Phalla

phallavixen @ 2006-01-23T06:49:00

2006-01-23T12:53:36Z

*jiggles about*

Hmm...someone must've nudged me to update ^_^

Here we go -- sculpture of the vixen in all her glory:
http://www.furaffinity.net/full/46947/

phallavixen @ 2005-11-27T08:48:00

2005-11-27T15:40:37Z

As mentioned, I just recently read A Whisper of Wings.

Wow.

It's an epic. It's a story told on a grand scale with sweeping consequences. And it's a very emotionally draining one.

Let's start with Shadarii, the Silent Lady. All her life, she wanted to find some way of expressing the love within herself. First it was through dance, which did give her a form of sign language. Reminded me of ritualized Hindu dance. Eventually she did find a way to communicate, to those who would listen. Her creation of a system of writing, of preserving history and knowledge beyond the life of elders, mirrored the myth she created (and danced) about First Mother's discovery/invention of singing and cooking.

Then there's the small matter of her assumption of goddesshood, first through the agency of the Ka called Starwing, then under her own steam/faith. Starwing's gift of power seemed too easy, and in time, it was revealed as a temptation. Starwing might have fought Serpent in the name of Ultimate Good, but showed itself as Serpent's other face. The final fate of the two Ka, trapped together to grapple for all eternity, suggests C.S. Lewis's Pharisee wine.

Shadarii became an incarnation of love, but not a jealous or possessive one. She loved Kotaru-Keketal enough to let him go to Harish -- just as Harish loved him enough to risk losing him to Shadarii. That told Shadarii that Harish was worthy of Kotaru's love. Meanwhile, the Silent Lady had an entire world to love and care for.

And then there's her sister. Shadarii was heavy; Hokaru was slim. Shadarii took a lover; Hokaru remained virginal. Shadarii was mute; Hokaru used her voice to foment rebellion. Shadarii became a force for creation and peace; Hokaru became an avatar of bloody revolution. Yet all along, the Dream Hokaru fought for, social equity and unity, remained. More than a few eggs (and skulls) were sacrificed for that omelette, but while it's easy to argue with her methods, no one who had seen the Kashra mired in Rules and Station could argue with her goal. Hokaru's tale is one of ends and means, as is Shadarii's. Both, in moments of passion, were prepared to commit atrocious acts. Both tamed the destructive spirits (Ka and otherwise) within.

It's somehow fitting that Kitashii and Rooshikii wound up playing together. They continue the sisters' parallelism: Kitashii was spared rape, while Rooshiki recovered from it.

I've yet to decide whether I like the ending. I don't mean Shadarii's decision to leave Kotaru-Keketal with Harish. That part of the story I agree with. But...how many times was Shadarii brought back to life? How many times did she cheat death? First she's drugged, to be given over to the priests, but Kitashii helps her heal. Then she exhausts herself, pouring out her love on a world destroyed by war, and her accolytes revive her. Even when the end was her own choosing, her followers (and destiny) wouldn't allow her to die.

On the one hand, it seems mythically appropriate for Shadarii to die, her labors ended, her enemy conquered. On the other, as those who love her so rightly pointed out, she's obsessed with becoming a mythic figure -- living out what she'd merely re-enacted through dance. One could make the argument that dying is the easy way out for a goddess. Instead, Shadarii must live to preserve the world Hokaru died and killed to create, and to expiate her sister's sins.

Hokaru gave birth to the new world order, and as with any birth, there was pain. Like any mother, launched for one sole issue, armed and engined for the same, she proved herself deadlier than the male -- certainly, far more lethal than her hidebound father and the patriarchy he represented. But if Hokaru is the birth mother, and Daimiru the midwife, then Shendarii is the adoptive mother. It is a particular irony that, though Hokaru remained a virgin, she became a mother; though Shendarii took a lover, she had no children of her own. Now, she lovingly cradles her sister's child.

With apologies to George Carlin, I don't really have an ending for this, so I'll just take a small bow. More later, perhaps.

Literary musings to come...

2005-11-26T23:54:01Z

A few years ago, someone on FurryMUCK showed me an @desc inspired by creatures from Paul Kidd's A Whisper of Wings.

Finally found a copy of that book yesterday.

Finished it half an hour ago.

When I'm no longer feeling drained, I'll be back with a review -- hidden behind an LJ-cut, of course.

