IN ALL MY RP YEARS I'VE NEVER CHALLENGED A HOLD SOMEONE MADE BEFORE ME. Actually, I don't think I've ever been challenged after making the primary hold, but if I was, it must not have panned out. It's really nerve wracking, I don't know how people do it regularly.

So, PB suggestions? I need a PB for Neville Longbottom, age 21. He's an alternate timeline Neville, so there is another Neville already in play, PB'd by Daniel Cudmore. Originally I was aiming for a blonder PB, but with Daniel being dark-haired it won't work to have a dark-haired Neville and a blonde-haired Neville, at least to me. I'd like my Neville to look different, not just because even the dopple characters need different PBs, but because his life was very distinctly different. Someone thinner, serious and nervous looking, but with the potential to not be either in some icons, would be good.

Also, Megan. NOW YOU REALLY NEED TO DO GINNY.

We are starting this years InsaneJournal holiday sale. From now until the end of the day Friday, November 27 we are going to be holding a sale on Self-Committed[paid] accounts and Extra Userpics.

The prices are be as follows

Self-Committed[paid]
1 Month -> $5
6 Month -> $15 $10
12 Month -> $25 $18

Extra Userpicx
6 Month -> $10 $5
12 Month -> $20 $15

Then on Friday November 27th from 8am until 4pm (Eastern US time) we will be running a very special sale on Permanently Insane accounts.

I went to the supermarket yesterday.  There were fairly long lines with the pre-Thanksgiving crowd and the cashiers were hauling whole turkeys over the scanners. 

 

I was very grateful not to be working in a supermarket anymore. 

 

In fact, the market was always open on Thanksgiving and I started working there in September of 2006 so this is going to be the first Thanksgiving since 2005 where I won’t have to go to work. 

Tunnels of Blood by Darren Shan


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Well, I've stuck it out for three books with Darren and I'm actually enjoying the ride. While I don't normally enjoy whiny main characters, there's something about Darren (perhaps his keen intellect) that keeps you coming back for more.

Summary: Darren Shan, the vampire's assistant, gets a taste of the city when he leaves the Cirque Du Freak with Evra the snake-boy and Mr. Crepsley. When corpses are discovered drained of blood, Darren and Evra are compelled to confront a foul creature of the night who may prove to be the end of them all.

What I liked about this book: Darren is an enigma. He hates his lot, his likes his powers, he hates Mr. Crepsley, he likes Mr. Crepsley. He likes Madame Octa, he hates Madame Octa. In other words, he's your typical teenager with a see-saw of emotions that are now heightened by his vampiric powers. In this book, we meet Murlough who in the movie was kind of creepy and scary but wore the pirate-looking costume that Darren wears throughout the book. Darren meets his first crush, learns about the Vampaneze and comes face to face with evil. I love that you're on an adventure from the get-go and while the book paces along quickly, you don't lose yourself in the characters or the story.

My favorite parts, of course, are those with Darren and Evra. Best friends who pretend to be brothers traveling with their "father" Mr. Crepsley into a city that gives them an opportunity to bond, be teenagers and meet more humans. Of course, that also means danger for the pair but it gives them an opportunity to test that friendship too. Instead of a girl coming between them, an evil psychopath does. But hey, what's another monster in a world of freaks, right?

I'm enjoying the series so far. I will say that if I'd read the books then gone seen the movie, I would've been really pissed off! LOL

View all my reviews >>

Last night I had a dream that was backstory for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. I was a young girl in a very wealthy family and the Basterds were using our decrepit summer estate for training. My mother cautioned me very strongly against associating with the Basterds but I think I sort of had a thing for Donny (aka the Bear Jew) who I referred to as a Golem.

Well, I have failed NaBloPoMo already. Damn colds and busy working weekends! But, I shall continue on as best I can with the rest of the month, posting as often as I can.

Let's see... what can I blather on about today? How about a little "Get to know Minnie" meme since some of you are new to my journal and others likely know little else since most of my posts have been twitter horoscopes. Sorry about that!

