I know I've been absent. There will be fic- actually, I'm writing my ST exchange fic now (yes. It's late. Yes. I know)

Here is what's going on:

Moved back to Seattle. Yaay!

Road trip across rockies. Western South Dakota unexpectedly awesome. Yaay!

Living with parents is much nicer than when I was a teenager, mostly because they've given up on me. No more religious feuding. Cute puppy dog. Little sister much nicer than when I was a teenager too. All good things.

New temp job is beaureaucratic hell which leaves no time for writing, reading, friends, fandom, or anything. I miss you all badly. Boo.

Could not scrape together the money for Comic-con. Terribly terribly sad. Was looking forward to that all year.

Got 179 on LSAT. Law school looking not so out of reach after all.

Torchwood: Children of Earth was sad and cruel and sadistic and horrible and I bawled like a baby and I hated it and OMFG, how awesome was that? (Also, is possible I was overly emotionally invested in Ianto)

Stranger in a Strange Fandom has posted its third round, which amuses me greatly.

Am making a heroic commitment to be online more, do some fandom reading, do some writing, because I miss it, but you know.

Also: Thank you so much to everybody who sent me messages or left comments asking what's up. I didn't answer because I have no gmail or lj at work and because the internet connection at home is down something like 30% of the time, but really, it made me happy.

First, a brief bit of fail: Google really thought that the anniversary of Tetris was the important thing to commemorate about June 6th?

( Fannish happiness part one: Star Trek )

Fannish happiness part two: I resisted Buffy for years. No longer. I'm sure you all have some vague idea of the sheer intensity of squee I am going through right now. Shan't even attempt to babble about it here, or I will never stop. DAMN YOU, Joss.

1. Thank you so much to the gremlin who nominated Second Chances and Hell of a Sight for the Stargate Fan Awards. It seems there are a lot of fan award sites in this fandom, none of which I knew about (because they all seem to happen off-lj). Thank you!

2. The premiere of Kings is beautiful. Transcendental, I swear. If you didn't watch it, go watch it. This is Slings&Arrows beautiful. The good seasons of West Wing beautiful. Deadwood season 1 beautiful. Rome season 1 beautiful. It might be too good to spawn a fandom, but you should watch it. Just saying.

3. Speaking of, Ian McShane is on the Daily Show tonight talking about it. Ian McShane is fucking brilliant. He also makes me swear compulsively whenever I think about him, which is a drawback, but.

4. Abigail Nussbaum meditates on the future of serialized television. Thought-provoking.

5. Happy Paddy's day! I use my Priestly icon solely because it is the greenest icon I have. Everybody kiss an Irish lass today.

( The news coverage of CPAC was so fun to watch over these last few days )

Another thank you to everybody who sent birthday wishes!

Those of you who are having some of the same problems I am these days might want to read Seven Tried and True Ways to Stifle Your Creativity.

Why I would not have greenlit Dollhouse does the best job I have seen of dissecting exactly why Dollhouse is so very very disappointing. Those of you who know me know that I hate disliking something without being able to articulate why, so. This is why.

And for those of you who, like me, are watching Dollhouse in the vain hopes that it will improve, or who, also like me, watched Merlin and hoped forlornly that the Next Big Fandom would be something with a little less cheese and a lot more weight, I feel the need to remind you that NBC's new show, Kings, premieres on March 15th.

It's a re-working of the story of David, as in "David and Goliath," as in "David and Jonathan." It stars Ian McShane, so right there you know at least one character will fucking rock, and I saw the first twenty minutes of it at Comic-con, so I can tell you that the look of it, visually, is just phenomenal. No cheesy campy CGI dragons here- this is a pseudo-modern AU setting with utterly gorgeous outdoors location shoots and lush sets and beautiful camera work and the whole thing is just nice to look at in a way that goes well beyond the (admittedly in some cases very pretty) pretty people. And it has the advantage of both being a story that I would watch even if there were no slash potential at all- because the story of David is a good story and the potential for action plus political intrigue plus intense emotional portrayals of psychologically fascinating people plus really interesting worldbuilding is enough to make me sit up and pay attention- but also having slash potential out the wazoo- because, you know David and Jonathan.

