In Essence Divided

KNIGHTS OF THE UNF TABLE

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 23:46:40 GMT

uhhh... has this been discussed? because seriously, hnnnnnnnngh

Script rec: The Social Network

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 07:04:35 GMT

The Social Network by Aaron Sorkin (drama, 162 pages, click to download)
You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.

i downloaded this script several months ago and never got around to reading the whole thing, because too many flashbacks in scripts give me headaches. when i realised that the movie is being released tomorrow, however, i decided to bite the bullet and finish the script, because i want to enjoy it without being influenced by the movie.

the script starts with young mark zuckerberg being dumped by his girlfriend, erica, who's less than impressed by his social awkwardness. angry and drunk, he blogs about how erica is the biggest bitch on the planet and, out of spite, starts a kind of hot or not website that allows male harvard students to compare their female classmates' looks. the website, though shut down quickly, spreads like wildfire, attracting the attention of two rich harvard twins, cameron and tyler. they bring their idea for a harvard-specific social network to mark and ask him to help them with it. this gives mark an even better idea: thefacebook. he develops it in secret and brings his best fried eduardo on board to handle the business side of it when he launches it. thefacebook grows at an unbelievable rate, and soon mark and eduardo are the two most popular students in school. however, their newfound popularity isn't all fun and games. eventually, things begin to sour, leaving mark where he is in the present: facing two lawsuits, one filed by cameron and tyler, and one filed by eduardo. from the beginning, scenes from the present are intercut with scenes from the past, gradually revealing everything that led up to the lawsuits.

the social network is so lovely and complex. the tone and pacing are spot on and almost make the script feel like a thriller. it also has a kickass sense of humour that captures the reckless spirit of college perfectly. at the same time, that recklessness is just as heartbreaking as it is funny. i understand mark's obsession with success, for validation, for confirmation that he's someone, because i've felt the same way so many times. perhaps that's where the allure of this movie lies -- we all see a bit of ourselves in mark, and it's fascinating in a twisted way to see what happens when you take that small seed of desperate ambition and nurture it.

that leads me to my next point: the characters are fantastic. eduardo as the best friend who gets backstabbed is the character i was emotionally attached to and pulling for throughout the story. i found that my heart ached the most when he hit his lows in his relationship with mark. mark's character is an intriguing protagonist. he's cold and ruthless, and he really has no redeeming qualities, but somehow you pity him by the end of the story. sean parker, the smooth-talking founder of napster, is also the perfect unconventional antagonist; he's sleazy, he's divisive, and yet he's also undoubtedly cool.

i think scriptshadow described this script perfectly: "the Social Network is a either a modern tragedy or a modern success story depending on how you look at it." on the surface, it chronicles an unpopular college kid's journey from nerd to billionaire in a few short years. the core of of the story, however, is its darker portrayal of the nature of human relationships. it's about betrayal, greed, ambition, and loneliness. the most poignant moment of the story is the last scene, in which mark is sitting in a dark room alone after a meeting with eduardo's lawyers. he logs onto facebook, looks up erica's name, and requests to add her as a friend. he sits back, and we fade out as he waits for her to accept the friend request. the lesson? money, success, and popularity can't buy you everything.

go see this movie when it comes out tomorrow, guys! (as if andrew garfield isn't already enough reason to see it)

Fic rec: The Gates of Horn and Ivory

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 00:35:28 GMT

The Gates of Horn and Ivory by jibrailis
Arthur/Eames, Inception, 6k, NC-17
Summary: Arthur wakes.

guys, i really can't deal with how great inception fandom is. it's just, we have so many amazing writers and they keep pushing out increasingly amazing work and everything is just so amazing. jibrailis is another one of my favourite inception writers, and, IMO, this fic is her best work to date. it's stunning.

this fic does a fascinating job of exploring the possibility that maybe the whole inception job was a dream after all. arthur wakes up in an unfamiliar flat and automatically assumes he's dreaming. he goes about dream!arthur's life waiting to be extracted from, but when he runs into eames, things get a little hazy. he starts wondering if he's really dreaming after all and, even if he is, does he want to wake up?

what i really love about this fic is that the author doesn't lay the drama on too thick. there's so much potential in a story like this to spend the whole time going round and round in the character's head and basically turn the whole thing into an overindulgent piece of crap, but the author smartly sidesteps that potential disaster and pulls the fic off with minimal melodrama. there's definitely an undercurrent of darkness, and you can always sense the desperation tinging the characters' thoughts and actions, but you believe arthur's grief and confusion, and you believe eames' frustration over not being able to help arthur shake off whatever he's suffering from.

i also love that the author drops just enough clues to allow us to feel our way through the story with arthur. we only know as much as he knows, and we're constantly holding our breaths, wondering what's going to happen next. will he kill himself? will he wake up? will he decide to stay? it strengthens the emotional core of the story, because we empathize so strongly with arthur. we hurt when he hurts. it's a really wonderful way to read a fic.

i would rec this fic based on the concept alone. i didn't know i wanted an AU verse like this until i read it. everything about it just hurts so good. oh, and the twist. the twist at the end is so perfect, it made my breath catch in my throat.