1. I am Puertorican. Born in Aguadilla and raised in Ponce. Moved to Orlando, Florida in 1984 at the age of 11.


2. Though I am an island girl, I'm not fond of the beach. I may go and sit on the sand and read but it would take an act of God, and several hot, gay men to gawk at to get me to stay and enjoy it.


3. I used to love the beach as a child. Especially when we went as a family and my cousins got to go with us. We'd play mermaids and pirates in the water, eat crabs by the water and pretend to fish while we talked about who we kissed and who we wanted to kiss.


4. My husband is a Newyorican. He was born and raised in the city (born: Manhattan, raised: Bronx) and misses it terribly. He doesn't miss the cold, but the pulse and life that is New York City, I know calls to him as much as Las Vegas does.


5. My husband is a poker dealer with All In Poker Series and is a damn good poker player. If we could get him into one of the local tournaments that award the buy-in to the World Series of Poker, he'd get in. I'm sure of it!


6. We have three kids; girl - 15, boy - 13, boy - 11 and they keep us well-entertained! Their sense of humor is amazing and they're at the perfect age to enjoy them! :D


7. We live next door to my Mom. We rent a 3-bedroom house, she has a 4-bedroom house. It's easier to live next door in a smaller house than it is to live in her house (which we did for over 5 years). We get along so much better this way too!


8. I work in textbook publishing and really love what I do. I just wish my bosses would see me for what I am rather than what they think I should be. Lots of politics and well, Latina women are not at the top of an Irish-owned company. Not stirring the waters, just stating facts.


9. I just completed my Bachelor of Science in Management from the University of Phoenix online. I planned to go straight through for my Master's but without the guarantee that the company will help with tuition reimbursement (which they've balked at and made it damn near impossible to get) I figured it wasn't worth the aggravation. I'm proud of finally achieving a degree I set out to complete as soon as I finished high school. Now it's time to get my kids ready to achieve theirs.


10. My daughter has been in martial arts with my father (a 10th degree black belt and grand master in Iaido) since she was 3 years old. She's a jack of all weapon trades. She's a good marksman and she wants to be a Marine. Did I mention I'm a democrat in a family of right-wing, conservative republicans? Yeah... it's never a dull moment at my house!


11. I have a Min Pin named Dobby who thinks he's human. We've never put a pillowcase on him, but I did get him in drag for Halloween.


12. I'm a founder and captain of the Harry Potter fanfic archive, The Quidditch Pitch and am extremely proud of our staff, authors and members. Their generosity, dedication and determination have been a great strength to me and the other Captains.


13. I'm a Mac Girl (though I wish I looked like her!). I love Macs and only use Macs. I do not like PCs. I do not like them with a mouse, I do not like them in my house. I do not like them here nor there. I do not like them ANYWHERE! But seriously... I have several Macs in the house (most of them laptops) and I won't own a PC for many reasons. The first being, I don't like viruses. I've been a Mac owner for over 5 years and have yet to lose a laptop to a virus. Yes, they're more costly but no, I don't have to replace them every other year.


14. I've learned not to argue with people over politics, religion, income, GLBT issues or Mac versus PC. I value everyone's opinions and welcome opposing viewpoints. I draw the line at preaching, personal attacks and rants that lead to wank on my journal or any of my friends'. If we agree to disagree, life will be much simpler for us. Live and let live as my friend joesther says.


15. My car's name is Sevvie (2000 Black Mistsubishi Galant), my husband's car's name is Wheezy (1996 Red Buick Regal) which I owned first then gave to him when Sevvie came around. Both cars need major repair-work and since I married neither handyman nor mechanic, they are being run into the ground, the poor dears. Well, not really into the ground, we just can't replace the rear shock absorbers on Wheezy just yet and are waiting to get the CV joint for Sevvy at a price we can afford.


16. I love to slash all pairings. I do. I can slash pretty much anyone, though I had trouble with Neville Longbottom because I really just don't see him as sexual at all. Sorry coffee_n_cocoa, it's just been tough to do. But I will say, Neville's growing on me and I've been able to slash him recently in a trio with Harry and Remus.

