A very groovy solstice to you all

[tsukinofaerii]

Holy fuck it's been a while since I posted here. This is mostly because health and work have been teaming up to kick my ass. No lie. If you follow me on Twitter, it's been a roller coaster of "I hate teachers FML" and "sick again FML". Unfortunately, this little thing called Faerii Needs A Paycheck guarantees that being falling-over ill with Probably Strep is no excuse. I essentially slapped a biohazard sign up on my door and hid away. (I can't afford to go to a doctor to diagnose it, but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and my boss's kid just sprouted feathers along with the rest of his class, it's a fucking duck. And then it segued into something less painful but that includes coughing. Twice. Last weekend I had a relapse and slept through almost all of Saturday.)

Simultaneously, this summer at work we're migrating to an upgraded, hosted system. Because the rest of the world is useless, most of the work is on the shoulders of my little department. This essentially means cleaning courses, double-checking their coding and transferring them over, which is scheduled to be my life until July 18th. I finally caught up with work, and my boss is at a conference this week and thus unable to assign me more, so (barring disaster) I have the next three days back to normal! (collapses)

Papa is still visiting Emma, and may go see his sister on the way home, whenever he comes home. Since they're both in their 80s, this strikes me as an excellent idea. But Papa not being home means Mom's canceled her plans to visit until October. (siiiiigh) Father's day was not as rough as I'd expected, mostly because when I called to wish my dad a happy one, his phone kept losing signal and he couldn't be assed to move to the porch so we can talk. (thumbs up) Good to know my priority level.

As you may be able tell by the subject, in the whirl of everything I managed to see X-Men: First Class. It is an incredibly groovy movie, and you all should see it. I had issues with it, but other people have explained them better than I could. So I'll just shoo you out the door and then wait for you to come back gushing. And after that, You should watch this. TEARS IN MY EYES.

As a result of this movie, I've 1) grown ridiculously jealous of the comment counts in that fandom 2) feel extremely smug that I spotted the epic homoerotic subtext between Magneto and Xavier ages ago, 3) decided to introduce "groovy" into my daily vocabulary, to thus-far pleasant results and 4) privately decided that Erik and Charles never broke up and kissed and got married and had adorable mutant babies forever (yes, in the 60s). Thus all of the ANGST AND TRAGEDY AND WOE AND OMG THE EMOOOOOOOO in all of the fic is totally AU and I can enjoy it without lasting repercussions.

That being said, if I don't get some happy endings in that fandom soon I'm going to have to do something drastic.

I may end up writing Avengers/Thor/XFC crack crossover of some sort, just to get it out of my system. Be warned.

Big Bang came together and then fell apart again. :\ I've been making myself write 1k a day, and geeze Louise is it weird. I had a nice plot outline that I've since abandoned and I quite literally do not know what I'm going to write about for my next thousand. valtyr has, ever so kindly, talked me down from what I knew was a mistake. (I blame Rhodey, he's the one who sprung it on me and what was I supposed to do? Tell the Colonel no? Pretty sure that's illegal.)

Erm. Backing up. SPOILERS AHOY.

Okay, I'm writing the sequel to Without Irony (which I think may be titled Per Expectations). Besides the architectural issues of first person and present tense that are carried over from WI, this fic also has the problem of having started with the big battle. Essentially, it's the reverse of the usual structure, which simply doesn't work in most cases. TL;DR, this fic requires a rising climax of a B-plot that parallels the falling action of WI's A-plot. Or else it's going to drag and go nowhere. As much faith as I have in them, I don't think Steve and Tony eventually boinking would be enough.

Around 15k (or two days ago), Rhodey was bonding with Tony and suddenly went, You know what? We need you to be Director of HAMMER.

To which Tony and I both went AS;LDFKJGH WHAT NO.

And Rhodey said, Dude. We need someone who can get their hands dirty, knows the ropes and is totally expendable when the shit hits the fan.

Cue more AS;LDKFJGH NOT MAKING ME FEEL BETTER RHODEY.

Come on, bro.

This was such a bad idea. I knew it. Tony knew it. Steve... didn't actually know it, because Steve is being ridiculous right now. He has reason, but still. Anyway, valtyr tackled me down off that ledge, thank goodness, because I don't see how that could have ended in anything but tears and a big messy splat. But now I'm left without a B-plot. Well, technically I have B-plot options. Just nothing that jumps out at me. :(

Maybe I'll just go with puppies. And kittens. FLUFFY BABIES FOR EVERYONE.

Comments

Re: fandom in the time of tumblr

[jazzypom]

I hear you. Fassbender has an interesting face, like really lived in and lean (you can see lines in his forehead, at the edges of his eyes when he smiles, and you wonder if he knows what moisturiser looks like).

I can see why Vaughn was gunning for him to be Erik Lehnsherr, I can't think of an American actor his age who looks like him. I know Fassbender put himself forward for the Green Lantern role (and other superhero roles), but he doesn't have the conventionally pleasant features like Chris Evans or Ryan Reynolds. It's telling that Fassbender got offered the villain role for the Spiderman reboot, or the other role of the conflicted hero. He's an interesting actor, not a pretty one.

McAvoy has pretty eyes, but his features aren't really defined enough for conventional American leading man status (see: Wanted) but when he acts, you only see the charm.

Textsfromxavier's academy is my crack, y'all. I like the personalities the coder puts to the characters. Erik is a foul mouthed alcoholic. Charles is polite, Sean is baked most of the time, Raven and Hank have this will they or won't they vibe. Darwin wants a viking funeral and to haunt the rest of the X-men! LOL.

Re: fandom in the time of tumblr

[tsukinofaerii]

Fassbender's smile terrifies me. It's way too wide, too manic. It's like he's someone who lives just on the outside of his skin. He works very well for a role that doesn't require much by way of smiles. It's a shame his lack of a chiseled jaw and perfect cheekbones has him in a corner, role-wise, though. He's got the ability for a wider range, I think.

McAvoy is adorable, which doesn't seem to be at all what most movies are looking for. Seriously, I could take him home and be content feeding him cookies and ruffling his hair. (hands) Not that I'd kick him out of bed, but a lot of the appeal is in the charm.

Overall, grade-A casting choices there. It'll be interesting to see how they handle a possible sequel, in the move from McAvoy's Xavier to Stewart's. He becomes a much harder person, which just makes me all sorts of sad.

Right now, I have this one open in a tab, so when I get off the phone with someone who's decided that IT's All (My) Fault I can have a giggle. It's a beautiful thing.

Re: fandom in the time of tumblr

[jazzypom]

LOL that tumblr text.

I can imagine it being said in Professor X's dry received pronunciation , and I'm losing it again.

I like the one where they screen cap the scene where they are all in the black bird, trying to find Shaw underwater and Prof X is all, "How are you, today?" and Erik responds, "Eff the small talk, are you bringing the hard stuff, or shall I?" (It's the scene on the plane where they are trying to find Shaw and Erik's like- 'he's down there').

It's a shame his lack of a chiseled jaw and perfect cheekbones has him in a corner, role-wise, though. He's got the ability for a wider range, I think.

Fassbender's done good work over here, and his star has been on the ascent since 2008 when he did a harrowing turn in Hunger. He's being touted as the next Daniel Day Lewis and I can see it, he's intense. I've watched him in some bad movies (Centurion reeked, let me not speak of Jonah Hex) and he rocked it as Archie Hitchox in Inglorious Basterds which is why I was like, "Oh how inspired!" when they tapped him for Lehnsherr.

But yeah, I can't see Fassbender being on the colour of Us or People per se, his features aren't that accessible.

McAvoy has had a turn in Hollywood fare Wanted, Penelope, but he doesn't like to travel, and tends to do mostly art house fare nowadays, this is the first Hollywood role he's done for a long time. He has fans, but McAvoy doesn't seem to be fussed about Hollywood any more to be honest. Whereas you get that Fassbender has just struck pay dirt, because he seems to be every where (I read the trades for the movies, because I'm sad), but he seems to change from role to role so you don't recognise him. Sorta like... Mark Strong.

Overall, grade-A casting choices there. It'll be interesting to see how they handle a possible sequel, in the move from McAvoy's Xavier to Stewart's. He becomes a much harder person, which just makes me all sorts of sad.

Yeah, I heard that. It's been interesting with these two actors, because they've done the drama school training, and are serious. They will sit down and talk with the script writers and collaborate. I think McAvoy wants that aspect in the sequel (if there's one - Vaughn has a bit of scandal with this movie right now), where even though Professor Xavier isn't physically on the front lines, he is definitely a presence - because in the comics, Magneto actually swings around for a cuppa drops in on Charles to debate.

The thing with Magento and Xavier, what I hope the movie takes on and expands on is the fact that each man considers the other man his touchstone. In the comics there's been parry, thrust and dodge but they never really gain. Which is why Ultimatum was upsetting when Jeph Loeb has Magneto kill Professor X, because that's not true to the characters at all.

The comic where Magneto visits Charles and tells him (Charles is shot in the head, here, and Erik is doing The Beside Confession) that Charles is his barometer for everything. I don't know about you, but that's romantic in the best soul bonding (LOL) way.

If the movie gets across a fraction of the ache that the comics do with Professor X and Magneto being on opposite sides and hating it (but resigned to it and principles) well. I'll be happy.

Re: fandom in the time of tumblr

[tsukinofaerii]

This is today's laugh maker. I love this Tumblr.

Wheeeeee most of your comments have gone over my head, because I seriously ignore movies save for a few exceptions (Marvel, mainly). I would love to see Hollywood break out of the Pretty Or Bust corner, but I don't think that's going to happen. :(

There is a reason I refuse to read Ultimatum. Loeb is essentially on my Do Not Read If You Value Your Eyeballs list. Blech. D: