Reads Randomly

Don’t take too long to think about it.
Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you.
First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.
Copy the instructions into your own post.

I had to do this quickly without looking a flippet answers, since we have simliar taste in books and just looking at hers will influence mine. I started putting them in the order of their importance to me, but I gave that up. Now it's mostly the order I thought of them. Here we go...

1) Wrinkle In Time by Madaleine L'Engle
2) To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3) Sabriel by Garth Nix
4) The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt by Patricia MacLachlan
5) Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis
6) Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
7) A Ring of Endless Light by Madalein L'Engle
8) Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
9) The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
10) Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (No, not manga. She's an actual Japanese novelist I discovered when I was still in high school.)
11) His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (And The Amber Spyglass, if I'm only allowed one book of the trilogy.)
12) Persuasion by Jane Austen
13) The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers
14) Summers At Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn
15) Coraline by Neil Gaiman

I never did that Facebook “25 (or 27 depending on who you ask) Things About Me” thing. For one thing, I still refuse to have a Facebook account. Secondly, I’m not sure my list would be all that interesting…. Until I realized I could make it fandom related.

I’ve always meant to write down my personal West Wing fanon and a list is a great way to do it. I figured since I write fic, it’s only fair that I publicly acknowledge where I’m coming from. So the following are the beliefs I hold about The West Wing. Some of these I’ve worked into stories. Some I haven’t. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which is which.

( 25 Random Things About My West Wing Fanon )

I’ve probably got more, but 25 seems a good place to stop.

I saw this at dudley_doright and couldn't resist.

You have received this note because someone thinks you are a literary geek. Copy the questions into your own note, answer the questions, and tag any friends who would appreciate the quiz, including the person who sent you this.  

As usual, I'm not going to tag. Just do this because you think it's fun. (And trust me, it is.)

Lately, I’ve been pretty trigger happy when it comes to ditching new shows. Life’s too short to waste it on stories that do nothing for you. So, needless to say, I’ve asked myself a few times last night why I’m still watching Dollhouse.

It’s not that it’s a bad show. It’s not. It’s well written and (sometimes) well acted and I already care about some (not all) of the characters. But I’m often impatient with the storylines. Frustrated when an interesting plot point tempts me into sticking around for another episode.

I think the root of the problem is that while the monster of the week (or crime as the case may be) is something I enjoy about both Fringe and Life, I’m not that into the ones on Dollhouse. It makes me impatient. I just want them to get on with the main mystery. With Fringe… well, taking my cue from Lost and Alias, I’m only along for the monster of the week ride (and The Peter & Walter Show). I do not care about the conspiracy or to try to keep track of a bunch of cryptic clue whose meaning won’t be revealed for another six seasons. In contrast, I can’t tell whether I like Life’s weekly mystery or bigger conspiracy more. That is a sign of a VERY good show.

I actually think the Dollhouse is in the wrong format. It should be a movie and the focus should be on Paul Ballard and the dolls themselves should be in the background… except for the characters that turn out to be dolls themselves. The audience should be more familiar with Caroline than Echo,so that everytime Echo appears, it's shocking. What little we do see of the dolls and the Dollhouse should be through the eyes of Boyd, Topher and Dr. Claire (but that might be only because I really like those three.) Actually, I think the series would befit from the focus being shifted away from the dolls and onto the investigation.

Anybody out there got an opinion they’d like to share?

So I watched Dead Like Me: Life After Death. For those of you that don’t know, three years after its cancellation, someone decided to make a Direct-to-DVD movie. Now, there’s not any middle ground with something like that. Either it was going to be awesome… or it was going to be a colossal train wreak. Fortunately, I found it to be more of the awesome variety.

