celisnebula’s blog

Blue Moon

Through the Keyhole

Someone just accused me in a review of plagiarizing myself.  In Vino Veritas – In Wine (There is) Truth   is posted on The Burrow and Lumos (on Sycophant Hex), TPP, OWL, two LJ communities, and on here.  The reviewer writes:

Did you really write this story? I saw something exactly like this in The Burrow part of Sycophant Hex. That author wrote a sequel to it too. Or maybe I am mistaken, and you just posted it again on this site.

Maybe I'm just being overly sensitive about this - or worse yet, someone's lifted my stuff again (and then I'm going to have to search the internet to find out where and then make noise until they remove it) - but I'm afraid I wasn't very kind in my response.

Response:
Did you bother to look at the post date of this? This was written in May of 2006... I never posted it at the Burrow until a few weeks ago because I never considered doing so. You might want to check your frigging facts before you offhandedly make comments like "Did you really write this story?". Yes, I really DID write this story - and I find your insinuation that I did not (AND THIS IS POSTED on OWL, Petulant Poetess, my Livejournal as well as two Livejournal communities, under this PEN name) offensive.

Now that I re-read what I said to her... I'm feeling vaguely guilty... but not guilty enough to amend it (at least not yet).

Let me preface this by saying I really (I mean really, really) don’t care for Claire Danes…

With that said, I have to admit that she was fairly enjoyable in Stardust (which the brat and I went to see earlier – yeah for cheap Mondays at the local theater).

Now, it's no secret that I think Neil Gaiman is a veritable God - I've devoured his stuff since I was a geeklet in training, hoarding his "Sandman" comic books from the evilness that is my siblings and their sticky, icky fingers as if it were pure ambrosia.  Though my Mum will probably tell you I hoarded all of my books away like that - and cried when I donated a good portion to the bookstore she opened when I was 16.

Despite his God like proportions in the written genre, he's never really translated well to tv/movies... I mean Neverwhere the series from the UK was wonderful but not as wonderful as it could have been.  

Now some would say that Stardust just doesn't capture the right essence... and in some cases, that is true.  In the very beginning it’s a bit... clunky, but that's to be expected as the beginning sets up the whole wide world that is "Stardust."

Charlie Cox was so adorable - I just wanted to pinch his cheeks, cuddle him close and tell him he would have love - he was Tristan... the Tristan I envisioned when I first read Stardust.  Claire Danes, of course, was the falling star he searches for, believing that she's going to be a hunk of rock when he sets out - but that IS the quirkiness of Stormhold.  Now as I said above, I don't care of Claire Danes - it's a hold over of my teenage years, yet she played the part beautifully.  Together, the two of them played the characters with such a light, carefree hand that you felt they were Tristan and Yvaine.

What is fantastic is how the film touched on so many characters and so many story elements in a wonderful way - it could have gone so wrong.  Case in point, Michelle Pfeiffer as Lamia (the evil witch).  Okay, so it wasn't a wonderful performance, and her accent was appalling - but it was so fun to watch her act unrelentingly cruel and evil.  Or even Robert De Niro's portrayal of Captain Shakespeare - it could have been so god awful, but I thought it was quirky, funny, and utterly adorable.

The subplots were remarkable and didn't suffer at all throughout the movie. The brothers, Dunstan (Nathaniel Parker), Septimus (Mark Strong), Secundus (Rupert Everett), Primus (Jason Flemyng), Tertius (Mark Heap), and Quintus (Adam Buxton) were played beautifully by the actors - and the humor was so slight and so genuine you couldn't help but appreciate how subtlety it was worked in. And the swordfight scene with the "dead" body, has to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

I am so very, very glad we went to see this, and I truly think it lived up to the book.

I’ve done it again!

For those of you new here, I’m horrible with electronic things, so every so often, for no reason other than I look at it wrong, something expensive breaks.

 

This time it was two different things.

 

The first is the bratlet’s MP3 player he received for Christmas.  It has “High School Musical” on it, but he was sick of it, and asked for some of my cooler stuff (he’s getting into Greenday and Oasis yeah!).  Anyhow, the darn thing is a little one that plugs right into a USB port.  Plugged it in and nada… zip… nothing, not even the little bing the computer makes when you plug in a USB device.

