Tea and Dragons

It's been how long?

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 03:29:25 GMT

So I've been rewatching Space: Above and Beyond for the first time in years, and the first time since I got the DVD set. It's interesting to see what I remember and what I've forgotten, and it's still an outstanding show even if the computer special effects haven't aged well. And I still have as much of a crush as ever on Cooper.

There's something else, though.

Back when I was living in England, in 1997, one of the four channels I got on the TV in my room started showing S:AAB, and I started watching it--more out of desperation than anything else. I'd refused it the first time around in the U.S. since I didn't want to watch a military show, but with just the pilot I was hooked.

I watched each episode greedily and even went to the length of going to Bristol to buy a used VCR so I could record some (no small expense for me at the time). The movie rental place in Bath actually carried the first episode on tape, though that was the only one they ever had, and I watched that too. I picked up some of the spin-off novels and novelizations and kid's books and graphic novels for the show--yes, they existed, but possibly only for the British fans.

And I was disappointed. Most of the plotlines/writing were terrible, and never rose above mediocre. I thought to myself that I could do better. Mind you, at the time my exposure to published fanfic was basically nil, and while I did eventually write a little, I was more focused on doing a better job at novelization than the official writers had.

So I started with the first episode I had on tape, which was "Hostile Visit". I spent hours rewinding in increments to get the dialogue down, and I wrote it out slowly, describing the action and interpreting the facial expressions. I even threw in a bit of supposition here and there, to make it more interesting. I got about three-quarters of the way through "Choice or Chance" (maybe more) before I went home.

(Side note: I took the tapes with me but of course they wouldn't play in the U.S. machines. I left before the station had broadcast all the episodes, and had to wait over a year before someone reran it in America. Argh. It was not released on videotape here.)

Before I left, though, I started exploring the fledgling Internet for fandom information, and found a S:AAB fansite with fanfic. And they accepted my novelization of "Hostile Visit". When I got a FF.net account, I put it up there too.

It's still there. It dates back to before FF.net allowed italics, so I used asterisks instead. *eyeroll*

It's fascinating to watch the episode and hear my own phrasing rising in my mind. I've certainly improved as a writer since then, there are bits that make me wince, but it's been ages since I actually read it and I'm astonished that I could recall things at all.

Oddly enough, I'd like to clean up the posted version and settle one or two words that were ambiguous on videotape but clear on DVD (there's at least two I got flat wrong). I'd like to finish "Choice or Chance" even though the audience has to be about nil now. But I'm afraid to mess with the FF.net version because that might pop it back up to the top of my fic list, and that would just confuse people.

I wonder where I put the hard copy...

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Hmph.

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:52:29 GMT

Well, that's that. My current job ends July 25th. My bosses are pushing for a long-shot extension through some time in September, but I doubt they'll get it. USAJobs and I are getting much better acquainted.

Two random notes:
1. I've been too deep in OUaT fandom if I find myself dreaming of Rumpelstiltskin and Belle. And tea.
2. Watching the monitor reflection of my hands typing is interesting but slightly confusing. I have fat hands.

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With deep, DEEP apologies to Dido...

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:37:43 GMT

I'm sure it's been done, but I couldn't resist.

White Flag (a filk)

I know you think that I shouldn’t still love them

Or write it down

But if I didn’t write it, well they’d still have felt it

Where’s the sense in that?

I promise I’m not trying to make your life harder

Denying your OTP

I will go down with my ‘ship

And I won’t put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag upon my blog

They’re in love and always will be

I know that it’s not your pairing

But it’s right there, it’s obvious

It causes nothing but trouble

I understand if you can’t believe in it

But their love will never truly be over

It’s the one thing that makes sense

I will go down with my ‘ship

And I won’t put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag upon my blog

They’re in love and always will be

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Mmgnggh

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:01:22 GMT

Yeah, been a while. Personal stuff (nobody died) I am not at liberty to discuss in a public forum, etc. New glasses I'm not sure I like. Tax refund. Lots of books. Finding out I don't care for the Blade Runner soundtrack, such as it is. Having to temporarily move two offices' worth of paperwork--my ex-boss has a Francis Crick book autographed to him*, and it looks like he left it in a puddle at some point. *sigh*

The quirkiest thing that has happened lately is that I purchased (among other things, thanks for the birthday presents cincoflex!) two CDs. One is a re-press from a vinyl album, Cleo Laine's and James Galway's Sometimes When We Touch. This is an album I grew up with. It includes the fantastic Anyone Can Whistle, which is something of a personal joke for me. It also includes How, Where, When?, which is an interpretation of Pachelbel's Canon & Gigue in D (yes, that one).

The other is Pachelbel's Greatest Hit, which I got in part because the Mutts illustrations amused me. It's a collection of different versions of that canon. Guess what one of them is...

It's almost as good a conjunction as the time I was recording Blake's 7 episodes over old Doctor Who eps, missed the one where Colin Baker guest-starred and left a space for it, then realised/realized/ahscrewiti'mwritingtoomuchHPfic that the Doctor Who ep left in the space was the Colin Baker one that Paul Darrow guest-starred in.

Also, high blood pressure makes my dreams much more vivid and long, but makes it hard to sleep deeply.

This concludes the random update for the evening.

*Not that Crick wasn't involved in dodgy research, but it's still a bit lust-inducing, at least for a science bibliophile.

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Help?

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:56:23 GMT

I really, really need some escapism just now. I realize it's a small fandom, but can anyone recommend some good Lily/Snape fics? Happy endings, please, I'm not up for undiluted angst.

Thank you!

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Juuuuust what I needed.

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:24:09 GMT

I've started mainlining Once Upon a Time. I consider this to be entirely the fault of Zionangel's Tumblr.

I didn't need another fandom, I really really didn't...

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It's kind of scary, actually

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:27:53 GMT

I haven't watched the (relatively) new Sherlock, in part because I find the idea of an out-of-period remake irritating (why?? What on earth moves people to do that?). So I don't know much about it.

But I looked it up tonight and am absolutely boggled that fandom has exploded over a show that's only had six episodes. Are they double-length or some such? Even Firefly took fourteen.

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All right, all right already.

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 01:13:14 GMT

I give up. I'm going to try watching Criminal Minds.

Mingsmommy and Smacky30, this is all your fault.

Hmph. ( :P )

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