Various

Given that I'm currently doing the Star Trek mene, various soundtracks have been on my mind, and hearing composer James Horner died carried that sadness you feel when a stranger who gave you something through his art is suddenly taken away.
Here are ten of his most famous film scores.

I couldn't join Remix this year. (Though I did provide my stories to Remix Madness, if someone wants to have a go.)
But over the weekend, I finished my story for the History Exchange 2015, and the beta just came back, so I edited and posted it. Checking, I realised there are only 13 participants in the exchange, which makes it the anti Yuletide, I suppose! Ah well, hopefully the stories resulting will be read by a few people more. I'm very much looking forward to the other 12 stories! Incidentally, in order to brush up on my canon knowledge for my story, so to speak, I read one of the newer (i.e. published since the last time I did research) biographies on the subject. By Desmond Seward, and ended up being very annoyed indeed about him pulling out that old chestnut, "it's totally X's fault that her son Y was gay, because she was a strong personality and had a close relationship with him! Mothers with strong personalities who are close to their sons make men gay! And did I mention? She totally ruined hm for all other women and made him gay!" In a biography published in 2011, no less. That's it, Seward, I'll read no more biographies from you.


On a less backwards note, Sense8 icons! And very beautiful ones, too.

Star Trek Meme: Day 20

Day 20 - Of the minor characters (one shots, not the recurring ones) who’s your favorite?

There are shows where I could answer this immediately (Babylon 5: Timov, and in conclusion, Timov!), but for Star Trek in its various incarnations, it's surprisingly difficult. First because ST the guest stars I feel passionately about tend to be in more than one episode. (Or movie, which is why I can't list Saavik here, or K'eyhler, let alone Sarek and Amanda or Reboot!Pike.) Then there are genuine one shots which I think were interesting, and it would be intriguing to explore them more or learn what became of them post episode, like Rugal, the Cardassian boy raised as Bajoran in Cardassians (and Una McCormack did that in a novel), or Elizabeth Dehner (Margaret Bonnano brought her back in Strangers in the Sky), but I can't say I love them, which the word "favorite" implies.

Mulling this over some more, I'm circling around a few one shots which I do feel a bit stronger for: in the movies, Dr. Gillian Taylor (who had her own agenda and reasons to work with Our Heroes which weren't about being attracted to any of them! And she succeeded in achieving what she wanted! All hail the Whale Expert!) competing with Lily from First Contact (when I saw it in the cinema, I did have a problem with one of the strongest scenes that can be summed up with "but he should have that conversation with Beverly!), but such Doylist concerns aside - which grew weaker during the rewatch - Lily was great, a brave woman in a very scary situation indeed who did that most difficult thing, not just standing up to enemies but to friends. Plus Alfe Woodard had great chemistry with Patrick Stewart of the "two strong actors together" type without the movie trying to make her into a love interest.

In the various shows: Pel, the Ferengi Yentl. Who hopefully stays clear of the Founders after going off to make profit in the Gamma Quadrant. Yes, you knew how her story would go from the beginning (at least if you've watched Yentl), but that didn't make it any less enjoyable, and I really appreciated they remained true to the original and didn't let her settle for girlfriend/wife status instead of pursueing her dreams. We got only two female Ferengi characters on DS9 (or anywhere else), Ishka and Pel, and Pel never got stuck with the weaker writing of the "senile Nagus" storyline; she had her story, from which she exited with audience and characters knowing she made the right choice. So: Pel! (Icon chosen because it's actually a line from a conversation Dax has with Pel in the episode.)




( The other days )

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I just read that as of the new Captain Marvel, S.W.O.R.D will no longer exist in the Marvelverse. No word yet whether they'll simply dissolve the situation or retcon it as never having existed at all.

This makes me profoundly unhappy and upset because of Abigail Brand, head of S.W.O.R.D.. Now I haven't been following the comics for a while (read: years), but ever after Joss Whedon's run of Astonishing X-Men had finished and the following comics also used Abigail Brand, whom he had invented (for a while, she even got her own series, which meant TPTB liked her, too), I took it for granted she would remain in the Marvelverse. I loved many things about Astonishing X-Men, but the abrasive, morally ambiguous Agent Brand was one of the elements I loved most. (Which is why I wrote some stories about her.) And it was one of the few times where I predicted and wanted a pairing and then it happened. (And kept happening in Brand's and Hank McCoy's post-Whedon appearances.) In conclusion: I love Abigail Brand.

If they retcon her out of existence I'll, I'll...

....do nothing at all, in all likelihood, except for shaking my first at the Marvellian sky and consider a career as a supervillain. With green hair. It'll be all your fault, Marvel. *starts to plot ridiculous plan to take over the world, just in case*