Mundus Vult Decipi, Ergo Fandom

watergal — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:17:01 GMT

ZOMG, ya'll! Google!!!

Optimism is

watergal — Wed, 02 May 2012 23:23:55 GMT

Bought tickets to travel to watergranny's 99th birthday celebration next month. Declined the travel cancellation insurance. Thinking positive here

I might get twitter just to confess to a crush and see if it works for me

watergal — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 02:58:56 GMT

Courtesy of caitn (as well as many others) (and Gene et. al, originally, natch)

It appears to be real

Happy 81!

watergal — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:13:59 GMT

Happy Birthday, Bill! See ya in a month!

Sexy and I know it

watergal — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:31:48 GMT

Someone, somewhere has to have done a Kirk and/or Shatner vid to "Sexy and I Know it." I need that, please.

Apologies

watergal — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:50:14 GMT

to anyone who saw this morning's post. Nothing bad going down here other than my inadequately considered wording being even worse than usual. Quelle surprise. Oh, and the heartbreak that is the Habs.

My biggest problem is that I have no teevee love at the moment and after a slew of disappointments, I'm feeling pretty remote control shy. Mad Men next month is still on track, yes? My only other thought is to stalk for Downton Abbey s3 leaks and peeks.

Other suggestions solicited

Where's watergal?

watergal — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 03:11:21 GMT

Courtesy of a cousin I've never met, I've got an extra special got a personalized Yuletide treat with the best Bill Shatner impression that can be accomplished with keyboard. And I'm in it! Can you find me? Look hard; it's veeeeeeery tricky!

We Forgave the Song a Long Time Ago

Also, a little preliminary surfing turned up a gorgeous Moon story:
Helping You is What I Do.
It's GERTY POV (BTW, if anyone has the inside scoop as to how GERTY got his name, please do tell!) which is handled so skillfully that it captures all the cool and distant poignancy of the film.

Seth/Sol

watergal — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 02:49:02 GMT

Thanks to the wonder that is Yuletide, I got the Seth/Sol vignette of my dreams! If having them just do their thing being them as the perfect complementary couple weren't enough, it's got shimmering, naked mansex by a moonlit lake. GUH!

A Night in the Ruins

Have beta, will travel

watergal — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:48:16 GMT

I am in need of distraction and would be happy to beta your sekrit fic if you know how I give fb and yet think I might be helpful. I started to grab can-do fandoms off the yuletide list, but it's a bigass collection, so this is not comprehensive. There were a lot of movie and 70s/80s TV that I probably remember enough of for beta purposes. Feel free to ask.

30 Rock
Absolutely Fabulous
Arrested Development
Boston Legal
Bon Cop Bad Cop
Boondock Saints
Casablanca
Chronicles of Prydain
Deadwood
Dog Day Afternoon
Elizabeth (movies)
Gattica
Galaxy Quest
Hockey RPF
Homeland
King's Speech
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
MASH
Men in Black
Miracles
Monk
Moon
Mysterious Skin
The Station Agent
Sigh No More
Star Trek DS9
Star Trek TOS RPF
Usual Suspects
The Wire
Wolverine

Any thing Trek or Sherlock Holmes related, medical stuff, Canadian stuff, southern US stuff, oh, yeah, and fish! RPF/S is fine if one needed know too much background on the folks, any rating is fine.

Writer's Block: B.Y.O.B. Holidays

watergal — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:54:33 GMT

The Lion in Winter (Hepburn/O'Toole), because your family gathering is NOT more screwed up than theirs is!

Trains I didn't catch

watergal — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:53:25 GMT

Nabbed from killabeez, because I want to be her when I grow up:

Tell me about a story I haven't written, and I will give you 1-3 sentences from or about it.

Birthday!

watergal — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 08:38:11 GMT

Here's wishing the happiest of birthdays to killabeez! May there be cake, friends, a portion of the joy she herself has spread, and, well, more cake!

Sending you lots o' love, hon.

800 channels and nothing to watch

watergal — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:18:02 GMT

Just busted my cherry on DWTS. What I can't say is why.

But I'll be seeing a doctor tomorrow; maybe he'll be able to tell.

Tee Vee tech advice

watergal — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:18:47 GMT

Okay guys, it looks like the goat farm might be near to being assimilated into civilization. On the up side, this means a possibility of getting real internet via cable! So that will probably mean bundling cable tee vee along with it. So my question is: is TiVo worth the extra $200-300 purchase + extra $10/month over the cable DVR? If it matters, I don't have an HD TV and probably won't until they are passe technology cheap.

This entry was originally posted at http://watergal.dreamwidth.org/13040.html. Please join the comments there, or comment here.

Cuddlefish

watergal — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:52:32 GMT

A [non-fishophile] buddy sent me some of his Indo-Pacific pics to help ID & tag before tomorrow night's meeting. He had this one tentatively labeled "Cuddlefish." I love it so much I'm not sure I can bring myself to change it.

