girlofprey: (Default)
End of the year, so it's the Slashies 2019.

Slashies 2019

Well. Fandom has been thin on the ground for me for the past few years, but there has still been some stuff I enjoyed. New stuff! Old stuff that was new to me, and actual new stuff that was new to the world. So that was nice. But there are a few pairings and characters you might see more than once below. But without further ado! Let the award-giving commence.

Best Enemy Pairing:

  1. Steve Harrington/Billy Hargrove, Stranger Things )


  2. Deacon St John/O'Brian, Days Gone )


  3. Rabbit/Tanner, Year of the Rabbit )


  4. Napoleon/Laurence, Temeraire series )


  5. David/Michael, The Lost Boys )

And the winner is... )

Best Buddy Pairing:

  1. Deacon St John/Boozer, Days Gone )


  2. Laurence/Granby, Temeraire series )


  3. Laurence/Tharkay, Temeraire series )


  4. Crush/Djinn, DC Teen Titans )

And the winner is... )

Best incest pairing: (NB: None of these pairings have actual genuine incest in them. I did my best.)

  1. Ryan/Ali, Coronation Street )


  2. Dutch/Arthur, Red Dead Redemption 2 )

And the winner is... )

Best hatesex:

  1. Evan/Cameron, Holby City )

And the winner is... )

Best Pairing: And the winner is... )


Most Beautiful Man:

  1. Steve Harrington from Stranger Things - it seems I can't put pictures in a post anymore, so here's a link. askjfhsajkdfh


  2. Billy Hargrove from Stranger Things. asdkjsadkj


  3. Will Laurence from the Temeraire series. I CAN'T EXPLAIN. Spoilers )


  4. Deacon St John. Not enough people loved Days Gone. Even some of those that did didn't love Deacon St John. HE WAS AMAZING. Sam Witwer did an amazing performance, and Deacon was heartbreaking and beautiful and funny. One of my favourite characters of the year, genuinely.

And the winner is: Steve Harrington. HIS FACE. HIS SELF. ALL OF HIM AND HIS SOUL.


Most Beautiful Woman:

  1. Crush from DC Teen Titans.


  2. Maya from Borderlands. My baby Maya.


  3. Lisa Jackson from Days Gone. Not beautiful in sexy way, but amazing, genuinely my second favourite character in the game.


  4. Laura Bailey. Watched some more Critical Role at the beginning of this year, and ye ye! And she's in my favourite outfit of hers in that picture. I am genuinely floored by her and her existence whenever I see her. She also happened to do the voice of the entry above. Love.


  5. Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones. I know I didn't watch her properly or read the books, and I know that's not allowed. But everything I was ever really interested in in Game of Thrones was Cersei Lannister, and her general doneness with sexism. And her craziness. Earlier this year, when everyone was going on about Game of Thrones, which I didn't care about, and how bad it was, which I didn't care about, I knew I could always google something about Cersei Lannister and feel better. What's she doing now? Oh, she's obsessed with elephants. Perfect.


  6. Vera Stanhope from Vera. I always forget about Vera because she's on at the beginning of the year. But she's on in January again soon, and so I remembered. She's genuinely one of my favourite things on TV at the moment, Vera is the only show I still regularly watch. She is amazing.


  7. Flora Wilson from Year of the Rabbit. Easily one of the best parts of Year of the Rabbit. The best Victorian assassin you've ever seen.


  8. Nadja from BBC What We Do in the Shadows. Oh Nadja. The best one.

And the winner is: Maya. My baby Maya.


Lifetime Achievement Award: John/Jim from the Hitcher (1985). One of my first enemyslash/psycho pairings, and one I still think about and look up fic for sometimes, to this day. Rutger Hauer died this year, but before that he gave us some pretty good films. Stay gay, boys.
girlofprey: (Default)
Thoughts After Ruskin

Women reminded him of lilies and roses.
Me they remind rather of blood and soap,
Armed with a warm rag, assaulting noses,
Ears, neck, mouth and all the secret places:

Armed with a sharp knife, cutting up liver,
Holding hearts to bleed under a running tap,
Gutting and stuffing, pickling and preserving,
Scalding, blanching, broiling, pulverising,
- All the terrible chemistry of their kitchens.

Their distant husbands lean across mahogany
And delicately manipulate the market,
While safe at home, the tender and the gentle
Are killing tiny mice, dead snap by the neck,
Asphyxiating flies, evicting spiders,
Scrubbing, scouring aloud, disturbing cupboards,
Committing things to dustbins, twisting, wringing,
Wrists red and knuckles white and fingers puckered,
Pulpy, tepid. Steering screaming cleaners
Around the snags of furniture, they straighten
And haul out sheets from under the incontinent
And heavy old, stoop to importunate young,
Tugging, folding, tucking, zipping, buttoning,
Spooning in food, encouraging excretion,
Mopping up vomit, stabbing cloth with needles,
Contorting wool around their knitting needles,
Creating snug and comfy on their needles.

Their huge hands! their everywhere eyes! their voices
Raised to convey across the hullabaloo,
Their massive thighs and breasts dispensing comfort,
Their bloody passages and hairy crannies,
Their wombs that pocket a man upside down!

