HP Holiday Femslash Exchange

I went to the supermarket yesterday.  There were fairly long lines with the pre-Thanksgiving crowd and the cashiers were hauling whole turkeys over the scanners. 

I was very grateful not to be working in a supermarket anymore. 

In fact, the market was always open on Thanksgiving and I started working there in September of 2006 so this is going to be the first Thanksgiving since 2005 where I won’t have to go to work. 

Last night I had a dream that was backstory for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. I was a young girl in a very wealthy family and the Basterds were using our decrepit summer estate for training. My mother cautioned me very strongly against associating with the Basterds but I think I sort of had a thing for Donny (aka the Bear Jew) who I referred to as a Golem.

I just finished watching season 1 of the television show Heroes and I can honestly say I’m a little obsessed. It’s not a great show but it is totally my kind of show, a sort of sprawling mishmash of elements from X-Men, Watchmen and the Manchurian Candidate and post 9/11 paranoia with lots of grandiose themes, moral ambiguity, family dysfunction and general angst.

I find myself particularly fascinated by the relationship between Peter and Nathan Petrelli. They’re brothers—Peter is a hospice nurse and Nathan is a lawyer running for Congress—but the intensity of their interactions makes them seem more like lovers.

I always wonder where stuff like (i.e. homoerotic and/or incestuous subtext) this comes from, is it intentional or just a quirk of chemistry? In some cases it’s conscious (on the DVD commentary for 28 Days Later for instance, Danny Boyle acknowledges that yet, Major Henry West is acting in a seductive manner towards Jim) I always wondered if while he was making Reservoir Dogs Quentin Tarantino told Tim Roth and Harvey Keitel to play Mr. Orange and Mr. White as a romance or if it just happened.

Some actors I’ve noticed just seem to have a particular gift for getting all over their male co-stars in a suggestive way. Viggo Mortensen (see him with William Hurt in A History of Violence or Vincent Cassel at the end of Eastern Promises) and Peter Stormare (Constantine, Prison Break, the Brothers Grimm) immediately come to mind but there are definitely others.

And speaking of slashy goodness…

Now that I’m done season 1 of Heroes I’ve started watching season 2 of the BBC show Merlin. Amusingly the season premiere starts off with scenes of Merlin rushing to a shirtless Arthur’s bedside and later Gwen doing the same for Morgana. In this series, I definitely think the homoerotic subtext is very conscious. There’s too much of it for it to be anything else.

I have mixed feelings about Merlin. On the one hand it feels like a rehash of the first couple seasons of Smallville in a medieval setting. Of course originality isn’t everything, but there’s a certain stagnancy to the show. It seems to tread water, never moving forward. Each episode seems to return it to a status quo. That said I do enjoy watching it because it’s so well done and beautiful to look at. The costumes and scenery and production design is wonderful. I’ve never seen a show with more vivid use of color. Katie Mcgrath and Angel Coulby, the young actresses who play Morgana and Gwen are absolutely exquisite. I could stare at Colin Morgan’s (Merlin’s) cheekbones all day and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is wonderful and magnetic as the very ambiguous King Uther.

I’m feeling much better than I was when I posted back on the 9^th. 

My health insurance finally came through so I’m taking my medication at the proper dosage once again.  I’ve also taken steps to get my daily calorie intake up to a level where I’m functioning instead of just surviving. 

Other positive things—

After a couple weeks with nothing promising on the job front, about four positions have come up in the past few days that I’m going to apply for.  Maybe something will work out.  Not that I’m terribly eager to get back to work (because let’s face it, its work) but I’d feel a bit more secure with a steady income and some reliable health insurance coverage. 

The weather is wonderfully mild for mid-November, temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s this last week. 

I’m getting back into the habit of writing everyday, which is great.  When I’m not writing I always feel sort of directionless.  Practicing and honing my craft gives me a real sense of purpose and accomplishment.   

I find taking care of my grandmother really rewarding.  Since I moved in with her, I’ve taken over changing the bedding every week and yesterday she thanked me for that and was telling me what a terrible time she used to have doing it by herself and how much easier having me around made life for her.  It really makes me feel good knowing I’m helping her even if it is in a very small and simple way.

diachrony

Current Book:  Inkspell by Conrnelia Funke

Current Playlist:  Tori Amos’ “Winter Graces” album, Laura Nyro, the soundtrack to Where the Wild Things Are.

Current Guilty Pleasure:  Petrellicest (fan fic about Nathan/Peter Petrelli from the TV show Heroes.)

Current Color:  Pink, always.

Current Drink: Diet Mountain Dew Ultra-violet soda.  Celestial Seasonings Vanilla Hazelnut tea.

Current Food:  Gigantic honeycrisp apples from the Cooperstown Farmer’s Market.

Current Favorite Show:   Mad Men (I just watched the season finale).  Heroes (I’m watching the first season on DVD). 

Current Wishlist:  Books on Katherine Howard (Henry VIII’s 5^th wife), an ink cartridge for my computer.

Current Needs:  A job, decent health insurance. 

Current Triumphs:  I started writing again after several months of writer’s block. 

Current Bane of My Existence:  Waiting for my health insurance plan to finally kick in, waiting to get my security deposit on my apartment back.

Current Celebrity Crush:  Christina Hendricks (Joan on Mad Men, Saffron on Firefly). 

Current Indulgence:  I’ve been rediscovering slash these last few days.

Current Blessing:  My family, weather in the 50’s and 60’s even through it’s November. 

Current Slang:  “Bushwackin’, scrub, alkie piece of shit.” 

Current Outfit:   Black yoga pants and a pink hooded sweater.

Current Excitement:  I’m going into Cooperstown to ask about a couple of jobs tomorrow.  Also I'm going to be stopping at the natural foods store.  This constitutes excitement in my life. 

Current Mood: Fine and mellow.