Last Tuesday we all went up to Oxford for the day and serena_inverse graduated from Oxford Brookes. She got a B.Sc.(2:1 Honours) in Biology!! Yaaaaay, Go Rini-chan!


( More stuff under the cut. )

I don't know where three years have gone but serina_inverse has just finished her degree. She had her last exam last Wednesday, the Valedictory Ball was on Saturday and she will graduate on June 26th. (She will get her final results in a few weeks from now.)
We went up to Oxford to take her some stuff for the Ball and to congratulate her on finishing. We had lunch at La Cucina and then had a wander around town. Here's a piccy of her and Colonel K outside the Sheldonian Theatre.



( University Rage ... )

I have been enjoying icarus_ancalion's epic AU SGA Fic "Out of Bounds" for some time and last year (Oops!) promised her some art. Well, I got there *eventually* with the latest segment of the story for which this was drawn.I couldn't resist the notion of the eye-searing Hawaiian shirt!
"Out of Bounds" is here (the Hawaiian shirt segment, but you'll also find a link on the page to the start of the story-there's quite a lot of it, all good meaty reading, even if ,like me, the world of figure skating was a fairly closed book to you before this.



He was a skater boy ... by *Miso-no-Tsuki on deviantART
( Fic Recs thisaway )

Here's some pretty things for you.

Muscari by *Miso-no-Tsuki on deviantART

Happy Birthday to mirabile_dictu and here's a pretty for you! Sadly, while the Bumble bees are fat and healthy for this early in the year (Global warming anyone?)they're also much too active to get a decent shot of. This early visitor posed for photos, even when I lay down on the lawn next to it to take the shot!


serena_inverse and I have made a Simnel cake for Easter.I shall post piccies when it's finished. We're using the "River Cottage" recipe. *g*

So my art muse has returned from her extended vacation(!)with a bang. This started as a background piece to my Ronan portrait and then just wouldn't leave me alone. I have burned the midnight oil on this one (The only time of day I get to paint in peace, so I can go with the flow, as it were), and I am quite proud of it.
One warm point of light ...
( ...in the dark Hell of a Hive Ship.)


One warm point of light by *Miso-no-Tsuki on deviantART

And in other news; I have had five pictures nominated for the StargateFan Awards! Whee!

Your Animal is the Stag

You are a proud, independent person. You take care of yourself and are very attractive. You keep a bit of a distance from the world, but you still understand it well. You are both spiritual and intuitive. You are sensitive to all of the creatures around you. You enjoy travel, especially when it involves a long journey. You especially love traveling outdoors.

Oddly enough for this type of random quiz, it hits the spot several times, (well apart from the "You are very attractive" thing, obviously :D )I do find myself at a remove from the world, although I'm not alone in fandom in having friends in RL who have no idea what I get up to online! And I love to travel (wish I could do more, but the money, she is lacking ... ) and I love the outdoors, hence my involvement in Scouting and my frequent camping trips with the Cubs and Scouts.

Chevron 7.2 Convention Bedford Park Inn 20-22 February 2009

This is just my recollection of the Con, not intended to be exhaustive, I’ve just run together what the guests said and did at their various talks and signings.
(  Comment under here )

I went up to Oxford yesterday with Mitchlux, as he wanted to Check out Brookes as his first Uni choice. He knows the area, of course because we have been there many times over serena_inverse's first two years there, but he had never been inside the Uni itself. We saw a couple of lecture theatres and several labs. An Environmental Scientist named Stuart introduced us to a range of strange items. Large African Millipedes- about 8 inches long, were "Boring, because when you pick them up they just curl up and poo on the bench." Which it duly did. The Madagascan hissing cockroaches were interesting, one stayed stuck on his jumper while he was talking, while he pushed and poked at a number of others till he got one that made a satisfactory noise. They do hiss! Apparently it spooks the local predators big time. Since like most Insecta these have no mouthparts suitable for vocalization, they are using their breathing holes (spiracles) to make this noise.
Then he went and got us a six foot long American Corn snake to play with. Henry, I think the snake was called, was obviously a departmental pet and perfectly used to being handled. Mitchlux asked to hold it and was told to make sure the body was supported. The snake then made a bolt for the nearby sink, leaving my son apparently trying to tie the thing in knots to stop it from getting away! Not your average boring talk!
We also saw the confocal microscope that Serena has used in her research project this year, although the team using it were looking at protein migration in a Tobacco plant cell. Then we had a nice chat with some more of the teaching staff in a very relaxed atmosphere, (Tea, coffee and some very nice biccies!)and the lecturer who'd given the main talk was very gracious about the prospect of yet another Crazy Casey cluttering up the place!
So despite the miserable non-stop drizzle, that was a result! We only got to see Serena briefly as she was between lectures and Lab work. I got *pouted* at for that but we were done an hour and a half before she was due to finish her work, so we went home.
SORRY!
And tomorrow we are off to Chevron 7.2 in Bedford! Yes, the royal "we"! Colonel K is coming with me as we haven't been to a Con together in years! So, I have washed the "Daedalus" flight suit and looked out an evening dress for the "formal" party and hopefully we will have lots of fun! I am finishing a "Ronan" portrait for Jason Momoa to sign and NO I'm *not* going to ask the Flan to sign the "Sunset Sheppard" pic. But I will have copies of it ...
I know that flubber2kool is going. Anyone else?
Cheers!

