Saturday, October 31, 2009

Spooky...

Well, I think we're ready for Halloween fun tonight. Pumpkins are carved, candy has been purchased, the kids know what they're going to wear, and a big pot of soup is cooking for dinner. I'm hoping the rain holds off a bit. We're all on the verge of catching colds thanks to the up and down temps.

Whatever you do tonight, have fun and stay safe.

Tamara

Friday, October 30, 2009

TGIF

That fairly well sums up my week. Here's to a splendid weekend for all!

Elisa

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Rainy Halloween

Fall has finally arrived here in the Pacific Northwest and it's been quite nice. I'm hopeful for a mild winter this year. Mom will be visiting over the Christmas holidays once again and I'd sure like to show her more of Seattle than the view of shoveling snow she got last year.

So tomorrow we have our Halloween party at the school. My boss has told us that costumes are mandatory. Of course, she says this but we all know it's a half-hearted order. If I hadn't packed my Superman hoodie I would wear that with one of Cal's Superman capes. As it is I may just wear one of my cheap enough not to care if they're ripped shirts that's Superman blue and the cape. I can be Super Tamara. Or I could always go as my evil twin and just be a complete bitch all day.

Tamara

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Up. The film that is.

Happy Diwali to any of our readers who are Hindi, Sikh or Jain.

First a quick public service announcement. As you all know (unless you've just got back from a mission to Mars or something) Yahoo closed geocities this week. If you didn't save your favourites you might be well stuffed. But then again you might be lucky. Although The Wayback Machine didn't previously archive geocities sites because of the huge impact the closure had on a large number of excellent sites and with the ample warning Yahoo gave (unlike AOL) The WBM decided to do something about it and they've tried to archive as many sites as they could. See here for details.

Went to the pictures with the kid after work tonight. (When I say the kid btw I'm actually referring to my 40+ year old cousin with whom I share a house. She's younger than me so she's the kid). Anyway, we went to see the Disney/Pixar animated film Up. Now you might think that a film like that was not my type at all. Normally you'd be right. Except that this one was brilliant. Suitable for (real) kids and yet perfect for adults too. I spent half the film going "awww" and the other half laughing out loud. Very funny. Ever-so-slightly lump-in-the-throat at one point. And the dog - Dug - damn' good fun. I know dogs just like that. Hell, I have a dog just like that!! (A Golden Retriever). I can highly recommend it. (Especially if you have kids - or if you yourself are a big kid!!).

Right. I have to be up in 6 hours so I'm heading for bed. Enjoy your updates. goodnight and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Oops

I nearly forgot you lot tonight. *g*. In fact if E hadn't emailed me with some info on the BtVS updates I would have forgotten that it was my turn to update. I blame it on the government. (When in doubt blame the government - they can't fight back.) Well it is their fault, in a round about sort of way. They make us operate (as my nan used to say) on "government time" instead of "God's time" in the summer. And then they switch back and confuse the hell out of everybody.

In case you hadn't gathered, our clocks went back from BST (British Summer Time) to GMT/UTC (Greenwich Mean Time) this past weekend. And unfortunately my body clock hasn't adapted properly yet. Which meant I'm dead tired and I had just about made my mind up to go to bed early tonight (any time before midnight is early for me) when I read E's email and thought "oops".

America (well most of it - I understand that there is a state or two that doesn't bother with all that nonsense) has all this to look forward to this coming weekend. And Aus & NZ have already gone the other way this week.

Of course this twice-yearly inconvenience sparked the usual rush of letters-to-the-editor from Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells, and questions in Parliament as to why we don't keep Central European Time and "wouldn't it be simpler to be on the same time as the rest of Europe". Conveniently ignoring the fact that Europe has more than one time zone anyway. And America seems to cope quite well with several time zones without too much effort.

Mind you, the amount of trouble I have adapting pales in comparison to the animals. The kid's (four) cats' stomach clocks know it's supper time and they are not going to let you forget them!! Cat's really know how to be annoying. They probably have little instruction manuals tucked away in their baskets. Chapter Four: How to drive humans to the brink of cat-icide!! Evil little wotsits!!

