katekat1010

lostgirlslair and I have been in the process of developing an idea. An IDEA (we hope). For anyone interested in graphic art who is tired of icon_tutorial as the only place where you find "how to's" on livejournal. And so, I'd like to introduce you to:


[user info] / [join] / [affiliate]

GraphicSluts is intended to be a resource and discussion arena for multi-fandom graphic artists - the processes, the techniques, the theories behind making art. Once a month we'll be hosting an open discussion about some trend we see in graphic art. At the end of every month we'll have a guest speaker who will offer their own unique perspective on the kind of art they do.

Membership is open, posting access is restricted as we start up (although we have great plans for mid year), and if you've ever been curious about making icons, making wallpapers, making anything ... and curious about how others do that magic they do so well, this comm is for you.

it's SNOWING right now!!  (it never snows in Austin)

ETA: Now with photographic evidence!

I have been an emotional spaz.  I actually had tears in my eyes last night during Obama's victory speech.  I am actually, against all of my cynical tendencies, filled with hope. 

On the way home from school today, listening to NPR, they had a 10-second or so quote from Pelosi where she said she'd be reintroducing a child-health care bill that Bush had vetoed with the hopes that Obama wouldn't and the lightbulb went off over my head.  Not that I expect Obama to change the whole world.  Or do everything the way I think he should.  On the other hand it was SUCH a mental relief to contemplate the President at least paying lip service to ideas I actually care about.  And possibly voting for things I agree with.  It was like some tension I hadn't even realized I'd been holding in was GONE.  I've literally cringed my way through 8 years of Texas Twang (and I'm sure others will agree with me that when you accidentally program your clock radio to wake you up with NPR in the morning, and they carry some presidential speach, it can ruin the entire day to wake up to Bush's voice declaring he's taking away more rights, or sending in more troops, or some other awful crap.)  It is an awesome thing to see an end to that ahead.

That being said I am now freaking out about how much work I have to do as the semester rolls inexorably forward.  Tomorrow night is the department's annual mixer and I'm debating with myself about going - on the one hand it's the one social event of the year for our entire department.  On the other I have grad school applications I haven't even started, a paper to write for my Lit Crit class, a translation analysis to work on, and a thesis to draft.  Tonight I've been in high gear reading The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa (Kawabata), Seji Lippitt's chapter on it from Topographies of Japanese Modernism, then trying to prep my presentation on Maeda Ai.

Truth be told I'm burned out tonight and going to take the evening off from this point forward.  South Park awaits.

as part of her posting day today at gilesxander, the awesome and talented lostgirlslair made a pretty for my (someday, promise it will be completed) silly fic The New Men.

LOOKIE:

How cool is that?  And it's frigging BEAUTIFUL!!!

Other than that i have a big study day planned tomorrow - including coffee shop time.  YAY.  that's all.  Hope everyone is having a lovely evening.

ETA:  forgot to add these are the books that came from the evil Amazon today, so study time will include them:
Train Man / Densha Otoko (the movie)
My Mother was a Computer: Digital Subjects & Literary Texts N. Katherine Hayles
Screening Space: The American Science Fiction Film Vivian Sobchack
The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film Tom Mes & Jasper Sharp
Technologies of the Gendered Body:  Reading Cyborg Women Anne Balsamo

I did it!!!  Conference 1 = ROCK.  Unfortunately it also included six hours of driving getting to Huntsville and back, and I'm one tired monkey (well, tired from that and from all of the nervous excitement before and after).  But the presentation??  I was great!  (quote from my prof, not self-aggrandizement, promise)

( you want the more than one paragraph version )

We were very responsible pet people and took the stray kittens that decided our house was great to the animal shelter today - this way they at least have a chance at a good home, since we can't adopt any more pets and they deserved it - but it was one of the hardest things I've had to do in a long time. 

My last goals today?  work on:
x gilesxander 's giles/xander fest postings
x roshomon translation
x abstract for the Thesis

I'm giving my first conference talk October 4th, and my second Oct 10th (yep, one week apart), and so our department is putting together a mock presentation for those of us who are giving talks ... a dry run of sorts ... this Wednesday.

