Category Archives: me!

Sunday stuff (and a meme)

Posted on by
Reply

So while I was at home over the weekend, I learned that Bigfoot has been sighted in Elk County.

I also attended my cousin’s wedding. More on that tomorrow, but for now, some photos are up here.

And now, a meme, courtesy of Samantha.

First, the rules:
There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, “The best [subgenre] in [genre] is…”.Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations:

You can leave them exactly as is.

You can delete any one question.

You can mutate either the genre, medium, or subgenre of any one question.
For instance, you could change “The best time travel novel in SF/Fantasy is…” to “The best time travel novel in Westerns is…”, or “The best time travel movie in SF/Fantasy is…”, or “The best romance novel in SF/Fantasy is…”.

You can add a completely new question of your choice to the end of the list, as long as it is still in the form “The best [subgenre] in [genre] is…”.

You must have at least one question in your set, or you’ve gone extinct, and you must be able to answer it yourself, or you’re not viable.

Then answer your possibly mutant set of questions. Please do include a link back to the blog you got them from, to simplify tracing the ancestry, and include these instructions. Finally, pass it along to any number of your fellow bloggers. Remember, though, your success as a Darwinian replicator is going to be measured by the propagation of your variants, which is going to be a function of both the interest your well-honed questions generate and the number of successful attempts at reproducing them.

Got it? I think I do. Here goes:

My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Pharyngula.
My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Metamagician and the Hellfire Club.
My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Flying Trilobite.
My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is A Blog Around the Clock.
My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Primate Diaries.
My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Thus Spake Zuska.
My great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is a k8, a cat, a mission.
My great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is Monkeygirl.
My great-great-great-great-grandparent is DancingFish.
My great-great-great-grandparent is Dr. Brazen Hussy.
My great-great-grandparent is Addy
My great-grandparent is MommyProf
My grandparent is Dr. Curmudgeon
My parent is Samantha Says…

The best television series in SciFi is: Firefly
The best cult movie in comedy is: UHF
The best romance novel in classic fiction is: Pride and Prejudice
The best recent movie in comedy is: Knocked Up
The best non-recent movie in romantic comedy is: When Harry Met Sally…
The best pop cover of a hip-hop song is: B*****s Ain’t S**t by Ben Folds

And I guess I have to tag some people…so how about Stephanie, Hillary,  Ensie, Caoimhe, and Mark.

Friday photo

Posted on by
1

adam eats guitar

Adam and Rand were waiting to perform “Home” during the Pegasus Awards concert at OVFF last weekend. “Home” is, of course, a lovely song…but it was up against some pretty tough competition. 😉

I was trying to be stealthy with the camera, but if you get a camera within ten feet of Adam, well, this is what you get! There’s just something about the composition of this that I like…

This is also a good moment for me to congratulate all of this year’s Pegasus winners:

Best Filk Song: Rich Fantasy Lives by Rob Balder and Tom Smith
Best Classic Filk Song: Falling Down on New Jersey by Mitchell Burnside Clapp
Best Performer (tie): Dr. Mary Crowell and Seanan McGuire
Best Writer/Composer: Talis Kimberley
Best Dorsai Song: Shai! by Steve MacDonald and Steve Simmons
Best Song of Home: Emerald Green by Michelle Dockrey (vixy) and Tony Fabris

This was a difficult ballot, and I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Lots and lots of good stuff. I didn’t know any of the Dorsai songs before last weekend, and although it did not win, I have to admit that “Green Hills of Harmony” was my personal favorite…

Tony and vixy’s performance of “Emerald Green” was stunning, and I’m sure it sent more than a few votes in their general direction! Also quite impressive was Seanan & company’s performance of “Still Catch the Tide” by Talis Kimberley. (aside–I think my favorite Talis song is “Small Mended Corners.” Does anyone perform that? I don’t think I’ve ever heard it, other than on the CD.)

I had the good fortune to sit with *three* of the winners (Seanan, vixy and Tony) at the banquet, plus two nominees (uh, that’d be Ookla, of course). Great fun was had by all. 😉

Thursday Thoughts

Posted on by
4

Well, it’s the first day of NaBloPoMo, and the thing that’s been most on my mind this week is the general asshattery that is to be found on the Internet.

As you may recall, my good friend Eden has gained a certain amount of notoriety over the whole YouTube/Universal Music Publishing Group/Prince kerfluffle (aside–I luuuurve the word kerfluffle…). You can read the Washington Post story here, or the ABC News story here (or you could read about it on her blog, if I could get the darn thing to load…).

For those not in the know, here’s the quick sum-up…Eden posted a 29-second video of her son dancing on YouTube. Said video had the song “Let’s Go Crazy” playing in the background. Universal ordered YouTube to take down the video. They did. Eden filed a counternotice, and the video went back up. Eden got the Electronic Frontier Foundation involved, and a lawsuit was filed.

I’ve spent more time than I really should have this week reading comments on the various websites the story has been posted on. Many of the comments boil down to “prince sux!” Others are somewhat more intelligent. Many of the commenters are siding with Eden, but every now and then…

People have criticized her for posting a video of her child on YouTube at all. People have accused her of being a famewhore, of “just being after money” and even worse. Some of the trolliest comments have attacked Eden’s and Baby H’s looks. But that’s not even the worst part…the worst part is the other people who clearly don’t know how to deal with trolls.

