A Mighty Fine Life

So I felt quite a bit better Sunday and Monday, and then Tuesday woke up with an incredibly sore throat and started having coughing fits. Came home early from work, stayed home today, and have been "working from home" which means "sitting on the couch watching TV" (and occasionally coding stuff for work, but they've only contacted me, like... twice all day).

Flipping channels led to me watching Catch That Kid on Disney XD, because it stars bitty Corbin. (Also bitty Kristen Stewart.) So it's extremely bad, but there's this love triangle subplot where Corbin and the Other Dude are both in love with K-Stew (even though they're, like... 13?) and refuse to help her rob the bank to save her father (the "plot," as it were) until she decides which one of them she wants to date. So she gives them each half of an "I love you" heart necklace and tells each one not to tell the other. Hijinks ensue, etc etc, and anyway, it turns out, Corbin has always come across as wicked gay on screen. It was mildly disconcerting. He was a baby.

(Well, 14 if my math is right, but he looks super duper younger than that.)

Also in the last scene of the movie, K-Stew makes the boys turn around while she tries to decide which one of them to go out with, and then she runs away and leaves them discussing how they'll always be best friends, no matter what.

I really need to not slash Disney movies quite so hard. Speaking of which... *cough*

And now I may go back to bed. WHY AM I STILL SICK? Blehhhh.

- I always forget how much more I like HSM fanon than the actual canon, at least with the third movie. I love the dance sequences, and a handful of other scenes, but aaaaugh, the plot (well, "plot") still infuriates me, horrible new kids infuriate me, and nothing makes any freaking sense. I mean, I know that, but I always forget just how terrible it all actually is until I'm actively watching it, and afterwards I feel like, "Nah, couldn't have been that bad..."

- I never noticed this particular exchange before:
Gabi: "Hey, Tay."
Tay: "Hey, Sunshine." (smiles and giggles)
Huh. And usually I think it's Kelsi whose most in love with Gabriella...

- I will say this for the movie; it's the only one of the three where the actual canon makes me ship Chad/Taylor. (I mean, he's in love with Troy and sometimes Ryan; she's too busy for his nonsense and also apparently has a crush on Gabi, but every interaction between Chad and Taylor is adorable, even when they don't make any sense.)

- ETA: Zeke an Jason are totally right behind Troy and Chad when they grab Horrible New Kids' clothes, and walk off in the other direction, already in the crowd dancing with Ryan when he's doing his Fosse Yoga Thing before they run in. Okiedokie. (Also, I kind of love Chad and Troy being total dicks right there. Actually having personalities ftw!)

- AHAHAHAHA, RAINING CGI BASKETBALLS IS STILL THE FUNNIEST THING EVER EVER EVER. You know what, "Scream" is too magical not to share. Whether you've seen any of HSM or not, you really should watch this. No, seriously. WATCH IT.



- AND THEN CHAD TRIES TO COMFORT TROY. By kneeling in front of his bed. And trying to convince him to break up with his girlfriend. BE GAYER, CHAD. WAIT, YOU CAN'T.

- AUGH HORRIBLE NEW KID, DIE IN A FIRE

ETA 2: I'm SURE Disney did something like this, but did we ever discuss their yearbook superlatives? These seem obvious to me:
- Best Hair: Chad
- Most Likely to Succeed: Taylor
- Most Musical: Kelsi
- Most Dramatic: Ryan and Sharpay
- Cutest Couple: Troy and Gabi

But there is room for debate. And what about Zeke, Martha, and Jason? Thoughts? Opinions? Anyone?

(For the record, I was Most Likly To Succeed in 12th grade, because our editors forgot to spellcheck.)

+ People like my bigbang fic! \o/ Because I am far too involved in my own creations, if you managed to slog through all 47k of it, feel free to ask me questions about the universe or whatever. I will send you lots and lots of babble about it. :D

+ AND ALSO, Lucas was twittering about super powers in the last couple of days. I MAY HAVE SQUEAKED.

+ Speaking of bigbang, roseclaw's fic is up! Usurping Oberon, in which Chad is King of the Evil Fairies. It is AMAZING.