Memery, all alone in the moonlight...

2005-07-27T20:12:33Z

From shdragon:

the Wit

(52% dark, 39% spontaneous, 16% vulgar)

your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK

You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean you're pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.

I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most effort to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.

Also, you probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 38% on dark

You scored higher than 61% on spontaneous

You scored higher than 0% on vulgar

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid

phallavixen @ 2005-05-21T10:36:00

2005-05-21T15:46:47Z

Snagged from kiravmoon, who wants to know more about "the elusive Phalla":

01). Total volume of music files on my computer?
Gah. If MP3s were gold, I'd be part dragon. Got mp3's on the laptop I'm typing from now, on the desktop I normally use, and on the older desktop on the floor next to it. Plus several CDRs full of filk, soundtracks, novelties and classical.

02). The last CD I bought was ..
Mercedes Lackey, Oathbreakers

03a). The last song I listened to before writing this was ..
"The Batman" closing theme. Hey, it's Saturday, whattaya want?

03b). Song playing right now:
Kitty wanting into the bedroom.

04). Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me.
"Hallelujah", Shrek soundtrack
"I Need a Hero", Bonnie Taylor (sp?)
"Fame"
"Man of La Mancha"
"Die Walkure", Wagner
-- Anybody notice a showtunes bias?

05). Which 5 people are you passing this baton to, & why?
I'm gonna cheat on this one. I'm pretty sure everyone I know has already gone through this meme. If you're reading this, and you haven't, consider yourself tagged.

phallavixen @ 2005-05-08T08:47:00

2005-05-08T13:48:57Z

From kitsunezero

Your SAT Score of 1420 Means:

You Scored Higher Than Howard Stern

You Scored Higher Than George W. Bush

You Scored Higher Than Al Gore

You Scored Higher Than David Duchovny

You Scored Higher Than Natalie Portman

You Scored Lower Than Bill Gates

Your IQ is most likely in the 130-140 range

Equivalent ACT score: 32

Schools that Fit Your SAT Score:

Amherst College

Dartmouth College

Williams College

University of Pennsylvania

Columbia University

What Does Your SAT Score Mean?

I outscored Dubya. Now there's a case of damning with faint praise.

phallavixen @ 2005-04-03T13:48:00

2005-04-03T18:49:23Z

Grabbed from athelind

You scored as Fox. You are the Fox. You are quite intelligent and use it to your advantage. You are a diplomatic person and use that to help your friends in times of crisis, not choosing sides. You are also very patient, waiting for what you want.

</td>

Salmon

83%

Fox

83%

Deer

75%

Eagle

75%

Horse

67%

Dog

58%

Bear

58%

Ram

58%

Dragon

58%

Wolf

58%

Bull

50%

Crow

50%

Stag

50%

Snake

25%

Which animal totem best suits you?
created with QuizFarm.com

And no, I didn't fudge the results.

Understanding Phalla's Argot

2005-03-25T13:26:21Z

feedonist: One who thrives on the hedonistic pleasures of the table.

phallavixen @ 2005-03-23T23:01:00

2005-03-24T05:02:32Z

Grabbed from jirris_midvale:

Stolen Meme!

2005-03-22T23:48:45Z

Grabbed from animakitty, with modification:

Name up to five songs that you cannot help but sing along to.

Mine:
Eye of the Tiger
Stayin' Alive
Hotel California
Dust in the Wind
Eat It (alternatively, Fat)

phallavixen @ 2005-03-11T22:10:00

2005-03-12T04:11:38Z

Grabbed from athelind and jirris_midvale:

You scored as Buddhism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Buddhism. Do more research on Buddhism and possibly consider becoming Buddhist, if you are not already.

In Buddhism, there are Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that base the Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration. In Buddhism, there is no hierarchy, nor caste system; the Buddha taught that one's spiritual worth is not based on birth.

</td>

Buddhism

63%

Islam

54%

agnosticism

54%

Christianity

42%

Hinduism

42%

paganism

42%

atheism

33%

Satanism

33%

Judaism

29%

Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
created with QuizFarm.com

Insert obligatory fat joke here.

phallavixen @ 2004-12-29T11:49:00

2004-12-29T17:52:56Z

Okay, I'm sorry, but "I think you fished him too hard" is quite probably the silliest line of dialogue I've ever run across. And that includes "look of fear!".

