Okay.

I can't be the only one watching the slow meltdown of TWOP over on fandom_wank with a level of hyptonitzed car-wreck fascination, can I? I mean, you think it's over, adn then, boom, new entry. And with links!

I'm not even sure I have an opinion except for, wow.

So. Yeah. Wow.

I won't sing, 'cause me doing it should be a federal offense, so.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TE!

*hugs* May it be a wonderful day that includes all fruit/sex partner combinations of your choice.

Watch for mosquitoes though.

Birthday present en route. Er, I think.

Other Things

Bought shoes. Red ones. Yes, that kind of shocked me, too, but they're cute. Don't match anything except denim, but hey. Shoes! Bought egrerious amounts of food to cook in bizarre ways.

Places to Go

Because I just like linking today.

Here, musesfool discusses style and substance.

Recs

Clark Kent Appreciation Day by tstar78 Lex appreciates Clark the way he deserves. The schmoopiness never ends. Adorable.

Taken by Lenore. Absolutely hysterical what if--in which Clark is too nice and Lex is just really, really helpful.

Behind a Dragon's Smile by thamiris. An anniversary, a fairy tale, and some serious hotness. I want to read the story she cited now. Must find.

*****

Must make brownies now.

blackfall explains...


How To Avoid Being Lynched Or Shunned By Your Friends List
( or, Nine Steps To Being Less Of An Lj Tool)


5. Do not post while intoxicated, unless you have a firm grasp on your psyche. Drunks are funny in person because they fall over spill things on themselves. Poor typing, unfocused thoughts and unrestrained maudlin rambling are not funny. Next time you're six sheets to the wind and think it might be fun to update your journal, go vandalize something or fuck a stranger instead. It's better for everyone this way.

Adore.

*g*

I also started getting mightily nervous when I realized that I *HAVE* devoted two entire entries to the trials and tribulations of sock event horizons and black holes, so I guess my third entry, which was going to detail my theory on the conspiracy between socks, manufacturers, and Reticulan Liver-Eating Alien Overlords, is now trashed.

YOU all will never know of my enlightment on the true reason your sock is missing. Blame blackfall

Am in training all this week. It's interesting. I like to call it the cliff notes version of How Bureaucracy Works, Really, but the scary part is, my notebook officially has a thousand pages of this. No, I'm not kidding. The computer manual is separate. And to think I may apply for the next up, where I will be learning the stuff the Cliff Notes are based on.

*shudders*

Dearest God. If anyone's violently interested, ask me how many acronyms I now know. I can have entire conversations without actually ever using a single standard English word. Okay, almost. It's a very close thing.

I LISTENED to myself ask a question today, and dear God, I'm speaking the language of bureaucracy. Quite bizarre.

Smallville still annoys me, but latxcvi did a lovely entry which, while did not completely reconcile me to the fact that the producers seem to be on crack, did act comfortingly indeed.

bonibaru was talking about SV being overall more disappointing than last season. I'm trying to work out if I believe that or not. Heat, Red, Ryan, Lineage, Insurgence, and Prodigal, actually, for me, DO make up for a lot of stupidity. Rosetta on the scale came out pretty well, though the astrophysics still frustrates me because I'm stupid like that.

So--hmm. I LIKED season one better overall--it was more varied, more fun, cleaner, and kept the plotlines at a somewhat better balance. But when I name my top ten, the six above, adding Hourglass, Jitters, Rogue, and Zero--I come out ahead in season two for individuals. Just this season, they unbalanced with some really bad episodes, some of which had the potential to be great except they just didn't make it work. Whereas season one had some bad eps, but I can cut more slack for a first season.

Eh. See. I already violated rule 6: If you don't think anyone will be interested in a particular entry, don't post it.

Love Blackfall. *hugs*

Short things.

Recs

Lowell County Choppers by roses. You know, it IS humorous and IS funny and IS cute, but the edge of bittersweet loss of possibility hurt, too. Beautifully written, as always by this author. *sighs*

A Step to the Left by shinan. Hmm. The thing is, while I like it, it NEEDS more. More--context, more background, more explanation of the AU possibility this is. I love the idea, and the writing is sound, so definitely should be read--but I'd love to see this author tell us more about this. Intersting.

Inversion by Lenore. Oh how cool! Reverse AUness, Alex Kent and Clark Luthor. Spooky couple of kids in so many ways. An interesting AU she should definitely revisit.

Other Things

Got this in my LJ, posted to the entry regarding video theft. For those following along in LJ, elke_tanzer discovered another idiot doing the theft of video thing. Because fandom is made of a lot of great people and then there are the morons who I would ban from fandom for all time.

