I posted a story yesterday! One that I started probably back in 2006 or 2007 and never figured out how to make it work, because it was supposed to be much longer and full of actual detectiving and stuff. *hands* Instead, there is banter and snark.

Angle of Incidence (at AO3)
Supernatural/Veronica Mars; Dean/Veronica; au; pg; 2,240 words
Dean Winchester had seemed sketchy from the moment they'd met.

I do enjoy Dean/Veronica as a pairing quite a lot.

***

I've been editing my yuletide signup like it's going out of style, adding and deleting offers because I can't make up my mind (my requests are set in stone, though), and I was so happy to see three other people offering "Young Allies" so that there is the possibility someone might write it for me! And then I realized that I had probably done a terrible job pimping it out - I gushed repeatedly about Blue Beetle, and once or twice about Young Avengers, but I really didn't do anything to entice people into reading Nomad and Young Allies, the books in which Rikki Barnes and Anya Sofia Corazon become girlfriends team up to fight bad guys. It's basically too late now - signups close in three hours - but I did a mini Rikki Barnes spam on tumblr this afternoon anyway, so I'm just going to link to the scans over there for this post of enticement.

Rikki Barnes is from an alternate universe, where she was Captain America's sidekick, Bucky, the granddaughter of the original WWII era Bucky. In an attempt to save her universe (she fails), she sacrifices herself, and somehow ends up in the main Marvel continuity (616). She finds herself unable to stop heroing, so she tries to meet the new Captain America.

Eli Bradley, current Patriot and also grandson of the original Captain America, tries to convince her that meeting the new Cap is a bad idea, but also that just because she's a girl without a world, it doesn't mean she's a girl without friends. (I would like to see Eli and Rikki in an equal partnership as Captain America and Bucky sometime in the future, despite what happens to Rikki in Fear Itself. I haven't read it so it hasn't happened, la la la rain of blood and toads. Can't keep a dead sidekick down and all that.)

( spoilers for Nomad: Girl Without a World, but I have to say that I don't think knowing these things actually spoils the reading experience in this caseCollapse )

So that's the Nomad: Girl Without a World mini. Nomad then became a backup on Captain America starting with Captain America 602. In that series, Rikki teams up with Anya Sofia Corazon,(Araña and then Spider-girl) to find the terrorist group who was responsible for all the trouble at her school.

Anya and Rikki meet cute, don't really get along at first (or, more specifically, Rikki doesn't trust Anya, who is just trying to help her), but then, in the course of fighting bad guys, they become girlfriends. Here they are having a rooftop conversation about teaming up to fight crime.

Rikki lives on her own (basically, she squats in an abandoned apartment) and picks up odd jobs off the books to pay for food and clothing (Natasha is her benefactor when it comes to crimefighting supplies, which is another relationship I'd have liked to see more of, especially given that Natasha does know who Rikki is, and of course, she's Bucky's significant other), but she eventually transfers to Anya's school so they can be BFF in civilian life as well as while they are heroing it up. They end up forming a loose team in Young Allies, named after the team of sidekicks Bucky put together during WWII, even though none of the heroes involved are really interested in being on a team.

Here's Rikki and Anya being girlfriends again, discussing how right it feels to work together.

And that is why I am requesting them for yuletide, and why you should check out their series (Anya has had her own series and she headlines in some of the current Spider Island stuff, but I was distracted by baking so I didn't pull out scans from her stuff; believe me when I tell you she is awesome, her dad is awesome, and occasionally Spider-Man shows up to mentor her).

I need a Rikki/Anya icon. Hmm...

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The Muppets are going to cover "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the soundtrack to the new movie. I would really like to do a midnight show with fangirls for that (the movie, not the soundtrack), but as it's the night before Thanksgiving, I won't be in the city. If there are even going to be midnight shows. I mean, it's the Muppets. I feel that there should be.

***

I uploaded this for mousapelli, but if you're interested in Young Avengers, here's 1-7, 8-12, and YA Presents. (there's more, but that seems like enough to be starting out with.)

Young Avengers is about a group of teenagers who come together to fight bad guys after the actual Avengers are disbanded (I...don't know exactly why that happened but I don't think it's particularly important in this case). There are time-travel shenanigans, alien invasions, long-lost twins, a canon gay couple (Billy and Teddy, who are adorable), plus Kate Bishop, who is the badass normal of the group, and she is as badass as they come, and Eli Bradley, who is cranky and adorable and possibly my favoritest of them all, and also the grandson of the original, black Captain America, and thus, very aware of the burden and legacy of history, in a way most superheroes (let alone teen superheroes) are not. The adults are all pretty much "teenage sidekicks/superheroes, no!" (ah, the kicked puppy look on Steve's face every time the subject comes up warms my heart. dead sidekick angst ftw!) which is an interesting difference from the sanctioned superheroing shenanigans of, say, Young Justice or the Teen Titans.

Speaking of whom, I will also take this opportunity to once again rec the hell out of the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle (and, um, one stray issue is here), about whom I have waxed rhapsodic before. (this is the non-rebooted version. accept no substitutes.)

If you like nerdy bug-men but are more interested in the really good but super-depressing Ultimate Spider-Man (the Peter Parker version), I can help you out with that, too. I don't have any of it currently uploaded, but I'm willing to share so if you're interested, drop me a comment.

These are all things I'm contemplating asking for/offering for yuletide (oh, so also, if you want the Rikki Barnes stuff, so you can write me some Rikki/Anya, I have some of that, too, though not currently uploaded; or Gotham Central, which should be required reading for everyone who likes police prodecural stuff and also has Renee Montoya, who is the best), so I'm not exactly being altruistic in my offer, but I feel like I have enjoyed these things a lot, and because of fandom, so consider this me returning the favor.

***

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The Sciences Sing a Lullaby

Physics says: go to sleep. Of course
you're tired. Every atom in you
has been dancing the shimmy in silver shoes
nonstop from mitosis to now.
Quit tapping your feet. They'll dance
inside themselves without you. Go to sleep.

Geology says: it will be all right. Slow inch
by inch America is giving itself
to the ocean. Go to sleep. Let darkness
lap at your sides. Give darkness an inch.
You aren't alone. All of the continents used to be
one body. You aren't alone. Go to sleep.

Astronomy says: the sun will rise tomorrow,
Zoology says: on rainbow-fish and lithe gazelle,
Psychology says: but first it has to be night, so
Biology says: the body-clocks are stopped all over town
and
History says: here are the blankets, layer on layer, down and down.

~Albert Goldbarth

***

The Female Character Trope Fest Prompt Master List and Fanworks Post.

