So it's a couple of days until the Forever finale, and I've just written up some opinions about this show for a Dear Writer letter, and now I'm having rambling crossover thoughts.
How unusual would Henry's blood be? No effect on vampires, outstandingly delicious, or lethal? Would drinking his blood be enough to turn a vampire human? What if he becomes a vampire magnet? What if Henry deliberately sets out to be vamped, hoping it might bring him permanent death (get bitten, get turned, get staked, game over), but things go horribly wrong? What if Jo gets turned? What if "the Immortal" in Angel S5 was Henry (or Adam)?
Also, thanks for spoiler-cutting comments on Age of Ultron. I'll see it mid-May.
And sorry for wandering off again after December/January. If I'd continued posting regularly in February/March, it might have looked something like this: "Dear Flist - Hi. Brain eaten by multitude of new fictional characters vying for attention. Having a great time, wish you were here."
All those recs you lot gave me about shows to try watching...?
I went and did. In rapid succession.
All available seasons/episodes of: True Blood, Game of Thrones, Vikings, Selfie, Hindsight, Cucumber, Forever, Wolf Hall, Doctor Who (2005-), Torchwood, Arrow, The Flash. Partially, still watching: Teen Wolf (to start of season 2), Heroes (to start of s4), Sherlock (to 3.01). One or two episodes, likely to continue: Orphan Black, Broadchurch, Once Upon a Time, Being Human, The Musketeers. One or two episodes, had enough and bailed: The Librarians, Grimm, Penny Dreadful. Next in the queue to try: Breaking Bad, Pushing Daisies, Leverage, Haven.
April was mostly about wandering through fandoms for a few of the above. Feeling fannish for Vikings and a couple of others, to varying degrees. Doing some random lurking and fic-reading on AO3. Dabbled to the extent of translating a bit of Ragnar/Athelstan, and continued exploring.
More of my opinions on these shows - coming up in daily posts throughout May. Your opinions - always welcome. :) *waves, offers tea and biscuits*
Athelstan's PoV, in glimpses of seasons 1 through 3. Go look, for it's elegant and insightful and all fine things.
BTW, here's the standard offer to rhyme/drabble on a prompt of your choice if you can spot the story I wrote among Shipswap's 170+ works before reveals. (Hint: het, and not Vikings.)
All caught up now on Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Agents of SHIELD, and Agent Carter. :D The to-read list already includes a mental note to check out luthien's fic about Miss Fisher's companion, along with the rest of that fandom's busy Yuletide. Wouldn't mind some suggestions for Agents of SHIELD femslash or Agent Carter het.
Watching more first episodes... with mixed results.
Instant like: Galavant - first episode quickly followed by the remaining seven, and much snickering and actor-spotting: Sophie McShera (Daisy from Downton Abbey), Rutger Hauer, Weird Al Yankovic, Anthony Stewart Head.
Instant Do Not Want: The 100 - or, Logan's Run meets Lord of the Flies. Feels like a whole bunch of tropes and stock characters stitched together. One episode's enough for me.
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland - will/won't watch more, maybe, I dunno. Didn't hate it. Suspect it might be a fandom where the fic is better than the show.
Forever - will watch more, very likely - Ioan Gruffudd is quite impressive as an addition to the list of fictional characters aged 200+ - think of the crossover potential with the tales of Angel or Lestat.
Backed away without watching: Hannibal, Continuum, Reign, Kingdom.
Still in the queue of first episodes: Hindsight, The Librarians, Vikings, Orphan Black, Penny Dreadful, Brooklyn Nine Nine.
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries progress: four episodes of Season 2. Agents of SHIELD progress: four episodes of Season 1. I've been alternating between them today, and reading some rather nice Austen-fic.
Look, another poll! Indulge my curiosity a little more, do. Thank you for clicking! :)
Well, I didn't expect Depp!Wonka to lose that pollquite so thoroughly.... 0 out of 34 votes, wow. Wilder!Wonka's in the lead with 14, followed by book-canon with 12.
