December already?
Dec. 2nd, 2010 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I am once again doing the WIP challenge at
writethisfanfic this month, and the good news is I forced myself to work on the story last night. The bad news is, I took out more words than I put in, so I am starting off with a negative word count. Hopefully I'll be making up for that by this weekend. Which reminds me, we don't know the December
fic_rush weekend yet, do we? I think I'm going to need it again to pull me out of this hole I keep putting myself into.
Not doing Yuletide, but I did hang up a stocking at
fandom_stocking. It seems like a fun community, although it does feel a little awkward to advertise my stocking -- like I'm shilling for gifts or something. However, since there are umpteen gazillion stockings, I will go ahead and point mine out for any of you who are so inclined as to stop by: my stocking is here.
I've been going through the extras on the S5 boxset, and so far I am disappointed by the commentaries and the video diaries. Although it was slightly amusing to see the in-vision commentary for Time of Angels and notice the amazing amount of awkwardness between Steven Moffat and Karen Gillan. Can we please get David Tennant back in there, just for a commentary or two? Or Colin Baker? I bet he'd have some great things to say. So would Peter Davison. In fact, I think I'm going to have to go re-rent Arc of Infinity to remind myself of what a good commentary sounds like.
Hope everyone's December is going well so far, and to those of you who celebrate, happy Hanukkah!
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Not doing Yuletide, but I did hang up a stocking at
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I've been going through the extras on the S5 boxset, and so far I am disappointed by the commentaries and the video diaries. Although it was slightly amusing to see the in-vision commentary for Time of Angels and notice the amazing amount of awkwardness between Steven Moffat and Karen Gillan. Can we please get David Tennant back in there, just for a commentary or two? Or Colin Baker? I bet he'd have some great things to say. So would Peter Davison. In fact, I think I'm going to have to go re-rent Arc of Infinity to remind myself of what a good commentary sounds like.
Hope everyone's December is going well so far, and to those of you who celebrate, happy Hanukkah!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 01:37 pm (UTC)unless it's November.I don't celebrate it, but have a happy Hanukkah yourself :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 06:33 pm (UTC)I'm doing a pretty bad job of celebrating Hanukkah myself this year. I found my menorah, but I couldn't find any candles. Then I meant to buy some while I was at the grocery store, but I forgot. Hopefully I'll get it together by the last night! Of course, the fact that there was *nothing* in the store to remind me of Hanukkah had something to do with it. Twenty bucks says that the grocery store manager will put up a little display with candles, potato pancake mix and matzoh in around two weeks, when Christmas is closer and Hanukkah is well and truly over. (Even though no one eats matzoh for Hanukkah, the grocery store managers here seem to think that all Jewish holidays require matzoh.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 11:42 pm (UTC)I think writing-without-editing is just as much of a skill as editing-while-writing, in its way. Neither's inherently better, and most people seem to work best with one or t'other; but they can both be extremely useful depending on what you're trying to accomplish at the time.
Myself, I fix in-scene mistakes, spelling errors and continuity blunders as I go, drop notes into the margins whenever I notice something going awry that a scene doesn't outright depend on, and then do a major line-edit at the end. The scene rewrites that I'm doing this month are all from either my dry spell, where I was just forcing myself to put something down no matter how rubbish, or NaNo, where I was writing fluidly but not editing at all as I went. Generally speaking my first drafts are a bit messy in terms of style, and might have some minor continuity glitches, but otherwise they're coherent.
I hope you can get some candles soon :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 04:15 am (UTC)I keep missing fic_rush. It's kind of annoying, because I know the date, mark it down, and really enjoy it but... *grumpy face* Maybe this will be the month!
Happy holidays!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 06:24 am (UTC)*crosses fingers for you for fic_rush*
Happy holidays to you, too!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 04:58 am (UTC)I can't believe it's already December, there's so much I need to do! Good luck with your fanfic though, I wish you progress :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 06:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 07:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 06:28 am (UTC)DO please email/PM me if you want some cheering from me - or to rant/rave or get feedback!
