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[x] June 2002 |
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 Sylvia Plath-inspired The Gift wall by TNS @ Dying of the Light |
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Finish Buffy Defence essays |
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"There's a fine art to growling. Most men will never get a real growl off in their entire pathetic lives... a real growl starts deep in the chest and rumbles up. If you growl when you've got someone pressed against you, they should be able to feel it. Feeling the way it rumbles is part of a growl -- but if you're really good at it you can get 'em from across the room, just by hearing it." |
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| l Thursday, October 31, 2002 |
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Can I just go on record and say how much the end of daylight savings in the USA and the start of daylight savings over here is fucking up my mental calculations? I had it almost downpat, and now I'm two hours out <sigh> Not happy, Jan!!
:: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 9:15 PM [x]
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Bored now...
 :: how jedi are you? ::
 Which glamour goddess are you? By  kjfishie
  
Take the Dessert Quiz 
 
Take the Anime Sountrack Quiz 
Take this Quiz |
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<Smurfy lies dying on the floor>
Never again. Ever. Ever, ever ever. Never, ever, never. I will not, do not, can not, shall not ever, ever, ever order from an online store again without a credit card. Ever. Smurfy decided to order some stuff online today for the first time. Smurfy doesn't have a credit-rating, and gets laughed out of the bank at the mention of a credit card. Smurfy decides in a very silly manner to order her Babble Board t-shit and totebag without a credit card and pay by cheque, and reasons with herself that, since she's doing this anyway, why not go and order the Once More, With Feeling soundtrack she'd love to own and hasn't been released in Australia (Smurfy asked at JB Hi-Fi and got "not another bloody Buffy fan"). Smurfy saw that Amazon had a nice deal if your order Once More, With Feeling and Music for Elevators (which hasn't been released over here, either) at the same time, and said to herself, sure, she can do that. Smurfy knows that there is a sucky exchange rate, but realised that if she paid import prices for either CD they'd be well over the approximate price of AU$28 she was looking at. Smurfy then puts all of the items in her cart. Yes, she gulped (long and hard) at the shipping costs, but girded up her belt and decided that the US$35.95 wasn't too bad for the CDs, if she didn't do the maths in her mind. And US$44.98? Well, clothing's expensive, right..? She will admit to going slightly pale when she was told that the Commonwealth Bank, who holds her accounts, was going to charge her $15 per cheque, but this was going to be worth it, right? Smurfy decided that her acting skills are rather good, because she didn't keel over when she was told that the final costs of the above, plus bank fees, came to AU$176.03. For two CDs, a t-shirt, and a tote bag Smurfy's two CDs came to AU$64.89... which, given that she'd be looking at around $40 each for them on import isn't too bad. Add on the $15 fee from the bank, however, and she may have preferred to get them imported via Sanity. AU$79.89 Smurfy would probably have gasped at having to pay AU$81.14 for her t-shit and cloth bag, but it's with Babble Board stuff on it, so it's worth it. It's even worth it with the bank fees that make it AU$96.14. At least, that's what she's telling herself. But the cheque she was also going to send Ducks to cover some of the Babble Board may have to wait until the bank balance is looking a leetle more healthy <shudder> Overall, Smurfy thinks she'll just apply for a credit card as soon as she gets a job, which, going by the weather at the moment and the way the tourism trade will (hopefully) boom with said weather, she's hoping will be in the not-so-distant future. As long as she doesn't have to work on the 21st November. At least if she pays by credit card, she won't realise how much she's paid $AU until the bill comes, and that will happen after she gets the products. She hopes. Smurfy's Quote of the Day: "While some blatant Tori Amos clones have surfaced in the past year (hello Danielle Spencer), none are quite as, well, delightfully bonkers as Tori." -- Cameron Adams. Click here for the full interview :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 4:11 PM [x] :: |
| l Wednesday, October 30, 2002 |
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| l Tuesday, October 29, 2002 |
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Email I recieved in reply to my enquiry... anyone who wants a copy, LMK and I'll forward it to you.
The Buffyverse: a Symposium on Buffy the Vampire Slayer Hosted by the Cinema Studies Program University of Melbourne Venue & Date: Prince Phillip Theatre, Architecture Building, University of Melbourne, Thursday 21st November, 9:30am 6pm. Registration Fees: Students ~ $12 / Full Fee ~ $25 (Snacks, coffee, tea, & biscuits will be provided) This day symposium will offer a variety of perspectives on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Universe. Academics, fans and general public all welcome! Keynote Speaker: Dr. Catherine Driscoll, Lecturer in Critical Theory & Cultural Studies, Department of English, Adelaide University. Dr. Catherine Driscoll is the author of Girls: Feminine Adolescence in Popular Culture and Culture Theory (Columbia University Press, 2002) and the forthcoming book on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Columbia University Press). Panels Speakers: Dr. Matthew Sharpe (on the vampyre mytheme and its application in Buffy), Peter Mattessi (Sarah Michelle Gellar as a new type of star icon for the teen generation), Gwyn Symonds (the representation of evil, violence and redemption in the Buffyverse with focus on Spike and Spike fans), Christian McCrea (the implications of fashion trends, archetypes and star images in Buffy and Angel), Dr. Jennifer Dowling (Buffy and Angel and the construction of vampires and demons as evolving heroes who erase cultural and ethnic heterogeneity), Linda Rust (fans, fan fiction and their influence on the direction of Buffy, Saige Walton (the use and misuse of magic, and the emergence of parallel universes), Edwina Bartlem(magic, witchcraft and the narrative of lesbianism and coming out in Buffy), Dr. Scott Knight (the narrative and stylistic characteristics of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer video game for the Microsoft X-Box), Dr. Wendy Haslem (the ‘Ted’ episode as a reworking of one of the most violent fairy tales ever told: Charles Perrault's Bluebeard), Dr. Sue Turnbull (theBuffy story arcs that depend on characters and their relationships being in a constant state of flux), Leonie Cooper (Sunnydale as the site of struggle between Buffy-space and monster-space, and furniture as metaphor and tool for navigating the spaces of the Buffyverse), Katy Stevens (on the manipulation of sound objects and the speech-act in the episodes “Hush” and "The Body”), Janelle Tassone (Buffy as Valley girl icon who adopts the tropes of the strong heroine familiar to horror cinema), Diana Sandars (the genre hybrid sci-fi/fantasy/musical episode “Once More with Feeling”.) It is recommended that you book and register in advance (Registration times on the day will be between 8.30am-9.30am, Prince Philip Theatre Foyer, Architecture Building, University of Melbourne. However, we can not guarantee entry because places are selling fast). Please contact Heather Bannerman on hbanner@unimelb.edu.au or phone 8344 5565. To register in advance, see form below. For general information, contact the event organizer, Dr. Angela Ndalianis angelan@unimelb.edu.au :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 6:44 PM [x] :: |
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I'm acting like a three-year-old, and I know it, but I can't help it, and it's pissing me off. I'm sulking in my room after having a mini-temper tantrum (the 21-year-old equivalent of throwing yourself on the floor kicking, screaming and punching the ground) and I know I'm being immature, but by God, it's satisfying.
Let's not go into the cause of this because I'm sure any opinion of me would drop astronomically because it was so unbelievably minor and stupid but it was just one of those little things and I think I'm ovulating and can I blame it on that? Please? Because what happened still pisses me off and I'd probably act the same way. I'm female; I'm allowed to get pissed over minor things... especially if I'm ovulating... right? Nod your head and agree or I'll do the temper-tantrum thing again. I discovered today that Scarlet's Walk is a perfect length. I left Spencer Street on a 1.30pm train, and it was just finishing it's second time through when I was hopping off the train at Sale to catch the bus. I'm still discovering the CD, but I love the limited-edition pack with the DVD... the map, the stickers, the Polaroid's, the charm... only problem is it doesn't have enough liner notes, so I may have to get the other version, too. I never thought I'd be that obsessive, and I know that's the reason they released two versions to milk more money, but there you go <sigh> Listened to Alanis for part of the bus trip, so had an urge to read Climb.... <whines> Staaaaaarrrrrr-llllaaaaaaaaaa </whines> I don't know who's more impatient for the end of year 12 exams; my brother N (who's on crutches at the moment), Starla, or anyone who's waiting for more Climb. :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 6:16 PM [x] :: |
| l Monday, October 28, 2002 |
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I love visiting Melbourne, but I hate how I always spend so much money without even thinking about it. Saturday I came into the city. I wanted to write about the symposium and make Babble Chat for a couple of minutes, and an Internet Cafe is a helluva lot cheaper than the $12 an hour Pie Link charges (I paid $6 for over an hour).
