Everyone I Ever Was and Everyone I Ever Will Be

“Comment to this post with “I love libraries!” and I will give you seven topics I want you to talk about. They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list to your own blog with your commentary.”

Zombres gave me:

Greek mythology!
Steampunk!
Werewolves!
OT3s!
Jeffrey Dean Morgan!
Gay rights!
Formative Film Experiences!



Greek mythology:

One of my first loves. The first book I can really remember reading is D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths— the illustrations were just gorgeous and the stories had me hooked. Then I kindof got to rediscover everything all over again as I got older and realized, “Wow, there are a lot of rapist douchebags in these stories”. I will also grumble about Hades not being a bad guy in the stories to anyone within earshot when something like Clash of the Titans or Hercules or … well, 3/4 of Greek Mythology movies come on.

Steampunk:

One of my latest loves. ;) I really started getting into it at an anime convention Ashley took me to last year; they had several steampunk booths in the vending area and I was immediately addicted. I’ve combined my first and latest loves and am working on a steampunk novel about the Greek Gods and Goddessess. One of my main concerns with it is that I’ll accidentally do the literary equivalent of the “stick a gear on it and call it steampunk” thing that seems to be a constant grumble in the craft circles. So research research research.

Werewolves:

I do not care if they’re one of the major standbys/cliches/tropes/what have you of the horror genre, I adore them. In the same way I adore haunted houses and vampires (okay, aside from the Twilight version)— they’re timeless, and so much can be done with the idea. Possibilities everywhere! The ones who can control when they change and the ones who can’t; the ones who keep some shred of their humanity after they turn and those who don’t; full-out wolf or some combination of the human and the animal; gimme them all.

OT3s:

My bread and butter, and I’m constantly finding new ones. Just today I read one of goddamnhella’s fics, which was Tony/Loki/Pepper, and HNGH. I just love the character interaction potential, and OT3 stories tend to have more than their fair share of snark, and I’m big on my snark. That type of romance is starting to show up more and more in my novels, too, which doesn’t surprise me one bit. Though I cannot seem to figure out whether the endgame in the Greek Steampunk novel might be Aphrodite/Dionysus/Ariadne, or Aphrodite/Dionysus/Hephaestus, and I have the sinking feeling that “hey, why not three?” is going to quickly turn into “hey, why not four?” My brain is clearly not going to be satisfied until I write a novel called “First There was Drama but then Everyone had an Orgy”.

((OT3s I love can also be platonic: see zombres’s Weird USA, with Charlie, Olivia, and Ben. There are some characters who are great on their own, fantastic playing off of one other person, but get the three of them together and everyone just SHINES.))

Jeffrey Dean Morgan:

So I have a feeling it would be cheating if I just keysmashed for this entire entry. ;) I first saw him on Supernatural (wish I could still see him there on occasion, AHEM WRITERS) and then in P.S. I Love You. By this time I was in fangirly enough mode that I went ahead and looked up some pictures online, and also found some interviews. He rescued and bottle-fed a two-day old puppy. He saw a guy beating his girlfriend and ACTUALLY INTERFERED instead of doing the whole ‘eh, it’s not my business’ thing that’s so horrifically widespread. He seems to be a genuinely good guy, and see above: keysmash-levels of attractiveness. I’ll basically watch anything he’s in (except Grey’s Anatomy. That I just cannot do. Sorry!)

Gay rights:

Should not be any different than ‘straight rights’. That seems absolutely obvious to me now, but it didn’t always. I grew up (and still live) in the middle of the Bible Belt, and “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” is still considered witty commentary in way too many places here. The “I don’t really care one way or another because nothing they do hurts me, but— ew. I just don’t get it” is really one of the better attitudes I’ve found. ((don’t even get me started on ‘love the sinner, hate the sin’ bullshit)) It wasn’t anything that really crossed my mind for a long time, and then during stage setup for one of our plays, a friend of mine put on the soundtrack to RENT. And it was literally like nothing I’d ever heard, told from the pov of people whom I’d always heard spoken about in sneering tones, if they were spoken about at all. I remember thinking, “okay, if I’m wrong about that, what else am I wrong about?” And thus a conservative became a liberal. :)

Formative Film Experiences:

Stand By Me— LOVE ETERNAL. The first Stephen King movie I ever saw. It came out when I was five (yes, I am an Old Lady of Thirty) and I think I saw it about three/four years later. Can still quote it in full, and it remains the movie with the absolute best film-dialogue-to-ending-song transition ever for me.

FernGully— my love of faeries, OT3s, animation, and extraordinarily bright colors can all probably be traced back to this film. First soundtrack I ever bought.