See, this is when I want magical powers, dammit.

Anyway, jainieg is spearheading Access Denied.

The site is for people who have had their work and/or their bandwidth stolen by thoughtless thieves. At the heart of the site, it's a project to cut the stealing off at the source: by systematically shutting all of the participating AD sites down for 24 hours on May 19. What better way to hammer home the point about fans stealing from other fans by having the fans shut down their sites. Because we don't have to do what we do - we don't have to provide screencaps, we don't have to post our vids and art so that everyone can see them. This is an opportunity to show the thieves just how empty and dull the 'net would be without all of our contributions to the fannish community.

bonibaru already mentioned it, but let's get this across fandom. Mark the date on your calendars.

If I had slightly more energy, I'd probably throw the most boring fit in creation, but I just don't. I don't get the attitude and I don't get how any sane person can think this is okay. And talking to stupid brick walls, while a way to pass the time, just doesnt' make my top ten list of Things to Do. Removing my toenails with pliers ranks higher at this point.

Places to Visit

Here, thebratqueen explains WHY stealing fan stuff is wrong, wrong, wrong.

selling_out is the new home of Jessica's wonderful indie!Clark AU. And if you don't know what this is, you NEED to check it out.

And I have GOT to think of something to write that won't annoy me.

Snippet from the ClexBrothersAU. Set in time between the first two snippets, about two years after the first one. One day, I may even finish this story.

( ClexBrothersAUfic, another scene )

Okay, much territory to cover here.

First, because my LJ, my rules...

*SQUEE*

hwmitzy sent me chocolate! And a bear! I've named the bear Shan. She and John the One Bear have been chatting on my bed since they met. Pictures will appear, because, dammit, Beth sends good bears. Also SV comic book, which I have never, ever seen before ever and dear God, how the HELL can a comic Lex still be so. Damn. Hot.

And coffee.

I am SO damn wired. Seriously, seriously wired.

And a bunny to Child, which child has hidden from me due to the jelly bean issue. Like I would take those jelly beans. Only if they were left out. In my line of sight. Sheesh. No trust there.

And hey, did anyone know--PURPLE OREOS?

*cuddles Beth* You are so my hero, chica.

*lovelovelove* Let me mull porn for you. Or graphics. Or something. I can't think of how to top purple oreos, frankly. Seriously. PURPLE. Lexeos!

Yes, I'm drinking my coffee. *grins*

Okay, second.

The Get Clark Laid Now! Challenge has a home. You can find it at http://illusions.illuminatedtext.com/clarkchallenge.html, where three stories, by Signe, Gothphyle, and I have been linked up.

You know, I may make buttons, banners, and graphics. Adobe and I had A Moment today. *g*

Beth and I are working on that subdomain, playing about, so funness. *hugs Beth*

Third, thanks to everyone for answering my LJ question regarding multifandomness and LJ.

And have to answer davissh here. I have no idea when I'm going to get to comments today, I'm running seriously behind, so.

Answering my own question, as posed by user above.

Has LJ led you to be more multifandom/multipairing/more open in your writing and reading tastes? Or just your writing? Or just your reading? Or is it that multifandom/multipairing/more open people were already attracted to LJ for that very multifandom vibe? Chicken or the egg, chicken or the egg, lalala.

( answer )

Mindfuck Edition

Respire by martianhousecat. I pimped the LJ version, double pimping the SSA one, finalized and posted. I read--a LOT. I don't get hit like this very often. This hit and it hurt and it made me think. Because Clark's secrets aren't just dangerous in knowing them. They're just as dangerous in the not-knowing, too. Very, very, very highly recommended.

Sunburn by lj user="penelope_z">. When you have a style and you use like a razor to cut, when the creepiness is all in what isn't said, and when the descriptors are what make you shiver--again, these people are the reason I love fanfic. Amazing, horrifying, and so subtle and so blatant at the same time. Penelope does it again and dammit, this is good.

Happy Edition

After reading the above? Trust me, you'll NEED these.

Apolgoies and Promies by tstar78 Oh yes. Happy, lovely, wonderful Lex and Martha chat. Relationships and love and lunch. Totally will make your day bright.

Three Semi-Nightmarish Things by mobiusklein. Hee! Love love love. The first is a horror beyond imagining. *grins* Mmm. Fun fic. Read read read and laugh happily.

Curator of the Life and Death Museum by Punk AU first seaon, post-Pilot, fascinating Lex and Clark. I can see this so easily and it could have happened. Another wonderful fic by a great author.