And when all's over, off with overalls,
Quickly consulting clocks, they go upstairs,
Sit and sigh a little, brushing hair,
And somehow find, in mirrors, colours, odours,
Their essences of lilies and of roses.

by Elma Mitchell

Rachael's further adventures with release dates

  • Another thing I was looking forward to in February was the release of the second book of Zodiac Starforce, a comic I quite enjoyed. Enjoyed enough to know I'd want to buy the trade paperback, so there was no point buying individual issues just to throw them away. I went and looked in the big comic book shop in Leeds on February 28th, the day it was supposed to be released, and couldn't find it. But I wasn't desperate for things to read, and I assumed maybe it was just a slightly niche title, and I could always buy it on Amazon. I looked for it another time in the shop after that, but couldn't see it. And then at some point I went to check on that page on Amazon, and realised the release date had been moved to 31st July. Which is something Amazon definitely did not say on, say, 27th February. World, I don't know why you were so determined for February to be a shit month, but if there could at least be some notice of release dates changing, that would be great.


  • I went to get the Justice League DVD last Tuesday, as part of my 'week of things happening'. I went into HMV and couldn't see it anywhere. I know it wasn't a popular film, but it wasn't that unpopular. I hung around the store for a little while, looking, and then went in to work and looked it up on the computer when I had a spare minute. The release date has been delayed to 26th March.


  • I went into Leeds on Wednesday, just on a whim, and ended up in a shop where I saw that Far Cry 5 statue I was wanting. It was a day early, but that wasn't exactly a problem. But the shop I was in only had one, and it was in a locked glass case, on a shelf just above eye level, and I wasn't sure of the paint job just looking at it - they don't always look like they do online - so I figured I'd want to see it up close before I bought it, and I couldn't be bothered asking them to get it out of a locked case before potentially not buying it. So I went down to Game, where it had been advertised as releasing anyway. It wasn't there. But it was a day before the official release date, so I figured okay. I went back the next day. Nothing. I asked a guy on the desk, and he spent about five minutes looking in the back, and then said they had a credit note for the statue, it was coming in, but he thought it was March 23rd. I knew for a fact it said March 22nd on Amazon, but I figured, they don't have it, okay. I came back the next day. Nothing. I was buying something else at that point, but I asked again, and they said 'communication has been terrible', but they were pretty sure they'd have them on Monday.

    Yesterday I decided to have a look around town and in the Game at a retail park near where I live, in case it was just the one shop. I went into a local game store, looked around, nothing. I went into my local game store, where I know the guys, looked around, nothing. I asked at the desk, and he said 'oh, I know the one you mean - where he's shirtless and holding up a gun?'. He said they were getting them on Monday, because the people supplying the statues said 'no-one will want to buy it without the game, anyway, so you may as well hold off until nearer when it releases'. I wanted it without the game. I did. Anyway, I assume that's what happened with the Game store/s as well - and who knows about the other shop in Leeds, but it was part of a chain that's close to shutting down now. So I'm going back into town tomorrow, to my local games shop, to finally look at the statue and be able to fucking buy it.

    Also it turns out that the collector's edition Game said was exclusive to them, which was the only reason I pre-ordered it with them anyway, is actually not an exclusive, and my local games shop is getting them in anyway. I could have pre-ordered it there. I could have cancelled my pre-order at Game and gotten it there, a twenty-minute walk from my house. Instead no. Damn it.


  • I was planning to see Proud Mary this weekend. Some of you may remember that. Earlier in the week I decided to look up the cinema times, for when I'd want to go ideally yesterday. There were no times for Proud Mary at my local cinema. "Oh, has the RELEASE DATE BEEN DELAYED?" I thought, but no. It still released on March 23rd. It just didn't release anywhere near me. The only local showing I could find was in Leeds, which I'd already been to five times that week for work, at quarter to five in the afternoon. So I did not go see Proud Mary, and probably won't. I can't imagine why they're not just showing it everywhere, but I guess it is a slightly smaller film starring a black woman, even if she is an Oscar nominee - although maybe the less-than-stellar reviews that are coming out aren't helping it either.


  • akfsdjjksafndckj


My dad is still acting like he is probably not taking me to Leeds at midnight to get the game I want LITERALLY ON THE FIRST MINUTE OF MY BIRTHDAY. There's a chance he probably won't. Hmph.
girlofprey: (Default)
I picked up an issue of a new comic yesterday called 'Sacred Creatures', and from the varied and interesting-looking group on the front I assumed it was about gods living in modern times, and what they do. Turned out that it was - but it was mostly about some random dude, with a beautiful girlfriend he just couldn't let down, and what his experiences with them were.

I really have no idea these days why people think anyone who wants to watch a show about GODS in modern times, actually, really, wants to watch a show about a bog-standard, fairly uninteresting human who just meets them. No.
girlofprey: (R for raygun)
Well, the computer's mostly built. I'm glad I decided to start it a day early, because it really is a big job. Although a lot of yesterday was taken up by me sleeping in, and then me cleaning my room and desk, and then the kids coming down again for Boxing Day. But anyway. We had a few issues with not knowing if the CPU cooler would be tight enough on the CPU, and the fact the radiator for said cooler didn't fit in the front of the case, so we had to install it differently to how the installation guide showed us. Also dad obviously hated the case I bought, so there was a quiet simmering resentment throughout the process. Plus, even though the idea was for us to build it together so I could get some idea of how it was done, it mostly involved dad building it, and mostly asking me to hold the torch for him, and acting like I had no faith in him when I asked any sort of question. But! We sorted out all of the problems, and got all of the parts installed. Now we just need to connect everything to the power supply - and possibly connect the motherboard to some things (??) - and then we should be able to turn it on and make sure everything works. Then I'll just need to hook up the screen, and see if I can convince Microsoft to let me have Windows. Dad is dragging his feet, because he planned to clear out my sister's old house today, and apparently I can wait and just have it half made on my desk for a few weeks and we'll work on it in the evenings after I get back from work. I'm not a fan of that plan, so I'm trying to get it done today. It's been many months, and I'm ready to just have a computer again.

