A Journal of Impossible Things

Random Star Wars linkage

lyore — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:16:48 GMT

AT-AT's: not just for Christmas. Check it out, awesome pics of a 'pet' AT-AT. Even if you don't like Star Wars, it's still cute - I defy anyone to look at them and not go 'Aww'.

Oh how the mighty have fallen

lyore — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:18:18 GMT

For the first time ever, I voted for a reality TV show. 8 years of resistance, and I finally weakened. This is me, propping up media juggernauts and contributing to the death of quality, scripted TV. *sigh* On the other hand, I think I've officially accepted that I'm completely addicted to So You Think You Can Dance. ~~DON'T JUDGE ME~~. Acceptance is the first step towards recovery, right?

Speaking of quality scripted TV, Dollhouse is looking promising. Keeping in mind I don't normally become fannish about a show until I'm at least half way through a season (and often not until the second season), the degree to which I liked the first episode surprised me, especially since I'd been lukewarm about the concept previously.

I like the characters, all of them. We didn't get a lot of details, but saw enough glimpses to know that there is obviously a lot going on under the surface. I especially liked that we didn't have the ham-fisted character introductions that mar so many series pilots - everything and everyone felt very natural, and thankfully avoided 'As you know, Jim...' moments.

And I liked the concept that the Actives had lives before the Dollhouse, and they were on limited term contracts, for want of a better term (although one wonders how anyone enforces that, since the actives can't remember, and it isn't like there is any sort of legal oversight). I wasn't expecting that - I'm not sure what I was expecting, but not that.

The dialog was less Joss-Whedony that I was expecting, which is another good thing. It worked well in Buffy, but it would have been jarring to see all these 20-and-30 somethings talking like refugees from a Californian high school. Since he's previously noted that the Buffy characters talked like the writers, I'm pleased to see them tone it down in this show.

Overall, a promising start. Yay new show!

ETA: Also, currently addicted to Merlin AU fics. WTF, self? I don't like AUs!

Thoughts on fannish characters (or: It's too damn hot to clean the house)

lyore — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:02:42 GMT

There's been a lot of meta floating around about fandom, femslash and, by extension, female characters, and it's prompted me to take a good hard look at my character preferences, and why I like the characters I do.

Given the context of the previous discussions, I should mention I'm coming at this from the perspective of someone who is primarily a gen fan (and before anyone takes offense, I'm not implying anything about the quality of ship-focused fic, and I'm not adverse to reading good slash/femslash/het fic - see my list of recs for Merlin, for instance - bur I'm am totally addicted to friendship-focused fic.)

People who know me in person, or have the ~~misfortune~~ good luck to often discuss movies with me, will know that female characters in movies - and the characterisation and the lack thereof - are generally pretty hot topics for me. (bob_ette in particular has to put up with a lot of my ranting - sorry about that.) I like female characters. I like them even more when they aren't just there as an obligatory love interest for the hero, or a screaming-damsel-in-distress that requires saving, and I like them most of all when their gender is shown as secondary to them being compentent, well-rounded characters.

However, the current discussions have prompted my to take a closer look at my favourite characters, and I've noticed a disturbing tendency for my characters-of-fannish-obsession to be male. Even when there are awesome female characters in the series, 'my' character/s, the characters I care about most, tend to be male. Not always, but often. If I had to chose, I'd prefer to read about Luke Sykwalker over Leia Organa, John Crichton over Aeryn Sun, Sirius Black over Hermione Granger. Even though I love those female characters dearly, even though in many cases they hit my character-kinks better than the guys.

This realisation prompted a lot of fannish soul-searching. Despite my desire to see more female characters, and some of the kick-arse female characters out there, did something in my subconcious really prefer male characters, and if so, why? (Besides, of course, the 'I think they're hot' factor, which I'm certain has some effect but seems a little simplistic as an overall rationale.)

Being the good little engineer that I am, I decided that the only way to discover any internal bias was to look at the complete set of evidence. I went through my past and current fandoms, listing my primary and runner up 'fannish characters' for each fandom. 'Fannish characters' is, in this case, defined as the character/s I am most attached to/interested in, not necessarily the character/s I read/watch/discuss the most (because that gets into issues about availability of fics/vids/meta, and that's another variable for another argument).

