pink bows and the apocalypse

I only use this platform for yuletide letters...

attempt_unique — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 03:30:09 GMT

Thank you in advance for your awesomeness, author! I hope you find this letter helpful, but feel free to ignore any and all of it. Optional details are optional, and I would rather read a fic my author was invested in than one catering to my whims.

(Also, yes, large chunks of this were c/p'ed from previous year’s letters. Also, all three of these are variants on things I've requested in the past. This doesn't mean I wasn't delighted with what I received before, it just means that I'm greedy.)

Here is some non-fandom specific stuff that might help you:

Find me: Kristin (Ao3) | kristin (#yuletide)

I tend to throw out a lot of prompts in my requests. There are none I would like to see more than the others and no need to try and combine all of the prompts into a frankenfic.

I am OK with character death/in-fic violence/gore/swearing/unhappy endings etc. and I love apocafic. If you run out of other ideas, kill (almost) everybody in the world off and I will love it. The darker and creepier the better.

I prefer gen to het/slash/femslash

I prefer not to read: character bashing, infidelity, pregnancy/kidfic, incest, schmoop, 2nd person and PWPs.

I love: plot, ensembles, adventures, banter, found families, fully realized characters and settings, interesting narrative voices and people who bring the funny.

The Wire (Namond Brice, Howard "Bunny" Colvin, Stringer Bell, Avon Barksdale)

Request - I would love any fic for this fandom, truly. Feel free to ignore all my prompts and write whatever you want. If you want some ideas, though, I have plenty:

How did Stringer and Avon get to their positions at the beginning of the series? What does a Barksdale family dinner look like? (And what about Stringer’s family? We know a lot about Avon’s.) Or how about an AU where one of them got out of the game?

Also, I know this is a ridiculously specific and hard prompt probably of interest only to me, but if you did want to write me the AU where Stringer became a baseball player and Avon followed his canon trajectory while they still remain codependent, and the messiness that would ensue, I would certainly not object.

As for Namond and Bunny, I would love to see some fic set post-season 4. Namond settling in with the Colvins? Namond post-high school? Really, I just want to know what happens to them. They're left as one of the few happy endings from the show, but do things run smoothly? Does Namond go see his father again? Does he go to college? Really, just tell me a bit more about their future and I'll be pleased. (Also, it doesn't have to be happy, this is Wire fic after all.)

Also, I realize I have two very separate sections of my prompts involving the characters I requested. I would be fine if you didn't include all four in your fic.

About the Fandom - The Wire is an HBO drama about Baltimore that ran for 5 seasons. It is deeply realistic, with a wide range of characters. While it is often billed as a procedural, it is so much more. Each season focused on a different aspect of Baltimore: the cops and dealers in the projects, the docks, politics, schools and newspapers. And it was utterly brilliant.

It is like a great novel put on screen, with layers and histories building up. Each season adds more depth to the city and the characters in it. It is well acted, directed and written. All the pieces work together at a high level to create something wonderful.

Every bit of this universe is so fully realized. Everything has consequences The impacts of each decision ripple out throughout the city and community. There are not characters existing in isolation, or plot-lines that exist only for sweeps. Everything matters, because everything works together. As a result, things change and grow.

I recommend this pimping post if you are considering starting this canon.

My favorite characters I didn’t request include Bodie, Carver, Shardene and Bubbles, while I am least interested in the season 5 characters, McNulty or Carcetti.

About my request - I love this show and just want more fic for it. I love these characters. I love the bleakness. I love that the good guys don’t always win, and when they do win it doesn’t mean that things improve. I love that everything has consequences. Basically ♥ my show.

This year my request can be broken into two different requests that don't need to be combined.

The first is for Avon and Stringer. Yes, I do ship them. And yes, I would love fic about their relationship, though it does not have to be slashy.

I love their codependency (B&B enterprises!) I love how their skill sets balance out each other and their temperaments do too. I love that after the events of season 1 they keep growing in different directions and yet how they can never disentangle from one another. I love the heartbreak of their canon endings, so unless you go full blown AU, please don’t try to fix that. I would rather have a fic in this fandom stay grounded in the show’s reality and break my heart than go for a false happily ever after.

As for Namond & Bunny, I really am looking for future fic. I want to know what happens and really to see if their found family stays strong down the line. Does Namond go to college, work? Does he ever drift back towards his old life? How does he interact with Mrs. Colvin?

The first (couple) times I watched the show I didn't like Namond, really. Why did this annoying braggart get the happy ending that almost every other person on the show was denied? But now I am so happy with it. Namond didn't fit into the life he was living and he overcompensated. Feel free to write him as a brat if you so choose, is what I'm saying.

As for Bunny, I adores him from the start. If you want to concentrate on him, maybe future fic that deals with the current social and political climate. (How would Tumblr etc react to Hamsterdam?) I realize I'm not writing as much about him as the others, but honestly he is my favorite of the four. Just solid and moral and good in a way few others on The Wire were.

NewsRadio (Dave Nelson, Catherine Duke)

Request - I love the ridiculousness of NewsRadio, so something off the wall would be great. How about Dave and Catherine, dueling spies (The real reason she left was top secret!) The NewsRadio gang vs. the apocalypse! Wacky AUs are canon, so feel free to bring the good crack. If you prefer canon-based, future fic on the farm would be most amazing. Or how about the NewsRadio team versus the internet or trying to adapt to podcasting? Prefer gen or mild Dave/Lisa.

About the Fandom - NewsRadio is a 90s workplace sitcom that ran for 5 seasons. It features the ridiculous adventures of Dave Nelson as the manager of a news radio station in New York, but it was really all about the ensemble, at least for me. It was also characterized by its visual style (single camera, but with great use of the frame and people falling into and out of) and its lack of a straight man. And by that, I do not mean it was an 'everybody's gay' AU but that everybody's funny.

The show was also a fan of AUs. (I would have requested an in Spaaaace!au, but the show already provided. \o/) Think hijinks and weddings to hobos and an insane millionaire boss (the perfectly ridiculous Jimmy James) who provided the impetus for many a crazy plot. Though really, all the characters are lovable and insane and fully capable of creating situations for comedy.

The show, however, did suffer a very real life tragedy between the 4th and 5th seasons when one of its stars (the hugely talented and funny Phil Hartman) was killed by his wife. And while the 5th season wasn't quite as bad as I remembered, it is much more uneven.

About the Request - I love the banter and laughs and pratfalls and the way the characters all genuinely love each other. (If you can watch the first episode or season 5 and not cry, well, you are made of stone. Stone, I tell you.) But don't feel that you have to go straight up antics for a fic in this fandom. The best episodes all have a bit of darkness to them. Like, what about an apocalypse (shut up, my tastes in fic are valid) where Matthew, Catherine and Dave all have to try and get to safety and New Hampshire?

Or, there was this episode where the group finds out that Dave was really from Canada. He says he always hides it because obviously if kids had known when he was little they would have thought he was a spy for Canada. Dear Yuletide writer, I want Dave to actually be a spy from Canada. He has a talent for throwing knives! He can throw his voice! He can tap-dance at a semi-professional level! OK, so the last one doesn't quite work, but you get the drift. And I think Catherine has the sexy, smart skills to be his foil.

If you think those ideas are certifiably insane, I would take any AU. (The knights of the WNYX fighting for the honor of their king Jimmy James?) Or if you do want to write in canon, future-fic set in New Hampshire could be adorable. Or what about meeting Bill's family? (Good times, good times.)

My favorite characters are Dave, Bill, Catherine and Lisa. Though I also adore Beth and Jimmy and Joe. Basically, everyone is my favorite except Matthew and Max. As for relationships, I do like Dave and Lisa's canon relationship (and don't mind the way canon ended it) but other than references to that I would prefer gen. Because while the romances were fun, it was the friendships that really defined the show.

Graceland - Paul Simon (Album) (Moses)

Request - I have been fascinated by the stories this album tells for years. What is the connection between the former talk show host and the former army post? I also would love crossovers between the songs - maybe the boy from 'Diamonds...Shoes' grew up to be the former talk-show host? Feel free to play with story structure - what about a fic about the couple from 'Diamonds... Shoes' told backwards and forwards ala "The Last Five Years"? Gen or non-explicit het, slash or femslash.

About the Fandom - Graceland is a Paul Simon album from 1986, which means if you matched on one of my other fandoms and are feeling stuck, this is the easiest one to pick up.

Graceland is eclectic pop with a wide range of influences. I've been listening to this album for years and love every single track. I nominated as many songs as I could, but would love to hear your take on any song from the album, even those not nominated.

About the Request - I am easy for this fandom. The album is my happy place I would love to read any interpretations you can come up with. I should probably note, I don't know much about Paul Simon himself, or really care. I want a fic based around the music, not the musician. Please don't make this traditional songfic with all the lyrics included in the text of the fic. Other than that, this is really my anything goes fandom. I would be fascinated to see what you come up with if your chose this prompt as I got some great fic from this a scary amount of years ago.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/49612.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

yet another yuletide letter

attempt_unique — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 14:53:17 GMT

Thank you in advance for your awesomeness, author! I hope you find this letter helpful, but feel free to ignore any and all of it. Optional details are optional, and I would rather read a fic my author was invested in than one catering to my whims.

(Also, yes, large chunks of this were c/p'ed from previous year’s letters. What can I say, my tastes haven’t changed that much.)

Here is some non-fandom specific stuff that might help you:

Find me: Kristin (Ao3) | attempt_unique (LJ) | kristin (DW) | kristin (#yuletide)

I tend to throw out a lot of prompts in my requests. There are none I would like to see more than the others and no need to try and combine all of the prompts into a frankenfic.

I am OK with character death/in-fic violence/gore/swearing/unhappy endings etc. and I love apocafic. If you run out of other ideas, kill (almost) everybody in the world off and I will love it. The darker and creepier the better.

I prefer gen to het/slash/femslash

I prefer not to read: character bashing, infidelity, pregnancy/kidfic, incest, schmoop, 2nd person and PWPs.

I love: plot, ensembles, adventures, banter, found families, fully realized characters and settings, interesting narrative voices and people who bring the funny.

The Wire (Avon Barksdale, Stringer Bell, Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins)

Request - I would love any fic for this fandom, truly. Feel free to ignore all my prompts and write whatever you want. If you want some ideas, though, I have plenty:

How did Stringer and Avon get to their positions at the beginning of the series? What does a Barksdale family dinner look like? (And what about Stringer’s family? We know a lot about Avon’s.) Or how about an AU where one of them got out of the game?

Also, I know this is a ridiculously specific and hard prompt probably of interest only to me, but if you did want to write me the AU where Stringer became a baseball player and Avon followed his canon trajectory while they still remain codependent, and the messiness that would ensue, I would certainly not object.

As for Bubbles, I would love anything. How did he meet Kima? Does he ever see his son again? What about 5 awkward dinners he had with his sister and her family? Any sort of future fic would be amazing, really. Does he ever try to mentor another kid? Basically I adore Bubbles and you could not do wrong writing about him for me.

Also, I realize I have two very separate sections of my prompts involving the characters I requested. I would be fine if you didn't include all three in your fic.

About the Fandom - The Wire is an HBO drama about Baltimore that ran for 5 seasons. It is deeply realistic, with a wide range of characters. While it is often billed as a procedural, it is so much more. Each season focused on a different aspect of Baltimore: the cops and dealers in the projects, the docks, politics, schools and newspapers. And it was utterly brilliant.

It is like a great novel put on screen, with layers and histories building up. Each season adds more depth to the city and the characters in it. It is well acted, directed and written. All the pieces work together at a high level to create something wonderful.

Every bit of this universe is so fully realized. Everything has consequences The impacts of each decision ripple out throughout the city and community. There are not characters existing in isolation, or plot-lines that exist only for sweeps. Everything matters, because everything works together. As a result, things change and grow.

I recommend this pimping post if you are considering starting this canon.

My favorite characters I didn’t request include Bodie, Carver, Shardene and Bunny, while I am least interested in the season 5 characters, McNulty or Carcetti.

About my request - I love this show and just want more fic for it. I love these characters. I love the bleakness. I love that the good guys don’t always win, and when they do win it doesn’t mean that things improve. I love that everything has consequences. Basically ♥ my show.

This year my request can be broken into two different requests that don't need to be combined.

The first is for Avon and Stringer. Yes, I do ship them. And yes, I would love fic about their relationship, though it does not have to be slashy.

