musesfool, posts by tag: links - LiveJournal

I feel like my posts lately have either been super depressing or lists, so today we'll go with lists:

♦ Another board meeting successfully managed, even if I did forget the table tents. *wry* I feel like I could sleep for a week though. I think tomorrow is going to be a no bra, no boots Saturday. Not my real boss who is now my actual real boss - so I guess boss3 works as an identifier - was supposed to take me to lunch today to discuss goals and moving forward, but the weather is shitty so we've postponed for Monday.

♦ Joss Whedon may be making a Batgirl movie. First off, I will believe this when I see it, as in when I am buying (or more likely, not buying) a ticket for it.

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So as you can see, I have a lot of feelings and they are very mixed.

♦ In other potential blockbuster franchise movie news, Lucasfilm is rumored to actually have an Obi-Wan movie in the pipeline. With Ewan McGregor. I am SO HERE for that, especially if it's wily desert hermit Obi-Wan fighting bounty hunters and Hutts and keeping young Luke out of trouble on Tatooine. (I honestly thought his cameo on Rebels meant there would be no movie at all, despite all my - and Ewan McGregor's - wishing.) I have a lot feelings about this too, but they are mostly good! *g*

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Why not make an Ahsoka movie? Rosario Dawson is interested and she's already in the Disney/Marvel stable of actors...

♦ In something I have no feelings about either way, except they are going to have to find some extraordinary child actors, apparently HBO is co-adapting the first of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels. I really should read the rest of those, but I found the first book so intense that I couldn't tell if I was enjoying it or not, so I haven't gone back to read the others.

♦ March 2017 recs update:

unfitforsociety has been updated for March 2017 with 16 recs in 4 fandoms:

* 9 Star Wars
* 4 Avengers, 1 Spider-Man/Fantastic Four
* 1 Harry Potter and 1 Life

♦ and lastly, the March 2017 writing roundup:

Everything That Rises Must Converge (@ AO3)
Star Wars; Obi-Wan, Leia, Luke, Vader; g; AU; 5,165 words
In which Leia makes it to Tatooine's surface after the Tantive IV is boarded, and nobody is prepared for this particular family reunion.

I actually did other writing this month, but nothing else got finished. I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out, though.

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I am coming to you live from my new 13" MacBook Pro, which I have decided to name BB-8, because it is small and cute. The old 15" MacBook Pro (aka Alexander III) is a true workhorse of a machine, but I just couldn't deal with the mostly non-working trackpad anymore, or the amount of time it took to open and save files and various other things that you can expect from a 6.5 year old laptop. And also I wanted to be able to take my laptop with me next week to Dom's, and old Alex is too heavy for that.

I went to the Apple store on Madison and 74th this morning, and the whole transaction, including my going to and from, was done in less than an hour. And then I spent a couple hours setting things up on the new machine (I didn't have many bookmarks but ugh, the passwords), though I still have to add a lot of my music and also my Word files, which the Google tells me will open in Pages, since I was not about to subscribe to Office 365 for $70 a year. If not, I made sure to copy the wsip over to my private writing DW and I can just paste them into new files here. Though the dude at the Apple store said I could just use my Time Machine backups to restore to the new laptop, but I didn't see a way to do that? And I'm not sure I really want all of that cluttering up the new machine. So we'll see what I decide to do. It's the music that's really a hassle. My collection shrinks every time I have to do it, despite all that time I spent ripping CDs to iTunes all those years ago.

Anyway, so far it's a joy to have a trackpad that actually works and also the screen is smaller but sharper. I chose the Pro over the Air - that's why I went in person, to look at them and make a decision - because of the Retina display. *hands* It's not really much heavier than the 13" Air. I picked them both up to check. I still ended up buying the most expensive version though. I blame my dad and his "get the most memory and most powerful processor you can" attitude. I mean, I just told them I wanted the most powerful thing I could walk out of the store with, because I don't have time two wait for two weeks for them to build a machine where every possible spec is upgraded, so baby steps? Maybe one day I'll just be like, "whatever, I don't care." But I haven't reached that point yet.

