Open Beta is upon us.

You can add your email address to the invitation queue (opens Saturday 14th November see world clock for the launch time in your timezone). We'll send out invitations to addresses on the queue on a first-come, first-served basis, depending on how many new accounts we can support at a given time. This way, you won't have to know someone who already has an account in order to have a chance of getting one.

Users who have an account on the Archive will be given a certain number of invitations to hand out to their friends. We know that people like to share the fannish glee and to build their networks on new sites, and we want to give people a chance to do that. Extra invitation codes will be issued to users periodically depending on how many new users the site can manage.

More info at the OTW blog.

(Drop me a comment here if you want to be on the list for my invites.)

As I was checking out the pictures from Joe Flanigan's Creation Chicago interview (link borked on purpose), I couldn't help but wonder what exactly they were talking about, so here's my interpretation. *g*

Some notes:

• If you found the various offensive things people said during Gatefail to be triggery, please do not read.
  
  
• If you are on a slow connection that cannot load images quickly, you will hate this post.
  
  
• And, um, if you are a person who has a hard time distinguishing between someone saying offensive things and someone mocking people who say offensive things, you will really hate this post.

( It has lesbians! )

It's OTW membership drive time again!

We've got the usual lolcats, but I've realized that this year my feelings about the OTW can only be summed up by....something a little more emphatic (and um, bigger).

( look at this motheringfucking nonprofit organization )

Title: Take It like a Man
Summary: “We had a deal!”
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Rating: R
Spoilers: None
Website: Fan Fiction I Wrote Yay!
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.
Notes: While in the car one day, I had this idea for a story that would fill my "genderswap" square on my cliche_bingo card, so I went home and wrote it. And then I realized I had no "genderswap" square on my bingo card. So, uh, this story is for "mutation/physical transformation." *shifty eyes* Thanks to musesfool and hwmitzy for beta reading duties.
Words: ~1,600
Completed: August 19th, 2009

(  Take It like a Man )

I'm probably never going to do anything more with this, so I'm setting it free. Fly, little ficlet, fly!

Title: Cold Toes
Summary: "He’d never really noticed how chilly the floor was."
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
Website: Fan Fiction I Wrote Yay!
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.
Notes: This was written in season two, which is why it reads like Ford hasn't been gone that long (now it seems like an eternity since he was on the show!) and why I was into Teyla and Ronon as a pairing (that only lasted about one season).
Words: ~900
Given Up for Dead: March 9, 2009

( Cold Toes )

According to Bramlage, [Eight Belles] suffered condylar fractures in both forelegs. The left was dislocated and opened the skin, contaminating the injury. She fractured "at least one sesamoid" in her right leg, Bramlage said.

Every year, I watch the Triple Crown races, and every year I feel guilty about it. I love to see strong, beautiful horses do what they do best, but the racing industry has a very ugly side (just like every discipline has an ugly side). What happened to Eight Belles is part of the reason it makes me feel dirty to watch the races, but in a way, Eight Belles was lucky. Her life was short, her pain was brief, and her end was quick.

My horse, Logan, is a former racehorse. His career on the track was unspectacular and ended with an injury. He was one of the lucky ones who didn't end up broken down and unwanted, on a truck to the slaughterhouse: two days with no food or water, trying to stand on three legs in a trailer meant for cows, with a ceiling so low the horses can't even lift their heads.

In most countries where horses are slaughtered for food, they are processed in a similar fashion to cattle, in large-scale factory slaughter houses where they are stunned with a captive bolt gun and bled to death.

Logan is now in perfect health. He is sound; he is rideable; he is, in fact, a handful.

"He's a pretty boy," Shelly said about him, the last time we rode in one of her clinics. "That's probably what saved him."

Someone snatched him up at an auction, put some time into rehabbing and retraining him, and he eventually ended up with us.

A lot of horses, pretty and not so pretty, don't get saved.

Ex-racehorses, riding horses, and other horses sold at auction may also enter the food chain; sometimes these animals have been stolen or purchased under false pretenses.

Kill buyers, as they are known, purchase horses at auctions, and then turn around and sell them to the slaughterhouses for a profit. Sometimes, they respond to "free to a good home" ads, or ads for very cheap horses, and misrepresent themselves as just plain ol' folks looking for a nice horse to love.

But they are not the problem--they wouldn't even exist if there weren't so many unwanted horses out there. If they couldn't make money doing it, they wouldn't bother.

