Thursday, November 19th, 2009
| |
2:02 pm - BPAL reviews
|
Hey, remember when I used to write BPAL reviews? Me neither. But! Now I have done it again, mainly for my own benefit, since writing this out helps me remember which one smells like which. That fact that I can't remember on my own is probably a sign that I own too many BPALs, but um, hey, look, there's a new update with cool stuff!
( Reviews of Athens, Baghdad, and Bastet )
current mood:  cheerful
current music: "Saor/Free/News from Nowhere" Afro Celt Sound System
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
| |
2:06 pm - Linkblogging for Great Justice
|
1. Lin-Manuel Miranda does a rap about Alexander Hamilton. Video from the White House poetry jam. This is incredibly awesome, and not in a ha-ha-rap-about-history way, but in a legitimately smart and well-done way. So, so cool.
2. Auctions to raise money for the Interstitial Arts Foundation. Some very cool stuff is up for auction, and only a few days left!
3. Cell size and scale. I'm probably a dork for thinking so, but this is SO COOL.
4. Antagony and Ecstasy: one of my favorite blogs, this is normally a movie-review blog. However, in honor of Disney's new 'The Princess and the Frog' movie, he's doing a retrospective review of every single one of Disney's animated features. Yes. All of them. Before the new movie comes out on December 11th. Which essentially means he's doing one day, from now till then. I kept forgetting to link to this, so he's actually already up to 1973 and "Robin Hood", but all of the reviews are intelligent, funny, and a great fun to read.
5. The ManPain Flowchart. Hahahaha. I think this explains why I haven't liked the new Batman movies very much.
current mood: cheerful
current music: "A Silent Night With You" Tori Amos
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
| |
11:58 am - Imaginary Beasts: Book 15
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) imaginarybeasts is "a bi-monthly webzine dedicated to original fiction of the oneshot variety". Anyone may participate, whether you would like to write, make visual art, volunteer to help with beta'ing, or, most importantly, read and review the stories. Etc, etc, here's the tag for previous reviews.
Each edition, or "book", has a theme; June's (I swear I will catch up someday!) was "Cities". My favorite stories and art:
Smaller Than the Blink of an Eye by hacy morris. The story of what happens after Sleeping Beauty wakes up. I really love this twist on the fairy tale.
Gloves by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ladyofthelog. A dark, ambiguous story about abilities and what they cost. Awesome world-building.
City of Light by atalan. An adventure in a dystopic, crowded city consisting of levels upon levels of structures, far below any light or fresh air. This story is really well-written, with excellent characters and a great plot.
You can read all of the stories and see the art here.
current mood: cheerful
current music: "Winter Water" Harlem Shakes
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, November 15th, 2009
| |
4:03 pm - Farmers Market Haul
|
Yesterday's farmer's market haul: a loaf of organic challah bread, a pint of red heirloom tomatoes, a dozen eggs (from a different farm than I usually buy them from. They are gorgeous- a rich, warm brown- and having eaten two this morning, I can say that they are also delicious, with yolks so big and bright they're almost orange), some fresh butter (I noticed that this dairy is also now selling eggnog, which I loooove, but I decided to wait until next week to get some), four bosc pears, a bunch of wild spinach, one large celeriac (aka celery root), and four purple-topped rutabagas (the last two I have never tried. I am excited! Tell me your favorite recipes). I had heard that someone was selling purple broccoli, but unfortunately I was unable to find it. Maybe next week.
It was rainy and cold, as it has been most of this week, but today is bright and sunny and inexplicably warm. A lovely day.
current mood: cheerful
|
|
(7 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, November 13th, 2009
| |
4:51 pm - Dear Yuletide Santa
|
Hello!
I love you already. You may feel free to ignore this letter, or to pick and choose any details you like and discard others. You are writing me a story! That's really all that matters.
I've written several meta posts about the sort of things that I love in stories. You can use these for inspiration, if you like:
My Top 10 Story Kinks
My favorite 'cool bits'
What I look for in OTPs
If you're interested, my own stories are collected here.
