rose_griffes

A confession: I'm much more excited about the Hunger Games movie trailer than the trailer for The Hobbit.

Hanukkah started last night. Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate it.

A Hanukkah fic rec: An Act of Rebellion: Eight Nights of Hope. Harry Potter fandom. Some Ravenclaws deciding to bring light into Hogwarts at a very dark time. PG, less than 1000 words.

And Christmas fic--also Harry Potter fandom:
In a year we all will be together; the first Christmas after the war. PG, 1600 words.

Thy Leaves Are So Unchanging is a Weasley Christmas, post-DH. Rated G.

Why yes, I have been reading a few stories at the HP Holiday Gen fest. (Now that I have a complete draft of my Yuletide story I can go read more!)

Christmas music!
Carol of the Bells (for twelve cellos) is so amazing.

Noël Nouvelet--a beautiful a cappella version by Anuna.

Allison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma, the Wexford Carol. Gives me chills.

Not actually a Christmas song, but I'm linking because it's fun: Identical Snowflakes a fanvid with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Lastly, Connie Willis wrote a Christmas story with aliens! All Seated on the Ground. I haven't read it yet, but Willis's shorter stories have always been excellent. Mostly I'm linking so I'll remember to go read this myself.

Thanksgiving was great! I got to visit family, eat lots of food, watch my favorite college team win a football game and see the new Harry Potter movie with my oldest nephew. The movie... well. It was probably a mistake to reread the seventh book just two days before seeing the film, because I ended up focusing my attention on all that was left out, rather than enjoying the experience for itself.

Back to a normal (hectic) schedule. I've been trying to fit in some time for piano practice, because I'll be playing two Christmas songs at a small, informal recital. I recently started piano lessons again--I haven't had them in years. So we're doing a lot of basics right now. I was never a skilled pianist, and have a hard time sight-reading, so we're working on that, among other things.

Anyway, Christmas music! Here's Heather Dale singing the first Christmas carol written in North America: Jesous Ahatonia (aka the Huron Carol). Several songs from a Christmas album by her are available on emusic.com, by the way.

I'm reimmersing myself in the canon source for my Yuletide fic. I may have to skip to the end and start writing my fic, otherwise I might never begin. I have thoughts on what to do, but it's going to be a stretch for me, both in terms of characterization and what to do with the plot.

Speaking of fanfiction, remember that time I wrote a story about Racetrack and Gaeta as werewolves? Daybreak has written a story in that same universe: Hour of the Wolf. It's fun and fascinating to see someone else's viewpoint on the skewed little AU I made up.

Next up: Hermione Granger, from the Harry Potter series.

( smart, ruthless, and emotionally savvy (except when she wasn't) )

I've watched stuff! I'm so impressed with me! You can assume spoilers behind each cut, though it's mostly me blathering about my reaction.

Inspired by beatonna's awesome comic Get me off this freaking moor!, I watched the BBC version of Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. ( So brooding! )

Another BBC production: Ultraviolet, a six-episode mini-series done in shades of grey--not literal, just figurative. ( I'm so confused--which are the bad guys again? )

I actually saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince the day it opened in theaters. (Geek cred re-established for another year!) It was late enough in the day that I had to ask three different people not to talk about it (please!) while I was near. Apparently I know a lot of other geeks. ( Realistically speaking, that hot waitress wouldn't have been interested. )

In non-TV/movie news, I'm rereading a novel that should be titled Young Sociopaths in Love. (I'm just giving this as a hint about my general reaction, DB!)

How sad am I going to be when my copious free time to sit around and watch (and write about) weird DVDs comes to an end? (answer: really really sad)

Due South: Why did I decide to put this in my Netflix queue? Oh yeah, 'cause CKR is in it and not playing some psycho-killer which would necessitate me hiding my eyes half of the time. He's in the show for the third and fourth seasons, I have a Netflix account now--voila! Time to watch some nineties TV!

pataka02 wanted to know if DS was worth watching for any other reason besides Callum-staring. So far I've seen the first seven episodes of season three, CKR's first season on the show. (In case this isn't obvious, cramming seven episodes of a show onto one disk means no special features of any kind, not even subtitles.)
( my general impression, no real spoilers )

eta: This rant about the last Harry Potter book is right on target, I think. Spoilers for the whole series.

It's time. I can no longer delay digging into the file cabinet and its surrounding piles of paper. I have credit card statements from 1998 stuck in a folder. I have an owner's manual for the goldenrod-colored dryer (which still works, a "present" from an old roommate who didn't want to move it when she moved out). My college papers about school in American culture and French writings about France are hanging out in a turquoise hanging folder. TIME FOR THEM TO GO! I strongly suspect I'll need a new paper shredder before I'm done taking care of this mess.

Want some fake Harry Potter spoilers, anyone? They're very amusing.

I am such a wimp. It was raining again earlier so instead of going for a walk/jog I went to the gym. Out of curiosity I used a couple of weight-lifting machines. Oh, my arms! Er, maybe I should do arm exercises more often.

( Harry Potter stuff--spoilers through book 6 )

I'm interested enough in HP fandom that I might hunt down some fic. Gah, I just realized, I don't know any author names or websites or anything to keep me from wading through a ton of badfic to find the good stuff. I just peeked at The Pit and it says that there are 301,719 stories listed for HP fandom--that's a lot of potentially awful stuff. Okay, maybe I'm not so interested in reading HP fanfic!

( Quick visit to my sister's this past weekend: )

Oh snap, Snape!

And now, to the amazement of all, I shall mention another fandom besides BSG.

Okay, my S-I-L and I had an argument after reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I was fairly certain that Snape was still in the camp of the righteous. She was positive he's really Voldemort's man. My B-I-L, however, is surprisingly active in the HP fandom (he knew what fanfiction was!), and he pointed the way to a third option here.

Machiavelli's Half-Blood Prince

The author cites Machiavelli and chess moves and uses information about Roman generals (truly he has a dizzying intellect) to make a very persuasive argument... enough so that I am giving up on Snape as my secret good guy. *sniffs* But Snape! I ♥ you! (And I ♥ Alan Rickman too, but I had a secret fondness for Snape well before any of the movies were made.)

eta: That is just weird. I checked on OSC's website to see if he'd written anything new and guess what! He wrote about Snape! *mind boggles*