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| In all this Team Edward, Team Jacob media crapfest they've forgotten to include the 3rd option for the rest of us: Team None-of-the-Above! Or, as I like to think of it: Kill 'em all and put them out of my misery. I hated Anne Rice's sappy, girly vampires. I hate Twilight's take on vampires even more. Not only is it rehashed fanfic quality dreccht, it's spawned mainstream idiocy of a caliber that hasn't been seen since Tickle Me Elmo debuted. I was shocked to hear Miley Cyrus, a mainstream idiot's dream herself, dislikes the series and its followers as much as I do. I don't think much of her and her brand of entertainment so it's surprising to find her in my corner on this subject. Those of you who've known me for a while have undoubtedly experienced my breed of vampires in RPGs and fiction but those who aren't familiar with my idea of vampire un-life, let me assure you that the vampires that stalk my stories would eat Meyers' vampires for breakfast and her werewolves for a light lunch. Many of my vampires would even take the time to show their victims their own innards before killing them off. I think mainstream vampires have strolled too far down the "romance" lane and too far away from the blood-thirsty, violent, unrepentant monsters they were in legends that birthed them. Think about the original Stoker story of Dracula, inspired by Vlad Tepes of real-life infamy. Tepes was known for torturing, skinning, boiling and other other atrocities. He fed parts of his victims to their own relatives. In total he murdered somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000 people. Around 20,000 were said to be impaled outside Târgovişte at once, most of them being Turkish invaders. This is the guy that seeded the roots for modern-day fictional vampires and yet the bloodshed has dwindled in these stories and films to virtually nothing. Thanks to the angsty hand-to-the-forehead crowd, vampires have been emasculated and turned into metrosexual shadows of their former fearsome selves. Why they even still have fangs is beyond me. Oh, right. Because it's smexy. Blah. One day I will bring the blood and guts back to the vampires. And the werewolves too, even though I've never been fond of them. As a fictional collective they deserve to have their bite back. | ||||||||
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All Things Small & One-derful
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November 19th, 2009
September 11th, 2009
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| I have 2 online galleries that I'm collecting stats on (and several more that I'm not but that's beside the point). The following is for my reference in the future but I figured somebody might find the info interesting as well so I'm leaving it out where folks can see it. 739 images total 53 views today (as of 11 AM) 134 views yesterday 5287 views this month 49349 views since December 2008 Top ranked images: 1. 1549 views 2. 1545 views 3. 955 views ... Not bad for galleries that contain no porn. | ||||||
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August 30th, 2009
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| Well, not the edge exactly. I got a postcard from France! Someone I know and adore sent me a nice postcard and it arrived today and it made me smile. Thanks! Hope you and your mom are having a blast. :D | ||||||||
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happyAugust 6th, 2009
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| Today I killed the internet's oldest existing sci-fi/fantasy web ring. Born on Webring before the service was bought out and destroyed, then reincarnated on Ringsurf the moment the website opened its virtual doors, All Roads Ring o' Fantasy was originally created in 1997 when I couldn't find a decent ring on Webring devoted to science fiction and fantasy. When Webring imploded and many of the old rings went belly-up, All Roads was the first Ringsurf ring of its kind and for a while the only ring of its kind on the web. In its heyday the ring had over 300 websites with active, working ring code on them. I had a nice HTML page for it (which I've archived in a fit of sentimentality) that saw lots of traffic. I haven't paid much mind to the ring in a while though and had been considering shutting it down for several months. It wasn't difficult to maintain the site but it was time I could put somewhere more productive right now - with 3 kids, time budgeting has become very important. But I hadn't entirely made up my mind till I went to log in to Ringsurf and saw how much their site has changed from what I was used to. The personality was gone. It really is one big Google adspace with a little bit of ring widgeting worked in between. There's no way to personalize the experience any more -- you can't even build your own website with the code bits you're allowed. I could go on about the disappointing changes but the bottom line is it really helped me decide what to do. I deleted the ring. I would have written to the various site owners who still had their codes active but Ringsurf seemed to have done away with the tool that allowed ring owners to communicate with site owners. I'm sad to see the site go, even though it was a relic. It was nice, managing something fun for so long. But with the massive changes at Ringsurf, I sort of feel like the ring already was gone... I just needed to tidy up after it. | ||||||
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July 21st, 2009
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| The following is actually a response to a forum about the Potter series and this film in particular. I was so disappointed in this latest film that I couldn't be bothered to write a full-blown separate review but I did want my opinion out there in the vain hope that the director will pull his head out before the last 2 films and get the series back on track before it's all over. That said, here's my take on things... ( Spoilers!!! And a rather negative overall review. Summary: Disappointing with little hope for better from the next films. Boo on the director! ) Maybe someday when I'm wealthy I'll be able to take my shot at directing the series the way they should be. Heh. I can dream! | ||||||||
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disappointedJune 25th, 2009