For Christmas I bought my dad a 75-year celebration of the Green Lantern comics, because Green Lantern was his favourite when he was a kid, and I ended up getting an encyclopaedia of DC comics characters. In it I read about Green Lantern's mentor-turned-enemy, who for one set of issues enslaved him for fun, and now I may need to borrow my dad's Green Lantern book. Slash is hard.
girlofprey: (Christmas Whale)
Christmas whale.

It doesn't feel very Christmas-y though. I don't know if it's the mild weather or the fact I'm working, so that takes up most of my time, but it's true. Or maybe it's that people are still reeling in shock from all the politics stuff, so no-one's really in the spirit. Watching Sky News all day really doesn't make me feel too Christmas-y. But anyway, it's true. I can sing Christmas carols to my heart's abandon, even though I don't feel like it, and yesterday I tried to think of even one and could only come up with 'Greensleeves'. Anyway. I'm going to have to do some Christmas shopping soon too, although I don't know when. I have an idea for something to get my mother, and I have the money for it this year too - but it does mean I'll probably need to get my dad something of a similar value, and I don't know what that is. Plus the kids. It's my YN's birthday in less than two weeks. Although I do have a present from last year that I never used hidden away in a drawer. Maybe that will have to do.

After all my worrying about how much time I have these days (despite my claims to the contrary), they're asking me to work extra hours next week, because the morning receptionist is on holiday. I awkwardly explained to my boss that I have OCD and find changes to my routine hard, so I couldn't say I was raring to do it, but I would. He was very nice about it, and said maybe I wouldn't find it as bad as I thought it would be, so we could take about covering in future after that. The thing is it's not the work, it's the amount of time outside of work I'm going to have. They want me to go in for 11 - and really, I think he was hoping for 10 - which means I won't have to get up any earlier, but I won't have time to have a shower on a morning like I usually do, and I won't be able to stay up a little late, because if I sleep in it will really fuck me. So I'll have less time of an evening. But maybe it's only my expectation of what I'm going to get done in a day that really upsets me, and if I let go of that it will be okay, or better at least. And it is only for a week. But the morning receptionist is pregnant, and so she's going to be off for months shortly, and I really don't think I can do that, no matter how well next week goes. I came to this job very much as a part-time job. But like I say, they've been very nice and flexible so far, so we'll see.

Things I have been doing: playing Final Fantasy XV. It's a game that's taken 10 years to come out, so it felt very special to pick it up on day one. And the game had a little leaflet in the front, which was a print-out of a thank you note signed by everyone on the team that made it. Which was lovely. I wanted to get my own opinion of it, rather than just having to listen to all the reviews and whether it was a 'real' Final Fantasy game or not. And I really like it. It's very atmospheric, and everything sort of feels like it goes together, which is hard thing to explain but really makes a game feel special for me. When the story and the characters and the mechanics all seem to work together, and nothing's jarring or feels too 'video-gamey', like it's just a set of mechanics. I really like the combat too, which is cool, because a few of the demos felt very janky. I haven't really touched the story yet, but I'm really enjoying it so far. And really, having everything work together is a real achievement for a game that was in development for so long. Well done to them.

Also, I have been reading the original Superman comic strips. They are amazing. Superman does not give a fuck. The first strip involves him going to see a governor in the middle of the night, who has a SOLID STEEL bedroom door. And the butler's like "haha, just try to get through that", and Superman's like "haha, I will" and rips it apart. Then the butler tries to SHOOT SUPERMAN. Like a fool. But Superman just laughs it off. And then saves a woman who was about to be wrongly executed for something she didn't do. It's great. Of interest to me: Jonathan and Martha Kent were not in the story from the beginning. Superman was raised in an orphanage, where they were like "golly!" about his super-strength, but decided not to say anything about it. But Lois Lane was there from strip one. And she is amazing. An example of their dialogue:

Clark: "Why is it you always avoid me at the office?"
Lois: "Please Clark! I've been scribbling 'sob stories' all day long. Don't ask me to dish out another."

Interestingly, I guess because of the time, Clark Kent is the star reporter at the Daily Star, and Lois is a 'sob sister', which basically means an agony aunt/writer of the sentimental pieces. She's pretty mad about it though. Perry White won't put her on a story about a dam bursting, so she tricks Clark and goes anyway. But then she nearly drowns in the flood and Superman has to save her, so it's not like it's super feminist. But still, she's great. And Clark is all about her. Which is quite lovely.

I get paid today, so I can continue to buy computer parts and actually try and get the thing built. Woo hoo. Also the tax credits place have written back to me, and now they want to pay me £380 a month instead of £390. Which is fine. Still seems bizarre to me, and I suspect it won't last past April, when the new tax year starts, and all my 'freshly working, was recently on ESA' stuff won't really apply. But I've queried it, and they've said it's all fine, so it's very welcome. Given that I'll probably be fine on my wage, I can just put it into my savings account. And then, if they decide they DID make a mistake, it will all just be there anyway to give back to them, and I will be mad, but it will be doable.

Meanwhile the company my company's working for is losing money every year, apparently, so I don't know how safe my job is, and my sister's partner's firm went bust, and I thought he'd been taken on by the firm that took over from them, but apparently everyone except him and his friend got picked back up, so he isn't working. And Christmas is coming, and my sister just got a £150 fine for not showing up to an anger management course they said she had to go on after assaulting a woman last year. So it's all a bit up in the air. But we're out of the depths or recession, say the Conservatives! So hooray. My sister and her family are moving into the new house this weekend apparently. They can't afford to pay my parent's rent yet, obviously, but they will at least be in there. So that's something, I guess.
girlofprey: (R for raygun)
I just don't have time for anything anymore.

