Cori Lannam

Dear Yuletide Author

2017-10-09T01:03:37Z

Oh wow. It's been a few years since I've written one of these. All my fannish love had been going to fandoms much too big to grace Yuletide, but this year I actually have 3 tiny fandoms that I am crazy in love with. And you! You also love one of these fandoms! Or at least like it enough to be here reading this letter.

So basically, thank you. I guarantee I will be genuinely over the moon, no matter which fandom you write or what plot you choose. Seriously, you don't even have to use my prompts if there's something else you're really burning to write. I'll just be so happy there's one more fic in my tiny fandom.

My general likes are: good characterization and dialogue (consistent with the source material or at least a reasonable extrapolation); tenderness and intimacy (but not schmoop); writing that shows rather than tells; kissing and touching; humor and snark; moments of relief (that love is returned, that a loved one is alive, etc.). I tend to favor things on the lighter side (odd considering I have two war fandoms and one character that should be in hardcore grief counseling), but I also love angst and hurt that leads to some quality comfort.

Things that make me nope out of a fic: permanent death, infidelity, humiliation or second-hand embarrassment. Other than that, I don't have any particular triggers to worry about.

Regarding Smut: I like it in all forms, but I don't need it in a story. If you'd like to write it, go ahead and write whatever turns you on. If it doesn't turn you on, don't write it. I like everything from the most virginal vanilla lovemaking to the most kinky A/B/O gangbang. Basically, you can't offend me. Though the kinky A/B/O gangbang probably isn't appropriate for any of the fandoms I've chosen. UNLESS, like me, you were just struck by an urge for Omega!Collins, in which case, please proceed!

Prompts:

Dunkirk
Collins, Farrier

Look, I'm going to be honest with you here: I went to Dunkirk for Harry Styles. I mean, I would have seen it anyway, because I'm a WWII buff, but fundamentally, Harry Styles. I was not expecting to end up with a massive Jack Lowden crush along the way. But here we are.

I would love any kind of story dealing with the relationship between Collins and Farrier. I totally slash them, but if you don't, feel free to stick with a brotherly dynamic. I'd like something centered around the War (pre-, during, or immediately post), no present-day AUs. However, I'd be utterly tickled by a wartime AU where same-sex love was totally normal and accepted, maybe even honored in the military (where a wingman can be like a shieldmate). Not a necessity, but feel free to go that way if that tickles your fancy as well.

Some prompts for your inspirational convenience:
* Something when they first meet when Collins joins the squadron before the war starts. Maybe they're a little prickly at first, being very different personalities and backgrounds, but they can't seem to stop dancing around each other. Eventually they realize they're both men for men and one of them decides to court the other amid the chaos of the oncoming war.
* Farrier escapes the enemy and makes his way back home, maybe in time to fight with Collins in the Battle of Britain, or maybe arriving just after and fearing what he'll find.
* Either before Dunkirk or later in the war, one of them gets shot down and the other is sure that they didn't make it (but of course they did)
* A series of times they flew together, on patrol or in battle.

DNW: no death, please! Assumed death for the sake of angst is just fine, as long as it has the comfort payoff. And please no pairing them with other people, whether or not you write them as lovers.

Dunkirk-specific likes: I adore dogfight scenes where you can feel the adrenaline rush. Out of all the various first names I've seen for Collins in fic, my favorite is Ainsley (no preference for Farrier's). I'd be happy to see any of the other Dunkirk characters around as secondary characters, as long as there's a logical reason for them to be there. For the record, I also adore Tommy/Alex as a pairing, so if for whatever reason the Collins/Farrier isn't floating your boat, I would also be perfectly happy with a Tommy/Alex story (not that the two of them have a great record with floating boats).

The Charioteer
Ralph Lanyon, Laurie Odell

When I got obsessed with Dunkirk, I remembered that one of my old favorite Mary Renault books was actually set right after Dunkirk. So I decided to re-read it and tumbled right back down the rabbit hole, harder than ever. I am completely obsessed and fascinated with Ralph and Laurie as individual characters and as a couple.

