( Revisiting my enjoyment of Garak/Bashir. Cut in case you want to skip it. )

Completely unrelated, but...
Is “spasming” a real word? Spell check doesn’t like it. What do you say, then: “in spasm?” That’s not as sexy.

Last night I was over-tired and couldn’t sleep. I found the film Pi so I watched it, fell asleep, and dreamed about numbers. It must have been slightly nightmarish, because I remember repeating to myself “They’re only numbers.” (And while awake, I have fun repeating “Darren Aronofsky, Darren Aronofsky, Darren Aronofsky”… to myself. Try it. And try any of his films. As your doctor, I recommend them.)

I hadn’t seen that film since 1998, I suppose, when it came out. I’d found an art cinema that showed a different film every week, and decided to make it my practice to go once a week after work. This lasted for three consecutive weeks until it suddenly closed.

Changing subjects, apparently all of It’s Garry Shandling’s Show were just released on DVD. Very unique show, from what I recall. Surreal and fourth-wall breaking. I haven’t seen those since 1986, but can still sing you every word of the theme song. It’s very catchy and easy to learn:



I can also do you a rendition of The Facts of Life theme song…but don’t worry, I won’t.

Sorry about this post. Apparently I'm still over-tired.

Today is my cats’ birthday. (Also Guy Fawkes Day.) Got them a bag of cat weed and a boingy mouse. Six bucks well spent. They are pleased.

I signed up for a gift fic exchange recently. I’ve never done one before, never had the inclination, but it should be very exciting to have an assignment...and a present of fic. As a result, I'm suddenly looking forward to the holidays.

I’d really like to get back in the habit of writing in my journal. Of writing plenty of anything. It’s been going well these last few months, comparatively, but I tend to beat myself up about all that I’m not doing. I need an attitude adjustment and fewer excuses.

In the meantime…
Halloween is over and done with. Woke up and literally startled myself in front of the mirror the morning after the goth party. Too much black make-up migrating to new locations. Hair on backwards. Eyes bloodshot! as all get-out -- due to the make-up or too much drinking, I don’t know. My best friend and I spent much time talking about our slash pairings, her husband teasing me mercilessly the entire time. We didn’t do the usual photoshoot. (In fact, I kinda hope there aren’t any pictures at all.) But we didn’t do the staged ones. Maybe we’ve finally outgrown it; maybe it’s just not the same without R. He died unexpectedly a few months ago, and the goth party was just as much his as our hostess’s. He was missed but memorialized. Good guy, R. Astronomer. Taught physics at Johns Hopkins. We dated for a time, and every decent kitchen utensil I have was bought for me by him. He taught me how to grill fish, grind coffee, and berated me for not separating laundry properly. Best Friend once pointed out that I was the “man” in that relationship.

Didn’t mean to go off on that tangent; sorry. Finally started the new job at my new job, coordinating images for the website. I’m diggin’ it. It’s fine. I get left alone a lot more than I did before, which I like. I’d gotten too used to the independent environment over the years at my previous workplace! I still find it kind of weird that there are people walking past my desk all the time. Phones ringing. I’d never sent a fax in my life before. The Office is such a ridiculous place, really. Do not let me become institutionalized to it.

Be back tomorrow, I hope. bye

The other upstairs apartment here is vacant at the moment. I jimmied the back door and let my cats in so that they could have a look around.** It's so freakin' funny! It's like they have bobble heads, the way they're checking things out, doing double-takes in their meticulously observant, nervous cat way. It's just like my apartment, but in reverse! How Twilight Zone that must seem to them.


**Yes, it's astonishingly easy.*** All it takes is a library card and less than two seconds. My ex-neighbor (who is now a policeman) taught my mother the trick when she came to stay with me and was locked out.


***But if you happen to have my address and are considering a breaking-and-entering escapade, tough luck. They've installed guard thingies (on my door) since Mom learned how to slide my lock.

The Big Bang Theory throws those geek bones left and right, but my three favorite so far have been...

1) Sheldon's Tron t-shirt

2) The Time Machine replica in season 1

3) Wil Wheaton's appearance on yesterday's episode.

Not only was the ST:TNG nostalgia enchanting, it was also charming to see a real-life geek doing geeky activities with other (fictional) geeks. I just checked his blog for production notes (there were only a couple, but more coming soon). The man uses the word "grok" correctly in a sentence. Ten points to Gryffindor.

Watchmen graphic novel photo manips

I've been sheltering most of my flist from this behavior of mine. But here they are. Not only is it enjoyable to see the characters in new (generally slashy) situations from what canon gives them, but it's highly rewarding to spend time paging through the book again and again -- not to mention studying the artwork through the tip of a stylus. I wanted to gather them all together for a couple of catch-all posts. Approximately 50 pics in the first post; about half that in the following one, but growing. They're probably funnier if you're familiar with the original panels. (That's not me posting them at /coq/, by the way. I'd have chosen different ones! Hah!)

