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Saturday, July 11th, 2009
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9:50 pm - Fanfiction: Germany/Italy, Fifty Sentences (Hetalia)
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7:19 pm - Tosh, That Thing's Glaring At Me Again.
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Today, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) reipan and hippyjolteon invited me to join them for a just-for-fun readthrough of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Finsbury Park. Actually, that's not entirely accurate: they invited me to watch a just-for-fun readthrough of A Midsummer Night's Dream in which they would be participating. This was, it transpired, a trap, and I ended up playing Philostrate.
It was fun, though! Everyone involved was brilliant, and the play was so enjoyable that I didn't really care about the 'in a park in the pouring rain' aspect of it. I met many delightful, intelligent, witty people, over whom, because I am me, I was later to knock half a pint of lager. To the actors of Bottom and Helena, should you somehow come across this entry: I am very, very sorry.
Assuming my hopeless clumsiness has not rendered me No Longer Welcome amongst the readthrough group, I'd love to go to another of their performances!
Unrelatedly, zeitheist has come up with the idea of Misha Collins/Jack Harkness, and it is such a beautiful concept that I felt compelled to share it with you. Misha would make such a good Torchwood agent! He worked in the White House; his wife wrote a book on threesomes; he is a lunatic. He winks inappropriately at people who ask him questions at conventions. You can't say Torchwood have never even approached him.
Hang on, have I ever assigned a Pokémon to Captain Jack Harkness? What a horrible oversight. I bet he'd have a Houndoom.
(What would the rest of the Torchwood team have?
...this is actually extremely difficult. Er, Gwen can have an Eevee. It eventually evolves into a Flareon. Tosh has a Porygon that lives in the Torchwood computer system and pops up on Owen's screen to give him disapproving looks if his e-mails to Tosh aren't polite enough. I have no idea about Owen or Ianto, though.)
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| Friday, July 10th, 2009
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10:12 pm - I Don't Know, Something Not Spoilery.
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6:56 pm - Because Your Friendspage Wasn't Swamped Enough Already.
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| Thursday, July 9th, 2009
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10:00 pm - And Also Some Other Things Happened.
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4:25 pm - In Other News, I'm Still Fairly Rubbish.
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More Metal Gear Solid! I am now up to the point at which Meryl opens the cargo door. Thoughts:
- Kira is obviously at work here.
- I love that the Game Over screen shouts 'YOU IDIOT' at you if you run into the wires and detonate the C4 during the Revolver Ocelot battle. I was sort of hoping for the same when I tripped the infrared sensor in the cargo hold, but instead I had Mei Ling sobbing at me, which isn't nearly as fun.
- Whilst I would love to be able to claim that I deliberately tripped the infrared sensor in the cargo hold to see the Game Over screen, I'm afraid I really am that useless.
- Speaking of the cargo hold death: that is a beautiful bit of cruelty on the part of the game designers. You trip the sensors; the doors close; the chamber fills with gas. Then the game gives control back to you. You can't do anything! All you can do is run around in helpless little circles, watching as your oxygen meter depletes. Snake will even eat rations if you have them equipped, thus prolonging his inevitable, miserable fate. That's just not nice, Metal Gear Solid.
- I really, really wish it were possible to change the camera angle without going into First-Person Mode and thus sacrificing one's mobility.
- I am also mildly irritated by the guards' apparent ability to hear the exclamation marks popping up above each other's heads. One sees you, and instantly they all somehow know where you are! Telepathic communication is cheating, guards.
- That said, I probably shouldn't begrudge the guards a bit of cheating, given that, despite their allegedly superior sight and hearing, they are incapable of spotting someone a bit too far down the corridor in front of them.
- I enjoyed the Revolver Ocelot battle quite a lot, actually. Probably my favourite part of the game so far. (This is not only because it involved the game calling me an idiot, but I'll confess that was a factor.) I was terrified that I was going to run out of bullets, though.
- My goodness, this game has some long cutscenes. I'm a huge Final Fantasy fan, and even I am daunted. It wouldn't be nearly so bad if they could be paused, but no: your options are 'skip' and 'watch', and that's it. Sometimes the telephone rings, Konami! Sometimes one simply doesn't have time for an unexpected ten-minute cutscene!
