User:	dinerjunkie
	Date:	2008-08-19 18:36
	Subject:	Here's Where I Blabber On And On For A Quick Second
	Security:	Public

I cannot take looking at the Michael Phelps Sports Illustrated cover. All I see is a bunch of gold medals and a goofy mouth. You mean to tell me, with all the money he's probably already getting from endorsements, he can't get those teeth fixed? I only mention it only because they just flashed the cover on the news. He's terrific and all, but come on . . . can't they talk about some of the other fantastic athletes once in a while?

I'm excited to watch the gymnastics coverage tonight because they're showing Shawn Johnson's gold-winning routine on beam. She's so awesome.

Also, I watched video of last night's competition and I disagree that Nastia Liukin should have won the gold. While the Chinese girl had a small crossover step on her dismount, Nastia's legs separated quite a few times on some of her swings to handstands. The Chinese girl's did not. I also saw noticeable flexing of the feet in parts that shouldn't have been flexed. That said, the Chinese girl looked like she didn't move as swiftly from bar to bar as Nastia did, especially on some of her kips to high bar. But again, Nastia's form on her dismount was also clearly not as tight as the Chinese girl's (I can't remember her name). Her legs were pretty wide open in her tuck (for faster rotation), and while I'm not positive if that's cause for deduction, it sure doesn't look as pretty as when the legs are closed. Overall, while Nastia's routine flowed a little nicer than the Chinese girl's and both routines were excellent (which is why they tied, obviously), Nastia's did appear to have slightly more deductions. That would mean the second tie-breaker (averaging the three lowest deductions) makes sense.

That's just my take on it.

Also, has anyone ever watched elite gymnastics before? The Chinese girls are always amazing on bars. Their tiny, straight bodies are perfect for the apparatus. I can't understand why everyone is in such a tizzy over the fact that those girls are so small and young-looking. Age requirements aside, you can't deny talent.

Ah . . .

In non-Olympic things, my soreness feels a little worse today than it did yesterday. I feel like I've been punched by a really strong man, right in the sternum. It hurts to sneeze, cough and laugh. I would really hate to be a battered woman.

	User:	edgeofmeri
	Date:	2008-08-19 18:39
	Subject:	PISSED
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	enraged
	Music:	Law & Order

Here's something I do not understand: Stephen never pays attention to his fucking cell phone. I can't count the number of times I have tried to get a hold of him to no avail. When I finally see him and scream "WTF WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR PHONE?????" he looks at me like I have six heads and says all nonchalantly, "oh I didn't have the ringer on" or "I didn't hear anything". Today, I tried to call him over ten times and left three voicemails. Oh, his fancy fucking iPhone was sitting on the bookcase all fucking day and it was the ol' ringer off routine. Does he even think at any point today, "gee, maybe I should look at this fancy ass bullshit phone that has stuff I'll never use on it to see if anyone actually called me?" Nope. I'm at work, wondering if the house caught fire and he's burned up along with my cats, or if he decided to leave town and not tell me. I only called him the first time to see what we were going to do about dinner. But I swear, one of these days, there's going to be something serious happening (my car dying, someone trying to kill me, etc) and if he doesn't answer, I'm leaving him. If I'm alive to leave him. Since he gave me the usual halfassed apology when I flew in the house raging, I haven't spoken civilly to him, and what does he make for dinner without even saying anything to me? Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. What did I have for lunch today? A huge mozzarella and tomato sandwich at Taste Unlimited. I'm not going to shit for a week now. Thanks, oh so thoughtful boyfriend. I am sick of eating nothing but bread, cheese, or beans in this fucking house because he's never around to plan decent meals, so when I CALL you to offer to get something healthy, you're not bothered to pay attention to your overpriced fucking telephone.

Tomorrow I'm getting that IUD procedure. Should be awesome! *rolls eyes*

	User:	thefreak
	Date:	2008-08-19 15:24
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

Hurry with the episode! ;p

	User:	velvetgarden
	Date:	2008-08-19 15:08
	Subject:	interlace [falling star]
	Security:	Public

If you like strange, good theater, and you're in the Seattle area, you should definitely see this play, "interlace [falling star]"

Thomas and I saw it on opening night and loved it! It's written and directed by a friend of ours (and stars another friend of ours), but I'd like it even I didn't know anyone involved in it at all. It fluidly combines Gnosticism, super heroes, sci-fi, comedy and drama!

August 1 - 30, 2008 – Friday & Saturday at 8 pm
Annex Theatre, 1100 E. Pike St. (11th Ave. & E. Pike St.)
Tickets: $12

More info and reviews here:
http://annextheatre.org/shows/interlace/

About the show:

In this epic blend of science-fiction and fantasy, a mysterious amnesiac finds herself in the lobby of an infinitely tall building located in the center of the multiverse, the headquarters of the United Association of Interdimensionary Travelers.

Her unexplained presence sets off a series of increasingly catastrophic events that not only compromise the security of the Association, but threaten to unravel the entire fabric of creation itself!

Can a superhero with a divine pedigree, an android companion, and archangels and devils together combine forces to help "Andrea Change" find her true identity, and prevent the impending apocalypse?

