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May 15th, 2008
| 09:37 am - Test
It seems to be that updating via the web is no longer enabled. How long until the site disappears?
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April 6th, 2008
| 10:40 am - Ending Mirroring.
I do feel that Greatestjournal is pretty much finished and so I am ending my mirroring here and posting to Insanejournal.
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April 4th, 2008
| 03:27 pm - It's Friday and I fancied a meme.
Crys is still home getting the drugs out of his system. Poor love.
I've not been feeling motivated towards reading the last couple of days, instead doing a fair amount of television watching and of course hanging about with Crys. Just had a lovely sesame bagel with pastrami, tomato and a little mustard for lunch. Very yummy.
Austen meme as seen on ![[info]](http://img.greatestjournal.com/userinfo.gif) bird_mom's LJ:
You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.
Take the Quiz here!
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April 3rd, 2008
| 05:54 pm - The Empire Top 50 TV Show Meme
Empire Magazine has revealed its list of the "50 Greatest TV Shows" ever. So, of course, LJ-ers leaped upon the opportunity and made it into a meme.
1. Bold the shows you've watched every episode of
2. Italic the shows you've seen at least one episode of
3. Post your answers
( My list! )
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April 2nd, 2008
| 11:33 pm - Robin's New Ring and Other Wednesday Stuff.
Last night Febs brought over some milk. It had a ring top. Now I have no idea where Robin's old rings have gone to; maybe he has a secret cache of rings tucked away. We don't throw them away as they seem to be like cat toys to him. Anyway, he was delighted with this new one and started playing with it immediately. However, come bed time he started his usual yowling as he carried the ring upstairs. Robin is normally such a quiet cat but when he gets a ring suddenly he starts making a lot of noise as he transports it from place to place. Only plastic rings elicit this response from him.
We headed into town this morning as Crys had one of his days off. We had a few things to pick up and also planned to have one of those lovely traditional breakfasts for a brunch. I could really tell afterwards that the low fat diet I've been on has effected my taste buds and digestion. It really felt like lead on my tummy all afternoon. I just ate light for the rest of the day.
Crys sorted out our home network making it secure following hils' experience with folk free-loading on her internet connection. One of the things we realised recently from the downstairs laptop is how many wireless networks were in range. Anyway, now we are all locked up. I'm not expecting any neighbours to come knocking. :)
Rest of the day just hung out with Crys and watched a lot of Medium. We've now re-watched those episodes we saw ages ago and are into fresh territory for us both in Season 2.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://img.greatestjournal.com/mood/goku_san/chao/Okay.gif) okay
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April 1st, 2008
March 31st, 2008
| 11:09 pm - Day of Unwellness
Just had a day of feeling just 'off' and spent most of it in bed and reading a book that needed to be returned to the library today. Crys kindly offered to go for me and while there 2 further books that I had requested. For some strange reason their computer isn't showing the money I owe for reservation fees. I suppose I shouldn't complain but next time I go in I shall take a print-out of the web page that shows I do.
Of course, Robin gave me a lot of attention throughout the day.
Anyway, off to bed for anther early night as I feel a little feverish. Hopefully I will be perkier tomorrow.
Current Music: BBC - Damages
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March 30th, 2008
| 02:13 am - The Time Thief Strikes Again!
I was sitting here all innocent when suddenly an hour passed in the space of a second.
No, not a timey-whimey anomaly but the start of British Summer Time.
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March 29th, 2008
| 08:00 am - Stingray!!
During the years we lived on Key Biscayne off the Miami coast, I was a total waterbaby despite an awareness that there were some pretty dangerous things in the waters. Still being in the water and on the water are quite different experiences and never felt that vulnerable when in a decent sized boat. However. a recent news item from the 21st that cleolinda linked to caught my eye:
Leaping Ray Kills Boater. Yep, the bloody thing leapt out of the water and smacked her in the face! OK it was freak accident and all and the Spotted Eagle Ray with a 5-6 ft wing-span wasn't out to get her but still a little reminiscent of the ecological thriller The Swarm!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://img.greatestjournal.com/mood/goku_san/chao/Sore.gif) sore
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March 28th, 2008
| 12:08 pm - What we've been watching. (a TV Post)
Last weekend we said goodbye to the wonderful Lark Rise to Candleford. When this gentle series premiered the Radio Times said about it 'nothing much happens'. However, this seemed to be part of its appeal. Set in the Oxfordshire rural hamlet of Lark Rise and the nearby market town of Candleford at the end of the 19th Century, it was beautifully realised and ended up being a surprise ratings winner.
