lannamichaels: Astronaut Dale Gardner holds up For Sale sign after EVA. (Default)


It's not exactly a secret that I hate Miles Vorkosigan being in the military, so for RL reasons I was thinking hmm could Miles instead become a doctor, and then followed up immediately with "absolutely he could not" and in fact I could not think of any position in a hospital that he would be suited for, but then I realized I was overthinking this.

Miles would be a great plumber. It's perfect for him. No boss, just clients, and he can pick the interesting jobs. It's bounded but also a place for creativity. He has to find out what the problem is and fix it. Because of his size, he may even be a better choice for certain jobs than other plumbers. He can pick his hours by picking the clients and the jobs, and then hyperfocus on a problem until it's over. If he wants, he can pack his schedule, or he can relax it. But he's not answering to anyone and people are grateful for his help because it's a problem they can't fix themselves, and it's also necessary: everyone will at some point require the assistance of a plumber.

The only problem is that there's no wonderful recognition and pride from his peers, unless we can get him to value the opinions of other plumbers, and then he can just brag about all the impossible disasters he fixed before breakfast. The sense of accomplishment is built-in, as in the sense of being valuable and needed.

And I feel like even Miles Vorkosigan would not find a way to commit treason whilst doing it.

lannamichaels: Astronaut Dale Gardner holds up For Sale sign after EVA. (Default)


Copied over from tumblr:

I love (?) how I have maintained my “space google thinks Miles is his own grandfather, no the other one” theory long enough for google to disintegrate so much that that theory is now not only objectively correct, it’s also optimistic.




Speed-run of the theory, btw:

-Miles Naismith Vorkosigan has no notability in and of himself, he is only notable attached to his parents

-The only reason anyone would know about him existing is because of a birth announcement or other public notification issued by his parents, and thus he would be part of their bio

-Sometimes IRL these kind of birth announcements have middle names and a lot of info. Sometimes they don’t. Miles, considering the circumstances of his birth, probably did not have one of these at the time he was born. It’s unclear if he ever had one.

-Thus it’s fully possible that no one on Barrayar who isn’t aquainted with his family or knows his family well would have ever heard of him

-If they have heard of him, they know his name is Miles Vorkosigan, mother’s maiden name Naismith

-Cordelia’s father’s name was Miles Naismith

-Miles Naismith’s tragic death probably came with some publicity, including the fact that I assume it left no body

-Even if someone did know that Cordelia named her son Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, it’s ridiculous to think that a mercenary admiral is a 17 year old nobody from a random planet

-This is before we get into language barrier issues, which the series mostly ignores. If we do take it seriously, I want to you to take a globe, pick a country at random, find the English wikipedia article on its current head of state, and then check the wikipedia article on its head of state in the official language(s) of that country. There will be differences. If there’s a large wikipedian community that works in that language, there’s going to be information only in that language that is not in English.

-Now let’s assume that Miles’s treason trial at age 17 made the news. This doesn’t help the idea that this failson is a mercenary admiral, either.

-googling “Miles Naismith Vorkosigan” will get you, at best, “Cordelia Naismith married Aral Vorkosigan and they have a son named Miles”

-googling “Miles Naismith” will get you the admiral and old news articles about Cordelia’s dad’s death

-quick tell me Aral’s middle name, tell me Cordelia’s, tell me Gregor’s, tell me Cordelia’s mother’s. Middle names are ignorable. Miles Naismith is Miles Naismith. Miles Vorkosigan is Miles Vorkosigan.

-but space google thinks that Admiral Miles Naismith, who is Betan, is Cordelia Naismith Vorksoigan’s dad

-this is of course laughable, and it becomes a spacebook sign that you have to be careful when googling

-and then some folks are like “well, Admiral Naismith does seem to be doing good things for Barrayar some times” and then it’s like “lol guess he’s giving his daughter a birthday present” and no one actually believes it

-this is like how I met someone named James Bond once

lannamichaels: "I have a vague ambition in that direction" (a vague ambition)


2011; 2012; 2013; 2014; 2015; 2016; 2017; 2018; 2019; 2020; 2021; 2022, 2023


The exercise in inertia that is my top 10 by hits:

  1. Polish Your Boots. (Les Miserables) - 31,761 hits. Posted May 14, 2013 (10 years, 10 months, 25 days ago)

  2. Scenes From An Inconvenient Espionage Love Story. (James Bond (Movies), Les Miserables) - 24,940 hits. Posted June 17, 2013 (10 years, 9 months, 22 days ago)

  3. The Pornography Is For Science. (Les Miserables) - 22,197 hits. Posted February 18, 2013 (11 years, 1 months, 21 days ago)

  4. You Get Me Closer To God. (Les Miserables) - 20,927 hits. Posted May 1, 2013 (10 years, 11 months, 7 days ago)

  5. Handjobs and Hand Grenades. (Les Miserables) - 18,983 hits. Posted February 28, 2013 (11 years, 1 months, 11 days ago)

  6. Earthlings Gonna Earth. (The Martian - Andy Weir) - 17,930 hits. Posted August 22, 2015 (8 years, 7 months, 17 days ago)

  7. Make You Come Undone. (Les Miserables) - 17,865 hits. Posted April 10, 2013 (10 years, 11 months, 29 days ago)

  8. Let Them Eat Pancakes. (Les Miserables) - 15,737 hits. Posted March 17, 2013 (11 years, 0 months, 22 days ago)

  9. I'm In The Details With The Devil. (Les Miserables) - 12,941 hits. Posted June 30, 2013 (10 years, 9 months, 9 days ago)

  10. Dance Me Through The Panic. (Les Miserables) - 12,575 hits. Posted May 8, 2013 (10 years, 11 months, 0 days ago)







Top 10 in hits that happened within the last year (actually between the dates I did the pulls, so it's a year and like 5 days or whatever):


  1. Polish Your Boots. (Les Miserables) - 31,761 hits, 3,403 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #1 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #1 last year. Posted May 14, 2013 (10 years, 10 months, 25 days ago)

  2. The Family Dursley. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 6,279 hits, 2,182 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #33 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #51 last year. Posted October 21, 2021 (2 years, 5 months, 18 days ago)

  3. Drabble: Also Known As. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 2,927 hits, 1,162 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #92 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #167 last year. Posted November 11, 2021 (2 years, 4 months, 28 days ago)

  4. I Was Out Here Listening All The Time. (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold) - 1,908 hits, 1,007 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #165 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #376 last year. Posted October 14, 2022 (1 years, 5 months, 25 days ago)

  5. Earthlings Gonna Earth. (The Martian - Andy Weir) - 17,930 hits, 973 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #6 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #7 last year. Posted August 22, 2015 (8 years, 7 months, 17 days ago)

  6. Find Strength In What Remains Behind. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 8,912 hits, 965 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #18 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #23 last year. Posted June 28, 2015 (8 years, 9 months, 11 days ago)

  7. Scenes From An Inconvenient Espionage Love Story. (James Bond (Movies), Les Miserables) - 24,940 hits, 945 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #2 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #2 last year. Posted June 17, 2013 (10 years, 9 months, 22 days ago)

  8. The Care And Feeding Of Severus Snape, By Remus Lupin. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 2,126 hits, 826 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #148 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #253 last year. Posted May 27, 2022 (1 years, 10 months, 12 days ago)

  9. I Must Go Up From The Seas Again. (Persuasion - Jane Austen) - 1,632 hits, 748 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #198 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #387 last year. Posted December 22, 2022 (1 years, 3 months, 17 days ago)

  10. Striking. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 2,176 hits, 746 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #147 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #224 last year. Posted March 27, 2022 (2 years, 0 months, 12 days ago)




Since that includes nothing within the last year, here's the top 10 by hit count of fics posted in 2023 or 2024 (I didn't bother filtering out the overlap between what was on last year's pull and not, since there's no overlap between this one and the one above). This one is actually more indicative. LOL at how many drabbles are there.

  1. In His Shoes. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 1,322 hits. This fic is ranked #264 in overall hit count ranking. Posted August 22, 2023 (0 years, 7 months, 17 days ago)

  2. Subject: Re: OT: "Greg Bleakman" (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold) - 937 hits. This fic is ranked #383 in overall hit count ranking. Posted May 18, 2023 (0 years, 10 months, 21 days ago)

  3. That Was Called Love For The Workers In Song. (Glass Onion (2022)) - 840 hits. This fic is ranked #429 in overall hit count ranking. Posted January 8, 2023 (1 years, 3 months, 0 days ago)

  4. Drabble: The Sex Pollen Of Hunsford Parsonage. (Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen) - 730 hits. This fic is ranked #484 in overall hit count ranking. Posted November 17, 2023 (0 years, 4 months, 22 days ago)

  5. Drabble: Don't Wait Up. (Glass Onion (2022)) - 646 hits. This fic is ranked #521 in overall hit count ranking. Posted January 5, 2023 (1 years, 3 months, 3 days ago)

  6. Ship Tune #963: When Boat Got Stuck [Boat Tradition #42] (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold) - 575 hits. This fic is ranked #548 in overall hit count ranking. Posted May 21, 2023 (0 years, 10 months, 18 days ago)

  7. Drabble: It's Too [Censored] Hot. (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold) - 575 hits. This fic is ranked #548 in overall hit count ranking. Posted July 4, 2023 (0 years, 9 months, 4 days ago)

  8. Emperor Ex Machina. (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold) - 572 hits. This fic is ranked #551 in overall hit count ranking. Posted December 24, 2023 (0 years, 3 months, 15 days ago)

  9. You Never Know Who Understands. (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold) - 553 hits. This fic is ranked #561 in overall hit count ranking. Posted January 22, 2024 (0 years, 2 months, 17 days ago)

