there will be a fish

So, this is basically me, when I go to the library:



...um, yeah. Today, I renewed my card, paid my dues, and got seven different Band of Brothers-related memoirs/autobiographies and three different Tintin compilations. They wouldn't let me re-check out the four books on WWI-related topics that had reached their renewal limits, how sad. I already had a whole 'nother stack of books at home on WWI war poets, plus a collection of Lord Peter Wimsey short stories, in addition to all the non-library books I own.

But at least I didn't succumb to getting any The Pacific-related memoirs! I even was holding one of Robert Leckie's books in my hand, and put it back on the shelf. (If it had been Sledge's, I probably wouldn't have been able to do it.) Still, aren't you guys proud? :D?

Sooo...have you guys heard about that new Steven Soderbergh project? Not the one with the epidemiology and apocalyptic disease (Contagion). No, I'm talking about the one which already has Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey and Joe Manganiello signed up to play strippers, and apparently has some basis in Channing Tatum's real life experiences as a male stripper.

I can't decide if I want to giggle for the rest of my life, or be REALLY REALLY EXCITED about this. (I'll be honest, I read an interview where Channing Tatum was talking about always having wanted to make his experiences into a movie, and I thought that was a cool idea, but would sadly probably turn into a really terrible Lifetime-movie-quality type thing if it ever got made, but...Soderbergh! Should be good.)

I'm going to split the difference, and go play AfterElton's Match The Abs game. (ETA: I got 3/5! Whoo!)

In other news, I've been profitably wasting my time this morning by plotting out a Lord Peter Wimsey AU for The Eagle. *facepalm*

Oh my god, you guys. I am so fucking bored right now. And antsy. Like, really antsy. Like, want to go swing dancing or run around the block or something, that kind of antsy. Only I can't do those things, because it is 11pm. What the hell. So instead, I'm going through some old files and finding all the half-finished memes I have hanging around. (There may be more of these coming. I am BORED, and I slept for 12 hours because work has been deathly slow and I have no responsibilities, because I am a poor excuse for an adult human being. Anyway.)

And as always -- Katie, you know me too well. Let the other kids play first. ;)

Ship meme: (taken from here)

Pick 10 of your ships and write down a quote for each of them. Have your flist guess the ships without using Google/IMDB.

( quotes beneath the cut )




( ETA: guessed answers )

Have I mentioned I love zombies? I do. I particularly love zombie alterations to stories I already know and love. I'm reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies right now and having a very good time! I'm thinking about requesting P&P&Z for Yuletide, only with the characters from Sense and Sensibility instead, because I think Marianne Dashwood dealing with zombies would be hilarious. (Also on the Yuletide list: Fringe fic set in the noir!AU episode universe :D)

Along the same lines, this Leverage fanwork website is so much fun. It's meant to be co-read with an apocalyptothon fic, Survival By Eliot; the website is basically the website Hardison would design for the Leverage gang's zombie-fighting endeavors in the case of a zombie apocalypse, and the fic is a narrative counterpart. Hardison's footnotes are HILARIOUS, and make sure to read the alt text for the links, too. SO GOOD. Creative fanwork, con artists, AND zombies, hooray!

When I start reading things like this, I inevitably start thinking of other fandoms + zombies, usually starting with the most recent.

( cut for lengthy speculation on Hikaru no Go, The Mentalist, Generation Kill, Criminal Minds, Life, Castle, Lord Peter, Burn Notice, Sherlock Holmes, Jeeves & Wooster, and The Middleman -- all WITH ZOMBIES! )

( ETA: Band of Brothers and 30 Rock )

Come tell me your own thoughts re: the above or your own favorite "X Fandom – WITH ZOMBIES!" scenarios in the comments. I would most sincerely like to hear them!

In conclusion: ZOMBIES.

One of the last things I did before leaving New York City and my college was return a bunch of library books. This grand undertaking involved three trips, several giant cloth shopping bags, and the assistance of my twin to achieve. I was most saddened by the necessity of returning a collection Dorothy L. Sayers essays, titled Unpopular Opinions. I'd only managed to work my way through two of the essays – "Aristotle on Detective Fiction," which rather awesomely uses Aristotle's Poetics to analyze the detective genre; I discuss the other essay further below.

Sayers is best known for her Lord Peter Wimsey detective novels from the 1920s and 1930s, which is how I was introduced to her work. In fact, it was the reason I even found Unpopular Opinions in the first place – I was having a crisis of faith, academia-style, and the best remedy I could imagine was a prompt application of Sayers' Gaudy Night.

It worked like a charm, with the bonus discovery of an entire two shelves of books that included Sayers' essays, plays, criticism, and collected letters. (I spent several hours sitting at a carrel doing good-parts-version re-reads of Strong Poison and Have His Carcase, and paging through her letters. Homework, what homework...) Anyway, I checked out Gaudy Night for a full re-read, and Unpopular Opinions for kicks. To give you an idea of why I mourned its loss, here's the book's opening:

"I have called this collection of fugitive pieces "Unpopular Opinions", partly, to be sure, because to warn a person off a book is the surest way of getting him to read it, but chiefly because I have evidence that all the opinions expressed have in fact caused a certain amount of annoyance one way and the other."

Who doesn't want to read a book starting off like that? In all seriousness, I adore Sayers' brain. She combines the intellectualism of an Oxford graduate with a refreshingly grounded, humanistic outlook on life, and a talent for effective and witty debate that she no doubt sharpened on friends like C.S. Lewis. The results make for great writing.

Anyway, I was reminded of the book for two reasons, the confluence of which led to my tracking down and buying a used copy of this (sadly out-of-print) book from a British vendor. 14-45 days shipping time, baby! But it's in great condition. :D?

( Reason The First: my friend makes one little comment about feminism, and this is what happens )

( Reason The Second: all roads lead to Holmes )

All right, that's enough of that. See what my brain does? One tiny comment in someone's comments and one current fictional obsession, and I end up writing all this and linking all over the interwebs. And I'm restraining myself here. *shakes head*