*waves* Some Wyoming RV parks apparently have wireless, who knew? Hurrah for modern technology!

In between stopping at beautiful places to let my jaw stretch out and exercise my picture-taking finger, and occasionally stopping at less beautiful places to buy candy and exercise my aunt and uncle's herd of dogs, I have been immersing myself in the new Star Trek fandom. (has there been a consensus on an acronym yet? I'm fond of AOS myself, but I always refer to it as "the reboot" in conversation. ST:XI is just awkward to type.)

It's a weird experience, this fandom. I've never felt so familiar and comfortable with a universe before, while simultaneously feeling like the biggest newbie EVER and having that new-canon thrill. I didn't even feel this ignorant in my *first* fandom. (Perhaps I have gained fannish wisdom, knowing that I do not know anything, or something.) Whatever is going on, I'm writing fic, so help me. It may even get finished!

In the meantime, watching TOS (series and movies) is providing interesting food for thought.
( wittering and fannishness )

One last note: William Shatner (and therefore TOS Kirk) has grey eyes. GREY. I realize the filter on the show makes it difficult to tell, but internet research and careful observation have led me to the truth: not brown, not hazel, not green, not hypnotic pools of green. Grey.

I should go to sleep now. I'm going whitewater rafting in the morning! (don't hate me Lindsey)

Okay, I was really trying to sleep, I swear - I am tired and slightly fried from kayaking and teaching an adorable girl to do underwater somersaults. So I tried to go to sleep.

A sudden bright light, like one of those keychain flashlights, woke me from a doze. It was a little green flying insect, and apparently my childhood memories of that X-Files episode are still alive and powerful because I genuinely freaked out: adrenaline pumping, fully conscious, and scared. I tried to ignore the damn thing, but then it did another flyby, and I had to kill it for the sake of my sanity. And now I can't get back to sleep.

Fuck. Apparently I have a phobia.

(Also, my keyboard acting weirdly dysfunctional, so I have to cut & paste n, b, space, /, left, down, and right arrows. Space is worst, because I use it not just for words but for music, video, and paging down. Fuck.)

The trip from Connecticut to Austin was long, but really lovely. After dropping inmyriadbits off in New York - and helping her move into summer housing (for 4 HOURS - but okay, really, I owed her for helping me move. Lindsey, I hope you enjoy the fridge), we took a route along I-81 and the Appalachians, which was absolutely gorgeous. In Virginia, we rolled the windows down and the air smelled like the honeysuckle growing on the roadside.

We also ran into some unfortunate weather, all while I was driving. Heavy rain forced us to stop early on Wednesday night, and then we ran into a heavy fog bank in South Carolina. I thought that was the scariest part of the trip - twenty minutes of not being able to see more than 20 feet in front of the car, with lots of semis on the highway in front and behind me - until I almost hit a deer in Texas on Thursday night (or early Friday morning?). Crazy doe was right in the middle of my damn lane! I manage to dodge, but had a bit of hysterical laughter afterwards. Jesus, not fun at all.

I am leaving for the Bahamas in about 4 hours, hooray! I will return with pictures, if my camera behaves.

I AM DONE WITH COLLEGE, HALLE-FUCKING-LUJAH.

I just sent in my final paper (late, oops, I don't really care anymore), and now I get to party!

Lindsey helped me get through the last bits of my paper, and gave me this sage piece of advice:

"Write or Die is a bullshit facilitator - a bullshit laxative, if you will."

AHAHAHA Lindsey. I heart you. Go see Star Trek with me tomorrow.

*goes to sleep*

I have to watch a movie called Simple Men for this paper, and one of the leads, Bill Sage, has a freakish resemblance to Mikey Way. Like, REALLY freaky. They have the same bone structure. The same mouth. The same pointy nose. The same monotone and :| face, for crying out loud! (it's one of the director's trademarks for the period) It doesn't help that he's playing a younger brother of a family from New York.

If you don't believe me, the movie is availableon Netflix Instant Viewing. I want to post pictures, but I don't have anywhere to upload them.

ETA: picture linked in comments!

I have been hiding from real life by reading massive quantities of Magnificent Seven fic. Some of it was deeply, deeply bad, but I cannot stop myself.

However, I have a compelling list of reasons for hiding!
1) On Wednesday, a student at my school was shot and killed at her job in the campus bookstore. The shooter was at large until late last night, and the campus was on lockdown because they thought he might go after more Wesleyan students. I didn't know her, and I really don't know how I feel right now - it's still so surreal. I've barely left the house for a week.

2) I have three papers left to write. One is days late, and the other two are due on Monday. I have not written a single page. I am soooo fucked, and I'm having trouble caring.

