The Quill Point

Okay, I've been dead on LJ. This is because I've been feeling very guilty, as I have been spending time getting addicted to PC solitaire and Gaia Pinball, plus writing a load of shite that will rot on my hard drive forever, rather than doing anything particularly productive.

Note to self: never promise reviewers that you'll get chapters up 'in the next two weeks', as two months later you know you'll have done absolutely nothing about it. It's not worth the apologetic author notes. This is also known as 'ah, crap, I have written myself into such a state', which probably shows how bad a writer I am... and there I go again. With this attitude, I'll never post anything ever again, will I?

Anyway, why was I posting? Ah, yes. Found this on MSN: Marvel Production Company!. This made me very excited, especially the list of movies supposedly coming out. I haven't seen Iron Man yet, though all reports are good. I suppose it's partly lack of time and the fact that the local cinema is far, far away. Civil War took Tony Stark from my good books anyway.

Ahem.

Also, this gives me slightly more hope for Marvel movies in future. Because they're in the company's hands, hopefully they won't go the same way as X-Men 3 Spiderman 3 and the Ang Lee Hulk film, all of which (IMHO) were a load of rubbish. If they have (good) comic writers penning movie scripts, hope may not be lost for the whole franchise yet.

Yeah... you'll probably hear from me again around mid-June, when all my exams are over (my first two are tomorrow, joys of joys). See ya, guys!

Ah. For anyone who's even mildly interested, I'm on my third or fourth draft of my next HSE fic chapter. It'll be up when I get the time to write something I like enough, and the first scene of said chapter is basically down.

Anyway, fic, unfinished projects and so on aside, I'm here to sing the praises of Lush, a cosmetics company I get stuff from to try and clear my ever so spotty complexion. I mail ordered a product on Sunday and it came through today, in a little box on my front drive. I opened it, expecting the usual polystyrene chippings or the plastic that's normally used for packaging... to find popcorn instead! Talk about a company living up to its social responsibility. Genius! Had to love it.

I can now go about my normal business and feel absolutely conscience-free about the environment for a while, which is always a plus.

Scorpi, my lovely, I'm only doing this because you told me to.

(Fandom note: no, nothing has gone anywhere. French coursework has beautifully obstructed every plan I had of doing anything. HSE#godknowswhat will be produced in the next week, hopefully.)

Well, a pointless meme that I'm sure no one could give a shit about. I told myself that memes are only a stupid waste of time and I would never participate, but that apparently got shot to hell, didn't it?

( One stupid, pointless meme. )

It's all there if anyone honestly can be arsed to look through it. There was the last bit recommending people to take it, but it's late now so it's there if anyone wants it.

Ach. Christmas holidays spent doing maths revision =/= no fanfic finished at all. Diddly squat. I've got jackks bugging me to handle a Grim Fandango plot bunny, but I'm getting guilt trips because I started HSE over a year ago and I still haven't finished the bloody thing yet (nowhere near ending it, either, which could be a cause for celebration or a hearty groan, depending on your viewpoint).

( Spoilers: UXM#89; Ookay... )

Right, random Happy Christmas message, though it does have some kind of point.

I managed to stop procrastinating an icon making session, which can be seen in my current userpic (whoo! I actually have another one!), because I needed a J. Marsden one and felt I'd found the perfect image. Bebo had a big thing going on with Enchanted; there's another screencap I can probably gank later to manipulate into some semblance of goodness.

It's there for the taking, if anyone wants it, which is highly unlikely.

Otherwise, happy holidays (as not everyone celebrates Christmas) and I'll hopefully get the Cyclops bear finished this holiday between Maths and IT work.

I should not be on the net. I should be revising for the Maths exam I'll have after the holidays. Never mind.

( Note to self: )
Getting distracted by God-knows-what isn't good for me.

Oh, while I'm here, happy holidays to anyone who's reading.

Nope, this is not a 'I've done all this (insert rubbish here)' moment. No, it is not. However, I have just returned from the cinema, and have worked out exactly what is wrong with 'Enchanted'.

Mind you, I didn't go and see the actual film, just watched clip after clip after clip of it, and stared at all the pretty posters of James Marsden festooned all over the walls... ahem.

The concept of Enchanted is good, and the animation looks sumptuous (really; cartoon!James looks just as good as his irl counterpart). I've realised the problem, and that's the media they're using compared to the script.

