Yzabel / July 26, 2005

All About Feeds

There used to be this mysterious little word, “RSS”, which meaning I couldn’t understand… However, now that I’m myself more used to the world of blogging and of reading news slightly more often than on a sporadic basis only, I found that these weird entities of “feeds” are almost a necessity to keep track with everything; bookmarking one’s favorite blogs in a browser can only take you that far.In a nutshell, feeds are files that are generated in the background and gather data everytime a blog, news source or similar website is updated. Not every blog will have a feed, mind you, but with those that do, it’s quite convenient, since it hands the readers a quick and convenient way to keep up to date with the blog, instead of having to bookmark and manually check it. What may seem like an easy and normal behavior when you read two blogs only becomes a hassle when you want to check a half hundred of them. Or more, way more.So, each time you see these cryptic acronyms of “RSS” (Really Simple Syndication), “Atom” and other “Syndicate this site (XML)” links, these are feeds. What you need next is an aggregator – in other words, a tool that will keep all your feeds in one place, and will check them regularly and warn you when they get updated. This basically comes down to two types of readers: offline and online ones.Read More

Yzabel / July 25, 2005

“New”Blog

Alright, I pondered this over the whole week-end, and yesterday, I finally made my choice.Highly influenced by Loïc Le Meur’s way of doing on his own blog, I’ll freely admit it, I’ve decided to reconsider my bilingual approach to this blog, and actually make two blogs – one in English, the other in French. Let’s not fool myself, I like writing in both languages, but having them contained in one post each time I want to share something will probably get tiresome (it has already begun for me, actually). I’m not sure that I, as a reader, would exactly care about having two versions shoved under the nose each time, especially given the fact that I can often write long posts as well.So, here it is:

  • The English version of this blog remains here, where it has always been. (You can also access it through the domain name ylogs.com.)
  • La version française se trouve à présent à cette URL. Elle sera accessible par le biais du petit drapeau placé sous “About”. Beaucoup plus facile comme cela, non?

Over the past two days, I’ve moved most of the existing posts and comments to the French blog. The remaining ones will very likely be translated and added there as well when I actually finish the whole move (well, not exactly a move, but you get the drift).Of course, this is NOT meant to be a hassle on anyone, feel free to follow one RSS feed only and not both, and so on. Same goes for the comments: I would never expect anyone to comment twice just because the posts exist in both languages. In fact, these blogs can be viewed as quite independant from each other. I may at times post one entry in French only because it relates to something that doesn’t need to be in English, or the contrary, but when I can, I’ll “translate”. You probably won’t miss a lot if following one of the blogs only.Now to fully realize that I’ve added yet another thing to do to my growing list of activities… it’s a good thing that I write fast!

Yzabel / July 24, 2005

Second-Rate Movies on the Sat

Let’s admit it, even if most of the time I can’t find anything worth being watched on the gazillion of channels that TPS kindly gives me access to, sometimes, yes, sometimes, there are a few movies or series that could… deserve to be checked, in a very sarcastic way. Along the traditional lines of “perhaps this won’t be as lousy as it seems”, here comes Bloody Mallory, which made me laugh quite a little. Worth being mentioned is the fact that “laughing” for me can stem from really funny movies as well as from really stupid ones. Or, all considered, second-rate movies may make me laugh even more, since one never knows whether it was lousy on purpose or not. After all, being able to take a movie at the 10th degree is also a quality… I think.To be watched with the same mindset as for a Buffy episode – with a pack of beer and a few pals under the hand. It’s almost like an episode fromDamned, with more money and less private jokes (actually, I really like Damned, even though understanding all the references in it probably categorizes me forever). I still quite digged the cardboard sceneries and the old plot twists that can be smelled ten miles ahead; for a roleplayer who likes betting on what the next scene will be, it’s fun. Most of the acting was frankly bland; however, given that from the start I didn’t intend on taking this movie seriously, it oddly fit.Aye, aye, I also want my version of the Necronomicon in an e-book.

Yzabel / July 22, 2005

Dragons, a Key Theme?

While travelling through our dear Lorraine in which I’m currently expatriated, why not hop by Malbrouck’s castle in Manderen? From April to October 2005 is held there a dragon-themed exhibition, organized in partnership with Paris Natural History Museum.Artworks, goldsmith’s works, paintings, statues and manuscripts from many eras… The exhibition totals about 200 pieces from public and private collections from throughout the whole world, presented according to the following themes:

  • Origins of the European dragon
  • Dragon’s treasures
  • Shapes and symbols of the Asian dragon
  • Zoology of the dragon

The exhibition is open everyday (Monday 14H – 18H, Tuesday to Friday: 10H – 18H, week-end and holidays: 10H – 19H).

Yzabel / July 21, 2005

Scotty’s Dead

It always feels so weird, when a figure that has lived for so long in memories and in imagination sees the real, human counterpart behind it die…Scotty of “Star Trek” fame dies at his Redmond home

LOS ANGELES – James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original “Star Trek” TV series and motion pictures who responded to the command “Beam me up, Scotty,” died early today. He was 85.Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. at his Redmond, Wash., home with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side, Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens said. The cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer’s disease, he said.The Canadian-born Doohan was enjoying a busy career as a character actor when he auditioned for a role as an engineer in a new space adventure on NBC in 1966. A master of dialects from his early years in radio, he tried seven different accents.”The producers asked me which one I preferred,” Doohan recalled 30 years later. “I believed the Scot voice was the most commanding. So I told them, ‘If this character is going to be an engineer, you’d better make him a Scotsman.”‘The series, which starred William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as the enigmatic Mr. Spock, attracted an enthusiastic following of science fiction fans, especially among teenagers and children, but not enough ratings power. NBC canceled it after three seasons.

