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December 1st, 2009
November 7th, 2009
08:22 pm - Dear Yuletide Writer
So, despite not having posted or checked this journal for, oh... most of 2009 (I regret missing some of your comments, and TS Secret Santa and various other end-of-year challenges I meant to glom onto at last moment--d'oh!) I am participating in Yuletide! So glad I didn't miss the deadline (Thursday).
( Dear Yuletide Writer... )
Happy Yuletide! See you on December 21.
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May 8th, 2009
March 22nd, 2009
12:57 pm - WHAT IF TED IS THE MOTHER!
I love How I Met Your Mother and I would rate "Slap Bet" and "Arrivederci Fiero" as two of the best episodes (if not the two BEST; Sandcastles is up there, though, along with Slapsgiving, World's Greatest Couple, Miracles). However after watching them both yesterday one after the other I noticed that they both have odd little transphobic moments.Barney: How's the Fiero?
Marshall: She's still in triage.
Ted: She? I thought it was your little boy?
Lily (sympathetically, rubbing Marshall's shoulder): Oh, it goes back and forth. It's sort of a tranny car. That's... that's really not what that means. Possibly this is some kind of transgender/transmission joke, but it doesn't work.
- In Slap Bet, Barney advises Ted that it would be better to find out any dealbreakers with Robin sooner rather than later, and Ted imagines standing at the altar on his wedding day and when he pulls back the veil Robin says, "I used to be a dude." That's the worst thing he can think of. That's the worst thing he can think of, given that even in this hypothetical scenario he's been friends with, dating, and sleeping with Robin and he hasn't noticed. It's a cheap shot, and not even character-driven.
It's a small moment, but it's really noticeable because otherwise "Slap Bet" is notable for being a remarkably tight episode: not only does it contain the best scenes/gimmicks (the slap bet, Robin Sparkles), but also a lot of the best incidental dialogue ("Porn--wait for it!--ography." "He went there for business!" "I'm not afraid of Sasquatch. I just think we should all be on alert" etc.)
In general, HIMYM is great when it's great and it's usually pretty good on gay stuff (the episode centering around Barney's gay brother has nothing to do with him being gay, for example), so this is just weird to notice.
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February 10th, 2009
11:15 am - A resurfacing, two recap links, and a brief osteological dialogue
I have not posted in six weeks! Did you notice?
I've been working on origfic and all my fandom stuff got pushed to back burnersville as did many other things. We'll see what happens. I think some of you may enjoy the original story I'm working on now, and I'll let you know if and when it becomes ready.
Meanwhile, I finished my Criminal Minds recaps. There's always time for recaps.
Season 3
Season 4
Finally, I watched the first three episodes of Bones last night, and I don't intend to do recaps for individual episodes, but based on what I have seen so far here is a sort of general summary of the show.
BONES: I am a forensic anthropologist. I don't like soft sciences! Even though I am an anthropologist. Also I have hong-kong action moves. Hi-ya!
BOOTH: Just leave the ass-kicking to me, Bones.
BONES: *Don't* call me *Bones*!
BANGS-WEARING ASSISTANT: I am your assistant! I write implausibly magical and yet largely useless computer simulations! Here is a simulation of my boobs. Oh no wait they are real
BEARDY McCONSPIRACY THEORY ASSISTANT: Aliens! Roswell! Eugenics!
BOY WONDER ASSISTANT: Please somebody have sex with me. Wait, work?
BANGS: You should "share" more of yourself with "others."
BONES: My parents disappeared mysteriously 15 years ago. Well, anyway, time to go back to sorting through these unidentified remains.
BANGS: Actually what I meant by that is that you should have sex with Booth. For some reason I am totally invested in this coming to pass!
BONES: But I don't want to. Also, he has a girlfriend. Also, emotions are soft, like boobs. Bones are hard.
BANGS: Ha ha, you said "bones." Also "hard."
BEARDY: Fluoride! Black helicopters! X-Files!
BONES: I don't know what that means.
ANGEL: This is my West Hollywood lifestyle, whatever!
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January 1st, 2009
12:42 pm - 2008 Round-up
It's new New Year, and you know what that means: author reveals and restrospectives!
I am now prepared to officially take credit (and/or blame) for the following:Permalinks will be up at my site... eventually.
