Wow, I had the most delightful birthday! It started on Friday with a Kris Delmhorst show with sdwolfpup, at one of my favorite venues (being lovely, in possession of a bourbon bar AND good acoustics, and relatively close to my house). The show was AMAZING and I realized partway through that it's never worked out that I could talk to Kris after a show before, which is NUTS to me, so we went up to her afterward and I flailed all my feelings at her and she gave me a VERY SWEET hug (totally unsolicited), and then SDW flailed HER feelings and ALSO got a delightful hug, and it was awesome. And then Saturday night Mr. McK and I had a fabulous dinner at a really nice steakhouse (and we were all dressed up, and over the course of the night, three different people--all ladies, so there was no hint of skeeviness involved--stopped me to tell me how pretty I looked, which was kind of a great ego boost), and over the weekend he did all the household chores (feeding the dog, walking the dog, doing the dishes, etc.) that we normally share. And then yesterday--which was my actual birthday--it was a gorgeous sunny day, I posted the fic I have been working on for MY ENTIRE LIFE (okay, two months, but still), I had a fun celebration with my work teammates that involved coffee Heath bar ice cream cake NOM, Mr. McK brought me flowers, I had a nice chat with my parents, my Late Night With Seth Meyers hoodie (SHUT UP) came in the mail (though it was too big so I'm going to have to exchange it--why they don't have ladies'-cut merch for LNSM yet is a MYSTERY to me), and it happened to be Felix Day AND the Mariners' offense even showed up to shellack the Yankees. DAY OF WIN. Plus there were various lovely electronic birthday wishes, including from many of you, and that just totally made my day. So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. ♥ And then this Friday there will be (weather permitting) fangirl shenanigans, which have nothing to do with my birthday, but which will be a gift nonetheless!

Otherwise, this about covers my general state of mind lately:



I like to call it Portrait of a New Fandom. HEE. (Seriously though. This is SUCH A FUN TIME to get into SNL/SNL-adjacent fandom. I RECOMMEND IT. I WILL PROBABLY BE TALKING MORE ABOUT THIS. I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS.)

I'm also giving Tumblr another shot (I am brynnmck over there)... mostly I'm just liking things at this point, though, because I feel like Tumblr has a lot of unwritten rules around posting/tagging and I don't know what they are and I'm SCARED. Hee. (Plus I know I am way, way wordier than Tumblr in general, so I'm not sure how to negotiate that.) I have no plans to give up LJ/DW--and now that I'm done with this damn fic, I will hopefully have more time for flailing here--but my latest Tumblr foray has been fun from an intake perspective, plus it is REALLY great for a fandom like SNL that is inherently visual and bite-sized, and has an enormous amount of canon to cover. AND, of course, it's been excellent to be able to at least see what some of you guys are excited about. So we shall see how this goes. In any case: HI. HIIIIIIIIII. <3

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Hello internets! I feel horrible about my lack of LJ/DW participation, and I feel even more horrible that I seem to start every post this way these days, and I could offer you excuses but I won't. What I did want to do is share some joy, because I am deep down a fannish wormhole recently about Amy Poehler (and now also Seth Meyers, and also how they should be together 4eva, though I also want Seth to stay with his wife because she seems awesome too, HAPPY POLYAMORY FOR ALL MY RPF SHIPS), which is not new, but it has cycled around to a certain level of intensity that means I am overflowing with love and wanted to share. Also because I find Amy Poehler spectacularly inspiring, and in case you do not have her in your life yet, I feel that you probably should. And if you DO have her in your life, CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW AMAZING SHE IS.

So it came to my attention the other day that Mindy Kaling, like Tina Fey (and apparently Rachel Dratch, though I haven't tracked hers down yet), has a little paean to Amy in her autobiographical book, and that between Tina and Mindy, they manage to express the dual sides of Amy's nature that I desperately admire: she is, by all accounts, incredibly sweet and wise and supportive and a generally amazing friend, and she is also a badass who does not take shit from people, especially sexist shit. I'm gonna let Tina start us off here:

( This chapter is subtitled 'One in a series of love letters to Amy Poehler', BTWCollapse )

I LOVE THAT SO MUCH, YOU GUYS. (Though I SERIOUSLY want to read the rest of Tina's series of love letters, in that sense where it is none of my business but PLEASE TELL ME ALL THE THINGS ABOUT YOUR BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP AND HOW MUCH YOU LOVE EACH OTHER.)

And then from Mindy:

( Everyone has a moment when they discover they love Amy Poehler.Collapse )

*slides to the floor in a helpless puddle of love* That legitimately made me sniffly last night. And then I read it to Mr. McK and he got sniffly too. ♥ (I'm really enjoying Mindy's book, BTW, even the parts that have nothing to do with Amy Poehler. Definitely recommended. Tina's book--which I read a couple of years ago, back in the first flush of my Amy Poehler fandom--is, of course, also fantastic.)

Also, if you are not familiar with Smart Girls at the Party, the YouTube channel Amy hosts with a couple of her friends, can I HIGHLY recommend it? Or at least celebrate its existence? Basically the whole thing is geared toward young women especially, and telling them it's good to be smart and weird and assertive and funny and unique, and it's SO BEAUTIFUL. I particularly love the Ask Amy section, where Amy answers submitted questions and consistently gives THE BEST advice and is so thoughtful and wise and lovely and I CAN'T DEAL WITH HOW MUCH I LOVE AND ADMIRE HER. SERIOUSLY. (This is also why I LOLed when Taylor Swift accused Amy and Tina of not supporting other women because they made a joke about her at the Golden Globes. I have nothing against Taylor Swift [well, besides this, I suppose], but seriously, girl, do a TINY bit of research before you go throwing around accusations like that. It's okay that you don't like to be teased, but don't try to make it out to be a crime against the sisterhood.)

And a couple of quotes from Seth, because shut up, I don't have a problem, you don't know me:

"She’s sort of this cute small girl who’s also tougher than anyone you’re going to run into. More than any other comedian I’ve ever worked with, she’s who I’d want with me in an alley fight. But if we did get into one, I’m sure it’d be because Poehler started it."

HEEE. And again, the flip side:

When Amy left in October, just days before giving birth to her son, Archibald, Seth was crushed. "I’ve met Archie," he jokes, "and I don’t know why you'd leave the Update desk for him. Honestly, though, it’s gutting. She was the captain of the football team, the cheerleader, and the school president rolled into one."

<3______________________<3

ETA: WAIT, THIS TOO, from Andy Samberg: She’s the best, and I try to do everything she does as best I can. There’s no one who handles things better, in my opinion, than Amy. Across the board. She’s my hero. AAAAAAGH. (I am having a lot of feelings about Andy Samberg these days, too, and Brooklyn 99, and how my TV is currently full of awesome people who love and support each other. But that's another post!)

