| Snow: let me explain it |
[Jan. 6th, 2010|11:35 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | alabama is the center of the universe, appropriate responses to bad situations, movies, questions, shopping, snow!, this is going to end well, twilight, writing | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  wearing a new, not-ragged sweater, yays | ] |
The thing you have to understand about snow panic in Alabama is that it's not about the snow. Mostly, it's about us not being prepared for snow; a meager two inches is considered an epic blizzard. It's also about the side effects of snow--I live in a heavily-wooded suburban area full of giant, beautiful, old trees. Very old trees. And they all have dead branches here and there hanging on by a shred of bark, so when you have just enough snow to weigh them down, they break off and fall onto the power lines. Or worse, the entire tree is mostly dead and it falls across the road or onto (and usually through) your house. There was one Epic Two-Inch Snow that ended up with a three-foot-thick, forty-foot-long pine lying across our street (and in what used to be someone's sun room), while live power lines were sparking in the road. In fact, my mother reported last night that, as she was driving home, she saw a number of official-looking trucks on the side of the road, presumably stationed for speedy tree removal.
It's also about the ice. None of us know how to drive on it, because we don't get it often enough to figure out how and then retain that knowledge. One time there was a Special News Report on Safe Winter Weather Driving, and I am serious, it was, in its entirety, "Drive slow." And now, over to Jim with the sports! So basically, entire schools, businesses, and highways will be shut down for safety reasons while all of Chicago points and laughs. I am not even kidding: my sister may not be able to get to work on Friday--
Oh God. I just realized that if we are all iced in together for the next four days, a remake of The Shining is going to break out.
While we're here, a teensy bit of Twi-spam, because I am getting a lot of email about this, and also, I enjoy the progression of the headlines:
Attn. Jackson Rathbone: Missing something?
'Eclipse' Script Wasn't Leaked, Says Summit.
Nikki Finke: Yes, That Leaked Movie Script Is 'Eclipse.'
1. I don't want to read it. I'm to a point where I don't even watch clips of movies I know I want to see anymore. I get so bored in the theater if I feel like I've already seen the movie. 2. I suspect the wink emoticon in the script (as seen at the first link) is forced product-placement sarcasm from screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg. 3. My dazzle is somewhat chagrined that (people tell me) the werewolf-vampire nose-fist bump is not in this version of the script, because, quite honestly, the Edward/Seth stuff is the only thing I find remotely likeable about Book!Edward. Also: COME ON! WEREWOLF-VAMPIRE NOSE-FIST BUMP! If there is anything funnier than that, I can't think of it right now.
Meanwhile, I am trying to work--I got a good bit of novel note-sorting and categorizing done yesterday--but am having a hell of a time. Lots of interruptions, and I can't concentrate for shit. Also, my new calendars (50% off!) came in from Amazon yesterday, but without the books I had bought for research, and then I realized I had forgotten to order a couple of other researchy things anyway, fnarr. Also-also, I bought another pair of fingerless gloves because I was concerned that my homemade recycled ones were fraying a bit from being worn so much, and I am really hoping they arrive before the cold snap is over. This is Alabama, after all.
OH OH OH I ALMOST FORGOT I have two questions to ask you:
1) How do we get e-books from my stepfather's Kindle onto my parents' computer? They can't figure out how.
2) Those identity protection/theft-prevention services, are any of them actually any good?
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| update |
[Jan. 6th, 2010|10:36 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  exhausted | ] |
Sorry for the silence. Between the Black Dog and my black cat, I've been unfit for human society for the past few days. Thank you to everyone who commented with good wishes for Cricket. You are all wonderful. *hugs*
Cricket wound up not having his surgery on Monday, because his blood work came back a little weird on the kidney function front. Everything else was clean, though, so hopefully that bodes well for the lump not being malignant. ( In which Cricket stages a protest, and Lanning discovers the True Nature of Love. )
Anyway, the vet called this morning to tell me that kidney function looks good. There may be a minor urinary tract issue, but not enough to postpone surgery -- she's planning to do a twofer, and cath Cricket so she can get a definitive sample while he's under for the lumpectomy.
I'm a mess.