I desperately want to put everyone with a keyboard and an Internet connection in a room and say, “Listen up, people. Do not, under any circumstances, feed the trolls. Stop it.”

So, trolls annoy me. People who think they know everything about everything and can’t be stopped from posting on public websites annoy me. Actually, lots of things annoy me, but that’s neither here nor there.

Before I ramble on any further, I just want to point out how proud I am of Eden for standing up for her principles this way. She shows so much more grace and courage in the face of asshattery than I ever could. Go Eden!

Weekend wrap-up (coming soon)

Posted on by
2

Ack. Where does the time go?

I opened this draft half an hour ago, figuring I’d write my weekend wrap-up post. And I got sucked into other things. And now I’m tired. Here are some photos:

dress-side view

Yeah, I bought the dress. And paid too much to have it altered. 😉 But it was a big hit. Where else do you suppose I could wear it? (aside–I have *evil* redeye in this photo. I’m going to have to fix that…)

comic!

Seanan put a custom comic in the auction, and used this one (among others) as an example. I am now the proud owner of “Spider Powers” (I won it in a raffle!). 🙂

haircut

Got my hair cut. France rocks!

butter it's not!

Made me laugh.

LMB and Rand

Rode in an elevator with author Lois McMaster Bujold.

i can has bat?

Encountered adorable bat on the way to Ohio. Said to self, “I must buy this for Seanan.”

More photos here. More words, well, when I have time. 😉 Fun times were had. Erin is tired…

Honey, I’m home

Posted on by
Reply

From a fun but tiring weekend away. Photos being slowly uploaded to flickr. More later!

NaBloPoMo

Posted on by
2

Starting next Thursday, November 1, I am pledging to post at least once per day as part of the NaBloPoMo challenge. (have you signed up? Friend me! I’m “eringoblog.”)

I mentioned that I wanted to come up with a regular posting schedule, and here’s what I’ve tentatively come up with:

Monday: Weekend Wrap-up (pretty self-explanatory)

Tuesday: Tuesday Tidbits (random things I’ve found interesting about the blogosphere)

Wednesday: Wedding Wednesday (wedding planning things, or my thoughts on this whole getting married process)

Thursday: Thursday Thoughts (whatever stupid things are on my mind that I feel like writing about that week)

Friday: Friday Photo (ideally, an interesting photo I’ve taken in the past week and the story that goes with it)

Saturday: Reading, Watching, Listening (my formerly semi-regular writeup of the media I’ve been enjoying. I’ve been wanting to get back to this…)

Sunday: Free-for-all. Might be a meme or quiz, or some random thing that didn’t fit into any other category.

Various and sundry

Posted on by
2

I am Miss Crabby-Pants today. Watch out…

*Last night, Samantha hosted a little get-together in honor of Rand and his promotion to the directorship of the D’Youville College library. Yay! Many good friends were in attendance (including Jen and Mark and Thomas), and some others couldn’t make it, but sent their congratulations. It was a lovely evening, filled with food, drink, and good conversation. I took a few (but not many) photos, which I will post later…

*On Friday, I got the *official* word (meaning I signed paperwork) that my long-term placement has been extended to the end of January. Woohoo! A little more $$, and a little more time to figure out what happens next…

*I decided that there is no bloody way my schedule would allow for NaNoWriMo this year, so I signed up for NaBloPoMo instead. (I’m “eringoblog”) I’m pledging to post every day in the month of November. I’m thinking I might give myself some sort of schedule or posting challenge to make it more interesting for myself.

*Eden‘s all famous again. Last week, she was interviewed for a story in the Washington Post. But that’s not all! On Monday, a crew for Good Morning America is coming to her house to interview her for a segment. oooooh…

I’m certain there was more, but I’m tired and cranky and I have grading to do. Later!

House to House

Posted on by
1

Earlier this week, David Bellavia’s book House to House was reviewed on NPR’s morning edition.

David, as you may know, is Rand’s brother. I have to admit that I haven’t read the book yet, but not because I don’t want to. Life has been busy, and I know that reading this book is going to take a lot out of me. Rand has read parts to me aloud, and shown me various passages…and even just those little bits have both disturbed and deeply moved me. I don’t think David’s book is partisan, so if that’s what you’re looking for, go elsewhere. It is a terrifyingly real account of what it means to be in combat. It is emotional and violent and spiritual.

David will be appearing at the Pittsford Barnes and Noble this Saturday, Oct. 20, for a book signing at 7 p.m.

In a couple of weeks, he’ll be at the new Barnes and Noble on Transit Road (corner of Transit and Main)…Saturday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m.

If you have any interest at all in the book, I recommend stopping by. David’s a pretty cool guy, besides. 🙂

October storm photos

Posted on by
1

Yeah, I’m a little late on this…it’s been a busy weekend, though!

trees, lines down in road

It’s so strange looking at these photos, remembering that at this time last year, I had no power. The set is here. And here is my post about the storm.