And only two of you have joined me in voting for both Wilder and Depp. - Won't do a poll on Malcolm Rennie's Mr. Collins (P&P 1980) versus David Bamber's Mr. Collins (P&P 1995), but I'm Switzerland on those as well. Spuffy versus Bangel, ditto. Just sayin'.
A quick look to see if anyone's vidded the 1971 movie came up with this:
And the 19th Century is feeling the love, by the way. :)
Caught this meme from vass: When you see this, share 3 random lines from 3 WIPs.
1. Edmund kneels. "Good my Lord, King of Kings, I beseech you - send me not into exile again."
2. The wrong woman stirred slightly in her sleep, revealing yet more of an admittedly magnificent bosom.
3. His eyes were ageless. Sometimes he'd give Charlie a look and a grin, bright with new ideas and candy-making glee, and Charlie could see the younger Wonka who'd once danced in a marketplace for Turkish Delight and climbed Mt. Everest just to find out if chocolate would taste any different at the summit.
~ ~ ~
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries progress report: I've finished watching Season 1; about to start the second season. It's entertaining enough to go on with.
Also playing MCU catch-up. Just did ten movies in four days - brain still processing. Until now I'd seen about 3.25 of them, in no particular order, and spoilered myself thoroughly by reading fics. (Never can resist a nice tangled Gryffindor/Slytherin ship, and the way Thor and Loki wear their House colors is too adorable.) Might try watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. next.
Day 10: Stretch yourself a little and try something new. Go play in a new fandom or with a new pairing. Try working in a new medium. Or check out some fanworks that are new to you... Leave a comment in this post saying you did it.
So this has been spread out over a few days, but I'm happy to report having watched the first eight episodes of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. And I do intend to watch more, if not all of them at once. - Yes, I'm enjoying it. Plenty of eye candy, opportunities to play spot-the-Melbourne-landmark, and a rather sweet sidekick/sidekick romance.
Must admit to having a fit of fanostalgia at the same time as the urge to try something new. The past week has also included a few episodes of Star Trek TNG (plucked at random from seasons 4-6), rewatched for the first time in years. So "Ship in a Bottle" (holodeck!Moriarty, Sherlock!Data) collided with Miss Fisher in my head, prompting a few speculations about Phryne/Data... Ever such a replay of that thing with Tasha Yar.
snowflake_challenge Day 15: In your own space, create your own challenge. What's something you want to see more people doing in fandom? Is there something fun you've tried that you think other people would enjoy if they gave it a go? Dare your friends to try it out, and have fun with it. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it.
*cackles gleefully* Oh, goody! An excuse to play with Nightmare Pairings again. :D
Today's Pledge is for any fandom(s) you want, and crossovers are OK.
e.g. My Nightmare Pairing Pledge for HP & Pride and Prejudice I, Minerva McTabby, do solemnly swear that my favorite character is Severus Snape and my least favorite character is Mr. Collins. The mere thought of them doing naughty things together makes me whimper. However... given sufficient crack and an infinite number of monkeys, here's how some Snape/Collins smut might happen (though I really, really hope it never does).
Plot device or deus ex machina: Time travel by means of Spell Gone Wrong, I think. When the Dark Lord demands a Tom Collins, Wormtail somehow conjures up a very retro clergyman. Snape is unimpressed. Who makes the first move: Mr. Collins. Fearing punishment, Wormtail transforms into a rat and runs. Mr. Collins shrieks loudly and faints into Snape's arms. Snape rolls his eyes and revives Mr. Collins with the help of the perfect Tom Collins he's just brewed. Then another... and another... until the dazed and plastered Mr. Collins mistakes Snape's boots for Lady Catherine's, and starts licking his way up Snape's legs... Positions and/or kinks: Kneeling. Increasingly purposeful mouth action. Apologizing. Babbling. More mouth action, until Snape resigns himself to receiving a mediocre blow job, just to stop the babbling. Afterglow: Mr. Collins apologizes some more. Snape smokes a cigarette. Mr. Collins proposes. Snape rolls his eyes again, curses the sordid farce his life has become, and Transfigures Mr. Collins into a newt. Would I actually read or write this? Probably... yes. *facepalms*
Yes, this vid-bunny came straight from Caerbannog. Hope you enjoy. :)
Title: In the Mood for the Holy Grail Vidder: Minerva McTabby Music: "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra Movie: "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) Rating: G Disclaimer: No money made, no copyright claimed, all done for fun.
