Two things on this brutally cold Saturday:

1. Here's a great post pointing out that Finn is the Zuko of TFA; Kylo Ren is the Azula. (though as liz-squids points out in a later post, at least Kylo Ren has a conscience, even if he doesn't listen to it. I still love Azula, though.)

So Rey is Aang? Or Katara? Poe is clearly Sokka: "BB-8, you do always come back!"

Though I guess in the case of TFA, Mark Hamill's playing the Uncle Iroh role instead of the Fire Lord Ozai role. (And if Kylo Ren were Zuko, he definitely wouldn't want any calming tea, Uncle!)

2. misbegotten made some lovely Grayson icons. I definitely snurched that "You don't know Dick!" one.

And speaking of Grayson, internet rumors tell me that DC may be rebooting again, so Grayson might be ending, which is unfortunate, because I mind giving them money a little less when it's for a book I enjoy so much. I definitely recommend it if you can handle (or ignore, as I do) the reboot timeline nonsense, because it gives good Dick.

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Last night, sundancekid informed me that the pairing smush for Steve/Carol is DANGERS.

I am not a fan of pairing portmanteaux, but my hand to god, I cannot resist DANGERS. IT IS THE BEST NAME SMUSH, NO LIE.

Also, I made myself a couple of wee!Steve icons BECAUSE HE IS THE CUTEST. (Though I gave them the same keyword, I uploaded different icons to LJ and DW because I couldn't choose between them. SO ADORABLE.)

Lastly, a meme, snurched from moetushie:

If you could remix one of my stories, which one would it be and how'd you do it?

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The problem with looking for icons of Harvey Specter (you magnificent bastard!) is that so many of them have Mike Ross in them too. Sigh. But I persevered and found icons of Harvey, Donna, Harvey & Donna, and Jessica, so that is good. I also uploaded a new Carol Danvers icon. I feel like there were other things I was meaning to look for, but now I can't remember what they were. Work has been...ugh. We have a board meeting tomorrow and I was handling it! It was handled. But now I'm like, "WHAT AM I FORGETTING? BRAIN DON'T FAIL ME NOW." Mostly it means an afternoon at the copier. At least it's not at 8 am this time?

*

I guess that trope meme was fun, because I now have a couple new stories to write. Heh.

*

I thought I had a third thing (and let's be real, that second thing is not really worthy of its own section), but I guess I don't, so have a poem:

I Am Learning To Abandon The World
by Linda Pastan

I am learning to abandon the world
before it can abandon me.
Already I have given up the moon
and snow, closing my shades
against the claims of white.
And the world has taken
my father, my friends.
I have given up melodic lines of hills,
moving to a flat, tuneless landscape.
And every night I give my body up
limb by limb, working upwards
across bone, towards the heart.
But morning comes with small
reprieves of coffee and birdsong.
A tree outside the window
which was simply shadow moments ago
takes back its branches twig
by leafy twig.
And as I take my body back
the sun lays its warm muzzle on my lap
as if to make amends.

***

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This is mostly a post to show off my new Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel icon.

Dear Carol,

I'm so sorry I had Rogue kill you off in a story I wrote 12 years ago! I didn't know how awesome you were then!

My most abject apologies.

love,

me

*

Also, my laptop sometimes stops recognizing my external hard drive. Could it be because the USB plug jiggles when I move around? Or could it be something like it's dusty in the USB port and I should clean it out? Because when I plug it back in, it seems to work fine, usually. And I don't want to lose access to the drive where all my stuff is. Suggestions? It's a Western Digital 1TB MyBook. It's a few years old, though - from before I had the Mac. Could it just be age?

Also, can I just say, the one thing I don't love about this Macbook is the lack of USB ports. It only has two. What even is that? How is that acceptable? I had a hub with four more, but it stopped working a while ago. Sigh.

*

Also, also, someone should make a Steve/Bucky vid to "No Surrender."

Lastly, I cannot stop listening to "Shake It Out."

