through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered . . .

This past week, I had a fuck of a lot to say about what I was reading/watching, so this post got slightly unwieldy. And this coming week is vacation, the theme of which seems to be actually watching some of the shit I've had on my computer for a year or more, so I think I'm finally gonna dive into Generation Kill. And, if I like it half as much as every single person I know seems to, I am gonna want all the fic recs, so if you could drop a few in the comments here, I'd appreciate it lots! ♥



Week of March 18

Books/Novellas:

The Unicorn Club #13 : Who Will Be Miss Unicorn?, Alice Nicole Johansson (created by Francine Pascal)
The Unicorn Club #14 : Lila on the Loose, Alice Nicole Johansson (created by Francine Pascal)

* "The Sweet Life #1: The Sweet Life," Francine Pascal (Iiiii guess that's what it's called? It's the first in a six-part novella series and all the other parts have their own titles, so. It's set three years after Sweet Valley Confidential, so everyone is implausibly paired up [I still cannot get over Steven and Aaron Dallas, okay, he has dated both your sisters Steven that is just creepy] and somehow Jessica is allowed to be a mother.)

* "The Sweet Life #2: Lies and Omissions," Francine Pascal and Cara Lockwood (Lockwood is not credited in the first one, but she gets a "with" credit in all the rest, so probably the ghostwriter.)

* "The Sweet Life #3: Too Many Doubts," Francine Pascal and Cara Lockwood (In which my eyerolling over the gay couple being left out is rewarded with such a terrible subplot that I wish they had continued to be left out. Aaron is such a goddamn obnoxious parent that I don't know why Steven hasn't taken the kid and run. Everyone else is breaking up, after all. Though as I recall, it is hilariously consistent with how controlling Aaron got during the inevitable "parenting-an-egg project" book in Sweet Valley Twins, so - points for continuity?)

* "The Sweet Life #4: Secrets and Seductions," Francine Pascal and Cara Lockwood (In which there are awkwardly-written sex scenes - all hetero, of course - and Aaron recognizes the brand of a designer scarf because that is what the gays do.)

* "The Sweet Life #5: Cutting the Ties," Francine Pascal and Cara Lockwood (In which I sense incoming Evil Lesbians. Please let me be wrong.)

* "The Sweet Life #6: Bittersweet," Francine Pascal and Cara Lockwood (No evil lesbians, but there is a surprise!trans man who is consistently referred to with the wrong pronouns even after the revelation of his gender identity, so I'm not actually all that happy. In other news, I did enjoy the outright confirmation - Lila's "Who could've guessed that such a hot and famous movie star would be so crazy?" - that the unbalanced actor Jessica's been dating is totally a thinly veiled and Irish Tom Cruise, because you know that's what I was picturing the whole time.)

Television:

Mystery Science Theater 3000 9x08, "The Touch of Satan"
Rizzoli & Isles 1x01 (I've had the first season of this sitting on my harddrive for like a year, so I figured it was time to give it a look.)
Rizzoli & Isles 1x02
Rizzoli & Isles 1x03
Rizzoli & Isles 1x04
Rizzoli & Isles 1x05
Rizzoli & Isles 1x06
Rizzoli & Isles 1x07

Movies:

Easy A
Pontypool (a great zombie movie loosely adapted from a terrible book, Pontypool Changes Everything. Even the author thinks it's terrible. I'm not kidding. The Afterword in the edition I have is all about him apologizing for the fact that we read it and assuring us that the movie, for which he wrote the script, is actually good. The premise, which I'm not spoiling for you, is a really solid and unique idea which the movie does indeed handle a hell of a lot better than the book does. I saw the movie first and then read the book; I recommend you skip that second step.)
The Runaways
Scream 4
Clue (childhood staple! Raise your hand if you too grew up watching this a frillion times on Comedy Central. Bonus points if your conditioned response to "to make a long story short" is "too late!")
Scream (To this day I cannot watch the opening sequence with Drew Barrymore. It's just too much for me.)
Scream 2 (This marked the end of this week's media consumption, and I feel some serious meta coming on.)

The theme for last week's media consumption: nostalgia. I enjoyed all flavors of Sweet Valley when I was a kid/teenager, and while Sweet Valley Twins was my favorite series, I had the first few Unicorn Club books and adored them. I thought it was my favorite, but in the reading I've been doing I have discovered that actually I just had the ones that were really good.

Also, whenever I return to Sweet Valley in these last few years I think how fun SVH-era Jessica would be to RP.

(Also also, have a cracky crossover OTP: if you don't ship Jessica Wakefield/Sebastian Moran by the end of this sentence, you are wrong.)



