bookish dreamer

I know I'm supposed to count up my blessings and stuff, and I have a lot of them, but everyone is doing a TV meme and that sounds like my kind of distraction. So here's what I watched in 2013 (and may or may not continue watching in 2014).

(also, holy shit that is a long list!) this is what happens when you're shivering in fear about your thesis, apparently.

( Agents of Shield )

( Blacklist )

( Sleepy Hollow )

( Person of Interest )

( Orange is the New Black )

( Dracula )

( Elementary )

( White Collar )

( Suits )

( Arrow )

( Hannibal )

( Da Vinci's Demons )

( Hemlock Grove )

( Supernatural )

( Teen Wolf )

Annnnnnnd, that's about it. except that I discovered Chuck like 30 years after everyone else did and watched a bunch of it while finishing my 4th draft of my prospectus. Even though product placement is rampant and its totally predictable, its making me happy that everything mostly turns out all right in the end.

Oh, and has anyone else watched American Horror Story? I've been watching it while in South Dakota and the first season was AWESOME and super duper over the top creepy. not as sold on the second (though perhaps it's just too much horror in too short amount of time?)

ALL THE FEELINGS! THEY BURST FORTH! OR SOMETHIGN!

( S01, E08 Frommage - yes, incoherent spoilers )


is anyone other than scarimonious on my flist watching Hannibal? If you want truly creepy dynamics with really beautiful actors, setting and characterizations you should hie thee to the interwebs immediately and watch it, since it's not clear that it will at all be renewed next season.

Ok, so, I caught another cough this week and ended up being at home wed & thurs just to try and rest it out (and drink buckets of water and tea - BUCKETS!). I was really worried wednesday night because it was the second night i'd had night sweats, until i realized that the weather had warmed up significantly and it wasn't my body it was actually, you know, the super-heavy-winter blanket i had on my bed making me so hot. LOLZ.

after dragging myself to class today (which was good - i actually did mostly ok, and did the reading, which was good, and class helped explain the reading, which was *even better*), i gave myself a friday off.

this afternoon and evening I've been doing marvel-movie marathon! Captain America, Thor, and finally my 50th viewing of the Avengers. (ok, not 50th, but seriously, like possibly 7th? 8th?). ( And so here are some thoughts that at this point can't be spoilery, right? )

Oh, and on the heels of that fannish stuff, I was mentally musing about Black Widow and how she came off to other people, and ran across this awesome review/discussion talking about black widow spinning a web around the avengers that gave me an entirely different lens to look at her actions with. Not that I think Joss is the be-all-end-all in feminist directors (because he's not) like the reviewer does, but because it brings up *really* good points about the actions Black Widow takes in the film and HOW she goes about doing it all as a human amongst super-beings.

Finally, looking for a giggly little bit of Sterek? (you know you get your Teen Wolf on), check this out:

The Scientific Method by uraneia
Stiles/Derek | Teen Wolf | Teen | 5,947 words

YES. IT IS AS AWESOME AS YOU THINK. IN A 'NOTHINGHURTSANDEVERYTHINGISFINE' kind of way.

have you guys heard of the other non-facebook/tumblr/twitter sites in this article? cuz I haven't. made me feel old.

i miss my oven because of things like this chicken bastilla recipe (cinnamon + chicken = GOOD)

my favorite death in the last episode of sparticus was this guy's death (SPOILERS!) but I was mostly pleased with the last episode - or as pleased as I was going to be by this third season ( because really, this season had problems )

and now that i've prattled away, i'll let you get on with your day/night/what have you.

OH, but if you're into Giles, don't forget about summer_of_giles sign ups! Or just join the comm to see what happens.

Went and saw Snow White & the Huntsman with a girlfriend of mine earlier this week, and while I'm glad I saw it because I wanted to satisfy my curiosity, especially with the way they ostensibly played with the story, there were problems.

