Poll #1429466 Best Thing Ever: Year 5 / Week 41
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which of these is best?

Post of the Week ~ deadpoetwoffie.

http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=460

back

buy this print Share on: del.icio.us digg facebook reddit stumbleupon

next

This summer, I will be appearing at two events (but only one of them in person)

One:

As Shaenon has pointed out, "The Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco (www.cartoonart.org) is organizing "Monsters of Webcomics," a showcase of cutting-edge webcomics work." Some original art will be on display there for this show from August 8 - December 6, 2009. My original art is small and looks exactly the same on paper as it does when it is posted online, so prepare to have a reaction that is blasé. But then look at the amazing line up of talent they have otherwise and prepare to be amazed!



Two:

Vancouver! Are you going to be in Vancouver on August 23rd? So am I! Robin Bougie posted this one. Pretty cool, I haven't seen the west coast in a while, but I miss the mountains.

One Shots
[x] alisanne: Critical Research [NC-17] Snape/Harry, Ron/Pansy (offscreen)
[x] atypicalsnowman: Idle Hands [PG]
[x] gatewaygirl: Auror's Dilemma (a Finder's Fee story) [R] Snape/Harry, Ron/Hermione
[x] mk_malfoy: And Puppy Makes Three [PG]

Completed Chapter Fic
[x] rickey_a: Visiting Hours, Part 2/2 [NC-17]

Works In Progress
[x] atypicalsnowman: Pains and Contradictions has been posted up to Ch. 24 [R - NC-17]
[x] eriador117: Apprenticed to Love has been posted up to Chapter 28 [Adult]
[x] sevs_girl72: It was Bigger Than Us All - Prologue/Part I [PG]

Drabbles And Ficlets
[x] alisanne: Appropriate Thanks [PG]
[x] alisanne: Further Evidence [R]
[x] alisanne: Motivated [R] Snape/Harry/Draco
[x] alisanne: Provoked [PG]
[x] drachenmina: Routine [PG]
[x] drachenmina: Ten Word Meme [Unrated]
[x] dracofiend: Well-Lived [G]
[x] ensnarryed: Bubblebath [G]
[x] inoru_no_hoshi: Newt Here [G]
[x] joanwilder: Severus and Harry's Most Excellent Summer Holiday [PG]
[x] lal111: No more [PG]
[x] lilyseyes: Requited [R]
[x] literaryspell: Crush [R]
[x] odogoddess: So Rises the Curtain [PG]
[x] quill_lumos: A Little Touch of the Flu [PG]
[x] swtalmnd: Seven Drabbles and Doodles [NWS] The first one is Snape/Harry
[x] thesewarmstars: Zero [NC-17]

Art And Icons
[x] andreanna: Happy Sky [G]

Miscellaneous
[x] harrypotterbang: Sign-ups for writers and artists is now open.

This Newsletter
[x] Send your Snape/Harry news to sshp.prophet@gmail.com!

I was on King St last night, wearing my long, purple Tree of Life skirt, and my red, embroidered, Tree of Life coat when a voice yelled out 'hey hippie', followed by a whole lot of male laughter. In Albury I wouldn't have given it a moment's though. In Adelaide or another part of Sydney I would have rolled my eyes. But this is Newtown. The tone of the neighbourhood is going downhill if that sort is wandering our streets. Mind you if they stop to yell at every stranger dressed in a non mainstream fashion they'll be there awhile. I can just imagine it... 'hippie... goth, goth... hippie... punk...'

Things I want to talk with you about:
The shapes caused in faces by video-delay, almost geographical, almost architectural. Immigrant violence & displacement & the strange camera gazes of pedestrians, self-conscious & true. The ocean past midnight: driftwood haunting a musing darkness, the vacuum of it looping in all illuminated instances of movement. My friend's dream of bodies in an ocean becoming vividly real off the coast of Brazil. Losing & regaining consciousness in a bathtub, feeling sad or finely razored, like a line of blow or Depression-era Louisiana blues. The sharks found in Mexico stuffed to the gills with cocaine. Your return to the wilderness that you dreamed me out of, how I hoped you would let me remain always through it your favourite dream or figment. How I'm completed when you tell me that it's been true.

1 Sour Cherry , The Kills
2 Cademar (Hot Chip Mix) , Tom Zé
3 My Piano , Hot Chip
4 Don't You Evah , Spoon
5 Nogo , Issa Bagayogo
6 Trophy , Bat For Lashes
7 Bossa Nova Samba , Smoke City
8 Druganaut , Black Mountain
9 Lull , Andrew Bird
10 Mumtaz Khan , Ratatat
11 Pot Kettle Black , Tilly and the Wall
12 Playhouses , TV on the Radio
13 Fangela , Here We Go Magic
14 While You Wait For The Others , Grizzly Bear
15 Upward Over The Mountain , Iron & Wine
16 Your Protector , Fleet Foxes
17 No Turning Back , Gui Boratto




Mix for this boy I dig, one half of a double-disc set involving the springtime mix from this post. He's an ex-punk club boy who hates Animal Collective -- sacrilegious, I know -- so I tried to tone down the artfag and give it chill house undertones along with all that indie swagger. Doodle & writing by moi, sorry if it's pretentious. Main points of order: I can't seem to get the Iron & Wine tune to fit in well, and would Bat for Lashes be too operatic for macho tastes? Thanks for the help & attention, kids!

