actourdreams

Aforesaid friend's new interest in Velvet Goldmine lead me to re-watch the film, which lead me to the fandom, which lead me to the following observations:

Firstly, let us have no girl hatin', fandom. It's quite tiresome, especially since you're NINETY-EIGHT PERCENT GIRLS.

Secondly, I can't remember thinking anything about the characters the first time around (except that, as per always, I wanted to hug the sexually confused teenage protagonist). This time, I came out thinking that Brian should take a long walk off a short pier, and being very, very interested in Curt – mostly because he's genuinely damaged (sexual abuse! institutional abuse! drug abuse!), and may not be much better by the end of the film (it depends on how you interpret some things). Whereas Brian just fucks things up for himself and everyone around him.

I was disappointed at how little they play up the magical/mystical angle, and how little it's covered in fandom, ( Spoilers for the film )

Speaking of underutilized things, fandom, and characters I like, I am deeply saddened that I cannot find any "Jack Fairy and Curt Wild in Berlin" stories, because I would let the blood of my nonexistent firstborn to get them. Because, obviously, some very important things happened then, but no. It got skipped in favor of Brian's ennui. *eyeroll*

Lastly, I was tempted earlier tonight to leave someone a nasty review. Not because they wrote badly or trashed my favorite character, but because they didn't realize that they had Arthur doing something that would violate any codes of journalistic ethics.
As it was, I merely loled at myself and hit the back button.

For anyone who hasn't the foggiest what I'm on about, it's a film. I offer you a picspam, because flawed as it may be, one cannot argue that it is not a very, very pretty film.

( Read more... )

Fortunately, this makes me a really good finder of happymaking stuff. For example...


(Animated LoTR will never cease to bring the crack! Nor Tom Smith. :D).

For the three or so people I haven't already shown this to, it's Mama Seal!!!


Elephant seal vs. car. About my favorite thing in the world right now – I can do the voiceover verbatim.


I dug up for a friend (who had watched Velvet Goldmine but had no idea of what it was riffing off of) the live version of Rock 'N Roll Suicide. It's with introduction – music starts at about :50.

Originally this was the only song I was using for my crazy cut-and-paste poem, but Starman and "Keep your 'lectric eye on me" were too good to resist.

Oh, there's this thing called "Seven-page Government paper"! I should get cracking. kuzujuk has invited me over to see Mars Attacks tonight.

Friends! Comrades! And more importantly, readers/watchers/listeners! I have a proposal. I'm looking for books/movies/fanworks/whatever based on the Sherlock Holmes, er, mythos, and Arthuriana. For Holmes, I would prefer something that kept to the spirit/setting of the original books (though I do enjoy the Mary Russel novels, so that's relative), but if you have something that doesn't but is good, come forward! In Arthuriana, I like both straight-up retellings and Magical Girl King Arthur IN SPACE equally. (Actually, that sounds like an awesome novel. Hmm).

In return, I give you my own recs!

Sherlock Holmes

The original stories, needless to say. My favorite is still the Speckled Band.

The Mary Russel novels, by Laurie R. King. They've gotten increasingly Mary Sueish as of the last two books, but are quite good in the beginning and still a really fun read. As the series title implies, they feature an OC, but one who holds water (until about The Game or so). The first book, The Bee-Keeper's Apprentice, has just been released in a snazzy new edition, presumably to capitalize on the coming Holmes movie. My one word of advice is, if you do read them, skip A Letter of Mary. It's a bit crap, unless you like Biblical conspiracy books.

Shadows Over Baker Street, the infamous Holmes/Lovecraft crossover. I kind of assume anyone interested in this has already read it, but if you haven't, I recommend it highly. This is the book that Neil Gaiman wrote A Study In Emerald for, and the authors list is practically star-studded. There's only one story I didn't like – this is one of the books I chose to bring with me to college. The authors make good use of the Holmes minor characters, too – Irene Adler gets a positively kickass role in one story, Mycroft shows up, there's even an H G Wells cameo.

My father also says the Giant Rat of Sumatra is good.

