Patron Saint of Falling Over Things

Today was the first real scorcher of summer: 41 degrees C and an extreme fire risk. There was a nasty, scary fire in the north of the state, and a closer but smaller and better controlled one at Framlingham, but they're both coming under control as the evening rolls in. Our visitors went home yesterday, which was a wise choice. I wouldn't want to be on the roads today through the Otways, with the fire risk this high.

I don't really know how the new house behaves in the heat, but so far, with the shades down and the lights off, it seems to be holding at a nice temperature. The ceiling fans really help, too.



Fic for 2014:

I didn't write as much as I wanted to, but I did post two big bangs, both of which I'm really proud of.

( 64K words, but only 8 fics )




WIPs:

I've got 50K of Winter Soldier fic just waiting to be jossed by Agent Carter in a week or so. *le sigh* It's worth it for more Peggy canon.


OMG, I just found a file in my WIP folder, entitled "Warehouse 13 a/b/o plan". Um.

( I honestly cannot remember this chat happening so I'm really glad I c&p'd it into a doc: )


This closet is full of awesome crap!! This was for... something Warehousey:


( snippet: Five Times the Warehouse Called on the Sanctuary )

There's 3K of this, with pirates. Later, Helena murders someone with a vole.




TV and Movies:

Winter Soldier! Oh, man, I mean, I'd read the comics, and I liked the story, but the movie punched me in the feels big time.

X-Men: Days of Future Past: Surprisingly did not get fannish about this. I mean, I liked it. I loved it. But I did not write for it.

Person of Interest: We have inhaled two seasons, and are launching into the third. Love it! It took me a while to get into, and I still find Mr Reese deeply odd. I haven't investigated the fic department of this fandom, but do people write him as, like, the embodiment of the Machine? I find him easier to deal with if I can tell myself that somehow Finch built a walking, talking, empathy-impaired android. (Now I'm ear-wormed with a creepy Cliff Richard song.) Although we've just had the episode where Root identifies the Machine as female. But anyway, I strongly suspect I'm going to be all about Shaw/Root. Also I love Carter. Also I know what happens.

- Battlestar Galactica: I mainlined this while we were moving. I had to do it alone, because it's hellishly handheld and vertigo inducing, plus lilacsigil doesn't do apocalyptic fandoms. (Although I'll argue it becomes less apocalyptic in later seasons, though not less handheld.) One of the benefits of watching a show long after it has finished is being able to google for the really bad episodes and skip over them.

Oh, my love for the ladies of this show. Oh, my incredible crush on Katee Sackhoff's shoulders.


- Longmire: I'm midway through season 2. I started this for Katee Sackhoff (omg, she needs to be in it more, what a waste!) but I'm staying for Lou Diamond Philips. I did not honestly expect to enjoy it as much as I am. But it needs more ladies, lots more ladies. I can ship Walt/Henry with no difficulty, but I really need some lady ships.

- Sleepy Hollow. I would not have picked you as my DNF show this year. Seriously, what a freaking disaster you turned into. I am so sad for your clever, media-savvy actors who know the ship is going down.

- Doctor Who, you lost me when Twelve told Clara she was fat. What the actual fuck was that. Not that I won't keep coming back - I am always going to come back, it's a lifelong thing.

Ugh, that finished up depressing. I will cheer myself up by looking to the future. I am looking forward to Agent Carter. So very much. Please don't suck, please don't be gross and weird. I have The Librarians ready to watch as soon as my schedule settles down a little. Person of Interest Season Three is fun so far. *hugs self gently* It's okay, bb.



Comics

I was so glad to come back to comics this year! Not that I think the stupidity and grossness of the industry has lessened, but my volcanic rage at the stupidity and grossness has simmered down enough that I can now enjoy the good things.

Ms Marvel! So adorable, and so full of ridiculousness and glorious heroism.

Hawkeye. So unexpectedly droll, so unexpectedly leading me into using a smush name for a ship. America wasn't even in it, and yet I am team Amerikate.

Young Avengers. For the Amerikate!!

Loki: Agent of Asgard. I'm only six issues in, but it's awesome. (I am apparently supposed to read Journey into Mystery, but I remember when lilacsigil read the last issue and something SO AWFUL happened that she walked around the house randomly bursting into tears. So I'm never going to read that, because I don't do sad endings.)

Thor! I'm only two issues in, but I love lady!Thor! Also Malekith is walking around with dude!Thor's arm wrapped around his neck like a stole, and it's hilarious and camp. I feel like he'd be great on Project Runway.

I also did a re-read of the Winter Soldier arc in Captain America, because of my many feels about the movie.




Fic Read

I read and recced a lot this year, for me. *proud* Two standouts:

This, You Protect (64326 words) by owlet
Chapters: 33/33
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers
Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Natasha Romanov, Tony Stark, Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Pepper Potts, Clint Barton
Additional Tags: Humor, I hope humor anyway, cursing, Protection, Strong feelings about coffee, slightly off-canon, Steve is sassy, sam is sassy, Bucky is sassy, Everyone has their sassy pants on, just accept that grilled cheese is the perfect food, old people are Team Bucky
Summary:

The mission resets abruptly, from objective: kill to objective: protect

Ugh, it's over. *gross crying* Where am I going to get my pick-me-up now? A new chapter seemed to come just when I was feeling miserable or cranky. And now it's over. Which is great. But sad.


Life of Crime (35399 words) by neveralarch
Chapters: 8/8
Fandom: Marvel 616, Hawkeye (Comics)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton, Clint Barton/Carol Danvers, Clint Barton & Kate Bishop, Kate Bishop/America Chavez, Barney Barton & Clint Barton
Characters: Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes, Carol Danvers, Kate Bishop, Barney Barton, Maya Lopez, Steve Rogers, Tracksuit Mafia, Lester | Bullseye
Additional Tags: Deaf Clint Barton, Edgeplay, Consensual Kink, Polyamory, Supervillain AU, also lots of other characters and implied pairings but these tags were starting to get out of hand
Summary:

As a supervillain supercriminal contract worker with a morality deficit, Clint Barton leads a glamorous life. You know, stolen cars, dangerous women, a really confusing relationship with a meddling do-gooder, the works. It's pretty awesome. Except for, uh, medical bills, the mob, and being on the run all the time. That part isn't all that awesome.

(A supervillain AU where Clint shoots arrows at people and gets beat up a lot. So, not really that much of an AU.)

This is the one that brought me back to comics, so I really have to nominate it as the best fic I read this year. It's why I had to read Young Avengers and Hawkeye. I think I'm going to go re-read it now.



Yay, it's cooler here now, finally! And I have coffee jelly and vanilla ice-cream. And tomorrow is going to be slightly less scorching than predicted! 2015, you're not so bad, so far.

Still haven't moved. Send help and reinforcements. The real estate agent has a tenant lined up for our old place; she keeps knocking on the door to ask when we'll be vacating so we can lease the house. IDEK. At least it won't be sitting empty. At least it's rentable without major renovations (and at least this tenant is willing to move in while the not so major renovations are done.)


I survived my major dental appointment by having a panic attack on the Sunday beforehand that was so intense and so horrifying that two hours of crown work was nothing to fear in comparison. The panic attack wasn't even to do with the the dental appointment - it was my mother's birthday on Sunday, and when I went to text her, I had to scroll and scroll to find our last communication, which was in January - hence panic attack and waves of self-loathing that far outweighed my fear of dentistry. I do not recommend this as a method of dealing with dental phobia. I feel like a piece of fruit leather at the bottom of a schoolbag. But the temporary crown is in and the next appointment is not so arduous. OR SO THEY TELL ME. /dire looks


Tinee media review:

- Doctor Who: tentatively enjoying it on the proviso that I read no negative reviews and allow myself to soak in a syrupy non-critical solution of self-care while watching it. A new Doctor is always a treat, in that assorted chocolates way. I don't really know what Twelve is like yet, but I'm pretty sure he's not a soft-centre. (OMG where is this analogy going? I release my grip on sanity! Let it go!)

- Reign: Watched the first two episodes and really, really enjoyed them. It's like, history on crack with fancy dresses and ooooh, boys, and lots of girls hugging.


Tinee linkspam:

- Seriously adorable crochet pattern: Crochet a baby Groot (warning for animated gif)

- Somewhat underbaked science that nonetheless rang true for me and my many hearing problems: Middle ear may hold answers for autism treatment (Warning for discussion of familial abuse)

- H/T to cofax7 for this one: The Most Amazing Lie in History (I feel like I want some kind of Peggy Carter encounter with this guy. Maybe Judy Dench's M can be in it, too. She must have been pretty deadly in WWII.

- Misty Copeland will be performing Swan Lake in Australia - this photo from her instagram is just beautiful. I love the strength and compassion on her face - I usually find Odette a bit mimsy, but this is amazing. (Eeeeeh, using facebook to embed from Instagram to my journal - this is a little too close to crossing the streams, if you ask me.)

( Instagram clearly too evil - am hotlinking like a crime lord )

- I wish this scene had been in the Winter Soldier: This Is What Hawkeye Was Going To Do In Captain America: The Winter Soldier

- Speaking of Winter Soldier, famira has made a trillion textless icons from the movie: all under their Captain America tag. Go snaffle them up!


Since my last post, I've mostly been reading comics: re-reading Captain America's Winter Soldier arc, also Young Avengers (omg Miss America! Amerikate foreva!), Ms Marvel (omg the latest team-up killed me with the adorability).


( Also made a bunch of icons suddenly and out of the blue: some Doctor Who, some Young Avengers which are, admittedly, 90% America Chavez )

And that's all there is. There isn't any more.