So, tomorrow morning I drop Cricket off for surgery again, providing I can get him into his carrier without him bringing the house down around our ears. Then I go to work. Then I go to a doctor appointment (because my shoulder is still bad and my massage therapist thinks I may have a rotator cuff issue and carrying cats weighing 18 and 20 pounds respectively -- yes, no more kibble for them -- has done me so much good, I can't even begin to tell you). I also plan to ask for a dose increase in my anti-depression meds, because things have been scary lately. Then I go to pick up my post-operative and doubly traumatized cat, who might perhaps forgive me for delivering him into the hands of Satan, but I doubt it.
Lanning will be hitting the white merlot tonight, yesireebob. ;) |
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| Hello 2010, the Mike and Connie Show, and other stuff |
[Jan. 6th, 2010|12:49 am] |
Drove back yesterday from Montreal after a reasonably restful week with the family in Montreal. My niece is so fucking cute, I can't even stand it. She had her 1st birthday this past Saturday, and we had a traditional Korean Dol, with the baby in a super-adorable tiny teeny han-bok with an embroidered vest and a little headpiece (courtesy of her maternal grandmother from Korea) and a table lined up with the objects she could grab, so that we could divine what she'd choose as a career later. We had a book (scholar), a golf ball (athlete), a microphone (singer), a stethoscope (doctor), a 20-dollar bill (a finance-type person) and a dominoes chip (last minute mischief from my brother, and, erm, I guess... gambler?) and a string of yarns for long life. She went for the book. And then tried to grab the dominoes chip, except my mother flew at the table like a black-cardiganed ninja and grabbed the chip off the table before the baby could get to it. Heh.
We were pretty much housebound because it snowed a metric fuckton (ahh, Canadian winter: I've missed you not) and we played A LOT of dominoes. My parents are kind of obsesseed with the game, which was awesome, because the baby + game = less time for them to try to have heart-to-heart re. various and sundry problems of my life. As usual, it was mostly about the tragedy of singlehood iteration 4232676753546123, to the tune of how life sucks and then you die, but it's marginally less sucky if there is someone next to you to lament with re. the sucktitude of life. My parents are such cheerful people. At least they didn't try to set me up with anyone this time.
***
There were enough downtime here and there that I caught up on 2 seasons of Dexter in 4 days. It was fun (and bloody) times, except for how I was bunking down in a sleeper sofa in the baby's room and every time there was a bloodbath or a dismemberment or a naked lady (at one point, a very loud naked lady getting what looked like some fantastic oral sex) or John Lithgow's bare ass flashing across my screen (and this being Dexter, there were a lot of those scenes), I'd look up at the crib and flinch guiltily. I mean, I had my headphones on and the laptop turned away from my niece, but still. I'm like the worst aunt ever.
Dunno if I'd get it together enough to talk about those two seasons of Dexter, which I enjoyed but also found kinda predictable (and/or to be the logical conclusion of the season arc, depending on your perspective) at the end. Also, I watched those two seasons way too fast and now they're all mixed up in my head. One thing I *would* say is that Debra Morgan is fucking AWESOME and has become one of my favourite characters in anything ever, and apparently I'd decided to emulate the object of my adoration since I seem to be becoming more potty-mouthed by the minute.
I also watched the Doctor Who "End of Times" two-parter and found it full of crack (not the good kind, but the bad, self-indulgent kind), albeit not without some nice little grace notes. Suffice it to say, I was muttering "Oh for fuck's sake, regenerate already!" by the time we were 3/4 way through.
***
Still not much fannishness on the media front. I hear Chuck is coming back this weekend and I'm looking forward to that, then Leverage and White Collar after that, but they're fun, filler shows for me. I enjoy them, but they don't get me all heart-thumpy and tingly like *my* shows, you know? Oddly enough, the episode I got the most charge out of in the last couple of weeks was a Law & Order: The Mothership ep I downloaded from a while ago because I heard it was Mike & Connie-tastic, and I was suffering from a USTy Partnership Withdrawal Syndrome. I hadn't watched the original L&O for over a season and let me see... it was 20x09, "For the Defense" and boy oh boy, it hit the spot. ( some spoilers )
Y'know, I don't want them to get hot-and-heavy on the show, because hello, this is L&O The Mothership for God's sake, but where in the blazes are all the post-ep fic? If you tell me there isn't any, I'm going to cry. I also started TiVoing the back episodes of the past season as they air on Saturday nights, but something tells me it's never going to be this blatant again. Sort of like SVU and "Fault." (Except how the Mothership is still kinda watchable whereas SVU is... not.)
