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Repeat after me: All in the interest of the house not falling down... [Dec. 7th, 2009|04:46 pm]

lil_m_moses
[Tags|]
[feeling | intimidated]

Oof. February 16/17/18, right after Kelly's visit, I'll get the foundation repaired. Need 14 new piers (there weren't as many installed as I thought), and 15, including interior ones (i.e., under the living room carpet), adjusted. And all for the low, low price of $7700! At least the adjustments are free. Thank heaven for my prime-rate HELOC! Then I'll have to get a mason out to fix up the damaged brickwork. I can do the interior drywall repair myself. (Though when I'll actually get to it is another question.)

And then, in another year or two, plumbing overhaul. And a year or two after that, windows and doors. Really wish I could do those earlier, for energy efficiency's sake, but the budget won't allow (though I suppose collecting rent will help speed that up), and the plumbing needs to go first because it's a ticking timebomb and failures can ruin the house; I've already had two pipe-rot leaks that I thankfully caught quickly. I should really reconsider the new car question.
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The countdown begins... [Dec. 7th, 2009|02:45 pm]

monsignor
[feeling | nostalgic]

Final Confessional on Sunday, December 20th, at the Mercury!

(Full details coming up.)
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New Goodies at Gothfox.com [Dec. 7th, 2009|02:31 pm]

gothfox
[Tags|, , ]

Just in are some fabulous new goodies ready to ship for the holidays!
I've added some burlesque basics that every bombshells needs for their wardrobe. Fishnet Stockings, Thigh highs, Garter Belts, Thongs, Lacey Boy Shorts, and Satin Gloves! All are available in my Accessories section <-- Click to view

Here is a sneak peek of a few items:





Fishnets and Stockings come in O/S and Plus Sizes




Please let me know if you have any requests and i'll see what i can do about ordering them! I'm currently researching a good plus size lingerie wholesaler so we will see what i can come up with.

xoxo
Gothfox Designs
http://www.gothfox.com/
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keanu reeves brings the pain [Dec. 7th, 2009|05:30 pm]

scottchurch
seriously, think about it, bohdie never wanted to hurt anyone, he was totally non-violent, sure he robbed banks, but he put on a mask, and a good show and was in and out in 90 seconds, no bloodshed. that is until agent fucking utah fucking keanu came along and fucked up the entire system. why oh why couldn't he just let well enough alone?

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(no subject) [Dec. 7th, 2009|04:44 pm]

gothfash

[morrigun]
Doing some cleaning and need this all gone! Please let others know who might be interested!

S/H is 4$ to the US.... Can't do international at the moment.

Everything is OBO!

gothic lolita, tripp, rockabilly )

Comics, Figures, Manga, Anime DVDs )
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1 kitty and 1 request [Dec. 7th, 2009|01:37 pm]

cat_macros

[maythen_apple]
[feeling | hopeful]


Read more... )
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(no subject) [Dec. 7th, 2009|04:18 pm]

revsphynx
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Links for 2009-12-06 [Dec. 7th, 2009|02:00 pm]

warren_ellis
(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)
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Links for 2009-12-06 [Dec. 7th, 2009|02:00 pm]

warren_ellis
(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)
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Comic: Good On Paper [Dec. 7th, 2009|12:00 am]
pennyarcaderss

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Slackmistress is Cookin': Thanksgiving. [Dec. 7th, 2009|11:17 am]
slackdaily

It's been awhile since I've seen the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special, so I don't recall how we evolved from Pilgrims breaking bread with the Native Americans to stuffing our faces with poultry. As a naturally curious human being, I could probably investigate this more but my family didn't come here until well into the 20th century.

But I can't argue with a day that reminds us that we have much to be thankful for, even if it's relegated to a few spare moments between football games. This year found me in a bizarre situation: I had a job. Like a real job. (although my contract was up December 1st. So hire me? Please?)

My real job meant that a) I had money but b) not a whole lotta time. So this year I did something unthinkable:

I outsourced part of Thanksgiving.

Most specifically, the bird. I don't mind cooking turkey, but when you have a midget fridge, wood countertops and no dishwasher, not poisoning your guests becomes a game of Russian Roulette or damning the environment as you chase your salmonella footsteps with a can of Lysol that you carry on your belt like a hammer.

So the turkey, gravy, and biscuits (I'm a sucker for decent bread) were courtesy of Grace Restaurant. There are cheaper places to buy your bird, but the deep-fried turkey was sheer perfection. Crispy skin, juicy meat, and a slightly smoky flavor that complemented the thyme-truffle gravy (which I also purchased, as I wouldn't have any pan drippings to make gravy with.)

To paraphrase Tracy Morgan, I wanted to take this turkey behind the high school and get it pregnant.

Picking the bird up the day before I was worried that it might be dry, but even SlackDad, who doesn't taste the difference between Hungry-Man TV Dinner turkey and a heritage bird had a second helping.

