The Cult of Lincoln

Sunday, July 30, 2006



Oh my dear god. Becky just pointed me to this House fanvid, set to two songs from Spamalot. There are not enough letters in "BWAHAHAHAHAAA!!!" to convey my feelings on the matter.

Priscilla said at 11:06 PM

3 comments


Saturday, July 29, 2006



Just watched the Fake Titanic II trailer. A movie I'd like to see: SNAKES ON THE TITANIC!

Priscilla said at 7:50 PM

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Today was all kinds of nifty. I slept in to compensate for waking up at 4:30 yesterday, and I met with former JETSie Ashley and her friend Nancy to tromp around Boston. First, we visited the Gardner Museum, which was very cool, but really awkwardly arranged and poorly lit. It was like a very condensed version of the Frick in New York, but not as well executed. Still, the contents were extraordinary!

Then we went to the Bostom Museum of Fine Arts, which was fabulous. I wish we'd had enough time to do the museum justice, but we only had a little over an hour before I had to head back for SIGGRAPH registration. Ashley guided us through 18th century paintings, which were jaw-dropping. I dragged us to the ancient art galleries, representing Egypt, Greece, areas of Mesopotamia, and much of Asia. Ever since hearing Christian Lorenz Scheurer's lecture on worldbuilding at Industry Giants, I've been intrigued about what the art of ancient cultures says about the culture itself. This intensified when I went through the Houston Museum of Natural Science's exhibition on artifacts from native tribes of the Americas. By looking at the natural resources available, how these natural resources are used, what was deemed valuable, what items were traded, etc etc etc, you can infer a great deal about the culture and its values. Fascinating!

I arrived for registration at about 5:20, 40 minutes in advance. The line was already about 25 people long. I arrived just in time, as a few minutes later, the line tripled. We were finally allowed in at 6, and I was out in 10 minutes. At 6:10, the line extended all the way to the end of the wing. Multiple-hundreds of people, easy. They'll be waiting a lot longer than my 40 minutes, I guarantee.

And now I'm back at my hotel, eager to change my shoes. I'm so glad my mom cajoled me into bringing my tennis shoes, as the sandals that have been so comfortable this past summer have metamorphosed into... you know in the Grimm's version of Snow White, where at Snow White and the Prince's wedding, the evil Queen must dance in red-hot iron shoes until she falls down dead? That's what my feet felt like an hour into our excursion. I have blisters the size of cats.

And that was my day! The real conference starts tomorrow morning, and I can't wait! *would do a little dance, but that would mean her feet touching something solid*

Priscilla said at 6:53 PM

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Looks like the Dresden Files tv series is probably going to air on Fridays, starting January 5th or 12th. I just hope it isn't set for 10/9c, which would conflict with Psych. Or anywhere in the 8-10pm EST Slot of Death. *crosses fingers*

Anyway, I was cleaning out my camera bag last night, and I came across ticket stubs from February of 2000, when I first met Renata in person (after knowing each other online for two years and change) and we saw Rent together. It was on this trip that we coined the term "Cult of Lincoln." Man that's surreal.

Priscilla said at 10:29 AM

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Friday, July 28, 2006



Your regularly scheduled me telling you about horrendous airport hijinks has been pre-empted by me sleeping. Good night, everybody!

Priscilla said at 11:24 PM

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Here's a fun science fact! Did you know that when you take my favourite pair of flip-flops and add a freak apocalyptic thunderstorm, you get the frictional properties of teflon?

Now you do.

I spent the afternoon/evening strolling down Newbury Street and browsing the shops. Some cute stuff mixed in with the inevitable dross. There was one ridiculously priced boutique that had clothes that reminded me strongly of River's "I'm a mentally traumatized little girl that has no idea how to dress herself" Safe outfit, done in white. Though it's quite possible that I still had Firefly on the brain after coming across a shop called "Firefly," with its logo done up in Papyrus, the Serenity font. As soon as I stepped in the door, my eyes fell on a rack of jewelry by "Serenity." It was kind of great. I made sure the Firefly buttons on my purse were in plain sight when I walked past the proprietor, hoping for a reaction, but none came. Alas.

