this is my song / i'm just like you / i gotta fight to stay strong

[whynot]

OH MY HOLY FUCKING CRAP MY LAPTOP IS BACK

It is baaaaaaaaack. After a protracted period of warranty repairs, exacerbated by my apparent inability to deal with billing problems in a timely manner, my terrible snookums is back. I'm still probably going to continue to be kind of scarce around here, on account of OMGWTFJOBSEARCH and theeeeesiiiiiis. In fact,

finished!
- email Prof R for academic reference
- email Prof B for academic reference
- buy bus tickets for Thanksgiving!
- go through UNDP listings
- organize job application deadlines
- pay outstanding house phone bill :(
- buy swanky folder to hold my resumes for OMGWTFJOBFAIR
- b-buy a new compact?! for looking good at the above
- check out Dad's data
- follow up with V!
- finish the app for THE BANK D:
- finish international finance app
- look at Pernet fellowship thingerjigger + w/ extra follow-up!
- send Solstice freakout to Z
- housing extension form!!!!! ohshitohshitohshit

- research global health center
- research finance
- research bank
- research secretariat
- research children
- research development
- research labor
- sort through secretariat postings
- print out resumes
- print out fair notes
- write secretariat talking points

- reply to Prof R
- reply to dear P!
- email about finding a dentist
- write to A

- read Louis's Althusser "Ideology and the Ideological State Apparatus," in Lenin and Philosophy'
- read Michel Foucault's "The Birth of Biopolitics," in Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984, Volume I, pp.73-80
- read chapter 3 of Guattari & Deleuze
- write reaction paper to anthro readings

pressing
- apply to Central Asia health center!
- review concepts of dummy variables
- see data center re: Stata-izing my set
- fill in labor personal profile
- make UN account
- fill out UN Personal History form by NOVEMBER 13 [almost done]
- apply for credit card
- look at institutions suggested by R. Loh
- get new SS card
- figure out how to make Narnia relevant to my anthro final
- follow-up on job apps?

not so pressing
- follow up with E
- print out Deleuze & Guattari
- diversity visa lottery? by NOVEMBER 30
- unlock bank account
- find out what in the hell is in my Drawer of Important Papers
- read Michel Foucault's "Governmentality," in Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984, Volume III, pp.201-222
- call B
- email UN volunteering


And okay, I watched the last two Merlins and my thoughts are simple: GAIUSSSS & ARTHURRRRR. Arthur, I haven't felt this way about you since 1x08. WELCOME BACK, PAL. And oh wow, the previous episode has been the most Gaius-heavy, like, ever probably. UTHER AND GAIUS, these cranky old men who LOVE EACH OTHER A TON. It was difficult for Uther to sentence Gaius to death, and in the end Gaius totally gives him a beatdown because UTHER HAD IT COMING, he had it coming for a loooong time. Also, being sentenced to death by someone you've worked your ass of to protect and serve must be kind of annoying. I have to rewatch this episode and properly record my Gaiusflail for posterity. Nothing is ever simple with you, Gaius, and that's why I <33333 yooooouuuuuu.

UMMMM NEXT WEEK IS PRETTY MUCH GOING TO BE AMAZING. More missing pieces in the Pendragon family saga! MORGAUSE IN ARMOR jfkldsjflsd I am already shipping her with everyone, guys, don't judge me. Is it bad that I already have plot bunnies? Shut up, bunny-producing part of my brain, I have knightfic and Will AU and Solstice to deal with. And also those RL prompts! And that Merlin/Sandman crossover that my structuralism readings keep trying to convince me to write. (The alpha and omega of dreams, indeed!) But clearly my brain will not stop taunting me with images of things like Morgause and Morgana practicing swordfighting together and I think I am kind of okay with that.



I keep thinking I want to read or write fic for Ocean Girl, but of what? Because it's a closed canon with this grand mytharc or whatever, I wanna wait until I finish watching it before I start fiddling around.

- Oceanic biomefic with a marine biology slant, which is also a slant that the show likes to use, and it thrills me 'cos it makes my heart go "Theeeeesiiiis!" in a way that doesn't make me want to kill myself.

- Jason/Neri. I know I said I didn't like it, and I'm not endorsing Jason's alpha male posturing here, but I do find it endearing in a fictional character, and their dynamic as kids trying to change the world is really endearing. Jason is obviously projecting a lot of his own teen-boy issues onto Neri, and I want to figure out what she really means to him 'cos hey, remember the time they kissed and then it was NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN?! Yeah, what's up with that.

- Four times Froggie and Zoe outsmarted the ORCA administration and one time they didn't. I'm ticked off that Froggie and Zoe didn't make it to Season 3.

- Frolicking on the island and in the sea!

- Kal/Neri. I'm new to the Cal storyline, and this is mostly a case of "Hey, they're both good-looking and running around in a loincloths on a deserted tropical island!"-itis.

- Mick/Vanessa, because D'AWW the bullies learn to RELATE. I am ticked off that they didn't make it to Season 3 either.