What that means is, along with the Mom-visit, I've been frantically writing my talk paper and sending the drafts to my adviser for her comments.  The first one, as usual, she doubled the length of the paper with her comments.  But it was, in her words, a promising start (big sigh of relief there!).  When I worked on it Saturday I kind of lost the plot a little, and then had an intense hour-long session with D on Sunday where she let me bounce ideas off of her and helped me actually get to the frigging point (and made Sunday a lot, lot better).  I revised again today, and sent it off to my adviser.

I got her comments on this evening and....

SHE LIKED IT!!  Not only liked it, her words were actually, "I think this is really excellent."

This is not a woman who hands out the praise.  I actually jumped up and down.  This time her comments?  They're more like someone who actually got into my argument and was nodding along and getting excited than comments about how I need to fix things.  It gives me serious hope.

someone absolutely lovely nommed my tribute wallpaper for mirielle719 's Sleep While I Drive series at the Bodice Ripper Awards!  Thank you, you sweet person!


and... I got notified today that I won for best wallpaper (for my tribute wallpaper for lostgirlslair 's Second Glances) at the Running With Scissors Awards (rwsawards )!


Congrats to lostgirlslair , entrenous88 , wesleysgirl , purplefeen , and soft_princess on their RSA awards too!!

It's 12 midnight my time, and I'm supposed to be in bed, sleeping, so I'm doing a drive by post with links instead of full thoughts.  Will come back, soon!

Monday afternoon I saw two kabuki performances at KABUKI-ZA!!  Kabuki rocks when there are demons in it!

Tuesday I ran down to Akihabara for more kaiten-zushi (see previous post for link to that) and some present buying, then went to an Izukaiya with my rommie B and ate bite size chicken skin and livers and stuff and had my first sake in Japan on this trip

Wednesday was my last tutoring session, and after I took myself off to Yasukuni Jinja and found the best thing about the place, for me, was the little koi garden in the back.  (pictures forthcoming, promise).  After that I went to Ikebukuro for my first American fast food in Japan - KFC and did some shopping and met a school friend H for coffee and cigarettes.

THEN, I spent the rest of the night reading our homework assignment for class and:

EVERYONE INTERESTED IN ALTERNATIVE FICTION (i'm talking new forms of writing), please check this out - it was a sensation in Japan.  It's a supposedly true story from a single-men's BBS (online forum) in Japan - this guy was worried about asking a girl out on a date.  The BBS of single men (they call themselves poison men because they're the kind of guys who, here, are expecting to be geeky confirmed bachelors their entire lives) gave advice to the guy and basically coached / followed his story.  So, this happened on a forum right?  Well, the owner / mod of the forum compiled the threads into one single narrative, and then it was consumed by millions in Japan.  AND THEN.  they printed a book that is the *exact* same thing you can get on line... and know what?  It sold in the MILLIONS.  I sound like add copy, but it blows me away that the thing that most of us take for granted is our daily life online ... and it was published as a  new form of media and not only sold, but was one of the most popular books of the year here.  Also?  A TV series AND a Movie and I think also a manga and WHOAH.  That's a lot of readers.

I want to write more about alternative writing forms, but have to stop gushing.  Check it out here:  TRAIN MAN  電車男

Today!  Today G & I got together after my class and went to Ueno Park: the National Museum, and also the old black market of Japan that used to be right next door (it's now not a black market, but a market, still!).  And I had falafel that was FANTASTIC and should be on a show about Tokyo - a $5 falafel.  MMMM.  Then we finally, after two previous abortive attempts, saw the new Batman movie and ... well, it just about blew the top of my head off with the goodness.  Even though I was supposed to go home right after we stopped and got some food so that we could discuss because AH! there was so much to talk about!

tomorrow (friday) i'll try and put up the pictures - studying for my finals on saturday, yay, and then on Sunday I depart for LA!

(and this is what I call a short post)

go, go check out http://wordle.net/  !!

