I went to see Jenny Lewis sing at Mr. Small's Theater last night.



Is it even possible to take decent concert pictures with your basic digital point-and-shoot? I took like 30 pictures and this is the only one that looks like I wasn't having a seizure in the middle of the shoot. Of course, I know photography like I know rocket science. "Turn off the flash. And wait for the light to get really bright before you take a shot," instructed the 6-foot-tall blond lesbian goddess sweating next to me in the crowd, pityingly. So I pointed and shot, and the beauteous Jenny no longer looks like a Satan' handmaiden, dull red eyes glowing in the middle of a gray blob, but she still looks dark and blurry in the photo, only a fraction of herself.

My photographic frustrations aside, it was a terrific show. If I were a sensitive 23-year-old indie-boy, I'd have taken to bed to languish in lovesickness for at least a fortnight. My, she was the prettiest thing, a tiny bundle of energy with her soprano wrapping itself into a folksy twang, fleeting to and fro on stage with a guitar then at the keyboard then at the drums, her bright burnt-copper hair flying about her face. She sang from both Rabbit Fur Coat and Acid Tongue, and sang a couple of new songs, which were less alt-country and more rock. Her band was pretty great, too. There were two girl drummers/singers, one a brunette waif in the mode of a Charlotte Gainsbourg, and the other squat and buxom in lumberjack flannel with a white-girl's 'fro, and near the end of the set, they had an awesome drum-off with each other after Lewis left the stage. At the encore, the entire band came back, and they sang "Acid Tongue," Lewis at one mike and the rest of the band at another doing the backup harmony. Sooooo preeeeeeetty.

My favourite number was probably "Trying My Best to Love You," which she sang extra-slowly and with a great deal of feeling. It sounded like a lovesong and a gospel wrapped into one -- rather appropriate since Mr. Small's is a converted church. And her lone Rilo Kiley song, "Silver Lining," for which she had the crowd supply the backing vocals.

There were several spontaneous declarations from the crowd of "I LOOOOOVE YOU, JENNNNNNY!" What's the hipster indie-boy equivalent of panty-throwing? Whatever it is, the air was pretty thick with it. Not that I was immune to her charms. Apparently there is no age limit when it comes to inappropriate musician-crushes.

A few samplers:
See Fernando and Trying My Best to Love You, from Acid Tongue
Handle With Care, a Traveling Wilbury cover, from Rabbit Fur Coat
Silver Lining, from her Rilo Kiley album, Under the Blacklight

Happy July the Fourth to all those who celebrate it!

I hear the fireworks from a distance, now fading away. Pop pop pop, it goes. I can't see the light-show from where I live, and it's too much of a hassle to go out at this hour of the night, especially since it's a working weekend for me. It's a bit sad-making, but the imaginary fireworks in my head are very pretty.

What little free time over the weekend has been spent catching up on Voyager. I'm up to mid season 3, and finding it still enjoyable. It hasn't wowed me with its brilliance like DS9 often has, but I've become rather fond of the characters, even Neelix, who's been getting some decent character developments (more than Chakotay at any rate, the poor lug.) Janeway and B'Elanna are still awesome, I love Tuvok, and Harry and Tom amuse me plenty. The Doctor is still my favourite.

"Basics" two-parter was rather well done, even though the Kazons never quite gelled as a formidable enemy. I adored Seska though. I love me some smart, manipulative antagonists, and she was a force to be reckoned with. She cracked me up somethin' fierce whenever she tried so hard not to roll her eyes whilst playing Lady Macbeth to whassisface, the Kazon -- Mr. Rocks for Brains. And the return of Suder, who was gifted with a surprisingly moving end to his story! Ahhh, Brad Dourif and his legion of woobie!murderers.

"The Chute" was SLASHTASTIC. If I could find some good Paris/Kim, I'd totally read it.

I loved "Sacred Ground." Give me a meaty Janeway-centric episode, and I'm a happy, happy fangirl. What an interesting exploration about the place where science and spirituality intersect. But I'm mostly all "eeee!" about the fact that Janeway unhesitatingly stepped up to assume the parental responsibility for Kes.

"Future's End": erm, cute episode, but boy, it's probably a good thing Sarah Silverman didn't give up her day job.

"Macrocosm": standard bottle episode about an alien contagion, but Janeway in a sweaty, tank-topped action heroine mode, saving the ship and her crew = ♥♥♥

"Alter Ego": Tuvok becomes the target of a Fatal Attraction. Of course he does! Hide your bunnies, Tuvok!

"Coda": erm, they were pretty blatant about the whole Janeway/Chakotay thing earlier on, huh?

"Blood Fever": AHAHAHA. Pon-farr is contagious? Since when? Alas, poor Vorik, ignominiously thrown on the altar of plot device! The Paris/Torres felt like it came out of nowhere, but I found it still kind of hot.

That was the last ep I caught, and then I happened across a fantastic B'Elanna-centric story set around mid season 3 (O happy serendipity!): mekosuchinae's Things That Follow, which takes the standard "Aliens Made Them Do It" trope and does some really interesting things with it, dealing with the psychological aftermath and the weight of the fallout, rather than concentrating on the events leading to the act, while the life on the ship goes on with its ordinary routines. It works as a terrific character study for B'Elanna as well.

She laughed, because there was nothing funny about it, because he was too close, because she was exhausted and sticky with her sweat and the blood of a hologram and the only other thing she could think to do was to shove Paris until he stopped talking, until he left her alone. B'Elanna felt the holographic blood on her fingers, felt it drying on her face, and in her mouth she knew the taste of Paris' blood.

She spat, "I think you're full of shit, Paris."

"Tom," he said. "You didn't have a problem with my name before. B'Elanna," he said and he set his hand upon her arm, his fingers sliding through the sweat to cup her shoulder.

B'Elanna set her hands on his chest and pushed. Paris staggered and fell, his knee crumpling beneath him. He looked up at her and she remembered the way he had looked up at her when she bore him down onto the cold stone floor, his teeth flashing, his throat trembling; she remembered the way his hands came up to touch her. She turned her face away.

