Life in 1973: A Life on Mars Community

Author: Bitterfig
Title: Finger-Shaped
Fandom: Original
Summary: When I was in college I liked this boy, Vincent….
Beta Reader: Fedink
Word Count: 664
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Language, drinking, violence, sexual content.
Author’s Note: Written for visualcomplex’s origfic: writing meme for the prompt “bruise”.
Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Any illegal acts taking place within that fiction are NOT condoned by the author. Depictions of any questionable, illegal, or potentially illegal activity in said fiction does not mean that I condone, promote, support, participate in, or approve of said activity. I grasp the distinction between fiction and reality and trust that readers will do the same.

( Finger-Shaped )

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2883

This letter written by 20-year-old David Bowie to his first American fan is pretty much the cutest thing ever.

(Well, I guess the surprised kitten is cuter.)

I’ve been having a hard time with Farscape fanfic (first step to making a story readable: Find: “half-breed”; Replace: “Scorpius”) but I’ve been enjoying vids. Particularly comedy vids, like this Scorpius/Braca one, or Scorpius as the Grinch. Man, I wish I’d been in the fandom when the show aired… I love it very much but there’s not really any kind of outlet for my enthusiasm. Active fandoms are a lot more fun.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

There's a repeat of Catherine Tate interviewing David Tennant in 2008, at 11 p.m. on Radio Four tonight, and you can access it via that link for a week afterwards. Then David Tennant interviews Richard Wilson a week later.

In the meantime, does anyone know why I'm supposed to give a damn about Tiger Woods's private life and driving habits? I could see why it was reported in the first place, but the British press seem to be determined to make it headline news with detailed follow-up analysis for day after day after day.

I've been trying to work out why I'm so irritated, comparing the current fuss with stories about Andrew Flintoff's occasional drunken episodes. I can't say I was terribly interested in those either, but there was a difference: all the Flintoff incidents occurred when he was on duty as an England cricketer. In particular two occurred in the run-up to matches, one of them when he was about to captain England against Australia, so there was a public interest in whether he was letting down the national team. Whereas Mr Woods's behaviour off the golf course should be no business of anyone but his family and his neighbour or local council, whichever owns the tree and the water hydrant. I know a lot of other people insist on making it their business, but I don't see why the BBC feels obliged to abet them.

My grandmother has dizzy spells and two days ago she had one while she was standing at the top of the cellar stairs. Thankfully she caught herself but it every so slightly sort of scared the hell out of me. I’ve told her to ask me to do anything that she might have to do near the cellar stairs and yesterday Pa-daddy rearranged the back room so that the cat’s litter box and the coat rack and the bin we keep bird food in are all away from the stairs. Hopefully that will prevent any future incidents. The whole thing was really scary, and reminded me of just how fragile my grandmother is and what could happen…

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2882

I’m selling some fannish stuff on eBay:

* Buffy the Vampire Slayer Initiative Xander Action Figure (New York Comic Con 2007 Exclusive)

* Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Scruffy Norrington Action Figure

The Norrington one is really cute. Um, for an action figure. (Look at the close up of his face!)

I’m also selling a new, unopened 120GB Playstation 3 (with all accessories) if, uh, anyone wants one. (Long story–I decided to buy an HDTV on Black Friday but to make it worth the cost I had to buy it in combo with a Playstation and then sell the Playstation.)

I’m also selling some books and DVDs. Everything’s listed here. I’ll give free shipping to any of my fandom friends who buy any of these. (If your eBay name doesn’t match your fandom name, let me know who you are so I know to take the shipping cost off.)

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please click here to comment.
(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

Over the past month or so I’ve been getting quasi-obsessed with the television show Heroes. I watched Season 1 (very good) and Season 2 (very bad) on DVD and I’ve also been watching the current Season, 4.

