if you believe in redemption
12/12: 
poisontaster asked: favorite thing to bake and why?
I had a hard time figuring this out, because does favorite mean "easy and most often?" (That would be one-bowl chocolate cupcakes.) Is it the thing I fall back on when I need to make something and don't know what/am only working with what I have on hand? (That would be
innie_darling's cranberry-orange cake, which is also excellent as lemon-blueberry cake in the summer.) Or the thing that really impresses people so I trot it out for special occasions? (Italian cheesecake, which impresses people but is really easy.)
But I decided that it really meant "favorite" in the sense that I love it best, even if I don't make it very often, and so I have to go with fig cookies (or, as some of you might know them, cucidati). Because I've been involved with making these cookies in one way or another since I was 5 or 6 years old, when my grandmother and my aunt would let me "help" by rolling out the slices of dough and spooning filling onto them (always too much! I can still hear my aunt telling me I was putting too much filling in, and not just as an overzealous six-year-old) and rolling them in the confetti. The smell of them is the smell of Christmas - figs and oranges and almonds - and even though they are a lot of work, they're so totally worth it for the moment of biting into one and knowing that it tastes pretty much exactly the same as when I was six (nb: it probably doesn't? but it feels like it does).
***
Oh my god, you guys, how good was Arrow last night? What a way to close out the first half of the season!
SLADE WITH HIS GRAY HAIR AND HIS EYEPATCH. Manu Bennett is ROCKING IT as Slade, definitely giving Teen Titans Slade a run for his money. I mean, I HATE that they fridged Shado and that this is going to be the tip of the wedge driven between him and Ollie (I mean, there has to be more to it, right?), but I have hope that in a world with MIRIKURU super soldier serum and Lazarus pits (the latter unconfirmed but possible, thanks, Malcolm), that even a bullet to the brainpan can be cured if you get to it in time. I am just saying.
Also, while Ivo and Slade will read it as a choice, I think Ollie was throwing himself in front of the gun, not making a specific choice. If Ivo had pointed at Shado, he'd have done the same. Otoh, Ollie didn't move when Ivo did point the gun at Shado, but there was still time on the countdown. I mean, none of this is Ollie's fault! But I'm sure he can't see it that way, and Slade won't. But I would seriously love for Shado to come back as a member of the League and kick both their asses.
SOLOMON GRUNDY, BORN ON A MONDAY. OH YES. How good were those fight scenes, too? And then the ending where he's got the white gunk on his face like a zombie!
ROY! GETTING ALL SUPER SOLDIERED UP! But I'm concerned for him, because it appears that Brother Blood has some sort of mind control over his minions, so will Roy also be a minion? Will he have to break the mind control to save Thea? DID HE RECOGNIZE OLLIE? Can we get a SinThRoy OT3 going here? Together they have hot makeouts and FIGHT CRIME? Thea is already Speedy, Roy can be Red Arrow and Sin can be Arsenal! Without the dead kid and the cat murdering. I wouldn't say no to a robot arm, though. *hands* What? I have needs. Robot arm needs!
BARRY GETTING ALL FLASHED UP. I actually really liked this portrayal, though given I know almost zero about Barry, he did have a Wally feel to him. Especially with the gazing at the Asian lady reporter - was that Linda Park? Though I understand they've cast Iris West for the new show, which, if it's anything like Arrow, I will definitely have to give it a shot, because Barry was adorable. I'm not sure why he gave up on Felicity, when she was totally giving him the sign that she was into him, despite whatever feelings she might have for Ollie (which are clearly reciprocated but also just as clearly going nowhere any time soon. I hope. Show, don't fail me on this! Give me more in charge of crime fighting Felicity and less potential concerned girlfriend Felicity!), but I guess since he's not sticking around, it's for the best. Also, Amell is not the best actor but he did some lovely things with his face tonight, not least of which was the moment when Barry was geeking around about being right that he'd trained in a jungle or forest environment, hence the choice of a green hood, but that it wasn't Ollie's choice, but Yao Fei's, and Ollie was honoring him. Oh, honey.
