Welcome to the Heroes character meme!

Many of you will already be familiar with this concept, but for those who aren't, it's pretty simple. We all know of people in our lives who remind us of characters from books, movies, or tv shows. If any of your livejournal friends remind you of characters from Heroes, this is your chance to share!

Guidelines:
1. There will be one comment thread for each character, with the character's name listed in the subject line.
2. To nominate someone as that character, find the appropriate comment thread and reply with your nominee's lj-name in the body of your comment.
3. Do not vote more than once per character.
4. Nominations/Voting will be open for one week (until April 13th)
5. At the end of that time, the people who win will get a shiny banner (because people love the shiny).

Since I'm doing fiveohinohsix this year, I figured I'd start my book list. I'm making it a sticky post so that I'll be able to find it and update it easily. If you have any questions about a book I've read, I'll be happy to discuss with you. (Although don't spoil anything for others who might be reading my journal) Also, if you have suggestions to make, I'd be happy to receive them.

( Books read in 2006 )

I really don't think this will be of much interest to anyone but me...
( Just a checklist for myself... )

And why perfect spelling and grammar are not the be-all end-all indicators of intellectual prowess.

I find myself increasingly frustrated with the ranks at sorting_elite for a number of reasons. The one that stands out the most at the moment, however, is the tendency of the members to vote someone "SQUIB" (meaning that they are voting to deny the individual membership to the community) on the basis of a few misplaced commas and a couple of typos. Along with this vote, there is usually an accompanying opinion that the applicant is of sub-par intelligence for these reasons.

As someone with an interest in Education and Learning Disabilities, as well as a certified teacher of English as a Foreign Language, such opinions come across as particularly ignorant and insensitive to me.

For many individuals punctuation and spelling are particularly tricky subjects--and not for lack of effort. For example: from my language study, I know that Czech does not use commas in the same instances that English does. Also, many people would see the spelling "Gryffondor" and think that a typo has been made--but a quick click shows that it's actually the French version of the house. Does having greater familiarity with the French texts indicate an inferior intellect? I'd have to say that I disagree.

As far as Learning Disabilities go, I am hardly an expert. What I will say is that I have had a number of dyslexic friends--brilliant individuals who couldn't spell. There is a LOT more to be said in this area, but for now it's going to be left unsaid.

Really, what this is, is the preliminary outlining of an essay I'm thinking about writing. Sure, it's only a sorting community, but when I see so many individuals gathered in one location, passing ill-informed judgment, I feel compelled to try to educate them a little bit. So, with the assistance of callmecaito, who is a Special Education major, I am hoping to put together a nice little essay on such issues.

Additional input, of course, is appreciated.

You know how I was going to be working on making an RP after Rebel Hogwarts closed? Yeah, I fail at that. I just don't have the dedication to run something. I'm lazy by nature.

However, I'm going to encourage people to come play at np_hogwarts, or their affiliate comms for adults. Because, I want more fun, interesting people to play with.

Pimpity-doo-dah.

The new term is getting ready to start up at hogwarts_elite, which means that the application queue at sorting_elite is now open. So, anyone not currently a member should consider applying. Don't let the reputation scare you away! The community is actually full of some amazingly cool people, and I have a lot of fun there.



If you'd like, I'll even sponsor your application. ^^

Ok... So, I've decided that I'm going to start phasing out this journal. I dunno... I won't delete it or anything, because it's got a chunk of my life in it, but I'm hardly posting here anymore, and the stuff that I do post here could just as well be posted over at cacophonesque.

So, I'm going to start by removing people from my list here who I already have on cacophonesque.

And then I'll decide what to do next.

We're doing the MECA voting over at eagle_eyed (Ravenclaw common room for hogwarts_elite). MECA being the Magestic Eagle Call Awards, sort of like our house superlatives over there.

I got nominated in 11 categories. wtf? (that's a wtf of shock, not disgust)

So, I am up for: Sterling Ravenclaw, Friendliest Claw, Snarkiest Claw, Most Creative Claw, Man's Greatest Treasure, The Cookie Hoarder, Favorite Veteran, Best Diagon Shopkeeper, Ravenclaw All-Star, The Padma Patil Award, and The Professor Flitwick Award.

...
Yup, that's pretty much all. No real point. Just me procrastinating.
And, uh, being really flattered by whoever nominated me for crap.

WHY THE FUCK WILL LIVEJOURNAL NOT WORK FOR ME?!?!?!

Currently I can log in, but I can't view my user info or my friends list. And I can't check the lj status page.

What the fuck.

*Hulks out*

"Next, Amanda's worst fear comes true as she is faced with a terrifying collection of garden gnomes."

Alrighty, so things have progressed nicely from my moment of insanity.

toil_andtrouble is now accepting applications

Projected date for the start of official game play is May 13th. I encourage people to apply before then, though, so that they have time to backstory with other characters. Also, it will help to solidify the plot if I have an idea of at least some of the characters.

I could really use a pretty graphic or two for the community (*hint* *hint*) Both for the user info and for pimping purposes.

Um, yay! I'm excited.

So, tonight, talking with Ling, I started to ... consider...

With the closing of Rebel Hogwarts, there are a few displaced characters (O'Neill!!!!!!) and I was thinking about perhaps opening a new RP community in the spirit of RH, but not exactly a replacement.

Right now it's all a bit embryonic, but I was wondering if there would be interest. Even if you didn't play at RH, you're welcome to express interest. There would not be any grandfather clause characters, though. Everyone would have to apply--even if I know you and you're my friend, and all that crap.

More specifics if people actually seem interested.

Everyone else has been doing this "Which Harry Potter Character Are You" Meme, and I am caving, finally, and doing it as well.

So, go here and tell me.