I have two remixes to write by Saturday, but there are a couple items on that prompt list I might try my hand at anyway. In the meantime, one of you should write me some Aravis/Lasaraleen, Katara/Toph, or Babs/Dinah, or the Kalinda Sharma/Veronica Mars ethically dubious lady detectives crossover of my heart.

***

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such_heights is running the Female Character Trope Fest, for all your female character gen and ladyslash clichefic needs.

I just left a bunch of prompts I know you want to write for me.

*beams hopefully*

*

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angelgazing is hosting a Multi-Fandom Cuddling Meme, because, as she puts it, the answer to "do you need a hug?" is ALWAYS yes.

THERE SHOULD BE CUDDLING! IN EVERY FANDOM! IS THERE ANYTHING BETTER? I THINK NOT!

Right now, it's mostly Arthur/Eames over there, but I think I feel some Sirius/Remus coming on. I don't know! Anything could happen! You should write something too! CUDDLING! THERE IS NO BAD THERE!

*

I did a recs update yesterday:

unfitforsociety was updated for November 2010 with 24 recs in 12 fandoms:

* 5 DCU
* 4 Supernatural
* 3 Avatar: the Last Airbender
* 3 The Good Wife
* 2 Hawaii Five-O
* 1 each The Losers, MASH, Sports Night, Inception, Fringe, Harry Potter, and a BSG/Firefly crossover

Read, love, give feedback.

I think this is the first time since August 2006 that there is a fandom with more recs in it than Supernatural. Sigh. I think this will also be the first month since then that I haven't written any SPN fic. Maybe I will write some Sam and Dean cuddlefic. It could happen! Lord knows, if anybody needs cuddling, it's those two.

Otoh, I did in fact post fic last night in what is absolutely not my new fandom, despite what other people who are laughing at me think:

Dark Alley Love Song
Under the Red Hood; Dick/Jason; adult; 1,615 words
Jason's not really good at saying thanks, but Dick's got a hell of a way of saying you're welcome.

This story grew out of the icon meme, where I talked about the icon on this post and how surely immediately after whatever was going on in it, they had up-against-a-wall sex in the rain. It took a few weeks, but I did it. *happy sigh*

I have a lot of thoughts about how I write these guys, what with my cherry-picking approach to canon, but it usually dissolves into incoherent rambling about how much Jason needs hugs, so I'll spare you. For now. Mostly because work keeps interrupting.

*

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Two quick heads-up(s?) for you:

= that new Young Justice cartoon debuts tonight on Cartoon Network at 7 pm ET, though apparently it won't be on regularly until January.

= the good folks at white_lotus are running an Avatar: the Last Airbender exchange for Lunar New Year. Signups opened today and are open through Monday, 11/29. Details here. glass_icarus has a squee and flail post here.

I need to figure out what to ask for, and what to offer. Decisions, decisions...

*

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so much work! bah! also, I have a meeting at 4 pm today. Who schedules a meeting at 4 pm on a Friday? Who even does that? pfui!

So in between writing up the minutes and putting together the agenda for our next board meeting, I am going to talk to you about Blue Beetle, because few things have made me as purely happy as reading this series has. I can't even count the number of times I literally laughed out loud or made squeaky high-pitched noises of glee while reading. (I am almost, but not quite, completely done - I'm told there is a sixth volume due out in March of next year, but what I read came to a nice stopping point, and I don't want to wait until March to talk about it.)

I think I've mentioned before that I'm not big into comics, for a number of reasons. The short version is

1. I have a lot of trouble parsing the artwork, and so miss a lot of stuff and have to work harder to get the whole story

( and this became the long version, no need to clickCollapse )

So what I'm saying is, I guess, that it's a lot of work to even get me to agree to read a comic (Tiny Titans excepted, because come on, I don't even want to know people who aren't charmed by Tiny Titans), and I come to comics with a lot of my own obstacles in place, but Blue Beetle pretty much rode roughshod over all of them and didn't, like Fables, sag in the middle so badly that I've completely lost interest, and didn't, like Y: The Last Man, botch the ending so badly that my rage and bitterness mean I haven't been able to reread the series, which prior to the ending I loved a lot. *cough*

Basically what happened was, I saw an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold and it featured a high school kid named Jaime Reyes, who is also the Blue Beetle. I liked him and I posted about him and many, many people commented saying how awesome he is and how much I would like his book, which had sadly been canceled, and thus, had an endpoint. And was also partially written by John Rogers, whom you may know as the showrunner on Leverage.

As someone said in those comments, Jaime is like Xander if Xander had had confidence back in high school.

How could I resist that?

It's really nice that you guys know me and my narrative and character kinks so well, because man, I LOVED these books.

Why did I love these books? Let me count the ways:

1. Jaime Reyes is ADORABLE. He's smart, geeky, and genre-savvy, but not consumed with insecurity or teen angst. He's sensible. His big dream of ultimate power is to become a dentist so he can pay for his little sister's college education and buy his grandma a nice house. He fights supervillains with SCIENCE (more on this below). He's the level-headed one of his trio of friends, the one who sorts out their problems and keeps them from spiraling out of control. He's a good person before he ever becomes a superhero. I draw a million sparkly pink hearts around him.

( slight spoilers; the beetle is blue, but the deer, they are tealCollapse )

13. Batman likes him! How often does that happen? *snerk*

So anyway, there are 13 reasons that you, too, should read Blue Beetle (and if you're interested, drop me a line; I might be able to hook you up with some source). If you already have, you should come and squee in my comments, and also point me to fic where Jaime et al. are being AWESOME, because I need to read me some more of that. And also icons. I need an icon, I think.

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While I did not enjoy seeing Eli Manning slice his face open last night (ugh, botched plays should not result in stitches to the QB's face!), I certainly did enjoy watching the local kid Victor Cruz make some fantastic catches and score three touchdowns. I hope he makes the team.

***

Ugh ugh ugh, I keep trying to write this Gaslight Anthem pimping post and it sounds so faux hipster pretentious and ugh. I hate that.

Okay, here's the thing. I really like this band. They rock out and they wear their hearts (and their influences) on their sleeves, and in their songs they make references to other songs I love in ways that really work for me, because it makes me feel like their songs are written by people who love music, and who love the same music I love, and who understand that if you were dying, you'd want to hear your favorite song one last time.

That's not even getting into the ridiculously Winchestery nature of a lot of their lyrics, and how almost every song sounds like it could be about Sam and Dean (mostly Dean). And how I need to write a story titled "All these classic cars and outlaw cowboy bands."

So here are some songs by The Gaslight Anthem. I uploaded them a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to write the post ever since, but the links should still be fine. If not, let me know and when I get home tonight, I'll reupload. and maybe add a couple of songs.

