Meme stolen from viorica8957.

Bold the ones you've seen stage productions of, italicize the ones you've seen movies of, underline the ones you've read or listened to, and add a star to any you've performed in, done readings of, or in which you've otherwise theatrically participated.

( the plays )

I also saw a play that was several of the history plays stuck together, but I don't remember which and that probably doesn't count.

Also, I don't use it much, but if anyone wants my tumblr of people I find hot and stuff I'm watching/thinking about, it's under the same name. Feel free to give me yours!

Stolen from onceupon:

Fill in the blank:

"my_daroga/my_daroga, what is your favorite _______?"

And then I will answer.

[Caveat: I have a hard time with hierarchical preferences. So I'll probably dither a lot.]

I think I've done this before--years ago--but I'd forgotten about it until someone else on my reading list did it.

Pick 5-6 words you think describe me. And see how they match up with my/others' perceptions.

Pick 20 movies and put their summaries from TV Tropes' Better Than It Sounds and have your friends guess WITHOUT CHEATING.

Note: Okay, I cheated: they didn't list 20 of my favorite films so you're getting a little mix.

( just something to do )

This is that meme where you post a sentence/paragraph from all your WIPs. I haven't been writing a lot lately, but I wish I was. Looking back through this stuff has been really interesting.

I have tons of unfinished fic. I don't know if this will spur me on to finish any, but I regret each one that I haven't, and hopefully, one day, I'll know how to tackle them.

( some TJ Hooker, Star Trek, Shatnoy, Phantom, Holmes, Sweeney Todd, and T.E. Lawrence--sometimes more than one )

The "You Should Write..." Meme!
my thread here

Like obstinatrix, prompts are welcome.

Post a single sentence from each WIP you have (or as many as you want to pick). No context, no explanations. No more than one sentence!

1. They made love that night at her insistence, in a room that recalled the cellar only in the coolness of the satin sheets.

2. Christine Daae, he had written one day, a few pages too far in for him to feel easy in overlooking her importance, does little, says less, and knows nothing.

3. The man—whoever he was—would hardly object to a fire, and whether dead or asleep could not object anyway.

4. "I take it that’s not the only discrepancy you find in M. Leroux’s account," Holmes said.

5. "How many unpublished concertos and operas do you have lying down there? How many useless bits of gears and wire are rusting away while Edison and the rest make a bundle patenting everything first?"

Oh man. One of these is from 2004. I suck!

1) Comment to this and I will give you 3 people.
2) Post this meme with your answers.
3) Provide pictures and the names of the 3 people I gave you.
4) Label which you would marry, shag, and throw off a cliff.

sparklybee gave me The Persian, Spike from BtVS, and Orson Welles (either the person himself, or your favorite role that he plays)

This is very sad! I should probably like to do all three to all three (except throw the Persian off a cliff, probably) at some point or other.
( Oh no! What will she choose? )

Five things phantoms_siren associates with me:

I'm not sure exactly how to address these, except to wonder, at least a little, why Phantoms associates them with me. Which is sort of the most interesting part, and I'd be interested in her thoughts on the subject.

Clear skies
I live in Seattle, which is known for its rain and overcast cloudscape. But what no one tells you (presumably for fear the city will be inundated by newbies like me) is that the summers are GLORIOUS. It's not hot enough (generally) to need air conditioning, and not humid enough either. So you open your windows and enjoy three months of temperate summer. The grass dies, but it always comes back. And the days are long, but not so long I can't sleep.

Even so, I find I miss the cloudy weather when we go a long time without it. I like how it feels to sit on the couch reading, or watching X-Files, with the light outside all diffused and dim.

Still, clear skies in Seattle is a far different thing than clear skies in Florida. Which spell sunburn and a sad absence of my favorite Florida feature, the 3 o'clock thunderstorm. I love being able to see the mountains in the distance, and Rainier looming over the city, and airplanes. I love seeing airplanes in the sky, because every time I do it reminds me how truly amazing they are. Big hunks of metal that fly.

