The necklace problem has been solved. Behold:



That is my father's old tie rack. Not pictured: all my other necklaces and pendants that it doesn't have space for. Fortunately, most of them are unlikely to tangle.

I have been productive in the most vague of fashions lately, applying for a temporary job canvassing around election time, but I haven't been contacted back about it yet. Applying was good practice, I guess. I'll keep poking around Craigslist.

I've also been to the library a lot; I picked up a couple of Diana Wynne Jones books (Cart & Cwidder, Charmed Life) and some Ursula K. Le Guin as well (The Left Hand of Darkness, Four Ways to Forgiveness, The Word for World Is Forest). I finished The Left Hand of Darkness yesterday and liked it quite a lot, so after I've caught up a bit on my reread/finishing of Monster I'll probably read some more Le Guin--either that, or read Howl's Moving Castle, which I own. I'm trying to read more lately.

I still have a ton of fic-writing to do, but I inch forward on it, bit by bit. Not sure if I'll get my Oktoberfest done for damned, but at least I have the idea. Here's hoping I can make enough of it.

I really want to get back to video games, too. I've been trying to play Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, but I think I'm burnt out on Persona for the time being. I love the characters and setting in all of the games I've played so far, but the gameplay in Innocent Sin drove me crazy, and it's not really any better in Eternal Punishment. So I might put it on the backburner for a while and dive into something else. I was hoping that something else would be Okami, but the Wii version is kind of a pain in the ass with controls; I'm stuck trying to slice through things with the paintbrush at an early point. It's just not happening.

So that leads me back to the PS2 and the computer. I'm looking for something with fun, different gameplay right now, mostly, since Innocent Sin drove me kind of crazy. ( Poll underneath the cut. )

It's strange, but the more I read Fruits Basket, the more I like Tohru. I didn't expect it, because she's such a straightforward yamato nadeshiko in so many ways--gentle, cute, domestic, non-threatening. I like to see female characters break from their assigned roles, and she in no way breaks from her role.

But there's such a sincerity to her. Her nature is not assumed as how she has to be because she's a girl; we see her struggle for it, we feel the convictions that lead her to be this way. She's so human, and I'm not used to seeing this type of character be that human and sympathetic. They're usually cute prizes for the boys to win, or mothers to nurture somebody. Tohru is Tohru, and she's trying her hardest.

( On the pairings... )

I've finished through volume 11, and I'm taking a bit of a break from the series now to start Octavia Butler's Wild Seed. The characters are really engaging, and the way the theme is gearing up to address issues of power dynamics intrigues me.

I've been playing a lot of silly point-and-click webgames lately, and I've found a couple favorites:

♦ The games of Minoto. For the most part they're not very difficult, which is good for me because I always need to resort to a walkthrough for the difficult ones. The important thing is that they're adorable.
♦ Hoshi Saga. You have to find a star in every level, and the methods you use to find or create it vary every time. It's hard to describe, but creative and interesting.

I'm going to answer my Everything Fandom Questions soon, so if you haven't asked me something and you're still curious, do so now.

Saw Coraline tonight. It was beautifully made, and it reminded me of some of the things I liked about the book. ( Snipped for possible spoilers and some rambling about Neil Gaiman. )

So I haven't mentioned this before, but I've decided to try to do the 50books_poc challenge this year. It's what it sounds like: read fifty books (fiction, non-fiction, illustrated, cookbook, whatever) written by people of color. Because when I first heard about it, I sat back and thought, "I can't remember the last time I read a book other than manga written by someone who wasn't white." And...that's pretty stupid and sad.

I haven't decided yet whether I'll count manga--I know the point is to Expand Your Horizons, but I don't know if I can finish fifty prose books in a year. So just in case, the manga I've read so far this year: ( Snipped. )

I'm not entirely sure what else I'll read, so I'm taking recommendations. There are a few we have around the house that I might try--I think we have Things Fall Apart somewhere--and I've been meaning to read Dreams from My Father anyway. I'm also interested in Haruki Murakami, but not sure where to begin.

But to start, I picked up two Octavia Butler anthologies today: Lilith's Brood (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago) and Seed to Harvest (Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark, and Patternmaster). I've never read her books before, but I've heard nothing but good about them, so I'm pretty excited.