Fic rec: Left and Leaving

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 04:05:04 GMT

Left and Leaving by pyrimidine
Arthur/Eames, Inception, 5k, R
Summary: The Time Traveler's Wife AU. Arthur is Clare, Eames is Henry.

pyrimidine is one of my favourite inception authors, but she's really outdone herself this time. this is inception fandom's first time traveler's wife AU, and it absolutely deserves the honour of being the first of its kind.

the fic is so beautiful it takes my breath away. it takes the source material (about a man who's born with a genetic condition that causes him to travel through time without warning, visiting the woman he loves at random points of her life starting from childhood while she waits for him to come back in the present) and respects it without replicating it. eames is the time traveler in this case. the fic alternates between two chronological story lines: the first, set in the past starting from the first time present!eames visits young!athur, and the second, set in the present starting from arthur and eames' first "real" meeting.

what really makes the fic believable is the characters. the author is always mindful of which story she's telling and which version of her characters she's dealing with. young!arthur has so much insight and maturity, but he's still innocent in a way that makes you want to cuddle him and protect him from the heartbreaking situation he's inevitably going to end up in. eames is so... gah, I DON'T EVEN KNOW. so perfect. the best way to put it is that this is one of those rare, wonderful stories that unfolds in what the characters don't say, rather what they do say.

I'M SORRY THIS REVIEW IS SO INCOHERENT ;____; the fic is just too complex and layered for me to adequately describe. read it for the little moments that make you go "oh. oh." and hastily scroll back up so you can reread the fic from the start for the 10th time with a new, slightly more complete understanding of what's going on. it's like a puzzle -- the pieces start out jumbled, but just be patient and everything will slot into place once you've seen the bigger picture.

oh, and the writing. THE WRITING IS GORGEOUS. read it for that, too. hell, fuck the reasons, just read the damn thing.

IDEK

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 01:39:16 GMT

guys... cherrybina wrote tom hardy/bradley james porn. I DON'T THINK ANY MORE WORDS ARE NECESSARY.

ETA: ALSO, I JUST FOUND OUT JGL CHANGES THE FRENCH IN BAD ROMANCE TO "I WANT TO FUCK YOU." I CAN'T EVEN.

IN CONCLUSION:

:(

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:09:55 GMT

GUYS, I HATE SCREENWRITING :(

i could go on forever about why picking up a screenwriting minor was the dumbest decision i ever made in college (lol and we all know how many dumb decisions are made in college), but it really just comes down to the fact that i have to pitch a five-season original drama series (the pilot of which i'll have to write DDD:) by next week, and i have no plausible ideas for said series.

can someone please give me suggestions? i will write ANYTHING. i'm taking the class with 9 grad students, so maybe i won't write something really ridiculous like a hills spinoff, but... you know. anything that has some semblance of structure and plot would be a great deal more helpful than what i'm working with right now.

speaking of what i'm working with right now, these are my two ideas, which i will pitch in a very unofficial, parantheses-heavy fashion. feel free to laugh/roll your eyes/offer concrit if you'd like:

fantasy/action involving the olympic gods, because we all know how popular they are right now. several years into the future, the gods have become tired of watching humans desecrate the earth. they decide to put together a group of 12 people whose job it will be to make the world a better place (or something). each of the olympians chooses one person, and each season (or episode?) revolves around this group trying to complete one task (can be big, like finding out where north korea is keeping its nuclear weapons, or small, like helping an old lady across the street -- okay, maybe not that small). what will make this show interesting (hopefully) is two things: one (B story), the gods offer a demi-god position to whoever among these 12 people does the most good (and since the gods are competitive, each of them wants their person to succeed, so there's a lot of fun backstabbing and secret training sessions and shit), and two (C story), not all of the 12 people are saints. some of them start thinking they'd be better off making a shit ton of money by selling all the secrets of olympus and the gods to the government or press, which of course could screw up the entrie order of the world.

the original version of this idea had just one person instead of 12 (he was a college dropout working at a coffee shop with his best friend, who was secretly in love with him), and i was going to have a cute little bromance between him and hermes, who was going to be his mentor, but then i realised it was too similar to joan of arcadia. plus, one person couldn't possibly unearth north korea's nuclear weapons on his own. OR COULD HE??? idk, what do you guys think?

