Pretty Poison

Music rec

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:48:00 GMT

The new Poets of the Fall album was released yesterday. It's called Twilight Theatre and I already love it.

I'm not a huge music fan, but there's something about this band. Ever since I first heard their music I've been addicted. Their lyrics are intense and occasionally heartbreaking. Their style of music runs from hard rock to gorgeous acoustic - this new album tends more toward the acoustic than the older ones but it's still recognisably their sound.

Anyhow, the album is available to stream for free, this week only -

http://www.recordshopx.com/artist/poets_of_the_fall/twilight_theater/#

So don't take my word for it. Check them out!

Poppy is home!

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:09:36 GMT

Poppy is home safe and sound after her surgery.

Evidently there were some complications. The vet says the damage was much worse than they thought: she pretty much had no socket left for the bone. So she basically has pins and wires holding her leg together right now. But they did successfully repair the joint.

She is all bandaged up and is very miserable about it, but the important thing is she's okay. Tomorrow she goes back and they'll replace the dressing. Then we've got eight weeks of trying to keep her quiet and rested before they try to fix the other leg.

( Here, have a piccy )

Movie Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:41:57 GMT

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the movie I saw last weekend; I was really keen to see it as I've recently read the book. Since the film was not made by Hollywood I thought it might be a reasonable adaption. The book has a lot going for it. It's one of those novels that is trying really hard to be feminist while failing to understand women even a little. The chapters are separated by stats about violence toward women in Sweden...and they manage to make the opposite point from that intended 'cause I'm pretty sure the stats for the UK or USA are much, much worse. This impression is not helped by the way the book was marketed in the English-speaking world: in the original Swedish, the novel is titled Men Who Hate Women. Renaming it and putting a naked girl on the cover...way to miss the point, boys. And yet there's good stuff going for it, too.

But here I'm talking about the movie. So let's begin with the story. ( Cut for spoilers )

Overall...I recommend the film, but with caveats. First, if you have issues with onscreen violence, you don't want to see this film. Second, it's longer than it needs to be, so some will be better off waiting for a DVD release. And third, I do recommend familiarity with the book first, although that would spoil the whodunnit aspect...so that's a judgement call. But within those limits, I really enjoyed the film. 8/10.

Poppy

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:15:20 GMT

I finally made a Poppy icon :)

Tomorrow, Poppy goes to the vet for her first surgery. Her leg has been getting steadily worse all week. What's most heartbreaking is the way she tries to hide it: she'll stand there with her toes just touching the ground, so it looks like she's balanced, but if you watch closely you can see she's not putting any weight on it. I swear she'd doing it intentionally.

Anyway, if all goes well, she's got eight weeks of recovery ahead before the next surgery.

I'll let you all know how she is as soon as I can. In the meantime, please send lots of positive thoughts her way. I don't know what we'd do without her if anything goes wrong.

( Have some pics of the sweetest-natured dog I've ever known )

Signal boost

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:29:56 GMT

liv is hosting a non-fandom friending meme over on Dreamwidth. I'm a little friending-meme shy, but in the spirit of trying to give myself more reasons to be on Dreamwidth, I signed up.

My friending-policy on DW is currently to give access to anyone who adds me, as long as you appear to be an actual person. If I've failed to give you access, it's either because I didn't get 'round to it yet (give me a day or so) or because I've mistaken you for fictional. Please feel free to correct that impression with a comment.

My friending policy on LJ is somewhat different. Anyone can add me, but I don't automatically friend back unless we've met in the flesh or exchanged comments at some time. LJ being bigger and less friendly, I'm a bit paranoid about being friended by strangers.

Ten things I assume you know about me

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:14:45 GMT

( Ten things I assume you know about me )

More about LJ's latest perfidy

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:59:33 GMT

From the latest post in LJ News:

Last week, we became aware that a recently-implemented script was overwriting affiliate referral fees for some of our users. Once we confirmed this, our Ops team quickly removed the script. Please be aware that, while we may beta-test other affiliate scripts down the line, we will take greater measures to ensure that no existing user-referral arrangements are impacted in any way.

Read that really carefully, folks. While the recent code-f***up was a mistake and has been withdrawn, LJ plans to redirect your links to slap affiliate codes on them and make money out of them in future.