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| 25 June, 2009 Farah Fawcett is dead. (age 67) Michael Jackson is dead. (age 50) ( Transformers 2 spoiler alert! ) | ||||
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April 19th, 2009
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| 10 years ago, 15 people died and 23 more were injured during the Columbine High School massacre. Please remember them tomorrow. Think about where you were and what you were doing 10 years ago and how much life has changed for you and how much you would have missed if you had died in 1999. Remember Columbine | ||||||||
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March 28th, 2009
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| It's been a year since I posted here (or any blog), mostly because I've been very busy with my family and keeping up with the massive amounts of dishes, laundry, dirty floors and errands that come with a household of 5. In my scant spare time I've been messing around with 3D art, which I'll get some of uploaded to DeviantArt eventually. I have a couple up already. You can see them here along with some other examples of the art I've done over the years. Recently my SO and I had to help manage the funeral of a close friend of ours. We knew him for 14 years. He was 2 months away from turning 32 when he died. I've attended the funerals of several elderly people now but I've never been to one for someone younger than me before. My SO gave the eulogy. Afterward we had a dove release that was both cathartic and heartbreakingly symbolic. I let the first one go. I didn't see the next couple because I was crying too hard. The sushi we had afterward was both in his honor (it was at a restaurant that he went to nearly every day) and very good. We took his framed portrait with us and propped it on a table nearby. While we ate we shared memories of him and everyone was able to relax and actually laugh together. I liked that. I think I want the same done for me when I kick off. Not sushi per se but a wake that's nourishing for the mind and body. I think I'd want soul food or Greek. Mmm. Greek. I hope everybody's doing okay out there. I think I need to have Greek for lunch. | ||||||||
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hungryFebruary 1st, 2008
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| I just got back from.. a chocolate festival. Check out the details here! | ||||||
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January 19th, 2007
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| So I'm trying to get caught up with some online stuff that I haven't had time for in the past few months. It's slow going (I'm tied to the baby's unpredictable schedule and the toddler's equally unpredictable wants and needs) but I'm making headway. Today I went to replace the broken counter on my online gallery. Being the consistent individual I am, I went back to the place I've been getting my counters from lately and set up a new account. I was pleased to see they'd changed their website and it looks much cooler than before. However, I discovered as I went through the sign-up process that their Engrish remains as.. well. Engrish-y as ever. Here's the success page I was routed to (this is NOT edited): It congratulates member joining in lyrker with sincerity. The passwd of the member is stored with the password anger cord which is not the possibility anyone of knowing to be relieved, it is good. ID, PASSWORD lossing hours ID/PASSWORD it seeks about under using there is a possibility of seeking. The secession of the member is possible at any time and after seceding the schedule duration is eliminating after last, the member all information which is valuable. Thanks. ...anger cord? Guess that's not much worse than the fact that a website's just claimed to be joining in me. | ||||||||
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October 20th, 2006
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| Canadian troops fighting Taliban in Afghanistan ran into a problem: a 10' high forest of marijuana plants. Apparently the Taliban would hide in the forest and surprise attack from there. The troops decided to get rid of the forest... by burning it. "A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/1523950 | ||||||||
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October 12th, 2006
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| I got one in the email today -- you know the scams I'm talking about. They're the ones where the writer says they have a huge sum of money they want to send you, usually from an account of a recently-deceased person of note in their country. I haven't seen one in a while and when I got this one I was reminded of a humorous website maintained by someone who likes to bait these scammers with fictional tales of interest. I forwarded the link to the scammer who wrote me then happened to notice on the scam-bait site a link I hadn't read before, wherein the site owner pretended to be one Peter Parker (aka Spider Man). It's probably one of the funniest string-alongs I've seen. This particular line (in answer to the scammer's asking whether Peter had a job) had me laughing out loud: "I work for one company, and in addition, I have a side business I work on at night. It's a great little side project. I get to help people, vent my aggressions, and practice my new material. It sucks when it rains though. But I do have my own uniform! My wife thinks it's sexy. She says it hugs my butt like two blanketed squirrels making sweet sweet love beneath the moonlight." Heeheesnickersnort. You can see the rest of the correspondence here: http://www.monkeyspit.net/inbox/par | ||||||||
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October 9th, 2006