This is what an old entry from my LJ looks like

• saw Indiana Jones tonight and quite liked it!  It did not spawn a deep seated need to break it into itty frustrated parts (like SitC).
• managed to get some work done this week, which was great!  And working from home definitely has fantastic bonuses.  Oh, and the temp job earlier in the week was fantabulous even if it was only for three days - lots of geeky engineers to say hello to, lots of time on my hands to read my own books, and some sorting of mail.
• I took a nose-dive into the sidewalk last night while walking the dog.  Nothing seems to be permanently broken, and I'm not really having any trouble walking.  I think I've bruised the bone though.  I'm the worst person for this type of thing because I bang my legs and knees all the time.  I've totally hit it three times since last night just by accident.
  
• took myself out to the coffee shop last night to take a break and just ... be.  It was fantastic.  I didn't get much done, but I did get to hang out, listen to Miles Davis, drink coffee and rose-lemonade, and play on the internet until about 11:30.  Refreshing, really, since most of my semester was spent needing to do *work* at the coffee shop.  Getting play time in made it even nicer.
• I don't know if you guys looked at my spring_with_xan redux post, but laazikaat, who runs the mega-Spike/Xander archive The Spander Files has awesomely added my fic graphics to the three fics I was so in love with:  Letters (by tabaqui ), Subleties (by anna_s), and Incident on the Bay of the Descending Dragon (by reremouse )
• finally, behind the cut I give you the first Friday Feedback List from summer_of_giles !!  It's been a seriously good first week, with a huge portion of talent being displayed (and not a little bit of smut, which always makes me terribly happy).  I think this bodes incredibly well for the entire summer.  So if you're not already on the SOG comm, or aren't tired of hearing me talk about it yet, check out what was posted this week...

( Summer of Giles - Week 1 )

here's a Cordelia as Snow White, Tara as Little Red Riding Hood, Anya as the Princess (and the pea), and others.  6 manips of the Btvs women in entirely different worlds.

teasers:     

( Come away, O human child: To the waters and the wild with a fairy, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.  )

Also, a HUGE congratulations goes out to the wonderful authors and artists who were recognized today at the indigo_crypt awards! Particularly mary5958 for best lj layout & best general fan art, and sueworld2003  for best general fan art! 

( I'm delighted to have been recognized myself for a couple of things )

sorry, when in doubt i'm going to go with a list:

Academically

• For the remaining three weeks of the semester my Globalization classes will be held at a local pub.  Bubble & squeak and Cider here I come!
  
• Didn't get into one of the summer Japan programs I wanted to go to.  It's one of the top programs, period, so this is ok.  Still waiting for the other program I *really* want to go to (had to send them transcripts from UCSC this week).  Keep fingers crossed. My fingers and toes are completely knotted.
  
• My favorite horror movie from this term was definitely Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.  However, my second favorite is probably Fruit Chan's Dumplings, which really must be seen to be experienced.  Seriously.  So the discussion on Tuesday about the film was fantastic.
• Cavite (Tuesday night's film) was F U C K E D U P.  And I say that on the heels of having watched Dumplings, a movie about ( cut for disturbing content - mommies do not read )  And yet, Cavite was still more disturbing, in an entirely different way.
• I got a Study Abroad Scholarship!  Now if only I can get into a school abroad for this summer.
• Finished the story I've been translating in one massive push on Wednesday.  I'd been trying to do it since the Friday before, and finally just ... did it.  Sadly I have comments back from my advisor already that I'm afraid to look at.  Soon though.
• Made it to the class I'm auditing twice this week - of course, one day was filled with an entirely fascinating presentation about the history of the kimono, and another just freakishly interesting pictorial tour of Japanese palaces and shrines (or, at least, some of them).  / sarcasm.  The "history" of the kimono was something I could probably find off of Wikipedia if I looked.  The "pictorial tour" was basically this woman who threw her pictures of her trips to Japan up on the overhead in completely random order, and occasionally remembered to mention that this or that place had been part of our reading.