I get up, and I usually have a few hours to myself in the morning. I have found that playing video games in the morning, when you are fresh and haven't been worrying about other things and are ready for adventure, is the best time to play video games, but even then three days out of the week I have less time for it because I need to have a shower and wash my hair. Then I go to work, and I essentially leave the house at 12 and don't get back till 8 - so, 8 hours. And that's when, so far, my trains have almost always worked out. By the time I get in my mum's usually timed dinner for then, but even by the time I've eaten and gotten changed it's like 9 o'clock, and then it's like "right, I have three hours to do EVERYTHING." Which is, all of the stuff I used to spend all day doing, and then anything else that's new that I actually need to do. And then, even though I don't always stick to the 12 o'clock bedtime, I really need to go to bed, so I can be up ready for work the next day, and not sleep in, and have time for a shower if I need one, and have time to play video games. And that is my day.

What I have been doing is reading comic books/graphic novels, and I have to say that it's as expensive as I thought it would be, and that DC is better than Marvel by a mile. I can't even believe it. The way people talk, I always assumed actual Marvel COMICS were the fun, light-hearted ones, but I read two and they were so full of angst and self-obsessed characters and CONSTANT WISE-CRACKING, THE WISE-CRACKING, I CAN'T TAKE IT. And then I read a Batman and Robin book - which was mostly about Dick Grayson and Jason Todd and all the other Robins - and it had an actual plot and a bad guy and they went after the bad guy and things happened and it was amazing. I super recommend it, by the way, it was Batman and Robin Eternal, but it's in 2 volumes and each of them cost about £30. I'm super into Dick Grayson though. All those Tumblr posts about him were not wrong. And also Jason Todd and Harper Row and Cassandra Cain, and I suspected I would like Midnighter, and then he turned up and he was great.

I went into town early today to get some new work trousers before my kickboxing class, and the way there my bus blew a tire, and then when I was in Marks and Spencers a woman knocked over a whole display stand and there was broken glass all over the floor, and it was like I was just surrounded by calamities. I did get an awesome hat and saw some donkeys though.

I kind of wanted to mention the other day, when the silent news in front of me was just epic and amazing and awful all day. The head of Intelligence in America quit, and UKIP have probably misused EU FUNDING, and Hillary Clinton spoke at a charity event and her hair looked sad and it was awful. The nihilistic part of me that just hates the UK and the whole world for all the choices it's making sort of enjoyed it (except for the Hillary Clinton part, her hair was genuinely emotional), sort of enjoys watching things burn, but also, omg. Wow.
girlofprey: (Girl Blue Hair)
I went to Thought Bubble today, West Yorkshire's yearly comic book convention. Spent more than I meant to, as usual, but I can afford it for now. And some of it was stuff I would have gotten anyway, so I probably saved on shipping. This line would work better on me if I didn't know there are a couple of PS4 games coming out in the next few weeks that I want and that will be hella expensive. Umm.

But anyway - I stopped off on the way back from Leeds and ended up walking home for about an hour. It started raining, but just gently, so I didn't bother getting my umbrella out. It took about twenty minutes for me to realise actually I had quite a few cloth and paper bags filled with paper comic books, and probably their condition would be optimum if I didn't let them get soaked through with rainwater. Some of their covers are wrinkly and a signature got smudged. But other than that, they're okay folks!

I also handed in my DBS form to start volunteering yesterday. I have to have a DBS check (basically a CRB check) before I can properly start and be left on my own, which will talk about six weeks. At the interview the woman who's sort of the head volunteer said I could come in and train while waiting for it to come back, since I didn't need a DBS check for that - but when I handed in the form, that woman's superior said the check would take about six weeks and to 'call them' when it came back so I could get started. So I don't know when something will next happen now. In six weeks or this week. I'll have to wait and see.
girlofprey: (Christmas Whale)
Is there any alternate version of Cinderella where the stepmother is gay for Cinderella, and doesn't want her going off to balls or getting married because she just doesn't want her leaving the house? THIS QUESTION HAS PLAGUED ME FOR MANY YEARS.

And in case you were wondering, the ballet I went to see today (Cinderella) was fabulous. I like ballet, but there's never been one that's made me want to cry before. I don't think it's touring at the moment, but if it does or if you live near Leeds I would definitely highly recommend it. Northern Ballet Theatre is great.

And I bought my final Christmas present today, aside from money for my sister. I bought dad vodka because mum says he likes it - I've never seen him drink it, so I hope she's right. I was going to get a litre, as the biggest 'gift' bottle on the shelf, but it looked genuinely massive, so he'll have to make do with 70cl. Hah.

I also picked up the last few things in Leeds I wanted before Christmas. Mostly this was comics. I am kind of enjoying getting comics issue by issue at the moment, something I've not really done before, but between some comics taking months and months to put out a new issue, some selling out of an issue before I have a chance to pick it up so I have a bit of the story missing, and the fact I keep finding new and exciting comics to start even though they cost about £2.50 each and it does add up if you're just following more and more new titles - I don't know if I'm going to keep doing it long-term. Hmph.

Also I got a Christmas card from [livejournal.com profile] jekesta, thank you [livejournal.com profile] jekesta. It's nice to know Roger Moore had some bearing on my cards this year.

I have to go now because I had to get up early to get into Leeds for shopping and ballet and now my head is killing me, byyyyye.
girlofprey: (Batman Unicorn Rainbow)
So. I went to the comic convention. Paul Cornell wasn't there, or if he was he was SHIELDED FROM MY EYES. I did have to get up at eight though, which basically left me feeling a bit not-real all day. I decided to eat some lunch before I tried spending any money, which was probably wise. I still spent loads though. But Thought Bubble is only once a year and my arrears have just come through, so eh.

