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

A meme ganked from suaine—one of those that go around every once in a while, which for some reason I never got around to doing.

( Choose your genre show, answer the questions using episode titles from that show—if possible, don't repeat any. )

I just rented The Princess Diaries 2—which, by the way, I did watch back when it first came out—just because of Chris Pine. Yes. I'd mentioned a few weeks ago that this would be a surefire way to tell when whether my Star Trek XI obsession reached an unhealthy level, so there: it has.

Some friends of mine are having a board game night, with Risk, cards, charades and possibly liberal amounts of alcohol. *grins* I haven't done this in ages!

The following links are some of the many, many reasons why I've been going, "Jesus, I'd kill to be at Comic-Con" for the past couple of days, thanks to Twitter and the (admittedly far too many) geeks Twitter users I happen to follow.

(On the very, very bright side, firstlightofeos, moon_dancing, afterthree, oxys_kai_moros, nancy_downs, inksplotched and I have made plans to attend next year's Comic-Con together, which will be all kinds of brilliant!)

I'm excited for Iron Man 2 and Avatar and Fringe and of course the next two (:D!) Star Trek movies and oh God, watching Comic-Con news from afar is short-circuiting my obsessive brain. There's way too much geekery out there I want to watch. Crap.

( Links: Comic-Con costumes, Russell T. Davies, Firefly, Dollhouse, The Cabin in the Woods, The Guild, V, Chuck, True Blood, Twilight, Twitter )

Star Trek: SEE 'Make Kirk/Spock Canon' petition. I pretty much fully agree with sunhawk's thoughts on the matter, so I'll just sit here in my quiet internet corner and headdesk away.

Star Trek: Reboot fic recs of the must-read variety: We Reach Our Apogee Slowly by kowaiyoukai (Spock/Uhura, Kirk/Spock pre-slash, WIP), You'll Get There in the End (It Just Takes a While) by seperis (Kirk/Spock), Don't Last Like the Feeling by anowlinsunshine (Spock/Uhura, Kirk/Spock), Common Bond by florahart (Sarek/Winona). Also, rageprufrock's D: (RPS, Chris/Zach). Yes. I know. It's RPS. Shut up. [For more ST:TOR recs, click here.]

Incidentally, I neglected to make a Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince reaction post, despite my promise to afterthree that I would, so here's the gist of what I would've said: the movie was hilarious; I still don't like Gambon's Dumbledore; I enjoyed a lot of the movie, but the last third of it or so were just plain painful. I wasn't a big fan of the cave scene or Dumbledore's death. This wasn't my favourite movie, but it wasn't the worst of the batch. In a word: meh. EDIT: cleolinda has said it best in her Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in 15 Minutes, really. Heeee.

Ending on a random note, in case any of you somehow missed this link in the past few days, click to watch Never Gonna Give Your Teen Spirit Up, or: Rick-Rolling, Nirvana-style.

I spent the last few days judging Romance and NC-17 fics for the Hourglass Awards. Two things:

1) I'm astonished at how normal most of the sex in Harry Potter fanfiction is. Sure, there are plenty of squicky/strange/Squid-related fics out there, but for the most part it's just very, very normal sex, with the occasional contraceptive charm or conjured lube or simply misused motor oil. After spending the last few weeks immersed in pon farr/touch telepathy fic, it all just seems insanely straightforward. Not that it's a bad thing or anything, but I kept half-waiting for people to meld, or someone's eyes to turn golden and make shit explode.

2) I dislike most sappy NC-17 fics, but good God, overly sappy Sirius/Remus fics annoy me more than sap in pretty much any other ship. I don't mean the cute, clichéd, shit-we-had-inadvisable-drunken-sex-and-I-realised-I've-been-in-love-with-you-all-along kind; it's the "I wuv you, Siri-poo" ones that make me want to claw my fucking eyes out. Ugh.

But then again, maybe the excessive ~puppy love~ doesn't annoy other people as much as it does me. So: poll!

Poll #1427435 Marauder nicknames
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 56

Which of the following Marauder-era nicknames would you willingly use in a (non-parody) HP fic?

I'm ridiculously excited for U2's new tour—their first concert was full of hiccoughs (e.g. they failed spectacularly at One and With or Without You, which they've been playing for years), but they seem to have sorted themselves out, and things are looking good! They even played Electrical Storm twice! (Well, except for that godawful I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight remix. What are they thinking?)

I'm on holidays, which is totally brilliant :D I'm in São Paulo for the HBP release, and I've been hanging out with friends whom I rarely see, so yay!

Gah. I've been reading too much Harry Potter fic. I miss Star Trek and Merlin. *twitches* Withdrawal. Seriously. God, this is sad.

In other news, I'm completely in love with the icon I used to make this post.

ETA Guys, guys, Kali set out to explore Twilight-esque purple prose, and managed to come up with a true wonder of Doctor Who cheesefic, hosted here. It is without a doubt the worst piece of fanfiction she's even posted—and yes, I'm totally counting the find-replace "Harry Potter" one. ♥ It's a work of art. You're an amazing goddess, Kali. I...have no words. *snerk*

When you see this, post five seven unpopular fandom opinions in your journal.