( Retrospective questionnaire thingy )
( 2008 Roundup )
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December 30th, 2008
04:48 pm - CM Fic: "First Impressions" (WIP)
I had this plan for a five-part five-thingsish Criminal Minds story, but part 1 kind of got away from me. Since it's nearly 2,000 words with a beginning, middle, and end (though not necessarily a satisfying one), and since it's December 30 and I need a twelfth story for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) 12in2008, I'm posting it now as a WIP. Please enjoy. More to come, I hope.
Title: First Impressions (subject to change; WIP; 1/5)
Fandom, Pairing: Criminal Minds, Morgan/Reid
Word Count: ~1950
Rating: G (I think. At what point does something become PG?)
Notes: No spoilers; set prior to season 1. Relies on an idea of the timing and circumstances of Morgan's and Reid's joining the team that may well be contradicted in canon.
Reid's eyes flicked downward, over Morgan's arms and chest in his snug t-shirt, and came to rest on his own long fingers cupped around his glass. "Am I wasting my time?" he asked quietly. "I know I'm not to everyone's taste."
( First of the First Impressions )
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December 29th, 2008
04:02 pm - Philo Vance
For my birthday, my brother got me a book of Philo Vance stories. Philo Vance is apparently a popular-in-the-1920s pulp murder-mystery amateur detective, whom my brother discovered by googling the phrase "effete detective." I'm a big fan of people who are effete, detectives, and particularly effete detectives (evidenced by my love of Lord Peter Wimsey, Sir Percy Blakeney [admittedly more of an adventurer than a detective] and many interpretations of Sherlock Holmes), so after reading online complaints that Philo Vance was too effete, he rightly assumed that this guy would be right up my alley.
You guys: Philo Vance is too effete.
( The evidence before us. )
Anyway, the upshot of all this is that I have to tell you I've written a Philo Vance fic. Partially, of course, this is a desperate gambit to finish my 12 in 2008. (One more to go in the next two days! Can she do it?) If you're familiar with Vance, or if you found the above description "inf'nitely amusin'", you might enjoy it!
Title: A Most Unusual Soiree
Fandom, Pairing: Philo Vance, Vance/Van Dine
Rating: R
Word Count: ~3300
( The story. )
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December 28th, 2008
07:11 pm - LMFA 2008 results
results are in for the 2008 Light My Fire Awards and I Love You Completely was awarded Best Songvid! Thank you to the voters and mods. It was fun to participate.
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December 25th, 2008
11:19 pm - I have so many yuletide treats!!!
I've never participated in yuletide before, so I don't know if this is normal, but due to what I can only assume is a Christmas miracle and/or clerical error, I have been gifted with no less than five (5) stories! AND THEY ARE SO MUCH FUN.
Electioneering, Baby-Sitter's Club, Gen - Takes place in high school! I love seeing the BSC girls age. :)
As Though The Strings Were Thine, Merchant of Venice, Antonio/Bassanio - I seriously can't believe I actually got this! An extremely valid and delicious "Bassanio fucking Antonio for money" reading.
I Should Assume It's Still Unsteady, How I Met Your Mother, Barney/Robin pre-het (? is that a term?) - Robin deals with some emotional fallout w/r/t her father's feelings about her and Barney's apparent coldness masks surprising sweetheartiness - i.e. things I love in HIMYM.
It's Magic, How I Met Your Mother. Barney is MAGIC. Seriously. How did this writer know about my NPH/unicorn OTP...?
Waiting, How I Met Your Mother, as Barney/Robin as the show. Could it be... a new Sparkles video? :) A sweet holiday tale with great, funny one-liners.
I want to thank all of my Yuletide writers - this was an awesome haul! I really appreciate all the work everyone put in. All the stories came out great and I adored reading them.
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December 24th, 2008
11:30 am - AND he wears glasses
It's been awhile since I was really excited about a fandom - I've been treading water with SGA for some time now, and TS is a slow burn which comes and goes, and is my true love and all, but not so much with the surprise and wonder anymore.
