highlander_ii

a wild meme appears -

2020-04-03T02:47:49Z

1. Comment to this entry saying 'There can be only one!' and I will pick 3 of your icons/userpics.
2. Make an entry in your own journal (or just reply if you prefer) and talk about the icons I picked!

calliopes_pen gave me these:

i made this one back in the days of all those 'my fandom...' icons going around. i must've been in a mood and there must've been a lot of stupid people irking me, b/c Van Helsing glaring at stupidity popped up and became an icon.

Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod from Highlander II just after he's been 'restored' to his immortal self. i think i made this one for an RP journal. if i were to make it today, it'd get some contrast and color balancing and a bit of lightening, b/c wow is that dark.

made by cleolinda based on her m15m post - The Prestige in 15 mins. i highly recommend her Movies in 15 Minutes (though she hasn't done any since she did one for The Avengers b/c RL n' shit).

so this is quotes from her M15M about the movie - where she's summarized one of the plot points - Michael Caine tells Hugh Jackman that he needs to steal Christian Bale's magic act and do it better. Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

snowflake challenge - #07

2020-01-14T01:29:31Z

Promote/Rec/Sing the Praises of Yourself: * I mentioned this before, but I have an almost 4-year unbroken streak posting to the challenges at fan_flashworks.

* I dunno that anything from last year particularly stands out - all of my FFW fic (with a couple minor exceptions) is here (they're in date order). There's my Marvel-BB fic here that I actually finished wicked early (that never happens to me - I'm usually scribbling down to the wire).

* I went on two very cool trips this year - went to New Orleans and Las Vegas. 10/10 would go to both again. (I need to write up about Vegas, b/c I don't think I ever did.)

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

friday five.... a little late

2018-09-19T02:34:36Z

i was in Vancouver on Friday surrounded by SG-1/SGA/SGU actors etc, so couldn't do this then... so here we go:

1. Have you ever experienced a hurricane firsthand?

-- yup... one passed right over the house where my parents currently live a few years back - that fucker came waaaaaaaaaaaaaay on inland, the eye passed over the house. and hurricane Harvey wasn't too far away from where i currently live last year - but we got edge-rain more than anything else. (had to edit this b/c wow that sentence made no sense)

2. Have you ever experienced outside heat over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celcius)?

lol - i live in south Texas - heat over 100F happens for about 3.5 months straight every year

3. When and where was the coldest temperature you have ever experienced?

erm... up-state NY something or other below zero? i have nfi....

4. Is your household prepared for a possible power outage of two to seven days?

not really - but more b/c it gets to over 100F here for so much of the summer than anything else. it's hard to weather heat like that without fans.

5. Do you have a go bag?

no, but i probably should. though, i'm one of those ppl who can 'pack in a hurry' and i know where my things are.

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game - a review

2018-08-28T03:10:23Z

I'm going to talk about playing all 3 variations - physical board game, Steam and phone app.

Once upon a time, there was a kickstarter for the DFCCG run by fredhicks and his company Evil Hat Productions. (If you like RPGs and the like, hit them up - they are ALL about the games!) So, I pledged my $69 and waited and waited and waited and got the 1st chapter of Peace Talks as a perk for being a backer (omg book nao pls). Then the game arrives. (There are also expansion card packs available and more probably coming as new books get written.)

The box is gorgeous, the artwork is fantastic. The rules are weird - in a good way - and all of the cards have details you need so you don't have to try to remember everything. Which is good, because, like Harry's life, this game is hard. Deliberately.

But it's not unwinnable! It takes some strategy choices and a little bit of luck.

To go along with the Kickstarter, Hidden Achievement developed digital versions! So you can take your frustratingly fun game along with you wherever you go.

So, first up,

the physical board game version -

It takes up a bit of space. The board is large to hold the two rows of cards and the fate and the clues and hit points. Then you have your row of cards for each character - minimum of 3 characters: Harry, plus 2 others.

I've only played as a solitaire version, which, in and of itself, is cool. It's a card game that has rule set-ups for playing solo, duo, or more - up to 5 players. (You can see the rules PDF here.)

I played several times on the physical board - went through each of the book decks, making sure to use all of the characters at least once. I played through using the characters who are actually in each book, then played with whomever, just because. And I lost - a lot. But, that is sort of how it's designed. It's set up to play fast, but not be easy to win. It matches Harry's general world in the books.

Then the

Steam version - which you can purchase here

It's just like the physical board version, but you don't have to remember all of the rules and stuff, because the program does it for you. Which makes it easier to play.

But not necessarily easier to win. I know I've won at least 2 games on Steam. Maybe a few more - I'm just looking at my achievements page. Out of how many I've played? Let's just say, the ratio is not in my favor.

And, really, that's okay. It's still fun.

I don't play this version often b/c it's on my laptop and chews through memory and requires all of that loading up Steam and the like.

On Steam you can play solo or join other games. I haven't joined up with any other players yet - if you're on Steam and have this game and want to play, hit me up and we'll arrange a thing!

Finally, the

mobile version - which you can purchase here for iOS, here for Mac, here for Andoid, and here for Kindle. (I can only attest for the iOS version - it plays well with only a few bugs, which I've reported to the devs. Can't speak for the other platforms.)

This is the version I play most often, since it's convenient. Though, I lost all of my non-progress when I changed phones. But, I can tell you that I've played 20 games and won 2 on the new phone.

Pretty sure on my old phone, my record was 'a bunch to 0'. I also think they tweaked the code for the game a little, because it truly was nearly impossible to win prior to the latest update.

It has different modes of play. The solitaire version, of course, then it has the option to connect with other people who have the game app so you can play together, but it also has a 'pass and play' option, so if you just have the one device with the game, more than one person can play by passing the device around. I haven't played either of the last two yet, but, eventually, I'll get to it. For now - I'm practicing game strategy in solitaire mode.

If anyone wants to organize a game - either on Steam or on the app - let me know and we can work something out.

So, from playing the game, some things I have learned/put to use (see the strategy write-up here for some in-depth tips and tricks):

* Don't always shoot for removing the obstacles and grabbing the advantage cards right off the bat. Some of the advantages are best used later in the game. Some of the obstacles are super annoying, but it's more advantageous to solve cases and beat foes to move those cards down than to have Harry discard for fate a bunch of times (unless he was dealt a shittastic hand of nothing but obstacle and advantage cards, then using him for fate is sometimes the best idea. And yes, Harry's gotten some garbage-ass deals in my plays.)

* However, don't be afraid to use Harry's talent early in the game to move those cards obstacle and advantage cards down when necessary. Just make sure it balances and the other players/characters discard for fate too.

* Take out the baddies efficiently. Can you take out a low-range target with one or two turns? Do it. It moves all the other cards down and gets you closer to the goal - more cases solved than baddies left on the board.

* Run a quick CBA on the cards in your character's deal. That 5-hit card may end up costing you 7 fate on a bad dice roll and not really get you anywhere. That cost-to-benefit ratio kind of sucks. Try a better card that doesn't force the next player/character to discard for fate.

* Play smart so each character can use their stunt. Some are good 'anytime' plays, but others, like Harry's, are better later in the game, but only if you play strategically so he can take advantage of it.

* If you have a card with a range roll - don't bank on it hitting where you WANT it to land if you only have one option. This is Dresden-land. Chances are, you'll get screwed. If it's your only option, go for it, but it's better not to chance it if you can avoid it. These are better used when you have a few cards you can possible play against - otherwise there's a chance you'll just waste fate points.