Also, in your instruction manual on how to reheat all of your goodies? Chef Neal Fraser's cell phone number, in case you run into any problems. That's service, people. We considered drunk dialing him, but we didn't. 'Cause we're classy that way. (Although not classy enough to not at least consider it.)

See the rest of Thanksgiving after the jump...

IMG_2579

Before desecration.

IMG_2581 

Sage stuffing.

IMG_2584 

Brussel Sprout Hash

Something odd has happened to me as an adult: I started to like vegetables. In fact, I feel like crap when I don't eat vegetables (don't worry, I still eat cake and drink bourbon. Something has to offset all of those vegetables!)

You may think you hate brussel sprouts. Now I'll tell you: you're wrong. The additions I made to the above: I added cubed pancetta when I was caramelizing the shallots, I omitted the extra butter when I fried the hash (there was plenty of fat from the rendered pancetta!) added half the water at the end, and made it before my guests arrived, then popped it in the oven for ten minutes with  little parmesan cheese to get a crusty top. Everyone ate this. EVERYONE.

IMG_2583

Maple roasted squash and parsnips.

I love squash. It's like candy in vegetable form. I followed the reviewers comments (the reason I use Epicurious so much is because of the user comments) and halved the (good quality) maple syrup and splurged on the marcona almonds. While I bought pre-cubed butternut squash, I actually purchased a kobocha, which looks like an angry green pumpkin. I peeled it by boiling each side for ten minutes, then cutting it in half and using my veggie peeler.

This would have made a fabulous leftover soup (puree/mash with some broth, voila!), although it was gone before I had the chance.

IMG_2580

Mashed potatoes with roasted fennel.

Listen: I like mashed potatoes, I swear. But they have a tendency to be, well, paste-like. I didn't eat paste as a kid (things I did eat: head cheese, herring, smoked fish) so why would I start now? I love fennel, and it gives your potatoes a depth that you didn't even know was lacking. Fennel lovers will recognize their favorite veggies, while fennel haters will simply love these. I like to sneak vegetables into things. Now you know.

The fennel puree I made the day before and refrigerated, then mashed into the taters the day-of.

IMG_2586

The plate. I need to make beets next year, as it looks a little bland.

Oh, wait, I almost forgot the magic ingredient. The one thing that, like Lebowski's ubiquitous rug, tied the whole day together:

IMG_2577

Champagne-ginger cocktail.

People always think we're fancy here at the Detective Agency because we like to have signature cocktails for events. The reality is that when it comes to bubbly, it's pretty damned easy. Flavored simple syrup + bottle of bubbly = pitcher of deliciousness. I wanted something that wasn't overly sweet. And then it hit me: GINGER IS GOOD FOR YOU. I used the recipe above (minus the five-spice powder; I didn't have any.)  That's a piece of crystallized ginger at the bottom of the glass for good luck.

Okay, I made that last part up.

All in all: most everything I made a day ahead of time or early the day-of. So minus that twenty minutes before everyone sits down for dinner, I was able to mingle with my friends and family for most of the pre-meal activities. (And by mingling, I mean drinking.) All in all, a successful feast.

Imagine what I could do with a full-size fridge and a kitchen that's up to code? A girl can dream...

The entire Flickr set is here.



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meh but busy... [Dec. 8th, 2009|06:02 am]

troll_speak
So I ended up trying to sleep at midnight and ended getting back up to throw up.

I am still burning up, but I have actually worked.

I have drawn three new pics including ones for Deb's birthday on Wednesday.


Not going to be eatting a heck of a lot today so the dizziness is going to be high.

Already fallen over a couple of time but I am going to take it is easy as possible. Drinking a lot of water.

I hope Deb can come up and see me here since I am not going be able to make it to the family home.


going to try and draw something else.


I shall return.


the troll


L
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Evidence of my no-longer-existent lip ring [Dec. 7th, 2009|10:59 am]

alibee
[Tags|]



Evidence of my no-longer-existent lip ring

Originally uploaded by alibee09


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(no subject) [Dec. 7th, 2009|10:47 am]

cynickal
[feeling | working]

Took the bike out this weekend. Heated jacket worked fabulously. Heated gloves didn't seem to work at all. Couldn't find the automated return on the web site I bought them from so I'm waiting on email.

Took the car out this weekend also. The feeder line to the gas tank is leaking. Probably a quick fix, but it's only 3 years old and shouldn't be cracking already.

Pete's memorial was good. Saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in years.
Probably should get out more so it's not years more before I see them again.
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flickrgeist 7dec09 [Dec. 7th, 2009|11:45 am]

warren_ellis

A snapshot of what friends and acquaintances have been doing and looking at, via their Flickr accounts:

4166249427_90c2d40187_o

1. League of Extraordinary Steampunks, 2. Crane, 3. All Good Mermaids Have Jazz Hands, 4. super suit.jpg, 5. About to fly home., 6. Private pod

(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)
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Weird... [Dec. 7th, 2009|10:26 am]

maxmin
The Noisescape main site got a lot of traffic from http://myspace.wildwest.fairgamers.com/viewuser.php last night.