So I am very happy to have discovered the wonders of Criminal Minds with plenty of canon to catch up on. I'm in the middle of season 2 now and even though it's violent and gory and sometimes there are episodes with one part character stuff for twelve parts plot, sometimes there are episode where the plot IS the character stuff, and they seem to be increasing as I make my way through the series. And I really like all of the characters. There is no character for which I would not like an episode about them.
Though of course there is one special eagle who soars above the rest.
( Spoilers for Criminal Minds season 2 )
My season 2 minicaps are in progress.
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December 19th, 2008
04:57 pm - Three more things
1. YULETIDE STORY IS UPLOADED. Man, that's a load off. Even though I'm extremely ambivalent about how it turned out. (Confidental to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mab_browne: Thankfully, though, I ended up cutting most of the second half.) This brings me up to 10 in 2008. Can I write two more stories in the next 11 days? Time will tell!
2. A new set of mini-recaps for your persual, if you're into that kind of thing:
Red Dwarf, Series 5-8Don't Think About It Or Your Brain Will Explode: Lister realizes that he is his own father. Kochanski is totally erratic: after getting a chance to go back to her own universe, she suddenly announces "I've decided to stay!", and risks her life to go back to the crew she doesn't like as much and who don't like her as much and who are clearly worse. And then she spends the rest of the series moping about how much she misses her universe and her Dave. Also, Lister realizes he is his own father. In this episode, Lister realizes he is his own father.
3. Another new set of mini-recaps, ibid.: Criminal Minds, Season 1Hotch knocks Reid down and kicks him savagely in the stomach while yelling at him unnecessarily. Turns out it was a gesture of ultimate trust and confidence: he was manipulating the physical configuration so that Reid could get close to the weapons and get a clear line of sight to the killer. Reid nails the shot to the killer's head (though he claims he was aiming for his leg). When, at the end of the episode, Hotch gives Reid a cursory apology, Reid immediately accepts, possibly (and I may be projecting here) because the whole Hotchellus thing was kind of a turn-on.
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December 14th, 2008
10:37 am - Three things
1. zomg finals. I have been bent over a cutting board with two xacto knives slowly killing brain cells from sprayglue fumes since the dawn of time. I've been totally remiss in feedbacking the progress on ts_secret_santa, but the party's in full swing over there, with some great stories.
2. I want to wholeheartedly thank whoever nominated Gayworld for McShep Awards! Eeee!
3. Not to spoil any surprises for any other seasonal challenges I may or may not be participating in, but can anyone beta a story (probably short) for a fandom which may or may not involve the last human alive, a hologram of his dead bunkmate, and a creature who evolved from the ship's cat? Say on the 19th? *bats eyelashes*
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November 30th, 2008
11:59 am - True Blergh
So due to circumstances partially in my control, I ended up watching a lot of True Blood yesterday instead of doing my homework (which is not as bad as it sounds, if only because after the first four or so hours of soft-core porn your mind starts to wander and you plan out a bonus sex scene for the fic you're working on). I'm amused at how textual they're starting to make the classic romance writers' struggle, "Is Woman a Human Being?" At one point Sookie ("Sookie!") and Bill the Vampire have this conversation which I'm paraphrasing (but really only a little):
SOOKIE: Hey, I'm kind of a damsel in distress. That doesn't seem cool.
BILL: Well, the only reason you are in distress is because I have brought an intense amount of trouble to your doorstep. Actually you are very independent and liberated, but, because these are extraordinary times, you are quite justified in lying back and relying on a big strong man around to take care of you. P.S. I asked your big strong male boss to take care of you here at home while I'm away on important male penis business. Kisses!
SOOKIE: I love you Bill the Vampire.
Anyway, it's a pretty great show. I think. My brain might have a little melted.
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November 11th, 2008
November 8th, 2008
06:39 pm - I can pretend it's in honor of Yuletide and small fandoms?
What happens when I'm most earnestly attempting to get homework done? Apparently, Doogie Howser recapping.
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October 16th, 2008
10:14 am - GLBTYA Book Reviews 3
Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle (2003) *
One of those "being gay is an endless trial" long-hard-slog books with no discernible point. The narrator, Lissa, is depressed because her best friend, Kate, is ignoring her ever since they kissed at a party. We don't see the kiss, or Lissa and Kate's original relationship, except in brief flashbacks here and there, so it's hard to like Kate, or sympathize with Lissa in missing the great friendship she says they had. åWe never saw it in action. We also never see Lissa being anything but depressed, mean and hateful (especially to Ariel, a new-age girl she eventually befriends (but they don't, thankfully, get together). There's a plot thread about lucid dreaming that doesn't make a lot of sense. At some point the book ends. It's not clear why.
