Bethany

Bwahaha, somebody has finally made a spock_chapel comm. AWESOME. Now, quick, somebody cast Anne Dudek as Chapel in the next Abrams film.

Meme! That I have in fact done before! But, well, hulamoth gave me new prompts, and who am I to resist?

Comment to this entry and I'll pick three of your fandoms. You must then update your journal and answer the following questions:

( Robin Hood, Terry Pratchett, Horatio Hornblower )

- I can't decide which one I love more, this Hornblower/Bush vid to "I Touch Myself" or this Sam/Gene vid that inspired it. Oh, internets, DON'T EVER CHANGE.

- There is quite a good deal of win to be found over at trek_crack, but the intro post especially is not to be missed. Unsurprisingly, the Spock/McCoy bits are my favourite (ohhh man, Bones' little 'yay medicine/boo engineering' shout bubble? LOVE).

-I've started watching The Prisoner (been meaning to for ages, and now it's all up on AMCTV.com! How convenient!). After one episode I am confused as hell and will probably have nightmares for days, which means that I like it and plan to watch more.

- ETA: I almost forgot! If you haven't already joined in years past, you should all go check out the lost_bookclub; how else are we to occupy the long, lonely Wednesday nights between now and February? Also, I'm leading the Philip K. Dick month so, y'know. Be there or be square and all that.

And now for the Robin Hood portion of our evening:

- ARMITAGE -- GOOD LORD -- THAT MAN SHOULD BE ILLEGAL. The show has been off for all of... three days, and already I miss having him in my weekly schedule.

- I think I may have unraveled a portion of my deep and abiding love for all things related to the Gisbornes (aside from the obvious bits where they are smouldering and lovely and act circles around the material they're given): namely, brother and sister both are so stuck in the 80s and totally should have ended the series by starting their own heavy metal/hair band.

( Image cut, but only because I am a nice person )

Don't lie. You know you want it. I am actually contemplating a "Gizzy is Stuck in the 80s" playlist, but I don't know if I'll ever get around to it. Plus, man would it be hard to narrow that down. Maybe it'd be better to just hand out an instruction manual. 1. Put on Aerosmith/Van Halen/Def Leppard/Billy Idol/whatev. 2. Mope about until your simmering woobiness comes to a boil. 3. Angst to death.

- My great Robin Hood Rewatch continues! This is making up for the fact that I never posted about these episodes when I saw them for the first time:

1.06 - All of the "sparring" between Vaysey and the abbess is just an unparalleled delight to watch, hee! And once again with Gisborne being surprisingly religious -- I think this is swiftly becoming my new show-related obsession and some day I will have to do a proper write-up of my feelings on that. For now I find it interesting that on the one hand he can be so solemn and venerative in his attitude toward most church practices, and yet so completely derisive of Marian going to a convent. I suppose here it's more kneejerk anger, whereas in 2.08 it's more outright mocking (although I have to admit that I always join him on that when I watch the episode. Marian: "Okay, well, now that we're done having a jaw-droppingly hot make-out session, I think I'll just pop back into the convent." Guy: "Ummm, I don't think that's how nuns work. ...Have you been talking to Allan?"). Essentially, Guy is such an odd inconsistent bumbling idiot when it comes to omg pretty girl!!! Yeah, like that's news, but still. I know Armitage said of the first series that he wanted to make people's skin crawl during the Guy/Marian scenes, but mostly in this episode they just make me laugh at Guy's expense for being a GIANT AWKWARD CREEPER.

1.07 - Aaaand so Guy's wooing dumbness continues. "Curses! I need to get Marian another present but I didn't have time to go to the store. Well, this one looks nice; pity somebody else is already wearing it. ... Wait, who am I kidding, I'm mothereffing Guy of Gisborne and I'll take what I please and shoot sexy glances at passerbys as I do it." For the most part, though, this episode is far less about the awkward and far more about the epic angst and twisted attraction and betrayal potential and, oh dear, is this not what sold me on Guy/Marian from the start (because, yes, this was indeed the first episode of the show I ever saw)? Far more than my purely shallow thoughts along the lines of "oh dear they are so terribly attractive and to hell with the storyline let's just have the Richard & Lucy hour of hotness all the time," I was just so blown away by how well they feed off of each other as actors, how Marian's utter distaste for Guy begins to be eclipsed by her need to use him, how Guy's foundations are crumbled and rebuilt and crumbled again every time he encounters Marian anew. It's such a watershed moment for the two of them, when suddenly their relationship shifts from that of a relatively pedestrian match dictated by gender roles and societal conventions to that of a charged, inextricable political and ethical entanglement. The full gamut of emotions that the two of them run through in the proposal -- well, it's just as impressive to me now as it was during that fateful first viewing two years ago, when by the power of their sheer awesome they conspired to TRAP ME FOREVER AUGH (the "Feel it, it is real" line SLAYS ME EVERY TIME). And, shockingly enough, the bits of the episode that don't have to do with Guy/Marian are still interesting, too! Ah, yes, the good old days when the gang actually had relevant plots. The Allan/Djaq! And Will/Allan! And in fact just general Allan-ness of it all! Also, once more the Sheriff is so hugely badass here. How could I have missed the fact that he gives Guy an ass slap??! And then when he's busy goading Guy into taking his revenge on Marian -- yeesh. (Possible but doubtful significance to the fact that Vaysey refers to Marian as a "leper," given Guy's family history? I still sincerely doubt that the writers had any of that backstory in mind at this point in time, but at the very least it is one of those happy accidents of show canon.) I love how Keith Allen can be so alternately thrilling and chilling, especially during the hanging.

