Hello!

I'm xen. Mostly, I'm a fanartist. Very occasionally, I write fics. The rest of the time, I babble.

This journal is a mirror of my fannish home on Dreamwidth. If you have a DW account, please consider following me over at xenakis. You can also use OpenID or poke me for an invite code, I have plenty! You are of course welcome to friend this journal instead, no need to ask or tell me why (although I would love to know, or you can just say hi!). Unless I think you're my grandma, I will probably grant you access in return. In any case, only rl related posts are locked.

The link below brings you to my masterlist of art and fics on DW (all works have links back to LJ entries). I hope you enjoy them! Comments, feedback or concrit on any of them are always welcome.

MASTERLIST OF ART AND FICS

Not-Technically-Backlog-Cause-I-Made-This-Last-Weekend post #3!!!

MY PACIFIC RIM FEELS, YOU GUYS. IT'S EMBARRASSING *claws at face*

I just want Mako Mori to be President of everything ever and Raleigh Becket Mori to be the best First Husband and to knit her lots of sweaters and love her lots and lots and lots while Stacker Pentecost glares at him from beyond the Drift. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?



All the Places We Went To
Also on AO3 (bigger resolution) and tumblr

Gipsy Danger is beyond the bottom of the ocean, now, but Mako and Raleigh can always find her in the Drift.

( Full piece under the cutCollapse )



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Backlog post #2!!!

This, it will come to no surprise, is all Plor's fault.

These doodles mark the moment where the chatlogs between toomuchplor and I went from "Eames is hilariously pregnant!" to "LET'S GIVE ARTHUR AND EAMES ONE BAJILLION BABIES!!!"

Also curtesy of the chatlogs, we remembered that this entire series was briefly going to be called Every Sperm is Sacred. Because obviously.



Let the Heathen
Also on AO3 (bigger resolution) and tumblr

Where Otis is tiny, Luke is the prettiest God of Thunder, tired George is tired and Arthur has Dad Shoulders.

( Full pieces under the cutCollapse )



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Backlog post #1!!!

I did this piece back in March, because three years into this fandom, I am still waiting for the epic fic where Dream goes all "WTF is this, get off my lawn" at the PASIV users stomping all over the Dreaming. And also because Eames is totally Desire, let's be real. (And why do you think Arthur uses all that hair gel? Because otherwise *point at icon*)



Under Again
Also on AO3 (bigger resolution) and tumblr

When the PASIV program had started sending trigger-happy soldiers down into the Dreaming, Morpheus had had no choice but to take the matter into his own hands. Desire -bored and precariously back into the Dream King's good graces- had offered to tag along.

( Full piece under the cutCollapse )



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HI DREAMWIDTH HIIIIII!!!!!

Well, I'm not dead, but it appears I have unknowingly moved to where all the cool kids are these days...

So, if you want a slightly less intermitent update on my life and my fannish ramblings and offerings, I can be found here xenophonique and here xenophonique and here xenakis.

Because I'm a completist, though, I'm about to spam you with the few things I've managed to produce but forgot to post here since... Yuletide reveal, dear God D:

I promise I'll do better from now on, mostly because I have recently smashed ridiculously hard into a brick wall of Pacific Rim/Mako Mori feels, and I expect many a fanart bunny to hit me in the near future, mostly featuring Raleigh Becket as the best golden retriever puppy in the world. *FLAILS*



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ahjgsdajsdgfdf I've just realized that apparently, in the utter madness that are the Holidays, I've dreamt that I posted this entry, but... didn't? So to remedy this at once:

A YULETIDE STORY FOR ME!!!!

Guys, guys, guys!!! Look what I got!!!!

Throw A Stone to Break Some Glass (1460 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: A Day Made of Glass (Commercial)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dan, Jennifer
Summary: Sometimes the future is not all it seems to be. A sort of post-apocalyptic fic based on the commercial, A Day Made of Glass. The title is a twist on the saying, "People in glass houses should not throw stones."


It's a wonderfully creepy look at what Jennifer goes through throughout the commercials. It raises really brilliant questions about what it means when computers designed to make your life easier starts making the decisions for you. And what happens when some people starts realizing something's wrong.

It made my Yuletide morning, and you should all read it and tell my author how awesome they are! I can't wait to know who wrote it!!!


As for my own story, I'm not giving you guys any clues this year, it's just so ridiculously obvious :P Guess away!



