If I'm not responding to something, that is likely because notifications are apparently currently broken on LJ, though earlier I was still getting some at least for comments albeit with much delay (I haven't gotten any tracking notifications recently, but of course now I don't know whether that is because the journals/tags don't have new posts or because they vanished into some virtual bermuda triangle). This follows their Scrapbook and userpic problems earlier. Not to mention that the site is timing out on me more than usual still, though that has gotten better today.

On the brighter side of their technical difficulties, their glitch of making the snowflake v-gifts free (apparently that wasn't an intentional holiday spirit thing and they also managed to fix *that* of all their glitches) led to snowflake flurries across my f-list, and I also got some (thanks anon and devildoll!). Those are nice.

This probably is a totally embarrassing n00b question, but is there some sort of trick or method to avoid your palette becoming a total mess when you color something or paint? Something that people who are not self-taught via trial and error are shown when they learn?

I struggled with this once again recently when I finished my yuletart assignment (btw Yuletart has started posting this weekend so remember to check it to not miss the cool art that is being posted). I can't seem to handle color mixing in an efficient way.

My method when mixing acrylics to color my lineart looks something like this: I usually use two palettes, one for thicker colors (which is not so much a real palette as a largish cookie tin lid onto which I put a layer of very wet paper towel covered by a piece of sandwich paper so that the paint remains wet) and a palette with several depressions for mixing in a more watery way. I also have two containers with water, one that remains clear for making the paint thinner for glazes without dipping the brush in (usually I use eyedroppers for that) and one to use with the brushes.

I put small dollops of the colors I plan to use for mixing on the first palette and start to mix colors and put them on paper. Because for the most part I use acrylic paint in thinner layers I tend to either mix on the first palette until I get the shade I want, put a bit on the second palette, and add clean water until it has the translucency I need, or I add layers of more basic colors over each other on the paper. Sometimes for gradients I also start with less water and then do a wash on the paper. But inevitably after a relatively short while this arrangement becomes a mess, i.e. I run out of spaces to mix or to dilute the paint or both. Am I missing some technique that will make this whole thing more go more smoothly and efficiently?

I have just seen a Kirk/Spock/McCoy fic tagged as "Mckick". Granted, on the story itself rather than the journal's tags it was written out, so don't know whether this was just for tag brevity or is really used as pairing name proper somewhere, but even with knowing the pairing it took me a bit to decipher what this tag on the post meant. Smooshes just get the more confusing the more people are involved.

I've been reading a slash story in which a heated argument between the couple (who are also friends) results in punch being thrown, and then the one punched actually finds the aggression a turn on and it goes on to sex. Somehow this combination of sex and violence doesn't work for me at all, not even in fiction, where I'm not averse to combinations of sex and violence.

Like, I can go along fine if the aggression is against some kind of third party, and one character is turned on by the other being violent, or they are turned on mutually, say if they are both in a barfight or even slaughter others. I can also go along with non-con that involves violence with the victim not being turned on, but I as a reader like it. But if the violence is between the couple (and they are supposed to like each other), uncontrolled violence segueing into sex (rather than say rough sex that is mutually agreed upon) is squicky for me, more so if the violence is not mutual (the latter would be more fighting leading to fucking in some kind of hate sex, which I also don't like, but it is not as bad as one sided violence).

Most often this is shown from the POV of the character the aggression is turned upon rather than the violent character being turned on by the escalation, i.e. A hits B, usually after some provocation, then B somehow finds that aggression/violence (or sometimes the loss of control) hot, and sex follows. I have to admit that I find this particular combination of sex and violence to be surprising as a kink, and it always startles me, but I see this every now and then, and I'm wondering whether it is something that many people like in sex scenes.

So, a poll:

I still had some leftover squash from the butternut squash risotto I made this weekend and with all the US Thanksgiving talk on my f-list I decided to bake a small pumpkin pie. So this was what I had for dinner... Well, it's not like there isn't a tradition of sweet main dishes and this even has a vegetable in it.

