Ad hoc, ad loc, and quid pro quo! So little time! So much to know!

( Taken from my Facebook and posted here without comment )



Shut up, a gif doesn't count as a comment

Cheers.

Living The Stereotype Moment #617: Consulting a family member about details for a gun (for fic purposes) and finding out that your family owns a very close approximation that you can examine whenever you like.

Backstory: I was looking for some details about how a M-16 rifle feels in your hands, how heavy it is, etc., and the close approximation we actually own is an AR-15 (which, I'm told, is essentially the same thing only without full automatic firing capabilities for legal reasons). I get to examine and disassemble and write notes about said AR-15 this evening.



I'm not even making this up. God, sometimes I love living in the same house as a serious gun wonk. It's not the "living in a compound in the middle of the woods" kind of gun wonkery, it's more that certain members of my family geek out about guns in the same way some people geek out about comic books -- it's still pretty damn awesome.[/riveting tale, old chap]

That being said, have some more thirty day writing meme:

Day Thirteen: Do you prefer canon or fanon when you write? Has writing fanfic for a fandom changed the way you see some or even all of the original source material?

I think I'll split this answer into parts since that's sort of a complicated question:

1) Whether I prefer canon or fanon depends on the fandom and the situation in which either one is being used. In most cases, I feel like it's best to keep to canon as much as you can, but I've certainly seen deviations into fanon that worked out better than the original source material. Besides, fanon is what makes it fanfiction, isn't it?

2) Certainly! Mostly because I like to write scenes that fill in the gaps between canon scenes (rather than reinterpreting canon scenes, for example) and I've found that doing that can really add some depth to one's mental concept of the source material. Well, it did for me, anyway.

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"Only the shallow know themselves..." -- Oscar Wilde

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Cheers.

P.S. - sgrios gave me an idea for a GK/O Brother, Where Art Thou? crossover/Depression era!AU. It won't get out of my head, but I can't seem to flesh it out enough to make a viable fic out of it. Damn it -_-

So, internets, Le Boyfriend and I finally saw Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (aka "Look! This one doesn't have Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom and their combined range of five different facial expressions!") this afternoon and, well, it was...interesting. Not awful, but not amazing, but certainly not a horrendous way to spend an afternoon. Here's essentially what happened:

1) Missionary boy and mermaid girl were really, really adorable (I actually liked them the most, I think)

2) Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz spent most of the movie smoldering insincerely at each other

3) Uncle Vernon was possibly the frumpiest, most ineffectual King I've ever seen in my life

4) Johnny Depp seduces Judi Dench (I'm not making this up, it was fucking hilarious)

5) Blackbeard's ship fwooshed things with its built in flamethrowers (I know, I know)

6) Blackbeard was basically awesome (ETA: And was also evidently Mr. Bobinsky in Coraline, which just cracks me up for some reason)

7) The Spanish were pointless (and cheekbone-y)

ETA 2: 8) I don't care if his appearance was totally random, everything about Keith Richards was awesome. "Does this face look like it's been to the fountain of youth?" HA!

The plot tried to go in too many places at once (which is why I think some of the acting suffered in places), but the effects were good, the cinematography/scenery was amazing, and some of the jokes were fucking hilarious, so Le Boyfriend and I came out of it mostly entertained.

Anyway, in other news, my neighbors acquired a Wii (more specifically a Wii Fit). You haven't seen funny until you've seen a balding, overweight, middle-aged white guy (aka Mr. Next Door) using an invisible hula hoop. It was like this



only multiplied by a factor of ten. His wife and I were watching in bemusement...

Mrs. Next Door: *glances at me* What're we gonna tell the paramedics?
Me: That he sprained his groove thing?

Much hilarity ensued, which was honestly worth the eye-bleach-necessitating sight that spawned the conversation.

Finally, of course, the meme continues:

Day Four: Do you have a "muse" character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the fic isn't about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse?

Erm...not really. I suppose it depends on the fandom, in which case I sometimes find myself focusing a bit more than I should I characters to whom I can more easily relate, but otherwise not so much. It's not really a constant thing. For instance, I can really relate to Tunny, but he doesn't always wind up being a focus in anything Idiot-related that I write (unless that was the point of the story from the beginning, lol)

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"May you live every day of your life..." -- Jonathan Swift

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Cheers.

