A Nothing Trail of Silences

Finals Status: Defeated

2009-12-12T21:45:04Z

I have defeated my finals! Huzzah!

I am in no means done for the term (two reports, one presentation, two ethics courses, and a thesis proposal remaining) but exams have been defeated. In retrospect, four grad classes and two jobs was a bad idea. I assumed that because I could handle six classes in undergrad, I could handle four at the grad level. This was unfortunately not based on any empirical evidence.

Other things which have been conquered:
- Karaoke. I have always wanted to get up the courage to embarrass myself in front of drunken strangers, and I had the chance to do so at a birthday last night. It was character-building!

- Some of the Oz books, oh my goodness. I have a deep routed love for the Wizard of Oz series, and have been looking for volumes with the original illustrations since -- well, pretty much since forever -- without any luck. Today, I found some of them at a used book store. YAY.

Things which have defeated me:
- The interwebs. I am ridiculously behind.

- Vidding. I decided to do some vidding as a reward to myself, for not dying. For some reason, my clipping program (MPEG Streamclip) has decided it is unable to the video files on half of my Dexter episodes. I have audio, but this is not terribly useful to me. It is making vidding rather difficult.

- My dishes. And apartment.

- Swimsuit shopping. Mine is disintegrating, what with being decorative and made for the beach/hotel/toe dipping, and not being made to withstand regular recreational/workout swimming. I am avoiding finding a replacement for as long as possible however, as I find swimsuit shopping supremely traumatic. There is a 76.3% chance it will defeat me, however, so I am putting off my inevitable vanquishing.

The most important part of all of this, however, is that I have defeated(ish) my exams. And I finally have some Oz books! There is much, much joy.

Holy smokes, Batman! Two updates in one week.

2009-12-04T04:27:56Z

The vidding love meme is pretty fantastic. I am generally fairly crap at feedback, what with being perpetually behind on the interwebs and just plain being crap at feedback*, so I am on a spree.

I am hoping that I am not getting a little (liiiiiittle) bit creepy, what with gushing over people for vids I may not actually have gotten around to feedbacking. Or people for whom it turns out I have never left feedback. Hopefully it will all be taken as love, as per the meme.

* Not even going to lie, I keep having to yank myself back from rambling on all about texture and shape of vids because: hey, that's not how ~~normal~~ most people look at things. I am getting better at avoiding convoluted metaphors, though. Hurray for practice!

Baaaaaah

2009-12-03T02:40:14Z

There is a vidding love meme.

There is also a thread that belongs to me!

Hi guys! This is the kind of day/week/month it has been: this evening, I left campus and took the bus all the way home before realizing that I drove this morning.

I have not accumulated any amount of frazzledness, no. People keep trying to cheer me up by reminding me there are only two days left in the term. What they don't realize it that is the precise reason I am said frazzled mess who accidentally leaves her car on the other side of the city. I suppose there is some comfort in the idea that either way it will be over soon.

cherryice @ 2009-11-20T17:12:00

2009-11-20T23:12:32Z

Guys, I'm not going to lie -- the only reason I remembered I have Twitter is because I wanted to follow CERN's progress with the Large Hadron Collider last year.

They're Twittering progress right now -- they are getting ready to capture the second beam. (ETA: They have it orbiting!) It's all quite exciting, even if you're not a particle physicist. (I'm not! Although I might not be the best marker for 'exciting and cool.')

For nostalgia: The Large Hadron Rap.

Happy sparkling vidding thoughts to those participating.

2009-11-18T23:16:53Z

This was going to be a 'Dear Festividder' letter, but alas, that was not to be. This is because I did not know until after assignments started going out that my name was not on the participants list. yhlee is absolutely fantastic for organizing festivids, and can in no way be expected to rematch everyone because I wasn't online last night; I cannot help but feel a little sad, however.

