Turns out that LJ is letting me, as a current Paid/Permanent account-holder, send out ten $10 coupons to use against an annual Paid account. (In less convoluted terms, you can buy a Paid account for one year for $9.95/$15, instead of $19.95/$25.)
If anybody's interested, give me a shout.
If anybody's interested, give me a shout.
Following on our previous report, it’s been pointed out to us that Marc Simonetti’s Deviant Gallery also includes a fourth cover painting for A Feast for Crows. The artist seems to have gone to town with these, focusing on strong, evocative color choices. The image, and more information about the “A Song of Ice and Fire” publishing situation in France as well as Marc Simonetti, can be found below:
read on >>>
posted by Neil
Hullo everyone. I took a week off from Blogging, then didn't have a second during the whirlwind of the last few days.As a result of which I have dozens of open tabs and dozens of letters to the FAQ line that I've marked as things I should answer. I'm not going to try and do them all now (Maddy told me that I'm taking her to school at 6:30 am, as she's got her first period of Driver's Ed). But there are a few things I should say before I sleep...
The first one is to congratulate Henry Selick and all the Coraline team (and Laika, and Focus) on the wonderful way they are being recognised by Awards. Yesterday, for example, we learned that Coraline is nominated for a Golden Globe award.
There's a great website at http://awards.filminfocus.com/#/coraline/a
I went to Atlanta. It was foggy and thunderstormy and I signed for 1,050 people. (Here's the Atlanta paper blog on the event. And Little Shop of Stories said Thank You so very nicely.)
I went to Winnipeg. It was cold outside and I signed for 869 people. Here's the Winnipeg Newspaper article. Just behind me, in the grey shirt, is the wonderful Elyse Marshall, publicist from HarperChildren's, who looked after me on the Graveyard Book Tour and who can now run a huge signing in her sleep, which is great, because it means I don't have to worry about any details or disasters. I just do my job and sign and meet everyone.
(How bad can it get? Well, there was the time Terry Pratchett and I were signing in, er, I think it was Leeds, when the people who worked at the shop saw all the people who had turned up for the signing and got scared enough that they locked themselves in the staff room at the back, leaving Terry and me to climb onto tables and shout at people until they formed some kind of a line. The staff didn't come out again until the people had all gone.)
Strangest moment in Winnipeg was getting back to the hotel room at 1:30 am to notice that, beside my bed, a framed photo of my children had mysteriously appeared. I assumed that this was a cool thing the hotel had done. Elyse, on the other hand, was convinced it was the action of a crazed stalker, and insisted I deadbolt and security chain my hotel room, and was enormously relieved, a few hours later, when she knocked on my door and I removed the chain and was obviously still alive.
Before we left the hotel I took the photo out of the frame and left a thank-you note in its place.
Flew back to Minneapolis. I stopped off at DreamHaven on the way back from the airport this afternoon, and signed more stock for Greg (http://neilgaiman.net/). Theoretically enough to see him through Xmas.
Several people wrote asking me to express my outrage at HarperCollins joining several other publishers in delaying the release of books on the Kindle or e-book format to some months after the hardback comes out, as detailed at http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/harpe
And, for those of you who want to learn exactly how an author should not respond to an Amazon One-Star review, we present an author named Candace Sams, who begins by pretending she's not the author, just someone defending a good book, then, when outed as the author, claims she's part of a noble group standing up against an evil one-star reviewer, and then informs everyone on the Amazon Comments thread that she's reported them all to the FBI. The Amazon Thread is here. Teresa Nielsen Hayden comments on it at Making Light, here. (Via Cleolinda's twitter.)
And yes, it's a horrible car crash, and I post it here not because it's funny in an Oh God Make It Stop kind of way, but because, if any of you are ever tempted to respond to bad reviews or internet trolls etc, it's a salutary reminder of why some things are better written in anger and deleted in the morning. (Also, if you're an American Games company, don't sue a British blogger in the Australian courts for a bad review.)
Oops. I have started blogging. I will stop now, and sleep for a little while.
...
Before I go: Sky has a website for the Ten Minute Tales series, which includes Statuesque, my film starring Bill Nighy (which goes out in the UK on Christmas Day) : http://sky1.sky.com/10-minute-tales. I wish I could have been at the screening in London on Sunday, more so when I saw my old friend Paterson Joseph stars in one of the films.
