It appears that our transition to the new server has gone very well, aside from a few very minor blips. A benevolent forum-mate from a previous board where I used to post noticed my stated intent here of upgrading my website and has offered to tackle the job out of the kindess of her heart She wishes for anonymity, so I can’t thank her by name, but all credit goes to her for working quickly, responsibly, and professionally. A Very Big Thank-You to her <3
We also finally upgraded to WordPress 2.71 after months of hesitation (since the old upgrade sytem was a pain in the ass). More changes to the Blog and Website will be forthcoming around my moving “situation,” which I still have no idea of when it’s coming or where I’m going to. Except that it will be relatively soon ;__;
It’s a slight distraction…
A few notes:
The odd failing of the top-menus to “stick” while you mouse over categories and such is still present, although it seems slightly improved. The sidebar still contains the categories, so you can sort through them that way. I like this template too much to ditch it now, but if I find a better “reflective” one I may change it.
The Lily’s Picture Book (photo album) views have unfortunately been reset to zero and the comments as well, but that’s no big deal. Since I have more space on this server I’ll be improving the album over time, and hope to be able to makeover and enlarge the Gallery a bit. Feel free to drop by and leave comments if desired. Hopefully I can get back into nature shots and some more doll-photography. As always, I’m keeping it clean (for you presumptuous gutter-minded types who should just go and surf the web for your pr0nz LOL). For *some* reason the Photo album has the second-most number of hits behind the Blog. I wonder why…?
The Guestbook will also be re-done and moved to this server, as the Bravenet book was too ad-heavy.
The dead links to The Anime Page and The Links Page will both be workable once I get them together but for now lead to Nowhere. In fact, the whole site will be going through a metamorphosis and re-write in the coming weeks, so please bear with us as we Change… slowly but surely.
And if you wish to leave a comment, please feel welcome to do so
Just a quick little heads-up that I’ll be moving the Blog and website to a new server, so some downtime will be inevitable over the next several days. Please stay tuned and bear with us as we Make Changes, and hopefully your patience will be rewarded with a new (and hopefully more interesting) website!
Whenever I move from here there will again most likely be a lapse in communications while I get settled into my new Place, wherever that may be.
Since “Change” is a big concept and theme in Unbound, I can’t very well be a hypocrite and bemoan it, now can I?? So it’s time to crawl into my cocoon… and hopefully a butterfly will emerge, and not a moth
Greetings from wherever I am to wherever you are. I’ve been somewhat “inconvenienced” with a severe pinched nerve in my neck which has muted my enthusiasm and mood considerably. I think three weeks is long enough to deal with it, so I’m not anymore. Time to try the “mind over matter” theory; namely, “if I don’t mind, it won’t matter.” In theory. We’ll see about that…
In what passes for ”news” hereabouts, I FINALLY heard back from Llewellyn Publishing about Unbound (after four months), and what I heard was: Rejection. It was in a roundabout way, as I didn’t hear that directly from them, but a subsidiary of theirs called “Midnight Ink” which I hadn’t even considered let alone know about. It’s actually a mystery-genre company, and nothing like the New Age-y/Spirituality publisher that Llewellyn is. HOW they got my query I’ll never know, but no matter; a rejection is a rejection (even though very polite), and will likely be one of a continuing series if the business is any indication of what it is, and what an aspiring author needs to deal with. So *shrug* -on to the next…
A friend passed by the Blog and indicated that my “You” generalities might be being taken as personally-directed towards those that don’t deserve it, so this bit of an explanation: They only pertain to those to whom the “You” may pertain to. In other words, with respect to anime and life-sized dolls, for instance: If I say something directed to “those who have hate-filled hearts” it only means those kinds of persons specifically, and not to those visitors who might be either merely curious, uninterested, or non-malicious. I’m surprised that I have to spell that out for (you) but… there (you) go LOL If it seems defensive then it probably is, and for good reason. The best defense is a good offense, actually…
Look: I’ve put up with snotty, dismissive, derisive, and yes, hateful people ever since I “dropped out” at 15, and personally dealt with their utter ugliness on Haight Street (how almost-appropriately ironic!) and ever since then, whenever I took to anything unusual or considered “weird” by these idiots. Whether it be social companions (“hippies”), music (“Pink Floyd”), collecting (“comic books”), art-works (“dolls”), entertainment (“anime”) or WHATEVER, I’ve also had to deal with those fools who insist that their way of thinking, believing, and acceptability is all that counts, and what I (and everyone else) should be following to the letter. I don’t see any need for sugar-coating: These people are dim-witted conformists, plain and simple, and there is nothing good or admirable about it. Or them.
So there.
