sophistry: (Default)
Sophie ([personal profile] sophistry) wrote in [community profile] ways_back_room2010-01-23 06:38 am
Entry tags:

OUR POWERS COMBINED

So I meant to make this post a good week ago, but the hat-trick of a Millicon in Denver, surpries food poisoning, and two transatlantic flights sort of put me out of the game for a bit. HOWEVER, better late than never, I suppose, so lend me your ears, ladies and gents, and I will stop running off at the mouth keyboard and get around to saying what I actually meant to make this post to say. In this post. Yes. (I'm still really exhausted, can you tell?)

Aaaanyway.

Unless you've been living under a rock (and hey, you're gamers, we're gamers; we're not here to judge), odds are you've heard about the earthquake that devastated the nation of Haiti on January 12th. Since then, fandom has responded in a truly incredible way; in addition to various fund-raising efforts in individual fandoms, the centralised fandom auction at [livejournal.com profile] help_haiti is on its way to raising in excess of $115,000 for relief and rescue efforts. That is breathtaking. If you have already donated, whether as part of a fandom effort or no, we applaud you; if you have not, we urge you to sally forth and give what you can. [livejournal.com profile] help_haiti's current Lightning Round is open until Sunday, with another planned for next weekend, as well as another full auction in the pipeline for February. You donate to the relief effort, you get fannish goodies - win-win, right?

OR IS IT.

(Here's the part where the subject line comes into play.)

After all, this is Milliways. We eat injokes and obscure fandom crossover interests for breakfast. And sometimes it can be, well, a little tricky to explain to the world why you need fic about how the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork's elderly terrier is actually a Shakespearian sprite/icons of Breckin Meyer with a baby bump/your knitted rabbit to be red with glowy eyes and fangs/your home-made snacks to taste almost exactly like onion rings don't. It's a whole thing, you just had to be there, IT'S COMPLICATED, OKAY.

Don't worry. We understand. And we're here to help.

Milliwaysers, it is time to use our powers for good. And by 'powers' I mean 'auctionable skills', and by 'good', I mean... 'an auction'.

A NOTE: this is not going to be something massively organised; we are playing it loose and informal, here. If you'd rather something more structured/policed, please do pitch in at [livejournal.com profile] help_haiti, they are BAMFs.

That being said, here's how this is going to work. In the comments to this post, there are two main threads: Skills and Requests. You can reply to either or both of these as appropriate.

To donate in response to an offer or a request fulfilled, please see this post at [livejournal.com profile] help_haiti for a list of suggested charities working with the Haiti relief effort. However, please remember to check whether the offerer has listed a preferred charity for donations, or has requested proof of donation via screencap/email/whatever.


---------------------


If you have skills to offer for auction, comment under Skills. The format should be as follows:

Name: [livejournal.com profile] my_lj_name/Name Y'All Know Me By
Characters: Character A ([livejournal.com profile] character_a), Character B ([livejournal.com profile] character_b)1
Email: my.email at gmail dot com

Fandoms/Milliways Characters: Be as extensive as you like, here - this is a Weird Crossover Safe Space, after all, and if you don't specify that you are willing to write both Jack Sparrow and Lovecraftian Cthulu Mythos, how will people know to request metaphysical World's End tentacle!fic? HOW???? Alternatively, you can always just reply to this with 'TRY ME' - though bidders take note, this means you should check your request with the offerer before moving any money around.

Examples of work: Self-explanatory! Link to your photobucket/deviantart/fic tag/LJ icons/whatever. This is optional, but preferred.

OFFERING: Fic/icons/layouts/banners/manips/podfic/dramatic thread readings/art/beta readings/knitted goods/cookies/your skill here.

You should specify here the terms/limitations of your offer. For example:

100 words of fic for every $2 donated, up to 2,000 words. If possible, email or include screencap of donation in comment.

Or:

20 icons for highest bidder by noon EST tomorrow, bidding to start at $5. Winner may donate to charity of their choice.

The terms of your offer are up to you, but remember, this is quick'n'dirty territory here - you will be in charge of keeping track of bids, communicating with your bidders to confirm whether the winners have donated, discussing requests, etc.