 

So I take it into work thinking it just might not be compatible with the Vista software on my lap top (since Vista {or maybe it’s just my lap top} doesn’t really work with shite).  Plugged it into the computer at work… nothing again.  Boss man grabbed it from me, muttering something about how I curse electronic stuff under his breath, and low and behold his lap top recognized it.  BUT – yea, there is always a but with me – he couldn’t move any files to it.  So he took it out, and tried to insert it again.  NOTHING again.

 

Of course, by this time I grimacing because… well, I’m cursed I tell ya.  Computer Guru now has it in his hot little hands (I bet he’s laughing his ass off at me too), and said he’d take a look at it tonight when he got home.  Ten to one, I’ll come in tomorrow and Clint (computer guru) will tell me it’s fucked – it’s just that sort of week.

 

To cap everything off – I killed my dryer this weekend.  Or rather, it died a slow and painful death over the last three weeks.  The belt broke on it about 3 weeks ago.  I replaced it (and let me tell you, putting a new belt on a dryer is no frigging picnic), only to have it barely dry the clothes.  Oh it would get the whole laundry room hotter than a sauna, but the clothes themselves would be damp and require another run through.  I’d just been drying them once, and then line drying them the rest of the way.

 

Well, yesterday it decided not to heat up at all.  Nincompoop (little brother), said “Oh it’s the heating element – and easy to fix, just call around and get an estimate on a new part.”

 

Turns out, gas dryers don’t have a heating element.  It’s either the ignition or the coils.  In either case, that’s fucked too.  Good news is, Best Buy has a brand new gas dryer for only $229.99… just have to figure out how to get it from there (about a 35 minute drive away) to here.  Hmmm I wonder if Boss man will let me borrow the work truck on Wednesday (since he’s in Southfield with it tomorrow).

 

Oh, and to cap everything off, I lost my stupid flash drive – AGAIN!  Yes, I am a moron.  And yes, it had my entire, long ass, incredibly detailed, Prophecy post, the newest installment of An Unconventional Moment, and the half written chapter 12 to Tomorrow’s Appeal.

 

*head desk*

 

The good news is the kittens are fine – loud big – and turning furry.  The little two (short haired white ones) have opened their eyes and the little fat long haired one is just starting to open hers.

 

Bratlet is desperately trying to convince me we need to keep them – he’s in the land of denial cause we ain’t keeping them.  If I had my way, we’d be down to just my older cat Morganna – no Cinnamon (idiot dog from hell), no Loki, no Karma, and no frigging kittens.

 

Yeah, I’m mean like that.

 

And man, I must really be stupid because semagic doesn’t work for me anymore.  Bleh.  Good thing lj back up does.

I still have not had my film from Prophecy processed yet.

*shakes head*

Then again, I still have 2 rolls of film from my last trip to Scotland in 2003 that need to be processed too.

Must remember to get them developed this week.

I'm so far behind on these, it isn't even funny - so, I'm not even going to try to catch up.  I'm just doing this weeks and last weeks (and on a Sunday again)!

8/10

   1. What is the best part about late summer?
   2. What is your favorite memory and why?
   3. When you were small, did you realize summer vacations were not going to happen forever?
   4. Where was your favorite summer vacation? Why?
   5. If you could have one last real summer vacation and cost was not an issue, where would you go and why?



1) I've always liked the nice, steady slow pace of it - everyone is off doing their vacations so it's nice and quiet around town - and the fair always comes to town at the end of the summer.
2) When I was 12 and my Dad was stationed in Hawaii, he and my Mom sent me to spend the summer with my Aunt Barbara.  While yes, I did have to dress up and act like a girl at lot of the time (I was a hard core tom-boy), I still remember the long driving trip we took up the California coast, up into Oregon and down through a few more states.  It was liberating not being with my parents, and having Barbara and Wally to myself without my brother or sister around.
3) No... I thought summer was playtime for everyone - I was quickly disabused of that notion when I turned 11 and had to spend my summer babysitting my brother and sister.
4) See number 2 - I spent the summer with Barbara and Wally and we traveled.
5) Honestly, I'd pack up the brat and do a huge world wide tour.  We'd start in London and travel through France, down into Spain, over to Italy and Greece, head into Turkey and then skip over to Egypt.  From there we'd cross over to India, then head up into China to see the great wall, hop over to Japan, then settle back for a trek back to the states.