Absolutely, Positively Not by David LaRochelle (2005) ****
A coming-out comedy that made me laugh out loud on several occasions. The story focuses on that interesting period when the character basically knows he's gay, but refuses to accept it. He studiously sets about straightening himself out, taping pictures of female underwear models to his notebooks and sitting with the manly hockey kids at lunch. Amazon criticisms of this book are that it's too silly, farcical, but I didn't find that; most of the humor does come from the narrator's perfectly-worded, fastidious reactions to the things that happen to him, rather than the situations themselves. The light tone is delightful to read, and totally appropriate for what is (most people who go through this can admit after the fact) a somewhat ridiculous period in one's life.
Hero by Perry Moore (2007) **
The genre of fiction which features GLBT main characters and romance subplots but which is not, primarily, about GLBT issues (or even romance) is underdeveloped outside of slashfic, and I'm excited to see a more-or-less mainstream book go there. ( more... ) I appreciate the kind of book that Hero represents, but it's not quite a success.
I think I'm finally teen-booked out for awhile, guys.
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October 14th, 2008
04:01 pm - More fanlore thoughts - more whine, less cheese
The Jim Ellison page on Fanlore, admittedly compiled mostly by me, was tagged as "Needs More Fandom."
This article needs more fandom/fannish content. Please try to focus on how fans relate or interact with this subject or topic. See What Fanlore is not for more information. I'm so not trying to be the guy who gets all "MY BABY! YOU MUST NOT EDIT IT!!!!" about a page on a wiki, but I have to say I don't think it's a fair criticism--and here I'm not referring to the specific page (which admittedly lacks fandom content), but of ANY canon-based page. The implication that canon information is irrelevant or inappropriate content for Fanlore confuses me. The "What Fanlore is not" page includes phrases like "Fanlore is not a pop culture encyclopedia." Well, when it comes to works like The Sentinel, which are popular pretty much exclusively within fanfic-writing communities, who is?
I can see how it might be redundant to make Fanlore into an encyclopedia of canon information about, say, Captain Kirk, because he's well documented elsewhere, but who cares about a little redundancy, especially when the information is better organized and easier to find there than elsewhere? I'd rather see Fanlore include some redundancy than omit information fans need. After all, who needs to know canon in more obsessive detail than fic writers? And who has that information in more obsessive detail than other fans? Where else are you going to go for that kind of stuff?
I understand that the original idea of Fanlore is to document the community and experience of fans (that's why it includes all those pages on various wanks and dramas, etc.), but to my mind, any information that helps fans in the pursuit of their fannish goals should be equally prized, not just the information you won't find anywhere else. Are we so hard up for server space that we need to focus on fandom to the exclusion of canon? How does that even make sense? Fandom is meaningless without canon!
/end rant.
(Am I the first person to be snitty about an OTW project? Do I get the Rodney McKay Trophy for Unnecessary Negativity in the Face of an Optimistic Enterprise?)
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October 10th, 2008
04:25 pm - SGA Fic: Gayworld (McKay/Sheppard PG-13)
Fina-friggin'-ly.
Title: Gayworld
Fandom, Pairing: SGA, McKay/Sheppard
Word Count: ~14,000
Rating: PG-13
Notes: For erda_3. Apologies for dreadful lateness. Beta by yolsaffbridge. Takes place during season 4 (when I actually started writing it); Teyla's pregnancy is a minor plot point. There are no other spoilers largely because I haven't even seen most of season 5. (Yes, yes, I saw "The Shrine".)
"God," Rodney moaned. "This is simultaneously my best dream and my worst nightmare."
"Why?" asked Sheppard. "Afraid you're going to get hit on by a guy?"
"I didn't even think of that! Do you really think I'll get propositioned?"
"Sure, Rodney," said Sheppard seriously. "You've got an awfully pretty mouth."
( read whole text at my site ) ( read part 1 on lj )
( read part 2 on lj )
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