Lunaludus Scribex

I'd make a GREAT dictator! No, really!

2009-12-24T09:54:24Z

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

This year I've been busy!

Last Monday I helped kenko across the street (6 points). Last Thursday I bought porn for tontetsu (-10 points). Last Sunday I set jediphong's puppy on fire (-66 points). In April I ate my brussel sprouts (1 points). Last Friday I ruled Canada as a kind and benevolent dictator (700 points).

Overall, I've been nice (631 points). For Christmas I deserve a toy train!

Sincerely,
lunaludus

Looking over it, the most unlikely thing in this letter was me eating my brussel sprouts. :)

Is it too late to move to Hawaii?

2009-12-24T06:52:58Z

Outside my window, the snow is falling.

It's been falling most of the day.

It's going to keep falling, with almost no breaks, straight through to Christmas.

And just for fun--the temperature is going to go up and down like a yo-yo, so we're going to go from snow, to rain, to snow, to freezing rain, to snow, etc. etc. etc., before the whole mess finally freezes over the weekend.

...

冬が大嫌いじゃ！！！！！

Today's story: The Stalker in the Shadows (Phantasy Star IV)

"I Hate People"

2009-12-22T11:14:40Z

This is, for my money, the single most fucked-up song from the single most fucked-up adaptation of A Christmas Carol ever produced:

Fun with memes

2009-12-19T15:17:28Z

Ganked this one off of samuraiter and heavenly_pearl. It looks like fun.

Name one or more fandoms, and I will tell you:

The first character with whom I fell in love
The character I never expected to love as much as I do now
The character I would shag any time
The character I would slap
My three favorite characters
My three favorite pairings
Which character ~~you~~ I am most like
The coolest thing about the canon
The lamest thing about the canon
My guiltiest pleasure in this fandom
What story I wish I could read
What story I wish I had written/still want to write

And now, for a serious political post

2009-12-16T23:40:51Z

(As per the standing policy for this LJ, comments on this post have been disabled.)

I've talked briefly here about my stance on global warming in the past. Just to reiterate--I take no position on the question of whether and to what degree human activity is responsible for the phenomenon. I simply don't have the expertise necessary to grasp which side of the debate has the advantage (although, thanks to the recent Climategate scandal, with its revelations of serious scientific misbehavior by key figures on the "environmentalist" side, I can safely say that the debate is far from settled. All that opposition research which was previously dismissed as the product of oil industry shills and/or the Bush administration--and thus, by implication, flawed by the sort of shenanigans the e-mails explicitly documented on the other side--is now back on the table).

My dog in this fight has been, and remains, the efficacy--or more precisely, the lack thereof--of the proposed solutions to the problem. To elaborate: Carbon reduction plans won't come even remotely close to their stated required goals, and even if they did (which would almost have to involve policies imposed on countries from "above," and thus likely trigger a third World War) they wouldn't get the job done.

To this, let me add one more point of contention. At the Copenhagen talks, China has been arguing for a worldwide adoption of its one-child policy--one which, purely apart from the disastrous human rights violations and the accelerated graying of the tax base, has resulted in a population so lopsidedly male that they will almost certainly have to turn conquistador in the near future, just to prevent their society from being torn apart from the inside--and more than a few people are listening.

It's far from the first time we've seen the overpopulation argument, albeit the first time in the context of the global warming debate. And that should say something:

The language used to justify population scaremongering has changed dramatically over the centuries. In the time of Malthus in the eighteenth century the main concern was with the fecundity of poor people. In the early twentieth century there was a racial and eugenic streak to population-reduction arguments. Today they have adopted environmentalist language to justify their demands for population reduction.

The fact that the presentational arguments can change so fundamentally over time, while the core belief in ‘too many people’ remains the same, really shows that this is a prejudicial outlook in search of a social or scientific justification; it is prejudice looking around for the latest trendy ideas to clothe itself in. And that is why the population scaremongers have been wrong over and over again: because behind the new language they adopt every few decades, they are really driven by narrow-mindedness, by disdain for mankind’s breakthroughs, by wilful ignorance of humanity’s ability to shape its surroundings and its future.

I am in full agreement with this, as I am with the commentary as a whole: Too many people? No, too many Malthusians

The only way out is forward. The real inconvenient truth is that if you want to stop global warming, you're going to have to create new technology to get it done. For carbon reduction (or, for that matter, population control) to work--assuming it would work--you'd essentially have to conquer the world...because the only way people will revert to a Third (or Second) World standard of living--and stay there--is at gunpoint.