- In conclusion, can you tell that I'm still unemployed? Geez. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with one of the ladies I used to work for over the past few summers, so we'll see if anything comes of that (except of course all of that was "unpaid non-profit community enrichment" and now I NEED MONEY, PEOPLE).

Stolen from queeniefox: Name your Top 20 List Of Lust, in no particular order.Your neighbor or grade school teacher doesn't count. The list can be male, female or mixed. They can be real life celebrities or characters in a movie or TV show. For example, you might want to gag Mariska Hargitay, while still lusting after Butchy McFabulous Olivia Benson.

( My top twenty )

Wow, I spent an inordinate amount of time compiling my list. I wanted it to be as comprehensive as possible (also, it's easy to lose track of time while sorting through mounds of pictures of incredibly gorgeous people).

I finished reading "Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies" today, and have thus finished the entire Hornblower series. It took me about a year of on-again off-again reading to get through the series, and may I say that it was completely worth it! What am I going to do now for my new Hornblower fix? HH seems to be one of those rare fandoms where there really isn't any fic that matches up to canon for me. That isn't to say that there aren't some really lovely authors out there who have come up with brilliant and insightful stories, but somehow none of them manage to give me that same feeling of excitement and curiosity that I get while reading the books. I will have to settle for rereads to satisfy me; of course, it has been a while since I've read the earlier ones, and it will be interesting to read them again in light of the later books. I suppose it is probably too much to hope for more Hornblower movies, but I really think they should consider making them because I know I would keep watching them.

It is so wonderful to be home early while everybody else is still out at school and work. Of course, I have to pay the ultimate price for my freedom; I was taking my AP English exam this morning. All in all, though, it wasn't that bad. I am entirely confident that I passed, and although I won't risk jinxing myself by saying that I think I got a five, I wouldn't be surprised if my score was good. Plus, I got to miss a day of class. Yay! Not that I am doing anything exciting here at home... Actually, I think I am going to get a head start on classwork (go figure!). We have to make a website for our final project in web design, and I am still in the brainstorming stages. I have been on something of a Hornblower binge lately, so I think I will do a site about that. However, I am also in a complete state of Hornblower/Bush bliss, so I don't know if I can do anything about Hornblower that is appropriate for school. I can try, of course, but to ignore the hoyay!-ness of the fandom would be something of a crime. Hm. Any suggestions?

For me, wrapping up a paper is the hardest part by far. I've been on the computer for two hours now and written a grand total of one sentence. Of course, part of that is because I was perusing my friends page and ogling Jeremy Irons, but a good deal of it can be attributed to the fact that concluding paragraphs are evil. Luckily, we have an extension until the end of the week. If I write one sentence a day between now and then, I should finish it on time. Meanwhile...

Book meme, stolen from manveri:

1) Total number of books in your house:
Gosh, I don't even want to guess at this. A couple hundred to be sure, but that is what happens when you live in a family of packrats. Fifty of those are probably copies of the Bible; we have an entire shelf dedicated to religious books alone. We still have a ton of kids books, too, simply because my parents have a hard time getting rid of stuff.

2) The last book you bought was:
The latest book I got was "Brideshead Revisited," but I had ordered it online a few weeks ago. The latest book I bought was, um... Okay, it's a tie between "Men at Arms" and "Commodore Hornblower," because I bought both of them the last time I went to the bookstore.

3) What was the last book you read before reading this?
I just finished rereading "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" the night before last.

4) Write down 5 books you often read or that mean a lot to you.

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I first read this book when I went to France in fifth grade, and it was the one bit of English that I was able to read for two weeks. I absolutely fell in love with it the first time I read it, and since then I have read it at least once a year. This was probably my first transition from children's books to adult literature, so it has become something of a standard by which I measure pretty much everything else I read.

2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. This is the first Dumas I ever read, and it is probably still my favourite. I read it over the summer a few years ago and spent the better part of a week locked up in my room working on it. I don't even know how to describe that experience, but I could already tell that it was something that would have a huge influence on my life. The way Dumas relates his characters in most of his stories makes it pretty clear who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. In this book, though, there is a lot of ambiguity and I like that because, especially at the end, the reader is able to feel sympathetic for pretty much everybody. Obviously the Count has a powerful presence, and yet without the minor characters the story wouldn't be half of what it is.

