LaceOverSand

... So Little Time

I was going to put each item in a list. Then I realised that however much the layout of this blog might depend on the vertical length of entries, it would be rather shameless to cater so blatantly to this particular design flaw. So with no explanations, no particular purpose, and indeed, nothing of very much interest to anybody that isn't bored and pretending to write meaningfully on a train, this here is my to do list.

• To Read: LXG 2, the matrix comics, endless nights, sandman dustcovers, cages, stardust, the furies, the art of rotk, pirates, anselm kiefr book.
• To Read With Attention: an arundel tomb, here, the whitsun weddings, as bad as a mile, a study of reading habits
• To Reread: LXG, pride and prejudice, the novel.
• To Finish Reading: the wake, the time of your life, smoke and mirrors, interview with the vampire, sharpe's tiger, gangs of chicago, the book of lost tales 1, the time machine.
• To Write: remix attempt 2, remix attempt 1, sean tig, speakeasy backstory, sharpe/darcy, furorscribendi challenge, choking hazard, the novel, blogging, you think you know, drabble essay, that was uni (that was).
• To Do: tidy room, negotiate new tiggage, get job, revise, fix remix attempt 1, update eso, get hair cut, diet, do laundry, book hotel, research costume, finish smeagol sketch, sort out comment spam problem, start speakeasy fanart, attempt sandman fanart.

Shotglasses Revisited

In light of my emergency shotglass speciality, I feel the campaign for a King Sized Creme Egg might have slightly ominous repercussions.

But it might also be quite fun.

So I signed the petition, and you should too.

(Link from Tom Watson.)

Piss Off, Go Read This Stuff

• Seven Things Everybody Should Know About Fandom. Number (7) "Do it your own damn self" rings particularly true. All the times I've wanted to read my own fic, and then been pissed off because I've realised it's only half finished. So incredibly aggravating. Anyway, if you're curious about fandom and aren't quite sure what I'm going on about half the time, go read it.
• Mafia recruiting spammers, crackers... made me laugh. Specifically, "Kaspersky reckons that if organised criminals take control of spamming then there might actually be fewer spammers and virus writers in operation." Sounds just a little too like the guilds of Ankh-Morpork to me.
• Tropicana Sanguinello - the best orange juice EVER.
• A debate over at Harry's Place pointed me towards a political commentary on The Fellowship Of The Ring. Including detailed discussion of the pipe-weed-based economy.
• Thank lord I'm not the only child that was ever terrified of Santa. It's this whole big deal where you get sent into a dark place containing a strange man to be asked invadingly personal questions about the previous year that you have absolutely no idea how to answer whilst perched awkwardly on an inevitably thorougly uncomfortable knee. And then you get given a weird, slightly cheap present which completely contradicts the general mythos that Santa only delivers on Christmas eve, and then return to a frazzled parent busy hating shopping just as much as you hated the disgustingly sounding 'grotto'. Really. What kind of a word is 'grotto'? Awful, awful word. Rant over. Trauma purged.
• Idiots. Idiots. Spammers are idiots. They're also rather funny at times.
• The Very Secret Diary Of Captain Jack Sparrow - the most hilarious thing I have read in a long time. A crossover of Pirates of the Carribean and Return of the King (bookverse).

  To quote: From what Aragorn was saying to pretty boy and dwarf, this Sow-Ron is more like Old Hob than your regular black-hearted scallywag. Feel sure that Minas Thing will be more prosperous, e.g. better pickings, under Isildur's Heir. Bugger, seem to be finding myself on side of good again.

Go Forth, My Bookmarks, And Stop Cluttering Up My Computer

I'm very organised when I want to be. I have a special folder for temporary bookmarks of things I want to point out/link to. However, this may be one of the last blogs I do from this laptop until January, so I thought I'd clear it out so that I only have to contend with the folder of bookmarks about which I actually want to have opinions on and write about. Not that you can actually see it, but these entries with all the links in actually have a special category all for themselves. And I doubt I'll ever be able to entirely abandon the orange juice references.

