This week's fannish5: Five best signs of affection from one character to another.

I'm devoting this list to the greatest suit-wearing, scotch-drinking, womanizing, bro-code following idiot of them all: Barney Stinson.

Barney is a really good friend. And most of the characters don't realize it because when Barney's deep friendship is shown, he never takes credit for it. I could easily make a list of all the times Barney has shown affection for his friends (keeping girls away from single!Marshall, convincing Lily to return to New York, running a hundred blocks and getting hit by a bus to see Ted in the hospital) but there's a reason he's one half of my BroTP. And so the list:

Five Times Barney Stinson Showed His Love For Robin Scherbatsky (aka Five Reasons Barney Stinson and Robin Scherbatsky Need to End Up Together)

5: The Possimpible: While everyone else, including Robin's so-called best friends Lily and Ted have thrown in the towel and are helping Robin pack as she's about to be deported, Barney finishes her video resume and lands her not one but two jobs, effectively keeping her in the country. "Congratulations Ms. Scherbatsky. Looks like you're gonna have to stay."

4: Sandcastles in the Sand: The way that Barney talks to Robin when she's heartbroken over Simon. He's being comforting, but he doesn't hide the fact that she's being completely ridiculous and is clearly so much better than him. "You are the most awesome person I have ever known. Well second most awesome. The first is this guy who lives in this thing called a mirror."

3: Robin 101: "I've seen Barney work hard to get girls. I've seen him work harder to get rid of girls. I've never seen him work this hard to keep one around."

2: Duel Citizenship: Pretty much the whole episode, with Barney tracking down a drunk and Canadian Robin all the way to Vancouver, but the best moment is when Robin is mistaken for an American while in Canada and has a little breakdown about her loss of identity. Barney stands up in the middle of a Tim Horton's and loudly proclaims that Canada is stupid for many reasons, but mainly for letting awesome women like Robin Scherbatsky get away. ... And then he gets beaten up for it.

1: Subway Wars: When the whole gang is vying for a win by being the first to make it to a restaurant and see Woody Allen, and Robin, Barney, and Ted are all within feet from the landmark. "I saw Barney look at Robin's face. Puffy cheeks, smudged mascara, slightly red nose. Barney says he tripped but I could have sworn he tackled me on purpose. And when Robin celebrated her win, I could have sworn I saw Barney smile."


GAH! I love these two!!

I realize I have not been commenting this season on So You Think You Can Dance. It's not that I haven't been watching it, I have. But I truly can't bring myself to care anymore. And for the longest time I could not figure out why that was. The dancers are all extremely talented, even if all the girls do that same lift-the-leg smell-my-butt move (as my boss calls it) and the choreography is good if not repetitive. Why has my passion for this show diminished?

Saturday night mom and I were watching the dances from Wednesday (we were both working on Wednesday) and we realized something: We weren't enthralled anymore. We talked through most of them. And then we started talking about why.

Every other dance is contemporary. Oh, I'm sorry, Contemporary, Jazz, Lyrical Hip Hop, Afro Jazz (they're all the same choreography!) They all end with someone walking away, or someone on top of the other. They all tell an ANGST story.

I miss ballroom.

Season 2 will always be my favorite season, and here's why. It did what this show was purported to do: Take dancers out of their comfort zone and make them dance in a style that is completely foreign to them. You had a hip hop boy and a contemporary girl dancing Argentine Tango (and it fucking rocked. You had a swing dancer and contemporary dancer taking on hip hop (and shaking it like the two white boys they were). When the ballroom boy and the hip hop girl got contemporary it was dreaded for them. (Of course, it was considered contemporary then, but would be "jazz" now) And of course, you had the contemporary piece that remains my favorite number of all time, that pushed that ballroom girl to her limits and turned her into a better dancer: the bench dance (which admittedly was the first to employ the walk away device, but it was new and fresh at the time)