I was surprised that although they sold me a sleeve, they didn't try to sell me any other peripherals. I would have probably sprung for an Airport backup thingy if they'd mentioned it, but they didn't so I didn't. My WD passport is still working so maybe the Airport thingy can wait.

So that's my exciting Sunday! Plus, Jacob deGrom pitched a complete game 1-hit shutout, which I enjoyed. And here are a couple of links you might like: The AV Club's Random Roles with Richard Schiff and Enrico Colantoni.

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The holiday weekend was fun but busy. I left for Dom's on Saturday around 12:30 pm, got stuck in crosstown traffic and almost missed my train, hung out with various cousins etc. at Nicole's graduation party, did not get sucked into any political conversation (\o/), and ate a lot of excellent food.

Sunday was more of the same except it was Abby's graduation party and so it was a different set of cousins. *hands* And also we left just as cake was being served so I could make my train. I was very glad to not have to spend Sunday night out there too. It just makes the three-day weekend even shorter if you have to spend most of your Monday morning on a train. The Sunday evening sunset on my train ride home was GLORIOUS. And it just kept going and going. I was unable to get another picture once the skyline came into view, and it had gone even purplier, but it was one of the most spectacular sunsets I've ever seen.

Yesterday, I lazed around and watched two episodes of The West Wing (one of which, "Galileo," was in preparation for Juno, which entered Jupiter's orbit early this morning, which is very exciting), which I turned on because the Mets were losing 6-0, but then they were losing 6-2, and then 6-4, and then it was tied! And they won 8-6, so I'm glad I watched those last few innings after giving up early on. Five in a row! And another sweep of the Cubs to go with it!

And in the evening, I did the annual rewatch of 1776, which is always fun, and interesting to see its portrayal of Jefferson in the wake of Hamilton. #i'm obnoxious and disliked #you know that sir

And lastly, I posted some context-free porn for Steve Rogers' birthday:

The reoccurring kind (@ AO3)
Captain America; Steve/Bucky; adult; 1,101 words
Steve loves it when Bucky's rough with him, when the finger-shaped bruises on his hips don't fade in minutes and he can still feel every inch of Bucky inside him for hours.

because every other story idea I had was too big to work with only a few hours to write, or too sad to contemplate. Oh, Steve.

Now I have to figure out what I want to have ready to post on my birthday, which is only ten days away!

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I spent the past two Mother's Days (since my mother died) getting my hair did, as that seemed like a nice way to avoid the hype and do something nice for myself, but also not sit around wallowing. I had a similar plan for today, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it after I had a bit of a crying jag this morning, which gave me a headache (compounded by the fact that I didn't have any coffee, since I was planning to go to the Starbucks next door to the salon, as I usually do), so when L. texted me to find out if I was at the salon, I was like, "...No, I can't get off the couch" but she was like, "Would you like to meet up for brunch?" So we did that, and it was good. The weather cleared so it's beautiful out now, which was, like, probably 30% of my mood issue, but also I just got home and discovered that my period had arrived (I expected it today, though the app I use said Wednesday), so that explains probably another 30% of my mood, with the rest being, you know, sad about my mom.

Anyway, my Q for the flist is this, if I normally just have them dye my hair my normal dark brown to cover my grays, could I instead have them dye it burgundy to cover the gray or would that require a dual process? Because there is no way these days that I can sit for the 3+ hours a dual process requires, but I also kind of want something different and exciting.

