I must admit I'm starting to get quite anticipatory for Prometheus. At first I was spectical, because our man Ridley is a hit and miss kind of director: meaning that for every Blade Runner and Thelma and Louise, there's a G.I. Jane and Kingdom of Heaven. He always delivers on the visuals, and I happen to prefer Alien over James Cameron's Aliens, but as I said: it's a gamble. Though the trailer was admittedly very tasty. Then I read that Damon Lindelof wrote the script, and now I'm really intrigued. Speaking as someone who watched Lost all the way and for all the ups and downs never failed to find it interesting. (Well, except for the episode about the origin of Jack's tattoo in season 3.) (Sidenote: I always find it irritating when Lost is seen as J.J. Abrams' baby, because as far as I can tell, Abrams never had anything to do with it anymore after setting up the pilot and some initial few things, whereas Lindelof was the showrunner through out, so both credit and blame should be laid at his doorstep.) And Lindelof certainly can write mythic, mysterious and deliver interesting ensembles. As long as there's no love triangle involved, and he gets to play to his strengths (especially with ambiguous characters and ones that prove nice and kind by no means equal dull - hello, Hurley!

And speaking of the joys and terrors of anticipation, does anyone know whether there are any news on the proposed American Gods tv series? Because that will be to me what Game of Thrones is to, well, GoT fans. I recently reread the book, and decided that of Gaiman's non-comicbook writings, tv episodes excluded, I still love this novel best. The Graveyard Book immediately after, but American Gods first among the novels. Back in the day I came to it straight from Sandman, and I used to wonder whether that was the reason, because there are obvious world building similarities - the premise that all gods of every religion exist, came into being because of the faith of various people and fade away as the belief in them fades so they have to take up a variety of crumy (or not so crummy) jobs to still access emotions and survive, plus Gaiman's interpretation of various deities in Sandman (primarily Odin and Loki, but also Bastet on the Egyptian side) is very similar-down-to-identical to the one he gives in American Gods. And let me tell you, these are by far my favourite interpretations of said Norse deities, especially of Odin. (Back when I started to read Marvel comics, I felt terribly let down, which was fortunate because by the time Thor the film came along I had learned to completely dissassociate the Marvel characters from the myth characters and for the most part, certain issues aside, could enjoy the Marvel versions on their own merits without expecting them to be like the beings of Norse myths.) Mr. Wednesday is such a marvellous character/interpretation of Odin, manipulative, ambigous-to-downright-villainous and yet incredibly compelling, and when Shadow at the end after having figured out Wednesday's scheme(s) and what Wednesday did still admits he misses him, without the narrative excusing Wednesday, it captures the effect on this particular reader precisely.

But ten years later, and so many other books later, American Gods still hasn't dated for me. ( Lots of book spoilers follow. )

Multifandom: In a new interview, Lesley Sharpe (wonderful character actress; if you're a DW fan, you've last seen her in Midnight as Sky Silvestri in a role RTD wrote for her - like Christopher Ecclestone and David Tennant, she had played in previous works of his) reveals she's in a new BBC drama with Christopher Ecclestone and is a Eleven fan, considering Matt Smith sexy, so there is that.:)

For fellow Neil Gaiman fans: every now and then, that rumour about Kripke (boo, hiss! curse his name!) getting to head a tv version of Sandman pops up again and scares me, and I dearly hope and pray it will not happen, but on the other hand I was delighted to hear that American Gods is developed into a HBO series, with Our Neil supposedly writing the pilot. I can see AG really working with the tv series format, HBO is the right network, and provided they get good actors (and no Eric Kripke anywhere near it), this could be splendid.

In other news, I couldn't resist doing the "my top 10 AO3 stories" meme I've seen pop up on my flist.

( And the top ten most read stories written by yours truly are... )

Like everyone else, I snatched time away from family during these last days to indulge in the fannish goodness that is yuletide, with its multitude of fanfic in rare fandoms. Here are my favourites so far, with the caveat that I've still a lot to read:


American Gothic:

Visiting Hours. Matt only gets one visitor. Short, and with perfect Dr. Crower and Lucas Buck voices.

Blade Runner:

Pride Goeth Before. Roy Batty, from the moment of his awakening. Blade Runner is probably my favourite Sci Fi movie, and this captures its noir, William Blakeish heart perfectly.

Carnivale:

Of Present Sorrows and Two-Sided Coins. Iris Crowe post season 2. This one is a crossover with Sandman, and the Endless Iris meets are perfectly chosen, but even if you've never read Sandman in your life and don't intend to, you should read this for its superb Iris characterisation and the evocation of Russia.

Dexter:

Use Your Illusion, too. Deb after the season finale, coping, or not. I was pleased as punch there were four Dexter stories at Yuletide, and this one is my favourite.

Brother's Keeper. This one tackles Harry the well-meaning and slightly chilling manipulator, with teenage Deb this time instead of Dexter. As with the Harry flashbacks on the show, you never can decide whether he's a brilliant or a ever so screwed up father, or both.

Indiana Jones:

Indiana Jones and the Chinatown Ghosts. This one does what Wrath of Khan does with Kirk: confront the icon with his aging and mortality and makes the guy emotionally real this way. Indy post -WWII meets up with some old aquaintances. Bonus points for the Young Indiana Jones tie-in (the lost eye which Old!Indy sports in the tv show).

Isaac Asimov

The Conscientious Objectors. Two of the great attractions of Asimov's robot stories, to me: no-nonsense, not-pretty, tough and intelligent robot psychologist Susan Calvin and robots which are never the man-killing clichés which drove Asimov to invent the Three Laws to begin with. (Insert mini rant about dreadful Will Smith movie here.) This story captures both perfectly, and manages to make a pointed comment on our present as well.

Hostage Negotiations. Why Susan Calvin likes robots better than humans. Another great take on Dr. Calvin.


American Gods:

The Goal is the Thing. Loki, before and during the novel. Great use of both mythology and Gaiman's interpretation.

Sandman:

An Awfully Deep Well. Portraits of all seven Endless, poetic and fitting.

Darkness and Beauty of Stars was on my Mouth. The Corinthian, both versions. How long before someone writes a Dexter/Sandman crossover featuring the Corinthian, I wonder? Meanwhile, read this awesome take on him.

Supreme Power

So Truly Parallel. Nighthawk and Hyperion. If you think Batman is fucked up and Superman could/should be, try the Marvelverse versions written by JMS. This story captures both wonderfully well. With a great punchline.

Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner

Wayfarer's Daughter. Brünnhild, specifically Wagner's interpretation of her, with a great and chilling twist on the salvation-through-love idea.