(Fannish) notes and queries:

[raven]

For some reason best known to itself, iTunes wants me to listen to Christmas music. I don't understand. Also, I hate Christmas. (That said, the Sarah McLachlan version of "The First Noel" is actually lovely; full of rising piano notes that do, indeed, remind me very much of last December.)

Anyway. I have finished making all the training contract applications I'm ever going to make and just in time, my industrial-strength painkillers are running out - I finished the last lot off at five o'clock this morning, having been woken up by a spike inside my head - and so, I return to matters fannish after a long time away. A lot of the time that I was in San Francisco, likethesun2 and I watched fannish television, because, for the first ever, we could. And naturally, this involved a lot of Slings & Arrows, because she introduced me to it in the first place, and well, it's... itself. The problem with it, as I keep saying, is that it ruins you for television. Just... all television. It's not perfect by any means - we were talking about how the last season leaves lots of hanging threads; how the ingenues and their boyfriends can get samey; how it's a little too heteronormative for a show set in a theatre - but... so close. And the first six episodes, as a self-contained unit, are perfect. The writing, the characters, the nutty black humour, the way it's critical and wry in its treatment of madness and redemption, but it lifts you up with it.

(It also, specifically, ruins you for Due South. You try and watch it, and you end up sitting there going, "But he's so clean! Why is he so well-scrubbed? Why does he not look like a HOMELESS PERSON?" And it is not as if Due South is not the most bizarre thing that has ever been on television, honestly. Quite apart from the fact it's a show set in America made by British people and Canadians, it's, welll... yeah. There's a bit in it, in the episode with the pirate ship, where they have to create a diversion. It's a cop buddy show. If I were writing a cop buddy show, how would I write in a diversion? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have Paul Gross decide apropos of nothing to launch into several choruses of "Barrett's Privateers".

And, later! Later, there are the episodes featuring the show's very own metaphysics. I explained to someone once, "That tunnel there? That represents the phase space between life and death."

Phase space between life and death. It's a show about people who fight crime. I say again, bizarre.)

(We also tried to watch Chasing Rainbows, which is an eighties mini-series featuring a very young Paul Gross hamming it up horribly and trying to put on an American accent and the acting is terrible and the script is terrible and the pacing is terrible and the music is terrible and everyone looks blue. And it is, as a consequence, ridiculously funny. We were sitting there giggling occasionally until there's a bit where he's asked where he's from and he tells the Prince of Wales, "Montreal. Which is in Quebec."

It's in Quebec, guys. Montreal is in Quebec. I have never before been reduced to hysteria by this fact.)

Anyway! Enough parenthesis. I promised recs.

Better A Fallen Rocket, Slings & Arrows, by likethesun2.
I betaed this one, in between spending a week on the author's sofa, so I am a little biased. But not much. This is a long, hypnotic, frightening story about Geoffrey Tennant going mad, and it's also a story about Oliver, and a story about the crawlspace beneath a stage, and about the layers and unravelling of madness, and about what's left of God's purpose when you take away God. I am actually not quite able to do justice to it in a one-paragraph rec. Go and read it, and take in the enormous scope and sweep of what she does with these characters and themes, and then go and cry because you'll never write anything as good.

Pawn Their Experience and a A Foolish Wit, Slings & Arrows, by petronelle.
petronelle is a one-woman fic-writing machine, and all of her stuff is good, but these two are my favourites. "Pawn Their Experience" is about Geoffrey and Oliver, picking up the thing in canon where there is a big gay backstory that we never got to see, and doing it with poignance and setting out the characters' cluelessness very well. "A Foolish Wit" is a story about Sloan. The guy with the motorbike, yes. He has his own ghost. He says "fuck" a lot. I love it far too much.

untitled wee ficlet by rillarilla, still S&A.
An old one that I never got around to reccing. Claire's gone away to better things. It's short and packs a hell of a well-written punch.

Other things, let me see. The first trailer for Half-Blood Prince, which looks - gasp - good. At least, it gave me the right sort of chills. I like HBP as a book very much - it's well-constructed, it's smart, it's gripping, it's funny - and I really hope the film captures what I like about it. At any rate, the opening bars of the music still make me happy.

And, lastly, one from rs_games, which is ridiculously good fun.

Horoscopes and How They Caused The Plague of Frogs [currently anonymous]
Remus gets a job as astrologer for the Quibbler. Lunacy (and sex) ensue. Not immaculately written, but I can forgive it much; it's long and silly and full of very funny touches.

