Arduinna

Yuletide!

2013-12-26T08:16:00Z

(But first, I am so far behind on the meme, zomg -- I'm currently very glad that most of the end of the month didn't fill up, so I can shift the questions I haven't answered forward. I will get to them all!)

Yuletide bears ate me for most of the last week, but I got a story done and posted and edited and tweaked and made myself stop touching it a few hours before midnight on the 24th, to be safe. *g* Today was supposed to be for hours and hours of reading, but was more like a little reading, and then hanging out with mollyamory and therienne for a wonderful dinner and some presents and Doctor Who and a very nostalgic trip to the pilot episode of Stargate Atlantis.

But I did manage to read both my gifts, of which I got two! I don't usually get treats, so I was hugely chuffed to see one this year.

My official story was in Haven, which I'm just beaming over, having spent some time earlier this month wallowing in the joy of this season of Haven -- the story itself is set during the season opener, which! Really couldn't be better timing. This melted me into a little puddle of happy goo.

Complicated (3081 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Haven
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Duke Crocker/Nathan Wuornos
Characters: Duke Crocker, Nathan Wuornos, Jennifer Mason (Haven)
Additional Tags: Bruises, Hurt/Comfort, Bathing/Washing, Reunions, Missing Scene, Complicated Relationships, Self-Flagellation, Empathy, Kissing, Minor Injuries, Napping, Season/Series 04, Established Relationship, Yuletide Assignment, Yuletide 2013
Summary:
Having just found Nathan busily involved in his own peculiar brand of self-flagellation, Duke spends some time getting him cleaned up and the both of them reacquainted. (Takes place during the reunion scene of Season 4, Episode 1, "Fallout.")

The treat was in Forever Knight, and also made me really happy. I miss Schanke like crazy, and the author did a great job with him and the world he inhabits (and if you're a Cohen fan, she nailed Cohen in this, too).

Copper's Instinct (5788 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forever Knight
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Nick Knight, Don Schanke, Amanda Cohen, Natalie Lambert, Officer Lipinski, Sgt. Mandrake (Forever Knight), Myra Schanke, Jenny Schanke, Det. McCabe (Forever Knight), Det. Dreyfus (Forever Knight), Janette DuCharme
Additional Tags: Canon Related, Wordcount: Over 1.000
Summary:
Schanke's perspective on the events of the Season Two premiere, "Killer Instinct".

I foolishly didn't take any time off this week or next, and I'm losing prime reading time on Sunday to a family get-together, so I'm flailing a bit at how to make it through the rest of the archive before reveals. But it's a fun kind of flailing, at least.

Yay, Yuletide!

And now to bed, so I can work tomorrow. Woe.

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Snady rec-a-thon

2013-08-10T04:23:58Z

I spent a good chunk of today being cranky at people being Wrong on the Internet, and wanting to tell them how they're wrong and to maybe stop doing that.

Then movies_michelle posted to say that for Sandy Herrold's birthday today it would be great if people would post recs of things: "Post a rec of something, anything, you enjoyed today, whether it was a story, vid, photo, meme, discussion, whatever. Whether it's new or old. If you've been meaning to go back and leave a comment on a story, go do it now, even if it's just to say "Love this!"" And really that sounds like a much more constructive use of my time. (Even though Snady would totally have agreed that Those People Are Wrong On The Internet *g*)

So have a couple of things!

First, if you're not reading morgandawn's fanlove posts, you should be, because they're wonderful. Today's installment was a set of quotes from fanzine publishers back in the day, talking about dealing with print shops who perforce saw the (often explicit) artwork and stories in the zines. I wasn't involved in fandom back then, really, but roughly 2000-ish I watched a friend carefully pick a local printer by means of spotting the gay pride poster in their window and deciding they could probably deal with the slash zine she was putting together. I was grinning my head off at morgandawn's post.

Second, as I've had Maru on my mind lately (he has a new kitten friend! Named Hana!), have a Maru story:

[ I succeeded in crawling into the breast of my big boss! ] (1693 words) by miss_pryss
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: I Am Maru
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Maru, Harry (I Am Maru)
Summary:
[ Hello, I am hedgehog of the newcomer.
My name is Harry.
What a big you are!
I follow you forever. ]
Harry the stuffed hedgehog toy adores his "boss" - Maru the cat, of cardboard box fame - but Maru hardly seems to notice him. When Harry finds himself in terrible trouble, will Maru come through for his most devoted toy at last? Warning: various profanities uttered by a pot of cat grass.

And one more while I'm here, for a fandom that started up too late for Snady, but I think would have loved. This is a lovely h/c POI story:

Random Access Memory (4504 words) by Xparrot
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Person of Interest (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Harold Finch & Nathan Ingram, Harold Finch & John Reese
Characters: Harold Finch, Nathan Ingram, John Reese
Additional Tags: Sickfic, Fevers, Angst, Smarm, Friendship, Present Tense, (possibly to be jossed) backstory, adventures at MIT, Reese can read too, as well as cook breakfast
Summary:
"You're running a fever of 104," Nathan says.

Happy birthday, Snady. ♥

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Software rec: TeamViewer

2013-03-06T19:10:39Z

A few weeks ago, I stumbled over a program called TeamViewer, which gives you remote access to another computer. CNET gives it five stars, or "spectacular".

It's free for non-commercial use, and lets you do all sorts of things. You can use it to control another computer; you can use it to invite people to look at your screen in an online meeting; you can use it to transfer files back and forth without having to first upload them somewhere. The only requirement is that both systems have it installed and are online. (Obviously, faster connections and more modern OSes are going to have better results.)

The default setup gives you a user ID number that stays the same, and generates a random password every time you launch the program. You give that password to whoever you want to have access to your system, then when you end the session, the password is deleted.

You can also set it up to have a permanent password, so anyone can access that computer at any time if they know the user ID and pw. (You can do this during installation, or at any point thereafter by choosing a specific pw for that computer.)

One of the things I wanted it for was to be able to help my dad with small computer problems. I used to be able to walk him through things, but that's harder now, and my default had started to be "okay, write down the entire message and I'll take a look the next time I'm out", which isn't really great for a lot of stuff.

So I installed TeamViewer on his system the last time I was out there, which is when I discovered the permanent-password option, which was a source of great joy for me. I hadn't been looking forward to coaching him through opening the program any time I had to help him.

He called me a few minutes ago to say he had this crazy message on his screen from "A-V-G" about a "trojan horse found", and said "That doesn't have anything to do with me, right? I can just blow that off?"

And I said, "You know what? Let me try that thing I showed you..."

Opened up my laptop, opened up TeamViewer, opened up the list of "my computers" and clicked on his computer where I'd added it and its permanent password, and boom, there was his screen on my laptop, with the AVG threat-detection screen. Instead of having to listen to him read every word on the screen trying to get him to the "remove to vault" option, I just clicked it, and now am running a scan on his system from my living room, while he's off mailing a check.

If he didn't have a permanent password, I'd have asked him to launch TeamViewer and read me his numbers, so I could plug them in to my connection screen.

The remote-controlled computer has full functionality the whole time: if you need someone to show you what steps they took, they can do so while you watch. There's a little bubble in the lower-right hand corner of the remote-controlled screen so they know someone's there, with tools (toggle control permission off/on, chat window, etc.).

The session can be ended from either side. Once the session ends, a notice pops up on both computers that this was a free session, asking you to "like" it on Facebook/G-plus, giving an option to buy a license, or clicking "okay". This is a little annoying on the one hand, but clicking okay takes care of it, and the message means no one can sneak onto your system without your being aware that someone has done so.

I highly recommend this if you do tech support for anyone, or want to do any sort of remote collaboration. Or even if you want to do things like control the media player on your desktop from your laptop in the other room...

There are even mobile versions for iOS, Android, and Windows 8/RT.

Download it from the TeamViewer site instead of CNET, though, to avoid CNET's annoying third-party add-on crap.

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Follow Friday: comms

2011-04-15T15:36:34Z

ao3some -- This is a new, completely unofficial comm for fans of the AO3 to get together and talk about whatever -- share codes, talk about features we like or don't like, how we use the archive, tips/tricks, tagging philosophies, news, etc.

ao3_skins -- Relatedly and also unofficial, for sharing archive skins and other extras.

fancake -- This is a repeat from a month ago, but I'm having a blast with it, and it's really starting to take off. This is a themed recs community, where anyone can rec fanworks based on that month's theme (new themes start up on the 15th of each month).

The first three themes were amnesia, telepathy, and superpowers, and generated about 60 recs each; the fourth theme was crossovers/fusions, and generated over 200 recs in 175 different fandoms. The current theme (just started today) is genderfuck, and has generated 9 recs already as I type this.

fannish_library_fest -- The fest runs from April 15 to April 30, and has just opened for posting. It's to celebrate "fans and characters as keepers, organizers, and preservers of knowledge" (how fans organize things like archives, delicious, recs lists, bookmarks, wikis, etc.; how characters/sources use things like libraries/records/archives/oral histories/memoirs/personal papers/etc.). Anything relating to that is welcome: meta of all kinds, fanworks of all kinds, recs, questions, you name it.

eta new icon, courtesy morebutterflies in fannish_library_fest!

