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Thursday, November 13th, 2008
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11:03 am - Yuletide, the supersekrit diary
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As an experiment, I'll be keeping a Yuletide-writing record this year in a private-locked LJ post (or multiple private posts linked by tags). If it's not too embarrassing, I'll unlock it after the Reveal on January 1. Sort of like "the making of..." in DVD extras, for Recipient and anyone else who cares to look.
Probable contents: the usual combination of story-related cheering, flailing, whining, babbling, bragging, eureka-moments and anything else that comes along. Because I'm just that jealous of the NaNowriters who can post progress reports as they go, while Yuletiders writhe and bite their tongues in anonymity. :D
current mood:  optimistic
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(2 slugs belched | Hex me!)
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| Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
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8:32 pm - Yuletide-related squee-bouncing
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Oh, I just knew the Yuletide assignment would arrive while I was asleep.
It's in my inbox. It's looking straight at me. This will determine where my brain spends the next month! OMGOMGOMG, dare I click? - Yes, I dare!
*clicks* EEEP! *stares*
*bounces* Oh, YES! And along with that fandom, I do believe I could write in any of my Recipient's requested fandoms. Oh, SQUEEEEE!!!
Excuse me while I go revel in a small fandom. Meanwhile, how about some icon links? ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) liviapenn made dozens of lovely and diverse Yuletide icons, go look: icon post 1, icon post 2, icon post 3. And featherxquill made six "Yuletide n00b" icons: over there.
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(2 slugs belched | Hex me!)
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5:58 am - Dear Yuletide Writer...
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Well, what I really want is a Harry Potter/Fawlty Towers crossover AU Shakespearean comedy deathfic, exactly 2,651 words long, in which everyone has green eyes and every third sentence starts with the letter C, and there's True Love and oral sex on a spaceship and performing seals and harpsichords, and nobody knows what happened to the goblin, but The Butler Did It!
( Though I'd settle for... )
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(Hex me!)
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| Monday, November 10th, 2008
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10:37 pm - Yuletide: still growing
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Yuletide sign-ups: 1,503 people, squee! :D (sign-ups close within a few hours - see yuletide_admin)
There are now two people volunteering to write for Les Enfants du Paradis, so there's some chance of fic happening from my request for that (yay, not just crickets chirping). Whatever does or doesn't happen, I'd like to meet those two people when it's all over.
And every fandom I've offered to write is sending me into its own particular twitchy state. If I get that one, can I ever match the canon's style? If I get this one, it has a cast of thousands and I went "Any" - OMG - And there's no way I have any bunnies for that one, so I sure hope the request is specific...
Good luck to everyone else who's twitching through the final countdown to assignments. :)
Meme, gacked from celandineb: ( Dewey Decimal Quiz: I'm 146 Naturalism & related systems... )
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(Hex me!)
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| Saturday, November 8th, 2008
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7:51 am - Yuletide: remarkably popular, considering the lack of Snape.
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Great to see the Yuletide sign-up numbers pass 1,000 (currently at 1,099). I was 917th. :)
Still reloading Yuletide's Requested/Offered Fandoms page. It's addictive.
Aww, Winnie the Pooh: will it ever get a request? (45 offers, zero requests) I don't even like Winnie the Pooh. Just wondering. Ditto for Frances Hodgson Burnett - A Little Princess, on 46 and zero, though I do like that one. And I don't know what Fifth Element is, but this is rather sad: 53 offers, zero requests.
Are Yuletiders sick of Shakespeare? King Lear (29 offers), Macbeth (33 offers), Much Ado About Nothing (41 offers), Othello (31 offers), Romeo and Juliet (36 offers) - all with zero requests. (Hamlet and the Henry plays are getting requests, though.)
