a conspiracy of cartographers

CRYING LAUGHING.

( Under the cut is the excerpt of an entry I wrote in May 2006, dithering over whether to watch Supernatural. Seriously. Supernatural, 2006. )

Anyway that is all quite silly, and since I should perhaps continue as I began, I'm going to talk about another ridiculous TV show! This one is Eternal Law, which I suspect was created when a bunch of producers got together, listed a lot of the concepts popular on TV right now, and then threw a dart at the list. The darts landed on ANGELS and LAWYERS, which -- why the hell not, I am so there!

I can't actually give anything like a proper review, because I've only seen the first ten minutes and then life interfered, but so far there has been lots of the city of York, a naive and totally adorakble angel named Tom who keeps trying to sing (he was in the heavenly choir!) and a long-suffering angel named Zak who is played by Sam West and has already said "bugger all," which -- I am not sure I have mentioned that in my Good Omens fantasy casting, Sam West absolutely plays Aziraphale? So now, even if he doesn't, my life is a little more complete.

Yuletide reveal time! I've just the one story: Taking In, Young Wizards. I am the water, and the waves, or Ronan Nolan's Ordeal. Just a short character sketch, but I am fond of it. Also I am a bit proud of myself for actually writing something reasonably short for once.

And happy new year! On this the advent of 2012, I have made a number of small resolutions, mostly along the lines of finishing various writing projects and making an effort to take better care of myself. That's just the usual nonsense, though; the important thing is that I am looking forward to this year so much. I am switching cities and moving in with my BFF, I am determined to expand my social circle in said city, I have two cons to go to (and I'll probably engage in the yearly debate with myself over whether to try for VividCon, and probably decide yet again to go next year) and a delightfully large number of my US friends to see. I fully expect this coming year to be challenging and sometimes exhausting and a bit scary, and also delightful and full of adventure and deeply rewarding. Bring it on, 2012, I'm armed with all the determined enthusiasm I have. Let's do this thing.

And even though right now is probably a terrible time to post fic, as it is still Yuletide season, I wrote some giftfics for Emma and Amelia, and I wanted to post them before the end of the year. And so:

+ Advanced Covert Dating, Troy/Abed(/Annie). "Hey, Abed?" Annie said. "Are you and Troy having secret sex?"

+ Better Than A Win, Aziraphale/Crowley. Aziraphale would have missed (or perhaps deliberately ignored) the nuance of together, but Crowley was a man-shaped being of the world, and knew what was being asked. "We've been around since -- for a while," he said. "But it's not like that."

Nonhuman sexualities! Roleplay! Future threesomes! A source I haven't written fic for in years, and another I've never written before! And both of them are only about 1200 words, too.

And this morning I have a Yuletide treat!

Get What You Want [Whip It]
This is a wee Bliss/Pash fic, and utterly delightful! There's the derby team being encouraging, and jokes about hipsters, and Bliss making a typical spur-of-the-moment decision, and it makes me all fuzzy and happy.

In other news, in between my Yuletide reading, I ... seem to be watching Dark Angel. I've been meaning to for a while anyway, because one can never have too many post-apocalyptic Seattle cityscapes and girls with superpowers and canonical lesbians (whom the writing doesn't fail too often, though I still twitch occasionally, aaand we did have a dead lesbian a few episodes ago, but I'm pretty sure Original Cindy makes it) and it is kind of delightful! I am waiting for it to get awful in second season or something, but to be perfectly honest I might not even notice, because I just hit the season one episode with baby Jensen Ackles and temporarily lost all my critical thinking functions -- jury's still out whether this is because I've trained myself to see Jensen's face and shut down critical thinking skills so I don't try to reach through my computer and murder the episode writers, or because baby Jensen is just that fucking beautiful. Probably a bit of both!

Drifting off to sleep last night, I began idly wondering what a Dark Angel/Supernatural fusion would be like, but that thought is better cut off at the pass, because it would turn into an epic in which Dean and Sam and Jo and, fuck it, Cas and Gabriel and Ruby and Anna, all escape Manticore as children; Sam and Dean manage to stay together for a couple of years, and when they have to split up, Dean keeps moving, and Sam ends up being adopted by Bobby and pretending to live a normal life for a while. Obviously then they meet up again and go on the run, and Dean is obsessed with finding their other siblings, and Sam just wants to be ~normal~, and I'm not sure who's after them from Manticore, if it's John or Zachariah or what, but IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE I'M NOT WRITING IT.

In conclusion, baby Jensen Ackles.

As usual, Christmas morning is a glorious explosion of joy thanks to the magic of Yuletide. Not only did I get my main Yuletide gift, but I have a treat yet to be revealed. Those go live ... tomorrow? Greatly looking forward to it, anyway.

Have done with sorrow [Demon's Lexicon]
This is Nick/Alan, post-series, and EVERYTHING THAT I WANT. (Seriously, I would have been happy with any of the fandoms that I asked, but I wanted DL fic most, and of all possible pairings, Nick/Alan most too. Finding exactly what one wants under the virtual tree is so great.) Nick's narrative voice is perfect, angry and half-articulate and viciously funny; it's lovely to see the Market a few years in the future, and the ways in which everyone hasn't stopped being damaged. My author is either someone on my rlist or someone who researched me but good after being assigned me, because this hits all my narrative kinks. I just want to read it a million times and bask.

