So, in my spare time, I've been mainlining a new TV show: Bones.

I've found that I tend to function best this way -- let the show build up a few seasons' worth of steam and then have at it all at once. I watched the entire first season of Heroes up-to-the-hiatus in one fell swoop, and I would never have survived SGA if I'd tried to watch it as it aired (should be noted: did not survive season five).

I'm about 2/3 of the way through season two. While I enjoy the show, I have some issues with the inconsistency with which Brennan is characterised and written. Don't get me wrong, I like her, but I can sense that they really wanted to go Pretender on her and just didn't have the balls.

When I started watching I knew a little bit about her character and assumed that she wasn't current on pop culture because she'd been raised in some kind of Amish commune. This would have made more sense, given how she's written, because I don't care how much of a geek you are, if you grew up in America in the eighties, by the time you're fifteen YOU KNOW WHAT CLUE IS. Also, she remarks that "I don't have many clear memories of my mother" which is bullshit, her mother disappeared when she was fifteen. So I suspect they intended to have her parents vanish when she was, say, four, and just messed it up.

ANYWAY. I'm not one to nitpick, but this is pretty bizarre for a major character. The only way I can reconcile my sensible view of reality with the writing of Temperance Brennan is to form something similar to my Tony DiNozzo Is A Serial Killer theory.

( The Grand Unified Theory Of Bones )

IT ALL MAKES SENSE.

Incidentally, ( regarding Zach... )

http://stele3.insanejournal.com/294513.html

So, as some of you know, I have been working on a graphic novel. It's called "A Teenager's Guide to Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse" and right now my artist and I are aiming to have the first chapter completed by the end of the year.

(Read more ...)

A quick pimp!

The community artbeta just got a revamp! The ever-fearless glockgal is a new mod and they've officially opened the community to all artwork, including multi-fandom works and original art. It is an awesome place to get some concrit while you're stuck working on a piece. And even if you're working on something for an exchange there are people who you can email to help you out so you can remain anonymous until your posting time.

It's great! I am so excited! Yay art! :)

First of all, thank you so much for signing up to write a story in one of my fandoms. You rock.

Don't fret too much about what to write for me. Hopefully, the prompts on my sign-up form will give you some inspiration, but really, I'm not hard to please. I like both slash and het, but I'm really a gen girl at heart, so even in cases where I have a ship (like Steve/Tony) or where the characters I requested are canonically paired off (like Hawk and Fisher), I'd still be perfectly happy with a gen story.

I like banter, humor, hurt/comfort, clever and competent characters showing off their cleverness and competence. Since Yuletide is my holiday happy place, I'd rather not get deathfic or darkfic or generally excessive angst. But really, at the end of the day, I mostly just want to read the story you want to write. Have fun!

http://www.mychemicalromance.com/blog/ray/mixing-update

Mixing with our good buddy Rich Costey is going great. So far, he's mixed 9 songs, and they all sound fucking stellar. He had an interesting process where he started out mixing some of the looser songs first, and then ramped up to the denser stuff. Our goal in mixing is to make it loud, and then make it louder then that. "Still Alive" was an early one, and he brought a real heaviness and aggressiveness to that song. Song is very drum and bass oriented, very different for us, but still rocks at the same time. A bit of Queen influenced guitar harmonies helps on that song.

"Save Yourself" was another early one, a mix of Judas Priest metal and 80's arena rock. That song went through a lot of different permutations, and finally we settled on this vibe that took us to new territory. We then got into a song called "The Only Hope For Me Is You," and that's where things really starting clicking with Rich. What was great was each song would just sound better and bigger than the last. As some of you had guessed from a twitter thing of mine (I refuse to call it a tweet), David Campbell did a bit of work on the record, and that's one of the songs he arranged for. Costey did this crazy effect with the strings going into the last chorus that blew me away. One of my favorite tracks. (click "read more" for more!)

Oh, my goodness. You must check out the baby Paraguayan Hairy Dwarf Porcupine. A ball of fuzzy cuteness!

Oh, how I love Kate Beaton's take on Wonder Woman. ::loves::

Shakesville takes on the handwringing about Elizabeth Lambert's assault on other soccer players, and shows how this type of behavior is not considered nearly as shocking in male professional soccer. Frowned upon, yes, but clearly there is a double standard at work here.

