elrhiarhodan

At 10:23 this morning, I experienced my third earthquake (Albany in '83, the DC quake in 2011). At first, I thought it was just a really strong gust of wind, but then everything started to rattle and shake. It lasted about 10 seconds. Thankfully, nothing broke or fell and there seems to be no damage.

This one was a 4.8 on the Richter Scale, centered in New Lebanon, New Jersey, about 90 miles away.

Did anyone else feel it?

On Monday, I treated my flist to a bizarre 1924 New York Times article about the anarchistic qualities of cats and sincerity-deficient dogs.

Today, I bring you The Cuddly, Fluffy, Surreal World of Angora Show Bunnies, from today's edition of the New York Times.

The Times sent the often controversial avant-garde artist, Andres Serrano to a National Angora Show, (the Westminster for Angoras), held in a pole barn in Palmyra, N.Y. to take pictures of fluffy bunnies.

Apparently, Mr. Serrano, who was infamous in culture-war circles for submerging a crucifix into jar of his own urine and calling is "Immersion (Piss Christ)" also really likes taking pictures of "nice portraits of cats and dogs and children".

According to the artist/photographer, the Angoras were excellent subjects, basically "living pillows".

There is a charming slideshow of those living pillows, and if you are so inclined, you can then take a quiz to see which Andres Serrano fluffy bunny you are. Frequent readers of the NYT will get a laugh out of the questions.


I am, apparently Silvertone Sophia

According to The Mary Sue, a female-focused gaming and media culture blog, there's already a third Magic Mike movie in development.



Unfortunately, it's a joke, but it's a good one. Actually, the entry was from yesterday's edition of The Mary Sue's Favorite Comments of the Week:

After reading my review of Jupiter Ascending, LowPrices wants to know, “Serious question: Should I watch the first two Magic Mike films before going to see Magic Mike 3: Just Cocks Everywhere This Time, or will I be able to understand why there are just cocks everywhere if I dive right in, so to speak?”

And apparently, bringing them into your local McDonalds is frowned upon.

According to New York Magazine, a woman carrying a diapered baby kangaroo was asked to leave a Wisconsin McDonalds because other patrons were grossed out.

I know people have service dogs, service cats, and I've even seen miniature horses with "service animal" tags, but a kangaroo? In Wisconsin?

aragarna, can you confirm?

And a gratuitous pictures of many bebbeh kangaroos.

They tracked me to the ladies' room. Where I was in the middle of something, and then they (female) proceeded to tell me how URGENT their requirement was.

Sorry - your needs do not take precedence over my bowels.

I took the “What Sherlock Character Are You?” quiz (it’s over at PBS.org) and was kind of surprised at the results. Apparently I am Sherlock Holmes (I thought I’d end up as Mycroft, tbh).



You may seem eccentric to others, but you are devoted to your small and close-knit circle of friends, and constantly working to assure the safety of others. You don’t do it for praise, or even thanks, or to make more friends; you do it because it is the rare occupation that can challenge your intellect, and to satisfy your strong sense of justice. You have nothing against oddballs—so long as they don’t decide they have the right to hurt others. You use your unique charm when you have to, to navigate society and invite confidences, but with your friends you are yourself, in all your manic energy and chaos and zest for life.

Apparently, Amazon is teaming up with rights holder Alloy Entertainment, to allow fan fic writers to sell their works through the Amazon website as part of a new program called Kindle Worlds. Properties that will be part of the initial launch include The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars.

But all is not sunshine and roses...

1 - Alloy may use anything you publish and not compensate you.
2 - Amazon will have rights to your works for the entire term of copyright
3 - Pornography will not be permitted. (Whether that means that non-canon LGBTQ stories without a sexual component are prohibited has not be determined.)

John Scalzi has a terrific overview of the new program on his blog, Whatever: Amazon’s Kindle Worlds: Instant Thoughts. The comments are as interesting (and in some cases, rage-provoking) as the article itself.

I find the timing of this particularly interesting in light of this article: An Unforbidden Love: In fan fiction, your favorite characters can do … whatever you want them to, which explores the new popularity of fan fiction in the mainstream. Including slash fic. The graphic at the top of the article is worth looking at, particularly for K/S 'shippers.