Animation has to be blown out of proportion: the voice acting has to be overdone to work, and the writing has to be exaggerated; all bells and whistles are attached because to make animation work, everything has to be slightly... well... larger in scale to look good. It's not a subtle medium; if you underplay it, whether traditional Disney work or CGI films, the product comes out flat and generally crap.

Now, the scriptwriters have managed that fairly well, from what I've seen. All well and good. However, the exaggeration has been carried across to the actual film section, and that's the problem. This was, of course, intentional; to carry of the film across the two medias, those from fairytale world need to be overly energetic and costumed in God-knows-what. That's not to say it works. There are scenes I've seen which are so overly acted they're painful to watch. If they had, maybe, been slightly more subtle with some of their contrasts, it might have been easier on the eye.

I might go and see the film anyway despite the complete cringiness, complete with animatronic squirrel and everything else they could throw in for the schmaltz-factor. Mind you, it's unlikely. Ah, well; we'll see what the critics say. I don't think it looks promising.

Yes, a squee post. This is not unusual for me, I know, as I am atrocious at such things, plus the whole fixation on a guy who's probably twice my age and is happily married with a son... I shouldn't know that, should I?

Never mind. Hairspray is the only film in around three months I haven't had to run from the sofa cringing in the middle, and that, for me, is saying something. I was expecting a lot, and I wasn't disappointed; the cast were all brilliant, newcomers or High School Musical... things (they don't count as people), and I believe it takes an awful lot of guts to shake your ass on camera when dressed up as a woman in a fat suit; go John Travolta!

The book was very good, too; amusing lyrics and script. Since I'm embroiled in the trollop that is The Boyfriend at the minute (a 20's musical which requires a French accent on my part), everything compares favourably, and though it wasn't jaw-crackingly funny like Avenue Q it had a good dose of laughs that brought up the mood of something that could have easily become very slushy and sentimental with an overbearing moral, which was just about avoided.

Mind you, didn't James Marsden look sexy in that purple suit? ^^ I didn't know what to expect with his character, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I loved the lyrics to 'Hairspray'; Corny Collins is an arrogant bastard indeed. In fact, I was only there for his part originally, but highly enjoyed the whole extravaganza, though I noticed how songs deviated from the soundtrack.

Other observations... oh, I did a double take when Tracy descended with her black and white number, but it wasn't her dress, it was her hair. I thought of Movie!Rogue straight away, and ended up in a fit of the giggles. Whoops.

I'd usually go looking for fanfiction at this point, but I've decided I'm not going to mash my brain either by reading or writing for the fandom. Well, I could write it and then leave it on my computer to rot, like 99% of everything I do, but we'll see.

I'll get RL stuffs over first, I think. Minor things like GCSE mock exams come first, sadly (why, oh why did they move them forward two weeks for all of three people? Why?)

Ook. I haven't updated in a while. Forgive me while I squee briefly...

I'm going to see Avenue Q again this Saturday! Yay for puppet sex, schadenfreude and general lulz!

...

Ahem.

Otherwise, I have become hooked on Jimmy Marsden's song on the back of the SJP perfume advert. Whoops. It got to the point where I've downloaded the actual video off Youtube and then proceeded to attempt to convert it without the picture into a music file, because I prefer the audio to the video (I agree wholeheartedly with Frankie Boyle when he described her as 'either a very ugly woman or a very beautiful seahorse', which is harsh but I can see his point, in a way).

I've so far failed, though I'm still working on the issue. If it works, then I'll upload it somewhere for anyone who wants it, because it might be of interest.

Oh, and NaNo WriMo word count: doing very well at 19K or so. Today, I should be at... 20K, but I've got the rest of the evening to work on that issue: only another 700 words or less. Plus, as of yet, no filler! Yay!

(Note that at this point last year I was writing X-Men fanfiction and slotting it in at opportune moments. I've got better at writing at length now, I think).

Well, this must seem a rather mundane reasion to post. Mneh.

( Cut for picture and a longer explanation of why I spent my morning sewing a visor for a teddy bear... )

I'm heading up to London tomorrow. I, and a group of friends, will be going to the MGM London Expo, so manga, Marvel and madness galore! Yay!

