+ The lovely avendya has a wonderful post about disability over at FWD/Forward:

To Whom It May Concern:

My life is not a fucking tragedy.

+ The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman.

It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' -- for free (pink window in the middle). This does not cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate a mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site! Please pass it along to people you know.

+ Via deadbrowalking: Diversity educator and filmmaker Lee Mun Wah is putting together a book called "Let's Get Real: What People of Color Can't Say and Whites Won't Ask."

He's got a series of questions for both POC and white people, and is asking for responses from anyone who cares to answer some or all of them. The deadline for responses is November 15th. Participants whose responses are selected for publication get a free, autographed copy of the book.

+ ALSO, PAGE TURNER: WHO WANTS TO GO? NO, REALLY. :D

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

The deadline for submissions for the 4th Asian Women Blog Carnival is today! However, since RL has been pretty crazy for me recently, I'm willing to extend a grace period of ~24 hours. Once again, the theme of this edition is storytelling, or reclaiming our selves through our words. If you are interested in participating, please see this post for guidelines and further details!

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

Trimming the flist a little bit. I've been meaning to do this for a while (and it's sort of in the spirit of moving day, which I am putting off for a few minutes longer, so! *g*)- nothing personal, just that we haven't really talked for a long time (or ever), and/or I feel like we've drifted apart. Let me know if you want me to add you back. :)

And on that note, I'll be away for the rest of today. Moving. Until further notice. *headdesk* Going back to packing now, aieee!

1. The submission deadline for the 4th Asian Women Blog Carnival is coming up; NOVEMBER 1st is just around the corner! Once again, the theme for this edition is storytelling, or reclaiming our selves through our words. Women and men of color and allies are welcome to participate so long as the focus of their contributions is Asian women. The definition of Asian, within the scope of this carnival, includes people from East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Southeast Asia, Far East, Middle East, Near East and people of Asian descent living in non-majority Asian countries. The definition of women, within the scope of this carnival, includes trans women and cisgendered women. More detailed submission guidelines may be found here.

2. ATTENTION YULETIDERS: dhobikikutti has begun a list of chromatic Yuletide fandoms! This post sums up the reasoning behind it quite well:

First and foremost, I am doing this for myself and others like me who don't often get the opportunity to be fannish online about our source cultures, and rarely see good examples of it being talked about. I am also doing it because I want to find more of us, and lure in other international fans who understandably might perhaps have no interest in fanfiction about English, Western sources, but have never had a chance to see fanfiction written about people like them.

This is why I am centring around non-English (or Indian-English/Chinese-English/etc) sources - where the original creators (authors, directors, actors) seem to be doing an adequate job of representing their story. Yuletide is a celebration of source as much as it is about fandom, and I want to emphasise the sources that should be celebrated, in contrast to the ones that often get talked about instead.

It's rather appalling how often a source that exoticises, flattens, or misrepresents a culture gets picked up and praised over and above more accurate work, and that choice, subconcious as it might be, furthers an agenda of cultural imperialism and colonialism (not to mention racism). For a long time, we sourcelanders and diasporians have had to make do with subverting the source - trying to critique C.S. Lewis's portrayal of the Calormenes or Joss Whedon's erasure of Asians in Firefly or Pirates of the Carribbeans' racist and Magical Negro tropes, through fanfiction that challenges and questions and rewrites.

So please, if you adore source materials and/or characters that are non-Western and non-white, do consider writing about them, and do consider how you're going to portray them. Yuletiders on my flist, you can take this as a challenge: I am going to do my level best to enable you into my obscure fandoms. How are you going to enable me into yours? ;)

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

- via deepad and various others, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the dangers of a single story [transcript here]:



- for the Remus/Sirius folks: Common Woodbrown, which i encountered via woldy (thank you, sweets! &hearts). this was much more Remus-centric than it was shippy, but it is so utterly, heartbreakingly gorgeous, you guys. definitely give it a read.

- for the orig-fic lovers, Bang*Bang 21 is up! i haven't worked my way through all of the latest stories yet, but i've found that bb_shousetsu generally makes for excellent reading. give it a go, you might find something you like! :)

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

Some quick notes, since I'm supposed to be haring off to do things in a bit:

- rs_small_gifts signups are open! :D Yeah, Remus/Sirius folks, I'm looking at you.