Hi there!

(I've been listening to too much Peter Gabriel these days - and "Big Time" is in heavy rotation).

Anyway - remember this post? The one where I whined about not having time to write my rough draft for the WC Big Bang?

Well, as some of you know, I had written a story that I realized I couldn't give to my WCP recipient (I misread the want/don't want list), but since I loved the story, and I still had a window of opportunity with the WCBB, I've submitted my draft. I won't have art for it (unless I do it myself), but while having art is nice, it's not essential.

That's not the reason for this post. I've been working on another story - tentatively titled "The Next Six Days" - it's the "Comfort" to the "Hurt" in Six Hours to Freedom. That story has officially reached Big Bang status.

What IS it with me? I whine that I can't write and THIS???? And it's not like I've had a lot of time on my hands these days.

I am not submitting this as a big bang, though - I hope to finish it tonight and get it posted by Monday.

::shakes head, WTF::

My default ringtone is an 18-second clip from Howard Shore's soundtrack to "The Fellowship of the Ring." Specifically, it's the heroic theme from the track "Khazad-Dûm". A few hours ago, I had an earworm for it and needed to hear the whole piece to get it out of my head.

As I am listening, and getting to the part from whence I rolled my own ringtone (dun DAH, dah DUM, dah DAM), my cell phone rings. It's not at the exact point where iTunes is playing the track - a second or two behind it. But if I hadn't had my phone in my pocket and felt it vibrating, I probably would never have noticed that someone was calling me!

Bizarre! What are the odds?

And for the record, the entire Khazad-Dûm track is eight minutes long.

And because it's Magic Mike premier day, a little sumthin' sumthin' for my flist:



Photo courtesy of my friend dmk0064

Title: How To Ruin a Perfectly Good Christmas Party
Author: elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Elizabeth Burke (POV), Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke, others
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: A rare act of gun violence. Crack.
Word Count: ~1000
Summary: There are some things that Neal Caffrey can not, will not tolerate. I don’t blame him one bit.

(  Elizabeth looked out over the people in her living room and let out a small sigh of satisfaction. )

My gift to you, my awesome flist, will come on the eight days of Fic-can-ukah, which coincidentally occur on the eight nights of Hannukah.

It works like this...I will write a short ficlet for each of the eight days. And by short, I mean 300-500 words (yeah, stop laughing, please). To make this easy on me (because I know my limitations), I'm giving you the prompts, and you get to pick which prompt you want me to write and the character(s), or if it's simply writer's choice.

• A twilight memory
• The place where wings unfurl
• Lips as red as a licked candy
• On the eve of the wedding
• Someone playing the piano
• When stars align
• That night, I was happy
• There is a place somewhere called Paris
• The last stop before arrival
• Riding the all-night train
• The way of light on the water
• S/he asked you to dance
• There are some answers you should know by heart
• The scent of ocean fog
• An unmarked box

If you want a short outtake from a current 'verse (Paladin, Vinegar Hill, Vampire World, Gloriana, Orchestration, etc.) let me know, and I will try to honor your request.    Of course, if more than 8 people sign up, I will try to fill everyone's request, but I will only guarantee the first eight.  Fills will be posted starting December 20th (the first night) and will run to at least December 28th.  After that, I will post until all the fills are done.  And in case you're wondering, participation is ecumenical - there is nothing inherently Jewish about Fic-can-ukah, and you don't have to be Jewish to sign up.  Think of it as my masochistic version of Fandom Stocking. 

PS:  To those of you who may be wondering (and I'm not going to name names), RPS is a welcome request.

ETA:  The first eight slots have been filled, but I am certain that I will be able to write many more than these.  Keep your requests coming!

And a bonus Tatt DeBomer, just because!

But it's Friday evening, and ( I suggest a spit guard for your computer screen... )

Had bad nightmares last night, really horrific - but not out of a horror movie-type.  These were realistic and traumatic and like nothing that I've ever had before.  I don't even want to say what they were because that would make them real.[Poll #1780947]Open to: all, results viewable to: all

Which Fic Would You Want To Read?