I feel I've done my bit by turning two fandoms from yellow to blue: contributed the first requests for The Little White Horse and Les Enfants du Paradis. A few other fandoms that I'd love to read during Yuletide-madness season, but they still have zero requests, so I'm hoping somebody asks for them: Another Country (8 offers), Are You Being Served (8), Brazil (1), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (8), Daphne du Maurier - Rebecca (19), Doonesbury (3), The Good Life (4), The Goodies (1), Harold and Maude (6), Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale (18), Marion Zimmer Bradley - Mists of Avalon (11), Max Headroom (7), Mythology - Finnish (10), RPF - 12th century (12), RPF - Classical history and literature (15), Tennessee Williams - Glass Menagerie (5), Thelma and Louise (7), Thunderbirds (4), To The Manor Born (3), Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose (9), Virginia Woolf - Orlando (3), The Young Ones (7).
Thinking of possible nominations for next year and writing them down. I didn't know songs were allowed - was that an innovation from last year? Wondering if there would be any demand for Devil Went Down to Georgia or A Boy Named Sue as Yuletide fandoms. :) Also, The Ghost and Mrs Muir (movie) and The Cat in the Hat (well, if One Fish, Two Fish can be on the list and get 15 offers...)
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(Hex me!)
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| Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
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9:05 am - Nightmare Pairing Pledge (for any fandom)
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Consider this a distraction post; nothing to do with either Yuletide or the US election. :)
The original Nightmare Pairing Pledge happened back in March 2005 and was HP-only. But the HP fandom's had two more books of canon since then, bringing more characters to love or loathe - and my flist has become a lot more multi-fandom - so shall we try this again?
e.g. Nightmare Pairing Pledge For HP
I, Minerva McTabby, do solemnly swear that my favorite character is Albus Dumbledore and my least favorite character is Ron Weasley. The mere thought of them doing naughty things together makes me whimper. However... given sufficient crack and an infinite number of monkeys, here's how a Dumbledore/Ron shag might happen (though I sincerely hope it never does, and if it does, I just don't want to know).
Necessary plot device or deus ex machina: Afterlife? Portraits? Time-travel? Let's say the Hallows-obsessed Young Albus enhances a Time-Turner with a Point Me charm, and goes looking for the Invisibility Cloak... ends up in the canon era, at a moment when Ron's borrowed the Cloak from Harry...
Who makes the first move: Albus pounces on the Cloak-wearer. Ron fights back. They engage in Classic Slashy Wrestling (the Gryffindor/Gryffindor version).
Positions and/or kinks: The Classic Slashy Wrestling leads to its usual outcome. No kinks, other than various body parts turning visible/invisible as the Cloak moves around a lot.
Afterglow: Albus grabs the Cloak and vanishes back to 1899 before Ron can say more than "Hey, WTF?" When Harry asks what happened to the Cloak, Ron tells Harry the truth. Harry capslocks at him, and Hermione doesn't believe a word of it.
Would I actually read or write this? Umm... yes, probably. *facepalms*
Note: If you really can't stop thinking about the election, try US Politics RPF as your fandom. If you really can't stop thinking about Yuletide, try the Pledge for any of the fandoms you're requesting (and link it to your Dear Santa letter, to give Santa TMI extra insights about how your brain works).
current mood:  geeky
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(Hex me!)
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6:50 am - Yuletide: my kingdom for a prompt!
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Watching the Requested/Offered Fandoms page for Yuletide, as the sign-ups number goes over 730. Intrigued by the fandoms that are getting lots of offers (that is, people offering to write in that fandom), but no requests (yet).
A A Milne - Winnie the Pooh (33 offers)
Aladdin (movie) (31)
Fifth Element (38)
Frances Hodgson Burnett - A Little Princess (34)
Frances Hodgson Burnett - Secret Garden (37)
Mythology - Irish (22)
Neil Gaiman - Stardust (book or comic) (28)
Oceans movies (20)
Shakespeare - A Midsummer Nights Dream (25)
Shakespeare - King Lear (18)
Shakespeare - Macbeth (20)
Shakespeare - Much Ado About Nothing (24)
Shakespeare - Othello (22)
Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet (22)
Shakespeare - The Tempest (24)
Shakespeare - Twelfth Night (22)
V for Vendetta (movie) (17)
Zoolander (17)
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(Hex me!)
