Cleolinda everywhere

There is so much awesome in this linkspam that it can barely be contained.

( Nora Roberts, undead fetish nurses, flow charts, RUGGED INTENSITY, F. Streetname Whitebread )

ETA: WATCHMEN SETTLEMENT

Okay, first of all, OUR LONG INTERNATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER: JKR/WB vs RDR Books Trial: RDR Books Withdraws Appeal.

Second of all: Holy shit, Edward Dollen really does look like David Boreanaz.

Third: For people wondering about what the hell's up with the Bella doll, this is the outfit she's wearing. You only see the peasant blouse in the hotel scene because she's got the jacket zipped up after that. And the doll's actually wearing the brown jacket from another scene (this one. Look at the cuffs). Look, I don't actually care what she's wearing--padawansguide and I just geek out over costumes like whoa on her site sometimes, so I'm used to scrutinizing tiny details like a nutbar. People were just asking, is all.

Fourth: An email conversation I just had with my mother, who is apparently way more invested in the situation than I had dreamed: ( Read more... )

And for folks a little lost with the whole Secret Life of Dolls thing, there's some background and a chronological list of entries over here (after a little housekeeping to get the list up to date).

( Linkspam! )

Okay, I have a completely random, wank thought-provoking question to ask, in terms of random feedback. You know, the kind of feedback that you get after something's finished, not when you're actually still in revision mode. Actually, let me back up and ask a preliminary question: those of y'all who write, am I totally crazy for thinking there's a point when criticism just isn't helpful anymore? Constructive criticism is fantastic, and even if it hurts your feelings you don't like it or it doesn't seem helpful, you can still learn from it, or at least file it away under Complaints Registered. But to me, there's a point where the thing is done, and... it's just done. There's no going back. When I post a "Fifteen Minutes," barring some kind of major mistake or accidental omission, I generally consider it done. When someone publishes a book, it's done. All the criticism in the world isn't going to allow you to change it. You may mentally revise it for years and wish you could make changes, but basically? Nothing you can do about it. So to me, there's pre-release constructive criticism, and there's post-release literary (or "literary," if the parody thing in question... isn't) criticism. It's observational criticism, rather than constructive. I mean, yes, I can still learn for the future from it, but "This sucks," as vague as it is, might actually indicate that I need to change something before I release a work into the wild; after I release it, "This sucks" can't really help me.

So: 1) Am I crazy for thinking of it this way? 2) Am I being really unreasonable for thinking that leaving, in essence, "This sucks" as feedback is kind of unnecessary when a piece is finished and done? I guess what I'm thinking is... if you don't like something, go tell someone else you didn't like it, but don't tell me? Are you so dissatisfied with your (free, in this case) entertainment that you have to inform me? You couldn't just walk on by? Were you afraid that I was feeling too good about myself, or something? Or is it important to let people register their dissatisfaction, rather than just going, "Well, it's awful quiet out here, that must mean something"?

(Disclaimer: I actually thought that parts of the Cloverfield piece were weak, but kept moving rather than obsess about it, because there were parts that I felt really did work. I don't need rainbow pony hugs or anything. I am really truly trying to figure out if I have a spoiled, irrational mindset about criticism here. I'm actually kind of expecting y'all to tell me that I do, because it might help me suck it up.)

Linkspam!

From Smadronia, another way to help someone that doesn't involve money: "A girl in Texas needs blood and platelet transfusions for the next 9 months, and her insurance won't cover all of it. If you donate blood, you can specify she gets credited for it, which will allow her to get more transfusions. It's something like every 2 pints donated in her name will get her a pint of blood." More info here.

From agentsculder: "Attention Rebellious Jezebels!" Awesome.

