Bethany

Two memes in one, bam!

Give me a character from any fandom I know at least fairly well, and I will tell you:

A) My OTP
B) The runner up
C) The anti-ship
D) My unpopular fannish opinion on said character
E) One person he/she never fell in love with, and why

and also

Reply to this post, and I'll tell you one reason why I like you. Then re-post this and spread the love.

Dear anonymous person who donated a paid account to me,

You have made my day and then some! In gratitude, I am uploading tons of flashy ridiculous icons just for you.

Sincerely,
The person whose eyeballs are about to fall out from being online for too long looking at said flashy ridiculous icons

Aww! Seriously! I've been in a ridiculously good mood all day because of this awesome and unexpected gift. What does one do with a paid account, even? I kind of want to try out a voicepost, but I'm afraid you all would defriend me once you realize just how frequently I employ the word like in everyday conversation.

Anyway, I've decided to express my warm fuzzies via a spam of things that make me happy. Image/.gif/youtube heavy, plus semi-spoilers through Merlin 2.02.

( I'm just going to live alone and be one of those guys -- you know, the crazy guys -- with a big beard and no clothes who's naked and throws doody at people. )

- How was your morning? Mine involved maggots, possibly in punishment for oversleeping.

- capslock_hood rewatch today! SO. EXCITED. I put my own Robin Hood rewatch on hold so I could jump on board with the capschat, so I think it's only going to overlap with what I've been watching by one episode (1.07, but I honestly do not mind watch that one as often as possible). Come join if you can!

- I love bygonefashion.

- TV catch-up! Leverage just started back this season. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching this show for the wrong reasons -- I rarely connect with the victim plot of the week and tend to find them rather dull (I mean, I know the central conceit of the show is helping those who can't help themselves, but could we maybe have clients with even the teeniest amount of character agency?), and then I usually lose the con about halfway through -- but I just love the tone of the show and all of the hero characters so darn much. Like, honestly, I just want them to all sit around in that pub all day (random aside, but the Ashes to Ashes part of my brain is all like OMG IS IT SIGNIFICANT??? that Nate hangs out in a bar below street level and then lives in a rented room upstairs above it? How is this relevant to his psyche? Is he descending into his deepest primal urges every time he goes down and thinks about having a drink? Is the upstairs representative of his upper brain functions and the intricate planning of his cons and how he uses it to mask the ache of his recovering alcoholism? AM I POSSIBLY THINKING TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS??) and talk about, I don't know, the new episodes of Torchwood or the finer points of jumping out of a plane or something, and I would happily watch that for weeks on end. All of my favorite bits were just silly character moments -- Parker and the fingerquotes, Sophie's singing being not quite as good as her acting, the Eliot/Hardison exchange about Pakistan, Eliot busting through the wall with a chainsaw... oh, team! It's so nice to have everybody together again.

- I've also been keeping up with Royal Pains, which I don't actually think I've posted about since the first episode. Well. Hmmm. I think it underwent a growth period during the early episodes -- like Leverage, it does have a tendency to get rather heavy handed with it's moral righteousness (Royal Pains drinking game -- every time somebody complains vaguely about "the system," take a shot!) -- but it's matured quite nicely and I've been getting into the stories a lot more lately. I really enjoyed "No Man is an Island" (have I mentioned that the Evan/Hank dynamic is basically my favorite thing about the show? Because... it totally is), and then I thought this week's was good as well. Things that I find refreshing about the show:

1. I like that Hank is actually invested in his work now, instead of being the reluctant hero dragged around by Evan (see: the end of "No Man is an Island." GOOD CHOICE, HANK), and I like that it's progressed beyond the straightforward Robin Hood parallel -- i.e. he only treats rich people so he can take all their money and afford to treat those without resources. Rather, the show has established that he tries to find a way to help all of his patients, because there are problems in people's lives that aren't necessarily all about money, and if you think it's ridiculous to define people based purely on their income, then... maybe you shouldn't define people based purely on their income (which is more of what Jill tends to do)?

2. So relatedly, I like that there are a bunch of recurring characters and that we have a chance to see Hank develop a relationship with these people he's otherwise rather contemptuous of.

