rusty_halo

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Doctor/Master made it to the final Writercon face-off–yay! The winning ship will be featured in the Dirty Drabbles reading at Writercon ‘09. Go vote for our guys!

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I think I’m just going to have to accept that I’ll never be one of those people with wide-ranging, eclectic artistic tastes. I’ve always fallen into the pattern of becoming completely and utterly obsessed with one thing and of wringing every last nuance of meaning out of it for years on end–and of not being able to get into anything else until I’m finished with it. Forcing myself to watch/listen to/read things that I’m not passionately interested in has just adamantly not worked. I’m twenty-six, and this tendency is showing no signs of change, so I guess I just have to go with it.

On the plus side, the stuff consuming my brain these days is better, and a lot more wide-ranging and eclectic within its own boundaries. I’ve been thinking up this whole post about how David Bowie is similar to Raymond Watts (in terms of incorporating diverse musical genres and experimenting) and how both are much more interesting than what I listened to in high school. I’m not going to write it, because I’m lazy and I don’t think anyone would read it, but it’s percolating in my brain in interesting ways.

(One is that it’s reflected in the ways Bowie has influenced the artists I grew up listening to. Marilyn Manson stole a lot from Bowie, in very obvious and uninteresting ways. I’m noticing places where Raymond Watts was inspired by Bowie too, but always in far more interesting ways than Manson. [But then everything Watts does is more interesting than Manson.] I also kind of want to do a picspam of “blatant things that Manson ripped off from Bowie,” because I’m mildly annoyed that I grew up admiring a lot of things in Manson that he stole without really even putting his own unique mark on them. I have the weirdest relationship with Manson’s work–a lot of fond nostalgia for his concerts and genuine musical respect for Antichrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals, but a lot of disgust and irritation for his limitations as a musician and as a human being.)

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I watched the movie Human Traffic this weekend, because I wanted to return it to Netflix so that I can get Labyrinth. (I want to see Labyrinth again because I’m wondering if I’ll finally like it. My dislike goes back to being five and hating muppets, so perhaps things have changed. Plus everyone says Bowie is ultra-hot in this movie and yet I have never seen the hotness. So we’ll see.)

( vague Human Traffic spoilers )

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( Methos' first Highlander episode )

***

In pursuit of non-embarrassing David Bowie icons (not sure if I'm there, or if such a thing is even possible--I feel that there's kind of an inherently embarrassing teenage girl thing about LJ icons), I've come across lots of images from the film The Man Who Fell To Earth. Which I'm not sure I want to see--it sounds like something that's better in screencaps than it would be if I actually had to sit down and watch it--but then again, the icons are so pretty I'm kind of feeling like maybe it's necessary. I'll put it after Labyrinth in my Netflix queue, though based on my history it'll probably sit unwatched next to my DVD player for six months. Good thing I switched to the cheapest Netflix plan.

Also, OMG, icon makers, a link is not a fake cut! It's just a link! (And a drabble is exactly 100 words! And you damn kids get off my lawn!)

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2772

These responses are totally dripping with SPOILERS so please click carefully!

( Highlander )

( Doctor Who )

( Buffy the Vampire Slayer )

( The Lymond Chronicles )

( A Song of Ice and Fire )

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

I just handed in my last academic paper (ever?).

Assuming all goes well (which it should *knock on wood*), this is it. All classes are over, this was the last bit of academic work required to graduate.

This feels so weird. Like, my entire life has been leading up to this moment. I didn't exactly choose it, I didn't exactly want it (though I also couldn't think of any more preferable option), but here I am, I've achieved it. College graduation. What an incredible relief that this is over.

I'm a bit sad, which surprises me. I felt nothing but a sort of bitter joy at having escaped high school alive; I still feel no nostalgia for that nightmarish hell. But I actually started to appreciate college a bit near the end, maybe about 2/3 of the way through. I'll never like homework or papers or grades, but once I found the kinds of classes that suited my personality--cultural studies, gender studies--I saw the point. I appreciated the insights and the need for them and I felt like I grew as a person because of those classes.

I sort of wish I could've done it over again knowing what I know now; I spent at least the first half of college floating around totally lost, without a clue what I wanted to study or where I fit in. By the time I finally found it, it seems like I barely had time to skim the surface.

But anyway. It's over and done with now and man, am I relieved!