*

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I was rereading Bucky and Natasha's reunion and realized I had no icons of them together, so last night I fixed that. I actually uploaded two, but this one has both Bucky's robot arm and his aversion to shirts on display, so it's the clear winner. *g*

Speaking of Bucky, here is a snippet from "Welcome to Wherever You Are," which is the sequel to "Impact Winter," the wip that is eating all my time and feels like it will never be finished so I can write other things.

"We're actually trying to help you," Maria says. The "you bastard," is implied, and if Steve picks up on it, he's sure Bucky gets it loud and clear. "If you don't want to be court martialed--"

"Didn't I get discharged when I died?"

"You were listed as missing in action, not dead," Steve says, having become intimately familiar with Bucky's (and everyone else's) files when he first got out of the ice.

"And if you're not in the army, I can just take you out back and shoot you," Maria says with an evil grin. "People disappear in SHIELD custody all the time."

Bucky laughs. "I like you." But he still won't talk to her.

*

Writing is hard, you guys!

*

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people! I need new icons!

Things I definitely want:

= Nick/Cassie (I am already paging through beadwithshimmer's icons tag)
= Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner version [I already have a Kate Bishop Hawkeye icon])
= Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson version)
= Bucky/Natasha (comics)
= I need a movieverse Steve Rogers icon where you can see his face. Preferably if he's making an adorable face (I love his adorable faces!). Also a movieverse Steve/Bucky icon where you can see both their faces. And possibly a comics Steve/Bucky icon from, like, Who Will Wield the Shield? when they're both dressed as Cap. Or I dunno. I have to think about that.
= Babs/Dinah, maybe? Or Cass Cain? Steph/Cass?

Any suggestions on where I could find any of these? I don't know if I am up for making any myself.

And I can always move some of the ones I have on DW over to LJ when I clear out some space. Hmmm...

In other news, writing is still hard! wah!

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fleurdeleo and I met up for dinner (at the newly renovated Chinese place up the block), and then I came home and made a bunch of Blue Beetle (III) icons. Some of them are pretty spoilery, but only if you already have context.

samples:
..

( 32 icons in one of those cool numbered tablesCollapse )

I haven't decided yet which one(s) I'm uploading. Feel free to use. Credit's not necessary but comments are nice.

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Dear food bloggers and other recipe mavens:

Putting the word "healthy" in the name of your baked goods recipe is just going to make me wrinkle my nose. Nothing that tells me it's going to be healthy makes me actually want to eat it, but that goes doubly so for cupcakes and other desserts. That chewy, health food store, wet cardboard taste and texture is not something I aim for when baking or eating, and putting "healthy" in front of "cupcakes" just makes me think that's exactly what I'm going to get.

helpfully,

me.

***

I made a couple of mildly spoilery White Collar icons last night.

( Mr. and Mrs. BurkeCollapse )

***

I went looking for fic about Huntress but found only a tiny amount, mostly Huntress/Question (or Huntress/Question II), which is nice? But not quite what I want. I want fic about her being awesome! She's a teacher! Who dresses up in a costume and fights crime! She is very ANGRY! (possibly existentially so!) So I would like to read about her being ANGRY and FIGHTING CRIME and then going home to grade papers and have a glass of wine and some chocolate. Someone should write that for me.

***

Have a poem:

The Only Place

The only place a woman can go to be alone
is the bathroom.
A woman would like to be wrapped in strong arms
when she cries, without having to explain,
or huddle on the couch wrapped in a blanket and a cat.
But all over America, women crouch instead
on a white, cold monument to wasting water.
We lean against a chilled tile wall,
stare at ourselves in an icy mirror,
flush the toilet to cover howls and curses,
brush our teeth twice to cover the taste of anger.
We lock the door, fill the tub with hot bubbles,
take a long time shaving our legs and armpits,
study the way waves break over bulging stomachs.
We scour the sink and rearrange the bottles under it,
refold towels, throw away old prescriptions,
count bandaids and bottles of suntan lotion.
We turn out the lights, stare into candle flames,
light incense, try to pretend we've taken our troubles
to a glowing temple, placed them in the lap
of a smiling golden Goddess.