* Work on solving cases. This is important. You have to solve more cases than there are baddies left on the board to win. And the chances of doing that in the showdown are far less likely than you think without some amazingly awesome dice rolls (which, lol, no).

* Harry has low-clue count cards that spread across the whole row (for investigate and attack), they work nicely for setting up characters who have talents or stunts that offer putting hits/clues on 'all cards that have hits/clues already'.

* Start off at the 'easy' level when you're learning how to strategize and play - you'll need the extra fate points.

* Check the fate bank before you plan a discard. You can only have a max-13 fate at any given time, so don't waste a discard if you don't have to.

* Pass your turn only as a last resort. It gains you nothing and costs 1 fate point to do. If you can do *something* that's the better option. If you're legit out of cards/talents/etc - pass if there's fate available, otherwise, it's Showdown time no matter what the rest of the board looks like.

* Learn the characters' strengths. Each of the characters has things they're better at than others. (Harry's pretty balanced in the attack/investigate arena, b/c he's Harry.) Some are good attack characters - Carlos, Michael, Thomas. Others are good investigate characters - Murphy, Susan, Butters. Some are just special, like Mouse. =) Certain characters have really good overcome (obstacle removal) cards, while others have great take advantage cards. When you play solo, you can see these pretty well. Playing with other people - well, since you can't tell anyone else what your cards are, you have to play strategically and use other methods of communication to indicate what you plan to do.

* Try to get at least 1 hit or 1 clue on all of the book cards. Depending on the required number of either, it will let dice rolls happen on those cards in the Showdown. (If the resolution of a card is mathematically impossible no matter what, it doesn't matter, but aim for hitting everything anyway.)

* If you play a game with a certain set of characters and aren't getting anywhere, switch up one or two the next time. Harry is always part of the play - and he's a key element. But the others are fair game. Just remember that you have to solve more cases than there are baddies left on the board, so defeating all the bad guys and solving none of the cases, still results in a loss.

* Prepare yourself for failure. It's going to happen. If you prepare yourself up-front, then it's still frustrating, but also kind of funny. It's also shocking af when you win. =)

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

Highlander -- It's a kind of magic....

2018-07-01T00:35:52Z

We're talking the OG movie here.

It starts off with some Sean Connery narration of the words written on the screen, letting us know that these guys are really really old. (And, alas, as best I can recall, all of the immortals are all dudes. *le sigh*)

Then we get some rockin' ass QUEEN - "Here we are! Born to be kings!" That leads us into Madison Square Garden and some extremely '80's pro-wrestling. I remember seeing a version of the original script somewhere and this was a hockey game instead of wrestling. Supposedly changed b/c they couldn't get NHL approval - the NHL thought the film would portray the sport as violent. And, since they were going to essentially mirror it with a battlefield, they may not have been wrong there. (Though, the imagery, movement-wise, would've worked out really well.)

At this wrestling bit, is where we first meet our protagonist who is incredibly not interested in wrestling at all. He's thinking back to a battle from many years ago - guys in kilts with swords and shields.

So our protagonist - Connor MacLeod - goes out to the parking garage to find the reason he's actually at the Garden. There's a fella named Fasil who's so cool he has to wear shades inside until they fall off his face for a convenient 'cool' camera reflection shot. To prove that these guys are long-time sword fighters, they run along the hoods of the cars and scream a lot. Fasil is apparently some sort of acrobat or some shit, because he does backflips every chance he gets. No, there's like a full minute of backflips for this guy. In the middle of a parking deck. With the emergency sprinklers dumping water everywhere. I guess when you can't die, you don't care about slippery concrete.

But, his backflipping days are over, because MacLeod takes his head, then gets hit by the weirdest, most destructive lightning storm seen inside a parking garage. Whose insurance covers the damage to all of these vehicles though? I don't know that MSG has 'immortal quickening' coverage in their policy.

Now, here's a thing that gets conveniently 'handwaved' a lot in the tv series - MacLeod tucks his katana out of sight before he leaves the parking structure, because he knows the cops are going to be around and if he gets stopped, well, he can't be walking around with a big ole sword. This doesn't seem to be a thing the immortals in the tv show much worried about (though it should have been - up the stakes!).

More on that in a bit. But first - we have to go visit an 18 y/o Connor MacLeod on his way into his first battle with his clan back in Scotland. They're marching off to battle a rival clan... apparently with some geese? Also, peeing your kilt jokes and harhar sex jokes when Connor's girlfriend says for his cousins to bring him back in one piece.

For some reason, it's suddenly stormy over the battlefield. Is this a Kurgan thing? Does he bring thunder and lightning? B/c I think that's Thor's thing. The battle starts and poor Connor is left like the last kid picked for kickball b/c the other clan has been told to leave him for the Kurgan. Then, bro has like no idea and gets stabbed right in the torso before he can even raise his sword hardly. Did you even train, bro?

Mulcahy likes these weird transitions between the flashbacks. Into this one was a cool pan up through the parking deck. Out of it focuses back through Connor's eye. (And I'll probably flip back and forth between calling him 'Connor' and 'MacLeod'.)

Anyway, it's good he stashed his sword, because he and his sweet little Porsche get stopped on their way out of the garage - not sure if it's b/c he's leaving or he's leaving in a damned hurry. And this beat cop has the WORST trigger discipline.

Then we blink over the cop car lights back to old Scotland and someone playing some sad bagpipes, because Connor's dead. I don't know if they care about the other guys who died in the battle, or maybe Connor was only mostly dead and they brought him back to try to save him and he all the way died. Except for that breathing as we camera flash back to MSG and the cops looking at the crime scene.

Brenda Wyatt - part of the forensics crew - shows up to do her job, while the beat cop dude is making jokes and being a douche. She finds a sword - rare and expensive. This is Fasil's sword, not Connor's.

One of my favorite things about Connor is how little he actually speaks. He's got the beat cop guy all off balance just by looking at him and saying nothing. And when he does speak, a lot of it is straight up deadpan as hell. He's being interrogated by the cops and the head guy puts the rare sword on the table and asks Connor "What's that?" Connor's answer: "A sword." The cops don't think he's funny.

Beat cop guy - in a flash of 1980's homophobia - thinks Connor is gay and was cruising in the garage. Connor objects, cop throws a bunch, Connor charges him. Somehow Connor hits 2 cops and doesn't get arrested. He is, however, the hero of every hooker and street thug in central booking.

There's a voiceover news report while the Kurgan is driving through town. Then he puts in his Queen tape at full volume. (Queen wrote like 8 songs just for this movie b/c they liked it so much.)

Also, have I mentioned that Clancy Brown is fucking creepy as hell as the Kurgan in this thing? He's that good. But then it's undercut slightly by the sword that would NEVER work. It comes apart. How is that stable? Sure, cool movie prop and explains how he gets it places, but still.

I love this movie, but omg, there are some dreadful lines.

Connor goes back to the parking deck for his sword and Brenda shows up looking for metal shavings. Then she's at a bar and so is Connor - ordering his Glenmorangie - and he's asking questions. Then, lord, the cheese, "I'd like to walk you home." This being the one time his corny lines don't work. Or, it works exactly the way he expected it to, knowing she would follow him.

One of the things I have a problem with in this movie is how much Brenda screams just for the sake of having a woman screaming in terror at random shit.

