Last night, I finished s1 of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. ( spoilersCollapse )

Basically, I love everybody on this show but especially Phryne and Dot and Phryne's wardrobe and her little gold gun. There's occasionally cringeworthy stuff, but no more so than any other show, and given that in addition to Phryne and Dot as main characters and Dr. Mac and Aunt Prudence recurring, the cases often involve ladies in many varieties being fantastic in any number of ways. Plus, did I mention Phryne's wardrobe? Sweet jebus, it's amazing. Anyone know where I can find some icons?

On to season 2!

And speaking of awesome ladies, last night, I read through Joss Whedon's leaked Wonder Woman script (note: I don't know if it's legit, but it's extremely Whedonesque so I believe it could be the real thing.) Thanks to giandujakiss for the link!

As I said, it's extremely Whedonesque, so if you're familiar with his work, you won't find much in the way of actual surprises in terms of character types or plot twists, and if you find his work annoying, you probably wouldn't enjoy it. But I thought it would have been a good, fun movie, depending on casting.

The issue, of course, is that the Diana in it is a young woman meeting the modern world for the first time, and Joss would have wanted to cast one of his waifish brunettes (I know he threw around Morena Baccarin's name, and while she's beautiful and can act, she's no Amazon), which just wouldn't work for Diana. I also didn't really love the romance with Steve Trevor, mostly because I never shipped them - I ship her with Batman, come on! - but also because for some reason I was picturing Dark Angel-era Michael Weatherly in the role, and ugh, so smarmy and douchey. Also, he's the first man she ever met! (otoh, there's another dude in the script, who is kind of the Xander/Wash/Topher of the group, and in my head he was played by the dude who played Riley Poole in National Treasure.)

I don't know why DC/WB passed on it, but I imagine it was some combination of "Joss Who?" + "lady superheroes don't make money" + "this movie is too hopeful and fun for us! We want to be all grimdark, all the time!" (even though it was two years before Batman Begins came out.) And I feel that just as much as Superman, you can't make Wonder Woman grimdark, because it defeats the purpose of the character. I won't rant about Man of Steel again, but I still feel like that movie completely missed the point of Superman, and that is why I have no expectation of the next movie being any good. (I am also tremendously amused that WB moved it away from going head to head with Cap 3. Ha. No, you move.) Joss's script seemed to get Diana, anyway, which is the most important thing.

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Lastly, for those of you who are interested, AV Club is doing BSG on TV Club Classic. Apparently they only recapped the last season? So they're gonna do the rest of it now. Some interesting discussion in the comments, but as always, be wary!

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So this afternoon, I tried out this teriyaki chicken recipe for the crockpot. I used two (boneless, skinless) chicken breasts instead of four, and I added a cup of uncooked rice (and some diced onions), but I kept the measurements for the sugar (I used brown sugar) and soy sauce the same. I actually added another 1/3 cup of soy sauce and 2 cups of water for the rice. Then I cooked it for 2 hours on high, and it wasn't quite done yet - the chicken was cooked but not tender, and the rice was not done. I let it go for another 45 minutes or so, and then it was fine. And it created dinner for tonight and lunch for five days, and all I had to buy was the chicken. Next time I will go with thighs, though. I prefer them for most things.

So that was a success. I thought about baking something for breakfast, but I have applesauce so I might just go with that tomorrow and bake tomorrow night.

Otherwise, it's been a lazy day - I spent most of it watching the Mets and also videos from Comic Con. Everything they said about Captain America/Winter Soldier sounds good to me and I am very excited. ( spoilery specCollapse )

And it has totally kicked my Steve/Natasha/Bucky shipping into high gear (I've written 500 words of the sequel to "Our history is just in our blood" this weekend, after months of nothing), and somehow, along with that, my no longer sekrit Chris Evans/Scarlett Johansson shipping. I don't even recognize myself! I just want them to make out a lot (both on and off-screen) and have beautiful babies and keep making movies together and trolling reporters. They're just so ADORABLE and they look like they enjoy each other's company a lot. I may have a problem. *hands*

The whole cast is adorable and I already love them so much!

I also enjoyed Hiddleston's appearance and the Veronica Mars trailer and the Arrow sizzle reel and the Teen Wolf cast and the Almost Human cast (did you know Minka Kelly was going to be in that? I did not until this weekend, but that cast is now full of people I like) and the cast of Community playing "the floor is lava!" and a ton of other things that I reblogged and tagged SDCC 2013 for those of you who don't use tumblr but are interested in the videos/pics/quotes.