- I became very excited at the first mention of Hal Emmerich. I DON'T KNOW WHY I AM SO EXCITED BY THIS. I'VE NEVER PLAYED A METAL GEAR GAME BEFORE. I know barely anything about Otacon; why does the prospect of meeting him thrill me so much?
- Have I mentioned that I find Snake's lack of facial hair extremely confusing? From what little I'd gleaned of the Metal Gear Solid series (my sources being mostly firefly99, videogame magazines and Super Smash Bros), I was under the impression that facial hair on Solid Snake was absolutely necessary. It's a bit like stumbling across some old footage of Derren Brown and discovering that he doesn't have a goatee in it. (If you do know of any images or videos of Derren Brown without a goatee, please keep them to yourself; I don't think I would be able to cope.)
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| Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
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10:03 pm - 'Oh, No! It's Evolving!'
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( Torchwood, 'Children of Earth', Day Three. )
On a perplexingly related note, I was playing Pokémon Gold earlier, and Wade the Bug Catcher suddenly called me up just to say 'Hey, how are you? My Caterpie's really energetic! And I almost caught Rattata the other day! It was soooo close, too!', and all of a sudden my heart was exploding. POKÉMON TRAINERS. CALLING EACH OTHER UP JUST TO TALK ABOUT THEIR POKÉMON. I love the original Pokémon games, but never did I realise just how much adding inane telephone conversations would improve them. It made me feel so much more immersed in the world! Yes, all of the trainers say variations on the same thing, but I don't even care.
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7:03 pm - Whoops, Did I Say 'Phantom Thief'?
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When I was talking about perhaps attempting Metal Gear Solid 2 a couple of weeks ago, firefly99 said that entering the Metal Gear Solid series with the second instalment would be a terrible mistake. The exchange went something like this:
rionaleonhart: Perhaps I should play Metal Gear Solid 2.
firefly99: You have to play Metal Gear Solid first.
rionaleonhart: Really? I don't know; I've already got a copy of the second game, and I thought I'd just see wheth
firefly99: I'VE BOUGHT IT FOR YOU
rionaleonhart: ...what?
And she had!
(I do not deserve the LJ friends I have, seriously.)
So, Metal Gear Solid. I have been playing for about an hour, and here is what I have learnt:
I am not good at this game.
I am, in fact, upsettingly, humiliatingly bad at this game, and by 'humiliatingly bad' I mean 'four Game Overs in less than an hour of gameplay on Easy Mode' bad. Between this and Shadow of the Colossus, I am beginning to wonder whether firefly99 is not just being ridiculously lovely and is instead plotting to destroy my self-confidence by introducing me to games at which she knows I will be completely rubbish.
(It was ridiculously lovely of her, though, and I shall persevere!)
Possibly part of my problem is the fact that I'm refusing to kill any of the guards. (I initially typed this as 'refusing to kiss any of the guards'. Whilst admittedly I haven't been kissing any of the guards, this is more due to gameplay restrictions (or at least I don't think the game allows one to kiss the guards) than any conscious refusal, and I don't think refusing to kiss the guards would really be a problem, as kissing a guard would probably precipitate one's discovery. Oh, unless Solid Snake is in fact a Jynx and his kiss sends people to sleep, in which case it would be an excellent infiltration strategy. But I would be surprised to learn that he is a Jynx.
Perhaps 'knockout lipstick' is an item one can acquire in the Metal Gear Solid games? If not, perhaps it should be.)
ALL RIGHT, BIT OF A DIGRESSION THERE. Possibly part of my problem is the fact that I'm refusing to kill any of the guards. I do not quite know why; they do not hesitate to kill me. It is probably Iji's fault. WAY TO MAKE ME INTO A VIDEOGAME PACIFIST, IJI. THANKS. NOW I CAN'T PLAY ANYTHING BUT TETRIS.
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| Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
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10:00 pm - Oh, Rhys, Don't Tell Me You're Reading That Vampire Book Again.
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...all right, guys: we've now had two episodes of the Torchwood 'Children of Earth' miniseries, and both of them were good.