Some prompts for your inspirational convenience:
* An AU where Ralph doesn't start anything with Hazell. He and Laurie become closer while still at school and become lovers long before Dunkirk.
* Anything set soon after the end of the book as they try to get their relationship on solid ground amid the chaos of war.
* Something exploring Ralph's POV at the end of the book. How did he end up so close to suicide? What did he feel when he walked into his flat and saw Laurie there? The final words of the book imply that they were able to finally stop fighting all the things driving them and rest together - but how did that look, the rest of that night? (alternatively: Alec's POV as he figures out what's going on, sends Laurie to Ralph, and then waits to discover the outcome)
* Or Ralph's POV during the infamous party scene - how he felt when he first saw Laurie alive and well, all the pushes and pulls he must have felt during those hours, dealing with everything going on at the party, longing for Laurie but still so unsure of him, trying to get his own head together while also managing everyone else.

DNW: no death, no infidelity, no Andrew (unless it's a scene of him meeting the real Ralph, but please no lingering romantic feelings to/from Laurie). Beyond the level of the books, no feckless or submissive Laurie or domineering or condescending Ralph.

Charioteer-specific likes: I love Laurie and Ralph as equal partners, each bringing their own strengths to the relationship. I love Laurie learning to take care of Ralph as much as Ralph takes care of him, and Ralph learning to allow and enjoy it. I love Laurie learning how he wants to define himself as a queer man and figuring out how he fits into that world on his own terms. I really like Alec as a side character, and I'm fond of Sandy as well (if you include him, please don't treat him poorly! he's capable of growth, too!). I also wouldn't mind Bunny popping back into the scene, if you think of something interesting to do with him - particularly interacting with a Laurie more confident in himself and Ralph's love. I also love outsider POVs on their relationship.

Lethal Weapon
Trish Murtaugh, Roger Murtaugh, Martin Riggs, Brooks Avery

This is my little stealth fandom that no one else seems to love! I adore this show and all the characters and their relationships. The Riggs/Murtaugh relationship is the absolute perfect slashy bromance -- I'd love a story focusing on that relationship whether it's platonic bros or bickering lovers. Either way, though, Trish needs to be fully aware and involved, because I love her and her relationship with Roger. I guess what I really want is to see Riggs getting semi-reluctantly absorbed into the Murtaugh family. I also tagged Captain Avery here because he is so long-sufferingly awesome and I would be so happy if he were involved as a major character dealing with his brilliant asshole cops.

Some prompts for your inspirational convenience:
* Riggs and Murtaugh trying to cope with their first family Christmas, possibly including some criminal hijinx that keep pulling them away from the eggnog
* Murtaugh has a near-death experience (another heart attack, shot, whatever) and gets to talk to Miranda Riggs before he's brought back
* One of them gets kidnapped and the other works with Captain Avery to rescue him in time.

DNW: no death (real death, assumed death for the sake of angst is A-okay!), no infidelity (polyamory in any configuration is also A-okay!)

LW-specific likes: show-level banter, all the side characters (but maybe less of Jordana Brewster as the Worst Psychologist Ever, unless it's for amusing therapy sessions which would be awesome), the awesomeness of the Murtaugh family, those moments when Murtaugh proves he's just as crazy as Riggs, outsider POVs on their relationship

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Star Trek: Into Darkness

2013-05-17T16:24:57Z

WHERE MY NERDS AT??? I saw this movie last night and I need to talk some hardcore Trek here.

( Let's talk spoilers for STID )

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As always, the longer entries never seem to get finished....

2013-04-12T23:27:55Z

So here are a few shorter snippets:

* Spartacus! I mainlined the entire series of Spartacus in under two weeks, and fuck the gods, I am completely obsessed. Not just with Agron/Nasir (although, hello, awesome), but the entire show and everyone in it. It's always been on my to-watch list because I love anything set in the ancient world, but I also thought it was pretty much blood spatter and boobie porn. It is both of those things, but also much more. The historical accuracy is relatively impressive, the characters are complex and fascinating, and it raises a lot of fascinating questions about society, survival, and self-determination.