LIST OF DOOM: (runner up 'fannish characters' in brackets)

Star Wars: Luke (Leia, Han)
Dark Angel: Max (Logan)
Farscape: John (Aeryn, Chianna)
Stargate SG-1: Daniel, Jack (Sam, Teal'c, Cameron (later seasons))
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy (Faith, Angel/us, Willow, Giles)
Angel: Angel (Cordelia (early seasons), Fred (later seasons), Wes (later seasons))
Merlin: Merlin (Arthur, Uther, Morgana, Gwen, Tom)
Lois and Clark: Clark (Lois, Jimmy)
Invisible Man: Darien (Bobby, Claire)
Lord of the Rings: Aragorn (Eowyn)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Will, Elizabeth (Jack)
X-men Movieverse: Wolverine (Rogue, Scott, Erik/Charles)
Vorkosigan-verse: Miles (Gregor, Alys Vorpatril)
The Pretender: Jarod, Miss Parker (Sydney, Broots)
Harry Potter: Sirius, (Harry, Remus Lupin, Hermione)
Hogan's Heroes: Hogan (Newkirk, Kinch)
Supernatural: Dean (Sam, John, Pam, with Ruby, Jo, Ellen and Bobby inconsistently on this list - when they work for me they really work, but when they don't they drive me up the wall.)
Doctor Who: The Doctor (5, 9, 10), Wilf (Donna, Martha, first-season Rose, Doctor-who-Jack)

Apart from proving that I am a complete TV-Fandom addict, this list shows a couple of interesting trends. Firstly, yes, overall, my primary 'fannish characters' tend to be male - 82% of them are guys (ouch!). Expand that selection slightly, to consider the runners up, and it evens out a little - 45% of the runners up are female, and overall is about 37%.

These figures made me feel pretty damn depressed, until I noticed a very definite trend in the results - the characters I feel most fannish about are consistently the main characters. Only one character on the primary list isn't the main character of the source (Sirius (HP) and in that case the main character is one of my runners up), and, conversely, very few main characters didn't make the primary list (Jack (POTC) and Sam, Teal'c and Cameron Mitchell from SG-1, all of whom were runners up). Likewise, with very few exceptions, my runners up tend to be significant supporting characters.

Looking at the list, an fandoms with clear demarcation of main/supporting characters, there does not appear to be any evidence of gender bias in my 'fannish character' preferences. However, the situation is slightly more complicated when looking at fandoms with both male and female main characters (it's hard to exactly define which shows fall definitively into this category - I'm counting Lois and Clark, SG-1, and The Pretender). In two of these cases, I prefer the (some of) the male leads to the female leads. But it's also noticeable that both these shows (SG-1 and L&C) had previously established (semi)canon which held the male characters as the main characters, and in both cases I was familar with the previous canon when watching the show. I suspect (although of course, can't prove) that this is a large part of this preference, especially since in each case, my fannishness for the female characters grew dramatically as canon progressed.

I guess this just officially proves something I've been subconsciously aware of for a long time - I'm unlikely to be fannishly involved with a show unless I love the main character/s, regardless of sex or gender. I know there are many people in fandom who can love and get fannishly involved with a source for the Wedge Antilles and Neville Longbottoms, but as much as I can appreciate the occasional minor-character-centric fics, it's the connection with the main character that pulls me towards fandom in the first place, and that motivates me to stay involved.

It does satisfy me that gender is subordinate to canon importance when determining which characters I prefer. For shows where the main character is female, my favourite character is female; for shows with females in the supporting cast, I am just as likely to feel fannish towards girls as guys, although consistently to a lesser degree than for the main characters; and even if a supporting character, male or female, hits my fannish-character-kinks liek whoa, it's very, very rare for them to displace the main character from my top fannish spot.

I'm curious if anyone else out there has such a strong correlation between main character/favourite character, or even a different one. What determines your favourite characters?

Heat

lyore — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:38:54 GMT

Ugh. Too hot. There are a million things I should be doing, but instead I'm just going to lie here, because it is too. bloody. hot.

