Begin fangirling.

Last night Robs and some other friends and I went to see a screening of the Princess Bride - it was a terrible old print, but that only added to its charm. My love of that movie is unparalleled, as is my affection for its screenwriter, William Goldman. So much about it could be so very trite, and he does the high wire act effortlessly.

The surprise I had not expected was Cary Elwes coming to do a Q&A afterward! And no, he is not as smoking hot as Westley anymore, but I don't care, because he's charming, humble, funny, and can do wonderful character voices and filled my heart with gladness as he told stories about the making of my favorite movie in the whole wide world.

/fangirling.

If you aren't, you should go get in on the fun at Hump Drabbles March Madness! We're in the Sweet Sixteen! My bracket isn't up yet, but Sarea's is, and if I may say, her drabble is mighty fine. Not that you'll know which one hers is.

OR WILL YOU?

No, you won't, because it's anonymous.

OR IS IT?

Yes. It is. Why are you still reading this nonsense when you could be reading fun HP drabbles??? Go forth! And then go forth again in a few days when my bracket is up! But mostly, given everyone participating (and the mods running the show!) a lot of love.

Zombie meme time! Sarea was totally right, I couldn't resist. She Bat-signaled me to do this, so do it I must!

(Not using the new heinously ugly LJ cut tag in protest. Also because I'm lazy. But mostly in protest.)

Put your player on shuffle. This will give you the soundtrack to the zombie apocalypse.

The overall theme for the Apocalypse - "Laundry Day" Neil Patrick Harris from Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog.

With my freeze ray I will stop - the world.

[So that's what turns us all into mindless zombies. Way to go, NPH.]

Plays during your first zombie kill - "Ventura Hwy" America.

Ventura Highway in the sunshine
Where the days are longer
The nights are stronger than moonshine

[It's esoteric, but I could see my first zombie kill on the road happening to this song.]

Plays while you're getting chased by a horde - "Thriller" Michael Jackson.

[I couldn't believe it came up either. Best play of the whole meme. No lyrics, you all know how perfect it is.]

Plays when you're forced to kill your loved one - "End of the Innocence" Don Henley.

When "happily ever after" fails
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales

You can lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
[This was really awesome, too.]

Plays when you find your new love interest - "Same" by Snow Patrol

Maybe somewhere else
Will not be half as cold as me
The curtains drawn the winter sun
Makes patterns on your face
It looks like some kaleidoscopic breathing exercise
It's the same
Baby won't you breathe
Hold me in your freezing arms before we have to go

[Yeah I don't think this relationship is going to work out. I'm very traumatized.]

Plays when you make your final stand - "Genocide" by Unwritten Law

'Cause we do this every fucking day
And we're gonna lay down the law
You're outdrawn
...Let's go outside, we'll crucify

[I didn't even know this song was on my iPod!]

Plays when you seem to have made it through! - "One Of Us" Joan Osborne

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us.
Just a stranger on a bus
Trying to make his way home
Just trying to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone

[Oh, we were so naïve, thinking things would be okay during the zombie apocalypse, listening to songs about God and thinking they weren't an obvious foretelling of our imminent doom.]

Plays when you discover you've been bitten - "Grace" Jeff Buckley

There's the moon asking to stay
Long enough for the clouds to fly me away
Well it's my time coming, I'm not afraid to die
And the rain is falling and I believe my time has come
It reminds me of the pain I might leave behind... Wait in the fire
And I feel them drown my name
So easy to know and forget with this kiss
I'm not afraid to go but it goes so slow...

[This is the saddest fucking song by a guy who died tragically young at the beginning of his career - so I'd say it's appropriate. Yes, my impending death is just that tragic and wasteful.]

Plays when your friends have to put your zombie ass down - "Free Bird" Lynyrd Skynyrd

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on now
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see

[I approve of Sarea's addition to the meme - no one gets out of a zombie apocalypse alive, except for Milla Jovavich, and as anyone who knows me can clearly testify, I am not Milla Jovavich.]

Apparently, the answer to "what will make you post in your LJ, Jade?" is "the chance to win $50 at Amazon."

There are lots of great holiday movies, but by far, my favorite has got to be "It's a Wonderful Life." Predictable? Admittedly. But I watched it when I was little and it's as familiar and dear to me as a favorite toy or the t-shirt I can't throw away even though it's riddled with holes. I want to watch the dance floor open up to a pool and see George lasso the moon and watch the Building and Loan be saved time and time again and feel joy when George Bailey realizes the difference he made in the world and yell Hee Haw and Merry Christmas at the end. It's trite, but it's also a perfect movie that perfectly manipulates my emotions with ease and style.