I can't get the page to load on it's own so I'm not sure why, but they all seemed to be watching the Unwoman - Trouble video.

So Erica, apparently you've got a bunch of fans on there...
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Moor blankz... [Dec. 7th, 2009|06:24 pm]

cat_macros

[lintilla72]
Makro my kittehs plz! )
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w00t [Dec. 7th, 2009|12:18 pm]

not_eurotic
( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )
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Request for captions. [Dec. 7th, 2009|01:14 pm]

cat_macros

[golthuu]
[feeling | cheerful]

So, I've been really hankering to get captions on these pictures of my babies, but I really just can't think of anything! Feel free to lolify my kitties!

LOLMELOL )
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Kieron Gillen, DIESEL SWEETIES At Whitechapel [Dec. 7th, 2009|11:20 am]

warren_ellis

On my message board Whitechapel, Kieron Gillen (writer of PHONOGRAM. S.W.O.R.D. and THOR) and R Stevens (creator of DIESEL SWEETIES and the best t-shirts and socks on the internets) are both doing open Q&A/conversation sessions.

The Kieron Gillen Week, and The R Stevens Diesel Sweeties UFO Shack.

Go and say hello to them.

(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)
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The XMASS crazy has already started. [Dec. 7th, 2009|12:40 pm]

dali_muse
[Tags|, ]
[where |out the door]
[feeling | tired]

I'll be staying home from Ceremony tonight as we now close at ten instead of nine. I have a few stories to tell everyone, but I'll save that when I get home tonight. Let's just say they involve shoplifting, bad parenting, and WTF pickup lines.

I'll see people out at XMortis on Friday!
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Brandon Graham [Dec. 7th, 2009|10:49 am]

warren_ellis

From Brandon’s latest blog entry. I warn you: Brandon’s blog entries are one of the greatest things on the comics internet, but each one is nine feet long and very graphics-intensive.

4166120229_ec994e9f72_o

(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)
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Microfiction: Greenstripe [Dec. 7th, 2009|12:16 pm]

xiombarg
[Tags|]
[feeling | busy]
[noise |"Just Dance" by Lady Gaga]

The music's beat was not so much driving as it was bludgeoning.

He couldn't hear what the woman was saying, but he could see the curves highlighted and out-thrust by the too-tight leathers.

He navigated through the pillar of club-meat using the fluorescent-white flash of her teeth and the lime green stripe in her red hair as dual beacons.

Read more... )
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snowy day [Dec. 7th, 2009|12:06 pm]

silentq
I woke up before my alarm on Sunday and crept out to the living room to peek between the blinds. The sunlight on pure white snow almost blinded me and I practically skipped back to wake up [info]cris. We had a quick breakfast, layered up, I double checked that I had my compass and emergency supplies, and we went off to pick up [info]cayetana and head to the Fells. We skipped stopping at the visitor house as I didn't have to wait for anyone, but the Sheepfold parking lot was closed, the gate surrounded by cars parked up and down the road. We went on and found another smaller lot that was open on the North Boundary Rd, at the other end of the trail we were aiming for.
We started off on a fire road, following foot prints in the snow and mud of the trail, ducking under and around snow laden branches. Everyone out walking their pets seemed to have two big dogs bounding around in the snow. The sun was sparkling on the snow, and the wind was mostly quiet. When it did hit the top branches, the snow piled up on them would come falling down, and we would be engulfed in a mini blizzard. Occasionally a lump of snow would slide free on it's own, usually hitting me on the head and then trickling down my neck. The temperature was hovering around freezing, but some parts of the trail were still deeply muddy. It was gorgeous in the woods, the trees mostly bare, but all festooned with inch thick piles of snow along all their branches. We skirted the Sheepfold, an obedience school class breaking up into dogs chasing each other through the snow as we passed. From there we poked around a bit and found the fire road that led back toward where we'd parked, intersecting with the Dark Hollow Pond trail which was only blazed where it left the fire road. The fire road approaching the intersection went over a stone bridge high above the pond, lovely views there. Luckily after a few wrong turns, we found where someone else had walked a dog along the more advanced trail and we were able to follow the prints when the trail disappeared under the snow. I was glad of the compass on this part of the walk, being able to confirm which direction to look for the next part of the trail was valuable. More blazes would have been more valuable, but oh well. We made it out safely, keeping the sound of cars on the highway to our right. I wonder if the highway sounds would be more muffled when there's leaves on the trees, I might give that trail a shot again in the summer. My goal had been to stay on well marked trails, getting lost in snowy woods tends to freak me out, even without remembering scenes from "Dead Snow", but we tend to veer off onto the "interesting" trails. :)
Back home, made lunch (I'd picked up more of flavoured salmon that I'd found for camping in NH, apparently it stays good for 12+ months, I need to stock up!). Then I biked over to Davis Sq for a clothing swap. I've been culling my closet regularly lately, so I didn't have much to bring, but did off load a couple of things. I unfortunately came home with more than I left with, but it's definitely stuff that I'll wear and that flatters me. I need to revisit how I store my sweaters, I picked up two more and want to keep them in sight so that I remember to wear them.
Feeling run down again today, I'm going to try and get my family xmas shopping done tonight and then head home, exercise so as not to break my streak, and try to get to bed early. DwT isn't even vaguely tempting me, I just want to go back to sleep.
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WoW hackers must die... [Dec. 7th, 2009|11:05 am]

