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| Thursday, May 15th, 2008 |
jlundberg
|
6:02p |
surreal life Wow. Barack Obama is apparently now following my updates on Twitter. To which I say: Dude, don't you have, like, more important things to be spending your time on? Although, to say that I'm beyond flattered is an understatement. And yay for John Edwards for giving his support to Obama. I very much hope that when Obama takes the White House, there will be room for Edwards somewhere. Vice President, maybe, or Attorney General. Oh, and just in case you didn't know:  |
cherylmmorgan
|
2:57a |
Where Has All the Summer Gone? Originally published at Cheryl's Mewsings. Please leave any comments there. Today is apparently National Work from Home Day in Britain. The people pushing this event might claim it is all about cutting down congestion on the roads and railways, and reducing carbon emissions, but everyone here knows that it is all about the first day of the first Test Match of the summer. England are due to face off against New Zealand at Lords in about 10 minutes time. Except, of course, it is pouring with rain over most of the country. This is entirely expected. The weather has been quite good for several days now, but faced with a major sporting event the British climate hardly ever fails to produce a good downpour. Next month we have Wimbledon, which means solid rain for two whole weeks.
One theory is that the endless rain is actually the gods weeping for the lack of soccer. The summer is a period of major psychological stress for many Britons. Sky Sports is so concerned about the mental health of its viewers that it has been broadcasting adverts reassuring them that the soccer season will start again in August.
I suppose I could turn on Test Match Special anyway, but I have an awful feeling that instead of the entertaining banter of yester-year all we will get is Aggers & co droning on about how awful Twenty20 cricket is and how there are too many overseas players in the English game. Ah Johnners, you are so sorely missed. |
cherylmmorgan
|
2:45a |
Bay Area Events Originally published at Cheryl's Mewsings. Please leave any comments there. This is a post for those of you lucky enough to still be in California rather than exiled to a cold and rainy place on the far side of the Atlantic. Various emails have arrived this morning with details of forthcoming events, so I thought I should list them. Here goes (below the fold):
Read the rest of this entry » |
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jeffvandermeer
|
9:17a |
The Thousand and One Posts of Ecstatic Days http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2008/05/15/the-thousand-and-one-posts-of-ecstatic-days/ http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/?p=1064 
Somehow I’ve survived to post number 1,001 on the new blog. Thanks to everyone for reading. I really appreciate it. Sometimes your comments have kept me sane.
Thanks also to Luis Rodrigues for creating this site and for enhancing it from time to time. Thanks to all the guest bloggers.
Here’s a look back at just a few “highlights,” mostly funny…
Jeff
Predator Opera! (my personal favorite)
VanderMeers to Edit Squidpunk Antho (too many peoples thought this was for real–for shame, peoples!)
Odd Jobs: Froggie (yes, this really happened)
Evil Monkey Guide to Creative Writing–Take 1 (still my best creative writing rant)
Grandson Riley Photos (extreme cuteness–had to include)
Ten Clues for the Clueless (sarcastic writing advice!)
Book Sale Victim (just cute, is all)
The Immortal Chuck E Cheese Horror Story (yes, this really happened)
The Triumph of Competence (or, telling it like it is and kerfuffle following)
Pop Culture Report #1 (all in one take!)
The Language of Defeat (the companion piece to the kerfuffle-maker, but since it wasn’t directly on my blog, not as much kerfuffle)
Penguin Wars (a tip o’ the hat to Tessa and her penguins)
Unscientific Book Cover Survey (a raucous but fun post)
It’s Molting Season For Writers! (people either got this one or they didn’t; the ones who didn’t looked at me odd for a month)
How to Write a Novel in Two Months (spawned a book deal)
Ann in PJs! (just too cute)
Aborted Evil Monkey for Prez Campaign (i never did have time to actually do this…)
Two Things I Never Expected (the sh*t post)
New Weird Story Contest Participants (a lot of bizarre stories here, let me tell ya)
My Weirdest Freelance Moment (yes, it really happened)
Unpublished Novel by Jesse (led to the author getting an agent)
Felix Gilman Attacked by Hamster (I think Felix is a comic genius)
Why I Love Ann (self-explanatory)
Reviewing Books (yeah, this is kinda boring; that’s part of the point)
Predator: Me and Dave Larsen Are Not Playing Around (yeah, that’s right–we’re not playing around mofo!)
