Skyfall and a meme

[lunasariel]

This weekend was, as usual, taken up mostly with work. I did take a break to go see Skyfall, though, and, overall, liked it quite a lot! 'Course, my favorite part was Ben Whishaw as Q (jesus christ, but does that boy push every button I've got!), who was about 40% legs, 30% floppy dark hair, 20% snark, and 10% big green eyes (bolstered to 15% by adorkable hipster glasses, which works out to 105%, but this is the James Bond universe we're talking about here, so anything is possible). Naturally, I ship 00Q (with an option to throw creeper!Silva into the mix somewhere). Like, when Silva escaped the Fishtank of Doom, I was dead certain he was going for Q/the computer room, given the thing he's always had about computers/technology/cyberterrorism, and even he needs a physical computer to wreak havoc on, and Bond's "oh shit" face was because there was a possible rapist and confirmed homicidal lunatic running around loose, and, as far as he (Bond) knows, the only thing Q knows about guns is how to make them. I was also kinda hoping that Q would get the traditional Kaylee-style Gadgeteer Genius introduction where he rolls out from under something on one of those little skateboard-looking things wearing goggles and a welding rig (or at least carrying a soldering iron), but I ended up liking the introduction he got just fine. And am I or am I not depressingly nerdy for noticing that the painting they were talking about in that scene was The Fighting Temeraire, and thus ZOMG TEMERAIRE!!!!1!!? Yes, I think I am. XD Q and Perscitia would be such adorable gadgeteer buddies and he could snark at anybody who gave her trouble and M would totally be a Longwing captain and Catherine would be capital-U Unimpressed with Bond's attempts to flirt with her and I'll stop now.

My second favorite part, though, was all the Bondverse nods - I saw it in a fairly full house, and there were literal cheers when the car showed up
(am I a terrible person for being more "NOOOOOOOO" about the car getting destroyed than M dying? Because, dude, you just blew up the Aston-Martin)
, and the classic intro sequence (complete with psychedelic naked chicks) and ending sequence (if it's not legally required that they have the gun-barrel-and-blood thing while the twangy theme music plays in every movie, then it's sure as hell expected) were pure nostalgic gold. This was actually kind of a weird moment for me - my dad had Views about age-appropriate material (he didn't even like us watching Futurama or Robin Hood: Men in Tights), so Bond wasn't a huge part of my childhood; I've never even seen all that many Bond movies, but all the classic Bond elements bypass my getting-into-smartypants-college brain and go straight to the hindbrain. Oh, and M and the introduction of Moneypenny were great, too - more on Judi Dench's M below
, but I loved Noomi Harris' Eve Moneypenny, which was one of those things that I feel like I should have seen coming a mile away (conspicuously unnamed kickass-but-disinclined-towards-fieldwork hot chick that she is) but that still surprised me when the big reveal happened. But she was fun and charming, and I look forward to the two of them snarking at each other in future installments
.

Of course, there were some classic Bond elements I was a little :\ about. Like, this round's Bond Girl felt very tacked-on, a requirement to be gotten through with, whereas the other elements of the formula felt like gleeful homages. (Why, exactly, does the call girl sent to oversee a financial transaction get a gun, when there are goons set to watch over her so she doesn't escape? Wouldn't arming her be a little counterproductive?)
And I'm actually not sure how I feel about M's death - I was sad, of course, but in a sort of generalized way. My first thought was that it was an RL-dictated decision because Judi Dench is heading off to Game of Thrones (I was initially very *rageface* about her casting as the Queen of Thorns, but after seeing her performance here, I would call myself mollified, if not enthused), and
I know that the whole theme of the movie was a mixture of "out with the old, in with the new" and "older but better," and I found the commentary on Bond aging, the world changing around him, etc. interesting, but...I dunno. I do admit that I like the old, cheesy, superhero Bond with his exploding pens and jetpacks and frickin' laser beams and poisoned darts in his shoes or whatever, and I'm going to miss him, arrogant bastard that he was. And, of course, I subscribe to the crossover theory where M stands for, among other things, Mummy, and is, in fact, the mother of Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes
, and that stupidface Mallory will soon be replaced by, or is acting as the catspaw of, Mycroft, the new M
. (Now stop me before I get into the overarching crossover where Stephen Maturin was the first M and laid the foundation for turning Naval Intelligence into MI6, and where Q is either M's nephew or third son.)