An Obama post, but not as you know it

lyore — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:34:27 GMT

From seldear

Obama dolls from Japanese toymaker. Keep scrolling. I guarantee it's worth it.

(Anybody read Japanese and can translate? The detail in the face is so incredible I'm tempted to believe the whole set of pictures are just very, very skillful photomanips.)

ETA: Babelfish to the rescue! (Err... Sorta) .

- 44th generation United States of America president [baraku] [obama] -
First African type American president and [baraku] [obama] 44th generation United States of America president in history with 12 inch action figure multi-layerization of surprise.
It is to be the thing itself surprise where such commodity comes out, but don't you think? the foreign country with it seems that either such politician figure is not unusual.

We have become 2008 American Presidential election specification, those where also the clothes and the accessory etc represent that time belong.
The clothes itself have become the private suit, but it is, “[bishitsu] dresses stylishly” also the part where size is not agreeable with the prime field very somewhat with to it does not go.
But eyeball (? Because) with it has become that quality of the head which becomes is enormous, there is a thing it closes the eye.
[obamahetsudo] how seeing from wherever, is [obama]… or the notch.
It has been reproduced securely to the part where also quality of paint is high, material feeling and the like of the skin is small.
As for clothes all removal possibilities.　Really the button and the belt etc are used to fixing inside.

Accessory & section gimmick.

Accessory summary.
Option hand ×3 kind (the movable hand and the having hand, finger moving), microphone and necktie ×2 kind, watch
Stars and Strips, flag stand stand, chair and option head (as for picture with under)

As for [obamahetsudo] 2 type attachments.
Normality type (upper tier) with speech type (lower position)

As for the option hand 3 kinds of the movable hand, the grip hand and the pointing hand belong.
The movable hand (soft material) in finger one one wire (? ) Is trained, can move the finger freely.

The lumber, the metal part is used to the pole head and the flag stand stand really in the Stars and Strips flagpole and the chair.
Also the Stars and Strips itself making will have been secure, heavy appearance and material feeling going hand in hand, force is very mono.

After all in this direction.

The person and the group of existence altogether there is no relationship.

The winter of president and Japan skill.

The sled [ya] you can play already.
It entwines with the figure of the same scale, makes favorite the pause take simply simply, decorates that way
Being able to point whatever, with the other figure, you can taste the kind of enjoyment which you cannot taste.
As such action figure considerably low it is the commodity of the price range, but
It included also the option item and the like, the entire making included was something which will be been secure and you were surprised.

Now if other than the same scale politician figure something it is, furthermore [are] make the world it may, is.
Including successive Japanese prime minister, the leader figure of the world in a row in the shelf…It cannot cause the customer securely, don't you think?.
(The area of Russia is blending in the other shelves, strange feeling shortage so. )

Dude. If I read that right - doll!Obama has a moveable finger. Also, the force is very mono. I'm not sure what that means, but I'm sure it's very deep, and possibly related to recent commentary from the likes of fialleril and sodzilla. And, in international affairs, Russia appears to be attempting some sort of sneaky camoflague manuveure, possibly because they can't compete with the sheer awesome of doll!Obama and his moveable finger.

Farscape Fic Rec

lyore — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:04:04 GMT

This is one of the best sort of nights... one of those nights where every fic you read is excellent. They happen so rarely, which is probably a good thing, because now all I want to do is read fic randomly until my luck runs out. Not a good thing when I have work tomorrow.

Since I have to stop just bookmarking these things and telling myself that I'll get around to writing a rec post sometime:

Fic Rec: Dice, by laytoncolt. Farscape, post The Peacekeeper Wars, canon pairings. Long (approx 45,000 words), and plotty, and spot-on characterisation that uses the whole cast to their strengths, and just all round brilliant. It does have major spoilers for the mini-series, so if you haven't seen that, be warned.