Enjoy your updates. See you all tomorrow

Ze

Monday, October 26, 2009

Getting Lucky

Today's title comes from Tamara. Hopefully your Monday went well. Mine at least flew by with not too many issues. About as good as they get these days.

So you have come by for another update...enjoy!

Elisa

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sunday Surprise!

On October 25, 1998 Area 52 was up and running with new Stargate fan fiction. So happy 11th birthday, Area 52! We're looking forward to many more stories. H/T to Slam for the heads up about this noteworthy day.

E titled today's posting I believe because we have a P&P update for you. This, of course, means you've got a whole lot of fan fiction to read. Enjoy 'em!

Tamara

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Mud

We checked out a new (to us) pumpkin patch this year. Sadly it was filled with lots of mud and little else. It had nowhere near as much variety of fun, food or even pumpkins as the patch we have gone to for years. Hence next year we will either spend money to see the expensive patch, which we were to cheap to visit this year or go back to your steady free pumpkin patch from years past.

Trying new things is good. Sometimes it works out great and sometimes you learn the knowledge of what you had was already great. Hopefully one only tests in the right situations and acknowledges the reality of the other.

Got home fairly early allowing us time to check out a local arts and crafts show. Small, but had some interesting stuff. Tamara did the bulk of the buying this time. However it was all for the upcoming holiday that seems to be closer every day. It will be here before we know it.

So enough of our days events, here's hoping you all are having a splendid weekend and now you have time to enjoy the update!

Elisa

Friday, October 23, 2009

TGIF

Enjoy 'em.

Tamara

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Help and Hype

Both in one ramble, read on.
A short while back, the fabulous grunts of Uber Etc. were nice enough to let me ramble on about a new site (fanficrev.blogspot.com) some friends and I had put together to share reviews of fan fiction. We were hoping that a few readers would shuffle on over and have a look. Well, quite a lot more than a few have come - and keep coming back for more! We have more visitors that come directly from the Uber Etc. Links page than any other place.

Now that we're getting hundreds of visitors a week, a large number of those being return visits, we want to ensure that we have plenty of new reviews waiting for you. The problem comes from the fact that we only have two regular reviewers. We have a couple of women who send in reviews when they can but, for the most part, it's me and Incognito trying to pump them out. Not that we don't love all the reading and sharing our opinions with you all because we do, but there are only so many hours in the day and there's that pesky thing called a day job...

So, loyal Uber Etc. readers, I'm putting out a call for guest reviewers. That's right, we're looking for your help. We're looking for some well written, thoughtful, objective reviews of fan fiction. Any fandom, pairing, sexual orientation, whatever. If it's fan fiction or unpublished, original online work, we'll post a review on it.

We have a few rules that we insist on to keep the reviews fair. We don't allow reviews of work completed or beta'd by the reviewer or friends and family of the reviewer. We really do work hard to keep the reviews as unbiased as possible.

If you want to submit a review or have any questions at all, contact me at fanficrev at gmail dot com. If you do submit a review, please include the handle you'd like to go by (I use The Rev) and a link where the story can be found. Also let us know what fandom and pairing so we can apply the appropriate tags. Take a look at some of the existing reviews if you want to see what I mean.

Thanks and happy reading,

The Rev


Here's hoping a few of you can help them out. Give it a try, what do you have to lose?

On to the update, enjoy 'em!

Elisa

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Grumpy

Feeling out-of-sorts today in an I'm as grumpy as hell for no discernible reason, sort of way. Not sure why. It makes it difficult to think of anything to chat to you all about, though. Mostly because it means all I want to do is grumble or rant. And trust me, you don't want to be subjected to either of those things.

Rant about politics. Ours in the UK, (BNP - GRRR!!!). Yours in the USA (too many grrs to mention but I'm starting to wonder if Obama's chief sin is "governing while black" because some of the comments I've read lately have left me gobsmacked). EU politics - specifically the Tories links with such fascists as the Latvian party For Fatherland and Freedom. (These pillocks celebrate the Waffen SS for God's sake!!) Rants about the naivete of some of the Hollywood film community regarding a convicted criminal who is too far beneath my contempt to name.