I know I cannot wave my wand and make this the Next Big Fandom, especially given the crappy job NBC is doing promoting it, but I would if I could, and I'm begging you all to check it out.

There is so much love over at the Valentine's Day Game. You should all go look!

( I was rewatching Lost City and… )

( There are things they never tell you about running your own business )


In more fannish news, Leverage! I am so endlessly, endlessly in love with Elliot and Hardison and their dynamic. SO IN LOVE. Apparently there was a new SPN. I am having a hard time caring. I finished the season of Merlin, and it still is giving me lots of thinky thoughts about why I love shows, which I still do not quite have the energy to type out.

The Flist Knows All: Surely there is somebody on my flist who watched Boston Legal, right? Would you by any chance have strong opinions as to where I should start? Which episodes (or what season, or whatever) is the must-see for my little slashy James-Spader-fangirly heart?

Firstly, have some humor awesomeness: Dave Barry's year-end roundup. Do not attempt to consume beverages while reading.

Secondly, have some fannish humor awesomeness: The new year's resolutions of Dr. Rodney McKay, and the new year's resolution of Colonel John Sheppard. Similarly, do not consume beverages. Hee!

Everybody is doing year-end fic roundups. I can't, because I wrote so much anonymous Christmas fic and I just have to talk about it. So, tomorrow.

( That said, I am a New Year's resolution ho )

You know, when I put it all in a list like that, it doesn't look like I've totally derailed my life and potential career, stranded myself in a city I hate, and wasted three years, doesn't it? That's because I didn't put "Fix the horrendous mess I've made of my life" on the list. It's all about the concrete, right?

( More life year-end stuff )

Fandom update: ( I have gotten hooked on Leverage )

Now if I can just fend off the inevitable falling for Merlin...

Yuletide is by far the awesomest part of the fannish yearly calendar. This year I wrote a main story and a last-minute Treat. (The main story, which I researched for weeks and though about for a month and worked on for days and days, has one comment as of this writing. The dashed-off treat has 12. There’s no accounting for the vagaries of the Claw, I guess. I’ve been told that staying Zen about these things is one of the secrets to being happy in fandom. I am trying.) That said, I got a wonderful present! And have found more than enough beautiful stories already in just the tidgy bit of surfing I was able to do on Christmas Day.

( First, the personal pimping )

( Before you do any other Yuletide reading... )

Recs list to come: Original list of 115 fandoms knocked down to 70! I am going to bed.

Somewhere around lj (I wish I remembered where) I saw an icon that read "peppered with actual" across the top and "on top" on the bottom. In between? Yup, a picture of John.

I love fandom.

( The Stuff RE Joe Malozzi's recent blog entry )

Oh my God, Canadian politics is fucking fascinating. Seriously, the current crisis is a beautiful, beautiful thing for the political gawkers among us. It turns out that the PM of our neighbor to the north has been a brilliant, scheming, manipulative, beautifully Machiavellian tool for a really long time now. Why did nobody inform me I should be paying attention? *glees*

SGA: On the one hand, the writers sure do suck balls, don't they? On the other hand, they ship Bill Nye/Kaylee. I can't hate them, just for the awesomeness of that.

Chuck: When did this become the Weekly Adam Baldwin Feeds the Slashers Hour? Because I really approve.

Pushing Daisies: I want to find whoever wrote the "fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to stress baking" conversation and kiss them. How is this show so wonderful?

Reason to love Rachel Maddow #3,754: She has a cell phone ring tone on her site titled infrastructure porn. *hands* I am so hot for that woman.

An open letter to the SG1 fanfic community:

Dear writers,

The Air Force does not court-marshal anyone. Ever. For any reason, even sleeping with people of the same sex directly under their command. They also do not court-marital people, though I admit that's a pretty funny image and possibly more appropriate to the crime. And let's not even get started on what the plural is of that word you keep trying and failing to spell.