Back to my very exciting day of eating coconut cake and moaning about the spike in my head. And, hopefully, editing 10,000 words of fic of my own, what is wrong with me, etc.

Comments

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

I desperately need to watch the rest of Slings & Arrows, just so I can read these fics. :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

YES YOU DO IT IS GREAT. :)

[rosariotijeras.livejournal.com]

I bought the S&A complete collection DVD thinger last month-ish, and I swear to God it was the best damn thing I've ever purchased.

Also, due South/S&A crossover fic is my favorite thing EVER. There's not very much of it, and crossover fic is inherently stupid and bad but these two fandoms are so goddamn literate and brilliant and it works so well.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

crossover fic is inherently stupid and bad

I think it depends upon the fandoms. Some crossovers are hard to do well. Some fandoms are blessed with some darn fine writers. Others, less so.

Clearly I need to get into this fandom; I've often thought (just seeing the publicity stills) that Gross-as-Geoffrey looks a little how I'd imagine Ford Prefect. (Yes, Ford Prefect for me is Canadian. I don't know why.)

[rosariotijeras.livejournal.com]

I guess that was a bit strong of a statement, huh? I still stand by it though. Crossover fic is just stupid, stupid, stupid, but not unlike other inherently stupid things, can sometimes turn out in surprisingly decent and entertaining ways.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I did it once! I adore crossovers; I think that like everything else, there's an art to it.

[rosariotijeras.livejournal.com]

Some of my favorite fics are crossovers, but argh, I just...my brain screams "Daniel Jackson and Sam Tyler and Geoffrey Tennant do not exist in the same universe and never shall the twain meet goddamnit!"

(...oh my God the bunnies)

[rosariotijeras.livejournal.com]

Oh, fuck, it's almost three in the morning, I slept fourteen hours last night and I just wrote Sam and Gene meeting kid!Daniel and then watching Hamlet!Geoffrey jump into Ophelia's grave, and it's pretty terribly written and slightly OCC, except for kid!Daniel who I decided would "get lost" and end up in police stations. He collects them, and policemen. Gene fed him tea and gave him a notebook and pencil. His mother was exasperated, and like all good Life on Mars fic, Sam got punched.

[amchau.livejournal.com]

Ah, I really musxt find time to watch S&A.

The trailer leaves me undecided about HP&tHBP. It has the potential to be awesome or awful, possibly both.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Yes you should, it is made of awesome and I think you'd like it.

I like the trailer! It's almost old-fashioned, in a way; it has that fairy-tale quality I like.

[amchau.livejournal.com]

I'll look into buying the DVDs

I liked the atmosphere; and some of the clips shown, like Dumbledore's confession of ignorance at the end. But (last night I couldn't put my finger on why) on a rewatch I know what's bothering me: too much Anakin Tom and no Snape. I know that's all my personal taste and won't worry you, but there it is.

[absinthe-shadow.livejournal.com]

OMG YOU WATCHED CHASING RAINBOWS? *jealous*

I think the weakest season of S&A is two; IMO, three manages to match one, possibly even to surpass it. Need to work out why I think this and attempt to articulate it more clearly!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Dearest Chloe of Chloes, it's TERRIBLE. omg, it is SO BAD. It's hysterically awfully bad. (Actually, it's awesome for just these reasons. Let's try and watch it when I move back up.)

I'm not sure about this question. Overall, I think season one is best as a whole - because the Geoffrey/Ellen/Oliver plot is great, the Kate/Jack plot is great, all the little bits - Sloan and Holly and May and even the accountant who learns to act - are great. Whereas in season three, Geoffrey, Anna and Charles lift it up to greatness, but it's let down by Richard's plot never being resolved and the younger cast being less interesting.

Talk to me about it! I would be interested in your articulation.

"You think this godforsaken thing will ever end?" / "Yeah. There's only one more verse."

[likethesun2.livejournal.com]

I have a fannish friend coming to visit in a few weeks, and I think I'll be forcing her to watch the first episode of Chasing Rainbows too. Just. God. I do not know if I'll ever be able to watch the second episode. The first is so complete and self-contained in its brilliance. Much like S1 of S&A!!!

and then go and cry because you'll never write anything as good.

OKAY, SHUT UP. Remember that I saw your 10,000 words and SHUT UP. That's how I feel every time I read something of yours. *g*

Re: "You think this godforsaken thing will ever end?" / "Yeah. There's only one more verse."

[likethesun2.livejournal.com]

PS, in among my verbal abuse I meant to say thank you for the rec. Thank for the rec. It means a lot.