Anne why are you writing books about how alcoholic losers ruin people's lives? Don't you see that romanticizing douchey behavior is the proper literary convention in this family! Honestly.

http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=459

back

buy this print Share on: del.icio.us digg facebook reddit stumbleupon

next

Is been a very long, foggy, bewildering day. Started off with waking up in a total panic, convinced I had to be at court in forty-five minutes when in fact I had more like an hour and a half. Delirium as a result of total exhaustion. Luckily, the Pseudo Boss is smart enough to not be alarmed and just be somewhat concerned instead.

But omg what made my day absolutely freaking wonderful? Jennifer Ashley. More specifically, The Madness Of Lord Ian Mackenzie. Amazing book. From the excerpt I read online, I suspected a paranormal element which I was actually quite curious about. But no, it turned out to be only too real and fascinating and something I've never encountered in fiction, especially not romance. No spoilers because it's way too cool to put the clues together and figure it out yourself.

But bloody marvellous book. Cos as unusual as he was, he was completely fascinating. And the heroine was beautifully cast, neither too slutty nor too virginal --- a grumble I've been having to myself over the past week or so --- and neither too cold nor too fawning. Best of all? She totally solved the whole mystery when all the rest of them were barging around in completely different directions and man, did she do it in awesomely intelligent and intuitive fashion. I was totally cheering her on.

Cos oh yes. There was a crime mystery subplot which normally would bore me to groans but it wasn't even a subplot because Jennifer Ashley is apparently that awesome a writer that she wove it inextricably into the narrative, so much so that I wasn't bored at any single point and never once felt the need to yawn and skim. The sex was marvellous, the emotion wonderfully handled, and the prose damned near perfect. Only once did she inspire the supercilious raised eyebrow and a slight wince a little later but you know what, I'll forgive her both those instances cos man that was a Good Book.

And there is nothing like that feeling of utter satisfaction when you close a Good Book. Mind, body and soul/imagination content. I had another book in my bag in case this one proved horrible and I actually did begin it directly after cos I had so much time to kill before writing group. But it just felt wrong. I needed to wait, to bask before starting another journey. And oh man ... *is still basking*

Almost on par with Loretta Chase. Although there is humour, it's not quite as funny but the other elements more than make up for that. Not Regency, this is actually Victorian so, you know, whalebone corsets and underskirts and all that but still hot. Definitely a high high recommendation.

I'm soooo eager for the next one but that will be a bit of a wait. *sighs and tries to be patient*

Any songs about New Orleans or Louisiana? I'll be going to school there and want to have a shiny, new mixtape to come along with me.

Hello everyone
 
Sorry this isnt quite appropriate but,

Does anyone know a good software for burning mp3s onto a CD? I need to be able to manipulate the lenght between songs, which iTunes can't do. Also, I can't seem to get nero to download.

Thank you!

Did I write this weeks ago and forget to post it? Hm. Nevermind.

Michael Jackson was a distorted fun-house mirror reflection of our late 20th C obsessions, if we ever cared to look. Our preoccupation with physical beauty twisted into his cartoonish death mask face. Our obsession with youth perverted into evil appetites. And our quest for self-improvement, by any means necessary, without ever examining the standards by which we feel we must improve. Transhumanists take heed: here was a man who took advantage of all the medical tech of the age to transform himself into what he thought he needed to be. But in the end, what was that?

A cautionary tale. Of course looking at the man in the (distorted) mirror is useful only if you recognise him as such. And by and large, people haven’t. In fact, it seems for the most part an agreement by the media to more or less pretend the last decade of his life didn’t happen. “We lost a great artist,” after all. But “we” lost him sometime around the early 90s. Best to just to avoid uncomfortable questions, then.

Like: in what kind of sick, fucked up world is being able to sing and dance a justification for getting away with child abuse?

I expect Michael Jackson sightings to be just as common in the coming years as dead Elvis sightings last century. The two deceased have this in common: by the time they died, their trufans had already been practising denial for years.


***

http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=458

back

buy this print Share on: del.icio.us digg facebook reddit stumbleupon

next

Well, in three weeks I've got to move from Toronto to Halifax, and I need to get a moving company! I hope I haven't left this too late.

I thought about driving, but was looking up uhaul reviews this morning and I had completely forgotten they were absolutely terrifying and it is something like renting a flaming death conduit, which I am keen to avoid. Has anyone had a very good experience with a moving company in Canada? Do tell!

I will probably do something special to cover the move, like commissions, which I never do. Sound good?

http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=457

back

buy this print Share on: del.icio.us digg facebook reddit stumbleupon

next

The contest for an early copy of The Eternal Kiss is closed: thank you all so much for entering! It is deeply, deeply appreciated. I had so much fun seeing everyone's pictures! People with weapons! People dressed up as Mae! It was horribly difficult to choose.