FELICITY AND DIGGLE. TEAM ARROW FOR THE WIN. HEARTS IN MY EYES, YOU GUYS. SO MANY HEARTS. They're SO GOOD for Ollie and HE KNOWS IT even when he is having crazy warfarin induced hallucinations (!! both of my parents have been on coumadin/warfarin at various times. I did not know that was a side effect!!) though I guess it turns out that it was just his PTSD brain giving him the Dickens. (pun intended. Sorry not sorry. The episode is titled "Three Ghosts" and takes place at Christmastime! I'm surprised that's the first pun I've made!) I thought Tommy was quite effective in his cameo; I almost missed him.
(Speaking of terrible puns and ghosts of past dead partners appearing, I know it is not really an association one is expected to make while watching "Arrow," but when Ollie knocked over his uniform case during his hallucinatory fight with Slade and it shattered, all I could think of was "OH NO NOT JASON'S MEMORIAL CASE" because there have been several melodramatic fights in the Batcave where someone knocks over Jason's memorial case and everyone is all horrified and "!!!!" afterwards. *hands* Stupid Robin feels.)
I guess Laurel was in this episode. Sigh. I wish they'd figure out what to do with her or just let her go. Send her off to be a florist in Gotham after another traumatic dating experience when she discovers what Blood is up to! That way there's a spare Black Canary if necessary, but we can still have Sara around as actual Black Canary. Also, please don't have Slade re-enact Ivo's setup with Laurel and Sara and/or Felicity! Though I fear that could be the season finale cliffhanger. Sigh. Otoh, with Roy and Sara and Diggle in the mix, Ollie has a bunch of allies this time and he's on his home ground, so maybe he could save both. I certainly don't want Sara fridged just so Laurel can become Canary. (Otoh, if Sara goes out in some unrelated way and then Laurel takes up the mantle, that would be okay. I mean, not okay because I like Sara way better than Laurel at this point, but from a certain POV.)
I don't wanna wait until January for the next episode! I want it now! Also, this is a good explanation of how Arrow got so good: Arrow became great by emphasizing characters above all else.
It's on Netflix, if you want to catch up! That Sepinwall review I linked to last week lists the important s1 eps: For the "Arrow" obsessives among you, I watched (in addition to the first two episodes, which I saw when they aired), "Year's End," "Dead to Rights," "Salvation," "The Undertaking," "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "Sacrifice." Why those? I wasn't going to have time to watch them all, so I asked executive producer Marc Guggenheim to suggest a handful that he felt represented their best work and/or would be most useful to understanding what's happening in season 2.
Personally, I'd also add "Trust But Verify" and "The Odyssey," which is when the show went from "good for a superhero show on the CW" to "good." And then just watch all of s2. Not a clunker in the bunch yet!
***
I totally blanked that yesterday was Wednesday, but I don't want to miss another week of books so:
What I just finished reading
Countdown City by Ben H. Winters, the more depressing sequel to The Last Policeman. I liked checking in with Henry and Nico as the world was ending, but this was somehow less complex and more depressing than the first book. I guess I will read the third when it comes out to find out if Nico is right. *hands*
I also did some rereading of tangential yuletide source, which I can't talk about yet. Curses!
What I'm reading now
Between Silk and Cyanide: A Code Maker's War 1941-45 by Leo Marks, about the codebreakers in the SOE during WWII. It's very interesting and Marks is a hilariously deadpan narrator, even though I can't keep all the agents' codenames straight and I don't really understand the actual coding/decoding. I mean, I get the general idea, but beyond that, I kind of just let it wash over me.
What I'm reading next
Well, I have a book about Bletchley Park and one about Noor Inayat Khan, so one of those will probably be next.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/622684.html.
people have commented there.
poisontaster asked: favorite thing to bake and why?
