Date:	2012-05-24 16:26
Subject:	Fandom "Rep"
Security:	Public
Mood:	thoughtful

I used to be a total lurker, but now that I comment more, I do wonder about this fyfff tumblr post.

Do writers really keep track of the people who comment? Will the writer of something subtle and moving discount my admiration when they find out I also have a near-bulletproof love for, say, people being held down, even when written in barely-intelligible English?

Sorry skilled writers! I promise I have half a brain and appreciate your stuff — maybe even at the level you meant for it to be appreciated at. I just also have horrible weaknesses as well.

Though perhaps this type of "quality" snobbery has no legit place in the fanfic sphere anyway.

( Final Art for the Cap-Ironman Reverse Big Bang! )

Date:	2012-02-13 13:58
Subject:	Murder Mysteries review
Security:	Public
Mood:	irritated

P. Craig Russell is one of the few comic artists I will buy anything he does. So when I saw the graphic novel Murder Mysteries where he adapts a short story by Neil Gaiman, I was all psyched. But, uh, I found it very underwhelming and annoying.

( spoilers here )

I tried looking up reviews to see what people thought, but they were either impressed by his view of angels/God, and that Lucifer wasn't totally evil (not a surprise to me knowing Gaiman's other work), having some gay freakout, or thinking that the short story was better. I'm not sure how the last can be true, because my problems with this are all about story-theme. P. Craig Russell's gorgeous art and hot angels were the best part. I suppose the "whodunnit" part is much stronger in a story, but that might have made it worse for me. Because I kept hoping my interpretation and guesses would be wrong, since they had such oogy story-theme-implications. But, yeah.

Mechanics-wise, it's probably a good story (like the technical aspects of construction/symbolism/pacing etc), and it's always fun to see Gaiman write God as kinda a douche and the angels, including Lucifer, dealing with that, but... bleh.

P. Craig Russell's art is amazeballs though.

Date:	2012-02-08 00:15
Subject:	Jade Chocolates Genmai bar
Security:	Public
Mood:	thoughtful

Just tried the Jade Chocolates Genmai bar. Milk chocolate with roasted brown rice and jasmine and green tea flavor. Again, I am seduced by pretty package design. And you might not be able to tell from the photo, but the paper feels nice too. (Wrapped in "handmade LOKTA PAPER from the mountains of Nepal" the packaging informs me. Though perhaps that's the interior white paper and not the cool-feeling green outer wrapper. ANYWAY.)

Not a bad bar of chocolate, quality-wise, but I didn't like the green tea flavoring or aftertaste. Very strange since I love all the ingredients (green tea! yeah!) and they're apparently proud of the aftertaste. When I first popped it into my mouth I was like, "ah yeah this is gonna be awesome! Green tea + chocolate! Smells nice. Hey not bad chocolate + green tea combo!" But after a second it goes a little odd and the aftertaste feels artificial and chemical-y. I like crunchy things in my chocolate, so the brown rice was a plus, but didn't save the bar.

Still, Jade Chocolate's website tells me that this bar won "1st place for 'Best Flavored Chocolate' at the 2010 San Francisco Chocolate Salon," so maybe I am alone in my dislike of the flavoring/aftertaste. And at $6.25, the quality of the milk chocolate itself (disregarding the tea flavoring) is right for the price, but nothing that blew me away or that disappointed.

Date:	2012-01-22 16:23
Subject:	Comic book whining
Security:	Public
Mood:	frustrated

I need to stop reading Invincible Iron Man. It's just making me unhappy in all respects, but I can't stop. agh! D:

Date:	2012-01-07 17:30
Subject:	Asking for advice
Security:	Public
Mood:	thoughtful

Anyone have any advice for what to do when you have *too many ideas* on how to approach something? I have about 20 ideas that I need to narrow down to one or two. :P

Date:	2011-12-31 15:33
Subject:	Happy New Year and Looking Back
Security:	Public
Mood:	nostalgic

Setting things up on Dreamwidth has made me re-look at my friendslist and other fannish activities. Man, has it actually been something like *ten* years?

And there's something a little sad about all the crossed out names and journals abandoned for years (wtf when did leonidaslion go away?). I hope people have only gaffiated due to having ever more fulfilling lives, or getting bored, or changing journals, but you don't always know, do you? Online fandom can be very intimate while simultaneously being very impersonal.

And wow, aestheticism.com is gone. Of course, nowadays anyone can just download BL/yaoi scanlations, and there are quite a few commercially translated things as well. But I'm feeling a little nostalgic for my old fandom things, I guess.


( My fannish trajectory if anyone is interested/wants to reminisce (I remember when we still had mailing lists! uphill! both ways!) )

I drift in and out, but overall I love fandom, especially this corner of it. Besides enjoying all the fic and art, I think I've also learned a lot from people here. <3 to everyone and Happy New Year!

Date:	2011-12-26 17:10
Subject:	Here's hoping this Dreamwidth xposting works...
Security:	Public
Mood:	happy

This is such an awesome time of year. Eating tons of food and reading tons of fic.

