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Jul. 7th, 2006 09:48 pmI've just rewatched Army of Ghosts. I'm going to a hen party tomorrow night, so I probably shan't see Doomsday until Monday, woe! I want to know what happens! If my family forget to tape it, I shall be exceedingly annoyed.
My brother and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elerrina_amanya have gone to see Dead Man's Chest tonight, thus joining the dozens of people on my flist who've already watched it (Tis so hard not to give in to temptation and spoil myself). I'm seeing everything last!
My brother and
elerrina_amanya have gone to see Dead Man's Chest tonight, thus joining the dozens of people on my flist who've already watched it (Tis so hard not to give in to temptation and spoil myself). I'm seeing everything last!
Is it the next series yet??
Jul. 6th, 2006 07:38 pmI've just realised what a long time it is until series 3: 40 weeks and 2 days. You could have a baby in that amount of time!
( That big Series 3 spoiler )
Oh, and the Word of the Day is hubris. I am sure that this is significant.
( That big Series 3 spoiler )
Oh, and the Word of the Day is hubris. I am sure that this is significant.
I rewatched Fear Her this evening, to see if it's still as good as I thought now that the horror of Love and Monsters has faded from my brain somewhat. It is, thought the slight cheesiness is more obvious on the second viewing.
Anyway, I've made a poll about the spoiler for the finale that almost everyone knows:
( Spoiler )
Anyway, I've made a poll about the spoiler for the finale that almost everyone knows:
( Spoiler )
What do you all think of 
this icon? Too fast?
this icon? Too fast?
( Spoilers for NEXT WEEK. Yes, that is the BIG BANGY FINALE I'm talking about. )
We're so close to the end! I'll be having Ten withdrawal symptoms in a fortnight.
We're so close to the end! I'll be having Ten withdrawal symptoms in a fortnight.
New Site Scheme
Jun. 23rd, 2006 10:25 pmLiveJournal are at it again. Go to Browsing Options and click the radio button for 'Beta Navigation'.
So many links! Oh, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
lj_design has learned from the last debacle and disabled comments; there's a form to fill out for feedback instead.
Now it's not spork-out-your-own-eyes like the original verson of the profile page, but it's too bold and busy. Fortunately users can choose their own site scheme, so the mass outrage should be absent this time. It's good that they're trying to make the main page more user-friendly, but why can't we get simple things like a link to Tags on our profiles, or a 'default to text' option in the directory search?
So many links! Oh, and
lj_design has learned from the last debacle and disabled comments; there's a form to fill out for feedback instead.Now it's not spork-out-your-own-eyes like the original verson of the profile page, but it's too bold and busy. Fortunately users can choose their own site scheme, so the mass outrage should be absent this time. It's good that they're trying to make the main page more user-friendly, but why can't we get simple things like a link to Tags on our profiles, or a 'default to text' option in the directory search?
A thought on the state of the fanfic
Jun. 22nd, 2006 09:40 pmIn the course of ScribeGate, I discovered that Cassandra Claire has sold an original fictional series. My first reaction was , 'Hey, she has a built-in fandom, with built in wank!'. My second reaction was, 'Hey, wait, she has a built-in fandom.'
Not to knock CC in particular, but it started me thinking. CC's said that she's not going to use 'Claire' on the front of her books (probably because http://www.cassandraclaire.com takes you to fandom_wank greatest hits—the Dean plagiarism saga), but she's posted the titles and the publisher on her LJs. Of course many of her fans will buy the books on the strength of her name alone. She will profit, indirectly, from her HP fanfiction. There's a flip side to this; she won't get away from anything she did in the fandom, as you can't cherry-pick the fans and leave the wank.
People have moved from fanfic to published work before, but HP is very high-profile and so is CC. It's almost bound to have an effect either on fanfic in general or on people making the transition. If I had an original coming out, I'd want to tell my friends in fandom too, but being a SNF, it's not such an issue.
