Ramblings of an Owlmoose

Fangirl Update: Steve Rogers

owlmoose@gmail.com — Sun, 20 May 2012 21:35:34 GMT

So I was talking with people on Tumblr about The Avengers the other day, as you do when you've found a new source to obsess over and a bunch of people who share that obsession, and one of the things that resulted was a long post on my thoughts on Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, aka my new not-so-secret character crush. Not entirely new, mind you -- this has been going on since his movie, last year -- but The Avengers served to made my love grow even more.

I have to admit, I side-eyed the idea of a Captain America movie at first. I didn’t know that much about the character — have never really read superhero comics, so most of what I know about the Marvelverse comes from movies, cartoons, and pop culture osmosis — but patriotism and jingoism never sit well with me, and the Captain America concept seemed laden with the potential for both. But good reviews and an interest in the Avengers franchise got me in the door, and once there, I was lost to the sweet earnestness of one Captain Steve Rogers.

I enjoy a bad boy as much as anyone (see: Tony Stark), but I often like the good boys better (see: Alistair from Dragon Age), and there is no doubt that Steve is a good one. Although Erskine makes a good point about a weak man being better able to appreciate the gifts and dangers of strength, I think it has as much to do with character. Some people who are weak become bitter, nursing grudges, and if they were given strength, they would likely lash out, take their revenge on the world. But not Steve Rogers. Steve has a burning passion to help people, to do the right thing, to make the world a better place, to show respect for the others who serve, and all these aspects of his character are in place long before he becomes Captain America. These are the qualities that Erskine sees in him, and that had me falling in love with the 90 pound weakling.

So I was doomed to adore Steve from the start, and none of the qualities that drew me to him went away when he became a six-foot tall supersoldier with a strong jaw and flawless pecs. (I’m just saying: Chris Evans. His voice, too, good grief. And those eyes. I wouldn’t kick him out of bed for eating crackers. Or much else.)

It’s telling that Steve’s primary weapon is a shield, along with whatever he can do with his own body: fists, feet, whatever it takes to knock down an enemy. He’ll fire a gun when it’s necessary, but he prefers to put himself in the thick of a fight, to take the brunt of the damage, to protect as many other people as he can. He’s the human shield, figuratively and literally. And I just love that. I want him to be rewarded for his idealism and his kind nature. I want to give him a hug and tell him that everything is going to be all right.

Instead, he’s ripped from his own time, forever separated from the woman he loves (which is one of my favorite romantic tropes; if we ever get any kind of reunion/closure scene for Steve and Peggy, I can promise you that I will turn into a puddle of goo, sobbing on the floor), and asked to take up his mantle again to defend a world he barely recognizes. And he does it. I won’t quite say without complaint, because Steve is not perfect, he is human, and sometimes I see a part of him wishing that he’d been allowed to stay frozen in that ice, left to history. But Steve is a man with a calling, a calling to protect and to serve that won’t be denied. In the end, he will always do what he believes is right, and that conviction is another thing that appeals to me.

In the end, for all these reasons, Steve Rogers is, against all expectations, my favorite Avenger. Instead of being too straightforward, too goody-goody, it turns out that he is just exactly the right amount of both. And I love him for it.

This entry is also posted at http://owlmoose.dreamwidth.org/589093.html. There are currently comments on DW.

New media loves

owlmoose@gmail.com — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:57:10 GMT

So I might be a little bit into The Avengers. T and I went to see it on Saturday, and it was everything I could have hoped for and more. Look at all these awesome people. And their awesome arms (seriously, it is ridiculous). And, um, I might have a ship. Or a couple of ships. I'm seeing it again next Monday with SE so we'll see if they hold up in my mind.

Also, Korra! I am all caught up as of yesterday (with delay on episode 5 thanks to a Tivo incident). And I'm loving it, but I do have one gripe. The love triangles. Oh my god. I can't remember the last time I saw a love triangle this heavy-handed and annoying. Or maybe it's just that it stands out because everything else is so well done. Did we really have to dedicate an entire episode to a tired "Bolin likes Korra but Korra likes Mako and Mako can't decide between Korra and Asami" plot? And why force the decisions at all? I suppose asking a Nickelodeon cartoon to treat polyamory as a serious option is a bit much, but these characters are teenagers. Whatever happened to casual dating? If there is anything that mashes my unlike button harder than a "There Can Be Only One" love triangle (or quadrilateral or whatever shape it happens to be), it's "The person you like at age 16 must be your one true love always!" It's not just unrealistic; I think it actually perpetuates something dangerous. Troublesome.