Haven't seen much Holmes on film except the Basil Rathbone TV series, which is considered Word of God by my father. We did, however, subject ourselves to the Young Sherlock Holmes movie a few years ago. All I can say is, if you're going to watch it, get a bunch of friends and some popcorn to throw at the screen.


Arthuriana

My favorite version of the Arthur myth is Rosemary Sutcliff's retelling. It comes in three installments – The Sword and the Circle, The Light in the Forest, and The Road to Camlann. Though they are out of print, they can be found for cheap on Amazon.com, not to mention your local library. And while we're about it, READ ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF.

I Am Mordred and I Am Morgana Le Fay, both by Nancy Springer, were putting a new spin on old villains and a darker cast on well-known stories before Wicked and imitators became popular. I can't review them with much clarity since I read them at about 11, but they blew my mind and seem to be YA library staples, which is a good thing, right?

Michael Morpurgo has a large, illustrated book called Arthur: High King of Britain, which is nicely written and drop-dead gorgeous. Unfortunately, when it comes to illustrated children's versions, everything will lose out to Kingfisher Classics' The Story of King Arthur, which was my first Arthur book. The illustrations are now a little dark and spiky for me, but it still holds a very special place in my heart.

Also, who could forget the Lost Years of Merlin? They're not great literature and in retrospect were a bit WTF, but when I was ten I ate them up with a spoon.

My grandfather would sing me bits of Camelot (along with every other musical he'd been in), and so I give you Lancelot's opening song, C'est Moi.


XD

Maddy Prior has a song cycle album, Arthur The King, which is sadly not available for linkage on YouTube, but is brilliant. It portrays Arthur as a ruler trying first to hold Britain together after the Romans leave, then defending against the Saxon invaders, and the lyrics are fucking gorgeous.

In terms of films, who can could resist Monty Python's Holy Grail? BLOODY PEASANT!

Dear Counseling,

Either you will reverse this batshittery, or I will send Sgt Flippytail to reverse it for you. He will bring a rocket launcher and a rusty spork.

You really don't want to find out what Sgt Flippytail can do with a rusty spork.

Yours,
Jys

( Ranty McRantypants. )

( TMI. )

I got the okay for this weekend! Apparently some combination of "I have no big assignments next week," Bambi eyes, and "And it's almost my birth~day~", Mum actually suggested I leave on Friday, something I hadn't dared to hope for. So, I get to see Lovely People AND avoid dinner at VSGA's. Score! :D

I finally watched "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead," and, you may mock me for this, but I was reduced to a puddle of romantic goo. I'm not even sure why, since I usually want love interests to go their merry way ASAP, and about 60% of Whodom considers River Song to be a flaming Mary Sue (with a farther 30% insisting she's Romana reincarnated, and a final 10% liking/disliking her for sane reasons). Judgment on how good/bad the episodes were shall be reserved until I see how much impact they have on characterization later in the plot. ( Tiny spoilers. )

On the subway home tonight, I was staring out the window when we went over the bridge to MGH – I always like seeing the skyline – and When You're Home was on in my headphones. Downtown, clusters of lights with nothing to hold them in the sky but black, came into view just as "When you find your way again/You're gonna change the world and then/We're all gonna brag and say/We knew her then" played. And I burst out crying.

I don't even know quite why, or whether it was a good or bad cry. Because the skyline is beautiful, and I overidentify, and I still have all these big dreams about how I'm going to put my shoulder to the world's problems and push. I'm happy that I've held onto them, and frightened that I'll never get a chance to work at them, and I don't know which feeling is dominant.

Things are better. Calmer. I'm less crazy, which means things aren't as tense, and less likely to erupt.

My reaction to the Meghan McCain thing: Free boobies!

Serious reaction: No, she's not a slut, she's just a famous person who posted an extremely cheesecakey photo on the Internet and got the expected reaction. If it wasn't expected, she's dumb.

Happy National Coming Out day, o my non straight/cisgendered sisters/brothers/otherly gendered siblings. :D In honor of this occasion, we have a very special message from Rutland Weekend Television.

