Okay, so, the VMAs, they were lame. Britney Spears came out and said "The show starts right now!" and then she sat down. Then Rihanna came out in a giant... tower... thing in a black (leather? pleather? vinyl?) corset-leotard and thigh-high boots that made her thighs look like hams and we all know they're not, it was so unfortunate, and she had a bunch of big-haired zombies with her, I don't know. ( PH34R MY WALL OF TEXT )

Why is it that when I'm tired I think of him? I've been doing so well, went to the doctor, got help, been feeling better, seeing things more clearly, and yet, today, bam. I know it's going to take some time, I know I will have days like this, but I hate it.

Also, my left leg is acting funny. It woke me up last night and now it's all achy and tingly. If it's like this tomorrow, I have to call the neuro, it means I'm having a flare...and I just started a new "position" at work (a whole OTHER story) and my new "boss" doesn't know about the MS (I don't think) so that'll be fun.

*sigh*

It's a downer of a night. I had ice cream for dinner to cheer me up, but then I just felt like a slob and since I need to lose at LEAST 50lbs, it wasn't exactly the best choice.

1. Last night I had one of those *whoa* moments. Was chatting with my sister, and she told me about all the new words that my 18mo nephew has learned. Though he's usually stone-silent when she holds the phone up to him, this time she asked in Mommy Voice, "Neph, what do cows say?" And suddenly I heard this tiny "Moo". Then she asked about sheep, and I heard "Baa". OH MY GOD. I damn near started crying. It's such a silly little thing, but finally hearing the baby *talk* suddenly made him become a little person to me. Wow. Just wish I lived closer so that I could hear him talk more often!

2. Time for some knitspam. Yesterday I finally finished a scarf that I began last spring then set aside. I also began a shawl, though I'm not sure why because I doubt I'll ever wear a shawl. I love that the pattern is titled Adamas Shawl; can you picture him wearing one? And despite my resolve to take a sock break, I poked around Ravelry and found Maelstrom socks. It's destiny, huh? ;) I bought the pattern online last night, but I have to wait for my Paypal to clear before they send the .pdf. Grr. The Twist Collective site is pretty good so far, though, and I kinda love that they have a new sweater called Wisteria. Too bad it would look dreadful on me. Also, if I knit with the recommended yarn, that's nearly $200. No, thanks. I'd consider knitting more sweaters if decent-quality yarn were cheaper. Anyway! ( Photos of the scarf and shawl. )

3. I'm so eager for summer to be over. This year my biggest problem has been that my scalp sweats the minute I step outside, thus making my hair look greasy and ruining any attempts at styling. Ugh. I've never had this problem before, and my current haircut is fairly short.

4. Right now I'm watching 60 Minutes. Yeah, I know it's supposedly boring and too staid, but I've watched it most of my life, and something about the serious tone really appeals to me. Go figure. I also like this show on NatGeo, Seconds from Disaster. It's all about plane crashes and train derailments and volcanoes. I'm such a sucker for disasters.

5. Linkspam time.
-- Salon gives this year's "Buffy" award for Most Underappreciated Series to The Shield. I'm sure it's a magnificent series, but it's one of those I have no desire to watch.
-- They also have a really interesting article on the history of knowledge.
-- I laughed until I cried at The Daily Show's faux biography, "Barack Obama: He Completes Us". The shot of his head on Simba's body is just priceless.
-- I also smiled at this essay: "Russia's Invasion of Georgia" (the US one.)
-- Out.com has compiled the 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums.
-- Mental Floss has a handy guide to the difference between a model and a supermodel. And once again I love taking their pop culture quizzes.
-- Finally, a bit of linguistics. Slate has a fascinating article on antimetaboles, the trick where you begin a line, then repeat it with words transposed, e.g. "Is this the end of the linkspam, or is this linkspam the end?"

