1. Lair next week! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

2. Goblins this update is AWESOME. I should warn that the comic itself is violent a lot of the time, updates are slow but not dead, and there is a lot of backstory. It's worth catching up on. Between this and OOtS your tabletop-RPG-satire buffer should have plenty to fill it. Anyway, that made me go EEEEEEEE! as well.

3. Another person whose blog I was reading to watch their first-time reactions to Babylon 5 has revealed themself as a member of the reality-ignoring community. This person didn't post about politics, so I didn't realize it until they went to see Transformers 2. Sigh. Not going to put any more energy into reading that...

4. Is it wrong of me to be actively mad at the people who post pictures of their badly-done corset piercings on BMEzine.com? People, you are encouraging shoddy surface piercing work! Rejection and doom to you ALL!

5. Lair next week! OMGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Actually, that might be a little harsh. In a lot of ways, this is mostly Poor Costuming Choices Theater.

In the early 90s1998, Channel 4 was putting together made-for-TV Shakespeare. We actually managed to borrow this one from Movie Madness a while back--it was on a 2-disc set with that Twelfth Night that liviapenn screencapped and reviewed. I only figured this out when I looked it up on IMDB. The shows turned out... workmanlike. So, y'know, it's good in that there aren't a lot of video versions of this play available, but. Well. It has problems!

( Click for post-apocalyptic modern-dress Scotland! )

This I got from angevin2. The rules are pretty simple: Italicize the plays you have read, bold the titles you have watched (TV/film) and * the ones you have seen in performance. I'm going with the list she used because I don't have that much opinion, though my list of things I have seen is much less impressive than hers. ;) Also, [B] is for BBC Complete Works, though that's a pretty small segment of my list.

( A complete list of Shakespeare's plays is long. )

- Weekend: good. Although we managed to overestimate the apathy of the Portland theatergoing crowd and thus missed out (by two people) going to see Richard II. Sad! It did lead to an awesome day of wandering around Portland, though.

- Writing: continues apace. A slow pace.

- Photography: Awesome. I need to sort out what shots we're not using for the website and post a couple of them.

- Tea! Good!

- Work: Still sucks. Especially when they page me at six in the morning and then don't know if I should come in or not. Guys, that is literally the middle of the night for me. I need a solid answer. I have a pager so I can come in for real emergencies, not because your boss is curious about something on my day off. Siiiiiigh.

- I obviously need more tea. Mmmmm, tea.

That all-female Richard II, this weekend y/y? Saturday at 7pm or Sunday at 2, what's best for people?

Because this comic is awesome.



Credit is appreciated if using, and credit the comic as source, too.

... okay, not too many of those on my flist? Still.

YOU HAVE UNTIL 5PM TO TURN IN YOUR THESIS.

THIS IS PROBABLY SEVERAL HOURS LATER THAN YOU WERE ASSUMING.

So use the extra time, if you need it, to take deep breaths and make sure the copier works okay. Boy howdy, I sure wish I had. You're gonna be fine.

And even if everything goes wrong and it feels like the absolute end of the world, you will be fine. I promise.

- Work sucks.

- I found a version of Macbeth apparently done using the interpretation that Geoffrey Tennant hates but Oliver and Henry Breedlove both love--and it stars Sean Pertwee as Macbeth and Jack Davenport as Malcom. OBVIOUSLY I need it. And a copy of that goddamn mummy movie, because my love for Jack Davenport (and Sean Pertwee) cannot be overstated.

- Work sucks and I have a scratchy throat.

- I'm attempting to finish up my Sunshine vid (to the Tallis Scholars' recording of Miserere). It really needs to be less than 11 minutes long.

- I'll be around campus this Friday/Saturday/Sunday! Come find me! I'll have the dewar in the usual spot. If you don't know where the usual spot is or what the dewar contains, give me a ring.

... I am going to bed.

First, I'm watching (finally) the Olympics Rhythmic Gymnastics finals, because--okay, no, really, cut it out. There are too many people out there dismissing RGym, and I think it's an awesome sport. It's no sillier than figure skating, for instance. And the emphasis on aesthetics is really cool. And the thing I love most about it? Almudena Cid, who was still an Olympic athlete at 28, which you just can't DO in standard gymnastic events.

Also, OMG, the Russians/Ukranians/Belarussians are scary. So, like, there are moves where you have to throw the apparatus up in the air and do something and catch it? Unless you want the Russians to eat you alive, you need to catch your rope/hoop/whatever behind your head and spin and cartwheel because THEY ALL WILL.

Okay. Anyway, other things:

Babylon A.D. is crap. Vin Diesel and Michelle Yeoh can't save it. It goes from slightly silly to totally incoherent. And you don't really get to see David Belle. C'mon.

