Stuff

One: Well, I've joined the masses at the AO3, aka the "archive of our own". I've only posted a few stories so far but I'll probably eventually get everything up there. It'll be nice to have a backup archive in addition to my singing and dancing one. Performance seems sludgy, particularly on story posts. Perhaps this is the Yuletide rush.

It also seems buggy. I'll be filing some reports.

Two: I note that I'm doing a rip-snorting job so far of failing to answer comments. I soldier onward posting as close to daily as I can manage.

Three: I'm having a bit of a problem with the Caspian piece in today's music field. As in, it won't come off repeat. You can listen on youtube or on last.fm. Possibly the signature music of the Iceland story, if things continue on this way. Every story I write has an iTunes playlist for listening as I write, and for most of them I end up fixating on a single song that seems to represent the emotional core for me.

I love the tag somebody has given it on last.fm: "the sound of falling dust". Hmm, somebody's taste overlaps with mine... I think I'm going to make a playlist called that and figure out what I'd put in it.

Four: No idea if I'm going to manage to finish this Buffy/Oz/Xander thing in time for xmas day. 5600 words, and Oz is being balky. He's demanding that he trigger all sorts of character movement and stuff, and be the reason it's a story instead of just a slice of life thing. "Story" being "a thing that can only happen once", because change is at its heart, and all that jazz. But sorry, Oz, it's about Buffy not you. Deal.

[100] assorted Whedonverse icons



HERE @ petitemerci

x-posted!

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I know that it's a few days till Christmas so a lot of my flist is busy with family and such. However, I'm sure there are also a good number of people who have some time off right now and are just waiting for a Buffy poll or something to amuse themselves. So let me provide.

On my last post about Empty Places and Touched, a discussion started up in the comments about tactics and battle plans. Well, this inspired me to do up a poll on the various battles we see in the show. Specifically, the plan part of this.

The poll is pretty basic: I name the battle. You decide whether the plan was good or bad (or for you wafflers, I provide a neutral third option). Please note! This isn't about how the battle turned out. It's about the plan. Whether, with the information the gang had at the time, the plan they came up with was sound or not.

Now for those who don't have the entire series memorized, I'm providing a refresher to jog your memory on each of the battles listed (You're welcome). Remember, this is only about the plan. I'm not providing info about how it turned out because that's not relevant. Just the plan, folks!

( Below this cut is the Nifty Battle Refresher Course! )

( If you're a complete Buffy geek and don't need a refresher, the poll is below this cut! )

32 icons — Alias, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy Cast, Dawson's Creek, Jennifer Morrison, Kristin Kreuk, Life on Mars (US), Matthew Morrison, Stargate Atlantis, The Sarah Connor Chronicles



HERE @ lemonlight

32 icons — Alias, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy Cast, Dawson's Creek, Jennifer Morrison, Kristin Kreuk, Life on Mars (US), Matthew Morrison, Stargate Atlantis, The Sarah Connor Chronicles



HERE @ lemonlight

 

here @ stormaroundme 

Post will remain open for 3 days but then you'll have to join.

Dear Abby - Dec 23 edition

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I have been married two wonderful years. I was recently in a serious car accident and am currently unable to drive. The person who mainly drives me around is my husband, but sometimes friends and family take me to my appointments or to run errands. Recently my husband announced that he will no longer take me to buy my birth control pills because he's ready to have a child and doesn't want to wait.
Since I am out of work, I have no money of my own and must rely solely on him for support. Because he is no longer willing to provide me with the funds to buy birth control, I am unable to ask anyone else to give me a ride to the pharmacy. When we have sex, he refuses to use protection.

Although I want children in the future, I do not feel ready to have any now. We married young and still have years ahead of us to get pregnant and be active parents.

Please tell me what to do. I'm afraid if I refuse to have a baby with him he will leave or, when I am ready, decide our time to start a family has passed. I love him and would do anything for him. Should I just give in, and is it really worth a fight? -- NOT QUITE READY IN COLORADO




???

I have no words for how unmitigatingly fucked up this is.

