Stolen from everyone:

If I came with a warning label, what would it say?

There are two snowflake cookies on my profile (thankyouthankyou medie and suzvoy!) and a flurry of delight across my flist indicating that there are a lot of them going around. Niftyneatokeen!

And it is here.

Anything sparked by last year's stocking would also be most welcome. (I didn't think to cut and paste, and it says some things I wish I'd included. OTOH, brevity has its virtues.)

Wanna play? Sign up here. fandom_stocking is a free-form exchange, so you're not committing to any particular prompt or assignment. And of course you don't have to have a stocking of your own to contribute to someone else's. Art, vids, fanmixes, icons, whatever are all welcome, not just fic.

Applause and virtual cookies to medie for making it happen!

Via cleolinda, your handy portal to Sparkle!Crack mockage of all descriptions.

Is here. I would have laughed and moved on rather than reposting, but there are a couple of hilarious variations on the standard lolcat-retelling formula. Particularly the Months of Moping sequence.

fandom_stocking 2009 is a go! All hail the marvelous medie and hassle-free (well, for everyone except the marvelous medie) exchanges of fannish creativity and goodwill!

Signup post is here.

The Forza overture is still copyright blocked, and no response yet on the dispute, but it is allowing me to upload other files. In all the ARGLSMASH last night, I forgot to check whether that was actually the case -- I think maybe I misread the notifications, and it's just the supposedly copyrighted video that's disabled. Which is still headache-inducing, but considerably less so.

We shall see how long it takes them to respond to the dispute.

That would be the exodus of classical musicians from MySpace due to EPIC FAIL.

I'm guessing this automatic copyright-checking thing I've just run into is shiny and new. Or at least new. It is considerably less than shiny. What with, oh, ( not knowing the difference between the copyright holder of a recording and that of a composition. )

I haven't had any real problems with MySpace before, so this level of fail is really out of nowhere. Have I missed a new Music Industry vs. Intarwebz kerfuffle? Because rolling out something that can't make such a basic distinction smacks of panicked rush.

Edit: Went back to retry the dispute, and it went through this time. Now we'll see how long it takes them to deal with it.

Nikki Finke posted this on her blog under the title "Actors Will Do Anything To Land A Role." Since my immediate response is more "Oh, cool! I wanna try!" I'm thinking that "Because They Are, As A Rule, Insane" would probably be an accurate subtitle.

( T.J. Miller Auditions for Yogi the Bear )

As reported over at melancholydanes, someone in Brazil did a virtually shot-for-shot remake of Slings & Arrows, complete with the same incidental music!

The whole thing is on YouTube; the post linked above includes its version of a few of the original's most memorable moments. (If you know the show, you really don't need to know Portuguese.) I agree with the OP that the Ophelia coaching scene isn't quite up there (though the Claire cracks me up), but the "thunder and lightning" opening is pretty shiver-worthy. I am curious to watch more of it, and see if maybe this guy shines brightest in different moments from Paul Gross. There's also the fact that the latter has about a 19 Charisma, of course, but still.

Yesterday's Evil Cough and generally oogyness continue today. Did the responsible thing and took my temp, which was just over 100. Ergo, I shall not be bringing the plague to Villa Verone tonight.

We're skipping a couple weeks due to other events at the restaurant, so I'll hope to see people on December 13 instead.

In the meantime, I'm settling in with all manner of hot fluids, warm blankets, fun TV, and hopefully a sliver of focus to work on some web updates.

Via neadods, I am both delighted and abjectly stunned to learn that She-Wolf of London will be released on DVD in February. (Complete with the half-dozen eps of unmitigated WTF that was Love and Curses, which is cool solely because it means we get Randi And Ian Do Purple Rose of Cairo.)

The cover/menu art is nifty, even though it looks like it belongs to a slick remake with, y'know, a budget. Which, were it to exist, would probably lack the heart of the original, and would certainly lack Kate Hodge, which would make me sad. (Lack of Neil Dickson would also be a detriment, but Kate Hodge was the cream center of adorability and unexpected depth.)