Notes for later:
--Write up my thoughts on Lockon's side of Lockon/Tieria and how I'm RPing it at polychromatic; how to avoid seeming like I'm pushing the pairing (here is me being paranoid about anonymous).
--Get started on Lockon/Tieria essay for ship_manifesto already.
--Talk myself out of applying for Sheryl on polychromatic, at least until I can balance the characters I already have there and on campfuckudie.
--Sit down and make a bunch of Macross Frontier icons.
--Do something productive...eventually.

One of my social links in Persona 4 just used the word "butthurt." This localization team scares me.

For those of you who don't know yet, I'm leaving for Dublin early Friday evening and not coming back until the 8th. We're staying at what is allegedly the best hotel in Ireland, so even though bringing a laptop isn't really worth the trouble (even though the hotel apparently provides electrical adaptors), I'm sure I'll be able to hop online occasionally from the business center or something. I don't expect to be doing that often, though. Because there are better things to do in Dublin.

Which brings me to my main point: what should I do in Dublin? I had lots of things in mind to do in London when I went there, but I don't really know what the interesting things to see in Dublin are. Help me out!

I also need to figure out what I'm bringing along to read. I was going to finish the Fruits Basket I have out from the library, then get another five or six volumes, but the seventh volume--which I was reading--has mysteriously vanished on me. Dammit. I'll keep looking, but in the meanwhile, I've set aside the first two volumes of Tokyo Babylon (the only ones I have) to take to Ireland. If I can find the second volume of Blade of the Immortal, I'll also take volumes 2-5 of that (I just finished the first volume). I might also bring some Chrono Crusade, but I should also use the opportunity to catch up on some novel-reading. Possibly that new-ish Emma Bull book, Territory, and The Intelligencer, which is historical fiction about Christopher Marlowe that I've been meaning to read for years. And maybe the last Takeshi Kovacs book, although I hesitate to finish them.

I. I'm four minutes into "The Western Air Temple," and I can't resist posting--how did I forget how good this show was during my breaks from it? How beautifully it handled story-telling in general? I may have to get the DVDs and rewatch the whole damn thing. Despite all the other things I want to watch.

II. Speaking of those other things...I have discovered another reason TVTropes is bad for me. It makes me go, "ooh! This is so my kind of thing! *DOWNLOADS*" Acquired so far for this reason: Red Garden (twenty-two episodes) and Murder Princess (six episodes). I may watch the latter soon, since...it has an ass-kicking princess and lesbian subtext. How can I resist? I also have Mnemosyne, which is similarly short and also has lesbian subtext.

I tried to watch another episode of Princess Tutu last night, but I couldn't get sound from my DVD player. Dammit.

III. Am I the only one who genuinely ships Kureha/Shinbashi (in that order)? I made the mistake of venturing into fandom while looking for scanlations, and it seems like most of fandom either ignores Kureha, hates on her, or sideships her with Shinbashi (even though he's "creepy" according to them...and Sou isn't?) to get her out of the way of the glorious, perfect Sou/Mashiro.

( Spoilerish bits. )

IV. I recently discovered my old copy of Garth Nix's Sabriel, which I read as a kid and really liked. I barely remember any of it, though, and I've heard lots of good things about the whole trilogy, so I'm considering rereading it and then picking up...the others are Lirael and Abhorsen, right? I haven't actually read those; by the time I even heard they existed, I'd long since forgotten most of Sabriel.

V. I was deeply weirded out by today's Penny Arcade. For a while I thought I actually had the same birthday as Gabe, but then I looked it up and realized that his is actually the 25th. So I guess I'm safe.

I'll be getting chocolate from the fancy place after dinner, too!

VI. And now I'd better get back to watching "The Western Air Temple" before I get any more distracted. It's just too good.

Leaving for the Jersey shore tomorrow. Coming back in a week, on August 2nd. Unless something goes terribly, terribly wrong, I will have internet access there, but considering the state of my eyes, I won't be using it as much as I otherwise might. When I do use it, I'll try to work on some fanfiction, my ridiculous application for sigillums, and maybe some meta.

(I saw an optometrist for a second opinion, and he somewhat more tactfully said that the guy I saw before was full of it. I have a prescription for two new pairs of glasses which I will be picking up after my vacation. How much they'll help, I don't know yet, but fingers crossed.)

Books that are coming with me
Y: The Last Man (volumes 1 and 2)
Petshop of Horrors (volumes 1-5)
The Android's Dream, by John Scalzi
Broken Angels, by Richard K. Morgan (second book in the Takeshi Kovacs series)
The Last Light of the Sun, by Guy Gavriel Kay

I want to bring Blade of the Immortal volumes 1-5, but I can't find them under all my stuff. Sadness. I'm sure they're here somewhere.

