Uffish Thought

I love libraries and librarians, but sometimes I just really appreciate the self-checkout machines. I can't imagine what someone would think about my latest haul of books - possibly that I was planning a revenge-flick-style sniper attack on someone who traumatized me, rather than the correct answer (i.e. writing fic about Clint Barton).

OMG, just wandered onto Facebook (everyone who knows me in RL, stifle your shock: I was going there to sign out because I saw myself signed in elsewhere and I find it very creepy when they track my movements like I'm a wounded commerce gazelle) and discovered that my kindergarten best friend has married.

And reproduced.

Twice.

With a guy who resembles Pete Wentz to a remarkable degree.

THIS IS VERY WEIRD FOR ME. I feel like we just dropping a block of concrete on my toe and playing horsies only yesterday! Of course, then there was the moving away and the moving back and the turning into the temporarily-evil queen bee of 4th grade drama. (there was a playground rebellion against her, I kid you not. I have valid reasons for despising drama! It was traumatic!)

Meanwhile, I'm over here figuring out how to sign up for basic utilities for the first time.

...Fuck it, I'm going to go preorder some books to comfort myself.

Yuletide is here! I got an amazing story for the film Weekend, which about a man named Russell having a one-night stand with a man named Glen, that turns into something more. It's a stunning little film, far and away my favorite of the twelve movies I saw at SXSW this year - now available on Netflix streaming, thank goodness, because it doesn't have DVD distribution in the US yet.

My gift was you cannot conquer time and it is GORGEOUS post-movie fix-it fic that somehow perfectly captures the characters and the tone of the movie (which I can barely believe the *movie* did, sometimes). Basically: 15,000 words of exactly what I wanted. *g* Yuletide Author, you are the best!

*****

Other awesome stories so far:

Taking The Stairs (Life)
Charlie, Ted, and Tidwell get stuck in an elevator together. I mean - the concept *alone*, right? But it's also a hilarious combination of Charlie in full-on Zen babble mode and some lovely character moments. ♥

The Team Player (Sports Night)
In which Kim is a PR ninja and everyone should worship her in awe. Why are there not already a million fics of this? It's basically canon.

A Madcap Proposal (Lost in Austen)
Post-miniseries, Caroline Bingley and Wickham team up and have Heyer-esque shenanigans in London. All the hysterically catty comments and engagement-of-convenience a girl could want!

In Uniform (B13)
Leito has feelings about Damian in his police uniform. JFC, awesome study of how violence and passion are intricately intertwined in their relationship. And fucking hot.

give me courage not to fear no one (Attack the Block)
Four weapons Moses used, and one he didn't. Why hello there, pitch-perfect Moses voice.

*****

Hey internet, can you recommend some good scifi books of the more lyrical/attention-to-prose/well-written vein? My sister ersatzemma was asking for recs for her boyfriend, but we basically came up with Ursula LeGuin. :| Ya'll can do better than that, I'm sure! He likes the beat poets, if that helps narrow it down any.

An oldie, but a classic! Tagged by gingerwall.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4-7 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest (unless it's too troublesome to reach and is really heavy. Then go back to step 1).

Luckily, I had the book I'm reading tucked beside my mattress, and I've already read page 123. It's really an adorable conversation, but all the jokes are sadly out of context here:

'Cabin'd, cribb'd, confined,' he supplied, adding grandiloquently: 'I'm bookish, too.'

A ripple of laughter broke from her. 'So I perceive! And that is just how it was in my family.'

'Was? Still is!'

Black Sheep, by Georgette Heyer

*****

Vaguely related: Has anyone read jimhines's novels? I keep getting linked to his posts, where he seems pretty consistently awesome and intelligent, and he seems to write fairy tale retellings with awesome ladies, which sounds right up my alley. I'd kind of like to buy his books in support of such a bastion of sanity, but I hate buying books that I end up not liking. Getting rid of books always feels like throwing out the Velveteen Rabbit, as silly as that sounds.

First of all, I haven't been getting some of my comments and replies - has anyone else had this problem?

The first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender is streaming on Netflix, if any of ya'll haven't had the chance to watch it yet. I really can't stress how much I love this show - it's this wonderful, epic, delightful thing that spends three seasons telling exactly the story it set out to tell, and doing so many things right along the way - awesome characters that are both heroic and still children, kickass female characters, incredible world-building and continuity, beautiful animation.

