sundries

[rm]

Last night we got home to signs all over our building that someone else's apartment had been burglarized Saturday night much in the same way ours was some time ago. Both of us found this a little disturbing, not in the "I'm scared" way, since we now have appropriate security measures, but because our first thought was to wonder if someone was home at the time. Of course, we eventually figured out that since the burglary, according to the signs, occurred sometime between 11:30pm and 4:30am, someone was clearly out at a bar at the time. Poor bastards, and I hope they catch the fuckers.

This morning, we were awoken abruptly by sounds of people on the fire escape around dawn. We couldn't see anything though, and there were non-nefarious things it could be, but I think we were a little startled, although so asleep Patty and I just looked at each other and said "Hi." before passing out again.

Cajun culture and the oil spill.

Making the city more friendly for the elderly.

A significant number of deaths (17 last I saw, with 18 injuries) have occurred at an LGBT party in Mexico. Whether it's a hate crime or related to the war on drugs, no one is yet sure.

Of course, there are plenty of hate crimes and/or government sanctioned violence against LGBT people elsewhere. And not just the places you might expect, like Iraq and Dubai. Nope, also New York City, Atlanta and Helsinki. via sparkindarkness.

I survived another round of WIAD. I'll put my story up here eventually. It was a hard week; I think the prompt frustrated everyone (I was soooooo aggravated while writing mine and think what I mostly produced was a passable outline for an actual story); I think the stories were largely cracky and weird, and they were frustrating to me as a reader. And I think it's clear a lot of people felt this way just by the sort of silence in the feedbacking we normally do for each other.

I am struggling, more than a little, with the Jack/Auggie fic. I can see the whole fic in my head, so I'm not sure what the problem is. Part of it is too much lead in -- it's PWP in the sense that there is plot and character development, but in the porn, so why don't I just skip ahead?

Part of it also that I'm having trouble temporally locating it and locating it for the reader.

Part of it is that the fic comes with a lot of problems to solve as is, most of which I have solved (the issue of Jack as foreign national, for instance).

Part of it is that I don't know Auggie's voice yet, and I think the fic works better if it's from his perspective, because Jack's issues distract from what I want the story to be about, which is Auggie.

Anyway, it's aggravating the hell out of me.

I don't follow True Blood closely; it's Patty's show. I missed most of last season, and have already missed one episode this season. But OMGWTFBBQ, it's like crack!fic come to life. Are they fucking serious? Should they be? What is happening? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!!!! Best characters are totally Lafayette and the boyfriend; Eric; and Jessica (oh, all my love for Jessica).

About a week ago the occasionally useful, often offensive and regularly bizarre The Art of Manliness did a piece on men's magazines from the 1940s and 50s.

bodlon, with whom I regularly discuss many things (including the ongoing WTFery of The Art of Manliness), and I had the following awful conversation in response:

rm: These covers of men's mags from the 1940s and 1950s are all reading like Torchwood plotbunnies to me.

bodlon: I am particularly fond of "I BATTLED A GIANT OTTER" and "SEX STORMS LASH OUR PRISONS." OTOH, Hemingway's private war with Hitler? BEST PROMPT EVER. Let's get some Harkness up in that crazy.

rm: I want Ianto to discover that Jack used to write trash for such magazines mainly just to be spiteful while he was kicking around the Hub and billing them for his bad attitude.

bodlon: "The Strange WWII Fate of Yank Captain Hogan and His 69 Turncoat Nazi Butcher-Girls?" Ianto read aloud, eyebrows raised. "Captain 'Hogan,' is it?"

"There were actually only twenty-three of them," Jack said. His feet didn't move from their spot on his desk, nor did his eyes stray from the novel he had in his hands. "Sixty-nine just had a better ring to it."

"Ah."

rm: "You know," Ianto said conversationally, "I'm starting to see why every person than ran this place pre-1970 tortured you when they were bored."

"Only because they couldn't kill me," Jack said cheerfully.

bodlon: We really should do some kind of fic challenge with these some time. The results are bound to be ridiculous and potentially offensive as hell. Jack heading up a small unit of resistance fighters/traitors and punching his way through the enemy torture castle, followed by a crazy-ass uniform orgy? BRING ON THE BAD ACCENTS AND SEXY HATS.

rm: It's like Torchwood as directed by Quentin Tarantino.

On a similar, but less utterly sketchy note, Jack Harkness vs. Ben Franklin is totally the best conversation on the Internet today.

Torchwood fic rec: Debris by heddychaa. Go read. Right now. It's like pressing your thumb into a bruise and feeling the better for it.

One more picture from Governors Island.



From our friend Marilynn. There's something about my physical tension/hesitancy in this combined with how present I am that I really, really like. Which is nice, because I've been hating pictures of me lately.

Comments

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

BWAHAHAHA! Eric as Laffy's boyfriend! LOLZ!!!!!!!!

[rm.livejournal.com]

Eats, Shoots and Leaves problem.

I mean Lafayette and the thing with Jesus, and then Eric as a separate thought.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Oh no no! I know that, it was just a hilarious thing to pop in my head as I read that.

And yeah, I'm waiting for Jesus to make another appearance. It is indeed like crack!fic on screen, they just more and more crazy. Considering last season's finale I didn't think they could manage, but hey, HBO Vampire Show.

Personally though, I'm enjoying this season less than the previous two - the sex and violence are getting two serious while other stuff is just becoming absurd.