I fell into the bottomless pit that is TV Tropes again yesterday afternoon, and came across this and... well, it made my entire day. Apparently there are a (very small) handful of m15m mentions sprinkled across the site--probably because pointing out abused/overused tropes is a large part of what I do in the parody things. It still makes me giggle every time I find one.

One More Time: Britney returns to MTV VMAs. I hear that, despite all official denials, she will actually be performing. Which is why I can't not watch this trainwreck. She'll probably end up doing just fine, though, because you'd have to be an idiot (no, a real, genuine, flatlining idiot) to crap out on national television two years in a row. And more power to her if she can hold it together this time.

(No, I'm not sure why I have a "britney spears" tag, either.)

(Oh hai! Paramore seems to be there! I am pleased.)

Also, word on the street is that some sparkle motion is going to be present tonight. I hope The Hair brought backup.

Entertainment Weekly's VMAs liveblog. I would do one myself, but... I'm just not sufficiently aware of when MTV actually plays the videos What the Kids Today listen to. I'd spend most of the liveblog going, "Here's... someone? I don't know? They are saying things and doing stuff. Hey, that girl there is almost naked."

People actually seemed to like Raisin in the Sun yesterday, which pleased me. That's two in a row that the group actually seemed to like (with Wuthering Heights being the book before that everyone loved to hate, so to speak... we shall not speak of the reaction to Potter again). Perhaps a bigger hit was the vanilla butter cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, though. :) Anyway, one new member came, so joy. The library forgot we were showing up... again. I think I can count on one hand the number of times they remembered we were actually coming in the last two years. The topper, though, was the coffee machine. Would you believe that they hadn't removed the coffee filter since last month? Ever seen what happens to damp coffee grounds left in the machine for a month? It ain't pretty.

I'll be curious to see what happens in the months ahead with the bookmark campaign. Granted, if even the people who work there forget we exist, I don't see us getting a whole lot of word of mouth advertisement, but there you have it. Next up is Hugo's Hunchback. I guess I'll need to come up with something French... unless I do the very Medieval-feeling apple and bacon pie with cheddar crust.

ETA: Oh, and they also forgot to bring in copies of Raisin in the Sun to read... since the library didn't have any copies. The library. Owned. No. Copies. Of. Raisin. In. The. Sun. HOW?!

Title: Shiny
Word Count: 309
Pairing: Ted Mosby/Barney Stinson
Rating: PG
Summary: It seems that boys are attracted to shiny objects as well.
Notes: For bringthehappy prompt "Ted/Barney ; Shiny".
This is essentially an alternative telling of “Okay Awesome”.

I like your shirt

Last night I dreamt that my boyfriend was Don Draper.

Oh, dear. Charming, handsome, intelligent... fucked-up, sexist, possibly sociopathic Don Draper. And the weirdest part is that it wasn't even a hot 'n sex-ay dream. Nope, we were doing totally normal things like cooking satay chicken after work or going to the mall. It was snowing! This is very, very weird and may say disturbing things about my psyche. I'm scared.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/largeheartedboy/~3/qLBB1R9QMQk/shorties_1585.html

The New York Daily News offers its fall books preview.

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Aimee Mann talks to the Baltimore Sun about her latest album, @#%&*! Smilers.

"With this record, I was in the mood to take a direction where this is a collection of short stories about different characters," says the artist, who last week was at home in L.A. "Writing about broken or damaged people is more interesting. Being in the music industry, you run into a lot of people like that."

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The Memphis Commercial Appeal examines the internet's effect on brick and mortar record stores.

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In the Guardian, judges for the Booker Prize dishes gives some behind-the-scenes insight into 40 years of deciding the literary prize.