(I'm less sanguine about some of Joss's comments about Avengers 2 and also the other heroes he wants to add (GIVE ME A CAROL DANVERS MOVIE, YOU ASSHOLES. And also a T'Challa movie.), and DC's decision to make a Superman/Batman movie BUT STILL NO WONDER WOMAN MOVIE. But, you know, *deep breath* HAPPY THINGS. At least this DC Nation Wonder Woman short is awesome. Please give me that show now, too, please.)

I've also been reblogging some Pacific Rim stuff, because Idris Elba and also ( spoilersCollapse )

I leave you with this:


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I just got home a few minutes ago from seeing Joss's version of Much Ado About Nothing with a bunch of fangirls (and then dinner afterwards) and I really enjoyed it. I mean, it's my favorite Shakespeare and it's full of a bunch of actors I like and I also got to ogle Joss Whedon's really lovely house. For me, the real standouts were Reed Diamond as Don Pedro and Amy Acker as Beatrice. And though it was super weird to hear Alexis Denisof with an American accent, he was good as Benedick. And if you're going because you really love Clark Gregg, he is very charming as Leonato (except for the part where you want to slap Leonato, or maybe that's just me). I've never been fond of Dogberry, but Nathan Fillion is pretty funny.

Do I really need to cut for spoilers? ( spoilersCollapse )

So that was enjoyable and I recommend it. I could look at Reed Diamond's face all day.

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In other news I opened my email this morning to discover I was one of a hundred-odd folks who'd been plagiarized. Oh fandom.

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Since this just came up on my flist, and I was talking with devildoll and angelgazing about it earlier - I just listened to the Joss Whedon commentary on Avengers. As someone who has NEVER BEFORE made it through more than about EIGHT MINUTES of Joss's commentary on anything without wanting to stab him in the face, it was definitely bearable. Mostly boring. a lot less about interesting character or writing choices and a lot more about effects and director stuff, which I find a huge yawner. I don't care what kind of lens you used to shoot a scene! Or how beautifully it transferred to 3D! I want to know stuff about the characters! Or barring that, the actors. And he's very complimentary about Hiddleston and Ruffalo, in particular. And I really liked what he said about Tony and Pepper and how that was all RDJ's idea. ♥ Nobody ships Tony/Pepper like RDJ does. ♥ Three minutes of The Thin Man. Yes! That is exactly what they should be like! But I don't really feel like I know much more than I did before, overall.

So while I mostly didn't want to stab him (or myself) in the ear while listening, I also don't find much to recommend it, unless you actually enjoy listening to him ramble. Which... well, some people juggle geese, I guess. Why they let him do it alone instead of in a group, I don't know. Haven't they learned that the commentaries are much more interesting when you've got a couple people bouncing off each other? And so they don't just drone on about the types of lenses used or what was shot where?

In other news, I watched the White Collar season finale and ( spoilers?Collapse )

And last night I watched The Mindy Project which hit my embarrassment squick too hard for me to think about continuing to watch, especially unless or until they make the male characters less generic and awful. Also, for a show starring a woman of color, the main cast is awfully white.

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Huh, apparently I didn't post this last night, as it came up in the update window. Oops?

ahahahahaha, oh, Castle.

( spoilersCollapse )

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The EW article/interview on Joss's Much Ado About Nothing. So Clark Gregg stepped in for Anthony Stewart Head. I can deal with that. I also love that Reed Diamond has become part of Joss's stable of actors, because he has never worked enough to please me.

So it's, okay, all of Joss's shows, plus Clark Gregg brings in Avengers and a Sports Night connection, and Reed Diamond brings in the Homicide connection, so it's like, a bunch of people from my fandoms doing one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. Pretty cool.

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In the grand tradition of staying up too late on AIM and writing fic almost nobody wants to read, I posted a story last night:

One equal temper of heroic hearts (on AO3)
DCU; Batman/Wonder Woman; adult; 1,580 words
Bruce and Diana reconcile at Nanda Parbat.

While it technically takes place towards the end of 52, I don't think knowledge of that storyline is necessary for the story to work. Also, Bruce's characterization is heavily influenced by the animated JLU (mostly because that's the version I like best). It didn't turn out like I expected, because there was a lot less groveling and lot more of Diana being way too accepting of Bruce's particular brand of emotional idiocy.