I don't have any Mike & Connie icons, so I shall use this Linus Roache icon from Wings of the Dove instead. Isn't he pretty? *sigh*
***
Random songs I'm into at the moment:
Phoenix's "Lisztomania." FINALLY. Something to supplant the memory of that scene with the parade of giant dicks from that awful (or so awful that it's kinda awesome?) Ken Russell flick of the same name! (I could go on and on about how I abhor Ken Russell and all his works and would cheerfully dance naked as all his original films went up in a bonfire, but I'll spare you the rant.) Anyway, Phoenix's song is hella catchy, and you know, Franz Liszt *was* a fucking rockstar back in the day. I love the grainy home-movie feel of this video, the black hot air balloon with the band name on it, and the long-faced, floppy-haired French boys in the band with their sunglasses and their bad teeth.
( embedded youtube video for the song and a few more under the cut )
Crickey, it's past 1 AM here and I'm already breaking my New Year's Resolution to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Off I go! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|11:00 pm] |
This orange chair is a time travel device. Ten minutes ago I sat down in it at seven o'clock, and suddenly now it's eleven.
TIME TRAVEL. I HAS IT.
And it only goes one direction, which is so unfair. |
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| 200: A Single Sentence'll Sell You |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|07:15 pm] |
The One in Which We Learn That You Can't Give the Dead Too Much Artistic License. Especially If the Dead Person's Name Is Bob Fraser. Pornography, by ![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) china_shop. Due South, Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski.
Benton Fraser has porn. I just want to repeat that, because I think it's a brilliant concept that deserves far more attention than it is currently getting: Benton Fraser has porn. Yes, this story is just as good as it sounds like it must be.
But there is a down side to it, and it is this: after reading it, I could not stop imagining the porn collections of other fannish favorites. Rodney McKay likely has roughly a terabyte of porn, but really only uses three short clips and one still photo. He's just completist. Jim Kirk (Reboot) also has the terabyte of porn, but he's actually working his way through it - he jerks off to something new every time. It's all hot if you look at it the right way, you know? Batman's porn does not bear contemplation and is certainly not something I would ever want to see, so I am pleased and comforted to know that it is hidden somewhere no one will ever find it, and also it is designed to self-destruct if anyone besides Batman touches it. Clark Kent likes the underwear catalogs. He's never been able to bring himself to get turned on by anything more explicit; he's always afraid his mother will walk in. (Lex Luthor's porn, it goes without saying, is his extensive Clark Kent memorabilia collection.) Methos's porn is called his memory. Jack Harkness's porn is called everything in the world, because everything is hot. How can you put a plug in an outlet and not get turned on? And laundry! All those dirty clothes, shirts and pants and trousers all touching, writhing together: clearly the hottest thing ever.
Anyway. Obviously, if Fraser has porn, Kowalski has an interest. (And Thatcher has an issue. Turnbull has an issue, too, but it's with a faulty oven; I'm not entirely sure I want to contemplate Turnbull and porn. It's either going to be men dressed up like the Queen or - you know what, seriously, let's not go there.)
The One in Which We Learn That All Vulcans, Male and Female, Can Breastfeed, Which Is an Innovation I Support So Completely I Am Prepared to Do Illegal Genetic Experimentation to Make It Happen. A Beginner's Guide to Vulcan Sexual Practice, by thingswithwings. Star Trek Reboot, Jim Kirk/Spock.
There's a whole history of how this story came to be, but I'm not going to go into it here, because you don't really need to know it. You just need to know that this story is one of the more awesome explorations of kink I have ever read. The message I take away from it is: there's nothing either kinky or vanilla, but thinking makes it so. And when Jim Kirk (Reboot) is doing the thinking, you know it's going to come out (hee!) kinky, even if he has to oppose millennia of Vulcan culture to do it.
And can I just say that I love the idea of writing endless commentaries on commentaries on a list of Things Good Vulcans Don't Do? That's the concept here, and it made me want to take it to the logical conclusion, and imagine the lecture, um, circles (pits?) on Vulcan, with horrified thirteen-year-olds who are already traumatized from learning about Pon Farr being forced to present papers on and debate about things like the No Breathplay rule.