Incoming! Books Received March 17 (the first books received post–and infamous for the Scott Sigler incident and sudden outpouring of Sigler fandom in the comments)
Scott Sigler Is In My House (I don’t think Scott liked being compared to a hamster, but it did lead to classic Felix humor, although I don’t think Felix ever thought I’d actually send him a hamster…)
The Arms Crossed Gender Power Imbalance (three wonderful women indulged me…)
Arthur C. Clarke Appreciation (something I’m proud of having gotten right)
Could a City Exist in the Eye of a Giant Salamander? (I enjoyed the heck out of the comments on this one)
Formula for Your Literary Name (yes, it’s a bit too complicated)
Nabokov Bookshelves (I still get a kick out of the fact Dmitri Nabokov commented)
Books and Beer (one of my favorites)
The Books are Winning (the beginning of the epic, almost insane book slae–over a thousand books, Ann and me shipping them all)
Massive Book Sale (…and the official start…)
Book Sale ‘Nam: Destroy to Protect (…and our near destruction…)
Fartscape (Evil gets all up in Farscape’s face)
My Birthday at Clarion (a nice moment)
The Short Story Is Dying? (Evil, me, and the lizard that lived in our yard rhyme in on the short story)
Evil Monkey’s Guide to Kosher Imaginary Animals (the now near-classic post that spawned a forthcoming book deal)
 |
jlundberg
|
4:50p |
*snerf*
That's the sound been coming from my nose since about 5 p.m. yesterday. Buh. Went to the doctor today, and it's viral flu. Again. The third time in as many months. One of the risks of teaching in an all-boys school, I suppose, but I am getting damn tired of being sick so often.
I also have conjunctivitis (ie Pink Eye) in my right eye and a little in the left, so I got some drops, which seem to be helping. At least they aren't nearly as itchy as they have been for the last couple of weeks.
So today I missed school, but this is sabbatical week; instead of conducting a course like the fiction-writing workshop last term, I'm helping out my colleague Nick with one on filmmaking. Today and tomorrow should be fairly light, as the students will be out wandering the campus with cameras, so if I had to pick two days to be off (and I will be doing so; no more going back to school before I'm well), these were two good days to do so.
With Vesak Day on Monday, this has unintentionally become a five-day weekend. Although feeling as shitty as I do, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to enjoy it.
That said, I'm postponing the official start of Reader Request Week to next Monday. I hate to keep putting it off, but if I'm going to answer a different question each day of the week, I want to be well and coherent before doing so.
I'm off to take a nap now. Cheers. |
julesjones
|
9:11a |
No, actually, it's because I prefer cock This week we have had not one but two romance blogs start talking about why there is so little f/f romance about. And in both cases, the usual thing has come up with some people claiming that the only conceivable reason why straight women won't read f/f is because they are terrified that they will like it and this will make them lesbians. Even after other women have posted to the thread that it's because guys turn them on and women don't, and thus f/f is *boring* if they're only reading it for the porn. Not repellent. Boring. This... is annoying me. Because I'm one of the women who finds f/f boring if I'm only reading it for the porn. I'm Kinsey 0. I don't find women's bodies disgusting. I just don't find them a turn-on. So many books, so little time, and why would I want to waste time reading about women slapping their bits together when I could be spending it reading about men doing likewise? And the theory that bi and lesbian women liking m/m is proof that we've all internalised hatred of women's bodies doesn't wash either. There are *other* reasons for women to find m/m more interesting to read than f/f, regardless of their personal sexual orientation, and for some it's all about the hurt/comfort and emo!porn. Women are allowed to express love and fear and other squidgy emotions, and men aren't. So it's fun to watch them being forced to open up and deal with those emotions. For many readers that's part of the point of the romance genre in the first place. M/m gives you double the man-angst for your money, while f/f gives you none. I'll point here at my Girls who like boys who do boys essay and its comment thread for a more detailed discussion of this and other reasons for the appeal of m/m. Which isn't to say that I don't read f/f stories. I do. I've read some superb f/f fanfic, and published some of it in my zine series.