solarcat

MiniMerlin Boston Carpool Folks!
We have directions (courtesy of Google Maps, with helpful assistance from Sister S.), and we will be picking mirimeneume up about an hour after we leave Boston, with another 5 hours or so left to the journey after that. My father is picking up our tab for lunch, so yay! \0/
Your share of the car rental fee comes to about $27, but if you could throw in an extra $10 or $20 for gas, that would rock. ;D


MiniMerlin Roommate-type Folks!
(This would be ocelotspots, shinetheway and gblvr, btw.)
As you should hopefully be aware, your share of the room is $75 each for the weekend! If you could have this in cash, that would be most excellent, as I will then be able to pay a lot of the room cost in cash and not have to put so much on my CC. =)


MiniMerlin Everyone!
Randomly, I don't think I ever mentioned that the hotel has an indoor pool and whirlpool (towels provided). So feel free to bring your suits if you like! (We can re-enact "The Gates of Avalon"! XD ) This isn't like, an activity or anything. I just realized I'd never mentioned it. XDDD


( Con Suite Food/Etc Listing Thingie )


( Solarcat's To Do List )

We have only a week to go before our fantastic and wonderful mini-con kicks off, so it's time to sum up the details and put the finishing touches on this shebang!

First off, if you've missed any of the other MiniMerlin info posts, here's a handy quicklist:



Got all that? Great! Let's move on to the fine print, shall we? =3

How Can I Help?
Several of you have been so kind as to ask this question, and now is your time to shine! (Depending on your ability/availability!)

We need people to help us stock the con suite with munchies and beverages!
Philly natives would be very helpful here, but if anyone is driving in and can bring a flat of water bottles or a twelve pack of Coke or a bag of Tostitos or some Oreos or Chex Mix or apples or bagels or whatvever, that would be fantastic! But please refrain from bringing things that need to be refrigerated, unless you plan to bring the refrigerator! We are like Bradley--we are not allowed to have milk!

If you're interested, PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS POST with what you're thinking of bringing and an approximate budget. (Please don't buy anything until I give you the greenlight!! I don't want to show up at the con and realize that twenty people each brought $50 worth of junk food and we don't have enough in the budget to reimburse everyone!!)

Bring the receipts for whatever you buy with you to the con, and I'll reimburse you. I'd prefer to do this by check, since that provides a paper trail for anyone who ever questions the use of con funds, but if you prefer cash, just say so--I'll just make you sign a little piece of paper saying "SolarCat totes paid me $X for this stuff I brought to MiniMerlin" and we'll be good. (But do forewarn me, please! I don't really want to travel with hundreds of dollars in cash, so if you want cash reimbursement, please say so now so I can plan accordingly.)


We need a Vid Show!
Please go over to our Vid Show Post and link me to your favorite Merlin vids! I already have a LOT of Merlin vids for us to watch, the vast majority of which are Merlin/Arthur in nature. Do feel free to link to anything, but Gen, Femslash, Het and Other Slash vids aren't very well represented on the current list, and I'd love to have a few more for variety, if they're out there. <3


( The Contact Info Cut )

( The Big List of Attendees Cut )


Any Questions?
Please feel free to ask any remaining questions here! Otherwise, I can't wait to meet all of you! =D

*runs off to make that vid show post*

Guys. Guys.

If you haven't already, you should go read flamebyrd's The Stars With You (Anytime), RIGHT NOW.

It is a Merlin space AU. Uh-huh. And it's awesome. Really, really awesome. The AU-ing of the canon is done so well; it's pretty much exactly like what Merlin would be, if it happened to be a futuristic sci-fi show instead of a semi-historical fantasy show. Also, Lancelot FTW. <3

Go! Read! \0/

http://flamebyrd.livejournal.com/225851.html

I probably shouldn't write about this, because it can only bring teh wank to the door, but I have to. I read thingswithwings's post--specifically, this post right here this morning, and it has bothered me all day, which is something that rarely happens. I love my meta, but usually I can move beyond it, take the opinions offered with a grain of salt, and not let it bother me for very long. Twelve hours after my initial reading of the post in question, I still feel the need to write about it, so that's what you're getting here.