Week of March 4:

Books/Short Stories:

The Unicorn Club #1: Save the Unicorns!, Alice Nicole Johansson (created by Francine Pascal)
The Unicorn Club #2: Maria's Movie Comeback, Alice Nicole Johansson (created by Francine Pascal)
"The Lottery," Shirley Jackson
"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas," Ursula K LeGuin
The Unicorn Club #3: The Best Friend Game, Alice Nicole Johansson (created by Francine Pascal)
The Unicorn Club #4: Lila's Little Sister, Alice Nicole Johansson (created by Francine Pascal)
The Unicorn Club #5: Unicorns in Love, Alice Nicole Johansson (created by Francine Pascal)
The Unicorn Club #6: The Unicorns at War, Alice Nicole Johansson (created by Francine Pascal)
The Unicorn Club #7 : Too Close for Comfort, Alice Nicole Johansson (created by Francine Pascal) (In which the Sweet Valley franchise experiments with science fiction, catapulting us into an alternate universe in which it was Mandy, not Mary, who dated Rick Hunter in book four. Also, German measles is a minor illness and not at all something vaccinated for as a matter of course when children are small! Man, I don't exactly expect sterling research or continuity in Sweet Valley, but that is below even my rock-bottom standards.)
The Unicorn Club #8 : Kimberly Rides Again, Alice Nicole Johansson (created by Francine Pascal)
Addicted to Scientology, Vance Woodward

FIRST, a disproportionate chunk of the flist circle is having a rough time right now, so I shower hugs and love and good thoughts on you. Please know that you are amazing.

Now a very short media consumption list! This was one of those weeks when I veered off into reading all the fanfic and none of the school assignments oops, and I don't list fanfic here because I would make it way too complicated for myself way too quickly.

So.



Week of February 25:

Books:

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Michael Lewis (This book is ten years old this year, and has become something of an historical document. What was revolutionary when Lewis was writing his book is pretty much how the game is played now. That doesn't make it any less interesting, though I have to say that my tolerance for Lewis's writing style has dropped dramatically since the last time I read this book, like, you're writing non-fiction, dude, not a soap opera, even if it is sometimes hard to tell the difference with baseball.)

Movies:

Les Misérables
Pitch Perfect

Week of February 18

Books:

* Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion, Janet Reitman (the first big exhaustively researched book about Scientology, published in 2011. I like Wright's book better because it has more current information, having just been published last month, but Reitman's book is still valuable for her intensively detailed account of Lisa McPherson's death.)

* My Dad is a Policeman, Cathy Glass (apparently Cathy dabbles in fiction! Which, um, she really shouldn't. As a writer, she's merely competent; this is fine for non-fiction, since the story is already there to be told, but as soon as she steps away from it, the fact that she's not an awesome writer becomes painfully obvious.)

* Oh Myyy!, George Takei

* Francona: the Red Sox Years, Terry Francona and Dan Shaughnessy (I can't believe I am so out of touch with baseball that I didn't know Theo Epstein left the Red Sox in 2011. Or, even more incredibly, that I did somehow know and then forgot. I can't say this book instilled me with the desire to return, though, so much as it reminded me of how fucking exhausting it was being a baseball fan. Rewarding in many ways, but exhausting. I do not know how I survived some of those postseasons. Also, shut up, Dan Shaughnessy.)

A bit late this week; I'm on vacation and it was harder to remember about this without the rest of the Monday routine to go with it.

I would claim that I don't always have such a one-track mind in my media consumption, but I'd be lying. Also I think the lengthy babbling is going to start being a thing now that I'm remembering how posting to my journal actually works.


Week of February 11:

Books:

* The Church of Fear, John Sweeney (you know how sometimes you go back to reread bits and pieces of something and end up reading the whole thing again? Yep. I found this to be a fascinating reread given everything I've learned about Scientology in the past few weeks; Sweeney's writing is focused more on his experience than on information, so there were a lot of things I'd had to learn elsewhere, and the fresh context was really beneficial. Worryingly, I think I also understand the language of Scientology now better than Sweeney did when he wrote his book. - I spotted at least one instance where he's just flat-out wrong. I still think that, as the story of someone who has experienced harassment from the Church, it's worth a read, and it does have some fresh material that hasn't appeared elsewhere [like some leaked emails allegedly exchanged whilst Sweeney and his crew were being followed], but if you want to actually learn the details of Scientology itself you're better off with pretty much any of the other books I've listed. Except possibly the Tom Cruise biography.)

* My BIllion Year Contract, Nancy Many

Television:

* Scientology & Me (the 2007 Panorama documentary Sweeney writes about making in Church of Fear. Best watched after reading the book, I think; as a documentary it's not that impressive, but as the product of Sweeney's experience it's quite interesting. Also, the footage of Sweeney and Tommy Davis getting in each other's faces is hilarious. Easily found on YouTube; just Google the title.)

Movies:

* St Trinian's

* Side Effects (DO NOT GO SEE THIS MOVIE. Not only is it poorly written and unable to decide whose story it's telling, but it is massively offensive. ( Cut because spoilers and also it got a bit long. )

Three weeks in and I've already considered leaving something out because I'm not sure I care to confess to the internet that I read it. You'll know it when you get there.

