Joanna's Diary

I should be flattered but....

2008-05-06T17:05:00.002+01:00

I know I should be flattered when someone is inspired to set up another forum for the TG community based on the Angels.

But inspired by the Angels is one thing, being a complete cut and paste job is another.

Even the forum rules is a word for word duplicate, including smiley! Exhibit A : Exhibit B

They've even got a section called Guardian Angels, which as a pun only really works on the Angels site.

Still, if it's a new London venue to plug the gap left by Transmission then good luck to them. We could do with something.

Not totally sure if we need yet another forum though. Although I'm sure somebody will fill it with posts. Just look at the fuss on Roses over the loss of two years of posts due to a server crash. Some people seem to think that they only exist if they have a high post count....

Flickr Tranny Day - A lame excuse

2008-03-30T10:13:00.002+01:00

Gillian had a great idea to try and kickstart the tranny community out of the current wave of apathy that seems to be sweeping across it - or at least across this corner of the trannisphere anyway.

March 29th would be the day we all get dressed up and put our photo on to Flickr Tranny Day group.

You may notice my photo is missing ;(

I tried, I really did. I had it all planned out, but unfortunately my plans went the way of a suitcase at Heathrow Terminal 5. In between visitors popping over, and my dad's car getting wheel clamped it seemed like the Cosmos was out to stop me.

At one point I'd even shaved my face and had a full face of foundation on when my sister rang to say she was popping over. It just wasn't to be.

I'm going to try again later in the week... honest!

Bingo (again)

2008-03-19T14:14:00.004Z

And no, not another forum game.

Here's Vic Reeves giving a new meaning to the phrase Tranny Bingo in an advert for an online bingo site.

Gone Skiing

2008-02-29T11:53:00.000Z

Heading out on my annual ski trip

Back in a week.....

Get over it

2008-02-27T22:59:00.003Z

I like the new Stonewall posted campaign "Some People are Gay.... get over it". It's short and to the point. Very nice.

I'd love to see the same thing for trannies. Personally - "Some People are Trannies - Get Over it" would be great.

But I can just tell that we'd spend months just arguing over the wording.

Buzzword Bingo Explained

2008-02-23T10:13:00.001Z

Buzzword Bingo is an excellent solution to long meetings. Just print up a few of these cards and take them with you to your next meeting.

As your boss and coworkers utter these awful buzzwords, mark them off. When you get 5 in a row, be sure and stand up and yell "Bingo!" to announce the fact to all present at the meeting.

Get your own buzzword bingo grids here.

Bingo

2008-02-22T17:45:00.002Z

I received a bit of flak yesterday for locking a potential labels debate on the Angels forum since they always end up as a flame war.

In the spirit of adventure, I have reopened the discussion in the hope that maybe this time it won't end in tears. Or at least if it does the memory of the event will linger so people will know why I tend to lock them early.

Not everyone will take part in such a discussion, but that should not prevent you from gaining some enjoyment from the thread. So, in the style of Office Buzzword Bingo, I give you Tranny Labels bingo. Please feel free to set up your own grid and play along.

If you want me, I'll be in this bunker over here.....

Things that piss me off

2008-02-21T18:36:00.006Z

(being part 422 of a long and continuing theme)

1. People who start forum posts with "I'm sorry, but....." when they are clearly not sorry.

2. People who start forum posts with "I don't mean to cause offense, but...." when the next statement is so obviously going to piss some people off.

3. People who use widely sweeping claims like "Well the bulk of the medical profession believe....." and "All the research has shown....." but when pushed to show some evidence for that quickly backtrack with their one reference source being a niche journal that nobody can access. Probably being stored in the Outer Hebrides. Next-door to the one DFS store that stocks everything full price so that the rest can legally list sale prices.

4. People who write stream of consciousness arguments, with no punctuation, line breaks and massive typos who then get arsey with you for not understanding the point they were (apparently trying to) make. If it's that important then write it properly. And use a bloody spellchecker.

Ho hum.

And erm.. yeah. I'm still here. Kinda.

Still here

2008-01-16T15:45:00.001Z

I am still alive... Just having an outbreak of apathy.

Too many things to do and no real desire to sit down and get them done.

Normal service may be resumed shortly.

So here it is

2007-12-25T08:42:00.000Z

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope you all have a great time and Santa brings you everything you wanted.

The chances of anything coming from Mars

2007-12-23T14:17:00.000Z

Are a million to one, he said.... Spent last night at the O2 arena feeding my inner geek. I've always been a fan of the musical version of War of the Worlds since I was a little kid. I bet there is a whole generation of us who had to do some kind of "movement piece" in primary school to the tune of "Eve of the War". I can still remember weaving my way around the school hall vaguely in time to the music.

