Comment?
Grub Street
Curl up in a ball and cover you head with your arms.
27 August 2010 @ 06:49 pm
12 November 2009 @ 11:11 pm
Post ten of any pictures currently on your hard drive that you think are self-expressive.
* NO CAPTIONS!!! It must be like we're speaking with images and we have to interpret your visual language just like we have to interpret your words. *
They must ALREADY be on your hard drive - no googling or flickr! They have to have been saved to your folders sometime in the past. They must be something you've saved there because it resonated with you for some reason
. * You do NOT have to answer any questions about any of your pictures if you don't want to. You can make them as mysterious as you like. Or you can explain them away as much as you like.
( Cut. )
* NO CAPTIONS!!! It must be like we're speaking with images and we have to interpret your visual language just like we have to interpret your words. *
They must ALREADY be on your hard drive - no googling or flickr! They have to have been saved to your folders sometime in the past. They must be something you've saved there because it resonated with you for some reason
. * You do NOT have to answer any questions about any of your pictures if you don't want to. You can make them as mysterious as you like. Or you can explain them away as much as you like.
( Cut. )
10 November 2009 @ 02:01 pm
Title: Last Days of an Unreal City - Chapter 10 - Jus in Bello
Characters: Rorschach/Nite Owl II
Rating: PG-13
Word count (this section): 5406
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Alan Moore.
Summary: AU. The Cold War reaches its ultimate conclusion, and Rorschach and Daniel are among the survivors when the East Coast is attacked.
Many thanks to![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
runriggers for the beta.
Chapter Index.
( Horses' heads in people's beds. )
Characters: Rorschach/Nite Owl II
Rating: PG-13
Word count (this section): 5406
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Alan Moore.
Summary: AU. The Cold War reaches its ultimate conclusion, and Rorschach and Daniel are among the survivors when the East Coast is attacked.
Many thanks to
runriggers for the beta.Chapter Index.
( Horses' heads in people's beds. )
09 November 2009 @ 03:54 pm
Chapter 10 of Last Days is being beta'd and tidied up.
Oh look it's a video of a guy having a Saprophytic fungus pulled out of his naval cavity while awful 80s music plays in the background. The last few seconds made me do a Wilhelm scream. It's like his nose is giving birth.
I've realised that if I have to choose between using prose that's dispassionate and potentially bland, or using prose that's evocative but potentially narmy... I'm probably going to go with dispassionate and bland. I live in mortal fear of being narmy. Which is funny, because 1) I am a huge sap, and 2) fanfic really isn't a genre that's known for its restraint, and 3) I'm sure that I'm sometimes narmy without realising it, anyway. No writer is safe from narm. It's like farting, everyone does it sometimes. EMBRACE THE NARM.
That said, I have no qualms about being intentionally ridiculous with Nite Owl and Rorschach, because... Well, they're Nite Owl and Rorschach. Nite Owl is the lonely, dejected science-baby of Ted Kord and pre-Miller Batman, and Rorschach is so hardboiled that he shits wide-angle lenses. They're a bit silly. (And sad. And strangely endearing. And occasionally horrible.)
'Zugzwang' is a marvellous word.
Adrian Veidt would probably enjoy chess boxing. It is a gentleman's sport.
03 November 2009 @ 12:55 pm
I was originally going to post this when, you know, I'd actually finished the fic, but I ran out of patience and decided that I might as well post commentary as I go along.
( Hurm. )
I'm sure I'll find more to waffle about. In an ideal world, this post would have been a nice and tidy essay-thing... But this isn't an ideal world, and I just wanted to get some stuff out my system and navel-gaze a bit.
( Hurm. )
I'm sure I'll find more to waffle about. In an ideal world, this post would have been a nice and tidy essay-thing... But this isn't an ideal world, and I just wanted to get some stuff out my system and navel-gaze a bit.
01 November 2009 @ 05:02 pm
I am a little bit horrified that I would have never heard of Atmosphere if it wasn't for the internet.
