Two participatory memes, and one that I just filled out for the hell of it. Fannish navel-gazing ahoy!
Meme the First is the ubiquitous DVD commentary meme, which comes back around every so often, kind of like a zombie invasion. Name one (or more!) of my fics, or any (or all!) of vids, and I will write up a DVD-style commentary on it. For vids, I might even be inspired to do voice commentary (or I could do it for fic, if someone would really like that?), but I'm not sure my technical skills extend to actually syncing it up with the vid. We could see, though.
Here is a poll, or you could always comment. Whichever.
Meme the Second is as follows: give me a character(s) and/or pairing(s) and I will give you a song. (Knowing me, I will give you more than one.)
Meme the Third is the 20 first lines meme, where you c/p the first lines of your 20 most recent fics and see if it says anything about you.
1. "Michael, will you come here for a minute?"
2. "So what do you think?"
3. She strolls through C&C, pretending it's not the fifth time she's done so on this too-quiet morning.
4. Near the end of their working lunch—the first time they'd managed to see each other outside of joint staff meetings in over a month—Susan took pity on her former CO.
5. When she opened the door, he caught his breath.
6. She didn't look up until he'd gotten halfway across her office.
7. Joel noticed the birdhouse on his porch the day he moved in.
8. After the curtain call, she might have lost him in the crush of chorus girls, ballerinas, critics, reporters, and everyone else who felt a need to be backstage and in their faces.
9. They are in the Casino, and he buys.
10. That Brazilian liquor was sure something, Honey reflected, feeling rather muddled as she stared at her empty glass—her fourth, if she remembered correctly.
11. That, it seemed, was that.
12. As he's ducking behind a rock to get out of the line of fire, Daniel Jackson wistfully remembers writing papers.
13. If the French ambassador said another word about wine, she was going to have to kill him.
14. He was babbling.
15. "Human infants are so undeveloped when they come out into the world," G'Kar commented.
16. "Michael, listen to this."
17. It has been seventeen days since her life took the express transport to hell.
18. She checks her comm channel reservation again, waiting impatiently for the chrono to tick over from 1729 to 1730.
19. When Marcus arrives at Susan Ivanova's door, he fully expects her to take one look at him and his art project and throw him out in the hallway—possibly bodily, definitely metaphorically.
20. This is how it happens: // It is late at night. [Technically it's one sentence that just happens to extend over a paragraph break.]
I think it says that I only sometimes bother caring about grabbing attention with the first line. Also, that I overuse the em-dash. (I like the em-dash. I plan to give that Emily Dickinson chick a run for her money.)
Meme the First is the ubiquitous DVD commentary meme, which comes back around every so often, kind of like a zombie invasion. Name one (or more!) of my fics, or any (or all!) of vids, and I will write up a DVD-style commentary on it. For vids, I might even be inspired to do voice commentary (or I could do it for fic, if someone would really like that?), but I'm not sure my technical skills extend to actually syncing it up with the vid. We could see, though.
Here is a poll, or you could always comment. Whichever.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 0
What would you have me comment on?
Meme the Second is as follows: give me a character(s) and/or pairing(s) and I will give you a song. (Knowing me, I will give you more than one.)
Meme the Third is the 20 first lines meme, where you c/p the first lines of your 20 most recent fics and see if it says anything about you.
1. "Michael, will you come here for a minute?"
2. "So what do you think?"
3. She strolls through C&C, pretending it's not the fifth time she's done so on this too-quiet morning.
4. Near the end of their working lunch—the first time they'd managed to see each other outside of joint staff meetings in over a month—Susan took pity on her former CO.
5. When she opened the door, he caught his breath.
6. She didn't look up until he'd gotten halfway across her office.
7. Joel noticed the birdhouse on his porch the day he moved in.
8. After the curtain call, she might have lost him in the crush of chorus girls, ballerinas, critics, reporters, and everyone else who felt a need to be backstage and in their faces.
9. They are in the Casino, and he buys.
10. That Brazilian liquor was sure something, Honey reflected, feeling rather muddled as she stared at her empty glass—her fourth, if she remembered correctly.
