A Day In The Life

January Meme: Babylon 5 alikes?

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 16:39:25 GMT

cahn asked m what other canons remind me of Babylon 5.

Wellll, B5 is pretty much sui generis, but its traces are in a few shows. There's the ill fated spin-off Crusade, of course, which unfortunately didn't get even a season, and was broadcast out of order, but I like it a lot. (Not true for most of the various B5 spin-off attempts in tv movie form.) I can't think of a better advertisement than Holy Grail, andraste's fabulous vid about it (which btw isn't spoiilery for B5, cahn) , so I'll just point anyone curious about Crusade there.

Then there's of course the other space station show, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Regardless of origin, both shows are pretty much their own thing, Lennier showing up in s6 of DS9 and the on screen "we're not some deep space franchise!" snark in s2 of B5 not withstanding. However, you can't tell me that the Prophets belatedly gaining the Pagh Wraiths as their arch nemesis wasn't directly inspired by the Vorlons and the Shadows. In which case: I like the B5 solution to that conflict better.

Lost was after B5 the next long term story/stories show I watched, and despite Damon Lindelof & Co. hailing from the Abrams school of writers (read: planned first season, thereafter improvisations which sometimes work and sometimes don't) , I thought they succeeded more than they failed, and I have still a great deal of fondness for Lost, which followed lots of interesting characters through the years, offered complicated relationships, some batshit (in the best sense) mythology, and could pull of B5's trick of letting characters not be stuck in the cliché roles they seem to fulfill when we first meet them. When Damon Lindelof two years ago produced the faszinating Watchmen tv series, which was one perfect season, was planned as one and did not want a sequel, my fannish fondness of old revived.

Lastly, there's the rebooted Battlestar Galactica. ST veteran Ron Moore and his fellow scribes did make the mistake of advertising that they had a long term space opera arc planned out a la JMS when they plainly did not and winged it instead, which caused considerable fannish ire, but as with Lost, I liked more of the improvised results than I disliked, and so I still have much fondness for BSG as well. And hey, I've written not one but two BSG/B5 crossovers for the Mlultiverse ficathon.

The other days

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Rare Male Slash Exchange: My Gifts

Sun, 02 Aug 2020 14:57:52 GMT

The Rare Male Slash Exchange is open; yours truly wrote two stories, one of which is blindingly obvious, and received a staggering amount of five. This never happened to me before, and I can't tell you how giddy I've felt today. This despite the fact Darth Real Life kept calling me away from the task of reading and commenting the lovely fic written for me. Or do anything else online. But really, the stories I received are terrific. Here they are:

Lost:

Where the water is blue and the people are new: in which the author takes season 6' canon High School AU for Ben and Locke and runs with it, and then some, because Dr. Linus and Mr. Locke have a lot of unresolved issues between them and deserve happines. And maybe it's time Ben and John take a shot at it, too.

Frederician 18th Century RPF:

I'm always fascinated by the in between stages, not just the beginnings (or endings). So, between Crown Prince Friedrich near the end of the worst year of his life (so far) meeting a clever and handsome flutist and King Friedrich (who hardly trusted anyone) ascending the throne with his very much trusted right hand man Fredersdorf, how did they get there? Now Frederick's sister Wilhelmine in her memoirs gave us some gory details about the winter holidays 32/33, the first Fredersdorf spent as Friedrich's valet at the annual winter gatherings of the royal family. Two writers tackle that scenario and provide us with these gems:

With you, there's a heaven: Which in addition to Fritz/Fredersdorf delivers a great Wilhelmine (who in a rare exception in Frederician fiction isn't written in a comforter and confidante role but with the damage the abuse she went under shown clearly) and a lovely mentor Suhm.

How I survived my first Christmas with the Hohenzollern: more lighthearted and amusing, but there's a superb tense encounter with King Friedrich Wilhelm in the middle of the hilarity that showcases Fredersdorf's quick thinking and growing people handling skills.

The supporting cast of the Frederician saga gets the spotlight here: Peter Keith, aka the other friend of Crown Prince Friedrich who participated in the 1730 escape attempt - the only one who succeeded, and Lehndorff, whose diaries are one of the great vivid sources of the era, and who had a life long passion for Frederick's younger brother Heinrich. Lehndorff canonically knew and admired Keith, and considering the two of them shared being in love with a royal who had feelings for them but loved other people more, I had hoped for a story using these parallels and the relationship. I got it, and more besides, here:

Lovers lying two and two

And finally: where's an intense fraternal hateship that comes with being too similar for comfort and being allies despite all the anger, there is also hatesex, as in this tale:

A family affair

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Letter for raremaleslashex ficathon

Thu, 21 May 2020 18:57:03 GMT

Dear Creator,

thank you so much for writing this story for me. We clearly share at least some interests, and I'm thrilled to find out what you'll come up with.

DNW:

- bashing of canon pairings or characters in general. By which I don't mean the characters have to like each and everyone - a great number of those I've nominated can be described as prickly jerks, among other things, and it would be ic for them to say something negative about people they canonically can't stand - but there's a difference between that and the narrative giving me the impression to go along with said opinions.

- Alpha/Beta/Omega scenarios, watersports, infantilisation. Really not my thing, sorry.

- Rape. Now, several of the pairings I nominated involve relationships with power differentials, or even canonical captive scenarios, and I'm not opposed to questionable consent per se to start with, but I really want both partners to, in the end, agree with what's going on. (Resentment at one partner for wanting him is fine, though.)

- non-canonical torture (several canons do include torture, and if you want to explore what that means for character x in their relationship with Y, absolutely, just don't add

Likes:

- flirting/seduction via wordplay and banter (doesn't work for all pairings, I know)

- for the darker push/pull dynamics: moments of tenderness and understanding in between the fighting/one upman shipping (without abandoning the anger)

- for the pairings that are gentler and harmonious by nature: making it clear each has their own life and agenda as well

- some humor amidst the angst (especially if the character in question displays it in canon)

The question of AUs: depends. "What if this key canon event did not happen?" can lead to great character and dynamics exploration, but I do want to recognize the characters. The majority of those I nominated are from historical canons, and the history is part of the fascination the canon has for me. (Though ironically one of the two non-historical canons has its very own canonical high school AU.) However, if you feel inspired to, say, write Frederick the Great, space lawyer, and manage to do it in a way that gives me gripping analogues to the historical situations: be my guest!