I love their codependency (B&B enterprises!) I love how their skill sets balance out each other and their temperaments do too. I love that after the events of season 1 they keep growing in different directions and yet how they can never disentangle from one another. I love the heartbreak of their canon endings, so unless you go full blown AU, please don’t try to fix that. I would rather have a fic in this fandom stay grounded in the show’s reality and break my heart than go for a false happily ever after.

As for Bubbles, well, he is one of my all-time favorite characters. He was hilarious, heartbreaking and everything inbetween. The juxtaposition between his wisdom and his addiction really drew me to the character. His season 4 arc almost broke me (really that entire season did, but oh, Bubs). I love his relative optimism and the joy he takes in small moments.

Feel free explore any facet of his character. An AU where he never got hooked? 5 times he got clean (or conversely, 5 trips he took). Bubbles is one of the relatively older characters in the series, so exploring how he got there could be interesting. Or future fic would also be lovely. Basically, go wild and tell me the Bubble’s story of your heart.

Wayne’s World (Garth Algar)

Request - I recently rewatched this movie on Netflix and realized I wanted, no, needed fic. Wayne’s World is so very anchored in that one time and space, and I want to see what happens when you move Wayne and Garth to the present. This can either be an AU where they are teenagers now doing a Youtube show - or are they too cool for that?

Or what about Wayne and Garth growing up, after the movies? Do they try and change with the time or are they still in that same basement, making Nickleback jokes and railing against the current state of rock? Or did they grow apart over the years and meet again and try and recapture the magic? What if the first ending of the movie was the real one? How would they look now in that case?

If you do want to stick to the timeframe of the movies, give me all the Garth fic. He is so zany and wonderful and smart. Write me him going to a sci fi convention or geeking out overs cymbals.

Prefer gen or canon pairings for this fandom. Party on Author!

About the Fandom - Wayne’s World started as an SNL sketch, which was then turned into two movies. Most of the sketches (and lets be honest, the movies too) are available on YouTube. Caveat, I haven’t recently watched SNL sketches, so don’t feel the need to track down and watch them all. My requests are pretty focused on the movies.

Wayne’s World spawned an overload of quotes and iconic gags, from the schwing to the headbanging to any number of things. Even if you have never seen the movie, you have seen its influence. I recently rewatched it and while some of the jokes are pretty stale, the underlying premise of two friends trying to make it is universal. And yes, it is still hilarious.

The cast is great, from the confident Wayne to quirky Garth to the amazing Cassandra and more. It’s easy for characters in comedy to be one-dimensional, and the fact that Wayne’s World avoided that trap is a big part of its greatness. All the minor background characters are amazing. (I love you too, Terry! And I want to hear your story Glen.)

One of my favorite things about the movie is the reverence it has for music and the people who make it (after all one of the most iconic scenes of the movie is the Bohemian Rhapsody lip sync). Music is as much a character in the movie as any other.

I also have an inordinate love for the way they break the fourth wall, both explicitly (I will never not laugh at the diner scene where Wayne tells off the Mikita’s manager for talking to the camera) and more subtly (the classic sponsor scene). If you want to go meta, this is the fandom for you (Garth does Yuletide?).

About the Request - I realize my request is pretty specific, so I don’t have too much to say here. But I was watching the movie and just wanted future fic, or a present day set fic like whoa. I love the characters, especially Garth and want to see them in those alternate settings I suggested.

I also love the multiple ending conceit, so if you want to play with that, go for it.

And really, if none of that appeals to you I would adore a rambling Garth POV about, well, anything. I love every little thing about Garth, from his friendship with Wayne to his tongue tied reaction to the woman he likes (not to mention his day dream musical sequences). I love his random abilities (especially the drumming) and his insults and basically he is my OTC for these movies. His sci fi geekery with his wish to boldly go and use satellites to track things are honestly the cherry on top of the Sunday.

Attack the Block (2011) (Moses)

Request - I want future-fic like whoa for this fandom. It could be Sam and Moses forming a found family (no romance between the two, please), or the survivors testifying to either to a court/other authority/Parliament/media, or Biggz visiting Moses and Pest in jail (if they really ended up there). Or maybe Moses trying to deal with becoming a cult/public figure? Really, I would just love something that explores the consequences of the events of the movie on the characters. Alternatively, if you want to do something pre/during the movie, possibly something about Moses and superheros and Dennis' sword. If you really want something out there, how about an AU where there are superheros, and Moses becomes one. Would prefer gen.

About the Fandom - Attack the Block is a recentish (as in the past few year) movie and therefore easily acquired and consumed if you are looking for a new fandom. From the moment I heard about this movie I knew I was going to love it. (The first three reviews I read all referenced the influence of the Wire, which really piqued my interest.) Luckily, I was not proven wrong. Attack the Block is a British alien invasion movie from 2011 about teens from a London housing project going up against alien invaders. And it is even more amazing than that summary seems.

The characters, even though some we only see for a small time, are fully realized and distinct. And yes, because of the nature of these types of movies, there is massive amounts of character death. More than anything, though, it is a smart movie. It plays with your expectations and does so well. The ‘twist’ of the first scene alone makes it worth the viewing.

About the Request - I am a big fan of how real the movie felt. Well, real for a movie where alien creatures invade, so please don't forget that these are teenage boys who play video games, and oh, yeah, mug people. I don't want saccharine sweet or Sam as Moses' white savior. (Sam is awesome, but DNW a British version of The Blind Side.)

I love way the movie flips expectations about who and what a hero is. Most movies I come out of loving the side-kick best, but no, Moses is it for me. He is strong and silent and so freaking young, yet he rises so spectacularly to the situation.

And because he defies the typical expectations, I want to see the world react to him. I want to see if there is a cult of Moses supporters, or if he is ignored, buried by the government or derided as mass murderer ala speaker of the dead.

I am also fascinated by the idea of Moses in a mask as a superhero.

I am American, so I don't know much Britain's court system or media, so if you look at my list of requests and go, well, that would never happen here, feel free to write what would.

In addition to the characters I requested, I love, well, all of them. Tia and Dimples (she killed that thing with her skate!) and Pest were all most great as was Biggz in the bins and Sam in general. As for ships, I vaguely ship Moses/Tia in that I think that is what canon was aiming at and appreciate the realism of it, but really I want something plot/character driven, not romance.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/49369.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

purim gifts letter

attempt_unique — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 01:51:25 GMT

Thank you so much for writing for me! You are amazing, awesome and also things that start with letters other than 'a'. Sorry this is a little late.

In general, I prefer gen and/or canon pairings. I love all the wonderful women on the shows I requested, so anything that celebrates, stars or critiques in an interesting way any of them I would be delighted. I requested a bunch of different fandoms, but I would love fic for any of them equally.

The Good Wife (TV) - I love Alicia. Full stop. I love her complicated relationships with, well everyone. I love her fierceness and her quiet and everything. Also, I am always happy when Diane is on my TV, so anything with her would be a delight. If you want to write me Kalinda fic know that my favorite thing about her is her mystique.

Sports Night - Dana. Dana and sports. Dana and Natalie. Dana and Isaac. Danna and Dan. If you don't feel like writing Dana, I do love every single one of the characters on the show.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV) - Brooklyn Nine-Nine is my happy place, so feel free to play. I don't have a specific prompt, just adoration for this show.

How I Met Your Mother - Robin and the mother becoming friends? Or Lily's adventures in California? Or Lily and her shopping addiction? Anything goes. Robin Sparkles' mall tour concert videos released into the wild?

Cougar Town - Ellie Torres is a treasure. How did she and Jules become friends? How, and why, did she marry Andy? Or how about lawyer Ellie on the case. Or just Ellie drinking wine?

New Girl - I love Jess' vivacity and joy. I love CeCe's everything. Again, this show is a happy place for me. Feel free to write me anything from a zany adventure to Jess getting her hair cut to simply hanging in the loft.

If you felt like mixing and matching I would not be opposed to a crossover (Robin gets arrested in Brooklyn, Dana needs a lawyer, Jess takes a dance class from Gina etc etc). And while it might appear I am all about the funny, I really don't mind serious things. You can read back through my Yuletide letters or the things I have written, but honestly, I am not that picky. Write what makes you happy and I'm sure I'll adore it.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/48953.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

attempt_unique — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 01:47:58 GMT

ALL HAIL THE YULETIDE WRITER

First off, thank you so much for writing for me. I am sure I will love whatever you create. Optional details are optional, so feel free to ignore all of this blather as I would rather have you enjoy writing a fic than worrying about trying to please me. (Also, yes, bits of this were c/p'ed from last year's letter, of which some was copied from the year before that, and even some stuff from the year before that or the year before that.)

Here is some non-fandom specific stuff that might help you:

I tend to throw out a lot of prompts in my requests. Not only are they all optional, but there is no need to try to cram all of the prompts into one, and there are none I would like to see more than the others.

I am OK with character death and in-fic violence and I love apocafic. If you run out of other ideas, kill (almost) everybody in the world off and I will love it. The darker and creepier the better.

I prefer gen to het/slash/femslash and would not like to receive porn for Yuletide.

I like: plot, ensembles, banter, found families, fully realized characters and settings, adventures, interesting narrative voices and people who bring the funny.

I dislike: character bashing, infidelity, kidfic, ignoring the women and characters of color, introspective character pieces, incest, schmoop and pwp.

IRC I can often be found in the #yuletide chatroom. I use the nickname kristin (or sometimes hippo-kristin), so you can avoid or stalk as you please.

Lupe Fiasco - Works
(Any)

Request - From the realism of Kick, Push to the surreal metaphors of Gotta Eat to the fantastic AU put forth in All Black Everything, I adore Lupe Fiasco and the stories he tells. I requested any of the nominated songs, and I meant it. And if you wanted to explore any of his other songs, I would not object.

If you wanted to tell me about Fred Astaire doing backspins, that would be astounding. (Really, anything related to the cultural changes discussed in All Black Everything would be amazing.) Feel free to run wild with any part of that AU.

Or, obviously his music is prime ground for some apocafic. How about the kids in Kick, Push? How would they get on in the zombie uprisings from The Cool, or the sickness from Streets on Fire? And are those latter two the same thing? Maybe they meet up with the couple from Sunshine? What about a rebellion against the state, from State Run Radio to End of the World? Do they turn out to be the ones discovered in Unforgivable Youth?

About the Fandom - Lupe Fiasco is a hip hop artist who tend towards to be conscious hip hop, which focuses on social issues, though it is certainly not limited to that. He has been rapping since he was 17 and thus far released four albums and five mixtapes. I love them all, and sincerely recommend you acquire them even if you don’t plan on writing for this prompt.

He, like most good musicians, is storyteller at heart. His work is smart and thoughtful, though sometimes it can be overly so. (I loved Phonte’s comparison of him to The Newsroom.)

Whether he is talking about the misogyny in hip hop

Now I ain't trying to be the greatest
I used to hate hip-hop, yup, because the women degraded
But Too Short made me laugh, like a hypocrite I played it
A hypocrite, I stated, though I only recited half
Omitting the word "bitch", cursing - I wouldn't say it

Or just about a one night stand

She says "that I've been waiting for you"
And I know you've been chasing me too since they kidnapped me from a castle
I been thinking of you
I told her "fire breathing dragon he bet not harm me" or he be sorry when he meets my one man army
And thou has come to rescue me
My knight in shining armor yes you be
Woken up by the horn of an SUV
I said "see, too beautiful to let you sleep"

his words tell stories that ring true.

About the Request -
If you are not feeling the prompt for the fandom you signed up for, this will be the easiest of my fandoms to pick up, and the possibilities are endless. Feel free to ditch all of my prompts and write anything that catches your fancy.

While I would obviously adore apocafic, as a lot of his music is geared towards that, I would not mind slice of slice for any of his characters, from The Cool, to what happens to the protagonist of Hip-Hop Has saved my life to really anything. I will admit I would prefer fic about one of his characters, rather than Lupe’s more personal songs. Musicians and their lifestyles are not really what interest me. But if that is the story you want to tell, go for it!

I haven’t listened to the complete Lupe discography, but I am pretty damn close. I am more familiar with the albums than the mixtapes, and of those mixtapes, I know Enemy of the State the best. Of the albums, The Cool is my favorite by a hair, but I do have and enjoy them all.

One very small note, if you decide you want to include angels etc in your fic and are eyeing Lamborghini Angels, I prefer the version that appeared as Angels on the Enemy of the State mixtape to the album version.