( Personally )

Fandom-ally (*grin*)

• summer_of_giles sign ups open on TUESDAY!  And I can't wait to see who signs up.
• I'm petitioning to move my spring_with_xan date up because seriously, it is HARD to hang onto graphics and not post them.
• Also, a pimp/woot (and this is kind of fandom-ish in that it's art).  Vivian Dean asked if I would do a cover art for her and Pepper Espinoza's upcoming erotic romance serial Forsaken (they write together under the pen name Jamie Craig).  Not only was it absolutely awesome to actually have someone think of me to do their cover art, i couldn't be more pleased that it was these two women who'd asked.  The teaser for the serial (it gets published on a blog for an entire two months) can be found here if you want to check it out (and you really should!  They're a fantastic writing team).  And here's the artwork itself:
   
  

and I think that's far too long, but oh well, it's bullets. I am off to get ice cream ;)

( in the day-to-day life )

( fandom-filled goodness )

thank you to the *darlingest* darlings who nommed me at the forbiddenawards !!!  I'm nommed in both best layout for spring_with_xan (which I'm so pleased about as I could cuddle that layout if it was possible) and also for the darker_xander banners!!  (which also turned out much better than i thought they would - yay)!



if you are at all inclined to nominate for awards, please go check them out and nom!   it looks like they could definitely use some nomes in non spangel or spander slash, best finished story (het or slash), best threesome, and best layout and icon categories!  I know for a fact, from my delightful little poll, that most of you think awards are a great way to recognize people for their work so... ;)

Actually, we named her Domino.  And I would like to present, to you, the newest addition to our household:


She's a two-year old Shiba Inu/Heeler mix, adopted from Austin Dog Rescue (they rescue the dogs that are in the pound but aren't found homes).  We met her on Monday night, had the home visit on Wednesday, and she came home with us tonight!  She's settling in, doesn't care one whit about the cat (although he is still trying to figure out what the big fuzzy alien thing is doing in the living room), and is super sweet and a little shy.  We love her to pieces already.  And here are some other images of random adorableness from her first night home.

Ok, it's now the tooting my own horn portion of the evening, I guess. cordelianne  and reremouse are the new mods over at spring_with_xan, and they let me do a new layout for them!!  And I'm loving it!  So if you're not already a participant, or at least watching the comm, spring is coming up soon, and you should consider signing up!  (or at least take a look at the new layout)!


{info} l {join} l {affiliate} l {sign up coming soon}

Why yes, I have had time to make some recommendations!  So check out the following if you're looking for yummy fandom fun.  I didn't get to do as many lists as I thought I was going to this year, but I love what I picked!

For the holidays I put together some graphics for some truly wonderful people.  Many of these are actually fic graphics, and so I don't feel too guilty reposting them here - especially if you all haven't taken a look at the fic they were created for!  So this is, in a way, a recs post with some sparklies attached.  And my way of saying thank you to some of my favorite people (well, thank you and happy holidays). It was also much faster than baking cookies for them all. :D

( Some of you may have seen some of these, but I know you haven't seen all of these, so check 'em out! )

and if you've been wondering when the heck i'm going to actually do a *real* graphics post with sharable art, it's forthcoming!  soon!

a couple of days ago I posted that I'd make some banners if people wanted them.  And WHOAH the response!  HEEEE!  You guys rock cuz you let me make graphics for your work.

So here are the results.  Now, the reason why you should check below?  Because it is my total pleasure to create fic banners for such fantastic fics!  I get to give virtual prezzies to some of my favorite peoples - this is what the fandom fun is about.  So if you haven't read the works yet, go, forth, read!  I guarante you'll have a great time!

( this way to the pretties )

My fadom!squee today is brought to you by two fantastic writers who took a gauntlet that I threw down a while ago... because in fandom, when you give, fandom gives back.

Remember this graphic?

A while back I asked for links to Buffy/Giles stories that might intrigue people who don't normally read the pairing.**  Not the stuff we all know and love as B/G readers, but fics that are maybe unusual, intriguing, and perhaps explore the relationship in unexpected ways.

And now I give you the results of my reading and wandering through all of the lovely recs made by some truly wonderful people interested in helping me out!

