http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2748

* This just made me choke on my coffee. I think I enjoy The Meathead Perspective far more than I enjoy the actual band Nine Inch Nails.

* I’m not an Avatar fan, but I’m still upset by the blatantly racist movie casting. Just… what the hell? I’m glad to see that the fandom has already launched a letter writing campaign.

* This xkcd comic is awesome and totally nails the “nice guy” phenomenon. The wank it’s generated is severely depressing, though. “Women have nearly exclusive control over the nation’s sex supply, and that will never, ever change“???? *headdesk*

* jaydk and kalichan came over to my place on Saturday night for a very fun evening of wine and television. We watched the first episode of The Devil’s Whore, after which jaydk declared that she couldn’t stand to continue watching history be raped in such a blatant manner, so we switched to the first episode of Life on Mars (which kalichan had never seen!) to get the bad taste out of our mouths.

To be honest, I didn’t mind The Devil’s Whore–probably because I’m woefully ignorant about that period of English history, and because I was only watching for John Simm. He had his shirt off for a whole scene, so I got what I wanted out of the deal. :P

* This panel description has me dreading Gallifrey One. I think it might be best if I spend this convention drinking and chatting and avoiding most of the actual programming. >:( Still looking forward to seeing Phil Collinson, though. And hopefully to hearing interesting insights from the various new series writers who are attending.

* I’ve kind of reluctantly gotten into Spooks–I actually went out of my way to watch the season finale as soon as possible. I don’t love the show by any means. It’s pure genre, which makes it incredibly predictable; it never does anything that a spy drama wouldn’t do. But it’s quite a good example of a spy show, which makes it entertaining for what it is. Well, okay, mainly the entertaining thing is the lovely contrasts between Richard Armitage’s pale skin, black hair, and blue eyes. But occasionally he even gets to do some actual acting! And I kind of love the character of Ros–her competence and snark make her one of the more appealing female characters I’ve seen in quite a while.

* I’m re-reading Pawn in Frankincense despite myself. I forgot how funny this one is as it starts off! In fact, I think I forgot almost everything that happens except for the ending, which kind of blew the rest of it out of the water. It’s a totally different experience to read this series for a second time; everything makes so much more sense when you already know what’s going to happen. Dunnett’s style of keeping the reader completely in the dark for 90% of each book (and the series as a whole) is incredibly frustrating, but definitely rewarding if you’re able to put up with it. It also makes re-reading a whole new experience–you can actually appreciate the subtleties instead of just wondering what the hell is going on. It also helps that I’ve got a book of translations with me this time around, so I can figure out what the hell they’re saying when the characters suddenly switch to French or Latin.

* I’m resisting the urge to write a long song-by-song analysis of “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.” I know that no one cares about my interpretation of a 35-year-old classic album that I’ve only been listening to for two weeks. Still. It’s all I’ve been thinking about. I haven’t even turned it off at night, because it’ll play in my head if I don’t have it actually playing from my speakers.

* 5years.com is an incredibly helpful website if you suddenly decide to get obsessed with “Ziggy Stardust” 35 years too late. Plus I’m learning all this stuff about glam rock–now I totally get that scene in Life on Mars where Sam meets Marc Bolan!

* I bought this Best of Bowie DVD. It’s all so totally totally awesome for about the first 50 minutes, and then… 1974 happens. Good god. I think maybe I’m a fan of Ziggy Stardust, not of David Bowie?

* I wish I’d gone to the Bowie Ball last weekend. I totally want to go see this all-female Ziggy Stardust cover band in January. And I want to go see this thing at MOMA even though I doubt 1) I can get tickets, 2) that it’s anything I haven’t already seen on the Best of Bowie DVD.

* I finally figured out how to connect my computer to my TV wirelessly. It’s a combination of this and this and it totally works! My TV is a second monitor and I can just drag video files over to it and play them. Now I should probably cancel my cable TV, but I’ve gotten addicted to The Rachel Maddow Show and now I kind of don’t want to give it up. I suppose I could just watch that online too. And I might actually continue catching up on more of those old Doctor/Master episodes now that I don’t have to waste CDs on burning them.

Although I might just watch lots of YouTube clips of young David Bowie instead.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2742

I’ve been hibernating. Or, avoiding the internet, anyway. Moving servers turned out to be a huge pain in the ass and it still seems like a total crapshoot as to whether my websites will actually work on any given day. Kind of pointless to post an entry when I’m not sure if anyone will be able to see it or respond. I’m pissed at the server company, but sick of wasting time dealing with it.

