All is Translation, and All of Us Lost in it

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Holy crap

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS, THIS SHOW.

JUSTIFIED FOR ALL THE AWARDS EVER.

One of these days I am going to write an essay about how the writing in season two has been the most amazing ever and all the relationships are just utterly fascinating x 10, but I have about 1000 other things that need to get done so for now I'm just going to keep shrieking.

Just. Oh my God, you guys, if Margo Martindale doesn't win an Emmy I will storm the castle. Mags Bennett is one of the most interesting, charismatic, absolutely terrifying villains I've ever seen on TV.

Also, someone could write an entire academic paper about all the parent-child relationships in this show. (And judging by the promo, I am even more convinced that Art is surrogate-daddy. "You just keep doing what you're doing, and I'll just keep cleaning up after you.")

Also also, I would like some kind of spin-off in which Raylan teaches Loretta how to fight crime.

Also also also, "The only thing we're on the same side of is, like, THIS CAR."

In conclusion, Boyd Crowder.

(Is anyone else watching this show? Do you like well-written noir Westerns with a twisted sense of humor? WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE? GO WATCH!)

So I figured I should actually make posts that are not related to writing! (I am probably going to finish another chapter within the next few days. God have mercy on our sooooouls.)

Instead, I thought I'd do a few mini book reviews/recs, since I'm getting some books read again! I'm going to keep 'em fairly spoiler-free, but if you're the type who likes to know as little as possible about the book before going in, I would give this post a miss.


( The Last Good Place of Lily Odilon )

( White Cat )

Next up (in no particular order):
Half World
Graceling
The Magicians
The Hunger Games
The Monstrumologist
The Maze Runner
Prophecy of the Sisters (represented by my dream agent - MY HOMEWORK)

The King's Speech

This movie! ♥ THIS MOVIE. It's like they took the usual Oscar-bait formula and made it charming and adorable. And now I know why Colin Firth has been going around calling Geoffrey Rush his "geisha girl."

I saw it with a coworker, and she is rooting for The Social Network for the Oscar pretty hardcore. She loved King's Speech, but she wants Social Network to win because it's 'more personal.' I have not actually seen Social Network - I will probably see it just to stack its chances against the other movies, but it will probably make me angry for various reasons.

But even so! I generally do like to root for the more 'personal' movies, like Slumdog, Little Miss Sunshine, or Juno. But I think that King's Speech, unlike a lot of Oscar-bait movies, was much more focused on the relationships than the historical setpiece or the Important Issues. And that's why I'm rooting for it. ♥

Also, DID I MENTION ADORABLE.


Black Swan

Okay, so I went into this expecting it to be like Perfect Blue: The Ballet Edition. And I really liked it! But as I watched it I thought, "Eh, it's not really that messed up."

You all are probably giving me a look right now. I would also be giving me a look right now. But I thought compared to Perfect Blue, it was pretty linear!

That said, it was delightfully twisty, and I loved the last quarter of the movie in all its trippy glory. I went home a little worried that I was going to find Winona Ryder in my kitchen. Someone more informed than I can provide a better analysis of how misogyny in the ballet world was portrayed, so all I will say for now is, I do believe Natalie Portman will be snagging that Oscar.


Heavy Rain

This is a very interesting game, with even more interesting gameplay. It's basically an interactive murder mystery movie - or as I like to call it, "the most ominous game of The Sims ever."

I'm just sort of getting into the action now, but it's really fascinating so far. There are quite a few different choices you can make, and they're not obviously good or bad like in most games. Said choices even make the plot splinter in different directions. The story can even continue when one or more of the characters dies. I can't wait to see how things go when I get further!

I am still getting attached to the characters, though. There was one I really liked, but then I got the worst spoiler ever and now every time I see them I'm like "WAS IT ALL A LIIEEEEEE." I think I enjoy playing the FBI agent the most, though. He has random futuristic FBI technology, and I am fascinated by his accent.

More on this later!


Justified

I SAW A JUSTIFIED PREVIEW TODAYYYYY. Eee! Raylan being a dork! Boyd blowing shit up! Art being exasperated! RACHEL HAVING SCREENTIME! Next Wednesday! I am so excite! omg this showwww ♥


Aaand recs!

I have a rather terrifying week coming up at work, and I will be lucky to get out of it alive. Therefore, I require things to unwind with after work! I will take anything - TV shows, movies, manga, reading material, anything. ♥ Any suggestions?

Just because this meme looked too fun to pass up.

Pick a character I write, and I will give you the top five ideas or concepts or factoids I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to depicting him or her accurately. This includes original characters and characters about whom I write fanfic.

Oh my God 12:40am. I need to be asleep five minutes ago.

Happy New Year everyone! I am very, very sleepy. ;; But if I'm going to go back to work on Tuesday (sob), I have to inch back to a normal sleep schedule.

Anyway. It's time for my favorite part of New Year's: the Yuletide reveal!

This year, I wrote...

The Lonely Traveler for Mushishi fandom!

So yes! I finally got a chance to write a full-length fic for Mushishi, after offering it for every Yuletide since I started. If more of you watched this show (WHICH YOU SHOULD), it probably would have been pretty easy to guess that this was me, because I included all my favorite Mushishi tropes. Has Adashino as a supporting character? Check. Delves into Ginko's complicated relationship with people in general? Check. Includes him being harassed by young children? Check. Oblique references to "One-Eyed Fish?" Naturally.

It was a lot of fun to write. And I hope the recipient liked it!

And for posterity's sake, here's everything from previous Yuletides:

( List with links )

Happy New Year, guys!

It's that time again, folks! Time for me to spend the annual Christmas Barnes and Noble gift card from Grandma. And you know what that means. RECS! So if you've read an awesome book lately, do tell, because I want to read it, too!