I <3 my cheesy British werewolf show! :: happy dance ::

Via tzikeh, I draw your attention to the Emo Manpain Flowchart (by walkingshadow).

What: public reading of The Last Daughter of Oedipus by Jennifer Mickelson

Where: Prop Thtr, 3502 N Elston Ave, Chicago

When: TODAY at 1 p.m., because I am showing my blonde roots and forgot to post about it sooner

Why: Because you've always wanted to see me wail as Jocasta and torment people as a Fury. You know you have. Also, there are snacks and discussion, and it's FREE!

( EA says I need my own show )

On YouTube

I'll get her a comp anytime! Also, it amuses the snot out of me that she chooses the ridiculously fast and intricate "Shalott" for audience participation. (A fact I did not know before playing it a bazillion times until I figured out all the right places to breathe.)

Whew! Didn't touch a computer all day yesterday, but I've managed to scroll back through. I know I saw all the birthday messages, but may have missed commenting on some -- sorry, guys, and thank you!

Nothing went quite as planned, but it all worked out to a pretty awesome day. First, we were going to catch the most recent Harry Potter at the newly-reopened $1.75 third-run cinema, but when we got there for the 12:10 show listed online, it was dark, the doors were locked, and the first times listed on the display outside were after 2 p.m. Doesn't bode well for the new reopening lasting very long.

So, executive decision was made, and we headed over to the mall to see The Men Who Stare at Goats, which was fantastic. Seriously. I was prepared for it to not live up to the trailers -- because what really does? -- but it blew them out of the water. Funny and earnest and irreverent and crazy in the best possible way. I'm usually pretty indifferent to George Clooney, but he was amazing, along with really the entire cast. Just a really, really good movie.

Next on the agenda was the Japanese steakhouse... which turns out to be closed between 2:00 and 4:30. With tickets for a concert in the city at 8:00, that... might have worked, but was closer than I cared to cut it. So, instead there was Giordano's stuffed pizza of awesomeness. (The main bummer is that if you go to Jurin on your birthday, you pay for that meal, but they give you a coupon for a free one you can use in the next month, and another one for your birthday next year. So we missed out on that. But it's all good.)

Concert of bonnytymepyrate Asylumness was, in fact, everything it should be. Once I established that the Logan Square Auditorium's website exaggerates slightly when they say they're "right across from" the Blue Line stop. I suppose they're more or less right across the park... Anyhoo, the show was a blast, though my feet were killing me by the end. It's mighty handy to top 6 feet in a standing-only venue, but after a two-and-a-half-hour show, well, ow. But, dude, two-and-a-half-hour show for fifteen bucks! Who's complaining? No earlier stuff, but that's pretty par for the course with any artist, and they did almost all of Opheliac. Which, considering that (a) it's a double CD, and (b) there were quite a few skit/banter bits in between, is pretty darn good.

And I didn't think my friend Mary (who played Mina in Dracula last year, and got converted to Muffindom when I included a couple EA songs in the "Vixen Mix" playlist and gave copies to all the cast and crew) was going to be able to make it, but at the last minute she did, which made it that much more fun.

( Photographic evidence of my 40-ness )

( Brief clip of the opening number )

Heard on yesterday's Fresh Air: "nervous breakthrough." Terry was interviewing Mary Karr about her new memoir, which I think I may need to read, just because she was so interesting to listen to.

Looks like there are still tickets available for Emilie Autumn this Friday.

The show is at Logan Square Auditorium, right near the Logan Square Blue Line stop. Tickets are general admission, so if anyone local wants to meet up for some over-the-top musical craziness on my big 4-0, let me know!

Sooper Sekrit P.S. to maiac: Keep forgetting to tell you - LOVE the ballcap! Thank you!