HP rec: Master Work, by Mahaliem (H/D, R, novella) [10 Jan 2009|03:35am] painless_j Master Work, by Mahaliem # Harry/Draco (also some Harry/Ginny, Harry/Pansy, Hermione/Ron), R, ~35K words. Summary: Harry's eighth-year at Hogwarts is going about as well as all the others. Someone is out to get him, Aurors keep questioning him about the final battle and, worst of all, Draco is determined to repay his life debt to Harry. Warning(s): Minor character death. Set pre-epilogue, implications of EWE. A message to the author: Mahaliem, I love you. Let's elope? A message to the readers: ahem. I believe everybody who's interested in H/D have read it already, right? But I'm not much into HP right now, as you well know, so forgive me the lateness of this rec. If by some miracle you haven't read this fic, what on earth are you waiting for? This fic contains everything I love Mahaliem's writing for. It's lovely and plotty, funny and ridiculous, self-ironic and gently poking fun at fanon clichés. It has recurring gags, as usual. By the fifth or sixth time Snape and the love of his life were mentioned, I laughed out loud. All in all, it's not a fic, it's a Cheering Charm. Will be rereading every year, that's a given. A message to the author: but what if I grovel and beg? Will you elope with me then? post comment

HikaGo recs. Vol. 9 [10 Jan 2009|03:21am] painless_j The Brief and Abridged History of Ko Yongha, by chaineddove (or here) # Various m/m pairings, PG-13, ~9K words. Description: Ko Yongha, 2002-2010. I love it when I read a story about a character that I have no interest in and it makes me care about him. That's what happened here. The author made me see Ko Yongha in a new light, understand him, and even feel for him. It's not that long a story but somehow it felt longer to me. Maybe because it spans many years, maybe because we can see a lot of things and people. It's very intense too. Hikaru, Akira, Ogata, Yashiro and their various relationships play a big part in the story. Ko Yongha lives to provoke and have fun, in his spoiled and twisted ways, so where he goes and where passions are already running high because of Go, clashes of personalities are bound to happen (there are quite a few amusing episodes too). Ko Yongha grows though. I wouldn't enjoy the story if he didn't. Have a look at how it goes and what events and people shape the Ko Yongha of several years later. Touya's Pride, by Ravenna C. Tan (also on IJ) # Hikaru/Akira eventually, Akira/others, sort of, NC-17, novella. Summary: Touya Akira loses a match and suffers a crisis of faith. Could wily old Kuwabara-sensei have the answer? Or is the answer to be found in Touya's eternal rival, Shindou Hikaru? Warnings: This is not a fluffy Aki/Hika fic. There is what could be termed cross-gen/chan, and also psychological manipulation as part of the plot. The sexuality is graphic, but not gratuitous. Touya is 16. Spoilers for the series, also. This is unlike any other AkiHika story I've read. For one, it's several times kinkier than the kinkiest HikaGo fics I've seen. I believe that it might have something to do with Ravenna's applying the arsenal of things by now habitual in HP fandom (what's with its pornish_pixies and daily_deviant and multiple kink-oriented communities) from where she comes to HikaGo. IMO, HikaGo (and AkiHika in particular) can only profit from it. I'm not sure I believed in Hikaru in this fic. He's more balanced and mature than how I see him. IMO he's weirder in canon. But I liked the rest enough to disregard this disagreement in the author's and my view of him. So, Touya loses his momentum. Help unexpectedly arrives in the form of the creepy and manipulative Kuwabara Honinbou, who obviously has some strange agenda of his own. The help at first looks more like torture. But Touya perseveres. Hot, intense, interesting. I was looking forward to the updates every day (it was posted as a WIP but is finished now). Now if only Ravenna promises to love Ogata better next time she writes a HikaGo fic, I'll be quite happy :) The Good Friend, by corbeaun [] Waya, Isumi/Le Ping, PG-13, ~6K words. Summary: Not everything can be fixed, but this time Waya Yoshitaka tries to be the good friend. Bittersweet. Le Ping arrives in Tokyo -- without cash but with a goal, and Isumi places him at Waya's. Which turns things into a complicated triangle. The story is built on the subtle nuances of the three characters' relationship and things in Waya's past that influence his present. I liked that Waya stopped running from himself at last (possibly), which in turn affected Isumi. Pleasant story, quiet, and although not the most cheerful one, the overall effect is nice, I think. A Game for Three, by Harukami [] Hikaru/Akira, one other pairing surprise, R, ficlet. A/N: AU, because, well, yes, rather different events before end of the series would have to take place for this. But. XD CRAAAAAACK. I just burst out laughing when I reached the end :) The rules of writing a tiny!fic say that the ending is most often what makes it. IMO it works wonderfully here. post comment