Oh, and in other news, I hope everyone had an agreeable holiday season ^_^

phallavixen @ 2004-12-28T07:07:00

2004-12-28T13:08:44Z

Nicked from aldi:

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I'm ready for my close-up, Mister DeMille...

phallavixen @ 2004-12-21T13:26:00

2004-12-21T19:31:02Z

Pregnancy: (noun) Nine months of living with an internal parasite, followed by twenty years of living with an external parasite.

Gee, no, I don't particularly care for the idea of getting sprogged up, even if some folks out there think I have to in order to justify getting hitched.

Though I will say this for having kids: It gives you an excuse to buy all kinds of cool toys.

Myself, I'll opt for the Best of Both Worlds: eccentric aunt who can spoil and warp my neices and nephews...then give them BACK at the end of the day.

What? I'm not Loki?

2004-11-09T04:25:18Z

Grabbed from the Boojum Snark, athelind:

<td bgcolor="#000000">I Am Ananse</td></tr>

You're kind of the Ralph Kramden of Tricksters. You're quite the practical joker, and your sense of humor can be a bitslapstick. You'll fart in the elevator and blame it on the guy next to you, and you love nothing more than to see some arrogant yuppie snot get his - especially when it's you handing out the lesson. You're not mean-spirited by any means, but like Ananse Spider your practical jokes can get you into trouble if you're not careful.

Which Trickster Are You?
Take the Trickster Test at www.isleofdreams.net.

Vixens in Movies

2004-08-19T16:30:17Z

Stolen from athelind

Which movie? by travel_crazy
Username
Favourite colour
You belong in
And your co-star should be	jirris_midvale

Quiz created with MemeGen!

Now, I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to be Sam, or Gollum. On the one hand, I share Mr. Gamgee's adoration of po-ta-toes. On the other, time on the MUCK can be very Precious to us, my love...

(Damn, now I want some spuds.)

Understanding Phalla's Argot

2004-06-14T02:02:35Z

PAMeeeeee: Short for "Pay Attention to Meeeeee!" Taken from the Captain Locke story arc of Ozy & Millie.

Nelson: Verb. To mock something in an incredibly juvenile fashion, possibly pointing and ha-ha-ing. From The Simpsons.

Various images

2004-06-10T13:05:18Z

Well, folks, it's finally happened. The big fat vixen's been drawn by enough folks to merit an official list.

A surprise gift from Hoodah. While the diet soda is more than a bit out of character for me, the pic itself is quite nummy. I think he's working on another drawing of me.

The picture that had been my @image for the longest time, drawn by Wallaroo Blacke. It really captures my gobbling, gorging tendencies well. Oh, and here's another one, drawn for "Talk Like a Pirate Day". And recently, Wallaroo ambushed me with yet another picture. Y'know, I think I'm getting a little fatter each time he draws me.

An older picture, drawn by Pixel, shows me doing what big fat gals like moi are far more qualified for than our slimmer sisters: Bellydancing! As I said, this is an older picture -- I hadn't reached "Oh dear gods" size yet. *grin*

Telbert the railroading skunk has also gotten into the act, giving me a dining car all to myself. Awww!

Katt has also drawn me from time to time. Here you see me standing defiantly against all that the Die-with-a-T Industry stands for. And here you see me...erm...sitting and eating defiantly! Fight the power and pass the pastries!

A nice sketch by Sabertooth rounds out the pack. This one, I think, really captures the attitude well.

Understanding Phalla's ESC-argot

2004-06-04T17:18:33Z

"ESC-argot" -- Particular lingo used to deliver a parting shot before abandoning a scene as boring or pointless.

"Greeps no kaputi" -- The one and only phrase ever uttered by the recurring Martian character in the Overseas Weekly comic "Sally Forth"; this phrase was never translated, and other characters seemed to understand it, though the context was rarely the same from one issue to the next. Said in response to the accusation of language Nazism.

Phalla's Argot

2004-05-14T18:23:03Z

Second-Order Friend (N-Order Friend):
A friend of a friend, or a friend of a friend of a...N times over.
Inspired by higher-order derivatives.

Wheeee!

2004-05-10T13:37:06Z

Folks, I've officially had my fifteen minutes of fame. Well, it was more like a minute and a half, but when you convert from human to vulpine time...

In any case, I was chosen by 2, the Ranting Gryphon to be his Random Fur of the Week. My segment is at roughly the 1:18:45 mark on the latest 2 Sense show.

