the boys are too refined

Friday Night Lights

( spoilers )

***

White Collar

This episode was full of "Hey it's that guys!" ( spoilers )

***

pet peeve of the day:

it's spelled PER SE. It means by, in, or of itself : as such : intrinsically. not PER SAY, which is just WRONG. If you don't know how to spell it, DON'T USE IT. Because spell check is not going to pick that one up.

Whew. I feel better now.

***

I barely managed to stay awake on the subway coming home tonight, so I took a long nap, but I am still all sleepy. I am very much looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

***

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I did have things to say about Bones, but I don't remember what most of them were. ( spoilers )

***

Supernatural: Changing Channels

( rambling about the episode, with spoilers )

I will probably have more thoughts tomorrow.

( spoilers for next week's preview )

Oh, also, here is Matt Roush's review of the episode. (Spoiler: he really liked it.)

***

Damn, I totally didn't realize that the parade tomorrow is going to fuck with my commute (or my walk to the office after the subway, anyway). Maybe I will sneak out of work and try to see some of it. I did in 1996, when I worked down on Wall St. (I mean, I literally worked in a building on Wall St., not that I worked in the financial industry at that time.) and it was kind of awesome, even though they are not my team. Hmm...

***

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Answers to the mini-dvd commentary meme. The offer is still open, if you're interested after this scintillating discussion. *snerk* I had fun, anyway.

( Back from the Great Beyond for little_missmimi )

***

( We Killed Yamamoto for elliemurasaki )

***

Last night, I dreamt that two fangirls had moved into my bedroom in my parents house, while I was trying to live in it, and they were moving my stuff around and taking over my space and I was an unhappy camper, and my parents were like, "but we were just trying to help!"

I don't even know what to do with that. I just know that I woke up disgruntled and er, have remained so. My gruntle has been dissed. Or something.

***

I'm not a Yankees fan, but I thought they were kind of adorable last night. And I really don't like the Phillies, though I think they are a really good team, so I can't be too upset with the outcome.

***

New show tonight! YAY! I am looking forward to this one a lot. Plus, new Bones, too!

Ah, tv, never leave me!

***

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I was busy chatting with angelgazing about yuletide, so I maybe wasn't paying as close attention to Criminal Minds as I should have been, but that was okay because ( spoilers )

***

In case you missed it, I have a poll up to gauge interest in a possible Dark Angel end of the year fic exchange. I'd need at least ten people willing to play to run the thing, and right now that does not look like it's happening, but I'll leave the poll open until tomorrow afternoon, so if you are interested in such a thing, you should let me know.

***

Mini-dvd commentary meme seen everywhere:


Pick a paragraph / passage / scene from any story I've written, and comment to this post with that selection [Note: Please include the title/fandom]. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

Just so you know, the older something is, the less I remember, and I would prefer not to talk about the XMM or SV stuff.

***

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filling out my yuletide signup is HARD!

I thought I had it all figured out, and while two of my requests are rock solid GIMME GIMME (Middleman! The Queen's Thief!), I am kind of like, I could ask for this, but I also want that, and what about this and oh, I forgot about that! So I have just spent all this time filling it out and now I am like, is that really what I want to request? I mean, Big Bang Theory! Warlock! but also, Flora Segunda! Smekday! Lucifer! The Sound and the Fury! L'Engleverse! White Collar! Ten Inch Hero! Omg, Up! I could ask for Carl/Ellie! Sports Night is eligible! I could ask for a Dan/Jeremy/Natalie threesome or a Dan/Dana/Natalie threesome that otherwise no one would ever write!

And even with the caveat that I am only going to offer to write things I would be excited about writing, the list is... long. Longer than planned.

Maybe I will do what I did last year - submit, mull, and then resubmit closer to the deadline. Even though it takes forever to sign up.

My life, so hard!

*goes back to filling out the form*

***

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V

I have very fond memories of the original mininseries(es?) and the series that resulted from them, but I wasn't particularly excited about this remake, even with Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyk in it. I enjoyed it, but it didn't set me on fire. As giandujakiss said, ( spoilers )

***

I'm watching The Good Wife, but man, it is a snoozer of a show. I like Alicia and Kalinda and Will, but it never really engages me. Sigh.

***

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This whole waking up every 90 minutes throughout the night thing is not working for me. I mean, I went to bed early enough that I don't feel completely braindead, but I'm still really sleepy.

