some might say we will find a brighter day

[whynot]

#1 - IN WHICH THERE IS A CONFESSION. When I started seeing the name Britomart around, I thought it was some sort of British convenience store or supermarket, and I thought, "Oh, maybe they are writing a crackfic AU! Perhaps a 'Clerks' fusion!"

Okay. I get it now.


#2 - IN WHICH I AM PERHAPS BEYOND HELP. So I was replying my way through a backlog of comments and I felt guilty for ignoring them for this long, but then I check the date on them and it's only been 5 days. It felt like longer. Going on the internet is like spending your time in an enchanted otherworld where you can shape things to your will and magical things happen everywhere, but then you go back to the real world (so-called) and find out that nothing's changed since you last left. Time in the other world is not like time in this world, and it's like all that stuff in the other world amounts to nothing here. But no, that can't be true, you tell yourself that can't be true.

So I guess that makes Aslan the dormitory's internet connection, because he is sometimes great and sometimes painful.

oh god i can't turn narnia off


#3 - In which merlin_xovers now offers a prompt table!

#4 - A WILL REC: Until We Run Out of Road by mariana_oconnor. Oh my god, you guys, this fic <33. Modern AU in which Merlin runs away on a road trip after Will's death, and is haunted anyway. Sort of.

#5 - This week's 'Merlin'!

You know how in the beginning, fandom was like, "Oh, Gaius/Uther is kind of like Merlin/Arthur." And then people fell away from this idea because Gaius and Uther are obviously crazier and creepier than their respective son figures. But the parallel pops up again this episode. The way Merlin would do anything to save Arthur, Gaius seems to have the same attachment to Uther, 'cos okay: how many times in the past has Gaius said "No, Merlin, you can't save your friends with magic!"? But now he is all for saving UTHER with magic! Uther, who won't appreciate it enough to spare Merlin's life! Merlin's all about saving the world with his magic, so whether he doesn't notice Gaius's double standard or just doesn't care, I don't know.

Do you think we'll ever see a Gaius-centric episode? Why does Gaius do the things he does? Why would he risk Merlin for Uther but not for Arthur? What is the big love story between Gaius and Uther? They obviously care for each other? Why is Gaius so spooked? Why does he think keeping secrets is always the best way? Why is he so used to secrets and to trickery and lies? Does Gaius tell himself he's being practical, but also suspects that he is a coward? Is he tormented by the past or has he made peace with it? Gaiussssssssss \o/



#6 - I still have to finish that 'seven days of joy' meme, and maybe post thoughts about 'Lucifer', but this post is kinda long already, so let's end it on a note of IN WHICH OASIS IS NOT QUITE DEAD. I recently downloaded their complete discography in a fit of nostalgia and oh maaaaannnnnn <33 <3 <333. There is nothing quite like the beloved crap music of your childhood and the assholes that sing it. I really like this YouTube playlist of an acoustic show that Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer did in Paris in 2006.

#6a - Tell me I'm not the only one who's ever wanted Liam Gallagher/Damon Albarn fic.

#6b - TELL ME LIAM GALLAGHER WILL FOLLOW THROUGH ON THESE RUMORS TO COLLABORATE WITH JAY-Z. WHAT. \o/

Comments

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

Ooooooh, unless it's not the magic that made Gaius trustworthy but their relationship! Because Gaius won't betray Uther ever ever ever (...even by harboring a young wizard? idk)--although even that, like, he's protecting Morgana and protecting Merlin who's protecting Arthur, so even then Gaius is looking out for Uther's interests. What's the age difference between them, you think? like, what could their relatnioship have been? hmmmmm

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Not more than 20 I think? Say Uther is 40 and Gaius is 60? -ish? I can't quite see Uther having a mentor figure, I just can't. But I guess Merlin is too wild to really have Gaius for a mentor figure, but he is anyway. So perhaps it's possible that Gaius was Uther's mentor thingy.

What if Gaius sees Uther in Merlin? The single-minded drive to Do Good and damn the consequences?

I don't want Uther to be overthrown and killed, I decided. When Uther's reign comes to an end, I just want him and Gaius to take a vacation all over the world, having road trip adventures and sending their kids cheesy postcards from distant locales.

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

Maybe he was, like, Uther's tutor. OR OR OR what if he knew Igraine? Uther loves him because Igraine did, and he loves Uther because Igraine did. And as the physician he would have worked with them on the infertility thing.

Oooh, that's interesting. He certainly doesn't see himself (unless he totally changed?), but that--that is really interesting. The idea that Merlin is always right, Merlin will fix everything. Yes.

