Eee, one of my old professors was on Jackie Kashian's podcast The Dork Forest! That guy's great- I love that he's almost getting sorta famous with his Tolkien podcast. I'm holding out hope the rumors of him being interviewed on The Colbert Report end up being true. I might actually start listening to his podcast myself, once I finish The Hobbit. Slow going right now, as with everything I read. We've made it to the foot of the Lonely Mountain, though! According to this Dork Forest episode, some serious shit has yet to go down. I'm nervous.

Dark Shadows was meh. Up next on my Summer O' Movie-Watchin' is Moonrise Kingdom (which I'm psyched for) and Men in Black III (DON'T JUDGE ME- the second one is crap but the first one is important to me, also the previews have looked good). They'll both probably have to wait though, since I'll be down the beach for the long weekend. Might have to make some more weekday treks to the theater. Because I am an adult.

The post OUaT dry spell is over.. ish. I tried doing a post-finale fix-it reaction kind of thing, but it's mostly stalled now. I might just scribble out the bit I really wanted to as a drabble and stick it on Tumblr. As for the other fic (sequel to As Easy As to Know, for the three people who care and aren't reading this), I'm having plot issues. There are two things I want to do, mostly because they'll be amusing, and I'm not 100% sure I can do them both. One thing kind of depends on just how long of a long game Gold's been playing this whole time. And indeed, in canon it has been very long. The other thing involves research. *shudder*

In conclusion, the next one of these: ( 8 – Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they're not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs. )

Ah, that's Christmas taken care of. Very quiet this year, no one seemed up for a big fuss. As for gifts, I finally own both seasons of Pushing Daisies, and I finally own the Firefly graphic novel that tells the story of the mysterious Shepherd Book (though since I haven't read the first Firefly graphic novel despite owning it for years because then it will be over, you guys, we'll see when I get around to this). Otherwise, I have some new tech to program and I might actually turn a profit between getting money as gifts and spending it on gifts (and groceries and rent). Also, I got Death Comes to Pemberley from both sides of the family, which was surprising since that was the first (and second) time I'd ever heard of it. Looks good though- always nice to see professional fanfiction out in the world.

Today I'm indulging in the Top Gear Top 40 Challenges marathon, and then most likely more Pushing Daisies (I'm on the third disc of the first season). And probably more Grimm fic, because I have a problem. Mmm, holidays.

Wind √, rain √, power outage X, so a win all around. Some family and friends have been dealing with power outages but there's been no lose of life or property, so good news there too.

Moving on (unless/until Katia gets here...)! Indulged in some fun-time spending this week, to complement both getting paid and paying my rent, clearly. I've got:

1. Bossypants by Tina Fey, the audiobook. I'd resisted getting the hardback, but when I found out this was actually read by the lady in question, I figured it had to be a good time.
2. I'm With You by Red Hot Chili Peppers. I'm a little wary here- I listened to all of the samples on iTunes, and there were only like four or five tracks that seriously intrigued me, hm...
3. The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan. It was staring straight at me when I walked into B&N, 20%-off sticker gleaming in the light... I've decided Jake (the werewolf, and do you think Mister Duncan was aware that that name was, uh.. taken? I hope not) will be played by Tim Roth in my head. So that should be fun. Also, FYI, the edges of the pages are dyed this kind of amazing ox-blood red.
4. Green tea with coconut, ginger, and vanilla. I had resisted it on a previous B&N trip, but I'm in need of an interesting new tea, so here we are.

In conclusion, I keep having long fic ideas that would require serious research to be at all decent. Boo. Maybe I should just develop that silly Cyrano de Bergerac-style romance thing. That could be fun. There would be pining, oh yes. But.. hrm... that's not what's tugging at me, you know? *sigh*

P.S. I've been reading through the Middleman Collected Series Indispensability lately. Remind me to do a compare and contrast with the show when I'm done, yeah?

