Popping the cherry
Jan. 4th, 2011 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sirona_ficsSaw my first episode of Hawaii Five-0 tonight, and -- yeah, okay, yes, I can see now what all the fuss is about. Aaaaand now I have to download all the episodes so far, which is a whole world of NOT GOOD since I have five weeks of exams coming up reeeeealy soon (like, next week soon). Ergo, this is a VERY BAD IDEA.
Doesn't look like that's going to stop me any. :/
I'm still stuck stuck stuck with my writing. I have three stories that are 2/3 done, and I can concentrate on finishing neither. On top of that I got my next Arthur/Eames exchange assignment (due 1st Feb), I have one A/E story planned out but not started, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bugeyedmonster gave me one hell of a Sherlock plot bunny yesterday.
This is me, running around in a panic, frantically waving my arms around in desperation for any kind of muse interference. He's being an utter arse, and not in a nice way, either. He's pretty much hanging out of a window smoking his way through an entire pack of fags, shoving two fingers up at me with a sneer when I try to talk to him (he's starting to look more and more like Sherlock these days, complete with grumpy sulk). BUT IN MY HEAD. /0\
Scatterbrain = me today (and I thought I'd finally get the chance to write now that the hols are over). Doesn't help that I spent pretty much the entire day re-reading the twelve chapters of Jesse's Jack Saturday Can't Fail written so far (and flailing no end in excitement over Jack's backstory that Jesse just posted). WHY BRAIN WHY.
ANYWAY. Spent 45 minutes peeling Brussel sprouts and chestnuts tonight, in the process cutting my thumb under my fingernail. My fingers hurt. My brain hurts. It's been a shitty day all round. :/
Doesn't look like that's going to stop me any. :/
I'm still stuck stuck stuck with my writing. I have three stories that are 2/3 done, and I can concentrate on finishing neither. On top of that I got my next Arthur/Eames exchange assignment (due 1st Feb), I have one A/E story planned out but not started, and
bugeyedmonster gave me one hell of a Sherlock plot bunny yesterday. This is me, running around in a panic, frantically waving my arms around in desperation for any kind of muse interference. He's being an utter arse, and not in a nice way, either. He's pretty much hanging out of a window smoking his way through an entire pack of fags, shoving two fingers up at me with a sneer when I try to talk to him (he's starting to look more and more like Sherlock these days, complete with grumpy sulk). BUT IN MY HEAD. /0\
Scatterbrain = me today (and I thought I'd finally get the chance to write now that the hols are over). Doesn't help that I spent pretty much the entire day re-reading the twelve chapters of Jesse's Jack Saturday Can't Fail written so far (and flailing no end in excitement over Jack's backstory that Jesse just posted). WHY BRAIN WHY.
ANYWAY. Spent 45 minutes peeling Brussel sprouts and chestnuts tonight, in the process cutting my thumb under my fingernail. My fingers hurt. My brain hurts. It's been a shitty day all round. :/
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Date: 2011-01-04 09:57 pm (UTC)It'll be okay lovely. Life has a way of working itself out.
*hands you Neosporin with pain relief and a mug of tea*
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Date: 2011-01-04 10:02 pm (UTC)I've had three mugs of tea today, and only one of them I managed to finish while it was still warm. Sigh. Nevertheless, tea fixes everything. /nodnod
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Date: 2011-01-04 10:05 pm (UTC)I am making a mug of Earl Gray now because I am highly suggestible and had to after mentioning tea. <3 I don't think I've ever finished a mug of tea before it gets cold. I like cold tea though... I also like overbrewed and too strong tea, so I might be a bit odd.
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Date: 2011-01-04 10:12 pm (UTC)I've not had any other kind but Earl Grey tea for MONTHS now. YUM. There's something about the bergamot-scented steam that can make the worst kind of day bearable. It's one of the pleasures of life for me. Only I have it with milk, which I'm well aware will get me lynched back over the pond.
Also, overbrewed and too strong is just the ticket for me, too. :) I usually leave my tea to stew for 5-10 minutes (depending on how distracted I get while waiting) before adding milk and sugar. Strange to think, but Earl Grey tastes just as delicious cold. I can't drink boiling hot tea, anyway. I like it just slightly cooled.