Notes: This is where you should make a note of things you won't write/draw, mention that you're going on safari in two days and won't have internet access, warn bidders that you can currently only knit hats for footballs and/or very pointy babies, or basically include anything you can think of that doesn't really fit anywhere else.

1You don't have to list all your characters here - but mentioning at least one or two main ones would certainly be useful, especially for potential bidders who might not know you all that well OOCly. OH THAT GUY, etc.

Copypasta:




--------------------------


If you have a request you are willing to pay for in donations, comment under Requests. The format should be as follows:

Name: [livejournal.com profile] my_lj_name/Name Y'All Know Me By
Characters: Character A ([livejournal.com profile] character_a), Character B ([livejournal.com profile] character_b)
Email: my.email at gmail dot com

REQUEST: As with offerings, the terms of your request are up to you, as is organising/dealing with responses. Examples might be:

Will donate $10 to Red Cross for an iPhone wallpaper of Ben Wade/Russian Astronaut. Comment to claim, and leave an email address; I will send you some of my favourite pics you could use.

Or:

Will donate $5 for every drabble (about 100-200 words) involving a humorous use of the Emergency Potato, with a limit of $30 (i.e. six drabbles).

Notes: Again, similar to offerings - anything you especially don't want in your requests, or anything else it would be important to mention.

Copypasta:




----------------------


This mini-Milli-auction-stravaganza-fest-moot will remain open for offers/requests/bids until MIDNIGHT EST, SUNDAY 31ST JANUARY.

By midnight on MONDAY 1ST FEBRUARY, all winning bids should be donated, all promised rewards should be in the proper hands, and all claimed requests should be fulfilled - OR the parties concerned should at least be in contact and discussing deadlines for fic/postage dates/etc. etc. If you have made a donation/created something for auction/whatever and heard nothing from the other party by this time, contact your trusty mods and we will do out best to straighten things out.

I... I think that may be (almost) everything for now, but you certainly shouldn't take my word for it (I'm very tired; did I mention this?). So if you have any questions, please direct them here.

Finally-finally, I believe I may have mentioned once or twice that I am somewhat tired; pooped; worn the fuck out. So to kick things off, because I cannot guarantee any sort of productivity in the near future, I instead promise to match, via donation to Partners in Health, whatever amount of money is raised in the comments of this post, up to €150 (approximately $212).

Happy bidding!

SUPER TEAM MILLIWAYS COMBI POWER GO



- Sophie, for the Milliways Mods

P.S. Don't forget to pimp this around! Unthinkable as it may seem, there are in fact Milliwaysers who do not religiously follow the back room, so get thee to thine LJs and thine flists and thine crackchats, and foist this upon them!

ETA: A quick clarification: fics and icons and whatnot do not have to be Milliways-centric! You can offer any non-Milliways fandoms and characters you know, and request likewise. It's simply a prime opportunity to milk the world for some of that particular crossover universe or transdimensional ship that only exists in this strange and wonderful corner of the internet.



RUNNING TOTAL
(counting all promised donations and winning bids, not counting open bids, rounding off converted currency to the nearest dollar)

$704 + $212 = $916
yakalskovich: (Crossbow and battle-axe)

Re: REQUESTS

[personal profile] yakalskovich 2010-01-23 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I would donate:

  • €10 for a Café-Press-able banner for Urquhart that I would then put onto a large coffee mug via said site or similar service. The banner could include: the Clan Urquhart tartan, a crossbow, the ruins of Castle Urquhart, Loch Ness, a wolf, the name 'Urquhart' in medieval script, a black-cloaked figure, parts of the covers of any edition of Urquhart's canon, the PB I use for Urquhart (Vladimir Kulich), a medieval depiction of a wolf or the devil, Gothic tracery or other architectural elements of a Gothic cathedral, some telling quote from Urquhart's canon (there's sure to be something in the two segments I typed off as OOMs so far) or blood. All of the above together would be terrible overkill, but the parts should give any banner maker ideas. I'd need only one of these; if you'd like to do it, just link me to some sub-bucket of banners you've made.

  • €5 each for a tag for Urquhart or Sirona. If you used to have a pup you no longer play or maybe have retired and hardly ever played, but they got their own tag back in the day? Then you can donate their tag for charity this way. Yes, I know the mods do it from time to time anyway, but this way, a) I get the tags now and b) we can do some good. And yes, I know I need to then ask a community maintainer to rename the tag. For that reason, it should not be a deleted journal, and the tag should not be on an entry made by a now deleted journal (recognisable by strike-through) because that way, we'd make even more work for our mods. I need no more than two of these, because I have two tag-less pups.



