I've decided to F-lock this thing. Old entries are staying as-is, though. I'm not pruning my friend's list either, so if you're already on, you're good. Anyone else can comment here for addition.

I'm out of town until the 27th.

Have happy holidays!

Terry Pratchett diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Pterry's not actually a favorite author of mine, but I've always enjoyed hearing what the man has to say about goings-on in the world. The idea that he's been stricken with a disease that's going to go right for his mind offends me, as ridiculous that is. It feels like a bad joke.

*sigh*

Going to go write now.

I wanted to try out the camera some more and test out some new scenery. These aren't a new batch, so I'm not running them down unless someone has specific questions.

( Cut for huge damn pictures )

Date:	2007-11-29 19:59
Subject:	Winding down
Security:	Public
Mood:	aggravated

Finished with my last CW class for the semester and thank God for that.

Going to go fall over now.

Oh, fuck me.

Although Quietly hit it out of the park with his layouts, I thought that We3 was heavy-handed and full of cheap emotional potshots manipulative even when presented by someone who knows how to write effectively.

I can only imagine that a movie adaptation will be much like being hit in the face by a 13-year-old PETA member carrying a brick.

Definitely a miss.

Date:	2007-11-06 00:13
Subject:	More Minis...
Security:	Public
Mood:	sleepy

I swear, I'll eventually start posting personal stuff again.

( In the meantime, have a putrid, festering spirit )

Date:	2007-10-30 00:43
Subject:	*facepalm*
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

This is me.

And that's when I remember to approach strange dogs with restraint and caution.

Date:	2007-10-19 21:40
Subject:	WTFever.
Security:	Public
Mood:	apathetic

Rowling announces that Dumbledore is gay.

If she'd put an inkling of this anywhere in the actual books, I'd credit her with having guts. This? Not so much. It could have been revealed when Rita was publishing dirt dug up on the deceased -- really, Dumbles being not just friends with proto-Voldie, but in love with him would have made for a hell of a scandal -- but that would have meant tweaking people in a way that might have hurt sales and caused a real fuss. So this gets an emphatic "feh" and not much interest otherwise.

Date:	2007-10-07 02:08
Subject:	Three anthro minis...
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired

( The Heroes of Saud Nawal )

Date:	2007-10-04 00:43
Subject:	Die in a fire, el presidente.
Security:	Public
Mood:	pissed off

The Bush Administration wants to make it legal to shoot gray wolves. Among the allowable methods for extermination -- gunning them down from planes, poisoning, and trapping. All of this is supposedly to keep the wolves from reducing the elk herds to dangerously low numbers, but it's all bullshit -- in most areas, the elk and deer have overpopulated to the point that they need culling.

From the site:

"The government can kill wolves because of a special exception to the Endangered Species Act known as the “10(j) rule.” Reintroduced species like the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf are managed differently than other endangered species. They are considered “experimental populations,” and government agencies are allowed more leeway in managing them, including using lethal control.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it needs to make killing wolves easier to protect big game from wolf predation. However, current rules already allow wolves to be killed if the states can show that they are the “primary” cause of elk or deer depletion. The new plan loosens that rule, allowing wolves to be killed anywhere big game herds are considered below desired management levels, even though studies show that elk populations are at all time highs and damaging habitat by overgrazing in many areas. There are about 300,000 elk in the region and only about 1,300 wolves.

Under the new rule, the killing could start as soon as this winter. The government’s plan to revoke endangered species protection altogether is expected next year."

But hey, it's not like we've seen any other species go extinct recently, is it? The planet has plenty more where that came from!

Jesus, why doesn't the stupid fucker just eat a live puppy with Cheney in front of the cameras and be done with it?

*sigh*

Spread the word, will you?

Date:	2007-09-28 00:50
Subject:	More miniatures stuff...
Security:	Public
Mood:	indescribable

Had my story workshopped in class today. It didn't go badly, per se, but I don't know that I'm in the mood to talk about it.

( Let's just look at the pretty birdie, shall we? )

If you turned off your auto-payments for you LJ account, you'd better make sure that LJ hasn't turned them back on. Some people who have never used auto-payments are finding that those have been switched on for them, so it may be a good idea to check either way.

But remember, no matter what happens at LJ/6A, it's always the customer's fault.