Grumbles about the weather. The rain has been so heavy these past couple of days that we've been unable to work. No work = no pay. Grumbles about the dentist. Check-up time. And yet another new dentist at the practice. Who looked at the (slightly) broken tooth at the centre of the top row. (Yes it's not brilliant, no it's not too bad really). And she saw pound signs (that's this symbol £ not a hash mark like this #), I know because I could see them in her eyes, whirling like the fruit on a one-armed-bandit. And she asked if I'd like it crowned. Every dentist I've ever had, since it was broken in my teens, has asked the same. And they all been told it can't be crowned - the bone was damaged too badly - I just have to put up with it. And just like every previous one she insisted on taking an x-ray and making another appointment.

She's going to be disappointed. She can't make any money from it. Especially not a few hundred for a crown. Ner-ner ner ner-ner.

See - told you. I'm dead grumpy. So I won't subject you to any more...*g* Hope your week is going better.

Goodnight and may your God/s go with you.



Ze

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Geocities Reminder

Just a quick reminder - Yahoo is closing Geocities on 26th October. That's next Monday, (just in case you couldn't be bothered to work it out *g*).

This means that any of your favourite fanfiction which is hosted solely on Geocities sites will disappear. Probably for good because the Wayback Machine doesn't always archive Geocities sites.

So - if you're a fan of Xena Ubers - you're about to lose Maggie Ryan's The Deal and it's sequels. And FlyBigD's Ubers & Xena fanfic. Other Xena pages destined for the chop include Absolutely Xena Crazed, Blondi's Page, The Xenadom, The Moonlit Xena Corner.

Or if CSI's your fandom - Maven's brilliant Diurnal Dreaming series or the Grave Danger AU Glass Crucible stories will be gone. And this Multi-author site's on the endangered list.

Birds of Prey your thing?? Once again Maven's page. Or the Bad Grammar series. Or Jinx's page

Voyager or other Trek?? You'll be saying goodbye to Tigermoth and T'Lin

SVU?? Say 'bye to Katherine Quinn's page.

Etc. etc. pick your fandom and there'll be sites on Geocities. Now, some of these authors might have posted their stories to multi-fandom archive sites, some might be planning on transferring their stories to a new webservice so you'll still be able to read them. But some of them - particularly the ones which haven't been updated for several years - are going to disappear completely. So tonight's public service message is - save them. Save the stories you love to your hard-drive, to cd, to flash-drive, whatever your preferred method might be. But save them.

Ze

Monday, October 19, 2009

Ramble from phair

I'm middle aged. Maybe a little more aged than middle but you get the idea that I'm not a kid but I'm not worried about falling and breaking a hip. Yet. You'd think at this semi-ripe age I'd be a bit more introspective than a twenty year old and you'd be right. I'm particularly so now with fall descending and Halloween around the corner; the festival of the dead. But, it is not death I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about family.

I'm not talking family in the nuclear sense. It's the extended crew. To be specific, I'm referring to my father's people. That's how my mother described them. She meant my dad's mother, brothers, sister, and their children and their children. My parents had an amazing, loving, musical life together. They were each others best friends and confidants. I never saw them fight and there were only two topics they could not discuss; FDR and Venetian blinds. In a nutshell, my parents happily completed each other as it should be with true love.

However, my mother was not liked by my father's family and her feelings were mutual. Their marriage was not acknowledged although it was legal and everybody attended the ceremony and ate up the roast beef at the reception. Dad's family spoke in terms of Matt's house, car and Marge's kids. Um, you don't have to be a genius to figure out the slight. Even as a child, I understood the implications. My Dad was a sensible sort and slowly, quietly chose sides. He pulled us back and limited our contact. No big blow out or scene, we just drifted away from the pack. Our relationship became hello/goodbye at weddings and funerals. It faded to less than four Christmas cards after my Dad's burial.

Twelve years passed. Then technology entered.

I joined Facebook because most of my friends were using it to stalk their teenagers. My own nieces were using it more than email so it killed two maintaining relationship birdies with one fiber optic rock. Unfortunately, I stink at computer stuff. My efforts to sign up for Facebook were successful but I accidentally emailed requests to join me to everybody in my personal address book; siblings, nephews, nieces, friends, my boss. Ouch. Dumb.