That's actually probably where the rumor that Vulcans only do it once every seven years comes from. It has nothing to do with Pon Farr, it's just, it takes the first fifty years or so of their mature lives to get over the trauma of having had to learn all the sex rules. (Because I've been watching TOS, and it's obvious to me that Spock has sex more often than One Upon a Pon Farr. He's married to Kirk! Kirk likes the sex! QED! And, no, I won't listen to counterarguments: the crazy shippiness knows no logic.)
The One in Which Morgana Punches Arthur. I Suggest Re-Reading That Part a Lot. It Never Fails to Cheer Me Up. Reciprocation, by astolat. Merlin, Arthur Pendragon/Merlin. (Okay, it just occurred to me - I can think of three major pairings involving a character with a single name: Kirk/Spock, Duncan/Methos, Arthur/Merlin. What's the fourth? It'd make a great recs set.)
I can tell you what I love about this story in one sentence: Arthur Pendragon is totally clueless. I mean, how could he not be? He is exactly the kind of guy who goes through life assuming that he is Just That Awesome, and yet he's decent enough to be horrified when he realizes there is a small (very small, of course, because he's Arthur Pendragon, who is, by definition, awesome) possibility he is not awesome enough.
(This is a rare intersection - stunned by own awesome x still a reasonably decent human being - and I'm not sure I can think of another character in fandom who lives there. Hell, I can only think of one person I've known in real life who does, although, sadly, I can think of many, many people who lived on just the first street. In my teen years, I slept with basically all of them, so it makes me especially happy to see one getting, you know, schooled, even in fiction.)
And Merlin - he is a reasonably decent human being who gets laid a lot, which is as he should be.
The funny thing, of course, is that Merlin could totally be Arthur times a million, because instead of princeliness, he has magic, and in other fandoms, he'd be all strutting around magicking people into worshipping his cock or whatever. (Deny it. He'd be like Jack Harkness with a magic wand - or, as I am sure Captain Harkness would insist I put it, Jack Harkness with a second magic wand.) ...And now I kind of want to read that AU, BUT. Let me soldier on with this rec.
This story is awesome, and it features these characters pretty much exactly as they are in my head, and also Merlin educating Arthur will never be less than totally appealing. Read now.
The One in Which We Learn That Draco Malfoy Is a Far Better Housekeeper than I Am. I Know. I May Not Recover from the Shame. Theft of Assets, Destruction of Property, by helenish. Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom/Draco Malfoy.
You know all those charts that show the various phases of the menstrual cycle with, like, drawings of the corpus luteum and stuff? That are so traumatizing when you're twelve? They should be labeled like this:- Ow, My Side Hurts (part of one day)1
- Extremely Productive (eight days)
- Days of Angst and Irritation (three days)
- ALL THE CHOCOLATE IN THE WORLD (roughly four days)
- For God's Sake, Let's Not Do That Again (one week)
- Voluntary Total Amnesia about All This Crap (one week)
- Ow, My Side Hurts (part of one day)
And so on. If they'd only posted that chart in health class, I guarantee you I would have written it in my notes, rather than the song lyrics I chose to immortalize. (I bet they were something about standing in the rain. Because of pain. I was predictable that way.)
Anyway. I try hard to save helenish's stories for my Days of Angst and Irritation, because they so perfectly match what I crave at that point. Things start off badly! There is miscommunication! Hurtful things are said! And then everything gets cleared up and there is True Love Forever! And all of this is wrapped in a layer of awesome so thick you want to eat it with a spoon.
But this story - this story is even better than that, because it features Draco forced to marry Neville for deflowering him, which is one of those concepts that shouldn't work at all (or be a total farce), but here it so, so works, and somehow it is just the crunchy awesome center of the awesome candy. Seriously. Read this. Especially if you're in the Days of Angst and Irritation. (I am not admitting anything in a manner admissible in a court of law here, I am just saying: I read this at exactly the right time, and there might have been tears. Possibly of joy, possibly of profound feeling. Who can say? But if there were tears, they were entirely justified, is my point.)
