DIE MICHAEL DOUGLAS, DIE!!!!!!

November 21st, 2006 12:10pm by rusty-halo | 7 Comments »

OH MY GOD I HATE MICHAEL DOUGLAS.

I really hate him. It’s an irrational and totally visceral thing, I just absolutely cannot stand him. He is so smarmy and creepy and horrible. MAKE HIM GO AWAY.

Also, Sean Bean, WHY ARE YOU IN SO MANY BAD MOVIES???

Anyway, it’s entirely Sean Bean’s fault that last night I had to watch the monstrosity that is known as Don’t Say a Word. *shudders*

Don’t watch it. It’s stupid, nonsensical, boring, and unbelievably irritating. Like Patriot Games it’s got a disgustingly perfect all-American family (complete with a gigantic NYC apartment, oh how I hate them) threatened by an ultra-hot scary British guy (Sean Bean, playing a thoroughly one-dimensional version of the role he played in National Treasure, Essex Boys, and Fool’s Gold). It’s even got a threatened little girl, and between this, Flightplan, Silent Hill, and The Dark, I’m starting to think that Sean Bean chooses his movies based entirely on the fact that they feature threatened little girls.

He’s such a good actor. And he’s so gorgeous. SOMEONE PUT HIM IN A GOOD MOVIE. Meanwhile, I’ll just be over here with my Sharpe DVDs. And this photo, which makes me happy every time I see it.

Oh and hey, vm_fic just recced a bunch of hurt!Logan fic. I think my h/c kink is overcoming my VM distaste. There’s some good stuff here.

Do you have any advice for vegans at Thanksgiving? Help me out, go post in the comments here.

(no subject)

December 13th, 2005 12:59pm by rusty-halo | 20 Comments »

NY Times article on George RR Martin. Neat!

10zlaine and I are going to see him at a convention at Harvard in January. Vericon.

It’s freezing outside. My hair froze on the way to work this morning. Ugh. Coldest day so far. (And my apartment is also freezing. Poor kitties.)

I saw Depeche Mode again on Thursday night. I bought the ticket the day before–they must’ve released some reserved seats at the last minute–because I had an amazing view. Second row, elevated, to the left, right in front of the stage. Totally awesome–I’m so happy with it. And the show was really wonderful–they are such talented and charismatic performers. I think the only difference between shows was that Martin Gore sang “A Question of Lust” this time. Anyway–wonderful show, totally recommend seeing them.

I was sick all weekend, and alternated between working on various projects and huddling in front of the TV drinking hot tea and re-watching S1 of Veronica Mars.

Stuff I noticed in VM:

- Logan is SO COMPLETELY WONDERFUL. (Sorry. Had to say it.)

- “An Echolls Family Christmas” is my favorite episode. Every time the Echolls family comes onscreen, the show gets ten times better. And Logan/Weevil slashiness! Seriously, those two have awesome chemistry.

- Duncan had more facial expressions last year, didn’t he? WTF is up with that? He really is a robot in S2.

- I really liked S1 Veronica. I totally, totally get the high school trauma thing, and the “covering your pain by being a badass” thing, and the rejection of a social group that you’ve realized is corrupt. I (*gasp*) identified with her, and liked her. I loved her anger, and the fact that she’d choose vengeance–she wasn’t perfect, but was real.

But what’s horrible is to realize that she didn’t reject the ‘09ers because she realized that they are corrupt and not worth her time–she just rejected them because they rejected her first. Really, she was just pining to get back in with them. And now that she has the opportunity to do so, she’s immediately given up all that “independent,” “interesting” stuff and turned into just another ‘09er clone. Look at her HAIR for God’s sake–last year it was all funky and neat, this year it’s all pretty blonde princess. She’s tolerating DICK and putting up with 100 times more bullshit from Duncan than she’d ever have tolerated from Logan. It’s like she started out as Chloe, but she’s turned into Buffy. (*shudders*)

And I’ve lost all respect for the character. And that SUCKS. I want to see her reject the ‘09ers, not because they were mean to her but because she realizes that she really isn’t one of them and doesn’t want to belong to their lame-ass social group anyway. Even if she could.

-Okay, another S1 thing–the MotW episodes kind of sucked then, too. I didn’t realize it because I was watching so fast and most paying attention to the arc stuff, but if I’d been watching week by week I’d have been pretty frustrated. Seriously, plenty of those mysteries are predictable and lame.

In fact, I totally separate the arc stuff from the MotW stuff, and it’s kind of startling to realize that those awesome scenes where Logan and Aaron are attending Lynn’s funeral are actually spaced between some ridiculously dull plot of the week thing about a rap mogul’s daughter. Who knew? “An Echolls Family Christmas” rocks because both the A and B plot are Echolls related. (Seriously, they should just make it “The Fucked-Up Echolls Family Show”–now that I’d love. Every time Logan or Aaron are onscreen, the show is ten times better.)

