So, it is party time again, folks!
Oct. 1st, 2014 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartEach year this time, we launch my virtual birthday party, which starts on October 1 and ends on October 9 at midnight, sharp. The goals of the party are to post as many comments and collapse as many threads as possible, on as many new pages as we can. It is always great fun, as you can see if you check out the similar entries of the last few years.
This year, I'll also throw the real party at mid-time - and post the recipes of all the food that will be there for you, so that you can all participate if you want to. Virtual food has no calories.
Fandom-related discussions are as welcome as the ones about coffee or chocolate (just to name a few favourites from previous years), and, of course, pictures and recipes of birthday cakes. ;)
So, drop by, tell your story, post your pics or silly poems, ask questions you always wanted to ask and have a good time!
Soledad, in excited expectation
Oh, and by the way, to provide birthday gifts hobbit-style, I've got a revived story and a Kansas 2 update for you.
Enjoy!
This year, I'll also throw the real party at mid-time - and post the recipes of all the food that will be there for you, so that you can all participate if you want to. Virtual food has no calories.
Fandom-related discussions are as welcome as the ones about coffee or chocolate (just to name a few favourites from previous years), and, of course, pictures and recipes of birthday cakes. ;)
So, drop by, tell your story, post your pics or silly poems, ask questions you always wanted to ask and have a good time!
Soledad, in excited expectation
Oh, and by the way, to provide birthday gifts hobbit-style, I've got a revived story and a Kansas 2 update for you.
Enjoy!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2014-10-05 07:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2014-10-05 08:05 pm (UTC)I really need to get hold of the Wilde film. I wanted to see it when it came out, but I think they didn't show it at the cinemas in the town I lived in at the time; since then I have also learnt to love Stephen Fry (not really having known of him, then), so it is getting stranger, and stranger not to have seen the film!
The only Wilde play I have seen performed live, was an opera version of The Importance of Being Earnest; I wasn't as impressed as I had hoped to be. It wasn't a particularly traditional type of opera, which I have since realized I should have expected of the company who performed it. Still very enjoyable, because I love the source text! I find Wilde's plays strangely readable; with Shakespeare even with the best intentions, I can't really follow the text unless I have seen the play performed, but I have read a number of Wilde's plays with great enjoyment before ever seeing the played out.
I do also really like The Canterville Ghost. I first read an abridged version as one of my English 'textbooks' in my pre-teens, and even in that form it was good; the full version is better of course!
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-05 08:11 pm (UTC)I had no idea there was an opera version of The Importance of Being Earnest - it strikes me more as an operette play, or even something for a musical.
Though Stephen Fry seemed a bit old at first, he filled the role well in the end, and I can recommend the film.
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Date: 2014-10-05 09:00 pm (UTC)There used to be a hilarious theatre version in Hungary, with a female ghost. Poor thing was biting her long fingernails in frustration and kept repeating: "They are insane! They are all insane!" There was also a nanny who kept fainting whenever the ghost appeared. It was a great performance, with the best comical actors of the capitol playing in it, so even if it wasn't always true to the original, it was amazing.
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Date: 2014-10-06 10:05 pm (UTC)Have you seen it? If so what where your thoughts?
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 10:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-05 07:26 pm (UTC)Apparently, I can, since
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-05 08:30 pm (UTC)and it looks like we are well on the way to 600 comments :)
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Date: 2014-10-06 09:29 pm (UTC)One good thing about the British Isles is that it is very rarely too hot to work in the garden; it is often too wet, though... ;-)
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Date: 2014-10-05 09:33 pm (UTC)Welcome to those on the other half of the globe!
I've put up the alerts to a triple update in my most recent journal entry (two entries above this), just in case someone feels like having some Dr Who, some Sherlock, some Babylon 5 or some Star Trek: Voyager, or any hair-raising combination thereof. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 01:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 01:36 pm (UTC)And to give this thread a topic: current reading?
At the moment I'm reading the Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters - I think I'm on the 6th one now and enjoying them. Amelia is a great character and I really like the mixture of the archaeology and random mysteries - and the narrative voice.
I'm also intermittently rereading the Valdemar books by Mercedes Lackey, as my partner has decide he wants to read them, and he kept asking me questions. I'm not sure when I last read most of them, but they are still fun, although I am very glad to be reading them spread out, as all the angst.