Where I'm at, just in case [07 Jan 2009|10:36pm] venivincere [ mood | around, here & there ] [ music | Lethal Weapon ] Although I doubt LJ is going to simply blink out like a dead lamp, (or any of the sites I live at) just in case, you can find me here: venivincere.livejournal.com venivincere.insanejournal.com www.journalfen.net/users/venivincere/ www.venivincere.com venivincere at hotmail dot com (in a pinch only) venivincere at gmail dot com Also, I'm venivincere at Archive of Our Own On Twitter, I'm venivincere (notice a pattern, here?) I'm almost never on IM anymore, so I'll leave it blank. I use Semagic and crosspost everywhere with almost every post, so wherever you find me things should be seamless. Someone the other day mentioned a clearinghouse for fannish people, but I can't remember the name or URL. If any of you know it, could you please leave a message in comments? Thanks! See you around teh internetz. post comment

two good posts on signups [07 Jan 2009|10:09am] beccafran penknife (a first-time smutty_claus participant this year, and a mod of fests herself) has a great discussion of fest signups here. Her discussion centers on what not to say in your signup. I pretty much agree with everything she says, but the one thing that I agree with MORE than anything else is this: Don't bash pairings, characters, or genres -- or, really, anything -- in your request. I am always amazed by how many people do not seem to realize that if they request "X/Y, slash, no kittens" they may wind up matched with a writer who also writes X/Z het kittenfic. Getting a request that reads "X/Y slash of course, no nasty het, and none of those disgusting kittens" isn't a fun way for that writer to start the ficathon. If you don't want to see something in your story, just say so: "Please no het," "Please no kink," "Please don't focus on character Z," "Please don't pair X and Y." If you feel very strongly about an unusual squick, you may want to intensify your request enough so that your writer knows you mean it -- "Please do not include kittens in my story in any way, they are a major squick for me" -- but your request is not the place to go on an anti-kitten crusade. I'd add that if your moderator is a big fan of a particular character -- just for example, let's say Ginny Weasley -- it might not be wise to go ON and ON and ON about how much you hate Ginny and how awful and horrible she is. It might irritate your mod, and she might not be as gracious and accepting and generally wonderful as me. Another useful and interesting post about signups is this one, posted as an instruction to participants in the sshg_exchange on how to request artwork. It looks very useful, and I plan to use it (along with the input that I solicited from some SC artists) to formulate some instructions on requesting artwork for smutty_claus. post comment

Quick rec: Marauders’ Era on LJ [07 Jan 2009|03:07am] painless_j Sort of meta, very, very funny! Not quoting because it's a tiny thing but go look, it's so worth it! Marauders’ Era on LJ, by Regan V. post comment

So Transfan, I Herd U Liek Pedo Bear? [06 Jan 2009|12:54pm] fandom_wank [dogbite12] Transformers comic book fandom wank.. Early this morning, it was about pedophilia. My doppelgänger from the IDW fan forum Skwege learned that he had been accused of having sex with children by the IDW forum fantards on Transfans.net. Sprunkner is a real internet tough guy. Unfortunately, he made it quite easy to find his dox. Skwege was not happy to find he'd been slandered as a pedo. So he calls (yes, as in calls Sprunkner's landline) to tell him to take it down. No yelling, just something along the lines of "call me whatever you want but accusing me of child fucking is not cool." What does Spencer (Sprunkner's IRL name) do? He freaks out and hangs up! That's right-he's a coward. So Skwege leaves him a voicemail: "Hi Spencer : You like to make libelous accusations about people having sex with kids? That is really grown up of you. Oh wow, you live in Washington State as well? What a coincidence! Bellingham is only an hour from here. It's not funny! I know little punks like you think they can run around all anonymous on the internet and think nothing can bite them in their ass. However let me tell you little man, you are going to retract your statement, and then apologize. Talking shit about someone is one thing, but making a disgusting and FOUL comment like that is libelous. I have the time, money, resources, and most importantly the fucking patience to see this through so don't toy with me little man." Then Sprunkner has his wife (yes, someone actually agreed to marry him) respond. He doesn't have the balls to answer Skwege himself-he makes his wife call him back and tell him not to call. Unfortunately, Spencer posted her phone number and email as his contact information. Some PMs get exchanged on the IDW forum and Sprunkner accuses Skwege of threatening him (although I doubt the police consider being asked to take down a post or telling someone you're suing them for slander are violations of any particular laws). He makes an announcement on Transfans.net, crying that Skwege is harassing his family and that he called the po-po on him. Sprunkner did call the police and they in turn contact Skwege. The result? The police are highly pissed off-at Sprunkner. Because this is much ado about comic books. All this name calling and wank is over whether or not the comic book series All Hail Megatron is in continuity. The police were not too happy about being called to mediate a dispute over Starscream's alt mode. They lecture Sprunkner and felt Skwege was somewhat justified. Skwege apologizes for dragging the wife into the mess because being accused of fucking children is serious business that involves the IRL banhammer. The wank continues on Tranfan.net where Sprunkner whines some more (I guess his wife made him sleep on the couch) and Skwege threatens to post a scan of the police report. These fine examples of male adulthood continue to fight about giant robots. I believe Sprunkner's wife summed it up succinctly in an email to Skwege: "This is a fight over made up robots-let it go." Unfortunately, everyone ignores her. Edit: I accept this is total fail. Need more recipes and fail macros, please. 486 comments|post comment