Drawing on influences as diverse as the metaphysical explorations of Philip K. Dick, and the scrappy tradition of low-budget sci-fi television, interlace [falling star] is a unique saga of love, loss, and redemption.

	User:	drackenstein
	Date:	2008-08-19 17:06
	Subject:	Nintendon't :(
	Security:	Public

It's official, I will not be working for Nintendo. They just sent me an email saying they went with someone else but that they'll keep my resume in hand. Dang it. I thought the phone interview went really well too.

	User:	thefreak
	Date:	2008-08-19 13:10
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

No. Please. Just set your purse right on the bike seat, tourist mom. No worries. But tell your kid to get to stop stroking it. The bike, i mean.

	User:	tasty
	Date:	2008-08-19 14:20
	Subject:	Kaela's Baby Pool
	Security:	Public

stopityoumonkey's having a baby! For those of you who know her, you already know that Kaela and Adam are having a cute baby. I love babies because it means baby pools (I'm slightly obsessed with these), so I'm organizing this one on livejournal. You fill out the poll and I'll send a fabulous prize to whoever gets the most number of points. And no, the fabulous prize does not include their baby.

Poll #1244725 Baby Pool!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None

Gender:

Birthday: (For reference, the baby's due date is 12.18.08!)

Time of birth: (Include AM or PM.)

Weight: (In pounds and ounces.)

Height: (In inches.)

	User:	bloodcicle
	Date:	2008-08-19 14:43
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

I'm dead sexy!!!



It's taken years but I have to say that I really am in love with my cat.
He and I hated each other at first. He'd destroy the house and then I'd destroy him.
Good times.

He's my buddy now and the only cat I will ever own.
There isn't a cat on the planet who could take his place.

PS: I actually dislike cats believe it or not.

	User:	thefreak
	Date:	2008-08-19 11:28
	Subject:	I just couldn't wait...
	Security:	Public

...for the vidcast.

Here's the Fact Check (also available on fact_check_feed, btw)piece on errors made at the Saddleback thing the other day:

Saddleback Bloopers
Obama makes misleading claims about ethics legislation and abortion at a church-sponsored forum. McCain exaggerates his tax-cut proposals.

No, it doesn't talk about McCain listening on the car radio beforehand or how they were both asked different questions...who cares. Just the facts. But what I'm excited about is that is details the incident in 2006 that I mentioned a few months before (where I said, "Wouldn't it be funny if they wound up running against each other?"), in which Obama tried working with McCain on a bill only to have McCain lose his infamous temper and go nuts on him.

	User:	christianb
	Date:	2008-08-19 13:27
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

I want to start using my LJ more...I realize I haven't been for quite a while really.
In any case, things are rough lately on many fronts, but getting better, I'm sure...

So, let's see...occasionally still playing a bit of poker for fun on Full Tilt and a bit of Team Fortress 2 when I have a couple minutes free. Been watching/rewatching all of Buffy, too. But all of that's been very scant in general...

Fun but exhausting weekend w/ the JB and folks...felt ill yesterday though.
Spent all last night doing chores around the house which is also good, but also exhausting, as well. Made good pasta. Got things done.



Random observation of the day: If you have a nice enough car, you can park pretty much anywhere (except for handicap parking), and folks just don't seem to question it. I have a friend at work that has a VERY fancy sports car that he parks in the "executive parking only" area, even though he totally isn't, and no one even remotely questions it... It amuses me.

	User:	christianb
	Date:	2008-08-19 13:25
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

A friend of mine just pointed out to me some hi-res pictures of the soon-to-be world's tallest skyscraper, the Burj Dubai Tower...
Ok, this is just insane.

	User:	girlafraid
	Date:	2008-08-19 11:17
	Subject:	POLL: Do ALL Covers Suck?
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	curious

OR



Which do you prefer (if any)?

	User:	lillianleitzel
	Date:	2008-08-19 10:20
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

I'm now at Tink's place in Glendale hanging out with her and my best friends Aoife and Shameless. Yesterday we went to the playground, where Aoife glamorously swung and exhibited much wist whilst doing so. It's as if she's starring in a French film at all times!




Also, here are Aoife and Shameless contemplating existence and its many horrors as well as delights on my makeshift bed. Please note the extremely fashionable handbag and open carry-on case in the backgound. Thankyou.

	User:	drbagpipes
	Date:	2008-08-19 01:44
	Subject:	Here's Tom with the weather
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	excited
	Music:	The Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurricane

Tropical storm Fay more like tropical storm GAY AS SPRINGTIME. Tropical storm Fay cancelled Stone Temple Pilots Tuesday night. Tropical storm Fay a pussy-ass nigga. Fay ain't shit but hoes and tricks. Fay ain't even gonna delay flights at MCO, that's how much a fuckin' busta Fay is. I'ma stand outside tomorrow and jack off into the wind, you fuckin' bitch-ass storm. Fuck you.

	User:	pyrric
	Date:	2008-08-18 21:01
	Subject:	Christmas in August.
	Security:	Public

Last Christmas Eve, I had an incredibly sad day at work.