Labyrinth— Given the aforementioned Greek Mythology love, anything about a labyrinth was immediately interesting for me. This was the movie I’d most always put on first any time I was home sick from school (other one was Muppet Christmas Carol). Also, when I first saw it I identified with Sarah so. much. Watched it again recently, thought that she was being such a brat at the beginning. Heh.

Beauty and the Beast— Favorite fairy tale! A heroine who’s a bookworm! SIGN ME UP. The animation and the music are so gorgeous.

My cousin and I also used to build enormous pillow forts on/around the couch and watch a triple feature of The Little Mermaid, Singin’ in the Rain, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang just about every weekend.

Good day so far!

-- made caramel apple coffeecake for breakfast

-- made four nautilus pins to sell, and a butterfly (the butterfly is a scary fledgling effort, though, so not sure if it counts)

And now?

I have five kinds of metallic paints (ruby, copper, black, gold, and plum). I have gears. I have peacock feathers. And I have a plastic toy gun that I picked up for $2 at a flea market. Fear my steampunking skills.

This entry was originally posted at http://changeyourstars8.dreamwidth.org/356625.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Inspired by zombres's Bond fic, which got me thinking about the series, and one thing in particular.

I haven't talked about this much (at all, really) because it still strikes me as the height of dorkitude, but hey, what the heck. Since before I knew what shipping was, I shipped Bond and Moneypenny.

Even if I couldn't stand the rest of the movie, I always loved the two of them. Over the years, I've built up my own personal canon of her/how the two of them interact--

* She worked menial jobs while going to school. At a waitressing job, a regular who was a paper-pusher at MI6 realized that she alphabetized the sugar packets by manufacturer and color-coded the coffee. Impressed and a little frightened, he mentioned a job opening to her, and she's never looked back.

* It isn't just at work. She alphabetizes her spice rack (and every other thing she possibly can) at home. Except her books. She has to have those arranged by height, for some reason she can't quite explain.

* Every time Bond goes by her desk, he nudges her pen cup a little off-center.

* She flirts with him, but doesn't really think it'll ever go anywhere. Knows that even if it could, it probably wouldn't be a good idea. Both of them are fully aware of how screwed up he is when it comes to relationships. Doesn't keep her from fantasizing, though.

* If anyone ever asked, his response would be, "Oh, her? Nice enough lady." He always sends her a rose on her birthday.

* She's no blushing virgin waiting for him to someday sweep her off her feet. She's had her share of relationships. None of them ever seem to work out in the long term, though. If she's honest with herself, she knows why.

* She's gone by "Moneypenny" since college. Only M knows what her first name is now, and since she also knows M's first name (working high-classification paperwork has its advantages) they have a truce.

* He came in pretty battered after a rough assignment. She hurried out from behind the desk, asking if he was okay. It's the one time they've spoken without her desk between them. Since then, she seems to have gotten used to him getting hurt on the job. She hasn't.

* She lives in a small apartment. Spends most of her incidental income on Murano glass.

* He's leaned in close. So has she. But they've never touched.


It's a fantastic unrequited relationship, and I want it requited dangit. My one problem with the new Bond movies is that they don't have Moneypenny (yet. . .?) because I love the new series so much, and really want to see their take on her. As is, I am thisclose to writing fanfiction. Somebody tell me no.


James Bond: What would I ever do without you?
Miss Moneypenny: As far as I can remember, James, you've never had me.
James Bond: Hope springs eternal.

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So for the past several nights while we were visiting family, I had to put the kids to bed-- get Ian settled; get Kaylee to lie down; go fix Ian a bottle when he woke up; tell Kaylee to lie back down because I wasn't getting up to do anything fun, no really kid, you're not missing anything; wake up at least three times during the night when Ian started squawking; settle Kaylee back down; and then what do you mean it's morning already? Fun times.

So tonight, Kaylee is asleep early. Ian is conked out on the couch. I can go to bed early and get some rest!

And I am not tired at all.

I hate you, body.

This entry was originally posted at http://changeyourstars8.dreamwidth.org/342722.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Eleven years ago tonight, a tornado hit our town. So of course the weather is stormy.

I will now be superstitiously twitchy all night.

This entry was originally posted at http://changeyourstars8.dreamwidth.org/340862.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

It makes games of Balloon Soccer a lot easier. :-)

Anyone else having a problem with most icons not showing up tonight??

I like White Russians.

Not dead, but my computer's still being worked on. I am sooooo behind on my friends list it's not even funny. Will be able to catch up with things probably by the first of the year! ((because either my computer's getting fixed by then or I'm going to catapult it into a lake and buy a new one))