I found the climax fun mostly because it was lifted straight out of, like, Jane Eyre or something - the prodigal son returns, lady in distress in tow, to the gloomy ancestral manse decades after the suspicious deaths of his parents, to be greeted by the bearded and cryptic groundskeeper. Oh, and there's a flight o'er the moors, a shoot-out with a creepy obsessive villain, and secret passages, too. But it still felt very Bond-like - said ancestral manse is apparently made of explodium, seeing how a stone house went up like it was stuffed full of propane tanks (maybe Bond's magnetic attraction to explosions is hereditary?), and, the whole sequence where Bond fell through the ice over a pond, won an underwater fight, busted his way out with a flare gun, and then charged right off without suffering any ill effects of being plunged into icy water, wearing heavy clothes, for about a minute and a half was a great nod to Bond's past superhuman feats of strength and endurance (although perhaps an unintentional one). Overall, I give it a solid 8.75/10!


I'm leaving for the Thanksgiving Trek this evening - my mom is coming to pick me up in Berkeley, and C, H, AD, and I will be leaving for LA tomorrow morning and getting back Saturday evening, and next week is going to be killer - it's the last week of formal instruction, so my final Early American Lit paper is due on Monday, the Hobbit promo shindig is on Tuesday (I've decided to go as Lúthien, and have an appropriately floaty blue dress and stuffed husky puppy with a collar that says Huan) and my calligraphy dealybob is due the same day, and then I have two papers due Friday, but there's still regular reading to be kept up with, and ohmygod I'm not going to sleep, like, at all next week, am I? Oh, well, at least it's RRR week after that, so I can catch up on all the reading, sleeping, and eating that I won't have time for next week.

For this week's meme, ikel89 has been running a very neat one over on her journal, which is as follows:
Step One: Comment here with the phrase "pumpkin spice" and I'll rummage through your userpics and choose five.
Step Two: You'll take those five icons and make a new post with all the rules and information included. Tell me about those icons, why you like them, why you can't delete them, or why you uploaded them in the first place.
Step Three: People will read your post, and think "hey, this is neat." and comment to your post with "pumpkin spice". Then it will be their job to pass it on in a never-ending cycle that will spread across the internet or at least LJ like wildfire!

I'm also adding her emendation of In my edition, you don't have to make a new post and can just write your answers here, if that's more convenient for you:), although I did choose to mine here, because I like to blabber. XD


The ones I got are:

It's a testament to how strongly FAKE got ahold of me that I still keep this icon around, even though I'm no longer in the fandom - man, did I love this series! Also, this icon is kind of scarily accurate in that FAKE was the first official yaoi that I read (aside from Gravitation, which We Do Not Talk About), and is still one of the best examples of the genre I've ever seen - it's not sappy or inane or gratuitous, I found the love story extremely compelling, *all* the characters were well fleshed-out, and it wasn't your typical "five volumes of will they/won't they and then one of pr0n" - there were actual plots and motivations that didn't depend on whether or not the two leads would end up boning. The female characters were strong, likeable, and in no way demonized, it was funny, and it had none (okay, almost none) of the problematic elements that eventually drove me away from yaoi, and even from animanga in general.


This one is from Nightrunners, which is another one of those fandoms that I'm not really in anymore but wish I was. 'Course, one of the problems is that there *isn't* really a Nightrunners fandom - the author has put the official kibosh on fanfic, and unlike a certain other fantasy series, there aren't really enough fans to generate an underground fic-writing community. I got into Nightrunners when  the author, Lynn Flewelling, was one of the speakers at a panel I attended at Comic-Con a few years ago, and they were handing out free copies of the first book in the series, I thought, "why not?", and I was hooked. My love for it has since decreased, after what, IMHO, were some quite serious missteps in recent books, but the first three books are *fantastic* - a same-sex couple that isn't fetishized or sensationalized, a nakama that I can really love, and equal adeptness at epic, high, and low fantasy, and even some elements of spy fiction and horror! What was interesting for me, though, was how clearly I could picture everything - it's like in The Neverending Story, where Bastian can see the Childlike Empress as she's described on the page, but he can also see details that aren't in the book, but that he knows are there nevertheless. It's an extremely cool feeling. It got a manga adaption of the first three books, and this is lifted from that - the Oreska is basically the equivalent of Hogwarts, where all the wizards live and there's a huge library full of things that may try to kill you. The two characters are Nysander (the old guy - the equivalent of Dumbledore: friendly, eccentric, grandfatherly, seemingly doddery but actually unimaginably powerful, and guardian of a great secret, except that the Prophecy of Doom is unclear as to whether he's raising himself or one of his protégés/friends to the slaughter), and Alec (the younger, blonde guy - a rough Harry Potter analogue, in that he's the naïve newcomer whose eyes we see the world through and around whom several Prophecies of Doom center).