...You know what? One last cuppa before bed has just become imperative. :D /goes to put the kettle on
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Date: 2011-01-04 10:15 pm (UTC)I very rarely add anything to my tea. I'm something of a purist with a lot of foods and drinks actually...
*hug*
We are officially tea friends. <3
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Date: 2011-01-04 10:29 pm (UTC)I'm a bit of a purist myself where tea flavours are concerned, though, and I'm not much for fruity teas, really. I do like a nice Peppermint tea on the odd evening (or when my stomach is testy), but I tend to stick to black tea (am allergic to green tea, can't even have it in shower gels and moisturisers -- I break out in hives). So Earl Grey is sort of The Bomb for me.
I put milk and sugar in my tea mostly because I drink so much black tea, and I brew it so damn strong, that it would virtually strip my stomach lining if I don't add any (I have drunk it plain in the past -- NEVER AGAIN).
Tea friends!! :D
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Date: 2011-01-04 10:09 pm (UTC)My muse is on vacation. I guess we both get lazy at the same time.
...See, I heard about this Hawaii 5-0 remake, and was immediately doubtful. (Being from Hawaii, and growing up with reruns of the original, these things are of concern to me.) But I thought I'd wait and see what other people thought, and then give a look-see myself. And the first reviews I got from any number of people was that the show was complete and utter crap. So I shrugged and thought, "Well, that's that then, I guess." ...But now I'm seeing a whole bunch of people on my Flist, like you and Jizzy, people who as far as I've seen so far have pretty excellent taste in things... and all of you people are like, "OMG HAWAII 5-0 :DDD" ...So I guess I should give it a look? : \
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Date: 2011-01-04 10:19 pm (UTC)Mind you, I've only seen one episode (so far), and I think for me it's mostly the banter between Steve and Danny that made the show. I've no idea how it's going to be for you, someone who's native to the area!
A hell of a lot of people have been going on about it recently;
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Date: 2011-01-04 10:37 pm (UTC)I guess I'll have to give it a shot.
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Date: 2011-01-05 12:50 am (UTC)Just watched ep 4. I'm pleased with the authenticity in general... they do a good job about not fucking around with the locations, and they serve up some local color in small bites, digestible by a mainland/international audience. The extras and small parts are all obviously local actors... which makes sense for cheaper casting, but. It's nice to see.
I had trouble buying Steve's supposed localness. I mean, okay, not every kama'aina haole has a pidgin accent (my family generally doesn't), but he had a faint extra accent that didn't belong. I looked up the actor and he's Australian. So I guess he's got one "American" accent in his repertoire, and that's the one he's doing, nevermind that it's out of place in the islands. XD;
I lol'd when they supposedly went to Moloka'i (it was still very obviously O'ahu, including one very obvious landmark and one less-obvious but recognizable one). I was pleased when Detective Kelly said it was a bad idea to drink the stream water, but they definitely dramatized the heck out of that– leptospirosis is a problem statewide, not just on Moloka'i, and symptoms would take days or weeks to appear, if at all, not guaranteed kicking in in an hour.
Overall... yeah, Steve and Danny (lol, I love that he doesn't want to be called Danno... "Book 'em, Danno" is a classic line) have some pretty good banter, but it doesn't really grab me the way, for instance, Peter and Neal did. The writing in the show doesn't grab me either... it's rather thoroughly mediocre, in my opinion. But they haven't done anything bad, and in fact they're being very careful with authenticity, so I don't have to march over to the set and start punching people. ;) And it's highly enjoyable for the "locate that Hawaiian landmark!" game, which I (and everyone in Hawaii) love to play whenever something's filmed here.
I'll watch those other two episodes and see what I think. I doubt I'll be going out of my way to watch it, but I don't hate it, and on the whole I'm fairly pleased, so.
AND THAT'S MY KAMA'AINA OPINION.
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Date: 2011-01-05 02:14 am (UTC)I am excited to see James Marsters, who is always fabulous, and Mark Dacascos, who omg I have had a mad crush on since Le pacte des loups and is, in fact, an actual Honolulu native.