41 pairings for Harry Potter 49 pairings for Marvel Cinematic Universe
...Aragog/Basilisk? Sounds like H/D for magical creatures. ...Luna/Lucius/Snape - I can't even begin to imagine the pillow-talk. ...Harry/Katie - I can imagine the pillow-talk all too clearly. It's all one topic. ...Regulus/Hermione - Kreacher pretends to be appalled, but sometimes he watches...
(Blame me for adding Tom/Minerva, Tom/Dumbledore, Hermione/Bellatrix and Lucius/Ginny.)
Day 9: In your own space, talk about what surprises you about fandom. It could be a pairing or fandom you never thought you'd like. A fanwork type you never knew existed. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it.
Well, Yuletide was full of surprises, as ever. (Nobody expects a Hufflepuff!Iliad.)
My slow read-through of the Yuletide/NYR prompts list is producing further surprises. Bunnies, too. Random quotes from different people: Or what about Eliza, Higgins, and Pickering settling down together in a poly relationship... Achilles/Patroclus is a pairing in need of some more ridiculous AUs... What would their life be like from this point in the series if Endora genuinely did not remember how to reverse the spell, and he was stuck as a werewolf?... Or if you wanted to try your hand at the cracked-out scenario I fondly call "cousincest threesome prevents WWI" that would be great!... Throma'eloo Lek is my favourite alien. He's a sympathetic, scotch-loving, tentacle monster!... Blackadder III visiting France or the American colonies? Why not?... There seem to be a few of us who desperately want Caesar/Nicomedes... The ghost of Rebecca truly does haunt Manderley...
E.M. Forster's Maurice, which I read about a month ago. How has it taken me this long to discover this book? ...And there's a movie too? And some good fic? *is happy* Feeling fannish about this century-old tale of a Gryffindor who breaks up with a Ravenclaw, messily.
JKR's post-canon retcons/embellishments/retractions. Upstaged by Louisa May Alcott rising from the grave: "Oops, Jo married Laurie after all. Sorry, kids!"
Finding myself shipping Thor/Loki, and reading fic for it, even before I'd seen the movie - all because of a vid made by heidi8.
QI RPF - I'm kind of surprised at my own surprise - but I watched all the episodes last year, and it never occurred to me to seek fic.
And the pleasant surprise of seeing LJ/DW posts from people who are still in-or-around fandom after all these years. :) *waves*
Day 7: In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme... Tell us about it, tell us why you love it, give us some examples and recs. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it.
Time travel, Groundhog Day, serial dimension-hopping AUs... oh, so many!
Do-over stories, done well, make me particularly joyful. When characters die (or fall down some rabbit-hole) and get a chance to go back to some crucial point in life. The Peggy Sue trope.
My earliest encounter with it must have been that movie (Peggy Sue Got Married) or a Star Trek TNG episode called "Tapestry": Q sends Picard back to the age of 21 and gives him a chance to make a different choice. (And I've gone and re-watched that episode just now, for the first time in years. It still rocks.)
( Do-over fanfics...Collapse ) Top do-over rec: this, for its great writing and characterization. It made me believe in Snape/Lily (only the second fic to do so, ever; and the first one was in 2001).
Come Once Again and Love Me by laventadorn Severus wakes up in the afterlife expecting something rather different than being almost-seventeen again. Seriously, what kind of game is this? But wait - Lily's come back, too - from 1981? Perhaps it's a second chance... but to do what? Rated: M - Drama/Angst - Chapters: 25 - Words: 188,760 - Reviews: 499 - Updated: Jan 27, 2012 - Published: Dec 25, 2011 - Severus S., Lily Evans P. - Complete
Day 6: In your own space, create a fanwork. A drabble, a ficlet, a podfic, or an icon, art or meta or a rec list. A picspam. Something. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it.
