Somewhere Different Now

Y'all, there are pictures of Martin Freeman in his Bilbo Baggins costume!!!  With giant hobbit feet.  This is so adorable yet so awesome.  How will I cope until December 2012?

Now, if only they'd issue some pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch in his dragon costume*!  Kinda like this:
( deliberately bad artist's rendition that came out even worse than intended )


*Note:  Of course I know this is not how it works.

Wandering around the web, I came across this macro, which made me laugh for far longer than any rational person should at such a pun.



(via http://fuckyeahdavdtent.tumblr.com/)

I think it's her expression as she looks at the sweet tea.  Genius! 

Also, as a girl from the South, I'd like to give a shout out to sweet tea in general.  Iced tea is actually not my favorite beverage (I like my tea hot, and if it's hot outside then I'd rather drink lemonade or coke), but if you're going to drink iced tea, sweet is the way to go.

Meanwhile, this music video, linked to by Neil Gaiman, is hilarious.  It is also VERY NSFW, so it's going under a cut.
( brown paper bag of literary hilarity )

That song is a major ear worm.    

A local movie theater does monthly showings of old favorite movies, and tonight was The Princess Bride.  I own that movie, but nevertheless I shelled out the money for the privilege of seeing it on a big screen with a bunch of other enthusiastic people.  There wasn't as much quoting along with lines as I might have expected (probably for the best), but there were big laughs all the time and also massive applause when Inigo finally finished off Count Rugen, the six-fingered man.  I adore that movie so much!  Westley's snark is a thing of beauty.

Meanwhile, on the subject of humor that has some relation to books, I recently learned of the blog Good Show Sir, which makes fun of really bad sf/fantasy book covers.  Some of the book covers are in hilariously poor taste, and the captions are often very funny (though occasionally poorly punctuated, alas). 

Also, while I suspect that almost everybody has seen it by now, if you haven't yet watched di_br's vid "Tenth Doctor:  the Musical," YOU MUST REMEDY THAT IMMEDIATELY.  It's embedded below for your convenience, or visit the vidder's LJ post here to comment in LJ or for download links.  It really does sum up Ten's era in a hilarious manner.



You're welcome.

First, I just discovered something called Auto-Tune the News on YouTube. It's a series of music videos where people in the news (Katie Couric, Joe Biden, etc.) are made to sound like they are singing, with beats and edited-in background singers. They're hilarious. My favorite is number 6, about Michael Jackson, Sarah Palin, a climate change bill, and drugs, among other topics. The other vids (there are nine) are excellent as well. Here ya go:





And now, for the bored or those who want to share some recs, a meme from isiscaughey :

1. Name:
2. Birthday:
3. Where do you live:
4: What are you studying/What are you working as:
5. What makes you happy:
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last:
7. What is particularly good/bad about my LJ:
8. An interesting fact about you:
9. Are you in love/have a crush at the moment:
10. Favorite place to be:
11. Favorite lyric:
12. Best time of the year:
13. Weirdest food you like:

RECOMMEND
1. A film:
2. A book:
3. A song:
4: A band:

FANDOM
1. Favorite Fandom:
2. OTP/OT3:
3. Icon/Fic Journal if you've got one:

PLUS
1. One thing you like about me:
2. Two things you like about yourself:
3. Put this in your lj so I can tell you what I think of you?

First, this NY Times article about kids coming out in middle school was really heartwarming.  Yes, there are really upsetting statistics about how many queer* youth experience bullying, but plenty of these kids are receiving support from at least some of their friends, family, and school officials in a way that would have been unthinkable not so long ago, and the ones who are out are facing their situation with impressive courage.  The coolest part is that many of the kids profiled don't just come from traditionally accepting places like NYC and San Francisco but also from places like Tulsa, OK.  There's still a long way to go, however,  The article's discussion of how much kids use "gay" as an all-purpose insult is sadly on target.  I work with middle-schoolers and hear this sort of upsetting language all the time.  (I'm pretty forgiving of kids' misbehavior, often excessively so, but insults based on sexual orientation make me put my foot down so hard the ground shakes.)  Still, I like to think our culture is slowly but surely making progress towards acceptance. 

On a completely different note, a story from the Onion: Melting Ice Caps Expose Hundreds of Secret Arctic Lairs. 

"You spend your whole career concocting a brilliant scheme to wipe out all of mankind, and what happens?" Dr. Raygun continued. "They bring about a major global catastrophe completely on their own, those fools!"

LOL!  I've been feeling pretty frustrated about the wimpy, minimal progress on the international talks on climate change and the even sadder state of affairs within the US, so it was nice to find a bit of black humor at our ongoing failure to do anything to save civilization and the biosphere while there might still be a chance.


*While the term "queer" is still sometimes used insultingly, I follow the practice of the activist groups at the college I attended in reclaiming it as a respectful term that encompasses all the diversity of non-straight sexual orientation without being as unwieldy as saying gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans.