Outside, men who wouldn't know what to do
if a woman curled up in bed and cried
can relax before bloodless images on TV
and think, "She's only in the bathroom
doing some woman's thing."
Behind a locked door, a woman
spins the empty toilet paper roll
like a Tibetan prayer wheel,
chanting "Help me, help me, help me."

~Linda Hasselstrom

***

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See the awesome ladies of my icons! I know I was supposed to only do fictional ladies, because real, live women are not tropes and should not be reduced to one dimension, but the real ladies are awesome, too, and I like looking at all my pretty icons!

Also, I lost the verbiage that was supposed to go with the meme and I can't be arsed to look it up again, so, you know, I'm making it up as I go.

I will say that when I saw that female characters chart linked around - the catalyst for this round of Fuck You, She's Awesome - I thought there was a good idea buried in terrible execution and wrongheadedness. Sure, most, if not all of our sources are flawed and problematic. That doesn't mean that it's okay to find 75 different ways to dismiss female characters - AND REAL WOMEN (notably, real women of color) - as nothing but two-dimensional stereotypes, because if they can all be forced into some little box that may or may not fit them, you can more easily write off all female characters in favor of yet more white men. When characters as well-fleshed out as Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley, Dorothy Zbornak, Mystique, and Azula are all reduced to one simplistic facet and so fail this version of the "strong female character" test, maybe it's the test that's flawed, not the characters.

After the nth fannish iteration of "Women just aren't as well written" and "There are no good female characters," of watching as male characters who have one or two lines of screentime (if that!) get fleshed out by fans who claim ALL the women are underwritten, Mary Sues, too perfect, too flawed, too strong, too weak, too boring, too thin, too fat, too pretty, too ugly, too young, too old, too smart, too stupid, too ditzy, too uptight, too slutty, too prudish, too selfish, too selfless, too good for the men, or in some amazing quantum feat, ALL OF THE ABOVE AT THE SAME TIME, I say, yet again, FUCK YOU, THEY'RE AWESOME.

( 99 icons of women being awesome alone, in groups, with men, with other womenCollapse )

This is not the time or place to comment about how you don't like whatever female characters (or real live ladies), for whatever reason. There are female characters I dislike too, and lord knows I try to be aware of the problematic nature of the sources I love and how that's a factor in all of this, but right now, I don't want to hear about it.

[eta] because bethbethbeth is an awesome lady herself, and had an awesome idea, SHOW ME YOUR LADY ICONS IN THE COMMENTS. [/eta]

***

P.S. totally unrelated to the above, I told my boss about my screw-up and she was very understanding and now we are fixing it. Whew. Which is pretty much how I knew it would be? But I have this awful tendency to build things up into the ABSOLUTE WORST CASE SCENARIO in my head. Which I've been better at not doing so much? But I still backslide sometimes. But I feel much less anxious now.

***

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One of the reasons I think I'm having a hard time finishing either AMNESIAC FAKE BOYFRIENDS (why, yes, it must always be ALL CAPS) or the sex pollen story (or the Alfred-Jason reunion or the Batman says guns are bad m'kay story) is my uneasy relationship with my knowledge of canon (yes, yes, I know. I can't help it), so I like to browse through scans_daily sometimes and read things about Jason or Dick. Yesterday, for example, I learned that Jason's birthday is August 16. Now, I'm not a believer in astrology, though I enjoy it, especially regarding fictional characters, and that makes him a Leo, which makes SO MUCH SENSE. He's probably, like, a Leo with Leo rising. HE DOES IT FOR THE ATTENTION, Y'ALL. Poor middle-child Jason. *pets him* (Speaking of attention, a good way to capture mine is to mention him in a post. Dick, sure, but everybody loves Dick; I feel sad for Jason now when I see people ragging on him. He just needs makeouts with Dick hugs, yo. There's a reason - beyond the fact that Jensen played them both - that I keyworded this icon* "always all right"**)

