We're the lucky ones.

Reccing my two new favorite shows this season: Burn Notice and Flashpoint.

Burn Notice, in its second season, is made of awesome. Michael Westen is such a kick-ass fantastic character -- a spy who got burned, working jobs to figure out who blacklisted him -- and has a really, really great body. I mean, not like he wasn't awesome enough, but there you go. The show's dialogue and wit matches the best of primetime scripts -- any show that wants to go for action with a dash of humor needs to sit down with the entire two seasons of Burn Notice and take notes.

Flashpoint was recommended to me by a friend with an excellent eye for quality, and I immediately latched on. It's not just your run-of-the-mill police drama, but really cinematically superior, deftly scripted stuff. Add riveting human drama in nearly every case and a diverse and unique main cast, and you've got a winner in the jaded sea of procedurals out there.

As luck would have it, they're airing on Thursday nights at the same time: 10 PM, Burn Notice on USA and Flashpoint on CBS.

Nothing in the lineup of new fall shows caught my eye -- as much as it's been hyped, I'm going to sit out Fringe at least until the mid-season reviews come in. I'm not sure why people still think of JJ Abrams as a TV hit-maker when his last three outings -- Felicity, Alias and Lost -- started out with excellent first seasons and proceded to spectacularly crash, finally sinking into the mire of completely unwatchableness.

I was disappointed with the premieres of Prison Break and Bones as well. Prison Break -- well, I've come to accept the crazy, but it really is straying off base. And it's never going to be the same without Kellerman. Bones -- the Booth/Brennan snark, as much as I liked it before, is starting to get old.

Any TV shows to rec?

( Favorite movie of the year )

On a closing note: LJ housekeeping is done and posts/fics are back online. I'm not sure how the summer flew by so fast. Good to be back!

I'm doing some housekeeping on this journal -- so it will be on hiatus for a bit, during which entries will be temporarily offline. Please check back soon.

I'm still here, so if there's anything urgent feel free to leave a comment on this post.

I recently stumbled across youtube clips of Rove McManus, an Australian talk show host whose calling card is his famous last question: "who would you turn gay for?"

Here's a 50-sec reel of the best replies, and an extended remix. Really, really good stuff.

I checked out some of the full interviews, and here are my favorites:
- Dan Radcliffe (the behind the scenes outtake where Dan kisses Rove is priceless)
- Michael Buble (I had no idea he was so comical)
- Matt Damon (got to love the Damon/Affleck OTP)
- Justin Timberlake (the manscape question and Timberlake's reply had me rolling around in laughter).
- And not forgetting Robert Downey Jr.

So this guy is my new favorite talk show host -- he's natural and laid-back, Aussie style, and he's really funny and non-obnoxious. (Surely I can't be the only one who finds Jay Leno annoying.) I thought he was gay himself, but apparently he isn't; gotta love him for not shying away from the homoerotic subtext on the show!

Which are the funniest talk show interviews you've seen?

 

So I was trying to get rid of my last remaining fannish squick (mpreg) and read this RPS fic that had this explanation to offer: "The doctor said it was rare but it can happen."

... cracked me up so bad.

In other news, just back from watching Prince Caspian. Nothing spoilery to say about the movie but with all the pretty Barnes and Moseley visuals -- Caspian and Peter? Really need to get on with the hardcore fucking. top!Peter and Caspian on his knees is a mental image I could totally live with right now.

Just sayin'.

I didn't just write Cook/Archuleta slash.

...
..
.

All right, so I did. I love these boys and I just had to write this. They looked so fucking cute together in the American Idol finale: ( I swear, I JUST COULDN'T HELP IT. )


Title: Surreptitious
Author: Rhysenn
Fandom: American Idol RPS
Rating: R
Pairing: David Cook/David Archuleta
Disclaimer: This is fiction, etc.
Summary: "If you want it, just say it."
Notes: Set just before and after the finale. No specific spoilers for the results.

---


Surreptitious

( It started with a simple question. )

 

Not sure if any of you guys watch ABC's Brothers and Sisters, which is one of the very few dramas with a gay main cast character, Kevin Walker. I tried watching a couple of eps in the first season but it didn't hook me -- it's a genre thing, these dramas always feel like one-hour sitcoms, although in all honestly B&S seems to be one of the better-scripted shows out there, compared to what (admittedly little) I've seen of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy.

