By way of snowballjane, went to see Daisy Pulls It Off, which is spiffing and utterly topping and full of jolly decent girls with plenty of pluck (and the odd utter rotter, who as well as being frightfully snobbish doesn't like hockey, and is therefore clearly a bad egg.)

It was in a pub theatre, in the basement which was pretty sweltering, but was made the whole thing just that much more fabulous.

Key plot points included:
Boarding schools
Orphans
Scholarship girls who -gasp!- went to an elementary school, rather than a decent Prep.
Long lost uncles
Fathers lost at sea
Midnight feasts
Frightful rotters attempting to bully girls out of school by making them look like sneaks and cheats
Hockey (field)
Poetry contests
Secret treasure
Daring cliff-face rescues
Mysterious Russian teachers
Brain fever
Amnesia
Hockey (again)

I think my favourite bit was the brain fever. There just isn't enough brain fever in most plays.

But I'm off to the states for a week on Monday (two days in DC, two days in NY for work, then Saturday for myself an Sunday to fly out at the crack of dawn), so I figured I should make a post about that, at least.

I've been having mild comics nostalgia, brought about by the new series of R.E.B.E.L.S. The nostalgia has been accompanied by the obligatory "Why do I know more about this character's continuity than the writers?", but not massively. Still, there's only been three issues, so there's plenty of time left!

I've also been reading the Master and Commander series, which are just genuinely good reads in a number of ways. Historical fiction, at it's best, has a thing of making you believe in that era, but isn't restricted by it-- that is, it can present issues and morals and so on for the characters, make you believe they have (or don't have) those... while not actually presenting those things as actively bad or good. The characters are very much a product of their time, but the writer isn't. And part of that means that you know (and you know the writer knows) just how much being a product of that time, of that environment can work against a character. At the same time, the voice, the narration is kept true through the whole thing, so you're not thrown out of the books by random 21st century moral sidenotes. They're fun books, and they do that thing of making me enjoy being absorbed in the early 19th century, while being bloody glad (especially as a woman) that I didn't have to put up with myself.

Comment to this post and I will give you five subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.

( yan_tan_tether gave me these )

It snowed last night and people in London are very excited about it.



See, proof! Someone did that at about 10pm last night, because Sunday at 10pm is the perfect time for snowball fight. Get it while you can!

( This is what it looked like last night... )
( And this what it looked like this morning... )

Yes, people with actual weather can start laughing now. And I lived in a country with proper winters, where people would walk to school in two foot of snow, but...

But it snowed even more in the night! Buses were cancelled! Trains and the tube stopped running! It was unanimously declared a snow day!

And the last time this happened, I was 11! So birdsflying and I went out into the park and made snow angels and took pictures.
( See! For the record, I don;t normally look like I've been flattened. )

And random strangers were happy and cheerful* and took pictures of ( each other )

( And it just looked very cool )

*Except for the two schoolboys who had exactly the same argument (but on different sides) for why they did/didn't want it to snow.

In an attempt at making space for new yarn making packing a bit easier, I'm stashbusting. All the yarn below is free to a good home. Comment with what you want or if you have any questions.


( Cut to spare your friendspage. )

Maybe I should have had a New Year's Resolution to post more? Or, you know, at all.

From sister_wolf
Give me two characters from different fandoms you know I'm familiar with, and I'll give you a dialogue happening between the two of them. Without justifying how the crossover would work, how their worlds clashed, or how they could even meet each other. Just a silly crossover conversation with no backstory, for fun.

And honestly, I'm kind of surprised. I have whole days to spare!

See!

Yuletide!

On a related note, this is also my post to say that I'll be away and internetless when the archive goes live, probably until New Year's Eve(ish), so my deepest thanks to whoever has written for me and I'll read it as soon as I get back.

So if you want a card let me know your address and please say if you'd rather a postcard or something non-Christmas.

I hope to actually post some this year after failing abjectly last year.

Incidentally, I returned triumphantly ( from the RCA Secret 2008. )

I'm not sure what more I can say that's not in the sign-up post, but ( here goes: )

That's all I can think of to say except have fun writing. Write something that makes you happy and that'll make me happy too.

Throwing myself on the mercy of the internet: can you give me the names of any living and active writers you particularly like. The writers should be thinky people,* but their books don't have to be Deep Worthy Tomes- middlebrow is ideal, genre is fine. Also preferably female, but this isn't massively important.

*Thinky people is a bit vague, and is kind of "I know them when I meet them/read their work/listen to an interview.", but I mean the people that give the impression of liking to think, liking to know and learn and explore and analyse, whatever field they write in.

ETA sorry, should have mentioned that they should be fiction writers, rather than non-fiction.

She really, really is.

Yesterday I went to the Amanda Palmer videoshoot birdsflying for Leeds United, which will be the first single off her new solo album, "Who Killed Amanda Palmer".

( Pictoral evidence! I am the shorter one! )

More pictures here, of variable quality.

I also went with birdsflying on Thursday last week to see Amanda at the ICA.

( She really is kind of amazing (pictures and video below the cut). )

My feelings on the whole thing can be pretty much summed up by this picture.

So I'm off for holiday for two weeks. I expect to be pretty much internetless for the duration, though I plan to get back into the habit of writing by taking a notebook* and tiny, tiny pens. ephemera, I've left Victory of Eagles with birdsflying, so you can grab it off her and then we can flail when I get back.

I fear both the internet and my various inboxes when I get back, so if I miss anything, apologies in advance.

*Given my handwriting, even if I do write there's no guarantee that I'll be able to read it. But on the plus side, this probably is true if someone else looks at my notebook, which (since I'm on a family** holiday) is a very good thing.

**Family in this case being my immediates for pretty much all of it, one set of cousins, an aunt and uncle for most and then extended for the final weekend. I like my family, but yes, I am ready with iPod, books and knitting for when I need my Invisible Wall (honed by years of commuting on public transport) there.

When you were sweet

Band(s): Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is, Gym Class Heroes
Pairing(s): William Beckett/Patrick Stump (mostly)
Word Count: 30,892
Rating/Warnings: Teenage romance, post-teenage romance bitterness, sex and genderswitch.
Author Notes: How William Beckett spent his summer vacation that time he turned into a girl (or why teenage romantic stupidity transcends gender and doesn't stop even when you're no longer a teenager).

Thanks to calathea and ficbyzee for beta-reading and american checking, and everyone else who listened to me flail about this. Also, thanks to blondiusmaximus and lucentvictrola for the fanart and sansets and abraxas_life for the mixes. I wish I'd had them when I was writing, it would have made the whole thing so much easier!

Any flavour of feedback appreciated

-

Part one
Part two
Part three
Part four

Bonus Tracks/Enhanced Content


Fanart:

Snapshot, by blondiusmaximus
Image, by lucentvictrola



Fanmixes


sansets's fanmix:
Different
abraxas_life's fanmix:
Soundtrack

( Tracklisting )

Header and Bonus content
( Part one )
Part two
Part three
Part four
Bonus content

Header and Bonus Content
Part one
( Part two )
Part three
Part four
Headers and bonus content

Headers and Bonus Content
Part one
Part two
( Part three )
Part four

Headers and Bonus Content
Part one
Part two
Part three
( Part four )

So in the last week and a bit I went to four Cobra Starship shows. In my defence, I only intended to go to two. For the record, it is extremely dangerous to check the availability of tickets while you're still feeling the post-show high.

Also in my defence, Cobra Starship are incredible live. Every show, I came out of it feeling giddy and happy and just so glad to have gone, and every show, they seemed so happy and excited and on, when they were on stage. They have such joy on stage -such fun- and more charisma and charm than anyone can possibly be expected to resist. And they manage to be even hotter in person than on screen, which you would not think possible.

This is probably a placeholder post until I can get coherent about them, which is not easy. I really can't say enough about how much I love seeing this band. It's not just that the music is great live, but they know how to work a crowd and every show is good and different to the last. They're professionals, but I went to four shows and the opening banter for the songs was different for each one. They play around on stage and they rock the fuck out and they have all this great energy and they throw it out to the crowd. They want you to have to have a great time and they're having a great time and it shows.

It goes both ways because the crowd loves them. Not every show was sold out, but three of the four shows I went to were, including the London Astoria two (cap. 1,200), which was not only sold out, but sold out so much that even the touts were left begging. I think that may have been the biggest non-festival. I don't know if London loves them particularly, but it has had more chance to see them and it is a proven fact that exposure to Cobra Starship leads to an increased desire to see them again. And again. And then be sad and somewhat bitter that you can't see them a fifth time.

To see Cobra Starship, and also, be in the company of fangirls. Back on Sunday, to see Cobra Starship and also, be in the company of fangirls.

Are you sensing a theme?

For those who are interested, Jonathan Coulton will be in Camden next week on Thursday. There may be tickets available still. birdsflying and I have ours.