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June 29th, 2009
 | 03:54 pm
Thanks so much to everyone for their congratulations and good wishes!
It wasn't just a blow, that was an epic storm. Rain, wild wind. Trees came down. And it stopped raining for ten minutes while we had the ceremony in our friends' back yard (after the park was a washout).
Best wedding ever. Also, now I'm married. It's awesome: like being shacked up, but with jewelry.
And the sex is better. We were surprised. But we're not complaining.
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June 27th, 2009
 | 10:15 am
It's raining, it's blowing, it's cold.
I'm getting married today anyway.
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May 22nd, 2009
| 11:07 am - DVD rec: Star Trek TOS season 1 on Blu-Ray
Last night, John brought home more blu-rays. (Our DVD/blu-ray library is, quite frankly, ridiculous, but the archival/library-building instinct runs strong in both of us.) Of these, the one I was originally least interested in and now love the most is the blu-ray Star Trek TOS season 1.
The discs contain cleaned-up versions of the original prints, without the tears on the negatives that we usually see. Alternately, they've produced a version in which the original special effects have been replaced with 60s-toned CGI. Which sounds like a terrible idea, but what they've done is beautiful. Using the same colour palette and based on the original shots, they've produced the kind of sharp, sexy, high-detail images that ease the tone of the original series from high camp to something a little more classic.
(Remember: a PS3 makes an excellent blu-ray player. And you want to see these.)
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May 20th, 2009
| 12:34 pm
So here's the thing. I don't seem to be fannish anymore, and that's why I mostly stopped posting. I may make remarks here and there, but my writing energy is elsewhere these days.
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| 12:31 pm - quantum cello
You don't know it yet, but you need to buy all of Zoe Keating's "avant cello" (or, if you're a fan of Radio Lab, "quantum cello") music. It's on iTunes, it's cheap, and it'll re-arrange your brain.
She talks about it in the Radio Lab episode "Quantum Cello," and hers is the background music for their episode on War of the Worlds.
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May 19th, 2009
| 12:02 pm - Help me find a quote source?
It goes something like, "I rarely wind up where I intended to go, but I often wind up where I need to be."
Ring any bells?
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January 23rd, 2009
| 06:35 pm
Today, out of media view, but still quite legally, Obama overturned the global gag rule.
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December 30th, 2008
| 05:30 pm
Wanna offend everyone? Tell them you're not going to register for wedding gifts.
Better still, tell them you don't want anything.
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November 22nd, 2008
| 08:21 pm - so. I'm a lucky little bitch.
It's a good life over here. Dissertation's chugging along. Madly in love. Geeking out. Writing, but not fannishly.
And, as of this evening, I have a ring
 (though mine's white gold)
and a Roomba
And now we're going to watch The Descent and eat carrot cake. Oh yes.
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November 6th, 2008
| 07:15 pm
I just cited "Celebrity Skin" in my dissertation!
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October 22nd, 2008
October 15th, 2008
| 01:03 pm - god *damn*
Last night I watched 28 Weeks Later instead of tracking the election results. And I'm way less frightened by the zombie plague (which is fucking scary) than by the current political state of my country.
That said, the strategic vote I cast in my own riding may have helped to keep out an ex-football player, hard-line pro-life candidate, so I get that, at least.
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October 3rd, 2008
| 06:28 pm
I don't think I'm heartless. But if I never see another pink breast cancer awareness item for sale, it's going to be too soon. I refuse to buy the pink lily bouquets, even though I like lilies. I just don't need a big vase of OMG CANCER on my kitchen table.
I also object to breast cancer pink
M&Ms
vacuum cleaners
oven mitts
frying pans
fleece vests
travel mugs
scented candles
lunch boxes
rubber boots
calculators (with bling!)
loofahs
Faberge-type eggs
clogs
dog sweaters
It runs in my family. I'm aware of it, thanks. But if someone tries to sell me one more pink-dyed "awareness" object, I'm going to bite them.
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September 30th, 2008
| 11:38 pm
In a complete break from my political rage, I present ... the cat.
ML's contribution to our shared living room was a phenomenal media system, including a projector that produces (in our available space) about a 7' wide widescreen image on the opposite wall. The "screen" appears above his couch (opposite mine -- I win the comfort war!).