And peeking over the fourth wall, the cast and producers seem utterly delightful. Though I have to say, they all seem just a little too chipper on Twitter about the emotional devastation they're going to be wreaking upon their fans tonight with the finale.

The fandom seems very scattered, but I guess, what fandom isn't these days? I found a few good stories on AO3, but it seems depressingly sparse compared to the Merlin treasure trove I've been wallowing in for the last 5 years. Gratitude for recs you may have.

Also, it means I have to start actually paying attention to the flashback scenes on Arrow, since Manu Bennett is in them and I have developed quite a thing for him.

* Writing! My story for Paper Legends is plodding along very slowly. I have the plot all outlined, but I feel like the emotional storyline hasn't gelled yet. This has slowed me down to a crawl. On the brighter side, I just have to do some editing for Perverse Bang, and then my 20K gangbang will finally see the light of day, for better or worse.

* Torvill and Dean! Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, the legendary British ice dancers, were my fandom back when I was 17. Now they're on Twitter. Yes, they both use the same account. Yes, they tweet the most mundane things imaginable (the weather, workouts, pictures of lunch and coffee). Yes, Chris tweets much more than Jayne does. In short, they are exactly what you would expect them to be and I find it hilariously charming.

* Fake school! The last several months, I've started to pine to go back to school. I found a way to at least dip my toes back in with the recent rise of the MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) from coursera.org and edx.org. Fake courses from real universities! Or maybe real courses for fake students? I dunno, but it's fun. I'm taking a bunch of random stuff like calculus, statistics, computer programming, and Greek history. Definitely overextending myself, which is a good lesson to learn before I try it for real.

* And everything else I had thought about posting is now either out of date or too boring to even interest me. How are you all doing?

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Some entertaining links

2013-02-14T17:53:54Z

I need to close some browser tabs, so here are some fun links I've stumbled upon over the last few days. Some are quite appropriate for the date and others... well, it's all about sex in the end, anyway, I guess.

* The British Library publishes Leonardo daVinci's notebooks online

* WTF, Evolution?

* Vinegar Valentines (because the internet didn't invent the anon troll)

* The Namibian armored ground cricket (possibly the only article you'll see today with the phrase "orgiastic cannibalism")

* The World's Oldest Pornography

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The end of Merlin

2012-11-26T01:57:36Z

Well, we certainly saw it coming a mile away (or really about 4 years away -- as Colin pointed out in his statement, it was always supposed to be a 5-year show). Yet I'm still having a lot of pretty unhappy emotions at the news that the show is, in fact, ending after the current season.

I'm tremendously sad that I won't see Colin and Bradley (and all the rest) on screen in their ridiculous outfits anymore, though I am happy that they can move on to bigger and better things. I'm sad that there won't be many more adorable moments of Merlin and Arthur proving they're the real married couple on this show.

And now that we're 3/4 of the way through the final season, I'm mourning all the things I wanted from this show that it's now clear I won't ever get.

* a redemption arc for Morgana

* Merlin and Arthur having a long time to work out the consequences from a reveal

* Merlin taking his true place as an equal around the Round Table

* Merlin having an adorable storyline with Aithusa

* Having Gwaine's backstory revealed and explored

* Having cool storylines for the knights, preferably with Merlin

That being said, I was always much more in love with the fandom and fanfic than I ever was with the show, so I don't see this as any sort of death knell for my love of these characters or my participation in the fandom. If that ends, it won't be because of the show.

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Merlin 5.06

2012-11-12T02:40:53Z

I honestly just don't have a lot of mental energy left right now between all the actual writing I've been doing, so this week I'm just going to liveblog my thoughts about the ep as I watch.

( Merlin 5.06 )

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Merlin 5.05

2012-11-05T04:46:06Z

Oh God, I'm so far behind this week! I hope people still want to talk about this, because I'm all abuzz from this episode.

( Spoilers for 5.05 )

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Home!

2012-08-07T02:45:53Z

I am home at last from the International Wedding Roadtrip o' Doom! It was fantastic and exactly the right length so that I was still having fun right to the end, but am also happy to be home.

