I was like, "How come Matt Damon doesn't know his uncle?" and then I was like, "Okay, seriously, is Matt Damon time traveling and/or suffering from MPD? I'm confused. Are these flashbacks? I probably should have watched the first twenty minutes."
I'm an hour into the movie and I just realized that Leonardo DiCaprio is not Matt Damon. It's amazing how much more sense everything makes now!
agonistes: ...
agonistes: you were not one of the girls who went to see titanic nine or ten times
agonistes: were you
shati: YES I WAS
shati: is the thing
agonistes: ...
agonistes: oh, shati.
How was I supposed to know that Leonardo DiCaprio existed independently of his Titanic bangs! He has Matt Damon's jaw, okay!
I already knew that I have problems telling Brad Pitt's and Matt Damon's faces apart when I'm tired. I guess I should just be glad that Brad Pitt isn't in this movie.
Or is he?
current mood: feeling extremely intelligent
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| Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
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12:07 am - new vid: Bet On It (Newsies)
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You may ask: why did Shati decide this was a good idea? Or you may ask: having made this, why did Shati see fit to unleash it upon on the world? Or you may ask: why did someone out there decide that Christian Bale needed to perform a solo dance sequence?
There are many questions in this world without answers.
Fandom: Newsies
Song: Bet On It
Artist: Zac Efron, by way of High School Musical
File: 3:17 49.9 MB avi
Download here
current mood: um
current music: there are many things wrong with me
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| Sunday, May 31st, 2009
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5:05 pm - someone's probably already used "how to disappear completely" as a post subject
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I opened the newspaper this morning and found myself reading an utterly unremarkable review of the book Nature in America at the Time of Discovery, by Steve Nicholls. Nothing about it was strange or unfamiliar to me -- the way both author and reviewer can assume that that readers will interpret "discovery" as "discovery by Europeans," the way Bill McKibben can write a whole review about North America pre-European colonization without once acknowledging the existence of previous inhabitants, the way the review's "we" assumes that everybody reading the newspaper is the genetic or cultural descendant of these colonizers. And I didn't once think, Goodness me, how bizarre! or, He must have put so much effort into avoiding any mention of American Indians! because it was not bizarre and mostly likely he never had to think about it.
I thought a little about the theory I read in 1491 that the abundance of buffalo and passenger pigeons that greeted early European colonizers were abnormal population explosions in direct result of European diseases decimating the local human populations. And mostly I thought about Patricia Wrede's new book about Europeans colonizing a North America that is filled with exciting magical beasts, and conveniently, unremarkably empty of human life, and how if I wanted to read about that AU, all I have to do is open the Sunday newspaper. Truly we have worlds at our fingertips.
(The Tor threads about the book is here, and naraht has collected links to related posts.)
current mood: neither surprised nor happy
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(comment on this)
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| Thursday, May 28th, 2009
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8:03 pm - cupcakes!
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I might have graduated from college! I think. Cool!
Anyway, a while ago I was going to post a link to an exciting cupcake recipe, and I decided to wait until after Passover because there's cruel and there's really cruel, and then Passover ended, but a friend came to visit me, final papers were due, final exams happened, I moved out of my dorm room, and I had more visitors, and my visitors' dreams were haunted by Zac Efron. This was all great (except the schoolwork) but it means I got behind on everything imaginable, including things like purchasing shampoo. If I ever have my memories wiped by a sinister underground organization, you guys need to tell me that I cannot wash my hair with soap, especially if I don't have an conditioner either. It will only end in tears.
I got a little off-track there. Here's a link to the recipe for dark chocolate mint-filled cupcakes. Under the cut, I will discuss them!
( The Cut! )
I may have already said this, but: usually my family ignores my baked goods. My mother doesn't eat flour anymore; my dad goes for days at a time manfully avoiding anything he thinks is "unhealthy" (his criteria are strange and arbitrary) and then snaps and has beer and fried spam for dinner; and my brother, although he has a bottomless black hole for a stomach, isn't home enough to make a serious dent. But these cupcakes were gone in two days. My father brought them to work with him and came home asking for the recipe so he could give it to one of his coworkers. My brother inhaled them. My mother tasted and approved of the frosting. And I wished I'd kept them all for myself.
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| Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
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5:32 pm - a tremendously exciting account of my day
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Today I
(1) sat out in the sun for about 15-20 minutes, and watched my arms get browner before my very eyes. Then I became concerned and went inside. It's been so long since I saw actual sunshine that I can't remember if I'm supposed to tan that fast.