8/3


1. If you were a fruit, which would you be and why?
2. If you wake up and smell smoke, and you have to get everybody (pets included) out of the house safely, but you have time to grab one item, what would you grab?
3. If you were stuck on an island, who would be the one person you would want with you and why?
4. If you could change one thing about your physical appearance, what would it be?
5. If you could spend the day with one famous person, dead or alive, who would you choose?



1) I'd be a strawberry - sweet, luscious and a bit tart.
2) I've so already done this - trust me, in a house fire, you don't have time to grab shite... I was able to grab my kid, my cat, and my car keys - everything else (including clothes - I was in a nightgown) was left.  
3) Honestly, I don't know.  I wouldn't want it to be my kid - I couldn't trap him like that, and I'm not sure I like anyone else enough to want to spend that much time with him or her.
4) LOL... the obvious, my weight - it sucks when you've got Hashimotos and can't lose weight the normal way.
5) That's a tough one.  There are plenty of famous people I'd want to spend the day with, for various reasons - but not one that I'd pick automatically.  Now, non-famous person is easy - it is Barbara - I miss her so much, and would want to spend the day, any day, with her again.



The

They didn't have any questions this week, so:

8/3
1. What is your local lake/river/sea?
2. Do you believe in dragons and unicorns?
3. What is your favorite fruit?
4. Do you smoke?
5. Friday fill-in:
Together they would _____ .



1) Lake Michigan.
2) *smiles* I believe in all sorts of magic - so yep.
3) Strawberry.
4) God, no.
5) Together they would travel the world.



The

8/10

1. Do you think the recent floods in the UK were a result of global warming?
2. If we could turn the clock back 100 years - what would you change to help the environment?
3. Do you think David Cameron really cares about the environment?
4. Friday fill in: My theory on global warming is ________________
5. If you were Prime Minister what would be the first thing you'd implement to help the environment?



1) I think that floods will come no matter what the weather - history is filled with instances of mother nature doing so.
2) I'd probably talk Ford into finding a better fuel source.
3) Dunno.
4) My theory on global warming is it will happen, despite out efforts to stop it.
5) Everyone must use bikes instead of cars, trucks or buses.



8/3

1. What's your earliest memory?
2. What was the naughtiest thing you did at school?
3. Tell us about your best friend back then?
4. Friday fill in: Kids these days ________
5. Where did you go on holiday as a child?



1) Sitting in Barbara's house, at Christmas time - lots of singing and cooking and lots of love.
2) Hmmm Honestly can't remember - I think it was skipping school to go to the beach when we lived in Hawaii.
3) Didn't really have one... we moved to much - military kids don't have best friends, we just have friends.
4) Kids these days don't understand the meaning of respect or boundaries, parents are far too permissive with them, so they act like asshats.
5) Usually no where.



No, I'm not going to do the HP ones... not really feeling like it.  Yes, I know that's akin to blasphemy, but I'm a little petered out.

 

 

There are only ten – that’s right 10 days! – left to vote on the submissions for “The Sky Is Falling” Sycophant Hex anonymous festival.

 

All of these stories are complete, and we have had some absolutely stunning submissions.

They are all pre- Deathly Hallows, so there are no spoilers.

 

There are four categories to vote in:

 

Story that best fits the prompt(s) the author chose to write about.
Story that best fits the archive it was written for.
Best story overall.
And finally, the guess that author.

 

Please, take some time to read all of the wonderful submissions we’ve had and then to vote, please go to this livejournal post:

 

http://community.livejournal.com/sycophant_hex/59479.html#cutid1

 

All the instructions are in this livejournal post.

 

Thank you,

Celisnebula

A new chapter to An Unconventional Moment has been added to all the various places (The Petulant Poetess, OWL, and Sycophant Hex), and I've posted a story over on Sycophant Hex's "The Sky Is Falling" anonymous Festival (good luck at figuring out which one is mine).

I feel horribly guilty at how little this place gets used (though I use it more than Myspace), it's sort of two steps below Livejournal, one below Blogger, and one above Myspace... and considering I've never even used my greatest journal account, higher than that obviously.  Wish I could incorporate into one lovely posting machine.

So, I've been as neglectful as ever over here, but I am trying to change that.  I've added a new story, for the Harry Potter fandom over at my livejournal.

http://celisnebula.livejournal.com/110697.html#cutid1