Noah made me watch Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and that is also crap. OH MY GOD, talk about lack of female agency. Also, the more you know about Aaron Sorkin, the creepier EVERYTHING is. Though I don't know how anything could get more creepy than Danny's INSANE STALKING. How can anyone find that romantic? AAAGH. On the other hand, while I hate Danny, Jordan, Matt, and Harriet with the blinding passion of a thousand fiery suns, I actually kinda like the secondary and tertiary characters. I want to kidnap them and move them to a better TV show.

I mentioned that I wanted to read fic for S60, and liviapenn said, "I don't, because I don't want anything nice to happen to these people." Which, concerning the leads, is totally fair.

This made me shaky. In a bad way. I can't believe I've never heard of this before.

...

EEEEGHHHH. And that note in the torture memos about how "restricting prisoners to 1000 Calories a day can't be torture because women do it every day in the US voluntarily?" EEEEEEEEGHHHHHH.

1. I can has a switchblade! They are not illegal to own in Oregon. It's really, really fun to play with. Um. Hem.

2. I accidentally picked up a woman at a lesbian bar the other night. Um. Oops. I will have to disabuse her of any notion that I am a homosexual at some point.

3. Makeup reviews! Quick ones! Almay Bright Eyes eye base/concealer comes in three colors, light, light/medium, and medium. Light? Isn't light enough for me. Apparently, I need porcelain light. Those-are-my-veins light. No seriously my name is Maria and I am here to see this sun I keep hearing about light. Also, the brush in the applicator is crap, though you could probably have guessed that already--I got decent results by blending it in with my fingers, though I would have preferred starting with something less... tanned. On the other hand, MAX Factor Highlighting Mascara is all kinds of fun. Maybe it's just because I haven't tried using any mascara less than ten years old... ever. But I like it. And it's shiny!

Okay. Attempting to work a non-insane work week next week. HAHAHA.

... Yeah, life is still overrun by time-consuming things. And sending thoughts to family. And trying to keep my health. And taxes. *shudder*

But for now, my lifesigns will be in the form of meme:

Eight Questions about a Character MEME

1. Comment to this post and I'll give you a character.
2. Answer the following questions using that character

azarsuerte gave me Peri Brown, seeing as I was all Peri-tastic when we met!

1. Do you like this character? Yes, and I will not apologize for it. Though I remain baffled at how much British people apparently cannot tell that her accent is... highly inconsistent. By this point I have come around to being strangely charmed by it. But I do love her--for "I am the Master!" "Well, I'm Perpugilliam Brown and I can shout just as loud as you can!" among other reasons. Planet of Fire and The Mysterious Planet are my two favorite eps with her.
2. What name(s) do you call this character? Peri! Because Perpugilliam is difficult to spell!
3. What image/color do you associate with this character? At the moment, the ridiculous neon pink she was wearing in most of Attack of the Cybermen, because that's the costume I duplicated for the con. That or her, um, salmon pink bikini.
4. What song do you associate with this character? I will not say "Doctor In Distress." I will not say "Doctor In Distress." I will not say "Doctor In Distress."... unfortunately, I really don't HAVE a Peri song, so I don't have anything ELSE to say.
5. What blood-type do you think this character is? That's a wacky question. I dunno; I'm AB+, but for some reason I don't see Peri as a universal recipient. B+?
6. Of all of the titles that this character appears in, what character(s) do you like to put this character with? Yeah, um, I will jump on the bandwagon of not really understanding what this question is asking. I remain not entirely convinced of the Six/Peri pairing, though not unwilling to be convinced. I find Peri and Yrcanos HILARIOUS together, and I'm probably going to wind up writing some kind of Peri/Turlough in my huge Companions Save The Universe story.
7. What would you want to say to this character? Depends on when in her personal timeline I meet her. Most likely I'd tell her to stand up for herself and give 'em all hell.
8. What do you want to do with this character: Go on adventures! Not even necessarily with the Doctor. I'm sure she could get into trouble on her own.

1. The director's cut of The Natural is not as good as the original theatrical cut, due to some serious monkeying around with the emotional structure of the first act. (i.e. destroying most of the tension by setting it in a flashback.) However, it is better than having no cut at all. Gosh, I like baseball. OMG I cannot stop grinning at that ending.

2. Spent a lot of time sick this week. That SUCKED. On the other hand, watched the fan reconstruction of the First Doctor episode Marco Polo, which is adorable. Ian/Marco OTP.

3. This is awesome. Actual art not really safe for work.

I think I'm coming down with either a really bad cold or the flu--which one of those leaves you achy all over and dizzy?

In any case, I'm staying home today. (I called my boss for advice. He said STAY HOME. I will defer to his better judgment.) This sucks because the lab is just as busy as always, but at least Coworker Number Three is back from Florida, so it won't be any less people than it has been the last week. And she can be the one who stays ridiculously late several days in a row!