This entry was originally posted at http://watergal.dreamwidth.org/12451.html. Please join the comments there, or comment here.

Fishspam: bottom of the barrel

watergal — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:58:59 GMT

A Blackbar Soldierfish and a Touch-Me-Not Sponge. The fish isn't touching.

Spotted Trunkfish are a fashion statement in themselves. This one isn't quite full grown.

The French Grunt prefers stripes. And a Mohawk (although the latter is most often brushed down.)

Coney often can't make up their mind. They have more different looks than any other grouper. These guys are going for half-and-half plus spots. There's also a Banded Butterflyfish, and Bicolor Damselfish and a juvie Yellowhead Wrasse.

Cottonwicks are some of my favorite fish (I know; I'm up to about 100 favorites) for their dramatic white and black pattern and the effect it creates with their schooling pattern. We only saw one school on this trip which is unusual. And disappointing.

Pink Fuzzball Alga. Isn't it pretty? Large amounts are an unhealthy sign for the reef which is sad, if not entirely inappropriate, for something that looks like like cotton candy.

This entry was originally posted at http://watergal.dreamwidth.org/12045.html. Please join the comments there, or comment here.

Fishspam: mixer

watergal — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:17:19 GMT

A Spotted Trunkfish, lots of Brown Chromis, a Smallmouth Grunt and a juvie Three-Spot Damselfish.

The big picture of life at about 20 feet. Trumpetfish aren't usually this eager to be front and center in the spotlight.

Three sponges, one Longspine Urchin, a few brittle stars, a couple different kinds of coral and one fish. See him?

That's a lot of spots. Bottom center is a Grasby Snapper. Top center is a Brown Chromis looking a leetle out of place in this one.

A Saucerey Porgy outsizes the Schoolmaster Snapper, the Smallmouth Grunt, the French Grunt trying to fit in with the Smallmouth, and certainly the little Brown Chromis top left.

A Blue Tang hangs out with juvie Bluehead Wrasse a juvie Spanish Hogfish.

This entry was originally posted at http://watergal.dreamwidth.org/12002.html. Please join the comments there, or comment here.

Fishspam in small places.

watergal — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 01:21:52 GMT

Lettuce Firecoral is high security condo living for juvenile or other small, slow fish.

She's got crabs! Crab. Arrow Crab.

And a bearded clam. I think it's called a Spiny Fileclam...but I'm not great with shells. Fileclams as a generality are able to swim in frankenfishish halting jerks by flapping their shells, but from the alga growth, this one looks like it's been settled for quite some weeks.

Banded Coral Shrimp live safe and snug within cracks leaving their white feelers outside and waving out to advertise their cleaning services. I guess this is a banded pair.

The Yellowprow Goby spends the day inside the excurrent canal of sponges...which has to be exhausting. Like trying to stand still in a wind tunnel. For fifteen hours at a time.

I've poured over this thing trying to figure out what this Secretary Blenny's tube is in. Best guess is some kind of alga...but don't go by me.

Five fish, four different species taking refuge in the coral head recesses. Got 'em all? Unlike most crack crawlers, these guys are all generous sized: in the 6-12 inch range.

This entry was originally posted at http://watergal.dreamwidth.org/11728.html. Please join the comments there, or comment here.

Decisions, decisions: a galaxy of decisions

watergal — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:14:57 GMT

So I need an underwater Star Trek scuba costume. Geordi or a Borgified crewperson were the knee-jerk most easily integrated, but other ideas would be good. Especially TOSish ones.

No, not planning on buying one of Rod's drysuits, though if I were a guy I might just have to.

This entry was originally posted at http://watergal.dreamwidth.org/11387.html. Please join the comments there, or comment here.

Fishspam: odds & ends

watergal — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 00:35:16 GMT

Masked (or Glass) Gobies zipping around Lettuc Coral, Star Coral, Rope Sponge and Sea Rod.

Sargent Major Damselfish and a Blackbar Soldierfish who apparently took hiding lessons from a Squirrelfish. ;) That's some kind of cleaner goby on the far right.

A Blue Tang and lots of Bluehead Wrasse (those would be the yellow guys) survey their home patch reef.

Two initial phase Redband Parrotfish and one wrasse. Wrasses and parrotfish are closely related and frequently feed together in small groups.

A Southern Stingray, right-side up this time.

This entry was originally posted at http://watergal.dreamwidth.org/11140.html. Please join the comments there, or comment here.

Shark Night 3D

watergal — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 05:20:02 GMT

No surprise that I had to see it. No surprise that I had to bribe a dive buddy with alcohol to get company for it. From the title you already know the storyline and all about the production quality, camera work etc. , so I'll just say that the ratio of nearly naked twenty-somethings to sharks was kept far too high for far too long. A more appropriate balance was achieved in the bottom quarter, but the slow start is kinda a deal-breaker in something called SHARK night, you know?