I went to JB to see if they had "accidentally" put out any copies of Scarlet's Walk in advance (heading down there to purchase it after I finish here! Wheeeee!!!) but they hadn't, although there were import-only (read: expensive) copies of Crucify and Hey Jupiter. Listening to Tori do SmellsLike Teen Spirit made me crave Bittersweet Legacy... will not harrass Vatrixsta... will not harrass Vatrixsta... But with the number of lattes I bought (I miss good coffee, living in the country)... had to get Kate a birthday card... nachos for lunch... went to the Community Aid Abroad shop and purchased my Christmas cards and 2003 diary... and my money just disappeared and I don't know where it went!!!! Saturday evening was Kate's 21st. But before that, we had to go to Lizzie's boyfriend David's band's gig in Collingwood. Along Johnson Street, which might tell those who live in Melbourne the kind of area it was in. The pub had WWE wrestling going, and they played Britney, Wil Smith, and Meatloaf. And I'm not talking Bat Out of Hell Meatloaf, I'm talking about dodgy 1990s I Would Do Anything For Love Meatloaf. I came at the last minute; Lizzie was about to reverse down the driveway as I walked up it, so I changed skirts, pulled on my boots and packed on more makeup to cover the oil slick and redness in the car. David plays lead guitar in the band, but they are neither Four Star Mary or Dingos Ate My Baby, and he's no Oz. David and Lizzie have been dating since mid-1999 (year 12), but they're going through a rouch patch and nearly broke up last Thursday. So Lizzie spend much of the evening on the way into the city saying,"these pants are two sizes too small. He's not going to break up with me in these pants!!" Naturally, he noticed the pants but not the ten inches she'd had chopped off her hair. Oz never picked up girls in front of Willow, either. But despite this, David's band was quite good. A lot of friends were there, and as well as myself Lizzie had a number of other friends turn up. The band that followed David's, though, were brilliant. They had this unbelieveably charismatic front-man(something David's band sorely lacks) and they had Animal hanging from the drum kit!!!!! Muppets always garner extra points. They were a covers band, but they were good. I loved the songs they played, and they rocked/punked everything up. Imagine Kelly Osbourne doing My Heart Will Go On, but multiply that by ten. You may start to imagine what they're final song sounded like, but it must be seen/heard to be believed. Section 8. Check them out. The only problem was how long they went -- Kate's birthday started at 7.30pm. Lizzie and I aren't too close to Kate... I was in nappies with her, but we've drifted apart over the last six or so years. But I still felt guilty turning up at 11.30pm. We left the pub at 10-10.30 somewhere, had to take a couple of detours, and Deb (who was staying the night) was hungry so we stopped at KFC for muchies. Neither of us really knew anyone, and we stayed about an hour, but I still feel bad. Daylight savings started here yesterday. We forgot about it until about noon, at which point we realised it was actually 1pm which made Deb running late. So Lizzie raced Deb home whilst I stayed behind and watched Erroll Flynn in Robin Hood (then realised I should have gone into the Astor and seen it on the big screen, as that was the film of the day). Lizzie and David have made up for the time being, and David, along with Lizzie's sister Beth and her boyfriend Dean, came over for pizza and we vegged out in front of Galaxy Quest. David, Beth, Dean and myself are Trekkies, and so we started on that... except Beth and Dean think Voyager is the best of the franchise, and they don't like TNG. So not going there. Beth's also a major Buffy fan, who thought AtS season 3 was the best. I told her I love her, she's like a sister to me, but we're so never going to talk TV shows. But I love Galaxy Quest... favourite moment is when Jason is talking to the kid who's name I forget, and the kid's saying how he know's it's not real, it's just a TV show etc etc when Jason interrupts him with "it's all real". The kid's response? "I KNEW IT!!!!!!" Isn't that was every fangirl or fanboy wants to hear? :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 11:45 AM [x] :: |
| l Saturday, October 26, 2002 |
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I was hoping to get on here by 12noon today (which is the time I normally try to get online during our day) but was caught up with my best friend's mum "experiencing life", which was rather nice and unique. I'll be going to see Donnie darko at Nova soon (I'm in Global Gossip along Elizabeth Street in Melbourne) but I've been on a high since 7.30pm last night when I found the following in The Green Guide from The Age on Thursday 24th October:
Buffy from all angles I'm emailing as soon as I finish typing this in, and I'll post more details when I hear back from her :) But how fucking brilliant is that?! Wild horses couldn't keep me away, even if the thing's been booked out!! Whilst I don't think they'll have open discussion, I'm still getting all the implicit promise stuff down, buying the shooting scripts and downloading the others, printing up all the episode transcripts, throwing the spoon out the window and watching season 6 and spoiling myself for season 7 (I'll need help surviving it all, though!!), getting all the Spike Is Evil stuff I can find, all the arguments for soul not automatically equating to redemption (the evil and redemption part is what really got me sucked in) getting the quote from I-55 and finding every. fucking. word. Margot has ever written. When I know more, I'll be informing the B/A Warriors about it, too. If you attend, look for me. I'll be the one wearing items from the Babblers Store from head to foot (provided it arrives on time). :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 1:25 PM [x] :: |
| l Thursday, October 24, 2002 |
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Bullshit! BULLSHIT!! No fucking Way! How the fucking hell can they do this??? This is just... oh, my God. This isn't happening!!
You may know that I live at The Complete Friends Script Index. I always have... it's where I get my Friends fix from. I don't do the Spoiler Whore thing there, I just keep up with what's happening in the states, which is spoilers enough given that you guys see it months before we do. I hate Warner Bros. Seriously. Just DIE. Already. This was the most popular Friends site online, and now...... this is the site recommended by TV Guide and everywhere and... and... this is so not fair!! Just go and die already, Warner Brothers. I'm tempted to burn my Sylvester doona cover. Message on website: is PERMANENTLY CLOSED. Due to actions by the Warner Bros. Anti-Piracy Internet Operations department manager I have been ordered to remove my scripts. Well, since this site is mainly scripts, there's not much else left other than the fanfics. However, they may have a problem with those soon. This used the be the biggest and busiest Friends web site, but that can not continue because of Warner Bros. who produce and own the copyrights to Friends, it's merchandise and even the scripts to the TV show. The transcriptions have been deemed to be derivative works and therefore still copyrighted. I've been using these scripts illegally, and now have to remove them or face prosecution. I'd like to thank everyone who visited this site and made it the most popular Friends site on the web. I made several friendships from this site and I'll cherish those. I wish I could've continued this site until the end of the show. If there is a bright side to this, when I asked why close my site so close to the end of the show he replied that they expected the show to continue long past this season. I know if you're reading this your probably as upset as I was, and if you want to send me an e-mail of support I'd like to thank all of you in advance. There's not much more I can say that I haven't said here. Please know that if I don't respond that I've received too many e-mails to respond. If you do send me an e-mail send one to Warner Bros. and express your disappointment at this action. If you have used my scripts please know that Warner Bros. is looking for you as well and they'll ask for their removal. So you might as well go ahead and remove them. I've spent 7 years of my life dedicated to transcribing this show and have done 142 episodes, at roughly 3 hours to do each I've spent 466 hours, or 2 weeks, 5 days, 10 hours of my life transcribing Friends. That doesn't include the countless hours I've spent maintaining this site and doing the fanfics. I'd say that well over a month of my life has been wasted on this site. This site at its peak averaged over 3,000 hits a day, had a one day record of almost 6,000 hits, and had over 2,000 members on its mailing list. It's was the first Friends website over 1,000,000 hits, and it's the first and so far only site over 2,000,000. It had the largest collection of Friends fanfic on the web, with almost 500 stories written by 150 authors. Thank you for all of your support. Thanks for visiting, I'm glad you liked the site. Eric Aasen P.S. If you would like to take over the fanfics let me know. :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 6:05 PM [x] :: |
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Smurfy kicks ezBoard.
Smurfy kicks ezCodes. Smurfy kicks stupid computers that crash in the middle of figuring out ezCodes and AIM sessions with people she hasn't spoken to in days... weeks... months... YEARS! Smurfy glares at parents who then won't let her use the family computer until they can look at it, because they're the ones who have to pay for repairs. Smurfy kicks her own computer that won't hold a connection. <deep breath> okay, now that I have that out of my system, I'll apologise profusely to Jennem for my rudeness, and say that everyone has to visit her blog now that it's active again (and from someone who has problems catching her, it's good to be able to keep up with her life!) and has a brand new sparkly name!! A Leap Away is a fantastic little blog that everyone should visit!! Mind you, I caught up with daytime TV again for the first time in a while <g> Even if Days had finished by then, there was The Best of Beauty and the Beast and all-new Oprah from June!! What am I thinking, being online during the day?? I have a fluffy dressing gown, and the cat's fallen in love with it again. I have to take it out of my wardrobe for him to sleep on, because otherwise he'll climb in the closet to get at it. And I love my cat and will spoil him to pieces. :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 3:54 PM [x] :: |
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Yesterday was just one of those incredibly shitty, blue, horrible days.