But god this backlit scene is gorgeous. The flashback dude's teeth are not. Connor's back and everyone thinks he's the devil or something. So they want to burn him or some shit until his cousin insists they banish him instead. Which seems to work out, since he finds a wife and most of an old castle.

Then the Egyptian Spaniard shows up. No, seriously, he shows up, says his name is Juan Sanchez Villa Lobos Ramirez, but later tells Connor he's Egyptian (and in one of the books, his name is revealed to be Tak Ne). Anyway - bro shows up to teach Connor all about being immortal and how to 'feel the stag, Highlander'.

How -- or why -- do the cops have front and profile 8x10's of 'Nash' (MacLeod) when he was never under arrest or booked? He might be a suspect, but they don't actually have anything on him, so - are the cops in the practice of randomly photographing suspects? I understand the 'story' reason - it's so Brenda can see who Nash is and that he looks a lot like the guy from the bar that the ugly guy (Kurgan) called 'MacLeod', but still. It would've made more sense if they had a newspaper clipping or something of him. Not 'we took these photos in the precinct' type glossies.

"I'm a man, not a fish!" And this movie is where I learned what haggis was. Thanks, Connor. This is also the only time immortals in the Highlander universe can breathe underwater. Throughout the tv series, they all seem to 'drown' and come back.

2437 years ago, Ramirez was born. He tells MacLeod about his 3 wives and how he has learned from the mistake of being immortal and loving mortal women. However, this whole sequence is kind of a 'MacLeod is the idiot' who needs to be told things so the audience can learn stuff. The creative and smart way to do exposition. MacLeod just learned all of these things about himself, so he has questions - the same questions the audience would have.

Connor manages to make a date with Brenda. Then we have Connor's assistant come in to tie his tie and a flashback to the day he found her in Nazi Germany when she was about five years old. (A scene, by the way, that was removed from the US release of the film because someone thought it would be 'too confusing'. I... I'm not really sure how.)

OMG Brenda's outfit is so 80's. I mean, I know it's the 80's, but holy wow. Come to think - so is Connor's suit. OMG wtf are those pants?

God I love the camera work in this movie.

And Connor is super observant. He's been around for 400 years, he's learned to keep an eye on his surroundings.

Then, as he leaves Brenda's place, we have a flashback-montage-y thing set to "Who Wants to Live Forever" while Connor's first wife, Heather, dies. (Btw, I can't listen to that song except when watching this movie b/c the fucking series over-played the shit out of it.)

Then to prove Connor isn't some lonely schmuck, we're introduced to his old friend, Kastagir. Which, of course, leads to a flashback to a drunken party and an even more drunken duel (at least on Connor's side) - where Connor can hardly hold his sword and keeps getting stabbed to death, only to come back again and again, until he stops the guy and apologizes for the insult that started the duel. Then he just walks (stumbles) away.

Kurgan is now fighting with Kastagir - it's not going well for MacLeod's friend here at all. And there's some PTSD-having ex-Marine who's hunting around for the 'head hunter', I guess? (I'm assuming that's what he's doing with a car full of guns.) Things don't go well for that guy either. Nor the Kurgan - since his bullet holes on his shirt move around. But also - this is the most delayed quickening ever! It not only waited for the Kurgan to come back to life, it waited for him to stab the Marine and fling him across the alley.

These cops want the head hunter bad guy to be Nash (MacLeod) so hard they're trying to get the stab-inated Marine to finger him with their 'mug shot'. But he's like 'nah man, it's a guy with a big scar on his neck'.

Brenda's still digging and stumbles across another thing that gets left out of the tv series - immortals changing their names. Connor has a list of aliases dating back over 200 years, just in the States. They forget how important this part is in the series.

Also - it's been 30 years and we still can't make computers that won't overheat?

I think Clancy Brown had an absolute blast with this role. He's so over-the-top, but in the best of ways.

Connor not backing down from the Kurgan and his threats is one of his best character traits (that gets utterly assassinated in that piece of shit they tried to pass off as the 4th movie).

Now we're at that great scene in Connor's room of collectibles where he tells Brenda he can't die and it's the biggest turn on ever, because her immediate reaction is to almost cry and kiss him. (This is pretty much Connor's MO in all the movies - 'hey, i can't die, get on me'.)

This scene at the zoo is cut out of the US version too - no idea why. It has the Kurgan seeing that Brenda matters to Connor, otherwise, why would he even go looking for her? The part they could've cut was the 4 minutes of Kurgan driving through NYC w/ Brenda screaming at the top of her lungs. We get it - the Kurgan's a dick and wants to scare her. We don't need 4 minutes of that shit. The only good part of the scene is after Brenda stops screaming and Freddie Mercury is singing "New York, New York".

Connor's getting ready to head out to save Brenda and fight the Kurgan. Rachel (his assistant) knows he's not coming back to the shop or his apartment after this. (Though, he does have this same apartment in Highlander II. It's a pretty fucking sweet apartment.)

So let's talk about Connor's wardrobe for a bit. I kind of love it. It's simple, not stylish. He wears jeans and sneakers. A pull-over shirt or a button-front shirt depending on where he's going. Then he has a leather bomber jacket and his tan trench coat. He's got a very simple wardrobe and it works so well for him.

And now the big warehouse fight. The camera work here is fun too. The shots from floor level were done by 'kicking' the camera so it moved along a track (according to the commentary) and makes for a nice, smooth tracking-type shot. And it's really great with this shot where the Kurgan doesn't realize he's been beheaded and he's standing there like he's gonna keep fighting, then his head falls off and that's the game. Then the windows all explode and Connor gets the biggest quickening known to man. (It's still the biggest even after all of the ones in the tv series.) This is supposed to be the end - no more immortals and quickenings, but then someone wanted a tv show, so this ending got retconned into a 'mini' Gathering.

And, just because: Highlander in 30 Seconds Re-enacted by Bunnies.

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

chocolateboxcomm letter

2018-03-10T22:06:32Z

First, the general stuff:

Fic Likes: AU's that mesh with canon (no high school or kids); two-somes/three-somes/more-somes; poly-relationships; BDSM - established, teaching, etc., pegging, teasing, orgasm denial, impact play, etc.; character exploration; development of backstory; dub-con is okay; I'm good with fluffy & light-hearted, but equally okay with dark & angsty

Fic Dislikes: mpreg; incest; kid!fic; RPF/S; high school/coffee shop/pizza place AU's; genderbending/swapping; rape; non-con; a/b/o-verse

Second, the fandom-specific:

Fandom: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Harry Dresden/Carlos Ramirez
Harry Dresden & Carlos Ramirez

* I love these two characters. Friends, lovers, cohorts, whatever. Put them together whichever way.

Fandom: Suits (US TV)
Harvey Specter/Rachel Zane
Donna Paulsen/Harvey Specter
Tony Gionopoulos/Harvey Specter
Jessica Pearson/Harvey Specter
Gordon Specter & Harvey Specter
Mike Ross/Harvey Specter
Mike Ross & Harvey Specter
Harvey Specter & Rachel Zane

* Vanilla, kinky, first time, long term relationship - for any of the romantic match-ups; for the friendship ones - Harvey mentoring without thinking that's what he's doing (or calling it that), and just Harvey interacting with his dad - however that works out.