Almost every single pair had two dancers of different styles. Swing and Contemporary (Heidi and Ryan). Swing and Hip Hop (Benji and Donyelle). Hip Hop and Contemporary (Allison and Ivan, Natalie and Musa, Ashlee and Ben). Ballroom and Hip Hop (Dmitry and Ashlee). The only top 20 couple that had the same style was Travis and Martha with Contemporary. The show was diverse in its dance styles and in its contestants. There was one contemporary and one hip hop piece per week, and the rest were different styles of ballroom. Viennese Waltz, Argentine Tango, Salsa, Samba, Mambo, Cha Cha, Rumba, Swing, Jive, Quickstep. It was a guarantee that at least one person per team was going to be out of their element, if not both. (Nowadays you're lucky if one person in the whole show does a dance that's not his/her style). Remember what a shock it was when Benji and Heidi happened to be paired together and happened to get Mambo? And everyone was so excited because it was the first time all season that two dancers were in their comfort zone and could actually show off.

Also, the choreographers were better. You had the vision of Brian Friedman, the power of Shane Sparks, the flair of Mia Michaels, and the enigma that is Wade Robson. Granted you also had the pathetic duds of Dan Karaty and Cicely and Olisa, but I think NappyTabs fills their spot pretty well. But Tyce and even Travis (as much as I HATE to admit it) cannot hold up to the previous seasons’ choreographers. Although I will say that Sonya is a breath of fresh air still, but if they overuse her she’s going to get stale like Mia did.

The dances don’t excite me anymore and I find myself rooting against the contemporary dancers for the sole reason that they are contemporary dancers. They have it easy now. Before, when it seemed that you were 80% likely to get ballroom, everyone was pretty much on an even level, because even the “ballroom” dancers hadn’t done every style, and even if they had they would spend majority of their time helping their partner. Which was the point of the show, sort of. Helping your partner to learn and grow. That’s why there’s less of a bond now between partners, I feel.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, the show's boring now. And they kind of have to bring back the all-stars because they're the only people we care about anymore. Yeah. It's just... repetitive.

So I finished Mockingjay last night, and wrote majority of this review then, even though I’m posting it now. I’m still reeling, so I’m trying to figure out the best way to do this review. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly just won’t cut it this time around. But we’ll figure something out.

( Spoilers obviouslyCollapse )

In honor of the third book of the Hunger Games trilogy coming out on Tuesday, I’ve created a little thoughts/ideas/theories post. (That I actually wrote about a month ago and am just managing to post now)

I don’t think I ever really got to extrapolate on my love of The Hunger Games. It really is an amazing book series. But since I really can’t divulge anything about it without spoiling the story, I’m going to assume if you’re reading this, you’ve read the books. If you haven’t read the books, DO NOT SPOIL YOURSELF. Go pick up the books. You can read them in a couple hours, I promise you you’ll fly through them.

( Predictions on everything from plot to pairingsCollapse )


So: Agree? Disagree? Ignored my warning and spoiled yourself?

So I saw my very first IMAX movie on Saturday. I find it interesting that my random mall will give me really comforable sunglasses-style 3D glasses, and a giant IMAX will give me ones more uncomfortable than the ones you wear for the 3D shows at Disney World. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I got the comfy ones for when I had to have them on my face for the 3 hour Avatar Adventure. Alice in Wonderland was much shorter than that.

I won't bother getting into a full review, because honestly, I didn't like it enough to warrant it. Granted, I have never been an Alice person. The movie scared the crap out of me as a child, and I still have nightmares about the adorable oyster babies looking innocently at the hungry Walrus. Maybe that's where my trust issues stem from. I wouldn't be surprised.

The problem with this new movie, I feel, is that it wasn't enough of anything. It wasn't strange enough to be a real Alice movie, but it wasn't exciting enough to be a regular action movie, even though it tried. There wasn't enough mindscrewing, which I never thought I'd complain about, because the mindscrew is the exact reason I hate the original. And (I'll probably get hell for this but here goes) I did not like Johnny Depp.

