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I announced to the room, as we were watching Eddington and Einstein, that I couldn't see people at Oxford, pre-1930, in their dress without thinking they're gay; approximately a minute later, R announced that Eddington was in fact gay.

I'm not sure what to make of this (except maybe cry - David Tennat is such an amazing actor, something I think I underappreciated when he was playing Who).

I'm faintly annoyed that Eddington & Einstein didn't come out before the yuletide deadline; I can't help think you could write some excellent stories inspired by it.

Speaking of yuletide (but not my story, which I have yet to start), I really want to get to the archive and see if they have any Donald Strachey fics. Because apparently, the way to deal with dissertation stress is to watch pulp-y gay crime thrillers. It's very entertaining and I massively adore the relationship between Donald and Timmy - mostly Timmy, because he's so sweet and long-suffering. But then again, I always have a thing for the partner. And the films are just - not pointless fluff, exactly, but romps, crime romps, entertainng to watch and not demanding too much energy.

Which is good, 'cause I have very little.

In other news: Warwick kind of fails on a number of levels, and I'm off to Newcastle on Wednesday. Whee!

You know what? Stargate:Atlantis is still one of my favourite fandoms ever. No, seriously, you see, the cracky and wonderful AUs you find in SG:A are so, utterly perfect for reading during exams.

So! A few recommendations - all AUs, at least partially cracked.

Stuck on You - because your life is not complete until you've read the tale of two ice cubes in love.

I'm not even joking here.

The Epic Tale of Rodney & John, Two Girl Scout Cookies in Love - not only does it do what it says on the box, it also makes me want Thin Mints. And worry about cookie-on-cookie-sex. Something I was not made to ponder.


Wherein Rodney is an English monk and John is Danish - now with extra lit references, making the memory of last term's Old English that much less painful.


Restoration Hardware - where Rodney's working at a university and John is fixing the hole in the roof. Did I mention the university setting? And how much I love that?

***

Unrelated to SG:A, but related to exam stress and getting rid of same: It's not the sneaking around I get off on, it's you and other immortal lines from possibly the happiest episode these boys have had since they first kissed. Also, I am far, far too excited about the spoilers - people finding out! Admitting they love each other! Choosing between the Church and their relationship! Possibly being outed on the cover of a magazine! It's so damn soapy, and I just. CAN'T STOP WATCHING. Not even a little bit.

If you see my sanity around, send it back? I think I've lost it completely.

Also lost and wanted back? My social skills. What little I have seems to go out the window when I'm studying for exams, and can I just point out that my displacement issues? HUGE. I can't get stressed out about exams, but I can get stressed out about fictional characters' political affiliation and The Apprentice. I lead a special life, you know. A very special life.

Being Human is so damn good. And if I hadn't been sold by Mitchell and George's chemistry after, like, five minutes of interaction, the last scene in the bar, with the three of them just hanging out and being so, well, normal, would've bought me whole. It's just good and funny and a little bit silly (George bouncing around the apartment! Cleaning rotas! Hufflepuff! Hee!) and yet, oh Mitchell and oh George and Annie, they're so vulnerable and hurting. It's brilliant.

Anyway, am slowly converting Becca to the Stargate side of the force after realizing that, really, SGA is to my fandom life as Discworld is to my real life - it's the good old staple I always return to when I'm not entirely sure what I want to read. Which may mean that I more committed than I should be to something where I've only seen four or so episodes of the source material. Ho, hum.

So, for Becca, a small recslist:

( All John/Rodney! )

Hope you enjoy, Bean!

Yes I am. I had a crappy afternoon, but it is all okay because of the following things:

- Gemma
- A long, rambling and utterly weird conversation with two of the awesome people I live with
- Chaucer
- This piece of gorgeous, sexy meta about fandom being a queer, female space (yay!). This makes me want to grab a random fandom girl and just snuggle her (incidentally, it's in the folder of my bookmarks called [I want to make-out with fandom right now]. I thought you might like to know.)
- The Ratatouille soundtrack
- I might as well admit it - I'm a little in love with Luke/Noah. But look how adorable and angsty they are! 'I think about you all the time'! Puppies!
- I just made awesome veggie stir-fry
- I have Big Fish on DVD

Have I mentioned that I suck at endings?

So why I am watching the last episode of The West Wing? No, seriously. I started crying when John Spencer's name came on the credits.

And just. It's not even my show any more - I haven't watched anything from season five onwards - but. My characters. My team. And they're all different, but they're just same enough that I care.

