Updates & things

[thisbluespirit]

1. I managed to sign up for chocolateboxcomm and my assignment should be fun, so I hope I will not fail again this time.


2. I had to Do The Thing and upgrade to Windows 10, which I was very scared about. (I had meant to do it in December, but LOL.) Anyway, while I foresee many years of trying to fend off Microsoft's efforts to take over my entire life, I followed the free workaround and not only did it work but I didn't lose anything, not even my most ancient of freebie software. And I think some of my fonts that weren't working before are working now, so overall, I'm relieved and amused. And possibly have more fonts. But backing everything up while overtired kept me away from almost everything here again for a bit.


3. I did some friending tidying, so if anything weird happened yesterday, I was just subscribing to people I seem not to have subscribed to and given access to and meant to, and removing random people who subscribed to me without introducing themselves or interacting with me (that just weirds me out and makes me scared of posting because strange people I don't know are reading this and probably judging me for my James Maxwell obsession.) If I did anybody the wrong way round, I am sorry, and just let me know.

Also I finally tried to friend about three or so people from st_aurafina's friending meme without doing my own blurb for it (because I just don't want more Silent Ghost People friending me right now), so:

Hello! I am thisbluespirit. I used to be lost_spook until about this time last year. I also used to run the Obscure & British Commentfest, and I run several comms including tardis_library, historium, tic_tac_woe and others I should pay more attention to. I am, by fandom standards, very old, although not actually old enough to have seen most of my current fandoms of my heart the first time round. I write fic, sometimes make icons, basic gifs, even more occasionally rec sets and other things. Once upon a time I experimented with vidding.

I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and therefore a lack of spoons for being too serious or negative about fannish things and sometimes for anything at all, but I do what I can. It does mean I'm more often around than not and usually comment.

I am first and foremost a Doctor Who fan, especially Classic, early Big Finish and the Moffat era, but I really do like all of it one way or another.

Other fandoms of my heart include: Sapphire & Steel, Blake's 7, Spooks (or MI5), Press Gang, Adam Adamant Lives!, Once Upon a Time but I am very multifannish and like trying to create in new fandoms. I am not good at OTPing and my shipping frequently comes out like other people's gen, but I'm working on it. I also like The Librarians, Star Wars in a non-fannish way, The Flash, ST: Voyager, Discworld, New Tricks, Lucifer, and lots of little Yuletide-type fandoms. I go in and out of most fandoms, but I rarely put them down entirely.

When I was first ill, I watched a lot of old theatrical British TV because modern TV was too fast and noisy for me to cope with. The side-effect of this was that I got intensely fannish about cardboard problematic telly that isn't on Netflix that nobody else wants to watch and have a gallery of favourite 60s & 70s actors. I especially like James Maxwell. (He's a ghost and has a nice obit; apparently this is what I look for in a man these days. He falls over in fake moustaches a lot. It may be the weight of the moustaches.) Also David Collings. (He dies a lot in everything and has great hair.) And Margaret Lockwood, Barbara Murray, Alfred Burke, and Suzanne Neve. But on the upside, sometimes I picspam Thriller (ask me about the one where Patrick Troughton battles Satan who is Diana Dors dressed up as Mary Poppins) or films where people tried to colorize it without bothering to do anybody's hair, so I like to think I'm at least being entertaining about it sometimes.

Of my ancient telly voyages, I really loved (in different ways) Enemy at the Door, Shadow of the Tower, The Power Game, Public Eye, Doomwatch, Department S, Dracula (1968), Elizabeth R, Survivors, Manhunt and no doubt other things I have forgotten right now, but I am always happy to talk about them.

What else? I'm in the UK, in the North East, was a children's librarian when I was an anything, she/her/they is fine, like family history, and originally am from the south west. (I am not a proper Northerner at all.) Sometimes I write origfic for rainbowfic here, too.

I like random generators and writing memes and hope this year will allow for a bit more of the latter, because last year was not so good on that front. If you want to unfriend me again, that's fine, but I hope not. ♥

(I suppose I've accidentally now also achieved Day 1 of snowflake_challenge too. I don't know how I feel about that.)

Comments

[sovay]

He falls over in fake moustaches a lot.

This is a very fine description.

(He dies a lot in everything and has great hair.)

(Also true.)

[thisbluespirit]

This is a very fine description.

Thank you. It is slightly poetic licence, because the falling over and fake hair only coincide once, but there is a lot of both.

I should probably point out that Mr Collings's hair is Not Fake! (Except when it is.)

[swordznsorcery]

You are definitely always entertaining. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Not true! Sometimes I wail about life and post a gif of James Maxwell falling over. But otherwise I do try, so thank you. :-D


♥

[kalium]

You're in the north east now? Me too! Welcome.

[thisbluespirit]

Thanks! And, yes, I've been up here since 1999, but since I talk southern and funny, I'll always remain a southerner. I didn't realise you were in the NE as well. ♥

[philomytha]

You've reminded me that I want to watch Enemy at the Door, and last time I looked my DVD rental people didn't have it, but they do now, so I've added it to my list. I will try to post commentary when it starts showing up.