I especially like it when these random browsings confirm things I threw into a story because they made sense to me character-wise, but for which I had no real canon to back them up. Now I do. Like the fact that Dick's apartment is a complete mess. I have a line in AMNESIAC FAKE BOYFRIENDS (it actually does have a title, which I like, but which is not nearly as much fun to say. type. whatever.) where he brings an unconscious Jason home with him and he's like, "eh, do I really care if Jason thinks I'm a lousy housekeeper? AT LEAST I DON'T KILL PEOPLE." (he doesn't actually think the second part. But I'm sure IT'S IMPLIED.) And there's another bit where he gets up to pace because he thinks better when he's in motion, because that seems true to me, that he'd be someone who'd live very much in his body, someone who processes things physically first, and I'm not the only one (thanks to dotfic for the link).

What it basically says to me is that even though he doesn't show up much in the animated universe (aside from Teen Titans, where he's always in uniform ♥Robin♥), they do a really good job getting him across. Also, the power of Neil Patrick Harris must never ever be underestimated.

Since I mentioned icon keywords, last night I was whining to angelgazing that coming up with them is hard when I upload new icons (which I did last night, for Undercovers), and she said of course it is the way I do it, which is that instead of emotional or descriptive keywords (i.e., "angry" or "Jason"), which is what I did back when I first got an LJ, I try to use appropriate lyrics or lines from poems or things that mean something to me, and sometimes I'm not always prepared with an appropriate keyword when I have a new icon to upload, but once I upload it, I'm stuck with it (or I am until DW gets that keyword-rename thingy working, which, btw, is an AWESOME idea - it means that when you change an icon's keyword, it won't revert to the default on all your old posts and comments, but will also change there, too. An idea which I LOVE; I keep the keywords and change the icons so that doesn't happen, but what that means is sometimes there are non-matching fandoms - i.e., the icon will be Dean but the comment will be about Remus or something. I know this isn't a big thing but I like that there's going to be icon continuity in a way), so I do put some thought into it. It's more fun for me that way.

My icons please me, and my icon keywords please me. Possibly this just means I'm easy to please. I'm okay with that.

I started this post at, like, 11:04, and work has repeatedly interrupted, so I'm just gonna hit post now.


--
*icon on DW only
**this is a reference to Alec/X5-494 from Dark Angel; Alec, like Jason, is most definitely not all right, but he's trying. Also, he doesn't kill people anymore. Unless they're bad guys. Or trying to kill him.

***

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unfitforsociety was updated for September 2010 with 30 recs in 9 fandoms:

* 9 Supernatural
* 9 Inception
* 4 Avatar: The Last Airbender
* 2 crossovers
* 1 each China Beach, DCU, The West Wing, Fringe, Middleman, and The Simpsons

Read, love, give feedback!

Which reminds me, celli posted about commenting on stories at AO3, and I just wanted to say that I welcome comments anywhere I've posted a story - on LJ, on DW, on AO3, or on my own website, which does actually still exist, though it hasn't been updated in a while. I try to respond to all of them, but sometimes it'll be a few weeks because I'm bad at it. So, uh, thanks for commenting! I really appreciate it.

I also uploaded a few more icons for unfitforsociety, taken from some icons I made a long time ago, and it amuses me to see how in 2005, I was still putting borders around almost everything, but that has fallen out of favor, and I wouldn't do it at all now.

Has anyone done any looking into icons and how what's popular or in style has changed over the years? Because icons are what sold me on moving to LJ (and more icons on DW is appealing), and while I really dislike some icon trends (tiny text arrgh!), I do find it interesting how trends change and how those trends don't seem to be confined to a particular fandom. People who actually frequent icon comms and make icons that are more complicated than cropping and sharpening, do you find this to be the case? Are icon-makers their own fandom in a way, where the trends aren't source-related but artist-related? Tell me what you think!

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I almost hurt myself laughing at tonight's Psych. ( spoilerCollapse ) Also, it just clicked for me that Chief Vick was young Mrs. Landingham in "Two Cathedrals." Holy shit, Charlie and Mrs. L. have been back together for so long and I never even realized it! Something about her voice tonight, though, made it click in my head.