Chicago - The wedding (of two very long and dear friends) was fantastic. Wept copious tears of sentimental joy. Got to see a bunch of fan friends and even meet one for the first time who I've known for almost as long as I've been online in fandom. Sadly, I did not get to get together with other friends in the area as I'd hoped, but next time!

Wisconsin - Made a very brief jaunt up to Wisconsin solely for the purpose of visiting the Mars Cheese Castle, which I never, ever wanted to leave, ever.

Michigan - Then we headed to Michigan to visit sithdragn who is near the top of the list of the awesomest people I know, anywhere. I finally got to meet the infamous Sith Kitties (and tried to pack one to take home with me, but she escaped, darn it!) We toured The Henry Ford, which was crazy fun for a history geek -- and unexpectedly, for a slasher as well. Yes, fandom, prepare yourself for the new OTP of Henry Ford/Thomas Edison (Fordison? T-Fed?) There will be a pimping post, oh yes.

Then we hopped over to visit tracy7307, who showed us the Motown Museum and then introduced us into Detroit fannish society. I was lucky enough to meet the lovely planejane just in the nick of time before she heads back to Blimey, as well as the awesome themostepotente, and my darling venivincere who gives the greatest hugs ever.

Toronto - We headed over the border into CANADA! I had never been to Canada and was entertained by a number of realizations: 1) Canada has just as many asshole drivers in gigantic pickup trucks as we do; 2) You can buy Bounty bars and Malteasers ANYWHERE there; and 3) Tim Horton must be one hell of a rich bastard.

chelseafrew was ecstatic to be in Toronto, a city of long fannish association for her. We ate in Chinatown (mmm, lychee bubble tea), went up the CN Tower, toured Casa Loma (spot the X-Men scenes!), and had a lot of fun in the Royal Ontario Museum.

Niagra Falls - From Toronto, we scooted around the lake to the Niagra area to visit the lovely and generous slb44, who knows absolutely everything about Niagra Falls and the surrounding area and let us drag her all around in the midst of a truly unpleasant heat wave. We did the Maid of the Mist, of course (which sadly sounds like it won't be around for much longer, so I'm really happy to have had the experience), the Whirlpool aero car, the gorgeous butterfly conservatory, and the funky-kitschy-cool Flying Saucer Restaurant.

And then we drove 12 hours to get home so I could go back to work. Bleh. I would much rather be seeing the sights with awesome fangirls.

On the bright side, I can have the Olympics live feed on all day now! Who knew that sailing could be so relaxing to watch with the sound muted?

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Travel advice needed!

2012-07-19T22:41:20Z

So my BFF chelseafrew and I are heading to Chicago next weekend for a Very Important Wedding. We've been meaning to take a leisurely roadtrip for years, and we've decided this is our opportunity!

We're leaving on Wednesday or Thursday of next week to meander from DC to Chicago by Friday afternoon. We're in Chicago Friday and Saturday for wedding activities, and then at some point we'll be leaving to drive up to Canada through either Wisconsin or (more likely) Michigan. From there we plan to drive around the Great Lakes to Toronto, then down through Niagra Falls and eventually home. We're allowing about a week and a half to do the whole thing.

I know a great number of you know live in these regions or know them much better than I do, so my questions:

* Along that route (more or less), what are the Must See Sights?

* Any advice on the best places to stay (or stay away from)?

* While in Canada, what and where must we eat?

* Anyone want to have coffee/dinner/world domination planning meetings?

This is, of course, all assuming that I can find my passport, which I put in a very safe place....

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Quick catch-up

2011-12-22T18:43:17Z

Catching up on the last week or so --

* Yuletide is finished and posted! A full day early, which is almost a record for me, so now I have to dislike myself, too. Good luck to everyone still finishing! Remember, the more you stress, the more bears get their wings! Er, or something like that, I've heard?

* I still haven't watched last week's Merlin. At this point, might wait until just before this week's. Finale, sob. I have so much anxiety over this finale

* I saw Sherlock 2 and MI:4 last weekend. I have not had that much fun at the movies in one weekend in a long time. And wow, slashtastic, if you're into that sort of thing.

