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November 7th, 2009

8bit_tanuki, posting in starwars @ 03:56 pm: The Soup, Ewoks, and The Today Show
So I went to checkout some of my subs on Youtube when I came across this clip of The Soup showing a Halloween clip of The Today Show. Ewoks attempt to get drunk, moonwalk and uh... Well, you'll just have to see this for yourself.



Current Mood: amused
terrificwriter @ 10:42 am: I didn't mean to turn you on


pendant_audio, posting in starwars @ 12:46 am: Star Wars: Blue Harvest Episode XXIV!

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:


Original art by Rebecca Hicks for Pendant Productions

Episode XXIV - "Revenge of the Sith"

The rebel storm assaults the second Death Star, while the Emperor delights in schemes and a Starkiller is lost!

"Star Wars: Blue Harvest" is a serialized, full-cast audio adventure with one new episode every month. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

Also available -- a commentary track with the director and writer!


Now available exclusively at PendantAudio.com via the following links:

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=270527851

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/SWBH-podcast.xml

Download:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/starwars.php

The Second Arc draws to a close )

November 6th, 2009

pinkdormouse @ 05:36 pm: Vegetable Monster
On Saturday I went to [info]friend_of_tofu and [info]alextiefling's Halloween Cocktail Party. I took Holiday Fun Cthulhu with me, and he liked it so much that he decided to stay for a while longer.

In between drinking cocktails and chatting with the excellent guests (Memo To Self: do not make extravagant gestures while holding a wine glass and wearing a cloak), we made vegetable monsters. Mine won a prize!

He looks a bit like The Moog )

terrificwriter @ 05:01 pm: Ow!
Nat should come with a health warning - you are in serious risk of a broken heart:


Health Hazard Cut )


altariel @ 03:14 pm: Boo Hewerdine
I bunked off at lunchtime to go to a free concert by local singer-songwriter Boo Hewerdine. Good stuff.

Next week's concert at the same venue (the Mumford Theatre) will be given by one of the world's leading theramin players - or theramists, apparently. I'm glad there's a word for that.

Now to hit my wordcount target and clean the bathroom. Probably won't do that all at once but it might be interesting to try.

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terrificwriter @ 02:15 pm: What's Homer been doing?
http://download.lardlad.com/sounds/season12/computer11.mp3

elyaeru @ 02:13 pm: Draco Big Bang 2010
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

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terrificwriter @ 08:19 am: A Familiar Face
These figures are meant to be generic miniature mannequins for artists to use as drawing references:
http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=900760

http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=900759

But don't you think they bear a passing resemblence to someone we know?

You bet your aspidistras I've just ordered them - I'd never be able to show my face at the pretend boyfriends coventions otherwise.

November 5th, 2009

lonescorpion @ 04:46 pm: South Park proposes that the word "faggot" has changed its meaning so many times over the centuries that rather than stamping out use of the word altogether, we should be recognizing that its meaning has changed to a purely pejorative term that does not connote homophobia, and go so far as to propose that the new meaning of "faggot" should refer to "an extremely annoying, inconsiderate person particularly associated with Harley riders".

This strikes a particular chord with me, because when I began university, using the word "gay" as a generic pejorative was actually fairly common, and it was usually understood that it was not being used in a homophobic way. However, when I discovered Rocksoc, I was fairly quickly informed that I would either have to step outside, or fall out of the habit I had picked up of using they word "gay" in anything but a respectful manner. It was firm, but fair - I had grown accustomed to its meaning having changed from its homophobic uses, but I was now in a social circle where this was no longer the case.

So, I personally am glad to see that South Park is attempting to use its influence to induce a change in etymology in a positive way. However, I do recognize that this won't work in all aspects of our culture, where the word "faggot" is still used as a homophobic slander, and I wonder if South Park won't be seen as being somewhat irresponsible towards that part of our society. I also find it extremely amusing that trying to change the term to meaning something you would say to the face of a Harley biker is an act of pure recklessness in itself - I wonder if perhaps it is the intention of the South Park writers to enlist the Hell's Angels to physically enforce attempts to drive the word out of useage.

A sample of the script to illustrate my point will be posted as soon as someone on the Intertubes gets round to writing up the transcript to the episode.

