five things that make me happy
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LOVELIEST naninande! Anna, you are one of my favorite people on the internet. :D Maybe in the world. Don't let life (or yourself!) get you down, because I will squeeze you and roll you around on the floor until you understand and accept how fabulous you are. :D Plus, your legs. ♥
I have been grumpy and antisocial this week and I am determined to get myself out of this mood. Thus I have DLed a bunch of old, favorite UVERworld songs and am listening to them while I tell you about all many of the things that have been making me happy lately.
I HAVE SO MANY OPINIONS, GUYS. But is anyone still on LJ? D: Am I talking into a void? It's okay, I like the sound of my own voice...
1. SHERLOCK - I finally got over my hype aversion to season 2 (I enjoyed season 1, but then it seemed like everyone in the world hopped onto the omg-it's-the-best-thing-EVAR train and I was baffled and annoyed because I am irrational and contrary and, look, it wasn't that good, you guys!! but I digress) and watched episodes 1 and 2.
Let me say now that I enjoyed episode 1 despite its wonky storytelling, disjointed plot, and terrible timing issues up until the ending. WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. I loved Irene Adler. I'll be honest, I didn't expect to, mostly because everything I'd heard of her was "naked" and "dominatrix" and "lol Moffat's sexist justifications". So, uh, it didn't get my hopes up for an awesome character, but she very much was an awesome character. You may disagree, but I loved her. I even loved the weird romance-not romance she had with Sherlock.
I also loved the Sherlock-John relationship dynamic. Even though I know there is SO much ship-baiting, I choose not to ship them and sort of just enjoy their weird but special friendship. It's kind of like the We're Not Gay We Just Love Each Other trope, isn't it? Except I would take the romance out of that "love" and make it a more platonic (but no less meaningful!) kind of love.
Other great things: Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock making an ass out of himself (poor Molly though), Mycroft, and John (always John).
The second episode handled the storytelling and suspense angle much, much better. Genuinely scary, too! But I am a wuss, okay? I admit this freely. I don't love horror movies at all. D: I'll also mention that while I'm not a fan of slashy subtext being written into the script simply to reel in the fangirl segment of the audience, I do appreciate that even though Sherlock and John are constantly being mistaken as a couple (to the point where it's not even really funny anymore?), the existence of a gay couple is not treated as a weird or terrible thing but rather something fairly commonplace, unremarkable, or even cute. Yeah, I know some of it goes back to ship-baiting/fishing for an audience, but! But I do like that the world they're living in is one written as generally accepting.
The main thing I hated about both episodes was OH GOD THE PASSWORDS WERE SO FUCKING STUPID. Irene is not the type of person who would let "sentiment" get her to make such a fucking stupid password, especially on a device she's repeatedly emphasized as vital to her life. AND THE CIA WOULD NOT LET YOU ENTER A SIX-CHARACTER PW ALL ALPHABET NO NUMBERS SPECIAL SYMBOLS OR UPPER CASE. Like. What.
That aside, I forgot that I while I do love the book canon best, I really do have fun with light-hearted adaptations that make little nods to the original (heh, the deerstalker cap), as long as I don't take them too seriously. I would make myself miserable if I tried to analyze all the imperfections (to say nothing of gaping plotholes) of this show, so I'll just enjoy it at face value.
2. DOWNTON ABBEY - So I've been on my wicked Georgette Heyer reading kick (I have six of her books checked out from the library right now, lol, on top of the three I bought) and that's really put me in the mood for fandoms involving British aristocracy, apparently. I found some adorable Heyer fics on AO3 (the Cotillion ones are the best ♥) and also started watching Downton Abbey. I'd heard of it only vaguely, in that it was a show people were watching, but then the news did a bit on it just as I was reading an article in Time magazine about it and the planets aligned and I felt like it was a sign. In essence, I was like, what, it's about the British aristocracy? Sign me up! It's actually set in the early 1900s (S1 takes place from the sinking of the Titanic to the start of WWI) rather than the Regency period, and it follows the lives of the aristocratic family as well as the lives of the servants. I'm only five episodes into season 1 but I'm enjoying it. :D Although one bit in episode 1 really came out of nowhere to smack me in the face, though. Wow, unexpected.