Look at you. You're a boy king. You're a foot smarter than the smartest kid in the class. You're blessed with inspiration. You must know this by now. You must have sensed it. Look, if you think we're wrong... if you think Mr. Hopkins should honestly get paid more than Mrs. Chadwick, then I respect that. But if you think we're right and you won't speak up because you can't be bothered, then God, Jed, I don't even want to know you.

♥

***

So I started my day with those pics of Jensen playing soccer, and I ended the day with hackthis's post of Christina Hendricks pics (see these also; eta innie_darling just linked me to these as well. good lord, how so gorgeous? /eta), so I had to make icons:

.

Now I just have to figure what to switch out on LJ and what keyword to use. Possibly "whoa, good myth." Heh. Or maybe "gets the dirty job done" (I already have a Miranda Otto icon keyworded "redheaded women.")

Also, now I would like her and Jensen to star in a movie that takes place in the 40s so he has to wear suits and hats and she can wear fantastic dresses and they can be all hotass together. Why can't someone make that happen for me?

I didn't make Jensen icons because the pics were all watermarked. Also, her hair comes across better in 100x100 than his...everything would. I wouldn't know where to crop, though I wouldn't say no if someone pointed me at icons.

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Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, and to all the people celebrating. To those of you for whom this day is difficult, my thoughts are with you.

I made crepes for my parents for breakfast this morning, at my dad's request. They were very tasty.

I'm off in a bit for a bbq and then I'm leaving tomorrow for vacation; I'm taking the netbook, but I don't know what kind of wireless is available, so I may be out of pocket for the week. I'm terribly behind on comments and emails, but I'll try to check in (by phone if necessary); I see my post from the other day got metafandomed, so please do play nice in the comments - I will try to keep an eye on that, at least.

***

The Melancholy of Friday Night Lights is a great post about season 4. Sigh. Oh, show. Break my heart some more, why don't you?

***

I spent a couple hours yesterday making Fringe icons. Some of them look way worse now that I've uploaded them than they did in Paintshop. I'm not sure what happened with the oversharpening. Hmm...

Anyway, there are 86 icons there, mostly Olivia, but also, Peter, Walter, Astrid, and Broyles. I was very haphazard in collecting screencaps, so there are only, like, two of Charlie and none of Nina Sharp, which I will have to remedy at some point. Also, none are from "Brown Betty," which probably deserves an icon post all its own. Feel free to use 'em if they strike your fancy, though as I said, this was a less successful batch than usual. Comments are nice, if you do find something you like.

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I'm putting together a board meeting at work, trying to get Remix/Redux 8 off the ground, I need to return the stupid cabinet that I can't put together (preferably without any more family drama), and buy a new one. Plus, I have stories to write and TV to catch up on. So of course, I keep thinking about reorganizing the food tags on my delicious (I'm happy with my not very helpful to other people fandom tags, but have been thinking I should separate the cupcake recipes from the regular cake recipes) and also what I'm going to bake this weekend and whether I can just sleep for the whole weekend instead.

Hmm...that was what came up when I said "Yes" to restoring the draft.

I will say that I called Target and they are sending UPS to pick up the cabinet (it's in two boxes which together weight 78 lbs), and I'm supposed to pack it up and leave it sitting outside (!!!!!). I don't live in a doorman building, so this should be interesting. I suppose I will be on the hook if it gets stolen? I don't even know. We'll see what happens. After it's gone, I'm going to order the one that comes assembled.

I had a lovely fangirl dinner with tenaciousmetoo, innie_darling, and dotfic and then I came home and didn't pay much attention to Burn Notice, except for ( minor spoilerCollapse )

Instead, I made this Christina Hendricks icon, because hello? Have you seen her? And hackthis has been linking to gorgeous pictures of her. Keyword: they could topple empires. Because I amuse myself.

Sigh. I didn't get any writing done tonight, but I just have to make it through tomorrow and then it's the weekend. yay.

*

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Since 14 people said they'd participate, sign-ups for Broken Toys: a Dark Angel ficathon are open.

Please read the post and comment there if you want to participate, or if you have questions.

(If anyone wants to make a pretty layout for the comm, that'd be awesome. I chose the Seattle layout for obvious reasons.)

To get in the mood, I've been rewatching the show all day, and I made a bunch of icons, as well. Given my shipping and character preferences, they are mostly Max/Alec and Alec, though there are some Max/Cindy and other stuff in there too.

A sample:
. .

( click for the iconsCollapse )

As always, comments are nice, credit's not necessary.

Now, maybe I will attempt to write something.

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L'Shanah Tovah and Eid Mubarak to all those who are celebrating!

And happy birthday to my dearest amberlynne! She often wonders how we are even friends, but I know it's because she's awesome!

( since I don't have a story readyCollapse )

She also linked me to this. I didn't know Alan Tudyk and Adrianne Palicki were dating! (The text isn't spoilery at all - for either Dollhouse or FNL - and the video is...not spoilery at all either, imo, because no details about anything are given, but you'll have to decide for yourselves. I can't get the Kaley Cuoco or Katee Sackhoff vids to play. *pouts*)

***

I was up late last night writing pupocalypse chat!fic (i.e., an apocalyptic plague of puppies) with angelgazing, and when I woke up at around 6, I had two lines of a new story I had to stop and write before I went back to sleep, and then I woke up around 8 with a title but I didn't get up to write it down, so I'm really happy I remembered it. Now I just have to write the story. Sigh.

I meant to answer comments today, but instead I spent a lot of time seeking out new icons, so now I have a Hotch-n-Prentiss icon (which I had the hardest time coming up with a keyword for, so I ended up switching one I already had and giving the older icon a new keyword, which probably makes past comments/posts a little screwy on the icon matching the topic, but whatever), a Big Bang Theory icon, a Gus/Shawn icon, and an autumn icon. This is happy-making.

Icons!

Maybe now I will attempt to answer some comments. Or write some fic.

***

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I made a bunch of icons for soundingsea to choose from, since she also guessed my remixes correctly.

She chose this one:

The rest are up for grabs. You have to be willing to share. Comments are nice, credit's not necessary.
( iconsCollapse )

***

ella_menno asked for the top 5 songs (that haven't been used on the show!) that you associate with Dean Winchester.

With the acknowledgment that this could change at any given moment, here are the five I thought to upload last night:

Wherever I May Roam - Metallica
Roamer, wanderer
Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will
But I'll take my time anywhere
Free to speak my mind anywhere
And I'll redefine anywhere
Anywhere I roam
Where I lay my head is home

It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City - Bruce Springsteen
I was the king of the alley, mama, I could talk some trash
I was the prince of the paupers, crowned downtown at the beggar's bash
I was the pimp's main prophet, I kept everything cool
Just a backstreet gambler with the luck to lose
And when the heat came down it was left on the ground
The devil appeared like Jesus through the steam in the street
Showin' me a hand I knew even the cops couldn't beat
I felt his hot breath on my neck as I dove into the heat
It's so hard to be a saint when you're just a boy out on the street

The Only Thing I Know - Tom McRae
Ashes fall from your lips
And I'm counting the ways we counterfeit
And if I know your disguise, well, it used to be mine
I'll carry you through this burning land
And when the water's gone,
We'll drink the sand
You know I've got nothing left
For the journey home
And I've run out of gods to burn
So this fever will return
For you

Falling Awake - Gary Jules
You never get to choose
You live on what they send you
And you know they're gonna use
The things you love against you
One foot in the grave
One foot in the shower
There's never time to save
You're paying by the hour
And that's just the way it goes

Fault Line - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
I've been lyin' in the bright lights
See my shadow from below
Never wanted from another man
Never wanted from my own
Drownin' in the risin' tide in my father's door
Drownin' in the risin' tide in my father's door

While I'm pretty sure Dean would approve of the first two, he would be quite indignant over the last three, which amuses me tremendously. Indignant!Dean is one of my favorite Dean flavors.

***

I haven't made a GIP in a long time, but I couldn't resist.

