half of what i say is meaningless

So I'm re-reading His Dark Materials for the millionth time, and I started mentally casting the BSG peeps in the Pullman roles.  Here's what I've got so far:

Lyra = Kara (obviously)
Will = Lee (the stuff with his mom is just too appropriate)
Roger = Helo (*sniff* poor Helo)
Lord Asriel = Lord Adama
Mrs. Coulter = Admiral Cain, or possibly Number Six.  She's a bit tricky.

And here's where I run into trouble.  I mean, Iorek is Iorek.  I just can't imagine any of the BSG characters as bears.  Perhaps Laura Roslin as Serafina?  Should she be Mary Malone?  Maybe Athena is Serafina and Laura is Mary.  And what about Lee Scoresby?  Or am I just crazy?

Now, Buffy meme!  I skipped a couple days so I'm gonna do two.

( favorite and least favorite female characters )

1. I had this epiphany today about Mockingjay.  It's probably not anywhere near as brilliant as I thought it was.  It's also very short and vague but I will lj-cut it anyway for those of you who (like me) consider feelings to be spoilers.  ( Read more... )  See, I told you it was brief and not-really-significant.

2. I went to see Going the Distance (don't mock me) and it's a sign of just how obsessed I am that I was reminded of Kara and Lee.  Drew Barrymore's character said that she thought people could only be truly content if they married their best friend.  And I was like "yes, that is why they would have been amazing if they had ever gotten their act together!"  Also it's not news, but pilots have infiltrated all aspects of my life.

3. I am still watching Farscape season 2, but very, very slowly.

4. So my birthday was a few days ago (thanks for the birthday wishes everyone!), and my friend gave me this absolutely amazing hand-crafted gift.  This is the same friend who turned my door into the TARDIS last semester. 

( the board, the cards, and the pieces )

For pilotsbigbang !

Title: The Breath Between
Author: shah_of_blah 
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: All seasons
Warnings: None
Summary: Kara's return in "Crossroads" is not what it appears to be.
Word Count: 4000 this part (16k all)
Author's Notes: Many thanks to my cheerleader, stripes13 , and my beta, bellaaurora .  This fic would have been much worse without their help.  Also, I rejected any canon I didn't like.  Deal with it.

Chapter One
Chapter Two

( Chapter Three )

For pilotsbigbang !  I am absolutely thrilled to be posting this--I have been working on it for ages, and I came close to dropping out of the challenge.  It's good to finally be finished.

Title: The Breath Between
Author: shah_of_blah
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: All seasons
Warnings: None
Summary: Kara's return in "Crossroads" is not what it appears to be.
Word Count: 4800 this part (16k all)
Author's Notes: Many thanks to my cheerleader, stripes13 , and my beta, bellaaurora .  This fic would have been much worse without their help.  Also, I rejected any canon I didn't like.  Deal with it.


( Chapter One )

I was reading a couple interesting posts about Kara/Sam earlier this week, and of course there were the inevitable comparisons to Kara/Lee.  It got me thinking about my shipping ways, and why I suspect I may be in the minority with this particular approach.

Simply put, I usually don't ship a certain pairing because I think they are in any way superior or better for each other than the competition.  I ship them because I believe they canonically love each other.  And that's it.*

What this means: I don't care if you like Spike better than Angel; Buffy loves Angel, ergo I ship Buffy/Angel.  I don't care if you think Sam's more laidback, accepting attitude is better for Kara than Lee and all the issues that come with him.  I believe that Kara loves Lee more than she will ever love Sam, and that's just the way it is.  I do like Lee more than Sam, but I like Sam too.  And honestly, if canon had ever convinced me that Kara loved Sam and not Lee, I'd be all over that ship since as Kara goes, so goes my nation.

I don't ship one because I have anything against the other.  And after reading those posts the other day, I realized that I don't even see much point in discussing in what ways Lee is superior to Sam or vice versa.  I kind of think it's irrelevant. 

So anyway, that was my fandom/shipping epiphany.

Now, back to my poor, neglected fics...


*The exception being my crazy crossover ships, because how could I possibly believe that Kara genuinely loves Mal when they exist in different universes?  No, when it comes to crossovers I mostly just like to smush my favorite characters together without any rhyme or reason.

For the last couple of days, I've been trying to write a new scene for my pilotsbigbang  fic.  I decided (rather suddenly, with no prompting from my beta or anyone else) that this particular scene needed to exist.  Sort of worked out what I wanted to say with it ("sort of" being the operative phrase) and when it ought to take place.  And then proceeded to spend most of my time staring at the Word document. 

I have this problem, and I'd be curious to know if other writers on my flist get this too, where I find it very difficult to write new material for a story that feels 'finished' (you know, there's lots of revision to be done but I've got the beginning, middle, and end).  Like, when I was writing the first draft of the story, I wrote furiously for weeks (months, even).  This story consumed my brain.  And then I finished it, and floundered around for a bit before I found a new project.

Now I can't get that energy back.  Frak.  I'm at that 'just write something and worry about the quality later' stage, but it's frustrating.