3. ONE PIECE - Still reading in my spare time! Currently on chapter 496 right now but have checked out hard copies of the rest of the Sabaody arc so yay. Looking forward to that. I also forgot to yell about it here but omg, Thriller Bark conclusion? RORONOA ZORO. ALL MY FEELINGS, THEY ARE YOURS. OMG. ♥♥♥ (Also, Sanjiii. ZoSaaaaan. SanZoooo. WHATEVER. BOTH.)
4. GEORGETTE HEYER - I will save for another post, because I feel meta coming on... Really, for all that she mostly wrote (hell, defined) one genre (the Regency romance), she actually has great variety in her characters. Surprisingly so, to me, anyway, but maybe I just started with low expectations. I've really enjoyed her female characters a lot!
5. KPOP - Wonder Girls released a new MV in English for a song that will be on the soundtrack of a terrible Teen Nick movie (titled, creatively, The Wonder Girls): The DJ is Mine. I can't decide if I love it or hate it, but I will say that I totally flailed over Yeeun being omg gorgeous but also omg smug when the boy takes her arm and pulls her away. Fuck yeah, her little gloating smirk. Loooooooooooove.
And as long as we're talking about kpop, I will belatedly link to the fics I wrote for sujuexchange!
For lixia84:
All the Lines We Cast
Han Geng/Zhou Mi, R, 19,200 words
Han Geng’s interest in Super Junior M didn’t end when he left and it’s Zhou Mi now, with mixed feelings, who bears the brunt of that interest. They’re no longer bandmates and they were never friends, but they still find themselves tangled together two and some years on.
All of SM’s official and unofficial policies regarding Han Geng couldn’t dictate where Han Geng’s own management put him: Marina Bay Sands was the premiere hotel in Singapore, ritzy and upscale, and so it was almost inevitable that they - being Asian superstars of similar caliber - would end up in the same place.
They were smarter than to risk meeting inside the hotel, though.
For daidetre:
Come On, Rock My World
Siwon/Hankyung/Heechul, PG-13, 3700 words
AU. Heechul is the artistic director and lead singer for Modern SC, your friendly neighborhood high school rock band. Siwon, Hankyung, and Sungmin are the hapless tagalongs who make up the rest of the band.
The chair rocked forward, its front legs meeting the ground. “Yah, I’ve told you! We’re a rock band, not a We Love Jesus band. We’re not going to be singing about love and peace for the world. Do you want to ruin our image? Hankyung, what were you thinking, letting him make our fliers?”
So if anyone is out there still, come hang out with me and talk? :D
I have been grumpy and antisocial this week and I am determined to get myself out of this mood. Thus I have DLed a bunch of old, favorite UVERworld songs and am listening to them while I tell you about all many of the things that have been making me happy lately.
I HAVE SO MANY OPINIONS, GUYS. But is anyone still on LJ? D: Am I talking into a void? It's okay, I like the sound of my own voice...
1. SHERLOCK - I finally got over my hype aversion to season 2 (I enjoyed season 1, but then it seemed like everyone in the world hopped onto the omg-it's-the-best-thing-EVAR train and I was baffled and annoyed because I am irrational and contrary and, look, it wasn't that good, you guys!! but I digress) and watched episodes 1 and 2.
Let me say now that I enjoyed episode 1 despite its wonky storytelling, disjointed plot, and terrible timing issues up until the ending. WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. I loved Irene Adler. I'll be honest, I didn't expect to, mostly because everything I'd heard of her was "naked" and "dominatrix" and "lol Moffat's sexist justifications". So, uh, it didn't get my hopes up for an awesome character, but she very much was an awesome character. You may disagree, but I loved her. I even loved the weird romance-not romance she had with Sherlock.
I also loved the Sherlock-John relationship dynamic. Even though I know there is SO much ship-baiting, I choose not to ship them and sort of just enjoy their weird but special friendship. It's kind of like the We're Not Gay We Just Love Each Other trope, isn't it? Except I would take the romance out of that "love" and make it a more platonic (but no less meaningful!) kind of love.
Other great things: Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock making an ass out of himself (poor Molly though), Mycroft, and John (always John).
The second episode handled the storytelling and suspense angle much, much better. Genuinely scary, too! But I am a wuss, okay? I admit this freely. I don't love horror movies at all. D: I'll also mention that while I'm not a fan of slashy subtext being written into the script simply to reel in the fangirl segment of the audience, I do appreciate that even though Sherlock and John are constantly being mistaken as a couple (to the point where it's not even really funny anymore?), the existence of a gay couple is not treated as a weird or terrible thing but rather something fairly commonplace, unremarkable, or even cute. Yeah, I know some of it goes back to ship-baiting/fishing for an audience, but! But I do like that the world they're living in is one written as generally accepting.