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Follow Friday: recs edition

2011-03-12T00:44:14Z

I haven't done one of these in ages, but figured this was a good time to spread the word about some recs communities. These are all open to any fandoms, any genres, any ratings.

bestthingever is for recs of stories (and only stories, no other fanworks) that are no more than three months old; anyone can post.

fanart_recs is, as you might suspect, for reccing fanart. This one's run more along crack_van lines, with reccers signing up for a month to rec in their fandoms.

fancake is a themed rec community, where anyone can rec stories based on that month's theme. It's mainly fic-based, but any fanworks are welcome to be recced. Themes so far have been amnesia, telepathy, and superpowers, and a few times a year there's an amnesty period for reccing things under any previous theme. There's currently a poll to determine the next theme; I'm rooting for crossovers/fusion, myself.

list50 is for 50 recs at a time (or shorter lists during "minilist" challenges), on a reccer-chosen theme. The recs are generally just one line each - title, fandom, and link to story are the only required things, although people can add more info if they want. Anyone can post here.

And bonus community, which is restricted to gen fanfic but which is open to any fandom and apparently any rating:

gen_rec It's a little quiet right now, but I'd love to see this pick up, since I've only just discovered it. *g*

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blast from the past, courtesy of the archive of the future

2010-03-17T03:37:57Z

I was poking around the AO3 tonight, and stumbled across one of my favorite fanworks from the early '00s:

Deep Fanfic Thoughts, by Jack Handey, which I now know was written by Vali (... okay, it is totally cool that you can make a link like that to an AO3 user account!); back in the day, IIRC, it was posted anonymously.

It was written in 2001, and anyone who was in mailing list fandom, particularly on slash lists, will recognize pretty much everything there. Heeee.

It vanished off the net somewhere around 2005, as near as I can tell; I haven't been able to find anything but references to it for several years, and always regretted not saving a copy for myself. Yay for the AO3!

(Me, I still wish that more planets had fallen under the ruthless domination of Prospect-L, but then I'm biased. *g*)

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Yuletide reveal!

2010-01-02T05:13:23Z

Author names have been revealed, so it must be time to post. *g* In order: What I got, what else I'm reccing, and what I wrote.

First up, thank you so much to eotu for my lovely Yuletide gift, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Assignment! It's I Spy, a missing scene for the episode The Seventh Captain, and I love it. *hugs story*

The ep moves very quickly from Scotty being captured and nearly killed (rescued by Kelly, yay!) to him being fairly light-hearted the next day; eotu pulls that back a bit and shows how he got back to that even-keeled place. Which, of course, is all due to his partnership with Kelly, and how they are just always there for each other, and which made me really happy to read. She gave me the Scotty and Kelly I love so much, and that interlude is now canon for that ep in my head.

So that is my first and most important rec! (Which I have just realized I didn't bookmark on AO3 because bookmarks weren't working well that first day, so I have just rectified that.)

More recs are available at my AO3 bookmarks; I'll be adding to these as I keep reading, because wow, is a week not long enough anymore. I don't even know how much more of the archive I have to go through, but it's a lot. *g* At the moment, there are recs in I Spy, Dark Is Rising, Fairy Tales, Anthropomorfic, Dresden Files (tv), MacGyver, Belgariad/Mallorean, the Fire Dancer series by Ann Maxwell, Victor/Victoria, Leverage, White Collar, Invisible Man, and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.

(Note: I haven't read all the stories in all those fandoms - I've been dipping in and out, and have read maybe 2 Madness stories so far on top of that. There are likely to be more all over the place. God, I love the bookmarking feature.)

And now, for the story I wrote:

Beatriz (on AO3), for galerian_ash
Fandom: Gunmen *
Slash - Cole Parker/Dani Servigo
5,228 words
Rating: teen and up
* It's a mid-'90s action flick starring Christopher Lambert and Mario Van Peebles, about two men on opposite sides who eventually wind up (crankily) working together, then protecting each other, then helping each other, then sailing off together into the ~~sunset~~ sunrise while the soundtrack over them sings about how there's nothing wrong with being in love with someone. No, seriously.

I had so much fun with this. I signed up to write it because I've loved this movie for ages, and I've always wanted to see fic for it. Then I was looking through DYW letters before assignments went out, as you do, and stumbled across galerian_ash's request, and had this happy little moment of "that could be my assignment! I could totally write that!"

And then assignments came, and that was my assignment! \o/ Most years I get an assignment from a recipient who wants something a little different than my take on things, which is great because it lets me stretch; this was one of the years where we were totally in sync, which is great because it lets me just sink into the source. So I found my old VHS tape, and I ordered a DVD copy so I didn't completely destroy my tape, and I started watching. And watching. And watching. I was right, I really do love this movie. *g*

My one regret, if you can call it that, is that I had to skip about half my notes, which consisted of all the ways in which Cole (Mario Van Peebles) is gorgeous; I had all these scraps of lines in my head about that, because I really like looking at Cole. But then I started writing, and realized I was solidly inside Cole's head, and wasn't budging. Which meant that all of that description was useless, alas. But I like being inside his head, too, so it's all worth it.

So yay, another fabulous Yuletide, all around!

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