"Just leave me alone," she snarled.

***

I'm trying to burn through some of the backlog that's been sitting on the TiVO for months, and am currently watching "Vegas," the penultimate episode of SGA. Um. "What the fuck?" seems too mild a reaction. Mostly, I'm just laughing because... seriously? Oh, show. *facepalm*

Is it just me or is that wraith with the human make-up kinda hot? He's doing more for me than Sheppard is, frankly.

Ex-pat lives can get hectic, and lost in the usual work-related craziness, I'd forgotten it was Canada Day until jonquil linked to this New York Times piece, in which ex-pat Canadians in US talk about what they miss about their home. The shortest entry was from a woman who missed the "u" in colour, which made me laugh in solidarity.

I had a questionable pleasure of learning English in a rather haphazard fashion. The vocabs and grammar taught when I was a high schooler in Korea were in American English, but it wasn't until I moved to Canada at age 17 that I learned the language properly. I learned to put a "u" in colour, and got into the habit of spelling "traveller" with two "l"s, not one. After more than a decade of that, I moved to the south of the border, and the spellcheck tool in every Word program I've used since told me I was Spelling It Wrong. So I adapted, and dropped my "u"s and the extra "l"s for a while, because hey, I was living and working in this country now; I should be trying to fit in, right? Still, old habits die hard, and my writing became a series of identity crisis, "honor" mixed with "demeanour," and that stubborn extra "l" sticking to my verbs when I wasn't paying attention. About 5 years ago, I said, "fuck it," and made a conscious decision to revert to the Canadian spelling. I guess it's the British-variant to those who don't know we spell things the same way up North. One of my colleagues, reviewing a paper I wrote, sent me a snarky email the other day about adopting the British spelling and whether that made me feel smarter, and I told him, no, (you JACKASS) that's the way I was taught English, and I won't change it for you. Odd thing to cling to, but it makes me feel better to keep at it, and whenever I see the little red underlines (like this Semagic spellcheck is doing right now) telling me I'm doing it wrong, I thumb my nose at them and tip an imaginary hat northward.

So, Happy Birthday, Ole Girl. I'm coming up to see you in a couple of weeks. Save me a cup of Tim Hortons and a bag of fresh bagels just out of the oven at St. Viateur's, will you?

I just realized that, instead of returning the last Star Trek: Voyager disc in its Netflix sleeve on Saturday, I had accidentally returned *my own copy* of the first disc of ST: Deep Space Nine season 1 that was in the next slot in my DVD player carousel. (Blast it. I only bought the DS9 S1 set a few weeks ago!) I just got off the phone with the customer service people at Netflix, and they said there would be no way of tracking down that particular disc since all returns are processed by the barcode on the DVD sleeves and shipped out the same way (well, there's gonna be some Netflix customer jonesing for the S3 disc 3 of Voyager, who's going to be unpleasantly surprised to get the first disc of S1 DS9. Well, maybe not unpleasantly. The "Emissary" two-parter is pretty freakin' awesome.)

"But can't you just give me one of your *own* DS9 S1 disc 1 instead?", I wheedled, since what am I gonna do, buy another S1 box set of DS9? I mean, I love the show, but not that much. But not having that first disc is going to eat at my completist soul, I just know it. "We can't do that," said the customer service lady, apologetically. Instead, she offered to reimburse me $10 for the disc, and I grumblingly acquiesced. She also recommended I try Just the Disc, but alas, they don't have any Star Trek stuff.

Poll #1423471
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

I NEED that fist disc! What am I gonna do now?

(ETA: first disc. First. Not *fist* disc. Damn you, non-editable poll!)

My life is such a trial, I'm tellin' you.

I have watched the first 3 1/2 episodes so far, mostly so that I'd have some context when I watch Merlin vids in Vividcon... and hey, that was rather fun! It makes no attempts at any kind of authenticity -- insomuch as there could be any authenticity when it comes to the retelling of a folk myth -- and I am fine with that, since I don't have a huge amount of preexisting emotional investment in the Arthurian myth. To be perfectly frank, I pretty much got all my Arthurian myth stuff from John Boorman's Excalibur, which I adore despite its cheestasticness. (God, the epic hotness that is Helen Mirren's Morgana Le Fay!)

It reminds me of early Smallville more than anything. ("Like Smallville, only set in renfaire!", I said to denynothing1 earlier.) There is the blatant slash-baiting to start with, which even I could see, and I'm usually pretty oblivious. And whatever the British equivalent of WBness (RIP, WB!) might be, by which I mean youth-centered shows featuring mediocre writing and pretty people. But there is also the appeal of an origin story for characters whose fates are already set: the tension between where they are in the context of the show and the inevitability of their destiny, and the journey from A to B. Superman and Lex Luthor are destined to be mortal enemies. Merlin is destined to grow into a powerful wizard, Morgana to turn to dark enchantment, Arthur to become a great king, and Guinevere to wed Arthur -- I hold these basic things to be true, and my main enjoyment of the show, since I'm not in it for the slash, is to see how these things might happen. (I hear Lancelot shows up at some point down the road, which I'm looking forward to.) Right now, the Gwen/Arthur seems very implausible since both of them have their eyes on someone else; and they made Morgana and Arthur unrelated (!) and made them into a bickering USTy couple, which... um. *facepalm* The CGI dragon and the blatant anachronisms mostly make me laugh and laugh. Nevertheless, I think the actors playing Merlin and Gwen are cute as buttons, Morgana is *beautiful*, and Arthur is, um, blond. And there is Giles! Giving off a very "spank me, Daddy" vibe! (Wait. Did I really just say that?)

Hmm. You know what else Arthur/Merlin reminds me of? A Kdrama romance (no, seriously!) You have a hero who is a Royal Prat (literally) and a spunky low-born heroine who is a Special Snowflake. And they fight like cats and dogs initially and grudgingly start to like each other! Maybe they'll start to fake-date and Arthur will give Merlin a piggy-back ride at some point. There is already the whole "incest, but not" thing going on with Arthur and Morgana, and the beginning of a love quadrangle. All it needs is someone to die of a terminal illness, and all the important Kdrama tropes would be met!

