Adventures in Time and Relative Dimensions in Space

Fate and Fortune - A fake TV show what I created.

mintroses — Thu, 26 May 2011 06:16:19 GMT

It's the Create Your Own TV Show meme! This is how it goes:

Basically, someone else has given me seven actors/actresses and I've come up with a television show for them, with a blurb and character descriptions. In return, I'll give you seven actors/actresses and you do the same! I would love to see all the possible TV shows we can create seeing as how my friends-list is filled with fantastically creative people and because I want to live in that world.

boxseat gave me Alison Brie, Grace Zabrinskie, Michael C Hall, Ramona Marquez, Simon Pegg, Tina Fey, and Tom Hardy. I flailed around a bit trying to think of something to do with them, and eventually landed on the unlikely genre of "surreal dramedy about a paranormal bureaucracy".

Obligatory Cheesy Promotional Poster:

Plot Summary:

On her way back from a conference, chartered accountant Harriet Webster (Tina Fey) accidentally takes a wrong turn in the airport's maze-like security area, stumbling into an interrogation room. Internationally wanted art thief Sherwood Bell (Michael C. Hall) senses an opportunity for escape, and in the ensuing struggle Harriet and Sherwood crash through the room's two-way mirror into a strange parallel universe. Here they meet the employees of the Merciful Prison of Fate, including the Department of Destiny, headed by the curmudgeonly General Manager Nora (Grace Zabrinskie). Highly-organized and friendly Chief Operating Officer Delaney (Alison Brie) takes an instant shine to the newcomers, while the bickering Enforcers (Simon Pegg and Tom Hardy) are more stand-off-ish, and their inquistive daughter Moira (Ramona Marquez) pesters them with questions about "the Outworld". Thrust into bizarre new careers, Harriet and Sherwood struggle to adjust while they learn surprising new facts about the nature of life on Earth, and search for a way home.

Theme Song:

We see where the horizons end and scream until our lies won't hurt
We open up, we leave the key
Find out what it means to me
We waste our time on borderlines and never ask what we'll become
Our hearts are filled with empty shells
The work is done, the work is done
We live in happy little boxes

Character Profiles:

Harriet Webster (Tina Fey)
At the age of six, Harriet Webster saw the first launch of the Space Shuttle and immediately dedicated herself to becoming the first American woman in space. While her lack of 20/20 vision (and a certain Dr. Sally Ride beating her to the punch) prevented her from achieving that goal, she discovered the joy of numbers along the way. Although she's happy with her life as the head of a small accounting firm in Flint, Michigan, she'll admit that she sometimes looks at her sister's jet-setting life as a mid-level manager of a meat-packing company with some envy. She's a little too fond of both gin and making impulsive decisions, which once led to posing for a "Sexiest Accountants of America" calendar that haunts her to this day. (October's theme was 'spreadsheets', and really, she wishes her so-called friends would stop bringing that up at every possible opportunity.) Harriet's not certain that she wants to be Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Destiny (she's seen the horrifying way that these people keep their books). Mostly, she just wants to go home to her dog and a big slice of cheesecake. Is that too much to ask?

Sherwood Bell (Michael C. Hall)
Sherwood Bell has spent the majority of his adult life successfully stealing priceless works of art from highly secure locations, which is why it's more than a bit embarrassing that when he finally got arrested it was for accidentally packing a handgun in his carry-on. (In his defense, it had been a particularly rough fortieth birthday in Vegas.) He's always had a bit of a cheerfully malicious streak, and as a result gleefully adores the prospect of manipulating the lives of others as an employee of the Department of Destiny. That is, until he discovers some curious alterations in his and Harriet's files, and realizes that he has never been in control of his own choices.

Nora (Grace Zabrinskie)
As the General Manager of the Department of Destiny, Nora oversees the overall operation of the department, as well as the creation of new files. While she rules with an iron fist and at first glance seems humourless and curmudgeonly, she loves her work and views her employees as family. She takes great joy in crafting people's origin stories, and has a soft spot for children, especially Moira. Never seen without her trusty hip flask (she insists it is filled with chamomile tea) and her shotgun, she is remarkably spry for her age, something she attributes to her mysterious past as a circus performer.

Delaney (Alison Brie)
It's distinctly possible that the old adage of "being wise beyond her years" was written with Delaney in mind. As Chief Operating Officer of the Department of Destiny, she is responsible for the everyday monitoring and adjustment of the files, a task which she takes very seriously. The other employees have come to dread her morning meetings and itemized individual task lists, but it's hard to say no to either her charming smile or her steely glare. An accomplished baker, but a terrible cook, Delaney knows the lyrics to every single song that Def Leppard has ever recorded, and sings them off-key while working amongst the filing cabinets in Clockwork Hall.

Adrian (Tom Hardy)
Sometimes the forces of fate go a little awry, and need some outside influence in order to get back on track. Adrian is the muscle of the Enforcement Team, and with his well-tailored suits and deadpan sense of humour, it's obvious that he fancies himself a bit of a James Bond figure. He takes an instant dislike to Sherwood, who is suspicious of Adrian's resemblance to descriptions of a shadowy and ruthless hitman, legendary in the international criminal underworld. While he carefully cultivates an image of suave competence, it is often shattered by hysteria triggered by his numerous animal phobias, a weakness exploited frequently by his co-workers.

Tobias (Simon Pegg)
The other half of the Enforcement Team, Tobias is the techie in the department, in charge of a fleet of tiny robots known as Outcome Adjustment Targeters (or OATs). He is both envious and aggravated by Adrian's seemingly endless Secret Agent Antics, and commiserates with Harriet over their shared belief in being the only normal people in the entire department. Despite his inability to speak any foreign languages, Tobias is an avid collector of dictionaries, which are partly to blame for Moira's extensive multilingual vocabulary. Four years ago, he won the Merciful Prison of Fate's annual karaoke competition, an accomplishment he likes to boast about as often as possible.

Moira (Ramona Marquez)
No one's entirely certain where Moira came from, or who her parents are. Tobias discovered her hiding behind a filing cabinet one Saturday at 4:37PM, and she's been around ever since. She's an avid bookworm, and insatiably curious about the world around her, with a knack for asking awkward questions at inopportune moments. She has adopted Tobias and Adrian as her de-facto parents, referring to both of them as "Daddy", which they find alternately endearing, uncomfortable, and confusing. Moira has a nasty habit of ripping up the files, which seems like merely exasperating childhood attention-seeking behaviour, until you realize that the destruction of a file causes that person's death in the Outworld.

Selected Episode Outlines:

1x01 - Arrivals (Pilot)
After an unfortunate incident involving a mirror in Los Angeles International Airport, chartered accountant Harriet Webster and internationally-wanted art thief Sherwood Bell are transported into the strange world of the Merciful Prison of Fate, where they are put to work in the Department of Destiny.