Anyway. Just some random thoughts.

As far as season two… last week’s episode was ( VM 2xWhatever spoilers )

Oh yeah, and on Sunday I went with jaydk to this play reading thing, because it featured her latest fictional obsession, Tom Pelphrey, who plays Jonathan on Guiding Light. (I’ve never actually seen Guiding Light, but from having Jane as a friend, I know allll about Jonathan.) So the play was decent (a bit Breakfast-Club-esque) and the acting was quite good. So that was neat.

And other than that, I’ve just been madly busy. Website stuff, holiday stuff, eBay, etc.

Actually, this eBay thing is really starting to suck–I’ve been selling used CDs, because I bought a couple of collections (for rare Pig stuff) and am re-selling the stuff I already had.

Anyway, one rare CD didn’t arrive, and now the woman is threatening to sue me. Normally I’d take that with a gigantic grain of salt, but apparently she is a lawyer and lives in Manhattan. I don’t know what to do.

- It was mailed November 28 or 29, from Manhattan to Manhattan, and hasn’t arrived yet.
- I offered insurance, and she didn’t buy it. So there’s no record that I actually sent it–I just slapped a $3.85 Priority Mail sticker on it and dropped it off. I told her to check at her post office, but she just keeps accusing me of lying and never sending it.
- She thinks I’m scamming her because I’m selling multiple copies of the same CD. Um, I’m selling multiple copies of the same CD because I own several copies.
- I have a 99.6% feedback rating. 271 positive, 1 negative, and the 1 negative was someone who thought shipping took too long. Every single CD I’ve ever sold has arrived.
- I’ve been totally polite and honest with her in emails, and she is ranting and raving about how “internet fraud is a crime and I’m going to sic the FBI on you” etc.

I’m just really creeped out, because she lives here and she has my home address. *worries*

People suck.

(no subject)

December 2nd, 2005 3:20pm by rusty-halo | 8 Comments »

queenofthorns finally wrote her long-threatened Big Post of Jaime Love. Well, at least, she wrote Part 1. Check it out.

If you still haven’t read A Song of Ice and Fire … oh, c’mon already! It’s perfect for Spike fans; I already got drujan and 10zlaine hooked.

If only this fic by lunasky had been the actual ending of Veronica Mars this week.

Speaking of VM, ( spoilers for 2×09 )

And speaking of nostalgia, sophia_helix posted this poll about best and favorite Darin Morgan episodes of X-Files.

*sigh*

Remember Darin Morgan? Remember X-Files? Remember the cockroach running across the screen, or that time Mulder shrieked?

*gets all depressingly nostalgic*

That was back before I knew about internet fandom (I think maybe we had AOL, pay by the minute, and my dad let me have 15 minutes a week or something useless like that). But I was a fan, like in the fan club, and my best friend and I used to watch it together over the phone, calling each other at the commercials and screaming about whatever amazing plot twist had just happened. And we’d have sleepover marathons and we even kinda wrote fanfic–at least, Mulder and Scully parodies appeared as characters in original stuff that we wrote.

Stupid nostalgia.

vm fic, thanksgiving, writercon

November 30th, 2005 12:52pm by rusty-halo | 3 Comments »

I asked for VM fic recs the other day, and amerella totally went above and beyond. If anyone else is looking for non-LoVe Logan fic, check out the recs she posted for me. My favorite would be That’s Amore by dark_roast (post 1×22). Well written, very disturbing, and totally Logan.

I’ve been so busy lately. Random life update:

Thanksgiving was fun. jaydk and her mom were really accomodating, and made the side dishes using vegan margarine and soy milk, so I could eat the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green beans. And her mom bought me some frozen dinner type things, so I had plenty. Oh, and she made a yummy vegan pumpkin pie, using my favorite recipe. (Plus, they have a Trader Joe’s, so I was able to stock up for the rest of the weekend.)

We watched 18 episodes of Veronica Mars, and jaydk got into it and was totally a Logan fan, despite starting with a “I hate Logan, I’m so sick of everyone raving about him” attitude. Hee! And she shared my utter lack of patience with the boringness of Duncan.

We also saw Harry Potter again (it was better the second time, felt less rushed) and saw Rent (awful, but of course, it made me cry my eyes out anyway). And we took care of her mom’s dogs (cute, but man, dogs are annoying) and visited Target (huge! and creepy! but I did get season three of Family Guy for $18, so not entirely bad).

