rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (hope is all we have)
The Lightning imminent-facepunching manip was originally going to be my official Christmas manip of 2011, but I've realised that for the past two years I've posted a stupid manip on Christmas Eve itself, and so naturally I had to make another, because what right do I have to break a grand tradition of two entire years?

Here is a slightly less violent but no less clumsily-done Christmas picture for you:




It depicts Yuna in the extremely powerful and difficult-to-find Christmas Dressphere, naturally. She can lasso enemies with tinsel.

Merry Christmas to all those of you who celebrate! May Delibird give you only nice presents and none of the ones that explode. (And thank you so much to everyone who's sent me cards! Even the one that covered my father in sequins and the creepy one that freaked my mother out (you know who you are). I'm afraid some of my cards to you guys are going to be quite late, because I am an enormous failure, but I am determined to post to everyone who requested a card, so, er, look forward to a general winter card at some point, if not a Christmas one. ♥!)
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (Default)
Thank you so much for all your kind comments on the past couple of entries! I ran off to my cousin's wedding for the weekend (and very pleasant it was too), so I wasn't able to respond to all of them, but I really appreciate them all. ♥!

(On the way to the wedding, the term 'spit-roast' as sexual slang came up. My mother didn't know what 'spit-roast' meant in a sexual context and spent some time on the car journey trying unsuccessfully to work it out.

Riona's Mum: Spit-roast. Spit-roast. ...you baste it?)


Unrelatedly: you may recall that I received a thank-you note from a Mr Derren Brown a few months ago, in response to a ukulele that I sent him in a fit of flist-encouraged madness. It was a weird thing to do, and I was terribly embarrassed afterwards, but he was rather lovely about it. As we have recently acquired a scanner, have some scans!

For someone so evil, he's surprisingly sweet. )

I'm not as massively fannish about Derren Brown as I was a year ago, but I think I'm always going to be rather fond of him, because he would have been easily within his rights to ignore the weirdo who sent him a ukulele and instead he wrote her a letter of thanks by hand. Awww.


Last night, my dad and I were discussing the formula for a successful young adult novel. I commented on the fact that paranormal romances never seem to involve unicorns.

THEREFORE.

Our idea for a bestselling young adult novel: a paranormal romance, set in an American high school, in which the love interest is a were-unicorn. He is extremely pissed off about this; he's always thought of himself as a bit of a bad boy, and he hates that every month he turns into a beautiful, pure creature and canters around, healing the souls of virgins with his tears. COMPLICATED SITUATIONS ARISE WITH REGARD TO SLEEPING WITH THE HEROINE, BECAUSE THEN SHE WILL NO LONGER BE A VIRGIN AND HIS INNER UNICORN WILL BE REPELLED.

We are going to be millionaires.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (oh god (quarkz))
why do I not have a scanner


Dear Harriet.

Many thanks for the quite excellent ukelele, which is certainly the loveliest I have ever received. And apologies for taking so long to thank you, but I have only just discovered your kind letter again. As I am utterly unmusical, and as my PA was eyeing it most greedily, I allow him to play on it and have passed on your tuning tips. So thank you from both of us.

Have a wonderful 2010 and I hope it's full of beautiful ukelele music.
- Derren x



I thought it was from one of you until I hit 'tuning tips' and realised none of you would have known I included some. Also that few of you would have taken the trouble to prepare beautiful custom stationery with his name and his agent's details on it. (I find it hilarious that this is exactly the language of the letters I've received from mock Derren Browns, though. You guys are obviously excellent at characterisation!)

Oh, and I was so embarrassed about the ukulele-sending, and I felt I'd made a complete tit of myself, and he must be so busy (he's touring at the moment, isn't he?) and yet he's written an actual letter of thanks in response. That is just ridiculously lovely of him.

asdfjkgjadfghadfjhgfhgh I am actually shaking.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (NOOOOOOOOO)
Which of you lovely people anonymously sent me the badges? Thank you so much! The Pokémon and Baker Street ones are my favourites; the one that looks vaguely like Zombie Derren Brown alarms me quite a lot. ♥!


In spite of all my worries about watching it, Dead Set, it turns out, doesn't freak me out nearly as much as Being Human, which I am genuinely considering giving up. I love Annie and Mitchell and (most of the time) George, and I love the relationships they have with each other, but every time I watch Being Human it just upsets and depresses me. When I start thinking 'there's a new episode coming up' with dread rather than excitement, it's probably time to stop watching.