Availability -
As this fandom is made up of various songs, it is very very easy to find. You can support Lupe by buying through iTunes, or you can simply search on YouTube. If you haven’t listened before, I recommend starting with his second album, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool.

The League (TV)
(Jenny MacArthur)

Request - I want to know so much more about Jenny. We see a lot of Kevin’s friends, but what about hers? Does she follow any other sports? We know she works in real estate, but how does she explain away the madness of The League to her clients and/or coworkers?

Or how about some background fic? How did Jenny and Kevin get together? What tests did Pete make her pass before she was approved to marry Kevin? Is her family as crazy as her in-laws? How did Jenny maneuver Kevin into letting her make the decisions for his team pre-Season 1?

I do enjoy Jenny & Kevin’s relationship on the show, so please don’t break them up. If you wanted to throw Pete into the mix, if only for the awkwardness afterwards, I could see that.

About the Fandom - The League is a currently running sitcom airing on FX. It is about a group of (insane and ridiculous) members of a fantasy football league. It is over the top, profane and awful in a lot of ways. But I do love it.

And one of the reason I do is, as over the top as the characters are, they ring very very true to me. The men of the show talk to each other in ways that are very familiar to some of the men in my life.

More than that, I love how freaking fannish they all are over their football. They fanboy and girl over the players, pore over stacks, geek out over insiders etc.

About the Request -
Jenny is so appealing to me. Not just because she is the only female lead, but because she is just so freaking funny. I love how she pwns the guys and knows more than they do about football. I love how assured she is. I love that she definitely has flaws.

I also love her potty mouth and skills with insults. Also, I know the show can be offensive and gross and misogynistic and basically every -ism under the sun. You can include that or not, however you feel comfortable. And honestly, this is a fandom where I would feel uncomfortable with getting an “issuefic”, unless it was the characters from the show failing to learn anything and making fun of the person trying to inform them.

As I mentioned in my prompt, I do enjoy the Kevin and Jenny relationship. I also adore both of their friendships with Pete, so if you wanted to show Jenny bonding with Pete, or possibly a ridic threesome attempt, I would love it.

As for the rest of the characters, I would prefer no or limited Rafi. Ruxin, Taco and Andre are all fine.

Availability -
The League is currently on its 5th season. The first four are available through Netflix, and all seasons, including the current one, are available through iTunes. They are also torrents available in the obvious places.

Also, in case you are daunted, the seasons are all under 14 episodes.

The Unusuals
(Eric Delahoy)

Request - I want post-series fic about Delahoy dealing with the tumor. Or not dealing with it as the case may be. I am tempted to make a very bad pun about how only throwing out one prompt is unusual for me, but I am going to refrain.

I watched the show as it aired, then rewatched last year, and both times I was left with lots and lots of questions about Delahoy. Did he ever actually tell Leo and the rest of the squad? Or did something, good or bad, happen before he could? Did he start making mistakes until it couldn’t be ignored? Did he have surgery, or did he die? If he doesn’t, does Banks ever forgive him for not telling him (sooner)? I honestly don’t care how you resolve this cliffhanger, I just want to hear what you think happened to him. I prefer gen or canon pairings for this fandom.

About the Fandom -
The Unusuals was an ABC cop show about a very odd group of detectives tasked with solving even odder cases. It was goofy and delightful, and very very cancelled. It only lasted 10 episodes before being put out to the curb.

I loved it for its humor as well as its heart. The characters honestly seemed to enjoy each other (well, except for Eddie Alvarez, but he likes himself more than enough to make up for it.).

My favorite characters are Delahoy, Banks, Cole and Beaumont. I love Delahoy’s wit and mix of delight and apathy at the crazy things he sees. I love Banks’ quirks and the way he commits to them. I love Cole fullstop. And Beaumont is just amazing. (The scene where Cole and Beaumont are in the therapist’s office is my favorite of the series.)

About the Request -
If you read any of my other prompts, you know usually I throw out a ton. But this is the rare fandoms where there is a story that I need. And while I know it is a well tread path in this fandom (as much as any is) I still just need to know.

Delahoy is my favorite, and I love the tumor storyline. I love how it colors his interactions with everyone on the show, and even the person only he can see. I love his relationship with Banks, and the way Banks’ 42 curse plays off Delahoy’s plight. If you want to write the fic about how there is actually some supernatural tie between the two, well, I would to see it.

Like I said in the prompt, I do have a decided preference for gen in this fandom. I don’t mind mentions of canon pairings, but for me this show is all about the friendship, and see the squad through a lens of found family.

Availability -
This show was tragically cut short too soon, and all 10 eps can be found through torrent sites.

The Wire
(Avon Barksdale, Stringer Bell)

Request - I would love any fic for this fandom. Feel free to ignore all my prompts and write whatever you want. If you want some ideas, though, I have plenty. How did Stringer and Avon get to their positions at the beginning of the series? What does a Barksdale family dinner look like? (And what about Stringer’s family? We know a lot about Avon’s.) Or how about an AU where one of them got out of the game?

Also, I know this is a ridiculously specific and hard prompt probably of interest only to me, but if you did want to write me the AU where Stringer became a baseball player and Avon followed his canon trajectory while they still remain codependent, and the messiness that would ensue, I would certainly not object.

About the Fandom - The Wire is an HBO drama about Baltimore that ran for 5 seasons. It is deeply realistic, with a wide range of characters. While it is often billed as a procedural, it is so much more. Each season focused on a different aspect of Baltimore: the cops and dealers in the projects, the docks, politics, schools and newspapers. And it was utterly brilliant.

It is like a great novel put on screen, with layers and histories building up. Each season adds more depth to the city and the characters in it. It is well acted, directed and written. All the pieces work together at a high level to create something wonderful. The cast is fucking gorgeous, too. Idris Elba alone is hotter than the sun. Every bit of this universe is so fully realized. Everything has consequences The impacts of each decision ripple out throughout the city and community. There are not characters existing in

isolation, or plot-lines that exist only for sweeps. Everything matters, because everything works together. As a result, things change and grow. There are many fully realized queer characters for whom that is one part of them, not their complete characterization. Same thing, only with characters of color. In fact, there are fully realized queer characters of color!

I recommend this pimping post if you are considering starting this canon.

About my request - I love this show and just want more fic for it. I love these characters. I love the bleakness. I love that the good guys don’t always win, and when they do win it doesn’t mean that things improve. I love that everything has consequences. Basically ♥ my show.

For the past couple years I have been requesting Wire fic that features “canon pairings or gen unless you want to write the epic (love) story of Avon and Stringer”. This year, after receiving some amazing gorgeous Wire fic, in the past I decided to place the emphasis on the second part of that sentence.

Yes, I do ship them. And yes, I would love fic about their relationship, though it does not have to be romantic, and I really really do not require porn (in fact, I do shy away from the latter). Also, I know I said above that I don't like romance-centric fic, but this is an exception. (Though if you do go the romance route, these guys would probably not make flowery declarations of love, use pet names etc.)

I love their codependency (B&B enterprises!) I love how their skill sets balance out each other and their temperaments do too. I love that after the events of season 1 they keep growing in different directions and yet how they can never disentangle from one another. I love the heartbreak of their canon endings, so unless you go full blown AU, please don’t try to fix that. I would rather have a fic in this fandom stay grounded in the show’s reality and break my heart than go for a false happily ever after.

My favorite characters I didn’t request include Bodie, Carver, Bubbles, Shardene and Bunny, while I am least interested in the season 5 characters, McNulty or Carcetti.

Availability - The Wire ran on HBO for five seasons (being HBO, the most eps any season had was 13). It is available on DVD or can be found through other avenues which are slightly less legal such as torrents.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/48702.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

dear yuletide writer 2012

attempt_unique — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 18:28:41 GMT

Dearest darlingest adorable author,

First off, thank you so much for writing for me. I am sure I will love whatever you create. Optional details are optional, so feel free to ignore all of this blather as I would rather have you enjoy writing a fic than worrying about trying to please me. (Also, yes, bits of this were c/p'ed from last year's letter, of which some was copied from the year before that, and even some stuff from the year before that.)

Here is some non-fandom specific stuff that might help you:

I tend to throw out a lot of prompts in my requests. Not only are they all optional, but there is no need to try to cram all of the prompts into one, and there are none I would like to see more than the others.

I am OK with character death and in-fic violence and I love apocafic. If you run out of other ideas, kill (almost) everybody in the world off and I will love it.

Racial diversity = awesome. Racism, not so much. However, I do prefer realism over sugar-coated, so if you want your fic to deal realistically with it I would not object.

I prefer gen to het/slash/femslash and would not like to receive porn for Yuletide.

I like: plot, ensembles, banter, found families, fully realized characters and settings, adventures, interesting narrative voices and people who bring the funny.

I dislike: character bashing, romance-centric fic, infidelity, kidfic, ignoring the women and characters of color, introspective character pieces, incest, schmoop and pwp.

IRC I can often be found in the #yuletide chatroom. I use the nickname kristin (or sometimes hippo-kristin), so you can avoid or stalk as you please.

This year most of my requests involve baseball and people who play or just love the game. Now, you might be wondering where the Wire fits into this baseball theme. Well, it doesn't. It is simply my forevergirl fandom. But before you fret, I assure you most sincerely that I would love fic in any of these fandoms equally.

Also, if you requested one of these fandoms and are fretting because you liked the literature/mythology/mustache aspect more than the baseball bits and are despairing because you don't actually know much about baseball and are wondering how long it would take you to understand the infield fly rule, just stop. Breathe. I am not a baseball expert and certainly don't expect you to be. You can sidestep writing about any games if you don't feel comfortable writing about the action.

If you know multiple fandoms, feel free to cross them over. Henry Skrimshander being scouted by Ringfinger? Or maybe his rights are traded to the Mets? What about that Keith Hernandez glove that shows up in Summerland? Or maybe the Mets broadcast team has to call a game in Summerland? The Wire might be tricky to include unless you go the AU route. (Stringer got out of the game by playing the game? He does have a bit of a pitcher's build.)

Obviously, however, a crossover would just be gravy. I would be just as delighted by a fic that didn't have one. (Also, if you do want to include a crossover with a fandom I didn't request, I would prefer it to be Yuletide-eligible as I do believe strongly in small fandoms only for this exchange. The Natural maybe? Or Sports Night might work.)

The Art of Fielding
(Henry Skrimshander)

Request - Futurefic, please. The ending was wonderfully open, but I’ll admit my headcanon has Henry making the show, and I would love to see some of that. How does he handle being on a team that has never met Mike Schwartz? And how would they react to him? What if eventually he had to find a non-baseball hobby? How does he deal with the press? Or maybe you want to pretend to be the press and write a feature piece on Henry?

If you prefer a non-question prompt, you could try doing something related to this quote from the book within the book: “3. There are three stages: Thoughtless being. Thought. Return to Thoughtless Being. 33. Do not confuse the first and third stages. Thoughtless being is attained by everyone, the return to thoughtless being by a very few.”

Really what I want to see is Henry away from Westish and having to interact with the outside world. And if that outside world happened to be the MLB or even AAA ball, that would be awesome. Please note that I strongly prefer gen for this fandom.

About the Fandom - The Art of Fielding is a novel about literature and baseball and the aftermath of perfection. The book follows the consequences of an errant throw of a baseball on five varied individuals, from Henry, the brilliant shortstop, to Pella, the daughter of the college president.

While if is a book about a baseball player, the book is not a “baseball book”, in that it is more about Melville (as in Herman) than Mantle (as in Mickey). But really, I read it as a book about people and their passions; about finding them and losing them and struggling with them and looking for them.

It features one prominent (as well as several minor) characters of color, as well as canonical gay relationships. And while it is a rather dude-centric book, Pella is worth the price of admission.

It is definitely lit fic rather than genre, so if that is not your thing, then avoid.

About the Request - I went into the book expecting to fall for the minor characters. (It is basically my M.O.) Instead, I fell headfirst for Henry Skrimshander. Maybe it is because I always love the shortstop. (♥ Ruben Tejada, and oh how I loved Jose Reyes before he became a fish.)

I love his drive not to win, but to make the perfect play. (Man, if you want another prompt, how about Henry being on the wrong side of a perfect game?) I love that he never quite fits in anywhere. Even on the team he stands out due to his talent. (What happens when he meets and plays with people in the majors who are as good or better than he is? That are as driven?)

