My Zuchinni are missing! My Zuchinni are missing!

[melannen]

I really did intend to make a long, serious post, possibly even with fic, and lots about vacation bible school, but I made the mistake of getting on aim again, and of course got absolutely nothing done, so instead I will post the contents of the two aim windows I still have open (the other two simultaneus conversations I closed before I thought to save them, alas). Sorry about this q:

melannen: Did you know you've exceeded your bandwidth? :P Bad katy, stop making such good videos!
stellar_dust: i noticed!
stellar_dust: i'm impress with myself!
stellar_dust: did you get a chance to watch the latest one?
stellar_dust: you're not allowed to read my journal.
stellar_dust: go away.
stellar_dust: d-:<
melannen: No-- you never mention it on your lj when you finish one, so I didn't even realize it was up unktil just now.
stellar_dust: i did so mention it!
melannen: Since when?
stellar_dust: i said "it is done" and linked tothe xfiles entry where i talked about it.
stellar_dust: and in the two entries before that, i talked about how i was in the *process* of making it.
stellar_dust: so there.
melannen: yeah, I nkow you talked about being in the process.
melannen: oh, *great*, way to prevent my curiousity on your journal. Why shouldn't I read it??
stellar_dust: cuz i said so.
stellar_dust: well, as long as you heed the cut tag on the latest entry you're ok.
stellar_dust: d-:
stellar_dust: i should have just *not* posted that, but you'r supposed to be making yourself scarce online.
melannen: Yes, but, but, is it that it might make me made, or that it's tmi, or that I'd spoil a surprise, or what?
stellar_dust: "might make you made?" *eyebrow*
stellar_dust: the latter.
stellar_dust: you can look at it this weekend.
melannen: *mad.
stellar_dust: or thereabouts.
melannen: Okay, I'll stay out then.
stellar_dust: ah. no, no thtat.
stellar_dust: good.
melannen: I was half afraid somewhat had made me a proxy confession of love or something q:
stellar_dust: hahahahahah!
melannen: *someone, sorry, I am braindead.
stellar_dust: not that that would be *news*.
stellar_dust: hmm. are you interested enough in my supremely popular vid that you'd like me to file transfer it to you?
stellar_dust: would it have taken less time than that to download it from the site?
melannen: No, probably not. q:
stellar_dust: well, then. aye or nay?
melannen: It would probably take until about three in the morning.
melannen: pkay, might as well try.
stellar_dust wants to send file shewillbeloved.rm.
stellar_dust: ... i think the transfer is going to finish before 3 am.
melannen: okay, 1 am.
stellar_dust: ... am i the only one who finds it odd when people start dating after they've known each other for like a month? or less?
stellar_dust: my new standard: 7 years of foreplay. *nod*
melannen: Yes.
melannen: I think other people have a different interpretation of what dating is for than I do.
stellar_dust: probably.
stellar_dust: if i know a guy for a month, and i've let him take me to dinner once or twice (not that i would), he wouldn't be my boyfried, he'd be this guy i've had dinner witha couple times.
stellar_dust: d-:
melannen: me: It's what you do when you are willing to admit that you're in love.
melannen: The rest of the world: It's how you find out whether you're in love.
stellar_dust: i guess.
melannen: Yeah. Actually I just recently realized that it *is* possible to go on a date and yet not be dating someone.
stellar_dust: i'd just as soon skip "dating" all together.
stellar_dust: yes.
melannen: yes.
stellar_dust: for most ofhumanity it has been the expected thing to go on a date with someone and not be "an item."
melannen: I still have difficulty seeing the point, really.
stellar_dust: i guess the point is to have fun.
melannen: right, but why do you need all the other silly stuff to do that?
stellar_dust: what silly stuff? "dating" silly stuff?
melannen: Oh well, I've often suspected I am about ten years behind in emotional development.
stellar_dust: you don't.
stellar_dust: *shrug* or ahead.
melannen: No, no, I just started in on the "gets crushes on cute actors" stage, which would be about eleven, actually.
melannen: q:
stellar_dust: well, *i* just started on "get crushes on cute actors" stage, too.
stellar_dust: *sigh* David ..
stellar_dust: heheh.
stellar_dust: must have. d-:
melannen: I noticed. q: At least I'm not writing "Katy Mulder --- Katy C. Mulder -- Katy Wheaton -- Katy Duchovny" all over my notebook lj interest page.
stellar_dust: hey!
stellar_dust: hehe.
stellar_dust: am not.
stellar_dust: for your information, i married *wil*.
stellar_dust: david was taken.
stellar_dust: d-:
stellar_dust: oh you did say him.
stellar_dust: oops.
melannen: HA, right. You're just obsessing over his eyes.
stellar_dust: you're just googly for jonny depp.
stellar_dust: frankly i don't see the attraction.
melannen: It's the way he *moves*, man. And, like, he so doesn't realize he's handsome, which is kinda hard to beleive, but he does.
melannen: Anyway, I sigh over William Davis too, you know.
melannen: And Peter Wingfield, and Jimmy Stewart
melannen: And I have this vague suspsicion I may be getting a crush on Ron Reagan, which is just wrong.
stellar_dust: see i don't think depp's that handsome.
stellar_dust: ok, ive got it for WBD and jimmy too.
stellar_dust: don't know who that peter dude is.
stellar_dust: and ah-hah! i knew you and kristen would get along! d-:
stellar_dust: her with her ronal reagan 2004 calendar .. d-:
stellar_dust: *ronald
melannen: Highlander guy, you wouldn't know.
stellar_dust: ah.
melannen: Somehow I doubt this would help, since Ron's speaking at the DNC in favor of Kerry q:
stellar_dust: oh. *Ron* Reagan.
stellar_dust: sigh.
stellar_dust: i thought you meant the hot actor dude. d-:
melannen: No, I meant the Ballet dancer. q: Actually Mom has a couple of his films on dollar-store video, but I don't think I've ever seen him act.
stellar_dust: yep, that was where i thought you'd seen him.
stellar_dust: what with your slashing of bob hope (it was him right?) and all.
melannen: I should probably watch them. Yep, it was him.
melannen: Does Kristen agree with Dr. Patrick that he was every bit as good an actor as a politician? (;
melannen received \download\melannen\shewillbeloved.rm.
stellar_dust: i really don't know what she thinks of him as an actor. (;
stellar_dust: file's done!
melannen: yay! I shall watch it then.
stellar_dust: yay!
melannen: ah! I turned the sound on and the Aim noise is scaring me!
melannen: Okay, a harry potter font at the end?
stellar_dust: yep!
stellar_dust: i <3 parry hotter font.
melannen: okay...
stellar_dust: so. is that vid worth crashing my site over?
melannen: Well. I liked some of the others better. But I generally don't get wildly excited over shippiness, and it probably was about the best-crafted..
melannen: How lukewarm was that? *raise eyebrows*
stellar_dust: very.
stellar_dust: you and your phoebe-love.
stellar_dust: yeah - i actually had an overall vision for that one.
stellar_dust: that and raining in baltimore.
stellar_dust: the others are really sorta-themed but mostly random.
melannen: Well, no, as much as the dedication tickled me, it's still Mama Don't Know which gets me. And the one with the fish after that. q: Phoebe comes third.
stellar_dust: heheh. yay csm.
stellar_dust: good!
stellar_dust: by "one with the fish" you mean ernie?
