charts, facts, figures

Ok, so I should be packing--as I'm pretty sure Younger Sister is very dedicated to leaving tomorrow for the parents' house--but musesfool posted a link to an amazing vid of The West Wing and I had to share it... and two others.

Rec Triad: Pop-up Video Version (December 2009)

* Rise by chaila42 - This video is an amazing look at the whole Bartlet cabinet through about season 4. I haven't seen this show in forever, but this single-handedly forced me to pull out my dvds to pack them, because lord is this a great show. The way the vidder has cut scene to word is genius; I had to watch it twice. (The West Wing, gen)

* One Girl Revolution by arefadedaway - How about a 155 girl revolution? No, seriously. This multi-fandom video looks at the plain old kick-assed-ness of female characters in fandom. Which fandom? A whole lot of them. Does an excellent job of matching beat to scene and picks out some nice moments from lots of shows.

* Dude! My Googlefu is awesome! I have found my third rec (because imeem has been swallowed up by MySpace which is gross and sad): In the Mirror by heresluck which is genius (all of her vid's are genius) and the timing is so sharp and the little touches of Ray Kowalski and the clenching of his jaw at Fraser is just... perfect. RayK/Fraser and lovely.


I win the internet and now to bed! *falls over*

Fortunately, Younger Sister has decided we're leaving early Friday morning. I can sleep the sleep of the victorious! Bring me the finest bagels in all the land when I awake! The end.

It has been months since I've done this, but here: have the All Fic Edition of the Rec Triad.

Rec Triad June 2009

I've been catching up on The Mentalist, which is an adorably quirky show with fun characters about a mentalist who uses his crazy observational skills (and charming adorable sexiness personality) to help solve crime. If you watch the show, you will enjoy this fic immensely: Red Tables Turning. Don't be alarmed by its placement on fanfiction.net--although after reading this one I totally took a spin through some more and woah, at times it was painful, yet hilarious. But, the story linked above gives a great outside view of Patrick Jane and how he acts when our favorite guys from the BAU show up to talk about Red John. I was not expecting the crossover insanity, and it was fun. Only two chapters, but I'd love a long, meaty look at how they'd help finally (I mean, seriously, guys, on Criminal Minds they find serial killers all the time in approximately 40 minutes, you haven't done it in 23 episodes!)

In a different vein, apparently I not only enjoy believable and interesting AU ideas (whether this means "and Hotch and Rossi have been together since he divorced Haley, trufax" or "hey, the BAU is all in the circus!"*) I just read a bandom AU fic (shut up, don't judge me) where Professor Gerard falls for Frank his hot TA (these guys are all from My Chemical Romance, fyi) which was tons of fun and cute. So go read jezrana's "In Which Gerard Is a Quirky College Professor and Frank Is the Best TA Ever", parts 1, 2, and 3 (with more drabbles here).

This got me thinking about other Professor!AUs, which reminded me that I loved the Due South version where Fraser and Kowalski teach English Lit (Punk Academic); this love of professor/colleague/pretty much equal dynamic goes a long way towards explaining my own Elementary!verse stories.

But there has to be a story where John shows up as Rodney's crazy-haired TA who seems to have no background in the hard sciences but then busts out with some genius theory during TA hours (which Rodney monitors, just to make sure it wouldn't be a totaly disaster) and the way John's hands sketch the arcs of a mathematical curve makes Rodney's throat dry. Isn't there one? I have such a great mental image of this... help me out, guys!



*Not that there is a BAU-inna-circus!AU, but there definitely should be. Think of it: Reid wows as the Smartest Man in the World! Prentiss doing gymnastics atop a horse, or something! Morgan the Strong Man! Garcia as the awesome girl behind the scenes! Hotch as the hard-working and stressed owner of the circus and Rossi as the old co-owner that left years ago after a disastrous show but is back now for some "unfinished business"! I think this could work well...

Two funny things from the past:

Intros from 80s cartoons.

And then? Intros of many 90s cartoons.

There was a cartoon in the 90s called "Sherlocks Holmes in the 22nd Century". How did I miss that???