( cut for spoilers )

Author: Bitterfig
Title: The Manor House
Fandom: Original
Summary: The Manor House was a huge mansion located out in the desert. Originally intended as a summer retreat for a very wealthy family it had long since fallen into disuse. After the occupation, the owner of the house offered it to resistance leaders to use as a sort of secret base…
Beta Reader: Fedink
Word Count: 3300
Rating: R
Warnings: Language. Implied and attempted rape. Children in sexual situation. Violence.
Author’s Note: The lyrics to “Miss Otis Regrets” are by Cole Porter.
Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Any illegal acts taking place within that fiction are NOT condoned by the author. Depictions of any questionable, illegal, or potentially illegal activity in said fiction does not mean that I condone, promote, support, participate in, or approve of said activity. I grasp the distinction between fiction and reality and trust that readers will do the same. I do not profit from the fan fiction I write, and all rights to the characters remain firmly in the hands of their creator

( The Manor House )

What's In My Bag Meme from fitz_carraldo.



1. My purse. I’ve been using it for about a year and a half since I got is last spring at a “Share Your Stuff” exchange that was held at Whole Foods when I was working there.

2. A $25 Barnes & Noble giftcard—a couple of my co-workers gave it to me at my farewell party right before I left Chicago in September.

3. Chapstick from ALDI’s. Probably toxic.

4. An admissions badge from the Corning Glass Museum where my father and I stopped on our trip back from Chicago.

5. A purple Hello Kitty notepad.

6. My wallet—many years old and a bit overfilled. It’s pink and has the Sanrio character My Melody on it.

7. Bath & Body Works vanilla scented anti-bacterial hand lotion. I can’t use regular anti-bacterial gels because they dry my skin out but this works well.

8. Something my sister got for me this summer at G-Fest (a massive Godzilla collectors show). I think it’s some sort of a cell phone ornament from Japan of a Kewpie in a panda suit.

9. Condoms. Just because I haven’t had sex since 2002 doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be prepared.

10. Pens.

11. A crumpled tissue.

12. A zip-loc snack bag containing 3 quarters. Left over from when I was in an apartment and had to go out to the Laundromat to do my washing every week.

13. My leopard spotted Hello Kitty checkbook.

I've told various individuals already, but I'd like to make a general public statement that I am not doing Christmas.

This means I do not wish to send or receive cards or presents, or to attend any Christmas-related parties or other social events, or to speak to anybody on the day (unless my colleagues get an unaccountable urge to consult me on a technical point). I'm planning to work straight through Christmas Day, and maybe look at Doctor Who on Boxing Day and Hamlet later in the week.

It does not mean that I will never do Christmas again (though if it's a success I may be sorely tempted). Nor does it mean that I am suffering from depression because of my mother's death and can't bear to celebrate without her; I remain (probably inappropriately) calm.

The fact is that I've been saying for ages that I would like to have one year completely free of Christmas, and obviously I couldn't do it while my mother was alive. As I've got older, I've got more and more resistant to the sense of enforced jollity (the religion doesn't bother me, as long as I avoid Once in Royal David's City and get the Authorised Version of the opening of St John's Gospel); happily we were able to exclude all that from our Christmas, as we spent as much of the daylight as possible walking, before coming back in the evening, cooking dinner, and finally remembering oh yes, there are some presents we ought to open. I don't mind other people being jolly, I just want to be as far away from it as I can. (I know that to achieve total success I'd have to log off LJ for a month, but that won't be practical.) And if I can't please myself now, when can I?

As it happens, it's not just desirable, but necessary, as I had so much time off in September and October that I don't know how I'm going to meet my deadlines even if I work flat out from now until the end of February.

But I do intend to enjoy it, in a nice, selfish, Christmas-free bubble. Bah! Humbug!

A couple of days ago I finished reading Jean Plaidy’s Rose Without a Thorn, a historical novel about Katherine Howard (5^th wife of Henry VIII—beheaded) and I’ve just started Cornelia Funke’s Inkdeath, the 3^rd and final novel in her Inkworld trilogy. Inkdeath is going to take me a while to read. It’s 663 pages long and even though it’s a young adult novel the prose is dense and rich like liqueur.

