The Tyranny of Socks

Hello from Mexico, where we have been on an intensive schedule of relaxation, interspersed with trips to the beach and regular ice cream cones. How are all of you? Needless to say, I have not been doing a good job of paying attention to Yuletide, or to the LJ changes -- sorry if my journal style remains difficult to read. I have fiddled with the style, but not very successfully.

And now I think I will go sit out on the porch some more. Happy New Year!

So yesterday was one of those days: I didn't finish my end-of-term reports or my essay marking. I made jelly that didn't gel. And I wrote a story and then lost about a page of it through my own ineptness.

So I rewrote that part today. I WROTE SOMETHING!!!

The problem is what I wrote. I was skimming prompts on an ASOIAF meme and saw "Sansa/Tywin: instead of marrying Tyrion, she is married off to Tywin."

Why couldn't this have been an anonymous meme?

Yeah. I mean, I do vaguely remember a time when I wrote about unpleasant people doing unpleasant things, but underage noncon? Seriously? What was I thinking? And frankly, Tywin Lannister deserves a warning all of his own, for lo, it is creepy inside that man's mind.

You can read it on the meme here and here. Or you can look under the cut. It doesn't go much about an R, I'd say, aside from the whole non-consensual (well, consensual within the cultural norms of the participants, but not in any meaningful sense of the word), underage, and "Tywin Lannister" part of the exercise.

( The Lannister Wedding. ASOIAF, Sansa/Tywin )

I don't know, guys. I think I need someone to pat me on the head and tell me that I'm not a bad person.

We watched the first two hours of Terra Nova the other night; it was OK, but it reminded BH of his desire to see Julian May's Pleistocene Exile books made into films or a big miniseries or something. To which I used to respond "the cost, you fool! the cost!" but now I just think, why not, if HBO can make ASOIAF? Let's have time travel with lots of plot and extra aliens! How hard could it be?

So I have this weird idea that Spooks would make a really great crossover with ASOIAF. I'm not entirely sure why; maybe just the thought of Harry having to deal with the whole mess. Plus, high mortality rates. It's just a matter of deciding which version of the Spooks cast you'd want to inflict that on.

The other canon which would make an excellent ASOIAF crossover is of course the Vorkosigan books. Because Ned Stark and Aral Vorkosigan weren't exactly separated at birth, but there are certainly some structural similarities there.

ETA: the tablet is still in its box, but I think I'm keeping it. Even if it is mostly useless for work.

New default icon! Although I am planning a concerted attack on the brambles in our garden. After the High Holidays, and after I deal with the tomato glut. I tried to make blackberry-and-apply jelly this weekend. It is concentrated deliciousness, but I only have three jars of it!

On this week's Spooks, ( under the cut! )

We also watch another "Worst Spies Ever" show, this one on Sky, called something like "Strikeback: Project something-or-other." Mostly it involves hot guys wandering around shooting at the enemies of the United Kingdom, and their super-competent (female) boss who turns up to rescue them as necessary and shoot the people they didn't, usually while looking bored or irritated and frequently in heels. But I think the producers see this as aimed at a male audience -- hence the preview for next week's episode, which I summarized as "They're in the jungle. Lots of stuff blows up. Also, naked women!" It is ridiculous and OTT in every possible way, and I can never follow the plots because I get distracted by the explosions.

Someone should write the crossover in which somehow Jaime Lannister and Luke Skywalker change places. But would it be comedy or tragedy? I think melodrama.

On holiday I read The Way We Live Now, by Anthony Trollope -- I'd been meaning to for a while, since I had good memories of a BBC adaptation about 10 years ago, although obviously time has dimmed the details a bit. I did have some hesitation, because I had to give up my last re-read of the Palliser novels at The Prime Minister because Trollope's antisemitism was just too much, and obviously, TWWLN has Melmotte and more. But in fact the quote in the introduction to the effect that it's a novel which deconstructs the antisemitism in in it seemed pretty right to me -- it's too clear that the characters who attack Melmotte and (even more) Mr. Breghert are just like them.

Also, in Marie Melmotte it has what may be the only interesting female virgin in all of Trollope's work. I would happily have read more about the further adventures of Marie Melmotte, especally if they involve Mrs. Hurtle.

( more under here )

I don't suppose anyone else remembers this book or the miniseries?

I said I would write comments on this, and since I'm not getting anything else done this afternoon, this might be the time!

( spoilers and comments under the cut )

As the sign says, off to Malta for a long weekend. Here's hoping no one gets blown up or stuffed with straw!

In theory, it's good for wild animals to be able to adapt to the human dominated environment, right? In theory. But this morning a fox got into our garbage, and the border by the apple trees also smells strongly of fox.

I suppose it's too much to hope that they've managed to drive out the badgers. ::grumble::

a. I have a new haircut (new as of Monday, that is). And it is actually new, as in a new style, rather than a shorter version of the same cut! This is very exciting to me -- although I liked my last cut well enough, I was ready to try something new. It is also short! Usually when I sit down in the chair I gesture at the middle of my neck, and get a shoulder-length cut no matter what. But this is sort-of bob length, long in front and short in the back. Basically, it is the same haircut fillyjonk had last year when I saw her, although as a description this is no use to anyone reading this journal.

b. I am still thinking of Dr. Who, and might even write something about it some day. River Song, how so awesome? Oh yes, that's how!

c. In other British TV news, 'The Shadow Line' and I parted company during episode 2, and the more I hear, the more confident I feel in that decision. Not that it isn't good, but my stomach just isn't that strong. I am enjoying 'Scott and Bailey', though -- it's one of those shows where it is so clear that lots of the people involved in the production are female. Although I wish that the cases weren't so grimly SVU-type things. In that, it reminds me a bit of Women's Murder Club -- in fact, if you liked that you would probably like this.

d. Spartacus' childminder feels that he is more musical than the norm for his age; I have no idea (but I have no comparison, either). I took him to a toddler concert last weekend, though, and about halfway through he remembered that there were cars parked outside, so we had to go look at those instead. Maybe the oboe just isn't his instrument?

e. Wow, this post is boring! And I've been writing it all day, off and on. This is why I don't update more often.

f. For the record, I log IPs for anonymous commenters on LJ, but you can always comment on the dreamwidth version. And I still have vast numbers of DW invites.