I am apparently on something of an "INCOME YAY" spree, because in the last three days I have purchased the following.

1) The Sarah Jane Adventures, Season 1. I adore this show in all its Doctor-Who-FOR-KIDZ glory. Plus, you know, Sarah Jane = made of win. She just is.

2) The Aztecs. A very, very early episode of Doctor Who, featuring the Doctor accidentally getting engaged, Susan being almost nowhere to be found, Ian in a very silly eagle suit and Barbara being more awesome than you. Old!Skool companions rock my socks in general.

3) Sense and Sensibility. The Emma Thompson version, thanks. It's faithful to the book in spirit and stars most of my favorite actors, namely Emma Thompson, Mr. Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Imogen Stubbs, Imelda Staunton, Alan Rickman, and Unexpected Hugh Laurie and Laurielet (or so I am told). The only one missing is Mark Sheppard. Oh, and Hugh Grant is in it, but I can get over that.

4) Battlestar Galactica: Razor. BECAUSE I WANTED IT, THAT'S WHY. Also, it has Lee being kinda cool for once and Young!Adama. Plus, you know, more Cain.

5) The Lion in Winter. It was five bucks, guys! Five bucks for Peter O'Toole! Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn and Anthony Hopkins being somewhat subpar but hey he was short on sleep and TIMOTHY DALTON omnomnom and basically I love it. So there.

6) ALL YOUR MIDDLEMAN DVDS ARE BELONG TO ME. \m/

Bye bye, income. It was nice knowing you.

ETA: My daddy took me to the bookstore. :D :D :D And every time my daddy takes me to the bookstore, he buys me books! *is daddy's little girl and not ashamed*

7) Sex With Kings, which is a wonderfully wonderful history book about kings' mistresses through the ages. I love it so. It's very funny and brilliantly researched, and less depressing than the sequel, Sex with the Queen.

8) Ciaphis Cain: Hero of the Imperium! It's a Warhammer novel, but I've had it recommended, so I read the first few pages. I got Miles Vorkosigan vibes off it from a mile off. So, I bought it. We'll see if the Miles-vibes hold.

I finished reading a biography today, about the same time as Miss Cam sparked a new meme here after this fandom secret and this long discussion bordering on wank (randomly, I love how everyone pulled out their favorite female character icons in that thread). It was fortuitous timing, so now I'm going to tell y'all about women I admire, who may or may not be fictional. I'd stick with fictional women, but again, the biography. I do hope you'll talk about women you admire, too. I think we can't talk enough about women we admire.

( I've restrained myself, with great difficulty, to one per fandom. )

Looking back at these women, and at the ones who didn't make the list (Zoe Washburn, Inara Serra, Dana Scully, Virginia Wolff, my Doctor Who gals), I can see a couple of trends. I tend to admire smart women, who can maintain strong and loving relationships, but neither quality is a deal-breaker if it's lacking (Kaylee, Karrin Murphy). I admire women who are women, not men with breasts. I admire women who aren't afraid or ashamed of their sexuality. I admire women who are more than competant, women who hold their own and demand respect. I admire exceptional women who aren't afraid to be exceptional.

I feel like today, most women and girls are afraid to be exceptional. I don't know why this is so, or why women get boxed into subordinate roles that they aren't comfortable with or happy in. I feel like every girl should know that she can be exceptional, and I feel like these woman are a good start.

In short, I admire exceptional women, and I have every intention of being one.

What women do you respect? Why do you respect them?

ETA: Honorh talks about the same thing here, and so does selenay936.

Impressions of Dollhouse thus far:

-Not sure why everyone's hating on it. It's not the best thing ever, no, but it's quite a great deal of fun, and I really enjoy watching it. Very Joss Whedon.

-This show is a veritable smorgasbord of "hey it's that guy!" Thus far I've spotted Donald Morgan (Harry Lennix, long story, did I mention I've met him and he's awesome?), Mark Sheppard (*adds cop to the Mark Sheppard song*), the Middleman (Matt Keesler, and evil!Middleman made my brain explode), HELO (Tahmoh Penikett, *fans self*), and That Guy Whose Name I Don't Know But Is Definitely That Guy. Makes my brain go "wha?" but it's fun.

-I love the title sequence. Great deal of fun.

