anindeliblemark

Day 03 → Your favorite television program

I'm not counting The Daily Show, because...I don't know, I'm just not. But I watch it every single day and mourn it every time the staff takes a break, for what it's worth.

My two favorite TV shows ever are both deceased, sadly. They are: The West Wing and The X-Files.

I don't really recruit a lot of new TV for potential favorites these days--fondness for Merlin and How I Met Your Mother aside.

And, just to pay tribute to what was once my entire life, as well as my entryway into fandom:



Awww yeah.

What up daily meme post.

Day 02 → Your favorite movie

Aaaaaah, how can you ask a cinema major this?! All right, though there are many, many movies that I love, I'll have to go with Rear Window as the ultimate fav. My obsession with Hitchcock began very young, thanks to my mom, and his work is the kind that made me want to learn about film in the first place. Grace Kelly at her loveliest, Jimmy Stewart as a fucking badass, tons and tons of meta-analysis to work through...what's not to love?


"Six weeks in a two-bedroom apartment with nothing to do but look out the window at the neighbors."

....is the mashup pairing name for Kirk/Spock seriously "Spork"? Wow. All other blended names should just give up.

I have officially made a little bed for myself in retail. It is, I imagine, almost like accessing a second personality--one who loves talking about jewelry and wears all black--and only transforming for six hours a day. Every day, I think that I've found what has to be the worst job in the mall, only to reconfigure my thoughts the next day. Currently, I think the worst one is being the guy at the kiosk selling Rosetta Stone language tutorials. I mean, ouch.

My fantabulous new icon, which you may have noticed, comes from this, wherein my desire to just hang out and spin vinyl with Patrick Stump reemerges with a vengeance. Aside from the joy at seeing his third-grader handwriting print out "SexyBack," and so forth, the guy's brain just seems interesting to me. Sadly, I think the odds that I'll ever be able to just walk up and ask to discuss Dizzee Rascal with P.Stump are minimal. :(

I have yet to mail out holiday cards to ANYONE because I SUCK. UGHHHHHHH :(

Finally, I stole this from franticsga and a couple other people I've seen posting it around. I've been looking for something to keep me a bit more active here, so here we go: 30 Days of Me. Strap in, ya'll.

Day 01 → Your favorite song

Oh lord, this is a pretty good indicator that I can't make any ultimate decisions on anything, ever. I have so many songs that I heart that seem impossible to compare--how do I pick "Spaceship" (Kanye West) over "Echo" (The Hush Sound)??

That said, I'll go with "Homecoming" by Green Day. American Idiot kind of redefined the way I listen to and care about music and the people that make it, and "Homecoming" is the peak of that whole album.

(Honorable mentions to "I Was A Kaleidoscope" by Death Cab for Cutie, "The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes" by Fall Out Boy and Sit and Sink by my little band that could, The Graduate.)

Day 02 → Your favorite movie
Day 03 → Your favorite television program
Day 04 → Your favorite book
Day 05 → Your favorite quote
Day 06 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 → A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 → A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 → A photo you took
Day 10 → A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 → A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 → A fictional book
Day 14 → A non-fictional book
Day 15 → A fanfic
Day 16 → A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 → An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 → A talent of yours
Day 20 → A hobby of yours
Day 21 → A recipe
Day 22 → A website
Day 23 → A YouTube video
Day 24 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 → Your day, in great detail
Day 26 → Your week, in great detail
Day 27 → This month, in great detail
Day 28 → This year, in great detail
Day 29 → Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 → Whatever tickles your fancy

One final note--I've been living off of Special K for the last day and a half, and I have no regrets.

Do you think there's a bunch of knighting ceremonies in Camelot like, every other day? They have to keep doing something to replenish their numbers.

( aka, Merlin 2x12 )

And for the record, this entry title is 100% true and probably 200% heartbreaking to me. Even though sometimes the chorus to "Tik Tok" plays in my head.