Last few days, on and off, we've been watching the blu-ray version of Planet Earth. Today, while bears dug through a rock fall for moths to eat (tasty and nutritious!), the cat wandered in and stood wide-eyed. We've been living here a month, and the cat's certainly sat with us while we watched TV before. I can only assume it was the animals, or the hi-def, or something of that matter.
He got down on his belly and slunk across the room. Got up on the couch and stared. And then climbed over the heap of pillows, up onto the back, and lurked below the image. Until finally he sat up, then stood up, and pawed at the new image of a snow leopard picking her way across the Himalayas.
Later, he tried to eat a migrating crane.
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| 06:08 pm - political fury
So it turns out that the unwelcome Conservative campaign sign which keeps showing up on the lawn outside my apartment is approved by the company that owns the building.
ML says, "Please, please don't get us evicted."
So I sent the management company a pissed-off e-mail, indicating that I thought their actions were in extremely bad taste, but I don't think there's anything else I can do, other than be mad.
Two weeks. Maybe if I hold my breath long enough, I'll go blind and not have to look at it.
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| 04:14 pm - politics: try this (what if the world were actually run by smart women?)
Right now, there's a Canadian federal election campaign at work, going to the polls on October 14th, 2008. My favourite politician, Nettie Wiebe (who also numbers among my favourite people), is running in the Saskatoon-Biggar-Rosetown riding. This affects perhaps as many as two people who read this blog, but stick with me anyway. In fact, I can't vote for her anymore. Today I was enumerated into my new address in Winnipeg.
But with all the cultural horror surrounding Sarah Palin's candidacy in the States, I thought I'd offer people a vision of what we'd much rather see: a smart, highly educated (PhD), multi-lingual, world-travelled, socially engaged, feminist, left-wing candidate. She's an organic farmer/former president of the National Farmers Union, global food supply activist, and mother of four. She's been known to bake cakes for fundraisers, sew costumes for high school musicals (ours!), and chair meetings on international grain prices in the same week. One of her daughters is managing her campaign.
She also, I just discovered, has a youtube channel. These are very brief statements, but they're the face of a fully thought-out, sustainable approach to social and economic policy. Watch them -- you'll feel better.
( Just imagine if she were your leader! Wouldn't you feel better? )
http://www.nettiewiebe.ca/
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| 04:02 pm - Feminism is the radical proposition that women are people. It doesn't mean some women aren't idiots
So apparently the only Supreme Court case Sarah Palin can think of is Roe v. Wade.
In discussion with ML a minute ago, I said, "I mean, I'm not sure I could name more than that, but I'm not engaged with American politics."
And then I paused and said, "Brown v. Board of Education, and Bowers v. Hardwick."
So there. I'm not American. I know only fragments about American politics. And I know (and know decently) more Supreme Court cases than Sarah Palin.
Make me Vice President!
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September 28th, 2008
| 05:39 pm
So yesterday, on his way to work, ML went to check the mail, and I said, "Don't bother. I'll do it later." But he went anyway, and came back with an envelope for me.
Book royalties! Not much, but a significant some.
I tend to think of the book money as money from heaven, because it's unrelated to the money I get either from job or grants. It pays for special things, that I wanted and couldn't otherwise justify.
Today, ML and I went downtown and ordered a diamond and sapphire ring. It'll arrive in 4-8 weeks.
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September 24th, 2008
| 01:11 pm - fic archive: X-Files - "Half a World Away" (1/2)
Fandom: X-Files
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Sleepless, Ascension, Piper Maru/Apocrypha, Terma
Summary: After Scully is kidnapped and rescued, she finds herself in Alex Krycek's keeping. Disclaimer: Everything X-Files belongs to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and Fox. Character creations belong to Gillian Anderson, Nicholas Lea, and David Duchovny. I'm not making any money on this, I'm just having fun. This story is rated NC-17 for nasty words and not-entirely-vanilla sex. If you're under whatever age you're supposed to be in whatever place you are, you don't know about sex, so go away. Oh, and the people in this story don't use condoms. In the real world, this is very stupid. Practice safe sex, especially when making it with one-armed Russian thugs. You don't know where they've been. The poetry selections are taken from Yevtushenko's "Zima Junction" and Pasternak's "Hamlet."
Half a World Away
by Jane St Clair
( . . . pain. )
Continued here.
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