Don't know if you guys have heard, but there was a wedding in Thornton Hill. You can listen to the wedding mix (and read a few drabbles) here. I might have drawn a little picture too :)

Tags: bandomomg, doodles, thornton_hill
feeling: cheerful

Hey hey, what's with all the awesome people being born in November? It's not October, is it?

Happy birthday emilytheodd! You are gorgeous and funny and brilliant, and your letters are one of my favourite things in the world, as are you. I am full of free time as of today, so if you would like a birthday ficlet (roadtrip? Ryan the lonely researcher? *waggles eyebrows*), please do say and I will get on that. ♥♥♥ Have a lovely lovely day, and I hope this year is awesome. And until fic, have some kittens:







No one is noticing a theme to my birthday posts, right? :/

An interview with 'America's Next Top Model's' Erin Wagner
By Paige Wiser

Now that "America's Next Top Model" is in its 13th cycle, there are only so many ways to keep the concept fresh. Making the girls pose as circus animals? Done. Including a transgendered beauty named Isis? Done. Shaving the models' heads? Done to death.

So this time around, Tyra Banks lowered her standards. Literally. Only candidates 5-foot-7 and shorter were allowed to audition, whereas most runway models are 5-foot-10 or statuesquer. It gave 5-foot-6 Erin Wagner of Spring Grove the chance to try for a career as a petite model. And now that the competition is down to just four girls, Erin is emerging as the closest thing to a villain the producers can come up with.

"I know I came off as bratty, but it's reality TV so I've accepted my edit," says Erin. "Everyone watching should just keep in mind, what you see is not necessarily what you get."

The accused "modzilla" clarifies some of her more scandalous moments.
( Read more... )

Tags: erin wagner (13)

From modeling to remodeling

By Scott Tady, Beaver County Times, Pa.

Nov. 15--Beaver County's reality-television sweetheart has found a new TV gig.

Joanie Dodds -- who'd you think I meant? -- will co-host "Run My Renovation," a home-improvement show on the DIY network.

"We just started filming, so it won't be on TV until like January or so," Dodds, formerly of Patterson Township, said. "It films in Knoxville, Tennessee, about every other week, so I'm on the road a lot but it's a super fun experience and I'm learning so much. I even get to drive a big red pickup truck."

Doesn't take much to please the former "America's Next Top Model" runner-up, eh?

Since her appearance on that CW program, Dodds, 28, has become a pro model, spending a few months this year in Italy's fashion mecca, Milan.

But a steady job as a TV show hostess is a bigger deal, even if on a network like DIY, which people with basic cable or standard satellite service can't get without an upgrade.

"I just hope that this is the beginning of an empire for me and I am the next Pam Anderson-Martha Stewart hybrid," Dodds said with a laugh. "I'm going for sexy mogul."

source

Tags: joanie dodds (6)

Natasha Poly in Muse #19, Leatherette.

( More )

Tags: natasha poly

“According to quantum theory there are not only second chances but multiple chances... Every quantum experiment conducted has shown, again and again, with dismaying mischief, that particles can hold positions contradictory and simultaneous.

Quantum theory states that for every object there is a wave function that measures the probability of finding that object at a certain point in space and time. Until the measurement is made, the object [particle] exists as the sum of all possible states. The difficulty here, between the logical common-sense world and the complex maverick universe, is that at a sub-atomic level, matter does not exist, with certainty, in definite places, but rather has a tendency to exist. At the sub atomic level, our seeming-solid material dissolves into wave-like patterns of probability, and these patterns do not represent probabilities of things but probabilities of connections.

The property of matter and light is very strange. How can we accept that everything can be, at the same time, an entity confined in volume [a particle] and a wave spread out over huge regions of space? As the Hindu mystics put it centuries ago, smaller than small, bigger than big. We are and we are not our bodies.
If we accept Hawking's idea that we should treat the entire universe as a wave function, both specifically located and infinite, then that function is the sum of all possible universes, dead, alive, multiple, simultaneous, interdependent, co-existing. Moreover, “we” and the sum of the universe cannot be separated in the way of the old Cartesian dialectic of “I” and “World”. Observer and observed are part of the same process. What did Paracelsus say? the galaxa goes through your belly?.
What is it that you contain? The dead, time, light patterns of millennia, the expanding universe opening in your gut”

-Jeanette Winterson, "Gut Symmetries"

It's almost as fascinating to me as dustfromamoth's writing on that we might all have tiny meteorites it enchants me, as if there's a galaxy of constellations in my palm whenever I run my hands through my hair.

