Party time ahead!
Oct. 7th, 2010 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartWell, yes, dear folks, it's this time of the year again. The big, one-week virtual party from today to the 9th of October starts here. Come on in, be welcome, make yourself comfortable, and post a comment. May we have many collapsed threads again!
Last year we had 559 comments on 4 pages, which is an impressive record to break. But I have an excellent apple pie in the oven, and offer a virtual slice to every party guest.
Let's party!
Addition: someone asked for the apple pie recipe. Here it is, behind the cut.
400 gr wheat flour
200 gr butter or margarine
200 gr sugar
1/10 litre sour cream
1 pinch of salt
ground peel of 1/lemon
2 gr baking soda
For the filling:
2 kg apples
sugar,cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla and ground lemon peel as you like
One eggyolk for painting the top.
How to make it?
1) Make a dough from abovementioned ingredients.
2) Cut it in two equal pieces. Roll out one piece, lay it into a baking tin (baking paper under it is helpful).
3) Spread some dried bread crubms all over it.
4) Peel and plane (slice???) the apples, press out the juice with your hands (it shouldn't be too dry, though) and mix them with the spices.
5) Spread the apples over the dough.
6) Roll out the other half of the dough. Cover the apples with it.
7) Paint the top with eggyolk and bake it in a pre-heated oven, on 200°C for twenty minutes.
8) Cut it when it's cooled down.
Sorry, but I had to use the metric system. My brain doesn't work in cups and pounds and that stuff. I hope you can still figure out how much you need from the ingredients.
Addition: I also wish to gift upon my dear party guests a birthday-present, Hobbit-style: Chapter 03 - Puer Natus Est Nobis of my Cadfael fic "Sparrows" has just been posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
hiddenrealms and to FF.Net. Enjoy!
And the end results are: 735 comments on 6 pages! It's more than I could have dreamed of, and I thank you - all of you - who contributed to this record. It will be a hard one to break next year indeed, but I hope you'll be back. :)
Thanks again, I had a fantastic time and met great new people - it was fun!
Last year we had 559 comments on 4 pages, which is an impressive record to break. But I have an excellent apple pie in the oven, and offer a virtual slice to every party guest.
Let's party!
Addition: someone asked for the apple pie recipe. Here it is, behind the cut.
400 gr wheat flour
200 gr butter or margarine
200 gr sugar
1/10 litre sour cream
1 pinch of salt
ground peel of 1/lemon
2 gr baking soda
For the filling:
2 kg apples
sugar,cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla and ground lemon peel as you like
One eggyolk for painting the top.
How to make it?
1) Make a dough from abovementioned ingredients.
2) Cut it in two equal pieces. Roll out one piece, lay it into a baking tin (baking paper under it is helpful).
3) Spread some dried bread crubms all over it.
4) Peel and plane (slice???) the apples, press out the juice with your hands (it shouldn't be too dry, though) and mix them with the spices.
5) Spread the apples over the dough.
6) Roll out the other half of the dough. Cover the apples with it.
7) Paint the top with eggyolk and bake it in a pre-heated oven, on 200°C for twenty minutes.
8) Cut it when it's cooled down.
Sorry, but I had to use the metric system. My brain doesn't work in cups and pounds and that stuff. I hope you can still figure out how much you need from the ingredients.
Addition: I also wish to gift upon my dear party guests a birthday-present, Hobbit-style: Chapter 03 - Puer Natus Est Nobis of my Cadfael fic "Sparrows" has just been posted to
hiddenrealms and to FF.Net. Enjoy!And the end results are: 735 comments on 6 pages! It's more than I could have dreamed of, and I thank you - all of you - who contributed to this record. It will be a hard one to break next year indeed, but I hope you'll be back. :)
Thanks again, I had a fantastic time and met great new people - it was fun!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-07 10:26 am (UTC)Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-07 03:54 pm (UTC)Of course, the family will live off of three-day-old bread and water after this action, but still...
Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-08 04:58 pm (UTC)Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-08 07:47 pm (UTC)Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-08 10:41 pm (UTC)Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-09 10:39 am (UTC)Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-09 11:06 am (UTC)Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-09 11:46 am (UTC)Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-09 05:39 pm (UTC)(Were the Heyers Penhallow and Venetia? I saw them in Oxfam!)
Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-09 06:02 pm (UTC)They were! Was it Venetia that you said was your favourite?