In other words, gentle reader, when going on about Them, I mean in no way You, who I’m sure is a person much more tolerant, open-minded, forgiving, and wise than those Others. Unless you’re not, in which case I’m sure you’ll get The Message. Conformity is the death of individuality, and this round peg will not be pounded into any square holes, or square’s holes for that matter. Your mileage and comfort-zones will vary, of course, and that’s fine. I don’t judge anyone… except those who judge me. And yes, they will be pounded until it hurts Them, for a change. Not You
Don’t get me wrong: I tried tolerating Them, laughing at their mean-spirited jokes, looking the other way, and turning the other cheek for years. What that got me was TWO aching cheeks, and a lot of pent-up hatred of my own. It’s contagious, y’see… and poisonous. So I decided to adopt another long-hair’s converted attitude in response: One day in these recent cynical times he (my neighbor) was walking his little dog down the street and some straight guy who’d safely passed him by was giving him some shit along with a typically dim-witted and unimaginative “fucking hippie” remark. Neighbor yelled back, “I’m a hippie with a goddamn red-neck, asshole, come back here and say that to my face!” Well, the chicken-shit must have kept walking because Neighbor was able to continue on in peace.
What price peace? Indeed…
Nowadays we tolerate fools too gladly. And bullies. And tyrants. And assholes-in-general. God, aren’t you tired of these useless human beings yet? Let’s put them out of our misery, why don’t we? Unless “you”’re all too scared of them? You shouldn’t be… because You are better than Them
Anyway, enough of that. As for Alastor, a few things will be upcoming in the next week… I finally saw “Lars and the Real Girl” and will post a review of it; I’m celebrating my discovery of anime one year ago today and will comment on that; a somewhat-related music entry having to do with an album by Deep Forest; and a follow-up to Haibane Renmei along with a Kanon figure I ordered around Christmastime, assuming that it gets here. Posting these will be incumbent upon my busy-ness regarding survivability issue which are coming to a head very soon with regard to generating an income; a small publisher is short a copy-editor and I’ve been awaiting a response to my query for both that position along with the possibility that he might publish Unbound as well. But it’s already been over two weeks; you can see how glacially these things “move”… and bills need paying. Or, I may need to move. So truthfully I don’t know how things are going to hold out. Bear with me please while all this gets sorted out…
And hang in there, You! Er, Us! Make it W(h)eeee….
A few minor updates to note: I finally got around to adding a few sites to the Blogroll, most notably Davecat’s Shouting to hear the echoes, who (which?) added my humble Blog to his esteemed page, and for which (whom?) I’m happy to return the favor. Get thee hence to find out what he’s been up to, and enioy his musings, and his Muse, the ever-delightful Sidore-chan. I also added Neil Gaiman’s Journal for those interested and intrigued by this amazing writer; this amounts to being his Blog, which is always more interesting than an official site.
Along with these I’ve included a few “general purpose” links for topics I’ve discussed (or am likely to). There are several more that I’m awaiting permission before listing; the assorted anime links I favor will be added to The Anime Page on my Unbound site, when I get that page together. I will; it’s a promise! More to come for this Blogroll, most likely…
I’ve also added a dozen or so photographs of Lily to the Coppermine album, located off of The Portal Page at Unbound. As always, these are (relatively) conservative shots, so those of you with minds in the gutter, save yourself a trip LOL Sad to say, this disclaimer is needed due to the assumptions that all life sized dolls are sex objects. Enough of that for now. Lily is a person worthy of respect, not leering. If you want to leer, do so with the others; I’m sure they don’t mind ;-)
As for my (apparently) unique take on Lily-as-the-doll, please feel free to either check out her pages at Unbound, or simply await my next Blog entry about her, which I feel is forthcoming, and soon…
Enjoy your Daylight Savings Time Day. I WANT MY HOUR BACK!!! *still rubbing sleep from my eyes*
No, that isn’t a remnant from WordPress’ generic latin text. It’s from “Lilium”, the Opening theme from Elfen Lied (see pics lower down on this page, but the Youtube vid doesn’t work anymore -for now), and is a line expressing the resistance of temptation, which I successfully accomplished after working the entire weekend through today just to find The Perfect Portal Page. And… I found it! And, ironically enough, it’s a “Lilium” theme that looks gorgeous! (Well, I am a bit biased LOL)
After searching dozens of template sites and testing almost as many themes featuring the girls from Kanon, Air, and Chobits, all of which failed in one way or another (either skewed too far left or right, poor coloring, insanely difficult coding, etc etc etc), found this beautiful one just as I was about to give up. That bed just looked soooo tempting! But stubbornness prevailed; I’ve been up all night wrestling with Pagebreeze Professional, which for some reason has gone all buggy on me and wouldn’t let the links work, erased coding at random, and in general acted like a royal pain in the ass. Finally I just bit the bullet and uploaded the modified template, and all the links worked (thank God)!
