Title: Options
Fandom: Grey's Anatomy
Character/Pairings: The Chief, the Attendings, Richard/Ellis, Richard/Adele, Richard/Seattle Grace
Rating: PG
Word Count: 570
Warnings: Spoilers for the Ferry Boat Monstrosity three-parter.
Summary: Richard has a lot of options, just not the ones he wants.
Written (very late) for fandom_arcana's Seven of Cups Challenge


( He has lots of options, that is not the problem, but they only serve to remind him of the doors that are permanently closed. )

So that poll from yesterday wasn't exactly random.

The Bones question was partly trying to see how popular the show was on my flist (or how much recruiting I needed to do), but also a good segue here for me to talk about why I love Bones, and you should give it a shot... or a second try. When I heard about Bones, a procedural with Angel... I was not really at all interested. The first few times I caught bits of season 1, I had a hard time remembering that Booth was not Angel and was in fact a "normal" human being, and FBI agent. The first time I watched a whole episode, I wasn't that in to the crazy case of the week (cannibalism) but I did enjoy the beginnings of UST between Booth/Bones. More than that though, I enjoyed the scenes back at the lab with the secondary characters. They are all totally smart science nerds, but the show didn't stick to that. They are really interesting, human, adorable, and compelling. They were funny, but not in that self deprecating way that makes me not enjoy most comedy. I'll admit though, that this wasn't enough to get me hooked on the show. I might have not started watching it at all, if it weren't for sophia_helix who showed me the pirate episode, and the more I started catching episodes at her house, the more I wanted to see the next one. I think it helped that the show was having more interpersonal plotline on the surface, including nerd love that didn't follow any of the customs for sidekick romance plotlines. But whatever it was, I became totally hooked. I was going to try and quantify things like interesting and intelligent characters and the balance between humor and drama and the mystery of the week and the character arcs (which exist and work!), but then I realized that the sense of balance and cohesion that makes good tv, can't be explained. So I'm just saying, it grew on me and maybe if you let it... it will grow on you too. It has become the highlight of my TV week and the one thing I really would be upset if got canceled.


The Song of Ice and Fire question was more about pimping and less about asking. I know who reads the series, have for a long time. But I think that all of you should be. I was shocked to find in my poll that someone I generally find to have much the same taste as myself, apparently is the one person not to like these books, who has been exposed. They have everything, from the elements of high fantasy (dragons, prophesies, magic), to the grittiness and psychology of high literature. Martin makes you root for both sides of opposing forces at the same time. He makes you hate a character for his monstrous behavior and then explains the other side and you find yourself respecting and emphasizing with that same character. He gives you strong willed women, some in body and some not, some valiant and some villainous. He gives you a spectrum of religions, some with frightening power and some seemingly inept. He gives you romance and anti-romance and friendship and backstabbing and kin and twisted secrets and a whole world that feels as if it really is three dimensional and has a history longer than our own and not just invented backwards in the shallow space between the book's bindings. It is a world as real as our own, and just as complex and subtle and brazen and crude and sophisticated. This is the series of our time, possibly all time. It is epic like Tolkien but insightful like Dostoyevsky and puzzling like Garcia Marquez and bleeding like Morrison and probably I am overselling it, but I know books are harder to persuade than TV shows. So I will end by telling you how I spent the YEARS between the release of the second and the third book actively thinking about the characters and world the entire time... without fandom or anyone else to feed me back enthusiasm or motivation... I just couldn't get it out of my head.


The Supernatural question was a trick question. Supernatural's very existence offends me. I deleted a lot of people off my flist for talking about it too much a while back. Nothing in it appeals to me. I don't like scary things, I don't like female-less shows, I don't like slash terribly much, and people who try and convince me to watch based on Denny being on it... clearly didn't pay attention to my hating Denny and wanting him to die and get off my show. Occasionally they have guest stars I sort of want to see, but that is not enough to change my distaste for the whole thing. Now, my poll (and common knowledge) shows that people I like and respect seem to be really into this show, but I just can't get over how much it represents everything I hate about TV and fandom. I like a good looking guy as much as the next girl but really... it's got to stop. When I say I dislike slash I belie myself. MY VM OTP is after all... slash. But what I really dislike is the slasher mentality. Cut the girls out because girls are yucky and we hate ourselves and let's have boylovin' probably boylovin' in which one or both of the boys act like girls and maybe we will even dress them up like girls but vaginas are scary and yucky and I hate gross disgusting het. I know... it's not like I'm saying anything new, but the whole thing just brings up all the old issues.