There are at least two old X-Men writers there too, which amuses me much. As well as Eoin Colfer, Christopher Lee and several other Heroes (pfft- X-Men rip off) stars.

In other words, I'm flipping well excited. Except for the fact that I'll be getting up at 5:30 tomorrow, to dress up rather extravagantly (well, you can count a maroon tailored dress coat, with all black and three inch heels boots as extravagant, I'm sure) and spend the rest of the day fangirling shamelessly.

I'm informed that you can get Cyclops teddy bears. If I can get hold of one, I'll have to post a pic for everyone's amusement.

...

Does this make me a proper nerd? Not that I wasn't there already, mind you.

Well, any fic I could be writing is going nowhere because I'm bogged down in work and crying over inequalities-- yes, I do mean that. It's pathetic, I know.

At the same time, though, jackks (or Scorpicus; anyone remember her Grim Fandango fic 'Murder at Vertigo's Tower'?) has started a forum which is basically self glorification with the 'I-ban-you' game on the side. It's addictive xD. It concerns all her Final Fantasy short films, because that's what she's into at the minute, with YouTube and so on. That means Final Fantasy 7 discussion, which I fail at because I haven't got at all far in the game yet, and although I've watched Advent Children, it's more criticism than discussion on that front.

But still, I reckon the girl's deluded. Why make someone who has little to no clue on Final Fantasy a moderator? The great thing is that literacy is enforced (ha ha! Grammar nazi-ing FTW) and it's a nice userbase that's online; around 50, many of whom aren't active. Not that hard, but still.

The little time I get to do anything on the site means that the power hasn't gone to my head, which is good. No self esteem plus arrogance =/= a good thing. However, it also means less time to do other, pointless things, like plan for NaNoWriMo, which I'm in the midst of.

November will be a month of little to no productiveness, but there we go.

Ugh. I've got a day off, and I'm going to end up spending the entire of it editing a script that reads like a horribly contrived high school AU fanfic, complete with melodrama, meaningless angst and lines that are so stilted and formal no one would be able to say them in real life.

Then again, at least I did manage to persuade the head writer that, after a month of verbal bullying, a girl who previously was very self confident wouldn't be throwing herself in front of a train to 'stop the pain', considering that there are only 15-25 reported suicides a year attributed to the issue-- that's not melodrama, that's hysteria. I'd like to report proudly that my writing's nothing like that, but I'd probably be lying. 'You're thinking too much of our target audience and not of the entertainment factor' =/= a valid argument when the piece of string just about suspending disbelief can't take it anymore.

Now, to try and make the blasted thing fit its target audience (that being, quite possibly, a group of educational psychologists) rather than teenagers, and therefore feel perfectly justified as I slash some of the more vulgar innuendo that's completely unneeded, though entirely intended by the writers.

Oh, God, why did I even agree to this?

Well, got my Ultimate X-Men comic through the post this morning (yay, subscription!), and I've just finished reading through for the first time.

(Not to worry, no spoilers!)

Anyway, I'm just going to nitpick: is mesh (and it's not even that tight-knitted) appropriate for fighting in? I mean, Storm's in battle wearing what acquaints to basically a bra and string- not the most practical of things, because it wouldn't protect her skin at all- plus (from personal experience) if she gets caught on something, it's going to be hell to detach herself without breaking a piece of the material. Then again, I suppose this is a comic, so disbelief should be suspended somewhat.

Eh. I'm awful with picking out the most minor things, I suppose. Having grown up with the movies, where they're up to their necks in leather, no doubt with flak layers inside, skimpy latex just seems very, very impractical.

On that note, can Kirkman please increase the average 1-page per comic of Cyclops he's had in the last couple of months? The poor guy's been abandoned again, bless him.

(Ooh, that reminds me, time to get off my behind and post something... holiday = a lot of fic got written).

Aww, hell. Exam results today, oh the joys.

I took my Maths and Science a year early, so I now have to go and get an envelope telling me whether I've failed in life or not. In theory, I shouldn't have done, because if I was going to get a 'D' they wouldn't have put me in the 'accelerated' maths group.

Mind you, that's theory.