+ Drew Seeley is starring in a Hallmark Movie, y'all. About being a teenage dad. For serious:

Freshman Father is based on a true story about a young man (Seeley) whose high school sweetheart becomes pregnant and accompanies him to Harvard. When she gives up and goes home, he has to juggle school and all the challenges of being the single parent of a newborn. The movie will premiere on Hallmark in 2010.

HEEHEEHEEHEEHEE.

+ BASEBALL. Last night's lose was just stupid. But I had originally predicted Yanks in 6 due to a loss from Andy and an AJ implosion, so if they win tomorrow (knock on wood) I'll be correct! THEY HAD BETTER WIN.

+ My mom is visiting for the weekend! She says hi. :)

+ AUGH, WORK. That is all. I'm sure you understand.

After months of work and whining, my fic for hsmbigbang is posted, so, you know... *cough* (Come onnnn, super heroes! Troy is orange! Gabriella giggles a lot but can totally fuck you up! Sharpay is a sexy supervillainess! Zeke bakes, and can also totally fuck you up! Chad and Ryan banter and roll around on the floor! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO READ IT. Okay, I'm done. )

But! Speaking of bigbang fics! If you are looking for some lengthy, fanastic things to read, might I recommend Unforgettable by bribitribbit, a futurefic in which Chad and Ryan run into each other ten years after Ryan broke Chad's heart (warning: smut); and All the Wasted Time by few, an AU of Ryan's senior year that, uh, makes way more sense than the actual third movie? The fandom has been pretty quiet lately, fic-wise, so the influx of reading material is faaaantastic.

I bought a wrench and fixed a table today. I also spilled dishsoap allll down my front. Like, giant streaks of it, which just bubbled when I tried to walk them off. On the upside, I smell delicious.

Let's go Yaaaankees...

MAH ICONS.

default	oldest	newest
saddest	happiest	angriest
cutest	sexiest	funniest
fave ship	fave fandom	fave animated
best quote	best textless	best stolen idea
use the most	favorite

HOW MANY ICONS DO YOU HAVE: 52
OUT OF HOW MANY AVAILABLE ICONS SPACES: 54
IF YOU COULD BUY SPACE FOR MORE, WOULD YOU: Depends on how much disposable cash I have, I guess. It's not exactly a priority.
DO YOUR ICONS MAKE A STATEMENT: "I love homoerotic Disney movies," if that counts.
WHAT FANDOM DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: Newsies
AND THE SECOND MOST: High School Musical -- this has more if you include pics that are just of Corbin
WHAT SHIP DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: Tie! 3 Blink/Mush; 3 Chad/Ryan
ARE YOUR ICONS MADE MOSTLY BY OTHER PEOPLE: Mostly, yeah
DO YOU MAKE ICONS: Occasionally
ARE THEY ANY GOOD: Very few of them
ANIMATED ICONS ARE: Fine if they're very funny or very subtle.

DO THE MEME.
Coding can be found here

Had to fiddle around with that a bit; that's actually my second-newest icon, for example, since my newest was also my sexiest (and I don't really have a lot of sexy icons).

In unrelated news, I possibly spent a lot of time watching videos of Drew Seeley being ADORABLE (as he does). Important for you all to know: when asked how HSM would be different if Troy was a vampire, he said they'd have to call it High Ghoul Musical instead. OMG I LOVE HIM. (I hate puns, but I love people who make puns. IDK, it's complicated.)

queenitsy: Will you disown me if I do a ridiculous Drew Seeley picspam post?
harriet_vane: I've been expecting it for at least 24 hours. You went from "He has a big square head" to "ZOMG I LOVE HIM" awfully fast.

( He *does* have a big square head. A HANDSOME big square head. )



(I will return to sanity soon. Probably. WHATEVER, I LOVE HIM.)

I have red-eye. Lucas is cute! (Jen went to take the picture and he and I turned opposite directions to pose, somehow; I ended up turning in a full circle. Him: "Nice spin." Me: "At least I didn't fall down!" Him: "Then it's a win!" Me, mentally: Lucas Grabeel just made fun of me and it was awesome.)