-Echo and her handler's father/daughter relationship makes me very, very happy. *flails*

-"Of course you do! You both disapprove of everything! You're going to get married and have scowly babies!" Oh, Joss, have I mentioned that I adore your dialogue? Because I do.

-Joss, you had better be going somewhere with this show, that's all I'm sayin'.

Bought with my book certificate.

Jane and the Man of the Cloth, Stephanie Barron (second in the Jane Austen mysteries, which are to me like crack)
Moving Targets and Other Tales of Valdemar, Mercedes Lackey ed.
Smoke and Mirrors, Neil Gaiman
Miles, Mystery and Mayhem, Lois McMaster Bujold (this is Cetaganda and Ethan of Athos, again, like crack)
The Vorkosigan Companion, Lillian Stewart Carl ed. (again with the crack)
Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry (I didn't have a copy. I didn't have a copy. This is a travesty)
Penelope, starring Christina Ricci. Very cute movie.

I have done thus far:

1) Part of my Yuletide fic.
2) Three short fics for fandom_stockings.
3) Half a much longer fic for fandom_stocking.
4) Various proportions of fanmixes.

I will do:

1) The rest of my Yuletide fic and the fandom_stocking fic.
2) An A/C fic that I promised first_seventhe in trade.
3) Themed fandom Christmas cards (Puck! In unrelated news, I need your new address!).
4) Some presents (Puck! In unrelated news, I really need your new address!).

You. Specific you.

BAD AUTHOR. NO COOKIE. Character A and Character B are canonically married with two kids, and have been married for thirty years. Do not tell me that Character A never loved Character B just so you can have your shiny sparkly Sue hook up with her. FAIL.

Also, clearly you have never read the series, because the author makes a big honkin' deal about Character A and Character B being in love. It's important to the series; a lot of things happen because of it and at least three of the books have main conflicts sparked by or stemming from that fact. You ignoring it? EPIC FAIL.

GTFO of my fandom.

ETA: ...whoa. That was the fastest "whine flounce delete" I've ever seen.

1) Ursula Vernon is pissed, and with good reason.

My thoughts on the matter? I believe that no one should constrict or constrain an artist to produce something. This puts me at odds with the publishing industry, somewhat, in that they seem to believe they can contract people to produce a specific product, exactly to their outline (romance industry, I'm looking at you). This isn't completely constraining, though; a writer has to have a certain amount of enthusiasm for the project in order to contract to create it. Writing to prompts is also different, as a prompt will give you an opening, but will not tell you what to write.

On the other hand, I can sort of see where the email writer comes in. Not as regards Billy Collins, of course; he's one of my favorite poets and I find him very accessible. However, throughout my academic career, poetry has had to mean something, and it's usually a meaning completely opposite to what was given. This sort of analytic reading of poetry drives me batty. It implies that for a poem to be a "good" poem, it must be either entirely metaphorical or entirely inaccessible (T. S. Eliot, the Wasteland, I'm looking at you!). Now, most poets don't believe this. See, Billy Collins, Paul Zarzyski, even T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Academics, though, certainly do.

Newsflash, academics: just because something's fun to read doesn't mean it's automatically trash.

So it seems to me that this is more a problem of how we read than of how we write. If we cannot enjoy something, we tend to say that it sucks and throw it away. Okay, fine, whatever, you're not constraining the author at all, you're simply exercising your right as the audience to ignore them. However, when you then say that because you don't like it, nobody else can because it's trash, and the author must immediately change their ways, then it becomes a problem.

2) Sherwood Smith, on writing and memory

For me, the books that bring back my childhood most clearly are The Neverending Story, the Hobbit, and Tamora Pierce, most especially her Alanna series. I can remember sitting on my bed, curled up around my teddy bear, reading with absolute amazement. The idea that somewhere there were people that dreamed just like me was such an irresistable one. I remember being absolutely stunned that people could dream like that, the same way I did. Up until then, I thought I was alone. I think that's when words became my friends. The Neverending Story in particular made me feel as if I could quite happily spend the rest of my life stuck in a book.

I've never lost that feeling, not really. You may have noticed. :D

1. List your top seven ships
2. Put all of them in order of your love for them; 7 to 1, 1 being your favorite.
3. Name their fandom.
4. Supply photos for said people.

( These are really in no particular order: I ship them all about equally. AKA, like burning )
And, of course, the traditional ( Super Secret Really Really Really Embarrassing Slash Ship below the cut. )