| Writer's Block: 5//7//5 |
[16 Jul 2009|01:39am] |
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mood |
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 listless |
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I worked on some fic
but I just ignored my diss
and napped on the couch
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[15 Jul 2009|11:19pm] |
So, who else is gonna be at Otakon?
I will be at the Asmadi Games booth, in the dealers hall somewhere. Come visit me, and play Win, Lose, or Banana! You can see me in a much nicer looking polo shirt than the one I wear for my real job.
((Yes, I crossposted this to Twitter and Facebook. Gah, I feel so....so DIRTY crossposting things to Facebook. I don't even have a link to here anymore, because then scary people might come and find me.))
~Sor
MOOP!
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| Dirty reminders! |
[15 Jul 2009|10:18pm] |
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mood |
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 hot |
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First reminder!
Tomorrow is the Dirty 30's event at Maruto! Come dressed in your 30's best! There's no cover but there will be prizes for best costume!
Second reminder! Er...It's actually just an invitation, as I haven't posted about it before:
TUESDAY JULY 28Th IS MY BIRTHDAY!!! I'm going to be going to the Nitty Gritty, I'll probably be there around 6. YOU should be there too!
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| Things, Including Cookies |
[15 Jul 2009|10:42pm] |
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Game night: check. Apparently I can too feed seven, but I need to remember by table really only seats six.
The electronics plague is back. My cell battery hiccuped Saturday, and I believe I've destroyed the baby laptop's third A/C adapter in 3 1/2 years. I break laptop adapters with depressing regularity; I blame HP's engineering. (I continue to ignore the misappropriation of a desktop replacement as an actively mobile device.) I was thinking it might be time to order a second cheap knockoff A/C adapter, but then Windows stopped booting, and when I unplugged it and put in the recovery disk, magically sensed the disk and booted from the hard drive, just as I was settling in for an evening of sandwich with troubleshooting. Neither of these should have had an impact, but lo: the baby laptop booted. The issues with all things plugged in make me think the baby laptop has a death wish, but if it'll hang on until Windows 7 is out of beta, I will swallow all my usual griping and just buy something.
Between game night on Friday, socializing in Baltimore on Sunday, meeting C. in Crystal City on Monday night (which was really cool, except for the part where I got totally lost finding her hotel), and work scheduling and work baby showers with cookies, I am way behind on my reading lists, so if there's anything that applied to me in particular, please point me at it.
The important point of all this is my continued quest for the perfect butterscotch walnut cookie.
( Recipe as of last tonight: )
I think I'm either overbeating the butter, or the eggs, or need to drop the cooking temp another 25 degrees. The butter-sugar temp may also be an issue; it may need to be cooled more before adding everything else. Or maybe sifting the dry ingredients really does make a difference.
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| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince... |
[15 Jul 2009|09:59pm] |
I went tonight to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
I am fairly indifferent to the Harry Potter books and movies. I like them enough to read them and watch them and enjoy them, but not enough to remember them a few days later, or to pay much attention to the fandom. I had forgotten, for one thing, that there was going to be another movie after this one.
Good, because I thought this movie was terrific.
Okay, being honest here, I still am not a big fan of the story itself. But the cinematography enthralled me. Gorgeous. Some of the scenes, the moods, the set pieces....
( In more detail... )
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| The Vintner's Luck... |
[15 Jul 2009|09:30pm] |
One of my favourite books is The Vintner's Luck by New Zealand author Elizabeth Knox. It's historical fiction, set in Napoleonic France, and it's a story about a man and his love for his vinyards, his wife, and an angel. I am thrilled to learn that there's a sequel, now, too. The Angel's Cut. Does it continue the story of Xas, or Sobran, or both? There's only one way to find out! Maybe I can buy it when I'm in the UK.
Sadly, IMDb doesn't tell me who is going to play Lucifer, who appears in one of the most powerful scenes in the book.
They've made The Vintner's Luck into a movie at last, and a friend sent me a link to the trailer. Looks as if it's coming out soon. It amuses me that the actor playing an angel is actually named Ulliel. Is that why they cast him? That, and because he's rather gorgeous?
My impression from the trailer is that the movie very true to the books. The characters don't look as I pictured them, but that's all right. Not far off.