How much or how little sex: I'm cool with anything you feel comfortable with, from detailed sex to the proverbial fade out after a kiss. Or even no sex at all, as long as the story explores the emotional dynamics in a way that makes it clear what's going on there is love/passion.

Specific details for specific pairings:

( Borgia: Faith and Fear )

( The Bounty (1984) )

( 18 Century CE RPF )

( Farscape )

( The Last Kingdom )

( Lost )

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Multifandom links

Thu, 11 Jun 2015 05:04:04 GMT

Multifandom:

51 TV Writers Reveal Their Favorite Scenes... to have written, and as I knew a considerable part of these, I realised again I watch a lot tv. Damon Lindelof cracks me up with his description of the “WE HAVE TO GO BAAAAAAAACK!” (yes, I added all those extra A’s in the script)" scene from Lost (though seriously, I can see why that particular scene and the concept change it meant felt so liberating to him at the tme). And all my "love for fannish underdogs" buttons are pushed by the fact that Jane Espenson chose not a scene from any of her Buffy episodes, not from BSG, not from Once upon a Time, but from Torchwood: Miracle Day, especially since what she picked was actually my favourite thing about MD (which I didn't love the way I did Children of Earth but thought wasn't the worst thing ever, either, better than season 1 had been actually, just a regression after the narrative height of CoE), a sequence involving Gwen and Jack. Here's ( Jane E's spoilery description. ) Since I adored that sequence (I'm weird like that), I'm thrilled to bits she chose it.

The Hunger Games:

The trailer for Mockingjay Part II is out. Since nowadays trailers manage to give away key twists, I was most impressed this one manages to avoid it. If you've read the book, you know what some of the scenes we get glimpses at actually are about, the context certain lines are said in, but the trailer accomplishes two major misdirections without actually lying at all. Kudos, trailer cutting people! Also, this one is going to leave me an emotional wreck. Oh, Katniss. Oh, everyone.

Awesome British Actors:

Stuff like this is why nobody needs to RPF Ian McKellen/Patrick Stewart; they're doing it all by themselves, thank you. :) (Oh, and re: the subject of Ian McKellen's latest movie, while I hadn't felt the need for yet another Sherlock Holmes in theory, I'm of course looking forward to watching Ian McKellen playing him in practice.)

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Thirty Days of TV: Day Thirty

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 11:51:13 GMT

Day 30 - Saddest character death.

And we conclude with a horrible dilemma of a question, given that the media I consume offers really a lot of death scenes, now that I think of it. However, let me specify in order to narrow the criteria: "saddest death" is absolutely not the same as "most shocking" or "most surprising". And of course, one viewer's sobfest is another viewers "hooray!" or "why hasn't X croaked it already?" Not to mention that there are some deaths which may be sad but also feel right, even necessary, i.e. no matter my fondness for the characters, I would have felt like the narrative was cheating or not giving them their due if they hadn't died. ( Spoilery examples for season 3 of AtS, season 4 of BSG and season 5 of SFU follow which are therefore not my choice. )

My other criteria for "saddest death": I have to be emotionally very invested in the characters involved. For example, among the many, many deaths that happen in Lost, the one I'd give the "saddest death scene in Lost" award ( happens in season 3 and is spoilery for same, then compared to two from season 4 ) It's not in any way an objective judgment or one dependent on writing, acting or directing of the scenes in question, but then "saddest" asks for an emotional judgment.

After trying my best to narrow it down, I came up with four scenes in close competition, which you'll find under the cut.

( Spoilers for season 2 of Torchwood, season 4 of Battlestar Galactica, season 1 of Deadwood and season 1 and 5 of The Wire ensue )

( The rest of the days )

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Prometheus (Film Review)

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 04:14:59 GMT

This was another film which deeply divided my flist into nays and yays.. As it finally was released in Germany yesterday, I watched it myself, and am firmly among the yays. It's an individual reaction. You may not share it. But let me explain why I loved a great deal of what I saw.

( Read more... )

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fannish5: Five characters who are best at what they do

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 09:33:59 GMT

1.) Benjamin Linus (Lost). What Ben does is perhaps best described at "surviving via mindgames and manipulation" with a sideline of "don't be afraid to get yourself beaten up now and then and be in a seemingly powerless possession, it makes people even better to manipulate". You could argue that Jacob and Smokey are even better at this, but I ask you back: who's still around by the time the show ends? Huh? I rest my case.

2.) Xena (Xena: Warrior Princess). There have been female warriors before and since, but I'd still put Xena against anyone else, male or female, in martial combat. (Not that I don't say "strategy" or "long term survival".) How did that great nonsense verse go... "You've not lived till you've been gored/By Xena". *hums melody from The Bitter Suite*

3.) Natasha Romanov(a) (The Avengers). Best spy of them all, clearly. Someone should write the crossover where she and Ben match mindgame and pretending-to-be-powerless-using-real-emotions-to-trick-enemy skills, but it won't be me. In my fanon, there's just one thing Judi Dench!M really can't forgive Nick Fury for, and that's for making Natasha an offer Natasha couldn't refuse before she could.

4.) Havelock Vetinari (Discworld). Best benevolent tyrant ever (except if you're a mime). As opposed to many a competent power player, he doesn't even seem to have their Achilles heel, i.e. not allowing any other competent people to rise, thereby creating a lack of goverment competence once they've shovelled off the mortal coil. (*looking at you, Bismarck*) It's point of discussion whether the Patrician is grooming Moist or Carrot as his successor, but either one would not do a bad job.