Maybe I'll be able to pick up a pinch hit, though, and participate that way. Again, my tendency to not always be online might interfere with that, but I have hope. I fully intend to spread cheer!

Yuletide Joy.

2009-11-18T17:18:08Z

Dear Yuletide Author:

Without knowing you, I think I can already say one thing about you: you are awesome. Thank you ever so much for agreeing to write for me.

As a general comment, Yuletide this year for me is the year of awesome women. What I want most of all is a story focusing on one of my favourite (obscure to semi-obscure) female characters. Other than that, I'm pretty open. I especially love complex characters making difficult decisions. I like strength in my characters, and happy to hopeful to bittersweet endings, which covers most of the spectrum. Gen, het, slash, introspection, action, character study, thriller, humour -- I adore it all.

One caveat - I'm not too big on slews of graphic sex. Sorry.

As for fandom specifics:

Power Play:
I would love something Colleen-centric, post-series. I've always wanted for her and Brett to get some form of closure. While Colleen/Brett is my oldest ship, I don't need them to get back together -- their relationship was so messed up that it might not be healthy. If that's the road you want to take, I also find that very interesting. There's pretty much no lose here.

Mostly, I just want something Colleen centric. She's a fascinating character to me: fiercely loyal and almost incapable of trust, and incredibly competent.

Pushing Daisies:
Olive! I (partisanly) believe that Olive is the best of them all. I was a little miffed that never got to find out what was really going on, why she was lying and protecting everyone. I'd love a chance for her to get to find out what Ned (and her other friends) have been hiding from her, and possibly for her to get to save the day. If you don't want to write her finding out, just Olive saving the day would be perfect. During or after the series is fine.

Dexter:
Something that focuses on Maria Maria Laguerta would be fantastic. She's a complex, intelligent, and flawed woman who exhibits moments of considerable badass-ary. There's so much to work with -- her friendship/relationship with Doakes and her conviction of his innocence, her friendships/relationships with Migel and Ellen and her decision to hold her tongue, the strength and politics required to be a woman of colour in her position. She certainly has her flaws, but they're part of what I find to be a compelling character.

I hope that this is of some help in explaining what I love or am looking for -- and that I succeeded in keeping things fairly open for you. I want you to write something that you're going to love as well. Thank you so much for agreeing to write for me, and I look so forward to reading!

Not planning, but "planning."

2009-10-31T02:35:39Z

Note to self: Do not read the comments on CBC news articles. The anti-vaccination crazies are out in full force, and I just end up wanting to punch people in the throat.

Aside from Plague Rat Girl the other night (suffering from serious flu symptoms and living with someone who has H1N1, decided to come into class), the Student Health Centre has reported that due to the number of "Influenza-Like Illnesses" it is seeing, it is banning anyone not suffering from ILI symptoms.

The state of vaccination in this province:

Partially Immunized:
- Health Care Workers

Non-immunized:
Everyone else.

Doses available next week:
Initially 140,000. Announced on Monday that it is 60,000. Announced this afternoon that it will actually be 14,000.

Risk groups being immunized next week:
Pregnant women, women who have ceased to be pregnant in the last four weeks, and children between the ages of six months and five years.

Dates for other risk groups (within the last 56 hours):
Initially November 2nd. Then November 9th. Then November 3rd. Now unknown.

I dislike feeling paranoid. However, as I am in the 'stupid %#$&ing lungs' risk group, the under 25 danger zone, and the university area appears to be a hotbed, I cannot help but be concerned.

Commentatedarian!

2009-10-23T05:18:07Z

I have committed video commentary! If you meander on over here, you will find my thoughts on Attention: Gotham City. It is maybe not so much of a proper commentary as a picspam with a bunch of questions stuck onto it, me trying to convince myself I was deeper than I meant to be, and a couple of moments of '... well, I sure did makes the most out of that 1:25.'

zephyrprince's thoughts are here with an interesting focus on media theory and a most excellent nonlinear, clustered, interpretation.

cherryice @ 2009-10-14T20:53:00

2009-10-15T02:54:20Z

For reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture (and probably have nothing to do with vidding or Adrian Veidt), I am looking for cold war and/or nuclear - type footage. Due to my position on Things, this is not a movie/television genre I have explored myself. In addition, my earliest political-type memory involved one of my fourth grade classmates dressing up as OJ Simpson for Halloween because his parents told him to, and all of us being rather confused.