But otherwise I am quite happy and looking forward to watching the rest.

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LJ?

owlmoose@gmail.com — Mon, 07 May 2012 06:16:47 GMT

LJ added a spoiler tag that works in comments! Yay, LJ!

LJ is taking away the Scrapbook. Boo, LJ! -- Update: Apparently it is an "upgrade", so I will reserve judgement. But given LJ's track record with "upgrades"...

LJ is giving me whiplash.

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noooo

owlmoose@gmail.com — Wed, 02 May 2012 04:06:39 GMT

Why, Tumblr, did you pick this night of all nights to be down? When I'm working late, and covering the desk, and finished all the work I had to do that could be done on the desk, and I'm supposed to be writing fic for a silly meme? And why did you decide to go down at the exact instant I had finished one prompt and was in the process of posting it?

Internet problems. :P

This entry is also posted at http://owlmoose.dreamwidth.org/588514.html. There are currently comments on DW.

April update; May goals; life note

owlmoose@gmail.com — Tue, 01 May 2012 06:23:52 GMT

I'm sorry I've been so absent. I'll probably do a big post about why at some point (mostly to do with work stuff), but for now I can only beg your pardon and promise that I am still reading every entry on my Reading/Friends list, even if I'm not posting or commenting much. At the very least, I need to get better about crossposting my fic -- because there's still been plenty of that.

Anyway, onto April.

Days written: 24/30 (I think... I was very bad about tracking this month.)
Words written: 11,076
Words of fic written: 10,770
Stories worked on: A lot. Eight stories, four Alphabet meme chapters, and several ficbits.
Stories posted: Six, plus four Alphabet stories.
DA:O replays started: Two, which explains why the words written are down but the number of stories worked on is up.

Goals:

1. Write an average of six days per week. Nope. Gotta get back on that wagon in May, especially with the Doink! deadline.

2. Take advantage of the lull between events to finish up the Alphabet meme. No, although I made progress.

3. In the same vein, work on Wardens of Ivalice. Hah. At this rate, that will be my Mega Flare story this year as well.

4. Work on/finish story for ff_exchange! Prompts received, prompts being mulled over, but no words written.... yet.

I guess, given the work issues alluded to above, this isn't too bad, but it won't cut it for May. I need to cut back on the distractions, writing and otherwise. Better managing my Tumblr usage is, I fear, a key component of this.

So, goals for May:

1. Write at least six days per week. (Except for my Memorial Day Weekend trip.)

2. Finish at least one story for Final Fantasy Exchange. (Not optional, the deadline is in May.)

3. Finish up Tumblr milestone prompt fics. (One of the two remaining is in progress, the other is just an idea at this point.)

4. Work on the Alphabet meme. At this point, I'm targeting that one to finish in June.

This entry is also posted at http://owlmoose.dreamwidth.org/588194.html. There are currently comments on DW.

Whee!

owlmoose@gmail.com — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:31:30 GMT

My Doink! assignment has just arrived and I have no idea how I am going to chose among these awesome prompts. So much KJ bait in here, I can't even tell you.

The last time this happened, I wrote two stories (although one was pretty late). Maybe someone will get lucky again. ;)

So excited. :D

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Survey! Membership drive!

owlmoose@gmail.com — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:00:39 GMT

I took the OTW Community Survey!

The OTW is doing its semi-annual membership drive, and they're also taking a survey of the membership. It took me about 15 minutes to fill out, and I feel like I got to bring up some things that were important to me, as a fan and a member of the org. Check it out!

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Stuff keeps happening

owlmoose@gmail.com — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 02:34:02 GMT

Let's catch up on the last couple of weeks, shall we?

1. Work: Things have changed pretty drastically recently and I'm scrambling to keep up. The upshot of it is that I have fewer people to get more things done -- isn't that always the way? -- so I expect my life to be a bit more constrained for awhile. For one thing, I'm moving to a Tuesday - Saturday schedule for awhile, starting this week, probably at least through August. I'll probably also have longer hours in general, and my time while at work will be more constrained. Everything is balanced on a knife-edge, no slack whatsoever, and although I understand a desire to make things more efficient, if you pull too hard on a rope with no slack, it breaks.

So I guess we'll see.