3) I am graduating from college. My only current solid plan is going to the Bahamas for two weeks in June.


Some things that have made me smile recently:
1) Ryan Ross playing with animal horns (not like that!) and Brendon Urie quoting 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
2) Maine legalizing same-sex marriage. If New Hampshire joins, we'll have New England almost covered. Let's hope it spreads, like a zombie plague of awesome.
3) The shenanigans over at XKCD. I am frequently irked at how media and fiction portray fans as crazy in a bad way; Randall Munroe is one of us, and pokes fun at Firefly/general fandom in a way that neatly avoids any irkage on my part. Plus, there's a perfect dig at FOX, which I ALWAYS love.
4) Picturing the ATF-verse Mag7 meeting the Leverage gang. I mean, aside from imagining Ezra and Sophie's delightful verbal duels when they meet undercover, or how badly Parker would scare Buck, I like to picture Vin and Eliot in the same room, and all the separated-at-birth jokes that might follow.

(Seriously, Twitter is turning into one of those monsters that eats everyone in fandom! Next, the world.)

BUT. My actual point was that I think Brendon Urie finally got a Twitter, and I am amused. And, between all the blogging and the Twitter explosion and watching movies involving voyeurism for class, I feel increasingly stalkerish.

Someday, I will give in and get an account just so I can tell Mikey Way that he should see Best Worst Movie when it gets distribution.

Meme!

1) Comment to this and I will give you three people. (Any fandom listed in my profile; please state whether you want boys, girls, or both)
2) Post this meme with your answers.
3) Provide pictures and the names of the three people I give you.
4) Label which you would shag, marry, and throw off a cliff.

elucreh gave me Greta Salpeter, Severus Snape, and Rodney McKay.
( My answers )

The opening drum bits of "Geronimo" by Phantom Planet and "Invincible" by OKGo are very similar, and I was very confused by my iPod earlier when they played back to back. I just thought ya'll should know that.

I have a 12 page research paper due Monday, and it's not going well. It's still at that place where I know a lot of random bits of information and what I want to argue, but I still have to go through microfilm to find reviews and box office stats. I HATE microfilm in all its unwieldy non-glory. Books have similar access issues, but at least they are charming and fully indexed and smell nice.

Ahhh, why do I never work on things ahead of time? At least I'm interested in the material. It's not everyday you get to compare Roger Corman to John Cassavetes.

1) I have watched eight movies this week (one of which I've seen before), plus about 3 hours of short films from 1895-1906ish. I feel like my eyes are going to turn into movie reels if this keeps up. Once my Silent Cinema class hits feature films, I will be watching a MINIMUM of 7 movies a week. Yeaargh.

2) I found an old meme from my old computer (I've been going through my files and ruthlessly organizing them. I'm starting to feel a little OCD.), and wanted to post it. I'm particularly amused by the last item, which was clearly written before winter break:
( Fandom Fling meme, gender-neutralized for your viewing pleasure )

3) My brain keeps composing parts of a Criminal Minds 5 things fic while I'm not paying attention. The thing is, there must be plenty of fics out there that posit alternate fates for the BAU team, right? It's an on-going subtext on the show that our profilers are only separated from the unsubs by a thin line of circumstance and choice, yet I haven't *seen* any around. Have any of ya'll spotted them? Am I just looking in the wrong places?

Oh, Ryan Ross, how so awesome? Fanboying Let the Right One In, dissing Twilight, and apologizing for Elton John, all in the same post. *draws hearts* Now if only Gerard Way would post about it, my life would be complete....

Things that are new for me:
1) Er, 2009 (obviously)

2) Shiny, lovely Dell XPS laptop! My old darling died during finals week - stupid motherboard - which capped off a rough semester of getting mono and being forced to drop classes I really liked. Yay.

3) Fandoms! Lindsey and I are insane marathon girls, so we have watched all of Merlin (dorky yet wildly attractive heroic boys with no resemblance to legend! And the sassy women who are more competent and better dressed than they are! Most excellent.) and are mid-season 2 of Criminal Minds (dark content, subtle characterization, and mindfuckery FTW). (minor sidetracks into West Wing, Psych, and Numb3rs, but it doesn't count if we haven't done a whole season yet *g*)

4) Friends! *waves to arielchan and mercurybard* I don't post often and I suck at keeping in touch, but I definitely think you're awesome ;)

And... I have no deep thoughts to conclude. Back to the marathon I go.

I'm breaking more than a year's worth of radio silence because I am PISSED OFF.

Casting for the movie version of Avatar: The Last Airbender was announced recently. Wanna guess how many of the lead roles went to non-white actors? Oh, yeah, NONE.