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| Back in the day you needed to know at least some basic HTML to have a web presence. Nowadays, all you need is MySpace. A child could figure out how to make a MySpace page that doesn't look completely amateur, which is undoubtedly a part of its mass-appeal. Because of that simplicity, there's a wide variety of folk posting intimate details about themselves. As I stumble on profiles more regularly in search engine surfs I'm amazed at what people will divulge. Occasionally I can't help but wonder why these people haven't thought about who might be viewing their profile, in such a public place. There's proud parents who post pics of their kids, then post vital info like their home addresses. Talk about an open invitation to a home break-in courtesy from your friendly neighborhood pedophile. Phone numbers, pictures of their homes with easy-to-see street names and numbers. Birthdates. Everything short of socials security numbers and credit card PINs gets posted on these profiles voluntarily. I understand many of these folks post this stuff because they hope someone who thinks like them will be looking at it. But there's just no way of knowing or controlling who looks at a public page posted on something *global* like the internet. Freaks, weirdos,pervs, and opportunists in nations overseas and those living right next door look at the net just the same as the harmless people. Imagine what Dahmer might've done if he'd had internet access. I just gotta think if I'm looking at these profiles and thinking these things... so's someone else out there. o_o | ||||||||
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thoughtfulSeptember 19th, 2006
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| Ahoy, maties! I heard tell from me First Mate (or would that be me Cap'n?) that the Krispy Kreme fleet here has sunk to the depths, without so much as a word o' warning to their deck-hands. In vain hope, I chartered a course for the local port nearest me only to find a ghost ship. Some scalliwags say that Krispy Kreme expanded too fast. Others blame 9/11 for the financial mutiny the chain experienced. All I care about is... where am I going to get fresh, hot donuts for me crew? There are no other donut chains on this side of the sea! ... In case you're wondering why the pirate-speak, it's official Talk Like a Pirate Day -- even LJ has changed the 'Post' button to 'Update Captain's Log'. Arrr. | ||||||||||||||
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September 11th, 2006
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September 1st, 2006
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| Speaking as someone who has been with the same person for nearly 12 years, I can honestly say there is no such thing as Happily Ever After. This concept that most people seem to have that, if you meet the Right Person, you'll be madly and happily In Love forever is ridiculous. Meeting the Right Person doesn't change them from being a human into being something more. It doesn't make you perfect either. Finding the Right Person is very much like acquiring a sibling: You will disagree with them. You'll find things about them that you Just Can't STAND. They will do things that frustrate, annoy, and insult you; sometimes they'll hurt your feelings. They'll take your things without asking and they'll eat the last snack sometimes. You won't always share the same views on things. You won't always be thrilled to see them -- sometimes you'll just want to be left alone. What gives you the ability to get around all these setbacks and misunderstandings isn't some Magical Force, nope. What does it is the same thing that allows you to do it with your parents: commitment to the fact that they are your family. You may argue with your sister or brother; you may have moments where you feel like you despise your mom or dad because of things they do that annoy you. But when it's all said and done, they are still your family and you will forgive them their humanness because of that fact. Good times are bound to come around again, eventually. Unfortunately, a lot of folks seem to think that if things aren't deliriously happy in their marriage (or long-term relationship) then it's gone bad; that there's bound to be something better out there. Instead of trying to weather out the bad times like they would with their blood-relations they tell themselves it's okay to go and seek perfection in a new person. That sense of familial commitment simply doesn't apply to their spouse like it does to their mom or brother. The truth is nobody's perfect. While a new relationship is exciting and -seems- perfect at first, when the "honeymoon" is over that new person will be just as flawed in their own ways and those won't show till they're completely comfortable with being themselves in the relationship. But they WILL show. The secret to finding "true love" is accepting the fact that no one will ever be a Prince/ss Charming forever; it's dealing with the hard times rather than giving up when things get rough. That's the most-forgotten part in the vow "..for better or for worse..". That section wouldn't be in there if getting married meant that you'd never have problems. I don't know when folks started deciding that if a relationship wasn't happy and Perfect all the time, it was time to find someone new. Why do so many folks in this country feel like they deserve more from a person than they can personally give? Why do they feel entitled to a Happily Ever After that doesn't exist? I've brought this complaint to the virtual table because I know two couples who are currently in the process of splitting up over the same reasons: The male in each relationship felt 'unsatisified' in his relationship and started courting another woman. When both men realized what idiots they were being, they tried to work things out with their wives only to discover that their wives were more than happy to use the excuse to bail out on the relationship because they, too, were under the mistaken impression that someone else could make them feel more 'fulfilled' (in one case the wife was actually cheating first but that didn't come out till nearly a year after the husband had his indiscretion). Both couples have at least 3 kids between them, most under the age of 8 years. Neither couples seem to be considering anything but their own wants -- they're out to make themselves happy, kids be damned. Why any of these 4 adults feels they deserve someone better is beyond me. Why they believe there IS someone better out there is even harder to fathom, especially when all 4 adults have hooked up with people who obviously don't give a damn that they're sleeping with married people. Why do these people think they've found something better in a person who doesn't give a damn that they're wrecking a family?? The people that these married couples have decided are "better" than their current partner A) have no problem sleeping with a married person, B) don't care what happens to the children involved, and C) are MARRIED too. How is that a trade-up??? A