In more exciting news, here's video of Bartolo Colon's first ever career home run. Which is a big deal because he is 8 days shy of his 43rd birthday, which makes him the oldest player ever to hit a first homer. And also because he has worked really hard to become a better hitter, and it's paid off. And his pitching is still great, too. Great athletes come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. <3

And here are some cool CACW links (spoilers, obv):

+ How Bucky And Cap's "Amazing Relationship" Became The Center Of "Captain America: Civil War"

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+ a gif of my fave moment in the movie (also here)

+ really everything in my "Cap 3 spoilers" tag is worth looking at. ( Collapse )

+ those stupidly hot Chris Evans photos from Rolling Stone

And completely unrelated to CACW:

+ angelgazing made me have Sirius feels so I wrote a small ficlet about his time in Azkaban. I guess it needs a title before I can put it up on Ao3 so if you have an idea, lemme know. I was thinking about "Misty, Watercolored" or maybe "No Exit" from the West Wing episode title list, but since he does escape, that wouldn't exactly fit, so. IDK.

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Went out to the island yesterday for a birthday dinner for my dad - he turned 81! He's doing pretty well, and it was a nice afternoon, even if it required ~4.5 hours roundtrip of travel for a 3.5 hour visit.

I'm just tired now. Work is quiet atm but will be gearing up again to be stupidly hectic later this week, and ugh, I will probably eventually post about it all under a lock, but it's not so much the extra work that bothers me as the way it's being handled and the circumstances surrounding it. Bah. But being so busy at work and so tired when I get home means writing has taken a backseat, and I find that annoying as well. It's not a permanent thing - it'll be done in about six weeks, but ugh, it's just exhausting to get there.

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Two links:

= via umadoshi, here's a fun interview with Natalie Morales, who to me will always be Wendy Watson first and foremost, but I wish she'd get cast on something I already watch or in movies I want to see!

= mousapelli created bar cookies based on Check, Please! (which you should all read as it's adorable): Zimbits (Peach Ginger Shortbread Bar Cookies with Maple Buttercream Frosting). I think both Bitty and Jack would approve. I am definitely going to have to try them out at some point.

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Today's poem:

Everyday
by Mike McGee

Everyday I rewrite her name across my ribcage
so that those who wish to break my heart
will know who to answer to later
She has no idea that I've taught my tongue to make pennies,
and every time our mouths are to meet
I will slip coins to the back of her throat and make wishes

I wish
that someday
my head on her belly might be like home
like doubt to doubt resuscitation
because time is supposed to mean more than skin
She doesn't know that I have taught my arms to close around her clocks
so they can withstand the fallout from her Autumn

She is so explosive,
volcanoes watch her and learn
terrorists want to strap her to their chests
because she is a cause worth dying for
Maybe someday
time will teach me to pick up her pieces
put her back together
and remind her to click her heels
but she doesn't need a wizard to tell her that I was here all along

Lady
let us catch the next tornado home
let us plant cantaloupe trees in our backyard
then maybe together we will realize that we don't like cantaloupe
and they don't grow on trees
we can laugh about it
then we can plant things we've never heard of

I've never heard of a woman
who can make flawed look so beautiful
the way you do

The word smitten is to how I feel about you
what a kiss is to romance
so maybe my lips to yours could be the penance to this confession
because I am the only one preaching your defunct religion
sitting alone at your altar, praising you out of faith

I cannot do this hard-knock life alone
You are all the softness a rock dreams of being
the mistakes the rain makes at picnics
when Mother Nature bears witness in much better places

So yes
I will gladly take on your ocean
just to swim beneath you
so I can kiss the bends of your knees
in appreciation for the work they do
keeping your head above water

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Jane the Virgin
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Via sovay, here's a great interview with William Daniels and Lin-Manuel Miranda! John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, together again! #i'm obnoxious and disliked #you know that sir

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So you know that project that I thought was due on 3/31 that they made me do for 3/18? Well they reinstituted the 3/31 date, so I had to redo the whole thing EVEN THOUGH ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN THE FRONT FACING INFORMATION CHANGED BECAUSE OF THE DATE CHANGE. So I spent my morning doing that. Sigh.

Two more days then a four-day weekend. Deep breaths.

