Three drabbles beneath the cut: ( ... )
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Earlier in the year, ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thisbluespirit posted a ficmeme using lines from poems as prompts of a sort. It looked interesting, but I had a lot on at the time. Then this morning I read that today is National Poetry Day. What better day to take out that old meme and dust it off? The rules are fairly straight forward. Write down five fandoms in alphabetical order. Go here. Note down the fifth line of whatever random poem you land on. Partner it with the first fandom in your list. Click refresh, and rinse and repeat for all five.
And good luck if, like me, you have a mild allergy to Emily Dickinson.
( Five poems, five ficlets, five fandoms )
thisbluespirit posted a ficmeme using lines from poems as prompts of a sort. It looked interesting, but I had a lot on at the time. Then this morning I read that today is National Poetry Day. What better day to take out that old meme and dust it off? The rules are fairly straight forward. Write down five fandoms in alphabetical order. Go here. Note down the fifth line of whatever random poem you land on. Partner it with the first fandom in your list. Click refresh, and rinse and repeat for all five.And good luck if, like me, you have a mild allergy to Emily Dickinson.
( Five poems, five ficlets, five fandoms )
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1999 was a bit uppy and downy, I suppose. Some stuff undoubtedly happened on the world stage. Insert a meaningful bit of commentary here about world politics, etc. Or don't. I haven't bothered. For me it's mostly the year when, after dithering about not quite knowing what to do with themselves, following their reformation in 1995, the E Street Band set out on a world tour. There was, sadly, no YouTube at this point, but lots of footage has obligingly found its way there since, and the DVD of the concluding show in July 2000 is barnstorming. Here, have the opening two songs from the North American tour debut in New Jersey, on July 15th. Aren't I kind. :)
Elsewhere, 1999 was the year when, for the first time, somebody I knew, and who was the same age as me, died. His name was Chris, and it was an accident. One of those things that's absolutely nobody's fault, and that could happen to anybody at any time. Makes you think. Didn't know him well (me and people generally find it in our best interests to avoid each other as much as possible). But he was a nice guy. One hell of a pianist too.
Good year for the movies! The World Is Not Enough made three great Bonds in a row for Brosnan, and he also had The Thomas Crown Affair out this year, one of the few cases when I prefer a remake to the original. Also out this year was The Mummy, which I love to pieces. Didn't like the sequel, and didn't make it beyond the halfway point of the threequel, but that first one is wonderful. If you haven't seen it, do so this very minute.
Tellybox wise, this was the year of more new Doctor Who, in the shape of a Comic Relief special that saw the Doctor played by just about everybody with a British passport, and culminating with Joanna Lumley running off with the Master. It was very silly, lots of fun, and helped to make us all forget about the Children in Need EastEnders thing of a few years earlier. Channel 5 started a new telefantasy series that they'd co-made with New Zealand, a show called The Tribe that, unbeknownst to me at the time, was going to completely eat my brain, and lead to a Niagara Falls of fanfic over the next few years. It tailed off eventually (it lost its teeth when it became a global cult hit, and they started to water it down for American audiences - and then they changed the show's premise in season four, and I gave up on it). That original storyline, and the little group of characters at its core, though, still holds a part of my brain hostage. I really must get around to a rewatch sometime.
But elsewhere in Tellyland, rather than mentioning a few famous people who died this year, it might be quicker to list the ones who didn't. Helen Rollason! Poor Helen. With the greatest respect to John Craven, Helen and Roger were my Newsround team (here they are battling the Blue Peter lot on Double Dare back in 1989). Ernie Wise, Bob Peck, Oliver Reed, Dirk Bogarde, Dusty Springfield... Jill Dando (what the bloody hell was that all about?!). Poor old Desmond Llewelyn, dear old Q from the Bond movies, killed in a car accident. And, in "I'm the only one around here who has heard of him" news - Guy Mitchell, one time American singing sensation. My father, who pre-dates rock & roll, has always liked early 50s music, and I had Guy Mitchell tattooed into my brain at an early age. Ridiculously catchy stuff. There may conceivably be an example under the cut.