11. That, it seemed, was that.
12. As he's ducking behind a rock to get out of the line of fire, Daniel Jackson wistfully remembers writing papers.
13. If the French ambassador said another word about wine, she was going to have to kill him.
14. He was babbling.
15. "Human infants are so undeveloped when they come out into the world," G'Kar commented.
16. "Michael, listen to this."
17. It has been seventeen days since her life took the express transport to hell.
18. She checks her comm channel reservation again, waiting impatiently for the chrono to tick over from 1729 to 1730.
19. When Marcus arrives at Susan Ivanova's door, he fully expects her to take one look at him and his art project and throw him out in the hallway—possibly bodily, definitely metaphorically.
20. This is how it happens: // It is late at night. [Technically it's one sentence that just happens to extend over a paragraph break.]
I think it says that I only sometimes bother caring about grabbing attention with the first line. Also, that I overuse the em-dash. (I like the em-dash. I plan to give that Emily Dickinson chick a run for her money.)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 09:50 pm (UTC)Since You've Been Around - Rosie Thomas. Classic "OMG, I like you but it's totally screwing with my head WHAT AM I TO DO?" song. (This song could be my answer to practically all of my favorite pairings. I may have a type.)
I'm sinking
I'm drowning
I'm so afraid of losing
my head's been spinning round and round
since you've been around.
Painting by Chagall - The Weepies. Because it's never going to be easy for these two.
I'm sure you hardly need me to quote lyrics from it, but here:
I am willful, your insistence is tugging at the best of me
You're the moon, I'm the water
You're Mars, calling up Neptune's daughter.
Vertigo - Antje Duvekot. Not only is it a metaphor for the uncertainty of falling in love, but the actual description works perfectly for the train incident. Double win!
I tried to pick a verse to quote and I was like, "BUT ALL OF THEM ARE PERFECT," so here's a link to the lyrics instead.
(Also, I was thinking that Lucy Kaplansky's This is Home would be a nice accompaniment to your F/T series, maybe? It's not an exact fit, but the chorus in particular seems relevant.)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 09:08 pm (UTC)Meme the third: You do not abuse opening with dialogue as much as I do! Also, 12 & 19 are my two favourites, so apparently I like openers tell the reader physical & psychological place and are funny at the same time. I applaud you for that, actually! You have some really great lines there.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 10:55 pm (UTC)First and foremost: Movement 2 of Henryck Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 ("Symphony of Sorrowful Songs"). This is the uber-Ivanova song for me. The [Polish] text is from an inscription on a Gestapo cell wall from an 18-year-old girl. It's both a prayer to the Virgin Mary and a request to her mother not to weep for her; for me it kind of epitomizes Ivanova's strength in the really awful situations she goes through.
Bless the Lord, O My Soul, from Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil. Mostly because Rachmaninov's Russian, the text is a psalm and Susan's canonically religious, and it's gorgeous. (This is the Robert Shaw Chorale version. I have great love for Robert Shaw. My college choir director worked with him and his admiration kind of rubbed off on all of us.)
Precious - Depeche Mode. Now for something completely different! ;) Susan after the war.
Things get damaged
Things get broken
I thought we'd manage
But words left unspoken
Left us so brittle
There was so little left to give
Born - Over the Rhine. Perhaps for after "Sleeping in Light," when (in my head) she decides to take control of her life and happiness again? Mostly I just didn't want to end on a downer. Also, I seem to have a terrible lack of songs about kickass women.
I was born to laugh
I learned to laugh through my tears
I was born to love
I'm gonna learn to love without fear
Actually, wait. This one is about the speaker's adoration of an awesome woman: Sally Ann - Great Big Sea. Also perhaps it fits in with Susan's apparent like for parties? :D
Sally Ann Sally Ann
Oh when you dance
Every move that you make is amazing.
Take my Heart Take my Hand
Hey Sally Ann
Life will be all that you make it.
You do not abuse opening with dialogue as much as I do!
And here I was just thinking I didn't open with dialogue enough!
Also, 12 & 19 are my two favourites, so apparently I like openers tell the reader physical & psychological place and are funny at the same time.
Add 13, and you have my favorites as well. Description is definitely good, although that does tend to lead to what one of my betas referred to as "Becca's Splendiferous Long-Ass Sentence[s]," so it requires some care. ;)
I applaud you for that, actually! You have some really great lines there.
Thank you!