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July 5, 2009 • 1:11 pm
camwyn
subject: COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO TRANSFORMERS
I've been compiling a list of tourist things I want to see in New York when I finally get the chance to take vacation time. So far I have:

Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, Astoria Park, the tram ride along the Queensboro Bridge, possibly the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia, the operational farm somewhere in Queens, the Brooklyn Aquarium, Prospect Park (esp. the Prospect Park Zoo), the Brooklyn Bridge, Chinatown (possibly the Museum of the Chinese in America), the South Street Seaport, the National Museum of the American Indian, the NY Fire Museum, the other tiny museums of south Manhattan, a random Staten Island Ferry ride, the Tibetan museum in Staten Island, the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Bryant Park area incl. Grand Central (the Chrysler building if they have tours), the Empire State Building and immediate environs, the Strand, Times Square, and Ellis Island and *maybe* the Statue of Liberty if it's not hot and smelly inside any more.

I reckon I won't see it all in a week, or even two, but I figure I can at least see a good chunk of the stuff on that list. Is there anything else some of y'all would recommend I add to the list of stuff that should be seen?


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July 5, 2009 • 2:01 am
shoukinkasegi
subject: doot doot doot
Hope y'all had a grand 4th of July celebration. Fun sun hotdogs burgers pizza (whew!) fireworks candy carnival, and all that. :)

happy 4th of july!

* Independence Day ...or as they call it in England, "Thanksgiving". Heh.


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July 5, 2009 • 1:11 am
camwyn
... suddenly I wish Barricade hadn't been killed in the first TF movie. Because I just found a quote from the video game Prototype that would suit him perfectly:

"You have the right to be ventilated. I have the right to burn your home and shoot your dog. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?"


3 comments | post comment

July 4, 2009 • 7:32 pm
booktards [manada698]
subject: Books 27 - 33
27) Top Ten Book 1 by Alan Moore
(my review)

28) Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
LOVE! (my review)

29) Top Ten Book 2 by Alan Moore
(my review)

30) Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs
Another Brennan book - a pretty good one. (my review)

31) Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris
New series (for me) that's pretty decent (my review)

32) The New Adventures of Jesus: The Second Coming by Frank Stack
Jesus comes back to earth in the modern world. (my review)

33) Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
A decent Stephanie Plum book (my review)


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July 4, 2009 • 6:32 pm
booktards [aurenfaie]
subject: Ancient Egypt - historical fiction request.
I just saw the Tutankhamen exhibit at the Indianapolis Children's Museum yesterday, and this has sparked my interest in both him (and his father, too, actually!), and Ancient Egypt, so, naturally, my mind jumps to wanting to read about it.

I was wondering if any of you could recommend some novels for me? Something in the same vein as Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire or Mary Renault's The Persian Boy? Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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July 4, 2009 • 12:22 am
officialgaiman
subject: Death Wish
posted by Neil
I went to Los Angeles, had a sort of a working holiday, came home, and am writing. Working out a lot with the trainer, got a new trampoline. The cherry tree is covered in cherries, and the wild raspberries (red and black) are out in the woods, and I find them when I walk the dog.
Nights here are filled with fireflies. Steve Brust came over for dinner tonight and brought his puppy, and we talked about stories and writing until late. It's a good world.

That's about it for excitement at this end. Lots of people have written in asking stuff about me and Amanda, and I don't really know how to answer them. Either they're really nice and pleased for us and encouraging and don't need answering, or they're the kind of things that leave me deeply puzzled, and to which the only responses are "Isn't that a bit personal?" or "Probably none of your business I'm afraid," or even "Why would you write things like that?"

Hello Neil,

Why don't you blog more often?

Just a death wish I guess. Your blog is a wonderful thing to read.

I have a rare case of skin cancer and your blog cheer me up!