Just to give you an idea, here are some things I am totally weak for:
- A good mystery
- A creepy setting with a lot of character
- Any and all creepiness in general, really
- Creative fantasy elements/mythology
- Adorkable protagonists who I want to hug all the time
- Strong friendships and/or a good group dynamic
- Snark and banter
- Unique, surprising romances

If a book contains any/all of these elements, I will be allll over it.

And on the other hand, here are some turn-offs:
- Writers who are too in love with their own genius to tell a proper story
- Love triangles
- When the writer tells me, at great length, how DARK and BROODING and TORTURED and REBELLIOUS his protagonist is, when said protagonist is actually just a huge douche
- Female love interests who are given no development beyond "Manic Pixie Dream Girl"

Thank you in advance! ♥

Okay, I've got a longer post in the works, but I will work on that tomorrow once I have slept, 'cause damn, I am ready for that right now.

But seeing as it's the holidays and next week's going to be insanity on ice, I find myself ready for a Holiday Love Meme! You know you want to give me some sugar.

Not much going on except for work and Yuletide, though I am going ice skating tomorrow? But hopefully for the rest of the weekend, I will get to fall over and lie on my face for a while.

SLEEP.

Hello everyone! I am all settled in on my couch and ready to find some movies to watch. If you were looking to do the same, here are some Halloween recs from me, and all are varying levels of creepy (and quality for that matter):

The Shining - A classic, set in a deserted Colorado hotel during the winter and following the new groundskeeper and his family. The plot is twisty but the scares are brilliant in their simplicity; the trailer is a great example. RED RUM.

Coraline - A dark stop-motion fairytale, adapted from Neil Gaiman's novella. More deliciously creepy than terrifying, but plays on primal fears like the best children's stories do.

Beetlejuice - One of my childhood favorites! It's more of a comedy than anything, but one with an offbeat, eerie sensibility. The Banana Boat Song scene is my favorite.

The Gift - And here's a favorite that few people have heard of, by Sam Raimi. The cast is great, and brings out so many of the tropes I'm weak for: reluctant psychics, ghosts, and a Southern backdrop. You can't really go wrong with Cate Blanchett in the lead, either.

Sleepy Hollow - I've always adored the Headless Horseman story, and I watched the Bing Crosby-narrated cartoon version repeatedly every Halloween. The more recent Johnny Depp version is completely ridiculous, and also completely entertaining. Watch it for Christopher Walken and his prosthetic teeth. YAAHHHHH!

A Disney Halloween - The absolute staple of my childhood Halloween! This is a Disney clip show, narrated by the wicked stepmother's magic mirror, of various supernatural Disney shorts. It used to be on all the time, and I always loved watching it before Trick or Treat time. I don't think it's available online anywhere, but if you have an old copy lying around, watch it for me!

Guillermo del Toro's works - Pan's Labyrinth is a given, but have you seen The Orphanage and The Devil's Backbone? Both are, much like PL, a powerful combination of terrifying and sad, but Orphanage is the more depressing of the two.

A Tale of Two Sisters and Lake Mungo - The former is a Korean thriller, and the latter is an Australian mockumentary. Both are ultimately more sad than scary, but both are great examples of using the lull in the action to build tension. AToTS pulls off some great scary moments with an almost J-horror aesthetic, except they're more affecting to me than J-horror because of the sparsity. Mungo, meanwhile, uses the entire movie to build tension, leading up to one reveal at the end that left me unsettled for the rest of the day.


Non-movie recs:

The Dionaea House - A technological horror story. Check it out here - the door is open!

Smoke and Mirrors by Tanya Huff - the second and strongest book of Huff's Smoke trilogy, and though knowledge of the first book helps, if you don't mind spoilers, prior knowledge is not required for the main plot. The best thing about these books is the hysterical protagonist, Tony, and the narrative has a lot of his personality despite being in third person. The haunted house here is a great one, though, and once you get to the creepy parts, you might have to stay up all night to get to the end.

Ghost Hunt and Mononoke - My favorite horror anime. The latter is just incredibly inventive while at the same time being the most Japanese thing ever, and GH is fun, cute, and has a great group dynamic. GH has several different arcs, and the levels of creepiness vary, but the only one that crosses the line into terrifying is the "Bloodstained Labyrinth" arc.


So there you have it! You can pick your poison depending on your tolerance. Sooo... got any recs for me? :D

I AM ON LJ AT WORK. GASP. That should tell you how quiet it is around here.

But anyway. Let's have some writing fun, shall we?

If you're reading this post, leave a prompt - it can be as specific or vague as you like. I will choose at least one and write a little Halloween story! ♥

Yuletide has come! And my nominated fandoms are:

Mushishi
Natsume Yuujinchou
The Thief of Eddis books
Prince of Persia 2008
Justified
and How to Train Your Dragon!

Quite a mix I've got here. A couple mainstays and a couple new fandoms! And thankfully none of them have that many fics on AO3, since they would be disqualified under the new arbitrary rule if they did. SIGH. Oh well. I always look forward to Yuletide, and I'm not going to let anyone ruin it - even if I have to ignore the comm for everything except deadlines!

Oh, but one more complaint: people are actually nominating things like Inception, Sherlock, and Supernatural? SERIOUSLY, GUYS? Would you like me to explain this to you? And l-lol, someone nominated Due South. I'm pretty sure the massive fandom's got you covered, dude. But if you want, I can arrange the first annual ADHFKS NO REALLY WHAT IS THIS SHOW Fic Exchange.

I was, however, very happy to see that people were ahead of me in nominating Slings and Arrows, the Smoke books, Onmyouji, and other such fantabulous things. It's going to be hard to decide what I want to request!