I'm also looking at the Yuletide tagset and trying to decide what I should read from it to help get a head start on what I might be assigned, but there are so many choices.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 03:48 pm (UTC)I'm currently still ploughing through my bookmarks from last year's Yuletide, trying to pick out my recs set before sign ups open. I'm down from 150 to 11 to reread and some 15 more I'm undecided over, but many of the remainder are novellas.
I've got a big pile of books on my long-unread heap (which is well over a hundred books now); some of them are Yuletide perennials so I might try to get my brain in gear for one of them -- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Stardust or Cloud Atlas perhaps.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 04:50 pm (UTC)I'm not sure how many books I've got on my to read list - I've been trying to avoid acquiring more paper books as they are bad for my hands to try and read, but this makes the heap less visible.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 05:57 pm (UTC)I've had to split my to-read pile into two, not just because the piles started to teeter but because it was just getting psychologically overwhelming. At least now I have a single downstairs shelf for things I think might appeal, as well as the huge piles upstairs...
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 04:07 pm (UTC)Currently, I am digging through the Torchwood novel Skypoint (donated by the lovely
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Date: 2014-10-06 09:35 pm (UTC)For work, I am currently reading a number of textbooks on Solid State Physics and Materials Science, because I am teaching modules in those two subjects at the moment. They are mostly also quite enjoyable, with the one exception of Feynman's Lectures on Physics which is pure joy to read! The man had a brilliant mind, and was able to explain physics clearly without dumbing it down.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-07 03:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2014-10-07 01:36 am (UTC)I looked up Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody Mysteries - the first book sounds good, I had not heard of it before; thanks for the tip.
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Date: 2014-10-08 11:35 am (UTC)Miss Marple, I've read all in Hungarian, but it's so very different in original as if they weren't the same books at all!
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Date: 2014-10-06 04:18 pm (UTC)Not that i'd have a rat's chance to gain back the once steady following of that story - a ten-year-hiatus is simply too long - but getting it on tha roll again is fun. Despite the idiots I have to block regularly. I've written seven chapters in a row, usually ten to twelve pages each, and I am determined to bring it to the end (which would mean Chapter 54, according to plan. Even if I will get nothing but grief for my efforts. I love this story. Somebody has to, right? :)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 04:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 06:29 pm (UTC)And I don't get paid to type in my fic. I get paid to rot in the room uselessly, in case someone gets sick or has to leave on some official business, and then I have to go and hold the lesson for them. If there is no such case, I simply waste my time there.
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Date: 2014-10-06 08:27 pm (UTC)In exchange, we no longer get any paid overtime (which used to be an important part of our income), since we already have to be there in case someone falls out. So, financially we're all worse off, but at least we can waste hours at work and still have to do the preparation and corrections at home, where we can concentrate.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 08:29 pm (UTC)Meanwhile I think this might be the 700th comment?
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Date: 2014-10-06 06:16 pm (UTC)Rewatching: Yes, Minister - which as ever remains very topical
There are several things I really should catch up on: Sherlock, BBC Musketeers, etc. The pvr is fairly full of stuff, not to mention dvds, and I don't even remember what is there. Hopefully now my partner has finished and handed in his MA dissertation, we will get round to catching up or deleting things.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 06:21 pm (UTC)We stopped recording a year or so ago -- it was just becoming a struggle to watch things and a source of stress.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 06:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 09:46 pm (UTC)In the first category is Stargate SG-1; I do love the show in principle, but sometimes I just get fed up with the stupid 'love' story between Carter and O'Neill. When I get back in the mood, I can usually ignore it, but sometimes that requires too much effort.
In the second category is Doctor Who, The Great British Bake-Off and Criminal Minds; Irish television is broadcasting two different seasons of the latter on consecutive nights, which had me thoroughly confused until I worked that out.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-07 03:48 pm (UTC)I've ended up watching The Great British Bake-Off as well (from part of the way through) - it is quite interesting to see all the different techniques and stuff. :)
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Date: 2014-10-06 06:37 pm (UTC)I re-watched all 13 episodes of Crusade recently, for the cryptic Galen stuff, to get into the character's head for my current Babylon 5 crossover story, and some B5 episodes from the end of Season 3, as the story takes place in that time frame.
