Betty bet a bit of better beta

Okay, so I imported my LJ to DW. This has created a duplicate of my last post, which was cross-posted pre-import - logical! - but also has inexplicably swapped around my embedded videos. Viz this entry which on livejournal had a video right at the end with dancing zombie and plant cartoons. As you can see, Dreamwidth has randomly replaced it with a cool guitar video I posted some time last year. Also this layout I'm trying out, which is much more legible than the default black one, sticks the page title up next to the journal subheading which seems confusing/redundant.

I am however impressed that all the code has been fiddled with so that lj-usernames still link to lj! Also, I seem to have missed out on the reported bug which shows up when you import your userpics later than your entries. The reason for my tardiness was that I had already uploaded six userpics before I found the import feature. Oh hey, it hasn't even duplicated the ones I had uploaded on both sites! It just merged the tags. Awesome! Ohh it's going to be such a pain working out which ones to delete once open beta starts and my account goes back down to the regular free-account icon-load. I had reached an equilibrium on LJ! I had fifteen icons that covered pretty much anything I had cause to post about! And then I went to upload icons to DW, and I didn't have all my LJ icons on this hard drive, so I just picked some from the folders I do have, and those are all good ones too! Argh. Okay, what do I use more often... I can merge some snark icons... *sweats*

In related news, hallo new DW subscribers! *waves leetle flag*

The shiny new DW feature I am least impressed with is the splitting of the friends list into give access/subscribe. I understand the reason for the division, but for me it is just awkward because I don't lock anything. If I don't want people to read about it, I don't put it on the internet. I tried doing the flock thing on LJ but I could never figure out what to lock and what not to, so *shrug*

I still feel bad when people subscribe/give me access and I don't tick the access ticky box though! But rest assured it makes no difference whatsoever. So I've decided not to "grant acces" to anyone, since everyone has access by default. If in the future I decide to post things that only certain people are allowed to read I'll go through and grant those people access, but since my RL need-to-know circle doesn't overlap that greatly with my online circles I rather think I'll be saying those things in a non-LJ context. Email! It's great! ...or I guess if I become a corporate tool I'll go through and lock my fic, at which point I'll just grant access to everyone who follows me.

moar poetry monthness! I don't remember why this poem was handed round in class, but I love it.

Empire of Dreams
by Charles Simic

On the first page of my dreambook
It’s always evening
In an occupied country.
Hour before the curfew.
A small provincial city.
The houses all dark.
The storefronts gutted.

I am on a street corner
Where I shouldn’t be.
Alone and coatless
I have gone out to look
For a black dog who answers to my whistle.
I have a kind of Halloween mask
Which I am afraid to put on.