Got off the phone with my sister a while ago- she's going to start job-hunting again, and she wants to come up here to visit before said job takes up all her time. Well, turns out this quick trip may also include her staying in my apartment, with the nephew, for four days. Oh no. HE'S GOING TO CRACK HIS SKULL OPEN ON THE COFFEE TABLE, HE'S GOING TO STRANGLE AND ELECTROCUTE HIMSELF WITH A WIRE, HE'S GOING TO KNOCK THE TV OFF ITS STAND AND CRUSH HIS TINY LITTLE BODY, THESE ARE THINGS THAT WILL HAPPEN. *deep breath* Anyway, it's possible they might end up staying at my dad's house. Probably shouldn't panic just yet. 0_0

Moving on. I caved a while ago and went on a bit of a shopping spree at Amazon. I am now the proud owner of a copy of The Fall (gorgeous, incredible, heart-breaking little picture), a copy of the Rifftrax Live House on Haunted Hill (one word: llllllllllladies), and a copy of Simon Pegg's biography Nerd Do Well which I just got out of the mailbox today. XDDD *snuggles book closely to her bosom* All the more motivation to get through that dang Made in America, which I'm out of renewals for anyway. I'm honestly going to start reading it on my break, even if it is a bitch to carry around.

Speaking of doing interesting things at work, an idea occurred to me today which helped keep me entertained through some mind-numbing stuff. What if someone did a version of King Lear in Las Vegas? Like, Lear as the owner of three extremely successful hotel-casinos who's looking to retire and pass them off to his daughters. The Fool could be the pathetic house opening act in a wretched tuxedo, and him and Lear and Edgar could end up out in the desert with that enormous sky you think you could fall into, and those crazy rock formations and cacti and eventually a storm that's all mud and huge crackling bolts of lightning. I don't know if I'd keep the language or go full adaptation, though. I'm not quite familiar enough with the play to know how well it would work. I guess all the casting questions on the latest meme-wagon have my mind in that mode, so of course I couldn't resist when I got this idea...

( Fortune, good-night: smile once more; turn thy wheel! )

From memeseveriwhere:

List your top ten (10) favorite characters from a single anime fandom (whoops, didn't read that quite closely enough), and answer the following questions.

(You know what? I'm gonna go with multiple fandoms. It's more fun that way.)
1 - The Middleman
2 - Mal Reynolds
3 - Elizabeth Burke
4 - Claude Rains
5 - Veronica Palmer
6 - Granny Weatherwax
7 - Michael Weston
8 - Olivia Dunham
9 - Amy Pond
10 - Sherlock Holmes

( Some weird stuff under this cut, my friends. )

Man, there is some kind of freaky snow/rain/ice thing going on outside right now and I am not happy about it. Stop. Seriously, stop it this instant.

Moving on, birthday season's gone all right. All told I've had three parties with three songs and three cakes (well, two strawberry shortcakes and a French silk pie). That's one party at the office, one at my dad's house, and one at my uncle's house (that last to celebrate my birthday, my grandfather's birthday, and my sister's birthday). My best present has been the big KitchenAid mixer my mom and stepdad got me. I've been wanting to make my chocolate-chip cookies (it's kind of how I christen new kitchens), but really lacked the equipment. Now I've got this magnificent bastard- the box says it's got "unique planetary mixing action." I have no idea what that means but it sounds awesome.

Otherwise, I've gotten some fun stuff for myself:
1. Rare Bird Alert by Steve Martin (yeah, that Steve Martin) & the Steep Canyon Rangers. Really cool bluegrass album with fabulous violins, banjoes (banjos?), bass, and harmonies. Here, have Women Like to Slow Dance, it's fun on a bun.
2. Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell. I've wanted to check out one of her books for a while now, seems like she has that same wry voice and taste for the absurd that Mary Roach has which I love and really demand from my nonfiction books.
3. MST3K Volume XX. The special twentieth anniversary collection- Amazon's got it nicely discounted, so I figured what the heck. It should arrive in a couple of days. :D

I'm really dying to go see Paul sometime this weekend, however my mom, sister, and baby nephew will be dropping in on Saturday and staying until my sister and nephew's flight on Sunday. Yeah, ten-month-old baby crawling around my apartment for at least a twenty-four hour period. That's gonna go great.

