sundries, mostly personal

[rm]

Patty leaves for Cardiff in 8 days. Between now and then her parents are visiting, we need to try to see my parents, she has a friend we're supposed to do dinner with, and we want to go to a fancy dinner before she goes. It is a very busy time. Also, Patty just sent me email about cheese inspired by ziggurats.

In my exuberance about other issues, I have neglected to ask if any of you have any intel about the New York Musical Theater Festival. Which is to say, I can choose tickets to four shows, but don't know what to choose. Got anything?

Speaking of exuberance, man, New York is some serious gorgeous today.

I got my retconbook rewrite story, which I didn't read last night because I wasn't supposed to get it until today. So reading and excitement there. I need to finish mine for my recipient as well.

On the professional front, oh hey, I have a story due at the end of the month. I should get on that.

Also, I got notification today that I didn't get a grant I applied for to defray some of the costs of Bristol; oddly, I don't feel shattered (as I tend to do). It's a thing that has to do with any number of issues long before me and my scholarship. May every day be so mentally healthy.

Speaking of Bristol, I have not mentioned The Society of Friends of the Text in some time. But, we're trying to put new things in motion and there's some great new content on the site, so you might want to check that out.

Ever so tangentally related, death, death and more death will be back at Gally in 2011. Yay. Seriously, check out that AWESOME panel schedule. And it doesn't even include many truly awesome things that are to come.

Patty just forwarded me the greatest potential outlet for some personal essay about some of the work I've been doing EVER. I am writing a pitch TONIGHT. Wow.

Unsurprisingly, France has passed a law banning burquas and niqabs. Not cool, France.

The San Gennaro festival was a love of my childhood. It wasn't any less corrupt or crowded then, but it was less homogeneous and more authentically about being Italian-American in a way that remembered Italy and remembered when we weren't wanted here. It felt like, at seven, my culture. Anyway, I haven't gone for years, because I don't need the crowds or the booze or the crappy street food. But I may go to check out Torrisi Italian Specialties booth which plans to integrate Italian and Chinese specialties and techniques in a nod to the way Chinatown has merged into what was once Little Italy. I'm curious, although I doubt I'd be able to eat much, or even any, of it.

I really loved Little Italy when I was a child. It was somewhere we went at night, as a treat, or after being fashionable and edgy in Soho. I stood on the rungs of a bar stool to play pinball and we went to Ferrara's before it was rennovated and before it was a chain. One night, at another cafe with better cookies, Robert Redford hit on my mother while my father bought anisette toast and cat's tongues. Any my mother said to me, it is very important that I am flattered and my father said it is very important that I am angry and then I knew lots of things were complicated and games, even if my mother was very flattered and my father was also definitely angry.

I cannot believe sometimes how far away 1978 or 1982 feels sometimes. Not, in number of years, but in the nature of what this city was; darker and dirtier and unrefined. New York was abrasive and marketing was so much more naive; and we used to eat platters of fried zucchini sitting in Puglia's while the fat sang (really, my father would say "Do you want to go to Puglia's and here the fat lady?") "You are My Sunshine" up into a mic in the front.

It's all still there. Here. But it's all different now. And not just because I am older.

Someone needs to make a Torchwood vid to Come Sweet Death (ignore the random Dead Like Me vid, it was the only way to make you able to hear this song easily) that makes me laugh until I cry. The song popped up on my Last.fm in the week before CoE, and now is firmly embedded in my mind with everything that happened in the narrative and in the fandom in that chunk of time. When people talk about "I had to go to the bathroom at work to cry" -- hell, when I talk about it -- this is the song that's playing in my head.