-Footnote-
1 Yes, I know that traditionally the first day of the cycle is the first day of your period. Of course I know that; how do you think I got the earthling? But I have considered Ow, My Side Hurts to be the start of it all since the day in my high school drama class when Mari announced she was ovulating, and all the guys reacted like she was giving birth to a tiger, and I learned that my mother had not lied: menstruation really was powerful and magical. Just, she failed to mention the magical power in question was to make boys writhe in horror. |
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| Band of Brothers: spreading the love, plus many recs |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|04:02 pm] |
I've been promising various people this post for a while - mostly for the recs, and for the links to picspam. It took me a while to put it together, tho! And then there was Yuletide, and stuff. So now, finally, here it is. The epic BoB pimping post.
First, a few things about this show. It is a story about men in war, and the world around them, so: bad stuff happens. People die. Body parts get blown off. There's blood. The show doesn't shy away from the many horrors of war, whether those horrors are the intimate personal kind, or tragedies of the global variety. I think that context is one of the most important and brilliant parts of the show, but YMMV, so take that into consideration before you start watching. First and foremost, BoB is about a group of men, and their bonds with one another; it's the characters I'm fannish about, and so sometimes, a bit of compartmentalization is handy.
Also, I must tell you - I'm not really involved in BoB fandom. I'm fannish about the show, and I read a lot, and I'm also writing it now, so I'm going to point you toward some stories and picspams for your fannish enjoyment. But aside from the two communities I've slowly been reading through, I can't really direct you to places to interact with other fans. That info is in the crack_van overview I will link to below, if you want it.
( Top seven things I love about the show )
So, yes. Band of Brothers. Now on to where to find the good stuff about it. The DVD set includes a disc with Ron Livingston's video diaries, which are fascinating, and also We Stand Alone Together, the Easy Company documentary. You will cry when you watch BoB. Probably you will cry quite a bit, actually, so you should also buy tissues.
As for the fannish perspective...
( Where to find further overviews, etc )
( Picspam and other miscellaneous happy things )
( And numerous recs )
OK, there you go. I highly recommend this show. Ten eps, closed canon, lots to love. (Try to ignore the whole 'but it's RPF about real American soldiers!' feeling. I do. *g*) And if you have additional recs to share (especially for great gen stories, which seem super-scarce), or additional reasons you love the show, please tell me! |
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| This level reach of blue is not my sea (Jack/Elizabeth) |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|02:32 pm] |
Title: This level reach of blue is not my sea
Pairing: Jack/Elizabeth
Word Count: 2,136
Rating: PG
Summary: They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm. Elizabeth, just after At World's End.
Author's Note: I was flippin' through the super cool Dorothy Parker anthology I checked out from the library, and I came across the poem "Fair Weather," which immediately started shouting ELIZABETH SWANN, ELIZABETH SWANN! at me. Who was I to resist that kind of pressure?
( These days, the whole world turns her stomach. ) |
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| I have a feeling this is going to end badly. |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|03:58 pm] |
But! As some of you might have noticed, I am very slowly uploading all of my stories from my own website, off of the old blog, off of random places, into the A3O archive. I have the attention span of a gnat on meth, and cannot be trusted to maintain any website, so once all of this is one, I have a centralized drop box for fic, everybody will be happy because it won't be an awful hunt to find all the stuff I have put up all over the internet. As of now, all of the fanfiction housed on my website through the Harry Potter fanfiction is now up on A3O, and a handful of other things, including (I think) all of my NCIS fiction.
So here is where I am getting my ass into trouble:
Is there a story of mine you have been looking for? That's NOT -- I repeat -- NOT on my website? (If you're not sure about this, CHECK HERE FIRST.) Is it in one of my old LJ posts that got private-locked a while back?
IF SO, leave me a comment with this information, if you can find it:
1. Title
2. URL where it should have been, but is broken or whatever
This is not a guarantee or anything, but I will be working when I have free time throughout the rest of my week off to put stuff where it belongs.
This entry was originally posted at http://rageprufrock.dreamwidth.org/27562.html. Please comment there using OpenID. |
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| ~Brrrrrrrrr~ |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|02:27 pm] |
I forgot to mention! New episode of Made of Fail is up. "It's like... fudge... made of out PEANUT BUTTER."
Meanwhile! Right after I posted that last entry--seriously, I hit "post" while putting on my shoes--I went out and saw Sherlock Holmes again, this time with my mother. ( More Holmesian nerditry )
(For those of you wondering when I'll ever shut up about Sherlock Holmes: IT'S NOT TWILIGHT, OKAY? So shut it and count your blessings.)