2. Fandom: As planned, I've started a DA:O replay. I went for a Brosca game; her name is Kasia, and I love her to death. Right now we're back in Orzammar, and so far it's everything I could have hoped for. Very different from Aeducan's homecoming, and honestly I think better developed. But more on that when I've played it further. I've been blogging the game over on Tumblr, under the tags KJ Replays DAO and Kasia Brosca, if anyone is interested.

Also, don't forget Doink! signups close tomorrow!! Have a link. I have signed up and am really looking forward to it.

3. In other news: Chorus has started, we're doing Schumann's Mass in C Minor, which is a new piece for me. Very nice so far, although tough in some places. As of yesterday, I am going back to Rome in June, for a week with A and M, which should be extremely awesome, and there's also talk of spending Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas. Whatever can get me through this ridiculous quarter, I'll take it.

This entry is also posted at http://owlmoose.dreamwidth.org/587277.html. There are currently comments on DW.

Finally watched The Legend of Korra

owlmoose@gmail.com — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 07:12:58 GMT

I was waiting for T to finally finish Season 3 of Avatar: TLA, and he did. So we downloaded the free Korra episodes from iTunes and watched it tonight. Fortunately, it lived up to the very high expectations that had been set for me.

Korra is great. It was really important to set her up as character that we could invest in entirely separately from Aang, and they did that admirably. With Tenzin, as well -- you can see what he gets from his father, and what he gets from his mother, and in what ways he is entirely is own person. I get the sense that Aang knew that his son the airbender would most likely have to be the person to teach the next Avatar, and so he did whatever he could to prepare him.

Bolin and Mako seem intriguing enough on a first pass, but they'll need to distinguish themselves from being "new Sokka" and "new Zuko" pretty quick in order to really hold my interest.

I knew (from seeing the images all over the Internet) about Lin Bei Fong and Katara's appearance. Great uses of both characters -- I was all over Lin differentiating herself from her mother by being all about rules and law and order, and Katara is still herself, if a little mellowed by age and time. She looked so happy and so sad, watching Korra, that you know she was seeing the pieces of Aang that still reside within her. It hurt, more than I thought it would, to learn that Sokka is dead, along with presumably many of the others from that series. Nice nose-tweak for Katara not to tell the story of Zuko's mother -- presumably that's being saved for another time.

So happy this universe is back! I look forward to seeing the rest of the story unfold.

This entry is also posted at http://owlmoose.dreamwidth.org/587195.html. There are currently comments on DW.

FogCon wrapup

owlmoose@gmail.com — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 06:29:51 GMT

I'm about to fall over from tiredness -- a combination of post-con collapse and lack of sleep from work stress (long story) caught up with me actually around lunchtime, so I left then rather than sticking around for the last panel session and the post-mortem -- but I want to make note of the last things I did so I don't forget it all.

I went to two sessions today. The first was a panel on loving problematic things, which was big and messy and complicated and sometimes frustrating and could have been at least an hour longer. It ran almost ten minutes long as it was and left a lot unresolved. I might have more to say about this one later. It was definitely worth going: I know I got some food for thought out of it.

The other was the Guest of Honor reading, which I attended mostly for Nalo Hopkinson, who is a wonderful reader -- her writing has a strong voice, and hearing it in her own voice gives it a stunning musicality. She read from her new YA novel, Chaos, which I immediately went to the vendor floor and purchased. I hadn't been familiar with Hopkinson's work at all before she was announced as one of the GoH (the other, Shelly Jackson, was unfortunately not able to attend at the last minute), so I made a point of going out and picking up a couple of her books -- I didn't do that before the last FogCon, and I regretted it -- and read one, Brown Girl in the Ring, which I totally recommend.

After that, as mentioned, I was pretty wiped out, so I grabbed lunch and headed home. Sorry, if anyone seeing this missed saying goodbye to me, or catching up with me at all! Next time, for sure.

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It's time!

owlmoose@gmail.com — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:39:51 GMT

Time for Doink! (aka Final Fantasy Exchange)

Sign up, spread the word. :D

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March update; April goals

owlmoose@gmail.com — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 07:55:56 GMT

Days written: 26/31
Words written: 14,804
Words of fic written: 19,903
Stories worked on: Either eight twelve, same caveat about the alphabet meme as usual, plus a few quick prompt fics.
Stories posted: Four full-length stories, four Alphabet stories, and ficbits as above.
New projects signed up for: None, for once. But Doink! is coming....

