It's just been that kind of day. For a couple of days

[cleolinda]

Okay, our dishwasher is now on its last legs. I mean, it'll still turn on, but it's been so spotty for so long that we're obviously going to have to replace it in the next few months. Yes, we can get by washing dishes by hand. It's not so much that the dishwasher's dying as it is that this will be the eleventy-thousandth appliance to die this year. And Shelby's going to have to have surgery for her hip dysplasia in the next year or so, and we're still paying off the Unexpected Pension Taxes, and somewhere in there we've got to buy Tiny Tim a new crutch. The really stressful part is that my mother is now looking to me to finish my writing projects and hopefully bring in enough extra income that we can get on top of the bills and pay more than just a tiny bit, the interest, and sneaky late fees (everyone wants payment just before the last paycheck of the month) on them. You know. No pressure or anything.

And then my computer crashed in the middle of the "King Arthur in Fifteen Minutes" notes, and I lost all yesterday afternoon's work. "Document recovery" my ass. This is why you didn't get a linkspam, because I was too pissed busy trying to redo my work to deal with it.

(Also, Semagic came thisclose to eating all of tonight's linkspam when my computer crashed. "Load automatically saved draft" only pulled up the earliest version, until I finally thought to try "Load Draft" and see what came up.)

Let's go to another happy jewelry place! Damn, I need one. It's an old favorite, but what the hell: Sweet Romance Online. Favorites (and man, is it hard to narrow it down): the rose pendant; the art nouveau "Futura" set; the morning glory suite; the lily of the valley suite.

Linkspam!

Hacker security researcher exposes alleged Olympics age fraud; International Olympic Committee launches probe into He Kexin's age.

Jean Reno did not have a serious heart attack?; Actor Jean Reno released from hospital; Spicy Food Caused Reno's 'Heart Attack.'

Gwen Stefani welcomes Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale. Who is a boy, by the way.

Help Jason Lee Name Pilot Inspektor's New Sister. You know, just in case you thought "Zuma Nesta Rock" was the worst celebrity baby name you'd ever heard. (All-time winners: Lee's Pilot Inspektor and Shannyn Sossamon's Audio Science.)

Rejected by Hong Kong, Glitter arrives in Thailand; later, convicted pedophile Gary Glitter arrives in Britain.

David Blaine to do another stunt; still not sure why he's called a "magician."

Whopping fish declared new species. It's a man-sized grouper?

Grammar police punished for 'fixing' sign.

Are You Pure Enough to Write YA? You know, every now and then, I stop and wonder if Black Ribbon (my almost-finished Victorian/steampunkish novel, for those of y'all new to the O:G) could be marketed as YA without any real changes, since that's such a vibrant market these days... and then I remember the scene with the prostitutes. It's a chase scene, not a sex scene, but... prostitutes.

From dduane: A little more creeping censorship: the T word.

What’s Neal Stephenson Building Down There?; How One Man Solved a “Baroque” Mystery.

Blogs.com Loves Books, Will Feature Them One Day. Watch out for the sarchasm!

Bad punch line can get you punched.

Snap Judgment: Rihanna's 'Disturbia' video lives up to its title.

'Stargate: Atlantis' canceled, batten the hatches!; 'Stargate Universe' Gets The Green Light.

Jane Austen Will Steal Your Identity And Send You Down A Time/Space Wormhole ['Lost In Austen'].

Scoop: Broadway fans not warming to Katie Holmes. Aw, but don't take it out on Patrick Wilson!

He's been Indiana Jones AND James Bond.

The Trouble with Entertainment Weekly's List of "Best SF Since 1983."

Images: New pics from 'Dorian Gray'; Miracle at St. Anna; Religulous; Zac Efron Pretending to be an Actor in 'Me and Orson Welles'; New 'Friday the 13th' Shot: Jason Has the Beautiful Flowing Locks.

Trailers and clips: New Burn After Reading teasers - character focused (possible spoilers if you watch); 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' Bonus Clip & Photos (because it's getting on that time of year again); Must Watch: Miramax's 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas' Trailer; Trailer Blazer: 'An American Carol'; Flashy New 'Transporter 3' Trailer and Picture; New 'Frost/Nixon' Trailer and Pictures; 'Nights in Rodanthe' Poster and Extended Trailer; Watch This: Excellent Matinee Movie Montage; Lengthy New Trailer for the 'It's Alive' Remake; First-Look 'Choke' Clip Hints at Someone Getting Seriously Injured, Laid.

