girlofprey

Well. I went to see In The Heart Of The Sea today, hoping for some awesome giant whale revenge action. Instead I got a very odd film that couldn't seem to decide if it was a monster movie or an all-conquering hero story, and for a film supposedly based on the true story didn't include any of the details I've heard about whale-hunting at that time. But the important thing was that Chris Hemsworth is the hero no matter what I guess. That was a slightly queasy experience.

And I've been trying to catch up on Red Vs Blue, which is the web-based animation series the Let's Players I've been following got their start making, and which is referenced all the time and quoted everywhere. It's actually pretty good, but I dropped out of it some time around the extremely long PSAs. Then I found out there was actually a bunch of the slash I was looking for in this old comm I found and I started watching it again. And I knew that it turned away from humour a bit at some point and became a bit more existential-ish and like proper sci-fi, and...well that just happened. It got kind of nightmarish. And I know plot development is good and all but hnnnng, my favourite characters, and suddenly all those spoilers I accidentally saw make sense but in a much worse way than I thought they did. And hnnng. Still. Only 7 more seasons to go.

And then David Bowie and Alan Rickman died. So. This has been a fun week.

Also I literally have no better time than this to use the Christmas Whale icon, and I no longer have it because my extra userpics ran out a few months ago and I never rebought it. Hnnnnng.

I'm feeling an urge to not play video games again for a little while. Probably not long, but still. Partly this is down to the fact my mum pointed out the recurring pain I have in my thumb might in fact be the beginnings of repetitive strain injury. Which was slightly buoyed up by the fact that when I was playing a game later that night (naturally), I did notice that the way I used the buttons made it worse. I blame Dragon Age 2 and the fact that, mostly, mashing the X button seemed to be the way to combat success. But still. And I think the other reason might be that I have been playing them SO HARD AND SO LONG lately. I've realised that I've now finished all of the big Bioware RPGs everyone's always talking about, once at least. Aside from the Star Wars one, but y'know, I never will. But aside from that, it was a project I started...quite a few months ago. Before Redemption. And I'm now finally up to date. And I did think the new Dragon Age game would be out later this year, but according to the preview they had the other day, apparently it will be Fall 2014. So I have a while before I have to get back into one again. Oh, and there's always the new Mass Effect game they'll apparently have coming out. Ahahahaha.

But yeah, I might take a break for a while. Bear in mind that when I say "a while", I probably mean "a week". And maybe even less than that. I HAVE SO MANY GAMES I DIDN'T PLAY OR FINISH WHILE I WAS PLAYING BIOWARE GAMES. And even more are either out or coming out in the next few months. But yeah. At the moment I've sort of had my fill for a while.

I don't regret getting into video games though, if only because now I get to hear and mostly understand all of the Xbox One drama.

In other news, I might have spent a little too much lately. Including today, on a beautiful silk scarf. I might have to curb that for a little while.

In more other news, I saw about twenty minutes of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance yesterday, and I've decided I love Lee Marvin. So there's that.

And in further other news, the other day I came downstairs into the kitchen, looked over at the calendar, and saw my mother had written "THE DEED", all in capital letters, on the entry for the day before her birthday. She was working that day, so I got to be mildly perturbed all afternoon until she came home and I could ask her what 'the deed' was. It turns out it was actually a school trip to 'The Deep', in Hull, that she's going on with one of my nephews. And we laughed. Still. If you wanted to badly freak out any member of your family, or peer group, write THE DEED in huge letters on one of the days of your calendar, and invite them round, somewhere they'll be able to see it. I can almost guarantee it will give them some pause.

So. I just freaked myself out trying to buy something online (long story short, there was a webcomic offering itself for $5, when I got to the checkout shipping turned out to be $13.50, I immediately tried to cancel and then - having signed in with Paypal as it recommended - couldn't tell whether I was signed out or not or how exactly my Paypal account was tied up with the site). But anyway, I went into Paypal and changed my password and there's no activity in my account, so I think I've done everything I can to fix that, if indeed there was a problem. It was a very confusing site I was trying to buy the thing from. But anyway.