Amused,
-me

wyomingnot asked my why there isn't more Daniel/Jon chan in SG1 fandom. The answer, of course, is that synecdochic has pretty much carved out the entire niche of clone!Jack fic, such that trying to write him at all feels like stepping on her toes. But it's planted in my head, and now Daniel and Jon have taken up residence and won't shut up. Daniel is pretty regularly making beer runs for Jon, and they have these hilarious, wildly tipsy conversations about the horrors of high school a second time. Jon has taken up with the marching band, so you can imagine how amused Daniel is by that. Daniel thinks it's wonderful- like he has Jack back, back the way it was before year five when Jack pushed him away and he still doesn't know why, back when it seemed like they genuinely... had something. But poor Jon. The cracks are starting to show. I don't know how much longer he can go on like this.

Of course, all this is happening in my head, not on paper, and I will lose all the best bits if I try to write it down. But they won't shut up.

I went to Target today. I want these shoes like MAD. Except of course they didn't have them in size 11. But, really, how utterly wonderful is it that the whole Keds/Converse plan canvas sneaker look has come back in? I find shoes very tricky, cause I hate heels and strappy sandals and I think pretty much all girly shoes are shoddy, overpriced torture devices and by god I hate the beauty trap because I do NOT HAVE the money for that shit. But it's nice to have cute shoes. And colorful ballet flats and canvas sneakers seem to be my strategy. Yaay!

Kevin McKidd told TV Guide about the mytharc for Journeyman. I could WEEP. That shit could have been SO GOOD. And Kevin! I miss having him on my TV, but I am sure as hell not going to start watching Grey's Anatomy for him. Journeyman... and then SGA and now Pushing Daisies. What will be left? I could weep. Seriously, if anybody knows of a genre show that actually has a future that I should be watching, please do let me know. Other than the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Maybe Fringe? I'm unenthusiastic about that. Bleh. Why do they kill all the good stuff?

( I've been re-watching The West Wing )

So now I have to plundercrack_van for CJ/Toby. I didn't read TWW fic before, because I didn't think fic could do it justice. I've gotten a lot more confidence in fic since then.

Utterly random: Kavan Smith (SGA, Major Evan Lorne), Colin Cunningham (SG1, Major Paul Davis), and Mark Feuerstein (TWW, Majority Counsel Cliff Calley) make the best sexy clean-cut all-American boy-next-door threesome EVER. Really.  Pretty. 

Hi, flist, I need your help.

I need you to rec me fic with NC-17 hatesex. Any fandom, any pairing, slash preferred but anything goes. This is just not in my normal reading repertoire- I read some Harry/Draco when I very first got into fandom where Draco was just a Misunderstood Good Guy and they became Best Buds, and it kind of soured me on hatesex fic. So, bonus points for actually somewhat hateable characters, and characters who are still genuinely enemies after all the sex and complicated emotions.

Come on, SOMEBODY must be hiding the explicit Jack/Harry Maybourne somewhere! (I kid. Really. Though if you have it, hand it over!)

Fannish round-up

Pushing Daisies: This show is made of a sparkling black-humor gemstone in a 24-carat genius-plated absurdity setting and hung on a necklace of shiny.

Dexter: ( This season of Dexter is FREAKING ME THE FUCK OUT. )

Chuck: ( I will not believe for one minute that Adam Baldwin doesn't know damn well what he's doing )

SGA: ( SGA fills me flailing, wild, flappy-handed, dolphin-pitched squee. )

Supernatural: ( Wherein I catch up on like three episodes. )

Do I have anything to say about SPN that everybody on my flist hasn't already said? *thinks* No? Okay, then. OMG SPOILER ALERT: The boys are pretty! Yaay pretty boys!

Yuletide: I got my assignment, and it's like it was custom-tailored for me. SERIOUSLY. Something I never would have written on my own impetus, but the minute I saw the details I was all "OMG I WANT TO WRITE THIS SO BADLY IT WILL BE AWESOME!" I'm torrenting the fandom now, and I have, you know, a season to watch and RESEARCH to do and NOTES to take. *cracks knuckles*

Life round-up
Short version: Lonely, depressed, broke, not wanting to talk about it. I think major changes need to be made, but I don't know what they are yet and I think I am going to be skating through Christmas on my savings. Just... it all seems pretty insurmountable. That's all.

Oh my God, I WILL do some mini-nano writing before I sleep, but Yuletide signups opened and I am so excited I could die. For serious.

