When I say "shotgun", you say "wedding".
+ We've had really gorgeous weather for the last month straight, so the fact that it's obnoxiously windy (as in, enough to be noisy and blow things around, but not enough to cause real damage yet, although I'm sure this kind of wind in places that don't get much would seem a lot worse) and about to snow probably a decent amount is pretty much what we deserve. And as much as I hate the prospect of me or anyone I know being on the roads when the weather sucks, I'm glad we're getting something, thanks to my not-entirely-irrational fear of wildfires. We'll see how glad I am in a couple of days when I know how much snow we have.
+ I think my weekend visit to sister, brother-in-law, and nephew left me with my nephew's cold. Anything cold-like is not as cute as me as it is on him, I'm afraid. (But the kid makes spit-up seem mildly endearing; who can compete?) I suppose there's worse combinations than potentially icky weather and mild sick feelings. Now I can sit and marathon season two of Fringe with less guilt!
+ Earlier, I made an excursion to Borders. I hope our local store doesn't close if and when the company files for bankruptcy, since I'll have to travel over forty minutes to get to a decent bookstore if that happens. Now I have new reading material that isn't on my Kindle! (I'm still working on Dragon Soul there; it seems less urgent to get through things when you can't see a lurking hardback on your nightstand.) Here's some of what I have access to now:
-His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War by Naomi Novik. (It's in an omnibus entitled In His Majesty's Service.) It's historical fiction! With dragons! The author's also an emeritus member of the Organization for Transformative Works, so that's exciting. I'm about thirty pages in the first book, and it's great so far.
-Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. It's funny how a book can enter your life; this one caught my attention when Jared Padalecki was spotted reading it. Mostly, I was impressed that fellow members of ontd_spnparty identified the book entirely by its hard-to-see, mostly obscured back cover! Anyway, my sister's already read some of it, and the anecdotes she's shared sound wonderfully morbid, so I expect it'll be a good read.
-The Remember Me books by Christopher Pike. I'm really excited so many of his books are being rereleased! Although going through the Last Vampire series again was a lot more dubious than I remembered. (A blond-blue eyed group of people called the "Aryans" going through India? Really?) Anyway, I still reread Monster every few months, and that one's really good, so I'm hoping the Remember Me books will be the same way.
-The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. Someone was giving away a copy of this during 3W4DW last year, and although I didn't win, the title stuck in my mind. That was probably aided by the fact that I saw a couple other recs in various places. Really, my procuring the book was more a tip of the hat to good fan promotion from an aspiring author than a drive to read the story - I know practically nothing about it - so liking it would be a bonus.
I also saw the newest Wheel of Time book, but that'll have to wait: it's a huge $30 hardback, and it's still not even the last one! (The next one is. Boy, will I cry a river when I finally get through it.) And as I mentioned on Twitter, I have a Women of DC calendar on my wall now! ($1 calendars in mid-February are awesome.) This month's Starfire, and wow, is her adult look skimpy. I like her cartoon Teen Titans look better.
~
+ I've given the two released Panic! at the Disco albums another listen, and I have things to say! Which I'm sure you could tell from the entry title.
I've been listening to A Fever You Can't Sweat Out constantly. There's so much I love about it! Mostly, in a squee-free evaluation, I dig its dance rock sound combined with the fact that it sounds like a complete album instead of a collection of tracks. I mean, I keep listening to "But It's Better If You Do" because of the way the end transitions into "I Write Sins Not Tragedies".
Actually, that's funny in particular because I used to mock the hell out of "I Write Sins Not Tragedies". It was fun to sing to, but it seemed ~beneath me. Not anymore! (I hope that snobbish period of my life's behind me, by the way. It's kinda funny to be snooty and then fall completely in love with the artists, but I'd rather just skip to the love part, particularly when I could save myself six years of not listening to them.)
Some of my favorite tracks off A Fever You Can't Sweat Out:
-"The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage": The switch to the dance-y, electronic part in the middle is fantastic! This is one of my favorites to dance along with, and I get the "trophy boys, trophy wives" part stuck in my head all the time.
