~ the storytellers' tales ~

Disillusionment

Fri, 10 Feb 2017 21:28:56 GMT

Seriously, I had this phase ages ago. At the end of Season 4 of "NCIS", I believe. When I accepted that sometimes, a slash pairing has become unhealthy enough that one has to stop reading it in order to get off the ship before one's upset stomach becomes the norm instead of the exception.

Sometimes, a fictional character fails and fails and fails to stand up for himself in canon, and one can either accept that and allow one's love to become perverted, or... well, there's always the "back" button. Thank God.

I'm talking about Tony DiNozzo who I'd loved since the pilot (because of the pilot) and who was turned into a twisted copy of the joking, but emminently capable investigator and SFA to Gibbs with Kate's arrival, but even more so with Ziva's. And I'm talking about Leroy Jethro Gibbs who was turned form a taciturn, stubborn but lovable team leader into a raging asshole and sadistic despot shitting on justice on a daily basis.

With Tony's posting to that Agent Afloat position the blinders finally fell from my eyes, and I stopped trying to patch over the cracks in canon with rose-colored putty paste.

Unfortunately, though, I'm not yet at that moment in "The Avengers", although I've been wishing for it since... last summer, I think? Good Lord. I've never liked Steve Rogers much, even when I was drowning myself in Stony fic, and ever since CA:CW, my disgust for Captain Douchecanoe's actions during the MCU's "Civil War" has changed my reading habits. For the worse.

Just recently, I realized that maybe it was time to return to a pairing I could (and would) imagine making love instead of revenge fucking. Too bad I have no new ship on the horizon - preferably one that is as far from Marvel as possible.

I find it interesting how many fans still diss Tony Stark (perhaps they started with the comics?) in face of his "friend" and team leader's betrayal. Steve Rogers opposed the Accords for "his Bucky", and his Bucky only. Plus, how can one justify keeping the truth about the murder of a friend's parents from said friend, all the while ramming it home repeatedly how keeping secrets is bad, bad, bad? And finally beat said "friend" who overreacts in a deeply emotional moment until he stops moving... and then leave him behind in a frozen enemy base - to die, or to survive his wounds only to be captured, or possibly freeze to death? Argh.

It's time to get off this hamster wheel. I want a new fandom.

And I appreciate this new clarity. Into Gibbs' character as well as into Steve Rogers' one.

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A question of plagiarism

Thu, 27 Aug 2015 20:31:36 GMT

Where's the line between genuine fusion and outright plagiarism?

Somewhere else than the AO3 Abuse Team estimates it to be, says my gut feeling.

Anyway, judge for yourselves:

The Hobbit/Vorkosigan Saga fusion. The work the fusion is supposedly based on.

No, it's not the same, word for word (although there are identical passages). But it's the same plot, and I don't mean the sweeping, general one. I mean step. For. Step.

I've read "Shards of Honor" more times than I can count; it was the only thing I had to read during an otherwise boring three-week-long vacation with people I had nothing in common with.

Is it a work of fusion when I can foretell the next action by any of the named characters in the fusion work? Because it's. Exactly. The. Same. As. In. The. Original?

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Criminal Minds ep. 10x21 - "Mr. Scratch"

Wed, 20 May 2015 21:59:02 GMT

Good Lord, this whole episode was like one bad acid trip, much along the lines of that horrible episode with aliens in "Miami Vice". I think I lost at least 15 IQ points between the first mention of the "shadow monster" and Hotch's Oh So Horrible Mindrape Experience. Gah. As for his most terrible fear, I'd have expected a flashback to Hotch's time in the hands of the Reaper, or, you know, something not invented by a junkie on a high.

"Criminal Minds"? You haven't been consistently horrible so far, which is the only reason I still watch you. But if this storyline is indicative of the "quality" of any further episodes yet to come?

Consider me done with you. I think my brain is bleeding.

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IIHF Worlds: Preliminary Round RUS-FIN

Tue, 12 May 2015 19:35:21 GMT

That call against Komarov (5 min. major, plus a game misconduct?!) was total bullshit. There sure as hell was neither a check nor an elbow to the head, nor was there any "kneeing". That most certainly was a legal hit.

