cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (interrupted)
  1. I've been watching Dollhouse and enjoying the good dialogue and disliking all the usual targets for feminist critique, which is almost everything in this show; so the enjoyment is uncomfortable. Then there are plot-level problems and hating the "genius" character (whom I don't find remotely credible as a genius, even on the level that pseudoscience is used here, which is more or less the Stargate level) and every scene he appears in, pretty much. I like black Giles and, although I don't think she necessarily makes sense and (insert feminist critique here), I also enjoy Olivia Williams on a line-delivery level. But the last episode was better-written than the first two although not necessarily more problematic; and I think everyone is able to get into it a bit more here because at least Echo's character arc is really becoming more visible here, and we're finally starting to see some real movement in it. The first couple of eps were both devoted to setup, which was unfortunate; they really should have been put together in a single pilot, I think, because of the way they read like a single chapter.


  2. Speaking of feminist critique, how about Criminal Minds last week, huh? I mean, they've already failed so spectacularly this season with the Gypsies Steal Babies story that the It's Bad To Not Give Psychics In Law Enforcement A Fair Shake episode and its confused moral (Rossi was right all along but somehow his caution that was totally necessary was still assholey? What?) was not even a blip. But last week's spoilers )


  3. After the second-to-last episode of NCIS and the Gayness Spike where Read more... ) I was interested to see what would happen, how they'd transition back into the normal run of things since the show's crimefighting and Tony-as-comic-relief schtick can't really allow for that level of focus on Gibbs/Dinozzo to continue. Also, the next episode is really significant to any kind of episode tags - it shows the state of the interpersonal dynamic after any hypothetical Basement-Boat-Bow-Chicka-Wow scenes. If that makes sense. Well, the new episode has Tony's normal type of comic relief back in full force but was actually doing quite a bit to maintain the gay Read more... )


  4. There was no new Lie to Me this week, which is really sad. The show's showing great promise, even besides having Tim Roth: it's got multiple sub-plots that all show simultaneous movement, supporting actors who are interesting and not bad, entertaining plots of the week and law-enforcement shenanigans. I especially love the way everybody on the show is equally likely to turn into the Exposition Ho of the moment, and the way they tend to throw up their examples of people's Lying Body Language on big screen tvs and projectors and rewind them multiple times for our benefit... and then reinforce them with news clips of politicians and celebrities. They actually used "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" the other week. I really hope they don't get cancelled yet.
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (seekrit agent)
Damn, the new NCIS was good. And not only good, either - I mean, it was partly good acting, and it was partly better writing than usual, because it was really sparkling, and Michael whassname is really good at - you know, impressions, and being a bit of a goof, and comic timing - so I'm sure they wrote the ep for him, just to let him shine, as it were. But anyway, my point is that it wasn't just better written than usual, it was more gay than usual. Like, okay. In graph form,



NCIS is usually about as gay as Highlander, which is to say, amusingly gay, but not necessarily anything that your typical non-gay, non-slash-goggles-wearer would even pick up on; the realm of repeated humourous subtext, but without the intense focus on interpersonal relations, in a bromance way, that you find in Star Trek and the other higher-up shows on the graph (there are plenty of other shows, too, obviously, I just picked big fandoms that spring immediately to mind as benchmarks). It spikes occasionally, especially in s6, with spoilers ), but those spikes have heretofore, due to characterisation and camerawork (ie no lovingly lingering shots of the eyefucking, more like you have to notice it happening is a comic aside when the plot is focussed elsewhere), been still mostly at sub-Star Trek levels. Last night's episode was firmly up above Star Trek gayness levels, although still under Due South (it's hard to get as gay as riding off into the sunset together) - more like The Sentinel (other shows at TS's level of gayness: Merlin, Starsky & Hutch from what I have observed).

I keep refreshing my delicious subscriptions looking for episode tags because I'm too lazy to try to write one myself, but you could totally put a really awesome Gibbs/Dinozzo FT fic either directly after the events of the ep, or shortly after like a few days or weeks. Even though my personal canon places that earlier this season.

