stunt_muppet

postcitywave on Tumblr tagged me for a 2018 Year In Review meme, and that seems like a great way to ease back into blogging before I start bringing out my actual personality.

( Behind that cut! )

Taggingwalkthegale , enemyofperfect , nimueth and  caiusmajor And of course anyone else who wants to do it should feel free!

Now let's see how this formats on mobile, shall we. 

It is twelve frakking thirty.

I have not done my homework.

Someone please explain to me why I'm still up reading AdFreak.

PLEASE TELL ME OTHER PEOPLE DO THIS AND I'M NOT A DELINQUENT. D:

So I figured I'd link to a few of my personal favorite things that I've found trawling the AdFreak archives (which, in case the title didn't tip you off, is about advertising at its best and worst):

1. I don't know if you all remember the Darth Vader Volkswagon ad and how unspeakably adorable it is, but you might want to rewatch it just in case you forgot.

2. To promote the movie Contagion, which is about a plague that kills everyone, Warner Brothers Canada made a bilboard out of (harmless) bacteria. I...will probably never see Contagion, because even the trailers send me into a fit of (nonserious) germophobic hysteria, but that is an innovative and very fun ad right there.

3. This is another one that I'm pretty sure everyone has seen but I don't actually care. You know the trailer for the (IMO somewhat unnecessary but let's not get into that) American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? The Muppets have their own version now. How is it possible that I only love the Muppets more as I grow up.

Also, the version of "Immigrant Song" in the trailer is by Trent Reznor and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and while I am normally morally opposed to covers of Led Zeppelin songs it does sound pretty cool.

4. Willie Nelson covers Coldplay's "The Scientist" for an animated short film by Chipotle supporting sustainable farming. While the film's message does come across a bit...odd (Save the adorable little cartoon piggies! So you can put them on your burritos later!), the cover is emotional and heartfelt - more so than the original in my opinion, although that largely depends on your taste for both Coldplay and Willie Nelson.

5. ( TRIGGER WARNING, may be triggering or upsetting to those with family members who suffered in the Holocaust. )


6. On a much lighter note, an adorable girl and her equally adorable teddy bears expertly pop and lock for Chocolate Weetabix. I want this to become a flash mob.

7. Also, puppies.

Okay now I really am going to bed. Good night/morning/whatever, flist. Hope I can not skip class tomorrow like the deadbeat I am. D:

So I went and stayed up until 1 a.m. watching AMV Hell 5. Considering I have work tomorrow morning, this was probably a poor life choice. At least I don't work til noon?

At least I got some new music out of it, as I tend to with AMV Hell. And The Eyes of Mars with Marillon Cotillard is my jam at the moment. It makes me want to write more Epic Fic where Sari is a Mystical Magical Cyberton Goddess or whatever the fuck it was I was writing about.

I don't know, it's this thing I have. Some people like to hurt their favorite characters, some people like to draw their favorite characters in costumes; I like to give my favorite characters cosmic importance or make them the only one who can save the day or something.

AND HEY SPEAKING OF THAT. ( Writing blather about that postwar I keep talking about. )

Oh, that reminds me: I've seen the first two episodes of TF: Prime! Maybe more complete reactions later when it's not 2 a.m. and I am not being irresponsible, but in summation: I think it'll grow on me. I didn't have that instant OMG I NEED MORE OF THIS IN MY LIFE NOW NOW NOW reaction that I did with Animated of Beast Wars, but I did enjoy it and I want to see where it goes.

I need to go to bed so much right now. I just need to stop watching AMVs first...easier said, I know.

(P.S. Hey, check out the icon. pellimusprime  made it. Isn't it purty?)

I have a tiny kitty lying on my lap with her eyes closed, forming almost a perfect circle. For someone used to huge dogs, this is a strange feeling.

So yes, I'm catsitting at the moment. It's an odd sensation, being completely alone in a strange house and responsible for everything that happens in it; even in my dorm I had roommates and people down the hall. Now there's just neighbors and they're not always home.

The cats and I seem to be getting on pretty well, though, considering I know nothing about cats. The littlest one is basically what my dog would be like if she were a cat; she's always following me around the house and looking very hurt if I don't pet and cuddle her. The other started out a bit of a grouch but seems to be warming up to me, but he does have the slightly irritating habit of, once he does his business in the litterbox, planting himself in front of me with an expectant look, like, "Well? Aren't you going to attend to that?" Which wouldn't be so bad if he didn't do that while I was in the shower.

