bironic

To recap: I've been watching stuff with Zahn McClarnon in it, and I've got four fics in progress—one now complete—featuring different characters played by him.

Since the finished one is about Hanzee Dent from the second season of the Fargo TV show, we should talk about the second season of the Fargo TV show!

First:

( CliffsNotes version: What you need to know if you'd like background for the fic )

And that is it! The story is in beta, and I'm making a few other tweaks, but it should be in postable shape soon. Then on to finishing one of the other three, I hope.

1. The melody, harmony, vocal quality and especially the chord progression in Hero by Family of the Year bring me right back to growing up listening to the radio in the '80s. Probably reminds me of Phil Collins' and David Crosby's* own Hero. Maybe even the simple, earnest song that ended the second Care Bears movie, Forever Young by Carol Parks (not the same as Rod Stewart's).

2. Finished S6 of True Blood. Because of... stuff... I went back and rewatched The Scene with Godric (YouTube; spoilers) from S2's "I Will Rise Up." It's still excellent. I still love it in a way that's hard to articulate. The blood tears, the raw emotion, the ancient relationship, the slipping between languages. The unremarked-upon homosexual overtones. The crack in a favorite character's persona. Eric has never been so beautiful, kneeling there with his voice breaking. And enriching it all is the echo of Marius/Armand.

3. Mostly, though, lately I am too full of things. Emotions all over the place. It took longer than it should have to realize that the inability to write so much as an email or concentrate at work or sit still long enough to add clips to a vid, and the general irritability toward anyone asking me for something, arose from my trying to stuff too much into the week. Concentrating on nutrition and exercising, planning travel (more on that soon, it is going to be super), doing chores, consuming media, trying to make fannish things, balancing work and social events, worrying about budgets, worrying about health things, fighting poor sleep... Wish that habit of keeping too busy to brood were easier to fix. :/

4. Happy Easter, Easter-celebrating friends. Happy two-days-left-of-matza, Passover-celebrating friends. Happy Patriot's Day/Marathon Day tomorrow, running friends. My officemate is running. The heart of the city has been on its sleeve the past week, marking the anniversary of what happened last year.

*Trying to identify a young, long-haired singer in the background of a sessions shot with David Crosby on YouTube led to the startling discovery that Neil Young was good-looking back in the day! In the latter shot especially, he's got a lovely Hugo Weaving brow going on. Thumbs up. Most of the time, though, it seems he looked like the lovechild of Hugh Laurie and Joel McHale. Y/Y?

It's difficult to figure out whether this picspam/writeup belongs more in the "dressup" or "historical roleplay" category for my Kink Bingo card, because there's such an overlap in this case. Probably going with "dressup" after all to make a particular line.

All right, so we've covered how the characters on The Vampire Diaries love dressing up in evening wear and outfits from past decades and Halloween costumes and uniforms for school events, etc.; how they ogle one another in their unusual clothes, how we similarly enjoy looking at them, how they admire themselves in their mirrors, and how we get to glimpse them in the act of choosing and putting on clothes/accessories.

Now we turn to a related but distinct kind of dressup on the show: flashbacks to the supernatural characters in earlier eras. The Originals in their Viking-esque village or in the Middle Ages. Stefan and Damon in antebellum Virginia or the well-tailored 1910s. Katerina/Katherine weaving through it all. There is a fetish here for the historical settings and costumes, although this time it's more clearly on the part of the show creators for the benefit of (themselves and) the actors and the viewers, rather than a demonstration of what the characters themselves enjoy. In a way it's not quite historical roleplay, because the characters are the same, just younger; but in another way it is, because the actors are playing their characters in different settings. Different mannerisms, different locations, slightly different ways of talking. And of course, most marvelously of all, different clothes.

Because it's a lot of fun to switch between ( pairs like these: )

The multiple styles of dress are beautiful in themselves and call attention to (or heighten the enjoyment of) one another through the contrast. My favorite might be the long, flowing fashions of the Katarina/Elijah/Klaus love triangle. Reminds me of Edmund Blair Leighton paintings. I mean, even though the dudes' hair is usually ridiculous.