Hey, it's Fanny Price Appreciation Day! :D
And we're rolling with Mansfield Park 1983, since I don't care three straws for any other adaptations. Here's Sylvestra Le Touzel as Fanny and Robert Burbage as Henry. (Feel free to take/modify as you please.)
I cannot, will not have that man. I cannot trust his idle plan. I will not have him in the rain. I will not wear his golden chain. Not over tea! Not by the sea! He's not for me! No constancy. I do not like him at a dance. I do not like his countenance. I do not like him in the park. I do not like him after dark. I do not like him in a play. I do not like him any day! I do not like that Henry C. He never will succeed with me.
Day 5: In your own space, talk about your fannish origin story. How did you come to fandom, why did you choose your fannish name, do you have more than one secret identity? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it.
The personality fragment known as Minerva McTabby dates from 13 October 2001, when I registered that e-mail address and went into Yahoo Groups with it. Name rather obviously based on a pro-feline outlook and squeeing over the character of McGonagall.
Day 4: Comment to someone you haven't ever interacted with before or introduce yourself to someone you've interacted with and friend/follow them. Afterwards, leave a comment in this post with the equivalent of "I did it!" It doesn't have to be anything complex - it can be feedback for a fanwork or discussing something you might have in common or even simply admiring their icon.
A bit of a WIP, since I'm looking through people's journals right now - and if other Snowflakers are looking here in search of Day 4 interaction, this post's as good a place as any to leave a comment. *waves*
Day 2, with the wish-lists, was great for meeting people - zellieh asked for fan filk vids, a_q asked for summary-writing advice, fairyniamh asked for fandom-related recipes...
Also got pretty commenty for Yuletide, and added a couple of people on DW in the past week: welcome, akamarykate and vaznetti.
ETA: Exploring fire_juggler's journal persuaded me to add a podfic permission statement to my AO3 profile.
Day 3: In your own space, talk about your creative process - from what inspires you to what motivates you to how you manage to break through blocks. Does your process change depending on the type of creating you're doing? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it.
Entirely in the spirit of my creative process, I've procrastinated over answering this question.
Thank you to all who shared opinions and voted in yesterday's poll (suggest a new fandom for McTabby) - the winners are Miss Fisher and Rivers of London.
Well, I'd give that about 7 out of 10. And I'm happy to watch a couple more episodes, just to see which direction the characters go. Worth a look for the Melbourne scenery and the pretty clothes/bodies/faces, too - are there heaps of vids for this show? Crossovers with The House of Eliott or Carson's Law?
Now awaiting a review from gehayi, who's watching the first episode too (ETA link).
Day 2: In your own space, create a list of at least three fannish things you'd love to receive, something you've wanted but were afraid to ask for - a fannish wish-list of sorts. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your wish-list if you feel comfortable doing so. Maybe someone will grant a wish. Check out other people's posts. Maybe you will grant a wish.
To quote my 2008 Dear Yuletide Writer letter: "Well, what I really want is a Harry Potter/Fawlty Towers crossover AU Shakespearean comedy deathfic, exactly 2,651 words long, in which everyone has green eyes and every third sentence starts with the letter C, and there's True Love and oral sex on a spaceship and performing seals and harpsichords, and nobody knows what happened to the goblin, but The Butler Did It!" (And where's my pony?)
Corporeal!Horcrux recs, anyone? - I'm seeking HP fics in which one or more of Voldemort's soul-fragments succeed in emerging from their Horcrux containers and getting solid bodies. More details in this FAP thread.
The Yuletide 2014 wrap-up post named this year's top six fandoms ("20 or more works in the main collection") - and I'm clueless about all of them. *facepalms* So which of the six, if any, should I look into?
ETA next day: Dear flisters and kind strangers - thanks for your opinions! Miss Fisher and Rivers of London win. I'll be watching the first episode of the former (at least) and having a go at reading the latter.
Happy New Year, everyone! May your 2015 be filled with interesting people, perfect words and happy coincidences.