I don't quite know what to do with myself.
(Two good episodes of Torchwood! In a row! I am even more surprised because it is a storyline spread over multiple episodes, and I think the two-parters in Doctor Who tend to be quite weak. But, no, apparently an ongoing storyline was exactly what Torchwood needed!)
( Thoughts! )
I did miss a couple of bits in the middle, because I was somewhat distracted by one of my brother's friends getting stuck in the laundry chute.
(Oh, I've missed being home.)
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| Monday, July 6th, 2009
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7:58 pm - 'I'll Be In Germany Next Year' Has Entirely Changed Its Meaning.
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Ladies and gentlemen, the worst pun I have ever made:
(RIONA and housemate RACHAEL are cleaning out the refrigerator, in preparation for moving house.)
Riona: We appear to have some freak grapes in here. They expired on the twenty-second of May, and yet they still look fresh and green.
Rachael: Oh, really? And I bought that pack from SPA last week, and they had mould growing on them the next day.
Riona: They must have been a pack of Dorian grapes.
I'm sorry, but not nearly as sorry as I should be.
In other news:
- I love Sweden/Finland, but it simultaneously makes me a bit sad. Don't be so afraid of Sweden, Finland! Sweden is a sweetheart! I'll take him off your hands if you don't want him.
(HERE ARE SOME SWEDEN/FINLAND STRIPS (read the panels from right to left): warm now?, have you met my wife?, SWEDEN HOW ARE YOU SO ADORABLE (from the Polish-Swedish wars), NO SERIOUSLY HOW (can't find the translator for this one), watch what you say around someone so determined to attend to your needs (1, 2, from the battle for America).
I love that the Hetalia fandom have agreed on the styles in which to translate characters like Sweden and Poland. Poland's valley-girl speak brings joy to my heart.)
- I, er, appear to have applied for Germany/Italy at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) 1sentence. Whoops. (I'm not quite sure how I feel about Germany/Italy. I adore their relationship, but it has to remain quite innocent, because after a certain point my mind starts going 'HANG ON, THEY CAN'T DO THAT, ITALY IS MENTALLY ABOUT TEN'. These sentences are entirely rated G.) In writing the sentences, I have discovered that I am completely incapable of adopting Italy's perspective. I seem to get on quite well with Germany's, though, and as I love Germany to bits I think this is a good thing.
- You should all also make claims at 1sentence, incidentally.
- New Torchwood tonight, and, whilst I swore during the last series that I was going to stop watching this dreadful thing, we all knew I was lying. Let's have a little more fun and a little less senseless depression this time, all right, Torchwood? (And a little more Rhys.) Also: dear self, if this mini-series is as terrible as the series that preceded it, please stop watching.
- I hope that Hetalia introduces a Wales before long. The Torchwood crossovers would be many and ridiculous.
- Speaking of ridiculous Hetalia crossovers: I think the Top Gear team would be delighted to have the physical incarnation of England as the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car. (I haven't been posting about the new series of Top Gear, have I? I am enjoying it very much.)
- And surely someone must have written fanfiction in which the Winchesters encounter America. Surely.
- I want to go home! My academic year finished almost a month ago! PLEASE STOP BEING SO COMPLICATED, UNIVERSITY HOUSING SITUATION; I JUST WANT TO SEE MY FAMILY.
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| Friday, July 3rd, 2009
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8:39 pm - These Are My Clothes, Which I Normally Wear On Me.
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apiphile has had what I think is a rather lovely idea: write out a poem and leave it lying around for strangers to find. The poem, Poem For The Person Who Finds This Poem, is here, if you'd like to get involved yourself.
(Poetry and I haven't really got on for most of my life, and I always assumed that this was because I simply wasn't a poetry person, rather than a case of not yet having discovered the right poet.
As it turned out, apiphile was the right poet, and I am heartily in favour of spreading her words around.)
I really haven't been able to write lately, which is distressing. I suspect this may be because I have developed an interest in too many things lately and cannot settle on one fandom.
In an attempt to remedy this, I am going to steal a prompt table from 1sentence and write a little bit about everything that is clamouring for my attention, in the hope of clearing some space in my mind for a longer work.
