urbandruid

I've been done with school for a week now, and have finally decompressed enough to start figuring out what I'm going to do over the summer. For the last week, mostly what I've been doing is reading crap books and watching season 1 of Battlestar Galactica. I've seen it, but it's been so long I figured I'd better just start over.

Thanks to the internet, I know more spoilers than I'd really have liked, but I'm trying to be philosophical about it. Like when I picked up on Babylon 5, I was so far behind the wave, and it was such a MAJOR show, it's hard to avoid hearing about the stuff "everybody" knows. I bought the catalogs for the two Propworx auctions of costumes and props from the show, knowing that's probably the closest I'll ever get to owning a real piece of the show (though there are these eBay auctions I'm watching...) Anyway I'm flipping through the catalogs with one eye closed (actually I do pretty much everything with one eye closed, or at least not really seeing); trying to appreciate the cool stuff.

Like so: "Ooh, Starbuck's dog tags. Those'd be awesome to own- Oh frak, WHOSE funeral clothes? Dammit!" Mostly I've stopped reading the descriptions.

I'd forgotten how much I love this show. I just fell too far behind when it was airing to even think about trying to watch.

So I know there's an LJ comm for Babylon 5 'virgins', anyone know anything about one for BSG? Also an icon comm where spoilers are usually pretty well marked?

I have half a thought of trying to write one of the characters in a prompt comm, licenseartistic by preference, but it'd be weird with so much canon that I don't know yet. I always feel like this when I'm catching up on a series- like I can't write fic until I have the whole picture. Ongoing shows that I'm up to date with, no problem.

I'm an odd person. I know this.

...On the other hand, catching up would give me a ongoing source of new material, so it'd be like I was watching the show when it was current. Hmm. Hmm. This bears thinking about, although I should probably get off my lazy ass and catch up poor Moody first. And then there's Jack and Irina still clamoring for attention in the back of my head (mostly Irina) and gods know who else will pop up out of the woodwork given half a chance.

Truth is, I haven't really written much of anything this past semester at all, unless you count drips and drabs bitching about classes and medical stuff here and in my notebooks, or the haphazard way I've been tossing together bits of Honor Harrington fic for my au100 claims.

I'm trying to remember if I even know how. :) And it's not helping that it's starting to get hot. Well, starting- yeah, it's been hot for a while, and I know I shouldn't bitch, because it's not even over 100 yet, but damn. For some reason the heat seems to be really dragging at me this summer. Or maybe that's the anemia, depression, stress, and sleep deprivation. Plus heat.

Speaking of which, it's too damn hot in here to keep this up. More later, maybe.

From fannish5:
What five nitpicky things do you wish writers in your fandom(s) would get right?

I have to say, I don't actually do a lot of reading in my fandoms these days, outside of certain archives, groups, etc. I probably should read more than I do. So... here's some stuff I came up with off the top of my head, that I vaguely remember from, say, the last time I trolled Fanficton.net. (Which has been, you know, a while.)

#1- Alias: Okay, I know the finale did some wonky stuff (some of us, me included, would say it went somewhat beyond wonky, into the realm of "J.J., put down the bong, and never drop acid again, ever.) but please please try to remember all the canon that came before it. Irina, for example. Not always evil, not always simply out for global domination.
(A special no love to J.J. Abrams on that one, for making Irina a Bond villain. Of course, what do I care? My Irina has been AU, one way or another, since the end of season 2.)

#2- Harry Potter. Slytherins are people too. No, really, stick with me on this one. Not all Slytherins are cardboard-cutout evil (are we sensing a theme here, btw?) ...and at the same time, not all of them can be redeemed, or should be. One thing Severus Snape does not need in any way, shape, or form, is your vapid, Mary Sue self-insert OC and her vapid, Mary Sue-ish purple prose. And his hair really is greasy. Please just deal with that.

#3- All fandoms. Okay, this is really nitpicky. I write a lot of AU. Some of it's a little AU, some of it is a lot AU. It's all got one thing in common: I change stuff. This really isn't that hard to understand. But people will insist on believing in the main AU (for example, I had someone review "Never To Be Alone In The Dark", which is an unfinished chapterd Babylon 5 story where Marcus survives. (I'd link it, but it's M/I, and most of my friends are sick to death of that one, and I don't want tomatoes thrown at me.) The reviewer was okay with that part, but told me I'd made it look like Marcus and his brother hand gone through Ranger training together, which they didn't do. Except that in "Never," they did. This isn't in any way really important to the plot, it's just something that comes up in a conversation Ivanova has with a Ranger who had a crush on William, Marcus's brother. And yet every time I go through my folder of saved reviews- and this one was overall nice, and I did save it- that comment drives me fucking crazy.

I guess it bugs me because it's not the only time that's happened. I had people- numerous people- accept the total freaking AUness of "Emerald & Ebony," in which Harry kills Voldemort in 5th year. (Happens 'offscreen', as it were, but still.) And what do they gripe about? I had Snape and Minerva the same age, and this apparently is a serious goof on my part. Except, you know, for the part where I meant to do it that way.

One of these people also told me how old Hagrid was. Hagrid played no major part in the story at all- I think I had him there for about two seconds, talking to the Trio. His age had no relevance. (And, not being a Hagrid fan, I really didn't care.)

It's fanfic, kids. It's all pretty much AU anyway.