:D!

So, yeah, the journal is getting revamped. I'm having these crazy, crazy need change now urges. I wanna do something more radical with my hair, to wear different clothes, to become something else. I want to pick up, have no more of what I know. To erase what I have been, start everything – memories, personality, experience from scratch. I don't want to feel tied, barred, confused. I want to feel something clear and clean and identifiable – my skin feels mucky, hot, fragile. But I'll endure. I'm comfortable balanced on this edge between talking and action. I can walk it now, unslipping.

In real life, I'm a sleepless, stressy mess. I feel sick and cry a lot. Online, I'm immersing myself in stories of action and loss and endurance. In mythologies of never-was, in goddesses.

A song meme! Everyone likes a song meme, right? At least, I do.

Step 1: Get your playlist together, put it on random, and play!
Step 2: Pick a line or two from the first 25 songs.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song the lines come from!
Step 4: Cross out the songs when someone guesses correctly!

1. Rule the world, you and me, any day  My Freeze Ray – from Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog
2. Maybe you're still walking, you're still talking  Waist Deep in the Big Muddy – Pete Seete
3. I can rule the world with no resume  Sarah Palin vs the Flobots – Robert Lund ft. Mercy Malick
4. When it gets dark I tow your heart away  Lovely Rita – the Beatles
5. Oh, my nuclear baby. Oh, my idiot trance.  New Killer Star – David Bowie
6. And now we're strangers to our past  Wall of Silence - October Project
7. The shadows run and the days grow colder  End of Summer – Bob Catley
8. The old gold mine is boarded up, but the veins run deep and strong  Angel Fire – the Kennedys
9. Drums that pulse out echoes of darkness  All Souls Night – Loreena McKennitt
10. Did the chariots of fire burn you in the end?  Texas Stars – Carbon Leaf
11. A dancing demon – no, something isn't right there.  I've Got A Theory – from Once More With Feeling
12. I want a face to trust, to feel, to lust  Los Angeles – Sugarcult
13. My ancient, empty street's too dead for dreaming  Mr Tambourine Man – Bob Dylan
14. Her joys, her lows, her highs, her woes are second nature to me now  I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face – from My Fair Lady
15. Do their works survive their yellow fever lives in the pages they wrote?   Gold Rush Brides – 10,000 Maniacs
16. Oh lad, I don't know where you've been, but I see you won first prize  The Scotsman Unbound – Brobdingnagian Bards/trad
17. They have a new fireman on the devil's train  Stalin Kicked the Bucket – Ray Anderson
18. The world hears the beat of the talking drum/The time for Africa has come  Lion in a Cage – Dolores Keane
19. I will always regret never hearing your best secrets  Say Goodbye – Girlyman
20. Come the morning and the day winding like dreams  Go Places – the New Pornographers
21. I know if I don't I'll go out of my mind  The Kids Are Alright – the Who
22. When everything feels like the movies, yeah we bleed just to know we're alive  Iris – Goo Goo Dolls
23. Kick up a rumpus, but don't lose the compass  Get Me To The Church On Time – from My Fair Lady
24. Under God, but we kill like the Son of Sam  Stand Up – Flobots
25. I'm no ordinary princess, I was born in the cold war  The Great Unknown – Dar Williams

Um, yeah, I'm doing a lot better than this weekend. I bought Rumpole Misbehaves for being a good girl, and when I got home, Weird Tales was waiting for me! So, good. I'm also worming my way back to Tolkien. Familiar, safe, welcomed, vast.

Also, my family is watching The Thick Of It. Together. It's rather embarrassing to hear Malcolm Tucker yelling "He's about as useful as a marzipan dildo!" with your parents, but less when they're both chortling.

day 01 | a song
day 02 | a picture
day 03 | a book/ebook/fanfic
day 04 | a site
day 05 | a youtube clip
day 06 | a quote
day 07 | whatever tickles your fancy

All the Fishes Come Home to Roost, by Rachel Manija Brown.

Flash Games by Tonypa.