melannen: Of the serious ones, Round Here is probably my favorite. Balitmore still bothers me because every time I watch it seems like there's trying to be an actual plotline happening, because the clips blend so well together, yet, I can never find the thread of it. Of course, this one may grow on me-- I share your habit of watching them over and over instead of writing, so I've seen the others a lot more.
melannen: yeah, ernie.
stellar_dust: well - like i said, baltimore is the weepiness from gethsemane/redux, with lots of flashbacks (and some flash-forewards).
stellar_dust: i think i like swbl the best. but i've watched it WAY too much recently.
stellar_dust: it mostly goes over the whole series in order.
melannen: Baltimore may also bother me because I wrote a Star Wars songfic to it way back in the day, in which a Mary Sue gray jedi had a love-child by one of the clone troopers. so.
stellar_dust: you did? haha! that's awesome! i want to read it!
melannen: Yes, I think swbl will require closer viewing. When I'm more awake. It probably didn't help that I've never heard the some before and didn't fall in love with it.
melannen: *some=song
stellar_dust: yeah - i don't think i'd've like the song much if it weren't TEH SHIPPY
stellar_dust: and i've heard it on the radio about a billion times.
melannen: For it to be comprehensible you'd have to understand everything which happened in all the unwritten epic prequels dating back to when her grandmother stormed out of the Temple in a huff because Qui-Gon rebuffed her and spent the rest of her life on a backwoods planet healing home appliances with the Force. q:
melannen: I haven't had the young people's stations on much lately, so yeah.
stellar_dust: well. you need to finish the entire epic then.
stellar_dust: darn kids today.
stellar_dust: and you say you're *behind* in emotional development. *shakes head*
melannen: epic: NOT HAPPENING. Music: yeah, well, concidering I snicker (heehee, mom, he said 'rock 'n' roll all night with me') whenever the oldies songs talk about sex and drugs, I don't really think it's a good sign.
stellar_dust: *pff* you can finish all your partially started xf stuff then.
stellar_dust: do you snicker when kiddie songs talk about sex and drugs?
stellar_dust: see, you just do that to get on mom's nerves.
melannen: oh. even more so.
stellar_dust: so it doesn't count.
melannen: Well, I *started* doing it because she complained about all the sex and violence in today's music, so I'd switch to an oldies station, and we'd have, say, "Touch Me", "The Horse With No Name" and "I Shot the Sheriff" in succession.
melannen: But then it started being funny on its own.
stellar_dust: heheh.
stellar_dust: nearly all music is about sex and drugs, you know.
melannen: Yes, I know.
melannen: That's why there's so few HP vids, the first two movies lack apparent sex and drugs so you're stuck with "fantasy violence"
stellar_dust: you can do a lot with a lack of apparent sex, though. d-:
stellar_dust: how's yours coming along?
stellar_dust: vid, that is, not apparent sex.
melannen: I mean I do still want to do "nine inch will please a lady" but that. of course, would be a silly one.
stellar_dust: well yes.
melannen: Yes, but all the implied stuff comes out in the movies as blatantly silly freudian symbolism.
stellar_dust: hmm. so where can i find some of these horrible first-two-movies hp vids?
melannen: It's hard to pull out delicate subtext when you're confronted by your hero squeezing through a damp, narrow tunnel to fight a giant snake.
melannen: I didn't say they were all horrible, just rare. Let's see, I have one site bookmarked,
melannen: Mooshe Nickers, potter vidder
stellar_dust: broken link.
melannen: Wait, typed it wrong: http://www.comicbookcrush.com/potter, not rush.
melannen: it came up on my flist not long ago, I downloaded the cheers one and decided the others probably weren't worth the wait. But PoA may have improved matters a bit, I haven't really gone looking, trapped in dialup as I am.
stellar_dust: hmm, let's see.
stellar_dust: ok, the cheers one is funny.
stellar_dust: quiet music though!
melannen: I guess! I thought the clips she used were a bit too long, but I think I'm very picky about vids.
stellar_dust: yeah, i thought they were a bit too long too.
stellar_dust: but despite that, pretty funny.
stellar_dust: and timed well.
stellar_dust: i don't know too many of the other songs though.
stellar_dust: i'm not sure i WANT to see a ron/harry my heart will go on.
melannen: Yeah, the timing were good, and some of the shotswere good.
melannen: Is it even possible to do a non-tongue-in-cheek my heart will go on?
stellar_dust: probably not. lol.
melannen: But, yeah, shippy vids with the kids don't really wokr for me, and there's not that much footage of the grown-ups until PoA at least.
stellar_dust: yeah, i, ah, hmm. ther's just SO much more to work with with xf.
melannen: Yeah, but that makes it so much more involved to try to find clips. I like working from a limited budget, it gives me an excuse for not being perfect.
stellar_dust: pf. i guess. but it limits your creativity. d-:
melannen: No, it *stretches* it.
stellar_dust: hmm.
melannen: For example, if I had more to work with, I would never even have considered trying to do a Jack/Black Pearl vid to Garth Brooks's "Thunder Rolls"
stellar_dust: are you sure?
stellar_dust: i mean, we did a pretty decent job when limited to one ep.
stellar_dust: same for my Fire vid.
melannen: Right, and one-eps are probably all I'll seriously consider doing with xf anytime soon.
stellar_dust: what about your "girl all the bad guys want" idea?
melannen: Of course, judging by our collaboration, I 'd say I tend to be a lot less picky about the clips and spend a lot more time compulsively fiddling with the timing.
stellar_dust: in my experience, i fyou get the right clips, the timing will work itself out for the most part.
stellar_dust: esp. cuz the editor's i've used aren't that great for timing. d-:
melannen: Well, yeah, I didn't seriously consider doing that. It just needed done by somebody. Anyway I thought you'd put it on your list.
stellar_dust: yeah, i *should* put it on my list. hmm.
stellar_dust: you should do it. d-:
melannen: That would require having all the dvds. q: I only have season seven
stellar_dust: well i didn't say you had to make it *now*.
stellar_dust: you know what's funny? telling young republican fangirls how cute john edwards is. d-:
melannen: Well, he is.
stellar_dust: yep! http://edwards.senate.gov/images/press/edwards_headshot.jpg
stellar_dust: oh, it'll take you forever to dl that.
melannen: I wonder if telling then I have a crush on young Ron would be equally fun...
stellar_dust: probably!
melannen: That's okay, I've seen plenty of Little John on the course of reading the johnxjohn comm. (;
stellar_dust: lol.
stellar_dust: scary.
stellar_dust: i could use this picture to scare my mice away. d-:
melannen: No. even scarier is the fact that most of the john/john people are relieved becuase there's now a poliship more popular than Dick/Bush. q:
stellar_dust: well, *I'm* relieved. d-:
melannen: but it's so punfully perfect!
stellar_dust: yes. but.
stellar_dust: d-:
melannen: hehe, I was so happy when I heard about Whoopi Goldberg finally making the Bush puns I've been wanting to for years.
stellar_dust: really? see, i'm all cut off from news and stuff, despite my cnn lj feed.
melannen: Well. my comes entirely from slashers and NPR, so.
stellar_dust: well, npr at least has news.
stellar_dust: cnnfeed is really easy to skim over.
melannen: yes. I should be off to bed now-- 'night.
stellar_dust: probably. g'night.