Today was a slow paced day because Younger Sister was in bed sleeping off a stuffy nose (she just got over a cold and doesn't want it for Thanksgiving). We're either driving down tomorrow or the next day to the grandparents near San Luis, which will be the first time I've been to the "big" family holiday thing since I was... six? One of the sucky things about living on the other coast from a lot of your extended family. BUT, it's awesome to have extended family. Or any family at all. So it's definitely a thing to be thankful about.

I was thinking about this, and while there are definitely people I'm thankful about, and stuff (i.e., having a job, even though it's not full time, because the people are all awesome), there is stuff in fandom that makes me happy too. So first, the serious, and then the fantastic.

I'm so grateful that I have still have friends from grade school and high school that I keep in touch with, friends who are like family (rhymester, capedcrusader92, kumquat_queen, looking at you). And the highly awesome group of people from college, from my big-sister-in-English-majorness friede, my pals winkingstar, trifes and sadcypress to the newly-Mawrtered setissma XD

THEN, right at the divide between real life and the virtual joy of fandom are the people I've gotten to know through their stories and art, such as aesc (I was reminiscing about your Without a Trace fic the other day), sheafrotherdon, beadattitude and the_oscar_cat.

But I'm also thankful for the fact that Rodney always will use his hands when he explains, no matter the weird looks that John gives him. That whenever Sam's in trouble, Dean's got his back. That Captain Jack Harkness will flirt with everyone, and sometimes, everybody lives. I'm thankful the fanfic I've read recently, that makes me laugh, grin uncontrollably, or get all sniffly by turn. I'm incredibly thankful for the highly talented people who have recorded podfics (I have several gigs worth on my iPod), because there's something about hearing our boys just be themselves that puts a stupid grin on my face. I'm finally thankful that, for most of my fandoms, there are green ships and red ships, but no ships like partnerships.


Off to switch my laundry, but tell me: what are YOU thankful for, in life and in fandom?

So I (finally) finished the three icon-drabbles. Wow, I fail at speediness. But still, here they are!

I wrote an Stargate: Atlantis ramble for rhymester: ( The Weight of Water )

And a Due South vague Fraser/Kowalski for winkingstar: ( Heaven is a Place on Earth )

Also, a Harry Potter snippet for alemara: ( Hanging by a Moment )

Enjoy! If you gave me comments, I would heart it lots. And now I have to go pack more. Eep.

“...Fraser, if I’m still alive in the morning, remind me to beat you to death with a rotten fish.”

Ray had abandoned sitting sometime in the middle of hour three and was now half-lying propped against a relatively clean and dry rock near the edge of the tank. Fraser was sitting opposite, but he’d removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Damn, he looked like he lived here. Ray glared, but Fraser sat up a little straighter, a hint of starch in his tone.

“FDA code 37-dash-L explicitly states that murder by decaying food product violates at least eight separate kinds of—“

Leave it to Fraser to know the weirdest shit.

“Fraser, you wanna talk about violating? I’m feeling pretty damn violated right now and… Fraser. Fraser, the penguin is staring at me.”

“Which one, Ray?”

“Shit, the black and white one, you think I named him? That one, over there.”

It was on their ledge, most of the rest of them had lost interest but this one, oh, Ray could see it staring and its eyes were creepy and oh god, ew, help…

“Ah,” said Fraser. Helpfully.

“Ah?” Ray snapped “I’m getting the eye from a penguin, don’t you ‘ah’ at me!”

“Well, Ray, if it makes you feel better, the penguin in question happens to be male.”

“First off, I’m not sure I want to know how you know that, and second, why would I be happier that I’m getting hit on by a gay penguin?”

---

In other words, writing Fraser and Ray inna penguin tank. *giggle*

I'm having that mildly harried feeling that you always get on Sunday night, when I remember all the things I probably could have done that would make me more relaxed. Nothing earth-shatteringly important, but still, oops? Therefore, get a slightly stressed looking Kay Howard GIP. I'll have to stick in that show, I miss my Homicide Life on the Street, that was a great show. And it'll be a refreshing break from all the third season Due South. I mean, woah, lots of Fraser(/)Kowalski today. Fun but slightly overwhelming. :o)

I just saw the first episode of The Dresden Files and ( spoilers ).

