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| 2021-01-01 12:00 |
| Writing Index |
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( Fanfiction )
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| 2008-12-16 17:40 |
| Who's to say if I've been changed for the better. |
| Public |
| family, links, lolz |
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Ok, so, a bunch of my sister's friends were at our house last night, and one of her friends told a story about the friend of the brother of a friend, who is a teacher in Chicago. In the teacher's class is a little boy with autism. (This is not a story making fun of people with autism. I would not be telling it if it were.) So the teacher takes the class on a field trip to the zoo, and, of course, the boy with autism dissappears. So the teacher's looking for the kid and trying to get everyone together and ready to go when the kid shows up, soaking wet from the knees down. The teacher's like, "Whatever, just get on the bus," thinking to sort things out later. So the bus starts to leave, but one of the cops from the zoo stops them. He asks if the kid with autism is there. The teacher says yes, and the cop says, "Well, we need to see him." So they bring him out and look in his back pack.
(At this point, as I'm telling the story to ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) belleamant, she says, "Oh no, what did he steal?")
He had stolen... wait for it... a penguin. Which, apparently, when put in small, dark places, penguins go to sleep. So there's this penguin just taking a nap in the kid's back pack.
I cannot tell you how hard I laughed at this.
And now some links that, while not quite as funny as the penguin, are fairly amusing nonetheless.
And Chuck will teach her about mascara, which I stole from venusinblue. I think it might be funnier because I don't actually like The Smiths.
Stuff White People Like, from my dad. Now, this is one of those things that I get, but I'm not sure I like, in part because the definition of "white people" appears to be strictly sub-/urban upper middle class. But it's good for the occassional lolz.
I've run out of stuff to proofread, so Kids' Books: ur doin it wrong is temporarily suspended, though I am open to suggestions for other entries in the series. Our bookclub is doing Twilight in January. How would we feel about 'Vampire Novels: ur doin it wrong'?
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Just two links today, but they're both pretty awesome.
First, the Watchmen international trailer. Nothing we haven't seen before, but, hey, it's Watchmen.
AND THEN! promo posters for Dorian Gray. Yes. Oh God, yes please.
Also, you know you're a science fiction writer when watching C-Span gives you an idea for a novel.
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Now this hack has me proofreading Christmas stories for kids. Oh dear god, shoot me now.
Everyone does know that in O.Henry's story "The Gift of the Magi", the title is meant ironicly, right?
If I'm going to keep this up, I may need an "angry editor" icon, or some such thing. Although my wtf!batman will certainly suffice. I do, however, now have a "ur doin it wrong" tag thanks to this guy.
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The new Coraline trailer is up. It looks... well, not like the book, but it's going to be cool, anyway.
Also, in case your childhood icons need anymore twisting, The Watchmen go Charlie Brown, ftw. Sandman fans will also appreciate this one by the same artist.
And now I'm going to stop procrastinating and work on my application essay for grad school.aaargh.
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So I've got this gig proofreading children's books for a local author, and, as I'm reading through this book, I'm wondering just how much criticism I'm allowed to offer. See, I know this guy personally and he works with my mom, goes to church with my parents, and his daughter was in my little sister's class. But there are a few things I would like to say, to children's authors in general and to this gentleman in particular.
1. Your audience is young, not dumb or mentally challenged. It is unneccessary to talk down to them, and they will know if you do. DON'T.
2. Simple past is not the only tense for telling about things that already happened. Past participle. Learn it. Love it. Use it.
3. Giving details is like spending money: If the item is important, feel free to spend more; if it's tangential, be frugal. So, while we don't necessarily need to know every detail of every reaction of every person in the entire town to every event in the entire story, it might be nice to have a fairly vivid scene of the little boy waking up with amnesia, since that's, y'know, the plot.
3a. If your readers are mature enough to read a detailed description of a small child escaping from his flaming home, they will understand complex sentences. They might even comprehend nuanced dialogue.
I thought the main character was five-years-old until they said he was in middle school. If it wasn't easy money and I didn't actually know the guy, I'd say fuck this shit. Still, $25 to read 80 pages of crap isn't too bad. Maybe the other books will be better.
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Ok, first off, clip from the Doctor Who Christmas special, which makes it look a lot more lame than the other trailer. (v. poor quality, sorry)
Also, I will take this opportunity to put in my two cents vis a vis the new Doctor, since all I really have to say is: DOCTORDONNA FOR ELEVEN. imho ^_^
In (vaguely) related news, anotherfmafan is doing research on fandom and needs folk to fill out two super easy polls over here. Go! spread the fan love!