I've also been reading a lot of Star Trek and SGA Bigbang stories, though because of the ST Bigbang I haven't yet read that many of the SGA stories. I've been wondering whether I shouldn't do an extra Bigbang recs post for the stories I enjoyed that weren't AUs (those will of course end up in the next AU recs post).

My rats continue to be adorable. Linus in particular always wants to groom me, climb into my clothes, and even likes to cuddle and to be petted. He actually sometimes stays still for that, which is a great feat for a young rat. I could do without his love for the inside of my clothes though. And I do not care at all for two or three rats to start roughhousing while inside my sweatshirt. Their flailing limbs have too many claws for that.

BTW I don't know whether I mentioned this, but Linus looks kind of funny because he lost the tip of his tail in an accident when he was really tiny. The breeder thinks his mother somehow dropped their house on his tail tip so a bit got cut off. Sometimes rats just aren't the sharpest knife in the drawer. But it healed really well and he learned climbing with a shorter tail so it doesn't bother him, and it's not like I got them as show rats, but his tail is a few centimeters shorter than normal. It's somehow more noticeable now that he gets more properly rat sized though, rather than being really tiny.

( some more rat photos )

Because my memory is crap, do we ever see the team camping offworld, i.e. see what kind of tents they use and such, or is the offworld camping a pure fanon thing?

Unrelated, I remember the team sitting together in their mess hall in a couple of episodes, but I can't recall which those were. Argh. My memory, worse than a Swiss cheese.

It's not exactly that I had forgotten already how much energy and destructive initiative young rats have once they've gotten over their initial shyness, but there definitely was rose-tinted nostalgia blurring those memories. In any case I now remember why the free playtime outside I give younger rats has always been only an hour or two at most, whereas I let older ones out as much as they like as long as I'm home.

I also need to come up with more entertainment to occupy them now that they feel secure outside. Currently Noah in particular expends most of his not inconsiderable energy trying to get out of their play enclosure (simple wood panels held together with cable binders), that I put up for their safety while they are this young and reckless. Though even with the escape attempts, it still makes watching them easier. And the ferret climbing tree I bought for them has been a big hit, but clearly I now need to do some more landscaping to satisfy their exploratory drive.

( Criminal Minds spoilers )

( Friday Night Lights spoilers )

( Supernatural spoilers )

They now all come up onto my hand when I put it in the cage, and climb onto me and sit on my shoulder. They now also let me pet them. They are not yet comfortable to be grabbed and picked up, and they haven't yet learned to come when I call either, so I won't let them run outside yet. But they are definitely interested in exploring outside the cage, so I have to be watchful now.

In preparation for future playtime I have made a simple enclosure from wooden panels connected with cable binders that I can put up to let them play outside while they are very little without guarding every tiny opening between, beneath or into my furniture, so that may happen soon. Previously I just let tiny ones play in the whole room like adults, but it is just extremely stressful to keep track of them when they are tiny. My last ones squeezed themselves beneath my mattress for example and in all sorts of places, even with me doing my best to block all gaps between walls and furniture and make the room safe. Obviously it's more interesting for them if they can explore the whole room, but they will have to make do for the sake of my nerves.

I mean, the size of the enclosure will be all of the center of the room so they can run further than in the cage if they like, and obviously I will put in something for them to climb, and hide, and such for entertainment. I have a large branch now, but I'm looking into whether there are maybe cat scratching tree combos that would maybe work for rats as a more varied playground. I've also seen a kind of ferret play tree in a pet store that looked real nice and good for rats (probably because they are closer in size than cats), but it was quite expensive unfortunately (the ones for cats were too). So I'm still looking for something like that.

Finally, I have decided to go with Linus and Leo for the new names I wasn't decided on yet.

I've just come back from getting my three baby rats, who are tiny and adorable. They are still a bit shy, mostly hiding in one of their tubes, but they've already found the food and water and are coming out to grab bits of food only to hide again to eat it. So they are not easy to photograph yet, but starting to settle in.

