i'm goin' to toontown

Tue, 24 Apr 2018 13:58:09 GMT

"Iiiit's that time again!"

"Time to roll initiative?"

"Time to argue about the Oxford comma?"
"Nooooo. It's time for another New York / New Jersey area housefilk!"

Sunday, May 6th, at Witts' End. Details and RSVP here. Feel free to boost the signal!

comments

Fri, 26 May 2017 17:20:12 GMT

"Iiiit's that time again!"

"Time to wear the lilac?"

"Time to steal the Death Star plans?"
"Nooooo. It's time for another New York / New Jersey area housefilk!"

Next Sunday afternoon, June 4, from 12 to 4 pm.
Aaron Davies will be our host.

The address is: 100 Christopher Columbus Dr., Jersey City, NJ 07302 (right next to the Grove St. PATH Station; exit from the middle of the platform and go up the escalator).

Once in the building, take the elevator to the seventh floor and go through the door between the two pairs of elevators; turn right and the room is on your right, just past the kitchen.

RSVP by emailing adavies42(at)me(dot)com. Feel free to boost the signal!

comments

Contata: Call for Volunteers

Fri, 19 May 2017 16:51:14 GMT

The Contata Con Committee Needs YOU!

comments

Wed, 11 Jan 2017 17:58:44 GMT

"Iiiit's that time again!"

"Story time?"

"Hammer time?"

"Greenwich Mean Time?"

"Nooooo. It's time for another New York / New Jersey area housefilk!"

Sunday, January 22nd, 2017, at the home of Josh Kronengold and Lisa Padol in Woodside, Queens. Details and RSVP here or here.

Feel free to boost the signal!

comments

Tue, 03 Jan 2017 02:23:52 GMT

Once again: the full list of books I read in the past year. Not counted are comic books, graphic novels, fanfics, works in progress that I have edited or beta-read, or webcomics. (For this year, that means that among other things I am not counting having FINISHED HOMESTUCK.)

Titles behind the ( cut-tag. )

My total count is up considerably, from 142 to 163. First-time-read count is likewise up, from 35 (25% of all books read this year) to 56 (34%).

My five most-read authors this year were Lois McMaster Bujold, Naomi Novik, David Eddings, Diane Duane, and Dorothy Sayers. Topping the first-time-read chart this year are Maggie Stiefvater, Dorothy Sayers, Catherynne M. Valente, Brandon Sanderson, Scott Lynch, and Jo Walton (with the last two tied).

William Gibson's Pattern Recognition and Jo Walton's Among Others are still my most-reread books over the nine years I've been tracking. Following them are Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, Lois McMaster Bujold's The Curse of Chalion, Janet Kagan's Hellspark, and Dorothy Sayers's Busman's Honeymoon.

And because I didn't say so the other night: Happy New Year to all, and may this year be better than the last. (Please and thank you, God, okay?)

comments

Tue, 08 Nov 2016 20:03:42 GMT

Question, for everyone here who attended OVFF: did anyone get video of the Pegasus nominees concert and/or the awards ceremony? I'd really love to be able to show it to some people who weren't there.

comments

Tue, 08 Nov 2016 00:19:10 GMT

Oh god, I won.

2016 Pegasus award, Best Filk Song: "Creatures of Dream."

I ... have a lot I want to say about this song and this honor, but there's one thing I really should have said upon acceptance, and that's gotta come first. "Creatures of Dream" wouldn't exist without Jesse Dangerously, who introduced me to nerdcore and told me that there was no reason I couldn't write rap and said super nice things about the first lyrics I sent him, and cobbled together the original beat for this song in a cave out of a box of scraps. (Said scraps including Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer's "Shadows of Evangeline", and voice samples from the late greats Jim Henson and Gene Wilder.)

The other really important thing is what I did say on acceptance, and that's that if you don't usually like rap but you like this song, then I guarantee you: there is other rap you will like. And over the next week or so, hopefully with Jesse's help, I will be putting together a long list of tracks and artists you should check out, because without all of these other brilliant lyricists and rappers I couldn't have written anything like this.

And, well ... I also couldn't have written it, or had any faintest notion of performing it for anyone, if it weren't for the filk community. Because this song is quite possibly the most viscerally autobiographical thing I've ever done -- and I knew, the whole time I was writing it, that there were people who would listen to it because in filk we listen to everybody, and who would both sympathize and understand. That these things I was saying, that were fundamentally true about me, were also fundamentally true about a lot of you too. You know where I've been, because you've been where I am.