<input ... >Death Fic

<input ... >Tim/Matt RPS

What Makes You Happiest?

<input ... >

Puppies!

<input ... >Kitties!
<input ... >Baby Bunnies!
<input ... >The UPS Truck Delivering Your New Sex Toys!
<input ... >Matt Bomer
<input ... >Tim DeKay
<input ... >Tatt DeBomer
<input ... >Starfish!

<input ... >

I found this by way of Erastes' blog this morning.

Apparently GLBT people do not exist.

Linda Harvey, an anti-gay activist and lobbyist on behalf of Mission America, has announced that “there is no proof that there’s ever anything like a gay, lesbian, or bisexual or transgendered child, or teen, or human.”

“There are no such humans,” she added.

Following this quote through the various news sites and blogs that have picked it up, a lot of the comments say things like "she's never be on the internet, she's never been to [name of big city], etc."

I think what she's really saying that there is not there there is no such thing as GLBT people. She's saying that they aren't human.

It's 2011, why does this shit still happen?

And why am I not surprised that it does happen, either. Earlier this week, 14 year old Jamey Rodemeyer committed suicide after being bullied for over a year with taunts about his sexuality. The young man had even posted to the "I Gets Better Project" on YouTube.

You can listen to Harvey's appalling statement on Right Wing Watch.

They just ... keep coming.

Over at White Collar Fixation, our favorite casually murderous con man, Matthew Keller has dropped by to answer all of your troublesome life questions in his new column, "Ask Uncle Matty".

He wasn't planning on making this a regular feature, but given the overwhelming response here at the White Collar Fixation vacation headquarters, the questions are pouring in (many by carrier pigeon). Matty has promised to answer as many as he can.

I have really managed not to think about today being father's day and all that crap (even though I am meeting my sister at the cemetery) but every time I go to Gmail, I have to see THIS:



Thank you, Google.  Now go the fuck to hell.

My tag sale is on Sunday - and the people are here "setting up". 

It's terrifying - I am afraid (1)  that nothing will sell/no one will show up and (2) things that aren't for sale will get sold and (3) things will be stolen.

I am using a very reputable company - but still - this set up team is not giving me good vibes.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

And that's all I've got to say about that.

My friend, jrosemary nearly had me going there. A few nights ago, we were chatting and out of the blue, she says...

"Polyamory is wrong."

Now Jrosemary knows I ship P/E/N (we bonded over fic), and I know she slashes Peter/Neal without destroying the canon relationship, so I'm like O_o, WTF?, huh?

She points me to THIS, and I bust a gut.

It's meme time again - a double whammy I ganked from lokifan (part 1) and preromantics (part 2 - which I am pretty sure I already had played) and reconfigured for my own base use (code is below, if you want to play along too).

ETA - WILL SOMEONE PLEASE ASK ME ABOUT PETER AND NEAL...PLEASE?

PART ONE

Pick any character from the White Collar (my main fandom), or The West Wing, Farscape, Burn Notice universes and I'll answer the following questions:

( Because ten questions are ten LONG questions )
PART TWO:

Now, let's talk about pairings. You can either use the character your asked about above or pick a different on and pair him/her up with any other character (more than one is good too) in that fandom or the other fandoms mentioned in Part One and I'll tell you about a fic I would write about them if I had the time. You can also give me a pairing or threesome or moresome an and A/U scenario and I'll tell you all about the fic that it would create.

I can't promise that I'll write any of these fics, but I always like thinking about stories I may WANT to write


Have at it, you crazy kids!

