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July 13th, 2009
 | 12:09 pm - Codes!
I know there are a million Dreamwidth codes being offered at the moment, but I have quite a lot of available invite codes gathering dust, so if anybody's interested in testing out the new service, just let me know.
(you can comment here/DW with your preferred email address or write to me at bethbethbeth [at] gmail instead)
This entry was originally posted at" http://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/508083.html". Please comment there if possible (using a DW account or with OpenID).
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 | 10:58 am - Who's been to Africa?
Some friends and I are talking about going to Africa (maybe Tanzania?) sometime in the next year or two. Needless to say, we have no money (!), so we're starting to save now, but while we're clearly not looking for a luxury trip, we don't want to do the "backpack across the veldt" version either.
Basically, we're thinking about 1-2 weeks, maximum animal viewing, least humidity, and...a visit or two to a city maybe? I'm guessing the south is best/safest for Americans at the moment (I'd love to be able to include Liberia, in honor of it being the home to Africa's first elected female head of state, but it may be too far out of the way if we end up going to Tanzania, for example).
Anyway...if anybody has advice or suggestions - especially about local African tour groups, where's best to go, prices, the best ways of getting a first, non-exploitative feel for some parts of the continent...that would be great.
This entry was originally posted at http://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/507298.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
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July 10th, 2009
July 6th, 2009
 | 05:31 pm - Unrelated to Torchwood (...which I'm awaiting eagerly)
Weird.
I passed all the major age milestones (13, 18, 21, 30, 40) without thinking much about them. I had parties or didn't, but the passing of the years didn't exactly keep me up at night.
This coming birthday - my 50th (which is due to arrive exactly one month from today) - feels different somehow. I mean, yes...part of it is that AARP is probably about to send me a membership invitation (!), but even if that wasn't about to happen, I think I'd still be feeling the weight of age on the horizon, as if the day I turn 50 won't really be just another day.
(*koff* If you feel a strong desire to provide a birthday ficlet or birthday sketch to keep me from sobbing into my birthday cake, feel free to glance at my current none-too-secret fannish desires.)
***
In non-geriatric news: okay, think quickly about the relative sizes of Earth and Mars and then (and only then): look at this picture. How many of you got the relative proportions right? Because...god knows I didn't. I'm very distressed by my total failure to remember the size of Mars.
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June 26th, 2009
 | 01:31 pm - Confessions of a Former Warning-a-phobe
"Do not do unto others as you would expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same." (George Bernard Shaw, "Maxims for Revolutionists")
***
I've been involved with online fandom since the mid-90's and have seen something on the order of two dozen major conversations about warnings come and go. Until now, I've generally aligned myself (in a passive sort of way) with the no-warnings camp, but in the wake of this recent round of debates and discussions, I've changed my mind.
See, here's the thing: I don't like spoilers. I don't like knowing plot points in advance. I don't read endings before starting a long story. Despite having fairly vanilla tastes (for the most part), I'm not particularly squicked by anything and I've never had a problem with just closing a browser window if a story goes in a direction I don't like.
And yet...so fucking what? I mean, all that is about me and my tastes. It has nothing to do with the people who might read the stories I write. In what possible way could it hurt me to include some sort of content alerts for the sake of other people? Adding warnings (the kind that require highlighting to read) to all my fic won't ruin the stories for the folks who are like me (i.e., people who don't like warnings) because nobody will see the warnings without making an effort to see them.
Plus, of course, I've always been something of a hypocrite where my 'no-warnings' stance is concerned, because even I want to know the fandom and the major characters (although I'm willing to read 'surprise pairings') and the length of the story and the genre. We all have things we want to know before we start reading a story. Okay, sometimes all we want to know is that our favorite reccer said "READ THIS," but that's something too, since you often know their tastes as well as you know your own.
So. Although I'm still in the process of backing up all my fic and recs on ![[info - community]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png) beth_h (...and seriously, you might want to wait until the back-up process is done before adding that journal to your watch list *g*), I'm working backwards and adding a 'highlight required' warning to every single story, some of which will have real notes about content and some of which will just say "Nothing in particular. Please leave a comment if anything seems problematic."
And you know what? I'm absolutely sure that I'm not going to include things that some people want to be warned for, but I've finally come around to the idea that something is better than nothing.
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June 25th, 2009
 | 07:51 pm - R.I.P., Michael...
...my teenage self will miss you.