I hate bad ref'ing. Plus all the consequences that follow - both on the teams' and on the referees' sides.

Now I hope the Fins win this one. They certainly deserve to.

Also, Jussi Jokinen is Team Finland's captain? Cute.

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IIHF Worlds Pt. 2

Sun, 10 May 2015 20:55:00 GMT

Tonight's commentator on the hedge slowly overtaking Brent Burns' face: "It's an eco-system, not a beard." *dies laughing*

Also, Crosby and Giroux passing to each other on the powerplay? I think on one edge of the universe, reality is starting to fold on itself, due to the laws of physics being broken.

Finally, my tv? Has indeed a recording function. Now I only need a USB stick bigger than 4 GB.

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IIHF Worlds

Mon, 04 May 2015 22:42:58 GMT

So, Sport 1 has bought the rights to transmit the IIHF World Hockey Championship on German TV. Unfortunately, though, they only air 1-2 games a day - mostly featuring German-speaking teams -, and so I'm dependent on watching streams of the games I'm actually interested in. (The less said about the 10:0 loss of Germany to Canada, the better, ouch.)

Plus, German language commentary on a game? Urgh. Don't get me started. It mostly consists of a long litany of the names of the players getting possession of the puck, and honestly, if I wanted but that, I'd write down a list of jersey numbers and the corresponding player names and read off it. *eyeroll*

Thankfully, today, though, I was able to watch USA vs. Russia on Sport 1 while my internet was down, and, voilà, just in time for the 20:15 game of Canada vs. Czech Republic, after about nine hours, the problem had finally been resolved, yay.

Canada won, hah. Clearly, Jaromír Jágr is not the Teemu Selänne of the 2014 Olympics.

And I damn well hope Sidney Crosby makes it into the Triple Gold Club.

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Boo! Hiss! Ovechkin!

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 21:00:42 GMT

I'm trying to come up with a curse strong enough for this, and I'm coming up empty.

Because when you're trying to hit the puck, you always grab your stick like you're preparing to chop wood with an axe, and you then bring it down two-handed, with all your might, and on a broad angle... on the back of an opposing player's leg, of course. Totally accidential. My ass.

Also, worst ref call I've ever (not) seen. Plus, afterwards of course the Pens reacted like my little niece throwing a temper tantrum, and brought the end result onto themselves.

Argh.

...

I see I'm starting to take this thing far too seriously.

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Every Year

Mon, 22 Dec 2014 21:26:57 GMT

... it's the same thing again. allaire, meet flu, meet Christmas. Yay. Rinse, repeat.

My doctor remarked that it was my third flu this year. He asked whether I had stress at work. Whether I was being mobbed. I couldn't disagree.

Also, RL fandoms suck, because Real Events Happen and influence your happy fannish place. Gah.

On the plus side, I'm now caught up with "Criminal Minds" and "Elementary". It turns out, they're good distractions to watch while you work your way through your second can of nasal spray and your seventh box of tissues. *achoo*

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At least it's summer, I guess?

Sat, 16 Aug 2014 23:26:58 GMT

So, now I know what everyone does during the off-season. *eg*

This.

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This is a zoo, seriously.

Fri, 15 Aug 2014 23:37:41 GMT

I live on the third floor, and the windows open up onto the roof. Which happens to be not flat, incidentially. Where the heck do three grasshoppers in a week come from? I'd get all kinds of winged insects sneaking into my room, seriously. But grashoppers?! Have they all been, what, hopping through my tilted windows?

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Butt it's funny!

Sun, 20 Jul 2014 22:20:54 GMT

Who cares about Sidney Crosby possibly (or not) having arthroscopic surgery on his right wrist (and maybe having played with an injury during the Pens' latest unsuccessful Cup run), when there are endless chances for butt jokes made at Claude Giroux's expense?! *beg*

The incident. The mocking. Oh, and a whopping second dose of the latter. Although this one wins hands down.