gruamach
[feeling | pissed off]

So I get up this morning and log into WoW to check AH sales and stuff.

And keep getting booted as soon as I log in.....and then noticed "something ain't right"

I immediately jump onto Blizzard's website and change my account password.
Then I log back into the game.....to find about half my stuff across all 7 characters missing.

FUCKING HACKERS.

(and no, I've NEVER done any of that stupid "buy WOW gold" websites or stupid stuff like that.)
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Daily Tweets [Dec. 7th, 2009|01:00 pm]

darenzia
Darenzia's Daily Tweets

Tweets under cut )

Visit Darenzia at Darenzia.net and MyFetishLife.net! Tweets automatically shipped by LoudTwitter.
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Received Goods 7dec09 [Dec. 7th, 2009|10:16 am]

warren_ellis

I am completely failing to keep track of the volume of stuff entering my house lately. I think I’ve even lost the last issue of THE WIRE, still sealed in its plastic bag. So I’m making Received Goods its own category, in an effort to force myself to at least log the physical objects being shoved through the door most days.

I pre-ordered this, and am looking forward to digging into it tonight:

4166769580_04868b1d25_o

Publisher Creation Books (so glad to see them still around!) have a nice little page on the book:

Starting with the guerrilla media tactics of Industrial music in the late 1970s, the author charts an ongoing trend in electronic music: an increasing amount of sonic quality, recorded output and international contact, accomplished with a decreasing amount of tools, personnel, and capital investment. From the use of laptop computers to create massive avalanches of noise, to the establishment of micro-nations populated largely by sound artists, 21st century sound culture is expanding in its scope and popularity even as it shrinks in other respects. The text of MICRO-BIONIC is built up from exhaustive research into the world of audio extremity, including physical travel to the various ‘hot spots’ where these new sounds are made…

The author keeps a blog on the book, MICROBIONIC. He seems to be having a bit of a rough time at the moment, in fact.

I’ve always loved electronic music. I have a theory that anyone who lived in Britain through the same period as me has it kind of embedded in them, as it seemed like all children’s tv was scored by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop or their peers.

(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)
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"I'm living in an age that calls darkness light..." [Dec. 7th, 2009|12:55 pm]

greygirlbeast
[Tags|, , , , , , ]
[where |Eridania]
[feeling | not quite to breakable]
[noise |Arcade Fire, "Windowsill"]

One year ago today, Sméagol came to live with us. He was called Linus then, but we soon corrected that.

If anyone's interested in gifting Spooky and me with the distractions that help to make this existence bearable, in the form of Solstice gifts, we have both updated our Amazon wish lists. You can find mine here, and you may find hers here. Thank you. This past month has taken a toll on finances, from car troubles to doctor bills, and there's less money than usual for these niceties. CDs, DVDs, books. And we are both perfectly happy with used copies. Thank you kindly.

---

Yesterday, I followed a link Neil Clarke (of Clarkesworld Magazine) posted to Twitter, and found a fine little essay/blog entry on writing, in the blog of Damien G. Walter: "Show Me the Writers Taking Risks." It speaks very much to my "writing process" (though I do loathe that phrase), and opens with this quote from Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles (borrowed from Frederico Fellini): "Don’t tell me what I’m doing, I don’t want to know." It moves along to another Bradbury quote: "First you jump off the cliff, then you build the wings." Which is about the best advice I could ever give any would-be writer. Stop plotting. Stop outlining. Stop writing character profiles and fretting over arcs. Kill the spreadsheets. Forget the workshops. This isn't science, and tedium won't save you. Writing is art, which means it's pretty much magic. Peer over the edge, size up the drop, then just fucking jump off the cliff and get to work, because the ground is rushing towards you, or you're rushing towards the ground (it hardly matters which). Just write the damned story. In this short essay, Walter writes:

So many writers seem set on not just building wings, but complete impact survival systems before they even venture to the cliff edge (while others are hurling themselves into the void without even a sense that the ground exists).

Anyway, yes...I suggest you have a look.