Yzabel / July 19, 2005

Radio Blog

Silmy having slowly but irremediably contaminated my mind with the idea of a radio blog, I’ve given in, and installed one here.Yza’s playlist:(That I consider a little like a “writing playlist”: these songs tend to boost my inspiration, depending on the type of scene I need to work on.)

  • Kitaro/David Foster/Sedaka Dara — Angel Queen: A collector, since it is the end credits song of the Sennen Jou movie, otherwise known as Princesse Millenium or Queen Millenia.
  • Concrete Blonde — Bloodletting (The Vampire’s Song)
  • Kajiura Yuki — Chloe (Noir OST): Eerie enough to inspire me whenever I need to write a scene about Ka’Ellan.
  • John Williams — Duel of the Fates: I didn’t like Episode I. It doesn’t prevent me from thinking that this music goes well with fight/duel scenes.
  • Voltaire — Ex Lover’s Lover
  • Hirasawa Susumu — Forces (Berserk OST): Works well for one of my warrior-types characters
  • Blackmore’s Night — Ghost of a Rose
  • Within Temptation — Jillian (I’d Give My Heart)
  • Theatre of Tragedy — Liquid Man
  • City Hunter OST — Nina: From the City Hunter movie Ai to Shukumei no Magnum. Always makes me think of Kheril.
  • Kanno Yoko — Sôra: From the Escaflowne movie. In fact, it will always remain Tanaquil’s song for me
  • Sol Invictus — The Killing Tide
  • Pendragon — The King of the Castle
  • Type O Negative — Wolf Moon: One always need her dose of Type O (and October Rust remains a very good album).
  • Dead Can Dance — Xavier: A song I had wanted to have for a very long time (while somehow knowing – intuition? – that it was by DCD, even though I didn’t know this band at the time). This one has haunted me for years.

A somewhat eclectic playlist, which corresponds well enough to my own global approach to music. As for the radio blog itself, sorry for using a reduced version: I simply didn’t want to destroy my theme.The radio will remain online… until my bandwidth dies. * crosses fingers *

Yzabel / July 18, 2005

Other Worlds

On the verge of finishing Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Summer Tree, here’s a thought that came to me regarding the concept of “people from our world suddenly transported into another, fantasy world”. A theme that is actually dear to my heart, given that my own current writings is done with this theme in the background (well… in a way, at least).The concept itself, of course, isn’t exactly new. Stephen Donaldson has used it in the Mordant’s Need and Thomas Covenant series. In the Amber cycles, Roger Zelazny’s characters travel through a myriad of worlds (and it is interesting to note that prince Corwin, after all, begins his journey on Earth, while believing himself to be a “normal” man).Read More

Yzabel / July 17, 2005

Kill Harry

The 6th tome of Harry Potter is now out, and what better opportunity than this to come back to a webcomic I had found some time ago already, but hadn’t been updated very often? Well, I found the link back, and was glad to see that the author had gone on with the story.So here, Crazy Kimchi presents Kill Harry. The parallel with Kill Bill is evident, and the elements of Harry Potter’s universe quite well respected, with funny twists, that is.It’s probably necessary to have seen – or at least, know a little – the Kill Bill storyline, however; like for every parody, it takes all its flavor when the hints can be caught.

Yzabel / July 16, 2005

The Bone Doll’s Twin

I’ve pondered writing a few book reviews here and there, so here’s one about the latest read I’ve finished. Unsurprisingly for those who know me enough, it’s fantasy, with some predictable aspects, and some that aren’t that common nor especially conform to the “positive” genre.The Bone Doll's TwinThe Bone Doll’s Twin is the first volume of the Tamir Trilogy by Lynn Flewelling, and also the first one I’ve read by this author. The legend has it that in order to be secure and prosperous, the kingdom of Skala must be governed by a Queen descendant of Gherilain; however, the throne is now between the hands of a king, who is working slowly toward getting rid of all female pretendants, whatever their degree of parenthood with the deceased queen, while wanting to secure the throne for his own son.Read More

Yzabel / July 15, 2005

Plan 9 From Outer Space…

No way I can pass on the opportunity to share this. I was reading my feeds earlier on, and while getting the ones from Boing Boing, I saw their post about Plan 9. So, I rushed to Internet Archive to download it, since it seems to have indeed fallen into the public domain (Creative Commons license, here we go).This is cult movie, I say, cult movie.

Bela Lugosi was cast in the role of “Ghoul Man” but passed away before filming really started. So what happens? The producer’s wife’s chiropractor (Mr. Reynold’s was the executive producer) takes over as “Ghoul Man” and holds his cape in front of his face THE ENTIRE MOVIE.Add to this numerous plot inconsistencies, horrid acting, and masses of stock footage – some of which we see several times and you have a terrible but funny movie.

Pray, tell me, who can pass on such yummy details?