Woot! Semi-famous fatvix!

Mailing List Rant

2004-03-08T01:16:12Z

Okay...

On one of my mailing lists, Artist A has been posting new work almost daily (and notifying the list), and the moderator has praised him for it. Artist B uploaded something about a week ago, but didn't mention it at the time. We later discovered that he'd told the moderator, privately, that his work had been posted.

A week goes by, and the moderator hasn't said anything about B's work, and B hasn't asked for comments.

B posts a rant about how he's being ignored, and IMMEDIATELY everyone rushes to praise him for his work. After they find it, that is; he never did specify where it was in the list's art directory.

Here's what I see as wrong with this: Rather than post a notice that he'd uploaded something, and rather than contacting the moderator privately, B pitches a royal fit to the entire list. He screams himself hoarse, cries himself sick, and I suspect he was actually holding his breath until that first reply came in. Nobody called him on it.

Well, almost nobody. Those who know me know that I don't suffer fools gladly. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. But it really felt good.

Ash Wednesday

2004-02-25T13:57:33Z

Well, folks, it's that time again.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the official beginning of Lent. Growing up, I never really did much around the season, but the last few years, I've been working on giving something up each time.

The first year, it was coffee (and coffee derivatives)...and I wasn't at all fun to be around while it was happening. But I did feel healthier, more together, and less addicted. C.S. Lewis defined "addiction" as "an ever-increasing appetite for an ever-diminishing pleasure". That pretty much sums it up. Insert your own appetite jokes here.

Last year, I gave up the MUCK. It, too, had become an addiction. Every spare moment of the day, I had to get my fix. This year, I'm giving up that addiction again. Time to put the MUCK on the shelf for a bit, do some other things with my time.

I'll miss the real-time conversation with my buds, but there's always email, and I'll still have my mailing lists. See, I'm not going completely cold-turkey; I'm practicing -- oh, what's the word? Starts with an 'M'...ah, yes -- moderation.

See everyone around Easter!

MyDoom...

2004-02-11T16:21:51Z

I've tried to say this elsewhere, but my messages haven't gone through.

To everyone on the Fat Furs Mailing List:

Enough is enough. I am not the source of the MyDoom infection. My system does not now, nor has it ever, harbored this malicious code. I have run multiple scans with McAfee's latest updates and the tool McAfee recommends specifically for finding and eliminating MyDoom. Every scan has come up clean. I am not infected.

McAfee's page on MyDoom gives a detailed list of symptoms, and my system has not shown any of them. Furthermore, none of the other email addresses hosted on the same computer have shown signs of infection. On that same page, curiously enough, you'll find that this worm -- like many others of its kind -- can *gasp* spoof email addresses! Which would explain how a MyDoom-laden email from "me" could show up in someone's Inbox. I am the unfortunate target of character assassination.

We'll pause there for a moment to allow some to snicker, "Character assassination? On Phalla? Now there's a victimless crime..." Now, if folks had bothered to investigate MyDoom, rather than immediately looking for somebody to blame, this journal entry would be unnecessary. However, as the Witch said in Into the Woods, "No, of course what really matters / Is the blame / Somebody to blame"

No, I'm not angry or bitter at all...

Other goodies on McAfee's MyDoom page (amazing what a few minutes doing actual research will buy you, isn't it?) include instructions on removing the virus manually, if you can't afford a virus scanner or firewall program. And, as usual, if an email shows up -- even from someone you know -- with an out-of-place subject heading or a suspicious-looking attachment, don't open it. For the duration, be wary of any attachments from "me".

I hope that whoever is infected -- and it's someone with whom I've had some form of email contact, else how could the worm pick up my address -- scrubs their system clean soon.

Thanksgiving Report

2003-11-27T23:26:53Z

Oooog, stuffed vixen.

Let me see if I can recount all the goodies laid out on the table:

Roast turkey.
Smoked turkey.
Bliss mashed potatoes.
Dressing.
Cranberry sauce.
Squash and onion casserole.
Sweet potato casserole.
Green beans with bacon.
Sausage balls.
Devilled eggs.
Dinner rolls with buttercream icing.

Had two helpings each of the above. I'm nibbling on dessert now (pumpkin pie and cherry crumb pie, topped with whipped heavy cream).

Aaaah, I love the gluttony season.