So yeah. Amy Poehler. She's my hero, and I legitimately think the world is a better place because she's in it.

(also this is a great but also lethal Tumblr if you like Amy Poehler or if you would like to like Amy Poehler)

(also random bonus material: here is Amy playing charades with Seth Meyers against Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon and it is the fucking cutest all around: part 1, part 2)

(also BYE <3)

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HAPPY GALENTINE'S DAY, FRIENDS. It's been kind of a crazy week, so this one snuck up on me a bit, but (because I am being realistic this year) I would like to celebrate by offering either or both of the following:

- Comment with "COMPLIMENT" and I will give you a compliment!
- Comment with a female character from any fandom/source I know about (this obviously covers a ton of territory, but looking at my icons should give you at least some idea) and I will tell you at least one thing I love about her.

I am also committing to finishing any unfinished prompts from last year! THIS I SWEAR. I may not be able to get to this stuff till the weekend, but I will get to it, I promise.

Happy Galentine's Day! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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Man do I not want to work today.

I have a question for you, internets: how do you manage your music, electronically speaking? I have an ooooooold iPod and I'm pretty sure it's going to die soon, so I am trying to figure out the best thing to get next. ( here is my dealCollapse )

So. Ideally I want a wireless system to keep my music player (and/or phone) and laptop synced, and allow me to buy stuff online (again, wirelessly). And I'd need to be able to play it through my car stereo. And I want to be able to make playlists. And ideally I would like to be able to manage this without needing iTunes. So... do I just use my phone as my music player and get a new car stereo with Bluetooth? Do I get a new iPod? My iPod is seriously like 8 years old so I don't even know what the newfangled iPods can do (I think something like an iPod Touch would be overkill for me, because I've got Android apps on all my other devices, but I'd go for a Nano, maybe). Are there any good Android music players out there? Any advice? What do you use?

In exchange, I give you links!

- Just in case anyone is in the market, I wanted to pass along that I am now a huge fan of the Panache underwire sports bra. If you are a larger-boobed lady doing high-impact workouts, this is AWESOME, and astoundingly comfortable (I say as someone who has never had a properly-fitting sports bra in her life). Highly recommended!

- Breaking Madden: The Machine Is Bleeding To Death: So Jon Bois over at SBN has been doing this series where he tries a variety of things (such as creating an offense consisting entirely of Tom Bradys) to fuck up the Madden Football video game, then narrates and GIFs the results. This is the epic last entry in the series, the apotheosis of absurdity, and it made me CRY with laughter. Among other things, he ends up (at her request) naming one of the players on the hopelessly outmatched team "MOM": First, let's check in on Mom. I love her more than I can say, but she is terrible at football. Among her many other superlatives, she's the most generous, giving person I've ever known. Her presence here is only one of a thousand different times she's gone out of her way to help others in need, in ways big and small. I remember one of those small times. I was walking home from my last day of fourth grade, and as I neared my front door, a water balloon landed on the ground a few feet away from me. I looked up. She'd missed me on purpose, and she was smiling. On the porch she had a giant bucket of water balloons she'd filled for me, just waiting for me to get home and play and say hello to the summer. It was probably the 2,000th-nicest thing she's ever done for me, and I don't know what makes that one stick out, but I felt love, and it mattered. Anyway, here's a GIF of her getting clobbered. HEEEE. Also he tied this into a mini charity drive, which was a nice touch. Seriously quality reading, zero football knowledge required--I feel strongly that this is the spiritual successor to the glorious Batman: Odyssey recaps on Comics Alliance.

- GIF'd selections from the LOTR commentary: I have never listened to this commentary. I don't even know what I've been doing with my life. But these are hilarious, even if you've seen/heard them before. Drink every time someone calls Orlando Bloom "beautiful." (Guys, I had whole new feelings about Orlando Bloom after the latest Hobbit movie. LEGOLAS IS SUCH A BADASS IN IT. Was he this much of a badass in LOTR and I just missed it because I was too busy drooling over Aragorn and Eowyn? Also, while I am here talking about badasses, and Desolation of Smaaaauuuuug: TAURIEL. YES. YES YES YES YES YESSSSS. *___*)

- And finally, Adorable Moments from the Puppy Bowl: YOU'RE WELCOME.

Happy weekend! ♥

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I AM POSTING THREE TIMES IN ONE WEEK. O.O But I went to such a great show last weekend, and I am filled with enthusiasm for the people involved, and I want to share!

Let us start with my favorite Seattle band, The Local Strangers (BTW, if you sign up for their email newsletter you get several free songs!). I was late to this party, but I (finally) saw them for the first time at zabira's going-away party last May and I was IMMEDIATELY head-over-heels. THEY ARE MAGIC. They describe themselves as "soulful Americana," and that seems about right, though they have an awesome diversity of influences and a lovely variety to their sound--some of their stuff is very brassy and bluesy, some of it's sweet and contemplative, and all of it is smart. The lyrics are thoughtful, the harmonies are delicious; there are sunny-day songs and rainy-day songs, and there's heart in every one. And because they can sort of expand or contract their sound to be as intimate or as powerful as they want, they're one of the few bands I've found lately where I actually love their recorded stuff every bit as much as I love their live performances (I listened to their album nonstop for about a month after I first got it), and they're just as fabulous whether they're playing a tiny room or a big one. Their songs just make me HAPPY, and are on the very short list of my go-to music when I'm upset or stressed and I just need a deep breath of fresh air. They have multiple configurations, too--they often play with an (awesome) full band (SLIDE GUITAR, YES PLEASE)--but the heart and creative force is the duo of Matt and Aubrey.

( ALLOW ME TO ELABORATECollapse )

So anyway. Music! Two selections here: first, a flirty, dirty, defiant romp that features the full band and the aforementioned slide guitar:

( Devil and a Stiff DrinkCollapse )

And then the flip side, just Matt and Aubrey, being thoroughly lovely in every way (this is actually my favorite song from the album--by a hair--because sure, write a smart, beautiful song about trying to be a good person, I wasn't using my heart anyway):

( UptownCollapse )

And this weekend The Local Strangers were opening for Shelby Earl, who is another Seattle musician I COMPLETELY fell in love with the first time I heard her. She was the second or third opener for another band, and I'd never heard of her before, but as soon as she started singing, it was like the whole rest of the room fell away. Her voice is stunning, and she's got such INTENSITY to the way she plays and sings, like it's being ripped right out of her heart--but at the same time, she's got a great, sly sense of humor that is INCREDIBLY endearing, and keeps things from being all doom and gloom. She's got a very country vibe going on--classic country, definitely, rather than pop country--and that is not normally really my thing, but I REALLY dig it with her. I just find her thoroughly spellbinding; when I first saw her there were some people over in a corner chatting LOUDLY, and of course that's not uncommon but I was just like, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? SOMETHING AMAZING IS HAPPENING HERE AND YOU'RE FUCKING YAKKING ALL THE WAY THROUGH IT. Not cool, and also kind of astounding, like, how do you not notice when someone's making something that beautiful twenty feet away? Boggling. ANYWAY. Shelby Earl. She's amazing. Check it out:

( The SeerCollapse )

Gah. SO GOOD. And then there's this, which is a song about being a fangirl, basically, and falling in love with someone through their lyrics (SO META):

( You've Got Me UndoneCollapse )

ADORABLE.