5.) Kalinda Sharma (The Good Wife). Might or might not be the world's best P.I., but is definitely the best one in the show's Chicago. If I needed either dirt to be dug up or my innocence proved, Kalinda is the Private Investigator I'd hire. If I could afford her, that is.

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Interview Meme Replies: Merlin, Babylon 5, West Wing, Torchwood (+ Lost), RPF

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 05:30:35 GMT

Thanks for playing! It was fun.

Uther, what is it that you most want for your son? What about for Morgana? Do you see any contradiction in these goals?

G'Kar, when did you know you could not only forgive Londo Mollari, but actually become his friend?

President Bartlet, after he finishes work in the Santos administration, should Sam Seaborne once again consider running for office? Will you support him?

Jack, why didn't you stop the bullet for Owen?

I would like to ask Robert Fraser what he thinks about the relationship between John and Paul. Or John what he thinks of the relationship between Paul and Robert.

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Myths old and new in fictions old and new

Mon, 28 May 2012 12:43:13 GMT

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. )

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Villainy, ah, villainy

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:48:47 GMT

As threatened, some ponderings on villains and which ones do and don't make me like or even love them. And, not always related: which kind of redemption stories, both in canon and fanfic, work for me and which one's don't. First, a disclaimer: I know some people declare they prefer the villains on general principle and declare the heroes to be bland and dull by comparison. That's not the case for me. If I find I only like the villain in a story and he/she is the only interesting person in it, I say goodbye to the show/film/book in question, the faster the older I get, because a good ensemble is getting more and more important to me.

So: villains. Those I like come in many different flavours. There are the lunatic EvilMcEvils, who need not be boring in their complete evilness and often lunacy if served with a defined time frame; when this happens in a visual medium and they're played by good and charismatic actors, they can be both scary and immensly entertaining. Examples who come to mind are the Emperor Caligula in I, Claudius and his sci fi twin, the Emperor Cartagia in Babylon 5, or Kronos in Highlander. (Take your bows, John Hurt, Wortham Krimmer and Valentine Pelka.) They're far from the only reasons why I love the episodes they're in, but they definitely contribute. But note: they're actually in only a few episodes, the fact that I find them scary and compelling doesn't change the fact it's their victims and Our Heroes I root for, and when they meet their demise, I'm glad. Any longer stay in the story, and either their scariness or the main characters' competence and/or believability would suffer.

Then there are the Evil Overlords and Overladies who are quite sane (except for the whole ruling-the-'verse ambition part, though some of them are happy with just efficient assasindom) and comfortable in their villaindom. They can, but don't have to be Magnificent Bastards (tm), and again, if we're talking visual medium, a good actor helps. So do competence, intelligence and wit. As opposed to the lunatics, their livespan in the story need not be limited in order for both the story and the villain to work. Temporary alliances with the heroes in order to defeat a third party are possible but won't ever last and are not to be confused with a redemption story; this type of villain, as mentioned, is comfortable in their skin and sees no need to change anything about themselves. Examples I've enjoyed watching or reading about include the Empress Livia (I, Claudius again), the Mayor of Sunnydale (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Milady de Winter (The Three Musketeers), Servalan (Blake's 7) or Lilah Morgan and Holland Manners (both from Angel).

Next, we get the tragic, layered and/or emotionally torn villains, frequently mixing company with antiheroes and sometimes crossing lines from and back to plain old heroes, and here it gets tricky, and I get more choosy as the years pass. A tragic, sympathetic villain often (but not always) has a traumatic background story: next to unbeatable in this regard is Magneto's Holocaust childhood in any incarnation of the X-Men. (Of course, it also comes with its own date problem, i.e. the reason why Magneto already had to be de-aged by Plot Device a couple of times in comicverse continuity in order to maintain physical strength - the fixed date of a real life historic event, from which we are further and further away.) Not that a traumatic past, even a Holocaust trauma, automatically creates a sympathetic character. Just look at Ultimate!Magneto, or rather, don't. (Mark Millar does his usual thing, if you must know.) This type of villain usually comes with the conviction that they're really working for the greater good, not just their own (key difference to the Magnificent Bastards), their methods for them are justified by said greater good (this is where they're mixing company wiht the antiheroes and sometimes the heroes), but they can have doubts about this, waver or even change their mind; also, they often have lasting attachments to other people, and more than one. However, all this being said, they, and this makes them villains, however tragic, are responsible for the deaths and/or ruin of a great many people, and in the most interesting stories, we're not simply told about this by a few measly lines but get to know their victims as people, who didn't volunteer to be character X's sacrifice for the greater good/punchbag for personal trauma/whatever and had their own lives before having the bad luck to encounter said villain. Other than movieverse and most times 616 comicverse Magneto, villains of this type who made me love them include Ben Linus from Lost or Arvin Sloane from Alias, and Kai Winn on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

And then there are the villains whom I don't love at all and don't like as people, either, but whom I can find interesting as a character and thus end up writing about. When I look at examples, I realise something they share, as different as they otherwise are from each other: a Me ME ME teenage frame of mind that extends far beyond actual teenage years, which comes with a tendency to blame everyone but themselves for their miseries, utter refusal to acknowledge any responsibility and an ever narrower capacity for attachment, that starts out being genuinenly there but as the character devolves includes fewer and fewer people, until only themselves are left. These type of villains might, in other circumstances, have not become villains - that helps making them interesting to me - but aren't tragic (for me, mileage as always varies) because they pass up chance after chance to change said circumstances because that would involve accepting some responsibility instead of blaming everyone else. Primarly examples: Warren Mears in Buffy, Morgana on Merlin and now Loki in Thor and Avengers. There is of course a big difference in how fandom at large responded to Warren on the one hand and Morgana & Loki on the other: Warren wasn't woobified. His own idea of himself was never shared by a majority of fandom. Morgana's and Loki's ideas of themselves, on the other hand, if fanfic and posts are anything to go by, are shared by a great many fans. And all generalisations are broad, I know, and can be unfair, but I rather suspect the reason for this isn't that Warren behaved worse than Morgana or Loki (Loki wins for attempted global genocide in Thor; his attempted conquest bodycount in Avengers and Morgana's by the end of season 4 should be about equal, and all three - Warren, Morgana and Loki, that is - are guilty of mindrape), but that the later two are played by very attractive actors and Warren (pace, Adam Busch! I enjoyed your performance and your guest appearance on The Sarah Connor Chronicles as well!) is not; also, Warren, about whose parents we know next to nothing (other than his mother moved to Sunnydale during Buffy's last two high school years or so), who doesn't have a sibling and who dominates his small group of peers (i.e. Andrew and Jonathan) offers no identification potential for the inner 13 years old temper tantrum throwing tale of "nobody understands me and Daddy doesn't love me enough!".

