blacksquirrel

Wire in the Blood
This is an old favorite - I'm a TV and book fan. Anything about Tony's psychology, a case file, or something happy/sexy with Tony/Carol, Tony/Paula, Tony/Alex, Tony/Andy ...

Flavia de Luce Series - Alan Bradley
I would welcome any little addition to this world. Maybe something set around Christmas time, or something with Flavia grown up or growing up - I'm pretty open!

Duolingo (App)
I'm just fascinated to see what someone might do with this. I really love the ap and use it to help learn Dutch and to brush up on Spanish.

Pushing Daisies
I love the gothic whimsey of this show! Do pretty much anything you want that evokes the feeling of the series. I love the Ned/Chuck romance, but I also like a lot of the other characters, so go nuts.

The Good Place (TV)
Eleanore/Chidi is where it's at for me. But I also love all the ethical philosophy in the show and the ethical dilemmas. I'm fascinated by the cosmology of the good/bad places and how people's lives are judged (which seems so random and merciless!). I would be totally up for it of you want to write a philosopher-specific piece, especially if Eleanore and Chidi take on post-structuralism (Foucault and Judith Butler are my favorites! Also, not-post-structuralists John Stuart Mill and Simone de Beauvoir). I'm personally hoping the whole thing is a sort of purgatory/reincarnation thing for everyone, including the "demons," and that there is no "real" bad place. I haven't seen season 3 yet, but I will by the time Yuletide rolls around.

PS - If you want to write YulePorn, that's totally ok with me. If you want to write G-rated shmoop - also fine. Angst, silliness, melancholy - all good! The only things I would prefer to avoid are extreme graphic violence, and very sad endings.

Crossposts: https://blacksquirrel.livejournal.com/182950.html

Hunt for the Wilderpeople: This was one of my favorite movies this year. So funny and delicately hopeful. Ideally I would like to see both of them continuing to grow up together, but any additional insight into the characters would be welcome.

Phryne Fisher Novels: I love Phryne - she is the absolute best. Anything with her being the amazing lady she is would be lovely, but I do especially like her paired with Jack.

The Good Place: I have just discovered this show and I want to know so much more about this world! What is the *spoilers* real good place like? Where do demons come from and can they become better? Why are the good person criteria so weird?

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: This book is so thoughtful and layered and warm. I would love any story that returns me to these characters.

Crossposts: https://blacksquirrel.livejournal.com/182625.html

In happy, non- job or hair related news, I am going to VidUkon again this year, and I'm looking for a roommate or two. I arrive Friday and leave Sunday. Anyone have space?

Crossposts: http://blacksquirrel.livejournal.com/181029.html

So my upstairs window just exploded. I did not know windows could do that. It is two panes of glass and only the inner layer burst - the outer layer isn't even cracked. But the inner layer very dramatically shattered while I was eating dinner, making a huge boom and raining glass down through my drying laundry and the spiral staircase to clatter onto my living room floor.

I've just finished over two hours of cleaning and I am now having a beer, watching Arrow, and eyeing all the rest of my windows suspiciously. My landlord says it can't be fixed until later in the week and that he's "not liable" so there might be a fight on the horizon over who pays to fix an exploding window.

Crossposts: http://blacksquirrel.livejournal.com/180676.html

Dear Beleaguered Yuletide Writer,

I'm very sorry the remainder of this letter is so late - do feel free to ignore it completely - that would be completely understandable. But if you would like a few more ideas, here are my further thoughts on my four prompts:

General likes: politics, historical detail, unconventional relationships that uniquely suit the people in them. I'm more than ok with slash, het, femslash, 0T3s - all of it, at any level of explicitness. But if that's not your thing, a gen story further exploring any of these tiny fandoms will also make me happy.

( Le Pacte des Loups | Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) )

( Chocolat - Joanne Harris )

( Wire in the Blood )

( Elementary (TV) )

Crossposts: http://blacksquirrel.livejournal.com/179839.html

Dear Yuletide Writer,

I will have more information for you very soon! But until then, here are links to my previous Yuletide letters, since I ask for mostly the same things every year:

2012 - Wire in the Blood, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Casino Royale, Joanne Harris

2011 - Links to previous years, Wire in the Blood, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Casino Royale, Lost Girl

Current Mood: excited
Crossposts: http://blacksquirrel.livejournal.com/179481.html

Hi Everyone,

I'm VJing a vidshow for Vidukon on the themes of bisexual desire/relationships, and poly desire/relationships. If you have favorite vids in either of these categories, please point me to them!

Current Mood: cheerful
Crossposts: http://blacksquirrel.livejournal.com/178588.html

For the last year or more I've been working on a crazy article comparing Lady Gaga to the crash in the derivatives market. Thanks to many of you who read drafts and helped translate what makes sense in my brain to something that would make sense on the page, it's now been published in the peer-reviewed, but free and open academic journal NECSUS.

My article is available here: MP3s, Rebundled Debt, and Performative Economics: Deferral, derivatives, and digital commodity fetishism in Lady Gaga’s spectacle of excess

Here is the whole Autumn issue on Tangibility

I welcome and comments, questions and critiques here or by e-mail.