The sharks were mostly animatronic bits, some really sad models, plus some carefully rationed CG work. Better than SyFy, but hardly a sharkapoloza. Oh, but they can swim faster than a speed boat. *eyeroll* They tossed in a few expository shark factoids which sound interesting, but a lot of it was if not wrong then out of context and misleading. I know! You'd expect realism from 3D!

The 3D was not all that. Lots of water splashes, a few in-your-face sharks, and the mandatory 15 foot pole, but, eh.

The pasted-in racism was a bit startling, and the lead actress's performance kept reminding me of Cameron Diaz's "Something About Mary" in a way I couldn't decide if was endearing or...not.

So maybe the only real surprise is that I wasn't even rooting for the sharks. By the end, the only one that I really cared about was the dog.

BTW, there is lagniappe after the credits as a spoof music video...if you buy that you can spoof something titled "Shark Night 3D")

This entry was originally posted at http://watergal.dreamwidth.org/10987.html. Please join the comments there, or comment here.

Fishspam: hump day

watergal — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:36:50 GMT

This Balloonfish looks odd to me. I dunno what's up with that.

Spotted Trunkfish, Groover Brain Coral, Brown Chromis and several less humpy animals.

Reef Tunicates in three different colors. And lots of algae.

Black Margates are one of the more humpy fishes. As are White Margate, not appearing in this picture.

This entry was originally posted at http://watergal.dreamwidth.org/10529.html. Please join the comments there, or comment here.

Fishspam: Pirate Day

watergal — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 01:45:13 GMT

Ahoy there, mates! Another rescue bird from the crazy animal lady's place on Bonaire.

Pier pilings are great fish attractors, but terrible for photography with all the sediment in the water.

A Banded Butterflyfish weaves amongst rope sponge and Orange Cup coral of pier pilings.

Silversides...or herrring...or anchovies...otherwise known as buffet lunch for the tarpon in the middle. Bait fish tend to hang around inside shipwrecks, caves and other areas large enough for thousands of them, but too claustrophobic for predator fish.

Protected surfaces of shipwrecks are quickly overgrown by colonials.

Yellowtail Snapper are drawn to bubbles. That's a juviue Bluehead Wrasse bottom center. And I think the ship is the Hilma Hooker, the primary large and easily divable wreck off Bonaire. Exposed surfaces are settled like the protected one above, but young growth has a hard time establishing itself on smooth metal, then the surface is repeatedly traumatized by divers (as well as other forces) and so there is little mature reef growth.

Inside the old slave huts. And our personal pirate.

This entry was originally posted at http://watergal.dreamwidth.org/10028.html. Please join the comments there, or comment here.

Fishlessspam

watergal — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:32:42 GMT

A Feather Duster tubeworm living amongst Lettuce (L) and Small Star (R) Corals. That black stringy stuff toward the NW corner will be some kind of hydroid.

One tree hill. *giggle* Except that the tree is not a tree but a sea rod, a colonial animal in the coral family.

Two kinds of sponge, two (I think) kinds of coral, and one kind of alga. Can you tell which is which? I decided to go back to school when I realized I could not tell animals from plants. Oh. and bonus invert! There's a limb of a Brittle Star.

Button Tunicates are soooooo cute! They come in lots of different colors too. (And yes, Sara, this time I checked the link. *dope slaps self*)

Flower Coral is one of my favorites for its weird, fleshy feel. Sorry I failed to get you colors, tho. It's usually sort of look of those jelly candies with a powdered sugar dusting the surface to keep them from being sticky.

I dunno if he's got Bette Davis eyes, but he's more than welcome to come to dinner!

This entry was originally posted at http://watergal.dreamwidth.org/9914.html. Please join the comments there, or comment here.

Fishspam: the Don't I Know You? edition

watergal — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:17:34 GMT

This Rock Hind looks and acts a good bit like a Red Hind, but not exactly. The biggest differences are in where and how they perch, and in their tail, which is not in the best position to demonstrate the distinctions.

If you care to play Where's Waldo, I see two different kinds of sea urchins and three different kinds of worms as well.

As sara_merry99 pointed out, the Longspine Squirrelfish seen Monday was not the same as the Hide&Seek!fail squirrelfish [partially] seen on previous spams. This is the base Squirrelfish model. It has some of the brightest stripes of all the models.

This Ceasar Grunt looks and acts a whole lot like Monday's Bluestripe Grunt. It doesn't show up well in this lighting, but the Ceasar has that silver fishy look, like someone painted stripes on aluminum foil while the Bluestripe is just normal tropical fish Crayola blue and yellow. Looking just at this pic, the dark anal fin is the tell.

This Mutton Snapper is huge for his species. He hung out with the pushy tarpon at night hunting unsuspecting fish by the light of divers' flashlights. He is not a Tiger Grouper even though he has the look and the size.

Southern Sennet school like scad, but exponentially less.

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