Lyras

My reactions are very much under the cut, but firstly, I went to the imax, so we were all given 3D specs, and I was totally not expecting them to be so cool! I looked at the girl who handed me them in a "are you sure I really need this, I am not twelve" kind of way, but when the trailers started I put them on, and oooh! The images really do become three-dimensional. Very impressive.

Anyway. ( Observations on specific storylines. )

( On the relationships )

( Favourite moments )

( On the acting and actors )

Ahem. Long post is long. Anyone else want to chime in with opinions?

I have seen HBP and will put up a post with my reactions shortly. But first:

hbpchallenge

As explained by the wonderful magnetic_pole:

"... a community for the harried and commitment-phobic Half-Blood Prince fan.

Here's the challenge: create something (anything!) about HBP, movie or book, by July 29. The catch? It's got to be short, and you've got to do it (relatively) quickly. Maximum word count for fic and meta: 1000 words. Drawbles and icons and other fanworks also welcome! You've got two weeks from the movie's opening date."

More info here, and the prompt post has just gone up here (NB: movie spoilers will appear in the comments to this post!).

Like all Maggie's fests, this one is low on stress and hot on fun!


Also, for anyone who feels that they're missing out by not attending Azkatraz:

azkatrazathome will be hosting a drabble fest, round table discussions and more over the next few days.

Plenty to keep everyone occupied, I think!

Spoilers for episode 17, Maelstrom, ( under the cut )

Onto the next episode.

I know lots of people on my flist dabble in school-based fandoms, so come and join us for a school story fic exchange!

Sign-ups are here, and possible fandoms include Trebizon, the Chalet School, the Marlows/Kingscote books, the Sadlers Wells books (yay!), Molesworth, the Anne books, Ballet Shoes, Betsy-Tacy, the Abbey Girls, Dorita Fairlie Bruce series and a host of other school-based stories.

I'd love to see a few more people from my flist join up! Sign-ups have been extended until the end of the weekend.

Drive-by post because I appear to have come down with flu a week after nursing my boyfriend through it. *swears at body*

It's my day to post at xnevillelovingx, and I came up with two ficlets:

Title: From little things
Rating: G
Pairing(s): None - this is gen (Neville + Professor Sprout).
Summary: When Professor Moody takes an interest in him during GoF, Neville seeks to escape in the greenhouses.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction set in the Harry Potter universe – all recognisable characters and settings are the property of J. K. Rowling and her associates. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is made from this work. Please observe your local laws with regards to the age-limit and content of this work.
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 700
Author's Notes: As well as being dedicated to this lovely fest, this ficlet is also dedicated to vegablack62, a Neville fan after my own heart. The title is from the song, "From little things big things grow" by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody.

From little things


Title: Up Muggle Creek without a wand
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): (More-or-less unrequited) Neville/Ginny, although I like to think of this scenario in terms of, "And then twenty years later they got married."
Summary: Set during DH. The night before the Easter holidays, Neville seizes a chance to declare himself.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction set in the Harry Potter universe - all recognisable characters and settings are the property of J. K. Rowling and her associates. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is made from this work. Please observe your local laws with regards to the age-limit and content of this work.
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 800
Author's Notes: Another double dedication: this one is for the fest, and also for coffee_n_cocoa, who single-handedly keeps this ship afloat.

Up Muggle Creek without a wand


(In other news, the time to post fic is apparently not just after North America has gone to bed and in the small hours of the European night. Oops.)

Now off to revise my remix fic before going back to bed.

Do you use the term "underwear" as a general term for bras and knickers in casual conversation? If not, what word would you use?

(Lingerie is too posh in this context.)

Thanks in advance!

ETA: Sorted - thank you!

I'm confused about this. I find it hard to understand why some people are reacting so strongly to the suggestion that the major triggers should be warned for, especially when I've seen several recent posts explaining how you can warn for triggery content without spoiling those who don't want to be spoiled or warning those who don't want to be warned. Look: here they are.

It's not exactly hard, therefore why not do it?

Triggers are not the same as squicks. ( Cut for discussion of potential triggers )

My position in a nutshell: warnings are not hard. Yes, sometimes we may not realise that something is triggery, or we may not realise that our story could be read in a way that is triggering. But generally, it's easy enough to add a line warning for character death, rape, dubious consent or anything else that you feel may upset people. Thanks to the posts I linked above, you can even do it only for the people who want to be warned.

So why not do it?

(metafandom and unfunny business have more links on the subject for those who are interested.)

There seems to be growing confusion about the proper use of the verbs "to lie" (to recline) and "to lay" (to place or put down). I see it on the internet all the time, and among other things it seems to be endemic to the fitness profession in real life. Here's my attempt to straighten things out.

Essentially, lie is a "doing" verb, while lay is a passive one. A person lies down, but a thing must be laid down BY someone. (In grammatical terms, "to lie" is an intransitive verb while "to lay" is a transitive verb that requires a direct object to complete it.)