When I got there this morning I was all proud because I'd booked my ticket in advance and could walk past the queue going all the way around the block and just walk in. Then I learned that the queue was FOR people who'd booked in advance, to have their paperwork checked, since everyone had apparently had the same idea. So I had to walk all the way back again. At least it was quick. And I don't know if this is a new thing or I just never really noticed before, but it was a little annoying how a big part of the first aisle was taken up by the major comics publishers. I know it's a comic convention and they're the big suppliers, but I've always seen Thought Bubble advertised mostly as a Small Press and Indie Convention. So to have the first set of stalls taken up with books you could buy in any comic book shop or on Amazon at any time was a little irritating, really. They used to just have stalls somewhere in the middle of the showroom, or on the end of each aisle, so people who were just interested in major titles or in looking for back issues could go there while everyone else wandered around with the indie creators. I don't know, I did see some - I don't know, "well-funded" - titles I'd never seen before, but...it seemed to not really be in the spirit of the convention.

But it was good. I had my usual problem of not being able to talk to the people on the stalls, as though I am literally just going "No, I don't want to speak to the ARTIST, I just want to see the PRODUCTS". But most people were pretty nice about it, and I actually had a chat with one writer about her having come up from Milton Keynes. Huzzah. And I got some art, for the first time ever. Two £5 prints, one of which is a picture of Mako Mori drawn by Nich Angell. You don't get that every day.

Steam, however, continues to irritate me. And Adobe Flash Player - Adobe Flash Player won't let me update the Adobe Flash Player. When it gives me a little notice about a new version being out, I go to download it, go to a nice page claiming to be Step 1 of 3, click the "Update Now" button, and it just sends me to Adobe.com. Is anyone else having this problem? I don't know what to do if it continues. I can still play videos and animations NOW, but in a few updates time I probably won't, and if it still won't let me update it then what? When I go to the Adobe support page it just tells me to check if I have the latest version of Flash Player, and when I click the link it just sends me to the page that eventually sends me to Adobe.com again. I can't even see an address to email them at. I'm starting to think I'm going to have switch my updating options to "Yes, update whatever you like whenever you like, it's your computer not mine".

And my MN is apparently about an inch away from being expelled from school. That's the 5 year old. Yesterday mum and I had to go pick him up from his school because he was kicking off and messing about so much his teacher couldn't handle him, or have him disrupting the lessons any longer. And I don't always hear a lot about it, but this is an ongoing thing, he's had a special teacher sort of sitting with him and trying to keep him focused for months now. They've mentioned getting him a mental health appointment, but so far neither the school nor my sister have done anything about it. For now we'll have to wait and see what happens on Monday, I guess.
girlofprey: (R for raygun)
Steam is pissing me off at the moment. The game software, not actual steam. EVERY TIME I switch my computer on, it needs to update. Sometimes I switch it on a couple of times in a day, and almost every time it needs to update. Multiple times a day! What updates could there possibly be hours since the last updates? And I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but I'm playing Skyrim again at the moment, and a good half of the time the game won't load, and I have to switch my laptop off and on again before it will. What is that? Is it so much to ask that I can just play the games I have paid for? Must I constantly have to ask Steam's permission, and often be refused it? And what is the point of constantly updating your software - usually before my computer is completely switched on and connected to the internet - if it still doesn't work even when you do? I am genuinely considering buying a copy of Skyrim for the Playstation because fffffffff. Fuck's sake.

Anyway. It's SUPER COLD here. And wet. Apparently 'wet snow' is on the cards for tonight? A White Christmas is usually too much to ask, never mind a White November. I may have to buy some jumpers at some point soon.

Also I have been rewatching Death Valley and I genuinely don't understand why there was never a fandom for it. Aside from being reminded how much of an MTV show it really was. So much unnecessariness. But it was genuinely funny a lot of the time and everyone was beautiful. Especially Dashell, and someone should have written me Dashell/Santos fic by now. I might start a kink meme. And write all the prompts, and fill all the fills.

Also, a decade on, I still don't understand how Coldplay's 'Shiver' is anything other than an out-and-out song about stalking:



And googling that has revealed: " Martin actually wrote the song in a "glum" day, when he felt he would never find the right woman for him. He described it as something of a "stalking song", admitting he wrote it for a specific woman.". Something of a? I do genuinely like it though. Frankly I was never a huge Coldplay fan, but I think they were better when their songs were as emotionally dead as their voices. Oh well.

Anyway. I'm going to a comics convention this weekend. It comes but once a year, and I am super looking forward to it. Of course last year I had already read half the comics on sale, or bought them at least, because they have a lot of the same artists back year on year and they don't spit out a new series a month or anything. But it's still always a nice day out. Hurrah.
girlofprey: (R for raygun)
Things I have done yesterday and today:

  • Went to Leeds, bought gold boots.


  • Also bought back issues of the comics I've been reading lately, where I could.


  • Bought Halloween chocolate from Hotel Chocolat.


  • Reorganised my CD collection into my new handmade CD unit. I have a lot of CDs.


  • Got up at 9.30am this morning, well before I usually do, to await for delivery of gold boots (Doc Martens) because they didn't have the size I needed in Leeds so I had to have them delivered, and I forgot mum was working a night shift last night and would want to sleep in this morning.


  • Argued with mum about whether I should or shouldn't have gotten a size 7 in the gold boots - my feet are a 5 1/2 and a 6 respectively, and I normally get a 6, but yesterday when I tried on the size 6's they hurt me even when I was sitting down doing nothing. I'm pretty sure going a size bigger with Doc Martens is the done thing. Especially if your usual size hurt even when you're sitting down.