It was good to get home, though. I missed my cats so much, and I could tell they missed me too. Lucifer still hasn’t stopped following me everywhere I go, and he’s been much more patient toward my whole “picking him up and hugging him” thing. (He totally loves being held, but he usually has to pretend to get sick of it after a few minutes, otherwise he loses his cat credibility or something).

What else? Oh yeah, Writercon! There will be another Writercon in 2006! Of all the Buffy-related conventions I’ve been to (and there are many), Writercon is by far my favorite. There’s really a great community of people who run and attend that convention. And this year I’m helping out! So, please do consider going, if you haven’t already decided. :)

(no subject)

November 28th, 2005 4:35pm by rusty-halo | 18 Comments »

I was without internet for four whole days. *sob*

It feels so good to be back.

jaydk and I spent most of the time watching the first season of Veronica Mars, so now I’m all into it again. A couple of VM-related questions for anyone who can answer:

1) Is there a new episode this week?

2) Where do I go for spoilers?

3) Pleeeeease recommend me some good Logan fic that is either gen or slash. (No het.) Angsty is good, long and plotty is better. (I’m not looking for one of those long rambly introspective second-person things that never goes anywhere and drives me insane with its vagueness and self-absorption.) Does such a thing exist? ETA: preferably current fic, at least post 1×22.

(It’s weird how I was happy to read anything well-written that featured Spike. I’m much pickier when it comes to Logan–I’ve tried the recs over at vm_fic, but so much is centered on Veronica. I basically like her as a [very flawed] character, but I have zero desire to read about her in fic. I’m mainly interested in the fucked-up Echolls family, and in Logan’s relationships with Duncan or Weevil.)

(no subject)

August 26th, 2005 4:53pm by rusty-halo | 4 Comments »

I’ve barely been reading LJ. I know, I suck. Sorry.

I was channel surfing the other day and came across Logan Echolls. I haven’t watched, or really even thought about, VM for a couple of weeks. So the level of my emotional reaction was surprising; it was close to the kind of affectionate happiness you get when you see an old friend after a long time apart. I’ve not felt that level of emotional investment in a fictional character since, oh… Spike.

I guess we’ll see what happens when the new season starts. Thus far I haven’t felt any need to write essays or participate in the fandom or any of that. And I’ve (hopefully) learned my lesson from BtVS: don’t get your hopes up and never allow some TV show to influence your own personal happiness. So, emotional investment heavily checked. And I’m sure it helps immensely that I’m not a shipper, though I continue to hate the way that these shows are framed so that any character who is not important to the main character is supposed to be considered unimportant by the audience, too.

Part of what I love about “A Song of Ice and Fire” (to switch topics here a bit) is its true ensemble nature. There is no one hero around whom everything else revolves, and no one “truth” against which all opinions are judged. You can have characters on completely different sides who are each understandable and sympathetic despite their differences (and it’s also nice that the series has many different factions, not a “one side vs the other side” binary).

( A bunch of babbling, mostly about moral ambiguity in A Song of Ice and Fire and more comparing Jaime Lannister with Logan and Spike )

Oh yeah, so most recently in my Netflix odyssey, two more Christian Bale movies: “Newsies” and “Equilibrium.” Good god, this guy has made some terrible films! They were both almost painful to watch, the experience redeemed only by Bale’s attractiveness and consistent ability to act despite some of the most incredibly lame scripts I’ve ever seen.

“Newsies” is a musical that really should not have been a musical (it’d have worked slightly better without the pointless interruptions and terrible music) about an ultra-Disneyfied version of a newsboy strike in 1899. This is a cliche-ridden piece of tripe, with every conceivable stereotype thrown in–the lovable little cripple, the evil orphanage owner, the greedy newspaper baron, the hero who dreams of a better life in Santa Fe, blah blah blah. I was slightly impressed that they made some attempt to explore the conflict between doing what’s best for yourself and doing what’s best for the community (by having Bale’s character briefly accept being paid off to end the strike), but of course it all ended with watered down easy answers. Oh, and the homoeroticism was fun, with the heterosexual romance story tacked on in only the barest way.

“Equilibrium” was a poorly made, apparently low budget (it certainly looked cheap) rip-off of “Fahrenheit 451,” “1984,” “Brave New World,” “THX-1138,” “The Matrix,” and damn near every other book or movie in the same vein. It was sad, because such stories have potential, and its nice to see an action movie attempting to engage your brain. The theme, that the highs of human emotion are worth the accompanying lows, was admirable, as was its criticism of government repression. But it was so preachy, so humorless, so nonsensical, and so poorly done that there was really no point; why was this film even made? (Well, as a blatant attempt to cash in on “The Matrix,” I assume.) It was particularly sad because Christian Bale was actually very good in his role, and Sean Bean had a cameo that was quite lovely (and so should’ve been expanded!).