Dark Knight Script answers Two-Face Question (in all-caps, no less); The Horse Actorer; Fan Made: Kristen Bell as Harley Quinn, Marion Cotillard as Catwoman; Meet The Stars Of The Next Knight? (fan art); Check This Out: More Dark Knight Sequel Fan Art - Harley Quinn! Let me repeat here: the last three links are speculative fan art.

Warner Bros. Confirms Superman Reboot; Warner Brothers Takes The Time To Make A Superman That Won't Suck. I didn't actually see Superman Returns--I'm not much of a Superman fan, but the Kate Bosworth casting just seemed really wrong to me, and I couldn't bring myself to bother with it. I'm sure a number of people would take issue with the claim that it sucked, though.

Favreau Gets to Work on 'Iron Man 2.'

Harry Potter And The Mystery Of Why Alan Rickman Still Won’t Talk Snape (he gives a really good answer, actually); Hi-res Dumbledore BTS pic; Daniel Radcliffe Talks Harry Potter; Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park article; Emma Watson Attends Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Featured in Italian Vogue ("BREAKING: EMMA WATSON TAKES ACTING LESSONS").

Update: 'Quantum of Solace' Moved Back a Week; More 'Quantum' Photos Make Their Way Online; New 'Quantum of Solace' Trailer Expected On 11 September.

Geek Onslaught Threatens Fox as 'Watchmen' Lawsuit Backlash Strengthens; 'Watchmen' worth fuss: Kevin Smith; Feature: Better Late Than Never: 'Watchmen.'

It's not Twilight Tuesday at all! But it's worth it for this trailer spoof and the Harry Potter vs. Twilight showdown. Also, I just realized I have Nikki Reed's exact earrings in this picture--except mine are an aged gold color, not silver. But they're exactly the same. From Lucky Brand, I think? Most of my favorite everyday jewelry is from them, actually. Anyway, I am A LITTLE WEIRDED OUT NOW that Rosalie Cullen is wearing my earrings.

And for those of y'all who read the Breaking Dawn recap(s), I have added a little section on "fursplode" to the Self-Indulgent Wiki That Gives Me Explanations to Link To. You know, in case you wanted confirmation that the werewolves actually "explode."

Milo Ventimiglia Asks, ‘Want To Play A Game?’ "The game in 'Game' — from 'Crank' and 'Pathology' creators Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor — is a futuristic multiplayer in which you can control other people. Gerard Butler’s, John Leguizamo’s, and Ventimiglia’s characters are forced to play first person games, and are considered just Sim-like avatars by the people who play them, and control their actions remotely, much like you would on a Wii."

A Few Elementary Updates From 'Sherlock Holmes'; Guy Ritchie Explains His Vision for the New Sherlock Holmes.

Website launches for 'The Women' remake. Grrrr.

WETA Prepares To ‘Wake The Dead’ With Redesigned Frankenstein.

Does Kevin McKidd Want to Live Forever in a Highlander remake?

More 'Kick-Ass' Casting: Nicolas Cage, Aaron Johnson, Lyndsy Fonseca.

Rumor Monger: Is Abbie Cornish Going to the Moon with Jake Gyllenhaal? Which would be awkward, since she was, uh, with Ryan Philippe when the Witherspoon-Philippe marriage went up in smoke, and Reese Witherspoon is now dating Jake Gyllenhaal. Yeah.

Affleck Joins Bateman in Mike Judge's 'Extract'; Ben Affleck Totally Typecast As Harried Perfumier.

Exclusive: Colin Hanks Tackles Rise-And-Fall Of Tower Records In New Doc.

Bill Maher's 'Religulous' Documentary is Evidently 'Brilliant.'

Interview: Hamlet 2's Comic Mastermind - Steve Coogan; Interview: Steve Coogan on 'Hamlet 2'; Steve Coogan unleashes his inner Bard; Review: Something is rotten in 'Hamlet 2.'

Review: Faris saves 'House Bunny'; No Playboy Covers For ‘House Bunny’ Ladies: Katharine McPhee, Emma Stone, And Rumer Willis.

Review: ‘Death Race’ crawls to the finish line; 'Death Race' Is Car Porn For A Dystopian Internet Age.

The 'Friday the 13th' Series Gets Its Own Documentary.

Should Jean-Claude Van Damme Start Writing His Oscar Speech?

Aaaand it's another battle royale for the Uwe Boll Slot!