And now, the picspam.

( Historical dress-up, from 40 to 1,000 years ago )

The end. Hope you enjoyed! I know I do whenever we are treated to scenes like this on the show.

1. I wasn't planning to go to Vividcon this year because of stuff, but seeing the programming post today is making me second-guess the decision. Most appealing to me are the panels on song choice, music theory for facilitating audio editing, and making fancy credits with Aftereffects and Photoshop. Also one on how vidder motivation and intention influence outcome and can differ from audience reception. And there is this vid show:

Out of This World - Vids in spaaaaaace! A vidshow for fannish sources located in outer space, or concerned with space travel/exploration. Aliens, spaceships, and supernovas, oh my.

Spaaace. I know the vid show playlists are posted online, so it's not that so much as missing the panel discussions. People like anoel take thorough notes, though, so there's some hope of being filled in...

2. Forecast snowstorm today was a bust ("Snowquester" --> "Noquester," quipped the Capital Weather Gang). Again. I mean, it snowed for about eight hours, but it's been above 40 for days and is heading for 50 as we speak, so nothing stuck. As opposed to everywhere west, NW and SW of here. Sigh. Thus continueth the D.C. record for consecutive days with fewer than 2 inches of accumulation.

ETA: This. This is what it's like to live in this city when the word "snow" is mentioned.

3. As a consolation while working from home, I hung those pictures mentioned yesterday. They are, against my nature, not even in straight lines! Credit again to Apartment Therapy for its resources on laying out and hanging a gallery wall. I went with the "arrange your frames on the floor, outline them on a big piece of paper and stage that on the wall, then nail through the paper" method.

 

4. Now boredom looms, and on boredom's heels comes depression, so best not to go too far down that path. What will fill time now that the housing rush is subsiding?

*eyes vidding computer*

*or possibly the TV*

*or, actual good life choice, returning to better eating/cooking patterns*

*finishes season three* At long last! The throat-grab picspam.

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Pairings: Multi – details behind the cut
Rating/contents: PG/PG-13 for a mix of action-oriented/violent, erotic and/or nonconsensual images of hands on throats, headlocks, and hands pressed to mouths. A bloody pair of fangs or two.
Spoilers: I think only for seeing which characters interact with which, and sometimes an unexpected one is stronger? Screenshots taken from seasons two and three.
A/N: I don't remember where the tipping point was for me exactly, but once you notice that characters on this show get grabbed by the throat pretty often, you can't unsee it. I swear, we hit upwards of three throat-grabs per episode at the height of season two. So here you have it, a picspam conveying some of the ridiculousness/glory. For the "breathplay" square on my Bingo card.

( List of pairings )

( 83 screencaps )

( 44 icons based on the above )

Anyone's free to use or transform these if they're interested. Credit would be great if you do.

x-posted to vpd-icons, tvdicons and tvd_icons (why are there three TVD icon communities? why?)

Tagged by thewlisian_afer and happy to oblige.

1. List 5 celebrities you would have sex with without even asking questions.
2. Put all of them IN ORDER of your lust for them (5 - 1, 1 is the hottest).
3. Say which movie/show/thing it was that hooked you.
4. Supply photos for said people.
5. Tag five people!


( Five Men I Would Not, As The Saying Goes, Kick Out Of Bed )

( Bonus List! Five Girls I Would Go Gay For )

Tag, you're it! (if you want to play): synn, elynittria, moonlash_cc, theninth, daasgrrl

Guys. I am so tired I feel drunk. I’ve never actually been drunk, but I imagine it’s like this. Babbly and languid.

So, random stuff:

It snowed overnight. Not as pretty as the Valentine’s Day ice storm, which coated all the trees around here so they glittered in the sun, but it was just the right sort of heavy wet snow that makes you long for snow days when you could stay home to build snowmen and slide down the hill on a makeshift sled and come inside for hot chocolate. I, uh, went to work instead.