The comment on this was calvin & hobbes = <3, and my sentiments exactly! I grew up with Calvin & Hobbes, and will never, ever not love them, for nostalgia's sake as well as the fact that they're funny as hell - I have an extremely strong memory of Erika, my favorite babysitter, reading me Weirdoes From Another Planet and Revenge of the Baby-Sat when I was sick, and doing some pretty amazing funny voices. I remember laughing at them because they used big words that I didn't understand, but I liked the way they sounded, and now that I do know what all the big words mean, it just makes them funnier. I uploaded a passel o' Calvin & Hobbes icons last summer, when A) I realized that their omission was a glaring hole in my icon collection, and B) my cat Cassie died, and C&H is notable for handling death in a very mature and poignant, yet somehow still kinda humorous, manner (hands up, who cried for the little raccoon?), and I wanted to communicate that I was going to miss milady, but that we had had some good times and that sometimes she drove me nuts.


Pottermore sorted me as a Gryffindor, but I'm still convinced the system was at least somewhat rigged to ensure roughly equal numbers across the houses, because I'm a textbook Ravenclaw - intellectually-inclined, of course, but also smug, praise-loving, and maybe a little unhealthily preoccupied with being the smartest (and proving that I'm the smartest). And this icon describes the smug/self-satisfied aspect of this, and of my personality, pretty neatly: I do tend towards caution and, er, boringness of living (say it with me, worrywarts of the world: better safe than sorry!), but this has generally worked out pretty good for me - I tend to regret doing something that ended badly rather than not doing it and wondering which way it could have gone. And then, of course the smugness aspect comes in - I can be rather, er, Hemione-ish about being pleased that at least *I* didn't [insert doubtlessly-fun-but-boneheaded action here].


This is one of my favorites, too! I actually love the dynamic between these two, albeit in a bittersweet, "look how shiny and funny everything was before it all went to hell in a handbasket" kind of way. As I'm sure I've commented before, I loved their scene in the Tourney of the Hand, because Sansa is such a fangirl, and Loras is so very, very uninterested, and it never fails to crack me up. But then, of course, the meet again during ASoS, and it's just depressing - they've both lost everything they love, and Loras has gone from this shiny, happy Knight of Flowers who's beloved and handsome and terribly, terribly good at what he does, but now he's lost the love of his life and is now so very uninterested in playing the gallant for Sansa, and she's lost her naïveté and, for lack of a better word, sparkle, and seems decades older than the girl who went all *iz ded of squee* over getting a red rose from a handsome knight. Actually, the scene that kicked off my "everyone is happy in Highgarden" AU was Loras asking Sansa for a private interview, and her being A) all aflutter until he gets it through her head that he's not going to, like, propose or anything, and later B) swept away by the ~romance of being rescued by her gallant knight, and stealing away with him from durance vile, and then totally missing the point when she sees him and Renly together, and keeps being all "hmph!" when he basically forgets she exists, because RENLY!, and then he finally gets rid of her by making this whole speech about how he's going into the Rainbow Guard, has sworn a sacred oath of chastity, their love can never be, etc. (basically, "please go marry my brother and stop fluttering at me"). XD

Comments

[ikel89.livejournal.com]