[06 Jan 2009|10:15am] vitalitat A few hours ago, this was going strong. Yeah... cupodtealight is kind of an idiot. And when I say kind of, I mean really. THE END IS NIGH! THE END IS NIGH! LJ IS FIRING PEOPLE DURING A RECESSION! CREATE COMMUNITIES, MAKE ICONS! START SINGING SONGS FROM MOVIES! 2 comments|post comment

[06 Jan 2009|12:09pm] beccafran [ mood | okay ] Everyone on lj is freaking out about this gawker article that says SUP has laid off 20 of 28 livejournal employees, "leaving only a handful of finance and operations workers — which speaks to a website to be left on life support." If anything happens, I'll have my pretty little JF account all waiting for me. *hugs it* And hey, the smutty_claus mirror community will be here, too. 2 comments|post comment

Sad and angry [04 Jan 2009|10:14pm] venivincere [ mood | sad ] I just found out that one of my childhood friends was murdered two days ago. He and his older brother moved away when we were still just kids, but our families kept in touch. His brother was just in town this summer, visiting for a few days. I found out from my mom that the neighborhood association where he lived had turned off the streetlights and let go the guard who used to patrol the neighborhood at night because people were not paying their association dues. Since then, several cars have been broken into, and now this. They took his laptop and cell phone; he had nothing else. http://www.wbt.com/news/details.cfm?article_id=44925 post comment

Simple and Delicious [04 Jan 2009|05:36pm] venivincere [ mood | full ] [ music | blessed silence! ] 4 strips thick-cut bacon, trimmed of excess fat 1/2 head cabbage, rough-chopped salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste Chop the trimmed bacon and separate into pieces. In large sautee pan or wok, heat bacon until grease from bacon coats pan. Add rough-chopped cabbage, sautee, stirring frequently, until bacon done and cabbage just going soft. Add salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste, stir in, turn off heat and serve. Can be served as is, or over rice (basmati is best). Enjoy! post comment

HP rec: Until We Meet Again, by Hollycomb (Harry/Teddy) [04 Jan 2009|03:47am] painless_j Until We Meet Again: part 1, part 2, by Hollycomb ## Harry/Teddy, NC-17, novella. Summary: Harry Potter, now considered a dangerous loner by Wizarding society, has financially provided for Teddy Lupin for the boy's entire life. Emotionally, however, he has been completely unavailable, until the summer before Teddy's final year at Hogwarts, when Teddy finally connects with his remote benefactor. Warnings: EWE. This is my absolutely favourite next gen fic now. Yes, I do realise that this is not the first time I said it. I know I said something like this two times about another fic of Hollycomb's, too. And it will happen again in the future. But for now, this is how much in love I am with this story. Terribly in love. This is, like, my ideal next gen crossgen fic. Right after finishing it, I thought that I wished I had read it in the fest while it had been anon and become all excited about an unknown new author. But then I thought, no way I wouldn't recognise Hollycomb's writing. Nobody writes post-war and next gen fics as she does. In one word... well, I nearly said 'unhappy' but that's not true. I can't find a one-word definition. I think I can't find a three-word one either. Hollycomb's future is usually less than happy, or not ideal. Or not as ideal or fictionalised as we are used to seeing in HP fics featuring epilogue generation. Her characters are a bit (or not a bit) broken, a bit (or a lot) fucked-up, and that and the tone of her writing made the stories sound very real. But that doesn't make them unhappy. Harry lives in a large mansion in Northumberland. Alone. With only Kreacher for assistance. Well, basically, Teddy lives there too, only he's in Hogwarts all year long and when he isn't, Harry is barely ever home, travelling on some mysterious and vaguely sinister business of his. They aren't family. They aren't even close because Harry doesn't let anyone close to himself. And it's not that Teddy minds. Only then he does, sort of. I loved how Harry always seemed larger than life to Teddy and how the author underlines it with his physical description: how large his hands or his clothes are for Teddy. I also absolutely loved details. This is what always works best for me. My mind needs something to catch, to visualise and remember: what Teddy picks off Harry's plate and how he does it (and that scene at all), the owl that delivers Harry's last letter and how it's introduced, how Teddy tries to envision his domestic future, and many more. I would love to say more but I'm still pretty overwhelmed and very, very happy that I've read this story. Run, don't walk! post comment