I'll donate either to a charity of your choice or our national catastrophe relief coalition which is channelling donations to the actual charities that work in the region. Unless I find a way to directly donate to the THW, who are getting mobile water treatment plants into Haiti (same organisation whose big pumps helped get the Katrina water out of New Orleans); but it seems they want no stinkin' money, they just want qualified engineers and mechanics as volunteers. **shrug**
Edited 2010-01-23 14:17 (UTC)
yakalskovich: (Crossbow and battle-axe)

Re: Tags

[personal profile] yakalskovich 2010-01-23 03:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, that is the first €10 to donate.-

**plays fair -- request is filled!**
yakalskovich: (Crossbow and battle-axe)

Re: Tags

[personal profile] yakalskovich 2010-01-25 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
And I paidup! €5 for each tag, plus the same for each of the things I got from the offered skills, makes the €20 on that service terminal screen shot.
minkhollow: (all designed to blow our minds)

Re: REQUESTS

[personal profile] minkhollow 2010-01-23 07:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Name: [livejournal.com profile] minkhollow
Characters: [livejournal.com profile] the_antiangst, [livejournal.com profile] abar_starclog, [livejournal.com profile] snap_time, [livejournal.com profile] awaroutthere, [livejournal.com profile] post_whitewash, [livejournal.com profile] kemo_soggy, [livejournal.com profile] aintno_disco, [livejournal.com profile] doesnotmiss; [livejournal.com profile] claudiometer will be apped at some point
Email: minkhollow at gmail

REQUEST: I will donate $10 US (per vid) for someone to make one of the vids that is EATING MY BRAIN, and yet I lack the knowledge/technology to actually make.

Notes: These vids are:
Tables and Chairs - Andrew Bird (Sneakers, centered on Cosmo)
Falling for the First Time - Barenaked Ladies (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a little bit of everyone)
Real World - Matchbox 20 (Iron Man (the movie); YOU KNOW THIS SONG IS SECRETLY ABOUT TONY STARK.)
Through Your Hands - John Hiatt (Warehouse 13, a little bit of everyone)
I have some scenes in mind on the first two especially (I did say these have been eating my brain, and they've had the longest to percolate); I'd be glad to talk that over with whoever might take them up. I realise the Warehouse 13 one is a tricky prospect at present, and I'm willing to wait until the source material's around for that. The only one of these songs I'd really have to dig for is "Real World," but I'm fairly certain I have it, and I have easy access to the other three, should you need them.
Edited 2010-01-23 20:39 (UTC)
wakeupnew: Joshua Chamberlain staring into the distance, with caption "brains are sexy" ([true blood] shine for you)

Icon request!

[personal profile] wakeupnew 2010-01-23 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I would really, really like some icons for [livejournal.com profile] nevercomplains and [livejournal.com profile] gross_when_i_do, as I am very much not happy with what I currently have for them. I like: having a range of expressions to choose from, icons that focus on the face, very simple bases with no text and nothing fancy. For examples of icon sets that I'm relatively happy with: Liz, Sam, Riley. If you're better at icon coloration than I am (like -- I don't edit the color at all because I don't really know what to do with it, so a lot of my icons wind up dark and flat), awesome! But those are good examples of the sorts of options that I like having in my icons.

I don't like: um, pretty much what I currently have for them! I don't like icons that only show an eye or half of a face, or that are so far back that you can't really see the character's face; I like rich, warm color rather than the flatness that seems to be somewhat fashionable in icon-making.

I'd donate $10 to Partners in Health for a set of 15 icons for either character. If anyone wants to do both, or if two people each take one, I'll donate $20.
sleightofhand: ([listener] we are manly men)

Re: Icon request!

[personal profile] sleightofhand 2010-01-23 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure how this works, um, lalala *flaily*. But! I have means of obtaining all sorts of Holmes screencaps, and going through films/shows watching for fun expressions is one of My Very Favourite Things.