Stanford waitress does Ky. proud on 'Top Model'
Laura Kirkpatrick is a finalist on CW show

By Mary Meehan

On Wednesday night's episode of America's Next Top Model, finalist Laura Kirkpatrick channels Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes.

A waitress from Stanford (population 3,399) is making Kentucky proud as one of four finalists on America's Next Top Model.

Laura Kirkpatrick, 19, made an immediate impression during casting for The CW's hit reality competition by describing in some detail how to castrate a bull (squeeze, twist and slash).

She has gone on to produce consistently good photos on the fashion modeling contest and showcase her Southern charm. The judges, including show creator Tyra Banks, sometimes seem a little surprised at the sophistication of the blonde beauty with a truly country twang. This in spite of the fact that another Kentucky woman, Celia Ammerman, originally from Cynthiana, placed in the final four on Top Model last season.

Kirkpatrick, who is 5 feet, 6 inches tall, competes against other petite models in Cycle 13, where the hook is that all the women are shorter than 5-foot-7.

The buzz around Stanford is that Kirkpatrick took the top prize, but The CW won't tell and Kirkpatrick is not allowed to say until after the finale, scheduled to air Nov. 18.

But she can answer some questions via e-mail. Here's Kirkpatrick's take on sweet tea, life on the show and her grandma's love of sexy clothing.
( Laura adorableness under here! )

Tags: laura kirkpatrick (13)

Whitney Thompson Launches Supermodel Line of Candles & Jewelry

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Whitney Thompson is back home in Neptune Beach. As much as she's taking a breather with her family and close friends, she's still business.

In fact, America's Next Top Model is starting a business.

Thompson plans to sell a line of jewelry and scented candles. The wax from the candles can be used as a massage moisturizer. The new adventure is very personal.

"My designs, my candles, my jewelry, all of it is 100 percent me," said Thompson, from the comfort of Jaffi's, the boutique in Neptune Beach where her modeling career began.

The candles come in a variety of scents. The names read like her monthly travel itinerary: Hong Kong Blossoms; London Hot Tea and Ginger; Los Angeles Lilly; Milan Melon; Paris and Berries; and Central Park.

Oh, and there's also a candle called Boyfriend's Shirt. Thompson says it's something that the man in your life might like.

The man in her life goes to Jacksonville University. His name is Logan Chipperfield. He's a punter. Even ESPN is tracking his stats.

Most of the products are made on the First Coast. The jewelry is made by hand by a friend in Tennessee. Everything goes through her.

"Everything is literally touched by my hands," said Thompson. "It's all me. They're my babies. I love them."
( Read more... )

Tags: whitney thompson (10)

( Jen, Sundai, Erin, Nicole and Rachel invite you in ++++++++ )

Tags: the tyra banks show

OMG HI.

If you're at all like me, then you are probably judging me right now based on the fandoms I've written in, my livejournal layout, my grammar, certainly my userinfo and icons, and who I have friended (do we have friends in common?! lolz). If you aren't like me, then you're probably a really nice person! Which is great :)

Anyway, that's the funny thing about Yuletide, it gives you the opportunity to wish fulfill a little bit, and to look into someone's life and base your gift on the small amount you can learn about them -- pretty rad. So! Thank you for offering to fulfill my wish, you make this my favorite time of year even more than the eggnog does, and that's saying something. Looking at my requests, I'm sorry that I basically wrote you an essay about each fandom, but I'm going to re-post them here and talk a little bit about each one just a little bit more. I'm a pretty easy person to please, but it helps to be clear, right?