Shall go and look at your stocking, with no promise to fill it, 'cos Five Weeks of Hell start tomorrow!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 06:40 am (UTC)(I feel a little weird that I only requested my two main fandoms -- I do like other shows, but then I didn't want to get into a long or convoluted list, so I decided to stick to the big ones. Besides, when I would've been the only one to request Space:1999 fic for Yuletide, what are my odds of getting it for fandom_stocking?)
Good luck with your Five Weeks of Hell! I'll be sending supportive thoughts your way. *hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 06:46 am (UTC)*hugs back* Thanks.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 01:01 pm (UTC)Awkward commentaries? Are they just silent all the time? Odd, Karen Gillan never seemed too quiet in interviews and stuff, but I guess it's different when you're sitting and talking to no one... :|
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 03:14 pm (UTC)Mini fic_rush this weekend? Ooooh, that's an interesting idea. What are you thinking?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 03:32 pm (UTC)I'm thinking of... turning your post into mini!fic_rush! :) We can definitely re-create the blather ;) And it generally is good to report somewhere on your progress. Or I can spare your journal and we can spam mine. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 05:16 pm (UTC)Hmm, I feel like doing a post now on what makes a good commentary. This wasn't an awful commentary -- I've seen those too -- but it wasn't good.
Journal spam, yay! You and I are in totally different time zones, but you stay up so incredibly late, it might actually work. Or we can just talk to ourselves, then answer each other back when we're awake and around?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 05:47 pm (UTC)It might! Well, I can't promise to be around for too long, seeing as you have a tendency of going to sleep when I wake up, but hey! I've just had dinner so I'm all fed and prepared for 5-6 hours of typing! :D
I shall start with this: SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM! :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 06:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 06:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 07:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 07:28 pm (UTC)(Of course, tonight when I am ready to write, no one else will be around because you'll all be asleep, LOL.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 07:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 06:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 07:24 pm (UTC)As for declaring a Hanukkah holiday, ha, no one here who isn't Jewish even realizes it's Hanukkah already. I fully expect the grocery stores to wheel out a little display in about two weeks with candles, latke mix and five boxes of matzoh, then wonder why no one is buying anything.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 07:32 pm (UTC)Also, complete sympathies on the work-from-home front... I was just like that last year, too. I'll nag some of the programmers at the office and see if they can whip out a fic-writing software for you... :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 09:06 pm (UTC)Yum, sufganyot. I'll have to try to lay my hands on some before the week is up.
Thanks for looking into fic-writing software! I bet there'd be quite a market for it. Now how about work-doing software?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 09:34 pm (UTC)Work-doing software... on the one hand, I totally need such a thing! On the other, I'm a bit afraid that would be the day Skynet wins.
These were really weird sufganyot, mind! Look, look! You'll have to forgive me it's in Hebrew, their English website doesn't seem to have these pictures. They were good, and not too oily, which is one thing I hate about sufganyot, but weird...
As for spelling, "pshaw!" is all I have to say :D Shouldn't it be khanucca or something anyway? :D (boy that looks bad).
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 09:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 09:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 05:03 pm (UTC)If it was up to me, I would vote for optional commentaries with Peter and Janet on anything at all. Bonus for Colin Baker joining them at any point, of course. Colin, Peter, Janet and David would probably blow up the DVD boxset, but it'd be interesting... :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 05:43 pm (UTC)I agree, Colin, Peter, Janet and David together on a commentary would be amazing! I'd also throw in Phil Collinson and Nick Briggs because I also usually really enjoy listening to them, especially when they're paired with each other or with David.
I found a few Press Gang episodes on YouTube and watched them -- all your fault, by the way *g* -- and I was very impressed! The show is far more adult that I was expecting, even though I had had some sense of that from your wonderful ficlets. Now that I have a way to play region 2 DVDs, I am seriously considering buying Press Gang so I can see the whole thing.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 08:10 pm (UTC)And the last part of your comment made me smile so widely you wouldn't believe. You'll get what I meant now when I said it's so hard to recommend, because it is old and strange, but not cheesy, and sometimes v funny, and surreal and sometimes also very dark. :-D And, of course, why I wanted to grow up to be Lynda Day, even if that really wouldn't have been a good idea.