Horror Sequel Outrage: 'Lost Boys 2: The Tribe.'

Clive Barker Blasts Lionsgate Chief Over ‘Midnight Meat Train.’

'Whore' The 'Citizen Kane' Of Streetwalker Movies Starring Megan Fox And Rumer Willis.

How To Please Your Girlfriend, The Necro-Voyeurism Way [Found Footage].

A Crash Course In Alien Reproduction [NSFW] [Found Footage].

Comments

[wmetoile.livejournal.com]

Wait, Nikki Reed is...what? Playing Rosalie? Jesus tap-dancing Christ. I have been avoiding all news of the Blood-Sucking Books That Shall Not Be Named because I hate them with a violent feminist passion but still plan to read Breaking Dawn (it is in my library queue because I WILL NOT GIVE THAT WOMAN MY MONEY also I used to work for her publisher's parent company and I won't give them my money either) but — what? She is dark of hair and complexion. This... does not compute.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

She is dark of hair and complexion

Not anymore! (http://outnow.ch/Movies/2008/Twilight/Bilder/movie.fs/03)

[sweetsyren.livejournal.com]

No! Not my SGA!

They're going to cancel yet another good show that happens to have lots of pretty and produce Stargate: VOYAGER???????

*dies and is dead*

I hate American TV channels/studios sometimes. *sobs*

[neveth.livejournal.com]

*joins you in the angry weeping*

BUT THEY CAN'T BE "HIP AND YOUNG" and be explorers SANCTIONED BY THE GOVERNMENT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

... what will I do without Ronon? *weeps*

[izzy-unkempt.livejournal.com]

Milo Ventimiglia Asks, ‘Want To Play A Game?’

Anyone else reminded of Reboot?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReBoot

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't give up on the prostitutes! The Australian teen novel Playing Beatie Bow has a whole sequence where the heroine winds up a prisoner in a Victorian-era brothel full of pimps, johns and drug addicts. That was written in the early '80s, I think.

[bardintraining.livejournal.com]

...is Lost in Austen at all based on the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style book? Because I've been up and down and sideways through that one a few times now and unless I cheat I somehow always managed to get killed/my face cut off/myself locked in an attic. I'm also more than slightly pissed that Mr. Tilney isn't a marriage option and only shows up as a useless sideplot loop that just sends you back to where you started.

[angelan.livejournal.com]

I thought so at first, but now I'm not so sure (the book's called Being Elizabeth Bennett in the UK, so it's weird that itv would go with the US title.) - there's nothing in any of the press releases that mentions it, plus the series seems to be only about P&P.

I was mad about the Mr. Tinley thing too. He's the best one! The ending where everyone gets shot cracks me up, though. And the locked-in-an-attic bit.

[elisa0984.livejournal.com]

Who is a boy, by the way.

You know without that comment (who can click on the link in midst of all the pretty jewelry?) I thought Stefani had partnered up with Jamba Juice.

[despairfaery.livejournal.com]

You live in a vortex where all appliances go to die.

[scarolinagrl.livejournal.com]

Kevin McKidd and a Highlander remake? Yes please.

You just kinda sorta made my day!

Thanks for the tidbit!

[discogravy.livejournal.com]

So convert them from prostitutes to "ladies in need".

[nocowardsoul]

Re: Prostitutes in YA

There's Sold! and The Tin Princess.

[bardintraining.livejournal.com]

I once inadvertently broadcast Les Miserables' 'Lovely Ladies' to my fifth-grade class during one epic Show N' Tell session. After that I was required to pre-clear my showing material with my teacher before class began.

[bardintraining.livejournal.com]

...kids can handle it, is all I'm saying. It's more the parents who have to explain things to them who have the issues, I think.

[labonnefille.livejournal.com]

Oh man. That spooof Twilight trailer is awesome. "Ow, who shut that!?" I love it.

[sneaky-minx.livejournal.com]

Spicy Food Caused Reno's 'Heart Attack.'

Does it make me horrible that I laughed when I read that as I couldn't help thinking about Wasabi?

And, I usually like Cinematical, but they chose some rather crappy manips to feature.

