@LiveJournal: Currently experiencing a DDoS attack for the past two days -- status.livejournal.org

@gildedbat: @LiveJournal  pity they're going to have to set that "days without a DDoS attack" sign back to 0.  They got all the way over 100.

@LJmysticowl: Russian news confirms, also says that paid accounts will be credited the time they lost due to downtime.

@chez_amanda: There's also this Time article about the attacks that I just read.

ETA: @LiveJournal: Please to say we are up and running again! Thank you, U.S. and Moscow teams, who have worked tirelessly to get things restored! Happy LJing!

So... that's what's up with that, then. I want to stay on LiveJournal, but in order to do that, I'm gonna have to have a LiveJournal to stay on. (This entry is posted on both LJ and DW. As long as I can crosspost, I will.)


As a reminder in case you didn't see it: the Made of Fail podcast with Kevin, sometimes Dayna, Mark, Rinna and me, "Mischief Managed"! If the LJ link doesn't work, this is the direct download (or you can subscribe in iTunes; it's free). You may also want to listen to the first Deathly Hallows review show ("In Conclusion, Alan Rickman" [download] ), which had just Kevin, Mark and me. Or even the Half-Blood Prince show further back that I was on! We have many wizard-based options for your aural entertainment.

Movie links! They are exceptionally organized tonight, in no small part because I have three days' worth, and this isn't even all of them. ( Read more... )

Internets, I am not feeling so good. Just sinus blarg and a low fever, but I have been sleeping a lot. So that's where I've been.

Two bits of writerly advice:

@victoriastrauss: Agent Andrew Lownie on how to blow your chances in the first line of your email.

@MaryRobinette: Debut Author Lessons: 10 things about signing books.

Linkspam: movie news and your chance to be a werewolf, for really real. ( HOW CAN YOU BEAT THAT VALUE )

So: we've spent way too long discussing the Stephen King comments, and yet (I think?) you love stories about my mother. I am torn! I will err on the side of maternity.

So. My mother hasn't read anything by Stephen King OR Stephenie Meyer (that said, The Shawshank Redemption is one of her all-time favorite movies, and she did like the Twilight movie, except that Edward's future elopement with his own child was fretting her the whole time), but I started reciting the best of the indignant fan comments she got ANGRY. You know, the comments like, ( Read more... ) Oh, my God, that last one in particular SENT HER. Like, she actually started ranting at the dinner table. I had to intervene (with chips and queso!) at one point, because I thought she was going to blow a circuit. I mean, the sheer "Were you actually born yesterday?" pop-cultural ignorance of some of these people was getting to me, yes, but I didn't expect her to carry on for five minutes. It was a thing of beauty, I'm telling you.

(You also get "FROM A PERSONAL READING EXPERIENCE I HAVE NEVER READ A BOOK IN MY 26 YEARS" and "dudes im not a reader like ever" later on. As someone on Sparklefield suggested, the reason this brand of Twilight fan may get so vehemently defensive is because they really haven't read any other books, so if you tell them Twilight is bad, you're basically saying that their taste in literature is 100% bad. And also, they have nothing to compare Twilight to. I'm not sure why, but it really does seem like Harry Potter has resulted in people picking up a whole slew of other books, and Twilight... has not.)

And then I told my mother about Stephenie Meyer's idea of literary discussion ("Why is Edward right about Wuthering Heights sucking?"). Emergency applications of salsa became necessary.

The continued adventures of sparkly vampires and the emoteens who love them. (See also: Twilight; New Moon.) By the way, for anyone who was having trouble with the video the other day, trailer_spot has fixed us up a direct download of the five-minute Robert Pattinson interview where he politely, respectfully, Britishfully talks about how ridiculous Edward and Bella are.

Oh, and I was psychic, as I so often am, in bringing up Wuthering Heights the other day, because it's apparently a big plot point in Eclipse. Maybe Alice will let me hang out with her now? So that's what I'll be listening to while reading this time; for the first book I put the David Cook stalker-rock cover of "Hello" on repeat ("I've been alone with you inside my mind..."), and for the second, Dido's "Here with Me," because it seemed like the angstiest thing I had on hand. Although I guess I could also go with Evanescence's "My Tourniquet," complete with the Romeo + Juliet sample of Claire Danes screaming "I LONG TO DIE!!!" ( Why can't you just date the werewolf next door? He's practically family! )

Very brief notes I took as I read New Moon (well, I took notes chapter by chapter, but they're... relatively... brief. And... angry): ( And here is a picture of my vampire boyfriend watching ESPN )

I swear the next entry will be linkspam of some sort. After I pick the bits of my brain off the walls and shove them back in through my ears.

(More Twilight recaps.)

Mmm, hail coming in. This should be fun. So, just quickly, the linkspam I have on hand, before my internet goes out: ( Read more... )

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you: the POTC3 trailer, a full day early. Yes, it's dubbed into Russian. We can't have everything, now, can we? ( Can you have spoilers for a trailer? )

Also: More POTC3 pics.

( Linkspam )