Funke’s Inkworld series is all about books and reading. One of the characters, Fenoglio, is an author who is magically transported into his own book. However another character, Orpheus, has the ability to rewrite Fenoglio’s book and alter the reality therein.

Fenoglio wonders, “…was there any worse fate than having to watch something else twist your own words, adding colorful touches—in very bad taste—to the world you’d made?” Reading this I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt as a writer of fan fiction. Like Orpheus, I delight in messing about with other people’s imagined worlds and adding lurid elements to their stories. I’ve always considered it quite a creative enterprise however Fenoglio’s dilemma does make me look at it from another perspective.

One thing I can take some consolation in is the fact that nothing in the Inkworld series is clean cut. Fenoglio, with his sense of authorship towards the world around him, is a very ambiguous character not nearly so much in control of the world he created as he would like to be.

When I finish Inkdeath, I’ve decided that I’m going to reread Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. I read it for the first time back in the fall of 2004 but I really plowed through it, I’d like to go back and do a more leisurely reading taking in more of the details.

A very happy birthday to legionseagle! And an equally happy name-day to Hermes WINOLJ!

I was charmed today by the account of a naturalist visiting the eight-year-old Mozart to investigate whether he was a genuine child genius. The report (relayed courtesy of The Guardian) appears among letters to the Royal Society, which it has put online to mark its 350th anniversary.

I liked the idea that someone went to check Mozart out in a scientific manner, but the child's priorities have an obvious attraction too:

In 1769, the English naturalist Daines Barrington wrote to the society after a barrage of tests confirmed that Mozart was indeed a child genius. Barrington visited the eight-year-old at his parents' home, and asked him to play scores he had never seen and to compose on the spot. "His execution was amazing, considering his little fingers could scarcely reach a 5th on the harpsichord," Barrington wrote on hearing one recital. He vouched for Mozart's age, by confirming birth certificate detail and documenting his behaviour. "Whilst he was playing to me, a favourite cat came in, upon which he immediately left his harpsichord, nor could we bring him back for a considerable time," he wrote.

I wasn't participating in NaNoWriMo but I still ended up cracking out a good deal during the month of November after a long period of writers block. I wrote a grand total 36 stories and drabbles in all -- 13 femslash, 14 slash, 5 gen, 3 het and 1 threesome-- I'd very much like to thank Fedink, my beta-reader, for proof-reading them all.

Atonement

Just Playing: Briony/Lola, R. Drabble.

Crossovers

True Blood/Mad Men)
On The Veranda: Pam/Betty Draper, PG-13. Betty Draper had the perfect life. The woman offered her a way out…

(Kill Bill/Revolutionary Girl Utena)
Copperhead: Juri Arisugawa/Elle Driver, PG-13. IIf the girl wanted to surrender her ego, to learn to live without pride, Elle was more than willing to accommodate her.

Dr. Who

Away From the Mirror: Donna/Rose, PG-13. Set during the episode “Turn Left”, Rose helps Donna to deal with her fears.

Not This Time: Doctor/Master, PG-13. Drabble.

Lucy's Dress: Doctor/Master, NC-17 (rape): The rules of the game couldn’t have been simpler—whoever wore Lucy’s dress was supposed to be Lucy.

Fight Club

Fully Integrated: Marla/Narrator/Tyler. R. Drabble.

Firefly/Serenity

Iris, Messenger of the Gods: Inara/Saffron, PG-13. Set post-Serenity. Inara was delighted to gain the attention of Ariel’s progressive new Prime Minister, the mysterious Iris.

Jewel and Star, Irana/Kayle, PG. Drabble.

Heroes

Best Interests, Peter/Nathan, R (incest). Nathan just wanted to stop Peter from doing anything he'd regret.

Validation: Peter/Claude, NC-17. Set during season 1. There was more to Peter than Claude was willing to see.

Ready to Shine: Monica/Camille, PG. Drabble.

The One Who Picks Up the Pieces: Peter/Nathan, PG-13 (incest): Set a couple years before the series begins. In an effort to please his family, Peter is attending law school. Desperately unhappy, he increasingly turns to alcohol for relief. Nathan discovers this and intervenes.