And of course, with my current fascination with the Dean/Castiel relationship, love between an angel and a man looks more interesting than ever.
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| Only 108 minutes to go! and then I can "KISS" the noise goodbye! |
[15 Jul 2009|09:12pm] |
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music |
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Gunfire (Kiss), with occasional car alarm |
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So far I'm either hearing "bass and drums with occasional crowd cheering" or "Lebreton flats being bombed back to the stone age punctuated by gunfire. With occasional crowd cheering".
Given the number of car alarms that have been going off (I'm assuming it's the same few cars), I'm betting it's the bombs.
Man, but I'm surprised by two things.
1) I can hear the crowd cheering from here (as the crow flies it's just under half a mile (about 650-700 m, specifically) - and downhill from me to boot)
2) My God, those people cheering are bloodthirsty. With absolutely no regard for human life. I'm shocked. Shocked and appalled.
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[15 Jul 2009|06:59pm] |
SO, UH, DEAR EVERYONE!
I have gotten my name, into a game1! That is published and everything!!
That's right. I have a credit "for extensive playtesting" in Win Lose or Banana!!!
Today is like the best day ever. For totes. NTS, hang with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) xalolo more often, because he is fantastic.
~Sor
MOOP!
1: Actually, this may have happened with Sixis, too. But that would've been a greater amount of time ago than right now.
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| Concerts on the Square |
[15 Jul 2009|03:22pm] |
It is an entirely perfect day for lying in the grass. I have staked out our spot and am now awaiting Meshel.
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| We Made It This Time! |
[15 Jul 2009|05:19pm] |
"Nominal MECO." Such a lovely phrase!
Also, No Gigantic Kaboom.
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| Polaris |
[15 Jul 2009|05:37pm] |
Better late then never...
I thought Polaris went well this year. It really was the Michael Hogan con, as both his Guest of Honor speeches were great (and he closed off the Sunday afternoon with a rousing "So Say We All!!"), and he was the first person ever to accept a Constellation Award in person (Claudia Black almost was, but she had to fly out Saturday afternoon and left a taped acceptance). Apparently he joined everyone in the parking lot Saturday evening for stargazing as well, which I'm so sorry I missed. He really rocked.
Claudia only had one GoH speech, but it was good, and Matt Frewer was just great. David Hewlett was just there for the day as well, but he was a lot more fun then I expected him to be. He was up for the same award Michael Hogan was, and when Michael won David ran up there first to try and get it, only to be thrown off the stage by Michael. (Seriously! There was hang time when David was in the air! I was worried about the con insurance.)
The new hotel this year was very linear compared to the Doubletree, it was weird not being in a hotel I knew by heart and I spent about an hour Friday on a recon figuring out where everything was. Overall, I think the space was quite good for Polaris, with the exception that the Dealer's Room was a little small for them, and some tables had to go into the hall, but they didn't interfere with traffic too much. The guest rooms were quite nice (with microwaves) and the hotel directly connect to a mall with a food court with great cheap chinese food. And the hotel cash-and-carry was about 30% cheaper than the Doubletree as well.
I had a problem Friday with panelists just not showing up at two of the panels I attended (audience participation saved the day), but panels Saturday and Sunday went better. Nine or ten panels were cancelled outright at the start of the con as no one had signed up for them (they were kept on the schedule as it was thought that someone would). At the programming feedback session, it was a common answer to hear "We didn't to this, that, or the other thing because we didn't have enough panelists", but there was no discussion on why that was, or what Polaris could do about it in the future. I didn't do any panels this year because I was taking a year off, but I was never even contacted about the possibility of doing any even though I've done them at Polaris for years. I do think this is something the con has to seriously address.
But the Masquerade and dance were fun. The Constellation Awards went very well indeed, thanks to the very hard work of gurudata, Janet, and others. I think they are really starting to get some traction now, let's hope the rest of the media start waking up to the fact they exist (the toughest thing to make happen).
Our Anime North suite went ok. It was more cramped then anticipated, and there was only one other room party going on on that floor, which cut down on the traffic we had expected, but I think we'll likely do it again next year. But we and the Rochester party got warned from the hotel at 8 PM about "noise", which apparently amounted to people talking.