Behold my first Snowflake attempt, prompted by fandom-nostalgia and seeing this blue banner all over my flist (wyomingnot, moreteadk, snegurochka_lee, etc. - I'm blaming you!), and rather regretting that I didn't find out about that hp_reunion thing in time to participate.
Day 1: In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created...
OK then. Verse, prose, vid. Enjoy. :)
Verse: You Look Tired, Harry Potter (HP, Snape/Harry, PG-13) Written in May 2003. Parody of Lewis Carroll's You are old, Father William. (Parody of a parody, since Lewis Carroll was being transformative with the work of Robert Southey.) Also known as the Shagging Snape poem.
Prose: Sparkweed (Earthsea, Ged/Jasper, PG-13) Foe Yay for Yuletide 2004. (My first Yuletide fic!) All those H/D scenes where Harry goes wandering through the school corridors at night, and runs into Draco, and Things Happen... I took that trope to Roke. And knocked myself out trying to imitate Ursula K. Le Guin's style as closely as possible.
Vid: Captain George Osborne: Die Young December 2012. Ke$ha's "Die Young" meets Vanity Fair (1998 miniseries). Character study of George Osborne (Tom Ward) - with George/Amelia, George/Becky, and the bullet through the heart at the Battle of Waterloo.
Title: Hour of Need Author: Minerva McTabby Written for:disenchanted / prancy Fandom: Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh Rating: T Words: 1,366 Character: Charles Ryder Pairing: Sebastian Flyte/Charles Ryder Tags: Future Fic, Memories, Angst Summary: "He has fallen far from home, and in his hour of need my hand was not there to help him." - Achilles (Homer, The Iliad)
Fandom: The Princess Bride Title:The Pirate Bachelorette Author:AnonymousScribe Summary: Being the tale of the sixth Dread Pirate Roberts, who had the distinction of being the first female to hold the title and was sometimes known as Ines Montoya. Rating: G Words: 6178 A perfectly captivating sequel with female!Inigo - pirates, rhymes, dramatic rescues, ingenious solutions. *thumbs up*
Fandom: Peter Pan Title:And All Things Nice Author:AnonymousFahye Summary: Girls, you know, are much too clever to fall out of their prams. Rating: G Words: 4444 With female!Peter and female!Hook - and a kind of off-the-wall playful wisdom that makes every damn line of this story irresistibly quotable. Wow.
Fandom: Addams Family (TV 1964) Title:Feracious Author:AnonymousMusyc Summary: "A blanket?" Gomez asked. "Is someone having a baby? A terrible addition to the Addams clan?" Rating: G Words: 1049 Morticia's first pregnancy, through Gomez's loving eyes. So elegantly written - and so outstandingly canon-ish! Addams spirit, Addams mindset, Addams joy.
Fandom: Exiles Saga and Galactic Milieu - Julian May Title:The Unveiling of Form Author:AnonymousVaznetti Summary: Unifex stands on Molakar, and waits. Rating: T/PG-13 Words: 509 Chilling, haunting, thoroughly convincing missing scene. Hadn't thought about it before reading this, but now I'm sure it had to happen.
Fandom: Another Country - Julian Mitchell Title:in your heart of hearts Author:Anonymousspeakmefair Summary: Conversation, conviction, contemplation, and foreshadowing. Rating: G Words: 2481 So in character, so fascinating! A post-canon dialogue in which Guy and Judd discuss what the hell happened, and why - and what's it all about, anyway?
And another gift for me in Madness - a Little Women drabble! Check out Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight? for a thoughtful Jo Bhaer moment, post-Jo's Boys. (ETA: written by elstaplador)
Taking time out from Yuletide reading to watch the Christmas episode of QI, Stephen Fry's quiz show - Carrie Fisher as special guest (with Bill Bailey, Jimmy Carr, Alan Davies).
Gloriously silly. Yes, some Star Wars jokes.
Previous QI Christmas episodes: Ice in 2011 (guest Brian Blessed), Hocus Pocus in 2010 (guest Dan Radcliffe), Groovy in 2009 (guest David Tennant).