Blue roses
I'm not sure I've ever seen a blue rose. I expect they're very unusual. I once knew someone who claimed she'd have blue roses at her wedding; for the life of me, I can't remember now who that was. According to Wikipedia, efforts to breed blue roses resulted in something like lilac until genetic engineering made all our dreams come true; though apparently not very well.

The other day I watched The Thief of Bagdad (1940) which included a "Blue Rose of Forgetfulness." I also recall one pinned to the lapel of Lil's red dress, in Fire Walk With Me, but I can't remember what it means. According to the Victorian Language of Flowers, a blue rose means "mystery, attaining the impossible."

I am nothing like a rose, much less the impossible blue one.

Peppermint
I have never been a huge fan of peppermint. Perhaps it is too strong; of the minty candy/gum flavors, I prefer wintergreen, and I do not enjoy hard peppermints of the sort you get at restaurants. Peppermint patties have far too great a peppermint-to-chocolate ratio.

I think peppermint works much better as an aspect of something, like fudge or ice cream or a chocolate mint Hershey bar. Yes, I am too weak for peppermint.

Brocade
There is a great discrepancy between things I like aesthetically and what I present to the world. Somehow I've decided that while I appreciate many fine things and enjoy dressing up if it is a costume, I am lying to the world unless I am wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Perhaps it is a matter of physical comfort, but I suspect it's largely mental.

That said, I think brocade would be a bit much, in any event, and hard to be subtle about. When I was younger, in the full throes of my 19th century literature/Phantom of the Opera phase, I wanted to decorate everything far too richly for my tastes now. I even bought a length of paisley fabric I was going to make curtains out of (or something--I can't imagine what I was thinking). But somewhere along the way my habits got simpler and simpler and now the most extravagant I get is painting each room a different color, with solid curtains on the windows.

But why? Why shouldn't I mix and match? I love rooms where nothing goes together--it's a matter of allowing that free reign in my own space. Which has very little to do with brocade, I suppose, but the only other thing brocade makes me think of is ValMalkovich.

Sea spray
Growing up, my father was mad about sailing. Finally, at some point during my teen years, he bought a boat. It was a 22' Catalina, and we kept it in Casco Bay in Maine. We lived in New Hampshire at the time, so weekends consisted of driving up to it and poking around the islands.

With sailing, it's all about the journey. Or so I'm told. I quickly got bored with it, because I nearly always want to get somewhere. It's not that I don't appreciate the journey, but when the journey is very much the same for hours and the sun is beating down on you, making you drowsy and a little sick, it's hard to keep that frame of mind. Later he bought a 33' Ranger for taking my grandfather (and me and my uncles) to Cuba, which he then sold, and sold the house, so he and my mother could move onto a much larger sailboat which they now live on. I guess that's his dream.

People often express an affinity for one element or another. I've never really known, except I don't think I'm Fire. Or Earth, really, though I may be fooling myself. But while I love the sea, I love watching it more than being on/in it. I love rocky coastlines, where the waves crash and little things get caught in tidepools and lighthouses warn off ships. The beach holds little interest for me at all. But every time I'm back in Rhode Island or Maine I go to Ocean Drive or Ogunquit and climb around on the rocks.

Five things inlaterdays associates with me:

Photography
I started "seriously" taking photos in March of 2005, when I visited Seattle for the first time and brought Mr. Daroga's 80's Minolta with me. The photos in the daffodil fields in Skagit county were sort of a revelation; I realized I loved how they looked, and that I had taken them. (That particular lens, too, has a quality I fear I cannot match with my digital.) I joined DeviantArt, and started taking more photos, and spent a lot of money on film and developing.

Sometimes I think of "doing something" with photography, only I don't know what. I haven't made a disciplined study of it, and I'm not sure what direction I'd want to go. I love candid shots, street scenes, taking photos of little things no one notices. I haven't delved much into studio or portrait work, because I guess my documentary impulse is stronger. I'd love to find some direction here, and really learn what works and what doesn't.