So, here’s a post, which may or may not work. :P

A summary of my life in media over the past two weeks:

* I saw Twilight. My god. That’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back.

( spoilers for Twilight )

* I'm thinking about seeing Milk. It looks really good and historically interesting, but Sean Penn's gigantic hulking ego makes me cringe. I'm not sure I can take it.

* I'm thinking about seeing Valkyrie. It looks historically interesting and I'm very fond of Bryan Singer (X2 is still my favorite superhero movie ever, with Iron Man a close second), but Tom Cruise's ego and presumptuousness offend me even more than Sean Penn's.

* I went to see the Cruxshadows on Thanksgiving Eve. I got there at 11:45pm and they didn't go on for another hour. Damn Pyramid Club. Luckily my new phone has internet so I read marzipan until they came on.

The Cruxshadows may be ridiculously cheesy and overly sincere, but they sure put on a hell of a show. I was crying at the end. How often do you see a band playing to a packed crowd who invites their fans onstage at the end and stays up there afterward hugging every single person who wants a hug?

* I started listening to a bunch of old David Bowie albums while I was cooking for Thanksgiving, and, oh my god, you guys, why didn't anyone tell me that David Bowie used to be this awesome??? I've had The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars on repeat all weekend. I mean, I was vaguely aware that Bowie had once been good, but all I knew was the guy with the bulge from Labyrinth and the skinny old guy who toured with NIN in the 90s. I didn't realize he'd done something this passionate and creative and amazing. I can't even articulate my response; I just want to listen to it again and again.

Although, one of the really interesting things is to pick out all the Bowie influences on the bands I grew up listening to. I can see Nirvana, and Alice in Chains, and, dude, Marilyn Manson should be paying this guy royalties. And it's fascinating how it seems to straddle this boundary between 60s and 70s music and culture, idealism and disillusionment...

Anyway. Must listen more.

* I re-read The Disorderly Knights, the third book in Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles. I think it's my second favorite, after the first, A Game of Kings.

( spoilers for The Lymond Chronicles )

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2737

* x_los wrote Eighth Doctor/goosnake!Master. And it’s… actually kind of awesome? If you enjoy crackfic, I highly recommend it.

* I. Um. I think I want to see Twilight. I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW. But… it’s just… you know… Robert Pattinson is really really cute!

Apparently somewhere inside me there still lurks a twelve year old girl, whose Pretty!Boy!Vampire! alert has just been triggered. I will have to hide my face in shame and sneak into the theater hoping that no one I know will recognize me. Or at least claim that I’m there only to snark. :P

* I saw the new James Bond this weekend and was disappointed. I’m all for emotional continuity, but it didn’t feel like the movie really went anywhere. Nothing made a big impression, and I was mostly bored. Apparently I’m one of the three human beings on the planet who do not find Daniel Craig attractive, so without a compelling story there just wasn’t much to hold my interest. Casino Royale was so much better. :(

* I just read this book called The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, about a Jesuit expedition to Alpha Centauri (seriously). It was brilliantly written, but I didn’t love it.

( spoilers for The Sparrow and for the Lymond Chronicles (possibly offensive to religious types) )

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

Fic rec: A nifty Doctor and Donna adventure, Leap in the Dark by nonelvis. This is the kind of story that could easily be an episode. It uses time travel in an original way, plus has a really cool setting and great characterizations of the Doctor and Donna.

***

Happy Birthday, jaydk!

Tonight, we're going to see Patrick Stewart in "Macbeth." I am super excited. :)

We had another Doctor Who night on Saturday, in which we watched:

* ( the latest Torchwood )

* ( more Old Who )

* ( The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit )

***

I'm finally finishing my re-read of Dorothy Dunnett's Queens Play. (I know, it's been months. I've been reading in tiny increments on the subway). And it finally hit me that ( spoiler for entire Lymond Chronicles )

***

Also, ( a meme with a rather amusing result )

( some random thoughts on the Lymond series )

What else? I haven't been posting much. Let's see...

I went to Las Vegas and ate vegan donuts. That was fun. Details and pictures are here.

