Memorabilia was fun, as usual. I spent way too much this time, even though the one thing I'd been hoping to find, I didn't. But money well spent: Christmas gifts for two friends, more pics for my slash wall and more Supernatural autographs. Probably my last Supernatural autographs, as I won't be going to Asylum 4 or 5 (unless by some miracle they book JDM. But I don't see that happening). But there's a little unsigned space left on my box set, should a company capable of organising a piss-up in a brewery start running SPN cons in the UK.

Oh, but even more fun than Memorabilia was the German market in Birmingham city centre. I went exploring there with ynys_crodden on Friday. It was huge with some fantastic stalls and boy if I hadn't been travelling by coach I could have spent a fortune there, too. Those hats! And puzzles! And food. Lots and lots of food. But coach does rather limit what you can carry :( There were these chocolate-covered marshmallow thingies that...oh, boy. Very rich but so very tasty!

George's funeral is tomorrow. Sis, Mum and the UselessFiance^(TM) are all going. I am staying home to work on my Yuletide assignment and dog-sit overnight. I will take advantage of having the kitchen to myself and I'm going to make lemon-roast chicken and maybe some shortbread if I've got enough sugar.

Weather is crap, which will come as no surprise to the Brits on my flist. On the way back from Memorabilia my coach went through Monmouth and the flooding there is awful. Not in the town so much, but around it. Fortunately flooding is not a worry where I live - I'm atop a hill - but there's been a lot of damage in the surrounding areas.

Also...after Merlin on Saturday I'm kinda craving BDSM slash with Arthur as the sub...does such a thing even exist?

Crossposted from my Dreamwidth journal. comments at Dreamwidth.

Tags: misc:random

I impulsively bought a copy of BBC Good Food magazine for the Christmas recipes...boy, I'd forgotten how much I love this magazine! I am really tempted to get a subscription again. Two problems with that:

1. With the whole thing of having to battle Mum and Sis for time in the kitchen, I don't get to properly cook very often. When I do, it has to be either slow-cooker stuff or fast-to-prepare stuff, or it's not worth the hassle from them.

2. I've got three mags on subscription already, including the SPN magazine. I should really give one of those up if I'm going to get another, if only on the principle that I don't have time to read more.

*

I've enjoyed reading everyone's reaction-posts to Waters of Mars, so much so I decided to watch it. (Note: not a Who fan.) Not bad. Not fantastic, but I did enjoy it. I suspect there was stuff in there I didn't 'get' because I lack the background, but it's a huge improvement on the odd episodes I've seen. I like the whole moral dilemma thing.

Just out of curiosity...

Question: given that the Doctor travels in time, is it possible for him to meet himself? Or to visit the same time more than once? (I gather doing so is probably agains the rules, but is it possible in this 'verse?)

*

Chai latte and the company of a good friend may not fix everything, but it sure makes things better. Thanks, Mel. I really needed that :)

*

I have an actual outline for my Yuletide fic! And 250 words written. Here's hoping it continues.

*

I've been checking out Google Wave. It's in closed beta (they call it "limited preview") and I can't actually get in, but I've been reading and researching. I can imagine it being a nightmare as a social networking tool (at least for the anti-social like myself), but I think it would be a brilliant way to beta a fic. I mean, to really beta, not just proof-read. It will let you make comments or even have threaded conversations within a document; let multiple people edit the document directly; let you "replay" so you can see who changed what and change it back if needed; and when you're done you can strip out all the commentary and be left with a neat, polished document. Or, in this case, fic. Of course, both writer and beta(s) would have to be Wave users, but who doesn't use Google for something these days?

There's definitely potential for both good and evil in this one. But I still registered for an invite so I can explore further.

*

Speaking of fandom (well, I was, sort of), is it too weird that I really want this book just because it's got a vague link to my favourite detective?

*

Procrastination, thy name is Morgan. Got to read a chapter before I sleep and here I am blogging instead. *sigh*

Crossposted from my Dreamwidth journal. comments at Dreamwidth.

Tags: misc:random

The Archive of Our Own is now in open beta! Consider this my plug for the archive. Seriously - I may have my reservations about some of the OTW projects but this one is a winner. The archive software itself has some quirks (it took me ages to get used to the tagging system) but it's very flexible and the archive is the only one out there created with fandom - all of it - in mind. Most important, we own the servers, so there's no danger of getting TOSsed out of there just for doing what fans do. Nearly all of my stories are already posted there and no matter my website problems, there they'll stay.