American Slang
High Lonesome
The '59 Sound
Miles Davis & the Cool
The Diamond Church Street Choir
Orphans
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Great Expectations
The Spirit of Jazz
Say I Won't

I was going to use my Springsteen icon on this post, but that felt a little too on the nose. But yes. They don't deny the influence. Apparently, he got up on stage with them last summer for "The '59 Sound" and I am totally going to have to track down calvinahobbes tracked down a youtube clip of that.

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I just watched this week's episode of The Good Wife, and man, what a SATISFYING hour of television. ( spoilersCollapse )

The show is on the cover of EW this week, and it well deserves to be, because it is AWESOME. Well-written, interesting women who drive the action, an intriguing ongoing arc investigating what actually happened, and how the characters all deal with the fallout not only on their careers, but in all their relationships.

Plus, fantastic guest stars - Titus Welliver, Joe Morton, Dylan Baker, Gary Cole, Sonja Sohn, ALAN CUMMING. Jen's grandma from Dawson's!

I also really like the rotation of judges they've got going - David Paymer, Peter Riegert, Joanna Gleason. Hopefully we'll see Peter Gerety again too.

Not to mention the regular cast. Let's face it, I was going to give anything with Josh Charles and Christine Baranski a chance, and since I always liked Hathaway on ER (I was a total Doug/Carol shipper), Juliana Margulies was also a draw for me. Plus, Chris Noth. I was skeptical of the premise and the courtroom drama thing, but the show totally makes it work. And it's given us Kalinda Sharma, as played by Archie Punjabi, who is probably the best new character on tv this season (well, possibly tied with Vince Howard on FNL).

I'm not good at pimping shows out, because the things I like are often not the things fandom likes (or, the things fandom likes are frequently things that leave me cold), but this show is fantastic, and it offers many pairing opportunities (both het and girlslash - I suppose you could make a case for boyslash, but why would you when the women are so fantastic?) and political intrigue and adults acting like adults and mostly being good at their jobs and trying to do the work of relationships as well.

I was also amused to read the producer say something like, "We try to figure out how little of the actual cases we have to show," because that's how I write casefiles. *snerk*

***

In other news, Die Hard was on, and I couldn't turn it off, even though it was full of commercials and bleeped swears. YIPPIE KI YAY MOTHERFUCKER! One day I'll actually have to watch Die Hard 4.

Now, I'm trying to decide what to bake, and if I need to go to the grocery store and pick anything up. Oscars tonight, so I'd like to have some tasty snackage.

***

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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.

***

Criminal Minds

( spoilersCollapse )

***

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?

***

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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This evening after dinner, I made this apple cake recommended by wildestranger, since all I had to buy were a couple of apples.

It is very tasty and it smells like heaven when it's cooking. I used Gala apples instead of Cortland, and I misremembered the recipe and so used heavy cream instead of milk, but overall, it is very tasty, would cook again. I'm not sure it's going to work as a "wrap it in foil, shove it in my bag, and eat it at my desk with my fingers for breakfast" kind of thing, which is really what I am looking for, but it was quick and easy and delicious, so it definitely goes on the list of things I will make again.

There are more links to tasty baked goods in my last post, if you're looking for ideas, or if you have recipes you'd like to share.

***

I watched The Big Bang Theory while the cake was baking and oh, Sheldon. *pets him*

Also, Raj and Howard are ridiculously married. Though I totally think Raj could do better.

Then I watched The Good Wife, which never quite does what I think it's going to, which is a plus in its favor. Also, the acting is really strong and I like Alicia, Will, and Kalinda a lot. But I'm just not big on courtroom dramas, so it never quite engages me fully.

***

There's still time to sign up for Broken Toys, the Dark Angel fic exchange ranalore and I are running. Sign ups close tomorrow night (though if you sneak in before Thursday morning, I won't hold it against you). You know you want to! Think of all the futuristic transgenic-y goodness you could be a part of! (Uh, if you want Max/Logan, you might have to bring along friends willing to write it, since it doesn't have any proponents yet among those signed up. but the sign ups are visible, so you can see if there's anything there that piques your interest.)

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So I just redid my yuletide signup a third time because I made a stupid error in the optional details of one of my requests - not an an error that would have any impact on matching or even really what I was asking for, but it was the kind of brainfarty factual error that nagged at me so I couldn't let it stand. I had to redo the signup so I could fix it. everything else stayed the same.

I think this might be the first year where I am only offering to write in one of the fandoms I requested. I think that's part of the fun of yuletide - I ask for things I know I can't write myself. Well, in most cases. In one case, I will probably write a version of that one myself anyway, because really, can there ever be enough Middleman/Wendy aliens made them do it and Ida mocks them afterwards stories? I think not! Especially as I might totally get a gen story from that request and I am okay with that! (Yes, I specified that in my optional details and will do so again in my letter, when I finally manage to update and post it.)

This year I tried to be less "I suppose I could do that" and more "I want to do that!" with my offers, even though I know I will, at some point, loathe the story I'm writing and curse the day I signed up. That happens every year and I expect it now and know I can and will push through it, even if it's never pleasant to experience while it's going on. I also hope I get someone whose prompt writing style matches my prompt needing style. One year I got "anything with this character!" and no letter and no LJ or blog link or anything and, well, I like the story I wrote, and the recipient liked it, but man, it was hard to just come up with something on my own, even though it was for a source that I'd loved as a teenager and knew pretty well even after all these years.

Prompts are hard to write - I know I am not very good at it, and I always feel bad for people who get my flaily "You could do X or Y or whatever! It'll be awesome!" prompts.

Speaking of prompts and ficathons, you have until Wednesday, 11/11, to sign up for Broken Toys, the Dark Angel ficathon ranalore and I are running. Stories aren't due until January 2, and there's no anonymity during posting - you just have to keep a secret while you write. Right now, including me and Rana, there are 6 people signed up. I was hoping for between 10 and 15, so, you know, you should totally sign up.

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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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unfitforsociety has been updated with 16 recs for October 2009:

+ 11 Supernatural
+ 3 crossovers
+ 1 each Castle and Star Trek Reboot

Speaking of recs, I've been reccing SPN on crack_van this month, so I'll be posting those here when I'm done, though I don't believe there's anything I didn't already rec on unfitforsociety. (I also spent a little time revising the interests there, though they're still not quite right. Hmm...)

Also speaking of recs, you guys, I keep thinking about the Friday Night Lights season premiere and IT WAS SO FREAKING GOOD. WHY DO KYLE CHANDLER AND CONNIE BRITTON NOT HAVE A MILLION EMMYS*?

WHY DO MORE PEOPLE NOT WATCH THIS SHOW**?

IT IS NOT A SHOW ABOUT FOOTBALL. It is an AWESOME show about PEOPLE that sometimes has football in it. It's about football the way Sports Night was about sports. Football is a framework to hang stories on, and a prism through which to see characters, but it's not... you don't need to care about football to love this show.

I just... I think it's the best show on television right now (I don't watch Mad Men, but one day I will get around to it), and it makes me sad that more people don't watch it and love it the way it should be watched and loved. The writing, the acting, the directing, the cinematography, the music - it's so good - real and true and heartbreaking and I can't even articulate how good it is. *flails*

So, you know, if you have DirecTV, or if you have, ahem, alternative means of viewing television, Friday Night Lights should be at the top of your list. Trust me. Have I ever steered you wrong***?

In other TV news, I sometimes venture off my flist to f2 or my network or whatever we're calling it these days, and sometimes it works out great - I find new fic or icons or interesting stuff - and sometimes it scares the crap out of me.

You know, I knew there were people out there who hate Sam Winchester - I've seen it in their fic and their recaps, and once I've seen it, I try to avoid ever seeing it again because 1. Sam Winchester is AWESOME and 2. SAM WINCHESTER IS MORE AWESOME THAN YOU, and 3. he was A++ SUPER AWESOME**** in last night's episode, and yet, there are still people who hate him. I clicked out of those posts quickly, but I have to be honest: my kneejerk reaction is SHUN THE UNBELIEVERS! KILL THEM WITH FIRE*****!

Possibly I have had caffeine today for the first time in a while. Um.

My more rational reaction is to click out and avoid going off my flist for a while, and to feel sad and confused that there are people out there who hate Sam, until I remember how awesome he is and how much he loves Dean and Dean loves him, and then I am okay.

Lastly, speaking of awesome things and awesome TV shows, etc., chicklet_girl alerted me to the fact that next year, students at Harvard will be able to take a course about The Wire. *is jealous*

Is it time to go home yet?

How about now?

...Now?

--
*Because the Emmys are dumb and out of touch, yes, but regardless!

**Okay, I know why now, because it's on DirecTV, and also the second season on NBC had that dumbass murder plotline, which is up there with the dumbest things ever - that kind of plot might work on Melrose Place, but Friday Night Lights isn't that kind of show. But season one was one of those perfect seasons of TV, you know? Even with some small bobbles, it was still utterly amazing.

***Wait, don't answer that.

****This is not a spoiler.

*****Hello, irony.

~*~

This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/88113.html. people have commented there.

White Collar

How adorable was that?

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Thumbs up from me and the parents! It's a win all around.

And if you like grifters, con men, and thieves, taraljc has started thebigstore, a community devoted to our inappropriate love of fictional con men, grifters, hustlers and thieves. That includes posting fan fiction, recs, icons, and (eventually) a post-yuletide ficathon.

Basically, any story where someone's run a game on a greedy mark, evaded a brilliant insurance investigator, or walked out of a museum with a priceless painting right under the noses of the police? That's for us.

*squees*

***

The songs I mentioned this morning, if anyone wants them:

Psalms 40:2 - The Mountain Goats
Brilliant Disguise - Bruce Springsteen
Bad (live) - u2
Pennyroyal Tea - Nirvana
Unsatisfied - The Replacements

***

This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/85636.html. people have commented there.

Insta!Rec:

Anatomy of a Prank by xylodemon
This is an AMAZINGLY HILARIOUS story that TOTALLY NAILS James and Sirius's sense of gleeful anarchy, Remus and Peter's slightly stealthier penchant for mischief, and the hilarity and horror that life at Hogwarts during the MWPP-era must have been for everyone else. I love the running gags that are never actually explained (what did Sirius do to the house-elves?), McGonagall's secret pride underneath the rage, Lily's responses to James's godawful courting techniques, and the interludes with Regulus dealing with his not-too-bright (with the exception of Snape) housemates. This is the kind of story that makes me miss HP, and how insane interesting the wizarding world is.

An excerpt:

"I really hate you."

"I'm sure you do," Remus said lightly. "Which is why you're insisting we do this now, rather than wait until Monday, when -- how did you put it, then?" He chuckled quietly as they reached the end of the corridor. "When I'll be 'up moaning in the hospital wing,' I believe."

James narrowed his eyes. "I really, really hate you, and I hope MacGregor gives you a galloping case of knob-rot." The multi-coloured spots were past due, really, and the singing part was now a certainty. It was also possible they would explode on contact. "For the record, this is why I never say nice things to you."

"You never bring me flowers, either, or take me out for a fancy dinner, but I don't complain," Remus said woefully. "Besides, you never say nice things to me because Sirius calls you a poof and says you're mad for my arse."

"Clearly, Sirius is mad for my arse," James groused.

Remus stopped as they reached an intersection, peering down the different corridors as if he couldn't decide which route to take. James gave him a pointed nudge, but he shrugged James off, tapping his wand against his thigh and mumbling under his breath. He stared for what bloody well felt like hours, until James -- who didn't understand what the problem was; it wasn't like Hufflepuff had moved house since the last time they'd been down that way -- grabbed Remus' sleeve and herded him toward the left.

"I mean," James continued, still pulling Remus along, "that skirt was positively indecent."

Remus snorted, sounding not unlike an Erumpent with a head cold. "Yes, because you're often concerned with decency."

"Go on, then. Laugh," James said savagely. "When he does you up in lacy knickers, don't come whinging on to me. And he will, I'm sure. He's probably mad for your arse, too."

"You're daft, is what you are," Remus commented. "Too many Bludgers to the head."

Go. Read. Leave gushing feedback.

***

This entry was originally posted at http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/63982.html. people have commented there.

So there has been a lot of talk about The Middleman around LJ lately, and this LJ in particular, mostly because of the table read at Comic-Con and the release of the DVDs last week.

I'm sure some of you are asking, "What the heck is The Middleman?"

Ask no more!

Other people have done yeoman's work explaining just what The Middleman is and why it is AWESOME and YOU SHOULD TOTALLY WATCH IT. I am just going to piggyback on all their hard work and link:

corellianjedi's pimping post, which lays out the basic details of the show and the characters.

In a nutshell, The Middleman (played by Matt Keeslar) is a consultant who fixes exotic problems intra-, extra- and juxta-terrestrial. This means he deals with, among other things, aliens, ghosts (of the living!), tentacle monsters, mad scientists who want to take over the world, gun-toting apes, and zombies. The Middleman is an honest-to-god, square-jawed, gosh-darn hero.

The Middleman recruits visual artist Wendy Watson (played by Natalie Morales) to be his Middleman-in-training. Wendy is, in a word, AWESOME. She is a geek, a kickass chick, and an artist who saves the world in her own way, all while balancing her relationships with her best friends Lacey and Noser, and her romance with Tyler Ford.

I haven't even mentioned Ida or Sensei Ping (or the Wu Han Thumb of Death), but they are also of the AWESOME.

