see what tomorrow brings

[aria]

Back in the Midwest! I feel very much like some awkward metaphor about a Rubik's cube or jigsaw puzzle or something else that can be rattled about and have a few bits missing; that said, though, there is something immeasurably relieving about falling back into routine. The grooves are reassuring, and I finally have the time to read manuscripts again. Having lunch with were_duck definitely helped too.

Other things that are helping: reading Pamela Dean's Tam Lin at a luxuriously leisurely pace. I cannot believe I never read it before. I cannot believe I didn't imprint on the damn book at thirteen. How have I conducted my life as I have without reading it? The advantage of reading it after college is that, with the exception of a few of the moderns, I get every single literary reference thanks to my silly degree. The disadvantage of reading it at all is that my writing starts to sound like Janet's internal monologue.

Incidentally, I thought I might try NaNo this year, not in a public posting sense but in a "get something original written!" sense. Then I looked at my WIP folder and laughed at myself. I suppose I could try to get at least 50,000 words of fic done this month! It's not as though I don't know I could.

Also: MUSIC.

i. First, getcher new Decemberists here! You have to join the mailing list, but if you join the mailing list you'll get gems in your inbox like the record will be called The King Is Dead and will be available on January 18th, 2011. That's 1/18/11. If you take away the slashes, that reads 11811. What does that mean? Must you ask? Clearly it is a snowman surrounded by a colonnade of waving banners. And once again I am soothed by the reassurance that the Decemberists are just as fucking absurd as I am. The song itself is called Down by the Water, twists at my heart in pretty much the same way all of their songs do the first time, and rhymes 'wrong' with 'anon' because lines like 'the summer swells anon' are always rife in Decemberists songs.

ii. Getcher new My Chemical Romance here! Or omg the Sing trailer here. I may be a bit in love with the Killjoys universe? We're approaching starry-eyed here.

iii. Amelia introduced me to The Clockwork Quartet; you can dl both their songs free, and then possibly for afters gnaw off your own hands with joy. Or at least you can if you are me. The Watchmaker's Apprentice gives me the same scary-grinning joy that The Mariner's Revenge Song does, only with fewer accordions and more tick-tocky noises. I am actually terrified of listening to The Doctor's Wife again, because I've already done the wide-eyed listening as I figure out the lyrics; I know if I hear it again, I will start sobbing. Basically it's like the Decemberists +100 STEAMPUNK. I didn't even know that was possible.

Comments

[were_duck]

I love Killjoysverse unreservedly. EEEEEEEEE!

[aria]

!!! I never would have guessed. :D

[were_duck]

:D Just for that, you get Sassy Show Pony .Gif.

[aria]

Zie is sassy indeed. :D

[feverbeats]

HNNNNNNNGH.

SHOW PONY, BE MINE. I WILL TREAT YOU RIGHT, AND I SMELL NICER THAN GERARD.

[were_duck]

:D I... THINK WE NEED TO BE FRIENDS. I LOVE SHOW PONY. SERIOUSLY. YOU SHOULD ASK ARIA HOW STUPIDLY OBSESSED I AM WITH HIR. AND I AM WRITING HIR IN THE BEST PAIRING EVER. EVERRRR.

I even actually watched Ricky Rebel's heinous original music videos just because he plays Show Pony. IT IS AWFUL. I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT. Except for the fact that he makes a dirty hot lady cop.

[feverbeats]

OKAY I HAVE BEEN MEANING TO FRIEND YOU FOR AGES, SO :D

. . . Clearly you need to provide links.

[were_duck]

I am SO SORRY for linking you this. I very seriously recommend watching it with the sound off.

[feverbeats]

I didn't take your advice! THAT IS GENUINELY ONE OF THE WORST SONGS I'VE EVER HEARD. Except I've kind of been earwormed by the bridge, if you can call something a bridge in a song that has approximately two lyrics.

otoh . . . hot.

[were_duck]

Right?? Okay and then even worse better is THIS song, which starts out with a vibrating phone (I seriously thought that it was Ricky using a vibrator in that bed, no lie), and then the song is about a married guy sneaking out on his wife to fuck Ricky. And for many reasons which are totally obscure to me, Ricky spends most of the video feeling up women? I'm not sure why this is a theme in his music videos, honestly! Could he not make out with some dudes while singing about... fucking dudes? I mean, making out with women is awesome, it can come off as fairly transgressive given how overtly queer he is, but I'm just saying, taken as a body of work... there could be some making out/dancing with male dancers, too.

But GUH bendy.

[feverbeats]

I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS:
1. Why is he wearing makeup to bed?
2. WHY IS HE MAKING OUT WITH LADIES?
3. Why is he wearing chains to bed?
4. WHY.

But yes, totally agreed. It reminds me of that Adam Lambert photoshoot with him and a lady. BIZARRE and faintly worrying.

[fahye]

I suppose I could try to get at least 50,000 words of fic done this month

DOOOOOOO IIIIIIIIT

Forcing myself to write 1000 words/day has been awesome so far!

[aria]

I am not sure I am disciplined enough to actually keep track of wordcount! I will try to WRITE LOTS, though. I think I can manage that.