In short: RIDICULOUS, but kinda fun.

This movie, an adaptation of a Noël Coward play, apparently came out last year in festival circuits but only managed to make its way to my city this weekend. It's a comedy of manners with a blistering wit. Not entirely highbrow either, as it contains its share of physical comedy, including a lengthy bit involving the demise of a canine that rivals that scene from A Fish Called Wanda. Being a heartless wench, I laughed and laughed.

Jessica Biel, who I was never convinced could act, is actually well-cast as a flashy American who marries a young Englishman, to the dismay of everyone in his family (except for his father, played by Colin Firth, who came back broken from the WWI and has gone quietly to seed since.) She's improbably named Larita for someone from Detroit, and she is long and lean, with glittering hair and red lips -- a shockingly modern splash of colour in the mouldering country estate her new husband brings her to. Her mother-in-law loathes her on sight, and she raises the hackles of her two drab sisters-in-law as well. And of course she has skeletons in her closet.

Kristin Scott-Thomas plays Veronica, the mother-in-law, and she's marvellous. Veronica is the villain of the piece, but Scott-Thomas gives her a glimmer of humanity and hints at a life that was a series of disappointments, which has shaped her into someone toxic. The denouement of this frothy comedy (which left me rather ambivalent) had me feeling a lot more sympathetic toward Veronica than I was probably supposed to.

Near the end of the movie, there is a party, and in the party, Larita dances the tango with her father-in-law. Have I mentioned that the father-in-law is played by Colin Firth? It is of the hotness.

( embedded video of the tango scene )

But if you ask me, the butler was my favourite.

... this was made by Levinson and Fontana? The Homicide: Life on the Street Levinson-Fontana? Erm. You are shitting me, right? That was so laughably bad and cliché-ridden (not to mention being the most egregious example of What These People Need Is A Honky since Kevin Costner danced with those fucking wolves) that at some point in the pilot, -- I think, just around the time ( a teeny spoiler ) -- I decided that the show-runners might be putting me on, and kinda started to enjoy myself because it was THAT ridiculous.

James Purefoy is hella pretty to look at and all, but damn.

( Do these teeth make me look fat? )

SHARK PUPPET! I want one.

***

Watched Gone Baby Gone last night. Feel-good film of the year it is not, but I thought it was well-made, especially coming from a first-time director. I didn't finish the book all those years ago, so I am not certain how closely the adaptation hews to the the novel, but I assume the main story and the resolution are the same. I liked that it wasn't built along a conventional mystery narrative. The story moved in fits and starts; there were scenes of violent action but they didn't end in the way you'd expect them to. Casey Affleck wasn't what expected in Patrick -- he's a wee fella without much presence -- but his was an unshowy, rather interior performance and he won me over by the end. As for the rest of the cast, Angie was too soft, and Bubba, too jolly. Ed Harris was his usual fabulous self, even with all the scenery-chewing. Morgan Freeman was... wait, was Jack Doyle black in the book? I don't recall, but the role suited him well. Amy Ryan was *unrecognizable*, so thoroughly did she disappear into the role. More than anything, I liked the supporting performers, who I gather are mostly non-actors and Dorchester natives Affleck recruited for the film. They pretty much made the film.

And it had Titus Welliver! jesshelga, if you haven't seen the flick, you should check it out. It's right up your alley.

***

Couple of links:

A crazy-awesome picture of an exploding volcano seen from space

An interesting NYT profile of Kathryn Bigelow, who's probably best known for directing Point Break, but has made a career out of making action films, which is unusual for a female director. An excerpt:

The number of male mentors and aesthetic influences seems instructive as does her seeming discomfort when I ask why she likes to make movies about men. It’s one of the few times when she searches for her words.

On one hand, I think it's fantastic that she's made a career marching to her own drums and working out of the box into which most female directors have been consigned. On the other hand, I look at her films (I've only seen a few) and wonder, "why couldn't she have put more women in her films -- unorthodox, strong, messed up, interesting women who could have fit into her landscape?" I mean, of course there is the awesome Angela Bassett from Strange Days, but she's just one person. (I haven't seen Blue Steel, which has a female protagonist -- only Bigelow film that does, it looks like.) Her latest, terrifically-reviewed Iraq War film, Hurt Locker, has one female character in the entire main cast page -- Evangeline Lilly, playing the wife of the main character, from all appearance. Yes, it is a war film, but we are long past the time when the military was the sole province of men.

On the flip side, how many women you know would go see an Iraq War film about a bomb disposal squad? (I might, but it's mostly because the article intrigued me, and because I like what I've seen of its lead, Jeremy Renner, from The Unusuals.) Well, OK, I am probably asking a biased sample, given how many folks on my Flist are uber-fans of Band of Brothers and Generation Kill. *g*

***

Our Peru trip plan in September is starting to get a shape of some sort -- itineraries, transportation, and booking for the trail have been arranged -- so I started hitting the gym again after 6 weeks of being a lazy layabout and boy, it is painful. I did lousy 3.5 miles on the elliptical yesterday and thought I was going to die by the end. You get into a regime, start to see some effect, then you let go just a little bit, and you have to start all over again from scratch. Not enough BAH in the world.

I guess I must persevere, since I don't want to keel over and be left behind at the Dead Woman's Pass.

ETA: I just picked up this week's mystery produce box and it has beets! BEETS! I know fuck all about beets. I think you put'em in salads or something? Where is Dwight Schrute when you need him?

Among the coming attraction trailers I saw in theater this weekend was the one for the new Martin Scorsese/Leo DiCaprio flick, Shutter Island, which looked spooky as fuck and *tight* and AWESOME. I hate the slasher and the torture-porn branches of filmed horror, but I do love me some well-done ghost stories.