The show is wall-to-wall pop culture references (some too obscure even for me to get!), and while it is hilariously funny, it is also full of heart and hope, and the belief that one person can make a difference. It's also smart and sweet and emotionally involving, and I am kind of amazed it ever got on tv at all, let alone lasted for 12 episodes. I draw a million sparkly pink hearts around it.

taraljc offers 101 Reasons to love The Middleman and typicrobots provides a gorgeous picspam of the first episode.

Here are some clips that should hook you if the above links haven't:

* The Middleman's sayings
* The Obligatory Johnny Cash reference
* A series of PSAs that ABC Family aired to advertise the show:
     - Vampire Cows
     - Don't Play with Lasers, Phasers, and Ray Guns
     - Cheating
     - DNA
     - Cheating Mother Nature
     - Dinner time is family time

And, once you've finally given in to the AWESOME, you'll want to be able to watch the table read of the unfilmed 13th episode ("The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse") that the cast did at Comic-Con last weekend. You can find clips of it here. Viper Comics is also putting out a graphic novel of the 13th episode, though the only place I've seen it available for pre-order is, uh, Comics Infinity?

Lastly, The Middleman is a yuletide fandom, so there isn't a lot of fic, but there is some, and I've got some recs here.

Go watch! You won't regret it!

***

I had two interviews today, and I think they both went well. They both lasted for about forty minutes, and the first was an in-person interview with HR after a half hour phone interview; it sounds like an interesting job in a company I'd probably enjoy working for, but there is still at least one more round - possibly two - of interviews, and I can't get my hopes up. The second was one I sent in a resume yesterday on a whim and they called me. It sounds like a fantastic job for which I am completely the wrong person. Not that I told them that, though if they call me to come back for a second interview, I will possibly have to mention it then.

It was exhausting, even though there was enough time between appointments to come home for about ninety minutes before i had to leave again. I am pretty fried, so I am not sure how many of the ficlet requests I'm going to get to in the next few days. Instead, I did a set of self-recs at halfamoon this evening:

( seven firefly stories and one spn/fnl crossoverCollapse )

***

I caught up on The Office tonight and wow, Michael makes me cringe and *facepalm*. ( spoilersCollapse )

Burn Notice makes me SO HAPPY. Sam! ♥ ♥ ♥ ( spoilersCollapse )

***

Now maybe I will try to do some catching up on comments, or maybe I will just go to bed.

***

Okay, I really do wanna do something for halfamoon, but the things I have already started will all take too long. So. I haven't done ficlets on request in a long time, but if you want to leave a comment with a female character and some kind of prompt - a word (or set of words, e.g., object/adjective/emotion, or whatever), a phrase, a lyric - I will attempt to write ten of them, one for each day from now until 2/14. I am willing to try fandoms I've not yet written in (e.g., Bones, Life, Pushing Daisies, SCC [though I am way behind on canon there]) or written very little in (e.g., BSG, VMars, Narnia), as well as the usual suspects. You never know what I might do. Anything could happen! But I have to be at least familiar with the source. (And I have to find the prompt inspiring. I make no promises.)

In other news, fox1013 is running a gen battle, which is like a porn battle without the porn, and it's time to leave prompts.

Yes, I should be in bed. I've been doing computery maintenance things that always take way more time than you expect them to. Sigh.

***

Things. And also, stuff.

+ had a lovely dinner with innie_darling, dotfic, and tenaciousmetoo, though I am somewhat amused that I did not actually order chicken francese (which I order a lot, but I wanted a change) - I ordered chicken scarpariello - and yet I got chicken francese. It was very good. Just...not what I'd ordered. The conversation was exactly what I wanted though.

+ if, like me, you are kind of crazy about what order your programs are in on your taskbar, taskbar shuffle is for you. someone mentioned it in seperis's comments the other day and I dl'd and installed it today, and now I can move stuff around down there, which pleases me, because when things are not in the correct order on my taskbar, I get twitchy and I used to have to shut it all down to fix it. (I fear this is the same thing that leads me to hating comment counts that are odd numbers not ending in five, but I am working on letting that go.)

+ I posted my catchallathon story today I guess it's yesterday now:

New York Renaissance
Sports Night; Dan/Casey; pg; 3,235 words
"I wasn't ready then. But I am now."

Since I don't actually ship Dan/Casey, I had never written the pairing before. It was difficult. It's not that I actually dislike Casey. I like him quite fine. But he suffers in my estimation because he is not DAN. (It's kind of like how Simon suffers because he is not MAL.) Dan Rydell is one of my all-time top five favorite tv characters ever. Casey is... that guy he works with. *ducks* I do like Casey, but I just like Dan, Dana, Isaac, Jeremy and Natalie better. So I found Casey really hard to write. Which is possibly why he is not in the story very much, even though the emotional climax of the whole thing is in his hands. Heh. It was a tricky line to walk. I'm happy with how the story turned out, my recipient was happy, and apparently, so were a bunch of people who read it, which I really appreciate. Thank you.

+ this means my obligations are done! I can write whatever the hell I want to now, with no deadlines. AWESOME.

+ this also means I watched me some Sports Night the other day, to refamiliarize myself with the voices (well, to get a handle on Casey, really) and it never, ever fails to please. I cried during Dan's speech in "the Apology." I got sniffly during "Mary Pat Shelby." I am sure when I get to "Six Southern Gentlemen...," I will cry again. I have to say, the show has held up remarkably well. If you have never seen it, I cannot recommend it highly enough, and it is only two seasons of 1/2 hour episodes, so you can marathon it in a couple days. SO WORTH IT, even with the flaws (ah, the first time Aaron Sorkin dicked us over). I think "Thespis" is one of the great tv episodes of ever.

+ speaking of shows that make me cry, I watched last night's Friday Night Lights

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I am not sure how they are going to play this, since there are only two eps left, but I would be okay with them not having a fourth season. I would say you don't even need to see season 2 to pick up season 3 when it starts airing on NBC on January 16. I think the only show that made me cry (in the good cathartic, deeply emotional way) as consistently as FNL was West Wing, which the first few seasons left me weepy in the good way quite frequently. (Buffy had some moments, but I think it happened more with West Wing.)

+ I am supposed to go out to the parents' tomorrow, but there is supposed to be a lot of snow, so I don't know if I want to, or if I want to wait until Monday. Also, they want me to stay out for the full two weeks of the holidays, but I am not sure about that either. Man, it was a year ago this time that my heat was out and I was mainlining Dark Angel. Time certainly flies. Possibly I will do a Dark Angel rewatch soon. I do have some Max/Alec porn I want to write.

+ I love this song so much. It is such a Remus/Sirius song. Sigh. I mean, I loved it before that, but now it reminds me of my Doomed OTP of Tragic Endings.