Not to knock CC in particular, but it started me thinking. CC's said that she's not going to use 'Claire' on the front of her books (probably because http://www.cassandraclaire.com takes you to fandom_wank greatest hits—the Dean plagiarism saga), but she's posted the titles and the publisher on her LJs. Of course many of her fans will buy the books on the strength of her name alone. She will profit, indirectly, from her HP fanfiction. There's a flip side to this; she won't get away from anything she did in the fandom, as you can't cherry-pick the fans and leave the wank.
People have moved from fanfic to published work before, but HP is very high-profile and so is CC. It's almost bound to have an effect either on fanfic in general or on people making the transition. If I had an original coming out, I'd want to tell my friends in fandom too, but being a SNF, it's not such an issue.
Just dashing in to say:
LiveJournal did listen to the feedback.
The beta for the info page now looks like this. It's not perfect, but it's a vast improvement on the previous version. Personally I likegrrliz's mock-up, but they seem to be incorporating some features of it.
LiveJournal did listen to the feedback.
The beta for the info page now looks like this. It's not perfect, but it's a vast improvement on the previous version. Personally I like
grrliz's mock-up, but they seem to be incorporating some features of it.
What a to-do
Jun. 19th, 2006 01:03 pmThanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday at the weekend; I am now better off by £80 and a small glass owl (I seem to be starting a collection).
Like half the rest of LJ, I have been enthralled over the last few days by the posts ofcharlottelennox. Most of the fun seems to be happening at bad_penny on JournalFen. It's like a traincrash. It makes Crystalwank look as simple as a toddler's tantrum.
It's pretty unbelievable thatmsscribe (dejaspirit) would go to such lengths for something as paltry as internet popularity, but if she's innocent, the coincidences frankly beggar belief. Then there's the theory that charlottelennox is msscribe, which is just silly.
The way to get well-known in fandom is to be likefernwithy, seviet or leelastarsky, producing quality fanworks and not making so much kafuffle it BRAKES TEH INTARWEBS.
Meh.
Like half the rest of LJ, I have been enthralled over the last few days by the posts of
charlottelennox. Most of the fun seems to be happening at bad_penny on JournalFen. It's like a traincrash. It makes Crystalwank look as simple as a toddler's tantrum.It's pretty unbelievable that
msscribe (dejaspirit) would go to such lengths for something as paltry as internet popularity, but if she's innocent, the coincidences frankly beggar belief. Then there's the theory that charlottelennox is msscribe, which is just silly.The way to get well-known in fandom is to be like
fernwithy, seviet or leelastarsky, producing quality fanworks and not making so much kafuffle it BRAKES TEH INTARWEBS.Meh.
More on the proposed new info page
Jun. 17th, 2006 09:16 pmIn my last entry, I moaned about this. Here's some actual constructive suggestions.
Dear LiveJournal,
Here's how to improve this mess:
1. Move interests up to the top of one of the columns, preferably to the left.
2. Create a new field, called something like 'In Brief'. It could have a word limit of a few hundred, and HTML could be limited to links and formatting. Put it between the columns and the top box; it can then contain warnings, community rules, friends-only announcements, etc.
Then colourbars, quiz results and other long stuff can go in the main bio.
3. Put email addresses and othere contact info higher up, probably in the top box. Replace the current school, which is irrelevant for a lot of people.
4. Bring back the bolding of mutual friends and watched communities on your own info page.
And for a cookie:
5. Add a link to the tags page already! Why should the annoying, useless nudge and gift features be linked, and not the tags?
I think if these changes were made, the number of complaints would drop by about 90%.
Dear LiveJournal,
Here's how to improve this mess:
1. Move interests up to the top of one of the columns, preferably to the left.
2. Create a new field, called something like 'In Brief'. It could have a word limit of a few hundred, and HTML could be limited to links and formatting. Put it between the columns and the top box; it can then contain warnings, community rules, friends-only announcements, etc.
Then colourbars, quiz results and other long stuff can go in the main bio.
3. Put email addresses and othere contact info higher up, probably in the top box. Replace the current school, which is irrelevant for a lot of people.
