tips from the internet 'ho

[geoviki]

I was gonna separate this into more than one post, but I'm feeling fragmented enough these days. I need integration. Perhaps all these diverse interests are part of one big picture; who knows?

Only a day or two more to watch the curious and quirky - yet very funny - webTV show by Joss Whedon (and sibs) that is Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog. Check it out while it's still free. I saw mention that it may only be accessible to N. American viewers - can you international folks see this site?

In the year of our lord 2008, there are so many music blogs out there that it's almost impossible to keep up with even a tiny part of them. Happily, Retro Music Blog is back after a long hiatus, with daily links to some of them. If you are a fan of music, you'll appreciate this blog.

The yaoi manga world has been shaken by a plagiarism scandal by one of its more famous and successful manga-kas. I've followed some of the work of Youka Nitta myself (I like her stuff, not like I adore Miyamoto Kano, but it's made for some enjoyable forays into the genre). Someone finally discovered that she was copy-tracing published fashion shots for her covers. You can see the evidence yourself at nitta_crib - 55 examples and counting. As is typical, some rabid fans are trying to shoot the messenger. Unlike last year's historical romance scandal by Cassie Edwards, which was never directly addressed by her or her publisher, Youka Nitta has abjectly apologized and retired from writing any further manga, and her publisher has immediately yanked every bit of her stuff. Wow. Sad for her and all her fans.

I finished learning hiragana. Go me! Because I am a geek, I made a set of flashcards for my purse to practice when I'm stuck waiting in lines and such. I'll show you in Chicago if you ask.

Please send rain. It has not rained more than a barely-sidewalk-wetting few minutes for over a month now. In the daily 90+-degree heat, everything is turning to dust in the Geoviki quarter acre.

I love it when Dinosaur Comics talks about writing. In one of last week's episodes, T Rex discovers the fallout of readers thinking a character's behavior == the writer's behavior. The next day, T Rex tries to please his audience but seekritly writes slash...

Comments

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

*fans self* Oh, it is so friggin' hot here today. Ugh, no AC.

I kind of wish I were going to Terminus now... too bad it's completely not in the cards.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

How do you keep cool??! We finally broke down and bought a swamp cooler last year, and it's the best thing we did for the house (and for us).

I wish you were going to Terminus too! It's been a while, huh?

[waterbird.livejournal.com]

The Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog is viewable from the UK. The hubby and I have a date to watch it this weekend. I hope we're not too late.

And I will gladly send you some London rain in exchange for your Colorado 90-degree sunshine. Please! I am forgetting what real summers feel like. *clutches hot water bottle*

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Ah, so the info was an evil rumor. Glad you had a chance to indulge.

Why is the planet so unbalanced? We're getting too much heat, you're getting too much rain. Somewhere in between is the perfect climate - probably in Atlantis or something.

[zerostress.livejournal.com]

Hiragana! :)

Now you can learn katakana, then.

And why not some kanji, too?

Congrats, geoviki-san! ;)

[zerostress.livejournal.com]

I meant Congrats,

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Katakana's next. I have to practice getting faster at identifying these first. It's fun, though. I never thought I could do it, but it's like eating an elephant - one bite at a time.

[zerostress.livejournal.com]

If I have made it, you can do it, too. ;)

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Lots of non-Americans on my flist were watching Dr Horrible, so I don't think it was restricted. The site was having some problems with heavy traffic, though. (I never encountered it, but I heard a lot of complaints of people being unable to access it.)

Congrats on learning hiragana!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I have a photo of me drawing hiragana in the sand when I was on vacation and bored at the beach. I don't know how far I can take it - I can learn katakana, I suppose, but kanji? I wonder.

Sorry about this weekend's clusterfuck. I enjoy your reviews and think you are entirely in the right to post them on your own LJ. In fact, I look forward to your reviews of my stuff, and you always seem to nail the problem spots. In 2006 I read every one you did for Merry Smutmas, and I think we agreed about 98% of the time. It doesn't sound like you'll be chased off from it, so good, but still it's no fun being ganged up on like that.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I think if you're going to learn kanji, by that point you really need to learn the language, too, or it's kind of pointless. Because then it's like, well, you're learning all this vocab, but have no way of making sense of it.

Now that I think of it, there was a small bit of wank on that Smutmas. Someone thought it was horribly wrong of me to write reviews for an exchange. All I ever saw of it was a couple comments, though. I can't believe I still haven't finished last year's Smutmas fics and July is almost over. *headdesk* Too much to read, too little time...

[verdenia.livejournal.com]

Yay, hiragana!!!

Keep practicing. I learned it about 4 years ago and now remember about half to three-quarters. :P

Did you learn on your own, or did you get the "homophone remembering system" jokey things, like "te" looks like a table?

I shall have to check out your flashcards. :D

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Oh, I used a mnemonic site, definitely:

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/nihongo/index.html

And some of them are really crazy...like 'na' and 'mo' - check 'em out!

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I read in the paper that you guys are arid extra-dry! It's been modestly moist here in town, and pouring buckets in the mountains - at least, every time we have gone backpacking. Last night in the wilderness it started raining hard at 6 pm and didn't stop until sometime around 3am. I shall send happy rain thoughts to you.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Raaaiiiinnnn! *gasps*

Glad to hear it's not state-wide then. I've been enjoying your posts from wonderful places. When I worked on the seismic crew before I came here in 1978, we worked in the Waterpocket Fold area, and I lived in a little tent in Escalante. I adore that whole area. You're getting good use out of your new vehicle.

[painless-j.livejournal.com]

I would gladly send you some of Dutch rain we kept getting under last week!

Nitta Youka? Gah.

Do you know about ATBT discussion?

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Welcome home! I need to get the long story arc up for you now - see what procrastination has turned me into?

Yes, I've been seekritly watching the discussion (and there are two others on individual LJs that are interesting), but I'm trying to stay hidden so as not to scare off the wildlife. I get to join the discussion next week. It's so fun, though, to see people coming up with these amazing revelations - and some of them I didn't even realize! But oh, I tried to reread it because it's been so long for me, too, and the first part is so slooooow. Tell, tell, tell, not enough show.

[painless-j.livejournal.com]

I'm not home yet; am in Belgium :)

Don't badmouth your masterpiece :) The beginning seemed just fine all the times that I read it!