( justified through season two )

So, I have this problem. You know how sometimes when you read works by an author whose style really resonates with you, then you go and try to write and you find yourself unconsciously mimicking that author's style? I have never had that happen before with a television show, ever, BUT IT'S A PROBLEM NOW. I am so easily entranced by the show's slow rolling poetic dialogue style. It's highly stylized and mannered, yes, and witty and memorable, but not about upping the smug quotability quotient with clever banter and snappy dialogue. It's all about playing with language and having as much fun as they can get away with and making it beautiful. I love that. I could write ENDLESS ESSAYS about the vocabulary and sentence structure and the wandering subject matters of tense conversations and how every single character has their own unique voice and how those voices change depending on who they're talking to and IT'S ALL SO AMAZING I CANNOT HANDLE IT.

Because of that small problem, I was thinking, oh, I'll take a break for a couple of nights before I start S3, no big deal, I don't mind...

...I am starting S3 right now.

OOPS.

What I'm reading: Joel Shepherd, Petrodor. Part II of A Trial of Blood and Steel. I had picked up the first volume of this series, Sasha, on a whim, I don't recall why. It looks like a fairly rote fantasy series, with battles and elves and a young heroine who is unusually gifted in the martial arts, and who happens to be a princess. But the world-building is very strong: complicated politically, religiously, and ethnically. The elves are inhuman but not very magical, and they do not understand how human societies work, often to their peril. The lead is an immature hothead who gets herself into far more trouble than she should be able to survive--but who appears to be learning from her mistakes. The politics are very well conveyed, and brutally dangerous. And after a somewhat rocky start in book 1, this book is passing the Bechdel test with flying colors. Shepherd is pretty clearly someone with a solid grounding in martial arts, as the battle scenes are vivid and precise. And there's even an ongoing subtextual conversation about what it means to be a Strong Woman Character.

If you're in the mood for a fairly traditional fantasy (it does have a mostly western/European cultural structure) with realistic, complicated politics and no sexual violence driving the plot or characterizations, I would recommend this.

What I just read: Shades of Milk and Honey and Glamour in Glass, by Mary Robinette Kowal. I enjoyed the first well enough to pick up the second. But I can't say I thought they were awesome, merely fairly enjoyable. They're basically Austen with a gloss of magic, and far less precise & nuanced characterization. The heroine is well-drawn, as an unattractive woman of good family who develops her artistic skills (including magical glamour) as a means of making herself a marriageable prospect; but her sister is shown to be spiteful, jealous, and self-absorbed, and their affection for one another is not believable. Still, I liked the way Kowal opened out the world in the second novel, and perhaps she continues to do so in the third, and I found the heroine's reactions to some of the events of the 2nd novel reassuringly complicated.

What I will read next: probably the next of the Shepherd novels, if I like the way this one ends. If not, The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway, which got such a stellar review I bought it immediately. Oh the dangers of online book reviews with embedded Amazon links!

The Fanlore celebration trivia contest has now closed and we have winners! They are: ( Read more... )

The Fanlore celebration trivia contest has now closed and we have winners! They are:

fuurou for Post 1
sungabraverday for Post 2
kylara for Post 3

Congratulations to them and thank you to everyone who took part. We hope you had a good time hunting through Fanlore entries. If you've come across entries you'd like to expand or new ones you'd like to start, take a look at Fanlore's tutorial if you're new to editing there.

Fanlore appears to have passed its 25,000 entry on June 18 with the Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss article created by PhoenixFalls.

Many thanks to all the fans, gardeners, editors, and Wiki Committee staffers who have developed Fanlore over the years, and who have given the rest of us this great resource to enjoy and check. We look forward to celebrating more milestones in the future! ( Read more... )

I'm not sure what I can really add to that picture.

Background: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/19/cat-stands-election-mexican-city

Official site: http://www.elcandigato.com/

( books )

( yarn )

DS/C6D!
This weekend is the 2nd posting weekend for the AU challenge. It's not too late to join in -- there's no minimum requirement & it's a multimedia fest: any format & any length of fanwork is welcome. Got a six-word story that fits? Stick figure Ray/Ray art set in the Old West? Hi, we are your audience. <3

Summer/Winter!
The season officially begins with Solstice at 12:04am Chicago time tomorrow night! I cannot wait for the days to get shorter again. This whole sunset at 9pm thing is really confusing.