1994 James Wood

After serving on the 1994 Booker prize committee, I made a pledge never to judge a big fiction prize again, and I have so far honoured it. We were a congenial group, and our chairman was not a former politician or bureaucrat but a distinguished literary critic (John Bayley); our meetings were friendly, and surely no less or more argumentative than those of other years. But the absurdity of the process was soon apparent: it is almost impossible to persuade someone else of the quality or poverty of a selected novel (a useful lesson in the limits of literary criticism). In practice, judge A blathers on about his favourite novel for five minutes, and then judge B blathers on about her favourite novel for five minutes, and nothing changes: no one switches sides. That is when the horse-trading begins. I remember that one of the judges phoned me and said, in effect: "I know that you especially like novel X, and you know that I especially like novel Y. It would be good if both those books got on to the shortlist, yes? So if you vote for my novel, I'll vote for yours, OK?"

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Moonglampers Ramble is a music blog that posts live performances by indie bands, including this 2000 show by Beck.

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The New York Times profiles TV on the Radio.

Those were the indie days, when TV on the Radio was passing out homemade discs at cafes, and band members squeezed bits of recording time between hours spent at day jobs. Over the past five years TV on the Radio has made its way steadily up the circuit, from independent to major label, from local clubs to international tours, while its music has grown ever more ambitious. Those ambitions are bohemian ones: packing a world of ideas into each song while ignoring both commercial imperatives and ingrown hipster cachet.

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Today's Zaman interviews Orham Pamuk about his latest novel, Masumiyet Muzesi.

Are you uncomfortable with some of the comparisons being drawn between your novel and Turkish films?

Definitely not; there are some real comparisons after all. First of all, though, while the novel does take up some of the important themes covered in Turkish films, it does not deal with them in the same way. It deals with these subjects in a more analytic style than in Turkish films, and it actually deals with melodramatic subjects without actually becoming a melodrama. It carries out a detailed and patient analysis which no Turkish film or even any other kind of film would be able to give time to.

Deutsche Welle also interviews Pamuk.

In spite of the beauty of your books there is a lot of intimidation going on against you and others in Turkey from ultra-nationalists or ultra-religious groups. Does that have an effect on your life here and on intellectual life in Turkey at the moment?

Yes, of course. It has an effect on my life, I practically live with bodyguards and living with bodyguards is not a nice thing. So I'm worried that again the ultra-rightwing and sometimes established newspapers still continue to attack me, with campaigns against me that worry me.

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Birmingham Weekly interviews singer-songwriter Tift Merritt.

BT: How do you feel about the climate in the age of iTunes, satellite radio, customized ringtones and [website] YouTube? Is technology a great thing or does it create over-saturation and confusion?

TM: I think it’s not a black-and-white thing - technology always has benefits and drawbacks. I think there certainly is a lot of information to weed through right now, but anytime you have a more direct connection with your audience, that’s great. I don’t think the album format is dying - I think that an MP3 is very similar to a 45 [RPM single] from 1955. The consumers have to choose how they want to come to your music and there are more marketing questions to answer. Finding music has always been like a treasure hunt to me and now that treasure hunt isn’t that difficult. Luckily, my job hasn’t changed that much.

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Novelist Seth Greenland considers the character of republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin in the Los Angeles Times' Jacket Copy blog.

As a novelist, I am fascinated by the emergence of Sarah Palin as a character. This lively cross between Annie Oakley and Eva Braun seems to have released Republican chakras to a degree that could be matched only by the resurrection of Ronald Reagan.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2008/09/who-is-sarah-pa.html

---

also at Largehearted Boy:

daily mp3 downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
this week's CD releases

tags: music books popculture indie news

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/largeheartedboy/~3/-AZD-_rtR2g/daily_downloads_1671.html

Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:

Joel Laviolette & Rattletree Marimba: "Karinge Zuva/Chemutengure (live at KVRX)" [mp3]
other Rattletree Marimba posts at Largehearted Boy

Lady Genius: "New York Through York" [mp3] from TBD
other Lady Genius posts at Largehearted Boy

My Morning Jacket: 2008-09-04, Charlottesville [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Master Plan" [mp3]
other My Morning Jacket posts at Largehearted Boy

Railcars: "There Is Ice; It Is Blue" [mp3] from Cities vs Submarines
other Railcars posts at Largehearted Boy