There is an opt-out, but that opt-out affects only you: when other people click on YOUR links in YOUR journal posts, LJ will make money out of them. The only "mistake" LJ are admitting to was their too-hasty implementation of this hijack stripped existing affiliate codes (which violates their own affiliate agreement with Amazon).

But hijacking your links and redirecting them through a third-party site for profit - that was the whole point of the exercise and when they figure out how to do it properly, they will.

So I repeat: does anyone want a Dreamwidth invite? I have plenty to give away.

I'm going to come to some conclusion about what to do with my own LJ shortly. But I guess I'll no longer be posting links! I refuse to give these weasels any more money, even indirectly.

The awesome that is OTW

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:14:49 GMT

The Organisation for Transformative Works are having their membership drive this week.

I know OTW is somewhat controversial in fandom, which kinda baffles me because they are awesome. So this is why I believe they deserve our support.

First, because they're building the archive of our own aka AO3. Nearly all of my stories are there, but that's not why I think it's an awesome project. It's awesome because it's so completely inclusive. And it's tailored to fanfic needs. And the folks creating the code actually listen to feedback. And it keeps getting more and more awesome with each update. And because OTW owns the goddamn servers.

Don't underestimate that last. No matter how fan-friendly the site, we all post fanfic knowing that if some lawyer is having a stupid day, we could find a nasty letter in the mailbox. Or have it vanish without warning because someone's filed a DMCA notice with the web host. Or the archive could suddenly change its policy and force you to take down your fic. Or, if you post on LJ, you can get publically accused of being a child molester just for posting a little harmless fan art.

OTW will fight our corner if that happens. They aren't saying they'll win, and they're not looking for that fight. But they're prepared. This isn't some fuzzy policy, either: they already have supported and advised fans when copyright holders have gotten a little too draconian.

My second reason for supporting them is more personal. It's the Open Doors Project. A gazillion or so years ago (fandom-time), I was a huge fan of a particular writer of Xena fanfic. She wrote as Mil Toro or "Lucyfer". She wrote mostly on a BSDM theme, and her stories were seriously hot. But she also had a quirky sense of humour I really loved. Anyhow, like many lesbian fen at the time, Mil became very disillusioned with the show around the fourth and fifth seasons and announced she was leaving fandom and would be taking her site down. I had printouts of all my favourites of her stories but still, I thought it was a real shame. I wrote to her and asked if she'd be willing to let me take over her archive, so fandom wouldn't lose her works. She agreed to this and I hosted her fic in a corner of my own website for many years.

Last year I started having problems with my site. Like, it disappeared. I still haven't got it all sorted. While my own stories were all someplace else on the web, that Xena archive wasn't. When it became clear I couldn't quickly resolve my site issues, I contacted Open Doors for assistance. Within days I had transferred all of Mil Toro's Xena stories to AO3, with everything set up so it didn't look like it was me trying to take credit for someone else's work. This not only let me preserve those stories, but took the pressure off so I could sort out my website woes in my own time.

Open Doors offered help preserving old fansites when Geocities was taken down, too and have saved 40 or more sites that would otherwise have vanished. Not to mention many other preservation projects they have under their umbrella.

So there you go. That's my pitch for OTW. Joining OTW isn't about getting benefits or kudos: it's about supporting a bunch of truly awesome people who are all about supporting us in turn. So please, check them out and at least think about it.

Latest news on Poppy

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:58:56 GMT

If you've been following my saga of Poppy's limp, you know she was due to return to the vet this week. She won't be seeing the vet this week, because she was seen on Friday. This was unplanned and not good.

( Cut for length )

Fic: Negotiation (SPN/True Blood) (Gen)

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:03:45 GMT

Title: Negotiation (1,300 words)
Fandom: Supernatural/True Blood
Rating: All Ages (Gen)
Characters: John Winchester, Eric Northman
Warnings: Eric fans may not like this one much. See notes under the first cut-tag if you care why.
Summary: When John Winchester walked into Fangtasia, it wasn't to hunt vampires.

Notes: Written for a ficathon walks into a bar... run by sabinetzin. ( When I put down True Blood as one of my fandoms I just knew... ) So here's John Winchester, baddass demon hunter, as he might be in the world of True Blood.