(2) finished Purple Hibiscus, which is my favorite of the ( Arbitrary location for an LJ cut for length! ) People who have friended me recently (in my world, "recently" means "within the past year"), or ever: hi! Feel free to introduce yourselves. Feel free also to lurk! Although, fair warning, I may lock this post eventually, since it has a hair more RL info than I'm usually comfortable posting publicly.
Finally, I ended up naming my iPod John Henry. I was going to put "Donald Where's Your Trousers" on it, but it decided not to let me synch ever again. So instead I uploaded it for you.
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| Friday, April 10th, 2009
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9:09 pm
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| Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
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4:58 pm - This icon makes me think, "Have you heard why this night is different from all other nights?"
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I hope everybody's having a happy Passover who celebrates, and a good day who doesn't. Or, since I know some of you aren't, I hope yours improve drastically.
I haven't been posting much lately, so here's a sexy exciting update on my boring life: I'm doing schoolwork, job hunting (I can't remember the last time I felt so worthless), working on two vids (T:SCC and multifandom), watching TV, learning how to use my dad's old iPod, and freaking out whenever I yawn. (The dentist told me to be careful because my jaw is on its last legs. In addition to using a confusing metaphor, this is surprisingly difficult.) It is a thrill a minute around here!
( Brief comments on the TV I am watching; no spoilers. Negativity about Dollhouse. Spoilers in the comments are welcome. )
At some point not tonight, I have to remember to post the Thin Mint cupcake recipe I found. It's actually the most exciting thing about the past few weeks.
How it's going, internet? What should I name my dad's iPod? It's tiny and silver, and I was thinking about calling it Princess Tutu to match Princess Kraehe, but I think that might be too much name for it.
current mood: cramps cramps cramps
current music: cramps?
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| Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
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7:22 pm - very, very important.
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| Sunday, March 15th, 2009
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5:00 am - T:SCC 2x18, Today is the Day
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| Saturday, February 28th, 2009
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11:01 pm - TV and memes
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TV links
Via oyceter, the Avatar movie casting call. It's, uh, special.
Via coffeeandink, what might be the original Dollhouse pilot (totally unconfirmed). It makes me sad, because I actually like this pilot. I was expecting to feel conflicted about Dollhouse because watching coercive brainwashy prostitution/indentured servitude/human trafficking every week is kind of depressing (especially when it's basically being marketed as softcore porn, ew), but instead I am feeling ... well, unconflicted, because so far the show is just bad. It doesn't even have sparkly dialogue! The Dushku interview where she basically says that it sucks until episode 7 has made me consider waiting until episode 7 to tune in, but it's on after T:SCC and I'm lazy. Who knows.
Disclaimer: I do not think Joss Whedon hates women. I also do not think Joss Whedon is God. (It might explain a lot if both of those were true, though. Like the existence of menstrual cramps.) My feelings about Dollhouse are mostly not intersecting with my feelings about Joss Whedon anyway, because the show is so weirdly un-Joss-like.
I do hope it gets good, because I want it to last long enough to have multiple seasons end with the revelation that [key piece of backstory] is entirely fabricated memory. And then next season, that revelation is revealed to be fabricated! It could be like how everyone on Heroes is related! But so far ... no.
Meanwhile, I have been loving this season of T:SCC like crazy, but I haven't seen this week's yet (I keep forgetting it's on Fridays now), and it's not up on Hulu yet. Sorrow! Yay! ( Spoilers for 2x16 )
Interview/association memes
From schiarire: ( Vids, sports movies, TV, classes, and cookies )
From sotto_voice: ( Angel fetuses, facial expressions, blue tights, Princess Tutu, and whore cows )
From gao: ( Vids, classes, TV, enjoyment, and Becca )
The rest will come another day! Feel free to give me five things you associate with me in the comments (or ask me five questions), and/or to ask me to give you five things I associate with you (or ask you five questions). I feel like the syntax of that sentence was more complicated than it needed to be.
My tragic woe
SOMEDAY I will go to Vividcon. I vow it.
current mood: tired
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| Sunday, February 8th, 2009
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10:29 pm - FYI
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| Friday, February 6th, 2009
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7:27 pm - Center Stage: Turn It Up
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| Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
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8:25 pm - and footnotes are a gateway drug
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Today I:
Took upwards of four hours figuring out how to return two pairs of pants*.
Sliced my hand open using only the powers of my notebook**.
Let it never be said that I am functionally intelligent.
* In my defense, they were ordered online (because it's near impossible to find the right size in stores***), and they were ordered from two different stores that use the same shipping, and I wanted to return them in person, but only one of the stores is easily gotten to, so I had to go out to return one pair -- which included getting mildly lost -- and then figure out how to ship back the second pair after that.