( ... )
Elsewhere, 1999 was the year when, for the first time, somebody I knew, and who was the same age as me, died. His name was Chris, and it was an accident. One of those things that's absolutely nobody's fault, and that could happen to anybody at any time. Makes you think. Didn't know him well (me and people generally find it in our best interests to avoid each other as much as possible). But he was a nice guy. One hell of a pianist too.
Good year for the movies! The World Is Not Enough made three great Bonds in a row for Brosnan, and he also had The Thomas Crown Affair out this year, one of the few cases when I prefer a remake to the original. Also out this year was The Mummy, which I love to pieces. Didn't like the sequel, and didn't make it beyond the halfway point of the threequel, but that first one is wonderful. If you haven't seen it, do so this very minute.
Tellybox wise, this was the year of more new Doctor Who, in the shape of a Comic Relief special that saw the Doctor played by just about everybody with a British passport, and culminating with Joanna Lumley running off with the Master. It was very silly, lots of fun, and helped to make us all forget about the Children in Need EastEnders thing of a few years earlier. Channel 5 started a new telefantasy series that they'd co-made with New Zealand, a show called The Tribe that, unbeknownst to me at the time, was going to completely eat my brain, and lead to a Niagara Falls of fanfic over the next few years. It tailed off eventually (it lost its teeth when it became a global cult hit, and they started to water it down for American audiences - and then they changed the show's premise in season four, and I gave up on it). That original storyline, and the little group of characters at its core, though, still holds a part of my brain hostage. I really must get around to a rewatch sometime.
But elsewhere in Tellyland, rather than mentioning a few famous people who died this year, it might be quicker to list the ones who didn't. Helen Rollason! Poor Helen. With the greatest respect to John Craven, Helen and Roger were my Newsround team (here they are battling the Blue Peter lot on Double Dare back in 1989). Ernie Wise, Bob Peck, Oliver Reed, Dirk Bogarde, Dusty Springfield... Jill Dando (what the bloody hell was that all about?!). Poor old Desmond Llewelyn, dear old Q from the Bond movies, killed in a car accident. And, in "I'm the only one around here who has heard of him" news - Guy Mitchell, one time American singing sensation. My father, who pre-dates rock & roll, has always liked early 50s music, and I had Guy Mitchell tattooed into my brain at an early age. Ridiculously catchy stuff. There may conceivably be an example under the cut.
( ... )
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In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favourite interview, a book) and explain why you love it so much. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
This was incredibly difficult. My first thought was to choose a really good episode of something; but then the full extent of the prompt got me thinking, because there's movies and books to choose from as well. Also, the mention of "a favourite piece of canon" suggests that the choice shouldn't be a favourite episode, but a favourite thing that happens in a particular episode. Which complicated things even further. Eventually I narrowed it down to a shortlist of about twenty episodes, films and books; but since I had no over all favourite, I decided in the end to go for the one that's arguably the least well known. There's too much good stuff out there to try deciding whether one thing is better than all the rest; and small fandoms need support. Shortlist included at the end, just because.
( ... )
This was incredibly difficult. My first thought was to choose a really good episode of something; but then the full extent of the prompt got me thinking, because there's movies and books to choose from as well. Also, the mention of "a favourite piece of canon" suggests that the choice shouldn't be a favourite episode, but a favourite thing that happens in a particular episode. Which complicated things even further. Eventually I narrowed it down to a shortlist of about twenty episodes, films and books; but since I had no over all favourite, I decided in the end to go for the one that's arguably the least well known. There's too much good stuff out there to try deciding whether one thing is better than all the rest; and small fandoms need support. Shortlist included at the end, just because.
( ... )
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Because I don't know. I felt like giving it a go, I guess. ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
snowflake_challenge: Day One.