Chart:

Specific goals:

1. Write an average of five days per week. Did a little better than this. Very good, for March.

2. Finish dragonagewomen story, claim for areyougame, and remix assignment for newgameplus. All complete!

3. Work on, and ideally finish, the Dragon Age Alphabet. Good progress, but nowhere near done -- I'm just over halfway through the alphabet, posting up to 'N'. I wish I had gone faster on this; it feels like the moment for the meme is done, even though I know a lot of people aren't finished yet.

Still, pretty pleased with these results. Now, for April:

1. Write an average of six days per week. February and March are over, time to get back to the usual level of goals.

2. Take advantage of the lull between events to finish up the Alphabet meme.

3. In the same vein, work on Wardens of Ivalice.

4. Work on/finish story for ff_exchange! Although I don't know the closing dates yet, it seems likely that at least the first will be applicable. Yay, Doink!

This entry is also posted at http://owlmoose.dreamwidth.org/586477.html. There are currently comments on DW.

FogCon Update!

owlmoose@gmail.com — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 07:08:13 GMT

As expected, FogCon has been great so far. Interesting panels, some fun activities, chatting with people both known and new to me. A couple of fun "oh, you're KJ/owlmoose!" moments. I haven't really been taking close notes -- although, as always, I've been adding to the to-read list, even though I barely made a dent in my to-read list from the last FogCon -- but some thoughts and impressions...

Friday

1. As mentioned in my last post, I started with a panel on genre fragmentation, and whether that's a good or bad thing for writers, readers, and publishing; in general, I got the sense that most people thought it was mostly neutral, with potential good effects (making it easier for readers to find exactly what they want) as well as bad (what do you do with books that aren't easily pigeonholed, are authors pressured to write what's "hot" rather than to follow their muse). I had lots of librarian-y thoughts about classification and reader's advisory and Ranjanathan's Laws ("every book its reader, every reader their book"), but nothing coherent enough to turn into a comment. Maybe later.

After that, I wandered up to the Con suite for the social media meetup, where I connected with wordweaverlynn and met other folks for the first time. It was a great, free-wheeling conversation with lots of talk around fandom and fic and, interestingly, Dragon Age -- even though this con is focused on literature as opposed to other kinds of media, that game got a broad enough audience that I've encountered several other fans of the series. Over the course of the discussion, I was convinced to change my plans for the evening, so rather than attending ConTenTion (arguing with other fans for fun and profit), I ended up going to...

2. The Vid Show. I don't know that FogCon had a vid show last year; if there was, I missed it. It was a good set, with a fairly broad cross-selection of fandoms and themes, a few that I'd seen before and others that were new to me. I can't find the playlist, but if it ever goes up, I'll try to link my favorites.

3. Last on my schedule for the day was Unwoman, a solo steampunk cellist, who was fantastic. I enjoyed her set thoroughly and picked up two of her albums. I posted a video of her cover of "Billie Jean" over on Tumblr.

Saturday

Today has been mostly a day for panels, plus the Guest of Honor event with Nalo Hopkinson. The highlights:

1. Rereading: I am a live-long and unrepentant rereader, so this panel was a slam dunk for me. It ended up being a fairly broad discussion on what we read and why, reading moods, how books change us and how our approach to books changes over time, world-building, and spoilers. This is also where I met up with kentsarrow, who I convinced at the last minute to come buy a day pass. Yay!

2. A panel on what makes for a good alien, which focused on how to write a convincing alien culture and mind set. Some good things about language and communication. I actually kept thinking about the Qunari, who, while not precisely aliens, are different enough from most Western cultures that I could see some of the same challenges in trying to write about them.

3. Lunch! Kentsarrow and I went with two other women who we had met during panels; it turned out we were all gamers and all involved in online fandom, so that's mostly what we ended up talking about. Good food, good company.

4. Nalo Hopkinson's Guest of Honor presentation, which was actually just an opportunity to gather in one of the ballrooms and play children's games. Brown Girl in the Ring, Duck Duck Goose, Mother May I, jumping double-dutch, rhythm and running and rock-passing games, songs and rhymes, North American and Caribbean versions of them all; as we played, we were invited to think about how these games are a way for children to pass bits of culture on to each other. Plus, it was just fun.