---

Yesterday, we drove down to Saundertown, to Spooky's parents' place. It was good to get out of the House. It helped to alleviate that feeling that I might, at any moment, shatter. We saw fields blanketed with a thin crust of snow, and we saw stark trees, and a deer at the side of the road. We got a dozen fresh eggs from the farm. We saw a leafless tree burdened with frozen apples. There are photos below, behind the cut.

Last night sort of turned into Revisit TV Shows We Hated the First Time Night. It also became an evening of These Shows Have Improved Somewhat Revelation. First we watched a couple of the most recent episodes of Fringe. Yes, it's improved. We tried to watch the series back when it first began and found it painful and impossible. But things seemed a little tighter last night (absurd science aside). If nothing else, John Noble is entertaining as Dr. Walter Bishop, and I'm seeing depth to the character that was missing early on. And Phillip Broyles isn't bad, but the rest of the cast feels extruded, mass produced, interchangeable. The series has a long way to go to stop being an inferior X-Files knockoff.

We also watched the latest episode of Dollhouse. And, you know, the only thing really keeping the episode from being quite decent was Eliza Dushku, who still can't act her way out of a paper bag. Summer Glau was creepy, and that's a good thing. I know the series has been canceled. And I hate like hell to see Joss Whedon keep hitting the wall like this, but he should have known better than to pin his star to Fox (again) and the talentless Miss Dushku. She can't even convincingly act like a blank doll. Rather, she acts like someone trying and failing to act like a blank doll. But I will watch the next episode, regardless.

So, yes...photos (there's even one of me, and those are growing increasingly rare):

6 December 2009 )
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T-Shirt Of The Week #007: I ATE THE BABY [Dec. 7th, 2009|09:24 am]

warren_ellis

TOTW is basically a joke that Ariana and I pull each week in our joint guise as the International Electrophonic Unit. Basically, we take some of the stupider things I’ve said on Twitter and elsewhere, often in a state of extreme alcoholic refreshment or severe sleep deprivation, and put them on a t-shirt. Ariana set up a Cafe Press store (because this is a joke and engaging with a serious maker of t-shirts would be less funny to us), and… well, once a week, here we are.

Through this website and this Cafe Press store, we’re going to release one t-shirt a week. It’ll go live on Monday… and it’ll die Sunday night — midnight UK time, more often than not. Each one lives for a week, and then it’s replaced by the next week’s shirt. Until I either run out of dumb ideas or Ariana’s brain explodes.

So, every Monday, I’ll post the new shirt here, and you can peer at it more at http://www.cafepress.com/electrophonic.

Anyway. I present to you T-Shirt Of The Week #007: I ATE THE BABY:

4165323988_291d5ecff2_o (apologies to the spinning ghost of William Carlos Williams, yes)

We also offer a couple of perennial items. Mostly because I wanted one of these for myself:

413653507v10_480x480_Front

(And also a MAN COOK MEAT WITH FIRE "splatter-shield", because Ariana’s crazy)

Thank you for your kind attention.

4568217

(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)
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It's Set Up Your Kotatsu And Turn The Thing On, You Moron, It's Fucking Cold Out Day [Dec. 8th, 2009|01:04 am]
dr4b
No, really. I wonder if that's the inadvertant intention of the national holiday on November 23rd, and I just didn't get the memo?

I decided to take a detour after school for some solo karaoke (I think I have determined what my next ohaku should be, not that it really matters, and unrelatedly, Sawatte Kawatte is a really fun Spitz song to sing), and then dinner at Heiroku because they have a cheap-dishes thing going on until the 18th (almost everything is 130 yen, which mostly works in my favor). And then, uh, a detour to Uniqlo since I wanted to see if the light jackets were still on sale (they were) so I got another one to wear at school/home, because damn, it's cold.

When I got home, I finally said, "Damn, it's cold" and cleared off my table and got out my kotatsu futon and spread out the floor pad and put the futon on and turned the kotatsu on, and well, that was like, 5 hours ago and I don't think I've actually moved from under the kotatsu except for maybe once or twice going to the bathroom.

It's still not comfortable to sit at this thing and type, honestly, but maybe this winter I'll come up with a solution. Like a floor chair with a back.

What also kinda sucks is that I wasted the time here playing PP. That in itself doesn't suck, but it's indicative of something else I've noticed lately -- I don't seem capable of answering casual emails/messages this week. Think it might be residual from the pre-JLPT when I was like "Can't... talk... to people... must... study..." But I also haven't been writing about school, which is bad.
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Con tip the third. [Dec. 7th, 2009|07:51 am]

ogremarco
I alwas have a few games that play quickly and require little or no set-up in my bag. Some are story games that are written that way, and some are con scenarios with pre-made characters. I also keep a few small card and board games that are quick and fun too.