And one more thing: I saw another local artist named Sarah Gerritsen open for Jeffrey Foucault a little while ago, and she was FABULOUS, and her EP is truly stellar, and she has a song called Dyin' In Grey (PS, I am so in love with that violinist, she's amaaaazing) that would be THE MOST GORGEOUS Sleepy Hollow vidsong. I mean, check the lyrics. IT'S SO PERFECT. (Abbie and/or Jenny definitely, but you could fit Ichabod in there, too, without much trouble.) I will legit buy her EP for anyone who wants to make that vid. Just sayin'!

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HELLO. Good lord. It has BEEN A WHILE. But my boss was supposed to be back from vacation today and she's taking a sick day instead (which is kind of awesome; I swear, my entire team has spent the past year giving every fuck we have ever had, and now everyone is just DONE for a while, no more fucks available, please stand by), so instead of doing something responsible like some of the work I should have done while I was faffing about writing fic last week, here I am!

Let me explain! … No, is too much. Let me sum up. July - Oct was a blur of miserable, exhausting work crap; then I spent a weekend in a treehouse (more on that later); made 40 solid lotion bars, a couple hundred cookies, and 400 chocolate truffles for holiday gifts; spent a week and a half NOT AT WORK OMG IT WAS GLORIOUS in Colorado with my family (including my niece, who adores me and who remains one of my favorite people in the world--we spent most of the time singing Les Mis songs and exchanging glitter-pen tattoos, AND I got her totally hooked on Avatar: the Last Airbender, it was so satisfying); I read a bunch of Yuletide fic though not as much as I wanted to, and since then I have been doing some lower-key outings and just sort of recovering, I suppose?

Current events: last week my car died on the way to work, and I was fearing expensive towing and incredibly expensive repairs, but it turned out that it started running again and thus did not need to be towed AND the part that needed to be replaced was still BARELY under warranty (like, 80,000 mile warranty and my car was at 79,830, I'm not even kidding) AND they miraculously had the part in stock, so I am feeling phenomenally fortunate about THAT. I'm also in my second week of P90X3 and L-O-V-I-N-G it (I have now done P90X, Insanity, and T25, but I think that MAYBE P90X3 will be my ideal workout regimen, we shall see), Mr. McK's 40th birthday is this weekend so we will be having a whiskey tasting party and also watching the Superbowl on a much nicer TV than our own (I don't really follow football, but I am thoroughly enjoying the contact high from all the people who are OVERJOYED about the Seahawks; this has been a very rough city for sports fans for quite a while, so anything good is VERY MUCH appreciated, plus I am completely on the Richard Sherman bandwagon now), I decided I'm dressing up as steampunk!Batgirl for Emerald City ComicCon (MICHAEL BIEHN IS GOING TO BE THERE. OMG MICHAEL BIEHN. Who is apparently married to Kendra from Dark Angel! I LOVE THE WORLD), bitchinparty is coming up SOON and I am EXCITED and also have a million things to do, I am still watching way too many TV shows, and… that's about it for the highlights, I think. HI HI HELLO. I'm REALLY trying to at least stay caught up on LJ, because I very much miss you guys!

I also had a delightful musical weekend! The highlight was that on Saturday, my very most favorite Seattle band, The Local Strangers, was opening for Shelby Earl, whom I ALSO adore, so THAT was amazing. (More on both of them later, too, because LOVE.) Plus I had an excellent friend-date for the evening, and I met some very nice people, and I got a cute girl's phone number, so I am calling that a win! \o/ (Not that I suspect said cute girl will ever call me or that we will ever hang out--I've met her a few times now and I get the strong impression she's the type of person who is fascinated by you when you're standing in front of her, and then moves on when you go away; she's a bartender, and I suspect this makes her an extremely successful one, in addition to how she somehow manages to make VERY STRONG drinks that are also VERY DELICIOUS--but it was sweet that she had the impulse.)

Then on Sunday night, I went to see Josh Ritter with a friend from work, and that was also lovely. ( Gregory Alan Isakov opened for himCollapse )

And then there was ( Josh RitterCollapse )

So yay for great musical experiences!

Also, I have no segue for this but I am having some feelings about last night's Hart of Dixie, so I will just ( leave them right hereCollapse )

Whew. Okay. Sorry. HI.

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Ugh, I am having weird formatting issues with DW, so I'm just linking to AO3 for now. ETA: AHA! Fixed.

Title: Right Here Someday (or read at AO3)
Pairing: Zoe Hart/Wade Kinsella (also mentions of Zoe/Joel, Wade/Vivian, and Lavon/AnnaBeth)
Rating: Explicit
Spoilers: Through 3x09, "Something To Talk About"
Summary: Five holidays that Zoe and Wade didn't (technically) celebrate together, and one they did.

A/N: For the extraordinarily wonderful catwalksalone, on the occasion of her birthday. (Okay, her birthday was actually a few days ago, but I DID manage to get this posted to AO3 at 11:59 on her birthday in my timezone, so... that totally counts, right?) I LOVE YOU, MY KITKAT. Title stolen from Crash Kings' "Non-Believer."

Also can I take this opportunity to rec this show? IT IS SO SO CHARMING, and the cast is fantastic (Cress Williams ALONE makes it worth the price of admission), and, for a show that's focused primarily on romantical shenanigans, they mostly do a great job with character development. It's just really delightful, and I am very grateful to Cat for encouraging me to watch it! <3

( Right Here SomedayCollapse )


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fiercynn had a "rec your small fandom" party last weekend, and I pulled something together at the last minute for the Headstones, and it reminded me that I have been meaning for quite some time to do a post like this--since we're in a whole new era of Headstones, since it's something I would have enjoyed having when I first got into the fandom, and since I should probably do something with all the random Headstones knowledge that has stuck in my brain over the past six-plus years. :) So, in that spirit:



The Headstones: A Primer/Love Letter

( The MusicCollapse )

( The HistoryCollapse )

( The Band MembersCollapse )

( Shipping It Like FedExCollapse )

( MP3sCollapse )

( Official VideosCollapse )

( Live PerformancesCollapse )

( InterviewsCollapse )

( Random PledgeMusic quotes from the bandCollapse )

And that's about enough, I think! If anybody reading this wants to know more about any of this, I am VERY happy to help. :D And Headstones fans, please feel free add your favorite Headstones things in the comments!