I've wanted to see the live version for ages, ever since I heard they were doing it as a tour. And last night we pootled off to that there London to see it.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, and Forever Autumn and Thunder Child still make me a little misty eyed. The 30 foot martian fighting machine they lower onto the stage was pretty cool, and they've even improved on the Richard Burton hologram from the version on the DVD.

Here's a snippet from the DVD for those who have yet to see it...

Lost with a change in direction

2007-12-21T16:52:00.000Z

I'm still a big fan of Lost and am still really hoping the writers know where it's going. The trailer for season 4 has been released and it looks very intriguing. The last season ended with a flash-forward... and it looks like we're heading for a massive change of direction.

Apparently its going to be aired in January in the US despite the writers strike, with the 8 episodes filmed being aired and then a break until the rest are shot - whenever that may be. Release date for Sky One should be early February. I can't wait.

Flickr Stats

2007-12-18T13:50:00.001Z

Flickr now has a nifty stats tool for Pro users that analyses your photo views which is rather nifty.

Go here to find out more and get it activated for your pro account (if you have one)

Why So Serious?

2007-12-17T11:21:00.000Z

Christian Bale as Batman, Heath Ledger as Joker. The production team from Batman begins. What more could you ask for?

http://atasteforthetheatrical.com/deathtrap/default.htm

The Dark Knight trailer is now online - looks very good indeed. The last movie was great, and exactly what the franchise needed. Let's hope this one is more of the same.

It's been a while

2007-12-14T14:19:00.001Z

I haven't dressed up for what seems like ages. I've fancied wearing a few OTT outfits for a long time. I had bought a pvc maids dress ages ago but never worn it properly. I have also wanted a sexy santa outfit and I managed to get one in a suitable size from the Anne Summers website.

So this morning I actually had some time to myself and spent the morning dressing up. Next time I need to plan this better and set up a backdrop of sorts in my dining room.. but for now you'll have to put up with assorted doorframes and paintings encroaching on the photos.

Gender Choices

2007-12-13T07:06:00.001Z

Been investigating Pownce, which is like Twitter but with file attachments.

The sign-in screen made me smile. No longer do we have to just choose two options for gender.

F*ck Fasthosts

2007-12-04T10:55:00.000Z

Bah... As some of you are already aware my webhost Fasthosts decided to change all their users passwords last week, then tell you they'd done it after the event.

They would then send out a new master password via Royal Mail which would let us log in and change our passwords to something more useful.

This meant that I could not ftp into the Angels or this site, and that the database that ran the Angels forum was down plus several other DB-driven sites that I run. The ftp problem meant I couldnt even post a blog or upload a page to tell people what was going on. Hence I was inundated with emails over the weekend asking what had happened to the Angels...

We finally received the letter this morning so now I am going through and changing my passwords and reestablishing access to all my sites.

From the sounds of it this has been a major cockup on the part of Fasthosts, and as soon as I get a clear few days I will be migrating all my sites elsewhere.... I've seen a few possible alternatives.

Trick Cyclist

2007-11-18T13:30:00.000Z

I'm still here.. just been busy. I just hadn't had that much to write. But this story on the BBC website prompted me to express my concern.

On first read the "Man has sex with Bike" story raises a bit of a giggle. It's a "laugh at the weirdo" kind of story. Maybe you wonder if he now has an exclusion order banning him from branches of Halfords

But then you read it a little closer and it's very unsettling. But not at the sex act itself, but the circumstances that lead to his prosecution and being placed on the sex offenders register.

This guy was in his hotel room. On his own. The bike is an inanimate object so there is no issue of consent. He wasn't doing this in a public place.

In essence, he was having a wank in a hotel room. In private. On his own.

The Maid then unlocked the door using a key, saw him in mid-act and complained. And for that he ended up on the sex offenders register. I think this is all rather extreme.

If she had walked in on a woman using a vibrator, would she have complained? If the man had been using a sex doll would she had complained? And here's the tranny angle - what if he had been dressed in stockings and suspenders?

I don't remember there being any actual law about being an offense to have sex with a bicycle. (although I do still wonder how he was actually doing it - did he take the saddle off?)

The more I think about this the more amazed I am that this case should have ever come to court. Surely maids in hotels are often accidentally coming into rooms and finding people have a quickie? I just find it hard to believe that someone can be placed on the sex offenders register for doing something on your own with an inanimate object with the door locked.

It's just crazy.

Tranny Capital

2007-10-30T20:04:00.000Z

So this weekend I went up to the self-styled Tranny Capital of the Fens, Kings Lynn, for Becky and Jane's wedding. It was a lovely weekend and I was really happy to have been a part of it.

Jane and Becky make a fantastic couple and I wish them every happiness for their new married life together.

I must admit I hadn't worked on my cover story of how I knew the happy couple and so when asked by an aunt at our table "were we friends or relatives" I said "Oh just friends", and hoped the conversation would move on. Instead I got "So how did you meet?"

