They can take Megaupload, but they can’t take my freedom!

Things come, things go. Very pleased with the reaction from the internet blackout — SOPA may not be completely shelved, but it’s pretty much dead in the water. The internet needs freedom to continue to grow and develop. Unfortunately, it’s getting plenty of opposition on that front with two other measures: ACTA and PIPA. ACTA is SOPA’s big brother — if you haven’t heard about it, please go and read up on it. It’s on a global scale, rather than just a US scale, which makes it much more dangerous. There are plenty of things that you, as a surfer of the internet, can do to voice your opinion on ACTA, so please take the time, as I have, to voice your displeasure. For the petitions against PIPA, go here or here.

Twitter announced that it’s going to allow countries to censor certain tweets of their citizens, yet another backlash against internet freedom. Twitter was instrumental in toppling some of the terrible, oppressive governments that saw their end in 2011. Please also take the time to tell Twitter that they need a backbone. I’m not sure what changed their mind, but they could probably use your support to do the right thing.

And now, onto less serious business. Films 8 and 9 in my film challenge.

Snuffling and sniffling

One thing about being ill: you get lots of thinking time, between thoughts of “I wish my nose would stop being a faucet.” And, in my case, time for watching things. At this rate I’ll have more than 102 new movies by the end of the year! At this point, it’s either watch movies, sleep all day, or build a “murder house” in The Sims 2.

The Cold Season

It seems like many people I know are sick right now — perhaps a majority. That’s winter for you. I hope you, reader, are well.

Today I finished reading China Mieville’s Kraken. It took me a while. For several reasons, but the biggest being that there’s simply too much book and not enough story. I love the setting of Kraken, its magic, its universe, but the book dragged on for too many pages. I gave it three stars on my Kindle account, and I’m sticking with that. It’s a fun read and, if you get the opportunity, I recommend delving into it, especially if you’re a fan of urban fantasy. But it could have been better.

Without further ado, it’s time to assemble more of my 102 Movies challenge.

A new challenge.

Happy New Year to everyone who reads this blog (and thank you for doing so!). Things were pretty quiet and subdued around here, but that’s ultimately how I prefer them. My holidays were full of decorating, baking and wrapping presents, and keeping my cat away from all of the ribbon. Keeping her away from such tantalizing playthings — presents — is a 24 hour task. She once tore through a birthday gift bag and ran off with the ribbon when I was sleeping. But since she got a scratching post this year, maybe she was trying to be nice to me.

One thing, among others, is new this year. I’ve taken on a challenge that entails me watching 2 new movies (new to me) every week. The full challenge was 365 new movies, but I don’t have that kind of time. I love movies — to put it lightly — and was pleased to have an “excuse” to watch more of them. I won’t be truly reviewing any of them, but I will be posting what I watch here. (My Film Writing class sort of burned me out on writing a good review.) And I’ll write a few words and rate them according to how I liked them. Depending on the movie — if I watch something so amazing I want to write an entire paper, that’ll get posted, too.

So last night I watched my first movie. #1 – Phoebe In Wonderland.

The peril of online journals.

Long story short, if you’ve no desire to read any other line of this entry, I’m moving from Livejournal to Dreamwidth.

And yes, before you say it, I am one of the dinosaurs that still uses Livejournal. Actually, once upon a time, I used Deadjournal – and I still know at least one person who does. I met one of my greatest friends on DJ, and am forever grateful to the website for that. But I made the switch over to LJ, mostly for the communities but also because of the endless accounts. I used to make a zillion accounts for my writing characters and crafted entries for them and made them argue with each other. It was fun.

However, LJ in the past couple of years was bought by a Russian company. It’s still being overseen by the same people in San Francisco, but there were immediate changes. One of them was an increase in Russian spam comments. I get at least one a week. But there have been changes to the core of the website itself that people haven’t appreciated, and came without want. (Much like whenever Facebook changes its layout.)

So, rather than put up with it, a lot of people are jumping boat over to Dreamwidth. DW is like how Livejournal was six years ago. There were no flashy things you could buy people, no Russian spam. You could decide how your layout looked exactly, and there were free and paid accounts. Simple. Elegant.

Once I’m all settled in, I’ll post a link.

Rainy day.

Today I woke up and it was raining. This is one of my favorite kinds of weather. I live in California, where rain is as rare as a person with a sense of decency. So for it to be raining is a momentous occasion. In fact, I’ve just come in from frolicking in it (in my raincoat, of course). Not for very long, since I’m getting over a bug that was handed to me from a party over the weekend.

Anyway, Shore has been added to the Flash Fiction section — it’s an official story. And now, back to writing.

Foggy days.

Today is overcast, a bit foggy, and cold–my favorite kind of weather. And with that comes the inspiration of my Muse. I’ve updated the Unfinished & Unedited writing section to include a new flash fiction piece that has yet to be edited, Shore.

Who knows? There might be more updates there later.

Media: the great distraction.

In the past month I’ve watched quite a bit, so I thought I’d do a review-summary kind of thing. To recommend some of these things to the two people (wishful thinking) who read this blog. So, without further ado, here we go. Reviews after the jump.

Methods.

When I write, there are a few conditions that have to be met–if I’m going to be productive. One of them is that I can’t have music or loud, distracting noise. Otherwise I start typing the lyrics of the songs. Occasionally I can write with orchestral music on, but there’s no real purpose, since I usually tune it out anyway. Another condition is that I can’t be bothered. If I have to get up and answer the door a lot while writing, my muse dies and gives me nothing. If people keep calling me, or trying to talk to me, I lose my motivation to write.

I know every writer is a little different.

And, yes, the image has nothing to do with this post whatsoever. Fiesta!

From last night.

Originally posted to G+.

The first time, I wrote “she knew her name because it was on the lapel of her uniform” as “she knew her name because it was on the label of her unicorn.” Yes, right. Not sure whether I need more sugar or less of it.

Yup. I’m a dork when I’m tired.