And now I really should to stop reading fic and go to bed. *yawn*

My brain is made of wool and a Merlin Fic Rec

lyore — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:12:09 GMT

Fic Rec: Am prionnsa, an t-amadan agus na meirlich, by kazaera (Merlin fic).
Wonderful character voice, just generally wonderful characterisation, just enough plot to keep the story moving along, and to be perfectly blunt, nicely hitting all my narrative kinks (which, for those of you who don't know include both h/c and The Big Reveal). If you like Merlin, read this.

Also, a psychiatrist has knitted herself an exact replica of the human brain. How is this not awesome?

FUNNIEST THING EVER. I MEAN IT. REALLY.

lyore — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:41:34 GMT

WARNING: THIS VIDEO MAY INDUCE HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER, UNCONTROLLABLE LEAKAGE FROM EYES, AND POTENTAL *DED*

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

I haven't laughed so hard in years. (On the down side, uncontrollable laugher-induced coughing has left my throat raw.)

(Stolen from deirdre_c, from of Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.)

Hogan's Heroes

lyore — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:17:39 GMT

There's a Hogan's Heroes rant on FFN! Yay small fandom!

Though I must say, that's one fandom where I found the quality of the fics to be unusually high (by comparison)*. Although, considering I was primarily reading in the HP fandom at that time, my perceptions may be slightly skewed. And I've always been surprised by the lack of slash in HH, considering the setting.

Although having a brief skip through the recent stories on FFN, it seems to have gone downhill. Perhaps the release of the DVDs wasn't such a great thing after all.

Hmm. I really must upload more of my HH icons.

*And by that, I mean that only 50-60% of fic was unreadable dreck, as opposed to 80%.

lyore — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 10:59:08 GMT

Tagged by seldear

001. What are your nicknames?
Don't have one. My name is pretty compact and hard to shorten.

002. How do you style your hair?
I only have two styles - in or out. I'm a low maintenance kinda girl :)

003. What's new in your life right now?
In RL? Not much. Fannishly? Merlin and probably Leverage.

004. How many colours are you wearing now?
Two - blue and grey.

005. Are you an introvert or extrovert?
Introvert, most definitely. I like people, but really, really need my alone-time.

006. What was the last book you read?
The latest Temeraire book, by Naomi Novik.

007. Do you nap a lot?
Only if I'm tired.

008. If you could only have one fandom, what would it be?
Star Wars. I know it's largely inactive on LJ, at least for Original Trilogy, but yeah.

009. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
Yep, unfortunately. But no more than usual.

010. What's your favourite dessert?
Pavlova. With Strawberries. Or chocolate fondue with strawberries.

011. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
Depends how much sleep I've had. Between 20 - 40 minutes.

012. What websites do you visit daily?
LJ, news.com.au (on weekdays), gmail.

013. What classes are you taking right now? And if you're not in school any more, what's your job?
Engineer. Haven't picked my classes for this semester yet, but I'll get there.

014. Do you like to clean?
Oh no. Hell no.

015. What's the last song that got stuck in your head?
Red, by Elbow. Thanks to a Merlin vid, ironically.

016. What's the last movie you saw?
At the movies? Casino Royale, with my Dad over Christmas. On TV? X-Men, right now.

017. What's better: eternal love or memorable love?
I'm not fussy.

018. What colour do you look best in?
Black, maybe red.

019. Best time of your life?
From birth to now :)

020. What are you most looking forward to in the coming month?
Huh. New SPN, two(!) long weekends, and a visit from family. Good times.

I'm supposed to tag people, but given the number of people otherwise occupied on my flist at the moment, I'll think we'll just through it open to all comers. Have fun, and don't forget to change a question.

Supernatural Catchup

lyore — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:40:38 GMT

I am a bad, bad fangirl. For a variety of reasons, I hadn't had a chance to watch the last few episodes of Supernatural - work, limited internet, limited time, all that jazz.

But now I have.

Wow. Fucking Wow. That's the show I was always hoping to see.