Haaah, I'm very glad you saw and enjoyed Skyfall! I totally stan you on your 00Q fascination if you promise to throw in the villain - it's so lulzy I love it! And let it be said that Dasha instantly recognized the Temeraire picture, too, seconds before my realization took shape of words. So you're not alone in your geekery *fistbump*
Your breakdown of Skyfall to its elements was very interesting to read - agree on many things. I thought the obligatory sex scenes with Bond girls were both sad!funny and in sync with that 'aging' leitmotif - like, ehhh dolce vita and hot chicks let me pull myself together and do it. And I sort of liked Voldy!Mallory, though I subconsciously did expect him to have Mycroft's face occasionally =P

UPD: Sorry, like a total airhead that I am, forgot to wish you a happy Thanksgiving and a safe trip! Have fun:)

Thanks for the icon's commentary! I'm not a yaoi fangirl - somehow, despite being a Ho(Foe)Yay addict, I get sqeamish when it gets to a hardcore genre. My first experience with the genre was also very cliche-heavy and crappy, and very much reflected on the art level (and art is srsbiznes) so I was seriously put off. But you sound so enthusiastic about FAKE I'll probably look into it some time:) And your Sansa & Loras commentary is also very neat.

Re:sorting. I agree that you give off a Ravenclaw (with a dash of Gryffindor vibe), but since I'm never decided on my house traits, I'm forever pestering others for their opinions:D Which HP house would you have sorted me in?

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

the obligatory sex scenes with Bond girls were both sad!funny and in sync with that 'aging' leitmotif - like, ehhh dolce vita and hot chicks let me pull myself together and do it.
Oh, iiiinteresting! I hadn't looked at it from the angle of Bond tapping into his own mythos/falling back into old habits in order to gather strength, but come to think of it, that's a reading (viewing?) I could totally get behind. :)

I totally stan you on your 00Q fascination if you promise to throw in the villain - it's so lulzy I love it!
Done and done! Silva is such a delightfully creepy villain that it's hard not to insert him wherever possible. Of course, his interactions with Bond were out-and-out slashy, but I would be interested to see how he would play off Q, too - the mutual geniusness, the competition, the fact that Silva is A) physically much more imposing and B) unsettling as fuck, on top of the 00Q-ness - all of it would make for a very interesting dynamic.

EDIT: And, like the total airhead that *I* am, I forgot to thank you for the happy Thanksgiving wishes! XD It's been an awesome day, but it turns out that I made a much shorter drive and am just spending the long weekend with my family instead. Yay relaxation!

But you sound so enthusiastic about FAKE I'll probably look into it some time:)
Yay, I think you would really like it! It's basically about a Lannister (who's secretly a Martell) and a Stark (who's secretly a Targaryen) falling in love and having ADVENTURES! while working as cops in New York, and the art, while slightly...odd, doesn't display any egregious errors of judgement, I think.

Re: HP houses: Hmm, tough one! After literally several minutes of thought, I would have to say Slytherin, but a really nice Slytherin. Maybe it's because of that Loki/Slytherin icon that you always use, but a lot of your traits seem very Slytherin, but without any of the cruelty or bigotry that would imply. Like, you enjoy collecting/surrounding yourself with interesting people, and you always have arguments/reasons for why you like what you like and do what you do. You don't seem to take life too deadly seriously, but take pride in your accomplishments Just, in general, you seem like a very together person, and your brand of Targishness seems to lend itself to Slytherin (with a strong dash of Gryffindor, since my very first impression of you was a sort of expansive, boisterous, omnidirectional good will, if that makes any sense). I mean, I could see the justification for Hufflepuff (in your willingness to coax the shy brand of introverts [like me] out of their shells, while leaving alone the brand of introverts that want to be left alone) and Ravenclaw (because all of us geekily-inclined have at least a *little* Ravenclaw, and your love for literary analysis).

[ikel89.livejournal.com]

Re:00Q-S - Seeing the three of them interact would be totes hilarious! In a crackier version, I can imagine Bond flinching from slashy slashiness of Silva's approach, and Q stepping in with PUHLEEZ dude lemme deal with it =P

Relaxation is also good, right? Plus I'm glad for the opportunity to chat with you over the internetz more than I thought you had time for:D