I guess that means I'll have to add Puck Daddy to my daily to-check list. Otherwise, who knows what I'll miss.

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Hi, new fandom. I didn't think we'd ever meet.

Fri, 06 Dec 2013 19:35:15 GMT

I can rightfully blame thehoyden for one fandom I neither wanted nor needed, and yet am right now totally fascinated by: Hockey RPF. Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin, to be exact, all because of "King and Lionheart". But what was I supposed to do when I learnt one of my favorite authors (from, ah, where was it? Ah yes, in particular The Dresden Files, Due South, and Inception) had posted a new story with over 10,000 words, and I had nothing to read? Ignore it? So I took a peek, and I was hooked.

Now I'm hunting down YouTube clips of Sid (spacetoaster!) and am one step away from watching videos of NHL hockey games. And that despite me hating playing hockey, and whimpering in protest every time I'm forced to do so anyway (why not volleyball? I like volleyball! Or basketball. Really.)

Well, I guess it could be worse. Like, maybe, bandom, or... crap, there is no more "or". Plus, knowing the whole "I'm never going to watch/read [---]", I'll almost certainly be into boyband slash or whatever in half a year's time. *eyeroll*

Why is there not far more, more, MORE!!!1!ONE! Sid/Geno slash on AO3?! *wails*

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Signs of change.

Fri, 06 Dec 2013 19:10:24 GMT

So, I've had my hair cut today. I haven't been really happy with both the color and the length, so shorter was a necessity. So was, well, blonder, because that means I might be able to switch from dyeing it every other week to perhaps every third week, and that would certainly be better for my hair and my overall health.

Right now, it's a mixture of copper and golden-blonde strands, and I think it looks good, especially because right now, it's not in my eyes any more.

Hair. Argh.

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"Gravity" (2013)

Mon, 21 Oct 2013 17:49:31 GMT

...was surprisingly good. A blockbuster with George Clooney and Sandra Bullock? I expected nothing and yet was prepared to be disappointed. No need. The movie was actually good.

Also, now I want Ryan Stone/Matt Kowalski fanfic. How about a time-travel fix-it fic?

But, alas, there's no category for that movie (yet) on ff.net, and AO3 features a whopping 4 (!) stories. Yay. *sigh*

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Happy birthday, kriski & slippery_fish!

Tue, 15 Oct 2013 21:51:33 GMT

, kriski & slippery_fish! :-)))

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Happy (belated) birthday, Katja, Bing, & Schizo!

Mon, 07 Oct 2013 09:54:45 GMT

, xkatjafx, bingbulette, and - better late than never - i_am_schizo!

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Irgendwie tut die Ironie gerade ganz furchtbar weh.

Thu, 05 Sep 2013 00:29:02 GMT

Da ich nicht zur Republikaner-Seite linken möchte (tatsächlich habe ich mich geweigert, sie selbst zu besuchen), kann ich euch nicht mit dem vollständigen Text des Wahlflyers beglücken, aber hier ist ein Teil davon sichtbar.

Zuerst hielt ich den Flyer in meinem Briefkasten ja für FDP-Werbung (aufgrund der Farben blau-mit-gelb, die hier alle FDP-Plakate aufweisen), aber ein genauerer Blick hätte mich vor Lachen beinahe umgeworfen. Ich zitiere:

Die Republikaner REP - Richtig ehrliche Politik
Unser Kandidat: Ein deutscher Patriot
Hakim Jan Farhad
100 % integriert
"Weniger Geld ins Ausland - mehr Geld für uns"

Göttlich.

Dabei hat mein Studium der Webseite der Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb), was die bei der Bundestagswahl zur Wahl stehenden Parteien anbelangt, schon für endlose Erheiterung gesorgt. ( Offenbar gibt es in Deutschland keine noch so kleine Gruppierung äußerst... seltsamer... Gestalten, die nicht eine Partei gegründet hätte, um ihre abwegigen Gedanken an die Öffentlichkeit zu tragen. )

Das sind 16 von den 30 zur Bundestagswahl antretenden Parteien. Deutschland, wie viele Spinner hast Du eigentlich, die Du auf die politische Bühne loszulassen planst?!