I saw that patient, V., again today, recovering in our post-anesthesia care unit after having a cervical cerclage placed. She's 13 weeks pregnant.

She recognized me as soon as I walked into the PACU and started to cry, holding her arms out so I could hug her. I started to cry, too, and as I wrapped my arms around her as tightly as I could, telling her how happy I was to see her again, her husband said, "This time God has given us two."

She's 13 weeks pregnant with twins.

It's nine months late, but Merry Christmas, V.

	User:	velvetgarden
	Date:	2008-08-18 17:32
	Subject:	Call for Entries!
	Security:	Public

Call for Entries!

Would you like to be featured on the front page of the Velvet Garden website?

Velvet Garden is turning 10 years old (!!!) at the end of August, and I'll be launching a brand new website design for the anniversary! I'd like to have 4-10 Gothic fashion images rotating on the front page, and I'm looking for submissions from photographers, illustrators, artists and models.

What You'll Get:
- A huge amount of exposure! Velvet Garden gets about 4,500 page views *per day*, and has an opt-in mailing list of over 7,500 people on the mailing list
- A link to your website from the front page, just below your image
- You retain full copyright of your images (some contests are really just thinly veiled copyright grabs, I think that sort of thing is awful)

In exchange, I'll only be asking for a license from you to display your image on the main page of the Velvet Garden website for up to one year.

Submission Guidelines:
- Please email me links (not attachments) to no more than 5 images (alison at velvet garden dot net), and put "Velvet Garden" in the subject line (I'm getting so much spam these days, and I don't want to delete your email accidentally).
- The images should be professional quality - not snapshots.
- It's a Gothic clothing website, so the images should be Gothic, and the clothing worn in the images should be something that you could buy on Velvet Garden (bonus points if it really was purchased on Velvet Garden!)
- The images should be work-safe
- If you're the photographer, you will need to have a model release from the model(s), if you're the model, you'll need permission from the photographer and any other models in the photo.
- There's no strict deadline, since I'll be adding images into the rotation on a regular basis, but if you'd like to be included in the big 10th Anniversary launch, please submit your images to me as soon as possible!

Thank you!

	User:	thefreak
	Date:	2008-08-18 17:04
	Subject:	Successimo!
	Security:	Public

Last night was the official first episode of Tales... LIVE!

And I must say it was quite awesome. At least, that's what the audeicne told me afterwards. I told them they were crazy and was all, "whAAaat?" But they insisted.

Apparently, someone posted the flyer on one of the steampunk livejournals and so this woman came to see. After the show she says she will be bringing her social club to come and pack the place next week.

Rawk!

Now I just have to edit the craziness that ensued. It's a thousand time easier than usual, though, because it's all one track.

Thanks again to Joseph and Bennett for the musical opening mini-concert and the more than adequate sound system. Next week: four mics!!

	User:	bloodcicle
	Date:	2008-08-18 18:22
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

Do we really need these guys to return?

One Banana, Two Banana, Three Banana, Four...

	User:	sneerpout
	Date:	2008-08-18 23:01
	Subject:	A fandom too far
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	Annoyed
	Music:	The X-Files

The bloody Sadies are *still* adding gigs to their UK tour this autumn. Damn you all! Damn your lanky Canadian hides! Damn your sideburns and your shifty stage presences!

[Buys ticket for Leicester show on the grounds that I just might be able to make it if the plane is on time.]

Good grief. If they add any more mid-week shows I will have a major sense of humour failure.

	User:	ayun
	Date:	2008-08-18 15:36
	Subject:	My Frigging Weekend
	Security:	Public

Even the frustrations were barely enough to register as such.

I bought some (not-so-good) fenders on Saturday and spent a few hours trying to wrestle them onto my bike - no go. Something about the geometry of my wee frame, or maybe the fact that I got the wrong set altogether, but it was pretty much a disaster. But at the end of it my chain was cleaned and lubed, all the road grit from the last week of rain was cleaned off, and the brakes were adjusted, so my ride downtown to help out at the Bicycle Film Festival was one long realization that I like my bike a lot when it's in good repair.

Then I spent three hours shepherding around countless nice rides (including a pink sparkly one belonging to this dude, who I've forgiven) and watching boys with lots of spare time trick around on fixed-gears, which made me want something either brand new, shiny and light enough to lift with a fingertip, or something old, restored, remade and reimagined just for me. But my bike is only heavy when I heave it up stairs, and the ride home, after watching some short films and dismantling a bike parking lot, was cool, free of traffic and free of you-need-to-take-care-of-that noises.

Sunday, instead of going out and buying an entire new bike, I set out to get a new helmet - the skateboard-looking ones that I covet. I went to five different shops, and struck out at every one because I have a peanut head, but the attempt got me out for a round-the-city ride on a sunny afternoon, and the weather pulled some sort of trick, making everyone in Boston come off all happy to be alive and shit.

Also, I have new socks with (pink!) stripes on them. Just glancing down at my ankle, where they poke out above the side of my shoe, makes me happy. And banana bread at home.