We saw MI:4 at the Smithsonian IMAX screen at the Air & Space Museum, which was awesome as always. We have an AMC "IMAX" much, much closer, which is also a nice screen, but if you want the full six-story IMAX experience, you pretty much have to schlep out to the museum.

But the best part was that I idly tweeted that I was seeing the movie and said "Thanks, Smithsonian!" -- and Monday morning, I got a cheery "You're welcome!" response from the Smithsonian IMAX twitter account. I didn't even know they had a twitter account!

* More LJ shenanigans, I see. I don't see much effect from it personally, other than some comm irritations. I really wish I liked Dreamwidth better.

* Just one more week (and a bit) of 2011! Wow, I cannot wait to see the back of it. What a craptastic year.

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Happy Winter Solstice!

2011-12-22T18:34:48Z

Growing up, it was just my mom and me, and my mom is a lapsed-Jewish Unitarian with strong though amorphous pagan tendencies. She never wanted to celebrate the Jewish holidays in any traditional way, but she had an extremely strong antipathy toward anything to do with Christian holidays (she's mellowed enough now to enjoy the occasional lit up reindeer).

So I was the kid who got scorned by both the Christian and Jewish kids at school, and my mom wanted to give me a winter holiday to celebrate, too. She picked December 21st, (usually) the winter solstice. We had a little tree decorated with popcorn strands and a dove on top (with the peace symbology, not the Christian).

Though I celebrate secular Christmas with friends and coworkers now out of convenience (and a love of sparkly lights), the Solstice will always be my holiday (and holy day). I hate it when the days grow shorter and the nights darker. After tonight, we'll be past the worst of it, and whatever else winter brings, I know that the sun is slowly making its way back. I think that's cause for celebration, whatever your spiritual beliefs (assuming you're in the Northern Hemisphere, of course)(presumably my Southern Hemisphere flisters are reading this with a smug smile as they get ready for their holiday beach trips).

So I'm wishing you all a warm and happy winter season. Happy Midwinter!

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Am I even using the world tumblr correctly? I am so old.

2011-10-13T16:14:15Z

Okay, I finally gave in and got a tumblr account, mostly for following the tumblrs of people cooler than me.

Recs, anybody? What are the most interesting tumblrs you follow?

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Well, okay, then!

2011-10-03T16:09:17Z

In my *mumblety* years in slash fandom, I've encountered very, very few online services that didn't just tolerate us, but actively welcomed, understood, and appreciated our community.

Hello, Pinboard: The Fans Are All Right.

I was going to hold off on moving all my bookmarks until I saw whether Delicious was going to get itself together, but screw that. I'm moving to Pinboard.

ETA: When I first posted this, I had forgotten that Pinboard charges a one-time set-up fee, which is just under $10. Obviously not everybody can justify that in their budgets these days. However, fandom being fandom, there's already a lively swapmeet going over on the fannish Pinboard comm where many people are offering to gift Pinboard accounts to fellow fans, either gratis or in exchange for small fannish services.

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Monty Python fans....

2011-08-12T20:40:01Z

Today's Teefury Shirt is a gem.

I am sad that I have cut myself off from buying new t-shirts.

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corilannam @ 2011-08-11T11:38:00

2011-08-11T19:08:26Z

Someone just came into my office to deliver a FedEx and caught me trawling Facebook -- for purely work-related purposes! But there was no conversational opening in which to mention that, so now she probably thinks I'm a total slacker.

Oh well. Guess that means I might as well slack off!

Things I've been meaning to post all week:

* Interesting perspectives on the UK rioting/looting:
-- Penny Red - Panic on the streets of London
-- Eyewitness account of neighborhood looting

Stay safe, UK flist.

* On this side of the pond, the state of society is less flammable, but no less depressing -- How America turned poverty into a crime by Barbara Ehrenreich, an afterward to her book Nickeled and Dimed in its 10th anniversary.

