As predicted, little_star ditched me in favour of seeing Hunger Games with his friends, which means I remain the only one in my generation not to have seen Avengers, yet. (I like going to movies on my own, but I couldn't find a showing that fit, time-wise.) As for Hunger Games, little_star Said that he liked it but no, he doesn't want to talk about it.

Also, today I wore mint green nail polish, and I spent a lot more time than I should probably admit to thinking that Vulcan women probably wear mostly green nail polish with dark red being the colour they consider a little edgy, like we do black. Mint green is probably what they use as a base for a French (a Shi'kar?) mani.
Although nail polish is obviously really, really illogical, but at the same time vulcans are hardly indifferent to aesthetics, so ... (I, uh, may have gone to bed late last night b/c of struggling with my nails, and consequently been somewhat foggy today.)

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Year in fandom meme, inspired by ratcreature and astridv


Your main fandom of the year?
Still Star Trek reboot, with a little Stargate on the side.

Your favorite film watched this year?
Tie between le Havre and Tinker, Tailor....

Your favorite book read this year?
Stamtavlor, The Hare with Amber Eyes, Att bo i världen

( more here )

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( cut for list )

Also, I'd like to wish all of you a VERY HAPPY 2012!!!! Hope it brings nothing but the best!!

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I really liked Le Havre. It's slow-moving, fairy-tale-like and absolutely heartwarming.

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Happy Hanukkah!



I'm so used to the Swedish transcription - Chanuka - that I always feel there's an h or a k too many when I write it in English.

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From fannish5:

Name your 5 favorite fanon "facts".

1. (SG-1) After S8, Jack O'Neill and his ex-wife Sara got back together. (Yup, my OTP - or as close as I'll get to one, anyway. <3)

2. (Star Trek) Vulcans have a sligthly higher body temperature than humans.

3. (Star Trek xi) Before he met Nyota, Spock had an epic crush on captain Pike. He's over it now. Mostly.

4. (Star Trek xi) Keenser (Scotty's tiny bescaled fellow officer from Delta Vega) is female. (This is pure self-defence, I'm thousands of words into a never-ending Keenser story in which she is a career Starfleet officer and working mother, and now I'm too invested in the idea to let it go.)

5. (Star Trek RPF) Noah is totally the kind of dog who would scare a burglar away by licking him and being generally enthusiastic.

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The latest death toll of the attacks in Norwegian capital Oslo and at a youth camp just outside is 7 and 84, respectively. BBC has a good summary of the events. (Warning: the description of the gunman attacking the youth camp is pretty chilling.) So sad for everyone involved, especially the kids (teenagers, really) and their families.

I'm also fucking furious with all so-called experts who were really quick to blame islamists, some even after it had come out that the person responsible was a Norwegian with extreme right-wing views.

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RIP Clarence Clemons, the Big Man of the E Street Band.

(Only 69, so damn sad!)

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... and ran a 5k race today?

This girl!

I now hurt all over and feel kind of awesome at the same time.

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The amazing juniperphoenix made a podfic of my story And I miss you still. It's really, really awesome!!

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if you change your mind Little_star's music teacher apparently the history book on the shelf thought it was a good idea to introduce the kids young and sweet, only seventeen to ABBA. there was something is the air that night It went, uh, well you look like a movie star in the sense that little_star now thinks ABBA the gods they roll the dice is the greatest thing ever. Also won't someone hear my prayer it turns out that Spotify has don't go wasting your emotion ALL the ABBA songs! I think lights are gonna find me I had planned to use my brain for other things of a world where every neighbor is a friend tonight, but now I'm not sure breaking up is never easy I know :D! so I wanna know ...



( Songs quoted are: )

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Title: You're never lonely when the band plays
Author's name: less_star
Written for: nijiiro_no_iro
Pairing/: John Cho/Anton Yelchin
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Classical musicians AU.
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: None of this is real.

( Abrams productions presents Small classics chamber music )

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An 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Japan yesterday. The tsunami is still spreading across the Pacific, people are being evacuated from Easter islands. CNET has a list of resources, including aid in finding loved ones and ways to donate to relief efforts.

The news footage shows horrifying destruction, my thoughts are with anyone affected.

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On February 28th, 1986 I was thirteen years old. My parents were still married and we were on winter holiday, but it was Sunday, and we were preparing for the drive home. In the morning mom was making breakfast and dad was out getting the car ready. Mom had the radio on. I had been sleeping in and wasn't really awake. I don't remember hearing the radio, but I remember mom calling to dad all of a sudden. She said, "They're saying Palme is dead, murdered."