And now, I can either watch The Daily Show, The Rachel Maddow Show, and/or Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil (thanks, zombres, I think this link'll work!), or I can write. Place your bets now.

Well, visiblemarket, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cheat on my unwritten advent calendar rules and start your offering today. I just wasn't expecting to come up with such an awesome and undoubtedly multi-chapter idea, and it was really kind of nuts to think I could write it all during the run-up to Christmas. But! In any case, the research is done, at least, notes written, Ghosts decided. It's gonna be great.

Anyway, I finally got my books on the shelf, so how about some new apartment pics?

( Please ignore the sun going supernova in a couple of them. It does that sometimes. Also, fair warning, these pictures are huge- be prepared. )

Also, something fun from fannish5: Name five fictional families that you would like to spend time with.

( Only two characters on this list are biologically related. But then, found families are the best. )

So, Christmas. Got a couple more gift cards and a regular card to run out and grab before I head out to my dad's at 3:30 or so- I can probably get them from the grocery store, so I'm not in a big rush. Then tomorrow it's my mom's side of the family in the evening. Here's hoping that bad weather doesn't make things too difficult.

Hee, isn't it great when you stumble across something really funny that you had forgotten about? That way you get the baseline pleasure of the funny thing itself, plus the reflected pleasure of memory. What I'm saying is I'm glad I picked up Unseen Academicals from the library for a re-read. I'm on a bit of a Discworld binge, actually- started with I Shall Wear Midnight (finished it with a great big smile on my face, hard to argue with that), now Unseen Academicals, and I think I might go for Small Gods next, I've been meaning to re-read that for ages. I'd like to read some of the earlier wizard books as well, like Equal Rites and Sourcery.

Anyway, I'm heading off work early today to try to cram in getting my car serviced and then going to a Rifftrax live event (House on Haunted Hill) that I had no idea was coming on tonight until I discovered it on Facebook today (during the, oh, monthly visit I make there). I swear, so much of my life is happy coincidence I'm practically a Bronte/Gaskell heroine. I should go find a strange city and/or wild moor to wander on until I pass out, that way I could find my long-lost relatives and/or one true love, or possibly a large fortune I just so happen to be the sole heir to. And since I'm headed to Denver next week for a small vacation with friends, the strange city/rugged environment need will be met! See?

So, yeah, that's the news with me. Otherwise, cannot wait for an awesome Halloween weekend with visiblemarket and englishmuffin2! XD

Arrrgh this is starting to piss me off. Anybody remember a little bit ago me complaining about my stupid iPhone reading each file in my fanmix folders as a separate album, so I can't listen to, say, all of Modern Day Wooster or Lovenado, just one song at a time? I figured this was because the files were spread out into folders based on band/musician, so I went through and made folders for each album, got them all organized where they belong, and STILL on my phone's library there's a long line of albums with the same name and cover art and ONE track each. Except for My Love is Like a Spaceship actually, it worked for that more or less, but that's really more frustrating than encouraging because there's nothing at all different about that one than the others and GAH. My last idea is to make separate playlists out of all of them, but I really don't want to do that. Maybe I could make one big playlist of fanmixes, but then I'd never be able to shuffle just one album, should I wish to.

Anyway, I had more to talk about than just bemoaning my continuing disappointment in technology. While I was doing the thirty-day meme, I collected more memes! Oh yes! I'm still sitting on a couple big ones, but today's fannish5 caught my eye this morning:

Which 5 persons from any fandom would you place on a lonely island to get the most interesting reaction?