  • Listened to my mum about the horrendous night shift she had last night. Dude.


  • Met my service worker in town for a few hours. By coincidence, he also bought a pair of Doc Martens recently, for the same price as mine, and he had to go a size up too. Vindication.


  • Got a call from the Employment Support Allowance people. I was worried, but then it turned out to be a courtesy call because I'd sent my sick note in a little late, and they were just letting me know my next payment was a bit delayed.


  • Got a call from my local mental health organisation, replying to the message I left on Friday, for a brief assessment of my case, and I am now on the waiting list for a full assessment in a few weeks.

I was planning to go see Thor 2 tomorrow, before the spoilers start pouring in. But now I think I'm going to do nothing.
girlofprey: (R for raygun)
Connotations is over, and it's way too late for the 10th anniversary/last con or its book. But I was going through some photos off my old laptop, finally, last night, and I found some from my first Connotations ever, 2003 I believe ETA: No, 2005 clearly, looking at the cake. So for the perusal of anyone interested, here they are:

Connotations photos )

In current and much less pleasant news, I don't have great faith in the comics industry much of the time. And yet I was still surprised to learn there's a new series coming out soon using the title "Sex Criminals". Which the blurb assures is, will 'put the "sexy" back in "sex crimes"'

Really? Really?

And I'm also sad all over again about Hayley leaving Coronation Street soon, not just because Hayley's great and it's going to be sad, but because I realised she's been in Corrie for 15 years, and she's still the only trans character in British soap as far as I know, barring Hollyoaks. Certainly the only one in the big 3. And even she's not played by a trans actor. 15 years and much critical acclaim later. Which is a bit of a let-down, really, looking back. And soon there probably won't be any, unless they're going to introduce someone new before she leaves. I won't be holding my breath though.
girlofprey: (Default)
  • Did anyone watch X Factor at all tonight?? CHRISTOPHER MOLONEY'S EYES OF DEATH WILL KILL US ALL.


  • In unrelated news, I recently spent weeks trying to work out who the posh woman in The Paradise is and meaning to look it up. Only to find out yesterday that she's Abby Mills from Harper's Island. HER ACTING STYLE IS VERY DIFFERENT IN THE PARADISE. No wonder I didn't connect the two roles.

I went to Thought Bubble in Leeds today. I do love Thought Bubble. I spent quite a lot, as usual, but it's only once a year. And some of the artists you never see there again. I still wish I'd picked up a poster from Sister Claire's artist the first year. But oh well. My dream is to one day have enough money left from buying books to be able to buy some of the art on sale there. Because it is quite beautiful. But a lot of the artists, at least, do seem to come back year after year, I guess because doing commissions at a con is often pretty good business for them. But before any of you think about judging me, I would just like to point out that the guy who does Romantically Apocalyptic was there, and he was selling his books for £40 each. And I was sort of tempted to get one, because they're always going to be £40, and this way at least I would save on shipping. But I didn't! I just spent at least £40 on OTHER books!

Also, I got a cuddly Mameshiba. Which I adore. I didn't even know you could buy them.

I also got a letter from the DWP today. Well, I got 3 letters. The first was to tell me that they were going to pay me through my appeal, £61 a week from 12th October. The second was to tell me that they were going to pay me through my appeal, £61 a week from 18th October. The third was to tell me that since they were going to pay me through my appeal, they were going to need doctor's certificates again, so I should get one into them by 12th October. So yes. They're planning to pay me, at least. I don't know exactly how it's going to work with the doctor's certificates, but before I stopped needing them (for a bit) they were happy to just give continuing ones that I could pick up from the reception, without needing to see a doctor. Obviously I haven't been getting them for a few months now, but given that my condition is ongoing, maybe they'll be willing to do another continuation again? And if they are going to - or even if they're not going to - I might be able to ask them to backdate it, since, as I say, my condition is ongoing. I don't know. I'll need to call them this week. But at least the DWP are happy to pay me. And I'd still like to check with an advice organisation that they won't have any leverage to ask me for it all back if I lose my appeal, so I can feel comfortable spending it, but I don't think they will. It would make the ESA and appeal process even more unfair if they could do things like that. So hopefully, I'll at least have some money coming in for the next few months (although not as much as I did before, unfortunately).

Kate Beaton was supposedly at Thought Bubble. But when I went by her stall in the afternoon she wasn't there (that I could see), and there was nothing on sale that I particularly wanted to buy. And when I went by again before I left, just for the novelty of seeing her in the flesh, there was a sign on her stall saying she wouldn't be back for another 45 minutes. A more suspicious person would suspect maybe she wasn't there at all. But she probably was. Just away from me.

ILLUSIONS, Michael.
girlofprey: (Default)
I cancelled that thing tomorrow, in the end. I was already feeling pretty tired just from stressing out yesterday, and then it turned out that mum hadn't managed to find any ankle wellies, just some fashion wellies that were wider at the top but still too tight. So I cancelled it. Given that I have a workshop, an appointment with my employment coach, and I have to start getting ready for the holiday, the next week or so is already starting to feel like an uphill obstacle course, and I might start tripping over any moment. So I think it's probably the right decision.

Some good things:

  • My mum and I finally took the dog to the vets last week after me nagging mum for a couple of weeks. He's old and has had some problems getting up in the last few months, and mum seemed to think they'd just say it was time to have him put to sleep. But instead they gave him anti-inflammatory medication, and he's getting up and moving around a lot better :D


  • John Ross from Dallas is super pretty.


  • Lottie from Bad Machinery is amazing.