( embedded youtube trailer of Shutter Island under the cut )

I didn't know this was based on a Dennis Lehane novel until I got to the end of the trailer and saw his name pop up! This looks, in essence, like a haunted house story on a bigger scale. I didn't know Lehane wrote a straight-up horror novel! Or is it? Well, Lehane writing horror is perhaps not a big surprise given some of the dark themes we saw in the Kenzie and Gennaro novels. I haven't read anything by him since Mystic River. Has anyone read Shutter Island? Is it any good?

It just so happens that I have a Netflix disc of the last filmed Lehane novel, Gone Baby Gone, waiting for me at home right now. I've heard really nice things about both Ben Affleck's direction and Casey Affleck's performance as Patrick, and of course, Amy Ryan's as the mother of the kidnapped child (she was nominated for an Oscar, IIRC.) It's going to be a bit weird to watch Amy Ryan on screen and see someone so different from Holly in The Office, but I'm looking forward to it.

These two have been going around my Flist like the clap in a college dorm (...um, sorry?).

List 10 platonic male/female relationships in fiction that you enjoy. Rules:

1. They interact in canon, preferably in a significant (apply your own interpretation of such) way.
2. They are not related. They can, however, view each other as surrogate family.
3. Neither has confessed or implied romantic love for the other in canon.
4. They have not dated, been married, had sex, or made out in canon, on purpose, and of their own free will.
5. A popular fanon ship is ok (though preferably not your ship) but a canon pairing you wish were just friends is out.
6. Try to avoid using the same character or series twice.

Why so many rules, meme? Harrrumph. I will try to follow them nonetheless.

( a gen meme! Who'd have thought? )

***

Second meme!

Name a fandom, and I'll give you the scoop on at least three of my unpopular opinions related to that fandom.

Hahaha. In which I get to vent and alienate half my friendlist? But all the cool kids were doing it, so. Remember that adage about opinions.

1. First off, a vid rec: bop_radar's DLZ, a Sarah Connor Chronicles ensemble vid that blew my socks off. It's fast and brutal and affecting, and it captures the desperation and the urgency of the show very well. Plus, she (he?) vidded to TV on the Radio (!!) and what an inspired song choice this is -- I've always thought "DLZ" was about the oncoming apocalypse. I kind of feel like some of the cuts earlier in the vid are *a little* too fast for my eyes, especially the rapid cuts to the end-percussive notes (hmmm, in a way, the feeling of disorientation one gets from the rapid cuts *works* for the vid), but the vid really rises to its power when it hits Never you mind, Death professor refrain and we see the characters falling, one by one, each death at turns justified and futile and sacrificial and tragic, and each hitting us in the chest like a battering ram. (Those last few shots of Sarah at the final who's next?... OMG.)

I'd like to see this on a big screen. Maybe it'll show in the Nearly New vidshow?

2. Another vid: the widely circulated Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight mashup in which Edward Cullen gets what's coming to him. Heeee! AWESOME.

( embedded mashup vid under the cut )

God, I miss Buffy.

3. Half Blood Prince opens what... in three weeks? After the furor over the delay in the release date died down, I forgot to keep up with HP news, so I hadn't watched the latest trailer until yesterday (it's the one labelled "4b") and boy, it looks fantastic. Oh, man, the cave scenes! And the creepy Nephew of Fiennes going all Donnie Darko and the bit with Draco on the tower and "fight back! You coward!" and ...!!

Poor Alan Rickman. They have him wearing so much pancake make-up to pass him off as the 40'ish Snape, he looks like a Kabuki actor. *snickers*

4. Being a sad sucker for Sandra Bullock rom-coms (I totally own Two Weeks Notice and watch it with a tub of ice cream whenever I'm feeling down -- don't you judge me!), I went to see The Proposal over the weekend. It's formulaic to the extreme and the leads only have lukewarm chemistry together, but I enjoyed myself OK because Bullock and Reynolds are likable actors.

One thing though: the running gag with a character named Ramon, played by Oscar Nunez (who plays Oscar in The Office), is so chockful of Latino stereotypes, it made me cringe so hard on his behalf. Seriously, it was on a Michael Scott-level on the embarrassment scale, except it's played for straight laughs. Oy.

Recommended only for the fellow Sandra-philes (or if you're into half-naked Ryan Reynolds, which we get to see a couple of times) or if you're a sucker for romantic comedies, even mediocre ones.

5. A random link I came across while larking about on the net: this post by typicrobots about awesome Korean or Korean-American dudes (she's planning on doing another one with gals), which made me very happy, even though the awesome Tim Kang only got included in a footnote. (*sniff* Nobody loves Cho as much as I do. That's OK, Cho! I love you enough for all of them!) I dig that she included Hines Ward, whom even my the non-footballista self has known about for a while and who made me go all, "Steelers YAY" when he won MVP, nevermind that I usually care jack about football. That photo with him with his mother makes me all verklempt. Awww!

Plane ticket secured to Chicago!

I have a dress for Club Vivid. I have several dresses, actually. A comfy red jersey dress I bought for $30 at Ann Taylor Loft during clearance (with pockets!), that eggplant purple number I got overseas, which turned out to be not quite dressy enough, and a rather immodest black satin dress with a biased cut hem, in which I look totally hot but would also be afraid of dancing for fear of accidental indecent exposure (...um.) It probably speaks of my current state of mind that I'm leaning toward the last one.

I also went shoe shopping at DSW and got myself a pair of sparkly gunmetal grey sandals with 3 inch heels. Oh, dear. At least I can stand in them without getting dizzy?

Since I've been mostly checking "people only" part of my Flist for the last few weeks, I almost missed the vividcon post about wrist band sale for the open bar during Club Vivid. Deadline for purchase: July 10. I got my money's worth last year, that's for sure. Just ask my poor roommates. *snickers*

Last but not least: What with the brain being missing, I forgot to ask if anyone would like for me to purchase an extra copy of Vividcon DVD sets for them. I imagine pretty much everybody who'd want a set has it figured out by now, but if not, I can get up to three extra sets for those who'd want one. The DVDs are in region one I believe, so I think it'll have to go folks who live in US or Canada ($10.50 + shipping.)