The main characters (and the writers) are a bit awkward (stilted, flat, unlikely usage) in their delivery of genuine Hawaiian and pidgin (although Daniel Dae Kim does okay some of the time). Mainlanders always have trouble with that (although Rob Schneider actually almost pulled it off in 50 First Dates). Sigh, oh well.
Man, I wish the State actually had a budget for a crime unit like this. XD; That would be awesome. ...I guess it's more awesome that we don't actually have this level of crime.
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Date: 2011-01-05 03:20 am (UTC)They do a good job showcasing local music, local food (Spam is mentioned :D), local beer (Kona Brewing Company!), etc., and the beauty of Hawai'i. Even if it's just O'ahu. Big Island mo' bettah'! ;) Still loving the authentic locations and sets... easy when it's filmed on-location, I guess, but there are nice touches... cock fights, a bottle of shoyu in the kitchen, stuff like that. AND AT LEAST THEY PRONOUNCE YAKUZA CORRECTLY! They do a good job with Japanese, if nothing else. I never understood why that was so hard.
Steve has some awesome aikido moves. Or maybe his stunt-double does. Danny's adorable.
The Governor cracks me up. She's clearly meant to be Linda Lingle, our former Governor. (We just had an election, and she'd served her two terms. New Governor, yeeeesss!! Hopefully Neil will do a good job.)
Other things I find lolarious... the bad CG and Photoshop jobs, and the random hopping around the island. Like, the boys are in Waikiki, and then suddenly they're twenty minutes down Kalanianaole Highway headed toward Waikiki and downtown Honolulu, then suddenly they're in downtown Honolulu. All within, like, five minutes. ...But these are the kinds of things you'd always see in television or movies, if you're familiar with the locations. Lost was endlessly entertaining for this reason. (IT'S OKAY, GUYS! YOU'RE SAVED! THE ROAD'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!)
I still find the writing thoroughly mediocre... and yet, I have the urge to watch all of the other episodes, fffff. Fml. XD; I probably will, too. It's not terrible after all, and it's entertaining enough. Even if half of the entertainment value for me is picking it apart. I'll keep watching, too, I guess... I NEED TO SEE WHAT SEXY SEXY MARK DACASCOS IS UP TO, AFTER ALL. :DD
Meanwhile, I'll be over here listening to the Hawaii Five-O theme on endless repeat. *boogies*
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Date: 2011-01-05 04:41 pm (UTC)It's awesome that they've stuck to native actors and being true to their location as much as possible! Though I think this is always going to be a failing for both a local show and a remake -- how do you keep it true to the original and still make it fresh and new and true to its surroundings? For people like me who don't know any better, it looks seamless, both in scenery transitions and dialogue, but again -- a native eye is much more discerning.
JAMES MARSTERS. /squee of doom I WAS EXCITE when I saw him come up on screen! He is always awesome. Pity they shot him in the first ep -- but he comes back, you say? /waits with bated breath
The music truly is iconic -- even I've heard it before, but I had no idea it was the original score for this show! It did make me want to boogie to it! :D I can't wait for 8pm now! \0/
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Date: 2011-01-05 10:34 pm (UTC)Yeah, they got a whole orchestra together to re-record the theme, and three of the guys were apparently in the original recording session in the late Sixties. Neat! (They considered doing a guitar version of the theme instead, but a test audience Did Not Want. Thankfully.)
People in Hawaii are, in general, huge fans, apparently. This does not surprise me. Anytime something is filmed here even, and more so if it's set here, people go nuts. And we're happy if they do a half-decent job with authenticity, which they did (we LOVED Lilo and Stitch). Everyone in Honolulu gets all excited when they shut down parts of the city for filming.
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Date: 2011-01-05 12:26 am (UTC)I have this other issue, which is getting way invested in a slash pairing only to have one of the men detour into a het pairing that I don't like (cf. SGA). It seems like Merlin fen I know are feeling a little fragile right now. But it sounds like H50 is at least firmly committed to Danny and Steve's close, bantering friendship, and if that can continue without huge interfering Other Love Interests and fanfic can keep filling the gaps, I'll be happy.