1x02 - A Succession of Ordinary Days
Harriet is sent out on field assignment with the Enforcement Team and learns more about the workings of the Department. Under the tutelage of Nora, Sherwood settles into his new job, and makes a shocking discovery about his own file. Adrian and Tobias visit a firing range, with predictably disastrous results.

1x05 - The Seven Deaths of Nigel Bates
Moira contracts the chicken pox, and her resultant irritability causes her to rampage through Clockwork Hall, destroying all the folders she can reach. Despite Tobias and Delaney's best efforts to correct the damage, one man's file resists being taped back together, leading him to experience a string of fatal accidents.
Special Guest Star Dulé Hill (Psych, The West Wing).

1x07 - Useless Knowledge
A trivia contest comes to blows, and results in a revelation about the connections between OATs and ants in the Outworld. Sherwood continues his search into the reasons behind his and Harriet's transport to the Merciful Prison. Moira discovers the joy of macaroni art.

1x10 - Ghost in the Machinery
Images of a long-dead trapeze artist with connections to both Nora and Adrian start appearing in the windows of the prison. Harriet opens a package meant for Tobias, leading to an embarassing case of mistaken identity.
Special Guest Star Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica, Hawaii Five-0).

1x12 - Departures (Season Finale)
Sherwood confronts Adrian about his past, Harriet receives a letter from the prison warden, and Delaney uncovers a trapdoor leading to a fast food restaurant - in the Outworld.

Notes:

This took forever. It was all worth it! If this was real, I can't decide whether more people would ship Adrian/Sherwood or Adrian/Tobias. Somebody please notice the Greek mythology tie-in. I want to write scripts for this now. But first I really need to go to bed.

Dream Cast for 'This is the Way the World Ends' by James Morrow

mintroses — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:02:02 GMT

When I saw that picspammy's current challenge was a second chance for doing a casting picspam, I thought 'Hooray! I can do that!'. For a while I pondered what I wanted to cast before settling on one of my favourite novels: This is the Way the World Ends by James Morrow, a darkly comedic satire about the total devastation of the world via a nuclear war. (I love a good apocalypse.)

Three days later I realized that I had picked a book with a vast ensemble cast and would probably never finish editing the pictures. However, I somehow managed to, so here is a picspam of a hypothetical cast for a movie that will never get made of a book that no one has read. Please look at it anyways, if only for the pretty pictures. It would make my insanity feel very validated.

The Plot

From the back of the book: "In 1995, George Paxton is an ordinary American living an ordinary life in an ordinary town. Content as a tombstone carver and family man, George lacks only one thing: a fashionable 'scopas' survival suit - complete with sanitary facilities and a Colt .45 - to protect his daughter in the event of nuclear war. Then, through a twist of fate, George secures the coveted suit, a deluxe golden model, for the price of a mere signature. Unfortunately, what he signs proves to be a diabolical pact affirming his complicity in the escalating nuclear arms race, and as the war that could never happen happens, George is whisked into the past and the future to face the consequences of his actions."

Essentially, this is an Alice in Wonderland-like tale about the world after nuclear war. George, along with five other survivors from various professions, is taken to Antarctica after the end of the world and put on trial for crimes against humanity, peace, and the future. There's an interesting device that gives a voice to the extinguished future generations of humanity, and the whole thing is simultaneously bleak and entertaining. It does a wonderful job of exposing the absurdity of the military-industrial complex, while remaining inventive and readable. Occasionally it gets a little anvil-heavy with its message, but overall it's a wonderful book, that you should definitely read.

It would be difficult to turn into a movie, due to its huge scope, but could probably be done with a good writing team and director. And a good effects team, naturally.

The Paxtons

Not everyone would have found fulfillment in putting words on cemetery monuments. For George, however, inscribing monuments was a calling, not simply a job. He was in the tomb profession. He kept a scrapbook of the great ones: the sarcophagus of Alexander, the shrine to Mausolus at Halicarnassus, the Medici tomb at San Lorenzo, the Pyramid of Cheops. Don't you get depressed being around gravestones all day? people asked him. No, he replied. Gravestones, he knew, were educational media, teaching that life has limits: don't set your sights too high.

While this is perhaps a bit of a weird choice, I think he would be able to carry off both the dramatic and comedic aspects of the character (a man who goes through the despair of losing everything and everyone he holds dear in a horrific nuclear war, but also spends much of the book composing epitaphs for everything in his head, and conversing with his sperm). In some ways the character he played in Nathan Barley is rather similar, with the mix of depression and humour, so, yes, I think it could work well.

More than anything else, George's wife wanted to act. She was no dreamer, though: no visions of Hollywood danced in her head. Her sober and plausible ambition was to be the clown who gave out balloons at children's parties, the radio voice that told you where to purchase a new sofa, or the pretty lady at the local cable television station who explained why you should patronize the Wildgrove Hardware Store or Sandy's Sandwich Shop.

Feisty and gorgeous is something Kate Hewlett can do with no trouble at all. Justine also has some very funny moments in the pet shop where she works, and Kate Hewlett also has great comedic timing.

If George could have one wish, he would remake the world as Holly saw it. This utopia would consist largely of cuddly ducks, happy ponies, and sea gulls who spared live clams.

She's too old now to play a four-year-old, but she'd be perfect to play the precocious and adorable daughter who George sacrifices everything in the hopes of saving.

The Survivors

"Ah, another one of those," said Wegnernook with mock distress. "Here I am in the goddamn D-O-D, and everybody thinks of me as the guy who does the scopas suit commericals. For my hobby, I'm the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs."

Poor Peter Capaldi, playing harried diplomat after harried diplomat. Still, he is wonderful at it, and would doubtless do very well as this particular harried diplomat.

George had never taken so immediate a liking to anyone before. Brat Tarmac was the sort of handsome, athletic soldier ten-year-old boys wanted for fathers, a fantasy to which George, at age thirty-five, was not entirely immune.

As the main military man in the group of survivors, responsible for some of the failed nuclear deterrence plans, Tarmac is both very brash, arrogant, and self-assured, and yet strangely sympathetic and likable. If his performance as Doakes on Dexter is any indication, Erik King can straddle that line perfectly.

"Ever see King of Kings?" said Sparrow. "It's wonderful the way Orson Welles pronounces the T in 'apostles.'" He placed George's shoulder in a warm grip. "I'm still praying for you."

Michael C. Hall is absolutely perfect to play this devastatingly earnest and utterly smarmy televangelist, no doubt about it.

"Meet Dr. William Randstable," said Brat. "The whiz kid of Sugar Brook Lab and, it is rumored, a certifiable genius."
"I'm not really a whiz kid any more," said Randstable. His suit was several sizes too large. "More of a whiz middle-aged man."

It's an odd choice of the author to have the man responsible for creating many of the nuclear weapons that destroyed the world to be the socially awkward comic relief who copes through playing chess with himself. However, Stephen Merchant with all his lanky hilarity could probably pull it off quite well.

The oil lamps sprinkled flecks of bronze onto his snowy beard as he narrated his life's story - the Foreign Service, the Diplomatic Corps, the State Department, and, finally, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. To George, Overwhite still seemed like a windbag, but he was obviously a resourceful and intelligent one, a windbag woven of the finest material.

As soon as he was described as looking like Santa Claus, my mind jumped to Richard Attenborough and just wouldn't let get go of the image.

The Lawyers

He devoured more lemon meringue pie. "And if all else fails, I've got a rabbit or two in my hat. I believe we should go for aquittals, count by count."
He's so young, George thought. They sent a child to defend us.

He would definitely bring a vitality to the role of the chief defense attorney for the survivors.

His ally throughout these interrogations was Dennie Howe, an agonizingly attractive young darkblood with sharp turquoise eyes and a double-decker smile. As soon as George entered the hut, she identified herself as Bonenfant's chief assistant and explained that she would be using her several degrees in international law to keep George's inquisitors at bay. My client does not have to answer that question. My client is not obliged to initial that extradition paper. My client is entitled to a cup of...

This is hard to explain, but basically, I think she'd make a good hotshot young lawyer.

When Alexander Aquinas stood up, George saw that the forces arrayed against them were formidable indeed. The chief prosecutor was well over six feet tall. His head looked like a sculpture of itself - rough-hewn, bleak, larger than life. His shaggy gray hair and thick neck suggested that he owned lion genes, Slowly he walked to the bench, turned, and stared toward the gallery with the intensity of a man having a private audience with an angel. He smiled.

The chief prosecutor of the survivors has to have gravitas in gigantic amounts, something that Morgan Freeman certainly possesses.

The president of the court, Shawna Queen Jefferson, was a spry little black woman who, as the Mount Christchurch news sculptors had recently revealed, would have become 'The Most Controversial Supreme Court Justice In History'.

Calm and measured, intelligent and sympathetic, but also no-nonsense with an edge of sarcasm. She would definitely do well in the role of the Chief Justice of the court trying the survivors.

The Other Players

Evening pressed softly on the Crippen Monument Works. The woman uncrooked her back, hobbled forward. "I have a task for you," she said. A spry voice inhabited her antique body. "You'll learn of it soon."
"Have we met?" he asked.
"I have always been with you," she said, smiling, "waiting to get in," and then she vanished into the dusk.

A kindly but mysterious grandmother figure who acts as a guide to George in many ways. That far left picture is exactly how the character looks in my mind.

"I lived a block from my little sister - a Methodist minister and in her own way a better therapist than I. We called Linda the white sheep of the family. All I want is to be able to bury her." Leonardo was right: Morning could smile. This was not the joyful smile of the mother in the portrait, however, but the brave, taut smile of someone fighting tears.

This is the casting that I dithered over the most. While Morning is supposed to be a freckled redhead, that could be done with dye and makeup, and Maggie Gyllenhaal's unusual beauty corresponds to how Morning is described. She is also an amazing actress who could portray the subtleties of the character very well. From the closed-off and clinical therapist to the sympathetic witness to the passionate and tragic love interest, she could bring such life to a difficult role that it would be wonderful to watch.

"I can tell you why a vulture is like a raven, but the answer is distasteful, involving carrion and bad table manners. [...] The human body is an egg. 'Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses and-' Now why in the world would anybody expect horses to be able to put an egg back together? People were naive in those days."

While he's all wrong for the physical description of the character (small, red hair, middle-aged), I can't help but feel that he would pull off the manic energy and complicated dialogue incredibly well. It's a role a bit like the Doctor in some ways (he's also a bit of a lone adventurer who travels in time), and the speech patterns are very similar as well.

Confused sea gulls soared through the skies above the harbor. They were on fire. He closed his right eye and opened his left, which was made of gutta-percha. There, that was better, no burning gulls. Each evening Sverre would remove his rubber eye, soak it in gin, and replace it, whereupon the alcohol would seep into his brain, giving him a unique and copacetic high. In these troubled times, it was the only way he could get to sleep.

That face just screams 'grizzled but kindly sailor', does it not?

A narrow-eyed young woman guarded him with a Remington twelve-gauge shotgun. Her nameplate said GILA GUIZOT, and her scopas suit displayed the Bleeding Hand insignia of the Antarctic Police Force. On meeting George, the first thing Gila Guizot had done was kick him in his resuscitated gonads.

I think the contrast between her beautiful and waif-like appearance and the character's tough attitude would work very well.

Mother Mary Catherine turned to the bench, winked impishly, and said, "Be sure to convict that chucklehead. He thinks a country's Christianity is measured by the size of its thermonuclear arsenal."

Yes, 'Mother' in the Catholic sense. It's a bit part, but an important and captivating one. A Catholic priest and Vice President of the United States, Mother Mary Catherine is outspoken, cheeky, and extremely dedicated in her convictions. I think Margaret Cho would bring a fire and attitude to the role that would perfectly embody the character's spirit.

The Epitaph

1) The picture on the poster mock-up is of the first thermonuclear experiment, which led to the development of thermonuclear devices (or hydrogen bombs). The detonation took place on Mujinkarikku Islet on May 9th, 1951, and was a part of Operation Greenhouse. The device's name was George. I love this photo because in contrast to the violence of what it represents, it looks like a peaceful watercolour.

2) If you're interested in other media about nuclear weaponry and the military-industrial complex in general, here are some recommendations.
For an uncompromising look at the effects of nuclear weaponry on people: White Light/ Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the point of view of survivors (as well as those involved in delivering the bomb), it's horrifying and describes both the immediate destruction, as well as the lingering physical and emotional effects.
For an overview of how and why the military is the way it is: Why We Fight. A good introduction to the concept of the military-industrial complex and some of its absurdities.
For a history of warfare, both its technology and its causes: War, by Gwynne Dyer. Does what it says on the tin. A great book.
For another fictionalized account of the world after nuclear war: A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller. It's a little difficult to get into, but it's the type of book that will change your outlook on life if you give it a chance.
For a look at a variety of footage from the atomic age: The Atomic Cafe (you can watch it online free!). Lots of footage of tests, propaganda, newsreels, etc. Fascinating, and at times both hilarious and horrifying in retrospect.

3) Thank you boxseat, for all your suggestions and support with this. :D

If you made it all the way through this post, I thank and congratulate you.

When you search 'Merlin' on LJ, 450 communities come up.

mintroses — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:52:33 GMT

Well, now it's 451!

Welcome to the world, merlin_canada!

It's still rather small and lonely at the moment, but if you're a Canadian fan of Merlin, then come on over and join! Hopefully soon there will be meetups planned and a friending meme, and all sorts of exciting things. (Well, mostly those two things, but those are fun-sounding, no?) Or at least go look at the default icon of Arthur waving a Canadian flag, which I am inordinately proud of.

puts on Latin American Studies hat

mintroses — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:53:55 GMT

If people are interested in what's going on in Honduras at the moment and frustrated by lack of coverage by CNN-etc, the website Upside Down World is a great resource with lots of background information.

The website covers politics (with a slant towards activism) throughout Latin America, and the main page is full of stories about Honduras. There's also a specific page for each country. Honduras is here.

If you don't want to wade through all the stories, or are looking for a good starting point, jump in with this article ('Showdown in Honduras: The Rise, Repression and Uncertain Future of the Coup'), which provides a good overview of events. (Terminology note: campesino means peasant. Literally 'country person', the term generally refers to poor agricultural workers.)

And, as always, Al Jazeera and BBC News have way better coverage than North American stations.

Never Nasty, Normally Nice Nachos!

mintroses — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:12:40 GMT

This past Saturday, arkanefyre and I hung out all afternoon watching Torchwood with her dogs, while thunderstorms raged outside. Naturally, we got hungry. So, after a brief expedition to the local grocery store, we made nachos! Here is our fabulous recipe.

Foodstuffs You Will Need to Manufacture Amazing Nachos:
- One (1) 300 gram bag of tortilla chips. We used these, but feel free to substitute your favourites.
- One (1) 500 millilitre jar of salsa, whatever level of spicy you can tolerate. We are wimpy and went with mild.
- One (1) can of baked beans in tomato sauce. We went with Heinz Deep Browned Beans in Tomato Sauce, because one of us is vegetarian (HI!), but you can get one with meat as well if you insist.
- One (1) bag of shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese. You can shred your own cheese if you prefer, but this is a recipe designed for lazy people, so we went with pre-packaged.
- One (1) bunch of chives. I don't think they come in a standardized size, so, uh, a small handful-ish.

Non-edible Items You Will Need to Manufacture Amazing Nachos:
- One (1) oven or toaster oven. Must be big enough to hold pan.
- One (1) baking pan, of sufficient size to hold amazing nachos. (Use your judgment.)
- One (1) spatula, for spreading stuff. A big spoon will also suffice.
- One (1) knife for chopping the chives.
- One (1) hard surface for chopping the chives on. Probably best to protect the counter with a cutting board, but not strictly necessary.
- Two (2) oven gloves. Practice safe baking! Don't get burned!

Steps to Follow to Manufacture Amazing Nachos:

ONE: Turn on the oven or toaster oven, and pre-heat to 350 degrees Farenheit.

TWO: Open bag of tortilla chips, and dump the tortilla chips into the baking pan. They should be evenly spread within the pan, and three or four chips deep.

THREE: Open salsa jar, and carefully pour out over the chips. Use the spatula to spread it out as evenly as possible.

FOUR: Open can of beans. (Make sure not to cut yourself on the sharp edges!) Drain off a bit of the sauce if you are going for crispier nachos. Then pour the beans out over the chips, using the spatula to get them out of the can if they are being stubborn. Spread evenly.

FIVE: Open cheese package and sprinkle over the top of the chips. Evenly!

SIX: Rinse chives in water. Shake dry. Use a knife to chop them into roughly inch long pieces. Sprinkle (EVENLY) over the chips. Keep a couple of handfuls in reserve for later sprinkling purposes.

SEVEN: Put on oven gloves. Open oven or toaster oven and put pan in. Wait around for about five to ten minutes, until the cheese on top of the chips has melted. (You can fit a summary of the plot of Doctor Who and Torchwood into this time! I know this from experience.)

EIGHT: When cheese has melted sufficiently, turn off the oven, then put on oven gloves. Take the pan out of the oven and place on some sort of heat-resistant surface (a grill, a mat, the top of the stove, etc).

NINE: Sprinkle the remaining chives on top of the nachos. This way there will be non-wilted ones on top when you serve it, which looks better.

TEN: EAT! :D (The nachos might get a bit soggy in the middle, but just make sure you have a fork and napkins handy and everything will be alright.)

This is wonderful university student cooking, because it's fast, doesn't require much equipment or skills, and uses pre-packaged ingredients that are readily available. It would feed anywhere from two to four people, depending on how hungry you all were, but you can also vary the amount quite easily. Just use more or less and you can feed yourself, or an army! (Or both, if you are an Army of One.)

Credit where credit is due:
arkanefyre - idea of making nachos, kitchen and ingredient provision, picture taking, dangerous things (can-opening, chive-chopping, oven-touching)
mintroses - recipe (vaguely based grandma's 'salsa pizza'), spatula wielding, Photoshopping, LJ entry writing

TA-DA!

FUCKING FINALLY!

mintroses — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:05:13 GMT

Good on you, US of A. Good on you.

\o/!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Brief Electoral PSA, or CANADIANS, LISTEN UP!

mintroses — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:07:00 GMT

So, by now, if you've been hanging around LJ, or the internet in general, you've probably seen That Video About Registering to Vote in the American Election, right? (Note: Americans, get on that!) But we up here in Canada are having an election too, and even though normally they register you automatically, you still have to check to see if you're on the list!

Have you gotten one of these pretty Voter Information Cards in the mail yet? If not, head on over to the Elections Canada website and use this handy-dandy search tool to find all the information about how to contact the election office in your riding. (As well as a list of candidates, what ID you have to take with you to vote, where your polling stations are, etc.)

It's very simple and completely free, but you only have until Tuesday, October 7 at 6 PM to register, so make sure to sort it out in time. If for any reason you can't make it out to vote on October 14th, there's the opportunity to vote in advance this weekend (Check that Voter Information site above to find out when and where.), or by mail, so don't worry.

And if you're looking for more information on the different candidates stances, the televised leaders' debates are on tonight and tomorrow. Tonight RDI has the French language debate at 8PM Eastern, and tomorrow CBC has the English language debate at 9PM Eastern.

In New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Ontario, Rogers Local Television should be televising debates between the candidates in each riding over the next couple of days. They're rebroadcast often, so there's lots of chances to find out what your local candidates take on issues that are important to your riding (Because, let's face it, unless you're in a big city or their riding, chances are that the party leaders don't care, or even know about your local issues.) Not sure about whether this is going on in other provinces, but your local TV station's website should prove helpful in figuring that out.

Basically: Informed voting good! Make sure you're registered to do it! *steps down from soapbox*

ZOMG.

mintroses — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:55:01 GMT

Okay, SGA was wonderful, but that has to take a backseat for a moment BECAUSE OMG, WHO WANTS TO MEET KATE HEWLETT IN TORONTO TOMORROW???

According to her blog, she's going to be at FanExpo at the Convention Centre in the afternoon (One to four). Now, I don't really want to have my first ever con experience be all by my lonesome, so is anyone else up for this?

THERE ARE OTHER THINGS THERE TOO, SEE? If you don't care about Kate (BUT YOU SHOULD.)

Any one in the GTA? At all? Tickets are only $25! And I'll buy you lunch! AND MEMORIES! THERE WILL BE THOSE TOO!

Why is my father watching the Teen Choice Awards?

mintroses — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:13:38 GMT

Perhaps one word reviews of SGA are just better. Uh: YAY! for episode four.