Ugh. Recovery can be imminent pls?

I got the Strobist Starving Student Lighting Kit, and ZOMG, I am loving it. I have had approximately two minutes to actually play with the flash, but I did manage to get some nice pictures of noahbrand and scrollwyrm. (S, if you don't mind me making that photo public, I'll post it here? Otherwise I'll just toss you a link to a non-flickr site). So here's what having controllable soft light does for shooting portraiture in my apartment:



I am generally pleased. WOOHOO I CAN HAS OFFCAMERA FLASH.

Since Picasa's web interface is, surprisingly, MORE clunky and annoying than Flickr's, I gave up and got an account. aristgdpix is I. Right now there are all the Gallifrey One photos that were previously uploaded here on LJ, and FINALLY the photos from Noah's Halloween party of '08. I suppose I will be adding to this as time allows.

Who wants to go to the shooting range with me again on Saturday? I will need to go to the DEQ first to get new tags for my car, unless I can manage to do it tomorrow or Friday OH GOD WHY IS IT NOT THURSDAY.

Well, at least I have warning ahead of time that I'm going to have to work... at least 3-midnight tomorrow?

Ah, well.

Today was fun. noahbrand, liviapenn, scrollwyrm and I went to Clackamas to the police's shooting range to fire handguns. The three of us women had never fired a handgun before, so after a short training video and range safety test we let Noah teach us basic hands-on safety and gun handling. And then we shot holes in paper targets for three hours.

A few notes:

- My thumb hurts from loading an awful lot of 9mm ammo. We went through 6 boxes of 9mm, 2 boxes of .45, and 3 boxes of .38.

- I honestly didn't enjoy shooting the 9mm as much as either of the guns we rented. Noah has a Ruger P-95, and we rented a Smith and Wesson Number 19 .38 Special, and a Colt 1911 .45 (I mean, Kimber's version of same. If you're a gun nut, apparently this means things. ;) The .45 was heavier, and felt sluggish, almost, but also more solidly grounded. And the .38 was a revolver, which was just fun. The energy came from a different place. Plus there's something about loading a revolver which is embedded in the cultural subconscious in a way that loading a clip isn't.

- I figured out pretty quickly that I didn't look at this as a self-defense exercise. This was putting some points into a new skill to get it up to DX, not getting my mind ready to hit actual humans. On that level, it's holding something which channels an explosion! That's kinda cool!

So yeah, it's also, as pointed out in American Beauty, a pretty good stress aide. Which is good since I've got another 6-day workweek next week. And co-worker number 3 is on vacation. Wheeee.... I think I need another beer.

So I just wanted to give a shout out to a couple of places in Portland where I've been drinking beer and writing, since I have been working at enjoying both of these activities.

The first is Bailey's Taproom, right off SW Broadway on Ankeney, right by Mary's Place but exponentially more classy. How awesome are they? They have 20 different microbrews on tap, and they rotate the taps frequently enough that there's a different selection every week. They have clear menus, a teensy staff who are knowledgeable and help steer you right, they serve pints and half-pints and taster trays, they have a blog, and you can follow their tap changes on twitter. The place is well-lit, they have wifi, comfy chairs, and electrical outlets--and also serve wine and beers by the bottle. A++ WOULD DRINK AGAIN. I've discovered I really like reds and oatmeal stout here. And that Alameda Siskiyou Golden Ale. Nummy.

On the other side of the river, the place where I'm at right now is the Side Street Tavern, right next to Hoda's off Belmont. The place that replaced what replaced Salvador Molly's looks nice enough but they don't have outlets, so we wandered over here. There are a couple outlets if you scrounge the right table, and a nice liquor selection. Not bad beers on tap, either--seven beers, even though one of them is PBR. I'm really enjoying this Blue Moon wheat beer. Some of those reviews said it was super-smoky, but I guess since the anti-smoking laws passed it cleared up a lot. And they have food! So I'm definitely happy for the night.

So first, quickly, an Irving Berlin song: I Paid My Income Tax Today. (Here's an old and low-quality Danny Kaye version of the first couple refrains on YouTube, that takes a bit to start, so don't crank up the volume too early.)

So liviapenn cheered me up by suggesting we watch Cover Girl, which stars Gene Kelly, Rita Hayworth, and Phil Silvers in the Cosmo Brown role. It was really fun! A bit slow to crank out the plot complications in the middle of the movie, and one or two reminders that the 40s were kinda racist. But it had this amazing number and really lush photography, and a really charming OT3. I mean, the two guys live together and the gal lives right across the hallway, and at the end of the movie, the duet doesn't last as long as the OT3 song. It's incredibly cute. For example. So cute!

In other news, work continues to suck.