What's odd about this choice for me is that I am not, as a rule, a fan of old movies. I do not bow at the altar of Bogie and Bacall or wish Gene Kelly was still alive to star in every movie.

I do, however, fall under the spell of Jimmy Stewart. There is something timeless about him, even though I would argue he is, of any other actor, a poster board of his time. It's a dichotomy, but to me, it makes sense and Stewart, more than anything else, is at the heart of what makes it such a wonderful life.

Tags: writer's block
Current Mood: nostalgic

The below is super creepy and put behind a cut for length as well as the aforementioned creepiness. It does not reflect my view on the second Harry Potter film in any way. There are also no spoilers contained in this post, because it is so not the point.

( It all started out so well... )

Current Mood: pissed off

I know. It's June. But it's a gloomy June (for the most part) and I was too busy in Spring to clean! So June Cleaning it is.

While going through some old crap in my closet, I found something remarkable (and remarkably embarrassing) -- this requires backstory:

When I was 11, I was completely obsessed with Remington Steele. It aired every weeknight on ABC 7 at midnight, and I stayed up late to watch it because that is what you do when you are completely obsessed. I vaguely remembered that my mom used to watch it when it was on "live" several years before, and probably had some sort of repressed childhood memory about it that attracted me.

Anyway. I would say that Remington and Laura were probably my first "ship" even though I had no idea what that meant at the time. I do remember that I taped every episode on VHS and edited out the commercials while I watched it so it would be perfect. I still had these tapes up until a few years ago when they finally put the whole series on DVD.

All this, I remembered. What I did not remember is that I apparently wrote a Remington Steele episode guide at the age of 11. I drew a lovely cover for it - little illustrations and elaborate (badly done) calligraphy - and put it in a hard bound plastic notebook. Inside, page after page of notebook paper containing episode names, summaries, guest stars, more bad illustrations, what I liked best about it, fun facts, trivia, notations if Remington and Laura kissed - it's stunning. I was so desperate to be a fangirl before I even knew such a thing existed!

And now I don't want to throw the damn thing away. I'm going to have to find a PLACE for it, even though it's completely embarrassing. Because it's my first little fannish expression! And I had completely forgotten it! Oh, fandom; you've had your hooks in me even longer than I knew.

Back to June Cleaning!

This man speaks the truth. For those of you who don't watch The Daily Show regularly - you're welcome. For those of you who've already seen this - you're still welcome.




(Why yes, I am catching up on really old Daily Shows on my TiVo, why do you ask?)

Tags: pizza, the daily show

I know, I know, I never post, I'm a terrible person and awful friend with no time - but occasionally I do still go to the movies, and I'm sure you all do, too, soooo -

http://livingsocial.com/deals/28498?ref=personalized-link-box-6990774&rpi=6990774

$9 for two movie tickets at Fandango!

I've always been about the bargains, but recently I've become obsessed with it - partly through need, and partly because it's kind of fun to see exactly how cheap you can get stuff for.

I'd say that I will try to be a better LJer in the future, but it's probably a lie. But I want to want to try. Does that count for anything?

Also, I wrote a Merlin fic (BBC version) for Sarea's birthday in November and still haven't posted it for mass consumption. Maybe I'll do that later today sometime! I know, you're all like, "Merlin?! What fresh hell, Jade," but the heart wants what it wants.

from yahtzee:

The first TEN people to comment in this post get to request that I write a drabble of any pairing/character of their choosing, in any fandom I am familiar with. In return, they have to post this in their journal, regardless of their ability level. (If you absolutely can't write, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to offer drawings or icons or something instead.)

Joke's on the meme, though, as I doubt there's even ten of you reading my lameass journal anymore. :D

Well, like everyone else, I've been completely devastated emotionally by what's happening in Haiti. I watch the news and can only imagine the horror life there is like right now. To have this happen anywhere would be tragedy, but having it happen to somewhere that was already so desperately in need seems appalling unfair.

Since I have zero dollars to give, I've signed myself up for the fic-drive thing going on. You can bid on a min. 1000 word story from me (we all know I get verbose, though, so likely that word count will rise at least a little) in various fandoms - I've listed definites, but drop me a line before bidding if you think I could handle your request du jour. Oh, and doi, I've just realized I didn't put Firefly/Serenity on there - which, duh. I can write Firefly/Serenity. :)

http://community.livejournal.com/help_haiti/3155.html?thread=2590803#t2590803

If you've got some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket (which so few of us do, believe me, I know) go bid your little heart out!