-"Time To Dance": I admit it, I have kind of a hard time remembering track titles because they're so long. This one's easy to remember, and I really like the lyric I quoted in the entry title for no reason. (I love that, in my head, I picture the album as a whole as a really screwed-up wedding. I'm not a big fan of weddings.)
-"Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off": I read the intro Brendon gives (gave?) before this song in fic, and I couldn't not love the song after that. But it's just a great song in general.
-"Intermission": I'm a sucker for good instrumentals. It's why "Romance" is the MCR song I've been listening to the most lately. I wish more albums had them!
-"But It's Better If You Do" and "I Write Sins Not Tragedies": I covered these above. But I'll add that I can really see why "I Write Sins" was the first single; it's catchy as hell.
Pretty. Odd. is...well, I'm not the first person to do this, but come on, it is pretty odd. Not as an album - I think it's a really solid piece of work - but in comparison to the first album. It sounds like two different bands. I still probably like this one more than A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, but I'm more in the mood for the first album; there's a surprising lack of edge in the second that makes it not quite suited to my current mood. But "Nine in the Afternoon" is still my favorite Panic! song and is the entire reason I've been trying them over and over again.
(I bet that's an unpopular fandom opinion, huh? That's the way it's seemed in the little Panic! fic I've read. I feel like I'm destined to be That Fan: I'll always like The Decemberists the best for The Hazards of Love, The Black Parade is my favorite MCR album, and now I'm ridiculously attached to Pretty. Odd. Oh well!)
Some of my favorite tracks off Pretty. Odd.:
-"Nine in the Afternoon": Obviously. I have to say, a lot of its appeal for me is that it's the first song I played on Rock Band that I got perfect on Expert drums. I'm the kind of person that likes being really good at things.
-"Do You Know What I'm Seeing": This song sounds like summer to me. Actually, a lot of the album does; that's probably another reason why I'm not in the mood for it right now. It'll probably go really well with the time period that Vices and Virtues is coming out (which is a week earlier than its original date, yay!). But this song's just beautiful.
-"I Have Friends in Holy Spaces": The lyrics - "You remind me of a few of my famous friends/Well that all depends/what you qualify as friends" - combined with the old-timey feel = perfection.
-"Northern Downpour": After I read a Panic! primer and read the stories about Brendon getting teary about the split, and the part where it rained while they played? I couldn't not love it. Also, I could say "omg beautiful" about most of these songs, and this one's no exception.
-"The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know": This was my second-favorite track during my mild Pretty. Odd. phase a couple years back, and that hasn't changed. The wistful sounds of the beginning and end of the track are my absolute favorites.
And now for an odd, general Panic! observation: after my recent listens of the albums I think Brendon sounds a lot like Patrick Stump. I DON'T KNOW WHY. For the years I casually listened to them, I didn't think it at all, but I can't seem to stop now! It's probably due in part to the random stories my brain comes up with when I think about it: Pete signed the band because of nostalgia/vanity/both, and then Patrick gets jealous of Pete when he sees him hanging out with Ryan, and it gets even worse when he actually hears them, and there's lots of angst and sex. Has anyone written that? I'd be interested in reading, if so!
Anyway, now I just have to wait a little over a month for Vices and Virtues! I hope it's even half as good as "The Ballad of Mona Lisa", which is fighting "Nine in the Afternoon" for my favorite song of theirs.
~
+ In case you didn't think this entry was long enough, it's time for some fic recs! The amount of fic I've been reading is ridiculous, although it'll probably lighten up a little now that I have published books to read. (Of course, I say that, but I also read something like 30k worth of fic tonight, so grain of salt that statement.)
Supernatural
+ "Old Country" by
astolat, SPN crossed over with Harry Potter, Sam/Dean, NC-17. Dean inherits a Wizarding title, and Sam and Dean end up in Hogwarts (and yes, they're both adults at the time). Dean with his fellow housemates (I won't ruin the surprise on that one) is too cute. I actually found the Sam/Dean element of the story a little jarring because the story felt so otherwise gen, but whatever, it was still wonderful!