And then there was this... which I don't even want to write about so I'm going to copy and paste from an email I wrote to 10zlaine:

I was kind of just going with it... enjoying the pool while ignoring the massively overpriced bad food and the leers of drunken frat boys... and my front row seat was perfect... the show was amazing... AIC played "No Excuses," which I hadn't heard yet... I cheered like an idiot when they announced Sean Kinney's name--he's the drummer, and my favorite member of any band ever, and I've adored him since I was 11 years old due to his combination of ass-kicking musical ability and genuinely funny and good-natured personality... and at the end, he came over and HANDED ME A DRUM STICK... I was in heaven... already imagining how I'd frame it in glass and make it the center-piece of my apartment... I carried it around with me for 40 minutes while waiting in line for a drink... I went back to my seat... put the drumstick in my bag, put my bag on the floor between my feet and the barrier... and SOME ASSHOLE REACHED INTO MY BAG AND STOLE THE DRUM STICK.

No matter how much I tell myself that it's just a THING, and the cool moment was when Sean handed it to me... I am so fucking pissed off and I seriously wish I could flay alive the person who stole it from me... and that pretty much ruined the vacation, and killed my ability to ignore the disgusting exploitative sleaze of Vegas...

So yeah. This time when I say "I am never going back to Las Vegas," I mean it.

At least the donuts were good.

On Tuesday I saw Ian McKellen in "King Lear" at BAM. It was SO GOOD. I am not a theater person at all, so I can't really comment technically, I can just say that I was completely riveted every time McKellen was speaking, and completely riveted during the entire last act. The seats were incredibly uncomfortable and the view was weird (so steep that we were nearly looking at the top of the actors' heads) but I didn't even notice for the last hour or so. I'd never seen or read "King Lear" so I was really into the story, too. (I know, stop laughing at my ignorance.) I'm SO glad that I got to see it. If you ever have a chance to see Ian McKellen in anything, definitely go.

Then last night jaydk and I saw her favorite soap opera actor, Tom Pelphrey from Guiding Light, in a play in this weird little office-building theater that seated about 40 people. We were literally sitting on the stage. Pelphrey was good, but the play was pretentious and terrible. Alas. I'm sure it also suffered in comparison to Lear! I did make jaydk stick around and get Pelphrey's autograph, though--it was totally worth it to see her happy fangirl expression. ;)

And this weekend I'm going to Austin to see Alice in Chains unplugged. Honestly I'd rather just stay home and sleep, but, plane tickets already booked....

*is exhausted*

( some random thoughts on the Lymond series )

What else? I haven't been posting much. Let's see...

I went to Las Vegas and ate vegan donuts. That was fun. Details and pictures are here.

And then there was this... which I don't even want to write about so I'm going to copy and paste from an email I wrote to 10zlaine:

I was kind of just going with it... enjoying the pool while ignoring the massively overpriced bad food and the leers of drunken frat boys... and my front row seat was perfect... the show was amazing... AIC played "No Excuses," which I hadn't heard yet... I cheered like an idiot when they announced Sean Kinney's name--he's the drummer, and my favorite member of any band ever, and I've adored him since I was 11 years old due to his combination of ass-kicking musical ability and genuinely funny and good-natured personality... and at the end, he came over and HANDED ME A DRUM STICK... I was in heaven... already imagining how I'd frame it in glass and make it the center-piece of my apartment... I carried it around with me for 40 minutes while waiting in line for a drink... I went back to my seat... put the drumstick in my bag, put my bag on the floor between my feet and the barrier... and SOME ASSHOLE REACHED INTO MY BAG AND STOLE THE DRUM STICK.

No matter how much I tell myself that it's just a THING, and the cool moment was when Sean handed it to me... I am so fucking pissed off and I seriously wish I could flay alive the person who stole it from me... and that pretty much ruined the vacation, and killed my ability to ignore the disgusting exploitative sleaze of Vegas...

So yeah. This time when I say "I am never going back to Las Vegas," I mean it.

At least the donuts were good.

On Tuesday I saw Ian McKellen in "King Lear" at BAM. It was SO GOOD. I am not a theater person at all, so I can't really comment technically, I can just say that I was completely riveted every time McKellen was speaking, and completely riveted during the entire last act. The seats were incredibly uncomfortable and the view was weird (so steep that we were nearly looking at the top of the actors' heads) but I didn't even notice for the last hour or so. I'd never seen or read "King Lear" so I was really into the story, too. (I know, stop laughing at my ignorance.) I'm SO glad that I got to see it. If you ever have a chance to see Ian McKellen in anything, definitely go.

Then last night jaydk and I saw her favorite soap opera actor, Tom Pelphrey from Guiding Light, in a play in this weird little office-building theater that seated about 40 people. We were literally sitting on the stage. Pelphrey was good, but the play was pretentious and terrible. Alas. I'm sure it also suffered in comparison to Lear! I did make jaydk stick around and get Pelphrey's autograph, though--it was totally worth it to see her happy fangirl expression. ;)

And this weekend I'm going to Austin to see Alice in Chains unplugged. Honestly I'd rather just stay home and sleep, but, plane tickets already booked....

