Mike

filkertom @ 1:22pm: Farewell, Donna Summer
Sadness. Singer Donna Summer has passed away at the age of 63. She had a great voice, and she was a gorgeous and gracious lady, and she will be missed.

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1520415.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

dhole @ 9:15am: The wonders of Wikipedia.
From Fin Fang Foom:

"Foom appears in the limited series Nextwave as a pawn of the Beyond Corporation©. He is now back to his original size. Despite having no genitals, he wears purple pants."

From the talk page to the same article:

"This article falls within the scope of WikiProject Buddhism, an attempt to promote better coordination, content distribution, and cross-referencing between pages dealing with Buddhism. Please participate by editing the article Fin Fang Foom, or visit the project page for more details on the projects."

filkertom @ 10:04pm: Two Of Several Avengers/Friends Videos (I Think The Best)


ETA: Removed the second one, which vanished. Sigh.

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1520215.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

filkertom @ 10:39am: Preview and Pre-Order Leslie Fish's NEW Album, AVALON IS RISEN, With 3 Tracks Free
From egoldberg:

Hi everyone --

For the past 4 years, producer Kristoph Klover has been dedicating sweat, passion and countless hundreds of hours of late-night studio time on a quest to deliver Leslie Fish's most evocative and crafted recording yet, capturing Leslie's personality and her guitar wizardry at its best.

Titled Avalon is Risen, this project features newly crafted recordings of Leslie's best-known and most powerful Pagan and bardic songs. Songs that are thoroughly enjoyable by Pagans and non-Pagans alike.

And I'm thrilled to announce that it's finally at the duplicators, and ready for your pre-order!

By pre-ordering, you'll be first in line to receive the first CDs on June 15th. And thanks to the Internet, you'll also receive a full MP3 album download instantaneously.

Honoring the bardic tradition of these songs, we commissioned Celtic illustrator Bradley Schenck to create a 32-page, fully-illustrated color lyric booklet that's as beautifully crafted as the CD, designed in the tradition of finely ornamented Celtic books. (And did we mention an introduction by author Diana Paxson herself?! ;-)

As an extra bonus, your pre-order entitles you a 25% limited-time discount off any of CDs or digital downloads of our other albums (featuring Julia Ecklar and friends) -- and our gratitude for your support in making this independent music possible.

-- HOW TO LISTEN & PRE-ORDER --

If you'd like to receive the the special 25% discount pricing on our other CDs, please make pre-order from this page:
http://www.prometheus-music.com/avalonpreorder.html

You can preview the entire Avalon is Risen album (and download 3 full MP3s at no charge):
http://www.prometheus-music.com/avalon.html

(If you prefer to pay check, please mail $18.75 (including domestic U.S. shipping) with your mailing address to: Eli Goldberg, 4337 15th Ave NE #412, Seattle WA. Add $11.97 for any additional CDs.)

Enjoy,
Eli

P.S. Please feel free to share this announcement with your local filk lists, friends, and anyone else who you think may be interested in this album!

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1519973.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

galicola @ 10:36pm: זנב היונה

זה עתה חזרתי ממסעדת Dovetail.
המנחה שלי לשעבר (מוטי) בא לביקור אצל המנחה הנוכחי שלי (רוב), אז הוזמנתי להצטרף לארוחת הערב.
זנב היונה זו מסעדת גורמה. הייתי בטוח, עם הבעייתיות שלי באוכל שאני לא מכיר, שאני לא אמצא מה לאכול או שסתם יהיה לא טעים. טעיתי. היה ממש ממש טעים.
התחלנו עם מין לחם מתוק טעים, יחד עם כדור גבינה(?) מטוגן וסורבה אשכוליות עם ג'לי שמפניה וקצת קוויאר.
בתור מתאבן, הזמנתי לשון עגל עם חלמון ביצת מעושן וקצת ירק. היה ממש ממש רך וממש טעים.
למנת ביניים הזמינו לכל השולחן כרובית אפויה (סתמי למדי) ואספרגוס (בלעעע).
למנה עיקרית הזמנתי אומצת בשר מתניים sirloin, עם לזניית בקר ופטרייה (אחת). היה מעולה!
לקינוח, הזמנתי פאי לימון עם מרנג בזיליקום, שוקולד לבן מקורמל וסירופ קסיס, וכף גלידת סורבה לא מזוהה. זה גם נראה יפה וגם היה טעים (חבל שנגמרה לי הסוללה בטלפון ולא יכולתי לצלם).

