The Fourth Annual Valentine Fairy Deputization

[cleolinda]

Since 2004, I've done the Valentine Fairy thing--or in the case of the last couple of years, deputized y'all to do it for me. I figure this year I'll explain it a couple of days early so that you have time to get organized. It's pretty simple, actually--it started with a post kungfumegadevil made:

If you're feeling down about Valentine's Day, I encourage you to do the same. Send valentines. Any kind; in comments and posts, in e-mail, in letters, by phone, over coffee. Forget those stupid relationships for a few hours and just give someone you love a little attention.

So I hereby declare everyone reading this to be Valentined, and to be Deputy Valentine Fairies, empowered to take these icons (or any of their own creation) and go Valentine others. I tend to say, "I am the Valentine Fairy! You have been valentined!" and then post the graphic in the comment itself, but you can say anything you want. It's just a way to tag people and say, "I'm thinking about you," and refocus the holiday to anyone we like or care about, instead of just schmoopy-pie couples.



HTML image codes for posting (take out the spaces), or save them to your own photo storage account:

< IMG src="http://img12.photobucket.com/albums/v36/cleolinda/icons/valentined.png">


< IMG src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/cleoicons/valentined6.png">


< IMG src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/cleoicons/valentined2.png">


< IMG src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/cleoicons/valentined3.png">


< IMG src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/cleoicons/valentined5.png">


< IMG src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/cleoicons/valentined4.png">

Linkspam:

N.Y. sees 110 inches of snow in 7 days.

2 Italians stoned to death on Cape Verde. "Speaking with Italy's Sky TG24 TV from a hospital Saturday, Agnese recounted how she and the two other women had been invited to dinner by one of their attackers — a man who apparently had had a relationship with one of the victims. She said the attackers sprayed the women with something and immobilized them before taking them to the woods where a hole had been dug in the ground. Speaking in a stunned voice, she said they were pelted with stones and she blacked out. When she awoke, she climbed out of the hole and walked down a road until she found help."

Libby trial sheds light on White House: "Sworn testimony in the perjury trial of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby has shone a spotlight on White House attempts to sell a gone-wrong war in Iraq to the nation and Vice President Dick Cheney's aggressive role in the effort."

From kosher_jenny: Elie Wiesel accosted at peace conference. "According to the police, the man approached Mr. Wiesel in an elevator at the Argent Hotel and asked to interview him. Mr. Wiesel agreed to talk to the man in the hotel lobby, but the man insisted the interview take place in a hotel room, and he dragged the renowned Holocaust scholar from the elevator on the sixth floor. Mr. Wiesel, who was not injured, began to scream, and the attacker fled.... According to the Mercury News, the incident came to light after the blogger wrote that he had stalked Wiesel for weeks and that he had planned to get 'a cornered Wiesel' to renounce the Holocaust on video."

Maine lesbian "adoptee" case tests legal bounds.

New Hospital Gown Fights Deadly Bacteria. Moreover, it has "complete backside coverage." Huzzah!

Epicureans fly to Bangkok for $25K meal.

Five skinny models barred from Madrid catwalk. Note: they were rejected on the basis of BMI (ratio of body weight to height). A model with a naturally thin build could still be underweight by an objective standard, and could remedy the situation with a relatively small weight gain. See also: Keira Knightley plus or minus ten pounds.

6,124 couples kiss, break world record.

"It's civilised to queue, it's glorious to be polite."

Panda kindergarten!

Gizmo the Flushing Cat.

Polar bear date goes bad.

Murphy rules box office with 'Norbit'; Academy considers rescinding nomination. Only one of these statements is true... for now.

Russell Crowe axes cheerleaders. Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe has banned cheerleaders from his rugby side's ground because he says they make spectators uncomfortable. Crowe, who co-owns the South Sydney Rabbitohs, has replaced the scantily-clad pom-pom wavers with a percussion band to encourage crowd chants. "We feel they made a lot of people uncomfortable. We examined game day and wanted to contemporise and make the focus football," the Hollywood heart-throb told Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper. "We've talked to a lot of people and everyone sees it as being progressive."