And I'm probably one of the people you'd have to shoot in the process.

snrk

2009-12-03T10:08:42Z

Somehow, I managed to go through three complete playthroughs of Fate/stay night without hitting this particular scene. (I'm still not quite sure how, since I was going out of my way to be a jackass to get Tiger Dojo 13...)

Lesson learned: NEVER GET BETWEEN SABER AND HER FOOD. ;D

Today's story: Neon Genesis Evangelion: Father Knows Best

Well...that was the plan, anyway.

2009-12-02T11:44:46Z

Um...yeah.

Those Leap of Faith revisions?

I couldn't get the next chapter of The World Without out of my head long enough to concentrate on them. :P

So, priorities switching again. TWW, Ch. V--8 scenes--goes primary, with LoF as I manage it.

I'm trying to deliberately drop some balls, so that I can focus more on my writing, but it's a very slow process, so bear with me.

...of course, it's not like anyone who follows my writing is unaccustomed to exercising a great deal of patience. :P

In the meantime, just for the heck of it:

(And yes, I know how that looks. :P)

Today's story: Magical Girl Nanoha 12? (Lyrical Nanoha/Ranma)

Negima 272

2009-11-29T04:47:56Z

Raws were out really early this week.

Lots of important stuff discussed, but I'm having a hard time focusing on it--after all, this is the chapter where we learn about Kitty's size fixation. >:D

Also, just for the heck of it:

Today's story: The Middle Ground (Naruto)

And it's up!

2009-11-24T10:00:29Z

The World Without, Chapter IV, has been uploaded to the Codex and to Fanfiction.net, and is now available in both locations.

And somewhat to my amazement, my fingers haven't fallen off. :P

Seriously, this was a long one. Even the transition scenes, which I thought would be nothing, took on a life of their own--the chapter really ballooned on me.

Next in the pipeline are the revised chapters of Leap of Faith...and who knows? There just might be a new chapter to go along with them. ;)

But that's for tomorrow. Right now, my main interest is in falling over.

The drumroll shall officially commence. :)

2009-11-19T06:35:14Z

The World Without, Chapter IV, is now in beta distribution.

Gah.

2009-11-18T13:01:43Z

As a writer, I don't put much stock in word-count--in terms of story progress, I consider scenes a much better measuring stick. Still, I do look at my word count from time to time, just for the heck of it.

There are two scenes left in the next chapter of The World Without. And it's already over 10,000 words. (For comparison, Chapter VII of Leap of Faith barely broke 9,000.)

I don't write chapters this big. And that makes me worry that I missed a good spot for a chapter break. (Or that I'm trying to cram too much into this one.)

Well. I'll know which it is when my betas get through with it, and they should have the opportunity before too much longer.

Today's story: Legacy (Final Fantasy VII/Final Fantasy VIII)

Just for fun

2009-11-12T06:38:05Z

My all-time favorite ad campaign:

The TV spots were amusing...but nothing compared to what they got up to on the radio. That's where you'll find salutes to such luminaries as Mr. T-Shirt Launcher Inventor, Mr. 80-SPF Sunblock Wearer, Mr. Cell Phone Holster Wearer, Mr. Golf Tournament Quiet Sign Holder Upper, Mr. Paranoid of the Ocean Guy, Mr. Horse Drawn Carriage Driver, and my personal favorite, Mr. Pro Sports Heckler Guy.

(Fic update--The World Without, Chapter IV, might be ready by this weekend...which works out well, seeing as that's about the earliest one of my betas can get to it.)

Today's story: Deja Vu All Over Again (Ranma 1/2)

...

2009-11-08T10:18:04Z

This amuses me, for some reason.

Today's story: Exchange Student (Ah! My Goddess/Negima)

TWW update

2009-11-05T07:00:54Z

Eight scenes done. I split one scene and bumped up another from the next chapter to this one for pacing, though, so there are still four scenes to go, with 12 for the chapter as a whole.

I was unusually productive today. I'll have to see if I can keep this up--if I can, it's not out of the realm of possibilities for this chapter to be in beta distribution next week.