Smashing Pumpkins: 2000-05-20, Portland [mp3,ogg,flac]
"With Every Light" [mp3]
Smashing Pumpkins: 2000-04-08, Kansas City [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Bullet with Butterfly Wings > Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads cover)" [mp3]
other Smashing Pumpkins posts at Largehearted Boy

Sweetie: "Kiling the Crown" [mp3] from Saturdays
other Sweetie posts at Largehearted Boy

Throwing Muses: 1991-04-02, London [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Soul Soldier" [mp3]
other Throwing Muses posts at Largehearted Boy

White Lies: "Death (Crystal Castles remix)" [mp3]
other White Lies posts at Largehearted Boy

Today's free and legal recordings of live shows, rarities, and demos available via bittorrent:

Andrew Bird: 2008-09-03, Chicago [flac]*
other Conor Oberst posts at Largehearted Boy

Conor Oberst: 2008-09-05, Zurich [flac]*
other Conor Oberst posts at Largehearted Boy

Husker Du: 1987-10-16, Providence [flac]*
other Husker Du posts at Largehearted Boy

Neil Young: 2008, Europe summer tour live compilation [flac]*
Neil Young: 2001-06-27, Munich [flac]*
other Neil Young posts at Largehearted Boy

Paul Weller: 2008-09-03, Los Angeles [flac]*
other Paul Weller posts at Largehearted Boy

PJ Harvey: 2004, radio appearances [flac]*
PJ Harvey: 2001-09-08, Philadelphia [ntsc dvd]*
other PJ Harvey posts at Largehearted Boy

Radiohead: 1996-07-13, Hamilton [flac]*
other Radiohead posts at Largehearted Boy

*registration required

also at Largehearted Boy:

previous mp3 and bittorrent downloads

2008 Lollapalooza downloads
2008 Bonnaroo downloads
2008 Coachella music downloads
2008 SXSW music downloads and streams
2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival downloads
other music festival downloads

Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD release lists

tags: music download indie mp3 bittorrent

So, i really can't explain how much i love you all... I was really REALLY having a bad day and your comments and *hugs* really helped, believe me.

So the current plan, (because as an obsessive compulsive control freak there has to be a plan) is that I'll apply to transfer to at least University of British Columbia and University of California Los Angeles for the fall 2009 semester. I'll spend next semester studying abroad. I'm pretty thrilled. Then there's VFS which would be so cool to go to... i've been salivating over the website for a while...

I told my mom and she reacted the same way she normally does when i do this sort of thing... sort of resigned to the fact that i can't be convinced otherwise but pissed that i didn't make this decision before she locked us into a year lease on the apartment... but oh well...

There is a fair for study abroad on Tuesday. I'm torn right now between London and Madrid... i'll see what cool stuff is at the fair and then decide.

Anyway, so in conclusion flists are the best things ever and i'm really excited... Also since it's 4:30am i just decided to straighten my hair! Self, best idea ever! Thanks, Self!

I think i might pick up some S9 X-Files... i might be in a Doggett mood...

Better late than never, huh? Here's my submission for the sasa_hq essay contest.

Topic: "Kara and Lee's other relationships, before and during the series, have strengthened/weakened Kara/Lee because..."
Author: wisteria_
Spoilers: Through "Revelations"
Word Count: 1,827

( Kara and Lee are stubborn. )

So a couple of people asked for Secret Life of Dolls icons, and I thought, well, I don't have a digital camera to take posed pictures with, and my copy of Photoshop hates me and won't let me use 90% of my fonts so I'm mostly stuck with Arial these days, so... would it actually be possible to make anything decent? Well, I can't turn down a challenge, so...