The evolution/birth of a fandom, as re: anindeliblemark

1. See something random online that instantly interests you. A heavily-discussed clip of video, or an odd picture:


2. Do a brief amount of internet research to find out what the thing is.
Oh hey, it's that guy you vaguely remember from (500) Days Of Summer!

3. Reflect.
"Huh. He seems pretty funny. Anyone who willingly takes, then posts, photos like that is clearly worthy of consideration. Also...pretty, in that vaguely underfed way."

4. More research. You do not know it, but you are sinking deeper and deeper.
"Wow, this entry is amazing. So what's the deal with this guy? What does he do when he's not posting funny stuff online, again?"

5. Coincidentally, something like this appears in front of you, providing you not only with extra information, but the beginnings of a ship that you know zilch about.
"Oh yeah, Criminal Minds. I think I've seen an episode or two on A&E. He's like a genius, right? And Jane Lynch is his mom? That other guy is pretty."

6. The comments link you to a million fics. (Oh F!S, never change. ♥) You read one, and realize you might need to have a tiny bit of context, outside of, "Uhhhh, FBI. Okay."

7. Later that evening, you have consumed an entire season and are desperate to skip work the next day to continue.

8. You now follow both MGG and a couple people he's linked to on Twitter. Welcome, officially, to the crazy.

Hey, I want to write an actual post, but for now, let me just do a drive-by.

First, fic rec! I saw this linked to elsewhere on LJ: the sandwich story. It's a Calvin and Hobbes fic, which is something I never thought I'd be linking to in my life. (Thankfully, it is NOT Calvin/Hobbes, as that would actually kill a piece of my soul.) But yes, it does a great job translating the feel of the comic into written form, and is incredibly touching as well.

Second, THANK YOU FOR MY SNOWFLAKES!!! I ♥ you guys so much, it's ridiculous at times.

A THING THAT EXISTS:



"It was a strange song choice, for me."

"I think we were all trying to figure that out."

"It's like one of those ghastly songs you sing when you've got animated creatures with you."


Good God, it really is a ridiculous song, isn't it? On another note, this reminded me that Lil' Archie was, during the course of the show (and I guess still today), a vague sort of teen idol-type. How odd. Maybe it's because anyone born in the 1990s still seems like a fetus to me, but I find David Archuleta completely sexless. Not gonna lie, though, I'm LOVING his super earnest Christmas album. He needs to sing in foreign languages all the time.

"Fetch him."

"I cannot."

"You will."

"Shan't."


( Merlin 2x10, or The One That's A Compilation Of All Other Episodes. )

As for the road trip special, it wasn't the cinema verite documentary we might have been hoping for, but it was okay. Really heavily scripted, which is too bad--those boys actually can express themselves well, BBC!

Returning from my 5-day trip for Thanksgiving, there is pretty much no food left in my apartment. Sigh. Am also very unenthusiastic about having to walk and carry groceries from the store, due to my shoulders absolutely dying from all the walking and carrying of bags from yesterday. And yet, I enjoy eating. My kingdom for a closer Metro stop.

Anyway!

It is currently Black Friday, which I kind of which would get renamed, but whatever. At any rate, I want to dedicate a little entry to my thankfulness:

--my family, for basically subsidizing my current existence, until my shit gets sorted.
--my other family, aka all my friends
--a world which is kind enough to create so much amazing music for me to listen to
--coffee. I love you so, so much.
--the internet, and all those amazing sites that waste so much of my time: TVTropes, Cracked, The AV Club, long bouts of random Wikipedia research, FandomSecrets, and yes, even ONTD.
--FANDOM. I may love you about twice as much as I love coffee, which is SAYING SOMETHING. All of you, both past and present:

( Bandom! Look at the hotness! )

( Merlin! We've got a roadtrip coming up! )

( Politics! I don't read Obama fic, but still! )

( Everything else I dabble in, including past loves of my life: AI8, How I Met Your Mother, Hip Hop, Gossip Girl, The West Wing, The OC, The X-Files! )

And obviously you, lovely friendslist, for enjoying some or none of these things with me, doesn't matter. I ♥ you all.