In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I generally specialise in small fandoms, but one thing that I wrote turned out to be quite popular. It's based on The Tribe, which hardly anybody watched, or so I thought. Sometime in the near future, a deadly virus wiped out all adult life, and turned the whole world into Lord Of The Flies gone mad. It was very low budget, and some of the acting was a bit ropey, but dear heaven was it a fan fiction writer's paradise. And, to be fair, some of the characters, and some of the acting, were very good indeed. After a couple of years it went off the boil, though. Most of the cast left, and I hated what the show turned into. So I wrote an alternate season four, that somehow amounted to more than two hundred thousand words over more than a year. And people actually wanted to read it. That was kind of fun. Tribe Fury: Introductory Blurb.
Another thing I wrote that turned out to be something people actually wanted to read (this is a novel experience for me), was The Dark One, an appallingly titled Robin Of Sherwood story that carried on where the series left off. For once I think I did a fairly good job of it, which is not something I think very often. The Dark One. I only wish I could have thought of a better title!
One day there was a new series of Doctor Who, but I didn't love it as much as I loved the old one. And then one day new Doctor Who introduced Captain Jack. (And took him away again almost immediately. But still). A time-travelling, space-adventuring conman! Hello new form of procrastination. Captain Jack And The Monster From Space happened soon after, as did its sequel, Captain Jack And The Ship That Flew. Spaceships and pirates and Jack. I must be honest, they wrote themselves; I had very little say in the matter. The Monster From Space and The Ship That Flew. I like to think they turned out okay.
Something a bit different to end on. There was a video that I really wanted to make. It needed to be made, and quite obviously nobody else was going to do it, for all manner of very good reasons. You see, there's this show called Days Of Our Lives. It's a soap, and I readily admit that it's awful, although it wasn't always. Well, it probably was. Whatever. Anyway, two of the characters are Stefano and John. Stefano believes that John belongs to him. He has consequently spent the last thirty years kidnapping John, confiscating his shirt, and chaining him to things. And getting him tattooed, specifically to show the world who he belongs to. This is actually canon, I promise. Anyway, because Days seems to be almost entirely watched by quite conservative housewives, I'm apparently the only person in the world who has noticed how spectacularly slashy this all is. Well, except for the actors. I'm pretty sure they've noticed. Anyway, I made a video. Somebody had to. It's low res due to the quality of the source material, and I can't even pretend that it's good, but like I said, it needed doing. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.
It seemed like a good idea at the time...
snowflake_challenge: Day One.In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I generally specialise in small fandoms, but one thing that I wrote turned out to be quite popular. It's based on The Tribe, which hardly anybody watched, or so I thought. Sometime in the near future, a deadly virus wiped out all adult life, and turned the whole world into Lord Of The Flies gone mad. It was very low budget, and some of the acting was a bit ropey, but dear heaven was it a fan fiction writer's paradise. And, to be fair, some of the characters, and some of the acting, were very good indeed. After a couple of years it went off the boil, though. Most of the cast left, and I hated what the show turned into. So I wrote an alternate season four, that somehow amounted to more than two hundred thousand words over more than a year. And people actually wanted to read it. That was kind of fun. Tribe Fury: Introductory Blurb.
Another thing I wrote that turned out to be something people actually wanted to read (this is a novel experience for me), was The Dark One, an appallingly titled Robin Of Sherwood story that carried on where the series left off. For once I think I did a fairly good job of it, which is not something I think very often. The Dark One. I only wish I could have thought of a better title!
One day there was a new series of Doctor Who, but I didn't love it as much as I loved the old one. And then one day new Doctor Who introduced Captain Jack. (And took him away again almost immediately. But still). A time-travelling, space-adventuring conman! Hello new form of procrastination. Captain Jack And The Monster From Space happened soon after, as did its sequel, Captain Jack And The Ship That Flew. Spaceships and pirates and Jack. I must be honest, they wrote themselves; I had very little say in the matter. The Monster From Space and The Ship That Flew. I like to think they turned out okay.
