Sectus, userpics etc

[snorkackcatcher]

A couple of queries -- the first for people in UK/Europe, the second for anyone who can help, really.

Firstly, is anybody planning to attend Sectus? And if so, how have your plans been affected by the fact that the launch of DH is right in the middle of it? I was thinking that it might be fun to go (obviously I won't again have the chance to attend even half a HP conference before the series is complete), but it also sounds like the sort of event where it would be easy to feel very out of place if I didn't 'know' anyone there! And as a practical matter, an early read of the new book is pretty much a necessity in order to avoid spoilers.

Secondly, I have 15 userpic slots to play with at snorkfics -- which is fun, except that I don't normally bother changing the default pic and so don't have a lot in hand. I'd rather not create them all from scratch, so does anyone know a good source for ready-made userpics of the following: Harry, Trio, Ron/Hermione, Remus, Remus/Tonks, "genfic", Fred & George, Luna, Snape, Lucius? I don't mind whether they're drawings or based on movie actors. Also possibly needed are Ernie Prang, Madam Pomfrey, and Cho, although I suspect I may have to do those from scratch. :)

Lyrics: The last two were A Windmill In Old Amsterdam -- 50s star Ronnie Hilton's last hit in 1965, also recently covered by country star Jessi Colter apparently -- which was spotted more-or-less by tree_and_leaf, nineveh_uk, and gilpin25, and Maroon 5's 2004 hit She Will Be Loved, spotted by lareinenoire and golden_d.

Oh well -- another oldie I like:

Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong (1940s, best-known version 1950s)

Comments

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Changing my userpics is a favourite pastime of mine so if you have similar taste I may be able to help. I’m a fan of the icons at noldo_icons and dark_velvet. My favourite though would have to be a gorgeous set of icons from the American book illustrations made by grrliz.

[snorkackcatcher]

Thanks -- some of those look rather useful (I must admit, I really don't like the Mary GrandPre illustrations!). I do wish people wouldn't be so precious about how the icons are used though ...

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll obviously be at Sectus. :)

You'll "know" a bunch of people there from LJ, right? I've only been to one HP conference so far, Patronus, and I didn't really know anyone from real life all that well. It was a much smaller conference than Sectus will be, but everyone was very friendly and we all seemed to form our little groups. I think you will be fine.

As for reading DH in the middle of the conference, I'm just going to throw things to the hands of fate and try not to be so worried about spoilers. It sucks, but I'm hoping the great company will make up for it.

[snorkackcatcher]

Hmm. I've very much an 'unmixer' on the whole, but I suppose a major advantage of something like this is that you have at least one guaranteed topic of shared interest to break the ice. :)

[tree_and_leaf]

You load fifteen tons and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St Peter don't you call me, cause I can't go,
I owe my soul to the company store.

(Though the song must be a good deal older than the 1950s, surely, since it's surely a protest song about the evils of the truck system)

[snorkackcatcher]

I just Wiki'd it -- apparently it was written in 1947. Must be one of those historical-reference songs that wwre written long after the event. Come to think of it, there are probably a lot of country songs like that. :)

[tree_and_leaf]

That's very interesting.

There's a lot of folk examples of that - many of the songs about Flodden, or Culloden, are much later (and more a product of nineteenth century romaticism than folk-songs as such†)

† Though the debate about what's a traditional song - cf the Seth Lakeman row - is extremely tiresome.

[snorkfics.livejournal.com]

Er ... who's Seth Lakeman? :)

[tree_and_leaf]

A folk singer, who was nominated for an award for a song using a tune which he credited to 'trad', because he learned it a pub somewhere.

Some folkies got very up in arms and said it was an original tune and therefore he shouldn't have been nominated. It sounds a bit like a parody of arguments about plagiarism, doesn't it?

This article explains the background: http://music.guardian.co.uk/folk/story/0,,2013738,00.html

[snorkackcatcher]

*facepalm* Damn, I remember now, I have heard of him -- he got local coverage when he got the Mercury nomination. I'd just forgotten the name.

I quite like an occasional bit of folk music too, but making it look like trainspotting doesn't help the image.

(Oh, and sorry for posting under the fic alias -- I'd forgotten what I was signed in as!)

[tree_and_leaf]

I like folk music, but to say that the folk community's wanky is a severe understatement....