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Hello! I am very excited to see all these journal-y posts, y'all. Tumblr is not my beautiful cake and therefore sometimes I feel like everyone has moved away from my neighborhood, so I am very happy to see people returning for a visit, at least. Hello! Hello hello! ♥ ♥ ♥ I think posting every day for 30 days is going to be impossible for me, but I will try to post more often, at least, and I will try to COMMENT every day. \o/

The biggest reason I haven't been posting (or twittering, or much else, aside from writing fic about newsboys in love, I JUST FIND NEWSBOYS IN LOVE REALLY COMFORTING, OKAY) is that last week, after working on it for a year, we finally rolled out our giant work project. This whole process has felt like trying to run across a field full of quicksand, and it was exhausting, and now we have all the post-rollout support to do, but at least it's out in the world, and we can move on from there. I'm extremely proud of what we've done, and it's been a good bonding experience with my team, but OH MY GOD I am so ready to move on, so. Here's to THAT.

I have been having some fun times, though, aside from the work stress, including a really lovely fangirl dinner this weekend, hosted by rhea314, who had made an incredible spread of fannishly-themed food, which frankly I have been fantasizing about ever since (pasta with roasted zucchini and tomatoes! peach pie in honor of Dean Winchester! delicious punch with faux wolfsbane in it in honor of Lydia Martin!). I got to meet several delightful new-to-me fangirls, all of whom were very sweet and welcoming considering that they did not know me from Adam, and it was a wonderful evening all around that left me feeling good about the world. Thanks, ladies! <33333 Also we played Cards Against Humanity and when jedusaur pulled the "The most emo thing ever" card, I was able to play the "BATMAN!!!" card. LIFE: COMPLETE.

Fannishly, I am without a primary fandom at the moment, so I'm doing the pinball thing, which is going to lead to some posts without a coherent theme, I fear. But let's talk about the magic of the dance for a minute:

- I think this season of SYTYCD has had some of the best dancing, overall, that they've ever had. More than ever, I wish that people didn't have to go home, and we could just watch everybody dance for 10 weeks or whatever and then go YAAAAAAY and shut it down till next season. I realize this is not commercially realistic, but I WANT IT. Also the whole thing has felt like a family reunion, in a way; I always love seeing the All-Stars, but especially because they actually had the All-Stars choreograph this year, it's felt like we've gotten to check in with their actual lives more than before, and I've loved that. (I also feel like having the All-Stars choreograph ramped up the All-Star/contestant intimacy to 11, which I am REALLY into; I'm just fascinated by that relationship anyway, that the All-Stars act as mentors and fierce supporters, and yet they're also not all that much older than the contestants and understand what they're going through in a way that almost nobody else can, so it's just... INTENSE, and then having that added level of intensity where the All-Stars are baring their own souls and taking their own risks with the choreography, so EVERYONE is kind of raw and a little bit scared, but out on the same limb together, even just down to there only being two people in the rehearsal footage... REALLY INTO IT. Not even necessarily in a sexy way, but just in a closed-circuit, bond-forged-in-fire kind of way. Mmmm. *shiver* LOVE. ( spoilers for finalistsCollapse )

- I watched both the Footloose remake and the original this weekend, since they're both on Netflix. (I never saw the original when it came out--though I choreographed MANY a fabulous dance to the soundtrack, as a kid, as you do--so I was coming into the whole thing more or less unbiased.) ( a little compare-and-contrastCollapse )

OMG a thing just happened where it appeared that my capslock key was broken. CAN YOU IMAGINE. (My laptop is 8 years old, you guys. It's a miracle it's still running. I need a new one, but I'm crossing my fingers that the new Haswell chip Windows 8 touchscreens come down in price. FINGERS CROSSED.)

So, that may be nearly enough for today. I was going to talk about Teen Beach Movie, which my 10-year-old niece made me watch and which I was expecting to eye-roll my way through, but which was actually surprisingly adorable, and choreographed by (no shit) Christopher Scott--but perhaps in another entry. (SYTYCD Alum Watch on that one: Mollee, Kent, Marco. AWW.) (In return, I made my niece watch Newsies--because I make everyone who comes within 10 feet of me right now watch Newsies--but about 10 minutes in, she was like, "... these kids aren't very respectful to adults," so I am not sure she found it QUITE as life-changing as I did. HEE. I guess the rule-following part of her overwhelmed the part that LOVES stories about orphans, aww. <3 She did have the good sense to fall in love with Jack, which I approved of, even if it left me waving my little David-lust flag alone for most of the movie... until my mom sat down, just in time for the part at the end where David is all disheveled and ink-stained and "Headlines don't sell papes; newsies sell papes," and my mom was like, "He is SO HOT" and I was like I KNOW MOM. I REALLY KNOW. *dreamy sigh*)

Hello LJ/DW! I like you. It's nice to see your virtual faces. ♥ ♥ ♥

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Title: Don't Be Afraid and Don't Delay (or read at AO3)
Pairing: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Jack's chin goes up, his arms cross, and there it is, after all this time: the opening, the weak spot, the news breaking, and David dives for it. "Prove it."

A/N: This is for belmanoir, as a belated birthday gift (belated by necessity due to how I actually watched this movie for the first time at her birthday party, hee). Thanks to her for bringing this (and many other awesome things) into my life, and for happy historical consultation. I love you, Ma Noir! ♥ Any mistakes--historical or otherwise--are my own.

( Don't Be Afraid and Don't DelayCollapse )

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I was feeling like I should update just to say I'm not dead, but I didn't really have anything else to say, but I thought of a couple of things after all, so here I am!

- I am not dead! I had a pretty exhausting couple of weeks, mostly for work-related reasons, but I have a little extra breathing room now, at least for the moment. I thoroughly enjoyed being a handmaiden in my friend R's wedding( wedding things!Collapse )

( a few pretty pictures, with bonus Do-It CenterCollapse )

- Also, one of the guys in the wedding party introduced me to my new favorite game, which is, when listening to music, to replace the word "love" with "lunch." IT'S SO GOOD. Like: "It must've been lunch / but it's over now / it was all that I wanted / now I'm living without…" And you can alter the verses, too, like "What's Lunch Got To Do With It?": "You must understand that each slice of your ham makes my heart react…" This is going to change my WHOLE LIFE, y'all.

