First off, I made myself an icon! It's from that recent XKCD strip, and I needed to trade out my fall icon for a winter one anyway.

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I have fangirled Zoic Studios, the special effects people who did Firefly, for awhile now. I knew they were my kind of people when I saw the Battlestar Galactica miniseries and a little Firefly-class ship flew by in the background of an early scene. So when I heard they'd started a blog, rather creepily named I Design Your Eyes (apparently a Blade Runner reference?), I went over to explore.

I was scrolling past a fundraiser notice for an LA theater group, and went, "Hey, is that Wendell from Bones?" In tights and hilarious plaid shoes? And indeed it was! LOLtastic, right?

But even BETTER, there were pictures from *another* production last year that apparently had the scorchingly hot combo of Chris Pine and Jamie Rae Newman.

Barefoot. Bedheaded. Shirtless.

Don't say I never did nothin' for ya. :D

This week's fannish5:
Name 5 characters whose wardrobe you would love to have.

1) Penelope Garcia: Do I really need to justify this? *pervs on Kristen Vangsness*
2) Morgana: Rowr, gowns with pretty bodices and clean lines. (Though I expect Gwen's wardrobe would fit me better)
3) Sydney Bristow: All the wigs and stilettos I never knew I wanted to wear.
4) The Doctor: Fashion from across time and space, enough to fill a spiral staircase storage area. *wistful sigh*
5) Grace Kelly in To Catch A Thief

More reasons to love Matthew Bomer:
1) He's from Texas (Houston; his dad was a Dallas Cowboy)
2) Went to high school with Lee Pace
3) Is openly gay
4) Was at one point the favorite to play Clark Kent in Superman Returns - man, that movie might have actually been good with him in it
5) Is friends with Zachary Quinto

All that (except for 3) just from browsing his Wikipedia page. Imagine what depths of awesomeness yet remain.

You know what would be truly awesome? If Neal turned out to be bi (Kate obsession notwithstanding). Not only would fandom explode - which is always funny - but it would *really* suit his character.

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In other news, fall weather makes me weirdly nostalgic, so I went through my journal and tagged my entries. Also, locked some stuff that had more personal information than was wise.

( Some greatest hits of the past )

I held off on posting this until today because I didn't want to tempt inmyriadbits away from her paper, but OMG WHITE COLLAR. NEW FAVORITE.

Seriously, it's like someone took my favorite part of Catch Me If You Can and had a sweet, sweet orgy with Leverage, Burn Notice, and my favorite character types (clever conmen/thieves and competent law enforcement) to produce the beautiful snarky child that is White Collar.

( I have been watching my friends list explode, and I think it's warranted )

Also, the new conmen/tricksters/thieves comm thebigstore is just in time to catch the fannish wave, methinks. (ps, seekrit message to Lindsey - you should totally finish off your post on The Big Con and put it up there.)

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I was at Best Buy earlier, and took some time to drool over the boxsets I cannot afford, like Supernatural. I was amused that all the cover art is basically the same: the boys, large and shiny against a dark backdrop (usually involving headstones somehow), with the Impala lurking behind. EXCEPT for the S4 boxset, which has Castiel lurking in the background. LMAO. (don't worry, darling Impala, Dean fandom still loves you best)

After musing on the subject, I have come to a Very Important Conclusion.

Ensemble shows are like poker hands.

Most of the time, you have one or two cards that aren't so good. Maybe you shuffle things around, hide the bad cards in back, and the hand looks a little stronger. If you're not too good at the game, you stick with what you have and your wimpy hand gets its ass kicked, or you fold. Maybe you ditch the weak cards and pick up a replacement or two. Sometimes that works out well (NCIS), sometimes not (SG-1). Sometimes you ditch a card that you REALLY wish you hadn't (House, from what I've heard).

And then there are the hands that you pick up and everything is lined up perfectly: four of a kind, royal flush, full house, straight. Shows like Firefly, Criminal Minds, The West Wing, Bones, Sports Night. What's *really* impressive is when they manage to replace a member of one of those casts and make it even better - kinda like dropping a card from a full house to draw four of a kind.

I have no real deep thoughts here. Except that I am debating whether to get a paid account because I crave icons, or see if anyone has Dreamwidth invite codes.

(The secretly funny thing about this post is that I don't even play poker. But bridge is not exactly metaphorically rich.)

Happy LJ-versary to meeeeeeee!!!

I totally meant to post earlier, but apparently six years on LJ has still not taught me to avoid TV Tropes and their seductively-titled pages about Bald of Awesome or MacGuffin Delivery Service. (Though I did clarify my love of Guile Heroes versus their villain counterparts, the Magnificent Bastards, and learned a new word for the whole team/crew/unit-that-acts-like-family trope that I love.) And four years of college still has not taught me that napping is a bad idea when I have plans, because I never wake up promptly.