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In honour of BBC Merlin ending (and to give yue_ix a heart attack from the surprise of me posting this after *counts* three years of it sitting there as a WIP) I present to you my (most probably) very last piece of Merlin fanart!

This is inspired by happydork's wonderful OT4 LeGuin fusion fic An Ever-Fixed Mark, which I will assume everyone has read (and if you haven't, RUN, don't walk!!!). This is my vision of Camelot's ruling sedoretu, as well as my personal head-canon of how Merlin should have ended. I hope you enjoy it!




The Royal Sedoretu of Camelot
Also on AO3 (bigger resolution)
( Full piece and closeup under the cutCollapse )



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Dearest toomuchplor,

So I tried mailing you these for you birthday, but apparently Poste Canada cannot magically ship photoshopped covers of fictional recordings of fictional characters from alternate universes of works of fiction across the country. Which I frankly think is just rude.

So instead these humble offerings shall forever remain on our fictional bookshelves, unattainable and silent, and yet proof that somewhere out there, Arthur and Eames are making music like classically-trained badasses, falling in love all over the Steinway and taking us along for the ride.


Happiest numerically improbable birthday, Plorface.

<3 <3 <3 <3



Still Life (in Progress)
Also on AO3 (bigger resolution)
( close-ups under the cutCollapse )



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Yes, it's me again, and the terribleness is only escalating.

Behold:

a guy like you (should wear a warning) (4505 words) by xenakis, toomuchplor
Fandom: Inception (2010)
Rating: Explicit
Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)
Summary: In which Eames’ excuse for getting naked in front of Arthur is even more filmy and transparent than his panties — and that’s saying something.

So, in a fit of dementia, toomuchplor and I decided that it would be really awesome to write/draw a story as a sort of mixed media round-robin. She pointed me to the Draw Something app for iPhone, which is why the beggining of this masterpiece looks like this:



I'm... not actually going to repost the rest of the "art" I contributed, BECAUSE OF OBVIOUS REASONS. You can see/read the rest of this shameful adventure at the link above or at Plor's journal here.

UUURG. I SWEAR AT SOME POINT I WILL STOP USING MY (increasingly dubious) ART-FU FOR EVIL.



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What better way to relearn how to post than by spamming all of you with terribleness?


So I was at the library, lazily browsing the music shelves, when my eyes caught the most magnificent example of late 1990s CD cover fashion:



OH GLORIOUSNESS. The upturned jaws, the pensive looks, the terrible clothes, the random Hourglass of Symbolism, THE MOTHERFUCKING ROSE OF AUSTRIAN ANGST AND ROMANTICISM.

And then, and then- I had to- I just had to-

( Yeah, you know where this is going. SteinwayVerse purists, you should probably not click this. BUT COME ON YOU GUYS, THIS IS SO TOTALLY WHY GOD INVENTED PHOTOSHOP.Collapse )

I'm not sorry.



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*testing, testing* Does this thing still work?

So, I saw Prometheus.

( Some random, spoilery thoughtsCollapse )

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Two posts in a day! Trying to make up for lost time by doing a little bit of meme lemminging:

My top 10 AO3 works by hit count:

1. Of Pants, Pranks and Incidental Courtships | 10757 hits | Fic | BBC Merlin RPF
2. Nearly Home | 5885 hits | Fanart (fic by toomuchplor) | Inception
3. Je te veux | 5827 hits | Fanart and audio editing (fic by toomuchplor, podfic by pennyplainknits) | Inception
4. I am Acton Bell's Metaphorical Manhood | 4462 hits | Fic | Hark! A Vagrant
5. They're not one hundredth of you, your Highness | 1239 hits | Fanart | BBC Merlin
6. Oooops | 1152 hits | Fanart | BBC Merlin/xkcd
7. At the Nut Factory | 1149 hits | Fanart | BBC Merlin
8. Such a Vast Multitude | 1014 hits | Fic and fanart | BBC Merlin
9. NBC [B] 3.4.6.11. 1) | 901 hits | Fic | Inception
10. Before the Nile | 550 hits | Fic and fanart | Temeraire

( some blabbering under the cutCollapse )



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Hello everybody?

Um. Rumors of my death have been (only slightly) exaggerated?

Anyway, RL has been particularly RLy lately, but who cares about that when fandom shows up and SHOWERS ME WITH AWESOME?