***

So I read the first volume of Young Avengers, and oh my god, Kate Bishop, where have you been all my life? I'm also quite fond of Eli and Billy and Teddy, but Kate is my overall favorite! So awesome! I found all the Skrull-Kree blah blah blah less than thrilling, but I really did like the kids and would like to read more about them, especially Kate and Eli.

And then, because apparently Young Avengers crosses over with Runaways at some point, I finally read the first volume of that (I think I mentioned that I've owned a bunch of the trades for years but had put them down and never picked them back up until now), and I love that they're awesome girls kicking ass.

I also love the repeated mentions of how there are no teenage sidekicks§ in the Marvelverse because of Bucky's death, and how every time someone mentions it to Steve, he looks like someone killed his best friend again. I kind of want to hug him and tell him it's okay, he'll get Bucky back eventually.

And I was reminded that Joss Whedon took over writing Runaways at some point, and it makes sense, given that it's about teenage girls with superpowers. Last night on AIM, I said to snacky, I keep forgetting that he's directing (and writing? I don't know if he's writing it) the Avengers movie, because there's no waifish teenage girl with superpowers, and we figured that if he gets to direct the sequel, possibly he'll make Wanda over into his preferred type. She seems like the most likely candidate, anyway, and then there could be Wanda/Pietro. Which amuses me.

§ I don't know how that works with Logan's succession of teen girl sidekicks, but I guess they're not officially his sidekicks and also, all of them can kick his ass.

***

Ugh, I've got the Avatar marathon on, and I've never watched the show on actual television before, and the commercials on Nicktoons make me want to stab myself in the face.

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bullet points, since I am feeling kind of scattered this morning:

- There were Jonases in my dreams last night, people. I blame you guys. DO NOT WANT!

β Is there a reason there's no option to click on memories in the DW menus? Wouldn't it make sense to have under "Read" or "Organize" (or even "Explore")? I don't understand why I always have to go to my profile page to get there. (Yes, yes, the memories system is antiquated and nobody uses, except for me - I occasionally do use it for DW-specific things that I don't feel a need to bookmark on delicious - and having to do extra clicking to get there is annoying.)

? Why do people split their posted-all-at-once stories into separate posts on DW? A DW post can hold up to ~40,000 words. The WHOLE POINT* of posting long stories here is that they can be ALL ONE ENTRY without having to link between them etc. And don't give me any nonsense about chapters and the reading experience, because a few *** between sections works for me. Bah. Some of us prefer reading things in one long post! Crossposting allows for both the separate posts (on LJ) and one long post (on DW) options, so why wouldn't you offer that to your readers? I do not understand.

(*I exaggerate)

§ I feel like something bit my left eye - it's all tender and hurty, but not actually swollen and I can't see a bite mark, so I don't know what's up with that.

♥ USA is planning a Burn Notice prequel about Sam. Woo!

❖ Other amusing Comic-Con news includes Joss and JJ doing a panel together (I will wait for the internet to tell me if there was anything really funny or interesting said, as watching the two of them be smug together would probably result in a spike in my desire to kill people, which is always already pretty high); Matt Nix et al. challenging Jeff Eastin et al. to a game of paintball; and Curt Schilling informing the world that there are about 45 MLB players who have their own World of Warcraft League, but their agents want them to keep it on the downlow. I don't know why I'm so amused at the idea that being a gaming geek is apparently bad for the image of MLB, but I really, really am. (I mean, seriously, is there a game more inclined to attract stats nerds than baseball? I think not.) On a more serious note, how much do I love the counter-protests? SO SO MUCH!

➞ Speaking of cosplayers, a man dressed as Darth Vader robbed a bank in Setauket yesterday. This comes a few days after the arrest of a guy who brought flowers to the banks he robbed. You guys, I don't even know! Truth really is stranger than fiction, y/y?

€ Work yesterday was hectic and frantic, but the meeting went well, and I learned a couple of things I hadn't known, like the fact that the Title X family planning program and the WIC program were put in place by the Nixon administration, with almost no controversy. I kind of can't wrap my head around the fact that a fairly conservative Republican administration put Title X into effect. I mean, Nixon, guys! WTF? I know those were different times, but still! My world is askew!

∞ I posted fic last night:

Killing the fatted calf
Under the Red Hood; Dick/Jason; adult; 1,750 words
Jason shoves Dick and Dick shoves back.