There will obviously be more later, but for now:

7 minutes into Merlin 2x09, I have already said "Are you KIDDING me?!" three times. I need to pull a Richard Wilson and go into "I don't belieeeeeeve it!" just for variety.

Any speculation about Adam Lambert being "not gay enough" would, and should, disappear once people listen to "Fever." Damn.

EDIT: Also, am I the only one not that worried about the FOB break/hiatus/whatever? I feel like this was pretty unsurprising, what with Bronx in the picture and so forth. Yet somehow fandom seems worried? I don't know.

As re: this post, ACTUAL LINES from Ep. 10's summary:

Alined's jester, Trickler, puts a spell on Arthur to make him fall madly in love with rival King Olaf's beloved daughter, Vivian....Can Merlin free Arthur's heart before the prince loses his head in battle?.

UH, I'M GONNA GO WITH "PROBABLY." Also, "Trickler," what the fuck?!

In other news, I learned today that the Girl Scouts now have a 100-calorie cookie? Never to early to start instilling those body image issues, I guess.

Merlin, 2x09.

( Clearly, the writing notes for this episode were: 'Merlin looks hilarious with various props,' and then the rest of the story was crafted around that. )

...while I wait for the episode to download.

First, I haven't mentioned it in a while, so it behooves me to state that I love my President:


Awww. Look at that smile.

Spent last night watching both Woman Of The Year (the film where Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn met and fell in love, which is completely obvious and precious on film), and I Love You, Man, wherein I remembered my all-encompassing love for Jason Segel and prompted a giant late-night binge of "Freaks And Geeks" episodes. Which, no big deal, resulted in a new icon. ♥ Nick Andopolis.

So I've somehow unconsciously taken a non-spoiler stance on Merlin, which I don't think I've had since my seventh-grade Roswell obsession. Hence, I am supersuper excited for the episode to download!

Until then, though, there's this, for which I was tagged by vinylsigns:

FIRST: If you've been tagged, you must write your answers in your own LJ and replace any question that you dislike with a new, original question.

SECOND: Tag eight sexy people. Don't refuse to do that like a pansy. Unless you really don't want to of course. And if you're not tagged and you want to do it, then do!

( I am an open book. )

Go for it, megyal, _mydecember_,anothersadsong, chewychicle, gigantic, offonmars and new friends martydressler and franticsga. :D

Aaaaah, perfect timing! Merlin viewing time, yo.

Jay-Z announced his Blueprint 3 tour dates, including one in my town. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. All day yesterday I was directing silent rage towards all the people at University of Illinois that got to see him, and now my moment has come.

Tickets are expennnnnnsive, though. $99 plus shipping/handling, which equals around $110 total. UGH. I might put in a request with the parentals to have this be an extra-early Christmas present. I've been mentally composing the start of my list, and so far the only other item that costs any significant amount is a hair straightener. So...maybe. Fingers crossed.

In that spirit, I will post this: ( I would buy these dolls YESTERDAY. )

Also in Hov-related news, this is my current favorite quote: ""I know a couple other guys were singing and they won't say it, but I'm man enough to say that Fergie's 'Big Girls Don't Cry,' Crap! I would sing that in the gym." –- Jay-Z Oh hell yes.

So I just learned that apparently Greek, the show that many on my flist discuss, stars Cameron Frye?! I am immediately 8000 times more interested in the show now, as Cameron was among my first loves.

This lovely person attended the Christmas tree lighting done by the Merlin cast yesterday night! Look at the pictures and marvel at how much loveliness is crammed into one show! (Katie McGrath, seriously.) If you are so inclined, look up the videos people have put up on YouTube and LOL at the dweeby stuff Colin has to say about lighting the tree with a spell!

I do have to state my opinions on a few things though:

--Bradley James, that is enough with the facial hair. Think of it as a learning experience: you tried it, you proved that you can in fact grow hair on some areas of your face, you ultimately realize that this is a bad decision and leave all scruff-growing to Colin. Likewise:

--Colin Morgan, please ask someone in charge to allow you to grow your hair out, at least a little. This is shorter than it is even on the show, and you have such lovely curly hair that it's a shame to lop it all off so hastily.

Last night for no real reason, I attempted this look on my face:



and I have to say it looked pretty sweet, despite being in my pajamas and having gross hair at the time. It is a bitch to get all those lines straight, though.

Also! To tie this whole post back together! Gaga and Beyoncé have done a song together and it is JAW-DROPPING in its fierceness:

Lady Gaga, feat. Beyoncé--Telephone

Today I got a message for a comment left on this post from 2006, and it was incredibly odd to look back on. I had such a ridiculous amount of knowledge on the ins and outs of Decaydance, etc. I don't even remember half of the information in that rather exhaustive primer, but apparently I was intimate with all the details at one point.

The last couple days I've been listening to John Mayer's new record quite a bit--solid, but I don't think I'll ever like anything better than Continuum.

The main thing I wanted to write about, though is ( my current rage towards How I Met Your Mother. Spoilers for this season up to Monday's episode )

Tonight's Glee was adorable, and probably my favorite episode yet. Kevin McHale pulled off a lot of his material, and he's cute damn it, though they try and hide it with giant glasses and a sweater vest.

Lately my favorite songs have all been mash-ups involving Coldplay, a band who I always seem to forget about, until I realize I know about 50 of their songs.

This one, Coldplay+Kanye West, is especially nice.

Getting ready to watch You've Got Mail, one of the ultimate comfort movies of all time. While I love the original Shop Around The Corner much more--anything with Jimmy Stewart is better--I seem to watch YGM much more. Maybe the last time Meg Ryan was likable?

I am so excited about the Health Care Reform bill making its way through the first hurdle, despite the huge misstep of the Stupack-Pitts addition. Are there really enough pro-life Democrats in the House to make this a necessary addition, considering that only one Repub ended up signing on? Hmm. I did get a flutter when I heard that my beloved Rahm may have been one of the people behind Rep. Cao's decision to vote outside party line. I like to think that every conversation Rahm has with a politician is like Josh Lyman's gazebo speech.

Speaking of things both political and beloved, the fantastic people over at ontd_political hijacked Cao's Facebook page to reclaim it from the staggering depths of stupidity the angered right-wingers were dragging it to. The party remains going, as I can tell. Fantastic, and a little weird, to see that all these usernames are actually connected to actual people-names, ha.

When I'm not trolling political Facebooks, I have spent my day lusting over almost everything for sale at ModCloth. Catch-22: I want about 8000 dresses from them, but would never feel comfortable just wearing them around day-to-day. And yet:

Not sure what "experts" they're mentioning in the first sentence, but still!

Another issue: I love draped collars but can never get them to look right once they're off the mannequin

UGH. WANT. I would FIND places to wear this.

All right, enough of all the silliness. Obviously it's time for SRS BSNS, aka the ( reaction to Merlin 2.08! )

This morning I woke up after a solid, awesome 12 hours of sleep. Therefore, I am in a good mood. As such, I have decided to share a bunch of things that maintain and even improve this happy disposition.

Little known fact: before I fell hard for Merlin, I had a major jones for the original legend-fuckery of Camelot. Thus, this joyous video is a double-dose of joy.

Plus, it's a nice little summary of one of the main reasons this ridic show is so enjoyable--EVERYONE LOVES EVERYONE. Yes, even Arthur/Chicken.

( And now, a bunch of pictures and recs and stuff. )

Okay, okay. I know I just posted about Merlin, but I have to link/rec this. Credit to starrynight111 for being genius enough to take the ridiculous boys-in-love scene from the end of this episode, and stick the insane love theme they've made for Gwen and Arthur on top. Fabulous.

The crescendo is, obviously, the high point of the whole video. And this really highlights just how lovestruck Merlin looks at the end of what is supposedly a moment with no romantic tension at all. Hahaha, GOOD ONE BBC.