I have done a bit of exploring in the area, though, and walked around this lovely little old-town area, even if trying to navigate them and finding a place to park was even more frustrating than trying to drive at home.

Oh, and apparently I was incredibly smart and forgot to pack pajamas. Clearly I am all set for a life of adult responsibilities.

On a more cheerful note, I have another job interview on Thursday! It's through a contact of my mother's, and fortunately or unfortunately it's for an actual scientific position, so I have to persuade this person that I still know something about science. Which is still nerve-wracking, because what if she wants to know why I didn't get a Bio degree, or I have to tell her why I chose to drop Bio instead of English, or she starts quizzing me on my knowledge? What if she doesn't want to hire me if I told her that I couldn't handle the double major? What if she asks me for my transcript and I have to show her my two courses and low grades last semester? Oh god I hope my crappy last semester doesn't make me unhirable, I hope I hope. :(

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Because my life is not really that interesting, some links:

1. Hi Sally: As you may have heard, Sally Menke, a frequent editor for Quentin Tarantino, passed away last month. When Tarantino worked on his movies, he would frequently encourage the actors to greet Sally during an outtake so she wouldn't get lonely in her editing room. Hi Sally from Inglorious Basterds and from Death Proof.

2. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (of many films, but most recently of Inception) performs "Make 'Em Laugh" from Singin' In The Rain, live, including most of the stunts that Donald O'Connor did in the original. Which, in case you didn't know, is a lot of stunts. Including two backflips. Oh yeah.

3. A childrens' choir performs "Still Alive", a.k.a. the ending theme from Portal. So cute!

4. Speaking of cute: Returning soldiers are greeted by their dogs. Much excited barking and nuzzling ensues.

5. On a completely different tonal note: The French Doors, a creepy short film about a guy installing a set of French doors to let some light in, only to find that there's something...quite wrong with them. I found it atmospheric and interesting; give it a look if you like that sort of thing.

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Ugh, being alone and unsupervised makes it even easier to stay up till arse-o-clock in the morning doing nothing at all. I should stop doing that. If I'm going to stay up late, I should at least write, but whenever I try I feel guilty for not paying attention to the cats and end up brushing them or letting them sit on my lap so I can't type.

In fact I should break this habit right now by going to bed. Ta.

Why is it that I seem to only get into weird obscure music that no one else likes? Apparently psychedelic trance just wasn't inaccessible, strange, and hard-to-find enough; now I've developed this strange fascination with the experimental fringes of doom metal.

Yeah, I know. But while it's not something I'd listen to just for fun I actually find it fascinating, if occasionally difficult to listen to. Once you start getting into slower, heavier metal, it becomes less about rocking out really hard and more about creating eerie, unsettling soundscapes, bearing (surprisingly) a closer kinship to the work of Brian Eno or even John Cage than, say, Black Sabbath. Some of the artists I've been listening to create these dense, soupy drones with subtle effects that fade in and out; they're deliberately amelodic or even grating without becoming unlistenable. And it made me think about how one would assemble music like that, how you would compose outside the traditional ideals of musical beauty and how you would create a sound that is just eerie and just dissonant enough.

So, yeah. It'd be nice if just once I could get into post-rock or soul like everyone else, it really would. I'd feel a little less odd on the whole.

If you fancy a listen, this is probably the most accessible track of the genre; it's technically an anomaly, but despite its radically different style I feel it offers a glimpse into the musical method of the genre, with its foggy sonic landscape and slow, melancholy drift. Even if you don't like metal of any description, check this one out; it's a lot different than you'd think, and is actually a very peaceful listen.





If you're into something just a bit heavier, there's also Earth's later releases, when they started venturing back into melodic music without totally forsaking their work on drone soundscapes. This track is one of my favorites so far.




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On a completely different note, I wrote a poem. It's short and off-the-cuff, but here it is.

( Strawberry Surgery, 86 words )

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And I never did e-mail that guy back about holding my resume. I should do that before I go to bed.

I know, right, I can actually sit down and put together a post instead of sneaking one in when I'm supposed to be working. Because I'm NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING. Ha! I'm still getting used to that.

(Though technically I only have time because I'm staying up late because I spent all day packing and should really be doing my resume right now, but oh well.)