* For Mike/Harvey - the idea of Mike having a thing for Harvey, only to find out that Harvey isn't interested, and they don't end up together is my preferred

Fandom: Crossover Fandom
Neal Caffrey (White Collar)/Harvey Specter (Suits)
Harvey Specter (Suits)/Danny "Danno" Williams (Hawaii Five-0)
James T. Kirk (Star Trek AOS)/Harvey Specter (Suits)
Mary Shannon (In Plain Sight)/Tony Stark (Iron Man movies)
Mary Shannon (In Plain Sight)/Harvey Specter (Suits)
John Doggett (The X-Files)/Danny "Danno" Williams (Hawaii Five-0)
John Doggett (The X-Files)/Harvey Specter (Suits)
Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 1985) & Gordon Specter (Suits)
Alexandra Cabot (L&O SVU)/John Doggett (The X-Files)/Odafin Tutuola (L&O SVU)
Neal Caffrey (White Collar)/Donna Paulsen (Suits)

* Vanilla, kinky, first time, long term relationship - for any of these. Some are a little more 'crack' than others. Get creative and see what works.

Fandom: Van Helsing (2004)
Carl (Van Helsing)/Gabriel Van Helsing
Vladislaus Dracula/Gabriel Van Helsing
Carl (Van Helsing) & Gabriel Van Helsing

* Vanilla, kinky, first time, long term relationship - for the romantic match-ups; for the friendship - Carl and VH dealing with life things or being out on assignment.

Fandom: Fallout: New Vegas
Rose of Sharon Cassidy/Male Courier
Male Courier/Sunny Smiles
Craig Boone/Male Courier

* Vanilla, kinky, first time, long term relationship - for any of these. Life in the Wasteland, life in general, life post-game... I'm fairly open here.

Fandom: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Jaylah/James T. Kirk
McCoy & Spock

* Vanilla, kinky, first time, long term relationship - for the romantic match-ups; wacky hijinks for the friendship match-up.

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

Snowflake challenge - day 7

2018-03-10T21:43:15Z

Day 7

In your own space, create a fanwork. Make a drabble, a ficlet, a podfic, or an icon, art or meta or a rec list. Arts and crafts. Draft a critical essay about a particular media. Put together a picspam or a fanmix. Write a review of a Broadway show, a movie, a concert, a poetry reading, a museum trip, a you-should-be-listening-to-this-band essay. Compose some limericks, haikus, free-form poetry, 5-word stories. Document a particular bit of real person canon. Take some pictures. Draw a stick-figure comic. Create something.

I was re-watching episodes of JAG and so, have some Harmon Rabb, Jr icons:

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

dear chocolate box creator...

2018-03-10T21:38:59Z

Fic Likes: AU's that mesh with canon (no high school or kids); three-somes/more-somes; poly-relationships; BDSM - established, teaching, etc; character exploration; development of backstory; dub-con is okay; I'm good with fluffy & light-hearted, but equally okay with dark & angsty.

Fic Dislikes: mpreg; incest; kid!fic; RPF/S; high school/coffee shop/pizza place AU's; genderbending/swapping; rape; non-con; a/b/o-verse; Highlander: Endgame; Highlander: The Source, MacGyver (2016 reboot)

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

MacGyver - The Countdown #92

2018-03-10T20:53:45Z

#92 - The Assassin

Season: 1

Plot: A master-of-disguise assassin is going after an unknown target and Mac and Pete have to stop him.

Trope(s):
[Frequently used Tropes are listed in the first post.]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArchEnemy - subverted
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HoistByHisOwnPetard
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExtendedDisarming
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MasterOfDisguise
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ObfuscatingDisability

Thoughts:

We start off with someone ominously approaching a door. Or someone approaching an ominous door. There is lock-picking afoot. And a woman packing - clothing, not carrying a gun. The woman is attacked.

Then her sister? comes in and sees the woman laying on the floor having been stabbed. The sister is whining, but she'd be much better off CALLING AN AMBULANCE. Medical personnel would be much better at saving your sister than crying.

Mac and Pete are trying to figure out who some assassin is who is supposedly really crafty. And Pete's pretty nervous about it.

The sister (Terry) goes to get a job at the woman's old job - an escort service. Apparently she thinks that the woman's last client is the killer or something.

Anyway - Mac's posing as the watchmaker who specializes in timers for explosives and such when Piedra comes in. Things go well until Piedra decides Mac needs to die. The fight is pretty good until we get to the part where Piedra pulls out a pair of butterfly knives. I'm sorry, I can't really take an assassin seriously if he uses butterfly knives un-ironically. They are probably the WORST knives to try to use for any sort of fighting. Oh sure, they'll cut if they're sharp, but unless the person you're going after is stupidly slow at everything, they're gonna clobber you with a club or run away before you get those stupid knives open - assuming you're doing the fancy flipping action, which, why the hell else would you even HAVE butterfly knives? Sure, they look scary, but unless you know how to open them, you just look like a ninny who watches too much tv. (Mac got himself backed into a corner, so the stupid knives might've been effective.)

Knife-related rant over... back to Mac and his really destructive fight with Piedra. B/c holy shit - grandfather clocks are NOT cheap, man. And Pete saves the day.

They're talking to Piedra - though he isn't saying much - and they go through some of his arsenal and they know he uses call-girls to do the pick-ups for his payments and such. Mac is gonna go undercover as Piedra. At the pick-up site, there are some other guys - probably looking for Piedra - and Mac has to try to lose them. Which he does by slotting a board in front of a series of tire spikes designed to make sure people don't drive the wrong way into a lot. The goons following him clearly can't read, so they blow two tires.

Terry tries to kill Mac, ttly convinced that he's Piedra, but he throws some exploding toothpaste and gets her gun away from her. Then he has to convince her that he's not the bad guy and didn't kill her sister - which happens really easily. For someone so convinced that Mac killed her sister, Terry gives up and changes her mind really fast.

Meanwhile, back at chez prison, Piedra is having lunch by way of removing his fake mustache and scar - which the Feds clearly forgot to check - so that he can get out of his cuffs and make a blowgun. Though, Piedra, is it really smart to hide a poison-tipped bit of metal under your fake scar so close to your own skin? What if you move just wrong and stab yourself?

And you know those other guys who were chasing Piedra? They catch up w/ Mac and nab him and Terry and shove them into a car. Meanwhile, Piedra has turned into goddamned Spiderman and crawled up into a space near the ceiling where he has to hold himself up against hallway walls, and he managed to get there w/o making noise.

Mac and Terry convince the other guys that Mac isn't actually the assassin. Then they go to warn the archbishop, who tells them that he isn't going to kowtow to terror. He's going to make an appearance just as he planned. When Mac leaves Terry to stay on the phone, all she manages is a 'please hurry', then hangs up, making her all but useless as a character.

Mac does convince the archbishop to let him stand in the man's place for the blessing, at least until they find the assassin. Turns out, he's dressed as a nun. He attacks Mac and they roll their fight outside where Piedra tries to use his blowdart thing, but Mac ducks and Piedra misses. Terry shows up ready to shoot Piedra, but Mac stops her and there's a tussle and Piedra ends up landing on his own dart.

Then Mac's all bummed b/c he says he'll never know whether or not he could've beaten Piedra.

This is another episode that isn't bad, necessarily, just not one that grabs me and pulls me in. I think they tried to do a little too much - Terry chasing Mac, Feds chasing Piedra, the other Spanish/Mexican guys chasing Mac as Piedra, Piedra after the archbishop - there are too many moving parts, so everyone starts sort of tripping over each other.