4. Bring back the bolding of mutual friends and watched communities on your own info page.
And for a cookie:
5. Add a link to the tags page already! Why should the annoying, useless nudge and gift features be linked, and not the tags?
I think if these changes were made, the number of complaints would drop by about 90%.
Oi! LiveJournal! No!
Jun. 17th, 2006 12:31 pmLJ are trying out the beta (at least, I hope it's the beta) of the new profile pages. Here's mine.
Now, I can live with the ugly. What I'm cross about is the lack of functionality. I like the box at the top, apart from the huge pixellated user graphic. However, the two columns are yukky and unfunctional. Perhaps if we all yell enough over atlj_design, they'll not implement it, or at least improve it, but I'm not optimistic.
Come on, LJ. Bebo has better profile pages, for crying out loud. Even if an opt-out is put in place, it looks as though this will be the default, so we'll have to cope with all that scrolling whenever we visit other people's info pages.
The only good thing about it was that I discovered I had some bad HTML in my bio, making the page break at the contact info. How many of those bios full of colourbars have bad HTML that will break the vulnerable two-column style, and how many of those users are going to bother to fix it?
And while I'm bitching about LJ, please please please can we have an option to turn off the loathly icon-full results page as default in the directory search? Especially when you're trying to view someone's >150 friends. What's wrong with a plain list of usernames? More results fit on the page, it takes a quarter of the time to load, and you can't be offended by anyone's default userpic.
Now, I can live with the ugly. What I'm cross about is the lack of functionality. I like the box at the top, apart from the huge pixellated user graphic. However, the two columns are yukky and unfunctional. Perhaps if we all yell enough over at
lj_design, they'll not implement it, or at least improve it, but I'm not optimistic.- the important stuff—bio, interests, contact info—is all shoved away over to the right, with the flist occupying the more prominent left of the page.
- interests are right down in the bottom right corner! The first thing I, and a lot of other users, look for on an info page is what interests we have in common, so why is this now relegated to the least important position?
- mutual friends are no longer bolded in the friend-of list, while if you try to solve this by showing mutual friends
- 'mutual friends' and 'also friend of' lists are separated by the friends list
- in fact, it's now hard to distinguish between 'friended' and 'friend of' at first glance
- when viewing other user's pages, common friends are not bolded
- users with more than 150 friends have their lists cut off, meaning that they have to use that stupid directory search with the default icons to see their entire flists
- why is a user's most recent school/university considered to be more important than an email address?
- too much info-light space at the top, neccessitating scrolling
- still no link to the tags list! There is a link to update journal instead, which is redundant as there's also one in the blue drop-down menu at the top of all LiveJournal pages
- bad HTML (eg tables without a closing tag) can break the page.
Come on, LJ. Bebo has better profile pages, for crying out loud. Even if an opt-out is put in place, it looks as though this will be the default, so we'll have to cope with all that scrolling whenever we visit other people's info pages.
The only good thing about it was that I discovered I had some bad HTML in my bio, making the page break at the contact info. How many of those bios full of colourbars have bad HTML that will break the vulnerable two-column style, and how many of those users are going to bother to fix it?
And while I'm bitching about LJ, please please please can we have an option to turn off the loathly icon-full results page as default in the directory search? Especially when you're trying to view someone's >150 friends. What's wrong with a plain list of usernames? More results fit on the page, it takes a quarter of the time to load, and you can't be offended by anyone's default userpic.
(no subject)
Jun. 16th, 2006 01:32 pmNormally I would view a book with pink edges to its pages, that had been recommended by Richard and Judy, as one to avoid, but not The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice. I'm not sure why I picked it up in the first place, but I read a few pages and was hooked. And it was only £3 and something, so I somehow was compelled to carry ti to the counter...
I've just finished it. It's sweet and funny and a little sad. It's rather in the mold of I Capture the Castle—about love and growing up, and very English—although set 20 years later. I wonder if the author has read it....
I've just finished it. It's sweet and funny and a little sad. It's rather in the mold of I Capture the Castle—about love and growing up, and very English—although set 20 years later. I wonder if the author has read it....