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| Monday, November 3rd, 2008
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4:05 am - Yuletide sign-ups open!
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Obligatory links to Yuletide sign-up instructions Part 1 and part 2; and the eminently refreshable Requested/Offered fandoms list with its pretty colors... oooh. *watches* *reloads again* (Hey, LOLcats is a fandom?) And watching the home page for the updated count of how many people have signed up so far... it's changed from 191 to 214 while I've been typing this post.
I am dithering in a leisurely manner, having narrowed down my offered fandoms to a conservative six, where I know the canon inside out (not much time to review canon - assignments go out on November 11, fics due by December 20). Oh good - Narnia's been eliminated as no longer obscure enough, so I can skip the annual wibble about whether to offer it.
Still making up some requests.
Reminding self to nominate The Life of Harriot Stuart by Charlotte Lennox next year - anyone out there read this? Romance/adventure, published in 1750. Worth a look if you ever feel like immersing yourself in the 18th Century.
P.S. I've posted a suggested timeline for Louisa May Alcott's Little Women series - not claiming it's absolutely right - just sharing, in case anyone finds it useful.
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(Hex me!)
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| Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
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3:30 pm - Yuletide nominations glee
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My fandom nominations are in. Picked five off the existing list and added a big French movie.
Alexander Pushkin - Eugene Onegin
Betty Smith - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Harold and Maude
Les Enfants du Paradis aka Children of Paradise
Nancy Mitford - Love in a Cold Climate
William Makepeace Thackeray - Vanity Fair
For baffled Yuletide newbies, the nomination-explanation posts are at yuletide_admin. You don't have to nominate anything, but if you want to participate in this pre-signup stage of things, nominations are open until October 31.
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(2 slugs belched | Hex me!)
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| Friday, October 10th, 2008
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6:08 pm - PB lines meme
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gacked from ap_aelfwine
When you see this, post in your own journal with your favorite quote from The Princess Bride. Preferably not "As you wish" or the Inigo Montoya speech.
Inigo: Who are you?!
Man in Black: No one of consequence.
Inigo: I must know.
Man in Black: Get used to disappointment.
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(Hex me!)
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1:20 pm - Best & Worst Lines in HP Canon
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| Monday, October 6th, 2008
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7:45 pm - sign, sign, everywhere a sign...
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| Saturday, October 4th, 2008
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12:52 pm - Tallinn touristing: Town Square and Apothecary shop
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| Sunday, September 28th, 2008
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9:21 am - FF.net, aiming to please everyone
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FanFiction.net has been expanding its HP character list again. Now up to 172 characters.
Rejoice, fans of minor Quidditch players (Ritchie Coote), red shirts (Charity Burbage), interview-canon (Astoria Greengrass), the Ministry (Pius Thicknesse), and friends-of-Katie (Leanne) - they're all here. Fans of Hedwig will be disappointed.
( FF.net's current character list... )
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(5 slugs belched | Hex me!)
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| Saturday, September 27th, 2008
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11:58 am - first squee for Yuletide 2008
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I'll be crawling out from under that rock to write for Yuletide this year.
Because... oh, the hugeness and randomness of it all! *is excited* It's Yuletide! And I missed it last year (so unhappy about that, but there was just no way).
2004 - wrote fic for Earthsea, received fic for Absolutely Fabulous
2005 - wrote fic for A Little Princess, received fic for Rebecca
2006 - wrote fic for Little Women, received fic for The Princess and the Goblin
Wonder what combination of fandoms this year will bring? *is really excited* :D
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(Hex me!)
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| Thursday, September 25th, 2008
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9:19 am - Socks! (having a Dumbledore moment?)
