stripytights | Entries tagged with offtopic

This is my favourite thing of today (crack fanmix for The Iliad) find the tracklist here. My favourites are Book 18: The Shield of Achilles — Build A Bear Workshop theme and Book 8: The Tide of Battle Turns — This Aint A Scene. Also the fight between Ajax and Hector being set to the Confrontation from Les Mis.

Ages ago, pliny wrote me Sam Winchester poetry in response to an ask meme where you had to reveal what you'd learnt from osmosis about something you've never seen it. I rarely remember to log onto Tumblr so here it is. Pliny is awesome at poetry and suspiciously spot on about Sam. How can you not love something that's funny and sad at exactly the same time.

I put my Sam h/c prompt fill up on AO3 here: under the waters still and deep and also my spmc entry: Don't Shoot the Sacred Symbol

Sam & Dean Minibang post-date tomorrow. I feel nervous though not for any particular reason.

This is going to sound really stupid and I have been on lj for far far too long to only ask this now but how do I format a fic post entry so it returns to lj's default when you click instead of retaining journal formatting. I'm pretty sure I've seen it done - possibly using =light at the end of the URL.

OhSam is running a commentfic meme at the moment for the express purpose of whumping Sam. I'm not very good at whumping anybody but I very occasionally like trying to, so I wrote a piece about Sam drowning that's a little more hurt than comfort. Who am I kidding, it's all hurt, I'm sorry. It's also gen and can be found here

Insmallpackages is running again this year. I was a complete fail last year but I'm cautiously resigning up so fingers crossed. My favourite low-pressure mini-exchange.

Posting date for my Sam/Dean Minibang grows closer. I am mildly excited, mostly because for the first time ever, yes ever, I've finished well before the actual date.

I've seen this from several people on my flist but the last one was

de_nugis so I'm counting it a snag from her. Ten Things to Love

1. I finished an essay and handed it in at least half an hour before the closing time. Looks like this finishing early lark is catching (well, early for me anyway).

2. My AllSaints t-shirt arrived in the post and it is as nice as it looked online.

3. I had steak for dinner tonight.

4. I get to meet a friend I've never met before in a couple of weeks time.

5. My flatmate invited me swimming. I didn't go because I couldn't find my costume but it's the thought that counts.

6.

salt_burn_porn is running and it's as awesome as usual

7. My fake stocks rose.

8. My room is tidy and my bed is made with fresh linen that smells amazing (this may have been the procrastination before the above essay got started).

9. I left my trainers in my parent's house so I have a legitimate excuse not to go to the gym.

10. I have red peppers stuffed with cream cheese. Delicious.

The real joy of SPN and associated RPF is that for the first time since Alexander the Great RPF (a surprisingly big fandom), I'm shipping a juggernaut. Two huge pairings even, and I get all the rest of the fic to read as well because I like everything.

I picked In the Midwinter Cold LJ, AO3, Dean/Sam, PG-13, 8.5K

I chose this one because it exists in an odd place for me. At the time I wrote this (December 2012) I'd been in the fandom proper for two/three months, and I'd read hardly any Sam/Dean fic at all. So in a sense it's what you get when someone's completely unaware of everything else written - which is a very freeing feeling. It was also the first thing I wrote for D/S with a semblance of a plot - there's a monster, a climax, everything! It contains some of my favourite tropes (as well, I hope, as some of my recipient's favourites) including huddling for warmth, intimacy, first kisses, time-disturbance, and plenty of brother time. It's low key and nothing special, but it was fun to write and an entrance into a different type of fic for me (please note the lack of sex! shocking!)

There was a movie meme that I was going to steal from

counteragent which asked for ten films that people could watch to know who you are. Unfortunately, I don't actually watch very many films at all. So I considered bastardising it by combining with

de_nugis's version and doing 5 books/5 films. However, no way could I narrow it down to five books. So 5 films and 10 books.