Usually when it's all getting to me, when all I want to do is escape life and escape everything and leave it all behind, I can get on a computer, do the escapism thing, or write a blog entry that's light and cheery and puts me in that kinds of mood... I might be able to put on some upbeat music, whether it be 70s and 80s crap (dance around to ABBA or I Will Survive... Land Down Under works well, too...) one of my Beatles albums or Alanis or basically anything other than Tori, Ani or Sarah. But I was out and I couldn't do anything like that yesterday... I didn't even have a pen and paper to write it out like I try to. One of the reasons I was tearing my hair out with my grandparents by the time I left was the same reason -- I had a diskman, but I can't dance around to a diskman and so it doesn't have the same effect. I've got The Beatles going as I type this, so I'm happy as I type. Singing along to upbeat stuff like Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da or Back In The USSR, jumping around to The Ballad of John and Yoko or Octopus's Garden, or just singing along to Here Comes The Sun or some of their other songs gets me out of whatever funk I was in, at least for a while. Getting on AIM helps, too... general escapism. Taking it too far and forgetting reality isn't healthy (something I tend to do), but sometimes it's all that works. And sometimes I just wonder if I'm really interested in getting this shit out and putting my life in order, or if I like my self-pity so much I'll be stuck here the rest of my life. But wore my new, ultra-cheap bra from the factory tours (AU$17.99) for the first time, and it's bloody comfy!! Normally I can only get bras the right size for me in specialist shops, so yay!! I'm learning to wear comfy ones again... I'm a DD, and yet for some reason I persist in wearing half-cups with lift. I think it's because they're so heavy and low-set (it's hard for them to be high and perky when they're large), but if I lean over I fall out of the things. Just wearing a nice, plain cotton one instead of the half-cups or the sports-bra, which has been my only alternative for over two years, is so great! And finally, grow a brain, people! You don't swim in Kakadu. You just don't. Because swimming with dolphins is a good thing for tourism, but I'm afraid that swimming with salt-water crocodiles is just bloody stupid! Seriously, you don't swim outside in the Northern Terriotry. Ever. You don't swim in an outside swimming pool without crocodile warnings. You don't swim in a wading pool without being aware of crocodiles. So why the hell would you swim in a bloody billabong in croc-infested Kakadu?!?!?! :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 12:44 PM [x] :: |
| l Wednesday, October 23, 2002 |
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Quick posting will be my entire online contribution today... about to go out, but going into withdrawals already. I don't know how I cope when I'm away for any extended period of time, I really don't.
I've been organising myself, so for anyone interested in monitoring Smurfy's movements (I make it easy for the CIA and FBI operatives) I'll be around Thursday afternoon (I hope), which is Wednesday evening for most international types. I'll be leaving for Melbourne and old friend's 21st on Friday, and I'll be returning either Tuesday or Wednesday -- so in about a week from when I'm typing this in. Then it's back to regular Smurfy schedules! Missing Babble Chat two weeks running... it's evil, it is. I've got an overly smoochie cat who wants something and is very jealous of the keyboard getting the attention when he should be, so I'll have to depart before he rips my legs to shreds in frustration :) :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 9:37 AM [x] :: |
| l Tuesday, October 22, 2002 |
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I'm baaaa-aaack!! For 96 or so hours at least.
I'm actually in a bit of shock at the moment. And I mean that seriously. I was travelling all day yesterday, and so I didn't have a radio or television handy. I got home to the news of a shooting at Monash University. This kind of thing does not happen in Australia. It just doesn't. After the Port Arthur Massacre in April 1996, we had a major tightening of gun laws; hundreds of people had to hand in automatic firearms, and licensing was tightened. We don't have some rabid NRA lobby thing here, even if Johnny had to wear a bulletproof vest when passing the reforms. And then for this to happen... and so soon after Bali... it's just incomprehensible. I just can't get my mind around it. I'm going to have to look at the victim/witness list, because my old school friends would be either 2nd or 3rd years there now, depending on deferrals. I just read the paper... someone said, "it's like we're in America or something." We've never had this sort of thing -- and I shudder to think that people might want that sort of security. There goes the university environment. But I missed you all, and I actually have pages of notes to type up here (yes, even when I'm away I jot down stuff to turn into Blog entries. I so need a life). Oh! First of all, I have to say this. Boils and Blinding Torment ROCK MY WORLD. Why is this? Like I need an excuse to say that! But remember my entry on Giles and how much his new fatherhood as paternal figure to Willow made me unable to watch Helpless? They've put up a new e-card inspired by lil' old me!!! Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!  <worships Searing Pain and Suck This> Will have to actually start posting at the forums there now... it's terrifying to come out of lurkership somewhere new (especially when you're a B/Aer). Anyway. Here's a list of Random Smurfy Thoughts which, had I access to a computer and connection as they occurred to me, may have found their way into individual blog entries... but missed out.
I watched Girl, Interrupted for the first time Sunday night. I'd already read the book many, many times, and was rather interested to see how what is essentially a collection of essays ruminating on the nature of insanity translated to the screen; I've been meaning to see this film for years. I cried a lot, but that really doesn't say much ;) There were parts I really enjoyed, but I detested the character assassination that occurred in the film, especially that of Lisa. Yes, those aspects were present in the book, especially with Lisa Cody, but when Lisa was talking to Susanna towards the end about good guys vs bad guys? I felt she was talking to whoever adapted the book. At times the book is hard to get into, but it's still fascinating reading. Especially from my suicidal-depressive perspective (shrinks say I have a "mood disorder", if that helps!). My uncle's dog is staying with my grandparents (which is where I've been, if people didn't know). The dog, let's call him Laddie, is part German Shepherd, but mostly Malamute. He's over 15, and on a chart of his size and weight that makes him over 140 in dog years, and the strain is showing. I have some wonderful memories of Laddie. My uncle got him when he was older than a puppy; RSPCA and all that. But he's been a fixture in the family life for almost as long as I can remember (I can remember some of my uncle's previous dogs, too). Laddie's always been active and friendly... his breeds may have a bad reputation, but a gentler dog you will never meet. There's some wonderful pictures of him and our Pomeranians at my grandparents place, and the dogs always got along marvellously. My cousin is 11, and this dog has been a constant in his turbulent life; the breakdown of his parent's marriage, the continuing court cases, the ongoing disaster that is his father's second marriage. But now Laddie is dying. He's had multiple operations on his hip and knee, and now he's deaf and blind, not to mention incontinent and rapidly losing weight despite eating well. There are signs of kidney failure. We thought he was going to die a week and a half ago, although he recovered, but not before my uncle and my cousin drove out to say goodbye (my grandparents live in a country area). Time is running out for Laddie; he has no quality of life left. He can hardly walk, and just standing up is a struggle for him. It breaks my heart to see the pain and suffering he lives with day-to-day. But none of us can say goodbye. Especially my uncle. We all know Laddie needs to have that final vet visit. If it happens at my grandparents, where Laddie has some wonderful memories, they might be able to get the vet to come out to the property and give the injection there, saving Laddie the trauma of having to get into a car (and trust me, it's a horrible sight to watch his struggle to get into a car with the lowest suspension possible). But it's breaking our hearts to have to consider it. My uncle has finally decided, we think. It may take a while to get the courage up to put that decision into action. But because the deterioration has been so gradual, it's hard to look at Ben and not hope that he'll get better. Even if we all know it's not going to happen. Anyway! Since I've been staying with my grandparents, I've been reading my Nana's Mills & Boons. Can you pick what's wrong with this conversation between an estranged husband and wife? "What do you want, Blake?" So sayeth Susan Alexander in Temporary Husband (where the hell do these people come up with these titles?! I've seen The Boss's Virgin, Bartaldi's Bride, The Determined Husband, A Wife In The Making, One Night In His Arms... and those are the decent ones!!). It Happens?!?!?! Will not rant, will not rant... Then there was the one where he married her because he couldn't have his sister-in-law because her husband (his brother) was in a wheelchair. The heroine found out about this on their wedding day, when she caught them in the garden -- and he admitted to it all. For some reason, she stayed with him -- until his brother died a month or so later. Six months on, the bastard comes crawling for her to come back, saying he didn't love the sister-in-law (something he discovered when trying to fuck her) and he really loves her and did so all along and won't she please take him back. Which the idiot woman did. And we say Marti has issues. Although the really sad part? I could see an A/Cer writing it (even if I know that half of the storylines of the "despite-the-fact-that-she--married-someone-else-and-had-seven-children-with-him-she-never-stopped-loving-the-guy-who-left-her" are classic AU B/A stories -- or even B/A stories set into canon as future-fics. I'm willing to admit when it's sad). I think this is everything for the moment... can you tell how desperately I missed everyone? :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 10:32 AM [x] :: |
| l Thursday, October 17, 2002 |
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On a public computer at the local library that is, quite possibly, *the* slowest computer I've *ever* been on. It's taken me a full eight minutes for me to get this far *sigh*
Anyway. Like the previous post says (should that go through this time) going away for a while... will be coming back on Sunday at the moment. Then going to be busy for a couple of days around home, before heading back to Melbourne for the 21st of one of my oldest friends -- our parents knew each other before we were born etc. So it's a little important :) Will miss you all! Speak to you whenever I can make it on next. Mwah! :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 10:40 AM [x] :: |
| l Wednesday, October 16, 2002 |
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I'm not going to be around much for the next fortnight or so... something about a "real life". I'll miss you all... try and post semi-regularly, but no promises ;)
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| l Tuesday, October 15, 2002 |
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Go visit Boils and Blinding Torment! See their new Icon Page... they put The Rape Scene to Kenny Rogers, and must be seen to be believed. I laughed (I know it's no laughing matter, but it was poking fun at B/Sers who still insist it was romantic, and it was funny!!). I want the "knight in shining armour" one. I'd put it here, but still sorting out Liquid2K.