1. [Doctor Who] I adore Steven Moffat and all his DW episodes (except for the fourth season two-parter, because no amount of fangirlism can get me to appreciate River), so I'm actually curious to see what he'll do with Eleven. I'll miss Tennant like hell, but I'll definitely give the next series a chance.

2. [Torchwood] I hate Torchwood. I've watched several episodes, and I should like it, really—I love Jack, and James Marsters was in it, even, I should've been all over that, but...no. The team fails, and even Jack fails, and Owen fails, and Gwen fails oh God, so hard, and the plotlines are ridiculous, and they're all amazingly inefficient and terrible at their jobs, and just, what the hell were you high on when you allowed this to happen, RTD?

( Harry Potter, Star Trek, Merlin, et al. )


I signed up to write two reel_merlin fics: Laws of Attraction and Imagine Me & You. *headdesk* I think it's a masochism thing. But hey, I have until September—I may actually finish them, who knows?

Oh, and just because it's being debated everywhere: Michael Jackson died. The rumour outbreak broke the internet—including, but not limited to, LJ, Twitter, E! and CNN. I'm pretty sure ohnotheydidnt did the LJ-breaking; the comm was inaccessible for a while before the whole site crashed down. Damn, I really wanted to read people's comments on the matter. Way to go, ONTD!

I feel sorry for the bazillion people who bought tickets for his 'This Is It' 2010 tour, anyhow. The man's musical talent was respect-worthy regardless of personal taste, even if his private life was a godawful mess.

I don't usually pimp fandom memes, but this one's awesome:

Fandom Superlatives!
SUMMER 2009 EDITION: GO VOTE

Among other categories, we have: Most Likely to Succeed in World Domination • Most Likely to Not Even Notice the Apocalypse (Donna!) • Most Likely to Bring New People to the Fandom • Basic Instinct Award (Most Likely to be Killed by a Jealous Lover) • Best Season Finale • Show Most Likely to Have a Musical Episode • Show You've Converted the Most Viewers To • Best Opening Sequence or Titles • Most Likely to Snap and Kill Everyone One Day • Best Mentor • Character Who Would Have the Best Blog (is there even any doubt? *grins*) • Character You Most Wanted to Die Who Didn't • Most Likely to Start an Orgy • Damsel in the Most Distress (*snerk* I love it that Arthur's nominated for this) • Best Monster • Most Promising New Series • Most Powerful/Well Done Death

They're in dire need of Harry Potter/Doctor Who/Merlin/Dr. Horrible/Star Trek love, you guys. Seriously, last time I checked Chris Pine wasn't even nominated for 'Most GQ,' which is just wrong. God, this meme is reminding me of several fandoms I didn't remember I liked! Go vote! :D

This meme is making me realise how little fandom-variety there is in my LJ icons. This is most distressing :|

( In which I ramble about Heroes seasons 1-3 )

I'm officially obsessed. I've been known to watch a bunch of Youtube videos, Google interviews, rewatch DVDs etc. for hours on end whenever I really love an actor/show/movie/whatever, but this Star Trek thing is quickly spinning out of what little control I ever manage to have over my (admittedly far too frequent) obsessions. I love this fandom! It's exciting! And so shiny! Yay lens flare! There's Quinto talking about zeitgeist, Pine's fucking aplomb, and then Urban goes and talks about the Kirk/Spock/McCoy triumvirate and that's it, I'm screwed, and totally, totally hooked.

I never thought I'd be so girly—Jesus, I've been having lengthy discussions with my roommate, wendybarrie_, on the relative merits of Karl Urban, Chris Pine and Zach Quinto's bloody EYEBROWS. *has clearly lost her mind* I've watched more interviews than I could possibly remember, and I've been following ontd_startrek posts like a deranged lunatic. (A deranged lunatic who knows way too many GQMF macros, e.g. this and this, for her own good, which may or may not make the whole thing much worse.)

So yes. I'm watching TOS (and loving it!) and reading Trek fic and ogling Pine/Quinto picspams when I should be reading Hourglass Awards fics. *headdesk* Yay. I CHAIN-WATCHED HEROES exclusively because of Sylar (okay, and Eccleston), man, this is a new and alarming low. Next thing you know, I'll be renting The Princess Diaries 2 because of Chris Pine. If I do that, someone please shoot me. Please. I'm begging you.

Speaking of which: sarahtales's Star Trek parody, which cannot be pimped enough. :D

There's a new True Blood episode coming this weekend! Should be interesting. I couldn't care less about Sookie/Bill, but more Eric = happy Chris, so yay season 2!

Via sullensiren: Men Who Stay Up All Night to Watch Girls While They Sleep (graph)

Merlin crackfic rec: Best Intentions Aside, by derryere (Modern!AU, Merlin is a Harry/Draco fanartist and Arthur finds out.)

...Shit, I think I've become a Trekkie.