+ "Last Outpost of All That Is by gekizetsu/eighth_horizon, SPN, Sam/Dean, NC-17. This story was well-written, but I don't think I'll ever read it again because it was incredibly depressing. Me and end-of-the-world stories don't mix. I'm surprised there's nearly 500 bookmarks for it on Delicious; I feel like it's only a story for a specific sort of person, and I'm not sure I was one of them. Still, give it a try if you like angst or won't be down for days at the thought of everyone on the planet disappearing.
+ " Worlds Full of Weeping" by crayola_fics, SPN, kid!Sam-centric gen, PG-13. I felt more like I was reading a parable or myth, and that's the story's strength; Sam never felt more like a classic hero to me than when I was reading this story. I also liked that the story didn't have a black-and-white view of the so-called monsters they encounter; it's a lot more interesting to me that way.
Bandom
+ " Might I Have A Bit of Earth" by theopteryx, MCR, Frank/Gerard, NC-17. It says something about my current fic-reading habits that 14k seems short, but this was short and sweet. Space pirates! Antagonism between Gerard and Frank that turns into ~something more! An epic battle! Mikey pining! Seriously, nothing I didn't love in this story (except that I could've done with more Ray, but then, I want all the regulars there all the time, so yeah).
+ "The Kids From Yesterday" by
tuesdaysgone, MCR, Gerard/Korse, NC-17. I hadn't read any Killjoy-verse fic before, but I sincerely hope there's more out there, and it's even half as good as this story! (Although I always saw Korse as a robot instead of a real person; am I the only one?) I won't talk about what's in the story because I think this is one of those ones that has to be experienced, but there's supposed to be sequels, and I can't wait. Almost literally. I'm ridiculously glad there's new fic and all, but part of the fun about joining preestablished fandoms is not having to wait for big universes. Now I do!
+ " Nothing in the 'Verse Can Stop the Take Over" by rhombal, various bandom, Pete/Patrick and Brendon/Ryan, PG-13. FIREFLY AU OMG. I squeaked when I figured out who Mikey was in the whole setup! (My crush on him remains ridiculous.) But beyond the flail, there's a real poetry to the story in general, and the sweetness that Firefly/Serenity was so good at conveying, so it was generally a fantastic read.
Other fandoms
+ " Four Letter Words by miraxcorran, Vampire Diaries, Caroline/Matt mostly, PG-13. Caroline is pretty much my favorite perspective character in Vampire Diaries fic, both because of her voice and because she has some of the best relationships of various kinds on the show. This fic explores her relationships with some of the people around her from her POV, so win/win!
+ "a mind overborne" by
astolat, Dracula, Renfield/Dracula, explicit (the NC-17 equivalent on AO3). SO AMAZING I CAN'T EVEN SAY. It's all kinds of messed - the rec post I found it in highly emphasized reading the warnings before reading, and I agree - but it's a great evaluation of Dracula and what kind of subtext might've been there and the attitudes of the society into which it was released. I imagine I'll reread this bunches.
+ "Baby-sitters Club The Next Generation #6: Byron and the God of California" by
zelempa, Baby-Sitter's Club, Byron/Jeff, Teen and Up (the PG-13 equivalent on AO3). Confession time: I loved BSC when I was younger. I haven't read any of it in years, but just going through this fic reminded me of a ridiculous amount because the tone was perfect and the canon information was spot-on. Byron was one of Mallory's younger triplet brothers, and Jeff was Dawn's younger brother, and it's such a rush to remember!
Anyway, what really gets me about this story is that this is what I wish I could've read when I was a kid (although with more age-appropriate relationships, I'm sure; my parents would've flipped if the gay sex had been there). BSC was a little too syrupy and potentially token-y in terms of diversity, but the truth is that I really did learn about ASL and scoliosis and asthma and diabetes because of these books. It was partially because I did my own research, but even so, it got me started. And there were characters of color and Jewish characters, amongst others, which I don't remember getting much in my other reading. That meant something to me, even as a kid.
But seriously, the gay couple was exactly what I needed as a kid. Maybe, if I'd seen them, I wouldn't have been so in denial about my own queerness that I could've figured things out and come out younger. And maybe not; I did get some LGBT representation as a kid. But things only started to click for me when I saw Willow/Tara halfway through high school, so maybe Kristy with a crush on Mary Ann or something similar could've given me an earlier push. Who knows?