+ I am slowly catching up on answering comments. Go me!

***

I can't believe it's August already. How did that even happen? But that means it's time for the monthly roundups.

Top 5 Songs - July 2008

5. You Will Rise - Tom McRae
Maybe soon, maybe now,
When this town shakes to the ground
Maybe then, you and I will rise
Maybe now, maybe soon,
When the waters cover you
Maybe then you will rise

Possibly the most depressing Tom song ever, and yet! Simply gorgeous.

4. Better Things (live) - Dar Williams
I know you've got a lot of good things happening up ahead
The past is gone it's all been said,
Here's to what the future brings
I know tomorrow you'll find better things
I know tomorrow you'll find better things

This is one of my favorite songs of all time, as in top five favorites of all time, and all due respect to the Bros. Davies, I think this is my favorite version of it.

3. Houdini and the Girl - Tom McRae
He says I've been under the water
I've been under the ground
And honey one thing's certain
There's no escaping now.
'Cause it's a long way down
Yeah it's a long way down
from here

I just like this a lot. Possibly I listened to a lot of Tom this month. More than usual, even.

2. Flesh Mechanic - Placebo
all the movies in my head
they flicker with my bleeding heart
a careless slipping of the tongue
on just another private part

I still can't decide if this is about a serial killer or a plastic surgeon. I listen to it an awful lot, though, and imagine the great Max/Alec vid that someone could make with it.

1. Foundations - Kate Nash
Thursday night,
everything's fine,
Except you've got that look in your eyes,
when I'm telling a story
And you find it boring
you're thinking of something to say.
You'll go along with and then drop it
And humiliate me, in front of our friends.

I can't stop listening to this song! I just love everything about it! Except the long fade-out at the end. I am not a fan of long fade outs.

***

July 2008 Writing Roundup

your mouth like an ocean
Firefly; River/Kaylee; pg; 1,345 words
River pretends Kaylee's the sun and she's the moon, and they are floating out in space.

For those who were not aware before now, *snerk* I like nightswimming stories.

The Stormy Present
Supernatural/Battlestar Galactica; Dean/Kara; adult; vague spoilers through all aired eps of both series; 7,620 words
Kara's a pilot, and Dean hates flying.

I really love how this turned out. It makes me happy.

My spn_summergen story
It's a sekrit, so I can't say anything else, except that I finally stopped dicking around with it, chose a summary (thanks, esorlehcar), and sent it in around midnight last night. Now comes the long wait until it's posted, and then until I can claim it. Sigh. Hopefully, I don't notice anything too egregiously wrong in the interim. I do love how it turned out, though. I hope the recipient does, too.

The stories go up starting on Monday, and if you see one you think was written by me, I'd be interested in your guesses.

It was a weird month, writing wise. At the beginning, The Stormy Present kind of ate my brain, and then I got swept up in beer and the highway, which I had to put aside to write my spn_summergen story. Which had a few false starts, but once it got going, it really kind of went, and places I wasn't quite expecting it to go. I do really like how it turned out though. And now I can concentrate on a bunch of other wsip, such as:

= I've Got Some Beer and the Highway's Free
= the It's a Shame About Ray story
= The Crackpots and These Women
= Shibboleth
= the Houdini story
= teen!Dean/Catholic schoolgirls
= Dean/Cordelia
= Dean/Veronica
= Isaac and Ishmael

There are many more, but those are top of mind right now.

***

seperis and general_jinjur are once again running the DVD Commentary Challenge. I am always thrilled to have other people write commentaries for my stories - lunabee34 did a fantastic one for Tending to Grace a couple of years ago.

So, you know, feel free to sign up to do a commentary on one of my stories. *g* I will shower you with praise if you do.

And if you are looking for commentaries done by the authors themselves, I have a whole bunch of them in my memories here. I haven't read all of them – many of them aren't even in my fandoms – but whenever I come across one, I memorify it.

***

The Wire

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*

The Sarah Connor Chronicles

( spoilersCollapse )

*

cunnilingusfic! A community for stories about Dean (and Sam) going down on girls! Possibly my very favorite kind of thing to read ever. Dean going down on girls for the motherfucking WIN, y'all.

*

People, the cut-tag is your friend! Video embeds, cat macros, quiz results, pictures of hot chicks in fishnets, or photos of hobbity-looking emo rock bands should not be appearing on my flist naked and uncut!

I have nothing against these things in general (well, except for cats, but our enmity is long-established), but they belong behind a cut! A thumbnail outside the cut is fine, but large pics should be cut. That goes double if they are not work-safe!

The cut-tag: learn it, love it, live it.

***

There was fic last night, for the magnificent amberlynne's birthday:

Ritual Sacrifice, with Pie
Supernatural; Dean/Emily; adult; 4,320 words
"You have to have sex with me." "I'm sorry. I don't think I heard that right."

I have had this story idea for at least a year. Actually, until I opened the file this weekend (after giving up on two other attempts at a birthday story, and wondering if I could actually pull off writing Jim/Pam without having seen all of canon; the answer to that was a resounding no. I do not understand people who think they can write good fic without being familiar with the available canon, but that's a rant for another time, and wow, that was a long tangent), I hadn't worked on it since October 6, 2006 (thank you, MS Word). And there was no actual story text in the file, just a bunch of IMs between me and amberlynne about how hilarious it would be if Emily once again found herself facing ritual sacrifice, and needed to shed her virginity to escape. If ever there were a job for Dean Winchester... well, who you gonna call, indeed.

So I would occasionally talk about this story, because the idea made me gleeful (awkward and unfulfilling first time sex! Dean being indignant when his manly prowess was called into question!) and because "Scarecrow" really should have been titled "Ritual Sacrifice, with Pie" and I sure as hell wanted to use the title even if Kripke didn't, but there was no real impetus to write it, and I have had a really hard time writing funny stories lately (just lately, you say?). But I was determined, and well, there you have it. I hope other people find it as funny as I do.

I honestly didn't think anyone but amberlynne (and laurificus, but that's only because I made her beta it) would read it, so I was really thrilled and surprised to open my email this morning to a bunch of lovely feedback. Thank you so much for the wonderful comments.

***

The deadline for the DVD Commentary challenge is approaching - all of my stories are available for commentating, if someone would like to tackle one of them. It's really kind of awesome for me, as a writer, to see what someone else has to say about one of my stories in this format (you can read the awesome one lunabee34 did for Tending to Grace here; I still think that's one of the best stories I've ever written).