Now, if you get attached to a character, you usually want that character to stick around and achieve some modicum of happiness for himself/herself. Which is at the root of a great many redemption stories; not so much the need to bring the character to a state where he or she realises their actions (or at least some of them) were wrong and consequently tries to atone for them. Why do I think that? Because I've read a lot of fanfic in many a fandom, and the most popular pattern for redemption stories is this:

1) Not-much-longer-a-villain X saves the life of hero Y (usually the person the author wants to pair X with.)

2) Y and assorted other heroes are impressed in varying degrees; then they find out, if they don't know already, about the incredibly tragic backstory of X

3) Shame at the magnitude of X's sufferings in the past ensues (often, but not always, one of the hero types is held responsible for at least some of X's trauma and now gets punished accordingly)

4) X is redeemed (or rather justified, because clearly, he/she was more sinned against than sinning anyway!); happy sex with Y ensues.

Note that what's utterly missing is X being confronted by his/her victims other than Y and/or whomever of Y's friends they wronged, and these people usually, upon realising the tragic past, forgive X post haste. Characters who refuse to be impressed by X's turnabout and still hold X' deeds against him/her for some reasons are, if they are allowed in the narrative at all, the new villains of the story.

Which brings me back from fanfic to canon sources. Which don't always equal redemption with universal hugs and joyful sex, for some reason. Or even see redemption as the only way for a sympathetic and/or interesting villain to continue in the story. itsnotmymind once observed that one of the reasons why Faith's story on BTVS and ATS is probably the best redemption story the shows did is that Faith never was a regular, and thus didn't have to appear in every episode. Which meant it was possible for her to turn herself in and go to prison for several seasons, which wouldn't have been possible for, say, Willow. (Or Spike, leaving the later's vampire nature aside.) That's true, but Ben Linus on Lost and Arvin Sloane on Alias were regulars on their respective shows. If Alias had ended after the fourth season, you could say both got sort-of-redemption stories in the sense that they both started as villains and ended as sort-of-allies and also in a state of atonment (of sorts); since season 5 of Alias turned Sloane's story around again, he went back to villaindom. Even so, the difference between Ben and Arvin on the one hand and Loki/Morgana/Warren on the other is that pesky self awareness and responsibility thing, along with more-than-one-attachment ability. Not that Mr. Linus and Mr. Sloane don't have their massive self delusions at times as well, but they are aware that the main responsibility for what their life became lies with them. (See also: Sloane, in one of the ever popular taking-place-in-the-mind-of-characters episodes, telling his daughter Nadia in his own head that whatever he was in the past, now "I am a monster, and monsters have no place in this world".) They're also capable of voicing regrets over their actions, and, to a degree, change their behaviour (again: to a degree). Most importantly, though: their narrative doesn't let them off the hook. If the majority of Lost characters distrusts, loathes and resents Ben through several seasons, it's because of his own actions; ditto for Sloane, and at no point does the show imply the other characters are just mean and unfair to hold something like murder, manipulation and lots and lots of mind games against a fellow.

Cynical side note: the fact that Ron Rifkin and Michael Emerson were among the very best actors of the cast, with only one other actor of the same age group competing for the title, but neither of them young and particularly attractive probably helped with the comparative lack of fandom woobiefication, but the fact it didn't happen probably helped me maintain my Sloane and Benjamin Linus love.

But if accepting responsibility is such an important criterium for my personal affections, what, long time readers of my ramblings may ask, what about Battlestar Galactica's Gaius Baltar? What indeed, because accepting blame really isn't his strong suit, and as late as season 3, we have it as on screen canon (as voiced by William Adama near the end of the episode where he and Roslin torture Baltar for a confession) that Gaius sees himself as the wronged party here instead of the wrongdoer. So why do I have such issues with Loki and Morgana pulling that stunt but not with Baltar? Well, the fact that fandom didn't woobify and excuse Gaius B. probably helped, but so did his other characteristics, and the way his story played out on the show. Gaius could be petty on occasion, but by and large not malicious, and while he had a big accepting responsibility problem for the longest time, his chosen method of avoidance wasn't blaming either humans or Cylons for his miseries. In fact, he was one of the very few characters on that show who at no point succumbed to group hate and who as early as early s2 declared the entire cycle of vengeance and counter vengeance between humans and Cylons senseless and stupid (in a conversation with Head!Six on Kobol). Also, the show gave him neither the big dramatic heroic death atoning for his wrongs, nor did it make him into a moustache twirling villain (a la original Baltar in the old BSG) dying in punishment; what happened to him was simultanously the worst and the best thing for him, something he'd run from and tried to escape all his life. I wouldn't call it redemption, but it was by far the most successful personal arc completed in the very shaky way the show wrapped up. And showed you can tell a story of someone responsible for a lot of misery in an interesting way without falling into standard narrative patterns or easy cop-outs, and without ever handwaving the magnitude of what this person did away.