Meanwhile: omg so cold. I love it. It's already one o'clock, but it's still only 26°F, which means it only gets colder from here. In fact, we've got snow predicted for Thursday. The dogs are bored out of their minds because I won't let them stay outside longer than ten minutes at a time; I'm under a fleece blanket (NOT A SNUGGIE) in the den at my laptop, and I had to put on my huge floor-length coat and my gloves just to take them out front. (I do have a pair of full-coverage gloves, but I put on my favorites just because they are pretty: fingerless gloves recycled from toesocks, because a hole got into one of the toes, and they were too awesome to throw away. Bonus photo feature: My stubby little hobbit hand.)
(Speaking of accessories: the purse I decided on, because it's simple, and the grey-on-black paisley is interesting but casual. I'm going to try to fix my faux Fendi for more stylish occasions, but this looks like a good everyday bag. And it's from Etsy, yay.)
And I think I had something else to mention but I can't remember what but I'm sure I will later. Very busy, tons of work, trying to alternate footnotes with novel-writing, yay.
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| Things I Learned This Weekend |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|01:36 pm] |
1. The Philadelphia Mummers are highly committed to Sparkle Motion. Mummenschanz, on the other hand, is not.
2. I am enough of a sucker for post-col that I totally want to see the rest of the original V now.
2a. So far, Julie is ten tons of awesome. If they de-awesome her later, don't tell me.
2b. Every time they start in on the "we got rocks thrown through our window because we're scientists," thing I laugh and laugh.
2c. The physicists would totally have bitched about being lumped in with anthropologists as Scientists. "That's not a goddamn science!" they'd say.
3. Princess Ardala wants to be Servalan when she grows up. Sadly, I don't think she's ever going to get there. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|11:00 am] |
BossBoss just came up to my desk....
"Today is a terrible day! No, not work, work is fine, if I could focus on work...but I can't!"
I said he should maybe make a list, and he said, "No, the list would take me all day, I can't...I just can't focus! Wait, I know what I was in the middle of. Okay, I'm going to go finish it. Thanks! I'm glad we had this talk!"
I LOL.
I love my job and it's not that I want a different job, but I still monitor certain job websites out of habit, and because I could theoretically freelance in the theatre if I wanted to. This morning a job titled "Coordinator For Instructional Fabrication" came up, which sounds like a job making fake IDs for spies. It's almost as good (but not quite) as the one I found a few years ago, PROFESSOR OF MASS DESTRUCTION. Best job title ever. It was on a government/military job website and clearly they hadn't quite thought the title through; about two days after I linked to it, the ad was gone, replaced with something that had a much more mundane title that I can't even remember.
I also stumbled over Payscale.com, which requires you to register but which also tells you, once you register, how much you're making compared to others in your field in your geographical location. One reason I happily put up with Coworker Fail most of the time: I make twice the average hourly wage other people in my job do in Chicago.
I found Payscale via a top fifty list of best employers for Gen Y, though the top fifty list is....okay, I don't know about most of the companies on there, but there's no way that Abercrombie & Fitch is the 11th best employer in the nation, given its history of employment racism, sales racism, and employment ableism.
Brazen Careerist defined standards for the top fifty list pretty specifically, which is nice to see, as most places don't. The criteria were, at least in part: Salary, Social Responsibility, Flexible Workplace. The problem is how these things were measured: "good social policy" seems pretty limited to "do they have a strong green initiative". And on the one hand that's probably a pretty good gauge -- but on the other hand even I knew Abercrombie & Fitch is a terrible place to work, and I actively avoid the evening news.
That being said, Brazen Careerist has a lot of really important stuff to say on women in the workplace, especially women with kids, so it's not like I'm going to ditch the blog over it. There's also the free admission that top-fifty lists contain an inherent level of bullshit about them.
So really my point is, Abercrombie & Fitch: the suck. (I'm looking at you as I say this, Tennant and Barrowman.) |
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| baby, i got heart |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|10:36 am] |
Fanfic Trope Meme
I'm taking this mostly as whether I've written these things, though I've also talked about a little whether I enjoy them or not.