And if it doesn't work, well, at least I'll have written something.
(As this isn't actually for the community, I reserve the right to exceed one sentence should I feel the need.)
I've filled twenty prompts below; I may or may not attempt the remaining thirty later. Organised by fandom, rather than prompt number. Fandoms represented are DN Angel (a tiny bit), Derren Brown, Silent Hill (in a crossover with Derren Brown), Kingdom Hearts, Merlin, Death Note, Top Gear, Iji (is there even an Iji fandom?) and Hetalia. Also, sos_your_face appears in one of them.
( DN Angel )
( Derren Brown )
( Kingdom Hearts )
( Merlin )
( Death Note )
( Top Gear )
( Iji )
( Hetalia )
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| Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
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11:54 am - Next Stop: The Astral Plane.
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Watching Episode 23 of Hetalia, I was oddly touched by the sibling relationship between Switzerland and Liechtenstein (or by Switzerland's attitude to Liechtenstein, at least; Liechtenstein's emulation of Switzerland is just a tiiiiny bit creepy), and also struck by Switzerland's voice, although I didn't quite know why.
And then I discovered that the voice actors for Switzerland and Liechtenstein also voice Edward and Alphonse, respectively, of Fullmetal Alchemist.
I have no idea how a Fullmetal Alchemist/Hetalia crossover would work (it is rather difficult to justify the concept of characters meeting the personifications of Earth's nations when the characters in question do not live on Earth), but I want one immediately. Perhaps Ed and Al do not have to meet Switzerland and Liechtenstein; perhaps Switzerland and Liechtenstein are just setting out on a quest for the Philosopher's Stone. I do not know why Switzerland and Liechtenstein would need the Philosopher's Stone, but I'm sure there's some reason.
PERHAPS LIECHTENSTEIN WANTS TO TRANSMUTE HERSELF INTO SWITZERLAND. An incredibly creepy desire, but not one I would put past Liechtenstein. As her country is quite a bit smaller than Switzerland's, she needs the Stone to bypass the equivalent exchange rule. Switzerland is under the impression that they need the Stone for some other purpose, because I am not sure he would approve of his little sister trying to turn herself into him.
Of course, this entry will make sense to about two of you, as very few people on my flist know either Fullmetal Alchemist or Hetalia and even fewer are familiar with both, but apparently I feel the need to post it anyway.
The night before last, I dreamt that I met Derren Brown. After we had talked for a while, he embraced me intimately, in what I suspect was purely an attempt to mess with my head, and then he turned into a cat.
There is a part of me that is now convinced I actually did have a conversation with Derren Brown, because obviously he is capable of psychically projecting himself into my subconscious for a chat.
SO, BASICALLY, DERREN BROWN, YOU HAVE MADE ME INSANE.
THANKS.
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| Monday, June 29th, 2009
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5:29 pm - I Think Henry's Green Cousin Is In The Attic.
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It is time for another edition of 'Strange Things I Have Discovered In My Notebook'!
Here is a test to determine whether you are Derren Brown.
Poll #1422893 Oh, may as well make this interactive.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllYou put a plastic bag over your head. As a result, you: This wasn't in my notebook, but as I'm making a poll anyway: you turn up at Hogwarts. Into which house are you sorted? (If you're not sure of which house you would end up in, just pick the one you'd like to end up in.) Optional mini-fic time! You have 255 characters in which to write about the adventures of a character of your choice in the wizarding world. Have fun.
Also, the phrase 'bedding hurdles' is written in this notebook with no context whatsoever. I have no idea what it means. Hurdles that double as bedding? Hurdles one must traverse when attempting to set up a bed? The act of bedding a hurdle?
I was discussing Derren Brown's potential Pokémon with hippyjolteon after Enigma, because I was wondering what he would have were he an actual Pokémon owner, rather than a man to whom a Jigglypuff simply happened to have attached itself (my goodness, my personal canon for this man is odd). We eventually concluded that Derren Brown has an Eevee. Everyone expects it to evolve into an Espeon, but it ends up an Umbreon.
...and now I find myself wanting to pair him up with Ruby of Supernatural, purely on the grounds that they would have the same Pokémon.