( Swedish prime minister Olof Palme had been shot dead on a Stockholm street )

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The yiddish policemen's union by Michael Chabon

( According to doctors, therapists, and his ex-wife Landsmann drinks to medicate himself )

Kan du säga shibbolet? (Can you say shibboleth?) by Marjaneh Bakhtiari

( what is the right way to be an immigrant, anyway? )

Stamtavlor (Lineages) by Dilsa Demirbag-Sten

( I am a Berti, of the tribe Bertiyan )

Det målade rummet (the painted room) by Eva Christiansen

( ok, I didn't get this )

A room swept white by Sophie Hannah

( run-of-the-mill crime story that I liked well enough until ... I didn't )

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poet, scholar, mensch

Öppen bok

Den har gravens tyngd. Den öppnar sig blott för det osynliga. Den visar hur livet är överkomligt blott i allvar och ära. Den vilar på vindarnas reol, är ständigt i tillblivande och går från dörr till dörr tills den finner dig och läser dig. Du själv, öppen, oavslutad



(Open book

It has the weight of the grave. It opens only to the invisible. It shows how life can be conquered solely in earnest and glory. It rests on the shelf of the winds, is constantly being constructed and goes from door to door until it finds you and reads you. Yourself, open, unfinished)


I can't believe I used to dream of being a translator...


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It's little_star's eleventh birthday today. ( cut for kid stuff )

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The final part of Hongloumeng has been published in Swedish and I ordered my copy today XD!! Now I don't have to worry about the translator getting ill, or something.

(Yeah, I know there are English and French editions available since forever, but this translator has done an awesome job so far, plus I think I'd have to start from the beginning if I wanted to read in another language, due to slightly different transcription conventions with names and such.)

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Hongloumeng, part 2, 3 and 4 by Cao Xueqin

( dreams of the red chambers )

Grekiska - språket, kulturen, myterna (Greek - language, culture, myths) by Eva-Carin Gerö

( sofrosyne stands for temperance )

yarden (the yard) by Kristian Lundberg

( my son. my happiness. a mirror image grounded in light where I fall into darkness )

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Thank you debris_k for the Christmas cookies!!! *lots of hugs* Hope you have a lovely holiday!

As seen on my rlist/flist, most recently ratcreature, I think.

Your main fandom of the year?
Star Trek reboot and Trek RPF.

Your favorite film watched this year?
I've been depressed and not up to going to movies for myself at all. I saw How to train your dragon with little_star and liked it a lot. Aw, toothless ...

( more after the cut )

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Title: Excuse me while I kiss the sky
Author: less_star
Pairing: McCoy/Pike
Word count: 4200
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Summary: Written for the prompt McCoy as a patient. What happens when he’s the one who needs to be healed/put back together? Turns out, there's Xenopolycythemia in the reboot universe as well.

A/N: Written for random00b for her generous donation to help_pakistan. Thank you for being so incredibly patient and kind, I hope this suits you!


( Leonard tells himself it's nothing to worry about, and for a while he almost believes it, too )

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Apparent suicide bombing in Stockholm kills one person.

Not only is it extremely upsetting that a fatal explosion goes off downtown where I might well be shopping myself, but if the early reports that this was motivated by Sweden's military presence in Afghanistan are true this could mean that the islamophobic fringe will pick up steam as well.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

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The General

‘Good-morning; good-morning!’ the General said
When we met him last week on our way to the line.
Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ’em dead,
And we’re cursing his staff for incompetent swine.
‘He’s a cheery old card,’ grunted Harry to Jack
As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.


But he did for them both by his plan of attack.

Siegfried Sassoon, Counter-Attack and Other Poems, 1918

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I don't read a lot of Kirk/Spock since I'm so emotionally invested in the Kirk/McCoy and Spock/Uhura pairings, but reboot!Kirk/Spock prime is a pairing I adore! And jou made this gorgeous art of them, Aprés Delta Vega (SFW). Wistful and sweet.

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withthepilot wrote Homoville for the rpf_big_bang. It's John Cho/Zach Quinto and let me just say you bet your ASS this pairing!!

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And since withthepilot apparently has superhuman abilities she also wrote Same Ghost Every Night for startrekbigbang. Leonard McCoy is thrown back in time and loses his memory. He meets George Kirk. Things get complicated. This story is so amazing I have trouble expressing it.

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Oh, Blackadder goes forth, still so awesome after all these years! <3

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So, I followed a link to Jezebel, where there's a flowchart of stereotypes female characters tend to fall into. There's probably a point to it that I'm too ignorant to understand, but I'm sorry - you can't classify TOS Uhura as useless girl AND Golden Girls Dorothy Zbornak as wet blanket and expect me to keep reading.