Phantom of the Opera
Ah,imagine my not-surprise that this came up. But what to elaborate upon?

I guess what comes to mind most strongly is how I've attempted to "reclaim" POTO fandom--I don't mean externally, from someone else, but for myself. To have a fandom I can operate in. The source itself seems to matter less, aside from the fact that I feel comfortable within it because I know it very well (I love Buffy, too, for example, but feel ill-equipped memory-wise to write or participate). Also, Phantom fandom is small enough to make a little splash in, which (as you know) I have tried to do. It's less, maybe, that I'm still obsessed with the story/characters and more that I still find them useful/interesting enough to build that interaction around. It's something consistent I can go back to and mine. That said, I don't actually feel that any given version of it (even Leroux) is a masterpiece. Which is probably why it's allowed for so much expression over the years. You can't do much with perfection; it's the flawed that can stand to be tinkered with.

Dogs
I have always loved dogs, for as long as I can remember. When I was a baby, we had an Old English named Tuppence who (I am told) guarded me while I slept and cleaned my face off after I ate. We had to give her away when I was 6 months old and we moved to Saudi Arabia, but I romantically half-believe that experience set me up for life. (As a side note, I also romantically think my un-remembered year in Arabia set me up for Lawrence.) I am far more likely to notice dogs than people on the street. I remember specific dogs at the dog park, but never their owners. I suppose love of dogs is fairly common because they have been engineered to be perfect companions: at their best, they are obedient, respectful, true, multi-purpose, and aesthetically pleasing. I like cats, too--in fact, I like all animals--and I love having both for different reasons. But I will always put dogs first, if given the choice.

As to what I like in dogs, specifically, I especially appreciate functionality. I don't mean I need a dog to pull a sled or flush game or keep my sheep, but that it bothers me very much that we've bred dogs who cannot survive on their own. All the bulldogs, pugs, dachshunds, etc into whom we've intentionally bred health problems seems, to me, to be abuse, plain and simple. Maybe you think they're cute, and maybe the fact that they're pets means survival isn't an issue, but it bothers me that we've twisted these creatures for no other end than we think it's adorable that their faces are squished so they can't breath and their bodies are deformed so they can't run properly or give birth naturally.

As to my more personal preferences, they tend towards the working/herding group, the sheepdogs and such. I find those qualities to be more advantageous for home life (sticking around, guarding, etc) than the prey-driven and running-off breeds. Overall, though, I love the mutt, and I think that given the fact I've been successful in rehabilitating a problem dog, it's my duty to do so whenever I can.

Writing
As you may have noticed, writing and I have a bit of a troubled relationship. I love it when it goes well, because it's easy. I hardly ever edit anything, and I've been rewarded fine (both academically and fandom-wise) for not being terribly careful. I don't mean I'm sloppy, or that I'm not working at it, but most of what I put out there has been tweaked very little between my brain and your eyes. So I've learned some fairly bad habits, and haven't learned the value of careful editing and plotting and all that.

That's probably why most of my stuff is short. I don't let you see the longer stuff, because it would take more work, and I haven't gotten my head wrapped around, say, rewriting my Phantom novella.

I'm always of two minds about what I want to write, as well. I know full well I've no aspirations to greatness, to literary merit. Most of my favorite books aren't "literary classics," they're whatever moves me. If I could affect someone the same way, I'd be happy. But at the same time, part of me doesn't seem to want to accept this. It's not exactly conscious, but I'm blocked a lot of the time from just going wild and writing what I'd probably want to, if I thought about it.

Orson Welles
I think the thing that draws me to Orson Welles is the complexity and contradiction of him. He was multi-talented, an actor, writer, director, artist, everything. He was an attractive man who is "not my type." And he's at the center of controversy, even today, about what he means to his field(s) and no two books you read about him will paint the same picture. In fact, there are opposing camps of Welles scholars, some of whom seem to want to deny him any agency in his work at all, and some of whom want to excuse his every indulgence. His "failure" is either entirely his fault, or entirely the world's. Of course, most are somewhere in the middle.