I do this because sometimes a slot falls apart for whatever reason and it's a good idea to have a backup plan.
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Toddler shenanigans [Dec. 7th, 2009|10:42 am]

krasota
[feeling | amused]

You may or may not know that Ozzy once did a live cover of Stayin' Alive. He shouts, "ALL ABOARD THE DISCO TRAIN!"

So, while I've been patiently teaching Ronan all about his family history ("Daddy was born in a Sarlacc pit."), Tom has been steadily contributing to Ronan's musical education. The results pop up in odd places.

It wasn't enough that my child shrieks "WALK THIS WAY!" at the end of the NCIS theme music. No, now I get treated to a child who goes from Elmo's song to Ozzy/BeeGees in five seconds.
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GUEST STRIP – BRIAN CARROLL [Dec. 7th, 2009|07:00 am]
theaterhopper
To read the rest of this comic please visit TheaterHopper.com

If you’ve been following the site for the last couple of days, then you know Cami and I welcomed our second child into the world on Thursday. We named her Pearl Evelyn Brazelton and we brought her home yesterday. Mother and daughter are doing fine and Henry reacted splendidly to her arrival. Seriously – It couldn’t have gone better if we had scripted it. Even Truman minded his P’s and Q’s with a new baby in the house.

Anyway, with a new baby in the mix, I will be running guest strips through the rest of December. There are a lot of great artists that selflessly lent the time and talents to help out and I think you’re going to be really happy with the comics I have lined up.

Kicking off the festivities is Brian Carrol from Instant Classic. Brian and I go WAAAAY back. I’ve known Brian since he was kicking around his journal comic BriWorld around 2002 or 2003. Brian is a true Renaissance man. He not only talks the talk, but he walks the walk. By that I mean, not only is he extremely knowledgeable about movies, but he makes his own movies as well! Top that!

Fans of The Triple Feature might remember that we invited Brian on for a series of recordings in 2007. He brought a lot to the table and it was a treat having on the show for a while. Specifically because I think Brian is one of those guys that has a very high level of understanding about film, but can keep a toe in the water of more mainstream affairs. And I think that talent is plainly on display with his guest strip. The fact that he gave visual representation to Tom’s “thought filter” is evidence of that. It’s a great idea. I wish I had thought of it!

So thanks again to Brian and be sure to visit his site Instant Classic!

A few more things to mention…

I have a guest strip of my own up and running over at Dueling Analogs to help Steve celebrate his comic’s 4 year anniversary. I inserted Tom and Jared into the comic only because Dueling Analogs doesn’t have regular characters and that left me feeling a little untethered. I know how supremely lame it is to use your own characters in someone else’s guest comic, but I always have the hardest time putting these things together. I become very concerned about mirroring the original author’s style, then I start second guessing myself before I start getting e-mails like “Hey, you didn’t forget that guest comic you said you were going to do for me, right?”

Anyway, it’s up and running. So show Steve some link-love and congratulate him on his anniversary.

For those of you visiting Theater Hopper from Dueling Analogs… Welcome!

Next item of business… Kickstarter.

Since Pearl came a week early, it kind of throws a wrench in my plans in terms of promoting the fund raising campaign for Theater Hopper: Year Three.

There are THREE WEEKS LEFT in the campaign and we are $2,000 away from goal.

Things are only going to get more hectic as the holidays approach, so I really need your support NOW to help make the third book a reality.

PLEASE pledge to the campaign – even if it’s only a dollar. If everyone who visited the site on a daily basis pledged only a dollar, this book would be funded and off to the printers. Not to lay a guilt trip on you, but please consider that I have been providing free entertainment (largely uninterrupted) three times a week for over 7 years and ask yourself what that is worth to you.

Without your support, this book will not happen. And if I can’t raise the money through Kickstarter, it’s very likely that the book might NEVER happen! I will probably have to give up on self-publishing completely.

I realize that not everyone can pledge to the campaign either because they don’t have a credit card or because they are from a country outside the United States and Kickstarter doesn’t accept international credit cards.

But if you CAN pledge, PLEASE DO. Your pledge of support can make a difference. With so many obligations in my personal life at the moment, you would be doing me a great favor to help me now rather than wait until the last minute.

Last item of business… Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who sent notes of encouragement and well-wishes over the weekend when we announce Pearl’s birth. It means a lot to me that so many of you are thinking of us and offering your words of support. It makes me realize how lucky we are – Not only to have a happy and healthy little girl, but to have so many people in our lives who care and express their happiness for us. Not a drop of it goes unnoticed or unappreciated. So, thank you again – from all of us.

That’s it for now. Expect a new guest strip on Wednesday. For now, I’m off to cuddle my new baby girl!!!

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Blu [Dec. 7th, 2009|03:07 pm]
dailykitten

Location: Gornja Radgona, Slovenia

Blue

Blu is six months old now. We saved her from death. Before, we did not know what it was like to live with a cat. Now we know only too well – Blu has brought so much joy and warmth to our house. She makes every day a beautiful day.