I mean, hell, I'm female, I had a conservative upbringing, I grew up in the suburbs, and I'm so white that I'm practically fluorescent. That's... not exactly the sort of background that's conductive to getting into hip hop. But...
...Excuse me, I have something in my eye.
I mean, hell, I'm female, I had a conservative upbringing, I grew up in the suburbs, and I'm so white that I'm practically fluorescent. That's... not exactly the sort of background that's conductive to getting into hip hop. But...
...Excuse me, I have something in my eye.
28 October 2009 @ 05:23 pm
28 October 2009 @ 12:40 am
The White Mists of Avalon: Thoughts on Morgana's Race actually made me start to watch Merlin, just to see firsthand how Morgana and Gwen are portrayed within the series. (I, erm, don't feel particularly interested in the male protagonists. Yet. Maybe they'll grow on me.)
I'm deeply suspicious of pseudo-medieval fantasy worlds that look clean.
I'm deeply suspicious of pseudo-medieval fantasy worlds that look clean.
24 October 2009 @ 06:09 pm
Title: Last Days of an Unreal City - Chapter 9 - Shadows in the Fog
Characters: Rorschach/Nite Owl II
Rating: PG-13
Word count (this section): 4787
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Alan Moore.
Summary: AU. The Cold War reaches its ultimate conclusion, and Rorschach and Daniel are among the survivors when the East Coast is attacked.
Many thanks torunriggers for the beta.
Chapter Index.
( Not subtle. )
Characters: Rorschach/Nite Owl II
Rating: PG-13
Word count (this section): 4787
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Alan Moore.
Summary: AU. The Cold War reaches its ultimate conclusion, and Rorschach and Daniel are among the survivors when the East Coast is attacked.
Many thanks to
runriggers for the beta.Chapter Index.
( Not subtle. )
22 October 2009 @ 01:47 pm
Goddammit, I just spent half the morning reading a decent essay on how bromance movies try to dismiss their own gay subtext.
20 October 2009 @ 07:21 pm
So, the guys reponsible for Hot Fuzz have found Hot Fuzz slash and... They're actually really cool about it.
D'awww.
I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about creators finding slash fiction. Fanfic gets a lot of flack because omg, people are writing stories for the fun of it, how unproductive, smutfic gets a lot of flack because ewwww porn*, and slashfic gets a lot of flack because OH NO, THE GAY. So, I rarely expect people to be terribly tolerant, and whenever I see 'outsiders' discuss slash, I'm always half-expecting them to freak out over those icky hormonal women** with their icky sentimental romance fiction. And, y'know, I'm fairly thick-skinned (haters gonna hate), but no-one likes to be told that their hobbies make them a freak. (If you don't mind me, I'll be over there, squatting inside the slash ghetto and hissing at people.)
*If you write porn, then you're only doing it because you're lonely or a pervert... Unless you're doing it for money. (Writing for money is acceptable, although it's not something you that you should necessarily be proud of, unless you write Literature.)
The internet has told me this, so it must be true.
**Obviously, not all slash writers are women, but I've read many complaints about slash that've had a component of sexism to them. MANLY STORIES ABOUT FIGHTING AND BLOWING THINGS UP = GOOD. GIRLY STORIES ABOUT FEELINGS AND RELATIONSHIPS = BAD. FEMME THINGS: GROSS. LET'S GO PUNCH STUFF IN A COMPLETELY NON-SEXUAL MANNER. HUAAAAARG.
@edgarwright Me and @simonpegg once wrote some Nicholas Angel and Danny Butterman slash fiction. It was called HOT FUZZ…(applause)
@edgarwright I too am deeply flattered by the slashers. I say all power to handstitched homoerotica.
D'awww.