Reading the original post is probably a good idea (note: the author has essentially turned off commenting, so don't bother trying), but I will be quoting sections of it here. I will make every effort to leave those quotes in as much context as I can, and will try not to mis-characterize (what I see as) the author's intent. I am not a mind-reader, and I will likely manage to mangle something here, so I would like to apologize in advance. If thingswithwings should ever make her way here (look! I'm assuming gender already! XD ) and feels that I have mis-characterized her or her points, she is more than welcome to point that out to me in a comment, and I will of course be willing to clarify whatever I can of my own opinions and thoughts. I honestly do not want the wank storm, and I don't mean this post to be an attack on thingswithwings, who was (much as I am) just expressing her opinions. I just feel the overwhelming need to talk about this.

I will also note that I am neither an Arthurian scholar, nor any sort of academic at all. I have a BA in English and Religion and work as a lowly Editorial Assistant. I'm just your average fan (actually, considering the makeup of fandom, I'm probably a below average fan), so I don't claim to have any super-special knowledge or authority or anything. This is just my thoughts and opinions, and yeah, sometimes they might be wrong, or unpopular, or just plain weird. But I'd be glad to engage in a cordial discussion with anyone about any of my points, at any time. Talking is how we learn from each other, after all. =)

Also, possible spoilers for the entire first season of Merlin beneath the cut. Enter at your own risk. Plus, LONG POST IS LONG. (Sorry! I talk too much. ^^;;; )

( Merlin Meta: Magic, Misogyny, and Why I am Not a Moron, Thx. )


Ahh. I feel better now. ^_^

Public post is public, feel free to direct others to it and link to it at will. I'd actually like to hear what people have to say about my readings of the text, since I haven't laid them out like this before and I'd love to know what other people are thinking about these issues. =3 (But do try to keep it civil in the comments, yeah? I don't mind metafandom, but I have no desire to end up on Fandom Wank. ^^;; )

I've been bookmarking some things to rec, and it seems like a good time to do it!

Recs sorted by fandom, and then in an arbitrary order, otherwise known as "the order they show up in my bookmarks in".

Fandoms include Merlin, Supernatural, NCIS, The Dresden Files, and miscellaneous Yuletide recs.

( Recs to Ring In the Year )

THEY'RE WATCHING IT RIGHT NOW.

SHARE YOUR PAIN HERE.



WHEN WE'RE DONE WITH THE PAIN, WE NOW HAVE AN EP REACTION POST ALL OUR OWN! \0/
http://solar-cat.livejournal.com/224908.html


MU DOWNLOAD LINK OF OUR OWN NOW AVAILABLE! See p.3 of the comments!

<--This icon is too happy for this post. But Arthur is too adorable to replace with something ranty-er. >.>;;

Warning: This is me, getting my rant on. That said... I probably won't be spewing vitriol or anything. I suppose this is more of a "moderately dissatisfied grumble" than a rant, really... >.> Anyway, no offense meant to any parties in particular--I speak in the general, mostly because I am too lazy to research the "guilty" parties and name them by name. XD (And also because naming names just pisses people off, and that isn't the goal. The goal is to rant until I feel better, at which time I will rejoin fandom as my happy, cheerful, porn-writing self. =3 )


( Merlin and the Art of Name Mashups )

Ahem. Well, I feel better now. =)

Feel free to comment. Feel free to tell me I'm a nitpicky, easily-annoyed dumbass and that you all hate my guts now. (Well, I'd prefer if you didn't, but I'm not gonna stop you.) I have a new episode to watch, and then some promising-looking fics to read. >.>

(It occurs to me to add, because I don't believe I've ever made it known, that if a post of mine is public, and tagged with *public post, then you're free to link to it or direct anyone to it to your heart's content. So that goes for this post, and any other *public post entries. ^^ )

ETA: *ahem* Welcome, all ye metafandomers! Nice to see you all. Rest assured that I appreciate your comments, and I am trying to keep up with them as well as I can. Please be gentle, it's my first time. ;)