Dear Arthur, I hope Camelot is safe under your rule. Gaius and I are in France and I hear the most ridiculous stories about some round table. Love, Father.
His postcards to Morgana would be much nicer, and she would get presents too.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Igraine! Such the missing piece. I wonder what her relationship with Nimueh was. I can see friendship, but I can also see wariness. Uther may have welcomed Nimueh at court, but did Igraine? I dunno, but also fandom has instilled in me a gag reflex against women hating each other.

Haha yes! Uther wonders if everyone is okay, if Camelot is safe, and Gaius has to remind him it's not his problem anymore, and then they go off to eat some crepes. (Uther still doesn't like the French, but he is warming to their food.) I suppose they come back for Christmas, but Merlin keeps saying awkward things like, "Hey, I've just realized that you've thrown everyone in this room into the dungeons at least once! Except Gaius. Isn't that funny?"

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

It's so obvious that she left such a hole! I want to know lots more about her. Did Nimueh grieve? Was she pissed at Arthur for taking her place? Does Uther have to hate magic so he can love his son?

also fandom has instilled in me a gag reflex against women hating each other.
Seriously. I am like OH STOP IT, because I want to see women with decent relationships with each other

...And then things go reeeeeeally quiet and Morgana goes "Wait, when did you throw Arthur in the dungeons?" (Or has he? I can't remember.)

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Does Uther have to hate magic so he can love his son?
fjdslfjsdfds aaaaaaahhhh Pendragons! SO TRAGIC. How beloved by the people was Igraine, I wonder?

1.04, dude! For trying to save his dying manservant!

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

The Pendragons are just trying to break my heart all the time. I wouldn't like Arthur so much if his dad wasn't so mean, though, huh.

(oh, also, the comments you have in your feminism/historical stuff post are reeeeeally interesting, so, um, you should post questions like that more often?)

OH I TOTALLY FORGOT. HE HAD THE FLOWER AND EVERYTHING.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't like Arthur so much if his dad wasn't so mean, though, huh.
I know what you mean.

Me too. I actually have half a mind to link to that post and repose the question so it's not under an LJ-cut. I don't tend to do srs bsns soapboxing on my LJ and the chances that I ever will are very slim (though it does tend to come out in comments), but just throwing out this question was interesting. It is an issue I wasn't sure how to tackle because I was such a staunch cultural and historical relativist (and still pretty much am?), but now I'm thinking about feminism and media representations more and i wasn't sure yet how to smish these things together.

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

I totally left another comment on it because I am a dork, but I know what you mean. It's hard to reconcile the whole idea of--like you can't judge a character for their whole culture in a short story? But also oppression is bad. I think I would totally love it if you did more soapboxing on your journal, 'cause it's awesome in comments. :) And I mean, if I wait long enough at a post you and Steph will go all Marxism in comments, so. ALSO ALSO what do you do when you're just, say, filming the Aeneid? Like, do you change it so the sexism isn't so apparent? But then you lose the story. But if you don't you're left with flat women and sexism. aaagh.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

I saw that comment! It takes me a while to reply to comments, especially the ones that require thought and coherence. So much more fun and quick to speculate on the postcards Uther would write to Arthur from France! So, the order that I reply to comments to is not indicative of anything except my own laziness.

See, that's the thing. People lose stories because of the politics of the day! The way a system ends up suppressing certain stories because it's not about Jesus, another system suppresses certain stories because it's not about independent women. And that's kind of a crazy analogy, i apologize, but it helps the point i'm trying to make? Gender issues and sexism are always important, but they are not always the MOST important thing.

(And I mean, if I wait long enough at a post you and Steph will go all Marxism in comments, so.
XD)

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

Lol, no, I totally get that. Comments take lots of energy especially at insane hours of the night. I totally didn't mean to be like "Reply to my comment!!!"

Yesssss. Exactly. Yes. And I want those stories to stay alive! Maybe there should be reinterpreting instead, 'cause, like, the Aeneid, right, we don't see much of the women but did that stop Ursula le Guin from writing a whole novel about one? No! So there should be that, and even like if you're filming an old story, maybe there are ways of playing the character without changing her that make it less sexist. Because a 3d woman is really all I ask, sometimes.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

there are ways of playing the character without changing her that make it less sexist.
This is what it's all about, really.

All the different ways to be strong. All the different practical feminisms around the world.

What are you doing still up anywaY? i kind of just woke up 12 hours ago, that is my excuse.

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

All the different ways to be strong YES THIS. I was totally just lurking around the comments on my flist and someone was saying that a lot of the acceptable ways to write strong females use masculine strengths, who said that, was it you? Because yes! There are more ways of being strong than picking up a sword and refusing to cry, or not wanting to bear children, or being scornful of the women around you who are not so "strong".

I have such a screwy sleep schedule and my roommates do too, that is my excuse.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Haha, it is entirely possible that that is me. Yet another pet issue I love to rant about in comments but have never in an actual post. Like, all that does is two-dimensionalize women and ignore their other possible avenues of strength and agency!