In other news, I have finally watched some Merlin (through 2x03), and all I have to say is: Guys, think back to this point when you're trying to figure out why Morgana has locked you all into trees and rocks and towers and whatnot.

We can sleep when we're dead.

2009-09-22T23:51:58Z

I know I often go missing for extended periods of time, but guys: I have been incredibly missing.

My goodness, the last few weeks have been a gong show. I didn't know that starting grad school was going to be so tricky. I think this is probably a new admissions hurdle: can you actually figure out what you need to do? I'm hoping that's a hurdle I won't take down as I attempt to leap over it, as I still have no idea what is going on.

I've had imaginary classes, invisible seminars, people playing musical committee chairs, a supervisor previously in Germany but now a-continental (somewhere in the Pacific), governmental red tape with my funding (not helped by said a-continental supervisor), a surprise!undergraduate class, a mischievous monkey eating my email, and to top it all off: I think I might have a problem with plants.

I mean:

As a point of reference: the orchid at the front is just under two and a half feet tall. That's 20 plants, not counting the 12" peace lily in my bedroom, and the three or four plants on my balcony. I have a one bedroom, north-facing apartment, people. The orchid is new, and might be what twigged me into said problem, as there is no way in which I have enough light to sustain it.

I guess there are worse ways to bury your anxiety than in greenery?

In other news, I am signed up for vid_commentary for my Batman vid. It was not at all the winner of my magically inserted poll (surprisingly, that was my Criminal Minds/Dexter one), but someone wanted to do a partnered commentary.

Edit: And yes, those are balloons in the background.

Vid Commentary

2009-09-03T02:09:21Z

The second round of vid_commentary is this month. As is fitting for a sophomore outing, it is a dual challenge: combined vidder and viewer commentary. Or, as with any freshman, it has the possibility to make it to the second year. Vidder commentary sign up is first, with a second round for viewers to pair up. If arranged ahead of time, it can also be done in pairs.

I've never done a commentary, on a vid or a fic. As such, witness my mad skillz of googling for 'poll'! If my said skillz are mad enough, the following should be an embedded poll indicating the vids I am up for commenting on. This poll is just, of course, to find out what people may have an interest in seeing.

Alas, my skillz are not mad. Am attempting to improve them.

Second attempt at improvement has generated a poll, however, it appears that people may only be able to cast one vote at a time. This is contrary to the purpose of ticky-boxes.

You may note that it is all three (+) years of my vids, save for "What We Had" [Doctor Who]. This omission is because hollywoodgrrl did an amazing commentary on it for the first round, and my stance is now "What she said."

Of course, if anyone has any interest in doing a partner commentary on any of these, they have but to speak.

VVC '09 Challenges - Convenient Parking [Dexter/Criminal Minds]

2009-08-16T23:44:11Z

Title: Convenient Parking
Fandom: Dexter/Criminal Minds
Music: Convenient Parking - Sun Kil Moon
Summary: The Behavioral Analysis Unit goes hunting for the Bay Harbor Butcher.