Anyone who wants an account there can add their name to the invitation queue, but I do have an invite to give away. Let me know if you want it - first come, first served. (Comments are screened)

Other news...2012 was fun. Incredible effects, terrible science and the lead character is...d'you remember that episode of Red Dwarf with the luck virus? That's what I was continually reminded of while watching. Because, in all seriousness, the way falling buildings and trees and tsunamis kept just missing him - they guy is officially the luckiest man in the universe. Skill and knowledge can't account for it, not in this film. In Emmerich's other disaster movies, he's always got a lead character who has a natural advantage, so it makes sense for him to survive. In this one the dude gets by on the kind of luck that is just literally unbelievable. Which is a shame, because it does take something away from the film. But it doesn't matter that much because the movie is really all about the spectacle, and on that it delivers.

I had my first meeting with my new OU tutor yesterday and oh, man is he useless! The guy can't stay on-topic for a minute. In a two-hour tutorial I learned a lot, actually, about Guardian journalists and geology and ley lines (no, I'm not kidding) but darned little about sociology. Ah, well. It's only 'till May.

Yuletide assignments are out! I got mine and it's...a little strange, actually, but I can do it. I'm gonna have to do loads of re-watching first.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

*hides under the bed*

Crossposted from my Dreamwidth journal. comments at Dreamwidth.

What we now call Remembrance Day began as Armistice Day - a commemoration of the end of the First World War. WW1 was one of the bloodiest conflicts in history. Though references to the 'lost generation' are slightly exaggerated, it is certainly true that the death toll was unprecedented and utterly unnecessary. To remember the dead, as a vow that we will never allow it to happen again, seems only right.

But we did let it happen again, less than 30 years later.

World War 1 was not an honourable war. Forget the blather about corners of foreign fields being forever part of England: the truth is that war was caused by the politicians of the day having a huge mine's-bigger-than-yours squabble. Translation: it was an arms race. When you let all sides stockpile weapons and rattle sabres, sooner or later someone's going to decide to use those weapons. I was taught in school that Germany was the villain in both wars, but that's not really true. If the arms race is what made war inevitable, then it wasn't Germany who started it. It was Britain when, determined not to surrender our mastery of the seas, we launched the Dreadnought.

Today, my country is once again at war, and this time I'm old enough to judge the honour of the thing for myself. And I judge my country very, very wrong. Understanding the reasons for our invasion of Afghanistan, I nonetheless find it difficult to accept the deliberate bombing of civilian targets, the open support of a corrupt regime which enacts laws to make rape legal and sentences a student to death for merely reading about human rights. The more I read about what is actually happening in that country, the more I am convinced that WE are the terrorists. I have no better word to describe what we are doing to the innocent people of that country.

What happened in Iraq is surely even worse. How can any decent person support armed forces in which women soldiers died of dehydration because they were threatened with rape - not by the enemy but by their own brothers-in-arms? How can my government ask me to respect armed forces implicated in atrocities, in torture, in sexual abuse of prisoners? And where is the honour in employing Iraqi civilians as interpreters and then abandoning them to be hunted down and murdered in their own country?

Not in my name, goddamnit!

I grew up believing that the second World War was honourable and necessary. That Hitler was evil and needed to be destroyed. But the lies we have been told since 2001 to justify the unjustifiable have me questioning even that. Don't get me wrong; I am not a holocaust denier. But I do know that history is written by the victors and having witnessed what lies history will tell about this decade, how can I believe the history of a time before I was even born?

So I will not remember the honourable dead today. I will instead remember the victims of politicians lies. I will remember the real war criminals.

Have you forgotten yet?...
For the world’s events have rumbled on since those gagged days,
Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways:
And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow
Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you’re a man reprieved to go,
Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare.

But the past is just the same - and War’s a bloody game...
Have you forgotten yet?...
Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you’ll never forget.

Siegfried Sassoon (1919)

Yuletide

yuletide signups close tomorrow - that's a gentle nudge to anyone on my flist who's thinking of signing up and hasn't yet!

I've done mine. I ditched one of the fandoms I planned to request in favour of one that showed up on the list which I'd never thought of requesting but couldn't resist once I saw it.

I have been very cautious this year in my offerings. Last time I did Yuletide I offered everything I thought I might be able to write, and ended up with a request that, while I certainly could write it, I never would have by choice. It was okay; I wrote a fic which I think was pretty good and all that. But still, it bothered me.

So this year I've offered less, but I'm happy that whatever assignment I end up with, I'll be able to smile. There are fandoms I've offered that I kinda hope I don't get, but that's more an 'order of preference' thing.

I was planning to offer The Graveyard Book but in the end I chickened out; I certainly know the book well enough to write fanfic for it with a good prompt, but I just don't believe I could do justice to the source material. Gaiman has such a unique 'voice', it's not something I can match.

On an impulse, I did offer to write The Deverry Series, but only certain characters. I've been re-reading those books recently so it's fresh in my mind and I'm seeing a lot of fanfic potential, although I won't write novel fanfic (on principal) other than for Yuletide. I'd only want to write a particular era, though. I understand the series has finally ended - I gave up on it a while back because the rambling storyline irritated the hell out of me. But I've got all but the last (if it is the last) now, and I'll complete my collection shortly.