  • I went to Connotations, the last one ever, and it was totally brilliant. We finally learned about Asylum films. Thank you [livejournal.com profile] moonlettuce and [livejournal.com profile] temaris.

A bad thing:

  • Apparently while I was away my sister, her partner and the kids came down to my parents' house for Sunday dinner. Which is a bit weird and alarming. But maybe it won't become too regular a thing. Hopefully.

Also, partially inspired by my stress out yesterday, I present to you one of my favourite angry songs. It's not entirely about calling women whores or homophobia (but still a bit!), but mostly about running people over with your car:

Move Bitch - Ludacris
girlofprey: (Default)
Being at Eastercon also reminded me that there's a lot of things I love that I don't talk about. Hence:


My computer is going extremely slowly. It says it's backing something up, but it's been doing that for about three hours. slkfjsdkf.

Also I am SO TIRED.
girlofprey: (Default)
Some things that have happened:

  • I have finished the main questline of both Oblivion expansion packs. I am now the Arch-Mage of the Mages Guild, Master of the Fighter's Guild, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, Champion of Cyrodiil, Divine Crusader of the Knights Of The Nine, and God-Queen of the Shivering Isles. Which is nice.


  • I have a job interview. In two weeks. I keep meaning to talk to my employment coach woman about doing some interview preparation, but I haven't yet. I am seeing her tomorrow though, so I can probably talk to her then. My main concern is that I haven't worn my interview suit in nearly two years and it might not fit me anymore. Also that I have a JOB INTERVIEW. Jesus.


  • Death Valley had it's season finale, which I didn't realise until after I'd started watching it. It was quite good. They did another weird thing. And, suffice it to say, true love died young. Not that it matters. There is no fic or comms or anything :(


  • Also, we missed an episode of Once Upon A Time because of the American Music Awards, and there was no warning for that until it just didn't turn up on Monday. WHATEVER, AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS.


  • It's nearly December, which means that all the shops have all their scarves, sparkly jewellery, and Christmas themed-stuff on sale. I don't think this is fair.


  • Having missed yesterday's E4 episode because I was out at a counselling appointment, I've just watched two of the strangest Hollyoaks episodes I've probably ever seen. Hollyoaks ended their long-running rape storyline on Friday (on E4) with an entire episode dedicated to the main three characters involved, which was AMAZING. But tonight. They've had a family of robots for a while on the show, and now they seem to be moving onto vampires. And there's been a whole meesed up family/paternity mystery plot running for weeks where no-one has at any point mentioned the words 'DNA test'. A DNA test might be difficult given that the baby's dad is either a guy or his own father. But still. A DNA TEST PEOPLE. THEY EXIST.


  • I went to the Thought Bubble comic convention on Saturday. It was lovely, I spent probably a bit too much, but got some nice, fairly cheap new comic books. The only annoying thing is that there was an artist there who was there last year, when I bought a preview of his comic that wasn't in print yet. This year, he was back with three issues of the comic - but by the time I got there (two or three hours after the convention opened), they'd done better than they thought they were going to, and had sold out of the first issue of it. But apparently I can buy the first issue online when it gets reprinted. Still, it's annoying. But other than that it was lovely.


  • I have no money, I need a number of things, including a new desk chair, and it's Christmas really pretty soon. Boo.


  • My sister's new baby is due on the 28th, apparently, and rather than us having the kids for five days, the new arrangement is for my mum to go pick them up at 6.45am every weekday, take them to school, and then get them when they come out of school, take them to our house and give them their tea, and then take them back to their dad every evening when he gets in from work. I had vague plans to try to avoid the house while all this was happening, but now it's like next week, and I don't have any plans, and I don't really have any money, and - given the current proposed set up, I don't even know what it's going to be like. So I don't even know. But that's next week probably.


  • Oh, and I saw the movie Thor over the weekend. Mostly because I'd heard it was good, and I saw from someone's fanvid a few months ago that the guy who plays Loki in it is Tom Hiddleston, who used to be in Suburban Shootout. And I'm apparently VERY INVESTED IN THE CAREERS OF SUBURBAN SHOOTOUT VETERANS. So yeah, I watched it. I quite enjoyed it, although it seemed to me to have a lot of weirdly Christian imagery for a film based on Norse mythology. And mostly I liked Loki. But basically the outcome is that now - despite how much I hated Iron Man 2 - I suddenly have an interest in the Avengers film coming out next year. And I should probably dig up Captain America at some point so I'm all caught up on the canon before it comes out. Sigh.


  • And now, on [livejournal.com profile] jekesta's suggestion, I'm going to go try out some Danger 5. Which does look AMAZING.


  • P.S. Also, I love 666theheartless666. It's a shame he's not really doing videos anymore. Another sigh.
girlofprey: (Default)
My parents gave me £50 for my birthday. And apparently, the Playstation 3 is coming tomorrow. Which is very nice of them. Especially since I realised that even if I have the Playstation 3 and manage to hook it up to a decent screen, I don't have any games to play on it, and I can't afford the ones I like. But now I can. I'm a bit excited really. This is the first time I've ever had a games console, aside from the time my sister borrowed a Playstation off a friend of hers for a few days when I was in highschool. We played a bit of Tomb Raider for a few days, couldn't get out of a cave, and then gave it back. Good times.