*is exhausted*


[Cross-posted to my InsaneJournal]

( reactions to 'Checkmate' and the Lymond series )

[Cross-posted to InsaneJournal]

I doubt there are many people out there who both watch "Rescue Me" and have read the Lymond Chronicles. But for those (?) who have...

( vague spoilers for both )

( spoilers for the Lymond series up to about 3/4 of the fifth book )

( thoughts on the Lymond series up to page 107 of book 5 )

I'm up to page 59 of the third Lymond book and I understood every single thing that's happened! What is this? Characters I know speaking in a language I understand??

Um, anyway. I'm thoroughly enjoying this one so far. 800 sheep wearing helmets, and Lymond in drag undressing an English commander? Yes.

And, 10zlaine, don't get mad. I packed, cleaned, and went to bed at midnight. :)

I did have to pack my gigantic suitcase, though, in order to fit everything I wanted to bring. And it turns out my elevator still isn't fixed. It took me 20 minutes to lug the damn suitcase down six flights of stairs this morning. :(

Oh, and I barely slept, even though I was exhausted, because of the most ridiculous nightmares ever. I bought the second Lymond book at the Strand the other day, on queenofthorns' recommendation (thank you!), and while I did get the book half price, I am never going back to that place. It's so claustrophobic, and everyone who works there glares at you like you're not good enough to enter.

The book I wanted was on a shelf way too high for me to reach, and while a ladder was nearby, I am terrified of ladders, and in no way willing to risk my life to obtain a book. So I stood there for about five minutes trying to figure out how to get it without embarrassing or killing myself, and finally asked a woman who works there to get it for me. She gave me the glare of DEATH, grabbed the book, handed it to me, rolled her eyes, and stalked off without speaking.

So my dream... I'd been reading the Lymond book, and they were on a ship, so I think I merged it in my head with "Pirates of the Caribbean." And in my dream, Jack Sparrow and Will Turner were raiding The Strand, and all the shelves were falling down attacking them and killing people. Hot-Scruffy-Norrington was there, and Wesley Wyndam-Price, and Cutler Beckett in disguise as someone hot, but when he died his face melted and he turned back into his ugly self. And Will got shot and was blind. And then Jack was going to take over the store and put it back together. And the whole thing was REALLY SCARY.

Stop laughing. :P


I leave at 4:30 for DragonCon. Bye!! :)

Finished "Queens' Play."

Hmmm. Okay. I didn't like this one as much as the first. But it was still good.

( My thoughts on the second Lymond book )

I saw that Gonzales is resigning and almost jumped for joy. Thank god.

I'm in a weird state. First, the good. I read a GREAT book: "A Game of Kings," the first in Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles. I've been seeing this series referenced throughout fandom for years, and so I finally gave in and bought it (during one of the most recent "Why do [we/you freaks] like hurt/comfort?" memes that went around).

It took a little while to get into--I know nothing about 16th century Scottish history, and I know very little Latin or French, and I know nothing about chess (except how to lose spectacularly quickly). And she has a writing style that definitely takes a little getting used to. But there were so many clever turns of phrase, and Lymond was instantly intriguing, and I knew fandom couldn't be wrong, so I persevered and soon enough I was riveted.

I took this book with me on the bus to Atlantic City (yes, I survived), read it in line at the concert, read it for the three hour bus ride home, got home at 4am, helped my idiot roommate shovel water out of our clogged bathtub (more on that later), and then continued reading straight until 2pm the next day, when I finally finished. I realize I was awake 26 hours straight and didn't eat for 30 hours (well, except for cough drops and throat comfort tea). I took a dose of Nyquil and passed out until 8pm. What a weird day.

But, anyway, the book was that good. It's that irresistible combination of excellent writing and total hurt/comfort crack. Plus Lymond is a great character; like a combination of Methos and Jaime Lannister (although he never sinks to the rotten depths of those two). ( spoilers for Dunnett's 'A Game of Kings' and Martin's 'A Storm of Swords' )

Okay, and the concert. ( First, I rant about how I despise the soulless predatory pathetic evil of Atlantic City )

( And then I rave about the brilliant spiritual experience of an Alice in Chains concert )

( The latest evil roommate, apartment woes, and me about to lose my mind )