I'm wondering now if I ought to reapply for Yuletide with Ocean Girl. Speaking of Yuletide blips, the Jonny Quest and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest both have Jessie Bannon on their characters list when she only appears in the latter. I'm only signed up for the former. Is it worth it going back and signing up for both? How much do I want Jonny/Jessie/Hadji OT3 action?

Watched the V pilot. It looks promising, or maybe I just have a huge crush on Juliet Elizabeth Mitchell.

I also have to finish up the '7 days of joy' meme that I started like 2 months ago. The last category is 'whatever tickles your fancy'. Whatever tickles my fancy right now happens to be my favorite things from my 'My Pictures' folder.



This is one of my favorite X-Files moments. Season 7 got pretty silly, but it also gives us Mulder and Scully pretending to be in the office when in actualfax, they're getting drunk naked in the tub. Go team!


If Assistant Director Walter Skinner had an LJ, one of his interests would be 'cockblocking'.


Will of Ealdor and Prince Zuko got no game.


The Axis Powers definitely got no game.


My favorite episode of Futurama is actually 'The Farnsworth Parabox' (unless it is 'The Sting'), but this one comes close because EEEEE LOOK AT THEMMMMM. BABY FRYYYYYY. Zoidberg steals the show in this ep though.


This GIF makes me crave Tony/Effy kind of a lot. They're so... caring and intimate!


I know, I know, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are married, but I kind of not-so-secretly ship Quentin Tarantino/Uma Thurman. This one time, I even wrote fic. SHADDUP. In fact, hey, have another one, even though she kinda looks like Nicole Kidman in this one. I think it's Uma? Either way, it's pretty sexy.



The end!

Comments

[nixwilliams.livejournal.com]

THERE IS TOO MUCH HERE FOR ME, I CANNOT CONCENTRATE. BUT I WANT TO REPEAT THESE WORDS HERE FOR TRUTH:

cranky old men who LOVE EACH OTHER A TON . . . Gaius totally gives him a beatdown because UTHER HAD IT COMING

TRUTH-O-RAMA-RAMA!

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Heeee! It does seem like Gaius is pretty much the only non-family person Uther gives a crap about!

[meritjubet.livejournal.com]

I loved Ocean Girl as a kid. The ability to talk to animals (or whales in her instance) is always awesome. Even if some the plot elements did surprise me when I was a kid. It has been years since I have seen the series but I remember boggling at the co-existence of pyramids under the seas and space ships. Considering my dependence of fantasy during their period, I don't know why... maybe missed an episode or two!

Farnsworth just wants be old again D:D

She looks like a star straight out of the 1940's or 50's in the first picture of Uma.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Ocean Girl def has its plot holes, and Winston's sayings are kind of lol and I just got to the episode with the illegal immigrant and like, I dunno. But I'm enjoying the hell out of my nostalgia trip!

She looks like a star straight out of the 1940's or 50's in the first picture of Uma.
Right?! XD I love that picture, they both look so classy.

[be-themoon.livejournal.com]

oh wow you have so much stuff to do! *blinks* O.o good luck on that list!

MORGAUSE MORGAUSE OMG. Katherine was watching Merlin with me and when I started squealing with glee at the 'soon' she looked at me oddly and went 'what?' and I didn't know how to explain that MORGAUSE MORGAUSE OMG.

agh agh agh I want to watch Ocean Girl so badly! but I cannot! *deep breaths* and I want to watch Captain Planet too! you can't let me get the links off of you until Christmas though.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

lol thanks. Some will take ages, but some won't take that long to do. Slowly but surely working through it!

Man, I am preemptively shipping Arthur/Morgause, 'cos I cut my teeth on Narnia, dontcha know. ;D

I cannot wait to give you the links to Captain Planet and Ocean Girl! A Christmas present of sorts. It'll be nice to have someone to squee about it with!

[puckling.livejournal.com]

Much of the background meta I wondered about in the last series is starting to be explored, especially with next week's episode!!

Dude, it's going to be SO EPIC. OMG. SO EPIC.

And I totally thought of you while I was watching, you and your love of Gaius' complicated morals.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

lol is that italicized line quoting something I wrote? :) Either way I AGREEEEEEEE

me/Gaius's morals OTP \o/

[puckling.livejournal.com]

...apparently not? O.o Sorry, idk what happened there.

And I was actually just reading the conversations in one of the posts you linked me to about you summer (http://lassiterfics.livejournal.com/96762.html) and they were really fascinating. I would comment more, but I am apparently tired enough that I am randomly misquoting all over people's journals, so I think I'm going to pass on that until tomorrow. :P

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

Holy crap were the last two episodes Gaius heavy! He doesn't ever want to use magic to save anyone, even himself, but for Uther it's okay. Gaius, why do you break all the rules for him?

ALSO ALSO how little Arthur knows of the kingdom's past! How much more will he learn in the next episode!

Gwen and Merlin SAVING THE DAY was the best thing ever.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

I'm beginning to feel about Gaius the way I feel about Morgana/Gwen, in that I have so many thoughts about it that I think it will impede fic-writing because I'll be trying to squish everything in. Maybe meta might be more suitable.