Howdy, internets, just dropping in for a minute to say that I'm not dead, just busy. Horribly, ridiculously, soul-crushingly busy (because next week is the week before finals and the professors like to pile shit high and deep right about now). It's made me tired enough that I've passed out asleep at 10:00 p.m. more than once in the last week (which, for someone who normally goes to bed around midnight, is a big deal), plus I really hate how much it's cutting into my fandom/internet time lately :\


Me these days....

Long story short, my life would be so much easier if I could just live in the internet forever.

On the bright side, I got to spend the afternoon watching Jason X (hilariously bad) and playing with Le Boyfriend's and my bb!kitty (hilariously adorable) over at Les Neighbors', so things aren't as bad as they could be. In the mean time, I promise I'll get a real post up some time before doomsday *facepalm*

ETA: My family sent me this video earlier and I only just opened and watched it just now...

( Marines and Britney Spears...you know you're curious )

It's almost scary how well they know me.

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"War is the science of destruction..." -- John Abbott

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Cheers.

Someone tried to record American Idiot from third(ish) row center orchestra section. As in approximately ten feet (tops) away from the stage.

No, really.

'Tried' being the key word, of course (Gerard was having none of that bullshit).



I actually cringed away from my computer screen from the sheer, overwhelming secondhand embarrassment. Some people...*facepalm* (amusing side note: Le Boyfriend has christened the guy responsible for this as "Dipshit McFucknuts". Apt name is definitely fucking apt).

In other news, today is Le Boyfriend's birthday and so we're actually de-hermiting out of our apartment to go out to dinner \o/ Also, I just have one scene left to write (and the usual nitpicking) and the first part of my GK/AI crossover is good to go! Expect it sometime in the next 48 hours.

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"What is easy is seldom excellent..." -- Samuel Johnson

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Cheers.

ETA: Le Boyfriend was telling me about a kid in one of the classes he student teaches -- more specifically, meeting with this kid's mom earlier tonight at the school's open house. The kid's mom tells Le Boyfriend that her son is big into military things and that she's trying to get him to read more in general.

Guess why Le Boyfriend told me about this. Go on, guess.

I wound up writing down a list of six or seven books (including GK and OBA), including mentioning that a couple of them had T.V. or movie adaptations, for Le Boyfriend to give to this kid's mom (or the kid himself). I just wanted to note down for posterity that my rampant geekery actually served a productive, educational purpose, since I'm pretty sure this counts as one of the signs of the apocalypse.

pau494 just gave me this gif and I can't stop looking (and cracking up) at it, so I decided to share the mirth. Enjoy!



It's not quite as hilarious as the straight-up mini-seizure Stark has right before Dearly Beloved starts, but it's right up there in terms of sheer lulz.

OH GOD SHOW WHY MUST YOU CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANGE *sobsob* ;____;

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"One may be humble out of pride...." -- Michel de Montaigne

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Cheers.

I just watched a video in which real!Nate called Stark his "thirteen year old alter ego".



Easily made my fucking week.

Just had to stop in and share that little gem. More batfic(k) (I amuse myself) can be found here and I'll try to finish all my various reaction posts and get them up sometime this weekend. Assuming I don't die under my mountain of schoolwork, of course.

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"Turn your wounds into wisdom..." -- Oprah Winfrey

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Cheers.

Sooo, today I discovered the true meaning of the phrase "laugh yourself sick".

Why, you ask? Because I just saw the most fucking hilarious Halloween costume ever over in stark_sands. He was Justin Bieber. He even accounted for the massive height difference (through creative use of trash cans).

I COULD NOT MAKE THIS SHIT UP IF I TRIED.



I almost passed out from a coughing fit brought on by hysterical laughter.

Will be posting more of Celer, Silens, Mortalis tomorrow (among other things), and my various overdue reaction posts will probably go up on Thursday. Stay tuned!

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"Who sows virtue reaps honor..." -- Leonardo da Vinci

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Cheers.