	User:	lapsedmodernist
	Date:	2008-08-18 21:53
	Subject:
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	sleepy

If everything goes according to plan, we should hopefully be getting the keys to our new abode some time tomorrow afternoon.

In the meantime I continue to be a person lacking in bios, as my present itinerant state prevents me from being subject-ified and interpollated into the national and municipal registries. Hopefully this whole lease-having thing will effect the necessary transformation of my vagabond self into the sequence of numbers necessary to procure a bank account and such.

In the meantime, I am finally reading "The Plot Against America," and it is GOOD. I have read a pretty eclectic selection of books over the course of the last two weeks, as these things tend to happen in transit, and with haphazard access to other people's bookshelves, and here is my brief summation: "Sleep With Me"--slightly-less-low-brow "adult contemporary" psychosexual pulp fiction, with SAT words, but it's the sort of psychosexual pulp fiction I like, with creepy ersatz Victorian novel-within-novel, characters wrecking their lives over sexual obsessions, Crying-Game-type plot twists, etc. Nick Hornby's "Long Way Down" was totally terrible and I could not finish it, it was so bad, and it also created this weird retcon alternate-universe feeling that Nick Hornby had authored a terrible novel which was the basis for the movie "Love, Actually" which, unlike most of you, I also thought was totally terrible. Then I read Nick Hornby's "How to be Good" which wasn't terrible, but he is really no good at writing from a woman's POV (and it's not that I don't think that male writers can't be good at it--in fact, my favorite novel with a female first-person narrator was penned by a man, it's just Nick Hornby is not good at it). I totally have a like-hate relationship with Nick Hornby, by the way, because I thought "High Fidelity" was a really enjoyable book, but it bothers me, because, in the symbolic universe of the generation of Pick-Up Artists, Mystery, "The Game" etc., it is kind of a mirror (of introspective bullshit) to "Unbearable Lightness of Being." If you diagrammed it, you'd have, like

HF is to ULoB as the Anya/Xander relationship of season 4 on BtVS is to the Buffy/Angel angst of seasons 2 & 3 (and, I guess, 4 during the crossover episodes).

And finally and unrelatedly, here is a list of places I would like to visit in the next 12 months, taking advantage of the location of my new launching lilypad:

Norway (don't know where, but I want to see the Fjords!)
London (because it has been too long!)
Berlin (because it is the urbex Mecca of Western Europe--also for a couple of academic happenings)
Spain (because Ryan Air flies there for cheap from our neighboring airport)
Vienna (to see a friend I am looking forward to reconnecting with, whom I haven't seen since we bunked together in the Amazon some years ago, and also because there are ten pretty women there, and a lobby with nine hundred windows).

	User:	blergeatkitty
	Date:	2008-08-18 14:15
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

Dear LJ Genie,

Say you'd purchased a commercially-made VHS tape that you would like to somehow make into a digital copy that you can put onto a DVD. What kind of equipment would you need to do so, and do you know of anybody in the greater NYC metropolitan area who has such equipment?

(Before you get your copyright panties in a bunch, note that this particular tape went out of print about 20 years ago, and no DVD was ever made. The likelihood that this will ever again see the light of day in any sellable form is virtually nil. Were it available on DVD, I'd just buy the DVD, I promise. Were it available new in any form, I'd just buy it in that form. It's not. We have a VCR, so we COULD watch it like that, but it's much better and more special, and will survive for posterity, if I have a DVD.)

Love and other indoor sports,
Blerg

(PS - I apologize if this post shows up again later - I sent it by email at around 11:30 am and it never went through, so I'm reposting it the "real" way.)

	User:	offbalance
	Date:	2008-08-18 13:02
	Subject:	Big News.
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	happy

My sister eloped.

This is not a drill.

She's in San Diego getting married about right now.

She and Puck decided to do it this way because of skyrocketing wedding costs. And I can't say I blame them. The Wedding Industrial Complex(tm) has made it nigh impossible to have a wedding that doesn't cost ridiculous amounts of money. Plus, this is more romantic and private and all that. Both my parents and I are extremely happy for them, and hope they're having a wonderful time.

Best of luck to the happy couple. I'll just be over here with my head between my knees, trying to process all of this.

	User:	laughingirl
	Date:	2008-08-18 12:58
	Subject:	Eep! The Cafepress video!
	Security:	Public

If you don't want to watch all 9 minutes, my part starts at 6:25... :)

	User:	easterbunny
	Date:	2008-08-18 17:09
	Subject:	And in other language misfires...
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	ghoti

1. In my mind, "Monsieur Hosthomme" has become "Monsieur Awesome".

2. In my house, the magic word has precessed from "please" to sudo. The child is going to pick this up and all three of us are going to be called into the principal's office.

	User:	easterbunny
	Date:	2008-08-18 16:26
	Subject:	I done love me them Cougars
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	reference shelf

For all those times when one begins to argue, "Excuse me, I underwent a rigorous regime of grammar training during secondary education, and I am-- oh shit, I am WRONG, and my English teachers will find me and kill me," Washington State University presents an alphabetized guide to common errors in [yes, all right(*), American] English.