I had a hard time figuring this out, because does favorite mean "easy and most often?" (That would be one-bowl chocolate cupcakes.) Is it the thing I fall back on when I need to make something and don't know what/am only working with what I have on hand? (That would be
innie_darling's cranberry-orange cake, which is also excellent as lemon-blueberry cake in the summer.) Or the thing that really impresses people so I trot it out for special occasions? (Italian cheesecake, which impresses people but is really easy.)
But I decided that it really meant "favorite" in the sense that I love it best, even if I don't make it very often, and so I have to go with fig cookies (or, as some of you might know them, cucidati). Because I've been involved with making these cookies in one way or another since I was 5 or 6 years old, when my grandmother and my aunt would let me "help" by rolling out the slices of dough and spooning filling onto them (always too much! I can still hear my aunt telling me I was putting too much filling in, and not just as an overzealous six-year-old) and rolling them in the confetti. The smell of them is the smell of Christmas - figs and oranges and almonds - and even though they are a lot of work, they're so totally worth it for the moment of biting into one and knowing that it tastes pretty much exactly the same as when I was six (nb: it probably doesn't? but it feels like it does).
***
Oh my god, you guys, how good was Arrow last night? What a way to close out the first half of the season!
SLADE WITH HIS GRAY HAIR AND HIS EYEPATCH. Manu Bennett is ROCKING IT as Slade, definitely giving Teen Titans Slade a run for his money. I mean, I HATE that they fridged Shado and that this is going to be the tip of the wedge driven between him and Ollie (I mean, there has to be more to it, right?), but I have hope that in a world with MIRIKURU super soldier serum and Lazarus pits (the latter unconfirmed but possible, thanks, Malcolm), that even a bullet to the brainpan can be cured if you get to it in time. I am just saying.
Also, while Ivo and Slade will read it as a choice, I think Ollie was throwing himself in front of the gun, not making a specific choice. If Ivo had pointed at Shado, he'd have done the same. Otoh, Ollie didn't move when Ivo did point the gun at Shado, but there was still time on the countdown. I mean, none of this is Ollie's fault! But I'm sure he can't see it that way, and Slade won't. But I would seriously love for Shado to come back as a member of the League and kick both their asses.
SOLOMON GRUNDY, BORN ON A MONDAY. OH YES. How good were those fight scenes, too? And then the ending where he's got the white gunk on his face like a zombie!
ROY! GETTING ALL SUPER SOLDIERED UP! But I'm concerned for him, because it appears that Brother Blood has some sort of mind control over his minions, so will Roy also be a minion? Will he have to break the mind control to save Thea? DID HE RECOGNIZE OLLIE? Can we get a SinThRoy OT3 going here? Together they have hot makeouts and FIGHT CRIME? Thea is already Speedy, Roy can be Red Arrow and Sin can be Arsenal! Without the dead kid and the cat murdering. I wouldn't say no to a robot arm, though. *hands* What? I have needs. Robot arm needs!
BARRY GETTING ALL FLASHED UP. I actually really liked this portrayal, though given I know almost zero about Barry, he did have a Wally feel to him. Especially with the gazing at the Asian lady reporter - was that Linda Park? Though I understand they've cast Iris West for the new show, which, if it's anything like Arrow, I will definitely have to give it a shot, because Barry was adorable. I'm not sure why he gave up on Felicity, when she was totally giving him the sign that she was into him, despite whatever feelings she might have for Ollie (which are clearly reciprocated but also just as clearly going nowhere any time soon. I hope. Show, don't fail me on this! Give me more in charge of crime fighting Felicity and less potential concerned girlfriend Felicity!), but I guess since he's not sticking around, it's for the best. Also, Amell is not the best actor but he did some lovely things with his face tonight, not least of which was the moment when Barry was geeking around about being right that he'd trained in a jungle or forest environment, hence the choice of a green hood, but that it wasn't Ollie's choice, but Yao Fei's, and Ollie was honoring him. Oh, honey.
