( American Idol RPF )

( Criminal Minds )

( Eureka )

( Firefly )

( Merlin )

( NCIS )

( Random Fandoms )

( Sanctuary )

( Stargate Atlantis )

( Supernatural )

( White Collar )

( Old, embarrassing shit (HP, Buffyverse, etc) )

(And just for kicks, I'm starring * my favorites. Because I wanna.)

Folie à 'verse (Master list on AO3)

One and One and One Is Three, AO3, by shetiger. Helen Magnus/Will Zimmerman, Henry Foss/Will Zimmerman, incidental Helen/Henry, 1700 words. Taking part in the welcome rituals of certain abnormal cultures can be a real drag, dude.

Unearned Luck, AO3, by kageygirl. Helen/Will, Will/Henry, explicit, 1200 words. Strange things happen on the threshold between "the night before" and "the day after."

Until Your Dream Comes True, AO3, by shetiger. Henry/Will, (Helen/Will), explicit, 5800 words. Will expects the morning after to be at least a little awkward. He kind of forgot that things work a bit differently in this new world of his.

Our Revels Now Are Just Begun, AO3, by kageygirl. Helen/Will, minor Will/Henry, explicit, 4700 words. "We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep." -- Shakespeare, The Tempest

So, lately I have taken to making a non-dairy version of my favorite smoothie at the gym. It's basically chocolate almond milk, chocolate rice protein powder, a banana, and peanut butter. (No ice, because I hate ice in my smoothies.) It's not nearly as tasty, but it's not bad, and it fills me up with no tummy troubles.

Well, this morning, I realize I have nothing on hand for breakfast, and I'm out of bananas. So I said to the hubby, "hey, hubby, I know you really feel like making a quick trip to the Auick Trip for me," an lo, he did indeed. I told him as long as they're not too ripe or green, get me two bananas.

Being the discerning shopper that he is, he brings me back two almost entirely green bananas. (I've gotten to the point where I love him for this, rather than in spite of it.) I decide fuck it, I'm going to make up the smoothie with one of the bananas anyway.

*blink* The banana was so green, I could hardly peel it. The outer layer peeled off of the inner peel, which I then had to chunk off. That's not the weird part. The weird part is that it left this super-glue like substance on my hands, which I had to scrub and scrub and scrub to get off.

"Well," I says to myself, I did, "I'm not sure if I want glue on my insides." So I zapped the fucker in the microwave for about 30 seconds, hoping that might break down the natural chemical a bit. Then I made up the smoothie.

I tweaked it a bit from usual, since it didn't seem as sweet, adding a bit more peanut butter (but not all that much). I noticed it turned out really, really creamy and smooth. "Hmmm," I says, I did, "this might turn out better than I expected." I served up, took a drink, and was pleased, even though it was a lot thicker than it ever turns out. I set the glass down beside my workspace, then headed to the potty.

When I came back, my smoothie had the consistency of a thick mousse.

I'm still eating it, though a bit warily. I do hope I am able to poop sometime in the future, and my guts don't get all glued together.

o_0

Day 2

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Drop a link to your post in the comments. See if you can rec fanworks that are less likely to be praised: tiny fandoms, rare pairings, fanworks other than stories, lesser known kinks or tropes. Find fanworks that have few to no comments, or creators new to a particular fandom and maybe aren't well known or appreciated. Appreciate them.

Since I started using the Kindle program, I've really gone to town on finding free books to download. (Free! Books! Two of my favorite things!) Somehow I stumbled upon P.G. Wodehouse, and remembered that Jeeves and Wooster are much beloved by fandom. I quickly saw why. Wodehouse has a really magical combination of witty prose and slang, and while his situations are practically slapstick in their humor, there's a certain sweetness and generosity to both Wooster and Jeeves that make the stories completely enjoyable.

Also, they are more MFEO than just about any other pair I've ever encountered.

I've been pacing myself with the Jeeves & Wooster fic over on AO3. Really, anything over there is delightful, and I'm amazed by how many of the authors are able to replicate Wodehouse's style. (It would definitely be beyond me.) All of the stories for this year's Yuletide were wonderful.

So, of course, I've got to rec one that's quite a bit different from the rest.