A comment from jade_equirrel's S.O. brought up the question of how to define "fangirl squelching", which is not, one feels obliged to point out, the same thing as "fangirl squeeing". hallgato provides us with an answer:
"The fan girl squelch occurs when the drool over their chosen object of desire (RPatz, Ewan McGregor, David Tennant, etc.) reaches such as a volume as to actually choke the fangirl, thus, the squelch is the pre-death rattle squee!"
There was not, however, any noticeable squelching when we went to see Twilight on Friday. (jade_equirrel won tickets off the radio. How chill is that?) My recurring thoughts throughout the film were as follows:
BEHOLD MY IMMORTAL TEENAGE ANGST. IN CLOSE-UP.
and
IM IN UR BEDROOM WACHIN UR DREEMZ
also, lame sparkle was lame. But I actually really enjoyed the movie. And James Bond was defeated by vampires.
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Links!
First off, if you're even further behind the times than I am and you haven't seen the video of Keith Oblerman's comments on gay marriage, you really should. Whatever your opinions on the issue, you really should.
Second, new Watchmen trailer!
Third, new Half-Blood Prince trailer!
In other news, my write is broke. Which is tragic, really, since I'm finally ready to start working on The Agency, but I have neither time nor focus to actually do it. grr argh.
Meantime, I am watching Angel, an undertaking that's been a long time coming. I have many comments, but for now I'll restrict it to simply expressing how much I adore Wesley. Thank you, god, for scrawny British men with glasses, and thank you for making them super secret bad asses.
As for the more current shows, Supernatural is occasionally on crack, Heroes has jumped a whole series of sharks, Fringe remains dubious, and House is, well, House.
We now return to your regularly scheduled blogging.
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| 2008-11-04 17:06 |
| (pas de sujets) |
| Public |
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Safely home. Now I'm going to veg for a week.
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| 2008-10-29 02:12 |
| (pas de sujets) |
| Public |
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So I’m coming home.
After a great deal of soul searching and consideration (not to mention prolonged bitching to stardustandsand), I’ve decided to take my leave of the Far East and return to the U S of A. The truth is that I’m not happy here, and I’ve had a lot more trouble adjusting than I thought I would. I’ve felt out of my depth since I got here, and, two months in, I still haven’t found my feet. I love teaching and my kids are great, but it’s not enough to make me put up with acute feelings of isolation and homesickness. I think I have a bit more growing up to do before I’m ready to take off and live on the other side of the world. In the meantime, I’ll (hopefully) be in grad school next fall, probably move back to Oxford and work until then. My last day is Friday, Halloween, and I’ll be in New Orleans around 6pm next Monday.
If I may observe via quotation, "I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through."
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| 2008-10-16 08:18 |
| someday, this will make sense |
| Public |
| agency notes |
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again, popping this up so I don't forget, and because I think it's pretty funny.
I could just write these things down, but then no one else could appreciate the little gems like this.
I can't be held responsible for my adjectives under stress.
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sticking this in here so I've got it and because I think folks will like it.
You Begin
Margaret Atwood
You begin this way:
this is your hand,
this is your eye,
that is a fish, blue and flat
on the paper, almost
the shape of an eye.
This is your mouth, whis is an O
or a moon, whichever
you like. This is yellow.
Outside the window
is the rain, green
because it is summer, and beyond that
the trees and then the world,
which is round and has only
the colors of these nine crayons.
This is the world, which is fuller
and more difficult to learn than I have said.
You are right to smudge it that way
with the red and then
the orange: the world burns.
Once you have learned these words
you will learn that there are more
words than you can ever learn.
The word hand floats above your hand
like a small cloud over a lake.
The word hand anchors
your hand to this table,
your hand is a warm stone
I hold between two words.
This is your hand, these are my hands, this is the world,
which is round but not flat and has more colors
than we can see.
It begins, it has an end,
this is what you will
come back to, this is your hand.
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In case you haven't heard:
New Fullmetal Alchemist Series Confirmed
Yes, you read that right. No word on plot, but I'm sure that'll leak soon.
There are not enough exclamation points and capitals in the English language to fully express my excitement, so I'll spare you the excess. Suffice to say, I may be a little dead of joy.
Below the cut is the announcement image from the last manga volume, for those who, like me, love the days you get to see Edward Elric shirtless.
( Read more... )
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1. Voldemort
2. Edward Elric
3. Duo Maxwell
4. Captain Jack Harkness
5. Captain Jack Sparrow
6. Bruce Wayne
7. Tony Stark
8. Dean Winchester
9. The Doctor
10. River Tam
( Q&A )
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| 2008-09-18 09:10 |
| =( |
| Public |
| blah |
| meme |
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I'm in a bit of a slump, at the moment. Work is fun, and I'm having a good time, but I'm exhausted and still not 100% adjusted. Writing is going... well, if much more slowly than I'd like. I'm stuck on one bit that's driving me just slightly mad. Participation in one or both of these memes would be very much appreciated. I could really use the distraction.
