the bad, the good, and the fantastic

[harborshore]

So I'm presenting Wednesday. This is, for those of you lucky enough to not have seen me in the throes of academia before, going to (read: has already begun to) make me a little crazy. Or unhappy. Or both. So if I'm making anguished faces at you, this is why. Suggested remedies include patting me on the head, hugs, and telling me to go do my work and stop being such a wretch.

But on to happier things! This got loooooooong.

Non-bandom related awesome

1. First, Amanda Palmer posted an essay written by Karl Paulnack of the Boston Conservatory, on Why Music Matters. Read it, oh, read it.
   
   If there is a future wave of wellness on this planet, of harmony, of peace, of an end to war, of mutual understanding, of equality, of fairness, I don’t expect it will come from a government, a military force or a corporation. I no longer even expect it to come from the religions of the world, which together seem to have brought us as much war as they have peace. If there is a future of peace for humankind, if there is to be an understanding of how these invisible, internal things should fit together, I expect it will come from the artists, because that’s what we do.
   
   
2. More on the hilarity end of the happiness scale, sarahtales (formerly mistful) posted her parody of Star Trek here. If you're unfamiliar with her movie parodies, she doesn't tend toward the mean, but toward the ridiculous. Quote:
   
   SPOCK: Can't read my, no you can't read my poker face.
   KIRK: Sure I can. It says 'I want to cut a bitch.'
   SPOCK: ... Your insight is uncanny.
   
   
3. And the last non-bandom related piece of happiness is the vid Glorious by such_heights. I've been meaning to do a vid rec post forever, but it doesn't look like it's happening any time soon, so I'm reccing this one now. It's a multi-fandom female-centric vid, and it has so many female characters being awesome that it's sort of the best thing in the world to rewatch when you're feeling a little useless. Watch Teyla, Morgana, Martha Jones, Buffy, Faith, Bones, Angela and the other 170, just watch them. And the next time someone tells you that there aren't any interesting female characters, point them at this vid.

Bandom-related happy

1. This fandom is the best fandom, etcetera, forever, amen. Let's start with fic. Awesome fic.
   
   
   
   1. First, ficlets! sleepingcities posted Live For the Moment as Fast as You Can, van era Frank/Gerard. Boys being cuddly and intoxicated; fuck, but it's so wonderful, sweet and road-dirty. nokomis305 posted Swallowed Up in Fire, which is Frank/Lyn-Z as danger-prone hired assassins. It has violence, setting things on fire, and sex in a car, okay, this is awesome.
   
   
   2. Then, porn. thesamefire posted Felt Like Dreaming, which is Gerard/Lyn-Z/Alicia/Mikey, femmeslash and het, no incest, and so goddamn hot it should be illegal.
   
   
   3. Last, epics! It's sort of redundant to rec bexless's last installment of the Unholy trilogy, right? But if you somehow missed noticing that it was posted, Heaven Help Us is fucking wonderful, tense and long and oh my god, after I've presented I'm going to reread the whole trilogy AGAIN. In other news, graceoftheworld posted The Sweet Science, which is an au where Bob is a fighter and Brian is a cop, and I read it last night and reread it this morning and sniffled a little and grinned and flailed my way through it. It's a wonderful story, you guys, long and satisfying and amazing.
   
   
   
2. Lastly, did you know I love Lyn-Z? Yeah? And here I thought I was being stealthy. *grins* I wanted to post about her on her birthday, but as it turned out, that was not a good day for me, so I'm doing it today instead. This is unrelated to the fact that she and Gerard just had the baby (not that the existence of Bandit Lee Way isn't also a happy thought, just, that's not why I love Lyn-Z, y'all). SO.
   
   
   1. Look at her FACE. I swear, this woman has the best smile in the world.
      
      
      
   2. She's both badass and awkward, the latter by her own admission. I love that, I love that she gets up on stage with all the attitude ever and is smoking hot and takes no shit, and then she admits to being an awkward klutz offstage. It's possible I have a crush.
      
      
      
   3. I love that she cares about being a rolemodel, gets on stage to "being a woman in music seem a little less unusual and perhapes open the door to thinking it's something you could do too."
      
      
   4. Just--watch this interview. It's an old one, it's the one everyone has seen, but it's worth rewatching.