ZOMG, how cute is Drew Seeley's smile?

Also: the review. They're so talented and also adorable; I really wish it had been better.

So I went to the I Kissed A Vampire premier event.

You guys.

It was bad. Really, really bad.

Like, I had been expecting something terrible but ludicrous and fun, and instead it was just terrible. I mean, I guess it was reasonably entertaining; I wasn't bored. But... yeah. I will write an actual post about it for tween_wasteland in the next couple of days, but basically: the only reason to download this is to support Lucas Grabeel and Drew Seeley's careers, because otherwise? Not worth paying for. And I feel bad saying that, I do, because I think everyone knows that I love those boys. (Well, everyone knows I love Lucas; my love for Drew Seeley is a more recent thing.)

Basically, two things were clear: they had fun putting it together, and also no one put any actual thought or effort into the process. The songs were well-sung (...duh), but instantly forgettable (except for one, which was dreadful). The acting was... Passable, I guess? Drew Seeley was actually genuinely hilarious, I give it that (but he's basically only in parts 2 and 3), but even Lucas couldn't quite pull this thing off. Adrian Slade, same deal; pretty nice voice, not a great actor, and as The Girl, she did not actually do anything. (At least Drew got to wear leather and lick a guitar, and Lucas briefly had some guyliner and writhed on a bed. And also there was a whole dance number about groping him. But that was the really dreadful song.)

On the upside: I got to meet Drew Seeley and Lucas Grabeel! And by "meet" I mean "say hi to and pose for a picture with." Said pictures are on harmonyangel's camera, though, so I don't have them yet. I will post them when I have them!

But basically, yeah. I didn't exactly go into it with high hopes, but even Lucas's talent was not enough to save this thing. It really was that bad.

(ETA: But I do want to stress that both Lucas and Drew were really nice during the 5 or 6 seconds of contact I had with them! They were also both adorable with the tiny fans, especially Drew. Like, epically adorable. I might have a little crush now. And by "little" I mean "I actualfacts ♥ Drew Seeley.")

So I guess sometimes I don't actually post for a couple of weeks at a time. Whoops? But fun and exciting things have been happening lately. By which I mean...

+ VACATION, WOO! I treated myself to one! On Thursday I flew down to Georgia to visit second_batgirl and spent a long weekend with her. It was, as you can imagine, awesome. Mostly we just hung out, but we did also go visit the World of Coke. It was ridicumazing. I bought an adorable tiny keychain with a smiling Coke bottle on it. (This should surprise no one. COKE MAKES ME SMILE, OKAY?)

+ BASEBALL! So how 'bout them Yankees, huh?

+ FANDOM! hsmbigbang began posting today, hooray! And a few days ago, I received the mix for my fic and it is brilliant. ♥

+ WRITING! I've been doing some. It's pretty cool. Hopefully I will have a revised manuscript by the end of the year. We shall see, anyway.

+ READING! Been doing that, too! Justine Larbalestier's "Liar" is fantastic, you guys. It is a psychological thriller, which in this case mostly means "total mindfuck."

+ HEAT! They turned it on in my building last night. This is exciting, because I haaaaaaate being cold. Even if the radiator is ungodly loud and rattly; I'll take that over being cold any day. (It also makes the air very, very dry; I have a bowl of water sitting right next to it tonight to hopefully help combat that until I can get a proper humidifier.)

+ FANDOM AGAIN! So, uh, I think I'm going to the premier of I Kissed a Vampire tomorrow, because it's free, and, y'know, Lucas Grabeel will be there. So it seems like the sort of thing I should go to. (I missed the premier of Free Style with Corbin while I was in Georgia, alas. But hey, HSM boys, if you want to keep hosting free events in NY, be my guest!)

YOU GUYS. YOU GUYS.

DAVID MOSCOW IS IN AN UPCOMING MOVIE. WITH LUKE EDWARDS. BASED ON THE BEATLES.