Links: Download (20 MB, DIVX, zipped) | Stream (Blip)

Convenient Parking
Soon the chain reaction started in the parking lot
Waiting to bleed on to the big streets
That bleed out on the highways and
Off to others cities built to store and sell these rocks
Well aren't you feeling real dirty
Sitting in the parking lot

Soon the chain reaction started in the parking lot
Waiting to bleed on to the big streets
That bleed out on the highways and
Off to others cities built to store and sell these rocks
Well aren't you feeling real dirty
Sitting in the parking lot

Convenient parking (is way back, way back)
Convenient parking (is way back, way back)

Waiting to bleed on the big streets
That bleed out on the highways and
Off to other cities built to store and sell these rocks
Well aren't you feeling real dirty
Sitting in your car with nothing
Waiting to bleed on the big streets
That bleed out on the highways and
Off to other cities built to store and sell

There's nothing

Convenient parking (is way back, way back)
Convenient parking (is way back, way back)

Notes: Made for the VividCon 09 "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" Challenges vidshow, this is a crossover vid made to a Sun Kil Moon cover of a Modest Mouse song. I was nervous about the buy-in required to make a serious business crossover, but I also figure it's always good to push ones self. There are many, many places where this vid could have gone horribly wrong -- many thanks to elynross for keeping me on track.

Vid: Dark Room [Merlin, VVC '09 Premiere]

2009-08-16T04:35:50Z

Title: Dark Room
Fandom: Merlin
Music: Dark Room - Sarah Slean
Summary: Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. VVC '09 Premiere.

Links: Download (25 MB, DIVX, zipped) | Stream (Blip)

Notes: Many thanks to elynross for beta.

Vid - Attention: Gotham City [Batman: The Dark Knight]

2009-08-10T00:08:53Z

Title: Attention: Gotham City
Fandom: Batman: The Dark Knight
Music: There's A War Going On For Your Mind - Flobots

Attention: Gotham City
There is a war going on for your mind.

Many thanks to the ever fabulous elynross for beta.

Links: Download (41 MB, DIVX, zipped) | (BAM Coming) | Stream (Blip)

There's A War Going On For Your Mind
There's a war going on for your mind
Media mavens mount surgical strikes from trapper keeper collages and online magazine racks
Cover girl cutouts throw up pop-up ads
Infecting victims with silicone shrapnel
Worldwide passenger pigeons deploy paratroopers
Now it's raining pornography
Lovers take shelter
Post-production debutantes pursue you in nascar chariots
They construct ransom letters from biblical passages and bleed mascara into holy water supplies

There's a war going on for your mind
Industry insiders slang test tube babies to corporate crackheads
They flash logos and blast ghettos
Their embroidered neckties say "stop snitchin'"
Conscious rappers and whistleblowers get stitches made of acupuncture needles and marionette strings

There is a war going on for your mind
Professional wrestlers and vice presidents want you to believe them
The desert sky is their bluescreen
They superimpose explosions
They shout at you
"pay no attention to the men behind the barbed curtain
Nor the craters beneath the draped flags
Those hoods are there for your protection
And meteors these days are the size of corpses

There's a war going on for your mind
We are the insurgents

The big 2-4.

2009-08-09T17:34:46Z

I had a lovely birthday! Yes, okay, I had to work yesterday (which was actually my birthday) and I have to work today (on the tail end of some minor food poisoning), but despite these things it was quite a nice.

I had a potluck picnic in the park on Friday night. There were seven people who cancelled that afternoon, but this was for the best -- due to inclement weather, the potluck picnic in the park became a potluck picnic in my apartment. Now, my apartment is fairly spacious for a one-bedroom, but anyone else and we would have had to start putting people on the balcony. Aforementioned inclement weather would have likely resulted in some form of rumble to determine who got to commune with my patio set and geraniums. As is, it was a lovely evening. One of my friends even brought me sunflowers! The only reason my apartment is not a jungle is that it's north-facing with low light levels. As is, it is only a woodland glade.

There was also a farm-neighbourhood-type gathering out at the family farm last night (which is where I appear to have been given the gift of minor food poisoning). As it happened to fall on my birthday, I felt fully justified in pretending the fireworks were all for me, mwhahahah. Fireworks are right up there with plants on the list of Things I Love. They are bright, shiny-sparkly, and multicoloured, encompassing many of my favourite things into a single exploding package.