5. Two more panels: one on the Occupy movement and how it might impact SF/F, SF/F that reflects or inspires social change (it didn't resolve much, and got contentious in a couple of places, but I thought the moderator did a good job of keeping the audience focused) and then one on ESP in science fiction and why we don't see as much of it as we used to. That discussion got even more contentious than the Occupy one, with debate about whether the premise of the panel was even true, and how we define ESP, and science fiction, and whether scifi ought to always be grounded in what might be possible based on science as we currently understand it.

6. Dinner I had on my own, and then I went to one last panel, about how tabletop and live-action roleplaying can influence writers. Although writing stories based on video games in the RPG genre isn't quite the same thing, I still found some interesting parallels in terms of working with characters, existing worlds, and game mechanics.

Followed by some hanging out and chatting; I thought about karaoke, or the filk room, but both of those are activities better done with people one knows, especially the former, so instead I headed back to my hotel room to decide whether I was done for the night, and it turns out I am. Plus, there's yet another interesting-sounding 9am panel, so I figured it made sense to wind down. One more day.

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At FogCon!

owlmoose@gmail.com — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 01:12:01 GMT

I am here, just taking a few minutes in my hotel room between events. I arrived around 3:30 and have gone to one panel so far, on genre fragmentation, and I spent most of the time with my librarian hat on, listening to people talk about classification and tagging and recommendations, and I wanted to say something brilliant about it but never managed to come up with a thought coherent enough to share. Still, food for thought about how to make recommendations to people, and how to get your writings found online.

Next is the Social Media Meet-up in the con suite, at which I may meet some of you who will read this! *waves* I haven't exactly been active online in any FogCon related venues -- mostly I just follow the Twitter hashtag and friended a few people right after last year's con -- but I'm looking forward to the opportunity to connect with people IRL.

This year, I'm staying in the hotel, even though Walnut Creek is only about 45 minutes away from my home. I like the idea of being able to disappear into "con space" for a few days, hide out from the real world a little bit. As long as I hide out from the real world within con space, rather than my hotel room. This will be the challenge...

I hope to do a writeup at the end of each day like I did last year, and I'll probably also post tidbits to Tumblr (#kj at fogcon), if anyone is interested in following along. And if you're here, come say Hi!

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Catching up on crossposts - DA:O, DA2, and FFXIII

owlmoose@gmail.com — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 06:02:10 GMT

I've written three fics for challenges this month, and received one stunning piece of fanart, and I've just realized how remiss I've been in crossposting them all.

First, the fanart, because it deserves all the attention:

The Gryphon and the Dragon by sqbr

This is an illustration of Alistair meeting his son, imagined as a gryphon and a dragon respectively, as suggested by my short Bedtime Stories, and it. is. gorgeous. I cannot stop marveling at how well it captures Alistair's character, and the imagery of Dragon Age as translated into a fairy tale. So, so awesome. Go look, really.

And now, for the fics:

Title: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime
Fandom: Dragon Age 2
Rating: G
Characters: Aveline, Isabela, Meredith, Donnic. Aveline/Donnic
Spoilers: Through DA2, Act 2
Notes: Written for the dragonagewomen/dragonagewomen challenge.

After a major upheaval in Kirkwall, Aveline is looking for someone to blame, and Isabela makes a convenient target. Major spoilers for Dragon Age 2, the end of Act Two.

On LJ / On AO3

---

Title: Depend on Me
Fandom: FFXIII
Rating: PG (drug use)
Characters: Lightning, Snow, Hope, Fang
Spoilers: Through Chapter 11
Notes: Written for the 2012 EX Mode round of newgameplus, based on two different fics by mako_lies. Both fics had interesting things to say about Lightning, as seen through other people's eyes; I turned this around and told it from Lightning's point of view.

On AO3

---

Title: Prisoners
Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins
Rating: PG (demonic possession)
Characters: Templar Drass/Desire Demon
Spoilers: For the Broken Circle quest in DA:O.
Notes: Written for the March 2012 round of areyougame. Prompt was "Dragon Age: Origins, any applicable/any applicable: seclusion - Being shut away in the Tower does things to a person’s head." I claimed this with the theory that I would write about Anders, but I couldn't come up with anything that grabbed me and that wasn't fairly DA2-centric. Then a very different idea came to me....

Ser Drass is unhappy with his life in Kinloch Hold, but he has everything under control. He's certain of it.

