Saturday night

[bironic]

I've been swinging between highs and lows this week as winter session sputtered to life and I've made myself go back to work so my thesis doesn't kick my you-know-what in the next couple of months (which it will anyway). I haven't wanted to post during the lows—er, except Monday, when the misery wanted company—and I've been doing work during the highs, which made for rather a dull week in this LJ. But in the last day I've given in to the weekend, and:

- Saw the SGA series finale,
- Watched 11/12ths of True Blood,
- Trekked out in the cold to the Boston Celtic Music Festival closing concert,
- Had some delicious frozen yogurt (not the familiar kind that's almost like ice cream, but a semisweet kind that tastes like a container of vanilla yogurt has been frozen), and
- May have been chatted up by a mathematician on the bus ride home, which honestly never happens to me, so I'm not sure. The being chatted up, I mean, not the fact that it was a mathematician. He gave me his email address at the end, in any case.

Also, the leading edge of the promised snowstorm has arrived, and tomorrow morning there will be pancakes.

The music at the concert was foot-tappin' good, and the dancing energizing. They organized it as a tour of Celtic regions, including Scottish Highlands, Irish, Cape Breton and Appalachian solo and group performances. A troupe of students from my dance teacher's advanced class performed their own choreographed number that stole the first act. Inspiring stuff.

True Blood continues terrible, but it's addicting nonetheless, and good to watch all in one go. It's not episodic but instead like watching a very long movie. A movie that is basically the vampire/Mary Sue story I wrote when I was 13, only the characters who're telepathic and unable-to-be-telepathied are reversed. And there's more South. And serial killing. I've never read or seen Twilight, but I suspect True Blood is Twilight for a slightly older set. Parts of the score are nice, though, with a cello and guitar. And there's this one senior vampire, Eric, of the tall blond and Nordic sort—who's the only attractive one on the show other than a temporary character and Anna Paquin, who's been ruined by blonde hair and an on-again off-again Southern accent and a space between her front teeth, no offense to blondes or Southerners or people with spaces between their front teeth—and so when I'm done I might go off in search of Eric/Sookie or Sookie/Bill with Eric watching or Eric/Bill with Sookie watching. Mm, vampire noncon. Or riffs on Sookie and Bill's first time.

Since the show has left me thinking with a Lousiana lilt: How're y'all?

Comments

[blackmare.livejournal.com]

Heh. I've never read Twilight nor watched True Blood, so nothing to say about that, but as a fluent speaker of y'all I do not take offense. Faked Southern can be very annoying indeed.

I'm doing pretty well. Mentally exhausted after facing a lot of Real Life Responsible Stuff today, and optimistic about my future, and wanting to do some ficcing in that rather ... bloody ficverse of my own. :-)

We'll see if my addled brain will cooperate.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Blah, responsibility. :) Seems like a healthy thing to be able to switch off between work and play, in any case. I hope your brain does what you want it to!

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

The Celtic Festival sounds like it was a lot of fun. Did they have participatory dancing after the concert? I used to love doing Scottish country dances (and English country dances, too, but those were usually much more sedate).

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Last night there was a session out in Waterford or somewhere, to kick things off. So to speak. Tonight there ended up being an encore after the finale, and the band encouraged -- even pleaded for -- audience members to come up, and one girl (classmate-to-be of mine, actually) shucked her shoes and did a reel down the aisle, but that was it.

I just put in some YouTube links too, to the differen styles (not to tonight's performance).

[perspi.livejournal.com]

Hello!

I am feeling all happy, as I have my hoarded chocolate (organic fair-trade 67% cacao dark mint chocolate with crunchy bits!) and my tea and I even set up my iPod speakers with my ficwriting playlist so I'm hoping to get something written. On one of these WIPs. :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yay WIP!! Good luck!

Mm, dark mint chocolate. Enjoy! I snuck a few pieces of milk chocolate masala bar (http://candyaddict.com/blog/2008/11/14/candy-review-dolfin-chocolat-au-lait-hot-masala-bar/) today. My friend got me hooked on them a few years ago. They are delicious. :) And expensive. :(

[purridot.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you're facing the new term like a trooper. Only 3 months to go!

I actually... sort of... think... I might have a more positive semester. *is warily optimistic but awed by the sheer amount of work to be done*

I like old-school vampires... the angsty Anne Rice kind. (Until things in that universe got crazy).

Sorry to hear that Stargate Atlantic sputtered to an end. Perhaps the fans can rewrite it!

I need some inspiring Celtic music to get me fired up. I adored "Lord of the Dance" so much...

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I should upload some stuff for you. In the meantime, hm. This band played/hosted last night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uSwpEY4B94 And another similar one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LazHvPb9Mg,

Okay, pancakes now.

ETA: Pancakes postponed 20 minutes. Now let's see:

Reel Around the Sun, from Riverdance hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=8ITOS2YZ (change the x's)

Irish Jam by Jump, Little Children hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=4R87ZIMZ

--okay, pancakes now.

It does not feel like bravery, what I am going through right now, but I will remind myself that you said so, and maybe it will help. :) That is so great that you're optimistic about the next semester. Your new class sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun, even with the prep.