ANYWAY, onto idea #2, also known as Some Stupid Hollywood Shit That The CW Would Probably Buy:

teen ensemble drama, set in a restaurant in hollywood. follows a formerly rich girl whose family falls on hard times, forcing her to get a job at this restaurant. the series will portray LA's struggling-something scene, in which all of the employees (from managers to servers to dessert chefs) have another life that they may or may not keep from their coworkers. so, for example, a hostess works as a prostitute to make money on the side (I REALLY LIKE PROSTITUTES FOR SOME REASON, IDK, I CAME UP WITH THREE DIFFERENT PROSTITUTE PITCHES BEFORE MY ROOMMATE TOLD ME TO STFU), a bartender works 9-5 as a financial advisor downtown but hates it, a busser keeps trying to break into the music industry to no avail, etc. over time, their secret lives intersect in ways they never thought possible, some people start to find success doing what they love, and others sink lower than they ever thought they could.

LOL GOD THAT SOUNDS 10X WORSE WRITTEN OUT THAN IT DOES IN MY HEAD. the thing is, though, it's a tried-and-true formula, and it's something i'm very familiar and comfortable with. i also have a better grasp on the restaurant idea than i do on the olympic gods idea. it has fewer hidden plot holes for me to stumble and fall into, and it suits the format of TV writing better. really, the only reason why i prefer the first one is because i want to do something different and exciting. i love high-concept ideas, but i've learned the hard way many times that they never work out for school assignments. doesn't stop me from trying, though.

IN SHORT: I NEED HELP. DESPERATELY. I AM NOT ABOVE BEGGING, BRIBING, OR B...EING A GENERAL NUISANCE IF IT MEANS I WILL PASS THIS CLASS.

inception kink

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:15:30 GMT

wait. wait. when did we find out weatherfront is super!anon? I NEED TO KNOW HOW THE REVEAL HAPPENED.

Fic rec: In the Space Between Them

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:34:29 GMT

In the Space Between Them by linckia_blue
Arthur/Eames, Inception, 5k, PG-13
Summary: Ariadne watches Arthur and Eames. There is something there in the way they watch each other, in the way the lines of Arthur's back tense beneath his pinstriped suit when Eames flicks him, but she doesn’t know what she’s looking for.

i went to see inception again last night, and it was even better than it was the first time. now i want to see it a third time. someone needs to add a disclaimer before that movie: warning: may cause inception. do not watch if you want to think about anything else for the next month.

anyway, it sent me on a second frenzied inception fic search, during which i discovered this gem.

this is a little different from the fics i usually read. it's established relationship, told from an outsider's PoV, not plot-centric, and just the slightest bit too schmoopy. however, i think everyone who ships arthur/eames needs to read it. it'll increase your love for the ship exponentially, i promise.

the fic is told from ariadne's perspective as she tries to figure out what exactly arthur and eames mean to each other. she initially thinks they flirt like children, but cobb tells her to look more closely for something else. what ariadne sees is a series of beautiful moments in arthur and eames' relationship that quietly reveal the depth of their love for each other.

don't expect heart-wrenching angst or mind-bending mysteries. this fic is pure fluff, but it's the kind of gentle fluff that makes your heart swell and gives you the fuzzies. it made me realise just how much i love arthur/eames. up until i read it, the ship intrigued me, but not to the point where i couldn't read fics that paired arthur and eames up with other characters. now my heart is in raging OTP mode. as in, i will dismember anyone who tries to separate arthur and eames with my bare hands mode (think insanity wolf meets harmony shippers.)

the story isn't just about a relationship; it's about a romance. the author does a wonderful job portraying these small moments of understanding and intimacy between arthur and eames that speak volumes about how much they care about each other. the writing is lovely -- bursting with emotion, but not over the top. there's a gorgeous scene when arthur and eames are dancing together that i can't stop thinking about.

honestly, right now i want to climb onto my rooftop and shout my love for arthur/eames to the world. or work on this inception fic i started the other night. i don't know which one's crazier...

recs please?