New Looks at Dumbledore, Umbridge in OotP.

New POTC3 pics. There's one of Norrington that's obviously from the end of POTC2, which makes me wonder if they're revisiting that scene in the third one.

chocolat_violet: "My French teacher told my class about one of her former university professors, a guy named Taylor Mali, who is a crazy slam poet. This is him performing his poem, 'What Teachers Make.' This poem is so freaking good and please PLEASE add this to your next pile of linkspam because anyone who has ever has gone to school needs to watch this."

And finally, from particle_person: Neil Gaiman's Oracular Instrument of Divination.

Comments

[mwestbelle.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely spread the Valentining love <3

[dreamingreader.livejournal.com]

Valentining people is a brilliant idea! I shall start immediately.

Perhaps...

[mustang-bex1126.livejournal.com]

I would like to propose a similar sort of thing for everyone's RL: walk-by Valentining! I'm going to bring a small stuffed heart/bear/something in to work and toss it at people. At my last job, we had this stuffed fish that we'd toss randomly at each other for laughs or whatnot... Note, you should have a good relationship with your co-workers and boss for this. Also, don't throw hard, or aim for the eye.

[bigeyedrabbit.livejournal.com]

refocus the holiday to anyone we like or care about, instead of just schmoopy-pie couples

HELL to the YES. :)

[kilted.livejournal.com]

I will forever hate Eddie Murphy because of Norbit. I haven't seen it and don't plan to... It's the people that have been coming to see that move (um, everyone under the sun). They keep trashing our theatre! Worst weekend at work EVEEEEEEER.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_ravengirl/]

I feel your pain, I really do. I worked at a big movie theatre for 5 years. *supportive hugs* It really makes you hate the general public.....

[free-reverie.livejournal.com]

ZOMG I feel so much closer to the Internets, simply because Taylor Mali was just at my school last week performing his poems, and "What Teachers Make" was one of them.

The mind, it boggles. o.O

[cheapblackpens.livejournal.com]

I'm totally down with the V-Day thing. This year I'm going to Chipotle with my best friend/roommate, and I can't think of anything better than that!

[pinstripe-bindi.livejournal.com]

I like how the model that had to gain some weight so she wouldn't get banned again claims she wasn't "obsessed with her weight" before Madrid imposed the ban. Umm... yyyeah. I totally believe that.

I especially love how the article refers to anorexia as a "slimming disease". It sounds so harmless and almost pleasant.

[yarha.livejournal.com]

Like Flesh Gordon:

"Take these, my power-pasty valentine icons..."

Yarha, Burlesque Imitation
"I've got the power pasties and I know how to use 'em!"
-Dr. Flexi Jerkoff, Flesh Gordon

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Hope you're feeling okay, or failing that, that things improve soon. I think I remember that V-day is not your favorite time of year for lots of reasons. *pre-emptive hug*

[artemis-archer.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is uh, quite the hog's head in the OOTP picture. Eeshk.

[tifaria.livejournal.com]

I love the Valentine Fairy idea! :) I will definitely spread those around.

The panda kindergarten has just brightened my day by 1000%. Especially that last picture with them drinking bottles! So cute!

[anonymisty.livejournal.com]

...a guy named Taylor Mali, who is a crazy slam poet. This is him performing his poem, 'What Teachers Make.'

I'm sitting here weeping. If only all teachers could enter their classrooms every day with that much passion and determination.

[morganwolf.livejournal.com]

My sister's up in Oswego, and I called her last Friday to make sure she was okay. She said she was fine, she'd just gotten back from her apprenticeship, she was doing fine driving, and basically they just had to shovel more than usual. I guess people forget very quickly that people up there are used to lots of snow and inclement weather-- I remember her telling me, when she was in college, that they'd tie ropes along the walkways when the winds were really high off of Lake Ontario so students could pull themselves to class. This is why I stayed on Long Island, folks.