You know, I thnk I view vidding fundamentally differently than all those 'shippers over at xfiles. They view it as a way to pull out something that's apparent in a text and make it more intense, emotionally. Like the ubiquitous MSR vids, a condensation of what's already out in the open. I view it as a way to take something that isn't, or is just barely, apparent in the text, and was probably far from intentional, and make it seem obvious-- it's the equivalent of a two-page annotated essay full of book quotes, for the purpose of makng a silly point like "You know, if you look at it carefully enough, Draco/Trevor works emotionally."

Now I'm starting to think about the points that cathexys and the others were discussing about the difference in worldview between canon shippers and the rest of us, and whether a fondness for slash is fundamentally connected with a subversive outlook on the text. :P I'd better stop before I start raving about how Teena/CSM has everything Mulder/Krycek has (including Teh Pretteh) plus the added bonus of canonicity.



kenosis_kalon: surviving?
melannen: somewhat. You?
kenosis_kalon: mostly
melannen: well, can't beat entropy.
melannen: yet.
kenosis_kalon: indeed the hair IS still messy
melannen: mine as well.
kenosis_kalon: meh the odd genetic trait that makes guys like that can't be that odd :-P
kenosis_kalon: so no matter what I stick on my resume it keeps coming back to computer guru
melannen: I just was looking at pictures of myself from 7th grade when it was short and I combed it about twice a year--man. http://glue.umd.edu/~sallyc/caps/sallylongago.jpg .
melannen: Well, hey, I have *nothing* on my resume.
melannen: Except teaching Creation Science which is what I'm doing this week.
kenosis_kalon: ah shows open potential
kenosis_kalon: o_O
kenosis_kalon: creation science?
kenosis_kalon: as in the genesis theory?
melannen: well, it's vacation bible school at church this week.
kenosis_kalon: so?
kenosis_kalon: geologist?
kenosis_kalon: scientist?
melannen: Not sure if you're aware of that particular perversion, it's basically bible day camp. And the theme is "Camp Creation"
melannen: And I got volunteered to run the science-experiments station.
kenosis_kalon: how can you in good conscience say the world is only 5300 years old...
kenosis_kalon: *blink*
kenosis_kalon: ah
kenosis_kalon: heh
melannen: So. Creation Science q:
kenosis_kalon: There's a book...
kenosis_kalon: Evil girl.
kenosis_kalon: d:
melannen: Anyway, the fiirst thing a geologist has to do is learn that time scales are relative and shift between thinking in terms of days and terms of trillions of years without blinking.
kenosis_kalon: isn't that appologetic creationism not scientific creationism?
melannen: Probably. to be honest, I have never been to interested in that community, except to reassure myself that they still haven't come up with anything resembling evidence.
kenosis_kalon: but the bible say it so it must be true.
melannen: Well, yes, but truth is such a relative thing.
kenosis_kalon: relativity is only a relative thing
melannen: I mean, if you're willing to shift a bit on the literalness of the seven days, the 1 Genesis creation story is actually a fairly accurate timeline of the creation of the earth.
kenosis_kalon: well only if you ignore almost half of genesis
melannen: Any truth couched in language is not the true truth, sayeth the Tao and the Gospel of Thomas; only through personal revelation can the truth be revealed.
melannen: Well, I said the first chapter of Genesis.
kenosis_kalon: you forget that all the begetting begot a nice geaneology which I could probably trace to myself.
kenosis_kalon: ah
melannen: All the bits with sodomy and parricide and incest and prostitution and gang rape is jist a raght good story.
kenosis_kalon: 1 genesis looks like polish notation.
kenosis_kalon: or the bottom of a family tree
melannen: Can you trace your genealogy back to Abraham? Or do you just start with Aaron and go from there?
melannen: Oh. Sorry, it's pronounced "first genesis"
kenosis_kalon: well GP claims it's tracable to Levi and the torah can handle the rest.
melannen: with the words "chapter of" elided from the middle.
melannen: GP?
kenosis_kalon: grandpa
kenosis_kalon: Specificly Grandpa C---- but I thought that was implicit
melannen: Ah. He claims? have you seen allt he begats? That's impressive.
kenosis_kalon: yes a might length of begetting most impressive
melannen: I can only go back to 1680-something when the Ca---- patriarch came to America, he must have been in circumstances which required muddling his identity because there's no trace of him in England.
kenosis_kalon: heh
kenosis_kalon: we have that period
kenosis_kalon: but we have a famous Canadian who they descended from
melannen: Ah. them Canadian Jews.
kenosis_kalon: which given the F&I war was being lost at the time does imply a reason for the immigration
kenosis_kalon: nah those were the Catholics
melannen: Yes, it does imply a reason.
melannen: Mr.1680 Catlin bought land in Somerset County Maryland and my father and his brother were the first to leave the county. The Catlins are boring.
kenosis_kalon: huh
melannen: Well, genealogy in general is boring, granted.
kenosis_kalon: whole clan stayed in Maryland?
kenosis_kalon: or just happened to come back
melannen: Pretty much all the ones we can trace stayed. Most of 'em are still there, even the ones of my generation.
kenosis_kalon: huh
kenosis_kalon: respectable stickiness
melannen: which seems to have also incuding wriggling out of any wars, as there are no military records to speak of either.
kenosis_kalon: yup
kenosis_kalon: still working on how to tactfully call it laziness
kenosis_kalon: cat on a warm vent?
melannen: A rational deficiency in politcal radicalism?
kenosis_kalon: no broader reaching that that.