( Read more... )

Not that it's very interesting now, but I have scribbled down "How I found the photos--seven years to the day" as a reminder to talk about it, so: I had installed the program Need3Space because I have millions, literally millions, of files on my computer, and I was hoping to clear anything temporary off for a little breathing space. N3S doesn't delete files--it lists files that you might want to delete, so I take full responsibility for being a dumbass and apparently deleting an obscurely named file that Microsoft Word requires to function. I pulled it up to work on Cloverfield (which I finished a rough draft of today, while we're here) and it claimed that Word wasn't installed and that it needed the installation CD, which was (it informed me) not currently in any drive. Strangely enough, I could see Word behind this text box, and I could see the list of my most recently opened documents, so I knew it was on there. After some digging, I found the specific file it was missing and asked around to see if anyone could just email it to me, because the plastic chest where my software lives was four feet away and I am that lazy. Well, and also, it was under a tub of stuff, and I was afraid I'd open the chest and the software wouldn't be there, and then it would be time to panic. As long as I didn't know for sure--Schrodinger's software, if you will--I didn't have to panic yet. But finally, I wasn't getting any younger and Cloverfield wasn't writing itself, so I got up and moved the tub.

It's not a tub, exactly--it's a small plastic wastebasket I used in college, and since it was clean, I'd been using it for storage. Huh, I thought. What's in here, anyway? And that's when I found five envelopes of photos from my 2001 senior (college) trip to Cuba. Pictures that had been missing for seven years. And they'd been sitting four feet from my desk, covered by a small stack of greeting cards, all this time.

So I put the Microsoft Office installation CD into the drive, and Word cheerfully finished installing itself--it did all the work for me and took literally three seconds to do so. I am convinced that my being dumb enough to delete whichever file it was directly led to my finding the pictures, because I believe, somewhat idealistically, that things happen for a reason. Or at least some things. I found the pictures, by the way, pretty much seven years to the day that I arrived in Cuba.

(I still can't believe how sad I feel over the Heath Ledger thing. Anyway.)

Gathering linkspam makes me feel better, so--linkspam by section:

( Deaths: Heath Ledger )

( Oscar nominations )

( Cloverfield )

( Regular linkspam )

Oh, my beautiful snow. We got an inch, and then by noon it had started melting. The pups had fun all afternoon in it, though. I mean, we didn't let them stay outside the whole time, because it was damn cold, but every time they got to go out they'd be running and skidding and Scout would paw the snow up into big lumps so he could carry them around in his mouth (he loves ice cubes). We've had plenty of freshly-made vegetable soup and chocolate cake this weekend, at least, and it has stayed freezing-ass cold (it's currently 27°F, with a low today of 19), which is something.

Cloverfield questions: ( and spoiler answers )

Cloverspam, mild spoilers: ( See Darwin do the Funky Chicken )

Linkspam proper: ( Read more... )

So today it rained not men, but icy slush. I don't think it's going to get quite cold enough this week to snow (and stick), but people are running around screaming and rioting in the grocery stores anyway, which means that I should be fully prepared to see Cloverfield on Friday (huzzah!).

Oh, and I finished Girl Sleuth last night, which was great. I should talk about it--and a ton of other books--more later, but suffice it to say, I want to read both the old-school Nancy Drew pre-rewrite originals and Mildred Wirt's Penny Parker books now.

(Omg roffle.)

Lexicon update: JKR Files Full Request for Injunction of HP Lexicon. The reason might surprise you.

Cassie Edwards update: The Many Faces of Plagiarism, which now include Longfellow. "Hiawatha." Seriously. Also, from particle_person: "The other ferret researcher (the one who didn't write the Newsweek article) has responded. His take seems to be 'no harm no foul.' Also, apparently this has really helped the black-footed ferrets, particularly Nora Roberts' $5000 matching-grant."

Troubled actor Brad Renfro dies at 25; Brad Renfro, Former Child Movie Actor, Dies at 25 (NYT); Remembering Brad Renfro.

Apple Officially Announces Their Movie Rental Plan; iTunes to offer movie rentals. ( Read more... )