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Calvin and Hobbes for Wednesday, December 16, 2009

I have once again thrown my hat into the Holiday Love Meme! Please say wonderful and nice things about me. I had a bad day at work (there were tears).

But my bad day at work was balanced out by a phone call I received during dinner.

On Saturday, I had auditioned for DeathPlay, the next Thunderbird show. It was about two theatre companies fighting to the death for the last theatre space in town. Out of the six people in the slot, only three of us showed up, which meant we all got to read a lot. It was very fun, although I had to overcome the fact that my partners couldn't read sides very well.

I GOT IN. I WAS CAST. I HAVE NOT BEEN IN A SHOW IN SIX YEARS. UNLESS YOU COUNT AMWA SKITS.

I didn't get the part I really wanted—it went to someone who'll be awesome, though—but I will be playing one of a pair of union stagehands who function as the Greek chorus or the Fools. I think it's the smallest part in the play, but there are no small parts, only small actors! And besides, there really aren't any small parts in a Thunderbird show. Everyone has a good time.

---

On Saturday, after the audition and before Writers with Drinks, Seanan (cadhla) and I wandered the Mission looking for dinner. Seanan is a picky eater, so the default taquería suggestion wouldn't fly. We came across Cafe La Boheme on 24th. They appeared to serve food that was palatable to both of us, but there were no free tables. There was one table, however, that was empty but for one cute girl reading a book. She looked Middle Eastern, Persian or Iranian.

Seanan asked if we could sit with her, and she said it was okay. I noticed she was reading Player Piano, by Kurt Vonnegut. She had just started. I had just been at a used bookstore and passed on a Vonnegut title. I asked her if she'd gotten it from Abandoned Planet. She said she'd gotten it from Borderlands, which we had just come from. I told her I had been looking at a Vonnegut but couldn't remember the title. I asked to see inside her book for a list of titles to jog my memory, but none did. (I think it was The Sirens of Titan.) I said I'd only read Slaughterhouse-Five but wanted to read more, and she was in the same situation, hence the book.

Seanan recommended I read Cat's Cradle and explained the premise, which she said made her think for the first time that there were some things science shouldn't do. I said I was watching Dollhouse and thinking the same thing.

The girl commented, "That was canceled, right?" A cute girl who read Vonnegut and knew about Dollhouse! Huh. I think at this point, she had given up all pretense of trying to read while we carried on a conversation a foot away from her and instead began conversing with us. She asked us if we knew any good music venues. Oh, there were many! We flipped through the SFWeekly looking for shows. She liked indie rock.

As it turned out, she was from out of town. Like, from France. And she was in town for a geophysics conference! A cute French geophysicist who read Vonnegut, liked indie rock, and knew about Dollhouse. I tell you, I am amazed that I was able to talk to her without stumbling over my words. Her name was Selene.

Since she was staying near Union Square, I told her about the glass elevator in the Westin St. Francis. I also invited her to Seanan's reading and told her how to get to the Make-Out Room. She was going to meet up with some of her colleagues and see what they were doing, but she said she might check it out. She put on her black fedora and bid us adieu (not literally, although she totally should have).

"Of all the places you should not invite cute French girls to," said Seanan, "the 'Make-Out Room' is at the top."

"That is my plan!" I cried. "I have not yet made out in the Make-Out Room. I am trying to rectify that."

Of course, she did not show up, and she is out there somewhere in San Francisco right now not making out with me.

Bear with me as I lead into this, because I have some philosophical ramblings about beauty products that guys (i.e., people who do not wear makeup and may not understand the appeal of cosmetics) may find interesting.