[*] But what I'm reading there is generally not PlotWhatPlot. A lot of commercial f/f is PWP, or at least doesn't have any other story elements that are sufficiently interesting to me personally to make up for my lack of interest in the sex scenes. This isn't just because it's f/f -- I react the same way to m/f contemporary romance. I generally don't read either unless I have specific recommendations from people I trust, because prior experience suggests that it is far more likely to be a boring waste of my time or an active wallbanger than something I'll really enjoy. Yes, some women do indeed read m/m but steer clear of f/f because they're homophobic, or because of internalised misogynism. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a liking for real phalluses is just a liking for cock. [*] I'm not linking to examples because the very thing that makes them good reads for me means that they may not work for people not familiar with the fandom. ETA: I'm using "porn" here in the fanfic/sf fannish sense, which doesn't have the derogatory connotations that it does in romance fandom. Given last week's explosions in the romance blogsphere about the word, I thought I'd better clarify. |
thisplacehere
|
9:47a |
Not Book 30
I was all set to blog about the book I'd just finished reading, when I woke up to find the whole experience had been a dream, and the book didn't even exist. Which is probably just as well, because it wasn't a particularly good book anyway. |
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jeffvandermeer
|
8:01a |
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cinderberry
|
9:32a |
OK, this sucks
Looks like I'm going to have to book the cat into the kitty prison for the month I'm in Kiev looking after Dad. My poor baby, she won't want to talk to me ever again.
Inappropriate things to say to your father, Number 15: "Sorry, Dad, could you go to the hospital when Jon isn't working away? You see, Sabine doesn't like the cattery." |
cat_macros
[ spm19713 ]
|
4:29a |
Dog breath  |
mevennen
|
9:22a |
Rain
After several days of blazing sunshine, we woke to rain this morning. This is possibly because we went to Wells yesterday and bought new swimming costumes (holiday is advancing), and I suspect the weather gods thought we were getting above ourselves. However, we are officially smug, as a result of having done an extensive amount of gardening last night, and the greenhouse is now full, apart from some space left for melons. Now, on with legal Stuff and the final pages of the copy edit.
Sorry this week's entries have been so boring but as someone once said to me: boring is good. However, exciting news coming soon! |
fjm
|
8:59a |
I have a web page. http://www.farahsf.com/I'll be using it to stash oddments: things commissioned for places not within the usual SF -fan radar, and also chunks from the book that didn't make it but struck me as still useful. If you were ever a fan of the Out of this World anthologies, there is a short [essay is too strong a word] riff there. |
fjm
|
8:46a |
Legal comment please.
Tucked away in an article about a French rival to Wikipedia in yesterday's Indie was this:
A print version of the encyclopaedia [Wikipedia], featuring 250,000 of its 10 million online articles, is due to be published in September by the German media group Bertelsmann.
So: Did Wikipedia ever *specify* that it has rights to print people's essays? |
otherjoseph
|
3:10p |
i love the whole world
So a little bird told me that around 40 new people added me to their friends lists in the past 2 days and that traffic went up from 10 to 90 daily hits from the other day to yesterday? LOL IZ NOW FAMUS LYK MILEY.
To all the new wonderful bbs, thank you so much for allowing me to be part of your online procrastination! It is such an honor, truly~
And to everyone else, this is why the whole world rocks.
(gosh this journal is ~*so inspiring*~)
Current Mood: you like me, you really like me!