BSG's inclusion wasn't about pimping or bitching. I knew I was going to watch the rest of season 3 last night, so I figured it would be a good way to tie in my reaction/opinions and tie others reactions to my memory of it. So without further preamble ( Reactions, speculation, and observations from Crossroads and about Season 4 )


The HBO poll was largely just a poll. I wanted to see who was watching the things I've been watching and I wanted recommendations for other HBO shows because, while they are too expensive to get any way other than netflix, they seem to make good tv... and concise. I'm thinking some time in the next few weeks I will be marathoning season 2 of Rome, and as soon as the boy finishes watching Veronica Mars I'll probably be watching Big Love again, and be caught up in time to not be able to see season 2 in real time since I don't have access to HBO. Rome is shiny bloody porn, and I am excited and kind of glad I saved most of the season till now. Big Love is interesting and kind of ridiculously sexy.


So I picked up the first issue of the Buffy comic last week and I enjoyed it, but I am almost tempted to wait and not read until the whole thing is done because it's seriously so little! I want MORE and feel dissatisfied by the limitedness of what fits in one issue. I feel like I only got the teaser that goes before the credits.


( So I will put the love triangle discussion under the cut since it will have spoilers for aired episodes of Ugly Betty and The Office )


So the spin off question... other than being a chance for me to be snide and give overly specific answers? Well it's been on everyone's mind.

I am the opposite of most of fandom, in that, if I could redesign the VM cast Logan would definitely not be in it any more. He's Spiko(fandom cliches of Spike and Draco) and he's taken that role in the show. He takes too much screen time and basically just wallows in emo. He was a good character in season 1 because he was antagonistic but someone Veronica had a connection to. In season 2 he was off with Weevil, again being ally and antagonist... now he's just lame boyfriend or not boyfriend. You can't please the fangirls... if he's domesticated he's a drag and if he's back to being an asshole you are vilifying their precious.

While I'd be perfectly happy to see Veronica Mars canceled and put out of it's misery like it deserves and probably will be, part of me does want some sort of redemption for something so fallen... and probably it wouldn't work out that way but a little part of me hopes.

I am somewhat jaded about the Addison spin-off. Grey's has too many characters and instead of using the spin off to lessen the burden they are just adding more people. Still, the cast for the show looks pretty good and I can easily go for more shiny crack. If it was me though... I'd move Sara Ramirez over and then she and Taye Diggs would eventually SING.

Angel, however, probably set the bar too high for any other spin-off to meet it. It took a beloved show and made something even better... keeping the trademark Joss style and at the same time having a completely different ideology than the original and a whole new flavor.

I am having a crappy day so I am offering drabbles/ficlets for the first person to request on for each of the shows I am watching or other things I am fannish about. For your convenience a list:

Currently Watching

Rome written for aphrodite_mine
Title: Displaced Shame and Affection
Pairing: Octavia/Servilia
Rating: PG
Word Count: 402
( Octavian is young but he was always much cleverer than Octavia and she believes him. Everything with her mother comes down to lust, lust of the flesh or lust for power. )

Battlestar Galactica

Veronica Mars written for novin_ha
Title: No Fairy Dust, No Magic Words
Character: Lamb
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 719
( The wizard can't give you anything you don't already have. He is merely the man hiding behind the curtain. She hates him for that. )

Bones

The Office

Grey's Anatomy written for novin_ha
Title: Like High School
Characters/Pairings: Callie, Izzie, Callie/George, Addison
Rating: PG-13
Word Count:570
( Meredith and Cristina and Izzie are those freshman girls your whole senior class sort of hates because they got asked to prom instead of you. They giggle and whisper behind their anorexic little hands, and you know that they are mocking you.  )