The main thing I hated about both episodes was OH GOD THE PASSWORDS WERE SO FUCKING STUPID. Irene is not the type of person who would let "sentiment" get her to make such a fucking stupid password, especially on a device she's repeatedly emphasized as vital to her life. AND THE CIA WOULD NOT LET YOU ENTER A SIX-CHARACTER PW ALL ALPHABET NO NUMBERS SPECIAL SYMBOLS OR UPPER CASE. Like. What.
That aside, I forgot that I while I do love the book canon best, I really do have fun with light-hearted adaptations that make little nods to the original (heh, the deerstalker cap), as long as I don't take them too seriously. I would make myself miserable if I tried to analyze all the imperfections (to say nothing of gaping plotholes) of this show, so I'll just enjoy it at face value.
2. DOWNTON ABBEY - So I've been on my wicked Georgette Heyer reading kick (I have six of her books checked out from the library right now, lol, on top of the three I bought) and that's really put me in the mood for fandoms involving British aristocracy, apparently. I found some adorable Heyer fics on AO3 (the Cotillion ones are the best ♥) and also started watching Downton Abbey. I'd heard of it only vaguely, in that it was a show people were watching, but then the news did a bit on it just as I was reading an article in Time magazine about it and the planets aligned and I felt like it was a sign. In essence, I was like, what, it's about the British aristocracy? Sign me up! It's actually set in the early 1900s (S1 takes place from the sinking of the Titanic to the start of WWI) rather than the Regency period, and it follows the lives of the aristocratic family as well as the lives of the servants. I'm only five episodes into season 1 but I'm enjoying it. :D Although one bit in episode 1 really came out of nowhere to smack me in the face, though. Wow, unexpected.
3. ONE PIECE - Still reading in my spare time! Currently on chapter 496 right now but have checked out hard copies of the rest of the Sabaody arc so yay. Looking forward to that. I also forgot to yell about it here but omg, Thriller Bark conclusion? RORONOA ZORO. ALL MY FEELINGS, THEY ARE YOURS. OMG. ♥♥♥ (Also, Sanjiii. ZoSaaaaan. SanZoooo. WHATEVER. BOTH.)
4. GEORGETTE HEYER - I will save for another post, because I feel meta coming on... Really, for all that she mostly wrote (hell, defined) one genre (the Regency romance), she actually has great variety in her characters. Surprisingly so, to me, anyway, but maybe I just started with low expectations. I've really enjoyed her female characters a lot!
5. KPOP - Wonder Girls released a new MV in English for a song that will be on the soundtrack of a terrible Teen Nick movie (titled, creatively, The Wonder Girls): The DJ is Mine. I can't decide if I love it or hate it, but I will say that I totally flailed over Yeeun being omg gorgeous but also omg smug when the boy takes her arm and pulls her away. Fuck yeah, her little gloating smirk. Loooooooooooove.
And as long as we're talking about kpop, I will belatedly link to the fics I wrote for sujuexchange!
For lixia84:
All the Lines We Cast
Han Geng/Zhou Mi, R, 19,200 words
Han Geng’s interest in Super Junior M didn’t end when he left and it’s Zhou Mi now, with mixed feelings, who bears the brunt of that interest. They’re no longer bandmates and they were never friends, but they still find themselves tangled together two and some years on.
All of SM’s official and unofficial policies regarding Han Geng couldn’t dictate where Han Geng’s own management put him: Marina Bay Sands was the premiere hotel in Singapore, ritzy and upscale, and so it was almost inevitable that they - being Asian superstars of similar caliber - would end up in the same place.
They were smarter than to risk meeting inside the hotel, though.
For daidetre:
Come On, Rock My World
Siwon/Hankyung/Heechul, PG-13, 3700 words
AU. Heechul is the artistic director and lead singer for Modern SC, your friendly neighborhood high school rock band. Siwon, Hankyung, and Sungmin are the hapless tagalongs who make up the rest of the band.
The chair rocked forward, its front legs meeting the ground. “Yah, I’ve told you! We’re a rock band, not a We Love Jesus band. We’re not going to be singing about love and peace for the world. Do you want to ruin our image? Hankyung, what were you thinking, letting him make our fliers?”
So if anyone is out there still, come hang out with me and talk? :D