And Blogger appears to have eaten my template, which is seriously scary. :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 9:22 PM [x] :: |
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It was my brother's birthday yesterday. The 14th October. Yay N -- he turned 18. And failed his drivers license. What more can a girl ask for??
Yes, that's petty, and I haven't shown a happy face to N or to my parents. But I failed my test the first time I sat it at the age of almost-21, and for my younger brother to get it first try... my mental health has been going through a rather fragile stage and I'm a little hormonal at the moment, so I may have been selfish and I may have been petty, but I was almost relieved when he came home in a very bad mood. We went to a local restaurant, where they totally embarrassed N by bringing out a cake with sparklers all over it, and a book to indicate his intelligence -- "Which Dinner's Mine?" or something. Brother N mentioned that the daughter of the restaurateur was passed out last time he saw her at a party on Saturday. Eric the Exchange Student mentioned that was the best time to draw pictures on them or use road cones... naturally, I mentioned something about Ross and Rachel in Vegas. Brother N then proceeded to warn Eric to never mention Friends, Buffy or other such TV shows to me, and told Eric that I have an insane group of friends (do you guys like being called insane?) on the internet who I talk Buffy with. Eric said he saw the DVD collection and knew to stay quiet on the subject (are three seasons on DVD really that intimidating??). I mentioned that we don't really talk Buffy that much anymore unless it was to moan about how terrible Angel is and why we don't watch it any more (or is that just me? <g>). Out of mercy, I failed to mention the WesLove. Eric then made the mistake of asking why I don't watch it any more... he went pale about three words in and said "I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it!" I scared him. I was happy ;) I've had Janis and Mercedes Benz stuck in my head all day. Which always helps my hyper state. Maudlin Poetry is almost completely up again, after all my hassles with Liquid2K. But I seem to have reached my maximum space limit there, because they won't let me load on all of the Sonnets from the Portuguese. So I'm opening another account with them; they have better bandwidth than most places, and they allow remote linking, so until I get a domain... well... And there's no fucking way I'm going back to Geocities!!!!!!!! So I'm going to move the Sonnets and the Cliques page to another Liquid2K account, and I'll do any remote-linking images here from the account from now on, which should mean that whatever else I want to put in the main part can go there. I think. I don't know. I'll see how I go. I'm just pissed that I've reached the limit!! Of course, Faithgirl made me the fantabulous new layout... and with the java and all that I've used to create the page, she can't view it right on her Mac. I am not impressed... trying to make it so that it will all fit in a non-popup page or something, because I'm not happy with it all!! Technology hates me at the moment. I saw Matt leBlanc on Entertainment Tonight this afternoon... they asked him about how he thought Friends would end and he mentioned that he thought it would end with Ross and Rachel. So I ask you now, if it’s okay for them to get back together, why is it like David Greenwalt getting back with his ex-wife for Buffy and Angel to finish up together???????????? Not that I obsess or anything... The Aria awards... “this one time, on band camp...” :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 8:24 PM [x] :: |
| l Sunday, October 13, 2002 |
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Janis Joplin documentary last night. Jaaaanniiss. JANIS, baby!
If I had to name an all-time favourite female recording artist, I'd be pretty hard pressed. But I don't think I'd name Tori or Sarah or Ani. I wouldn't name Eva or Lisa or Paula. It wouldn't be Jewel or Shawn or Sheryl. It's not Alanis or Joan or Shirley. I'd have to name Janis. I can relate to her, in a lot of ways; social outcast, misfit, her insecurities. It's a good thing I am not now nor will I ever be famous, because I have no doubt that it would kill me, too. It's kind of like one of the reasons I hate it when people rag on Buffy's character, it's because a lot of what she feels I can relate to. And I can relate to Janis in many ways, as scary as that sounds. Janis became her Pearl persona in many ways that I go from being shy, indrawn, insecure, mousy Sarah to Smurfy or Mrs Homn (depending on the fandom I'm in today). At the same time, with my Janis worship, I can understand where my coffee table book Legends, published by Time Life, comes from with the line about all the James Deans and other people we've built up into legends over time: "one suspects that if Janis Joplin had lived a long life and died in her sleep, she'd be no more a legend than Stevie Nicks." But then, there's a quote next to the image of Janis (one of those famous pics I adore of her, arms in the air, pin-striped pants and fur hat) from Ethel Merman; "That girl has problems... Bein' heard ain't one of 'em." Bombing in Bali overnight. Lots of Australian footballer in Bali at the moment, and many Australians killed in the blast. Lots of fun on the terrorist front, and I'm still kind of getting my mind around it all. Hence the lack of talk on it. The death toll is still rising, and I haven't really been watching the news today because I don't know what I want to hear about it. Of course, this same sort of thing happens in Israel all the time... Watched the first part in a new six-week series on the ABC at 2pm Sundays... it's on cinema and the music scores, and today's first part was about love themes. They covered Emma, Dangerous Liaisons, The English Patient, Dr Zhivago, they brushed briefly on Titanic, they covered Love Story, Romeo + Juliet, and The Wings of the Dove. I enjoyed it to pieces... I adore movie soundtracks, and I'm not just talking about the pop-music ones, or the soundtracks with all the obscure bands. I adore them, too, but I worship film scores. I love the to pieces, and I can't wait to watch the rest of the series. I have to remember to either set a video or get Mum and Dad to tape them for me when I'm away, because I'll not be happy if I miss too many. I love a number of the films they covered... like why the soundtrack to Titanic was such a runaway success (and yes, I own the official soundtrack, but Back to Titanic and Music Inspired by Titanic, which was a $10 job I found at Target before the second soundtrack came out and has a number of pieces of music that would have been played in the day), they talked about how the theme to Love Story was written, what they were looking at conveying and why they wrote themes and insignificant little tunes which way... I can't wait for the epics, independent films et al sections are screened. I just wish I'd thought to tape this part. We've been having big winds blowing everywhere -- like, trees-falling-down winds, and we've had the power flicker once... electrical storms and other computer-loving things, so I've only just been game to get online. Now I just have to send Angelian Rhapsody out to the Yahoo groups and hope that ff.net is back up again, and hope that Liquid2K is more agreeable today, because when I went to look at the 100+ pages I loaded yesterday in an attempt to use the new layout provided by Faithgirl, all I got was blank, white pages. Not happy, Jan. :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 3:51 PM [x] :: |
| l Saturday, October 12, 2002 |
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If you international folk don't know already, Australia is in the middle of what's being billed as the worst drought since 1901. So what's the solution being put forth by some of the country's richest men? Let's change the flow of the rivers so they go inwards.