Current Mood: accomplished
Crossposts: http://blacksquirrel.livejournal.com/178016.html

Thank you for writing for me! I so appreciate your work on one of these neglected little fandoms and whatever you write, I cannot wait to read more about these stories and people. If you want freedom, feel free to explore, safe in the knowledge that I will appreciate your story no matter what. If you want more direction, read on:

Since I tend to request a lot of the same fandoms over time, here are my previous Yuletide letters, many with very detailed information on how I generally see these characters:

2008
2009
2011
99 Kinks Meme

( And this year's two cents )

That's it - Thanks again and I hope that you enjoy exploring these story worlds as much as I'm looking forward to reading in them again!

Current Mood: busy
Crossposts: http://blacksquirrel.livejournal.com/177526.html

By way of

heresluck:

Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of. (I also put *s around the ones I used to have, used all the time, miss, and couldn't bring with me to Amsterdam)

I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers, juicers, blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, *pastry brushes*, cheese knives, electric woks, miniature salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, margarita glasses, tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, *slow cookers*, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, fondue sets, potato ricers, *creme brulee torches*, miniature food processors, bundt pans, *angel food cake pans*, *fluted tart pans*, mandolines, and waffle makers languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards.

Other kitchen oddities I love and use all the time: custard cups, tea pots, electric kettle, tea bag holders, mini spring-form pans

Crossposts: http://blacksquirrel.livejournal.com/177032.html

Sorry for the delay, Yuletide writer! First, let me just thank you for writing a story for me in one of these small fandoms. They need all the love they can get, and your story will brighten my day no matter what because it is such a gift to have something special to read in a fandom for which there is so little. Thank you!

However, if you would like some specific ideas and guidance, ( read on )

So, the main message here is that I am so very grateful to have someone writing for me! I appreciate all the time and effort you will put into this story, and I will love it no matter what :) Happy Yuletide!

Current Mood: sleepy

I've been a little out of sorts with food since I got here, bouncing between the joy of discovering Dutch cheese and yoghurt, and the frustrations of new stores, new ingredients, new pans, and a teeny tiny oven. I've ended up in a bit of a rut, mostly eating a number of variations on pastas and sandwiches that involve eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, and basil - which is delicious, but rapidly loosing its charm.

So tonight I made curried cauliflower with potatoes and pomegranate, and it was wonderful. There's just something whimsical and decadent about pomegranates. They feel like such a treat.

( Recipe Here )

Current Mood: full

Ok, I have purchased a smartphone running android. Any suggestions for must-have aps?

Current Mood: busy

I didn't know Sandy well, but she touched me deeply and I will miss her.

All my love to those mourning her loss.

I have been enjoying summer back at home. Things are still quite busy as I'm trying to reconnect with all my family and friends here all at once, while also squaring away a million little details of the move. We've gone on a number of surprisingly fun and harmonious family trips up North and to the zoo, among other places, and I've gone to the farmers' market nearly every weekend, which has been lovely.

And, of course, I'm cooking quite a bit.

Because it's summer and it's unbelievably hot out at the moment, lets talk about ice cream.

I adore my ice cream maker, and some of my very favorite summer places around the cities (Grand Ole Creamery, Crema, Sebastian Joe's), and in France (l'Art Glacier) are ice cream shops.

So here are some of the ice cream recipes I've been making and enjoying lately :)

( Lavender Ice Cream )

( Salted Caramel Ice Cream )

( Sweet Corn Ice Cream )

( Bittersweet Chocolate-Cherry Sorbet )

( Gazpacho with Basil Sorbet )

Enjoy!!

Current Mood: full

Just saw the VividCon membership announcement and *Sadness* I will not be able to go this year! For the best of reasons as I will already be in Amsterdam by then, but It feels very strange and empty to not go for the first time in ... 7 years? 8 years? A *long* time! I will miss you all fiercely in August - please dance a little harder, squee a little longer, and smile a little wider for me.

Current Mood: melancholy

Please rec me slashy or otherwise queer (broadly defined) vids to music in the top 40 of the last two years. I am particularly looking for Lady Gaga and/or Ke$ha (sp? Can you incorrectly spell something spelled so egregiously?). Also, I am looking for accessible source, but that's negotiable. However, I already have vids for the following fandoms, and I'm trying not to repeat: Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica, Merlin, Star Trek, Highlander, Xena, Smallville, White Collar, Stargate: Atlantis, Lord of the Rings, Sara Connor Chronicles, Harry Potter, Buffy, Hercules.

So, top 40 music to none of those fandoms - if anyone has an awesome Inception/Dark Knight slash vid to Bad Romance, that would be perfect.

So, nothing too difficult, then ;p

Current Mood: busy

I am so very sorry for not putting this up earlier! And for continuing to cop out, really, because I'm not actually going to write a full letter this year.

First off, let me just assure you that if you've already started or finished a story for me, I will love and adore it no matter what because I am so excited to read a story in one of these underserved fandoms - that it's a present for me just makes it so much more special.

However, if you would still like some guidance, I'm going to refer you to Last Year's Yuletide Letter, my 2008 Yuletide Letter, as well as my 99 Kinks Meme because my tastes really haven't changed much and I've been waiting for the perfect moment to draft this year's letter, but finally accepted that there will be no time between now and the deadline when my life won't be completely crazy.

Thank you!