whynot | the countdown begins?!

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the countdown begins?!

I can't believe people nominated the following fandoms and I am so very pleased they did!

Jostein Gaarder – Sophie's World | AAAAAAAHH THIS BOOK WAS MY FAVORITE IN MIDDLE SCHOOL. For a time, I wrote all my short stories to have the same ending as this book. My best friend at the time gave me my own copy for my birthday so I would finally give her her copy back. I was rereading it recently actually, and meh, it gets pretty didactic, but my thirteen-year-old self loved it. The Solitaire Mystery is a better-written book, but Sophie's World holds a special place in my heart. I'm gonna volunteer to write for this definitely.

The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us! (song) | Are you kidding meeeeeee. ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEE?!?!?! SOMEONE REQUESTED FIC FOR A SUFJAN SONG. BLOW MY MIND, YULETIDE. omg. Yeah, go on and request the song I associate with a Merlin/Will American suburbs AU, just go on and do that. Def volunteering for this too. Thinly veiled 'Merlin' fic, here you come?! (SUFJAN IS ALWAYS RELEVANT.)

RPF - A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila | Don't be hating! Actually, hate it if you want, the show deserves it. But why hate when you can lol?! OH HOW WE LOLED. How does one write fic for a reality show? Do you pretend the production crew and the cameras aren't around?

The Magic School Bus (tv) | lol, I'm probably not going to write for this, but omg I would be all over the reading of it. The secret life of Ms. Frizzle? The secret life of LIZ?! The kids all grown up? When I was wee, I wrote Magic School Bus fic about the kids as high school teens and there was angst all over the place. Other fandoms I <33 but am not writing for include Ghostwriter and The Adventures of Pete & Pete.

...and Ocean Girl! | I haven't thought about this show in FOREVEREVER, and then I saw it on the list and now I'm mainlining the episodes. Neriiiiii, how so awesome? This is, um... another show I wrote a fic for when I was a kid. Also, the ORCA kids had really weird hair, what's up with that. Also, the commander is a hotass.

Academic theories (anthropomorphic)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (movie) [I have never seen cowboys more awkward!]
Boondock Saints [Ah, my old love!]
Captain Planet [FOR DEF]
Duck Tales
Fight Club
From Dusk Till Dawn
The Godfather [For maybe?]
Gordon Korman - The Twinkie Squad [Man, now I want to reread his books all over again.]
Gossip (2000 film)
Hook [Ru! Fi! Oooooooo!]
Keeping the Faith
Kill Bill
Lucifer (comic) [Def!]
Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book
Parks and Recreation
Pulp Fiction
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest [OH MY FORMER FAVORITE SHOW. OH JONNY/JESSIE/HADJI OT3.]
RPF - Monty Python
Scooby Doo! Where Are You?
The Secret Garden (1993 movie)
Snatch
South Park
Sweet Valley High
Terry Pratchett - The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy [I want Johnny Maxwell fic so hard, you have no idea.]
Trese [OMG WHO REQUESTED FILIPINO COMICS WHO WHO]
Websites
Viva La Vida - Coldplay (song)

Also, this thing:

day 01 | a song
day 02 | a picture
day 03 | a book/ebook/fanfic
day 04 | a site
day 05 | a youtube clip
day 06 | a quote
day 07 | whatever tickles your fancy

"With a group of friends, [Barry] Humpries used to go to a shop every day at the same time and pay for a bar of Lux soap but never take the soap away. They would sometimes get strangers to do the same thing. Each time the shop-keeper would say, "You've forgotten your soap," to which Humphries and company would respond, "We don't want the soap, we just want to buy it!" Eventually Humphries took the soap out of the shop but returned, saying, "I'm sorry, I forgot to leave the soap." The shopkeeper eventually moved to another part of town."

-- That Book of Perfectly Useless Information by Mitchell Symons

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THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS

GHOSTWRITER

OH MY GOD

~THANK YOU FOR THE BRIEF TRIP BACK TO MY 90s DAYS~~~~

Also, I want fic for ALL THOSE FANDOMS. This year is going to be fantastic.

♥

Edited 2009-10-26 15:44 (UTC)

GHOSTWRITERRRRRR. omg remember rallies?! And that music video Lenny made?! And Alex/Tinaaaaaa eeeeeeeee AND ALSO how Jamal's actor's name is Sheldon Turnipseeds, which never fails to crack me up.

REMEMBER DOROTHY ANN AND HER RESEARCH??