FICTION

All American Rejects
- xaritomene: Tomb With a View ^m • 4,919 words (Nick/Tyson, PG-13)

Cobra Starship
- victoriaflannel: Tragic Cigarette ^m • 886 words (Gabe/William, R) [CS, TAI]
- smokedsteps: drink ^m • 1,272 words (Alex/William, PG-13) [TAI, CS]
- smokedsteps: careful stitches and wounds down underneath ^m • 2,756 words (Greta/VickyT, PG-13) [THS, CS]

Empires
- sarcasm_much: Penny Dreadful ^m • 2,053 words (Ryanluciani/Tom, PG-13)

My Chemical Romance
- snarkyrainbow and zephyrina: Sitting Too Close to the Fire ^m • 4,460 words (Bob/BrianSchechter/Frank/Gerard/Ray, NC-17)

Panic At The Disco
- smokedsteps: all of this ^m • 5,336 words (PhantomPlanet, AlexGreenwald/ShaneValdez, AlexGreenwald/Z, Brendon/Ryan, NC-17)
- stephanometra: untitled femdom ficlet ^m • 2,784 words (Jon/Spencer, NC-17)

The Academy Is
- victoriaflannel: Tragic Cigarette ^m • 886 words (Gabe/William, R) [CS, TAI]
- smokedsteps: drink ^m • 1,272 words (Alex/William, PG-13) [TAI, CS]

The Hush Sound
- smokedsteps: careful stitches and wounds down underneath ^m • 2,756 words (Greta/VickyT, PG-13) [THS, CS]

Multi-band (3+ bands)
- stfu_pwentzz: ~5 Ficlets ^m • ~100-2,300 words (JonasBrothers, Brendon/Ryan, Gen, JoeJonas/Tom, Brendon/Jon, PG-13) [PATD, MCR, Empires]

ART AND COMICS

- gira_luna: Fanart: Jon and Ryan as spies, and Brendon, Spencer, Bob and Joe in an SGA AU ^m • (Jon/Ryan, Gen, NotRated) [PATD, MCR, FOB]
- gira_luna: Fanart: Spencer & Bob have breakfast and Brendon & Spencer bake ^m • (Bob/Spencer, Brendon/Spencer, NotRated) [MCR, PATD]
- gira_luna: Fanart: Brendon/Spencer h/c ^m • (Brendon/Spencer, NotRated) [PATD]

RECS

- crack_van: In Like Flynn by marksykins (PG-13) ^m • [PATD]

VIDS

- behind_the_sea1: Fanvid: Your Guardian Angel ^m • (Brendon/Ryan, NotRated) [PATD]

CHALLENGES

- failboatsinlove: Christmas-Fest! Rules ^m
- we_are_cities: prompt for Nov. 14 ^m
- bandom_calendar: 2009 Sign Up Post for Bandom Advent Calendar ^m

PICSPAMS

- daily_gway: Old school picspam! (~100) ^m • [MCR]

MISCELLANEOUS

- stonersinlove: Important poll: Christmas Challenge? ^m
- bandfandom_ref: Looking for a phote of Travis McCoy shirtless ^m
- bandfandom_ref: Looking for a photo where Pete Wentz is tattoing "the bert" on Dirty's leg,and he's wearing the "Patrick♥Pete" bracelet ^m
- bandfandom_ref: Looking for extended version of Famous Last Words? ^m

dotcoms.refresh

@

gmail.com

Tags: newsletter

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

feeling: calm

Tags: fic, fic-billy, fic-collaborations, fic:au, fic:het, fic:lotrips
feeling: grateful

Sessilee Lopez and Chanel Iman in Allure October 2009, Bomb Shells.

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Tags: chanel iman, sessilee lopez

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

So, a little more than two hours ago, I was having dinner with wovenindelibly and darksylvia, and wovenindelibly told me that I had to write a vaguely slashy story about the time Alex Deleon hung out with Chris Kirkpatrick, formerly of NSYNC.

( And then this occurred. It's wretched, but now it's happened! )

Tags: rufus says rufus, short stack

And to think, the Pet saga never really got a title.

That's inconvenient, when trying to Archive it.

suggestions?

This post also exists over there, where it currently has comment(s).

Tags: linkage, lotrips, tentacles

A wedding mix, from Thornton Hill. ♥

Tags: fics

zvi writes the best (and/or funniest) explanation I've seen of the Ao3 tagging system, which has been confusing many of us and creating filters anxiety. I quote:

Tags are mysterious deep voodoo not 100% freeform, and not 100% taxonomy. They are not being handled like any tags anywhere else in computing that I am aware of. So, just, forget what you know from del.icio.us or blogging or the Library of Congress cataloguing system. Start with a blank slate.

In fact, instead of calling them tags, we shall call them wuzzles. Just to make it clearer that wuzzles are different from all other tags.