* In the potentially world-changing (in a good way) news department -- New drug could cure nearly any viral infection

* For my greenies, some cool Android apps to help with environmentally safe and non-toxic shopping -- http://www.emagazine.com/magazine/app-happy

I'm not linking to the one about the effects of cell phone radiation. *g*

And back to the shallow waters of fandom--

* I think I am not going to finish my reel_merlin story by the deadline. This kind of breaks my heart, but there's just still too much to do and I refuse to shortchange this story except by the limitations of my own abilities. I will keep working on it and post when I'm done (assuming that's before the next round!)

* I have submitted my final votes and PTHON IS DONE. I have at least survived with my perfect participation record intact, if not my dignity.

* Update on my computer woes -- My desktop, which had previously succumbed to a really vicious Windows 7 security update, is up and running again, seemingly no worse for the wear! I had to reinstall Windows, but thanks to Dell's DataSafe emergency backup (which I didn't even know I had), I did not lose anything. EVEN MY CHROME TABS WERE SAVED, which of course, is the most important thing because that's where all the stories I haven't read yet live. And there are a lot of them.

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FINALLY!!!!

2011-08-02T17:42:15Z

Duran Duran.

DAR Constitution Hall.

October 16th.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

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Trying this one more time for kicks...

2011-07-27T14:07:30Z

I am slowly becoming a morning person! Okay, haha, not really, but I have had to get to work extra early the last two weeks. We're doing construction work on our parking garage here for the next month or so, which means parking spaces are at a premium.

I am, apparently, highly motivated by good parking spaces, if not by my actual job.

***
Has anyone else had problems with the Windows 7 critical updates from July 14? My brand new desktop crashed after the updates installed, and now I can't even get a command prompt to uninstall them. Googling has not been fruitful. Grrr.

***

I can see LJ from work, but not from home. And I can't post or comment from anywhere, which is the most frustrating thing. It's extra annoying because I'm done with all my pthon stuff early for once, but I can't post it.

Whoops, never mind, I can't see it anymore, either.

Oh, now I can.

And now I can't anymore. Well, at least this will keep me entertained.

We'll see if this crossposting works. Not really holding my breath. Stupid DDOS attacks.

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Two more fun links

2011-06-16T01:48:10Z

1) If you go to the Google Homepage today, you can see an entire lunar eclipse in the logo!

2) Free at Audible is the audio book of Go the F--k to Sleep, read by Samuel L. Jackson. I imagine this will be a must-have for all you parents out there as an educational tool for your small people.

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"My brother, my captain, my king!"

2011-06-15T17:39:54Z

Last night I appropriated my best fangirl and spent several hours in the movie theater watching a movie I've already seen *mumble* times.

Actually, I think I've only watched the extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring once or twice -- although I prefer the extended cuts of the other two movies, I like the original theater cut of Fellowship best. So quite a lot of the extended material was like seeing brand new scenes for the first time, which was a lot of fun.

There was a brief message from Peter Jackson at the beginning. He mentioned how when everything came together, he felt like he was meant to make these movies. From anyone else, that might seem awfully arrogant, but I've held the same opinion myself since the opening minutes of Fellowship. I still vividly remember sitting in the theater opening night, tears streaming down my face because every single moment was so overwhelmingly perfect.

It's less overwhelming now, but I still had to wipe my eyes a few times last night.

It was also great to watch with a theater full of My People, in all our different shapes, genders, and ages. Everyone laughed at the right places and clapped at the end, and as the credits rolled, someone down front shouted, "See you next week!"

Yup. Got my tickets.

***
In tangentially related amusement, I share funny links --

Oh, Sean Bean, Never Change -- SEAN BEAN STABBED IN BAR FIGHT, ORDERS ANOTHER DRINK

A fanboy reacts to Episode 1.09 of Game of Thrones (warning: BIG SPOILERS and NSFW language, but HILARIOUS) -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owf6D2vfZqM

***

During dinner before the movie last night, the family at the next table was having a little mini-birthday party with three boys around 6 or 7 years old. One of the small boys declared that he wanted to marry one of the other small boys. The second small boy seemed fine with that idea, but the third loudly (and repeatedly) declared, "A boy can't marry a boy, that's ILLEGAL."