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June 24th, 2009
 | 01:33 pm - (The Return of )The Best Spin-offs That Were Never Made
I'm amusing myself by skimming the entirety of my LJ at the moment as part of the process of copying all my extant fic and recs over to my newish fic-and-recs DW journal (beth_h).
I've just reached the part of my fannish narrative where I meet ![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) lynnmonster, estrella30 , and brooklinegirl for the first time (and btw...I just realized I didn't mention it, but last week, I met both tofty / tradescant and somniesperus / telanu for the very first time after a half-dozen years of online friendship and it was very exciting!!!!).
Anyway...
Later in the month of March 2004, I made a post that said this:
My roomie and I have been talking a lot about the last West Wing episode this week, both of us wishing the Glenn Close and William Fichtner characters would come back. However, given the way guest star casting usually works on network television, they probably won't.
In lieu of that, we said, wouldn't it be interesting if there were a spin-off featuring the Supreme Court as it exists in the West Wing universe? Characters from the main show could make occasional appearances (much like Hamlet, Claudius, and Gertrude do in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead), but the focus of the new show would be the justices of the Supreme Court (including Edward James Olmos as Mendoza, who - in one of the few sour notes of that episode - seemed to have vanished out of all memory).
And then I started remembering back in my alt.tv.highlander days, when Panzer/Davis first started talking about a possible spin-off and how "The Methos Show"' seemed to be the popular choice (sadly, not popular enough with either Panzer or Davis, who pretty much wasted Elizabeth Gracen's wonderful character of Amanda on the poorly conceived and short-lived Raven).
And so I'll ask what I asked then...
If you were Queen (or King) of the T.V. Programming Universe, what sort of "we'll never see it in our lifetime" spin-offs (of current or long-gone shows) would you like to see on the fall schedule?
***
(I'm not closing off comments here, but if you could comment on Dreamwidth, that would be excellent: http://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/505432.html)
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June 23rd, 2009
 | 11:48 am - LJ PSA
For any LJ user who's not still totally disgusted with the travesty that was last year's LJ election, this year's LJ Advisory Board elections are taking place here (you can find the links to the five official candidates here)
The ballot asks you to pick your first, second, and third choices. Voting for the same person in each category basically means you're throwing away your second and third votes. For what it's worth, the three people I voted for (in alphabetical order) are kylecassidy, vichan, and webqatch.
In the end, of course, it's probably more productive to get yourself up to speed on a something with more lasting significance, like the Iranian presidential elections (...or you could just look at the CUTEST PICTURES OF BABY ANIMALS EVER), but there you are...my LJ public service announcement of the year.
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June 19th, 2009
 | 02:19 pm - Snape!
So...the other day, I posted a link in snapenews to some art by Keith James (a very cool artist who's been doing canon-centric HP illustrations (See here). I wrote to him (about his art and related things), and in his reply, he sent this drawing of Snape, created as an illustration for HPSS.
( Snape! )
Cool, eh?
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June 17th, 2009
| 06:42 pm - The Return of the Dreamwidth Codes
I have a number of brand new Dreamwidth invite codes for anybody who'd like one!
Just email me at bethbethbeth [at] gmail [dot] com from your preferred address - and include a link to your current journal/website/blog, in case your email name isn't instantly familiar to me.
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June 15th, 2009
 | 10:57 am - RIP, Stuart...
What sad, sad news...
I've just learned (from a number of posts) that minotaurs suffered a heart attack and passed away yesterday morning.
I first met Stuart in...2000, I think, and while I only really saw him at conventions, he was a lovely guy and his site was a huge boon to slash Fandom. He will be missed.
(For more information, you can go to the Escapade community entry or the Con.Txt community entry)
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June 10th, 2009
 | 10:27 am - My mosaic...
Following the lead of logospilgrim: a Flickr Photo Mosaic...
Rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions into Flickr Search.
b. Using ONLY the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Mosaic Maker. Change rows to 3 and columns to 3.
d. Save the image and post it on this note.
Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite color?
3. What is your favorite food?
4. Favorite drink?
5. Dream vacation?
6. Favorite hobby?
7. What you want to be when you grow up?
8. What do you love most in life?
9. Best self-description?
Here's mine: ( which for the sake of your list views, I'm putting under a cut... )
(I ended up with some really strange results from what were pretty standard prompts. And if I had to psycho-analyze myself based on my choices, well...eerie landscapes, random animals, solitary content people, and phallic symbols. Hmm. Will ponder. *g*)
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June 8th, 2009
 | 10:22 pm
Any Snarry fans (or friends of Snarry fans) who are going to be in the vicinity of Azkatraz (i.e., not necessarily people who will be officially registered *g*), please take this poll regarding the meet-up.
