FanFiction

I'd like to write a little bit about fanfiction tonight. I have some time on my hands while I wait up until the new episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC America.

I have been reading fanfiction since high school, which is half a decade in my past now. I have seen how technology on the internet has allowed fanfic to grow. When I started reading fanfic the options were fanfiction.net and private sites where authors posted their work (usually in addition to fanfiction.net). FF.net is where I read all of the fic in my Stargate SG-1 days. When I got into Stargate Atlantis fanfic had expanded and LiveJournal had become a place for fandom. Communities and private journals alike were filled with fanfic (and the SGA fandom has amazing fanfic). LiveJournal was my fanfic treasure trove for many years.

Now that I'm reading X-Men: First Class fanfiction I find that most of the quality fic has migrated to Archive of Our Own (AO3). FF.net and LiveJournal still have good fanfic, but most of it also ends up posted on AO3. I really like this because AO3 has the option to download fic. This is my favorite feature. I love that I can download a fic in the correct file type for my Kindle and just drag it over there. In addition to the many books I have on there to read, I also have around 20 fanfics ready to read. They have their own fanfiction collection. And then once I've read them they move to a read fanfiction collection. This, paired with the stories that I keep track of on my iPhone's reading list, means that I always have some spare fic to read even when I'm not at my computer. I found it especially nice during my trip to Boston in early August. I downloaded several of the X-Men Reverse Bang stories to my Kindle and read them while I waited to trains and on longer trains. It made the commute from my home to Boston (and then from my hotel to the city each day) much more fandom filled.

And now I'm off. I've still got an hour and a half until Doctor Who, and there are fanfics on my Kindle just waiting for me.

New Found Love, WoW, NaNoWriMo 2011, Work

I have fallen in love...again. It happened when I bought the X-Men: First Class DVD and watched it for the first time in the living room with Mom. See, there's this actor in it (a bunch actually) and he caught my eye. His name is James McAvoy, and he played Charles Xavier. I have liked the previous X-Men movies (though I think I've blocked out 3 and never watched the Wolverine one) and have quite the crush on James Marsden (yes, it is tiring being in love with this many men at once). But First Class... Oh man, I've never been so keen on Professor X. Yeah, Patrick Stewart is cool (he's got a 'sir'), but I mostly watched the first too for Cyclops. I absolutely adore the relationship between Charles and Erik in this movie. It's like the tragic love story of Charles and Erik, and there are some other people there too. I love how McAvoy played Charles. It's very fun, but the character still seems wise beyond his years. The flirting and partying was great (very funny and made the character feel more real), but he's also very adept at filling this role of mentor (parent?) that all the kids (and Erik) truly need.

Also, James McAvoy is adorable. I have a couple videos. I can't share them with the friends that I talk to the most because they haven't seen the movie (for the first one) and I don't want to keep throwing random McAvoy videos at them (the second one, I can only get away with so many before they start to get annoyed).

I advise that you do not watch this video if you haven't seen X-Men: First Class.

This one is from the press for the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I just adore how much he's paying attention while she speaks.

Looking at my YouTube favorites to find these, I realize that I have several more to share.

This one has nothing to do with what I've been typing about. But I love this guy's voice.

And one last thing on the topic of James McAvoy (for now) is a link to a tumblr that has gifs showing James as the 12th Doctor (Doctor Who). This does not yet exist in canon for Doctor Who, but I would love it. http://thetwelfthdoctorandhistardis.tumblr.com/

Moving on, WoW has been going well. New information about 4.3 keeps coming out, so we're in a bit of a slump in terms of staying excited for the content that exists. We have finally conquered the Zandalari heroics. They are still a challenge and we mostly queue up in groups for protection, but we can do them now, and that is fantastic. We gotten some new members. Someone I recruited from the Guild Finder offered to be a recruitment officer for the guild, and it's nice to see another person so excited about us doing stuff as a guild.

NaNoWriMo is coming. I have the 2011 badge up on the sidebar, and I've logged into the new and improved website. I, of course, don't have a plot idea or characters (though if previous years are a sign then my male main character will probably look like James McAvoy).

Work is going well for me. I'm really tired and ready for a day off. This is day 9 of 11 without a day off because I'm spending the weekend with my sister at college. We're also trying to transition to a new way of doing some of the chores and to fall (as opposed to summer), but the weather is confusing people and we're still doing summer business, instead of slowing down for fall and winter. It's making everything quite hectic there, but we're all surviving so far.

Hopefully that is all from me for today. I have one thing I want to look up. Then I have to get my butt in gear and get ready for work.

Wow, I fail!

So, I've been kinda busy, but not really. I started back at work and I'm in season six of The X-Files now. I also watched all of the first season of Chuck and I'm almost caught up with the episodes of season two that have aired. It's such a cute show.

I've spent the better part of today watching Chuck and The X-Files (I switch back and forth) while working on the redesign of my portfolio. Once a year or so, I completely redo the site and then I ignore it until I redesign it the next year. It's just how it works. I finished the design and I'm working on putting the content in now. I'll post again tonight (if I remember) with all the episodes of show I've watched and how I've felt about them.

Erin and I watched the Christmas episode of Doctor Who. I liked it. I'm glad that guy's not the new Doctor. I've seen the guy they've chosen for Eleven and I'll give him a chance. He's really young, but he's still like eight years older than me (so still out of my age range).

The Best and Worst of 2008: My Favorite TV Shows

This series of posts is dedicated to my favorite and least favorite things of 2008. Television, movies, games, classes, everything. If I loved it or hated it, I'll make mention of it in these posts.

This post is dedicated to my favorite television shows.