The Big Picture covers The Berlin Wall.

In the Fifth century BC, Herodotus reported that a Persian army was lost in a sandstorm in the Sahara. Two brother archaeologists have discovered that Herodotus was right.

And I am caught up with Spooks.

( Spoilers for Spooks episodes 801-802 )

http://stele3.insanejournal.com/294397.html

So, as some of you know, I have been working on a graphic novel. It's called "A Teenager's Guide to Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse" and right now my artist and I are aiming to have the first chapter completed by the end of the year.

(Read more ...)

Finally signed up for Yuletide. I'm still reeling some at what I've offered. ::checks again:: Yeah, I'm nuts.

But the important thing right now: letter.

( Dear Yuletide writer )

* Big -- huge -- Spooks spoiler here. (URL disguised because it contains the spoiler.) This cannot harbinger good things.

* Today is 10 November, which in the Marine Corps means "yay, cake!" for the 234th time. The Commandant's 2009 Birthday Message: 'Carrying On A Legacy Of Valor.' Expect cake pictures on Friday.

* Baby porcupines! I was not nearly this cute as a baby porcupine. Or a fully grown porcupine.

* Oh, hey, fandom things. For all that I've been blathering about Spooks and Criminal Minds, I am still writing SGA. Qui Habitat, at least. Which as things progress leaves me with the do-I-or-don't-I spam preview bits? question. I did it for Chapter Fifteen, but that was sort of half-assed in that it was easily readable without knowing anything about the story. If you're reading the story, do you want them? Only if they're not spoilery? Only if they're relevant? Not at all? (No ticky boxes; I cannot ticky-box.) I kind of feel bad that I've got so many of you following along for SGA stuff and I'm off in a corner writing a story that only gets posted irregularly and prattling on about other things.

* Related to everything in the previous paragraph: through careful application of tags, I see that the last drabble solitic was late July. I should probably do one by the end of the year -- or sooner, depending on how frustrated I get with QH. (Four thousand words into the chapter and nowhere near the point? Check....) It will probably be next month -- I usually end up doing on in December.

* Sort of related: QH Jonas Quinn = Patrick Jane.

All the latest news about the Archive of Our Own can be found under the cut.

This post may also be found on the Archive of Our Own which is commentable by anyone with or without an AO3 account. We are disabling comments elsewhere as we would like people to be able to share any discussion with each other.

( Read more )

I have managed to finish the paper I was writing which has been plaguing me for months. \o/

My relief is doubtless to be extremely short-lived, as I have to go talk to my supervisor M about it in the next couple of days, but for now I can bask in the delightful period between finishing it and getting feedback on how dreadful it is.

I am celebrating, apparently, by reading a selection of the worst fanfic in the world. Er. Go me?

Share with me, o flist, your recipes for coffee cake and other breakfasty cake type things. It needs to be something fairly uncomplicated to make and easy to slice and eat without forks and plates and carry in my bag to work.

I have OD'd a little on banana bread and cannot face another loaf for a while, and I don't think having five Entenmann's chocolate chip cookies every morning for breakfast is the wisest thing I've ever done. Yesterday and today I just ate a banana.

***

Happy 40th anniversary, Sesame Street! I don't recall watching it that often (I do recall Snuffleupagus back in the days when nobody but Big Bird believed he existed), though I do remember the Electric Company pretty clearly. Hmm...

***

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, it appears Emma Thompson has removed her name from the Free Polanski petition. One small step. Sigh.

***

This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/93017.html. people have commented there.

I have done something utterly wretched to my shoulder. I don't know what precisely I've done, but I was drying myself off this morning and pulled the towel the wrong way and had sudden sharp pains in my trapezius. I can't actually hold my arm in any way that doesn't cause pain. I'm torn between seeing if my massage therapist has an emergency opening today, or sucking it up and lying down on a heating pad for a while when I get home. The latter is much more appealing, mainly because it means less walking and that I get to lie down a whole lot.

Downside: I can't fall asleep because I might set myself on fire.