I totally forgot it was election day until my alarm went off and the news was all, "Election day!" so I went and voted on my way to work. Usually I get up early and am at the polling place when it opens (it is literally across the street from my apartment). This is a holdover from when I used to live in Queens, as my parents always voted at 6 am sharp and were the first people on line. Last year, the line was long but I did not have to wait on it, since I knew my Election District; this year, there was practically nobody in the place. I held my nose and voted for mayor - seriously, I did not like either candidate, but I had to vote against Bloomberg for being an entitled fucker who ignored the voters' wishes and overturned term limits so he could run again. It's not that I am even in favor of term limits (though possibly I voted for them? I don't recall) so much as I am not in favor of a politician setting aside the will of the voters so he could have his own way, like a spoiled brat who doesn't understand that it's not his toy and he has to give it back at the end of the day. I wish the Democrats had found someone more appealing to run against him.

Leo McGarry would not approve of these shenanigans.

***

Big Bang Theory

( spoilers )

I had a hard time staying awake through Castle, so I really have no idea what the hell was going on, but I did like his scenes with Alexis, and the HITG was the demon priest from Sin City.

***

I would like to write, but I am still a little too sleepy and unfocused. I love to sleep so much! Why is it so hard sometimes? It makes no sense! Wah!

***

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Stuff. And also, things.

+ I slept poorly last night. This is a crappy way to start the week, lemme tell you. And it is still too freaking cold to sleep on the LIRR.

+ Already in (email) conversation today, I have quoted Jeremy Goodwin* and big gay (totally not dead) Larry**. this pleases me.

+ I started writing a story last night that is supposed to be tiny and humorous, and meh, I do not like it at all. It's not funny and it's not interesting. Meh. It's a lot of blah blah blah, as you know, Bob, and that is just bad. It's a funny concept! I just haven't figured out how to make it work. I have other wsip to work on in the meantime.

+ Lastly, my copy of Crush arrived, so I typed this up, since I couldn't find a full version of it online:

Driving, Not Washing

It starts with bloodshed, always bloodshed, always the same
                                       running from something larger than yourself story,
shoving money into the jaws of a suitcase, cutting your hair
         with a steak knife at a rest stop,
and you're off, you're on the run, a fugitive driving away from
                                                 something shameful and half-remembered.
They're hurling their bodies down the freeway
                                                 to the smell of gasoline,
which is the sound of a voice saying I told you so.
                                                                       Yes you did, dear.
Every story has its chapter in the desert, the long slide from kingdom
         to kingdom through the wilderness,
                    where you learn things, where you're left to your own devices.
Henry's driving,
         and Theodore's bleeding shotgun into the upholstery.
It's a road movie,
         a double-feature, two boys striking out across America, while desire,
                   like a monster, crawls up out of the lake
with all of us watching, with all of us wondering if these two boys will
         find a way to figure it out.
                                                            Here is the black box, the shut eye,
the bullet pearling in his living skin. This boy, half-destroyed,
          screaming Drive into that tree, drive off the embankment.
                                                                          Henry, make something happen.
But angels are pouring out of the farmland, angels are swarming
          over the grassland,
Angels rising from their little dens, arms swinging, wings aflutter,
         dropping their white-hot bombs of love.
                                        We are not dirty, he keeps saying. We are not dirty...
                   They want you to love the whole damn world but you won't,
you want it all narrowed down to one fleshy man in the bath,
                                       who knows what to do with his body, with his hands.
It should follow,
         you know this, like the panels of a comic strip,
                   we should be belted in, but you still can't get beyond your skin,
and they're trying to drive you into the ground, to see if anything
                                                                                                   walks away.

~Richard Siken

So very Sam/Dean. Sigh.


--
* "...A full house. Dan already folded the 6 you needed and I have the other one. You don't have a house of any sort. You don't have a pup tent. You've got trip-7s and I have a straight. I want you to trust me right now. I want you to say to yourself, 'Yeah, I've dated a string of jerks in my life. They were stupid, they were mean to me, but maybe this one's different. Maybe I should take a chance and not adopt the break-up-with-him-before-he-breaks-my-heart strategy.' I want you to remember that when I started liking you, I didn't stop liking tennis. And I want you to know that I don't think there's a woman in the world that you need to be threatened by, no matter how glamorous you think she is. But mostly, I want you to trust me, just once, when I tell you that you have three 7s... and I have a straight."