Historical

A Ray of Sunlight: Anne of Cleves/Katherine Howard, PG. Drabble.


Inglourious Basterds

What You Don't Know Can't Hurt You: Donny Donowitz/Hugo Stiglitz, NC-17. A glimpse inside the world of Hugo Stiglitz.

They Called Him the Gentleman: Hans Landa, PG. Drabble.

Hanukkah Behind Enemy Lines: Aldo Raine, Smithson Utivich, Donny Donowitz, Shosanna Dreyfus, Marcel, Hans Landa. PG. Glimpses of the holidays from several perspectives.

Inkheart

Unlucky: Mo/Dustfinger, PG. Drabble

Entangled: Dustfinger/Silvertongue, R. For hours Dustfinger had lain awake on the narrow bed, surrounded by towering boxes of books, hoping for and dreading Silvertongue’s arrival.

Kill Bill

The Art of the Poisoner, Elle Driver, PG. Drabble.

Little Women

A Rainy Day Adventure: Laurie/Jo, R. On a rainy afternoon, Jo decides she and Laurie should see what it’s like for him to be a girl and her a boy.

Mad Men

To Hell With the Right Thing: Sal, PG-13. Sal reflects on his lifelong discretion and where it’s gotten him.

Merlin

Inconstant Rose: Morgana/Guinevere (Gwen), PG. Morgana and Gwen go to a nearby kingdom to visit Morgana’s dearest childhood friend, Roshannon. Morgana is distressed to discover that their bond is no longer what it once was.

Red Dragon

After the Fact: Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham. R. Drabble.

Reservoir Dogs

God Only Knows: Orange/White, R. Drabble.

Mexico (What Could Have Been): Orange/White, R. Drabble.

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Persephone or Hades: Utena/Anthy, R. Utena dreamed that she wandered through an underworld of darkness and pain.

Tarnished Gold: Touga/Nanami, PG-13 (incest). Years after they have parted, Nanami writes her Big Brother a letter.

Runaways

Diamond in the Sky: Nico/Karolina, PG. Drabble.

A Song of Ice and Fire

Sweeter Than Lemon Cakes: Daenerys/Sansa, PG. Drabble.

Eat A Peach: Renly/Loras, R. Riding to meet with his stern and disapproving brother, Renly would have very much preferred to have been back in bed with Loras.

Southern Vampire Mysteries

Can't Help It: Sookie Stackhouse, PG. Sookie reflects on her mixed feelings about motherhood.

Sweeney Todd

The Ghost Inside: Johanna (Benjamin)/Anthony, PG-13. Three years have passed since the events of Sweeney Todd. Passing as a boy, Johanna is now called Benjamin. She and Anthony are sailors together. When Anthony is accused of murdering the Captain of the vessel they’re sailing on it falls to Benjamin to save him.

Torchwood

Father Figures: Jack, PG. Father figures tend to let their children down.

Watchmen

I'm Sorry Too: Laurie Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre II)/Janey Slater, R. After Jon leaves, Laurie just can't shake the bitterness.


X/1999

Pretend: Seishirō/Subaru, PG-13. Drabble.

Author: Bitterfig
Title: Hanukkah Behind Enemy Lines
Fandom: Inglourious Basterds
Characters: Aldo Raine, Smithson Utivich, Donny Donowitz, Shosanna Dreyfus, Marcel, Hans Landa
Summary: Glimpses of the holidays from several perspectives.
Beta Reader: Fedink
Word Count: 849
Rating: PG
Warnings: Anti-Semitic Nazis, references to war.
Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Any illegal acts taking place within that fiction are NOT condoned by the author. Depictions of any questionable, illegal, or potentially illegal activity in said fiction does not mean that I condone, promote, support, participate in, or approve of said activity. I grasp the distinction between fiction and reality and trust that readers will do the same. I do not profit from the fan fiction I write, and all rights to the characters remain firmly in the hands of their creator

( Hanukkah Behind Enemy Lines )