But I have learned a lot of other useful things from my time in fandom, and I never regret falling in with you hooligans. My journal is a quiet one (I comment five times as much as I receive comments, and my profile tells me I average a post every fortnight or so) and my flist is small, but I love every one of y'all - even when you shame me into changing my spelling of y'all. (I finally admitted defeat, btw, in exchange for making Lindsey publicly correct Jon Walker's spelling)

Some special love has to go to bexless, who gave me an LJ code to get a journal back in the day, and thedorkygirl, who lured me over in the first place and gave me my default icon, which I have used for six years straight and still adore, and inmyriadbits, my eternal partner in crime and clone. But you all bring interesting things and words into my life, and I am a different, richer person for being in fandom.

So, as I am feeling hobbit-y and fond, I am offering presents! I have little money, but you can ask for ficlets, or recs, or you could force me to display my terrible art skills in public. If you've been searching for a song and suspect I might have it, want to see pictures of something, or need recipes for delicious soup, or play with my Tarot cards for you, just ask. If you want to trust me with your address (muahahaha), I can make you cookies or chocolate things, or send you a postcard. Because you are all worth it.

So I've been watching the SPN panel at ComicCon - which is hilarious but full of spoilers - and I noticed that Misha Collins is AWESOME at dodging spoilery questions in a way that still makes fangirls happy. Mostly, he does this by being ridiculous - but I admire his talent!

(also, bonus points to Jim Beaver for calling Kripke "the real Lucifer". And to the Kripke, for comparing himself both to the geeky girl who gets asked to prom in teen movies, and to L. Ron Hubbard)

Mostly, it just makes me happy that everyone who works on the show seems to love it as much as we do. The worst thing that can happen to a show is for the crew to get tired of it (*coughBuffyseason7*), and I don't see that happening here. &heart;

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?

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.

I read this article about possible plots and arcs for Supernatural (nothing spoilery past Hollywood Babylon), and started thinking about stories I'd love to see on the show. Ones that are, y'know, remotely plausible.

( 1. Haunted Train )

( 2. Cage Match )

( 3. New Blood )

( 4. Curses )

( 5. War Stories )

I just gave myself a bunch of plot bunnies, didn't I? *sigh*

ETA: I can't believe I forgot bodyswapping and Bruce Campbell as a guest star.

Something else I wish for: the second half of sarahtales's one-shot from this morning. I'm deeply addicted to her Drop Dead Gorgeous universe, because she takes a crack!fic plot (Harry is part Veela! No, *really*) and writes very believable characters, reactions, and dynamics in a post-war world. Maya has this unique mixture of insanity and pathos in her writing that really gets to me - I'll cackle one second and feel like I got punched in the heart the next, and there's fantastic running UST that doesn't let up. It's been a while since I haven't been impatient/annoyed by an unrequited crush plotline, but that feeling dragged me into fandom six years ago and I'd forgotten how much I love it.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

I'm up early, reading through the SPN newsletter, and my radio alarm just went off. Guess what was playing? Hot Blooded, by Foreigner. It's a song that gets double nerd points for being on both Supernatural AND Bones.

*chortles*

Okay, okay, *fine*. I can see the slash. Damnit. But I still prefer gen for this fandom! There's just, like, way less of it. *slinks away to read Resonant's John/Rodney*

(Why do I have no sulky icons? Hmph. Yet another reason to sulk, which of course cannot be properly expressed without an icon. I STAND HELPLESS BEFORE THE GRAPHICS GODS.)

(Also, I need to stop watching Bollywood musicals. And this post has too many parentheticals.)

(Why yes, I should be sleeping. Shut up, Lindsey.)

Today, I ate an entire 24 ounce jar of applesauce (in two sittings) and did not start my film paper at all. Do you think the first balances out the second?

Also, the guy I work with at the computer helpdesk was watching Justice League on his computer, which I figured out by recognizing Green Lantern's voice. From across the room. (J'onn, meanwhile, sounds like a hybrid of James Earl Jones and Michael Dorn from afar) I even figured out it was Metamorphosis from Season 1. *headdesk* Why does my brain store useless information like this?

I just caught up on BSG, and one of the military-types that ( spoilers for BSG season 3 )

Supernatural got renewed!

Whew, I was beginning to think I was cursed with my television loves. More Winchester boys next year! *bounces*

ETA: Crap, it's against CSI, Grey's Anatomy, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Goddamn, talk about a traffic jam....