In other news, I almost can't watch Emmerdale at the moment. ( Emmerdale )

On the other hand, Coronation Street! ( Coronation Street )

And I've been playing more Heavy Rain. I think I'm into the last third or quarter of the game now, and it's getting harder, obviously. ( Spoilery thoughts )

In other news, I think a bit of a rehaul of this journal is in order. Nothing massive, just getting rid of some of the deleted journals from my flist, update the interests, go through the icons and get rid of the ones I don't really use. It's a bit difficult because at the moment I mostly like stock icons, not having many current fandoms at the moment (that aren't soaps), and they're the kind of icons you kind of love and upload and then hardly ever use, in my experience. Maybe it's just me. But anyway. It's needs doing. Whether or not I will actually get round to it anytime soon is another matter, of course.

Also, I totally went to my appointment yesterday, and then this morning I got up at twenty past nine to go to today's at ten. My mum drove me to where it was being held at, at a community centre that's pretty near our house, but down a bunch of weird streets on an estate I don't normally go to. She said she'd wait outside for a few minutes and if I wasn't done by then she'd go home, and I could call her there if I wanted a lift back. It took about five minutes for the woman to even come downstairs, then we went upstairs and she briefly outlined the course, and said something about it being completely voluntary, but if I agreed to doing it I'd be committed to doing 10 hours of stuff a week up there. Then she asked me, just to check, if I was on Jobseeker's, and I said no, I'd just signed off and gone onto Employment Support Allowance. And she said whoops, the course was only open to people on Jobseeker's. So I couldn't do it obviously, but she told me later on, when I was feeling more up to doing stuff, I could call her again for some other courses. Anyway, so I came out at about quarter past ten, my mum had already left, and I ended up trying to find my way back on my own. And getting lost. And briefly climbing a dirt track up a hill. It was like a really elaborate April Fool's joke the world itself had played on me. But anyway. I'm not going on that course, obviously. And at least I went and checked it out, I guess.

I have acquired a bunch of new Simpsons icons in the last few days, which I very much love. However, what I was looking for, what I was SCOURING THE COMM for, for a couple of days, was ONE icon of Homer Simpson holding up a beer with the words "To Professionalism!". Ala Homer's Enemy. I did not find one. Growl.

However - is there an icon of Nathan from Heroes saying "I have powers. Political powers!"?

I'm going to my parents' for the weekend, as it's my dad's birthday on Tuesday. The US Election is on Tuesday, isn't it? They have no concept of what the 5th of November should be for. So far this week I have signed up to the dole over the phone and have an interview to confirm this on Monday. However, my agency may have another temp job for me, if I turn out to have the right computer skills. It sounds a bit dull, but the pay seems pretty good. And, y'know, I'd get paid. And I've been trying to get in contact with a lady about applying for a permanent position at a place I was temping at, after the online application form didn't really work (for me), and she hasn't gotten back to me yet, but I will try again tomorrow. So things are looking a bit better than at the beginning of the week. Which is nice.

I still need to pack. And tidy my flat a bit, really.

GIP.

Other things are going on in my life. Of course they are. Mostly when I say there's nothing going on in my life, I'm lying, but the things are pretty much in the planning stages and saying them makes me think I've done them, and then I realise there's more work. Which is quite bad. Do you want to hear another rundown of my next few weeks? YOU KNOW YOU DO. This weekend is free, except for doing all the jobs for last/next weekend, and getting mum a card and birthday present. Then I'm going back to my parents' the weekend after. The next weekend is free, except for jobs, and then I'm going back for the Medieval Festival, and from my parents' I'm planning to go down to Cornwall for a week (ish). I asked mum if she wanted to go with me, and she had some holiday in July. I'm not sure how cool it is to go on holidays with your parents when you're not generally accustomed to doing it, but I'm looking forward to it anyway. I was meant to be checking out B&B availabilities yesterday, but mum ended up doing it because my one hour-long lunch of the week was taken up with collecting a necklace. She did it last night I think. And then today she booked the trains (I think). Do you know how much it costs to get down to Cornwall on the train? A whole lot. And takes rather a long time. Especially on Sundays.

