MuseBlog

NO SPOILERS, please. Just let us know when your issues arrive.

Prarilius Canix suggested we needed a new Suggestion Box. The last one was in October. Submit your ideas for new threads or whatever else comes to mind.

By overwhelming popular request, a thread for fans of the ultimate summer reading.

The year is 2020. The heroes: a few dozen young men and women, most in their late 20s. Fifteen years earlier, four friendly-seeming but mysterious people gathered them on what was then known as the World Wide Web, dropped hints about an important destiny or mission they were to fulfill, and then vanished. Over the years, some of the group kept in touch; others drifted apart. Now a great danger has brought them all back together again…
[Continued above.]
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Righto, Talented Youth. Here’s a place for you to discuss your summer programs.

These posts from Part the Fourth give some preliminary details on the newest developments:

Let’s say there is a country in the middle of the Burnt Crust Wasteland (which is south of Museica and north of Muserland) that wants to conquer the Musiverse. On the days when people are feeling a little bit evil, they can release their impulses by becoming a leader of this country, and when they’re feeling good, they can be on the side of Muserland or Museica. So there will be an intermittent pie war, to keep us from getting bored, but not a constant, all-consuming one.

There are several regions in it.
Hottpincbunniland- The largest region, where the cute Bunnius nicegoodus is ruled by the tyrannical Bunnius evilus. The fact that the species look identical only confuses us more.
Tiffanlaneia- A place where Muse is banned, inhabited by gossip-mongering cell-phone zombies. Seventeen and People are the only magazines allowed.
Pellikokona- Ruled by an evil clone of Kokopelli, it is a wasteland filled with Pie Barbarians who pie not for fun, but out of cruelty.
These horrible countries form the Triple Alliance of Misery (TAM), which is constantly scheming to conquer Museica and Muserland.

Here are some maps of Muserland:

Some MBers have already left on their summer adventures. Here’s a place to report in from afar, or to recount your peregrinations after you return.

Users’ Manual: Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!

By special request of Alice: a thread for thinking up creative new catch-phrases to put on Muse‘s cover. Right now it’s “The magazine of life, the universe and pie throwing.” That’s not bad — and it’s certainly more exciting than what was there before. Can you do even better?

Bet he never thought he’d be a knight.

He’s 65 years old today (June 18). Do we still need him, will we still feed him, now that he’s no longer 64?

Shadowkat’s description:

Hey, guys, I think I have a great idea for an RRR!!! Just maybe… Ok so the main plot would be however-many-MBers-participate (or just a few) characters, and no one would ever meet, except in Dreamland…I mean that literally. The characters would see each other in dreams, and dreams only. In their dreams (or this one big dream), each character would have ONE power…just one, and they would all use these powers to defeat Nightmares, or creatures therefrom. The point would be that kids are no longer only having their own nightmares, but the boundaries have been broken down, and kids are having nightmares that weren’t meant for them to have. The story could also include parts of the characters’ daily lives, and it wouldn’t be written in letters, or anything, but characters could only be controlled by the MBer who came up with them…make sense?

Newcomers may wish to begin reading at comment #79 to get the general idea then jump down to comment #205 for a compilation of the first story segments.

It turns out Kokopelli’s not the only Muse running for office. The election will take place … um … we’ll figure that out later on September 21, 2007. Let the campaigning begin!

“Shirt” and “skirt” both derive from the same word. If that’s not sufficiently random, you’re certain to find something suitable on this thread. Continued from v. 2007.1.

The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet.
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.

Still blowing through the jasmine in our minds.

Users’ Manual: Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!

It’s hard to believe that we haven’t had a dreams thread since last year. With school out, MBers are bound to be sleeping more. Let’s hear some of those midsummer night’s dreams.

WATERSHIP DOWN
(As abridged by Em: The Adventures of Hazel & Co.)

SPOILER WARNING!!!

Disclaimer
Watership Down Is an excellent book by Richard Addams! Go read! Now!
This abridgement is for people who have read the book, and so can appreciate it. It is written in the style of a script, as one would animate or draw in cartoon style, but is actually written to be read this way.