Your thoughts?


tiggymalvern @ 01:58 pm: Heavenly Bodies
( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

Current Mood: relaxed
Current Music: 40 Days, 40 Fights - Badly Drawn Boy
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altariel @ 09:14 pm: German translation help?
Big ask: Is there anyone who would be willing to translate a German review of TNES for me? It's around 2300 words long.

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alcina2 @ 08:54 pm: Mmmkay. Naming your kids after characters in your fandom...really sad and a Bad Idea.

Giving kids the name of a Vala (Valie, whatever)...rather presumptious, no? Not acording to the parents of those I am teaching.

Clearly poor 11-year-old Yavanna's parents don't think so... *sigh*

ironlord @ 08:39 pm: Drink! Feck! Arse! Zombies!
So, it's my first post after the Iceland Review. In the end, it came out at 65,000 words. See what I mean about it being my magnum opus? Whatever I do in the future, I doubt I'll ever top it.

Normal service is now resumed as I urge you all, via the link that [info]aiden_macleod has helpfully provided, to grab the new Gama Bomb album. Earache are giving it away free - though it may just be today - as a 320 kb/s MP3 download. I am listening to it now. In much the same way as Citizen Brain was, it's like 1983 all over again - only with 21st century production. And we all know what my views are on those people who say thrash can only ever be "true" if it sounds like it was recorded in a bin - Ride The Lightning certainly wasn't, and that was made in 1984.

GO HERE, YON HEATHENS!

http://mail.earache.com/gamabomb/

DEVASTATING THRASH ATTACK!



Current Music: Gama Bomb - Tales From The Grave in Space
1bigud, posting in starwars @ 01:34 pm: Принцесса Лея загорает на корабле Джаббы Хутта

Тут картинка побольше

oof_suits_you, posting in rocksoc @ 09:41 am: Fireworks on Thursday!
Instead of a pub meet this week, we'll be seeing the fireworks on Midsummer Common, then heading over to Subculture at the ARU.

We'll be meeting up at 7:00 outside the LLoyds Bank on Sidney Street, located at the intersection of Petty Curry and Sidney Street (click for StreetView!), and will leave for the fireworks at 7:10. They're set to start at 7:30.

After the fireworks, we'll be heading over to the ARU Alternative Music Society's Subculture event (click for Facebook Event!), which starts at 9, and takes place at the ARU Academy. They'll be playing Punk, Classic-Indie, Metal, Ska, Rock, Electro, Drum 'n' Bass and Industrial (although probably not all at the same time).

Doors are from 9 till late, and entry costs:

£4 Guests £3 Students £2 Members (AMS have agreed to offer Rocksoc members with identification this rate)

Guests are advised that smoke machines, strobe lights and lasers will be used.

November 4th, 2009

terrificwriter @ 10:21 pm: Black Hole Suns
Last night I watched a documentary about black holes that promised a new insight into these frightening and mysterious phenomena.  At the end they concluded that they still don't know what they are, but they know that they're damned weird.

Here's a curious fact about black holes: everyone knows that these things are so dense that nothing can escape them, not even light (the fastest thing in the universe)... and yet black holes won't last forever... because somehow they evaporate.

But how can this be?  Evaporation means that they would be shedding material, and we have already established that nothing can escape them.   That's true... and also it isn't.

I can't explain it because I don't have a PhD in quantum physics - and that's really what you need to understand this stuff - but througfh some strange process, a black hole sheds approximately one atom every few thousand years or so.  After trillions and trillions and trillions of years, a black hole will shrink to a point where its gravity will no longer be strong enough for it to be called a black hole, and it will start to shine like a star, giving out all the energy that it has captured over its long life time.

Seriously weird.

feanelwa @ 08:48 pm: We have interweb! It worked! [info]whitepaw rocks.

The letting agent has fixed...some of the things. Not yet the washing machine.

terrificwriter @ 08:32 pm: Sherlock Holmes Trailer


lonescorpion @ 12:25 pm: For FUCK'S sake!

What does it FUCKING cost you to allow people to marry within their own gender if they want to? What does it FUCKING do to your miserable little worthless close-minded paranoid self-righteous lives? What impact can it POSSIBLY FUCKING have on you to let people you clearly want nothing to do with be happy?

Fuck you, people of Maine who voted yes! Fuck you and the timber you rode on!


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altariel @ 05:59 pm: Milford
Folks, I had a fantastic time at the Milford SF Writers' Workshop. Ten of us gathered to pore over each others' texts and offer practical, firm, and supportive advice. It was wonderful: I'm so glad I decided to go along, and I can't recommend it highly enough. I was given good advice on a short piece which I've now sent out, and gained considerable confidence in my novel. And it was a privilege to read the work that others were producing. Terrific stuff there.