I'm curious about the spate of fairy tale adaptations that have been in the air lately - Grimm (a show I tried to watch but basically got bored with *sorry those who love it*), and Once (upon a time) that I go back and forth on liking (though I was SUPER happy with the season ender), and even Mirror, Mirror.

And then we get the super slick, totally takes itself seriously, with big stars and lots and lots of cgi, 'this-will-be-so-epic' SW&tH... and ... I'm just glad I didn't pay for it myself.

( there were things I was frustrated with [spoilers inside!] )

ok, so apparently I had a lot to say. lolz.

And today I spent the day making pizza (of which I will possbily post photos later). It finally came out AWESOME. see Trader Joe's has pizza dough, and I've used it to make calzones, but the pizzas I made didn't really come out well. I went and read a bit about it online, let my dough warm longer, pre-cooked my dough, and came out with two pizzas that were much much tastier and more beautiful than i expected. It took me a while to get all the ingredients sorted, but mmmmm. (though perhaps only I would like these pizzas, as they are tomato-pesto based sauce, mozzarella, spinach, basil, cherry tomatoes, prosciutto, little cheddar cheese, and corn. yes, corn. it tastes awesome.)

Some of my artwork has been featured in this cool little article on a website I hadn't heard of, but am amused by, The Cultural Gutter (whose by line is taking trash seriously).

Fandom Is Magic

In the year 2001 I discovered a magical world. Not Harry Potter (that was a few years later) and not the Internet (although it was responsible), but a world that captured my attention and hasn’t let go ten years later. It has to do with fanfiction; unpaid fiction that is written by fans of a cultural product such as a movie, television show, comic book, novel, or anime. But fanfiction wasn’t the magical world I discovered; it was the community of fanfic writers.

[ read more here at the article ]


Also, since I'm sick, I have been watching movies. So, if you're bored, here's my 'as i watched it' commentary on The Rite.  I blame dwg  for it, because I saw her tweets and couldn't resist.  Well, and I was in the mood for bad movies.

( All the RITE comments about Anthony Hopkins you can shake a stick at )

Now I'm watching Wanted, in part because I was reminded of it by seperis , who pointed out there's a baby Charles Xavier in there, a fact I had entirely forgotten.  And this will tell you something about my movie tastes (ie, that they're horrible) because I like this movie.

I was at Transmedia, Hollywood: S/Telling the story conference today.  From 9 am - 9 pm.  And yep, this is sort of a vacation for me, so I felt a bit like a kid in a candy store.  The conference is an extension of the conferences that Henry Jenkins has been having over the years at MIT that is intentionally meant to be a fusion between media-industry professionals and academics so that, possibly, there can be some bridging of the gap between theory and practice.  Interestingly, because the conference was in the cinema school a lot of the industry people assumed that a lot of the audience was part of the cinema school as well (which I can assure you, wasn't the case - they were from all different kinds of disciplines, my own being one of them).

( my take on most of the day - there is still a ton of room to grow across that 'gap' between industry and academia )

( other random tidbits )

Despite the grim warnings Friday night seemed to be throwing out I actually had a pretty fantastic birthday.  Not the usual sort of thing LA thing - no wild party with much drunkenness (which has pretty much been my modus operendi for years and years), but instead a series of events that were all together entertaining.

( Friday we saw Inglorious Bastards - possible spoilers ahoy )

( Saturday I had an ice cream social )

And I kind of got a ton of loot, the best of which is a book I have been slavering over for nearly a year now (don't ask me why I hadn't bought it before, but I hadn't, but I *have it now*!): Otaku; Japan's Database Animals by Hiroki Azuma.  Of course I'm going to be using it for class, because that's just how frigging geeky I am.

By the time we got home from ice cream I had called off our dinner out (too much ice cream to add a possibly-too-rich-dinner on top of it) and we settled for getting dinner brought to us from my favorite place in town.  And glutted ourselves on TV (something which I don't get to enjoy often enough now that my school schedule is overwhelming.

yeah, so, the spangles and stars may not have exploded in huge measure but for me?  it was a pretty damn fine day.  No angst.  No annoyances.  Everything I wanted to do and no drama about doing it.

