Well, I do. That is to say, I check out the list of posted Yuletide fandoms quite often, and mentally make notes about which fandoms to check out first once the archive gets opened. There are already four B5 stories and two Breaking Bad tales. And I THINK I've spotted the so-far-one-story-fandom which might be my gift, though of course I can't be sure. As for "huh, didn't think someone would write this this year, but it looks like someone did" pleasant surprises, did I spot A Place of Greater Safety on the list with one story? Why yes, I did. Must check out Hilary Mantel inspired French Revolution fanfic as soon as I can. And so forth.

It's a distraction from fretting about the fate of my own two tales, at any rate.:) The joy and peril of Yuletide is that you get to write rare fandoms and have a chance of having those stories read by more than five people, plus you're challenged to tackle themes which might be outside your usual parameters, but - what if the recipient had something else in mind and leaves nothing but a polite "thanks for writing"/ hardly anyone else bothers to check out the tale because there are so many others/ the format you picked doesn't work in the way you hoped it would/the characters you focus on aren't the characters anyone else is interested in/et cetera. You know, the usual. Ah, well. I might as well practice singing "two weeks more" to the Les Mis tune of One Day More, since that film version is another thing to look forward to. And speaking of filk songs, here is a fun one, Xena by way of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Something else distracting to make you smile among worries trivial and tremendous (i.e. the rest of the world): Breaking Abbey, the one and only Downton Abbey/Breaking Bad crossover. Written by Vince Gilligan and starring Thomas (wearing the Jesse Pinkman look quite well), Carson (clearly born to be Mike in another life) and His Lordship (Hugh Bonneville's Walter White impression is hysterical). Mind you, clearly the Downton Abbey character BORN to make a career in the drug trade is the Dowager Countess, for who could ever defeat her?

Bad news to wake up to: Michael O'Hare has died. What is it about the B5 cast and far too early mortality? Damn. I remember when some years ago people on my flist started to watch B5 and complained about Sinclair being Kirkian, and I was confused because I remembered him as the exact opposite, and then I did a rewatch and realised where the problem lay: the Sinclair I recalled is the one from about A Flagfull of Stars onwards, when the writing became adjusted to the actor. Very early Sinclair is written more in the action hero vein and O'Hare isn't good at it (while later Bruce Boxleitner will be), but what he is good at conveying is quiet thoughtfulness and gravitas, and later season 1 Sinclair has this. His best performance to me though remains his last as Sinclair: the War Without End two parter in season 3 where Sinclair's story comes to the end that is simultanously a beginning in one of the best and in retrospect utterly sense making plot twists I've seen. Now that the actor is gone, the scene that most haunts me is the one where Sinclair whispers "goodbye, Michael" in part I, and I would post that clip if I could find it on YouTube, which unfortunately I couldn't. There is such affection and sadness in O'Hare's voice that it believes anyone calling him wooden, and the knowledge he'll never see his friend again. I've never felt more like Michael Garibaldi.


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You know, I think I'll stop watching Downton Abbey. I always thought that if something gives you more disgruntlement than viewing pleasure, it's time to get out rather than hang on and complain, and I might have reached that stage, with my inner Jacobin more alert than ever every second a member of the Crawley family is on screen. ( Spoilery grumblings to follow. ) The one thing of academic interest to me is that it occurred to me DA actually offers an answer to something I wondered last when marathoning The West Wing some years ago. Back then, I was reminded that while you get the occasional conservative characters written by liberal writers meant as sympathetic (you also get villains, but really, most of the Republicans showing up on WW weren't but were written as honorable and dedicated as our democratic regulars, notably Ainsley and The Better John McCain in the last season), I couldn't think of a liberal character meant as sympathetic and written by a conservative writer. Well, now I can, because Downton Abbey gave us Tom Branson the socialist (ex-) chauffeur, and Julian Fellowes, a conservative writer, assuredly means him to be sympathetic. Alas, this also shows up Fellowes' weaknesses like a writer like no one's business. I mean, I admit I was charmed by ( scenes that reminded me of a Likeadeuce story ), but the scene with Sybil when they're alone and ( he says something spoilery ) not only reminded me of how badly written Branson/Sybil was the last season but made me suspect Fellowes has no idea of how a working class boy/upper class girl relationship could possibly work beyond vague memories of having once watched Look Back In Anger. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