*See? I had to look this one up: apparently "alright" is [insert the Dr. Cox "Wrong Song" here]. But because you've all conspired to erode my patriotic confidence, I consulted the OED, which gives alright as a "frequent spelling of 'all right'" which is their way of saying that one would not find one stooping into such grammatoleaginous cheap seats.

	User:	commonpeople
	Date:	2008-08-18 16:12
	Subject:	Help Me Watch a Good Film
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	curious

I belong to Sofa Cinema, the British equivalent of Netflix.

My rental queue is running perilously low so I need suggestions for it. Seen any good horror films lately (or know of great classics?) Any films made you weep and fall in love with humanity again? Any action thrillers made you devour your nails? Would love to get some recommendations!

	User:	offbalance
	Date:	2008-08-18 10:45
	Subject:	Perception meme
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	creative

( Read more... )

	User:	easterbunny
	Date:	2008-08-18 12:53
	Subject:	Party hats and streamers
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	cheerful

Hee! There's a visiting canary named Tweetie in my office today. I was chatting to my officemates when I heard chirping above my head. I swivelled myhead left and right and asked, "Did a bird fly in here?" It would make a nice change from the wasps¹, after all. "Nope, that's Tweetie," said $OM1. It transpires that $OM2's family assumed the role of Canary Caretakers while $OM1's family was on holiday, so today is the handover, and thus we find Tweetie perched on a shelf between The M6800 Microprocessor Programming Manual and a ring binder labelled "Solar Maximum Mission: Rewiring Plan #1 Bath Tourist Info '96". Nothing gets thrown away here. I'm sure as hell not going to be the one to recycle the remnants of the Solar Maximum Mission #1 rewiring plan³.

The past weekend can only be described as super duper. On Friday, I took a long lunch so that Adam, Katie and I could go to NCT Nikola's house for a garden lunch and baby spectacular. Katie was introduced to the design delights of the Bumbo chair, and another couple reflected on the magnitude of recent life changes highlighted by a willing subscription to Caravan Magazine.

On Saturday, the three of us ventured to Metroland for margotmetroland and drpete's joint birthday party. ( Gushing ) Great party, great company, great food, great fire pit. Breakfast under a gazebo on Sunday morning was nothing to sneeze at, either.

( One hundred places to take a screaming baby: #77, Cinnamon Square in Rickmansworth )

Further office conversation has revealed the following canary behavioural gem: "During the day, Tweetie is nice. If you disturb him at night, he turns nasty."

¹That's one².
²Whoops. That scared the bejeezus out of Tweetie.
³$OM3 just arrived. "I hear a bird." "That's Tweetie."

	User:	synaesthesia
	Date:	2008-08-17 23:53
	Subject:	and while I'm thinking on lingerie:
	Security:	Public

File this away as "information I really didn't need to know, goddamnit":

The next AP to open will be... in Boston.

(nsfw: boobies)

	User:	lillianleitzel
	Date:	2008-08-17 19:51
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

Two things, quickly:

1. The new Woody Allen Movie, Vicki Cristina Barcelona, is totally charming and great and I would like to move in with Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz and have my own dark room immediately.

2. So Eric's husband Shax is a PhD candidate at Bard in the history of decorative arts and he knows 5000000 fascinating things about, like, 18th century porcelain and all kinds of other topics and he is totally scholarly and romantic and the kind of guy who should always be wearing vests and straw hats and be carrying around battered copies of Proust. He goes off on trips where he tours English castles with other academics and learns about teapots. And he writes really really cool articles for magazines like Antiques, where he wrote about this guy Ivan Day in England who is this culinary historian who regularly makes elaborate meals the way they would have been made hundreds of years ago, back when rich people were all about fancy sugar confections in the shapes of swans in the centers of their tables. Anyway, this morning I read this awesome article Shax wrote and you should read it immediately.

	User:	dinerjunkie
	Date:	2008-08-17 17:56
	Subject:	Super Awesome Body Aches
	Security:	Public

Gymnastics class kicked my ass. I'm sore in all parts of my body, even the muscles in my feet (from pointing). But it was awesome. AWESOME. I've been on an adrenaline high all day. Fun! It's the best all-around exercise. And it's totally a sport. YOU CAN'T ARGUE WITH ME ABOUT IT.

Now I'm going to go pop some Advil, ice my sore parts, and lather on the Ben Gay. I can't wait 'til next Sunday!

	User:	thefreak
	Date:	2008-08-17 11:11
	Subject:	Broke? Afraid to leave the house?
	Security:	Public

Credit-crunch 'isolation' warning

Don't risk your mental health by staying inside and avoiding going out with yer mates.

Why, I happen to know a free social engagement going on just this evening!



(see what I did there?)
------------
Thanks, the_angelus

	User:	edgeofmeri
	Date:	2008-08-17 10:35
	Subject:	I miss Dwight
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	guilty

Can't wait for the new season!

Not going to the book club meeting today. Since me and Stephen haven't really hung out much this past MONTH because of that crazy proposal he was working on, we're going to enjoy the rest of the weekend together. We'll do some house related things and go see Tropic Thunder.