I do read Henry as basically asexual, or maybe baseball sexual. I was shocked when (spoilery event) happened not because of who, but that it happened at all. I do adore the other characters too! My second favorite is actually Izzy. (I was serious about the shortstop thing.) If you really don’t want to do future fic, I would love to read about Izzy and Henry interacting on the field, practicing, getting better.

Availability - The Art of Fielding is a relatively recent (2011) book. It is really mainstream and can be found in most bookstores. There are also ebooks available. While it isn’t a short book (my copy comes in at 512 pages), it is an easily attainable option if you matched on one of the other fandoms and have run into a brick wall.

Mets Broadcaster RPF
(Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez, Gary Cohen)

Request - Just to be very clear up front, please do not write about these fine gentlemen boning. I am also not very interested in their real personal lives. I just love watching them call Mets games. I love the way they banter and grouse about players these days and randomly digress into discussing anything under the sun.

I would love fic that had them taking their show on the road, so to speak. Would they banter while fighting off a zombie horde? (I think yes, but feel free to expand on that thought.) Or how about being dragooned into announcing [obscure sport of your choice] and making things up as they went along? Or how about a meeting of the baseball announcers’ book club? (Not, sadly, an actual thing.)

Or you could write me fix-it fic for that most tragic of events which made every Mets fan avert their eyes and cringe in horror: the day Keith shaved his mustache. Maybe he is visited by the ghosts of mustaches past to show him the error of his ways? Or maybe him shaving caused some catastrophic event and him growing a new one was the only way to save the world? I don’t know, just fix it.

About the Fandom - The New York Mets are a professional baseball team (even if they don’t play like it sometimes). Their games are broadcasted on SNY (mostly. the occasional game shows up on other channels) by a broadcast team that has won more awards recently than the team.

The play-by-play is done by Gary Cohen, while two awesome former players, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez, provide analysis. (There are also assorted supporting characters, like Kevin Burkhardt the awkward field reporter.)

About the Request - The past two years I have watched a percentage of Mets games higher than their win rate. But while sometimes the games were hard to watch, they were always fun, due in part to the fact that our broadcast team is amazing. (The other part is due to the fact that baseball is awesome. Better mediocre baseball than none at all.)

I love their competence, their love of the game and their affection for each other. I love that they amuse each other and sometimes start giggling together on the air. I love their digressions and their lack of knowledge about pop culture outside of the sports realm.

Availability - MLB is rather, um, fervent, about their protection of their copyright on baseball clips. That makes them difficult to find. However, SNY does rerun games throughout the winter.

Summerland - Michael Chabon
(Jennifer T. Rideout, Ringfinger Brown, Rodrigo Buendía)

Request - First off, don’t feel like you have to include all three of my requested characters. I love them all equally, so a futurefic about Jennifer T. doesn't need to shoehorn in Rodrigo etc. Speaking of Jennifer T. futurefic, it would be delightful. Does she keep playing ball? What are her opinions on being nudged towards softball instead? Or what about if she managed to make the majors (in some awesome future where women played in the MLB)?

Or, I would love fic about what really happened when Rodrigo fled Cuba. How was it impacted by the fact that Ringfinger had told him he was going to be a hero? What happened at Rodrigo and Ringfinger’s first meeting? Or how about Ringfinger playing in the Negro Leagues and scouting its heroes? Maybe he takes a team to the Summerland? (For more about the league: http://www.nlbm.com/)

About the Fandom - Summerland is a young adult book by Michael Chabon. The book attempts to combine mythology and baseball with mixed results. It follows the hero’s journey of Ethan Field (the worst player on his little league team) as he tries to save the Summerland (a mystical world where baseball is not just a passions but a way of life) and his inventor father.

It features interesting world-building and wonderful touches of baseball mythology. (And I was a sucker for all of the Mets references I found). The cast of characters range from the very human Ethan to a tiny giant to a changeling any many more fantastical characters.

About the Request - I love these three characters. I love Jennifer T.'s strength and talent and the way her family has shaped her without breaking her and the way she just lives baseball. I love Rodrigo for the what-ifs in his story. For the fact that he should of been/might have been/was a hero and how that effected him in the real world. I love that he is so burned out by life and yet still loves the game. And Ringfinger Brown, oh, I love wanderers. I love that he has been doing this for eons. I love that he detoured (or was it really a detour or something more?) to become a pitcher in the Negro leagues without a ring finger.

While you can obviously include some of the other characters from the book if you so choose, I am not very interested in them, especially the Felds.

Also, as you might have gathered from my other requests, I adore the game of baseball. And one of the reasons I love these characters is that they love the game. I am also a sucker baseball as a supernatural force (Field of Dreams was one of the most formative movies of my youth in terms of things I love) so if you want to delve into some of the world-building I would not object. I prefer gen and like the baseball aspect of the book much more than the mythology bits.

Availability - Summerland is decently easy to find at most major book retailers and I am pretty sure there is an ebook addition, so if you are looking for an alternative to the fandom you actually matched on, it is about 500 pages and a pretty quick read.

The Wire
(Avon Barksdale, Stringer Bell)

Request - I would love any fic for this fandom. Feel free to ignore all my prompts and write whatever you want. If you want some ideas, though, I have plenty. How did Stringer and Avon get to their positions at the beginning of the series? What does a Barksdale family dinner look like? (And what about Stringer’s family? We know a lot about Avon’s.) Or how about an AU where one of them got out of the game?

Also, I know this is a ridiculously specific and hard prompt probably of interest only to me, but if you did want to write me the AU where Stringer became a baseball player and Avon followed his canon trajectory while they still remain codependent, and the messiness that would ensue, I would certainly not object.

About the Fandom - The Wire is an HBO drama about Baltimore that ran for 5 seasons. It is deeply realistic, with a wide range of characters. While it is often billed as a procedural, it is so much more. Each season focused on a different aspect of Baltimore: the cops and dealers in the projects, the docks, politics, schools and newspapers. And it was utterly brilliant.

It is like a great novel put on screen, with layers and histories building up. Each season adds more depth to the city and the characters in it. It is well acted, directed and written. All the pieces work together at a high level to create something wonderful. The cast is fucking gorgeous, too. Idris Elba alone is hotter than the sun. Every bit of this universe is so fully realized. Everything has consequences The impacts of each decision ripple out throughout the city and community. There are not characters existing in isolation, or plot-lines that exist only for sweeps. Everything matters, because everything works together. As a result, things change and grow.

There are many fully realized queer characters for whom that is one part of them, not their complete characterization. Same thing, only with characters of color. In fact, there are fully realized queer characters of color!

I recommend this pimping post if you are considering starting this canon.

About my request - I love this show and just want more fic for it. I love these characters. I love the bleakness. I love that the good guys don’t always win, and when they do win it doesn’t mean that things improve. I love that everything has consequences. Basically ♥ my show.

For the past couple years I have been requesting Wire fic that features “canon pairings or gen unless you want to write the epic (love) story of Avon and Stringer”. This year, after receiving some amazing gorgeous Wire fic, I decided to place the emphasis on the second part of that sentence.

Yes, I do ship them. And yes, I would love fic about their relationship, though it does not have to be romantic, and I really really do not require porn (in fact, I do shy away from the latter). Also, I know I said above that I don't like romance-centric fic, but this is an exception. (Though if you do go the romance route, these guys would probably not make flowery declarations of love, use pet names etc.)

I love their codependency (B&B enterprises!) I love how their skill sets balance out each other and their temperaments do too. I love that after the events of season 1 they keep growing in different directions and yet how they can never disentangle from one another. I love the heartbreak of their canon endings, so unless you go full blown AU, please don’t try to fix that. I would rather have a fic in this fandom stay grounded in the show’s reality and break my heart than go for a false happily ever after.

My favorite characters I didn’t request include Bodie, Carver, Bubbles, Shardene and Bunny, while I am least interested in the season 5 characters, McNulty or Carcetti.

Availability - The Wire ran on HBO for five seasons (being HBO, the most eps any season had was 13). It is available on DVD or can be found through other avenues which are slightly less legal such as torrents.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/48611.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

art & mix post: wend & repeat (until true)

attempt_unique — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 04:44:13 GMT

No, you are not suffering from déjà vu. This is a semi-repost of art done last year. The fic is done and being posted today (yay!) so I took the opportunity to cringe at the stuff I did then and decided to try and salvage it. So while some of these things will look v. similar, some pieces are new or just completely redone.

Fic: Wend and Repeat (Until True) by novembersmith
Fandom: The Social Network
Pairing: Mark/Eduardo
Summary: In which Mark accidentally puts a claim on Eduardo's soul, loses Eduardo, and then goes to the Underworld to get him back. Includes meddling spirits, Eduardo as a captive, mute audience to Mark's recaps of their personal history, and absolutely no maenads.

Note about the art: One of the elements I played with was modern vs. antique. I wish I could tell you all about the traditional art I used, but truth be-told I simply did a Google Image search.

This is the only completely new piece, a wallpaper featuring quotes from the fic and Andrew Garfield's beautiful face. Click to see full size.

The fic cover:

The randomish fic art:

(Click image to see details)

Click on either cover to dl the mix.

Tracklisting:

Shiva - The Antlers

Forrest Gump - Frank Ocean

Beneath the Surface - Dream Theater

I will follow you into the dark - Death Cab for Cutie

Don’t Stop - the Dodos

Hopeless Wanderer - Mumford & Sons

Out of Sight - On-the-Go

Battle Scars - Lupe Fiasco

Fasten You to Me - Belle Brigade

History Boys - Narine Pallot

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/48224.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

moses would make the best superhero

attempt_unique — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 23:58:35 GMT

This is not the apology for not posting or replying to comments and emails / update on my life that I owe everyone. Look for that later this weekend. For now, icons.

20 Attack the Block icons for character20n20

Teaser:
. .

10 THEMES

Black	Bold	Emotional	Fashion	Favorite Negative


Hero/Villain Crossover	Promo	Shattered	Texture	Water

yuletide: the best time of the year (with bonus guessing game)

attempt_unique — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:55:27 GMT

Yuletide has come and almost gone, and I haven't posted about my marvelous gifts. Clearly that is a fact that needs to be fixed. This year, as in the past, I am overwhelmed by the awesome fics Yuletide has produced. I haven't had as much of a chance to write or read this year (damn awesome new job and the beginnings of a social life! clearly I need to forgo you during Yuletide) but I did get a chance to read the trio of wonderful fics all for me!

Just a Passageway (3074 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: The Wire
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Ellis Carver, Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins, Preston 'Bodie' Broadus, Original Female Character
Summary:
Sergeant Carver needs to get out from behind his desk once in a while, so he pays a call on a resident of the Western, and learns a few things.
Set early in Season 4

OMG, circle. This fic is amazingness incarnate, The author took the time to include my favorite characters (Carver! Bodie! Bubbles!) as well as an amazing OFC to tell a perfectly Wire tale. So much love for this fic. Seriously, why are you still reading this entry and not the fic?

A Pharaoh From The West (100 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Hip Hop RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Kanye West, Jay Pharaoh
Summary:
Have you ever had sex with a pharaoh?

You must go read this fic. It is a little piece of perfection in drabble form. I obviously have no idea who could write such awesomeness *cough* but if I did, I would twirl them because this, this is greatness.

Consequences (Brap Brap Brap) (543 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Attack the Block (2011)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Moses
Summary:
Moses was a legend on the block

I am seriously the luckiest. Just read that summary and tell me that I am not. See, you can't. &Moses; &thisfic; &thisauthor; <33333333333333

Also, a non-Yuletide rec that is a long time coming because I suck.

Every year I try to do some art for the Fall Fandom Free-for-All. This year I did a few wallpapers, and in return I got something so amazing it blows my mind. bardofcogs did a freaking amazing podfic of my fic Down in the Valley. And she did it awesomely. I've been traveling quite a bit lately and have listened to this a ton and I love it more with every listen. And that has nothing to do with my sub-par writing and everything to do with her awesome reading. Love Love Love.

Lastly, if you guess any of the five fics I wrote for Yuletide, you can claim either a drabble or 3 icons. Now for some hints.

All the fics were over 1k words, and not in the Madness collection. None are crossovers, and all of them are under 5k.

My assignment fic was written for a canon I have never written before, but I adore for being hilarious.

Unless you already knew, you will not guess my first pinch hit. But the title of the fic comes from a hymn.

I wrote one treat, which is so obvious I might as well have put my name on it. It features both a fandom and characters I have written before.

My second pinch hit is another fandom I have never mentioned before. It is also the weirdest thing I have ever written. (Yes, even more so than the Leverage/Othello crossover.)