( !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )
Movie info is over here and it's worth it to go look at the (non-embeddable, wtf) trailer, if only so you can see D-Mos in the world's least convincing moptop wig.

ETA: Meme! Ask me a fandom, and I will tell you:

+ OTP
+ Runner-up
+ Honorable mention(s)
+ Crack pairing(s)
+ Ship everyone else seems to like, but I don't

I did something last night I haven't in quite awhile: I stayed up until 1 AM writing Newsies fic. Possibly because a deadline was involved. I was going to write something sort of meta about how prompts don't really work for me at all as a way to inspire writing, but then I ran across this meme from roseclaw and decided to post that instead.

The Hypothetical AU Meme: Take any one of the fandoms you know I write in (or think I should), and give me a type of AU (space opera AU, pirate AU, superhero AU, Ancient Rome, etc). I will then explain what story from your chosen fandom I would write for your chosen type of AU.

1) Sign ups for Secret Slash at the Refuge! Obviously totally important.

2) Daria is finally coming out on DVD! Not until next year, but still! Hooray!

3) There is no three, I lied.

The end. No, I lied again. ETA: Meme from falco_conlon. Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you.

( My words: Newsies, The Refuge, HSM, Slash, Sprace )

So I don't know if you're all following the amazing Sims 2 + Newsies thread at The Refuge... But you should be. The always-fabulous ldhenson has created some frankly amazing Newsies Sims and has been sharing them with us. With her permission, here are some highlights. :D



( Recently, on All My Newsboys... (super duper image heavy) )

I was at work for ten and a half hours today.

I think the less said about that, the better.

Unrelated: my project for the last few days has been moving and organizing my delicious bookmarks, so that fannish things aren't under an account name that my coworkers could potentially run across. So, I did that.

If you are for some reason interested in perusing a massive list of HSM (and a less massive list of Newsies) fics I enjoyed enough to want to reread (the closes to a recs list I've got), it's over here.

Possibly it's especially useful if you're looking for pr0n.

This just happened in my head:

"Hey... Wait a second, Troy's dad (Jack?) and Ryan's dad (Vance?) are both referred to as U of A alumns... What if they went to college together? What if they were sekrit lovers? WAIT! Vance totally left Jack for Derby! Spurned and bitter, Jack married his horrible wife and eventually had Troy. He thought Vance was out of his life forever when the Evanses moved to Rhode Island, but many years later they came back with kids, and THAT'S the real reason he doesn't want Troy doing drama in the first movie. HE DOESN'T WANT TROY TO BEFRIEND THE EVANSES BECAUSE HE WAS THEIR DAD'S GAY LOVER."

And now brb, must go clorox my brain.

ZOMG I JUST MET DAVID MOSCOW.

Kind of. Accidentally.

ZOMG I HELD A DOOR FOR DAVID MOSCOW.

I was leaving work, and as I exited the building I paused to hold the door for the dude behind me, who looked passingly familiar but I didn't process why. He said, "Thanks," and went back to talking to the woman he was with; I believe what he said was, "It got cooooold," and that was what tipped me off to who it was was, because he sounds just like, you know...himself.

By that point he was too far away for me to say hi too without yelling or chasing him like a lunatic (and I do not do well with famous -- errrr, "famous" -- people. I met the bassist from my favorite band in 12th grade, and actually literally forgot my name when he offered to sign my ticket).

BUT STILL. I sort of met David! :D :D :D

(This is my only icon with D-mos actually in it, somehow. FAIL, SELF.)

A meme! From harmonyangel: Leave a comment asking me for commentary on any of my fics (or at least a chapter therein, 'cause damn, some of my fics are long). I will provide it! (Probably over at my writing journal.) Fun times. My Newsies fic is scattered about, but can mostly be found here; my master list of HSM fic is here.

Oh: regarding the last post... Heeheehee. Yes. $3 margaritas are very good things. \o/

Today is my six-year fandomversary in the Newsies fandom. More or less.