Sam being back. CJ in the press room. "What Would Leo Do?". Pardoning Toby. Donna and Josh. Bartlet giving Charlie his Constitution. Abbey cracking jokes. Debbie explaining about 'no'. "Home, Sweet Home."

And Bartlet for America. Oh, Leo. Oh, god, Leo and Jed and all of them. Just all of them.

I miss it. I miss it so much.

Rest in Peace.

I am currently reading Thanks for the Memories: Sex, Love and World War II, which among other things has this quote:

The well-regulated, clean Honlulu brothel distric was[...]"the best little red-light district in the U.S."

Aw, Honolulu: the little red-light district that could!

In other news, Sofie remains as awesome as ever; we watched and cried our way through the rest of Band of Brothers yesterday, watched a lot of the extra material (Ron Livingston is surprisingly funny; Ross McCall is surprisingly British; Damian Lewis is *also* surprisingly competent; guy-who-plays-Buck-Compton is hilarious; Tom Hanks is made from WIN!) and finally concluded the following: Ron Livingston is hot. Damian Lewis is very, very purdy. It is true. This made Sofie and I crack up repeatedly yesterday. In public. And then we had inappropriate conversations. In public. There is no bad here! (These conversations may have included discussions of "Jesus Will Fill Every Hole!" teeshirts and kinky Mounties threesomes. Sofie is awesome.)

We also watched Eddie. Hilda, Hilda, get me a map of everything!


sooper-sekrit message for Sofie: the fic is Leave-Taking - makes Crossroads *better*, I promise!

So.

I'm back! *cancans* China was hot, stuffy and awesome - I was particularly fond of Shanghai, though it's way too big (22 million people is not a city, it's a frickin' country.); compared to Beijing it's incredibly open and fun to wander around. Beijing is kind of sterile and far, far too touristy for my taste and also has really creepy government buildings (I mean that the buildings are creepy. The government dealings which go on inside the buildings might be creepy. And speaking of creepy: 1984 is now one of my favourite books and The Assualt on Reason is brilliant. Al Gore = such a geek). Shanghai also has a a street which is called The City of Book: a gorgeous, lovely street which includes a seven-storey Foreign Language Bookstore where I bought 9 books for just under 200 kr. YAY!

But the real place of awesome was Yangzhou, a scenic little backpacking town buried among mountains - we took a river boat to get there from Guilin, which is the biggest city near by. So fabulous, with lots of really cheap bars where I could sit and have a drink and read or write and just *relax* - something that was distinctly lacking in Beijing and Shanghai.

Anyway, for those interested, I have photos up here.

(is it obvious I'd run out of photos by the time we hit Shanghai?)

Meanwhile, I am now back! And have spent most of today raiding the internet for Band of Brothers fic (I went two weeks without, I think I'm entitled to a day of getting back in touch with my inner slasher) and feeling a little bit ill - post-trip exhaustion is a joy for all. But the Band of Brothers fic is helping. A lot. I may even crack out a rec post, though it probably won't be necessary since - praise the slash-gods - for once my timing is *perfect* and August on the crack_van sees BOB as a small fandom. Again. YAY, 12 more recs with any luck.

man, August is going to be good. First Sofie in two days (SOFIE!) and then Gemma in 11 days (I HAVEN'T SEEN HER FOR OVER A MONTH. HELP. Seriously. Why does it keep getting worse?) and then, on the 31st, I move into my house. Seriously, guys. I'm pretty damn gleeful about August.

It's good to be back!

Okay, guys, it's not a secret that I adore the song The Boy in the Bubble - it's been the title of my livejournal for at least three years now. And I have two Leia icons, so clearly I'm a Star Wars fan. And yet no one has seen fit to point me to jmtorres's awesome vid combining the two? Fail! So much fail!

However, if this is because you yourself have been ignorant of it's brilliance, allow me to pimp: The Boy in the Bubble. The lyrics and the scenes match perfectly, and it's totally OT3 shippy! You've got to love that. And seeing the Death Star explode to the sound of "a distant constellation dying in the corner of the sky". Or maybe that's just me.

So, it turns out that I can still get books out of the library here in Denmark, yay! Which means I've been on the traditional raid today, which rendered me with, most importantly, Carol by Patricia Highsmith (famous for being the first lesbian novel with a happy ending - or, as she puts it, a hopeful ending) and The Night Listener by Armistead Maupin, both of which look really good, even though Carol is currently depressing me.