So yes. That's in a few weeks. BUT. Ever since I first heard about it I wanted to go see Little Shop of Horrors when it was on at the Playhouse. And it turns out it's on over that week we're meant to be in Cornwall. Except the Friday and Saturday, when I might possibly be back. I don't know if I will still go. I quite like the idea of finishing off the week in lovely countryside and the Eden Project with a play about a huge carnivorous murderous plant. But I don't know. Today I picked up a ticket for Sleeping Beauty On Ice though. The weekend I come back from Cornwall there will also be Splendour in the Park at Wollaton Hall, which I wouldn't mind going to the second day of. And at some point in early August the Royal Centre is also showing Swan Lake with some very good dance company. And there will also be Wanted, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Female Agents and Hancock out over the next few weeks. And then Batman: The Dark Knight. And then Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.

Figuring out how to fit this into a relatively small time frame and relatively small budget is taking up most of my time.

I'm not posting as much anymore because my prior activity as a bit of a fannish butterfly on crack appears to now be applying to the rest of my life, and I'm not sure how interesting that is.

I still quite like Farscape slash though.

No-one has said much about Euro 2008 football. I have randomly decided to start supporting Russia. Go Russia! Also I need to pot my plants. Some of them seem to have become infested with aphids. No-one told me that was a potential downside to having plants. Also I saw The Incredible Hulk. I love William Hurt. He is quite a beautiful general. Edward Norton was kind to mostly act like a rentboy as well. Hiding out in a bright orange hoodie. Whatever, Bruce Banner. But William Hurt was very good.

Supernatural: Dean/John while Sam is asleep in the same motel room - so wrong it's right?

I may also have come up with the ultimate question today. "Forward" primary schoolteachers - Edna Krabappel or Selena Coombs?

And I love this icon. The only thing that would make me happier in the set would be a Gryffindor icon with "It'll take more than deadly, deadly bees to stop us!". Which, thinking about it, could have been Dean and Sam's catchphrase for Bugs.

And a nice thing about the new DH canon ( Harry Potter 7 Spoilers )

Is there any Snape/Pansy fic? (the last thought brought to you mostly by a random poll)

I volunteered for that meme over at calapine's journal. You know, the one where you:

Comment and I will give you 3 interests on your list, and 3 icons,for you to explain. Then you must post the answers in your own journal and allow others to comment.

Thusly:

Assassins who sing lovesongs: I can't remember if this was something I actually saw or just something that occured to me, but I was thinking a while back that there's a certain focus about love songs that would make them quite ideal and creepy for an assassin hunting someone down to sing. Also that I would love an assassin that did that. Probably this is a great big cliche and everyone everywhere has assassins singing lovesongs, in those books I don't read. If not, first dibs on the fic.

Wolves did it: This is a reference to one of my favourite quotes from the League of Gentlemen. ( Spoilers for the sketch )

dtdd slash: This is short for Drop the Dead Donkey slash. That will probably clear it up for most people, but in case it doesn't Drop the Dead Donkey is a fantastic topical news based British comedy from the 90s, and it has some slash, but not enough. OH GOD. DAMIEN. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.

Icons:


This is from Never Mind the Buzzcocks, which not many people on my flist seem to watch, but is very good. In the latest series Bill Bailey tried to say something funny and topical, like on Have I Got News For You, but it doesn't really work as NMTB is filmed six weeks before airing. So Simon Amstell interrupted him and said "Bill, it's six weeks ago". Bill Bailey then got slightly confused and upset, and called him a Timelord. It was great. And made me imagine if Simon Amstell was the new Doctor, which seems like it would be the winningest thing ever.


I got this one at iconomicon, which is a great place to find icons. What can I say? It rhymes, it's got Shakespeare on it. It mentions hos. It has Shakespeare on it and it mentions hos. If you like, you can imagine Shakespeare saying it to you, over your shoulder. There's a similar one with Nieztche in a scarf. And, if you want to get deep, it sort of suggests you should put your writing/what you want to read before the people who don't like it, or think it's 'eww'. All in all, I quite like it.