I mop up. I clean up the mess left by morons who just have to breed their mare. Every spring I send dozens of mares and new foals to the meat plant. And every spring there are idiots breeding more babies. (kill buyer Manny Phelps; April 10 entry)

Joe and Cathy Shelton run one of the many Thoroughbred rescues out there, working to provide a temporary home, and in some cases a permanent home, for the racing industry's discards. He's saved hundreds of horses from the kill buyers.

Key Maker is 6, and he broke down badly at the race track. We call him Key, and he would make a wonderful companion to another horse.

Six years old, and can never be ridden again.

Horses live into their twenties, their thirties. They start racing at two years of age, when they are still babies, before they are done growing, and some of them are dead or irreparably damaged by age three. The horses you see run in the Kentucky Derby are three years old. Barbaro was three years old. Eight Belles was three years old.

What happened to Eight Belles isn't that rare. By some accounts, a horse breaks down on the racetrack somewhere in this country every day. Hundreds of Barbaros every year, running on shattered legs.

My daughter is 12 and all she talks about is horses. We went to Bay Meadows Race Track so my daughter could see close up the beautiful thoroughbreds. During a race, as the horses approached the finish line, a horse broke his leg and right in front of us his leg was dangling. (letter to Joe; May 6th entry)

It takes a death on national television to piss off America. But every morning during workouts horses die. Every afternoon when they race they die. I get to see how they suffer. I am an exercise rider...I cannot tell you how many times I have gone home from work and thrown up. (letter to Joe; May 6th entry)

If they get hurt, they are tossed aside like trash. The Sheltons have over 100 horses on their property at any given time, an incredible number. But only a drop in the bucket compared to the 13,000 Thoroughbreds born every year.

Gone Cattin. He raced a long time, made decent money, and then came to us with a badly broken knee.

Salvino raced a long time. He is missing his right eye.

Even if they survive an injury, they may not be able to carry a rider ever again. Their futures are bleak, because few people want a horse they can't ride.

Affairs Over. He broke down at the race track and should never be ridden. Affairs Over would make a great best friend to another horse. He is 6 years old.

These horses are bred to entertain humans, and--let's not forget this part--make money. When they don't make money, they are discarded. People in the industry love to talk up the "pampering" race horses get, but this is only the high-end racehorses (you think those horses racing at the county fairs get massages and top-quality feed?), and it's only as long as they are worth the expense.

Here is a documented fact: Storm Cat has a stud fee of three hundred thousand dollars. Since 2001 we have rescued 14 of his sons and daughters for an average price of 35 cents a pound. (March 2nd entry.)

Sometimes being a huge moneymaker doesn't save them, either.

The 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand is believed to have been slaughtered in Japan, probably for pet food.

Logan lives in a heated barn. He is turned out every day, weather permitting, and eats a wonderfully balanced diet. He gets treats and praise and love, and he works--easy work--about six whole hours a week.

His end won't come on a track, bleeding into the dirt, or as a respite from a painful, hungry life spent shuffling from one neglectful owner to another, until he finds his way to the slaughterhouse.

Pinned to the bulletin board in my step-dad's office is a drawing, plans for the pole barn my parents are going to build on their property. In the back there will be two stalls--one for Logan, and one for a friend. This is where he will live when he retires and we no longer ride him. We will bring him home, and love him until his last day.

Every horse deserves to be loved until their last day.

On Saturday horse killer Manny Phelps phones to say I better take a filly. She is tiny, and starving. For just $250.00 the filly could be mine.

I want to tell you about Jag. A former lesson horse, Jag came to us last year when he was no longer wanted. Jag is a thoroughbred, and he worries. All the time I hear how stupid Thoroughbreds are. Inbred, with little common sense. But you should meet Jag. Smarter than any horse I have been with. The world he carries on his shoulders.

And in monster winds with sideways rain comes this tiny starving filly from horse killer Manny Phelps. Her gums are white, and she is dying. He greets the tiny starving filly, and refuses to leave her side. Once again, the world on his shoulders. (February 28th entry.)

Donations always welcome:

TB Friends
15891 County Road 92C
Woodland CA 95695-9217

I wrote this for the sga_flashfic Not Dead Yet challenge, and people over there seemed to like it, so I think I'll keep it. ;p

Posting here for posterity, as I always do.

Title: Part by Part
Summary: "How did we start doing this, anyway?"
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
Website: Fan Fiction I Wrote Yay!
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.
Notes: Originally posted here for the sga_flashfic Not Dead Yet Challenge.
Words: ~1,300
Completed: March 13, 2008

( Part by Part )

the_oscar_cat has created a wonderful Secret SGA Christmas Podfic Anthology 2007, with stories by dogeared, gblvr, thegrrrl2002, aesc, sheafrotherdon, villainy and me!