Either way, I'm so glad this story's out there. I don't need to reread any of my old BSC books because it's so much like them, and still so much better.
Also posted on Dreamwidth (
comment[s]). Feel free to comment on either entry.
+ I think my weekend visit to sister, brother-in-law, and nephew left me with my nephew's cold. Anything cold-like is not as cute as me as it is on him, I'm afraid. (But the kid makes spit-up seem mildly endearing; who can compete?) I suppose there's worse combinations than potentially icky weather and mild sick feelings. Now I can sit and marathon season two of Fringe with less guilt!
+ Earlier, I made an excursion to Borders. I hope our local store doesn't close if and when the company files for bankruptcy, since I'll have to travel over forty minutes to get to a decent bookstore if that happens. Now I have new reading material that isn't on my Kindle! (I'm still working on Dragon Soul there; it seems less urgent to get through things when you can't see a lurking hardback on your nightstand.) Here's some of what I have access to now:
-His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War by Naomi Novik. (It's in an omnibus entitled In His Majesty's Service.) It's historical fiction! With dragons! The author's also an emeritus member of the Organization for Transformative Works, so that's exciting. I'm about thirty pages in the first book, and it's great so far.
-Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. It's funny how a book can enter your life; this one caught my attention when Jared Padalecki was spotted reading it. Mostly, I was impressed that fellow members of ontd_spnparty identified the book entirely by its hard-to-see, mostly obscured back cover! Anyway, my sister's already read some of it, and the anecdotes she's shared sound wonderfully morbid, so I expect it'll be a good read.
-The Remember Me books by Christopher Pike. I'm really excited so many of his books are being rereleased! Although going through the Last Vampire series again was a lot more dubious than I remembered. (A blond-blue eyed group of people called the "Aryans" going through India? Really?) Anyway, I still reread Monster every few months, and that one's really good, so I'm hoping the Remember Me books will be the same way.
-The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. Someone was giving away a copy of this during 3W4DW last year, and although I didn't win, the title stuck in my mind. That was probably aided by the fact that I saw a couple other recs in various places. Really, my procuring the book was more a tip of the hat to good fan promotion from an aspiring author than a drive to read the story - I know practically nothing about it - so liking it would be a bonus.
I also saw the newest Wheel of Time book, but that'll have to wait: it's a huge $30 hardback, and it's still not even the last one! (The next one is. Boy, will I cry a river when I finally get through it.) And as I mentioned on Twitter, I have a Women of DC calendar on my wall now! ($1 calendars in mid-February are awesome.) This month's Starfire, and wow, is her adult look skimpy. I like her cartoon Teen Titans look better.
~
+ I've given the two released Panic! at the Disco albums another listen, and I have things to say! Which I'm sure you could tell from the entry title.
I've been listening to A Fever You Can't Sweat Out constantly. There's so much I love about it! Mostly, in a squee-free evaluation, I dig its dance rock sound combined with the fact that it sounds like a complete album instead of a collection of tracks. I mean, I keep listening to "But It's Better If You Do" because of the way the end transitions into "I Write Sins Not Tragedies".
Actually, that's funny in particular because I used to mock the hell out of "I Write Sins Not Tragedies". It was fun to sing to, but it seemed ~beneath me. Not anymore! (I hope that snobbish period of my life's behind me, by the way. It's kinda funny to be snooty and then fall completely in love with the artists, but I'd rather just skip to the love part, particularly when I could save myself six years of not listening to them.)
Some of my favorite tracks off A Fever You Can't Sweat Out:
-"The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage": The switch to the dance-y, electronic part in the middle is fantastic! This is one of my favorites to dance along with, and I get the "trophy boys, trophy wives" part stuck in my head all the time.
-"Time To Dance": I admit it, I have kind of a hard time remembering track titles because they're so long. This one's easy to remember, and I really like the lyric I quoted in the entry title for no reason. (I love that, in my head, I picture the album as a whole as a really screwed-up wedding. I'm not a big fan of weddings.)
-"Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off": I read the intro Brendon gives (gave?) before this song in fic, and I couldn't not love the song after that. But it's just a great song in general.