Genderswap: Okay, are we defining it as "wakes up a girl" or "always a girl"? I've written both, but I am much more interested *cough* in "always a girl" and mostly only in SPN. My id, let me show you it, apparently. (I am not interested at all in turning the women into men, unless the story is about a FTM transperson.)
Bodyswap: I've never written it, but I enjoy reading it on occasion.
Drunk!fic: Heh. Yes. Many, many times. Drunk boys! Fumbly kisses!
Huddling together for warmth: I've written "we have to get out of these wet clothes" but I don't think I've ever written "huddling together for warmth."
Undercover in a gay bar: I haven't written it, though I've enjoyed reading it on occasion.
Pretending to be married: I'm pretty sure I've written pretending to be dating. I still want to write the Mal/Kaylee pretending to be married story. It's for a job! Which doesn't go smooth! And possibly some girl!Sam/Dean pretending to be married fic. We'll see.
Secretly a virgin: Secretly? I don't think so. Wait, I did write one where Lily is surprised James is a virgin.
Amnesia: Only the sadly unfinished amnesia!Sirius story. Sigh.
Crossdressing: Not as a kink, since it's really not my kink. I did make Jayne willingly put on a nun's habit once, though.
Forced to share a bed: I'm going to say yes on this, though details are hazy. I do love this trope.
Aliens made them do it: Huh. I have written "an incubus/succubus made them do it" – does that go here or under "aphrodisiacs"? I would like to write a "MM/WW: aliens make them do it" story, so possibly in the future?
Wingfic: Not in the generally accepted sense, i.e., giving wings to characters who don't have them in canon. I can't remember if there is any stuff about wings in the Lucifer/Michael story. Before SPN, I only ever liked it in terms of characters who already have wings (see Aziraphale and Crowley or Michael and Lucifer), but I have enjoyed some Winchesters-sprout-wings fic in SPN.
Mpreg: No. No. No. A million times no.
Mistakenly assumed to be gay: I've had people mistakenly (OR ARE THEY?) assume characters are a couple, though I don't think it's ever been the whole point of a story.
Let's play truth or dare: yeah, I think back in the XMM days I might have. I know I've written Never Have I Ever fic.
Mary Sue fic: Yes, though only in my own head these days.
Aphrodisiacs: Not unless the incubus thing goes here.
Curtain fic: Yes, though with Sam and Dean, they never stay retired. Sirius and Remus, otoh, yes.
Hurt/Comfort: Mildly? I mean, given Remus's post-full-moon state, it is kind of always there in Sirius/Remus fic? But explicitly, with the kind of lingering, loving detailing of the injuries and whatever? No. Generally, I let canon do the hurting, and I write the comforting. I don't much care for whump fic, though I read it sometimes when pickings are otherwise slim. (of course, what do I know? I wrote a story that is 11K words of schmoopy comfort and I've seen it tagged as h/c, so other people's mileage may vary.)
Apocalypse fic: Shockingly, yes. A couple of times, even. Though with the BSG/SPN crossover, it was because the apocalypse actually happening was BSG canon.
Someone has a baby: Yup. A sekrit incest baby, in one case.
Telepathic soulbonding: Um. I've written Scott/Jean, and there's definitely telepathy involved. I haven't gone in for any kind of soulbonding since I was about 13, though. I find the whole concept creepy and invasive even without involving telepathy, which is creepy and invasive almost by definition. *shudders*
Werewolves mate for life: Only if you count having the werewolf mock the idea. I do remember reading a good story where Sirius and Remus ended up bonded and were really unhappy about it. that was an interesting take on the trope, but mostly, no. Not for me.
I'm surprised hooker fic isn't on this list. Which, I wrote a whole freaking series of hooker fic back in XMM. That's where I got my melodrama on - hookerfic, addiction fic, rape recovery, miscarriage, alcoholism, adultery, death. Now I write stories where the big emotional climax focuses on two people sharing a cup of coffee or a piece of pie. Heh.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/114814.html.  people have commented there. |
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[Jan. 4th, 2010|10:36 pm] |
R has left the building; while he was here we watched three dudes EPIC FAIL on Wheel of Fortune and I gave him the presents Mum brought for him, which turned out to be a bag of jerky and a box of jellybeans (she knows his loves). He ate all the jerky -- AN ENTIRE BAG OF JERKY -- and put the jellybeans in his pocket. Loose, in his pocket. For ease of nomming, I suppose.