So. I have gift cards to Sephora, and also a promotional code from their newsletter that expires today, and then three free mini lip glosses as a birthday promotion, therefore: it's economy-boosting time. My on-and-off obsession with makeup, as previously documented here, is somewhat peculiar, given that I wear very little of it. I mean, number one: I don't leave the house much. I have sensitive problem skin, so there doesn't seem to be any point in irritating it with the constant application and removal of makeup that no one's going to see, you know? What I really love is trying out different colors, because if I wear anything, it tends to be eyeshadow and lip gloss--I really need to wear foundation and concealer, but honestly, when I do, all I look like is someone very obviously wearing foundation and concealer, so I figure the flawed natural look is preferable at that point, and I'll just have fun with my favorite eyeshadow palettes (Hard Candy's Suede and Star). Hence the recent fixation on Aromaleigh, because the samples are so cheap that I can play all I want, and I'm hearing from other patrons that their face powders do a really good job of blending and disappearing, so I'm going to get samples of those and see if I can finally achieve the no-makeup makeup look ("Like you, only better!").

As for why girls--some girls--get so obsessed with makeup, even someone like me who rarely wears it, I can tell you very simply: ( Yes, but it's a badass lavender )


(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

It's time for a high-speed quizzing extravaganza! I know you've missed out on a lot of quiz consistency this past month, and that's a true shame. We'll make up for it right now, this week, with action-packed ADRENALINE!

The next four days will have four quizzes with four questions, one quiz a day. You have TWENTY-FOUR HOURS to take your best shot, because the answers will be up and running the next day. No time to snooze! The heat is on!

(I've been in Kenya for a little while, so I've got a lot of energy stored up for this. Let's go!)

1. Who are Reed Richards, Susan Richards, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm?

2. British politician Edmund Burke supposedly referred to the press or journalism as what?

3. The musical pieces in the first third of Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'invenzione are commonly called what?

4. What weapon does Clint Eastwood's character use in the movie "Dirty Harry"?

5. You're only getting four presents for Christmas this year. What would you like them to be?

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Calvin and Hobbes for Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Title: The Death of an Irish Devil
Author: master0ffear
Prompt: 281: Entourage
Characters: Simm!Master, 10th Doctor
Warning: Death of a beloved Irish actor -sniffles-
Disclaimer: Don't own a single thing.

( Have you seen 'Batman Begins?' )

So, this week the CW is having a VAMPIRE DIARIES MARATHON. Two episodes every night for the whole week (thus burning through all currently aired episodes) in a bit of marketing blitz for their new ~*~top earner~*~. I approve of this. SO HARD.

I approved even more of how they showed a promo for the new episodes in January after the pilot and 1x02 tonight.



( I AM HAVING SOME FEELINGS )

So many feelings omg.

I am thinking of actually acknowledging the fandom's existence (such as it is) omg help me. ONCE I GO THERE IT CAN NEVER BE UNDONE.

So. Today. Thirty-one. I was depressed (not about the number itself) and that was stupid but there it is.

(Also, the day started out really crappy. "PUT HIS ASS ON THE PHONE!")

I will say, there is one thing I feel very strongly about on birthdays, and that is: it is very important that you blow out all your candles in one breath, for thus shall you have good luck all the next year! Which is why I get UTTERLY CHAGRINED when people put the same number of candles on the cake as you are years old, because when you're seven that's awesome, but when you're thirty-one, that's just basically a giant NO LUCK FOR YOU. I just don't have the lung capacity to deal with those kind of numbers, people. "Can we just get two candles in the shape of a 3 and a 1?" I asked desperately. So after I explained why I wanted fewer candles, we compromised and just put them on my piece:

( I'M A REBEL )

So it was a quiet day; we had just my grandmother over for lunch rather than any kind of Entire Family thing. I don't know. I'm just getting to be a huge baby about not wanting to do anything for my birthday--what I want to figure out is what I feel so bad about. What is it that I actually want that I'm not getting? I'm throwing myself a giant pity party, but what's the occasion? Because you can't go about fixing a problem, about getting what you want, if you don't know what that is. And I just don't know.

Anyway. I'm still slowly replacing my music collection--I might be able to recover it when I'm sure I can afford to take Betsy into the shop after Christmas shopping is done, but I'm not counting on it--so I went and bought my two favorite Pretenders songs, "Night in My Veins" and "Love Colours." Coincidentally, I got that CD for my--16th birthday? I think that's the one it was. I wore that CD to pieces, which is why I can't rip it to Lizzie now. So, fifteen years later, here we are on iTunes.

