There is a survey up on my LJ gathering info on how the recent Martian plague has impacted the BB1938 family and friends, and what we need or can offer each other to help all of us get better. I'm posting a link here because I know there are BB1938 people here who are not on my f'list. The survey is open to all:

http://plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com/527264.html

Haven't had a lot to say recently. Not sure why, really.

I'm feeling like I need more time off. I had a great time for a few days in Boston last month, but it also left me wanting more. More time to see the city. More time with a fun bunch of people. It was great, but far too short.

Or maybe I'm just tired already. I like my job, but come November, the Christmas mentality sets in all around me and everything gets ratcheted up a notch and it feels like I'm constantly running around trying to make sure this or that is done on top of just trying to keep up with the quotidian stuff.

Anyway, enough complaining.

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
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I just went to type 'elves' and accidentally wrote 'elvis'.

And I think I'm gonna keep it.

I mean, they'd be as susceptible to pop culture as anyone else. Maybe more so. And if in my story that susceptibility takes the form of rhinestones and poodle skirts, y'know, I'm totally okay with that.

(It's pronounced 'elvzzzzzz', by the way. It helps if you curl your upper lip while you say it.)

Hey hey hey, guess what I got sixteen boxes of in the mail today?  If you guessed it was sixteen boxes of the second printing of Bite Me!, then you win!

As an extra “thank you” to everybody who ordered while the book was reprinting, trusting all the while that I was not going to run off to Cabo with their hard-earned $15, I’m including a nifty print I whipped up just for the occasion.  I promised “Claire and Lucien bein’ silly”, and lo, hopefully this qualifies:

Oh, those crazy kids.  Two peas in a pod, really.  A dead, bloodsucking pod.

It will be a delightful 6×10.5 inches so I can slip it into your book order all handy-like.  If I have any left over, I’ll put the extras online next week for those who might be interested.

{wp version}

Faced with another 12-hour day (work sucks).

Also, Maine sucks, too, although the vote was close. I'd write a huge rant about how much putting other people's civil rights to the popular vote is simply evil, but see my first sentence (work sucks).

However, all you bigots in Maine, I'd like to leave you with this factoid: After 5-years of equal marriage (as in, any two adults can get married to each other regardless of sex, sexual identity, ethnicity, and creed), Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the nation.

What's our divorce rate? Why 2.3 marriages per 1,000 end in divorce here in the Bay State, which is what the U.S. divorce rate was in 1940.

I think this is the point where I raise my middle finger at Maine voters who voted YES on 1 and tell them: "You've been lied to, motherfuckers. Plus, you're evil for fucking over your fellow citizens."

Dear GLBT people: Massachusetts still loves you. So does Connecticut. And Vermont. And New Hampshire (for Christ's sake, New Hampshire.) And Iowa. Please come. Bring the spouse. And your tourist dollars.

Hunh. I guess I had time to make a little rant about Maine.

On the fandom front: V was kind of boring. And of course the black guy, who was one of two visible ethnic minorities in the cast (and that includes extras), was a good alien who's gone native.

I think I fell off my couch laughing when I looked at the "inner city church" that was showcased in V and noticed that it was very, very white. Ummm, bwah? I mean, a Catholic church in a major urban area and not one Latino (at the very least) is in the parish? Seriously? That's a major FAIL right there.

Plus, again, the action takes place in NYC. In the world of TVLand, NYC apparently has a total of 2 black people (seriously white cast with seriously white extras to the point of distracting), one of whom is really an alien. *facepalm* FAIL!

I know it seems like a small thing to be bugged about, but it really, really bugged the shit out of me through the entire episode. NYC, people! Can we try to get a little more "color" in the cast? Please? To make it look like it actually takes place in 21st Century NYC as opposed to TVLand NYC? Pretty please?

*sigh*

Although V bored me, I'm going to give it a couple of episodes before deciding whether or not to wipe it from my DVR. To be honest, it's not looking good for V, especially since the DVR is about to get eaten alive by Hitchcock movies.

Another week, another drawing of somebody else’s character!  Continuing with the unintentional theme of “naked green ladies”, this week it’s Angora from The Meek, by Der-shing Helmer.

Sadly I drew this sucker on Bristol, and had to use my four remaining Colerase pencils – or else I would’ve watercolored again.

I’ve been gawking at The Meek since shortly after it started up, so it was a pleasant surprise to turn up at APE and see actual print copies of the first chunk!

The Meek is one of the few comics that manages to be densely, lushly illustrated… and lively.  Too often an artist will lavish all their time on the coloring or the stylish character design…and forget to inject life through gesture and interaction or, you know, writing.  The result is eye candy that I get bored with about ten pages in.