That's right. They want to drought-proof the country by killing the rivers and destroying the environment. Can someone tell them to grow a brain? Please? They need one desperately. Oooohh... and I know I pimped it to Kendra (who had better have read The Devil's Truth by now), but I need to pimp here for the world to see. Matt's written an amazing Wesfic!!! Mattfic and Wesfic in the one situation -- what more can a girl ask for?! Check out Misogyny here -- I mean, it has quotes like "Fred tried to reassure me that Billy's hate was something that was done to me, and I wished desperately to believe her. But judging from my actions since, I suspect that all Billy did to me was show me the truth about myself." Go read it. Worship the Matt. Mum, Dad and myself watched 28 Days last night... and the stupid DVD was damaged, so we missed a scene. It took us ages to get it so that we could watch everything but that scene, too... we weren't impressed. But I liked the film – it had Viggo Mortensen in it!!!!!!! So how could I dislike it?? Even if her doesn't look as sexy with the blonde hair and minus Aragorn's stubble ;) Dad actually hired out 28 Days... because he liked Sandra Bulluck in Miss Congeniality. I looked at Dad when he said that. Because they're very different films... like chalk-and-cheese different, and even I knew that. But loved the soapie within, and the DVD special on it. Given that the stuffed-up DVD wouldn't give me the missing songs from the guitar guy, it was a damn good thing it was a good special!!! Off to chat... my grandparents are visiting today with an American exchange student, as it's my brother's 18th birthday on Monday. And hopefully, I won't get the shit piled on today for wanting to use the internet. Although when Mum and Dad learnt yesterday that it was either the internet or Days of Our Lives, I think that me spending "hours and hours" online took on a new light. :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 2:33 PM [x] :: |
| l Friday, October 11, 2002 |
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Okay, firstly, a pimp. I love The Complete Friends Script Index. I adore it. As I can't download the episodes, I read the transcripts, and because I know the characters so well I can see it all in my head and I spend the entire time in hysterics. I love that site. I'd be lost without that site.
I know, I know, I missed everyone again. Sorry!! Mum had to type the Church newssheet, so Smurfy's Internet Addiction took the back seat. I’m also getting shit at the moment because I “spend hours and hours on it every day”. Ready to do anything for my own connection back. I've been having cravings for Minties of late, so I bought a packet at the supermarket. Thankfully I don't have any fillings for them to pull out... although after I finish them, fillings may be required. It's moments like these you need Minties (from the back of the packet):
I've finished Angelian Rhapsody, so go and check it out! Suggestions and comments are welcome, and I'll probably be sending it to the lists and posting it on ff.net about 18 hours after I post this. Unless I get such a negative reaction I want to wipe it from the face of the planet. And after agonising over Wesley's part, I think his is my favourite out of the entire thing. Who woulda thunk? Paul McCartney's coming to Melbourne. The only place in Australia he'll be visiting, and we didn't think he'd make it over here at all, given the tour was just meant to be the US and Japan. But wheeeee!!! Of course, there's no fucking way I could afford the tickets, but I'd frigging kill to see him play live. I mean, it's Paul McCartney. They printed his play list in the paper today, and I had palpitations. I drooled. I got excited. I nearly tore the paper to shreds when I remembered that I wouldn't be able to afford the tickets if I sold my soul. Well, selling my soul for tickets to see Sir Paul is probably better than selling it for a truck, right? :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 3:16 PM [x] :: |
| l Thursday, October 10, 2002 |
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I'm getting there with this filk thing. "O fortune, fortune, all men call thee fickle" -- I call this bloody rhyming thing fickle!!! I'm nearly finished it... I don't have the best lyrics, I'm discovering... have to go back to some sites. And the midi file I downloaded is... well... the term "a load of crap" comes to mind. It's missing huge chunks of the song, and generally doesn't sound right. Will have to do another search.
I'm really having trouble with Wes' part in the song, though... then there's another line I've got the writers singing and it's just not happening. But I'm hoping to have it finished by the time the weekly Babble Chat rolls around and to get everyone's approval there on the matter. But I'm beginning to get very sick of Bohemian Rhapsody... I think I've listened to the thing 500 times over the past 24 hours. Well, maybe less ("I've told you a billion times not to exaggerate!") but enough to make me want to burn the Queen CD. Although it's just the one track I'm sick of, so I may just press 'skip' on that one track for the next decade or so. So I'm taking a break from the song with the aid of a new Tori CD. Wheeee!! I bought it yesterday, from the choirgirl hotel. Getting ready for the release of Scarlet's Walk... 18 days and counting till Aussie release. Brother H is home from school today... went on class trip to Melbourne yesterday, leaving before 6am and didn't get home until close to 1am this morning. So he's watching Gone in 60 Seconds all day, as I sit and watch Love Story. Love Story is always known for the line "love means never having to say you're sorry, but my favourite line, perhaps, is the following exchange between Oliver and Jenny: Jenny (surprised): You wanna marry me? Oliver: Yeah. Jenny (genuinely puzzled): Why? pause Oliver: Because. Jenny: That's a good reason. I love that film. I've had problems watching it when sick, because the sobbing bought on asthma attacks and coughing fits, but... <blissful sigh> I couldn't make it on during the afternoon today... Mum and Dad have been kicking up a stink about me always spending all afternoon online, so I had to skip it this time <pout> Not impressed at missing everyone, but there was a small factor of trying to make it so I could survive living in the house. But I must go... despite my current attempts to pacify my parents, however, you can all rest assured that my Saturday is booked solid with "Babble Chat" written over it. Especially since I won't be able to make Babble Chat for at least the following fortnight. I'm actually rather ashamed of myself. Along with the fantabulous Tori album (is there anyone out there who could claim not to be moved by Playboy Mommy????) I had to buy a boyband single. Against my morals. a1 Caught in the Middle... at least this is a boyband who wrote the song and played the instruments, but I don't download music due to not having a CD burner and the files being too large to transfer to my own computer. But this song was just so The Yoko Factor (and we have the out-and-out B/A reference... how many posts did I last?) I had to buy it. I saw then on The Panel a while back, and I know they can sing live and play their instruments, but it's still the fact that they're a manufactured boyband. Even if they've taken time off to gain credibility, how much cred can they have with a name like "A1"????? You said love was just a state of mind Although I will say that, despite rating remixes of ballads about as highly as I rate manufactured pop groups that aren't called The Monkees, the remix of the song isn't that bad. Of course, despite hating remixes with a fiery passion, I did spend a small fortune buying Sarah McLachlan's Remixed album when it was still on imports-only into this country. I think, though, that's called a desperation for new Sarah material. Speaking of The Panel (yes, I did earlier, remember?) Sir Bob Geldof was on it last night. Now, I know that I risk Spykester's wrath here, and I know that all us Aussies are meant to hate him because of Michael Hutchinson, but I adore that bloke. I remember either reading an article on him or watching him in an interview with Ray Martin, and he was talking about Tiger Lily. They were shopping as a family, and an INXS song came over the sound system. Tiger looked at him, apparently, and said, "Dad, that's my real dad, isn't it?" When Bob said that it was, she said "My real dad sings better than you." The innocence of children. I love it. Interview with Johnny Reznick in today's Hit magazine in the Herald Sun... I think I'm in love. "I definitely have my opinion about the state of the world, and I try to keep myself as informed as possible. I'm an American, so right now I'm sh...ing my pants (laughs) because I can't believe what a f...in' moron the President is. The only way he's going to get his approval rating up is to keep getting us involved in wars. We're the number one rogue nation on the planet, and this guy is really, really hurting our image around the world." Can I marry him? He's only 36... what's a measly 15 years? And I'm always into bigamy... Besides which, "this is my plea -- will somebody please figure out a way to get Victoria Bitters into America?" An American who's figured out that Fosters is far from the best Aussie beer around -- whoooo-hooo!! Need to get the Nova in Melbourne... Donnie Darko is only screening there, and I wanna see it. That opens today, along with (at last!) Road to Pertition. I thought that film would never bloody make it over here!!!!!! But Donnie Darko has caught my attention, and is only screening at one theatre in the state, versus how many with Pertition?? Donnie has to be higher on my must-see list by defult. And since this is such a looong blog entry, I may just end this here. Did you survive? :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 3:59 PM [x] :: |
| l Wednesday, October 09, 2002 |
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I've been feeling a little melancholy of late. A great word that, Melancholy. It brings... kind of 18th century images to mind.