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Happy birthday, mareen & frogspace!

Tue, 20 Aug 2013 21:22:30 GMT

mareen & frogspace!

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Hat Deutschland jetzt seine eigene "Tea Party"?

Thu, 08 Aug 2013 13:31:08 GMT

Auf dem Weg zur Arbeit bin ich gestern und heute an Wahlplakaten mit den plakativen Worten "Bildung", "Euro", und "Ausländer" vorbeigefahren. Mein erster Gedanke? Oh, die NPD ist wieder unterwegs. Aber die "Alternative für Deutschland" ist offenbar zwar populär für alle Anhänger der Rechten, jedoch nicht direkt rechts. Aber nicht minder gefährlich. Wenn man bedenkt, welche Leute sich unter dem Schirm dieser "Partei" scharen, kann einem jedenfalls ganz anders werden.

Nach der Snowden-Affäre und ihren Nicht-Folgen (und Merkels Haltung à la "wenn ich das nur lange genug ignoriere, geht es von selbst am allgemeinen Desinteresse zugrunde") sehe ich ja ein, daß von den etablierten Parteien ehrlich gesagt keine einzige ohne Schuld (und damit ohne Wut im Bauch wählbar) ist... okay, die Piratenpartei vielleicht. Die waren mir bisher immer ein bißchen zu... seltsam..., aber weder die Parteien der letzten noch der aktuellen Regierungskoalition sind für mich derzeit tragbar. Aber ich schweife ab.

Brauchen wir wirklich das deutsche Äquivalent der "Tea Party"? Geht denn um Gottes Willen keine extreme Strömung an uns vorbei? Gibt es diese Spinner denn in jedem Land? Vielleicht hätte ich als Titel dieses Eintrags "Dinge, die die Welt nicht braucht" wählen sollen.

Wenn wir schon keine eigene Insel irgendwo als eigenes Land mitten internationaler Gewässer für Slasher etablieren können, können wir dann kein separates Land für alle Vollidioten dieser Couleur aufmachen? Und sie da alle aussetzen, auf daß sie sich gegenseitig den Schädel einschlagen?

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Plus ça change...

Fri, 05 Jul 2013 15:20:09 GMT

I'm currently helping out in another sub-department at work that happens to be located at the airport. The colleagues there work in 8-9 hour shifts 24/7, and that takes some getting used to.

Frankly, I much prefer the late or the night shift to the early morning one, considering the time it takes me to work has now tripled, and I hate getting up in (what feels like) the middle of the night.

It's not bad here, but I'm still trying to learn everyone's names, and there are far too many hours in which nothing happens, because we're all dependent on which planes land and when.

In short: Don't be surprised if you hear from me at some crazy hour... it doesn't automatically mean that I'm actively raising my sleep deficit. *g*

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"Freier Fall" - fanfic?

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 21:52:20 GMT

Komme gerade aus "Freier Fall". Der Film hat mich ja nicht gerade vom Hocker gehauen (er war ungefähr so dialogintensiv wie "Drive"; außerdem war er mir zu unkonsequent und hatte ein seltsames Ende), aber danach könnte man perfekt mit fanfic ansetzen. Gibt's denn überhaupt schon irgendwo slash zum pairing Marc Borgmann/Kay Engel?

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Elementary episode 1x23 - "The Woman"

Mon, 27 May 2013 21:29:02 GMT

:::yawn:::

Totally unexpected plot twist. Really. Not like I didn't see it coming half a season ago. Oh noes.

So Irene Adler returns. Duh.

It isn't as though the signs (no body, just a huge pool of blood pointing towards a serial killer conveniently having that as his M.O.) were particularly hard to miss. Blah.

Also, an art restaurateur who wears low-cut tops while painting (apparently she's not afraid of dripping paint where paint doesn't belong!), and her wild blonde mane unrestrained instead of gathered together (and out of the way) in something as utilitarian (and sensible) as, say, a ponytail, so she can concentrate instead of being constantly blinded by a curtain of hair? Totally believable. :::eyeroll:::

Also, now why did it take only a few minutes into the episode for me to mutter "She's a lying liar who lies"?