But Der-shing has been knocking it out of the park for several dozen pages now.  I can’t wait to see where she’s going and how these delightful, elastic characters are going to smack into each other.

Also?  I adore how she draws Angora’s boobs.

{wp version}

I'm sitting here at my desk and faced with another 12-hour day.

I realize, "Oh crap! I forgot V is on tonight, and I'm dying of curiosity. Plus, Alan Tudyk is in the cast, so I must watch."

(Although Alan Tudyk's presence does not automatically mean I'll tune in next week if V sucks. For example, the horribly derivative and overrated Firefly still bored the tits off of me, despite Tudyk's presence.)

Then I remembered, "Hey! I have DVR now!"

Which means I can sign onto the Verizon Web site and tell my cable box to record V since it is unlikely I'll be home by 8 p.m.

Plus — I can record in HD.

YAY! I will see V on...wait...

ABC-HD? Really? ABC now has the rights? How the hell did that happen?

I vaguely remember the original series V that ran on NBC, but I think I was a little too young for the two V mini-series that proceeded it. In a lot of ways, I'm going into the pilot totally unspoiled because I don't even remember the original.

The only thing I actually remember from the original series is that Robert Englund (a.k.a., Freddie Kruger) was in the original V. He played a good guy, vegetarian alien who was subject to religious persecution from his own people. He and the other people in his alien religion ended up joining the human rebels to help them fight the new alien power structure.

Okay, maybe I do remember something from the original V.

Yeah, I'm kind of surprised I remember that, too. Then again, I was kind of a Robert Englund fangirl at one point. I'm kind of hoping he pops up in the new series, assuming it lasts beyond the next 2 weeks.

Dear My Own Brain,

No, the main character may not have a cute, mute, nonhuman, two-foot-tall sidekick. No no no no NO. Especially not after you spent 300 words describing just how alien and incomprehensible nonhuman minds are.* I don't CARE that he looks like 'a kangaroo carved out of a turnip'. He's there for one purpose, to lead the main character to the body, and that's IT. Do you remember when Miyazaki derailed the plot of 'Princess Mononoke' halfway through to write fanfic about the little forest spirits? No? That's because he didn't do it because it would be a HORRIBLE IDEA!

Just keep following the darn outline and no one gets hurt.

Grudging love,
Me


*Okay, I admit it, the bit about the colony of creatures living in the hillside which look like adorable hobbits but have the behavior patterns of naked mole rats made me smile.

I had a lot of fun working with you all - even if I did have foot in mouth at times, or so it felt to me. If you didn't notice such, well, nothing to see here :P
I'm looking forward to working with you again soon. In the meantime, this is an icon my wife made from a picture she took at the Saturday matinee. Now if I only had as much hair as the photo implies...

I was going to only show my monster table when I was working on something interesting, but, in the interest of full disclosure, here is what my table looks like today. It's desperately in need of a clearing off, especially since I have some things I want to get done before Windycon.

Steamcon was absolutely fantastic, and I'm thrilled to hear they're planning to do it again next year. I've got the first day we can apply for dealer's space marked on my calendar. The art guests were Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett, whose long-awaited book Boilerplate is finally out. As soon as I can pry it away from Phil, I look forward to reading it. He keeps going on about how amazing it is. I can't wait to find out for myself!

Halloween was madness. Experiment #1 wanted to be Death. But not just ANY death, he wanted to be Death from the Discworld. So I made a little Death of Rats to go along with him. Unfortunately, the Death of Rats isn't quite finished, because while I was working on him, three pallets of books arrived unexpectedly in our driveway, and no help was nigh. (We expected them early this week, and they really ARE supposed to call first...) So Phil and I moved the whole mess ourselves. Fortunately, the rain had stopped, and it was a gorgeous, cool autumn day. The wonderful truck driver actually backed into our driveway and helped us drop the pallets right where we needed them, so at least we didn't have the usual "fun" of carrying the books up the driveway. So, yes, the new reprints are in. Now to get volumes one, two and three reprinted, and nine in print. Gah. It never ends!

Anyway, the Death of Rats was finished enough to thrill the kid and be adorable for trick-or-treating, but I want to finish him properly before I post pictures.

Experiment #2 was a pirate queen, because she's ALWAYS a pirate queen. So her outfit only needed minor repairs and tweaks. Whew. This year, I got her a little Folkmanis parrot puppet. So cute!

A nice review from a friend of mine...

Title:  Reaping the Whirlwind (Boom Boom Ba Remix), Part 5/14
Author:  liz_marcs

Summary:  What does the addition of supernatural-related reaps to the reaping workload, Roxy’s promotion, the addition of a new grim reaper with supernatural experience, a new sort-of boyfriend who may or may not be a pirate, and an approaching apocalypse all have in common? New grim reaper boss George doesn’t know, but she’s willing to bet that in the middle of it all the universe will kick her ass. Again.