I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about creators finding slash fiction. Fanfic gets a lot of flack because omg, people are writing stories for the fun of it, how unproductive, smutfic gets a lot of flack because ewwww porn*, and slashfic gets a lot of flack because OH NO, THE GAY. So, I rarely expect people to be terribly tolerant, and whenever I see 'outsiders' discuss slash, I'm always half-expecting them to freak out over those icky hormonal women** with their icky sentimental romance fiction. And, y'know, I'm fairly thick-skinned (haters gonna hate), but no-one likes to be told that their hobbies make them a freak. (If you don't mind me, I'll be over there, squatting inside the slash ghetto and hissing at people.)
*If you write porn, then you're only doing it because you're lonely or a pervert... Unless you're doing it for money. (Writing for money is acceptable, although it's not something you that you should necessarily be proud of, unless you write Literature.)
The internet has told me this, so it must be true.
**Obviously, not all slash writers are women, but I've read many complaints about slash that've had a component of sexism to them. MANLY STORIES ABOUT FIGHTING AND BLOWING THINGS UP = GOOD. GIRLY STORIES ABOUT FEELINGS AND RELATIONSHIPS = BAD. FEMME THINGS: GROSS. LET'S GO PUNCH STUFF IN A COMPLETELY NON-SEXUAL MANNER. HUAAAAARG.
19 October 2009 @ 08:47 pm
I have a love-hate relationship with Ex Machina, but...
I know that she has the character development of a rock, but gaining mind control powers and turning evil has increased Suzanne Padilla's hotness quotient by a thousandfold.
God, I'm shallow. :/ (She's probably going to be killed within a few issues, anyway. I'd put money on it.)
I know that she has the character development of a rock, but gaining mind control powers and turning evil has increased Suzanne Padilla's hotness quotient by a thousandfold.
God, I'm shallow. :/ (She's probably going to be killed within a few issues, anyway. I'd put money on it.)
14 October 2009 @ 12:51 pm
10 October 2009 @ 04:52 pm
09 October 2009 @ 08:51 pm
It's a good job he's fictional, or he'd probably poison my wine. (Yes I suck at making covers I KNOW.)
( Just sing out a Te Deum when you see that ICBM )
( Just sing out a Te Deum when you see that ICBM )
07 October 2009 @ 01:03 pm
Title: Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard.
Characters: Mainly 63!Veidt and The Comedian.
Rating: R for skeevy violence. Gen.
Word count: 3705
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Alan Moore.
Summary: Adrienne Veidt Vs. Edward Morgan Blake.
Many thanks torunriggers for the beta.
( Nice girls don't follow strange men into alleyways at 2 AM in the morning, and the Comedian is a very strange man. )
Characters: Mainly 63!Veidt and The Comedian.
Rating: R for skeevy violence. Gen.
Word count: 3705
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Alan Moore.
Summary: Adrienne Veidt Vs. Edward Morgan Blake.
Many thanks to
runriggers for the beta.( Nice girls don't follow strange men into alleyways at 2 AM in the morning, and the Comedian is a very strange man. )
03 October 2009 @ 12:09 am
Currently in the process of reading Watchmen and Philosophy. The title of this post is a genuine quote from the book. What?
If I wanted a book of pop philosophy and thought experiments, I would've been better off (re-)reading The Pig That Wants to be Eaten or something similar. But, I picked up Watchmen and Philosophy because I'm a fangirl... And, anal-retentive neckbeard that I am, I have a few bones to pick with it.
Chapter 1 - The Superman Exists, and He's American: Morality in the Face of Absolute Power
The arguments in the latter part of this essay hinge upon the idea that Doctor Manhattan has absolute power... Which is all very well, but, um, he doesn't. Heck, it's a key plot point in the comic that Jon wouldn't be able to stop nuclear war, and that his presence escalates the conflict rather than acting as a deterrent. I was too busy tut-tutting over the writer's canon!fail to really think about much else. (I'm not going to touch the stuff about moral emotions presented in the first half of the essay, because I still need someone to sit down and explain moral emotions to me very slowly, as they would to a six year old.)