I was looking through the Christmas issue of WFI (Waitrose Food Illustrated)and I found a little advert inside. What passes for my brain went; "Eeeee! Carson has a brother! The hair runs in the family, too!"
So I decided to share because the world is not a particularly joyful place at the moment especially for those of my flist in Oz,(the bush fires look terrifying), or across the Pond,(Economy and Rethuglicans) or even here ("One-eyed Scottish Idiot" indeed. Who'da thunk that Jezza would be offering insightful political comment. Even better was the Radio 4 discussion where a panelist pointed out that various people had objected to this description of Gordon Brown on the grounds of prejudice against the Scots or those "visually-challenged", but no one had objected to the use of the word "idiot"!)
Ladies, please enjoy ...



Here he is in close-up, because you can't have too much of a good thing, particularly when it is neither calorific nor prohibited.




And the advert? Scotch Beef. "Well matured, tasty and tender."
Couldn't have put it better myself.Yum.

Here's Paul for you!


Paul McGillion Banner by *Miso-no-Tsuki on deviantART

I've finally got around to working on my PegCon photos. This time I went prepared with a monopod which steadied up my trembling hands quite remarkably.
So here's Kavan!(My photos, mangled in PhotoShop V.6)



Kavan Smith banner by *Miso-no-Tsuki on deviantART

I've done this as a banner but I can resize it if anyone wants?

I did a piece of Lorne Art for Peg4 and I thought I'd share it with you. On the deviantArt page you'll also find links to the photoshoot pic of me with Kavan and his signed copy of the portrait.


Jumper Three on Approach by *Miso-no-Tsuki on deviantART

This report doesn't claim to cover everything that happened, just the interesting bits that I remember! Photos will follow in a later post!


( Wolf-Pegasus Convention 4-Report. )

Last call for votes at StargateFan Awards, voting ends in about 15hrs. I have been a busy beaver trolling through my memorable entries here and my devArt faves and I have gone forth and nominated mightily!( birthday ramblings )
The last episode of "Atlantis" aired yesterday and I will probably get to see it over the weekend. *sighs* Now that was a birthday pressie I could have done without.It wasn't the greatest series "Evar" but it wasn't bad and in amongst the dross were some gorgeous little nuggets of story and acting and dammit I was fond of them. There's not a lot on the box I can say that about.
Anyways, I had a fluff moment over Xmas and ended up doing this appalling Chibi-Radek.
Enjoy.



Whiteboard Blues by *Miso-no-Tsuki on deviantART

From all of us here in RubberDuckieLand to all of you ... have a Peaceful and Prosperous one!

serina_inverse said that my New Year's Resolution should be "Smile more and do more artwork!" and I think she's right.

In other news the StargateFanAwards have extended nominations for another week so get over there and nominate, nominate, nominate!(Drops heavy handed hint, ne? ...)

On Monday I had an unexpected trip to the great Metrollops. Mitchlux had been shortlisted as one of the top 100 designs in the "Brit Insurance Student Design of the year 2008." We were invited to the "awards ceremony" at the Design Museum, London. ( Pics and ramblings under cut )

Better late then never, as they say. Myself, serina_inverse and Colonel K got all dressed up for the County Scout ball. We scrub up nice, don't we?
( Photo under cut.View at your own peril!!! )

To all my American friends,Yay!!!! Senator Obama's acceptance speech was very, very good. (I cried. I hope Martin Luther King is watching from up there ...) I loved the bit about the centenarian Lady voter who originally couldn't have voted because she was A) female and B) black. We *have* come a long way since then. (Even if the State of California is trying to go backwards with Prop 8. )I hope that President Obama can hold onto those fine principles when faced with the vested interests up on Capitol Hill. For all our sakes.

And did anyone here go to the Chevron 7 Con last year? I was thinking about going to next year's Chevron 7.2 (Feb 20-22 in Bedford UK)and Colonel K upped and said he might come with me!!!!
Gold tickets are all sold and I was wondering if I should splurge on a silver? Guests include JF, JM, Colin Cunningham,(Whee, Major Davis!)and Peter Williams. That would mean that I would have met *all* the Atlantis cast except Rachel Lutrell. *swoons*

I will be going to Peg Con 4 in January as well.(I won the ticket in the steward's draw so only have to pay for accommodation!) Guest list so far is just Kavan Smith, but I'm more than happy to see him again!!!

But they do! Here's a thing I don't often say but this film is a little gem.
"The Last Mimzy"
No A-list stars, no massive hype, restrained but rather nicely used CGI and a thumping good high concept science-fiction story! Not surprising as it's loosely based on a story which appeared in John Campbell's "Astounding" magazine in 1943 by Lewis Padgett (Actually the nom de plume of a husband and wife team, Kuttner and Moore). It's been modernised to include some lovely fleeting references to math-string theory and Fibonacci spirals appear subtly together with some current scientific thought.
Don't be put off by the fact that it's a "kid's movie". The main protagonists are children and yes, "Mimzy" is so a Flopsy Bunny! It can be viewed on that level alone if you show it to the kiddies. Like "Dangermouse" it works at several levels at once.

The thing that delighted me the most was the portrayal of the Canadian family as a normal, *functional*,loving Dad-Mom-and-two-kids nuclear family. Or the Science teacher, not as some predatory nutjob/ mad professor but as a enthusiastic teacher in a warm relationship with his girlfriend. Shock horror! But the extraordinary events in the film play out so much better against these *so* ordinary individuals. We are gently led up the garden path for the twist at the end and it finishes the story properly with a lovely feelgood ending.
Made in 2007 with a score by Howard Shore (Yes, he of LoTR fame)this is one of the best films I have seen in ages.
Don't spoiler it for yourself, just rent a DVD and watch.