The threatened promised Crusade vid!

No Babylon 5 spoilers; this is just clips from Crusade. It's my usual style of teamy found-family-on-a-spaceship vid. I'm sure everyone is shocked.



Song: Bye Bye Pride
Artist: Del Amitri
Download: Download 260 Mb zip file (MP4)
Crosspost: Also posted on AO3.

I just spent about 11 hours 9 hours (miscalculated) writing a submission on a Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill, arguing that they should include fanworks as well. Chances of this succeeding: approximately 1% - but hey, it had to be said.

And since I didn't get to include acknowledgements in my submission, I need to give credit here: thanks to mergatrude for beta! ♥ ♥ ♥

*collapses*

Another one gleaned from maevedarcy. I did this a few days ago and then felt weird about posting it because of the number of non-answers. But hey.


My concerts!!!
My first concert was: Billy Joel at Athletic Park. I was sixteen, and the bass was so loud I could feel it thumping in my ribcage.
My first music festival was: n/a
My last concert was: probably Sophie and The Realistic Expectations, more than ten years ago. I don't go out much.
My next concert will be: n/a
The artist/band I've seen the most times is: Sophie and The Realistic Expectations, I'm guessing. (My ex (even then, my ex) was in the band and the covers were great, so I went to quite a few of their gigs.)
A concert I wish I could have gone to: n/a. I did enjoy being across the city from an Ed Sheeran concert, on a warm still night, and being able to make out through the open window what song he was playing.
A concert that meant a lot to me: Ani DiFranco at the James Cabaret in Wellington, 2000. It was my second time seeing her, and I was so blown away that afterwards I couldn't speak for about an hour.
A concert that healed me somehow: n/a
If I could re-live only one concert I'd choose: Ani DiFranco at the Powerhouse in Auckland, late 1990s. Partly because afterwards we swam at Red Beach, and there was phosphorescent algae in the sea. A magical night. (Runner up: Melissa Etheridge at Queen's Wharf in the late 1990s; I think I'd appreciate her more now.)
A concert that I'm glad has been preserved by the internet: n/a
An artist I would have loved to see in concert: no strong opinions on this. I avoid crowds, and though experiencing a performance live can be a thrill, I glom onto songs more than artists. ETA: Oh wait, I think Gin Wigmore would be a blast, especially in a smaller venue. Her voice is outstanding.
An artist whose concerts I just don't miss: n/a

Pandemic life
Some reckless indoor eating with my parents (when the more outdoorish area was unexpectedly booked for an event), and Andrew is working on site for the first time in six years. What could go wrong? *knocks on wood*

Previous poll review
In the Sailing the seas poll, 67.6% of respondents said they prefer ship fic to untangle a thicket of character issues before smooshing, and 67.6% also said, "and/or during". In ticky-boxes, bumble bees with trombones came third, baking came second, and hugs came first. Thank you for your votes! ♥

Reading
I've just finished the latest Murderbot. It was enjoyable enough. (Except for the first four novellas, which I loved unreservedly, I tend to click with them more on the re-read when I have a better idea what the action scenes and security logistics are in aid of.)

Andrew and I started Cetaganda by Bujold over the dishes last night.

A little bit of fanfic, which convinced me I should be reading more in ebook (audio leads to multitasking). Maybe it's time to pick up the next Peter Wimsey.

Kdramas/Cdramas
I'm losing steam on The Red Sleeve. I feel like I still don't have a clear idea of the plot, and all the backstabbing politics makes me want to back away. I think these palace intrigue only works for me when the main characters have solid friendships to rely on (ie, undyingly loyal guards, etc). Otherwise it's like living on quicksand.

Absolute Value of Romance -- disaster probably averted! I am still loving this enormously, and I still believe my preferred outcome is possible.

The Spirealm (Cdrama) -- a few episodes in, neither of the main characters has really grabbed me, and there's a lot of horror plot, which isn't what I watch Asian dramas for. Idk.