Not that Dead Set is a festival of delight, but I'm able to watch it in a slightly more detached way, possibly because I know a bit more about what's going on behind the scenes and possibly because the threat it deals with is very specific and (let us hope) fictional.

A few not-really-spoilery thoughts on Dead Set: whilst watching, I found myself thinking on many occasions that Kelly (whom I liked very much) looked really rather similar to Lisbon of The Mentalist.

Therefore, Lisbon and her team need to fight zombies.

I don't think anyone can argue with that logic.

Grayson is a sweetheart. Patrick is an arsehole, but an arsehole who appears to be to at least some extent based on the writer, which is interesting (don't hate yourself, Brooker!). Riq is sort of adorable. Kelly is my favourite character, and I loved the way her fear and despair and determination were portrayed. I liked the fact that the housemates, despite all their failings, were fundamentally decent people who cared about each other and worked together; it would have been easy to go 'oh, look, the only survivors are the absolute dregs of humanity in the Big Brother house', but it was actually much less cynical than it could have been. We know you don't really hate humanity, Brooker; you're not fooling anyone.

Although I generally feel that zombies should be slow-moving, I actually didn't mind the running zombies here. Putting the studio out of action very quickly was necessary for the plot, so they sort of had to be excused, and I'd heard that Brooker had originally planned to set it over a longer period of time and show how the zombies slowed down as they decayed, which makes a sort of sense; as the muscles are presumably still intact, why shouldn't a freshly turned zombie be able to run as fast as a human?

I think Dead Set is one of the few things I've watched and enjoyed and yet have absolutely no desire to cross over with Pokémon. Still wouldn't mind the RPF crossover in which David Mitchell and Charlie Brooker find themselves facing the undead hordes, though. The problem is that I have a complete aversion to real-person deathfic, so I'd have to somehow contrive an unlikely happy ending. THE ZOMBIES DECIDE THAT BROOKER IS TOO BITTER TO EAT. Brooker is mildly offended but, let's be honest, not complaining. Mitchell survives using his hitherto undisclosed magical powers. No, I'm not entirely certain this idea is going to work.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy versus xiii: a young woman at night, her back to you, the moon high above. (nor women neither)
I am back in Brighton!

The boiler is not working!

IT'S REALLY COLD, GUYS. REALLY REALLY COLD. The landlord has very kindly provided us with an electric heater for the sitting room, but venturing anywhere else in the house requires four layers and gloves.

However, although my extremities may be freezing, my heart has been thoroughly warmed by the lovely post I found waiting for me upon my return. Thank you so much, [livejournal.com profile] linakitten, [livejournal.com profile] the_funmonkey and [livejournal.com profile] geekgirlofdoom! Your delightful cards were exactly what I needed to distract me from the fact that my hands were falling off.


Has anyone written fanfiction in which Sam and Dean are, for some reason, hunting in England during the present rock salt shortage? It is the flimsiest of flimsy concepts, but I sort of want to see it anyway.

YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I WANT TO SEE? MORE PEEP SHOW FANFICTION. I have recently rewatched the first four series, and, oh, I 'ship Mark/Jeremy so much. I shouldn't, because it's ridiculous and because it would ruin poor Mark's already-thoroughly-ruined life even further, but I cannot ignore the truth of their love, guys. I'm sorry. I just can't. And they are so much fun to write! And yet, as far as I can establish, there are fewer than ten works of Peep Show fanfiction on the Internet. This is clearly insufficient.

(Seriously, Peep Show is a series about the co-dependent, inescapable love-hate relationship of two men. They have canonically kissed. Jeremy has canonically had sex with men, had sex with the female equivalent of Mark and mused on having sex with Mark himself. Where is all the slash? Perhaps the facts that Mark is canonically sexually unimpressive and fluff would be categorically impossible are putting some writers off. I promise you, hypothetical reluctant writers, Mark and Jeremy are such a joy to write that you will not care about the restrictions the canon imposes on genre.)

Should I drop Mark into Silent Hill? It almost seems unnecessary; he goes through quite enough hell in his day-to-day life. Whilst I don't imagine he would find being chased by monsters a great deal of fun, a small part of him might appreciate the fact that he isn't expected to keep up a normal conversation here.