On DW / On AO3

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Hunger Games

owlmoose@gmail.com — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 07:01:32 GMT

Saw it on Friday. It was good. Improved on some of the things I didn't love about the books, kept others about the same. People disagree about this, but I was glad to not be quite so deeply in Katniss's head: the excellent behind-the-scenes stuff with the gamemakers and President Snow, the announcers, and the uprising in District 11. The downside, of course, is that we saw much less of how conflicted Katniss was about playing the star-crossed lovers game. They showed it, but it had to be more subtle. I think it came across, but then I knew it was there. Unfortunately, I like Peeta even less now than I did before. It probably doesn't help that the actor who plays Gale is smoking hot, and Peeta is... not, but all the issues I had with Peeta's manipulativeness are fully on display. I'll be very interested to see how they carry it forward.

Lenny Kravitz as Cinna was absolutely perfect. I love that character so much, and they did him justice. I know not everyone was sold on Woody Harrelson as Haymitch beforehand, but I thought he was pitch perfect. I am also now more in love with Thresh and Rue than ever before. Finally, Stanley Tucci rules all.

There is a lot of shakycam and quick-cuts editing. I found it effective, but tiring. Be warned, if that kind of thing gives you headaches and/or motion sickness.

I feel as though I should have more to say about this, but maybe I talked myself out over dinner afterwards. I'll probably see it again with other folks in a couple of weeks, maybe I'll have more coherent thoughts then.

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Quick thoughts on Mad Men

owlmoose@gmail.com — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 04:54:38 GMT

I am so happy this show is back. Reaction thoughts and spoilers behind the cut.

Good stuff. I'm really excited to see how the racial tension issues play out. Also the coming battle of Roger versus Pete, which looks to be epic.

I'm not surprised Don went through with marrying Megan, but I am a little surprised that she got the promotion into copy writing so fast. No wonder Peggy is jealous; I could see the steam coming out of her ears almost every time she looked at her.

Did we know that Don told Megan the truth about his past? I don't remember that happening on screen. What I do remember is that he told his other girlfriend, the age- and time-of-life appropriate one whose name I've already forgotten, and that's what destroyed their relationship. So I was pretty surprised that Megan knew.

I think I like Megan. But I have my doubts that their relationship will last.

I covet that apartment.

Was Harry Crane always such a loathsome troll, and I just forgot? Meanwhile, Pete has really grown up. Whether it's fatherhood or taking on more responsibility at the firm, it looks good on him.

And last but definitely not least, where's Betty? I know January Jones was pregnant during filming, so they often had to work around her, but it was odd to barely even have her mentioned in two episodes.

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Radio silence

owlmoose@gmail.com — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:34:36 GMT

I haven't been silent, really, just more active on Tumblr because it's more my speed right now -- I can dash off my quick thoughts on a reblog, or write a tidbit rather than an essay, and it all feels much less serious. To actually sit down and compose a journal entry takes more mental space, more energy, and so I've been less likely to do it.

For one, work has really been getting me down these last few months; there's a part of me that wants to talk about it, lay out all my unhappinesses and frustrations, and there's another part that finds the whole idea depressing and oppressive. And if I got into it here, I'd want to tell the whole story, whereas on Tumblr I feel like I can get away with a couple of sentences, or even just a paragraph, ranting vaguely about how I'm having to work another long shift or why the students are being annoying or what exciting new shenanigans my corporate overlords are up to this week.

So I'm sorry I haven't been a very good journal-reading or -writing friend lately. Maybe someday soon I'll tell the whole sordid story of the Winter quarter (which ends this week THANK GOD) and then I'll be able to take a breath and move on.

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The next Warden

owlmoose@gmail.com — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 06:09:09 GMT

Apologies for the crosspost spam to those of you who follow me on Tumblr (and apologies for Dragon Age spam to those of you who couldn't care less), but I'm looking for advice regarding which Warden I should play next. I've narrowed it down to Brosca (dwarf commoner) or Mahariel (Dalish elf), but from there, I'm stuck.

I finished my Alim Surana runthrough today -- Origins, Awakening, Witch Hunt. It was fairly enjoyable overall, although I feel bad for Alim, because I didn't leave him in the best place, emotionally. I worked through some of those demons with a quick fic fix, which is so far only on Tumblr; I expect I'll clean it up for proper posting here and on AO3 later.

So, what next? Not Amell, not yet; I just played a mage, and I wasn't all that crazy about doing so. I plan to play one eventually for the DA2 import, but not this time. I can't tell you why Tabris isn't particularly speaking to me right now, but it's not, and so that leaves me with Mahariel or Brosca.