	User:	lillianleitzel
	Date:	2008-08-17 09:15
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

So yesterday, amongst other things, I got to spend time with the sluttiest dog in the world, Shorty, who is the kind of dog who just slinks up and melts into you, gazing at you lasciviously all the while. Here is Shorty with Eric (wearing my sunglasses in a heartwrenching stab a glamour) yesterday, as we drove off to have an extremely decadent clam and lobster and MELTED BUTTER feast with Eric's awesome parents, who live in another lovely Connecticut country house nearby:



Can you see the invitation in his eyeballs?

Here is a photo of Shax and Duffy and Eric's mom Carol and Eric and Shorty. Note that the people here are relaxed and friendly, whilst the two dogs are both giving their best Garbo-at-the-prow-of-the-ship-in-Queen-Christina poses.





Not one ounce of shame!



Anyway, yesterday was extreeeeemly productive as in the morn I finished Eric's (very very very lovely and elegant) manuscript in my room and then, after lunch at a roadside little restaurant with outdoor tables and an American flag hanging from its side, he and I sat in a screened alcove in this woody little country house, with a little lamp lit beside us, and gave each other feedback on our books allllll afternoon while it pounded rain outside and Shax brought us iced coffees and Reeses peanut butter cups on a tray. Our lonngggg discussione was incredibly helpful and great for both of us and Eric would be the first person who's read the 200 pages I have of my noir, and now we have a date again in one month to exchange our books again, this time hopefully entire completed drafts. Our reward was said lobster feast as well as a viewing of Project Runway with Eric's parents, whom I love and who actually appear in my noir as the heroine's fiance's perfect and super-sophisticated city-dwelling parents, and today all we have to do is lounge about and eat waffles and steaks and play many many board games and drive into a nearby town to see the new Woody Allen movie. IT IS VERY HARD.

Oh and here we are being unbelievably elegant.




The end.

	User:	brigid
	Date:	2008-08-17 02:48
	Subject:	you can never go home.
	Security:	Public

i brought ethan and peter to my hometown and it still baffles me how different everything is. the movie theater is a boat store, the bowling alley is an auto body shop, half the cute stores are gone, there's a quizno's in the center of town, there's a buffy the vampire themed comic book store next to my favorite record store, there's a skateshop and a coffee shop in the middle of town, and my highschool is now covered with security cameras. property lots look cut in half....everything is just off. i can never believe how much it has changed in 12 years.

we went down to the water, fireman's park, the two little town museums (that are full of stuff relating to my family), and all the other aforementioned places.

i wanted to go to the cold spring harbor hatcher to get some pictures but i do not think time will be on our side. i need to try to get down here more...even if it makes my head spin a little.

i watched the Saddleback Civil Forum tonight, which had made "useless operation of boycotting the olympics" a lot easier. mccain sounded decent though completely avoided the "define wealth" comment, and i didn't like how obama stressed how against gay marriage he was....however i think he came out ahead.

	User:	sneerpout
	Date:	2008-08-17 03:38
	Subject:	The most rock'n'roll weekend possible
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	Duffer
	Music:	Unkle - Broken

So, I caught a jet* into London, just to go to a party. And it was wild.

I packed a bottle of Veuve Cliquot**, a good bottle of Spanish red, and a pile of blades***.

Nearly all of the beautiful people were there. It got hot pretty fast.

I did a lot of coke**** but found that I'd peaked too soon, so had to split.

I picked up a beautiful woman***** and a tall handsome man****** and took them away with me. We went the scenic route*******, if you know what I mean.

Tomorrow, I fly back to Switzerland********.

It's pretty tough, being me.

* Air France.
** A present for the beautiful birthday girl, margotmetroland
*** Chocolate shaped like Swiss Army Knives
**** Diet Coke
***** zoo_music_girl
****** childeric
******* I was an idiot and took the wrong turning at the M25, so we drove for 20 minutes in the wrong direction before I spotted my mistake.
******** Lucky Switzerland, huh?

	User:	lapsedmodernist
	Date:	2008-08-16 20:38
	Subject:	The Farm and other curiosities
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	good

Today we went to this place...it's an old farm, in the middle of a bucolic field with sheep, where recovered drug addicts live, and on Saturdays they sell used goods donated to them--it's a second-hand charity shop of sorts. We found some furniture for the house, and three mirrors: a black wrought-iron round one, like the sun with spiraly outgrowths of black metal, a white trapezoid-shaped art nouveau mirror crowned with a detailed leaf at the top, and a larger purple mirror detailed with wooden (and felt? or some other material?) yellow flowers, made to look wilted. It has that circus-or-theater-dressing-room look that I love.

Relatedly, my plans for my study: every Friday there is a marketplace where some of the vendors sell fabrics of all kinds. There is a stall where cheap, brightly-colored (in every color--turquise, gold, pink, red--everything) translucent gossimer (or gossimer-type) fabric is available. I think I will drape the walls in the study with long pieces of this fabric, overlaid on top of each other, so that all the walls are covered--then I will hang photographs and poscards right on the fabric--or pin them through the fabric into the wall.