My third, and final, pinch hit was titled from a lyric from one of my favorite hip hop artists.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/47821.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

Yuleletter 2011

attempt_unique — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:01:10 GMT

Hello there gorgeous,

(For being my Yuletide author you are surely kind and wonderful and talented and, yes, gorgeous.)

First off, thank you so much for writing for me. I am sure I will love whatever you create, whether you read this letter or not. Optional details are optional, so feel free to ignore all of this blather if you prefer writing with fewer details. However, if you like long-winded prompts, details about my request and the availability of the fandoms, this is the letter for you.

But first, here is some non-fandom specific stuff that might help you. (Also, yes, bits of this were c/p'ed from last year's letter, of which some was copied from the year before that.)

If you include porn in your fic, I will scroll past it.

I am OK with character death and I love apocafic. If you run out of other ideas, kill (almost) everybody in the world off and I will love it.

Racial diversity = awesome. Isms, not so much. However, I do prefer realism over sugar-coated, so if you want your fic to deal realistically with -isms I would not object.

I like: plot, ensembles, banter, found families, apocafic, fully realized characters and settings, adventures, interesting narrative voices and people who bring the funny.

I dislike: character bashing, romance-centric fic, infidelity, high school AUs, kidfic, ignoring the women and characters of color, introspective character pieces, incest, schmoop and pwp.

How to stalk me: It is a Yuletide tradition to stalk your recipient. To that end: my delicious & my fic. I can also often be found in the #yuletide chatroom. I use the nickname kristin, so you can avoid or stalk as you please.

And now for the fandom specific stuff:

. .
Attack the Block
(Moses, Sam, Biggz)

Request - I want future-fic like whoa for this fandom. It could be Sam and Moses forming a found family (no romance between the two, please), or the survivors testifying to either to a court/other authority/Parliament/media, or Biggz visiting Moses and Pest in jail (if they really ended up there). Or maybe Moses trying to deal with becoming a cult/public fugure? Really, I would just love something that explores the consequences of the events of the movie on the characters. Alternatively, if you want to do something pre/during the movie, maybe something about Biggz making all those phone calls in the bin, or possibly something about Moses and superheros and Dennis' sword. If you really want something out there, how about an AU where there are superheros, and Moses is assigned to become one. Would prefer gen.

About the Fandom - From the moment I heard about this movie I knew I was going to love it. (The first three reviews I read all referenced the influence of the Wire, which really piqued my interest.) Luckily, I was not proven wrong. Attack the Block is a British alien invasion movie from 2011 about teens from a London housing project going up against alien invaders. And it is even more amazing then that summary seems.

The character, even though some we only see for a small time, are fully realized characters. And yes, because of the nature of these types of movies, there is massive amounts of character death. More than anything, though, it is a smart movie. It plays with your expectations and does so well.

Of interest to a few in the Yuletide crowd, I am sure, is the presence of Nick Frost as a weed dwelling denizen of the block.

About the Request - One of the things I liked most about this fic was the atmosphere, so for the most part I would prefer canon-based to an AU, with the caveat of the one I mentioned in my request. I am a big fan of how real the movie felt. Well, real for a movie where alien creatures invade, so please don't forget that these are teenage boys who play video games, and oh, yeah, mug people. I don't want saccharine sweet or Sam as Moses' white savior. (Sam is awesome, but DNW the British Blind Side.)

I am American, so I don't know much Britain's court system or media, so if you look at my list of requests and go, well, that would never happen here, feel free to write what would.

In addition to the characters I requested, I love, well, all of them. Tia and Dimples (she killed that thing with her skate!) and Pest were all most great. As for ships, I vaguely ship Moses/Tia in that I think that is what canon was aiming at and appreciate the realism of it, but really I want something plot/character driven, not romance.

Availability - Honestly, I have no clue. (I have been internet deprived for over a month and haven't had time to research this. I'll add an ETA with this info when I know, especially because this will be the easiest canon to catch up on if the fandom you were assigned to write for doesn't seem to be working.

. .
Hip Hop RPF
(Kanye West)

Request - I would love to see Kanye West in an AU, fusion or crossover. (Kanye in Spaaaace! The good sir Kanye and his quest! Kanye hires Shawn and Gus to be his psychic bodyguards!) His personality is big enough to hold up no matter what the scenario. Alternatively, I always love a good apocafic, or if canon-based is more your thing, what about his transition from producing to rapping? Kanye's adventures in babysitting would also be most awesome. I would prefer gen.

About the Fandom - Kanye West. Need I say more? (OK, if you don't know, Kanye West is a hip hop artist and producer who is known as much for his personality as his music.)

About the Request - There are very few things I am completely irrational about. Kanye West is one of them. I think he is awesome and judge people who think otherwise. I love that he is committed not only to his own awesome, but to the awesome of his friends and fans.

That doesn't mean he isn't completely ridiculous sometimes. In fact, if he wasn't, I might not love him so.

I don't really want angst and I would love it if you could bring the funny. I prefer gen or background pairings (I OTP Jay-Z and Beyonce.) Also, it should be obvious, but I adore Kanye. Please don't bash him.

Possible ideas for AUs: Pirate!Kanye on the good ship Def Jam, Knight!Kanye, Kanye in Spaaaace!Kanye, Mad Scientist!Kanye!

If you want to write a crossover I suggest: Kanye meets the Old Spice Man, Kanye hires Gus and Shawn as his psychic bodyguards, or Kanye visits the Pie Hole.

Availability - Unfortunately there is no definitive source for RPF.

. .
NewsRadio
(Catherine Duke, Dave Nelson)

Request - I love the ridiculousness of NewsRadio, so something off the wall would be great. How about Dave and Catherine, dueling spies (The real reason she left was top secret!) The NewsRadio gang vs. the apocalypse! Wacky AUs are canon, so feel free to bring the good crack. If you prefer canon-based, future fic on the farm would be most amazing. Prefer gen or mild Dave/Lisa.

About the Fandom - NewsRadio is a 90s workplace sitcom that ran for 5 seasons. It features the ridiculous adventures of Dave Nelson as the manager of a news radio station in New York, but it was really all about the ensemble, at least for me. It was also characterized by its visual style (single camera, but with great use of the frame and people falling into and out of) and its lack of a straight man. And by that, I do not mean it was an 'everybody's gay' AU but that everybody's funny.

The show was also a fan of AUs. (I would have requested an in Spaaaace!au, but the show already provided. \o/) Think hijinks and weddings to hobos and an insane millionaire boss (the perfectly ridiculous Jimmy James) who provided the impetus for many a crazy plot. Though really, all the characters are lovable and insane and fully capable of creating situations for comedy.

The show, however, did suffer a very real life tragedy between the 4th and 5th seasons when one of its stars (the hugely talented and funny Phil Hartman) was killed by his wife. And while the 5th season wasn't quite as bad as I remembered, it is much more uneven.

About the Request - I love the banter and laughs and pratfalls and the way the characters all genuinely love each other. (If you can watch the first episode or season 5 and not cry, well, you are made of stone. Stone, I tell you.) But don't feel that you have to go straight up antics for a fic in this fandom. The best episodes all have a bit of darkness to them. Like, what about an apocalypse (shut up, my tastes in fic are valid) where Matthew, Catherine and Dave all have to try and get to safety and New Hampshire?

Or, there was this episode where the group finds out that Dave was really from Canada. He says he always hides it because obviously if kids had known when he was little they would have thought he was a spy for Canada. Dear Yuletide writer, I want Dave to actually be a spy from Canada. He has a talent for throwing knives! He can throw his voice! He can tap-dance at a semi-professional level! OK, so the last one doesn't quite work, but you get the drift. And I think Catherine has the sexy, smart skills to be his foil.

If you think those ideas are certifiably insane, I would take any AU. (The knights of the WNYX fighting for the honor of their king Jimmy James?) Or if you do want to write in canon, future-fic set in New Hampshire could be adorable. Or what about meeting Bill's family? (Good times, good times.)

My favorite characters are Dave, Bill, Catherine and Lisa. Though I also adore Beth and Jimmy and Joe. Basically, everyone is my favorite except Matthew and Max. As for relationships, I do like Dave and Lisa's canon relationship (and don't mind the way canon ended it) but other than references to that I would prefer gen. Because while the romances were fun, it was the friendships that really defined the show.

Availability - NewsRadio ran for 5 seasons in varying timeslots but is now readily available on Hulu (And was uploaded to YouTube, for people who can't access Hulu.)

. .
The Wire
(Bubbles)

Request - I would love any fic in this fandom. Feel free to ignore all my prompts and write whatever you want. If you want some ideas, though, I have plenty. How about a fic about Bubbles and his addiction (or his son!)? Or what about when he met Kima? Or how about something about Carver and Bodie and their growth over the seasons? Or how about Shardene visiting D'Angelo in prison? I prefer gen unless you want to write the epic (love) story of Avon and Stringer. And on the oft-chance you're inspired to write an Attack the Block au I would not object (unless it was the same dialogue transposed into Wire character's mouths.)

About the Fandom - The Wire is an HBO drama about Baltimore that ran for five seasons. It is deeply realistic, with a wide range of characters. While it is often billed as a procedural, it is so much more. Each season is focused on a different aspect of Baltimore: the cops and dealers, the docks, politics, schools and newspapers. And each season is utterly brilliant.

It is like a great novel put on screen, with layers and histories building up. Each season adds more depth to the city, as well as the characters. It is well acted, directed and written. All the pieces work together to create something wonderful. (Also, the cast is fucking hotter than the sun. Idris Elba, seriously.)

Every bit of its universe is fully realized. Everything has consequences. The impact of each character's decisions ripple out throughout the city and community. They do not exist in isolation, and there are no toss-away plot lines for sweeps. Everything matters, because everything works together. As a result, things change and grow.

There are many fully realized queer characters for whom their sexual orientation is just one aspect of them, not their defining characterization. Characters of color, same thing. In fact, there are many fully realized characters of color.

About the Request - First off, my request prompt is a bit shorter this year because last year I got an awesome Wire fic. But I love this show and just want more fic for it. I love these characters. I love the bleakness. I love that the good guys don't always win, ad when they do, it doesn't mean things improve. I love that everything has consequences. Basically, I ♥ my show.

I would rather have a fic stay grounded in the show's reality and break my heart than go for a false happily ever after ending. Also, a lot of these characters use language that most people avoid in fic. However, I am perfectly OK with such language as long as it isn't more extreme than what is said on screen and stays true to the character's voices. However, if you aren't comfortable writing it, please don't feel you have to include it!

My favorite characters are Bodie, Carver, Bubbles, Shardene, Bunny and Stringer, while I am least interested in the season five characters, McNulty or Carcetti. I would prefer you stuck with the canon sexualities, with the possible exception of Avon and Stringer. (I normally wouldn't request this, but in this fandom that doesn't mean erasure.) Also, I know I requested Bubbles, but if you can't work him into your fic, no worries.

Availability - The Wire ran on HBO for five seasons of 13 or less episodes. It is available on DVD, Netflix streaming or can be found through less legal methods such as torrenting.

Congrats for getting through that beast of a letter, and may your yuletide be filled with awesome things that do not include stressing about pleasing me. (For I am easy, fic-wise.)

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/47409.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

thesocialbang: round 2: art and mix for Wend and Repeat (Until True)

attempt_unique — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 02:20:49 GMT

No, the post I made yesterday wasn't just to break up the string of big bang posts. It simply happened to work out that way.

Fic: Wend and Repeat (Until True) by novembersmith
Fandom: The Social Network
Pairing: Mark/Eduardo
Summary: In which Mark accidentally puts a claim on Eduardo's soul, loses Eduardo, and then goes to the Underworld to get him back. Includes meddling spirits, Eduardo as a captive, mute audience to Mark's recaps of their personal history, and absolutely no maenads.

Note about the art: One of the elements I played with was modern vs. antique. I wish I could tell you all about the traditional art I used, but truth be-told I simply did a Google Image search.

Teaser:

Art:

the cover!

The first piece I did for this fic.

A wallpaper based on the above. Click the image to see the full-size.

I wasn't kidding about the randomness. Click for details.

The last piece I did and my favorite. Click for details.

Mix:

Click on either cover to dl the mix.