In this, he reminds me of the last historical individual I was obsessed with, T.E. Lawrence. Multi-talented, a little (or very) odd, and ultimately disappointed by life, leaving an uncertain legacy that will be argued over for generations. I wonder if that quality is what attracts me, and what it is about that that does. It's true that on my bookshelf, these two men are the only people who take up a comparable amount of space, though in personality/interest/scope they're nothing alike.

What I've read about Welles really makes me like him. I don't think he was perfect, or blameless, or any of that. But he's delightful, even sometimes in his arrogance (and who's to say some of it wasn't earned). And while some consider his acting "hammy," I think he's one of the most charming people I've ever seen on screen, even when the movies are bad. Dirty little secret: my current affair with him actually began as a result of my using his image (this icon, in fact) as the avatar for a male Carlotta-figure for an rp. That character has taken on a life of his own, but he sparked a re-examination of Welles' work for me which prompted... well, what you see.

I could go on for days on any of these! So feel free to discuss, if I said anything interesting.

I plan to post soon about Bluebeard and about my relationship with Sherlock Holmes (and Laurie R. King's Russell--yeah, hot!), but until then, there's that meme thing:

Tell me five (or whatever) random things you associate with me and I will elaborate on them in another post.

*Last night, Mr. Daroga accidentally called Mr. Darcy "Orson." No, I have no idea, either. But it reminded us how unlikely it is that we will ever have a pet worthy of the name. It seems to me that the creature would have to have a certain quality to earn it--if not a certain bulk, which given our stern feeding/exercise regimen seems unlikely.

*Those of you who read my movie reviews: I've been perusing some other movie blogs, which seem much better put together and well-researched and well-read than mine. (I don't refer specifically to this LJ, which is a messy catch-all I'm currently feeling some angst about, but also to the film-only blog I copy all the reviews to.) This is largely due to laziness on my part, and a lack of sense of direction for it. I suppose I'd like to take this to another level, if possible, and this is where you can help:

Aside from writing more reviews, which I am aware I need to do, how can I improve my film writing? My reviews are usually concise, usually not very in-depth, and try to avoid spoilers. Other reviews talk more, or get more analytical, or seem punchier and more in-your-face in their opinions. What do you like in a film review? What do you get from mine? What would you like to see, or see more of? Is there some sign of perosnality behind them, or do I need to inject more? I'd love some honest feedback. If you don't have anything to say off the top of your head, consider this an invitation to comment on the reviews themselves next time you have a thought. I would love to discuss these films, or my writing about them, in greater depth. And I'd love to improve my writing. What am I missing? Or do I need to sprinkle my review posts with more in-depth, analytical or thematic posts on filmmaking or films?

*On another note entirely, an amusing tutorial for cartoonists (and others) about drawing natural-looking boobs. Mr. Daroga found this when... oh, never mind. It's from 2007, and has some spelling errors, but I thought it was funny. And it reminded me that despite the fact Bruce Timm's women are all as unnaturally tiny as his men are built like refrigerators, at least the girls aren't all built like porn stars on steroids, and some of them are built like me.

Oh yeah. Warning: boobs.

*This is old too, but if you haven't seen it Dr. Watson's Inner Monologue is a really stylish (and shippy) comic I was only recently introduced to. I love the muted colors and the weird stiltedness of it, and I think it's pretty. Watson's expressions are priceless.

*And a meme:

Ask me to take a picture of any aspect of my life that you're interested in/curious about - it can be anything from my DVD collection to my favorite pair of shoes. Leave your choice(s) here as a comment, and I will reciprocate by taking the pictures and posting them as an entry. That way you get to know a little bit about my life.

I take lots of photos, but there may be something I've mentioned you want to see more of--but keep it clean, kids.

I need to start posting the cool things I see/find/hear here, all those things I think "Oh, people should know about this" about, but never do. I post this now, as a reminder to myself to do so.

