Long time no post.

Things are finally beginning to settle down IRL -- home purchased, move in progress, no longer in school, no longer working two jobs -- which means I may, just may, be able to participate in Yuletide again.

\o/

I haven't checked out the fandom nominations yet, but here's what's kicking around in my brain...

I Love You, Man: Not because it's inherently slashy -- theirloveissopureandmagical -- but because I love the movie thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much.

The Aubrey/Mauturin novels: No reason needed.

The Otherland novels: Because I'm a sucker for worldbuilding. (Plus, Sam/Orlando 4EVA! Preferably in sims!)

The Philadelphia Story: Because! JUST BECAUSE!

The Persuaders: Because I can't stop loving them. (Thanks to very_improbable for pimping last summer.)

Bon Cop/Bad Cop: When I finally saw this movie last month, my heart overflowed with joy.

Live Free or Die Hard: The world needs more John McClane fic, the end, QED.

The Sting: Best. Eyefucking. Evar.

... and very, very possibly, I may need to sign up for Zombieland. I haven't seen it yet, but come on: A wise-cracking, pickaxe-toting good ol' boy helping a naive, rosy-cheeked young man survive the apocalypse? The slash, I'm assuming, will write itself.

Love and kisses, rare fandoms! See you soon!

Hello, pretty fannish LJ community! God, fandom, life just isn't the same without you. *sniffle*

So I recently made a two-hour space for movie watching in the house-hunting, wedding-planning, gig-playing, two-and-a-half-job-working mess that is my life... for none other than the timeless gem that is The Sting.

Fact 1: The Sting is arguably the best piece of cinema to come out of the seventies.

Fact 2: Either Redford and Newman were doing it, or their characters were. THE EYE-FUCKING. SWEET JESUS.

Fact 3: Paul Newman's eyes are simply amazing.

Finally -- finally -- Mr. Weekend and I have finished Season 4.5 of Battlestar Galactica.

( My spoilery reaction to the series finale, which is a) caps-heavy and b) may be more gleeful than yours. )

From game one of the Vancouver-St. Louis series:

A stray mic catches Burrows and Kesler chirping at the Blues*

That's my boys. \o/

Usually it's only the camera that catches the yelling, so Mr. Weekend and I do voice-overs along the lines of:

"Excellent call, ref!"
"Hey, what are you doing for dinner later?"
"Darn!"
"No, no, after you..."
"My regards to your mother."


* Kelly is the wife of David Backes, St. Louis right-winger. Rumour has it Burrows listens to other cities' sports radio to glean penalty-drawing ammunition.

Mr. Weekend had a hockey game late last night, but didn't want me to expose my weakened immune system to a freezing rink full of kiddie germs. So he downloaded Live Free or Die Hard for me.

I watched it. My reaction was pretty much a three-way split between a) Yay, Mac guy!, b) Stop using PCs, Mac guy!, and c) O HAI THAR MR MCLANE. With a side order of d) Awesomest. Teenage daughter. Ever.

Then I busted into my friendslist to see what kind of fic was out there, and lo and behold:


"Bottom of the sixth, power just went out," McClane said easily. Even he was speaking in a slightly hushed tone, like everyone around them--as if the underlying silence wasn't enough. "Good guys are winning, seven to three."


And then:


Matt looked up and met his eyes. McClane was watching him again, but this time he cracked a smile. "Attaboy," he said, under his breath. "Now you're getting it."


*dies of happiness*

That's National Pastime by dsudis.

Takes place one week after the end of the movie. Excellent use of recently sustained injuries, PTSD, well-earned paranoia, age difference, John's divorce, machismo, and the long-term implications of the fire sale. Contains one of the best-plotted sex scenes I've ever, ever read.

Stories like this are why I read fanfic.

Go! Read!

Last night I donated to and joined the Organization for Transformative Works.

You should, too! Why?

a) OTW = OWN THE WEB. And yes. Yes, we should.

b) The lolcats say so.

Hello all,

For reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, I will not be spending much time on the internet for the next three months. To this end, I may need to downsize my friendslist a bit. If I "defriend" you, please understand that it's not personal; I will most likely "friend" you again after the internet hiatus is over.

Thank you,

The Management

cross-posted to my personal journal

The problem with my new job is that LJ will only let me go back 400 entries on my friendslist. Woes!

Update on the fannish me:

Grand Torino might just be the feel-good movie of the year.

I cannot get enough Merlin fic. Give me drabbles, novels, angst, crackfic, AUs... I love it all.

That Papa Don't Preach vid never ceases to make me dissolve into giggles. Oh, JACK! Your poor despoiled honour!

Upon reflection, the Shoop Shoop vid remains fandom's best introduction to Captain Jack. Really, what more do you need to know?

I've discovered Mad Men, True Blood, 30 Rock and Life over the winter. Hurrah for new shows!

A note:

I don't like it when my people on my friendslist talk smack about each other. I friend people for a reason -- brilliant writing, funny posts, great recommendations -- but I'm a firm believer in "If you can't say something nice..." and "If you don't like it, don't read it." For my own sanity, I want to keep this a positive space. This is what I do for fun, after all.

Now, I don't write a lot of fic (understatement of the year), I rarely comment and I don't post much here. So if I remove you from my friendslist, no great loss, right?