Mostly because I have less to say right now, I think. Or at least, I hate repeating myself. The blog's eight years old, and over one million three hundred thousand words long. That's a lot of blogging: a lot of ideas, a lot of words, a lot of answers. People write to me with questions still, but much of the time they're questions that have already been answered on the blog, usually at some length -- the kind of things that make me think that I should spend the time I could spend writing again (say) how you get an agent into, instead, organising things and getting a really useful FAQ up and running, or just a way of finding things, particularly advice on writing.

Obviously, I'm sorry you have a rare case of skin cancer, and I would be just as sorry if it was a common sort of skin cancer. So here, to cheer you up and fulfill your dying wish: a blog, and a link to an interview http://www.wmagazine.com/w/blogs/editorsblog/2009/06/29/neil-gaiman-on.htm and also to an amazing Daily Telegraph piece in which a bunch of writers and artists suggest books for younger readers http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/5720639/Summer-Reading-for-Children-Adventures-to-enchanting-worlds.html.

Todd Klein, letterer extraordinaire has the fourth in his series of prints out. The art is by J. H. Williams III, and you can see it here.

Back in November I was interviewed by Chip Kidd at the 92nd St Y. (I talked about it on the blog at the time.) The whole talk, with Karen Berger's introduction and all, is up now on YouTube, and is embedded here for your pleasure. It's an hour and a half.






And finally, there are now more than 666,666 people following me on Twitter. So we had a party. It's still ongoing, the party, over at http://bit.ly/666party and to join in all you have to do is upload a photgraph of you and a Balloon. And once 600 people showed up at the party, the webgoblin made this: a mosaic. Edit to add, and here's a wonderful click to zoom in, shift-click to zoom out version at http://www.uslot.com/neilballoons/


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July 3, 2009 • 11:42 pm
rivendellrose
subject: my brain works funny
mood: accomplished
Sometimes I think I draw purely so that I pay full attention to details on things. :P

How long did I spend staring at pictures and video of Nuala, when I was working on designing my version of her costume, or figuring out her makeup... without realizing until I got it into my head to draw her that, hey, they really did have dark mascara on her? *Headdesk*

And of course, being the attention whore that I am (and apparently not needing sleep, as I'm wide awake and now want nothing more than to play with this image in Photoshop...), here's the drawing that brought about this fascinating (albeit 1-year-delayed...) revelation in my head:

It's just pencil for the moment... )


6 comments | post comment

July 4, 2009 • 2:31 am
camwyn
Okay. Got the plot outline completely out of my head. Now comes the revision stage, and then the OOMery can start, but at least it is no longer trying to eat my brain out from the inside. And at least Bee is no longer glaring at me for what I did to Sam. So I'm good; and hopefully there will be actual plottage soon.

Thanks for bearing with me. I'll keep you posted as things develop.


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July 3, 2009 • 6:34 pm
misspeacock
This is pretty last-minute, but is anyone in the mood to watch/re-watch Horatio Hornblower with me tonight, probably specifically Mutiny and maybe Retribution? I have been reading and revisiting way too much HH fic over the last few days and have a hankering for some sailorboy awesomeness.

I really need to clean the kitchen, so that needs to happen first, but other than that I'm down for watching anytime tonight. If no one is interested, I'll just enjoy my pretty pretty sailors ALL BY MYSELF.

Ugh, it is so hot today. I slept in the basement last night and have been spending most of my time down there today because it is about fifteen degrees cooler. Mrrr. Must do dishes before I retreat down there again.


12 comments | post comment

July 3, 2009 • 4:05 pm
rivendellrose
subject: holy shit, they got it right for a change!
mood: impressed
I just listened to two of the Torchwood audio plays while packing (the third I'm saving for next week at work, since I could download it...), and you know what? Miracle of miracles, they were actually pretty damned good. I mean, whatever tiny bits of science crept in sucked (particularly on that last one...), but the writing was actually really good (for Torchwood, at least), and the cast didn't ham it up horribly like they did with the one last year (I can't blame them for that, mind - with that shit script hamming was the only option).

But seriously, these plays read like good episodes, rather than shoddy, cheap-ass junk. Color me impressed - maybe these specials coming up will actually be good, too, even without Tosh and Owen!