Manips Post 1 - Nite Owl/Rorschach - NSFW here and there
Manips Post 2 - Nite Owl/Rorschach - some NSFW



Watchmen Action Figure Theatre comics

Also, the action figures' adventures continue in the following comics. Generally all are Rorschach/Nite Owl, but Hollis Mason, Laurie, and Jon feature here and there. (Linked to my journal; not the comms)


Retribution
Creature Comforts
Investigate Further
American Love
First Kiss
Vodka and Tachyons
Beer Session
Venus and Mars
Rose-Colored Goggles
Owl Watching
October Twelfth

Master Post 2 of Watchmen graphic novel manips

( Read more... )

I Hope I Become A Ghost mp3 -- The Deadly Syndrome


When I die, I want to haunt you.

I loooo-uh-uh-huh-ooove October. I love the weather, the shortening days, the changing leaves, and cozy gray skies. (And then of course there's Halloween.)

Passing by a roadside stand, I could not pass up getting one of these white pumpkins.



Don't know whether I'll carve it or draw on it yet.



These were in the grocery store. Obviously, I thought they were little Rorschach-faced lanterns...but it's actually the silhouette of a witch on a broom. A bit of an ink blot test all the same!

Master Post 1 of Watchmen graphic novel photo manips.

( Warning: LOTS of pictures under cut. Nite Owl/Rorschach. NSFW here and there. )

Silk Spectre's new uniform.

Whatwhatwhaaat?

Heroes premiere last night? I'm going to go watch. Hopefully I can remember where we left off last season.

Only ten minutes ago, I stuck my hand down the sofa looking for the phone, and I found action figure Noah Bennet's glasses! I thought they were lost forever...or at least until the next vacuuming. Much better this way.

This time of year is always a bit of a lonely time for fandom. So many people return to classes and need to devote themselves to classwork sorts of projects instead of fic and art kinds. Output slows, and there's a lull for a while before they adjust or get bored or just can't contain themselves anymore.

I'm wandering the halls alone, refreshing my friends page but seeing too little of what I need. I'm writing and all, but it's just not the same -- I know what's going to happen in those stories. But I will be patient. No need for anyone to fail a class just because I want something new to read.

I heard one of the most amusing names today -- Andrew Wigglesworth. I've been repeating it in my head all day, and it's quickly replacing Nigel Bottomley as my favorite "sounds like it's from a storybook, but really IS someone's name" name.

My parents played a lot of Peter, Paul, and Mary during my childhood. But being a sensitive young thing, I couldn't help but cry helplessly at "Puff, the Magic Dragon." It was just too devastatingly heart-breaking to think of Jackie not seeing his best friend anymore. I don't know if it was a question of feeling worse for Puff or for Jackie -- the unfairness of them not being together just plunged me into despair, and I'd cry every time. Mom had to lift the needle and skip over that song on the record. When she played it on the guitar, it didn't affect me. Only when Peter, Paul, and Mary did it. Heh, don't worry -- I'm pretty over it.

Thank god for Rule 34.

The weekend was absolutely fantastic; just what I needed. I’m still learning to get into the swing of having days off, paid holidays, and all the normal things that lucky people tend to take for granted. I’d been shafted for so long by my old job, I’d forgotten what basic rights were like. And this time I didn’t have to turn down an invitation to go up to the woods for a couple of days.

Dad and Rob share a house up there with another couple. They’re not rich or anything; they’re retired teachers. They just love going there as many weekends as possible for the escape. Over just two days I/we hiked, picked blueberries, made a big fire, listened to the football game (the whole lot of us staying there are graduates of the same university), splashed and sunned in the river/creek, watched movies, set off fireworks, drank, and slept hard. It should be enough to get me through until next weekend :)

( some photos under the cut )

You know those times when something’s not right in your house, and you cast about quickly to find a weapon and go investigating the source of the not-right-ness? Well, I just went off to defend my home and my life armed with a fork.

It’s great when you’ve whipped open the doors or shower curtains and completed the perimeter check and found nothing. You congratulate yourself on being so brave to have instinctively grabbed a weapon and gone after the bad thing. My self-congratulation was immediately followed by embarrassment. I really must leave more baseball bats laying around.

It turned out not to be a murderer after all. Now that I’m thinking about it, I did just watch the new episode of Dexter tonight. Didn’t know I was so suggestible.

(great ep, by the way. John Lithgow!! and lots of blood.)