Off to clean my room and take a shower and do other getting-ready-for-tomorrow things. Older Sister is watching BSG, which I'd be doing if I had been following any of the show at all. It looks fabulous, but I've missed so much I'll have to wait for DVDs and lots of free time. Oh well, not like I shouldn't be in bed anyway XD

With a Border gift card I'd forgotten I had, I bought the third season of Due South over Christmas, and so Older Sister, Playwright!Twin and I are watching it rather gleefully. God, I'd forgotten how great the dynamic was between Ray Vecchio Kowalski and Benton Fraser. So great. We're in the middle of "Strange Bedfellows" and not only is it so heartbreaking to watch Ray with Stella ("Was I ever like that?" "No, you always knew when to draw the line." Oh, Ray.) but amazing to see Ray and Fraser with their amazing double entendres and just lovely OTPness.

Oh, the amusingly heightened slashiness between Fraser and Kowalski is so great (though sister argues it's just an amusing long-running joke, and not homoerotic subtext. But can't it be both?) and Paul Gross and Callum Keith Rennie knew it. Oh, they knew it. I mean, look at these bloopers. *falls over laughing (and perhaps drooling)*

God, I have to read more Due South fic. Any recommendations? I'll have to go wander around Hexwood again also. Good times.

On the slightly more irritating side, I've been having icky stomach all night and random pains. Of course, I am just crazy, so that's not really shocking, but eh. Irritating all the same. Ow.

That time again! The wonder that is the rec triad. I know you've been quivering in antici...pation. *grin* Don't lie. It's perfectly clear. So, anyway, to liven up your July days, I greatly recommend the following Rec Triad:

Book:

Someone, on some site, mentioned that they "had to read To Say Nothing of the Dog because someone had told them it was full of Peter Wimsey allusions". This stuck in my mind and so I picked it up due to a Six Degrees of Separation sort of thing. All Wimsey aside (no pun intended), it's a really fascinating sci-fi timetravelly fantasy thing, that reads a little like a Wildean romance written by Jasper Fforde. Now that's a description you don't see very often, huh? If you've ever wondered about the payoffs and problems in time travel, or if you are amused/entertained by Jeeves/Wooster type stories, pick this up.

Fic:
Punk Academic by Hoyden. It's a Due South AU, Fraser/Kowalski, NC-17. Simply put, it casts Fraser as a new profesor in the English department of a Chicago university, with "Ray as an openly gay professor in his department and Stella as the headmistress". Yes, you read that correctly, but I swear it's a fabulous fic, as cracked out as that concept may sound. Some AUs thrust the characters into some situation and they lose all what made them that character (you know you've read them), but this one lets Ray and Fraser be exactly who they were... if they had been English professors. Also amusing because of the slightly cynical and sarcastic take on teaching it gives. I wish Ray had been one of my professors in college *swoon*

Song:

In honor of my renewed love of Ocean's 11, I give you A Little Less Conversation (A Little More Action) by Elvis Presley. OMG I love this song. Also, I am finding Paul Anka's swingy Big Band cover of Oasis' Wonderwall (you wouldn't think it would work) extremely appropriate for creating the correct mood for my O11 caper fic I am writing.

**

Wow, my sub-theme this time should be "You Wouldn't Think This Would Work/Be Good, But..."

Life continues apace, and I feel that clarity about the shape of the rest of my summer will surface soon. Maybe tomorrow. Which will also include the wonderful bizzarity that is Sweeney Todd with rhymester and one of alemara's friends. Joy! I shall attend the tale of Sweeney Todd! This should not amuse me so much...

Oh, and Due South-influence GIP. For those who know, it's from "You Must Remember This"when Fraser, Ray, Huey and Louis are playing poker... with matchsticks. Because Fraser would report them for gambling with real money. *snerk*