הבעיה היחידה שלי היתה המנות הקטנות. כלומר, הסטייק היה בקושי 100 גר' וה"פאי לימון" היו שלושה ריבועים של ס"מ מרובע. ובכל זאת, יצאתי שבע.

חוץ מזה - חברה טובה. חוץ ממוטי ורוב ובנות זוגם, היו עוד שני חוקרים מהפקולטה- טום מאייר (ממעבדה שכנה) וג'ונתן וורנר. בנוסף, רוב הזמין גם סטודנטית שלו לשעבר, טטיאנה, שהתחילה לא מזמן פוסט במקום אחר וזכתה עכשיו במלגה יוקרתית. המחקר שלה, גם אצל רוב וגם במעבדה החדשה שלה, ממש משתלב עם המחקר שלי. אז היו שיחות מעניינות, על המחקר שלנו, על קריירות במדע, דיברנו על משפחה ואפילו על פוליטיקה ישראלית.
לא ציפיתי לזה, אבל נהניתי.

filkertom @ 5:02pm: My Complete Lack Of Interest In BEFORE WATCHMEN Is Justified
Cover for Ozymandius #2.

At least Len, JMS, and the Kuberts are getting paychecks.

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1519697.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

dhole @ 9:00pm: The danger of writing for anthologies.
So, last year, I started selling stories, and as a result, started paying more attention to lists of markets and so on. There was a call for submissions for this one anthology which wanted stories about zombie King Kong. "Ha, ha!" I thought to myself. "What a silly idea for an anthology! I mean, how many stories can you even find in that premise."

Then I wrote one, of course.

Unfortunately, I wrote a thousand word story, and the call for submission had 2500 words as the lower limit. So, I added bits and pieces, and came up with something. Which got rejected, and fair enough.

Unfortunately, I'm left with a Zombie Kong story; in theory, I could keep shopping it around, and maybe get someone who hadn't heard of the anthology (which is most people, I assume--no offense intended to the publisher and editor, but this is not exactly a heavily promoted offering from a major press.) to buy my story.

But, honestly, Zombie Kong is this other guy's idea, and I'm not sure that I want to try and sell a story whose selling point is someone else's idea. Also, it's a thousand words long, so there's really not a whole lot of money on the table here.

So, here you all go: ( Legend of Screen and Stage )

filkertom @ 6:19am: "I Am Taking A Beating Here"


This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1519427.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

kmelion @ 9:13am: Found a couple VERY helpful beginner hooping basics videos on Youtube and I figured out what we were doing wrong.

You're supposed to rock your hips either side to side or front to back, NOT circle your hips, which is what we'd been doing.

I tried it out and definitely saw better results... I mean we're talking keeping it going for 10 seconds rather than having it drop immediately or after a couple seconds.

Slowly but surely... I figure in a couple weeks I can actually get through a song or two...

filkertom @ 10:14pm: GAME OF THRONES/LEGEND OF KORRA Spoiler Thread
Korra keeps getting better and better. I'll see GoT tomorrow, as usual. Go wild.

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1519158.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

kmelion @ 10:12pm: Today's stint at hooping was slightly more successful. SR kept telling me to slow down... will need to find some videos about it.

SR was more successful than I.

filkertom @ 12:29pm: And Another By Way of IO9


This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1519067.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

filkertom @ 12:22pm: Johnny, You Eeeediot


(h/t io9)

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1518689.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

filkertom @ 10:04am: Printing A Computer From Another Computer
Behold FIBIAC.

What's your favorite site for stuff like this? I'm just starting to poke around into it, and Thingiverse is very cool but it can't be the only one.

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1518375.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

kmelion @ 8:54am: On the bandwagon... sort of
Inspired by mandella0021's amazing success and love of hooping (that would be hula-hooping as a form of exercise), I finally got around to buying my first hoop. I also bought one for SR.