The winner is: demon circles, fever fruit and talismans - drawing summoning circles at three a.m. is my new definition of hardcore.

The winner of another advance copy of The Eternal Kiss, which I obtained by probably nefarious means: Sin, fever blossoms and a demonic penguin.

Email me at sarahreesbrennan@gmail.com, you guys.

Trying to choose honourable mentions actually made me collapse under the sheer weight of awesomeness, but I admit to a particular fondness for Mae in Sydney.

This Friday I will be heading off to the UK to do a number of things, like a photoshoot (Oh God, 2859 pictures of The Distressed Wombat Face) and a debate on Ghosts, Faeries and Demons. I will naturally be arguing on the side of the demons. Evil wins again!

I will also be doing two Lexiglass events. (I made up the name, so I keep gleefully using it at every opportunity...)

The Lexiglass Event
July 11, 2009: Glasgow, Scotland, 3pm
Borders Glasgow. 98 Buchanan Street, Glasgow, G1 3BA
Signing and appearance with Cassandra Clare, who will be launching City of Glass in the UK

The Irish Lexiglass Event
with Cassandra Clare
July 16th 6:30 PM
Eason
40 Lower O'Connell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland

Then there are some plans for appearances in the US.

For a start, I will be attending Comic Con in San Diego, July 23rd to the 26th.

Events there will be as follows:

Friday, July 24 Panel

12:30-1:30 Future Fond Memories Room 3

Panelists: Michael Spradlin (KEEPER OF THE GRAIL: THE YOUNGEST TEMPLAR); Michael Reisman (SIMON BLOOM: THE OCTOPUS EFFECT ); Sarah Rees Brennan (THE DEMON’S LEXICON); James Owen (THE INDIGO KING); Mary Pearson (THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX), P.J. Haarsma (THE WORM HOLE PIRATES OF ORBIS 3); and Alyson Noel (BLUE MOON: THE IMMORTALS).

Moderator: Maryelizabeth Hart, Mysterious Galaxy

1:30 - 2:30 Signing in the convention's autograph area.

The morning of Saturday the 25th, I will be signing in the Every Picture Tells a Story booth, exact time to be announced.

And for the rest of Comic Con, I will probably be wandering around going 'Oooh, look, a Wonder Woman costume!' and being extremely happy about the weather, so come say hey to me!

Now, I know quite a lot of writers called Sarah. It is, as I have pointed out to my mother while explaining my preference for 'Esmeralda,' a fairly common name. At this stage I believe Sarahs might be numerous enough to take over the world.

Before we do that, though, we're having a Sarah Signing in New York.

1.00 pm - 3.00 pm, Sunday August 2nd. Books of Wonder, 18 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011.

Sarahs will include me, our fearless organiser Sarah MacLean (the Season), Sarah Cross (Dull Boy), Sarah Beth Durst (Ice, Into the Wild) and Sarah Ockler (Twenty Boy Summer) with more Sarahs to be announced!

Other US appearances will be in early October, and the details will be enormously awesome, but I cannot tell you them yet!

At all appearances I will have stuff like bookmarks, gel pens, cheery yet insane smiles, and little giveaways of the first chapter of The Demon's Covenant.

And since this post has been all about announcements, something for the rest of you. I would tell a story about my life, but telling stories like 'Yesterday my flatmates found me sticking Post-its ON MY OWN FACE' is too shameful. So instead...

( Frequently Asked Questions about The Demon's Lexicon: GIGANTICALLY HUGE SPOILERS )

If you have other questions, pray ask them and I will answer them! I will add to this post as I go.

From the blogspot this morning.

Three things that will make me toss a book after the first twenty-five pages:

1. A protagonist talking aloud to herself;

2. A protagonist looking in the mirror and describing herself;

2a. And describing herself as 'slightly exotic'! Who the hell looks in the mirror and thinks anything but "god, I look the same as every other day, I'm so freaking boring"?! Oooooooof!

3. The author telling us blatantly obvious general knowledge that every reader would know ... like I would pick up a novel about Jane Austen if I didn't know that Jane Austen is a 'famous nineteenth century author'!

*slams book closed and flings it back into bag*

And I was so happy and eager, optimistic, when I opened it. The Man Who Loved Jane Austen, Sally Smith O'Rourke. *sighs*

~~~~~~~~

In other news, I discovered last night I can plait my hair! And the one long braid down my back actually held all the way through the night and through half of today before I re-did it tighter.

I am so impressed with myself! *lol*

Although I am beginning to wonder if it's gotten long enough and ought to be cut to a slightly updated less ... rural style. But then maybe it just needs some shaping around the ears to make it look nice and sleek and actually styled. Who knows? I might straighten it for the Aunt's birthday. And/or Melbourne.

Of course I did screw it up by plaiting it one way at the back, then inadvertantly flipped it over when I plaited the lower bit over my shoulder. So it's all bumpy and strange and maybe a leetle too traditional Indian female stereotype for my liking but hee.

Yes, well. My hair's never been this long! And everybody commented on it today. :p