Maybe it's because I wrote clone-crackfic last Yuletide (the Richard III's skeleton satire)... but this Yuletide I find myself enjoying clone-fic more than ever, especially when mixed with history/legend. Here's a couple of lovelies. Go read. :)
(And if you've spotted any more clone-fic around Yuletide, do tell.)
Fandom: Badass Women in History (Blog) Title:Ancient Space Monkey Blue Team Author:Anonymousfresne Characters: Joan of Arc, Elizabeth Tudor, Christine de Pisan, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hatshepsut of Egypt, Catherine of Valois Rating: T/PG-13 Words: 2110 Eclectic history crack - and a chance to ship Joan/Elizabeth in a gladiator-reality-show rebellion in the dystopian far future. Oooh, what fun!
Fandom: Arthurian Mythology Title:A Disambiguation of Elaines Author:Anonymousraspberryhunter Summary: There are too many Elaines in the lab. Rating: G Words: 5014 Not crack, despite premise; more like sci-fi crossed with Arthuriana. Fine writing! Scientists in an unspecified future. Tension, power-plays, ownership, control - and breaking free. (Gave me a feeling similar to Dennis Potter's Cold Lazarus.)
Fandom: The Young Ones (TV 1982) Title:Winter Holiday Author:AnonymousWoolandWater Summary: A typical (that is to say, atypical), Christmas in the Young Ones' share house. Pairing: Rick/Vyvyan Rating: Explicit/NC-17 Words: 7,335 Love how Yuletide sometimes produces complete-extra-episode fics for great shows - ooh, here's another! Most delightfully canonesque, with free bonus smut.
Fandom: Rome Title:Water and Salt Author:Anonymousastolat Summary: Two months under siege in Alexandria, baking inside the palace walls. Pullo was nearly ready to promise Mars a white ox if only he’d send a proper battle their way, and hang the expense. Pairing: Vorenus/Pullo Rating: Mature/R Words: 1,352 Gem of a story. Spot-on characterization. Intimate, vivid, many-layered. Vorenus/Pullo must-read.
Fandom: Ancient History RPF Title:Another Opportunity Author:AnonymousAlasse_Irena Summary: In which it takes several lifetimes for Hannibal and Scipio to arrange a dinner date. Reincarnation AU. Characters: Hannibal Barca, Scipio Africanus Rating: G Words: 2,903 Kind of "Five Things" or "Five AUs" - the same two intense personalities and brilliant minds, friends-enemies-rivals in five different settings (from war to school to ballet); gen, but I'm wishfully reading it as pre-slash. Compelling as catnip.
*waves* Having a lovely Yuletide here! Hope you are too.
I've got two gift-fics - medieval history and Jane Austen, woo-hoo! Much applause and chocolate for the anonymous authors of these.
Fandom: Mansfield Park - Jane Austen Title:A Second, Better Author:AnonymousJuneLoveland Summary: Through the years, Fanny considers who and what she is. Rating: G Words: 7,553 Go read, if you fancy a plausible AU ending in which Fanny marries neither Edmund nor Crawford, along with some satisfying "what happened next" options for Susan, William, Tom and so on. All in a pretty convincing imitation-Austen style. I love how this story gets inside Fanny's head and unravels the tangled toxic web of Fanny/Edmund in a sympathetic way for all concerned.
Fandom: 14th Century CE England RPF Title:Jesu dulcis memoria Author:Anonymousangevin2 Tags: Anne of Bohemia/Richard II, Richard II of England, Original Male Character(s), Medieval Painting, The Wilton Diptych, Lots of Historical Conjecture, Everyone Richard Loves Is Dead Rating: G Words: 1,022 So I asked for some Richard II fic featuring a rather stunning work of art called the Wilton Diptych - and this Treat-writer has done wonders with my whim! A thing of beauty about creating things of beauty, and about love and death and memories.
(More Yuletide recs posts to come, I hope. I'm still clicking-and-reading randomly. Current recs in my AO3 Bookmarks.)
recumbent
curious
quixotic
accomplished
nerdy
enthralled