My picture gallery is here: the first lot include the view from my bedroom window, and views from around the grounds of the centre, heading down to the lake. I spent the mornings reading at that window and pottering around those grounds. (The afternoons were critiquing sessions.)

The last few pictures are from our Friday outing, and taken in the Llanberis Pass. This is my favourite. We started the day at Caernarfon Castle and ended it at Beddgelert, and for some reason I completely failed to take any photographs at either place! I was enjoying the moment too much. But I did manage a snap of a dragon.

Grateful thanks to all Milfordites for such a restful, enjoyable, companionable, and hugely inspiring week. Sorry I gave you all colds.

The bus journey? Was perfectly comfortable, but, man, it took a long time.

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rainofthenight @ 04:57 pm: Things I Picked Up in Different Places Pt. 1: Ireland July '09
 

As they rode through the empty landscape, she was silent and thoughtful. With a sharp eye she looked around and took in everything there was to see. She spied for roadkill, getting out of the car to remove the dead flattened rabbits with soft hands and a tender eye, scraping ran over and dried birds from the tarmac and carefully putting them in the back of the car, securing their stiff wings and remnants of fur as if they were living, beautiful and asleep. And in a way, they were. Her cat accompanied her. With his missing eye and ear he looked a bit brought back from the dead as well. It would not have been a bad guess to assume that he had just entered his fourth life, with five left to go still.

 

The silent hills and stones left a lot of their inhabitants behind on the one road that had found itself a meandering way through the sharp lands. Drivers chased their cars over the road in a hurry to beat the empty hours that led from one village to the next. Later, she came. Her wide hat protected her eyes from the sun, her skirt and coat brushing against the leaves and bushes as she passed, fluttering in the winds that came from across the Atlantic.

 

At home she drove into the driveway, parking the car close to the house and bringing her dead animals one by one in to spread them out on the table in the living room. A lamp hung over it for work at late and early hours of the night and morning. Late in the evening, she would dissect her animals, performing loving autopsies until she had found their souls, torn loose from the macadam and often only barely held together. She’d knead them whole again and stored them, one by one, in jars. They stood on a shelf, labelled and alphabetised on animal. She had named them all though the names were not of her invention. They were theirs, from before, kept to them by her grace. Their bodies, she’d clean up and return to glory, though of another realm than that of the living, without betraying how they fell victim to the road. They could be found here and there in the country, souls travelling at night bringing her the messages she asked for. She smiled at them, and they glowed a bit, her silent companions.

 

She was the witch of the road. 

 


Current Mood: working
Current Music: Jesus On Extasy
redqueenmeg @ 09:20 am: Updates
Len is at school again today and is tolerating his new antibiotic well, although he hates the taste of it and has started rebelling on taking medicine. I can't say I blame him. He's taken up to four medicines every day up to five times apiece per day since a week ago Monday, and none of them is particularly nice.

My OB called back and prescribed more Tamiflu for me (normally an adult takes one pill a day for ten days, I guess, but they want me on it twice a day now), and also an antibiotic that will help with the green stuff and the cough and will also kill Haemophilus influenzae if that is what I have.

I have very little brain right now, and the J key fell off my laptop keyboard, so that is fun.

I am also to report to the emergency room at the hospital in the next couple of days if I am not improving or if I get worse. On the good side with all the drugs I am taking I doubt I am contagious anymore. I'm only a danger to myself.

Woke up at 5:00 AM today coughing my head off. Took more Robitussin. Didn't help. Never got back to sleep. Zombie.

Current Mood: sick
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terrificwriter @ 09:55 am: New Boyfriend?
At least Nat has gone for a normal looking guy this time:
http://www.natalieportman.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=149517

I will still have to destroy him, though:




November 3rd, 2009

eelpi @ 04:12 pm: San Francisco 2009
Just got back from five days in SF yesterday, a fabulous city with even more fabulous friends!