ETA: If you haven't seen it, go participate in [livejournal.com profile] thefourthvine's Scientific Poll on the subject!http://thefourthvine.livejournal.com/98874.html#cutid1 & http://thefourthvine.livejournal.com/99145.html#cutid1
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (Default)
The last two years I didn't have time to make Valentines for you guys, so I started a day early today and I drew these little cartoons by hand, which means they are of lesser, yet probably more amusing quality than the 2005 and 2006 Valentine's Day posts. Pairing-themed virtual cards for 8 of my top pairings this year! (Click to enlarge)

Batman: Batman/Gordon, somewhat inspired by Lego Batman )

Criminal Minds: Garcia/Morgan )

The Devil Wears Prada: Andy/Miranda )

DieHard4: John/Matt )

Harry Potter: Harry/Snape )

NCIS: Gibbs/DiNozzo )

Singin in the Rain: Don/Kathy/Cosmo )

Star Trek MIRROR VERSE! Kirk/Spock )

OMGDONE!

11 Jan 2009 12:11 am
cimorene: A woman sitting on a bench reading a book in front of a symmetrical opulent white-and-gold hotel room (studying)
I've at LAST finished transferring the entirety of my old recs site to delicious!

My delicious account - all fanworks (mostly fiction, but like... 2 vids in there!) - now contains 2 867 bookmarks!

Considering I started this project sometime last March, I think the occasion calls for celebration!

http://delicious.com/cimness : the main account!

Fandoms with over 50 bookmarks )

It's not exactly right to call this "recent" fandoms, but the ones I've been reading in the past year are

  • Batman, which is mostly Christopher Nolan's universe and mostly Batman/Gordon. I read a lot of that this fall. (26)


  • Bones. I think probably all of those are Brennan/Booth. (9)


  • Criminal Minds. I like Morgan/Garcia and Hotch/Rossi. I think I read some Hotch/Prentiss in there, too. (9)


  • DCU. I went through a phase of devouring Tim Drake/Kon-El stories this summer. (28)


  • Die Hard. McClane/Farrell exclusively, of course. (16)


  • Hot Fuzz. (11)


  • Ironman. Tony/Pepper, that is. I didn't read a lot of it before I got sick of the same things that always quickly enough drive me away from het. But rest assured, I did read it in all seriousness for a while - I just didn't find much that I liked enough to bookmark. (3)


  • Merlin. Haven't watched it, just read it. Fortunately, it seems a bit familiar. (21)


  • NCIS. I was reading this one, oh, a couple of months ago, until I ran out. I mean, I still give it a look when new pieces come up, of course, but the rate's not terribly fast... (51)


  • The Devil Wears Prada. I think a lot of us rediscovered the beauty of girl/girl this year (or, well, last year, but she's still writing it) thanks to Telanu's DWP fic.
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (actually you have to push this button)
So [livejournal.com profile] perhael and I were having a friendly debate about the Meet The Folks episode of NCIS, whatever it's called, wherein Tony is the only one who cyber-stalks Gibbs and hacks into his files (Tony can hack?), and Gibbs's father gives Tony a cardigan apparently purchased at the Gap, and Gibbs hasn't spoken to his father in decades because he brought a date to Gibbs's wife's funeral, and Gibbs flashes back to his youth and takes home a sweet, sweet car.

Earlier Lilah and I had decided that Agent Afloat was clearly the precursor to first-time Tony/Gibbs, because besides his extra smiles and expressions of affection, and all his stressing about getting Tony back, Gibbs actually Takes the First Step by ~shaking his hand.~

The question in our minds was whether it was (a) a handshake of Bow-Chicka-Wow, ie the indication that Gibbs was about to haul Tony down to the Basement of Seductive Woodwork; (b) the handshake of Intent, ie Gibbs was just giving Tony fair warning that he was going to court him speedily, but he let him get a good night's sleep before hauling him into bed; or (c) the handshake of Gibbs coming to terms with their Looove in some way that doesn't lead to immediate sex, like if he was going to let things develop slowly or something.

