Embryo of Philosophy

I've been reading the reactions to Merlin 2x04 "Lancelot and Guinevere." Some squee, some criticism, which is normal and as it should be. But I thought I'd respond to some of the criticism that I don't find fair. I don't expect this to turn anyone into OMG GWEN/LANCE FOREVER!!, just to offer evidence that the relationship makes sense. (Well, as much as anything in this show makes sense.)

( Spoilers for 2x04, obviously )

Also, an unspoilery complaint: The smushed paring names must stop. First there was Merthur and Arwen, one of which sounds moronic, while the other is a Lord of the Rings character. That was bad enough, but now we have Gwencelot. It has to end, people. I can't take the madness.

My kitty is adorable! Yes, you need to know know this. She likes to sleep on the scratching post/cat furniture that my brother got me for me birthday. At first I was worried that she wouldn't get much use out of it, since she's declawed in the front, but she seems to get a kick out of pawing at it.

I also thought that she might not play with the catnip mice that I bought her, but she likes those two.

Besides, her scratching post, her favorite place to be is in my closet, lying on the blanket sat her litter box sits on. GO figure.

In other new anime_manga is having its second Prompt Battle! Whoo! Prompts are being accepted until Sunday, October 4th, so go request.

Things that are troubling me:

I signed up for BookMooch. I thought it would be a good idea. I forgot that I cannot do anything without becoming severely stressed. First there's worry about shipping and packaging properly. That I could probably deal with. Then I had someone from the Philippines emailing to ask if I would ship a book to them. Postage to the Philippines would be over ten dollars. Money is kind of tight for me. I agonized. I would feel guilty if I turned them down, but...

The, someone else emailed me, saying that they would like the book if I decided not to send it to the Philippines. So, no matter what I do, I'll disappoint someone. So, I'm doing my classic avoidance technique and not answering either person and trying to make the situation go away from ignoring it. It's never worked before, but there's a first time for everything, right?

I really can't do anything without feeling guilty. I feel guilty over everything. I've even felt guilty for aging! And all of the irrational guilt only makes me angrier at myself.

When I feel bad, I cheer myself up either purchasing something or fandom stuff (sometimes buying fandom stuff). As I've said, money is a bit of a problem. So, meme time!

➀ comment with a character that I've written.
➁ receive three bits of headcanon about their sexuality: practices, preferences, experiences, fantasies, kinks, etc.
➂ receive information about their current love life and/or sex life if applicable and I feel like rambling at you. (signs point to yes.)
➃ receive three bits of headcanon about their life outside of sexuality and romance.

This year I participated in the International Day of Femslash Feedback (idof_feedback). Femslash doesn't get a lot of attention in fandom, even when people are writing it, so the folks at idof_feedback decided to raise some awareness.

Everything I posted feedback for comes recommended by me. Almost all Merlin (though there are two Utena stories and one Loveless story there), mostly fic.

( The list of work I left feedback for )

From fannish5:

Name five series that should have had a musical episode (and how it could have been explained).


1. Merlin! Anthony Head is there. He sings! It would be full of goodness. Probably hilarious goodness, but you can do a serious musical episode. It could be explained, like just about everything else in the series is explained, by a magic spell. Even better if the sorcerer who cast it wasn't evil, just mischievous. Or maybe Merlin does it accidentally.

2. Psych. Because, once again, hilarious. Someone gets murdered while rehearsing for a musical, and Shawn decides that what he and Gus really need to do is join the cast in an attempt to find the killer. Juliet and Lassiter should get roped in too. Because Lassiter's reaction would be priceless.

3. X-Files. Aliens made them sing! I am endlessly amused by the thought of the conspiracy working out their wicked plans... in verse. And Mulder and Scully would have to continually resist the urge to sing a sappy romantic duet, because dammit, they are not sappy romantic duet people!

4. Doctor Who. Because the Doctor should have to sing karaoke in order to SAVE THE KNOWN UNIVERSE.

5. I'm out of ideas, actually.

And a meme.

Name your 10 absolutely favorite couples (het/slash/canon/fanon) and ask people to see what trends they notice about your couples. Try to pick different fandoms:

1. Anthy/Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena)
2. Tsuzuki/Hisoka (Yami no Matsuei)
3. Cain/Riff (Count Cain/Godchild)
4. Merlin/Arthur (Merlin)
5. Gwen/Morgana (Merlin)
6. Kouya/Yamato (Loveless)
7. Shunsui/Nanao (Bleach)
8. Haruka/Michiru (Sailor Moon)
9. Meryl/Vash (Trigun)
10. Kougaiji/Yaone/Doku (Saiyuki)

So, first order of business, ship_manifesto is having an OTP voting battle. You should go vote. Specifically you should go vote for Cain/Riff and Haruka/Michiru. Why? Because I said so, dammit! I offer slightly more convincing reasons here. Haruka and Michiru have a comfortable lead, but as of this post Cain and Riff are being slightly beaten out by Katan/Rociel. The match up seems appropriate, given that they're both from Kaori Yuki manga. Unfortunately, Angel Sanctuary is the more popular manga, which is a shame, given that I maintain that Cain/Riff is very much like Katan/Rociel... but better. Cain has his issues and he can be unkind to nearly everyone, including Riff, but he's not abusive and manipulative like Rociel.

There are lots of other couples to vote for. (Shunsui/Nanao! Juubei/Kazuki! Rogue/Gambit!) hulamoth, they don't have Guy/Marian, but they do have Mulder/Scully.

But that isn't really the point of this post. The point of this point is that I've signed up to post recs for Yami no Matsuei over at crack_van during the month of June. This brings me to a question

Poll #3773 Crossposting
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Should I crosspost the recs here?

Ticky box?

Comment to this entry and I'll pick three of your fandoms. You must (or rather, if you want to) then update your journal and answer the following questions:

01: What got you into this fandom in the first place?
02: Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
03: Favorite episodes/books/movies/etc.?
04: Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
05: Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?


dancing_serpent gave me Count Cain, Merlin, Yami no Matsuei.

( Read more... )

I was rewatching "The Moment of Truth," making comments in my head, and thinking that I should do a commentary of all the episodes one of these days. Then I thought, "Well, why not start now?" Now, this isn't a "Veleda processes and then comes to intelligent conclusions" type of thing. (But is it ever?) No, I'm going to tell you, "And then Morgana comes in, and I squeal out loud." Okay, there may be some (slightly) intelligent conclusions, since I have seen this episode before. But, uh, yeah. On with the show.

( Read more... )

So, b_hallward is writing a series of absolutely gorgeous Merlin AU drabbles in which Merlin is Arthur's guardian angel. Go read them. Even if you've never seen Merlin, even if you don't like angels. They're masterpieces.

( Fandom talk )

Instead of the multitude of other things that I really need to be doing:

Give me two characters from different fandoms you know I'm familiar with, and I'll give you a dialogue happening between the two of them. Without justifying how the crossover would work, how their worlds clashed, or how they could even meet each other. Just a silly crossover conversation with no backstory, for fun.

Taken from blindeadmcjones

01. Pick up to 15 OTPs (or OT3s).
02. Describe them in less than 15 words.
03. Have your flist guess the OTP/OT3.
04. PROFIT.

I suspect that I've made it awfully easy for most of them, but I might be wrong. There is one ultra obscure pairing there! It seems pretty unlikely that anyone will get it.

1. Prince, but no princess. Bride, but no groom. A revolutionary love.
2. Buy me a doughnut. I'd rather die than be a burden.
3. One an idiot, the other easily irritated. Somehow it works. Deeply damaged complements.
4. Found you on the road, thought you laughed. Don't leave your cigarettes in beer cans.
6. Walking the road to hell together, much more than master and servant.
7. Risking my life means I love you. Not quite the legend. Foot in face.
8. On a planet of sand, there's no insurance against falling in love.
9. Warriors and partners. A world without you is not worth living in.
10. Servant/queen, lady/witch. Right now they have each other.
11. Loyalty binds like thread, betrayal pierces like needles. Coming together again.
12. Dumping petals on your head, I love you, really. (But please shut up.)
13. Fixing bodies, fixing machines. Awkward love in the vacuum of space.
14. Silly nicknames, video games... and bloody yakuza shootouts. It must mean true love.
15. Job involving a woman. Only a few days together. Possibilities ruined by a monster.

Claims are open at both Spring Kink and Sick Fic Fest. All right, yes, claims have been open for a while, and I'm just telling you now. Because I suck. But there are lots of good prompts. So get your kink on, or write about bad awful people doing bad awful things. Or both! Write, damn it! (But, honestly, no pressure.)

Prompts I've taken for Spring Kink:

Godchild, Alexis/Jizabel: punisher/nurturer games - He'll wrap you in his arms, tell you that you been a good boy / He'll rekindle all those dreams it took you a lifetime to destroy (Rough draft is finished.)

Trigun, Vash/Meryl: Scents - "I just can't get him out of my mind." (Started.)


Prompt I've taken for Sick Fic Fest:

Muraki - Only this one holy medium brings me peace of mind (Really looking forward to this one.)

I haven't writing, and I've been depressed about it. Looks I may be back in groove.