Oh, yeah- I'm going on holiday for a couple of weeks on Saturday. Actually, I'm going on holiday and will be helping my writing at the same time, because I'm going to Florida (ahhhh- heat and alligators! Save me!). In theory, I'll be immersed in the American vernacular, learn just what they have and don't have compared to us (apparently, US tea is atrocious, but we'll see- I have an idea for something narrated by Xavier, who in movie mode is very, very English), and whether I can avoid jet lag on the way there and the way back, which should be fun.

Oh, bugger it. I'll report back later on results, if they're any good.

Ubertastic edit of goodness and wonder: Exam results are good! Yay!

Well, I count A for Maths and A* for Science better than good, but y'know...

Ohnoes! Our Grim Fandango copy has dieded!

This is depressing- the game lasted a long time, and had a full and happy life, always being played with, referred to or quoted (jeez, that sounds like an epitaph).

Nonetheless, when one has a Grim Fandango multichaptered (not long, mind you) plot bunny which needs certain people to refer to the cut scenes to work out a couple of things, one does not need one's copy (and this is both discs, mind you) to kick the bucket and join the choir invisible. Buggerations on a stick.

Ach. Plot discussion only goes so far. Thank the Lord for YouTube and so on!

Well, the World Jamboree is now over. After two weeks in a tent, my bed seems like heaven, though waking up on a site with 1800 people on it from all over the world was pretty cool. More than that, really- excellent fun. The most unexpected people there spoke very good English, but nonetheless, the Americans were hilarious because we kept confusing them entirely accidentally- for instance, the various uses for the word 'tea' (UK traditional drink, high tea, afternoon tea and dinner, which is complex enough).

To put it in context, there were a group of us sat on a bus with an American scout leader, and we'd arranged to eat with them that night- hence, one of the guys I was with (who's Scottish, complete with thick accent) asked when we'd be having tea, as in dinner. The look on the leader's face was, frankly hilarious.

"Uhh... I think it's a bit late for tea, right?" He said, scratching his head bemusedly (he was from the central region- Kansas area, I think). "I mean, don't you normally serve tea at, like, three o'clock?"

Trying to explain this nuance was a tall order, at best. The English dialect is a marvellous thing because it's so different from everywhere else, and it changes so rapidly it's hard keeping up. In fact, it took an American boy scout (no girls on their contingent) to basically translate.

It was bizarre because we were in an sort of enclosed bubble- everyone was friendly and wackiness prevailed, and you just don't get that IRL. Aside from in London on Thursday, where there were people from the site wearing their neckers- we were too, and the little greeting thing we'd done throughout camp was shouted from Regent's Street to Buckingham Palace. It's a shame that it's not always like that, but that's life.

(For the record, I'm a Sea Explorer Scout, and if this gets brought up more, virtually whack me over the head, please? I don't feel like boring the nonexistent people reading to tears.)

I come bearing fanfiction! Yay!

Title: Out of my Head
Author: Glastea
Fandom: X-Men Movie!verse
Timeline: Post X2 (following X3 continuity)
Shipping: Scott/Jean mentioned, otherwise none
Rating: K+ (FF.Net rating)
Notes: Thanks to jackks for the beta job. A brief respite while I work out a plot problem.
Summary: Xavier has an unexpected conversation.

( Xavier was sat at his desk, worrying. )

I hope you enjoy it; that was my weekend's work!

Well, back to school tomorrow. Yay.

I should mention now that the following cut is kinda redundant in Grim Fandango, as anyone who's read Lockjaw will know Chowchilla Charlie's view on the matter discussed below, and I happen to share it. Anyone else who has some interest in X-Men, though; go on in!

( Also, there's a ficathon coming up... )

Seems a better time than any to update.

I've watched far too much Scrubs over the last couple of days; I love it, and I have nothing better to do. Oh, the joys, I got myself caught in the rain on Saturday and am now bedridden with a severe cold (although, to my credit, I no longer sound like a odd clanger/soup dragon amalgamation, which was freaky).

I mean, come on, half an hour in the rain! Surely, living in England and everything, I would have acquired an immunity to rain induced illness! On that note, the weather has been atrocious, and anyone who's seen Wimbledon (does anyone other than the British watch it?) will know that it has been really quite bad.

So, I'm in bed, with a laptop, feeling like death warmed up. Hence, no fanfic has been attempted (although I have a niggling set of plot bunnies just waiting to get written).

Eh. The ironic thing is, I've got a net friend in London with exactly the same ailment!