penfold_x: (beetee adorbs)
I bought a ridiculously adorable shirt at Shore Leave 37:

Save the Galaxy
penfold_x: (district 3)
From [livejournal.com profile] deathmallow

Pick a letter and I will tell you...... (yes, this is very ship-heavy but I will make it work ;) )

A: Your current OTP.
B: A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind.
C: A pairing you wish you shipped, but just can't.
D: What was the first thing you ever contributed to a fandom?
E: Have you added anything stupid/cracky/hilarious to your fandom, if so, what?
F: What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom? What fandom was it?
G: What was your first fandom?
H: Do you prefer real-life TV shows or animated TV shows?
I: Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?
J: Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr.
K: How do you feel about the other people in your current fandom(s).
L: Your favorite fanartist/author gives you one request, what do you ask for?
M: A person who got you into a fandom and what fandom they pulled you in to.
N: Your favorite fandom (for the people; not the thing you fangirl over).
O: Choose a song at random, what ship does it remind you of?
P: Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).
Q: A ship you’ve abandoned and why.
R: A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships.
S: What's a headcanon you have?
T: What are your favorite male/male ships or female/female ships?
U: What are your favorite male/female ships?
V: Do you have any 3-way ships? If so, what?
W: 5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms.
X: 3 OTPs from 3 different fandoms.
Y: A fandom you’re in but have no ships from.
Z: What's a ship that you want to ship publicly, but everyone on tumblr hates it so you keep your mouth shut about it?
penfold_x: (district 3)
Too adorable for words: Cardboard Box Office

wahwars


This couple is amazingly creative and fun. I also really like The Cradle of Doom and Goonies Never Say Cry.
penfold_x: (acknowledge your pain)
What getting a hotel room at the MediaWest*Con host hotel this year looked like:

penfold_x: (decline of civilization (sherlock))


Fortunately, I've only encountered this kind of static in Doctor Who, and I didn't think that was 'fake geek girl' so much as a gender-neutral relentless, obsessive street cred competition. Nevertheless, as geeky activities are a desperately uncool subculture in the US, you'd think we could all be kind to one another.
penfold_x: (evil pizza)
Spent quality time today texting [livejournal.com profile] mrwubbles about rate of decay in the human corpse.

crop
For science art!
penfold_x: (evil pizza)
Despite my misgivings about the hotel switch, I had a great time at MW*C 33.

Tea Time )

The New Hotel )

The Fun Stuff )

Even without packing the con with panels and workshops, it still seemed to fly by. Although there were a few problems with hotel, I had a great time and am eagerly looking forward to next year.
penfold_x: (organization (holmes))
I'm in the process of tearing my house apart as I declutter and re-organize in anticipation of hopefully redecorating my house in a style beyond Impoverished Law Student (a subset of the Broke Period). Per usual, I'm having difficulty sorting through two categories of items: mementos of events and media (exactly where my fannish hobbies collide).

Donating or tossing mainstream books and music is fairly easy, now that the internet and the digital revolution have exponentially lowered the cost of storing vast amounts of media and locating replacement hard copies of even out-of-print books and music. Exactly how many copies of the Holmes canon do I need, anyway? (Turns out the answer is three.*) Can I donate those official tie-in novels that I didn't enjoy very much for a recent fandom I'm no longer really into? Absolutely. Fan-created media is a different story. My fanzine collection is the one thing I currently track and organize in excruciating detail. Even with websites and email groups dedicated to selling and trading fanzines, it can be very difficult to replace a zine I toss or sell, so I just shrug and clear another shelf.

My grey area is less categorizable fandom notions. What to do with the boxes I have full of various trinkets: promotional items, key chains, magnets, stickers, patches, odd-sized photos, artwork? Some of them are rare or unusual (for example, a limited promotional item from Comic Con), some are fan-made and represent creativity and effort. Do you keep these types of items, and if so, how do you organize them?


Illustration of dilemma by Jim Hensen

I also need to make some decisions about whether I really want to collect certain items, such as cast photos, specialty magazines (many of which I had to purchase from foreign distributors and contain most of the available photos, information and interviews for pre-internet fandoms), clothing and games. My trouble with these items is that they also tend to cross into the other category that's difficult for me: mementos of events. I purchased the item at a convention, received it from a friend, or otherwise have particular memories (emotions) tied to it. My logic-brain says "This item doesn't need to be displayed in your home;" while my emotion-brain counters "But that's the Hebrew-language Episode One promotional disc [livejournal.com profile] gimmelgirl brought from Israel for you!"** I've decided to keep my convention programs: they're a great record of events I attended, the panels I participated in, the guests I saw, and (for MediaWest and Eclecticon) zines published, and blessedly easy to store. Everything else is... throwing a wrench into my plans to have all my items sorted by January 1.