( I decided my island would be populated by the most Machiavellian, corkscrew-brained, devious, manipulative, calculating, self-serving characters I could find- and a wild card. Slight spoilers for Dollhouse. )

I'm really getting into the Halloween spirit now. Quite unconsciously, after I finished re-reading Soon I Will Be Invincible, I started re-reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. While I don't really like the implication that cadaver research should be linked with Halloween and all that, I'll admit it's hard not to at least a little, especially considering I've got I Sell the Dead coming in from Netflix tomorrow. After that it's Trick 'r Treat (highly recommended by the Adams of A Damn Movie Podcast), Day of the Dead, Rosemary's Baby, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror, and Dog Soldiers. That last one, if you haven't seen it, definitely do- it's awesome, British, and does a very cool thing with the "trapped in a house surrounded by [supernatural being(s)]" trope more often seen in zombie movies.

Also, in actual physical activity, tomorrow I'm going to attempt the blood clot and brain cupcakes I came across- was it last year? zombres, did you link to that? Anyway, I was going to try it this afternoon, but I was tired from work (another day at the equipment yard- wheee I need to take a shower), and had to run out twice for the ingredients, and by the time I was ready to get started, I was also really hungry and just not into it enough. So, tomorrow morning it shall be! I'm kind of nervous about it- I've never even made cupcakes before, let alone ones with strawberry filling and buttercream icing. Anyway, this will be mostly a trial run- the recipe only makes eight cupcakes, so if they suck, at least I won't feel too bad throwing them away. And if they rock, hopefully they won't take too long to make, so I can whip some more up for other things. Like certain rallies, or carousing-type events. (@#!$%#@$^, I just realized I forgot to get the little tube thing to squeeze out the icing! *groans* Well, I've already done one Walk of Shame [or at least Overeager Baker Who Doesn't Check Her Supplies List to Make Sure She Has Everything Even After the Scare with the Little Paper Cupcake Holders] to the grocery store, I can do another tomorrow. They better friggin' have it, though.)

Also also, on Sunday fadeintodawn and I will bundle up for an outdoor version of Titus Andronicus. The local Shakespeare company does their shows in the ruins of an old girls school up in the hills of the historical part of town that have been semi-restored. For this one scenes will take place all over the ruins, not just on the stage that's set up in one area. So, that'll be neat. I've never seen the entire play, just clips of the Julie Taymor film version. Actually, I always think it's a good idea to read the summary of a Shakespeare play before going to see it just so even if the dialogue loses you you still know what's going on, so I read the one for Titus and oh my god! Jeepers, Shakespeare! If you think Hamlet/Othello/Macbeth/King Lear are bloodbaths, you have clearly not taken a glimpse of Titus Andronicus. All those other plays are goddamn dainty compared to it! I'm honestly a little nervous in a way. I mean, I don't know how far they're going to take it. Some of the stuff that happens in Titus is.. not easy to watch for anyone. I can handle gore pretty well, at least with a TV screen between me and it, but that screen won't be there this time. And there's more than gore. Oh well, you know, I know they set the audience age limit at fifteen (as in, fifteen and up), so, I kind of think that indicates they won't be taking it really far.

*sigh* So an average/good day has taken a turn for the crappy. I was trying to defrost some chicken for dinner and managed to burn my righthand ring and middle finger. I'm plucking this out with my left hand while the other holds on to a towel with ice. It's kind of amazing how much the cold helps. It's seriously like "*take the cold away, wait two seconds* !@#@$##$@!@Oooowwww! *put the cold back on* Ahhh..." And I'm waiting for some painkillers to kick in. I wonder how it's going to be working tomorrow...

Anywho, I had other stuff to talk about, but now that my words per minute has been so effectively hobbled, let's just focus on what's important, eh?

'Reply and I'll give you four fandoms. You then have to make an entry writing about your favorite character from each fandom, and why.'

hermione_vader gave me Discworld, Burn Notice, Dollhouse, and Sherlock.

( Not easy choices, any of these. Some spoilers )

Heh, I'm worried about work tomorrow- how am I going to sleep with this damn thing? My ice cubes are going away and it still hurts like hell. *sigh* I guess I'll figure something out.