I kind of like this show, but could it please stop treating me as though I'm stupid?!

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I miss you, Stammtisch!

Sun, 19 May 2013 19:12:56 GMT

Thanks to slashbabe, I already have all the photos she took of us last weekend, but they - and of course, seeing you all again - reminded me how much I miss our monthly meets and how incredibly satisfying it is to not be the only slasher in the area. I've always been more of a lurker and avid reader than someone who gets involved in some sort of community online, but these days? I feel like I'm in exile, kind of like Rapunzel locked up in her tower, although hopefully with less hair. *g*

Why, oh why, is there apparently a dearth of slashers in my state? Is there any correlation to the business hours of supermarkets, the variety of foreign restaurants, and/or the number of Starbucks around?

xkatjafx has pimped TFTF to me (which means I currently read more than just Tony/Steve), I really don't live that far away after all, and what about, say, August? I'd be perfectly willing to bribe you all with muffins. *g*

Which reminds me: slashbabe plans to come see me in September. I don't know whether her car's full already or not... anyway, anyone willing to be slept on by my cats is welcome to camp out in my living room! :-)))

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Numb3rs or: World of Pretty.

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:21:27 GMT

Whoa, Numb3rs has sucked me in again. It's the perfect show to watch when you're sick. I love the underlying family vibe, and the case-of-the-week structure, and all the pretty eye candy in form of Rob Morrow in jeans, dark shirts, and FBI tactical gear.

However, once again, I'm left with a fierce longing for a long, insightful story pairing the Eppes brothers that actually deals with the fact that an intimate relationship between them would be something that no-one could ever learn of. Not without Don and Charlie losing everything.

Also, I want more Don/Colby slash. Preferably post-Trust Metric. Someone wrote in a story that Colby has a kind of hot submissive vibe. Yowza. So true.

Oh, where was I? Slash pairings on Numb3rs. Right. I'd also love to read Colby/David. Of which there's far too little, and also, nothing longer than an episode tag.

There are really enough male main characters on this show that one's kind of spoilt for choice. Well, I'm surprisingly OTP-free in regard to Numb3rs, but for some reason, I can't stand slash involving Larry Fleinhardt and/or Ian Edgerton. Despite the fact that I like their characters just fine. Strange. Irrational. I don't care.

Anyway, why are the only stories exceeding maybe 2.000 words that feature Colby in an m/m relationship I'd read about ones pairing him with Evan Lorne (of Stargate: Atlantis)? There's something wrong with this world.

Want more Don. Want, want, want.

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Yet another fandom full of suit!porn...

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 21:32:53 GMT

Ever since that protracted cold in December/January, I've just been so tired. Why can't I simply stay at home instead of going to work? For two weeks at least? I want time for me, dammit.

/self-pity

Anyway, I've been drawn in by "Suits" which raises my weekly series-I-have-to-watch-immediately to four: "Person of Interest", "Elementary" ,"Arrow", and now also "Suits".

The two (more or less local) slashers I hung out with today agreed enthusiastically upon watching the pilot of "Suits". The interactions between Harvey Specter and Mike Ross are, without a doubt, very slashy, plus Gabriel Macht is a nice piece of eye-candy. I still wonder about the unprecedented amount of leeway Harvey is willing to give to Mike whose verbal barbs, whining, and general heap of backtalk often, in my opinion, exceed what one would expect to hear from a mere associate. Which supports the slash theory, I suppose. Because either Harvey a) desperately needs a friend, or b) is in love with Mike.

Aside from that, today's meet-up was nice. I've missed talking shop with other slash fans, and I have absolutely no problem with pimping "The Sentinel" and/or SGA. And Gibbs-bashing is always incredibly freeing as well. *g*

And finally, if I just knew how/where to get the unaired pilot of "Numb3rs" starring Gabriel Macht... Google, you've failed me! :-(((

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