Tracklisting:

Shiva - The Antlers

Out of Sight - On-the-Go

I will follow you into the dark - Death Cab for Cutie

It Will Not Be Forgotten - The Pierces

Don’t Stop - the Dodos

Prometheus - Most Thieves

The Road - Emmylou Harris

Fasten You to Me - Belle Brigade

Sailors - Watine

Emotionally Yours - Bob Dylan

History Boys - Narine Pallot

This is the last big bang post you will see from me for awhile, as I am not currently lined up to do any more. Thanks to novembersmith for just being generally awesome and amazing and appreciative and wonderful and such as well as the mods for running an awesome challenge.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/46658.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

an anniversary, a few vids and who

attempt_unique — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 02:14:03 GMT

I happened to stop on my profile the other day and I realized I missed my 5th year anniversary on LJ. I suppose I should do some meme or other in celebration, but realistically I don't have time to make icons and I haven't been able to write anything for months. So let's not and say I did.

I realize I have been a bit absent, partly due to the time thing and the inability to write thing, but mostly because I have been feeling a bit disconnected from fandom. (Though I am, as always, overwhelmed and appreciative that people like my fanart. Really, people comment, and not just to tell me how awful it is! I am always amazed when that happens.)

But there have been a few vids that have made me happy lately that I thought I should share:

Vids:
Five Years Time by gigglemonster (Parks and Rec)

This vid is love. Sorry for the old meme, but that is my legit reaction to this. I love the song choice and the effervescence that fills it. I dare you to watch it and not smile.

When the Ship Comes In by chaila (The Wire)

I did not expect the song choice but it works so freaking well to demonstrate the wonderfully tragic relationship of Stringer and Avon. My initial thought was to just tell all of you to watch it and write me lots of fic, but due to spoilers: Go watch The Wire, then watch this vid, then write me lots of fic. And seriously, it will be worth your time to complete all those steps.

Welcome Home by barkley (Friday Night Lights)

I miss this show already. This vid doesn't mitigate that (which would be more than a bit impossibly) but it does distill how great the show was.

It's the End of the World as We Know It by danegen (Community)

Even a wildly overused song, when applied correctly, can result in an awesome vid. Such is the case here.

You Told the Drunks I Knew Karate by settiai (Doctor Who [New])

PONDS! Ponds being precious and heroic and so perfect for each other.

And in case you were wondering, that vid rec also stands as my reaction to the latest ep.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/46451.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

thesocialbbang: round 2: art for almost, finally, finally

attempt_unique — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:33:59 GMT

Third post in a row that is just big bang art. I swear I do exist besides that.

Anyway, here is art for the fledmusic's wonderful fic.

Fic: almost, finally, finally
Fandom: The Social Network
Pairing: Mark/Eduardo
Fic Rating: R
Summary: sequel to “these things get louder.” The first year of Mark and Eduardo's long-distance romance, featuring PDAs in formal wear, revelations about cookies, drama over Facebook info updates, and realizations that absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder quite so much as it makes the heart grow frustrated.

Notes: This is less fanart than fandesign. A cover, then quotes from the fic for each month of the year.

Thanks to fledmusic for writing this awesome fic and to my darling chat for putting up with me making them tell me my stuff is pretty.

Also, if you do put this on tumblr for whatever reason you must credit and link back to either my lj or dw!

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/46305.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

SPNJ2BB 2011: The Maiden Voyage of the S.S. Bad Touch

attempt_unique — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:25:56 GMT

Last SPN art post of the year! Thanks to sunspot for being so enthusiastic about working with me, even when I decided to try a new style.

Which leads me to a caveat: While I can design and can use shapes to create icons and logos in Illustrator, freehand work or even tracing is not my forte. Proceed with caution is all I am saying.

Fic: The Maiden Voyage of the S.S. Bad Touch
Author: sunspot
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing(s): References to Sam/Ruby
Summary:
Take one demon and add an angel. Subtract their powers and strand far from humans. The math is conclusive. It's time to get off the island.

Even if it means paddling.

Teaser:

Art:
Click any piece to see a larger version.

The cover art is in a very different style than the rest of the pieces. Its file name was actually ya.psd because it reminded me of the YA novel covers. But I liked it too much to not include. This is the one I would really recommend clicking through on, as there are a lot of details which might not show up on the preview image.

Ruby panel detail.

Cas panel detail. As these originally were intended as separate pieces the perspective and light doesn't work, but overall I am happy with the way these three came out.

Interior cover.

Map of the island.

Ruby surveying the island. This is one of the first pieces I did.

Cas setting out to explore. This one took me all of 10 minutes but came out exactly as I pictured.

One of the moments I liked in the fic was Cas drawing an Enochian symbol in the sand to ward off bears. I actually used an Enochian font as a base, however this only includes the words 'go' and 'bears'.

Cas and Buddy, who is not a monkey.

Ruby and Cas bantering is one of the cornerstones of the fic.

Mix:

Click on either cover to download the mix. Let me know if Megaupload isn't working and I will upload it somewhere else.

Track listing:

Into the Murky Water - The Leisure Society

Wonderland - Natalia Kills

Desert Island - Architecture in Helsinki

6000 Shipwrecks - Kite Flying Society

Go Home - Eliza Dolittle

Houdini - Foster the People

Fuckarias - Those Dancing Days

When the Ships Arrive - Guano Apes

Come On - I'm From Barcelona

Big World - Jacqueline Govaert

On the Ocean - Guster

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot

Westward Bound - Ha Ha Tonka

I Was Here - Beyoncé

Notes:
Thanks to the the spn_j2_bigbang mods for their awesome work again this year.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/45827.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

SPNJ2BB 2011: Devil Man

attempt_unique — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:49:07 GMT

Once again I managed to snag the claim of a fellow fan artist, this time geckoholic, and feel very intimidated. Luckily she seems to like my interpretations of her fic.

Fic: Devil Man
Author: geckoholic
Fandoms: Supernatural
Pairing(s): Gen
Summary: S6 AU (sort of), goes off from canon roundabout halfway into Swan Song:
Michael didn't take Adam as his vessel for the final fight, so after the devil went off wearing Sam,Dean says yes as well. But the fight that followed got interrupted, for reasons neither Sam nor Dean remember. Both angels and demons seemingly packed up and left, and what's left behind is a world that got shaken by a bunch of natural disasters.

Two years later the brothers and Castiel still struggle with the aftermath of the apocalypse and
everything that led up to it when Sam starts to behave strangely. But Lucifer is gone . . Or is he?

Banner:

(1700x1150)

Cover

(1150x1700)

Poster

(682x1050)

Fic Art

(1000x600)
He looks over to Sam, taking in his slightly bloodshot eyes and the dark shadows under his eyes. Sometimes he thinks they never went away after that fateful day in May two years ago.

(1200x800)
Much of the action takes place in a semi-permanent camp. I just loved the thought of the Impala off road.

(600x900)
He dreams of it - of him - sometimes. Not memories, exactly, more an impression of Michael himself. Some things he must've left behind in Dean's mind, because Dean couldn't possibly know them otherwise: Heaven, ancient times. Angels he never met.

(1500x1015)
It doesn't matter how often Dean tells himself that they did everything they possibly could to prevent the apocalypse from happening at all, he's not ever going to believe it. On one of their many wakeful nights since then, Sam told him some geeky shit about roads you don't take and a science theory that says that every time a human being makes a decision, there's a parallel universe developing in which it decides the exact opposite.

Dean likes to think that's true, and that somewhere out there another Dean's taking long hot showers, watching TV all night and eating burgers and truck stop-pie whenever he wants to and, most importantly, has a brother by his side who doesn't know a thing about what it feels like to have the devil wear him to the prom.

(600x976)
This was the one scene I really wanted to create once I read the fic. I don't think I did it justice, but it was fun to try to distill it to panels.

Dividers

Mix

Click on either cover to download.

Tracklisting
01. Black Treacle - Arctic Monkeys
02. The World - Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
03. Lines to Follow - J. Forte
04. Belt of Orion - The Belle Brigade
05. Wrong Directions - Martin and James
06. Go for the Throat - The Elected
07. Take Another Look - The Cars
08. Lake of Silver Bells - Carbon Leaf
09. Drag You Down - The Pierces
10. Death of Communication - Company of Thieves
11. Devil Man - Livingston
12. Wild Feeling - Ezra Furman & the Harpoons
13. Greatest Show on Earth - The Feeling

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/45173.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

sncross_bigbang 2011: unique: art+mix

attempt_unique — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 02:08:09 GMT

Yes, this is my second post in a row that is big bang art. At least you get to enjoy the pretty (hopefully)?

This is the unique art attempted by attempt_unique for Unique.

*ahem*

I might have picked this fic for the coordinating title, but I am so glad I did. The Dexter voice is amazingly great, the fic is wonderful, and claudiapriscus was a joy to work with.

Fic: Unique Link to fic now up!
Author: claudiapriscus
Fandoms: Supernatural, Dexter
Pairing(s): Gen
Summary:
It's a prize Dexter can hardly resist: a notorious mass murder who has eluded the law time and time again - to say nothing of convincingly faking his death several times. Dexter intends to fix that. It'll stick this time: he'll see to it.

Banner:

Fic Art:

The fic cover. Click on the image to see full-size.

A wallpaper. (1024x768)

I really love the Dexter PoV, so I tried to capture that here.

Also found in fic, BAMF Sam.

The Mix:

Click either cover to download. It's hosted on MegaUpload. Let me know if there are any problems and I'll mirror it somewhere else.

Tracklisting:
01) Maniac - Kid Cudi
02) Es-So - Tune-Yards
03) Hanuman - Rodrigo y Gabriela
04) Cover Your Tracks - Young Galaxy
05) Guilty - Marina and the Diamonds
06) Approximate Sunshine - Bright Eyes
07) Magnetic - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
08) Pull Off Your Arms and Let's Play in Your Blood - Fight Like Apes
09) Putting the Dog to Sleep - The Antlers
10) End of the Walrus - Fissunix
11) Ain't No Grave - Johnny Cash

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/44693.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

thesocialbbang: round one art + mix

attempt_unique — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:26:03 GMT

My first big bang post of the year, for thesocialbbang.

Creating art for this fic was so much fun, despite, or maybe because of, the limited time frame we had for this round. (See: my love of pinch hits, deadlines etc. Makes things exciting. I actually had these done within 48 hours of getting the fic.)

Hopefully it doesn't disappoint!

Fic: And I Will Hold On
Author: venus_aurea
Fandom: The Social Network
Pairing(s): Eduardo/Mark
Warning(s): deals with mental health issues
Summary: AU. When Mark mysteriously disappears one morning, Eduardo begins to question his own sanity and starts to see a therapist, hoping to figure out the puzzle of his relationship with Mark.

fic cover.

This is the first piece I made for this fic and ended up setting the palette and feel for the rest. Click here for full-size (1024x768)

stock and textures from stock.exchange. quotes are from the fic.

click either mix cover to download the complete mix from Megaupload. Let me know if you have any issues dl'ing and I will upload to an alternate host.

Tracklisting

1. Where’d You Go - Fort Minor
Where'd you go? I miss you so. Seems like it's been forever, that you've been gone.

2. No Widows - The Antlers
If I’m stuck out here alone, if I’m stranded here all year, with just nothing left at home, no widows disappear.

3. Recommendation - Mirah
Now you drove so far but now you know, How rough it is to let me go, And let me recommend that you think twice.

4. The Lonely - Christina Perri
Broken pieces of a barely breathing story. Where there once was love, now there's only me.

5. It’s About to Get Worse - I Blame Coco
Now that you've recognized there's a problem, it's about to get worse, it's about to get worse.

6. Crazy in the Deep - Adele vs. Gnarles Barkley (mashup)
The scars of your love remind me of us, they keep me thinking that we almost had it all.

7. Walk it Back - R.E.M.
What, what would you have had me say? Instead of what I said.

8. Help Me Close My Eyes - Those Dancing Days
Help me close my eyes. I want to sleep without dreaming cause I need them to be true.

9. Home - Ellie Goulding
On my own, this is where I build my home

10. Memories - Within Temptation
All of my memories keep you near

11. Never Forget You - Lupe Fiasco ft. John Legend
Take me to memories we won’t erase. Take me to all that we had, good and the bad.

12. Trapped in My Mind - Kid Cudi
Damn, I wish I knew what went wrong, my mental got hit.

ETA: Fic is now up. Plus, now I have an appropriate icon.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/44292.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

icons:character20n20 - Chuck (Pushing Daisies)

attempt_unique — Thu, 19 May 2011 02:46:42 GMT

Icons! 20 of them! No, I have no more words!

challenge: character20n20
fandom: Pushing Daisies
character: Charlotte "Chuck" Charles
Teaser:
. .