It's actually the sixth anniversary of me posting my very first fic on FFnet, though I'd been lurking around for a few months at that point. Y'see, my sister was living in Japan at the time, and she sent me the movie as a gag gift for Chanukah -- a wacky, "Hey, remember how we used to have every line of this movie memorized and would sing the songs in the car? Ha ha, it's on DVD now, lol" present. (Very specific, I know.) So I watched it. And then I watched it again that same night. And then I went in search of fic.

Rachel, presumably, did not intend to give me a gag gift to Change My Life. And it sounds corny to put it that way. But it's more or less true. Consider:

Were it not for fandom, I would not know several of my closest friends. harmonyangel was the first person from the internet I ever met IRL, back in junior year of college. Shortly thereafter, I met poisonivory through the drabble community; we met IRL that summer. My life would not be the same place without my Lohrists. ♥ (And while I obviously didn't meet second_batgirl through fandom, since we met in college, that was a huge part of what we bonded over when we first became friends.) And those are just people who I now hang out with offline -- a huge percentage of my friends list is fandom-based, and "friends" is the operative word there. You all make my life a better place, and were it not for my love of a silly but wonderful movie, I wouldn't know you.

There's more, too. You know that writing thing I do a lot? Hi, thanks fandom. :) I mean, yes, I've always written a lot, even in my pre-fandom days. (And between-fandom. My first fandom was actually Sailor Moon, back in middle school. Heh.) But it was very much the Newsies fandom where I've grown up as a writer, like, a lot. Maybe natural over the course of six years, but if it weren't for the amazing community and the encouragement... It makes a big difference. And I'm so proud of the writing I've done in fandom. "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" is 350 pages long, and it took four years, but it's the best thing I've ever written -- and the way my writing improved is definitely clear throughout. Even a year and a half after finishing, I pretty much glow with pride when I think about the last few chapters. (I managed to pull loose threads together into a coherent ending! I didn't know I could do that!)

It's a small fandom, and not one most people stay in for an extended period of time. (Fair enough: it's a closed, short canon.) I've seen lots of people come and go, and there are a lot of people I miss. And I've definitely been more out than in at times. But it's always been there for me, and I always come back to it. At some point, I think I described it as feeling like I was One True Fandom? I think so.

So here's to another six, and many happy returns. ♥

( #3: All Through the Night by Suzanne Brockmann (reread) )

Answers to the OTP meme!

1. Matching outfits for him and him: Blink/Mush from Newsies, guessed by harmonyangel, clio21000, and poisonivory (and probably also everyone who read it and didn't bother to comment). This was pretty clear, because for one thing, it was the title of the Blink/Mush manifesto I wrote. It's a reference to the last few scenes of Newsies, where the boys are wearing almost identical outfits, but Blink is in pink and Mush is in blue. This is also what they're wearing when Blink casually pats Mush on the tummy as he walks bye. 'Cause THAT'S a typical platonic gesture between two dudes, right.

2. One night to last a lifetime: Sarah Connor/Kyle Reese from Terminator. I'm not shocked no one guessed it, since it's one of the ones that isn't really a fandom of mine, per se, but I loooooove them. In the last scene of the movie, when recording a letter to John, Sarah says something along the lines of, "It may comfort you to know that while we only had one night together, we loved enough for a lifetime."

3. Pitcher/catcher: Chad/Ryan from HSM, harmonyangel, clio21000, and poisonivory. Obviously a reference to the Big Gay Baseball Dance Off. I know, I know, technically they both pitch during the dance number, but who can resist using baseball as a metaphor for gay sex? NOT ME! Besides which, I know I'm in the vast minority in the fandom, but I generally do write with the assumption that Ryan is pitching and Chad is catching. So to speak.

4. "Who's on top?" "Whichever one the blond wants to be.": Miguel/Tulio from The Road to El Dorado. This one is a bit in-joke-y, but basically, Leah and I were watching in our mod senior year, and our housemate Sam came in to watch with us. And commented, basically, "Usually I think you two are reading into things when you think everyone is gay, but WOW. They're in love." And when asked who would be on top, that was his answer.