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It's supposed to hit record-breaking temperatures again today! I wore my new fake leather Darth Vader jacket and it was too warm, even at 8 am! I like the jacket but it has tiny pockets. Which led to this conversation with angelgazing. (Also, I can't help but think of mousapelli's plaintive "Lex Luthor would never have to put up with this" whenever things went sideways.) #we make our own fun

Also I managed to spill coffee on it. I feel like that's just the right touch of human disaster to christen it, and also a good substitute for the blood of anyone who gets in my way. *hands* Now to cultivate a murder swagger.

Speaking of which, March 10 is the birthday of two of my favorite fictional characters: Bucky Barnes and Remus Lupin! Alas, I have no stories to post, but feel free to squee in the comments. We're supposed to be getting a new Civil War trailer today, too, but I won't be able to watch it until I get home. Sigh. I think I might be ready to blacklist it on tumblr. Just let me live, people.

In other news, I've been rewatching The West Wing, and man, I forgot how much "Ellie" makes me cry. So much crying. "The only thing you ever had to do to make me happy was come home at the end of the day." *sobs* (and yes, Lin-Manuel Miranda did say that TWW was an influence on Hamilton.)

Also re: The West Wing, did you see the reunion for that veterans' charity? Gif sets here and here. Aw, heart.

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So there are now little signs on the registers at my regular Starbucks that say: "Warning: this item may contain more than the RDA of sodium" and while I'm sure it's supposed to be for the food, my first thought was "oh, the baristas think they're salty."

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Couple links:

= Sarah Shahi cast as Nancy Drew. Hopefully this will be in the higher tier of CBS procedurals, because I really like Sarah Shahi. And hopefully Nancy will be shacked up with George, as she should be.

= 11 Questions with Natalie Morales. I wish they'd talked more about The Middleman, but there's some really fun stuff in there. I wish she were on a show I want to watch. She should guest star on Jane the Virgin!

Speaking of:

Jane the Virgin: Chapter Thirty-five
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I also watched the Rangers - TWO STAALS NOW (and hey, a guy who can win faceoffs!) - though I missed Stepan's shorthanded game-winning goal because of JtV. *hands*

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February 2016 writing roundup:

it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive (at AO3)
Captain America; Steve/Bucky; adult; 2,005 words
Steve wants to make sure Bucky knows how he feels about him, especially after all those years they kept silent, and then all those years they'd lost.

New Territory (at AO3)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars; Ahsoka, Anakin, Padmé, Obi-Wan (Anakin/Padmé); adult; 8,660
In order to complete a mission, Anakin and Ahsoka are forced to have sex with each other, and then they have to deal with the awkwardness afterward.

learn to live with what you can't rise above (at AO3)
Star Wars; Leia, Anakin; g; 1,990 words
Leia doesn't have time for the ghost of her dead father, except when she does.

Heh. I feel like with "New Territory," I'll have an answer this year to the "what story was wrong even for you?" question on the year-end survey this time around. It's no secret incest baby but it's still creepy and wrong.

And heh, I just noticed two Springsteen lyric titles. Sometimes I'm so obviously me I can't even see it without having it pointed out.

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Two things on this brutally cold Saturday:

1. Here's a great post pointing out that Finn is the Zuko of TFA; Kylo Ren is the Azula. (though as liz-squids points out in a later post, at least Kylo Ren has a conscience, even if he doesn't listen to it. I still love Azula, though.)

So Rey is Aang? Or Katara? Poe is clearly Sokka: "BB-8, you do always come back!"

Though I guess in the case of TFA, Mark Hamill's playing the Uncle Iroh role instead of the Fire Lord Ozai role. (And if Kylo Ren were Zuko, he definitely wouldn't want any calming tea, Uncle!)

2. misbegotten made some lovely Grayson icons. I definitely snurched that "You don't know Dick!" one.

And speaking of Grayson, internet rumors tell me that DC may be rebooting again, so Grayson might be ending, which is unfortunate, because I mind giving them money a little less when it's for a book I enjoy so much. I definitely recommend it if you can handle (or ignore, as I do) the reboot timeline nonsense, because it gives good Dick.

