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So, hi!
Constructive criticism of either my prose or my ideas, fiction and nonfiction, are always welcome. Anonymous comments are screened, should you desire an option which hides either your identity or your content. Just leave me some way to get back to you if you want a response.
I used to have a fic index, but I seem to have misplaced it in the move, and I haven't had much use for it anyway, recently. My fic can be found under the "my fic" tag. I think you'll find that most of my tags are self-explanatory like that. If you want a handy list with summaries and sorted things, the best I can do right now is to refer you to the Archive of our Own where all the things which are my own are in fact archived.
Other useful things can be found under the "#about me" tag.
If you're just wandering (or googleing) by and want to get on the Dreamwidth train, I almost always have invite codes available, free for the asking.
a very Hallmark Winter: Winter Love Story
Feb. 1st, 2019 07:53 pmI forget what I was going to try to do next for this whole hallmark recap/review thing, but - this one's real good!
Cassie (Jen Lilley) is a writer who's just published a memoir, which she needs to promote. Her mother is a famous novelist and professor, her best friend owns a sweet coffee shop, and Cassie mostly has some realistic if frustrating issues believing in herself that drive much of the plot.
Elliott (Kevin McGarry) is a recently divorced author of a popular fantasy series, with good stage presence, self-deprecating charm, a great dog, and a fantastically supportive attitude towards Cassie, her writing, and her career.
Everyone's just really positive, and really helpful, and really nice, and fun. It's on again Sunday afternoon!
Oh, also! When Cassie visits her publisher's office early in the movie, the first book cover poster you see on the wall is Naomi Klein's book about the economic and political forces facing Puerto Rico post-Maria: The Battle For Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists which is a great and bonkers piece of set design for a Hallmark movie.
(Also, I think the new Roswell on the CW might be great, help.)
Cassie (Jen Lilley) is a writer who's just published a memoir, which she needs to promote. Her mother is a famous novelist and professor, her best friend owns a sweet coffee shop, and Cassie mostly has some realistic if frustrating issues believing in herself that drive much of the plot.
Elliott (Kevin McGarry) is a recently divorced author of a popular fantasy series, with good stage presence, self-deprecating charm, a great dog, and a fantastically supportive attitude towards Cassie, her writing, and her career.
Everyone's just really positive, and really helpful, and really nice, and fun. It's on again Sunday afternoon!
Oh, also! When Cassie visits her publisher's office early in the movie, the first book cover poster you see on the wall is Naomi Klein's book about the economic and political forces facing Puerto Rico post-Maria: The Battle For Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists which is a great and bonkers piece of set design for a Hallmark movie.
(Also, I think the new Roswell on the CW might be great, help.)
I have finally taught the facebook and instagram algorithms that literally the only thing they should bother suggesting to me are cute cat pictures and videos. I could probably teach tumblr same, especially now, if I were willing to follow more cat stuff, but two out of three is acceptable.
It may have helped that I've been using Firefox Focus for all my mobile link-following off twitter and facebook for a couple months now. I'm still being chased by a couple of zombie ads from my amazon holiday shopping, but half of that stuff was pet-related too.
Also, the only thing YouTube is suggesting to me are Bon Appetit videos and Lin-Manuel Miranda, with an occasional swerve to one of the broadway-adjacent things that I've already watched 15 times. If you missed the Kennedy Center Honors on TV the other night- https://youtu.be/9QoRHMuiqMs - One Last Time only made me cry a little bit. Brb, watching that again for the rest of the afternoon.
It may have helped that I've been using Firefox Focus for all my mobile link-following off twitter and facebook for a couple months now. I'm still being chased by a couple of zombie ads from my amazon holiday shopping, but half of that stuff was pet-related too.