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June 7th, 2009
 | 11:40 pm - 2009 Tony Awards...
The full list of tonight's Tony Awards is below the cut, but basically, ( spoilers for the 2009 Tony Awards... )
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 | 03:07 pm - SPN and ST:R icons?
I'm in the market for two fairly simple icons.
1. A Castiel icon. Just him, looking nice, normal head shot or head-and-torso shot (i.e., not too tiny). Border or not, clear image, no particular artsiness and no text.
2. A Star Trek: Reboot icon. Maybe animated? I'm looking for something that has clear-image headshots of the cast (or at least Kirk, Spock, Uhura, McCoy, Sulu, Chekhov, Scotty - sort of in that order. I don't need Pike and I don't even want Nero. In other words, I want the whole gang, instead of shipper images.
I'm not actually asking for anybody to make icons for me...just wondering if any of you icon-focused folks have come across anything like these on your travels and could give me a link (and yes, I know where the icon communities are, but I react to skimming through icon comms the way I do to shopping in malls: sensory overload in about three minutes *G*)
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June 6th, 2009
 | 05:47 pm - FIC (HP): "An Inexpressible Comfort" (Snape/Luna)
Written for the 2009 ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) snuna_exchange. To read 'in situ,' click here. To see the Master List, click here
Title: An Inexpressible Comfort
Author: Beth H (bethbethbeth)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Snape/Luna
(Highlight to View) Warning(s): references to rape.
Word Count: ~3100
Author's Note:: The title is taken from Luna's farewell to Ollivander in Deathly Hallows as he's leaving Shell Cottage: "You were an inexpressible comfort to me in that terrible place." (...many thanks to Femme for beta'ing!)
Summary: All he was looking for was a new wand. What he found was much, much more.
( An Inexpressible Comfort )
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June 4th, 2009
 | 05:51 pm - Website Woes
I'm hoping this is a temporary thing, but for the moment, my website (including over a decade of fic and a massive recs page) has disappeared off the face of the earth. I'm investigating the cause, but regardless of the outcome, I'm going to be backing everything up on a fic/recs account I set up on Dreamwidth just in case something like this ever happened: ![[info] - dreamwidth.org](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_other.png) beth_h
Now...this will only be relevant to a few of you (since just a couple people noticed I'd already created this new account community), but anybody who is subbed to beth_h might want to take it off their default view for the next week, since I'm going to be backing up every single thing I've ever written and there's going to be a bit of an entries deluge (mostly late at night, but...even so).
(ETA: Apparently it's a redirect problem. It's here, but the links aren't working. *le sigh*)
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June 3rd, 2009
 | 01:23 am - End of an Era
Okay, that's sad news. OG/doctorwhoforum will be closing down forever July 31. 40,000+ members (albeit many mostly-lurkers like me) cast adrift. *sniff*
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June 2nd, 2009
| 02:15 pm - It's never too early to think about celebrating Severus Snape's 50th Birthday!
(The fact that this summer I'll also be celebrating my 50th birthday has nothing to do with anything *g*)
So! Two cool communities for you to join with me!
***
The first, severus_shorts - is open for membership now! All members can participate in a ficlet/drawble birthday celebration on January 9th, 2010. There will also be a Brief Fics Showcase (with sign-ups from June 15 to 22), with stories focusing specifically on Snape's birthdays
To promote severus_shorts, cut and paste the code below into your journal.
***
Also! severusbigbang! Sign-ups are now open and there are many ways to participate: Fic, Art, Crafts, Filk...plus cheerleading, beta'ing, and community watching! (Note: while the "Big Bang" entries are big, you can sign up instead for the shorter/smaller - but no less fun - "Bang" *g*)
Both fests allow slash, het, or gen, as long as the birthday boy, Severus Snape, is at the center of the fic, art, etc. Come play!
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May 27th, 2009
 | 01:33 pm - Kink? Fetish?