P.S. - I haven't posted the pic directly because it came from Twitter (which got it from the Facebook page of a person I don't recognize), so I'm not sure how personal it was supposed to be.


ETA: Things I learned so far from taking a sleeping pill (like usual) but forgetting about the cough medicine I've been mainlining all week:

1) Words move in lines/segments. It's not dramatic, but it's just noticeable enough that you can lose surprising amounts of time watching it.

2) Typing gets remarkably difficult when you can't for the life of you remember where the key for your next letter is or (or, for that matter, what that next key was in the first place).

3) Easy words for a given context suddenly become impossible to remember. Also, those moments where you're sure you spelled a word correctly but it doesn't look "right"? Those happen a lot more.

4) I can feel my pulse everywhere.

5) Cliché as it sounds, music becomes FASCINATING.

So yeah, the combination of a sinus infection, cough medicine for same, a massive load of caffeine just to function, sleep deprivation from same, and a sleeping pill for same make things....interesting.

Either that or all this is evidence that the combined stressors above and my schoolwork have driven me 'round the bend. I'm betting the chemical interactions had something to do with it, though.

Only Raptor Jesus knows for sure


Toodles!

For this story to make any remote sort of sense, I have to start by stating that Le Boyfriend and I both take vitamin supplements in gumdrop form.

Yesterday, Le Boyfriend and I were sitting in the living room, more or less bored out of our skulls. Suddenly, thinking of our gummy vitamins, Le Boyfriend had an idea; we should go buy regular fruit snacks! Naturally, as I never quite grew out of having the sweet tooth of a six year old, I was on board, so off we went to Walgreen's.

Our supplies when we came back:

Two boxes of Wintergreen Altoids "smalls" ("Look, [Le Boyfriend], baby Altoids!")
A Batman Pez dispenser (which I christened "Brad" and then spent the afternoon using to make annoying camera phone pics to send to my friends)
Two packs of Pez refills (so Brad doesn't run out of juice)
A whole bag of Fun Dip packets
One bag of candy corn
Several pumpkin-shaped Reese's peanut butter cups
Two containers of pumpkin-shaped marshmallow Peeps

Long story short, we came back to Le Flat with $20 worth of candy. None of which was the fruit snacks we originally were planning to purchase. I regret nothing.

Also, have this humorous (but pretty mean) parody/re-cap of American Idiot. It's spoilertastic and annoyed me in some parts, but also succeeded in making me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe for a second on more than one occasion. In the mean time, I'll be over here working the four gazillion review posts I promised, a metric ton of schoolwork, and a host of other things.

Have a gif!


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"I've been lucky. I'll be lucky again..." -- Bette Davis

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Cheers.

Now, I know it's pretty common for most people to get some wacky shit in their spam folders. Comedians have been joking about it pretty much since email was invented. Even I've gotten some pretty weird things including...

- Mail-order bride ads (Le Boyfriend finds this hilarious)
- Various and sundry male enhancement ads (which seemed stupid given that I'm a girl, until I realized the potential jab at Le Boyfriend -- then it was hilarious)
- Ads encouraging me to watch supposed celebrity sex tapes
- Ads for guns/knives/hunting gear (the combination of this and the one above it make me wonder what watch lists I must be on by now)

( But this, internets, this cracks me up the most... )

1) I'm in my twenties.
2) I'm pretty sure Paypal knows I'm in my twenties considering I dimly remember being asked to enter my DOB when I registered.
3) I'm in college. I'm still getting the hang of financial responsibility.

Bonus: Note the link/ad across the top of my Spam folder -- Google usually chooses things for that place based on key words in the folder (or email if you happen to have one open at the time). So Google selects a Spam recipe for the spam folder; is that meta or what? XD

Just had to stop in and have a laugh about that. Feel free to join Bud in being horrified by what the internet appears to think of me:


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"The basis of optimism is sheer terror..." -- Oscar Wilde

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Cheers.

P.S. - I promise I'll at least get the Glee reaction posts up today if it's the last thing I do. This shit is just getting ridiculous.

***ETA: Done and done!

Glee Episode 2x01( 'Audition' )


Glee Episode 2x02 ( 'Britney/Brittany' )