kenosis_kalon: I see people who won't drive into the city to see a movie if they can pickup the book at the corner library
melannen: Well. We're all like that still in this house.
melannen: But until about fifty years ago, "go to the city" meant spend about three hours each way on the ferry across the bay and then drive into Baltimore.
kenosis_kalon: uh huh
kenosis_kalon: reread I robot yet?
melannen: I think so.
melannen: Which one was that?
kenosis_kalon: Issac Asimov about mechanical workers
kenosis_kalon: the three laws of robotics
kenosis_kalon: It really was quite brilliant for it's time it adresses several issues of AI.
melannen: Is that the one where they take over the planet?
melannen: I read the Lije Bailey ones, that's about all the robot ones I think.
kenosis_kalon: no
kenosis_kalon: see the movie is about that
melannen: *all the ones I think I've read
kenosis_kalon: well actually they do take over the planet sort of
kenosis_kalon: know much about 3d rendering?
kenosis_kalon: had this odd notion about making sim dragon
kenosis_kalon: FPS egg to death
kenosis_kalon: the goal being to map the genome
kenosis_kalon: having eggs survive to maturity opens whatever genetic region they fell in.
melannen: Er. I played with a really bare-bones open'source renderer for a week once, but didn't get much beyond stacking reflective spheres.
melannen: So probably not much help.
melannen: I did do a research project on the game of life once though.
kenosis_kalon: ah well
kenosis_kalon: mathematical or the board game?
melannen: mathematical.
kenosis_kalon: ah yes
kenosis_kalon: did anyone ever calculate the needed array for a computer which can play life?
melannen: "play" life?
kenosis_kalon: urm execute
kenosis_kalon: well you know about traveling shapes in life
kenosis_kalon: right?
kenosis_kalon: like
kenosis_kalon:
**
* *
*
kenosis_kalon: turns out you can build a NAND gate using that.
melannen: Well, I 've seen it done on a three-by-three grid, I hthink.
melannen: A Nand gate? (This project was in eigth grade, forgive me if I'm a but rusty)
kenosis_kalon: and of course since NAND gates and wires are the only requirements to a computer of any level of complexity
kenosis_kalon: (you can also show that a feed through is possible so your wires don't get crossed)
kenosis_kalon: so it's necissarilly true that there exist a pattern in life which simulates a computer programed to run a life game.
kenosis_kalon: of course liking such complex things is why I drive most people away.
kenosis_kalon: but thankfully there are people who can ignore it and tolerate my company
melannen: Actually, I'm beginning to remember that. I think the kid who did the project the year before me was studying that.
kenosis_kalon: huh
melannen: I was trying to generate 3-D Sierpinski triangles over time.
kenosis_kalon: ah I started later and tried infinite dimesional ones.
melannen: I managed to make a screensaver of little animated smiley faces which sperad and then formed stable family groups. No triangles. But I was teaching myself C at the time, and I only had five days to do it.
kenosis_kalon: ah
kenosis_kalon: I'm writing a calibration automation tool
kenosis_kalon: esentially it's own programing language
kenosis_kalon: dunno if it'll sell.
melannen: calibration automation tool?
kenosis_kalon: for calibrating electronic devices
melannen: My grandfather was just telling me about how he invented one of them during the war.
melannen: Oh, okay.
kenosis_kalon: heh
kenosis_kalon: what did his calibrate?
melannen: Um, I honestly don't remember what he called them> Must ask again. they were little metal widgets that went on shell casings that were threaded on the inside and the outside, and his job was to make sure the thread were exactly right before they sent them on for hardening.
kenosis_kalon: huh fascinating but totally unrelated
melannen: Well, yes, but he did invent an automatic calibrator for them. q:
kenosis_kalon: yes but that's hardware
kenosis_kalon: I deal strictly in theory and software
melannen: But you're an engineer, aren't you?
kenosis_kalon: indeed
kenosis_kalon: techies can handle the physical labor
kenosis_kalon: I'll think and when I'm done thinking for money I'll think for pleasure.
melannen: See, that's why my grandfather scorns engineers.
kenosis_kalon: heh
kenosis_kalon: fair enough I don't deny it
melannen: Part of that same story was the time when the factory's owner ordered some expensive calibrators designed by an *engineer* and they were so obviously useless that the men on the floor opportunely "lost" them without even opening the boxes.
melannen: Of course, the engineer did still get paid, so I suppose he comes out on top there.
kenosis_kalon: I wouldn't worry too much my program doesn't work and I get paid for fixing it
kenosis_kalon: if it ever did work they'd stop paying me to fix it
melannen: See?Ah, the ethics of engineering. q:
kenosis_kalon: well I am trying to fix it.
kenosis_kalon: primarily because they neglected to require an NDA and I've put in sufficient extra hours to claim a majority share on it.
melannen: AH. Sounds like a good place.
kenosis_kalon: yeah
kenosis_kalon: actually asked my boss about that he said the only way to get ahead is through building your own company
kenosis_kalon: And left it at that.
melannen: hmm. That hasn't seemed very easy the past few years.
kenosis_kalon: indeed it's not
kenosis_kalon: but the program is viable I think
kenosis_kalon: though only maybe 200 people in the US might buy it.
melannen: That's not bad for a specialized thing like that though, is it?
melannen: It might be a start anyway.
kenosis_kalon: yeah
kenosis_kalon: considering the program it's one upping sells for $10,000 a copy
kenosis_kalon: if I can make 50% sales at that rate I'll be happy.
melannen: yeah, that would be great.