I hope you enjoy the poor (former) portal’s replacement; I wanted something that looked classy and attractive and fitting, and “Lilium” is the absolute best out there for my intents and purposes, as explained on its page. It’s now 10:30AM and I’ve been up since yesterday working on this, so now it’s time for sleep. And food. And celebration. Beer will do. But not necessarily in that order
Now where’s my crown of life??? Maybe in my dreams…
The bad news is the PC has died. If there’s any good news I’ll report it, but at this point there is none. I’d be happy about getting a new PC but I really can’t afford one, so… kinda hard to feel good about it. I’ll keep searching for that silver lining as I’m sure there is one, just have to wait for the black clouds to clear.
Over Christmas I decided to fix those sound card problems once and for all. And I fixed them, real good. Poor thing never stood a chance. I think I fried the motherboard somehow. Until I manage to salvage the harddrive, all of my photos and research I’d been planning on using for the blog and site is temporarily (I hope) lost. So, I’m now using my slow-as-hell-laptop for access, and I really hate doing that, as everything is so much slower that I’d just rather not. The laptop is primarily used for writing, so it’s not been configured to be an Internet machine. It takes forever for pages to load, and I simply don’t have the patience.
In the meantime, aside from my first-preferred S.F. agent who I’m about to write to, I’ve decided to forget about pursuing agents in general; too much game-playing and added delays awaiting permission for their consent to apply to them, not to mention that my carefully-crafted agent queries have all been lost due to the crash. I’m now going straight to the publishers, so will be composing letters to the few that do accept non-agented submissions, once I see how my hoped-for agent responds *crosses fingers*…
Hm, maybe that’s the silver lining. Too soon to tell though. In any case, the website redesign must be put on hold, and while I’ll try to keep the blog updated as well I can, probably not too much will be happening here either, until the new PC arrives, if and when. And then I’ll most likely have to begin searching for work; the only problem is that finding a living-wage-earning position around here is quite difficult.
So, I dunno… still working things out, one step at a time.
But I do hope that the New Year will be good for you, and bring you much happiness and joy. I’m trying to stay positive, as it can’t hurt and certainly will help, and I hope you do the same
I wanted to take a moment to pay tribute to a special man and great musician, Andrew Latimer, of the British progressive band Camel. In recent days he has undergone a bone-marrow transplant and is now in isolation, recuperating and dealing with the effects of chemotherapy. Since I missed signing his Guest Book at www.camelproductions.com I thought it would be a fine thing to reminisce and in this way send my fondest best wishes for a speedy recovery. Let this be my Hour Candle, and may its light find its way to his spirit.
In 1974 or thereabouts, my roommate Rich had left his microphone at Camel’s motel “suite” and on his way back asked me if I wanted to accompany him. He had interviewed them for his college radio station while they were on their Mirage Tour (if I recall correctly), and staying at a motel on Van Ness Avenue, in San Francisco. Since I was a huge fan of Camel’s music I jumped at the chance.
Upon our arrival we found Andrew, along with keyboard player Peter Bardens and drummer Andy Ward lounging in their room. Bassist Doug Ferguson was headed out; it seemed he wanted little to do with us, or had pressing matters to tend to (like escaping their cramped quarters). The three remaining members welcomed us warmly and were incredibly nice, polite, and hospitable. Aside from that, the thing that impressed me the most was their teamwork in rolling a HUGE joint the size of my little finger, laid end to end! (So that’s TWO little fingers, which are, in fact, not so little!)
They (I can’t recall who it was, for somewhat obvious reasons) included a crutch for the end, incorporating it into the J. It was quite a feat of engineering, for I hadn’t seen anything rolled up like this, ever. The only other musician to roll me a joint was Buddy Miles, and that one was about as fat as my thumb, and (unfortunately) just as short. Of course, I didn’t complain!
Well, they let us stay for a couple of hours, and we talked and laughed and really had a great time. Outside their door we hung out on the balcony, which overlooked a large but unused swimming pool and chatted a bit before leaving them to prepare for the evening’s concert. It was my most fondly well-remembered meeting with a musical group ever, and I’ve met a few, from Jimi Hendrix to Eric Burdon and probably a dozen more. They treated us as equals and never arrogant, attitudinal, dismissive, or snappish. In other words, they proved to be good examples and most importantly, DECENT HUMAN BEINGS.