3. To go back to the Jill-Hank relationship, then -- well, hmmm. I'm still uncertain about her character. Aside from the fact that she is the least believable hospital administrator ever (like, okay, I know that TV needs hotter and younger professionals than exist in real life, but it borders on ridiculous; IMDb doesn't list an age for the actress, but she doesn't look more than 30), she's kind of, well... boring and one-sided? To return to the Robin Hood parallel (because, obviously, everything can be reduced to that) it seemed like the show was setting up Hank as Hood and then Jill as Marian, his sort of go-to girl on the inside... but now it feels like it's flipped, and suddenly Hank is the one who gets to live both sides of working high society but also helping the poor, and dealing with the emotional issues of each, while Jill is stuck in the Bobbin mentality of "all rich people suck, let's throw rocks at them. Also, being smug and morally superior is clearly the best way to get people to like me." Okay, this is probably sounding a lot meaner than I meant it to because I don't completely hate her character, but she still hasn't fully grown on me. I do really like how her relationship with Hank has been developing, though. While I'm not usually a fan of "OMG THESE TWO CHARACTERS JUST MET BUT THEY ARE TOTALLY PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER. Like, look, they have matching cars and they look into each other soooouls and don't you just want them to get married and have beautiful babies? LOVE. PURE TRUE HOLY LOVE and they're hooking up, like, now," I get equally tired of, "OMG THESE TWO CHARACTERS JUST MET BUT THEY ARE TOTALLY PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER but they can never be together due to lame reasons that we are fabricating for drama, so enjoy the UST for the next five seasons but don't bank on anything." So I like that their romance has been rather straightforward -- they like each other, they have a lot in common, they each find the other attractive, neither has any other romantic obligations -- so they get together, like two normal, grown adults who want to have a normal, grown adult relationship, instead of mooning around about each other wangsting over "does he like like me or just like me??"

4. Not a praise, more of a nitpick -- dude. NEEDS MOAR DIVYA. She is so underused and, incidentally, so much more interesting than Jill (OMG the Robin Hood comparisons continue -- okay, so, Divya is like Djaq, right? Because she's snarky and good with medicine and just awesome in general. So then Evan is Allan, the loudmouth grifter... and now I can totally justify why I ship the two of them... Okay, I should stop before this parallel runs any deeper. Also, there is no Sheriff or Guy equivalent, which makes me sad).

Anyway, moving on to the last and most important point...

- HARRY POTTER. I actually made up a list of things I've been meaning to post about and accidentally put Harry Potter on it twice, ha. YES IT IS THAT IMPORTANT. ( Thoughts about the Half-Blood Prince film )

Oh, but quick vid flail -- so I've been going through all of my old Harry Potter links and such, and, okay, I'm willing to bet that you've already all seen it because 1) it's almost two years old and 2) IT'S KIND OF THE MOST AMAZING VID EVER, but even if it isn't new to you it certainly demands to be re-experienced: the first four Potter films to Snakes on a Plane. UGHHH HARRY POTTER WHY SO EPIC?

Summer... ending... so soon... As usual, there is so much that I meant to do and then just never got around to. I did the Great Potter Re-Read, and then completely neglected to post about it. Well, I'm too lazy now to make it up, but there is one question that has been bothering me and that I wish I could clear up.

( I don't know why I'm cutting this, because if you haven't read PoA yet then you're probably just not that interested in Harry Potter; I suppose there might be spoilers through DH in the comments )

Oh, yeah, the best part of a new Harry Potter book: giggling over all the pervy out-of-context lines (most inevitable in any story that involves a bunch of men running around and playing with their wands).

I've been sitting here for ages trying to come up with some fitting words of tribute as I prepare to go into internet darkness in anticipation of Deathly Hallows. And I just... I have nothing. It's the online equivalent of getting choked up, I suppose. I'll just start typing and see what happens.

Beyond the characters and the story and the oh-goodness-how-will it end, these books have meant so much more to who I am today. I do not in any way consider it an exaggeration to say that Harry Potter changed my life. It introduced me to fandom, to using the internet for more than just e-mail, and, whether directly or indirectly, to all of you. I could not be more grateful for getting a chance to meet so many wonderful, sweet, funny, and amazing people. Much love all around, and thank you for keeping me glued to my computer for the last eight years or so.

