Al of Mutant Reviewers From Hell did a Mutant Viewing of The Phantom Menace.

http://mutantreviewers.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/mutant-viewing-the-phantom-menace/

Says it all really.




Enjoy!

As you may remember, the Compocalypse set us way, way back in terms of The Secret Life of Dolls, and I have many, many events to catch you up on. However, I don't want us to miss Christmas--it just won't be as fun however many months from now it takes me to catch up--so I'll try to go ahead and tell you what I can. Obviously, however, I'll have to be vague about a few developments.

( They have to be, in light of the coming Squirrelmageddon )



(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

We did another marathon trip from Atlanta to PA to VA and then back with the four of us. All of my friends who have or have had little kids can appreciate how difficult traveling can be with them. We did much better this year than last on the way up. We made it to 40 miles south of Morgantown, WV the first day in 12 hours. Last year, we made 80 fewer miles in the same time. We stopped at a Holiday Inn, ate dinner, got in the indoor pool and then went to bed. One of the most shocking things on this trip was that the kids let us sleep in that Saturday morning. Big Joker ended up waking us up at 8:00am. We ate breakfast and it took about 3 hours to get to Grove City.

We had a great time in PA. The LM got to see all of her cousins, Big Joker, his brother and dad fixed his sister's van door (saved her close to $800), and I got to take a cooking class with Tom's sister. We stayed with Tom's folks. The Little Miss was disappointed that there was no snow, but it was nice not having to drive in it during our travels.

We headed to Roanoke on Wednesday. It's about 400 miles and took us 9.5 hours. We go through WV to get there and take some tiny very windy roads. On Thanksgiving Day, the LM came down with a stomach virus (probably compliments of the aforementioned cousins). She was sick Wednesday and Thursday.

What is Thanksgiving without some sort of Turkey mishap? I thought that we were not going to have one this year, as my mom and oropher_777 were in charge of the turkeys. Mom decided that she would rather do two smaller birds than one big one. She and Oropher used the Emeril brined turkey recipe (my brother discovered it several years ago, and it's wonderful). We wanted to eat at 5:30, so they had the turkeys ready to go in the afternoon. At 5:30 the birds were not completely cooked. It was 7:00 before they were completely done. Having both in the oven, blocked most of the heat from the bottom element, plus having more in the oven increased the overall cooking time. Nana came to the rescue and put out brie and crackers for people to eat. All was well in the end.

Friday, we went to our favorite shopping Mecca, the tiny town of Floyd. I left the kids with Big Joker (it's always a good day when you can foist the kids on your spouse, especially if one of them is sick). On Saturday, we went to my BFF's home, where she has 3 horses and 2 miniature horses. The kids loved them. Nesterino got his first horseback experience, on two previously un-ridden miniatures. My BFF wanted to see what they would do, and hung onto him at all times.

Sunday, we headed back with Oropher and the Munchkin. We stopped in Floyd for our trees (fresh cut for $34.99 each) and headed south. We did not stay with Oropher, as we figured we'd be stopping more with the kids. Traffic was not too bad until we got into Georgia, and then it was stop and go. We got off and too some back roads to get further south. We finally got home.

We were not in the house for 2 minutes, when the LM said , "Lucy has something on her butt!" I looked and she had about 1.5 inches of a ribbon sticking out. Obviously, I had missed a piece when I cleaned up after wrapping the gifts we took on our trip. I tugged gently on it (with much trepidation) and it did not budge. There could be another 2 inches up there or or there could be 12". Oropher and Munchkin came over shortly after to have Big Joker slice off the bottom of their Christmas tree, and I had her take a look. Once she got done laughing, she suggested I feed Lucy olive oil with wet food and watch her closely. Upon examining her (Oropher used to work for a vet), she said that Lucy was in no obvious discomfort. A couple of hours later, we had "poopage" with a total of 3" of ribbon. Whew! We're very happy that she is OK.

I'll try and post some pictures later (of our trip and not the poop!).

"SONIA RYKIEL FOR H & M"
LINGERIE LAUNCH PARTY...



This event was held last Tuesday evening at the Grand Palais in Paris, and what a spectacular show it was...an amazing extravaganza featuring a fully illuminated model of the Eiffel Tower, a lit up ferris wheel, a Carnival-like parade of floats with hundreds of models in skimpy lingerie and - er, lots of geese...