**"This is our year, I'm telling you. Best football season ever. I'm so in shape, I'm a rock. It's all about egg whites. If we can focus, keep discipline, and not have quite as many mysterious deaths, Sunnydale is gonna *rule!*"

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I stayed out on the island and went to dinner tonight for my mother's birthday, and now I am all sleepy and it is only 6:30 but it's full dark. Sigh. I do not like that it gets dark so early and stays dark for so long. Sigh.

I also do not like that the Giants have apparently completely forgotten how to play football. Sigh.

Let's do the monthly wrap-up:

Top 5 songs - October 2009

5. Momentum - Vienna Teng

4. For Blue Skies - Strays Don't Sleep

3. You Know You're Right - Nirvana

2. Alphabet of Hurricanes - Tom McRae

1. Psalms 40:2 - the Mountain Goats

~*~

Monthly writing roundup - October 2009

The Dover Test
Supernatural; Dean/Risa; adult; spoilers through 5.04; 1,606 words
If she doesn't laugh, she'll cry.

Or Perish Together as Fools
Supernatural; Sam/Dean; pg; spoilers through 5.04; 1,000 words
If they fail, at least they'll fail together.

He Shall, from Time to Time...
Supernatural; Sam and Dean; spoilers through 5x05; pg; 2,530 words
In which Sam closes the (imaginary) door, but later opens it.

One Wing of Silence
Supernatural; Sam and Dean; spoilers through 4.22 only; pg; 2,020 words
This is one secret he can help Sam keep.

Wireless and Lawless
Supernatural; Sam and Dean; pg; no spoilers; 2,150 words
In which Dean thinks he's Tony Stark and Sam wants to be Sonny Crockett.

~*~

I should probably try to write this evening, but I think I am in for a spot of comfort rereading and maybe some bubble shooter, which is completely and ridiculously addictive.

Sigh.

~*~

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I has a White Collar icon. Though I'd really like a good icon that also includes Elizabeth. That pic where Peter and Elizabeth are kissing while Peter is handcuffed to Neal? Surely someone has made icons out of that.

This week's episode continued the adorable. ( spoilers )

So I uploaded this icon, and that's fine on DW, where I now have 250 slots, but I only have 199 slots on LJ, so I had to do some shuffling, which is always hard for me. No matter how much I am like, "Eh, I never use that icon, I will totally switch it out when I find something I like better," I am always all, "but I can't switch out that icon! I've had it forever!" even though I never use it. It makes things difficult, especially since I know if I don't have an icon with the same keyword on LJ, I probably won't use it to post via DW.

My weird quirks, let me show you them.

***

Happy Halloween!

It's not really much of a holiday to me - it's my mother's birthday, so that overshadows everything else. And also, I am just not into being scared. I don't like it at all. And I am meh about dressing up. I do like the candy, though, so that's a win. And I enjoy seeing little kids enjoying themselves.

***

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Alyssa and I went to see Where the Wild Things Are tonight and that was one of the saddest movies I have ever seen in my life. I mean, like, existentially sad. Exceptionally melancholic. I mean, I think it was brilliant in the way it captures (and evokes) the visceral emotions of being a kid, the moodswings from utter joy to sheer desolation, from warm contentment to the gut-punch of fear and loneliness and then never all the way back, like a pendulum that never quite reaches the apex of its arc and is slowing to a stop, or the decrescendo of a swing when your legs are tired and you're getting ready to jump off. But sad with the knowledge that sometimes broken things can't be fixed, even when we want them to be, and sometimes it's ridiculous to even try (the arm!) but we have to anyway, to keep going.

The kid who played Max was fantastic, as were the actors playing the monsters. Oh, my heart.

I recommend seeing it, but you should probably bring tissues.

Anyway, I just got home a few minutes ago, so I haven't seen tonight's "White Collar" yet. Tomorrow, I guess.

***

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unfitforsociety has been updated with 16 recs for October 2009:

+ 11 Supernatural
+ 3 crossovers
+ 1 each Castle and Star Trek Reboot

Speaking of recs, I've been reccing SPN on crack_van this month, so I'll be posting those here when I'm done, though I don't believe there's anything I didn't already rec on unfitforsociety. (I also spent a little time revising the interests there, though they're still not quite right. Hmm...)

Also speaking of recs, you guys, I keep thinking about the Friday Night Lights season premiere and IT WAS SO FREAKING GOOD. WHY DO KYLE CHANDLER AND CONNIE BRITTON NOT HAVE A MILLION EMMYS*?

WHY DO MORE PEOPLE NOT WATCH THIS SHOW**?