3. Lieutenant Hornblower by C. S. Forester. I did read "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower" first, but this is far and away the absolute best book out of the series (from what I have read so far, anyway; I still have three books left). I hadn't seen "Mutiny" or "Retribution" before reading the book, so I wasn't spoiled for any of the events in it. I have never been a big fan of reading books with a lot of action or suspense, but this book proved to be an exception. It also introduced the character of Mr. Bush, who I absolutely love to pieces. Forester really shows of the range of his skills in this book as well, making the final game of whist just as exciting as any of the battles that occur earlier on. This won the award for my favourite book of last year.

4. There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. I think most people have something, be it a book, movie, TV show, whatever, that they enjoy immensely as a child, forget about for many years, and then go back an revisit, only to be moved in a completely different manner. I just did that this past week while watching "Labyrinth," and a couple of years ago while rereading this book. I read it first when I was in about second grade, and then I didn't read it again until maybe two years ago when I found it while cleaning out my room. I decided to read it again and was surprised to find myself crying through pretty much the whole thing. This is one of the very few books that has made me reevaluate myself and the way I treat other people. It's easy to justify being mean to people who are always negative to others, but especially since reading this I always try not to judge people too harshly.

5. Okay. I'm cheating. I knew when I first started this that I had to include Harry Potter, but I couldn't think of which one to put. I was going to save it for last in hopes of picking one along the way, but I couldn't, so I'm just going to consider them as a collective. I've gotten so attached to these stories over the past five years that I can't seem to remember what life was like before. I don't know if I should even bother explaining it here; I'm sure you all know the impact it has had in my life, considering the fact that I probably wouldn't even be involved in LiveJournal or the internet in general if it hadn't been for Harry Potter. Of course I love the books by themselves, but they mean more to me than just the story and the characters. It introduced me to more than just the world of magic; it was the first time I ever got involved in the fandom. I am one hundred percent sure that my life would be vastly different if I didn't have Harry Potter.

5) Who are you going to pass the stick to (to three people) and why?
rainbowjehan, katwm80, and queeniefox, simply because I am curious to know what their answers would be.

This morning bluesmarty13 and I went to the mall to shop for Rita, whose birthday party is this evening. I thought it would take me a long time to pick something out, but I found something at the first store we went to (some pajamas with owls on them; yeah, they are as weird as they sound, but I liked them). Of course, I ended up buying some stuff for myself. We went by Barnes and Noble and I bought "Commodore Hornblower" and "Villette." I have been working on the copy of "Villette" that I got from the library, but it has been difficult because it doesn't have any sort of notes or translations for the French sections, which I have to just skip over and come back to later when I can use an online translator. The copy I bought today does have translations, so I will be able to read it all through without stopping every other page and trying to guess what they are saying.

I really wanted to go by the fabric store to look at stuff for a possible version of this dress. However, my mother really wasn't up to it, and it would have been my third trip there in the past two weeks. Maybe next weekend...

I can't believe that break is over on Monday. Ew. That is why it is just now 5:30 in the morning, and yet I am online. I'm trying to get back on schedule, so that on Monday I can be up at 5 a. m. and still function properly. Going online was the only way I figured I'd be able to stay awake, so here I am to wish you all a very happy new year!

Oh, and apparently I'm not the only whacked out person in this house because now my sister is up as well. And she is asking me to watch some more Hornblower... How can I refuse? I am evil and have gotten her hooked on it. She only has two more movies to go, though (we are currently on "Retribution").

School has been very boring and incredibly uneventful over the past week, which accounts for my lack of posts. Yesterday I had absolutely no homework to do and my brother was on the computer, so I decided to waste some time the good old fashioned way: TV! The 1996 version of "Jane Eyre" was on. I had seen it before and remembered that I didn't really care for it. However, I couldn't remember if St. John was cute or not, so I decided to watch and find out (yes, I was completely devoid of any other form of entertainment). Lo and behold, St. John was none other than Sam West. Don't you love life's little pleasant surprises? Of course, his part was only about seven minutes long and I didn't like the movie any more this time around. But still. Whee! Prettiness. Way better than homework.

Speaking of something somewhat related to Horatio Hornblower so I can have a flimsy excuse for a segue... I finished reading "Good Omens" on Wednesday and started on "Hornblower and the Atropos." So far I am enjoying it, although not as much as "Lieutenant Hornblower." The same goes for "Hornblower and the Hotspur," which seems to confirm my suspicions that more Bush equals a better book. "Lieutenant" was like all Bush all the time, and it has been my favourite thus far. "Hotspur" had occasional bouts of Bush (especially the beginning), but that was it. "Atropos" is Bush-less and, while I do still like it, there is an empty place in my heart that cannot be filled. I need you, Bush! I think I'm going to go shopping with my sister tomorrow and stock up on Hornblower books ("Atropos" is the last one I have at the present).

For my first period class, my teacher has requested that I find a good joke over the weekend and share it with him on Monday. He thinks I don't talk enough because I spent all period reading "Atropos." The problem is, I really don't know any funny jokes. If any of you would like to share amusing, school appropriate jokes that I can use on Monday, I would be much obliged.