Of the Improbable Mysteries of Tumblr

Agh, I'm having a brain-mush moment over the spelling of "mysteries" in the title. No matter how many times I type it, it continues to look strange.

You may blame Tumblr for my confusion. And for much else besides.

This may stun you all, but until very recently, I had very little idea what Tumblr was. I knew it was another blogging platform, because several of my friends used it, but as it has been oh-so-conveniently blocked off as forums.personals by the almighty body of knowledge that is Lightspeed Systems Content Filtering, I'd never had a chance to have a proper look at any of the famous Tumblr blogs.

But then came this extended half term holiday and, with help from my lovely co-writer Miriam, I was introduced to one of the strangest and most wonderful corners of the internet I have ever seen.

How does one describe Tumblr? Well, from my perspective it appears to be nothing short of something that might occur if the Doctor was left in charge of Gandalf's staff, while in the company of a bored Sherlock Holmes. In the middle of a potions shop. With Loki in the next-door room. Attempting to open up a wormhole with nothing but his Glow Stick of Destiny and a jelly baby.

In short: chaos. Glorious chaos.

Since then, I have spent much of my free time perusing Tumblr, and I have discovered something that makes such a strange cacophony of madness even more attractive. Tumblr isn't just a blogging base ... it's a community. A community of mad people all posting and re-blogging and circulating and making each other laugh and cry and create to their hearts' content.

And that goes without mentioning the fantastic treasures that can be found there. Everything from beautiful original artwork, hilarious parody and roleplaying communities, photographs, heart-tugging messages, and links to places that make you wonder how many wormholes someone must have fallen through to find them. It's amazing.

However, due to the unfortunate internet blocks at place at school, I will not yet be crafting myself a Tumblr account. As much as I love the idea of jumping head-first into the madness and creating a corner of the internet for my more personal and less writing-oriented outbursts, crazes and interests (which would be exceedingly convenient), leaving it alone and dormant for so much of the year just seems daft.

Luckily for me, I leave school next summer. Then, well ... then, we shall see.

What about all of you? Do we have any Tumblr denizens among us? What do you make of it? What sort of things do you put on your blog? What sort of advice would you give to a would-be Tumblrite?

And, most important of all ... give us links!

~ Charley R

I'm Not One For Early Christmas Pics, But...

CE-LE-BRATE! CE-LE-BRATE! CE-LE-BRATE!

I know it's rather early, but I think this little gem speaks for itself.
It's supposed to be a moving GIF, so let me know if it's not working and I'll try and fix it for you :)

Found at Sci-Fi - "I Can Has Cheesburger"

(note: I'm adding this link to my "Places of Pure Epicness: My Favourite Haunts" box, so all you love people can go and haunt your favourite fandom and enjoy the barrels of LOL-magics to be found there)



Of Birthdays and Breaking Browsers ...

Hey all.
Guess what?

IT'S MY BIRTHDAAAAAAAY!!!

Yup, that's right, I have survived yet another year in the world! And now, as a sixteen year old, I am legal to ride mopeds, buy and sell scrap metal, go to the gym and do irresponsible things in the boudoir. What's more, this day finally marks an end to the days when (as the youngest member of my peer group) I will be teased relentlessly as "cute widduw innocent baby". Words cannot express how thankful I am for this newest development. One more pinched cheek may have resulted in the outbreak of World War Three ...

Oh, and of course, I could not possibly present this occasion without mentioning some of my (ostensibly more famous) birthday buddies through the ages. So, a very happy birthday to:

• Maximilian Robespierre - One of the leaders of the French Revolution
• Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany - Ruler of Germany during WW1 and relative of the English royal family.
• Sigmund Freud - World-famous philosopher
• John Bond - Cricket Umpire (not that he's massively famous, he just has an epic last name)

And, last and (in the eyes of most Britons) least ...

• Tony Blair - Ex-Prime Minister and general all-round numbskull

So, anyway, that's today's exciting news.
On another, probably far more amusing note, I have, by some means beyond my comprehension, managed to crash yet another internet browser. I broke Google Chrome a couple of months back, and now whenever I try and open it it crashes the moment it sees my ugly mug. I went back to Internet Explorer for a while, but then decided to try out Safari. Now, despite the fact that it was designed for Mac computers, I got on rather well with it. It took a bit of getting used to, but I worked it out and, for several months, I was happy.
Until this morning.
Now, whenever I open up the page, it insists something is wrong with my browser settings and will not do anything. I've wiped the settings and restarted the browser mutliple times, removed all the cookies and downloads and countless other widgety bits, but still it will not comply with me.

Can you get into trouble for breaking the internet?

Anyway ... looks like it's back to good old Internet Explorer for me. I'll consier it a reunion with an old friend rather than an undignified retreat ...

- Spook

My Arch Nemesis

Behold, the monster that is the bane of my educational existence. Whenever I try to log into anything that could vaguely amuse, entertain or help me, this abomination plants itself firmly in my way.

This, my friends, is the root of all evil. I hate it with the white hot passion of a thousand blazing suns.

This, is Lightspeed Systems Content Filtering.