Three dollars and some change

23. The holidays are coming. Which means good food. Share a recipe for a dish you love to enjoy during the Merry Thanksmas season. (So we can enjoy it too!)

Being Canadian, we have Thanksgiving in October (like it should be done) and my mother (an honest-to-god Chef) makes awesome food stuffs. My favourite in recent years are:

1. Roasted Brussels sprouts: Parboil the sprouts so they are nearly cooked, then drain. Preheat your oven to 400F, toss the sprouts in some olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then roast until the the sprouts are beginning to brown.


2. Flat pies: Make the crust and filling for apple pie in the normal way. But then divide the crust mix into four, roll them out into rounds, place 1/4 of the apple filling onto the centre of the crust round, then fold the edges of the crust over the filling, patting it down gently as you go. This way, everyone get their own “pie” and there’s an increased crust to filling ratio.

24. What's a special tradition in your family that makes the holiday season special to you?

While we’re Canadian, my dad spent his college years (in the late 60s) as a surfing liberal arts hippie at UCSB, we do American Thanksgiving (but usually on a Sunday). We save most of the fun for Christmas. I tend to go home on Christmas morning, we have a lovely breakfast (see above re mother the chef) and then presents, then dinner around 2. I tend to get a bit squirrely around noon so I usually go for a walk.

I’m lucky enough to have my family close (an hour drive) and we’re pretty close, so it’s nice to spend time with them on any occasion. I count myself very lucky in this regards.

25. We're on a roll with the holiday stuff. So… what's your favorite holiday movie or TV episode?

A Christmas Story is one of my favourites. For the longest time, I didn’t want to watch it, then one year I was stuck with it and realized how amazing it is. Just the view of life as a child, and the look at the 50s, is brilliant. I love the parents in that movie.

On the other side, the stop-motion movies like Rudolf and Frosty the Snowman… man, I still have nightmares about those.

Randomly, Batman Returns is my fave set-at-christmas story. I fell in love with Michele Pfieffer’s Selina Kyle (of course, I was 12, so that may be the start of my love of strong and twisted female characters)

In music news, the Charlie Brown Christmas album is music gold. If you haven’t listened, I recommend that you do. Your life will be transformed.

26. It's officially one month till Christmas! Post your favorite holiday song.



27. What's a TV show you don't particularly like anymore, but still watch for some reason? Why? (If you're smarter than most of us, which show did you want to love, but gave up on?)

Supernatural. I gave up on it a few years ago and really now just stick with the Tumblr recaps. It got too far away from the sort of thing I like, after they started on their “kill all female characters” spree I drifted away.

Bones, I no longer watch. The smugness of both Bones and Booth was off-putting and I had other things to spend my time on.

I’m on-again-off-again with CSI. I’m enjoying Russell’s calming influence to the team, but other times I wonder why I tune in every week, ya know?

21. What about LJ keeps you coming back? (Because let's be honest. This place is old. BUT WE ALL LOVE IT ANYWAY. WHY???)

The comment feature, which allows for *actual* conversation. That’s one of the things that I think is holding Tumblr back.

Also, the history. I’ve got all my fics here and the history of the place, ya know :)

It’s nice to know you’re all still here too :) We’ve come a long way together.

Write about your first fandom crush(es). (Post a picture of them if you can!)

This certainly goes back a ways. Like, honestly first? Julia/Danziger on Earth2. I know how weird that sounds, but hey, unconventional OTPs are my thing. The other OTP was Sam/Jack in Profiler, in an odd way. I spent a year convinced that the best plot device ever would be that Sam (a profiler with the FBI) was actually Jack, the serial killer she was chasing. Really, the entire first season makes so much sense when viewed through that lens.

Wait. … I misread that header. But hey, that stuff is too fun to delete and a bit of a look too far into my psyche.

Back to fandom crushes. Um. The first fandom crush I can remember was Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: Next Generation, because it was 1987 and I was seven.

Over the years, I haven’t tended to have a lot of crushes, per say… I prefer to find a strong POV character to identify with. Like, in the last ten years, my main POVs are usually strong loner types who find a family against all odds, goshdarnit.

Don’t believe me?

• Anita Blake.


• John Sheppard.


• Natasha Romanoff.


• Ziva David.

(oh god that would be the best strike team EVER)

My only real fandom crush at the moment, as in let me stop everything and look at publicity photos from four years ago you little sweetie, is Sebastian Stan. Look at this cutie.

( who wants to look at pictures of Sebastian Stan? )

What movie are you most looking forward to this holiday season? (Link to a trailer so we can experience the impending awesomeness too!)

Not really much in the next few months, but I'm counting down to Captain America: The Winter Soldier with every fibre of my being. Like I have already booked off April 4 to go see that movie.