Chater 2 - Can We Steer This Rudderless World? Kant, Rorschach, Retributivism, and Honor
Argues that Rorschach is a Retributivist, not just a revenge-driven nutbar. Okay. I don't think that Rorschach is a very good Retributivist. If the punishment is meant to be proportional to the wrongdoing, then he screws that up when he breaks a random guy's fingers for making a crack about his body odor. The writer admits later on that Rorschach isn't the best judge of determining punishment, but still goes on to say, '[Rorschach] is consistent, honest, transparent, and, above all else, honorable in his treatment of others. They are treated as their actions merit; they are respected as the authors of their acts'. To which I say... Buh? Consistent? Looks like the writer and myself read completely different Rorschachs.
Chapter 3 - Super Vigilantes and the Keene Act
Actually I quite liked this one. It also gets props for pointing out that Adrian looks like a blond Ken doll. (Really, I think the resemblance is uncanny.)
Chapter 6 - The Virtues of Nite Owl's Potbelly
I only read this because of its title. Eh.
Chapter 13 - Watchwomen
My understanding of feminist theory is pretty awful, so this was a nice little primer that introduced me to existentialist feminism, a concept that I didn't know existed until now.
Chapter 14 - Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice
I skipped ahead to this chapter for the lulz. A straight guy talks about homos! HOMOS ARE KIND OF SCARY. BUT THEY'RE OKAY, REALLY. Seriously, it's like 'Why Gay People are Actual Human Beings (No Really) and Not Depraved Sex Fiends: A Primer for Heterosexual Morons'. I sat there and read it and stared at the book and then stared at it some more and asked, 'What the fuckety shit does this have to do with Watchmen?'
I'm hoping that 'What's So Goddamn Funny?' and the other Jon-centric essays will be good.
If I wanted a book of pop philosophy and thought experiments, I would've been better off (re-)reading The Pig That Wants to be Eaten or something similar. But, I picked up Watchmen and Philosophy because I'm a fangirl... And, anal-retentive neckbeard that I am, I have a few bones to pick with it.
Chapter 1 - The Superman Exists, and He's American: Morality in the Face of Absolute Power
The arguments in the latter part of this essay hinge upon the idea that Doctor Manhattan has absolute power... Which is all very well, but, um, he doesn't. Heck, it's a key plot point in the comic that Jon wouldn't be able to stop nuclear war, and that his presence escalates the conflict rather than acting as a deterrent. I was too busy tut-tutting over the writer's canon!fail to really think about much else. (I'm not going to touch the stuff about moral emotions presented in the first half of the essay, because I still need someone to sit down and explain moral emotions to me very slowly, as they would to a six year old.)
Chater 2 - Can We Steer This Rudderless World? Kant, Rorschach, Retributivism, and Honor
Argues that Rorschach is a Retributivist, not just a revenge-driven nutbar. Okay. I don't think that Rorschach is a very good Retributivist. If the punishment is meant to be proportional to the wrongdoing, then he screws that up when he breaks a random guy's fingers for making a crack about his body odor. The writer admits later on that Rorschach isn't the best judge of determining punishment, but still goes on to say, '[Rorschach] is consistent, honest, transparent, and, above all else, honorable in his treatment of others. They are treated as their actions merit; they are respected as the authors of their acts'. To which I say... Buh? Consistent? Looks like the writer and myself read completely different Rorschachs.
Chapter 3 - Super Vigilantes and the Keene Act
Actually I quite liked this one. It also gets props for pointing out that Adrian looks like a blond Ken doll. (Really, I think the resemblance is uncanny.)
Chapter 6 - The Virtues of Nite Owl's Potbelly
I only read this because of its title. Eh.
Chapter 13 - Watchwomen
My understanding of feminist theory is pretty awful, so this was a nice little primer that introduced me to existentialist feminism, a concept that I didn't know existed until now.