I spent the weekend in something of a daze: all my finals this year were papers, all were long, and all were due within the same period of time. So this weekend I wrote:

- 12 pages on the construction of masculinity in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy and its relationship to the cultural changes of the 1960s in America (due Monday 5/3)
- 6 pages on the theme of objectification in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and its relation to the academic study of history (due Monday 5/3)
- 12 pages on the relationships between dominant culture, subculture, and family in Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys (due Wednesday 5/5)

I just returned from handing the last paper in. That's 30 pages in about four days. It was all done very last minute because I had other work to finish up the week before. That also means I've barely slept in the past four days: I was up 36 hours, from Sunday morning to Monday night, slept for about eight hours, then got up again Tuesday morning and have been awake until now (Wednesday afternoon). And now I'm at work trying to catch up because I missed Monday. Man, I can't wait to go home and sleep.

This is a babbling, nonsensical post; I offer exhaustion as an excuse.

I wish I had something related to the Spike-verse to say. Unfortunately it has utterly failed to hold my attention; the little time I've had to devote to fandom lately has been toward Methos. I really wish I could keep my attention on Spike; I love the community that surrounds this fandom. I want to continue to be a part of it. But, well, there's just nothing that Mutant Enemy could do that would make me want to watch--or even think about--their product. I'll spare you the anti-ME rant; if you read my journal you know how I feel about their ideology. I know now that there's nothing there for me and never will be. Thinking about it just makes me angry and sad.

I'd much prefer to think about Methos and Jaime Lannister, whose creators appreciated the value of an ambiguous character and the value of free will, the ability of the individual to change. drujan and I went to see Hellboy the other weekend and though I didn't particularly enjoy the film, we both loved the theme that it doesn't matter how you start out, you don't have some essential essence; you have choice, you decide who you are, no one else does. Methos and Jaime both embody that; anything that ME creates embodies the opposite: the triumph of fate, inability to escape destiny, essentialism, ultimate lack of choice. (Don't argue; if you feel differently, good, enjoy yourself, you're not going to convince me.)

I bought the DVDs for Highlander seasons four and five (graduation gift to self, shut up frugal conscience) and I love them. ( am I still talking about Highlander??? Okay, I think the thesis here is something like 'Kronos is an essentialist and Methos is a social constructionist'.... oh, shut up. Long Highlander mini-essay. )

A million thank yous to everyone who offered Highlander fic suggestions (and to those who pimped my request in their own journals, thus leading to Highlander fans that I'd never met offering excellent suggestions). I just read one so far, by Sylvia Volk (whose Spike fic I adore) and I can't wait to start on the others.

Are there still active places in HL fandom, and if so, where might I find them? (Methos centric, preferably).

Also, a bunch of thank yous to the people who congratulated me on passing my colloquium. I haven't had time to reply individually but I really appreciate all the nice things everyone said.

I finally tried to catch up with my friends list this weekend. I got to skip=980, then it wouldn't let me go any further back. So I missed everything between Friday April 2 and Monday April 5. If you posted something especially interesting during that time (especially fic), please let me know.

I just skimmed my list (and even then it took hours) and didn't comment. No offense intended--I was up till 4am, and just needed to catch up quickly and go to sleep. I also took a couple of people off of my reading list--nothing personal, I just can't keep up, so I tried to remove people who post often and whose interests have totally diverged from mine.

It was astounding how much *free time* I had this week, since I wasn't reading LJ or fic. It's so nice to have relaxation time, or playing-with-cats time, or cooking time, or TV time. I expect to continue cutting back on internet use, though I do plan to keep reading fic. I have this file with links to all the fic I'm supposed to read, and I just keep adding to it--at some point, I will catch up, and start asking archiving questions, and all that stuff.

A couple of people asked if I'm going to close my site when the show ends. The answer is still no--I plan to keep the site up as long as possible. (As in, years and years; unless there's some really compelling reason to close it, I will keep paying the maintenance bills as long as I can.) I will stop updating as often (um, I have stopped updating as often) but the archive will remain. And I probably will start updating regularly again soon, at least for a little while.

I regard quite a bit of the fiction on my site as Art (capital A) and I want it to be easily accessible. I honestly don't understand why people close their sites so superfluously all the time--even if I'm no longer that interested in Spike fic, many other people are, and if I have the site I may as well make it available. Some of this fiction is so astoundingly good--I want it to be as widely available as possible for those who are interested.