I love my DVD rental service, even if it is very old-fashioned: they have so much more range and depth than anything like Netflix and everything that Netflix has shows up there eventually anyway...

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, cool! I do hope you enjoy it! I mean, for a value of enjoy when talking of a thing that can also be pretty sad...

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Hi! Good luck with chocolate box! I wasn't going to treat this year, but then I accidentally looked at some prompts, and well, I guess I am now!

I'm glad to know that windows 10 is working out for you! The last time i tried to update my windows, it killed my computer. So i switched to Ubuntu and have never looked back.

(i've also made a couple of friends in the 2020 meme without writing my own blurb. We are Oh So Mysterious! mwahaha!)

Also: the obscure british commentfest sounds exactly like my kind of thing!

Have a nice weekend! :D

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you!

My PC was bought at about the last possible moment you could still get W7, so I was pretty sure it should at least survive, and it doesn't seem to have killed anything else yet, even if Microsoft now apparently want to run my life.

Ha, yes, the Obscure & British fest would definitely be up your alley! I should run it again sometime, but it felt a bit weird with Brexit going on, although I suppose that's a bit stupid. But I was tired and down when the time came last year and I didn't want to do all the promoting, either!

[trobadora]

Oh cool, you're doing Chocolate Box too!

Fandom-wise, we do have overlap beyond Doctor Who - I love Once Upon a Time, and Voyager and Discworld are on my list as well. I hardly ever really stop being fannish about anything, even if I stop being active in a fandom. Things just get shuffled into the background for a while. *g*

[thisbluespirit]

I hardly ever really stop being fannish about anything, even if I stop being active in a fandom. Things just get shuffled into the background for a while.

Yes, exactly! ♥

[astrogirl]

I put off signing up for Chocolate Box until I suddenly realized I'd missed it... right after I'd finally made enough progress on my Past Imperfect story that I might feel okay about committing to it. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

[thisbluespirit]

Aww, well, never mind! As you say, next time! (Although let's not wish the whole year away yet; it'll go by way too fast as it is.)

[hamsterwoman]

I’m glad the windows upgrade went fine! My home laptop is on Win7 still, but I think I’ll just keep kicking that can down the road until it stops working on me. I actually don’t mind 10 too much (it’s on my work laptop) but don’t want to deal with it...

[thisbluespirit]

Probably for the best! I have my desktop and it was bought at the last possible point you could get W7, so I thought it should survive the upgrade and I didn't really want to end up with viruses and all sorts of internet things telling me they weren't going to work on my system any more and all that.

[paperscribe]

Your Yuletide post last year introduced me to the 1968 Dracula, so thank you for that! I have now become acquainted with James Maxwell fainting under the weight of his moustache. ;) I also have In the Shadow of the Tower bookmarked and will watch it one of these days—-I’m a massive historical TV nerd and had never heard of it before you mentioned it, so I’m excited to get to it. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Oh! That's great. I always assume everyone is ignoring me, lol. :-D

He probably only faints with a moustache in Dracula. Other than that he either has objectionable facial hair or faints.

Like so:



Worst facial hair:



(With Suzanne Neve, because in 1968 he had already been married to Suzanne Neve and had Bernard Archard put Corin Redgrave in the Tower, because old telly is like that. There were more than 20 actors, but sometimes it's hard to believe.)

Anyway, hi. I post gifs of dead people. Please don't run away. :-D

And I love SotT! But I may just be a bit weird - it's very much experimental theatre and sometimes it's really cool and sometimes you just wonder why anybody thought that was ever going to work. And it starts with a hilarious amount of terrible info-dumping and bad wigs. But it is good, honest...

[luthien]

I'm having a bit of a low spoon count day myself, so just sending you a general Rah Rah Rah! for getting things done. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thank you! ♥

[lhune]

I'm glad the Windows 10 update worked well for you.
We once met at Obscure & British Commentfest, I'm very fond of the old Agatha Christie series. Also Doctor Who, New tricks and Star Wars ♥
But you've probably not seen me very much, apart from 3_good_Things_a_Day I'm not very active on DW.
But maybe in 2020?

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thanks! And hello again then. ♥

I am not usually very busy here, but O&B is the one exception, so I do tend to have encounters with such a lot of people when it was one that I often don't remember them, sorry! But I've put you back now, and welcome. :-D

[liadt]

Well done on the W10 success \o/ Can you still get it for free? Dunno if it's worth updating my ancient laptop: I'm hoping anti-virus will protect it.

I hope Chocolate box goes well. I might have signed up for it if bunnies haven't taken me over!

Hopefully I'll be reviving UC over the summer: get the generator on standby;p

[thisbluespirit]

For W10, I followed these instructions and it did indeed seem to work: https://www.howtogeek.com/266072/you-can-still-get-windows-10-for-free-with-a-windows-7-8-or-8.1-key/

Thanks! And yay unconventionalcourtship!!