Four years ago, I created porkish_pixies (a friendly parody of pornish_pixies which grew out of a minor post-con kerfuffle that you can read about here). The community - whose membership was ostensibly limited to those who were "old and fat and...ewww" (or anyone who had the potential of someday being one of those things *g*) - was never really meant to be a serious fic/art site, even though folks made occasional posts over the years.
Recently, however, there's been a flurry (um...relatively speaking) of activity on the comm. Not much in the way of "old" or "ewww," but "porkish" most certainly (specifically HP-focused weight gain stories). Hey, it's a niche market, but what kink/fetish isn't? So if you have even a minor interest in reading or writing (or 'artsing') work featuring HP characters who are fat or becoming fat, porkish_pixies is clearly the place for you!
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May 25th, 2009
 | 12:41 pm - SPN Meta? SPN Fic?
Okay, I finally saw the season finale of Supernatural.
Damn.
So...does anybody have links to smart post-season discussions?
Or to fic? (Sam&Dean gen; Dean/Castiel; Castiel/Chuck Shirley; or any Gen at all...the longer and more involved, the better)
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 | 10:52 am - How do they rise up?
A reminder to all you Discworld fans out there: today is the anniversary of the "Glorious Revolution of the Twenty-Fifth of May" - and a good time to think about the Discworld's creator: Terry Pratchett.
Last year, Match it for Pratchett (a grassroots fundraising organization, set up in the wake of the announcement that Pratchett had been diagnosed with a very rare case of early onset Alzheimer's) suggested 'wearing the Lilac' to show support for Pratchett and for Alzheimer's research.
I suspect that campaign has faded into the aether (although there may be other groups I haven't heard of who are working on similar projects) but in honor of Pratchett, who's given me years of reading pleasure, I'm going to be making a donation to help support Alzheimer's research. For a number of reasons, I'll be making my donation to the Johns Hopkins' Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, but Pratchett himself is patron of the U.K's Alzheimer's Research Trust, if you'd rather give there (and yes, they take donations from overseas).
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May 23rd, 2009
 | 09:56 am - FIC (HP): Hermione: A Herstory (Gen. Hermione, Minerva)
Written for the Springtime Gen exchange (2009 edition). To read 'in situ,' click here...and if you want the Master List, you can find it here.
Title:: Hermione: A Herstory
Characters: Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall.
Word Count: ~2500
A/N Many thanks to midnitemaraud_r for beta assistance!
Summary: In the summer of 1991, Hermione Granger finds a role model.
( Hermione: A Herstory )
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May 19th, 2009
 | 03:56 am - Sherlock Who-lmes?
Let me state for the record that I love Robert Downey Jr and have done so since at least 1992 when Chaplin came out.
Let me also state for the record that I've loved Sherlock Holmes in almost every incarnation in which I've seen him, including, but not limited to all the usual suspects (Rathbone, Brett, etc.), Beekeeper!Holmes, young Sherlock Holmes, Data-as-Holmes, and Nicol Williamson as addict!Holmes.
However, this brand spanking new Sherlock Holmes trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1iGEpbDsas - while indisputably slashy, is...I don't know what it is! What was I watching? Was that supposed to be Holmes? For real? *laughs*
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May 16th, 2009
 | 11:40 pm
Who's home on a Saturday night waiting for somebody to offer Dreamwidth invite codes? If you are, then it's your lucky night!
(I have two up for grabs...email me at bethbethbeth [at] gmail [dot] com if you're interested!
All gone!
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 | 09:27 am - Announcements and Links, #465
* First off, I'd like to mention a new community: foc_u. "Created in response to RaceFail 09. It serves as a place for POCs and white allies to discuss the issues pertaining to RaceFail and to counterract its destructive effects. While foc_u was created in response to RaceFail, it isn't just about RaceFail. This community also serves as a place to celebrate and affirm POCs of the speculative fiction genre, celebrate our favorite POC characters and storytellers, and it's also intended to be a fun place where we can come and discuss our fandoms, recommend movies, books, authors, etc. [plus] be a safe space for POCs/non-whites and white allies to discuss issues of race, gender, orientation and how they affect speculative fiction." (Notes: a word about a protest planned for this coming Monday is here and a small Q & A here)
ETA From the "Once you see something, you can't unsee it" files: My attention was drawn in the DW comments to this, in which there are links showing the comm's mod (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) neo_prodigy) using some pretty damned offensive terminology relating to gender and sexual orientation (and no, the fact that he's apparently a gay man doesn't let him off the hook in my book. As I said below, growing up as a teenager in theatre in the seventies, I got used to some gay men flinging those sorts of insults at other gay men, but...it's sure as hell not the sort of auto-response you want to see in somebody who's running a community meant to be a safe space for anybody). Yes, the posts in question are oldish, and I'd still say the Monday protest is valuable, but I'd like to see some comment from the Mod showing he's thought past that really unattractive and hostile language over the past few years before I decide whether to have anything further to do with that community.