cheater willing to cheat with a cheater is not what I'd call a Perfect Partner. If anything, it leads me to think that they'd be just as willing to step out of this new relationship to screw someone else the instant the "honeymoon" wore off. I just don't get it and it really pisses me off that there are 9 kids out there who are having to suffer because their parents couldn't put their own selfish wants for 'fulfillment' aside long enough to grow the kids they decided to bring into this world when they were satisfied with their choices. These parents are the same people who would swear they would die for their kids... but they can't seem to be able to do something as basic as keeping their clothes on for the sake of their children. The selfishness is astounding. To wrap up this heated post, I'd like to reinforce this thought: No relationship is ever perfect for long. No one stays in a hot, passionate crush forever -- eventually the newness wears off and reality sets in. If you decide to chase that puppy love feeling rather than make the most of what you have, you will be doomed to a string of unfulfilling relationships that will end roughly the same way. Why? Because the problem isn't with the relationship or the person you're in it with: the problem is with your expectations of what love should be. Love is accepting a person for their good and their bad. It's continuing to be there with them, even when they annoy you and make you mad. It's not giving up just because you don't feel like you're being appreciated as much as you should be. Love is gritting your teeth and getting through the tough times with the idea in mind that you'll make more good times together after the bad stuff ends. Love is communicating your wants and needs to the partner you've chosen. Love is understanding that the person you commit to is just as much a part of you as your parents or grandparents are; love is not throwing away a relationship just because it isn't perfect. True love begins inside you; not with another person. | ||||||||
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irritatedAugust 17th, 2006
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| So there's been an arrest made in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case - 10 years after the fact. I don't have time to get into the details of the case or my own studied opinions but I gotta say... It's still not adding up. The dude they arrested (Mark Parr) seems, from what I've seen of his statements, more like some unstable person who's been reading the stories too much and decided to turn himself in for a crime he didn't necessarily commit rather than the culprit of the actual crime. It smacks of the same logic the fellow who shot Reagan went by -- he saw the film "Taxi Driver" too many times and had got it into his head he was saving Jodie Foster, the actress who portrayed the child hooker in the movie. (If you've never seen the film, it's a weird but very compelling film worth a rent.) Anyway, the things the fellow's saying and the details of the case just don't match up. Despite the convenience of the seemingly now-obvious answer, I just don't think we've heard the real story still. I don't know that we ever will. I wish I could believe they've got the person responsible but I don't think they do. I do think he might be crucified for it, since he was insane enough to volunteer for the part. A lot of people want an easy scapegoat. | ||||||
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August 5th, 2006
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Took a bit longer than I'd planned but I finally took some pics of the keen lightsaber ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} reverendstyx gave me. If you like it, you can get one of your own (and some neat light-up accessories) at RLSA Sabers.Click the pics to see the super-size images.   Now it's time to watch some Berserk before I get too sleepy to stay awake. | ||||||||
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July 14th, 2006
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| I ran across my recently-deceased uncle's email address this morning, in my hotmail contacts. I know I should delete it but for some silly reason I don't want to. I know the trendy Japanese horror flicks entertain notions that dead people can talk through technology but I seriously doubt that my uncle would use email to contact me from the other side if he were willing and able. Still, I don't want to delete it just yet. --- I'm looking more and more pregnant by the day. Haven't been sick to my stomach in over a week but I'm still real sleepy, and stuffed up. Wednesday I was supposed to sit in on a Yahoo meeting with the LARPers from the convention and I fell asleep in the hour between putting the kidlet to bed and the the time the meeting was set to happen. D'oh! Taking the girls to ConEvents the last weekend of this month is a bright note to end July on, considering in the next two weeks I have to go to the dentist and the obstetrician (regular exam and they'll be doing an ultrasound so we may find out the baby's gender). Anyway, we're doing the Hogwarts Live Action game and it looks like the con's going to have stuff that the toddler can enjoy too. My ex-roomie's coming along and the SO is going to be there too, though the boys are going to have their own room (thanks to previous arrangements made before I thought I was going). I'm going to bring play-doh and the rules to Clay-O-Rama to the con. They're actually hosting a clay wars game but it conflicts with the End of Year feast on Sunday and isn't being run any other day. So the kidlet and I decided to run our own when we had a chance. The ex-roomie's already said he'll play. :D ( As for costumes... ) Another bright spot: next weekend I'm getting to go the day spa for a massage/facial/haircut/mani-pedicure. I'm looking forward to the spoiling although I know from experience that massage therapists are terrified of pregnant ladies. They hold fast to the belief that a good massage will induce early labor and, in turn, lawsuits. We'll see what I can talk them into doing. | ||||||
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sleepyJuly 2nd, 2006
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Nabbed from paradys
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silly
All Things Small & One-derful
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