What I did on my summer vacation, by Cherry

2009-07-26T16:40:35Z

I am afraid I have been somewhat missing. Again. Here is a brief overview of what I have been up to:

Convocation! Yay! I may now legally call myself B.Sc., B.Eng. I won't, because sticking undergrad letters behind your name has a tendency to look a little silly, but I could.

Work. ~50-60 hours a week. Shhh, don't tell the labour board.

Finished ~0:30 of a Batman: TDK vid.

Dragon boat practice! Dragon boat festivals, for those whose cities do not have them, involve 22 people attempting to race in a 1500 lb boat to raise money for charity. It is always a most awesome time.

Re-finished same ~0:30 of TDK vid.

I have been officially accepted into my graduate studies program. With funding, yay!

Took grad photos for family of a friend. Am considering putting together a portfolio of portraits.

Re-re-finished ~0:30 of TDK vid. Contemplated casting project files into the fires of Isengard.

Acquired a lung infection. Forced to take two days off of work, missing two experiments, and not allowed to compete in dragon boat races. Contemplated casting lungs into the fires of Isengard.

Accepted that when it comes to keeping up with the internet, I am sometimes a horrible person.

Did further research. Decided the fires of Isengard are not concrete enough to cast my lungs into, nor are they metatextual enough to engulf my project files.

Realized that OH MY GOODNESS, I am going to Chicago in t=2.5 weeks. VVC, YAY.

cherryice @ 2009-06-28T10:51:00

2009-06-28T16:51:49Z

A question to my sensitive-skinned sisters out there: what product(s) do you use? Every since Oil of Olay randomly discontinued their sensitive-skin soaps, I've been trying to find a good alternative.

"Use Dove," is generally the advice I receive. However, despite their Real Beauty campaign, they (Unilever) also sell skin bleaching creams overseas. That's just not something I'm willing to support, even by proxy, so Dove is out. Avene makes a non-soap cold cream bar that I really like, but it's a little pricey, and bar soap just isn't ideal for the showers at the gym.

Anyone have any suggestions, store bought, homemade, or otherwise?

In other news: I have a passport and a plane ticket! I now have the legal ability and practical means to leave the country. Also, perhaps more importantly, to reenter it.

cherryice @ 2009-06-14T09:32:00

2009-06-14T15:32:42Z

I am finally caught up on my email! However, I have become aware that it is acting a tad glitchy. As such:

If you have sent me an email within the last month (or two, or three) that I have not responded to, I did not receive it. Please feel free to poke me with a stick.

In other news, there was that meme going around about how we don't know each other, and we should ask each other questions. I didn't participate, as one of my favourite past-times is disappearing for long periods of time for no externally penetrable reason.

For the record, it's always pretty much open season for questions for me. Life, vidding, writing, favourite tea, school, work, the last thing I took pictures of. After all -- when people interact with me, it makes me feel like I have friends!

Notice: iMeem has disable embedded streaming.

2009-05-31T17:19:34Z

I was still holding out some hope that my inability to view embedded streaming video from iMeem was a glitch.

However, via dreamrequiem

"This week, we’re making some changes to imeem’s video embed and video upload policies. Starting today, only videos from official artist profiles and the imeem jukebox can be embedded and played beyond imeem. This means you’re no longer able to take videos that you or other users have uploaded and embed them for playback on widgets outside imeem.com. We have also limited the length of video uploads to eight minutes each."

This is exceedingly unfortunate. Does anyone have a different service that they use? Preferably with a higher-quality image than YouTube, and one not prone to pulling vids/deleting accounts.

Bueller? Bueller?

YAY.

2009-05-29T01:08:15Z

So: Anyone still looking for a roommate for VividCon?

Oh my goodness, I was offered a scholarship to VVC. This is absolutely, fantastically amazing -- not to mention entirely unexpected and completely confounding. I'm so tickled that I think my purple prose is about to go ultraviolet.