After that afternoon they put Rich and I on their guest list (without our asking them), and let us come backstage after the shows, where they entertained us (again), never failing to be the warmest of hosts. For subsequent tours we were always guested; in fact, during one run of 5 shows at the Boarding House (again, if memory serves me well), I accepted the first nights comp, but for the remaining 3 of the four shows I attended I insisted on paying for my tickets, which seemed to puzzle Andrew; I remember his bemused expression well. But I *wanted* to see that my money went toward those exemplary artists, as that is, you know, how they make their living. I feel it is our duty as fans to exchange our currency for the sharing of their vision and Art-works with us.
I could go on about our adventures together: driving them to Rather Ripped Records in Berkeley for a signing, and the after-show night I drove Andy Ward back to their suite at the Miyako Hotel after stopping off at my house to fetch a bottle (or two) of some of my parents’ champagne. This was in 1978, and the fancy Miyako was definitely a step or two up from their motel-staying days, and it was great to see that they were finally able to move up the ladder of success. A fantastic band, as you’ll see in the links I’ll provide at the end.
At the Miyako I met two of my Canterburian heroes from Caravan, Richard and David Sinclair, who had joined the group, and where Mel Collins rolled around in a waitress’ uniform (including *ahem* “padding”), serving beverages to the large group gathered there. Don’t know why he denied this the next tour, but HE DID!
But this is a tribute to Andrew, and a permanent Hour Candle for his swiftest and most-thorough recovery, and not to indulge in my memories, fond as they are.
If there were only one guitarist I had to pick to emulate, it would be Andrew. His passion, clarity, and purity of emotion is unparalleled; his playing so at oneness with his soul that when he is on, it is stunning to see, and to feel. I wore my fingers out playing (or rather, TRYING to play) the instrumentals “Ice” and “Stationary Traveler”, which is linked below for your consideration. These, and so many other of his compositions, communicated directly to me in that Space where there is only Music. And for me, that is a Most Sacred Place.
Andrew, if you are ever able to read this, Thank You, Bless You, and I will pray for your sure and steady recovery. You are already blessed with the finest of companions, Susan, and also please know that you are much-loved by Camel’s legions of fans, and that we are with you in Spirit. Get well soonest, and stay well! We’ll look forward to your next gifts to us with much happiness and anticipation…
And now, a pair of live clips for your enjoyment: The first is “Stationary Traveler” from the album of the same name, filmed at the Hammersmith Odeon. I believe that the exterior film footage was shot in Berlin, which is where that album was recorded. (And for an UNBOUND parallel, this is the song I chose to represent Lily’s Theme on the “soundtrack” I compiled for the novel, as Lily truly is a stationary traveler in the story, as hopefully you will see one day.) Vintage is from the early ‘80’s, I believe.
Second up, and for the old-timers, is a 1975 performance of selections from “The Snow Goose” for The Old Grey Whistle Test. The record was inspired by Paul Gallico’s novel of the same name, and the clip features the original band as they looked when I met them the previous year. It’s a 9-minute clip, and features a woodwind section to assist in retelling the story-album excerpts of these three selections, “The Snow Goose”, “Friendship”, and the rousing “Rhayader Goes to Town”.
Here you will also see Andy Ward, truly a great and vastly underrated drummer, Doug Ferguson on bass, and the late Peter Bardens on the keys, who had previously played with Van Morrison’s Them, most notably on “Gloria”. Needless to say, Camel is one of my all-time favorite, and best-loved bands.
After having had enough fun with trying to figure out my sound problems I gave up, resigned to the fact that most likely the card itself is crap. Creative Labs used to make quality products, but without true competition they just keep making the same card but with ever-newer features, bugs, and crashes. This one, their X-Fi Platinum, worked fine for one year, and now just cuts out at random. With all of the fiddling with it and other things I’ve messed with, my system is also hanging at Windblows’ loading screen, so it really just keeps getting better and better.
Windblows…the gift that keeps on sucking!
And forget about System Restore; an auto-download from Update (for some stupid program) invalidated all the older Restore Points, so we’re stuck with what we got: a MESS!
So, with no sound to watch anime or play games or listen to music, all I can do is tend to Unbound.org, and since it really isn’t complete without Fingal’s Blog, I’m hooking that up as well.
So there.
Also, I added the middle bit of Chapter 1.1′s excerpt for those interested in reading more of Lily’s story. Please see the Excerpt Page at www.unbound.org. The final installment from the first chapter should be up next weekend.
Figuring that everything happens for a purpose, I’ll just block everything else out and get to writing the query letters for Agents. Publishers who accept unsolicited manuscripts are too few and far between to be wasting time seeking out and taking chances on, so I think an agent will be the wisest course of action to pursue. They alone have the keys to those doors. So I’ll do that before taking up the battering ram.