But...two of Dad's nephews who I still send Christmas Cards to replied. I was surprised. One that they would be my 'friend' on a silly college kid techno time waster and two that they were on a silly college kid techno time waster. Both are in their sixties. Oh, did I mention my Dad was significantly older than my Mom? His nieces and nephews were the same age as my Mom so they were starting families around the same time.

Families are like Tribbles. They multiple at alarming rates. Especially the Irish. I can say that because I am Irish. And, it's true. One family member led to another and that led to another and so on and so on. Today 15% of my Facebook friends are 'my father's people.'

Is this the modern version of hello/goodbye at weddings and funerals? Is this our brave new communication system to replace letters and phone calls? Is this progress or isolation? I don't know or care, to tell you the truth.

What I do know is simple. I'm able to share bits of our lives, shades of our fears, sparks of our loves, hints of our pain, greave our grief, inspire our dreams with people who know my past because it's their past too and see a little of my Dad in the mirror just like me. Blood is thicker than water and now I know it can flow across the information superhighway.

phair


Thanks, phair, for sharing...and good luck! On to your updates, enjoy them.

Elisa

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Bye, Weekend!

Another weekend down and we do have things to show for it. The closet in our bedroom that once sported a broken door is beautifully adorned with a bar and curtains. Two yard waste bins are full of yard debris. One gooey batter cake has been delivered to the recipient of the monthly dessert (little e's school auction project). And another gooey batter cake is cooling on the stove. The first one I made smelled so good to E she wanted me to make another. So all of that was accomplished along with our usual outing to the grocery store. The rest of the time we relaxed and that makes for a very good weekend.

Enjoy the updates.

Tamara

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Rain, Wind and Relaxation

We got all of the above. Got up this morning cleaned the house up a bit for a few folks to come check it out. While they were here we scooted off to get some lunch and chores done. Then home to unload and unwind. Been relaxing ever since. Now dinner is being prepped and the evening rolls in smoothly with another nifty storm ahead weather wise.

My gray dizzle day with some serious rain in between, with even a tiny bit of wind has been wonderful. Tonight they forecast (who knows reality?) some heavy rain, thunder and perhaps some small hail as well. Something to look forward to.

And I am off to let you all enjoy your update!

Elisa

Friday, October 16, 2009

The end of another week....

Mine was pretty good. Cal's was good...he had three half days. Duncan's was probably like it always is...tolerable. E's was stressful. She's incredibly overworked and overwhelmed by projects right now. I plan on making her relax and rest this weekend.

The latest issue of Khimairal Ink is up so you've got plenty to read tonight. Enjoy the updates!

Tamara

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Dazed

The week has flown by, literally and yet maybe not. I was sure today was Friday, but while talking with Tamara at lunchtime she let me know that no, tonight is not Friday, but Thursday. Bummer, but hey one more and then a break. Here's hoping you all enjoy your evening and the upcoming Friday and for you folks down under, enjoy your Saturday!

Elisa

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Message from Joan

First a quick reminder from me - Yahoo is closing Geocities - on 26th October it will cease to exist. Every Yahoo/Geocities website will disappear. If you have favourite fanfic on Geocities sites and the writer/webmaster hasn't announced arrangements to transfer to another provider then you'd better save a copy now.

Ok,. And now an update from Joan Arling


    Hi Ladies,

    if you recall the ramble dated May, 26th, if you're still interested in how things did finally play out, if our beloved grunts don't say 'oh, not again!'... here goes the last part of TransNews.

    As of this writing I'm still in hospital, my surgery happened five days ago, and I'm slowly learning to walk (relatively easy) and sit (much harder:-) again.

    The surgery lasted six hours, leaving me somewhat weak, but from what my physicians tell me, and from what I personally can tell so far, it has been a great success. Right now I'm all bandages between my legs, but looking at the rather plain surface gives me a thrill. It's also funny that parts of my former anatomy still send impulses to the brain (which shows that no neural damage has occurred in the process) that get identified at locations no longer existing :-))) I'm looking forward to re-acquainting myself with, hmm, myself.