You don't have to know the canon to read this story, and to be honest, it might be less painful if you don't. (Oh, how's that for a set up, hmm?) The Case of Colney Hatch by Sex_in_spats, (~13,000 words, Teen, Jeeves/Wooster) is not your usual fanfic. Noir-ish AU set in contemporary Britain, featuring an OC narrator and ghost!Bertie and ghost!Jeeves. Peter Clark, a paranormal investigator who doesn't believe in ghosts, tells the story of the mystery that changed him forever.

Now, an OC narrating an modern-day AU might sound a bit off-putting to some, but it works wonderfully. The plot is fantastic, the narrator is interesting, and the Jeeves and Wooster story is heartbreaking. I made the mistake of reading this in bed, in the dark, at one in the morning, and when I was finished I was scared to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. Eventually my bladder convinced me to face my fear, but it was a close thing. I cried a lot, as well, but there's also a bit of humor and a lot of love.

(Word of warning on this: It deals with some pretty tough material, mainly insane asylums in the early 20th century and the effects of anti-sodomy laws on our favorite characters.)

I know I don't sell it particularly well, but if you're in the mood for some angst or a delicious blend of styles, this story is more than worth it. (For much lighter fare from the same author, try Jeeves and the Best Laid Schemes or Jeeves and the One Horse Open Sleigh.)


Moving on to a Yuletide story from this year, one for one of my absolute favorite movies of last year: True Grit. A Living Fire by th_esaraus (~2600 words, gen) is Mattie Ross. Mattie had been bitten young by the spirit of adventure, and it had near killed her.

There's nothing really *big*, as such, in this story; it's simply Mattie in the years between the penultimate and final scenes of the movie. Yet every word in it is so clearly carved out of Mattie's life, her thoughts and voice. There's one line in it that isn't trumpeted in any way, just as subtle as the rest, yet it made me catch my breath with the oh, Mattie-ness of it. If you enjoyed the movie, read this.


And finally, a big (huge) story in a big fandom, for a big pairing, which might not be exactly within the spirit of this specific challenge, yet I really think this story hasn't received nearly enough attention. I wanted to rec it from the instant I finished reading it, and just hadn't gotten around to it.

The Ivy Crown by dayari (not to be confused with other Ivy Crowns in the fandom) is Arthur/Merlin with a bit of Gwaine/The Green Knight, Explicit, 250,000 words. (Yes, you read that right--250,000 words.) I'm fairly sure it's my favorite story in the fandom so far.

Set post-Series 3 and diverging from there, the author takes the traditional tale of Sir Gawaine and The Green Knight and adapts it to the world of Merlin. You don't have to be familiar with the story to enjoy this one, and neither will you be bored by the plot if you are. Two plots interweave through the story: the appearance of the mysterious Green Knight in Camelot and the subsequent adventure of Gwaine, Arthur, Merlin, and the other knights in seeking him out--and Arthur and Merlin dealing with Arthur's cold, silent, betrayed anger after discovering that Merlin has magic.

This story hurts at times, and sometimes you want to shake Arthur and/or Merlin, but dayari always manages to make their emotions make sense, and shows you that both of them are very much trying to work towards making things right, even if they're not very good at doing so at times. Their love is very clear throughout, and Gwaine is wonderful, too. What I loved in particular, though, was how the rather formal, tidy, Church-y traditional tale becomes something very much of the earth, full of forests and animals and wild, wild magic.

(Also, I really want some hot Gwaine/Green Knight fic now, thank you very much.)

Go. Sink into this story when you have the time.

The past couple months, I've taken a huge step back from fandom in most every form. It's not that I don't love fandom, or that fandom people aren't wonderful. I do, and they are. But it seemed like everywhere I went, if I strayed ever so slightly out of my known safe zones, I kept running into horrible negativity. Fandom wank in small doses and big. Ship hate. Character hate. Griping about the latest episode. Griping about not enough fic, or the wrong type of fic, or writing fic, or anything else you can think of about fic. And yes, I've been guilty of the above--but that's the point. It's the ol' GIGO principle. What you put in your head, sloshes around in your head, gunks up the place, and comes back out of your head. And I didn't like what was going on in my head very much.