  10. Dear Georgiana. (Pride and Prejudice (TV 1995)) - 442 hits. This fic is ranked #622 in overall hit count ranking. Posted May 3, 2023 (0 years, 11 months, 5 days ago)






Top 10 by kudos overall:

  1. Scenes From An Inconvenient Espionage Love Story. (James Bond (Movies), Les Miserables) - 24,940 hits. 2,477 kudos. This fic is ranked #1 in kudos ranking and is ranked #2 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #2 in hit count last year. Posted June 17, 2013 (10 years, 9 months, 22 days ago)

  2. Earthlings Gonna Earth. (The Martian - Andy Weir) - 17,930 hits. 2,294 kudos. This fic is ranked #2 in kudos ranking and is ranked #6 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #7 in hit count last year. Posted August 22, 2015 (8 years, 7 months, 17 days ago)

  3. Things To Do In New York City When You're No Longer Brainwashed. (The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: The Winter Solider) - 9,570 hits. 1,454 kudos. This fic is ranked #3 in kudos ranking and is ranked #16 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #16 in hit count last year. Posted October 26, 2014 (9 years, 5 months, 13 days ago)

  4. You Make Me Look Legitimate. (Check Please! (Webcomic)) - 6,146 hits. 1,054 kudos. This fic is ranked #4 in kudos ranking and is ranked #35 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #34 in hit count last year. Posted August 16, 2017 (6 years, 7 months, 23 days ago)

  5. Interstitial. (The Martian - Andy Weir) - 10,261 hits. 1,048 kudos. This fic is ranked #5 in kudos ranking and is ranked #14 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #14 in hit count last year. Posted August 31, 2015 (8 years, 7 months, 8 days ago)

  6. We Walk The Plank With Our Eyes Wide Open. (Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)) - 8,767 hits. 1,035 kudos. This fic is ranked #6 in kudos ranking and is ranked #20 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #19 in hit count last year. Posted March 7, 2016 (8 years, 1 months, 1 days ago)

  7. The Family Dursley. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 6,279 hits. 996 kudos. This fic is ranked #7 in kudos ranking and is ranked #33 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #51 in hit count last year. Posted October 21, 2021 (2 years, 5 months, 18 days ago)

  8. Love Is Advanced Mathematics. (The Martian - Andy Weir) - 9,154 hits. 979 kudos. This fic is ranked #8 in kudos ranking and is ranked #17 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #17 in hit count last year. Posted October 11, 2015 (8 years, 5 months, 28 days ago)

  9. Find Strength In What Remains Behind. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 8,912 hits. 953 kudos. This fic is ranked #9 in kudos ranking and is ranked #18 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #23 in hit count last year. Posted June 28, 2015 (8 years, 9 months, 11 days ago)

  10. Look At Those Cavemen Go! (The Martian - Andy Weir) - 7,114 hits. 938 kudos. This fic is ranked #10 in kudos ranking and is ranked #29 in overall hit count ranking. It was ranked #29 in hit count last year. Posted July 24, 2015 (8 years, 8 months, 15 days ago)



Top 10 by kudos gotten in the last year. The story of these is Harry Potter domination, with the Martian's staying power, and the endless inertia of the James Bond/Les Mis fic.


  1. The Family Dursley. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 996 kudos total, of which 369 were in the last year. The fic was posted October 21, 2021 (2 years, 5 months, 18 days ago)

  2. Drabble: Also Known As. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 482 kudos total, of which 208 were in the last year. The fic was posted November 11, 2021 (2 years, 4 months, 28 days ago)

  3. Earthlings Gonna Earth. (The Martian - Andy Weir) - 2,294 kudos total, of which 156 were in the last year. The fic was posted August 22, 2015 (8 years, 7 months, 17 days ago)

  4. Striking. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 489 kudos total, of which 149 were in the last year. The fic was posted March 27, 2022 (2 years, 0 months, 12 days ago)

  5. Find Strength In What Remains Behind. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 953 kudos total, of which 132 were in the last year. The fic was posted June 28, 2015 (8 years, 9 months, 11 days ago)

  6. I Build Bridges With These Arms. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 588 kudos total, of which 119 were in the last year. The fic was posted January 13, 2021 (3 years, 2 months, 26 days ago)

  7. The Reverb In Those Holy Halls (Is Like A Long Lost Friend). (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 491 kudos total, of which 102 were in the last year. The fic was posted January 13, 2021 (3 years, 2 months, 26 days ago)

  8. And Though We Are Not Now That Strength. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 475 kudos total, of which 99 were in the last year. The fic was posted July 5, 2020 (3 years, 9 months, 3 days ago)

  9. I Must Go Up From The Seas Again. (Persuasion - Jane Austen) - 307 kudos total, of which 94 were in the last year. The fic was posted December 22, 2022 (1 years, 3 months, 17 days ago)

  10. Scenes From An Inconvenient Espionage Love Story. (James Bond (Movies), Les Miserables) - 2,477 kudos total, of which 91 were in the last year. The fic was posted June 17, 2013 (10 years, 9 months, 22 days ago)

lannamichaels: Astronaut Dale Gardner holds up For Sale sign after EVA. (Default)


This year, I wrote one fic!

[Jacktaliens List] Re: Re: Re: We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties With The Jacktalien Spaceship, Please Stand By. Superstition Hockey 'verse. Dreamwidth, Archive Of Our Own, SquidgeWorld

In which the fandom experiences a typical day for them: aka, Chantal lets everyone know they've been married for five years.




I do not think this was anonymous to anyone in this fandom. :P

For those who have not read this canon, it is great! Here's where you can read it, and this is the main series and where you should start.


Reveal Post bullet points! Behind cut! )

lannamichaels: Matt Smith holds two thumbs up, before heading into Certain Danger. Cap from season 5 promo trailers. (yay)


2011; 2012; 2013; 2014; 2015; 2016; 2017; 2018; 2019; 2020; 2021; 2022



There is no change in the top 10 in overall hit counts since last year; ain't inertia great.

So instead, this is looking only at hits since April 10, 2022, which is when I did the pull last year. Yet again, I pulled the full works list using [personal profile] flamebyrd's bookmarklet, and then shoved the csv files together using the windows command prompt.


So, the top 10 in hits gained since last year, including fics posted within the last year:


  1. Polish Your Boots. (Les Mis) - 28,358 hits total, of which 2,922 were in the last year. The fic was posted May 14, 2013 (9 years, 10 months, 19 days ago)

  2. The Family Dursley. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 4,097 hits total, of which 2,005 were in the last year. The fic was posted October 21, 2021 (1 years, 5 months, 12 days ago)

  3. The Care And Feeding Of Werewolves, By Severus Snape. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 1,720 hits total, of which 1,720 were in the last year. The fic was posted April 27, 2022 (0 years, 11 months, 6 days ago)

  4. Earthlings Gonna Earth. (The Martian - Andy Weir) - 16,957 hits total, of which 1,697 were in the last year. The fic was posted August 22, 2015 (7 years, 7 months, 11 days ago)

  5. The Care And Feeding Of Severus Snape, By Remus Lupin. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 1,300 hits total, of which 1,300 were in the last year. The fic was posted May 27, 2022 (0 years, 10 months, 6 days ago)

  6. Striking. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 1,430 hits total, of which 1,044 were in the last year. The fic was posted March 27, 2022 (1 years, 0 months, 6 days ago)

  7. Drabble: Also Known As. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 1,765 hits total, of which 984 were in the last year. The fic was posted November 11, 2021 (1 years, 4 months, 22 days ago)

  8. Find Strength In What Remains Behind. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 7,947 hits total, of which 958 were in the last year. The fic was posted June 28, 2015 (7 years, 9 months, 5 days ago)

  9. Scenes From An Inconvenient Espionage Love Story. (James Bond (Movies), Les Mis) - 23,995 hits total, of which 916 were in the last year. The fic was posted June 17, 2013 (9 years, 9 months, 16 days ago)

  10. I Was Out Here Listening All The Time. (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold) - 901 hits total, of which 901 were in the last year. The fic was posted October 14, 2022 (0 years, 5 months, 19 days ago)





And the top 10 by kudos achieved in the last year:


  1. The Family Dursley. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 627 kudos total, of which 274 were in the last year. The fic was posted October 21, 2021 (1 years, 5 months, 12 days ago)

  2. Earthlings Gonna Earth. (The Martian - Andy Weir) - 2,138 kudos total, of which 217 were in the last year. The fic was posted August 22, 2015 (7 years, 7 months, 11 days ago)

  3. Striking. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 340 kudos total, of which 213 were in the last year. The fic was posted March 27, 2022 (1 years, 0 months, 6 days ago)

  4. I Must Go Up From The Seas Again. (Persuasion - Jane Austen) - 213 kudos total, of which 213 were in the last year. The fic was posted December 22, 2022 (0 years, 3 months, 11 days ago)

  5. The Care And Feeding Of Werewolves, By Severus Snape. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 152 kudos total, of which 152 were in the last year. The fic was posted April 27, 2022 (0 years, 11 months, 6 days ago)

  6. Drabble: Also Known As. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 274 kudos total, of which 139 were in the last year. The fic was posted November 11, 2021 (1 years, 4 months, 22 days ago)

  7. Drabble: Don't Wait Up. (Glass Onion (2022)) - 127 kudos total, of which 127 were in the last year. The fic was posted January 5, 2023 (0 years, 2 months, 28 days ago)

  8. talk to you like you could hear it. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 126 kudos total, of which 126 were in the last year. The fic was posted December 26, 2022 (0 years, 3 months, 7 days ago)

  9. I Was Out Here Listening All The Time. (Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold) - 122 kudos total, of which 122 were in the last year. The fic was posted October 14, 2022 (0 years, 5 months, 19 days ago)

  10. That Was Called Love For The Workers In Song. (Glass Onion (2022)) - 120 kudos total, of which 120 were in the last year. The fic was posted January 8, 2023 (0 years, 2 months, 25 days ago)



Thoughts:

  • The most interesting thing this tells me that Yuletide people leave kudos :P That Persuasion fic comes in at #11 in hit counts, so it just missed the top ten there.