In general: I really admire any story that can do plot and/or humor well, because I personally am bad at those things. On the other hand, I also like character studies, poetic language, angst, or introspection, which is why I write them. I like dark themes and happy endings (though probably not in the same story). I like fun stories, but not fluff. I like nuances (hmm, that is probably the worst request ever. I like it when authors complicate things?). Do not feel obligated to include Christmas (or whatever fantasy-equivalent winter holiday is appropriate to the fandom), but if you want to, feel free. My dislikes include OOC, even for the sake of humor. I'm not terribly fond of lots of sap or schmoop. I don't like songfic? Man, dislikes are hard. In short, I will almost certainly have forgotten what I requested by December, and will be pleased with any story you write. Thank you in advance!
( The requests I made )
current mood: cheerful
|
|
(5 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, November 12th, 2009
| |
7:11 pm - IMPORTANT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
|
|
| Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
| |
1:00 pm - 39. 50 PoC Book Review
|
39. Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, Black London: Life Before Emancipation
This was a great book, but not quite as great as I wanted it to be. An academic work as readable as any pop non-fiction book, Black London deals with the historical presence of black people in London throughout history, although the focus is on the 1700s. The author says that she decided to write this book when, while doing research, a bookseller told her, "Madam, there were no black people in England before 1945".
I loved how this book didn't just give generalities about black life in the 1700s, but used the historical record to find real individuals and tell their stories: slaves, escaped slaves, servants, husbands and wives (it appears to have been quite common for black men to marry white women during this time), shop-owners, writers, the children of African elites come to Europe to study, the mixed-race children of Caribbean planters, actors, beggars, and on and on. I found it really fascinating and wished the whole book had been about these stories of people. Alas, about half the book is actually taken up with recounting the stories of two legal changes (and the mostly white lawyers, judges, plaintiffs, defendants, reporters, etc, etc, involved): the James Somersett lawsuit of 1771, which outlawed slavery in England itself, and the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which abolished the slave trade. While these parts of the book were interesting, they weren't as incredibly awesome as the first part. Still, I enjoyed this book, and am excited to see she has another about black people during the Victorian period.
Crossposted to 50books_poc
current mood: cheerful
|
|
(6 comments | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, November 8th, 2009
| |
2:29 pm - Food News
|
Yesterday's farmer market goodies: a half-gallon of apple cider, a half-gallon of pear cider (from different orchards, so I can compare!), a jar of fresh tomato sauce, a pint of green zebra tomatoes (I am stocking up on them, buying lots and freezing them, before tomatoes disappear from the market for winter), two quarter-pounds of fresh cheese (an Aged Bloomsbury, which sort of tastes like a sharp, nutty piave, and a Dutch Farmstead, very creamy and rich), and a stalk of brussels sprouts (photographic evidence here).
I also have exciting weird beans to try, as I got an order from Rancho Gordo which arrived last week. So far I have tried the Vaquero Beans, which are absolutely gorgeous, mottled black and white and so shiny and bright. They got gray in the cooking, unfortunately, but were delicious, like black beans but more flavorful. I've also had the Scarlet Runner beans which, I swear to God, tasted exactly like baked potatoes with bacon. It was a little eerie.
Today it is warm for the season, but the light is winter light- hazy, dusty and yet too bright, white and glaring. But as much as I disapprove of winter, it does lend itself to strange effects of light: people climbing the subway stairs up into the open always look like they're vanishing into the sun, into light solid and full of dust motes.
current mood: happy
current music: "The Ghost of Tom Joad" Junip
|
|
(6 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, November 6th, 2009
| |
2:29 pm - Yuletide!
|
Yuletide sign-ups are open! In case you somehow missed all of fandom talking about it. Important note: if you have been disqualified from Yuletide before, you can still sign up! That's right, all bans have been erased. So come and play!