That Katy Perry song about kissing a girl has been stuck in my head ALL DAY, which was highly annoying until I thought about it being sung from the perspective of a guy instead, which somehow led to the realization that it would be amazing for John Sheppard. Seriously, you guys, it's PERFECT. Here, have a picspam set to the chorus to convince you: I kissed a girl

And I liked it

The taste of her cherry chap stick

I kissed a girl just to try it

I hope my boyfriend don't mind it

It felt so wrong

It felt so right

Don't mean I'm in love tonight

I kissed a girl

And I liked it

...I liked it

(Rodney is displeased.)

Uh, yeah. All this Biology studying may be degrading my neurons.

FIREWORKS! needed, please provide.

mintroses — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:34:28 GMT

HAPPY CANADA DAY! *waves flag around* Weirdly enough, although we have the day off, it wasn't a long weekend, so everyone trudged into work and school grudgingly yesterday, only to have their week interrupted by fireworks and patriotic concerts with hot dogs and such.

And now, as a celebration of the country of Canada's 141th Birthday, I humbly present:

A Brief and Highly Subjective History of Canada!
Fully illustrated, with musical accompaniment, as compiled by mintroses.

Brief Disclaimer: This is very much a product of where I live and where I went to school. It's Ontario-centric, with very little mention of Aboriginal involvement, and very Anglo-centric. Apparently if you live in a tiny British founded Ontario farming town, and attend a largely conservative private school, this is the history you're taught. Not saying it's right, just making it clear where my viewpoint and information is coming from. (Er, apart from Wikipedia. I'm no good on dates.)

So. Canada. It's the country just above the United States, filled with a whole lot of nothing, where it's really cold, there are igloos and forests of maple trees and bears and natives and Mounties and moose lurking around every corner. Er, sort of.

First off, let's look at some geography:

This is a map of Canada, the likes of which hang in almost every classroom. Within our almost ten million square kilometres of land (9 984 670, to be exact, or 3 854 085 in miles) there are ten provinces and three territories. The territories are the three ones at the top there, the rest are provinces. School has failed to teach me what the difference is, but the all-knowing Wikipedia has the following to offer on the subject: "The territories of Canada have no inherent jurisdiction and only have those powers delegated to them by the federal government." So, that's that cleared up then.

The Arrogant Worms - Canada Is Really Big It really is.

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia are the oldest provinces, as the only four that were a part of Canada right after Confederation. The others all joined up later, with Newfoundland and Labrador being late to the party in 1949. Nunavut was created out of the Northwest Territories in 1999, which caused my primary school to hold a celebration which involved polar bears somehow, but I forget the details.

Random Fact: Canada contains every type of climate zone from desert to rain forest. Read on the back of a cereal box, so it must be true! There is desert in Alberta and southern Saskatchewan, and rain forest on the islands off of British Columbia. And we've got tundra in spades up in those territories.

The capital of Canada is Ottawa, Ontario. I lived there for a year, and my main impression is of a grey, small city that was very cold. Overall though, it's quite a nice town (Seriously, only 850 thousand people. That's small for a capital.) with a lot of green space when the snow's not there. It was chosen as the capital by Queen Victoria herself way back in 1857, so it now houses many stone government buildings and tourists. If you're after mounties and maple syrup, this is where you should go.

The Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill! (It's more like a Parliament bump.)

Ontario is the best province. The others disagree. Clearly, they're wrong.

The Arrogant Worms - The Toronto Song But it still makes for fun songs.

Alright, history time! Canada has been settled for ages. According to various bits of archaeological evidence, humans have been living here for about 26 000 years (up in the Yukon, they then wandered vaguely downwards and to the east). Around 1000 AD the Vikings showed up in Newfoundland and built a little village of turf covered houses. But none of that counts, as it is John Cabot who is credited with stumbling onto the coast of Newfoundland in 1497.

Cabot the Brave, Valiant, Authoritative, and Slightly Petulant.

A guy called Jacques Cartier came over from France in 1534 and discovered Canada again, this time claiming it for France. He sailed around the St. Lawrence river, mapping things, and called us Canada officially.

Here he is looking mysterious and explorerly.

There were a few ~~sight-seeing~~ exploratory ~~cruises~~ voyages over during the next few years, and Basque fishermen came over to start the tradition of overfishing the Grand Banks off of Newfoundland, but there were no permanent settlements until another French guy called Samuel de Champlain founded Port Royal in Nova Scotia in 1605. Quebec City followed in 1608, and now we're off to the races!

Champlain has a statue in Ottawa, weirdly enough. And he's totally holding his astrolabe the wrong way around. Oops.

And then a bunch of history happened. While the French were busy becoming habitant farmers and voyageur fur traders, having a war with the Iroquois, and sending Jesuits out to Ontario, the British crept up and settled in the soon-to-be United States and Newfoundland. They then decided they wanted Canada as well, so there was the Seven Year's War. According to Wikipedia, this is actually called the French and Indian War and lasted for nine years, but let's go with my grade seven history textbook instead.

The important part of this war is that there was a very big battle outside of Quebec City on September 12, 1759, called The Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The English (led by General Wolfe), and the French (led by General Montcalm) fought, lots of people died, including those two General leader guys, and the French lost.

The amazingly heroic death of General Wolfe, depicted in full colour on a Very Large Canvas.

General Montcalm gets a little watercolour sketch for us to remember him by. History is never kind to the losers.

In 1760 the war ended, with the British taking over Canada and not knowing what to do with the people in Quebec, and kicking out a lot of the French Acadians in Nova Scotia, where they went down to Louisiana to become Cajuns. Presumably due to a backlog of paper work, the official treaty making Canada British was only signed in 1763.

And then THERE WAZ TENSIONS. Between the French in Quebec and otherwise, and the English. For the rest of the history of Canada.

FOLK SONG BREAK!:
Great Big Sea - I'se The B'y We learnt this in junior school choir, and I got very excited when we went to Newfoundland and I found out the places were real. :P
Alan Mills & Jean Carignan - Lots of Fish in Bonavist' Harbour Our choir director traumatized us back in grade school by saying that it was a song about sex, but it is! Sex and fishing.
Aglae - Ah! Si mon Moine Dance, my monk, danse/ You do not hear the dance!/ Ah! If my monk would like to dance/ I would give him a cap. ...Yes.
Wade Hemsworth - The Blackfly Song Well, they are vicious up there in Northern Ontar-I-O.
Alan Mills & Hélène Baillargeon - Alouette The best song about plucking a lark you will ever hear, guaranteed.

Next the United States got upset and kicked out the British, lots of whom came up to Ontario. Somehow this resulted in another war in 1812 between the new United States and the British in Canada, which was only skimmed over in school, and seems like it was sort of boring anyways. However, it did give us the amazing legend of Laura Secord, who overheard plans of a surprise American attack and walked 30 km to tell the British about it. (According to the legend, she left her severely wounded soldier husband at the farm and ran barefoot through a swamp with her cow the whole way. Take that, Paul Revere!) The Battle of the Beaver Dams then broke out, with the British winning, thanks to the timely heads-up. She now has a statue in Ottawa and a chocolate shop named after her, which is one better than that Champlain guy.