[ckd]

"I BATTLED A GIANT OTTER" reminds me of the best headline of 2007, from the Daily Record: "Hero Cabbie: I kicked burning terrorist so hard in balls that I tore a tendon in my foot".

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

Don't you diss John Smeaton!

[tdanaher.livejournal.com]

Yes, this city is really not set up to handle elderly people, or pretty much anyone who requires mobility aids. It was excellent when they brought in those lowrider buses, but then they put stairs in the back of the bus where sometimes the only empty seats are? There's an elevator from subway platform level up to street level at 34th Street and 8th Avenue on the uptown side, but on the downtown side a person has to hobble up more stairs?

Please, Powers That Be, put more places to sit for a few minutes along the sidewalks. When I need a break from wobbling along with my cane and need to take weight off my knees, I've taken to bringing along a little folding stool and setting it up against the sides of buildings every half block or so (annoying to carry onto subways or buses when one hand is already occupied with the cane and the other needs to grab a nearby handrail for support). Out in Queens they've got some awesome dealies, where there are these metal sculptures that cover the subway grates in a way that keeps rain from flooding through, while incorporating seats. One of those over every grate would be stellar, let's make that happen.

[elisi]

The Art of Manliness did a piece on men's magazines from the 1940s and 50s.
What's with all the (literally) bloody attacks by small rodents? It's hilarious! And OMG I can so see Jack writing this stuff. Thank you!!!

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

"Weevils Rip My Flesh!"

[idunn.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who thinks the guy getting attacked by rodents resembles David Bowie?

[rm.livejournal.com]

bodlon said that too!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Those covers are AWESOME. And really, that stuff just screams to be a fic challenge.

[shadowvalkyrie.livejournal.com]

"The Strange WWII Fate of Yank Captain Hogan and His 69 Turncoat Nazi Butcher-Girls?" Ianto read aloud, eyebrows raised. "Captain 'Hogan,' is it?"
"There were actually only twenty-three of them," Jack said. His feet didn't move from their spot on his desk, nor did his eyes stray from the novel he had in his hands. "Sixty-nine just had a better ring to it."
"Ah."
"You know," Ianto said conversationally, "I'm starting to see why every person than ran this place pre-1970 tortured you when they were bored."
"Only because they couldn't kill me," Jack said cheerfully.

"X-D Awesome!

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

If Eric was actually Lafayette's boyfriend, I might start watching True Blood again.

[cruentum.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the timing of WIAD reveal didn't help the lack of feedbacking. I wish there was more feedbacking but oh well, can't force it, I guess.

[citrinesunset.livejournal.com]

I love those covers. Especially the cannibal crabs (which look more like lobsters. And if they're cannibals, why are they eating the dude instead of each other?). It's funny how many of the covers feature otters, small rodents and the like.

Re: WIAD. I actually loved the prompt, and I really like my idea for it, but I realized far too late that I didn't have nearly enough words to pull it off. The finished product has very little of what I'd set out to do in it. I'm thinking of reworking mine for my own purposes without the word restraints. Until then, I'm not sure feedback would be helpful.

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

I would TOTALLY cast my vote for a fic-prompt challenge based on The Art Of Manliness. Maybe a choice of three covers, or something...

[amberite.livejournal.com]

I liked the side header "Sex can be fun!"

Wow is it a different target market of manliness to whom that idea has to be sold.

[jo02]

" Torchwood as directed by Quentin Tarantino "

I think my brain went off to that more-than-slightly-warped happy place.
We so need to see this on our screens.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I think bodlon's challenge should be taken up. I'd totally join that ficathon!

Side note of possible interest on the men's magazines: I used to collect children's mystery books, which led to attending a collector's convention which had as a guest star the artist who did the cover art for the yellow-spine Nancy Drew books.

He also did pulp magazine covers. (TBH, a fair number of the linked magazines look to be in a familiar style.)

There is a Nancy Drew cover where Nancy is holding a fan up by her face, with one finger oddly curled around the front. He confessed that it was because his Nancy model was also his pulp model, and he did double-duty with one of her poses. He put "Nancy" in a dress instead of the original torn negligee and replaced the revolver with a fan... but he didn't bother moving the trigger finger.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

OMGWTFBBQ, it's like crack!fic come to life. Are they fucking serious? Should they be? What is happening? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!!!!

Is it not FANTASTIC??

bodlon: I am particularly fond of "I BATTLED A GIANT OTTER" and "SEX STORMS LASH OUR PRISONS." OTOH, Hemingway's private war with Hitler? BEST PROMPT EVER. Let's get some Harkness up in that crazy.

Yes please!

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

The temptation to do a series of fics based on the fake trailers from Grindhouse is strong enough that I'm actively worrying I'll write "DON'T" when I'm not looking.

[timelady.livejournal.com]

I could talk an ear off about True Blood. Actually, I already have more than once on my LJ.

If you haven't seen it, you must watch this. Mini episode of Eric and Pam interviewing strippers for Fangtasia and deciding they both like the same one.


You've got to see Sophie-Anne the Louisiana vampire queen. Totally deliciously-interesting character. (And definitely not the Sophie-Anne from the books)

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Yahtzee is a truly egalitarian game!

(I really want to have a get-together wherein we all watch True Blood and play Yahtzee.)

[virginhuntress.livejournal.com]

I find true blood to be a fine mix of SRS BZNS and poking fun at itself.

ERIC IS MY HOMEBOY. And Jessica is great. I won't lie though, I can barely stand Sookie and Bill though Bill is starting to get more interesting. :D