( Conjugating 'to lie' )

( Conjugating 'to lay' )

Examples:

INCORRECT: Lay down on your mat.*
CORRECT: Lie down on your mat.

INCORRECT: They lie the yoga mats on the ground.
CORRECT: They lay the yoga mats on the ground.

INCORRECT: The cats were laying on the bed.
CORRECT: The cats were lying on the bed.

CORRECT USE OF "TO LIE": I lie on my bed, remembering yesterday, when I lay by the beach in the sunshine. I have lain there many times, listening to the waves.

CORRECT USE OF "TO LAY": I lay down the teacup carefully. Yesterday I laid it down carelessly and spilt the tea. I have laid down many cups in my time, and have a tendency to be careless with them.


*Yoga instructors, I'm looking at you.

I'm not an expert, but I do work with languages. I hope this post clarifies things a little, rather than confusing them! Also, I think it's the rule that anyone posting about grammar or spelling errors has to make an embarrassing error somewhere in the post, so if you notice anything, please feel free to point it out.

"Remember the days when nobody was dead or straight..."

Remus/Sirius fans? You need to go here if you haven't already, and wallow in the nostalgia. It's been making me smile for days.

Some favourites that I found in my Delicious bookmarks:

The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time by penknife
Scarvesnhats ficlet by luzdeestrellas
Fly by ignipes
The Yellow Road Lies Sleeping by elanne (a newer writer who I wish would write more - she's wonderful)
Pilgrimage by rosemaryandrue
Voldemort's Return: A Love Story by magnetic_pole
Hybristophilia by fleshdress (and pretty much everything else she's ever written)
Bed's Too Big Without You by musesfool
A Lexicon of Faith and Loss by musesfool

A vid: Brokeback Hogwarts

And my favourite ever piece of Remus/Sirius art: Letter to a dead man by nassima

Sorry for the post of self-pity the other day. I'm feeling much better today, and am gearing myself up to get on with things instead of moping about.

Several fannish things:

1.

I think I've decided that long fannish works are not for me right now (although I'm pushing on with bigbangblackout for the moment), but an entire fest devoted to Ginny sounds fantastic! I hope a few people on my flist end up writing for it.

2. schoolsoutforever is a fic exchange centred around school stories. It's based on Dreamwidth, but non-Dreamwidth people can participate through Open ID. Here's an outline of the set-up, and you can go here to vote for the school stories you want to see included. Chalet School fans? Lorna Hill fans? Antonia Forest fans? We need you! (Well, I do, she says selfishly.)

3. A meme, borrowed from lots of people: Name a fandom, and I'll give you the scoop on at least three of my unpopular opinions related to that fandom.

Alternatively: Choose any character from Harry Potter and I will be happy to tell you my unpopular opinions about them.

1. I don't think I'm going to do bigbangblackout after all. ( Cut for length )

2. I was ill this weekend - either mild food poisoning or a chill I caught while out running in the rain. ( Cut for whining )

3. I'm on the wrong side of the world from Wimbledon. :(

4. I have been landed with organising a book club which seems to be composed solely of oldbies who can't be arsed to turn up (fine, we all go through phases, and I know they'll be back soon, but do they all have to choose the same time?) and newbies who keep suggesting really obscure books (again, fine if you don't want anyone to actually read them) and 1000-page epics.

5. Some very serious accusations have been made concerning a guy who is very active in a couple of vegan communities that I frequent. ( Cut for discussion of rape accusations, and of the onus being on the victim to provide proof versus the accused being innocent until proven guilty )

There must be some happy stuff?

1. The sun is shining, although it's officially winter now.

2. Britain has a strong contender for the men's Wimbledon title for the first time in god knows how long.

3. I may have fewer words to go on the first draft of my novel than I realised, if only because there's not much more of the story left in my head. (It'll need a LOT of fleshing out in future drafts, in other words.)

4. I ran 5 km on Saturday, five minutes faster than I'd run the same route on Monday.

5. I'm going to a vegan meet-up tomorrow night. I don't know any vegans in real life, and I really need to change that, so fingers crossed on this one.

6. The Broken Records album and new Jarvis Cocker! How could I forget?

Title: The Mannequins of Ankh-Morpork
Author: lyras
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 7000
Summary: The disappearance of two mannequins is more complicated than Cheery anticipated. Corporal Nobby Nobbs goes undercover again, Angua sniffs out a mystery involving the wizards, and two fashionable dressmakers (NOT seamstresses) discover secrets about themselves and others.
Notes: Written for plum177, who requested Cheery/Nobby friendfic. This got slightly out of control, but I hope you like it, and thank you so much for your donation to the Australin Red Cross's bushfire relief fund! Thank you also to red_squared for beta-reading, and to archon/archon_mentha for help with HTML.

Posted to my fic journal: The Mannequins of Ankh-Morpork

( Letter to my remixer )

It's Saturday morning here, but still Friday fun on the flist, so I bring you:

Silly (but Stupendous) Song Saturday

Firstly, blamebrampton linked to the website of Garfunkel and Oates, who sing hilarious songs about issues such as receiving bad presents. Here is their response to Pat Robertson's comments about the legalisation of gay marriage leading to people having sex with ducks.