- I forgot to say that I'm doing choc_fic's 100 Days of Color! Saving Face (because this is apparently the Year of Pimpage for me), February 8th. \o/

- camelot_fleet party post is open for business!

- The deadline for submissions for the 4th Asian Women Blog Carnival is coming up! NOVEMBER 1st is... next weekend, omg. Where did October go??

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

Title: light all around them
Fandom: Guy Gavriel Kay- The Sarantine Mosaic
Rating: G/PG
Summary: Aliana and Crispin, the days after. Written for telesilla's NYR 2009 prompt; posted here because I couldn't for the life of me stretch it to 1,000 words. /o\ I hope you like this!

( Caius Crispus surveys the dome of the modest church with hands on his hips. )

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

At long last, Merlin meetup Renfaire picspam! WARNING: supremely image-heavy. ( part 1: here there be dragons )

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

- Shakira!fail on DWTS results show last night = ( this is why i'm hot; this is why you're not. )

seriously, lady, you need to NOT take a page out of Gwen Stefani's book, 'kay? i love you and your music and your GQMF dancing lots, but gimmick!Asians are not cool.

- it's Party of Mock time for this latest gem of misogynist SF bitching. how many ways can these entitled white male assholes come up with to be complete fuckmuppets (tm yuki_onna) on the internet? oh, that's right; COUNTLESS. *is utterly UNsurprised*

- and now for the happy; fellow Yuletiders who haven't already seen this, Yuletide nominations are OPEN! :D mine are as follows:

Saving Face (film)
Guy Gavriel Kay- Ysabel
Patricia McKillip- Riddlemaster Trilogy
Kuroshitsuji aka Black Butler
Shounen Onmyouji
Cain Saga aka Count Cain aka Godchild

how about you? :)

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

+ because i am (already!) bored,

What Merlin character am I most like?
MY THREAD

(no picture because i am at work and i do try to be surreptitious about my LJ/DW stints. :P)

+ i mainlined all three eps of FLASHFORWARD on sunday night, and ( itty-bitty spoilers? ) in conclusion: i cannot put together a coherent sentence about this show, apparently. &hearts &hearts

+ because way back when, i promised SWORDSPOINT flail, i hereby declare today comment-party day! and i include Fall of the Kings & Privilege of the Sword in that statement. have at it, ladies! tell me how much you adore Alec or Richard or the Duchess of Tremontaine or ~convoluted politics~ or what you thought of women's roles in the books. :D

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

[Note: Yes, I know this is coming rather belatedly, but it took me a while to get this down in a semi-coherent fashion. Also, GIANT MAJOR THANK-YOUS to the beta-team that got me through this monster; you know who you are, bbs. &hearts Mistakes/wording issues/lacks of clarification/whatnot are all mine.]

In response to the now-deleted Radio Times post, franticsga brings up some interesting points regarding the dynamics between fans and source-creators, and I do think that "why not?" is a valid question to ask. Stories matter- as yuki_onna says, stories, in fact, are life. It's perfectly reasonable and incredibly important to ask for more, better LGBTQ representation in the media. However, I believe that it's equally important to consider all of the ramifications of asking for specific pairings in specific contexts, and in the context of this show, I have serious issues with asking "why not [Merlin/Arthur]?"

As one might expect, many of these issues are bound up with Gwen. More specifically, though, it has to do with the fact that in the Beeb's particular shiny crack-van mixtape, she's ( OMG! A BLACK GIRL. )

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

OHAI GUYS. So, um, do you remember that picspam I made a while back? WELL. ( THE RESULTS ARE IN: [20] )

All pictures come from the posts I linked in the original picspam; some crops are... experimental, and it shows, I think. :P ENJOY!

(DO YOU SEE WHY THIS TOOK ME AGES???? YEAH I THOUGHT SO.)

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

so. uh. i am not even done with the last of my dogdays, and i have at least two other things i'm supposed to be writing right now, but. have a scarvesnhats snippet, because today's prompt was just too tempting:

title: yesterday was blue
rating: pg
summary: for scarvesnhats prompt day 5.

( The sky is overcast, a fragmented grey that only appears before a thunderstorm. )

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

PSA: The submission deadline for the 4th Asian Women Blog Carnival has been extended to NOVEMBER 1st. Please see this post for submission details! Once again, I'd like to reiterate that women and men of color and allies are all welcome to participate, so long as the focus of their contributions is Asian women.