Fandom:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Dead Like Me crossover
Characters:  Dead Like Me (order of appearance) — George, Mason, Daisy, Roxy, Kiffany, Delores, Penny, OCs.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer (order of appearance) — Dawn, Buffy, Willow (appearance only), Giles (appearance only), Xander, OCs.
Pairing:  George/Xander (nothing explicit)

Rating:  R for language, cartoon violence and death, sexual situations
Warning:  Spoilers for all of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV show only), Dead Like Me, and Dead Like Me: Life After Death.

Original drabbles:  Six Drabbles About Dawn and Death by nothorse

 
( Read more... )

Buffalo Bill’s
defunct
who used to
ride a watersmooth-silver
stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeons justlikethat
Jesus
he was a handsome man
and what I want to know is
how do you like your blue-eyed boy
Mister Death

ee cummings
illustration by bone_doll

{wp version}

I am so not going through all the photos tonight, but this one stood out for me:



I'll put the rest (whatever's worth posting, anyway) on Flickr *sometime* this week. What tag should I use?

-- Mrs. teddywolf

I usually don't get trick-or-treaters, mostly because I'm off the main drag and it's fairly dark (plus, I haven't been home the last few Halloweens).

So, I do what any sane person would for Halloween. I buy candy I like, because I know I'm going to end up with most (if not all) of it.

So that means Perugina Baci for moi! (The Italian bit of my Yankee semi-muttishness really does come out at times.)

Anyway, I spotted a rare sight this evening. Trick-or-teaters! YAY!

There was a Japanese family (son UPS driver; daughter princess).

There was a Chinese dad and his daughter (princess).

There was an Indian family (son clown).

I love my neighborhood. &hearts

Anyway, I run out of my apartment with my Baci as they were collecting candy from someone else who ran out of their apartment to pass out candy and said, "Can I have trick-or-treaters, too?"

Awwwwww, so cute!

The adults in all three families, being cosmopolitan sorts, took one look at the box and started doing happy dances. The wife in the Indian family was like, "Best. Halloween. Stop. Ever."

And the Japanese wife was so totally cute. She was carrying around a bowl of candy and while I was passing out the bon-bons of deliciousness to kids and adults alike, she asked me if I'd like a piece.

I looked at her and blinked. "Um, you're new to trick-or-treating, aren't you?"

She beamed at me. "Our first year!"

I bit back the urge to say, "I would've never guessed."

Instead, I grinned at her like a loon, took the candy, and wished 'em all a Happy Halloween.

Awwwww! Sooooo cuuuuuuuute!


And so, to one and all: Happy Halloween. Blessed Samhain. And Happy New Year. My the turn of the seasons find your health, wealth, and happiness grow, and may your ancestors watch over you, guide you, and keep you in wisdom and grace.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to keep my eye out for more random trick-or-treaters just in case.

I've been AWOL in large part due to work. I.e., 12-hour days for all!

I can't actually complain since the bosses are actually putting in 18-hour days themselves.

The good news, the work spigots are opening up, which means better job security for those of us who managed to hold on to our jobs through this mess. The bad news is the economy is still jumpy enough that no one's hiring anyone anywhere near as I can tell.

Right now, I'm feeling a bit burned out.

Which means that there hasn't been a whole lot of TV watching goin' on. At least, not live TV watching. So, I cue up the VCR (which I admittedly haven't used since my fam went half-sies with me on a new TV for my B-day last year to replace my soon-to-be useless 16-year-old TV).

*takes deep breath*

Do you know what happens when you attempt to watch a VCR tape on an HD, flat-screen TV that was rated a Consumer Report's best buy because it's good quality for relatively cheap?

You can actually see the movement of the VCR tape on screen. We're talking jump-y, fuzzy, skipping pictures because the TV — which is in some respects smarter than the average bear — is just not having it.

I had a headache in 5 minutes of even trying.

And so, technology has kicked me in the ass. I was forced to upgrade since not everything I want to watch is streamed online (how I've been watching Glee) or available on-demand from Verizon (how I kept up with Kings).

So...I bowed to the inevitable. I decided to swap my run-of-the-mill cable box for a DVR cable box. And since Verizon does so love holding a gun to your head, I've got to live with an HD DVR cable box.

*puffs breath*

Fine. I don't like the extra cost that goes with HD, but fine. As it turns out, thanks to a whole bunch more discounts Verizon decided to throw at me, plus my canceling of a premium service that I wasn't really watching anyway, my Verizon bill only got bumped up $4.