• It's a flash thing with a cat. It's so spookily accurate to just how stubbornly wonderful cats can be.
• Have run out of orange juice again. I went and bought three cartons, and that was... three days ago. Is it possible to drink too much orange juice? Doesn't matter anyway, there wasn't exactly any point leaving some leftover over Christmas.
• A man on deathrow requested that his last meal be given to a homeless person instead of him. The request was denied. Makes me feel slightly sick, probably for a variety of reasons.
• The firefly movie isn't looking so promising after all. And damnit, I want that dvd.
• I'm not always this fussy, and I'll usually overlook a bit of history as artistic licence in favour of a good movie. Apart from the fact that Russell Crowe is just annoying, I still have issues with Gladiator. I can just about cope with the fact that the actual Commodus managed to kill off his sister before being assassinated, but I just have to laugh at the general ending. Big message of hope, "There was once a dream that was Rome, it shall be realised." When in fact the assassination of that particular emperor is generally considered to be the beginning of the end for the greatness of the Roman empire. It's like Sylvia Plath's big "Oh, I'm not going to try to kill myself" chapter at the end of The Bell Jar. So I roll my eyes at that. However. Gladiator 2. They want to make the only male heir of the dead emperor introduced in the first movie into a gladiator. This contradicts such basic history as I learnt in primary school. I'm just... disgusted. New low for the industry, methinks.
• I spent over two hours tidying my room today. I still reckon it's probably the messiest room in the entire house.
• First piece of LotR RPS fic that I've bothered with in a long time, especially by an author unknown to me. Why Waste Your Time Writing A Bean Fic? Haven't a clue why it's called that, because it actually focusses on Orlando, pairs him with Viggo, and doesn't seem to have much to do with Bean at all. However, it's very funny, and worth reading if you fancy a little hilarity.
• 
• The sci-fi society decided we weren't identifiable enough with me wearing my Two Towers jumper and B. with his star-trek pins in his collar, and so started singing The Saga Begins by Al Yankovic. Nobody seemed to believe me when I told them there was a music video to it. Warning: 57mb download. But, my, my, this here Anakin guy...
• There's a new badger flash movie out. Somehow they seem to have made it to Helm's Deep. Warning: contains badgers (as if it wasn't obvious)
• Someone else likes Where The Wild Things Are too.
• I still can't lift my suitcase. Royally screwed this time, as I'm supposed to be making my way on my own on the train. I eagerly await the development of some kind of rules of physics defying teleportation device. Harry Potter never has to deal with these kinds of problems.

Life Continues

• Am disillusioned. Fishnets have failed to make my legs look absolutely stunning. They haven't made them look particularly worse than usual, either. They just look... reptilian. *shrugs* It was just far too fun a looking fashion bandwagon for me not to jump on.
• Turned on the tv the other day and was shocked to see Weebl & Bob on. They've done a couple of adverts for Anchor Spreadable. This must actually be quite old news, because the the actual Anchor site now only just makes the first google page for "anchor" and "spreadable".
• In order to catch up with my livejournal friends page I would have to go back over 1000 posts. I think I'm giving up before ever really seriously attempting. Apologies to those feeling neglected.
• Went to see Muse at the cia. Absolutely amazing band. Definitely now going on the xmas list. D4D did a better review with pictures from when they played Manchester than I can bother producing.
• Have been living without orange juice for over a week and a half. Miss fruit, am broke. Please send chocolate. (And orange juice.)
• Finally have internet access in room. Can now wrap self up in duvet when online rather than freezing my arse off in a computer room or on the housemate's computer. Yay.
• Less than 14 days to go.
• Still hungry. Please send more chocolate. (And orange juice.)