Last night on Covert Affairs:

1. Is Ben dead? Can Ben be dead? I don't care about Ben.
2. Although Jai's pain and inner-conflict about Ben and Annie is AWESOME.
3. I dislike when Auggie is used for comic relief, however, that thing with the kids was AWESOME.
4. Meanwhile, I love this Arthur-Auggie vs. Wilcox Sr.-Liza thing. All the conflicts that come up in these alignments are wonderful, and imply that this show could be a seriously great thing. Lying liars who lie!
5. Also, seriously, how much do you want fic where Joan and Auggie are having an affair now, because wow that would complicate the already fucked up situation in #4.
6. I love Joan. Joan is awesome. Joan is the leader Jack Harkness wishes he were.
7. Now that season 1 is over, is it fic time nao? Joan/Annie, Annie/Jai/Auggie, Auggie/Joan -- WHERE IS IT, PEOPLE?
8. Chris Gorham is a boon to fic writers everywhere, as he's been posting twit pics of details from the set for Auggie's apartment all week. If you're one of those people who needs to know those things, and you're planning to write in this fandom, you should check this shit out.

Comments

[melebeth]

I would like Ben to be dead, except that if Ben is dead I am afraid that there will be all sorts of "what was he really doing?" drama that just keeps him alive and I don't care. Of course, if he's alive then we're going to be stuck with more Annie/Ben, and I don't care about that either. I wish we could just retroactively eliminate that whole not particularly interesting sub plot, unless it's going to give us more interesting stuff about Jai, in which case....

I quite liked that first episode in England. It was full of all sorts of interesting conflicts about how much, and how little, relationships matter. I also loved that Arthur was all "take the job"

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Arthur/Joan finally got interesting, as opposed to comic relief that never quite made sense. And I really liked the England episode too. I thought it did a good job about Americans being dumbasses about the UK too. I was really amused.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

How visually blinkered am I? I only realized last night that the actor who plays Auggie was also Henry in Ugly Betty. I wasn't a huge devotee of that show, but I certainly watched it often enough that Henry's face should have been extremely familiar to me.

Meanwhile...is anybody writing Covert Affairs? Have you written something? I'm always in the market for a new fandom to join the ranks of my multi-fandom recs page...

[rm.livejournal.com]

I've written one Auggie/Jack story that's a Torchwood crossover. There will be more, both crossover and not, but there's very little fic out there that's not Auggie/Annie on the Pit of Voles.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Merci. I'll check it out this weekend.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

Talk about Internet Famous. I googled "cheese inspired by ziggurats" and this LJ entry is the *first hit*.

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

My friend Michelle is in Show Choir: The Musical!

http://www.showchoirthemusical.com/

Sounds like so much fun!

[booknerdguru.livejournal.com]

Joan is amazing. I did enjoy the inner conflict that Jai was having. Also fic where Auggie and Joan are having an affair is really fascinating to my brain. there may be writings happening later

[rm.livejournal.com]

OH YAY. NEW PERSON WHO LIKES COVERT AFFAIRS. It's so hard to get people into this show (because, admittedly, it was awful at first).

[booknerdguru.livejournal.com]

The pilot made me wince hard, but I got convinced to keep watching...and it grew on me.

Also I am hilariously amused by who Liza's source is.

[rm.livejournal.com]

The pilot was terrible. I ranted about it here, and I still object to how heterosexual the show is. Like, aggressively so. But now that the relationships are there as part of the intrigue as opposed to "look, straight people being straight!" I'm on-board. But I'd love some queerness thrown into the mix.

[booknerdguru.livejournal.com]

It really was. I had to turn it off after ten minutes and then got badgered to find it on the free on demand by a friend and once you got past the pilot, it did seem to improve.

Some queerness would be awesome to see there.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

That "Come, Sweet Death" video is hilarious.

It also reminds me how much I loved that show.

Also, that's the first time I've ever heard Voltaire's music.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Really? I guess you know him more from comics. A lot of it is very good (and a lot of it is also very funny). I love that song like burning, although it does actually make me burst into tears sometimes because it's so associated with that Very Hard Week.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Also, Patty just sent me email about cheese inspired by ziggurats.

Considering that I recall a National Geographic article about Egyptian bread possibly inspiring or inspired by ziggurats/step pyramids, I am comparatively unsurprised.

That *does* look like a good con panel list, and I'm glad they've separated it out a little by the primary interest groups (specialist, generalist, cosplayer, etc.)