(As evidenced by the fact that "Creatures of Dream" and one of the other nominees this year, Vixy and Tony's "We Are Who We Are", are basically twins.) (-- and while I'm on that subject, can I just say? There was not a single song in the category this year that I would not have been proud to lose to. Such a great, great ballot this year, you guys; I fully intend to nominate all of these songs again until they win.)

I'm still a little overwhelmed and I don't see that passing anytime soon. To the filk community: thank you. Thank you all so much.

If anybody would cross-post or link to this on Facebook, wherever filk people will see it, I would be most grateful.

comments

Sun, 11 Sep 2016 19:48:38 GMT

So hey friends, especially certain friends from Milliways: If I were to (at long last) try watching Revolutionary Girl Utena, would you recommend dubbed or subtitled? My understanding is that subtitled is generally to be preferred, but I'd be interested in hearing about it if any of you have watched both.

Also: has anyone here watched Stranger Things? BOY DO I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT IT.

comments

Thu, 18 Aug 2016 12:25:15 GMT

"Iiiit's that time again!"

"Time to go to Worldcon?"

"Time to go look at the 2016 Pegasus Awards ballot?"
"Nooo -- well, yes. But it's also time for another New York / New Jersey area housefilk!"

Sunday, August 28, at the home of ladymondegreen et al in Jersey City. Details and RSVP here or here. Feel free to boost the signal!

comments

Things!

Fri, 15 Jul 2016 03:28:18 GMT

Thing the first: As the Pegasus Awards Nomination deadline draws closer, I've been signal-boosting elsewhere on the internet, and realized I should probably do the same here. Go check out the brainstorming poll! And then nominate! Nominate like the WIND! (I also embarked on a project of compiling audio links of the brainstorming poll results, but there is seriously not going to be enough time to do it. But go check out the list anyway!)
(also: "Creatures of Dream" made the brainstorming poll aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh)

Thing the second: I have just reposted a bunch of short-short ficbits I wrote on tumblr to my AO3 account, including the "Blue Food" one that some of you have heard me talking about recently.

Thing the third: my lost phone has been found and returned to me by a kind and helpful stranger! Now I just need to copy all the old phone numbers into the new phone. Unless I can just get the SIM card transferred. Note to self: look into that.

Thing the fourth: the kidney stone saga continues, very boringly. As of a week ago today I have had ~*laser surgery*~ on one of them, and I am assured that at this point I should have a bunch of fine sand-to-gravel where the biggest stone used to be. Sadly, neither the lasers nor the earlier sonic blast treatment appear to have conferred any superpowers.

comments

Music news!

Thu, 30 Jun 2016 15:16:12 GMT

So for those of you who don't follow me on tumblr, especially my fellow filkers: there is now an official studio recording of "Creatures of Dream".

Some of you probably remember Jesse Dangerously coming to join me at FKO to perform this song; we took advantage of being in the same place and of Jesse's portable recording equipment to cut this track the following morning. And I am so glad we did.

Please feel free to share it around!

comments

* not actually dead

Sun, 01 May 2016 21:08:43 GMT

Every so often I remember that (a) most of you here don't follow me on tumblr, and (b) I don't post the kind of personal stuff on tumblr that I used to post here all the time, and what that means is that people aren't getting updated about important stuff in my life. For instance I don't think I've actually posted about it here at all since my relatively recent health troubles started. WOOPS. Some of you already know bits of it; I think I've sort of been stalling on saying anything here until I could put together a coherent and cleverly worded post about it? For some reason?

1. OKAY SO HI EVERYBODY it turns out I've got kidney stones. Have known this for roughly six months, ish, and have been getting various forms of tests and treatment, punctuated by exciting visits to the emergency room -- most recently last Thursday night, just into the last two days of Pesach. I was able to go home Friday afternoon, after another visit to ambulatory surgery to have some new hardware installed; I already had one on the right and now I've got a matched pair. Whee. I'm really hoping to be able to step up the further procedures to finally get rid of the stones (and thus also the hardware, which isn't terribly comfortable). I am assured by my doctor that this is not-repeat-not in any way likely to be a life-threatening issue, and given successful treatment, shouldn't have any long-term impact on quality of life either. I really hope he's right.