*ducks*

To be fair, I don't think it was his fault. I didn't like the writing of the Mad Hatter. Notice "mad" in the title? He was like, the near leader of the rebellion (this is not a spoiler, it's pretty much stated in the trailer), and clearly a thinking man. Then he'd ask why a raven is like a writing desk. This does not a Mad Hatter make. And I was not digging the random Alice/Hatter thrown in there that I feel was solely inserted because it's Johnny Depp, and he can have chemistry with a door. I felt that the Hatter was overused, and misused. *shrug* I thought Helena Bonham Carter was HYSTERICAL. The Fat Boys bit? Yeah.

Would I recommend seeing it? Sure. Why not. I'll be seeing it again next week with my mother. Will I own it on dvd? Probably not.


SO. The Oscars.

The Good: Neil Patrick Harris, Travis Wall, Chris Pine, Sandra Bullock

The Bad: How everything became in-your-face-James-Cameron as opposed to "This is a good movie with a good director", the Ben Stiller idea of doom

The Bizarre: Red-Headed Kanye

I feel that appropriately sums up the evening.


I have noticed something about my writing style, in terms of who I choose to write about. I don't like writing about The Hero. I am always writing the story of the sidekick. And barring that, the Smart Guy or the Big Guy in a Five Man Band. Heroes bore me. Whenever I set my characters up in those settings, my protagonist is never "The Hero". I find this interesting.


Oh and randomly: I have placed an embargo on all fic that is not pertinent to my novel for the time being, but if I hadn't? I would totally write a one-shot in which Ianto Jones and Barney Stinson go shopping for suits and are each others' wingmen.


PS: Can someone please tell the writers of How I Met Your Mother to stop stealing from my life in regards to the characterization of Robin Scherbatsky?

If a WWE channel can exist then why not...

I would totally tivo the Undergrad Hipster Girl Network and the Geek Victims of Fox Network. I'm pretty confident if those two channels existed, I would watch no other channel for the rest of my life.


So here's the thing about Composition II. I am taking this thing on pain of death, my schools screwed me over and I shouldn't have to take it because hello, A in a 400 level English class, clearly I know how to write an essay. But whatever, I have to do my time. But here's the thing. I'm actually really enjoying it.

I've always been a writer (this is obvious to anyone who knows me) but as someone whose comfort zone is young adult fiction (and before that the children adventure series like Pony Pals, Jedi Apprentice, and Animorphs) I've never really appreciated craft. What goes into making a good novel good, grammatically, sentence structure etc.

When Team Constant Vigilance was visiting for the Ski Weekend of Awesome we got into a conversation about that very topic. JJ, who is much more educated on the subject than myself, used the analogy of a table. A table can be well constructed but not to your visual taste, and a table can be wobbly but you just can't stand to throw it out because you love it and it goes with everything. I have always been the type of reader (and writer) who goes for the table that I love, and I don't care if it falls apart at the seams, I'll just grab some crazy glue and put it back together. I appreciate a well made table, but unless I'm buying it for a school project, I'd rather not put my stuff on it in my spare time. Are you totally confused by this yet?

Since I was always a good writer, I got to skip the how-to classes. I didn't need to learn how to write an essay, I could already do it. But there are things you learn in those how to classes that I missed. Things like how sentence fragments can create emphasis. Recently we did an exercise where we had to say if the grammatical error was justified by what it was trying to prove. A paragraph on traffic jams was filled with comma splices, mirroring the stop and go traffic. A sentence about free will and individuality used a comma over a period or a semicolon. I used to be of the sort that would say "Well aren't you rebellious, you're breaking grammar rules! *eyeroll*" but I'm starting to understand how it can really aid to the argument you're giving.