In case anyone is interested, here are the answers to who my favorites are in fandoms I listed:
( if you don't want to guess )

Gacked from astridv:
1. Post a list of up to 20 books/movies/anime/TV shows/video games/bands that you've had an obsessive fannish love or interest in at some time in your life.
2. Have your f-list guess your favourite character/member from each item.

( cut for the list )

Does anyone else have trouble with the Cascade Library site? I wanted to check something for fanlore and it didn't load right.

Right now for me sometimes pages load with the proper content, but sometimes some kind of weird spam site loads, with annoying links and I assume malicious Javascript. (I have NoScript on, and linux tends to have vulnerabilities different from Windows which is most commonly targeted by website hacks, so I don't know what it does to other computers.) Has skeeter63.org been hacked? I have the same problem with all the site's there, that sometimes they load okay and sometimes this crap loads. It might not be a good idea to go there right now if you don't have NoScript and adequate precautions enabled, but I'm wondering what is up with the domain.

Doubt, by ALEO. Gen, Don Eppes. (ca. 8,300 words)
Numb3rs/Supernatural
I recced the previous two stories in this series already (Unexplained and Explained), and this one is a good read too. The Supernatural world functions more as a vehicle for Don-whump than as equal crossover partner in this one, but it's not as if I dislike seeing Don hurt, and angst while he adjusts his worldview to the supernatural.

Unwilling Oracle, by Beatrice Otter. Gen, John Crichton, Kira Nerys. (ca. 1,870 words)
Farscape/Star Trek: Deep Space 9
This has a really cool premise meshing the wormhole mythologies.

Angels in the Architecture , by Davincis_girl. (ca. 12,000 words)
Supernatural/Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
I think the two universes are a great mix, especially when it comes to the various teenage experiences of growing up with pseudo-military training, and here John Connor travels back to 1999 and gets the teenaged Sam and Dean to help him.

Downloaded series, by Ennyousai. Slash and het, Kirk/McCoy, Scotty/Six. WIP (for the series, the stories are finished)
Battlestar Galactica (2003)/Star Trek: Reboot
I'm not familiar with BSG, but the author's notes said it would work if you just knew ST and it did work great as a Star Trek AU.

The Time Has Come to Be Gone, by Jujuberry136. Gen. (ca. 28,950 words)
Criminal Minds/Supernatural
I enjoy stories with the Criminal Minds team meeting and dealing with the Winchesters, and this one is a good action/case story.

The Mutant Problem, by Katt. Gen. (ca. 7,900 words)
Spider-Man/X-Men
This is a very cool multimedia fanfic in the form of a fictional photo essay by Peter Parker.

Pigs in Spaaaaaaaace, by Kayim. (ca. 2,580 words)
Muppets/Star Trek
How could I not love a crossover between Star Trek and Pigs in Space?

For I Have Been a Stranger in a Foreign Land, by Mortigi_tempo. Slash, Kirk/Spock. WIP (ca. 10,000 words so far)
Dune/Star Trek: Reboot
This is a very cool crossover setup. Kirk and Spock get stranded on Arrakis.

Northern Lights, by Se_parsons. Gen. (ca. 9,700 words)
Supernatural/The X-Files
In this one we get an outsider POV of the Winchester family as Mulder and Scully run into them during an investigation.

To Become Immortal, First You Have to Die, by ShadowLoverK. Gen. (ca. 3,200 words)
Highlander/Star Trek: Reboot
Kirk is an immortal and has his first death from an allergic reaction during the movie.

Abnormal Psychology (ca. 1,440 words) and A Sam Adams Moment (ca. 1,500 words), by Siriaeve. Gen, Sweets, John Sheppard.
Bones/Stargate: Atlantis
Sweets working for the SGC is just an awesome and funny premise.

A Thousand Pages, by Tartanshell. Gen, Scott Summers, Matt Murdock. (ca. 6,250 words)
Daredevil/X-Men
In this Matt and Scott were penpals fo a while as teenagers, then meet again as adults.