This is the only naturally dealt royal flush I have ever seen, and that I am ever likely to see, in my entire life.
I wish it had been mine.
I wish it had been mine.
Ten new logs have been added to the site. All of these logs are from roleplay related to King Daeron’s current campaign in Dorne, so anyone who is curious about what is going on can check these out.
Hard on the heels of their latest release, Fantasy Flight Games has the next chapter pack expansion for their popular Game of Thrones card game. A Sword in the Darkness is a 40-card set including 20 brand new cards (2 of each in the set), drawing thematic inspiration from the Night’s Watch.
We’ve been working with our friends at Bonnier R&D exploring the future of digital magazines. Bonnier publish Popular Science and many other titles.
Magazines have articles you can curl up with and lose yourself in, and luscious photography that draws the eye. And they’re so easy and enjoyable to read. Can we marry what’s best about magazines with the always connected, portable tablet e-readers sure to arrive in 2010?
This video prototype shows the take of the Mag+ project…
(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)
Get to know My Guests. Want to know who's checking you out? You can now view the 100 most recent, logged-in users who visited your journal during the past 30-day period with My Guests. For those who prefer to fly under the radar, you can update your My Guests privacy setting here.
Introducing My Stats. If you have a Paid or Permanent account, you can now see detailed reports on how many people are visiting your journal, friends pages, and entries (wherever they're posted on LiveJournal). You can also view data on comments and RSS requests. My Stats is only available to Paid and Permanent account holders, but you can upgrade anytime. (FYI, an annual subscription costs less than a large pizza with everything on it, PLUS it's rumored to make you lose weight in your sleep!) For additional details on this feature, read this article in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
paidmembers.
Get ready to check your vital statistics!. To begin, mouse over Journal in the upper nav bar and select My Stats from the dropdown menu (Horizon) or select My Stats under Journal in the side bar (Vertigo). If you're using another design scheme, you can visit My Stats directly. You'll find My Guests on the My Stats tool bar.
Happy holiday promotion!
We're delighted to tell you about our holiday coupons, which will help you share the love with your LiveJournal friends! If you have a Paid or Permanent account, you can send up to 10 LiveJournal Basic/Plus users a $10 coupon for an annual paid subscription now through January 15th, 2010. Recipients can upgrade for $9.95 (instead of $19.95) for one year by enrolling in our automatic payment plan or make a manual payment of $15 (instead of $25). Please note that these coupons are not transferable and cannot be used to renew existing paid accounts. If you're a Paid/Permanent user, you can send out your holiday coupons now!Tweaks and Enhancements
- The search is on: We've replaced our default search tool with one from Yandex, a leader in search engine technology. This means you'll get smarter, more granular results! To get started, enter your search terms and click the Go button to the left of the Find box on the upper right of the LiveJournal header. This will take you to the search landing page where you can further refine by Entries, Comments, People & communities, and FAQs. You can also access the search page directly.
- Whitelisting: We've released a new option to help you moderate your busy communities more efficiently. If an entry contains a link to a whitelisted (i.e., trusted) site, it will be posted automatically without need for moderator approval. If a post contains a link that is not on the whitelist, you'll be prompted to approve. To access this option, please visit settings for any community you maintain and select the third option in the Community Moderation box (located in the lower left-hand corner). Click the enable link to custom-edit your community's whitelist, which has been prepopulated with trusted domains. You can manually add or delete URLs in the text box. Please note: If you're the maintainer of an unmoderated community, you may see the radio button for this setting checked, even though it's not active. This is a known issue. Please select whichever option you prefer and click Save Changes at the bottom of the page. If you're happy with your current settings, then no need to do anything!
- TMI, dude: We've added some fun FREE sponsored vgifts! You can send up to 50 TMI vgifts to mutual friends (btw, you cannot send free vgifts to communities). If you're a Paid/Permanent user and you want to view sponsored gifts, click Show sponsored gifts on your homepage or visit the sponsored gift page. These vgifts will only be available through Wednesday, December 23rd.
You can view more awesome user content after the jump!