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

Suits s03e03 - Unfinished Business

2013-08-02T07:36:07Z

Ok - I love this show and I'll watch it no matter what. Yes, even when this one character that I don't particularly care for happens to show up. She was introduced last season and I have yet to figure exactly what her purpose on the show is, other than irritating the fuck out of Mike. And really, if that's her purpose? There are like a zillion other better ideas.

Spoilers for the above listed episode beneath the cut.

So, forget the bit where I just don't like her. Let's talk about how whiny she is.

Harvey stops in to tell Katrina to fuck right off to hell for being an immature douche about Mike. (For those reading who don't know what she did, she took a photo of Mike and looks like she used one of those 'upload ur photo to make a neat video' thing like the Elf-yourself one, but it's way more stupid - like, idek.)

Katrina then fires back with 'you hired me but then you don't give me cases and you don't say a word to me' - or some bullshit.

Let's stop right there.

Katrina - the reason Harvey doesn't give you shit to do is because:

a) his associate is Mike Ross, not you
b) he isn't going to spoon feed you shit - you're a goddamned FIFTH YEAR - which you have pointed out to everyone in the goddamned firm except Jessica
c) he doesn't like you b/c you blackmailed he and Mike to get the fucking job that you have now - the fact that you could spill some beans about Mike breaking privilege is mostly moot at this point
d) every time you open your mouth, you sound like a whiny, entitled child

See, Harvey Specter doesn't *give* anyone anything. They have to earn it. So far, Katrina, you haven't. In fact, you've done your damnedest to insult and berate and belittle anyone and everyone who doesn't outrank you. You play stupid pranks and steal people's work. Is that how they do it over at the DA's office? (No, I don't know why I'm addressing this *to* the character... shut up.)

I'm not sure what, exactly, the aim with this character was from the PTB standpoint, but OMG, is she annoying. I think what irks me the most - other than her stupid logic that isn't logical - is that all the OTHER women on this show are awesome and strong and could kick all the men's asses if they wanted to (and some of them have). But Katrina - she's written like the stereotypical 'strong woman' who's really just a heinous bitch that nobody likes. Yes, there are people like that, but she just gives off this 'we don't know how to write strong women' vibe that I *know* is bullshit, b/c there are 3 strong women in the main cast already. So, yeah, mostly - I'm just confused about Katrina. Oh - and I don't like her.

However? I love love LOVE the webisode videos over on http://classaction.usanetwork.com! (this year's version of Suits Recruits) XD

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

kink_bingo

2013-07-05T05:24:08Z

So - I meant to post this the other day when I got it, but I completely forgot, what with the whole being at work and stuff, so here goes:

html version:

spanking / paddling	gangbang	crossdressing	animal play	mirrors / doubles
bites / bruises	temperature play	mummification / immobilization	emotion play	roleplay
chastity devices	gags / silence	wildcard	enemas	bodies and body parts
body alteration / injury	torture / interrogation	medical kink	endurance	exposure / exhibitionism
begging	dressup	object penetration	queening / facesitting	scars / scarification

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

okay, so it's been like a month...

2013-04-30T06:05:45Z

here's what's been going on...

(1) The Stars effectively blew all chances of hitting the playoffs - even with this shortened, fucked up season. Fail Stars, really guys. Whatever.

(2) last week sucked about as much as a week could suck... fuck last week, it's fired!

(3) Apparently Harvey Specter has been rather busy helping out his client Michael Jordan since he recently got married.

(3a) backstory: it's established in a couple episodes of Suits that Harvey has some 'choice' clients and one Michael Jordan gets specifically named. It's v. cool and the fans keep hoping that, one day, Mr. Jordan will decide he'd like a brief cameo appearance. Maybe.

I ttly thought there was more to put in here, but doesn't look like it. eh...

oh -

(4) anyone have a good recipe for minestrone?

ETA:

(5) Ya'll should totes be reading this: http://abigailbarnettestheboss.blogspot.com/ she's putting up one chapter a week - totally free e-book to read and it's pretty awesome. It's like what 50SoG would be if it had been written by someone competent at writing books. =) So, it's a romance, of a sort, w/ BDSM elements, but the characters are actually multi-dimensional and LIKABLE!

son of ETA:

(6) So, also about the Stars - they booted Joe Nieuwendyk as GM and got some dude from Detroit (totally don't remember his name and I ain't editing this bitch again when I find it). I dunno where Joe's going, he's been with the organization for a while. We'll see.

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

Suits: s01e01 - Pilot

2013-02-24T04:35:50Z

So, season 2 of Suits just wrapped and I'm looking for something in one of the episodes, so I think I might start writing some recap/review posts for some of them.

We open panning over NYC and into an office the likes of which we'll never see again b/c the pilot was filmed in ~~Vancouver~~ NYC and the show films in Toronto, but that's beside the point. A bunch of people who look like they've all been at work for about five hours after they thought they were going home are waving papers at each other and having animated conversations.

Except one guy, who looks pained by all of this as he walks in slo-mo through the room. He enters an office where a black woman sits reading a file. He says that the client is here and wants to know about his deal.

The woman says: Go get Harvey.

The man leaves.

Cut to a back-room poker game where we see a guy in shirtsleeves and a guy in a dark pinstripe suit playing. 'Sleeves places his bet and 'Stripe goes all in as his phone chirps. A message from someone named 'Jessica Pearson' that only says 'I need you'. Needless to say, he leaves the game.

Now, if you've never seen this show, you might think this guy has a date or a wife or a really needy boss. None of those are the case. He has an amazing boss who has called him in to clean up a mess. You see, this guy, is Harvey Specter, Jr. Partner at Pearson Hardman, a prestigious law firm in Manhattan. And his boss? Jessica Pearson - the black woman from earlier - who brings in her 'closer' to make sure this deal goes according to plan.

Now we have a room full of people hunched over desks scribbling furiously... except for one guy in a ball cap who's spinning his pencil around his thumb, looking bored. The proctor declares time is up and all the folks rush out of the room. The proctor thinks he's seen ball cap guy before and keeps his test separate, so 'cap guy acts fast when someone knocks some booklets on the floor and buries his booklet in the stack before darting out of the room and finding someone convenient to give his cap to.

Two things about this scene: 1 - I don't recall from the LSAT if you turn in your own booklet/answer sheet or if they come around and pick it up, but 2 - I know for sure that the proctor doesn't leave the goddamned room while there are still people IN the room! (Okay, yes, I know, he has to chase 'cap down the hall to establish a point, but still!)

Anyway - ball cap guy is a cheater - he takes the LSAT for people so they can get better scores than they figure they'd get on their own. I get it, really, b/c it's a stupidly hard test (yes, I've taken it; no, I didn't get anywhere near a 175 - I fucking wish!), but the cheating thing? Yeah - someone's gonna get caught someday and rat out someone else. It's a cycle.

This guy - he's Mike Ross. He claims here, sitting on his BFF's floor playing video games and eating last week's cheeseburgers, that he needs to 'get his shit together', b/c he almost got caught. His BFF - who we learn is named Trevor - offers him a job in the drug trade. No, he's not a pharmaceutical rep, he's a pot dealer. (and a dumbass) Mike declines as Trevor's girlfriend walks in. Trevor's GF who doesn't know that Trevor deals pot for a living, she thinks he's a software guru. It's in this scene that we also first learn of Mike's incredibly awesome memory. He remembers shit that anyone else would likely forget in a week.