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:58:33 GMT

can anyone rec me any good inception fics? i strongly prefer any combination of arthur, eames, and fischer, but if it's really good, i'll read anything. i know there's the kink meme, but there are just so many prompts that i haven't looked at yet that it'd be much easier if someone who's been following it from the start could help me out :D

Script rec: Source Code

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:05:53 GMT

Source Code by Ben Ripley (sci-fi, 121 pages, click to download)
A man wakes up on a train with no recollection of how he got there.

wow. wow. i've read so many scripts by now that pretty much nothing interests me anymore, but i could not tear my eyes away from this one. i've never devoured a script so fast. it blew me away.

i've been told that source code is a lot like deja vu, the sci-fi thriller starring denzel washington that came out a few years ago, but much better (i haven't seen the movie, so i can't validate the comparisons, but the premises sound pretty similar). basically, a soldier (colter) wakes up on a train and has no idea where he is or how he got there. after finding out that he's on a train to new york, he freaks out, runs to the bathroom, and is shocked to discover that the face in the mirror isn't his. at that moment, he notices that the air vent above the sink is open. he climbs up to investigate and, to his shock, discovers a ticking bomb in the crawl space up there. before he can alert anyone, the bomb blows up in his face, and he dies.

okay, with that kind of opening scene, how can you not be intrigued? immediately afterwards, colter wakes up in some kind of sensory deprivation pod. a man (goodwin) stands outside, ignoring colter's demands to know what's going on, and recites memory thread exercises designed to help him remember what's going on. somewhere in the back of his mind, colter knows this has happened before, but his last memory is of himself on a plane in iraq. he has no idea what happened between then and now. he's told that the bombing of the train actually happened earlier that morning, and his purpose is to find out who planted the bomb before the terrorist carries out his threat to bomb three other major US locations that afternoon. and with that, colter is sent back onto the train with only 17 minutes to start over and identify the culprit.

the story jumps back and forth between these two settings -- the train and the lab -- for the rest of the script. i had trouble at first believing that the story would get anywhere if it kept returning to the same starting point, but the author does a brilliant job developing the characters and the plot with each new train scene. there is, of course, a girl: christina, the spunky artist who sits next to colter on the train and helps him figure out what's happening. colter knows he can't be with her, because she's already dead in the real world, but each time he revisits the train, he falls a little harder for her. his feelings for her -- and his desperation to figure out what's happening to him -- justifies his determination to figure out what's going on. the threat of three more bombings creates a ticking bomb effect, which ties everything together beautifully.

i'm actually getting chills as i type this. as much as i love a good sci-fi story (and believe me, the sci-fi in this one is good), i can't connect to a script unless i believe the characters. colter's fear, anger, yearning, and resignation are breathtakingly tangible. colter knows he can never be free -- he's either stuck in those 17 minutes on the train, unable to prevent the girl he might love from dying, or trapped in the pod surrounded by heartless scientists who won't give him answers. it's the worst kind of torture imaginable, and your heart aches for him as you start to understand how cruel the situation is.

the bomb mystery is relatively simple, but the question of what's happening to colter is what really drives the story. my only qualm with the script is i would have liked the writer to include a little more exposition about the rules of the world. is it set in the future? how does the timing work? how did they design this project? this is an early draft, though, so i'm sure those questions have been answered in the shooting script.

perhaps it's just the reader in me that loves this script so much. it reads incredibly well, but i can see why it took so long for a studio to greenlight it. most of the tension in the story stems from the colter's thoughts and emotions, which obviously won't translate as well on screen. still, i'm excited that the project has finally moved onto principle photography. for those who don't know, the film will star jake gyllenhaal as colter, michelle monaghan as christina, and vera farmiga as goodwin (i have no idea where that came from, but i'm intrigued). oh, and the best part? duncan jones is directing. as in, the duncan jones who directed moon, another brilliant sci-fi movie.

keep an eye out for this one, guys. if it's treated well, it could become a cult classic.

Fic rec: too much like the world we're stuck in

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:34:07 GMT

too much like the world we're stuck in by anowlinsunshine
Arthur/Eames, Inception, 4k, soft R
Summary: The first thing Eames does when he wakes up on the shore of Limbo is squint a bit at the crumbling city skyline. [Or, the one where Arthur and Eames go to Limbo and Grow as People.]

i don't know if you guys have heard, but there's this little movie called inception that's been making waves recently. well, i saw it, and i loved it. therefore, consider this review my official coming out as a hardcore inception fan. also, there's this really great person, anowlinsunshine, whose merlin fics i've stanned for quite a while (see my review of "under the wild oak"). we recently discovered that we are pretty much fandom twins. somewhere in the midst of our squeeing over this revelation, i joked that she should write about arthur and eames getting stuck in limbo. well, guess what?