This is from Talladega Nights, another film most people don't seem to have seen for some reason, and it's pretty much a huge spoiler for the ending, but it is a great ending. More sports movies should end like that. Also: omg kissing. And Jean Girard! Two things that make any icon great.


Feel free to comment away.

It turns out the desk where my laptop is is not really the best place for extended typing and reading. Ouch. Might have to try 'roaming' a bit, without destroying anything with the cables. Tomorrow night I'm going to see Spiderman 3, and looking forward to it. Finally I will see if Eddie Brock is worth getting worked up about. Hurrah.

Yesterday, I:

• Learned how to turn up the brightness on my icons. One day, they will reach the dizzying heights of "mediocre"!
  
  In the meantime, this is Uma Thurman in My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Love her as I do.



• Touched a very small horse (not in a creepy way)



• Ordered that pen



• Went on a walk with my sister, mother, grandmother and nephew. Which might be more properly called a hike. Or even a trek.
  
  We started off just around the field up the hill, where we normally go. Then someone decided we should stay out a bit longer, and wander down the wild, rock-spattered road we used to go down when we were young and trying to walk off Sunday dinners. We lost sight of civilisation somewhere in the first ten minutes. I don't think the local sewage works counts. I had to stay at the back with my doddering old grandmother, pushing the pushchair to keep herself upright, while she gasped and told how she wasn't fit anymore, and she'd be dead quite soon. Halfway down/up the track, mum remembered a friend of hers lived up it who kept 'wild, vicious dogs' which she let roam loose sometimes, so I had to silently devise contingency plans for both sacrificing myself for Jack, and getting him out of there, since I was probably the fastest. After making it past them, my sister eventually led us down a leafy, manure-strewn "exit" path, through some bushes, over a stream, and under a mystery tunnel, from whence it was just a fifteen minute walk down a main road before we got home. Where I fell down. And had cake. All's well that ends with cake.



• Watched the rest of the third disk of Veronica Mars, so I could start the last tonight. Even though the last episode of disk three stuck and stuck and stuck, and made me want to weep, and I'm now slightly terrified all the other episodes will do the same. And I will never know the truth and beauty of it. I comfort myself with the fact that the rest of the episodes played unto perfection, and hope. Against hope. Also: the show is slightly gay. Slightly really gay. Omg.



• Did not have to work. Which was not the case today!

Revision not yet achieved. However, I did have some ice-cream and a cheeseburger. I consider these achievements. Also I slept! It was a great sleep. Yes. Also I have generally successfully forgotten I ever did essays so I can stop worrying they're crap and focus on exams. Doing quite well I think.

I watched my Forsyte Saga DVDs last night also. I love the Forsyte Saga! I hate everyone I'm supposed to love, and I love Soames most of all. I made an icon ::points:: It was only afterwards I realised I was thinking of 'Sexy Female Lawyer' from Futurama. Soames should have his own show. That isn't 'The Forsyte Saga'. He should totally have done Law more. And June, Bosinney and Irene been real Rebellious Victorians and tried to blow something up, so that he had to sweep in, to save the family nameand keep them all out of jail, and one of the conditions should have been that they all had live with him. And have arguments, and Sexy Adventures. Yes.

Damien Lewis is in a new thing on Sunday, about an 80s 'rock-star' style businessman, who opens a chain of bookshops - 'just bookshops' :) Hurrah

I know terrible things about Neighbours. :(

ICONLOVE!

Yesterday I did lots of reading. But more importantly, I was wearing all clean clothes! Even my socks and jeans, which I'd just washed. And I'd had a shower so was in fact clean myself also. I thought it was worth reporting.

EVEN MY SOCKS omg.

Saturday night's television pleased me also. Family Guy had the dog predicting Stewie would give up his plans for World Domination at 18 when he meets 'a rough trick named Jim', and American Dad had mpreg. Teenage mpreg. Teenage ALIEN mpreg. It was all very special. And then on Rome last night a man picked up another man when he was drunk and held him and called him 'lamb'. TV is so good to me.

But down to business.( It's Barty Crouch Jr time )