Back to fanfiction once more: one of my earliest Jossverse stories was Five Things Which Never Happened To Warren (using the "Five Things" format worked great with Warren, who in some makes better and in some as bad or even worse choices than in canon), and by now, Morgana has been prominent in or the central focus of five of my so far fourteen Merlin stories. As I said: I find these people interesting to write about. But none of these stories falls under the "everyone realises how wrong they were about X" type of story. (The first Morgana-centric story, Discordance, which was written in the hiatus between s2 and s3, i.e. before Morgana became a villain on the show, was actually inspired by frustration about fanon!Morgana whom I couldn't see bearing much resemblance to the character on the show even then.) Neither are they demonizations; I hope Morgana and Warren come across as capable of more than one emotion and as complicated individuals in said stories. It's just that the fictional examinations of the characters I wanted to read, and consequently wrote, weren't "X was so wronged by everyone and right all along! Team X all the way!" type of stories, but instead stories that took into account what canon has told us these characters were capable of. And I probably will end up writing about Loki sooner or later, despite yet having to feel any love of the character, because the type of Loki stories I'd be interested in reading just don't seem to get written, either.

***

Having ended up on an Avengers note yet again, two meta recs: Lovely, thoughtful meta on the film here and here.

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Sunday links, the non-fiction part

Sun, 13 May 2012 08:14:07 GMT

Not only of interest if you've watched him as Mr. Eko in Lost (or Simon Adebesi in Oz): a fascinating article about Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who was born Nigerian, fostered by a (white) British family and struggled with conflicting race and class identities as well as a great many other things. He comes across as compelling as the characters he portrayed as an actor.

Also in this Sunday's Observer was something that ticked me off: the ten best historical novels. With the exception of War and Peace, there's not a single novel among them not written in the English language. So even leaving alone the extreme questionability of the "best" criterium - I always prefer titling such lists "my ten favourite etc." because that's more honest, and nobody can argue about personal preferences - I have to wonder why the critic in question didn't simply leave Tolstoy off the list and call it "my ten favourite historical novels written English". Either that, or he's truly ignorant of non-Anglo literature. I mean, for God's sake - no Dumas or Victor Hugo, who founded the genre more than Walter Scott did? No Princesse de Cleves? No Lion Feuchtwanger, Heinrich Mann, Stefan Zweig? No Mika Waltari? Boooooooooooo. Hissssssssssss.

While I'm in combatitive mood: what she said, "she" being the brilliant legionseagle, in relation to the use of a certain scene in The Avengers and some fannish reaction to same. The comments to her post are also good for the most part, but contain one of the most irritating examples for attempted argument derailment I've seen since catvalente posted about the difference of reactions had Christopher Priest (apropos his Clarke award rant) been a woman and had to deal with a troll. Also, ( and here it gets spoilery for The Avengers and Thor ).

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Fannish 5: 5 characters or couples you wish could have gotten a happy/happier ending.

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:50:23 GMT

I'll go for characters, and it's a trickier question than it appears to be at first glance. Because sometimes the unhappy ending is the RIGHT ending, no matter how much your love for the character makes you hurt for it. Prime example: Londo Mollari, who is my favourite tv character of all time. But a happy, or even happier ending for Londo would have been completely wrong for his story. So instead of picking a bunch of my darlings whom regardless of story necessity I wish to be happy, I'll try for characters who could have gotten happier endings in their respective universes without compromising the story told.

( Spoilers for Lost, Farscape, Merlin, BSG and Twin Peaks )

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Fannish5: Five best or worst fathers.

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 07:43:00 GMT

Well, "worst fathers" would be like shooting fish in a barrell, given how especially American tv loves its daddy issues. So here are some great dads who come to mind:

1.) Mr. Kwon from Lost. Alas, we never find out his first name, but Jin's dad is that rarity on Lost, a genuinenly good parent. He raised Jin as his own despite the fact they're not biologically related, put up with Jin having class issues and being ashamed of him and was still there when a repentant Jin needed comfort and advice. This would make him a great father in any narrative, but on this show? Trust me, it makes him rarer than pink diamonds.

2.) Benjamin Sisko from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. After two shows where the regulars tended to have issues with at least one of their parents, usually the father, and/or with their offspring, Sisko wasn't just the first male lead to get along with his father famously, he also was a single parent raising his son and doing a stellar job of it. Not that he's perfect, but by and large, good old Ben S. s a really great father.

3.) Dexter Morgan from Dexter. He may be a serial killer, plus I think the show sort of lost its moral compass in the last season, but there is no denying it: one thing Dexter has been consistently great with from season 1 onwards is being a father, both in the emotional sense (with Rita's children, Aster and Cody) and in the biological sense (Harrison). Given his, err, impediments, that's all the more unusual.

4.) Keith Mars from Veronica Mars. Does not let the fact he's unsure about the biological factor influence his love for his daughter one bit, does a great job being there for her, does not take his own misery and angst out on her, and is in general a champion. Go Keith!

5.) Aeneas, from Greek and Roman mythology. Look, I'm the first to admit that ~~Virgil's Homer fanfiction~~ the Anaeid suffers by comparison to the two originals, and of course as far as wandering heroes go, the wily Odysseus wins every time. However. Aeneas, as opposed to most fathers in myths (looking at you, Laios, and you, Priam) does not try to get rid of his kid as a baby. He doesn't eat him, either (Tantalus, you had that underworld punishment coming), nor does he kill him to prove how no one should be above the law (looking at you, original Brutus) or to appease the gods (Agamemnon, step forward). Nor does he dump the boy on someone else to care for. (Looking at pretty much everyone.) No, Aeneas when leaving his burning city behind brings both his Aged Parents and his son along, and raises the later through years of questing, divine punishments, ill-fated love affairs, the occasional clash with leftover Greeks from the war and eventually settling and a new marriage. There were earlier mythological single parents, but arguably Aeneas is the first to make a success of raising his son and being a questing hero at the same time instead of giving one up for the other. Clearly a model to the earlier named gentlemen!