( Moar! )

so, the firefly panels. we skipped the one that was just nathan and alan, but we went to both with nathan, alan, morena, and jewel. the first day the line was actually outside, and pretty much wrapped around the entire hotel. the second day we were inside, and the line went pretty far around the perimeter of the floor we were on. it makes my heart ridiculously happy that over 3,000 people waited in line each day for a panel of stars from a show that was canceled six years ago. (and plenty of people looked at the line and just walked away, or just never bothered at all because they knew it would be crowded, or decided to just watch on dctv in their rooms, or.) (and then there was that one group of girls that seriously asked us what firefly was. yeeeeeeeeah, when the girl who made people define "storm trooper" all weekend thinks you're a moron, there's a problem.)

( it was totally worth both lines, btw. )

[Fiction]
x. The Lamest Spell by nomelon, Spike/Xander, NC-17
x. The Need to Believe by anjay, Buffy, Giles, G

[Drabbles]
x. Untitled, Xander, G
x. #499 and #489 by margarks, Spike/Xander,Xander/Larry, R
x. Fear Itself by spiceblueeyes, Spike/Xander, PG

[Fic Updates]
x. Part 1 of Bring Truth to Light by blue_icy_rose, BtVS/Charmed crossover, Buffy/Chris, R
x. Part 1 of Losing the Peace by sniggs, Buffy, Giles, PG
x. Part 1 of Rake It In by ancient_immie and twhisperstaff, BtVS/SPN crossover, Dean/Faith Sam/Dawn, NC-17
x. Part 19 of Closure by eowyn_315, Spike/Buffy, NC-17
x. Episode 1 x 03 of Faith, the Vampire Slayer by frogfarm, Faith/Willow, R

[Graphics]
x. 13 BtVS icons by _rhea
x. 26 BtVS season 8 icons"> by midnight_united

[News, Discussion, Meta, More]
x. If you're crazy about shoes and Buffy you can bid for a pair of Stuart Weitzman shoes signed by SMG or Michelle Trachtenberg to benefit ovarian cancer research.(outside link)
x. The Gift has been nominated for one of TV's most memorable moments in drama. Vote, vote, vote! (outside link)
x. Salon.com awards its fifth annual Buffy award for the most underrated show on television. (outside link)
x. Amy Acker talks Dollhouse. (outside link)
x. Talk to us, Nicky! Nichos Brendon's audioblog as been updated. (outside link)
x. This week's prompt at still_grrr is Envy.
x. The Giles-centric awards site The Bodice Ripper Awards is looking for great Giles fic and art to nominate.

::squeal::




Here's my ficlet (250 words this time) for last week.

( the topic this week was lies )

I'm really unhappy.

i don't know if it's really specific seasonal depression or what... I just hate school... I mean i love learning and producing art and all of that but i hate the people around me and i hate the constrictions...

This summer was so transformational in that i became a more open and social person but now it feels like i've just slipped back into my shell and turned back into that really shy, judgmental person who no one wanted to talk to because i was either boring and shy or domineering and inflexible...

Ideally i'd want to transfer but i have 94 credits meaning i'd have to say goodbye to 34 of them and go back... I think i might have to do that though...

Even though i made this commitment to my brother and our lease... I just don't think i can take this for another two years... And even after those two years i'd just be a graduate of a mediocre state school with a studio arts BA... what the fuck does that get me? nothing...

I emailed VFS about whether they accept transfer students and then i guess i'll look at UCLA and USC and other places...

So we'll see what happens...

[fic]
* finer things, or lack thereof by dollsome (Pam/Toby)
* Four Times Pam Wished She Had More Experience by cork118 (Jim/Pam)
* Drunk by cork118 (Jim/Pam)

[icons & graphics]
* 14 cast icons by sweet_revenge00
* 16 animated S4 blooper icons by crisbr
* Jim/Pam Season 1 picspam by tunaeverynight

[vids]
* New Adventures with Angela

[news/misc]
* Dunder Mifflin Infinity 2.0 launches

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/largeheartedboy/~3/94WIUxAB_SA/shorties_1584.html

The Washington Post reviews Neal Stephenson's new novel, Anathem.