Also you're the best - this time, for indulging my fantasy of a redeemable Slytherin (my favourite pony to ride in HP-verse). Thank you for giving the sorting business a thought<3 Your wording for "expansive, boisterous, omnidirectional good will" had me laughing loud:D I think I know what sentiment you mean, but in truth I'm not chaotically omni-good, it's more like I take instant liking to people and talk them to death, and largely ignore the rest of the world. And yes, there is a huge dash of BAAAKA stuff in my head Gryffindor-style:D Also, you're ten kinds of adorable! (umm sorry I can't contain my squees at times *shyface*)

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I can imagine Bond flinching from slashy slashiness of Silva's approach, and Q stepping in with PUHLEEZ dude lemme deal with it =P
Haha, perfect! And Bond would be all "I like girls, I like girls, I like girls, I like Q-I mean girls...ah, fuck it." XD 'Course, I was initially drawn by the creeper and/or h/c vibes, since I'm an unabashed sucker for h/c, but the cracktastic potential is definitely there.

I'm glad for the opportunity to chat with you over the internetz more than I thought you had time for
Me, too! :D I hate leaving comments/posts unanswered, so a big part of this weekend's planned R&R is actually being able to get back to people in something resembling a reasonable amount of time (and, of course, talking to y'all is just awesome, as always).

Hey now, sorting, whether it be ASOIAF or HP, is srs bznz. And I will always be up for being talked to death (and talking people to death in turn) and being squee'd at/called adorable. :D And I take instant liking to people and talk them to death, and largely ignore the rest of the world does indeed sound very redeemed-Slytherin! And, *fistbump* on redeemable Slytherins in general - Slughorn was ok, but when Snape got all tragic and noble and loyal, I wish it was acknowledged that he was a good Slytherin, not a good person mistakedly placed in Slytherin. :P

[ikel89.livejournal.com]

Heh, glad you enjoyed it:)Crack-addiction is something I can't undo, so almost every pairing in my head can be played for lulz on some parallel level without meaning to denigrate the serious perspective, if that makes sense. And basically, "I like Q-I mean girls...ah, fuck it" is the absolute tagline for the lot of them XD
I kind of assumed you liked h/c from what I've seen you talk about, hehe:) But since my fanfic reading experience is actually very limited (I'm more of a love-this-fic-to-bits-and-to-hell-with-the-rest kind of fanfiction audience), can't say I have a defined preference.

I hate leaving comments/posts unanswered
Hear, hear! And ever since I had a constant internet connection on my qwerty phone, I'm blissfully stalking and chatting y'all awesome pplz 24/7 XD NO REGRETS!

And yuss! to sorting love:D I'm never getting tired on the business, whatever fandom it is and for both sorting and being sorted.

I wish it was acknowledged that he was a good Slytherin THIS. After all this time and always I'm begrudging the fact to JKR. It's counter-intuitive and sort of undermining her own worldbuilding. What was the point of creating and maintaining Slythering as a house then?

[hamsterwoman]

I've decided to go as Lúthien, and have an appropriately floaty blue dress and stuffed husky puppy with a collar that says Huan

I hope there will be pictures of your Luthien outfit and the party as a whole! (Sadly, I have to be in Oregon the next day, so no way I could crash it... :(

I can't believe your semester is almost over -- this fall went by so ridiculously fast! Let me know if you want to try to get together before your semester break. I'll probably be home Friday (11/30), albeit with the rodents, if you want to commence relaxation/catching up on eating, or I'm sure we could figure something out in subsequent weeks, too.

I'm always struck by how pretty your Nightrunner icon looks. I've been meaning to get into the series for some time, because I liked Lynn Flewelling's other books that I read (2/3 of the Tamir trilogy), and canonical same-sex couple is always interesting. It sounds like your recommendation would be to read the first three and then leave well enough alone?

Also, awww at Calvin and Hobbes (totally teared up at the little raccoon, even though I first encountered that one as an adult), and I'm very glad the rodents like it as well, especially L, and the "gaydar malfunction" icon never fails to crack me up. And *fistbump* of smug Ravenclawness ;)

And even though I've now done this 1.8 times, I still can't resist an icon meme. So, if you have any icons of mine you're curious about, by all means! :)

Hope you have an easy drive and a great holiday!

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I hope there will be pictures of your Luthien outfit and the party as a whole!
Oh, count on it! My girlification picspam is almost ready to go, and the dress rehearsal (if you'll pardon the pun) of my costume will probably appear there. And the photos, it's been hinted, may actually turn up as Hobbit publicity, but if not, then I'm sure somebody will post them, at which point I'll gleefully share them here! :D

Aww, too bad about having to go to Oregon. :( I'll eat an extra piece of lembas for you!