Another year, another last drop of summer )

Current Mood: lazy
Current Music: Tripping Billies - Dave Matthews Band
terrificwriter @ 09:02 pm: How to train your dragon trailer
I have read the original book upon which this film is supposedly based, and this film bears very little resemblence to that book. For one thing, there is no such person as Astrid. And it looks like they have expunged all the quirky English humour and replaced it with some Shrek-like sassiness. Oh well, I hope at least Dreamworks paid Cressida Cowell a decent chunk of change before they ruined her baby:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42948

feanelwa @ 08:44 pm: A brief list of people who have failed today:
-Letting agent and their foolish "we can't use a phone" fixit-people: still no washing machine, still a drip above the front door.
-Virgin Media: still no contract, still NO BROADBAND. They don't answer the phone, so I am sending them a letter; if they don't answer the letter I'm very tempted to get on a train to Swansea and shout at them in person. I can work up a good shout when I have NO INTERNET.

[Backstory to the Extra Virgin Media fail: we ordered their failsome service on the 27th, they sent us an email saying "we'll send you a contract and then we'll send you a start pack". No contract, but they did send us a start pack, which claims it cannot see the internet, and they have set up a direct debit from my bank account. Usual story about phoning the morons up on my mobile and them not answering and wasting all my money, etc. So now I am sending them a letter through the post saying this is what happened, we have no internet and your customer service sucks, sort it out by next Friday or I cancel the direct debit and become evil.]

Work is...scary.

redqueenmeg @ 11:45 am: This woman is SO COOL
http://jezebel.com/5396011/jilted-bride-turns-reception-into-party-for-seniors

I want to join her fan club.

Current Mood: chipper
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lonescorpion @ 09:48 am: I massaged and was massaged by pretty boy yesterday!

I'm going to love doing this as a job someday.


redqueenmeg @ 10:26 am: Len update
He's back at school as he no longer has a fever. He's now been diagnosed with Haemophilus influenzae. Which is fun.

I am personally wondering TMI... )

Current Mood: sick
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terrificwriter @ 11:06 am: Jim Carrey's Official Web Site
Even madder than you would expect:
http://jimcarrey.com/

anarianothren, posting in team_darklord @ 12:54 am: Update 67!


So we’ve come up a bit late this time, but consolation-wise, we have a surprising offering of attention-worthy updates from heart-stopping one-shots to satisfying chaptered fics to amusing and interesting art pieces. Please Enjoy!
As usual, if you have Voldefic, and wish to share, we’d be ten times happier knowing about it, so please drop a comment!
Also, thank you so much [info]meikitsune and [info]mizstorge for furnishing this week’s update with so much more variety!
Finally, I want to extend thank yous to any commenters and watchers. We’re exceedingly pleased to know you’re out there and offering your much-needed support. We hope to be constant in returning the favour weekly with updates on one of your cherished past times! Love at you!


Newly Discovered Fics )

New Fics )

Updated Fics )

Art )






Read and review!
And let the authors/artists know you found it at:








Current Mood: drunk
Current Music: この誰もいない部屋で by Gackt

November 2nd, 2009

cabinetsanchez, posting in starwars @ 07:25 pm: Topless Robot - May I Introduce Sir Christopher Lee?
Christopher Lee knighted.

terrificwriter @ 04:46 pm: No Star Shines Here
Something quite astonishing was pointed out to me today: Rotherham Town Centre does not have and has never had a Starbucks! How is that even possible?

libellum @ 02:17 pm: expert advice

Couple of good articles on the sacking of David Nutt, which I find abhorrent for all the obvious reasons, plus those articulated by JQP in his two "Expertease" articles written at the start of this year.

This isn't the first time this issue has been on our radar. Drugs legislation is one of the easiest targets. Then there was the debate about Green Party science policy earlier this year. Now this, which some commentators have compared to the way policy on ID cards continues to ignore expert advice. Detecting a bit of a theme?

[Democracy] relies on one very important variable, which British society has utterly failed to deliver: accurate information.
In theory, democracy works for the benefit of mankind because the government responds to public demands. This requires two things to be fulfilled. The public have to be rational, which sometimes pertains, and it has to have access to reliable information, or else its demands rest on false assumptions. But the media, its main source of information, does not deliver. It provides truth, yes, but it also spews out myths and nonsense to substantiate its editorial agenda.

(Drugs policy and the death of reason, politics.co.uk, Monday, 02, Nov 2009 12:00)

Ah, everyone's favourite rant about democracy and the media! Excellent: I always enjoy having someone else do this one for me. It even includes references to Plato, if not to the process of Athenian democracy itself.