Brosca: The dwarves are my favorites, and I’m really excited by the idea of experiencing the Orzammar quest line from the other side. But it wouldn’t really gain me any new content for DA2, unless I betray Alistair at the Landsmeet, and I’m not sure my heart can take doing that again.

Mahariel: I’m so curious about the effects of having a Dalish Warden on DA2. On the other hand, I just played an elf, and this is the origin with the least connection to the Origins plot line.

So basically, I feel like I’m having to decide between playing the DA:O game that I most want to play, or setting up for the DA2 game I most want to play. In either case, I think I’d be playing a Chaotic Good Warden, which is something new and exciting, and a style I think both origins would lend themselves to.

Thoughts, opinions, advice? Thanks!

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"Crucible of Gold"

owlmoose@gmail.com — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 03:09:18 GMT

Somehow, it completely got by me that there was a new book coming out in the Temeraire series until the day it was released. I wasn't able to pick up a copy until Thursday, and I finished it today.

Short thoughts: loved it. Best in the series for awhile, possibly since Black Powder War. If you gave up on the series after Empire of Ivory or later, this might be a good time to come back. It hits a good balance of adventure, action, diplomacy, and character arcs, and the plot moves along at a good clip. Things happen in this book; I feel the larger story moving forward at a better pace than it has in awhile. Not that I haven't enjoyed all the books, and I'm looking forward to sitting down and reading them as a whole when the series is finished, but Crucible of Gold is a high point so far.

So my dream of Laurence and Temeraire, Pirate Kings of the High Seas, didn't come true, but I suppose that was a vain hope; Temeraire might take to piracy, but it would be completely out of character for Laurence. Given that, reinstating them to the Corps is the next best thing, and I hope that their penchant for creative solutions doesn't get them kicked out again. I loved the development of the Inca and their partnerships between humans and dragons, the ways it is both similar to and different from the Chinese and Tsuban societies. I can only imagine that the English captains will get more and more uncomfortable with the way their dragons are treated in comparison.

The loss of the Allegiance was a blow, and I can't quite believe that Tom Riley won't be turning up every book or two from here on out. For awhile there I seriously thought that Granby (poor Granby) was going to end up as Emperor of the Inca, but I'm glad that the story found a way out of that which didn't end up completely screwing England over, yet again. Not that the Inca allying with Napoleon doesn't screw England over, but the Tsuban/Portuguese "alliance" (though we'll see how long that lasts), and hopefully their resulting aid to the English, is the first hopeful sign we've had for the possibility of victory over Napoleon in awhile, and then the ending brings us even more possibilities.

Oh, that ending. This is my one complaint about the book: the ending's sudden change of tone, and its highly unsatisfying cliffhanger. We've had cliffhangers in many of the other books, of course, but something about this one left me in a much more "wait, what?" state than in past volumes. I also have my suspicions that the next book will be much more about finding a way back to China than what actually happens there, which could mean the larger plots getting dragged back to a stand-still. There's no chance of me giving up on the story, though -- I'm far too in love with both Laurence and Temeraire (and Granby, and Iskierka, and Emily, and Kodalay and Jane, both of whom I sorely missed) to ever pass up learning what will happen to them and their world.

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DA Alphabet Meme: Update

owlmoose@gmail.com — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 02:57:10 GMT

Have I really not crossposted this here since the second chapter? Time to remedy that, since we're now up to Chapter 12 (L is for Legato).

Title: Symphony in C
Fandom: Dragon Age 2
Rating: Most chapters T, overall rating Explicity
Wordcount: 10,092 (12/27 chapters)
Characters: Marissa Hawke, ensemble. f!Hawke/Fenris
Spoilers: Yes; currently up to Act Two, through "A Bitter Pill" and "Questioning Beliefs (Fenris)".

Link to AO3 version.

I'm really pretty happy with how this is going. But it's also making me want to replay this Hawke's DA2 game, which is silly when you think of how many variations I haven't tried yet. I can't help it; I love my surly, grumpy, blunt Marissa to pieces, and I miss hanging out with her.

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Coverage of Women on SF/F Blogs article

owlmoose@gmail.com — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 01:20:36 GMT

Some of you may have noticed that I am incapable of looking at a list of books and wondering what percentage of those books were written by women (evidence here and here) so when Nay asked me to help her crunch the data on a project she was doing for ladybusiness about the gender breakdown of speculative fiction reviews on book blogs, my answer was "Where do I sign up?" I futzed with Excel and made her some charts, and the post with her results went up yesterday. It's some pretty fascinating (and sometimes discouraging) stuff. The upshot is that, while the overall percentages don't look too bad (about 40% of the authors reviewed were by women), there seem to be stark differences between the reviewing habits of women and of men.