( A Ficathon walks into a bar...Negotiation )

Signal Boost

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:44:02 GMT

Signal boost:

Livejournal is hijacking links posted in journal entries. No, seriously. I am not kidding.

More info here.

Why am I still surprised by the depths to which LJ will sink?

Anyone want a Dreamwidth invite? I have several.

Me and the dogs

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:54:08 GMT

Good news - the essay assignment from Hell is finished and sent. It's probably crap, since I maintain the assignment question did not make any sense, but I managed to make a decent argument that (I hope) is relevant to the question, and force it into language that'll make it seem like I give a crap about the subject matter.

*shrug* I can afford to fail this one, anyway. It'll average out, as long as I do well on the next (and last) one.

( Not-so-good news about the dogs )

Mel - are you up for sushi on Monday?

Drive-by

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:24:49 GMT

I had to miss my usual weekend fun (movies, coffee, sushi) because I have an essay due and it's still not finished. I freaking hate this one - the course material is contradictory and nonsense and the assignment question makes no sense.

But there is one good thing about it. I get to reference this book *evil grin* on how patriarchal dominance in discourse of medical knowledge gets stuff wrong. (What? It's way more interesting than the example in the course book!)

Dogs update

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:05:56 GMT

Still using my Amber icon 'cause I don't have one of Poppy.

Poppy is doing well. Mum keeps finding creative ways to play ball without actually playing ball. Stuff like she'll throw the ball onto the furniture so Poppy will jump up to find it. This doesn't break the vet's injunction as that had to do with her rapid changes of direction when chasing a thrown ball. As a result, she's not too miserable, but she's definitely feeling deprived. Amber is, too, since she's not getting walkies either.

But Rocky is doing badly. He's seventeen years old, and he's been in decline for a long time now. Frankly, I think he's suffering - he's deaf, almost blind, terribly arthritic, can barely bend down enough to reach his bowl even now it's on a stand, and he seems to have doggy-dementia. But he's sis's dog and she can't let him go. She keeps saying he's not really in pain, because he's still taking pain medication, but she doesn't understand that suffering doesn't always mean pain. If I were as sick as Rocky is, I hope someone would have the guts to show me a little mercy.

But sis is so anti-euthanasia it makes me sick. At least she's consistent, but she's being cruel. And if I try to talk some sense into her she tells me I just want to be rid of him (which is hard to deny, since I never wanted him to live with us in the first place).

So I don't know what's going to happen there. It's pretty much out of my hands.

Ficathon pimping

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:50:11 GMT

"A ficathon walks into a bar" - this looks like a fun one :)

The idea is, you pick a character from any fandom you like. Then you pick 1-4 other fandoms you might like to write about.

You get assigned a character from one of those fandoms.

Then you write a short fic (500 words): Chosen character A walks into a bar and meets assigned character B.

If that sounds like fun for you, sign up on Dreamwidth:

http://sabinetzin.dreamwidth.org/208570.html

or on Livejournal:

http://sabinelagrande.livejournal.com/255412.html

(No prizes for guessing I picked John Winchester. But the fandoms I picked are ones I've never written in before...might as well make it a challenge *g*)

Missed deadline

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:34:06 GMT

Valentine's day snuck by me and I completely missed it. Since I'm single (and not at all unhappy about being so) this would normally be meaningless.

But I had a Sentinel story I meant to post for Valentine's Day. Now I can't do that, darn it.

This is a story someone on my flist asked me to write a long time ago; at the time I said no, I couldn't do it. But things change and I thought of a way I could fulfil the request. But this story requires a particular holiday or something you'd buy a gift for; my original plan was to post it for Christmas, but what with Yuletide and the other two Christmas fics I did manage to post, one more was just too much. So I thought Valentines...and now I've missed it!

Not sure what to do now. I guess I can hang onto it until next Christmas...

Monday again...

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:41:00 GMT

So, I happened to watch a TV advert yesterday. This is something I don't do often: I actively avoid channels with ads, using catch-up or on demand instead, or I watch on DVD. But yesterday I watched an advert.