It's up, it's up, it's up! Go download! Here is my story wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Title: Do You Know What I Know?
Summary: Two of my favorite things: drunk!John, and I-didn't-know-we-were-dating!Rodney. Pure self-indulgence. Merry Christmas to me!
Author: Devil Doll
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None.
Website: Fan Fiction I Wrote Yay!
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.
Notes: Written for the_oscar_cat's Secret SGA Christmas Podfic Anthology 2007. Thanks to hwmitzy and musesfool for the beta duties. Uh, this is slightly different (a word here and there) from the podfic version, because I am a compulsive editor. I'm sorry! *sheepish*
Words: ~2,900
Completed December 12th, 2007
Posted: December 21, 2007

( Do You Know What I Know? )

Good morning, LiveJournal.

It's my birthday, and it's a gorgeous day outside, and I'm at the comic shop (with the Spider-Man movie on the store televisions, because that's the kind of sense of humor I have), listening to a little girl very earnestly explain to her father that, no, she does not want the Barbie book, she wants the Teen Titans Go! comic because she already *has* two Barbie books and besides, Raven is her *favorite character*, she says so *all the time* so he should know that.

I have gift certificates and e-cards in my email inbox, virtual gifts in my user info, and the Mary Jane post, which for so many days now has been a forum for people to take potshots at my intelligence, my physical appearance, my sexuality, and my goddamn gall for daring to engage with them on my terms only, is now up to sixteen pages of comments--the last three pages of which are almost entirely lovely, supportive comments--some from friends, but many from people I don't even know.

After this, I'm going to go to my parents' house and play frisbee with the dog, and eat lasagna and birthday cheesecake, and probably get some presents. My life, as it stands day-to-day, is unchanged, and the impact of this recent nastiness on it is fleeting.

Life is good. Fangirls are awesome.

Especially this little one coming up to the counter with her Teen Titans book. You go, little fangirl. You go.

The Toronto Star weighed in on the MJ statue thing, and did the best job so far, I think. They talked to girl-wonder.org (LJ name withheld unless she wants it here), and pulled some of the better quotes from my LJ comments (this poor journalist had to read that post *for work*--I can't imagine), and she did contact Marvel for their (predictable) reaction.

I pasted it here, or you can read it there.

( No plumber's butt for Spidey? )

The Mary Jane statue made Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog.

My LJ was not linked (THANK GOD. I CAN ONLY STAND SO MUCH STUPIDITY), but logansrogue's version got a link. Yay, Nacey!

And here it is on Fox New.

A couple people have also reported it was on Inside Edition tonight.

It made the New York Post.

MARY JANE IS SPIDEY 'SENSUOUS'

By NEIL GRAVES

May 16, 2007 -- Say, doesn't that comely babe - barefoot, buxom and scrubbing some laundry - look familiar?

Why, it's Spider-Man's better half, Mary Jane, and, wow, are the Webbed Wonder's fans steamed over this one.

Bloggers are scorching their keyboards, claiming that a statuette of Mary Jane, based on artist Adam Hughes' notion of a fantasy femme, is an eyeful of outrage.

Sporting sexy cleavage and a very exposed pink thong peeking out from tight jeans, Mary Jane is nobody's washerwoman, although she's bending over a tub scrubbing Spidey's iconic superhero gear.

The rendition has gotten so many catcalls that a Web observer, in a six-part outline, said enough already: Cease and desist.

"Devildoll" wrote on the site LiveJournal, "Okay, people. It's been six days and 750 comments and I'm not going to try to keep up anymore.

If you're here to comment about how much you dislike it, I agree with you and I thank you for commenting."

On Blogspot.com, under the title, "Mary Jane, the Other White Meat," a writer said, "The statue represents a big step backwards for those concerned about the state and future of comic books."

A disappointed Angie's electronic diary read, "Sorry but naah. It's a girl in some jeans holding a Spider-Man mask."

And an irate Canadian lass blogged, "I'd like a statue of Spider-Man doing his own damn laundry ... This is the worst thing I have ever seen."

Happy birthday to meeeeeeeee! Okay, I started this long before my birthday, and it isn't actually for a few more days anyway, but I say close enough.