5. (Almost) primary colors: Will/Warren/Layla from Sky High, guessed by poisonivory. The costuming in that movie is fantastic, especially the color coding of all the characters. Will is blue and Warren is red. Layla is green, unfortunately, not yellow. Otherwise they would be primary colors! (Also, I wrote a ficlet about that.)

6. At one point, they were locked in a closet together. In schoolgirl uniforms.: London/Maddie from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, guessed by poisonivory. Because, you know... at one point, they got locked in a closet together, while wearing schoolgirl uniforms. And then climbed all over each other trying to reach a ceiling vent or something to get out. They are really pretty much in love.

7. Fanon. Awesome, but fanon. No, srsly.: Spot/Race from Newsies, guessed by harmonyangel, clio21000, and poisonivory. Because, while an awesome and super-popular pairing, like I said. Spot/Race is entirely fanon. But still awesome!

8. "Anna Banana would like to hear 'Venus' by Bananarama. Banana.": Shawn/Gus from Psych, guessed by ienablu, poisonivory, and hilaryscribbles. What I really wanted was to post one of the awesome fake names Shawn gave Gus, but I couldn't think of any (except Magic Head). So instead I went with the line that got me hooked on the show.

9. Inconsistent accent/no accent except for one line!: Jack/David from Newsies, guessed by harmonyangel and poisonivory. Because Newsies was filmed well before Christian Bale learned how to actually do and hold an American accent, and so it's hilarious to listen to how many times he slips up. And because David doesn't have an accent at all, except for that one line in King of New York.

10. "I'm nice men.": Han/Leia from Star Wars, guessed by poisonivory. My all time favorite screen couple. YEAH.

11. Sex. In. The limo.: Jules/Robin from Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooters series (see the review at the top of the entry!), guessed by poisonivory. Because omg I LOVE THEM and yes, the first time they get it on is in the back of a limo. AND IT IS AMAZING.

12. They should both wear leather pants. Always.: Jon/Aeryn from Farscape. BECAUSE IT'S TRUE.

13. No one loves them. But they love each other!: Jackson/Cody from Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody respectively, guessed by poisonivory. What, you mean a cracky crossover pairing I've rarely ever discussed wasn't completely obvious?! Pshaw.

14. Passion fruit.: As implied by the footnote, there was no way for anyone by poisonivory to guess this one, since it's a joke from a scene that hasn't been written, about a pairing that doesn't actually happen, in a book we're cowriting. But trust me. It's hilarious!

- Pick up to 15 OTPs.
- Describe them in less than 15 words.
- Have your flist guess the OTP.
- PROFIT.

1. Matching outfits for him and him
2. One night to last a lifetime
3. Pitcher/catcher
4. "Who's on top?" "Whichever one the blond wants to be."
5. (Almost) primary colors
6. At one point, they were locked in a closet together. In schoolgirl uniforms.
7. Fanon. Awesome, but fanon. No, srsly.
8. "Anna Banana would like to hear 'Venus' by Bananarama. Banana."
9. Inconsistent accent/no accent except for one line!
10. "I'm nice men."
11. Sex. In. The limo.
12. They should both wear leather pants. Always.
13. No one loves them. But they love each other!
14. Passion fruit.*

[One fandom has multiple pairings there, and I wouldn't normally consider a lot of these my OTPs, just couples I really like; and also, I'm not in this many fandoms, so some of these are just things I like a lot but would never write. *shrug*]
*Apologies to people who aren't Jess.

And why the hell not? WIP meme.

( Chad/Ryan, frat!verse, maybe being written for SOMEONE'S birthday this weekend... )

( Chad/Ryan, future fic )

( Ortegaverse crossover (Chad/Ryan, Jack/David, Ryan/David. DON'T ASK.) )

( Newsies, G&D curtainfic )

( EYDW!Verse's next story arch )

In utterly unrelated news, I have a four-day weekend! Sat/Sun, holiday, and then inauguration day -- our company HQ is in DC, they can't get to the building because of the inauguration, so the whole company gets an extra day of PTO. Obama is making my life better before he's even sworn in!