This featured a naked woman in a field, dreamy filters on the camera and slow shots of different parts of her body to make it clear that she is, for whatever unfathomable reason, standing there naked. Kinda like a racier version of those Flake ads, you know? Although in the Flake ads the woman is usually clothed while giving her chocolate that blowjob.

What was this 40-second long porn movie attempting to sell? Well, I'll tell ya. It was toothpaste. No, I am not kidding. Toothpaste now with added porn.

So glad it wasn't my brand.

*

Talk about crappy reporting, this article in the Guardian is hilariously bad. Apparently some new study has shown that being overweight when elderly is a good thing. But get this:

This study has demonstrated that, for people who have survived to the age of 70, the risk of death is lowest among those with a BMI [body mass index] classified as overweight.

They couldn't possibly be muddling up cause and effect here, could they? I've lost a lot of elderly relatives in my life and the one common factor is when people get sick and quit looking after themselves properly, they lose weight. Both my grandmothers were overweight most of their lives - that post-childbirth thing in an age when the media didn't make women feel like shit for having curves - and both dropped to less than six stone before they died. Because they were sick.

I'm the first to decry the whole being-fat-is-bad-for-you thing, but I really doubt it's protection from death!

Here's another choice quote:

Women who do not take exercise are twice as likely to die as women who get regular exercise, regardless of their BMI.

So there you have it, girls. The secret of immortality! If you exercise you're half as likely to die!

Seriously?

*

My thoughts on a few of the movies I've seen recently...

( It's Complicated )

( Precious )

( A Single Man )

Friday!!!

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:05:09 GMT

I got through the week. I really did.

I taught eight classes this week, each about three hours long. Most of it was me talking and demonstrating. At the beginning of the week I had a mild sore throat. Today, I can barely talk. But I got through it. It was a good experience overall, though I have a bit more sympathy with some of the more irritating policies other trainers have now I've been on their side of the table. The point of all this was to share my knowledge of a particular specialised piece of software we use, and to get people thinking about how much this program can help with analysis. I think I acheived that, although it's irritating that the two people who most needed it pulled out of the class because their manager can't time-manage for shit. I think she's expecting me to provide this training on a one-to-one basis when it suits her...I didn't give up this much of my time only to go back to one-to-ones. She can train her own sodding staff. Oh, wait. She can't, because I'm the so-called expert.

The bright side of all that training is I'm now more than 12 hours in credit on the clock - that's two days, near enough.

*

I have stuff to say about the last two eps of SPN but that'll have to wait. On my to-do list for this weekend is finish up prep for the Sentinel big bang, so I can kick that off, and then I really need to make a start on my next OU essay.

I've been on a roll with my sncross_bigbang story and it's hard to tear myself away from that. But I must. Anyhow, I've reached a good place to take a breather from that story - I finally wrote the ending! No, it's not finished, but I like to get my final scene written as early in the writing process as possible. It helps me stay on track. And this is a good final scene. When I come to rewrite, I can add just a little more to make it a positive ending, or I can go with what I have now and end on a nicely ambiguous note. The ambiguity at present is mostly because the canon is still open...hopefully by the time I'm on my final re-write I'll have a better idea about certain things.

But enough with the fic. I have to start on that essay, darn it.

Cinema and sushi tomorrow! Can't decide - cheesy horror or serious drama? Must check out the Kermode podast, see what he thinks :)

Working...

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:56:25 GMT

I managed to forget until this morning that I'm training in work all week. As in, every single day this week. And I'm not being trained - I'm the trainer.

Which means super-stress, and working late every day this week (except today) because I have to make my data delivery deadlines this week as well. Doing all this training doesn't get me out of business as usual. If I'm really, really lucky I might be able to finish at my regular time on Friday.

Why exactly did I volunteer to do this? I'm having trouble remembering.

Actually today's session went fairly well. My trainees said so, anyhow. I mucked up a few times and I never did get the hang of writing on a white-board, but so far the feedback has been good. I'm confident of my written material - it's the face-to-face thing I'm not so good at.

Roll on the weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the bright side, Mum just offered to treat me to Chinese take-away tonight - because she's craving one and this way she can make me go and get it instead of paying for delivery. I don't think the math works out in her favour, but I'm not complaining *grin*

Poppy update

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:15:28 GMT

Poppy had her visit to the vet this evening.

The news is not good.