We went out for lunch as well, to The Rustic Arms, which is a pub in Ackworth that I haven't been to since I was a teenager, and used to go to a bit as a kid. It had a big playground and a lake/pond, and we thought it might be better for my nephews than the slightly posher place we normally go to. The playground has either been changed or I remember it being a lot bigger, and the pond was fenced off for the local fishermen/people, but it was lovely, and really child-friendly, and the food was really nice, so it was quite a nice day out. We came back to my parents' house for some cake, and brought my grandma down, which she ended up complaining ferociously about (as always), but there were no real fallings-out and it stayed quite nice. And then I came back and watched the Dancing On Ice final, and Chris Dean and Jayne Torvill danced the Bolero, and Craig Mclachlan, with beautiful scruffy hair and a load of stubble, skated a little bit of his routine he did in the first week. Which was all lovely.

However, I am not so pleased about this habit of me having to lose an hour of my birthday, world. I dimly recall it happening before, I think. Less of that, please.

Anyway. In other news:

girlofprey: (Default)
Hello. I'm so tired and busy lately. Also we've moved onto the treatment part of the CBT group, which as of last Wednesday is half over, so that's a little bit stressful. But helpful, so far. I had a bit of a wobble last week, which I may talk about later, but I took some time and got through it alright, I think. I am putting some of it down to the fact I went to Leeds last Tuesday, then Wakefield on Wednesday for the CBT group, then slept in and had my nephew on Thursday, then slept in and had my other nephew on Friday. Doing things day after day after day isn't really a good idea for me, I think. But I'm not sure what to do about it, because for the next few weeks I will have the group in Wakefield on Wednesday, my youngest nephew on Thursday, and my oldest nephew on Friday pretty much every week. Oh well.

This week I also did that, then went to the Thought Bubble comic convention in Leeds yesterday. I thought I might just be exhausted today, but I seem to be alright. Basically, the writer and artist of Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery was going to be there, and there's a few things I've been eyeing in his shop and it was a chance to go buy them without paying for postage or messing about with online shops. And was doing a convention exclusive book with all the Bad Machinery strips so far in it (it was my last/only chance!). And I like comics. So off I went. It was quite good actually, I had to get up a bit ridiculously early, but it was easy to find, I think I accidentally waited in line when I didn't have to since I'd pre-booked my tickets, but there were lots of cosplayers there, and lots of stalls. I bought a few little picture things, almost pounced on some Girl Genius books before realising it was 6 and 7, and I don't have 1 yet. Eventually I found John Allison and probably freaked him out a bit with my non-talking style of communication, but I got my books. And I spent a slightly ridiculous amount, but I did get some quite lovely things. And Paul Cornell was there, because apparently there is no escape from him. But it was lovely, and I found out about a few new comics/artists I quite liked. I was all ready to go at about quarter to 2, having been all around the stands and spent as much as I was prepared to. But then I thought as I was there and had a ticket, I may as well go to as much of it as I could, and stuck around for quite a nice little panel about a publishing/comic group called Metaphrog, and then a panel about women in comics. Then I came home, with all my stuff, just in time for Strictly Come Dancing. Yay.

Also I have been thinking about Emmerdale, obviously. There are many things I could say about Emmerdale, but a lot of them don't make any sense and involve Lady Gaga. This week is Nathan Wylde's last week on the screen, he is leaving on Friday, and it's going to be kind of awful before he goes. I LOVE HIM. I DON'T WANT HIM TO LEAVE. I WANT TO VID HIM TO ALL THE LADY GAGA SONGS IN THE WORLD. However, I've fallen kind of in love with some of the soap mags out at the moment. A few weeks ago when Nathan was kidnapped by Cain and being kept tied up and gagged in a barn, someone wrote in to Inside Soap and said it served him right after everything he'd done, and they replied that "We did miss Nathan's usual scathing comments while he was gagged, though...". And then in the latest issue of Soaplife, someone wrote in to say "I think it's a real shame actor Lyndon Ogbourne is leaving Emmerdale. His character Nathan Wylde has been a brilliant baddie and caused so much trouble, plus he's very good looking. Let's hope he'll come back one day to scam Declan and the entire village.", and they made it their star letter and awarded it £25. I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL, SOAPLIFE. Also, according to Lyndon Ogbourne Nathan is 24. What? That's not what it says on the Wikipedia page. But if so, OH MY GOD. NATHAN.

In other news, from last week's Emmerdale episodes:


(from nathanwyldefanpage.tumblr.com)

Nathan Wylde: still baffled and alarmed by heterosexuality.

I love him so much. OH.
girlofprey: (Strictly Come Dancing dance striped shir)
Hello. I am stupid. Jobseeker's appointments and benefits stuff )

Anyway. On a slightly happier note, having had some money finally to spend I obviously set about spending some of it on slightly trivial things that I'd been wanting for a month or so. Including some nice new underwear from La Senza. I was going to make a post the other day starting with "They make Oscar the Grouch underwear for men but not for women, WHAT KIND OF FOUL SEXISM IS THIS???". I didn't, but I feel that my point still stands. Oscar the Grouch for all, I say. Anyway, some of my new underwear can only really be worn at Christmas, but it's still rather lovely.

And I have been watching TV:

  • I missed most of the It Takes Two shows this week, due to appointments and going to the cinema and such things. However, nothing will ever be funnier than Len trying to teach Claudia how to rumba. And I did see Erin's house with it's lovely mirror. And shoe collection. And weird bug thing. And amazing rug, where she choreographs routines. I'm quite looking forward to tonight, with it's new dances. I happen to know from (Sue Perkins) experience that the Charleston is a bit great, frankly.


  • True Blood, up to 1.08 )


  • Coronation Street, natch )

  • Also I have been reading Looking For Group, again. I love Cale. I love Richard. I love it. I'm not finished though, so don't spoil me please.


  • Misfits, up to 1.03, and speculation )


And I believe that's all of my TV-watching for the week. I'm going to make a pizza now. Mmm, warm pizza.
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