Some people say that my music choices encourage this kind of feeling... Tori and Sarah aren't the most happiness-inducing artists. Although I've been listening to Tori a bit of late, I have been giving Sarah a rest. I don' think it's that... it could be hormonal. I don't know. Maybe it's looking at my life too much -- if I ignore it, most of the time I can pretend it's not there. Usually when I feel like this I escape into fanfiction -- when I was at my worst points, I swear the BA Fluff list actually saved my life, with the escapism it provided. It was the only thread I held to. Of course, hell hath frozen over of late with the quality of 99% of the content being sent to that list, and most of my Yahoo Groups are firmly set to Special Notices only. I've still got individual emails on a handful of lists that I pay attention to all the emails coming out of, but... given my lack of interest on the shows... And I said I'd take a break from the B/Aness here for a while. So changing subjects completely, which will make this entry a little happier to read. I've decided I have found the best way to watch Smallville -- tape the show, and then fast-forward through the Lana scenes. Although I said that with Justin on Queer as Folk, and he grew on me. But I'll maintain that as long as Lana keeps referring to her parents every five seconds, she'll be annoying. And curse them all for turning her into Chloe!Lana. I was going to say Chlana, but that looks like the ship, and... no. I'll stick to the Chlark and the CLex... Chloe/Clark/Lex is even better. Tango's written an Aus/B/S fic, and I'm incredibly pissed at where she left it. I feel like writing an email scolding her for the cut-off point, and I think I will. But I have this strange urge to use middle names; it's that kind of a scolding. I was *very* upset, but I knew from the length and where it was in said length that I wouldn't be happy with where she left it, even as I was reading. I've been transferring Maudlin Poetry pages over to the other computer... it's been a bit of a headache. What I wouldn't kill for my own connection back again. I'll live, I know, but... <sigh> I miss it at times. Or when Mum and Dad do their block because I spend so much time on the computer. And I haven't finished going through my email yet -- another good reason to go off daily digests. I have to sort through all the messages to get to the ones I actually want to read, and this way I can tell at a glance. Helpless was on last night... I couldn't watch it. I wasn't prepared, and this sucks beyond the telling of it. I know I said "no B/A", but I'm not referring to the "only one woman" scene. I couldn't watch it... because of Giles. Yes, you read that right. I, Smurfette, Giles' Whore, the filling in a Watcher Sandwich, The Watchers' Wench... couldn't watch an episode because of Giles. See, the reason I couldn't do this is because of season 7. There's a reason why I don't want to know ANYTHING about the new season, people!! Tell me if there's B/A Goodness in it, kick me out of chatrooms for anything else! I can't remember who it was, but someone mentioned during a game of scrabble in Yahoo Games on Saturday (Saturday my time, people!) that Giles is playing father to Willow. So my reaction was one of "are you going to poison and abandon Willow, too?? Hey, Cordelia might have problems... abandon Willow and play father to her, too!" I have problems separating the seasons. I know this. But the current ones suck and because of my emotional involvement with the characters, I can't help but let it bleed into the rest of it. I had a friend betray me -- one of my best friends. Ever. She was someone I trusted, and she'd been turning everything I'd ever told her around and eventually everything got back to me. I was doing hard drugs, I was getting drunk all the time... I was 17 at the time, and I've always been insecure, and this just devastated me. I can't look at any stage of our friendship now without thinking of the end result. The end reaction, despite a time frame where everything was great, tainted my view on the entire thing. Are any of the people out there who know the story of an online troll telling me they can reflect on the period where he wasn't such a troll without thinking of the way he acted in the end? These characters are real to me. See my bit about BA Fluff and it being a line holding me to the world; I leant on these characters in my times of pain, and to hear of them being massacred like this and what's being written as canon can't help but effect me. I guess that's what I get for taking the shows too seriously. Yes, in case you were wondering, I went and looked at DVD players after the last post here. Still looking... making a list of possibilities, and I'll have to rearrange the bedroom completely in terms of bed location, dresser location, maybe computer location, I've got a chest-thing that'll have to move and my bookshelf... and when put like that, I don't know that I'm quite as desperate as I was before <g> Since I'm going to be in Melbourne so much over the next month, I'm going to call Borders and see if they can get me a copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I wrote my How The WB Stole B/A parody about a year ago now from a copy I borrowed from the library, but ever since I read the book I've wanted to own a copy. Add to that I was thinking of doing a version 2002 of said parody, this time as 'How M.E. Ruined Angel', but to do that I'd need the original version of the book once more. Or I might try and look through other Dr Suess books... I've long wanted to do a Green Eggs and Ham thing, but none of them come as naturally as my How The WB... thing. The first time I read Grinch I looked at the line "heart two sizes too small" and thought of the "no crossovers" rule... then I misread one of the latter lines to actually see "they go without hope! They go without reason..." Anyways. The other possibility... well... there was an idea in the car on the half-hour drive back home. So I'm thinking... Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen will become Angelian Rhapsody. I don't know that JossBot will satisfy everyone's urges to laugh at it all, and my long-term project to re-write Pink Floyd's The Wall album has pretty much stalled in it's tracks, at least until I get the film on DVD (it's a fucking opera, people... it takes a bit of effort!!). I'm not posting this on BA Fluff etc. until I've downloaded a midi file of the song to make sure it does all fit without having to work them out over Freddy Mercury's voice... and making sure it's actually finished. I'm a little stuck, and I want to make sure that I've got the actual meanings for some of the courtroom scenes right... I may also want to get the lyrics analysis things going. Look for it in the next couple of days, though -- it's not the sort of thing one can get beta'd, because it either fits in with the music or it doesn't!! :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 3:59 PM [x] :: |
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On a public library terminal and the screen resolution is so fucking huge it's driving me maaaadd. EVERYTHING IS SO LARGE!!!
I just saw Picture It! Photo Shop 2001 (British Version) for $68 (about US$34) at Harvey Norman, but Googling for the thing doesn't exactly give it good press. Will have to wait for Photo Shop Pro -- I think I can afford it at the moment. Stress think :) No longer living below the poverty line due to the Government paying me more now that I'm 21 (wheeeeee!!!) but also have to save for things like... say... a car. Sigh. Wouldn't I love to be able to just buy everything I want for a computer. Besides, I've decided I really want a DVD player (and it's easier to explain to the parents spending a couple of hundred on a DVD player than a computer paint program because of a website they don't even understand). :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 10:21 AM [x] :: |
| l Tuesday, October 08, 2002 |
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Eat this, Sci-Fi!
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I think I just went from being merely obsessed, to being one helluva pathetic case.
Why did I make this transition? I just made myself a wallet-sized card declaring myself to be a Buffy/Angel Shipper. I kid you not. I think that's sad, even for me.  I need help. Somebody help me! I think I need to enter B/Aers Anonymous. "Hi. My name is Smurfette, and I'm a B/Aer." In an effort to curb the obsession, I shall endeavour to not mention B/A for a while. Let's see how long I can last (I'm placing my bet on one post. Maybe two). I watched Queer as Folk last night... and had a rather sad epiphany. When I started watching, I would find the only way to maintain my sanity was by changing the channel during Justin's scenes. Now, I find myself doing that during Michael's scenes. Although, to my immense relief, I found that when it was Mikey and Hugo? the boyfriend's son, in any case, I was quite happy. When the Doctor-guy is out of the picture, I'm happy watching Mikey's scenes, just shoot the TV when it's with the idiot boyfriend. And I actually like Justin now. I don't know when he went from being a Dawn-like caricature to a three-dimensional character, but I like him now he has. And, sadly, I don't mind the Brian/Justin scenes, no matter how much I adore Brian/Michael. Anat, don't shoot me! ;) I probably won't be online during my day tomorrow... I'm going out, getting a bit of a life. Or at least trying to! I'm going to compare DVD prices tomorrow, as well as helping my Mum in a working bee. Mother/daughter bonding time in the electrical department after that. Mum said she wants to look at some books, too... I think she's found another romance author to read. I've got $50 in book vouchers for Angus and Robinson, but there isn't one of their store in the area; at least, not without a 90minute drive. So I think my own book buying will have to wait a bit. :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 1:41 PM [x] :: |
| l Monday, October 07, 2002 |
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Fun little "really Bad Archive" for BA Fluff list I thought I'd share :)
It began as Angel drove down Crawford Street, going home to his lovely Slayer Wife (isn't that sweet?). He realised as he did so, that there was a general exodus of people doing anything they could to escape the vicinity of the Mansion.:: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 2:51 PM [x] :: |
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What the hell are they doing with Smallville?? I'm pretty much spoiler-free (all I know is that Clark's a bastard that should be shot at the moment for his treatment of Chloe) but I just saw an advertisement for the next episode on Tuesday. They're doing the electricity-induced power-transference thing already????? They've only got Red Kryptonite, the heat-rays and freezing breath left! And the Jor-El stuff, but all the same... they're not going to have him fly, but hey, let's have everything else (out of which, the kryptonite and power-transference he's not meant to know about until he's working at The Daily Planet) come out on this series!!