I have been a little sick lately, and reading a lot about the origins of the film industry which I find very interesting, and perhaps will write about if there is interest aside from myself. And despite feeling very inspired by the completion of my latest fic, I am stuck on something I started a few years ago which I think is very good so far but is, unfortunately, a mystery. It is a mystery that is mostly a character piece, but all that means is that I have the "solution" well in hand and no way to arrive at it. This is very frustrating, and a hurdle I am not sure how to get over, but I want it finished. Has anyone (writing Holmes fic, for example) encountered this? What did you do?

Ah, and to kick start my imagination, a meme:

Comment with a story I've written, and I will tell you one thing I knew, learned, or wondered about while writing the story that didn't make it onto the page.

Perhaps I should have an archive that is not ff.n?

Via eponymous_rose

Have you ever read a fanfic that just begged to be expanded, to go beyond the hundred or thousand or ten thousand words into something more substantial? Have you ever come across an intriguing passage in a fanfic that made you want more elaboration, more detail? Well, now's your chance. Dig through my stories and let me know if there's a fic(let), an idea, a character you'd like to see expanded.

I've been meaning to tell this story for awhile now, since it happened a few weeks ago. tkp convinced me to go to a pub quiz night. Actually, we danced around the invitation, neither of us knowing if the other one was serious about going/taking, but eventually we worked it out and there we were. The lure was Harry Potter trivia (which turned out to be lame). But in the random round, there was a question dear to my heart.

"What was the real name of the Elephant Man?"

I scribbled down Joseph Merrick, then put "(John)" after it just in case. "Just wait," I said. "They're going to say John."

When they read out the correct answer, of course it was John. I raised my hand like an overeager preschooler and said, "Excuse me! But that's wrong! Treves used 'John' in his account, but it was written after the fact and he was wrong; his real name was Joseph, even though the film used John."

Both answers got the point, and I got weird looks from the other people at our table. It was a proud moment. I was so earnest it was funny. See? There is a point to knowing stuff like that.

We still didn't win, though.

Tagged by stefanie_bean. Five favourite bands/artists, five songs for each, tag five people to do the same.

Oh, tagging... Um... Anyone want?

1. Belle and Sebastian
Stay Loose
Piazza, New York Catcher
Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying
The State I Am In
I Fought in a War

2. Radiohead
Talk Show Host
Bulletproof... I Wish I Was
Paranoid Android
2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm)
Exit Music (for a Film)

3. Kate Bush
Sat in Your Lap
Night of the Swallow
Jig of Life
Cloudbusting
Rocket's Tail

4. Ben Folds Five
The Last Polka
Selfless, Cold and Composed
Mess
Missing the War
Battle of Who Could Care Less

5. Elliott Smith
Pitseleh
Waltz #2 (XO)
Between the Bars
Alameda
No Name No. 5

There's still time to get your question in!

I should have realized that I have no idea what the popular opinions are about these things.

for androidlovesong:
Doctor Who
*I adore Martha but don't hate Rose and don't understand why we all can't just get along.
*I hate Torchwood because I can't stand Barrowman's acting/delivery and because it's "adult" in the most juvenile way possible and also because no one's actions in S1 (which is all I've seen so far) are motivated by anything. This is not the good crack, kids. (Though Sarah Jane Adventures totally is!)
*I really dislike the Eighth Doctor, though I love Paul McGann in other things.
*I don't know if this is unpopular, but Lis Sladen looks better now than she did before.
*I don't watch enough Old Who anymore and am mostly working off vague memories of my childhood watching experiences. This makes me unpopular to me.


for deathmask_revel
Phantom of the Opera
*Julian Sands is hot.
*Erik/Christine should explore the deep problems of the characters and their relationship.
*ALW is a hack.
*There should be more crack!fic.
*Movie!fic is totally okay if the author deals with the characters rationally and not like the movie did (in my opinion).
*Gaston Leroux was not a genius. He wrote a book that tapped into something, which makes it interesting and important. It is not a "work of art." It's pretty awesome, though. Those things aren't mutually exclusive.

for metalmyersjason:
Phantom of the Opera: Erik, Raoul, Daroga, Christine
This is a difficult category because there are so many (at least 2) camps of fandom. Most of my opinons would offend one or the other but not both.

