who was talking about reality as west wing rpf?

GAH. I've just scrolled back three days on my flist looking and I can't find it. I give up!

Which one of you darlings posted recently about how Obama and his to-be staff going to the White House is like The West Wing RPF after the fact, because a character from the show was based on Obama and the guy Josh was based on (or the guy Sam was based on?) has been asked to be his chief of staff (unless I've got the details all wrong?) C'mon, correct me!

creating a personal canon

For me, an important part of absorbing any canon is creating a personal canon of spackles and slash to fill in the gaps around it. Of course, I might read or even write first-times set anywhere in it, but there's always something that I really believe in, like: I believe in Fraser/Ray K at the end of "Call of the Wild", and in Kirk/Spock after "Amok Time", and in Holmes/Watson after The Return, and in Garak/Bashir not before the end of the entire series. I believe in Nick/Greg, if you want to talk about my current shows, either after or very shortly before "Grave Danger". (Which isn't to say that I always believe in my fictional OTPs, or even in pairings I like.)

So watching a show for the first time is interesting. After SWAK, and then a few times during season 3 of NCIS, I could almost believe in established Gibbs/DiNozzo. Not that I subscribe to the view of an emotionally abusive Gibbs who practically attacks Tony's confidence with hot pokers - but he did warm up a little, gradually. There was the episode where Tony was framed, especially. Wow, that one stood out for me. And I liked to read the UST there as conscious on Gibbs's side, if not, er, un-U (I mean, est rel already). But moving on to season 4, we have that whole Amnesia Thing. Not so much the amnesia itself as the Mexico Thing, I think, make it impossible for me to believe in a first time before that point. I mean, I've read some stories like that, but Gibbs's motivation just doesn't seem internally consistent through the s4 premiere to me that way if he knows about a romantic (or sexual, as long as there's warmth and affection in it - and look, okay, there is) relationship. So I could only buy it if his amnesia had totally hidden the entire thing from him, but I don't buy that either. Still a little fuzzy, maybe, but there was also that entire weird conversation between Ducky and Dr. Who Looks Like a Smaller Sean Bean about how amnesia just doesn't work like that and it must be, in fact, just emotional repression~. Not that I actually know anything about that - not a neuroscientist or a psychologist or anything - but I find the idea of it lasting that long, but only partially, too hard to swallow.

surprise canine mortality

I read online the other day that 12 years is the median beagle lifespan. Perry's age was estimaged around 1 ½ when I got him in January 1999. Disturbingly, that means he's nearly 11 ½ now. (Slightly less disturbingly it means I've been doing the math wrong for the past few years when I told people he was 12 already, and the math is just addition.) I got quite upset about that at first, and almost cried (like I said: only dogs dying! Although also literature or tv about Dads and mentors dying can occasionally do the trick. Very rarely), but Wax expended some effort to convince me that he was very healthy for his age - which he is; old beagles tend to corpulence, and with that in mind he's not even that fat. It's still an alarming thought, though.



In other news I've been coveting this enamelled bird pocket watch for like a year but I'm not sure if I should order it or not. I mean, I have a phone. It's not like I need a watch anymore. But even if it didn't work it'd still be like the coolest thing ever.

[Poll #1293080]

PS at my homies who live in Turku-Åbo, don't forget Ikea on Monday! ROAD TRIP! :D (Although okay, Reso isn't that far away... it's more of a road... jaunt.)

ETA2: LOL, Ulrike just started buzzing Wax and Perry started going "Whoof", you know, not the big bark, the little offended puff with his back prickling up. THAT'S MY BOY. Hates Ulrike! Good taste! ("Maybe he just thinks Ulrike's coming to the door," says Wax. IN WHICH CASE HIS BARKING WOULD BE EVEN MORE APPROPRIATE.)

snackfood wishlist

Why can't we have salt and vinegar potato chips in Finland?

I bought a bag - a rather small bag at that - at Behnford's when we were in Helsinki for something like 8 or 9 euros, I think (inflation's not as much as you might think, because they were Kettle Chips - they could probably stock cheaper ones from Britain). Which was ridiculous, but I'd do it again. They were... a tastegasm. My tongue sort of tingles with bliss just remembering.

My first year here, I used to try to make my own. I'd actually drizzle vinegar over potato chips or dip them in it - proper imported malt vinegar, which you can buy at Stockmann Deli. But the result is mostly just a soggy mess (vinegar drizzled on fat home-cooked french fries, however, is pretty good).