So, ten minutes in, we've met most of the key players... and they're interesting people.

Especially since when next we see Harvey and Jessica, they're celebrating closing a deal and she's bragging about him to the waitress who, when Harvey hits on her and flashes a big bright smile, gets in his face and tells him there's not a chance in hell she's going out with him. He looks rather chagrined, especially as Jessica says 'I guess you're not the best closer this city's ever seen.'

But Harvey knows something Jessica doesn't - that 'Lisa' (the waitress) is definitely going out with him. B/c the next thing we see is this view of an awesome condo (that we'll never see again, b/c of aforementioned location change) with a balcony right off a very open bedroom with floor to ceiling windows. Lisa is kneeling on the bed and manages to talk Harvey into coming back to bed for a bit, despite the fact that he's already dressed like he's two steps away from walking out the door. Who needs the gym, right?

Mike goes to see his grandmother - who isn't an idiot and knows he smokes weed. She tells him she wants him to stop doing drugs and to start living up to his potential.

Louis is whining about being told that Harvey is better at being a lawyer than he is. Who's Louis? He's the guy from the beginning who was told to go *get* Harvey. He's also a Jr. Partner in the firm that Harvey picks on pretty regularly. Louis is cranky b/c Harvey's getting promoted to Sr. Partner before him.

Mike, finding out that his grandmother needs more care, has to move her to a different facility or find a way to come up with $25k. So, he decides to work for Trevor. And all he has to do is deliver a briefcase to a hotel room. Sounds simple, right? Too bad it's a set-up and Trevor can't warn him.

Well, wouldn't you know, that Mike's delivery and Harvey's associate interviews are happening in the same hotel. And, we get our first look at Donna - Harvey's fucking awesomely amazing legal secretary:

Donna: *calls for Rick Sorkin about 4 times*
Mike: *runs up toward the door*
Donna: "Rick Sorkin?" *Mike gives her a look* "Excuse me, Mr. Sorkin. You are five minutes late, is there a reason why I should let you in?"
Mike: *makes confused faces* "I'm just trying to ditch the cops, okay. I don't really care if you let me in or not."

Thus, Mike and Harvey meet for the first time and go toe-to-toe quoting legal text at each other, b/c Mike's passed the Bar exam, b/c he likes to read and once he reads something, he understands and never forgets it. That's an impressive skill I'm sure tons of people would love to have. However, can you imagine having all of that shit stuck in your brain forever? That's a LOT of information to keep in there and have access to at any point in time. How has Mike not lost his marbles?

Anyway, Harvey says he can't hire Mike b/c Mike's not a lawyer and says he'll 'make sure Serpico isn't around' - kicking off a long tradition of movie quotes and references that will be seen throughout the series. (It's actually pretty awesome.) But, when Harvey sees the crowd of bland 'douche' candidates sitting outside, he decides to hire Mike instead. This is also the 3rd time since the episode started where someone has used the word 'goddamn'.

Obviously Pearson Hardman gets a hefty remodel between eps 1 & 2, b/c the reception area looks nothing like this ever again and well, they lose 2 elevators and the marble-like walls. Serious downgrade. Wow. (location change) [[update: b/c I watched later eps shortly after this and nope - same basic reception area and same # of elevators, the camera angles are just weird ]]

Anyway, it's time for Mike's orientation and he meets Rachel Zane, paralegal, who is *not* interested and makes sure to tell him that before they even get started. She tells him about the partners and whatnot and shows him to his cubicle in what is affectionately known as 'the bullpen' - aka: where all the junior associates sit. She thinks he hasn't been paying attention because he hasn't taken any notes. So, he proves her wrong with his freak brain tricks.

Meanwhile, this happens (actually, it happens in the middle of the above part, but eh):

Harvey: Excuse me, why are you scratching off the 'senior' off my door? *alarmed by this development*
Maint guy: *deadpan* I got a work-order to take it off.
Harvey: Who issued the work order? *still annoyed*
Maint guy: *deadpan* My supervisor.
Harvey: Why did he issue the work-order? *this isn't funny*
Maint guy: *deadpan* If I knew that, I'd be his supervisor.
Harvey: You seem to be enjoying yourself. *grumble*
Maint guy: *deadpan* I haven't enjoyed myself since 2004.
Harvey: Donna! *FML*

So, Harvey's losing his promotion b/c he lied to a client and got caught, so now he's going to fire Mike b/c if he gets found out about that, he's in even bigger trouble. But wait! Mike says that if Harvey shoves him under the bus, he's bringing Harvey along for the ride... oops! It works, and Harvey uses the same trick on Jessica.

Sidenote about Harvey's office: I am *so* glad they changed it, b/c in the pilot, it looks overly pretentious. And I don't know that his record collection is there.

Anyway - Jessica agrees to Harvey's threat, but demands he take on a pro bono case - that he doesn't want, but agrees to so he can keep his promotion. He passes the case to Mike, who goes to meet the client. Harvey is noshing on a hot dog from a street vendor while Mike tells him about the case. This is important... at least as a fandom trope. It's a bit of a theme for a while.

Another exchange btwn Harvey and Donna - proving how awesome Donna is:

H: Donna... I need the...
D: *hands him whatever it is he needs*
H: Also, I didn't have a chance to...
D: *hands him a coffee*
H: Marry me?
D: I took care of that too. We've been married for the last seven years.
H: Excellent.

Ok, bit of a back up here, there's a scene where Mike comes home to find Trevor on his couch; it ends with him kicking Trevor out, but that's not what this is about. Somehow, Mike's apartment is nearly *identical* from the pilot to every other ep we see it in. Right down to the panda picture and the weird lamp above it. This is pretty much the only thing the same from pilot to later eps. [[from commentary on the DVDs - the crew actually recreated Mike's NYC apt in Toronto, all the way down to commissioning a copy of the panda thing on the wall - no, I am not kidding.]]

Mike and Rachel do research for Harvey's motion, then Harvey even takes Mike with him to the motion hearing so he can watch the Harvard attorney in action being awesome. As a result, Mike gets gifted with a small conference room full of boxes, each full of files. He gets through them all in one night, then drops onto Harvey's couch (which is, incidentally, right in front of his record collection - trust me, it's important).

Right, so, Louis makes Mike take a drug test... b/c Louis is an asshole and Harvey needs Mike to grill a witness before a deposition. Things go badly and Mike quits b/c he's afraid of getting fired.

Which leads to the first of many, many scenes in bathrooms on this show - Harvey confronts Louis about firing someone to scare Mike and Louis is all 'hahaha - no dude, that kid works in the mailroom'. Of course, this gives Harvey an idea. So he goes to see the witness to fix his case.

Mike, meanwhile, talks to Grammy, then dumps the briefcase on Trevor, takes 6 of Trevor's $2k suits and opens the briefcase to make sure Jenny sees the pot.

Mike and Harvey take their new awesome evidence and go to court to kick some serious ass and make their client very very happy.

And - Harvey's not a wuss. =)

'bad word' count:
- goddamn - 4
(we don't get 'shit' until later) -- [[correction, Mike actually does say this once in this ep (there might be another)... but this fucker's 90mins long, so if I missed something, I'm not surprised.]]

The rest of these won't be nearly this long. The first episode is 2hrs (aired w/ commercials)... but it's still awesome.