Because, see, when they're visiting Gibbs's hometown, and Gibbs is understandably off-balance, it kind of read to me like besides being off-balance about his unhappy teenage memories and his wife and his dad he wasn't entirely certain of Tony. I was reading a hint of wistfulness and also tension or apprehension into his manner, directed at and caused by Tony respectively. [livejournal.com profile] perhael agreed with me, but the question is: Was it just new relationship jitters, everything being too new to feel completely established (scenarios a and b)? Was it Meet the Parents jitters, cause it's not like Gibbs was planning to introduce Tony to his dad yet (still a-b)? Or was it is-this-really-going-where-I-think-it-is second-guessing because their relationship is still at a stage of unspoken and tenuous mutual understanding, and Gibbs is suddenly wondering exactly how mutual the understanding was (scenario c), or whether it was a good idea after all?

This was my first reading, that they hadn't actually quite had sex yet. The wistfulness, or longing might be a better word, that I was reading into those series of Looks when Tony made his entrance at the general store, Lilah argued convincingly and decidedly for the new relationship interpretation. It's not that I can't see that, of course, I totally can. (Tony in particular seems more assured, but then, Tony is nothing if not good at picking up signals, so even if they were in a place of mounting UST and mutual understanding, just the understanding would be enough.) But I can still see both of them. I'm still batting them back and forth in my head a few days after.

hm.

1 Dec 2008 04:51 am
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (actually you have to push this button)
I think the percentage of humanity that I hate is inversely correlated to the percentage of the day where there is sunlight not obscured by clouds. This thought isn't really comforting at all, though. It means the nadir won't come until January, and November has already been like 2,600,042 days long.

On the plus side, remember how you guys told me that the beginning of season 6 of NCIS was really gay? Well, it is! Yep. You weren't kidding. I'm happily engaged in wondering if the Gibbs/Tony should start in the near future, or actually already started somewhere in season 5. Gibbs was feeling a little emotional about Tony there in the first two episodes. His smile lines were tense and squinchy. And he actually smiled, quite a lot even, but directly at Tony a time or two. At the end of the one where Tony came back I think he got a little misty!
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (stfu)
I started making this scarf in white for my sister. It is crocheted sideways, not end to end, and therefore starts with "chain 383". It makes it seem like it's taking longer because the rows are so long. I think it will be pretty cool, though.

Meanwhile, Wax was happily knitting away on the ribbed white legwarmers she is making for me (and when I say white, this is unbleached white sheep's wool so it's actually more of a rich warm cream colour) and we were discussing the Crazy's poor, naked little back and the upshot was that she put my legwarmer aside and started to knit a sweater for the Crazy instead. The theory is that the Crazy loves this particular fat wool so much that she will be delighted to have it attached to her tiny little body. We'll see.

I was reading more Highlander fanfic yesterday and then [livejournal.com profile] shiroi_chi posted about it too. Ahhh, Peter Wingfield! Ahhh, that one blue-lit scene that we watched 20 times in a row both backwards and forwards when he jumps out of bed and runs to the door shirtless with his sword! Too bad they can never go back and make any sequels now that he's old. Still hot, but you know... old. Which reminds me there was an episode of NCIS with a dude that looked quite a bit like him and I got all excited and OH LAST NIGHT WE WATCHED AN EP WHERE VASH, PICARD'S GF VASH, WAS A WALK-ON FOR LIKE 2 SECONDS! ♥
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (actually you have to push this button)
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.
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (determined)
I know, okay, that marines really do wear their hair like that, but did Mark Harmon really have to shave his head? On screen? That was horrific! [livejournal.com profile] wax_jism and I were both shouting, cringing and covering our eyes! And then they kept showing his head on camera! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

And another thing! The flashback narrative, or FlashBackative as we call it as of now! That little black toupee on his head. LOLLLLLLLLLLL.