Special mention has to go to Ruby - I was never a fan of her, but I've been completely converted. Last season, despite the fact that, on paper, she exactly the type of character I normally love, I could never warm to her actress. (In contrast, Bela as a character annoyed me, but I thought the actress was great. Go figure.) And this season, her early appearances as 'exposition girl' didn't really give her anything to shine with. But this... I bought this. I believed this, unlike her earlier incarnation. When it looks like she betraying them, I was actually upset, because I wanted her to be one of the good guys. (I almost wrote 'on the side of the angels', but I guess that saying isn't really appropriate here *g*)

And they nailed the backstory between her and Sam (no pun intended). I was incredibly dubious about that, and they made it work \o/ . And poor Sam.

But I still really, really want to know why she is helping the Winchesters. What's her motivation, apart from sticking it to Lillith? And is it just me, or were there some definite signs of a Ruby/Dean connection there - not just in a 'She did what you would do' kind of way, but in a significant glance/possible emotional thing happening?

And the Angels - I love the fact that we are getting angels that are conflicted. \o/ Although Uriel is just a dick, and Castiel needs to grow a spine soon, if he's gonna. And both of them getting completely played. And Anna, not wanting to be an angel again, 'cause she wanted to feel.

And Dean. Oh, Dean. *sob*

And I am so, so glad I only have to wait a week for the next episode. Although, after the awesomeness of this lot, it will be hard to top. But then again, some normal, monster-of-the-week episodes may be nice, just to connect the show to where it came from.

In conclusion: \o/

~

Sleep in on a Sunday Morning

lyore — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:51:04 GMT

Yeah, I just updated, but this is so awesome it deserves its own post.

Atheists send their own message, on 800 buses. Seems a lot of Londoners have gotten fed up with religious advertising around their city, and have decided to take up their own ads. Awesome.

But US atheists are holding their own on the awesome stakes, with ads saying 'Why believe in a god?" over a picture of a man in a Santa suit. "Just be good for goodness' sake."' However, the Aussies are not doing too well - I like their slogan best of all (Atheism: Sleep in on Sunday mornings), but permission for the ads was refused. Not cool :(

But possibly winning, or at least tying, in the awesomneess stakes, is the response from at least one church. Not fire, brimstone, and threats of damnation, but welcoming the campaign as a way to get people to discuss God.

Public debate on religion, carried out on the side of a bus. I love it.

And all this is made even more awesome because I can't even hear the words 'bus ads' without thinking of Moonlight. Ah, fandom. Ever with the odd (and amusing) associations.

Bits and Bobs

lyore — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:46:07 GMT

One of the more... interesting things about being 12 or so hours out of sync with 90% of LJ (between living in Oz and a complete ban on LJ at work) is going to bed with everything all fine and dandy, and coming back the next afternoon/evening and realising there's been a complete panic doing the rounds. *cue frantic catching up*

On another topic, since I know there were a couple of people resisting the lure of Merlin due to worries about historical inaccuracy, I want to link this post by icarusancalion, discussing the mythological roots of the Arthurian legend. Interesting stuff. And no, I'm not ~~just~~ trying to convert people - anyone who is interested enough in Arthurian legend to be bothered by the (many) diversions from commonly accepted legend should find this post fascinating.

And I need some Merlin icons, if I'm going to keep talking about this show.

2009

lyore — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:28:12 GMT

Hmm. It appears Doctor Who fandom has broken my friends page. Vocal lot.

Slightly belated Happy Holidays to you all, and I hope everyone had a great New Years! I bring evidence of our own celebrations - yes, we could have fought the crowds to the fireworks, but this was more fun.

Over the past few weeks I've read a great many books, watched a lot of TV shows (and is anyone else watching Leverage? If not, you should be), and above all, done far too much travelling. But it's back to the grindstone tomorrow, I guess. *sigh*

That Merlin show...

lyore — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 09:32:55 GMT

I was going to rave about the most recent episode of Merlin, but then I watched the trailers for next week - GAH! Can't believe I have to wait another week...

Yep, it's official. I'm addicted. PLEASE tell me other people on my flist are watching this show, I need people to geek out about it with.

The last thing I need now is another fandom...

lyore — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:53:38 GMT

Ah, it's nice to be back with regular internet access again. Well, technically I've had access all week, but I've spent that time mainlining the BBC series Merlin. My god, that show is pure, pure crack. Slashy, silly, insane crack.

