lyore

In further proof that I completely fail at this saving concept, I just bought a slightly expensive necklace from the markets today. It's mammoth tusk, with a 'koru' (spiral) carved in it, backed in silver. Apart from the fact that it's made out of something that is literally 10,000 years old, I like the symbolism - the koru is a Maori symbol which represents, among other things a strong sense of regrowth and new beginnings, the way things change and yet stay the same. Having it carved into something that old ... well, I like it, anyway.

Onto the Mini NaNo update:

Yesterday's words: 458
Today's words: 490
Story total so far: 1546

Would have been more, but I had to start doing some editing to get the different sections to fit together. Still, at least I think I have a pretty good draft of the first part.

For some reason, I've found that watching Hercules is very good for getting me in the mood to write. I have no idea why watching it helps me write SPN fanfic, but it seems to work. Although if Sam and Dean suddenly start acting like ancient greek heroes and wearing vests and leather pants, you will all not be complaining, I'm sure know why.

Well, well, well. Whedon and Dushku back together again.

The description sounds... interesting.

" "Dollhouse is a suspense drama about a girl who can have any personality except her own."

Or, from eonline

Echo (Eliza Dushku) [is] a young woman who is literally everybody's fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language—even muscle memory—for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse.

Hmm. From anyone else, I'd be pretty dubious about the chances of pulling this off without being... icky, but I'm willing to give Whedon the benefit of the doubt. And if done well, it could be awesome.

I finally got around to watching The Seeker: The Dark is Rising today. And wow - what a complete and utter waste of time. Well, not a complete waste of time I suppose - after all, Chris Eccleston was in it, and I am shallow :) I spent the first half of the movie stifling the urge to say 'Trust him Will, he's a Doctor', an urge not helped by the fact he *was* pretending to be the village doctor at one point. This may possibly have been the only intelligent decision the writers made in the entire movie.

Apart from that:

- the writers apparently suffered from a chronic misunderstanding of the word 'Physics' (Dear writers: You keep using this word. I do not think it means what you think it means. P.S. Fractals are not actually funky spinning things, and btw, still not physics.)

- the Old Ones were completely useless (I certainly hope the line at the end about how much they'd done for Will was meant to be sarcastic, but I doubt it was)

- the bubble-boy plot was just insane (OK, most of the plot was rather dumb, but that was plumbing new depths of stupidity. He's been raised by the Doctor Mr Evil himself, in a transparent mini-TARDIS snowglobe, of course he can just fit back into normal society. And no one else will think this kid turning up again after 14 years is a bit odd either.)

And that's not even touching the whole 'we need to make the main characters American' thing, or the let's just completely lose all the meaning in the book thing, 'cause if I start on that I'll be ranting for a while... well, longer than I already have.


Now I have to go read the book to get this trash out of my head. I think I'll be seeing the Rider as Eccleston from now on...

For those of you who haven't heard, Rowling confirms Dumbledore was gay.

Huh. I'm pleased, but a little surprised - given how pointedly it was not confirmed in the books, I didn't expect her to do so in an interview either.

As I commented to vasher earlier, JKR frustrates me. She has all this incredibly backstory, and this amazing imagination, and yet sometimes I feel she fails to actually get it in the text. Her comments about 'Dumbledore's great tradegy' - I want to *read* about that, not hear it in an interview. It's the ultimate 'telling, not showing'. (And yeah, I know it really is outside the scope of the books, but I still want it.) *sigh*

Anyway. Now the ultra-conservative Christians have another reason to hate the books :)

Ugh. Sitting on my dining room table right now are two bills totaling quite a bit more than $1000. And I have another to come... Someone remind me why I bought a car again?

In other news, I have my application for my Masters 90% done. The funding form is all signed and submitted, awaiting final approval (more than 10 days before it was due, go me!), and I just need to check a few details on my Uni application. On top of that, my job application is also about 95% done, and it isn't due for more than 10 days either.

All this organisation from me - brace yourself, the end of the world is nigh.

On a more fandom note, I'm thinking of doing my own severely cut down version of Nanowrimo this year. Nothing as grand as 50 000 words, but aiming to write between 250-500 words every night, actually getting into the habit of writing regularly, and possibly even making a dent in the feral plot bunnies in my head.

I unreservedly take back any nasty things I might have said about accounts. This year, I actually got an one to do my tax return, and I'm beginning to appreciate their charms.

Yup. I now officially go to work to pay people to do things that I wouldn't need to do if I didn't go to work. *sigh*

But seriously, I've decided I'm a fan of this whole 'pay someone else to do it' thing. Last year, I meet up with group of friends (with, in total, more than 25 years of combined university education, I might add) to try and puzzle out the forms, and it still took days. This year, the whole thing was over in an hour - and that's including the time it took for me to walk from my house to their office.

On another topic entirely, I have until tomorrow to come up with suggestions of things I want for my birthday. I have no idea.

Happy belated Talk like a Pirate day!

My replacement Sharpe DVDs arrived this week, but I haven't had a chance to watch them. They are taunting me with their unwatchedness... I'm so over this work-taking-up-all-my-time thing.

On the other hand, the family is coming to visit this weekend. Yay!

Perhaps everyone but me has already seen this, but if you haven't, you should check it out: Dame Shirley Bassey singing a spy-themed cover of Pink's 'Get this Party Started'. It's brilliant, and I love the audible and visual hints of James Bond they work in. I understand this was originally part of an advertising campaign? Whatever they were selling, I want one :)

( Embedded video under the cut, to spare the flist )

Good Lord, that woman has an amazing voice. And it's absolutely impossible to believe that she is seventy.

Right. Now to dinner, and then Farscape.

I'm still laughing at the Chaser's latest stunt, but possibly even more amusing is the way the Police Commissioner is trying to paint this as a success. Um... no. Not really, but nice try. (And if you haven't seen the fake security passes, you should check 'em out. They weren't exactly being subtle about this.)

While I can see why some people disapprove of this stunt, I think I believe the Chaser when they say that they never expected to get through the first checkpoint - I can't imagine the lawyers approving it otherwise, let alone the whole 'risking and life and limb' aspect.

Anyway, since I have this option to post polls and never actually use it, here's a poll for you all:

[Poll #1051584]

ETA: And on a completely different topic, I want one. Yeah, I agree the Ewoks were way overdone in RotJ, but they are undeniably cute :)

I have had a very Bourne weekend. On Friday I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum, which has finally come out here in Oz - and they wonder why Australia has one of the highest rates of downloading in the world. (Very good movie, highly recommended to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.) Today I watched The Bourne Supremacy with cloverfizz, since she hadn't seen it yet. And now I am watching The Bourne Identity, just to complete the set. Yes, I know I'm watching them in reverse - it's just the way it worked out. Besides, I think there is something perversely fitting in watching movies about an amnesiac in the wrong order :)

But the upshot of all this Bourne watching is that I now have Bourne/Torchwood crossover plotbunnies in my head. If only I had more time...

In the midst of all this, I have still found time to go to a housewarming, where I spent most of the time discussing Star Wars, anime and old-school english children's lit, primarily of the Enid Blyton variety. I love my friends :) Oh, and I found the time to squeeze in my fs_rewatch Farscape watching as well, which means I am pretty much up to date with my obligations for the weekend.

Right... back to watching Matt Damon run around and shoot stuff. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday night.

ETA: It's so odd, watching The Bourne Identity and actually recognising places. It adds so much more context to the movie.