( Girl Genius Comic for Monday November 09, 2009 )

<3 Phil and I will be at Windycon this weekend! Yay! Also, We now have SQUEEZY CASTLE WULFENBACH AIRSHIPS in stock! Woo, I say. And also Hoo.

Click to read the new tables.

Beannachd nan siubhal 's nan imeachd! 'S e an-diugh Dihaoine, cha chluinn sinn iad!

Sir Ewen of Lochiel (Eoghan Dubh Lochiall) (Feb. 1629 - Feb. 1719), the 17th Chief of Clan Cameron, was a man of enormous strength and size but also of considerable wit. Clan Cameron was at feud with Clan Mackintosh, had been for several hundreds of years, neither giving way to the other.

It happened one day that Sir Ewan Cameron of Lochiel met with the witch Gormshul mhòr na Moighe (Gormul of Moy, lit. Big Blue-eye of Moy). ( This is what happened )

*"A blessing on their traveling and their departure. Today is Friday and they can't hear us."

My husband found this. There's a new translation of the Charles Perrault fairy tales.

( Girl Genius Comic for Friday November 06, 2009 )

<3 The books are in. The books are being packed and shipped! --Kaja <3

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
( Read more... )

(This story about stories seems particularly apt for this community.)

All Stories are Anansi's

In the beginning, all tales and stories belonged to Nyame, the Sky God. But Kwaku Anansi, the spider, yearned to be the owner of all the stories known in the world, and he went to Nyame and offered to buy them.

The Sky God said: "I am willing to sell the stories, but the price is high. Many people have come to me offering to buy, but the price was too high for them. Rich and powerful families have not been able to pay. Do you think you can do it?"

( Anansi replied to the Sky God.... )

Hey guys,

I've been a member of the comm for a while now but I haven't really posted anything, so hi! I'm Soph, and it's very probable that I haven't spoken to many of you before. =)

I'm looking for fairytale-themed songs or songs that reference fairytales or other well-known stories, and I was wondering if you guys have any recommendations?

( Just because I think some of you will probably enjoy these for the same reason as I do, here are some songs that I know of which make reference to fairytales and other culturally significant stories (behind a cut because this ended up being a much longer post than anticipated) )


Thanks in advance for any recs you might have. =)

ETA - Can I just say you guys are so awesome?! I've had a bunch of replies in a really short time, thanks guys! =) x

Paul O. Zelinsky won the 1998 Caldecott for his illustrations and retelling of Rapunzel, as well as Caldecott Honors for Hansel and Gretel (1985), Rumpelstiltskin (1987), and Swamp Angel (1995). (I love it when fairy tales win.)

( More illustrations from Rapunzel )

The illustrations are gorgeous, as you can see, and Zelinsky also included a nice four page write up at the end about the history of the tale. Naturally I found that part fascinating. The nice thing about this, since it's a Caldecott winner, is that it's easy to get a look at in your library if you don't want to buy it.

It's 4am here and I can't sleep. I have a knot in my stomach and a sick feeling in my heart over the news that voters in Maine passed Question 1 on the ballot, which repealed a law to allow same-sex couples to marry, albeit narrowly.

I want to scream my frustration and sadness over this. I want to rage against this latest (narrow) victory for intolerance, hate and ignorance.

Instead, all I feel inspired to do right now is share a personal story with anyone who cares to read it.

It's about the day I found God.

I was seventeen and had the opportunity to go on a short tour of Europe with a music group to play in various countries. We stopped in Paris where I had the pleasure to go to one of the largest, most majestic Catholic cathedrals I've ever seen. The name of the church eludes me after all these years, but I was eager to attend a mass because I was feeling spiritually confused. I was born and raised a Catholic but I was beginning to doubt the teachings of the church. "Rebellious" alternatives, like declaring myself agnostic or atheist, didn't seem to fit either. I even took a glance at the Church of Satan, but that's a story for another day.

In the end I attended this mass in France, but truth be told I wasn't really there. I was in my own head, knelt in prayer as I took in the pious majesty of my surroundings. I found myself doing something very cliche... looking up with my hands folded and asking for answers, albeit in my own head.

I said to myself, "I want to pray, but I don't know who to pray to any more. I want to believe in something, but I don't know what to believe in. The only thing I believe in is love."

And just like that, the answer came to me.
"God is love."

My heart swelled with joy. To this day I can't describe the happiness and relief I felt with this revelation. This was something I could grasp. This was something I could believe in. This was something I had been taught in my childhood and could easily take it with me all through the years. God, my God, is Love. Screw all the other teachings from all the other sources. God is Love is my religion, and I live that to this day.