Footnote: if you're wondering why Jack Bristow isn't there: Spydaddy is undoubtedly willing to move mountains for his daughter and willing to sacrifice his (and other) life for her at any time, but when it comes to day-to-day parenting, his track record is a bit less stellar. Yes, there are traumatic reasons for that, but the fact of the matter is that when we meet them in season 1, the communication between them is so bad and the issues are so massive that Jack can't bring himself to have dinner with Sydney, prefering instead to sit in his car broodingly in the rain outside the restaurant where she's waiting for him. It gets far better as the show progresses, but my criterium of selection for the fathers wasn't just "fathers willing to die for their children" but "fathers actually good at communicating with and raising their children".

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Tidbits

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:57:35 GMT

Meanwhile, in New Zealand: Bilbo and the thirteen dwarves, i.e. the actors for the Hobbit film, out of costume for a group shot. Looking at this I again thought Martin Freeman for a younger Bilbo was an inspired choice on Peter Jackson's part. Also it's amusing to see Aidan Turner with the dwarvish beard. (And spot the Richard Armitage!)

(I wonder whether the casting will accomplish for dwarves what the LotR films did for hobbits and elves? I.e. turn a whole new brigade of slashers loose on an unsuspecting bunch of Tolkien characters whose sex lives were never the same again...)

There were a lot of fandom-themed funny valentines yesterday. Some favourites spotted:

A Very Special Battlestar Galactica Valentine Card (spoilers for the third season)

A hysterical bunch of Lost-themed Valentine Cards (naturally, the Ben one and the Locke one are my favourites, but the others are great as well; spoilers only for Kate's backstory)

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Fannish5: Pick 5 characters and assign them spirit animals.

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:30:09 GMT

Assignments like Merlin/Dragon or Sylar/Cockroach would be too easy and are canon anyway. Speaking of:

1.) Benjamin Linus (Lost)/ Bunny. Practically canon as well. If you think bunnies are too harmless and not suitable for machiavellian types, read Watership Down.) (Which reminds me that Lost advertises that book as well.) Or ask Anya from BTVS.

2.) Sarah Connor (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)/Turtle. She'll outlast them all. Also? Canon. (Yes, yes, so is the wolf thing, but that's way too obvious.)

3.) Gwen Cooper (Torchwood)/English Sheep Dog. Cute but fierce, protective ~~and occasionally inspiring songs~~. Can sometimes run into things and mess up, but are tenacious and win the day.

4.) River Song (Doctor Who)/ Cat. Of several lives and not always certain loyalties, definitely knowing more than most people in a given room or good at bluffing that she does. Come on, it's perfect. Also, you know, several regenerations of a certain someone have a thing for cats.

5.) Walter Bishop (Fringe)/Walrus. Because if I am the Walrus is not Walter's theme song, it should be. Also there is a certain resemblance, pace John Noble.

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links, links, links

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 10:06:40 GMT

First of all, thanks for the virtual present, yetanothermask!

Secondly, links fannish and real life:

Lost:

Vigilantes: set during Cabin Fever, starring my favourite Lost characters, Ben, Locke and Hurley: an introspective character potrait, capturing all three very well.

Marvel and DC comics:

It was about time someone did this parody: Superhero wikileaks

Awesome actresses at large:

Helen Mirren and her magnificent speech about women's roles, on screen and otherwise. "Hollywood's worship of the 18-25 years old male and his penis" just about sums it up.

Rosemary Sutcliff/History:

This one immediately made me think of kathyh. A film version of Eagle of the Ninth, hm? Well, the trailer looks great.

The two bloggings on yesterday's anniversary I found most moving:

Don't remember John Lennon today: "Because any attempt to ascribe meaning or logic to his killer's actions only satisfies the internal demons that compelled him to project Lennon into his own psychotic narrative", argues Peter Ames Carlin and then proceeds to remember John's life anyway.

For John Lennon: in which rozk writes a poem that finds a striking and chilling use of the myth of Orpheus and the Bacchantes.

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Cheering up my Thursday

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:41:28 GMT

Darth Real Life doesn't leave me time to watch the SJA episodes just yet, let alone review them. However, there is always time for short fannish distractions, such as:

Merlin:

Go Between. Perfect OT3 epilogue to the most recently broadcast episode (3.10 for later readers). Rooting for Merlin/Gwen/Arthur might be a minority thing in the fandom yet, but the great fanfic starts coming, such as thish one. No wonder, with all the current canonical support.

Lost/Heroes:

The non-creepiness of strangers: in which post-show Claire from Lost meets just pre season 2 Nathan from Heroes. It was the first time since eons since I read Heroes fanfiction, even a crossover, and I was surprised how well it worked for me. Of course, it being set at an era when I was still filled with show love helped, as does that we're in Claire's pov, and exploring Claire after all that happened to her and through her post Lost is something I look for in fanfiction. Nathan in his pre and early s2 state is an ideal person for her to meet, in that messed up characters chatting sort of way, plus, you know, personal resonance with girls named Claire who are illegitimate daughters.

And lastly: drool over what were their names again from Inception and what's his face from Sherlock all you want, flist, but I came across this picture and was reminded once more that where British actors are concerned, two septuangarians are the ones who reduce me to putty:

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Multifandom links

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:41:30 GMT

Lost

Et in Arcadia ego: On Benjamin Linus and letting go. Spoilers for the entire show.

DS9:

I wish I was James Bond: which of course is the perfect song for a Julian Bashir vid.

Torchwood:

Gwen Day links: pocky_slash had the inspired idea to declare yesterday Gwen day and collect links for fanfiction, pic spams and meta about Gwen Cooper. As someone who came to love Gwen dearly in the course of the show, to the point where she's now my favourite character, I was thrilled to find those links.

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Fannish5: Five Family Reunion Avoiders

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 05:10:19 GMT

Name five characters who would hate attending a family reunion.

Ah, dysfunctional families. One of my favourite things to read, listen and watch.