I was probably more nervous about posting this story than I have been about anything since the first few stories I ever posted. ( blather about my anxietiesCollapse )

Anyway, I'm happy with how it turned out, and pleased that other people seem to like it. Thank you! now I can go read the stories people recced me, since I won't be too worried about being unduly influenced by them. And if anyone is still interested in writing some snarky, bantery Dick/Jason where they beat each other up and then have sex, I am still very much interested in reading it. *g*

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It never ever fails to amuse me that any mention of Joss Whedon on any of the entertainment blogs I read (which is not many, but it happens in places I only follow links to, as well) always devolves into a fight about how awesome/terrible Firefly & Serenity are. (see the comments on the news that Whedon is allegedly under consideration to direct the Avengers movie)

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Things that irritate me, fannish edition, #81982

= people who don't put the full names of the characters and/or identify the fandom in their headers or subject lines or tags or SOMEWHERE ON THE FUCKING POST OUTSIDE THE CUT. Which Jack? Which Sam? Which Dan? J? S? D? WHO ARE YOU WRITING ABOUT? When I'm scrolling by and the title of your story piques my interest, I shouldn't have to start reading it to figure out what fandom the story is in and which characters it is about.

= people who split stories that will fit in one post into more than one post. THERE IS NO NEED TO DO THIS! IT IS ANNOYING! (I have fit an 11K word story into an LJ post, with (admittedly minimal) headers! Don't tell me it can't be done! and you can fit way more in a Dreamwidth post) ALSO, TURN OFF THE RICH TEXT EDITOR! IT IS OF THE DEVIL! The html code used on LJ/DW posts is not hard to learn!

= people who have a story finished but post in installments anyway. Screw that. I want to read the story at my pace. You're only getting one comment from me at the end anyway, so I guess I'll just wait until then to read it. Maybe. If I remember. And I'm not still annoyed at your irritating posting habits.

It's the behaviors that irritate me, not the people, but I am too tired and busy to try to figure out how to rephrase so it's less cranky.

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They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing-these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture. They carried their reputations. They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment. They crawled into tunnels and walked point and advanced under fire. Each morning, despite the unknowns, they made their legs move. They endured. They kept humping. They did not submit to the obvious alternative, which was simply to close the eyes and fall. So easy, really. Go limp and tumble to the ground and let the muscles unwind and not speak and not budge until your buddies picked you up and lifted you into the chopper that would roar and dip its nose and carry you off to the world. A mere matter of falling, yet no one ever fell. It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards.

~The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Thank you to everyone who's served in the past, who is serving now, and who will serve in the future, and to their families and loved ones, as well.

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Criminal Minds

( spoilersCollapse )

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Glee

( spoilersCollapse )

***

So Fox has canceled Dollhouse, which is no surprise, but honestly? If they were going to give us 13 episodes of something and then cancel it, I would have much preferred Sarah Connor Chronicles. The worst part, though, is that we're going to have to hear from crazy Joss fans about how persecuted he is. Which, whatever. He was dumb to go back into business with Fox after Firefly, but honestly the show was pretty dire most of the time. At least it was last season, except for a couple of episodes and Epitaph One. So I'm not really crying for him, you know?

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There's still time to sign up for Broken Toys, the Dark Angel ficathon ranalore and I are running. I won't be doing the matching until tomorrow morning, if you want to sneak in there and sign up on the over night. Though as I mentioned yesterday, it is a very Max, Alec, and OC-centric bunch of participants, so if you are looking for Max/Logan, that's probably not going to happen.

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Last night, I finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. What a fantastic read. Compelling, heartbreaking and hilarious, with a great narrative voice, a strong sense of place, and an epic tale of family tragedy. Plus, all the hardcore geek references that feel true and natural and not at all forced.

Oscar's behavior with women was discomfiting in many ways (stalkery much?), but not played for laughs (though other characters do laugh at him and his lack of sexual success) - I think it was clearly recognized by his family and friends as problematic. Nor was Yunior's (or anyone else's) womanizing glorified or treated as a good thing. In fact, via Yunior, I think the book spends quite a bit of time examining the ramifications of being a player and the destruction it causes.

highly recommended.