- Starting at 8 a.m. the Monday after the wedding, I had to lead two daily 45-minute online training classes every day for two weeks. ( BRING ME THE FINEST MUFFINS AND BAGELS IN ALL THE LAND.Collapse )

- On a rec from mrs_laugh_track, via belmanoir, I just read a trilogy of romance novels by Cecilia Grant: A Lady Awakened, A Gentleman Undone (best title or BEST TITLE?), and A Woman Entangled. They were AWESOME. I don't read a lot of romance novels aside from some pretty mainstream ones (like I have read about a billion Nora Roberts books), so reading these felt like a breath of fresh air to me, in the sense that they incorporated a lot of the elements I'm used to mainly finding in fic. (I would be surprised to find out that Cecilia Grant did not have some fannish history, in fact.) They're sex-positive, they have some unconventional setups (like in the first book, the plot revolves around this woman whose husband dies and, in order to keep his evil brother from inheriting the household, she hires her rakish neighbor to have sex with her every day for a month in the hope that she'll conceive a baby that she can claim is her late husband's, and therefore the rightful heir—WHAT A GREAT SETUP), the relationships all focus on WHY these people like each other/fit together rather than just relying on instant attraction (in every book, there's some obstacle that requires the central couple to actually get to know each other before we're asked to believe that they're in love), and the characters are all just really great and interesting and sympathetic and well-rounded, and they all get to grow as people over the course of the books. Also her prose is BEAUTIFUL—her descriptions of things, especially, are just fantastic, and unconventional, and SO expressive, oh man, I just want to roll around in how awesome they are. The sex is pretty vanilla (though, again, a little less vanilla than what I'm used to finding in romance novels), but I found it satisfying, and the way that the third book really pays off the whole series, both thematically and in terms of results of earlier choices, is EXCELLENT, too. Highly recommended!

- I seem to be writing (at a glacial pace) Newsies fic. I DON'T EVEN KNOW. (I am also percolating Elementary fic, but I don't know quite what I want for that one yet.) But these past couple of weeks have been stressful, and Newsies has been one of my silly happy places, and it's working for me. I also bought the movie soundtrack and it is kind of exceptionally terribly mixed/mastered but it makes me happy anyway, and I got an email from Amazon wanting to know how I would rate it, and THAT IS KIND OF A COMPLICATED QUESTION, AMAZON. Like, on one hand, no stars, but on the other hand, ALL THE STARS. IDEK.

- I was afraid I was going to end up wasting my whole summer with work stress, but I had a LOVELY evening with Ma Noir and Sonia last week that allowed me to check off several of my "summer in Seattle" must-haves (ice cream at Molly Moon's, wandering Capitol Hill, gorgeous view of the Sound/Space Needle AND Mt. Rainier thanks to the rooftop deck of their building), and I've got some fun stuff planned for the next few weeks, including a visit to Denver to see my parents and my niece, and a surprise visit on Friday from my college BFF, who is flying up for a business meeting and is going to "miss" her flight and stay the night with me. \o/ So. SUMMER FUN. IT'S NOT TOO LATE.

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Hello from Procrastination Central! You guys. I have VERY IMPORTANT THINGS to share with you. One is this:

Why "Bet On It" Is the Most Epic Musical Number In Movie History

TRUTH. I think Zac Efron is great, actually, and therefore I have always had to watch this number through splayed fingers because I'm so sorry that he had to go through that (because seriously, I do not think ANYONE could make that choreography look good), but at the same time, it is GLORIOUSLY ridiculous. It's sublimely ridiculous. It is the platonic ideal of ridiculousness, and therefore it brings me a GREAT DEAL OF GLEE, and that post is an excellent exploration of why.

And then this weekend when we were watching Newsies (which was also directed by Kenny Ortega, who directed the High School Musical movies), we came upon Christian Bale's hilarembarrassing random dance solo, and I was like "OH MY GOD IT'S JUST LIKE 'BET ON IT'" and it was kind of amazing. And THEN. Last night. I discovered. That SOMEONE ACTUALLY MADE A NEWSIES VID TO "BET ON IT" AND IT IS AWESOME. IT IS PERFECTION. It is both hysterically funny (I watched it like ten times last night and it made me gigglesnort EVERY TIME) AND a genuinely awesome, fun, well-done Newsies vid. The fact that this exists makes me LOVE THE WHOLE WORLD. It's download-only, but it's so worth it. SO WORTH IT. TRUST ME. JUST WATCH IT.

Also, speaking of Buzzfeed, here is some more truth from that delightful and evil time-sucking site: Flawless Life Lessons from Summer Roberts. Yes. YESSSSSSS.

Oh! And also it has come to my attention recently that they're making a movie of Into the Woods, and that Anna Kendrick is hopefully going to be in it (playing Cinderella, according to rumors? Which is a little strange because I'd cast her as Little Red Riding Hood, but whatever brings Anna Kendrick to my ears and eyeballs is perfectly good with me), and Emily Blunt, and also CHRIS PINE IS GOING TO PLAY ONE OF THE PRINCES. OMG. THAT IS GOING TO BE AMAZING. I'm so excited to see this! I love love LOVE the Bernadette Peters/Chip Davis/Joanna Gleason/etc. version and it will always be first in my heart, but I'm excited to see a different variation, too. Funny story about me and that show: I randomly stumbled upon it one day on PBS, when I was a teenager, and it was about halfway through the first act, and I was all enthralled and watched the rest of that act, and then I THOUGHT IT WAS OVER. SO I TURNED OFF THE TV AND DID NOT WATCH THE SECOND ACT. Which is KIND OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PART. (If you haven't seen the show, it's a retelling of a bunch of fairy tales, and so the first act ends where the fairy tales usually end--hence my assumption that it was over--and then the second act is what happens AFTER happily ever after. It's KIND OF KEY to the point of the show. Heh.) I figured it out in fairly short order, but it always amuses me to think about it anyway. Ah, the days before DVRs and streaming TV!

Okay. I'm overcaffeinated. And procrastinating. SORRY. I'M DONE NOW. I LOVE YOU GUYS.

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Hello internet! My life lately has consisted significantly of a) work and b) worrying about work, so I have not been the best online citizen, for which I apologize. But ( work freakoutCollapse )

So I am just feeling generally unprepared and kind of terrified and also RESENTFUL that I am stuck dealing with all of this more or less by myself, and I’m having tons of anxiety dreams and waking up with my teeth clenched and I just want to be enjoying my fucking summer and it SUCKS. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

In happier news, I went to see Joss Whedon’s Much Ado recently with a friend from work, and though I have some notes, overall I really enjoyed it. ( He is now as valiant as Hercules that only tells a lie and swears itCollapse )

Also, at Mr. McK’s urging, I finally started watching Elementary, and now I am COMPLETELY in love with it. ( very vaguely spoilery ramblings, which I probably shouldn’t post because I will probably regurgitate them in fic, but oh wellCollapse )

So I’m so happy to have found an incarnation to fall in love with, and I have the books on my Nook, and am looking forward to reading them!