1) Tiberius, as portrayed in I, Claudius. Not that Tiberius in any version and as described by any historians doesn't strike me as hating family reunions, but I assume the meme goes after fictional characters, so Gravesian Tiberius it is. Doesn't matter which era we're talking about, young Tiberius with his extremely awkward relationship to stepfather Augustus and mother Livia or very old Tiberius (at this point responsible for various family deaths himself) in Capri - family reunions, he loathed them.

2) John Locke of Lost. Not for nothing did he win in the evil daddy stakes in the poll I posted a few months ago, in a show with an overabundance of bad fathers. Meeting his mother didn't turn out too great, either. Let's just say that canonically, family reunions for John Locke went from bad to worse and I can't imagine him respond other than going macro and yelling DO NOT WANT at the prospect of more.

3) Aeryn Sun (Farscape). Aeryn's canonical family reunion party is called The Choice. Otherwise known as the angstiest Aeryn episode ever. Fun times, these were not, even if she hadn't been grieving for other reasons in that episode already. I don't think Aeryn would want a repetition of that experience any time soon.

4) Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Battlestar Galactica). And then there is Kara. As many a viewer has said, she could talk with Aeryn about Mommy issues. With the mothers in question far, far away. There's also a psychologically torturous family situation she would not want to repeat from early s3. No, can't see Kara signing up for family reunions any time soon.

5) Heidi Petrelli (Heroes). I checked out of the Heroes canon during s3, but however it went down afterwards (no, don't tell me), I can't imagine Heidi really enjoying a Petrelli family reunion, between her mother-in-law indulging either in put-downs or come ons, Arthur being a creep, and Nathan and Peter doing their co-dependent arguments/hugs act.

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Fannish5: Teasers

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 05:33:38 GMT

Name the five best "cold open"/teasers (the scene of a TV show before the opening credits)

Tricky to narrow it down to five, as nearly always. However, here are five teasers that definitely made an impression so strong that I can recall them at once when hearing the question:

1) A Tale of Two Cities, season 3 of Lost. Lost of course did good teasers galore, and far more shocking ones, but here's why this one sticks with me even more than the others: ( spoilery reasons ensue. )

2) Samson and Delilah, season 2 of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Season 1 ends on a cliffhanger; the teaser starting season 2 resolves that cliffhanger as far as immediate circumstances are concerned but at the same time sets up, in only a few minutes and basically without dialogue, some of the big issues of season 2 (as well as the suspense situation for the season opener) - ( spoilers are still in awe and admiration about that. ) And all of this to the tune of Shirley Manson singing a gospel. It's magnificent.

3) Kobol's Last Gleaming I, season 1 of Battlestar Galactica. Speaking of great music, here Bear McCreary, as he will in the tag scene of part II, brings on his symphonic skills in a big way. The teaser of part I combines several season 1 themes - Boomer's struggle against her Cylon identity and increasing depression, Roslin's Chamalla-induced visions, the relationships between Kara and Lee as well as Kara and Gaius Baltar - in one wonderfully scored sequence. (Sidenote: as a Kara/Lee anti-shipper throughout the show who had really hoped they wouldn't go there I probably had an atypical reaction to a certain scene, but independent from that, I can't deny it was skilfully done.)

4) The Body, season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Of Joss Whedon's four most experimental episodes in this show, Hush, Restless, The Body and Once More, With Feeling, which I think are four of the best hours of tv ever, Restless is probably my overall favourite but The Body is the one which affects me most deeply. As a depiction of the immediate aftermath of death, I find it devastatingly accurate, and ( spoilery descriptions ensue. )

5) The Sam Tyler Jacket, Ashes to Ashes season 3, episode 5. I didn't want a "real" appearance by Sam on AtA - he had his own show, you know? - and thus was not disappointed we never got one, but this use of John Simm footage by way of Alex' brain was great and cracks me up to this day; competing with that for my favourite AtA teaser is the "Uptown Girl" sequence, also from season 3, which YouTube won't let me link. I ♥ Alex Drake and her dreams, I tell you.

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Fannish Five: Sweeties

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:20:23 GMT

Name the five sweetest fictional characters.

Here they are, all coming with a "if you don't love them, you're just plain wrong" disclaimer. :)

1.) Vir Cotto (Babylon 5). In addition to being absolutely adorable and funny when he doesn't break your heart, Vir is brave, loving and not only Londo's conscience but the one of the show.

2.) Kaylee Frye (Firefly). The ship's mechanic, tends to babble, is an unabashed hedonist who loves her strawberries and her sex in equal measure, and is just a darling.

3.) Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Lost). Definitely the heart of the show, a natural caretaker, big geek, able to overcome some significant damage. Hurley will hand you a chocolate bar for consolation even if you're a villain-gone-antihero known to put people through hell. Awwwww.

4.) Gwen (Guinevere) (Merlin). My favourite Guinevere of them all, kind and sweet, but push her too far, and she'll tell you exactly what's what. I just love her.

5.) Wilf(red) Mott (Doctor Who). Adorable grandfather, enthusiastic astronomer, known to attack Daleks with paint balls and have heart-to-hearts with Time Lords feeling their age. Also? Bernard Cribbins.

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Fly-by fanfic recs

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:07:07 GMT

Lost:

Tales from the Tail Section: starting with s2, Lost came up with creative ways of adding and substracting to its ensemble in considerable ways despite the apparant drawback of an deserted island scenario (i.e. characters couldn't just leave or arrive at leisure). This was controversial: some of the newbies each season were embraced, others resented. S2 started by introducing us to the survivors from the tail section (nicknamed "tailies" by the fandom), and this collection of drabbles captures each of their personalities wonderfully well.

Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Carve me in marble, cast me in gold: Terissa Dyson, widow of Miles D. from Terminator II, was despite her few appearances on the show one of the most intriguing characters. This story shows you why.