1. Reach for the Sky - yes I am embarrassed by this one.
2. The Red Shoes
3. Grosse Point Blank
4. A Man for All Seasons
5. A Matter of Life and Death ties with Fast and Furious 1

1. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien - for obvious reasons
2. The Evil Cradling - Brian Keenan
3. Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality - John Boswell
4. Iliad - Homer
5. All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot
6. King Rat - James Clavell
7. A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller
8. Persuasion - Jane Austen
9. A Vicarage Childhood - Noel Streatfeild
10. The Lantern Bearers - Rosemary Sutcliff

Okay, because I'm a moron, I um forgot to change the backdating of my

smpc fic to something that isn't 'April 2011'. So yeah, if you'd like to read 5K of ridiculous J2 band AU (more Mindless Self Indulgence than Hawkwind), which has more sex than you can shake a ~~dick~~ stick at, then you can find it at 'What Goes On Tour'. (thanks for beta-ing it, pliny!) Feedback always welcome/appreciated.

( Ridiculous anecdote/thought of the day. )

I was going to save my recs for after reveal, but I don't want to wait that long to rec the fic I received. So part two of Spring Fling recs now that I've read most of my way through (not all the way but if I waited for that I would never ever rec anything). Bonus stick-figure art created in Paint for anyone who guesses what I wrote. Here's a clue. It's poorly punctuated.

Star Rec: All That Is Gone this is my gift and it is Sam/Cas and absolutely beautiful. It does a great job picking apart some of Sam's emotions about possession and being overridden. There's something especially chilling about the concept and the ending. Thoroughly recommend.

- Air and Earth - J2, you feel the pain of unrequited love and the sense of freedom generated by the ending is amazing. I want more, but the ending in itself is enough.

- Still Waters - Jess/Jo, femslash and banter and a really really cute fic.
- Confidential - J2, ART, I love the coloring of this and Jared's expression and the great sense of a whole story.
- All the Lonely People - Gadreel gen. Thoughtful and interesting. Made me reconsider the character.

In other news, enforced idleness from being sick as a dog makes me productive. I wrote a J2 rowing AU for salt_burn_porn (it turns out, researching after the fact, that American college rowing seems to be a bit different than college rowing here so apologies for the clearly non-American-ness of this) and my own take on soulless Dean for smpc which I know must have been written before a lot but I've never read one so it seemed like fun.

In other other news. You know what's a really poor idea? Blindly grabbing for a bottle of shampoo in the shower. I'm usually about this shade. Now I am. Turns out that products not belonging to me that claim to eliminate brassy tones and make your hair naturally lighter might actually work. I've been wearing a slouchy knit hat this whole weekend and looking like a tool.

Yes, I know everybody is playing it, but for SPN fans there's a version of it here that I'm enjoying. Level/blocks go in order of Dean, Sam, Kevin, Charlie, Meg, Ruby, Abaddon, Cas (I confess I have got no further)

http://games.usvsth3m.com/2048/supernatural--edition-4/

Edited to add: Two Cas's level up to become a Bobby.

Day 1-3

Day 4: Comment to someone you haven't ever interacted with before or introduce yourself to someone you've interacted with and friend/follow them. Afterwards, leave a comment in this post with the equivalent of "I did it!"

I did this one, commented on several things that I'd been meaning to. I'm not great at actively friending people though, mostly because I feel very shy about putting myself out there. It makes no sense because I love it when other people introduce themselves to me.

Day 5: In your own space, talk about a creator. Show us why you think they are amazing. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I'm saving this one for a separate post and also because it'll take more time than the rest to marshal my thoughts and organise them into something coherent.

Day 6: In your own space, share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life. Something that impacted on your consciousness in a way that left its mark on your soul. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I had a lot of options in mind for this one, some runners up included The Lord of the Rings (book), From the Other Riverbank by Dwimordene (fanfic), Supernatural (tv show) and Dog Day Afternoon (film.)

Eventually though I picked 'The Evil Cradling' by Brian Keenan for a lot of reasons (quick rundown: it's a memoir by one of the Beiruit hostages in the '80s). I first read it when I was pretty small, and I suspect it shaped a lot of the way I thought about the world in a way that still has an impact on me. It's a book that at its heart is about the good in people, not the bad, and while terrible things happened to the author, he overcame them all with a considerable amount of grace and humanity. It's about friendship and relying on someone else, and being there for someone else at the same time. It's also one of the only books that made me think twice about poetry as an art form, when it's not something I generally enjoy. Brian Keenan writes beautifully and I must have bought the book five or six times because I keep lending it to people and they keep being struck in exactly the same way, and never giving me the damn things back!