Trailer:



I need some Winter Soldier icons.

Who is your favorite villain?

That... is a good question. On the morally ambiguous side of things, I think that Regina from Once Upon a Time is up there as a fascinating modern villain.

When it comes to serious villains, Profiler did a great thing with Jack Of All Trades back in the day. Were any of you around back then? Disclaimer: I was 16 when Profiler came out and that was the show I first imprinted on as a fangirl. And possibly went a bit overboard. (Sorry for the ads, it was a free hosted space and it was 1996).

As for evil, like the worst of the worst, BOB in Twin Peaks is probably on the top of my list. Not that BOB is a favourite, but when it comes to villains, BOB is just pure evil and the only one who’s ever really made me unable to sleep.

I missed yesterday's blogging prompt (mostly because I couldn't think of any other recs other than the ones I posted on the fourth so I figured that I'd just pop in to say hi to everyone. I'm in the middle of the last chapter of Baba Yaga's Children, which has been delayed due to a) work (from which I am taking a vacation day today), b) technology woes, and c) my inability to finish things. But I know exactly what happens in this chapter so in theory, I just need to keep at it. I think I'll have it out on Monday, if not sooner.

Then I need to figure out what I want to work on next. I'm trying to decide between going back to Rhapsody in Blue (my Agent Carter piece) or Child of the Wolf (the Avengers/Teen Wolf crossover). I'm planning to tackle the next part of the Widow's Tale series (tentatively called Old Soldiers as it is, after all, about soldiers who are rather old) during the Christmas break. I need to let that installment percolate a little bit.

What show from your childhood would you love to bring back?


Define childhood.

Well, in all honest, Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood. Bring it back on DVD, on the television as reruns, but bring it back. It's a great show for kids.


(This 7-minute clip is when Mr. Rogers went to the US Senate to defend PDF funding)



But I suspect that's not what was meant.

K let's see....

Fraggle Rock was awesome. And weird.


The dancing starts at 2:05 wtf.


The early years of the Simpsons were golden, especially for a pre-teen's sense of humour.



From a fandom perspective, Star Trek: TNG was my first real introduction to science fiction. It was a good intro imo because it was so positive and a forward-looking view of humanity. I really miss Gene Roddenberry and his vision.

M*A*S*H was always on and everywhere, and even though I didn't get the political commentary, the jokes were still accessible to a six-year-old. I think I imprinted on Hawkeye at the age of 3. (As an aside, if you have the chance, read the book by "Richard Hooker" (also called MASH) - it's a fascinating snapshot on the time period.




Roseanne was interesting as my early exposure to it made the concept of having a working class family on television no big deal (although it was, back in the day.)




What about you guys?

What was your first fandom love(s)? Your first ship(s)?

In all honesty? Little House on the Prairie because I was like six. (Shut up, I was an early reader). Laura/Alonzo 4eva.

Some of my more enduring fandoms (the one I stick with) are Stargate Atlantis, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Criminal Minds, Gilmore Girls, Castle…

(There’s a reason Anita Blake isn’t on that list any longer, which I detailed here. I am still planning to finish Inevitable (five years later oh my god) but never in my life have I been so turned off the source material from a fandom I was so invested in. Of course, it could be argued that I haven’t invested that much in a fandom since, so maybe that’s more of defence mechanism.)

Ships - I’m not what you’d call overly shippy, nothing really lingers. The only one I never could never let go of (mostly because I never wrote in this fandom) was girl!John Sheppard (SGA)/Spencer Reid. In my head it was awesome.

Some of the past ships that I can ping back to are Jack/Sam (Profiler - actually, for a while, it was Jack=Sam but let’s not linger on that), Anita/Jean-Claude (AB), Sam Carter/Martouf (SG1)... there was something around Earth2 back in teh day but I can’t remember what it was anymore. Something to do with Julia? And I can’t even look it up because all my old stuff on the external hard drive isn’t working on my PC any longer (this morning’s fun discovery, btw) (also I think I lost my fanvid archive so I’m sad)

Currently? I’m on a Natasha Romanoff/Bucky Barnes kick (which might be a little obvious)

It's Friday and you have better things to do than post a blog entry. Just share something that makes you laugh.

Here's a crow taking a bath.



And the Engineer's Guide to Cats, which is funny because it's so, so true (about engineers).



In non-prompt news, I'm going to the Opera tonight (Tosca, in Vancouver) and it should be amazing. I don't like a lot of live theatre, but the opera has always been fascinating for me.

Just because, here's a Tosca video for you all, with Luciano Pavarotti singing E lucevan le stelle in 1986.



(About Tosca)