30 Rock

Ugly Betty written for qt_ninja
Title: The Ice is Thin, but Thickening
Pairings/Characters: Santos, Hilda, Justin
Rating: PG
Word Count:661
( They reach the door and Justin races inside to tell his grand pappy everything. Hilda lingers for just a moment, gives him that sort of half smile that always drove him wild. )



Also Fannish About

Song of Ice and Fire written for rosenblut
Title: Blossoming
Characters/Pairings: Jon Snow, Sansa Stark
Rating: PG
Word Count: 724
( More than her beauty; however, it is her presence that startles him. Sansa has gained a grace and poise, a real understanding of the workings of people. Jon watches her interact with those around her and thinks to himself that she has become everything she thought herself to be but was not when he last saw her. )

BtVS

AtS

Harry Potter written for shakanaman and qt_ninja
Title: Past
Characters/Pairing: Minerva McGonagall, Tom Riddle, Voldemort
Rating: PG
Word Count:370
( She has not seem Him in years, and although she's heard of the changes she has not seen most of them. They are not comparable to her aching bones and sagging skin. )

Mythology

Arthurian Legends written for roguebelle, cyn_ful, and qt_ninja
Title: Hungry for the Light of Day
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Morgan, Merlin
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 608
( Morgan, daughter of the first, murdered, marriage, walked like a ghost in her stepfather's castle. She grew up in shadow, a constant reminder that not all was well in the kingdom. )

His Dark Materials written for shakanaman
Title: Butterfly Bezerking
Pairing: Asriel/Marisa
Rating: PG
Word Count: 252
( NShe called him her mentor, her maker. Asriel both wished it was not true and longer to have that kind of power over her again. )

Firefly/Serenity written for silver_fic
Title: The Things That Aren't Hers
Characters: River, Crew
Rating: PG
Word Count: 510
( River likes complex strategy, something to fill her head so there are less empty spaces for the things that don't belong in there. )


Ask away!

( Grey's Anatomy Icons - Awesome Women: 35 icons of Addison, Bailey, and Callie from 3.05 )

10 Unpopular Fandom Opinions (I think)

1) Logan/Veronica is not OTP to me. I'm not like opposed to the pairing but I don't think it's that amazing and thanks to fandom I would not be sad if it dissapeared from the face of the earth.

2) I don't generally like friendship pairings. This doesn't mean that I don't like pairing anyone who are friends together but the whole "oh look we are such great friends it must be love" thing bores me to death. So yes this includes: Harry/Ron, Harry/Hermione, Sirius/Remus, Mal/Zoe, Mal/Kaylee, Veronica/Wallace, Izzie/George etc.

3) I don't care about who Harry OR Draco is paired with. Neither character is really that fascinating or attractive to me. Also... I don't care about Regulus Black.

4)Izzie/Denny made me want to puke all over myself. Seriously.

5) Slash and Het really aren't fundementally different. Get over yourselves on both sides.

6) I liked Duncan. I didn't like a lot of the writer's choices about what to do with Duncan in season 2, but I think he was an interesting character with a lot of potential.

7) I enjoy Buffy/Angel and Buffy/Spike differently but with no particular preference for one over the other.

8) Ron is the king of straight people. Straight as an arrow and what not.

9) Protagonists and villians usually are less intersting to me than side characters.

10) I don't like Mal/River or Jayne/River.

1) ( Joyful Casting Info for Veronica Mars and Grey's Anatomy )

2)Dear Desa, I love you but please stop re-recording songs because you inevitably RUIN THEM. Now you've taken the achingly beautiful ardour out to "Ardent Anthem". Did you not learn your lesson with "Burner Off" and "Bermuda Triangle"?

3)Only Two More Ficathons left and one of them I need to finish a draft of by the end of today for betaing. I swear I am never signing up for so many ever again.

4) I've gotten to see hobviously twice this week so far, and she's coming to play with me again. You are all highly jealous I know. And to that I say: You want to be me, but you can't be me.

Title: Rock Bottom
Fandom: Grey's Anatomy
Characters: Alex and Izzie
Word Count: 1217
Rating: PG-13
NOTE: I wrote this weeks before the finale and never got it betaed so it's totally AU now, but I thought it might be worth posting anyways.

