Fools that weren't, icons explained, redefining torture, warnings that weren't and other notes

[misscam]

I was going to post yesterday with an April Fool's about now writing fanfic for World of Warcraft gold, but then I remembered most jokes on April 1st aren't actually funny. Honourable exceptions now and then change by mind, but eh.

I remember mum once on an Easter holiday in a cabin suddenly proclaimed there was a moose outside the window. Everyone came bolting to see, at which point mum declared it April Fool's and laughed. Then we laughed too, because it was March 31st.

A joke in Norway apparently didn't amuse Bill Gates either.

What was the (probably unfunny) April Fool's you didn't do this year?


cazrolime asked me to explain these five icons:


This is from Nemi, a fairly popular Norwegian comic strip. It's the forefathers of Norwegians wandering until they find Norway, then decide to settle in a fricking freezing country, which is why Nemi goes "WHY?!" at it. Because Norway is cold. Brrr.


This is a character from a German series of children's books that got made into a cartoon I have so fond memories of watching. So it's a happy icon in more than one way.


Ah yes. Once upon a time there was this Doctor Who fanfic writer who wrote this long, long Nine AU thing, refused to call it fanfic even if it so decidedly was, thought the BBC wanted to film her fanfic and felt LJ and time_and_chips was a hive of villainy and porn. And that somehow young!Doctor wouldn't be young!One, but young!Nine. And also that her writing was brilliant. I didn't quite agree on several of those, and when she got some critisism from various anon commentators, she accused all of being me. None were. Unless I was a hive mind of several people, hence the joking icon.


My CSI wankimplosion icon. To sum up: Once upon a time there was CSI, the TV show. Some fans of the show wanted Grissom and Sara together. Some fans really didn't. Grissom and Sara did get together on the show. There was wank. Hoo boy was there wank. Ooodles and oodles and I used to do posts documenting all this stuff. GSR is simply the name Grissom/Sara was most commonly known as. So - GSR: and then there was wank.


World of Warcraft icon. PvP basically means Player versus Player, and in WoW, you can mark yourself for PvP combat, which means players of the opposing faction can try to kill you. Or you kill them. So basically it's a 'we like each other right up until the war is on, bitch' icon. Sorta.

Say 'iconssessss, precious!' if you want me to pick five of yours to explain. (You can also ask me about one of mine if there was one not mentioned here you Just. Don't. Get.)

In other notes:
- Ten weird stories that aren't April Fool's. The stolen crocodile of Norway made it, but I am happy to report it is now been returned.

- I saw a brief mention of a slight wank-in-progress in bandfandom (?) over a fic that didn't warn for rape. And of course someone went with the old 'but life doesn't give warnings for disturbing content!' to which I always, always so tempted to go:
"Yeah, well, life's a bitch. Doesn't mean you have to be."
(Though there can be very well-argued reasons for not warning for all and sundry in a fic, but I think most readers appreciate a head's up on certain things. You can't please everyone, but you don't have to actively piss everyone off either.)

-I spotted this recently declassified US memo on torture, and URGH DO NOT WANT. Seriously, being above international war? Declaring it not torture as long as the intention wasn't so? The fact that the CIA gets to do what the military has banned?
I get such heevies jeevies from that. Intention is not a free out-of-jail card. Your actions and methods count too.

- Did Ian McKellen just tell the LotR tinhats off? Check out the last question and answer. He even speaks the lingo! I love me some Ian McKellen. (He also mentioned in an interview once that when bored, he'd play his Magneto and Gandalf action figures against each other. Bwhaha.)

- Need a beta for my post-Void AU Doctor & Rose thing. Anyone willing?

Now I'm going home to eat, watch Masterchef and raid Mount Hyjal. Rawr.

ETA: Erm, asking where's good to go in Cardiff in a David Tennant (lusting) comm? Aren't we stretching the 'on topic' definition a bit there?

Comments

[cazrolime.livejournal.com]

Everything becomes clear! \o/

...oh wow, Ian McKellen wins at life. In quantities more epic than I ever imagined. xD

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Icons without context can be confusing things ;)

Ian McKellen is great. I met him briefly when he was in Oslo for a parada, and there was much winning to observe. Some men just grow better with age.

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

Iconsssesss, precioussss!

Probably the fevered imagination of the slashers is to blame.

I ♥♥♥ Ian McKellen. And not only since I saw him nekkid.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Was his staff impressive?

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[rivrea.livejournal.com]

Um, actually, as far as I can judge those matters, it was. The friend with whom I attended that performance of Lear started making "Every inch a king!" jokes immediately.