2. Unrelated to my health, another thing I really wish I'd posted about sooner: being the Interfilk guest at FKO last month was an honor and a delight, and I hope we get to go back on occasion in future. Phil Mills got some lovely photos of my concert, along with many others; there's also a video of Mark Bernstein leading and directing a choral performance of "Green Hills of Earth." (If anyone here has video of my concert, or knows anyone else who does, please let me know.)

3. This is neither particularly coherent nor particularly cleverly worded, but if I don't just sigh and hit the Post To button anyway, it'll never go up.

comments

[purimgifts] Dear Author

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 00:49:05 GMT

[Edited to add: yes, this is last year's letter, but it's pretty much still valid.]

Dear purimgifts author:

( Cut to spare my friendslist )

comments

Books I Read In 2015

Sun, 03 Jan 2016 03:32:21 GMT

Once again: the full list of books I read in the past year. Not counted are comic books, graphic novels, fanfics, works in progress that I have edited or beta-read, or webcomics. (Which means that this year I'm not including having read the entire run to date of Order of the Stick.)

Titles behind the ( cut-tag. )

My total count is down again this year, from 152 to 142. First-time-read count has gone way down, from 62 (41% of all books read) to 35 (25%). Last year was kind of an outlier, though; this is much closer to my average.

My six most-read authors this year were Terry Pratchett, Robert Jordan, Diane Duane, Anne McCaffrey, Stephen King, and J.K. Rowling (with the last two tied). Topping the first-time-read chart this year are Edgar Rice Burroughs, Intisar Khanani, Seanan McGuire, C.S. Lewis, N.K. Jemisin, and Patricia C. Wrede.

William Gibson's Pattern Recognition and Jo Walton's Among Others are still my most-reread books over the eight years I've been tracking. Following them are Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, Sherwood Smith's Inda series, Lois McMaster Bujold's The Curse of Chalion, Janet Kagan's Hellspark, Janet Kagan's Mirabile, and Dorothy Sayers's Busman's Honeymoon.

And because I didn't say so the other night: Happy New Year to all, and may this year be better than the last.

comments

Mon, 12 Oct 2015 01:36:29 GMT

"Iiiit's that time again!"

"Time to select this year's sacrificial pumpkin?"

"Time to pick up a copy of Grays Sports Almanac 1950-2000?"
"Nooooo. It's time for another New York / New Jersey area housefilk!"

Sunday, October 18, at the home of Aaron Davies in Jersey City. Details and RSVP here or here. Feel free to boost the signal!

comments

Tue, 28 Jul 2015 12:19:14 GMT

"Iiiit's that time again!"

"Time for another edition of Thunderdome?"

"Time for Together Breakfast?"
"Nooooo. It's time for another New York / New Jersey area housefilk!"

Sunday, August 16, at Witts' End. Details and RSVP here or here. Feel free to boost the signal!

comments

a roundup of recent interesting things

Sun, 05 Jul 2015 21:55:30 GMT

With accompanying links to posts about it on tumblr!

Anyone here watching Steven Universe? I may have tripped and fallen into it sometime in the past several months. It's the kind of show that draws you in with how sweet and adorable and silly it is and then slams you to the floor with ALL THE FEELS, which as you all know is basically where I live. It's about adventure and family and relationships and bizarre gemstone-based aliens. (steven universe WARNING: SPOILERS. also fanart, gifsets, meta, silliness, fanvids, and at least one song.)

... and for a polar opposite, anyone here seen and liked Mad Max: Fury Road? Because holy crapballs was that amazing. (mad max fury road WARNING: SPOILERS. also fanart, gifsets, meta, and at least one bit of instafic.)

here are some adorable pictures of a kitten and an owl

Filker types: did you know about this blog? He's taking suggestions and submissions.

I think I have finally perfected my sugar-free whole-wheat challah! Photos of a successful bake and recipe here.

This is an experimental thing; I may do more of this as time goes on, as I've been neglecting this journal shamefully this year. Thoughts?

comments

So this is a thing that's happening.

Fri, 17 Apr 2015 20:41:48 GMT

Oh hey, what's that right at the bottom of the Upcoming Guests section of the Interfilk Guests page?

Does that say Batya Wittenberg at FilKONtario 26 in 2016?