( Sex with Ducks under here )

Their Worst Song Medley had me giggling, too; in fact, everything I've clicked on so far has been worth watching.

Secondly, carlanime posted Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version, which I am now compelled to share with you on the off-chance that you haven't seen it.

( It started out as Hogwarts, now it's Lord of the Flies )

After that, of course, I had to look on YouTube for my fave Bill Bailey and Tim Minchin clips, so I present to you:

( Bill Bailey on news themes )

(See also Bill Bailey's Slayer/Scott Walker ballad and Bill Bailey on French emergency sirens and Bill Bailey on Cockney music.)

...and Bill Bailey's Kraftwerk tribute:

( Ja. Das hokey cokey )

...Tim Minchin's Peace Anthem for Palestine:

( Probably not for the easily offended )

(See also Inflatable You and the incomparable Rock'n'roll Nerd.)

Now to see if the coding worked and head on out to enjoy the sunshine. Happy weekend, everybody!

So I'm still ahead, although not as far as I was before I went home to the UK. I'm pondering whether to up my goal or not, but I'll leave that decision for another few weeks.

( What I've been working on )

Harry Potter: My gift was posted at percy_ficathon! It's gorgeously sweet and sad and hopeful, and I love it.

Title: Make Our Garden Grow
Characters: Percy/Penelope
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3,758
Warning(s): Dark at times, with bits of nastiness by Death Eaters.
Summary: To make a garden grow together is a work of love. To reconstruct a life is even more so.
Link: Make Our Garden Grow


Battlestar Galactica: I have about five episodes left of season two. I'm starting to find watching it very stressful, because I love SO MANY of the characters that every time something bad happens I go into panic stations. Plus, I keep looking longingly at all the fannish stuff online, and then running away for fear of spoilers.


Star Trek: Finally saw it, at the IMAX, no less. I know this is dim of me, but I wasn't expecting the visuals to be so cool at the IMAX. I know where I'm going to see HBP now!

( As for what I thought of the film... )


Discworld: Fic will be posted on Monday, if not sooner. Also, I listened to Nigel Planer (Neil from the Young Ones) read Men At Arms, and he was brilliant. I'd forgotten what a great book it is, and I'd not really expected an audiobook to do it justice, but I was very much mistaken. Lots of different voices and accents, and perfect comic timing (unsurprisingly). He's done quite a few Discworld audiobooks, and I hope he ends up doing versions of them all, because he's much better than the samples I listened to of other readers.

Title: Intransigence and uncertainty
Characters: Neville, Augusta, Snape
Word count: Just under 1,500
Summary: Neville encounters an unwelcome addition to the Janus Thickey Ward.
Notes: This is the second story (a ficlet that got a little out of control) written for magnetic_pole in thanks for her donation to the Australian Red Cross bushfire relief fund. M, thanks again for your generosity and patience, and I really hope you enjoy this!

Posted at my fic journal: Intransigence and Uncertainty

Title: The Mirror's Tale
Characters: Er, the mirrors belonging to Sirius and James
Summary: The mirrors cannot speak, but they have a tale to tell
Length: 600 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for magnetic_pole as thanks for her gift to the Australian Red Cross bushfire relief fund. M, thank you so much for your generosity and patience. This is a little random, but I hope you enjoy it anyway! Your second ficlet will be ready tomorrow.

Posted at my fic journal: The Mirror's Tale

Two of my stories have been nominated for Hourglass Awards: Black Knight for Best Angst (heh, there's a surprise) and The Lions of Gryffindor for Best Drama. To the people who nominated them, thank you very much!

I'm in excellent company, too: I'm sharing the Angst category with pasi and rian219, plus lots and lots of other recognisable names. Eek!

Current state o'the writing: I wrote about 10,000 words in may, and so far about 5,000 words in June. I think I may be over my dry patch....

I'm just about to make the final changes to my percy_ficathon fic before sending it off. I have one more edit to do on my Discworld fic, and I am determined that there will be fic for magnetic_pole tomorrow.

Finally, a possible antidote to all those complaints that people only write for fests these days and it's taken the creativity out of fandom. ownficfest, in which writers submit plots or prompts that they've been wanting to write, and then write one of them for somebody else. The pressure of a deadline + your own creativity = a winner, I think. (Yeah, I know it's still a fest. I don't care.) You can find the rules, dates and so on here.

Am going away for a couple of days, to a place where I expect to do a lot of walking, a lot of reading and a lot of writing. It will probably involve a lot of tea and a little red wine, as well.

I'm horribly behind on replying to comments - sorry! I'll try and catch up with that when I return.

I also hope to return with fic, since I have two ficlets to post for magnetic_pole and a slightly out-of-control Discworld story for plum177, which I am about to send off for red_squared to beta-read. Erm, also (*quails before emiime*) would anyone like to beta-read a fairly short Percy story when I get back?