Abby's answer left me wanting. I wanted to see the words stab him while he sleeps, for instance, or burn down the house and live with one of your friends after making sure you're on the insurance policy.


BURLY SMASH!!!

Authors: Monotone & Out For Bloody Summer
Fandom: Angel
Series: Angel: Still Falling
Period: Season 6
Length: A little over 10,000 words each
Category: A continuation of the show, so drama/action/comedy.
Rating/Warnings: If you're old enough to handle the adult plot and themes, grow up and get over the unparliamentary language. There isn't any, but that isn't the point.
POV: Changes
Pairings: N/A

Go on, give it a peruse, let us know what you think.

Episode 3 begins here.

And episode 4 here.

Oh, and new episodes sometimes get plugged across the communities like this, hence two episodes at once here. Track/follow/sign up to our Livejournal to keep up with them as they're posted.

I really hope the actors in Six Degrees aren't going to attempt American accents. That'll drive me up the wall.

*thunk* thistle_verse shared this amazing clip. My brain has been altered. *laughs and aches and weeps and rejoices*

AND right now, if you purchase "White Wine in the Sun" on iTunes, half the proceeds go towards Autism research, the cause closest to my heart. Listen, love, and purchase. Buy this song. *no more words*

This Best Buy spash-over ad is PISSING ME OFF.

* Intrigued. I saw the emotionally manipulative "In the Bedroom" yesterday and got seriously hooked by a very clever device in which a piece of *genuflect* Longfellow was taken out of context and used to optimum results. (The film is not worth the two pain-filled hours - I thought we stopped responding to that sort of thing in the 70's...) The Longfellow poem is a well-known melancholy ode to Youth -

My Lost Youth

but in the movie, this stanza is pulled out and it becomes something so much more than in its original form -

'There are things of which I may not speak;
There are dreams that cannot die;
There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak,
And bring a pallor into the cheek,
And a mist before the eye.
And the words of that fatal song
Come over me like a chill:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."'

Without giving away the arcing of the film, this stanza becomes wrenching and utterly perfect at describing both the events and the emotions of the story. In the poem, it's less wrenching and more insightful in regards to an old man reminiscing about time gone by....A truly amazing transformation of words of meaning of intent and ultimately of effect.

Of course, we all pull out parts and pieces and bits and bobs of quotes and words that speak directly to us but in this case my intrigue and hesitation is around the fact that the stanza actually stands alone as something quite different then when it's part and parcel of the larger piece. Not sure how I feel about that.

* D and I are going out for a quick (yeah, right - hahahahhahaha) finishing up of the last minute shopping. This is going to be insane. The traffic is out of control in the valley and my husband is known for his inability to cope with anything close to resembling humans scurrying in pointless chaotic formation. Wish us luck, flist.

01-10: Dark Angel (animated only)
11-37: Make-Up
38-57: Buffy
58-79: Emilie de Ravin
80-87: Leighton Meester
88-100: Angelina Jolie

TEASERS


here @ melody_icons

The stag crashed through the forest. Why was he the hunted and the stag the hunter?

Hearing the hunting horn, Ethan dodged through the underbrush, knowing it was futile.

Unlike Ethan, the hunter knew this land well.

In a clearing, Ripper, horns growing from his head, waited.

“Do you yield?”

“Ripper. I...”

He hung his head, knowing he couldn't win. “Yes.”

Unexpectedly, Ripper put the knife away. “Good.” He drew Ethan in for a kiss.

Do you sacrifice me after the Great Rite? Ethan wondered but, as the kiss deepened he found he really didn't care.

Christmas, you ought to last longer than a day, considering the amount of effort you require.

It's nearly nine and I still need to ice cupcakes, wrap presents, write cards, finish goodie bags, and order e-gift certificates. Urg. Time is working against me and I'm ready to crash. Need some yummy alcoholic beverage to give this evening a more festive air, methinks. I'll still be working, but the sharp fretty edge will be dulled just enough to remember I am having fun. This *is* supposed to be fun, isn't it?

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