Author: Bitterfig
Title: The Art of the Poisoner
Fandom: Kill Bill
Character: Elle Driver
Word Count: 100
Rating: PG (implied violence)
Author’s Note: Written for gen_drabble challenge #32: poison.
Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Any illegal acts taking place within that fiction are NOT condoned by the author. Depictions of any questionable, illegal, or potentially illegal activity in said fiction does not mean that I condone, promote, support, participate in, or approve of said activity. I grasp the distinction between fiction and reality and trust that readers will do the same. I do not profit from the fan fiction I write, and all rights to the characters remain firmly in the hands of their creator

( The Art of the Poisoner )

Greetings to all loyal Lancastrians, within and without our true historic boundaries! Today is the day on which my mother liked to stand outside Grange Post Office with a red rose, while the Town Crier declaimed the following proclamation (though with lower numbers for the years, obviously): TO THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY AND COUNTY PALATINE OF LANCASTER, GREETINGS! Know ye that this day, November 27th in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Nine, the 58th year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Duke of Lancaster, is Lancashire Day. Know ye also, and rejoice, that by virtue of Her Majesty's County Palatine of Lancaster, the citizens of the Hundreds of Lonsdale, North and South of the Sands, Amounderness, Leyland, Blackburn, Salford and West Derby are for ever entitled to style themselves Lancastrians. Throughout the County Palatine, from the Furness Fells to the River Mersey, from the Irish Sea to the Pennines, this day shall ever mark the peoples' pleasure in that excellent distinction - true Lancastrians, proud of the Red Rose and loyal to our Sovereign Duke. GOD BLESS LANCASHIRE AND GOD SAVE THE QUEEN, DUKE OF LANCASTER.

1. Prepare a list of 10 characters and 10 scenarios/prompts. (Example: #1 and #2 are menaced by circus animals.) Keep it to yourself.
2. Have your friend prepare 10 characters and 10 prompts, without knowing what's on your lists.
3. Swap prompts lists.
4. Write the synopsis of a fic for each prompt.

( On to teh craziness... )

If anyone is interested in trying this comment with a list of 10 prompts for me and I'll reply with a list of 10 for you (make up your list of 10 characters before you get my prompts).

There are loads of "Happy Thanksgiving! *\o/*" posts on my f-list/reading circle today, and as much as I would like to I can't join in. Not because I'm British (and why should I give thanks for anything to the ungrateful colony who dumped us centuries ago :P), but because of the nominal reason for the holiday.

Which is something built on lies and death and the near genocide of the people who were already living there, and should have been left alone instead of being systematically killed and demonised for the sake of their land and the freedom of other people to colonise what was not theirs. Thanksgiving implicitly celebrates this, as well as the other things that are more prominent in people's minds such as family and friends or good food.

So, er, "Happy Genocide Day *\o/*" with a side order of "Enjoy your systematic opression".

And have this for a less cynical viewpoint- a member of the Yankton Dakota Sioux talks about why she chooses to celebrate Thanksgiving:

In stories told by the Dakota people, an evil person always keeps his or her heart in a secret place separate from the body. The hero must find that secret place and destroy the heart in order to stop the evil.

I see, in the "First Thanksgiving" story, a hidden Pilgrim heart. The story of that heart is the real tale than needs to be told. What did it hold? Bigotry, hatred, greed, self-righteousness? We have seen the evil that it caused in the 350 years since. Genocide, environmental devastation, poverty, world wars, racism.

Where is the hero who will destroy that heart of evil? I believe it must be each of us. Indeed, when I give thanks this Thursday and I cook my native food, I will be thinking of this hidden heart and how my ancestors survived the evil it caused.