( Read more... )Curtains
Thanks, again, for joining us. Until next time, stay snug!
I have a new layout! ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
etrangere etrangere etrangere
I had gotten soooo tired of the previous one! (almost one year of it).
Also I need a Friend Only banner now that my journal is basically semi friend only, might as well make it official. I never use to save FO banners!! I thought maybe this one, but it might just scare people away XDDD
etrangere etrangere etrangereI had gotten soooo tired of the previous one! (almost one year of it).
Also I need a Friend Only banner now that my journal is basically semi friend only, might as well make it official. I never use to save FO banners!! I thought maybe this one, but it might just scare people away XDDD
- Mood:
drunk - Music:Noa - If I Give You Everything
Gentle (*snigger*) reader: You know I don't lapse into gratuotous profanity all that often, so I hope that you will forgive the following lapse: The new SEPTA mobile website, www.septa.org/m , is the most useless fucking website on the planet.
When I am checking the SEPTA site from my phone, there are two things that I want to know: how to get from point A to point B, and when my train/bus/whatever is arriving.
If anyone can use that site to figure out how to get from Suburban station to Ridley Park station, and what the train schedule is for that route, you're a better man (gender inclusive) than I.
When I am checking the SEPTA site from my phone, there are two things that I want to know: how to get from point A to point B, and when my train/bus/whatever is arriving.
If anyone can use that site to figure out how to get from Suburban station to Ridley Park station, and what the train schedule is for that route, you're a better man (gender inclusive) than I.
Statistics are here!
You can now see the number of people who have visited your journal, your individual entries, a chart of comments, readers of the RSS feed of your journal, and the last 100 logged-in users who have visited your journal directly (if you've enabled My Guests).
Things you should know:
-Stats are completely anonymous (only My Guests is tied to username); only numbers are recorded, not any other information
-The times and dates in the graph are based on server time, which is UTC/GMT
-The light grey number at the top left corner of the graph is the statistical outlier
-While the graph may go back in time to this summer, the stats-gathering server was not on constantly, so previous stats may be missing. Today, and going forward, full stats are collected and displayed.
-If you opt out of My Guests (meaning that your username will not show up on other people's reports and you will not be able to view your My Guests tab), it does not affect your use of the rest of the Stats - if you're a Paid or Permanent user, you'll still be able to see all the rest of the information on this feature
( Page-by-page walkthrough )
You can now see the number of people who have visited your journal, your individual entries, a chart of comments, readers of the RSS feed of your journal, and the last 100 logged-in users who have visited your journal directly (if you've enabled My Guests).
Things you should know:
-Stats are completely anonymous (only My Guests is tied to username); only numbers are recorded, not any other information
-The times and dates in the graph are based on server time, which is UTC/GMT
-The light grey number at the top left corner of the graph is the statistical outlier
-While the graph may go back in time to this summer, the stats-gathering server was not on constantly, so previous stats may be missing. Today, and going forward, full stats are collected and displayed.
-If you opt out of My Guests (meaning that your username will not show up on other people's reports and you will not be able to view your My Guests tab), it does not affect your use of the rest of the Stats - if you're a Paid or Permanent user, you'll still be able to see all the rest of the information on this feature
( Page-by-page walkthrough )
If you have a Paid or Permanent account, you can now send 10 of your non-Paid friends a $10 coupon. Your friend will be able to purchase a Paid Account for $9.95 (instead of $19.95) for one year by enrolling in our automatic payment plan or make a manual payment of $15 (instead of $25).