Refridgerator Gremlin

• The Action Figure Story Book finally finished RotK.
• His Dark Materials has been adapted for stage and opens december 4th. Desperately want to go see this. Need to find someone to drag along with me.
• Someone's been drinking my orange juice. I thought I was the only one that liked the stuff with juicy bits in. Apparently not. The concept of a refridgerator gremlin has been suggested.
• "Chopping Nemo". Warning. Disturbing.
• Remember I ranted about how amazing Keisha Castle Hughes was in Whale Rider? Just found out she's also in Star Wars: Episode 3 as a Regal Leader. Which I'm thinking is thinly veiled cryptic for Queen of the Naboo.
• Spike Jonze has been hired to work on the movie adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are. I was fascinated by this story as a child, but also fairly terrified by it. Looking forward to a movie interpretation.
• Some people are just so obsessed. *shakes head disparaginglyl* Some rock climbers give an assessment of what kind of rock climber Gollum would be. Turns out he's really not so comfortable with that much rock climbing, being more of a pot-holer.
• Also, doesn't look like we'll be getting Eddie Izzard in the new Doctor Who after all.
Posted by Missiedith at 1:21 PM | Comments (5)

Ther... What Kind Of Buddhism?

Results from belief-o-matic (I answered questions, it provided the labels):

1. Theravada Buddhism (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (98%)
3. Liberal Quakers (96%)
4. Mahayana Buddhism (94%)
5. Neo-Pagan (92%)
6. Taoism (86%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (81%)
8. New Age (79%)
9. Secular Humanism (74%)
10. Orthodox Quaker (72%)
11. Jainism (71%)
12. Bahá'í Faith (67%)
13. Reform Judaism (59%)
14. Hinduism (59%)
15. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (55%)
16. Sikhism (55%)
17. Scientology (52%)
18. New Thought (51%)
19. Nontheist (50%)
20. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (43%)
21. Seventh Day Adventist (42%)
22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (41%)
23. Islam (39%)
24. Orthodox Judaism (39%)
25. Jehovah's Witness (31%)
26. Eastern Orthodox (22%)
27. Roman Catholic (22%)

Just a quiz thing that's been making the viggorli lj circuit. The only three religions I've ever had anything to do with would be Quakerism, Paganism, and some quite high version of the Church Of England. I've never been baptised.

The first would be due to the fact that I went to a Quaker school. I'm not strictly Christian, but if there's a religion I feel I "belong" to it would be Quakerism. So I guess that makes a vague kind of sense.

My interest in Paganism was purely academic, and sprang from my obsession with sci-fi/fantasy/horror tv and films. More specifically, from the desire to know the origin of every single reference made on Buffy. There followed dedicated reading of exceptionally stodgy books.

And the Church Of England connection is the most pathetic. When I was 5 I decided I wanted to join the Church choir. There was a church down the road, I decided I was an adamant Christian, joined the choir as planned, and spent every sunday being fascinated by the charm bracelet the girl that sat next to me wore. I quit when they got a new choir-master, who I swiftly decided was "mean". My mother was horrified that I ever joined in the first place.

Matthew Shepard Monument

I was going to tag this on to the end of the last post, but it developed into so much of a rant that it didn't really feel appropriate. And it deserves its own post. It deserves its own website. Well. Pointed out to me by theladyfeylene, but it's making me feel sick enough to want to pass it on. Phelps To Erect Matthew Shepard Monument.

I was going to write something saying something like "I have nothing to say to this, there's nothing that can be said about this." But the truth is I actually have a lot to say about this. It's disgusting. This person is disgusting. I have enough issues with religion being foisted upon the populace in public places/environments as it is, but this is just outright offensive. Someone please tell me at least some branch of the Church is speaking out against this.

Ah yes, I deleted most of the rant. It was... a rant. Irate, disbelieving... some other adjectives.

Basically I don't think I need to say anything. I don't understand how anyone can defend this kind of behaviour without falling back on religious fanaticism.

[Note]: I realise I have now gone from not going to say anything, to going to say something, to attempting to say something, to not saying anything after all. I realised that if there was to be any point to saying something, I would have to come up with some thought out reasons as to why I find this so upsetting. Rather than, well, just the rant. I do have reasons, I could write them out, but I doubt I'd do a very good job of it, so it's probably best to just leave well alone. I really do think it should all be rather obvious.

The Thing I Forgot To Mention In The List Of Things I Forgot To Mention

So so so vastly disturbing it's difficult to comprehend. I knew about the occurence of homosexuality in the animal kingdom. Partly through osmosis of information (still not quite sure how the hell that happens), and partly through the link from beautiful monsters to the article on gay penguins. This... is just so much worse I'm having trouble coming up with a suitable mathematical term to describe it. Exponentially worse? Well, you get the idea so I'll shut up, and present you with a gay necrophilic mallard duck.