This is a) exciting, b) exciting, because vidding and meeting people and c) frightening (because these are Real Vidders we are talking about here). It might be a situation where my natural extroversion has to battle it out with my neurotic insecurities. It'll be a caged death match, and hopefully my gregariousness will wipe my insecurities' smug little faces all over the floor. I could sell tickets.

In all seriousness though: thank you to whomever nominated me. You're amazing.

If anyone knows someone who might still be looking for a roommate, I'd greatly appreciate a heads-up. Right now, I'm looking at coming in on the ~~Friday~~ (EDIT: Thursday), and leaving on the Monday. The Monday bit is negotiable, though. If I leave on Sunday, I'd have to take off before the shows were over to make it through the international terminal. That, and this way I can go to a museum on Monday!

It would be such a shame to be in Chicago for the first time (and my second time in the states) and not spend a bit of time out and about. I mean -- the Shedd Aquarium! The Field Museum of Natural History! Tell me I'm not the only one interested? We don't have these things hereabouts.

Oh my goodness: VVC YAY.

Also: Anyone want to meet up with me at some point, if they're not all ready booked up? Or do people run on a more zen sort of philosophy?

cherryice @ 2009-05-23T10:30:00

2009-05-23T16:29:53Z

I finally saw this new-fangled Star Trek movie everyone else already appears to have watched.

I am not really a Trekie. This is somewhat unusual, as my parents, siblings, and aunts/uncles all are. I have a basic knowledge of the new series because video tapes were passed around through my extended family. Also, when I burned the first two seasons of TNG for my sister, I tried to watch a few episodes, but it didn't really take.

Now that's out of the way: I quite enjoyed this movie. I didn't have the buckets of love that most of my flist seemed to, but this might be for the aforementioned reasons. (Note -- even though this got longer and more rambling than I intended, I will reiterate that though I did enjoy the movie, I did feel it, like anything, had flaws.)

Love:
- Uhura! She is the most competent of them all.
- Spock! I'm afraid that my Sylar-hate resulted in a contact transfer of vague dislike for ZQ, but he was excellent. Hurrah!
- Spock and Uhura! While I am somewhat sketched out that an instructor appears to have been dating his student, I felt what was on-screen was handled well, and with grace. I'm intrigued by the implications of what it means to Spock, to have made the same choice his father did.
- Pretty much everyone, really. Sulu's relevant fencing FTW, Chekov was amusing, if a little one-note, and Simon Pegg was, well, Simon Pegg.
- The ships. Looked real, rough, mechanical, and futuristic.
- Cinematography. Loved the blocking, loved the colour schemes. The movie was gorgeously shot and styled.

Meh:
- Maybe it's just that I don't have any background in TOS, but Kirk... Kirk is kind of an ass. ("So, kids, sit back and let your father tell you about how he got his first command. You see, I verbally attacked someone who just watched his mother die and his planet explode. I knew he was in pain, so I thought I'd accuse him of not feeling anything..." / "Wait, we're supposed to be on Kirk's side in this one?" I asked one of my friends, when Kirk was being called out for cheating.)
- You know what, this may actually be due more to the fact that the "Rebel wonderkid comes in and saves the day with his rebel ways, teaching everyone to let loose their inner rebel" setup is really not one of my favourites.

Possibly Sketch:
- That's a large percentage of women who are pregnant and/or dead to provide motivation for men.
- They must have blown their budget on SFX, because it looks like they ran out of money for fabric for pants. And sleeves. Seriously, you can blow up Vulcan, but you can't put the women in clothes? It looks they just woke up in the morning and forgot to put their pants on.
- Does it count as passing the Bechdel test if there's simultaneously someone under the bed, perving on you as you strip?