It occurs to me that I've never actually made a proper introduction post. So, a rather belated welcome, new folks from the friending meme, and a renewed welcome to old friends as well. Feel free to ask any questions if there's something you want to know (whether fannishly, Real Life-related, or logistically i.e. how long entries tend to be, spoilers, etc), but other than that...yeah. This is my journal. I write things in it.

1. So I was watching TV with my parents yesterday, and apparently the penultimate NCIS episode of the season was on. So I figured, sure, even if I really don't know what's been going on this season, surely I can figure things out from here.

And for the most part I could, but what also came to my attention was an ad for the season finale of The Mentalist. Now, for the most part I have mightily resisted the urge to pick up another show, particularly one that already uses the same gimmick as a show I already like, but this trailer reminded me why I still watch it when it's on: Simon Baker is really, desperately attractive.

This was particularly noticeable because near the end of the trailer Patrick Jane is tied to a chair with cling wrap, looking disheveled and scared. And his hair is doing wonderful things. 

And because I'm a slightly pathetic person, my first course of action was to track this trailer down on YouTube and start capping. And since I know there are at least a couple of Simon Baker fanciers on my flist, I thought I'd share the fruits of my efforts even if it's only four pictures.

( Pretty pretty hair... )

Mmm, curls. /shallowness

2. On the subject of said NCIS finale...well, predictably, as it was a tie-in to NCIS: LA, I wasn't all that aware of what was going on, other than that It's Personal This Time (true to season-finale form). However, there was one line in particular that I found interesting on a rather meta level: ( cut for mild spoilers )


3.a. Apparently Peter Cullen is returning to voice Optimus in the upcoming series Transformers: Prime. And The Fandom Rejoiced. (On a completely silly note, by the way, look at his mustache. That is the mustache of a MAN.) 

You know what would be amazing, though? If we could somehow have Peter Cullen, Gary Chalk, David Kaye, and Neil Kaplan all doing voices in Prime. I don't care if their respective agencies make that impossible, I want it. They could have themselves an Optimus-off and I would probably squee myself clean out of existence.

Of course, now that more announcements regarding Transformers: Prime are being made I must ask the obligatory question: Who do I have to bribe/threaten/offer sexual favors to to get Elita One in TF: Prime? How much more extravagant do those threats/favors have to be to get her in for more than one episode?

3.b. However, on the subject of robot ladies, TF: Prime is supposed to be somehow tied to the upcoming War for Cybertron, and not only is Arcee in that one (and looking badass, might I add) but there's the distinct possibility that Slipstream might be in it, and that means that she might be in Prime as well, and that means I have to go dance about and throw confetti now.

Sure, War for Cybertron does have a create-a-character mode, so it's distinctly possible that the Seeker at the end of the trailer is just a customizable body mold, and even if that is Slipstream they can't possibly include every character from the games in the animated series, and besides Slipstream's whole existence is based on the cloning plotline in Season 2 of Animated, so unless WfC Starscream is also into cloning himself (not impossible but somewhat convenient) I'm not sure how they'll justify her existence, but you know what? I don't even care. She can be his sister this go-round or something. There's a possibility that not only will Hasbro be acknowledging that Animated existed, but SLIPSTREAM. I cannot be unhappy about this.

3.c. And in a final bit of Transformers news, reportedly Alan Tudyk has been cast in Transformers 3. (How many people are even in this movie? I mean, there are going to be some robots in it too, right? Sheesh.)

...crap. Crap. Now I'm obligated to go see this thing, I have to go see everything Alan Tudyk's in in the hopes  that he'll start getting more substantial film roles and TV series that don't get canceled! Crap!

Fine, Bay, you win. This time.

4. Even though the only Supernatural episodes I've seen have been before the introduction of Castiel I seem to be well on my way to becoming a Misha Collins fan. No, I don't know why either. I think it's the fact that F!S seems to be abundant with amusing macros of him.

5. The Glee Cast version of Bad Romance is almost as addictive as the real thing, although it jolts me right out of the song every time they sing "freak" instead of "free bitch". I get that the FCC is hanging your head with a hammer, FOX, but that's a whole syllable that drops out of the line every time you make that replacement. It doesn't bloody scan, okay.

The version of "Dream On" with Neil Patrick Harris, however, is so gorgeous it darn near makes me weak in the knees. It helps that I love the song already, but their just both such forceful singers and they don't sound like they're rasping on the high notes and eeeee. :D Even if I don't watch the show, I'm so glad it exists so it can keep giving me lovely music.

6. And I still haven't watched all the new Doctor Who (though I might be rewatching the first two Eleven episodes with my Dad and that thought makes me warm and fuzzy inside) and now TGWTG is having their two-year-anniversary supercrossover fiesta and I can't watch either because I'm not supposed to spend too much time on the computer. Fandom is so stressful sometimes.

And on top of that I need to go to bed an hour ago. Good night, flist.

Aaaaaagh new Doctor Who is out today, that's right today, and even Dad has agreed to watch it with me even though he thinks Eleven is funny-looking* but I'm going to be spending the next day or two celebrating actual religious holidays and entertaining relatives and I can't watch it until tomorrow and there are reaction posts all over the place and they are so tempting and aaaagh.

Seriously, BBC, way to release a brand new show on a holiday people actually, you know, celebrate sometimes. WHAT IS YOUR DEAL.

There is some consolation, however, in the fact that I found an old mix CD of various anime themes and J-Pop buried in my bookshelf, and among other aural treasures I thought lost it has the Utena opening! So now I can have it on my iPod and carry it around with me and have it for my very own instead of listening to it on YouTube all the time. Plus, I'd forgotten just how much I loved some of the songs on here. I'll see if I can upload some of my favorites without causing file carnage.

*He was okay with Ten, but for some reason Matt Smith reminds him of Sylverster McCoy and he is foolishly! not a fan of McCoy. I know, what am I going to do with him.

Have other things to say, but at the moment I'm supposed to be helping my mother fix dinner for tomorrow and so I must run.

It's very nice to be interested again. I never knew the intricacies of the thin cellular layers making sure all the various proteins and ions in our blood don't leak into our brain. For instance, did you know that amphetamines can cause leakage in the blood-brain barrier and thus ion imbalance in the brain, but also show potential for use in administering useful drugs to the brain in the case of, say, leukemia or other brain disorders? I did not know that.

I am so much less worried about that presentation now than I was! However, I still have to pack and it is growing rather late; I get picked up for the airport at 3 tomorrow and while, in theory, that gives me plenty of wiggle room (since my flight leaves at 6 p.m.), I don't like to rush packing because when I do I invariably forget something.

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A few more bits and bobs, apropos of nothing in particular:

1. Does anyone else, when they first find a new song they like, feel compelled to listen to it over and over and over again? It's actually becoming something of a problem for me with regards to getting off my room computer and finishing my work, because if said new song I discover is on YouTube and not available for purchase (whether because I have no money for it or it's not on iTunes at all), I won't want to stop listening to it long enough to get up from my computer and go do something else - including, in some cases, print out documents or go get dinner.

Not letting myself even start listening to the songs in question and not going on long YouTube link-chases helps keep me from falling into that trap, but does anyone else do that or am I just loopy?

2. I think I'm honestly OTPing a ship for the first time. No matter how hard I ship most of my favorite pairings I'm not very exclusive about them - I'm perfectly okay with the idea of the various members of my favorite ship ending up with someone else or nobody at all, even if I would prefer that they end up with each other.

But for some reason, with this particular ship...I mean, I don't get angry at people who pair the characters involved with other people or anything, that'd be silly. But the thought of them not ending up together actually makes me sad, rather than just feeling like I'd prefer that they did. I get a little bit upset at the thought of them breaking up. Not upset enough to affect my daily life or anything, but there's still that moment of "But they have to work it out in the end, don't they? :("

It's a very strange sensation, and I'm not sure what brought it on for this particular pairing, but please reassure me that this is not abnormal behavior and I am not becoming creepily overinvested.

(If you must have details, the pairing in question is Sari/Bumblebee. Yes, I know. It's just...there was a fanart of them (well, of Sari and humanized!Bumblebee) having this really tearful breakup, I'm pretty sure it was a scene from a fic, and it was really well-drawn and emotive but my first reaction was "Nooooo they are too sweet together for that they have to get back together and live happily ever after and get married and have freaky cyborg babies. Okay, maybe not those last two. Definitely not those last two. Ew.")