All of the wonderful characters are not duly represented in this work, especially Blackberry, Silver and Dandelion. All of the wonderful aspects of rabbit psychology are also not present, neither are Fiver’s weird visions, or any of the El-ahrairah stories, or the wonderful Lapine language. A lot of creative license has been taken with who said what, and other such small details.

PART 1: THE JOURNEY

Fiver: We’re all gonna die.

Hazel: Says who?

Fiver: Says me.

Thearah: Halloo?

Fiver: We’re all gonna die.

Thearah: That’s nice.

Fiver: No, I’m being serious. Bad things will happen to us.

Thearah: Maybe if I ignore them, they’ll go away.

Hazel: We’ll just have to leave by ourselves then.

Co.: Yay! We’re coming with you!

Captain Holly*: No you’re not! Badbadbad! No abandoning the warren for you!

Bigwig: Fightfightfight!

Hazel & Co.: Runrunrun!

Hazel & Co: Ohgoshlookit! River!

Hazel: Everybody swim!

Fiver & Pipkin: We are the weaklings. Fear us.

Hazel: Dang it, we can’t leave the weaklings behind, now can we?

Bigwig: Ohgoshlookit! Big scary dog! We’ll have to leave them!

Hazel: But we might need them later.

Blackberry: Being the smart bunny, I just came up with a clever plan.

Bigwig: I don’t understand it, therefore it won’t work.

Fiver: Being the psychic bunny, I do.

Bigwig: Ooooooh! It worked! You’re all so smart!

Hazel: Foreshadowing…

Hawbit, Speedwell & Acorn: We shall be jerks and rebel!

Bigwig: Badbadbad!

Hazel & Co.: Scary dark marshy place!

Fiver: Which of course means we shall have to cross it.

Co.: Darn.

Hazel: Do it anyway.

Hazel: Augh foggy…

Co.: Yeah, we made it! You are so smart, Hazel!

Fiver: Hello? Doesn’t anyone ever give me any credit?

Co.: Nice place, we shall stay here.

Fiver: No, we have to keep going.

Freakishly Weird Bunnies: We are freakishly weird and unnatural! Come be freakishly weird with us!

Hazel & Co.: Funfunfun!

Fiver: Argh! No! Runaway!

Hazel & Bigwig: No, you must come be weird with us.

Fiver: Darn.

Bigwig: Augh! Rabbit trap!

Freakishly Weird Bunnies: Oh yeah, and we forgot to mention that you might get killed unexpectedly at any moment. But it’s a small price to pay for our wonderful lifestyle.

Hazel & Co.: Runaway!

Fiver: Next time we listen to me.

Bigwig: Dead.

Hazel & Co.: No! Poor Bigwig!

Bigwig: Alive now.

Hazel & Co.: Yayness!

Hazel & Co.: Now we go.

Strawberry: I comes too.

End of Part One.

*The male rabbit captain of the Sandleford Owsla. Not the female elf captain of the LEP.

PAR TWO: ON WATERSHIP DOWN

Hazel: Well, we came all this way… I can’t read this, it’s all smudged…* blah blah… Okay, Now what do we do?

Fiver: We go up, of course.

Hazel: Up?

Fiver: Yes, up. It’s our destiny.

Hazel: But…

Fiver: JUST DO IT!!!!!

Hazel: Wowee. What a froody place!

Fiver: I told you so.

Hazel: Peoples! Dig a warren!

Co.: Digdigdig!

Co.: Chiz chiz! We shall live here forever and so will our prosperity and our young shall frolick and our does… Uh oh.

Fiver: Yup.

Co.: Alas! In our male stupidity we forgot the women!

Hazel: Ack! We so stoopid! Don’t worry, I have a plan!

Rabbit: Look Hazel, birdy!

Hazel: Quick, feed it!

Co.: Why?

Hazel: JUST DO IT!!!!!