  • Despite not being ranked here in kudos change (it's at #13), the James Bond/Les Mis is still maintaining its ridiculous hit to kudos ratio, right now it's 23995 hits, 2386 kudos.


  • Polish Your Boots is the number 1 overall hit count rank, number 1 overall hit count change and... has gained a total of 24 kudos in the last year. That's not its rank. That's the actual number of kudos achieved. Either this is rereads or people clicking on it because it's so high up and then abandoning it.


lannamichaels: "I have a vague ambition in that direction" (a vague ambition)


Challenge #2

In your own space, write a promo, manifesto or primer for your fave character, ship or fandom.


I meant to write this for that ship manifesto thing last year but never did, so here we go, in true manifesto fashion, just splattering words out into the screen with no rhyme or reason, SO HERE WE GO:

Gregor Vorbarra/Ivan Vorpatril

One of them is focused on living a life full of casual sex and not having any responsibility at all. The other is the depressed Emperor of a three-planet regime.

They are also second cousins once removed, and due to Worldbuilding Reasons, Ivan is the most direct challenge to Imperial authority that Gregor could ever experience. If, you know, Ivan actually gave a fuck and wanted to do it. (He does not.) (To those saying "but Aral!", yes Aral, but Aral has baggage, Ivan has no baggage, is hot and young and single, and after getting sent to Cetaganda for a diplomatic visit with no other credentials than who he's descended from, is pretty much acknowledged as being essentially an Imperial Prince, Gregor that sure was a decision).

Ivan has Gregor's direct cell phone number AND NEVER USES IT.

Ivan's mother is Gregor's official hostess. Ivan may or may not know that Gregor once put him into danger of having to become the Emperor himself.

Ivan, for the sake of his own safety, has been making it clear his entire life DO NOT WANT.

Is this a great long-term for either of them? Absolutely not. Ivan is allergic to the spotlight. Gregor needs a partner.

However, is this a great Mr. Right Now for both of them? YES. Because Gregor needs stress relief. He needs it from someone who will not use it to stab him in the back or make political problems. And since Ivan has negative interest in doing that, this is a perfect solution for the both of them. Everybody wins!

The only problem would be, oh no, what if people find out.

That is.

What if people find out Ivan is smart and capable.

Oh no.

That would terrible.

Much easier to be the Emperor's secret boytoy.

Nothing can go wrong.

lannamichaels: Astronaut Dale Gardner holds up For Sale sign after EVA. (Default)


...posted today because it includes my yuletide canon review.


Books:


  • How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler by Ryan North I finished this, but it was a slog. The sheer contempt the narrator has for the entire history of human endeavor is just tiring. I kept going because it was interesting beneath the contempt, but oh wow, do I not recommend you read this book. I finished it to see how he was going to explain computers, and then he pretty much didn't, and that was all there was, and the end. I also felt in parts that this book could be outright dangerous, such as the part where he explains how to eat food that you might be allergic to or might poison you.

    If you're thinking of reading this after an xkcd book, just go read the xkcd one again instead.


  • American Gardens by Monty Don & Derry Moore: This is a coffee table book that complements the TV miniseries of the same name, with a lot of photos (Derry Moore is the photographer; he gets equal billing on the front of the book but not, for some reason, in the library catalog listing).

    There were a few lines that made me raise my eyebrows, but this one is worthy of being preserved for eternity:
    "Everybody is a sucker for the sun, and Florida has almost endless sun without ever being too hot or too humid."

    Just. What. Monty, what are you talking about?


  • Extraordinary Gardens of the World by Monty Don. Coffee table companion book to Around The World In 80 Gardens, but deeply awful. For each garden, the first paragraph is in big text, but then all the rest of the text is in small font like it's captions, but it's not captions. The photos are frequently uncaptioned and they don't tell you what exactly you're looking at. This font size and placement gives the impression that you're not actually meant to read the text, and considering that the text is frequently unreadable, that meant I did not much reading and pretty much just looked at the pictures. And if coffee table books of pictures are what you want, I am sure there are better ones.

    How unreadable, you ask? Here's a sample: "As people came from the countryside to live in Córdoba, looking for work, especially from the nineteenth century, families would occupy a room of two of the large square buildings built around courtyards on three or four floors."

    I also noticed two places where there wasn't an initial capital after a period, and that's with skimming large parts of the book.





Movies/TV:


  • Ocean's Eleven. Rewatch. Still has all the problems it always does in terms of plot, but still a good time. Danny really does nothing at all to attract Tess to come to him, huh. All he does is set up a reason for Tess to want to dump Benedict (I do not understand why they are together in the first place and neither does the movie), which is transparently contrived, since it would take half a second for someone to say "oh, right, Benedict's just saying this because whatever, why wouldn't you lie to a guy in order to get your money back". But Danny is just gliding on being a guy Tess used to date. Who she also... dumped and divorced. He does nothing to indicate to her that she should give him another chance. At all.


  • Ocean's Twelve. Rewatch. Good god, this movie is incoherent. Someone put on imdb that everything after 52 minutes in is the con on the audience. The movie is 2 hours long. That's absurd. This movie would have been much better if it didn't have that at all and it played it very straight forward, and then the audience got to go along on the con. There's also not necessarily much point in them doing it anyway and going to such an extent, since they already had the mcguffin. Plus, what a way to put a thumb on the scale by having Super Incredible Master Thief give them special treatment. And it does the stupid sequel thing of invalidating part of the original by having someone else give Danny the idea to rob Benedict in the first movie.


  • Ocean's Thirteen. Rewatch. Ah, yes, the movie where they torture a guy in order to, *check notes*, get someone a bad AAA* rating. Did they consider any of the other ways they bribe/blackmail/manipulate other folks? And then Linus roofying that woman via his cologne, what the fuck. They stimulate an earthquake in a packed hotel full of people. But, yes, the villains are the bad guys.

    There's fewer moving parts, but this movie just feels so long.


    *I would like to state for the record that I said it was a bad AAA rating as a snarky joke. It turns out, according to IMDB, that the award they are going for is, in fact, from AAA.


  • Ocean's Eight. Rewatch. Everything from my first watch holds true. Also, watching them all close together, it strikes me that there's no real motive for the theft other than "oooh money". In the first movie, Danny (and Reuben) wants to screw over Benedict. In the second movie, well, I could not tell you concisely or non-concisely what the actual plot is, but the crew are manipulated into it. In the third movie, again, it's about revenge. This one is "we could rob a bank because that's where all the money is, but really, why go to all that trouble when you can just steal some jewelry from a jewelry store and some extra from a museum display".


  • Grand Designs New Zealand: I am not certain if this remains the best Grand Designs. They swapped out the hosts for some reason, which I don't mind per se, but there's also now some random sexism thrown in and having to skip ahead just like I'm having to avoid Kevin McCloud's insufferable opinions. However, despite the added marriage drama, it does still remain More Educational Than Other Versions, which probably still gets it over the line.

    However, I need to scream at them for 7x04 where he kept calling it a circular house even long after admitting it was not circular, it was 12 sided and the cladding was meant to make it look circular (spoiler: it did not). And even after that, he kept repeating that it was a circular house when it wasn't.

    Grand Designs has done circular houses before! This was not one of them! Notably the circular houses were all made of materials that want to be circular, not made of straight beams of wood, which do not! Argh.

lannamichaels: Text: "We're here to heckle the muppet movie." (heckle the muppet movie)


The theme song of the PBS show Hero Elementary sums up every single one of my problems with the whole genre:

If you're a kid with powers, then where's the place to be?

You belong at Hero Elementary!

If you have super strength, and can lift a ton or three?

You belong at Hero Elementary!

If your power lets you fly (Lucita: You're like me, Lucita Sky!)

Like to help out when there's trouble? (Benny: Oh you bet, I'm Benny Bubbles!)

Teleport in no time flat? (Sara: Sara Snap can, just like that!)

Use super tools to save the day? (AJ: Like AJ Gadgets, I'm on my way!)

How do they save the day?

Well, the scientific fact is...

They use all kinds of powers they just need a little more-

Practice!

If you're a future hero, come and you will see.

You belong at Hero Elementary!

We all belong at Hero Elementary!


NO. YOU BELONG AT SUPERPOWER ELEMENTARY.

SUPERPOWERS =/= HERO

SUPERPOWERS =/= YOU MUST SAVE THE DAY AND/OR PROBLEM SOLVE BECAUSE THIS IS A LITTLE KID SHOW

SUPERPOWERS CAN BE USED FOR SO MANY OTHER THINGS.

Anyway, this rant is not at this show in particular (it's... fine? it's not the best current PBS offering, but it's not the worst) (pinkalicious is pink-terrible the horror the horror) but at this entire unending trope.

Also don't ever get me started on the word "hero" but BESIDE FROM THAT--

you can fly? Awesome, so many things you can do for that! Want to be a tree surgeon?

You are really strong? Want to build stuff?

Teleportation? I have a courier service that will pay you very well.

You can do random bubble stuff and bounce around? I am sure there are things you can also do, Benny.