    So, after waiting for a long time, a great investment of hope, many moments of darkest despair, and more tears than I would ever have thought my eyes of being able to produce -- I've done it! I cannot find the proper words to express my happy disbelief, and I doubt I ever will. YES! I'VE DONE IT!!! I'm where I have belonged all my life, even though I didn't know it for a long time.

    I could not have gone all the way on my own power, and one source of strength were the positive reactions of you ladies to my first ramble here -- thank you all again very much! You, Stacy, especially -- the rays of light you sent me over nine time zones drove considerable darkness from these last weeks!

    I could keep yelling 'I've done it', but I'll spare ya :-) I only hope you won't mind that as of now there's one more of you -- me.

    Until the next ramble / story / poem, like Ze usually says: May your Goddess/es go with you!

    Joan

--

There you go. Congratulations on becoming your true self Joan and here's wishing you a speedy recovery from the trauma of the knife.

All that remains is to say see you next week, good night and may your God/s go with you

Ze

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Second-Hand Books

I bought a book this past weekend. And even though it might upset my mate K G MacGregor it was a second-hand book. (That's "used book" to you lot across the pond.) I bought it in a genuine, old-fashioned, second-hand book shop. There aren't many of those around any more. None at all in my city. Real second-hand book shops where the books are stacked floor to ceiling, where the staff (usually just the owner and their family)know books and love books, and the shop has that very special "old books" smell. I love those shops. When I was younger I must have bought about half my library in those kind of shops.

Back then most of Charing Cross Road - from St Giles down through Cambridge Circus and all the way to the Edith Cavell statue - was second-hand book shops. (And yes - I bought books in Marks & Co. as a kid, long before a certain American made it famous.) Not now. They've all gone. I was gutted when Marks closed.

K G is right that second-hand book sales probably do cause damage to small, specialised, genres of books. But I don't think that applies across the board. For a start although it might be possible to find new copies of H Rider Haggard's Allan Quartermain or (more likely) She the chances of finding a new Allan's Wife or Eric Brighteyes are slim to none. I don't expect I'd have any better luck finding new copies of Leslie Charteris' works either. I read everything by those two authors, scouring the book shops for second-hand copies, when I was younger.

As Charing Cross suggests - a thriving second-hard market goes hand-in-hand with a thriving publishing and book-selling environment. The closing of the second-hand shops is part & parcel of the loss of independent book shops generally. The damage is being done by huge chains. Our own (Waterstones etc.) and the American incomers (Borders and Barnes & Noble) which have been gradually increasing their presence over the last ten years or so. And of course Amazon - which has to have done more damage to London's Bookshops - new or old - than the Blitz did.

I miss those shops. I miss the sudden delight at finding a rare, but worthless to anyone else, scruffy little hardback by some author I loved. I miss the knowledgeable owners who could talk for hours about books, the love of their subject clear to all. Much as I did this weekend.

Oh - and K G don't worry. Neither author, publisher nor translator suffered. The author's been dead close to 2,000 years, the translator died about 30 years ago and the publisher got swallowed up by a multi-national sometime in the 1980s.

The book?? Tacitus' Annals of The Empire.

Ze

Monday, October 12, 2009

Hype!

This sounds keen.
Dear everyone,

(This is the official announcement which goes out everywhere today.)

Typically I don't promote upcoming shows beyond the newest one, which will be my Kim Possible show this Thursday, October 15th, from 10-11 PM. Under these very special circumstances, however, I'm making an exception.

On Thursday, October 22nd, 2009, I'll be hosting a highly unique show at the special starting time of 9 PM EST:

www.blogtalkradio.com/allaine/2009/10/23/Nikki-and-Nora

Nikki & Nora's Nancylee Myatt, Christina Cox, and Liz Vassey Answer Your Questions