FELICITY AND DIGGLE. TEAM ARROW FOR THE WIN. HEARTS IN MY EYES, YOU GUYS. SO MANY HEARTS. They're SO GOOD for Ollie and HE KNOWS IT even when he is having crazy warfarin induced hallucinations (!! both of my parents have been on coumadin/warfarin at various times. I did not know that was a side effect!!) though I guess it turns out that it was just his PTSD brain giving him the Dickens. (pun intended. Sorry not sorry. The episode is titled "Three Ghosts" and takes place at Christmastime! I'm surprised that's the first pun I've made!) I thought Tommy was quite effective in his cameo; I almost missed him.
(Speaking of terrible puns and ghosts of past dead partners appearing, I know it is not really an association one is expected to make while watching "Arrow," but when Ollie knocked over his uniform case during his hallucinatory fight with Slade and it shattered, all I could think of was "OH NO NOT JASON'S MEMORIAL CASE" because there have been several melodramatic fights in the Batcave where someone knocks over Jason's memorial case and everyone is all horrified and "!!!!" afterwards. *hands* Stupid Robin feels.)
I guess Laurel was in this episode. Sigh. I wish they'd figure out what to do with her or just let her go. Send her off to be a florist in Gotham after another traumatic dating experience when she discovers what Blood is up to! That way there's a spare Black Canary if necessary, but we can still have Sara around as actual Black Canary. Also, please don't have Slade re-enact Ivo's setup with Laurel and Sara and/or Felicity! Though I fear that could be the season finale cliffhanger. Sigh. Otoh, with Roy and Sara and Diggle in the mix, Ollie has a bunch of allies this time and he's on his home ground, so maybe he could save both. I certainly don't want Sara fridged just so Laurel can become Canary. (Otoh, if Sara goes out in some unrelated way and then Laurel takes up the mantle, that would be okay. I mean, not okay because I like Sara way better than Laurel at this point, but from a certain POV.)
I don't wanna wait until January for the next episode! I want it now! Also, this is a good explanation of how Arrow got so good: Arrow became great by emphasizing characters above all else.
It's on Netflix, if you want to catch up! That Sepinwall review I linked to last week lists the important s1 eps: For the "Arrow" obsessives among you, I watched (in addition to the first two episodes, which I saw when they aired), "Year's End," "Dead to Rights," "Salvation," "The Undertaking," "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "Sacrifice." Why those? I wasn't going to have time to watch them all, so I asked executive producer Marc Guggenheim to suggest a handful that he felt represented their best work and/or would be most useful to understanding what's happening in season 2.
Personally, I'd also add "Trust But Verify" and "The Odyssey," which is when the show went from "good for a superhero show on the CW" to "good." And then just watch all of s2. Not a clunker in the bunch yet!
***
I totally blanked that yesterday was Wednesday, but I don't want to miss another week of books so:
What I just finished reading
Countdown City by Ben H. Winters, the more depressing sequel to The Last Policeman. I liked checking in with Henry and Nico as the world was ending, but this was somehow less complex and more depressing than the first book. I guess I will read the third when it comes out to find out if Nico is right. *hands*
I also did some rereading of tangential yuletide source, which I can't talk about yet. Curses!
What I'm reading now
Between Silk and Cyanide: A Code Maker's War 1941-45 by Leo Marks, about the codebreakers in the SOE during WWII. It's very interesting and Marks is a hilariously deadpan narrator, even though I can't keep all the agents' codenames straight and I don't really understand the actual coding/decoding. I mean, I get the general idea, but beyond that, I kind of just let it wash over me.
What I'm reading next
Well, I have a book about Bletchley Park and one about Noor Inayat Khan, so one of those will probably be next.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/622684.html.
people have commented there.