Meanwhile, I tried to demonstrate "Cooking Mama" for him -- Mum gave it to me for Christmas, for the Wii, it's a cooking simulator. He was very perplexed as to why anyone would go to all the trouble of cooking, say, a flan, and then not being able to eat it. All night, "Where's the flan? You made a flan, but you can't eat it. I don't understand!"
I think Cooking Mama gave him some kind of existential crisis. "There's food...but there's no food! WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?"
Also he left me half a bottle of wine. Om nom nom. |
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[Jan. 4th, 2010|08:11 pm] |
R has a new theory of television, so he calls it: he asserts that you can reduce all of TV programming to one of three themes -- "or motives", he said darkly -- that encompass the whole of TV, advertising in particular.
He says TV makes you one of three things:
Hungry
Horny
Want to buy window blinds.
I think it's a theory with merit!
R argues that Wheel of Fortune is a beautiful melding of all three, but that's only because he's frighteningly into Vanna White. |
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[Jan. 4th, 2010|03:15 pm] |
My work world, in three acts.
ACT ONE: Mystery.
Person: I'm not sure who I'm here to see.
Sam: Did you make an appointment with anyone?
Person: I work here, apparently.
Sam: It's such a Monday, isn't it?
ACT TWO: Disbelief.
Sam: Coworker X said, and I quote, "Can we please have someone come up and look at the toilets? I'm not sure if they need plumbing." Can you do that, and let me know if they need an actual service call or just need to be cleaned?
Coworker Fail: A PLUMBER MAKES THREE TIMES WHAT I DO. WHEN THEY PAY ME THAT I WILL GO AND LOOK AT THEM. *splurt of rage all over email*
Sam: *quietly makes a service call*
INTERMISSION: They totally had mac and cheese at the cafeteria for lunch. Why yes, I am in the seventh grade, thank you for noticing.
ACT THREE: Gratification.
BossBoss: You've been falling down on the job, Sam. You've been here, what, two years? I have yet to receive a single call notifying me of my million-dollar sweepstakes win.
Sam: Well, I've been impersonating you and collecting the winnings for myself. |
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| Fucking off from work is really the best, isn't it? |
[Jan. 4th, 2010|01:12 pm] |
Because instead of slaving away for the man, I'm sitting at my desk listening to Lily Allen defaming the penis size of her ex-boyfriend and uploading stuff to A3O -- delicious. So! In case you guys have been looking for No Fault (CW RPS, Mike/Tom), Passover (House gen), Hurry Up and Wait (NCIS gen), Endearment (NCIS gen), Strictly on a Need to Know Basis (NCIS gen), Highly Classified and Very Hush Hush (NCIS gen), Rodney McKay's Diary (SGA genish? I don't even know. I drank a lot in college, okay?), Room 609 (NCIS, post-SWAK genish), or Seconds (NCIS, post-Agent Afloat Tony/Gibbs NC-17), then have at it.
This entry was originally posted at http://rageprufrock.dreamwidth.org/27177.html. Please comment there using OpenID. |
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| fic: What a Swell Party This Is (The Thin Man; Nora Charles; pg) |
[Jan. 4th, 2010|12:10 pm] |
What a Swell Party This Is
The Thin Man; Nora Charles (Nick/Nora); pg; 2,245 words
Nora's going to need another drink for this.
Written for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) great_whatsit for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) yuletide 2009. Originally posted here. Thanks so much to fleurdeleo for brainstorming, and to luzdeestrellas and gloss for betaing and making this a much better story than it was originally.
( What a Swell Party This Is )
~*~
( brief commentary )
Anyway. I really like how it turned out. The Nick/Nora banter at the end was the easiest part to write, and I kind of wish I'd had more of it, but it didn't seem necessary to the story at that point. They are an awesome couple, though. I also like the title, which comes from "Well Did You Evah?" by Cole Porter, and seemed to fit perfectly (better than "the Surprise Party" or "The Unexpected Guest", which were my original, oh so boring, ideas)), and my recipient liked it, so I am pleased.
Thanks to everyone who commented over at the AO3 site. I really appreciate it, and hope to answer comments soon.
~*~
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/114512.html.  people have commented there. |
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