pink bows and the apocalypse

Yuletide has come and almost gone, and I haven't posted about my marvelous gifts. Clearly that is a fact that needs to be fixed. This year, as in the past, I am overwhelmed by the awesome fics Yuletide has produced. I haven't had as much of a chance to write or read this year (damn awesome new job and the beginnings of a social life! clearly I need to forgo you during Yuletide) but I did get a chance to read the trio of wonderful fics all for me!

Just a Passageway (3074 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: The Wire
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Ellis Carver, Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins, Preston 'Bodie' Broadus, Original Female Character
Summary:

Sergeant Carver needs to get out from behind his desk once in a while, so he pays a call on a resident of the Western, and learns a few things.
Set early in Season 4

OMG, circle. This fic is amazingness incarnate, The author took the time to include my favorite characters (Carver! Bodie! Bubbles!) as well as an amazing OFC to tell a perfectly Wire tale. So much love for this fic. Seriously, why are you still reading this entry and not the fic?

A Pharaoh From The West (100 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Hip Hop RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Kanye West, Jay Pharaoh
Summary:

Have you ever had sex with a pharaoh?

You must go read this fic. It is a little piece of perfection in drabble form. I obviously have no idea who could write such awesomeness *cough* but if I did, I would twirl them because this, this is greatness.

Consequences (Brap Brap Brap) (543 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Attack the Block (2011)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Moses
Summary:

Moses was a legend on the block

I am seriously the luckiest. Just read that summary and tell me that I am not. See, you can't. &Moses; &thisfic; &thisauthor; <33333333333333

Also, a non-Yuletide rec that is a long time coming because I suck.

Every year I try to do some art for the Fall Fandom Free-for-All. This year I did a few wallpapers, and in return I got something so amazing it blows my mind. bardofcogs did a freaking amazing podfic of my fic Down in the Valley. And she did it awesomely. I've been traveling quite a bit lately and have listened to this a ton and I love it more with every listen. And that has nothing to do with my sub-par writing and everything to do with her awesome reading. Love Love Love.

Lastly, if you guess any of the five fics I wrote for Yuletide, you can claim either a drabble or 3 icons. Now for some hints.

• All the fics were over 1k words, and not in the Madness collection. None are crossovers, and all of them are under 5k.


• My assignment fic was written for a canon I have never written before, but I adore for being hilarious.


• Unless you already knew, you will not guess my first pinch hit. But the title of the fic comes from a hymn.


• I wrote one treat, which is so obvious I might as well have put my name on it. It features both a fandom and characters I have written before.


• My second pinch hit is another fandom I have never mentioned before. It is also the weirdest thing I have ever written. (Yes, even more so than the Leverage/Othello crossover.)


• My third, and final, pinch hit was titled from a lyric from one of my favorite hip hop artists.

Lovely flist, I have achieved the fannish dream. No, I didn't get two male leads of (insert popular show) to make out on camera. And I also didn't manage to unearth the current psued for MsScribe, or become anything close to a BNF.

No. I just turned my fandom hobby into a career.

I started making icons less than three years ago. They're still public, and still awful. I hadn't used Photoshop in years when I decided to try my hand at making them, but doing it made me happy. I loved it, even though I could see how crappy they were.

So I kept practicing. And I started learning and practicing and trying tutorials and reading books and color theory and somewhere along the way my former boss asked me if I could make some e-commerce banners and I said I did, leading to more and more design work.

This week I had to choose between two offers of full-time, with benefits and matching 401ks, graphic design jobs.

I am still fighting a major case of imposter syndrome. (It is just a hobby! I do it for fun! I have no real training, and since I taught myself anyone can do it.)

But fuck that. I did it.

I happened to stop on my profile the other day and I realized I missed my 5th year anniversary on LJ. I suppose I should do some meme or other in celebration, but realistically I don't have time to make icons and I haven't been able to write anything for months. So let's not and say I did.

I realize I have been a bit absent, partly due to the time thing and the inability to write thing, but mostly because I have been feeling a bit disconnected from fandom. (Though I am, as always, overwhelmed and appreciative that people like my fanart. Really, people comment, and not just to tell me how awful it is! I am always amazed when that happens.)

But there have been a few vids that have made me happy lately that I thought I should share:

Vids:
Five Years Time by gigglemonster (Parks and Rec)

This vid is love. Sorry for the old meme, but that is my legit reaction to this. I love the song choice and the effervescence that fills it. I dare you to watch it and not smile.

When the Ship Comes In by chaila (The Wire)

I did not expect the song choice but it works so freaking well to demonstrate the wonderfully tragic relationship of Stringer and Avon. My initial thought was to just tell all of you to watch it and write me lots of fic, but due to spoilers: Go watch The Wire, then watch this vid, then write me lots of fic. And seriously, it will be worth your time to complete all those steps.

Welcome Home by barkley (Friday Night Lights)

I miss this show already. This vid doesn't mitigate that (which would be more than a bit impossibly) but it does distill how great the show was.

It's the End of the World as We Know It by danegen (Community)

Even a wildly overused song, when applied correctly, can result in an awesome vid. Such is the case here.

You Told the Drunks I Knew Karate by settiai (Doctor Who [New])

PONDS! Ponds being precious and heroic and so perfect for each other.

And in case you were wondering, that vid rec also stands as my reaction to the latest ep.

Last SPN art post of the year! Thanks to sunspot for being so enthusiastic about working with me, even when I decided to try a new style.

Which leads me to a caveat: While I can design and can use shapes to create icons and logos in Illustrator, freehand work or even tracing is not my forte. Proceed with caution is all I am saying.

Fic: The Maiden Voyage of the S.S. Bad Touch
Author: sunspot
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing(s): References to Sam/Ruby
Summary:
Take one demon and add an angel. Subtract their powers and strand far from humans. The math is conclusive. It's time to get off the island.

Even if it means paddling.

Teaser:



( art )

( mix )

( track listing )

Notes:
Thanks to the the spn_j2_bigbang mods for their awesome work again this year.

Once again I managed to snag the claim of a fellow fan artist, this time geckoholic, and feel very intimidated. Luckily she seems to like my interpretations of her fic.

Fic: Devil Man
Author: geckoholic
Fandoms: Supernatural
Pairing(s): Gen
Summary: S6 AU (sort of), goes off from canon roundabout halfway into Swan Song:
Michael didn't take Adam as his vessel for the final fight, so after the devil went off wearing Sam,Dean says yes as well. But the fight that followed got interrupted, for reasons neither Sam nor Dean remember. Both angels and demons seemingly packed up and left, and what's left behind is a world that got shaken by a bunch of natural disasters.

Two years later the brothers and Castiel still struggle with the aftermath of the apocalypse and
everything that led up to it when Sam starts to behave strangely. But Lucifer is gone . . Or is he?

Banner:

(1700x1150)

( cover & poster )

( fic art )

( dividers )

( mix )

( tracklisting )

My first big bang post of the year, for thesocialbbang.

Creating art for this fic was so much fun, despite, or maybe because of, the limited time frame we had for this round. (See: my love of pinch hits, deadlines etc. Makes things exciting. I actually had these done within 48 hours of getting the fic.)

Hopefully it doesn't disappoint!

Fic: And I Will Hold On
Author: venus_aurea
Fandom: The Social Network
Pairing(s): Eduardo/Mark
Warning(s): deals with mental health issues
Summary: AU. When Mark mysteriously disappears one morning, Eduardo begins to question his own sanity and starts to see a therapist, hoping to figure out the puzzle of his relationship with Mark.

( and now for the art! )

( mix covers! )

( tracklisting! )

ETA: Fic is now up. Plus, now I have an appropriate icon.

People, why is my life so very boring? Please don't answer that, for I fear it would result in a vicious cycle of tediousness.

Instead, let's talk fannish happenings. And since I do so very much love lists, I am employing the trusty bullets.

• The season of big bangs has commenced! Feel free to make dirty jokes about banging and big things as you please. This weekend I finished art for two claims, one for the first round of thesocialbbang and the other for sncross_bigbang. (Yes, I officially failed at writing for the latter, so claimed an awesome fic to make art for instead.)
  
  I also have two more fics in my possession in need of art (for spn_j2_bigbang) for which I have plans and ideas. So many ideas! (And also, awesomely, lots and lots of time until they will be posted.)


• Relatedly, lend me your ears! Or rather, lend me the thing you listen to with your ears, aka music! While putting together mixes I realized my music collection is in need of a good turnover. What are you listening to these days, oh wonderful circle of friends?
  
  I (obviously) have been listening to Lupe's new album. (You should have seen my face when Lasers leaked. It was like :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. Only happier. And not actually an emoticon.) Sadly, it did not quite live up to my expectations, though truthfully that would have been very hard. But I still recommend it, as well as all of his past catalog.


• This week marks the ending of most of the shows I follow. I am considering doing a roundup of this TV season and why I started/stopped/continued watching certain shows. However, I think I would need to break out my Teal Deer Crossing sign if I did that.
  
  I have been following the ongoing Upfronts, because, yes, I am that kind of a TV geek. I am super excited for Awake and Alcatraz, and kinda meh about all the other announced new shows so far. I have very mixed feelings about the fact that NBC declined to pick up Wonder Woman. Gimme fantastic female superheros, please and thank you. On the other hand, well, script, costume and David E. Kelly involvement all pointed to awful television territory.


• Lastly. Here is my in-depth critique of this week's Doctor Who.
  
  ( no real spoilers )

remixing:2011

I love reading about the remixing process so I thought I’d put in my two cents. This year I wrote four: one assignment, one pinch hit and two madness. However, I think only two of them really worked as remixes.

I took different approaches to how I actually went about remixing each of them

First up, the Madness fics.

friend of mine (the guess what, i'm not a robot remix) (1644 words) by kristin
Fandom: Social Network (2010)
Relationships: Eduardo Saverin/Mark Zuckerberg
Characters: Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin
Summary: Okay, maybe that should have been Dustin's first clue that something was wrong. Because A) Mark could do his own research and B) well, when had Mark ever wanted to know anything about another person? A friendship found in texts.
I wrote this in about an hour on the last day, right before I was due at work. It is a remix of no child of mine, aka the epic hooker!fic/stalking!fic/bamf!wardo!fic. I had read it before and was looking for an excuse to write TSN fic, so I was thrilled when ninhursag signed up for Remix Madness.

As for the process of remixing, it basically went, well, I don’t have time to tell Wardo’s part of the story (though I really wanted to) but wait, outsider PoV!

Naturally, given how quickly I wrote it, it was my most popular fic this year. I like it when people read my stuff, so I was delighted to watch the hit count go up and up.

However, it really really doesn’t work as a remix.

No, Seriously.

One of the main criteria for remixes, in my opinion, is that it can stand on its own. It should tell a similar story, and draw from the original, but at the end of the day, if it can’t be read and understood on its own, well, it is just a sequel/missing scene/extension of the original. For it to be a remix, you should be able to read either one first.

So while I had fun writing Dustin and Wardo texting each other, I am annoyed at how far off the mark I was.


sleep apraxia (the land, sea and sky remix) (1160 words) by kristin
Characters: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes
Summary: “This is just so-” John paused, quite obviously searching for the right adjective. Interesting. His face was, almost impossibly, more open this way. Expressions exaggerated rather than drug dull. Atypical. (Must keep that in mind for assessing other reactions.) “Sherlock.” Three times Sherlock slept in a moving vehicle.

On the other hand, this fic does work, at least in my mind. I remixed saraht’s recreational aphasia, which is a lovely quiet little fic from John’s POV. I had never written Sherlock fic before, and I knew I wanted to write from Sherlock’s PoV, so this worked perfectly.

Now as I mentioned, I have read a bunch of remixing meta in the past. One of the best bits of advice I took was to take something away from the original, but then also add something new. In this case I took away John’s PoV and added two additional times Sherlock slept.

Not anything groundbreaking or wonderful, but I think this fic worked well enough.


Wait for the Sunrise (The Quantum Entanglement Remix) (1193 words) by kristin
Fandom: Firefly
Characters: River Tam, Zoe Washburne
Summary: At the end of the 'verse, River has a conversation with Schrödinger's cat.

For my pinch hit I a remix of Strength of the World by escritoireazul.

The alternate title of the fic should be: How Kristin Confused Herself.

So, I initially planned on writing from the PoV of the cat. However, when I was rereading the fic, I realized that the cat wasn’t real, or maybe it was. I went back, reread it yet again and still couldn’t figure it out.

From there it was obvious there had to be at least a mention of Schrodinger. And... well, after that, it was taken care of it really was just a simple PoV switch. As to the cat, still no clue if it was a metaphor, real, Serenity, a communal madness.


There is No Relativity (The Fright Fest Remix) (2974 words) by kristin
Fandom: Veronica Mars (TV)
Characters: Wallace Fennel, Veronica Mars, Lilly Kane
Summary: “You know you are my best sidekick.” Wallace paused while Veronica settled back down onto the couch. “At least until I build that robot.”Veronica Mars watches horror movies with her BF(F).

Lastly, though it was first written, there is my assignment fic, a remix of azurejay’s Our lives will not flash before our eyes.

I lucked out on my assignment this year. There were 5+ fandoms xe had written in that I knew. I decided to go through them all systematically, and I actually did. I started a txt document where I copied the info of all fics I liked/thought I could remix and made notes there.

But for all of that, I still remixed the first fic I read. (I blame fandom march madness, as it had rekindled my VMars love.)

I knew I wanted to write Veronica&Wallace fic, so I jumped right in and wrote about them hanging out and discussing their lives as movies, which is a scene that is briefly mentioned in the original. (Sidenote: this was the first fic where I wrote all the dialogue first, then went back through and added tags. Not quite sure I liked that approach.) I finished it pretty quickly and merrily sent it off to be betaed.

If you like this fic, you should praise snow. Because she read through the fic and informed me it didn't work and, most importantly let me know what the fic needed, aka Lilly.

The thing is, I am still not 100% sure this works as a remix either. I am not sure it relates enough to azurejay's awesome original.

First! I drabbled. (Which is less disgusting than it sounds. I know it is a legit term I just always read it as something not that pleasant.) And as I am bit of a purist, yes, it is exactly 100 words, at least according to Ao3.

So here is a tiny fic about Rory that I knid of hate. Not because of Rory, but because I am sure I fucked up his voice. (Wow, I am sure selling the shit out of this fic, aren't I?)

Knowing (100 words) by kristin
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Amy Pond/Rory Williams
Characters: Rory Williams
Summary:

Rory has heard the comments. Hard not to. “You let your girlfriend/fiancee/wife go around kissing other blokes?” (As if he ever let Amy do anything.)

Secondly, I am in the finishing process of two fics, one for an exchange one for fun. Each will clock in at under 1k (or just about that range) and each needs a beta and (if I can get it) Brit-picking. The fics:

• Doctor Who, River Song and Donna Noble gen.


• Sherlock (BBC), Sherlock and John gen.

Please let me know if you can help out over the next couple days! (They won't be ready for anyone else's eye until tomorrow morning.)

Once again I've done character20n20. This time I claimed Joan from Mad Men.

Teaser:
. .

( the rest are under the cut )