Also, the only thing YouTube is suggesting to me are Bon Appetit videos and Lin-Manuel Miranda, with an occasional swerve to one of the broadway-adjacent things that I've already watched 15 times. If you missed the Kennedy Center Honors on TV the other night- https://youtu.be/9QoRHMuiqMs - One Last Time only made me cry a little bit. Brb, watching that again for the rest of the afternoon.
three things make some avoidance
Dec. 29th, 2018 11:15 pmI still have very many christmas movies wholly unwatched on my DVR. And three watched ones saved as private entries because I'm still looking at whether I care about finding a consistent review format or voice. They replay so often that, had I actually posted any of them in a timely manner, some of y'all could have caught a replay of a good one. Maybe next year, if I keep poking at it.
My annual new years cold, the one I catch from everyone bringing fun new germs to town for Christmas, arrived a little early, so I was out flat with it yesterday, but will probably be fine tomorrow.
I read one Yuletide story - Mathnet! - on Christmas day and it was great, and I haven't been back to the archive since. Whoops.
My annual new years cold, the one I catch from everyone bringing fun new germs to town for Christmas, arrived a little early, so I was out flat with it yesterday, but will probably be fine tomorrow.
I read one Yuletide story - Mathnet! - on Christmas day and it was great, and I haven't been back to the archive since. Whoops.
Grace Garland (yes, really) is a Marine just off active duty in Afghanistan who's going to be an engineer of some sort in Cincinnati. She misses her search-and-rescue (and also explosive detection? sure.) dog. Named Christmas.
Joe Petersen is a small-town judge who lives on a farm with his dog, Justice. She crashes her new-used car into his fence because something on the car broke. Again, sure. Whatever. Non-threateningly handsome.
If this were airing on Lifetime, it would fully be a coin flip whether the dude whose farm she crashes into is going to be the love of her life or a serial killer. I get that you're a badass marine and also have just conked your head, lady, but yikes.
I would have had more to say about movies before actual Christmas if I hadn't been cringe-watching this one in 8 minute increments for the past week. What we have here is two people plus extended family who talk to everyone with depth and openness in a way that is probably great for maintaining healthy relationships, but personally makes me want to flee.
( this one's short )
I fully only stuck with this because once I realized where it was going, I hoped the last 20 minutes would be good. The last 20 minutes were good! I genuinely believe that all these very nice characters will be very happy for the rest of their fictional lives.
Joe Petersen is a small-town judge who lives on a farm with his dog, Justice. She crashes her new-used car into his fence because something on the car broke. Again, sure. Whatever. Non-threateningly handsome.
If this were airing on Lifetime, it would fully be a coin flip whether the dude whose farm she crashes into is going to be the love of her life or a serial killer. I get that you're a badass marine and also have just conked your head, lady, but yikes.
I would have had more to say about movies before actual Christmas if I hadn't been cringe-watching this one in 8 minute increments for the past week. What we have here is two people plus extended family who talk to everyone with depth and openness in a way that is probably great for maintaining healthy relationships, but personally makes me want to flee.
( this one's short )
I fully only stuck with this because once I realized where it was going, I hoped the last 20 minutes would be good. The last 20 minutes were good! I genuinely believe that all these very nice characters will be very happy for the rest of their fictional lives.
Maddie loves shoes and somehow made a company out of that. Having sold the company and found herself completely rudderless, she is back home for Christmas, where she will (*gasp*) inevitably run into her high school sweetheart.
Carter is a woodworker/furniture shop manager who has made his home in the town where he and Maddie grew up, and is working for Maddie's family's business. The only things I like about him are his work ethic and his appropriate level of disregard for how important this imperiled high school dance is.
This, friends, is the point where Homegrown Christmas broke me. It leads into a cute idea about a thing Maddie used to do as a kid which they IMMEDIATELY step all over. I can not get over how clumsy this movie is. How it is simultaneously over-written and under-written, sometimes within the space of 30 seconds.
Just. Y'all. Y'all. This movie is Not Good.
( Read more... )
the verdict: 1 out of 5 candy canes. Maybe 1 out of 10 candy canes.