ETA: Was going to ask which ones you saw, but think there is only Monday Tuesday, Shouldn't I Be Taller? and Going Back to Jasper Street and Bad News on YouTube. Which is a really bizarre mix, but I'm happy for Jasper Street to be there for the Kenny and Lynda background - even if it's a bit slower in places than some others.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 09:15 pm (UTC)Yes, I saw those episodes, and also The Rest of My Life. The very first one I saw happened to be Monday/Tuesday, so you can imagine how completely blown away I was. I was expecting a cute little '80s-era comedy, and instead I got that episode.
I have to go back and re-read your ficlets now that I know more about the characters and what they look like!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-04 12:02 pm (UTC)I kind of watched the show all out of order, and never actually saw S1 and 2 till I bought the DVDs a couple years ago, so that was interesting. (There were some novelisations, which I read to pieces!) I don't think Monday-Tuesday pulls off the shift in tone as well as some later episodes but it does hit quite hard (and I love the device of repeating 'Tuesday's cancelled') - what an ep to start with! You will find if you do watch more that there are some S1 eps that do have an edge of kid reporters investigate, but only here and there, and only in S1.
Shouldn't I Be Taller I liked much better the second time I saw it. I was bothered by some things, including Kenny's lack of reaction to what happens to Lynda the first time - but I now know the reason, which is they filmed the S1 midseason two-parter last; it under-ran so Steven Moffat took Julia Sawalha and Lee Ross's rl friendship and used it, and until that point, Kenny and Lynda weren't long-time best friends, which explains a few odd things in S1.
And I really like The Rest of My Life. (I have become a much bigger fan of S2 since rewatching - my first sight of it on DVD was a bit of a shock, because S3-5 obviously had a bit more spent on production values! :Lol: But the writing across that season as a whole is gorgeous, especially the two part finale.)
And going back to the commentaries, since I mentioned them, you should know if you were thinking of obtaining those DVds that for some reason there are only about 4 episodes with commentaries, on the S2 DVD.
And that was a scary long post, sorry; but I fully hope you get to see more somehow, if only because everyone should get to see Colin as a pink rabbit. :-D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-04 04:50 pm (UTC)Oh well, maybe I just fail at decade identification. Anyway, it was still far more serious and adult than I was expecting. It reminds me of SJA, actually -- it's obviously targeted to a young audience, but like that show it doesn't talk down to its audience, and it's genuinely good.
My one big complaint with the show is Spike's accent. Yes, I'm being boring again and complaining about a fake American accent, but it's kind of up there with Peri's accent in how grating it is. I keep wanting to say "No, no, don't do that. Don't."
I was wondering which series I should buy, if I decide to take the plunge. (Or which one I should start off with, anyway.) I don't think I can afford to buy more than one DVD for now. Would you recommend S2? Or one of the others?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-04 07:55 pm (UTC):lol: Oh, dear - poor Dexter Fletcher! They were all cast and everything, and the producer (who was American), decided it would be great if Spike was also American... so he had to attempt the accent at the last minute. He gets marginally better as he goes along, but it was a bit random to say the least. (There are some sly jokes about it along the way, to help you!) He went off to America in rl after this, and learned to do the accent properly, but too late for Press Gang.
Hmm. I don't know - It does help to watch them in order, especially with S1 and 2. I would kind of suggest 1 and 2, but that's not helpful, I realise. I like S3 a lot, and the show does change a bit at that point, so you could go for that. On the other hand, there are only 6 episodes per season in the last three series, so if you want quantity, you need S1 or 2 (they have 12 eps each). ETA: Actually, go for S1 - you get all the setting up at the start, David Collings as the head (and he doesn't appear again till S5), Adrian Edmonson doing a guest spot, and Colin as a pink rabbit.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-04 10:17 pm (UTC)Poor Dexter indeed. His American accent is better than David Tennant's, if that's any consolation. ; )
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-05 08:45 am (UTC)It is, I think! :lol: (And Colin never believes Spike's from America anyway... He thinks he's from Birmingham.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 05:05 pm (UTC)(I am odd, yes. And not that I could write Space:1999, either.)
And, yes when is
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 05:31 pm (UTC)No poll up yet for fic_rush, unfortunately. I think
Do you want to join me and
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-03 08:14 pm (UTC)I was writting some random things and I've remembered that I am actually supposed to be sorting out the next Prompt of the Month... Heh.