Sign-ups are open until Thursday the 12th at 9pm EST. I haven't signed up myself yet, as I'm still looking at my requests and offers and deciding what I want. I usually sign up to write for every fandom I've ever heard of, but this year I've decided to narrow down and only offer things I feel passionate about. Also, True Blood is in Yuletide! I feel like it's probably too big, but it's too late to change now, and so I am excited.
Other neat links: Dark_agenda, a Dreamwidth community for the 'Diversity in Yuletide 2009' challenge. You can read more at the community, but the basic idea is: request and offer fandoms with chromatic (aka PoC) creators and characters.
current mood: happy
current music: "My Skin" Natalie Merchant
|
|
(11 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
| |
1:11 pm - Things for a Wednesday
|
|
| Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
| |
2:36 pm - Book recs!
|
I'm going on a cruise in January! Wheeeeeee! It's for ten days in the Caribbean. I find this to be pretty totally exciting; I've been on one cruise before, but this time I get to go in winter (escaping the cold!), with rm, for longer, and it's all just pretty awesome. But what I am coming to you for, O LJ, is book recs. Because, hey, it's a cruise! I need appropriate lounge-type books to read while lying in the sun. I'm looking for any kind of book (novel, short story, non-fiction, travel, poetry, whatever), as long as it makes for interesting, easy reading. Rec me cruise-type books! However, bonus points if:
- the book is set in or about the Caribbean, especially: the Bahamas, Grand Turks, Dominican Republic, Bonaire, Curacao, or Aruba.
- the author is from the Caribbean.
current mood: cheerful
|
|
(24 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, November 2nd, 2009
| |
12:47 pm - #38, 50 PoC Book Review
|
38. Malinda Lo, Ash
A YA novel retelling the Cinderella story, but with a twist: Cinderella falls in love with a woman instead of Prince Charming. I've been excited for this book ever since I first heard about it: retelling of a fairy tale! Chinese-American author! YA lesbians! I love all these things. Also, the book has an absolutely gorgeous cover.
I'd somehow gotten the impression that this was the Chinese version of Cinderella, and so was a bit disappointed to find that instead the setting is a fairly generic Medieval-ish Europe. However, Lo does do some very interesting things with the setting, particularly in changing the Fairy Godmother to an elf (and not a nice elf, the Tam Lin and changelings and Childe Rowland kind of elf). Ash's relationship with the elves and magic- constantly drawn in but never quite able to entirely leave our world- was well-written and fascinating. I also really liked the repeated use of telling fairy tales as a way for characters to communicate.
I do wish that there had been more about Ash's relationship with Kaisa, but for what little there was, it was extremely well-written, subtle but vivid. There's not much detail given of people's reactions to the relationship, but it appears to be set in one of those worlds were being gay or lesbian is unremarkable. Certainly, there's no mention of a backlash to them, and Ash doesn't go through any sort of sexual identity crisis. I also wish the book had been longer! There was a lot more about these characters and world that I would have liked to know. But overall, very recommended.
Crossposted to 50books_poc
current mood: busy
|
|
(8 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, October 29th, 2009
| |
9:35 am - Fic: Ladies of War (The Whose War Anyway Remix) [Merlin, Guinevere, Morgana]
|
Title: Ladies of War (The Whose War Anyway Remix)
Author: Brigdh
Ratings/Warnings: PG, spoilers for episode 1x12
Notes: Written for remixthedrabble. veleda_k wrote the original story, Ladies of War.
100 words exactly.
The chain-mail looks like jewelry on Morgana, gleaming in the sunlight against her pale, easily bruised skin. She reminds Gwen of warrior queens in the legends they've read: honourable, aristocratic, willful- unrealistic.
Gwen agreed to the sword-practice because Morgana thinks they'll be safer. Gwen thinks swords and armour won't defeat the dreams that steal Morgana's peace, nor Gaius and his potions, nor Uther who had Tom killed.