I also hate hate HATE analyzing fiction. I can't stand the classes where I have to say "What did the author mean by this? What's the symbolism here?" Dude, we are giving this author waaay too much credit. I know when I write, I don't give a character green eyes because green is the color of wisdom and I want to show that he is a wise character. I happen to like green eyes. Maybe the actor I envision playing this character has green eyes. There's a plethora of reasons. And if the character turns out to be a complete dumbass, no I was not going for irony. I mean sure, certain things I want to have meaning. The main character in my novel I'm writing right now is named Hawk. I chose Hawk because it's a predatorial animal, very powerful, very serene, and very loyal. Hawks mate for life. This is a plot point, to a degree, in my novel. Blatant things like that? Yes. But Hawk has red hair because when I picture in my head, she's a redhead. But if by some miracle my book becomes the next Hunger Games (or heaven forbid Twilight) and they're reading and analyzing it in schools, surely some teacher will decide I gave her red hair because of a red-tailed hawk (Oh Tobias, how I miss you). Or because she's fiery. Or because red sticks out and it's further showing she's a loner. No. I pictured her with red hair, so that's what she got. Okay? No deeper meaning here.

But that's what I'm kind of loving about Comp II. On the first day of class we were given a picture of a coyote standing on an empty train platform. We had to analyze it. No speaking out loud, just writing it out and handing it in. First off, I thought the coyote was a wolf, so I went with a Big Bad Wolf vs Wolf as a Protector idea. Did he eat all the people on the platform, or is he protecting them? I was very thorough, and very convinced I was right. I was totally wrong, especially because it's a coyote. Other people had similar problems. But that just goes to show when you analyze something you are probably wrong. And that's what the professor was telling us. Analyze it how you want, let it mean to you what you think it means to you, but don't assume that's what the author wanted. That's what you want. Big difference.

So we're four weeks into this class, and already we've deconstructed every myth surrounding analysis (and thank you professor for saying outright there is no such thing as "deeper meaning". If the author wants you to know something they will smack you in the face with it) and increased my respect and awareness of craft, and how it can add to a story.

Maybe this class won't be so bad after all.

Single Awareness Day is, in my opinion, incredibly stupid. But, I am a total sucker for romantic movies, so I’ve decided to live vicariously through fictional characters. That’s healthy, right?

So here it is. My top list of most romantic lines/scene in movies. And television. And plays. And books.

( Behind the cutCollapse )

And for the record, my Top 10 OTP list (because I can’t choose a top 5)

1. Monica/Chandler (Friends)
2. Angel/Collins (Rent)
3. Beatrice/Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing)
4. Harry/Sally (When Harry Met Sally)
5. Wash/Zoe (Firefly)
6. Barney/Robin (How I Met Your Mother)
7. Jack/Ianto (Torchwood)
8. Aladdin/Jasmine (Aladdin)
9. Anastasia/Dmitri (Anastasia)
10. Felicity/Ben (American Girl)

I find it interesting that my giant fandoms (Star Wars, Harry Potter etc) don’t have any OTPs. Well I guess Torchwood counts.

I did this before but I saw someone else do it and I've got all new pairings this time. So here.

Six ships you're into right now
1. Jack/Ianto (Torchwood)
2. Spock/Uhura (Star Trek)
3. Harry/Luna (Harry Potter. But only movieverse)
4. Sawyer/Juliet (Lost)
5. Ron/Hermione (Harry Potter)
6. Sulu/Chekov (Star Trek. I don’t even know, honestly)

Three ships you liked, but don't like anymore
7. The Doctor/Rose (Doctor Who)
8. Sylar/Elle (Heroes)
9. Hiro/Daphne (Heroes)

Three ships you never liked
10. Harry/Ginny (Harry Potter)
11. Owen/Tosh (Torchwood)
12. Jack/Kate (Lost)

Two ships you're curious about, but don't actually ship
13. Derek Reese/Sarah Connor (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
14. Kirk/Bones (Star Trek)

Spoilers ye be ahead.
( Questions under cutCollapse )

So I had a long, frantic rant posted about Torchwood Children of Earth Day Four. But it's nearly 2 in the morning, and the rant was not helping me calm down. So instead I wrote fic. Denial!fic in which I make it all better. Seriously, this is just the only way I could get some sleep. This is one of the fastest things I have ever written. It is unbeta'd, but I did proofread.