The others were:
Stevie Smith, The Holiday
Nina Bawden, The Witch's Daughter (I read this last night, and some of the scenes and images gave me such a sense of recognition that I'm sure I must have read it as a kid, although I didn't realise that when I picked it up)
Lucy Boston, A Stranger at Green Knowe (I think this is the next in the series that I haven't yet read)
Rosemary Sutcliff, The Lantern Bearers
Richard Barber, King Arthur in History and Legend
Chretien de Troyes, Perceval, in a verse translation
Mary Williams, Some Aspects of the Grail Problem (this isn't actually a book, but an offprint of a journal article bound as a pamphlet)
So yes... once the inhibition against buying had been broken, I went a bit nuts. (Less than £30 for the lot, though.)
Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-09 06:44 pm (UTC)That Sutcliff is my absolute favourite, I hope you enjoy it. Have tissues handy.
Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-10 09:28 am (UTC)Thanks for the warning!
Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-09 09:19 pm (UTC)Lots of Arthurian stuff still, eh?
Re: Happy birthday
Date: 2010-10-10 09:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-07 03:02 pm (UTC)1. Name 3 of your most favourite fandoms.
Babylon 5 (I know we've been talking about already, but it is where my mind is at the moment), Studio60
2. Name one character of each fandom you particularly like. Tell us why.
Babylon 5: Very hard to choose, but I'm going to say Talia - I like the way that her character develops and watching how she learns about Psi Corps and starts to question everything that she has been taught. The way that she slowly moves from accepting every that Psi Corps does is right through various steps towards being finally estranged from them. It is such a pity that she was then written out. Plus I like the way that she interacts with the station staff - the way that she is not quite and insider, but not quite an outsider, it makes it very interesting to see how she reacts differently because she doesn't know everything that is going on.
Studio60: There are so many characters that I could pick, but I think I'm going to say Suzanne. She is a minor character but has a wonderful scene in which she stands up to Matt (her boss), asking him if he is high, then goes and tells his best friend/co-boss what is going on, even though she think he might fire her for this. I like the fact that she knows what her job is and seems to remain relatively sane and keep her sense of humour while everything is crazy around her.
3. Name one character of each that you don't like. Tell us why.
Babylon 5: Sheridan: This one was an easy choice - I don't like him because he allows thinks he is right and the show mostly supports him in this. His taking over control of Babylon 5 doesn't make sense with his total lack of diplomacy in most situations and the way that his character randomly changes to make bits of plot work is annoying. Also, the fact that most of the background that his gets involves more and more ex-wives appearing is not particularly interesting, especially as it is used to create conflict between him and Delenn. [Now I'm going to stop before this turns into a total rant] :)
Studio60: Ricky and Ron - I know they are two characters, but given that they mostly appear as a pair, I think they count for one. They are annoying and mostly seem to be there to add conflict to a show that already has enough going on. As characters they are so self absorbed and seem to have no redeeming qualities - even talent.
4. If you can, recommend a piece of fanfic to each of those fandoms.
I can't think of any to rec at the moment.
B5 hate file
Date: 2010-10-07 04:01 pm (UTC)Boy, don't I agree! I was sooo annoyed when stupid JMS got rid of Sinclair, who was an intriguing, complex character, and brought in Sheridan, who's, basically, the same annyoing type as Kirk. Or Riker. Or Dylan Hunt. Or John Sheppard. The same cocky pilot type who can do anything and can get away with it, without bearing the consequences, and gets to decide in big questions that aren't his frigging business, just because he's the Big American Hero (TM).
The ex-wives were really annoying, too. And despite what one might think of Lochley: to choose her as the commanding officer of B5, despite that she'd fought for the other side, based on the fact that they were married? Hello? Didn't that happen after having too much booze or whatnot? A truly thought-out and responsible choice, eh?
Rant away. The wasted potential about Delenn could make me scream and break things every time I consider how JMS has practically ruined a potentially fantastic character. Making her the bossy wife. Or the whiny wife. Or the flabbergasted wife. Whatever.
I'm sorry that I don't know your other fandom. Haven't even heard of it before, in truth. Is it a British series?
Studio60
Date: 2010-10-07 06:35 pm (UTC)Studio60 is an American show that only had one season - made by Aaron Sorkin (West Wing) about a political sketch show. Very fast moving with loads going on at every point. It is very funny and clever. It had so much potential, but was probably too overtly political to do very well, and thus got cancelled.
Re: B5 hate file
Date: 2010-10-07 07:08 pm (UTC)Too true. In some cases these can be good characters, but it gets very boring that there are so many of them.
The ex-wives were really annoying, too. And despite what one might think of Lochley: to choose her as the commanding officer of B5, despite that she'd fought for the other side, based on the fact that they were married? Hello? Didn't that happen after having too much booze or whatnot? A truly thought-out and responsible choice, eh?