Next on the plan is to finally watch the Black Guardian trilogy of Dr Who, featuring the Fifth Doctor, which I've purchased via the English bookshop in summer but never got around to actually see it. And I still have to watch the second half of Merlin's last season, which I bought in Vienna around May or so... *sigh*
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 06:46 pm (UTC)Yay for rewatching Babylon 5 and Crusade
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-08 11:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 07:49 pm (UTC)I've never got into B5 though a few people have suggested it's like DS9.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 08:20 pm (UTC)I am biased towards Star Trek forever, but B5 does have one big advantage: the 5 years have an ongoing storyline. There are lots of filler chapters, of course, and the 5-year-arc would have worked better had TPTB not sabotaged the show so that JMS was forced to finish everything of interest in a hurry in mid-Season 4 - only to give the green light for more and than have to come up with something to fill it. But some of the characters were interesting, the alien cultures, too, and there was a lot of background work.
Really, it's like apples and oranges - it depends on your personal taste which one do you find better.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 08:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 08:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 09:02 pm (UTC)But I don't like the reimagined Star Trek, either, so I'm probably just too old-fashioned and too protective about that which I love.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 09:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-07 03:44 pm (UTC)I'm not particularly into the new ST - I've seen both films and they are okay, but no where as good as the tv.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-07 06:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-07 08:41 pm (UTC)Totally agree about rebooting things - it is a pity they can't come up with new stuff, instead of it all being continuations and reboots.
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Date: 2014-10-06 06:42 pm (UTC)Of course, I'd send you guys a card anyway, like every other year, I just think it would be fun. And then we could discuss techniques and our headway with the project (or the lack thereof) and have fun.
(no subject)
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Date: 2014-10-06 06:46 pm (UTC)I don't dare to delete the emails with the comments, in case we need to put them back again, like two years ago, and keep prying that LJ should behave this time.
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Date: 2014-10-06 09:09 pm (UTC)BTW, have any of you watched "Sanctuary"? The one with Amanda Tapping in the lead role?
(no subject)
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Date: 2014-10-07 08:59 pm (UTC)P.S. If no one beats me to it, this will be comment number 800! Wow!
(no subject)
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Date: 2014-10-07 03:38 pm (UTC)I've seen some of Sanctuary, and it seemed an interesting premise, but I didn't get very far into it. Like Warehouse 13 - I should try and watch more of both, iirc I have the first season of each on dvd.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-07 06:16 pm (UTC)Another thing I hated was this visiting home in other people's bodies stuff. If they're lost, they should be lost, dammit, and try to make the best of it!
I have mixed feelings about Sanctuary - the characters are excellent, and Chris Heyerdahl plays the role of his life, but the main premise can't really convince me.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-06 09:12 pm (UTC)That's the best bit of television news I've heard in years -- must get a TP icon!
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Date: 2014-10-06 10:09 pm (UTC)It's the archetypal use of a crime to peel away the layers of a seemingly idyllic town. It has an off-the-wall sense of humour that is close to unique in US television. The surreal elements are far more like art film than commercial television, and are open to multiple interpretations that fans are still debating. Its cinematography & set design were unparalleled at the time in television -- it's only fairly recently that works of that quality & level of set detail have been shown outside cinema. Audrey Horne is one of my favourite young female characters. And there's a young David Duchovny in drag :)
The first series was nearly perfect; the second digresses after the main mystery was solved and was diluted, but still has some very strong episodes and the most memorable cliff-hanger I can remember in television, ever.
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Date: 2014-10-08 10:30 pm (UTC)In some ways, I think it would be easier to go the 'instructor' route of me doing most of the talking. It certainly would mean I had more control, but I think it is more interesting for both me and the students if they talk. That way, it is also easier for me to see if there are things they have managed to do correctly without understanding, which does occasionally happen.
Some of my colleagues apparently have six (6!) tutees this year; that is one student too far to my thinking. My preferred size of a tutor group is four, I think, with enough students for discussions to be viable, but not some many that some of them might get lost (or hide) in the crowd. There is also the restriction that I don't think I could sensibly fit six students in my office...
(no subject)
Date: 2014-10-08 10:47 pm (UTC)I did have an unfortunate tendency to talk and test their comprehension via essays, rather than attempt to assay it by questions. I don't think I was cut out to be a teacher.
(no subject)
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Date: 2014-10-07 07:47 pm (UTC)The Great British Year
(no subject)
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Date: 2014-10-07 02:07 am (UTC)Wishing everyone a good night's sleep, for tomorrow, we party on!
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