10 THEMES

Bright	Corner Crop	Dark	Drained	Faceless


Fun	Green	Shakespeare	Spring	Smile

Black & White

B&W 1	B&W 2	B&W 3	B&W 4	B&W 5

ARTIST'S CHOICE

artist's choice 1	artist's choice 2	artist's choice 3	artist's choice 4	artist's choice 5

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/44038.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

a brief account of the week of one kristin o. lastname, age twenty and four

attempt_unique — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:57:02 GMT

People, why is my life so very boring? Please don't answer that, for I fear it would result in a vicious cycle of tediousness.

Instead, let's talk fannish happenings. And since I do so very much love lists, I am employing the trusty bullets.

The season of big bangs has commenced! Feel free to make dirty jokes about banging and big things as you please. This weekend I finished art for two claims, one for the first round of thesocialbbang and the other for sncross_bigbang. (Yes, I officially failed at writing for the latter, so claimed an awesome fic to make art for instead.)

I also have two more fics in my possession in need of art (for spn_j2_bigbang) for which I have plans and ideas. So many ideas! (And also, awesomely, lots and lots of time until they will be posted.)

Relatedly, lend me your ears! Or rather, lend me the thing you listen to with your ears, aka music! While putting together mixes I realized my music collection is in need of a good turnover. What are you listening to these days, oh wonderful circle of friends?

I (obviously) have been listening to Lupe's new album. (You should have seen my face when Lasers leaked. It was like :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. Only happier. And not actually an emoticon.) Sadly, it did not quite live up to my expectations, though truthfully that would have been very hard. But I still recommend it, as well as all of his past catalog.

This week marks the ending of most of the shows I follow. I am considering doing a roundup of this TV season and why I started/stopped/continued watching certain shows. However, I think I would need to break out my Teal Deer Crossing sign if I did that.

I have been following the ongoing Upfronts, because, yes, I am that kind of a TV geek. I am super excited for Awake and Alcatraz, and kinda meh about all the other announced new shows so far. I have very mixed feelings about the fact that NBC declined to pick up Wonder Woman. Gimme fantastic female superheros, please and thank you. On the other hand, well, script, costume and David E. Kelly involvement all pointed to awful television territory.

Lastly. Here is my in-depth critique of this week's Doctor Who.

OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/43884.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

oh, kalinda (aka stream of conciousness good wife meta)

attempt_unique — Thu, 12 May 2011 02:11:01 GMT

I had an extremely long, horrible day. But you want to know what? I have about as much interest in writing about that as you do in reading about it.

Instead, let's talk about something awesome, or rather someone.

Oh, Kalinda. I suppose there is more to say than that, but holy hell, Archie Punjabi rocked the hell out of this ep.

If you had asked me last season if I would have watched/believed/loved a scene of Kalinda breaking down in an elevator I would have flat out denied it. The great strength of Kalinda as a character hasn't been her investigative skills, BAMFness or even her sex appeal. It has been the restraint.

She epitomizes the strong and silent type. She plays her cards close to the chest and doesn't let anyone in, even the viewer. It was one of the reasons why the Blake sub-plot failed so miserably. It was too brash and blunt and too much in general.

Kalinda is subtly.

But there has been a slight softening since the pilot, somewhat with Cary and Will, but mostly due to Alicia. They became friends. Two strong independent women (from a world populated by them, god I love this show) bonding over work and relationships and booze.

One of the few things I liked about the whole Blake plot was the revelation that Kalinda was from the (Canadian) suburbs. That she had been a bored suburbanite who needed a different life. That revelation, to me, perfectly explains why she would be drawn to Alicia even besides the fact that she was Peter's wife, and, in fact, explains how she was able to compartmentalize it.

The Alicia who Kalinda became friends with had left behind her old life, just like Kalinda had. Kalinda therefore treated Alicia how she wanted to be treated herself. She ignored the past, the tangle of Peter, because that is not who Alicia was. She wasn't 'the housewife' anymore, she was Alicia, and that made all the difference in the world.

Enough of that. I liked the breaking of the fourth wall, especially the way it tied Will and Nancy's trying to win over potential jurors with Jackie's attempts to woo the Florrick kids. (Who I still really want to the show to send to college/boarding school/off with Peter so we don't have to pay attention to their plot-lines anymore.) I also really really loved Lee in this, the mix of professional and personal. I generally haven't liked that character, but this ep really sold him to me.

But the CotW was too on the nose and not twisty or well executed enough to seem like anything but the C-story. I would much rather have had no case and more Diane (who was sadly lacking this ep) and maybe even Eli.

But all in all, the one-two punch of the past two eps has been amazing. The Good Wife hasn't been renewed for next season (yet) but it, along with Parks and Rec (which will be back next season \o/) have been by far my favorite shows airing this year. (With the minor caveat of Treme, which just started up again and has aired two few eps this season to judge.)

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/43538.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

remixredux: Reveal 2011

attempt_unique — Sun, 08 May 2011 17:21:36 GMT

remixing:2011

I love reading about the remixing process so I thought I’d put in my two cents. This year I wrote four: one assignment, one pinch hit and two madness. However, I think only two of them really worked as remixes.

I took different approaches to how I actually went about remixing each of them

First up, the Madness fics.

friend of mine (the guess what, i'm not a robot remix) (1644 words) by kristin
Fandom: Social Network (2010)
Relationships: Eduardo Saverin/Mark Zuckerberg
Characters: Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin
Summary: Okay, maybe that should have been Dustin's first clue that something was wrong. Because A) Mark could do his own research and B) well, when had Mark ever wanted to know anything about another person? A friendship found in texts.
I wrote this in about an hour on the last day, right before I was due at work. It is a remix of no child of mine, aka the epic hooker!fic/stalking!fic/bamf!wardo!fic. I had read it before and was looking for an excuse to write TSN fic, so I was thrilled when ninhursag signed up for Remix Madness.

As for the process of remixing, it basically went, well, I don’t have time to tell Wardo’s part of the story (though I really wanted to) but wait, outsider PoV!

Naturally, given how quickly I wrote it, it was my most popular fic this year. I like it when people read my stuff, so I was delighted to watch the hit count go up and up.

However, it really really doesn’t work as a remix.

No, Seriously.

One of the main criteria for remixes, in my opinion, is that it can stand on its own. It should tell a similar story, and draw from the original, but at the end of the day, if it can’t be read and understood on its own, well, it is just a sequel/missing scene/extension of the original. For it to be a remix, you should be able to read either one first.

So while I had fun writing Dustin and Wardo texting each other, I am annoyed at how far off the mark I was.

sleep apraxia (the land, sea and sky remix) (1160 words) by kristin
Characters: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes
Summary: “This is just so-” John paused, quite obviously searching for the right adjective. Interesting. His face was, almost impossibly, more open this way. Expressions exaggerated rather than drug dull. Atypical. (Must keep that in mind for assessing other reactions.) “Sherlock.” Three times Sherlock slept in a moving vehicle.

On the other hand, this fic does work, at least in my mind. I remixed saraht’s recreational aphasia, which is a lovely quiet little fic from John’s POV. I had never written Sherlock fic before, and I knew I wanted to write from Sherlock’s PoV, so this worked perfectly.

Now as I mentioned, I have read a bunch of remixing meta in the past. One of the best bits of advice I took was to take something away from the original, but then also add something new. In this case I took away John’s PoV and added two additional times Sherlock slept.

Not anything groundbreaking or wonderful, but I think this fic worked well enough.

Wait for the Sunrise (The Quantum Entanglement Remix) (1193 words) by kristin
Fandom: Firefly
Characters: River Tam, Zoe Washburne
Summary: At the end of the 'verse, River has a conversation with Schrödinger's cat.

For my pinch hit I a remix of Strength of the World by escritoireazul.

The alternate title of the fic should be: How Kristin Confused Herself.

So, I initially planned on writing from the PoV of the cat. However, when I was rereading the fic, I realized that the cat wasn’t real, or maybe it was. I went back, reread it yet again and still couldn’t figure it out.

From there it was obvious there had to be at least a mention of Schrodinger. And... well, after that, it was taken care of it really was just a simple PoV switch. As to the cat, still no clue if it was a metaphor, real, Serenity, a communal madness.

There is No Relativity (The Fright Fest Remix) (2974 words) by kristin
Fandom: Veronica Mars (TV)
Characters: Wallace Fennel, Veronica Mars, Lilly Kane
Summary: “You know you are my best sidekick.” Wallace paused while Veronica settled back down onto the couch. “At least until I build that robot.”Veronica Mars watches horror movies with her BF(F).

Lastly, though it was first written, there is my assignment fic, a remix of azurejay’s Our lives will not flash before our eyes.

I lucked out on my assignment this year. There were 5+ fandoms xe had written in that I knew. I decided to go through them all systematically, and I actually did. I started a txt document where I copied the info of all fics I liked/thought I could remix and made notes there.

But for all of that, I still remixed the first fic I read. (I blame fandom march madness, as it had rekindled my VMars love.)

I knew I wanted to write Veronica&Wallace fic, so I jumped right in and wrote about them hanging out and discussing their lives as movies, which is a scene that is briefly mentioned in the original. (Sidenote: this was the first fic where I wrote all the dialogue first, then went back through and added tags. Not quite sure I liked that approach.) I finished it pretty quickly and merrily sent it off to be betaed.

If you like this fic, you should praise snow. Because she read through the fic and informed me it didn't work and, most importantly let me know what the fic needed, aka Lilly.

The thing is, I am still not 100% sure this works as a remix either. I am not sure it relates enough to azurejay's awesome original.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/43394.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

recs: remix redux

attempt_unique — Tue, 03 May 2011 03:14:28 GMT

Well hello, circle. (and flist, though LJ is currently not loading for me.) I have news for you of the fic related variety!

A. I received some really fucking awesome fics for this year's Remix Redux.

First off there is the awesomeness that is:

pull me out (don't lose your grip remix) (2991 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Castiel, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Anna Milton, Uriel

Okay so, this is based on my SPN Reversebang fic from last year. Not gonna lie, my favorite part of that fic was premise, courtesy of the awesome artist. (The premise for the majority of you who won't remember is this: Anna was the one who pulled Dean from hell, while Cas fell.) My anon remixer took that same premise and made it so so much better.

And then I got a Remix Madness fic!

No Happy Endings (Once Upon a Time Remix) (100 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Uriel (Supernatural)
Summary: All fairy tales begin with "once upon a time" and end with "happily ever after."

Oh, this is just a little bite of awesome. Uriel is my favorite character who has appeared on this show and the anon author managed to encapsulate him perfectly. ♥

B. (You didn't think there wouldn't be a B, did you?) I also wrote for Remix. In fact, I wrote 4 fics. (Two in regular, two in Madness.) Guess what they are and get either 3 custom icons or a ficlet.

Your hints:

All four fics are in different fandoms, and none are crossovers.

According to Ao3, I have only written one of them before.

All the fics are over 1000 words and under 3000.

All are marked gen, but one has a pairing listed (as I back-grounded it in the fic.)

Also, I know I am the least secretive, so you can't claim the prize if I already told you what I wrote.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/43011.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

fic + beta call

attempt_unique — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:23:47 GMT

First! I drabbled. (Which is less disgusting than it sounds. I know it is a legit term I just always read it as something not that pleasant.) And as I am bit of a purist, yes, it is exactly 100 words, at least according to Ao3.

So here is a tiny fic about Rory that I knid of hate. Not because of Rory, but because I am sure I fucked up his voice. (Wow, I am sure selling the shit out of this fic, aren't I?)

Knowing (100 words) by kristin
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Amy Pond/Rory Williams
Characters: Rory Williams
Summary:

Rory has heard the comments. Hard not to. “You let your girlfriend/fiancee/wife go around kissing other blokes?” (As if he ever let Amy do anything.)

Secondly, I am in the finishing process of two fics, one for an exchange one for fun. Each will clock in at under 1k (or just about that range) and each needs a beta and (if I can get it) Brit-picking. The fics:

Doctor Who, River Song and Donna Noble gen.

Sherlock (BBC), Sherlock and John gen.

Please let me know if you can help out over the next couple days! (They won't be ready for anyone else's eye until tomorrow morning.)

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/42912.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

oh, shows

attempt_unique — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:25:16 GMT

*waves hi at newcomers*

People, this week was awesome. Not personally, but fannishly.