-"Intermission": I'm a sucker for good instrumentals. It's why "Romance" is the MCR song I've been listening to the most lately. I wish more albums had them!
-"But It's Better If You Do" and "I Write Sins Not Tragedies": I covered these above. But I'll add that I can really see why "I Write Sins" was the first single; it's catchy as hell.
Pretty. Odd. is...well, I'm not the first person to do this, but come on, it is pretty odd. Not as an album - I think it's a really solid piece of work - but in comparison to the first album. It sounds like two different bands. I still probably like this one more than A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, but I'm more in the mood for the first album; there's a surprising lack of edge in the second that makes it not quite suited to my current mood. But "Nine in the Afternoon" is still my favorite Panic! song and is the entire reason I've been trying them over and over again.
(I bet that's an unpopular fandom opinion, huh? That's the way it's seemed in the little Panic! fic I've read. I feel like I'm destined to be That Fan: I'll always like The Decemberists the best for The Hazards of Love, The Black Parade is my favorite MCR album, and now I'm ridiculously attached to Pretty. Odd. Oh well!)
Some of my favorite tracks off Pretty. Odd.:
-"Nine in the Afternoon": Obviously. I have to say, a lot of its appeal for me is that it's the first song I played on Rock Band that I got perfect on Expert drums. I'm the kind of person that likes being really good at things.
-"Do You Know What I'm Seeing": This song sounds like summer to me. Actually, a lot of the album does; that's probably another reason why I'm not in the mood for it right now. It'll probably go really well with the time period that Vices and Virtues is coming out (which is a week earlier than its original date, yay!). But this song's just beautiful.
-"I Have Friends in Holy Spaces": The lyrics - "You remind me of a few of my famous friends/Well that all depends/what you qualify as friends" - combined with the old-timey feel = perfection.
-"Northern Downpour": After I read a Panic! primer and read the stories about Brendon getting teary about the split, and the part where it rained while they played? I couldn't not love it. Also, I could say "omg beautiful" about most of these songs, and this one's no exception.
-"The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know": This was my second-favorite track during my mild Pretty. Odd. phase a couple years back, and that hasn't changed. The wistful sounds of the beginning and end of the track are my absolute favorites.
And now for an odd, general Panic! observation: after my recent listens of the albums I think Brendon sounds a lot like Patrick Stump. I DON'T KNOW WHY. For the years I casually listened to them, I didn't think it at all, but I can't seem to stop now! It's probably due in part to the random stories my brain comes up with when I think about it: Pete signed the band because of nostalgia/vanity/both, and then Patrick gets jealous of Pete when he sees him hanging out with Ryan, and it gets even worse when he actually hears them, and there's lots of angst and sex. Has anyone written that? I'd be interested in reading, if so!
Anyway, now I just have to wait a little over a month for Vices and Virtues! I hope it's even half as good as "The Ballad of Mona Lisa", which is fighting "Nine in the Afternoon" for my favorite song of theirs.
~
+ In case you didn't think this entry was long enough, it's time for some fic recs! The amount of fic I've been reading is ridiculous, although it'll probably lighten up a little now that I have published books to read. (Of course, I say that, but I also read something like 30k worth of fic tonight, so grain of salt that statement.)
Supernatural
+ "Old Country" by
astolat, SPN crossed over with Harry Potter, Sam/Dean, NC-17. Dean inherits a Wizarding title, and Sam and Dean end up in Hogwarts (and yes, they're both adults at the time). Dean with his fellow housemates (I won't ruin the surprise on that one) is too cute. I actually found the Sam/Dean element of the story a little jarring because the story felt so otherwise gen, but whatever, it was still wonderful!
+ "Last Outpost of All That Is by gekizetsu/eighth_horizon, SPN, Sam/Dean, NC-17. This story was well-written, but I don't think I'll ever read it again because it was incredibly depressing. Me and end-of-the-world stories don't mix. I'm surprised there's nearly 500 bookmarks for it on Delicious; I feel like it's only a story for a specific sort of person, and I'm not sure I was one of them. Still, give it a try if you like angst or won't be down for days at the thought of everyone on the planet disappearing.