The definition of Asian, within the scope of this carnival, includes people from East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Southeast Asia, Far East, Middle East, Near East and people of Asian descent living in non-majority Asian countries. The definition of women, within the scope of this carnival, includes transwomen and cisgendered women.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

Just got back from Merlin meetup at the Cloisters RenFaire (epic picspam to come!), watched 2x03 (MY FLAIL CANNOT BE TEXTUALLY RENDERED RIGHT NOW OMG), and also devoured the following lovely fics:

- Ouchies first: A Failure of Propriety, by srin. Arthur, sad and feeling left out of the loop. (Post-2x03, but not particularly spoilery? Or at least, I didn't find it too spoilery, as I read it before I watched.)

- Then make it better: two kisslets from rosemaryandrue! (Both are in the same post.) Summer Kisses is a sweet/hilarious Merlin/Arthur futurefic, and A Lonely Impulse of Delight is a gorgeous Gwen/Morgana Spitfire AU. (PILOT!GIRLS, OMG! *___* &hearts &hearts &hearts)

I am now in the mood to write. Or read more fic. Anybody have recs today? :)

ETA: ALSO. BECAUSE I AM AN IDIOT AND FORGOT. MASTERLIST FOR THE M/A KISSING MEME. &hearts

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

♥ Gwen/Morgana Kiss Meme ♥

Also, have some more OTP-meme responses!

unavee asked for Lions of Al-Rassan and Gravitation:

( Lions: )

( Gravitation: )

whymzycal asked for ( Antique Bakery: )

secretsolitaire asked me about ( Shadow of the Templar: )

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

Coworker's played-list so far today has gone something like this: Lady Gaga --> Mary J. Blige --> Daughtry --> LOTR soundtrack (just another normal day in the lab...), therefore I give you meme responses. What? Randomness makes me think of random things.

OTP-meme answers so far:

heather11483 & eumelkeks asked for ( Merlin: )

such_heights and woldy asked for ( HP: )

ruffwriter asked for ( Havemercy-verse: )

moshesque asked for ( Saiyuki: )

I am totes willing to keep answering if you guys keep throwing fandoms at me! *g* I have LOTS of them. Also, have a rec! Via secretsolitaire: Between the Bars by hollycomb [Reboot; Sulu/Chekov; R]. IT IS GLORIOUS. GLORIOUS, I TELL YOU.

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

[kelene, please consider this my apology for being slower than a snail. D: This latest round of nitpicking really should do it, I promise! &hearts]

I was browsing through angryasianman during lunch break today, and came across this post, and... JFC. I CANNOT STOP STARING BECAUSE ( DANIEL LIU IS HOT LIKE BURNING. )

QED: Asian men are sexy AND not effeminate. *coughFANDOMcough* Also, I shall be iconing soon, obvs. :D

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

IF YOU ARE WATCHING DANCING WITH THE STARS TONIGHT, LET'S HAVE A PARTY POST. :D

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)

first things first: happy happy birthday, midnitemaraud_r! &hearts :D i hope you're having a fabulous day!

so on wednesday i was flailing so much about SYTYCD that i neglected to mention i caught the episode of Glee that came on right after it! i am bad at watching TV shows in general, but i am especially terrible at non-crime/hospital TV shows, so the fact that Glee was actually entertaining for me was kind of a surprise. i tend to find these sorts of shows rather cringeworthy, but so far the good bits outweigh the cringey bits, so yay for that! even if i did have BUST THE WINDOWS OUT YA CARRRRR stuck in my head for hours after, oh god. xD

i also watched The Informant last night, because i figured Matt Damon was worth a try and the premise sounded interesting, and... wow, the movie is actually nothing like what i thought it was going to be. Matt Damon was good, but the character he played was- oh my god, i have never been so aggravated watching a movie in my life. i love Matt Damon and i respect him as an actor, but i spent most of the movie wanting to punch him in the face. ( slight spoilers )

annnnd now i have Merlin 2x01 downloading, just to continue the trend, but i am Not Watching It until i get my beta-work done!

ETA: OH AND. at work the other day, i discovered that there is a strain of ethanol-sensitive Drosophila (fruit flies) called cheapdate. no, i am not lying; according to this paper, cheapdate is actually an allele of amnesiac? BIOGEEK HUMOR, IT NEVER FAILS TO AMUSE ME. xD

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. ( comments)