My gifts under the proper tree were quite excellent too: I got a slew of Sandman, and two lovely thick Sherlock Holmes anthologies, and a truly alarming amount of chocolate. Also polarisnorth sent me these little guys (Sam, Dean, Cas, and Impala art charms); I plan to hang the boys on the tree and use the Impala as a keychain. So adorbs.

I would plan to use the rest of today to start sinking into the Yuletide archive, but actually I will be baking pies and watching Muppet Christmas Carol and Love Actually and the Doctor Who Christmas special. Perhaps I can sneak a bit of Yuletide between times.

It is pouring rain, which is not the midwinter snow I always desire but is still comfy sweater weather, and I have painted my nails gold, just cos. Today I think is a day to curl up and talk about fandom things!

i. HOBBIT TRAILER. I love everything about it! I love all the dwarves (distinctive enough that I have tried to resolve to learn which is which by the time the film comes out, although I'm fairly sure that as long as I can keep track of Thorin, Fili, Kili, Balin, and Bombur, I'll have my important bases covered). I love the clear determination to tell the dominoed events that culminate in Lord of the Rings, because that's apparently everything I've ever wanted from an expansion of the Hobbit; WHITE COUNCIL, PLZ. And I love Bilbo so, so much. I loved him more than anything when I was four, and I don't think I've ever managed to stop. This time next year I'm going to be a delighted sobbing mess of Hobbit emotions, I suspect.

ii. Four new Sherlock trailers, while we're on the subject of Martin Freeman In Everything. Despite having felt tetchy with Sherlock ever since Blind Banker was made of fail, I am quite willing to be excited. Mostly because ( cut for spoilery trailer things. )

iii. End of the year fandom meme! ( My ability to remember what fandoms are from what years is terrible at the best of times, but I'll give it a go. )

And now LUNCH. Also, I will attempt to not be too amused at everyone's alarm over the latest LJ debacle. Come to the Dreamwidth side, guys, it's nice here and you don't even need an invite code right now.

Today I went to see Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows! ( Spoilers keep killing the dog. )

For reasons passing understanding (or, really, because filia_belialis texted me to ask if I had a twitter yet, and Amelia possesses EVIL MIND POWERS or something) I have a twitter now! Twitter is cool! Twitter is probably only cool like bowties are cool.

In any case, I am dearmelee (for reasons, mostly that both daisiestdaisy and every variation on aria that I liked were already taken) and I would like to be twitter buddies, or whatever it is that you kids do on twitter. Tell me who you are!

This is a post about dreams I had, and therefore completely self-indulgent and not terribly interesting! But for reasons unknown, I don't just keep a DW for posting about dreams. (Maybe I should! But then I would have to admit to keeping a dream journal, and from there it is an inevitable slide into becoming my mother.) Anyway.

I finally had the Supernatural dream I've been expecting to have for a few months now, by which I mean a dream in which HORRIBLE SCARY THINGS. Except my brain insulated me from this by making it an anxiety dream of Dean's. By which I mean, I dreamed I was teenage Dean Winchester, and Sammy and I were staying in this place with bunk beds, and Sam had the top bunk. I'm going around making sure everything is secure, and when I get to the ... floating balloon full of holy water ... it breaks, and I realize the thing in the top bunk isn't Sam, but is actually a red-lit, static-y-special-effects, snarling and clawed demonic beasty, which realizes it's been made and leaps on me. So I kick at it ineffectually and wonder frantically what the hell happened to Sammy and start yelling for Dad, which is pretty stupid because obviously he's not anywhere close by.

And then I briefly woke up? And instead of being traumatized I was entertained, because the beasty was only normal episode levels of HORRIBLE SCARY, and apparently my brain wants to give me the Dean Winchester Experience.

Of course then I fell back asleep and dreamed that I was Sam this time, because my brain believes in equal character time? And in this dream we were investigating something in a creepy old asylum, and nothing jumped out at us, but Dean and I did spend a hilariously large amount of time gazing soulfully at each other and really wanting to kiss, but not actually kissing because of reasons that Dean seemed pretty clear on but I was quite skeptical about.

In conclusion, NO MORE SUPERNATURAL FANFIC FOR ME, this is kind of ridiculous. Instead I will work on my Yuletide! It is only 900 words right now, but it is 900 words that I am fairly happy with.

The latest in Ways Supernatural Has Ruined Me: I'm catching up on this season of Castle, and my reaction to the Halloween episode is not one I would've had until recently. The basic premise involves a murder that may or may not have been committed by a ghost, or perhaps a demon; though I still have ten more minutes to go, I'm reasonably sure there will be a sane real-world explanation. I'm hilariously disappointed, and also when Castle and Beckett stride confidently into the haunted house I may have said to the screen, "At least bring some salt and holy water!" but that's not really the point.

The point is that I was gleefully anticipating the moment a horrible spirit might leap out at them; I hung happily on every word of a ghost story Beckett was telling in the haunted house; I was enjoying being scared. I am completely bewildered by this! Occasionally I can be coaxed into a round of ghost stories, but I'm always kind of twitchy and unhappy afterwards. I avoided watching Supernatural for six years solid precisely because I really hate being scared. But ... not anymore? Now it is apparently fun! I'm kind of fascinated.

(I'm still not going back and watching Bloody Mary, though. I have a closet door that is entirely mirror and a very active imagination, so I'll be sitting that one out.)