Anyway, I'd walked quite a distance from my hotel when clouds started rolling in and the wind started picking up. I turned around, grabbed some quick takeout, and ran into CVS for an umbrella. As soon as I left the drugstore, it started drizzling. After I'd walked about a block, the clouds burst and started drenching the unfortunate pedestrians, myself very much included, in a torrential downpour. The winds were so ferocious that I had to hold my umbrella almost more horizontal than vertical. Suggested soundtrack: Flight of the Valkyries.

At this point, I was about 4 blocks from my hotel. My pants were completely soaked through, and my shirt was following suit (hee!). Then my shoes became so wet and slippery that I seriously considered taking them off and going barefoot. I had to walk like I do in snow slush, carefully planting each foot to ensure I don't slip, but with the ball of my foot or my heels falling out of the shoe with nearly every step. And these are somewhat stacked sandals, so when my heels fell out, the ground was two or three inches away? There was twistiness. It was sad.

Also, while fighting with my umbrella, I was juggling a calzone that was really too hot to touch. All the ;_; faces in the world cannot express my woe.

Universe: 1
Priscilla: -4 + calzone, which at least counts for something, as it was delicious.

Priscilla said at 7:09 PM

1 comments




Just arrived in Boston, after a somewhat staggering series of unfortunate events. No relatives were killed by a demented actor out to steal my family fortune, but there did include an entire concourse being shut down at my connecting airport due to a security breach! And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Full story at 11, after I watch Psych tonight at 10. (Dude. Seriously. It's hilarious. It's like my heir apparent to Wonderfalls, insofar as any other show in existence can even hold a candle to the hilarity of Wonderfalls. Why aren't you watching?)

My foray into the city was delayed slightly when I realized my digital camera batteries were near dead, so I'm chilling in my hotel room and unwinding for a few minutes while I build up a decent charge. I'm staying at the Harvard Club (because every other hotel in Boston is either booked or asking for one year's college tuition per night due to the insanity of SIGGRAPH). The room is smallish, but the view from my hotel room window is awesome. It looks right only Commonwealth Avenue, which my handy Boston travel guide bills as Boston's answer to the Champs-Elysees. Also: free wireless internet! Huzzah!

And wow, that camera battery recharged a lot quicker than I imagined it would. Maybe it wasn't as near dead as I'd imagined. I'm off!

Priscilla said at 4:48 PM

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SIGGRAPH draws me Northwards with its siren call of geekitude! I'll be back Thursday night. I'm fairly sure that I'll have internet access at my hotel, but I'll have other priorities. Email me if there's something you need me to see. W00t!

Priscilla said at 12:17 AM

1 comments


Thursday, July 27, 2006



So Mom doesn't like the main image for my new blog layout, convinced that any potential employer will run screaming when they (obviously) inevitably see my blog. My reaction is "Question mark?" She should be glad I didn't pick an image of a man being attacked by a ravening horde of weasels. :D

*cackles* Apparently Oni Press is going to be doing a comic based on Stephen Colbert's fictional fiction, Tek Jansen Adventures.

In Pictures: Software and coding tutorial guides, free for a limited time. *downloads the guides on PHP and MySQL*

Cute interview with James Roday of Psych from TV Guide! If you're not watching Psych... what's wrong with you? :D

Will Ferrell -- Bush on Global Worming

Priscilla said at 6:31 PM

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Wednesday, July 26, 2006



Augh! I went home for lunch today, and I just looked at my blog in Mozilla. I see I've got several glitches to fix! The date is supposed to be larger, and those short horizontal bars beneath the date are supposed to be right-justified. Eww. Somthing to do tonight, I guess.

In the meantime, the amount of rockingness that is me has been officially quantified. In the past month, I have lost TEN POUNDS and SEVEN PERCENT BODY FAT. Also my general hotness has gone up at least fifteen percent. Boo to the yeah! *gently flexes a bicep* Man, I haven't weighed 132 since what, junior high?

Priscilla said at 1:12 PM

6 comments




Some collected links:

Mac vs. PC ads: Revenge!

Donny Deutsch totally pwns Ann Coulter

Though there's still something about it that galls me, I'm slowly warming up to the Dresden teaser, now up on YouTube.

A live autopsy with Gunter Von Hagens

Right-wing pundit John Stossel argues for the legalization of selling organs.

Stem Cells: Senator Brownback BRINGS THE CRAZY.