I'm wondering whether it was because they had been married or despite it. I'm thinking he was trying to find someone who: had been on the other side; was at an appropriate rank; and he could work with; which probably left a very short list. I think that he wanted someone who had been on the other side as a symbol. I'm not sure that I remember clearly but I got the impression that they were friends before they were married, so he should at least have know her enough to know whether she was competent.
Personally I think it would have been far more interesting if she had been brought in as deputy to Ivanova. The main problem I can see is bringing in someone who had no experience of Babylon 5 to serve as commander (especially without an experienced deputy commander), especially someone who doesn't seem to have had much experience in diplomacy.
However, that brings me on to an separate complaint about how they seem to have so few officers - there doesn't seem to be anyone except the commander and the second in command at any point, except very junior officers. I would have thought that they would want at least 3 or 4 officers who could be left in charge in C&C etc. It is partly the fact that at various point Garibaldi or Delenn seem to be in charge when by normal uses of the command structure this wouldn't happen.
Sheridan and Delenn
The whole relationship doesn't make a lot of sense - it seems a jump from where Delenn's character is in season 1. I can see how it would have worked with Sinclair, partly because they spent a whole season building up towards them being friends and I can see how it would have worked to go from there, but it feels very rushed - like the fact that she has metamorphosed does mean that she has changed personality. She has her moments after then, but seems to become more and more arrogant, out of touch with anything apart from her ideas of destiny and Sheridan. I wonder whether there was something that we aren't told that was in the prophecies of Valen that pushed her into the relationship so quickly, and that when she was there she felt compelled to take a place behind him. Although if that was the case, I would have expected her to revert more when he was supposed to be dead. Possibly it was a cultural thing to her.
I can't help thinking that the whole solution to the Shadow War being what it was would have worked a lot better with a different character there. Given how eager to fight Sheridan had been at most points it seemed very odd for him to be suggesting a peaceful solution.
This got very long! I should probably leave it at that for the moment. :D
Re: B5 hate file
Date: 2010-10-07 09:42 pm (UTC)IMO, the metamorphosis caused Delenn to completely lose her personality. I still prefer the androgynous appearance of the pilot episode, even though it was perhaps less pretty than the first season version. I've read somewhere that the original metamorphosis would have been Delenn changing from an androgynous being into a female one, but with the prettied-up appearance it probably wouldn't have worked. Too bad.
Also, originally she was supposed to have a relationship with Sinclair, if I remember correctly. That would have made so much more sense.
Re: B5 hate file
Date: 2010-10-07 10:32 pm (UTC)Yes, that made very little sense. I'd have expected him to at least be upset about it, if not more. But by that point his personality seemed to have mostly vanished and seemed to be controlled by her. Possibly when he was brought back from the dead he wasn't the same at all - certainly after that point he seems to mostly be being controlled by other people...
I still prefer the androgynous appearance of the pilot episode, even though it was perhaps less pretty than the first season version. I've read somewhere that the original metamorphosis would have been Delenn changing from an androgynous being into a female one, but with the prettied-up appearance it probably wouldn't have worked. Too bad.
It would have made it much more interesting if they had stuck with that!
Re: B5 hate file
Date: 2010-10-07 10:59 pm (UTC)Re: B5 hate file
Date: 2010-10-07 11:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-07 04:43 pm (UTC)Totally agree with you on both Talia and Sheridan!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-07 06:38 pm (UTC)Page 4, at least!
Date: 2010-10-07 03:52 pm (UTC)The comment nummer record we've already broken - go us!
Re: Page 4, at least!
Date: 2010-10-07 03:57 pm (UTC)Great party!
Re: Page 4, at least!
Date: 2010-10-07 04:02 pm (UTC)I learned a great deal about my old fandoms and about new ones I've never heard of before, and books and music and food... a very pleasant experience indeed.
Re: Page 4, at least!
Date: 2010-10-07 04:44 pm (UTC)Re: Page 4, at least!
Date: 2010-10-07 09:38 pm (UTC)Re: Page 4, at least!
Date: 2010-10-07 09:46 pm (UTC)Favorite food
Date: 2010-10-07 04:45 pm (UTC)...food!
:)
Re: Favorite food
Date: 2010-10-08 12:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-07 08:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-07 09:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 07:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 07:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 08:06 pm (UTC)It doesn't come whole, you get it in pieces. With a little brain fritter.
Fresh goodies!