Old-school vampires = awesome. Yes. True Blood's are like Anne Rice's except not as intimate with each other, and grosser. The blood is very messy.

[roga.livejournal.com]

Hee, if you like Eric then you have have HAVE to watch Generation Kill: he plays the lead there, and he is seriously too awesome for words. (also, you know, seeing him in uniform? I will just leave it at '...' ...)

And I have still not seen the last three episodes of True Blood, but I will eventually :-) Their accents = love.

The Celtic concert sounds so cool!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, but where's all his hair??

[roga.livejournal.com]

Believe me, once you watch this show, you will not miss his hair for one millisecond.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*is skeptical*

If/when I have time, I shall email you to find out where this can be acquired. :)

[roga.livejournal.com]

Only 7 episodes! You will, eventually, have time for 7 epsiodes :-)

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

I've been curious about True Blood, but I think I keep getting it mixed up with Twilight - is it teenyboppery? I think I've mentally catalogued it as the flipside of Buffy XD

I'm amused by the flirty bus-riding mathematician, too ;)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*g* Everyone else ignored that part.

Twilight is the sparkly vampires marketed-to-preteens one. True Blood is... actually, I don't know who it was intended for; maybe everyone? But it's still got the "she's the one everyone loves or hates or is intrigued by or is at least obsessed about, with a special unique power, and she's *the one* for the broody vampire lead" thing going on.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Just to say... I watched the first ep of True Blood. Boy, do I blame you ;)

[I swear, I thought the vampire's name was Bell. Seriously. Because she was laughing so very hard, and her name was Sookie. So, y'know. It didn't seem all that improbable *g*.]

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Sookie. I just. Who thought that was okay?

(Pilot = sucky, no? [heh, sucky] And yet all the rest = kind of unable to stop watching)

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

I am a little curious as to whether 'sooky' has the same meaning in the US as Australia (that is, someone who's a crybaby, a bit 'wet'). Hmmm, okay, not according to the net, anyway. Because, I find that quite amusing, even if the pronunciation is slightly different *g*

But I never really got over learning that 'Whizzer' is apparently a not-completely-abnormal nickname in the US... and has actually been used for people over the age of, say, two.

You're right about the other aspects - I've already got hold of ep 2 ;)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ha, is it? To me, whiz = to pee. Odd. But then, I haven't heard of sookie/sooky either.

Happy to talk True Blood if you get hooked against your will. Or if you don't. Or about other stuff. I'm easy.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Ha, is it? To me, whiz = to pee.

See, that's EXACTLY what it means, to me. But when I raised queries about this name on some musical board years ago, people were all, 'no, there's even a judge by that name'. A justice of the Supreme Court, no less O.O

I'm torn between watching the rest of True Blood asap, and saving it to inflict upon watch with a friend who I'm 95%+ sure will love it, as he's likewise a fan of Buffy/Angel and 6FU :D

Do you like vampires in general? I highly recommend Ultraviolet, and not just because it has Philip Quast in it, although obviously that doesn't hurt ;)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I love vampires, and I hated Ultraviolet the movie, but thankfully that's not what you're talking about. Wonder how I'd get hold of the TV show (though it's not as if I'd have the time to watch in the next, oh, three months, if I'm doing what I'm supposed to).

Haven't forgotten about the H/W vamp sequel, you know. Added a bitty bit to it a few weeks ago and everything.

I'm not sure if anything can prepare you for True Blood, even if you are/were a BtVS or Six Feet Under fan. It's ... rather a thing of its own, wouldn't you say?

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

If you ever think you will have time to watch it, I'm happy to send it to you. Just like Netflix ;)

Oooh, you're still writing that? Cool. I admit when I saw the location of those... puncture marks in the first ep, I instantly thought of your fic!

It's ... rather a thing of its own, wouldn't you say?

...well, I don't know if you were also a fan of 6FU, but I'd say it's totally reminiscent of a cross between the two. Skinny blonde not-really-a-bimbo heroine with Speshul Powers, plus lots of semi-gratuitous sex and ruminations on mortality thrown in. Of course, I've only seen the one ep, but still :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

True Blood was wackier than anything I'd seen, I thought, with all the Southern Gothic imagery (see also: opening credits) and moments where I still do not know whether they were meant to be funny or horrific, but then I only watched SFU for a couple of seasons.

I laughed when whoever it was talked about liking the femoral artery for just that reason. That may be in an upcoming ep. (O noes, spoiler!)

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

For me personally, there's not a great deal of difference in weird/funny/crazy between (SoCal Valley Girl + Funeral Home Gothic) and Southern Gothic. They both bring weird environments and slightly schlocky horror. To me, Buffy is almost as much a caricature as the 'trailer trash' aspect of True Blood [edit: I've probably brought this up before, but while I've absorbed all of the US 'high school tropes' from a lifetime of US TV, they bear no resemblance whatsoever to the Australian experience - the situation is more familiar, but almost equally 'foreign']. I realise YMMV on this XD

[bironic.livejournal.com]

True. Maybe BtVS's and SFU's brands of black humor fit more naturally with my own than this one did. Much of my laughter was of disbelief ^rather than sympathy.