My weekend was fun, btw. I hung out with a whole ton of people both Friday and Saturday nights (including 10zlaine, thefangirl, soulmate815, drujan). We ate Spanish food, got drunk at the Times Square Brewery, saw Common Rotation at the Bitter End, etc. Common Ro were very good, as usual, but the real fun was in the company. 10zlaine and soulmate815 came over to meet my cats (who got all nervous around the company, but it was still cool). And thefangirl and I decided that we absolutely must have a sleepover, because she has the European versions of all the Highlander episodes, and these I've just got to see. (Plus, there are actually Methos episodes that I haven't seen at all...) And she's got this movie with naked Roy Dupuis (Michael from La Femme Nikita) ... so yes, we have much to watch.

( more babbling about Highlander )

Um, would anyone happen to know where I might find high-quality Methos-centric Highlander fanfiction? I've never read Highlander fic before. Any rating, any pairing, any topic is fine, as long as it's got Methos and is written well. (From what I've seen so far, writing a complicated morally ambiguous 5,000 year old immortal well is quite a challenge.)

I ended up celebrating my colloquium by watching my two favorite Highlander episodes, "Comes a Horseman" and "Revelation 6:8." Then I watched them again. Then I decided to watch all of the Methos episodes that I have on tape. Then I decided that I need more; thus, fic. Most of what I've found so far has involved Methos behaving like a 12-year-old girl with a crush on Duncan, so if anyone could point me in a more productive direction I'd appreciate it. He's such a wonderful character; I'm sure there must be great fic out there somewhere.

I haven't read my LJ in a week. I suppose this has to do with souled Spike's failure to hold my attention--I'm turning to Methos and Jaime Lannister instead. Alas, neither actually has the potential to hold my attention long-term--Methos' story has been over for years, and who knows when the next Song of Ice and Fire book will be out (plus, Jaime has a miniscule fandom). But for the time being, this is entertaining me.

While watching these episodes I became curious as to what my reaction might have been when I first saw them, so I pulled out my old diary and checked the date that the episosdes aired. Sure enough, post "Revelation" I devoted three pages to expounding on the wonderfulness of Methos. I was fifteen at the time--six years ago. I may be fairly new to online fandom, but I've always been a fan. It amuses me how little I've changed.

I think in the end, I love Methos much more than Spike. Methos is a lot like Jaime Lannister in that they both took the hard path toward redemption--struggle and suffering and choice. No magic deus ex machina soul for them.

( babbling about why I like Methos more than Spike )

So, anyone going to see Common Rotation at the Bitter End this weekend?

It's late, I'm tired, I don't have time to proofread this entry. I apologize in advance for any glaring typos, grammatical errors, etc.

Saturday I spent the night at Jane's. We had a sleepover and watched a lot of TV. She just got her XF S2 DVDs, so we watched two episodes ("3" and "Humbug"). Season 2 was when I was *really* into XF, so it was cool to see those episodes again. We also watched some Smallville, which I'm really not too fond of. (Lana needs to die. Now.) But I very much appreciated the Clark/Lex subtext. That show gets about a million times better every time Lex comes onscreen. We also watched two Highlander episodes ("Comes a Horseman" and "Revelation 6:8") I made Jane watch them, because I love Highlander and those are my favorite episodes; they're Methos-centric and so well done. I think she liked them well enough. We didn't go to sleep until 7am; then the next day we ran errands and I helped her set up this cool wireless internet thing for her laptop. I also showed her how to use her livejournal (so now she has no excuse not to post).

So, now I'm catching up with fic and posts. Updated 3 works in progess, which you'll find on the homepage (anniesj's Waking the Dead, ginmar's Tabula Obscura, and nashvillain615's Crisis Management). Yay, good fic!

Also, read the finale spoilers (sorry Jane! I couldn't resist). ( Cutting for the vaguest hints of spoilers, but there really aren't any here )

Also, I filled out that Buffy Survey Meme Thing (copied from rachelanton73).

( buffy meme survey thing )

Last week I filled out that Spike survey that is here (the one that the professor of popular culture is doing for a Buffy project). So I decided to post some of my responses here.

( Read more... )