Animes of the moment

2009-11-03T09:54:02Z

I suppose I've finally recovered from my burnout of a couple years ago...at least, to a degree. I'm not back up to following a lot of series, but I am at least following a few. Two, at the moment:

Beast Player Erin - Crunchyroll is streaming this one. It's an interesting fantasy series; I wouldn't classify it as "high" fantasy, necessarily, but the scope of it doesn't seem to admit much else, especially with the latest episodes. The heroine is a fantasy beast veterinarian, which I can't recall ever having seen before, and the attention to detail is impressive. It's somewhat slow to develop, and the pacing is erratic--forty episodes in, we've already had two three-year time skips--but it is, I think, very much worth a watch.
Kiddy Girl-and - The series formerly known as Kiddy Grade 2. (Yes, it aired for real this time! :D ) It's early on, but the series is already showing signs of following in its predecessor's footsteps. That is to say: foreboding hints of something dark and impressive, almost completely buried in the early going by stupid, silly, and just plain bad throwaway episodes. :P

It hasn't stooped to KG's low of formulaic undercover cosplay--but the main reason for that seems to be that the protagonists are not low-level agents, as in KG, but low-level trainees. Thus, KG-and has to find new and exciting ways to lower the bar...and with a cross-dressing supervisor, a bubblehead who could make Lynn Minmay look practical, well-oiled pervert sumo wrestlers (don't ask), and a high-stakes security raid for a midnight snack, among other things, they're really, really doing it. (And that's just in the first two episodes. :P)

If this was any other series, I'd have bailed already. But this is the sequel to Kiddy Grade--and that's a pedigree that says that if you survive the pain, you will be abundantly rewarded later on. So I'll keep on plugging, and wait to see what lies beneath.

Today's story: Whirlpool Country (Naruto)

whew

2009-10-31T04:32:53Z

And I've now managed to log back into my FFN account.

It appears that what happened is somehow, my browser decided to substitute an older account password for my most recent one. I'd forgotten what, precisely, the newer one was, but I managed to find it again and log back in.

It's now been safely recorded, so hopefully this will never happen again.

Now, with the urgent part out of the way, perhaps tech support and I will somehow manage to figure out why I couldn't get my password via the normal retrieval procedure--why, in fact, I haven't gotten an alert from FFN of any kind since April 2007. :P

But with the big part settled, now I can return my full focus to my fics.

IDIOTS.

2009-10-30T21:01:09Z

When I first wrote FFN's tech support about Password Retrieval not doing anything for me, I got a cut-and-paste response about adding "bot@fanfiction.com" to my list of approved Yahoo contacts, so that any alerts wouldn't go into my Spam folder.

That wasn't the problem to begin with--I regularly check my Spam folder, as well as my Inbox--but I did it anyway, and as expected, it didn't fix the problem.

So I wrote back and said so, and in response, they asked for a bunch of information. I provided everything they'd asked for, except for my (failed) FFN password (which they shouldn't need to ask for, and which has nothing to do with FFN's Password Retrieval at any rate).

That was Tuesday. Since then, I haven't heard anything.

So today, I wrote asking what was going on. I included in my e-mail the complete record of all my correspondence with FFN Support to date.

And FFN Support quickly wrote back...with a cut-and-paste response about adding "bot@fanfiction.com" to my list of approved Yahoo contacts, so that any alerts wouldn't go into my Spam folder.

AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!

That's one down.

2009-10-29T05:58:19Z

My site is back up, and I'm able to log into 110mb again. I didn't hear anything from their support team, so I'm guessing it was an easy fix or that my account got caught in the middle of some other maintenance.

That just leaves FFN. The problems with them and with my site have distracted me somewhat, but I still did some writing, and I'm now up to 6/10 scenes for the next TWW chapter. (I wonder if they'll have my account back to me before I'm ready to post next?)

Anyway. In the meantime, just for fun, here's a blast from the past:

...this is a joke, right?

2009-10-28T23:44:07Z

First it was my FFN account.

Now, it's my new 110mb account, where I moved the Codex this past weekend.

The index file is gone. Because of that, attempting to access anything on the site turns up a 403 error (so I can't confirm whether the other files are gone as well).

In addition, my password no longer works. 110mb, like FFN, has an option for retrieving (or, in this case, resetting) my account's password. Unlike FFN, I actually received the new password from 110mb.

For all the good it did. The new, reset password doesn't work, either. :P

I've filed a support ticket with 110mb, and I've had a few communications with someone from Fanfiction.net Support, where I filed a support request last Friday. It'll be interesting to see which situation is resolved first.

...assuming either of them ever actually gets resolved. :P

El Cazador de la Bruja

2009-10-28T10:06:35Z

I never did get around to finishing my fansubs of this.

Maybe I should give it another shot, now that Funimation is running legal streams of the entire series.

Today's story: Quantum Destinies (Ranma 1/2) (I found a copy! :D)

Codex Update

2009-10-26T02:04:28Z

Well, I have a host, and a site picked out.

Nothing's there yet, but the new home of the Codex Scribanus will be: http://lunaludus.110mb.com.

Now, I'm working on getting the HTML for my site's pages--and the HTML versions of my fics, as well--up to date.

And, as someone who likes to type his stories in HTML first (I'm strange that way) let me just say, for the record:

CLOSE-PARAGRAPH TAGS ARE AN UNMITIGATED PAIN IN THE ASS.

Seriously--who came up with this bullshit? You don't need to close a line break, so why the hell do you need to close a paragraph?!

...anyway. I'll update this entry when everything's online, which will hopefully be later tonight.

(UPDATE: The site is live! Everything's up and working fine. I haven't finished updating the HTML on my stories, but in the meantime, I put the existing ones up. They should do, for the time being.)

Today's story: Alexander Harris and the Shadow Council (Buffy/Addams Family/Harry Potter)

FFN update

2009-10-24T04:08:28Z

Still can't get in. Still no sign of the password in my mailbox.

I've sent an e-mail to FFN's support address describing my situation, but it's Friday night, so I probably won't get a response until after the weekend. Nothing to do on that front but wait.

In the meantime, I have a site to move.

Oh, for crying out--

2009-10-23T05:45:34Z

Something's gone wrong with my Fanfiction.net account.

I can't log in. Every time I try, I get a message saying the e-mail/password combo is invalid. I've tried multiple times to utilize the site's password recovery function; each time, I've gotten a message saying the account password was sent to my e-mail address.

Unfortunately, this is FFN. Despite having multiple options selected, I haven't received a single e-mail alert from them in years...and that e-mail problem appears to extend to the password recovery, as well. :P

I have two stories that I am finally making good progress on. I have a new job that I'm just starting to get the hang of. Geocities closes in three days. I still have to move my site.

I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS CRAP.

I swear, if the password is wrong because some jackass hacked my account...

I'll give it a day. Then I'll give Xing holy hell.

#$%$#&@#$@$%&WQ#$!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-21T05:59:32Z

You know--since Geocities is kind of shutting down and all--it would have been nice if they'd given their soon-to-be-orphaned users, who are moving to other webhosts, some way to download their files WITHOUT ALL THE FUCKING GEOCITIES ADS STILL EMBEDDED IN THE FILE CODE.

That's what I get for being lazy and doing my site edits right in the GC file manager. :P I guess that in a way, I'm lucky I haven't written more--stripping the ads out of the files I do have is already enough of a pain.

At any rate, barring a catastrophic computer failure, the move will take place tomorr...er, later today.

Today's story: Reis Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Progress report

2009-10-15T03:15:47Z

Here's where I'm at on everything:

Chapter IV of The World Without is at 4/8 scenes...or possibly 4/9. There was one scene I'd pulled out, but I'm thinking I might need to put it back in for pacing. Either way, this chapter should be ready for my betas in another couple of weeks.
Chapter IX of Leap of Faith is at roughly 3/5 scenes, and I really, really need to learn to work out my characters' back-stories before I need them in the story. :P No ETA on this one, but revisions on existing chapters will hopefully be ready to go in a month or two.
Finally, my site. There are a couple of weeks left before Geocities shuts down, and I still have yet to decide on a new home. I'm leaning very heavily towards 110MB, but there are a couple of things that worry me...most notably, the inactivity limits. 110MB's is 150 days; that's better than many of the hosts I've looked at (most of which would delete after 30) but still a problem, given my writing pace. So I'm still looking at other hosts.

Whichever way I go, I'll probably move the Codex this weekend.

In other news from the Geocities exodus: Shack, one of my betas, has moved his fanfic link index. That was a pleasant surprise--it's been ages since there was an update, so I'd figured he'd just let the site die. (He did trash most of it in the move, so it looks like he's planning on rebuilding from scratch...again.)

Anyway, the new address for Shack's Fanfic Clearinghouse is http://shackfic.webs.com.

And with that, I'm out.

Today's story: The Right to Live (Naruto)