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 See, I have Catty Socks. Tallinn souvenir. :) And I shall think of Tallinn fondly, every time the Catty Socks keep my feet warm and pretty. ( Larger pic under cut... )
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(Hex me!)
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| Sunday, January 27th, 2008
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7:01 am - Blow, winds, and crack your Snape!
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( Shakespeare Quote meme, yay... )
Not much news here. I've just been re-reading Deathly Hallows and persuading a big black cat to lose weight.
Snape: I say! If I were a Weasley girl, this whole "finding your True Love at the age of 10" thing wouldn't seem creepy and doomed at all.
Petunia: I coulda been a Potions genius. Oh well, I'll just have to make fabulous puddings with sugared violets...
(Anyone else got caption suggestions for this pic?)
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(5 slugs belched | Hex me!)
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| Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008
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4:12 pm - six months since Deathly Hallows, woo-hoo
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[DH Chapter 19: The Silver Doe]
An owl hooted somewhere as he stripped off, and he thought with a pang of Hedwig.
All those summers they had spent together in his room at Privet Drive... All those times she had watched him undress, hooting encouragingly... Somehow, it just didn't seem right to remove his clothes without an owl looking on.
As Hermione pointed out, this was hardly an uncommon fetish in the wizarding world.
[Yes, still re-reading DH.]
current music: Bauhaus - Bella Lugosi's Dead
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(Hex me!)
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| Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
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3:30 am - Snape's Birthday Time-Capsules
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Meanwhile, back at LiveJournal...
Snape's Birthday Time-Capsule 2007 has been opened - go look! A year ago, plenty of people predicted Snape's death and Canon Snape/Lily - but nobody managed to pull a real Trelawney and predict Strikethrough, Gay!Dumbledore, etc.
Snape's Birthday Time-Capsule 2008 now collecting comments/predictions. [ETA: now locked.] To be opened on January 9, 2009.
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(Hex me!)
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| Tuesday, January 8th, 2008
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5:45 pm - new bed, yay
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Spent the better part of the day screwing around with screws and nuts and bolts and assorted pieces of wood.
Yes, I have made my bed, and now I must lie (not lay) in it. *dozes off*
current mood:  accomplished
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(Hex me!)
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| Friday, January 4th, 2008
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9:01 pm - Summary Executions Part XLIII
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5:56 pm - five days of rest down, five to go
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Happy New Year, everyone! :) Purrs and chocolate to flist and lurkers.
Now heaps more relaxed than I was last weekend. Really simple cure for feeling utterly frazzled: several days of being free to fall asleep whenever I want and stay that way for as long as required. Apart from that, I've been:
a) reading LJ and the occasional fic (still haven't explored the fests properly);
b) collecting summaries;
c) plotting;
d) catching up on housework (floor-washing and fridge-defrosting today);
e) playing with the cats, of course.
Hoping to post a batch of summaries very shortly. ;)
current mood: recumbent
current music: When You Don't See Me - Sisters of Mercy
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(Hex me!)
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| Sunday, December 30th, 2007
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3:55 pm - Pet Peeves Icons (no, not the poltergeist)
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8:52 am - Lily blushed. "Oh, I thought you said 'toe Patronus'... sorry, Sev."
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Right, I promised myself I'd come back to LJ/IJ as soon as my last bit of work for the week/year was done - so, hey. (Pets big black cat who wants petting.) And it's still sinking in that I have ten whole days of holiday ahead, for the first time in a year. So far I've just slept for eight hours, then spent some time eating pizza and making silly icons. (Hands out a kitty treat.) More sleep and winding down required. Haven't even looked at Yuletide yet, or any of the HP festive fests - yes, that sounds like a plan for today.
Dear flist, I've missed you. I hope you're having a happy whatever-you-celebrate. *waves*
Point me? Tell me something interesting/important/odd that's happened hereabouts in the past couple of months. (Like, what's with the LJ-cut tags that warn for adult content?) Yes, I've heard about Dumbledore - but not much else. Links much appreciated. :)
current mood:  drained
current music: Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy
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(4 slugs belched | Hex me!)