Candy canes instead of stars or snowflakes or everything else most of you voted for because I could sharpen it a point to poke the writer in the forehead if I ever meet them.
Carter is a woodworker/furniture shop manager who has made his home in the town where he and Maddie grew up, and is working for Maddie's family's business. The only things I like about him are his work ethic and his appropriate level of disregard for how important this imperiled high school dance is.
Aw, I love Christmas lights. The way they blink in a pattern.
This, friends, is the point where Homegrown Christmas broke me. It leads into a cute idea about a thing Maddie used to do as a kid which they IMMEDIATELY step all over. I can not get over how clumsy this movie is. How it is simultaneously over-written and under-written, sometimes within the space of 30 seconds.
Just. Y'all. Y'all. This movie is Not Good.
( Read more... )
the verdict: 1 out of 5 candy canes. Maybe 1 out of 10 candy canes.
Candy canes instead of stars or snowflakes or everything else most of you voted for because I could sharpen it a point to poke the writer in the forehead if I ever meet them.
Poll #20987 help: I keep drafting hallmark movie reviews and then stashing them because the format seems incomplete
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 11
which Christmas symbol should I use to rate these hallmark movies?
View Answers
trees
2 (18.2%)
snowflakes5 (45.5%)
candles0 (0.0%)
wreaths2 (18.2%)
bells1 (9.1%)
stockings0 (0.0%)
other1 (9.1%)
other:
palate cleanser
Dec. 13th, 2018 07:57 pmAm I back? Dunno!
Am I profoundly embarrassed at how I haven't checked my flist in about 18-24 months? Yup!
(I've peeked in from time to time to check on people, I miss knowing what's up with y'all, but then I'd get halfway to commenting and think, "but there's like a year of posts that I missed, what if [tragedy] what if [feud] what if [what if]" and I'd chicken out.)
Am I posting this so as to give myself a free pass to come back sometime tonight and talk about the PROFOUNDLY TERRIBLE Hallmark Christmas movie that I just watched, in a separate post? You betcha!
(I haven't been on tumblr much more than I've been here, so I'm not returning from there so much as returning from the void, but I guess that's happening too? Condolences, those of you whose fannish experience just got upended, again.)
Am I profoundly embarrassed at how I haven't checked my flist in about 18-24 months? Yup!
(I've peeked in from time to time to check on people, I miss knowing what's up with y'all, but then I'd get halfway to commenting and think, "but there's like a year of posts that I missed, what if [tragedy] what if [feud] what if [what if]" and I'd chicken out.)
Am I posting this so as to give myself a free pass to come back sometime tonight and talk about the PROFOUNDLY TERRIBLE Hallmark Christmas movie that I just watched, in a separate post? You betcha!
(I haven't been on tumblr much more than I've been here, so I'm not returning from there so much as returning from the void, but I guess that's happening too? Condolences, those of you whose fannish experience just got upended, again.)
I just think about this a lot
Aug. 4th, 2018 07:05 pmSo once, when I was in college, I got an email from a sort-of-friend, a guy I was on good terms with, socially, but who was much more popular, and I am sure was a lot more well-liked than I was, in his general good-natured attitude and sense of humor.
And the email said, more or less in its entirety, something like "see, she writes just like she talks."
As he explained later, I think also via email - I no longer remember for sure, but I like to think I would have said something more if it had been in person - he'd accidentally replied to me, when what he'd intended to do was forward the message to a friend from home.
It had to have been about some House business - either the year he was President and I was the RA for the hall we both lived in, or the year I was Treasurer and he was on Ath Team. I wasn't in the habit of sending chatty emails to friends, then or now.
And I think it might have been meant as a sort of compliment? If we had talked about "authenticity" then, this would have been a place for it. At worst, it was merely an accurate description and a mild complaint, which I'm also fine with. I don't remember the content of the email now, but I remember that I scanned back through what I'd written and thought, "yup. I do."