*One copy of Baring-Gould, one copy of Klinger, and one easy-to-read trade paperback.
**Genuine example. Multiply this by scores. I'm currently considering just setting my house on fire.
penfold_x: (decline of civilization (sherlock))
MediaWest sent out a major announcement today: the con is moving to the Ramada down the street, which is smaller, both in overall number of rooms and, importantly, function space. Those who don't get into the host hotel will be offered a place at the Hampton Inn.

For more than ten years, I've done this con with the same group. For most of that time we were able to block rooms together at the host hotel. Then the con got involved (ostensibly to help), and our room blocks have been split up all over the hotel. I thought that was really the worst it could get, but now our group is half in one hotel and half in the other. Fortunately I don't have a zine to sell at this con, or I'd really be behind the eight ball.

Alas, the Ramada cannot guarantee MWC the full hotel. They have pre-existing reservations as well as standing commitments to the airlines to host flight crew. I certainly understand why the hotel is not going to risk that arrangement for a single convention, but those who attended Eclecticon in New Jersey will probably remember how problematic it was to share the hotel with mundanes. Not scaring pilots with all the slash stuff is just the beginning; I expect that it will take just a few non-fans to end the practice of propping doors open for all-hours visiting. Advertizing will probably be more restricted, meaning room dealing /parties will be more challenging. People stuck in the Hampton Inn are probably going to feel like second-class congoers. And my days of walking around the hotel in bare feet and pyjamas certainly are over.

The website update notes that the Ramada has less function space, so programming will be "scaled accordingly". I'm apprehensive as to what that means for panel discussions.
penfold_x: (what the?! (watson))
Oh, look, more fannish entitlement, destroying something nice. Who'da thought?
penfold_x: (home (john and sherlock))
Pyramids Press and Gold'n Lily Press are teaming up to present The Science of Deduction, an anthology of gen stories based on Sherlock, BBC’s modern day re-imagining of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic tales. Our central theme is the strong bonds of friendship and family between the Sherlock characters, especially John and Sherlock.

The Science of Deduction features 13 stories (230 pages) from some of the fandom's finest authors. The zine is professionally printed, perfect-bound (trade paperback), 6" x 9", with beautiful full-color cover art by [livejournal.com profile] myfieldnotes. Though we worked to get the look of the zine as close as possible to something you'd buy at a bookstore, it is a nonprofit, labor of love produced by fans, for fans. Like all Pyramids Press and Gold'n Lily Press zines, the stories are new (have not been previously published or appeared on the ‘net), gen (no slash or ship), and there are no deathfics. Ratings are G-R.



The Science of Deduction
The Kindest Word by Gillian Taylor and [livejournal.com profile] wendymr
Betwixt and Between by Ivy Tyson
Child’s Play by [livejournal.com profile] bendingsignpost
Green Grow the Rushes, O by A.J.Hall
Specific Performance by Rae666
Pawns to Checkmate by [livejournal.com profile] brate7
Shadow of the Falls by Jennifer Rickard [[livejournal.com profile] starjenni]
Nine Hours by Messageredacted
Gate Control Theory by [livejournal.com profile] dakfinv
The Midnight Oil by Yum@ [[livejournal.com profile] mrwubbles]
The Solitary Motorcyclist by AND
Nursery Rules by [livejournal.com profile] myfieldnotes
When the Light Shines Through by [livejournal.com profile] brate7

Teaser from "Gate Control Theory"
Teaser from "The Kindest Word"

The cost of the zine is $20. The Science of Deduction may be pre-ordered for pick-up at MediaWest*Con by emailing Yum@ at pyramidspress[at]gmail[dot]com. Please place MediaWest pre-orders by midnight EDT, May 23.

If you’re not attending MediaWest, you may order a copy at the Pyramids Press website to be mailed to you. Shipping charges vary based on your location and method of shipping.

If you have any questions, please email Yum@ at pyramidspress[at]gmail[dot]com
penfold_x: (shut your face (cabin pressure))
LJ has begun rolling out changes to the comment system, as part of a larger upcoming site redesign. [livejournal.com profile] wendymr describes the changes and implications to fandom here. I use a customized S2 style, so apparently the changes don't apply to my personal journal (yet), but I do participate in fandom prompt memes and other comms that use elements of the comment system that have been disappeared. Thus far, I am not happy with the changes, but I'm especially not happy with how dismissive LJ representatives seem to be of users' expressed concerns (see, e.g., this news update, in which LJ fails to acknowledge the subject line issue, even just to say "We've considered your feedback, but are not going to make any changes.").

