Since 2004, I've done the Valentine Fairy thing--or in the case of the last couple of years, deputized y'all to do it for me. I figure this year I'll explain it a couple of days early so that you have time to get organized. It's pretty simple, actually--it started with a post kungfumegadevil made:

If you're feeling down about Valentine's Day, I encourage you to do the same. Send valentines. Any kind; in comments and posts, in e-mail, in letters, by phone, over coffee. Forget those stupid relationships for a few hours and just give someone you love a little attention.

So I hereby declare everyone reading this to be Valentined, and to be Deputy Valentine Fairies, empowered to take these icons (or any of their own creation) and go Valentine others. I tend to say, "I am the Valentine Fairy! You have been valentined!" and then post the graphic in the comment itself, but you can say anything you want. It's just a way to tag people and say, "I'm thinking about you," and refocus the holiday to anyone we like or care about, instead of just schmoopy-pie couples.



HTML image codes for posting (take out the spaces), or save them to your own photo storage account:



Linkspam:

N.Y. sees 110 inches of snow in 7 days.

2 Italians stoned to death on Cape Verde. "Speaking with Italy's Sky TG24 TV from a hospital Saturday, Agnese recounted how she and the two other women had been invited to dinner by one of their attackers — a man who apparently had had a relationship with one of the victims. She said the attackers sprayed the women with something and immobilized them before taking them to the woods where a hole had been dug in the ground. Speaking in a stunned voice, she said they were pelted with stones and she blacked out. When she awoke, she climbed out of the hole and walked down a road until she found help."

Libby trial sheds light on White House: "Sworn testimony in the perjury trial of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby has shone a spotlight on White House attempts to sell a gone-wrong war in Iraq to the nation and Vice President Dick Cheney's aggressive role in the effort."

From kosher_jenny: Elie Wiesel accosted at peace conference. "According to the police, the man approached Mr. Wiesel in an elevator at the Argent Hotel and asked to interview him. Mr. Wiesel agreed to talk to the man in the hotel lobby, but the man insisted the interview take place in a hotel room, and he dragged the renowned Holocaust scholar from the elevator on the sixth floor. Mr. Wiesel, who was not injured, began to scream, and the attacker fled.... According to the Mercury News, the incident came to light after the blogger wrote that he had stalked Wiesel for weeks and that he had planned to get 'a cornered Wiesel' to renounce the Holocaust on video."

Maine lesbian "adoptee" case tests legal bounds.

New Hospital Gown Fights Deadly Bacteria. Moreover, it has "complete backside coverage." Huzzah!

Epicureans fly to Bangkok for $25K meal.

Five skinny models barred from Madrid catwalk. Note: they were rejected on the basis of BMI (ratio of body weight to height). A model with a naturally thin build could still be underweight by an objective standard, and could remedy the situation with a relatively small weight gain. See also: Keira Knightley plus or minus ten pounds.

6,124 couples kiss, break world record.

"It's civilised to queue, it's glorious to be polite."

Panda kindergarten!

Gizmo the Flushing Cat.

Polar bear date goes bad.

Murphy rules box office with 'Norbit'; Academy considers rescinding nomination. Only one of these statements is true... for now.

Russell Crowe axes cheerleaders. Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe has banned cheerleaders from his rugby side's ground because he says they make spectators uncomfortable. Crowe, who co-owns the South Sydney Rabbitohs, has replaced the scantily-clad pom-pom wavers with a percussion band to encourage crowd chants. "We feel they made a lot of people uncomfortable. We examined game day and wanted to contemporise and make the focus football," the Hollywood heart-throb told Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper. "We've talked to a lot of people and everyone sees it as being progressive."

New Looks at Dumbledore, Umbridge in OotP.

New POTC3 pics. There's one of Norrington that's obviously from the end of POTC2, which makes me wonder if they're revisiting that scene in the third one.

chocolat_violet: "My French teacher told my class about one of her former university professors, a guy named Taylor Mali, who is a crazy slam poet. This is him performing his poem, 'What Teachers Make.' This poem is so freaking good and please PLEASE add this to your next pile of linkspam because anyone who has ever has gone to school needs to watch this."

And finally, from particle_person: Neil Gaiman's Oracular Instrument of Divination.

Tags: animals, asshaberdashery, harry potter, icons, movies, neil gaiman, pirates of the caribbean, valentine's day, valentined