Week of February 4:

Books:

Scientology: Abuse at the Top, Amy Scobee
Mummy Told Me Not to Tell, Cathy Glass
Another Forgotten Child, Cathy Glass (help i can't stop)
Hidden, Cathy Glass (okay now I have to stop, if only because I've gone through B&N's entire selection)
Beyond Belief: My Secret Life in Scientology and My Harrowing Escape, Jenna Miscavige Hill (no it's totally still for school and not in any way because I'm obsessed with the topic! brb buying an unauthorized Tom Cruise biography SIGH) (btw this book is an excellent biography of an ex-Scientologist; Jenna - the niece of the current Scientology leader, David Miscavige - wisely hired an actual author, Lisa Pulitzer, to cowrite, so the book is genuinely readable and interesting as well as being thoroughly informative.)
Tom Cruise: an Unauthorized Biography, Andrew Morton (double sigh. Not much use for Scientology info; it was published in 2008, like five minutes before Anonymous declared war on Scientology and helped pave the way for ex-Scientologists to start sharing their stories, so Morton didn't have a ton to work with. It paints a picture of Miscavige's favorite disciple, though, and as Morton very sensibly points out, an "authorized" Cruise biography wouldn't be worth the paper it was printed on. Or, in this case, the hard drive space it was stored in.)

So, media consumption! I discovered quickly that the hardest part of this is not getting incredibly anal about it. It's okay not to list stuff I gave up on in disgust halfway through! It's okay to list an entire anthology if I skipped a few of the stories! It's okay to add commentary because there is simply no way I am going to be able to not. And I'm not including fanfic because I don't feel the need to put my id on display here.

Also, you'll be seeing a lot of dystopic/post-apocalyptic stuff for the next few months because I somehow managed to end up in two classes focused on that theme.

Week of January 20

Books/short stories:

The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology, John Sweeney (Don't read this in public. Not because it's embarrassing or anything like that, but because twenty pages in you'll be so goddamn paranoid you'll wish you'd left it at home. Other than that, it's a fascinating read and I recommend it.)
The Scarlet Plague, Jack London
"The Portable Phonograph," Walter Van Tilberg Clark
Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by John H Watson, Lyndsay Faye (Lyndsay Faye did ALL THE RESEARCH for this, okay, so if like me, you've been wanting an account of Holmes dealing with Jack the Ripper, you should pick this one.)
"By the Waters of Babylon," Stephen Vincent Benet
My Dearest Holmes, Rohase Piercy (Basically published slashfic of the "EVERYONE IS GAY" variety. I've read better fanfic, but I've also read infinitely worse.)
Hate List, Jennifer Brown
"Snow White Blood Red," Cameron Jace
Going Clear, Lawrence Wright (Also about Scientology [it's for school, okay], from a much more balanced and scholarly perspective. Wright did extensive research and it shows. So if for some reason you can only read one book on Scientology: go with Sweeney if you want a quick read that plays on your emotions; go with Wright if you want a denser and more informative read that is much quieter about being horrifying. But actually read both, because no one is going to stop you.)

Television:

Restless part two

Tomorrow is my birthday. Let's not talk about how old I'm going to be. Thirty, wtf. This is not an announcement bearing expectations of any kind! It's just for people who want to comment with birthday wishes so they don't have to go back to my ancient last post.

And if you wanted to drop three bucks on some paid time for this account or searchingfordistraction, I would not say no. I cannot play Jim properly without all his icons!

Also, I think I'm going to start doing that media consumption thing I've seen other people doing. It's a roundup of what I've read/watched each week. It's interesting to see people's lists, and I realized over the weekend that I had already forgotten books I'd read two days before, which I am not okay with! So, list. And sometimes brief comments on the stuff I've read. It might get me in the habit of posting more again.

I'm pretty sure it's been a couple years since I've done this one, so:

Pick a character* I've written and I will give and explain the top five** ideas/concepts/etc I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to accurately depicting them.

* Try to make it someone I've written either often (including characters I RP'ed) or recently in order for me to answer.
** May not actually be five.

You know what, I am just going to present this without (much) comment. Dead Bodies is a ridiculous-in-a-good-way movie that Andrew Scott did in 2003. D/s verse AUs are a thing where dominant and submissive are the rough equivalent of gender roles. Hours of conversation with oxfordtweed caused me to combine the two. I wrote this months ago and I don't think it's ever going to go anywhere (not because I don't want it to, but because the story can only end badly and I just can't bring myself to do it), so I decided it was time to say fuck it and just throw it up on my journal already.

So! Here is a non-porny kink-based AU of an obscure movie! Enjoy. If you hate it, blame Zed.




( Noel doesn't remember ever actually deciding to give Tommy a key to his flat. )