Laura Secord tells those Red Coats!

In 1837, Canadians got unhappy and decided to stage a Rebellion in order to demand responsible government! Essentially this consisted of a bunch of angry guys walking down Yonge Street shouting and waving their guns around. But it was effective and got the British thinking about doing something at some point in the future. Perhaps.

After a series of conferences, Canada became its own sort-of-independent country on July 1, 1867! Yes, it's Confederation Time! As stated before, there were only four provinces, but in the years to follow, we got more. Now, there were a lot of reasons for Confederation, that you have to memorize during mandatory Canadian history class in grade nine, but they're complicated and involve economics, so let's skip them. (Political deadlock! Manifest Destiny! Reciprocity! The British were getting tired of us! Those sorts of things.)

The Fathers of Confederation, taking a lunch and commemorative snapshot break.

Sir John A. MacDonald, first Prime Minister of Canada and occasional drunkard.

Then some other things happened, including realization that the West Coast existed, and the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s in order that we could go over and say hi, then beg them not to join the United States, because even though the rest of us were way over in the East, we really did care about them and have their best interests at heart, and please don't leave us, please please pretty please. British Columbia, Alberta, and the prairies continue to doubt our sincerity. (Along with Quebec, the Maritimes, the territories, and even occasionally Ontario itself. It's a wonder we all haven't divorced each other by now. Canada's like an old married couple, always bickering, but very much in love. And... polyamorous.)

During the late 1800s and early 1900s lots and lots of immigrants came to settle in the prairies. There was also the Klondike Gold Rush, during which we realized that the territories (or at least the Yukon) were hanging out there on top of the other provinces. Also, somewhere in the middle of all that there was another rebellion, this time in Manitoba, that resulted in the creation of the Mounties somehow, with Louis Riel who was really awesome, but got hanged.

Exactly what farming the untamed prairie would be like. *shifty eyes*

Alan Mills - The Maple Leaf Forever An old-timey patriotic song to get you in the mood for the World War One paragraph.

Then there was World War One. Where we did important things at the battle of Vimy Ridge, as well as others, but really Vimy Ridge is the only one you hear much about. During the war which we gave women the vote in order to approve conscription in a roundabout way, which Quebec did not approve of. (This will be a recurring theme in the 20th century.) Also, a Very Famous Canadian called John MacCrae wrote 'In Flanders Fields'.

Canadian soldiers doing their thing at Vimy Ridge. The shirtlessness seems rather reckless, what with the bombs and such.

After that there was a Depression, where Saskatchewan and the other prairies turned from a Bread Basket to a Dust Bowl, and we came up with welfare.

CANADIAN SUPERLATIVES BREAK!:
Northernmost Permanent Settlement in the World: Alert, Nunavut (82°N). Way up at the top of Ellesmere Island (scroll up to the map, look at the top of the blue island touching the border, that's where it is), it's basically a weather station with a permanent population of five. Please observe this terribly bleak picture of it.
Country with the Most Coatline: 202 080 kilometres of it! The national motto is 'From sea to sea', clearly for good reason. Also, it should be sea to sea to sea, as the Arctic Ocean totally counts.
First Country in the Western Hemisphere to Legally Recognise Gay Marriage: Yeah, okay, it's a bit of a stretch, but yay us!
Very Important Stuff What Was Invented Here/By Canadians: Basketball, the Canadarm (It's important, shush.), frozen fish, ginger ale, insulin, newsprint, pacemakers, rollerskates, snowplow, standard time (That's right, TIME!), telephones, washing machines, and the zipper.

Next came another World War, with less trenches than the last one, but otherwise quite similar. We liberated the Netherlands, and did other Allied things. Quebec disapproved of conscription again, and afterwards Newfoundland decided to join in the Canada party.

The Fifties and Sixties were pretty much a good time. Lots more people immigrated, we got a flag, Universal Health Care happened, we turned one hundred with much fanfare, etc.

FLAG!

Michael Mitchell - Something to Sing About This is so upbeat and patriotic it's ridiculous. But very addictive to listen too. (Also, this singer has an incredibly strong accent. It's something to sing 'aboot' indeed.) Sadly, iTunes will not let me give you this song. I'll post it if nefarious pirating techniques succeed.

Then Quebec got fed up real good, and there was a crisis in October of 1970 where a separatist terrorist group kidnapped two government officials, killing one, and put bombs in letterboxes. Prime Minister Trudeau, widely but debatably hailed as TEH GRATEST PM EVAR, whipped out the War Measures act, taking away all civil freedoms. Nothing was really resolved though, so in the early 1990s, there were some referendums in Quebec to decide whether or not they should separate from the rest of Canada. (Do you like Canada? Check one: ()OUI ()NON.) Also not successful, as you probably noticed from the map at the beginning.

In 1982 we got a Constitution and a Charter of Rights and Freedom. It was a great big deal, but the Queen of England is still officially the Queen of Canada, and the head of our government in a figurehead sort of way.

And now it is the present time, where history is still being manufactured, so it's more difficult to report on. Canada is currently under the Conservative government of Stephen Harper, we've got soldiers over in Afghanistan, the government is still issuing apologies for bad things it did over a century ago (Japanese in interment camps, Aboriginals in residential schools, etc), the cod fishery of off Newfoundland has collapsed, the British Colombian salmon fishery may be following, diamonds have been discovered and mined in the Northwest Territories, there are ponderings of creating another territory out of Northern Quebec and Labrador, the Olympics are going to Vancouver in 2010, etc.

A beaver, the official national animal, staring avariciously at a Canadian one dollar coin, popularly called a 'loonie' because of the loon on it. Yes, two-dollar coins are called 'twoonies'.

Now, let's have a nice, rousing national anthem as a send-off. Apparently no one knows how to sing an anthem without either being completely over the top, or trying far too hard to give it their own unique spin, so this is instrumentals only. Which means, yes, you are expected to sing along! At our school we had to memorize the English, French, and bilingual versions (as well as the British, American, and French anthems, because we had an excess of nationalism that could only be cured by forcibly directing it towards other countries as well), but here is a link to the lyrics to help you out.

Ready? *gets up on conductor's podium* Annnddddd... GO!

The Canadian Scottish Regiment Pipes and Drums & The Third Marine Aircraft Wing Band - O Canada (Instrumental)

*wipes one perfect patriotic tear from her eye*

Happy Canada Day! You sure deserve some cake and festivities if you got through all that.