Gwen understands the heft of metal, the sharpness of a blade, and she knows that neither will protect her. But she remembers her father's hands guiding hers, and appreciates the comfort of swords.
current mood:  sleepy
|
|
(7 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
| |
9:48 pm - Things
|
1. I have finally, finally finished The Mists of Avalon. I was beginning to think that might never happen. I thought perhaps the end of the book would keep receding, always and forever, and all my life I would only ever read about Morgaine being emo and Guinevere whining. But now I am free again, free! I cannot emphasize this enough.
2. It is Halloween-week! Or Halloweek, as friend christened it. I am thus attempting to wear related clothes all week: Monday was the skeleton t-shirt, Tuesday the shirt that says "Boo", today was layers of orange and black. I have two more days, but I may be running low on Halloween-themed clothes. I used to have a Dracula t-shirt, but I seem to have lost that...
3. I had a meeting with one of my professors today, about a paper due next week! She decided that the topic I had chosen, which we had talked about multiple times and which I had already done the majority of the research for, you know, she just doesn't feel like it's a very good idea, so why don't I do this other topic instead? SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH. DUE. NEXT WEEK. TALKED. MULTIPLE TIMES. But why do I seem upset?
4. My favorite coffee shop now has ginger cookies, and they are amazing: huge and soft and ginger-er than gingerbread, plus with something dark like molasses, and all covered in sparkly sugar. I love them so much. Also, I have chocolate-covered candied ginger. Basically, I'm saying, ginger: NOM NOM NOM.
current mood: cheerful
current music: "I Gotta Feeling" Black Eyed Peas
|
|
(19 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
11:08 am - Fic: Portrait of a Voyeur (the Melon Overdub) [Yami no Matsuei, Muraki, Tsuzuki, Hisoka]
|
Title: Portrait of a Voyeur (the Melon Overdub)
Author: Brigdh
Ratings/Warnings: PG-13, I guess.
Notes: Written for remixthedrabble. p_zeigeist wrote the original story, Portrait of the Empath as an Involuntary Voyeur. This is almost certainly one of those remixers where you do need to read the original story first.
100 words exactly.
The sorcerer creates the melon with both beauty and flavor, but also more, a one-way conduit for sensation. He neglects to mention this in the accompanying note.
The first hands to touch it are brief. They are, perhaps, curious, but for now no more than that.
But other hands come, lifting, stroking. This one enjoys pleasure and is quick to lose himself. The melon fills his mouth with cool, fragrant liquid. His knife grows slick, his fingers sticky. He scrapes soft flesh from the rind. Juice runs. He sighs extravagantly.
And when nothing remains of melon or spell, Muraki smiles.
current mood: sleepy
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, October 26th, 2009
| |
2:22 pm - #37, 50 PoC Book Review
|
37. John McWhorter, The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language
A popular non-fiction book about linguistics, particularly how languages change. This book doesn't try to tell the story of any particular language and its history, although it uses plenty of examples (mostly English, though McWhorter seems to speak an enormous number of languages, and knows details about even more), nor does it try to reconstruct the "original language". Instead it is about the way languages change: how words change their meanings, slang, how sounds change, how grammar changes, how creoles and pidgins arise, why people change the languages they use, and so on. This book is compulsively readable, with lots of funny pop-culture references, and the sort of facts and tid-bits that make you want to turn to anyone nearby and say, "OMG! Did you know...".
A great book. Highly recommended, and I'll be checking out McWhorter's new book, about English, soon.
I've been really interested in reading popular-style non-fiction lately. I'm particularly interested in history, but biology, linguistics, astronomy- anything easy to read and interesting would be great. Does anyone have some recs by PoC authors?
Cross-posted to 50books_poc
current mood: cheerful
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Sunday, October 25th, 2009
| |
10:07 pm
|
Downsides of TA'ing a class not in your field, and then using every single class period to read LJ rather than, you know, pay attention or anything silly like that:
oh my god I am grading these midterms and I have no idea what the answers are and google is not helping and I keep googling and googling but I cannot find the right search terms to answer the question and these tests have to be done tomorrow morning and I don't even know what astronomical forcing iiiiiiiiiisssss!!!!
|
|
(5 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
6:22 pm - Boring Sunday Linkblogging
|
|
| Saturday, October 24th, 2009
| |
3:12 pm - Farmers Market Haul
|
I love my farmers market. I haven't managed to get to it for the last week or two (being out of town last Saturday), so there were many things I needed to buy today. It's raining slightly, off and on, so all the piles of vegetables were glazed with water, and looking supernaturally shiny and colorful, almost glowing.