Harry Potter

House Colours, by Sarka. Slash, Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy. (ca. 12,800 words)
This is a Slytherin!Harry with Gryffindor!Draco AU, and I really enjoyed it, not least because it had a Ron who was first friends with Draco and then Harry, rather than the Ron-bashing that is so depressingly common in Slytherin!Harry stories.

Stargate: Atlantis

Snakeheads: A Love Story, by Leah. Slash, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard/OMC. (ca. 17,600 words)
I never really expected to read a John/Rodney/Goa'uld threesome, but this was written by Leah, so of course I gave it a try, and wasn't disappointed. This one was far more fun than you'd expect with this setup.

The Little Sister, by Martha. Slash, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard. WIP
I like film noir AUs, and ever since Vegas I like seeing Sheppard as down on his luck detective even more, but what makes this AU great is that the alternate reality is still based on Stargate. The setup is really intriguing, and I like that in it the Goa'uld were smarter in their take over of earth, smart enough that the majority doesn't even think of them as bad guys.

Strange Aeon, by Slybrarian. Slash, Sheppard/Mitchell, Sheppard/Lorne. WIP (ca. 32,000 words so far)
How could anyone resist a mix of Lovecraftian space monsters and with Stargate? The series is still a WIP, and I'm really enjoy how this is subtly different from canon, and the world building and hints of mythology so far have me hooked. And I like Cam in Atlantis.

To the Wide Outposts (ca. 7,490 words) and The Known From the Unknown (ca. 12,000 words), by Vain_glorious. Gen, Ronon Dex, John Sheppard.
I've recced the other two stories in this series (Where the Ways Divide and In the Nights When I Am Lone) already, but in case you missed these two that have been posted since my last recs update, it doesn't hurt to point the 'verse out again. In it Sheppard has been made a runner by the Wraith and is found and taken in by Ronon and his Satedan squad.

Star Trek: Reboot

Open Up My Eager Eyes, by June. Slash and femslash, Kirk/Spock, Uhura/Gaila. (ca. 15,000 words)
This is a fusion with Pump Up the Volume that was written for reel_startrek. I really enjoyed this, even though I'm not particularly into high school AUs or into making Spock a human/loosing the SF elements in Trek fiction.

Lensflare Lover, by Leftarrow. Het, Pike/Enterprise, Pike/Number One. (ca. 7,300 words)
This has a cool premise in which the spaceships have avatars.

In Truth, by Mint_amaretto. Slash and het, Kirk/McCoy, Spock/Uhura. (ca. 3,570 words)
This is a really creepy, twisted AU, as any mix with the Dollhouse concept (not the series itself, more the basic premise) should be.

The Sky Was Made for Us Tonight, by Waketosleep. Slash, Kirk/Spock. (ca. 5,500 words)
In this AU Vulcans decided to supervise humanity more closely, and Kirk and Spock are delinquent rebels together after meeting in a holding cell and staging a prison break. I enjoyed this scenario a lot.

Supernatural

Untitled SPN Snippet, by Cofax. Gen. (ca. 1,300 words)
I wanted this to be longer and an apocafic epic rather than a snippet, but the world building was still interesting.

Teufelshunde, by July. Gen. WIP
In this AU Sam and Dean grow up with a foster parent after John has been arrested. I really like the OC and the structure with the flashbacks here works for me, even though flashbacks aren't my favorite things.

Rain Falling Down, by Maychorian. Gen, Bobby, Castiel, Jimmy, Dean, John. WIP (the series, individual stories are finished, ca. 20,000 words so far)
In this AU Castiel travels back in time to prevent the apocalyse, but things go wrong and he gets stuck in his host as a kid without his full powers, and lots of angst and h/c ensue.

And Burn the Long-liv'd Phoenix in her Blood, by Tabaqui. Gen. (ca. 6,800 words)
In this AU Mary survives, but they still hunt. I enjoyed the setup and look at their lives.