Friday the 30th works dandy! It's my last official day of classes, so I'll definitely be ready for some R&R. I've been plugging through B5 s3, and I've brought it with me over the long weekend, so I should have at least that and that Miles anthology to hand back to you. Although, do you know your schedule for the following week yet? There's a chance that I'll have to pull an all-nighter or two to get everything done by Friday, and I do like being, y'know, cognizant when I meet up with you. XD

read the first three and then leave well enough alone?
Hmm...TBQH, probably. Like, #4 is basically one long h/c fanfic (although it does have some very cool alchemy bits and a lot of neat character interactions) #5 contains an *intensely* annoying (at least to me) child character - can't comment on #6 yet, except that it's evidently an attempt to return to the series' sword-and-sorcery-and-lockpick roots, which seems to be working pretty well so far. But the first 3 are definitely the high point. (Although, it must be noted, it's not until the very end of #2 that the canonical same-sex couple is actually a couple, and future books increase in steaminess, albeit gradually.)

For the icon meme:
(http://lunasariel.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/508/27880)
I'm totally with you on loving Yeats, and "No Second Troy" in particular, but I'm interested as to why you chose this particular line - was it for its applicability to Targaryens in general, or did you have someone/something particular in mind for it? Or was it just because it was this line the artist chose for the icon? XD

(http://lunasariel.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/508/28089)
You have quite a few Tolkien icons, but this one has to be my favorite - the sepia tone is very a propos, I'm sure he would approve of being underlined by words (he had a great signature!) and of having words be the background, and he just generally looks very kind/grandfatherly/Hobbitish (or possibly like one of the less warlike Men) with his pipe and his smile.

(http://lunasariel.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/508/28282)
Mostly because I didn't know you've seen Prince of Egypt, and I'm curious as to what your thoughts on it are.

(http://lunasariel.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/508/28438)
Because meme icons are rare, and this one is hilarious in its accuracy!

(http://lunasariel.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/508/28752)
OK, I may have lied above - this is my *other* favorite Tolkien icon of yours. Because one does have to wonder how he felt about dwarves and wizards and hobbits and god only knows who else tromping in and out of his house at all hours. XD

Hope you guys had a great T-Day, too (assuming you took/are taking your annual trip to Monterey?)! :)

[hamsterwoman]

Yay, definitely looking forward to the overall regirlification pictures and the dress rehearsal!

I'll eat an extra piece of lembas for you!

Haha, do! (Of course my first thought was, if these were real lembas, and you kept them wrapped in mallorn leaves, they would still be fresh if you brought me one when we met up for dinner ;) \nerdery)

I don't know my schedule entirely yet, but probably Wed or Friday at home (so, 5th or 7th). You can just let me know Friday morning/after your classes whether you're feeling up to coming over, and we'll adjust from there. Remind me, you have the next Miles omnibus, or do you need me to bring one or two of those? And let me know if you want the next Paarfi book, too.

#4 is basically one long h/c fanfic

This is not discouraging me from reading it as much as you might imagine XP Thanks for the explanations/warning on the rest, too :)

And yep, we're in Monterey, and having a really good time so far. (And were in Berkeley for Thanksgiving yesterday, incidentally :)

Thank you for indulging my icon meme addition! ;) I'll do the icons in my next(ish) post.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

if these were real lembas, and you kept them wrapped in mallorn leaves, they would still be fresh if you brought me one when we met up for dinner ;)
LOL, lembas: the Elves even thought of pre-packaged food before we did! XD And, *nerdery fistbump*

You can just let me know Friday morning/after your classes whether you're feeling up to coming over, and we'll adjust from there.
Sounds good! Thanks muchly for being flexible. :) And, yes, I have the next Miles omnibus - I've got Miles, Murder, and Mayhem and Miles Errant, and I'll be bringing back Young Miles. And I think I'm good for Paarfi, too. My iPhone crapped out on me and ate a bunch of my notes a little while ago, so I forget exactly which ones I have, but I do know that I have at least up until the introduction of Morrolan (which I think is the 4th one?).