SHE WROTE IT.

but as much as i adore her for dedicating it to me, my main reason for reccing the fic is that it's an incredible piece of work. she isn't just the coolest persona alive; she's also a fantastic author. i mean, who the hell else can tell an epic story of love, loss, and everything in between in less than 5k words?

the fic starts when arthur and eames die in the third dream level of a mission and wash up on the shores of limbo. eames is surprisingly calm about it, which of course pisses arthur off, driving him to stomp off. after a while, he comes back, and over time eames persuades him to relax and accept their situation since there's nothing they can do to change it. as they begin to get more and more accustomed to the world they build together, they start to lose themselves and forget there was ever another reality.

there are so many things i love about this fic. the most important thing is the author understands the rules of the world. she understands limbo, and she understands what it does to people's minds. nearly as important is her understanding of the characters. i can easily believe this fic is an extension of the movie. eames and arthur are perfectly in character. i could see arthur's disapproving frown on JGL's face the entire time. there are little details -- such as arthur's refusal to make a new suit for himself at first, and eames wearing hideous shirts just to piss arthur off -- that just feel so natural to the characters. at the same time, the author adds new layers to both of them, making them complex (but still IC) in a way that's unique to her world. the way eames gets drunk off the power of creation, the way his excitement wears down arthur's resistance over time, they way they steadily lose themselves with each new seed they plant in limbo... it's just stunning to watch unfold. each new scene breaks your heart a little more.

as always, anowlinsunshine writes with remarkable poise and maturity. she doesn't waste words, but manipulates them to her will, constructing a gorgeous world that's so vivid i can see it when i close my eyes. her dialogue is flawless -- not only true to character, but also true to the plot. each line carries so much weight that i want to quote everything. i love that she keeps the tension consistent throughout and you never know how the story is going to end. as a matter of fact, that intensified my emotional investment in the fic. it's like you know you should hope they return to reality because it's the "right" ending, but you secretly want them to stay in limbo because they're so happy there. basically, i felt just as confused about what i wanted as the characters did.

it's really a lovely fic, and a must-read if you're just entering inception fandom like i am (or if you worship anowlinsunshine like i do).

Fic rec: The Student Prince

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:40:05 GMT

The Student Prince by pandarus
Merlin/Arthur, Merlin, 35 chapters, NC-17
Summary: A Merlin modern-day AU set at St Andrews University

where do i even start? first of all, it's right up there with Drastically Redefining Protocol, Accidental Memory in the Case of Death, Defenders of the Realm, and We're a Storm in Somebody Else's Teacup in the epic fic category. it harks back to the days when people posted longass chaptered fics on fiction archives rather than novellas in parts on their livejournals.

the plot isn't anything groundbreaking: merlin is a poor student from cardiff who goes to st andrews to learn how to control his extraordinary magic (which is a secret), arthur is the prince of wales who, coincidentally, is also a first year at st andrews. they end up as roommates, and after getting off to a bad start, become reluctant friends. while they struggle through relationship and friendship drama, merlin has to protect arthur from magical enemies who want to harm him without revealing himself. basically, it's like the series was transplanted in some small college town in scotland.

the best thing about the fic, though, is all the little details. the author is really an unbelievable writer. she wrote the entire thing in five weeks and posted a chapter a day. everything -- the setting descriptions, the action, the dialogue -- could not have been more realistic. some of the monologues towards the end are just fantastic (arthur gives a speech that legitimately made me burst out in tears). the characters are flawless. all of them, from gwen to arthur's bodyguards to the dragon in the door, have distinct, complex personalities. i've fallen in love with each and every one of them, and i honestly can't see myself ever reading a merlin fic the same way now that i have these versions of the characters stuck in my head. merlin and arthur are spot on -- merlin's dry humour and struggles to do the right thing and arthur's stubborn pride and courage are so believable. it's really remarkable how easy it was to slip into this 'verse and live there for a few hours.

this is one of those rare fics that i think everyone, regardless of whether they like or even know of merlin, should read. the world is so comprehensive that you don't really need backstory to understand what's going on, but more than that, there are messages -- about loyalty, and family, and coming out, and making the right choices -- that are relevant to everyone's lives. so PLEASE do yourself a favour and go read this fic, because more people need to know it exists!

FLAILING SO HARD

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:03:48 GMT

I NOW INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED LACK OF POSTS TO BRING YOU THE NEWS THAT COLIN MORGAN AND ANTHONY HEAD WILL BE ATTENDING COMIC-CON 2010, JULY 22-25, IN SAN DIEGO FOR A MERLIN PANEL.

GUYS, IN TWO WEEKS COLIN MORGAN WILL BE 123 MILES AWAY FROM ME.

(MY LAYOUT IS BEING A BITCH; THAT SAYS "GUYS, IN TWO WEEKS COLIN MORGAN WILL BE 123 MILES AWAY FROM ME.")

Italy recommendations?

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:58:02 GMT

Bored in class. THANK GOD FOR IPHONES.