[fahye]

I have post-it notes with the wordcounts of each fic at the beginning and the end of each night, because that sort of thing makes me happy :D

BUT. TAM LIN.

HAVE YOU REACHED THE LADY'S NOT FOR BURNING YET?

dkshsfkjadkjhfskh

Connie Willis is next, right?

[aria]

I think I would mostly get anxious if I had post-its! Or maybe I would be happy. Hmm. Perhaps I will try it.

YES I HAVE. Or at least I have reached bits of it! There might be more. Janet is only in her first term of sophomore year right now, even though I only have roughly 100 pages left. I love how freshman year takes up most of the book. :D

Connie Willis is indeed next! Although I am reading all of Vorkosigan as well, whenever the latest comes in at the library. Happily a friend gave me the Connie Willis, so it is safe in my hot little hands.

[fahye]

They are not anxiety-inducing, they are just an easy way to keep track. So far one of them looks like this:

Manor house
18283
19286
19871

Tonight I am determined that it will pass 20K!

[icepixie]

Tam Lin! I imprinted on it at eighteen, right before going off to Ye Old Tiny Midwestern Liberal Arts School (thankfully without fairies infesting the Classics department), and still consider it awesome. :D

[aria]

I love how it is sort of about every Small Liberal Arts College, though. I absolutely went to Blackstock for at least some of my college experience. Thankfully also without fairies. :D

[icepixie]

I love how it is sort of about every Small Liberal Arts College, though.

Well, that's what I meant--I think Blackstock is supposed to be based on Carleton in Minnesota, and I went to a similarly-sized school in Ohio, but pretty much all tiny LibArts school share a lot of features.

[nextian]

Other things that are helping: reading Pamela Dean's Tam Lin at a luxuriously leisurely pace. I cannot believe I never read it before. I cannot believe I didn't imprint on the damn book at thirteen. How have I conducted my life as I have without reading it? The advantage of reading it after college is that, with the exception of a few of the moderns, I get every single literary reference thanks to my silly degree. The disadvantage of reading it at all is that my writing starts to sound like Janet's internal monologue.

FINALLY

[aria]

YEAH YEAH I KNOW RIGHT.

[nextian]

HAHAHAH SO, I am sure you are mostly being all "Blackstock!!" but, can we talk about ROBIN. ELECTION FOR KING OF MY PANTS? I seriously love Thomas (mostly after sophomore year, as I recall) but ROBIN. HEARTSEYES. WHAT A DOUCHEBAG.

[aria]

OH MY GOD OF COURSE ROBIN IS KING OF YOUR PANTS. I am so deeply unsurprised. I am pretty fond of him too! Him and his stupid goatee.

Hilariously I went through a very brief Nick phase, mostly when he flipped out after Janet quoted Keats at him. I am starting to be all about Thomas instead, though. SHOCKER.

SING IT FROM THE HEART, SING IT TILL YOU'RE NUTS, SING IT FOR THE ONES THAT'LL HATE YOUR GUTS

[feverbeats]

SINCE WHEN ARE IN BANDOM

Are you properly in bandom WHAT IS GOING ON

GOD IH THE DECEMBERISTS I GUESS I SHOULD GO LISTEN

Re: SING IT FROM THE HEART, SING IT TILL YOU'RE NUTS, SING IT FOR THE ONES THAT'LL HATE YOUR GUTS

[aria]

I am not properly in bandom! I am ... adjacent to bandom country! Sometimes I eat Killjoys cupcakes and watch ALL THE VIDS, but only with someone kindly handholding for me.

...well that and I've listened to Na Na Na roughly 60 times and counting.

Re: SING IT FROM THE HEART, SING IT TILL YOU'RE NUTS, SING IT FOR THE ONES THAT'LL HATE YOUR GUTS

[feverbeats]

Ariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, a Bandom Thing is making me CRY. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME.

[sophia-sol.livejournal.com]

Knawing hands off with joy: I AM DOING THAT RIGHT NOW OH MY GOD.

[aria]

TALK TO ME ABOUT THE CLOCKWORK QUARTET.

ARE THEY NOT THE MOST AMAZING THING IN EVER.

[sophia-sol.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD YES! I WAS JUST -- INCOHERENT WITH GLEE AFTER FINISHING THE FIRST SONG. LIKE, I TOTALLY EXPECTED THE CLOCKWORK TO BE FOR KILLING THE CLOCKMAKER, BUT THE ACTUAL ENDING WAS JUST -- OH MY GOD YES. AND THEN THE SECOND ONE, I KINDA FIGURED WHERE IT WAS GOING, BUT IT WAS FANTABULOUS ANYWAYS, BECAUSE THE WAY THE SONG DESCRIBED IT WAS JUST PERFECT. AND THEN THE SOUND OF THE SONGS TOO! I KNEW I WOULD LOVE IT JUST FROM THE WAY THE FIRST SONG SOUNDED BEFORE IT EVEN GOT TO THE WORDS! IT'S JUST SO PERFECT. *cough* Um. I will stop now with the capslock...