OH GOD ALEX/TINA WERE SO OTP. <33 I liked Gaby too. And LOL SHELDON TURNIPSEEDS, I HAD FORGOTTEN.

YES, Dorothy Ann - "Well, according to my research..." And I was all ME TOO DOROTHY, ME TOO. That show made it cool to be a science dork. :P

Soooooo OTP. And true fact: this show is where I first heard of the Harriet the Spy book. I wonder what agreement the show had with Louise Fitzhugh. XD

OH AND OKAY. So I got inspired to Wiki the show and WHAT DO YOU MEAN SAMUEL L. JACKSON PLAYED JAMAL'S FATHER?!??? fdl;sfjlsdkfj What. omg these cameos! Spike Lee and Julia Stiles and Michael J. Fox wtf ftw! I need to rewatch this show STAT. I need to watch ALL these shows stat.

ARE YOU JOKING??

BRB SEEING IF GHOST WRITER IS AVAILABLE ON DVD~~

It doesn't look like it! PROVE ME WRONG?!?

If there was a Ghostwriter AU, the dragon would be Ghostwriter, and when Morgana writes "RALLY M" she gets pissed off when everyone shows up at Merlin's instead, who is merely confused by everyone's sudden presence.

JULIA STILES ON GHOSTWRITER (http://www.veoh.com/search/videos/q/ghostwriter#watch%3Dv18933863JExTEWFy)

OMG *pinches her cheeks*

I will henceforth NOT REST until I find this series in digital format; it MUST exist somewhere.

I was convinced that you nominated the academic theories one.

Twasn't I! I did add Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to the 19th century RPF character list though, and nominate Johnny Maxwell.

Sophie's World! Yes! My parents gave it to me when I was nine and, although a lot of it went over my head - I completely loved it. The birthday party always kind of freaked me out, though - I quite want to re-read it.

My favorite parts are the beginning and the end. The middle was just lots of words words words. But I understand it better now that I've been edumacated! This book is the first story I encountered that compellingly deals with the relationship between creator and created in a way that isn't necessarily religious, and it marked me for life. Gave me a taste for metafic, maybe? XD

There is no way I am not signing up for Academic theories (anthropomorphic) as a fandom.

Oh god and THE REAL ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY QUEST? <33333 HADJI WAS THE SHIT. AND YES OT3. MY CHILDHOOD.

HADJIIIIIIII

And also hey hey hey. Remember that episode where Jonny and Jessie got POSSESSED by GHOSTS who were also PIRATES?? AND THEN THEY MADE OOOOUUUUTTT? Uh, still one of my favorite Jonny Quest episodes. SHADDUP.

Sorry. I am still like obsessed with the time that Hadji taught Johnny about BONDAGE.

Oh god oh god I just found Jonny Quest episodes online. I'm going to spend the next month hunting down my childhood shows and watching them and it is all Yuletide's fault. CURSE YOU, YULETIDE. (HOORAY, YULETIDE.)

My best friend at the time gave me my own copy for my birthday so I would finally give her her copy back.

THAT IS *EXACTLY* WHAT HAPPENED TO ME WITH THAT BOOK.

I kept on saying I'd give it back but... it just never happened. Mysterious! I also have an Indonesian translation of it that I keep meaning to read, but that hasn't happened yet either.

ANTHROPOMORPHIZED ACADEMIA???!?!?!

IT TRULY IS CHRISTMAS

That Sufjan song! that is SO WEIRD, I did not know songs could get nominated for fic! But that song is practically already fic! it is very sparse. Do you think it would allow for it to be adapted to a fandom or just, fic in the universe of that song?

Hook fic would be AWESOME. What would Websites entail? anything like that GOOG/YHOO corporate slash?

It could be fun, but I'm kind of afraid to sign up for that one. I wonder what'll come up? It could be fun, everyone in one big dysfunctional pseudoincestuous family of hilarity and angst.

I saw a fic for a song before on Yuletide, and I commend the genius who recommended Sufjan song fic. Sufjan kind of writes songs the way I want to write stories, in these sharp little details whose whole is more than the sum of its parts, all the things that bleed out between the lines. omg Merlin and Will swimming in the palisades, getting irritable at wasp bites and also getting tangled up in each otherrrrrr. I wonder if I'd be able to relocate from Michigan to New England. They traverse the landscape, argh, so young and scared and in love and confuuuuused. ARGH I WANT IT. I WANT THIS ONE. Also, have I already said that 'Size Too Small' is pretty much Merlin's subtextual letter of Deep Emotion to Will?