I may ask you where to get downloads if I can't figure it out *is rather a tech idiot*
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Date: 2011-01-05 04:35 pm (UTC)I enjoyed H50 so much exactly because of the bantering. The scenery doesn't hurt, either -- it's so pretty, and my Hawaiian friend tells me it's preeeety accurate, so. Bonus points there!
As for the downloads -- try http://www.casttv.com/ -- I'm told they have all up-to-dates episodes. I've yet to download the full season myself. /0\
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Date: 2011-01-06 01:11 am (UTC)2. WHY OH WHY did I follow your link for Jack Saturday Can't Fail??? It's SO GOOD and it's a WIP and now I'm desperate for it to continue. Oh, Jack, so in denial! Oh, Jacob, how adorable are you referring to yourself as Patroklos! Be still, my silly slashy heart.
Please tell me Jesse updates regularly *begs*
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Date: 2011-01-06 09:09 am (UTC)Here's the thing. Jesse is BRILLIANT. He's an excellent writer, and he's also a decent artist in his own right. I wonder if you've ever come across Metanoia? That's the webcomic that got me introduced and hooked on him (and slash in general).
There are certain themes that are very Jesse, in that they get repeated a lot in his writing (which is a lot of the time slightly autobiographical) -- the psychopath/sociopath/remorseless killer who doesn't believe he deserves redemption, because he's done things (and had things done to him) that have completely ruined him, and he believes he no longer has a soul. Then he meets someone who is so much better than him, who offers him a chance of redemption. Cue denial(!), violence, the killer going in the opposite direction just to get away from him. But then there's this bond between them -- there's a lot of protectiveness/posessiveness in his stories (= catnip for me), and the killer comes to realise that he literally cannot exist without the other person. But it's all done so masterfully that you're rooting for both of them in the end.
SO. These are the kinds of things you may expect to happen here -- only with awesome banter, and a lot of heartwrenching, and romance, and Kicking Arse.
Now here's other thing. Jesse does not update frequently. You may notice that the last published update is in 2009. There are a lot of reasons why (that we know of), BUT. He WILL finish it. I have the utmost faith in him. The man is incapable of walking away from a project, even if it's five years later. Also, he recently did that Jack Saturday backstory that I was flailing about the other day, and he's officially announced that this will be a book (his second), and he's about half-way into writing it, just doesn't want to post more before he's sure he's not going to end up rewriting most of it. So I hold high hopes that there will be MOAR in the near future.
So yeah. Jesse is my favourite original slash writer in the world. If you fancy more -- his first book, The God Eaters, is on FictionPress, too -- you can devour that, it's finished (with a sequel tantalisingly planned). Although I will warn you -- it is going to EAT YOUR LIFE, so set aside a good day or two to finish it (and -- heed the warnings. There is a lot of violence in it). Also, there's a bunch of shorter stories there, and some longer ones -- check them out if you like, though the majority of long stories are WIP. /pimpage
OKAY. So, in short -- Jesse is a genius, and there is likely to be MOAR SOON OMG YAY, because once he starts writing and updating, the man is a machene.
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Date: 2011-01-07 04:56 pm (UTC)primer
must read fanfiction
must * watch * videos
As for the various pains, 1) please be careful and do no hurt yourself; 2) would talking about the stories/plot bunnies help? If so, consider me at your disposal :)
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Date: 2011-01-08 07:57 pm (UTC)This is REALLY NOT GOOD AT ALL in terms of upcoming exams.
In terms of awesomeness, though -- 20/10.
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Date: 2011-01-10 01:05 pm (UTC)ps: I love your icon. I still have to go hunting for icons in this fandom :(
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Date: 2011-01-21 10:26 pm (UTC)YES. PLEASE.
I love that icon, too! As soon as I get into a new fandom, icons are the very first thing I gorge on. I've loads I've yet to update! There are plenty over at
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Date: 2011-01-22 03:12 pm (UTC)I always mean to go icon hunting and then other things take precedence :(
EDIT: I forgot spn, but I'm on a crowley/gabriel or crowley and gabriel or spn/good omens kick, so it's kind of a small corner of fandom that I'm reading into.