These are very poor grounds. Both of them would just spend the entire time fighting for the psychological upper hand.
Actually, I'd really like to see some Derren Brown het. This is typical: I'll happily slash away most of the time, but give me a canonically gay 'character' and I immediately want to pair him up with the ladies. Why so contrary, Riona?
(Bela, of course, has a Persian.)
On a note unrelated to absolutely anything else in this entry: why has nobody yet created Hetalia-style personifications of the Avatar nations? Somebody needs to do that. Then they can come to Earth (er, somehow), and the Water Tribe can befriend Lithuania, because it would be cute. Germany, meanwhile, can do... something. I don't know. He just has to be present, because Germany is my favourite.
(England is probably my second favourite, but can I be sure whether that's because of his character in Hetalia or just because he's England? Is there a general tendency to prefer one's own country in Hetalia? I'd make a 'who's your favourite?' poll, but a) I have very few Hetalia fans on my flist, and b) so many characters.)
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| Saturday, June 27th, 2009
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11:00 am - HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
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I decided to give Shadow of the Colossus (thank you, firefly99! ♥!) a try yesterday. It is a very beautiful game, and I'm enjoying the running-over-the-landscapey bits, but it turns out that I am absolutely bloody terrified of the colossi. When one turns up, I completely freak out and run to hide behind the nearest walkthrough, which would be pathetic in any game but is especially pathetic in a game consisting more or less entirely of puzzle bosses. You're supposed to work out how to defeat them yourself! That's the entire point!
(I had similar moments when playing Silent Hill 2. 'I don't want to be in this town! Hold my hand, Internet!' When I walked into the huge, dark, empty courtyard in the prison, I panicked, exited immediately and refused to enter again until I'd looked it up online and found out what was in there. Basically, if anything in a videogame genuinely frightens me, I immediately lose all my credibility as a gamer. It is shameful.)
Anyway, I'm about four colossi in, and when I next play the game I am going to try to be a little more brave and a little less walkthrough-dependent. The colossi are really scary, though.
Of course, the terror of the colossi pales next to the terror of going to see Derren Brown in person. Yesterday evening, sos_your_face, reipan, hippyjolteon, sacred_sarcasm, _afterism, cryforthemoon and I went to the Adelphi to see Enigma, his latest stage show.
This isn't going to be much of a reaction post, I'm afraid, because we have been sworn to secrecy and cannot tell you anything of what there transpired. Here are some things I can tell you:
1) Derren Brown is incredibly frightening,
2) Derren Brown is incredibly hot, and
3) these two facts may not be entirely unconnected.
Also, it was excellent and I really enjoyed myself. Derren Brown is hilarious and charismatic and fantastic to watch, whether you're impressed by his tricks or not (I was, for the most part; whilst I could work out how some of it was probably done, some aspects have me entirely stumped). And the very end was a moment of absolute magical genius. And, whilst none of us were called up on stage, some members of our group had interesting experiences.
Much of the evening was spent accusing various members of our group of being Derren Brown. Today, waiting at the train station, sos_your_face and I came to the conclusion that we were, in fact, collectively Derren Brown, each of us representing a different aspect.
sos_your_face: I'm his shortness.
rionaleonhart: Yes, you're his height complex. What am I?
sos_your_face: You're his narcissism. All the writing fanfiction about yourself.
rionaleonhart: (laughs) Yes, if I am Derren Brown, I'm definitely very narcissistic.
sos_your_face: reipan's the part of him that gets really bouncy and excited about things. Who's his creepiness, though?
rionaleonhart: ...that's a good point.
sos_your_face: None of us are really that creepy.
rionaleonhart: This is frustrating! Our Derren Brown is incomplete! We need to find a really creepy person to join our group. (pause) Wait, we didn't meet lasayla, did we?
sos_your_face: We didn't! I bet she's creepy. Obviously she wasn't with us because she was up on the stage.
We're sorry, lasayla. I'm sure you're not really the physical incarnation of Derren Brown's creepiness.
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(53 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, June 22nd, 2009
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5:56 pm - And I Should Probably Finish That Supernatural/Pushing Daisies Crossover Some Day.