- All Paid and Permanent accounts can send out the coupons by clicking here (it's also under Friends -> Holiday promotion in the site header)
- You can also send to people not on your Friends list by manually entering the username in the field provided
- If your friend declines the invitation, it will be returned to your available invitation pool and you'll be able to send to someone else
- You can send the invitations until January 15th
Maybe I have to make peanut butter cookies after all, just so I can make these reindeer cookies:
From http://www.raising4boys.com/2007/12/21/p
- Mood:
amused
Halfhand of Winter is Coming points that the original source for our post about Peter O’Meara expressing interest in Game of Thrones, this fuller release from PRWeb, makes things seem more like a hope of the actor’s rather than any sign of a clear commitment for a role should the production goes forward. It also reveals that he did in fact audition, as speculated, but was passed over for the part of Jaime Lannister (a fate dealt to Jamie Bamber, and according to rumor Garret Dillahunt as well) in favor of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. O’Meara is quoted as saying:
“Well, I did read for HBO Game of Thrones but the role went to Nikolaj Coster Waldau. That hurt like hell because I love the David Benioff script. He’s a genius writer. His ‘City of Thieves’ is my favourite novel of the last ten years. If I have any new years career wish its to join the world of fire and ice he’s creating with HBO. Fingers crossed. Failing that I’ll happily play a Vampire in the next Twilight saga. I’ll bring my own teeth.”
I think I might have gone a little crazy over at The Perfumed Court. I bought 46 perfume samples from Chanel, Miller Harris, and Issey Miyake.
Now I'd rather do this than buy a full bottle of anything that I later find out smells horrible/I don't like/I react to, PLUS I use perfume infrequently enough that these will last a long time. Still, when I think about it (and where on earth I'm going to put all of these 1ML bottles), I wonder what I've let mysef in for.
ETA: Perfect timing. I actually got a shipping notice about 20 minutes ago. I'll let you know when it arrives, so you can all hold your collective noses as I try everything. :p
Now I'd rather do this than buy a full bottle of anything that I later find out smells horrible/I don't like/I react to, PLUS I use perfume infrequently enough that these will last a long time. Still, when I think about it (and where on earth I'm going to put all of these 1ML bottles), I wonder what I've let mysef in for.
ETA: Perfect timing. I actually got a shipping notice about 20 minutes ago. I'll let you know when it arrives, so you can all hold your collective noses as I try everything. :p
- Mood:
chipper
I found a place this summer that makes the greatest Roast Beef Sandwich I've ever had.
Its called Clancey's Meats and Fish. Its a small butcher shop that locally sources most of its products, fairly high end stuff. Anyway, I found a review of the place on Yelp when looking for a place to buy meats, and people were raving about the sandwiches, so being a lover of good roast beef I had to try it. I went in hopeful, and seeing it was $8.50 for just the Sandwich I had pretty high expectations. I was not disappointed. They cook the roasts themselves, and it sits there in the case crusted with herbs. They slice it razor thin when you order lean and rare and pink. They have a number of toppings, most people get it with everything, but I'm a bit more picky. I just get it with cheese, salt & pepper, and Red Leaf Romaine. And the bread... mmmmm the bread. Its a crusty baguette from Rustica Bakery So satisfyingly crunchy on the outside, while soft and delicious on the inside.
So, I'd been raving about this place to my brother who's in town for a few days, and Invited him there for lunch. He couldnt do lunch so we decided to go there for dinner instead. We got there a bit after 6 and TRAGEDY! they were out of bread, so no sandwiches. I was extremely disappointed. The owner felt bad especailly when finding out John was from out of town. So she suggested we try Grand Cafe. This is located in an off the beaten path location in S Minneapolis, not to far from Clancey's. We walked in the door and the place was empty. Very nice quaint little restaurant. Normally I equate cafe with fairly simple fair, burgers, meatloaf, hot sandwiches, but upon opening the menu, i saw this was a pretty sophisticated place. Half a dozen entree's, a few starters, and a brief selection of soups and salads.
I'm usually a pretty simple eater, and dont usually go in for fancy dishes, but everything here was a bit on the facy side. I decided to go for the Local Cornmeal Johnny Cakes ~ Creamed Kale ~ Cranberry-Marjoram Jus and a bowl of Tomato Bisque. After we ordered our server brought out a small sample of pastry puffs, with a light bit of Gruyere inside, and they were delicious. Then she brought out a platter of home made crackers, which were wonderful as well. Then the soup and salads arrived. The bisque was amazing. I've never been a huge tomato soup fan, but I was blown away. Then the entrees came. The Johnny Cakes were a delight, and the chicken was fantastic. The Kale, well I'm not much for Kale. I gave it a try, but didnt care for it. I'm sure if I liked that sort of thing, it would have been good as well though.