IT IS NOT A SHOW ABOUT FOOTBALL. It is an AWESOME show about PEOPLE that sometimes has football in it. It's about football the way Sports Night was about sports. Football is a framework to hang stories on, and a prism through which to see characters, but it's not... you don't need to care about football to love this show.

I just... I think it's the best show on television right now (I don't watch Mad Men, but one day I will get around to it), and it makes me sad that more people don't watch it and love it the way it should be watched and loved. The writing, the acting, the directing, the cinematography, the music - it's so good - real and true and heartbreaking and I can't even articulate how good it is. *flails*

So, you know, if you have DirecTV, or if you have, ahem, alternative means of viewing television, Friday Night Lights should be at the top of your list. Trust me. Have I ever steered you wrong***?

In other TV news, I sometimes venture off my flist to f2 or my network or whatever we're calling it these days, and sometimes it works out great - I find new fic or icons or interesting stuff - and sometimes it scares the crap out of me.

You know, I knew there were people out there who hate Sam Winchester - I've seen it in their fic and their recaps, and once I've seen it, I try to avoid ever seeing it again because 1. Sam Winchester is AWESOME and 2. SAM WINCHESTER IS MORE AWESOME THAN YOU, and 3. he was A++ SUPER AWESOME**** in last night's episode, and yet, there are still people who hate him. I clicked out of those posts quickly, but I have to be honest: my kneejerk reaction is SHUN THE UNBELIEVERS! KILL THEM WITH FIRE*****!

Possibly I have had caffeine today for the first time in a while. Um.

My more rational reaction is to click out and avoid going off my flist for a while, and to feel sad and confused that there are people out there who hate Sam, until I remember how awesome he is and how much he loves Dean and Dean loves him, and then I am okay.

Lastly, speaking of awesome things and awesome TV shows, etc., chicklet_girl alerted me to the fact that next year, students at Harvard will be able to take a course about The Wire. *is jealous*

Is it time to go home yet?

How about now?

...Now?

--
*Because the Emmys are dumb and out of touch, yes, but regardless!

**Okay, I know why now, because it's on DirecTV, and also the second season on NBC had that dumbass murder plotline, which is up there with the dumbest things ever - that kind of plot might work on Melrose Place, but Friday Night Lights isn't that kind of show. But season one was one of those perfect seasons of TV, you know? Even with some small bobbles, it was still utterly amazing.

***Wait, don't answer that.

****This is not a spoiler.

*****Hello, irony.

~*~

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Supernatural: The Curious Case of Dean Winchester

( random rambling with spoilers )

***

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Friday Night Lights

( clear eyes full hearts can't lose )

I think that was a good start to what will hopefully be an excellent season.

Now I have to go shower before SPN comes on.

***

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NBC is ordering six more episodes of "Chuck" from Warner Bros.

That's in addition to the 13 already ordered.

The network has not yet confirmed, but sources say this is a "done deal."

The original plan was for "Chuck" to return in March.

Now sources say "Chuck" will likely return in January and will be partnered with "Heroes" on Monday nights. (source)

(thanks to amberlynne for the heads up)

\o/

***

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1. So it appears that 1. people think I should just do a recs update anyway, and 2. a majority of people prefer "Pepper" by the Butthole Surfers to the other songs listed. Or maybe they just mind the sun less than other things. (Poor Morrissey. Most people mind if you forget them.) I wish we had some sun here. It's been grey and rainy for days, and apparently will continue to be so. Sigh.

ii. I wrote last night! A totally new story that was not on any of my lists, but. uh, 285 words so far. Yay!

C. Friday Night Lights returns tonight. On DirecTV, so you know, YAY! Well, a small YAY! because I don't know when exactly I will get to see it. But after last season's awesome, I am hopeful.

d. ignited has a info on a casting side and episode title for SPN episode 12. ( spoiler )

You know, I am generally pretty laid back about spoilers - I don't mind episode titles and casting spoilers (sometimes I don't think they even ARE spoilers, but whatevs) and even TV-guide like blurbs, though I don't like to know plot twists ahead of time - but back in my BtVS days, I became anti-spoiler because I'd read them and speculate and get all bent out of shape and it was damaging my enjoyment of the show. Now, with SPN, I feel like I kind of need some small cushion of spoilers, in case there is something I'll find upsetting and need to brace for. It's kind of a weird change. I mean, I am really enjoying s5 so far (but then, I really liked s4 for the most part), but I don't really trust the PTB. I never do. (note: that is not an invitation to tell me I should trust them, and why you do.) I'm most wary of the shows I'm most invested in, and right now, that's SPN, which has certainly given me cause to be wary in the past. Sigh.