In other news, I love my new haircut... so here's one shot of that, and a few other random bits.

Images are thumbnails, but cut for convenience - beneath are pictures of me, the boy, a little local scenery from hiking last week, and, of course, my cat )


10 comments | post comment

July 3, 2009 • 10:23 am
rivendellrose
subject: nerdy girls and torchwood. they go together, of course they do.
mood: cheerful
How to Meet and Woo a Nerdy Girl.

It amuses me how many of those are accurate to me and my relationship. With the exception of the video games (I appreciate them, I just suck at them!) and... I actually had to look up Liz Lemon on Wikipedia. Still, good list. ♥

In other news, the Torchwood radio dramas are theoretically available here, but for some totally strange, random and thus totally typical of the BBC and their random decisions, I cannot seem to download any but the middle one. This upsets me immensely. It says I can, so why do I keep getting a nasty little file that says "not allowed?" And if I can't, then why can I download the middle one? *Sighs*

Gwen icon used purely for the Torchwood thing. And now, off to get dressed, get a little packing done, and get out to my stylist's! Wish me luck on not having to have too much of my recent growth chopped off due to how long it's been since I've had a trim!


4 comments | post comment

July 3, 2009 • 12:18 pm
camwyn
And now, since I have a lap full of purring orange cat rather than the Guillermo del Toro-Michael Bay co-directed mess that was last night's drea, I put forward the character meme I've seen in a lot of places- but most recently in [info]sdelmonte's journal.

Taken from all over:

PICK ONE OF MY CHARACTERS AND I WILL TELL YOU:
→ why I decided to play this character
→ my favorite scene or bit of interaction concerning this character to date
→ my favorite original aspect about this character (world-building for ocs or head-canon for fcs)
→ the last thing they did "off screen"
→ what their last words would be if they died tomorrow
→ what the next thing I'm doing for them is (narrative, post, shelving, whatever)

BONUS ROUND:
» I will tell you what character of yours I'd like to play mine against
» you may ask me a free question


27 comments | post comment

July 3, 2009 • 12:03 pm
camwyn
subject: My Brain: A Michael Bay / Guillermo del Toro co-production
I know at least one or two of y'all who read this have expressed an interest in the past, in spending an hour or two inside my head just to see what it's like.

For the record, it's like sneaking into the DC or Boston area1 equivalent of a cross between Hogwarts and Miskatonic2, despite being hunted by some unspecified group that I knew was chasing me with intent to do something awful, and nevertheless making a concerted attempt at finding something vitally important in the school's computers3 and casually strolling through the halls disguised as a teacher and getting onto one of the elevators4 with several of the students, and punching the button for the fourth or fifth floor4, only to find out to all our surprise that it was a Wonkavator or the equivalent when it rose two floors, went sideways, slipped through the wall and out of the building, and started cruising at high speed along the river while fighter jets attempted to shoot down an Air Korea 767 jetliner because they thought I was on it- and then attempted to shoot down our elevator because we had no way of responding to any hails or requests for information they might've been sending. And waking up just before the elevator would've dropped below the water surface and gotten into the hidden, extended elevator shaft that led back to the school from a quarter of a mile down the river.

Yeah. It's like that in here. Except that the dream left out the parts involving things about biology and medicine that I sometimes wish I didn't know, but my dreams always do that; it's their idea of mercy.


1I know they are nothing like the same, but try telling that to my subconscious

2Mostly Hogwarts on the surface in terms of the ages of the students and what the students thought about it; Miskatonic factors lurked in the background in terms of what was really available to be learned at the school if you knew where to look and how to find it

3It's my subconscious, it'll bloody well have computers at a magic school if I want it to- it was damn near PS 238

4See 3

5Out of 4- floor 5 would've been the secret roof access, a la going to the fifth floor of Millis Science Center at Case, as the fifth floor of Millis was a small area on the roof that housed monkeys


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July 3, 2009 • 12:53 am
camwyn
Ngh.