Date:	2011-12-16 15:32
Subject:	tumblr rec
Security:	Public
Mood:	happy

Comic book/geekery fans will probably enjoy Phil Noto's tumblr. I expecially enjoy of the ones that are supposed to be old photos from Marvel's past. The current Stark Mansion Xmas party one cracks me up... Ben Grimm's sweater is just the cherry on top.

Hmmm that reminds me that I've been kicking around the idea of making a Hanukkah pic...

Date:	2011-12-04 23:58
Subject:	More comicbook rambling: This has all happened before and will all happen again
Security:	Public
Mood:	thoughtful

So I'm reading Marvel comics from 1989ish, and wtf Marvel had already had a Super Heroes Powers Registration Act arc (with a Cap "publicly assassinated" as well, as pointed out here). It was shorter, but it made way more logical sense characterization-wise, and none of the heroes were randomly stupid and horrible (and Reed wasn't suddenly "yay!Mccarthyism," which what? really? really?). So "Civil War" is kinda... an often poorly-handled fanboy revisit? (as opposed to a well-handled one, which I would have been totes up for)

( This has all happened before and will all happen again aka more superhero rambles )

also omg every time I read about Speedball or Bill Foster in these old books and think of what lies ahead for them I want to cryyyyyyy. Such sweeties. T_____T whyyyyyy

oh comics

Date:	2011-11-30 02:58
Subject:	some genuine (comics) nostalgia
Security:	Public
Mood:	nostalgic

I'm reading my way through some major Marvel series and I've hit the 1980s, and, hey, this is when I started reading comics irl as a kid! :D I'm now recognizing covers I saw on the shelves. (Of course, at the time I ignored all superheroes as boring and the covers as ugly.)

So many great memories of going with my parents to the comic book store every week. There'd always be new stuff! So exciting! :DDD Mom and Dad would get their boring comics and I'd get my kiddie ones. Marvel had started their Star imprint (Top Dog and Royal Roy and Planet Terry) and there were Archie digests and Katy Keene!

Man I loved Top Dog with a crazy passion! Premise: Top Dog decides to freeload off befriends a young boy and there are shenanigans as they have adventures and try to keep secret that Top Dog is smart and can talk. Please if anyone reading this ever read it, let me know!! I've never even met anyone who's heard of it :(



In this issue it was revealed that Top Dog was actually a genius who used to work for the govt wearing a sheet so no one knew he was a dog. Later he ran a supercomputer from an ice cream shop. omg it was so good and brought me joy.

Wait what is this that my googling has uncovered X-baby!Wolverine vs Top Dog wat

And Katy Keene had paper dolls with all different outfits for her and other characters! So amazing.

As I became a teen I started to get over Archie, and the Star titles folded. I actually might have drifted away from comics forever but... I happened to randomly pick up an Elfquest reprint digest one day. Oh Elfquest, you led to a zillion bad drawings of elves in high school and kept me tethered to comics <333

Date:	2011-11-22 05:48
Subject:	Nostalgia for a time that never was and that I wasn't there for
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

So I'm reading all these old comics and sometimes I'll read the letter pages. Oh man. lol. The old letter pages in the Marvel comics from the 1960s-80s were just something special. There was no internet in those days. Ultra-serious passion and analysis (and even calling Marvel out for the Mandarin being a racist stereotype)! Bombastic to thoughtful answers!

It's kinda odd and makes me smile--seeing a letter from Kurt Busiek (now big-timey comic writer) or Cat Yronwode (80s comic editor) in the back of a comic printed when I wasn't even alive. Even when it pisses me off, Busiek's work definitely has the obsessive love of canon details only a fan could have, and I wonder if his notebooks at age 17 were filled with his grand fanfic arcs that slowly came to canon fruition years later.

SF and comics are so lovely and weird and incestuous in how permeable the fan-pro boundary is.

Oh comics. Oh old-timey SFy fandom.

I remember reading my parents' old Amazing Spider-man comics when I was a teen. The comics were fragile and had that awesome old-book smell and I had ~~feelings. So many ~~feelings and I totally would have written in if they weren't decades out of date. (Peter's highschool social shenanigans are best read when in highschool yourself for fullest impact. Everything being all old-timey was no obstacle to a girl reading Archie digests.)

btw I did totally write in to comic books in high school. They were even published. lol :D

Been reading more old-time Marvel comics, and there's something I miss about the playfulness/tongue-in-cheek-ness of the superhero stories of the 60s and 70s... and even 80s. Like the narrator talking right to the readers and things like Luke Cage punching his desk in anger and being all "whups, damn I needed that desk" *tries to cover hole with blotter*. Should I blame Watchmen and Miller for the loss of this tone? It was a little silly and overblown, and often fail-y, but then again... idk idk. Superhero comics are so odd. They have multiverses with huge casts of characters and hundreds of different writers and canons that span decades. Insert meaningful thoughts here about what that means, myths blah blah etc.

