Speak Stiltedly and Wear a Yellow Shirt

Today Veronica, her nearly-ex-roommate, and I went to CAOS, the Cambridgeport Artist’s Open Studio. (Cambridgeport seems to be the snooty name for the neighborhood between between Central Square and the river.) The art wasn’t particularly interesting except for some glass. Glass blowing is technically a craft, rather than an art form - like writing fanfic or cross-stitching. I was inspired to cross-stitch so I stocked up on Monaco evenweaves and DMC #4 tapestry cotton at Pearl.

Well, not actually cross-stitch - I prefer Hardanger and Arraiolos. I spotted the book in English about Arraiolos rugs, Portuguese Needlework Rugs, at Rodney’s Bookstore for $25. It’s out of print, so snag it while you can. I love the Arraiolos stitch, which is actually several variants of long-armed cross-stitch, because it’s all done freehand on the top of the fabric. I’ve been experimenting with other threads on other foundations than the traditional Persian wool on ten-count jute. At the moment I’m doing three or four strands of embroidery floss (over two) on 25-count evenweave.

By the way, I was geeking so much yesterday that I forgot to blog, but I did get the preference picker working with MJB’s fic. Jade is next.

Word count: 0

The title is Sangerin’s term for the My Friends’ Fandoms meme, inspired by Seema’s response. CGB has a whole list of Stargate responses, but the best one is the Seema’s-eye view of Stargate:

Stargate-1 [sic] — Theirloveissocanon. Sam and Jack are there. Apparently they are in love. Or is it Daniel and Jack? Sam and/or Jack are female. I think. Someone on that show is supposed to be a hussy. They all travel through time and there are aliens because it’s in the future and it’s in space.

So here’s my view of fandom. Complaints should be directed to Seema, who incited this:

• Alias: Like 24 Hours, but it never ends, and people never stop talking about it.
• Angel: It’s a great show except for the title character, who still can’t act. Buffy with a side of evil lawyers.
• Enterprise: Lots of whiny people and angsty fic, all over a show that could be used as a cheap form of anaesthesia in third-world countries.
• Farscape/Firefly: In my mind, these two are the same show. If they were so great, why are they off the air, eh? Eh?
• Harry Potter: A fandom in which every single pairing is equally controversial, even the twincest ones. Oh, and the people who brought us plagiarism.
• Lord of the Rings: Nasty things done to nice hobbits and elves. JRR is spinning in his grave.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: I hope the pirate and the girl get together, because that was the only chemistry in the entire movie.
• Pros: Cop show that’s off the air but never ends. See Alias.
• RPS: Nasty things done to real live people. How do you sleep at night?
• Seachange: Hey, they have TV in Australia! Who would have guessed?
• ville: Where all fans go in the end. Annoying teen superheroes.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Worf and his woman problems, and his Angry Klingon problems, and more of his woman problems. Oh, and Garak/Bashir. Dark and icky, just like the show.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: Lori is TNG.
• X-Men: Annoying adult superheros. The one-eyed one can’t act.

Word count: 1175

The Repository has undergone some major additions. Many minor characters have been added from the credits of the episodes I’ve seen, as well as a few unexpected spellings from the credits: Jaffa and N.I.D. Also, rdanderson.com has been added as a reference and used to clear up all the unsubstantiated spellings I had, most notably Tauri. A few of the spellings there are incorrect, for zatn’kitel, McKenzie, and naqahdah, so the Repository is in no danger of becoming an rdanderson.com shill.

I even read a Stargate fic, The Matchmaker by Roxie, which was posted to TheGenGate. It’s a fun little farce that’s perfect for Intergalactic Hussy Week, and is marred only by Teal’cized spellings.

Word count: 625

According to MacRumors, new G4 PowerBooks will be delayed at least another month, and G5 PowerBooks will be out around April 2004.

My poor G3 is over four years old now. Today it had one of its little speaker shorts, where the music turns to static. Battery life is just a memory and the CD drive is getting a little picky, but with luck I could make it till April 2004. We’ll see.

Word count: 1225

Just when I thought I’d put the C/7 scandal behind me, Pairing Incorrectness comes to SG-1 in a big way when Sam steps out. You can support Sam’s extracurricular activities with Nanda’s Intergalactic Hussy icons or you can join a Sam/Jack list and rehash all the moaning and gnashing of teeth from seventh season Voyager. It’s your call.

As for me, Jerie has assembled a few of Nanda’s icons that say it all:

There’s also a quiz:

You are Janet, the Celibate Hussy! Your life
revolves around your family and your job.
Independent and self-sufficient, you don’t need
any damn man to be fulfilled! Go you!

Which Stargate SG-1 Intergalactic Hussy are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Oh, and a new drabble, Castaway, will be up shortly.

Word count: 0

I came back from NYC on the Chinatown bus. Fung Wah wasn’t a bad ride for $10, though the minibus could have used better shocks and the tailgating was a bit disturbing. Fung Wah is one of a slew of little bus companies running daily service between Chinatown in New York City and Chinatown in Boston (not to mention Chinatown in other places). The Boston stops are near the Chinatown gate, not far from South Station. I ended up walking across Chinatown to Boylston to catch the Green Line, but then my backpack was light. It wouldn’t be all that convenient for someone with luggage.

But it’s cheap, and that’s what counts.

Word count: 0

I’m just blogging for a moment to tell everyone I’m alive and well in NYC. We’re going to the Tugboat Festival today. I’ll be home and blogging again Tuesday at the latest.

Word count: 100

The SG-1 tab has been expanded and now includes Repository: A Stargate Spelling Dictionary. Finally, we have hard evidence for naqahdah.

Submissions are welcome, but please provide a source.

Word count: 167

I added several new tiles to the Tile Gallery in the Life section, and made a tile demo. The demo is the coolest part - if you click on any tile within the Tile Gallery, you’ll get a sample page with the tile tiled in the background. If you just open the demo page alone, you get a form asking for the URL of any image you want tiled. There’s also an option to add sample text on the demo page, and you can view the source.

A new Stargate drabble is up, Alien, in the Third Snakehead POV. I also posted my first link in Heliopolis, for This Worm a God.

Word count: 1100

Tonight around 1:45 a.m., Boston will be the closest it’s been to Mars in 60,000 years. A good rule of thumb: If you want to see Mars when it’s closest to your hometown, be outside around 1 o’clock Wednesday morning. Look south and up. –Close Encounters with Mars, NASA

Technically, we won’t be in periareon (a neologism analogous to perihelion, the closest point to the sun) because Earth is not a satellite of Mars the way, say, Phobos is. But it makes a cool entry title. (It was that or Mars Attacks!)

If you’re having a Mars Party in Boston, leave a comment. Otherwise, I’ll be looking south from the roof at home.