[aria]

YES I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO KILL THE CLOCKMAKER TOO, BUT NO, AND THEN. AND OH GOD THE SECOND ONE. I STILL CAN'T BRING MYSELF TO LISTEN TO IT AGAIN. THERE WOULD BE SO MUCH SOBBING. God Sophia they are so good. :DDD

[sophia-sol.livejournal.com]

YES, AND THEN! AND THE LAST LINE IS JUST SO PERFECT.

AND THE SECOND ONE! THERE WERE, LIKE, TEARS IN MY EYES AT THE SAME TIME I WAS CLUTCHING MY CHEST IN HORROR! BECAUSE, YES, THAT. And, um, this is where I admit that I was kinda thinking of the Doctor character in the second one as the Doctor from Doctor Who, because -- he was called the Doctor! I couldn't help it! And that just made it even more tragic and horrifying. Because, um, I could kinda see him doing that. At least if he were Ten....

[anekdot]

FFFFF STEAMPUNK MUSIC sdojsdiohjshshijd. (Although ngl TOTALLY EXPECTED THE ENDING IN THE WATCHMAKER'S APPRENTICE TO BE GRISLIER. :PPPP) For some totally irrational reason I dig it a lot more because there's a "FULL SCORE" download option on the site. *_*

Speaking of music: I think you'll enjoy this.

[aria]

Godddd I know, right? (I expected it to be grislier too! I did not mind, though, instead of gruesome he was devious!)

FFF HELL YES THE CURSE. *_*

[anekdot]

I WANT THE APPRENTICE TO GO TO A PARTY WITH ALL OF COLIN MELOY'S ROGUES.*_* Also having listened to "The Doctor's Wife," fffff 1) it sounds like an AMAZINGLY HORRIFYING song from a TERRIFYING MUSICAL and 2) you make a steampunk song about doctor's talking about SCIENCE to cope with their FEELINGS and I automatically spell it "Doktor" in my miiiiind. :PPPPP

I HAVE THIS PROBLEM WHERE THE PUPPETS SCARE THE FUCKING SHIT OUT OF ME, BUT FFFFF. Josh Ritteeeeeer.

Actually while we're at it, have a similar Josh Ritter song from the same album. IT IS THE TRAGIC LOVE STORY OF A MAN... AND HIS SHIP.

[aria]

OH MY GOD THEY WOULD KILL EVERYONE IT WOULD BE GREAT. Um. And yessss the Doctor's Wife should totes be part of a tragic terrifying steampunk musical. (WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME, THINKING ABOUT THAT SONG STILL MAKES ME TEAR UP.) Doktorrrrr.

Ngl, puppets are kind of terrifying. ALSO MUMMIES. So yeah.

OH MY GOD YES. *_*

[starlady]

I need to read Tam Lin, because I went to college in that town. (I kind of suspect that if I had read the book I would have applied/gone to CarletonBlackstock.)

Clockwork Quartet looks awesome! And isn't the new Decemberists song good? I am EXCITED for the new album (plus new tour! I have seen them thrice so far, I want more!).

[aria]

I now sort of want some excuse to go stare at Carlton. I know how silly that is. :D And I highly recommend Tam Lin! It is by no means perfect, but it's very much My Kind Of Book.

dslkdkds new Decemberists tour! I too have seen them thrice (or maybe four times? I managed to catch the Long & the Short of It tour, so I had them two nights in a row; I can't decide whether that counts as one or two times). Did you manage to see their Hazards of Love tour? I desperately wish I had; I imagine it would've been amazing.

[starlady]

I saw The Hazards of Love tour, the summer 2007 tour, and the fall 2008 tour (we saw them two days after the election, it was great). Hazards of Love was indeed really awesome! But it's hard for me to say which show I liked best, they were each in really different venues, with different vibes.

Carleton is pretty! There is a random pond and an island on the campus, (also they sell 3.2 beer at The Cave) and it really feels like a random East Coast liberal arts school has been plunked down in Northfield, they even had one of those tree sculptures like they have/had at Swarthmore while I was there (in the town, not at Carleton). This doubtless is the origin of the joke:

Q: "How many Carls does it take to change a lightbulb?"
A: "50. 1 to change the lightbulb, and 49 to swear they could have gone to an East Coast school if they'd wanted to."

[aria]

Oh, that sounds lovely. :D And yeah, all the times I've seen them have been completely different venues and vibes, but all fairly awesome.

That really sounds like an East Coast college! There is a random pond & island at Smith too, come to that.

I think I want to start collecting college lightbulb jokes. Here is the other one I know:

Q: "How many Smith girls does it take to change a lightbulb?"
A: "It's Smith women, and that's not funny."

[starlady]

Ha ha! I don't even know my own college's lightbulb joke, I think it involves Bibles.

[bookfanatic]

I think I've listened to Na Na Na over 90 times. And as far as I can tell I'd never heard of My Chemical Romance before March. ( I have no idea how I missed them.)

I just downloaded Sing on my iPod just so I wouldn't have to wait until I got home from work. I'm going to listen to them all the way home!