It was all I could do not to lean over and say, "By the time you're old enough to get married, it won't be." I didn't, of course, 'cause, you know, not my kids and all that. But it was nice to think it and actually believe it.

***

Somebody, please make me stop reading X-Men fic. It's really starting to interfere with my life.

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Hey, Metro DC-Area Folks!

2011-06-06T22:50:39Z

I have gotten word that a truly super-fantastic fangirl is planning to move to our fair city (being the District of Columbia) in about 6 weeks to take a super-fantastic job. Needless to say, she is going to be in need of a place to live on the pittance that an actual super-fantastic DC job pays.

I can advise her about what's available in my little corner of Montgomery County, but she's in need of more advice of where else to look for affordable (but non-crackhouse) housing in other parts of the area. Due to work location, she'd prefer to be close to the Blue, Orange, or Red lines.

So if you have a moment, please comment with whatever house-hunting wisdom you can think of with regard to areas to look, areas to avoid, other resources, etc.

She's also happy to look at house/apartment sharing with the right kind of person, so if you know of any excellent fannish types who are looking for a housemate, that's good info, too!

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X-Men First Class

2011-06-05T17:51:22Z

Yes, I went to see this yesterday, as some of you know because I've been squeeing all over your journals. I was going to make a long post about it, but for now I'll just say: It was good for me.

A few links for anyone else who walked out of the theater with hearts in your eyes:

The kinkmeme is here (and when did we start making kinkmemes before actual fic comms? Lordy, I'm old) -- http://1stclass-kink.livejournal.com/

lolafeist linked to a cute interview with James McAvoy, in which he makes some very cute comments about the Charles/Erik relationship -- http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/james-mcavoy-is-a-classy-man/story-fn6ccx45-1226067086143

And TODAY ONLY, Ript Apparel is selling an X-Men themed shirt -- http://riptapparel.com/

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A calm and consensual weekend

2011-05-09T16:53:56Z

I had a nice weekend. I sincerely wish I were still having it.

This week is Passport to DC, an annual showcase of all the international embassies and cultural activities we have here in DC. I've never gone, though it's very much my kind of thing and is as close as I'm likely to get to international travel for the foreseeable future.

Saturday was the EU embassies open house, and I wheedled indulgent friends into coming along to tromp up and down Embassy Row to see what Europe had on offer.

We tried to start with the Greek embassy, but there was a line around the block to get it. Across the street, the Irish had a step dancing troupe stationed outside to entertain their own line. After a few minutes, we decided to give up and head upstream, as we'd gotten a late start and I really wanted to get one of the cool Union Jack tote bags that the British Embassy was giving out.

We ended up at the top of the row, in line to get into the Belgian embassy. The Belgians, unlike the Greeks, were very well organized and got their line moving at a good clip. The inside of the embassy was pretty neat, with a huge tapestry adorning the stairwell. A few of the offices had been left open for us to view, and we wondered who had drawn the short straws on having to clean off their desks. There was a photography exhibit, some very attractive reading material all about how nice Belgium is, and Belgium: The Movie.

Okay, whatever. YES, there were waffles! Actually, the smart, smart Belgians fed us very well -- as we shuffled through the embassy we collected chocolate, cookies, peach and pear juice, Belgian beer, and as our reward for making it out, a sugar or chocolate waffle.

I signed up for Belgium: The Mailing List on my way out, and the cute Belgian girl manning the table was utterly gobsmacked by the number of people visiting and wanted to know if it was the same at the other embassies. I told her the other embassies also looked pretty busy, but that might just be until word got out about the chocolate, beer, and waffles.

Then we walked down the street and ended up in line for the Embassy of Finland, which bills itself as the friendliest embassy in town. Sure enough, we had only been in line for a few moments when a friendly Finnish girl came by to give us a booklet about Finland.

It was a nice booklet, but the best part was when I turned it over and saw what is apparently Finland's new tourism slogan: "Calm and consensual by nature."