My haul: two quarts of juice (one of grape-apple and one of raspberry-apple), half a dozen large brown eggs, fresh butter, four bosc pears, a bunch of broccoli rabe, a bunch of celery, a half-pound of crimini mushrooms, and a stalk of brussels sprouts. I have never had brussels sprouts before (a combination of my parents never having cooked them and the cultural meme that says they are yucky), so they are my culinary experiment for the week. I read somewhere that it's better if you can get them still on the stalk, and so I have something that looks like a giant, green, spiky tree branch, with tiny green balls on it, in my bag. I do have to say they smell delicious. I'm extremely fond of broccoli, so I think I will like these.
current mood: happy
|
|
(9 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, October 23rd, 2009
| |
4:48 pm - Full of rage!
|
A friend of mine is working to set up an archaeology blog, a sort of vaguely professional thing, but readable to anyone interested. Today we had a meeting with anyone thinking about contributing. My thoughts:
First, we had the regular problem of meetings, which are solid evidence of how it is never, ever productive to talk about anything in large groups. In this particular instance, it took the form of spending half an hour arguing about whether it was appropriate for the mission statement to include the word "provide", or if that was setting up too much of a dichotomy between the writers of the blog and potential readers.
Again, WHARRGARBL.
Then, we proceeded to spend essentially the entire rest of the time arguing over using real names versus screen names. The argument included gems such as "real names are self-serving!" "Screen names are friendlier, while people will be off-put by real names!" "How about we use real names on half the site and screen names on the other half? This is somehow a logical compromise!" "If we use real names, the university will be responsible for all content, even if we don't mention it!" "Real names are elitist!" "Having some people use real names and some screen names is unorganized!"
WHARRGARBL.
WHARRGARBL. WHARRGARBL. WHARRGARBL.
I... Seriously. I think I was perhaps the only person in the room who had ever heard of that new-fangled, complicated world, the internet. Which kind of makes me want to kill things. Why would you come to a meeting about the internet when your sole function is to ask stupid question, get into debates you know nothing about, cause difficulties, change topics randomly whenever a new questions occurs you, and go on and on with your personal opinions which have never met so much as a Angelfire homepage from 1998?
WHARRGARBL!
current mood:  annoyed
current music: Tempted (Conjure One Mix) - Collide
|
|
(10 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
11:36 am - Thoughts on last night's Project Runway
|
The judges made decisions I agreed with! This is shocking, and yet awesome.
current mood: amused
|
|
(8 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
| |
2:32 pm - Remix The Drabble, hooooray!
|
remixthedrabble entries have been going up since Monday (and every day I have been recounting to rm in anguish about how no, they have not yet posted my fandoms); though not all drabbles have been posted yet, I've already received three wonderful stories.
Discretion (The Trouble in Paradise Remix)
Shameless (The No Trouble in Paradise Remix)
Both of these are Saiyuki Gaiden, Tenpou/Kenren/Konzen, rated R, 100 words each. They're also both remixes of my Lips Not For Scorn. And I adore them both! They are hot and sweet, and I love how they intersect with each other as well as the original story. It's such a cool example of the different ways a remix can go.
Friends (The Serendipity Remix) - Yami no Matsuei, Watari/Tsuzuki, PG, 100 words. A sort of sequel to Friends. This is so funny. As well as scarily accurate, I think. I am absolutely in love with it. I had to try very hard not to giggle while I was (surreptitiously) reading it in class this morning.
All of these stories have made me tremendously happy. Thank you, remixers!