The Gwen and Merlin detective agency! Merlin being the brawn and Gwen the brainsssss. Haha, okay Merlin has no brawn, only magic. Brawny magic? But man, how funny was it that only women will buy things that make them beautiful looooollllz

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

Meta might help, hm. Or or or if you did short pieces? Like drabbles or something? You could get it all out.

Tell me all about your Gwen/Morgana thoughts!

Magic is like strength and strength is brawn! I love how Merlin is like "Gwen, I talked to Gaius and the dragon and Arthur won't listen and THERE IS NO ONE ELSE TO TURN TO!" and Gwen is like "Dude, I have a network of spies."

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

I was considering that. Like, maybe an episode tag consisting of a few sentences about my favorite Gaius scenes. And drabble for real this time, 'cos usually when I drabble, I end up writing ficlets instead. And occasionally that leads to some huge-ass projects and maaaaaannnn, that can be so unnecessary to my schedule.

My thoughts on Gwen/Morgana are largely pre-series thoughts, as such: I think Morgana crushed on Gwen first. I think that, growing up, it was sort of one big mess of status and emotional security and dependable affection and (to a lesser extent) having girl allies. Morgana was vulnerable when she came to Uther's court, young and heartbroken, and between Uther's guilt-ridden coddling and Arthur's arrogant suspicion, there was not necessarily a lot for Morgana to hold on to.

Maybe she had a string of maidservants before she decided on Gwen, or maybe Gwen was there from the beginning, but either way, Gwen won Morgana's trust, really and truly, in a way that Arthur and Uther have not, and will never. Morgana butts heads with Arthur and Uther all the time, but this headbutting is easy and comes naturally to her. It is easy to react to their stubbornness, and it is delightful to make them react TO her. But, Gwen's reservation challenges Morgana, the reservation of her nature and also of her station. Arthur and Uther try to constrain Morgana all the time in such overt ways, but Gwen does not, so it's almost like it's up to Morgana to constrain herself (and it is VERY POSSIBLE that the things Morgana ends up constraining are femslashy feelings). In this way, Morgana ends up more invested in Gwen. She becomes more attuned to Gwen. Gwen's power over Morgana is that she does not try to control to Morgana; Morgana ends up controlling herself. It takes a while for Gwen to wise up to this dynamic, but she eventually does, and uses it for Good.

Morgana is exuberant around Gwen, delights in her company and acceptance and allows herself to be free and silly and dramatic in a way she would never be around anyone else. Gwen will keep her secrets. Morgana will keep Gwen's secrets. She loves when Gwen tells her secrets, but Gwen doesn't keep as many secrets as Morgana. It's not that Gwen doesn't have secrets - it's that usually she's too busy thinking of other things to angst over secrets. Morgana def angsts more than her maidservant does.

I think Morgana likes to spoil Gwen with little things, delights in sharing things with her when she can. It makes her feel good to make Gwen happy. As long as Gwen is on her side, Morgana doesn't really care who else is. It's almost like she'd invested so much of her affection and sincerity in Gwen that she doesn't have much to spare for anyone else. I mean, Morgana loves her family and cares for Merlin, sure. But Gwen is Morgana's Achilles heel.

Hmm, I realize this is rather Morgana-centric. Haven't quite worked out what's going on on Gwen's end to quite the same degree yet.

wow do i fail at commenting!

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

Omg I love it. It's so interesting, the two of them--especially the end of Season 2, where I guess we're supposed to believe that MOrgana snubbing/betraying her doesn't hurt so much but I DON'T BELIEVE IT FOR ONE SECOND.

Gwen will keep her secrets. Morgana will keep Gwen's secrets. She loves when Gwen tells her secrets, but Gwen doesn't keep as many secrets as Morgana. It's not that Gwen doesn't have secrets - it's that usually she's too busy thinking of other things to angst over secrets. Morgana def angsts more than her maidservant does.
Word on that. Gwen can't afford to be so angsty.

I wish we'd gotten a scene where they talk about Morgana's magic.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Sure it hurts, but then does she try to coax Morgana out of whatever's up her butt? Does she leave Morgana be? When Morgana was bitchy in the past, what did Gwen do about it?

ME TOO. It's like, there's always either too much Gwen and not enough Gwen, and never at the right times.

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

I know! I wish we got more Gwen interacting with people--more Morgana interacting with someone she trusts, too, because her interactions with Merlin/Arthur/Uther are different. Does Morgana miss Gwen now that she's with Morgause?

I know, right??! GR.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Does Morgana miss Gwen now that she's with Morgause?
She must! D: Even if she maybe doesn't want to miss her, she totally does. Would Morgause be patient or irritated by it?

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

Irritated! Gwen is one of Uther's servants after all. She's friends with Arthur and Merlin. There's nothing good in that for Morgause. Also, Morgause seems like something of a snob, so maybe she's not impressed by Morgana's attachment to a servant.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Yeah she'll definitely have to educate her sister on what's up. In bed.

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

....I think I have been hanging out with this corner of fandom for too long when I didn't even blink at that sentence.