You Knew this was coming [03 Jan 2009|03:26pm] fandom_wank [aeka] The wank over the new Doctor Who has already begun. Some like the new Doc, Others Don't One Rants About Him Being a Crappy Choice Another post says everyone needs to grow up Another says DO.NOT.WANT And the posts just keep on coming! Still, I really wanted Paterson Joseph. :o ETA 1: More screaming and capslock at Who_Anon! ETA 2: More ugly wank at ONTD, with bonus Martha Jones wank ETA 3: Macros at ihasatardis, including one of Matt and Billie! ETA 4: Also Captain Jack has spoken! Bishy wank and age included! ETA 5: Round 900 And Counting! ETA 6: The missed Crafty Tardis wank post! ETA 7: The Eleventh Doctor has enraged the internetz so much that even readers of The Sun are having a field day; Page 2 and Counting! 624 comments|post comment

comment stats [02 Jan 2009|10:22pm] beccafran In case participants needed some extra motivation.... Average number of comments Works submitted on time: average 23.0 comments works submitted late: average 14.1 comments works submitted very late: average 7.5 comments "On Time" means on or before the deadline date. "Very Late" means 2 weeks or more after the deadline. These are for 2008 only. This is most likely due to the time of posting. All works submitted on time were posted on or before December 17. Last year's comment statistics showed a relatively even pattern of commenting throughout the month, but this year reviewers seem to have suffered from comment fatigue to a greater degree. ( more comment statistics ) post comment

Ouran note [02 Jan 2009|09:35pm] venivincere I've fallen in love with Haruhi all over again. *silly grin* post comment

Eroica rec from Yuletide2007 [02 Jan 2009|03:24pm] painless_j The Beat That My Heart Skipped (Sounded Like This), by Livia # Dorian/Klaus, PG-13, 4600 words. "You'd think a queer like you wouldn't care to use blackmail as much as you do," Klaus remarked. I had to go and look what other Eroica fics this author wrote after this year Ylutide's one (see rec here). How did I miss the last year's? This story was harsher than most Eroica fics I've read and I liked it, especially that Livia didn't make it in any way melodramatic or even pointlessly dramatic. It explores a what if: what if Klaus really secretly wanted Eroica but couldn't cave in to his advances because of Eroica's own nature that makes him a pretty ruthless individual for whom nothing is too low if it makes him closer to his goals? The story is very vivid. I enjoyed it a lot. post comment

HP rec: The Fall, by anon (Teddy/James Jr) [01 Jan 2009|10:55pm] painless_j The Fall, by anon # Teddy/James Jr, NC-17, ~30K words. Summary: "You may go now. I don't want to see you back in detention again." James mutely picked up his bag, heeding Teddy's instructions. "Walk back to Gryffindor Tower, no stopping anywhere. I want to imagine you with come dripping down your legs." Warnings: None, other than the rating indicates. No, that's not an overly long PWP, even despite what the headers might make one think. When I finished it, I thought that it was a lovely story, and said so in my comment, realising almost immediately that it was silly of me to use that word when I had kept biting my fingers while reading. The story is pretty tense; I kept expecting things to go pear-shaped. Spoilerish thoughts ahead, highlight if you want to read them: I admit I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't, or didn't quite go pear-shaped. I felt that Teddy needed to learn a lesson. On the other hand, I suppose he did learn it, even if only by approximation :) The story contains lots of sex and then some but despite it, the strongest impression it left on me wasn't with its hotness but with the problems of various kinds of teacher/student relationships Teddy faces. Teddy tries hard. He wants to be a good teacher like his father was, from all the stories he hears about him. But thing is, he's kind of not. That is, everybody keeps telling him he's good but he feels out of sorts, inadequate most of the time. Add to this the slippery slope of his highly inappropriate relationship with James. Teddy tries (when he does) to be an adult but in truth he's barely out of childhood himself, still impulsive, immature, and rather insecure. Anyway, it was an interesting story :) Worth rereading later. post comment