The Daily Show: Ted Stevens on those Internet Tubes and John Hodgman on Net Neutrality

The Comic Stylings of George W. Bush: German Pig Edition

Weird Al Can Rhyme!

Priscilla said at 8:18 AM

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Tuesday, July 25, 2006



P.S. Ko is awesome. ♥

Priscilla said at 4:23 PM

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I got sick of the old layout and its hideous color scheme, so I decided to go monochrome. I know it works in IE, but I don't have Mozilla at work, so let me know if anything is broken at your ends. Comments seem to be working, at least! Though it looks like I'll have to keep fiddling with the linkbacks. There are a couple other things I need to change, but I don't have FTP at work, so they'll have to wait. La!

Cartoon image at the top by Bruce Eric Kaplan, used without permission. Three cheers for The New Yorker!

Priscilla said at 11:52 AM

4 comments


Monday, July 24, 2006



How did I go so many years without Mozilla? Now I can't live without it. I've been on a computer with only IE for two weeks, and I'm ready to napalm the thing.

Tabbed browsing. That's all I ask!

Though having all my handy plugins would be nice.

Priscilla said at 12:23 PM

0 comments


Saturday, July 22, 2006



Fiction Alley has a new front page graphic in honor of its fifth birthday! Featuring art by Alicey, Magsby, Ani Bester, Shannon (Pennswoods), and yours truly. Check it out!

Priscilla said at 3:32 PM

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Dude. Dude. I got a new belt the week before last when I was shopping for piratey clothes for PotC, and I just barely could cinch it to the second notch. Now, two weeks later, I'm cinching it to the third no problem. TWO WEEKS. And I got a new pair of pants at the beginning of the summer, and now they swim on me. They were meant to be a bit loose, but now I can pull them off without unbuttoning them. I bought a pair one size down the same day as the belt, and they seemed a bit tight at first, but now they fit perfectly.

I feel fantastic about myself, and I'm even eating what I want! I've more-or-less eliminated pasta from my diet, but I find I don't miss it terribly. I've cut down on portion sizes, but I still feel full. The places I've been going for lunch with the ReelFX guys haven't really offered much in the way of healthy dining, and while I've been trying to make good choices, I don't really have much to work with. But I'm still losing inches and look and feel great. My thighs have visibly slimmed down. I'm definitely continuing this exercise routine when I get back to school! An hour and a half four days a week is easily worth feeling this great.

Priscilla said at 12:37 PM

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Friday, July 21, 2006



Would it be morally wrong to set George Bush on fire at this point?

How do politicians justify barring potentially life-saving research, instead choosing to let the embryos be THROWN IN THE TRASH? They do realize that less than a third of the country actually opposes stem-cell research, and a lot of that is probably due to the inexplicable spew suggesting stem-cell research is tantamount to abortion. Don't they get that the embryos are being destroyed anyway? Better that their demise brings new hope for cures to debilitating diseases.

My grandmother has Alzheimers. Excuse me if I don't want anyone to have to experience the pain she and her family are going through.

First veto in 5 1/2 years. I can't think of a word filthy enough to describe how I feel about Bush right now.

Priscilla said at 7:36 AM

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006



Feh. Two disappointments tonight. Chungy and I watched the series premiere of our much-anticipated Eureka, but it was kind of dumb. I'll watch the second episode to be sure, but for the time being, it's off my Grand List of Fall Shows. I found it flat and lifeless, when I was expecting it to be more whimsical. And it utterly failed to bring the funny, which is high on my list of priorities. I'll be watching Psych instead.

Then during Eureka, we got our first real ad for The Dresden Files TV show, which was spectacularly lame. But I remind myself that the first ads for Firefly were also spectacularly lame and their overall tone bore no resemblance to the show itself, so I'm still hopeful. At least I'll always have the books.

But we did get that long, lovely trailer for season 3 of Battlestar Galactica! And any time I'm with Chungy is time well spent, so huzzah!

Priscilla said at 12:52 AM

0 comments


Sunday, July 16, 2006



Thanks to the impeccable taste of my friend Will, you can add Psych to my list of Shows to Watch This Fall, Fridays at 10/9c on USA. It premiered last week, and you can download the Pilot for free off iTunes. The basic premise: A guy with an excellent memory and strong deductive skills fakes being a psychic detective because it's more believable than the truth. Hilarity ensues.