That--doesn't even put a dent in my list. *sighs* Got to CATCH UP already.

Sites to See

ubertodd, who has brought us some of the hottest fic on the planet, has a page! Go here to pick up all those snippets you've been missing.

Art

celli makes a lovely, lovely cover for Caro's Apologies and Promises here.

slodwick makes an absolutely gorgeous cover for Penelope's Sunburn here. Mmm.

And another one for ubertodd here.

And another one for MEMEME! here for Turn You On Somehow.

*lovelovelove*

*grins* I love covers. I do. It's like an addiction.

Also, fleur bleue sent me a DAMN cool cover for Pretty When You're Mine, Hooker!Clarkfic. This. Is. So. Cute!

( cover )

Places to Go

celli covers her view of LJ, mailing lists, and etc here in fascinating detail, including her own fannish history. So damn cool.

seemag does it here as well, covering her experiences in Trek.

Anyone else cover the topic? Leave a link. I'd love to read other views.

Yeah. That about covers it. I think.

And right now? Hating koimistress. Made me mull Very Stupid Fic Idea. I don't even think I could pull it off. But. Well. Lots of death and destruction, so you know I'm tempted.

( only sometimes, something like forgetting, etc )

Okay, done. And my WiP listing is officially terrifying.

LJLand is INTERESTING today.

The lovely liviapenn metas beautifully in Quit Fucking With Lex! The Grovelfic Rant. *Grins* It rocks. Read the comments. Yes, I participated and enjoyed it. *happy sigh* Love Liv.

hwmitzy pops up with Ten Little Thoughts on a Show Called Smallville. Read the list. Think about the Lionel/Lana pairing. Giggle hysterically.

Bethy makes me smile.

Now, on Livia's rant.

One of the things that struck me while I was answering some comments was that, while grovelfic annoys me, when I'm not in the right mood for it, I tend to be a lot more annoyed by other kinds of fic to a far greater degree when the characterization is off, which makes me think that a lot could be that readers expectations are coming into a sharp collision with writer intent.

Or basically, readers need to know what they're looking at.

To me, grovelfic is basically the PWP of pain in some instances. Like writing a single sex scene for a fic, or writing a introspective character study, it is a genre all on it's own and can't be judged by the standards of another genre entirely. The demarcation line is blurry sometimes--or a lot, actually--but that holds true for most stories.

You don't open a PWP and expect great character. You open and read it because Clark and Lex (Clark and Chloe, Lex and Chloe, Clark and Whitney, Lex and Whitney, you see a pattern?) are nailing each other and that's what you want to see. Characterizations or other factors can take it from simple PWP kink to a story you might love and treasure, or one that surpasses genre, but that's a different field of kryptonite altogether. I'm perfectly willing to admit I indulge my PWP tendencies with a great deal of frequency, because dammit, they dont' get it on screen and it's my duty to make sure they get it off. Um. Off-SCREEN, that is.

In any case.

Honestly, this could be a personal thing, because I just love SV fic in general, and probably sixty or so percent of the CLex slash that comes through I enjoy, for various reasons including the kink factor or the trainwreck fascination thing. But I also am always aware of WHAT I'm reading. I can't judge every story by Past Grief, Demarcation, Immortality, Mercy, Identical, Prophets of Eden or The Fifth Season (I could actually go on for a LONG time on Fics I Just Adore, but I have a rec page if you wnat to see a larger listing) in terms of plot, style, character, etc. I'm not even sure I would LIKE a constant stream of fics like this (though doesn't it sound like the most ideal fnadom EVER if it happened?), because much as I love engaging my mind and as much as I hold these as among the best the Smallville fandom has achieved, I also like to just GO with it and disengage active thinking and flow along for the ride.

But again, this is kind of something I had to work out for myself in how I choose to read. I'm a compartmentalizer by nature. I can read a fic where Clark is merrily tortured in an underground lab by a truly psychotic Lex Luthor involving pliers and kryptonite saws and enjoy it for what it is--nice, cathartic grovelfic/torturefic/yougettheideahere. I don't expect it to be something it's not and I either like or hate it knowing what its limits are.

Maybe we need to give it an official genre like the PWP. The CGF (cathartic grovel fic)? Er, no. Sounds like a branch of the government.

But anyway. Livia's rant hits some key points in the Lex and Clark discussions and fic that has gone around and is highly recommended for reading and mulling, as are several commenters.

In other news, dirtywrongbizarrefic is refusing to be short and this is getting just ridiculous. *kicks story* Go AWAY.