But since I'm now up to date, I spent this afternoon looking for Merlin vids to feed my habit. Hence, vid recs.

The Bitch Prince by Fabella (wistful_fever).
Summary: '"No. No way. There must be another Arthur because this one's an idiot!" We love Arthur, Merlin loves Arthur, but wow, some days, he is so close to being smothered with a pillow.'

Beverly Hills by giandujakiss
Summary: Camelot = Beverly Hills. 'Nuff Said.

For a complete change of pace:
Non Lievi Alchun by halcyon_shift
Summary: 'For it giveth unto all lovers courage.' Morgana/Gwen.

And, for your Random Fandom rec, this vid by bananainpyjamas singlehandedly made me want to start to watch Smallville again. Must... resist... the urge...

Randominity

lyore — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:17:39 GMT

View Poll: You say toMAHto

I've noticed I tend to refer to the boys in a specific order, and I'm curious if anyone else does the same.

spam

lyore — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:14:19 GMT

Upon reflection, the number of scientific calculators I own disturbs me.

~

sigh

lyore — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:15:53 GMT

Dear god, I hate exams. This shit was boring enough the first time I studied it - someone remind me why I'm doing it again?

Fanlore is live!

lyore — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:03:28 GMT

The beta-version of the Fanlore wiki is live!

Yay! Not much there at the moment, of course. But even better than the wiki itself is the design and usability of the site. It gives me great hope for design the archive.

Those pesky women

lyore — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:10:22 GMT

GAH. Been trying to write a post about recurring female characters and recurring male characters in SPN all night, and every time I try it ends up longer than War and Peace and impossible to put in any kind of coherent order.

It all boils down to the fact that, all other things being equal, as an audience we expect the young, hot, FEMALE recurring character to have been introduced primarily as a love interest for one of the male characters. But, as an audience, we expect the young, hot, MALE recurring character to have been introduced primarily for plot reasons, and further that it is extremely unlikely that the main purpose of said male character is to be a love interest for one of the male leads.

And how this is always going to colour how fans reaction to a character, even if they don't have any invested interest in shipping the main characters. Especially in a show where the introduction of canonical romance is likely to have a significant effect on the core structure of a show.

And how this isn't actually always a sign of misogyny on the part of the fans; how sometimes it's a 'I don't trust the PTB to balance the new love interest with the relationships (platonic or otherwise) I signed on to see in the first place', or even a 'I'm sick of every significant female character always having to be framed in terms of a potential love interest', or maybe just 'I really like the show the way it is and don't want to see drastic changes in focus'. AND HOW ALL OF THESE REACTIONS ARE PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE.

And how the audience expectation of significant female characters of the right age to be primarily love interests is a product of years of experience, and not some figment of fan's over-involved imaginations. And how wanting to see female characters existing as their own people and not merely a potential love interest may also have nothing to do with shipping but simply a desire to see female characters who aren't defined by who they are (or aren't) sleeping with.

And how ideas of studio interference in search of delivering the "right" demographic (ie not us), and ideas of "'natural' creative processes" being interfered with, and the always uneasy relationship between (largely) female fen and (largely) male creators and studios all feed into the above.

And how all of these things are going to combine and lead of different reactions to new male characters and new female characters, and maybe it isn't enough to just sweep it all under the carpet of "fannish misogyny".

(And all that said, I have seen some truly vile reactions to female characters that I DO believe are rooted in misogyny. All I ask is that people accept this isn't always the case - that sometimes people have valid reasons for their reactions, even if you don't agree.)

Run for your lives!

lyore — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:34:29 GMT

... it's the dreaded holiday pictures!

I've finally gotten around to uploading the pictures of my trip to France/UK (and yes, that was a year and a half ago. I procrastinate a lot - it's part of my charm). Now they are all-webified, I thought I might share a few, and you can all join me in daydreaming about being there instead of here.

First up, a few from France.

Statues along the side of the Louvre.

The American Cemetery in Normandy. Both of these images seem to have lost some of their depth of colour (is that a technical term? I have no idea) when I had to web-ify them. Unfortunately, the graininess of the flag-folding picture is actually mist.