Was deathly ill yesterday. Came home early from work. Spent rest of day reading OH MY GOD SO MUCH Merlin fic.

Added to friendslist like woah.

Have now seen every episode except "The Poisoned Chalice" and the end of "Valiant". Am convinced those two episodes are the bridge between "I hate you soooo much" and "I think I can tolerate you, and not just because you're smokin' hot" with re. Merlin/Arthur.

Can't decide if Colin looks more like Peter Wingfield or my ex. Very confusing.

Wish I could take today off, too.

Stupid work.

Having read lynnmonster's adorable new story The Chatter of Britain, I figured it was high time I check out some Merlin clips on YouTube.

YOU GUYS. Nobody told me Merlin was played by baby Peter Wingfield! Fandom is defenseless -- don't you understand?

Yup, that's about right.

For some reason, in my head, the deadline for Yuletide sign-ups was November 14th.

My only excuse: All my fannish energy was channeled towards our POTUS-to-be.

*sheds silent tear*

But because I cannot comprehend yuletide without Yuletide, I've signed up to be a pinch-hitter! Yay! Assuming I'm fast enough to claim anything (I understand the competition is fierce), I'm in for good writing times.


***


In other news: Heroes, how happy you've made me! I thought the shark had been well and truly jumped, but last night's episode was FREAKIN' AWESOME.

My "Are you a real American?" score: -24. Via apocalypsos.

I have made my nominations.

*ahem*

The Wire. I know they won't be slashed. I know they can't be slashed. That doesn't stop a girl from trying.

30 Rock. I just started watching and I WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH TINA FAY GOOD GOD YOU PEOPLE WEREN'T KIDDING.

Naomi Novik - the Temeraire series. Because never will I ever give up on Laurence/Tharkay. It will happen one of these years.

Coffee Prince. I thought about skipping this one, but then I thought of Eun Chan's dear little face... and The Kiss. How could I ever let you go, darling Coffee Prince?

Life (tv). I am desperate to see Charlie Crews have sex. Preferably with someone who isn't his clingy lawyer.

Entourage (tv). I've stopped watching, honestly, but dear god I love the fanfic. There needs to be so, so much more.

Yuletide fandom nominations are now open, which means it's time to start tearing myself from fivethirtyeight.com and thinking about rare fandoms!

The problem being, I can't think of anything specific I want written.

Since when does that happen?

The rare(ish) fandoms I've gotten into over the past year either are difficult to slash convincingly (The Wire, the Outlander series), contain OTPs that are already canon (Pride and Prejudice, the Obamas), or already have tons of awesome fic written (Iron Man).

It may be an all-gen December for Kumquat. Alas.

Barack sent me an email this morning with this link in it:


Our One-Stop Voter Registration Website

VoteforChange.com makes it easier than ever to register. Instead of tracking down the right forms, all you need to do is answer a few basic questions and you'll be ready to vote. You can also:

Confirm your existing registration

Apply to vote absentee

Find your polling place


I gave it a test drive. It's simple and easy to use.

I'm fairly positive that everyone who pays attention to this journal is either a) already registered or b) not an American citizen. Still, it's nice to know you're registered for sure.

Please link to this site in your own journal: www.voteforchange.com. You never know who just hasn't gotten around to it yet. They might even live in a swing state!

x-posted to my non-fannish journal

Buttons for Obama!

The t-shirts are totally sweet, too.

Why do you not ship to Canada? WHY?

Poor neglected journal! *pets*

I have nothing of interest to say, except that I will soon write a post that sums up my thought on The Wire, slash, and the extreme difficulty of slashing any of those ridiculously slashy people in The Wire.

I swear.

Um.

I've been watching Scrubs? The Janitor and JD are totally in love? Dr. Cox is the new LBD-cum-Alex Krycek of fandom?

*slinks back to work*

Mr. Weekend and I just finished Season 3 of The Wire.

My soul is broken and may never recover.

*sniffle*

___


Also, ( my thoughts on Dr. Horrible, let me show you them )

*sigh*

Someday, I swear I'm going to start posting regularly. I'm not at all absent from fandom; it's just that my participation takes place mostly in other people's comment threads.

Anyway.


Things I Am Loving

1. The Dark Knight's current 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.>

2. The Terminator: Salvation trailer.

3. The Watchmen trailer. Mr. Weekend and I watched it together last night. Our jaws dropped. We sat in silence for a few seconds afterward, and then simultaneously said, "Holy fuck."

Then Kevin rushed off to grab the book and picked out each and every panel that was replicated shot-for-shot in the trailer: Most were accurate down to the camera angle. I just wanted to watch it again and again.



Things That Are Pissing Me Off

1. Why film schools teach screenwriters not to pass the Bechdel test. Via elynross, who writes a pretty mean post on the subject herself.

The Rule, a.k.a the Bechdel test, has been a strong influence on my media consumption ever since I checked out that DTWOF book from the library. The Rule is why I love Joss Wheadon so freaking much. The Rule is why, for all the weird gender politics in Neil Gaiman's Stardust (especially the movie version), I still appreciated the witches. Talking to each other. About a star.

I still cheer a little every time I see a movie, TV show or comic book pass the Bechdel test. I wish it happened more often.

2. That I probably won't look like Helen Mirren when I reach my sixties. Via ahab99.