Do you think it would allow for it to be adapted to a fandom or just, fic in the universe of that song?
Good question. Hmm. I can just change the names to Martin and Gil XD.

Haha, Livejournal/Dreamwidth? Actually, Livejournal/Dreamwidth (http://sparky77.livejournal.com/592028.html). icanhazcheezburger/TED? hey that would be awesome actually.

Illinois, right? that's the album it's in anyway. I like their opening blurb:
The Native American pathfinders along the rock palisades of the Mississippi River did as present-day hikers do - in coursing the bluffs, they took the paths of least resistance. The trails at the Mississippi Palisades, especially the park's southern routes, puts you in touch with the past. Walk them and you'll trace the footsteps of all those who came before you, some of whom came this way nearly a thousand years ago.
Paths of least resistance! The footsteps of all those who came before you! there's a theme all right!

I don't know this song but now I am listening to it <3 oh sufjan. And what if I told you I was still in love with this? OH MERLIN TELL HIMMMM

OMG that LJ/DW is GREAT. XD

ah, the link is supposed to be this:
http://www.stateparks.com/mississippi_palisades.html

Ooh! Oh man look at these pictures. I bet it gets really beautiful in the autumn. What's up with those railroad tracks, I wonder if trains still run along it. I bet Merlin and Will sit on the fences over a precipice and have a quiet moment, sinking into the thought of the dizzying heights below them!

OH MERLIN TELL HIMMMM
HE STILL KNOWS WILL THE BEST, MAN. T_T jdfsjld

I think I have this image of Will as being the mischievous one, but I wonder now if maybe it was Merlin who's the naughty one. 'Cos there's definitely evidence of Will being practical and cautious, and also evidence that Merlin tends to run headlong into anything with delusions of invincibility.

the midwest is great for deciduous, that's definitely a natural advantage it has over the Pacific Northwest. like the single natural advantage ;)
I bet trains still run along it. They do a lot still around Chicago. but maybe not? you get to choose depending on your storyyy!

You're right about that! I think fandom as a whole has that idea - I think it's because Merlin has this big thing about being the naive Idealist. and doesn't really want his magic. but Will is about self-preservation and not endangering himself. but if either of them subverts social norms I'm thinking Will, because Merlin already has his secret social deviance of magic weighing on him.

Yeah, what is this faulty association between naive idealism and being sweet-natured? Idealists do a lot of damage! They got a lot of beef with the world, man. Yeah, Merlin deviates social norms just by existing, but I think that's why he'd be more ready to say, "Fuck it, let's do it!" That's his whole attitude towards magic anyway. He's always enthusiastic to use his powers any way he can. And Will, he just wants to get by, he's content with that. And I think Will is loyal, what with secret-keeping and coming back to save his village. Maybe after Merlin left, he said to himself, "What the hell does loyalty ever get me anyway. My dad left, now my best friend left. Fuck loyalty. I'm taking care of myself." But then he can't, because he loves his home and his friend too much. :(

there is a difference between idealism and ideology... like, the Dragon is an ideologist with a lot of beef with the world. Merlin is more of an idealist - he is willing to believe the best of people, doesn't suspect foul play till it's staring him right in the face (or trying to steal his job, heh).

He's enthusiastic about his powers sometimes, yeah, but they are sort of a burden. they're mostly in pursuit of some other ideal though, you know, getting Lancelot a knighthood because he deserves it, saving Arthur's life, and of course the necessity of chores. but he's hardly a magic outlaw. though maybe Gaius and his mom are like the main things keeping him from this. but he feels the need to have a place in society - you don't see him out joining the druids or anything. Yeah Will! spot on I think. esp. with him trying to be cynical and failing because he loves Merlin and home etc :D

He's already an outlaw BECAUSE he's magical! And whether or not he is villain depends on whose side you're on, because Merlin has a lot of blood on his hands. He's sweet and loyal and well-intentioned, but he has a single-minded tendency to Do Good & Damn The Consequences that can seriously bode some trouble in the future. It's like, Uther has a single-minded tendency to do good and damn the consequences too, y'know?

But I feel like he's still trying to not be an outlaw! Maybe I am too behind in the series, though... But yes, wow, you're right - blood on his hands :( oh Nimueh. not her time really. interesting comparison between Merlin and Uther's absolutism in their defining the Necessary as the Good. it's no real change in structure, just a changing of the guard. the king is dead, long live the king, etc. But see Arthur, Arthur might get somewhere with whatever ideals he's accumulating and developing. Because he's not an outlaw. hmmmm!

