while they did live happily ever after

ALL THE

ALL

I CAN'T

ALL

FEELINGS ALL

SO MANY

I

AH

( MASSIVE MASSIVE MASSIVE SPOILERS DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED KORRA I WILL COME AFTER YOU AND HUNT YOU DOWN FOR SPOILING YOURSELF DEATH WILL BE THE NAME YOUR FAMILY CARRIES FOR IT WILL BE ALL THAT I VISIT UPON YOU )









help help help how do you handle so many feelings.

1) AH I'M A WEEK BEHIND IN KORRA I need to fix that tomorrow morning before the next episode airs. SO, A WEEK BEHIND.

But shipping-wise I'm pretty neutral (I don't mind the apparent endgame ship but I'm not rabid about it) and so I'm able to just sit back and enjoy EVERYTHING, and EVERYTHING is so freaking awesome. Uh I haven't watched it in three weeks so I don't have anything specific in mind to talk about, but, you know! Korra! WATCH IT.

2) I finally read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which led to a conversation between beth_shulman and myself that led to my realizing this:

So is it sad? Yes. Did it make me cry? Oh yes, though I mostly managed to keep it to sniffles. Did it occasionally frustrate me or seem a bit impossible? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes. In the end, I really like his books--they deeply connect with me on an intellectual level, so while I'm not always emotionally invested as deeply as I might be, I'm definitely challenged and entertained. And this one slipped through and hit some emotional spots too.

If, uh. Any of that made sense. IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU INTERACT WITH JOHN GREEN? It was definitely better than Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I need to reread Paper Towns. I want him to write more kickass female characters. I think that bit above about me saying that I connect intellectually if not emotionally actually is an epiphany for me re: John Green's books. (Like, I didn't really like the main character of Paper Towns all that much, but I LOVE what [John] [Green] [what do I even call him] did with the deconstruction of the woman-on-a-pedestal trope.)

and Beth said I wouldn't say I have very specific taste, but I do tend to like books if they're strong in writing and in characterization, and to me, he isn't strong in characterization. So maybe that's why I keep reading him.

and I thought these were good points. Granted, it's been a very long time since I read a book for fun, and I'm just dipping my toes in the water here, but, yeah, those were my thoughts.

Also reading it I couldn't help thinking about philia_fan especially because Hazel has to drain her lungs and yeah.

3) So I just remembered that finishing TFIOS is why I started watching Big, which is in the process of airing, and despite the fact that it seems to be heading into student/teacher relationship land, she was really only his teacher for like two days, and ANYWAY the student is trapped in the body of Gong Yoo of Coffee Prince fame, and they are not only showcasing his marvelous acting skills but also his post-mandatory-military-service physique. So. You know.

Anyway it's adorable so far and I hope to keep watching it.

4) I STARTED VIRMIRE LAST NIGHT. Yes I am very slowly playing my way through Mass Effect 1. I am enjoying it immensely and I am afraid to see what they change between 1 an 2 but oh well.

Anyway I'm a femShep, although this is the first Bioware game where I have actually wanted to go through the trouble of trying to play a male character for the sake of romancing one of the het female characters. Most of them (Bastila, Dawn Star, Morrigan) I haven't wanted to romance (didn't like, didn't care about, found the female friendship to be so satisfying that a romance couldn't possibly complete), but omg I am in love with Ashley Williams I love her so much. I love her family and her belief system and her tactical analysis and she's a badass and I love her. She is my femShep's BESTFRIEND, although obviously they both understand rank and regulation and all that jazz.

And then there's Kaidan.

For those of you who are skipping this section anyway, here's a comparison of Ashley and Kaidan:
[SCENE: Inside a very fancy tower with lots of decorative water features and plants and impressive staircases leading up to the Galactic Council's meeting chamber.]
Ashley: THOSE STAIRCASES AREN'T JUST DECORATIVE, THEY'RE HIGHLY DEFENSIBLE. THIS WOULD BE A HARD PLACE TO LAUNCH AN ASSAULT ON.
Kaidan: I like the fountain. It's very soothing.

basically I am romancing him because he is SpaceCarth and his voice is so soothing and I love it. I tentatively know why femShep is interested in him (i.e. why it's not one-sided because it is obviously that he just thinks she hung the moon and would do anything she asked), but she's having serious issues with the whole rank regulation no-fraternizing thing. Which is also part of why he's opened up so much to her but she hasn't felt she can reciprocate; all she can do is be quietly attracted. Anyway, at the moment he doesn't seem as damaged as Alistair or even Carth was--I mean, yeah, sad backstory, but it was fifteen years ago--Alistair is young, and Carth's tragedy was fresh. (Other Bioware romances to compare to include Sky--who was just a wimpier version of Carth I thought--and Anders--who doesn't count because it felt less like romancing him and more like manipulating him just for the sake of controlling him did I mention what a horrible person Thistle Hawke really was.)

What else. I like the battle mechanics I think. I LOVE the space travel and I love the Mako the way everyone loves the Mako and I'm SO CLOSE to finishing all the survey quests (side note: Goose finished ALL THE SIDEQUESTS. She only looked at the internet for help ONCE. My sister, ladies and gentlemen, has beaten the game before me).

PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL ME FOR ANYTHING. ANYTHING. I LITERALLY AM JUST BLOWING UP GETH OUTSIDE THE VIRMIRE OUTPOST THINGIE. I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING YET.

5) You know this is my LJ and so I'm going to babble about twinfic for a moment. See, back when I was playing Dragon Age, I had an impossible headcanon character, because I enjoy coming up with that sort of thing, and anyway it was an AU thing where Elissa Cousland was a mage, and so at age five she got sent to the Circle, but since her father is, I dunno, the Teyrn of Highever, her family did come to visit her occasionally and she was allowed to be in contact with them, the idea being that once she passed her Harrowing she would become Mage in Residence at Highever under the watchful eye of several templars, etc. etc. etc. AS IF THIS WAS NOT AU-Y ENOUGH Elissa also had a twin brother named Aidan who grows up normally at Highever. When the Blight started, Elissa got recruited into the Grey Wardens and Aidan escaped Highever by the skin of his teeth, went to Redcliffe, and proceeded to get roaringly drunk and occasionally help fight zombies. Shenanigans ensue in which each sibling thinks the other one is dead, eventually Aidan gets found and recruited to help join the team, Elissa falls for Alistair much to everyone's chagrin, etc. etc. etc.

The point of all that is that I have a history of this sort of thinking, so the fact that while I was figuring out my femShep's name I realized she has a twin sister should not be surprising. The difference here is that I never actually did an Elissa/Aidan playthrough, whereas Emma Jane Shepard totally has a twin sister named Catherine Elizabeth. (Their dad was deployed and their mom named them after Jane Austen heroines.) Both girls are biotics (Emma's a Vanguard), and they both enlisted (or whatever it is you have to do in order to become an officer in the Alliance) and went through training together and all that jazz, and then Emma went off to become a Marine and Catie went into Naval Intelligence, and while Emma went off and became a galactic star, Catie got buried so deep in Intelligence that they ended up wiping her from all official records. Basically, they've got a perfect Shepard analogue that they can send off if they want to and no one would know it's a twin and not the original because even those who know that two of them exist can't tell the difference.

And of course Emma is the ~*~serious~*~ one and Catie is an expert mimic/the outgoing popular one and yes they're almost thirty but WHO CARES, I JUST WANT TO WRITE MISTAKEN IDENTITY FIC ALL OVER EVERYTHING.

NOT EVEN BOTHERING TO CUT, OFF TO SAVE THE GALAXY.

You guys, I have like forty questions. And they are all ridiculous and only half are in the format I was expecting and, just, I HOPE YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU.

I left out a few “write a story” prompts because I am now sick and did not feel like going back and filling those in. So I will do that later.

So first, the character list!

1. Severus Snape, potions professor, Harry Potter
2. Toph Bei Fong, twelve-year-old blind earthbending master, Avatar: The Last Airbender
3. Ged, archmage and thief, Earthsea
4. Han Solo, smuggler and general, Star Wars
5. Attolia, queen of the country and also woman named Irene, Queen’s Thief
6. Lucy Honeychurch, young lady and piano player, A Room with a View
7. Holly Short, elf LEPrecon captain, Artemis Fowl
8. Jayne Cobb, muscleman and sniper, Firefly
9. Kyouya Ootori, high school junior and shadow king, Ouran
10. Britomart, cross-dressing female knight, The Faerie Queene
11. Alistair Theirin, Warden and bastard prince, Dragon Age
12. Noah Puckerman, ladies’ man with a sweet voice, Glee
13. Scarlett O'Hara, lady and businesswoman, Gone with the Wind
14. Bishop, ranger and scout, Neverwinter Nights 2
and a fandom repeat,
15. The Cabbage Man, a merchant, Avatar: The Last Airbender

( seriously, Nessa? Seriously? )

Well, that was exhaustingly fun. I hope you enjoyed!

this is not a post about Mississippi, nor is it telling you that I'm going out of town for the week for various family/friend activities--oh, wait.

TELEVISION MEME
Pick five of your favorite shows, in no particular order, before you read the below questions, then answer them!

y'all--I had a hard time coming up with five shows. I almost resorted to Sailor Moon. WHAT DID I WATCH BEFORE I WENT TO COLLEGE? Ganked from redbrunja

SIDE NOTE: I am working on those writing memes y'all gave me. But, well, the first one was supposed to be five drabbles and now it's like five pages long and not done so. You know me and brevity--it's been a while since we've had a chat.

1) ATLA (seen: entire show)
2) Chuck (seen: season one and two and the beginning of season three)
3) Enterprise (seen: almost the whole thing; did not watch the finale on principle)
4) Glee (seen: the back nine, and like half the first part of the season)
5) Bones (seen: large chunks from various seasons)


( why weren't there more questions about Enterprise )

1) Year-old Zutara fic! Woo!

2) this line will not leave me alone:
"I am a mage, Alistair. And they wish to make you king."

