eris_rising's Journal

So I was supposed to have a place to move into today. Yay! Except that now my roommates-to-be have informed me that they have an "emergency guest" (read: relative of housemate). So I'm in an internet cafe for the night.

Sigh.

Anyone have in Los Angeles or San Diego have a couch for the week, or even for a day or two?

For some reason, LJ kept saying that I was using the wrong password for my journal. Tried it today out of boredom, and guess what?

I'm back!

So, to all of my friends: I'm alive, I'm doing okay despite the usual financial issues, and life is, if not fantastic, then at least not devouring me whole.

Just to let you all know, my computer is still down. I'm writing this from a net cafe so you can all know that I'm not dead. Of course, the various Snarkfesters already know this. For those who have my number...call me!

Good freaking lord. Gacked this from

caprine, who in turn gacked it from the obviously brilliant (and deranged)

ladysisyphus

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Poet

Sometimes there are no words. And sometimes there are many, and they make your brain dribble out of your skull, pooling at your feet in an ever-widening circle of pink liquid. This is the latter.

I had a huge, awesome entry about the kind of campaign that I had in mind to run. I wrote it all down here. Then, while trying to get LJ to do something, I ended up losing all of it. Bah.

Your Excellent LJ Evil Minions
LiveJournal Username
favorite drink
weapon of choice
do you like the taste of envelope glue?

the evil ninja mastermind hellbent on world domination	skyblade
the bewitching and sexually ambiguous one that no one knows anything about	bovil
the scarysmart one, eerily calm even in the midst of chaos	bovil
the tiny, seemingly-delicate one with a deadly temper and awesome strength	saint_kat
the pale, quiet one who turns out to be really, really scary	sturmclan
the sexy, smirking anti-villain who joins your side at the last moment	spidey_88
the snarky punk mercenary who's only there for the money and coz they love a good fight	cleolinda
the distant arrogant aristocrat who wants to bring down the society they were born into	alexandra_here


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I'll post a lovely essay by John Cleese I found while reading friends' lists of friends of mine. All glory to

albertine (who doesn't know me) for finding it.

EDIT: So according to Snopes, it's not Cleese. In fact, it's supposedly been around in various forms for some years, starting on Usenet (and I don't bother with Usenet). But it's fun, so I'm keeping up the link.

A quick break from our usual format to give a brief history of role-playing games, the ultimate in geek hobbies. See it at The Field Guide To Geeks

So while I was writing up the "Supreme Soldier" the other day, I was reminded of a chestnut that I inevitably run across during conversations about Nazi Germany, namely that "Hitler was a bad man, but he did a lot of good for Germany" Say what? It's not just the militarists I've heard this from either. Otherwise sane, progressive friends of mine have said exactly the same thing.

Okay, folks: Let's say that you have a number of people in a roommate situation. As always when you have a large number of people in close quarters, one person is in charge of the general day to day finances. Most house rules are open to vote, with a general respect for each other. However, this house has problems. A property dispute with their neighbors on all sides turned ugly some time ago, causing them to lose a good chunk of their backyard. The court costs they're still paying have caused financial chaos. Every room is a mess. The person running the house is not handling matters well, and there's quite a bit of discontent. A new roommate pops up, named Al. Al starts a whispering campaign against Jay, the Jewish houseguest, stating that it's awfully suspicious that he seems to be doing well while everyone else is broke. Al's eventually made head of the household. His first act is to make sure that Jay is completely shunned. He then takes complete control of the household finances, mostly by demanding that Jay pay more than his share. He then institutes a chore schedule, and makes sure through threats of violence that it's followed. His close buddies end up being put in charge of the day to day activities of the household, micromanaging it to a frightening degree. Al then promises to take back the land that they lost previously. He begins a long and expensive feud with the neighbors, making his roommates work twice as hard to fund it. The neighbors across the street are pulled in. Then down the street. Pretty soon, the entire neighborhood is involved in the land squabbles in some way or another, leading to massive injury and destruction.

Al becomes convinced that Jay is a disruptive influence on the house. He takes Jay out in the backyard one night and shoots him, burying him in the petunias. The other roommates either know what happened and don't care, know and are too scared to speak up, or believe him totally when Al says that their former roommate simply "relocated" to another house. The same later happens to the roommate who has a different idea of how the household finances should be run, and then to the male roommate who likes to bring other boys home.