Oddly, given I don't write novel fanfic, almost everything I offered this year is a written source. Weird that, but I guess it's because all but one of my TV fandoms are too popular to qualify for Yuletide. I did offer a bunch of movies, though, including one I'm going to have to illegally download if I get it as an assignment, because although I've seen it, I can't write a (good) fanfic based on one viewing and the DVD won't be available legally for months. But it's a cool film and I'm gonna buy that DVD the instant it hits the shelves, so I had to offer. There's one movie I offered which, if I do get it, I'm not going to know whether to squee or panic. I guess it depends on the details of the request.

Given how uninspired I've been lately, it's weird that I'm totally excited about this!

Crossposted from my Dreamwidth journal. comments at Dreamwidth.

( Rambling about friends who apparently think I'm a bad friend )

All that rather put me off the idea of celebrating my birthday this year. I'm taking the day off work, though. I think I'll go to the cinema and watch the world be destroyed in 2012...seems like that'll fit my mood.

In other news...it was weird to go and see a biopic of Keats and come out thinking It was a good film, but what's with all the poetry? But I did. Bright Star is the movie I mean. It's a really good film, slow-paced but in a good way, very emotional, it felt real in a way many costume-dramas don't. But as much as I do enjoy poetry, the quotations from Keats' work really didn't add anything to the story. I could have done without them.

Oh, gods, I need some good news! Oh, I know - Memorabilia is a week and a half away. Anyone going?

I will be there on Saturday.

Crossposted from my Dreamwidth journal. comments at Dreamwidth.

I updated my laptop to Windows 7 over the weekend. ( Sure, Windows is evil, but... )

Crossposted from my Dreamwidth journal. comments at Dreamwidth.

Tags: misc:random

I haven't done that for a while.

( Cut because this got long. )

Okay...I guess that was my day. Now I'm off to burn Simon in effigy on my Samhain fire.

Happy Halloween, all!

Crossposted from my Dreamwidth journal. You can comment here or at Dreamwidth.

Tags: movies:reviews

Looks like things are gearing up over at yuletide. I am determined to sign up this year, especially as I've been lousy about writing new fic lately.

To judge from the 'brainstorming' post, there will be a lot of fandoms I can offer to write. Oddly, the ones I want to request are all books.

I really, really want to request fic for Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series. I just finished the third book and I just love Kate's world. I like the lead character, but she also has a great supporting cast. Most of all I love the way vampires "work" in that 'verse :-)

Others coming to mind right now: Kristine Kathryn Rusch - I love all her original fiction (that I've read) but I'd especially like to see fic for The Fey or the Retrieval Artist series. The Fey is darker than dark - why I love it - and RA is almost like a TV show - not a specific one, I just mean it's structured like that. Makes it easy to read.

Storm Constantine - I'd offer to write Wraeththu but I'd really like to request Burying the Shadow. Again, a very original treatment of vampires...but it's also choc-full of my own kinks.

And the obvious - Guy Gavriel Kay and Anne Bishop's Black Jewels. GGK I'd request Lions of Al Rassan but could write anything. AB...I need to figure out what kind of thing I'd request.

There's a bunch of stuff I could probably offer but am not interested in requesting - any movie on my shelves, a whole lotta books, a bunch of obscure TV shows. We'll see.

Should be fun, anyhow :)

Anyone else signing up this year?

On Sunday I finished the last essay assignment for my first OU course. An odd assignment that - it was supposed to be done under faux-exam-conditions (i.e. timed, and without access to notes or books, though the question was supplied in advance). The doing it from memory part was easy (I don't have a photographic memory but I have a very good one); timing it, however, proved near impossible as in spite of my begging indulgence from family I was constantly interrupted. I think I was a tad ambitious in how much I wanted to get into the essay, too, and ran out of time at the end so my conclusion sucks. Still, hopefully it's good enough and I will mail it off today.

Then I have a break from study until the next course begins in November.

*

I'm a big fan of sushi. That is, the kind of sushi you can buy on the high street and eat with those tiny fake-chopsticks; I've never had a chance to try the real thing.

Over the weekend I was searching for recipe books to see if I could try making my own, and instead I discovered bento. What a fantastic idea! I found a couple of places in the UK that sell bento boxes - and it would be easy enough to improvise one anyhow - so all I need is to figure out how to make the stuff. I can improvise a lot, but there are a few Japanese ingredients I'd want to use and I don't really know anywhere locally that supplies them. It's not exactly Tesco-fayre.

*

Plan for tonight: catch up on the first episodes of Eastwick. gwendolynflight was kind enough to let me know it's safe to watch, but I put it off because I was reading Andrea Dworkin for that essay I mentioned. I figured that level of irony would be a little too much even for me.