And finally, belmanoir and mrs_laugh_track showed me Newsies this weekend, and OH MY GOD. LIFE. CHANGED. WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE? How did 14-year-old me miss this movie? FAIL, 14-year-old me! FAIL. (Though 14-year-old me would not have been able to fully appreciate the extreme, beautiful slashiness, so there is that.) It is possible I watched it again yesterday. And also several of the special features on the DVD. (Kenny Ortega’s HAIR. OMG.) There are many many delights to this movie, but I cannot help but keep wondering why David Moscow never really happened, because OMG SO DREAMY. HE’S SO DREAMY IN THIS MOVIE. No one wanted to make use of that dreaminess afterward? COME ON. OPPORTUNITY WASTED, HOLLYWOOD.

And then I went back and rewatched the Newsies performance from the 2012 Tony Awards, which I enjoyed at the time primarily for the “spot the SYTYCD alum” factor, and which was even better in context. And now I reallyreallyreally want to see that show. SIGH. But anyway: LIFE CHANGED. If anyone has any Jack/David fic recs, I would dearly love to have them.

Okay. Work time. We who are about to die salute you. *grits teeth*

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OMG, I have finally, FINALLY uploaded all my fic (from the last 10 years, at least) to AO3. WIN. (My apologies to anybody who had any Brynn-related notifications turned on. /o\) There were stories I forgot I'd even written! My total story count is still only 80, but it's SO nice to have everything in one place, and it was fun (and occasionally embarrassing) to stroll down memory lane. And of my 80 stories on the archive, THIRTY of them were written in 2007. O.O That was quite a year for me, y'all.

Also I started with my BSG fic, since that seemed like a large enough chunk to test the importer, but not as overwhelming as my C6D fic, and the first story I uploaded was Laws of Gravity, and aww. That story will always have a special place in my heart, because I feel like it marked the beginning of my current phase of fandom-as-I-know-it, and because it was REALLY fun (and remarkably easy, considering the length of the story) to write, and because it's the only thing I've ever written that was kind of a fandom classic (at least at the time), which is gratifying. And I re-read it, and though there are a few things I'd do differently, overall, I'm still really proud of it. Pilots! Academy hijinx! I still love you so much! Awww. But what really struck me was: I wrote that story EIGHT YEARS AGO. I mean. TWO THOUSAND AND FIVE. WAS EIGHT YEARS AGO. How is that even possible?!

It also makes me think about how glad I am that I stumbled across sdwolfpup, who I always FEEL like I got to know through BSG fandom, even though I really found her because I came back to LJ after a couple years' hiatus because I needed people to talk about Farscape with, and someone recced her Farscape posts. When I think about how completely random that was--that I just HAPPENED to be lurking on the journal of someone who HAPPENED to rec SDW's posts--it kind of makes me hyperventilate a little, because I literally (LIT'RALLY) cannot imagine my life without her, fannish or otherwise. I mean, obviously I love SDW for many, many reasons, many of which are unrelated to fandom, but as I was posting, I kept thinking about how MOST of those stories wouldn't have happened if I hadn't met her, because she got me into due South fandom, and all my other fandoms since have spiraled out from there, in one way or another. Crazy to think about. Especially after our auspicious beginning of vicious Lee/Kara vs. Lee/Laura ship wars in BSG fandom!* So. Thanks, universe! Thanks, SDW! ♥ ♥ ♥

Aaaaaaanyway. YAY AO3. And I am sorry again if you got random notifications! I'm done now, I promise! Hee.

*SDW and I did not have vicious ship wars in BSG fandom. But we had many JOKES about vicious ship wars.

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OMG, yesterday SUCKED at work, and now I am waiting for someone else to fix something that's my responsibility but that I can't fix because the vendor has to fix it and it's driving me craaaaaaaaazy, so. Here I am!

It was my birthday on Sunday! Thank you guys for the texts/tweets/messages; those little things really mean a lot to me, and I appreciate it enormously. ♥ ♥ ♥ Saturday night Mr. McK and I got dressed up and went out to an EPIC dinner at a really nice restaurant, and it was amazing. We started out with fried calamari, and then we had filet mignon (it's a steakhouse, so they have REALLY good quality meat), and mashed potatoes WITH LOBSTER AND BACON AND CHIVES and garlic and a lot of butter and a;slkdfja;lsj f;alsj fa;lsjf a;slkj they were so fantastic, and asparagus, and I had a perfect Manhattan, and they brought me a wee chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert because it was my birthday, but by that point we'd already gotten ourselves in the mood for cheesecake, so we ordered that to go, PLUS we had leftovers because obviously what I am describing here is an insane amount of food, so we got to take them home and basically REPRISE the whole thing the following night. IT WAS AWESOME. Honestly one of the best meals I have ever had. Everything was just PERFECTLY done and perfectly seasoned and they seated us by a window where we could watch the sun setting over Lake Washington and EEEEEEE. PERFECT.

Then on Sunday, I went to see the new Star Trek in 3D IMAX with Mr. McK, sdwolfpup, jillbertini, and my friend R. Short version: aside from the problematic casting, I looooooooooooved it. ( Star Trek: Into Darkness spoilersCollapse )

And I am headed to Colorado this weekend to visit my parents, for my mom's birthday, which should be fun. So tonight I will be packing, and also MAYBE talking on the phone with a friend/semi-ex (so many of my relationships in college were of the "let's not define it" variety, OMFG *headdesk*), though he has not gotten back to me (in the past FIVE DAYS) to confirm whether this is actually happening. Which is not that big a deal in and of itself—he could be super busy, we haven't talked (aside from a recent exchange of FB messages, which prompted him to suggest we catch up over the phone) in like eight years, I don't know his life—but in the context of the MANY nights I spent during my sophomore year playing MarioKart and waiting for him to call after we'd made vague plans to hang out, it is KIND OF INFURIATING. Sigh. (He's got a good heart, and he's a REALLY good writer, and an artist, and he's funny and smart and occasionally quite thoughtful, and he got major points in college for indulging/sharing my Shakespeare kink—I mean, this is the person I used "the world must be peopled" on as a pickup line, AND IT WORKED—and basically the only ex I have who I still have even the slightest desire to be friends with, but OH MY GOD so flaky. So. Flaky. I have such a hard time dealing with flaky; it makes me feel so unimportant to someone. Sigh.) Plus, honestly, I kind of hate the phone in general (I would much rather either write or hang out in person), and talking to someone you haven't talked to in a long time is always a little nerve-wracking, so I would prefer to be fortified with alcohol of some sort before this happens, and the LEAST he could do is give me enough notice for THAT. I MEAN COME ON. WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY, SIR. Hee. Ah well. If nothing else, this has helped me remember how much I miss my theater friends from college, and how many of them live in the Pac NW and I never see them, so I think I'm going to try to organize a little get-together later this summer. Which is a little terrifying, because what if no one comes, or what if they come and no one wants to talk to me? But it will PROBABLY be awesome, and hey. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

In conclusion: while I would rather have MCR songs than MCR tweets, the MCR tweets have been PRETTY FREAKING GREAT lately. The desire to tweet each other more often is definitely one of the few benefits to a band breaking up. <333333

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Hello friends! First of all, rivers_bend and missyjack are working on a project to gather fangirl stories (as in, stories about being a fangirl) in a collection that they are calling Squee! the Book. I think this is amazing, and you can get all the details from their site. SQUEE!