I'm leaving for spring break on Friday. I'll be doing 2 days in Rome, 3 days in Florence, 1 day in Siena, and 2.5 days in Barcelona. I know a lot of you lovely people have been to Italy before, so I wanted to run this past you guys and see if anyone has suggestions for things to do/places to go/what to eat (that last one is crucial!!). My friend and I were thinking of doing a half day trip to Pisa while we're in Florence, but we want to stop by another Tuscan city on the way back. Anyone know of a pretty, relaxing place to visit?

Thanks loves <3 and if anyone has any other travelling tips I would LOVE to hear them because midterms and internship apps are preventing me from doing research and I'm hella stressing out right now.

P.S. ontd_skating. join or suffer a life without orange mongoose jokes.

johnny gifs

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:14:55 GMT

finally got around to watching BGJW last night. i made a couple of gifs during class today. if anyone wants something specific, let me know :)

i guess there's evan lysacek, too

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:48:15 GMT

so i just spent the past half hour or so going through evan's twitter, and i have to say, despite his reputation as coca-cola's golden boy, he has NO FILTER WHATSOEVER. he was bitching about tanith and how she's dating charlie white (i guess that's how the rumour started?), which is a total no-no PR move. also, am i the only one who thinks he's flamingly gay? because his constant tweets about hot female celebs come off as overcompensation to me, and his signature is "XXE" (kiss kiss evan, according to one of his twitter arguments). and this? THIS IS VERY GAY:

however, i heard he said he'd buy a "sick sports car" if he won the gold. I'M SO CONFUSED.

one thing i know for sure is i don't like him. yeah, he's hot, but he seems cocky and dim-witted. i don't like that he pretty much denounced the glittery theatrics of figure skating. it just seems like he tries too hard to be ~heteronormal so the media will keep tongue bathing him. also, this quote: “I started calling him the swan ‘cause he wore that funny swan outfit, and then he started calling me a mongoose, and I don’t even know what that is." seriously, evan? watch animal planet, okay?

IDK. i definitely wouldn't say no to hate!sex between him and johnny, though:

and while we're on the subject of johnny, here are a few more pics:

(with tanith, his roommate and evan's ex)

ready for your surprise gif?

SORRY I HAD TO DO IT. here's some sassy!brian to erase that image from your mind:

oh, and for all you new fans, pwnquin posted a johnny friending meme!

The Johnny Weir Friending Meme! :D

johnny/stephane lovefest begins now

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:18:22 GMT

i took a stroll through hyde park today and as a result feel much better about my life. thus, i bring you all a johnny/stephane picspam that will hopefully spread the love. all of these are courtesy of song2sing ♥

Fic rec: Siamese Fighting Fish

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:21:54 GMT

Siamese Fighting Fish by tyrannicides
Johnny Weir/Evan Lysacek, figure skating, 4k, NC-17
Summary: Set just after 2007 U.S. Nationals

To be honest, I wasn't sure if I would like figure skating fandom. I knew it'd depend on the quality of the first fic I read (kind of like Sherlock Holmes, which I kind of steered away from after the first fic I read turned me off from the fandom). Luckily, I chose this fic.

This is one of the best stories I've ever come across in any fandom. It's twisted, edgy, and subtly creative. The premise is that Johnny leaves Evan tied up and goes shopping. The rest is technically PWP, but it's so much more than that. The author captures the boys' real life relationship so perfectly. There's the desperate need to one-up each another, but there's also the grudging respect, and all of it comes out in their confusion and anger. I'm usually not a fan of powerplay, but she writes it believably, and I found myself catching my breath more than once. The ending is beautiful -- heartbreaking, for sure, but in all the right ways. I actually found myself tearing up when I read the last few lines (mostly because I didn't want the story to end, though).

If anyone's looking to break into the fandom, this is the perfect fic to ease your passage. But make sure you read this article about Evan and Johnny's rivalry first.

why i usually don't watch the olympics

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:12:37 GMT

did anyone watch male figure skating last night? I AM STILL RAGING OVER THE INJUSTICE OF THE SCORES. barring my longtime adoration for johnny weir and the fact that i may or may not harbour the deepest dislike for evan lysacek, johnny deserved the bronze medal. he skated both of his programs cleanly, unlike pretty much everyone else in the program, and YEAH FINE HE DIDN'T HAVE A QUAD, but evan didn't either, and daisuke takahashi faceplanted during his. as much as i adore patrick chan and stephane lambiel, the judges are clearly insane for placing them above johnny. i hate being one of those overzealous activists who calls homophobia at every little thing, but honestly? that was don't ask, don't tell playing out. just because it's figure skating doesn't mean people embrace the gays. the olympic judges can go fuck themselves.

ANYWAY. now that the world knows who johnny is, i really hope fic starts popping up. preferably something involving this pairing:

more inspiration, you say? VIDEO, I HAS IT.

backpacking through europe alone?