*Erik: Would make a terrible husband and is wrong when he says that "if you loved me, I'd be as gentle as a lamb." It worked to let them go, but in the long run he's still who he is--and Christine would have learned that, had she stayed.
*Raoul: Not a fop, because the Raoul I know is brave, serious, not an inordinately snappy dresser and, most importantly, he is young. I think everything that might make Raoul unpopular could be fixed by a little maturity, which is why I don't understand Raoul bashing. We were all 20/1 once, weren't we? How rational were you?
*The Daroga: Has an uneasy relationship with his foreignness. He has rejected some aspects of his former life, but keeps the peaked cap. My daroga shaves, both as a sign of his uncertainty about his heritage and to differentiate himself from the prevailing styles of the time. His fascination with Erik contains both contempt and an unacknowledged envy that Erik has reached beyond society to do as he pleases.
*Christine: Is blonde unless there's a good reason for her not to be. She was not served well by her upbringing in Daddy Daae's fantasy world, but the story of Phantom is as much a story of her growing up as it is about anything else.


Phantom of the Paradise: Swan, Phoenix, Winslow Leach, The Juicy Fruits, Beef
I'm not sure what the prevailing opinions here are.
*Phoenix is not such an innocent; or at least, her easy defeat by Swan implies weakness of character.
*Winslow's Phantom persona is everything he wished he could be as a gawky, put upon teenager.
*Harold is my favorite Juicy Fruit ("Super Like You").
*Beef was just doing his job.


Hellboy
I have never had any exposure to this, frankly because of the name, which I find very silly.


for stefanie_bean:
Phantom of the Opera: Philippe de Chagny
Leroux goes to great pains to make us feel Philippe is a typical (almost admirable?) man of the world and takes good care of Raoul, but in his actions and expressions he seems a little rough. I'm not sure he understands Raoul at all, or knows how to help him. Philippe is one of the densest (as in, least imaginative and most wrong-headed) characters in the book, and as written (or sketched, really) I care about him very little.

That's not really an unpopular opinion, since no one expresses an opinion about Philippe. You want one?

I like Philippe from the Charles Dance miniseries. I like what they do with him. AND HIS HAIR.


for agentdanak:
X-Files: Scully
Is it "unpopular" that she's my favorite of the two? Or maybe that I don't put "ist" after one of their names? She's the one I relate to, despite the fact that when I started watching I was sort of All About Mulder's pain and hotness. Oh, but I have no interest in her as a mother, or her desire for motherhood, which may be because I have none but I also think was unecessary to the show and what I wanted from Scully's development.

And I don't care whether she dyes her hair or not.

a meme:

1) Comment with one of my fandoms or a character or two from that fandom.
2) I'll answer with one or two of my unpopular opinions about that fandom or character.

OR! You can also comment with fandoms I'm not into, and I'll tell you why I'm not a fan.

If I can even remember which of my opinions are unpopular.

Acquired from lizbee

Fannish friends! Languishing in your archive are posts of great justice loveliness - meta, fic, icons, random babblings that you suspect may have been written by the LJ fairy while you were sleeping. Some of your current flist may never have seen them. Some might be horribly embarrassing to you now. But don't be shy. Share 5 posts (or whatever random number you fancy) from the back catalogue of your LJ.

This is Phantom-centric, since it's my only consistent fandom.

some of you may recall my strange affair with the Phantom of the Opera..., in which I whinge about why I'm getting back into a fandom I don't really belong to anymore. From January 2006. Early days, for me and LJ.

A Persian-centric snippit of fic I never completed, and haven't used, but which I find interesting... This really needs to go somewhere.

The horribly titled Maniphesto, which I guess addresses my first post.

Commentary on my fic "Shades", as requested by tkp.

And, for good measure, Le Grand Phantom Friending Meme of 2007.

I need to write more meta. Oh, wait, or that book.