(And were in Berkeley for Thanksgiving yesterday, incidentally :)
Oh, neat! Haha, the one weekend I'm not there. XD

[hamsterwoman]

the Elves even thought of pre-packaged food before we did

Of course. Just one of the ways Elves are Better Than Everyone.

I have at least up until the introduction of Morrolan (which I think is the 4th one?).

He first shows up in the third one, which is Paths of the Dead, but Lord of Castle Black (the fourth one) is the real Morrolan heavy one. I don't remember either if I gave them to you or not, but I'll check at home. If not, I might bring them by just so you've got them.

Haha, the one weekend I'm not there. XD

Yeah, I was thinking that, too, as we were driving by. :P

[mauvais-pli.livejournal.com]

And even though I've now done this 1.8 times

Lol, I'm sorry to have screwed up your even numbers :P It was unintentional!

[hamsterwoman]

Haha, I actually find it really fun that I've done it a decimal amount of times, so no apologies necessary -- to the contrary, thank you! ;D

[brit-columbia.livejournal.com]

I want to see Skyfall! I wonder when I'll get to?

I'm glad you're still keeping your Fake icon.

I loved reading your comments about Loras and Sansa. I still haven't started my first book of that series. I'm kind of scared to. Whenever I start a good series, I obsess about it until I'm finished, which causes me to lose sleep, stop writing, and get behind at work. (Self-discipline-- what's that?)

You know, a surprising amount of people have no gaydar, but then a surprising amount of people are anywhere from 20 to 80 per cent inclined towards same sex attraction, which really muddies the waters for even those folks with highly developed gaydar.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're still keeping your Fake icon.
This icon does have a lot of sentimental value - I'm fairly sure the FAKE fandom was the first one I actively participated in, and is full of awesome people (all, like, three of us XD) - but it's such a perfectly apt description of how I stumbled from secret to open yaoi reader that I don't think I can ever get rid of it.

Of course, I hope that you do get to go see Skyfall (for encouragement: google Ben Whitshaw for some rather extreme prettyness) and ASOIAF, but I hear ya about A) trying to find the time and B) getting obsessed and falling behind in other areas of life. Good on ya for at least having the self-discipline to put off reading/watching the fun stuff until you know you'll have time to obsess in safety! XD

[mauvais-pli.livejournal.com]

Q and Perscitia would be such adorable gadgeteer buddies and he could snark at anybody who gave her trouble and M would totally be a Longwing captain and Catherine would be capital-U Unimpressed with Bond's attempts to flirt with her and I'll stop now.
YES PLEASE, TO EVERYTHING.

I found the climax fun mostly because it was lifted straight out of, like, Jane Eyre or something
It was really hard to pretend I'd have given all Shanghai's and all chase scenes for stalking the moors manfully, shooting at things. And blowing up that beautiful austerity of a house is about as sacrilegous as blowing up Venice, so that's all good.

I really am tempted by your FAKE description, hmmm. I had a couple yoai shot-in-the-dark reading sessions, since I don't know the first thing to choose any consciously.

And I like your Loras and Sansa meta(ish) descriptions XD I might be extra mean or envious or smth, but I actually hope Loras doesn't escape unscathed. Not that he is unscathed as is, at least emotionally, but it just follows from how I perceive the logic of ASOIAF narrative, I guess.

"please go marry my brother and stop fluttering at me"
Tee hee!

I'm late, as per, but hope you're having a good weekend/trip!

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

stalking the moors manfully, shooting at things.
Haha, great description! One does get the impression that, in the back of his head, this is how he thinks of himself when he was wandering about out there. XD

I do rather highly recommend FAKE, especially if you've come off of a bad experience or two, yaoi-wise: it focuses on non-romance-related ploty things a good 60% of the time, and it actually has real live mysteries! The premise is that they're cops in New York, so there a lot of fun stuff about the mafia, serial killers, etc. And I just really like the dynamics between all the characters - the two leads are friends and partners as well as (eventually) boyfrans, and it deftly avoids a lot of the squickier tropes so often found in yaoi. < / shill>

it just follows from how I perceive the logic of ASOIAF narrative, I guess.
Heh, it's certainly true that GRRM does have a fondness for redemption via maiming. XD