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:52:32 GMT

so i'm trying to figure out what i want to do during the 10-day spring break i have in march, because i just discovered that my group has split off into two groups, one of which is doing all spain and one of which is doing all italy. i kind of want to go to spain, italy, and greece, so i'm going to try doing 2 days in barcelona, 3 days in rome, 2 days in florence, and 2 days in athens. i can probably meet up with people in spain and italy, but i'm a little worried about being alone in athens. i'm not a very outgoing or adventurous person (i know, i know -- the only reason why i'm considering going alone is because i'm very stubborn and i want to see what i want to see), and i think i'd get lonely very quickly. i'm also concerned about safety, even though i know there are a lot of solo female backpackers in europe.

has anyone ever travelled through europe alone? how was the experience? also, does anyone have tips on places to visit (either in those cities or other cities that you think might be more fun than those ones)?

epiphany of the day

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:41:38 GMT

after my epic weekend trip to amsterdam (during which i experienced a series of firsts, including pole dancing in public, smoking weed, and nearly getting into a fist fight with a couple of assholes in the red light district), i decided my newfound knowledge of legal prostitution would be best put to use in a merlin/arthur hooker!AU featuring window-prostitute!arthur and semi-stoner!merlin.

i chose to embark on this adventure today, as i was feeling sick and antisocial. i was merrily writing away, getting ever closer to the porn (which was really my main motivation for writing the fic), when it struck me that merlin had no reason whatsoever to look twice at arthur. this was a huge problem, since, well, that's what the fic is about.

a slew of other pressing concerns followed my realisation: who is merlin? who is arthur? how do i keep my arthur and merlin IC in such an OOC 'verse? why is merlin attracted to arthur if he's straight? what makes merlin change his mind after he initially turns down the opportunity to fuck arthur? what happens after the porn? how did arthur manage to secure a window in the heterosexual red light district? what's he doing in the red light district, anyway? what is the purpose of this random scene in which merlin confronts arthur in the supermarket, other than to give myself an excuse to write high!merlin?

i wish i could say i resolved these issues, but i didn't. instead, i am now stuck with 8 pages of a fic that will, like many, many others before it, disappear into the dark abyss of my WIP folder, leaving me with nothing to show for my efforts. hooker fic, we hardly knew ye.

moral of the story: character development is, unfortunately, very important. even when writing porn. don't neglect it, or your story will succumb to the same sorry fate as mine.

Fic rec: Under the Wild Oak

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:03:28 GMT

Under the Wild Oak by anowlinsunshine
Merlin/Arthur, NC-17, 29.5k
Summary: In which Merlin searches for a solution and instead finds a way to reconcile the difference between what he wants and what he gets.

There are some things in life I will never understand. Why is the sky blue? Why are there tornadoes and thunderstorms in Los Angeles right now? Why does the bathroom in my London flat not have any outlets? And why does an amazing fic like "Under the Wild Oak" only have 36 reviews, half of which are the author's very gracious responses?

I discovered anowlinsunshine after the camelotsolstice reveals went up and I found out she'd written one of my favourite fics from the fest, you have a one-track mind like me. When I checked her fic masterlist and saw that she'd written a reel_merlin fic, I stopped for a moment to thank the god of fandom before I started reading it, despite knowing I have to wake up early tomorrow morning. In retrospect, I'm not sure if it was a good decision to read it tonight, but I sure as hell don't regret doing it.

This fic is incredible, guys. It's based on The Fountain, which is apparently one of the most heartwrenching movies ever made. Make no mistake: this fic will break you. It's the most realistic, honest depiction of death I've ever read. My heart ached so much for both Merlin and Arthur, and for the strength and stubbornness and constant devotion to each other they maintained throughout the story. The best part is the author weaves Arthurian legend (Morgana's uprising, the legend of the Holy Grail, etc.) into the story seamlessly. anowlinsunshine has such a lovely writing style: dense, but not overly so; understated and natural, yet more emotive than poetry. The flow of her language is wonderful, and her descriptions are gorgeous. She imbues the simplest scenes with so much grief and hope. It's not light reading by any means, but if you're feeling pensive and have enough time on your hands, read this. It's one of those fics that I won't stop thinking about for a long time.

post-globes thoughts

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:22:47 GMT

this is a rant about pretentious movie snobs who think their educated tastes elevate them above the awards system and anyone else who buys into crowd-pleasing drivel such as avatar. if you suspect you might be one of these people, don't read this, because the generalisations i'm about to make will probably enrage you.