Title: Junk Cheap
Summary: If you were thinking you'd love to read an AU where Rodney is a college professor and John owns a junk shop, this is the story for you.
Author: Devil Doll
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Rating: R
Spoilers: There's a small one for "Sunday" in here, but since this story is an AU, if you don't know what the spoiler is, you might not even realize it's a spoiler.
Website: Fan Fiction I Wrote Yay!
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.
Notes: Thanks to hwmitzy and musesfool for the beta duties.
Words: ~13,000
Posted: May 15th, 2007
Podfic: The awesome zoetrope recorded this story, and you can get it here. And countess7 made a lovely cover for the podbook version, which you can get here!

( Junk Cheap )

logansrogue, who takes awesomeness to new heights, drew a great companion piece to the Mary Jane statue.



( bigger version here )

Edited 8/23/07 to add: Myths about the MJ Wank

The statue sold out as a result of this post and the ensuing attention.
People like to say that by drawing attention to the statue, we increased interest in it and it sold out. Not true. It was already sold out well before my post on the subject went up.

I deleted comments.
I did not delete a single comment in this post. Yes, here and there you will see deleted comments--they were deleted by the person who left them originally, not me. He decided he couldn't deal with being pwned by a bunch of feminazis, so he took his comments and went home.

I banned people who disagreed with me.
This one is laughable. There are dozens of people in this post who didn't agree with me, and none of them were banned. I banned people who were *assholes*. Who were rude, or threatening, or posted obscene images, or spammed the comment threads with smart-ass remarks. But, see, no one wants to admit they were banned for being an asshole--it makes them feel a lot better to say they were banned because I'm a bitch who can't handle anyone disagreeing with me. Consider the source, which in this case = pond scum.



ETA: Yes, feel free to link.

Lisa had the heads up on this.

I'm so happy for Mary Jane. She isn't just the damsel in distress. She gets to wash Parker's Spidey costume with both her tits *and* her thong showing!

You've come a long way, baby!



ETA 5/15/07: Please read this first. Edited again on 5/15/07 to make things clearer for the reading impaired.

Okay, people. It's been six seven days and 750 920 comments and I'm not going to try to keep up anymore.

If you're here to comment about how much you dislike it, I agree with you and I thank you for commenting.

Now. Everyone else who insists on commenting with absolutely nothing new and original:

1. If you're here to explain why we shouldn't be upset about it, and your comment includes any of the statements found on the bingo card, it isn't really worth the time it will take you to type it up. You're adding nothing new or thought-provoking to the discussion. (If you're curious as to why I have no interest in discussing the bingo card points, you can read about it here.) If you feel the need to comment anyway, I will link you to the bingo card and freeze the thread. If you come back after that, you will be considered a troll, and I will ban your username.
   
   
2. If you're here to inquire as to why this is so upsetting, this has been covered, at length, in the comments already. If you feel the need to comment anyway, I will tell you to go read the other comments and freeze the thread. If you come back after that, you will be considered a troll, and I will ban your username.
   
   
3. If you're here to ask why we're upset about this ONE THING out of many, I can assure you this is not the first and only thing we've ever been upset about, and I also urge you to consider why, if that isn't the case, YOU'RE so upset about this one instance of women being upset about something. If you feel the need to comment anyway, I will point out your hypocrisy and freeze the thread. If you come back after that, you will be considered a troll, and I will ban your username.
   
   
4. If you're here because this pisses you off so goddamned much and you want us to know what petty, horrible bitches we are, you should go back to your own journal and write a long, contemplative essay examining why seeing women have an opinion about comics is so threatening to you. If you feel the need to comment anyway, I will tell you to do just that and freeze the thread. If you come back after that, you will be considered a troll, and I will ban your username.
   
   
5. If you're here to point out that Spidey is nearly naked while MJ is not, and thus the two pictures are not comparable, you are just being willfully dense. If you feel the need to comment anyway, I will point that out to you and freeze the thread. If you come back after that, you will be considered a troll, and I will ban your username.
   
   
6. If you're here because you think feminism ruined your life--and your chances of spending your entire adult life sitting on the couch with a brewski and a turkey pot pie while the little missus washes your dirty socks--I'm sure you can find plenty of other places to vent your anger at those uppity womenfolk. If you feel the need to comment anyway, I will mock you, freeze the thread, and ban your username.
   
   
7. If you're here to do nothing but spam my comments with smart-ass remarks, you will be considered a troll, and I will ban your username.
   
   
8. If you created a new journal today for the specific purpose of trolling this post, I will ban your username.

More points to be added as the trolls continue to show up with their tiresome comments.

If you think this is censorship, you can read my thoughts on that here.