+ " Worlds Full of Weeping" by crayola_fics, SPN, kid!Sam-centric gen, PG-13. I felt more like I was reading a parable or myth, and that's the story's strength; Sam never felt more like a classic hero to me than when I was reading this story. I also liked that the story didn't have a black-and-white view of the so-called monsters they encounter; it's a lot more interesting to me that way.
Bandom
+ " Might I Have A Bit of Earth" by theopteryx, MCR, Frank/Gerard, NC-17. It says something about my current fic-reading habits that 14k seems short, but this was short and sweet. Space pirates! Antagonism between Gerard and Frank that turns into ~something more! An epic battle! Mikey pining! Seriously, nothing I didn't love in this story (except that I could've done with more Ray, but then, I want all the regulars there all the time, so yeah).
+ "The Kids From Yesterday" by
tuesdaysgone, MCR, Gerard/Korse, NC-17. I hadn't read any Killjoy-verse fic before, but I sincerely hope there's more out there, and it's even half as good as this story! (Although I always saw Korse as a robot instead of a real person; am I the only one?) I won't talk about what's in the story because I think this is one of those ones that has to be experienced, but there's supposed to be sequels, and I can't wait. Almost literally. I'm ridiculously glad there's new fic and all, but part of the fun about joining preestablished fandoms is not having to wait for big universes. Now I do!
+ " Nothing in the 'Verse Can Stop the Take Over" by rhombal, various bandom, Pete/Patrick and Brendon/Ryan, PG-13. FIREFLY AU OMG. I squeaked when I figured out who Mikey was in the whole setup! (My crush on him remains ridiculous.) But beyond the flail, there's a real poetry to the story in general, and the sweetness that Firefly/Serenity was so good at conveying, so it was generally a fantastic read.
Other fandoms
+ " Four Letter Words by miraxcorran, Vampire Diaries, Caroline/Matt mostly, PG-13. Caroline is pretty much my favorite perspective character in Vampire Diaries fic, both because of her voice and because she has some of the best relationships of various kinds on the show. This fic explores her relationships with some of the people around her from her POV, so win/win!
+ "a mind overborne" by
astolat, Dracula, Renfield/Dracula, explicit (the NC-17 equivalent on AO3). SO AMAZING I CAN'T EVEN SAY. It's all kinds of messed - the rec post I found it in highly emphasized reading the warnings before reading, and I agree - but it's a great evaluation of Dracula and what kind of subtext might've been there and the attitudes of the society into which it was released. I imagine I'll reread this bunches.
+ "Baby-sitters Club The Next Generation #6: Byron and the God of California" by
zelempa, Baby-Sitter's Club, Byron/Jeff, Teen and Up (the PG-13 equivalent on AO3). Confession time: I loved BSC when I was younger. I haven't read any of it in years, but just going through this fic reminded me of a ridiculous amount because the tone was perfect and the canon information was spot-on. Byron was one of Mallory's younger triplet brothers, and Jeff was Dawn's younger brother, and it's such a rush to remember!
Anyway, what really gets me about this story is that this is what I wish I could've read when I was a kid (although with more age-appropriate relationships, I'm sure; my parents would've flipped if the gay sex had been there). BSC was a little too syrupy and potentially token-y in terms of diversity, but the truth is that I really did learn about ASL and scoliosis and asthma and diabetes because of these books. It was partially because I did my own research, but even so, it got me started. And there were characters of color and Jewish characters, amongst others, which I don't remember getting much in my other reading. That meant something to me, even as a kid.
But seriously, the gay couple was exactly what I needed as a kid. Maybe, if I'd seen them, I wouldn't have been so in denial about my own queerness that I could've figured things out and come out younger. And maybe not; I did get some LGBT representation as a kid. But things only started to click for me when I saw Willow/Tara halfway through high school, so maybe Kristy with a crush on Mary Ann or something similar could've given me an earlier push. Who knows?
Either way, I'm so glad this story's out there. I don't need to reread any of my old BSC books because it's so much like them, and still so much better.
Also posted on Dreamwidth (
comment[s]). Feel free to comment on either entry.