And on we blindly stumble.

You know you've been spending too much time on Facebook when you attempt to "like" someone's LJ entry, only to find a blank field of text demanding an actual response instead.

Okay, so "An Archive Of Our Own" = the best thing since fandom sliced bread. I've slowly been adding fic from various fandoms - I think I'm done with Buffy/Angel, Gilmore Girls, and the odd Alias, HIMYM, Firefly, and a couple of Veronica Mars fics. Next up will be the Lex/Lana stuff and Harry Potter. Oh, the horror.

At least the XF/HP/Smallville stuff already has homes - I've done the dirty work of gathering all the loose stuff together in one place. And yes, Virginia, there IS a comprehensive collection of "Bittersweet Legacy" - behold the glory!

http://archiveofourown.org/users/vatrixsta

Tags: fic

Thanks everyone for the lovely birthday wishes! I had a quiet day, which is what I expected, and pretty much all I could handle - since this is the first year without my Dad, it was really tough for both me and my Mom. We had a nice time watching movies and eating cupcakes and I made us chicken pot pie that we both really enjoyed.

Will have more party-like celebrations later, full of friends and frivolity. Sarea got me a very cool gift - she emailed me a few weeks ago, and said, "Give me a list of 150 of your favorite songs. Okay, Go!" and then another mail a few minutes later, "Or maybe 175. Okay, Go!"

Turns out, she got me the cuuuutest little pink iPod Shuffle! She named it Buffy, and it now contains utterly fabulous Trix Mix music. It's great for exercising (so light you barely know it's there!) and housework (dishes have never been so fun!) as with the big iPod, if you hit shuffle, chances are, you're gonna hear a bunch of crap you can't even sing along with. Or, if you're like me, the random audio book chapter.

While I think Kanye West was completely in the wrong and uncool to Taylor Swift at the VMAs, I find some of the hysterical neighing about it, well, hysterical, particularly that it's persisting now that he's apologized, both publicly and to Taylor. Esp. since Beyonce waved her magic Beyonce wand and fixed everything in a flash of rhinestones and class. (And not to give the lunatic credence - but damn if Beyonce didn't have the best video of the year. Come on, all the single ladies!) Anyway, I've decided that if my ire outlasts Taylor Swift's that my life is sad, so I'm listening to Heartless and letting the healing begin.

However, I laugh that TMZ got hold of Obama during pre-tape. Forgiveness is one thing, but I loves me some Obama condemnation:



Some people were saying this is fake, but the little nugget of realism is that it references the fly incident that all media became obsessed with. He is a ninja.

Current Mood: working

A meme, of course! Got it off yahtzee63:

Pick five of your favorite shows, in no particular order, before you read the below questions, then answer them!

How I Met Your Mother
30 Rock
Leverage
Babylon 5
The X-Files

( Behold! )

Current Mood: working

Tonight, I decided to treat myself to a Mocha Frappuccino on my way to get water at the grocery store. Since I'd be transcribing for awhile tonight, a nice jolt of cold caffeine sounded lovely.

After I placed my order at the Starbucks drive-thru, there was a long pause, and then the drive-thru girl said, "Do you want to know how you can get your drink for free tonight?"

Being a lover of free things, I said, "Yes, I do."

And she then said something I had never heard at a drive-thru (or really, anywhere) before: "If you sing us a song, you get your drink for free. You can pick the song, anything you want!"

She continued to try and sell me on this idea - I cut her off. Oh, I was game. I have no shame when money is on the line.

When I arrived at the window, the guy and the girl were crowded around it like children waiting for Santa.

"You'll be sorry," I warned.

"You're really going to do it?!" They both sounded almost abnormally excited.

"Oh, I'm doing it."

I then proceeded to break into the first verse and chorus of Three Dog Night's Joy to the World.. When my drink was ready, I stopped; both employees and a customer sitting outside gave me a (only slightly sarcastic) round of applause.

They confessed to me that apparently I was one of the very few people who have taken them up on this bargain tonight. Foolish people with your "pride."

Current Mood: accomplished

Leverage renewed for a third season! Rejoice!

(If you aren't happy because you don't know wtf I'm talking about, you're so missing out! And if you aren't happy because you do know, and think Leverage is stupid, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?)

Current Mood: pleased

Okay, it's bad form of me to not make an entry in who knows how long, and then make this entry, but MY GOD:

'Bones' and 'Family Guy' are doing a crossover episode.