The Medieval Helpdesk!

day 01 | a song
day 02 | a picture
day 03 | a book/ebook/fanfic
day 04 | a site
day 05 | a youtube clip
day 06 | a quote
day 07 | whatever tickles your fancy



Yes, it's the Dalai Lama holding a copy of Tintin in Tibet, in... a language I cannot identify. Esperanto? One of the many random images on my hard drive.

The idea is that you do this for a week.

day 01 | a song
day 02 | a picture
day 03 | a book/ebook/fanfic
day 04 | a site
day 05 | a youtube clip
day 06 | a quote
day 07 | whatever tickles your fancy

MC Lars – Hey There Ophelia

I've been listening to his new stuff a lot lately.

For a bonus, fleetfoot77 introduced me to this song last night:

Finally got my hands on Witchfinder, which I didn't really like enough to keep buying, but it did inform me that B.P.R.D. is doing another 1947 run. Squee! I hope it has more of creepy-Soviet-doll-girl. The proto-Cold War being played out by the US and USSR's paranormal forces was more interesting to me than the occult Nazi fighting. B.P.R.D. 8 also indicated that there was a supernatural war in the Pacific theater, which I would also be interested in. I actually rather like the occult Nazis trope – and all other occult history, really – but since the Hellboy-verse is basically founded on it, variety would be nice. They can't have an occult Cold War, though. I'M writing the occult Cold War.

Speaking of occult history, I'm reading through the Colonial Gothic corebook – having discovered directly after I came home that a new edition is coming out, oops – and I. Want. To play. This game. This is particularly amusing considering that my introduction to Colonial Gothic was choosing the Secrets expansion at Modern Myths' birthday raffle-thing under the misapprehension that it was a novel. My immediate reaction was something like "A roleplaying game? I hate roleplaying games!" And it spent the next few months on the bottom of my bookcase, covered with Japanese homework. Some people say there isn't enough gothic and too much Colonial, which I think is a fair criticism, but you can easily just amp up the supernatural elements. The really annoying feature is some bad editing, like the thing that says it will explain the only genuinely confusing element of the system – Fate cards – in Chapter 8. Unfortunately, Chapter 8 is the setting information. I did find where the explanation for the players in Chapter 3, but the GM explanation is sadly missing. Mechanics bitching aside, I really admire the amount of research the makers have put into the historical side of things – everything from the political dispositions of individual Colonies to the price of chocolate – and the fact that they strongly encourage historical accuracy and the use of little-known events as drivers. The Fate cards also allow the players to influence the story similarly to Aspects in Spirit of the Century, which I like, though I can see how it might be a pain if one were running it. They seem to make good use of Native American legends, and though I'm always a little skittish about that (cultural appropriation blah blah blah), I can definitely see good use for a lot of the creatures. And the Manadoag information (I can't tell if it's an actual myth or made up) gives me the creeps! And I have this idea that keeps stringing itself together in my head involving family folklore and the Boston Occupation...

Class breakdown thus far:
Theories of Citizenship will be rocky. Dr Feldman snaps at students who call her professor, outright said "Don't email me with questions, email the TA," and the course pack is 810 pages long. On the other hand, I already have a handle on some of the material, and followed the lecture okay. We'll see.
Professor Carlisle recognized me, and just said "We should talk some time" in a very friendly way. I'm not too worried, honestly – it's an Expo class, which means a lot of work (we hand in pre-drafts or drafts pretty much every week), but work that I can do and do well.
Digging the Glyphs is going to be FANTASTIC! Professor Zender is a very interesting lecturer, has a sense of humor, and is obviously very interested in the subject. And I'm very interested in the subject! I like our materials, and the TA – as far as I've seen from the discussion forum – is good. No sections because most of the students are online only, but the forum is expected to be active.

No idea about the Chaucer class – I'll find out tonight.