I just hope they're not writing themselves into a hole, that's all. There's meant to be a pretty good sale on DVD players at the Retravision (Aussie store that sells electrical and furniture) down the road, so I may spend some of my grandparents' birthday money on one. I want one for my room, so I can watch my BtVS DVDs in peace, not to mention get out some of the films on DVD I'd love to see, but Mum and Dad et al have no interest in... Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon comes to mind, as does Amelie, Life is Beautiful, He Died With a Felafel in His Hand... things that never came out this far into Gippsland. And hey, if I had an online connection (oh, please give me my internet connection back!), TV, VCR and DVD player, along with a CD player in my room, all I'd need is a fridge and I'd never need venture out of my room again ;) American Beauty was meant to be on last night... but they showed the Rugby Grand Final instead, which... no interest. So I dug out the VHS of Romeo + Juliet instead... now tempted, having looked at videos I haven't watched in ages, to do the 80s films thing... or at least watch Dirty Dancing. I love that film, and quite agreed with the guys on Queer as Folk with their assessment of Patrick Swayze. Yum. Besides which... "nobody puts Baby in the corner". <swoon> Then there's Love Story ("love means never having to say you're sorry") and the Indiana Jones films... Titanic (I saw that film so many times in the cinema!)... the What's Eating Gilbert Grape? that I haven't watched since my year 12 English exam (we studied it as the film in year 12, and I think I saw it 200 times over that year, and swore I'd never watch it again. Now, I'm not so sure). But watching Romeo + Juliet made me remember everything I loved about Leo pre-Titanic. Just watching him under that bridge... the shirt and jacket... his hair flopping just so... "why then, oh brawling love, oh loving hate..." And it's a Baz Luhrmann film. BAZ! I love Baz. He's Australian, what's not to love? ;) There's a new film out over here, Garage Days, which his cinematographer directed. So it's got that same grand scale and everything... I wanna see it. I'm tempted to go into literary criticism mode with Romeo and Juliet (yes, 'and', not '+', indicating the Shakespeare play, not that Baz film) and how Romeo should just have let Mercutio kill Tybalt, and the way it was meant to be interpreted by the audiences in Shakespeare's day, but that's the kind of thing you'd expect to find in Raging at the Dying of the Night, not my little rambling page. October's shaping up to be rather busy for me. I've got brother N's birthday, for which Nana and Granddad will be here. I was almost going back with them, but I have a doctor's appointment that week. So I'll be catching trains and buses, because Nana has a factory tour in Melbourne she wants me to come on with her -- I went last year, and it was fun... it was also directly after that I got the job at the library down there. But in the week following that, I have an appointment with the job seeking agency for a seminar about job interviews, which I'm so excited about </sarcasm> The weekend after that, I've got to go back to Melbourne for a 21st of one of my childhood friends. So expenses look like creeping up... but the Monday after that 21st Scarlette's Walk by Tori Amos is being released, and wild, wild horses couldn't keep me away from a CD store then. And sudden The Prom moment there... will have to get the DVD out and watch that again. Throwing things at the TV, doing the scene from 'Surfacing'. BAM! "You left me because you loved me, did you?" WHACK! "Then what the hell are you doing with Cordelia?" POW! "You had a child *without* me?" Yes, we can try and separate the two Angels... it's just very hard to do so when he's standing there talking about children and sunlight and you know what happened in season 3. I don't know... perhaps it would have been easier if I'd watched season 3, but I so didn't, and still don't, want to have to go through that horror. I've seen the Spuffy pictures by accident, and glad I skipped it... and I get nauseous thinking about things like Waiting to Vomit and that out-and-out stupidity of Double or Nothing. :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 12:11 PM [x] :: |
| l Sunday, October 06, 2002 |
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There are times when I can't stand my brother N. He's the nearly-18 year old who was home with me over the last week. Other times I remember why I love him.
Last night, due to a drought on Aussie TV of a Saturday evening, we were watching The Crocodile Hunter... and making fun of it. For example, he had a runner or something -- a non-poisonous snake. He was in Sumatra. Anyway, he's saying how the snake's all grouchy and aggro because the elephants disturbed him. Mum: "no, he's angry and grouchy because you're holding it by the tail!" Earlier, on his first attempt to ride an elephant, he told it "up" in order to get it to stand, and then he started rubbing it's flank as he sat on it telling it what a good elephant it was. N: "Now roll over!" Yes, I have been converted to The Crocodile Hunter. If only because it's just as easy to poke fun at as AtS, and it's less heartbreaking a show to have to mock when I feel it's the only course to maintain sanity with. I'm on a Shakespeare kick at the moment. Downloading sonnets for the next update to Maudlin Poetry, because I'm neglecting the poetry side of things. Although I have gone through and put the new styles on every. single. page. on my harddrive. And when that includes all 44 Sonnets to the Portuguese as individual files, that's a lot to get through. But, all the same, if I had a style.css or whatever the file is, I don't know if it would change the background from the plain black to the picture, so... I don't think it would have made any difference to my frustration. But yeah. Shakespeare. I've been reading Romeo & Juliet (and hence, I think I scarred Kendra yesterday with some of my opinions about the balcony scene being purely about sex)... A Midsummer Night's Dream... Much Ado About Nothing... The Tempest... not all at once, but been half-reading. Yes, I can half-read Shakespeare. I've read all of the so many times in the past I know exactly how to skip to my favourite scenes. Don't knock it until you try it. But sat down to read King Lear again for the first time since high school... it's actually very disturbing to have to try and like a character called "Cordelia" once more. I may have to go over to A Thousand Acres, because she's a bad-guy in that adaptation... King Lear was a father who raped his teenage daughters, and she was the only one who stood by her father. Of course, she isn't called Cordelia in that one... but it's the thought that counts, right? Ahh, Lear brings back memories... memories of literature classes. My high school lit classes were something you'd have to see to believe. We'd spend a lot of them talking about Home & Away and the latest plotlines on Days of Our Lives... I think my Days addiction stems from that time (and when I was living at uni, because we'd all try and not have classes at noon so we could watch it). When we were reading Lear, none of us could pronounce Gonerill half the time, and, in the manner that "minds" because "mings", Gonerill became Gonorrhea. <shrug> We were 17 year olds. Do I remember reading a fic by Yahtzee? Or Rheanna? set over the summer between season 1 & 2 in which the water's got something wrong with it and Wes and Cordy go to a school and Wes says their daughter's name is Regan... Cordy, in Queen C (how I miss her!) fashion protests at this, and Wes says that he could have named her Gonerill? Will have to go via Ignis Verbis later, because I'm sure it's there. Feeling nostalgic, and now want to go and reach Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard... that was our year 12 lit play. We studied Medea in English (and I kept wanting to call it Oedipus, because that's what I thought we were going to be studying in lit) and The Cherry Orchard in lit. I've got to write an application letter to the Commonwealth Bank for a position there... although with the rate bank branches close in country areas, heaven only knows how stable a job there would be. Got a bill from the computer guys for their non-fixing of my modem (at least they tried) and I think I have to pay a Telstra bill, too. Love getting bills. Really. Mum and Dad watched Serendipity last night. I watched John Cusak. Yes, there is a difference. And I loved the film... loved John Cusak more ;) but I could even handle Kate Beckinsdale, which is a strange occurrence. Perhaps it was just Pearl Harbour that turned me off her, because I like her in Much Ado, too. But this one has to have been used as inspiration for a B/A fic, right? I mean, Sara has sleepless-serendipity.com and all that... it has to have been used. Need to find the fic. With Spike as Lars and Cordy as Hallie... unless it was written before then, in which case it would be Riley as Lars and Kate as Hallie. Amazing how times change, hey. But you could have Willow as the best friend of Sara's -- puts another spin on the new-age theme, not to mention the lesbian friends bit. Oooohh... have Riley as Lars, and put Spike as Dawn's boyfriend -- they guy is even blonde in the film. Wes, of course, gets to be the best man... and I'm putting wa-hey too much thought into this. I love John Cusak. I haven't been game to watch America's Sweerhearts because I'm not sure that even John and Seth Green could save that one from the horrors of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Julia Roberts -- although it has Billy Crystal in it, too, and I'm always a sucker for Billy. Just occurred to me. Do you know what Serendipity reminded me of? When Harry Met Sally... New York, the whole "fates" thing, it just... yeah, I think it has those elements. I thought at first, Sleepless in Seattle, because of the distance/search thing, but I think it has the quirkyness about it that I love about Harry met Sally. Just go with me, people!! Trust me on this one. Sitting here right now, that's what it reminded me of. Can't think of anything else to type in... if anyone's interested in helping me come up with questions for the Spoonless B/Aer quiz, email me or try and catch me on AIM as funkypurplesmurf or MSN as funkypurplesmurf at hotmail dot com Yeah, I use funkypurplesmurf a lot. Sue me. I've got funkypurplesmurf at yahoo dot com, too. And look at my website addresses... you see a funkypurplesmurf anywhere, chances are it's me. :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 9:31 AM [x] :: |
| l Friday, October 04, 2002 |
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Yes, you may have noticed that I wasn't on AIM today for hours on end... the carnival is over, folks; Mum and Dad have gotten back from Synod. Australians may have heard some of the resolutions made from this meeting; the Uniting Church in Australia (the church my father's a minister in) has resolved to not support any war on Iraq, and, in fact, they're looking into the consequences of civil disobedience to any war tax the government might inflict upon the public. I saw a cartoon the other day that placed Baghdad geographically in the middle of Vietnam. Pretty much sums it all up.