I'm keeping that at bay by also re-working my way through the Harry Potter series - having fallen head-over-heels back into it after reading the sixth book a week ago. I'll admit, part of it is missing Gemma, who's a huge fangirl, but part of it...I'm a huge fan of cosy and well known, and the sixth book is both cosy and well-known, even as it is dark and creepy; just, as opposed to for example the fifth book, the sixth book has Harry, Ron and Hermione acting so *normal*, acting like life isn't just a fight against Voldemort, like maybe there's other things - the sixth book makes me believe in a life *after* the Great War, where OWLS and NEWTS and who plays Quidditch is important; where who you love is important. And I like that a lot more than the doom-and-gloom ignorance of book five.

Also, I may have a slight crush on Hermione/Ron. And Harry/Ginny - I think it's the scenes-from-another-life thing, really. ARGH! Send help - I've become a het shipper!

Speaking of scenes-from-another-life, I'm re-watching Human Nature/The Family of Blood. Oh, season three! Such promise, and then...I don't know. I still can't figure out if I like The Last of the Time Lords all that much;( spoilers )

However, no one can take the greatness from these two episodes - and particularly Human Nature only gets better when re-watched. And dammit, I want Latimer fic. And John/Joan fic. And meta. Dammit, I love these episodes, I really do.

Apart from all that? Back in Denmark for a while now - it's not as weird as I'd dreaded. Yay! Still missing Leicester though, and everyone in it. I look forward to going back - but while I'm here, I'm enjoying seeing my family and friends.

Also, my grades came in - a first overall; and the second highest grade in all of my English courses save History of the English Language, where I have the highest grade. Take that, UCL!

It's been raining and raining and raining; despite a thunderstorm earlier today, the rain has not abated. It's making me feel funny; on one hand, it makes me feel cosy and cuddly, on the other, it makes me miss Gemma. I'm currently cuddled up in Gemma's romm watching television, wearing Gemma's teeshirt and my brand new Converse - shoes I've been wanting for about a month or so now, brown patent leather with green stitching, just purchased yesterday - all of which is embuing me with a peaceful feeling. Of course, that may be the chocolate talking, and possibly the fact that I've just re-watched Kiki's Delivery Service. It's a very sweet film about a 13 year-old witch during her apprentice year away from her family, and it's just so very *sweet* and childlike and makes me feel all warm inside. Even as it makes me miss Gemma. Then again everything does.

I think it's at least partially because I am arriving at yet another big End; the end of my first year, the end of life in university accomodation, the end of Gemma and I's little cocoon, the end of seeing Ros and Mike every night, the end of living near everyone I want to see. It's weird and not at all pleasant really - I have a horrid feeling that it's going to be my highschool graduation all over again, except without my dad to take care of me. I don't know. I just can't stop thinking about it, and it's colouring everything, and it makes me want to grab on to every little moment. I've loved this year, loved everything, the ups and downs and even my stupid mini-depression in later Novemember/early Decemember. This has been basically what I wanted from this year, and I'm all kinds of sad about giving it up.

But enough emo - tomorrow, Jack returns on Who! I really liked Blink though it terrified me stupid; it was a beautiful episode, and Steven Moffat can have my soul, if I ever get it back from Human Nature/The Family of Blood. Oh, Who, how I love you! I am currently discovering the joy of the Eighth Doctor (his companion is a man! they're clearly in love! yay!), so Doctor Who and I? Still going strong. And Jack's tomorrow, which'll be awesome. Hopefully. It is Russel T Davies, and I'm not sure how much faith I have in him. Still.

Other gleeful things: since the end of exams, I've read four books: A Room of One's Own (Virginia, oh Virginia!); The Boleyn Inheritance (Very good; I get really annoyed when people call the series romance novels, when they are in fact political-historical dramas from a female perspective. I spy a paper in this rant.); The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Still not sure I like this. It's a very simple book and it felt too simple for me - too simple to deal with the complexity of the Holocaust); The Dream Life of Sukanov (an absolutely amazing book about art and creating art; but also about the choices we make and what makes life worth living; about compromise; about what we give up and what we keep; about what is important. Which incidentally ties it into my current book The Time Traveller's Wife, which is beautiful and sad and makes you want to believe.) All but The Boy... come heartily recommended and, interestingly, all but one of them are recognizably post-modern, something which leads me to think this may be the area of my focus when the master's degree rolls around.

Final thing of glee (best for last): went to London yesterday. It was awesome! Gem and I watched The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) which was hilarious; we saw people perform opera live in Convent Garden; a finger puppet frog prince fell tragically in love with Gemma after she transformed him from frog to prince (okay, maybe I was the one controlling the puppets - still!); we had coffee and we got 20% off books at Waterstones. Oh, London!

Tomorrow: Star Trek marathon with Cathrine and Dr. Who! Yay!