*giddily waits for the second episode to dowload off iTunes*

Priscilla said at 1:11 AM

0 comments


Saturday, July 15, 2006



Adventures in Font Matching: Firefly and Serenity!

Is it sad that I find this kind of sexy? Ah well. *thumbs nose at Chungy for thinking me a geek for knowing the name of the font used on the Dresden Files covers and parts of Battlestar Galactica*

Agency FB Bold Extended, by the way.

And it cracks me up that Fox used 1979--the font I will forever associate with Animorphs, but is probably more recognizable today as the Spider-Man movie font--to advertise Firefly. Check out the original Fox ads here and here. I'm amazed it's taken this long for them to surface!

For those that don't care about fonts, um... here's Oedipus Rex in 8 Minutes, Performed By Vegetables. And the font they use for the title is the same as the one used for the Sci-Fi short "The Ore," and looks like an ancestor font of Lumos, the font used for chapter headings and such in the Harry Potter books, and the sub-font looks a lot like the one used on the Star Wars website circa The Phantom Menace. Shutting up now.

Priscilla said at 10:05 PM

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ARRRGH. I've been getting excited about Sci-Fi's Eureka, which looks really quirky and fun. The pilot airs this Tuesday at 9/8C, then as I understand it, the rest of the show will resume in the fall. OF COURSE, it airs at 9/8C. Because TV schedulers didn't already hate me enough, it's going to be opposite both House and Veronica Mars.

And though it clearly won't be on at the same time, The Dresden Files is probably going to be aired on Tuesdays or Fridays, come January. Tuesday nights are going to be ridiculous. Fortunately, NBC's Heroes will air on Mondays at 9/8C, leading in to Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

I'm really going to have to prioritize my shows. Lost is out, as I can't make myself care about it. After all, I have already predicted what will happen in Season 3, so there's no point in watching! :D But then I've replaced it with Battlestar Galactica, so that doesn't help much. Bah.

In other news, why was I not informed that John Hodgman has a podcast? Your combined failure is a dire one.

Priscilla said at 2:18 PM

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Friday, July 14, 2006



Quick fandom post:

Reviews for Gneil's upcoming Fragile Things. Btw, you can hear him read "The Day the Saucers Came" and "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" in this post of my LJ.

Fanmade Kreacher Video -- totally awesome!

Princess Leia Slave Bikini Belly Dance! Linked from Tanja.

The Good Omens seems to be back on?

Stephen Colbert on Conan -- SO GEEKTASTIC.

Nigerian Email Scam + H.P. Lovecraft = WIN.

Headbutt jokes:
Solve your problems the Zidane way
The Zidane Game
Animation Fest!

Priscilla said at 9:21 AM

0 comments


Thursday, July 13, 2006



I've finished all that's been assigned to me and waiting for my next job, so I figured I'd get some blogging in for the first time in a week. Monday was my first day working as an unpaid intern at ReelFX, a 3D animation (+etc) firm in Dallas, and while I'm having a blast, I'm also learning what it means to be a full-time employee and only having the hours of 6-11pm at my disposal. I guess that's what it was like in school when I was doing theatre, but there's something about it being summer... I don't know, I'm being stupid. It's different because I wasn't working out every day at 6:30 in the morning before going to school. Bwah. :D

[Edit, as of 5:30pm: I was in this "waiting for work" state most of the day. In my 7 1/2 hours spent here, I've done maybe 4 or 5 hours of real work. I can't fathom the modelling department really having nothing for me to do. It's mind boggling. I would get them coffee if they asked.]

So far, I've been modeling props for an animated children's show called Boz, which is kind of like Barney but with a religious message. I saw one of the episodes, and it's really cute. Maybe if I end up babysitting my parents' friends' kids some time next semester, I'll bring the DVD. Then I can occasionally interrupt their lessons on the importance of sharing and thanking God for colors and shapes with statements like "I modeled that flower bulb!"

Anyway, I've observed that one of the advantages to this job is that it's quite conducive to listening to audio books and podcasts. In the past week or so, I've devoured the four Artemis Fowl books (which I loved), Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation (thanks for the rec, Renata!), David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty Some Day, and the first two Lemony Snicket books. Next, The Daily Show's America: The Audio Book, then I'm going for the archives of the Firefly podcast "The Signal" (I haven't listened to any of their second season) and Jimmy's "Comic News Insider."