Also, *major hugs to ya*

I know you're still in writing mode with Black Ribbon, but I would pay another $15 easily to read a chapter or two of that on top of the annotations! (I keep forgetting to ask if there's any of it available anywhere. And I'm also glad you went a bit into what it was about, too, because I kept forgetting to ask that, too, whenever you've mentioned it./is rather n00bish for a non-n00b)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

There's a "Black Ribbon" link on the sidebar here that... I would kind of rather people not read just because I'm a little embarrassed now that my writing's gotten better (IMO), but when I originally put it up (five years ago!), people seemed to like it. (Also, it's, uh, a GeoCities site. This is a source of shame in itself.) But it's the first three chapters. Which are very different now. Well, not unrecognizably so. But... well.

[batmaz.livejournal.com]

There are such things as grammar vigilantes? Wow!

That poster for 'Whore'... there are truly no words.

[theendofallthat.livejournal.com]

I'm probably not the only one to suggest this, but you have a degree in spanish, right? have you looked around for any kind of freelance translation work? we've got a ton in LA I see listed on craigslist that could probably be done from home.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I ended up not studying any further because I just realized it wasn't what I wanted to do, and I wanted to put my energy towards getting published. Which is great and all, but publishing isn't a steady task-oriented income like translation. And now I've had about eight years to forget the finer points of the language, so... I've cheerfully screwed myself over on that one, I guess.

(Ironically--you know how I got into doing movie linkspam? While I was in college, I translated articles in Spanish, French, and a little Italian for a couple of fan sites, you know, just for fun and to be helpful. And I ended up getting really interested in collecting movie news for its own sake.)

[prncssaurora.livejournal.com]

Okay, just a little something to try to cheer you up... Someone posted this article (http://community.livejournal.com/twilight_film/334385.html) from Empire Magazine at the Twilight film LJ comm, and it's mostly what you'd expect, plus a few instances of blatant fact-checking errors (Bella is 14? The movie comes out in January 2009?). BUT! On the last page is this gem from RPattz:

"When you read the book," says Pattinson, looking appropriately pallid and interesting even without makeup, "it's like, 'Edward Cullen was so beautiful I creamed myself.' I mean, every line is like that. He's the most ridiculous person who's so amazing at everything. I think a lot of actors tried to play that aspect. I just couldn't do that. And the more I read the script, the more I hated this guy, so that's how I played him, as a manic-depressive who hates himself. Plus, he's a 108-year-old virgin so he's obviously got some issues there."

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh my sweet lord Jesus. I swoon, I die.

[maisontv.livejournal.com]

I bring you MOAR LULZ FROM RPATTZ! This is from an article about Twilight from Empire magazine.

"When you read the book," say Pattinson, looking appropriately pallid and interesting even without makeup, "it's like, 'Edward Cullen was so beautiful I creamed myself.' I mean, every line is like that. He's the most ridiculous person who's so amazing at everything. I think a lot of actors tried to play that aspect. I just couldn't do that. And the more I read the script, the more I hated this guy, so that's how I played him, as a manic-depressive who hates himself. Plus, he's a 108 year-old virgin so he's obviously got some issues there."

That's all there is from Rob, but the rest of the article is here: http://community.livejournal.com/twilight_film/334385.html

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just saw that. Believe me, it will be the centerpiece of my next linkspam. : D

[thansunshine.livejournal.com]

DAMMIT, CLEO. I WAS ALL EXCITED FOR NEWS ABOUT THE BOOK LOST IN AUSTEN. ):

lolz i need to stop switching between accounts

[pushingme.livejournal.com]

Enter to win a new Electrolux 24” built-in dishwasher with Wave-Touch Controls (http://www.cascadeclean.com/en_US/ultimatebutton/registration.do) from Cascade. Never hurts to try.

It's going to take a lot more than a summer class to teach Emma Watson to act.

[soleta-nf.livejournal.com]

I have a suggestion: Why don't you put a PayPal link up and we can buy your m15m project in advance, like on Amazon? That way you get the money ASAP, and can take your time finishing it. I, for one, would happily pay in advance.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Aw! I did think about it, but the idea makes me nervous. "What if I don't finish" isn't really an option, but... you know.

[faerieglen.livejournal.com]

Love Alan Rickman's answers, he is so right. I was addicted to Harry Potter and read all web speculation about possible endings I could find - in hindsight, I really wish I hadn't. If I had started book 7 as innocently as the first four, most of the revelations in DH would have absolutely FLOORED me. Instead, I was sort of ticking off points on a list.
The whole analyzing and pointing out plot holes afterwards also killed part of the experience. After reading some reviews, I felt almost like I had to justify myself for liking the book.

YOUR book rocks, btw.