Spidey and Captain America are so cute in this era. I remember reading all the old 60s-70s Spideys when I was a teen, so maybe I imprinted, but I would actually laugh at his fight scene wisecracks. I kinda miss getting that shot of joy.

(Also omg I thought Tony's permed mullet as a result of him seeing a hairdresser was a fanon joke. But it's actually canon. lulz. Also: Mrs. Arbogast is a very cool character! I can see where she'd be redundant in a movie, but she's v cool.)

Date:	2011-10-23 22:47
Subject:	more comic book rambles
Security:	Public
Mood:	blah

Damn you movies and fic, because I have a horrible feeling I'm going to be one of those people who takes comics too seriously again nooooo (luckily DC looks dumb enough that I can still happily avoid the Batverse).

( comics Captain America blah blah )

Date:	2011-10-18 22:10
Subject:	I ship an unpopular het ship and so my life is hard
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative

Damn, after gorging on Marvel comics, I totally ship Tony Stark/Maria Hill now. What is this strange feeling of loving a het ship and also a rare one? I am usually so down with the hivemind, so this is an newish experience.

(I can see where people might have problems with both characters' actions, and maybe if I had read things in a different order, I'd feel differently, but... I'm a total apologist for both their characters and I would love to read a zillion fics and art and suchnot.)

Of course there is like 1 fic on the internet for this pairing (it's nice though!) :'''(

Also I know the comics will do something stupid and break my heart. That is always like rule #1 with superhero comics anyway though.

Date:	2011-10-17 03:24
Subject:	so many superhero comic ~~~feelings
Security:	Public
Mood:	sad

Oh man, I'm trying to read my way through Marvel's Civil War and it's, like, breaking my heart. I have to stop and take breaks. It's so, so sad. (And, also, I keep wanting to argue politics/issues with superheroes, and thinking, "nooo that's wrong, and also you're acting dumb.")

I remember years ago when I 1st heard about the Civil War arc, I thought, "whoa that sounds rough and sad-making and likely to be frustratingly written re: issues at times. Glad I'm not into Marvel superhero comics anymore and can ignore it lalalala."

Oh god I was so right D: I blame the movies and fandom for making me interested again. And I was reading comics hardcore from age 5 until a few years ago, so I have a lot of overly impassioned ~~~feelings about it all too, which is way unfair.

And past-Spidey and current-Tony are my *favorites* so it's like DDDD: even more

Especially since I actually bought a few issues during the early time when Petey actually was at an ok place in his life, an Avenger, and happy with Aunt May and MJ. And Tony was all thinking maybe Petey would be his protégé and even built him a new outfit (ie how Tony tries to win love). I remember thinking then, "hey if this is what it'll be like, I guess I'll keep buying comics." Yeah, that lasted like 30 seconds. It was so good before it all went bad wah ;____;

Oh well, at least I didn't read it at the time. I would have lived in a constant state of sadness and frustration and need to tell fanboys on the internet that they are wrong.

Date:	2011-09-27 20:12
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

boo new delicious sucks

BUT I found videos that involve Tim Gunn talking about superhero costumes OH YEAH

I mean I know he was in that comic wearing the Ironman suit but this is extra joy

:DD

( some videos w Tim Gunn talking superhero fashion )

Date:	2011-09-08 17:49
Subject:	Thor
Security:	Public
Mood:	thoughtful

Random thought: movie!Thor Thor/Loki dynamic is like a v cool amalgam of many of the things I like about SV's Clark/Lex and Merlin's Arthur/Merlin.

Date:	2011-05-24 16:05
Subject:	Stuff and chocolate
Security:	Public
Mood:	complacent

I've been reading Dresden slash fic, Borges short stories translated into English, and finally got all caught up on the webcomic homestuck. Oh and also been paying way to much attention to Adam Lambert's hair situations.

Also finally gonna do that move/roadtrip thing (change is scary but good!), so I really should be dealing w/ rl instead of reading entertainingly disparate things.

MORE IMPORTANTLY. CHOCOLATE THOUGHTS:


365 Organic Swiss Dark Chocolate (52% cacao)

So, in ~theory this bar falls into what I was starting to think of as "the uncanny valley of the over $3-but-under-$6 chocolate bar," but it was a gift, so of course I ate it anyway :D (free candy!!)

And it was actually pretty good! I wasn't expecting a lot, because it was the Whole Foods 365 brand and a mid-range price, but this is the best mid-level chocolate bar I've had so far.

I still think that if you want better quality than Hershey's it's worth spending $8 for a way better bar, but the 365 Organic Swiss Dark Chocolate does give you your money's worth. So I guess there is a mid-level bar worth buying/eating. If you want some chocolate a little better and richer than average, (and not so rich it'll take you weeks to finish it) this is a solid choice.

Date:	2011-05-17 07:44
Subject:	Rosanne
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative

Interesting opinion piece by Roseanne at NY Magazine here: http://nymag.com/arts/tv/upfronts/2011/roseanne-barr-2011-5/

I loved that show so much (during the good years), and even though who knows what really happened, her version of events reads as v v plausible to me.