Favorite TV Shows

Bones
In the past, I've had trouble keeping up with this show, but this year I've made a point to watch every episode. Even though I haven't been able to watch the episodes when they air I do watch them on FOX Online on Thursday. I love Booth and Brennan and this is a show that all of my friends watch (us girls at least). We all agree that Booth and Brennan need to get together and make beautiful children really fast, and also that Angela and Hodgins should be together. I can't wait to see more of this show.

Criminal Minds
I try my best to keep up with this show, but it's hard because I had some scheduling conflictions between life and my tv schedule. It doesn't help matters that CBS seems to hate this show and doesn't post the episodes on their site. I still love Reid and I'd like to catch up with what's been going on. This may be my next marathon.

Doctor Who
Oh Doctor Who. I've only known this show and fandom for a very short time, but I am enamored. I love the Doctor and the TARDIS and Martha and Donna and Rose and EVERYTHING. I just wish there were some better fanfictions out there for this fandom. I can't wait to see what happens in the season 5 specials. I sure am going to miss David Tennant like crazy.

Fringe
I'm pretty sure I've stayed caught up with this show. I really enjoy the characters and how out there the plot lines are. It helps that FOX has the best video player out of all the main networks websites. I'm able to catch up on episodes legally without wanting to rip my hair out waiting for the thing to load (CBS, I'm looking at you).

How I Met Your Mother
I watched this show only for Neil Patrick Harris. I started watching just after watching Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I marathoned all the episodes that had aired in a very short spae of time. Since then I've watched episodes as they've come out. Not on the television because I work from 8 pm on Monday's but online after work. I'm come to love the cast and I've been sucked into the plot and the relationship twists.

Merlin
I started watching this show just after it started. Maybe around the third episode. Since catching up I've managed to watch the episodes as they air. I live in the US so I've been watching these episodes online, but I love them. Even though this show is a terrible smudge of history and just fiction I think it's adorable. I love both Bradley James and Colin Morgan. I enjoy every second of this show, and not only because the boys are cute (though that is definitely a factor).

NCIS
I've been staying caught up with this as best as possible. Like every other show, I not able to watch this on the television screen when it airs. I struggle through watching this show CBS.com every week, and it is a struggle. The video player that CBS has sucks ass hardcore. Despite the crappy player, I still love NCIS. All the characters and the plot lives are amazing. I'm not big into the fandom for this, but I do get excited to watch new episodes every week.

Psych
I was introduced to this show last year, but I really started keeping track of new episodes this year. I'm addicted. I watch new episodes as soon as I can get my hands on them. This is one of the only shows that I will buy on iTunes instead of finding on some obscure website online. I love Shawn. He's such an odd character and I love him. Gus is the perfect balance to Shawn's oddities. He's not nearly normal either, but he does his best to stay in touch with the real world. Whereas Shawn just really likes to be a kid even though he's in his mid twenties or so.

Stargate Atlantis
This season has been my least favorite, but despite how disappointed I've been about the episodes and sad about this being the end of Stargate Atlantis I still make a point to try to watch this show when it airs. This show still registers as a favorite because I still keep up with it in the fandom and I'm still in love with all of the characters.

Supernatural
I need to review this newest season, because I haven't watched the episodes over again as I have in the past. I just haven't had the time. I love the introduction of Castiel because he's just as awesome as the Winchester boys, but he doesn't try to steal the scenes. He's able to be awesome in tandem with the Winchesters instead of trying to be in competition with them. This show is great because it's very interactive for me. I like watching Supernatural with Melissa and Carissa and we like to comment on the episodes. I love that this show makes me yell at the screen and attempt to speak to the characters.

Torchwood
I had to watch this show after watching Doctor Who. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it because I wasn't a huge fan of Jack Harkness in Doctor Who. However, Jack takes on a whole new depth in Torchwood and I love his team. Especially Ianto. I love the relationship between Jack and Ianto. I never knew that my life was missing epic amounts of boy-kissing before I watched Torchwood, but I definitely was. I can't wait to see what happens next, especially with half of the team gone.

The X-Files
This is, without a doubt, my most recent obsession. I've been watching this show for no more than a week. I knew afteer watching only a couple episodes, that this time it was going to be for real. I've watched the X-Files before. Last year I used to watch episodes when they aired late at night, and that was how I was reintroduced to the show this year. Melissa and I caught an episode on the television late at night, and it had all the things I love in the tv show: a pretty boy (or more than one) Mulder, scifi (duh!), great chemistry between the main characters (Mulder and Scully are the classic example of great chemistry). It even had hurt AND comfort. Scully had Mulder rest his head in her lap. IEEEEEEEEE!!! I'm not nearly finished watching this show, but with the rate I'm going it won't take me long. I'm more than midway through season two right now and I haven't skipped an episode yet (and I don't plan to).

New Wallpaper

I made a new wallpaper and hated it so much that it only lasted on my laptop for about a day. Yesterday I made this one, which I like very much and am very pleased about.

I <3 this wallpaper.

My Newest Desktop Picture and Associated Obsession

I present to you ("you" meaning anyone other than me that is reading this) my newest desktop picture. Ta da!

Along with this wallpaper (which took me two-three hours to make in Photoshop) I present my newest obsessions: Doctor Who and David Tennant (and Torchwood, but that's not in the wallpaper).

I went on a Doctor Who and Torchwood bender. I watched all of the new!Who, the show that restarted in 2005, and Torchwood in about three and a half weeks. During that time I also went to classes and socialized. It was great fun. I am, at this moment, listening to the Torchwood soundtrack, and have been doing so for the past week or so. Because one of the first things I noticed when I started watching Torchwood was that I really liked the music. I also really like the opening. I'm taking a class called Digital Interactive Design this semester. It's a Flash class. And I would love to be able to make a sequence as cool as the Torchwood opening in Flash.