Here is my icon journal, for some examples.
wakeupnew: Joshua Chamberlain staring into the distance, with caption "brains are sexy" ([holmes] whatty what what?)

Re: Icon request!

[personal profile] wakeupnew 2010-01-23 10:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Psh, I need no examples! I love your icons! That sounds fabulous; whenever you get the chance would be awesome. I donated $10 to Partners in Health!


(The extra $5 is for another thing somebody's doing for me.)

Thank you! :D
sleightofhand: ([mm] dubious psychic abilities)

Re: Icon request!

[personal profile] sleightofhand 2010-01-23 10:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh damn, now I must watch Holmes again. What a terrible chore!

*gleeeeeee*

Oh, I should ask. Are you against animated icons? (Those might wind up as bonus, as they are likely to be cracky and not the most useful for RP.)
wakeupnew: Joshua Chamberlain staring into the distance, with caption "brains are sexy" ([bones] SQUEE!)

Re: Icon request!

[personal profile] wakeupnew 2010-01-23 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
BWAHAHA. Such hardship!

I love animated icons! The crackier, the better. I may not use them in RP, but I will 100% use them for myself!
wakeupnew: Angela from Bones giving the thumbs up ([bones] way to be!)

Re: Icon request!

[personal profile] wakeupnew 2010-01-24 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
Oh man, thank you! Of course I would like them!! I am totally going to cave and buy her a paid account now, but it is going to be SO WORTH IT
muji: (Default)

Re: REQUESTS

[personal profile] muji 2010-01-23 09:25 pm (UTC)(link)
$15 for a Ninth Doctor vid of Gnarls Barkley's Storm Coming. :D????

Re: REQUESTS

[identity profile] agoodshinkickin.livejournal.com 2010-01-24 03:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm going to give the auctions a closer once over when I have the chance, BUT! In the meantime! I have a couple of requests which I will PAY HANDSOMELY for.

$30 to the charity of the artist's choice for an ALANNA and RAPH Tortall-era picture of them during their Don Quixote-Sancho Panza wanderings.
(that's Alanna as Quixote, and Raph as Panza.)

...
Okay, in hindsight I'm not entirely sure how handsome $30 is. It's at least cute enough to buy you a drink. Right?
Edited 2010-01-24 15:20 (UTC)
lunamystic: (We felt dawn)

Re: REQUESTS

[personal profile] lunamystic 2010-01-27 03:30 pm (UTC)(link)
How about if I see your $30 and make it $60?
kd7sov: (lightburst)

Re: REQUESTS

[personal profile] kd7sov 2010-01-24 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Name: [livejournal.com profile] kd7sov/ KD
Characters: Felix ([livejournal.com profile] venusadept_2), Frederic ([livejournal.com profile] littleboyof5), Kain ([livejournal.com profile] baron_dragoon)
Email: kd7sov (at) thewagers (dot) org

REQUEST: In the interest of picking on my pup, I offer $15 for art involving Felix attempting to fight Toph, and being surprised at just how quickly, easily, and thoroughly she defeats him.

Notes: I'd prefer that Toph be wearing her Blind Bandit outfit, as opposed to her Fire Nation disguise or her home-estate dress.

Re: REQUESTS/TAGS

[identity profile] kristi-cagle.livejournal.com 2010-01-29 06:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Um, I'd take some tags for Denna (http://pain-unites.livejournal.com/profile) and Penny (http://caring-hand.livejournal.com/profile). 5 a piece.

That'd be great. Thanks.
shinyhappygoth: photo of me reading Understanding Comics on Shakespeare's lap, http://www.flickr.com/photos/rabbitdance/3066976113/ (Default)

Re: REQUESTS

[personal profile] shinyhappygoth 2010-01-30 08:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Name: [livejournal.com profile] shinyhappygoth/Valerie
Character: [livejournal.com profile] a1enzo
Email: shinyhappygoth@gmail.com
AIM: shinyhappygoth

REQUEST: I am CONSTANTLY seeking new, drawn icons of Enzo to replace his old, too-young screenshots. I will donate $5 for each icon-suitable lineart (I can colour it in), $7.50 for full colour.

Notes: Contact me, by AIM or e-mail, before you start anything. I have some specifications and certain icons are higher-priority than others for replacement, and I also want to make sure two people don't end up drawing the same thing.