Will return later on when I have something to add, just wanted to put this back together, restore broken links, and make everything as it was.
I’m sure that this will come as a shock to many of you (LOL), but I am one hard-to-get person. Frustratingly, maddeningly difficult to know fully. That’s why I go overboard to explain and share myself. Not because I’m self-impressed or arrogant, but to help you to understand, since so many have such a hard time. And, it’s a pain in the ass to keep rectifying and correcting misconceptions. Then I get tired and cranky.
So: I am different from everyone you know. Figure on that. A non-conformist free-thinker, I come to my own conclusions, disregarding any “official lines” because most often they are unreliable, untrustworthy, or blatant lies. So, I don’t trust them. Doesn’t that make sense? We need to sort out our own data, unfiltered by politics, corporate views, or even peers. Listen to your heart and that still, little voice inside. It’s called a “conscience,” among other things.
Anyway, in this Space I’ll be obliged to keep myself unfettered; there’s far too much fearful restraint going around. PC-think is for sheep who can’t think for themselves and need to be told how to treat others, which they already know but choose not to care about. Authority and authority-figures are not to be believed, but we’re all (re-)learning that these days. I never forgot why we didn’t in the first place.
So I tend to say what I think, but do have a care about decent people’s feelings. If I offend your views, I’m sorry. There’s a definite method to my madness, and I’ll share that with you, by-and-by… but now it’s late, and I’m burnt out LOL
Far too much writing, thinking, learning, and typing going on the past couple of months, and constantly. Since I haven’t opened up the blogsite yet (can I call it that, pretty please?), I don’t have many viewers, so I’m slacking up a bit to let the brain-pan dry out and unfry.
Regarding the mish-mash of subjects (26 categories for crying out loud!), I have a WHOLE lot of interests. Basically, I’m interested in nearly everything; how it works, why it works, what it’s used for, and so on. I’m a writer, what can I say? It’s my job. Currently I’m intrigued by Dolls and Anime, tomorrow probably something else. Writing is always Number One. Everything else is Number Two. As it were.
By the way, I’m sure the Pullips-rant has probably got some of you scratching your heads. I care because I care. I hate to see good people get screwed. That’s all I can say on the matter LOL (You’re welcome!)
Except: I do absolve Jun Planning for most accusations below, as some things were explained to me about why they limited her. If they really cared though, they would make another few thousand dolls to accommodate the many people who wanted Kirakishou but missed out. One thousand dolls won’t go far, especially since the eBayers glommed onto as many as they could, thereby denying righteous Kira-lovers to have her. I guess it’s more of a stance issue, like “No, we are NOT making any more. Screw you.” Or something.
Anyway, this experience has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I didn’t sign up for a goddam competition to get the doll; they were making a Rozen Maiden SET and that is what I expected. Then they pull THIS shit… *sigh*
Oops. Okay, I’m putting this issue (and myself) to bed. Just remember: if you don’t understand me, you’re not alone. Ask and I’ll be more than happy to explain. But don’t give me a hard time about it first unless you’re ready for a fight, and a LOOOONG explanation of why you’re wrong. Unless you’re not, of course. Could happen. Be nice.
Greetings! This is my actual First Post, not like that imposter below me. I have no idea who THAT is. Not to mention how to deal with all of these learning curves. Before I resume with them, I wanted to create this First Test Post, because… well, it’s what the tutorials are telling me to do
Since I haven’t yet linked this Blog to my website yet, I guess no one will see this until I do. Hm, kind of like a forest-for-the-trees thingy. No wait… it’s the if-a-tree-falls-with-no-one-around type of thingy. That’s what it is. On the other hand, it could be the first…
Well, I have to go back to learning about all of this blogging and website stuff (from scratch, pretty much). I hope to have everything hooked up properly soon, and then will get serious about an Authentic First Post. There’s a lot of organizing to do yet, and I have to set a lot of things up as I go along, so please excuse the haphazard attempts between unbound.org and Fingal’s Cave. (Yes, I’ll explain about the title by-and-by ).
"When early youth had passed, he left his cold fireside and alienated home to seek strange truths in undiscovered lands. Many a wide waste and tangled wilderness has lured his fearless steps; and he has bought with his sweet voice and eyes, from savage men, his rest and food." (from 'Alastor, or, The Spirit of Solitude', by Percy Bysshe Shelley,1815)
For info on our novel UNBOUND, please see our website in the Blogroll!
She wishes for anonymity, so I can’t thank her by name, but all credit goes to her for working quickly, responsibly, and professionally. A Very Big Thank-You to her <3