kenosis_kalon: yup
kenosis_kalon: but it's a long ways from looking like $10,000 worth of code.
melannen: hmm. Well, I probably wouldn't be much help, I haven't written any code in ages.
kenosis_kalon: heh
kenosis_kalon: it's written in visual basic.
kenosis_kalon: never used the language before in my life
kenosis_kalon: ^_^
kenosis_kalon: may not be as smart as you but I do get by on certain things
melannen: $10,000 code in *visual basic*? That's just, just ....
melannen: Besides, does VB even count as code? My limited experience it didn't.
kenosis_kalon: highway robbery and yes barely
kenosis_kalon: but I'm already at the 400 pages of code mark.
kenosis_kalon: it's a matter of supply and demand
kenosis_kalon: unless the other company wants to beat my price I can charge out the wazzu
kenosis_kalon: it's price gouging but the money it'll save them makes it worthwhile anyways
kenosis_kalon: an earlier version of this program did a two hour calibration in fifteen minutes requiring only a minute of the Engineers time.
kenosis_kalon: and was so simple a blond lay could run it.
melannen: That sounds like it's worth it.
melannen: my, my, coarse language. q:
kenosis_kalon: what blong lay?
kenosis_kalon: blond even.
melannen: Oh, does not mean that?
kenosis_kalon: means both of course.
melannen: Actually blonde, unless you're talking about a guy
kenosis_kalon: We'll I've known a few who would...
kenosis_kalon: but I'll stick to brunnettes
kenosis_kalon: sorry did I offend?
melannen: No, was just trying to resist the temptation to correct your spelling again, considering mine hasn't been that great.
kenosis_kalon: grate yiu meen
melannen: presislye.
kenosis_kalon: so if you were a teenaged Lich such as the horned king or iuz and an elder vampire seemed to have it in for you, what would you do?
melannen: 'm not sure what a lich's options precisly would be. Would it be appropriate to just be quietly dead for a few decades until it blew over?
kenosis_kalon: no I doubt the vampire would be so easily satisfied
kenosis_kalon: besides how would you fake your own death?
melannen: Oh. Like I said, I wasn't suer of my powers. Some undead can just, you know, go to dust for a few centuries if they're so inclined.
kenosis_kalon: well no
kenosis_kalon: he has three powers worth noting
kenosis_kalon: first his life is missplaced and like acheles he's invincible.
kenosis_kalon: of course the key which would be the heel but is actually his toe is known to the vampire.
kenosis_kalon: second he can draw strength from the ground.
kenosis_kalon: that being physical not magical strength
kenosis_kalon: third he's a total genious when it comes to necromancy and life energies.
kenosis_kalon: he has a spiffy sickle made of vampire's teeth.
kenosis_kalon: *shrug*
melannen: So he *could* just, oh, jump down a well with his toe and then pull it down over him.
kenosis_kalon: that's about it.
kenosis_kalon: kinda uncomfortable living in a well like that
kenosis_kalon: and what if he digs him up?
melannen: Well, how would he *find* him, that's the point.
melannen: If that's not acceptable I'd do something boring like try to find out *why* he wants to kill me, and then humble and from a gerat distance offer him the compromise most likely to keep me alive.
kenosis_kalon: for some reason the resident clairvoyant diviner w/e is helping him
melannen: Butm you know, that would also be pretty boring.
kenosis_kalon: actually I was considering it.
kenosis_kalon: currently he's watching the vampire through the eyes of a zombie pigeon he made.
melannen: Oh my. Well, there's your messenger then.
melannen: Lich powers cover zombies, right?
kenosis_kalon: no but he is the worlds leading authority on necromancy
kenosis_kalon: he's already turned himself into a lich and ressurected the dead.
melannen: ah. zombies should be piece of cake then.
kenosis_kalon: animating a pigeon corpse is relatively simple by comparisson
kenosis_kalon: well he is always running out of life energy.
kenosis_kalon: choices being convincing someone to let you have some of theirs or abruptly taking it from them.
melannen: So, I go to ground and then information, then co-opt the pigeon to show that I am not an unworthy oppenent, and send it back to the vampire as a dove of peace.
melannen: What happens if you run out?
kenosis_kalon: well his healing spells give out and people start calling him bones.
kenosis_kalon: he has a rather nasty volcano episode
kenosis_kalon: thankfully he was only entombed for a year.
melannen: Well, see, that's what I was saying in the first place: re-enact those circumstances, and all his vampire problems are over q:
kenosis_kalon: well last time he lost the little key in the process
kenosis_kalon: the key isn't volcano proof.
melannen: You mean the key to his life?
kenosis_kalon: well yeah
kenosis_kalon: he fassioned his left pinki toe into a key
kenosis_kalon: figuring he'd dupe people into thinking the locket it went to was actually his life battery.
melannen: I see. Reasonably clever.
kenosis_kalon: I was considering summoning his nightmare and convincing the wierd angel thing she's helping the wrong monster and then let the two of them duke it out.
kenosis_kalon: see he's only about as evil as Ghendo Ikari
melannen: well, that's probably the most exciting option.
kenosis_kalon: yes galloping off through walls and snatching up gals is usually the way to go.
kenosis_kalon: Though it is frustrating for the vitae impaired 'male'
melannen: oh dear. How... tragic.
kenosis_kalon: quite
kenosis_kalon: though he does enjoy his distinct lack of hormones.
melannen: Well, on that note, it's 2 am and I'm overdue for bed.
melannen: er. did not mean that the way it sounds. q:
kenosis_kalon: heh
melannen: good night.
kenosis_kalon: not sure how it aught to sound
kenosis_kalon: sleep well