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

My wife watches Covert Affairs and I suspect she ships Annie/Auggie. I think it is like Torchwood, where sometimes you have to just ignore the fall-down-silliness, because I can watch it but can't invest in it the way she does.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

I miss San Gennaro too. Zeppoles and big blocks of torrone and Manhattan coffee sodas. YUM! And I always saw someone throw up one of those big blue frozen drinks.

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

Ben being dead is so much more interesting than Ben alive.

I would love a messy, complicated Joan/Auggie with Auggie/Annie or (better!) Joan/Annie action thrown in. I love Auggie so much, he almost makes up for what happened with Mozzie, which better not have happened. Because I am still not ready to deal with it. As we can see by it slipping in here when we're talking about the awesomeness of Auggie. And there is so much wonderful Joan/Annie. I loved Joan being all "No! You can't send Annie in! Emotions! Danger! She will get hurt!"

And I am excitedly waiting for some ass kicking on the part of Joan/Arthur. Because that could shake things up in a lovely way.

[browneyedgirl65.livejournal.com]

I keep meaning to watch Covert Affairs, in no small part b/c you are enjoying it, but it's in line behind Dr Who and True Blood and *when* I'm going to be able to catch up on all that... ??? :-/

I'm so conflicted on the burqa. What France (and other countries for that matter) is doing is not right, but I literally cannot communicate with anyone who has their face covered up. So I avoid these people.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Re: Covert Affais My reaction was, "God, I hope Ben is dead." Does that make me a bad person? Mostly because I can't stop seeing him as one of the hyena kids on that episode of Buffy--they ate Principal Flutie. That makes me want to write crazy Buffy/Covert Affairs cross-over except not really.

Joan is excellent. Joan/Auggie fic would kind of scare the hell out of me, but that might not be a bad thing.

[misch.livejournal.com]

I recommend: My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding. Based off the true story of David Hein, his mothers, and their wedding. I didn't get up to Toronto to see the show, but I have seen David Hein in concert a few times, and he performed a few of the songs from the show, and HE IS FUNNY.

The show was one of the hits of the Toronto Fringe Festival, and picked up for a full run by Mirvish Productions in Toronto.

[elusis.livejournal.com]

During the latest "Oh [SF/F writer], no!" thread, it occurred to me that I have seen you say many wonderful things in various places, and should like to friend you. I hope that is OK. My LJ used to be a much smarter place but I am having difficulty doing much beyond a rather mundane chronicling lately.

[timelady.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'd be fine with Ben dying. But they shot this too much like Mozzie's death, where I'm convinced they're going to save him. It's the problem of having the person dying as the credits start rolling. There's a good chance the paramedics will arrive that very next second. But as argument against, the promo for next season hinted that with Ben out of the picture, Annie's future at the FBI would be in question (since they hired her to flush out Ben, and she joined because of him), which would certainly be interesting to explore.

What I think will be really interesting to explore is the whole Jai/Annie relationship since he was ordered to get close to her "by any means possible" so he could get to Ben. So, without Ben and that order, will he suddenly drop her like a rock? Or has he actually developed feelings for her? And then of course her reaction if she finds out he was ordered to get close to her (reminding us Bill being ordered to get close to Sookie)... and should she ever find out he searched her guest room... Admittedly Jai is just beautiful to watch, but there's the question of just how genuine is he.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting Wilcox to be the leak, mainly because I thought he was too minor of a character (reminds me of trying to guess which of the crew were cylons).

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

France passes law telling people how they may dress in France.
Next they'll want the statue back.

[kill.livejournal.com]

I am just about to watch the season finale of Covert Affairs, having finally caught up -- can you give me a heads up to your first post about the show? I want to follow-up and read your thoughts now that I've caught up, but I don't know where to start. (You're right. The show did get better. And the men in it, unf.)

Also -- it would be awesome if you knew the date for when you started writing about Buffy, too, since we've just started watching again from the beginning. I have poked around a bit in your archives but I figured I'd ask just in case you know a starting point.