V. via various people on my flist and delicious network: Women in WWII is a series of fantastic photographs of women who fought (for various values of "fought") in WWII. That first image of women firefighters at Pearl Harbor is AMAZINGLY AWESOME.

f. I am still trying to figure out what to ask for and offer in yuletide. I have two requests figured out (Middleman! The Queen's Thief!), I think, but I am still torn on the others, especially as the other things I really want (Max/Alec, Booth/Brennan, Morgan/Garcia, Tony/Pepper) are all ineligible. And I am resolved this year to only offer a small handful of things I'm excited about writing, rather than anything I think I might be interested in writing. We'll see how that goes.

7. Here's another Richard Siken poem that is totally angsty Sam/Dean to me.

Wishbone

( You saved my life he says I owe you everything )

*

I totally want to name a story "my tongue in your mouth like the hand of a thief" and also "turn myself into a gun." So much inspiration there. Sigh.

***

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I just got my first ever flu shot (seasonal, not h1n1). I didn't even bleed. Hopefully this is a good sign. It was the first shot I'd had since I got an MMR booster when I was in college, but since I used to donate blood fairly frequently it was not a big deal. I still don't like needles, though.

***

I was looking over my delicious, because the end of the month is approaching and that's usually when I do my recs update, but I currently only have 13 stories on the list. That is a very small update - usually I have between 30 and 40 stories, but this month I haven't read a lot (and I guess what I have read hasn't really made an impression) - I've mostly been rereading favorites and comfort reads. I don't find near as many stories that interest me as I used to. This makes me sad.

Anyway, in the past once or twice when this has happened, I've just postponed the update until the next month so there was a larger number of stories being recced, but maybe I should just post them (they are all SPN or SPN crossovers) and hope that next month there will be more fic that piques my interest.

What do you think?

Take the poll on LJ.


***

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Castle

( spoilers for the Halloween episode )

***

My niece got us tickets for the Bon Jovi concert next May, when he's opening the new Giants stadium. He's definitely on my list of artists I've always wanted to see. this should be an interesting experience, though - along with me and my niece, my sister and my brother-in-law's sister are going.

Also, my niece was grilling me about why I don't write HP fic anymore (she suggested some Luna/Neville sekrit baby fic, and you guys, she doesn't even know about my weakness for sekrit baby fic!) and I was like, you should catch up on Supernatural so you can read my stories in that. And then I was saying I don't know what to write next - I've got the depressing season 5 casefile, I've got the Dean/Sam/Pam, and I've got the Dean/Wendy fight zombies and make out story, and she was like, zombies! Always go with zombies.

I think she has fine baby fangirl instincts (not a baby anymore, really; she's 19. How did that even happen?), though I have a feeling I might work on the depressing casefile and the Dean/Sam/Pam instead. I feel like I need to do a Middleman rewatch to get the Dean/Wendy going. We'll see, I guess.

***

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Meh. I went to bed late (stupid Giants) and woke up at 5:30 am and didn't get back to sleep. Since I didn't go home yesterday, I had a whole long trainride to nap, but it was so freaking cold I couldn't get comfortable.

*yawn*

It's 10:15 am and I already want the day to be over. (This is why I usually go home on Sunday afternoon, but the LIRR was doing all sorts of trackwork and nonsense yesterday, and also I think there was no E service? So going home would have basically eaten my whole afternoon.)

***

I posted a story yesterday:

Wireless and Lawless
Supernatural; Sam and Dean; pg; no spoilers; 2,150 words
In which Dean thinks he's Tony Stark and Sam wants to be Sonny Crockett.

( cut for long-winded blather about the story and because you should never explain your jokes except I am totally doing that )

Anyway, it amused me, and since innie_darling has a standing request for happy!Dean, it seemed fitting. Thanks to everyone who's commented. I really appreciate it.

***

I suppose I must do some work now. Sigh.

***

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Wireless and Lawless
Supernatural; Sam and Dean; pg; no spoilers; 2,150 words
In which Dean thinks he's Tony Stark and Sam wants to be Sonny Crockett.

Written for the lovely and talented tenaciousmetoo and innie_darling's birthday. Sorry it's late. Thanks to angelgazing for handholding.

( Wireless and Lawless )

~*~

Feedback would be awesome.

~*~

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