WHY, I DO BELIEVE IT DOES. :D :D :D

comments

OC: Original Character

Fri, 30 Jan 2015 02:34:14 GMT

A questions meme about original fictional characters, courtesy of in_the_blue!

If you know what character you want, you can pick, or you can describe a character and I'll snag my closest match. Or just leave it to me to pick.

Send me a number and I'll answer the questions with one of my OCs:

- How does your OC react when their rival is grovelling at their feet for their life?
- What’s the subtitle that accompanies your OC’s name during their dramatic intro?
- What incredibly lame thing does your OC do while thinking that it’s actually super cool?
- How would your OC react to meeting someone who is attempting to impersonate them?
- Would your OC try to weasel out of a genie wish limit with the wishing for more wishes bullshit?
- Exactly what amount of wealth would be enough to tempt your OC into doing something that is distasteful but not specifically against their moral code?
- What is the most unacceptable pun that someone would use in conversation with your OC?
- Would your OC eat cooked testicles assuming they’re prepared hygienically?
- If your OC attempted to clean their nails with a dagger like some sort of stereotypical fantasy badass would they accidentally cut themselves?
- How many days can your OC go without bathing before they can’t stand being in their own body anymore?

comments

[purimgifts] Dear Author

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 19:23:19 GMT

Dear purimgifts author:

( Cut to spare my friendslist )

comments

Books I Read In 2014

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 20:11:16 GMT

Once again: the full list of books I read in the past year. Not counted are comic books, graphic novels, fanfics, works in progress that I have edited or beta-read, or webcomics. (I've been wondering if I should start counting graphic novels and/or novel-length fanfics. What do you think?)

Titles behind the ( cut-tag. )

Trends! My total count is down, from 177 books last year to 152 this year. My first-time-read count has gone up, from 42 to 62 (and from 24% to 61% of all books read).

My five most-read authors (by book count) this year were L. Frank Baum, L.M. Montgomery, Seanan McGuire, Lois McMaster Bujold, and C.J. Cherryh. The authors topping the first-time-read chart this year were L.M. Montgomery, C.J. Cherryh, Charles Dickens, and Rosemary Kirstein; tied for fifth place were Catherynne M. Valente, Seanan McGuire, and Tamora Pierce.

Over the past seven years my most-read authors are Lois McMaster Bujold, Terry Pratchett, Stephen King, and Diane Duane, with Naomi Novik and L. Frank Baum tied for fifth place. My most reread books are William Gibson's Pattern Recognition (ten times in seven years) and Jo Walton's Among Others (seven times in three years).

Man that's a lot of data analysis for no particular reason.

comments

goodnight, and joy be with you all

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 06:04:05 GMT

Seen on tumblr, and very much taken to heart: "May 2015 treat all of us with more kindness than we need or deserve."

A good night and a good new year to all of you, my dear ones. May it be better than the last.

comments

my pants, they are bankrupt

Wed, 17 Dec 2014 02:06:24 GMT

I am so far behind on friendslist that I have lost track of how far behind I am. This is owing partly to having gotten a new laptop and lost the reminder tabs, and partly to general busy-ness and forgetfulness.

Working on catching up now, but I don't expect to be able to get all the way back. :( Friends, if I missed any major announcement since the beginning of November, please to let me know?

comments

Thu, 20 Nov 2014 05:08:18 GMT

Ugh, you guys, I have gotten so bad at posting to LJ/DW. And even at staying caught up on flist. I blame tumblr. In part at least. (Though I'm also currently failing at NaNoWriMo, so I dunno.)

Posts I should be making:

A poll: should I link tumblr posts here the way some people do tweets? Is this a thing that might interest people?
Belated OVFF con report
Chessiecon anticipation (I've got one co-moderated song circle with Tom Smith, one concert with ladymondegreen as The Funny Things, and one solo concert)
Recent recipes successes: sugar-free plum jam with rosemary, chicken with peaches and balsamic vinegar, gluten-free bread made with flaxseed meal and oat flour, tomato-and-red-lentil crock-pot soup
Why I'm failing at NaNo

Maybe I should try this December Talking Meme thing. Or a variation on it.

comments

Wed, 08 Oct 2014 21:42:26 GMT

Tonight is the first night of Sukkot. Zman simchateinu; the time of our rejoicing.

I will be off the internet between now and Saturday night. Chag sameach to all those celebrating; happy everydays to everybody else.

Take care, all. <3

comments