But I heard the highlight of the second season finale over the weekend was Kevin's and Scotty's wedding and decided to check it out for the milestone of gay storylines in in U.S. primetime programming that it is. After watching the proposal and parts 1 and 2 of the wedding I went back and watched all the Kevin and Scotty scenes from Season 2 (gotta love Youtube, especially when I only really care about their storyline).

And I was really surprised because it was actually good. And when their scenes are strung up together this way they actually form an endearing arc with lots of great build-up, angst, kissing scenes, the works. It deals with how old flames come alive again and how all the little insecurities and idiosyncrasies and fights, and getting past all of them, make a relationship stronger. And it deals with how families accept their gay sons, or don't. The wedding episode was romantic and sweet (with the exception of Calista Flockhart officiating, she still annoys me); Scotty is adorkable and Kevin grew on me as time went on. Definitely worth checking out.

I'm not sure what else is in store for our boys now that Kevin and Scotty are married, but I'd like to see where they take them next season. And I'm wondering when we'll see a gay main cast pairing like this in any of the crime procedurals, although I've a feeling I'm in for a long wait.

 

I just reached another plot milestone in the original writing project I've been fiddling with since January. And this is sort of huge for me because it's a turning point I've envisioned right from the beginning and it's an immense feeling just having finally written it, after 150 pages of build-up. I don't usually talk much about my writing progress (I keep a separate record on my own), but I just had to squee here because it feels like I've climbed a mountain and survived OMG.

I'm probably a little more than halfway through the story now, and at 52,000 words this is the longest project in forever. And I don't do long stories because I'm usually a slow writer. (I took two bloody years to finish IP.) Which is why I'm still not quite sure how I managed to get about half of this material written, ~27,000 words, in the month of April alone.

There is still the second half to go, but still. for now: \o/

 

All I have to say is: oh, Reid. ♥

Not sure how many of you are still watching Criminal Minds, but I haven't written a CM episode review in a while, so here goes:

( Why Reid is everything to love about this week's episode )

I thought that next to L.D.S.K. (still the best CM episode EVER), this was the next best Reid episode in the entire series. Even more than the Reid-in-peril episodes the writers heavily favored in previous seasons.

Also:

Reid: ... sorry I'm late.
Rossi: I hope she was worth it.
Morgan: [smirking] I hope it was a she.

Morgan/Reid ftw!

 

This is why I like having a diversified flist -- fandom cross-pollination rocks. I stopped following American Idol circa Season 3 but after seeing repeated squee about David Cook I decided to check out his and other vids from the current AI contestants.

.... I've got to say, the girls this season are done. Particularly with the two Davids (Cook and Archuleta) in play.

Archuleta is utterly adorkable and surprisingly mature for his age; I really liked what he did with Robbie William's Angels (I always have a soft spot for guys who play the piano/guitar and sing). Plus something about him reminds me of Daniel Radcliffe.

And Cook is just disarmingly talented -- I was pretty much sold after I saw his version of Lionel Ritchie's Hello and Mariah Carey's Always Be My Baby. Plus, he's kinda hot. That always helps.

And David Cook must be the lost twin of Carmine Giovinazzo (Danny Messer from CSI:New York):



Hot guys. I love TV.

 

So you all know I adore Casey from Make Me A Supermodel, and apparently he is not only gorgeous and witty and knowledgeable--on top of everything else he plays the guitar and writes his own songs.

Since everyone expects teenagers (though actually, he just turned 20) to write dorky songs that are cute but mostly silly, I went into this video expecting that. Of course, watching boys playing on the piano or guitar tends to make me melt into a puddle of awww, anyway -- but just when I thought I couldn't adore Casey more, he went ahead and did this:





It's cute and earnest and a little dorky and raw on the edges but I still love it. And he looks BEAUTIFUL playing it. The song sounds like a sentimental track put out by an alt rock band; it reminded me of something Lifehouse might play.

I can't really judge how good he is at the guitar (or how difficult the tabs were); maybe someone who plays the guitar well might be able to assess his performance from a technical viewpoint.

But still. THIS BOY IS AWESOME. ♥ ♥ ♥