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Passing on a recommendation from kadrin: Iji is an excellent little free action-platformer. What really tempted me to play it was the fact that, if you choose to go through it whilst killing as few enemies as possible, the game recognises that and responds: the notes you find from enemies say 'hmmm, not sure what's going on with that human, she doesn't seem to be killing anyone' rather than 'oh God oh God she's going to destroy us all'; the dialogue in cutscenes is different. My housemate thinks I'm mad for downloading a shooter-platformer and then going 'YAY NOT SHOOTING ANYONE', but I think it's a rather nice touch. Also, the music is great, and I love reading all the logbooks.
I have a strange urge to write Satoshi/Daisuke DN Angel fanfiction. Here is the difficulty with Satoshi/Daisuke: writing something cute and fluffy and requited (and also a bit creepy, because Satoshi is involved, but mostly cute) is tempting, but it is almost impossible when Satoshi could snog Daisuke until his tongue broke off and Daisuke would still probably think he was just being friendly.
BE LESS OBLIVIOUS, DAISUKE.
The other difficulty is, of course, my complete inability to write anything lately. There are so many things I want to write! Why have you abandoned me, words?
Actually, here is a meme that may help! (Or not!)
Post a little weensy excerpt from as many random works-in-progress as you can find lying around. Who knows? Maybe inspiration will burst forth and do something, um, inspiration-y.
Let's see what we have here.
( Merlin/RPF: Bradley James wakes up in Camelot. )
( Time-Travelling Sky Pirates of Ivalice: Balthier, Fran and Captain Jack Harkness. )
( Prison Break: Michael Scofield is a real person, and everyone in his life is an actor. Spoilers up to the beginning of Season Three. )
( Top Gear/Torchwood/Silent Hill: Jeremy and James encounter Owen Harper. )
( Derren Brown/Kingdom Hearts: Derren is a Nobody. )
( Derren Brown/Supernatural: the Winchesters investigate mysterious psychic guy. )
( And three lines of Derren Brown working with Castiel. )
There is a very good chance that none of these will ever be finished, but I hope you enjoy the snippets, at least.
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| Saturday, June 20th, 2009
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9:15 am - Satoshi And Merlin Can Lurk Unnervingly Around Corners Together.
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As I seem to be rediscovering old fandoms and anime, I thought I would rewatch DN Angel, which I have not seen for at least five years.
I had forgotten how much I love Satoshi and his ridiculously creepy crush on Daisuke. The poor boy! (By 'the poor boy' I mean poor romantically-doomed Satoshi, rather than Daisuke, although Daisuke does have to suffer Satoshi's rather unnerving affections.)
After watching the fourth episode (dear Satoshi: please stop pretending that you lose your hold on Krad around Daisuke because Krad is somehow 'reacting to Dark's presence'; it is because you are madly in love with Daisuke and you know it), I scrolled down a bit and thus stumbled across what is possibly my new favourite quote from a YouTube comment:
homocidal does NOT mean gay, it means you like killing people.
Oh, YouTube, you never fail to amuse and depress.
Note to self: when you're back in London, start playing Metal Gear Solid 2. After all the things I've learnt about it from browsing TV Tropes and firefly99's journal, it seems to be:
a) the most confusing game ever created, and
b) completely awesome.
From the Wikipedia article:
The storyline explores many philosophical and cyberpunk themes in great detail, including meme theory, social engineering, sociology, artificial intelligence, information control, conspiracy theories, political and military maneuvering, evolution, existentialism, censorship, the manipulation of free will and the nature of reality.
In a videogame! I can't miss this! I become terribly annoyed when people say that videogames are incapable of depth, or take an 'oh, it's a videogame, of course it's not going to have a real storyline' attitude; it'd be nice to be able to point and say, 'YEAH, WELL, THIS VIDEOGAME CHALLENGES THE NATURE OF REALITY.' (I can already say 'FINAL FANTASY X MADE ME CRY', of course, but it's always nice to have more cases for the argument.)
I am, I suspect, going to be completely rubbish at playing a stealth game, generally being more of an RPG/platformer/action-adventure person, but it wouldn't be the first time I've played a videogame purely for the themes it explores (see also: Silent Hill 2).