Alright, seven straight hours later, time for sleep. Read, and hopefully laugh, with perhaps a little learning along the way. :D

Disclaimer: Various legal authorities say that you should delete downloaded mp3s that you haven't paid for after 24 hours. So, please do that. Support the Canadian musicians! :)

Studying for midterms? What's that?

mintroses — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:34:55 GMT

Movie Quote Meme time! :D I've screened the comments and will post the answers tomorrow or Thursday, depending on how exhausted I am after midterm two tomorrow night.

1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Fill in the film title once it's guessed.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.

01) On the evening of October 7, 1989 several hundred people got together for some evening exercise and marched for the right to go for walks without the Berlin Wall getting in their way.

02) No, it's our house! Just for tonight we are David and Ruth Laskin. Which one do you want to be? I prefer to be Ruth, but I'm flexible.

03) Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who.

04) I'm already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?

05) Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.

06) "I made a new friend today." 'Real or imaginary?' "Imaginary."

07) As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices.

08) I'm madly in love with you and it's not because of your brains or your personality.

09) I think we've all arrived at a very special place. Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically.

10) At last, we can retire and give up this life of crime.

11) "Ix-nay on the Ookie-may." "Okay-way." "I'm not sure your code is secure."

12) There is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "I" in meat pie. Anagram of meat is team... I don't know what he was talking about.

13) I have to return some videotapes.

14) If I had a penny for everything I love about you, I would have many pennies.

15) Life? Don't talk to me about life!

It's gonna get raw in here like sushi, so haters to the left.

mintroses — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:21:08 GMT

30 ROCK FRIENDING MEME! Go forth and mingle, etc. :P

And now, school! Mondays are terribly depressing.

A show of hands, please.

mintroses — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 03:34:19 GMT

*emerges from readings about Italian Renaissance goldsmiths*

TORCHWOOD TOMORROW! WHO'S EXCITED?

Boo!

mintroses — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:39:58 GMT

Happy Hallowe'en for those of you celebrating! May you have a lot of candy, cute kids at your door, and fun at your parties. Personally I am almost ready to go, decorations all up, pumpkin carved, bucket of candy standing at the ready, and costume on. I'm either a princess or a witch, I haven't exactly decided yet. I'm wearing a medieval dress that is actually supposed to be a replica of this one that Catherine of Aragon wore back in the 1510s, but when I went out trick-or-treating in this last, no one knew who that was.

And, just for fun:

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
mintroses goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as miscellaneous Medieval princess with a dark side.
_atmospheric gives you 15 white lemon-flavoured gummy worms.
arkanefyre tricks you! You get a 3.5-inch floppy disc.
boxseat gives you 18 red-orange evil-flavoured jawbreakers.
bunniesbunnies gives you 15 red tropical-flavoured pieces of chewing gum.
jaymesalexander gives you 1 milky white raspberry-flavoured gumdrops.
merlyntemple tricks you! You get a clothespin.
pavaneofstars tricks you! You lose 27 pieces of candy!
shadowserenity tricks you! You lose 5 pieces of candy!
suitcasegnome tricks you! You lose 5 pieces of candy!
thisissirius gives you 12 brown lime-flavoured pieces of bubblegum.
mintroses ends up with 24 pieces of candy, a 3.5-inch floppy disc, and a clothespin.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

ETA: CLASSICS COURSE = FINALLY DROPPED! ANTHROPOLOGY COURSE = ADDED! ANNE = SUPER HAPPY! *twirls*

Spontaneously combusts from awesome

mintroses — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 04:32:57 GMT

Just got home and am OMGSOTIRED, but just one thing (mostly for boxseat) before I crash and sleep for ages:

PIP!!! \O/!

hides

mintroses — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:01:10 GMT

Sleep or actually working on assignment that's due tomorrow would probably be a better use of time at this point, but I saw that sheafrotherdon posted a 'What Are John and Rodney Doing Today?' sort-of challenge, and, uh, I tried to write fanfic instead. It's short and a kind of future thing for that Ottawa AU I was talking about earlier.

John gets home later than usual, the bookend to an early morning cargo flight to Pickle Lake. The dashboard is misty from the not-quite-rain that's falling, and the wind feels clammy and cold as he scurries inside. There are lights beckoning from the kitchen, and as he heads toward the door frame he can hear Rodney's unmistakable mid-tirade voice berating someone (Jeannie, John presumes) for wasting her vote by throwing it away on the Green Party. John grins, snags himself the second plate of sliced Thanksgiving turkey, and leans close to Rodney, pressing a kiss to the ear that's not currently occupied by Jeannie's protestations about the validity of her party of choice. Rodney smiles slightly, then quickly places the phone in John's hand and hurries over to the fridge to conduct an elaborate search for leftover cranberry sauce.

After dinner, and after John's convinced Jeannie that he won't shirk his democratic responsibility again (an erratic flying schedule didn't leave much available time for advanced polls), they sack out on the couch, the news playing softly in the background. Rodney slumps against him, making snuffly sleep sounds long before Dalton McGuinty and his Liberal-red tie deliver their victory speech to camera flashes and unseen applauders. This is the first time in two years that John's had a permanent address, a place to fill in next to 'home' on forms, Rodney anchoring him down to more than just the couch. It's an awkward position, he can't reach the remote and the cat's asleep on his feet, but John just closes his eyes and curls an arm around Rodney's shoulders.

Also, the Greens did really well this election! 8.1% of the popular vote is pretty amazing, especially considering that the NDP, a 'major' party, got 16.9%. Pretty much halfway there! :D And check out this riding, where the Green candidate came second with a very large amount of votes. (ETA: Okay, apparently that link doesn't work. It was Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, in case you're interested.) And in the Student Mock Election the Greens formed the official opposition, with 18 candidates elected! The future looks very friendly, etc, etc. ;P

HOORAY, BABY! :D

mintroses — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:19:07 GMT

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! BABY HEWLETT!

A boy! Sebastian Flynn is quite the lovely name. And 9 pounds, 4 ounces! That's pretty big! o_O

There are a disturbing amount of girls at this campus with Amy Winehouse-esque beehives.

mintroses — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 01:33:06 GMT

*WAVES A DOG'S BREAKFAST DVD AROUND TRIUMPHANTLY!!!*

TAKE THAT, Best Buy Canada website that said they weren't in stock anywhere in Ontario! Clearly your facts are WRONG. (Although, perhaps correct now, as I bought the only copy in the local store.) HAH! This has pretty much made my day. :D

Heroes: Despite missing a few parts due to familial interruptions, I still enjoyed this episode a lot. I don't have too much to say about it, as it seemed like it was mostly setting up the rest of the season, except that the rest of the season looks to be awesome if this is a good indication of where it's going.

House: Very pleasantly surprised at how good this was! Hilarious and chock full of House/Wilson moments, with lots of Cuddy as well, and a very interesting patient of the week, with such a good (but sad) resolution. Hopefully it'll hang onto the strong start and not veer off weirdly like last season did.

And new Office tomorrow, then SGA on Friday! This week just gets better and better!