it all began this morning, when i woke up still excited about the results of last night's golden globes. almost everything went the way i wanted it to: avatar, the hangover, sandra bullock, RDJ, and glee all won the categories i wanted them to win (though i still maintain that jane lynch was robbed). then i went online and saw all the bitter facebook statuses, tweets, and LJ entries that said something along the lines of "HOLLYWOOD IS CORRUPT, MOVIEGOERS ARE STUPID, AND I CAN MAKE A BETTER MOVIE THAN JAMES CAMERON BECAUSE HE'S A GREEDY, ARROGANT DOUCHE." my good mood promptly evaporated, leaving me in the state of irritation that is now compelling me to write this post.

am i the only one who thinks the backlash is ridiculous? i mean, yeah, every award-winning movie always inspires rage in a handful of people, but i feel like half the world's population has turned their nose up at anyone who has positive things to say about avatar. i don't understand why people dislike it so much. save for up in the air (which i've been told didn't stand a chance at winning, anyway), i've seen the rest of the films nominated for best drama, and while they were all excellent, i BY FAR enjoyed avatar the most. i'm aware that it isn't the best script ever written -- i've read hundreds of screenplays and spent the last half year learning how to rip apart a flawed script, so at the risk of sounding just as pretentious as the assholes i'm complaining about, i don't think i need that pointed out to me. it's far from the worst ever written, though. the plot and characters may be predictable, straightforward, and oversimplified, but they're solid and well-loved enough. i don't know anything about acting, so i can't comment in that department, though i do think the leads (especially zoe saldana) all held their own.

avatar isn't about all of that, though. it's a testament to the accomplishments of the modern film industry. it aims to give moviegoers a thrilling, unparalleled experience, to immerse them in someone else's (very impressive) imagination without moving them out of their seats. avatar's originality lies not in the way it portrays and complicates real life, but in the unique, unnervingly realistic world it shapes out of nothing. my mom, who hasn't gone to a movie theatre in three years and almost never likes american movies, saw avatar in imax 3d and, after it was over, refused to get out of her seat because she didn't want to go back the dreariness of real life. i felt the same way the first time i saw it, and the feeling only grew stronger after i saw it the second time. avatar is not just about the stunning visual effects or the breathtaking cinematography, which seems to be the popular argument ("so what if it's pretty? give it best special effects and leave it at that"). it's about james cameron's extraordinary vision and his team's ability to bring it to life with such care and precision. this film took four years to put together, and it shows. it's not a masterpiece by any means, but in 20 years, it's the one film that will come to most people's minds when they think back to this year's crop of awards films. titanic was mediocre in many ways, but it was epic in many more ways, and that's why people still consider it a cinematical landmark today. seriously, who remembers all the movies it was up against? (don't answer that if you're a film junkie.)

my main argument is that a film does not have to be edgy and different to be good. this belief seems to be at the heart of the holier-than-thou attitude that a lot of people seem to have adopted in their film critiques in recent years. i love a gritty independent film as much as the next person, but i can also appreciate pure entertainment for what it is. that's what the cinema has always been about, and i think the people who have lost that notion of fun are the ones taking the avatar craze so seriously. we're in the postmodern era, where nothing is new anymore -- i don't think message alone should be our main concern. if avatar entertained enough people to become the second highest grossing film of all time in less than a month, that should count for something -- at the very least, an award or two.

idk

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:40:48 GMT

1. hd_holidays reveals are up! :D a lot of my favourite fics from the fest were written by people i've never heard of, which i LOVE. some of my favourite authors also wrote fics that i didn't get around to reading, which means i've got enough reading material to keep me occupied for the next few days \o/

2. omg someone wrote a 95k fic for camelotsolstice o_o i tried to read it, but the paragraphs are really dense, and i couldn't focus. if anyone finishes it, let me know how it is.

3. i filled a kinkme_merlin prompt yesterday. i got all excited about finally finishing something, then i realised what i wrote was god awful two seconds after i finished posting it to the comm and had a little guilt attack where i felt bad for the person who posted the prompt. so, yeah. thank god for anonymity.

4. in happier news, the golden globes are tonight! they've got a history of favouring audience-friendly films, which means avatar might have a chance at nabbing best drama. IF IT DOESN'T, I WILL CRY.

5. I'M IN LONDON :DDD

halp!

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:14:02 GMT

i'm leaving for a four-month stay in london on wednesday night, and i'm having difficulty deciding what coat to bring. i'm definitely wearing my peacoat, but people keep telling me different things about raincoats and overcoats and trench coats, and i feel like maybe i should invest in something knee-length. do any of the londoners on my flist have advice for choosing a coat that won't make me look like a ridiculous american tourist? should i bring a down jacket, or is it not worth wasting space in my suitcase? why am i even freaking out over something so trivial?