At was over all pretty reasonable for the quality of the food. Entrees were all around $20, and sides were in the $5-$10 range. More than I'd usually spend but for a place that nice, well worth it. The final touch was when they brought the check the tray was sprinkled with some candies made at the store across the street. Some jelly beans and candy rasberries, and blackberries, and they were divine. I'll need to go and check that store out sometime.
So in the end even though I was denied my sammich, It turned out rather well. I enjoy trying out new places, and this one was definately a pleaser.
Its called Clancey's Meats and Fish. Its a small butcher shop that locally sources most of its products, fairly high end stuff. Anyway, I found a review of the place on Yelp when looking for a place to buy meats, and people were raving about the sandwiches, so being a lover of good roast beef I had to try it. I went in hopeful, and seeing it was $8.50 for just the Sandwich I had pretty high expectations. I was not disappointed. They cook the roasts themselves, and it sits there in the case crusted with herbs. They slice it razor thin when you order lean and rare and pink. They have a number of toppings, most people get it with everything, but I'm a bit more picky. I just get it with cheese, salt & pepper, and Red Leaf Romaine. And the bread... mmmmm the bread. Its a crusty baguette from Rustica Bakery So satisfyingly crunchy on the outside, while soft and delicious on the inside.
So, I'd been raving about this place to my brother who's in town for a few days, and Invited him there for lunch. He couldnt do lunch so we decided to go there for dinner instead. We got there a bit after 6 and TRAGEDY! they were out of bread, so no sandwiches. I was extremely disappointed. The owner felt bad especailly when finding out John was from out of town. So she suggested we try Grand Cafe. This is located in an off the beaten path location in S Minneapolis, not to far from Clancey's. We walked in the door and the place was empty. Very nice quaint little restaurant. Normally I equate cafe with fairly simple fair, burgers, meatloaf, hot sandwiches, but upon opening the menu, i saw this was a pretty sophisticated place. Half a dozen entree's, a few starters, and a brief selection of soups and salads.
I'm usually a pretty simple eater, and dont usually go in for fancy dishes, but everything here was a bit on the facy side. I decided to go for the Local Cornmeal Johnny Cakes ~ Creamed Kale ~ Cranberry-Marjoram Jus and a bowl of Tomato Bisque. After we ordered our server brought out a small sample of pastry puffs, with a light bit of Gruyere inside, and they were delicious. Then she brought out a platter of home made crackers, which were wonderful as well. Then the soup and salads arrived. The bisque was amazing. I've never been a huge tomato soup fan, but I was blown away. Then the entrees came. The Johnny Cakes were a delight, and the chicken was fantastic. The Kale, well I'm not much for Kale. I gave it a try, but didnt care for it. I'm sure if I liked that sort of thing, it would have been good as well though.
At was over all pretty reasonable for the quality of the food. Entrees were all around $20, and sides were in the $5-$10 range. More than I'd usually spend but for a place that nice, well worth it. The final touch was when they brought the check the tray was sprinkled with some candies made at the store across the street. Some jelly beans and candy rasberries, and blackberries, and they were divine. I'll need to go and check that store out sometime.
So in the end even though I was denied my sammich, It turned out rather well. I enjoy trying out new places, and this one was definately a pleaser.
Has anybody noticed how closely the shape of the Black Sea resembles Australia? And how Cyprus looks like the lower 48 states of the USA? What other proof is needed before people will wake up to the fact that we are living in a giant computer program run by an unimaginative nerd?
And why does nobody ever listen to me? I know things...
And why does nobody ever listen to me? I know things...
- Mood:
moody
I'm looking for either no bake cookie recipes or cookie bar recipes, if anyone has any good ones to share.
I usually bake a couple hundred cookies each Christmas,* but I'm thinking of making things a little bit easier on myself this year, lol. So far my only idea is to substitute Buckeyes for my usual peanut butter cookies, which will save me some baking time.
*Yes, I AM insane. But we already knew that, right? ;-P
I usually bake a couple hundred cookies each Christmas,* but I'm thinking of making things a little bit easier on myself this year, lol. So far my only idea is to substitute Buckeyes for my usual peanut butter cookies, which will save me some baking time.
*Yes, I AM insane. But we already knew that, right? ;-P
- Mood:
cold
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