Date: 2010-10-07 09:36 pm (UTC)Apple pie will be cut in half an hour or so - it has to cool down a bit first - so have a seat and prepare your eating utensils! The pretty young man above - points at Ianto icon - will serve his best coffee to the pie... or tea, if that is your pleasure. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-07 09:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-07 09:58 pm (UTC)An edited one cuz I apparently can't spell...
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-07 10:04 pm (UTC)Comment #600 has been posted!
Date: 2010-10-07 10:04 pm (UTC)We have hereby reached one of the established goals of this party: to have a minimum of 600 comments. congratulations and my never-ending gratitude for your help.
Now we still have two days to reach the other goal: to get on Page 5. We must not rest on our laurels, or our honour will be besmirched by only partial success. Which will not happen. I know that. We're the best, we can do this.
Re: Comment #600 has been posted!
Date: 2010-10-07 11:35 pm (UTC)Re: Comment #600 has been posted!
Date: 2010-10-08 07:17 am (UTC)Re: Comment #600 has been posted!
Date: 2010-10-08 12:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 12:34 am (UTC)Afraid I haven't baked a cake, but I have got some semi-stale buns that were being sold off cheap from the bakery. Tea?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 07:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 09:18 am (UTC)I love: pumpkin soup, ice cream, chocolate, steak with mushrooms, gorgonzola cheese, and most things with cinnamon. Though not necessarily in that order.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 07:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 08:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 11:51 am (UTC)However, going for the obvious choice: chocolate. At the moment my favourite type is Thorntons' Orange And Cardamom chocolate.
Otherwise what I remember as being favourites are mostly fresh fruit and vegetables picked straight from the garden. Bought fruit and veg just can't compare. It is one of the things that I miss about leaving home - no more fresh peas, carrots, parsnips, plums etc. However, while I miss these, it is not enough to make me think that I should grow my own, given how much time and energy it would take.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 12:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 05:03 pm (UTC)Hurrah for breaking the comments record!!!
Now, let us hurry on toward the pages goal, because I, for one, cannot afford to lose what bit of honor I have left after beginning "Awful Mary-Sue." I'll need that last shred of honor so I can lose it when I finish the fic...
Favorite/Favourite food
Date: 2010-10-08 05:17 pm (UTC)However, at the moment, the food that that nearly transports me when eating is a "vintage" Dutch gouda. It seems like a decent, slightly salty cheese when I first put a piece in my mouth, but as I chew a bit and it warms on my tongue... suddenly, there is a flood of rich flavor almost like a good butter, but so much darker. The flavor has such a fullness, an almost physical dimension to it that I'm sure someone somewhere must have labeled sinful. I'm squirming in my seat at work just thinking about it...
Besides the exquisite taste, it also offers a bit of fun. It's coated in a black wax that is, in turn, wrapped in heavy paper or cloth that has what looks like an ancient map printed on it. When I realized that the lines were ships' rigging and lines of latitude and longitude, I started peeling off that outer wrapping and collecting the pieces from the wedges. So far, I've been able to piece together 4-5 bits into the larger material from which they were cut, but a lot of the bits are repeats, so I'm not sure there's a whole image to be assembled. The store never has more than a couple wedges in the refrigerated case, so not much selection. Still, it's a fun little game.
Favourite food
Date: 2010-10-08 07:52 pm (UTC)Re: Favourite food
Date: 2010-10-09 05:36 am (UTC)[public health self slaps me]
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-08 10:32 pm (UTC)3 favorite fandoms meme
Date: 2010-10-09 05:31 am (UTC)This is hard. I rarely go to movies. My reading nowadays is mostly professional, rarely fic. Can't watch broadcast TV: digital converter box died. No cable. Online, I've been watching "Flashpoint," a cop show set in Canada, so they mostly solve things without shooting. Refreshing! But I have no desire to read its fanfic.
Lord of the Rings is my "serious" fandom. It's the one through which I discovered fanfic. And it introduced me to some wonderful people, including The Birthday Girl and many other lovely folks attending this party.
I've been reading a bit of fanfic for the 1988 remake of the American TV show Mission: Impossible. (NOT the movies. Tom Cruise = big turnoff!) It's my fluff fandom. I came across some episodes on YouTube and found a small fanfic group at Yahoo. I've promised to weave The Team into my Tolkfic spoof. (I've had TV "Miami Vice," so why not?) The challenge: Nicholas has to use a boomerang -- I promised the listmod.
I'm not following anything else right now and, lacking cable, haven't seen the sci-fi shows others like. I wasn't a big fan of Doctor Who back in the days of Jon Pertwee. I liked the first season of "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda," but then the show became "The Kevin Sorbo Hero Hour." Yawn.
