Between my various paid accounts, I still have several of LJ's $10.00 off coupons to give to people. If you have a Basic or Plus account and would like to upgrade it to Paid on the cheap, let me know either with a comment here or in IM and I'll get one to you! The offer ends at midnight tonight, Pacific time, so you have just under 13 hours to ask. You can use the coupons anytime before midnight PST on January 31st, so no hurry there.

ETA: I just double-checked, and I have better than forty of the things to give out. So don't be shy!

Last night my subconscious decided to serve up a dream about people playing Minesweeper. As an Olympic sport.

Brane, what are you even?!!!

First and most importantly, thank you! Yuletide is one of my very favorite fannish events of the year, so thank you for participating and *MWAH* to you for writing me a story.

By now you've had a little time to mull over your assignment, and have no doubt decided where on the scale between adoration and loathing I fall for requesting whichever of my fandoms matches up with your offerings. Whether you're quivering with anticipation, dread or something in between, I offer you the same reassurance I gave last year's writer: I'm easy.

( Almost a fic-slut, really ... )

And if at all possible ... HAVE FUN!

First off, I swiped the Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test from nnaylime:

( This was kind of unexpected... )

And secondly, Yuletide signups are open until 9:00 pm US EST, Thursday, November 12th! You do NOT have to have participated in the fandom nomination phase to sign up to write and receive a fic, but if you did participate, better sign up. If anyone has questions about the signup process, let me know!

And in case I didn't say the word enough, SIGNUP SIGNUP SIGNUP SIGNUP SIGNUP!

I have found a comm perfect for anyone who hasn't quite worked up the yayas to tackle NaNoWriMo on November 1st. You commit to only ten minutes a day, and you can whinge about those ten minutes as much as you like!

Check out wrisomifu!

You have to request an invite to join the comm (instructions are on the profile page), but they're taking all requests until midnight of October 31st.


Oh, and in other news, my AIM buddy list came back from ... somewhere. I dunno, but I'm not complaining.

There are just over 24 hours left to get small fandom nominations in for the Yuletide fic exchange! Check out my previous post for everything you need to get you started. Go forth, my flist, and nominate for great justice!

What did I choose for my six noms? Well may you ask! I added Heat of the Sun, James Alan Gardener - Expendable Universe, James White - Sector General novels (first time they've been nommed!), Jonathan Creek, Keen Eddie and RA MacAvoy - The Grey Horse. I was delighted to find that almost all of the rest of my list of potential nominees had already been put up by someone else; hopefully they'll all still be there once the deadline passes. Will I pick four of the above for my fic requests, or will others claim the spots? Only time will tell.

And you just knew I'd be posting about it, right? ;)

Yuletide Nominations are open through 8:59 pm US Eastern time on Tuesday, October 20th. The Yuletide Small Fandom Fic Exchange is tons of fun every year, a wonderful chance to give a little fic-love to rare fandoms (and their fans) and a happy way to give and get a little something nice during the holiday season. So nominate and participate!

ONLY fandoms that get nominated will be available to request or write for during the exchange, and you can nominate up to six. Please don't nominate unless you plan to sign up and write something.

• http://yuletidetreasure.org/nominations/nominate_fandoms.cgi - the nomination form itself. Please read carefully!



• http://yuletidetreasure.org/get_nominated_fandoms.cgi - the list of fandoms nominated so far. Check this to see if any of your fandoms have already been nominated. This list will grow and change as new nominations are added, and sometimes people do change their minds!



• http://yuletidetreasure.org/faq.shtml#assemble - the Yuletide FAQ section that deals with questions about nominating.



• yuletide_admin - the admin/mod journal for the exchange. The general community is yuletide.



• http://yuletidetreasure.org/past_yuletide_charlist.txt - the Master Fandom List of all fandoms that have been nominated in past Yuletides, including the characters in each.

Any questions? Comment here! Email or PM me! Consider me your Yuletide gateway resource, here to help and encourage. <3 <3 <3

Time to hunt down a new Yuletide icon. This one's out of date ...

Stephen Fry is starring in a BBC production called "Last Chance to See", where he and zoologist Mark Carwardine search out animals on the edge of extinction. One particular snippet I just HAVE to share (and thank you, Heather, for pointing out the YouTube):

Haven't done one in a while...

( My Interests Collage! )

There are several where I clicked through all the possible pics and still have no idea. *snrk* Guess I'll have to look them up.

Search Position Tracking

Hope you've had a damn good one, hon!

Okay, I indulged myself a little today and picked up the Best Buy exclusive set of BSG 4.5 DVDs. Hey, they were on sale!

Of course that means I also got ( these: )

*plinks them happily* Wish I could have gotten a better picture.

Oh, and if any of you looked at the back of the DVD box where it said "Chain not included", just IGNORE THAT. The chain is very much included. Someone didn't take a close enough look at the packaged dogtags when they designed the box.

If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Which perfume oil should I get? They're Nocturne Alchemy, for anyone curious.

Poll #1409716
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 22

I should get the oil that smells like:

Yes, I am a foody scent fiend. However could you guess?

One of my flisters (thank you sjwashere) made a thought-provoking post about a controversy that recently happened concerning an Australian show about advertising called The Gruen Transfer. One segment of the show, called "The Pitch", challenges two different advertising agencies to come up with an ad based on a "difficult sell" concept. Donating money to super-wealthy CEOs, keeping Cane Toads as pets, living next to a nuclear reactor ... that sort of thing. Oftentimes the results are silly; sometimes they are serious.

This week, the two agencies were asked to come up with ads selling the idea of "Fat Pride", addressing shape discrimination in Australia. The government-funded ABC network that runs The Gruen Transfer deemed one of the resulting two ads acceptable to be shown to the viewing public. The other was declared "a breach of ABC Editorial Policy" and denied a chance to be broadcast, though they did consent for it to be placed on a separate website with an explanation and content disclaimers to facilitate discussion and debate.

You can see the first ad here. It presents the concept that fat people are helping Australia's economy by consuming more goods and resources.

The second ad does contain ugly, discriminatory jokes about race, homosexuality and religion as well as body size. You can watch it here. ETA: I forgot to mention that this video also includes a debate and discussion on the reasoning behind the ad, including explanations from the ad's creator.

For any of you who do not already know, I am (as medical professionals delight in writing on my charts) "morbidly obese". After watching both ads, ( I left the following three comments on antiprejudicead.net )

So. Obviously I've made my take on this subject fairly clear. Feel free to comment, discuss and express your opinions whether they agree with mine or not.