As a further installment in the 'How Did This Person Get Into University?' Chronicles, a conversation from the elevator this afternoon:

Grey-sweatered Girl: Does Canada have more than one army?
Buzz Cut Boy: What do you mean?
Grey-sweatered Girl: Like, if someone else told me they were in the Army, would they go to the same place that you do?
Buzz Cut Boy: The same building?
Grey-sweatered Girl: Yeah! The Army's not that big, right? You'd probably have met them.
Buzz Cut Boy: Uh, there's 65 thousand of us, I don't know them all.

And now, off to get my Hewletts fix. (:D!)

Stargate Atlantis Friending Meme!

mintroses — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:25:47 GMT

Since the new season of Stargate Atlantis is starting up this week, I was thinking that it'd be a fun idea to have a friending meme, so that everyone could have lots of people on their friendlists to discuss/squee to! So, here goes:

STARGATE ATLANTIS FRIENDING MEME!

Just copy the text from the box into a comment, fill it out, and away we go! :D

Snatched from a bunch of people.

mintroses — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 19:15:48 GMT

Comment with one (or more, I'm quite bored :P) of my fandoms, and I'll reply with:
01. The first character I first fell in love with
02. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now
03. The character everyone else loves that I don't
04. The character I love that everyone else hates
05. The character I used to love but don't any longer
06. The character I would shag anytime
07. The character I'd want to be like
08. The character I'd slap
09. A pairing that I love
10. A pairing that I despise

(A Hopefully Helpful List: 30 Rock, Arrested Development, Battlestar Galactica, Big Love, Dead Like Me, Dexter, Doctor Who, Firefly, Harry Potter, Heroes, House, Lost, The Office (US and UK), Oz, Six Feet Under, Stargate Atlantis, Strangers With Candy, Torchwood, The Wire.)

Someone take Facebook's graffiti app away from me before I create an army of Cybermen for my wall.

mintroses — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 02:59:55 GMT

Daleks are not nature lovers.

This subject is not really the interesting part of the post.

mintroses — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 19:07:30 GMT

The convocation job ended up not being all that bad. Hot and frustrating and boring at times, but the people I worked with were all pretty nice and there shall very soon be a paycheck involved, so I think I'm going to put it down as a success. An exhausting, sun-burn causing success.

Also, my first Spanish midterm went really well! I got an A, and so far with assignments and quizzes, have an A in the course as well. Not bad for someone who dropped out of university once, then flunked out on her second try. Third time's the charm and all that. ;P

It's a little too late to be doing a huge amount of garden work, but while walking around outside a couple of days ago, I realized that our backyard is in serious, serious disrepair. All the raspberry bushes are dying, the roses are being swallowed up by invading monster yarrow plants, the mint and lily-of-the-valleys are crowding each other out in a battle to the death over the flowerbed by the chimney, and a regiment of gigantic thistles are quietly plotting total domination from their vantage point at the top of the compost pile. Clearly this state of chaos cannot be allowed to continue, so I've decided to dedicate the next while to playing peacekeeper. Ruthless, weed-destroying peacekeeper. My grandpa's volunteered to come over and help, because while I spent a good portion of my childhood running around and helping him out in his garden (squishing Colorado beetles off the leaves of potato plants for two hours each day is actually surprisingly fun, and very satisfying), it's been awhile, and I'm worried I might actually kill something that was put there on purpose.

Back tomorrow with Doctor Who and Big Love reviews! And maybe if I can get my camera to work, some pictures. Also, catching up on the friendslist and comments! :D

This is all too familiar.

mintroses — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 03:31:19 GMT

:(

I can't help but feel that there is something fundamentally wrong with a Californian team beating a Canadian one at hockey. Still, the Senators got a lot further than they've ever gone before, and somehow it's hard to begrudge a team called 'the Mighty Ducks' too much. I guess it's back to the mantra of the Ontario hockey team fan: there's always next year. *sigh*

On a more positive note, the Spanish midterm went well, despite mild panic during the section on direct object pronouns. Also, I am going to Ottawa tomorrow for the weekend, which promises to be pretty fun. Aimless wandering in the Byward Market, FTW! :P

Still mainlining SGA, still very much in love with it, now on the second season! :D

There are crappy, no-good, horrible weeks, and then there's this.

mintroses — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:47:43 GMT

Is it connected to the fact that it's been thunder storming and gloomy all week? The weekend can definitely not come fast enough, although I doubt it's actually going to make anything get better.

So, when you get really down, what makes you feel better? It can be anything (a song, a snuggly fic, a certain type of chocolate bar, running around outside barefoot, really anything at all), I'm just having trouble coming up with ideas myself at the moment.

Job interview in an hour, oh crap. *crosses fingers that it turns out okay*

(P.S. arkanefyre, call me sometime, okay? We have to make Spiderman plans!)

waves

mintroses — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:13:30 GMT

01) Fake Documentary, Brother Sister Relationship, Magician
Arrested Development. (Guessed by: antisocial47, muse_in_my_head, shadowserenity, starlit_trail, thefallenangel1, spentayearinla)

02) Television Network, Page, New York
30 Rock. (Guessed by:antisocial47, whatwas, muse_in_my_head, thefallenangel1)

03) Dysfunctional Family, Death, Eccentric
Six Feet Under. (Guessed by:whatwas, muse_in_my_head, sailorusagi, starlit_trail, spentayearinla)

04) Reincarnation, Tragic Hero, Girl Heroine
Doctor Who. (Guessed by: antisocial47, whatwas, muse_in_my_head, starlit_trail, suitcasegnome)

05) Awkward, Prank, Pretzel
The Office. (Guessed by: muse_in_my_head, thefallenangel1)

06) Interracial Couple, Japanese, Memory Loss
Heroes. (Guessed by: antisocial47, starlit_trail)

07) Violence, Homosexuality, Solitary
Oz. (Guessed by: muse_in_my_head, sailorusagi, starlit_trail, thefallenangel1)

08) Cane, Diagnosis, Sarcasm
House. (Guessed by: antisocial47, whatwas, muse_in_my_head, sailorusagi, shadowserenity, starlit_trail, suitcasegnome, thefallenangel1, spentayearinla)

09) Religion, Radiation, Robot
Battlestar Galactica. (Guessed by:muse_in_my_head, shadowserenity, starlit_trail)

10) Flashback Sequence, Scientific Experiment, Fate
Lost. (Guessed by: _atmospheric, muse_in_my_head, starlit_trail, suitcasegnome)

Cookies for muse_in_my_head for getting the most right! :D

The fact that the only sound my computer will currently make is the warning chime accompanying the error message informing me that no, I cannot change the volume on my computer because no functioning audio devices are installed would be hilarious if it weren't so frustrating. >_<

I opened up a bag of cashews a couple of minutes ago and sadly saw that they were all covered with something that looked a lot like white mould. After eating one anyways (living on the edge, oh my!), and then actually reading the package, it turned out that it was just odd looking salt. Hooray! *munches*

That's... basically it. *waits for Doctor Who download to show up*