I couldn't care less about Christmas itself, but this year's Yuletide was all kinds of exciting!

My Yulegoat wrote me a time to refrain from embracing, a lovely Kings futurefic featuring pining!Jack and jaded!David—what more could I possibly want? Thank you so much, mystery author! ♥

I have a bazillion windows open with all the fics and links I ignored over the past few days while hiding under my Yuletide-shaped rock—but I'm I won't get to touch them any time soon because NEW DOCTOR WHO OMG.

While (VERY IMPATIENTLY) waiting for my download to finish, I shall read more Yuletide fics. I doubt I'll post recs here on LJ, but if you have Twitter, check out @ficrecs; I'll probably update it pretty frequently over the next few days!

wendybarrie_ asked me to upload this, so in case anyone else wants it—



In case you don't know what this is: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is Joss Whedon's (Buffy, Firefly, Dollhouse) brainchild, written and filmed during the Writers' Guild 2007-8 strike. It's a supervillain's video blog. It's a musical. Said supervillain—Dr. Horrible himself—is played by the brilliant Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson). His nemesis, Captain Hammer, is the awesome Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly, Buffy); the girl Dr. Horrible loves from a distance is none other than Felicia Day, geek muse extraordinaire (Buffy, The Guild).

Seriously. It's awesome.

So! If you've lived under an internet rock for the past couple of years, hurry along and watch the 45-minute micro-series by downloading the file below, or on YouTube.

Downloads:

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (video), on MegaUpload.

( Dr. Horrible soundtrack download links )

Awesomely enough, the Dr. Horrible DVD's commentary track is also a musical, sung by the writers and the cast. It may actually, at times, be slightly more brilliant than Dr. Horrible itself.

( Commentary! The Musical download links )

Other links:

Official website, with lyrics.

Dr. Horrible on Twitter:
Writers: Jed Whedon (@drhorrible), Zack Whedon (@ZDubDub), Maurissa Tancharoen (@MoTancharoen)
Cast: Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH), Nathan Fillion (@NathanFillion), Felicia Day (@FeliciaDay)

Horrible Turn, a fan-made sequel.

All right, so I forgot to post about Google Wave here. I have a shitload of invites (like, 50+, so that should be enough for you lot :D) if anyone's interested. Comments are screened; just leave your email here and I'll send you one.

I'm christycorr@googlewave there too, so if you're around, add me—group Waves are always fun!

Edit: What is Google Wave? Okay, here's a nice little video explaining what Wave is. And here's a Lifehacker post explaining it in more detail, with screenshots.

Google Wave is basically Google acknowledging that e-mailing has become too formal and bulky. They're trying to reinvent e-mails. If you use Wave for nothing other than communication with a single person at a time, it's a glorified IMing interface (that runs in your browser) where you can see the other person's typing in real time, drag and drop attachments, use indentation to maintain parallel conversations, and embed videos, images & Google searches. There are other gadgets around (games and whatnot), but these are the basic features. If you use it to chat with a bunch of people, it's—well, it's pretty much the same thing, but with a lot of people involved, it's much more entertaining! :D

It's great for group activities and collaborations of all kinds. I'd guess it would make a very interesting tool for beta-ing fics, too.

Plus, you know, they got the name from Firefly. Which is awesome. ♥

Whoo! Archive of Our Own is finally in open beta stage! Click here to request an invitation; you should get it soon-ish, depending on how long the queue's become by the time you sign up.

You know the deal: all fandoms, all pairings, shiny open-source-ness, the works. :D

Star Trek XI fic rec: So Wise We Grow, captanddeastar's startrekbigbang fic (eventual Kirk/Spockm 81,000 words, R). It's kid!fic—Spock finds himself having to parent, with Kirk's help, the son T'Pring left behind—and it's all kinds of adorable.

So! Christmas cards! (Again, not hand-made, because I fail at arts-and-crafts-ness.) Drop me a note if you want one, and I'll do my best to mail them at some point before December 25th.

[Note to newcomers: I've yet to manage to meet this deadline. Extrapolating from my last few years' Christmas-card-sending attempts, I'd say you're likely to receive your card in mid-January. I apologise in advance.]

Comments are screened.

We've had consistent 100F+ weather for the past few days, and I am melting. MELTING. Weather gods, I am so displeased. My computer's overheating so much it's uncomfortable to type. Ugh.

Yuletide sign-ups are now open! I haven't decided which fandoms I'll pick, but go volunteer! Also, UR.org's yearly Christmas Fic Exchange has just opened sign-ups, too. *nudges* How about some HP fic nostalgia, eh? Go join! ♥

Meme!

Post a list of 10 television shows you watch or have watched. Have your friends list guess your favourite character from each show. When someone guesses your favourite character, bold the title. When guessed, tell us why you like that character.