For me the portrayal of Dorcus Lane by Julia Sawalha was just so moving especially her love for Sir Timothy, that had to be suppressed for all kinds of reasons. Part of me wanted them to run off together but that would never happen. It was duty first on both sides. Article about Julia Sawalha, The Times 21st March 2008.
We were both so happy to hear that a second series has been commissioned for 2009.
We also watched The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which was Anthony Minghella's last project before his recent death. Adapted from the first of Alexander McCall Smith's novels it got pretty savaged by the critics including The Guardian whose reviewer called it 'twee, quaint and shallow' (Full Review). I guess this is why Crys and I woke up to the clock radio the next day with people calling in saying that the critics were idiots and they loved it.
The Making of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency - The Times and Africa Sings So Pretty by Jill Scott, who plays the lead Precious Ramotswe.
We loved it too - yes, it is light-hearted but so are the novels. Something perhaps easy to take pot shots at because it isn't showing Africa in the same way Blood Diamond does. Still there was menace under the surface especially in the case of the missing child and the native witchcraft case. We were so pleased to hear that it is to become a series in 2009.
I actually did watch Blood Diamond on Monday evening while Crys had the lads over. Bit of a contrast starting to watch No 1 Ladies and then that. I found it an excellent though harrowing film. Why it was not nominated for Best Film in the Oscars for its year I don't know.
We've also been watching Moonlight on Living and finally getting around to watching Medium. Both Crys and I are preferring it to Ghost Whisperer as there is more to it that 'ghost of the week needing to cross over'. Plus, Jennifer Love Hewitt's wardrobe does get silly sometimes and distracts attention from the show.
During the day I am watching a lot of Scrubs - shows on Paramount and E4 are totally in different seasons but like Friends, Frasier and Will & Grace not really an issue.
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| 09:46 am - Eastercon Part 3: Religion in SF Panel and end of the day.
At 17:00 we then headed to the panel on religion in SF. There was some confusion about which room it was being held in. It gave us a chance to reflect on how organised we'd been at The Wrap Party in comparison. No one at Ops seemed to know the correct room. I could clearly see part of the Royal Suite was set up for a panel and the room they insisted it would be in was totally shambolic. Finally it started in the room I had thought it would.
It was a little strange because it felt like the panel was a little too weighted having 3 proclaimed atheists on the panel. This equated to one self-described 'radial atheist', whose approach to any depiction of religion in SF was anger unless it was a case of religion and those following a faith being mocked; another chap who was also atheist but didn't mind religion and put some into his own writing; and finally a woman raised Sikh but who was now pretty much an atheist though still was wavering a bit but wouldn't call herself an agnostic. There was also a woman who started off CofE, became a Catholic and then a Wiccan and now said she followed the religion of 'Motherhood' and finally a Muslim woman who was doing her PhD on religion in SF&F *but* who wasn't very familiar with the SF genre.
( A little about the discussions )
On the way out I managed to have a word with the writer who had briefly been a Wiccan and asked her whether she knew of any SF works in which Wicca had featured. We had a bit of a giggle about 'Wiccans in Space' and she quite unabashedly said she might pinch the idea.
After the panel we met up with David and Morgan and Hugh joined us a few moments later. They were sitting with a nice chap who was an actor (have totally blanked his name). Hugh had a helium balloon and accidentally let it go. His little face as he watched it drift up to the ceiling was so sad. He naturally broke into tears and was inconsolable. There was a chap wandering about with a huge Cthulhu plushie backpack who wandered over and we ended up having a chat with him. I love that at events like this - sort of random meetings because of shared interests.
All too soon we had to say goodbye as we had a long journey with hungry cats at the other end. When we stopped for coffee on the M1 there was also one of those way too tempting M&S Motorway shops and I picked up a couple of their interesting salads for my lunch in the week.
We had a tremendous time and there were so many items on the programme that we wanted to attend. We resolved that we would attend Eastercon 2009 next Easter and booked it immediately. The Redemption 09 Multimedia SF Convention is being held in nearby Coventry so we may go there too if the programme looks worth it as it develops.
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March 27th, 2008
| 11:26 pm - Finally..
I've been really thrown today by the threat of malware on my computer. After some very long remote virus scans finally I am registering no Trojans/malware. The site suggested another full scan to ensure though Crys says they always advise that. I probably will do another during the day tomorrow. Virgin has been a little temperamental tonight as well.
Well while I was waiting these scans out out I managed to read an extra book aside from the March selection for the library group that was held tonight. Rather a silly book and not my usual fare but it will be fun to review. Anyway, shall write those up along with review of the evening tomorrow or Saturday.