( Come and see... )

They almost forgot about it, but better late than never. I guarantee that Question Five will be a tough one.

http://mutantreviewers.com/survey/survey.php?s_id=1

I finally have internet access at home again, so I should be posting more regularly.

New Moon in lolcats.

Now back to my deep cleaning induced absence.

And, Happy 3rd Birthday JONAH!!"

So. Trying to ease back into work--there are people in my life who don't think that what I do is terribly interesting or worthwhile, and even I admit that it's only recently that it's become a gainful employment once again. So I don't tend to recognize that it's possible to overwork myself, my dreams aside. But then you look back and realize that I put out an e-book and two Fifteen Minutes (HEY DID YOU HEAR ABOUT NEW MOON IN FIFTEEN MINUTES? BECAUSE THAT'S STILL THERE) in the space of about six weeks, and that's a lot of mental effort. I mean, narrative fiction is one thing--but humor can actually be kind of nerve-wracking, because (as I'm so fond of saying), it's either funny or it's not, and if you're any good at it, you know when it's not, and you just have to sit there sweating blood until you come up with something that is. Which is why I love a nice rambly entry or recap that just happens on a whim, because it's not me trying, and it doesn't involve breaking out into metaphorical hives. So my point, and I did have one, is that I'm having to recognize that maybe I am just a little bit burnt out right now. But the more time you take off from something, the harder it is to get back into it--think of how much you dread going back to work after several days off--so I spent yesterday setting up footnotes on New Moon, should something else in the house blow up and I find myself ever needing to do a third e-book. Just putting in the numbers and reminders to myself ("Talk about that news article for this one, here's the link"), which I also did last November for the Twilight 15M, and let me tell you, a year later, that really came in handy. So I did that to ease myself back into footnoting, so on and so forth.

I think one of the things I'm going to try to do is be a bit kinder to myself, in terms of work. What I really need to do, I think, is stop trying to create deadlines and expectations for myself--which sounds odd, but the thing is, the ones I create are stressful, self-defeating, and counterproductive. I think you do need discipline, but I need to live more in the present with it--put in the daily hours and work steadily and do my best, but not worry as to whether that "best" is good enough, and if I'm "on track" and set all these grand unattainable plans, because that does not produce results for me. In fact, it makes me kind of crazy, and the best things I've done in my life were, in fact, the things I did on a whim and with no expectations. That may not work for you, but it seems to work for me. So I'm going to try to live more with my best efforts in the present and stop trying to stress myself out about the future.

(I have a Zen Garden app on my phone that starts up with little sayings, and one of them was, "To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." I think it's a little like that.)

Meanwhile, in other news, we're supposed to get snow tomorrow (YAY), and the dogs are deeply depressed because it's too cold for them to go out and play (I'll let them out after lunch, once it's warmed up a bit). Also, I think my birthday present to myself will be a whole mess of eyeshadow samples from Aromaleigh, since they're only $1 each anyway, last a good long time, and you can get as many as you want. (Aromaleigh: TLE approved.)

A few quick links:

'The 40 Year Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It' is Sadly Real and Has a Trailer. And sharp-eyed folks on Twitter noticed that a certain sparklepire shows up at 1:37. (BEHOLD.) Way to steal from the easiest target ever and still fail at humor, guys.

New Moon retold with lolcats.

Vampirism Does Not Make Stalking Attractive. I think I might actually buy this shirt to sleep in. You know, as a precautionary measure.

Full info at Neil Gaiman's Twitter: "Scary and sad: Paralyzed & abandoned by insurance -The Full Story."

Remember the Twilight hate questionnaire a lot of you guys filled out? Well, octoberland's article is up now!

From oasis_beatles: megmatthews20 needs eye surgery related to Marfan Syndrome, can you help? hope_in_sight is running a general/fandom auction to raise the $1500. As far as vouching for the validity of it, I recognize Meg's username as a longtime reader/commenter here (I was actually kind of shocked when I saw who it was for, the name was so familiar to me). I haven't seen her comment in a long while, for reasons that should be obvious.

Also, I know there were a couple of similar reader requests in my LJ messages, but I swear to you, my inbox has eaten them. I rarely if ever delete messages there, and there's at least two I can't find now. I have to add, though, that I'm very wary of posting requests for causes that can't be easily verified, so keep that in mind.


(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

FREAK OF THE WEEK !!