I'm IN a schmoopy-pie couple, and I still think Valentine's Day is a bunch of bunk. My fiance and I no longer observe it. I wish people would stop complaining, but I know it really is frustrating to have COUPLES ARE GOOD AND RIGHT AND PERFECT AND HAPPY TOO BAD YOU ARE ALONE constantly shoved in your face for half a month. Shame on anyone who spreads that kind of propaganda.

[morganwolf.livejournal.com]

And on a semi-related V-Day note, it IS National Condom Awareness Week. Saint Valentine said cover thine. Barring the HPV vaccine and abstinence, condoms are the ONLY way to keep away the grim specter of STDs and STIs, and there really is not a cheaper, quicker, more readily available method of birth control.

Just thought I should mention that.

[falco-conlon.livejournal.com]

Yay Maine! (my homestate) YAY Valentine's Day. OMG stonings. AWWW Panda kindergarten!

[live-in-morocco.livejournal.com]

i got chills watching that slam poetry!

[pizzalover23.livejournal.com]

wow. that teachers poem was amazing.
and umbrigde ughhh. shes perfect for the part.

[thyroyalmajesty.livejournal.com]

The politeness movement in China is fascinating to me. I lived in San Francisco for years, right off of Irving St. in the Sunset district, which is kind of a mini-Chinatown. (The real Chinatown is further northeast.) I'd encounter rude behavior a lot (like line-jumping when shopping, spitting, standing too close), but I didn't know what to make of it. Then I read an article in Time. It too talked about how China is trying to become more polite because of the upcoming Olympics. Turns out that during the Cultural Revolution, manners were considered the realm of the upper class. The Communist working class therefore began to avoid them, so spitting, picking your nose, even urinating in public became acceptable. Mao himself would wear falling-apart clothing. (And this explains why Chinese immigrants of a certain age would act in a way contrary to Western conceptions of politeness.) And since China's opened itself back up to the West, they're learning that Western tourists are horrified by their behavior. That's why they're trying to clean up their act before the Olympics.

[adoresixtyfour.livejournal.com]

Polar bear date goes bad.

I've had first dates like that.

(*crawls back under rock until V-Day goes away*)

[soleta-nf.livejournal.com]

New Hospital Gown Fights Deadly Bacteria. Moreover, it has "complete backside coverage." Huzzah!

During my last hospital visit they gave me two gowns - one to wear on the back and one on the front. I was much appreciative.

And I'd love to be a Deputy Valentine Fairy again this year. :)

[xander77.livejournal.com]

That's neat. Still, I'm starting a countdown before the imageshack server runs out of bandwith.

Oh, and something neat:
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=animusic

Probably not linkspam material, but check out. I'm in love with the "resonant chamber" one.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

I will do my best to fulfill the duties of my post as a Valentine Fairy. *salutes*

Oh, and I was finally able to get my mitts on your book thanks to my cousin who went across the Pond over the Holidays. My family probably thought I was nuts due to the snorts of laughter coming from my general direction.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Aww, yay!

Baaaaaaaaaby bengal tigers!

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Rare white tiger triplets born at Argentine zoo (http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2007-02-08T202735Z_01_N08496608_RTRUKOC_0_US-TIGERS-ARGENTINA.xml), complete with OMGSOCUTE pictures.

THANKS FOR THE VALENTINE, HERE'S YOURS! <3

[ennuiticverses.livejournal.com]

Re: THANKS FOR THE VALENTINE, HERE'S YOURS! <3

[detective13.livejournal.com]

OMG! I so love your icon! It's soooo funny! ;D

[q-of-u.livejournal.com]

Love, love, love this post; I was in linkspam withdrawal (without the internets).


(But... but ... but trawling through Neil's site I stumbled across the posts about him (maybe) and Scientology - did not know, wish I hadn't read it, (and a "lalalala I can't hear you", as well) ... will go back and look at Gizmo again as antidote.)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

What I've heard is that his father was a Scientologist but Neil himself is not.