Remember when I made the post about the dvd_commentary community, and how I'd never ever actually post a commentary because I'd most likely be horribly wrong, and then I'd have to commit ritual suicide? Well, uh, I lied. Not about being wrong! That's still true. But about not posting a commentary. (I was probably lying about the suicide bit. Probably.)

So, you can find my commentary for ravenbell's story Better the Devil You Know here for part one and here for part two. Remember, I'm probably wrong about everything, and most likely terribly stupid as well. I'm just warning you.

But wait! There's more! See, I've had a FST for the story in my head for awhile, and this gave me the perfect excuse to post it. It's only six songs, more of a mini-FST than anything else, and certainly not behemoth that my 30 Tortures FST was, but, well, it is what it is.

There isn't a title. There's no point. The Thirty Tortures FST had a title, but I just think of it as the Thirty Tortures FST.

( So, here you go. )

...You know, I was supposed to spend this weekend studying.

So, people are posting links to the DVD Commentary Challenge, and I thought I'd follow suit. Because I'm a sheep. Baaa. Baaa! I opened up all my work for commentary here.

It's nice that you don't have to agree to give commentary in order to offer your stories. I could never do the commentary part. I mean, I might be, no, I'd probably be wrong. And then everyone would be all, "How could you miss that/think that? That wasn't the point at all! You must be very stupid." And they'd be right. And then ritual suicide would be my only option. Yes, it would happen exactly like that.

Though, of course, I'm certainly not saying that anyone would necessarily be interested in commenting on my stories. It's terribly unlikely, really. I understand this. I mean, I'd just thought I'd put them out there. It does seem arrogant though, doesn't it? Don't get me wrong; it's not arrogant for anyone else to offer their stories. Just me.

...I should probably end this here, before I get really worked up.

(There's no need to comment to reassure me. I do know how ridiculous I sound. And this post is just a minuscule bit tongue in cheek.)

Comment with a fandom and I'll tell you my:

One True Pairing Ship:
Canon Ship:
"If this happens I'll stab my eyes out with a spork" Ship:
"You are one sick bastard" Ship:
"I dabble a little" Ship:
"It's like a car crash" Ship:
"Tickles my fancy but not sold just yet" Ship:
"Makes no canon sense but why the Hell not" Ship:
"Everyone else loves it but I just don't feel it" Ship:
"When all is said and done" Ship:

The Smut Writer's Meme: Name a pairing that I know, in either current fandoms or prior, and ask me a question. I'll tell you anything you want to know about their sex lives from my own personal fanon.

Give me something to dooo. /Whine

You know, I am the very embodiment of this comic. I can't let things go. I have to argue, have to exhaustively point out all the myriad ways that my particular view is the right one. Even when I know it would be smarter and easier to walk away, I just can't. I tell you this so you know exactly what perversion of sense led me to have the following conversation on the ff.net Yami no Matsuei forums.

( For your, uh, enjoyment )

Oh, YnM fandom, I wish I knew how to quit you.

Meme taken from ranalore

So I was adding some new interests to my LJ profile and found myself feeling defensive every time I typed a female name, thinking, basically, FUCK YOU, SHE'S AWESOME, because I felt as if someone somewhere was going to be criticizing my love for them.

So, anyway, then I made a list of women who make me want to say FUCK YOU, SHE'S AWESOME. They are far from the only women who are awesome, or the only women people need to be told to step off of, but they are the top ten I feel that way about, right now, off the top of my head.

If you want to argue with me about the awesomeness of any of these women, I am afraid I will simply be referring you to the subject line. THAT IS ALL.

(Note: FUCK YOU, SHE'S AWESOME, may mean anything from "she kicks ass" to "she's a complex character with believable and sympathetic motivation, and I'd like to see how well you'd do if you were being brainwashed by a serial killer." Oh, and I listed more than ten. So what?)

1. Kaoru Kozue
2. Takatsuki Shiori
3. Himemiya Anthy
4. Kakyoin Tsubaki (OH YEAH, I SAID IT.)
5. Kudou Himiko
6. HEVN
7. Sumeragi Hokuto
8. Tara Maclay
9. Kennedy
10. Aoyagi Misaki (She's broken, but so much stronger than she's given credit for.)
11. Yukishiro Tomoe
12. Kamiya Kaoru
13. Takani Megumi

This meme reveals one certain thing. Given that Kennedy is the least popular Buffy character, and given that I am one of maybe three Tsubaki-hime fans on the entire internet, there is only one logical course of action: write Kennedy/Tsubaki-hime fanfic. No, I have no idea how it would work. That's not the point.