( B/G fics that are completely worth the read...even for the afraid )

* this fandom squee brought to you because entrenous88 is right - we should be celebrating our fandoms!
** disclaimer: if you don't like reading b/g, it is doubtful that reading it will change your mind. but if you're open to the possibility, but feel that you haven't encountered fic that works for you... maybe that's what this list might be for. i am not on a mission to convert the unconverted, promise, just trying to hold a door open for those who might want to walk through it.

Ok, I know, it's overused, but ... I love that line.

Managed to do most of the stuff on my to do list for the last couple of days.  Most, but not all.  Now we're ready and packed and waiting for our time to come so we can leave for the plane.  And I'm making Neil watch gilmore girls (my secret love that he almost can't stand... but that's fine, he's the one that's made me watch endless reruns of the Match Game).

( cut for endless babble about the chores )

( omg! also nommed at the forbidden awards! )

The last couple of days have not been entirely filled with homework for me.  No, instead I got into this crazy idea that I would help out xdawnfirex in her project to get the Buffy/Giles Fanfiction Archive back online.

You see, for most of us that love Buffy/Giles, the website www.buffygiles.com was the place where we found boatloads of fics to satisfy our craving.  But for the last year or so it's been having hosting problems, and it was pretty much given up for lost.

That is not the case now!  Nope!  I spent most spare moments of this last week (and some not so spare, to tell you the truth) taking codes that nemo88 was sweet enough to let me have en masse (THANKS AGAIN NEMO!  YOU ARE THE STUNNING ROCK!) and reskinning the old website so that it's a little bit more up to date, and hopefully the fics are slightly easier to read.

fiareynne provided the webspace, supermom20 & xdawnfirex rewrote some of the intro texts and secondalto bolstered and provided moral support, and what we ended up with is pretty damn fabulous!



www.buffgiles.net

so go check it out!

First.... ( had breakfast with Mochi )

Second...( I printed things! )

Third...( Japanese tests are hard! )

Fourth... I came home to find out from xanzpet that I was nominated as BEST ARTIST (whoa nellie, best artist?? *does dance of sqee*) at the Solemn Graces Awards.  I have NO idea how it happened, since I wasn't even notified (so THANK YOU xanzpet you are a GOD!!) and now I'm all a-glow because this time?  it really is a damn honor to be nominated!  HEEEE!



Yep, I'm putting this monday in the win column....

I'm normally not one with the sharing of extremely cute stuff... at least not in public.  But this HAS to be shared....because I about fell out of my chair at the attack of the cute. Just remember, you have to wait for the yawn at the end.

( baby sloth from youtube... man, it's good to be a sloth )

saying that I had a sneaking suspicion was going to be a good day... AND I WAS RIGHT!

Things that have actually gone right today:  I woke up for a change!  At 9 am!  And learned my japanese vocab!  And did other trifling things like have coffee, pet the cat, smoke with the boy and say good morning - you know, all of those delightful things that are involved with waking up when one doesn't have to leave for school until 11 am.  Now my only hope is that I can keep this schedule and not sleep in every morning.  The temptation is there, trust me.  The bed, especially when it's cold,  is incredibly hard to get out of.  But I have things to do!

Other than that, class was great, I managed to bring up Foucault in class (and he was immediately shot down by our Prof, a fact I have grown used to, and can smile about).  And Japanese went incredibly fast and quite swimmingly! I even managed to have fun hiking back to my car (now that I don't have a part time job I can't justify parking in the paid parking... but it means a mile or so and surprisingly is uphill both ways.  No, really, it is!)

I got home and got to have leftovers - I say got to because the other night I made mushroom soup that turned out to be scrumptious, and today was just the kind of day you want to eat mushroom soup on - cold outside, warm inside. 

Then what do I do?  check email and find out:


And if you haven't figured it out, I'm also going to pimp the site I was nommed at.... see, pimping!  So please head over and nominate your favorite icons/ headers/ banners/ wallpapers/ character drawings - anything and everything that's btvs/ats fan art!  They need nominations, and i know that y'all have your favorite artists!

The Sunnydale Fanart Awards
the award site for Buffy and Angel fanart.
Round 3 open now!

all awards link to the artwork/post/fic that earned the award...



( this way to award-tasticness )