And I diplay to the world why every abortive attempt I've made at roleplay has failed so miserably. Honestly, the key to a locket? What I would to is transfigure it into a toe, and hide it on the stump of my missing one. Have to watch out for bricks when walking barefoot in the dark though.

Oh, I also uploaded and backdated two weeks' worth of letters from 1804, although everyone who cares probably saw stellar_dust's announcement already.

Comments

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

i'd like to hear about your teena/csm argument, b/c i'm getting tired of my hermione/snape over sirius/remus (though that does have the added benefit that the former actually subverts the text more as well :-)

and i hope you meant the canon issue and the subversive one as two differnt ones (b/c you *know* i don't subscribe to the oh, slash is so subversive camp !!!)

[melannen.livejournal.com]

Well, the problem with Teena/CSM is that it really has no fandom following to speak of. And Teena really didn't get very much airtime. So. But it's a canon ship that has the same dynamic as Mulder's relationship with Krycek. That is, they alternate betraying each other and defending each other, and seem to throw out all their established behavioral principles when dealing with each other, and one of them may or may not be evil, and the relationship was extramarital when it started and therefore shares the supposedly "subversive" aspects of an m/m one. So when people say they think M/K was such a great ship because of those interactions, I'm always tempted to ask them why, in that case, nobody really cares about Teena/Cancer Man as an affair-- in fact, the only fics about them that I've read take place before the first betrayal, and the one time I mentioned my fondness for them in a broader xf forum ,as opposed to among friends, the universal reaction was "not interested".

As for the comment about subversion, first I want to disclaim: the reason I rarely get up the nerve to comment on all the fascinating discussions you bring up is that I'm very well aware that academics speak a language which is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike common English. q: I know it well enough to read it but not speak it; I have a bad habit of using terms like 'subversion' and 'authorial intent' in their unadorned dictionary meanings and ignoring all the baggage left by fandomacademic politics. And I;m alays afraid that I'm just re-proving the pythagorean theorem.

But anyway, I agree with you that gay is not automatically culturally subversive-- but I think that's a completely different generalization than suggesting that people who are fond of slash (who may self-identify as slashers) are more likely to come at fandom activities (Ooh, can I use the term 'textual poaching' now that I've finally read the original Jenkins essay? ;) from a perspective of consciously wanting to make the text into something that may not have been openly intended, or at least expected, by its creators, which is what I call textual subversion. Viewing canon as a foundation rather than a framework. Certainly het writers, such as Snape/Hermione people, can be the same way, if not more so-- but slash fans *almost always are*, even in fandoms with canon slash. And then I am a person who reads about equal amounts of het, slash, gen, poly and other, and writes, to the extent that I actually write, almost exclusively het. But I still identify myself as a slasher, becaue, well, that's the part of the community I feel most comfortable in.