***

I read what is allegedly the original script for the pilot of Dollhouse (thanks to numerous folks on my flist for the link), and while it still skeeves me out, at least it sounds like a Joss Whedon production, and it gave me some reason to invest in Echo herself as a character, rather than just rooting for her because of the awful things being done to her. What's aired so far has been curiously unWhedonlike in its utter lack of wit and snappy dialogue, not to mention its lame predictability.

I've seen a couple of people compare it to the ball of suck that was last season's remake of Bionic Woman, and talk about how at least in that suckfest we got Katee Sackhoff being awesome and insane as Sarah Corvus, how she was a rogue and how she was a loose cannon, and how she was aware of how she'd been used and violated and discarded and how she was striking back at those who'd harmed her. And how unfortunate it is that thus far ( spoiler for DollhouseCollapse )

I just...there are ways to mitigate the skeeviness of the whole thing, and I think Joss himself is clearly aware of it and has some intention of addressing it, but I am not at all sanguine that that will actually make it to the screen (and that even if it does that it won't make me cringe anyway).

Heh. Unless it shows a marked improvement in the next couple of weeks, this could be the most I ever write about Dollhouse.

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Speaking of shows whose gender politics often make me cringe, this was a really interesting read: Latchkey Hero: Masculinity, Class and the Gothic in Eric Kripke's Supernatural by Julia M. Wright. (link via my delicious network)

It focuses mainly on Dean and class, and the common construct of blue-collar masculinity and how it intersects with gothic tropes, though it also touches on the show's skanky race issues. I am still absorbing it, because I do think Dean's performative masculinity is fascinating, though this article doesn't touch on the most interesting bits of it (the tension between the bad boy persona he adopts and his role as the maternal co-parent in the Winchester family). I don't necessarily agree with all the conclusions (and there are a couple of small canon errors that made me grit my teeth), but it was definitely an interesting read.

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Here's an updated BSG timeline, taking the revelations of "No Exit" into account. (thanks to quirkies for the link!)

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My taxes are done, and I am getting a tidy sum back from both the state and the fed. \o/

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People, there is one unbreakable rule of fandom and that is, thou shalt not out a fellow fan to her family/friends/employers/significant others/etc.

It is cause for immediate shunning and banning, one strike and you're out. Assholes who do shit like this do not deserve to be trusted after they've betrayed and broken our trust in them, and they make it harder for everyone else to relax and have a good time.

Personally, my family and friends all know about my fannish involvement - my LJ and website are bookmarked on my dad's computer and my niece has me friended (or she did; man, how uncool would it be to be defriended by my niece? eek); there have been discussions at family gatherings of the types of porn I write, and even the fictional incest isn't a secret (e.g., I consulted my mom's vast Regency romance knowledge when writing the girl!Sam Regency AU).

That doesn't mean I would like any prospective employers to know what my hobby is. I would rather not have to explain it to them, and that is just the first level of badness. I would also not like to lose a job over it, which is a terrible but entirely likely outcome for many, many people.

My level of comfort is mine. You don't get to decide it for me or for anyone else, just like I don't get to decide it for you or anyone else but me. It's a shitty thing to do and it cannot be spun otherwise. It's damaging both to the individual who gets outed and to the community, such as it is, as a whole, and every time it happens, I feel sick to my stomach, even when I don't know the fan in question, as is the case here.

***

I watched "A Trip to the Dentist" and "Leave It to Beaver" earlier, and I still think ATttD is up there with some of the best hours of television I've seen. Yeah, I still have quibbles (mostly related to the ups-and-downs of the Veronica/Logan relationship), but the episode contains a showstopper of a scene - Duncan and Veronica on the porch, talking about what happened at Shelley Pomeroy's party. That scene still gives me chills and makes me teary, even knowing how it all turned out. And while my hopes for seasons 2 and 3 were sadly left unmet and unfulfilled (and other speculation turned out to be false), I still stand by my original post-LItB analysis of Veronica Mars as neo-noir, and how season one's themes and resolution can be slotted pretty neatly into that genre, which is why I found it satisfying then, and why I found it satisfying on the first rewatch I've done since that summer. I am just going to pretend most of seasons 2 and 3 didn't happen, so I can ignore the retcons. (I am keeping Weevil and Keith Fight Crime, though. You can't take that away from me!)

I know a lot of people were very unhappy with the end of season 1, that there was a lot of craziness in its aftermath, and I'm not trying to change anybody's mind. I'm just glad that I was able to watch season 1, which I loved when it aired, without any real bitterness from the latter two seasons tainting it.

