yonmei

11:50 pm: Home safe, cats are fine, tired out
Wolf and Bob are both very obviously Not Talking To Me.

Also: this little dragon has 22 hours to live:


This little dragon has a couple of days to go:


This little egg was snagged as my home-from-Redemption dragon gift:


Tags: bob, dragon eggs need clicky, redemption, wolf

08:08 pm: Redemption: originality...
I'm sitting in the "It's not SF but I like it", thinking about the past panel (the last one I moderated) on originality - why are there no more original TV series/movies?

And, sadly, we concluded: it's not just the accountants, it's because to a certain extent no one wants all original, all the time: we all want to just veg out in front of something we expect: and this fits surprisingly well into the discussion of what we like when we're not watching SF/F.

Which is: West Wing, House, Due South, The Professionals, M*A*S*H, Spooks, Northern Exposure - genre shows with a big overlap between their fans and SF/F fans.

Time Team, Ajay points out. Mythbusters, Victorian Farm...

(I also said: Have I Got News For You, As Time Goes By, and the novels of Jane Austen.)





Tags: house md, m*a*s*h, redemption, west wing

04:34 pm: Redemption: Closing ceremony
Brigade-Leader Lethbridge-Stewart won Ruler of the universe with 522 votes (out of 350 eligible voters).

Og got 3.

The Green Drazis won by undignified cheating.

(Barack Obama got 9 votes. Slightly more than Cortegia, who got 7.)

Unity is Strength! Don your eye-patches!

And jekesta and Pink Alice won the Eclectic Pub Quiz! *cheers*

( moar results )





Tags: dr who, redemption

03:25 pm: Redemption: Iron Man
I had just finished a rather fascinating panel on US English vs UK English, when I realised it was past three and I was late for Iron Man.

I had settled down on the floor when I realised that, um, the coffee and wine drunk earlier had backed up on me, and I urgently needed PLUMBING. This meant (it is this hotel's drawback) running up one floor and down a corridor to our room and using the facilities there, or running down several flights of stairs to the ground floor...

...so I left my laptop opened up, switched on, in the middle of the floor, and ran upstairs and also grabbed a Stoats Christmas bar. It occurred to me that there are not many public events where it would be perfectly, completely safe to do this...

I volunteered for Iron Man, but I was quite - say very relieved - to discover I wasn't in it (pinkdormouse lost my e-mail) because I was doing a lot of other panels on Sunday.

The closing ceremony is at 4pm, and then there's the Bechdel Test panel at 5pm, and I have a date at 6pm to eat dinner and do more regendering of the A-Team, and another panel at 7pm on original SF films and fantasy.

Poor Paul Darrow. He really could not write. But I wonder if he'd like one of these readings? (I played Scorpio last year - two years ago. I was jolly good.)

At the US/UK English panel, the steampunk fan on the panel, discovering that slash derives from the American word for the "/" punctuation symbol, announced that from now on the steampunk fandom word for "slash" would be "oblique" - because (I said, charmed): Watson writes oblique stories about himself and Holmes. Ah sweet.





Tags: blake's 7, redemption

01:43 pm: Redemption: regendering the A-Team
Hannibal: Real name Primrose Grace - no one will ever find it out unless she's arrested. Nicknamed "Hannibal" since before she joined the army. Very, very butch mama bear dyke: was sent on mission in final/successful attempt to purge her - she was never caught but they finally got rid of her when she went on the run.

HM Murdock: don't know her real name; brilliant pilot. Describes herself as "pansexual". They kept overlooking her sexual orientation - There were things that got overlooked (she rolled out from a chopper, half-naked, with a naked nurse, and got away with it because everyone was just "We have a mission to fly in five minutes, OBVIOUSLY YOU WERE HELPING HER FIND HER CLOTHES, and lending her yours". Insane in military facility, keeps getting kidnapped to fly missions.

Face: Gorgeous, promiscuously heterosexual, but got caught kissing general's daughter, is still rather annoyed that the army still keeps referring to her as gay. ("Yeah, yeah, Face, I'll give you a certificate!") Would if pushed describe herself as "bi-curious".

BA Baracus: Small, bodybuilder muscles, strong, scary - pocket dynamo. She's Servalan-scary and menacing, and able to physically back it up. Her real name is probably Charity: BA stands for Bad Attitude.

( Bras )

Okay. I got a panel in 3 minutes. This will continue!

Tags: a-team, redemption, regendering, slash

10:07 am: Redemption: Writing Bad Blake's 7 Slash
List of items: Aprons, feather dusters, Dustpan and brush, long-handled broom, scrubbing brush, mop and bucket, marigold gloves

( Written collectively in an hour by hungover, tired, insane slash fans.... this is your only warning! )



Tags: blake's 7, fannish snark, redemption

08:24 pm: Redemption: Masquerade
I came in late: we're on Entry Number 7, "At Home With the Rikers". Er, Deanna left Will. And took up with Worf. And then Worf split up with Deanna. And jokes about Deanna's legs. Oh dear.

I'm sitting at the back with lexin, at the "Let's not take this seriously table".

Jokes about trombones and glasses apart... I can't actually see what they're doing, but the dialogue isn't funny: except for the line about "and perhaps we'll even memorise the script next time".

( Read more... )

Tags: fannish snark, redemption

04:44 pm: Redemption: Zocala
My cakes seem to be more popular than my fannish Tarot readings (I think about half of the readings I've done have been for the Pink House crowd: I did one or two for all of them and nerdcakes). But, it's been fun.

Especially when people give feedback. The "Tarot reading for new fanfic" actually would work quite well for generating new ideas, melancharisbron: next time I visit, let's have a go doing readings for each other.