I wrote some gen Artemis fic as a leap off from 'Remember the Titans', the original idea of which was snickfic's.

Anyhow the fic itself can be found here: The Longer Hunt

I'm off to visit my brother for a week and while I'm sure I'll be writing, I'm unlikely to be around on lj. This leads nicely into trying to clear my plate a little before I go. Chapter Five of Missing Piece of the Puzzle is underway, and I'm doing a kinkmeme fill which started off as sexy horrible jerks and then took a sharp left turn into crack.

I am still behind on Supernatural so I'm considering acquiring them tonight to watch one on the plane and the other on the train ride down. Then I can drown my sorrows when I reach the other end and pray that my brother has abandoned his idea of a quick day trip to France.

The 'Because We Feel Like It' SPN/RPF Comment Meme

sutcliff_swap on Livejournal | sutcliff_swap on Dreamwidth | AO3 collection
Sutcliff Swap Fanwork Exchange Schedule and Policies (DW) | FAQ (DW)
List of Works (DW) | Promotion Post | Sign-up Form
A multifandom exchange for fiction and art based on the works of Rosemary Sutcliff

I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to manage to participate this year though I'll definitely sign up to pinch hit. I love Sutcliff, I love writing Sutcliff stuff but it's a really really difficult style to do justice too. But if anyone out there fancies it, they totally should! And if you haven't read any of the books (Eagle of the Ninth or any of the others) then you definitely should, and then chat with me about them! Just indulge my palpable and embarrassingly obvious fondness for brotherly/sisterly bonds of any type.

Nicked from

snickfic

I know very little about some of the people on my friends list. Some people I know relatively well. But here's a thought: why not take this opportunity to tell me a little something about yourself. Any old thing at all. Just so the next time I see your name I can say: "Ah, there's Parker ...she likes money and cereal." I'd love it if everyone who's friended me did this. (Yes, even you people who I know really well.) Then post this in your own journal [only if you feel inclined]. In return, ask me anything you'd like to know about me and I'll give you an answer*.

*Providing it's answerable/suitable for public posting.

I got tw amazin fics for which I am super grateful! It's been a fantastic Yuletide and I've really enjoyed taking part. I recommend both of these fics completely!

The Knight Who Trespasses (3614 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Arthurian Mythology
Rating: Mature
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Guinevere/Arthur Pendragon, Lancelot du Lac/Arthur Pendragon, Guinevere/Lancelot du Lac, Guinevere/Lancelot du Lac/Arthur Pendragon
Characters: Guinevere (Arthurian), Arthur Pendragon, Lancelot du Lac, Tristan (Arthurian), Bedivere (Arthurian), Gawain (Arthurian)
Summary:

“They made me see that the world was beautiful if you were beautiful, and that you couldn't get unless you gave. And you had to give without wanting to get.” T.H. White - The Once and Future King

Notes This is a beautiful and gorgeous look at the complicated relationship and dynamics between Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot, with a touch of magic, and an acknowledgement of how difficult things can be between people even when you love. Also those last paragraphs are like a dream come true.

and then, because I'm super lucky, I got a trea as well

Trinitarian (1236 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Arthurian Mythology
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Lancelot du Lac/Arthur Pendragon, Guinevere/Lancelot du Lac/Arthur Pendragon, Guinevere/Lancelot du Lac, Guinevere/Arthur Pendragon
Summary:

On the first morning of May, Queen Guinevere went to riding with her champion, Sir Lancelot du Lac. King Arthur went up from his Whitsun's midsummer feast to defend the border from the Northmen. On the feast day of St Ignatius of Antioch, King Arthur and Queen Guinevere sat in court in Camelot. In private chambers, they sat together.

Notes Superb imagery, and beautiful language entwining three flawed people together. Glimpses of a vital relationship and the many facets therein- and its gorgeous final paragraph