Found an alt mode for AU!Rumble, one capable of explaining why both Silverbolt and Jetfire were needed to take him down. In honor of his earthquake powers, it is, very literally, the Earthshaker.

Imagine that being grumpy because its little brother got killed.


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July 2, 2009 • 7:41 pm
lafemmedesfemme
we got pre-approved for a mortgage, and went and looked at a few houses last weekend. we even found one we liked well enough to bid on (we're buying through hud), and were outbid. the tiny sliver of silver lining is that our bid was the next highest bid, so if the winner's contract falls through, our bid is up next. we're not going to sit around and wait on that, though.

i put in my notice at gwinnett daily post today. my last day is monday, july 13th. yes, it's a full month earlier than i was originally intending, but dustin convinced me to just go ahead and do it. and really, i was ready to be convinced. i'm tired of the whole merry-go-round, and really our lives between now and the end of the year will be full enough without trying to work around my work schedule, too.

my well-fed north-american privilege-- let me show you it.


2 comments | post comment

July 2, 2009 • 2:00 pm
schmi
subject: Summer's here... yay?
Two riders at work crashed in the last week. One of them collided with a car on his ZX-6R, but he is fine and the bike only has cosmetic damage as far as he knows. The other guy crashed at Pacific Raceways in turn 9 - the exact place I went down two years ago for almost the exact same reason - the guy ahead of him signalled that he was going off, then changed his mind and stayed on. This guy low-sided and broke two ribs and a collarbone.

Combine this with my friend who lives down the street totalling his Aprilia last month when a car pulled out of a parking spot and hit him on the side (he was in a full 'stitch and walked away with a sore ankle) and an acquaintance from PNWRiders getting airlifted home from California (nobody had any idea what happened to him), well it appears summer *is* finally here.

Before folks start freaking out, I also know an awful lot of people who ride that haven't crashed this year. Yet.


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July 2, 2009 • 9:50 am
camwyn
Gnf. Think I can wrap up the plot outline in two more posts, which will probably be flocked for dyin' and what have you. Got two job interviews to attend today for another IT person, so I might not be able to get one up until I'm home from the office. Once the outline is constructed I'll go over it with Geoff & see where Prime belongs, and then see what we can do about parts for the various non-TF characters who've found their way into our storylines. Hell, the space bridge is only there because of characters from Milliways...

Sort of wishing I had a way or a reason to throw in a lab scene with Wheeljack, because I saw a safety sign reading HEADS UP OR HEADS OFF in someone's user icon a few minutes ago and that sounds like his style.


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July 1, 2009 • 7:59 pm
shoukinkasegi
subject: Everdearest.

Been out and about and haven't seen Mom in a long while. Rode, rode, rode my bike today - stopped by her work, dropped off a dozen sweet peach roses. Say, isn't this a nifty card for her birthday? (:

Photo0733


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July 1, 2009 • 7:03 pm
booktards [primavera]
Here's what I read in June. Mostly. My thoughts on these books can be found at [info]bookfrog.

27 Years of Jeff Macnelly's Shoe
The Complete K Chronicles, Keith Knight
Pluto 001, Noaki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka & Takaski Nagasaki
The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite, Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba
GoGirl!, Trina Robbins & Anne Timmons
Dark Horse Heroes Omnibus
Up Against it, Mike Royko
Monster, A. Lee Martinez
Hellboy: The Right Hand of Doom, Mike Mignola
Three Doors to Death, Rex Stout
Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Holidays, Joshua Piven & David Borgenicht
The Boyfriend List, E. Lockhart
Best New Horror, 1989
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Work, Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht
Tru Confessions, Janet Tashjian
Misty, V.C. Andrews [posthumous]
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart
From Girls to Grrrlz, Trina Robbins
Explainers, Jules Feiffer
The Middle Man: Collected Series Indispensibility, Javier Grillo-Marxauch & Les McClaine
Star, V.C. Andrews [posthumous]
The Illustrated Mum, Jaqueline Wilson
The Helmet of Navarre, Bertha Runkle
Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan
The Tightwad Gazette, Amy Dacyzyn
Bad TV, Craig Nelson
The Haunted Playground, Shaun Tan
Pretty Monsters, Kelly Link
The Boy Book, E. Lockhart


4 comments | post comment

July 1, 2009 • 2:46 pm
schmi
subject: Two questions...
1. Are any of you AAA members and does your membership include unlimited free maps?
2. Where in downtown Seattle can I pick up a USB flash drive, if at all?