So, I had an idea.

This was partly spun off me reading The Alien Years, by Robert Silverberg, which is one of the most dreadfully sexist books I've read in a long time--when I finish it (sigh), I'll rant about why.

It's partly inspired by all the BLAH BLAH GIRLS SUCK NO THEY DON'T I'M NOT SEXIST YOU ARE shit flying on fandomsecrets lately.

But it's also just something I'm interested in.

Would you be interested--and do you think a sustainable number of other people would be interested--if I created an LJ community devoted in general to discussing treatment of gender in fiction and fandom and, in specific, to reclaiming female characters and encouraging women-positive messages in fiction and fandom?

You'd think this would have been done already. If it has been, I can't find it (please link me if you know it's been done). Maybe other feminists are not as pathetically obsessed with fandom as I am, and when they want to do something to help women, they actually go out and help women instead of rambling about fandom. But, well, I talk about this stuff enough anyway. This would give me a positive outlet for it.

I. So I haven't been posting, because I spent half of yesterday recuperating from staying up all night on various chemicals and little sleep and the other half watching TV and reading comics. Sorry. I need to get back into the habit of posting regularly. D:

II. On the comics note: read from the beginning (of the current continuity, anyway), Legion of Super-Heroes is pretty damned awesome. Aaahhh they're all so cute. And shiny. ( Blah blah blah )

III. Got my BPAL today, yaaay! Have updated my log. I was strangely amused to discover that one of my free sample imps was from the new Shoujo Beat-inspired line. It's called Midnight Kiss, and it...actually smells pretty good on me. Crazy. I now have three 5ml bottles and twenty-eight imps; I think soon I'll set up a list of imps I'm willing to trade.

IV. I have not, in fact, given up on this fic prompt and am still planning to finish it. People who have not yet requested are welcome to make one; perhaps more inspiration will give me a kick to write more.

V. In the city the other night, I went to the Strand, and once there I went straight for the mythology section. ♥_♥ I made three purchases of varying levels of awesome.

One was a book about Inanna. I like the poems it presents; one of them even sparked in me an idea for a short story about Lilith as the archetypal outcast, sympathetic without being innocent or virtuous, forever hunted by Gilgamesh the defender of civilization. Unfortunately, one of the writers involved in the book sent me into a flurry of RIGHTEOUS RAGE with the following sentence: ( Cut for bitching about clueless pseudo-feminist sexist twats )

Anyway, on a happier note, the second book I picked up is called This Tree Grows Out of Hell: Mesoamerica and the Search for the Magical Body, by, er, Ptolemy Tompkins. I love Aztec stuff, and I love stuff about shamanism, and it looks like this book delivers both.

The third and most expensive book was also the best catch--The Fairy Tradition in Britain, by Lewis Spence. It was published in 1948, which fills me with glee--older books about folklore are usually much more interesting. They have more anecdotes and unique little comments. Modern folklore books are all too often just collections of the same stuff listed over and over again. This, though--man, this is complete ♥ I will totally use it for research in creepy fairy plots and stories. Also, Lewis Spence wrote several other awesome-looking books, including one called Legendary London. Mark my words, someday I will have it.

VI. Getting stuff for people is awesome ♥ Especially when they make LJ posts gushing over how happy it makes them.

Am bored, but too twitchy and easily distracted and generally blank to do anything useful. I don't want to stay sitting at the computer, because that will just make me twitchier. So I think I will read.

Problem is, I have thirty unread fiction novels, three unread volumes of manga, and five unread graphic novels. Help me internets what do I read???

Novels
To Reign in Hell (Steven Brust), The Alien Years (Robert Silverberg), The Fermata (Nicholas Baker), White Night (Jim Butcher), King Rat (China Mieville), The Intelligencer (Leslie Silbert), Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman), Lud-in-the-Mist (Hope Mirrlees), The Line Between (Peter S. Beagle), Wintersmith (Terry Pratchett), The Phoenix Guards (Steven Brust), Grunts (Mary Gentle), To Dream in the City of Sorrows (Kathryn M. Drennan; B5 tie-in), The Ninja (Eric V. Lustbader; solely for the lulz), Gundam SEED: The Country of Peace, Dealing with Dragons (Patricia C. Wrede), Sing the Four Quarters (Tanya Huff), The Quartered Sea (Tanya Huff), Orsinian Tales (Ursula K. Le Guin), A Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula K. Le Guin), The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (Robert A. Heinlein), The Plague Dogs (Richard Adams), The Hand of Oberon (Roger Zelazny), Nine Princes in Amber (Roger Zelazny), The Dramaturges of Yan (John Brunner), Pilgrim (Fred Saberhagen), First Lensman (E.E. "Doc" Smith), The Dragon Hoard (Tanith Lee), Darkover Landfall (Marion Zimmer Bradley)