Finally, today as I waited for the bus, I walked through a flea market by the train station--full of little tin cans with cute old drawings, that I love for storing small tchotchkes, and outdated globes, and old cameras, and an old lenses grab box--all dirt cheap, but may or may not work...I think it will be fun to come back with my Nikon and try them out, see if they fit, and see if they work...

(Also: our soon-to-be house is in the part of town where what lies directly across the river isn't the old city, with its medieval buildings and cobble-stone streets (that part of town is about three blocks to the left, because everything is so close here)--but, rather, the brightly painted windows of a huge squat, right on the river, where apparently a lot of art events and grassroots progressive events and other cool things happen...naturally, this place is at the top of my list of places I want to explore, housing people I am curious to meet...)

	User:	edgeofmeri
	Date:	2008-08-16 10:47
	Subject:	Happy Birthday Madonna!
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	fat

I can't believe this fierce bitch is 50. I memorized those dance moves when I was 11 and did them in my bedroom.

Nothing is happening today. I am going to watch The Dark Knight on bootleg DVD (I didn't buy it, someone at work gave it to me. If the quality is really crappy I will throw it away after watching Joker bits) while Stephen's reuniting with World of Warcraft. I also need to read a lot. The book club meeting is tomorrow, and I know I won't be done with the selected book (I didn't get it until a couple of weeks ago; North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell), I need to finish up either The Satanic Verses or The Unbearable Lightness of Being so I have an open spot in my reading rotation.

	User:	easterbunny
	Date:	2008-08-16 14:25
	Subject:	A moveable parlor
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	chipper

If I experience hesitation over future living room decor, I shall purchase 40 tons of sand and ask the fabulously behatted people of DirtyBeach to sculpt a few chaises longues for me.

On Thursday after work, I joined ladycat, denalyia, nisaba, magfish, and margotmetroland for an evening of al fresco entertainments. We first had a glass of wine on the R.S. Hispaniola. The entrance ramp is found next to a splendid Embankment frieze commemorating Joseph Bazalgette, my favourite Victorian sewage engineer, but I would recommend caution for those attempting embarkation or disembarkation of this steep ramp even without the demon drink.

Next, we strolled over the river and through the blue and white woods of Jubilee Gardens to eat pizza under the stars (well, mainly outdoor fluorescent lights) at Gabriel's Wharf with attending classical guitar. After dinner, we hmmed and hawed about coffee and dessert versus early Victoria line closures, and the six of us drifted to the river walk to look down at the Thames beach sand sculptures: 3 sofas, a pig, a turtle, and Davy Jones (with locker). As a travelogue aside, the opportunities to visit Slovenian caves and Parisian catacombs only crop up when I'm wearing my nicest suede heels, and so when someone (magfish?) suggested checking out the sculptures at close range, I found myself with the following choices:

• not joining (not likely)
• going barefoot and trading lacerated feet with attending fungal infections for pristine suede shoes
• writing off the shoes

ladycat

margotmetroland

	User:	dinerjunkie
	Date:	2008-08-16 00:21
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

OH MOTHER MARY. Wawa has stuffing! It's fucking delicious. Might possibly be better than the mac & cheese, which is only THE BEST THING AT WAWA (aside from the lemonade tea).

I love the double Wa. If I ever left the Philadelphia area, it would be the number one thing I would miss.

	User:	misprid
	Date:	2008-08-15 19:45
	Subject:	THIS WEEKS PRIDS BENEFIT
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	nervous

because this hurt A LOT.


Please come out. We need lots of help. Total emergency bills at the moment is over $109,000, and this DOES NOT include post-care. Also, Maile is needing surgery on a disk in her neck, which is urgent. It's pressing on her spine and doctors are saying if she fell, or was jarred hard enough, this disk could pierce her spine and paralyze her from the neck down. No fucking joke.

Send good vibes dudes. We're trying to stay positive for her. She is going to try and come to benefit tomorrow. No back slaps, ok?

	User:	thefreak
	Date:	2008-08-15 19:11
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

Anyone have fine dining experience? We are in need of servers at yama.

	User:	jameskitty
	Date:	2008-08-15 20:33
	Subject:	He who laffs last.... is the weirdo in the room.
	Security:	Public

Two wonderful little gems from the Fail Blog:


see more pwn and owned pictures

and


see more pwn and owned pictures

	User:	margotmetroland
	Date:	2008-08-15 23:22
	Subject:	24 hours of FAB!
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	Brilliant

Wow, everyone should have birthdays. Proper birthdays, not just a day for sending cards and buying doughnuts.

It started yesterday evening when I met up with the Ladies for an impromptu dinner and drinks session. We started off on the Hispaniola restaurant boat, drinking Vina Sol and gossiping to excellent levels. The food was either non-veggie tapas (with v. expensive cheese) or overpriced pasta and fish in the main restaurant, accompanied by non-talking couples and a pianist, so we buggered off to Southbank and tasty pizza and pasta. More wine and a failed attempt to get a busker to sing to us accompanied conversations of the lowest levels before we wandered off for dessert and the sand sculptures down by the river.