In summary: VIVIDCON YAY!

Dude. The Pens just won the fucking Stanley Cup.

I wasn't even watching. Instead, I just woke up from an early evening nap (yes, I am 70 years old) to the sounds of horns honking and people screaming on the street.

This is going to be an unbearable weekend. Living in this city and not being into sports is like being a nudist in Antarctica.

***

"Vaginal epithelium is built for trauma," said the hotshot researcher from ULCA during a lecture today. He was talking about why HIV transmission per sexual contact was so much more efficient through an anal intercourse than a vaginal one. Gastrointestinal lining is thin and weak, and it slurps off at the smallest insult, allowing the virus to make its merry way into your system. Vaginal wall is made of more resilient stuff, having tougher layers of squamous epithelium. It's made to hold a woman through the ordeal of childbirth after all. And I knew that was what he meant, but that didn't stop me from flinching, especially in light of recent conversations on blogsphere.

Vaginal epithelium is built for trauma. Being a woman is a depressing business sometimes.

Name 5 character deaths that surprised or shocked you

Woo boy. I'm gonna cut this individually under the fandom names.

1. ( BtVS )

2. ( Torchwood )

3. ( Sarah Connor Chronicles )

4. ( ER )

5. ( Spooks! I could have done this entire meme for this show alone )

These are mostly well-done character deaths. I was going to include ( an old X-Files spoiler ) but then it would have gotten me started ranting and frothing at the mouth again, and nobody wants that.

1. Gladiator sandals are fugly. Worst fashion trend ever! At least since the peek-a-pubis jeans.
2. Cats. Still not a fan. *is then shunned forever by the Cat Nation, which makes up for 80% of the LJ contingent*
3. Jensen Ackles: eh.
4. I like Janeway (so far.) I have a feeling I'm in the minority.
5. I don't mind it at all when the couples I ship don't end up together. I actually prefer it. Regrets and bittersweet partings and things left unsaid in interstices -- give me that any time over an unqualified happy ending.
6. Much as I adore the show, it's probably not a bad thing that Firefly died so young.
7. I both love and despise the Tenth Doctor. It's not an either/or situation. Actually, I could say this about a lot of characters. I don't understand why fans don't let their favourite characters *own* their flaws. It's very vexing!
8. Frankly, I'm a bit weary of all the porn.
9. Where does the whole "(adjective) (person) is (the same adjective)" (for example, "unexpected Spock is unexpected!") thing come from? It was cute the first two or three times. The next 258 times? Not so much.
10. Cho is clearly the awesomest character in all of The Mentalist and I think it's some type of fandom-wide anti-Korean conspiracy that there is no abundance of fic about how awesome he is. So GET ON IT, FANDOM.

The end!

Cutting your fandom teeth on The X-Files = an unshakable fascination for mixed-sex law enforcement partnerships for some of us. For my old-school XF buddies, here are a couple of fic recs (ficlets, really) for a gloomy Wednesday morning from some familiar writers.

The Thing about Mornings by fialka, a Castle fic (!) in which Beckett is injured and Castle finds out writing about and witnessing violence are two quite different things.

The fire's going out now, or maybe it's just spreading, dissipating all the way to your fingers and toes. You were cold before, but now you're not, and you can hear him talking talking talking, like he always does. You never expected that his voice would be the last thing you would ever hear, but somehow that's all right, and you tell him it's okay, just before you drift away into the soft and warm. It's okay, it's just like falling asleep with the TV on.

Still the guilty cannot sleep by pene. The Mentalist, Patrick and Lisbon. A tiny moment between them from Patrick's POV, and it's insightful and a little unnerving.

Around 1 a.m. two nights ago, I suddenly decided that my life would no longer have any meaning unless I owned a pair of gold sandals. Usually, this would have been consigned to the metaphorical wastebasket full of other cracky 1 a.m. ideas, but unfortunately I was lying next to a laptop with a wireless access and a bookmark to Zappos.com at the time. So here I am, forty-something hours later, with not one, not two, but three pairs of gold sandals, all of which look absolutely ridiculous on my feet. One of them have 3 1/4-inch heels and when I stand in them (nevermind walk), I feel a nosebleed coming on. Maybe there is such a thing as *too* efficient customer service. Because I probably would have come to my senses and cancelled the order in the light (and sanity) of the day, except they'd shipped the damn shoes already by then.

Actually, these are not too bad. I am sending them back with the rest because the pair they sent, despite being my usual size, is too big on my feet. I may be just a tiny bit tempted to get a size down in silver (wow, gold slippers are gaudy) but... no. *resolve face*

Where would I wear gold sandals anyway, outside Club Vivid? I used to be a sensible sort of person, but find myself increasingly prone to ridiculous flights of frivolity of late. Rebellion against the impending middle age, no doubt. At least I'm not impulse-purchasing some grossly phallic sports car.

***

Yesterday, Netflix sent me the Voyager disc with "Threshold," variably known as the Infamous Lizard Episode, or The Worst Episode of Anything Ever, or the Blight on the Trek Universe, or... you get the drift. I think you guys were being overly harsh, because I was vastly entertained. I don't know which moment was more awesome -- Tom Paris mid-transformation spitting out his own tongue, or the little Janeway-Paris lizard babies (LIZARD BABIES!) merrily swimming into the river, or Janeway intoning to Paris at the end, "I thought I'd have children some day, but never with you." There are certain things so terrible, they do a 180 degree turn-around and come out on the other side as the shining beacon of cracky brilliance, and this was totally one of them.

(Oh, God. Think of all the "... then, they became lizards!" jokes I missed by not being in the fandom at the time!)

In all seriousness, I get now why some people start shuddering when Brannon Braga's name comes up. Hey, what do you know? A few years later, he produced a TV series *also* titled Threshold, which was again all about genetic mutations! I cannot remember whether it featured any lizards. It had Carla Gugino and Peter Dinklage and a really, really cute dog, and sadly wasted all of them, if I recall.