I am still afraid to rewatch BtVS, because a combination of poor writing choices on the show and fandom insanity made me loathe Spike in later seasons, and I am afraid season 2 will be tainted by that. Maybe I will attempt it soon, though. Who can say? There's so much other tv to watch!

Tonight, I have to not record The Office, because Bones is on for two hours, and Supernatural is on, and then after that, Burn Notice is back, and for this I am kind of glad I am home with nothing to do but watch tv, so I can stay on top of things. The silver lining of my unemployment. Heh.

***

Other news and links of interest:

= Joss Whedon and Brad Whitford team up to make a horror movie. I am not a fan of horror movies, but this one I might have to see. Josh! Joss! Anyone wanna lay odds on whether there is a waiflike, broken, yet superpowered teenage girl involved? Likely a brunette with barefeet and psychic tendencies?

= Paging Dr. Ross! Dr. Doug Ross! Okay, I admit, I stopped watching ER after George Clooney left (except for the episode where Lucy was murdered - that I watched), but I have been wondering if he'd come back for the end. I hope he does. I would watch. Doug and Carol both, since I was hopelessly hardcore OTP about them back in the day. Sigh.

= I am really shocked The Dark Knight didn't get a best picture nod, nor did Nolan get a Best Director nomination. Otoh, go Melissa Leo! I haven't seen that movie, but I will root for her on principle (though I think Anne Hathaway was fantastic in Rachel Getting Married). Also, I am sad Wall-E will have to settle for Best Animated instead of Best Picture.

= I know you've all seen these awesome Obama action figures by now, yeah? I like the samurai!Obama one myself.

= a chandelier and other sculptures made out of gummi bears. I... I got nothing.

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Now, I think I shall attempt to make some fried rice, and then I will write.

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So I watched Act III of Dr. Horrible and ( spoilersCollapse )

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Two things:

1. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is cute, and the cast is rocking, but I feel like there is too much Joss in Dr. Horrible, too much of the Joss whose commentaries I have to turn off because of their self-congratulatory and yet persecuted tone, and not enough of the Joss who was able to get beneath the glib and facile surface of things to explore real emotions. So, cute, but with a lot of the annoying bits of Joss mixed in with the good.

2. Probably because I read it out of context, and many years after it came out (and also after I read Sandman), but I was never all that impressed with Watchmen. I'm told this is likely for the reasons I just listed, and also because I didn't read superhero comics when I was growing up. Which I suppose is part of the context. Anyway. I am capable of understanding how revolutionary it was, but I just ... don't care? Because I felt it was heavy-handed and humorless and impressed with its own cleverness. However, the trailer looks like it has been made into a pretty kickass movie. The casting especially looks spot-on.

3. I want to see both Mamma Mia and The Dark Knight, and I am not sure I will get to either of them this weekend. *sadhair*

Okay, that was three things. Oops?

~*~

[I apologize for any formatting errors, since I'm posting this by email
and can't fix it until I get home tonight.]

You guys, I need a weekend to recover from my weekend. It was fantastic - I
had an awesome time, I met lots of great people, I reconnected with people
I've known for a long time, I ate a lot of great food, and laughed so much I
probably added years to my life, but I am exhausted. I am just plum wore out.

After we had cake at my parents' house (my sister: "I don't have your gift. I
don't even have a card." me: "after you told me you didn't even have a card
for Dom, I kinda figured."), I took the train back into the city, where I met
up with a group of fangirls for dinner, since the lovely and gracious deirdre_c was in town. After pizza, we went to Veneiro's for dessert,
which is always tasty and delicious. There was much squeeing and fannish talk,
and possibly I got a little loud discussing porn and had to be reminded to use
my inside voice because there were little kids at the table behind us, but at
least no waitstaff were traumatized (that I am aware of).

I came home, showered, and fell into bed. I was asleep before my head hit the
pillow.

I am not used to all this socializing anymore. It's awesome, but I am tired.

Now I have to edit my femslash08 story so I can post it tonight
when I get home. I feel bad that my person is going to have to wait, but I
don't think you can post to communities via email (and even if you can, I
don't like the way it formats when you post via email - I don't care so much
about regular posts, but not for stories, and especially not for stories for
other people). I really like how it turned out - it's sweet and pretty, which
I think suits the pairing right down to their adorable toes.

