via_ostiense

I'm experimenting with posting an audiofic WIP. I've been working on pendrecarc's Boston Marriage, a Sherlock fic that is better than the show by a long shot, since last October, and I've finished The Element of Surmise. The Cardinale is recorded but not edited, and I haven't started recording The Long Game yet.

Text: Boston Marriage (Chapter Index)
Author: pendrecarc
Reader: via_ostiense
Fandom: Sherlock BBC
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/expensive violins, Joanna Watson/OC
Rating: Mature
Warning: Armchair psychology; discussion of suicide in the context of a murder investigation; murder investigations, abductions, violence, and a great deal of associated unpleasantness
Length, file size: 2:11, 120 MB
Download: Temporary Link
Summary: In which Jo Watson tries to take this therapy business into her own hands, London produces enough crimes of interest to satisfy even Sherlock Holmes, and the Bechdel test doesn't know what hit it. Game on.

Text: It Takes a Village, and All That
Author: language_escapes
Reader: via_ostiense
Fandom: St. Trinian's
Pairing: gen, background Kelly/Annabelle/Polly
Rating: Teen
Warning: Passing mention of domestic violence.
Length, file size: 1:02, 57 MB
Download: Temporary Link
Summary: Technically, Chloe is a single mother. But her children are a handful, and she's exhausted, and she doesn't know what to do. And there is one person that you call when you don't know what to do.

I love this story very much. I love found families and relationships that you choose to build, and I love how Chloe and Polly work together and love their children despite not being romantically in love with each other.

Also, I got a comment on an old SGA fic, Ancient Cockrings and Jenny Craig (contains fatshaming) that was written for a badfic challenge (as noted in the A/N and in the tag "Deliberate Badfic"):

thie writing is so awful, i could barely read past the thrid paragraph without wincing in pain. this is witless, a grammatical nightmare, plot and slash is horrible.
one point only, for trying.

Hahahaha. I shall take that one point and cherish your missing it!

concinnity asked me, "Which did you like more than you thought you would, and why?" about the books I read in 2011. So, here they are:

Sybil in her Grave*
Sirens Sang of Murder*
Shortest Way to Hades*
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother*
Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization & the Creation of Culture*
Elizabeth in Rugen*

The first three are murder mysteries featuring tax lawyers. I didn't expect to like them much because, well, mysteries featuring taxes: yawn. However, they have a comic tone and many epistolary sequences (my favorite), both of which are things I enjoy.

Battle Hymn is a parenting memoir that generated a lot of controversy. I read it because I was curious about it and while there are many problematic aspects to it (see sanguinity's excellent review), it was very funny. Longer comment at 50books-poc.

Red Families v. Blue Families: I was expecting it to be dry as toast and not half as tasty, but the data presented was largely new to me and it argued for an interesting explanation of family stability vs. age at marriage vs. societal pressure to marry. rivkat has a review.

Elizabeth in Rugen: I downloaded it from Girl ebooks on a whim and expected it to be full of archaicisms and boring (it's a travel narrative of a place I'd never heard of and never expected to visit). However, the narrator's voice is engaging and amusing and she encounters a handsome, philosophical youth who thinks her much cleverer than she is; a boring cousin who thinks they are the best of friends and attaches herself to the journey; and miscellaneous guides, overbearing prelates' wives, cheerful husbands of odious cousins; and endeavors to shed them all and make her way around the island of Rugen.

by Windows update. Anyone else having this problem?

via samjohnsson: Comment to this post and I'll tell you one thing I like about you, and/or one reason why I'm glad we're friends.

First use of the 2012 tag!

Via boundbooks, help_mindanao on LJ is a charity auction raising funds for the people of Mindanao, Philippines, who were hit by a typhoon and floods Dec. 16-18. Over 1,200 people have been reported dead (BBC article).

So, for kaleidoscope, softestbullet made me Coffee Prince icons, and then an anon recently bought me a month of paid time, and another anon bought me more paid time, and I realized I had space for lots and lots of Coffee Prince icons! Now I have icons for everything from an "I love dogs" post (14) to an "I'm uncomfortable with my gender presentation" post (12) to an "I have a secret" post (4) to an "Oops, I told the secret" post (5) to a "music rocks" post (7) to a "dental hygiene rocks" post (3). Thank you very much, anons!

(courtesy of icontable

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Yesterday, I hemmed my first pair of pants! I followed this tutorial on keeping the original hem on jeans to hem a pair of C's jeans that were too long, and it went perfectly. They were straight leg and I took 2 1/8" off so now they fall in a smooth line down the back of his legs and break neatly on his shoes instead of puddling and rucking up around the calves. This fit of craftiness was precipitated by an afternoon of shopping in which neither of us found anything that fit, and I decided that well, if we couldn't find anything new, then at least I could make existing clothes fit better. I can't believe I once sent my jeans to the seamstress for hemming; now, I'll do it myself!

( 2 pictures )

links: NYT: "Why Is the N.Y.P.D. After Me?" (emphasis mine)

Here are a few other facts: last year, the N.Y.P.D. recorded more than 600,000 stops; 84 percent of those stopped were blacks or Latinos. Police are far more likely to use force when stopping blacks or Latinos than whites. In half the stops police cite the vague “furtive movements” as the reason for the stop. Maybe black and brown people just look more furtive, whatever that means. These stops are part of a larger, more widespread problem — a racially discriminatory system of stop-and-frisk in the N.Y.P.D. The police use the excuse that they’re fighting crime to continue the practice, but no one has ever actually proved that it reduces crime or makes the city safer. Those of us who live in the neighborhoods where stop-and-frisks are a basic fact of daily life don’t feel safer as a result.

OTW Board meeting minutes are now publicly posted

HP fic rec: Cunning Linguists by magnetic_pole, Astoria Malfoy/Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Draco Malfoy. Rated R, contains infidelity.

After my trip to visit family in 대한민국, wherein I had the pleasure of hearing my female relatives comment repeatedly on the weight and appearance of other female relatives, I particularly appreciate Captain Awkward's advice column on talking about diets.

I also like Commander Logic's guest post on how to meet people (scroll down past the letter to see CL's advice) and Captain Awkward's advice on finding community (scroll down to "Second question: How do you find community?")

ETA: Via copperbadge, stop by Just Dentention's site to send a holiday message to a survivor of prison rape. It's easy, it's quick, and it may help your recipient feel that they are not alone or ignored. Prison rape is a huge problem in the U.S. and by and large it is condoned, which is reprehensible.

concinnity has a heart-warming post on volunteering for the OTW.

Dear anon,

Thank you for the month of paid time! I can now edit my comments when I accidentally hit post, make spelling errors, or think of something extra smart to add later. Thank you very much, this is the first time someone's gifted me paid time. Who are you?

Best,
v_o

For my reference.

I received a holiday card from SFWAR with information about funding and services:

$60 - cost of one eight-hour shift on the 24-hour crisis line
$180 - cost of a 24-hour shift on the 24-hour crisis line

$100 - cost for one participant in a support group
$1,000 - cost to sponsor a 10-week support group

$120 - cost of a one-hour presentation for high school youth
$480 - cost of a four-hour rape prevention presentation

$200 - cost to sponsor a Rape Crisis Counselor to attend our 80-hour training
$2,000 - cost to sponsor 10 Certified rape Crisis Counselors (SFWAR trains 60-75 certified counselors per year)

No longer jetlagged, but still sick. It is affecting my mental functioning, unfortunately. Finally caught up on reading all the OTW-related emails and wrote a long list of the emails I have to send and the tasks I have to do, but have yet to start on any of them... have to write my end of year report, too.