Why isn't today April 1st? That makes this REAL.

Ausiello has a story about it here over at EW. (Big spoilers for the home stretch of Bones.)

Current Mood: confused

Taken from ropo :

RULES:
1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Tag 10 friends.
5. Everyone tagged has to do the same thing.
6. Have Fun!

I hit shuffle on my iPod, so I had a huuuuuge range of songs.

I hope everyone's teams win today!

( Me and Bobby McGee )

Tags: music
Current Mood: exhausted

Otherwise, Happy Channukah/Happy Yule/Happy Solstice/Happy Hating the Holidays!

1) Holiday cards are not out. They are going to be that pleasant surprise people get when the Christmas-is-over-doldrums take over.

2) My randomly generated carol sounds kind of racist now:



3) I get to go pick up S. and sarea_okelani on Friday! Huzzah!

4) Sadly, it will probably snow and S. and I will have to amuse ourselves until we can dig her out.

5) My house is so filthy. Between recovering from surgery and taking care of my poor mom who's laid up on her back with some kind of pinched nerve/disc out of whack in her back, I've done almost nothing. I may lose poor Sarea in the debris.

6) Assuming, of course, she is not already lost in the snow.

7) Been feeling meh lately, in an emotional way. Not sure why, though it could be a post-surgery emotional imbalance, which is what my doctor seems to think. I tell him I still have aches and pains and stamina issues, and he says, "YOU HAD SURGERY" and tells me not to worry. But I can't help it! I'm a worrier!

8) I actually got my yuletide story turned in on time! I don't know how great it is, but I hope the person I wrote it for enjoys it nonetheless, as that would be a terrible present, a bad fic. If she thinks it's bad, I hereby give her permission to make fun of it privately behind my back (not in public, because that's just uncool) with no hard feelings!

Current Mood: blah

My NaNo was a commercial failure, but an artistic success - I made it around 15k words in (plus and unknown 10 or 15 notebook pages yet to be transcribed) but at least half of them are quality words, so I count it a moral victory. It's really starting to look like a story, one I'd read about on the back cover and buy and everything. So, cautiously exciting.

Got the new WoW XP and have been playing at a moderate level. I don't know if it was the long break, or the fact that I'm not burning myself out with it, but I'm totally having more fun than I have since I first started playing, way back in the day. The content seems richer, all the little bells and whistles are bellier and whistlier, and instead of impeding me from doing things in my RL, it's a nice reward after writing, or something that puts me in a better mood so that I feel like writing, or cleaning, or whatever. So, yay Blizzard!

( This is a stupid quiz )

I loved 'Australia.' I don't understand critics and I doubt I ever will. My love goes once again to Roger Ebert, for his brain-sharing review of this Baz Lurhmann joint, much as he got my love for his review of The X-Files movie, yet another flick I alone enjoyed. Now, I'm not saying the X-Files movie and Australia are in any way the same, and Australia is clearly the better movie - I mean, fangirl obsession aside, I can be objective - but both were panned for reasons I found bizarre and arbitrary, as though the critics reviewing them had been looking for reasons to dislike the film from the outset. The more movies I see getting panned that I find delightful, the less stock I put into what anyone has to say about anything. Art is so subjective, anyway, that even having critics at all is somewhat counter-productive in my opinion.

I don't know where I'm going with this. Mostly I just wanted to say "Yay! Australia!" and mention that I'm watching "Happy Feet" which, given the vocal work, is like an acid inspired sequel. There. Done.

You, too, can be a rainbow.



Today I take my mom in for an MRI on her back - fingers crossed all goes well and they figure out what's going on down there.

Current Mood: hopeful

I've been tagged by trixiefirecra! What a beeyotch. And I've used my Mulder/Scully icon even though I haven't listed any X-Files fic here - but without the X-Files, none of these fics would even exist. Trippy, eh?

Sometimes it's ok to pimp yourself out. Post a list of your top five fic-favorites you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.

Like A Stone, Harry Potter, Harry
This was part of a Christmas exchange on dearsanta - there was something about the prompt, to write an adult Harry, that somehow translated in my brain to a miserable, fucked up Harry who was all alone in the world. That probably says more about me than it does about Harry, but what came out of it was actually very lovely to me. I wrote a lot of fic for Sarea that I adore for various reasons both fandom related and out of sentimentality, but given the nature of this little pimp prompt, I'm going to go with how much I ended up digging this characterization of Harry. It almost makes me sad he turned out so happy in canon.