There have been a lot of complaints about the DDOS attacks. I'm sympathetic regarding the assaults LJ has endured, and consider riding out the DDOS my contribution to supporting freedom of speech in a quasi-oligarchy. Re-designing the site in a manner that ignores the feedback of current (especially paying) users is, to me, another thing altogether.

I've been a paid user of LJ for over ten years. I'd really rather not move off of LJ. Many of my fandom activities are LJ-centered. Most of the comms I enjoy are here. I'd really rather work with LJ to figure out what changes really are going to benefit users and how site changes can be rolled out with minimum disruption for all. Unfortunately, right now, I'm not getting the sense that LJ wants the same things.

In the meantime, I've registered a Dreamwidth account for my username. If you've got some advice about how to best execute a backup of my journal without accidentally unlocking old posts or otherwise messing up my current settings, I'd appreciate it. If things on LJ get too hairy, I plan to use the mirror update feature at DW I see some of my friends using, and let this account lapse into basic status.

In other backup-related news, please ignore any texts or emails I may have sent you about how Delicious has been restoring old functionality. Sadly, the restoration was short-lived. Delicious has gone back to forcing a picture-laden, white space-heavy format on users, while removing bulk edit functions and minimizing the ability to navigate via tags. Like LJ, Delicious seems to think the future is lots of pretty pictures with a minimum of text. Eventually, the entire Internet is going to look like a celebrity gossip magazine.

I've signed up for Pinboard, using my Delicious username. I'll set my Pinboard and Delicious to mirror each other, for the forseeable future. I like having all of my fic recs organized and easily sortable (text-heavy Pinboard seems like the best current provider for this function), but I also really enjoy using the social aspects of Delicious to discover other reccers with similar tastes, so I'm going to try for the best of both worlds.

I won't be maintaining the Diigo account. Diigo imported all of my bookmarks with the original settings--not surprising, since most of my recs run along the lines of "Sherlock is scratched by a kitten; John puts a bandaid on his wound and then they talk about their friendship." However, Diigo appears to have severe link description restrictions (incompatible with the degree to which I want to squee about certain stories), and Diigo's content restrictions don't work for those with more catholic tastes (effectively torpedoing the social aspect of reccing).

Batten down the hatches, ladies and gents.
penfold_x: (smiley mycroft)
Back from MediaWest, where a good time (and many a pancake) was had by all!

Everything's Better When You Start With Tea )

Sherlock Pwns the Con )

Door Decorations )

Extreme Weather: More Fun to Write About than to Live Through )

Overall, attendance seemed down. Though some of that might be due to the weather, with the Internet provides a lot of the content and interaction that used to be provided by cons, it seems likely that trend will continue. However, as much as I enjoy my fannish hobbies, for me, MW*C is more about the friendships I have made over the past decade, and I expect I'll keep going as long as we're having fun.
penfold_x: (defending the earth)
Completely awesome 13-minute "trailer" for a Third Doctor adventure, by a talented and dedicated fan. Three lands in near-future Japan, presumably on the hunt for the Master. Daleks andCybermen arrive with separate dastardly plans, and proceed to give Tokyo the Godzilla treatment. Contains some nods to anime conventions and serials (probably more than I actually caught). What are The Brig and an American detachment from UNIT doing in Tokyo? How are Delgado!Master and Ainley!Master working together? Was that a Sontoran? Don't ask stupid questions, and just enjoy the swordfight:

penfold_x: (smily sherlock)
I am thrilled to see a number of Sherlock panels on the final grid for this year's MediaWest*Con! Unfortunately, I haven't seen any premiering fanzines advertised, but I have high hopes for the vid competition.

FRIDAY
2-3pm, University 1: Sherlock Holmes: An enduring legend. From Conan Doyle through Rathbone and Brett to Downey and Cumberbatch – why Sherlock Holmes still captivates us.
3-4pm, University 1: Sherlock H/C Recs: Sharing your favorite Sherlock H/C fanfics.
4-5pm, University 4: Sherlock: Autistic, sociopathic, or just rude?
5-6pm, University 1: Benedict Cumberbatch: With a name like Cumberbatch, he has to be good!
[Video premieres at 8pm]

SATURDAY
5-6pm, Ballroom C: Sherlock: It was like the miniseries was written just for us! What pushed your buttons about the modern day reboot of the world's greatest detective?

SUNDAY
12-1pm, Ballroom D: Sherlock: Welcome to the 21st Century, Mr. Holmes. Was Sherlock made to live in the information age? (/)
4-5pm, University 3: Sherlock: General discussion.

I'm particularly excited about the Sherlock h/c fic recs panel! The usual gang from the Supernatural h/c fic recs panel will be there, laptops out, ready to do look-ups and confirmations throughout the panel, so be sure to bring your laptop and a list of stories to share.

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