9 comments | post comment

July 1, 2009 • 2:01 pm
unkyrich
subject: Random Thoughts
music: The Gossip - Heavy Cross
I need a machine or device that gives me a cookie every time I DON'T go on a smash-and-destroy spree each time I see a Scientology advertisement.

Normally, I'm open minded about what people choose to believe. This group pisses me off to the complete and total point of no rationality. I have no idea why.

* * *


I will admit that I've been disappointed by a lot of the President's decisions. Then again, I went back and saw that I predicted I wouldn't agree with him on everything (or most things) on at least one occasion, and that I also sort of predicted this would happen when I tried to explain what politics is really about for people who don't study political science.

I still feel less anxious than I did under Bush, though.

* * *


Speaking of the past, recently, a few of us informed [info]otherdarkmeat about Rush Limbaugh's "I hope the President fails" bullshit.

ODM has never been a Limbaugh fan. ODM is a Republican (or was - he's mentioned thinking about joining many of us in the "decline to state" or "unaffiliated" side), and people like Limbaugh are part of the reason.

But for my own sense of consistency, I decided to go back to the Bush decision I was most against, to see what I said and made sure I wasn't being hypocritical. I do recall saying "I'm against this war, but I hope we find the weapons we sent people for. I don't think they are there, but I want the to be found."

So an action I thought was horrible, that I did not support, still did not result in me hoping for it to fail.

I think I'm going to gloat in my "better-than-Rush-ness."

It's a small, tiny, meaningless victory. But somedays, those are all you can manage.

Rich


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July 1, 2009 • 1:49 pm
goldfischegirl
subject: <3
mood: amused
Vincent Bondy: i am trying to make myself sound cool in a general cover letter.
Ash: ah nice
Ash: you should attach this picture of you in your underwear
Vincent Bondy: so true
Ash: for the more visual people
Vincent Bondy: that is the missing puzzle piece
Ash: i know where it fits!
Vincent Bondy: ^_____^
Ash: SEE WHAT I DID THERE
Vincent Bondy: My pastor and I both see what you did there.


2 comments | post comment

July 1, 2009 • 1:41 pm
schmi
subject: New camera?
In keeping with the spirit of adding to the ever growing list of Things I Don't Really Need for the x-country ride but Would Be So Nice To Have, I'm looking at replacing my 4 year old Sony Cybershot with a new point and shoot camera. I am eyeing the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5A with 10x wide angle optical zoom and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FC28K with 18x wide angle optical zoom.

The equivalent version of the Sony Cybershot was also on the shortlist because from experience I know that it is an excellent camera that takes very good pictures, but Sony annoys me with its use of proprietary memory sticks rather than SD cards that most other manufacturers support and that I can use between devices. Sorry Sony, I don't take well to underhanded ways of locking me into using just your products.

Instead of going my usual route of buying on the internet, this time I called a few camera shops in my area and it paid off big time because I found a shop that is selling the 18x zoom camera for $100 less than the Amazon price because it is an older model that is being phased out. I just have to decide if I can live with the bulk of the larger lens or if I should go for the more compact smaller camera.

Once I acquire this, my old Cybershot with 3X zoom will probably be up for sale at a throwaway price if you are looking to get a very good camera on the cheap, complete with 2GB of memory sticks.


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July 1, 2009 • 1:24 pm
drivelikejehn
subject: Bullcrap Weather.

Bullcrap Weather.
Originally uploaded by revisionaryjen


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July 1, 2009 • 12:45 pm
robotliliput
Scratch that! I'm going berry picking! Woo hoo!


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