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| Saturday, September 8th, 2007
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5:37 pm - Afterlife!Snape [verse, PG]
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Oh, Snape went to the Pearly Gates
But they wouldn't let him in.
They said the Mark upon his arm
Betrayed a life of Sin.
Then Snape went to the Gates of Hell
But they laughed and threw him out.
They told him his Patronus
Placed his evilness in doubt.
Then Snape went to Valhalla:
There was meat and ale and song.
And it was packed with Gryffindors,
So he didn't stay for long.
Then Snape went down to Duat,
Where they tried to weigh his heart.
But his wandless "Leviosa!"
Made the feather fall apart.
Then Snape tried the Grey Havens,
Which was full of bloody elves.
And a sign that read "No Slytherins"
Meant they kept it for themselves.
Then Snape went through the Discworld,
Where his stoppered theory worked.
And a voice said: TAKE THE CORK OUT, NOW!
And the Potions Master smirked.
Then Snape went to the River Styx
Where they asked him for two Knuts
And he sang "Don't Pay the Ferryman"
And they kicked him in the guts.
So he chose reincarnation...
Just as Harry spilled his seed.
And that's why Albus Severus
Is a special boy indeed.
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(35 slugs belched | Hex me!)
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| Tuesday, September 4th, 2007
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12:30 pm
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| Saturday, September 1st, 2007
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4:09 pm - JKR's brain runs on Bistromathics? Yes/No
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Thanks to shocolate for the Wizard of the Month news.
Albus Dumbledore
1881 - 1996
Brilliant and often controversial headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore is most famous for his 1945 defeat of Grindelwald and his steadfast championing of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. Dumbledore's self-proclaimed proudest achievement, however, was featuring on a Famous Wizards Chocolate Frog Card.
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/wotm.cfm
I have had my nice long scream already, and overcome the urge to hex the Author. (And I know I've whined before about inconsistent wizarding lifespans.)
1996? Well, it's only a year off. Time flies when you're preparing for the next great flighty temptress.
But 18-fucking-81??? No, no, NO.
Look, this is how I'm preferring to see it:
1. We still have no canon age for Dumbledore. And now we never will.
2. What we do have is in the para-canon: two references in JKR interviews, and now this WotM dodgy factoid.
3. The two interview references (one in 2000, one in 2005) say he's about 150. Fanon has been running with this for the past seven years.
4. The WotM date is outvoted, two to one.
5. *clings to 1840*
current mood:  quixotic
current music: The Smiths - Ask
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(13 slugs belched | Hex me!)
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| Thursday, August 16th, 2007
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6:51 pm - orphan IJ interests
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Dear IJ Flist,
So, the moving-in process continues: 147 friends, 31 icons, and counting.
But some of the 135 interests look lonely. Bereft of the links they enjoyed at LJ. Voices in the wilderness, so to speak, crying out in their plaintextness. Can you help?
blue wine, ged/jasper, les enfants du paradis, limericks,
lucius/gilderoy, marc remillard, marina tsvetaeva,
precious bane, rhiow, ron/teaspoon, scansion, summaries,
susan howatch, wendy perriam, zuleika dobson.
[/obscure-interest-pimping]
current mood: flirty
current music: Simple Minds - All the Things She Said
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(16 slugs belched | Hex me!)
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| Thursday, August 9th, 2007
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11:50 am - IJ PSA
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Hey, InsaneJournal just announced a friending limit increase.
Now 250 friends for free accounts, 1,000 for paid, 1,500 for permanent.
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(4 slugs belched | Hex me!)
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| Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
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6:43 pm - See fandom making Horcruxes.
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the locket... the cup... the snake... something of Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's...
GreatestJournal... InsaneJournal... JournalFen... something fandom-centric yet to come...
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(3 slugs belched | Hex me!)
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