a conspiracy of cartographers

+ The response I've already got to the Loki fic is making me clutch my face with glee. It is magical to be in an active fandom. (It is also magical to know there are lots of people who share my Loki FEELINGS.) Now I just have to convince myself that not everything needs a plot, and that it is okay if I write Sif/Darcy without apology. I also have to convince myself that I am capable of writing Tony Stark, but this may, in fact, be a lie.

+ Speaking of Starks, I have the first episode of Game of Thrones sitting on my computer. Taunting me. Daring me to watch it, even though I have an inner voice wailing that I shouldn't dare watch it without reading the books first. Shut up, little voice, you coped with True Blood, you can cope with this. (Oh HBO, why you gotta keep half-seducing me into watching bits of your shows.)

+ I cannot stop listening to the gay mutant disco love song from the First Class credits. It has become the soundtrack in my mind. I am having such a strange relationship with First Class fandom! Like, on the one hand Erik/Charles is my pairing type FOREVER, and I am so, so glad that it has suddenly become fandom's thing du jour. On the other hand, the more I think about the film the more issues I have with a bunch of its basic structures and assumptions, and navigating unknown fic is a minefield of avoiding Holocaust-related hurt/comfort or the assumption that Charles is actually a good and correct person, oh god how many times have I hit the back button. On the mutant (haha) third hand, a lot of excellent writers and people I know are doing so, so right by it, and so I keep reading fic, and feeling mildly bewildered, and listening to the gay mutant disco love song yet again.

+ I went to see Midnight in Paris yesterday. It is unutterably charming, you guys. I have a low tolerance for Woody Allen films, but this one was great. I originally went to see it on the promise of Tom Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald, and he was indeed pretty delightful (although oh god he had an American accent, cognitive dissonance, WHAT IS HAPPENING) but the best part was actually Ernest Hemingway, who had me basically rolling in my seat laughing. If you like jokes about 1920s writers, watch the hell out of this.

+ I seem to be rereading American Gods; this is great fun, because I get to clutch my face and cackle when it talks about Shadow's cellmate Low Key and his scarred smile, and also I keep going, "Oh, ODIN," when no one is in the room. But I think I should warn you all: don't read Neil Gaiman late at night. Just don't do it. I used to know this, but last night I foolishly forgot, and for my transgression I dreamed that I was Shadow and had to talk with Laura while she was a half-decayed corpse; I was pretty chill about this, but there was SCREAMING INSIDE, believe me. Why you gotta do this, brain? I would have taken Aziraphale and Crowley over this. I would've taken Loki over this! Oh well. In conclusion, Neil Gaiman, late nights, no. I imagine this applies even harder if the reading in question is Sandman.

+ ...I am really tempted to watch a trio of Xena episodes in which, wiki tells me, Xena is Odin's most feared Valkyrie, Gabrielle hangs out with Brunhilda, Xena helps Beowulf defeat Grendel and ends up married to Hrothgar, and then there is girlkissing. On the other hand, if I try to watch it I might actually start laughing too hard to see.

Closing ye olde tabs, which means it is time for linkspam with commentary!

+ Series 6 Doctor Who to be split in two, which I'm sure everyone and their grandmother already knows. I am totally fine with a halfway cliffhanger, because it means More Plot, and, god help me, I actually trust Moffat with plot. (I should probably learn from the past, though; I mean, RTD's s1 finale was great, and then ... well.) Mostly, though, I love that from this article I have discovered that Karen Gillan is taller than Moffat. But I suspect that Karen Gillan is taller than everyone.

+ David Tennant is in a thing called Fright Night! I know absolutely nothing about it, but I am digging it regardless, because [a] David Tennant looks like Jack Sparrow's pale spindly cousin, [b] Colin Farrel is an evil vampire or something? BWAHAHA and [c] ANTON YELCHIN! As a high schooler who battles vampire Colin Farrell with weirdly bearded David Tennant! I am cheerfully resigned to the fact that I now base my choice of entertainment by how much the very concept makes me laugh like a hyena in public spaces.

+ Peter Wingfield answers Highlander questions, and man, I'm pretty happy that he's still willing to talk about Methos' stupid face twelve years later. I wish the questions were numbered, because then I could shriek about my favourite answers in shorthand. In any case, I am a bit in love with him talking about Methos the optimist and how he desperately wants to believe in love, oh my god; I also love what he said about whether Methos was forced to join the Horsemen. Basically, I am kind of thrilled when Peter Wingfield talks about Methos, because I inevitably end up sitting there feeling smug and fuzzily justified in how I read Methos. YAY.

+ Gaiman's 'Sandman' to be adapted as a TV show. It sounds pretty preliminary at this point, so mostly I am just going to sit here and hope that [a] they get Neil involved in the project and [b] holy god they don't bring Kripke on as showrunner -- or, if they do, that he sticks to the goddamn script and does not kill all the ladies. (To be honest, though, I am mostly just wedded to the idea of Benedict Cumberbatch as Dream and Ashley Greene as Death. Don't look at me like that, it'd be great.)

+ String quartet cover of Lady Gaga's 'Alejandro', which I have been listening to pretty much on loop for two days straight. Which is funny, because I like a lot of Lady Gaga songs more, but believe you me, Paparazzi and Poker Face sound freaking weird in string quartet, and Bad Romance just makes me want to sing along to it. I don't care that much for the actual version of Alejandro, but damn, this one is gorgeous.