ETA2: AND The OC. *Kermit face* This is not so good. But the boys are coming back! *thinks positive*

So, as you can clearly see by examining my sister's LJ, we marathoned Supernatural when she visited me last weekend. Dear lord, it's good to see Jensen Ackles on TV again. Really really really really REALLY good.... *ahem* Let's just say I've been very distracted from my schoolwork this past week, and leave it at that.

In any case, I was rewatching Dead Man's Blood last night, and I noticed that John still wears his wedding ring. COULD HE BE ANY MORE TRAGIC?!? I nearly started crying all over again. Then I went back, and he had it on in Shadow, too. Am I the only one who noticed? I mean, the Winchesters are all distractingly pretty, so I only saw it when John had his hand right up next to his face *eg*

In other news:

Peep Research! Discover how indestructible those damn thing really are.... Ew.

Jane Espenson and Doris Egan both have blogs (well, blog and LJ, respectively), so if you're at all interested in screenwriting, TV, or even just an interesting story about casting Jensen Ackles, check these ladies out. Jane posts more regularly, but Doris Egan has a good backlog of posts back through 2003.

I was poking around on Snopes.com (urban legend reference website), and I found an entry about "backwards" buildings. It just reminded me of LBJ, and the theatre's loading dock, which was brilliantly built on the second floor, well out of reach of any practical use. Ah, LBJ.

Man, how did I end up with 360 fanfics saved on my harddrive? Plus, 62 of those are crossovers. That's one sixth of my entire collection.

Perhaps this just seems momentous because it's 12:40.

Wait, isn't today Daylight Savings? So it's actually 11:40! Hah! I don't need to go to bed after all.

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Why the hell is it October, and the temperature is 90 degrees? There are gonna be a lot of crispy costumed children on Halloween night. copperbadge had ice on his mailbox this morning (wherever he goes to school), and it doesn't even smell like autumn yet here. Hmph. *kicks Texas weather*

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I can't decide which version of Smallville hurts worst: the happy AUs, because you can see what might have happened with better choices; canon, because it's the most real and torturous; or the tragic AUs, where things are worse than canon, but there's a sort of carthasis from knowing that it didn't happen. Does that make any sense?

This ends your Complete Useless Missive from the sick girl avoiding homework over here. *waves*

Muahahahaha!!! I have hooked another unsuspecting friend on Firefly. Marta spent the night, we watched the first three eps, and I sent her home with the Firefly box set. I'm a bad woman...She did say she's going to lend me TWW box set in revenge, though.

I remembered something I read, back after Firefly was canceled. Someone posted a script for an episode, numbered 1.06, which obviously was never filmed. Does anyone know the story behind why it was never filmed? More FOX interference, or Joss' decision?

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Also went to the Citywide Garage Sale today, which always has wonderful vintage stuff. I got a beautiful book (the first I've ever bought mostly for being shiny): green leatherbound replica of a 1906 diary, written by an English lady. It's full of poetry quotes and watercolor drawings of flowers, birds, and leaves. I also found some jewelry for Lindsey, which seems to happen rather often: I find it, it's perfect for her taste, so she ends up spending waaaay more money than me. Again, I'm a bad woman ;)

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I'm such a fandom whore (so much fun!). I started watching Highlander episodes just for Methos, because that man is far too intriguing for his own good. I mean, who doesn't love a 5000-year-old snark machine who was friends with Socrates and used to be evil? This is one of the cases where fanfic is better than the show, however delicious Peter Wingfield's accent is. The main character, Duncan MacLeod, is sweet in a chivalric, Clark Kent-ish kinda way, but doesn't fascinate me. I like the sneaky survivalism of Methos and Amanda (a catburglar and Immortal friend of Duncan's) much more. For an excellent example of this, read A Lytell Geste, by Catherine Boone, wherein the three of them get bored, and hilarity ensues.


Coming soon: a long-ish post on fandom_scruples and my beliefs on NC-17.

If this article on Stargate: Atlantis is accurate, then I am irritated. The way they are describing the characters looks like they smushed SG-1 into a ball and divided it randomly into new characters. Ugh.

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Justice League is horribly, wonderfully addictive. At least Lindsey has once again bowed to my superior TV taste and is getting addicted with me ;) I think the only show we currently watch that she heard about/wanted to watch first was Alias; the rest are mineminemine! Bwahahahaaaa!!!!

Er, maybe I'm taking this sibling rivalry thing too far...

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I got my PSAT scores back, and I did so much better than I had hoped. Bright part of a sucky, over-worked week. BTW, much thanks to jrose for helping me with my writing project. *smooches*

Okay, must sleep. Recovery from all-nighter is needed.