I've been thinking about this by my eavesdropping on the edges of stellar_dust's fandom experience, as she and her circle seem to be firmly in r_becca's 'canon' shipper category, whereas I have always been completely the other way. And it's also, due to the fandoms I've chosen, the first time I've been among reasonable, intelligent, articulate, mature people who are unfriendly to slash. Not in an OMG you're going to hell sense, but just not liking to read it, and being entirely convinced that it's against canon. (Me, the more I watch of the late seasons, the more I think the M/S/Sk OT3 vibes were intentional-- but then, I identify as a slasher.) Which is why I am finally starting to see the point of people who claim that slashers are more open about the text. Because up till now I've been saturated in slash-and-het-friendly environments and it *was* very easy to pick up on the many close-minded aspects of slash, when I didn't have something else to compare it to.

And I think this has gotten long enough already. q:

[zodiaccat.livejournal.com]

Well, genealogy in general is boring, granted.
Ack! I mean, granted, it's not exactly a party activity, but diggin into one's own past can actually be quite fun entertaining worth the time put in.

[zodiaccat.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Just realized the dying chocobo goes well with an "Ack!". Bonus!

[stellar-dust.livejournal.com]

I think vids work both ways. There are just a lot more songs, and a lot more openings, to make the obvious vids with. And it's also more fun to watch something when you already agree with the conclusion - like I said, I'm not sure I even *want* to watch a Harry/Ron "My Heart Will Go On". I'm also pretty sure that given the choice I'd take an MSR vid over a Skinner/Scully or something. Or Draco/Trevor. d-:

[melannen.livejournal.com]

See, I disagree with everything that you said there except the first sentence. If you look at the text as full of possibility, doors will open to you, (to misquote Diane Duane, the first slashy writer I fangirled). And it's more fun to watch something with a conclusion you're dubious about, because then you can have the fun of letting yourself be slowly pulled in to the new viewpoint-- and I *do* dislike the idea of Harry/Ron vids, but that has more to do with my dislike of Twu Wuv interpretations; I didn't like Titanic either q: But I have read some really, really good Harry/Ron fic. And I'd definitely pick a Scully/Skinner vid over Scully/Mulder, if I thought there was a chance it would be any good. Besides, you liked the Kermit vid q:

I think there really *is* a dichotomy there, in what we come to fandom for. The way you originally looked at fanfic as being post-eps and elaborations on what happened during the book, whereas I immediately thought of AUs and futurefic and elaborate backstories for the minor characters.

eh

[theemptylife.livejournal.com]

Unpopular opinion, but I think slash altogether is somewhat cheap, for lack of a better term right now (I just woke up.) A bunch of fans, running around trying to bend characters into doing things they wouldn't normally do. Most slash I've read doesn't really do much. There's no real character development or exploration, because the original author already did that. Its generally just a bunch of tacked on emotions and urges which really requires little skill. There's no real creation in slash. Its like the difference between writing a computer program or a website, and taking an existing program or website and tweaking a little bit of the code to get an amusing result. Sure, fanfic is often good for a laugh, but I think most authors turn to fanfic because they realize to create an entire world. I mean, you look at SW books, which are basically fan fic, and you can see that Zahn and Anderson are the ones who really want to create. Other Star Wars writers just want to play action figures with the character that Zahn, Anderson, and Lucas created. And thats what I think most slash is, fans posing action figures in awkward positions for a laugh.

Re: eh

[melannen.livejournal.com]

Well, as Sturgeon's law goes, 95% of everything is crap, which applies to slash as much as anything, (and you seem to be using fanfic to mean the same thing as slash?) but good fanfic has room for a lot *more* character development and exploration than the originals did, since the basics are already outlined, you can go deeper in less time. After all, nobody tries to write a real computer program from scratch, they use predefined functions and code libraries and things. q: Linux is a Unix fanfic, to stretch a metaphor beyond the breaking point.

What fanfic writers are really doing is writing the same way the classical Greeks and Romans and practically everyone since then has done, writing new stories and interpretations based on a shared mythology. And some of it's shallow crap, and some of it's great literature. *shrug* But even the original writers often borrow characters and concepts from other mythologies, so. You could say X-files is a The Roswell Incident fanfic.

Whether slash by definition "forces characters to do things they wouldn't normally do" is one of the great arguments of our time, but I think authors often make it make sense in character. *shrug* As much as a lot of what the characters do on the original, anyway.

Re: eh

[theemptylife.livejournal.com]

I'd say I respectfully disagree, at least in terms of all writing being fanfic of mythology. Mythology surely has influence in writing, but unless youre writing about the actual characters and events of the myths (mmm...saberhagen's mask books...) then its not quite the same is it? Fan fic takes characters that someone else creates, keeps their names, pasts, and traits the same and then adds a little something new...sometimes.
For example, writing a story in which Hercules performs an additional task, that would be more like fanfic, whereas creating a character that shares some traits with the legendary strongman is different. Why? because it requires creation.
Tolkien's work reeks of mythological influence (Luthien=orpheus=my love) but he radically wove those influences into something seemingly brand new.
Some fanfic is alright, most I would say isnt worth reading. But slash I find has greater tendencies toward massive liberties in character, mainly because the whole point of them is to radically change character relationships.
As for what I said about computer programs, I know there are standardized blocks of code, same for webdesign. I was mainly referring to something that happens mostly in computer games, where its fairly easy to get into the code and rewrite some commands so that you can make some changes (have a character named after yourself, or my favorite..give the weakest unit a weapon of mass destruction) but there is no real magic in that, wheras the game's designers worked for months to perfect a game to give it lasting enjoyability.