( Cristina is the only one of the other interns talking to him, and that’s just because the Chief has been picking him for surgery a lot and she wants to find out what he has that she doesn’t. )

Title: Crumbling to the Ground
Fandom: Grey's Anatomy
Character: Addison
Rating: PG
Word Count:1298
Written for fandom_arcana's "The Tower" Challenge.
Much thanks to catididit for the beta help.

( When they are gone and she calls the cable company to set up service, Montgomery sounds barren without the hyphenation that has been a web around her )

Grey's Anatomy
I’m excited to have my show coming back on Sunday. It’s been a lonesome month without it (except I’ve had BtVS and AtS so not as much as I expected). I am hoping that I will get some of the things I want from it (eg: Denny’s death, Izzie realizing she’s being a psycho bitch, more Callie Torres, more stuff related to the Richard/Adele/Ellis/Thatcher saga) But really I will pretty much take whatever they give me. They have never failed me yet.

( I have the following drabbles from when I was going to write drabbles for all of my fic bunnies but then didn’t and I feel it’s time to share )


A Song of Ice and Fire
( Re-reading A Game of Thrones, I am reliving all of my old feelings about the characters )


Serenity
I signed up for a rarepairs Jossverses ficathon today and it’s a good idea but honestly are any pairings rare in Firefly/Serenity verse (I mean other than ones that involve non-main cast members)? Regardless it should be interesting.


Arthurian Legend
In my head Arthur is always kind of a pansy. Like he holds his own in battle but he’s not a particularly great knight , he’s not particularly charming but he’s warm hearted and a bit of a puppy when it comes to love. He means well but it’s not like he’s a visionary… He’s the epicenter for greatness but he himself is not actually remarkable in my vision of things. Am I alone in this?

This Post is in Honor of sophia_helix, if you'd like a post for you fill out this poll if you haven't already.


Literature (and maybe some not quite Lit): ( You Should Read if You Haven't Already )

So How are Things Going in the Life of Ariel?: ( Not Too Shabby, Thank You )

( I can't help reminscing, even though it's not like I'd ever want to go back: Facing New York )

( Grey's Anatomy and How the Person Complaining isn't Always the One Truly Wronged )

BtVS:( The reason why I can understand Xander's behavior and still hate him )

( So Why is it that Wesley and Cordelia are no longer attracted to One Another in AtS? )

( In my spare time I write Arthurian Legend Porn )

( Just When I think I am Done with the Harry Potter Fandom )

( Shipping in Firefly and the prevelence of Hufflepuffs )

Poll #696837
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 11

Sartre or Camus?

Lancelot/Gwenievere or Tristam/Isolde

Arthur's sister(s)

Looking through the results of my last poll I have decided to thank the people who read my journal and take my polls. The way I am going to do this is by making a post for each person who responded to this poll, in the order that they responded. The post will contain the subjects and type of journalling that you said you'd like to see.

This first post is dedicated to rogueslayer452, who asked for: Veronica Mars, Real Life, Firefly, Serenity, Literature, Mythology, and Political/Social Issues. In the form of: Informational, Opinions/Reactions, Icons, More Polls.

( Grey's Anatomy, Reactions )

( Political/Social Issues: Where do I stand? )

( Real Life: Some Less Inflammatory things about me... Okay Maybe Not. Overshare might be a better Description )

( Firefly/Serenity: Why Are Black Men the Ones to Actually Track River Down?(includes some discussion of Buffy and Angel as well) )

( Veronica Mars: Displaced Princesses and Noble Peasants )

( Mythology: Firefly/Serenity: River's Insanity in the Tradition of the Seer )

Poll #694748
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 17

Veronica Mars Main Cast Member that You Most Feel Needs to be in More Episodes

Non-Main Cast Member that Most Needs to be in More Episodes

If you said other, who were you thinking?

Greek or Roman?

Perferred Literary Canon

If you said other, which do you perfer?

Grey's Anatomy Birthday fic
Pairing: Cristina/Burke
Word Count: 1106

( All this gives Cristina that horrible feeling of not knowing the answer on a really important exam. Sometimes she really misses her apartment with its unpacked boxes and farmiliar dysfunction )



********


Also make sure to take my Grey's Anatomy Astrology Poll