One thing that has helped, actually, is listening to The Symphony of Science.  They're videos/songs made with clips from, like, science movies/presentations/whatever and autotune.  That may not sound good, but I found them quite stunning--visually, lyrically, and musically.  My favorites so far are "We Are All Connected" and "Our Place in the Cosmos."  They're beautiful in this really odd, almost haunting way.  And I find them to be very good writing music.  If I didn't already have a title for pilotsbigbang, I probably would have snerched something from the 'lyrics' to one of these.  So you should all be grateful I didn't discover this website a couple of months ago, or you might have found yourself reading "We Are Made of Star Stuff" or "The Brink of the Known" or some other equally pretentious title.  Actually, that last one's not so bad...

What else do I have to complain about?  Well, this isn't such a point of frustration as the last, but radio_silent  and I are planning to start a blog where we post reviews and stuff of all the television we consume.  Perhaps on tumblr?  Not sure.  We want something with a fandom presence but more officious-looking than LJ.  Like, something I would actually show people I know.  I know some of my flisters are on tumblr...any thoughts?  We'd be posting mostly essays (with pictures probably) and I'm not sure if tumblr's the right place for that, since most of the blogs I read there are multi-media/graphics-based.

The other problem is we can't think of a name.  Need something snappy, geeky, preferably meta, or perhaps containing a pun.  Bah.  When we do get this figured out, I'll post a link.

( Days 22 & 23 )

Doctor Who: Cold Blood
( spoiler alert )

On a lighter note, I am now in possession of a knitted sonic screwdriver.  Yes I am.  My friend made it for me, and it is every bit as awesome as you can imagine.  

And now, how about some useless fangirling?
Day 14. Favorite male character

I actually couldn't think of many contenders for this category.  There are lots of male characters that I love, but few of them really stand out without their ensemble.  I thought about the Doctor, but I feel bad calling him a favorite when I have only seen 3 of his 11 selves.  Plus, I don't know...he hasn't quite earned that 'favorite' status.  So my answer: Malcolm Reynolds.

Day 15. Favorite female character

This should be obvious.  Do I even need to say it?  Kara Thrace, you have consumed my attention ever since I watched you jogging through the corridors in the miniseries.  Since I have already expounded on my insane Kara love many times, I will just share a brief conversation that took place between me and my sister yesterday, as we perused EW's top 100 characters.

Sister: Oh look, it's Starbuck.  72.  Damn, that means Edward Cullen beat her.
Me: What?  Are you serious?  Well she's my No. 1.
Sister: ...Really?
Me: Um.  Yes.  Don't judge me.


ETA: I also realized that I wanted to say something about the "Dream On" episode of Glee, which only occurred to me the other day.  ( totally silly and inconsequential )

Day 10. A show you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

Surprisingly enough, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Yes, I judged the show by its quite silly name.  All I knew about it was that the heroine was named Buffy and that my dad watched it sometimes.  We mocked him for it on occasion.  Then one fateful day my sister stayed home sick from school, and started channel surfing.  She was looking for Xena, but stumbled upon Buffy instead.  That night, she said I absolutely had to watch this show, that it was amazing and I would love it.  I finally agreed, but mostly just to shut her up.  And the rest is history.

Day 11. A show that disappointed you

Uh, hello.  Battlestar Galactica.  Oh Battlestar, my Battlestar, you had such promise!  Such amazing characters!  And then season three had to happen.  And season four.  So yes, you disappointed me.  I still love you though.  Even if you have an overblown opinion of yourself, and even if you sort of dissolved into nonsensical storylines.  You didn't have a plan, and neither did the Cylons (except, you know, to blow up the Colonies, which they managed quite well in, like, the first hour, leaving one to wonder what else they needed a plan for)

Well, this is a bit of a downer post.  Sorry.  But hey, I want to talk about some books!  Two books, specifically.  The Demon's Lexicon and its sequel, The Demon's Covenant, by Sarah Rees Brennan (LJ's own sarahtales ).

( how I love them, let me count the ways )

Written for a prompt at no_takebacks : “The Passage,” Kara and Lee try to take care of each other in subtle ways, first as they begin to starve and then as they suffer through radiation sickness.

Title: Lift Me Up
Disclaimer: not mine, not for profit.
Characters/Pairing: Kara/Lee
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1500
Not beta'd.

( Kara hasn't tasted fresh fruit in too many months to count )

So, I’ve had His Dark Materials on my mind lately, especially the end. And I don’t want to go into specifics for anyone who might not want spoilers, but it got me thinking. I read The Amber Spyglass when I was a wee thing, and it was the very first work of fiction (be it a book, show, or movie) that made me cry. I remember reading with my mom throughout my childhood, and she’d be sobbing over Anne of Green Gables (I mean, yeah, that one part is really sad) or Black Gold or whatnot and I’d be a rock. Never shed a single tear. But Will and Lyra changed that. Ever since that book, I cry at a lot of books/shows/movies.  But not always the ones you’d expect. Um. So, this post is about things that have made me cry! And by “things” I mostly mean TV shows, but feel free to bring in other works. I want to know what makes you cry! That sounds weird, but it’s true. And gosh, I hope I'm not the only one who thinks about these things.

This is not a comprehensive list. Gods, but there are way too many for me to remember!

( a mixed bag )

So readers, what makes you cry? Enquiring minds want to know. Well, I do anyway.  Maybe that’s just my morbid curiosity talking. But what tugs on your heartstrings like no other?  I hope I'm not the only one who enjoys talking about these things!



*The absolute worst movies I've ever seen, if anyone wants to know, would be the following (in no particular order): Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Nine, and Vantage Point.