Well, that's me in a nutshell. You can find me on Facebook playing Farmville, Treasure Madness and Vampire Wars when the muse is not cooperating. Come by and say hi.

I just finished watching season 1 of the television show Heroes and I can honestly say I’m a little obsessed. It’s not a great show but it is totally my kind of show, a sort of sprawling mishmash of elements from X-Men, Watchmen and the Manchurian Candidate and post 9/11 paranoia with lots of grandiose themes, moral ambiguity, family dysfunction and general angst.

I find myself particularly fascinated by the relationship between Peter and Nathan Petrelli. They’re brothers—Peter is a hospice nurse and Nathan is a lawyer running for Congress—but the intensity of their interactions makes them seem more like lovers.

I always wonder where stuff like (i.e. homoerotic and/or incestuous subtext) this comes from, is it intentional or just a quirk of chemistry? In some cases it’s conscious (on the DVD commentary for 28 Days Later for instance, Danny Boyle acknowledges that yet, Major Henry West is acting in a seductive manner towards Jim) I always wondered if while he was making Reservoir Dogs Quentin Tarantino told Tim Roth and Harvey Keitel to play Mr. Orange and Mr. White as a romance or if it just happened.

Some actors I’ve noticed just seem to have a particular gift for getting all over their male co-stars in a suggestive way. Viggo Mortensen (see him with William Hurt in A History of Violence or Vincent Cassel at the end of Eastern Promises) and Peter Stormare (Constantine, Prison Break, the Brothers Grimm) immediately come to mind but there are definitely others.

And speaking of slashy goodness…

Now that I’m done season 1 of Heroes I’ve started watching season 2 of the BBC show Merlin. Amusingly the season premiere starts off with scenes of Merlin rushing to a shirtless Arthur’s bedside and later Gwen doing the same for Morgana. In this series, I definitely think the homoerotic subtext is very conscious. There’s too much of it for it to be anything else.

I have mixed feelings about Merlin. On the one hand it feels like a rehash of the first couple seasons of Smallville in a medieval setting. Of course originality isn’t everything, but there’s a certain stagnancy to the show. It seems to tread water, never moving forward. Each episode seems to return it to a status quo. That said I do enjoy watching it because it’s so well done and beautiful to look at. The costumes and scenery and production design is wonderful. I’ve never seen a show with more vivid use of color. Katie Mcgrath and Angel Coulby, the young actresses who play Morgana and Gwen are absolutely exquisite. I could stare at Colin Morgan’s (Merlin’s) cheekbones all day and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is wonderful and magnetic as the very ambiguous King Uther.

I’m feeling much better than I was when I posted back on the 9^th. 

 

My health insurance finally came through so I’m taking my medication at the proper dosage once again.  I’ve also taken steps to get my daily calorie intake up to a level where I’m functioning instead of just surviving. 

 

Other positive things—

 

After a couple weeks with nothing promising on the job front, about four positions have come up in the past few days that I’m going to apply for.  Maybe something will work out.  Not that I’m terribly eager to get back to work (because let’s face it, its work) but I’d feel a bit more secure with a steady income and some reliable health insurance coverage. 

 

The weather is wonderfully mild for mid-November, temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s this last week. 

 

I’m getting back into the habit of writing everyday, which is great.  When I’m not writing I always feel sort of directionless.  Practicing and honing my craft gives me a real sense of purpose and accomplishment.   

 

I find taking care of my grandmother really rewarding.  Since I moved in with her, I’ve taken over changing the bedding every week and yesterday she thanked me for that and was telling me what a terrible time she used to have doing it by herself and how much easier having me around made life for her.  It really makes me feel good knowing I’m helping her even if it is in a very small and simple way.

The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
If I had read the books and then gone to see the movie, I would have been very disappointed that Sam never made it to the big screen and that he was replaced by a monkey girl that so far, does not exist in canon (mind you, I'm only 2 books in).