Something a bit different to end on. There was a video that I really wanted to make. It needed to be made, and quite obviously nobody else was going to do it, for all manner of very good reasons. You see, there's this show called Days Of Our Lives. It's a soap, and I readily admit that it's awful, although it wasn't always. Well, it probably was. Whatever. Anyway, two of the characters are Stefano and John. Stefano believes that John belongs to him. He has consequently spent the last thirty years kidnapping John, confiscating his shirt, and chaining him to things. And getting him tattooed, specifically to show the world who he belongs to. This is actually canon, I promise. Anyway, because Days seems to be almost entirely watched by quite conservative housewives, I'm apparently the only person in the world who has noticed how spectacularly slashy this all is. Well, except for the actors. I'm pretty sure they've noticed. Anyway, I made a video. Somebody had to. It's low res due to the quality of the source material, and I can't even pretend that it's good, but like I said, it needed doing. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.
It seemed like a good idea at the time...
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There's very little plot in this episode, which really only exists to finish the job of replacing all the bits of exploded Liberator. The genius scientist Doctor Plaxton has designed an amazing new engine, which will allow the Scorpio to go faster than anybody else - if they can get hold of it. Unfortunately for the gang (and for the viewer, arguably), the only people who will fund Doctor Plaxton's research are the Space Rats, a gang of brain dead speed freaks, who couldn't carry a plot if they tried. They look a bit like refugees from one of the latter two Mad Max movies, or perhaps grown up cast members of The Tribe - just without any of the things that made either of those franchises any fun. It's not a bad episode as such, just lacking in subtlety; and it's all too obvious that it really is nothing but another stepping stone to "replacing" the Liberator. If you're making a TV show, I think the lesson to take away from this is to make damned sure the final curtain really is falling before you blow up all your stuff. It does rather test the audience's patience if they have to wait for you to get it all back again the following year.
( ... )
( ... )
True Blood has announced its return date, although I think they actually did that several weeks ago, and I've only just noticed. Also there's a trailer! Well, more of a glimpse, but they call it a trailer. It'll be nice to have True Blood back. I've given up on The Mentalist now, Hawaii 5-0 decided that we weren't going to be friends anymore, and Ringer has gone away. Probably forever, as I was the only person who watched it. So True Blood could be the only television that I watch until Steven Moffat decides to give me Doctor Who back. There are Worries, however. Seasons one, two and three of True Blood were awesome in every way, except for how there was altogether too much Sookie. Season four was rubbish, though. And this will be season five, and I am suspicious of season fives by their very nature. Should that be seasons five? No, I don't think so. Consider the evidence, anyway:
( The rather-too-involved Universal Theory Of Season Five. Also True Blood trailerage in screencappery. )
( The rather-too-involved Universal Theory Of Season Five. Also True Blood trailerage in screencappery. )
Given some of the utter tosh that I've watched over the years, I suppose it shouldn't surprise me to discover that I've also taped a lot of utter tosh. Mind you, even knowing that, it's weird what colonises the ends of video tapes, lurking in forgotten nooks and crannies, from back in the days when I used to use the things regularly. Some things are reasonable enough, if long forgotten. Others are just downright bizarre.
( ... )
( ... )
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From fannish5. What are your five favourite sibling relationships?
In no particular order:
1. Hoss & Little Joe Cartwright (Bonanza). This is probably the ultimate sibling relationship for me. They were perfect as brothers. Hoss was the older brother that everybody wanted, which helped, and the very real brotherly love between actors Dan Blocker and Michael Landon made it even better. By the time they'd been making the show for a few years, their rapport was excellent, and the chemistry was just perfect.
2. Bray and Zoot (The Tribe). A somewhat flawed, low budget teen drama from New Zealand, The Tribe isn't too well known. The ideas in it really grabbed me though, and it's like crack for a writer. A virus has killed off all the adults, and the world has gone Lord Of The Flies. Enter Bray, a loner who has always been better with books than people, estranged from his once beloved, now-turned-psycho-cult-leader, younger brother Zoot. Some of the acting in the show was a little rocky; theirs never was. We rarely saw them together on screen, but their relationship largely defined Bray's character.