Date:	2007-09-25 23:49
Subject:	Stop breathing my air...
Security:	Public
Mood:	annoyed

Since I am unwilling to trade my first-born for a parking spot in the campus parking garage, I have to take a short walk daily -- perhaps a quarter-mile -- from my car to get to my classes. The requires me to trot across a busy street at least twice a day, but that's no biggie, as there is an automated crosswalk nearby that prevents me from having to play Frogger with the traffic. I appreciate this. Yes, it means that I may have to take two entire minutes out of my busy day as I wait for the lights to change. Perhaps this makes me one of those empty-headed sheeple who follow the "rules" so I don't end up in "traction" or spend my life as a "vegetable", but somehow I still don't mind.

The specimen I saw standing on the opposite side of the crosswalk today was apparently above such petty concerns as she strutted boldly out into the street beside her companion. Her time was valuable, you understand, and she couldn't be expected to wait for the lights to change, let alone a break in traffic. As she set foot onto the sidewalk where I stood, the only reaction she had to people standing up on their brakes to make sure that they didn't send her oblivious ass flying down the block was, "If they hit me, I'll sue them."

I tell you folks, that takes a special brand of stupid. This is the stupidity of the young who believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that they are immortal. This is plainly evidenced by the fact that this walking waste of skin and air couldn't spare the three seconds to consider that if she -- a 140lb twit -- were to meet with a half-ton or more of metal traveling at 30 MPH, she would be lucky if a member of her family managed to sue on her behalf and used the resulting settlement to hire some full-time care to wipe her ass and change her drool cup. Worst case scenario, the money pays for her funeral. Not to mention that bleach-blonde entitlement whore was crossing against the light, so good luck winning that case.

Honestly, the only reason I wouldn't want to see how well that little experiment of hers would work out is that the driver of the vehicle wouldn't deserve to have his/her life wrecked in the process. As for the idiot, well, someone could probably use her parking space.

Date:	2007-09-23 22:18
Subject:	I KNEW it!
Security:	Public
Mood:	enthralled

If there was any doubt in my mind that graphic novelists/comic-book writers are evil, evil people, it has been dispelled. And no, Warren Ellis isn't the one who did it.

So, back at the SDCC, I picked up First In Space at the Oni Press booth and asked the author/artist James Vining, to sign it for me. I hadn't read the book yet; it had just gotten some good work of mouth and wanted to have a look at it. He asked me to drop him an e-mail once I'd read it and let him know what I thought.

So I read the book, enjoyed it very much, and sent an e-mail. The subject of 'First In Space' being the use of animals in the space race, the subject of Laika came up.

Now, Laika was to me what Old Yeller is to most kids, OK? The fact that none of the books I read as a kid ever mentioned how they got that poor pup back down from space was just a wee bit traumatic. It was worse finding out that no, there was no euthanasia involved in her death. I mentioned this in the course of the e-mail.

And yet he recommends that I read this.

Argh!

And, of course, I'm gonna buy it, because these people are very good at what they do, which is tap-dancing all over my emotions. But that's why we read this stuff, right?

We'll talk about David Hine and Poison Candy once I return my eyeballs to their sockets.

Date:	2007-09-21 01:49
Subject:	OMG! NO WAY!
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

Canadian Vampirates.

This may be the most adorable webcomic ever. You know you wanna read it. I may, in fact, be fangirling Hassan right at this very moment.

Date:	2007-09-18 20:55
Subject:	For those of you still on LJ...
Security:	Public
Mood:	annoyed

They fail again.

Gee, this opt-out data-gathering project is totally not news worthy and should totally have been buried in the biz comm. I hope any data they get off of this little venture is so skewed as to be worthless to them.

On the plus side, I can see why they didn't put it in the news comm -- there are more than a few "I'm opting out of this project and out of LJ; go fuck yourselves" comments on there. Good.

After four years of Gaia Online, I've had enough. Anyone with an account over there is welcome to visit my inventory sale.

Finally! The diorama that every comic-fan is dying to own -- drunken, despairing Tony Stark!

Date:	2007-09-09 20:53
Subject:	Woof.
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired

I have a greyhound.

The greyhound is named Tala.

When Tala is bored, she becomes loud. Loud and plaintive.

The usual cure for this is to grab a towel and wave it in front of her until she initiates a tug of war (this usually takes about .05 nanoseconds).

Tala was not happy with the fact that she lost this time around. She "roo-ed" at me, stomped her foot, and trotted off.

"Tala!" I called after her. "Tala, I've got your towel!"

Tala re-emerged from the bedroom, wherein resides the laundry pile.

Apparently, the greyhound answer to "I've got your towel!" is "I've got your underwear!"

Greyhound: 673, humans: considerably less.