The vet confirmed that the problem is her kneecap. It keeps popping out, which naturally causes her pain. It pops back in on its own, but if it goes on like this eventually it's not going to, just as it would for a person. The really bad news is that her other back leg is showing signs of the same problem. The vet thinks it's a congenital defect, and she's lucky it hasn't been a problem before now.

It is likely she will need surgery. In an attempt to avoid this, because it's dangerous for such a small dog, we've been ordered to make her rest for a full month. No walkies. No ball. As little running around as possible. Poppy's an excitable little thing - we'll never get her to sit still! But we have to try.

She goes back to the vet in a month, and if there's no improvement we'll have to talk about surgery for her.

The news could definitely be worse, but this is not good :(

Fic: Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:43:38 GMT

Title: Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Gen)
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: All Ages
Characters: Dean, Sam, John
Warnings: None.
Notes: For amanofmydreams from my fanfic meme. 1400 words.

Summary: Keeping secrets from Dad isn't easy.

( Don't Ask, Don't Tell )

I would have said "only in America"...

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:03:17 GMT

...but unfortunately this time the crazy is in my own country.

Seriously.

What. The. Hell?

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:41:27 GMT

Thanks for all the good wishes about Poppy; she's doing much better though the vet's ball embargo is frustrating for all of us! She's just finding other ways to expend her energy, like jumping on the furniture and hunting down all the balls we've hidden. It's amazing the places she can wriggle into! I'm pretty sure the idea was to get her to rest...so not gonna happen :)

I finally saw The Road yesterday; a thoroughly depressing movie.

( Um...this got long )

After that, I was glad to meet thanatos_kalos for sushi. Yo Sushi always manages to cheer me up.

( Musings about Apple's iPad and e-books )

Doggy issues

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:12:35 GMT

A few weeks ago, before the British snowpocalypse, Poppy came home from her walk limping. Mum gave her a little of Rocky's pain medication and the next day she was fine.

Post-snowpocalypse, the same thing happened again. Sis's Useless Fiance took the dogs out, as he often does (it's the only thing he's not useless at!) and when they returned Poppy wasn't just limping, she was walking on three legs. Again, after a night's rest, she was fine.

Poppy is the world's most loveable dog; I know all dog-owners say that about their pets, but she really is. She's half Jack Russel and half Chihuahua, cute as a button and she loves everyone. But that odd genetic heritage does give her some issues with running. She has a tendancy to drag the knuckles on her front paws when she runs fast, so she has little patches of fur missing and sometimes comes home bleeding a little. But this is something new. (That's Amber in my icon; I don't have a Poppy icon yet.)

Anyhow, last night Sis and Mum took her to the vet. They had the Useless Fiance take the dogs out again beforehand, in the hope (!) that she'd be showing symptoms for the vet's benefit. I get the logic, but wishing pain on the poor thing seems very wrong to me. And although she was once again limping, it didn't seem so bad this time.

The vet thinks she's somehow damaged her kneecap, and it's popping out of joint when she runs, then righting itself after some rest. He prescribed pain meds, and told us not to exercise her or throw the ball for her for a whole week. After which she's got to go back for a checkup.

This vet is asking the impossible. Not the no-walkies thing; we can not walk the dogs for a week. But Poppy is ball-crazy. She came to us attached to a ball (imagine a chihuahua puppy with a scarlet tennis ball bigger than its head in its mouth - that was puppy-Poppy) and she constantly plays ball. She'll bring a ball to anyone who sits still for a second. She'll drop one at your feet if you stand in what she considers a ball-throwing area. If you try to ignore her, she'll go get another ball and pile them up until you've got to throw them or risk a serious fall. And there's no way we can hide them all - she has too many. And boy is she good at finding them! Even if we did hide them, she'd find the hiding place and get all bouncy there, which I assume would defeat the no-exercise rule.

So I don't know what we're gonna do. Just make her miserable, I guess...

Fic: Unearthed

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:33:50 GMT

Title: Unearthed
Fandom: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Rating: All Ages
Characters: Hercules, Ares (implied slash)
Warnings: None.
Notes: For ruric from my fanfic meme. 600 words.

Summary: Yes, Virginia 'verse - Sometimes, immortality is a real bitch.

( Unearthed )