Now from all that I've read, and speaking with the instructor who sold me my hoop, the recommendation is the larger size hoops for beginners.

And now I have to ask WHY????? I can't keep the hoop going! I give it a twirl, start moving my hips and down it goes.

I've decided to blog about it in an effort to not get discouraged and stop doing it.

And here I was, expecting to be able to troll Youtube for music videos and hooping videos to hoop to. Instead I need to build up my expertise to be able to keep the hoop going after I let go.

kmelion @ 10:23pm: EN's first hair cut
There's a tradition in Judaism to not cut a child's hair until s/he turns 3; the history behind it is we liken our children to trees and just like we don't take fruits from a tree until it's 3 years in the ground, we let our children's hair grow uncut for the first three years. On girls it's a non-event. But for boys, it's a huge thing.

Before:


After:

filkertom @ 2:14pm: To the Tune of "The Teddy Bears' Picnic"
(Inspired by this pic.)

( Put behind a cut for possible spoiler protection.... )

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1518291.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

filkertom @ 6:23am: William Rivers Pitt is Sick At Heart
Phenomenal.

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1518071.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

filkertom @ 3:15pm: President Obama Supports Same-Sex Marriage
Finally.

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1517759.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

filkertom @ 10:15am: Cakewalk Sonar X1 at a Really Great Price This Month
Recently, I got a copy of Cakewalk's Sonar X1 LE Starter Kit. Let me show you why:



If you're interested, that very same LE Starter Kit is on sale for $19.99 for the next two weeks. Also on sale is the upgrade from that to Sonar X1 Studio, only $79.99.

(Just leapfrog Essential, the version between LE and Studio; the power/utility difference isn't worth the savings. The Producer edition has a few nice tools and extra instruments, but I don't really think they're worth the extra few hundred bucks for our level of sound work. On the other hand, even just the LE edition is amazing, and Studio includes some excellent tools and instruments and lets you use 64-bit plugins.)

Any other great, cheap software we need to know about?

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1517313.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

dhole @ 1:15pm: I don't really consider myself an expert, but.
Poking around online in an attempt to avoid writing, I came across an article about the recent European elections in the Guardian.

This bit stood out, for me:

For the past four years, the crisis has culled incumbents without discrimination, from the Republican George Bush and conservative Nicolas Sarkozy to Labour's Gordon Brown and the Spanish Socialist José Luis Zapatero, while the far right has advanced across Europe by preying on anti-migrant insecurities and posing as anti-establishment outsiders.

I realize that not everyone pays that much attentions to foreign elections, and that the US is quite a long ways away from Britain. I also realize that quite a lot has happened since the most recent American elections, and it's unfair of me to expect the details of these transatlantic affairs to stick in people's memories for so long.

And yet, even though it would have interfered with the balance and flow of that paragraph, I cannot help but feel that the author should have noted that George Bush's failure to continue as president after 2008 was not solely because of the state of the economy.

kmelion @ 10:07am: Just over 2 months!
I can't believe it, but TC is about 31 weeks along....

filkertom @ 5:43pm: Signal Boost: Help Tim Ryan (archiver_tim)
A longstanding member of the filk community, archiver_tim, is in a very bad way financially. He's about to lose his house to foreclosure, and he needs a place for him and for his stuff. Quite a bit of the stuff, he is willing to sell or even give away. Click here for more info.

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1517090.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

filkertom @ 9:26am: Republicans, Get In My Vagina!
Starring Kate Beckinsale, Judy Greer, and Andrea Savage.

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1516832.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.

filkertom @ 8:47am: Farewell, Maurice Sendak
Great sadness. Author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, best known for Where The Wild Things Are, has passed away at the age of 83.

Sendak's work is like a cross between that of Dr. Seuss and Edward Gorey: whimsical, detailed, unnerving, scary, and most of all engaging. I am shamed to say I am not as familiar with it as I should be, but WTWTA is fortunately damn near universal. (And, as an aside, you can get the fairly well received movie on DVD at Target on their five-buck-movies-for-kids endcap.)

Farewell, sir, and thank you.

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1516620.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.