I've had a very good couple of months. I've accomplished a lot--probably not in any measurable way but by me, but I am very, very happy. And last night and this afternoon, I attended two gatherings dedicated to getting one's self into a mindset to welcome the new year and achieve what we want to achieve. Very inspiring stuff.

The thing is, though, I don't want to cut myself off from fandom completely. I love creating, and I love experiencing others' creations, and just generally sharing in the joy of fandom. So when I saw malnpudl post about this moments ago, I was overjoyed:




What she says in this post is just beautiful. Even if you have no interest in participating in the challenge, go, read this. Because we are all special snowflakes, and I mean that in the earnest, slushy, best kind of way.

Many blessings to every one of you in this new year, and in the years to come.

I don't think I've actually mentioned it over here, but I'm all caught up on Merlin and absolutely loving it. *Love* it. All squee, all the time. (Except, you know, weeping at the tragedies of the legends, but *handwave* that's what fic is for.)

But. There's one thing that I had hoped would be explained once I got caught up, and it hasn't been.

( The problem of Morgause )

So, I've been doing a lot of non-fiction reading lately because I've got this idea for a story, see, and well...I'm kinda crazy. *handwaves* That bit is unimportant. What's important is that sometimes my brain just rebels at the barfiness of endless amounts of pro-slavery rhetoric and the atrocities committed against the Jewish people throughout history, and at that point, I need to read tasty, tasty fic. Which for right now has been Merlin fic.

I'm still a series behind on the show, though I do intend to get caught up fairly soon. So for the most part, I've been reading a lot of AUs and older fic. But this one is only a couple months old, and a canon AU only in that it swerves a bit after the end of series one--though it does reference later events in the show.

The Promise Within (or on LJ here) by kitsuneyujji was written for paperlegends 2011. "This is not as destiny intended, young warlock. You are meant to be the magical side of this coin, not the young Pendragon. I can no longer clearly see what path destiny will follow. An ancient ceremony alters the course of destiny and everyone must face choices that no one expected. As Uther’s hatred of magic clashes with his love for his son, Arthur sees everything in a different light." 48,000 words, non-explicit, Arthur/Merlin.

I've tended to resist stories where Arthur gets magic, because it disbalances the relationship between him and Merlin. But this story sidesteps that problem, giving Arthur a completely different type of magic than what Merlin has. And it's really very lovely, watching him discover the magic of, well, the magic. (And of Merlin as well.) It's kind of a quieter story, without huge dramatics for the most part, but at the same time there's a lot of emotion in it. I enjoyed it quite a lot.

DID ANYONE KNOW CRAIG FERGUSON WAS ROCKY TO TONY'S FRANKENFURTER?

*giggles self silly*

(I haven't even finished watching this yet. I had to come over here and share.)


ETA: Hysterical, as expected, filled with adorable Tony giggles. <3

Won't Do No Good To Hold No Séance. 24,000 words, explicit, James McAvoy/Michael Fassbender, Supernatural AU. A routine case brings two hunters, each harboring a painful secret, together, forcing them to cope with their instinctual distrust--and immediate gravitation.

Oh. My. God. Read this. Read this if you love the world of Supernatural, because yes. laufeyette is able to bring something new to that universe, while never making you feel like "wtf? that isn't how it works". And holy shit, is this ever hot. So hot. Yeah.

I really, really hope this is the first of more to come in this world, because I could just roll around in this story all day.

Okay, I got quite excited a few days ago when I finally decided to get a Good Reads account and started inventorying all of my books. (My brain likes lists, okay?) And I was just getting to the point where I had isolated the books I don't want anymore and was getting ready to start the swap process--when I discovered that they're discontinuing their swap at the end of October.

Argh.

So my question is, dear flist, what are your thoughts on the best way to go about getting rid of books? I'm looking at bookins.com and bookmooch.com right now, and they seem to have their different pluses and minuses. At this point I'm more interested in getting rid of ~twenty paperbacks, rather than obtaining, since the cost of shipping is about the same as getting used books through Amazon.

I suppose I could find a used bookstore in town and see if they'll buy, but that means getting off my ass and, you know, talking to people, so it's not the preferred option.

(I'd offer them up here, but that hasn't really worked well in the past, and I really don't want to ship beyond the US for cost reasons.)