I'm so far behind this week I haven't even updated my Blog365 summary for last week. I've added a few items to my Google Desktop 'To Do' List so I don't forget what I intended to write about.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://img.greatestjournal.com/mood/goku_san/chao/Relieved.gif) relieved
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March 25th, 2008
March 24th, 2008
| 11:59 pm - Eastercon Part 2: Tanith Lee and Shopping.
I felt somewhat lost during Tanith Lee's session. You see while I had read many of her early works, I hadn't really kept up with what is an obvious huge body of work. I made a few scribbles of books I'd like to read of hers during the interview. I was interested in what she had to say about the writing process. She apparently had compared it to channelling in terms of allowing her characters to dictate their bits to her. Reminded me very much of soul bonding. She also was asked by the interviewer about reincarnation and her belief that she had lived during the French Revolution, which inspired her historical novel The Gods Are Thirsty. She skirted a bit on the subject saying she had believed that at one time and did generally believe in reincarnation. She gave the impression she had done a fair amount of inner exploration. Amazed that she still uses longhand and a manual typewriter!
Crys joined me after this session ended and we went off for lunch. morgangallagher has written about the lack of disabled access at the hotel. They seemed to determined to make access to food difficult for people in wheelchairs! In order to get lunch we had to negotiate up a wobbly ramp. I chose to walk up the steps instead. Luckily I am able to do that but others can't. Likewise the dealer's room had too narrow aisles. Choice wasn't that great for a late lunch. I ended up with a baked potato with tuna & sweetcorn with a naughty sprinkle of cheese. It wasn't a day I could be as good as usual regarding my diet programme and had to guestimate.
We then headed for the Dealer's Room again and met a nice chap selling wonderful wooden carved Celtic birthday trees. He was wearing a Pagan Federation T-shirt so we had a chat about the PF and things Celtic. We then bumped into David, Morgan's husband. This was great as we'd been hoping to meet up with he and Morgan and so far throughout the day hadn't. We chatted for a bit and made plans to meet up at the Religion in SF panel at 5pm.
We then did another circuit of the Dealer's Room and I spotted a stall tucked away in the corner with some witchy things and pounced on a lovely little sculpture of hare with leaf and moon motifs. While I was looking for my card, I then spotted an item in the same range, a little chest with a pentagram on the front and ivy leaves all over. At each end was waxing, waning and full moon motif with three aspects of the Goddess (Maiden, Mother and Crone). So bought the two for my study.
( Pictures of the Goodies )
On the way to the Religion in SF panel we bumped into Morgan and had hugs and again confirmed plans to meet up before we left for home. I will postpone the rest of the day for Part 3 tomorrow.
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March 23rd, 2008
| 01:41 pm - White Easter.
elizabeth_uk posted a number of Easter Wonderland photos from the BBC photo page. So I decided to post a few too.
elizabeth_uk posted this one as well. Still an Easter bunny snowman was irresistible.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://img.greatestjournal.com/mood/goku_san/chao/Cold.gif) cold
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| 09:45 am - Eastercon (Part One): The journey down and first half of the day.
I look out my study window this morning to find everything covered in snow! It looks more like a Christmas winter wonderland scene than an Easter spring one. We had a brilliant time at Eastercon but rather than try to do all in one post, I'll split it up into three parts including one dedicated to the art show, which was fab. If we'd been around for the whole weekend I would have been tempted to bid on a couple of pieces.
We set off in good time, just after 7am allowing for a 30 minute stop on the trip that Google Map suggested was about 1.75 hours. I wanted to arrive before 10am so to catch the first item on the main programme, The Use of Mythology in Fantasy. This session was a panel of fantasy authors, including Neil Gaiman, speaking about attraction of including established mythologies in their works and what responsibility do they feel towards the source material. Given my interest in mythology I really wanted to see this.
We listened to Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, which was hilarious. Just after 8am we stopped for coffee at services on the M1. At that point it started to snow, a flurry though not the predicted blizzard. It didn't settle. We continued to make good time with very little traffic even on the M25 and at 9:20 turned off the M4 for the final part of the journey to the hotel. We didn't bring Lucy, Crys' portable satellite navigation system, because the route seemed so straightforward I didn't think we needed it. However, it wasn't and I got us in a terrible tangle trying to follow the directions. I got very upset after 20 minutes of this and finally had Crys call the hotel for directions after 30 minutes. We were only minutes away and arrived at the hotel just after 10. With registration didn't manage to slip into the back of the hall until about 10:30, when the session had moved onto questions and answers.
