through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered . . .

So. As a means of gratuitous and very brief distraction from the election goings-on, I present this poll.



[Poll #1291623]



Tell me what epic crossover clashes of DOOM you want to see!

And the other meme, as promised. This one ganked from fiareynne, and probably the last one that will catch my interest for like the next five years.


Name a series and I'll tell you the character(s) I would:

1. Bake cupcakes for:
2. Trust with the keys to my car:
3. Put thumbtacks on the chair thereof:
4. Have a crush on:
5. Pack up and leave if they moved next door:
6. Vote for President:
7. Pick as my partner in a buddy movie:
8. Pair up:
9. Vote off the island and into the volcano:
10. Wheedle into fixing my MP3 player:


ETA: Fictitious fandoms, please. Characters with actual personalities instead of fan-projected ones are a lot easier to deal with.

So I've been working slowly through my library's collection of Jeeves and Wooster, which is more complicated than it needs to be as the majority of it is located at a different branch. Why wouldn't they keep them at the main building? I don't know. To ensure that I lose my patience and spend money I don't have yet on the box set, I guess.

Anyway, one of the DVDs had arrived at the main building, so I went to pick it up. The librarian grabbed it from the rack and positively swooned her way back over, all, "Hugh Laurie!" Hand to her chest and everything.

Me, brilliantly: "Yep." (Happily, I was mostly thinking about something else, so it didn't occur to me to laugh at her body language until I was out the door.)

She asked if I watch House and I said I did, then professed myself to be more of a Stephen Fry fan. That seemed to put an end to things.

This left me feeling much less dorky than my visit a couple of days ago, when I got two J&W tapes and four of Wodehouse's books, then didn't know what to say when the librarian that time around asked if I was a Wodehouse fan. How do I even explain the thought process behind checking out four books by an author who did absolutely nothing for me last time I tried his work? I said something inane about testing how much British farce I could take before my brain exploded, because it required less explanation than my packrat mentality about library books.

And it's a good thing I took four, because whatever problem it was that kept me from being interested in Wodehouse a few years ago (probably the lack of patience required to sort through the language; I wasn't nearly as good at reading older books with arcane vocabulary as I pretended to be) has ceased to exist. I spent an hour or so today in one of the eighty-seven gelatto places that have inexplicably appeared in Portland in the last couple of years, drinking a chocolate shake and reading Carry On, Jeeves, and I can't think of a more relaxing thing I could have done with my free afternoon. (More productive, yes. More relaxing, no.) I highly recommend this course of action if you are stressed, especially if you can find a gelatto place with squishy, cushy couches like Maple's has.

Along with Jeeves and Wooster, I've also been making my way through Videoport's almost-complete collection of A Bit of Fry and Laurie. I'd forgotten how much I love good sketch comedy, and that show is fucking excellent sketch comedy. I love the format - frequent bits of complete randomness stuck in between longer skits that, more often than not, just sort of trail off without laboring to contrive a punchline or explain themselves. Plus, lots of meta humor, with the concluding joke being that the skit is, in fact, a skit. (A bit of mediocre physical comedy in series one, for example, comes to a screeching halt when Hugh cries out, "You hit me too hard! No, I'm serious, forget the skit! That really hurt!" Stephen, to the camera: "He's such a baby.") I am, as I have mentioned before, a complete sucker for even the lamest of meta, so that invariably cracks me up. Plus, the majority of the humor is general, rather than being rooted in the pop culture of the time, which allows my American self (who was six when the show started airing) to follow it. There have only been a couple of times when an entire skit just went right over my head because I had no idea what the reference was. I think we all know that that's the mark of good comedy, so I won't belabor the point. I'm just really glad I FINALLY got around to trying it, because it is effing hilarious.

(By the way, in regards to the Torchwood/Jeeves and Wooster crossover that is now refusing to leave me alone: Jeeves would totally know all about Torchwood, Y/Y?)

Random and sundry movie thoughts!

Last night I watched Much Ado About Nothing for the first time in at least a couple years. It's one of my favorite movies for many reasons. I could write an essay on its various awesomenesses, both genuine and cracktastic. (Keanu Reeves doing Shakespeare, you guys. Come ON. It is amazing.) And then I could write another essay on how it showcases the fact that Kenneth Branagh, as a director, is about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. Seriously. I was inspired to rewatch it thanks to House (which also has me rewatching The Black Donnellys, as I am one of about four people in the country who associate Olivia Wilde with that rather than with The OC), and DAMN. Either Robert Sean Leonard has really, REALLY improved as a screen actor as opposed to a stage actor, or he's just really good at taking direction, because there are very few moments in his performance that are not completely hilarious. It's clear that Branagh directed everyone to just really play up and exaggerate everything - which, to be fair, fits well with the production and the simple, broadly written story - but the more experienced actors carry it off pretty well, where RSL and Kate Beckinsale, who are both like twelve . . . well. Not so much. I mean, they are also stuck with the two most boring characters in the play and don't have much to work with, especially Beckinsale. (ESPECIALLY Beckinsale. Hero is the most featureless character EVER. I'm not sure anyone could make her interesting.) But damn.