Because no entry of mine would be complete without a political rant...
Levy Johnson needs to take his paycheck and go home. That what I have to say about him personally. The right needs to stop saying that he's no good 'cause his mother has drug charges, or suggesting the Palins should bump him off. Overall, the left needs to stop lionizing him. He was a kid who messed up and got pushed around, okay? He's also a rather unpleasant person. He is not some brave young thing speaking truth to power, he's a highschool dropout who is cashing in on the Palin-centric media frenzy. I'm honestly quite tired of him. Besides, what about his ex-girlfriend and their baby? Doesn't he think he might be shaming them? Oh, wait, a paycheck is coming his way. I forgot.

I'm also very heartened by the rise of a vigorous progressive constituency. And the AFL-CIO saying they won't endorse candidates who are against the public option makes me want to stand up and sing "Solidarity Forever" like the granddaughter of a socialist that I am.

( Finally, drugs drugs drugs. )

There are people hammering directly outside my window. :/

So, here I am, up late trying to study and not wake up A, feeling happy and anxious and worried and content, listening to loud music to keep myself sharp. And This Light I See comes on. And just, yes. Yes, I will live in this light I see.



ETA: I sent my proposed fall schedule to my dean. It looks like this.

Mon 3-5 Theories of Citizenship
Mon 5:30-7:30 E-25 (with Professor Carlisle!)
Wed 5:30-7:30 Digging the Glyphs: Adventures in Decipherment (hieroglyphs and Mayan and Tolkien, oh my!)
Thurs 5:30-7:30 Chaucer: the Cantebury Tales (in Middle English, I'm so excited!)

So, the disclaimer is that I've been up all night, and my logic and emotional centers may not be optimally tuned.

That said, I just heard the Family Research Council ads saying that the public option is a plot to kill elderly people by denying them care. And I actually saw red.

This is complete total utter fucking BULL SHIT and should not be treated by anything else. Sure, Virginia Foxx is espousing it, but Virginia Foxx also calls Matthew Shepherd's killing a hoax. The mainstream Republican party is picking up this bullshit, and it god damn makes me sick.

Why? BECAUSE INSURANCE COMPANIES DRAG OUT THE LIVES OF DYING PEOPLE UNNECESSARILY TO GET MONEY. This is what happened with my grandmother. I'm sure if my grandfather had made it to the hospital they would have done the same. Doctors keep patients alive when they have no prognosis for anything but death, in pain and fear, unable to communicate, because they have to, and it makes me very angry. It's tangible, unnecessary suffering. Often also to keep their asses from getting sued.

Look, I'm not saying that this is standard procedure, or that patients with a bleak outlook should be put out to pasture. This is one reason why I think living wills are fucking vital – so that the person's wishes can be made absolutely clear in advance of a catastrophe. Also, getting up on my high soapbox, I'm not one of those darn cavalier young people who doesn't know what the fuck she's talking about. Like I said, I've seen this happen in my family, and I have a very good chance of going through it again with my father before I graduate college.

Honestly, I don't know if my family would end up on the public option. I as an independent person almost certainly would, because, hello, preexisting condition liable to land me in ER, police record for health issues, likely to be working either in disease-ridden areas or as a starving artist, no insurance company in their right mind is gonna want to be covering that.

In aditional "what the fuckity fuck," Hastings' amendment to the DAA cutting off money for investigating DADT charges has been pulled... according to him, because of pressure from the White House. If this is true, I am going to be seriously pissed. No, I didn't really expect Obama to push for a repeal of DADT even in his first year – so many other issues come first, I understand this – but when you go on and on on the campaign trail AND in office about how you want it repealed, and then block something that would assist that? You are what ye olde folks would call an oathbreaker. (Yes, coherency is starting to fade). Not that I'm very confident the amendment would have passed, but it never even had a chance to be debated! Jesus!