I mean, I love doing dvd commentaries, but I feel like I am just blathering on about stuff nobody but me really cares about (not that I let that stop me, obviously; I'm in the middle of doing one for "Beggars Would Ride" that I'm pretty sure no one is going to read, but I just like talking about that story), whereas at least this way, other people can talk about the stuff *they* think is important in a story, as opposed to reading about what I was having for lunch the day I wrote such-and-such scene, and that's why they're having ham sandwiches instead of soup, etc.

***

In other deadline-y news, yuletide is open for small/obscure fandom nominations. I haven't even had a chance to look through yet, though I am pretty sure that the one new thing I'd want added (Burn Notice) is being taken care of.

Two years ago, I ran one holiday exchange and participated in four (and wrote a total of six stories); last year, I did only yuletide; this year, I might have to do one or two others (Firefly, maybe, as well as SPN). I am still mulling.

Of course, all of this talk of ficathons reminds me that I still haven't come to a decision about Remix, and I've kind of been avoiding thinking about it, but hopefully I'll have a decision made by the end of the year.

***

I had an anxiety dream about Remix last night. I dreamt it was time to do the matching and I had no working computer, and thus couldn't access the spreadsheet, the signup comments, or my email. It was the exact opposite of happy fun times.

I still haven't decided if I'm doing it again next year. Dreams like that definitely leave me leaning towards no.

***

Speaking of challenges, the lovely and talented laurificus is running The Supernatural-West Wing Title Challenge, in which the idea is to write a story in Supernatural fandom using the title of a West Wing episode. (We did this last year with The Firefly West Wing Title Challenge. It was fun.)

There are 151 titles to choose from, there can be more than one use of any given title, and no actual knowledge of The West Wing is required, the deadline is four weeks away, and you only need to write 500 words, so you should go play.

***

Man, it was hard to get up this morning. Monday mornings would be so much better if they started later. And also didn't follow Sunday nights, which generally suck, if only because they are a prelude to Monday mornings. I feel this is probably a whole big chicken-egg thing, but honestly, being able to get up an hour or two later on Monday morning would make my life so much better I can't even tell you.

***

I need to tag all the posts on unfitforsociety @ insanejournal, and I need to tag and put into memories all the fic on musesfool @ insanejournal.

This will be my new form of procrastination when I should be writing. Aren't you excited? I know I am.

***

Speaking of writing, I posted fic last night:

What You Own
Supernatural; Sam and Dean; pg; spoilers through AHBL2; 1,840 words
"That's it? It took you a whole freaking year of research to come up with that?"

When laurificus first gave me the prompt (you left my heart empty as a vacant lot for any spirit to haunt), I thought the only place to go with it was really depressing Dean-during-the-Stanford-era fic, but I just couldn't do it. I am just a big fluffy puppy who wants everyone to shag and be happy. This is why I always laugh in disbelief when people tell me my stories are angsty, because I am not much of an angst fan.

Thank you to the people who've read and commented. I really appreciate it, and I am catching up on comments. Truly, I am.

***

For the third time in four days, I am having ice cream for lunch. I walked into the Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins and the girl behind the counter said, "Two scoop sundae, one vanilla, one chocolate, hot fudge, chocolate sprinkles." And I was like, "I really am that predictable."

I can't help it! Nothing else looks appetizing! And it's so yummy!

***

The DVD Commentary Challenge is live - go sign up to do a commentary, or to have one (or more) done of your stories! It's awesome!

***

From ignipes, the post snippets from all your WsIP meme:

( I have hopes that someday, most of these will be doneCollapse )

I think that's it for now. At least that I have actual verbiage for, and not just a chat transcript pasted into a word document.

***

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments and birthday wishes! I really appreciate it. I adore you lots and lots, and my life would be a lot poorer without all y'all in it.

I went to dinner with my parents, and then my brother and sister and their families came over here to have cake, and there was the usual family hilarity out on the patio, and some tasty ice cream cake and it was good.

Booty, swag, and plunder:

oxoniensis wrote gorgeous, joyful girl!Sam/Dean: buried in the skin

dotfic wrote wistful, achy Dean/Hailey: Someday, Maybe

innie_darling wrote lovely and insightful Sam/Jess: Alla Prima

teand wrote fabulous, sly Dean/Cordelia: Overheated

ileliberte drew an amazing portrait of Dean as Destruction and Sam as Dream to go with That what you fear the most could meet you halfway.

amberlynne made me amazing Dean/girl!Sam manips (because of the trouble I'm having with LJ, I am linking to the gallery - the first seven are Amber's work; the last two are just random pics of Katee Sackhoff where she looks like girl!Sam to me)

Thanks also to midnitemaraud_r and macteague for the lovely birthday pressies in my userinfo!

And I posted fic as my mathom to you lot:

The Love There That's Sleeping
Harry Potter; Sirius/Remus; pg-13; 4,460 words
Remus looked like he had a secret, and Sirius desperately wanted to know.

A story that was over three years in the making, featuring nervous, pining Sirius, oblivious (or is he?) Remus, and the Beatles.

Thanks for the lovely feedback, and I will get to answering it soon.

Unrelated to my birthday:
sanj: Dean Winchester is a Hufflepuff who thinks he's a Gryffindor, and Sam Winchester is a Slytherin who thinks he's a Ravenclaw. Discuss.. And then ignipes said there should be fic about it, with which I can only agree. And then ignipes actually wrote it. ♥ ♥ ♥

~*~

Ocean's Thirteen opens today!

*twirls*

Reviews are mixed, as usual, but it sounds like more fun (and less humiliation squick) than O12, so I imagine I will be seeing it in the theatre at some point.

All the reviews are somewhat spoilery (especially EW), but I'm not sure it really matters with this kind of movie.

* Entertainment Weekly

* NY Times

* NY Daily News

* NY Post

* Salon

And George and Brad (with an occasional assist from Matt) doing their thing:

* Lucky Stars

* Fun with George and Brad

* Jokers Wild

* Brad Pitt Reluctantly Gets On His Knees with Clooney & Damon

And remember that rumor that George and Brad were buying a gay bar and turning it into a B&B? Well, apparently, the property is on the market again: Brad And George Get Another Shot At Purchasing The Gay-Owned Business Of Their Dreams (thanks to hackthis for the last two links)

I don't do RPF, but if I did, George/Brad would totally be my RPF OTP*.

As it is, I am hoping some excellent Danny/Rusty fic comes out of this movie, especially as both Tess and Isabel are gone. For those of you looking for O11 stories, I've got links!

I wrote the Danny/Rusty essay for ship_manifesto a couple years ago: The Perfect Hand, and I also ran two iterations of takethehouse, an O11 ficathon, plus all my O11 recs can be found here. (all the O11 fic I've written can be found here.)

Hot thieves in love, people! There is no bad here!

*is hoping for an O11 fic mini-renaissance*

--
* With Jared and Jensen closing fast. Oh boys... *smishes them*

***

One of my favorite BtVS scenes ever:

Buffy: I told one lie. I had one drink.