Normally I don't devote two full episodes of this program to a single fandom. Certainly I don't normally do it in the same month. In the wake of the October 1st discussion of Nikki & Nora, however, we're taking one more spin around the New Orleans city block on October 22nd for a very special occasion. On this show I'll be talking with the three people that N&N fans associate with the show most - creator/writer Nancylee Myatt and stars Christina Cox and Liz Vassey. It's going to be an unusual show in more ways than one. Not only will it be the first time I've interviewed actual celebrities for my show instead of fan authors, not only will the show run longer than sixty minutes, but it will also be the first time where every single question will have been asked prior to airing. Due to scheduling conflicts that prevent all three of my guests from appearing in person, the entire interview has been conducted via email, and their answers will be read over the air by longtime N&N fans katiepult, inspectorboxer,and nemodoryismyido. Those questions aren't just from me, either - most of them are from the fans themselves. And to top it all off, my guests have expressed a willingness to answer questions about other projects. That means television programs like CSI, Blood Ties, Defying Gravity, and South of Nowhere are all on the table. So be sure to tune in - there's no telling what you might find out about your favorite pairing.

This show is special, not just because of the successful television actresses who will be appearing, not just because their answers will be given by proxies, but also because of that title. "Answer Your Questions." My guests and I are actively asking the fans to supply the questions for this show. I've already let the members of certain communities (primarily femslash communities devoted to the various television programs referenced above) know in an unofficial capacity that they have until midnight EST on Friday, October 16th, 2009 to submit a question for your favorite star - or even all three of them. Well, now I'm telling everyone. This is your golden chance to ask Liz, Christina, and/or Nancylee one question. They'll be answering up to 20 questions apiece. So more questions is better. More questions from different people is better. And more people tuning in is definitely better.

So remember - midnight EST on October 16th is the deadline for question submissions. 9-11 PM EST on October 22nd is when the show will air. You can always download prior episodes at www.blogtalkradio.com/allaine, including my N&N discussion on October 1st with katiepult.

Sincerely, Allaine


Supply those questions.

Tamara

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Back to Work

The excitement continues. Our slow weekend is coming to an end then back to the grind we go.

Enjoy your evening and update!

Elisa

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Good Weekend

So I went through some additional training for my job yesterday. I now know how to get out of a chokehold (from behind and the front). Not sure I'll ever have to put this one to the test but it's a nice set of moves to know. The one I am looking forward to trying out is how get out of a situation where my shirt is being grabbed. I've lost three shirts so far and it would be nice if I can get this technique to save future shirts.

As for Saturday, we've had a fairly productive day. We spent far too much money at the Grocery store, picked up my comics and tidied the house. I foresee an evening of slugdom.

Tamara

Friday, October 09, 2009

Fall Friday

The week comes to a close. Sorry, both Tamara and I have been a bit under the weather this week, hence short on words.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your update.

Elisa

Thursday, October 08, 2009

No Words Due to a Head Cold

You've got plenty to read, so get to it.

Tamara

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

On kids picking partners

Blimey. If it wasn't for Buffy fics there'd not be much for you tonight. I never could get into that show. Dunno why. Maybe I should give the fics a chance. After all, it wouldn't be the first time I'd read fic for a show I'd never seen (sometimes never even heard of) and loved the stories. On occasion I've even got into the show because of the fic (SVU).

Still sore. Still on good drugs. I've cut down on the quantity though so I'm more capable of coherent thought than yesterday. Still can't think of much to say though.

Oh, yeah. The shop assistant. I wasn't her mam's type at all. Far too butch. Ah well. You win some, you lose more... *g* Just goes to show that kids should not try and matchmake for their parents. The results are seldom good.

My nephew's as bad at picking dates for my sister. He found a great bloke for her, on a dating site. Nice looking, right age, loves the outdoors, rafting, kayaking, rock-climbing, abseiling. All the things my nephew loves. (As do I). However... my sister hates camping. She complains bitterly that you can't plug a hair-dryer into a tree. She's scared of heights, not keen on exercise and loathes anything requiring paddles, (she says the only thing she'd take to the water on would be a yacht, preferably one costing more than a seven-figure sum). Her idea of a delightful short break involves massages, facials, mud-wraps and being pampered at a spa, (my idea of hell), not hiking across the moors and tackling some white water. She said no. My nephew sulked. I think he had visions of camping trips with step-dad already.

Still, if my shoulder heals well then maybe he can go white-water rafting with me instead. I miss being able to do stuff like that.

Enjoy your updates. Good night and may your God/s go with you

Ze