And AJ Gadgets is Tony Stark, so that's been covered already, it's well-trodden ground.

Ugh, this show.

(thank god it's not pinkalicious)

lannamichaels: Text: "We're here to heckle the muppet movie." (heckle the muppet movie)


I dropped this off my library holds, but then a yuletide letter told me Yskandr is a character in it, and then it went right back on my library holds, because I am forever someone who shoves all the main characters to the side so I can stare at a tiny background character and make heart eyes.

So I started this for Yskandr and finished it for Eight Antidote. Hell, yeah, give me a kid who no one is bothering to raise, I'm here for that (even though no one is there for him in any way that would be helpful to him). Spoiler: I did not like this book. )
lannamichaels: Text: "We're here to heckle the muppet movie." (heckle the muppet movie)


Behind the cut: Tuesday Mooney, Piranesi, The Martian, Memory Called Empire. Book logging )

lannamichaels: "I have a vague ambition in that direction" (a vague ambition)

  • How To by Randall Munroe: Like xkcd, very funny, interesting, and occasionally poignant. Typographically, it could be hard to tell exponents from numbers indicating footnotes.


  • What If? by Randall Munroe: says it's more than 50% new material than the blog, did not feel that way. Slightly easier to tell exponents from footnotes, but 1 looked like capital I and that got very very confusing in a couple places. In places it also suffered from converting the illustrations to black and white and being a smaller size than on the screen, an issue not present in How To, since that one was a book from the start.


  • Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe: did not finish. Did not even get very far. This was impossible to decipher, I kept having to check the table of contents to find out what the thing is that is being explained, which only helped for the header and not the actual aspects of what was being explained. There is utility in using more than 1,000 words, but even just using those thousand words, I don’t see how it is helpful to label a diagram and say that something is named after a country named after the rising sun, or that this was done by a organization of multiple countries working together (ESA, I assume?) It was just impenetrable. Would perhaps have been useful next to a diagram of what he is translating into 1,000 words, but as a stand-alone 1,000 word vocabulary-only guide, it was awful. It was like he started out with a complicated guide and then translated it, rather than setting out to explain these concepts using only a limited vocabulary. (for comparison, the Elephant and Piggie books use a very constrained vocabulary but feels like they don't. That is someone working well within self-imposed constraints.) This was less a book and more an overly-clever crossword puzzle that was aware of how clever it was. It's a shame because I truly love not going to space today.


  • Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia: via rec from [personal profile] skygiants. I started this a couple years ago, didn't get very far into the second chapter before putting it down again. Got it out from the library again and hit a problem of it hitting two different triggers on me. Like, there is no way in hell I could have read this book even a couple months ago, and even now, uh. There is one bit that kept hitting on my trauma over and over again and I reached a point where I said to myself, if this is not resolved and instead it's just left hanging, I will throw this book across the room. So I reached out to [personal profile] skygiants for a spoiler and was told that, in fact, it's not resolved. And then I got to a point in the book where it GOT WORSE. So.

    So this book is due back at the library and so it's probably a DNF unless I get it back out from the library again. Anyone want to tell me how it ends/how it's all resolved? Because yes, sure, "it's like the Westing Game" and it, in fact, is like the Westing Game. If The Westing Game was obsessed with death and if the missing person it contained in its conceit was never resolved in the book and then had an ouija board conversation with the ghost.

    Uh. So, yeah. I'd probably be happy to read fic of this book? But I'm not sure I can finish it. But it's a good book and so I'd recommend it, as far as I've gotten in it, to those to whom it is not tapdancing on trauma.

    But for those read it: please confirm or deny if Vincent Pryce is also Archie's missing dad? Because that seems to be signaled to me and I am curious as to how that's resolved.




Up next from the library, real quote from my notes document: "Library either machinery of empires or memory called empire, whichever is which." (the one I was thinking of is memory called empire, but they have fully merged in my head due to the similarities in names)
lannamichaels: "Sunset Towers faced east" (westing game)


Since it is way too early to drop this into my yuletide letter for this year, apropos of this previous Westing Game meta post, and also my blabbering on the page about Sandy And The Daughters He Didn't Have (Unlike The One He Did) in last year's yuletide letter:

Also, additional westing connection: since George Theodorakis wanted to marry Violet, his sons are the grandsons that Sandy never had. One of those grandsons marries Turtle, the daughter Sandy wanted. The other one of those grandsons is mentored by J. J. Ford, again a daughter Sandy didn't have.

IT'S ALL CONNECTED :D

(also those were all done post-game; I don't see how Westing would have seen them coming. Especially since Judge Ford goes out of her way to avoid being Chris's Westing. Denton Deere is supposed to be his Westing.)

lannamichaels: Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day looking oversaturated, with the caption "do you dream too much?" (dream too much)


Anyone want anything? Meta, DVD commentary, that kind of thing, or, via [personal profile] melannen, give me two fandoms and I'll tell you how I'll cross them over?

(Offer valid even when it's no longer thursday; these posts don't expire)

lannamichaels: Text: "We're here to heckle the muppet movie." (heckle the muppet movie)

  • The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett, aka the last Discworld book: Did Not Finish. I have been pushing off reading this book for years, for reasons. I'd never have finished Raising Steam if it hadn't been Discworld, even though it didn't feel like Discworld. This book also doesn't feel like Discworld. The most Discworld it gets is in the tone of the footnotes. Some of the footnotes are the footnotes of a Discworld book. The book itself is not. It is oddly self-indulgent, plodding, and boring. It needs to stay on target. It has the same problem as Raising Steam where it really needed someone to come in and edit and tighten it up and cut, cut, cut.

    This is neither a good book nor a good Discworld book. Eventually I just gave up. I may come back but I really don't see any point. It's not well-written, it's not engaging, and at 12 chapters into it, all I could tell you of the plot is "everyone hates 3rd born entities, they're misfits and unwanted, and also I think Geoffrey just came out as agender?" I was never here for "witches exist not to do magic, but to provide unpaid, unappreciated necessary social support", and the gendering of magic in Discworld has never been my thing, plus the witches books were never my favorite (I still hold a grudge about Agnes and even here he managed to stick in a fat joke about her. At least no one was being a jerk to Magrat! ...Yet, perhaps.), I always dislike when dialect is rendered phonetically and this book is a neverending orgy of that stylistic choice, and I just... Discworld ended with Snuff. It was on a downward move, but, you know what, if gave happily ever afters to folks and opened up new ground with the goblins, and let's call it quits there. Snuff was the last Discworld book.


  • All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Murderbot 1): early on in this book, it became clear that this was not my genre, and then it became clear that this was doubly not my genre. I'm not into Corporate Dystopia and also not into Alone On A Planet And Something Unknown Is Trying To Kill Us. I persevered and finished just because murderbot is so highly recced by everyone, so if nothing else, I'd be more able to read fic or whatnot. But this was not my book or my genre at all, and I wish murderbot had been a robot, not a cyborg.


  • Artificial Condition (Murderbot 2): "okay but it is hugely popular and it's not like it's going to be another horror trope story and maybe it'll be less corporate dystopia so why not try it, maybe I'll hate less that it's a cyborg indistinguishable from a human instead of a robot, plus it's short" and this turned out to be a good decision! This book was much more enjoyable. I did have the same complaint of "I really wish this had a strong narrative voice", except, well, it does have a strong narrative voice. It just doesn't feel that way to me for some reason. But "I don't care and just want to watch tv" is a strong opinion. I guess maybe I want a voice more in line with Lemony Snicket/JSMN? It feels like it could be just so much stronger, and I wish it was.


  • Rogue Protocol (Murderbot 3): I feel like it's more hitting its stride. Better all around and I like the narrative voice much more, the POV is coming through stronger.


  • Exit Strategy (Murderbot 4): again good, again improvement on narrative voice, but omg we're back to corporate dystopia and I'm really tired of these CamelCase names for everything. I liked the ending; I'm sure there's lots of meta on these books as trauma recovery narrative.


  • Network Effect (Murderbot 5): "*sing-songs* I don't like corporate dystopia! I don't like corporate dystopia!" Large parts were very boring, it sped up when ART came online. But looking directly at Corporate Dystopia and discussing it in universe is not going to make me like it any more. So. Overall enjoyable, but I'm not planning to go on to Murderbot 6, unless someone tells me I should give it a go (I only persevered because I had a stack of books and the last days of Pesach and the first 4 are very short)

lannamichaels: "In my defense the plums were delicious" written on a green background. (plums)


Because of this, I now have a spreadsheet of all the 1,091 works I've uploaded to ao3, ranked by hit count.

This creates a great opportunity for a chaos meme.

I invite you all to give me two or three numbers between 1 and 1,091, and optionally, a fandom. I will then artistically smush the titles of those fics together and bullshit my way through a summary of what that fic would be about, for that fandom if you specified, or dealer's choice otherwise.

lannamichaels: "I have a vague ambition in that direction" (a vague ambition)


2011 version; 2012 version; 2013 version; 2014 version; 2015 version; 2016 version; 2017 version; 2018 version; 2019 version; 2020 version; 2021 version


Thanks to [personal profile] flamebyrd for the bookmarklet, and to the windows command prompt for shoving 55 csv files together.

We continue with the Most Boring Top 10 Hit Counts. I need to find a large active fandom and write something tropey and kinky for its juggernaut pairing, and then I will finally get a change in this list.

The only interesting thing is that, in general, there has been, noticeably to me, a lot going on with The Martian fics in terms of kudos and some comments, and I have no idea why that fandom is having activity??? It's not like there's a giant amount of new fic, or a new book/movie for it. But it keeps constantly showing up in the kudos emails and I do not know why.