If this topic interests you, I definitely recommend checking it out.

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Torn on Korra

owlmoose@gmail.com — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:19:44 GMT

There is a part of me that wants to jump in with the rest of the Avatar fandom and scoop up every bit of information that I can about this show. Watch ALL the things! Read ALL the things! Speculate about ALL the things!

Then there's another part of me that wants to go into the show knowing as little as possible, having as few expectations as possible. I don't need to know tidbits to get excited about Avatar: Legend of Korra, because I don't think it's possible for me to be more excited! But I don't want to be spoiled, and I don't want to have expectations set impossibly high, or learn things that might annoy me.

So I've been kind of half-scrolling past Korra stuff, and half-looking, and half-longing to take a closer look, and half-wanting to ignore it all. I haven't even watched the latest trailer yet.

I don't know, am I just being weird about this? Should I give in to the squee, or should I stay here in my lonely (mostly) spoiler-free corner?

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Heya heya heya

owlmoose@gmail.com — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 07:41:36 GMT

Sorry to have been so absent lately. The daily life spam has, I fear, well and truly moved to Tumblr these days, so if you are for some reason interested in my more mundane doings, that is the place to be. lifeofkj But I want to update more here, too, with things besides fic crossposting. I need a better plan.

I had a very fun birthday dinner yesterday, complete with excellent friends, tasty food, and a fake birthday cake with sparklers. Very dramatic! Today, my actual birthday, was much quieter: a fairly ordinary day at work, and then I came home and played Dragon Age for most of the evening, with a brief pause for grocery shopping and dinner. I consider my celebration to have been yesterday, so I'm not too fussed about not doing anything on the day itself. I'm going up to see my parents on Saturday, which should be nice. We did have a bit of a family health scare, but it looks like everyone is going to be all right, so I'll take that as a birthday gift of sorts, too.

Also, Nay found me a Hanklerfished copy of "The Fault in Our Stars", which was pretty darned exciting to get! :D

So, 39. I keep telling myself I'm not so freaked out by this, to see "the big four-oh" coming down the pike. I stressed out when 30 was impending, but by the time it arrived, it was no big deal. Let's hope that this next milestone is the same.

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February Update; March Goals

owlmoose@gmail.com — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 08:17:59 GMT

Days written: 25/29
Words written: 14,804
Words of fic written: 13,033
Stories worked on: Either five or eight, same caveat about the alphabet meme as last month, plus six stories for the various kiss battles and some Tumblr commentfic.
Stories posted: Three full-length stories, three Alphabet stories, and six kiss battle ficbits.
Deadlines missed: Two. *hangs head*

Chart:

Specific goals:

1. Write an average of five days per week. For the first time since I started tracking words and giving myself goals, I have surpassed this goal in February! I averaged six days per week. Not too shabby.

2. Write and post my stories for the Tumblr Valentine's Day exchange and dragonagewomen. Well... I submitted the Valentine's Day fic a day late, and I have a complete draft of my dragonagewomen story, but it's not ready by today's deadline. I used to not blow deadlines in fic projects. Then I discovered an exciting new fandom and overcommitted. Gotta start watching that better.

3. Participate in kiss battles, and possibly run one for Dragon Age. Wrote and posted two stories for the Final Fantasy Kiss Battle and did indeed host a Dragon Age version, which was well received, and I think it got pretty good traffic for the first time out! :D

4. Finish the Dragon Age Alphabet stories. Not so much. I hit these hard out of the gate, but then my quickfic writing time got eaten by the kiss battles, and then I had deadlines, and then... but I have ideas and have been writing notes for future stories, so I hope to keep moving on this and finish in March or maybe April.

Yeah, modding a project on top of everything else made this goals list waaaaay too ambitious. Given that, I think I did okay. Not great, but okay.

March:

1. Write an average of five days per week. (Keep it modest because March, even though I beat this last month.)

2. Finish dragonagewomen story, claim for areyougame, and remix assignment for newgameplus.

3. Work on, and ideally finish, the Dragon Age Alphabet.

Only three, but considering that #2 is actually a list, I think that'll do.

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