The Guinness chocolate cupcakes with yogurt-raisin toppings went fastest, but the person who wanted a recipe was inspired by the gluten-free chocolate cupcakes with cranberries.

Virtually everyone who wanted a "fannish Tarot reading" is female...

Tags: baking, redemption, tarot

10:49 am: Redemption: Vorkosigan
Whee. I'm at a Vorkosigan panel. We're discussing Cordelia's overthrow of Beta Colony.

(Also, Windows Vista sucks.)





Tags: bujold, redemption

12:15 am: To Do list: Thursday
0. Hang up Wednesday's wash
1. Do a laundry.
2. Collect prescription drugs
3. Collect laptop for User2
4. Call Ajay check time for wakeup call
5. Book taxi
6. Pack Redemption stuff
7.1 Make vegan cupcakes: Chocolate with Guinness
7.2 Make vegan cupcakes: Almond
7.3 Make vegan cupcakes: Vanilla
7.4 Make vegan/gluten-free cupcakes: Banana-Walnut
7.5 Make vegan/gluten-free cupcakes: Chocolate
7.6 Make gluten-free cupcakes: Cranberry-Vanilla
8 Bake bread
9. Buy dried fruit and washing-up liquid and gluten-free vegan chocolate
10. Print out Tarot and such
11. Go to Milk.
12. Check out Dan Savage ILSLISC.
13. Call home insurance and add laptop / camera
14. Buy cat biscuit
W3. Tell Transamurai what did. Be apologetic.
W6. Format the thing, email round.
W7. Fill out PB form, return by post.
W8. Fill out coop form, return by post.
T5. Insert remaining 30+ records in portrait for directors Monday: email to Fresh Start.
T6. Finish Vacuuming hall carpet and stairs.
21. Ice 7.1, 7.4, 7.5 with chocolate ganache
22. Set all three alarm clocks
23. Make green soup
24. Write to do list for Tuesday
25. Freeze green soup




Tags: baking, lists, redemption

04:36 pm: cupcakes for Redemption
Okay.

So, currently my plans are:

1: Chocolate with Guinness cupcakes, topped with chocolate ganache, decorated with golden sultanas: Vegan.
2: Almond cupcakes, topped with rosewater frosting, decorated with flaked almonds: Vegan.
3: Vanilla cupcakes, topped with lemon frosting, no decoration: Vegan
4: Banana-Walnut cupcakes, topped with chocolate ganache, decorated with banana chips and walnuts (obv): Vegan / Gluten-free
5: Chocolate cupcakes, topped with chocolate ganache, decorated with dried cranberries: Vegan / Gluten-free
6: Cranberry-Vanilla cupcakes, topped with vanilla frosting, decorated with dried cranberries: Gluten-free, but I may make these with egg.

2 boxes for the vegan, 1 box for the gluten-free.

Also, a fruit-cake, neither vegan nor gluten-free, for the room party Friday night.



Tags: bake sales, baking, cake, chocolate, redemption

11:07 am: This little dragon-hatchling has 22 hours to live!


In other news, I got Camembert half-price at the farmer's market this morning. The rewards of getting up early. It's miserable weather by the way.

I am about to go up to the Green Fair. I have bought five books for 50p each to read-and-abandon on the Redemption trip, and I spotted a really weird little ceramic cooking gadget that looks as if it was made for poaching quail eggs. Could this be? Who needs to poach quail eggs so often they buy a gadget specifically to do so?





Tags: cheese, dragon eggs need clicky, redemption

10:39 am: I have found out what I can do with my birthday cupcakes....
They are going to a trans poetry/prose performance tonight, as the free entertainment, since the place where the event is happening doesn't have a cafe-bar at present. So, joy. (There are 24+ wee cakelets, chocolate with Guinness, banana-walnut, more chocolate-with-Guiness with a crumb topping, some rather precious almond with rosewater, and a very few of the gluten-free spice cakes with peanut butter.)

I hope they have a good time and embrace their destiny fully as cake.

Next major baking session, Redemption. Actually, I need to make another trial batch of gluten-free before then, as I have a notion for a different recipe that involves ground almonds... and so far, no one's poked their head up on the Redemption mailing list to say "I'm coeliac and vegan AND ALLERGIC TO NUTS" even though I specially asked.

Oh, I got a warning e-mail from someone suggesting I not produce a t-shirt that says "This is not a t-shirt. Anyone who insists that it is, is just putting on airs to be interesting" as it would just stir up trouble. Hm. The worst of it is, while I still think it would be very funny, he may well be right. What do you think?





Tags: baking, cake, dragon eggs need clicky, dragons, redemption, sometimes i love my job

12:29 pm: Website to remember for Redemption
Next February. I'm just thinking ahead.

I'm going to make a batch of gluten-free cupcakes and a batch of vegan cupcakes before I go (Thursday night), and pack in a couple of airtight containers, and bring a box of gluten-free icing sugar and a bottle of lemon juice to make Dead Simple Icing to put on the cakes, Saturday morning, for the market Saturday afternoon, and so I can tell which are gluten-free and which are vegan, decorate them with gluten-free sweeties and vegan sweeties. From the useful sugary website I just linked to, or some other one.

Plus, if I have room, some cake for the Friday night room party.

Tags: baking, cake, fannishness, redemption

06:59 pm: Double drabble, drat it!
This was inspired by a conversation on the Pros-Lit list last night, concerning a panel proposed for this year's Escapade. I won't say who said she planned to show up with a Uzi...

( What killed Pros fandom? )

Tags: fanfic, fannishness, professionals, redemption