In the Musee d'Orsay. Does he remind anyone else of the polar bears from the Coke ads?

No, it's not THAT Notre Dame (don't worry, I have plenty of pictures of that one too), but I like this picture all the same. Thank you, convenient beam of light.

Hope that worked. I tried to resize them down slightly to avoid breakage of friends pages, and if I managed it correctly it's a small miracle. Bear with me while I fix it.

Eternal Damnation Awaits

lyore — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:01:12 GMT

Prompted by fialleril's comment on this comic, I give you:

The Last (Sith) Supper

I love the Internet. There are photoshop tutorials for everything.

Supernatural 4x01

lyore — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:53:09 GMT

WOW. Just WOW. THIS is what I've been waiting for.

One of my biggest problems with the last season was the overall lack of movement towards the overarching multi-season story arc. But this season... finally, it seems like we are getting to the core of the mythology. And it's starting with a bang.

Plus, we finally get to see Sam consciously, willingly using his powers. After a three seasons of build up, it was worth the wait. Go morally-ambiguous!Sam.

So much to love about this episode:
- Bobby. Awesome.
- Pam. Loved her. Someone please tell me they have already started the Pam-fic.
- Castiel. Really liked that he is, essentially, possessing someone (and there better be fic on that, too). and OMG WINGS!! I also liked that Dean still isn't 'special' - his 100% un-'special'ness is, too me, one of the key characteristics of the show, and I like that they keep that even after the resurrection. (Plus, Castiel was hot. Although did the character design remind anyone else of Constantine?)

Slightly-less-good:

- Ruby. I'm glad she's still 'alive', but while I really loved the idea and character of Ruby, there was always something ... off in the portrayal, a certain stiffness, stitledness. I'd put it down to the actress, but it seems to have carried over into the 'new' Ruby. Now I'm wondering if it is her role as 'exposition girl' (she shows up and talks, leaves), or maybe just the direction. Or maybe it is just me. Hmm.

Anyway, awesome new episode - can't wait until next week. Been a long time since I've been this excited about SPN - it's a nice feeling.

(Plus also, WEDGE ANTILLES!)

While I'm waiting for Supernatural

lyore — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:18:55 GMT

Apparently Anonymous hacked into Sarah Palin's yahoo email account, with which she had been conducting official business, possibly in order to avoid being subject to subpoenas. Ah, Anonymous. If you keep going like this, I'm going to suspect you are in this for something other than the Lulz. Is that a hint of a conscience I see there?

Anyway, I highly recommend this account of the ensuring reaction from the Republican party and supporters. Choice quotes:

Still, it's really a wondrous, and repugnant, sight to behold the Bush-following lynch mobs on the Right melodramatically defend the Virtues of Privacy and the Rule of Law. These, of course, are the same authoritarians who have cheered on every last expansion of the Lawless Surveillance State of the last eight years -- put their fists in the air with glee as the Federal Government seized the power to listen to innocent Americans' telephone calls; read our emails; obtain our banking, credit card, and library records; and create vast data bases of every call we make and receive and every prescription we fill and every instance of travel and other vast categories of information that remain largely unknown -- all without warrants or oversight of any kind and often in clear violation of the law.

The same political faction which today is prancing around in full-throated fits of melodramatic hysteria and Victim mode (their absolute favorite state of being) over the sanctity of Sarah Palin's privacy are the same ones who scoffed with indifference as it was revealed during the Bush era that the FBI systematically abused its Patriot Act powers to gather and store private information on thousands of innocent Americans; that Homeland Security officials illegally infiltrated and monitored peaceful, law-abiding left-wing groups devoted to peace activism, civil liberties and other political agendas disliked by the state; and that the telephone calls of journalists and lawyers have been illegally and repeatedly monitored.

This is snarky political commentary at its finest. I am in absolute awe of Greenwald.

(Slightly related - did I mention I ran across an Anonymous protest while I was in Perth? I turned around, and there they were. And yes, I squeed - it's not everyday the topic of your research paper appears in front of you. Unfortunately, by the time I had my camera out, they were moving on. Got a few pictures, but nothing spectacular.)

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