It was still worthwhile but I would have loved to have been there for the whole thing without the residual stress from the last part of the journey in my system. After the session we had a wander about and had our first visit to the Dealer's Room. While most people were good about getting out of the way of my wheelchair, one woman totally ignored my saying three times 'excuse us' and then gave me the dirtiest look when we tried to go round her and accidentally clipped her foot with the wheel. We then shared a quick cup of tea and a tuna sandwich because we both wanted to attend back-to-back sessions and figured we then have a late lunch at 3:30ish. We also took in the changes to the Raddison Edwardian since our stay there in 1998 for The Wrap Party. We also visited the Art Show.
The next session started at 12:30 and again was a panel session with Neil Gaiman and others titled Fantastic London. This time rather than slipping in I got a wheelchair space in the front row though Crys had to sit further back. It was a brilliant session with the panel talking about the use of London in SF/F in books and TV/films as well as taking questions. After the session, Crys headed off for a panel on Global Warming, while I stayed put for the Guest of Honour interview with Tanith Lee.
As Neil passed by me on the way out I managed to pass on a greeting from angelislington, who hadn't been able to attend. He smiled and said mine was the third 'hi' from her he'd received. He came across as a really sweet man and I guess now I can say I have briefly met him. Thanks Nevvie because otherwise I would have been too shy to say anything to him.
Anyway, shall continue with the rest of the day later on. I want Crys to take some shots of the beautiful things I bought at one of the stalls as well as of our Minbear, who received a lot of attention from folk.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://img.greatestjournal.com/mood/goku_san/chao/Chipper.gif) chipper
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March 22nd, 2008
| 06:31 am - Inner Dialogue
Sleepy Self: mmmm why is my computer so slow this morning? *poke* *poke*
Snarky Inner Voice: might have something to do with your currently downloading four BBC documentaries with iPlayer.
Sleepy Self: Oh *blushes* yes, I guess that might slow things down a bit.
I woke up about 6 and decided to madly catch up with LJ before the alarm goes off at 6:30 for Crys and I (and the Minbear) to head off to Heathrow. So yes my computer's slowness has been a wee bit frustrating.
Not a day off for my computer as it can continue to work on those downloads without the distraction of me using the web.
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March 21st, 2008
| 07:00 pm - Now did I put that Lovecraft Film Festival T-shirt?
Time for one of those updates about 'just life' rather than anything in the wider world of LJ or indeed the world.
As we're headed for Eastercon early tomorrow morning and with the shops closed on Sunday, we've been making preparations to make sure we have all we need for the weekend. Yep shops are closed for one day triggers some primitive need to stockpile provisions. Yesterday we had our big monthly on-line shop delivered including the makings for Easter Sunday dinner.
Crys and I are going to wear the 'Lovecraft Film Festival' T-shirts that I gave him for Christmas. Hopefully, no one will ask us about the film festival. So wanted to make sure they were freshly washed and all. Although the weather is a little chilly, no very bad weather yet. It will be a day for layers I think.
On the trip we shall be listening to the audio book of Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic Takes Manhattan. In preparation for this at Crys' urging I read her first book in the series: The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic. It was hilarious! I was hooked from page 1. I think everyone can relate to that horrific moment when you open a VISA/Mastercard statement and realise how all those single not so expensive items that you thought were a good idea at the time adds up to £££.
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March 20th, 2008
| 11:13 pm - They look familiar...
Two girls, two boys and a dog solving mysteries with lashings of ginger beer. The ginger beer should be a clue that it's not quite the Scooby-Do gang.
The Disney Channel with the blessings of Enid Blyton's daughter has re-visioned the Famous Five for the 21st Century as an animated series. The new Five are the children of the original characters. It remains set in England though one character is Californian, packed off to stay with her English cousins.
Famous Five Return - BBC 20 March 2008.
Wiki on the original Famous Five.
Five Go Mad in Dorset - the Comic Strip's wicked 1982 parody.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://img.greatestjournal.com/mood/goku_san/chao/Nostalgic.gif) nostalgic
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| 02:50 pm - Easter Bank Holiday....how do you know it's almost here?
1) Road works on motorways leading to tailbacks. Check!
2) Engineering works on the railways leading to more delays. Check!
3) Airport delays even though threatened BA pilot strike called off. Check!
4) Snow, downpours and bitter weather on its way. Check!
Blizzards, gales and travel chaos - the Great British Easter Weekend.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://img.greatestjournal.com/mood/goku_san/chao/Cynical.gif) cynical
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