Re: eh

[melannen.livejournal.com]

But that was my *point*-- a lot of people *do* write the actual characters from the myths. In fact, until about the eighteenth century, it was considered really risky for anyone to try to write their own original characters. I think Shakespeare wrote maybe four plays that weren't fanfic of something else (Tempest, Merry Wives of Windsor, A Winter's Tale, and, can't actually think of another. And Wives and Tempest both used characters and plots from previously published work.) And a nearly all modern SF writers have at least one work that borrows lots of characters from myth or earlier works. Borrows as in has the same name and past, not as in uses some characteristics of. Even in Tolkien, the dwarves in The Hobbit were all taken straight out the the Prose Edda, names and all.

Making up a new task for Hercules *would* be creation, you'd have to create the task, figure out why he's doing it, how he does it, how it affects him, how does it fit into the world where he lives. And you'd have to go a lot deeper into Hercules's character to make it work, rather than just having a generic strongman do it, which would be pretty boring. And a lot of writers who work from myth don't even do that much, they just re-tell the same stories that were already in the myth, and they're considered great writers, because of how much they add to the story while doing it.

Some fanfic is like going into already written code and just changing a few things-- but most fanfic people dislike that even more than you do. More often it really is like taking a set of predefined functions and slaving over them for months to make them work smoothly as a new program. Whci is what most programmers do these days, because it doesn't make any sense to do the work over if what someone else has already created will do the job.

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

I'd better stop before I start raving about how Teena/CSM has everything Mulder/Krycek has (including Teh Pretteh) plus the added bonus of canonicity.

I found this post through Googling some combination of "Teena/CSM," and it's so old that I don't even know if you'll get a notification of my reply, but I just had to say... yes! Teena/CSM! Someone else gets it!

*applause*

[melannen.livejournal.com]

Yay! Teena/CSM! So glad always to meet a fellow traveler!


...wait, is your lj named after *Naraht*, young Lieutenant Rock the Horta? Somehow I never managed to parse it that way when I saw you around before, but !!!! Naraht! I may have to friend you just on general principles.

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Yes, my LJ is indeed named after Naraht. I am a huge fan of Diane Duane and I first got involved in internet fandom through Star Trek, so there you are. (The other letters are a long story, but I can't get rid of them now.) Please do feel free to friend me on whatever principles you like. :)

Now that I've had my little moment of squee, can I actually take you up on the issues you raised in your post? Because it is interesting what is seen as subversive and edgy and what isn't in the fanfic universe. Slash? Subversive, despite the fact that everyone and her sister writes it. Het, like CSM/Teena, not subversive, except sometimes...

At the moment I'm writing a CSM/Teena story, which is why I've been Googling incessantly for inspiration. It's actually set roughly in place of "Talitha Cumi," so it's a reunion that went rather differently, if you see what I mean. I've told a few people about it and their reaction has been pretty much "Ewww!" Why? Because the characters are older than average. So it seems that writing slash or incest is one thing, but writing about people who are over sixty is beyond the pale. I am amused by that somehow. And as far as I can tell no one else has written a CSM/Teena story where they are together after Samantha's abduction.

Apologies for rambling... I don't know how interested you will be in any of this, but I was struck by your comments as they did seem to echo some of the things that I've been thinking.

[melannen.livejournal.com]

I'm currently involved in an epic re-read of everything she's ever written, particulary the Star Trek stuff, some of which I hadn't touched in *years*, and my love is still vast. Plus I've finally caught up on YW, so know I'm re-reading trying to figure out which of the characters are secretly wizards. :)

(Samantha Mulder, of course, was one of those thousands of kids every year who disappear on Ordeal - and after that, Mulder was never really as open to Possibility as he thought he was. I think they managed to make a good dent in Entropy anyway ... and Missy Scully was probably at least an Advisory before the Lone One had her taken out. . . um, sorry, I just *really* like her stories.)

And please, take up anything of mine you want! I have a couple of during-the-series Teena/CSM AUs myself that I'd love to get around to finishing someday, but I've got into watching an absolutely ludicrous number of currently-running shows, so I've kind of lost my XF-watching time, but I'd *love* to see people taking up these themes.

(Someday I want to write a "Talitha Cumi" AU where, as a result of CSM helping with the healing, they get stuck with a soulbond. Because! SOULBONDS! And if there's any couple in XF that fits the demographic for a really perfectly trashy soulbond romance epic, it's them.)

Sometimes I think that writing about older women is the last remaining taboo, and I wish people would cross it more, because I *love* the idea so much.

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, shamefacedly, that I'm not as up on Diane Duane's original work. I read "Deep Wizardry" as a child, and really enjoyed it, but mostly I'm a Star Trek books fan. I was so captivated by the Rihannsu stories for so many years--especially "The Romulan Way," which is so creative for a Star Trek book, and additionally has lots of McCoy!

I have a couple of during-the-series Teena/CSM AUs myself that I'd love to get around to finishing someday, but I've got into watching an absolutely ludicrous number of currently-running shows, so I've kind of lost my XF-watching time, but I'd *love* to see people taking up these themes.

Hit me with some ideas, here. I'm almost positive that I don't have time to write about anyone else's premise (I barely have time to write about my own), but I'm curious anyway. I have finally managed to find *one* CSM/Teena during-the-series series out there in the great world of the internet, but the world needs more. More, I tell you!

Sometimes I think that writing about older women is the last remaining taboo, and I wish people would cross it more, because I *love* the idea so much.

Exactly. And Teena Mulder is especially interesting in this context because on the surface she appears to be this very correct upper-middle-class housewife, with nothing in particular to distinguish her from all the other upper-middle-class housewives in her social circle. I'm sure that her neighbors and friends think that nothing exciting has ever happened to her in her life, with the exception of her daughter's abduction twenty years ago--such a tragedy, and no one could have predicted it. Whereas if you delve below the surface, there's so much going on. I think she must be quite an exceptional woman, really.