Here you go:

1. Doctor Who
2. How I Met Your Mother
3. Six Feet Under
4. Merlin
5. Firefly
6. Buffy
7. Numb3rs
8. Chuck
9. Leverage
10. True Blood

I'd offer shows like Castle, Alias, Dexter, Dollhouse, Rome, Boston Legal, Gilmore Girls, House, Scrubs, Supernatural, Pushing Daisies, Star Trek (TOS) and Heroes as options, but my favourite characters in each and every one are so obvious (and obviously awesome) that really, it's kind of pointless.

Star Trek XI fic rec: waldorph's √π233/hy7 series. Don't let the Math-y name scare you off! It starts off with an AU loosely based on the movie Good Will Hunting, in which Jim is dragged to Starfleet Academy after Spock finds out he's a bit of a Maths wiz kid, but it's so much more than that—every one-shot that followed is narrated from the point of view of a different character (Winona, Uhura, Sam, T'Pring, Sulu, Frank, Sarek, etc.), following his or her life in that 'verse. Most of them can be read as stand-alones, if Kirk/Spock isn't your thing. I'm especially fond of the T'Pring one-shot.

Also, I turn 22 today. Yay for getting old! And happy belated birthday to keshi_t, who is exactly one year and 36 hours older than me :D

All right, so I fail at updating LJ! Damn you, Twitter. I went to a U2 concert in Tampa with firstlightofeos and nancydowns a couple of weeks ago, and it was brilliant. I went to New York right after that, where I bought far more DVDs and assorted geekeries than I ought to and ate really, really good Chinese takeout. I totally fell in love with the city. ♥ And I bought a new MacBook Pro! It is gorgeous. I've just finished setting her up to my satisfaction today. Her name is River. (After River Tam, obviously, not River Song. And damn you for even considering that possibility, oxys_kai_moros.)

TV-related rambling ahead! But first, tell me something.

Poll #1476009 What have you been watching, flist?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 37

Fantasy/sci-fi:

Drama:

Procedurals:

Comedy:

Which of these soon-to-be returning shows do you plan to continue/start watching?

Rec a TV show!

( vague spoilers for Glee, Dollhouse and Merlin )

Three TV shows I'm watching and enjoying—with download links, because everyone knows I'm a pimp at heart:

Castle: Nathan Fillion playing the part of a Fillion-y mystery writer who helps solve crimes; what's not to love? I'm enjoying season 2 even more than I did season 1, and I'm happily waiting for my copy of Richard Castle's Heat Wave to arrive. Here's a YouTube promo featuring Fillion being awesome and geeky. Download the Castle pilot in .avi format here.

FlashForward: the premise is interesting—the entire world blanked out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, causing massive casualties, and during that time everyone caught a glimpse of what their lives would be like six months from now. The main character saw himself investigating the blackouts, so he begins investigating; it's all very wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey. Also: there's John Cho! And Jack Davenport! YouTube promo link. Download the FlashForward pilot in .avi format here. (Hulu link.)

White Collar: I was excited to see Chuck's Matthew Bomer (Bryce Larkin) in a new show; it just premiered two days ago, and it didn't disappoint. [Incidentally, if you aren't watching Chuck, why the hell aren't you watching Chuck?] Bomer plays a con artist who helps investigate white collar crimes to keep himself out of jail, à la Catch Me If You Can. It's entertaining! Check out the YouTube promo, and download the first episode here in .avi format (or watch on Hulu).

I'm also watching, with varying degrees of dedication, enthusiasm and caught-up-ness: Dexter, Fringe, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Lie to Me, Numb3rs, Criminal Minds, Stargate: Universe, Supernatural and The Mentalist. I have a terrible case of television ADD—I rarely remember/want to watch shows' new episodes every week—so everything always piles up. *pointed look at Heroes, Criminal Minds and Fringe* *headdesk*

Title: Moment of Surrender
Author: christycorr
Film prompt: Imagine Me & You
Pairings: Arthur/Gwen, Arthur/Merlin, Gwen/Lancelot
Rating: PG
Word count: ~16,000
Summary: "Getting married wasn't supposed to change anything."
Warning: implied adultery
Story notes: beta-ed by firstlightofeos, title by U2.

(Crossposted to Dreamwidth.)

( Moment of Surrender, 1/2 )

I'm going to Tampa to see a U2 gig with firstlightofeos and lu in two weeks! I'll spend the weekend there, and then I'm off to New York for a week.

But! I have a) no idea what I'll do there and b) no hotel booked. I fail at travel planning, apparently.

So, er. New Yorkers? I'd really appreciate a tip or two as to what I could do and the general area I should stick to, hotel-searching-wise. Help me, o lovely flist, you're my only hope! :D