Note this does not say all dissenting opinions are unwelcome. If you can express yourself in a polite and respectful manner, without resorting to insults, sarcasm, or name-calling, you're welcome to post a comment, but I probably won't reply to that either, because I'm not going to change your mind and you're not going to change mine, and this whole drama has already taken enough of my time. It's not my fault you're late to the party.

I would also like to point out that there is nothing--NOTHING--stopping you from posting about this in your own journal and discussing it there. Everyone who whined here about how they weren't getting a chance to have their say had that option, and chose not to do it. Dare to be different, I say.

Thanks for coming by, and have a nice day.







ETA: impertinence looked up the contact info for Sideshow, if you're interested in giving them a piece of your mind:

Sideshow Collectibles
2630 Conejo Spectrum Street
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
toll-free: 1-800-474-3746
ph: 1-805-214-2100
fx: 1-805-214-2190

And Marvel contact info.

kali921 also points out that if you register with Marvel, you can leave comments on Joe Quesada's blog. Marvel Blogs page here.

Or you can send feedback to the the licensing department here.

ETA Again 9PM Central: Several people have left comments in the thread at Sideshow. They've all been deleted at some point in the last hour or so.

ETA Again Friday 11am Central:
morchades says:

Screencap your comments, print out the screencaps, and mail them to the company.

Post the screencaps on your journals and blogs too.

(Oh, and please send me the links for When Fangirls Attack)


ETA 5/13/07: lauralaitaine says:

I left customer feedback at Sideshow last night. I just got this reply:

"Thank you for your recent submission of your comments to our site. We appreciate that you took the time to share your thoughts with us and have passed them on to the appropriate department for further review in consideration of our future products.

Our product is not produced to make a political or social statement but is fashioned after entertainment properties currently in the market place. We suggest that if you do find the Mary Jane product offensive that you refrain from viewing that web page.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance."

So to paraphrase: "We have dismissed your comments out of hand and they will soon be deleted. Run along now."



ETA 5/12/07: logansrogue drew a great companion piece. What are the odds we'd ever see this as a statue?




Tell her how awesome she is here.

It's remix_redux Reveal Day, and I wrote a pinch hit.

Title: The Hunt (Purple Nurple Remix)
Author: devildoll
Summary: Easter in Atlantis.
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Notes: Thanks to hwmitzy and musesfool for the beta duties. Originally posted here. Posted here for posterity.
Original story: The Hunt by akire_yta

( The Hunt (Purple Nurple Remix) )

This story was inspired by a vacation I took with chicklet_girl, hwmitzy, musesfool, and seperis in the summer of 2005, where we spent some time mocking Magic Cock stories ("It slices, it dices, it heals emotional wounds in one swift thrust!"). I thought it would be fun to write my own version of a Magic Cock, and, well. Blame them, not me.

Title: Jelly Side Up
Summary: What had Sheppard been doing?
Author: Devil Doll
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Rating: R
Spoilers: None.
Website: Fan Fiction I Wrote Yay!
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.
Notes: Yes, this is the story formerly known as the "the John's Big Dick fic." Thanks to hwmitzy and musesfool for the beta duties.
Words: ~4,800
Originally Completed: September, 2005
Finally Posted: April 4, 2007

( Jelly Side Up )

This is a story I've been calling my "Disney AU" even though it does not take place at Disneyworld. Yes, my friends from X-Men Movieverse are laughing at me right now, because they remember when I wouldn't even *read* kidfic.

Title: The Happiest Place on Earth
Summary: "Now a week stretched before them in the hell on Earth that was Cocoa Beach." High school AU.
Author: Devil Doll
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None.
Website: Fan Fiction I Wrote Yay!
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me. Neither do any of the famous people, movies, or pop culture phenomena mentioned in this story.
Notes: This is my response to musesfool's Mp3 Challenge (yes, it was assigned over a year ago--I totally dragged my heels on the final edits). My assigned song was "Teenage Kicks" by Undertones, and it made me want to write something that read sort of like a teen romance movie--some crappy parents, some annoying siblings, some hidden tragedy, and the thrill of first love. This was written before the airing of "McKay & Mrs. Miller." This was also written before it became canon that Rodney likes Batman and John plays golf, so even though I got Jossed on Rodney's childhood, I scored on those two references. Thanks to hwmitzy and musesfool for the beta duties.
Words: ~6,500
Posted: March 26, 2007

( The Happiest Place on Earth )

Brief little ficlet for scribblinlenore's challenge.

Written based on this image:



The No-Tell Motel SGA Sheppard/McKay PG-13

( Read )