PART ONE <I>Pick any character from the (INSERT FANDOMS OF CHOICE) universes and I'll answer the following questions:</i> <lj-cut text="Because ten questions are ten LONG questions"> <B>1) What is your opinion of this character? If you like, explain why you like him/her.</b> <B>2) Is he/she important to the general plot?</b> <B>3) Can you relate to this character at all? Does he/she grip you emotionally?</b> <B>4) How much do you like the fandom that this character comes from?</b> <B>5) Do you ship this character with any other character? Or, are you particularly intrigued by his/her relationship with any other character(s)? (romance-wise or platonic)</b> <B>6) Is there anything about the character you would change?</b> <B>7) If you were in the fandom with this character or knew this character in real life, how would you see yourself interacting with him/her? Would you get along well? Fall in love with him/her? Dislike? Have a friendly rivalry?</b> <B>8) Does this character make the cut as one of your all time favorites (if you like) or least favorites?</b> <B>9) Would you hype up this character (if you like) or warn about this character (if you dislike) to someone new to fandom?</b> <B>10) Is this character popular with the fanbase?</b> </lj-cut> PART TWO: <I>Now, let's talk about pairings. You can either use the character your asked about above or pick a different on and pair him/her up with any other character (more than one is good too) in that fandom or the other fandoms mentioned in Part One and I'll tell you about a fic I would write about them if I had the time. You can also give me a pairing or threesome or moresome an and A/U scenario and I'll tell you all about the fic that it would create. I can't promise that I'll write any of these fics, but I always like thinking about stories I may WANT to write</I>

I know I've been kind of quiet lately. Or at least it feels that way, even though I've barely had a day without a post on LJ. But there hasn't been a lot of fanfic (again, it feels that way but my archive tells me that I've published two new longish stories in the last ten days, plus a few chapters of Danger'verse, plus a republishing of another story).

It just feels like I have been been writing anything - and that's actually sort of true. I've been blocked by how the season ended, the 2.16 tag I wrote not withstanding (the Neal/Sara story was mostly written before UTR aired).

I've also been trying to get my "epic" done - and I am pleased to say that almost all of the hard work is finished. There's still about 8 - 10k left in the story, but after 4 months, I am delighted to say that the ending is fully in sight. I suspect it will top out at around 70k (it's 61k now), and I'm going to publish one or two chapters a week.

There are other stories percolating - I've got my Queensland Relief stories to finish, plus the Remix I signed up for. The good news for the QRF stories is that I know where I'm going with all of them.

BUT - and this is a big BUT (sort of like the one that's in my chair right now) - I have a newsletter I have to write and mail (snail mail, guh) within the next ten days - so the fanfic is going to have to take a back seat to the pleasure of writing about Egyptian Revival in Art Deco Era porcelain. Yeah...it's a real thing. Since I need to get that out the door by the first week in April, I've got to spend some quality time on it this week and next. I like doing this newsletter - but I like writing fan fic more.

In other news...I'm still blocked from LJ at work - but my iPad (which I had purchased expressly for accessing LJ at work) is a lifesaver. But it does have limitations, which is probably the Number One reason for the lack of daytime postings.

And still, the Single Sentence Challenge Promptfest rolls on, with no ending in sight. We are now on the third post for the fest, there are almost 3900 comments and over 1000 fills. If you ever have felt the urge to write, but don't know where to get started, this is a good place. It's remarkably easy to tell a whole story in a single sentence - and a lot of fun. My dearest co-moderator, coffeethyme4me has written 150 sentences for 150 prompts (give or take), and her word count is over 12,000. This fest is going to keep on rolling along for another week or so (all good things do come to an end), and April 1 is probably a good (and auspicious) day to shove a stake in the ground. This fest is (like all fests), closed to just my flist for the writing duration, but will be opened up for reading by the general public after it ends.


What else, what else my dear flist? Don't forget to check out White Collar Fixation on Tuesday evenings - I have a regular column there, "Thinky Thoughts on Seminal Scenes," and I am going episode by episode. This week, Threads is under the microscope, particulary the way it establishes the relationship between Elizabeth and Peter. I should say - you should be checking out WCF every day, for all the White Collar News and pictures and pic spam and fan fic recommendations you'll ever need.

I am caving...I'm going back into the Tweeting pool. I've resisted for a long time, even though I've had a Twitter account almost as long as there has been a Twitter and some of you have sent follow requests (which I may or may not have accepted). I've shifted some things around (renamed my original Twitter account) and opened a new account using "Elrhiarhodan" (mostly so my family doesn't get wind of my fan fiction).

I never thought I'd be writing this, but you can now follow me on Twitter @ Elrhiarhodan. It's not the same as the original Elrhiarhodan twitter account.