So tonight's NCIS was actually all kinds of awesome. I may have to add it back onto my live-watch list.

( Spoilers of the shippy kind. )

Oh! For those of you of the Tony/Tim persuasion, absolutely go and read More Than Enough by slashscribe. (After you've seen the episode.) 2600 words, not porny. Amidst lots of spilled cereal and fishing for compliments, Tony pulls out his serious side to help Tim deal with the aftermath of ep 9x03. I just want to curl up with this fic. (And eat Froot Loops with Jethro.)

Tiny fandom of my heart, you are rocking it lately. \o/

(That's a recommendation! No, really!) Via kuwdora--greensilver's Do What You Have To is just, ugh, amazing. Charles/Erik, First Class + X1-3, it made me cry and cry and cry.

And then I watched it again.





Oh, god, I've run out of happy!Charles/Erik fic. And I desperately need some now. Or some happy Tony/Tim would be awfully nice. (Speaking of, do read catwalksalone's Starting From Scratch, which is a perfect tag for 9.02.) I wonder if I could possibly get my brain to cooperate to write me some indulgent Hotch/JJ?

*sigh* The fannish needs of the brain, so demanding!

Firefly, Playboy Actor Reveals He's Gay. (Or on ONTD.)



If you've followed his twitter, it's been pretty obvious, but I'm glad he felt able to do this.


(And this is the only Simon icon I currently have in rotation. Although I could probably use one of the Bomer ones instead...)

The shower is a dangerous space for a fangirl. Once inside, your brain is free to wander, to pull out all sorts of ideas that have been simmering in the back and then thrust them into the forefront. I was completely at its mercy today, somehow getting caught up in thoughts about Justified. So, I'm going to try to do the difficult part, and get them down into dryspace.

I've seen a lot of articles about the show, as well as interviews with Walton Goggins, where the authors are just ecstatically boggled by the question of whether Boyd Crowder is a good guy or a bad guy. Tell us, Walton, what's Boyd gonna do next? To which the answer is usually something along the lines of "well, that's always a surprise, isn't it?"

And I do agree that Boyd is quite the interesting character. His actions from the outset are repulsive, not just in the fact of them, but in the sheer delight he takes in them. Yet he's smart, and fallible, and he oozes charisma. The questions he raises in the audience's mind--whether he's capable of redemption, whether he wants redemption--are the sign of a great character.

I think, however, that the really truly interesting question that the show raises is Is Raylan Givens a good man?

It'd be easy to roll your eyes, sigh "ugh, manpain", and dismiss that as the standard, boring, hero's journey. But Justified isn't NCIS, which establishes Gibbs as the hand of might and right, throws in some past tragedy, a handful of villainous actions, and then says "see? Gibbs really is a good man!" and never expects us to question that conclusion--no matter how hard our eyebrows are squinching.

One of my favorite things about Justified--and one that has probably hurt it in terms of gathering an audience--is that it doesn't show its hand at first. (In fact, it takes a good part of the first season before it grudgingly gives you a glimmer of what it's holding.) In that first episode, we're introduced to Raylan shooting a suspect, a bad man, in what very clearly appears to be cold blood. "It was justified," Raylan says, over and over again, in a way that reads as defensive, possibly more to himself than to anyone else he encounters. By the end of the show, he's punted back to Kentucky as punishment, forced to confront his past, and his ex-wife is declaring him the "angriest man [she's] ever known".

It all sucks for Raylan--but for the audience, it seems that the show has decided: Yes, Raylan Givens is a good man. Yes, this is the hero you are expecting. He has been tested, he has performed justice beyond the bounds of law, and then subsequently sidestepped the wrath of society. Can you possibly have any doubt in this? After all, we named the show Justified.

And then. And then, after making that wonderful, anchoring statement of trope--it spends the next two seasons subverting it.

It doesn't do anything as simple as showing you "oh, no, you were wrong, Raylan is a bad man". Not at all. You feel in your bones that he's a good guy. He struggles with questions of right and wrong, of whether its better to have a moral code or to subscribe to situational ethics. He accepts what he's done, while at the same time going back to his past, over and over again, and trying to figure out whether not only he should have done something different--but could he have done something different. He constantly sees hopelessness in the world he comes from, all the ways it's fucked up that can't possibly be fixed--but he can't help having love for it, and want to help the people there anyway.