I ran into a similar problem when musing on sending Derren Brown to Silent Hill, actually. 'Broken glass? Potential for injury? I can't send him to Silent Hill if he'd enjoy it.'



A few days ago, I somehow ended up sobbing uncontrollably whilst reading My Little Pony fanfiction. I don't even know anything about My Little Ponies! I don't know how this managed to make me so nostalgic when it's not about my childhood, but it did. Another Rainbow in Another Sky: by scaramouche, and wonderful.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (brotherly concern)
All right: which of you beautiful nutcases sent me a little glass unicorn? I was terrified that it would shatter in my hands (my record with anything remotely capable of breaking is unimpressive), but it seems to have survived so far, and it is now happily sitting on my mantelpiece. Thank you so much! I don't know how I can deserve such lovely Internet friends.

I have also received a marvellous Christmas card from [livejournal.com profile] sacred_sarcasm, with a message from 'Derren Brown'! It contains the rather beautiful phrase 'lamentably unstellar' and concludes with the P.S. 'I would totally fuck myself. Anyone who wouldn't has self-esteem issues, in my psychologically astute opinion', which made me grin a lot. (I should probably mention that this was a postscript to Derren's message, not [livejournal.com profile] sacred_sarcasm's.)

To those whom I still owe Christmas cards: I'm sorry! They may be a bit late, but cards you shall eventually have.


I have been rewatching the fourth season of Supernatural, and it has made me realise that I really, really, really want Castiel to kiss Dean.

I suppose that means I officially 'ship them, then. I don't want it to be reciprocated, but I do rather want some sort of canonical confirmation of Castiel's massive crush.

There seems to be an odd feeling in parts of the Supernatural fandom that it is not possible to 'ship both Dean/Castiel and Sam/Dean. Admittedly, I'm not doing much to disprove that, but I'm interested in seeing how far it holds true amongst you guys, and which pairing is generally preferred.

I also want to make you write for pairings you don't really like and cackle like an evil genius.

THEREFORE:


[Poll #1502605]


EDIT: HERE IS A LINE OF TEXT because I have suddenly discovered that I have an irrational dislike of ending an entry with a poll. Erm.

'Agro!'

Dec. 16th, 2009 09:30 pm
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (hope is all we have)
Today, a small package arrived in the post. I unwrapped it to find a box labelled 'Whack-a-Zombie' (tagline: You Can't Keep A Good Zombie Down), containing a miniature inflatable zombie punching bag, and a note saying 'IT MAY BE DANGEROUS. TAKE THIS.'

There was no name.

Thank you very much, mysterious gift-giver! When the zombies attack, I shall have had practice.


In other news, I have completed Shadow of the Colossus!


Spoilers for the ending. )


Here are some awesome things that I have discovered about this game since my last entry:

- If you call Agro in a cave or tunnel, your voice will echo.
- If you shoot a Colossus with an arrow, the arrow will stick in its flesh. You can come across your arrows later whilst clambering about on its body.
- If you pray in front of a fallen Colossus, you'll get to fight it again in a flashback (it's called 'Reminiscence Mode'). The flashback is sepia-toned and grainy, like an old film. It's really pretty.
- It is gorgeous. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. Yes, I knew this before my last entry, but I made that before I tackled the thirteenth Colossus. The entire fight has to be one of the most ridiculously beautiful things ever programmed into a videogame.

Even though Shadow of the Colossus scares me silly, it is a wonderful, beautiful game. Thank you so much for letting me play it, [livejournal.com profile] firefly99!
rionaleonhart: final fantasy versus xiii: a young woman at night, her back to you, the moon high above. (nor women neither)
Today, I received a postcard from Dean Winchester, intended for Sam, from Spain. It contains the line 'I need your help on this case because I don't hablo any Español'.

I don't know who amongst you has been in Spain recently, but it made me grin, so thank you!


My goodness, I haven't speculated on Patrick Jane in Silent Hill! Patrick Jane would be great in Silent Hill. They're waiting for you, Jane. And he knows they're dead, and he doesn't believe in ghosts or resurrection or any form of communication from the dead, and he knows he has to go anyway.

The letter must have come from Red John, after all, and maybe - just maybe - there's a chance that Red John will be waiting in this place to taunt him.

And Red John is what he needs.

(He isn't half-hoping that it might be true. He isn't. That's not why he's going. He's not that deluded.