/angsts all over everything with her tiny broken heart

3) RASHAKA, YOUR FIC IS LANGUISHING ON MY HARD DRIVE, BECAUSE ZUKO'S VOICE FLED MY HEAD AND REFUSED TO RETURN. I am marathoning season 1 on Saturday, though, so hopefully I will be able to finish it.

So today I was reading the comments on the latest installment of Kyoshi Hold 'Em (shiperrific crack fun) and someone was laughing at the idea of Aang going through puberty, and said it would like Azula getting her period. So I tried to write crackfic and then kind of failed, but I was pleased enough with the results to repost them here, with minimal editing. Also unbeta'd, so comma abuse probably abounds.

Title: idk, "End of the Innocence" or something, 'cause it's ironic
Author: Meeeeee
Rating: G unless you're a boy easily grossed out by casual mentions of girls gushing blood

( call it a character study? )

sadly not by me, but still awesome.

I think I am avoiding posting about how my days have been going because, um, if I did I would have to start thinking about how I'm graduating, and then I would cry all over my laptop. So instead we are all being WEIRDLY MOODY and getting UPSET ABOUT RANDOM THINGS like HOW FLIPPING CASTLE/BECKETT IS BEATING PUCK/RACHEL HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY CHEMISTRY

as we were saying, Castle basically relies on the success of other shows (e.g. Bones and The Mentalist), which doesn't make it bad, but doesn't make it compelling to those who are fans of the other shows (especially if the other shows actually have chemistry, see Bones). Anyway vote for Zutara, etc. etc., show Usagi/Mamoru (Sailor Moon/Tuxedo Mask) some love because they are hurting. I think so far those are the only ones I'm really worried about (not that there aren't other ships in there that I love, but so far everyone is doing okay.)

(Having to pick between Mulan/Shang and Tiana/Naveen based on hotness is pretty cruel though. Both couples are pretty smoking.)


Anyway! On the subject of Puck/Rachel, which is my Glee OTP (although I am really fond of this Jesse/Rachel thing that's going on because Rachel just looks so happy. Also I am really fond of the last two episodes of Glee because, aside from Will, it's actually been...watchable). Ariel has been sending me links to fic as rewards for finishing my homework (one paper left!), and with a link to this one (haven't read yet, have to hang up Disney pictures first...and then probably, like, color more...), she sent me the following meta:

[note: this was clearly written while under the influence of lots of Puck's POV fic. Just sayin'.]

( cut for hilarious amounts of Puckspeak )


SO, fellow watchers-of-Glee/sellouts-like-me, thoughts? Anyone else notice these trends in Puck fic? Anyone more familiar with the first nine episodes than I am want to let me know what we see of Puck's character? PLEASE, DISCUSS.

Thank you for yesterday's prompts; I will use them as study breaks over the next week of INTENSE WRITING OF INTENSENESS. For now, have a shorter meme, ganked from redbrunja. I added one more prompt in order to balance out the number of times each character appears.

1. Write down the names of 10 characters.
2. Write a fic of fifteen words or less for every prompt, using the characters determined by the numbers. Do NOT read the prompts before you do step 1.

1. Katara
2. Hamlet
3. Laura Farthing
4. Attolia
5. Will Schuester
6. Obi-Wan Kenobi
7. Zuko
8. Sir Nevalle
9. Ron Weasley
10. Eugenides




( this was harder than I expected; frickin' word limits )

two things:

1) review of a v. rough cut, basically amounting to "man, can't wait till they finish the visual effects, p.s. Jackson Rathbone why you suck so bad."

2) superbowl trailer spot, basically amounting to HOMG WATERBENDING HOMG PRETTY HOMG ILM ILU p.s. Inuit extras are Inuit shhhh don't tell.



so it upsets my best friend people when I talk about the racefail going on in this film, and I'm not particularly good at articulating it either--at first it was, "why doesn't Katara look like Katara?" and then the more I hung around racebending the more I learned about how it's just symptomatic of a systemic denial of lead roles to Asian actors/negative portrayal of people of darker skin/etc. etc. etc., and well, it seems like it's the sort of thing one ought to pay attention to.

the Prince of Persia movie falls into this kind of fail too.

anyway, from my perspective, even without knowing everything I know now about racefail in Hollywood casting, just as a fan of the animated series, I'm sad about the canonrape going on here. And yeah, I tend to be a purist when it comes to my adaptations--while I understand you can't fit every detail in, you should be so choosy in your details as to create the overall feeling or spirit of the original work--which is why Fellowship of the Ring succeeds and Return of the King fails. And all the stuff they've taken from TLA just wants to steal its original intention and spirit away, and that to me is the greatest tragedy: that my beloved show is going to be shown in this warped, reduced form to a wider audience.

also re icon: lol sad!brown!Katara is brown. :-( :-( :-(

on a positive note!
1) this comment thread regarding punching a fish
2) this comment thread, also regarding punching a fish
3) I just ordered Girl Scout cookies! Mm, cookies.

SO I HAVE A SERIOUS POST TO DO LATER BUT FIRST

OMG

SOMEONE DID IT

THEY WROTE MAI/EARTH KING

ASKLDF;JASD;FJS SO HAPPY