Thankfully, the next episode on the disc ("Meld") was Tuvok-centric and was quite good, albeit unsubtle. The presence of Brad Dourif as a dead-eyed sociopath (a role he could have played in his sleep) certainly didn't hurt. Tuvok without his customary control was a rather glorious sight to see. I loved the give-and-take between Suder and Tuvok, and found Tuvok's apology at the end to Janeway, in which he goes as far as to call her a friend, quite moving.

Onto the next disc!

1. Oh, no. David Carradine died, of an apparent suicide. ETA: subsequent investigation revealed that it was not a suicide after all, but autoerotic asphyxiation gone awry. Surely I was not the only one to slap her hand on the cheek and yell, "for the love of Clyde Bruckman!"

2. Making vacation last for months, from NYT. New place and new people every day. Living out of a suitcase in towns where you don't know anyone, for months. It sounds both wonderful and terrible. The comments -- a mix of scorn and envy -- are very interesting. (I myself rather envy the teacher couple who save up for the year and go off to travel for three months each summer.)

3. Vividcon schedule is out! I'm resolved to go to more panels this year. Vidwatching 101, Understanding Audience, and the meta vid panels all look interesting, and I might ditch the second part of Nearly New to go to the Recruiter vid panel. Only two months to go!

4. Since Sasquatch, I've been listening to The Decemberists' The Hazards of Love pretty much nonstop, and I love it thiiiiiiis much. I love them for having the gumption to do a concept album in this day and age, I love the transitions from new age-y soprano warbles to heavy metal guitars and back, I love the melodic highs in "Wager All" and "Wanting Comes in Waves," I love the melodramatic OTT downbeat ending, and most of all, I love the Queen, like I love most fairy-tale villainous queens, who are invariably the most interesting thing in the story. Villainy is dependent on perspectives in any fashion. Queens are what princesses grow up to be after the Ever After, after all.

I also started to check out more of The Brightest Diamond because Shara Worden does such a fantastic job as the Queen on this album. From their recent contribution to the Dark Is the Night charity album: The Brightest Diamond - Feeling Good, which is a splendid cover of the Nina Simone song.

5. BTW, thank you all so much for the advice re. the tires yesterday! Once I get my new tires, I resolve to be a better motorist in the future. (Boy, do I ever wish they gave us an option of taking Shop instead of Home Ec in high school. All those wasted hours I spent trying to make that stupid shirt! Which fell apart when I tried to wear it! Haaaaaaaate.)

***

I have all those other shows to watch for VVC, so of course I start Netflixing ST: Voyager. Whhhhhy. I don't even know.

greensilver had told me that Robert Duncan McNeill, who plays Tom Paris, has turned into a prolific TV director, and guess what? He directed all those awesome episodes in the second half of Chuck S2! Including the finale! OK, I now have total warm and fuzzies toward the guy, and by virtue of association, toward the character.

( some random impression of S1 and first few episodes of S2 of Voyager )

Long, rambly account of the weekend below, with some crappy concert photos within.



( Saturday, May 23th )

( Sunday, May 24th )

( Monday, May 25th )

1. The movie quiz that ate my weekend

It doesn't load on Firefox, so you'll have to use IE. It's only one of the ways in which it is EVIL. Don't start it unless you are really trying to avoid work. (It's Monday morning. Of course you're trying to avoid work.)

2. It seems I've misplaced my fannishnes somewhere. I'm still all, SASQUATCH WOO-HOO!!, but for some reason cannot be arsed to write up a report of the weekend. Except to say that Seattle branch of Hot Women For Hugh Dillon Society is really delightful and jarrow is adorable and troyswann is hot like burning and brynnmck has the sweetest dog ever. And sdwolfpup has a belly full of paper plates!

3. I am still super-brown from shakin' and bakin' in Washington sun for 3 days, and at the risk of sounding ridiculous (not that that's ever stopped me), I feel like I have not been this cute in years. I'm lean and tanned and my arms actually have some muscle definition from lugging around my gear, and a coworker called me a hottie last Friday! Granted, his wife is like 13 months pregnant, so I'm not taking it completely at the face value, but still. Apparently I am still girly on a basic, deeply lame level, since being complemented on my appearance made me feel glowy for a full day.

4. I watched the pilot of Glee and had a lot of fun, with some niggles. The set up for Will's marital issues could very well turn out to be wanky, and of course the two leads in the club are played by a cute white girl and a hot white boy while the black girl, the Asian girl, the gay guy, and the dude in a wheelchair provide the background colour. *sigh* Hey, at least they are trying? (Plus, there was a Japanese-American football coach and the Principal was played by a Pakistani-American actor, so points for them.) On the other hand, it had the fabulous Jane Lynch, an unironic embrace of Journey, and rapid-fire, witty dialog. And the musical numbers were AWESOME. Overall: promising, with some reservations.

5. Caught up on the last couple of episodes of The Mentalist. ( Tiny spoilers )

6. Also watched the last couple of eps of The Unusuals, which made me sad about its cancellation. It's an oddball show with weird characters, but I like my shows a little odd. I am totally starting to ship Delahoy with Dr. Crumb, the coroner, who are in a Wes Anderson movie of their own. Plus she's wee and Asian and ran out of the restaurant at the first mention of "date" and I... had overidentification issues, OK? Poor show! Nipped in the bud before it had any chance to blossom!