Top 10 fics! )
lannamichaels: Matt Smith makes a peace sign with his fingers. This frames one of his eyes. (matt smith fingers)


I follow tumblr exclusively via RSS feeds. The desktop program I currently use is QuiteRSS. I used to use Feedreader but in October, it suddenly decided not to work with tumblr anymore; it still works with other sites. So I searched up a replacement, with the key features, this being tumblr, that it needed to show me the tags and let me filter on them. I tried a couple others, but QuiteRSS was the first one that actually did what I needed it to, so I've switched over all my desktop RSS needs to it (I still do ao3 through dreamwidth feeds).


Tumblr, and extra bonus: how to youtube )
lannamichaels: "I have a vague ambition in that direction" (a vague ambition)


Going through the Harry Potter book names and realizing I didn't remember the name of the 5th book, going through my head like "what's the main quest in in that book" and what's the storyline, what is the main force of the plot, what's the macguffin so I post this just to see how long it takes for me to remember...

harry potter and the dystopian ministry
harry potter and the torturous detentions
harry potter and the banality of evil
harry potter and CAPSLOCK
harry potter and i think this is the book where sirius dies
harry potter and the something something something
harry potter and lots of stigma
harry potter and the major theme change of the books
harry potter and i literally do not remember the overarching plot of this book
harry potter and the four books that needed heavy editing
harry potter and no honestly I truly do not remember what this book is called or about
harry potter and the goblet of filler
harry potter and the need for a secondary villain because the quest to defeat voldemort can't fill seven books at this rate
harry potter and scope creep
harry potter and i truly cannot remember what this book is about
harry potter and trying to think of what the book acronym is... is there any chance this is harry potter and the order of the phoenix??? yes, that's my final answer, hello google, please provide

yes! I eventually remembered!

yes, this did honestly take me 20ish minutes to recall.

This is overwhelmingly not my fault. What does the order of the phoenix actually have to do with this book other than the begining and end of it?

harry potter and the search for more money

lannamichaels: "Sunset Towers faced east" (westing game)


Because I was getting annoyed at having to dig this up in Scrivener every time I wanted to reference it:


name | age claimed in the background check | year born based on book publish year (1978)
Turtle Wexler | 13 | 1965
Christos Theodorakis | 15 | 1963
Theo Theodorakis | 17 | 1961
Douglas Hoo | 18 | 1960
Angela Wexler | 20 | 1958
D. Denton Deere | 25 | 1953
Sun Lin Hoo | 28 | 1950
Josie-Jo Ford | 42 | 1936
Grace Windsor Wexler | 42 | 1936
Jake Wexler | 45 | 1933
James Shin Hoo | 50 | 1928
Sydelle Pulaski | 50 | 1928
Berthe Erica Crow | 57 | 1921
Flora Baumbach | 60 | 1918
Otis Joseph Amber | 62 | 1916
Alexander McSouthers | 65 | 1913


Crow's birthday is November 15th, she's turning 58.

lannamichaels: Astronaut Dale Gardner holds up For Sale sign after EVA. (Default)


Pondering idly what would change about the Watch books if Vimes never married Sybil:

Men At Arms: not sure, but no framing narrative involving Vimes quitting the watch after marriage?

Feet Of Clay: ??? also not sure, but Vimes isn't doing the heraldry stuff, but also IDK if that matters

Jingo: Vimes never has the disorganizer, and also he only agrees to be Duke'd because of Sybil, so even if he gets knighted after Men At Arms, he's not getting Duke'd (of note is that carrot's the reason he gets both knighted and duked: area policeman-and-destined-king-of-destiny cannot stop promoting his boss, news at 11)

Fifth Elephant: doesn't happen because no duking.

Night Watch: theoretically could still happen

Thud: not sure it happens without fifth elephant. Even if it does, there is no chekhov's cow :(

Snuff: doesn't happen

lannamichaels: Damiano David and Ethan Torchio of Måneskin kiss at 2021 Eurovision (maneskin kiss)



-Måneskin - I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE (Official Video)


I cannot.

Like, when this video started, I was all, "oh this is fine", in a real way, not in a This Is Fine way, you know? It was all fine.

Anyway, what I guess I mean is, this video builds. And it's... it's a lot.

So... uh, here's some notable timestamps.

0:38: We're still fine. Damiano's in the black lacy bra, panties, thigh-high stockings, and high heels, with his arms crossed in front of his chest and then showing off his biceps. Victoria squeezes one of them. "I wanna be your champion."

0:54: Ethan is on his hands and knees. Victoria, wearing a pink dress, white socks, and black high heels, presses the sole of her shoe against Ethan's forehead like she's going to kick him in the face.

1:12: I cannot figure out what the fuck is going on here and I have tried. Thomas is shirtless and wearing a collar and reacting backward like he just got hit in the face?

1:16: Thomas grabs and squeezes Damiano's ass. Both of them are wearing white briefs and nothing else. I did not expect that. We are less fine.

1:30: Thomas hooks a finger underneath Damiano's pearl necklace and tugs him forward. (There's no faces but I know this is Thomas because this was one of the Softcore Porn That Got Pulled From Instagram The First Time They Posted It images and it was person-tagged as being Thomas)

1:36: Ethan is drumming while wearing nothing but black briefs.

1:55: Damiano and Ethan kiss and then expand pink chewing gum between their mouths. WE ARE NO LONGER FINE.

2:01: The "Victoria spits on Ethan while they both wear collars" clip from the promo. It's the "you could be the beauty" line.

2:03: Shirtless Damiano winks at the camera to let us know that the porn is about to start. From here until the unwinking, we have two scenes going on side-by-side on the screen, like you're watching it through a peep-hole, seeing no one above the shoulder or below the thigh.

2:04: Victoria scrapes her fingernails across Ethan's chest.

2:05: Thomas pulls on Damiano's nipple ring. Meanwhile, in the other shot, Damiano, facing the camera, slides his underwear down until you see his pubes.

2:06: Thomas scrapes his nails up Damiano's back. In the other shot, Damiano slides his hand under the side of Thomas's underwear.

2:07: Victoria (wearing white panties and a white bra) spanks Ethan (wearing just white briefs). In the other shot... I really don't know. The front of someone's nether regions is pressing up against someone else's ass. From the cut of the underwear, the presser... might? be Victoria? It looks more like boyshorts than tighty-whities. Her sex scenes in this have been with Ethan, so she's probably grinding on Ethan in this? I don't know, I can't tell any difference between this and actualfax pornography.

2:07: Damiano unwinks.

2:08: Shirtless Thomas with his hands tied together with rope.

2:18: Just in case we couldn't tell the line was "and if you want to use me, I could be your puppet", we get the back of a leather jacket, with the word "PUPPET" written on it in studs, and then the shot changes and we see Damiano is wearing it and what seems like nothing else. Yes, Damiano, we get the message.

2:19: Damiano is wearing a short sleeve lacey black shirt with white crochet collar (maybe very mini dress) that hits just below his underwear. He waves at the screen from the background.

2:21: Damiano lifts that shirt/dress up to chest level to show off his white briefs.

2:22: Damiano, wearing clothing (I am constantly reminded of that Eurovision interview that goes: Interviewer: "Damiano, I didn't recognize you because you're wearing clothes!" Everyone laughs. Victoria: "That's typical". Ethan & Thomas: "Yeah".) is on the ground, his knees, face, and hands against the ground, his ass in the air.

2:23: Thomas gets to join in the censored-nipple action, this time with black star stickers over his nipples. Oh, and he's got on a collar, some kind of... kinky gear I don't even know what it is over his stomach with straps (looks maybe like a girdle? posture-related if it were on the other way around?), buckles, and a chain, and black gloves that go half-way up his biceps. He is also wearing trousers.

2:28: Damiano pounds on Ethan's chest.

2:33: I think Ethan is crawling backwards on the ground, wearing just black briefs.

2:36: Thomas may be suspended upside down, looking like some kind of bondage (hands tied out of frame?). However, since his hair isn't flopping, he might not be suspended and it's just an upside-down shot of the rope bondage from earlier, since the general tone of this part of the video is rewinding.

2:38: The Damiano/Ethan chewing gum kiss comes back to where it started.

2:39: Damiano is on his hands and forearms on the floor, Ethan is straddling him and tugging on his hair.

2:41: Ethan... sucks a metal necklace up into his mouth by the chain? I do not recognize the pendant except that I think I'm supposed to. With this band, my general rule is "when in doubt, it's something Catholic".

2:48: "I wanna be your slave, I wanna be your master." Damiano, facing Thomas, holds Thomas by the hair and whispers into his ear, looking at him for the first part the line, and staring at the camera for the last part, to end the song and the video.

That was a lot. But with all the promo, I'd just imagined them having a band meeting, throwing out kink ideas onto a white board and then deciding to go with all of them, so it being a lot is fully expected. (How many different collars is Thomas wearing? Is it two different black ones in addition to the red one?)

There's things to say about the peephole camera thing they use a lot, and them banging on the transparent floor, and, idk, trying to interact with the viewer/being aware of being observed, looking back out of the peephole at the viewer, the "bad film" or "film damage" effects like cigarette burns or various distortion things/light effects/whatever they're called, and how that works in with the whole porn thing, but I can't think of anything about that.

I will say they fully wasted all the meta potential of the '"because, baby, I'm your David", sung by Damiano David' line.

And this ends the "what the fuck was that" timestamp post :P But I just have to say, watching on 0.33x or 0.12x speed is actually a great way to watch something with so many cuts. It's a shame it's not a great long-term solution to that problem.

Also, I joke, but considering that I identified all three of the dudes in various shots based on their tattoos or lack of them, that actually was extremely important research.

lannamichaels: Matt Smith holds two thumbs up, before heading into Certain Danger. Cap from season 5 promo trailers. (yay)


[community profile] con_txt was great! I had an excellent time. The con was held virtually (panels in Zoom, chat in Discord), with built-in breaks through the day, which was great. The whole thing went really well.

Here are my write-ups for the panels I went to.

Including the two I modded )
lannamichaels: Astronaut Dale Gardner holds up For Sale sign after EVA. (Default)


2011 version; 2012 version; 2013 version; 2014 version; 2015 version; 2016 version; 2017 version; 2018 version; 2019 version; 2020 version


We are in exceptionally boring territory: of the top 20 by hit count today, compared to last year, 17 of them are in the exact same position. #2 and #3 switched places, and so did #19 and #21.

So for something completely different, for the top 400 today, here's the ones that had the most hits in the last year, compared to the pull of 480 I did last year. Two fics are in today's list that weren't in last year's, one posted January of last year and one posted in July. They get special mention at the end.


Top 10 in hit count increase:

  1. Polish Your Boots. (Les Mis) - 22,012 hits, 2,616 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #2 in overall hit count ranking. Posted May 15, 2013 (7 years, 11 months, 6 days ago)


  2. Scenes From An Inconvenient Espionage Love Story. (James Bond (Movies), Les Mis) - 22,152 hits, 1,508 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #1 in overall hit count ranking. Posted June 17, 2013 (7 years, 10 months, 4 days ago)


  3. Earthlings Gonna Earth. (The Martian - Andy Weir) - 13,838 hits, 1,459 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #8 in overall hit count ranking. Posted August 22, 2015 (5 years, 7 months, 30 days ago)


  4. Find Strength In What Remains Behind. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 5,777 hits, 1,355 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #30 in overall hit count ranking. Posted June 29, 2015 (5 years, 9 months, 23 days ago)


  5. You Get Me Closer To God. (Les Mis) - 19,384 hits, 921 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #4 in overall hit count ranking. Posted May 1, 2013 (7 years, 11 months, 20 days ago)


  6. The Pornography Is For Science. (Les Mis) - 20,573 hits, 847 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #3 in overall hit count ranking. Posted February 18, 2013 (8 years, 2 months, 3 days ago)


  7. Make You Come Undone. (Les Mis) - 16,537 hits, 759 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #6 in overall hit count ranking. Posted April 10, 2013 (8 years, 0 months, 11 days ago)


  8. Handjobs and Hand Grenades. (Les Mis) - 17,648 hits, 745 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #5 in overall hit count ranking. Posted February 28, 2013 (8 years, 1 months, 24 days ago)


  9. Every New Beginning, or, Five For Lupin. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 3,436 hits, 698 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #51 in overall hit count ranking. Posted June 28, 2015 (5 years, 9 months, 24 days ago)


  10. Five For Flying. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 3,266 hits, 669 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #56 in overall hit count ranking. Posted June 28, 2015 (5 years, 9 months, 24 days ago)




What to say about these? The top 10 by hit count dominate here as well, because hit count is inertia. But there is power in a series: three of these are one HP series, which also shows up below in the Top 400 But Were Posted In 2020, which may be the reason.


  • Come Back To Nothing Special. (Highlander: The Series) - 752 hits. This fic is ranked #385 in overall hit count ranking. Posted January 3, 2020 (1 years, 3 months, 18 days ago)


  • And Though We Are Not Now That Strength. (Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling) - 745 hits. This fic is ranked #394 in overall hit count ranking. Posted July 5, 2020 (0 years, 9 months, 16 days ago)



(note the low number of their overall rankings. If I bothered to get the top 500 and not the top 400, I'd have a lot more newer fics there, too. But I had to cut the long tail somewhere.)

(I accidentally managed to get a nice picture of how many folks don't make it to the end of a series. The first one in the series got 1,355 hits since last April. Since that fic was posted in 2015, it's a good bet that most of the people starting from the first one saw it because of the new fic. Only 745 made it to the end of the series. One of these people put in a series bookmark saying they are "waiting for a 5th part". This person left no kudos or comments. I honestly lolled at that bookmark when I saw it, the assumptions blithely made, because this is a series I'm willing to write more in, and have contemplated it, but if you want me to write more, it would help if I knew what you liked about it? I just, I love the assumption that you can just wait for a 5th part, that one is obviously going to come. I'm sure waiting for a 5th part, too. I'll wait for a 5th part all the days as if it will come.)



Honorable mention in all of this are to the two fics that jumped more than 100 places in the rankings in the last year:

  1. Jumped 112 spots: beep boop (Superstition - Superstition_hockey (Original Work), Hockey RPF) - 1,050 hits, 372 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #279 in overall hit count ranking. Posted November 19, 2019 (1 years, 5 months, 2 days ago)


  2. Jumped 111 spots: Cultural Exchange. (镇魂 | Guardian (TV)) - 1,231 hits, 433 hits in the last year. This fic is ranked #222 in overall hit count ranking. Posted September 28, 2019 (1 years, 6 months, 24 days ago)


I wish I could say they have something in common, but they don't. The first is niche chatfic. The second is porn. Also, when it's that far down, the hit counts are so close together that jumping so many places isn't too shocking, because it doesn't take that much.

lannamichaels: "In my defense the plums were delicious" written on a green background. (i ate your plums)


This is such nonsense chatfic and also is so undeveloped I don't even have names for the chatters yet, but here, have the royalty RPS fandom discussing the excellent pairing of Gregor Vorbarra/Fletchir Giaja.


c4:
Giaja is also prettier



c2:
he's a haut, he's required

they both became Emperors at young ages for their cultures

they both don't appear in public very much

what more similarities could you ever want in a pairing?



c1:
photos of them together
lannamichaels: Text: "We're here to heckle the muppet movie." (heckle the muppet movie)


I finished watching The Mandalorian! I have thoughts. And, for once, a relevant -- and tongue-in-cheek -- use of my "heckle the muppet movie" icon. In bullet point form )
lannamichaels: "I have a vague ambition in that direction" (vague ambition)


My new [community profile] trope_bingo card! I am open to requests/suggestions/prompts for filling this.


Card )

lannamichaels: The One Ring on a red background. (one ring)


I had a dream I was writing a Highlander/Westing Game crossover called The Three Deaths Of Sam Westing, in which he is a Highlander Immortal and after he dies at the end, he starts over as Sammy Windsman, and then I was getting into his original backstory in his childhood AND THEN THE ONE RING SHOWED UP.

And then I rolled over and opened my eyes briefly and it was about to continue and my ALARM WENT OFF.

What the bleep, alarm. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE ONE RING WAS DOING THERE! That's the wrong fandom! What did it have to contribute????

Anyway, anyone got ideas for what it was doing there? It was causing shenanigans and arguments amongst adults (Sam Windkloppel was about twelve and behind all the action going on), that's about as far as I got.

lannamichaels: Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day looking oversaturated, with the caption "do you dream too much?" (dream too much)


[tell me what you'd like to see me post about in December!]

[personal profile] southerncontinentskies:
I dunno if you've already answered this somewhere, but do you have a favorite Vorkosigan Saga character (or a top 3 or something if one is too difficult), and why?

And/or, personal favorite Time of Isolation worldbuilding headcanon?


Thoughts on Gregor and Dorca )
lannamichaels: A saturated image of Matt Smith wearing a coat. Original image was against a wall. (matt smith is lost in his overcoat)


[tell me what you'd like to see me post about in December!]

[personal profile] james:
I would like a post about Things Ivan and Mark Have Unexpectedly Bonded Over.

Also, what does Ivan gift Gregor with on their first anniversary.


Neither Ivan nor Mark wanted to bond with each other. Both would insist they haven't bonded with each other. But having both had the shared emotions over Miles being killed and then lost and then returned, that did open a crack in their resentment.

They bond over using physical parts of their bodies and existence to indicate their not-a-threat nature. Mark changes the way his body looks to differentiate himself from Miles, so that everyone would know who to point their weapons at. Ivan can't do that, but what he has done is make himself seem less of an attractive prospect by being too stupid to be a threat.

Less direly, they have also bonded over the best places to get specialty catering after midnight (Mark uses it to surprise Kareen; Ivan uses it for snacks), and how great it is not to be Gregor Vorbarra. Really, their biggest point of agreement is how great it is not to be in charge of anything on Barrayar. Mark would rather be an entrepreneur. Ivan would rather be alive.

Mark is also the person Ivan turns to when it's time to get Gregor a first anniversary gift. It is a mental health counselor.

lannamichaels: "Sunset Towers faced east" (westing game)


Thing the first: I am unaware of how well-known this is, but I found it yesterday while trying to track down an ebook from any library I could -- I now, naturally, have finished reading that book and now have a tab open with a book that is probably on the shelf less than a yard away from me right now -- but you can borrow scanned-in-copies-of-paperback-books from the Internet Archive. All this is just to say, this is the copy of the Westing Game I have (also on that shelf!) and it just pleases me so much to be able to point to it and be like "that's mine! that's the book I have! And in roughly the same shape, too!"

Thing the second: my Westing Game prompts for my Yuletide letter turned more into a nattering meta post, so we are RUTHLESSLY CUTTING and putting it here, in hopes that my Yuletide letter can turn instead into writing prompts instead of Feelings. ...I make not many promises of that. But! Various thoughts on The Women Of The Westing Game! Behind cut! )

And finally, new icon! Because if I'm gonna keep talking about this book, I may as well have an icon for it.

lannamichaels: Matt Smith as Eleven moving a Dalek figure. (eleven moves a dalek)


Today has been such a Thursday omg. Anyone want anything? Drabble, dvd commentary, rant, unhinged meta, various ramble, random picks from my playlist, idk, other stuff?

lannamichaels: Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day looking oversaturated, with the caption "do you dream too much?" (dream too much)


The thing about writing a transformative work of something is that you get a look into how it was constructed and the different ways it works, and you see it differently. Sometimes this is good and leaves you with a renewed appreciation for the original, and sometimes you're writing a Fight Club pastiche and you realize just how much repetition is in Fight Club.

I digress. Thoughts on the Westing Game )

lannamichaels: Matt Smith holds two thumbs up, before heading into Certain Danger. Cap from season 5 promo trailers. (two thumbs up)


I was so so so sure I'd started a How I Use Scrivener post, but I'm fucked if I can find it. However, I know I've promised this to folks in the past and I've done various off-the-cuff attempts in comment sections.

So! How I Use Scrivener, an excellent writing program that changed the way I write fic. Scrivener feelings )

lannamichaels: "I have come to sleep with you. -Marius" (sleep with you)


Anyone want anything? Drabble/meta/rant/opinions/panicking at places other than discos?

lannamichaels: "(but I digress)" written in black text on textured background (but i digress)


This is not directed at any person or event, because it's something I've seen come up in various places and various reasons for longer than these things usually last for and I am deeply confused about it.

So, JK Rowling said something transphobic. I do not know what it is. I only know about it because people have mentioned it in other places. I have made the choice not to go look what it is. Do you know why? Because I don't care. And, because I'm not on twitter, this is not hard at all to do. It has blissfully passed me by while I ignored it and didn't give a fuck about it.

Harry Potter is a huge phenomenon and Rowling may own the copyright, but she doesn't own the cultural impact. A fuckton of people have read the books. A fuckton of people have seen the movies. I promise you, if you go play quidditch or mention HP in a fic, that does not mean that you agree with everything Rowling has said on twitter. And if someone does, that says a whole lot more about them than about you, I promise.

Like, this may be huge in some part of twitter (which I don't know that it is, but I suspect is the case from the footprint it has left), but twitter is not the cultural impact of Harry Potter. I promise you that my relative who spent months and months and months reading the books to her kids does not know about this nor do the kids. They enjoyed the books. The books are divorced from the author's media presence as far as they are concerned, because the twitter account is in no way linked to the physical copies of the books that they own. Plus, there's also kinda a lot going on in the world.

There are a lot of times I feel like I should finally actually get around to writing up that post on Every Author Is An Antisemite Read Their Books Anyway message that I got from my fourteen years of day school, where the only book that someone ever came and justified to our classroom why it was on the curriculum was The Chosen. But seriously. It's not even that you don't have to approve of an author's opinions to read their books, it's not even that you have to know what they are to read their books, it's all of it. You don't have to care about their opinions!

Yes, things come through in the books from the author's opinions; this is why when I did my English BA, I got so annoyed that I ended up saying things like I wanted to take an ice pick to the English canon to get rid of the entrenched christianity, which is probably still a worthwhile goal. Harry Potter could also stand to have the entrenched christianity taken out of it with an ice pick!

But you know what? Reading the books does not say anything about you other than that you are a person who read the books.

And I don't have a fucking clue what "support" even means these days, the way people use it, but let's be real, the last time I "supported" JKR was the last time I gave her money, which was when Deathly Hallows came out and I bought it, and that was more than a decade ago. I was at a meal once where someone was talking about no longer supporting JKR over something she had said on twitter (yes, this was back when we had meals) and I honestly could not figure out what she meant by support, because there was nothing coming out at the time that would involve giving her money. Defend her as a person? As a writer? Listen to what she said? Pay attention to her at all?

Guess what, I have not paid attention to JKR in years, and you can too! It's really great. Look, she pretty much lost me forever when she had a perfect spot in Deathly Hallows to say Dumbledore was gay and didn't take it and still wanted points for it anyway. She has always had opinions worth ignoring, it's totally fine to jump on the ignore JKR bandwagon!

Also I don't know if there's an author in the world whose opinions I pay attention to, at all. It's possible the last one was Neil Gaiman and I stopped paying attention to him when he was dating someone Wikipedia says he married in 2011.

(iirc the only author I have had positive personal interaction with is LMB who reached out to me after my deeply weird, extremely-short-lived experience on her mailing list that made me flounce. And even there, I have no idea what her personal opinions are on anything! And don't really care! The author is irrelevant.)

lannamichaels: "Sit Down John" written in a stencil font in white on a maroonish background. Quote from 1776. (1776)


So I've spent the last week ruminating on how and why I hated the ending of Hamilton, how Who Lives... would be more to my liking if it was less laudatory, and I came around to thinking about the ending of 1776.

1776 can be summed up as "During the American revolutionary war, the obnoxious and disliked John Adams attempts to get the Continental Congress to agree that the colonies should become independent from England." It takes in an audience who all know what happened and manages to make the whole thing very suspenseful.

Now, Hamilton is a biographical story, and 1776 takes place over, like, two months, so it's very different beasts, but it amuses me that 1776 begins with a song about how people don't like John Adams, the protagonist :P

But the endings is where I think my opinion lies. Because if Hamilton ends with The World Was Wide Enough, the way I wanted it to, first I think that song would need to be longer. But it would end the show on something of a wistful note. Who Lives then comes in to be like "but it was fine! Hamilton was awesome and his widow did awesome things in the 50 years she lived after he was gone, which was longer than she was married to him, but anyway it was totally all for him."

1776 ends... I want to say happily? But if someone came in and said "no it does not end happily", I would not argue. 1776 ends with John Adam agreeing to remove a condemnation of slavery from the Declaration of Independence, and meanwhile they still have to win the war, which they are losing. So the declaration is passed, but that is nowhere near the end. I guess I'd say it ends solemnly, with the weight of all that happened finally catching up with a show that begins by shouting at someone to sit down.

And probably 1776 gets away with its ending because of the assumption that the audience does know what happens next. It can be like "and then it was signed and it's still ominous" and then fade to painting.

Did Hamilton want to end with the assurance that Hamilton's legacy continued, because it assumed (likely correctly) that the audience didn't know what it was? So much of Hamilton is focused on legacy (planting seeds you never get to see) and making a name in history, so I guess it wants to reiterate that his footsteps in the sand weren't washed away after his death. But if so, I'd think it would go more into what the actual things he accomplished were, instead of treating it all very shallowly.

But still. I wish Hamilton had been brave enough to end with Burr, and embrace the kind of ending that 1776 had. If you wanna write Eliza back into the narrative, please do it earlier, thanks.

lannamichaels: "For Shame!" "For the revolution!" (hamilton - for the revolution)


Hamilton, the proshoot: I came into this with two primary feelings:

1) it is four years too late for this to come out, and while I'm sure there are reasons for the delay, it seems bizarre, because the time to capitalize on this would have been right after all the original cast was gone, and yet, it was not, and even this is still earlier than it was planned because my impression is that covid made it come out earlier than it otherwise would have, and I cannot evaluate this proshoot without the baggage of why it's only coming out now when there has been such a clamoring for it, and instead we got a tie-in book and mixtape &etc and, just, I don't know the reasons why this spent so long hidden away and frankly I don't care what they were, but that it's coming out now just highlights that it spent so long in someone's basement or whatever, and...

2) I fully expect to be really annoyed by camera angles. Plays are choreographed to be seen a certain way. Directors and other folks crafting a vision for how to put that on television and often don't seem to give a fuck about how it was intended to be seen. AKA, I fully expect to be pissed off by close ups and not being able to get a real sense of what the actual full choreography even looks like.

So, as you can tell, I came into this with *preliminary irritation*. :P They should have struck while the iron was hot and also good god I'm not gonna be able to see this the way it was intended, even though this isn't a movie adaptation, it's a proshoot!

But yeah, so, anyway, Hamilton Some Years Later: The bulletpoints were wide enough )

lannamichaels: "I have a vague ambition in that direction" (a vague ambition)


It occurs to me that a trope I'd like to either write or see in existence is the Princess Bride. Not the plot. The frame story, applied to a canon.

For those who haven't read it, the frame story on the Princess Bride is that it's a classic work of literature written by S. Morgenstern. William Goldman (the author)'s father would read him the book, doing The Good Parts version. When Goldman got older and tried to track down the book to give to his own son, he discovered that, far from being an adventure book, it's actually a dry political satire. And so Goldman proceeds to get the rights to the book and then does his own abridgement to turn it into the book his father had read to him.

The story part of Princess Bride is full of asides and abridging notes. Later editions of the Princess Bride expand on this framing, showing how the folks who love Morgenstern's book react to what Goldman did (not positive).

S. Morgenstern's book does not exist. Many canons, however, do.

And I was thinking, which canon would be great to be given The Good Parts version to, where it changes the genre to a kid's adventure novel, where all depth to the story is excised in favor of action and what the abridging author likes.

And I was considering a few and then I thought... Les Miserables. This would have to be Les Miserables.

Except it would have to be written by someone other me, because when it comes to Goldman's opening line, well, I've still never finished Les Mis. The abridgement meta would collapse entirely on me. Which may be hilarious to deal with?

But if ever there's a canon to interact with all the Good Parts Version urges, it would be that book. And it would have to be done by someone who knows enough of all the existing abridgements to make jokes about what people have already done to this book. :P

lannamichaels: "(but I digress)" written in black text on textured background (but i digress)


[personal profile] china_shop created fic title question list!


Look at the most recent 20 fanwork titles on your AO3 account.

1. How many are you happy with?

15


2. How many are... not great?

None are actively horrifying? But yeah the other 5.


3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute?

3


4. How many did you know before you started writing/creating, or near the beginning?

10


5. How many are quotes from songs or poems?

8, which is frankly on the low side for me. (I am counting Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Time in with this)


6. How many are other quotes?

"And baby makes three" is a quote but I have no idea the original source.


7. Which best reflects the plot of the story/content of the fanwork?

"And Baby Makes Three" is very specific that it is about the first baby of a couple. The three Secret Twin fics are also very descriptive. And then there's "The Problem Of The Raven King And Jonathan Strange" and "The Sound Of A Yuletide Fic Not Being Written". So those all win for that.


8. Which best reflects the theme of the story/fanwork?

"Come Back To Nothing Special", which won out as the title because it is ACCURATE.


9. Which best reflects the character voice of the story/POV of the fanwork?

I have a fic called "beep boop". It must be the fic called "beep boop".


10. Which is your favourite?

Favorite title: Just A Modern Guy (In The Ear Before).

Favorite fic: Probably "The Problem Of The Raven King And Jonathan Strange" because I like how it turned out and it was tricky to avoid the underlying horror of the premise and keep it lighthearted and fun and I think I kept all of that completely under the radar (outsider POV ftw!)


The list of 20: Behind cut )

lannamichaels: "(but I digress)" written in black text on textured background (but i digress)


-thinking of the most fandoms you can legitimately have in a real crossover

-it would probably have to be one of those "multi-verse collapsing" or "we all ended up in the restaurant at the end of the universe" situations where a bunch of canons all end up in the same place at the same time

-obviously, extra points for managing to do this with fandoms that have nothing to do with each other geographically or genre (non-space fandoms find themselves at the space restaurant)

-but this is where "characters A and B go into a bar" and the strength of the restaurant at the end of the universe comes in

-how many can you legit shove together without a convenience like "our worlds are going into each other" or "place outside of canon where we can all randomly find ourselves on a Tuesday" I have Thoughts )

lannamichaels: Black background. Text: "Time is an illustion / sleeptime doubly so". Two dotted lines seperate the sentences. (time is an illusion)


Anyone want anything? Drabble, dvd commentary, rant, unhinged meta? Extra bonus this time because I am on No Sleep And Feeling Sick Because Of It. My body has done the thing of 1) take a while to fall asleep, 2) wake up sick in the middle of the night, 3) having to get up anyway at the normal time, 4) not getting enough sleep leads to not feeling well, and due to work circumstances, I couldn't just call off today and go back to bed and let more sleep solve the problem.

So I am le tired and le loopy and le not feeling good, so this is a perfect time to hit my brain to see what comes out, if you'd like.

Offer doesn't close; god alone knows how I'm gonna feel like tomorrow, so, y'know, no time zone issues here.

lannamichaels: "(but I digress)" written in black text on textured background (but i digress)


2011 version; 2012 version; 2013 version; 2014 version; 2015 version; 2016 version; 2017 version; 2018 version; 2019 version


So I actually did this a couple weeks ago and the results were so boring and repetitive from previous years that it was too meh for me to get up much enthusiasm and bother to post it.

But AO3 is now bringing back guest hits counting in the hit count after turning that off at the end of March because of COVID-related traffic increases.

And the thing about guest hits not counting is that it make the kudos:hits ratio a lot more flattering. Because logged in users counted, but you only saw guests when they kudosed, and if a work wasn't getting guest kudos, well, all the hits coming in were artificially low. Low hit count + regular kudosing behavior = better ratios. :D

So anyway, here's the requisite top 10 by hit count, and then the top 10 by how good the kudos:hits ratio is, with thanks to [personal profile] flamebyrd for the ao3 works script. Numbers! )

lannamichaels: Text: "We're here to heckle the muppet movie." (heckle the muppet movie)


The Parent Trap 1998 (rewatch): Because if you're gonna rewatch one movie, you may as well rewatch two... This got long )
lannamichaels: Text: "We're here to heckle the muppet movie." (heckle the muppet movie)


The Parent Trap 1961 (rewatch): Since I'm 4k into the fic I'm writing instead of a Parent Trap AU, I figured I'd rewatch to see if the movie is exactly how I remembered it being.

Answer: Yes.

The one thing that is more clear (and that I don't think I paid attention to the first time around due to not caring and it's not like I care much more these days about shoehorned-in het romance) is just how quickly Mitch and Maggie's second marriage is gonna end, based only on the characterization-as-shown in their interactions, as opposed to everything else about it, which also indicate this second marriage is not gonna last.

My question for the rewatch was: do these characters make me believe they are the ones who would Do This, and the answer is definitely, these are exactly the kind of people who would decide to split up twins for the sake of an easier custody agreement and then never tell them that they're twins. The film earns that. But because it earns it so well, or, well, on the way to earning it so well, it explains why this is not a rekindled relationship that's gonna last. And, really, the twins seem to want them to get back together solely because they dislike the custody agreement. If the parents can find a way to have the twins be together and also see both parents regularly, I imagine their objections would vanish, because that's the root of them. Sharon takes an immediate dislike to Vicki that I doubt Susan would have had before Susan knew she was a twin. (Susan would for sure have eventually disliked Vicki. But Sharon's immediate NOPE reaction is because she wants a parental reconciliation.)

The hurdle to get over in the "superquick getting back together after divorce" genre is that, in order to do it in a short period of narrative time, the reasons for divorce need to be things that either aren't relevant anymore (see: the hard part with doing a Persuasion plot, it needs to earn that the breakup was fully justified due to barriers that have now completely vanished, I say this as someone with an abandoned Check Please persuasion AU) or are so superficial they're easily gotten over (which always rings kinda hollow, this is probably a lot harder to earn than the first one), and movies have a harder road than books because of constraints of the medium; books have more space to explore the inner lives of characters and they can sure show attraction a lot better than movies with their "he was a boy, she was a girl, can I make it any more obvious" shorthanding. And all this is compounded in The Parent Trap with the divorce being so acrimonious that they split up twins, never told the twin about the other one, and lied to the kid about the other parent. They cannot sell this as "well, we broke up because we wanted different things in our careers, but now that it's a decade and a half later, we're more settled now, let's give it another shot". What these parents did is so far beyond any of that.

This movie did not give us the first explanation. It didn't really try to sell us on the second explanation. Instead, Mitch and Maggie's first interactions made it very clear why they divorced. They get immediately into an argument. Maggie is being extremely inappropriate and then punches Mitch in the eye, giving him a black eye he has through the rest of the film. I'm supposed to think these two belong together? I do not. This is clearly trying to be punch-punch-kiss, but for that to work, there has to be some understanding of what appeals to them about the other one. That is not given here. The appeal seems to be "huh, that person's hot". That was not enough to sustain them in their first marriage. It's not gonna be enough for their second.

The one (1) good thing I can say about these two is that they didn't decide to stay together "for the sake of the children". The fact that they each love the twin they arbitrarily ended up with is still kinda damning considering the, y'know, custody agreement they originally came to and happily lived with for 13 years.

Those two got along so badly, they decided they never wanted to see each other again. And then when Maggie found out she had Susan instead of Sharon, she takes the pretty clear hint the granddad gives her about looking frumpy and gets herself a makeover so she can try to get back together with her ex-husband. This decision comes out of nowhere. "I have the wrong twin" + "I'm gonna see my ex-husband again" + "must look good so he'll be attracted to me". She's not trying to win the divorce and flaunt it. She immediately tries to get back together with him. Why? Why does she want to reunite with him? It's never explained.

This is the man she didn't want to see again so much that she agreed she'd never see one of her daughters again either, if that was what it took.

And then Mitch only decides to try again with Maggie after Vicki's walked off after the camping trip; suddenly he's single again and a switch is flipped and he's like "hey sure might as well get back together with my ex, even though in all our previous scenes, we've been arguing and have nothing we agree on except the children." That pretty much makes the characters for me. This is who they are, this is what they do, this is not a second marriage that is gonna last. Which is good, because I'm very pro-divorce and I believe strongly that people who don't want to be married shouldn't be married. And I'll bet the twins won't let the new custody agreement suck so much. And the twins are nearly 14, so it's not like they've got too many years left to need a custody agreement signed by their parents. It's just the rest of their lives of figuring out what they're gonna do once they can make the decisions, which, yeah, they're the ones making the decisions throughout the entire movie, so, fair.

(A note on the timing: per prop canon, the movie takes place in the summer of 1960. The twins are born November 12, 1946. The parents met in New York, presumably sometime in 1945. I wouldn't mind hearing *that* story. Maggie lives in Boston, so getting to New York for shopping is something that appears to be so common, she does it randomly on a whim in this film. What was California Mitch doing in NYC? Where did they live when they were married? How long were they together? All I know is they were not living in Mitch's California house, because Maggie didn't recognize the address on the telegram)

I mean, most of the movie is twin shenanigans, the rekindled romance is basically pastede on yay in the last 20 minutes of the movie. It is not a main concern of the film to make sure the reconciliation is earned. I have a vague recollection that the remake did the parental romance better than this one, but it has been so very long since I watched that and my memories of that one always mingled in with the Olsen Twins's It Takes Two. So the remake is probably due for a rewatch just to see what improvements are made.

In other news, I was legitimately shocked that Vicki's actress was 26. She looks older than Maggie does. It's definitely the hair and makeup styling, which is fully in line with the characterization. But I honestly was like "eh, the age difference between Vicki and the Dad isn't that bad" and then I looked at the ages.

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lannamichaels: Astronaut Dale Gardner holds up For Sale sign after EVA. (Default)
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