Which is all my rambling way of saying - man, RSL is not good in this movie. He's not bad (and if you start thinking he is, Keanu Reeves is RIGHT THERE to demonstrate what bad actually IS), he's just clearly more accustomed to stage acting and hasn't yet figured out how to play big without drastically overdoing it. My overall impression of him pre-House was of an earnest actor who was just trying too hard. I was profoundly relieved to see how much better he'd gotten in the decade since Much Ado, and even got an extra laugh out of a scene where Wilson is slightly overselling a rather saccharine lie just because of the realization that it was Wilson overacting, not RSL. He really is very good now. And I can think of a few stage actors who could take a hint about the need to modify one's performances for the camera, JOHN BARROWMAN.

. . . yeah, so this was just going to be a quick sharing of how Much Ado contains one of my all-time favorite Questionable Acting Choices, courtesy of Robert Sean Leonard himself. Not that I can EVER just write a quick post when I want to.

Claudio and Don Pedro have just been informed that their accusation against Hero, Claudio's fianceé, of being a big whore, is totally incorrect. They were set up to see a chick who looked kind of like Hero having sex with another guy the night before the wedding. At this point in the play, they are also under the impression that the shock of the accusation killed Hero. (It didn't, because this is one of Shakespeare's comedies.)

Naturally, Claudio is deeply perturbed by the news that he helped bring about Hero's death for no good reason. Unfortunately, RSL opts to portray Claudio's grief and horror by . . . staring blankly, and then getting an ice cream headache. I'm not kidding. He winces and grabs his head and everything. I wish I could share a clip, because the description does not do it justice. It is one of my favorite (cracky) parts of the movie. He can be as awesome as he wants on House, but I will never stop associating him with this scene. The ice cream headache, and then the kneeling in front of Hero's father and dramatically imploring forgiveness - I will always think of this first. It's not fair, but it is what it is.

And now, going in a SLIGHTLY different direction, I just watched The Signal. It's a horror movie about people being driven to homicidal insanity by a signal being broadcast over TV and phones and radio and whathaveyou. It was pretty good, but I suspect I was sympathizing with the wrong character. ( It just came out in February, so cut for spoilers. )

I forget how much fun movies are. I need to start watching more of them again.

So I've finished burning through House, and can I just say that watching the finale a few hours after today's Doctor Who had some fairly disastrous consequences for my hydration level? I had to drink a glass of water just to replenish my tear ducts. TELEVISION IS MEAN.

Also, ( random observation for fans of both House and Veronica Mars, with small general spoilers for House 4x15. )

"I don't know what I'm saying. You know what I'm saying. I gotta go."

You know who Wilson turns into on thirty mg of amphetamines plus espresso? ME.

(And as someone who used to take TEN mg of Adderall a day and be off the walls for an hour before things evened out, my heart nearly burst in sympathy watching him drink that spiked coffee. Christ. I'm so glad I'm not friends with a sociopath.)

Things I am making a game of while I catch up on House (I am now up to 2x07):

* Checking the timestamp on the episode whenever a diagnosis is made. It doesn't matter how confident House is or how much sense it makes. If it's not at least thirty-three minutes in, he's wrong.

* Pretending Cameron was supposed to be on Grey's Anatomy, but got lost on the way and ended up on this show instead. I wanted to like her, as misogyny in fandom has annoyed me to the point where I automatically like female characters on general principle, but she is such a twit. I could totally see her hanging out with Izzie and Meredith. (Cristina would own her, and it would be awesome.)

* Guessing how many caning fics have been written to date.

* Guessing how many well-written caning fics have been written to date. This number is always much smaller.

* Trying to figure out why Wilson is friends with House. Seriously, what the hell? Maybe it's because I will associate Robert Sean Leonard with spineless sad Claudio until the day I die, but Wilson seems like - not the sort of person who would want to share space with a raging sociopath for more than five minutes. I can only assume that this will be addressed in some manner or another, because as it stands, what the hell?

* Speaking of Wilson, trying to dissect his personal life. I kind of love that it takes place entirely offscreen and we have no proof that he is, was, or has ever been married. I am familiar enough with spoilers to know that this changes, but for now it's like a running gag that isn't actually supposed to be funny.

* Taking a mathematical approach to working out exactly how many lifetimes of amazing karma House has built up to avoid having been fired so often his resume is heavier than the Bible, or being sued out of existence.

* Waiting for House to fuck up and NOT be able to make up for it by being right. I am not going to hold my breath.