ETA to your ETA :) that US-school-on-TV may only be a little bit closer to US-school-in-reality (at least for someone like me, who was neither super popular or bullied/shunned) than to Australian schools.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

that US-school-on-TV may only be a little bit closer to US-school-in-reality (at least for someone like me, who was neither super popular or bullied/shunned) than to Australian schools.

Uh-oh. Pet topic alert XD

I'm not even talking the social aspects - I mean everything save maybe the teachers, the principal and the children *g*. Here's a small list of Things I Have Learned from US TV Which Bear No Resemblance to Australia's Education System. I'm kind of curious whether they are indeed 'typical' of most US schools to begin with, but anyway.

- Single desks. I always sat in groups or in rows of joined tables.
- Flags in the classroom
- Pledge of allegiance. We used to sing the national anthem once a week, maybe
- hall monitors
- pop quizzes - like, what?
- those huge lockers. Primary school, none. High school we had tiny lockers (about the height to fit a paper folder, and no more)
- science projects involving volcanoes
- spelling bees
- taking home eggs/dolls to simulate parenthood - what?
- where are the uniforms? WHERE?
- cheerleaders
- letter jackets (I still don't know what these are meant to represent)
- sororities
- Thanksgiving (well, obviously) & Christmas plays
- "band" - I guess we did have a music ensemble/orchestra, but it doesn't seem like quite the same thing
- "jocks and nerds" - which, kind of, but not in so many words
- an obsession with Paul Revere, George Washington, Abe Lincoln and 'XX years ago our fathers brought upon this continent a new nation... with liberty and justice for all!'

I'm sure there are more. Sorry, it's a thing XD

[jdr1184.livejournal.com]

I liked True Blood, but then I've read all the Sookie books and I sometimes wonder if it makes sense to people who haven't. I was really happy with the Eric choice since he's the only one in the books that I want Sookie with. On the show, I wish they would just let the guy use his normal voice instead of hiding his Swed accent and sounding like Kermit the Frog. If they follow the books, we should see more of him in season 2.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I didn't know the actor who plays Eric was actually Swedish until I looked him up. That is a shame about the muted accent.

How do the books compare to the show so far?

[jdr1184.livejournal.com]

The books are in first person from Sookie's POV so all that extra Jason sex isn't in them. He's a horndog, but you don't have to follow him around while he's doing it. There is sex in the books, but more romantic than the gratuitous of hbo sex. I honestly couldn't stand watching the dirty dick in the grave yard sex, but I'll forgive the rating boosters to keep the show going. They've followed the plots fairly closely in the shorten and hurry up way that tv does with the exception of Tara who is as different as possible from her chracter. I hated the show version at first, but she's starting to grow on me a bit. They have taken out a few of my favorite Eric bits that I think set up his involvement later, but I'm guessing because they are pushing Sookie/Bill romance.

I can't stand Bill, but there are plenty of angry sex vibes between Eric and Bill in the books and Eric has no problem being hit on by a guy. They even sort of imply that he might have slept with one, but again since Sookie wasn't there, she and the reader just get to ponder it. A lot. *grins*
If you interested, I wrote a review on the book series.
http://jdr1184.livejournal.com/29969.html

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

May have been chatted up by a mathematician on the bus ride home, which honestly never happens to me, so I'm not sure. The being chatted up, I mean, not the fact that it was a mathematician.

I can't figure out which of the two possible ways the second sentence applies:
1.) You're not sure you were chatted up, but you're certain it was by a mathematician.
2.) You're never chatted up, not just specifically not by mathematicians.
...Or could you mean both? My brain is too fuzzy to figure this out. Either way, I wish you the best of luck in achieving certainty in mathematical romance.

Also, the leading edge of the promised snowstorm has arrived, and tomorrow morning there will be pancakes.

The pancakes are a lie! :( There were pancakes yesterday morning, and now there is only moldy batter. ...Er, that's my experience, anyways. Not that I really mind. Unsanitary though they may be, I love having guests in the apartment. Sadly, today my guests depart, leaving me with dirty dishes and the knowledge that not only are all my relatives smarter than me, but so are everyone they date/have a hetero internet soul-bond with.

How're y'all?

Better now that I know where I can get frozen yoghurt on my way home. :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Mm, Berryline. I've been there twice and it is still delicious.

I did mean both 1 and 2. :) And, ah, thanks, although I'm hoping nothing comes of the whole thing. What he (said he) does is related to what I do, so at most, I hope, there may be a work-related email over the next couple of months before he becomes a professor in California.

Sympathies on the leftover batter, dirty dishes and inferiority complex-inducing guests-slash-relatives. The faculty in residence here serve pancakes once a month, so there was no cleanup for me, but I do have a sink full of dishes I'm just too lazy to wash. And not many relatives in general, but one cousin and a bunch of friends who make me wonder why I haven't gotten a doctorate or moved abroad or met the Queen of England or etc. yet. :-/