This week, the British High St. retailer H & M launched their new lingerie range designed by fashion designer Sonia Rykiel on an unsuspecting Public, and they held a great big Launch Party to celebrate that fact...hurrah, we love a good party !!

There were an awful lot of very stylish guests there of course, who I may well natter about in another post...but one guest in particular caught my eye - not only caught it but managed to tossed it up in the air several times and throw it back with a disdainful laugh, that I should be so unstylish as to be gobsmacked at what she was wearing to this exciting event !!

( Come and see who raised the biggest titter... )

I have some links to share...

* Today there's a new interview with me about my book The Intersection of Fantasy and Native America here at Talking With Tim.

* There's still time to vote in the nomination round for the annual Sofanaut Awards. There are a number of great contributors, stories, and illustrations that are eligible, and anyone can take part in the voting. I am on the ballot in two categories in this round, "Best Narrator" and "Best Fact Article Contributor." If you'd like to take part, you can vote here! Many thanks to those who have participated.

* Lord Dickens's Declaration is a new novella by Lawrence Santoro. Beginning yesterday, the story is appearing for free on the podcast StarShipSofa in three parts. Lord Dickens's Declaration is also available for purchase as a fully illustrated, limited edition e-book for the month of December only and all proceeds will go to Spider and Jeanne Robinson to help with their expenses due to Jeanne's illness. For more information, go here. StarShipSofa appreciates whatever you can do to help spread the word about this fundraiser.

* My fundraising dinner/talk for the Friends of the Rudisill Library at Lenoir-Rhyne University, which was postponed due to my illness this fall, has been rescheduled for March 4, 2010. Ticket information will be available soon, and I will post it when it's available. My talk will be “‘I Take My Life in My Hand’: A Tale of Two Cherokees and the Trail of Tears.”


"History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul." - Lord Acton

In case you missed it yesterday: New Moon in Fifteen Minutes. I spent something like ten days in the comedy mines on that thing--not sure why it was so much harder than even I thought it would be, but it was, although I feel like it turned out decently well--so trust me, I will not be letting you forget it any time soon. And yes, I do read every single comment that comes in, via my email, so if you go over and say something, no, I won't miss it.

So, as promised: I did not do a damn thing today. I didn't even turn on the computer until 6 pm. I did read email comments and Twitter on my phone, wrote in my diary, sat outside in the very pleasant chill for a while, played with the dogs--honestly, I do not know how I actually spent the hours from eight to three. I was kind of bored the whole time, but in a very nice way.

I also had a very strange dream--( In which I meet the man of my dreams, literally )


(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

First though, Thanksgiving. Was quite nice. Went to Cookeville and had dinner with the family at my uncle's sandwich shop/bar. Had fun talking with them and playing pool some. About the only time each year I play pool :P

Afterwards, took my Aunt Willie a plate since she didn't feel like coming out to the shop. Sat and talked with her a while then headed to the parent's house. Played Munchkin Booty (the pirate Munchkin game) and then had BBQ. Afterwards played Ninja Burger :P

Friday, we didn't get up especially early. Perhaps a little earlier than we would have if we just decided to sleep in. Witchcat had to go work some anyways so just as well. Actually went and braved the Black Friday shopping at two of the prime spots: Best Buy and Toys R' Us... At Best Buy took advantage of some $80 off MS Office 2007. Sure, I could have used Open Office or Star Office (Linux versions)... but some things still don't translate well and are just flat out dropped when I bring files from work home. So at least we got that now. Witchcat also got me a new flat panel monitor for an early Christmas as my 8+ year old CRT was beginning to die. Was flickering through colors at times, trying to turn everything a shade of purple :P So yay for that! :) Makes for a lot more room on the desktop :P

Saturday we figured out our Christmas lists and began to do a lot of online shopping (got a jump on Cyber Monday :P). Yay for Amazon lists :P Still have about 5 people we don't have ideas for... so will need to do some fishing for those.

Sunday was pretty much just a lazy day :P Did clean up the house some and made some cookies, but nothing terribly productive. Went through a disc of Season 1 of the new Doctor Who. We're both getting into I think. Sure, it's not as campy as the original series, but it retains a lot of the charm and fun of the original. I also checked and found that Chris Eccleston is the 9th Doctor. Couldn't remember how many there had been. I usually seem to overlook Peter Davidson completely and can rarely remember Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy's names. Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee were the two I remember the best... course they are also the ones that have done the most episodes (over 120 each).