This entry was originally posted at http://ms-treesap.dreamwidth.org/52044.html | Please comment there using OpenID | ( so far)

Author: Bitterfig
Title: Lucy’s Dress
Fandom: Dr. Who
Pairing: The Tenth Doctor/Simm!Master
Summary: The rules of the game couldn’t have been simpler—whoever wore Lucy’s dress was supposed to be Lucy.
Beta Reader: Fedink
Word Count: 807
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Forced cross-dressing, rape, allusions to violence, bat shit craziness.
Author’s Note: Set during The Year that Never Was (Season 3). Written for the prompt "Doctor Who, Doctor/Master, wearing Lucy's dress" at comment_fic.
Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Any illegal acts taking place within that fiction are NOT condoned by the author. Depictions of any questionable, illegal, or potentially illegal activity in said fiction does not mean that I condone, promote, support, participate in, or approve of said activity. I grasp the distinction between fiction and reality and trust that readers will do the same. I do not profit from the fan fiction I write, and all rights to the characters remain firmly in the hands of their creator

( Lucy's Dress )

About two weeks ago I watched an episode of the television show Criminal Minds for the first time.

I usually avoid police procedural show but I was interested because rock star Gavin Rossdale was guest-starring as a sort of strung-out vampire rock star (not that I’m exactly a Gavin Rossdale fan, but I liked him well enough in Constantine).

Watching the show I ended up being pretty impressed by androgynous boy genius Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) so yesterday when I saw there were reruns showing on several channels I ended up watching a couple episodes.

When not ogling Matthew Gray Gubler’s cheekbones, I was pleased to discover that Mandy Patinkin was on the earlier episodes of the show. I’ve had a thing for Mandy Patinkin for about 20 years—when I was in high school I listened obsessively to his recording of the musical Evita. Patinkin was gone in more recent episodes of the show, but I found myself surprised and unexpectedly pleased by another character, an FBI computer technician called Penelope Garcia (Kristen Vangsness).

Now I’ve always loved support staff type characters, from secretaries Marilyn (Northern Exposure) and Elaine (Ally McBeal) to sour techie Chloe (24) but in addition to her behind-the-scenes sort of position the thing about Garcia that really endeared her to me was that she was a female character on a mainstream television show who was not skinny. She was cute and sexy and curvy and plump and voluptuous. I don’t follow a lot of television shows but I honestly can’t think of the last time I saw a not skinny female character. Probably teenaged Sara Rue on Popular (she ended up slimming down for her own show Less Than Perfect).

I’ve watched a grand total of 3 ¾ episodes of Criminal Minds, so for all I know Garcia might be a totally stereotypical “overweight” character who does nothing but provide comic relief talk about diets but I don’t think so. It seemed to me like there was some sort of romantic thing going on between her and FBI agent, Morgan, and generally she seemed like someone who was really competent and well regarded by her peers. I’m really curious now to watch more of the show and she how she’s handled.

A couple super adorable pics of Kristen Vangsness as Penelope Garcia

Tomorrow my grandmother, parents and I are going to be having Thanksgiving dinner at a neighbor’s house. 

 

Given my food issues Thanksgiving is always a little uncomfortable for me but oddly I’m not feeling my usual degree of anxiety this year.  I think it helps that I haven’t had to spend the last week dealing with the insanity of holiday crowds at an urban supermarket.  Also I don’t have to work on the holiday itself so I’ll have time to relax and do anything I need to do before hand instead of rushing to work at 7:00 a.m. then having to get to a celebration right afterwards like I have the past few years. 

 

Yesterday I went to the dentist for the first time in 12 years (I know it’s been 12 years because the last time I went was right before my little brother graduated from college which would make it 1997).  

 

It’s almost unforgivably irresponsible to let that much time lapse between dental visits. I have lots of excuses.   I hate going to the dentist.   Because I was bulimic in high school I had to suffer through some extensive dental work when I was in my late teens and early 20’s.  Frankly, it was traumatic.  Also I haven’t had dental insurance since 1998 and I don’t like paying out of pocket to be subjected to pain. 

 

Before I went for my appointment I was absolutely horrified that my teeth would be in such bad shape I’d need hours of expensive dental work to save them (I have recurring nightmares about losing my teeth).  Luckily my teeth were in pretty good shape considering the amount of time it’s been.  I’ll need a filling but that’s it.  Obviously I’m not looking forward to my follow-up appointment after Christmas but it’s a huge relief to know that my teeth are more or less okay.