a conspiracy of cartographers

Oh my god I hope this Doctor Who casting spoiler is real. My joy did not actually break the sound barrier, but only because some people in the house are still asleep. Instead I think I left fingerprints in my face.

( WHY IS THIS SPOILER AWESOME? I'LL TELL YOU WHY. )

And as usual Doctor Who makes me wordy, but I really need to stop and make breakfast so I'll get to work on time.

And now it is time for s4, or, as I like to call it, "Oh my god, a string of twelve episodes in a row all of which are my favourite." Hilariously enough the only one I am not over-fond of is Dr. Longball, because I am completely fail at being from the United States and I will never ever understand the innate appeal of baseball no matter how many times friends whose good taste I trust tell me about its joys and wonders. This does not, however, mean I cannot appreciate the joys and wonders of Ray Kowalski in a Mexican poncho.

( Dr. Longball, Easy Money, A Likely Story, & Odds: In which Ray plays baseball, Fraser sees an old friend, and both of them have questionable romantic entanglements; lots of Fraser/Ray talk, more links than usual, and happy actor-spotting. )

I think ... I have actually lost count of how many times I've seen Mountie on the Bounty; this is at least the eighth time but I might be erring on the conservative side. I just thought it should be known that it's demonstratably my favourite episode, and yes, the buddy breathing probably has something to do with it but it's mostly the sheer wealth of character stuff. I take roughly the same amount of analytic joy from it as I do from the Victoria episodes, but this one has the wonderful bonus of a happy ending.

Anyway, my point is that I got some lovely responses to the Victoria meta, which made me very happy; this is another one of those episodes that I actually want to dialogue about instead of just providing joy and screencaps. In the main I am doing these commentaries just so that I will get all the plot threads and thematic things fixed in my head, and comments obviously make me happy but if no one responds I do not mind and cheerfully go on to the next few episodes; I will cheerfully go on to s4 after this also, but I would love to actually talk about these episodes. Your thoughts, tell me them!

( Asylum & Mountie on the Bounty: In which Ray and Fraser have all sorts of wacky emotional issues at each other for nearly three hours; mostly lots of talk about their partnership and shippiness and character arcs, with great glee. )

...That was later than I meant to stay up. This is how much I love that episode; I will happily burn the midnight oil, whatever that actually means.

( Mountie and Soul & Spy vs Spy: In which there is boxing and ballet; general observations on Ray and Fraser's partnership, and lots of bewilderment about the surreality of the second episode. )

Those of you I owe drabbles now, I'll get to them in the next day or two; my routine right now is "Go to work all day, come home, deplete all useable brain cells on a couple episodes of due South, sleep, wash rinse repeat." But Saturday I do not have to get up early, so I can write things tomorrow night.

And now s3! I think the s3 rewatch should probably come with a header warning, which is that I am probably going to be a little bit insufferable around Kowalski. Fraser is basically my One True Character but this Ray has a small piece of my soul. Part of it has to do with the fact that I am extremely specific about what I think Kowalski is like as a character, and I am extremely specific in ways that I've noticed most people aren't about Kowalski, which means I want to figure out why I have this character concept that's slightly off-center from the usual. Because of this I'm probably going to spend a lot of time prodding at Kowalski the way I've been prodding at Fraser, and the way I have not really been with Vecchio. Kowalski owning a small piece of my soul also has to do with the fact that he has the easiest narrative voice ever and thus I am incredibly fond of him, and, uh, also really, really pretty eyelashes. Hi, I am really shallow for Callum Keith Rennie.

I should possibly also give an OTP warning, which is that I ship Fraser/Kowalski something fierce. This does not mean I do not also adore Vecchio (and, well, pretty much everyone) but it does mean the meta is going to be kind of shippy.

( Burning Down the House & Eclipse: In which Fraser comes back from vacation to find everything has changed, more or less deals with it, and makes a birthday present; some suspicions of Fraser/Vecchio, some more-than-suspicions of Fraser/Kowalski, and many thoughts on RayK's character. )

( White Men Can't Jump to Conclusions, All the Queen's Horses, & Body Language: which features basketball, the Musical Ride, and strip clubs; talk of Fraser not actually having a deathwish, some last thoughts on Fraser/Thatcher, and my astonishment at how many closet jokes Body Language has. )

Only three more! one of which is Flashback and thus really skip-around-in-able. Will I get to Kowalski tonight? I have no idea, since I believe my father wants to watch some Slings & Arrows later, but it is possible.

Apparently we now have Eleven's companion! (I am unnecessarily if mildly annoyed that the headlines continue to insist on 'assistant'. Eleven is not Three in a laboratory! Not that I am sure what Eleven is ...) My Thoughts on the subject of said companion are mostly

[a] yay, she is pretty! I am unreasonably attracted to redheads
[b] thank god she is not actually younger than me so I will not have to feel skeevy crushing on her, but neither is she older than me, which means I am probably past my companion sell-by date, which is a little alarming -- and also how awesome would it be for young-looking Eleven to have someone Donna-aged or older? really awesome
[c] can we have a name for her so she does not have to be "not actually Karen, that redhead Eleven's going to be hanging out with"?

I think I am glad we have to wait a little while for Moffat'n'Eleven, though. I tend to get wordy and excited about Doctor Who things, and Doctor Who is like that boyfriend I broke up with but am still easy for whenever he comes to visit, so I am happy to be on break.

I am back from WisCon! My flights were lovely and on time and other good things. (Traveling through O'Hare? was awesome when I was a tiny child and liked the moving walkway with all the lights; was painfully annoying as a teenager when I had to navigate the airport myself and discovered that Chicago can sometimes be a black hole of delays; is now awesome again because I can entertain myself during takeoff and landing critically scanning the suburbs for a suitable house for Fraser and the Rays. Hey, how do you entertain yourself on airplanes?) If I start thinking about Prop 8 I will probably end up crying into my pillow while listening to Vienna Teng's City Hall, so instead I am gritting my teeth and trying not to hate all systems of justice and government and instead loving Iowa from afar.

Some orders of business:

i. I got a new glasses prescription, although not new frames, and I can now SEE!, but since I can SEE! I in fact have to sit with my laptop perched on the very edge of my knees so I don't go cross-eyed before I adjust. I also got my hair cut, because the Southern summer has descended with appropriate swampiness and also just because I like having short hair. I know, pics or it didn't happen, but [a] I didn't take a 'before' picture because my camera's out of batteries, and [b] if you really need to see what I look like with a few inches chopped off, wait for a locked post, kiddos.

ii. Along with some new clothes and a general sense of thinky well-being, I have brought home from WisCon plotbunnies and motivation. So here is a WIP list! It is a special WIP list, though, because it is [a] interactive! and [b] not a list of Things Wot I Have Unfinished On My Computer, but rather a somewhat shorter list of Things Wot I Actually Intend To Finish Writing This Summer. ( List: 7 WIPs. )

Besides this I have a number of other due South fics, a crossover with BSG, a tale of Oliver's Romeo and Juliet, a Buffy fic, a Good Omens fic, and a few more things I am interested enough in that I will want to try writing them, but these seven are the ones I Really Want To Finish Soon.

Anyway, the interactive part is the part where, possibly just to keep my brain from collapsing under the indecision, but also because I am curious, which ones are all of you interested in?


iii. due South rewatch probably to resume ... in the next few days? Real life is suddenly happening, but that should not deter me overmuch.