Resolutions and Roundups [01 Jan 2009|11:12am] venivincere Resolutions: 1. Attempt to have a little more personality and get involved more. I hate feeling like life is doing me instead of me doing life. 2. Get healthy, which will probably do wonders for making #1 work. 3. Write more, even if it is utter crap. 4. Post more here. Fic roundup for 2008: This is a list of my fics which were published on Skyehawke; there may be a bit of bleed-through from 2007 because I posted my fest fics there in January. Missing: this year's Prince of Tennis fic for Santa_Smex: the reveals aren't until mid-January. View-master Sometimes we all need a little help communicating. Snape/Harry. Warnings: Voyeurism, cross-dressing, spanking, mild D/s, a bare hint of M-preg. [ Published 2009-01-01 ]</font> A Superior Choice Snape/Harry. Romance, Angst. "Tabula rasa," Harry says again, because it's the only thing he can think of with Snape's nose so close to his face, pushing everything else to the edge of his vision. "Potter. My tabula will never be rasa." [ Published 2008-08-31 ] A Time to Dare Snape/Harry. Sometimes the risk is worth it. Romance with a little hurt/comfort thrown in. [ Published 2008-08-30 ] Up Snape's Bum For Pushdragon's inadvertent challenge. Claim: Hermione Granger. [ Published 2008-05-11 ] Except Sunday Sanada/Yukimura, PG-13. Routine is discipline, discipline is strength. [ Published 2008-04-13 ] A Royal Bill of Goods Eiji/Oishi and a little bit of Atobe/Tezuka. NC-17. Humor. "How many times do we have to tell you? The wasabi was an accident!" [ Published 2008-01-10 ] A Bit of Comfort Snape/Harry. Summary: Harry can't seem to get Snape out of his head. Or is it Voldemort? Angst/Humor. Warnings: Chan, spanking. [ Published 2008-01-05 ] post comment

The grammar! My eyes! [01 Jan 2009|09:21am] fandom_wank [hypno_jango] I'm just C&P'ing a mousie's post from wank_report. I can't pass up entitlement wank. Crunchyroll is going legit. The site owner, Shinji, has been wheeling and dealing to have anime air subbed only days after it airs in Japan. OK, users are pleased, the Naruto fans look on in anticipation, everything seems hunky-dory. Then, Shinji introduces Anime memberships for the site. Did not read all of the benefits but the gist seems to be higher quality videos and quicker access to the anime from Japan. That happened in the past few weeks. Now queue the new year! Oops, did he just say that he was removing all fan uploaded content and getting permission from the publishers? Queue the butthurt, angst, and I will kill for my anime!!!!Z!!!!!!ZOMG~!!!! Along with people eagerly trading links for other sites to feed their addiction. The dramas, anime, and music sections now look like ghost towns, with the exception of stuff Shinji has wheeled and dealed for. People are predicting the death of the site, but for now, it's fun seeing the entitlement angst going on over there. 404 comments|post comment

Video timing software [31 Dec 2008|10:24pm] venivincere Hi all, Do any of you know any good video timing software that doesn't cost anything? If I don't fix the timing of these subs I'm going to go nuts watching Hana Yori Dango final. :'-( post comment

reflections [31 Dec 2008|03:15pm] beccafran Last year I posted a reflection on the things I did well and the ones that needed improvement in the fest. That was helpful, but this year I feel like I did most of the same things as last year, but with some minor tweaks in places. So I'm not so inclined to navel-gazing. But hey, all those things I said I needed to do better? I think I did better on them! Some general ideas for next year's fest... Decrease fest size to 75? edit signup post/form to encourage more art-friendly requests? Remember to promote the fest on erotic_elves, which I forgot to do this year. Prod people to give more details in their request at signups. One change for next year -- I've decided to toss the appearance of fairness out the window. From now on, I'm totally playing favorites with fanartists. We had the most fanart ever (16%) this year, and it just makes me happy. Who doesn't love some good fanart? Plus, artists are (usually) model participants: they're enthusiastic, flexible, and prompt. Seriously, from now on I'm using my modly powers to recruit and pamper fanartists. Also, since I'm about to make the last post, this is a good time to mention that I welcome feedback and suggestions of any kind! Anything you weren't happy with in the fest, or thought could use improvement, or whatever? Send me an email or leave me a comment. post comment

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