I don't know if I'll do all the episodes, since my wrist is acting up and I need to put the brace on it, but if anyone wants a quirky recap of any episode in particular, let me know. =)

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

you know what's not good?

2013-02-21T04:35:43Z

...coming home from work to hear a weird beeping sound coming from your external harddrive. Since this apparently means 'it's dead, Jim'... I am makin' sadfaces.

So - I have a wealth of tech-oriented friends on here - anyone have suggestions for how to check if the data is recoverable at all? I've done the hard part of yanking the drive out of the case (loooooooooooooooong past the warranty period, so no issue there) - and yes, I tested a bunch of things, including plugging it into my other computer to see if it was a USB port or cable or power issue just on an off chance - no joy. So, if slapping it inside my current tower is fairly simple - directions please? Or, am I better off finding a tech guru to pay to try to get data off it?

I don't think I have anything so uber!important that if I never get it back, my life will be over - hugely inconvenient and greatly annoying, perhaps, but not over. I pulled a lot of stuff off it recently and was in the process of burning more stuff to DVD a few weeks back, but hadn't gotten around to pulling everything I wanted off, so, *sigh*, I am resigned to the fact that some things may be gone and lost forever.

Shopping list for this week:

* new xhdd

yeah - that's about it.

I'm gonna go play with my new socks now, b/c hopefully they're not depressing.

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

Test for Support Request

2013-01-02T05:22:52Z

This is a test....

yes - I'm testing the crossposting issue again b/c we're trying to narrow down just where the issue might be...

apologies for those seeing these weird things on their reading pages...

ETA: ~ Notes ~

LJ post failed initially (dbl check p/w)
IJ - only link that showed on DW entry

Notes2 -

LJ post failed with this: Failed to crosspost entry to highlander_ii@LiveJournal: Failed to connect to http://www.livejournal.com/interface/xmlrpc.
and links were gone after 2nd edit...

01.05.13 - only scribbld links shows on DW entry.

things that are pretty fucking cool -

2012-11-16T02:31:42Z

Brad Richards being made of more awesome than there may actually be in the world

and

from synecdochic's blog this thing about folks who wanna get rid of the debt of the 99% - aka, not those folks w/ all the money and tax loopholes.

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

Indianapolis Zoo -

2012-08-27T03:33:52Z

- this time with pictures!

The full array of photos is here: Indy Zoo photos

(( all photos link to the larger versions ))

Seals and Sea Lions:

Sharks:

Polar bear:

Ring-tailed lemurs:

Lizards:

Stork:

Giraffes:

Rhinos:

Zebra:

Cheetahs:

Elephants:

Bald Eagle:

Bats:

Tiger:

all photos © Highlander II; no hot-linking or usage w/o permission

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

Test #9

2012-08-17T22:45:22Z

One more posting to all 4 sites.

- initial post - 0 x-post links
- post edit#1 - DJ link showed
- post edit#2 - LJ link showed; DJ link gone
- post edit#3 - LJ, Scribbld links show; DJ link still gone
- post edit#4 - LJ, DJ links show; Scribbld link gone
- post edit#5 - ALL links gone
- post edit#6 - DJ, Scribbld links show
- post edit#7 - LJ link showed; DJ, Scribbld links gone
- post edit#8 - IJ, LJ links show

(( sorry for all the spam, denise asked me to do a flurry of posts to test this crossposting link issue ))

Test #8

2012-08-17T22:44:07Z

This post only going to scribbld.com

- initial post - no x-post link
- after edit: x-post link showed

this is another test

2012-08-17T22:32:31Z

There were no links on the previous post at all and scribbld.com didn't work b/c it said the p/w was wrong... so trying that again....

ETA: only the LJ link showed up on this entry.

after the above ETA: DJ and LJ links were present.

lists...

2012-08-11T05:40:09Z

Things makin' me sad this week:

Hugh Laurie's concert tour doesn't seem to include any dates below the Mason-Dixon Line (save Alexandria, VA) List of up-coming tour dates. (Yes, I'm still going to the one in Carmel, but dammit, Hugh, VISIT TEXAS!)

There's another potential NHL lockout... *sigh* seriously? WTF?

The big bad rainstorm we were supposed to get today was neither big, nor bad, and barely constituted 'rain'. Though, the temp did go down by about 10 degrees from the 102F it was before that.

Takin' my dog to the vet and having to shell out *more* monies than should ever be required for preventative care. *sigh again*

My utter inability to write much of anything for kink_bingo. I have about 5 things 'in progress' and can't be arsed to work on any of them.

A lack of RP (and, relatedly, RP spoons). I have things I wanna do, but not always the brain!spoons to get them out there... or something. (possibly related to previous point, about writing)

---------------------

Things I'm finding confusing:

"Minnie the Moocher" as incidental music on an ep of Profiler - Jack is one fucked up mother-fucker. Totally not a song I'd expect from him. Bailey singing opera, sure; Jack w/ "Minnie"? not so much.

The 'clubs' in rhythmic gymnastics. They're hard to see and look really complicated to work into a routine unless you're a circus clown. I just don't get them. (Love the ribbon, like the hoop, eh, on the ball, but the clubs? *headscratch*)

Okay - they've said 'poison dart frog' about 37 times already, just in part I of this ep of Profiler... doesn't the thing have another name? B/c it's starting to sound like a really obvious plot point.

---------------------

Things that are slightly cheery:

GIANTmicrobes.com - for all your stuffy microbe needs!

Suits is coming up awesome almost every week this season - hence the icon, which is from one of the best scenes from this season. XD (Though, the icon also relates to work shit of doom that I'm not getting into just now.)

Restrung the bracelet I mentioned over in this post - again! - only using a beading needle (made the process much easier than the MacGyver version from last time) and added a couple extra beads - which means it doesn't have to stretch so much, so *fingers crossed* it doesn't snap in 5 days. *eyeroll*

I have someone to dog-sit while I'm out of town, which is always nice.

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

kink_bingo 2012 - card#1

2012-07-02T02:19:44Z

tickling	animal play	enemas	medical kink	emotion play
painplay (other)	chastity devices	mechanical / technological	in public	prostitution / sex work
bites / bruises	humiliation (verbal)	wildcard	penance / punishment	foot / shoe fetish
vehicular	piercings / needleplay	teasing	held down	silk velvet feathers furs
tattoos / tattooing	bloodplay	bondage (wrist / ankle restraints)	objectification kink	pictures

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

Hugh Laurie concert - a list

2012-05-25T05:28:23Z

aka: things wot i haz accomplished this week:

* tickets purchased for concert in Carmel, IN, 22 August 2012 - check
* tickets purchased for planes to take me to and from Carmel, IN - check
* ask for time off work to attend concert - check
* talked to v. fashion-oriented dude at work for ideas on 'wtf to wear to concert' - I work for a fashion company, probably many of my co-workers would be good at this, but this dude is ALL ABOUT THE FASHION, so he'll know stuff. (I wear t-shirts and jeans and tho I do have fashionable footwear, I lack snazzy concert clothes.) - check

still to do:

* figure out wtf to wear ( I do not own 'go to awesome concert' clothes ) - tho this goes w/ pt 3 above
* make arrangements for friend or relative to take me to/from airport in IN (shouldn't be an issue, i hope)
* kidnap katernater and go to concert... but can't do this until 22 Aug anyway, so this isn't really an issue yet XD

I'm sure there are other things in the 'still to do' part - but they're not relevant until closer to the trip date. Well, aside from 'work on paying off credit cards and earning awesome rewards w/ same, but that's on-going anyway.

