COMMENTARY: When the Evening is Spread Out Against the Sky
NOTES: For our first challenge at fraternizing.

( Quiet on the set. )

Dear Bill Amend,

As if you couldn't get more awesome. Well played, sir, well-played.

So much love,
Kasuchi

PS - I love you.

( Here's what brought that on. )

Yeah, spam, I know.

LJ released the beta for the new profile layout about four days ago.

I'm willing to bet that most of you have seen this / commented on it already, but I thought I should post my own opinion about this.

I literally turned it on, recoiled, and turned it off. Seriously. I feel like it's a misuse of space, and it looks particularly bad for personal journals. With the bio and interests so low on the page, the layout forces me to first see information that I honestly do not care about. There's a distinct lack of balance immediately. If I was looking at a website that looked like that, I would find a new layout or click away unless I needed the information pretty badly.

Overall, I'm disappointed with the design choice here, and I'm surprised no one in the chain of command noticed the inherent lack of aestheticism here. Even more importantly, people with customized profile layouts (like yours truly) are screwed over. I now have to redesign my profile and contend with it being far lower on the page than it should be. Additionally, I feel that schools is placed far too prominently. I have a Facebook, and Zuckerman wouldn't use a design like this. Besides, that's not what LJ is about - schools are like a widget, and not the meat of the package here.

In the comments, someone posted a photo of the old beta version of the profile. I really like this version. I feel it's cleaner, sleeker, and accomplishes a lot. I could be biased - I really like sidebars and feel like a sidebar (or a header bar) serves a distinct and solid purpose. More than that, though, I feel like this layout allows for the information that people are interested in seeing to be see, a novel concept I know.

So, yeah, I strongly dislike the new layout, and the first couple pages of comments seem to run in my direction.

LJ, you lot of wankers, figure this out now and listen to your userbase. They are giving you good feedback, and a lot of them are webdesigners themselves. Do NOT just tune them out - there's a lot of solid concrit in those comments.

Cutting, because I'm a kind, thoughtful person. UNLIKE MY FLIST. WHICH I HAD TO AVOID UNTIL NOW.

( HEERE THARR BEE SPOILARZZ FER DOKTURR HOO )

On an unrelated (ha, yeah right) note, I have decided that I will never write another Doctor Who fic again. Seriously. The last one I wrote was too freaking close to the real deal.

COMMENTARY: For the ethereal blow
Rating: K+ / PG

( Cut. That's a wrap. )

kasuchi

I finished my physical site redesign. Aesthetics are all that's left - I'm going to put up a links list, but not for fanfiction. For my own, frequented links and the like. Tags should suffice for navigation.

It felt strange consolidating my profile. Not that I'm ever really interested in being trendy, but after a more detailed profile for so long, the minimalist one that I'm rocking now is...it's strange, to be succinct.

The header was actually a happy accident. I used the fisheye adjustment effect on Paint Shop Pro XI for experiment, and it came out beautifully. Basically, it "corrects" a fisheye effect, stretching the edges of the images while at the same time bowing the center of the thing in. It's a pretty cool effect, and I've seen "reverse fisheye" used in camera work sometimes - it makes for a pretty nifty perspective thing.

The friends only banner is...I've never had one before. Not to say that's for lack of trying, but I haven't had solid graphics design skills until recently. I saw this image and I just had to use it somehow. It wouldn't have worked for the header - too busy - but for a banner? Hell yes. I used a pale yellow layer on multiply and a pink layer on overlay to bring out those colors respectively.

And the profile image. It's the same size as the old one - 350x150 - and heavily layered. There's an icon to match. I did like four overlay channels over a greyscale version of the image. It put all the colors in super high contrast. A little blurring, burning, and resizing later, and the image needed a slight darken. I duplicated and mixed on multiply to bring out color depth. It's got a strong look to it, I think. I like how vibrant that blue is - it reminds me of the Texas sun at high noon in the middle of July.

Okay. I'm going to move away from LJ for a while - I have been staring at CSS for way too long.

I've been debating - should I make my sidebar a little more...user friendly? I mean, okay, if you didn't know me and were surfing my LJ for fic, what would you prefer: the tags or a links list or both? Because I can totally do both. Links lists aren't hard by any stretch of the imagination. Plus, I can have section headers and stuff. It just means that I have to label everything, which isn't too bad. It would be like having a constant bibliography on the side, one that I would add to as needed.

Also, I'm thinking about changing my layout; refuted has a nice look for her newest layout, and I'd love to use a cap from Supernatural or from a music video or something. Anything; I almost want a header again, except for the part where maybe I don't. Still, a color shift might be nice.

I'm kind of considering doing a total purge - taking out old icons, making a new layout, making a new profile, the whole blasted nine yards.

Let's use my nifty poll feature!

Poll #1216907
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What should I change about my LJ?

COMMENTARY: Five Kisses that Zuko and Katara Never Had
Rating: T

( Quiet on the set. And action. )

COMMENTARY: In the Darkness Bind Them
Rating: T, to be safe.

( I honestly wonder why you guys wanted to see this one, but okay. )

COMMENTARY: Encircle the Earth and the Moon (Or, Meteoron)
Rating: R, for the f-bomb.
Notes: Well, this one got the most votes, so I'm doing this one first. Plus it's the longest fic on the poll, so I want to get this out of the way. The rest are only a handful of thousands of words long. Comments will be bold and italicized. (Like this.)

( Roll tape. )

I'm gearing up to do the fic commentaries that I promised y'all so many months ago. I'll just go down the list, most votes to least. Every fic that's voted for gets commentary "tracks". If there's fics you want me to do that aren't listed (since I did write fic after that poll was posted) just comment to the entry.