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workshop review [Dec. 7th, 2009|09:08 am]

kylecassidy
[feeling | accomplished]

If you were in my Seattle photo workshop, post your best photo (or two) in the comments here. If you have the time, write a sentence or two about your photography and what you liked best about the workshop.

Everybody else, feel free to look back today at all the purdy pixtures and comment.
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Skincare [Dec. 7th, 2009|05:03 am]

gothfash

[sayaka]
So, we're goths. No matter what our skin color, pale or ebony or anything in between, we all love to have smooth, flawless skin, right? I know I do. We tend to stay out of the sun a bit more, wear parasols and long sleeves. Long skirts.

But what about skincare? I've gotten into it lately.

I'm pushing 30 and my skin needs work, I'd love for it to stay young and nice for a long time. Over the last couple years, I've tried a number of products, most of which worked "well enough" but I didn't feel they were helping or making a difference. I think I've hit on a winner, boys and girls, at least for my skin type (weird combination of dry and oily).

Every morning:
☀ I rinse my face with warm water.
☀ I then wash with Lush's Coal Face facial soap bar.
☀ I then moisturize with Estée Lauder Hydra Bright moisturizer. This is one of the best skin creams that I have ever used. Ever. It's light but does the job. Oh, man, it does the job. Makes my face feel soft and smooth all day. And as weird as it sounds I feel my skin is being nourished. Doesn't make me greasy, I do not need to use powder to touch up throughout the day.

At Night

★ I remove my makeup with a warm wet washcloth, very gently.
★ I wash again with Lush's Coal Face facial bar, giving a mini massage for about a minute.
★ Rinse well with warm water.
★ Rinse again with cool (but not cold) water.
★ Pat dry and apply one pump of Estée Lauder Hydra Bright cream.
★ Alternately: Pat dry and apply a small bit of Alba Botanica Green Tea & Jasmine moisturizer if my skin is parched dry.


Other:
☺ I actually really like plain old Carmex as a lip balm.
☺ However I've been looking for that Smith's Rosebud Balm for years and can't find it - the company still makes the balm in several flavors but the rosebud one was hands down the best balm I've ever owned!!

☞ For hand lotion I use Origins Make A Difference hand lotion. Expensive, but it absolutely makes a difference. I treat my hands like crap and this stuff is like a goddamned ERASER.

Pictures below the cut )

I swear to whatever god you want me to that I am only wearing eyebrow powder and eyeshadow in this pic. That's my skin, 100%. Amazing. I've never had skin that was this nice :)</center>

A rundown:
-LUSH Coalface Facial Bar - It seems to completely even out, calm down my skin, and it never feels tight, just neutral and best of all, clean.
-Estée Lauder Hydra Bright face cream - This is one of the best skin creams that I have ever used. Ever. Doesn't make me greasy, I do not need to use powder to touch up throughout the day.
-Origins Make a Difference hand lotion - My hands are utter shit, and this stuff, just a tiny bit, transforms them. And it's SO light.
-Vaseline Intense Moisture lotion - Just some standard lotion you can get at the drugstore, but it does the job. Unscented, nice and creamy, absorbs quickly, makes you touchably smooth all ofer.
-Carmex lip balm - I've always used this on my lips and I've always loved it.


It's working for me, maybe it'll work for you. :)

What are you using? Anything nice?

Don't be embarrassed if you're using something from the drugstore or if you're not entirely gleeful about it. I've been looking for "the Right Combination" for years! Tell us your experience, ask some questions, answer some questions. :)
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Movie Review: The Bodyguard/Berfdeh [Dec. 7th, 2009|07:53 am]

malkatsheva
[Tags|, , ]
[feeling | calm]

This is a Thai picture and I got it from Netflix. I viewed it in the original Thai with English subtitles -- I like to hear the real voices. I recommend this picture to anyone who's watched a lot of action movies or kung fu pix: it's full of genre-based jokes and gags and will make you laugh copiously. My one caveat is that apparently there's NO SUCH THING as political correctness in Thailand, since some of the humor in this movie is really, really not PC.

I actually didn't realize going in that this movie was a comedy -- I rented it because it features action god Tony Jaa. Oh, Tony Jaa. . . your soulful eyes and magnificent fighting skills make me melt! He was funny in this movie, too, a nice departure from his usual serious persona.

I would talk about the plot, but in a movie like this, plot is soooo not the point. For this, all you need to know is that action plus funny equals good! Netflix this movie and enjoy a good laugh.

