Nattering Nabobs of Negativity

I rarely pimp (and what's the difference between pimping and reccing, anyway??), but if you ship H/D, check out
 hd_storyroom
Its a well moderated and consistently high quality rec community that I'm liking more and more as it grows on.

how do I love thee?  let me count the ways...


tp://twitpic.com/5xgnnh

No, no, no.  Not THAT closet.  Plenty of stuff to play with in my closet, but that's not my issue.

Just now, was on facebook -- under my real name and with photos of my actual kids -- and I "liked" a couple of HP fanfiction communities.  Then I totally freaked out thinking about the blank stares I have often received when trying desperately to explain my interest in HP fandom to RL friends.  I usually give up on trying to sell them on the fun and creativity of alternate magical realities and end up admitting that there is awesomely hot porn and STILL they give me that pained smile-and-nod-at-the-lunatic thing.

Why?  I ask you, seriously, why is it so hard to explain hp slash fandom to the uninitiated??  If you have had better luck, please let me know how you explain it?

I'm not generally a big fan of frogs, to be honest.  I am, however, deeply in love with Rae Whit's new fic -- The Herald -- at the Snape Potter Back to Hogwarts fest.   snape-potter.dreamwidth.org/55483.html

Not to give away one tiny bit of the eventual Harry/Severus, because it should be experienced without promotional ruination of the best lines, but I will share this zenlike snippet between Luna and Severus:

~~~~~
"Hmmm, it's human nature to take what one has for granted. Do you like frogs?"

She smiled slowly at his non sequitur. "Frogs? Well, most of them. Not the ones in the lake, though." She made a face. "Strong enough to pull you in. Ugh."

"No, not that sort. I meant frogs in general. You see, if you put a frog in a cauldron of water and set the fire low, it habituates. Even though each rise in degree brings it closer to death, it's content to stay where it is; most likely, it's congratulating itself on its ability to adjust. And then it's too late. Frog soup," he mused.

"That a potions story?" she asked in horror. "That's awful."

"The point is that's how people are. They go about life, thinking they have all the time in the world—time to put off what they want to do, time to postpone things that should be said, and before they know it, death is at the door. Life is over, and although they're filled with regret at the end, it's too late."

"Ah, a metaphor," Luna said.

~~~~~

So what are you waiting for?  Whether or not you like frogs, I'll wager this fic will charm you.  Run.  Don't walk.  Go read.

I just laughed out loud at a creative "Boy Who..." nickname in a fic.  I find this worthy of comment considering how same-old-same-old these things can get.  Probably, you've heard it a dozen times before and maybe I have too, and have just forgotten.  But it made me laugh and it made  me think of all the creative turns of phrase that I read and absolutely adore.   Sadly, when I set my own feeble brain to come up with clever new ideas, I am disappointingly dull.  Luckily for me and you, there is an astounding pool of creativity in Fandom that is what prevents the potentially repetitive dullness of revisiting our beloved characters and keeps it fresh.  Fandom, dear Fandom, I am utterly in awe of your creativity. 

So, I've decided to collect my favorites for posterity right here in this post.  Not just the "Boy Who..." monikers, but all of the furry little ferret and weasel puns, the disrespecting-the-Dark-Lords, the eloquent Slytherin insults and whatever else catches my fancy.  I intend to update as I find new ones and maybe even pull up some old favorites.  Hopefully, I'll fulfill my good intentions and you won't find this single lonely post neglected and ignored years from now.

In the mean time, if you have any personal favorites of your own, please please share.

So what is the pithy "BOY WHO" phrase that inspires me?  "BOY WHO REFUSED TO BE BUMPED OFF".  Hm.  Not wowed?  Maybe it was the context.  As in:  "when it came to sheer unbridled power, there was no match in their year for Hermione Granger, who was currently rendering the Boy Who Refused to be Bumped Off to more or less jelly on the floor of the Room of Requirement – without speaking a word." 
                             House Colors, by sarka in lameos_maximus

Added 9/15/10:  Running through my Delicious bookmarks, I found these little gems:

In a post-DH 8th year tale, Draco swears his loyalty to protect Harry as his "Lord Who is Destined for Pretty Much Nothing Useful Now That He's Offed Voldemort".
                            Master Work, by mahaleim in hd_holidays

And the sad but pithy Boy-Who-Was-Only-a-Beard-for-Neville in The School Reunion, by Steve Dix.

 

If you like to save your fanfiction on an Ipod (or any other pda or ebook reader, really) you are going to just love these --

I've been hunting all over for apps to make downloading fanfiction to the cool new Ipod Touch my hubby gave me for Christmas and its amazing what is out there.  And all for free.

The two quickest and easiest apps are  Instapaper and Read It Later.  Both of these are free Ipod apps that work in concert with their own Firefox add-ons.  They work the same way, essentially.  You  (1) download the Ipod app to your Ipod from the App Store; (2) open up the app and create an account (just a login and password -- they don't want any personal information); (3) add the Firefox add-on to your computer's browser; (4) go to the corresponding webpage on your computer and log in with the same username/password you set up with your Ipod.  At this point, you have a bookmarking button on Firefox that you click when you find a story you want to read later.  Once you update the app on your Ipod, the story will be loaded there and saved for you to read later.  These apps have their limitations, but I think they are terrific for a 5,000 word or less story.

For a nicer, more book-ish read, there are a lot of different ebook readers out there.   The one I found the best reviews on, have tried and really like is Stanza.  With this one, you load the app to your Ipod, download a Stanza program to your computer and open a pdf or other e-book format file with the Stanza program on your computer.  Then you sync your Ipod to your computer and the ebook is 'shared' into the Stanza app on your Ipod.  Not as easy, but you get a much nicer looking and working book this way.

The biggest problem with Stanza -- or any other ebook reader -- with fanfiction is that you have to pick and choose from the few harry potter fanfiction stories that are online in ebook format  or  you have to make your own by collecting all the chapters into some sort of text document and then converting into ebook format.  Unfortunately, its hard to find stories you really want to read in an online ebook and making my own is way too tedious and time consuming for me to do often.

So HERE's the REALLY COOL part (can you tell how excited I am about this?)-- other, more computer literate, fanfic readers have written little programs that  automatically download all of the chapters from a fanfic story from:
- fanfiction.net
- fanfiktion.de
- checkmated.com
- portkey.org
- adultfanfiction.net
- Animexx.de (test)
- Fictionalley.org (schnoogle, astronomy....)
- Fictionpress.com
- FanFicAuthors.net

and convert it into:
Document, HTML, PDF or  Mopipocket Ebook

There are actually two similar programs, one for PC and one for Mac.  I found the Mac program first -- Downloadstory  -- and was disappointed it would not work for my PC.  After some more hunting, I was very happy to find a PC program:

http://www.home-eisele.de/downloader_e.php

I downloaded the program and tried it on a story on  fanfiction.net and it worked great.   There are a few xxxxxxxxxxx's at the beginning of each chapter.  I imagine this is what is left of all the graphics and links at the top of the fanfiction.net pages.  A negligible nuisance that is easily overcome by the ease and speed of the work the program does for you.

see more deMotivational Posters

Happy Birthday!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztoSUhbNntQ&feature=related

Ha!  ROFL!  Check out this site for a group called Improv Everywhere.  It's just what it says:  an improv group that takes their work out into the world.  Candid Camera, but entertaining instead of just pulling your leg.  My favorites are Food Court Musical and Grocery Store Musical.  The shots of crowd reactions are worth the whole thing.

improveverywhere.com/



This totally made this bleak rainy Saturday sunny for me.  I hope you enjoy, too!