It was pretty clear once we got pass the opening and saw the reapers together that everyone was totally in character as if there hadn’t been this huge stretch since the last time we saw everyone. But then, with a cast of actors this good, you really shouldn’t expect anything less. But it’s important to note that the writing was just in character. In fact the writing was so fantastic, that if you didn’t look too closely, it was really easy to overlook the fact that a new actress was playing Daisy. Personally, I was never a Daisy fan, so I’m not the best judge, but I actually liked the new Daisy. In some ways, I thought the actress was a better fit for the character than the original! If they do make more of these movies, I hope they keep the replacement. It wasn’t as easy to accept that Rube was not there, but since his absence was what moved the plot along, I just had to deal. (I get the feeling that Mandy Patinkin is somewhat difficult to have around for more than a short period of time, which is a shame because he’s such a fantastic actor.) And there was no Kiffany. I know she was only a minor character, but still. I really liked her and they never even mentioned her and that sucks. But we got Delores (and her cat!) and a couple of small, almost cameos, with Crystal, so that’s good.

There is a little hint of the Daisy/Mason ship, but it’s not strong and pretty easily ignored or just dismissed as a friendship/Mason being loyal thing. I was always more of a Mason/George shipper and the end of the series did offer that possibility (or, at least, didn’t preclude it.) But the movie didn’t really have much George and Mason bonding… mostly because George was dealing with her sister.

( The rest is sort of spoilery, so I'm putting it behind a cut... )

I was looking through my files when I stummbled across this meme that I had started but never finished. If memory serves, it became a victim of November 2008. Thing is, I was almost done and it seems a pity to let all that good work go to waste. So without further ado, here it is.

( Better late than never... )

I rented Mad Men from Netflix and finally sat down to watch it tonight.  Now, I have a lot of good reasons to watch this show.  Many, many people whose opinion I respect like this show, my intern has been talking about nothing but since she came to work for me, it's award winning, and it even relates to what I'm doing at work right now.  (Have I mentioned that I love my job?)

I didn't make it past the first episode. I didn't even FINISH the first episode.  I turned on Dexter instead. 

I have a feeling that this is going to be Studio 60 all over again.  Great show, but I'm just not that into it.  Normally, it doesn't take long for a show to capture my attention.  In the best cases, it only takes a few minutes.  But I wasn't and no matter how much time I give it, I don't think I'm going to be. Since I don't have a problem with spoilers, I went on Wikipedia and it just confirmed my suspicions about the show.  All in all, I'd rather watch the show about the serial killer.  (Even if I do have to suffer through Lila.)

I will admit there was one bright moment that made me perk up.   I like Peggy and I liked her short interaction with Don. ("Do I have to?" "Good point.")  It's goood to know that my annoyance towards the end of West Wing was with Zoey and not Elisabeth Moss. I think I would enjoy her storyline.  But even watching Peggy's rise to copywriter just isn't enough for me.

So, I'm asking those of you who watched this show, should I give it a second chance or should I just throw in the towel?

*kicks writer's block with great glee*

Now, don't get your hopes up.  I still have a long way to go before I finish anything and I'm not sure about the quality of what I turned out so far. But I'm WRITING again.  I don't care if I'm moving at a snail's pase.  I've written more in the past four days than I have for the last month! Granted, that's not saying much. :-D

Thank you for all the support and encouragement (and ass-kicking as the case may be).  I can't tell you how much it helped!  

Gakked from many, many people.

Does anyone have any questions about any of my stories, or would be interested in a fic commentary? Or maybe a question about my writing techniques, such as they are? 

Ask me a question about one of my stories. It can be about absolutely anything in any fic and I will tell you the honest-to-god answer. Don’t hold back.

Seriously, go for it. There's a lot of stuff that I try to figure out for my fics that might not actually make it into the finale draft.  Everything is on the table.  West Wing fic, the other fandoms I've dabbled in (some more than others), stuff I'm currently working on... even my orginal stuff!  (Okay, granted, most of you haven't read anything that falls under the last two categories, but still.)   If you need a reminder, most of the stuff I've post is linked on my sidebar under the oh-so-creative title of "Quaggy's Fics".

While I’ve tried to keep my thoughts in order, don’t expect me to come to any conclusions.  This is just stuff that have been on my mind…