GIP!

Look at what mousapelli made me! Isn't it awesome? I giggle every time I look at it or think about it.

*toddler fists of glee*

***

I got up this morning, made banana bread and set the tomatoes to marinate. Now I'm waiting for the water to boil so I can cook the fettuccine. Life is good.

*

dvd_commentary is happening again this year. Feel free to do a commentary of one of my stories! I love it when someone does.

*

I posted a story last night:

They're Advertising in the Skies for People Like Us
Firefly/Supernatural; River, Sam; pg; 1,270 words
Sam is a thin shell of confidence over fear and longing, the same as she is.

I don't know. I like the idea of Sam being River's friend at the academy.

Now I am trying to decide which of my wsip to work on next, or if I should write the Jesse/Riley idea that popped into my head during my shower this morning.

In the meantime, I made some late s4 SPN icons. This one is for faile02's exclusive use, since she guessed what I wrote in remixredux09:



The others are for sharing. Comments are nice; credit's not necessary.

( click for iconsCollapse )

I might have to swap in a couple new icons myself.

*

I just watched "The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse" table read again, and dear god, how is Matt Keeslar SO FREAKING CUTE?

Every time I make my way through the episodes, I am so sad Middleman was cancelled. It was truly too good for this world. Sigh.

*

I went into the other room to get my iPod and I ended up watching three episodes of SPN and making a handful of icons from Monster Movie. um. I can't help it! they're just SO PRETTY in black and white. (and can I just say, after the luscious b&w of "Monster Movie," they went little heavy with the man lipstick, especially on Sam and Castiel, in "It's the Great Pumpkin...")

( i think i'm adorableCollapse )

And then I made two Starbuck icons, for no reason whatsoever, except that she's pretty, too.

.

Want, comment, share. Alter as you like. No credit necessary.

***

I will hopefully have about 1500 words of Max/Alec porn in need of a beta sometime soonish - late tonight or sometime tomorrow. Generally I look for a 24 hour turnaround time on something that short. Anybody up for that? Drop me a comment with your email address.

***

I enjoyed tonight's Leverage though ( spoilersCollapse )

***

Apparently it is Quote Leo McGarry Day, so:

This guy's walkin' down the street when he falls into a hole. The walls are so steep he can't get out. A doctor passes by, the guy shouts up, "Hey, can you help me out?" The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole, and moves on. Then a priest goes by, the guy says, "Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me?" He writes a prayer, throws it in the hole, and goes about his way. Then a friend walks by. "Joe, it's me, can ya help me out?" The friend jumps into the hole. Our guy says, "Are you stupid? Now we're both stuck down here!" His friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before and I know the way out.

*sniffle* Oh, Leo...

And Jed, on Leo:

Bartlet: You got a best friend?
Secretary of Agriculture Roger Tribbey: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: Is he smarter than you?
Secretary of Agriculture Roger Tribbey: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: Would you trust him with your life?
Secretary of Agriculture Roger Tribbey: Yes, sir.
Bartlet: That's your chief of staff.

***

Aw, this is the episode that ends with Booth and Bones singing the "trying" song. And where Brennan's dad saves Booth. *heart*

*points to icon*

I uploaded a bunch of icons, mostly Sam and Dean and Starbuck, but also this lovely Booth and Brennan icon that amberlynne made. I should get an Alec Hardison icon, though. And I'm sure there are other things I would like icons of that I am not thinking of. It will come to me. I still have 25 slots open!

*twirls giddily*

Now I need to get back to writing my catchallathon. If you see me on AIM or something, remind me that I should be writing!

***

So I may have spent my afternoon taking screencaps and making a ridiculously large number of icons from the first four episodes of SPN s4, which are all free to good homes.

( a small sample under the cutCollapse )

There are too many to post here, so go to the gallery and check it out. I am not a talented icon-maker, but I can crop, brighten and sharpen okay. Comments are lovely, credit is not necessary, feel free to use as you like. I might have to switch some of mine out. Hmm...