Those people are where this question really plays out. Raylan's relationship with Boyd is the most obvious one here, the way he's both repelled by and drawn to this figure from his past and present. He hates Boyd, but he loves him, too (and I'm not speaking in a slashy way). He sees himself in Boyd, and vice versa, which makes those emotions even stronger. As Raylan tries to figure out how he should react to Boyd--should he find a way to stop him, possibly permanently? should he ignore him? forgive him? become friends with him?--the audience also has to figure out their position on Boyd. Not just Boyd, either. We see how much or little compassion he has for people like Arlo, Helen, Mags, Ava, and Winona. We judge how he treats them, what he lets them get away with and what he punishes them for.

We, in fact, are Raylan, and we are judging ourselves. So when we get to a scene in which Raylan has Dickie Bennet down on his knees with a pistol pressed against the back of his head, we're almost not sure whether we're praying for him to pull the trigger or to step away. Because oh, it would feel so good if we did, but then, how would we reconcile that choice to ourselves? How could we call ourselves good people?

How could we possibly justify it?

I'm coming out of my cave just long enough to gush embarrassingly over yahtzee63. I don't know her, other than having admired her from afar for many, many years, but she's one of those fan writers who makes me wave my hands and curl my toes in real life.

I generally love whatever she (I'm assuming; please correct if otherwise) writes, but I think what excites me most about yahtzee63 is that she writes stories that...not necessarily supersede canon, but fulfill it. She respects canon, and then knocks its heads together and says "see? this is the place you were trying to get to, if you had the time and the balls and the sense." She did it with Ugly Betty, in MODE: Final Issue, creating a beautiful story that fits exactly in my head with where the show would have been, two years down the road.

And she's done it again with the X-Men movies, with The Winter of Banked Fires. (Explicit, Erik/Charles, Wolverine/Rogue, 67,000 words.) And I mean not just First Class, but X-Men through X3.

Charles Xavier has returned from the dead -- but is lost within his own mind. Rogue has cast aside her own power and doesn't know where she fits in the world any longer. The production of synthetic Cure means mutantkind itself is newly at risk. And Magneto, turned human against his will, is in despair until the day he feels a familiar consciousness tugging at his own --

I've loved Magneto, from that first moment Ian McKellan turned towards Patrick Stewart and tapped his fingers against his temple so intriguingly. (No, I don't have a comics pedigree, and I never will; I can't parse the pictures.) But what he did to Charles at the end of X2 was almost unforgivable, in my eyes, though I longed for a story to convince me otherwise. The Fassbender version broke my heart even more at the end of First Class.

This story makes it all right--while never backing away from what happened on screen. That's quite a feat.

ETA:

kuwdora: we need to come up with an appropriate definition using her name
me: Yahtzee!
kuwdora: to Yahtzee in fandom, create a fanwork that is so epic
me: it's like rolling 6 sixes

Dear Criminal Minds: You have the best cast ever.

Wheels Up (The Hotch Song) from CM Set Report on Vimeo.

Thanks to Fassavoy, I am now a huge fan of Steve McQueen (the director), Andrea Arnold, and Paul Abbott. State of Play is just as awesome as promised. (No spoilers, please; I'm only through the second episode.) And I'm awed that both this and Shameless came out of the same brain.

(Dear kagey: have you seen SoP? Bill Nighy has a big role.)


I think it's funny, though, that as awesome as James McAvoy is in whatever he does, I seem to love him most when he's just a bit of a shit. (See Wimbeldon.) <3

James McAvoy and Anne-Marie Duff. Perfect real life couple or most perfect real life couple?


Yes, I have watched Shameless. (Or at least what I'm going to watch of it. Absolutely loved it, right up to 2.04.) Ugh, ugh, ugh, they are sooooo perfect for each other. *draws hearts and flowers*

(Also, it was nice to see Dean Lennox Kelly in something again. I kind of adore him, too.)


Now. I could swear that fandom chatter informed me that James played a rentboy in something, but I'm not picking out which one of his credits that is. Could somebody help me out? (Also, tell me whether he's going to break my heart in it?) Danke.


P.S. East coasties, please stay safe. *hugs*

We have it.