Animator Vs Animation: An utterly hilarious and creative Flash animation, in which a stick figure and cursor do epic battle in Paintshop Pro. Laugh-out-loud funny, and make sure to turn the sound on.

I've been craving good Holmes/Watson/Mary fic since I saw Sherlock Holmes, and I finally found some I like. recessional on Dreamwidth has been writing prompt table responses and her Mary is most excellent, and the balance of the three in the relationship is pitch-perfect.

Is there HTML code to link to DW users from LJ? I feel like I've seen it somewhere, but I can't recall how to do it.

Speaking of Sherlock Holmes, I've been reading a book about Victorian London, which, hilariously, starts with a chapter called "Smells", describing the sewage situation in the mid-1800s. There's a map of the sewer system used to drain and upgrade the old lines, and I was tickled pink to see that if a boat was heading downstream from the Houses of Parliament, there is in fact a major sewer line crossing the river's edge just past the bridge, port side, approximately 100 yards. See?

Fannish Friday 5
Who are your 5 favorite non-humanoid characters?

1. Diefenbaker (Due South)
2. Hobbes (Calvin & Hobbes)
3. Appa (Avatar)
4. Pilot (Farscape)
5. Bernard & Bianca (The Rescuers)

This was more difficult than I originally thought, because I realized non-humanoid is not the same thing as non-human, which rules out 99% of Star Trek, Star Wars, and other aliens & monsters. The first three spots were easy, but competitors for the last two included Elda (Dark Lord of Derkholm), Bunnicula, the Disreputable Dog & Mogget (Abhorsen books), Faithful/Pounce (Tortall books), Aslan (Narnia), Kazul (Enchanted Forest Chronicles), the Cowardly Lion (Oz books), and the Beaver (I Want to Go Home!).

Oh, dear. I made the mistake of reading the first few pages of Luck in the Shadows on Amazon, and ended up ordering the whole Nightrunner trilogy by Lynn Flewelling. Considering the number of recommendations I've had for it and my own appreciation of the opening, I suspect that I'm safe, but I wish I hadn't already ordered Empire of Ivory - it would have saved extra trips to the mail. As it was, I was forced to add Martha Wells' Entanglement to get free shipping: such a sad fate is mine.

Now the question is: when the hell am I gonna find the time to read them? Last weekend was literally the first time since school started that I haven't had to a) shoot a film or b) drive to New Haven to buy apartment crap at IKEA (also an excuse to visit my roommate's adorable brother at Yale, with whom I always end up arguing the merits of film vs theatre).

I'm having a fantastic semester: three film classes and West African dance. Heaven! So I've watched over 20 movies since school started, and that's not including all the one-reel silent films from my Action and Adventure class. Higgins does love his silents, but he provides hilarious commentary, so we love them, too.

A lot of them are for my Race and Film class, though, and therefore heavy on the offensive/bad end of the spectrum. I watched Birth of a Nation on fast-forward (the benefit of it being silent and me being fast at reading intertitles).

Additional trivia:
--Isabella Rossellini donated money and some of her mother's collection to our film center, a fact learned while snacking outside the editing room.
--My production prof used to teach at UT/work in Austin, so we bonded over missing Tex-Mex the first day of class. Also, he make ninja filmmaker jokes.
--I have three radically different types of dance this semester: West African, rapper sword dancing, and swing.
--I haven't watched a single TV premiere or pilot :(
--All my classes are within 100 feet of each other.
--Rudy Valentino was a damn attractive man, but don't watch The Sheik. Skip straight to the sequel, Son of the Sheik, in which Rudy has some great scenes with himself.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open it to page 161.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

"However, since I am fairly trapped, let me make the best of it."

From Boswell's London Journal, 1762-63, ed. Frederick A. Pottle

Hmph. Frankly, the first sentence was much more juicy:
"Thus ended my intrigue with the fair Louisa, which I flattered myself so much with, and from which I expected at least a winter's safe copulation."

Wow, sounds like a real charmer.

So, Jenny's been sending me Doctor Who episodes, and I'm in the middle of a two-parter when Gmail locks down my account for "Unusual Usage." *screams* *throws tantrum*

I don't handle fannish deprivation very well. The episode is within minutes of my grasp, and I'm being denied. Very childish of me, but that's the way it is.

To distract me: The Guardian's Top Twenty Geek Novels, gacked from marag:
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