He's not.)


He leaves a note - ending this, be back later - on Lisbon's desk, and the moment she reads it she runs out to find him. He's not answering his phone, probably already halfway across the country, and they're supposed to be working on a case, but they can lose a murderer once in a while. They can't lose Jane.

There's a smiley face drawn in blood on the door of the Lakeview Hotel.

Why hasn't anyone written this?
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (whatever you say)
Today, I rushed from London to Brighton for a seminar that, I discovered upon arrival, had been cancelled.

Mildly put out, I returned to my Brighton abode, where I found a large and intriguing-looking package waiting for me. The details on the back informed me that the sender was a Vayne Aurelius, who, I discovered after a quick Googling, is the protagonist of a game called Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis.

This was perplexing.

I opened the package to find a copy of The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases, the editors of which, according to the blurb, 'received their medical degrees in a dream', and a rather charming and apologetic note from Mr Aurelius, written on the back of a 'Combat Basics 1' exercise sheet ('What to do if you encounter an extraterrestial:'), in which he explained that someone had wished that he send me the book and expressed his hope that I didn't mind receiving it. Inside the book was an empty envelope, on which was written 'To my dear Wainwright, with affectionate regards, Lady Cloudesley'.

I am deeply, deeply confused, and I have absolutely no idea who is responsible, but thank you so much! (I love the level of detail that's gone into this.)


I'm not participating in National Novel Writing Month this year, but I've decided that I'm going to try to at least write something every day during the month of November, whether it's a snippet or a full fic or part of a work in progress. Yesterday, I wrote a tiny clip of Jane and Cho snogging in the interrogation room; today, I am calling upon you to help me.


Give me a prompt, and I'll write you a ficsnippet. Multiple requests are more than welcome!


Feel free to request from anything you know I know! (Requesting from things you don't know I know is acceptable, but in that case it would probably be an idea to include a request or two from something you know I know as well, so you don't end up with 'BARNEY WAS A PERSON (PROBABLY). HE WAS PLAYED BY NEIL PATRICK HARRIS (I THINK, BUT I THINK EVERYONE'S PLAYED BY NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, SO I CAN'T BE SURE). HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER IS A SITCOM, SO AMUSING THINGS PROBABLY HAPPENED. THE END.') Crossovers and the like are, of course, fine.

(I'd be delighted if you made Mentalist requests, but please bear in mind that I'm only just starting to write these characters, so I'm still trying to get to grips with them. I've seen up to the first-season finale.)

Make as many requests as you'd like (and please don't feel you have to know me well to request a snippet); as I've said, I'm going to be trying to write every day, so any prompts would be gratefully received. Thank you!
rionaleonhart: kingdom hearts: sora, riku and kairi having a friendly chat. (and they returned home)
You know, Otacon would be sort of delightful as the Doctor's companion. He would be so fascinated by everything. (He would also be terrified, but he would never be able to leave the Doctor, on account of having fallen madly in love with the TARDIS.)

Other possible companions for the Doctor (I've posted on this topic before, of course, but the possibilities are never quite exhausted): Sora, Riku and Kairi. The trio have been planning for years to build a raft and sail away from Destiny Island together. One night, their island is overrun by Heartless and swallowed up by the darkness. Sora, Riku and Kairi are standing back-to-back-to-back on Riku's favourite part of the island, slashing ineffectually at the little shadowy creatures with their wooden swords, and just when all hope seems lost a blue box materialises before them.

Riku doesn't trust the Doctor at all; he's convinced that he is the one responsible for the destruction of their home. Sora trusts him completely, though, and Kairi, despite some initial wariness, seems to like him, so Riku rolls his eyes and steps into the TARDIS. Just to make sure his friends don't get themselves killed.

...hey, wait. This is completely unrelated to the characters-as-the-Doctor's-companion subject, but does Riku have a Nobody? (Kixur? Kirux?) Surely it would make sense. He did have the Heartless symbol on his chest in the first game, so I sort of assumed there was at least a period of being a Heartless. (I was going to say 'a period of Heartlessness', but of course the Heartless aren't heartless. It's the Nobodies that don't have hearts. In fact, Nobodies are just, er, bodies. DEAR KINGDOM HEARTS: YOUR NAMING SYSTEM MAKES PRECISELY NO SENSE.)


OTHER CHARACTERS WHO SHOULD BE THE DOCTOR'S COMPANION: DONNA NOBLE.

YES, SHE IS A CANONICAL COMPANION, BUT SHE SHOULD BE HIS COMPANION ALL THE TIME.

I love you, Donna.


Unrelatedly: yesterday, when I posted my ill-advised Captain John Hart: Team Rocket Agent manip, [livejournal.com profile] dracothelizard asked who his team partner would be.

The obvious answer was 'Suzie Costello'.

They've never met in canon, of course, but I have a feeling that they could make a rather marvellous team. Jack's Houndoom, Gwen's Eevee/Flareon, Ianto's Aerodactyl and Owen's Carvanha had better watch out. (Tosh's Porygon lives in the computer system, so it's probably safe. UNTIL HART AND COSTELLO INFECT THE TORCHWOOD COMPUTER SYSTEM WITH A VIRUS AND IT EVOLVES INTO PORYGON-Z, OH NO.)


On an even less related note: this morning, I received a large envelope in the post.

It contained a High School Musical paper plate and nothing else.

Most perplexing. ([livejournal.com profile] wanttobeatree... [livejournal.com profile] wanttobeatree? Was that you?)

Troy looks like a Hobbit on it and I don't know why.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy versus xiii: a young woman at night, her back to you, the moon high above. (nor women neither)
I received a fabulously creepy letter from Allegedly Derren Brown today! He expressed his deep disappointment at my failure to participate in Enigma, wished me a happy birthday and concluded with the following paragraph:

Many plans have been made and, without giving everything away, I and several of your friends would be very glad to see you at the side of the boating lake in Regent's Park at, shall we say, six o'clock tomorrow morning. You may want to bring a swimming costume. Everyone's looking forward to watching seeing you.

The postmark on the envelope is for the seventeenth of July, so I have probably missed the Regent's Park incident. I have a feeling that this may be for the best. (And I have no idea who is responsible for this letter (well, obviously Derren Brown is responsible for it, but I get the feeling that he had some help), but it amused me immensely, so thank you!)


SPEAKING OF DERREN BROWN AND CREEPINESS, I was looking through one of my notebooks last night and came across this snippet, which I do not remember in the slightest:


"You see," Derren says, "beyond a certain point, intense pain becomes almost indistinguishable from intense pleasure." He shrugs as best he can against the restraints. "Or at least that's how I experience it."

"And you would so love to think you were unique," the Master says. "No, I don't think you're alone. I, on the other hand, prefer to inflict."



What - what were you writing, Riona?

(Another inexplicable snippet in here: "Oh, dear," Derren says. "I appear to have dropped my Death Note." And then there's a bit of Derren using alchemy to control Edward Elric's mind. Is there any fandom into which Derren Brown cannot be thrown?)


Finally, I was going to wait until I'd completely sorted out my university accommodation for next year before I posted this, but sorting out housing is a miserable business and I've decided I'd like a distraction. So!

Because, whilst there are many wonderful women in my fandoms, I do not write nearly enough about them:

Give me a prompt, and I'll write you a ficsnippet. Your prompt must include at least one female character.

I'm a little nervous about doing this, because it is almost certainly going to result in my attempting to write for characters I have never written before, but I have to start somewhere. Request away!
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (i believe you are hiding something)
Dear University of Sussex,

You have been ranked the second-best place to study linguistics in the country! Congratulations! Do you:

a) axe the Linguistics department, or
b) not be stupid?

Take your time. This is not a trick question.


Cut for anger. )


Anyway! I do not like my entries to be entirely full of misery, so now it is time for something happy! AND I HAPPEN TO HAVE JUST THE THING.

A couple of days ago, I received a notice that someone had sent me a letter with insufficient postage, and so I had to pick it up from the handling office. (This, as it turned out, was a good thing, because otherwise it would probably have been crammed through the letterbox and damaged.) In excited anticipation, because man do I love getting post, I set off.

Now, you may have noticed that I am ever-so-slightly prone to exaggeration, and in particular to use of the term 'best thing ever'. Here is the problem with this: when something actually is the best thing ever, how does one express it?

The first sheet I drew out of the envelope was a drawing of Derren Brown in Silent Hill, holding a ukulele.


Beneath the cut are scans of Derren Brown meeting the Doctor, the Master, Silent Hill, High School Musical and ukuleles. They are all wonderful. )


In conclusion: [livejournal.com profile] sos_your_face is amazing.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (I APPROVE)
I received a truly amazing card through the post today, apparently from Derren Brown, which means that his psychic powers are even more impressive than I'd realised, because this isn't the address I included with the ukulele. It had me laughing so hard that my housemate thought I had lost my mind, which was an opinion that did not appear to be altered when she actually read it. I wanted to show it to you, but, sadly, not one of the photographs I took with my housemate's extremely blurry digital camera was readable.

Here is a description instead.


Because I love getting weird post. )


It strikes the balance between charming and creepy perfectly and I adore it. Thank you so much, 'Derren'; you have completely made my day!


This seems an appropriate time to repost one of my favourite memes: the Hey, Let's Blur The Boundaries Between Fiction And Reality meme (or the informal roleplaying meme, if you prefer).

Ask any character you think I might be able to manage a question, and I'll reply in-character as them with an answer (or possibly reply as myself going 'WHAT THE HELL, I CAN'T DO THIS'). Feel free to ask either as yourself or as another character.

Real people are not out of bounds, but obviously this is just for fun and I am not actually claiming to be any real person. Um, apart from, you know, me. I'm real.
rionaleonhart: kingdom hearts: sora, riku and kairi having a friendly chat. (and they returned home)
I am in London for the weekend, because I forgot an important and expensive textbook (and also crockery and cutlery and pots and pans and all things kitchen-related, but let us not talk about my incompetence. SOMETIMES I FORGET THAT I NEED TO EAT), and therefore: Internet! Hello! I have missed you all!

At the moment, I am living in a rather nice maisonette with a Law undergraduate, a Neuroscience PhD student and a small black cat named Beatrice. I bake brownies. We watch One Tree Hill. I am a little fandom-starved, living amongst normal people and without Internet access, and as the surroundings are unfamiliar I am constantly walking into them, but I'm pretty happy at the moment.

(I have received a letter from Gary of Pokémon and a card from Oz and James, which have helped with the fandomlessness enormously. Thank you so much to the lovely people who were kind enough to forward them to me!)


Oh, Fox, I'm away for a few days and you cancel Prison Break? I didn't have Internet access! My lack of updates about it isn't because I don't lovehate it any more! What sort of mad network bases its decisions on a single Livejournal, anyway?

Actually, it's probably for the best. Prison Break should really have ended after the first season. But then there would have been no Mahone, and Mahone is, of course, amazing, so I'm glad it wasn't cut off at a sensible point. I just hope they can give it a reasonably good ending. Haven't seen any of the fourth season yet, so I don't know what the odds of that are.

(Speaking of Mahone: the night after [livejournal.com profile] th_esaurus informed me of Prison Break's cancellation, I dreamt that I ruined William Fichtner's marriage. I SWEAR I DIDN'T HAVE SEX WITH HIM, MRS FICHTNER, I THOUGHT WE WERE JUST FRIENDS, I DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS CREEPILY AND UNHEALTHILY IN LOVE WITH ME. The night before, I dreamt that the Top Gear trio travelled back in time to Victorian London. Perhaps my unconscious mind is trying to make up for the lack of fandom in my waking hours.)


The things that come up when I restore the saved Livejournal draft are occasionally rather alarming. This time, I had written that I would not be uninterested in reading Tom/Jerry. Yes, that Tom and Jerry. What, self? What?
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (MAN I'M AWESOME)
I hope you all had an excellent Christmas! Mine was marvellous. Thank you so much to [livejournal.com profile] xavantina, [livejournal.com profile] suzie_shooter, [livejournal.com profile] sparklenight, Helen and, inexplicably, Sam Winchester for your cards; they made me very happy, and they're looking at me from the top of the chest of drawers right now.

(Also, my brother has an offer from Oxford University! Provided he gets three As at A Level (which he certainly should, because he's the most intelligent person I know), Joseph should be going there to study Philosophy and Theology. I am so pleased for him.)


Today, I saw High School Musical: The Ice Tour with [livejournal.com profile] th_esaurus, [livejournal.com profile] nonsensical, [livejournal.com profile] meisalliam and [livejournal.com profile] choledotcom. We are all grown women and so really did not have an excuse for going, but I am so glad we did, because it was amazing. The story was very cut down, and, to my distress, most of the songs had parts chopped out as well, but I suppose sacrifices had to be made to fit both of the first two films into the show.

Particularly amazing things:

- RYAN AND CHAD HAD THEIR ARMS AROUND EACH OTHER. After 'I Don't Dance', after 'Gotta Go My Own Way' and 'Bet On It', just after Troy had apologised for being a git, Chad skated over to Ryan and slung his arm across his back. And then they skated to a different part of the rink. And put their arms around each other again. I actually squeaked aloud. RYAN AND CHAD. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

- RYAN. AND CHAD. ARMS AROUND EACH OTHER. AROUND EACH OTHER. ARMS.

- Ryan's actor understood Ryan! He was sparkly and flamboyant and enthused and fabulous! And all the characters looked fairly like the actors from the films! With the exception of Troy, who, er, didn't.

- 'I Don't Dance' on ice, impressively, manages to be even more homosexual than the original. There's just something about two guys in ice skates twirling closely around each other.

- Ryan and Sharpay were wearing different outfits every time they appeared. And almost all of them were sparkly. It's so Ryan and Sharpay!

- When Ryan was up on the balcony at the back of the rink, spying on 'You Are The Music In Me', he started dancing along. RYAN ♥.

- Did I mention how much I love Ryan and Chad? There is a part of me that just wants to write massive amounts of Ryan/Chad for eternity.

- HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. ICE DANCING. HOW CAN THIS NOT BE A BRILLIANT COMBINATION?


Whilst I'm speaking about High School Musical, a comment on the third film: Sharpay tells Ryan to ask Kelsi to the prom, as part of a subplot that is abruptly dropped. At first, I thought the abandonment of the plot was just forgetfulness on the part of the writers. It took me a while to realise that the entire purpose of the suddenly-forgotten subplot was to provide an excuse for Ryan to ask a girl to the prom, because he is so homosexual that Disney knew the audience would never buy it without a reason.

I think that's marvellous.

I love Ryan so much. I would rather like to marry him, but he is fictional and I don't think he would really be up for it, given, y'know...
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (NOOOOOOOOO)
I spent my first night in my lodgings for the new year of university with between two and four cats on my bed at any one time. My hostess's fourteen-year-old son watches Supernatural and recognises a ukulele when he hears it, which bodes well, and poisoned us all barely an hour after I arrived by leaving a pan of oil on the hob unattended, which doesn't.

I feel it is going to be an interesting year.

Anyway! I've got stamps, I've got envelopes and I've got a forty-five minute train journey to campus in the mornings. Anyone want a letter? Comments are screened; I'll unscreen ones that don't include an address. (If there's a fictional character you'd particularly like a letter from - letters from fictional characters are fabulous - let me know! If you definitely just want a letter from Riona, rather than a Winchester or a member of Torchwood or a pregnant Chad Michael Murray (I'm willing to give the 'characters' from Supernatural and Top Gear RPF a go, but Chad Michael Murray will always be pregnant and Piers Morgan will always be a zombie), you might want to specify that as well.)
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (oh god (quarkz))
I have been watching a little Avatar: The Last Airbender (or Avatar: The Legend of Aang, as it is inexplicably called here in the UK) lately, and Sokka is a bit great, isn't he? And I'm very impressed by the complexity of the antagonists; that's not something you see often in what is essentially a children's cartoon. Of course, the problem is that Prison Break is my love of the moment, and so when I'm watching Avatar I'm wondering how the characters would get along in Fox River, and that's just not going to end well for anyone. Sokka and Sucre could actually get along wonderfully well (just imagine it!), but I really don't want to let T-Bag anywhere near Katara. (Katara/Scofield: wrong, or so right? ...yes, all right, it's wrong. BUT I AM WEIRDLY INTRIGUED BY THE THOUGHT ANYWAY.)


Speaking of giant mechanical spiders: yesterday, I received a box from America containing a bag of Pokémon figurines (hee!) and a letter.

The letter is one hundred and forty sides of A4 long.

I swear that's got to break some sort of record.

It has apparently been in the writing for about nine months and tells the story, illustrated with stick-figures throughout, of how I became trapped in the world of Final Fantasy XI, had adventures with [livejournal.com profile] twilit_wanderer's character, briefly encountered the Top Gear trio, got attacked by goblins, nursed unwell chocobos back to health, got knocked out by a winged lion and captured by the undead and eventually escaped.

Seriously, I'm not sure I can ever use the postal service again, because [livejournal.com profile] twilit_wanderer just won it. I am completely stunned. Thank you so much; this must have taken you years. Not - not literally, obviously, but still. Years.

(Actually, what this has left me with is the great desire to write mile-long letters detailing the recipients' adventures in the world of Pokémon or something. Or maybe Avatar, when I've watched more and got a feel for the world. Or another Final Fantasy. YOU KNOW IT WOULD BE AWESOME.)
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (whatever you say)
Last night, I dreamt that Rachel from The Dark Knight was Michael Scofield's half-sister, and Michael Scofield, who was incredibly evil for some reason, had sex with her and strategically became engaged to her and manipulated her into doing something so bad for him (I can't remember what) that she ended up possibly facing the death penalty (THAT'S RIGHT; INCREDIBLY EVIL MICHAEL SCOFIELD GOT A FAMILY MEMBER ONTO DEATH ROW. I DO NOT THINK MY SUBCONSCIOUS QUITE UNDERSTANDS THE PREMISE OF PRISON BREAK), and then he travelled around Germany with a disapproving James Wilson, stealing cement trucks.

I woke up thinking 'Man, what was I just dreaming about? I know it would have made an amazing fanfic,' and then I remembered and wrote it down and, er, yes. Not exactly amazing fanfic material. (Has there ever been an, er, event (ficathon? Meme? I don't know) in which people comment with summaries of their most surreal fandom dreams and then other people write terrible fanfics based on them? Would it work? Probably not.)

Then I fell asleep again, and this time Rachel had sex with T-Bag. OH, RACHEL, WILL YOU NEVER LEARN? (In fact, here is a slightly alarming quotation from the notebook I scribbled the dream down in:

Rachel, although she seems to be in her thirties or thereabouts most of the time, occasionally fluctuates between this and being a fourteen-year-old when talking to T-Bag. At one of the fourteen-year-old points - presumably just before the sex - she asks a (very obviously a hint) question that basically boils down to 'Why do you never see guys like you having sex with girls like me?'; T-Bag's answer basically boils down to 'vigilant babysitters'.

MY SUBCONSCIOUS IS CREEPY.)

In other news (blacked out due to spoilers for 'No Rest for the Wicked', the Supernatural season-three finale; highlight to read (and don't click the links if you don't want to be spoiled, either. Well, you can click the link to [livejournal.com profile] wanttobeatree's journal, but don't click 'one' or 'two')):
today I received a letter from a Dean Winchester in Hell. The really weird part is that this is the second time this has happened in a fortnight. Perhaps my house is located on top of a Devil's Gate.

I suspect [livejournal.com profile] wanttobeatree may have had something to do with giving Hell my address.

(EDIT: And now you can read it for yourself! one, two)
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (WHY WHY WHY)
Yesterday, an envelope came through my letterbox. On the front, it said that it was from the Stig.

Inside was a blank piece of paper.

I laughed so hard.


Now it is time to establish the answer to a question that has been troubling me for, er, about ten minutes, actually. I honestly have no idea which character frightens me more. (If you don't know any of them but want to make some other suggestions, just skip the first question.)


[Poll #1232099]

(A reminder: I've only seen up to the fifth episode of the second season of Prison Break, so please try not to spoil me in the comments. Thank you!)
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (Default)
Strange Things I Have Received In The Post This Morning Theatre:


Is that you, Dean?


There was no name. It was at the top of the little pile of letters that came through the door, writing-side up, which I am going to take to mean that the postman enjoyed it. I certainly did. Heeeeee! (DEAR UNFORTUNATE UNICORN: I AM SORRY FOR LAUGHING AT YOUR PLIGHT. BUT YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THAT IT IS PRETTY HILARIOUS.)

Plus a card from 'Richard Hammond', under the cut. )

There was also (apparently the Royal Mail has decided to hoard my post for the past two weeks and spring it all on me at once) a rather marvellous letter from [livejournal.com profile] saaski_moql in the future (seriously, it's dated August 2008) containing a rather terrifying stick-figure Pyramid Head, and [livejournal.com profile] averysmallthing sent me High School Musical pencils and stickers. COMPLETELY AMAZING. Thank you all so much!

(P.S. you are all weird.)