I come to rec some things that have made me laugh lately.

Four Consequences of the Unexpected and Unlikely Friendship Between James T. Kirk and Nyota Uhura by trisfic. Absolutely hilarious NuTrek fic that does what it says on the tin. I love the idea of Kirk and Uhura as platonic BFFs (somewhat unwillingly on Uhura's part at first, but Kirk is endearing like an ill-mannered puppy.) The scene where Uhura and Kirk have learned about pon farr is particularly priceless. Also the scene where Spock seeks advice on the arts. And Kirk's attempt to get Uhura to go shopping with him. Really, the whole fic is worthwhile. Uhura/Spock and implied Kirk/McCoy, but the focus is definitely the friendship.

Some of you may have seen the phenomenon on YouTube of Literal Music Videos, where people take music videos and replace the original song lyrics with something that literally describes what's going on in the video. The first one I was was Take On Me, and it's highly amusing. Yesterday I saw this vid for "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and it made my day. Note that you don't need to be familiar with the song or original video to end up in hysterics.

This is fantastic:




Now I'm off to go contra dancing wearing my super-swirly Renn Faire skirt. Hooray!

Ganked this from jlrpuck :

There is a feature on Microsoft Word that will automatically "summarize" your document. Open any story of yours - Nano or otherwise - and have Word summarize it for you. Click on Tools / AutoSummarize, and then tell it to present your summary in ten sentences. Have the sentences open in a new document. Post the result in your own LJ, and spread the fun.

( results for selected stories )

We interrupt your regularly scheduled fanfic, memes, random anecdotes, and other normal pointless content of this journal to bring you some monumentally important information. Those of you who are in the US, please make sure you vote on November 4! In most states the registration deadline has passed, but even once you're registered you still need to make sure you know where you're voting and make sure your vote is counted. Here are some tools:

-Google has a handy tool that will tell you your polling place and also seems to provide information about absentee ballots.

-Is there a chance you can't make it to the polls on election day? If you aren't sure, get an absentee ballot NOW (the deadline for requesting one is Tuesday the 28th in many states) or see if you can vote early. (Here's a handy post with additional information about early voting for many states. It's on Daily Kos, a liberal blog, but the info is useful for those of all political persuasions.) Voting early may be a good idea even if you could theoretically vote on election day just to save yourself some lines.

-Carry this number in case you encounter problems on election day: 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683). It's the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights, recommended by a friend of mine who is volunteering there. Whoever wins, let's make this election HONEST.

-Another RL friend of mine writes, "In some states, there is concern that people might be turned away from the polls for wearing buttons, t-shirts, hats, etc. with candidates' names on them because this could be considered electioneering. It's mostly been Republicans pushing for this one. Whether or not this actually is an issue remains to be seen, but it's safer to leave that Obama t-shirt/Sarah Palin hat/Britney Spears for City Council vest at home. Moon boots, singing neckties, and paper dresses are all okey-doke." Heck, fellow geeks, you could break out your costume from when you stood in the really long line for the release of Harry Potter 7/ The Lord of the Rings movies/whatever else it is that last motivated you to stand in line for a long time and develop passionate opinions.

-If you are still in line when the polls close, don't panic! You will be allowed to vote as long as you got there by closing time. Expect long lines in most places, so bring snacks, weather-appropriate clothes in case the line stretches outside, a book and/or a friend to keep you entertained, and whatever else you need for a lengthy wait.

-Don't stop with voting for president! Search out information about whatever else is on the ballot for your area: congress, state legislature, state ballot measures, city council, minister of silly walks, whatever. All these less charismatic races can have a big influence on your life! (I can't remember if there are any other Californians on my flist, but I hope any of you out there will vote No on Prop. 8, which is the ballot initiative attempting to ammend the California constitution to ban same-sex marriage. If you're outside CA, consider donating to the No on 8 Campaign , which could use some cash for a final publicity blitz. Do it for George Takei!)

That's the useful information. Time for a brief ramble. I'm a nervous wreck about this election, y'all. I'm obsessively reading the news (and not getting any fic written because of it). Things are looking good for my man Barack's chances at the moment, but after the last two elections I have very little confidence in the American people's ability to choose wisely and the electoral system's ability to express that choice if they manage to make it. Twenty five is too young to be this jaded, so help me restore my confidence in democracy! The voting booth is as close as many of us will get to a TARDIS, because its importance is bigger if you go inside.

Right. Enought serious stuff. Now for some humorous videos you might have already seen!

( Silly videos: Les Misbarack, Palin Disney movie trailer, and the final debate in one minute )
Finally, here's something to let you relax and take your mind off politics and the even more terrifying economy: cake wrecks, one of my favorite blogs, just had a special guest feature on Dalek cakes gone horribly, horribly wrong.

I needed to share This Modern World, one of my favorite political comics, this week.  Doctor Who fandom is taking over the world!  (The politics contained here are leftie, so be aware.)