If you have any stories of times videogames have made you cry (er, storyline-wise, rather than out of frustration; the ending of Final Fantasy X certainly did it for me, and oh the prologue of Kingdom Hearts II, and I became a bit teary during the final boss fight in Ōkami), or times they've made you feel guilty for an action you took as a player (asdjfghfjdhsggh I'm sorry FFVI Cid I didn't know), or times you've picked up a game you wouldn't have played otherwise because things you'd heard about the plot interested you, please share! Because videogames are a legitimate storytelling medium, and it is very frustrating when non-gamers dismiss the emotional effect they can have.
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(62 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, June 19th, 2009
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4:53 pm - To Catch Them Is My Real Test; To Rule Them Is My Cause.
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Regarding the seventh volume of Fullmetal Alchemist: was Greed this amazing in the anime? Surely I would have remembered had he been this amazing. DON'T FIGHT HIM, GUYS; JUST, I DON'T KNOW, HANG OUT AND FIGHT CRIME TOGETHER. (There were points at which Greed and the Devil's Nest crew reminded me of Mello and his gang, actually. But Greed and company are a bit more awesome.
I really wanted to use 'remound' as the past tense of 'remind' there.)
It looks as if the end of the seventh volume may be where the anime and manga begin to diverge, which means that this is where things get really interesting. For the past few volumes, I've been able to vaguely recall the corresponding anime episodes, and so I've had some idea of what to expect; from here on, I do not know what's going to happen at all. How exciting!
HERE IS THE PROBLEM WITH MY HANGING AROUND IN BRIGHTON TO LOOK FOR A HOUSEMATE POST-ACADEMIC YEAR: much of the time, I have nothing better to do than come up with the most appalling crossover ideas possible and then illustrate them.
SHARE YOUR BAD CROSSOVER IDEAS WITH ME IN THE COMMENTS. They do not have to be in manip form, although that would be rather fun.
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| Thursday, June 18th, 2009
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6:26 pm - 'But Tail Whip Doesn't Even Do Damage!'
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One of the things I very much like about Death Note is the fact that, whilst there is a huge number of rules for the use of the Note, many of them do not actually come into play in the story. The Death Note seems much more like a real object if not all of its rules exist for the convenience of the narrative. Not that I want Death Notes to exist, of course; I just think it's a nice touch.
I haven't really talked about how Light would fare in Silent Hill, have I? (I initially mistyped that as 'Silent Gill', which is obviously the world's most horrific fishtank, containing dead coral, cloudy water and a tentacled Pyramid Head.) The problem is Light's lack of remorse; he always believes that he is doing the right thing, so how can he feel guilt?
OH, WAIT, I'VE GOT IT.
( Thoughts on Light's adventures in Silent Hill. Spoilers up to the twenty-fourth episode of the anime or (I'd guess) the seventh volume of the manga. )
Alternatively, perhaps Light is actually responsible for Silent Hill. Perhaps, when he is particularly disgusted by somebody's actions, he writes '[name]. Suicide. Comes to Silent Hill; experiences vivid guilty hallucinations; commits suicide after eleven days. Perceives death as the result of a monster attack.' It would explain a great deal.
In conclusion, a Death Note and Silent Hill crossover could work very well indeed. Here is a concept that almost certainly wouldn't:
The Pokémon whose name is written in this note shall faint.
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(15 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
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6:50 pm - In Conclusion: Less Murder, More Pokémon.
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Reading the Death Note manga, I am again struck by how oddly charming the relationship between Ryuk and Light can be. Obviously Ryuk doesn't love Light in the way in which Rem loves Misa, and he isn't helping Light, but they do seem to have an odd sort of friendship. Perhaps it's because Ryuk is the only character with whom Light can be honest, and when Light is lying to and manipulating absolutely everyone in his life I suppose something as simple as telling the truth can make any relationship seem incredibly close by comparison. Perhaps it is because Ryuk gets annoyed when Light isn't talking to him, and because they tease each other about popularity with the ladies, and because Ryuk suggests that Light take a moment out of his busy schedule of murdering people to play Mario Golf. The image of Ryuk and Light playing videogames together just makes me go 'awww', which is slightly odd, given that they are a god of death and a mass-murderer.