Shirley McLaine, when actually given something to do, rose to the challenge and reminded me of having once attended a New Year's show she gave in Munich only a few years ago (singing, dancing, narrating, the stamina of the woman in her 70s is amazing), but I find the Dowager Duchess' quips are getting old and thus I really have no more reason to watch. Beyond spiting the snobbish reviewer from the Guardian some weeks ago, and that's not enough incentive. Life is short. On to other shows! I've heard great things about The Bletchley Circle.

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Prometheus vid rec: Paradise (Comes At A Prize). Excellent vid focusing on Elizabeth Shaw, David, Holloway, Wayland and the creators. Creepiness, messed up family and created-creators relationships and assorted imagery abounds.

Five characters who should quit their jobs (and why).


1.) Severus Snape (Harry Potter). During the time canon was still open, of course. Let’s face it, Snape was a fascinating character but a really horrible teacher, even if you discount anything to do with Harry. The two most glaring proofs about Snape’s unsuitability as a teacher that come to mind are that he managed to terrorize Neville Longbottom so much that he, not, say, Bellatrix Lestrange who drove Neville’s parents insane, became Neville’s greatest fear, and that, as opposed to a certain fanfic subgenre, he treated an eager student like Hermione with contempt, best summed up in his reaction to the time when her teeth were bespelled into growing to gigantic proportions. Instead of helping her, he said “I can’t see any difference”. Basically, Snape and the students made each other miserable through the years, and yes, that was also Dumbledore’s fault for keeping him in this job instead of, say, giving him the magical equivalent of an university scholarship (Snape was brilliant at potions, no question, and would have thrived at only having to do research instead of teaching). But Snape was an adult, and really: he should have quit his job.

2.) Deb’s psychiatrist whose name I refuse to remember (Dexter): worst. Therapist. Ever. If you watched the horror that was season 6, you know what I mean. There is no excuse. After what she told Deb, she should never be allowed to treat another patient again.

3.) Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad). His current job is being a drug manufacturer and dealer, at which he’s grown ever more efficient in the course of the show, so quitting it is in the general interest, but it’s also in Jesse’s. As opposed to the show’s main character, it’s not yet too late for him and he still has something of a conscience, so quitting, while extremely unlikely right now, isn’t impossible. Here’s hoping.

4.) John Sheridan (Babylon 5). Good war commanders do not necessarily make good political leaders in peace time (or what passes for peace time at a galactic saga). Sheridan proved in the fifth season of B5 he was a case in point, even if his wife and his author think otherwise. By quitting, he would not only make room for a more capable president but also minimize his opportunities to play tasteless pranks on reporters with the misfortune of interviewing him, so that would be another plus.

5.) Thomas (Downton Abbey). I say this against my own viewing interest, because in the second season, O’Brien and Thomas became my favourite characters by virtue of not making me think “off with their heads” and “this isn’t romance, buddy, it’s stalking” respectively, and also for gaining layers in regards to s1 as opposed to losing them. Still. Instead of serving as another illustration of What Happens To The Lower Classes If They Forget Their Place And Want More Without Asking The Upper Classes For Support First, Thomas should quit his job and write a biting satiric novel, or become an impresario. He’s got business skills, scheming talent, organization talent, an acid tongue and a surpressed and only sometimes emerging romantic streak. He and Tin Pan Alley in the 1920s are practically made for each other.

In which I have at last a favourite character whom I'm rooting for, because Julian Fellowes inadvertendly manages to push every dormant Jacobin bone in my body with his writing for this season. (Note: the season, not the Christmas special, which wasn't on the dvds, so I haven't seen it.)

( A working class hero is something to be... )