#4 - Alias. History, people. If you're going to do something like write about Jack and Sloane running around doing CIA stuff back in the day, or Irina doing KGB stuff, please please try to get at least a faint grasp on what was going on in the area of the world you put them in, at the time you put them there. I know it's complicatd- I have a huge book on the KGB that I still haven't made it all the way through- but I know we can remember the big stuff, like when the Soviet Union collapsed. There should be an obvious difference between AU ("What if the Soviet Union never collapsed, and Irina was running the KGB?" and historical inaccuracies ("It's, say, 1999, and we're still talking about things like the Iron Curtain, West Germany, and Krushchev, not in an alternate history kind of way, but in an "oops, I got a D- in history, sort of way.")

#5 - Star Wars. This, too, is quite bitchy on my part, but, look. I've read the majority of the books, particularly the Zahn novels, about a billion times, with particular attention to the characters I like best. Please spare me the "I think 'x' was standing over there, not there when y event happened." Dude. I re-read that chapter, just to make sure I got it right for the fic. I do know what I'm doing.

I'd like to thank irreparable, who's almost always up to looking something over for me, and she and leviathanmuse for helping with RP posts and the like. Also strangemuses who beta read the Moody essay I wrote a while back, and bohemienne, who did beta duty on 'Emerald and Ebony', poor thing. Oh, and dangnylilytable who has beta-read any number of Alias fics. (And one day I'm actually going to finish that sequel to 'Ice and Glass' for you, MC...)

There may be others I've forgotten- feel free to jog my memory. You guys all rock. :)

edit: g_shadowslayer also beta'd several RP posts and the like. Thanks to you, too.

Okay, I wasn't going to do this. No, really, I wasn't. I have a week left until I start back to school, I have a ton and a half to do, and fandom wank doesn't make the list.

But we all know how much I like procrastinating, and this has really started to piss me off. So.

( Cassie Claire. Yeah, you knew it had to be her, right? )

List 6 of your favorite television shows. Then answer the questions located under the cut.

1. Alias
2. Babylon 5
3. Crusade
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
5. seaQuest DSV
6. Bones

( Questions )

From leviathanmuse and g_shadowslayer, because memes are more fun than being productive:

1.Post a list of up to 20 books/movies/anime/TV shows/video games/etc. that you've had an obsessive fannish love of at some time in your life.

2. Have your flist guess your favourite character from each item.

Apologies for some of the totally obscure fandoms; I had trouble getting to 20 with more well-known ones. Also, some of these, I have more than one favourite character. Either or both are fine as guesses, if you know. :)

1. Alias
2. Harry Potter
3. Babylon 5
6. Crusade
7. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
8. Star Wars
9. Star Trek: TNG
10. Stargate SG-1
11. Dragonlance
12. seaQuest DSV
13. Gundam Wing
12. Star Trek: DS9
14. The Dark Is Rising
15. Witchblade (the TV series)
16. X-men movieverse
17. Star Trek: Voyager
18. Andromeda
19. Wheel of Time
20. Honor Harrington

edit: And apparently, I can't count to 20 correctly. D'oh!

Something my friend andromakhe said yesterday about inconsistencies in Harry Potter reminded me of something I've been meaning to do for a while now.

I swiped the idea from the Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5, in a way. They have a section on "unanswered questions" for each episode in the episode guide. So I started a list for HP. Stuff that she doesn't explain, or hasn't yet, that I wonder about, and stuff that just flat out doesn't make sense.

I have this oddly obsessive desire to make my list comprehensive, and I know I'm missing tons of stuff. I keep thinking of stuff and then forgetting it, and that's not getting me anywhere. So I'm posting the list here, and if anyone can think of anything else, leave a comment.

I was also thinking of doing a fic challenge of some kind where people try to "answer" a question or explain and apparent inconsistency. I don't know if there's any interest in that, so I thought I'd start with the list and see how it goes.

I sorted the list by book, and for random stuff I wonder about for various characters (like Sirius's job) I just filed it under the book where said character first showed up (PoA for Sirius). General series stuff (like the moving portraits question) gets filed under Sorcerer's Stone.

Stuff with strikethrough is stuff I think has been answered. Please feel free to argue with me if you'd like.

( urbandruid's less than comprehensive list of stuff; OotP spoilers, not that anyone cares )

I thought of a bunch of other ones, mostly for GoF and OotP, and like an idiot I didn't write them down. I keep flipping through random notebooks, hoping to find them, but I think it's hopeless.

Help?

It's over, and I am too drained to really celebrate. I'm too tired, in fact, to do much of anything at all.

I put together lists in my head of things I'm not doing and should be, and suddenly I find myself making link graphics for my Obscure Character Obsession (aka the Marilyn Stark fanlisting). Which I don't know if another soul in all the world will even join, once it's up and running. But what the hell, right? I'm on vacation.

I'm almost tempted to spend half of tomorrow getting more screencaps; never mind the hundred and fifty or so I have now. I'm still weeding the crap out of those.

I guess I'm a little bit crazy. I'd say it's due to being on vacation, but I think I was like this before, too. :)

Boy, do I ever need a life! It's good, though.

Went surfing around this morning looking for inspiration for redesigning my Gundam Wing site, which really really needs it, and one thing led to another; to make a long story short I found my old GW fandom buddy fablespinner, and she's living in the same part of the state as me. Not right next door or anything, but close enough... I'll probably see her Friday, there's this anime thing... Anyway.

Didn't get much work done on the site this morning, though I did sketch it out in my head in between classes. Funny, though, I pictured it being grey and red, and it's become grey and blue. But hey, at least it's not purple.

I hate Mondays, but this one hasn't been too bad.

Well, except for the C- I got on my history paper (the font's too big, and he wants more information... yes, and shall I walk on water while I'm at it?) But right now I don't much care. I have a friend in the area (and she's not a crazy gamer).

No, she's a crazy anime fan, but that's a whole different thing. :)