Oh, Anathem will certainly be admired for its intelligence, ambition, control and ingenuity. But loved? Enjoyed? The book reminds me of Harold Brodkey's The Runaway Soul from 17 years ago -- much anticipated, in places quite brilliant, but ultimately grandiose, overwrought and pretty damn dull.

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The New York Times reviews Suze Rotolo's book, A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties.

Dating a voice-of-a-generation rock star probably sounds like fun, but ex-girlfriend memoirs are generally filled with put-downs. Rock stars cheat, they fabricate, they flex their egos and they steal your grooming products. Or worse: for Suze Rotolo, dating a young Bob Dylan even contributed to a “crackup” she describes in “A Free­wheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties.”

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The Montreal Gazette reviews Haruki Murakami's latest book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

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Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley talks to Billboard about her second solo album, Acid Tongue (out September 23rd).

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The Nation reviews Salman Rushdie's latest novel, The Enchantress of Florence.

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Billboard examines the growing trend of pop music concerts after professional baseball games.

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Entertainment Weekly's Popwatch blog interviews Brad Meltzer about his novel, The Book of Lies.

To some people, the idea of blending a Biblical story with a comic book one might seem kinda apples and oranges--

But Superman is just as much a mythology story as Cain and Abel. It's just two mythologies and me playing with the overlaps between them. Because like it or not, that's all comics is, it's our modern day American mythology. You can't discuss Superman without discussing America....[But] in truth, the book is about my own father-son story. That's all I'm writing about here. Cain and Abel and the Bible and comic books, are all curtains in the room, but it's not the heart of the room; it just dresses it up nice.

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The Charleston City Paper reviews Chuck Klosterman's debut novel, Downtown Owl.

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Pitchfork offers an mp3, "Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is in Another Castle," from John Darnielle & Kaki King's Black Pear Tree EP collaboration.

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io9 lists the best future dystopias where the liberals have won.

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The A.V. Club interviews author Paul Auster.

The A.V. Club: The story of A Man In The Dark begins literally with a man in the dark, telling himself a story to cope with his insomnia. How did this story come to you? Do different stories come to you in different ways?

Paul Auster: It's always a mystery to me, I have to confess. I've never been able to witness the birth of an idea. It seems as if one second, there's nothing particularly going on, and the next second, something is there. It's coming up out of my unconscious, up from places that I don't even know where they are. If it's compelling, if it throws me against the wall, then I get interested in it and start exploring it. If it seems to keep holding up, I go deeply into it and try to write it.

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At DVD Talk, Jamie Rich reviews The Big Lebowski: 10th Anniversary Edition (out next Tuesday).

Movies like The Big Lebowski are one-time deals. There are no films that precede them that anticipate their arrival, and none after that can touch on their unique greatness. In creating the Dude, the Coens Brothers have given film fans a lasting character whose world is our own, just refracted through the residue at the bottom of tumbler full of Kahlua and milk. This new 10th Anniversary Edition brings together the previously released DVD features with some new ones to finally give the film's fans a more comprehensive package. Well worth an upgrade.

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WNYC's Soundcheck features an interview and in-studio performance by Gabriel Kahane.

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NPR offers excerpts and reviews Dash Shaw's excellent graphic novel Bottomless Belly Button.

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Thao Nguyen plays a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.

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T-shirt of the day: "I'm the grammar snob about whom your mother warned you."

---

also at Largehearted Boy:

daily mp3 downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
this week's CD releases

tags: music books popculture indie news

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/largeheartedboy/~3/DkYiWGw_mvw/daily_downloads_1670.html

Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:

Cowboy Junkies: 2000-06-04, San Diego [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones cover)" [mp3]
other Cowboy Junkies posts at Largehearted Boy

Jenny Lewis: "Acid Tongue" [mp3] from Acid Tongue (out September 23rd)
other Jenny Lewis posts at Largehearted Boy

My Morning Jacket: 2008-09-03, Washington [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Lay Low" [mp3]
My Morning Jacket: 2008-08-30, Orlando [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Two Halves" [mp3]