Star Trek panels about the new movie pretty much amounted to "The new Star Trek is young and hip! But we're old and grouchy! Star Trek should be old and grouchy too!" Believe me, that's not much of an exaggeration. Yes the new movie is a special-effects blockbuster full of plots holes and if shoots continuity comletely dead, but the point of it is to put bums in seats for the next 4-5 years while they crank them out, and get people interested and excited about Star Trek again, which people were absolutely not before. Maybe at the end of the movie cycle we can talk TV series again, but not for a while.
And the Viva bus has it all over the TCC. The stops all come with automated ticket sellers, and GPS hookups to the next buses coming, so you actually get accurate information on how long you'll have to wait. Now that's science fiction!
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| Oh, those stars. |
[15 Jul 2009|01:41pm] |
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mood |
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 thoughtful |
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music |
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Bits and pieces of everything. |
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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): It makes me famished just to think of you there stewing in your hunger. You almost remind me of a bear that's just awoken from hibernation or a political prisoner who's been on a hunger strike. And yet I know it's not a craving for food that you're suffering from. It's not even an impossible yearning for sex or fame or power or money, either. You're starving, you're ravenous, you're mad for something you don't have a name for—something whose existence you don't fully understand and can't quite imagine. But I predict you'll uncover a fuller truth about this thing very soon, and then you'll be more than halfway toward gratifying your hunger.
This makes disturbing sense to me. I just wish I knew what I wanted.
I suspect what I want is "away."
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| So Now It Can Be Told, Part 2 |
[15 Jul 2009|03:52pm] |
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music |
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"the world unseen", roseanne cash |
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Like I said earlier, quite a day/week. And...it ain't over yet!
The upshot of the length conversation is that A Book of Tongues will indeed be far too long for ChiZine Publications if I bring it in at 200,000 words. Which is why--it's going to be two books, instead, each about 100,000 words: A Book of Tongues, now due by mid- to late-October for release in early 2010, and A Rope of Thorns, due sometime in 2010 for release (at some point. Probably 2011, I would think, but I don't want to assume).
"But don't make it a trilogy," Sandra warned me. To which I replied: "No fear! This is horror, after all, and horror don't play no trilogies."
So: Exciting! Scary! Times two! The great part is that I'll now have so much more time/space to deal with various things/characters/issues than I ever though I would. The bad part is--well, now I have to deal with them, as well as I can, instead of skipping or ignoring them (like I'd sort of hoped I might be able to).
As Gaiman's Merlin puts it: Hot demon blood. Still, it'll be interesting.
And now, I really have to work.;)
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| thwarting my inner 12 year old |
[15 Jul 2009|02:07pm] |
We are in the process of decommissioning a server closet at work (to become the world's most claustrophobic cubicles EVER when we are done).
C asked me if he could call dibs on my lil' baby half-rack that was sitting empty:
Something like the above, but imagine it with an open frame (no sides or back), and probably a leeetle bit shorter (about 3ft high or so).
And wheeled. Did I mention wheeled?
C started wheeling it out of the room, and it was only on the fact that on testing the bottom with one foot it wobbled mightily that kept me resisting the temptation to fold myself into the frame and demand a ride. C thought that the top was probably solid enough (after we pounded it a couple of times to test) to support a person, but at the point the attempt to pretend that we pay attention to workplace health and safety guidelines trumped my inner 12-year-old and I let it go.
Sadness! If only the bottom shelf had been sturdier!
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| Apollo 11 Rebroadcast in Realtime |
[15 Jul 2009|12:51pm] |
On July 16 at 9:32 a.m, exactly 40 years to the minute after the historic Apollo 11 launch, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum will launch WeChooseTheMoon.org.
WeChooseTheMoon.org, which is powered by AOL, is designed to let users experience the mission as it happened in realtime, using archival audio, video and photos going online exactly coordinated with the live events 40 years ago.
You can also follow the mission on Twitter: AP11_CAPCOM (Houston Control), AP11_SPACECRAFT (Apollo 11), and AP11_EAGLE (Apollo 11 Eagle)
Current Mission Status: Stage 1, Prelaunch. Stage 1 launching in 19 hours, 38 minutes, 0 seconds.
Apollo 11 is a go.
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