Well, you can guess that killed quite a few minutes of line-standing time for us.

I was quite looking forward to my "calm and consensual" natural experience inside the Finnish embassy, but we were running very short on time and still had to hit the UK. So we abandoned Finland (though I was disappointed not to get to go inside, since it's touting itself as the first fully green embassy) and headed down the street to the vast grounds of the British Embassy.

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed with the UK. Part of it was due to us getting there late in the day, meaning that it was still crowded, but most of the good swag was gone (the last Union Jack bag went to the people right in front of us in line). All that was left was the Scottish stuff, though that was pretty cool, too. We didn't actually get to go inside any of the embassy buildings -- we walked through the gardens, but got shuffled along the path too fast to enjoy much of it. Though my zyrtec held up to the blooming rose garden, which was an impressive feat!

The rest was basically a little fair of corporate sponsors, mostly uninteresting. Though if anyone is in need of a little rubber British Airways plane, I can hook you up.

Then we had a late lunch in Dupont Circle before returning to suburbia to see Thor. THOR! Now there's a diplomat for ya.

Next weekend is the grand tour of all the non-EU embassies, which should actually be the more interesting event, though a harder sell to get people to come along. I'm hoping I can motivate myself to try it again.

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EagleEagleEagle

2011-03-10T20:16:38Z

My mom has finally gone home, just in time for me to catch the very last night that The Eagle is showing in my local theater. I wasn't planning to go out again tonight (last night was delightful "real" theatre), but I really wanted to get to see it again on the big screen so this is my only chance.

This also reminds me --

A few weeks ago, I found a stack of The Eagle mini-posters at the theater, and obviously I absconded with a stack of them. I meant to see if any of you were interested in one, but then the mama drama started and I forgot about them until I found them on the kitchen table this morning.

So. If a mini-poster for The Eagle would bring some measure of joy into your life, or into the life of a loved one, I'd be happy to send one out to you, free of charge. Just comment or PM me and let me know.

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Long day is long

2011-02-09T02:06:33Z

Argh. My netbook has been freezing several times a night lately. After googling possible solutions, I ran CCleaner to clean out my cache, registry, and anything else that needed cleaning.

Which seems to have included every single tab I had open in Firefox and Chrome. That's weeks of fic I had open to read. I could weep.

Other things making me weep tonight:

The fact that this is a deleted scene, and not even included as a deleted scene but only as the tiniest glimpse among other clips, really just sums up my enormous frustration with the Merlin showrunners. But it's there and I'm considering it canon now, which eases my frustrated inner shipper considerably.

kerryblaze posted the original video clip here.

Other things of more cheer:

* Google's logo is really, really awesome right now in honor of Jules Verne's birthday. You can play with it! Go look!

* I tried my first Chagrin Valley shampoo bar last night (the unscented Extra Honey & Beer bar) and today my hair was awesome. Soft, thick, and tangle-free, I'm happy to report. A little drab by the end of the day, but that's normal for my hair. I will report back after using it a while longer.

* I've never seen my name in a love meme before. I kinda needed that today, so thanks, guys.

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Fic for me!

2011-01-07T15:17:42Z

I'm going to do the standard fic reveal post in a minute (or...a while), but first I must pimp one of my favorite holiday gifts that you might not see otherwise because anna_zee is being shy and not posting to any comms.

Those of you who follow the reel_merlin challenge every year might remember Anna's utterly delightful take on The Proposal from the round before last: For Worse or For Better. In fact, just go reread it anyway. I'll wait.

So then Anna was traumatized by season 2 and then traumatized even more by season 3, and she didn't write anything else FOR AGES. This was personally painful to me, as I'm sure you can imagine.

But sometimes she would talk about these characters and what she thought they'd be doing later on, and particularly how they might spend their first Christmas. "You should write that," I would say idly. AND THEN SHE DID.

So if you still have a little room left for some lovely Christmas schmoop, go check out So This Is Christmas by anna_zee.

And then leave her some love, because she's still all cute and shy and stuff.

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