I am rather sad that the venue doesn't allow photography at all. :( I mean, I get why they would want folks to refrain from firing off photo-flashes throughout the performance, b/c that's just annoying, but any camera that would take decent shots from farther away than about six rows would have the capability of disabling the flash and setting the camera to photo w/ correct light w/o the flash.

Beyond the photo thing - the venue has the worst website to navigate for finding information. It lacks basic tools like a 'site map' and direct links to important things like 'how much X will cost'. Seriously - why would you DO that? Do you not want people to try to purchase your wares? And mostly this refers to the 'season series' tickets, not the individual show tickets, b/c those were fairly straightforward, but there were no prices published AT ALL until the tix went on sale this past Monday.

I'm honestly not sure the venue was quite aware how popular this particular concert was going to be. They probably figured 'blues guy, eh, whatev' w/o realizing the part of the fanbase that is 'Hugh Laurie! OMG!'. As evidenced by the fact that they raised the ticket prices 2 days after they went on sale. Bastards. And I'm glad I got my tix on Monday.

Imma stop rambling now... time for bed.... ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

11 random questions...

2012-05-18T04:00:58Z

snagged question list from honorh

1. You can choose one character from each of your major fandoms to be at your side in the Robot Uprising. Who are they, and why did you choose them?: Defining 'primary' as 'write fanfic in as well as regularly watch':
* MacGyver (MacGyver) - why *wouldn't* you choose him?
* Jack O'Neill (SG1) - b/c you need a guy w/ leadership skills who knows how to shoot guns
* Jarod (the pretender) - if nothing else, he can pretend to be one of the robots and get them to follow him
* Buffy (BtVS) - I'd pick Spike, but he's gonna be less good against robots than Buffy, esp'ly during the day
* Allison Cameron (House) - b/c while House would be awesome for the knowledge, he can't run for shit
* Sarah MacKenzie (JAG) - she's a badass Marine, and while Harm can fly an F-14, Mac will kick your ass in a second
* Jack McCoy (L&O) - he can't fight, but he's got a motorcycle and I'll bet he can navigate some tight curves on that thing
* Odafin Tutuola (L&O:SVU) - NYC cop, badass, can't go wrong
* Harry Dresden (Dresden Files) - 'I can kill a copier at 50 paces' - absolutely takin' this guy w/ me, he'll blow out the robots just by being there
* Connor MacLeod (Highlander) - swordfighting badass who can't die, 'nuff said
* Van Helsing (Van Helsing) - equipped with Carl's inventions, he's good to go
* John Doggett (X-Files) - former military and NYPD office turned FBI agent dealing with weird shit - I want him on my side
* Steve McGarrett (H50) - I'd take Danno, but McGarrett's berserker enough to take out the 'bots w/o a care in the world
* Wolverine (X-Men) - adamantium claws. that is all
* Mary Shannon (IPS) - badass Marshall chic who would *so* kick your ass on a good day, don't try her patience on a bad one
* Harvey Specter (Suits) - he'll convince them all that it would be better to do something other than attack/invade and get them to pay him for the advice
* Brian Kinney (QaF-US) - if it's possible for them to fuck, he'll start and orgy and that'll be the end of it, if not, he's pretty handy w/ a baseball bat
2. What's one thing you've always wanted to learn how to do, but haven't?: Play saxophone. Okay, technically I know *how* to play it, but formal lessons would help me learn real fingerings and not just the ones that match flute fingerings.
3. If you could stop filmmakers/TV producers/writers/etc. from doing just one thing ever again, what would it be?: Turning strong female characters into baby-wanting alien pod-people. With 'hooking up two major characters' as a replacement for plot as a close second.
4. What's one fictional universe you'd happily trade the real world for?: I honestly have no idea.
5. What's a petty little irritation you know shouldn't bother you as much as it does?: My computer being ridiculously slow. :(
6. If you could elect one fictional character to be Dictator of the World, who would it be?: MacGyver. Hands down.
7. Name one of life's little pleasures you don't know if anyone else shares.: A really good milkshake.
8. Top item on your Bucket List!: See Hugh Laurie perform live in concert. Since I already knocked 'meet Richard Dean Anderson' off the list. XD
9. What's the one kind of character that can absolutely ruin any kind of fiction for you?: The blatant non-ironic MarySue of doom.
10. If you could visit any place on Earth, where would you go?: The Seychelles sound nice.
11. What animal would you like to be reincarnated as?: A cheetah.

My list of questions:
(( Play if you'd like... I never know who to tag. ))

1) What is your favorite TV theme song?
2) You find a 'time capsule' someone buried in your backyard, what's inside?
3) What 'green' initiative drives you up the wall?
4) Name five things you've used duct tape for/on. (Or things you could use it for.)
5) Which TV lawyer would you want to represent you in court?
6) Someone pulls up and offers to share their cab with you - who's in the cab?
7) Zombie Apocalypse time: Item to your immediate left is your primary weapon, to your immediate right is your secondary weapon, and the protagonist from the last fiction book you read is your back-up. How are your chances? (yes, i snagged this, more or less, from the list honorh had)
8) What is your favorite nail polish color? (doesn't have to be one that you wear)
9) Do you own an e-reader? If so, which. If not, would you ever buy one and if so, which one?
10) Embed your favorite music video.
11) You're stuck in an MC Escher work - which one and why?

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.

highlander_ii @ 2012-05-04T23:18:00

2012-05-05T03:34:49Z

List your (current) top five favorite food dishes; include photos if you'd like.: * really good red-velvet cupcakes
* perfectly grilled steak
* pork roast w/ rosemary
* really good, cold lemonade
* homemade pizza - this one's recent, b/c I can make it anyway I want, including leaving off that vile 'tomato' sauce
List your top five disliked movies of all time and why.: * this list is too long to count and, since I didn't like the movies in question, I can't think of any of the titles off the top of my head.
List your (current) top five favorite TV shows and why.: These are my top five 'of all time'
* MacGyver
* House, MD (during the first 4 seasons, and I could even deal w/ s5)
* The Pretender
* BtVS
* Defenders of the Earth

These are my top five 'current'
* Suits
* In Plain Sight (despite the last episode airing tonight - which I haven't seen yet, so no discussion in the comments!)
* L&O:SVU - even if I haven't seen it in a while
* Hawai'i Five-0
* (( don't really have a 5th - there are things I watch, but nothing that I *must* see ))
List your top five favorite places to visit; include photos if you'd like.: * Vancouver, BC - where the Gatecons that aren't in the UK happen *g*
* Venice, Italy - though it's been a LONG time since I was there, I would love to go back
* The Riverwalk in San Antonio
* The American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX for a Stars game
* wherever it is my friends live so I can see them *g*
List your (current) top five favorite songs; include video if you'd like.: * "Push" - Matchbox Twenty
* "St James Infirmary" - Hugh Laurie
* "If I Can't Have You" - Meatloaf
* "Vive le Rock" - Adam Ant
* "Crazy Arms" - Hugh Laurie
-- not a week goes back that one of these doesn't get stuck in my head... kid you not, 'Crazy Arms' was stuck in my head for nearly a week!

Mirrored from the original entry at Dreamwidth. Reply there using your own Dreamwidth account or OpenID!
replies over there.