Then I will edit the Dean/Kara, which I am excited about, though I am not
expecting a whole lot of other people to care. I suppose I could have picked a
less niche story to post on my birthday, but it's my birthday, so I'll write
wacky het crossovers if I want to.

Then I can concentrate on beer and the highway spn_summergen. I will be focused and determined and I will have an
awesome story by the deadline. I am convinced. I just have to decide which
idea I'm writing and do it.

I have started reading my flist via Google Reader, which is an odd and
disjointed experience, but it helps - I feel like I am more on top of things
now, because combined with the people who crosspost to IJ, I feel I am not
missing as much - obviously, flocked posts are still right out, and some
people have only headers and summaries at Google Reader, so I can't read the
full posts, but it takes a little of the pressure off. (I realize I'm the only
one putting pressure on me to keep up, but ... yeah.)

I also have ESPN on there, which... I don't know why. I scroll through and am
just like, "don't care, don't care, really don't care, eh." I've also added a
bunch of food blogs, so if you know of a good food blog and want to share the
URL - this is my new thing. I can't read LJ so I am going to read food blogs,
even though I wouldn't eat half the stuff the recipes are for, and don't cook
in my tiny kitchen anyway. I do love to cook and especially bake, so baking
blogs are especially lovely. I love recipes, and the stories behind them, so.
yeah. There's that.

Anyway, I just called my brother to wish him a happy birthday, and he was
like, "I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow." Heh. People always think it's weird
that our birthdays are a day apart, but I've always thought it was kind of
cool (as long as we had separate cakes; I've always been a bit of a stickler
about that *snerk*).

I am excited, too, because not only is tomorrow my birthday - thank you, yasminke, for the bubbly in my userinfo! *snugs* - but I am getting a present from Joss: Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog starts tomorrow! (See the LA Times and KWanda's
reviews.) It looks like a lot of fun.

***

Oh! I forgot to mention it last night, and I don't have a link, so I don't know how true it is, but according to various folk on my flist, Tahmoh Penikett (aka, Helo from BSG) is apparently going to be the FBI agent/love interest in that Dollhouse show Joss is making with Eliza Dushku.

Eliza basically has chemistry with, like, everything in her vicinity, so I'm pretty sure she'll have some with Helo - whom I love! - so this makes me happy, even though I am still very leery of the concept of this show (and also how long it will actually last, given that it's Fox).

Now if they would just get Katee Sackhoff to guest star on SPN and let her make out with Dean I would die of happy fangirl glee. *keeps hoping*

This post seems really short, so have a poem:

Film Study: Transcendence

A modern section of Rome. She walks home
from his apartment along the edge of a wide, empty street
passing under the dusky branches of a conifer.
The street lights are off. Close by, a water tower rises.
Contentment fills her. She sweeps her shawl
over the purple and burnt orange heads of roadside weeds and wild flowers.
A silence ripens in all things. Reflected
in the late summer sprawl, finality and prospect.
Night has faded. The dawn shimmers
like hand-blown glass, activated by light.

~David Semanki

***

OMG work! STOP BEING BUSY!

*cries*

***

Posted two stories in the past two days:

Ellie
Supernatural; Ellen; pg; 355 words
"I'm not a little kid anymore, Mom. My name is Ellen."

Third-Day Story
Supernatural; Sam and Dean; pg; spoilers through "Fresh Blood;" 2,520 words
"Last night, you had a bullet wound you could keep spare change in, and this morning, it's all healed up except for an interesting scar."

Thanks for all the kind words. I really appreciate them.

***

I'm sure you've all seen this already, but a vidder named y_fish made a Firefly vid called Defying Gravity, and apparently Tim Minear saw it and showed it to Joss, who then commented in the vidder's LJ and linked to it on Whedonesque.

As I am at work, I haven't watched the vid yet, but my response to hearing that is simultaneous squee and dread, because it's like my biggest fannish wet dream combined with my biggest fannish nightmare. I know the PTB know about us and read fic and watch vids and generally monitor fandom, but I am still very much in the don't cross the streams mindset, for a variety of reasons, even with - perhaps especially with - the fanboy-type creators like Joss, who are familiar with fandom, and who negotiate it well.

There's a lot of stuff about authority and validation entangled in my feelings on the subject, which I'm not really in a place to unpack at the moment, but it's just another reminder that we are not under the radar, and haven't been for a long, long time.