Oh man, these guys are good: www.dirtybeach.tv

Somehow we ended up not just looking at the sand sculptures, but sitting on them - a sand sofa for 5 specifically. Then the sand guys lead the Southbank crowds in a chorus of Happy Birthday, all for me. It was wonderful, mere words can't describe how happy it made me.

I left the Ladies at Le Pain Quotidien for dessert, preferring the lure of the Metropolitan Line to cake. Hmm.

Had the day off today and the sun shone good. Shopped for the weekend and accidentally bought a new fireplace for the winter. Got lots of birthday wishes, cards, texts etc, plus a totally unexpected bunch of gorgeous flowers (You know who you are! Thank you so much).

drpete took me for a very fine dinner at Papillon (www.papillonchelsea.co.uk), complete with delicious Gosset rosé and an absolutely top Maitre d'. The food was superb but the service and ambience were absolutely top notch and I want to go back now! We had:

Seared tuna with raw veg and tapenade
Crab in many ways (mousse, in a spring roll thing, bits etc)

Chateaubriand with rosti and pureed spinach
Halibut with foamy stuff, swiss chard and smoky-tasting whelks on a rosemary stick
Mash, green beans and mixed veg

Chocolate fondant with ice cream
Floating island (soft meringue in creme anglais and crunchy bits) with a birthday candle in a chocolate truffle and Happy Birthday written in chocolate round the plate

Gavi de Gavi wine
Gosset rosé

We've been to some good restaurants but this one absolutely takes the sugar biscuit in terms of ambience and service. Go, it's so worth it, and ask for table 16 - it's the one to See and Be Seen, especially when swigging Gosset rosé...

More birthday fun tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to it. Who'd have thought 35 could be so good?

	User:	thefreak
	Date:	2008-08-15 15:41
	Subject:	Eat, Drink, and Listen: Live Tales this Sunday
	Security:	Public

We kick off four weeks (at least) of LIVE performances of Tales of the Extraordinary:



Featuring:

- An extensive dining menu and beverages
- Ample parking
- Audience as Foley Artists
- Monkeys, Monks, and Mongolians

And an opening performance by

	User:	damiel
	Date:	2008-08-15 17:26
	Subject:	2008 Bulwer-Lyttons
	Security:	Public

The runners-up:

3rd place:

"Die, commie pigs!" grunted Sergeant "Rocky" Steele through his cigar stub as he machine-gunned the North Korean farm animals.

"Hmm . . ." thought Abigail as she gazed languidly from the veranda past the bright white patio to the cerulean sea beyond, where dolphins played and seagulls sang, where splashing surf sounded like the tintinnabulation of a thousand tiny bells, where great gray whales bellowed and the sunlight sparkled off the myriad of sequins on the flyfish's bow ties, "time to get my meds checked."

Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped "Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J."

	User:	damiel
	Date:	2008-08-15 16:32
	Subject:	Tetrawsome!
	Security:	Public

The tetrasome between Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Scarlet Johansson and Rebecall Hall that we've all been waiting for is here. Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona opens this weekend.

	User:	thefreak
	Date:	2008-08-15 10:40
	Subject:	You love to hate her...
	Security:	Public

...but at least she has the facts:



This Week:

- McCain is still trying to get people to believe the $42,000 tax myth, despite being debunked every single time he does it. Even the usually tepid host starts getting pissed.
- Obama ad chooses a cool shot of McCain walking with dudes that are not, in fact, lobbyists as the narrator implies.
- McCain presents a vaguer than vague energy plan that does not mention his support for 45 new nuclear plants. They even ask an energy expert to explain McCain's "energy plan." His response? "I don't know what that means."

	User:	lillianleitzel
	Date:	2008-08-15 12:57
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

I have been verry busy and in New York the past week having fancy lunches and dinners involving large goblets of red wine and friends and editors and agents and ex coworkers and film peoples and last weekend I spent in the Berkshires with my friend David and his lovely wife Julie and his four wild boys who screamed and hollered and trampled about the woods in the nude picking berries. I mean you would think they were tiny woodland creatures rather than city-dwelling children:



The weekend was very idyllic. Ponds were swam/swum? in,



cuddling was done upon open fields,



and, when atmospheric rain kept all involved indoors, yours truly was persecuted for evil sport.



This is what happens in the wild. Today I am off to Connecticut to spend the weekend with Eric and his husband Shax. Eric and I have exchanged manuscripts and will discuss my noir and his Berlin book, and we will also do many many fun things involving lobster and clams and porches replete with rocking chairs and hanging plants. Monday I come back to New York and spend two days with Tink and my best friend Aoife, and then Wednesday my sister and I fly to Florida to meet my parents and celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. Then we come back to NYC and Joi will be driving back to Pennsylvania with me for the GRANGE FAIR, which I have never been to but I know involves MANY KINDS OF LIVESTOCK.

I also just this morning turned in brand spanking new revisions for Godmother, which has, I am free to say, been bought by Headline in the UK and so will be published there as well as here next spring. Headline has also bought an unwritten next book about a girl who is HALF MERMAID. I am not sure whether I have also said that Godmother has been optioned for film by Random House Films/Focus Features. All very awesome glamorous peoples have done the buying and optioning and it is all QUITE WONDROUS.

The end.