Manga
Kingdom Hearts: Volume 1, Chrono Crusade: Volume 2, Black Cat: Volume 1

Graphic Novels
The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey (Steve Sheinkin), Serenity: Those Left Behind (Joss Whedon), Jack of Fables: The (Nearly) Great Escape (Bill Willingham & Matthew Sturges), Midnight Nation (J. Michael Straczynski), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Volume 1 (Alan Moore), Spawn: Angela's Hunt (Neil Gaiman)

Also, my shoulders ache and I just want to lie down. Blargh. Probably hormonal. It's like my cycle gets shorter and my PMS gets longer every month.

This post only has a few points to it.

The first is: yeah, everyone's talking about tonight's episode of House. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ( weigh in with a less positive opinion than most. )

Once again, I failed to get anything much done today; this is becoming routine. However, I did get some work done on the apresmoi_rpg application. I was going to watch some Geass, but I kept getting distracted. I've mostly been watching Scrubs and reading Academ's Fury. These books pwn me. I haven't been so interested in epic fantasy in ages.

Tomorrow, in short: application, room cleanup, icons, Geass.

For now, before going off to read a bit more before bed, I leave you with a meme:


Get your own CrushTag!

Curse you, Acorn catalog! You have such shiny things for such distressing prices!

For the record, Acorn primarily sells DVDs, often of programs with a very British slant, and we've bought several such things from them (BBC adaptations of John le Carré novels, mostly, and the Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music miniseries). But I always get sparkly-eyed over the gifts and clothing and novelty items they have.

British book shelves!
Awesome dramatic flowy red cape!
Pretty necklace!
Pretty necklace #2!
Pretty...soaps!
Shiny watch!
Cool pajamas!

Maybe I can at least convince my mother that the pajamas would be a worthwhile investment. I doubt it, though, as I could get a pair of pajamas for much less. Oh well.

I did not accomplish anything today. This was largely on account of a) watching TV with my father and b) consuming Furies of Calderon. It's been so long since I'd really settled down to read epic fantasy that I'd forgotten I could like it. I am really digging this book--so much that it surprises me, even. I only picked up the first of the trilogy the last time I was at Barnes & Noble, so--having torn through most of the book tonight--I've informed my father that we're going back to Barnes & Noble tomorrow.

The setting makes me happy--it's a nice use of the elements, and I like that the government rings more Roman than generic-feudal-European. And the characters kick ass. I am so in love with that guy with the ironic name and the obligatory fighty chick that I can even forgive that whole accidental lifebonding thing that went down a few chapters back. Spies! With a twisty mentorship relationship! Win.

Oh, I did make some cat macros today. This included a kitten with a Geass eye. I'll upload them tomorrow (by which I mean later today), I guess.

One last thing. I tried to crack open Zelda: Twilight Princess again the other day, but, well...I cannot beat Morpheel. With some effort and luck, I can get past its first stage, but the second one? I suck waaaaay too bad at swimming. I just can't get close enough to grapple the eye; whenever I try, I wind up missing and getting sucked in and munched on instead. Any tips?

LIVE TRUMPS 1.1

watch Annwyd fight

CREATE YOUR CARD

Anyway, I should sleep soon, since I'm being hauled out of bed early in the morning. :< But I'm busy reading Wizards at War. Bah.

Sarah Vowell, Assassination Vacation. Normally I don't read nonfiction, but I couldn't pass this one up. I mean, it's about all the weird things surrounding the first three presidential assassinations in our country's history.

If you can put up with the author, anyway. Reading her writing is a lot like talking to me--all scatterbrained rambling and misplaced passion. She's smarter and more judgmental than me, though.

She does snark on occasion about our current political situation, especially when talking about the McKinley administration, but by and large it's about history, not current events.

After reading the book, my RPS OTP is now Robert Todd Lincoln/Edwin Booth.

(I'm mostly kidding. Mostly.)

While we're on the matter of book recs, does anyone want to see me rec my favorite books and authors here sometime?

I would just like to remind you all that Dan Brown is a lucky hack and that Angels & Demons is the worst book I've ever attempted to read.