The crossdressing scene.




From this vid.


"You've never looked more beautiful, DARLING." Gah. Also, dear Michael Fassbender: your body is insane. In the very best way.



(On a slight tangent--dear James McAvoy: why must you be in all these damn period pieces that I would pick skydiving over watching? Ugh. You make it really hard to stan you properly.)

Okay, James McAvoy is fucking hysterical in Wimbledon. That is all.


Except for the part where I'm going to go look for Peter/Dieter slash. And possibly Carl/Dieter slash. Because seriously.

(For me, I mean.)

Just watched Centurion. Rather pointless movie, but worth it to see Michael Fassbender running around all badass with a sword. I went to imdb to see if there was anything interesting in the trivia section. Only one bit that made me LOL: Neil Marshall shot the film in such hard conditions that cast suffered some health problems. As written in the Independent: Noel Clarke recovered from frostbite. JJ Feild quit smoking because of hypothermia. Michael Fassbender survived shirtless sprinting in sub-zero temperatures to become the next Daniel Craig.


(This is extra funny to me because I watched Cowboys and Aliens as well as Layer Cake yesterday.)


(Yes, I have climbed the crazy wall and am making my comfortable nest in cuckoo land.)



Unrelated, I somehow managed to purchase the worst doughnuts I've ever had in my life. Hello, disappointment. :/

I think the reason that I've been completely absorbed by Erik/Charles fic these past two weeks is--beyond the fact that Erik Lehnsherr is a BAMF in every incarnation, and Michael Fassbender makes me go googly-eyed and James McAvoy ain't bad either, and that their love is canon and so very tasty on screen--that my brain just can't accept their tragic ending. They should be able to find a way. They should be together forever. And until my brain reaches a critical mass of acceptance, I keep searching for the one fic that's going to make it all okay.


*cries all the cries*



(Damn you kuwdora. And moonlettuce, you're not innocent in this, either.)

I've felt terrible for the last day or so, but tonight the migraine has finally overtaken the pain in my digestive tract. Which means I can medicate the fuck out of it and limp along on one eye. For some reason, this makes me want to post to LJ. Unfortunately I don't have enough brain power to actually post anything terribly deep.

Latest fandom obsession: Haven. kageygirl finally talked me into watching about a month ago, and man, did I fall hard. I want to write up a post talking about my shipping sensibilities for the show, and why, though I love the OT3 and want it to be my primary ship, it really comes down to Duke/Nathan in the end.

Let's just pretend I was thinky and take a look at Duke and Nathan eyesexin' instead: ( Under here )

Thinking about them, they're kind of like Charles/Erik (yes, from X-Men) on the other side, if Charles and Erik ever tried to work their way back to a detente. And, you know, without all the epic issues. There's definitely some tasty stuff there to dig into, even if all hasn't been revealed on the show.

Speaking of Charles/Erik--Yes, I finally watched X-Men: First Class last weekend, and yes, they are as absolutely in love as everyone promised. (Though, didn't we already know that?) I'm having fun poking around in the fandom, but canon is far too angsty for me to spend much time there. But it's nice that there's a large fandom out there that I can actually enjoy for a change. It's been far, far too long.

(I read the Pride & Prejudice AU today. On one hand, ajfslj;ajs s. On the other hand, I've now read it. Woe.)

And now, I think I'll go poke around in the tasty slash buffet some more. At least until the migraine kicks me off to bed for the evening for good.

Caen. Kate Freelander/Declan Macrae, 4400 words, explicit. After leaving Will and Magnus at the hospital, Kate and Declan are in search of a night's rest--and maybe a little peace of mind. Episode tag for 'Carentan'. (AO3.)


And a few ficlets for technosage's recent kiss fest:


Damned If You Don't. Kate Freelander/Nikola Tesla, 1600 words. It's just another mission. If only Tesla weren't the one in charge. Written for the prompt of 'kisses on the neck'. (AO3.)

Top of the World. Kate Freelander/Declan Macrae, 1200 words. A mission rather improbably takes them on the London Eye. Shmoop. Shmoop shmoop shmoop. (AO3.)

Pranayama. Helen Magnus/Will Zimmerman, 900 words. He only has minutes. Set within 'Requiem'. (AO3.)