Also, it's time for the anonymous ficathon guessing game! I've written two remixes of my own (though I'm not saying if they have or have not yet been posted). Guess either and I will write you a drabble.
current mood: happy
current music: "Maybe Sprout Wings" The Mountain Goats
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, October 19th, 2009
| |
11:06 pm - Thoughts on Reading 'The Mists of Avalon' for the first time
|
1. I'm about 350 pages in, and currently very afraid that I'm in for another 500 pages of Gwen and Morgaine emo-ing about wanting to sleep with Lancelet. Intellectually, I know that at some point Modred must show up to be a plot point, but it does not feel like that. It feels like all that will ever happen EVER AGAIN is people whining about how pretty Lancelet is, and why doesn't he like meeeeee? Also, for something advertised as a feminist book, I feel like I should not be longing for male characters to show up so that something interesting will happen.
2. I also could do with a lot less of the obsessing over female virginity/hating on women who have sex.
3. Speaking of hating, why do all Arthurian legends hate the Saxons so very, very much? Well, at least all of the legends which mention the Saxons; I don't remember them being in Malory (or BBC's Merlin). It's not like the Saxons pillaged and raided more than anyone else at the time. I might be sensitive to Saxon-mistreatment, since I have a couple of friends who study them, but it still seems odd. Particularly since I feel that the "real" Arthur (I personally don't think there was one, but in terms of when the story started) was more likely to be a Saxon than one of the Roman-descended-and-influenced guys starring in most of the retellings I've read recently. (And definitely not the medieval guy of Malory. Okay, the story's most likely older than any of those choices, but I still feel Saxons are closer than Romans.) So why hate the Saxons? They brought you English! Shouldn't they get a little love for that?
current mood: cheerful
current music: The Daily Show
|
|
(18 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, October 16th, 2009
| |
5:53 pm - Linkblogging
|
1. After viewing last night's Project Runway, I want to say that this season the judges have never once sent home who I thought they should. EVERYONE I LIKE IS LEAVING.
2. Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, is possibly involved in a cover-up over executing an innocent man. So, yeah. There is nothing I can say to this.
3. However, October is apparently Fair Trade month. Wheeee!
4. On that thought, I have just discovered the Rancho Gordo website, a company devoted to finding and preserving food plants indigenous to the Americas. Their heirloom bean varieties, most of which I've never heard of, look particularly amazing. I can't decide which I want to try most.
5. The Tomato Nation blog is trying to raise $150,000 for Donors Choice by the end of the month. They're up to $69,000 so far. Help them out! You could win prizes.
6. Why is it winter all of the sudden? Having essentially not experienced the cold since early 2008 (which was a fairly mild winter anyway) I have suddenly remembered my great loathing for it.
current mood: cheerful
current music: "Honey in the Sun" Camera Obscura
|
|
(5 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, October 15th, 2009
| |
3:31 pm - #36, 50 PoC Book Review
|
36. Yasunari Kawabata, Snow Country. Translated by Edward G. Seidensticker.
A classic novel of Japanese literature, this book was cited as one of the reasons the author won the Noble Prize for Literature in 1968. The plot concerns a small hot-spring town in the mountains. A rich, lazy young man comes to visit several times over the course of a year or two, carrying on a relationship with a local geisha who is in love with him. The book has lots of very beautiful descriptions of landscapes- mountains in snow, fall leaves on the trees, bugs dying against a window in the summer; the translator even compares the novel to haiku- but not much plot. There are a lot of conversations where no one quite says what they mean, and most of the important developments take place in the subtext. That's interesting in some ways, but it's also very distancing, and I never felt very attached to the characters. On the other hand, this is a very short book, so if you want to try out a famous Japanese novel, it's definitely an easy read.
Crossposted to 50books_poc
current mood:  cold
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
|
|
|
|
when the doors of heaven closed
|
Quote from An Angry Blade, by Iron & Wine.
Image from Sayuki Gaiden, copyright Kazuya Minekura, Zero Sum and other corporations.
Image edited by Brigdh with Photoshop. Layout designed by Brigdh.
Email brigdh.
|
|
|