** It's shallow. But I have discovered that I never really appreciated my thumb webbing until was compromised. Life lesson?
*** WHY DO CLOTHING SIZES FAIL SO HARD. Seriously, why?
... In others news, there's a Great Vidding Truth Meme! You can say things to me about my vids while anonymous! How thrilling! I guess you can also say things to me about my vids while un-anonymous, if you want, or while wearing a fake mustache.
current mood: tired
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| Monday, January 5th, 2009
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7:31 pm - happy drive the happy drive
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My new hard drive arrived today! It is sleek and black and shiny. My mother suggested the following names for it:
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus ("Mersa" for short)
Earwig
Rhotavirus
Happy Drive
Shiny Drive
What is wrong with my family?
I'm considering naming it Cromartie, because SkyNet seemed presumptuous (that's more of a laptop name) and Terminators are sleekly efficient machines, of which Cromartie is an especially durable example. Other suggestions are welcome. My list of possibilities:
Cromartie
Princess Kraehe (it's raven colored! and I just finished episode 13)
I need more ideas.
(gao has suggested Cockroach. It is not in the running.)
current mood: happy drive
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(29 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, December 25th, 2008
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2:49 am
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I'm home! I haven't gotten to the 3 million emails and comments I've neglected during finals, but I'm home, and I have exciting things like food, washing machines, and shampoo at my disposal.
In the meanwhile, links I've been meaning to post for a while:
sleightofhand drew me a picture of one of Willow's terrifying fuzzy hants singing songs that only Buffy can hear. Her choice of song only makes it more perfect. It is now my computer background and possibly my favorite thing in the world.
rachelmanija on Kaori Yuki's Fairy Cube (she made a little more sense of it than I did) and Angel Sanctuary. (oyceter, in the comments: "Oh! And I always forget about the part where Setsuna and Sara board the giant flying whale!") I always forget about the flying whale, too. I remember the scenes, but I forget that they take place on a flying whale.
coffeeandink points out that the season 1 box set of Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles is only $12.99. LOOK! SO CHEAP! DON'T YOU FEEL SUDDENLY COMPELLED TO PURCHASE IT.
helen_keeble on Twilight. I haven't read the books, so I can't actually debate any of her points, but I have been kind of weirded out by what moral panic exists in re: Twilight, and this post helped me realize why: because I read tons of Anne McCaffrey as a child and do not wish to deny today's kids the opportunity to read terrible books with disturbing underlying messages about sexuality. I -- I turned out okay, right?
Right?
current music: at least vampires don't have sex in midair? -- i think. do they?
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| Thursday, December 11th, 2008
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9:25 am - strangely my eyes are not perfect circles
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I'm not actually posting about the whitewashed casting of the Avatar live action movie, although it is BS on any number of levels, because I'm busy moping over the news. But I'm sick of seeing people say that cartoon characters Don't Look Asian (so many times I have seen this! soon I will be doing shots), so I am writing about that instead. Even though I'm not sure anyone who's said that is on my flist. I'm like Don Quixote except I post at windmills? Or maybe I just lecture the windmills on Cartoon Art 101.
Matt Thorn's essay that I think says everything I'm going to
My Really Short Version
No human being on this planet looks like this. For starters, most of us have noses and ears. If you think this smiley face looks white, or doesn't look Asian, that is all you. If you think it's a dude, that's all you. If you think it's an adult: you are still the one bringing that to the table. It's a symbol of a human face, and there is not anywhere near enough detail to go any further without making assumptions.
If I take that smiley face and, for example, animate it writing a short letter to its mother in Korean, while wearing a hanbok and humming the South Korean National Anthem, and you think the smiley face definitively fails to look Korean in such a way that it would be perfectly reasonable for somebody to decide that the best actor to represent the smiley in a live action film would be white, you might want to reconsider what you're bringing to the table. My suggestion: if it involves expectations like squinty eyes, stop.
I wanted to work the phrase "so's your FACE" into this but I am just too sleepy.
current mood: why am i awake?
current music: my other suggestion is don't pull all-nighters to finish your essays
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5:24 am - today i have learned
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The only problem with eating ramen with my hands is that it gives me more opportunity to burn myself.
*sucks on fingers, woefully*
I think finals week enjoys systemically destroying my dignity. Which is kind of sad, because it's not like it's a big challenge. Finals week is poorly motivated and underachieving. I'd be way more impressed if it went for something difficult, like making me learn to manage my time.
Or my utensils.
(It also enjoys causing me to neglect email and comments. Apologies!)
current mood: why can't i drop out
current music: my hatred of school
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