Of course he's not trying to be an outlaw, but the conditions at Camelot make him as such, and he has to do his absolute good-doing in secret. And maybe the magical world doesn't officially have it out for Merlin the way Uther has it out for sorcerers, but if Merlin keeps this up, his body count is gonna be as high as Uther's eventually. The high price of protecting Arthur and Camelot at all costs! Merlin is still the good guy in his own mind, but who in their own mind ever casts themselves as the bad guy? Maybe Gaius.

There is a self-centeredness to Merlin's convictions. He doesn't mean to be self-centered of course, but with him it seems to come part and parcel with being able to get away with things.

Okay, these are all very true things. Gaius seeing himself as the badguy... huh! I need to catch up on this series... But Merlin is definitely characterized as getting away with things. but there are a few very close calls. like when he tries to turn himself in to get Gwen out of the death penalty for witchcraft. I do wonder how many enemies merlin is going to make in the magical world and how he's going to be able to forge ahead into making this world unified under Arthur. or if that will ever happen and he will always be fighting for the other side...? oooh. the neverending struggle against the establishment will never be totally destroyed and will never totally victor because there'll always be an establishment! yeahhh.

Right? I wonder if this will be how he fulfills his destiny, almost a self-fulfilling prophecy, because if you need to keep that many enemies in check, then you kind of have no choice but to be the most powerful sorcerer of them all to vanquish them all. And he kind of has no choice but to make a lot of enemies if he's going to continue being this uncompromising in the name of Arthur. Which is why I would rather think of Merlin doing this all in the name of destiny or himself instead, and Arthur is just an important part of that, because it's less... weird and obsessive. Though a dark weirdly obsessive Merlin would also be an interesting story!

This iconomicon icon is relevant to our interests. (http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/87570816/18765700)

Merlin does have a greater focus on destiny than Arthur - I think I'm thinking too far into the future / too immersed in fandom's OTP view. !! I would love to read a dark weirdly obsessive Merlin story. I'm kind of surprised I haven't run into it yet - like one where he's crazy and the dragon isn't real, Nimueh isn't a real person just a manifestation of his conspiracy paranoia, and Merlin follows Arthur around *everywhere*. dang, cool.

haha! I love it! I kind of want to steal it XD

Me too! I think there is no weirdly dark and obsessive Merlin story BECAUSE fandom is so immersed in the OTP view (which honestly I am kind of... fed up with). I feel like the fandom is allergic to unhappy endings. There's a lot of orgies and a lot of crack, but not a lot of darkness. Harry Potter and Narnia embraced darkfic but Merlin, meh, not so much. It kind of makes me want to write non-OTP imperfect-relationship Merlin fic, but like not in a dickish way... 'Cos I get the impression that people make the following extrapolation really really quickly: "you don't like Merlin/Arthur" ---> "you are an anti-gay baby-eating bigot!"

one where he's crazy and the dragon isn't real, Nimueh isn't a real person just a manifestation of his conspiracy paranoia
I have read a Harry Potter fic like this. XD

Fandom has to go against the grain, and I think the knowledge that the Arthur legend ends so very unhappily makes fandom need happy endings. Plus, in the show Arthur and Merlin are still kind of antagonistic in their day-to-day interactions - okay I know they *care* or whatever but Arthur is still a prat to Merlin.

One where Harry was this kid at some orphanage/asylum who lived in his own little world - made friends with the new pet dog and called it Sirius but when the dog died he got incredibly upset? that one? :D

I think so! By... Amy Fortuna? In it, Harry was a mental patient, and all the Harry Potter story was just delusions based on the mundane reality of his asylum.

Right! I went and found it - Can't Be Held Responsible. The story itself is rather light for such a dark idea. what a terrifying mental world this Harry has.

part of me wishes so so much that I was now 18 and could participate in Yuletide BUT at the same time! NaNo and Crossover Exchange are occupying me right now, I wouldn't have time anyway! not to mention that geographic journal, that I really want to write something for!

but OMG ANTHROPOMORPHIC ACADEMIC THEORIES OMG. I really hope someone writes this, because I want to read it! haha, at least I will get to read all the fabulous fic that will come out of Yuletide. yaaaaay!

I really shouldn't be involved in any of this because THESIS OMG but the other day my friend told me about this girl who wrote her thesis in a week and then got an honor of excellence for it anyway. Which gives me hope! Not that I should follow her example.

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the countdown begins?!

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