[maia]

I just realize I'm not sure if I ever introduced myself! I do apologize if I didn't!

Windows 10 is horrible. I miss Windows 7.

[thisbluespirit]

I'd rather have kept Windows 7, but since it wasn't much of an option, I'm glad it at least didn't eat any of my ancient freebie software!

And, no problems, I did kind of recognise your name around from mutual flisters.

[dbskyler]

Glad to hear you're doing Chocolate Box! I didn't do Yuletide this year and felt a little sad about it, but it was definitely the right decision (too much going on at work, plus a trip that would have shortened my writing time). I've never done Chocolate Box, but it looks good -- I like the short word minimum. I hope you have a great time with it. Maybe I'll do it next year!

[thisbluespirit]

Thanks! I did chocolateboxcomm last year and it was really fun, so I'm hoping this year will be too. The low minimum does take the pressure off! If you manage 1000 words you've overachieved; it's great. (And, conversely, I got a lovely 6000+ word crossover casefic for two rare fandoms as my actual gift last year, so you never know!)

Oh, btw, I wrote one of your 500 Prompts that you gave me (for my giant meme) and I wouldn't normally mention it (because the deal with 500 prompts is that nobody is obliged to do anything) but I didn't know if you'd seen?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21456799

If you have, don't worry. You gave it to me years ago, no strings attached! ♥

[jaxomsride2]

A lot of places have a North. Oddly enough I'm in the North East too!

You have me intrigued by old telly too.
I got the Ian Carmichael Lord Peter Wimsey series last year (With a very young Paul Darrow in the first episode - playing the baddie) and this year "The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes". Which also had an even younger Paul Darrow (I think he was younger anyway) in the first episode! This time he wasn't the baddie though.

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, hello! *waves from somewhere probably vaguely nearby*

I've only seen S2 of Rivals (which doesn't have Paul Darrow) but it was good fun. I hope you enjoyed S1! Paul Darrow is always a bonus, of course. I think the youngest I've seen him so far is Special Branch S1, which was about 1968 or 69, I think? (SB clocks up an impressive amount of B7 guests over its full run!)

[kaffy_r]

fandoms of my heart

This is such a very lovely phrase, and I am going to borrow it from now on. Thank you!

I especially like James Maxwell. (He's a ghost and has a nice obit; apparently this is what I look for in a man these days. He falls over in fake moustaches a lot. It may be the weight of the moustaches.) Also David Collings. (He dies a lot in everything and has great hair.)

Hee. I laughed out loud at this, hence my 'hee' instead of a 'heh,' which just serves to remind me, and anyone else, that you have a most excellent way with words.

(Also, both Maxwell and the inimitable Mr. Collings are aweseom.)

[thisbluespirit]

This is such a very lovely phrase, and I am going to borrow it from now on. Thank you!

It's a phrase I'm so used to that I blinked at your not having encountered it before, but then I realised it's very much something I picked up in yuletide and exchange circles, so of course, you might not have done at all. (e.g. "Thank you for writing me one of the tiny fandoms of my heart!")

And, ahaha, thank you! It's all true, though. :-D

[corvidology]

I'm partly from the South West as well! LD

He falls over in fake moustaches a lot. It may be the weight of the moustaches. I really needed this laugh, so thank you!

[thisbluespirit]

Ha, glad to oblige!

I do my family tree and 2/3s of me is entirely from one side of the Bristol Channel or the other. I am made out of silt, probably.

[bold_seer]

Here from the challenge, hope you don't mind! You're the second person I've seen mention CB in two days. Starting to regret not signing up this year. XD

Everything you said about W10!! Didn't want to. Had to. Feared the worst. Seems to have worked better than expected?

I remember seeing a neat icon by you, so I should go find that post.

[thisbluespirit]

Here from the challenge, hope you don't mind!

Of course not!

And, ha, there seem to be a whole troop of people regretting missing ChocoBox sign-ups. I suppose we need a time machine for that...

Everything you said about W10!! Didn't want to. Had to. Feared the worst. Seems to have worked better than expected?

*nods*

I remember seeing a neat icon by you, so I should go find that post.

Thanks! If you have any idea what fandom/sort of icon it was, I could point in the right direction and if it has been lost thanks to TinyPic or Photobucket, I can re-upload it. (I have a lot of icons I should re-upload, so reasons to do it are good!)

[pegasuswrites]

...because modern TV was too fast and noisy for me to cope with.

I am having such an epiphany right now. :o

[thisbluespirit]

<3

(If you should ever need Slow Cardboard Telly recs, I am right there, though, okay. ;-D)

[dimity_blue]

I especially like James Maxwell. (He's a ghost and has a nice obit; apparently this is what I look for in a man these days. He falls over in fake moustaches a lot. It may be the weight of the moustaches.) Also David Collings. (He dies a lot in everything and has great hair.)

<3 David Collings really does have great hair.

[thisbluespirit]

It is certainly always worth mentioning. :-)