You all know this already, but just in case: Athenian democracy worked because it was tiny. Something in the region of 60,000 adult male citizens had the right to vote at any one point in the mid-5th century BC - a figure that dropped during wartime. Start with a small city-state and then exclude women, children and adolscents, immigrants, slaves, criminals and anyone who hasn't completed military training. The result is a direct democracy, where those involved are small enough to sit in a single assembly, watch political speakers and satirical theatre as a single audience, and participate in the same big debate. More oligarchy than democracy by modern standards. (Is more complicated than this, but you get the idea. Feel free to comment if you think I'm misrepresenting.)

Modern democracies which aim at representing the demands of the whole population - including, even more recently, women - can't be directly representational (until we develop secure tech for remote voting) and they can't be directly informed. Our representation is a mess, and so is our information. I mean the internet is great and all, but so far it mostly seems to be resulting in more people sharing opinion than data. (Peer-reviewed science has massive class and accessibility issues - is wikipedia the closest thing we have to democratic information?)

Anyway, so I'm sure you all know my feelings on policy and the meeja. What I found kind of interesting reading the post-Nutt-sacking commentary (har) is the fact that no-one's thought to relate this issue to climate science. Which seems a bit odd. Look at this paragraph from that Nutt vs ID cards article:

That's not to say politicians should blindly and slavishly heed scientific advice without any other considerations. Of course not. The whole nature of politics is about balancing various constituencies of interest. But politicians should be able to explain the reason for their decisions when they choose to ignore independent expert advice and press ahead with proposals that potentially put the UK population at greater risk.

O RLY?

Governments have been ignoring expert advice on climate change for, gosh, several decades now. I'm outraged about that, but I'm not surprised. It's not even really news, apart from in the "shit continues to hit fan" sense - but that's not unusual either.

If the outrage over the Home Office not only disregarding the recommendations of its chosen experts, but actually punishing those experts for telling the truth, leads to it happening less, well, great: perhaps they'll start listening to expert advice on environmental policy. Drugs legislation is a relatively quiet issue - you don't get many people willing to protest about it, and most public figures avoid speaking out on it unless they're happy to be branded a filthy munter.

Climate change should be a considerably less risky thing to talk about: surely most people believe that saving the human race from extinction is a generally good thing, even if they're not willing to act personally to help the cause. I mean, to oversimplify dramatically, this is one of the reasons we have laws, right? To encourage people to do the right thing even if they might not always want to?

Not only does policy fly in the face of scientific evidence when it comes to climate change, those who complain loudly about this are treated far worse by the state than those outraged at scandal of David Nutt's illegitimate sacking. Climate change doesn't seem to make it into any of the commentary on governments ignoring their experts. Is the issue becoming so marginalised that no-one's willing to include it in their analysis? Perhaps they're all just trying to avoid being labelled domestic extremists. In which case, the re-branding of climate activists as a marginal, undesirable group by the police is clearly starting to take effect.

ansketil_rose, posting in unlimitedepower @ 10:26 pm: I feel that this belongs here too.

Title: Wave
Prompt: Want
Disclaimer: I own Star Wars! Yep – anyone believe me? Yeah, okay, I was lying! It belongs to George Lucas, though he probably wouldn’t want to own up to this piece of semi-literary thought-masturbation.
Era: Rise of the Empire
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Slash (nobody has their clothes off, don't worry).
Word Count: 200
Characters: Palpatine, Anakin Skywalker
Pairings: The above.
Author’s Note: Just a little breath of light smut, nothing fancy. A bit of an odd answer to the prompt, but there you go. Written for [info]sw_saga_drabble

link to my journal


Current Location: New Zealand, Takapuna
Current Mood: exhausted
terrificwriter @ 09:22 am: Seven Days


Wait a minute, this is the one I was looking for. Happy birthday, Sting:


November 1st, 2009

lonescorpion @ 03:58 pm: I won an essay competition at my massage school! A small but helpful scholarship towards the course fees - a little goes a long way.

Gonzo journalism. Try it - it works! You're not lying, you're using fiction to frame the truth, and it's amazing how you can make even the most inane subject matter seem worth a scholarship.

In celebration, have one of my signature movie reviews:

Hollow Man 2 - Claudio Fah, 2006 )


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terrificwriter @ 01:41 pm: The Adventures of Lil Cthulhu


pinkdormouse @ 01:30 pm: Happy Birthday...
... to [info]actionreplay. Hope your day is going splendidly.

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