Eventually, the neighbors march on the house, torches in hand. As the first flames flicker across the porch, Al runs upstairs to his bedroom. The ground floor is incinerated, killing both the guilty and the innocent. Al and his girlfriend hang out in their bedroom, waiting until they hear the flames licking at the door before putting guns in their mouths and pulling the triggers. There you have it: All roommates dead or injured badly, the house in ruins, several roommates dead for no reason whatsoever. A neighborhood forever changed.

But, you know, he kept the place clean and straightened out the finances, so Al did a lot of good for the house.

In this chapter of mystery and adventure in The Field Guide To Geeks

The Swashbuckler ("Forsooth, m'lud, do you seek to challenge me with your cries of 'What the hell are you wearing?'")
The Costumer ("I love you, but if you keep me from getting this first-season Trek outfit done on time, I will kill your ass!")
The Collector ("Notice the amazing detail they put into Greedo in this figure...hey...did you crease the packaging? DID YOU CREASE THE PACKAGING?")

In this chapter of The Field Guide To Geeks:

The Techie ("'Man of Steel, Woman of Tissue Paper'? Greatest essay ever")
The Space Cowboy ("Duuuuuude....")
The Supreme Soldier ("The Nazis had issues, but Rommel was cool. They should have someone like him in charge of Starfleet")

Yes, I get to be the "Sidekick" from the Field Guide today (Which I'll be updating later today with some new entries). My friend

cleolinda has made it to #1 on the Amazon UK pre-release charts, and I will bask in the reflected glory of being a buddy of hers. The book itself is based on her hilarious Movies In Fifteen Minutes LJ community, though the material will be entirely new. Go! Click! Order!

In this chapter:

The Agent of Innocence ("1985 killed comics")
The Indie Freak ("No, superheroes killed comics")
The Advocate ("Yeah, they're arguing over comics. Got a problem with that, dick?")

As always, to be found in The Field Guide To Geeks

Stupid memes. Made the mistake of asking

sexion8 to fill this out for me (though I loved her responses), now I'm obligated to post it:

1. Reply with your name and I will write something I like about you.
2. I will then tell you what song reminds me of you.
3. I'll tell you what flavor of ice cream you would be.
4. I will try to name a single word that best describes you.
5. I'll tell you the most memorable moment I've had with you.
6. I will tell you what color you remind me of.
7. If I were to apply an o'clock to you, I'll tell you what it would be.
8. Put this in your journal (only if you haven't already done so.)

Go for it, but I suck at these things. Especially with people I only know online.

The latest guide is up! This one is devoted to those who have somehow managed to make their living in this, the oddest of subcultures.

The chapter includes:

The Sidekick ("So I was having a drink with Frank...Frank Miller, I'm sure you've heard the name...")
The Success Story ("Really, I'm just trying to bring Green Arrow back to his roots")
The Living Legend ("Excelsior!")

As always, it's at The Field Guide To Geeks

...and dashed off Chapter V

http://fieldguidetogeeks.blogspot.com/

Included in this entry:

Mainstreamed Geek ("Why am I in this guide? I thought that it was about geeks")
Proxy Geek ("Yes, sweetie, that's very nice Klingon makeup")
Devil's Advocate ("Lana rawks, the rest of you are all jellus")

Oops, forgot to add the link:
http://fieldguidetogeeks.blogspot.com
Also, check out

not_that_potc

The wittiest take on Chick Tracts I've seen.

Yes, the new exciting chapter of the Field Guide To Geeks is up. In this latest installment, read all about:

Camp Counselor ("Ed Wood was a GOD, do you hear me? A GOD!")
Fanfic Lesbian ("Hey, could you check out my latest slash? I mean, Harry and Hagrid are such an obvious pairing")
Geek Film Geek ("Rumor has it that they'll get Raimi to do the Martian Manhunter flick? Awesome!")

Okay, I have parts II and III up of the Field Guide, containing the following types:

Japan Addict (Konichiwa, bitches!)
Geek God (Gene Roddenberry was a friend of mine. You, sir, are no Gene Roddenberry)
The Objectivist (A is A. Right is right. Ditko wuz robbed)
Dungeon Ninja (I'm a 200th level troll! Yes, you are...)
Fantasy Femme (Can I play a magical unicorn?)
Source Purist (Spider-Man? Sucked. Lord of the Rings? Sucked. Superman? Sucked. Batman Begins? Su..)

http://fieldguidetogeeks.blogspot.com/