Love Scout -- resumed with Pru last night, yayay! This romance drama shines. It's serious and playful, dorky and grown-up. The two leads make an amazing team and really seem to respect and like each other, and the chemistry is so good.

Other TV
We finished Deadloch season 2, which was confusing but really fun. Hopefully there'll be more! Still going on People of Earth.

Raced through The Lincoln Lawyer season 4, which was great. I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous season, I don't know why. Everyone seemed on top form, and it was really nice having Maggie (Neve Campbell) take on a bigger role.

Finished Rooster last night. That was a fun show. I went back and forth on whether it was coming from a liberal-self-parody or conservatives-poking-fun-at-liberals stance. But it mostly worked regardless. Steve Carrell is very watchable.

My sister came over for Fringe on Wednesday, but I'd misplaced the DVD, so we watched the first two episodes of White Collar instead (the pilot is such good TV!!), along with our usual Bluey. With White Collar, I kept going, "I used that clip in a vid, oh, and that one was in a different vid," which made it hard to sink into the story. A good illustration of how I can "wear out" canon. /o\

Andrew and I watched The Odd Couple on DVD -- a great character piece, very stage play, lots of fun.

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, Cross Party Lines, Dreaming Against the Machine (with Adam Becker), some Letters from an American.

Online life
The 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange is in the run-up to reveals, so lots of modding. I'm loving 3weeks4dreamwidth this year (does it have to end?), and I have a couple of memes to catch up on.

Writing/making things
My 520 Day gift is polished and done (though today I thought of one line I might need to tweak). Next up, I'm planning to return to my Yuletide fic and actually finish it this time, but I'll wait till the intense modding period has passed. In the meantime, what are the chances of banging out a flashfic for fan_flashworks? I'd say about 50-50.

Life/health/mental state things
[Frothing at the mouth about NZ politics redacted.] I went to the School Strike 4 Climate protest today. I didn't know anyone else there, so I asked a couple of friendly older-looking people if I could walk with them, and we chatted as we went and did our best to avoid being blasted by the megaphones.

This sign reminded me of mific and princessofgeeks, so I had to take a photo:



ION, my shoulder/neck area is still pretty sore. Why are bodies?

House
The work in the kitchen is finished! Which means I should reconstruct everything -- put all the knickknacks back and so on. Yeah... (I really need to organise all my various recycling things. Atm, I get a drift of clean deconstructed tetrapacks in one corner, and soft plastic recycling spilling over in another.)

Language Learning
Today is day 18 of Chinese on Duolingo and Hello Chinese. I got a free week of premium on Duolingo, so I've been focusing on that and just revising the free stuff on Hello Chinese (numbers 1 to 10, and the 10 most common words/characters), but I'm thinking of getting some paid time on Hello Chinese after that. I should figure out how to type characters on my desktop. And I keep meaning to make some character charts to hang on the bathroom wall for toothbrush-time study.

I just added 中文 to my computer so now I can type!


这是我的猫。我的猫不说中文。我的猫喜欢我。我也喜欢我的猫。你喜欢猫吗？Look, I just made 五 sentences! ;-)

Good things
Protests and community. Introverted friends and TV dates. Biking and biking weather. New Zealand butter. Weekends. Kdramas. Fandom. 520 Day. Zhao Yunlaaaaan. Andrew and Halle. Steamed BBQ pork buns.

Title: From All The Spaces Between Times
Chapter: Chapter 82 — I Heard the Bells Ringing in the Religion of Time
Author: elrhiarhodan / elrhiarhodan / elrhiarhodan
Fandom: Star Wars, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars — Obi Wan Kenobi (TV), Star Wars — Jedi Apprentice Books
Characters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, The Force as a Sentient Character, Watto, Quinlan Vos, Padmé Amidala, Sabé, Darth Maul, Yoda, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia, Quinlan Vos, Professor Huyang, The Force, Plo Koon, Vokara Che, Siri Tachi, Aayla Secura, Bant Eerin, Bruck Chun, Xanatos du Crion, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Hego Damask II | Darth Plagueis, Komari Vosa, Bail Prestor Organa, Breha Organa, Bail Antilles Prestor, Rael Averross, Nim Piana, Ahsoka Tano, Sifo-Dyas, Reva Sevander, Lene Kostana (mentioned), Savage Opress, Pong Krell, The Traitor, Original Characters, Other Characters To Be Added
Pairings: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Shmi Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon Jinn (yes, we’re arrived). Bail Prestor Organa/Breha Organa
Word Count: ~ 6600 this chapter
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: Brief, non-graphic mention of prior sexual assault, non-graphic mention of child murder

Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has never known it, but he has always been the Force’s Champion, destined to suffer infinite sadness in defense of the Light. On his last turn on the wheel, responsibility for The Chosen One, the false child of prophecy, had been thrust upon him with no warning, and Darkness held the upper hand.

But this time, the Force has marshaled its power and will protect its Champion until the time is right, no matter how long Obi-Wan has to wait and how much he has to suffer.

Or,

Obi-Wan is reborn as a twelve-year old.

He wakes up on a slavers’ ship, with all of his prior life’s memories intact, and he’s bound for Tatooine with a Force-inhibitor collar around his neck, a bomb implanted in his spine, and no way of knowing what state of the Galaxy is in.

Just another day in the life of the Force’s Champion.

Chapter Summary: So many problems that need to be solved, and so little time to solve them.

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From All The Spaces Between Times: Chapter 82 — I Heard the Bells Ringing in the Religion of Time (On AO3)

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( Meta — I Heard the Bells Ringing in the Religion of Time )

There are three of these books, the latter two are basically out of print, but I did get my hands on a copy of the first one from back in the 2000s. Some things I found interesting are below, but the book stops before (I gather) the TNT meddling really got underway.

( A few bits and pieces from the book below )

One week after our epic drive to charge my car battery, it's flat again, even with the trickle charger installed. I got up early to take it down to the mechanic for its Warrant of Fitness, and nope. (So they came and collected it.)

Update: Apparently a new battery will hold its charge better, so. That. Plus they're going to replace the broken latch on the boot (AKA trunk), which will mean I'll actually be able to access it for things like groceries. Luxury! (Assuming I ever drive again, who even knows at this point.) Anyway.

At this stage it feels like my car is higher maintenance than anything else in my life except for my body. ;-p

I was telling my sister how the Chinese for "New Zealander" is:

新 = Chinese for "new"
西兰 = transliteration of "Zealand"
人 = Chinese for "person"

She pointed out the same is true in French:

Nouvelle = French for "new"
Zéland = transliteration
-aise = suffix for "person from"

In Korean, the "New" part of "New Zealander" is included in the transliteration, and the "er" becomes "인" (person from): 뉴질랜드인

This is all especially entertaining since our "Zealand" is an anglicisation of "Zeeland", which itself, according to wikipedia, 'consists of a number of islands and peninsulas (hence its name, meaning "Sealand")'. Transliterations of transliterations of transliterations!

Anyway, now I'm curious about "New Zealander" in other languages. If you speak another language, how much of the term is translated and how much transliterated?

Via maevedarcy. I changed it a little to suit myself, so maybe take the code from over there. Answers are not deeply considered, and are open to review.

The Characters: Superlatives
Rules: Choose one piece of media (book, tv show, movie, video game, whatever), then answer the questions.