FIC COMMENTARIES

I wish I could blame tenebris for this, but this one's all me.

Supernatural. Sam & Dean. Gen, pre-Pilot.

Dean catches him humming something under his breath, something lyrical and stirring but terribly butchered since Sammy can't carry a tune any better than a leaky bucket carries water. Unfortunately for Dean, it's something familiar, and music snob that he is, he won't stand for a good song being killed, softly or slowly or otherwise.

"What are you humming?"

Sam looks up from the magazine in his hands. "What?" He's too innocent, and Dean sees through it in an instant; he practically invented that.

Dean draws himself to his full height. It would be more threatening if he wasn't wearing the apron, he's sure. "Out with it." He snaps his fingers and stands still, arms folded across his chest. Sam lays the magazine on his lap and takes a breath. Then, he starts humming the Star Wars theme. Badly. Worse than Dean had imagine Sam could hum it. "Stop, stop!"

Sam smirks a little. "You asked," he replies, sassy even at his young age. (Dean is fairly certain it's his own fault, somehow.)

"Have you ever even -seen- the movies?" He turns back to dishes, scrubbing at caked on pasta sauce, elbow-deep in warm, sudsy water.

"Yeah," the other voice calls back. He hears a page turn. "It was on TV."

"When?" Because he makes sure the kid's in bed by 9.00 every night, and he spends every waking moment with his kid brother. At least, it feels like it. And he for damn sure keeps an eye on what he watches on TV.

"It was on a couple of nights ago."

He stops scrubbing. "Why were you up?" He swears, if there's spirits in this hotel too, he'll fucking salt and burn the bones himself this time.

Sam shrugs - he can tell, even a room away - and replies, "Couldn't sleep, I guess."

Dean rolls his eyes, relieved. "Whatever. Tell me you watched the fight and then went to bed."

"No. I saw this girl in this gold bikini next to this really big ugly slug thing." There was a pause. "She was really pretty."

Dean drops the plate in the sink and resists covering his face with his hands.

June 16, 2008:

Dear BBC,

Hi! I love watching Doctor Who and I always enjoy the fellow who does the voice over the end credits of the show. His half-laughing voice the other night made me smile. Would you mind telling me who that is?

With love,
kasuchi

June 18, 2008:

Dear kasuchi

Thanks for your e-mail regarding 'Doctor Who'.

I understand you'd like to know who's behind the voice during the end credits of the programme.

While we're able to provide an answer to most of the enquiries we receive, occasionally the information requested isn't available to us and due to limitations of time and resource we're unable to conduct the further research necessary to provide a comprehensive response. Your enquiry falls into this category and we're unable to supply the information you requested on this occasion.

I appreciate that this may come as a disappointment but the expenditure to do this could only come from the licence fee, resulting in resources being diverted from our primary function, which is to provide programmes.

You might like to visit our 'Doctor Who' website below for news, games, videos and other accessories:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/

Thanks again for taking the time to e-mail us.

Regards

Ross
BBC Information

As yet unsent:

Dear BBC,

I realize you lot are a busy bunch, but would it really have been so hard to ask a pool of people other than those in your neighboring cubicles?

I love you guys, but really.

Regards,
kasuchi

...Oh, BBC.

Title: Chiaroscuro
Fandom / Pairing: House, M.D., Chase (...and the slightest bit of Chase/Cameron)
Rating: T, for swearing and "sexual situations"
Disclaimer: I don't even own a stethoscope, let alone House, M.D.
Summary: A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.
Notes: A Chase piece, because I truly enjoyed writing Colpevole but I never got to explore his character again.
Notes II: spoilers up to One Room, One Day or whatever the episode is. Assume Merry Little Christmas for sure.

( Almost none of it was true. )

Title: die, die geschützt werden
Fandom / Pairing: House, M.D., Cameron
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I don't even own a stethoscope, let alone House, M.D.
Summary: Life is one long process of getting tired.
Notes: Companion fic to der Wächterengel.
Notes II: Submission for with_meaning

( What's so special about the 24th? )

Okay, so one House fic down, with_meaning entry to go.

After that: Zutara for Sophie, and a Zuko gen!fic to follow.

But, between those will be the fic commentaries I promised.

So, looks like the next week of ficcage is set. Meanwhile, I'm waiting on beta for House fic and STAS fic.

And, not that any of you guys care, but I cleaned up my tags a little bit. It's now easier to find nearly all my fic. I think I might add a SorkinFic tag for the remainder.

Expect a deluge of fic soon, I promise.

I will need a beta in a few days' time, maybe. This project is ULTRA SUPER SECRET. Mostly because it's kind of a surprise. (No, jaina, it's not that surprise.)

Hmm. I won't keep you kids in suspense. At least, not too much suspense. It's for a TV show that I watch / used to watch / have watched / will watch. HAVE FUN GUESSING.

Note: I should have my with_meaning entry posted by the middle of next week or so. I'll do a beta-call for that later, when it's closer to being finished.

Title: Me Desculpa
Author’s Name: kasuchi
Requester’s Name: hellesque for bleach_flashfic's May 2008 round.
Pairing or Character: Urahara/Rukia
Rating: MA - no kiddies allowed, period. I would lock this if I could.
Squicks/Spoilers: Introspective, angsty. Hetero sex. Spoilers up to Ichigo's training with the Vaizards only. Deliberately disjointed.
Author’s Note(s): ...I'm not sure if this is exactly what you were going for, but it's the best that I could do.

( Lightning flashed. )