First:
One little compliment can make you feel amazing. So give me a compliment, anything in the entire world, even that my shoelaces arepretty. Put this in your journal. And once you get some comments, put that entry in a memory or tag and when you are feeling down, just go tothat entry and this will remind how great you are.
And second:
1) Make a list of 10 characters.
2) Assign each character a number.
3) Without telling anyone who's on the list or the character's assigned number, get questions from your flist about what they'd like to know about them.
e.g.: "If 3 and 4 were trapped in a cave together with only a blanket and a toothpick, what would they do?" (The more random the better!)
4) Post the answers and who was who on the list.
belleamante, can you pop this up on lj for me?
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Watching ep2 of Fringe, and I just have one quick note:
Mysterious severed hand in a jar.
Doctor Walter Bishop is Captain Jack Harkness. That's the twist!
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When you see this, quote Supernatural in your LJ.
Sam: Wait, there's no such thing as unicorns?
^_^
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Today, I saw a middle-aged woman wearing red plaid cotton pants and a bright yellow T-shirt. It is somehow comforting to know that badly dressed women wear the same bad clothes everywhere.
I taught my first classes yesterday, and they were… not spectacular. Today, though, I had a better handle on things and my classes were a lot of fun. The 4th graders were a blast! Even if they only understood about half of what I said. I showed them pictures of my friends in America (thanks, Libby!) which they loved. One of my students drew a picture of me with anime eyes, granny glasses, and all. Several of my classes asked me to speak Chinese, so I said the only things I really know how to say which are “Ni men hao!” (Hello everyone!) and “Xie xie!” (Thank you!) and they applauded. Another class asked if I could write Chinese, so I wrote 中国 (Zhonguo = China), and they loved that.
My apartment is very small, just a bedroom and a kitchen, and is about a 10 minute walk from my school. The other teacher who lives in my building is pretty cool, and the other CTLC teacher at the primary school is a program coordinator, so she’s a good person to be friends with (she also has a very nice apartment, which I spent a lot of time at). Last night, the girl in my building (henceforth referred to as Blonde, no insult intended), the guy who teaches at the other middle school section (henceforth referred to as Guy, because I am unoriginal), and I found a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant just around the corner from our apartment. Veggie fried rice for Y6! (which is less than $1). I’m also within walking distance of two WalMarts, a McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut Delivery, and at least one Starbucks. Personally, I’m a little more excited about the fruit stand on the corner and the clandestine DVD store down the street.
Tonight, my school is taking all the single teachers to dinner for the Chinese Moon Festival, for which we are given fruit and moon cakes (not to be confused with moonpies, which they also have here), which are round, sweet cakes which may or may not have a petrified duck egg inside. Seriously, I couldn’t make this up if I tried.
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LO!
I am now safely stowed away in my apartment at Shenzhen Experimental School (which is not nearly as threatening as it sounds). The flat is very small, but well stocked and clean. There’s a whole list of things I need to get, but most of the essentials are already here, including dishes, a dryer, and, much to my pleasant surprise, books. No kidding. The foreign teacher from last year left a whole stack of books, and good ones at that. I’ve got Life of Pi, The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chuck Palahniuk’s Lullaby, and a Chinese-English Dictionary, plus the British edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and a few others. So my fears of being bookless have been proved serendipitously unfounded. Now I just need a place to put them.
The school’s in a great area. Walking distance from the electronics market, Walmart, and my Chinese classes, and close to one of the city’s business districts. It’s a key school, which means that the students have to apply to be admitted, so the kids are all (supposedly) studious and smart. I’m going to be teaching 4th and 5th graders, so this should be interesting. There are several other CTLC teachers here and my contact teacher is very nice, so I don’t think I’ll have much trouble adjusting.
Still hot. Still humid. But the Shenzhen is lovely, very green. There are parks and trees everywhere, and in some places you can see the mountains around the edges of the city. Mississippi is flat; I am impressed by mountains.
Still working on getting pictures uploaded. My current internet connection is dial-up, and though it seems to be running fairly quickly, I don’t know how it would handle a photo dump. Plus, the connection doesn’t like Firefox, so I’m having to relearn IE. Bleh. I sent a few photos to stardustandsand, which I believe are now post on shadowenangel, so check it out.
Oh, and the anime I got? Japanese audio. With Chinese subtitles. And not even simplified Chinese. No. The subtitles use traditional characters. Oh well. I’ve seen Gundam Wing enough times to understand it without English, and the box is really pretty. As for Death Note… *shrug* You win some, you loose some.
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cozy
stunned
sick
hot and sticky
exhausted