Dear Yuletide Santa,

First of all, thank you SO MUCH for agreeing to write me a present! I picked four fandoms I just love and crave fic in, and I hope you won't find my requests all impossible. I wasn't going to write a letter, but last year I saw some friends of mine freaking out because their recipients didn't, and I don't want to be difficult. ( So I shall go the 'tell you what I love about these fandoms' route. )

I hope those were helpful rather than demanding; I'm sure that if you loved these fandoms enough to offer them, I'll love the story!

-DragoJustine, excitedly

I want to be back in Baltimore. More specifically, I want to be back with miriad and als_wonderland. Yaay con-drop.

I am wildly amused that xkcd posted this strip right after I started using Twitter. Twitter amuses me in general, actually. I am dragojustine if anybody wants to pop in and find me, though I doubt I'll use it all that much. Mostly, I just think the xkcd guy is the cleverest guy on the internet and I have a brain-crush on him.

It's YULETIDE time! Fandom nominations will be open for the next ten days. Remember, if you want to ask for or offer a fandom, you need to nominate it; you can't just assume. And if you are on the fence? You should totally sign up, and we can freak out together.

My fandoms:
Chronicles of Narnia
Wizard of Earthsea
Slings & Arrows
Rome (HBO)
Appaloosa
M*A*S*H

I will see (some of) y'all at Wincon! And I'm so excited.

Coming in Thursday evening (5:30sih) and leaving Sunday morning (10:00ish). My cell is post-con redaction if anybody wants to find of me. I'll be staying at the hotel and working the reg desk Friday from 12-1. I'm on the hunt for awesome things to do in the evening (especially Thursday evening, when a lot of people won't be there yet) and would love to be told about anybody's room parties! For reference, I am the very tall white girl with the bright blue glasses and black and white pinstriped pants.

Also, pimping this for wincon- the brilliant and funny and thoroughly awesome littlewings04 is trying to get people together for An (Impromptu) Salon in the evening.

For those of you who slept through European History, we're paying homage to the great 19th century intellectual tradition of gathering with cocktails and beautiful women to talk about the Great Issues of the Day, only with more talk about pretty boys, hotass angels, Vietnam Vets, psychic powers, Yellow-Eyed Demons and why Kripke owns our souls. We want to have a few drinks, get down with the meta, and have a go-round at all the intellectual stuff that is making our nerdy hearts sing since last we all saw each other.

In essence, this is the place to get your geek on. Hardcore. Bring your theories, your complex ideas about Castiel and the nature of destiny, post-traumatic stress disorder and John Winchester, theodicy and the problem of evil in Supernatural, biblical prophecy and perdition, or what it means to have demon blood in you (and why does Sam make it sound like he's got AIDS?), anything that moves you. The rules are simple: be excellent to each other, and have some thinky thoughts. Or come watch people have thinky thoughts. Whatever melts your butter.

It sounds utterly awesome, so head over to her post and let her know when you could come!

*nearly dies of squee*

Things Wot are making me ridiculously happy recently:

( SPN (Kind of meta babblings. With 4x01 spoilers) )

( SGA 5x09 )

The first issue of the OTW's academic journal. Good stuff there, especially the bit about Star Trek vidding- fascinating.

( Life things making me happy )

Wow. Apparently babbling about cooking and domesticity really hits hot buttons on my flist. Kind of like my office supplies lust, I am like, "who knew?" I keep writing these things and then I end up feeling much less alone. General hugs at y'all.

The stunning eighth_horizon wrote The gayest gen story ever. It's glorious (SPN, NOT Sam/Dean).

TOMORROW. TOMORROW MY SHOW COMES BACK. I could capslock forever. All squee here is redundant. I won't actually get to see it till Friday, but still. I just rewatched the Dean-on-Dean scene in Dream a Little Dream of Me. Oh, Dean. *flails*

I just read the casting descriptions for SGU. I could die laughing. Those really could be fantastic characters in a fantastic show-- there's a shitload of potential there, and with SGA fans moving over I assume the fic will be good-- but obviously the actual show won't be any good. Plus, have you noticed all the emphasis on how beautiful everybody is? Just once, I would like to see a set of character descriptions of perfectly average-looking people.

Remember, writers: If the character is good enough, and the acting is good enough, people will eroticize him anyway. Just look at Rodney McKay!