I choose... Guardian

The questions:
Most likely to be unemployed: Sang Zan (if the SID didn't exist) or Da Qing
Most likely to do drugs at work: Wang Zheng
Most likely to get caught breaking the law: I'd say Lin Jing, except that he didn't get caught sneaking around for ages; Changcheng wouldn't break the law (except under orders); Zhao Yunlan, Chu Shuzhi, Da Qing, Wang Zheng and Sang Zan wouldn't get caught; Shen Wei kind of is the law. By process of elimination, that leaves Zhu Hong, but I'm not super convinced.
Most likely to do crime and escape unscathed: Da Qing, especially if the crime involved food, or Chu Shuzhi
Most likely to commit arson: Ye Huo (cheaty answer); Zhu Hong with the power of her fierce glare
Most likely to get scammed: Guo Changcheng
Most likely to lose their cool in an emergency: Guo Changcheng
Most likely to have a threesome: three-way tie between Lin Jing, Wang Zheng, and pre-Shen Wei Zhao Yunlan (but not with each other)
Most likely to sleep with their ex: Wang Zheng
Most likely to forget someone's name during sex: pre-Shen Wei Zhao Yunlan
Most likely to lie to their friends about something they did: three-way tie between Zhao Yunlan, Lin Jing, Shen Wei
Most likely to have a one-night stand: It's easier to list those who wouldn't: Shen Wei, Guo Changcheng, Da Qing
Most likely to get caught having sex in public: Zhao Yunlan
Most likely to marry someone they just met: contemporary Zhao Yunlan, YOHE Shen Wei
Most likely to fake their own death: Zhao Yunlan
Most likely to forget the name of a person they hooked up with: pre-Shen Wei Zhao Yunlan
Most likely to make a sex tape: Lin Jing (for science!)
Most likely to join the Mile-High Club: Zhao Yunlan or Lin Jing
Most likely to bring up astrology to explain literally everything: Wang Zheng
Most likely to have a crush on three people at the same time: Lin Jing
Most likely to win at trivia: Lin Jing
Most likely to know zero memes: Shen Wei
Most likely to start a band just for the aesthetic: Zhu Hong
Most likely to flirt their way out of trouble: Zhao Yunlan
Most likely to end up in a news headline: any and all of them
Most likely to open a PowerPoint presentation about why they deserve the last slice of pizza: Lin Jing (I was going to say Da Qing, but he would consider the ppt beneath him, and just take the pizza as his right.)

Title: From All The Spaces Between Times
Chapter: Chapter 81 — You Will Be What You Will Be
Author: elrhiarhodan / elrhiarhodan / elrhiarhodan
Fandom: Star Wars, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars — Obi Wan Kenobi (TV), Star Wars — Jedi Apprentice Books
Characters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, The Force as a Sentient Character, Watto, Quinlan Vos, Padmé Amidala, Sabé, Darth Maul, Yoda, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia, Quinlan Vos, Professor Huyang, The Force, Plo Koon, Vokara Che, Siri Tachi, Aayla Secura, Bant Eerin, Bruck Chun, Xanatos du Crion, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Hego Damask II | Darth Plagueis, Komari Vosa, Bail Prestor Organa, Breha Organa, Bail Antilles Prestor, Rael Averross, Nim Piana, Ahsoka Tano, Sifo-Dyas, Reva Sevander, Lene Kostana (mentioned), Savage Opress, Pong Krell, The Traitor, Original Characters, Other Characters To Be Added
Pairings: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Shmi Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon Jinn (yes, we’re arrived). Bail Prestor Organa/Breha Organa
Word Count: ~ 5800 this chapter
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None

Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has never known it, but he has always been the Force’s Champion, destined to suffer infinite sadness in defense of the Light. On his last turn on the wheel, responsibility for The Chosen One, the false child of prophecy, had been thrust upon him with no warning, and Darkness held the upper hand.

But this time, the Force has marshaled its power and will protect its Champion until the time is right, no matter how long Obi-Wan has to wait and how much he has to suffer.

Or,

Obi-Wan is reborn as a twelve-year old.

He wakes up on a slavers’ ship, with all of his prior life’s memories intact, and he’s bound for Tatooine with a Force-inhibitor collar around his neck, a bomb implanted in his spine, and no way of knowing what state of the Galaxy is in.

Just another day in the life of the Force’s Champion.

Chapter Summary: All is revealed.

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From All The Spaces Between Times: Chapter 81 — You Will Be What You Will Be (On AO3)

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( Meta — You Will Be What You Will Be )

I still like it! Woe! (Decided to add a tag for it, even.)

( All the rest of Crusade )

(Photo credit: Andrew.)