Giles: Yes, and you were very nearly devoured by a giant demon snake. The words 'let that be a lesson' are a tad redundant at this juncture.
(Reptile Boy)

Last night, fleurdeleo and I went to dinner, and I had one beer, and um, I basically went to bed at 11 last night, because I was so wiped. Dinner was good, though.

Before I did that, though, I read Demian's recap of AHBL1, and for what is possibly the first time ever where TWOP recaps are involved, I actually laughed out loud. It was the Wham! reference that did me in. And I mean full-on giggling with hand clapping.

And am I crazy, or are we down to 36 hours until the second part of the finale? For which I am not and do not want to be spoiled. My squee is a mighty thing, though it has to be all quiet and internal here at work, which makes me all jittery. Or possibly that's the coffee (it's supposed to be decaf, but whatev).

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So the "Gilmore Girls" finale was satisfying? I was watching the Mets take a pounding instead, but I might take a gander at it if I can find it online if people say it's worth it and won't make me want to stab my eyes out the way last season did.

"Gilmore Girls" was my comfort show, the show I knew I could turn on and no matter what, it would make me happy. It made me laugh, it occasionally made me cry, it made me squee, and there wasn't anyone on it I hated (well, except maybe Taylor, but he was supposed to be annoying, and I never enjoyed Kirk that much), and then they ruined it. And lo, my anger was great. Because my love was great - it wasn't the same kind of heavy fannish investment where I talked about it endlessly and wrote fic about it and thought about it all the time, but it was the kind of love you have for your very favorite things, and when they ruined it, it was like my beloved teddy bear had turned into a snake. While the transformation was happening, I was all, "it's still my beloved teddy bear, I can still love it as a snake," but then it turned around and bit me, and that was the end of that.

And wow, man, that is one freaking ridiculous metaphor, and yet it totally explains how I feel.

I am, perhaps, still smarting from the second half of last season.

My new comfort show is "Bones," which is a whole different vibe, but it still gives me an hour with characters I enjoy a lot, and it's not the cases I watch for, but the characters and their relationships, and I am not nearly as invested as I was in "Gilmore Girls," so hopefully it won't ever end badly. Tonight looks like it should be awesome.

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Pimping:

doitillegally: a ficathon for heist movies. Prompt claiming is open here. Ocean's Eleven! The Thomas Crowne Affair! The Italian Job! Hot thieves in love! Disguises! Getaway cars! The long con! You know you want to!

spn_harlequin: There's no info up yet, but SPN stories based on romance novel prompts! My not-so-sekrit shame: when estrella30 floated the idea, my first reaction was, "Can I make Sam a girl?" and she said, "sure!" And um, I may have already plotted the whole thing out in my head. *cough* Hopefully there's a prompt that fits it, because it is AWESOME and HISTORICAL (complete with almost no historical accuracy) and RIDICULOUS and I kind of love it a lot, and if I don't write it for this challenge, I will probably never write it, and that would make me sad (I'm sure you all would sigh with relief, but you are probably not that lucky).

summer_of_ats: The Summer of Angel is a fandom project to re-watch Angel: the Series from start to finish, with discussion and fic challenges. They started last week, but you can hop on at any time.

And this isn't new, but there is a similar community for "Homicide: Life on the Street" at homicidereruns. I believe they're at "Justice Part 1" right now (which means that my question about the grilled cheese sandwiches was pretty well-timed. Heh.). If you've never seen HLotS before, you probably want to start at the beginning, because the first three seasons are pretty much made of awesome (and seasons one and two are very short) and contain some of the best television ever made ("Three Men and Adena" and "Crosetti"), and my personal favorite episode, "Night of the Dead Living." Homicide is fantastic television through its first five seasons (seasons 6 and 7 have isolated pockets of greatness, but are sadly lesser overall), and people who are fans of serialized fiction should watch it, because it is made of WIN on many levels.

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Lastly, the MJ kerfuffle (um, see also here and here) has made the NY Post: Bloggers are scorching their keyboards, claiming that a statuette of Mary Jane, based on artist Adam Hughes' notion of a fantasy femme, is an eyeful of outrage.

(DD: You're famouser! "Devildoll" wrote on the site LiveJournal, "Okay, people. It's been six days and 750 comments and I'm not going to try to keep up anymore.

If you're here to comment about how much you dislike it, I agree with you and I thank you for commenting." )

I think that's kind of awesome, actually.

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Woohoo!!

From the Hollywood Reporter: Additionally, the network has renewed sci-fi dramas 'Smallville' and 'Supernatural' and teen soap "One Tree Hill" for next season.

And it's confirmed in Variety: Returning shows snagging official pickups: Laffers "Girlfriends" and "The Game" and dramas "Smallville," "Supernatural" and "One Tree Hill."

Excellent!

And if they do move it to Sunday, I would totally be down with that.

Now if it were only Thursday... Sigh...

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Work is driving me bugfuck. I am smarter than this software, and yet it is kicking my ass. Gah.

Also, my story is not writing itself. I do not approve.

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If you are not reading latxcvi on Heroes, you are missing out. LaT's posts on any subject are generally incisive and thought-provoking - I often read her post-ep analysis of shows I don't even watch, because she's just that awesome - but she really brings it with the Heroes talk.

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The Warm Fuzzy-Cold Prickly thing is being discussed again, causing me to have Many Thinky Thoughts I can't quite corral into any kind of cohesion, but I once again reminded my writing started out really Warm Fuzzy and has since moved on down the spectrum to the place I inhabit now, where I am too Cold Prickly for the Warm Fuzzies and too Warm Fuzzy for the Cold Pricklies.

Anyway, I have more to say on this subject, so consider this a placeholder/reminder, but I have to get back to having my ass kicked by our expense reporting system.

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Woo! zeplum finished her SPN/China Beach crossover that she wrote for me, and you can read it here:

A Noon As Dark by zeplum
Dodger knows his dad from way back. Actually, Dean suspects that they've been friends since before the hunting started, but he's never asked. There's something about how they speak, how they move around one another that tips Dean off.

So cool!

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I have a title for the Sam POV story! Woo! Now if I could just actually write the story, that'd be great. Sigh. Stupid writing. Why so hard?

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HLOTS fans: Was the grilled cheese subplot in "Stakeout" or am I remembering that wrong?

[eta] It's "Justice part 2." Thanks, giandujakiss. [/eta]

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the soundtrack of your life meme, revived by copracat

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie.

( the soundtrack of my lifeCollapse )

9 hours and 20 minutes until part one of the SPN season finale tonight. OMG I am unspoiled (I don't even know the episode title!) and I am going to die of antici....

wait for it...

pation...

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