7. That top ten ship meme that was going around a week ago, since I'm still trying to catch up. Sort of chronologically:

1. Mulder/Scully (The X-Files). First fandom imprinting, yada yada. Even though I got off the ship circa S8, they are still the first couple I think of when it comes to shipping.
2. Pacey/Joey (Dawson's Creek). Shut UP.
3. Harry/Ruth (Spooks).
4. Luke/Grace (Joan of Arcadia.) Oh, boy. I loved them something fierce. Probably the most functional couple on the list, come to think of it. Sadly, Joan/Adam is not up here because of what they did to Adam's character in S2 and why yes, I am still bitter.
5. Odo/Kira (DS9).
6. CJ/Toby (The West Wing)
7. Jim/Pam (The Office)
8. Buffy/Spike (BtVS). God, I shipped them HARD for about a season and a half. Then it all went to hell in a handbasket. Buffy fandom was... err, an interesting place to be in circa season 5, I tell you. And wee Vonnie learned some bitter lessons about how the fandom could make you hate a pairing you used to like. *burns the bones and salts the earth*
9. Veronica/Logan (VM). The way my fannish trajectory re. V/L resembles B/S is a little frightening. I still can't think of them together without all the fandom-related sourness, but they were so broken and beautifully dysfunctional together in S1. *sigh*
10. Eun Chan/Han Kyul (Coffee Prince)

Commonalities? Lots of people working together on a shared mission, with slow blossoming feelings. Friendship turning into something more. A few antagonist pairing (Pacey/Joey kind of falls here as well, I suppose.) Lots of blunt truth-tellers -- Pacey, Toby, Grace, Odo, Spike, Logan and Eun Chan. Not sure if I see a pattern, per se. Hmmmm.

OK, off to get some actual work done.

Back from the Sasquatch Festival. Am sunburnt and exhausted, but had an awesome time in general, except for a few issues with the camping site and the tragedy of missing the Fleet Foxes concert (oh, it was to weep) which I have no energy to get into right now, but believe me, my despair was EPIC. The weather was gorgeous throughout, the company agreeable, and the Gorge, especially the view overlooking the main stage, was breathtaking.

The concert I loved the most musically: The Decemberists playing the entirety of The Hazards of Love, one song flowing into the next, and how it felt like a grand piece of musical theater rather than a simple concert. I need to listen to the album about five hundred times more now.

The concert where I had the best time: Gogol Bordello. Five hundred people in the pit jumping in unison to the chorus of "Start Wearing Purple" until the ground beneath us shook with the collective force of our glee. GodDAMN that was the most fun I had in ages.

The weirdest: Of Montreal. No surprise there.

The coolest single performer of the entire weekend: Karen O. from Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The bands I was the saddest to miss: Fleet Foxes and Shearwater. :(

I may post about this in more detail when I'm not operating on three hours of sleep.

I've now watched the pilot two-parter and the third episode, "Parallax," and hey, I'm enjoying myself. It's by no means brilliant, but I like the characters well enough.

Most of all, I love love LOVE that Janeway is a scientist. When she and B'Elanna started sprouting temporal mechanics jargon and were all excited about the solutions and finishing each other's sentences, I went "wheeeee!" and started clapping like a dork. Two female scientists, one of them a starship captain, bonding over their esoteric knowledge! SO AWESOME. And Chakotay and Paris looking on them, with bemused smiles on their faces. Heee!

Temperament-wise, hot-headed Torres reminds me of Kira from DS9 a great deal. Which is fab because I adore Kira. And... sorry, aj, I rather like what I've seen of Tom Paris so far. I mean, he's that type -- a wastrel who's forced by circumstances to have his mettle tested, and learns to rise to the occasion. Kinda like reboot!Kirk in a way. But the actor makes it work.

We're only three episodes in and Chakotay is *already* gazing at Janeway with that soft look in his eyes. Oh, dude. You are not helping me with my cracky new obsession.

But I think my favourite thing about the show might be the theme music/fanfare to the opening credit. Apparently it was composed by Gerry Goldsmith and won and Emmy! I like it almost as much as I like the DS9 theme. Those trumpets at the end, in particular, send shivers down my spine every time I hear them.

Soooo. Is there a guide somewhere as to which episodes are good and which are skippable? I hear the show goes off the rails at some point. Should I be watching only up to a particular season and give up afterward?

Josh Friedman is a class act.

Show! *cries some more* I really hope there are a lot of awesome SCC vids at Vividcon.

Vidding-fandom shows I have to catch up on now that the TV season is over and we are T - 3 months from VVC:

- BSG (I STILL haven't watched the last 5 or so episodes.)
- I should probably watch Merlin. Although it's Arthurian legends, so err, how spoiled could I be? Of course, I've heard it's not what you'd call a traditional retelling of the tale.
- SPN season 4. I kinda gave up on the show after season 3, but I hear the fourth season is a lot stronger? Hope springs eternal, etc.
- Dexter S3.
- Friday Night Lights S3
- Still haven't watched LoM S2 and all of Ashes to Ashes
- Being Human S1

I'd have put Heroes up there but I am paralyzed with not caring too much. I probably forgot a few.

The breakthrough vidding fandom this year? Knowing as little as I do about the show, I still suspect it'd be Merlin.

The vids I hope to see: Lots of SCC, be it a specific character-centric vid or ensemble or one with a philosophical bent. Adorable Middleman vids! Doctor Who vids with lots and lots of Donna Noble being awesome. Pushing Daisies vids with footage from S2. Leverage! A vid about how Ros Myers Pwns All. (It really mystifies me as to why Spooks isn't a bigger vidding fandom because 1) the show is awesome and 2) it's hella stylish with some great visuals.)

***
So. On a lark, I watched a couple of episodes of Voyager last night (which I'd never watched before.) One of them happened to be the episode in which Janeway and Chakotay were infected with some wacky alien virus and stuck on a random planet. And there was a monkey! Totally off-the-cuff impressions from watching a few random episodes:

1) The writing on the show is... kinda wooden, innit?
2) Holy crap, has Kate Mulgrew played Katherine Hepburn in a biopic at some point? Please tell me she has, because it's uncanny how Mulgrew sounds *exactly* like Hepburn, on top of being a total ringer for her circa African Queen. Especially with her hair up in a bun.
3) The actor who plays Chakotay is terribly handsome and manly.
4) Of course I now want some Janeway/Chakotay. She's his captain and he's her first officer! (Oh man, I love the gender flip in the dynamic.) She's a woman in her 40's in a position of power! He used to be her adversary but now they are working together! They respect each other like whoa and think each other is made of awesome! But they won't do anything about it because it would be a breach of professionalism! Aaaaangst. I went searching for some random fic, and everything I've read so far is mushy and terribly written. Woe. Where's the *good* stuff?
5) The actor who plays Tom Paris looks like a disgruntled cubicle employee from Office Space, not a Starfleet officer. Seeing him in uniform makes me giggle.
6) Ahhh, so *that*'s why old school SF fans were so charitable toward Woolsey in SGA!
7) The dude with the crazy fur on his head looks like Barf from Spaceballs. Oh, dear.
8) I was wondering why people were all ".... but, Tuvok!!" when _________ happened in the Star Trek reboot. Now I get it.