( Background on The SF and Natalya. ) In the end, I think this, and similar cases, highlight the need for a more diverse cast of characters in SF/F books. If people can only find one disabled/Native/black/whatever character in an author's work or a genre, then the author/genre are easily accused of stereotyping or negative portrayals because varied representations do not exist. I think that this is the solution for about 75% of the race/gender/sexuality arguments on metafandom. Can't cite anything in particular because I stopped watching it midway through Racefail 1.0, but this is the impression I got from reading many of those arguments. There were commonalities, but usually not enough of a body of work to conclusively say the author/genre typecasted, in my opinion. The single biggest problem was authors not giving female/minority/disabled characters agency, which can and should be fixed. The upshot of this is, Natalya is still Natalya: nervous, friendly former child-computer with a strong sense of propriety and suicidal tendencies. Also, not interested in romancey stuff, ever. My one caving to Teachable Moment-ism was an exchange between Stephanie and Edward where it's made clear that asexuality is considered a valid orientation. Other than that, she'll fulfill her function in the story. And I can quit being Angsty McAngstypants. (Hah! Who are we kidding?)

( Read more... )

My other quandary was whether it was okay to use an IRL situation one of my mum's friends is embroiled in in a story. The situation is thus: Friend of the Family is indirectly employed by someone we shall call Person In Question. PIQ has a very creepy, unethical relationship with FOF, which she cultivates. Basically, she invites herself into his life and drags him into hers. It's unclear to me – mostly because I'm not supposed to know as much as I do about this – whether explicit job/wage threats have been made, but whenever the subject arises this is brought up as the reason FOF is incapable of saying no to PIQ. It's to the point when, if we go visit FOF, we have no idea whether PIQ is going to be there or not. Top it off that for the last nine years or so, job loss or even unenthusiastic support would have gotten FOF deported.
Now, to my twisted mind, this sounds like the perfect setup for Cosmic Horror. Obviously PIQ is using FOF to bring about some eldritch outcome! She's not a Cosmic Horror herself, of course, she's just a protegee of Nyarlathotep/inspired by the Book of Iod/something, but she needs to either use FOF to move the pieces in place for her/as a screen/for some skill he has. Voila, plot a-spinning! I went through a long pondering session over whether it was okay to use FOF's situation in such a manner, then realized that employer-exploiting-employee is hardly novel, both FOF and PIQ would swoon at the notion of reading fantastic stories, and if, say, mum notices it, I can pass it off as coincidence. I promise no Author Avatars or Expies of IRL acquaintances as demon hunters. :P

Here's something awesome sighted in the Coop today: An older couple – meaning mid-fifties or so – and a younger couple – mid twenties or so – in the SF/F section. The older couple and the younger woman are having an in-depth conversation about the merits of various science fiction series, while the younger man is standing back looking fairly nonplussed. XD This begs to have a story written about it! (dibs!). I say he's their son, and she's his girlfriend, and he's going "Oh gawd my parents are such dorks" (he looked fairly douchey, frankly), and she's going "Oh gawd his parents are AWESOME!" I've actually already written a short story along similar lines - the main character's father is a has-been SF TV writer, she's sick to death of his stories, but her boyfriend turns out to be a secret fanboy and is DELIGHTED – though that was mostly because I'd listen to so many commentaries by RDM I was sick of his mannerisms and really wanted to spoof them.

I have another idea: Stories set in the World of Darkness written and narrated in the style of This American Life. You know, the pretentious, semi-detached prose with monotone delivery. Especially fi the main character keeps doing the "I wondered if this was significant. If it meant something about..." thing all the time when events are clearly very important. Or a story with completely overblown battles that leads the narrator to conclude they just need a change of lifestyle.

I've been reading a lot of WoD stuff online, mostly because I really, really want to get back into roleplaying in person, and have a feeling 't won't happen this fall – though am throwing the idea of one/two-session Spirit of the Century thingies. The only aspect of Vampire that intrigued me strongly has been nixed from the new version, but Hunter sounds really interesting.

The moon out my window has the most gorgeous fuzzy fog halo around it.

Also, it is impossible to be completely emo while listening to Caramelldansen.

I've been sitting around, listening to this song on repeat and reading shit on the Internet, feeling calm, centered, just all-around okay for the first time in a while.

I'm at one of those gorgeous periods when the world is bursting with words. There are stories hiding in every interaction, poems in a water bottle, a mishearing, chipping paint. And I'm overjoyed – I thought I'd lost this for good.