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On my way home last night, there was apparently a man on the train tracks, so there were a whole bunch of cops and EMTs rushing down the platform to get him and of course, everyone on the platform was like, 'There's a guy on the tracks!' and trying to see what was happening. A little more excitement than I generally like on my commute, but nobody got run over and the train was barely delayed, so I guess it turned out all right.

Either way, I didn't get home until about 9:30, so I just watched The X-Files and I am so glad I did. The hilarity of this episode (penned by Darin Morgan) absolutely justifies the existence of this revisit, even if the rest of the episodes are back down to the quality of the first two.

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So yeah, if you've been on the fence about watching, just watch this episode and call it good.

In other news, I finally got around to reading that exposé on the Mast Brothers. They're "artisanal" chocolatiers and the artisanal is in quotes because apparently they are lying liars who lie about their chocolate-making process, or at least have made very untrue claims over the years of being bean-to-bar chocolate makers when they are probably not, and also they have terrible hipster beards and charge $10 for a bar of apparently not very good chocolate, so I enjoyed reading it a lot. It reminded me of fannish scandals, in that it's a small community of very dedicated people investigating other people who exploited the community's trust.

As someone who spent a week making home-made chocolate candies using industrial-made chocolate, I found it quite enlightening. Also, if I could have afforded it, I would have used all Valrhona chocolate, too, because it was the best of the brands I used, which were as follows:

- Valrhona
- Ghirardelli
- Green & Black
- Mercken's
- Callebaut
- Scharffen Berger
- Guittard

Mostly I used Ghirardelli and Green & Black, as my grocery store carries them and they're easy to break into small pieces for melting purposes, and they're good but not great chocolate.

I actually started out with Scharffen Berger that I'd had for ages, though I found it to have too strong a flavor to really use with other things. It's great for baking - it has a really nice rich and fruity taste to it that's great for brownies and cakes, but in chocolates where I was adding nuts or fruit or whatever, I found it overpowered whatever I added, so I didn't use much of it.

The Mercken's was great for melting and I used it for the pb cups, because it was only 51%, and thus sweeter, as my sister prefers milk or less bitter chocolate, and they were mostly for her. (Though I doubled the recipe and made them in mini muffin cups, so I got like 60 of them when I was done, so everybody got some.) I also used Mercken's white chocolate for the pseudo Andes candies, and it was great - very easy to work with.

The Callebaut was fine but I didn't love it (at least, I have no recollection of it standing out).

The Valrhona satilia was the best - both for melting and for tasting on its own and mixing things in - but it was also the most expensive, so I didn't have much of it.

I think I bought some Guittard bittersweet wafers from King Arthur, but I have no real strong memory of it if I did; it's possible I didn't use it - I still have a ton of chocolate hanging around because I bought way too much. When I decided on making chocolate for gifts, I started buying a few bars a week during my usual grocery shopping so the cost would be amortized over time, and then I just...kept buying them even after I ordered a few pounds of the stuff from King Arthur as well. I am just very bad at doing the math to figure out exactly what I was going to need, mostly because I decided on the fly what I was going to make after stockpiling ingredients for a couple of months.

Obviously, I have pretty plebeian tastes (I still happily eat Hershey's when there's nothing else available), so if you have a more sophisticated palate, probably stick with the higher-end brands. *hands*

Did I ever list off the entire repertoire of what I made? I can't recall, so here it is:
= peanut butter cups
= chocolate mint cups
= hazelnut clusters
= macadamia nut clusters
= rocky road (I used crushed almonds and marshmallow fluff)
= cherry almond clusters
= cranberry pecan clusters (ridiculously good, mostly because pecans are always delicious)
= blueberry clusters
= orange cranberry clusters
= coffee cinnamon cups
= cherry clusters

And with one of my Amazon gift certificates, I did buy the little Wilton chocolate melting pot, though I haven't tested it yet (and I don't think it actually tempers chocolate, just keeps it at a steady temp so you can easily work with it), and I received several enthusiastic texts about the gifts, so I will probably be doing it again next this year.

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