Fic Rec, Skins US, Gen 3, and my spiritual godfather, Geofrey Boycott
So, I am glad that the time I have no can be spend with you guys squeeing over new Skins stuff. Let's face it; I'm not part of any other fandom and I doubt I will again. It's exhausting to like a show as much as I like Skins. I don't want to ever become this invested in a show again. Eventually even great shows begin to decline and all you have left is memories and bittercakes.
So, yeah...I'm pretty excited about skins us. The actors look good, there is sufficient amounts of gay, and BE has a chance to redo and perhaps address some of the faults of season one. Everyone lauds the first season and while it was good, there were also a lot of problems, inconsistencies and flat out inane plotlines. It wasn't perfect, nor will Skins US be. But I'm at least optimistic that it won't suck.
Plus I kind of want to bone Daisy. Just putting it out there.
I'm less enthusiastic about gen three. I'm debating whether I'll even watch it. I will, but only to talk about it you guys, but I don't want to become invest anything like I did with gen 2. I think the disappointment with season four is the underlying reason for that. For everything the show did well, they did three things poorly. I'm the Skins girl in two different cities, which means I've watched the show with a number of different people (so much so that I doubt I'll be re watching any episode for a long while now) but everybody noted the decline in standard in season four, right down to stuff like the music direction. Mostly though it was the writing which was abysmal and frankly, can the same batch of writers produce something of say, season two standard? Seeing if the writing can improve is one of few elements of gen 3 which was piqued my interest. I have no confidence in JB though. Prove me wrong, Bilbo Baggins, prove me wrong.
Plus, and I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think there will be any gay this series. Perhaps an examination of gender, but nothing outright homosexy. So, gen three has to work even harder to maintain my interest. The pathetic thing is I'll watch almost anything which has a bit of homo in it. I even watched Greys Anatomy and Lost girl (sorry, twisty, but Lost Girl is awful) just to see some lady on lady action. If gen three has lousy writing and no gay...it's like season four without the good bits.
OK, well, I also wanted to talk about some fics I've been reading. I still haven't made my way through all the Big Bang stories, which is remiss of me. I loved all of them which I read, Em_Sh offerings (aw, Katie) and Shan's Apocalypse fic (I'm so proud) and of course Twisty's work.
But there's one which got next to no attention and for me, it was the best one I've read and also in my top five in fandom.
It's the most effective AU I've ever read. Set in terrifying dystopia, which has elements of both Big Brother AND Brave New World, Cook is struggling as a small time criminal while simultaneously trying to reunite his new girlfriend with her "brother" Tony. Brilliantly intertwined is Naomi's story, who is part of unnamed authority and who has a past with Cook. She is charged with a task which brings her into conflict with Cook and becomes mired in a bunch of other nasty complications. Meanwhile, Emily is completely oblivious to Naomi's past. There's also a great little Katie and Michelle cameo. It's... everything you'd want in an AU. The characters are indistinguishable from canon. Naomi and Emily in particular are fascinating, with the author drawing a parallel between Naomily's season four storyline and this story, except without the whole stalker/cheating thing. It's a much more powerful way of dealing with the underlying problems endemic within their relationship. The action scenes are breathlessly exciting and it just may be the best story I've read since eskimo-jo's latest.
She's gotten only seven or eight comments. Now, it really saddens me when someone writes 30k's worth of excellent storytelling only for it be lost in fandom (and some users, not mentioning any names, take forever to update stories which are good but not wonderful but still consistently get forty or fifty comments. It's exasperating.) So, if you have some time and you want to read a story which honestly depicts Naomily, makes C/E interesting, and is exciting and well scripted, then please, read and then review. I admit I have a vested interest; the author said she'd do an follow up after Christmas. I want to encourage her by ensuring her story is at least known in fandom. So yes, this is highly recommended. Do yourself the favour while you're passing time before Skins US comes out
http://signyx.livejournal.com/2257.html
And finally, yes, I watched the Ashes. I'm not upset by the result, England was better and franky it's a bit pathetic it took them 24 years to win an Ashes series out here. I'm hopeful now Aussie cricket will stop being oblivious and make some hard decisions so in three or four years we can return to beating the poms all the time just like we used to.
I came across this Geoffrey Boycott video. Old Boycs is loathed in Aussie cricket circles but I adore him. He's so candid and bitchy. I've never heard a sporting commentator eviscerate players on air. It's beautiful.
In this video, Geoffrey is HIGH off England's victory. Also, I'm pretty sure he is drunk off that red wine. My favourite part is near the end. I've never seen someone so gleeful in victory. I think if England won all the time it would become tiresome but now I think, oh long suffering Geoffrey, enjoy the party while you can.