LOOK WHAT MY FRIENDS GAVE ME FOR MY BIRTHDAY LOOK LOOK LOOK!!!!!

toomuchplor wrote me Twinky Bottom!Eames with Sekrit Feelings and Architecture Snob!Arthur with Sekrit Pet Names. Then, because she felt the whole thing wasn't enough to melt me in a puddle of goo, she topped the whole thing with Cuddles on Flea-Ridden Couches (her titles are better, but mine are more accurate, so there).

ASKFHSDGAKSHFGADSJHDGSA. AND THEN. AND THEN.

anatsuno put All the Feelings into a cold read of Plor's fic, that I have now edited for your listening pleasure BECAUSE THE GREATNESS MUST BE SHARED (except for the bit where she says "wriggling" ten times fast, that bit of greatness is mine and mine alone :D :D :D ).


BESTEST FRIENDS OR MOST BESTEST??? :DDDDDDDD


ilu guys *ALL THE SMOOCHES*



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toomuchplor and I came to refer to this project as Operation Schmoop Bomb. This is your only warning.

Nearly Home (25127 words) by xenakis, toomuchplor | Plor's DW masterpost
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Inception (2010)
Rating: Explicit
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)
Characters: Arthur (Inception), Eames (Inception), Dom Cobb, Yusuf (Inception), Ariadne (Inception), Original Female Character
Summary: Ndoto haihadithiwi ~ You can’t name a dream. - Swahili Proverb
Arthur and Eames are on the verge of giving up mind crime when Cobb convinces Arthur to be his point man on one last job — which rather inevitably goes wrong. Eames is pulled into the mess as Cobb’s simple heist spirals into an attempt on inception. It’s time to stop trespassing on the dreams of others; building a home takes two sets of hands.

Part of Inception Big Bang. Many thanks to frigg, who has developed some kind of freaky art beta sixth sense, for which I am eternally grateful. Endless glompage to Plor, for the utter delight that was making this with her. I would offer my firstborn, but if there's one thing we've learned from this whole adventure, it's that we prefer kids that are not ours, or better yet, entirely fictional :P



( Four pieces of ovary-damaging artses under the cutCollapse )



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It's reveal time!

Thank you oxoniensis, wonderful writer of my Tintin fic The Tchang Affair, and misura, cracked-out creator of my Hark! A Vagrant one, Études (the ~*FRANZ LISZT!!!1!*~ featuring F. Chopin remixes). YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST <3 <3 <3 Go read their stories now, if you haven't already!


My own fic this year was for the lovely escritoireazul, who wanted ladies kicking asses, dinosaurs and apocalypses. Who was I to resist such a combination?

Thank you so much to toomuchplor for the cheerleading and last-minute beta. Thank you also to the usual suspects, for putting up with my flailing and moaning while I was writing this <3

Woman Inherits the Earth (2265 words) by xenakis
Fandom: Jurassic Park (Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kelly Curtis Malcolm/Lex Murphy
Summary: The headlines had gone from BRONTOSAURUS IN CENTRAL PARK to KILLER ROCKS IN EARTH'S HEADLIGHTS in the space of an afternoon.</p>



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After months of lazyness, I've finally updated my AO3 profile and DW masterpost to include my remixing policy, which (shamelessly stolen and adapted from anatsuno's) reads like this:

You do not need to ask my permission to remix, podfic, translate, create art for or create any secondary fanwork of any fanwork I have posted. Anything you produce in turn should feature a link back to my work and credit me by name. Please also share your work with me, so that I can properly flail at it and thank you :D

\o/

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Because leupagus :

Drunk Ariadne is drunk, and so is xen.




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A month or so ago, toomuchplor, pennyplainknits and I posted Je te veux, a Steinway!verse multimedia project for pod_together. For completeness' sake, I'm reposting the various pieces of art I made here, as well as my editor/illustrator's notes:


Je te veux
Written by toomuchplor
Performed by pennyplainknits
Edited and illustrated by xenakis

Notes: Ok so, this is a little bit my fault. I just- I had so much fun working with Penny on Ach, des Kaben Augen, that I just wanted an excuse to do it again! So I went to Plor and said "Pod_together! Steinway! Write me something! Penny will totally read it! *handwaves* Pretty please?" and simultaneously went to Penny and said: "Pod_together! Steinway! Plor will totally write something! *handwaves* You'll read it! Pretty please?" Somehow, both of them agreed to indulge me, despite Plor jet-setting halfway across the world at the time, and Penny apparently being in the midst of podficcing ALL of bandom :P I LOVE YOU GUYS, SERIOUSLY. Much love also goes to anatsuno and yue-ix for last minute editing beta and handholding <3 <3 <3

Art-wise, I have never produced this many drawings in such a short time, OMG! This style was so liberating. Just a series of sketched outlines over selected references, and a splash of colour from a watercolour texture and tada! Much easier than my initial idea, which was a series of Quentin Blake-y cartoons like in those Roald Dahl books I loved as a child. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to make a squiggly deformed Eames look remotely attractive :P Therein lies Blake's genius, I realize, because I remember finding the BFG quite dashing in that book... Regardless, I hope I've managed to retain a bit of the charm of those children's book in my illustrations. Thank you once more to Yue for the quick and always insightful art beta.