Of course the correct answer was "Well you see I run a website for transvestites and Becky is a transvestite. We met up at several Transvestite gatherings along with other transvestites, several of whom are sitting at the table behind you......" etc etc. But I sensed that answer was not going to be popular.

An even better answer is to pass the buck and to say "Oh I know them through Sophie, sat over there...." and left it at that. It's a technique I use with my parents - everyone's a friend of a friend.... But instead I mumbled something about meeting via the internet and then followed up badly with a recovery about friend of a friend but it all came out a little crap.

But apart from that, the day went very well. The ceremony went without hitch, the wedding breakfast was superb and nobody got too drunk to do their speeches.

The evening was fun. We hadn't been to a wedding with a crafts area before - we spent a lot of the time making the balloons neutrally buoyant with straws and cocktail sticks, and then sending them off to float towards the DJ. There were prizes for an impaling, but we kept getting thwarted by the air conditioning vents.

Our hotel was OK, if a little old but what I found amusing was the really scary fairground horse that lived under the stairs on the way to reception.

Also amusing was the advert for a wedding photographer that seemed to change the aspect ratio for every photo they took. Every picture looked slightly squashed.

Anyway it was a great weekend. Thanks to Becky and Jane for having us. Enjoy the honeymoon and love and hugs to you both.

Matrimonially

2007-10-28T11:44:00.001Z

I'm at ur wedding. Drinking ur wine.

A little help please

2007-10-23T14:31:00.000+01:00

I can't defend myself against posts like this on Mara's flickr stream because she is blocking me, so I can't post comments or stand up for myself.

If you are unblocked, and feel like standing up to her then please can you comment in my defence. Most of you know the backstory.

I have never attacked her romany culture, nor have I ever made offensive comments Jews. But mara persists in claiming persecution.

It amazes me still how many people are so easily taken in by lies and accusations.

Thanks

Jo
x

English Sport

2007-10-22T08:06:00.000+01:00

So the great few days of English sport has ended up in ashes as usual.

It wouldnt be an English sporting event without us losing with some kind of sense of injustice ;) So the disputed try in the rugby, the dodgy penalty Rooney gave away in the football and the illegal cars in the F1 are just part of the experience. Armchair pundits will have fun arguing about these for ages afterwards.

By getting so close, and then losing Lewis Hamilton has raised himself to English racing hero in the mould of Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill who both almost won it several times before finally getting there. Had Lewis won it in his first year I dont think we'd have known what to do! Sports Personality of the Year is almost assured for our latest in a long line of plucky losers who get near but yet so far.

There's always next year...

Wish you were there?

2007-10-15T21:13:00.000+01:00

Now I don't want to be the one who ends up getting a reputation for shouting "photoshop", but these were submitted to the Geotranny group so I am assuming these images are intended to be genuine...

So is it just me, or is the person in each of these pictures photoshopped in?

Everquest - The Movie

2007-10-12T10:18:00.001+01:00

So the news doing the rounds is of a movie of Everquest being put into development. This is probably a bad thing. While games of movies can sometimes be quite good, movies about game usually suck bigtime.

Everquest certainly has the massive backstory and tonnes of lore to draw on, but it would simply become another cliched swords and dragons movie with namechecks for the geeks.

If the movie is anything like some of my gaming experiences you will probably get one of two plotlines:

The first will involve a brave adventurer on an epic quest to kill 10 rats over and over again.

The second would involve a group of adventurers waiting in one spot for several hours, camping a scary named monster. At the end the monster appears while half of them are taking a toilet break and kills them all in seconds....

I'm kinda back playing Everquest quite a bit these days. I had a bit of a malaise in the Summer due to my guild being mainly US players and being the sole member on a lot of the time. I started playing Lord of the Rings online for a change. I've since joined a new European-time guild and have been raiding some of the 24 person zones and having a lot more fun. I've let my Lord of the Rings subscription lapse for now. I now have two characters at the level cap (70) and the Rise of Kunark expansion is out in a few weeks too.. so a lot to look forward to.

It's just a shame Everquest2 doesn't get the media attention that World of Warcraft does, the game has improved in leaps and bounds over the three years, and like others I despair at the lack of vision SOE has in promoting the game. Cudos to WoW for making online gaming mainstream though.

Some interesting new games coming on the market soon though. This page from Yahoo details some of the contenders for the World of Warcraft crown. (although one of those, Gods and Heroes has already been cancelled). I'm hoping Warhammer Online will be good, I'd quite like to give that a try.. also Tabula Rasa looks very interesting. I've yet to try a space MMO, apart from a quick trial look at Star Wars Galaxies when it was in its death throws.

So many games, so little time.....

Free Burma

2007-10-04T16:33:00.000+01:00

Today, Thursday 4 October, has been proclaimed International Bloggers' Day for Burma.

As the Free Burma website explains, the organisers of this campaign "want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons."

Please visit the website and show your support, sign the petition and spread the word.