Happy Birthday to [info]stillnotbored!!
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(no subject) [Dec. 7th, 2009|12:35 pm]

getfuzzyfeed

[misery_chick]
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(no subject) [Dec. 7th, 2009|04:28 am]

kobold
I've seen enough bad/unflattering/clumsy burlesque now that anytime someone sends me a link to a burlesque video/show that looks "really cool," unless I knew the person damned well, I assume they have brain trauma and delete it.
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From Twitter 12-06-2009 [Dec. 7th, 2009|03:04 am]

seanyoda
( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )
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Two Lumps - Dec 7, 2009 [Dec. 7th, 2009|12:00 am]
twolumps_feed
Two Lumps comic for Monday, December 7, 2009
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fatuous: Dictionary.com Word of the Day [Dec. 7th, 2009|12:00 am]
dictionary_wotd
fatuous: inanely foolish; stupid; also, illusory.

Email this Article Add to del.icio.us Add to Twitter Add to Facebook
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This makes my midnight [Dec. 7th, 2009|12:19 am]

pahana
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tweets [Dec. 7th, 2009|12:00 am]

kumimonster
( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )
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Comic [1245] "some things are better left in the dark" [Dec. 7th, 2009|07:31 am]
megatokyocomic
Chapter 10: "A.F.K." comic 1245
[read...]
[permalink]
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ultimately, i don't know [Dec. 7th, 2009|02:31 am]

scottchurch
i don't sleep much anymore. when i do sleep my mind is filled with terrible dreams, dreams filtered through thoughts of my own end. i can't think past the next day, and when i do i try not to.

i am my job, all i do is what i have to show. i spill my blood all over the floor everyday and hope that it's enough to have who ever i am working for say good things about me so maybe someone they know will come and see me next. i have a day to day existence at best. if i don't perform i don't work, and this was the goal. this is all i have not only ever wanted to do, it's all i have ever been able to do.

i know i'm lucky, so many people think they would love to do what i do. on the surface it seems like a fun little game of cat and mouse, a fun little walk through life.

it's work.

everyday i have to worry about the next job, everyday i need to do better for the current job so there is a next job. the list of people i take care of seems to keep growing all the time, the list of people i try to maintain relationships with so i can keep working and keep earning keeps growing and stretching. i do so much for so many that i lose track of who owes me anymore. so i just forget, i just let it go.

when i am let down by someone i don't even notice anymore, i can only think about today, tomorrow.... beyond that it's just a fresh cleaned blackboard.

i know that people enjoy what i do. i see it all the time, i hear it all the time, and i do appreciate that. i also know how disposable i am. i know that if i stop there is no more reason for people to bother to pretend to care.

there is no enough.

i do what i do in the hopes that one day there will be a point where i can say "ok, i'm good, i can stop being this, i can stop pretending this cartoon character, i can breathe for a moment, right now.", but there is no moment, there is no end, there is no stop.

i know that i have reasons to keep pushing, my family, my son, i know there are reasons. but in the same breath i know that they very well might be better off without me. with me as some sort of blurred memory of a smile, and a stack of evidence in photograph form for them to prove i existed.

i know they would be better taken care of without me, without the constant running i'm forced to be, to be constantly afloat. being constantly afloat is no way to be here for either of them anyway. i have minutes with them at best and then it's back to the forward motion.

i never stop working.

and i know that if i did there would be nothing here anymore.

i have no one to turn to. people expect me to be the one to go to. i have no one that i can look to for help because no one can help me. i have no one that i feel like i can bother enough to help me the way i try my best to help everyone else.

i owe them, at least i've convinced myself that i owe them, and because of that i need to keep working, i need to stay, and be. i need to stay and be me for a little while longer.

i need to work more, i know that i need to book even more jobs, schedule more, keep more busy. there is never enough i can do. i want this, i need to try harder.

sometimes, i just don't want to...... but i know i will because it's all i can do to make this ok again.
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Well, you can't say she lacks ambition... [Dec. 7th, 2009|08:17 pm]

metaquotes

[deepbluemermaid]
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )
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Dragon Box Z [Dec. 6th, 2009|11:01 pm]

lilibat
Made for a secret santa swap thingy.


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Suggestions [Dec. 7th, 2009|05:00 am]
xkcd_rss
An hour later: SUGGESTION: LICK HER NIPPLE MORE.
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Making The Best of It [Dec. 7th, 2009|01:03 am]
questionablerss

Jeez, so many (okay, just two) callbacks in this strip. As my archive grows ever larger and more intimidating I'm gonna have to watch out and make sure new strips don't devolve entirely into references to things that happened hundreds of strips ago.

Also you will be pleased to know that in a fit of holiday cheer I have ordered my legal team to allow David Willis' various websites to continue operating even as I pursue legal action against him for his heinous, impertinent theft of my characters. I expect to literally own him by the end of the year, but I figure I might as well allow him the small mercy of pretending he still controls his own fate.

(Before you email me THAT LAST PARAGRAPH WAS A JOKE. Some of you people have no grasp of the concept of sarcasm.)

One last thing: this coming weekend I will be in Austin, TX for WEBCOMICS RAMPAGE! I've never been to Austin before, I hope some of you will show up and say hi. That would be rad.

See you tomorrow!

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