As long as the protests are focused on the government, and not on the soldiers who have to fight, I'll be happy. But anyway. The days of Nathan's friends taking over the house and me spending all day on the internet have finished for the moment. It was nice while it lasted, but now I get people questioning my need to spend 8 hours online at a time (well, we're meant to have eight hours rest, eight hours work and eight hours play each day, right? Is it *my* fault that the 8 hours play happens to be from 1-9pm? <innocent>) I have to learn how to do a HTML form. Because I was standing in the shower this morning (see heading... yes, this is a shower entry. Be afraid. Be very afraid) and thinking about Spoons and how different people apply it in different ways. So I've decided that, along with the Spoonless Clique, I have to make a "What kind of Spoonless B/Aer are you?" quiz. Think about it. We can have those who apply a spoon to what's currently being shown on the TV; those like me who stop at season 5/2; the ones where Angel didn't turn the day back in IWRY and they're happily married with 2.5 children; and the ones where Buffy ran after Angel and didn't let him disappear into the fog at Graduation Day. Now all I need are the questions for the thing, pictures for the answers, and the HTML knowledge to pull it all off. I think I'm going back to HTMLClinic.com for a while <sigh> And here's an idea for people who build anti-A/C buttons (I've got similar as the alt text on one of the cliques buttons I need to upload): in·cest n. 1. Sexual relations between persons closely related by blood. 2. Sexual relations between Angel and Cordelia. [From Latin incestus, unchaste.] In other news, finally finished JossBot. I can say this with authority because I'm not going to change computers to post this until it's done. Not happy with the ending, but what else is new? It was easy to finish Attack of the Killer Monks because all I had to do was mention Buffy's name and Angel was dashing off to the Hellmouth (as it should be <sniff>). But because Revenge of the Joss and now The JossBot Strikes Back are far more contrived than the first, it's harder to get the inspiration to finish. This is so the last Monks story. I'll find some other form of denial for the current seasons, if I (unwillingly) hear enough about them to feel the need to ridicule. I had my Chester for most of the day, thinking about the quiz. Now I'm bitter again. Which does make it easier to finish JossBot... And because I'm bored, have a long memory of past Babble Board Chats, and want to experiment with image maps, I'm going to include the following. A number of months ago, for some reason the subject of the cartoon character of the Tasmanian Devil came up in a Babble Chat. I mentioned that the Australian state of Tasmania wanted to use the image in it's tourism promotion, but were refused by the Evil Warner Brothers Corporation. Which prompted surprise from some of the Babblers in the chat room that there actually was a place called Tasmania. Even more surprising was the news that there was an actual animal called a Tasmanian Devil. So in the interest of promoting useless general knowledge amongst the readers of this blog, I provide the following information, shamelessly copied from Microsoft Encarta. I figure Bill Gates can afford it. Click here for a map of Australia, and then click on Tasmania for a map of that state. FYI, the state I live in is Victoria. Tasmania, state of southeastern Australia, consisting of the island of Tasmania, lying 240 km (150 mi) south of mainland Australia; many small, nearby islands; and the uninhabited, subarctic volcanic island of Macquarie. Tasmania is bounded on the south and west by the Antarctic (Southern) Ocean, on the east by the Tasman Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and on the north by Bass Strait, which separates Tasmania from the mainland. It is Australia’s only island state. Tasmania has a total area, including the smaller islands, of 68,331 sq km (26,383 sq mi), or just under 1 percent of Australia. The capital of Tasmania is Hobart. History Aboriginal people crossed the land bridge into Tasmania more than 35,000 years ago. They were later isolated from Aborigines on the mainland by the rising waters that transformed the Bass Plain into the shallow Bass Strait. Europeans first saw Tasmania in the early 17th century, and in 1642 the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman visited it. Tasman named the island Van Diemen’s Land, after the governor of the Netherlands Indies. In 1788 Great Britain claimed Van Diemen’s Land as part of its empire, and in 1803 British lieutenant John Bowen landed at Risdon Cove (near present-day Hobart) with 29 convicts, 8 soldiers, and 10 free settlers. With the arrival of more free settlers, Van Diemen’s Land was made a separate colony from the mainland colony of New South Wales, in 1825. The impact of the settlers on the local Aborigines was devastating. By the 1820s violent conflict with Europeans and European diseases had wiped out virtually the entire Aboriginal population, believed to have been about 5000 at the time of colonization. Almost all of the few Aborigines who remained were removed in the 1830s to Flinders Island, where they perished. Until 1853, when transportation (the system of exiling convicts from Great Britain to Australia) came to an end, Van Diemen’s Land was a dedicated convict settlement, with more than 5000 convicts arriving in some years. In 1855 Van Diemen’s Land was granted self-government, and in 1856 the name Tasmania was adopted. Historically vulnerable to economic cycles, Tasmania suffered through economic depression in the 1890s, though a silver- and copper-mining boom in western Tasmania provided relief. In 1901 Great Britain granted independence to the Australian colonies, and Tasmania became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia. The Commonwealth was a mixed blessing for Tasmania: competition from the Australian mainland dealt a sharp economic blow to the young state, but the federal government came to Tasmania’s aid with financial grants. For much of the rest of the century, Tasmania’s economy would experience bursts of growth followed by stagnation; stagnation was typically followed by large-scale emigration of Tasmania’s residents to the mainland. Successive Tasmanian governments have emphasized development, especially development based on hydroelectricity. Since the 1970s, however, intense conservationist opposition to damming and logging has changed the political debate, and in 1983 Australia’s High Court ruled in favor of stopping construction of a dam on Tasmania’s Gordon River. The ruling gave an extra boost to the conservation movement, and in 1989 conservationist candidates won enough seats to swing the balance of power in the House of Assembly. Since then, conservationists have exerted a powerful influence; they have received support from Tasmania’s rapidly growing tourist industry.  Tasmanian Devil, carnivorous and scavenging marsupial now restricted to Tasmania. The animal was formerly widely distributed in Australia as well but, because farmers believed that it killed large numbers of livestock and poultry, it was exterminated there. The Tasmanian devil is actually a very inefficient killer, and eats mostly carrion. It is 52 to 80 cm (20 to 31 in) in head and body length, with a tail 23 to 30 cm (9 to 12 in) long, and weighs 4.1 to 11.8 kg (9 to 26 lb). Its pelt is blackish or brownish, except for white patches commonly present on the throat or other parts. It stays in burrows or in dense brush during the day and, at night, preys on rodents, lizards, wallabies, and other small animals.
Scientific classification: The Tasmanian devil is classified as Sarcophilus harrisii. :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 8:52 PM [x] :: |
| l Thursday, October 03, 2002 |
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Doing the random blog thing with the recently updated blogs at the Blogger page... came across Breaking Glass... have to add it to my favourites, because I think I like the girl. Check out the "erotic magnetic poetry"!!!
:: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 4:20 PM [x]
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This is a specially formulated diet, designed to help you cope with stress that builds up during the day. BREAKFAST 1 grapefruit 1 slice wholemeal toast 1 cup skim milk LUNCH Small portion lean, steamed chicken with a cup of spinach 1 cup herbal tea 1 chocolate biscuit AFTERNOON TEA The rest of the chocolate biscuits in the packet 1 tub of Rocky Road icecream with Choc-ice topping 2 Mars Bars DINNER 3 bottles red wine 2 loaves garlic bread 1 family size supreme pizza 3 Snickers bars LATE NIGHT SNACK Whole frozen Sara Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from freezer) DIET RULES
And remember: STRESSED SPELT BACKWARDS IS DESSERTS. :: Smurfette blogged for peace @ 1:09 PM [x] :: |
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