Giant Plot Hole:
- So, there was time for Spock to go to Romulus, talk to the council, do science and build a ship, but not enough time to start evacuating the planet? They got, what, 10,000 people off of Vulcan with five minutes and one extra ship? What were the Romulans doing in the interim? "In today's news: Yes, the sun is getting bigger -- but don't worry, Spock is coming! Next: What scientists don't want you to know about the dangers of sun screen."

Miscellaneous:
- Pet peeve: Half-human hybrids. I understand that it's established in-universe, but really. We share upward of 96% of our DNA with chimpanzees. We have a (geologically) recent common ancestor. We both have iron-based blood. Despite this, you do not see people running around with half-chimpanzee babies.
- Actually, this is beyond a pet peeve. It's one of the things in media that makes me most want to smack my head against a wall. Biological species concept, people.

That appears to have grown somewhat longer and more rambling than I intended. At the end of the day, I thought it was fairly compelling, visually stunning movie with a fair number of characters I cared about, but like all things, had its flaws.

cherryice @ 2009-05-19T17:56:00

2009-05-20T00:07:14Z

Does anyone know what's happening with iMeem? I was attempting to watch an embedded vid, and instead of playing it when I pressed said 'play' button, it popped up with a screen that says "This video is not available for viewing in an embedded player. Please click here to view it at www.imeem.com."

I checked my videos, and they're all showing the same message. I double checked a vid I had no problem watching the other day, and it showed with the same message. When I went back to iMeem to see if the code had changed, it no longer offered me the option to embed the video. I haven't been able to find any news on the main site, so I was wondering if anyone has an inkling of what's going on.

I see a couple of possibilities: 1) this is a glitch; 2) I've missed something glaringly obvious; 3) iMeem has disabled embedded streaming, possibly to decrease loads and save money.

I'm hoping it's 1) or 2), but I was wondering if anyone else was having similar problems.

cherryice @ 2009-05-01T16:59:00

2009-05-01T22:58:47Z

Hi guys!

So: in case this is news to anyone, sometimes I fail at the internet. Or at least at updating the internet.

I am on DreamWidth as Cherry. I know how most people feel about people changing pseudonyms midstream (I share your pain, because keeping it all straight can be far more complex than one might expect of internet anonymity), but the opportunity to ditch the 'Ice' was just too tempting.

Seriously, if anyone you ever know decides it's a good idea to get into fandom at 15, please, for the love of all that's good, make sure they don't end up as a fruit-flavoured snow cone.*

There is nothing up there yet, at least not until I run over and cross post this entry, due to my aforementioned 'failing at the internet.' If however, you find my intermittent failures to fail amusing, you know where I am at over there. If you've been looking for a way to avoid me entirely -- at least you know where to avoid me twice?

In conclusion: I have five invite codes if anyone still needs them. I think my attempt to buy friends may be somewhat belated, but they are available to those who may still desire them.

* This was of course not the intent -- the point is that there was very, very little in the way of intent involved.</i>

cherryice @ 2009-04-19T05:39:00

2009-04-19T11:42:01Z

Have you ever had one of those nights when you suddenly, surprisingly realize that it's 5:30 in the morning, and you just spent the last 7 hours on YouTube, watching a sub-titled German soap opera about cute boys in love?

Yeah, no, me either.

Personal comments redacted.

2009-04-12T22:07:33Z

Amazon Rank

For those such as myself just finding out about this: Amazon has begun stripping the sales rankings and figures from books that include a) erotica, or b) LGBTQ content. While they will still show up on directed searches, this means they are very unlikely to turn up in content searches, through general browsing, or in any best-seller lists they have earned their way onto.

Under the argument that they are removing 'adult content' from general perusal they have stripped the rankings from works including young adult novels, general fiction, non-fiction, self-help books, and autobiographies that contain gay/lesbian content. There's a separate argument to be made regarding the censoring of adult content; of particular concern, however, is the clear extension of this policy to non-explicit, non-erotic works.

There's a list of growing scope here, Dear Author covers the story here, and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books discusses the Google Bombing here.