Exhibit A: I finished my remix fic and pinch hit and while I have a few issues with both, they are done and not completely shit.

Exhibit B: Community was back, baby! I mean, it has been airing regularly, but it was back to form. Funny, meta and character driven. Plus, Annie's boobs.

Exhibit C: One of my very favorite shows came back on the air, delightfully and true to form. And I'm not talking about Doctor Who. (Okay, I am, but I am also talking about the also very very wonderful Treme.)

People, why are you not talking about this? There was Annie looking so delightfully joyful and happy that I, no joke, started to sing along with my TV. There was hot Khandi and oh, that little boy and his trumpet.

Treme is all about the atmosphere. But of the new developments, here are my thoughts:

John Seda (aka the developer who slasa danced) seems a bit too smooth so far. Almost oily. But I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt. One of the things the show really needs is an antagonist, and I hope that is where they are going with him.

The only part I actually disliked was Sophie's YouTube video. I mean, I appreciated the callback to Creighton in the series premiere (Oh, Creighton) but the delivery and execution were clunky in the extreme.

Also, shirtless PJ Ransome.

Exhibit D: Now I am actually talking about Doctor Who. And what I have to say is: OH MY SHOW YOU ARE BACK AND I LOVE YOU AND PONDS AND RIVER AND ELEVENTY AND EVERYTHING AND CREEPY ALIENS AND TARDIS AND HATS AND LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. I'm not going to talk about the plot yet, mostly because I want to see the rest of the two-parter. (Preferably now, please, Moffat. *grabby hands*)

Exhibit E: I have been all writerly. I get this way around fic exchanges. Something switches on and I end up wanting to write more and more and then I get tired of it and don't write for months. However! This time I am afflicted with a certain awfulness: too many WiPs. (And yet, I started two new ones today, oh, brain.)

Therefore I am making a list of fics I actually ~~want~~ need to finish to force myself to concentrate on them:

~~River&Donna, telepathy fic (Doctor Who) - a fill for the female character trope fest that is almost done.~~

~~Rory relationship drabble (Doctor Who) - I was thinking thoughts and am writing them. Novel, I know.~~

Veronica Mars / The Good Wife thing (self explanatory) - another fill for the trope fest that I have snippets for but needs a fuckton of work to make it have, idek, logic?

robot!mark (TSN) - this had been languishing unattended on the kinkmeme for weeks. i need to just put a few hours in and get some more words out.

Pineapple Bodywash (Old Spice Man / Psych) - this has been half written for almost a year now.

My goal is to get all of those done in the next two weeks. Doable, yes. Likely, eh, we'll see.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/42615.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

icons:character20in20 - Joan (Mad Men)

attempt_unique — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 22:48:16 GMT

Once again I've done character20n20. This time I claimed Joan from Mad Men.

Teaser:
. .

10 THEMES

Bad Day	Center Crop	Drink	Fake Background	Language


Lips	Pink	Sad	Yes/No	Zig Zag

One Color

Color 1	Color 2	Color 3	Color 4	Color 5

ARTIST'S CHOICE

artist's choice 1	artist's choice 2	artist's choice 3	artist's choice 4	artist's choice 5

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/42236.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

meme results

attempt_unique — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 22:42:15 GMT

Here are the (very belated) results of the meme from my last entry where I asked people to posit scenarios with an unknown group of characters. I can now reveal the list:

1. Stringer Bell (the Wire)
2. Veronica Mars
3. Castiel (SPN)
4. Zoe (Firefly)
5. The Old Spice Man
6. Peggy (Mad Men)
7. Olive (Pushing Daisies)
8. Mark Zuckerburg (The Social Network)
9. Emerson (Pushing Daisies)
10. Troy (Community)
11. Katniss (Hunger Games)
12. Gus (Psych)
13. Brad Colbert (Generation Kill)
14. Leslie Knope (Parks and Recreation)
15. Omar Little (The Wire)

Veronica Mars, Peggy Olson, and Brad Colbert go for a road trip that Peggy has planned. Where do they go? Why are they going together? What do Veronica and Brad think of Peggy's plans? What life lessons do they learn along the way, if any?
Peggy Olson is older now, a revered matriarch of the advertising community. She is driving from NY to CA. She hired Vmars to come along and drive her. (Peggy is a New Yorker born and bred and never learned.) Brad isn't traveling with them, really, he swears. He was doing his own cross-county journey while figuring out what was next. But then he and Vmars ended up playing tag on the road and he wants to keep it up.

Stringer Bell has been hired to write an After School Special for a tv station. Stringer may choose the topic, so long as it is relevant to today's teenagers. What does Stringer choose?
This is strangely and perfectly apt. Stringer would be very practical. I am thinking money management and financial education. Let the kids know the power of saving.

Omar Little and Zoe Washburne wake up married. How do they react? Who does each tell first? How do they resolve the issue?
!!! Obviously not a romantic pairing, but I would read so many fics about these two being bad-asses together. In either universe.

But as for the question: Well, I think this must be pre-series for Zoe. She and Omar were out on a mission one day and decided to bunk together for security. Of course some of the settlers made some assumptions, seeing as Omar hadn't advertised his preferences. They actually don't tell anyone, then. Not til years later when Zoe, Mal et al run into him during a job. Wash is very unamused that this tough, hot man is calling Zoe his wife. And what is worse, she responds in kind.

They let him stew for a bit, then reveal it is all a sham. Wash keeps giving him side-eyes until Omar introduces Brandon.

Castiel and Gus end up living together. What amazing set of accidents lead to this situation? What is the number 1 bone of contention in their household? What type of relationship (enemies, friends, nothing, lovers, sibling-ish, life partners, etc) results?
Gus thinks Cas is an awesome roommate. He is almost never there, has no stuff and his checks are always accepted. The only downside is Shawn's pouting, as Gus refused to room with him.

Olive and Emerson get stranded in a foreign county where neither speaks the language. Where are they stranded? Do they help one another at all? How do they get home?
They are stranded in Norway after a mishap with a shipping container. (Emerson suspects this is revenge for MOTHER.) Of course they help each other! Emerson might pretend not to, but he loves his itty bitty. They get home after solving a murder, kitting a scarf and singing for supper.

The Old Spice Man and Troy fell deeply in love (under what circumstances?), but were torn apart by a misunderstanding (what was it?). Katniss tries to woo Old Spice Man (why? how?), but has trouble overcoming the memories of Troy. Old Spice Man and Troy meet again. Will Katniss find the way to OSM's heart? Or will Troy win out?
Troy and the Man were deeply in love. He could do anything! And Troy adored him. However, once Troy went to Greendale he stopped using Old Spice Bodywash after he found out that Pierce did. Troy didn't want to smell like an old man!

Obviously this broke the Man's heart and he left to go find a thing that you would love for everyone, not just for Troy.

On his journey's he meets Katniss. She is trying to woo him, as his skills would be very useful in the arena, but she won't just take things from the Man for free. Katniss pays her debts. But all he seems to want is Troy.

Obviously Katniss goes and gets Troy for the OSM. Troy and OSM forgive one another for the fight over bodywash and are awesome together. (Katniss doesn't win the OSM's heart because she doesn't want it.)

AU: Mark and Leslie grew up as childhood friends and neighbors. What is each of their most cherished memories of that childhood?
Leslie remembers going to the parks. Remembers playing and crafts and days in the sun. She remembers babysitting Mark and thinking Pawnee was the most magical place in the world. (She still believes it.)

Mark remembers the park too. Leslie used to take him there and show him the neatest stuff. (But he also remembers falling off the wings and the stench from the Sweetem's factory and the way Leslie stopped playing with him as she got older. But he still sends her a Friend's Request as soon as Facebook is available to the general public.)

If Peggy, Gus, Castiel and Mark all ended up on a road trip together, who'd insist on doing most of the driving, who'd keep track of the map and the route and which character would be most likely to be threatened with being left on the side of the highway?
Castiel would just zap himself to his destination, then suddenly appear at random intervals, Peggy doesn't know how to drive, and Mark is a horrible driver (he keeps checking his phone). So obviously Gus has to be the one driving. No way would he risk life and limb letting anyone else behind the wheel.

Peggy keeps track of the route. She pokes (physically) Mark every time she wants to check the actual map, though. (He insisted they didn't need a paper copy.) Gus threatens to leave Cas behind each time he suddenly appears.

Stinger is ghostwriting a book for Olive Snook. How much editorial control does Olive demand?
Stinger is trying to explain away some cash by doing declaring himself a ghostwriter. (He feels the term is eerie yet erudite enough to fit his rep.) Olive wants to control every little bit of her memoir “Piebold to Piehole: The Olive Snook Story,” but Stringer manages to get his way. (He can be very persuasive.)

Omar Little is trying to pick out a birthday present for Emerson. What kind of advice does Gus give?
Emerson did Omar a good turn and got him out of a false charge, without explaining what exactly Omar had been doing that meant he couldn't have been the one doing the deed. So now Omar wants to show his appreciation. He contacts Emerson's cousin Gus, who gives him some pointers on the perils of yarn shopping.

Castiel is trying to talk the Old Spice Man into going out. What are the suggestions and where does the Man eventually agree to go?
… I might actually want to write this.

But anyway. Castiel is very enamored of the perfection of the Man. It reminds him of ideals fulfilled. He keeps flitting in the check on the OSM, but is puzzled about the best way to woo him. Eventually he gets the OSM to accompany him on the quest to find the drop from the rose on the highest peak of that beautiful country, like in that story in you love.

Katniss is traveling with the Doctor. What's the one place they really want to visit?
Now this is a fic I want someone else to write.

Katniss just wants to go home. She will, grudgingly, admit that the Doctor has shown her some beautiful things, and when he is around she doesn't have to kill. (No, instead they try to ensure that everyone lives.) But she misses her family and friends and the quiet. (The Doctor is many things, but he is never quiet.)

Zoe has to design a new board game for children, and Brad is the boss of the company. Does Brad approve Zoe's design?
Fuck yeah. Of course Brad would okay something Zoe designed. He respects competence and she has that in spades.

Veronica Mars has to pick out the book for a bookclub consisting of herself, Peggy Olson, Mark, Leslie, and Troy. Do any of the other characters like the book Veronica picks out?
Veronica picks out a murder mystery. She likes picking apart the plotlines and finding out the killer. Peggy likes it too. Mark just reads the wiki entry and the author's facebook fan page. Leslie read it. She would have liked it better if it was set someplace nicer then London, though. Maybe Pawney. Troy didn't read it, but Abed's summary was awesome.

I also did the Ao3 hitcount meme:

1. Meta Yuletide Fic - OSM (5126 hits)
2. Honey Pie - Telephone/Psuhing Daisies (761 hits)
3. Bordellos, Brothels and Berries, Oh My! - Pushing Daisies (447 hits)
4. It's Just the Way the Game is Played - The Wire (444 hits)
5. Just Moments - Mad Men (438 hits)
6. Those That Be Not What They Seem - Leverage/Othello (394 hits)
7. All My Wires Without Traces - Submachine (388 hits)
8. Today's Just a Day Like the Day that He Started - The Wire (280 hits)
9. Fine Dining in Baltimore - The Wire (247 hits)
10. The Rules of Roles - Entourage (235 hits)

So, the Meta fic is more than a bit of an outlier. Not only did it get more than 6.8x the number of hits of the second place fic, but it got more than 21x the amount of the 10th place fic.

With the meta fic.

Without it.

Beyond that, the biggest thing is Yuletide. Nine out of 10 of these are Yuletide fics. In fact, the only one that isn't is Rules of Roles (which was written for Racebending Revenge) which is in 10th place. And there are three Yuletide fics between it and the next non-Yuletide fic.

Also interesting was the number three fic, mostly because it doesn't actually get that many comments. I am guessing the fact that it is one of only two fics that isn't listed as gen. (Today's just a Day is het.) The other one whose numbers surprised me was the Submachine fic. I didn't know there was that big an audience for that fandom. (Also, it is my longest fic.) But I think the fact that it is currently the only fic on Ao3 for Submachine might be a factor.

Quality-wise, well, I don't think the Meta fic is that much better than anything else on the list. (If it was quality, in my opinion It's Just the Way... would be a clear number one.) Just Moments and Fine Dining are the two weakest fics on the list, only because they were both written on the last day and are very sparsely written.

This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/41932.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.

Blue/Orange	Blue/Orange	Blue/Orange	Blue/Orange	Blue/Orange