dear Adobe

Monday, 25 June, 2007 at 1:32 pm

While I love your design programs, Adobe, and respect you as a company, I really think you need to work on your updating products through the browser. I’ve attempted to download Reader 8.1 five separate times, once using Internet Explorer (but I refuse to install extraneous stuff in IE just to download/install something else entirely), tried resuming the downloads many, many times, and so far all I’ve got for my troubles is Photoshop Album Starter 3.2 installed, despite unchecking the box to download it, and no Reader 8.1 update.

Go die now please, kthxbai

grar not enough space

Wednesday, 20 June, 2007 at 5:57 pm

I’m currently drawing up plans for a shelf that I want to put at the foot of my bed. It’s so frustrating!

I’m trying to figure out how much space I want to give to the CD/DVD area, and how much space I want to give the talls books (i.e. my comic books [graphic novels?], Neil Gaiman-related books, and art books). But it really seems like I only have space on the shelf for one or the other, not both! If I want to keep space for both, it means I’ll have to divide collections. CDs on the shelf as well as on the CD racks where they are now; DVDs on the shelf and on the small bookcase (some) are on (… a lot are currently sitting on my desk beside me >_>); talls books split between the shelf and the big bookcase.

It sounds like a good idea, but I don’t like it! Collections … must … be … together! (Well except for CDs; they can be split since that’s what I’d already planned…too many CDs. *_*)

Grr, arrgh. Back to square one. Maybe I should consider a second/third shelf on top. Would that look odd? (I have a roughly 18″ tall, 39″ wide shelf divided vertically, then the right section divided horizontally, giving three areas to shelve things.)

Hmm, gotta think.

on reading and such

Tuesday, 19 June, 2007 at 11:59 pm

(I rarely say this, but) Squee!

I finished Crown Duel a little while ago. (I’d forgotten about the short story in the back, hehe.) I thought it was so good that I went on Amazon wondering if Sherwood Smith had written anything else. Now, I did read the little bio in the back that gives her website address, but I wouldn’t have visited it (or given anything else she’d written much thought) if she hadn’t posted on Amazon.

A lot of reviews on Amazon are general and don’t really tell you much of anything about the book. I couldn’t figure out … well, anything about the book (Inda, for anyone keeping track). (I have to admit, what the author wrote confused me a bit; it seemed sort of random and not really fitting in with talking about the book at first.)

After I realized it was the author herself writing, I thought she might give more details about the book, so I went around looking on her site. What I wanted to know probably isn’t crucial to selling the book, but the things I found out sold it for me: adult fantasy, set in Meliara’s world. Woohoo!

Although it’s not about Mel or Shevraeth, I’m still interested. I keep thinking it’s somewhat similar to M. M. Kaye’s The Far Pavilions (which, upon further consideration, might almost be up to par with how fun Crown Duel, Ella Enchanted, etc. are), and I don’t want that to ruin it. Since it’s still in hardcover, I’ll just wait for the price to go down, and misleading associations to go down as well.

The squee! part comes in when I found out Sherwood Smith has written other stories with Mel and Shevraeth in them, and some are available online. :O One fansite, Colorwoods, also has a Q&A page up, which is almost like another story. More like backstory, but since I hadn’t known it before, it’s a new story to me. I’ve bookmarked three pages and joined a new community on Livejournal, to remind me to read all this later.

And all this has led me to staying up till midnight, when I’d planned to get to bed earlier than last night. D’oh!

blonde-haired dude in a cape

Monday, 18 June, 2007 at 11:42 pm

I’m reading Crown Duel (with Court Duel included) by Sherwood Smith. This is my second read, so I know the major events and everything. I still really enjoy the book. ^^ The first time I read it was … at least four years ago, guaranteed. I love strong heroines in fantasy settings. Ella Enchanted, the Abhorsen trilogy, The Ordinary Princess …

One thing that is confusing me though, is that I keep picturing Shevraeth as another male character with long pale hair, who wears a cape… If you thought Lucius Malfoy, you either spend too much time in the Harry Potter realm or you’ve read Court Duel and think the same way I do.

I don’t remember the way I pictured Lucius in the books (movie media overload, boo), but if you take his movie portrayal, make him thinner, a bit younger, and not as … sneery, then you’ve got my image of Shevraeth.

The part where I’m getting confused is, I don’t like Lucius (I’m a good girl; I hates on the bad guys), but I definitely like Shevraeth. So I have this image in my head with an association that I don’t think of favorably … yet I like the character!

It’s sort of like in The Shop Around the Corner, which I saw Saturday (woo free OnDemand TCM movies). The lady admits to being confused in the beginning because she had mixed identities or something in her head. asdjkl; need to rewatch the movie to know what she said… [edit: “psychologically mixed up” is what she said]

Anyway. I’m almost done with the book. Chapter nineteen of part two. It’s such a fun story! But I don’t want it to end. :( Do I read and continue the fun, or not read and still have a bit of story left to live in? *laugh* Right, like I could do anything else.

After I’m done with this book I can go back to Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I’m about two-thirds done in that one. It’s a great book, it’s just not as fun as Crown Duel. I wonder, are there adult fantasy books with strong heroines that are as fun?

no business like show business

Sunday, 10 June, 2007 at 12:49 pm

“Parker Preps Prod for Pitt Prem”

I know I saw this episode of I Love Lucy recently. Mum asked me if the guy who was Lucy’s dance partner also played Ricky’s manager in another episode. (“My 10% goes on!”) I guess that was two weeks ago. It played today again. Is that the problem of having I Love Lucy on two channels? I can’t really consider it a problem though …

The problem I have is watching I Love Lucy only during the summer months, when all the vacation episodes are played over and over again. (“Didn’t they just come back from Europe? Why’re they going again?”) Argh. Play the normal episodes!!

But anyway. Just wanted to save that headline up there. XD; It’s the first time I’ve caught the whole thing.

Also, Lucy’s skirt. I noticed it for some reason. I like the cut of it. Normally I don’t like stripes, especially when they’re emphasized that much. But I guess now I’m so intrigued by clothes with atypical cuts that I ignore the stripes.

I don’t know any fashion or clothing construction terminology, so I couldn’t even begin to explain the skirt. Sorry for those vision impaired visitors. (Drew the image in Paint Shop Pro 6, with a touchpad, so there isn’t much to miss there.)