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Ruth Meiers dagbok (Ruth Meier's diary)

( turns 18 on the eve of the kristallnacht )

The corner by David Simon and Ed Burns

( a year in the life of an inner-city neighbourhood )

Hon älskade (She loved) by Helena Henschen

( a life of many passions )

Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe

( Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. )

Den översvämmade hjärnan (the overflowing brain) by Torkel Klingberg

( the cave-man brain meets the age of information )

Kinas historia (a history of China) by Hans Hägerdal

( The new ruler called himself Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor. )

Blåbärsmaskinen (the blueberry machine) by Nils Claesson

( Many of dad's friends never saw him when he was drinking. )

Lasermannen (the laser-sight man) by Gellert Tamas

( a true story )

I'm currently reading part two of Hongloumeng so I think the next book post might take awhile. :)

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I love the where_no_woman comm and its mods SO MUCH!

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So, it seems like Sweden (like the majority of Europe) will have a small but disgusting right-wing populist (racist, homophobic, all-real-women-want-to-be-housewives) party represented in parliament.

I know I did what little I could to prevent it, and I'm really trying not to be all FUCK EVERYTHING! but I'm very sad and disheartened right now.

And no, I'm not pretending for a moment that racism doesn't exist here, or anything, it just depressing to find that 5,7 % (at last count) of the voting populace are bigots.

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Little_star and I chose Up for our Saturday movie. We'd already seen it at the theatre this winter but I still teared up during the first five minutes. Aw, Carl and Ellie...

Also I'm possibly the last person to discover this, but man, The Lives of Others!!!

#

I have a stack of books I read and didn't post about, so I'll have to break it into smaller chunks.

Towards another summer by Janet Frame

( Now journeys were not a simple matter for Grace )

One day by David Nicholls

( Sometimes, when it's going badly, she wonders if what she believes to be a love of the written word is really just a fetish for stationery )

Also, ( spoiler )

Nickel and Dimed - undercover in low-wage USA by Barbara Ehrenreich

( the hands-and-knees approach is a definite selling point for corporate cleaning services like The Maids )

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. Comments welcome in either journal.

I have an invite to the AOOO, if anyone's interested. Comment with your email address and I'll pass it on. (Comments are screened.)

This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth. Comments welcome in either journal.

Best wishes for the new year!!

#

Also, about that thing that happened, I'm fairly sure I'm the only person in my generation who's completely uninterested in Facebook, and I'm not cool enough for Twitter. So there will be no reposting of anything from this journal.

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The 12 terracotta warriors from first emperor Qin's grave that were on exhibition in London all spring are now in town and we went to see them today. It was really amazing, from the detailed clothes, armours and hairstyles to postures and the faces. Also on display were smaller statues from a the tomb of a Han-dynasty general, quite a lot of them.

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Yesterday I was at my stepmom's 50th birthday party. She celebrated with a friend (that I also know slightly), so there were a lot of guests. Good food, good band and they held the party in this really awesome, slightly decayed 17th-century castle outside town which was awesome to see. I'm never very comfortable in my own skin, especially in situations like that, but it went ok, I guess. I got to see my brothers and it seemed they are doing well, so that's a good thing.

Also, it was really close to where we kept the boat and seeing those familiar places again made me think of dad and feel very splinter-in-heart.

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I'm offering fanfic at help_pakistan. Minimum of 1000 words in Star trek xi, SG-1, SGA or Star trek xi rpf. Gen or any flavor of ship. Starting bid 5 USD. My thread is here.

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Bad Astronomy is a non-fandom blog that keeps bringing me joy. Astronomer Phil Plait tirelessly explains the universe, debunks bad science and promotes skepticism. Oh, and he frequently shares the most beautiful pictures of space.

Check out the Tarantula nebula up close. You should really read his description to get the most out of it, but apparently it's a sprawling star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small companion galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy.

A Star. Forming. Region. I realize I'm outing myself as the most ginormous dork here, but reading that really made my day.

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Proposition 8 declared unconstitutional!!

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I've discovered that Walking with dinosaurs/beasts/cavemen is actually very soothing for nights when I just need a break from my awful, depressed brain. Seems there's a marathon all week on BBC Knowledge (I never watch that channel otherwise, since it's all Top gear all the time), so I'm in luck. Although yesterday, when the cavemen ambushed a heard of mammoths I, um, switched channels. Just until there were no dying mammoths in sight. I'm such a dork!