We have a new IT manager who looks like a cross between Kyle MacLachlan and my college thesis advisor, a young-looking thirty- or forty-something with brown hair prematurely graying at the sides and a goatee consisting of a small moustache and little triangle of what my co-worker has charmingly termed “chin pubes” and these green eyes that he always complements with vests and sweaters of the same color. Also he is quite competent at his job, which is attractive in itself. And it turns out he’s a newbie Firefly fan, by way of Serenity; I’ve lent him my DVDs to round out his downloaded collection of episodes. He likes “Out of Gas” best so far. Good taste. We’ve chatted about sci fi and vampires too. I was all set to propose to him, when, alas, I was informed by my boss that he’s married (no ring, though, and yes, I glanced at his hand on his first day in the office, not because I’m desperate but because I liked him and wanted in my masochism to confirm the theory that all the good ones are married) with children -- one of whom is 18, so I guess that gray wasn’t premature after all.

Got a haircut over the weekend that I like very much. At just above the shoulder, it’s as short as it’s been since I first lopped ~12" of it off three years ago. Just a simple trim with a single layer near the bottom for easier maintenance, but what a difference: I can wear my hair down again, the curls are behaving themselves for a change, and it looks sufficiently snazzy for professional-type things I need to be doing soon. And my head feels lighter.

While I was waiting for my walk-in appointment, I flipped through the March issue of Harper’s Bazaar to ogle the pretties and found some mouth-dryingly gorgeous shots of Katie Holmes in menswear. ( Behold. ) I don't know about you, but I think there's something extra hot about androgyny. Katie Holmes can apparently be added to the list of gorgeous women who can pull off dressing as men.

What else. Oh! Going to meet moonlash_cc and pun next month! Along with many other people I do not know. They graciously allowed me to invite myself along to a trip to an all-male performance of Twelfth Night at the BAM, which can’t possibly be anything but fun.

Hm. I always thought the first LJ-person I’d meet would be thewlisian_afer. Shall we make you next on the list?

Have been watching MI-5/Spooks over the past few weeks. Made it through all of Season Two, and will soon be starting on Season One. Yes, you read that right. Darn library only had the second season on the shelf when I showed up to borrow the first. In a fair world, frequent patrons would have greater borrowing privileges. Well anyway, I’m really enjoying it, particularly the guest appearance of my beloved Alexander Siddig and the armrest-gripping tension that comes when the operatives get into particularly sticky situations and Harry’s ridiculous sour lemon faces and some pretty good acting from Matthew Macfayden, who will always be Prince Hal to me. catilinarian recommended watching the first season in order starting with the pilot to maximize the wonder that is Hugh Laurie’s Jools Siviter, so I shall soon be following her expert advice.

What got me curious about MI-5 was the gorgeous, slashy, explicit, torture-ridden hurt/comfort spy!fic series “Tiger Trap” by tigertrapped, whom some of you may know from her pair of very dark Tritter-era House stories involving a taser gun; “Tiger Trap” is (very loosely) based on MI-5, with lots of OCs taking center stage, including the hero, Max. I’ve been meaning to mention it here since I got completely hooked a few weeks ago. This stuff is seriously good, people. If you like darker slash or epic adventures or young English men or spies or unconventional love stories, and especially if, like me, you enjoy your hurt/comfort with an extra dose of hurt and a generous helping of kinky and angsty sex, and heroes who bounce back again and again from unimaginable physical and mental pain, go take a look over there. And be sure to ask her to friend you so you can read the really juicy bits. I, er, definitely went straight to those first and have been skipping around the rest of the chapters ever since.

Oh, I guess I should warn that it's technically a work in progress? since new chapters are still being added. But it doesn't read like one; each section concludes cleanly enough that you could stop reading at any point and feel fulfilled.

Right. Somewhat delirious. Bedtime. Here's hoping for an improved rest of the week.

Just this post and then I'll shut up about it.

( Cillian Murphy + Pocahontas costume + back-alley club lighting = hot. )