I earnestly believe in God, though I don't refer to God as Him or Her. I can get behind a being who is full of unconditional love and compassion. I can easily worship a deity who loves all its creations equally. I can stand firmly behind the feeling in my heart that I received that day in the church because I feel it still in the presence of my family, my dearest friends, my beloved girlfriend and even from the readers of my webcomic who come and say such wonderful things to me, a total stranger, when I'm out at conventions. That is Love... unconditional and all-encompassing Love, and that is my God.

It saddens me greatly that not everyone sees God that way. It breaks my heart to see people standing up for hate and intolerance in God's name, claiming that God's love is not unconditional and all-encompassing. To deny others the right to express their love for one another in all its glory and uplifting wonder is, to me, a sin against the joy that God gave us.

I guess I'll just have to pray that some of that glorious Love will spread sooner than later, and all this needless hate will be nothing more than a regrettable memory one day.

( Girl Genius Comic for Wednesday November 04, 2009 )

<3 --Steamcon. Was. Awesome. More later. --Kaja <3

The daughter's task in The Wild Swans is by no means easy, yet even at the end of the story, there's a hint that more sacrifice is required for happiness--the youngest brother's arm remains a swan's wing even when the spell is broken. That imagery and narrative line has always captivated and fascinated me; in fact, this remains one of my all time favorite fairy tales.

So I wonder what other people think about that part of the story. Does it seem like the brothers had to give something up to be returned to their normal state? That no happiness can come without cost? In the Andersen version, there are strong Christian overtones, in spite of the enchantments and sorcery in the story. (The daughter is too pure and beautiful for the stepmother/witch's sorcery to work on her. She prays and the solution comes to her from an angel in a dream. Etc.)

And there's much to be said about the redemptive qualities of sacrifice... but even so, there at the end, there's that one swan wing. So what do you think? Why does that aspect of the story linger so?

(And there are a couple of retellings that deal with the younger brother/what happens to him after. I'll look them up if anyone doesn't know about them/is interested.)

This will be a boring list-entry, because I can.

* Am currently translating some web-pages for a friend - just because.
* Bought myself (and Mr Man) an early Christmayhem present - PlayStation3
* Work is per usual still tons of fun.
* Sent the owner of Villa Fae a letter saying I'm moving out by February 1st, 2010 - as the contract states. He accepted, so I'll be moving all my shit during the next three months.


There you have it.

Can you please share your favorite links in regard to Bluebeard?  Images, articles, retellings, etc. 

I've already read Terri Windling's article, and looked at Sur La Lune.  And read The Bloody Chamber.

This is for a photography project I'm very excited about.

( Girl Genius Comic for Monday November 02, 2009 )

<3 --Phil drew a couple of great comic strip style ads (yes, for money)... one using Girl Genius characters, and one using Buck Godot. You should look at them, they're awesome. And I didn't help write them, so I can say that. Oh, well, actually, I did the final scripting, but that's pretty minor. Ha. Well, look or don't. I like them!--Kaja <3

For Halloween this year, I went as Red Ridding Hood. Pictures below the cut.

EDIT: If you're reading this, our maintenance is OVER! The problem was not found on our equipment, which means we'll have to work with our ISP to fix this small problem -- which also means another maintenance window in the future -- but at least we have eliminated our side.

Thank you everyone, and a special shout out to rekoil for giving me a great suggestion AND also the opportunity to feel like I've just called in to a local radio station.

Have a great day, night or afternoon wherever you may be.

---

Hi everyone, sorry for the late notice but I'm going to have to do some testing on 1 of our 4 internet circuits TONIGHT; Friday night or Saturday morning depending on which time zone you're in.

Most of us shouldn't notice any impact, though there may be some slowness or lag when I switch traffic on to our other ISP circuits and then another hit when I stop the tests. If a page won't load or times out, try hitting refresh 1 or 2 times and it should load then. If it doesn't work at all... trust me, I'll be typing really really really fast to try to undo whatever I just did. Hopefully you'll have some Halloween candy (if you're in the USA and celebrate that kind of thing) nearby to take away the bitterness of a small site outage. :(

Here's the handy-dandy Website That I Always Use to get a feel for when the maintenance will start in your area. Our site traffic historically dips on Friday afternoons until Saturday morning which is why we tend to pick this time for maintenance work.

( tech details )

status.livejournal.org will, of course be updated before and after the maintenance window. Or else marta will get mad at me. :D

bt

"Beannachd nan siubhail 's nan imeachd! 'S e an-diugh Dihaoine, cha chluinn iad sinne." *

You know Dòmhnall am Postaidh don't you? ( He carried the mails )

* {"A blessing on their departing and their traveling. Today is Friday and they won't hear us."}

( Girl Genius Comic for Friday October 30, 2009 )

<3 --Our books are on their way. Hooray! Also, if you want to see the whole double-spread without chopping, you can look here. --Kaja <3