(of course my present from school was that I had a Japanese test today -- and it continues tomorrow -- so I spent most of Sunday studying.  Bleh.  The life of a grad student is truly boring.  Although I think I did ok today, so hopefully I'll get a good grade as a bit of a retroactive present to myself).

ok, first off, one of my all time favorite EVER WIPs just got a new update, so really, if you haven't read it before you should start now, even if you don't read WIPs, even if you don't read Spike/Xander, even if you don't read fanfic, and tell the author how you got swept up in its wonderful small imperfectness too:



And then, I spent most of the afternoon reading a Star Trek: Reboot Kirk/Spock called Breaking Point that was about two men whose weaknesses actually help shore each other up, and about a third man who sees way too much potential in them both and so makes things happen, and it was absolutely wonderful and plotty and kind of adorable and fun and most of all hopeful at the end.

And speaking of hopeful if you're ever going to venture into Buffy/Giles, you should really be aware that it can be done like glimmergirl does it in Love is an Evil Word because she does it well, she does it beautifully, and she somehow fixes Season 3 things that are broken with the delicacy of an architect who only works with dreams.

And finally here's a dirty, pithy (and yet nicely satisfying for a one-shot), adorable Merlin/Arthur fic by freudian_fuckup called Forgotten for Good that is not only hot but sweet with a slightly grumpy Merlin, a slightly snarling possessive Arthur, and even though they're in an a ... relationship, this is the big magic reveal and it's important and sweet and serious all at the same time.

Besides, you know you're bored, and you know you want to go read!

( and we saw UP, the preview for the new Disney movie, and other random bits )

I went to a mock trial yesterday - it was really fascinating.  And the bonus?  Getting paid for giving my opinion.  My opinion was contrary to the other outspoken people in the room, so it was great fun to be the voice of dissent.  It's crazy how easy people fall into types in my head though - without knowing names or backgrounds or anything that makes people unique there were people I ... recognized.  You know, the lady who's in her 50's and very particular about how things are supposed to be happening, who had some legal experience and so was annoyed that they didn't "instruct" the jury as they ought.  The woman in her mid-40s wearing a long flowered skirt and a sensible top with frizzy hair who saw things in black and white, the younger (maybe 20s) guy who slouched in his chair and was  a total idealist.  The guy whose white shirt didn't totally hide his tattoos in his 30s with sharp eyes and day-old stubble who didn't want to make decisions fast and who tried his damnedest to be fair to both sides. 

Makes me wonder what my type is.  I know I've got one, and I used to be percieved as that girl in my classes - too precocious, doesn't know how to shut up.  But at this point I'm getting too old to be qualified as "girl" anymore.  Still don't keep my mouth shut though, but I don't know if I come off as an idealist or a know it all (probably both, but I'd like to know if it's a 60/40 split or the other way around).  I had trouble staying quiet while other people made their points, I was the one who directed conversation through the first run through and made sure every one in the damn room had the chance to give their opinion at least once, and I spoke up in the first group during the debriefing.  I wonder if, in 20 years or so, I'm going to be the woman who is all uptight about the rules.  Guess I'll have to ask the question again in 20 years or so.

( it is sunday night in kate-land and that means i have a week to recap )

1.  wedding planning is fun.  Well, it's great fun since it's not my wedding and it's not my budget and i get to do the cool things like come up with ideas.  our friend's getting married in march, it's a 30 person deal, and it's going to be superfabulous in the most relaxed and fun ways.  Working a little bit on it yesterday reminded me how much I like event planning - it's all there and it all comes together right in front of you.

2.  ( thursday was the day of fabulous women mentors )

3.  last night was delightful and fantastic - celebrated mrtwstedwhsprs' birthday last night at the only goth club in town.  There was dancing, grinning, much talking, even more smoking, and ... just perfect.

4.  On Ian Condry's Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the paths of cultural globallization ( is not as thrilling as it ought to be. )

5.  ( the to do list thus far today.... )