His bad hair choices should have their own credits.

ncis, s3

2 Nov 2008 03:57 pm
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (actually you have to push this button)
  • Why is about 50% of each of Gibbs's early Flashbacks to the 'Nam of Het Sex with Shepard made up of the Eiffel tower? Was he staring at the tower the entire time he was there? Even during sex, because the flashback's like "tower - bed - tower - naked woman and Gibbs - cars on rainy street - naked woman in bed - tower". I'm just saying, the apportionment of his memory is seriously fucked up if the sex was any good. But hey, what do I know? Maybe it wasn't.


  • Michael Weatherly is really good at doing vocal impressions, so I'd expect his Spanish accent to sound more native even if he didn't actually speak Spanish. Of course, it could be that a) he did it on purpose (Wax's suggestion), b) he was just reading it out ie didn't have an aural impression to imitate, or c) he actually does sort of speak Spanish to some degree but with an accent I'm not familiar with (all the native speakers and fluent speakers I've been exposed to have been from Miami, Texas, Puerto Rico, northern Mexico/ Mexico City, Spain & Sevilla, Colombia, and Honduras). But it does sort of sound like my high school friend cliquemate Margaret's Valley Girl Spanish skits ("¿Quieres ir de compras o no?").



eta/PS: Fornell is my new tv boyfriend. But whoever wrote the established Gibbs/Fornell badfic that I accidentally clicked on the other day because someone didn't warn on delicious was so wrong for that.

ncis, s2

29 Oct 2008 12:02 pm
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (Default)
I've decided not to read any more stories where Gibbs and Tony seduce each other in, under, or around the boat. That shouldn't be hard considering I've pretty much read all of them already, I think - okay, not ALL of them, but pretty much most of them, but it's the principle that counts, because that was just kind of skeezy. Maybe it was because the onscreen chemistry was lacking, or maybe it was just because they never exchanged any dialogue at all without mutually leering, but the whole boat scene was a kind of discordant bow-chicka-bow thing, wasn't it? I'm surprised I didn't have nightmares. Ewwww. Is that like code for 'Wanna see my etchings' now?
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (asleep on the couch)
I really can't see any plausible reason for Ari's strong German accent. I mean, he's in his thirties so it's possible that his dad was born in the 40s and came from Germany and that German was his native language, but Ari's native language should still be either Arabic or Hebrew (or he could be a true bilingual). Even assuming German was spoken at home, Arabic or Hebrew should be the accent since it would be the language of his education all the way up to med school.

And according to IMDb, Ziva's played by a South American. How hard can it honestly be? Maybe not actual Israelis, but how about some jews or at least a British accent, so we could pretend they were just talented? And for that matter, Michael Weatherly's conspicuous un-Italianness: why the Italian name then? Surely it wasn't necessary?

Not to say that these are the only things that stand out, but given a choice language is always what we fixate on in this household as a pet peeve. That, and Gibbs's haircut.
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (lookout)
Wax and I keep laughing (and speculating) about how anyone could have three ex-wives, but we ignored one of the most obvious (though, okay, not one of the most LIKELY) explanations!

What if Gibbs doesn't believe in sex before marriage? Crackfic idea, free to good home.
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (magic)
It took a while to get used to the unconventional, well... British? aesthetic in Prime Suspect, but it's really growing on me. Also, I just liked the second series better, I think. Helen Mirren was never in question, but there was a little more piss-you-off sexism plot without enough to sweeten the pot in the first one. There's gritty, and then there's entertainment that leaves you more depressed/fuming than entertained. And I really don't come to mysteries for anything but entertainment. But, anyway, I quite like it at this point.

We've started watching NCIS at the beginning as well - slowly because the influx of new episodes of our current shows (Criminal Minds, CSI, True Blood, Sarah Connor Chronicles) is enough to keep us pretty busy and doesn't leave a lot of time for marathoning old episodes of stuff. See, I actually didn't realise Mark Harmon was in it till my mom told me a couple of weeks ago, which was a) a shocker because my mom is one of those people who NEVER know the names of actors and b) enough to make me instantly say I wanted to watch it. Anyway, Wax and I love procedurals, so it's no hardship. Okay, the commercial-for-the-US-military aspect is a hardship, but so far the rest is fine.

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