Title: I Bring Life
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Spoilers: Nearly all of Doctor Who up to Season 4. Torchwood Children of Earth Day 4.
Word Count: 660
Summary: A glimpse into what Rose Tyler saw the day she looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and saw a young man with brown hair, blue eyes, and a liking for suits.

( Don't forget meCollapse )

I blame erikssiren are her Epic Icon Post of Death.

I can't remember the last time I made one of these. Now granted, this is a lot of random. Just things I thought would make good icons, little ideas. I haven't done icons in, I'm going to say years. So I'm probably rusty. But regardless.

31 total
- 8 Deadpool Comic Quotes
- 18 Star Trek Harry Potter Houses
- 3 animated Karl Urban (my first attempt at animated, so probably not very good)
- 3 So You Think You Can Dance (Jonathan/Karla contemporary)

Preview:


( Duct tape duct tape duct tapeCollapse )


Please credit if you're going to use them.
And I love comments. Even if they're critiques. I like suggestions on how I can improve.

I only caught the second hour since I work until 8 and it takes me an hour to get home. So the first three weeks will be second hour only reviews, unless I can find the first hour somewhere.

( Thoughts on the first set of auditionsCollapse )

Yeah, I'm a Star Trek fan. This is sad. But true. And I'm embracing it. I'm not ready to embrace the fact that I find Spock sexy, but I'm going to blame that one on Zachary Quinto. Yeah.

My thoughts on the movie:

( Are you out of your Vulcan mind?Collapse )

It is with great sadness that I must inform you all (like you didn't see it in the finale) there was NO CLAUDE EVEN THOUGH THE TITLE WAS AN INVISIBLE THREAD. Feel my righteous fury! RAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRRRRRR!!!

And I'm done.

( Poor Mohinder didn't do squat in the finaleCollapse )

Haha, now that I've typed that I'm thinking who would be who if I did a Heroes/Les Mis One Day More vid. Like I don't have enough to do. I'm currently working on a Twilight/West Side Story vid. Cause I'm silly like that.

ANYway. I am very very sad because contrary to what imdb says, it turns out this wonderful news that I've been sharing with everyone is ineed untrue.

Spoilers for the last two episodes. If you don't want to be completely spoiled, just go under the cut for spoilers from THIS episode only.

( Emo Sylar wants a cookieCollapse )

I can use this icon again! Hooray!!

( Two weeks until my favorite comes back!Collapse )

From kikibug13

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick five of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee.

I'll modify it a little. I can choose icons for you, or you can choose them for me without posting this to your own journal. Or both. Whatever floats your boat.

( kikibug13 gave meCollapse )

This one may not be as complete since I'm reviewing it the next day instead of five minutes after it airs. Luckily there was only three plots to keep track of.

( I think he's a she and I think she's a changelingCollapse )

The next chapter. I needed to post it before Heroes is over. Things are edited in between commericals.

Title: Rebel With A Cause (still needs a new title)
Chapter: 2- Daphne's Mission
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 3,218
Summary: Daphne does her mission for Rebel, and butts heads with Claude.

( Chapter 2Collapse )

List 5 storylines that were never really resolved to your satisfaction.

All about Heroes today!

5. Simone Deveaux. 2 men madly in love with her, one of which shot her, the other held her in his arms as she died. The next episode it was like nothing ever happened. Peter in particular forgot about her entirely. Which brings me to...
4. Caitlin the Bad Irish Accent Girl and her Trapped in the Future Plot. Does Peter even remember she exists? What happened to her? Did she die of the plague in the future? Did she get zapped back to the present? Don't know.
3. Monica Dawson aka St. Joan. Is she still fighting the forces of evil in a mask, or did Niki's death take her back down to earth?
2. Zach the Cheerleader Friend. He knows about Claire's power, yet Bennet doesn't feel the need to chase after him. Maybe he sent The Haitian out there when we weren't looking. Or maybe The Haitian sent him out to fight Terminators with River Tam.
1. Claude Rains. His involvement with the Company, who it was he was hiding when they tried to have him killed, where he is now. He is too intriguing of a character for them to forget about entirely.