The Cafe Job Fair is still getting nibbles occasionally, which is fun to see. Lots of good resources in the comments; if I were a better person with less on my plate I would totally be compiling a resource list. But frankly considering I'm having trouble making my muscles function properly, I think it's commendable I'm at work at all.

I did have a good time with R last night, playing Wheel and catching up on news. He's invited me to drive down to Indiana with him and stay at his parents' place for Thanksgiving, which on the one hand could be LOLARIOUS TIMES but on the other -- well, I have a five day weekend, and I'm an introvert of the classic kind, who actually draws energy and joy from being alone. I really was looking forward to five days of solitude, I was excited about that in the way some people get excited about going to a really good party.

So, I don't know. I'm trying to figure out how to explain to him that I love him like a brother but I VANT TO BE ALOHNE.

Ecstatic Days Blog post by Lavie Tidhar: Excited About International SF

DearAuthor has a reader recommendation post for Multicultural Books


Troyce has another job interview today, so everybody think lucky thoughts.

So, I go back to work today. This is sort of exciting. Thanks to my roommates being nocturnal and banging around at god-awful hours and my body being made of fail when it comes to sleep, I've been up since 0600 and I don't have to be at work until 0730.

On the upside, something I've been dreading turned out to be something I'm not going to have to do, so yeah! \o/

Tannim found part time work fitting people for back braces. This is also made of glee.

i really wish i knew more people that shared my interests!


someone needs to fucking watch Greek and then talk to me immediately.
make it so, internet. make it so.

Before you comment to the newsletter, please make sure you have read the comm userinfo carefully [here].

News
Daily spoilerfree news posted at spnfencentral
5x09 clip posted by spuffy_girl [Spoilers for 5x09!]


Challenges
Claiming for round 2 open at j2_everafter
Challenge #173 results at jensenstillness
Challenge #203 at supernatural100


Fanfic: Sam/Dean
A Thousand Touches Part 1 and Part 2 by cha (NC-17)
Up In The World by jodiekat (Wesson/Smith; NC-17)
Do you love those shattered pieces left of me? by sanann (NC-17)
Forced Entry (11/?) by cha (also Sam/OMC, Dean/OMC, Dean/OFC; NC-17)
Somehwere a clock is ticking by ephemerall (NC-17)
Your Hands Remake Me by loolookitty (NC-17)
It's Not Just To Keep Human by ladyrhyanne (R)
A year with out Music (30/?) by sam_dean_fetish (NC-17)
Bridge to Everywhere by xela_fic (R)


Fanfic: Other Slash
The Soul Piece by jenniferlupin (Dean/Castiel; PG-13)
Unseen (4/5) by downfall35 (Dean/Castiel; PG-13)
All Tomorrow's Parties: Postcards From The Future's End (2/2) by yakbite (Dean/Castiel; R)
Sleep Mode by entangled_now (Dean/Castiel, Sam/Lucifer; PG-13)
Lights Out (1/5) by ru_salki99 (Dean/Castiel; NC-17)
Touch by kijkun (Dean/Castiel; NC-17)
Cold/Heat by jennigerlupin (Dean/Castiel; PG-13)
Dreams by jennigerlupin (Dean/Castiel; PG-13)
Man's Best Friend and Epilogue by whreflections (Dean/Castiel; PG)
Uh-oh! by shadowbyrd (Dean/Castiel; G)


Fanfic: Gen
Comment fic by caffienekitty (PG)
Because of Houdini (5/?) by wave_obscura (PG-13)
I’ll find you in the morning sun by tigriswolf (PG)
He said Yes by hollow_death (PG-13)
Trading Water by keerawa (G)
Deanzilla vs. Hydros: This Time It's Very, Very Personal (15/?) by queeberquabbler (PG-13)
Orange Roughy by seerargent (R)
Lock Up Your Sons by infernallysly (PG-13)
Aloha from Hell by trinipedia (PG)


Fanfic: Het
This will all make perfect sense someday by vinylroad (Sam/Ruby; NC-17)


Fanfic: Other
When You Know It's Love by spuffy_girl (Chuck/Becky, Sam/Dean; PG-13)