In other news, I was phenomenally unproductive this weekend. I worked out, walked the dog, and fed myself (Mr. McK was out of town), but otherwise, I did literally nothing but watch TV and read fic and generally laze about. It was awesome. I ended up watching a lot of The Office on Netflix, because the finale gave me ALL OF THE FEELINGS that I had forgotten I had, especially about Jim and Pam. I stopped watching the show sometime in S7--I think ( spoilersCollapse ) was the last episode I saw--and I don't really have any regrets about that, but I felt like the ending was perfect and beautiful, and it was fun to be able to circle back and pick up a few highlights from the stuff I'd missed (especially Michael's last episode, which was so lovely, and also an interesting and strangely cathartic thing to watch right after one of my very good friends moved away--having feelings about fictional events is a weird relief after having a lot of feelings about real events! I'm not sure I want to know what this says about me! Hee).

Also it is 2013 and I am desperately craving Jim/Pam fic. For a lot of reasons, but also because LET ME SHOW YOU.

( Spoilers for 9x20 and 9x21Collapse )

While I'm waiting for that to drop out of the sky, though (IT'S MY BIRTHDAY ON SUNDAY. IJS.), I was delighted to find some of my favorite Office fics at AO3, like sophiahelix's Vox, which involves phone sex and is still the hottest Jim/Pam fic I've ever read, and then also Pack Up Your Bags, It's Never Too Late! by annakovsky and kyra, which is less explictly porny but which involves pretending to be married and sharing a hotel bed and it was the first Office fic I fell in love with and I still love it. Aww. This whole thing makes me miss danceswithwords, who is not only a generally wonderful and brilliant person but who wrote amazing meta, including for The Office. Aww. Nostalgia!

And then I got lost in a Jimmy Fallon vortex on YouTube. I don't think I've ever seen a full episode of his show, but every time I see a clip, it just seems like the most delightful thing ever. I hope the Tonight Show lets him keep encouraging his guests to participate in strange games and song-and-dance shenanigans. Hee. A few highlights from my journey:

( Jimmy Fallon and John Krasinski have a Lip-Sync OffCollapse )

THIS IS AMAZING. Ridiculous, hilarious, SUPER hot, and the FULL commitment from both of these fine gentlemen is GLORIOUS. Also I forgot until recently how very, very dreamy John Krasinski is. Tall, handsome, funny, seems like a genuinely nice dude, played one of the best boyfriends/husbands ever on TV (rivaled by Ben Wyatt, actually, IMO), AND I discovered this weekend that he graduated with a degree in playwriting. OH REALLY. OH REALLY, KRASINSKI. IS THAT HOW YOU'RE GOING TO BE. WELL FUCK YOU FOR HOGGING ALL OF THE ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES. Relevant GIF from the performance above:



Yep. LET ME HELP YOU WITH THAT TIE, JKRAS. a;lskjf ;aslkjfda;slkdjf a;lsf

( And then here is a barbershop quartet version of 'SexyBack,' featuring Justin TimberlakeCollapse )

AMAZING.

And then, last but not least, ( Amy Poehler being incomparably delightful and hilarious and amazing:Collapse )

AMY. LET'S WEAR DRUNK HATS TOGETHER. I love her so much, you guys. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. (I think in the related videos section of that there's a clip of Weekend Update bloopers with commentary from her and Seth Meyers, which is ALSO adorable. Is Seth Meyers single? Because I ship them a lot, now that AP and Will Arnett are divorced, and given that Adam Scott is married. Can we make this happen?)

AND FINALLY, this has nothing to do with any of the above, but check out ( this teenage girl casually SHREDDING THE HELL out of a Van Halen solo:Collapse )

*_____* WHAT. LADY ROCKSTARS. LADY GUITAR GODDESSES. YES PLEASE. *_______*

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I saw Iron Man 3 last night! I have things to say! Even though basically everything I am about to say has been said by other people (coffeeandink, as usual, has some very good meta links here)!

( Because we're CONNECTED (spoilers ahoy)Collapse )

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I have been in all-day training all week, and today we are finally done, and I am feeling so deliciously free! FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I have also been doing a fair amount of media consumption lately: Mr. McK and I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, which I ADORED SO MUCH OH MY GOD I LOVE IT I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT IT, so I will probably have more to say on that later; I'm re-watching/properly watching Sports Night, and mostly loving it, though man, Aaron Sorkin, sometimes...; there are many exciting Headstones and MCR (ex-MCR? IDEK) things going on right now; and my baseball fandom has returned with a vengeance, despite the fact that my current love affair with baseball on a theoretical level is clashing somewhat with the play of the team I actually follow, and the fact that my particular cross-section of baseball fandom kind of has me in a fandom of exactly one at the moment, but still. I've been having all the feelings! But having them quietly, due to having many more feelings (and thinky thoughts) than free minutes in the day.

BUT. I do have some linkspam for your Friday! Because I am FREEEEEEEEEEE.

Miscellaneous:

The AV Club interviews Mae Whitman - Mae Whitman played(/plays) Ann on Arrested Development, and voiced Katara on ATLA, and was in the Scott Pilgrim movie, and is currently on Parenthood, and after reading this interview, I am COMPLETELY in love with her in SO MANY WAYS. She just sounds thoroughly delightful and like she has an amazingly good head on her shoulders and the part where she talks about watching Friday Night Lights and realizing that she's been MAKING OUT WITH LUKE CAFFERTY on Parenthood is THE CUTEST. (Because seriously. MAKING OUT WITH LUKE CAFFERTY. GOOD TIMES.) She is kind of my new favorite person.

Baseball:

FanGraphs - I am super SUPER late to this party, but this is an awesome site for baseball statistics/analytics. Nice little bite-sized articles, and I like some of the contributors better than others (Jeff Sullivan is my favorite, though the reasons why he's my favorite aren't quite as apparent on that site, but I will probably have a whole post about Jeff Sullivan at some point, because he is my favorite), but overall, it's a fun grab bag of the weird and wonderful. Their glossary is also very clear and well-organized, and has helped me a lot in catching up on some of the stats that have been developed in the handful of years since I followed this stuff closely.