Is... is there any fanfiction in which Light and Ryuk just hang out and play videogames whilst possibly having sex conversations about morality and the state of the world? (Not sex. Light/himself is still far too beautiful and true a pairing for me to 'ship him with anyone else.) Or they could just set the creating-a-new-world business aside entirely and talk about something completely mundane, but I can't think of anything else that would really interest Light.
PERHAPS POKÉMON. YES. Light thinks that one should always raise a type-balanced team of the most powerful Pokémon available! Ryuk likes Horsea, and so he always trains a Horsea, base stats be damned! They have earnest but not hostile arguments over the merits of the different approaches!
Another thing that struck me whilst reading the manga: L can be really alarming. I thought he seemed a little less creepy in the manga than he had in the anime, but then came the imprisonments and interrogation and, nope, still creepy. He can be sort of cute, and ideology-wise I prefer him to Light, but his methods are very questionable indeed.
Also, Sayu is absolutely adorable. In an alternative Death Noteless universe, I hope she has an adorable teasing relationship with a brother who isn't too busy murdering people and trying to cover his tracks to really enter into the spirit of such things (although I do think Sayu is one of the few people for whom Light feels at least a little genuine affection in Death Note), and I hope she and Misa are best friends and go on adventures together.
Possibly Pokémon-training adventures.
I bet Misa has a Clefairy.
...my goodness, I was just looking up Clefairy (to see whether its shiny form would suit Misa better than its regular one, to which the answer is 'perhaps; a lighter shade of pink does seem to suit her more, but I'm not sure about the green ears'), and I found the following quote on its Bulbapedia page:
Clefairy was originally going to be the official mascot of Pokémon, but Pikachu's continuing popularity caused it to be chosen instead.
All I can say is 'thank goodness for Pikachu', because I have always found Clefairy faintly horrifying.
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
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10:35 am - Return To Resembool.
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I went to Waterstone's a couple of days ago, and they had a three-for-two offer on all books. I bought the first two volumes of Death Note (the anime follows them almost exactly, so I don't have much to say, but I enjoyed reading them very much and I love the art), and then, because they didn't have the next, picked up the fourth volume of Fullmetal Alchemist. It had been years since I'd watched the anime or read the first three volumes, but it began to come back to me as I read.
And then I ended up shaking and crying.
I hadn't realised it was that volume.
Also, I love Ed, and I love Al, and Roy and Hughes and Riza, and, whilst I don't think I really paid much attention to Winry when I was passing through my Fullmetal Alchemist phase three years ago, I have now realised that she is actually pretty awesome. I am sorry for not noticing you before, Winry!
What I do remember about Winry is my fear that she would become a romantic interest for Ed, and, although she is pretty great, I am still not entirely amenable to the idea. Fullmetal Alchemist gives me a bit of conflict when it comes to 'shipping. There is a part of me that wants to 'ship Roy/Hughes, but I can't, because Hughes would never, never, never betray his wife. Never. I wouldn't want him to. And I can't just write her out, because without his family Hughes isn't Hughes. Meanwhile, I can't 'ship Ed and Al with anyone but each other, because they are too close, and I can't 'ship them with each other, because they are too close, and essentially Fullmetal Alchemist ties me into many knots and leaves me unable to 'ship anything. Not that this is a problem (apart from the fact that I really would like to 'ship Roy/Hughes if I could); it is just slightly unusual. (Riza/Roy definitely has the potential to sneak into my heart if the characters interact in the right ways, though.)
THAT'S RIGHT: AS IF I HAVE NOT PICKED UP ENOUGH NEW FANDOMS RECENTLY, I AM REDISCOVERING MY OLD ONES. Actually, I appear to be rediscovering the entire genre of anime and manga. It is a lot of fun!
...I was just searching for something Death Note-related, and I stumbled across the following joke:
Why does Light Yagami like Christmas?
Because there's Noel.
I laughed a quite embarrassing amount.
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(23 comments | comment on this)
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