Eames hadn't even heard the ping of the bell, the quaint sweet sound of it that's been so pleasant to him at the end of a long day of rehearsal the last week.
( more artses under the cut!Collapse )



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I'm not even kidding. Who comes up with these translations, oh my God.

So, that was amazing, and Andy Serkis and WETA are incredible, and all that, but am I the only one who came out of the cinema ardently craving a sequel where ( casting spoilers for Rise of the Planet of the ApesCollapse )

Fandom, if there isn't at least a dozen fics of this on the AO3 by the end of the month, I will be very disappointed.



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Annnd we're live!



Je te veux (6385 words) by toomuchplor, Pennyplainknits, xenakis
Fandom: Inception (2010)
Series: Steinway!verse
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)
Summary: The story of ‘happily ever after.’

This was a labour of much love and mutual admiration. I hope you'll enjoy reading/listening/watching it just as much as we enjoyed making it!



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OMG you guys, I have to laugh about this otherwise I'm gonna cry.

( TMI of the ladybits kind. All perfectly tame, really, unless you're a Young Male Doctor, apparently...Collapse )



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Reason 123654763 why I love this city:

Show up alone at the downtown cineplex, debating whether to go see something, and a fangirl will magically appear, ready to go in with you and squee maniacally during the whole thing.

So I've just come back from an impromptu viewing of X-Men: First Class with not_unwise  :D

( Spoilers in varying degrees of coherencyCollapse )</user>



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Awesome random thing what I learned today:

This fine lady's first name...

...is Turanga.

As in:

Matt Groening, ILU.

Bonus! A little introduction to the Ondes Martenot. (Watch Jean Laurendeau be a giant nerd at 6:00)


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So, I went to see Fast Five with cabayuki and margueritem :

( Spoilers go ZOOOOM!!!!Collapse )



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ivyblossom linked me to these, and they are too good not to share.


World, meet the Canadian political leaders, circa 1970-80:

Michael Ignatief was unashamed of his brains (or his inability to pick a tie, apparently).

Elizabeth May was hanging out with The Beatles.

Stephen Harper was a robot (plus ça change...).

Jack Layton used to look like this, then he made an unfortunate promise and has looked like this ever since.

Gilles Duceppe was... I don't even know. Words fail me.



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JESUS CHRIST KATE BEATON PLEASE STOP YOU ARE MAKING THE REST OF US LOOK REALLY PATHETIC


To quote emef :


YOU HEAR THAT BEATON? CHOOSE ONE OKAY?


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This is Chopin's Etude Opus 10, number 2, in A minor:
( lalala, so many notes!Collapse )

This is Chopin's Etude Opus 25, number 4, also in A minor:
( moar notes! wheee!Collapse )

This is Chopin's Etude Opus 25, number 11, still in A minor:
( a fuckton of notes omgCollapse )

And this is Marc-André Hamelin's Triple Étude, combining all three:
( what is this oh my god I don't evenCollapse )

No, that's not three different recordings played at once. That's just him and his (as far as we know) ten fingers. La preuve:
( NO. FOR SERIOUS. WHAT IS THIS.Collapse )

I just. What?



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Just came back from seeing Love and HONOUR on the Scottish Highlands The Eagle with tei and margueritem.

Um.
If you think of Kronar from Oglaf everytime somebody says the word honour, the whole mess makes a lot more sense? And judging by the number of women in this movie, this strip also applies perfectly.

( Random, not really spoilery thoughtsCollapse )

Also, there was the trailer for Fast and Furious 5 in the previews. We've made it as a target audience, guys, it's official.

Icon because Zuko would have loved this film.



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So, Penny and I made something:



Written by toomuchplor , read by pennyplainknits , with musical excerpts edited by yours truly.




I hope you enjoy it! We certainly had a great time making it!
Don't forget to tell Penny how awesome she is! And plor, of course, sine qua non.




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