A Few Things I Forgot To Mention

These would be things that I when I read/saw them I thought, ooh, I must mention that in my blog. Or, ooh, I wish I had someone to fandom gossip with about this.

• Emma Thompson plays Professor Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Personally I think this could work quite well. She's annoying enough for the part, but hopefully a good enough actor to work it all out.
• Karl Urban has got the part of the baddie in The Bourne Supremacy, which is the sequel to The Bourne Identity. I liked the first movie, especially the car chase, and I, ahem, have a lot of time for Karl Urban. So, ok, I've only ever seen him in LotR, but I've always like Éomer, and I can't think of any objections to his portrayal.
• Walked home along the railway line at one in the morning on monday night. Actually saw the guys in the bright orange jackets working on the line. They always seemed to be mystery figures to me, sort of like highly inefficient and inconvenient railway-line elves. But now I know they're real, I can't help thinking that this would be the perfect job for Gimli out of bagenders. There was also a weird yellow machine picking stuff up. I'm not going to liken that to anything, as I think I've mixed enough fandoms into this item as it is.
• Tried the toffee crisp McFlurry. Quite good. I can now refer to it as "the one where they gave me extra chocolate bits" as opposed to "the one that replaced the strawberry one". Also, I tried my first breakfast there whilst at collectormania. Wasn't as bad as it could have been. Maybe. Actually, I thought it was sort of ok, if only they could get rid of more of the grease. Eurrrgh. Ah, maybe it wasn't so ok.
• Got my ticket to go see Muse.
• Received my first piece of Analysis homework. Have yet to find someone (in my year/on my course) that understands what the hell this guy is going on about. Everybody talks all the way through the lectures, presumeably because they haven't a clue and are bored. Although cannot find recommended book anywhere in library, have just found a couple of others mentioned on the website, so off to find those.
• Forked out £2 on a holepunch. That's over a third of the price of my toaster. Feels extravagant.

I also managed to get myself up early enough this morning to go see LXG. Was in a peculiar mood, so took notes. Will have a write-up sorted some time soon, but am not going to bother writing up collectormania. Instead I'll do what I do better, which is provide a semi-comprehensive list of links to other people's. Because I didn't take notes that weekend, in shocking contrast to what seems like the majority of us squeeing fangirls.

To Do Before I Die

Stolen from various people, including Kay and Mercurial. 50 Things To Do Before I Die. I think I'm doing quite well. At only 18 I've managed to accomplish

#1: Swim with dolphins
#9: Go on safari
#22: Bathing an elephant. (And not just any elephant, a baby elephant. Cue everyone going "awww")
#27: Experiencing a waterfall.
#30: Trekking through a rainforest.
#37: A flight over a volcano. (Well not actually. We just walked up the one in Tenerife instead, so I'm counting it.)
#39: Glacier hiking (bloody painful)

7 down, 43 to go! Although, does Eurodisney count instead of Walt Disney World? Because if that's the case then I've only got 42 to go. And it's possible I've watched orang-utans and just don't remember it, which would be #49. Hell, I don't remember the waterfall either, but I've got the picture to prove it, so it's getting checked off.

Orlando, Viggo, And A Shitload Of Paint

Did one of those quiz things. what kind of typical lotr rps sex scene are you? Don't read it unless you're comfortable with that stuff.

My Life: The Movie

Your Life: The Movie by mintyduck
Who will play you:	Demi Moore
Who will play your love interest:	Jennifer Lopez
Weeks you will stay in the box office:	4
Song that will play during your love scene:	Devo - Beautiful World
Song that will play during your death:	Frente - Air
Your name:
Created with quill18's MemeGen!

I need to be careful or I'm going to get addicted to these things. Demi Moore's not too bad I guess. Hmmm? Maybe? Possibly? She has co-starred with Viggo Mortensen, so I guess she might be forgiven for Charlies Angels 2. Although whether anybody even remotely connected to that movie can be forgiven for anything is questionable, I suppose. And I haven't heard of either of the songs, so I can't be offended by them.