***

Happy birthday, snacky! I don't remember how we found each other, but I'm really glad we did! I can't imagine LJ or fandom without you!

***

I have been reading along with unitedhollywood blog etc. about the WGA strike, which I fully support - this video of The Office writing staff explaining the main issues was excellent, as was, amazingly, Joss Whedon's post detailing the issues and the way the strike is being spun in the press.

I am a little sad Kripke's not on this list of showrunners who've halted production in solidarity, though I understand from this post containing an email from Sera Gamble that Kripke and Singer "have both treated [her] with immense respect and made it clear that they support the personal decisions of every writer on staff. They've been aces."

However, as of right now, my support does not run to not watching new episodes as they air.

And there is new SPN tonight!

*twirls*

I only know two things about this episode, based on the preview and some promotional stills. ( two spoilers based on those two thingsCollapse )

***

My own writing has somehow ground to a halt, which is unacceptable. Hopefully I can kickstart it today.

***

Okay, regarding my post last night about the offensive ethnic slurs used repeatedly in Demian's recap of "Sin City," the founders of TWOP can allegedly be reached at the following email addresses: Glark, Wing Chun and Sars are glark at televisionwithoutpity.com, wingchun at televisionwithoutpity.com and sars at televisionwithoutpity.com. I say allegedly because the emails sent (not by me, given my email-at-work issues, I am waiting until I am home) have bounced.

winterlive had an email conversation with Sars, which she's posted here.

TWOP is now owned by Bravo (which is owned by NBC), which can be contacted here:

for snail mail:
Bravo Viewer Relations
3000 W. Alameda Ave., Suite 250
Burbank, CA 91523

Or online here: http://www.bravotv.com/Contact_Us/index.shtml

I'm still more baffled than angry, but I can't let it pass unremarked, so. The claim that Demian was pointing out ethnic stereotypes, not perpetrating them, might have merit if he didn't go on to use the slur OVER AND OVER again in CAPSLOCK throughout the recap without ever actually discussing why the characterization was problematic. He's not a good enough writer to pull it off and it's neither a funny nor insightful critique of the show.

***

On to more awesome things:

I saw this quoted on friendsfriends and thought it was pretty awesome:
The extraordinary event is this: that the moment you make a story or create an image that finds favour with an audience, you've effectively lost it. It toddles off, the little bastard; it becomes the property of the fans. It's they who create around it their own mythologies; who make sequels and prequels in their imagination; who point out the inconsistencies in your plotting. I can envisage no greater compliment. What more could a writer or filmmaker ever ask, than that their fiction be embraced and become part of the dream-lives of people who it's likely he'll never even meet?
~Clive Barker (posted at LOST SOULS - the Clive Barker website) <- this is the attribution on the post I saw; I didn't check it out myself

*

Motorhead Messiah: Johnathan Goodwin can get 100 mpg out of a Lincoln Continental, cut emissions by 80%, and double the horsepower. Does the car business have the guts to follow him?
Aside from the fact that this guy is awesome and I would really like to see Detroit take some lessons from him, this is now totally my canon for what Dean did to the Impala when he rebuilt her.

*

As I'm sure you've all seen by now, Joss and Eliza (and Tim Minear) will be back with a new show sometime. After the writers' strike is done. Since it's on Fox, I won't get too excited, even though they've apparently ordered seven episodes already.

***

Enjoyed Chuck. Wish they'd quit with the Chuck/Sarah and go with Sarah/Casey, but that's just me.

Enjoyed some parts of Heroes more than others. Still want to stab [SPOILER] in the face.

***

This may be my new favoritest thing ever: SugarShock! Battle Royale with Cheese! (part 2 and part 3), a webcomic by Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon.

You know I have my issues with Joss, but this just tickled me from start to finish.

Are you ready to rock our world?

*dies*

***

Now I have a story to write 'cause it's due tomorrow, and I still have... *counts* four and a half sections to write. Eek.

***

So rumor (and the flist) has it JJ Abrams and Joss Whedon are slated to direct episodes of "The Office"?

It's not even my fandom (it's not! shut up, amberlynne), but that's pretty freaking cool. Are they doing any writing, also, or just directing?

You think Pam will get to wear a hot-ass wig and disguise in JJ's ep? You know she'll have bare feet - and possibly superpowers - in Joss's.

What? I'm just sayin'...

Or you know what would be awesome? If The Grunberg just randomly appeared in JJ's ep.

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