Okay, first of all, you should know that all of the fields in the Story Tags Wuzzles box are wuzzles, not just the field labeled Tags Wuzzles. So fandom names are wuzzles and character names are wuzzles and warnings are wuzzles and pegging (if you put it in the Tags Wuzzles field) is a wuzzle.

You can write anything you feel like down as a wuzzle. You could write dirty socks or my left tit or antidisestablishmentarianism. You could write wuzzle as a wuzzle.

However, behind the scenes, there are Tag Wuzzle Wranglers, who are automagically in a labor intensive, thoughtful, solomonesque process, trying to bring the wuzzles together, so that even though I write Star Trek: AOS as a fandom wuzzle, and you write Star Trek XI as a fandom wuzzle, and AdmiralNyotaUhura writes Star Trek Reboot as a fandom wuzzle, when JaneQFan clicks on the fandom wuzzle Star Trek (2009), she gets to read all three of our stories.

This is (a) pretty doable for TV shows and characters (you look 'em up in IMDB or Wikipedia and use their official name) and (b) highest priority for fandoms and characters, because those wuzzles are the ones that everyone uses. And they have some pretty elaborate rules about how they prioritize one wuzzle as the canonical wuzzle (this is the wuzzle that shows up on the fandom page or the tags page or in the filter system) and the others are synonym wuzzles.

So, the Tag Wuzzle wuzzles are a slightly lower priority for wrangling in the first place, but also, sometimes, it's harder for them to decipher exactly what you meant by tagging something "my left tit." Also, also, even when it's clear what something means (like cunnilingus, which is pretty unambiguous) it's not always instantly clear what other things it should go with (should rimming, cunninlingus, and fellatio all get wrangled together as oral sex? or should they be separate?) So if nobody has yet wrangled a wuzzle (which, in addition to figuring out if it is like these other wuzzles, also includes stuff like making sure the correct spelling is the official wuzzle, and making sure that even if the fandom and a character have the same name e.g. Buffy/Buffy, they are separated in the database), then you could the message you get with poor pegging: This tag belongs to the Tag Category.

This tag has not been marked common and can't be filtered on (yet).

Basically, the tags are not automated and depend on human volunteers to do what needs doing, and the volunteers can't do everything at once, in the first part, and have to make actual decisions in the second part.

Also, also, also, they only figured out belatedly that they needed to make a way for a wuzzle to be a subset of another wuzzle, like Backstreet Boys and NSYNC need to be sub-wuzzles of Popslash, so that if you click on the Popslash wuzzle you get both of those, but if you clikc on *NSYNC, you don't get Backstreet. The code for this has not yet been written.

I believe that there is yet a third sort of wuzzle that they need, the ambiguous wuzzle. This is so that if someone labels their story bandslash, the archive can stay completely agnostic as to whether this means six degrees of Pete Wentz or any professional musicians at all. Code for that has not been written either.

Also, there's the more normally ambiguous wuzzle, like, is badassery the equivalent of kicksass and other existential wuzzle wrangling musings?

I see now, reading further down the comment thread, that Zvi herself might make an entry with this soon, and I hope she'll forgive me for jumping the gun; her comment made me clap and grin and I thought it really needs a signal boost. :)

I recommend clicking through Zvi's post for the whole discussion of tags, and while I'm at it, I'll note here that contrary to what seems a basic assumption with the bookmarking system of the Archive, you CAN use it to bookmarks stories hosted elsewhere. It is, in fact, possible to do one's fannish bookmarking entirely on the Archive if one so wishes. I've personally been maintaining two delicious accounts because I want to have one with no fannish stuff in, AND as a result of the hardship it was to try and be easily logged in in both accounts at once, I've been maintaining a diigo.com account for my fannish bookmarking, feeding into the fannish delicious account. I'm pretty chuffed to think one day I might be able to do all my fannish bookmarking in the Archive, even though that day is far in the future. :)

This post also exists over there, where it currently has comment(s).

Tags: geek, otw

Dear Yuletide author,

I am sorry this letter's a little late and I hope it didn't cause you any trouble or worry! In fact, I hope nothing causes you any trouble or worry, because I am really the definition of easy to please. Anything you end up writing will make my year, and if you want to deviate from the prompts, feel more than free. There are things that I see and love about characters, but I also really love reading other people's takes on them. You can't go wrong! And thank you so much for offering to write one of my prompts. I am so grateful and I'm looking forward to your fic very, very much!

( If you want a few more specifics, though… )