Paved, BtVS/AtS, Buffy/Angel
It's probably the first time I didn't take the easy out and write a neat, happy ending, and it's because it came at a time when I was not heavily invested in the Buffy/Angel pairing. Not being invested when writing fanfic? Truly the best thing that can happen to you. I love this because it feels objective, and so little of my fic feels that way to me. I also like that I got it out before everyone wrote their "Spike gets the Shanshu" fic, and it essentially became canon that it could happen. Thanks, season 5 of Angel. There's a lot in here I love, mostly the stuff to do with Connor, and in general the way Spike always knows everyone's heart but his own.

All That Glitters, Veronica Mars, Veronica/Logan
This was a challenge fic for a community that assigned at random a song lyric and an item that had to be incorporated into the fic. I am, as many of you know, a sucker for challenge fics, and so I participated and took much glee in fitting everything together, trying to make the item as significant as possible without being lame. There's something about this fic that reminds me why I love Veronica so much, why her voice is so interesting, and why the last half of season 3 seriously bugged me. At any rate, what I love most about this fic is the way the ending comes together, full circle, and pays tribute to the first season of VM, which I think everyone can agree was the very best.

Things That Never Were, Alias, Jack/Irina
Surprise, surprise, another challenge fic. The reason I love it is quite simple - it let me rewrite the last episode of Alias in a way that did not defy canon, yet was still wholly AU. See, aren't you dying to read it now?! But seriously, while I've always loved Sydney, her love life left a great deal to be desired for me, yet I was endlessly fascinated by Jack and Irina. And you know, my heart belongs to Jack. Where Victor Garber goes, so goes my nation and all that. So really, this premise was a no brainer for me. I'm also fascinated with the idea of do-overs, and the nature of time and reality, so playing with that was a lot of fun, and ultimately, I view this as a fic that I would really, really GP adore if I hadn't wrote it myself, so for the purposes of this meme - there you have it. I also love the last line. Endings are a very big deal for me - they make or break movies, fics, TV series, so in my own writing, I'm especially critical, and extra pleased, depending on which side the ending falls on.

Four Things You Can't Tell Just By Looking At Her, Serenity, multiple pairings
I <3 Firefly. Reading this fic makes me happy and sad, because I love it so, and there will likely never be Serenity, or Serenity made in Hollywood. I think that's all I really have to say. I just like this, I get happy and sad all at once, and I think that's good enough.

Now. I tag: margotlefaye, theantijoss, sarea_okelani, ropo, and yahtzee63. Go forth and give a frivolous distraction on E day.

Current Mood: geeky

This was my favorite of the "vote!" movies I saw, because it's on the money, non-partisan, and made me laugh. I never shared it with 5 friends, and felt inexplicably guilty about that, so here you go, hopefully it's not too late, even though I'm pretty sure every single person on my flist doesn't have to be told to vote; just in case there's some stragglers, however, I'm going in.



And because you can't possibly put enough graphics in one entry, NaNo update!

5,040 / 50,000 (10.1%)

I'm not as far ahead as I'd hoped to be, but I'm also not as far behind as I'd feared considering Rob and I spent Sunday at Disneyland, and watching Zack and Miri Make a Porno (short review: see it); hopefully I'll have plenty of time today after I vote, biting my nails, waiting for the East Coast to finish.

Skip this paragraph if you don't want to be awesomely inspired to vote in a way that could be construed as preachy and guilt-trippy.

Please vote. If you don't like anyone running for President? Vote, because I guarantee there are at least state measures that you would want to weigh in on, and you can write-in Mickey Mouse for President. In California for instance, you've probably heard about Prop 8, a measure that will make it constitutionally illegal for same sex partners to marry. Thank you, Surprisingly Flush Religious Nutjobs of Utah, for your unwanted out of state funding. We've been inundated with ads here, but some state measures get buried, so check yours and vote, pretty please. If not for yourself, or for this wonderful, fucked up, awesome country of ours, do it for me? Vote for the country you want, not the country you have? Vote because people died so you could? Vote because men were once denied the right because of their color, and women because they were women? Vote because agree or disagree with their politics, this is the first time I can remember where of the two guys running, neither of them made me sick to my stomach, disagreement with policy aside? Because after learning about history, and meeting some of its famous faces, even Bill and Ted understand the fundamental beauty in a system that allows us to hold the fate of our future in our own hands?

Yeah, I'm a little pumped up at the election finally being over so I can go back to thinking people are stupid for what they name their kids instead of the lame political arguments they come up with.

Current Mood: hopeful