But I'm curious, and I've never asked. Either he doesn't remember, and wouldn't be able to tell me one way or the other, or it was the sort of mortifying minor mistake that you hope, when you make it, is only mortifying to you and that the other party immediately forgets.
It's been a weird summer. Vague plans for a first date in limbo for *checks calendar* three months now. Mild injury, unexpected travel, figuring out how best to support other people through their loss (a pet, a job, a parent, all suddenly and unexpected).
I thought I was going to spend the summer jogging and checking twitter for our most recent national tire fire. Only one of those has happened, and it's not the one good for my health.
And the email said, more or less in its entirety, something like "see, she writes just like she talks."
As he explained later, I think also via email - I no longer remember for sure, but I like to think I would have said something more if it had been in person - he'd accidentally replied to me, when what he'd intended to do was forward the message to a friend from home.
It had to have been about some House business - either the year he was President and I was the RA for the hall we both lived in, or the year I was Treasurer and he was on Ath Team. I wasn't in the habit of sending chatty emails to friends, then or now.
And I think it might have been meant as a sort of compliment? If we had talked about "authenticity" then, this would have been a place for it. At worst, it was merely an accurate description and a mild complaint, which I'm also fine with. I don't remember the content of the email now, but I remember that I scanned back through what I'd written and thought, "yup. I do."
But I'm curious, and I've never asked. Either he doesn't remember, and wouldn't be able to tell me one way or the other, or it was the sort of mortifying minor mistake that you hope, when you make it, is only mortifying to you and that the other party immediately forgets.
It's been a weird summer. Vague plans for a first date in limbo for *checks calendar* three months now. Mild injury, unexpected travel, figuring out how best to support other people through their loss (a pet, a job, a parent, all suddenly and unexpected).
I thought I was going to spend the summer jogging and checking twitter for our most recent national tire fire. Only one of those has happened, and it's not the one good for my health.
I don't know, y'all...
Oct. 9th, 2017 11:52 amI didn't sign up for yuletide this year. It probably would have been good for me? Like, force myself to read and/or write some things that aren't twitter/news/screaming into the void about politics, but I also straight up forgot to nominate anything, and most of the stuff I would have requested were the niche unwritten fandoms from past years.
Might treat some people still, I hope. I haven't looked at any letters yet, but I noted five or six fandoms that seemed possible when I thought I might still pull it together. Or I could also figure out wth is going on with pinch hits this year, preferably before matching finishes in a hot second here.
Might treat some people still, I hope. I haven't looked at any letters yet, but I noted five or six fandoms that seemed possible when I thought I might still pull it together. Or I could also figure out wth is going on with pinch hits this year, preferably before matching finishes in a hot second here.
(no subject)
Jun. 11th, 2017 11:39 pmThis feels like a weird one, but journaling, eh?
I'm watching the Tony awards back because live hockey got dibs on my TV time from 8 until 11, and the first performance from a musical was "Welcome to the Rock" from Come From Away, a song I don't know from a musical I'm not sure I'd heard of until ten minutes ago.
And there's a line, a moment, about halfway through the song, "Oz! Turn. On. The radio." And I just started crying out of nowhere.
That's so central to my memory of 9/11. We were out on a construction site, and one of the contractors had one of those fancy DeWalt radio/chargers, and I can't be sure, but I think I might've been the first person on the site to hear the news.
( Read more... )
I'm watching the Tony awards back because live hockey got dibs on my TV time from 8 until 11, and the first performance from a musical was "Welcome to the Rock" from Come From Away, a song I don't know from a musical I'm not sure I'd heard of until ten minutes ago.
And there's a line, a moment, about halfway through the song, "Oz! Turn. On. The radio." And I just started crying out of nowhere.
That's so central to my memory of 9/11. We were out on a construction site, and one of the contractors had one of those fancy DeWalt radio/chargers, and I can't be sure, but I think I might've been the first person on the site to hear the news.
( Read more... )