On Saturday the 14th at 4AM UTC/GMT we will be upgrading the operating system of our network load balancers to a newer version, one that will allow us to use both CPUs! Nifty, because multiprocessing is nice.

Since we have 2 load balancers, the plan is to upgrade 1 at a time, and there really should be very little impact to our website. Hopefully you won't notice a thing and I'll get to go back to the hotel and watch some wonderful late night infomercials.

We've got a lot of exciting projects coming up for 2010 and we're hoping that we'll be able to deliver them all to you, that you will find it useful/cool/lovely and then you will use the site even more. Behind-the-scenes work like this will give us the capacity to handle the anticipated traffic, so expect a few more maintenance windows especially in the beginning of next year as we've got some neat ideas to improve performance around here! We had the recent 30-45 minute outage yesterday due to one of our logging databases filling up disk space -- not so great design coupled with my human error in handling the initial problem -- and it looks like we're going to finally have some resources to eliminate stuff like that. I can't wait!

As usual, I will be updating status.livejournal.org before and after, just in case you are not able to reach our main website during the work.

Hey guys! I don't know if all of you saw the webisode Subtle Sexuality buuuuuut I did a picspam of the music video!




HERE

I hope you like it, I thought it was just hilarious. :D

sixwordstories
Whether you're in the mood for a creative challenge or you're short on time or attention span, this semi-addictive community is perfect for those who find flash fiction way long. Once you get the hang of it, you won't be able to stop. The prince turned into a frog. The girl ran home to mother. Tough to write. Easy to read. It's a double threesome of fun.

dailyfoodie
Delicious, ambitious, and occasionally nutritious dishes make for an eclectic, all-you-can-eat feast. Whether you're searching for recipes for your next dinner party or you're jonesing for a late-night brownie fix, your cravings are sure to be well sated. A warm and inclusive community that welcomes all orientations, from carnivores to vegans, from gourmands to junk-food junkies. Guaranteed bias-free, food-positive, and pan-epicurian.

Just finished watching Greg Behrendt's new special on Comedy Central: Greg Behrendt is That Guy From That Thing.

The last two segments are about how his wife made John her "free pass" and then Greg ran into him while he was at a hotel gym in New York.

It. Is. AWESOME. Check it out if you can, I couldn't find another listing for it on TV or on youtube.

DVD on Amazon

I want to preface this by saying that the Office is my favorite show ever, and I believe it is leagues above most shows on TV right now. I also think the writers are brilliant, every single one of them. So this is in no way an attack or big complaint,  just something I've been observing the past few seasons, purely my opinion. 

Anyway, there was a bit of a discussion going on over at OfficeTally after last night's episode, and it got me thinking.

Essentially a poster was talking about how Pam seemed kind of boring lately. glenvorian replied that the writers wrote both Pam and Ryan into a corner, and I realized I kind of agree with that.

( Possible TL;DR character analysis inside, you've been warned xD )

Screencaps: 302
Resolution: 1270x682
File type: jpg



Gallery & download links here @ rawr_caps

http://www.thousandandonewords.com/

Warning: may contain some explicit content. ;-) What do you guys think of this new and improved Male Prima Donna Ryan?

HR HDTV screencaps from the latest episode.

"Double Date" (6x09)
740 screencaps
1280x720

Samples and download links here.

Help The Office become an official nominee for the PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS 2010!

The top five nominees in each category will be revealed on November 10, 2009; the People's Choice Awards show airs January 6th, 2010.

Please vote in the following categories:

- Favorite TV Comedy: The Office
- Favorite TV Comedy Actor: Steve Carell
- Favorite TV Comedy Actress: Jenna Fischer

Link: Vote here!

(And remember, vote like crazy until November 10!)

:) Jennie

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
( Read more... )

 Hello All!

I am currently working on my MA in English and am working on a paper where “The Office” is my primary text.  The course is titled “Complexity in Contemporary Narrative.”  What I am looking at is just what draws fans to the show...what is it about “The Office” that makes it a show fans come back to week after week?  Is it the ability to relate to the show?  The small-town setting?  The comedy/actors?  Or is it something along the lines of the genre, or formating, of the show - the mockumentary style?  Or is it something entirely different?  

If anyone is interested in answering my questions, I would very much be appreciated!  If you would like to be involved, would it be ok to include quotes, names as to prove my points?  If not, would you still be ok with me using just quotes?  And if not, it will still be helpful just to read through what fans have to say.  If you would like to be included, please indicate how you would like to be cited (username, first/last name, location, etc) 

Also, if this post is in anyway violating the terms of the community, I will take it down, asap.  Promise!:)   

Buzz Sugar has a slideshow comparing Dunder Mifflinites to their counterparts at Sterling-Cooper.



Little disappointed that there's no comparison between Harry Crane and Alex from art school. :)

See the rest here.

(I went "huh, wha?" at the Jim/Don comparison, too, but they've actually got support!)

For those of you that have written papers for class, I was curious as to which episodes you've written about.

I'm writing a research paper on sitcoms this semester for grad school and The Office is one of the five sitcoms that I'm focusing on.