Torchwood/Doctor Who:

Journey. The Jack/Alonso story I've been waiting for since that scene in End of Time. There is grief, but there is also connection (along with the sex), and best of all, there's a relationship that's neither OMG True Love or Sex Without Any Meaning Because My True Love Is Dead And Oh Was There Something About My Family Too?. Also, Alonso is a dear, but that's a given.

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Sunday bits and pieces

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 06:04:42 GMT

You know, yesterday I caved and went from smiling benignly to exclaiming "YES!" re: world cup results. It was hard not to, walking through celebrations in Munich.

This was a week of cheer for me on a personal level as well, because seeing old stories of mine from different fandoms reccommended leaves this nice glow of "aww, this one is still read... and this one as well".

I shall now rec some new works myself:

Battlestar Galactica/ Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:

Satellite. This crossover was written for this year's Multiverse and provides an encounter between BSG's Laura Roslin and DS9's Kai Winn. I always thought that Winn and Roslin were very similar characters, if not the same one, only one written as the villain and one as the heroine of the story, and this story plays on that magnificently. Spoilers for the entire canon of both shows.

Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Raise it up: a great vid about the are-they-still?-children in SCC, all but Savannah soldiers in a war whether they want to be or not: Riley, Lauren, the Martin Bedells, Allison, Savannah and John himself. Stunning. Also reminds me that now that the film festival is over I need to finish my SCC rewatch.

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On a note of "things don't take place in a vaccuum": I'm not in SPN fandom, and I don't read the fanfiction, but it was impossible to miss what's been going on during the last months. I do, however, read Time Magazine on occasion, and Joel Stein recently published an article called My own private India which is, shall we say, a proof you don't have to be a fanfiction writer to behave in a spectacularly clueless and entitled way. He got got called on it by Kal Penn (who played Kutner in House) in a magnificent fashion.

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Back to more fun things. When Lennon Naked was broadcast, some of the reviews went through previous screen incarnations of any aspects of Beatles tales, and that's how I found out that Elizabeth Mitchell, who played Juliet on Lost, has played Linda McCartney in a tv version of her life. (Gary Bakewall, aka Richard Mayhew from Neverwhere, was Paul. He has played him as well in Backbeat, which makes me wonder whether there is such a thing as (ex)Beatles type casting, seeing that Ian Hart played John Lennon twice as well.) This made for a fleeting moment of imagining a really bizarre Lost crossover.

Something Lennon Naked by necessity of its focus could not cover was the origin story of one of my favourite songs, Hey Jude, but as the film covers the exact period I was reminded of it again. It's also a good example of how any work of art, or, if you prefer a less fancy term, any creative effort can be interpreted completely independent from authorial intention the moment it's done, which in the case of the interpretation I'm thinking of has a bittersweet irony. To recapitulate via quotes from the various horses' mouths:

Paul McCartney: "Hey Jude was a song which I originally thought of whilst driving my car out to visit Cynthia and Julian Lennon after John's divorce from them. We'd been very good friends for millions of yers and I thought it was a bit much for them suddenly to be personae non gratae and out of my life, so I decided to play them a visit and say, 'How are you doing? What's happening?' I was very used to writing songs oon my way out to Kenwood because I was usually going there to collaborate with John. This time I started with the idea 'Hey Jules', which was Julian, don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better. Hey, try and deal with this terrible thing. I knew it was not going to be easy for him. I always feel sorry for kids in divorces. The adults may be fine but the kids... I always relate to their little brain spinning round in confusion, going, 'Did I do this? Was it me?' Guilt is such a terrible thing and I know it affects a lot of people and I think that aws the reason I went out. And I got this idea for a long, 'Hey Jude', and made up a few little things so I had the basic by the time I got there. I changed it to 'Jude' because I thought that sounded a bit better."

(This sympathy for Julian thing wasn't a one time only gesture. Quoth Julian Lennon: " "Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit—more than Dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad." Case in point. They still seem to get along well. )

Of course, by the time Hey Jude entered the recording stage, the text had changed quite a bit; as with the majority of McCartney songs, romantic love had entered the picture with the line "you were made to/go out and get her". This led to none other than John Lennon - who was savagely critical about most of Paul's later stuff, but not of this song, which he always praised - to come up with the following interpretation (from the Playboy interviews shortly before his death):

"I always heard it as a song to me. If you think about it... Yoko's just come into the picture. He's saying, 'Hey Jude" - "Hey John". I know I'm sounding like one of those fans who reads things into it, but you can hear it as a song to me. The words 'go out and get her' - subconsciously he was saying, 'Go ahead, leave me.' On a conscious level, he didn't want me to go ahead. The angel in him was saying, 'Bless you'. The devil in him didn't like it at all because he didn't want to lose his partner."

( And now for the actual song. Lots of people singing Hey Jude under the cut )

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Who's your bad daddy? A Lost poll

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:13:58 GMT

Inspired by the befuddlement referred to in my last entry, I'd like to get your opinion on this, oh fellow fen reading this journal. I tried to put the options as unspoilery as possible, so you can vote even if you haven't seen the entire show yet.

View Poll: Who's your bad daddy?

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A Day In The Life

January Meme: Babylon 5 alikes?

Rare Male Slash Exchange: My Gifts

Letter for raremaleslashex ficathon

Multifandom links

More links!

Thirty Days of TV: Day Thirty

Prometheus (Film Review)

fannish5: Five characters who are best at what they do

Interview Meme Replies: Merlin, Babylon 5, West Wing, Torchwood (+ Lost), RPF

Myths old and new in fictions old and new

Villainy, ah, villainy

Sunday links, the non-fiction part

Fannish 5: 5 characters or couples you wish could have gotten a happy/happier ending.

Fannish5: Five best or worst fathers.

Tidbits

Fannish5: Pick 5 characters and assign them spirit animals.

links, links, links

Cheering up my Thursday

Multifandom links

Fannish5: Five Family Reunion Avoiders

Fannish5: Teasers

Fannish Five: Sweeties

Fly-by fanfic recs

Sunday bits and pieces

Who's your bad daddy? A Lost poll