* In other news, the Author and Artist reveals for ![[info] - insanejournal.com](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) hp_beholder are going to be announced this evening. One last chance to take a look at the wonderful art and fic while the creators are still anonymous (see the full list here. If you're not following the comm, but you recced some hp_beholder stories or art over the past couple of weeks, leave a note at the entry linked above.
*Then, there are two fandom activities you might want to get involved with. The first - fangirl_tour - is taking sign ups again. Its an all-fandoms event on LJ where each participant gets assigned a week to rec 13 of their favorites (fic, art, vids whatever). Last year's tour apparently had hardly any input from the slashers, so....
*The second - for Snape fans, specifically - mollyssister is organizing a group to meet in Chicago on the weekend of 8/21 to see the HP exhibit at the Musuem of Science and Industry. More info can be found here.
*Oh wait...there's more! You may know the old expression "it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease." Well, I've been squeaking about my sad need for SGA fic featuring John/Todd for ages, including in synecdochic's "Inaugural Dreamwidth Comment Porn Meme" back at the end of March. Well, guess what springwoof just wrote for me??? "The Next Time They Meet" (John/Todd. ~2000 words. Spoilers for SGA 307: Common Ground, and 503: Broken Ties. A perfect look at the love/hate dynamic in that pairing from Sheppard's pov)
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May 12th, 2009
 | 04:45 pm - In the wake of RaceFail'09, v 2.0
I suspect most folks have seen this already, but any people of color reading this who are into SF/F and who want to add their voices to refuting the [ridiculous] notion that only white people are interested in reading/watching/writing/creating Speculative Fiction, there's a 14-page-and-counting name-check thread over here on deadbrowalking that you might want to add a comment to.
(btw: poc's/non-white peeps specifically being asked for this time, not white folks.)
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May 10th, 2009
 | 08:15 pm - FIC (HP): "Dear Diary..." (Snape/Harry. PG-13)
This story was written for the 2009 Snarry-a-thon (see Master List here)
Title: Dear Diary...
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 5,600
Warnings: None (...unless warnings are what lure you into reading a story, in which case, consider yourself warned for everything!)
A/N: I solemnly swear that Snape shows up in this story eventually. And fyi: maybe someday there'll be a revision of this story that includes actual smut and associated hi-jinks, but...today is not that day.
( It was possible that Harry Potter had done too good a job of rehabilitating the reputation of Severus Snape. )
And speaking of Snarry - this week's challenge on snape100 is "Cauldrons and Snitches," in honor of this year's two snarry_games. Go write a drabble! It doesn't even have to include Harry (although I won't complain if it does *g*)
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 | 06:04 am - Quinto & Pine ST:Reboot Interview
My, what what nicely spoken young men Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine are as they talk about Star Trek. :)
*using old school icon because I have no new school Kirk-Spock-Uhura-McCoy [hint!!] icon yet*
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May 8th, 2009
| 09:28 pm - Star Trek: random thoughts and blatant spoilers
Last night, I went to see the new Star Trek film with amelia_eve, cordelia_v, midnitemaraud_r, paranoidsistah, titti, and ziasudra_fic.
I was a kid in the sixties when Star Trek was in its first run on network t.v., and it was appointment television for me, long before the phrase "appointment television" had been created. There were no DVD's, no videos, no cable, no VCR's, and no internet, but I still found a way to watch every episode enough times to be able to recite half the dialogue along with the characters, and when I was fourteen and ST:TOS was still the only Star Trek in existence, I was able to write down the names of all the episodes in order (guest stars included) in less than five minutes.
I wrote no drawer!fic, but I acted out many ST scenarios in my backyard (drafting my middle sister to play various redshirts) and I have to admit that most of my episodes ended with my nine year old self marrying Spock, which is why it took until 2002 before I could read any Kirk/Spock. I understood the pairing conceptually, of course, but Spock was mine, darn it.
( I probably shouldn't have liked the new Star Trek film... )
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