3. Rick & AJ Simon (Simon & Simon). Another pair of screen brothers who were close friends in real life. These two gelled perfectly. Chemistry, mannerisms, everything. Rick's protectiveness towards AJ, and the way that AJ naturally looked to Rick in everything, all told with a touch or a look or a gesture. So well done.
4. Victoria & Manolito Montoya (The High Chaparral). I loved these two as a kid, and they're still just as good now. The children of a rich, Mexican landowner, they'd grown up privileged but isolated, and had only ever had each other. Victoria, the eldest, was responsible and respectable; Manolito was anything but. They fought tooth and nail, usually in wild, improvised Spanish, as their chemistry was so good that they didn't need a script. Their shared affection was wonderful, though. Chalk and cheese, but shoulder to shoulder against the rest of the world. They had a shared respect for others, too, banding together to care for wounded Apache when nobody else cared. Always wished that they'd been the focus for that show, rather than the Cannon family.
5. Frank & Joe Hardy (The Hardy Boys). Though I grew up with the books, and loved most of them, I mean the TV series mostly here. In the books they could be a little interchangeable at times, no doubt the result of there being so many writers over the years. In the TV series they had much more distinct personalities, and the actors sparked nicely. Frank was the devil-may-care adventure junkie, hurling himself into danger with a smile, and Joe had a lovely line in dry humour, as he tried to suggest caution. I had a rewatch fairly recently, and really loved that dynamic.
fannish5. What are your five favourite sibling relationships?In no particular order:
1. Hoss & Little Joe Cartwright (Bonanza). This is probably the ultimate sibling relationship for me. They were perfect as brothers. Hoss was the older brother that everybody wanted, which helped, and the very real brotherly love between actors Dan Blocker and Michael Landon made it even better. By the time they'd been making the show for a few years, their rapport was excellent, and the chemistry was just perfect.
2. Bray and Zoot (The Tribe). A somewhat flawed, low budget teen drama from New Zealand, The Tribe isn't too well known. The ideas in it really grabbed me though, and it's like crack for a writer. A virus has killed off all the adults, and the world has gone Lord Of The Flies. Enter Bray, a loner who has always been better with books than people, estranged from his once beloved, now-turned-psycho-cult-leader, younger brother Zoot. Some of the acting in the show was a little rocky; theirs never was. We rarely saw them together on screen, but their relationship largely defined Bray's character.
3. Rick & AJ Simon (Simon & Simon). Another pair of screen brothers who were close friends in real life. These two gelled perfectly. Chemistry, mannerisms, everything. Rick's protectiveness towards AJ, and the way that AJ naturally looked to Rick in everything, all told with a touch or a look or a gesture. So well done.
4. Victoria & Manolito Montoya (The High Chaparral). I loved these two as a kid, and they're still just as good now. The children of a rich, Mexican landowner, they'd grown up privileged but isolated, and had only ever had each other. Victoria, the eldest, was responsible and respectable; Manolito was anything but. They fought tooth and nail, usually in wild, improvised Spanish, as their chemistry was so good that they didn't need a script. Their shared affection was wonderful, though. Chalk and cheese, but shoulder to shoulder against the rest of the world. They had a shared respect for others, too, banding together to care for wounded Apache when nobody else cared. Always wished that they'd been the focus for that show, rather than the Cannon family.
5. Frank & Joe Hardy (The Hardy Boys). Though I grew up with the books, and loved most of them, I mean the TV series mostly here. In the books they could be a little interchangeable at times, no doubt the result of there being so many writers over the years. In the TV series they had much more distinct personalities, and the actors sparked nicely. Frank was the devil-may-care adventure junkie, hurling himself into danger with a smile, and Joe had a lovely line in dry humour, as he tried to suggest caution. I had a rewatch fairly recently, and really loved that dynamic.
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