Anyways, work has been the usual lately. Calls have actually been coming in for me which is almost unusual :P But Thursday, Witchcat and I are off and away to Phoenix for my sister's wedding. Yes... I do have a sister... even if I am an only child with three brothers and a sister :P Course... I barely know her really and have only met her... 7 times total in 26 years... Should be fun and I'm also thinking we can jump up to the Canyon while we are there. It is a fairly cool place and it's been 22 years since I was there last.

We got back yesterday from our marathon trip from Atlanta to Pennsylvania to Virginia and back to Atlanta. 10 days with 4 days of driving with 2 kids under the age of 5. No, we did not stop at the Possum Holler Pizza Pit in West Virginia. Did spend many miles stuck behind a logging truck.

Brief rundown...
Warnerharmer: Exhausted
Big Joker: Exhausted
Little Miss: Recovered from the stomach flu she had on the trip
Nesterino: Has been obnoxious today
Lucy: Ribbon no longer sticking out of her butt (more on this later)

I'll post more when I get a chance. Big Joker and I both had to work on our trip.

CHRISTMAS AT PETER JONES...



Seeing as a lot of you are fairly new to this Fashion Journal, you may not know what I actually do for a living when I am not criticising celebs for their appalling taste in fashion....

In fact, I am a Visual Merchandiser, and spend my days creating displays at Chelsea's favourite department store - Peter Jones, in Sloane Square - where we have recently installed the Christmas scheme...

Therefore you are all most welcome to come on over to my other journal and have a look...

wendylady1.livejournal.com

New Moon in Fifteen Minutes.

Yeah, I probably struck a couple of True Believer nerves in there. Also, I let it run long on purpose. Haters to the left. It was HARD and I am not going to do JACK SHIT for the next couple of days. HUZZAH.


(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

Having gone through the Realms of Cthulhu book, I've found that the only Edges/Hindrances which seem to really work for CthulhuTech are Dark Secret and Obligation. Mainly it's because of the differing Sanity mechanics being employed which prevent me from porting them directly. However, they did inspire me to create this new Edge:

Lucid
Type: Background
Requirements: Novice, Spirit d6+
You're less prone to displaying erratic behavior as well as being dominated by your dementias. You negate one point worth of the modifiers applied to your Spirit and Spirit-linked skill rolls resulting from Insanity Points.

Very Lucid
Type: Background
Requirements: Veteran, Lucid
Same as Lucid, except you get to ignore two points worth of modifiers.

Sooo, whenever I see someone online going on and on about how above-average they are intelligence-wise, or what a genius they are or how "smart for their age" they are, all I hear is Freddo Corleone going,

"I can handle things! I'm SMAHHHT!"

And then the mental giggles begin.

Stiiiiiilll worrrrrking on New Moooooon. To that end, does anyone have a still/screencap of that really ridiculous, blatant fanservice moment when Jacob takes off his shirt to, like, dab at Bella's head? I mean the exact moment when he takes it off, you know the shot. It's an illustrated Fifteen Minutes, and the more on-the-nose the picture is, the better the punchline will work, and I only have shots from later in the scene. I just really don't want to Google for it, you know? The internets scare me.

(I'm wrestling with the last few problem scenes and trying to go back and polish the finished ones while I rack my brain for something interesting. It's running long--well, by "long" I mean "the standard 5000 words that most of the older ones are," but Twilight has kind of taken the place of the Harry Potter fandom in terms of OMG YOU LEFT OUT MY FAVORITE PARRRRRRT complaints. Within the stuff I felt compelled to include, I'm trying to tighten as much as possible. Also, the coding on this one has been a bitch because I tried to get fancy with a text effect. Fnarr.)


(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

They go up today! We're going to get our tree and I'll probably be decorating for the rest of the week taking breaks here and there for birthday preparations for Jonah's party next Saturday. I like to have all the Christmas stuff up for his birthday but not before Thanksgiving. I like to wait until the weekend after New Year's to take it down. Chris always gets the urge to take it down like New Year's day. But it's a lot of work to do so I think it deserves a solid four weeks up (and it's always a little sad to pack it away). Maybe this year I'll get around to redecorating the shelves with my "rest of the year" decor (I didn't last year, it's still in a box).