Leaving aside my liberal distaste at the sidelining of ethnic actors in the Hollywood system (INCOHERENT RAGE) and my doubts about the acting abilities of Jesse McCartney (yeesh), this is just a HORRIBLY STUPID choice as a filmmaker. It is a betrayal of the show's rich world-building, which is heavily inspired by Asian and Inuit cultures, both visually and philosophically. It makes a betrayal of the show's themes of diversity. It makes a mockery of a story where a group of kids from vastly different cultures and backgrounds become close friends and change the world -- not just because they are talented, but because they learn from each other, change each other, and work together to achieve their goals.

It PISSES ME OFF.

I fucking loved this show, and I am writing an angry letter. A polite one, but angry nonetheless. Anyone want to join me?

ETA: additional places to write to here.

In case anyone else is as irritated by those pop-up link previews as I am, try this post on how to remove them.

I'd also like to recommend The Hunger Site, and its sisters: the Breast Cancer Site, the Child Health Site, the Literacy Site, the Rainforest Site, and the Animal Rescue Site, all of which are run by the same organization. The deal is that you click once a day, go to a page with a bunch of ads, and the site uses the ad money to fund their cause. Clicking through all six sites takes less than a minute with a good connection, and people who are on the internet as often as us LiveJournal addicts are prime candidates for clicking daily.

If you like a slightly more fun way to fund a good cause, try FreeRice.com and work on your vocabulary while donating rice to the UN World Food Program. The definitions are a little wonky, but it's a nerdy good time.

So, I just got back from a midnight screening of The Exorcist, which I had never seen.

That... might have been a mistake. Y'know, timing-wise. *twitches*

When I saw Transformers on Friday, I think one of the things that made me happiest was when the secret section government agent was played by Ron Butterfield from West Wing.

Soon, I will post pictures of drunken "Pin the Kiss on Michael Bay" from my roommate's birthday party. It's covered in lipstick and snarky Sharpie sketches and awesomeness.

Why am I up so late when I have to summarize the influence of melodrama on the action genre for study group tomorrow? Other than swing dancing and playing Apples to Apples for two hours....

inmyriadbits posted a great bit of meta about the influences of the Western genre on Supernatural. I helped out with some of the background, but she did all the hard thinky stuff herself. Go read! (no spoilers for S3)

Oh, dear. I made the mistake of reading the first few pages of Luck in the Shadows on Amazon, and ended up ordering the whole Nightrunner trilogy by Lynn Flewelling. Considering the number of recommendations I've had for it and my own appreciation of the opening, I suspect that I'm safe, but I wish I hadn't already ordered Empire of Ivory - it would have saved extra trips to the mail. As it was, I was forced to add Martha Wells' Entanglement to get free shipping: such a sad fate is mine.

Now the question is: when the hell am I gonna find the time to read them? Last weekend was literally the first time since school started that I haven't had to a) shoot a film or b) drive to New Haven to buy apartment crap at IKEA (also an excuse to visit my roommate's adorable brother at Yale, with whom I always end up arguing the merits of film vs theatre).

I'm having a fantastic semester: three film classes and West African dance. Heaven! So I've watched over 20 movies since school started, and that's not including all the one-reel silent films from my Action and Adventure class. Higgins does love his silents, but he provides hilarious commentary, so we love them, too.

A lot of them are for my Race and Film class, though, and therefore heavy on the offensive/bad end of the spectrum. I watched Birth of a Nation on fast-forward (the benefit of it being silent and me being fast at reading intertitles).

Additional trivia:
--Isabella Rossellini donated money and some of her mother's collection to our film center, a fact learned while snacking outside the editing room.
--My production prof used to teach at UT/work in Austin, so we bonded over missing Tex-Mex the first day of class. Also, he make ninja filmmaker jokes.
--I have three radically different types of dance this semester: West African, rapper sword dancing, and swing.
--I haven't watched a single TV premiere or pilot :(
--All my classes are within 100 feet of each other.
--Rudy Valentino was a damn attractive man, but don't watch The Sheik. Skip straight to the sequel, Son of the Sheik, in which Rudy has some great scenes with himself.

The day did not dawn auspiciously - I lost my fangirl badge for thinking the midnight release was Saturday night rather than Friday night, then we tarried too long at my uncle's dinner and I had to resort to driving to a 24-hour HEB at 11 PM, where I finally secured their second-to-last copy. I returned home triumphant and finished reading about half an hour ago, in the same chair where I read the first book - a chance pickup by my father at the library when I was 12, thinking I would like it. I certainly did - I couldn't put the damn thing down until I finished, and then made Lindsey read it rightawayOMG.

( Spoilers for Deathly Hallows )