In my real life (yes, contrary to popular belief, I do actually have one), Harry Potter has become a sort of bookend for my young adulthood. I first started reading the books when I was in sixth grade, fresh out of elementary school and feeling quite grown up already. By the time Order of the Phoenix came out, I was fifteen, the same age as Harry. While the rest of fandom bemoaned his capslock rage, I relished in Harry's teen angst, relating his imminent doom to my own problems which were seemingly just as intense and overwhelming. And now the series comes to a close just as my childhood comes to a close. I can drive, I can vote, I've graduated from high school, I've finished my first year at college, I'll be twenty within a year, and yet Deathly Hallows is the one thing that signals to me that I've really grown up.

I suppose that is the biggest thing that makes this release so hard for me. As much as I don't want to let go of the books themselves, I don't want to let go of what they represent for me: saying "Accio remote" when I don't want to get off the couch, changing clothes in the car out of my school uniform and into my Quidditch shirt on the way to see the first movie in theatres, walking out to check the mailbox every ten minutes because I'd preordered my book online, picking out all of the booger Every Flavour beans to give to my little brother -- in short, just being a goofy kid. I know that Harry Potter ending doesn't mean that I'll stop being silly and start growing up, but I can't help feeling that it won't quite be the same; but at the same time, I know that it will always be a part of me and a part of my life, an essential ingredient of what makes me me.

No matter how the story ends, Harry lives.

I imagine that most of you are on a Potter-induced internet hiatus as I type, so by the time you read this you'll probably have already finished the book. What an odd thought! Well, whether you read this before or after, I would love to hear other corny Harry Potter nostalgia stories to make me feel less lame about my own.

(...Hmmm, I guess I wasn't so choked up after all.)

Like the majority of the entire population of Earth and possibly intelligent life forms on other nearby planets, I went to see Order of the Phoenix yesterday.

( And it rocked my freakin' world )

Tragic to the max: my Prisoner of Azkaban DVD has been misplaced. Somebody moved all the Harry Potter movies off of my DVD shelf, and when I went to put them back the other day POA was missing. How frustrating! I am fairly certain that my mother was the last person who asked to borrow it, but she denies it. Hmm... I smell something fishy! Then again, she did put back all of the other movies she borrowed to show her students, so I don't know how well my theory tracks. Anyway, I guess my last resort is to search her classroom for it; after that I will just have to dissolve into a puddle of tears and disappointment. Wah.

Goblet of Fire is the one thing that I have really been looking forward to for the past few weeks, and it is finally here! I am the sort of person who can get ridiculously excited about the tiniest thing, so it doesn't take a lot to make me happy. Needless to say, I enjoyed the film a great deal; I'm not sure if that is an accurate reflection of the quality of the movie, but it did make me happy and that is pretty much the point, right?

( My spoiler-filled thoughts about GoF )

My whole plan for the rest of the summer is askew. My mother told me that school was starting on a Thursday this year, and since she's a teacher and actually works at a school I figured that I could count on her information. However, as it turns out we do go back on a Wednesday as usual, so I've just lost a day of my Ultimate Plan to Finish Everything I Meant to Do Over the Summer Before School Starts. I suppose if I squish everything in very tightly my plan can still work, but it will be a tight fit. Things I still need to do before going back to school (less than a week!):

-Fix lab aprons for mother (which I should have done two months ago, oops)
-Finish black and gold lace blouse
-Go by Joanne's and exchange ribbon
-Do reviews for my next three math tests (ah, almost done with this class!)
-Decide what college(s) I'm going to apply to
-Go to orientation and pick up stuff for my brother (out of town until next week)
-Reread HBP
-Finish sewing sequins onto my Dark Mark T-shirt
-Make Roonil Wazlib T-shirt
-Don't be such a huge Harry Potter geek that I end up scaring other people away

That last one is so not going to happen, by the way... I think my geekiness has been scaring my classmates away all through high school anyway, so one more year of it shouldn't make much of a difference.