Also... because I totally suck... a late Happy Birthday to ariesathena. The entire week beforehand, I was like, oh look, an upcoming birthday... but uh, not like it did any good.

My characters (Sly and Elanor) were both approved to return to playing at np_hogwarts. It's exciting to be playing again, and I am slowly getting back into things. I love my characters so much, and I missed certain players a lot.

I still feel a little weird. I was talking about it tonight with prettyhowtown. I'm back there, but I still feel like I'm an outsider. I don't feel quite welcome, even though no one has done anything in particular to make me feel that way. Maybe it's just my paranoia--I always think people don't like me. It dates back to jr. high and high school, when people really didn't like me. I guess I should give it time. and not expect too much.

After much poking and prodding and other indications that people like me...

I left a comment at np_hogwarts to see about bringing professor_sly back into play. He's been in hibernation since I originally left the game... and I really miss him. So, we'll see if they'll take him back.

And if so, maybe I can play him correctly--now that certain asshats who couldn't differentiate between IC and OOC knowledge are no longer affiliated with the game.

Of course, this means I should get off my arse and go back to playing Elanor at RH... but I feel so behind. And like I can't keep up with it. And woe. Yes, much RPG woe.

From my friend Asher--clearly something circulating the interwebs but amuses me nonetheless.

10 Reasons why gay marriage is "wrong"

1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage would be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

Same old shit, different day...
Or maybe just different permutation.

Anyway, I stepped down from my officials duties at hogwarts_rising. My resignation reads as follows:
I haven't really had the time to be a good Head of House, and I feel very uncomfortable here at the moment as Lena was removed from her position under such secrecy. I left my last sorting community because there was too much underhanded stuff going on and not enough transparency. When I came here, I was promised that wouldn't happen, and yet...

So, that's a resignation from me. Good luck, though.

And it's true. I left hogwartsishome for a number of reasons, but one of my largest criticisms of that community has been the propensity for underhandedness and a severe lack of transparency, even among the officials. Most of the people who left HiH for H_R, as I had understood it, had left for similar reasons, or so I thought.

So, it's really kind of a turn-off when the Headmistress is removed by the Deputy Headmistress without any kind of explanation or warning. And, it's even more bothersome when the rest of the community, including the officials, is kept completely in the dark about the situation. For a community that was supposed to be about learning from the mistakes of other sorting communities and thus avoid drama and wank, it seems to have reached drama in record time.

I just don't have time for that kind of crap these days. Drama in the normal rank and file of a community is to be expected. And I can deal with most of it, because it's so inconsequential. However, when it's the leadership of the community that can't handle things in responsible ways, such as talking with each other and attempting to resolve issues, then it's not something that I want to be invested with.

So, that leaves me with hogwarts_elite, which is just as well. It's the best sorting community I've joined. The people are amazing, the comraderie is impressive, and there are actually rewarding discussions with citation of canon (fancy that!). Also, I just keep meeting more and more people there who I think completely rock. I know that the sorting process can seem intimidating, but it's really an inaccurate representation of the community. And, I am dead serious when I say that H_E is the least wanky sorting community I've been involved with.

Anyway, yup. Sorting community crap.

In other HP crap:
Over at hogwarts_elite we've been talking about what houses various adults were likely to have been sorted into when they were at Hogwarts. Of course for most of them, there's no canon evidence for real conclusions, but speculation can be fun (so long as people aren't asshats). So, does anyone have ideas? Theories? Just want to make random guesses?

I kind of like thinking of Moody as a Ravenclaw. And I always thought of Amelia Bones as a Hufflepuff like her neice. Also, Ludo Bagman as a Slytherin.

Finally, I have been thinking about the sorting process on the internet, and alternative methods, or things that could be of assistance in trying to determine placement. One idea I had involved incorporating the Johari Window (and it's counterpart Nohari window, which I have not filled out). Anyone who hasn't filled out my Johari is invited and encouraged to do so, also. :) And then, I'd like to find out, based on my window, where would you place me?

Dear Livejournal Harry Potter Fans,

Please. Stop. Being. So. Fucking. Wanky.

Bloody. Hell.

And people wonder why the rest of the world thinks HP fans are a bunch of fucking jackasses.

No love,
Me.

I was thinking about the Four Houses at Hogwarts and how people fit into them. Then, I was tryign to think of how to describe my own fitting into them... This is what I have so far for myself:

Slytherin descendant
Gryffindor ascendant
Hufflepuff moon
Ravenclaw sun

Of course, my understanding of astrology is not near what it used to be, and this system is obviously not a perfect match-up... but I think that it's a good rough indication... Perhaps I would switch the Puff and Slyth... I'm not sure. Perhaps when I have a little more time, I'll plot out more precisely which Hogwarts House I think dominates each part of my astrological profile. Could be interesting.

A Stanford student writes a piece of satire that suggests Americans (and others) would be more outraged if the terrorists kidnapped J.K. Rowling [instead of the humanitarian aids and journalists they've been kidnapping] because we place more value on our entertainment than on world events:
http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=19477&repository=0001_article

And then some people get their knickers all in a twist and are OMG!SoOffended! One such example is Melissa at the Leakey Cauldron, who apparently takes things way too seriously.
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/#article:8392

Sorry Melissa: It's a piece of editorial satire in a university newspaper. While, yes, it is online, the intended audience is not the youth readership of the Harry Potter series. I am particularly impressed with the holier-than-and-more-worldly-than-thou attitude of dear BNF Melissa. Really, the superiority complex, so cool. She completely misses the point that the Stanford writer is not attacking JKR or her fanbase but is making jest of the American mentality through the use of a widely understandable example. My opinion on the matter? Someone needs to pull the stick out of their ass. Then said person needs to go back to English class and learn how to read tone.