Misc.

[raven]

A few random things.

First of all, self-indulgence: I posted fic last night, and then LJ went kablooey, so I think it might have slipped under the radar:

Down And Upping, PG-13, Slings & Arrows, gen. A story about Geoffrey's first breakdown, and what happened after.

Also, the Slings & Arrows ficathon is still open for sign-ups. There are currently fourteen participants, which is more than I thought there'd be, but there's still a couple of days for sign-ups, if anyone's weakening under my relentless pressure. (I converted _tasteinmen last night, which gives me joy. I ended up not reading LJ and re-watching season one instead, because my life is just that exciting right now.)

I have had a few ideas regarding the other ficathon, the Altered Mental States one, and I'm looking to open sign-ups for that after I've dealt with the S&A. (It's not going to be in exchange format any more, that I do know.) In the meantime, absinthe_shadow has provided a preliminary recs post. Her warnings apply, naturally.

Nothing much else, really. I was just listening to a song on the radio and thinking oh, how beautiful, and it turned out to be by Snow Patrol, which probably means I am getting predictable in my musical taste. Also, apparently I really, really don't like Lily Allen or Kate Nash. I could do with a new musical obsession - I'm bored of all my current playlists.

And, finally: is there an emerging consensus on when we can start posting HP spoilers outside of cuts? Some of my flist are still reading, I know, but I'm pretty sure they'll all have finished in a couple of days. I want to post a bunch of HP recs, but am reluctant to right now.

Comments

[runriggers.livejournal.com]

Oh good! Then it wasn't just my computer - lj did shut down last night!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I found out through anguished inquiry on Facebook. *g*

[runriggers.livejournal.com]

I left a message on a different message board, but hadn't checked the message board this morning - thought I'd try lj first! I can handle problems with the Internet as long as they are not caused by my computer!

[the-acrobat.livejournal.com]

I had your story open on my screen throughout the outage. ;) Feedback soon. I was going to e-mail you over it and then felt silly. Anyway, it's wonderful and made me want to start an S&A recs list. Which I might do anyway.

I keep wanting to rewatch s1, but I loaned the disks to someone. Soon, though!

You know how I feel about spoilers.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*gleeeee* Rewatching is good. I'm now rewatching season 2, specifically the school production bit.

I kinda really want everyone to just hurry up and read it, so they can start writing fic about wee Teddy. I'm not demanding at all, really. :)

[the-acrobat.livejournal.com]

I'm on page 368, and I keep wanting to snuggle Remus whenever he turns up. I like him and Tonks. It's a Nice Thing, though sad.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Mmm, I thought so too! Poor dear Moony.

[the-acrobat.livejournal.com]

Teddy Lupin! Who does he live with for those 19 years? With Andromeda? What is he like? What does he think about? Where is my pen? My writing pad? These are the thoughts that plague me, now that I have finished the book...

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I guess it must be Andromeda - Harry's only seventeen, after all - and in my mind he's a sweet boy, well-loved by Andromeda and by Harry and indeed everyone, but a little apart from the happy familes all around him. I honestly do think he's somewhere on the queer spectrum, because neither of his parents were exactly grounded in their own bodies - he's got to have a more fluid conception of sex and gender than average. I think he's probably quite scholarly, and that Hermione would have encouraged that in him, and I think he's probably not a werewolf, but acutely conscious that he might have been one.

Er, I may have been thinking about him, too. :)

[the-acrobat.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely. I also see him as hugely imaginative, a bit wistful, and, for awhile at least, obsessed with magical history; perhaps reading about his parents makes him feel closer to them.

I agree with you on the question of queerness. What a lovely opportunity for experimentation.

All sorts of thoughts! *retires to writing desk*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to see what you write about him. *g* I'm trying myself right now, too, but he's curiously elusive.

[absinthe-shadow.livejournal.com]

I just realised I'd f'locked it automatically, but have now made public for better pimpage. *g*

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :) I think likethesun2 may be interested, too, as well as in the Project. :) Thank god I have literary friends.

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

is there an emerging consensus on when we can start posting HP spoilers outside of cuts?

I won't get to read it until next week or the week after.

But if you want to, I'll be okay skimming past...

Yay ficathons!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Ah, no worries, the recs could do with some marinading. :) I actually didn't realise you were HP-inclined! Do you write fic?

(I'm using a lot of food metaphors right now. I think it's time for lunch.)

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

I think I'm HP inclined but not HP-fandom inclined? I've been reading 'em since the third book hit the states (I was in Hay-On-Wye in Wales when one of the early books came out, before it was popular in the States, and was highly amused by the fuss).

My senior year of high school my friends and I declared ourselves a Quidditch team (I was a beater) and declared our calculus teacher to be Dumbledore (his kids were obsessed and he had Dumbledore quotes all over the room). So...I deeply appreciate the stories but I've never really clicked into them at a fannish level - not really been inclined fic-wise (though I've read a few).

Lunch sounds like a good plan!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, what were you doing in Hay-on-Wye? I imagine they made lots of fuss down there. *g*

My senior year of high school my friends and I declared ourselves a Quidditch team

Awwww, bless. That's adorable.

Oh, and re: spoilers - I had to do a shift in the bookshop before I got to read the book. Every time anyone so much as got near the stack of copies I started putting my fingers in my ears. I feel your pain. *g*

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

I spent July of 1999 hiking Offa's Dyke Path (essentially the border between Wales and England) and our 3-4 days in Hay happened to coincide with HP coming out - can't remember if it was book 2 or 3 (probably 3?) but it was a few months before the books became known in the states so I'd never heard of 'em and was highly amused by the fuss people were making (which was still nothing compared to the fuss they make NOW) and how many boxes of books were sitting unclaimed in every bookstore the following morning.

Oh, wow, working at the bookshop that night musta been torture (but fun also)! It's gonna be really touchy not overhearing spoilers over the next week for me - but I made it with the other books...

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

(at work yesterday people were having a meeting next to me and one of them mentioned his son had read the book in a day and my boss said "oh! tell me who dies! I'm not going to have time to read it" and I almost had to scream and hide under my desk covering my ears but luckily nobody knew the answer)

[rosariotijeras.livejournal.com]

I'd say the first week of August. It just sounds good, seems like an appropriate amount of time.

What's your opinion of loudly talking about spoilers in a public place? Last night at work, I ended up walking around our store with my manager spoiling the entire sixth and seventh books for her. I had to tell her about Dumbledore, which was traumatic as hell...actually, the entire thing was very traumatic.

I felt bad at the end of it though, because we were talking very loudly, and someone who didn't want to overhear definitely could have. But...they were in public.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Mmm, I guess so! I was out of the country for the two weeks following HBP, so I don't really know the etiquette surrounding these things.

My opinion is... complex. When I was working that shift in the bookshop and people were deliberately reading out the last page, I felt entirely within my rights to put my fingers in my ears and refuse to serve customers until they stopped. 'Cause that was malicious, you know? But a couple of days ago hathy_col and I sat in a diner for an afternoon moping over the deaths of Certain People - and put "Blue Moon" on the jukebox - and I felt bad about it, but people would have to be deliberately eavesdropping to be spoiled, so I figured we were more justified.