Something else I bought on a whim off eBay just happened to arrive today, and I am counting it as a birthday present to myself because it is pretty much the best thing ever. Seriously, I think opening the packet and taking it out was the only thing that made me laugh all day. I paid the princely sum of $13.13 for it, and it will be a long time before I am able to work it into The Secret Life of Dolls, but you will die, all of you will absolutely die when you see it.


(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

⇒ credit dreconcarne or dreadable
⇒ no hotlinking, please.
⇒ enjoy!

[230] Superboy

1	2	3

MORE @ dreconcarne

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Calvin and Hobbes for Monday, December 14, 2009

( one emoticon for the Dexter S4 finale )


...first crosspost! wooooooooo

I've just put up a mini-post of 6 icons each of Damian Wayne as Robin and Stephanie Brown as Batgirl here at my graphics journal. Snurchable with comment & credit of course.

Samples?

I saw a stage production of A Christmas Carol today. I love Dickens, I will always love A Christmas Carol. Even if they don't do smoking tricks in it.

A couple months ago at the AMWA conference in Dallas, I made a couple friends nom de plumed Jimmy Pop and Pogo. We had similar musical tastes, and Jimmy Pop even remarked that he really wanted to see Muse live, as I did. So when I discovered that they were headlining Not So Silent Night, we were on those tickets like brown on rice. Rick (ellric) was also in since I had turned him into a Muse fan at an Interpol concert. Plus, with Muse, we would get AFI, 30 Seconds to Mars, Vampire Weekend, and Metric, all bands who had songs I liked. We paid a little extra to get floor seats.

I got to Oracle Arena a little before 5:30 and stood in the first line I saw, assuming it was the line to get in. The show was scheduled to start at 6:15, and I thought the doors would have opened already but not so much. The weather was crappy, and Jimmy Pop and Pogo were running late since they were driving. Rick joined me soon enough, however. Someone gave us free Monster booster shots.

Ten minutes later, I heard a security guy shouting some very disconcerting words, and I went closer to hear him more clearly and, uh, he had been saying what I thought he had been saying: we were in the wrong line. I called Rick over, and we walked to the South Entrance, which is where the GA line was. We found the South Entrance, which was where the GA line...started. So we walked all the way back to find the end of the line. I wonder what our place in line would have been if I had found the right line when I'd arrived. Ah well. They started letting us in pretty soon, and we downed our Monster drinks since no food or drink was allowed. It tasted like cough syrup. And Big Red. And something nasty. But I had never had one and wanted to see what it would do to me. I'm not sure whether I really felt any effects, but I certainly never got tired or sleepy, so it might have helped.

Umbrellas weren't allowed, which was totally lame on a rainy night, but I suppose they were afraid the Penguin was a big Muse fan. At least you could check them in for a dollar.

A man scanned our $74 tickets, and we were let inside, where we then received a wristband. We bypassed the concessions and merch table and entered the arena, where local band Scene of Action was playing. To my delight, there were hardly any people on the floor. Rick and I high-fived. There had seemed to be way more people in line, but we secured a spot only nine or ten rows of people from the stage. Rick estimated we were about 25 feet away. The problem was that Jimmy Pop (and his roommate) and Pogo (and her sister and co-workers) had not arrived, and there wouldn't be room for all of them eventually.

A bigger problem was that at about 6:24, nine minutes after the show was supposed to have started, Scene of Action finished their set. ...What? Surely their set was longer than one-and-a-half songs. This meant Metric was going to come on pretty damn soon. Come on, Jimmy Pop! Come on, Pogo! You can make it!

They didn't.

( Metric! )

( Vampire Weekend! )

( 30 Seconds to Mars! )

( AFI! )

( Muse! )

As we passed the East Entrance, a woman handed us cards. I glanced at it. And freaked the fuck out.

Muse and Silversun Pickups, April 14, Cow Palace.

Holy shit, usually those cards they give out go right in the trash! Oh, we are so going.