Summary: Darren Shan was just an ordinary schoolboy - until his visit to the Cirque Du Freak. Now, as he struggles with his new life as a Vampire's Assistant, he tries desperately to resist the one temptation that sickens him, the one thing that can keep him alive. But destiny is calling... the Wolf Man is waiting.

What I liked about this book: The story picks up right where A Living Nightmare left off. While I'm still a bit miffed about a few editorial misgivings in the book, these didn't keep me from reading, which is always a good thing.

As Darren struggles with his humanity and losing his childhood in the process, he's faced with more blood and gore and a tragedy that forever changes him. I like that death is not masked at all in these books and when the proverbial crap blood hits the fan, it's done in vivid technicolor and Darren Shan spares no one from it!

The story is definitely keeping me intrigued. Hopefully it does so for the full dozen.

View all my reviews >>

Ooh, I like my assignment for Yuletide lots. I thought I might get this one last year; it's something I've loved for a long time and am thrilled to have the motivation to write for it.

Regarding my own request,

Dear Yuletide Santa/Kringle/Hanukkah Fairy/etc.:

Everything I had to say about the specific fandoms, I think I covered in my request. If you'd like to hear more details about my fic likes in general:

Yes, I love slash. I discovered I liked m/m slash at the same time I dove headfirst into fanfiction; it was not a coincidence. Three of these four fandoms that I chose for Yuletide, I chose because I cherish the slashy possibilities of the two main characters. Having said that, I also like friendship fic, pre-slash hints, femslash, humor, crack (I adore well-done crack), Alternate Realities... I love NC-17 smut, but I won't be sad if the fic chooses not to go there, not if it doesn't feel right to you.

Please don't feel you have to write an epic. Short fic is often the most rewarding. I eat up even drabbles. Write me 5 200-word drabbles to make the word count minimum; I'll still go ape.

Thank you so much!

My net is being intermittent and making it impossible to actually play now that my headache has passed, so I will procrastinate sleep five minutes longer to do this.

advena;
→ application: Hugo Weasley. Flip coin between pleasing-father-issues and personal-desire-issues to determine occupation.
→ application: baby!Louis Weasley. Ask Sara about Fleur As A Mum. Headdesk again at him shaping up to be such a spoiled little prince.
→ Druella/Cygnus thread starter for the ?? day.
→ Operation Retake Grimmauld Place. Find out final details of how and when that is going down.
→ thread tags I need to finish: to Sirius, to Alphard, perhaps tackle & finish old Lily/James come Monday.
→ thread tags owed to me: Remus, Severus.
→ kick self for missing Thursday night posting of game pimpage.
→ continue theorizing on why no one wants to play Harry where he can interact with both his past family and his present/future family. HE CAN STILL BE CAPSLOCK AND EMOANGST, IF THAT'S WHAT HOLDS PEOPLE BACK.
→ ??

parabolical;
→ Sarah narrative establishing her fake-life.
→ Nathan narrative, see above.
→ Claire narrative, see above.
→ John & Ruby thread starter for their fake-life.
→ Ben narrative and thread starter for Ben & Castiel to flail at the madness.
→ Claire/Dean log of their upcoming run-in.
→ Possible Sarah & Paige thread.
→ tags: IDEFK. Determine what still lives and what doesn't, possibly.

And now as my final post on the IJ version of Scans Daily, the July 2, 1983 issue of Victor. This title also depended heavily on war stories, but not quite as heavily as Warlord. They do however make the covers.






At this point, there was a one-page gag strip entitled "Cap'n Hand and his Mutinous Band." It was so mediocre even by the standard of gag strips that I have opted out of showing it.













Your thoughts, gentlefolk?

Coming up on Dreamwidth, a story with Thrill-Power! And the new darker and edgier take on a childhood favorite.

For my last post before the move, I thought I'd post an Amanda Conner commission I found online (and which isn't mine) which encapsulates much of what has made this place so much fun...

It has Dick Grayson as Robin, it has Spider-Man, it has cute kids, implied violence (and spanking at that!) and the promise of candy... what better image to summarise us? :)