3. I managed to get through an entire April Fool's Day without getting pranked (well, except for the Google name-change thing, which I thought was cute)! I had this whole elaborate prank planned out involving posting a fake chapter of one of my WIPs that started out normal-sounding until ninjas suddenly broke through the wall and engaged Liz and the Brigadier in kung-fu single combat, but that was way too much effort. Hope nobody got linked to anything too scarring today.

4. The warmer weather (82 degrees today!) means that many more people are walking their dogs during my daily walks, which means I spend a much greater percentage of my walk cooing and going "puppy!". I'm such a stereotype but I don't care.

5. Heading home later this afternoon; should probably head to bed now.

I had kind of a productive day today - got some laundry done, cleaned a bit, went out for a walk in the 55-degree weather (hooray!) - so of course I spent much of the evening playing video games and otherwise doing nothing. That said, Skies of Arcadia remains fun. I remembered that one of the reasons I loved it so much back when I first got it was that it has a completely canonical (albeit nonromantic) OT3some at the core of the character lineup - there's ambiguous romantic tension between the two female characters and the leading man, but there's no competition or jealousy, and Childhood Friend is really quite femslashy with Mysterious Girl, and it's happy and affectionate and one of my favorite kinds of OT3 team relationships and it makes the game so much more fun.

But! I did try to do a bit of writing when I've been locked for the past couple of days. Fragments, mostly, but I tried doing that ficcing-to-music thing, where you set your iPod on shuffle and only write for however long the song lasts. Unfortunately I am so blocked I could only do eight songs, and most of the resulting fics are random fragments of disconnected story instead of anything resembling fic. So. Um. Here they are. I've linked to the YouTube posting of the song because uploading my music is a bear on this computer and inevitably results in skippy mp3s and frustration. Let me know if you want me to upload something for you.

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"Winds of Sand" - Atlas Plug (4:00)

( Original Fiction, 121 words )

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"Sandstorm" - Darude (3:49)

( Original Fiction, 102 words, was originally going to be a ficlet about Sari post-series but it kind of got lost. )

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"Diamond Dogs" - Beck (4:34)

( Original Fiction, 134 words, some overtones of BDSM )

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"Back in Black" - Vitamin String Quartet (4:31)

( Transformers Animated, sometime in Season 1; Sari, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Bulkhead; 104 words )

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"Kernkraft 400" - Zombie Nation (6:06) (video goes to a different mix because there wasn't a video of the six-minute mix)

( Original Fiction, 264 words )

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"Topaz" - The B-52s (4:21)

( Original Fiction, 146 words )

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"Blue Dress" - Depeche Mode (5:42) (again, video is different than the mix I used because there isn't a video of the version I used; YouTube is cranky like that)

( Transformers Animated, post-series; Optimus Prime, Blackarachnia; 176 words )

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"Warbots" - Melora Creager (3:32)

( Doctor Who, during Journey's End; Jo Grant; 67 words )

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Things I have discovered tonight: I have completely forgotten how to write romance of any stripe - basic emotion, holding, kissing, intimacy, sex, anything. And I'm supposed to write it for that one ficathon I claimed, too. Blaaah.

And now I should go to bed so I can get some work done tomorrow.

One day, after I have managed to have a productive decade or two and done something noteworthy and contributed towards the Greater Good, I will find a way to do nothing all day but play with puppies and somehow get paid for it.

Other frippery:

I can't figure out if "Brand New Key" is supposed to be an innocent, childlike, spirited song or a song about a stalker. I mean, tonally it's the former, no question, but the references to repeatedly biking and driving by someone's house? "Sometimes I think that you're avoiding me"? They're not a very threatening stalker, maybe, but I still get the sense of the singer hanging around someone's house all day waiting for them to emerge. Maybe that's not as weird from a kid wondering where their friend is? I dunno. That might be my overdeveloped sense of paranoia talking.

On a similar note, I have a really rubbish music library when it comes to making fanmixes. Half the stuff I've got is either instrumental or in a language I don't understand. Sometime last night I arrived at the conclusion that, screw it, I was just going to make an all-instrumental fanmix and the hell with this "choosing appropriate lyrics" tosh, but even that didn't go so great because most of my instrumental music is in entirely the wrong mood for the mix I had in mind. Blah.

RL stuff and replying to comments to come (and maybe fanmix-related Thinking Out Loud as well) maybe later when I am feeling less shiftless.