Chapter 14 - Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice
I skipped ahead to this chapter for the lulz. A straight guy talks about homos! HOMOS ARE KIND OF SCARY. BUT THEY'RE OKAY, REALLY. Seriously, it's like 'Why Gay People are Actual Human Beings (No Really) and Not Depraved Sex Fiends: A Primer for Heterosexual Morons'. I sat there and read it and stared at the book and then stared at it some more and asked, 'What the fuckety shit does this have to do with Watchmen?'
I'm hoping that 'What's So Goddamn Funny?' and the other Jon-centric essays will be good.
01 October 2009 @ 10:18 am
This is the best take on the Lambda Literary Awards thing that I've read so far.
Til We Have Faces is a phenomenal, mythical, lovely work that retells old myths through a lens of questions about feminine competition and sisterly relationships. I recommend it as an excellent piece of literature, but it's not women's literature: it was written by C.S. Lewis. A guy, if you didn't get the memo, and thus not qualifying as author of women's literature. This doesn't mean that Til We Have Faces is not good literature, nor does it mean that Lewis automatically couldn't possibly "get" what it's like in sisterly relationships or the intricacies of competition among women. I think he did a damn good job getting it, actually. It's just not women's literature. Plain and simple, no judgment upon quality, no dismissal of value, just simply: not women's literature
29 September 2009 @ 09:24 pm
Dude, why has one of my fics on Who Watches the Writers lost a review? (I'm not whining, I'm just sayin'.) I didn't delete it. I could understand if the reviewer deleted it, but I would've sworn that they were anon, and I don't think you can delete stuff if you're not logged in. Maybe it was accidentally lost when the mod was cleaning up the junk left behind by spambots.
IN THIS VAST AND UNCARING UNIVERSE, SHAPED BY THE UNSEEN HANDS OF AN ABSENT GOD, PERHAPS I SHALL NEVER KNOW THE TRUTH.
(Also, I've only just noticed that writers can actually respond to the reviews that people have left for them. I'm slow.)
Anyway, uh, WiP meme:
The WIP meme: post a snippet from each WIP you have (or as many as you want to pick). No context, no explanations.
IN THIS VAST AND UNCARING UNIVERSE, SHAPED BY THE UNSEEN HANDS OF AN ABSENT GOD, PERHAPS I SHALL NEVER KNOW THE TRUTH.
(Also, I've only just noticed that writers can actually respond to the reviews that people have left for them. I'm slow.)
Anyway, uh, WiP meme:
The WIP meme: post a snippet from each WIP you have (or as many as you want to pick). No context, no explanations.
- "What else are you keeping inside there?" Daniel muttered. "If you still had your fedora, maybe you could pull a rabbit out of it."
- "Thank you," Nelson says, with his usual awful sincerity. He sighs. Adi doesn't always know whether she wants to hug him or take him by the shoulders and shake him. "I'm just... Gosh, I'm sorry, Cleo - I'm not even sure anymore where it all went wrong. Honestly, when I was your age, I never expected things to turn out this way."
- Miss Manhattan does not get zits. She does not have periods. She does not have to shave. She does not have to wear a bra. She (probably) does not get the morning farts. She does not have to worry that one of her boobs is slightly larger than the other, and she is not plagued by bizarre anxieties about her personal body odor.
- Drinking doesn't help. It makes her see the world through a tacky Dutch Angle, and she ends up laughing at things that aren't funny.
25 September 2009 @ 07:36 pm
I'm reading Einstein's Monsters by Martin Amis, and I saw this and thought of Jon:
I've skimmed over the TTAPS stuff, but I missed that. So, I've only just noticed that, by sticking Jon on Mars, Moore was probably having a Did You See What I Just Did There moment.
I feel like I should get a prize or something.
The theory of nuclear winter was prompted by studies of dust storms on Mars, and Mars gives us a plausible vision of a post-nuclear world. It is vulcanized, oxidized, sterilized. It is a planet of War.
I've skimmed over the TTAPS stuff, but I missed that. So, I've only just noticed that, by sticking Jon on Mars, Moore was probably having a Did You See What I Just Did There moment.
I feel like I should get a prize or something.