Re: "You think this godforsaken thing will ever end?" / "Yeah. There's only one more verse."

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, I forgot how much Paul Gross cries. Also amazing. It is perfect.

YOU SHUT UP. "What's left of God's purpose when you take away God" - this is is what you give us? This is the line you put in Geoffrey's mouth? I mean, really.

Re: "You think this godforsaken thing will ever end?" / "Yeah. There's only one more verse."

[likethesun2.livejournal.com]

Three times in the first hour! THREE TIMES, IONA. (I am so glad you appreciate this too.)

That line is alllll Stoppard. I'm just good at borrowing!

Re: "You think this godforsaken thing will ever end?" / "Yeah. There's only one m

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

And then he grows up to be Geoffrey Tennant, who cries and has erectile dysfunction and that's also awesome in a completely different way. I just. I cannot. How, just how.

yes BUT. You picked out that line and you gave it to Geoffrey and yes. Just. Also I have read your thesis. And that line, that bloody line, with all its resonance, all its beauty, the way it maps out extraordinary worlds even for atheists.

Hi, it is 1.46 am and I am apparently hysterical. How're you?

Re: "You think this godforsaken thing will ever end?" / "Yeah. There's only one more verse."

[likethesun2.livejournal.com]

hahahahaha. Thank God for Paul Gross. I would not want to live in a world without him.

the way it maps out extraordinary worlds even for atheists. ...I love you, have I mentioned that lately? 'cause, yeah. I've been thinking about that line all day. (And possibly considering how I would use it in a statement of purpose for grad school why oh whyyyy?)

Hi! It's only 6:15 p.m. here but I am also mildly hysterical! Is that an oxymoron! I don't know! What are you hysterical about?

Re: "You think this godforsaken thing will ever end?" / "Yeah. There's only one m

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You toooo. Grad school statement of purpose! Oh, yes, yes, I can see the shape of that much too clearly. (In other words, I don't know whyyyy, I am here merely as an enabler.)

It isn't! An oxymoron! At all! I am hysterical because, because it is 2.22 am and I fell asleep at eight and woke up at twelve, so more sleep will not be happening, and my astonishing continuous headache of astonishing is still not going away, and my parents are trying to talk me into not going to Edinburgh because of it, and while rationally I know this is not entirely crazy advice I am sort of, yes, but, that means I get to go to London for a nerve-wracking job interview, I get to have a hideous headache, and I don't get to see Shim or see OULES doing Mort, WELL DONE THAT UNIVERSE.

Re: "You think this godforsaken thing will ever end?" / "Yeah. There's only one m

[likethesun2.livejournal.com]

I feel that if one can still type in full sentences about it, the mania remains merely mild! Somehow! That was a lot of consonance!

Oh my god, I am so sorry. THAT IS ONLY FOUR HOURS OF SLEEP, WHAT. WHY. Also, how do you still have a headache? That's kind of disturbing. Pls do not have a brain tumor?

Wait, why does it make sense to go to London for a big job interview in lieu of Edinburgh for theatergoing and socializing? How is the former less likely to stress you out more?

Re: "You think this godforsaken thing will ever end?" / "Yeah. There&

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

The mania, it is mild! See it being mild!

Why I DON"T KNOW WHY. I'm just, I don't know, bouncing off walls a lot. And the headache wakes me up. I don't know why and how I can still have it; underneath the pills it just sort of persists. Mum says I need a CT scan. I think she is kidding. I think.

The argument is that the job interview is more important than the other thing, so they want me to go down south, survive it somehow, come back and stay here and (maybe) get a GP to give me a hospital referral if I don't get any better. The annoying thing is that it's unlikely I'd get a referral next week anyway, so I may as well go to Edinburgh rather than sit here and mope - it's not as if they don't have painkillers there, and I can keep getting my prescription filled! - but it's all up in the air.

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the recommendations. This seems to be a pretty quiet fandom, and I admire your writing no end, so it means a lot to me to hear from you about mine.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome! And thank you for writing. :)

[nos4a2no9.livejournal.com]

Hi, I love you a lot for your description of due South. And S&A. (Which, really, I think they work nicely together. No ruining at all. Except I did wonder why Fraser was suddenly scruffy and disreputable and said bad words).

I hope your head feels better soon!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I love due South so much. I mean, I can't seem to write fic for it, but I love it. And S&A - yeah. So much love.

(My poooor head. Thankyou.)

[sangga.livejournal.com]

argh, that trailer took forever to load...but i checked out the Wolverine trailer too, which looks like equally good fun!

most excellent!