~*~

This afternoon, I was cranky and out of sorts and I was unable to write and everything I read make me crankier, so about an hour ago I decided I should instead make icons.

A sample:

..

Comments are nice, if you like 'em. Credit is not necessary if you wanna use 'em. Most of the photos came from a site called www.freenaturephotography.com or something like that. Um.

( clicky clickyCollapse )

~*~

Okay, so possibly no writing got done, because I spent the whole afternoon making icons. Um. 60 of 'em.

All are from SPN 3.15, all are shareable and modifiable (by you; I've done everything I know how to do). No need to credit, but comments to let me know if you like 'em or are taking 'em are nice.

All from caps by the lovely and talented oxoniensis.

A brief sample:

...

( click for iconsCollapse )

***

I have to leave in about an hour. Maybe I'll get some writing done now?

***

I keep starting posts and deleting them, because they are full of whining and they annoy me as I type them so I can't imagine anyone would actually be interested in reading them.

I went out without the cane today, and it wasn't bad. I still feel more comfortable with the ankle wrapped, even in the house, because it does hurt if I stand too long or walk for more than a little bit, but it also feels like it could go out again at any minute, though I'm not sure how much of that is me being anxious and how much of that is the actual injury. Other than that one outing to get coffee and doughnuts, I have been inside all day, and I didn't go out at all yesterday. I am fairly sure once the weather finally turns, I will stop wanting to hermit so much, but right now, nothing pleases me more than sitting at home with the laptop and the television and the iPod, and not dealing with people except via the internet.

I made some icons for remixredux08 (amberlynne made the first three there; I made the rest), all of Six. Possibly my glee over being able to use her as the Remix avatar this year is way greater than it should be.

I also uploaded this icon (keyword: but you can see the cracks). I think now the only person on more of my icons than Katee Sackhoff is Jensen Ackles. Which probably tells you all you need to know about my LJ. If only they would appear somewhere together so I could have them both on an icon with having to make amberlynne manip it for me.

Now I am writing, and it is amusing me, which is all that really matters. I've had this story idea since November at least, and it is pleasing me to finally get it down on paper, though it's not as easy as I'd hoped it would be. Tricksy words. Sigh.

***

Did I mention I uploaded my yuletide story last night? I was number 158. I also had uploading anxiety, but merryish calmed me down enough to get the thing done. I realized once again how much I suck at summaries, though. Possibly I will post about that at some point, but for now, I am full (our little group of five went out to lunch today, and I had a really good cheeseburger), and lazy, and it's Friday afternoon. So have a poll.

Stolen from callmesandy and adapted slightly.

A poll about my icons!

( iconses! poll! two great tastes that taste great together!Collapse )

Wow. That's a lot of icons.

~*~

So I've had this icon: almost since the beginning of this LJ - it's one of the first icons I ever made, and boy, does it show. I mean, I'm still not particularly good at iconmaking (or, rather, I'm still not that good at putting text on icons), but I'm better than I was. So this morning, instead of oh, writing, or doing christmas shopping, or cleaning my apartment, I did this: but I kind of miss having the text on there. I don't know. What do you think? Should I switch the old one out for the new? It's my squee icon.

I also made this: keyword: they call me the jackal.
It's my new default at IJ. 'Cause everyone's a little gay for Allison Janney, yeah?

***

So I just spent three hours taking caps and making icons from SPN 3.05: Bedtime Stories. Um. Mostly when I make icons I just crop, brighten and sharpen, so we're not talking anything fancy here, but I think they're pretty. If you think so too, and want to use 'em, comments are awesome, but credit is not necessary.

a brief sample:
..

( 54 iconses from Bedtime StoriesCollapse )

***

Now maybe I will get some writing done. Hey, a girl can hope.

***

I has new icons!

( click to see the pretties; there is an Office spoiler, and well, the others are spoilery only if you know the context, but technically they do contain spoilers for SPN and Heroes.Collapse )

*twirls*

So pretty!

I may almost never change my layout, but I do love to pretty up the place occasionally with new icons. Thanks so much to everyone who made, or helped me find, these.

***