Fanfic: RPF
Down The Street From Hope by crackedbuthappy (Jensen/Jared; NC-17)
The Way We Are (4/?) by moodwriter (Jensen/Jared; R)
The Winchester Identity (36/36) by zuben_eschamali (Jensen/Jared; NC-17)
Big Boy Bed by raeschae (Jensen/Jared; PG-13)
Smoke gets in your eyes by freakn_out (Jared/Misha; PG-13)
Alligator Man by englishblue (Jensen/Jared; R)
Deep explorations 2 by dirtydoings (Jensen/Jared/Harley; NC-17)
The One with the Deadly Glance (13/?) by alldunn (Jensen/Jared; NC-17)
Seven Sleepless Nights (Epilogue) by me_olvidaras (Jensen/Jared; NC-17)
Crash Site by mangacat201 (Jensen/Jared; R)
The Taste Of The Wrong Side by germanjj (Jensen/Jared; PG-13)
A Kept Boy (73/?)by poisontaster (Jensen/JDM, Jensen/Jared; Adult)
Seven Days Later by i_o_r_h_a_e_l (Jensen/Jared; PG)
Play Misty for Me (13/?) by jenshih_blue (Jensen/Jared, Jared/Misha; NC-17)
New Perspective (7/?) by decodexx (Jensen/Jared; NC-17)
Let Him Go by mysticwaters (Jensen/Jared, Jensen/OFC; PG)


Recs
4 fic recs by maerhys
Icons, moodtheme, picspam and art recs at spnartrecs
Recs: oldies but goodies at sickdean
Gen recs at rec_hymenated
Season 5 AU recs at sawedoff_recs
Gen recs at crack_impala


Icons
7 SPN icons by kankonkine
20 Jared icons by spn4ever
34 SPN icons by b_split
100 5x07 and 5x08 icons by racheldinozzo
26 still icons, 16 animated icons, 18 animations (all from 5x08) and 4 animations and 3 headers (from 3x07) by deny1984
28 SPN and Katie Cassidy icons by kelzies
31 5x06 and 134 5x08 icons by moodymuse19


Fanart
Castiel manip by vanillasparks
The End wallpaper by liangmin (G)
J2, Jared and Jensen wallpapers by kjcharmed
4 Sam & Dean and 2 Dean wallpapers by nito_punk
Dead Winter by dauntdraws (G)
Dean, Sam and Ruby wallpapers and icons by lightthesparks
Story art and soundtrack for Do you love those shattered pieces left of me? by secretlytodream
5x08 animations by meg_tdj
Swoosh by nargynargy (G)


Screencaps/Pictures
Jensen and Jared picspam by anastdean
5x08 picspam by nicocrunch
J2 picspam by ina_ami


Vids
Different Tonight by maiafire
Sweet Silver Lining by sydneywaldorf
For My Brother by ancastar


Miscellaneous
Jensen and Danneel engagement announcement via missyjack and others
Sequential Tart looks at SPN 5.03: Free to Be You and Me at tartsville
Haiku Post #2 - Character Descriptions at spnroundtable
Page for 5x08 up at the Supernatural Wiki

ZOMG YOU GUYS! I was sitting down to check my flist before I started writing and my cable went out! Internet and TV, gone! I called and TWC was all, "We are experiencing an outage in your area." Bah.

So I fired up the emergency dial-up internet, and dear god, how did we live with internet that slow?

I was just about to go to bed early, since I finished the section of the story I was working on and had missed Big Bang Theory, when I saw that the modem lights were flashing again and the time on the cable box was correct. I turned the tv on just in time for Castle. Yay!

Castle (both the show and the character) was, as always adorable. ( spoilers )

Sadly, even though the DVR listed Big Bang Theory as having been recorded, it only recorded the last minute of it - I guess that's when the service came back - so I will have to acquire it by other means tomorrow.

My life, so hard!

***

This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/92868.html. people have commented there.

18637 / 50000 words. 37% done!

Also, because I think a few people have asked or wondered -- when I said hijacked, I meant hijacked for original fiction, not as a Merlin epic. Although I promise you guys there will be some ridiculous Merlin shenaniganry coming in December. Plus, I have not forgotten about Asunder, or -- gasp -- L/A/S, either.

This entry was originally posted at http://rageprufrock.dreamwidth.org/20981.html. Please comment there using OpenID.