Then Verizon pulls a dope move. I get to install the box myself. I don't have a problem with self-installation because I'm pretty good hooking up electronics. No. My problem is they delivered this HD DVR cable box to my front door and left it outside my front door. They left it there all day, giving any naked ape a clear shot at grabbing this oversized box for themselves.

Okay, no one did, but c'mon. Human nature being what it is, I'm shocked that the box didn't sprout legs and walk away.

So, in any case, I now have an HD DVR thingie, which is kind of cool. However, Verizon managed to be boneheads again and not include instructions on how to operate the damn thing. I pretty much figured it out on my own the basics, but I have no idea how many hours can be stored on the thing or what channels I actually can access (it appears I've got a mess of HD channels that I didn't have before...and they don't necessarily match up with the channels I've got on regular cable), or...or...or...

So, anyway, I tested the thing last night, and I've been playing with it half the day to figure out what I can and cannot do. (Checks clock and swears profusely about how I wasted my day.) I kind of like the fact that I can do the delayed watching maneuver so I can fast-forward through commercials.

Of course, this is where you figure out how many commercials there are stuffed in your average hour of TeeVee. For example, do you know that a single Burn Notice episode has 17 minutes of commercials? I did not know that before I started watching it on a 20-minute delay and almost caught up to the live stream on the USA HD channel.

*facepalm*

Also, watching Burn Notice on HD you notice a lot of tiny things. Like how Bruce Campbell looks entirely too healthy underneath his character make-up to play a washed up intelligence operative with a serious alcohol intake, how Gabrielle Anwar has really lousy skin, and Jeffrey Donovan manages to look pretty rat-like (or rather, more so). You also notice that Sharon Gless (God bless the Gless!) does not do plastic surgery and she looks all the more awesome for it.

Yes, I watch Burn Notice for Campbell and Gless. Now I'll actually be able to watch it regularly because the DVR's memory is better than mine.

*ponders that a bit*

Shit. I've got a piece of television equipment that's smarter than I am.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to run off to the Verizon storefront to shove my old cable box into their hands, and to give them hell about how the HD DVR was delivered.

Maybe if I'm lucky, they'll have DVR operating instructions instead of the nonsensical Q&A on the Verizon Web site that manages to go on for pages without being at all informative.

If I'm really lucky, they'll be able to tell me what channels I actually have, because I'll be damned if I can make heads or tales of it. The on-line list doesn't seem anywhere near complete, because, seriously, what the hell is the "Create" channel and why is it randomly set in the 500 block of channels? Although the HD Movie Channel is kind of cool, where the hell does it even come from? Because I haven't been able to find evidence it actually exists, beyond the fact that it's streaming through Verizon FIOS to my TeeVee even as we speak.

*throws up hands*

Technology! It's enough to make you want to go Luddite. I shouldn't have to think this hard about my entertainment choices, damn it!

I should mention that Snack Attack wasn't annoyed by the costume. She was miffed because she wanted me to pet her, but I kept backing away to get a clear shot. She cheered right up after a good bellyrub. :)

EDIT: If you're reading this, our maintenance is OVER! The problem was not found on our equipment, which means we'll have to work with our ISP to fix this small problem -- which also means another maintenance window in the future -- but at least we have eliminated our side.

Thank you everyone, and a special shout out to rekoil for giving me a great suggestion AND also the opportunity to feel like I've just called in to a local radio station.

Have a great day, night or afternoon wherever you may be.

---

Hi everyone, sorry for the late notice but I'm going to have to do some testing on 1 of our 4 internet circuits TONIGHT; Friday night or Saturday morning depending on which time zone you're in.

Most of us shouldn't notice any impact, though there may be some slowness or lag when I switch traffic on to our other ISP circuits and then another hit when I stop the tests. If a page won't load or times out, try hitting refresh 1 or 2 times and it should load then. If it doesn't work at all... trust me, I'll be typing really really really fast to try to undo whatever I just did. Hopefully you'll have some Halloween candy (if you're in the USA and celebrate that kind of thing) nearby to take away the bitterness of a small site outage. :(

Here's the handy-dandy Website That I Always Use to get a feel for when the maintenance will start in your area. Our site traffic historically dips on Friday afternoons until Saturday morning which is why we tend to pick this time for maintenance work.

( tech details )

status.livejournal.org will, of course be updated before and after the maintenance window. Or else marta will get mad at me. :D

bt

Since many of you will have seen this on pmrp-current, I’m going to put this message from plumtreeblossom behind a cut. (For those of you who don’t know, she’s our Foley captain for War of the Worlds. She has acute bronchitis, had to go to the hospital on Wednesday, and has not been well enough to perform last night or tonight.)

( Message from Mare. )