Current Music: i'm miley cyrus, all i got is 4 minutes |
markdeniz
|
8:21a |
Blimey! Was a little shocked and impressed by the amount of responses to yesterday's post. There is pretty much no way I would be able to involve everyone but it's very cool that so many people are interested! Tis the run today and I'm feeling pretty prepared for that, I have trained quite well this year (much better than 2006 and slightly better than 2005) and I've put myself into the faster group, meaning that I will be expected to keep a faster pace from the off. Charity run 15th May, 2008I think I'll beat my best time today but I'm not sure if it will be by leaps or by a whisker. I can't actually remember my time of 2005 but I'll have to try and dig it out before tonight. I will return with aching muscles and pics to tell you how it all went. Current Mood:  determinedCurrent Music: Murcof: Cosmos |
martyn44
|
7:28a |
I am annoyed. They are using AC/DC's wonderful Thunderstruck to trail their pitiful remake of Gladiators. Where's the Wolfman when you need him? |
| Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 |
how_many_miles
|
11:19p |
Analysis Paralysis. A big part of my OCD is obsessive thoughts. Current Mood:  accomplished |
cat_macros
[ scarybaldguy ]
|
11:07p |
|
madrobins
|
10:49p |
she certainly can can-can
So maybe it isn't tropical, but we are having a heat wave. In the 80s today; 90s likely tomorrow. For San Francisco this is fairly astonishing (and means that the poor folks in the East Bay and points further East are going to bake). For us, at least, this will last a few days and then the fog will roll in and wrap us in cotton chill. But for today...the dogs were wandering around at the dog park looking stunned. "But we're wearing fur. How could they do this to us?"
And a really spectacular sunset this evening, the sort that makes you turn your face to the heavens and say "Okay, now, that's just showing off. But don't stop." |
| Thursday, May 15th, 2008 |
cristalia
|
1:47a |
Speaking of that unsaleable book... May 14, 2008 Progress Notes:AboveWords today: 1500. Words total: 36,150 MS Word. Reason for stopping: I'm doomed to not hit my bed before 2am any night this week. Liquid Refreshment: Water. Munchies: Nachos, bananas, and bad-for-me cookies. Not together. Darling du Jour: Jack squints against the curling black-ink loops. I'm not sure he reads so good, but in Safe you don't have to. There's always someone there who'll shut your eyes and tell you soft a story. Words Matthew Won't Admit to Knowing: He had a serious vocabulary tonight. We got to use words longer than three syllables! Mean Things: Evil asylum goes on and on, but I think it's almost done. Serious underappreciation for hardworking allies. Getting the wrong end of things. Research Roundup: N/A. Books in progress: Jeffrey Ford, The Physiognomy, textbooks. The glamour: Class, where the truly awesome TA I had for Poetry and Prose 1600-1660 last summer is now the truly awesome TA I will have again. Sweet. Otherwise, today was eaten up by crampiness and school reading.
Bwah. I am so winning the unsaleable poll. *party dance!* It occurs to me that in a week and a few hours, I will be hopping a plane for Wiscon. So I frantically wrote up a pack list tonight in the boring bit of the class, and compared it to my last year's pack list for completeness (there are sometimes upsides to having used to the same dollar-fifty reporter's notebook as a low-tech Blackberry for the past two years). I think I have everything, including stuff like Coyote the Laptop, who will be accompanying me on his first international adventure. I'm sure whatever I'm forgetting will come to me once...well, I'm there. *g* So while this is everywhere and I probably won't get the reply volume I'm hoping for, this being almost 2am that I'm posting...will I see you there? Current Mood:  busyCurrent Music: NIN -- Ghosts III |
cat_macros
[ darkwolfshado ]
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12:25a |
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| Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 |
elisem
|
11:51p |
ArtLog: in progress OK, I've done some unusual necklaces, but this is the first one I've ever done that wanted three clasps. I think it's called "Bordertown Runway Queen," and it's growing out of that IAF discussion I linked to a post or so back. And also there's a long linked necklace in progress. No, longer than that. Might not turn out to be as long as "Somewhere Beneath Those Waves Was Her Home," which belongs to ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) truepenny (because it would not be denied) and which is twenty-three feet and ten inches long, but then again, it might. Haven't done one like this for a while, and it's kinda nice to get back to it. It's all twilight colors and magic spooky blues and purples and gray and lavender.... |
| Thursday, May 15th, 2008 | |
apod
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4:52a |
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| Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 | |
riba_rambles
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11:40p |
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| Thursday, May 15th, 2008 | |
jeffvandermeer
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4:26a |
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frustrated