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So relieved it didn't go to penalties!

Also, my knee is better. So yay to that, too!

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(My entire rlist/flist is very interested in any slight injuries I may be the victim of, right? I thought so.)

Slipped on a rug at home this morning and landed on my right knee. It hurt a little, sure, but mostly I just felt really clumsy. I then took little_star and one of his friends to a museum that's half an hours walk from here, walked around in the museum for a few hours and then back home. Everything ok, so far. Then, after I'd been SITTING CALMLY ON MY COUCH for an hour or so my poor knee hurts like several swearwords and euphemisms for intercourse that I'm too prudish to type. It's not so bad if I don't walk on it, so that's something I suppose. *grumbles*

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Huh, so I guess it's time to let go of the "Spain and Holland never succeed in the WC" way of thinking. Could make for a fun final game on Sunday. Also, for some reason I'm always delighted when defenders score in important games. The commentator said that Puyol has played 90 games for the Spanish national team, and tonight's goal was his third (counting only international games, I suppose). And that header was spectacular, too.

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A couple of days ago I strong-armed little_star into renting The princess and the frog and we both loved it. Funny, sweet and with great songs.

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I döda språks sällskap (In the company of dead languages) by Ola Wikander

( sumeric, etruscan, oscan, sanskrit, akkadic, koptic )

Wide sargasso sea by Jean Rhys

( and you must understand that I am not rich now, I have no money of my own at all, everything I had belongs to him )

Roms kungatid (the age of the Roman kingdom) and Den romerska republikens äldsta tid (the early days of the Roman republic) by Livius (or Livy, using the English transcription)

( ab urbe condita )

Bad astronomy by Phil Plait

( like a light-year, a parsec is another unit of distance used by astronomers, it's equal to 3,26 light-years )

An education by Lynn Barber

( coming of age )

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The last airbender gets really, really lousy (and enjoyable) reviews! Half a star, people!

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You guys, today we went to tiny cabin out in the archipelago and just after lunch we saw a white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla). It was flying pretty low - like, tree-top level - and absolutely silent. I had the distinct feeling that I was being viewed as "Hm, potential food, sure, but a little on the big side ... nah not gonna bother today." Majestic really is the only word for it!

I read on wikipedia that the eagle population actually has recovered somewhat since the eighties.

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(Or, actually, they both said ja.)

Since the weather was nice we went downtown and saw not only cheerful crowds, marching bands and what had to be the majority of our armed forces but we also managed to catch a glimpse of HRH and his personal trainer-ness in their open carriage.

Little_star and I are in total agreement that the 17 fighting jets flying in formation was the best part.

So I guess that's SEK 10 million (roughly 1.3 million USD) of tax money well spent. /sarcasm

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Probably not, but to be on the safe side:

using the Haitian earthquake as the setting for a story about two white guys and their true wuw is a rubbish idea.

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Was ambushed by giant Prince of Persia poster whilst innocently going into the subway in my way home from work. It looks so absolutely, tremendously stupid that I had a hearty laugh. Then I thought of all the money spent on it and got depressed and went home and fell asleep over my sudoku.

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No more Flashforward and I'm a bit pouty about it. I had gotten used to a regular fix of John Cho being all competent.

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RIP Lena Horne. So talented and not afraid to speak out (IIRC, she was blacklisted during the HUAC era). For me, she was one of those movie stars who made you think they should live forever.

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SGA fans, run don't walk to read busaikko's Perennials, a Sheppard/Parrish story. Love and domesticity and reality and oh John Sheppard!!

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I've been watching re-runs of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series and been reminded of how much I love it. Yesterday was the Abbey Grange (with Edward Hardwicke as Watson). And

( cut for spoilers )

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Timestamp fic meme:

Leave a comment prompt. The prompt should be one of my fics and a time interval.

Examples:
"Fic Title, the next morning"
"Fic Title, three months before"
"Fic Title, two years later"
"Fic Title, in between this event and that event"

If you follow the meme to the letter you're not supposed to leave any other prompt than the timestamp. My fics are tagged here.

Thank you, purna for the milk and cookies!! Made me smile all day!

Dear 80%* of Swedish media,

I don't give a flying f*ck about the royal wedding!

Actually, the only news about the royal family I'd be interested in at this point would be if they were suddenly about to be ex-royals. You know, like in modern countries.

Also, please stop insulting my intelligence by dragging out the increasingly tired and flawed arguments that having a president would cost more and but they are such lovely people and they do such a good job of promoting Sweden.

Sincerely,

less_star

*rough estimate