Lying Around With Brandon McCarthy - Brandon McCarthy is a pitcher (formerly of the A's, now with the Diamondbacks) who's probably most famous for a) being a very good pitcher, b) being very funny on Twitter (as is his wife), and c) getting hit in the head by a line drive toward the end of last season (he seems to have recovered, thankfully). So I already liked him, and then he's been in the news recently for being outspoken against homophobia in/around sports, and so that obviously just makes me like him even more. This is a longish article about him, covering a wide range of topics, and I really enjoyed it.

Also I have discovered Grant Brisbee on SBN, who is very funny and very smart, and generally thoroughly entertaining. He writes mainly about the SF Giants, so if they're your team, I would HIGHLY recommend him, but I enjoy his stuff even though I'm not a Giants fan. For example: a recent Cardinals/Giants series preview.

Recipes:

Grown-Up Ginger Lemongrass Iced Tea - I made this as written and it came out a little too tea-y for my taste, so instead of infusing the vodka with tea, I infused it with ginger and lemongrass instead (just overnight--I have some more infusing right now and will be curious to see how it works over a longer period of time), then left the ginger out of the brewed tea. That made for a light, spicy cocktail that more whispered "tea" than shouted it, so that worked better for me. :) YMMV!

Savoy Cabbage Gratin - I was casting around for good vegetarian recipes, was uninspired by Epicurious, and remembered that my beloved Molly Wizenberg has great vegetarian recipes. This? Is a great vegetarian recipe. It takes a long time to cook (during which time it smells mouth-wateringly amazing, so I'd have some snacks on hand), but it is otherwise SUPER simple, and EPICALLY tasty, especially with a loaf of crusty bread. (I had to use Napa cabbage because I couldn't find Savoy, and my chicken broth didn't cook off quite like it was supposed to, but the bread helped a lot with that.)

Speaking of Molly: Chickpea Salad with Lemon and Parmesan - This doesn't sound like it would taste like much, and I am not a particular chickpea devotee in general (though I do LOVE hummus), but I found this SUPER SUPER DELICIOUS. Both on its own, and over mixed greens (with a little white balsamic vinegar).

And this isn't a recipe, but: CUCAMELONS! LOOK HOW CUTE THEY ARE. I WANT TO TRY THESE. I am SO GLAD it's almost fruits/vegetables season, you guys. SO GLAD.

Happy Friday!

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Just this one more thing and then I will post something not-band-related! But. THE HEADSTONES HAVE A NEW ALBUM. I HAVE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ABOUT IT. Raise your hand if you're surprised!

I just have to get something off my chest right at the beginning, so if you want squee-only, ( skip this paragraphCollapse )

HOWEVER. That said, I love basically everything else about it--it's just a GREAT FUCKING ALBUM overall, and I think it perfectly refracts the heart and soul of the band through the lens of the time that's passed since they last wrote together. I'm trying to figure out a way to express this without sounding like there's a hierarchy, because I love all their albums for different reasons; I've never been able to pick a favorite, and this one goes right in that mix. But this one does feel different, and the closest I can get is that I feel like the earlier albums were mostly made up of primary colors, all bright and bold and sharp, and on this one, they're still working with those, but they're working more often with the in-between shades as well, so the whole effect is more lush and layered without losing even a little bit of that razor edge. This unquestionably feels like a Headstones album, but you can hear the years in between, too, and all the life and lessons lived and learned in that time. It's the kind of comeback that every band would love to have but that few can pull off, and I think they nailed it in true signature style. WELL-PLAYED, FELLAS.

( A few thoughts on specific songsCollapse )

In conclusion: HEADSTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONES. \m/ \m/ \m/

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So I'm now in that place where I haven't posted for a while and now I have ALL THE THINGS to post about. Eep. Part of the reason I haven't posted is that I have been plagued with guilt over not finishing my Galentine's Day requests yet, so not only am I letting down my friends, but I'm letting down Leslie Knope and WOMEN EVERYWHERE. Sigh. However: I SOLEMNLY SWEAR that I will finish them all. I SWEAR. (I realize this is probably more important to me than it is to you guys, but. It is important to me, so I will do it.)

Anyway. There has been a lot said already about MCR's breakup (I liked this article, BTW, though its overfocus on Gerard tweaks me a little bit, but then again, Gerard has that effect on people ♥). Kitty's response is basically the perfect one, IMO, but this is kind of a big deal to me and so I did at least want to mark the moment. I don't think it fully sank in with me until Gerard posted his eulogy, which made me cry not exactly because I was sad about the band breaking up, but because it reminded me of everything that was so fucking amazing about them: the sincerity, the integrity, the awareness that what they were saying mattered, and the desire to use that power for good. I am excited to see what they all do next—Gerard is writing, and where Gerard is, so too will Mikey be, because Mikeyway is the Jesus of little brothers; Frank has his ridiculous weird delightful blog, and Leathermouth; Ray has his ninja baby (I think), though I have to say my greatest fear about all of this is that Ray will just drop off the map and I will never have another panty-melting, soul-searing Ray Toro guitar solo in my ears again. (By the same token, I can't imagine Ray doing anything BUT playing music, like the character in the AU who keeps his identity completely intact—Ray/music is OTP.) And I would be thoroughly unsurprised if there was a reunion at some point down the line, because lord knows this band changes its narrative all the damn time (♥), and part of me can't conceive of a world in which those four guys don't want to make music together anymore.

Regardless, though, even if they never play another note together, I get to keep so many amazing things: the way I am physically incapable of sitting still when the chorus for "Planetary" kicks in; the way my heart clenches involuntarily when I hear the first note of "Welcome To the Black Parade"; the way that "House of Wolves" makes me want to hit the repeat button until it falls off my iPod; the memory of driving down a sunny road with the windows open, yelling "Na Na Na" at the top of my lungs. I get to keep the fucking amazing shows I saw with zabira and sadiane and me_maneuver, and the equally fucking amazing debriefs afterward; the fact that every slumber party seemed to eventually wind down into watching the Hoboken show at 2 in the morning; the glorious, epic, everything-I-ever-wanted-and-more pillow-and-pajama-clad flailing over Reading and the iTunes festival last year after Bitchin' Party; the transcendent moment when mistresscurvy, amazonziti, desfinado, entropical87, catwalksalone, and I all collapsed into laughter upon being informed that "my mother is a fucking SAINT." I get to keep the stories I read and adored, the stories I wrote and was proud of. And most of all, I hope very much that I get to keep the fabulous friends I met because of this fabulous fandom, and the friends I got to know better.

I get to keep so much that it's hard to cry too much for what else I might have had. There was absolutely room in my heart for more MCR love, but that doesn't mean it wasn't already full to the brim.

So. BE SOMETHING, MOTHERFUCKERS. You are, and you will. ♥ ♥ ♥

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