If you guys have any audio books, I'd love to trade! (Sharing makes God happy, Boz teaches us.) Or if you can recommend any podcasts, that would be appreciated. I'm going to need an infusion soon. Maybe on Saturday I'll stop by Half-Price Books and see if they have anything worth listening to in their audio book section.

The one downside of the job is that the guy in the workstation next to me has a life-size cardboard cutout of Aragorn against the wall next to his desk, angled just so it is constantly visible out of the corner of my eye, giving my subconscious the impression that someone standing over my neighbor's shoulder is staring at me. It's kind of creepy, as I conveniently forget it's Aragorn five minutes after I turn and glance at it. I'm amused.

Since I last blogged, I've seen the new Pirates of the Caribbean (which was crazy fun--boo to the haters!) and the season finale of Doctor Who (I need a hug, even though I knew the casting spoiler and guessed what was going to happen beforehand), and I'm starting to work my way through the "Season 2.5" episodes of Battlestar Galactica. All kinds of goodness! Mom has gotten hooked on House, which is all kinds of awesome, and Alicey and Chungy have caved to my constant badgering and are trying The Dresden Files on for size. Woohoo! *headbutts the universe, Zidane-style*

And that's all I have to say about that.

Priscilla said at 11:39 AM

0 comments


Sunday, July 09, 2006





I posted some new photographs I took the other day of mushrooms growing in our front yard. But alas, the Great Lawn Mower comes for us all. Comment in my LJ, if you so desire!

Priscilla said at 6:36 PM

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Thursday, July 06, 2006



YESSSSS! We just got word that James Marsters is doing the audio book for the fourth novel of The Dresden Files, Summer Knight. If you haven't yet experienced the awesomeness that is this series (which is what, all but four of you?), what's stopping you?

Find the other audio books at Buzzy Multimedia.

Priscilla said at 3:54 PM

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Squeaky wheel: 1
The Universe: 0

I'm going in to work Monday morning! *grooves* Note that this is three weeks after they offered me the internship. They just kept saying that they didn't have a workstation available yet for me yet. So woohoo, I have a job!

Priscilla said at 1:33 PM

0 comments


Monday, July 03, 2006



Handy! I just won a free pre-ordered DVD of The Ore! Shinyness.

Anyway, I got distracted by Battlestar Galactica, and I haven't checked my flist since Thursday. Therefore, there's quite a lot of stuff I want to pass on to you guys!

This just in: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is a ROCK STAR.

Also a rockstar is BRAD NEELY of "Wizard People, Dear Reader!" His fantastic Ode to George Washington will be stuck in my head for weeks. Just in time for July 4th!

Check out this summary for an earlier, longer script for Serenity, now with happy ending! I wonder how much fanfiction will be written in this universe. I look forward to the whole thing inevitably being posted online.

And there's a fair-sized character named Dresden! I know there's 99.99999999% likelihood that there's no connection whatsoever, but in the darkest, fannishest corners of my mind, I like to think Joss is nodding back to Jim Butcher for working the partial names of nearly all the Buffy characters into his books.

And speaking more of Joss, the latest totally unfounded internet rumor is that he's currently in talks with 23-year-old Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra to play Wonder Woman. This would be hilarious, as she has a large role in the newly-released (in India) Krrish, the big singing and dancing Bollywood superhero movie! But it obviously can't be confirmed, because Jimmy hasn't posted hot pictures of the actress in his Journal yet. :D

One degree of separation from Joss is this Interview with Tim Minear on Drive. It was amusing to see him making reference to Zoic's opening sequence, which Loni Peristere described to me when we chatted at Industry Giants. And I like that he's *encouraging* fans to download episodes of The Inside, due to nonexistent DVD prospects.

Check out this hilarious collection of Things That Will Happen In HP Book 7, then linked from Makani: Snape sings "Be Prepared"!

Linked from Tanja: The US Versus John Lennon

Stephen Colbert Presents World of ColbertCraft! More details here.

Priscilla said at 3:04 PM

0 comments




All content © 2000-2005 Priscilla Spencer unless otherwise noted.
Title cartoon by Bruce Eric Kaplan, used without permission.

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