I would say something about the cancellation of Sarah Connor Chronicles but I don't have the mental energy. It's dead, well and truly dead, and Friedman says shopping it to another network isn't an option. Expected stuff, and I guess I see where FOX is coming from, in terms of business sense. When Kevin Reilly says that they've really tried to give the show a chance, I don't think he's totally bullshitting. I say to myself, at least they gave us that awesome second season, when they could have cancelled it after the first. It doesn't make me feel any better though.

The renewal of Dollhouse feels like an extra slap on the face, however. (I've been watching, with very little enthusiasm. Haven't seen the last episode yet. Truthfully, I haven't even cared enough to summon any proper outrage about it. It's just that Dollhouse is such an inferior show to the SCC in every single way.)

The writers for SCC have been apparently recruited to Fringe, which I've heard has gotten steadily better. Maybe I'll check it out again. Some judicious application of Pacey Witter on my broken heart, for old time's sake, might do me some good. I need some solace, yo.

Fates of the other shows. Not that I care that much. Castle and Chuck have been renewed, which gets a little "yay". The Unusuals, toward which I was nursing a nascent fondness, is gone. Just as well. Best not to get invested.

*goes into mourning*

***

The rejuvenation of Star Trek fandom has been interesting to watch. I was never in the original ST fandom, even though I went through a crazed Deep Space Nine phase a while back. (Holy fucking Moses, was that already five years ago? WTF, time? Where did you go?) I've watched a handful of TOS episodes at the CBS streaming site and enjoyed them to variable degrees. "Amok Time" was... kind of awful, in a hilarious way, but I did like "Troubles with Tribbles" and "Mirror Mirror" a lot. Boy, Not-quite-evil, bearded!Spock is a stone-cold fox! Then I remembered DS9 did a homage to the Tribbles episode -- which I hadn't seen at that time, so I was amused and also confused -- so I tracked *that* episode down the next. (For example, this site has links to most of the DS9 episodes on Youtube and elsewhere.) Fun! Then I started noodling around the site and rewatched a bunch of my old favourites. Necessary Evil. Children of Time. Improbable Cause/The Die Is Cast. Which all happen to be Odo-centric.

Ahhh, Odo. I don't have much in the way of One True Character or One True Pairing, but I think he comes the closest. I do love me some sardonic, difficult, principled loners. Toby Ziegler is another one. And Snape, I suppose.

Amazon has each season of DS9 discounted at about $36-38. 7 seasons still make for a big chunk of money, but I feel like watching it from the beginning for some reason. Or I could start watching The Next Generation (I haven't seen a single full ep of that show yet.) But something tells me that it's not going to be *my* show the way DS9 was. Plus, another seven seasons! That's way too much.

Or I could just stick with the new Trek movie fandom. Limited source, little chance at heartbreak, and all I need to do is catch up on some of the TOS eps.

Some fic based on the movie!ST that I've liked so far, dumped here so that I could clean up my bookmarks. These are mostly gen.

How to Avoid Kicking Puppies and Other Valuable Lessons in Leadership by sparky77. Cute dialog!
The Helmsman by imadra_blue, a fabulous Sulu-centric fic. Some lovely insight into Sulu's character, and great interaction between Sulu and Kirk, Uhura, and Spock Prime.

A pair of stories that use the contrast between old!Trek-verse and the new reboot!Trek to a good effect:
Two Sides by circadienne. Uhura-centric.
Learning to Fly by penknife. This one's about Kirk.

What We Don't Talk About by ellen_fremedon is Spock/Uhura, and is ouchy, but in a way that feels all too plausible.
To the Best of My Recollection by svilleficrecs. Movieverse Kirk/Spock, which presumes on K/S in the old canon, and jumps off from the mind-meld between Kirk and Spock-Prime in the film. Some lovely USTy bits.

Non-fic stuff:
A Kirk vid by butterfly, set to a Britney Spears song of all things, yet it works! (It's probably just me, but Chris Pine as Kirk in the movie really really reminds me of Philip Glenister, who played Gene Hunt from the UK Life on Mars. It's partly their shared features -- the rather lumpy, bad skin, the pale blue eyes, and the mouth that's perpetually bruised -- plus what the EW folks called a certain "rough, coarse sexuality." Probably one of the reasons why I feel so charitable toward Pine's Kirk, despite the fact that he's a dickwad for a large proportion of the movie.)

typicrobots has a pretty, pretty picspam of the movie.

1. Work. Devouring me from the bottom. Life is a bottomless pit of despair, etc.

2. Neil Gaiman is being awesome with skewering the fan with douchebaggy entitlement issues

George R.R. Martin is not your bitch. Ha!

By the way, I heard a rumour that they've cast Peter Dinklage as Tyrion for that HBO production of Song of Ice and Fire series (which... I didn't think was even in pre-production yet). I mean, OF COURSE. Who else would play Tyrion? I have yet to finish the second book of the series, which is not a reflection on the series but rather on my lazy reading habit. Well, OK, I got a bit weary of the unrelenting bloodsheds after a while, I admit. But now, I have a good motivation for picking it up again because... Peter Dinklage! And Tyrion is my favourite character in the book by far.

(Because I am ornery and contrary, I am half-resolved to hate Jaime Lannister, since he totally seems to be THAT GUY in fandom from what I've read/heard so far. You know, the Spike-Draco-Logan-Krycek type. But since I have a sad weakness for redemption stories, I fully expect I shall fold like a cheap dress eventually when I get to the next two books.)

3. The Star Trek character quiz, gacked from yhlee

( well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised )