Beth Winter

GreatestJournal has just cut userpics down to 10.

InsaneJournal has been down for the past hour.

I think I'll be staying with our Russian overlords for the time being.

Not my best gallery, but either way, I'm back from Edinburgh and have photos in tow :)

( Edinburgh photos )

I guess I may have been expecting too much from Beowulf, with a Gaiman script and actors like that. They do a decent job, though without the magic; I liked some motives (Queen Wealthow could have used expansion, for example) and generally I think it could use a rewrite as a female story. Graphically, it's gorgeous, though it suffers from the usual animators' penchant for "look what we can do with slime!" Best dragon since Dragonheart, that's for sure.

And all of this would have made for a more than satisfying outing if not for the fact that despite not watching it in 3D - on account of fearing just that effect - my head started hurting during the final fight. I managed to stumble home while opening my eyes for a blink every thirty seconds, then lay in a dark room for hours just to get the pounding to stop.

Note to self: 3D movies are to be watched on the small screen.

I completely forgot about my potcfest fic ~_~ Thanks to etrangere for reminding me.

Title: The King and the Queen
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Elizabeth, Calypso
Disclaimer: Disney owes all but Elizabeth's hairpins.

In the end, there are things to be settled between the King and the Queen

After falling behind around 2x03, I'm finally all caught up on Heroes and can offer at least some thoughts on the second season.

( Spoilers for Heroes 2x01 to 2x06 )

I signed up for Yuletide, which means a week and a bit of waiting with bated breath until I get my assignment. And then there's the fact Takarazuka Moon Troupe will be in London in January and I may end up glomping vampires, Deaths and Japanese crossdressers all in one week, but that also requires waiting for dates and details to go up.

To help me wait, I stole an idea from alighiera and ariss_tenoh, to take advantage of my good Yuletide karma and the urge to WRITE something. It's been a while:

1. Make at least three requests from different fandoms, for original stories, or a mixture of both. Optionally, in addition give me characters and/or a setting, a plot, a situation or some other kind of prompt. If you make a request for something original, give me a prompt of some kind in any case. A setting, plot, even a word.

2. If there's something you absolutely want (or don't want) to see in your story, tell me.

3. Fandoms I can write:
( All I've ever written and most I've read )

I'll take all requests posted here before Yuletide assignments go out (a few days after October 18). I'll post all fic before December 6, St Nick's. Each story will be 500 words, minimum.

Comments are screened so you take your chances :)

(Also: yes, original includes That RPG. And if you know anyone looking for fic in any of those fandoms, feel free to pimp. I want to write!)

www.free-burma.org

(Image by Marco Preti

Today's shaping up interesting. First I went to a musicals mini-gala at a breast-cancer awareness event. Where I had the singular opportunity of watching Koukol von Krolock. Honestly - the guy singing von Krolock's part of Totale Finsternis would be our regular Koukol.

( Video proof )

Now, off for entertainment of the nocturnal kind. In the last week, I've had coffee with people twice, lunch with people twice, two social phonecalls (including a two-hour-long one, also known as yes, fyrie still doesn't have internet at home), and now a night out. Very soon I'll wake up and it'll all have been a dream.

I saw Dnevnoy Dozor, the sequel to Night Watch, today. I liked the original movie for its slightly mad take on urban fantasy, Russian-punk style, even if the plot could use work, and I like the original books (completely different from the movies).

Day Watch left me reeling. It's - post-modern is probably the wrong word, but it's a mad ride of tropes and plots and postcard-like scenes that stay with you. Fate and inescapability and escape. Lots of emphasis on father-son issues, and two of the main characters (Olga and Anton) body-switching and the actors having such complete fun with it. They must have spent ages studying each other's body language, because Olga in a male body was to die for.

It's such a decadent, oneiric movie, and at the same time the plot is tight. Every moment pushes the action forward. Visually, it's stunning - less elf-punk grime and more New Russian shine, and effects are gorgeous in their simplicity. Let's just say that for the four million (USD) total this film cost, they blew up Moscow, got Tamerlane to invade Samarkand, and filmed the best ending to a truck chicken-fight ever. If you asked me to name a budget figure for the effects alone, I'd say forty million and wouldn't be surprised at twice that.

So yes, recommended, especially if you want to see the East-West divide in action, mentality-wise - it's such a Russian movie. And I think it woke up certain characters of mine, which is good, because it's been ages since I wrote Flowers of the Frost.

21 pictures selected from the 914 I shot, which means don't complain about picspam, I would say :) I'm too tired to annotate, but if there are any questions, I can elaborate on each.

( Read more... )