2. Name one character of each fandom you particularly like. Tell us why.
LOTR: no one really jumps out -- it's such an ensemble piece. In the movies, I liked Sean Bean's Boromir: so concerned with honor and duty, so conflicted within that he could be seduced by The Ring, and yet able to realize the horror of what he'd done, sacrifice himself for the greater good and thus redeem his honor in death. Eomer is also intriguing: not one of The Nine, not immortal -- just a guy trying to deal with the crap Life has been dumping on his family and homeland. A leader himself, he's able to recognize the greater leader in Argorn and do what needs to be done for the good of M-E.
MI:1988: No deep characters here, but I like Nicholas best. He seems the most mature of the new team. He has a poise that the two younger men lack, but more vigor than Jim. Casey gets points as a competent woman, but I'd much rather spend an evening chatting with someone who teaches than with a fashion designer, and at the end of the evening, I want to go home with a guy...
Andromeda: This one's easy: Tyr Anasazi kept me watching long after all the other characters lost their depth (except Dylan who had no depth to lose). In the final season, Telemachus Rhade had promise, but needed better scriptwriters and quite likely, a better actor.
3. Name one character of each that you don't like. Tell us why.
LOTR: Merry and Pippin mostly me. I understand (I think) their significance as foils to emergent heroes Frodo and Sam. Still, seven Walkers would have been OK by me. But I haven't read the books in a couple decades, and I know PJ took some liberties (as one must always in making books into movies), so maybe I'm just ignorant.
MI:1988 - The team members aren't deep enough to be unlikable. Everyone has a sense of humor, and they all look out for each other.
Andromeda: Dylan Hunt was a real disappointment. He could have been a fascinating character in the hands of a good actor, at least in the first season or two, but -- maybe this a Rodenberry thing -- while he had a few flaws, he was always The Hero Doing Right in the end. Creators should not become too enamoured of the heroes they create.
4. If you can, recommend a piece of fanfic to each of those fandoms.
LOTR: anything by birthday girl Wiseheart!!! Also look for JastaElf, The Wild Iris, Cirdan Havens, Dís Thráinsdotter, Nerwen Calaelen, Jilba, Mirasaui, Altariel, Isabeau and... Oh, just go look at Gildor's Library (gildors_library at yahoo dot com), find folks whose work you like and then hunt up more of their stuff on FanFiction.net or use a search engine to find their websites.
MI:1988: Take a look at Aja Aron's stuff on FFN. There's a Yahoo group (mission_impossible_1988) -- just ask to join.
Andromeda: Probably some good stuff out there. I haven't really looked.
And now it's time for me to retire. Must be rested for the Grand Finale later today... whatver it may be!
Re: 3 favorite fandoms meme
Date: 2010-10-09 11:53 am (UTC)Merry and Pippin are actually responsible adults in The Books. At least Merry is, as Pippin isn't of age yet. But not even he is such an idiot comic relief as in the movies.
Re: Andromeda fanfic
Well, aside from the obvious (tries to look modest and fails miserably), I would recommend you The Recreation of the Warrior (http://www.anzwers.org/free/andromeda/fanfic/Mandyfic/warrior1.html) by Kit Mason. It's a great fic, with lots of Nietzschean cultural background, I think you'll like it.
The gratutious het scenes get a little boring sometimes, but you can always skip them. I also recommend browsing the website it's posted to, "Andromeda Uncovered". There are some interesting stories there, although no other that would be half this good,IMO.
Forget to add: Where men named Rhade are concerned, I vastly prever the original, Gaheris. Steve Bacic is a decent enough actor, I've seen it in many different roles - not an overwhelmingly genial one, but good, solid average. Rhade as a character would have needed a concept to begin with - I don't think the writers really knew what they wanted to do with him.
and another thing...
Date: 2010-10-09 05:33 am (UTC)Are we at page 6 yet?
Date: 2010-10-09 05:34 am (UTC)I mean, Page 5
Date: 2010-10-09 05:44 am (UTC)HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Re: I mean, Page 5
Date: 2010-10-09 10:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 07:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 09:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 10:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 05:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 09:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 10:19 am (UTC)Rivendell, hm? How's Master Elrond doing?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 08:27 pm (UTC)How is Elrond doing? He is sorely grieved at the workings of Sauron around the Hobbit movie.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 09:34 am (UTC)Come on, folks! Only a few more comments until page 5!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 09:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 09:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 09:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 05:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 06:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 09:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-09 10:36 am (UTC)Thanks for dropping in!