This was going to be a laughfest about how crazy the scaryfans are, but instead it turned into an open letter to them. Note: nobody is allowed to complain to me about how I'm talking about HP too much. This is my journal, bitches. Complain in your own about what I write in mine if you must.
( However, I will definitely cut for spoilers. )

I liked it. I liked it a lot. I'm still putting Prisoner of Azkaban as my favorite, but this one is second after it. I think it is, appropriately, the most adult of the books so far.
( And now for the spoilers. )
In conclusion: a worthy lead-up to the conclusion, and I cross my fingers that Rowling can deliver again, and maybe even fix some of the mistakes she made in this one.

In additional conclusion: Heart Fleur, heart Luna, would heart Ginny if someone would chisel a few flaws into her, might even someday heart Harry if he keeps up this "developing personality" business.

And perhaps, just perhaps, I will attempt this sleep thing. Not yet; I'm not tired enough. But soon...sometime...

And I will not write crossover fanfic where a very grumpy John Constantine gets dragged into teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Edit: Aaah! Now it all makes sense! Very spoilery look at the book, with theories on <vague>the locket and Snape</vague> that satisfy me greatly.

Bride of Edit: I commented in someone else's rant about Major Spoilery Things, and for ease of access I'm reposting it here. ( Snape stuff. )

I didn't believe it could exist.

But I have just found something worse than Keanustantine.

Matthew Vaughn, who will be directing the movie version of Stardust, has said the following:

"I've written the treatment, but I'm not a writer, so I'm just trying to find the right writer. Obviously, to make it into a movie, I have to change it a bit, and put a new third act on. It's going to be cool, sort of like 'Princess Bride' meets 'Midnight Run'." Vaughn mentioned that he has some limited edition art that Charles Vess sent him, but that his movie would look somewhat different. "The way he paints is very Victorian in a way, but I want it to have more of a modern look. I think the problem is that when people say 'we're going to do a fairy tale, so therefore, let's shoot it in a fairytale way.' I wanted to shoot it more modern and grittier."

KILL. HOLLYWOOD. WITH A FUCKING HUGE NUCLEAR BOMB.

Ten Books I Own That You Probably Don't (swiped from the_z)
1) A Rush of Dreamers, John Cech (never mind that I've been recommending it forever)
2) The Holmes-Dracula File, Fred Saberhagen (haven't read it myself, keep meaning to send it to joiedecombat)
3) Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic, Edred Thorsson (although knowing you people, I can't be sure of this one)
4) Sunday in the Park with George (libretto), Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine (I make no bets about the Sweeney Todd libretto, however)
5) Strata, Terry Pratchett (although again, knowing you people...)
6) The Unbearable Peace, John le Carré (one of his most obscure bits)
7) The Fermata, Nicholas Baker
8) The Sandman Companion, Hy Bender (I don't know, maybe)
9) Sleeping in Flames, Jonathan Carroll (...well, maybe, but definitely more people should read it)
10) Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold

You, too, can see a well-written book on medieval European history transformed into a gripping horror tale by the power of hypochondria! Seriously, it's a really good book, and I barely ever read nonfiction except in snippets for research. The Great Mortality by John Kelly. I'm just insane.

But the best part is that I feel like the author's sense of humor is almost as morbid as mine.
( Quotes )
Such great and evocative writing. It makes me want to start writing up the tragedies of history in MU* format.
( Log: Caffa, 1347 )
I'm going to hell.

Edit: FIFTY YEARS LATER
[Europe] Genoa says "HAY GISE"
[Europe] France has left this channel.
[Europe] Genoa says "sup?"
[Europe] Venice says "Oh, fuck you."
[Europe] Venice has left this channel.
[Europe] Genoa (
[Europe] Genoa says "heehee, I mean :("
[Europe] Genoa says "So, does anyone want to RP? :)"
[Europe] Germany says "..."
[CoolEurope] <An island you can't refuse> Sicily says "Can we boot the fucker already? I know where he keeps his favorite horse--"
[Europe] Genoa says "Is this still about that Black Death thing? :("
[CoolEurope] <Crossdress for Success> France says "NO SHIT SHERLOCK"
[CoolEurope] <Fuck you, France> England says "Who the hell is Sherlock, and how did you get on this channel?"

Spoilers primarily for Ascending and Radiant, some for Trapped. Dammit, where is my copy of Hunted? Also: I know Trapped begins to link the Earth books with the League, so maybe I should reread that.
( Their members and their Law. )