Happy Juneteenth!

Posted by mugumogu

http://sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com/blog-entry-1464.html

おしゃぶりまる。
Hey Maru, is it your teething ring?



「ゴミ受けらぶ。」
Maru:[Yes, it is!]

http://sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com/blog-entry-1464.html

I left Dr. HM a copy of The Last Unicorn in his mailbox a few weeks ago, because since we were talking about voices in novels ala Bakhtin, I thought he might find that a good novel to read. He responded by leaving a copy of The Complete Stories of JG Ballard in my mailbox! I can't bloody reading his handwriting but I THINK the post-it says "Jaymee yg baik" XDDDD

Had a meeting with the former VP of the dept GSA, which I am now president of, to go over the Constitution and other things. Then she and I went to JoAnn. She didn't have much time to spare, but she wanted to get a cover for a seat cushion. I just wanted to get a magnetic pin bowl and some red cotton jersey for underwear. She scored really awesomely; a beautiful chenille fabric she was super happy with, AND it was halfoff, and since she only needed half a quarter, it was even cheaper.

I went a bit mat and bought a bunch of 4 inch zips, and going to make a few little purses with the fun fabric I've got. I bought some remnants because remnants are fun--red swimwear and bridal lining lolol. I also got a pencil marking set and elastic which the packaging says is for lingerie. I'm going to give a try! The stretch cotton I got is also 40% modal which is reaally nice for underwear lining, so I'm quite happy with my spree this time!

Quite happy, quite happy indeed. I really ought to make more friends in the area who can sew.

So this is the eggplant before cooking. I'd post an "after" picture but they didnt change appearance after 15 minutes in the oven.

They taste like floury salt bombs. I swear I rinsed them really thoroughly after salting them.

Not a success, but not yet a failure.

Fuck, now I have to try this stupid vegetable again.

Here are the slides for my talk, "Rust: a Friendly Introduction". I'd love to clarify anything that needs it in comments on this post.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ICanHasCheezburger/~3/gFLwRmM8xU0/51418625

http://cheezburger.com/51418625

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ICanHasCheezburger/~3/gFLwRmM8xU0/51418625

http://cheezburger.com/51418625

⌈ Secret Post #2360 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 044 secrets from Secret Submission Post #336.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - take it to comments ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

IT OCCURS TO ME THAT I SHOULD SHARE MY LATEST POST WITH THIS FINE COMMUNITY

(THERE IS SOME INITIAL LOWERCASE AT THE LINK, BUT THE PHOTOS WILL HOPEFULLY MAKE UP FOR IT?)

DO YOU LIKE DEER? DO YOU LIKE DEAD DEER? DO YOU LIKE DEAD DEER FEET?

I WENT TO A SHOP IN DALLAS AND FOUND SOME DEAD THINGS

AND SOME OTHER THINGS

I was trying to understand (again) how some people seem to believe that becoming employed is just a question of trying. It is puzzling because there are more people needing jobs than there are jobs available, and some of the jobs available go to people who already have a job, so there's a lot of people chasing any given job. It seems pretty obvious that trying is not sufficient when there are no jobs.

But the people with the positive thinking keep trying attitude, they have experienced getting a job or seen a person get a job, and it was simples, someone tried until they got a job. That's a lot more vivid than numbers. So to them that is the real thing, because experience.

It just doesn't work when you multiply it up.

( Read more... )

EGGPLANT!

Or if you prefer

AUBERGINE!

I have sliced and salted my eggplant. Spongy motherfuckers, aren't they? Anyway, at the moment all the little eggplant-fries are sitting in a colander, coated in an entire shaker's worth of salt. Later, they shall roast. Indeed. Well, I might pan-fry a couple just to see. This is a very labour-intensive vegetable.

Oddly enough, I usually smell vegetables very strongly -- walking into a Subway sandwich shop is like plunging my face into a bucket of shredded lettuce -- but this eggplant appears to have no odor at all. Maybe that means it has no flavour, which would honestly be a nice break for me.

In the meantime I cooked some bacon and reheated some portobello slices in the toaster oven and had a portobello and bacon sandwich.

HEALTHY.