Kehaar: (the bird) Me Kehaar, me helps you find mudders! *flies away*

Mysterious Voice: Zorn! Zorn! Zorn! All Zorn!

Bigwig: Scream, panic, and run helplessly around in circles!** It’s the Black Rabbit of Inle!

Bluebell: ‘Ello chaps!

Mysterious Voice: *reveals himself to be Capt Holly who we met in part 1* They all died!

Fiver: Big surprise.

Holly: It was!

Fiver: Well, I did try to warn you.

Kehaar: Big warren with lotsa mudders thataway, small farmhouse with hutch buns thataway.

Hazel: Righto, Holly, you take some bunnies and talk that other warren out of some does, ‘k?

Holly: You really think it will be that easy?

Hazel: Oh sure! I’m positive that all of these other pages detail our happy successful lives breeding and eating and frolicking etcetera.

Holly: Hokay. *leaves*

Hazel: And whilst they are gone, we will sit here and twiddle our thumbs… except that we don’t have thumbs! Aha!

Fiver: Oh no! I know what you’re thinking!

Hazel: You do?

Fiver: D’oh. I’n psychic.

Hazel: Oh yeah. Well anyways, I can’t look weak and lazy while the others are out saving our hides! We must go get those other bunnies!

Fiver:

Hazel: Let us go see about these hutch bunnies.

Hazel: Erm…kitty…doggie…hutch bunnies! Hello bunnies!

Hutch Buns: Um..ok.

Hazel: Come with us!

Hutch Buns: ‘K.

Car: ROOOOAAARRR!

Dandelion: Run!

Dude(human): Oh dang it! How did the bunnies get out?

Other Dude: Look woild ones!

Dude; *shoots hazel*

Hazel: Ouch.

Other Bunnies: Where’s Hazel?

Dandelion:…

Dandelion: He fell behind.

Co.:…

Co.: We’ll keep to the code.

*all go back with ¾ hutch buns, but the 4th was a buck, so he so he doesn’t matter*

Co: Hazel-

Fiver: Je sais***.

Holly&Co.: *come back, looking worse for wear. Everyone is generally depressed*

Fiver: *has a really strange vision*

Fiver: He was just resting!

Blackberry:

Meanwhile…

Holly; We went to the warren, they called themselves Efrafa, they were weird, they were probably a metaphor for some country or political ideal back in 1972, they didn’t like us, we barely escaped with our lives.

Blackberry: Hazel’s alive!

Co: W00T!!!

Fiver: And from now on, everyone shall listen to me when I say I have a bad feeling, capiche?

Hazel and Co: *meekly* Yes mother.

Hazel: 15 males and 2 females… yeah, this is gonna work real well. We need to go back to Efrafa.

Holly: Did you not just hear me?

Hazel: Don’t worry, you’re not coming. I have a plan. dunh dunh dunh…

Fiver: Hey, it’s mostly my plan!

Hazel: Shaddup, you’re ruining my dramatic moment.

End of Part Two

*Yesh, Em cannot read her notes
**©Ebethy
***Trans: ‘I know’

PART THREE: EFRAFA

Gimanator explains: Ahem…my idea was to have an rpg sort of thread, based on the archeological expedition for the scribblemaya. On the thread everyone would not be in character, but under their MB name. Each person who joins would be another archeologist on the expedition. It wouldn’t necessarly be an action filled thread, just sort of us MBers creating and putting together our ideas on the ancient civilization.

(Round-Robin ‘Riting, for those who came in late.)

Continued from Part Three.

Take a look. “Musery Loves Company” (http://www.cafepress.com/musery).

If you don’t see what you want, let us know. CaféPress has expanded their product line to include many more t-shirt colors, v-necks, and other items, and we’re still adding them to the line up.

Writing a script? Here’s a place for works in progress.

For discussions that need to be handled with care. No flaming, please.

Continued from v. 2007.4.

More questions, more answers about that perpetually fascinating topic: MuseBloggers.

Continued from version 2007.1.