1) The icon with a candle is one big ol' cliché of the "it's always darkest before dawn" variety, but I wanted to have a picture to express comfort or optimism, even in hard times.

2) I was asked about the girl with the heart-shaped balloon a while ago, and here is what I wrote back then: "This is another icon that basically explains itself. It's a Bansky graffitti that reveals my love for things that are awfully twee, but I thought it would be a good way of expressing happiness or affection."

3) A friend of mine made the menstrual lifeforce icon for me a while ago. If I recall it correctly, it was inspired by my annoyance at a particular kind of esoteric feminism, "the moon cycles and mother goddess" sort of thing. It's useful for all posts on female sexuality or PMS-crankiness.

4) Books! With a Shakespeare quote from Prospero's speeches in The Tempest. There are Shakespeare quotes for every occasion, yo.

5) Oh, the tinsels of neo-fascism! This is a quote from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan space opera. It's used in an ironic context in the book, and I thought it might come in handy for snarky comments on politics in general.

[lookingforwater.livejournal.com]

Iconssssssssss, preciousssssssss?

[misscam.livejournal.com]

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[lyricalviolet.livejournal.com]

I'm always free to beta for you, if you'd like. Though, if you're in the mood to try someone new, that's cool.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

That be cool, you rock :) I just always feel weird when I don't ask first..

I'll (hopefully) send it during or over the weekend, still tweaking the ending a bit.

[bluerosefairy.livejournal.com]

Ian McKellan wins at life. The end.

And ooh, if you should be bored,

ICONSSSSS, PRECIOUSSSS.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

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[bluerosefairy.livejournal.com]

For explanation purposes, I will assume you have absolutely no idea of the people, shows, or quotes, since I'm not sure what you get in Norway and what you don't.

1) From the first season of the late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live. SNL is legendary, and the first cast all became huge breakout stars (Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Lorraine Newman, Jane Curtin, Bill Murray, etc). The quote/picture is Dan Ackroyd, during a sketch called "Weekend Update", which is, IIRC, their longest-running sketch. It's a mock news show, where two cast members pretend to be news anchors and make hilarious comments about what "happened" in the world today. His co-anchor was Jane Curtin, and they had this running bit where Dan would say something sexist/stupid, Jane would go off on an intelligent, usually feminist-related tangent that ended with her calling him names, and Dan would shut her up by turning to her, and deadpanning "Jane, you ignorant slut". It's definitely one of my favorite quotes ever, even though you really can't appreciate it until you see the entire clip.

2) Ah, wrestling. Okay, American professional wrestling, in the late 90's, had this group of guys (and Chyna, but her gender is still under investigation) known as "Degeneration X" (riffing off the fact that they were "degenerates" and part of "Generation X"). Two of them, Shawn Michaels and Triple H, who are the ones on the icon, came up with their catchphrase, which was to tell anyone who pissed them off to "suck it". Yes, they were irritating juvenile little shits, and that's why I loved them. It was pretty much the first time you ever saw an anti-authority group that used vulgar language/gestures on national television - and it was definitely the first time where the guys in the group weren't playing a role: they really were slightly-sexist jackasses.

3) YULETIDE! The huge panfandom fic exchange that goes on every Christmas. tzikeh made this icon, riffing off a Simpsons joke where a reporter is covering an alien invasion and says "I, for one, welcome our robot overlords". I loved that episode of the Simpsons, and I loved how Tz tied it into Yuletide.

4) Battlestar Galactica is pretty much the best sci-fi show ever. The main ship, Galactica, is like an aircraft carrier, and uses a system called DRADIS (Direction, Range, and Distance) to track and scan for other ships. Over on this TWOP thread, carla_scribbles started a "Things I am Not Allowed to Do On Galactica" list, and someone iconned them. So no, I am not allowed to play connect-the-dots on the DRADIS, as it will play merry hell with us escaping from the Cylons.

5) From the song "Climbing Uphill" from Jason Robert Brown's musical The Last Five Years. Cathy (the main character) is at this hellish audition that she's singing about. She gets more and more frustrated - "Why is the director staring at his crotch? Why is that man staring at my resume? Don't stare at my resume! I made up half my resume!" - eventually revealing that her husband Jamie (the other main character), an author, has been blowing her off more and more. We know from the very beginning of the play, which is told backwards, that Cathy and Jamie divorce, but this song is the beginning of Act 2, where they're still together. Cathy thinks Jamie doesn't "believe in her", and because he's successful as an author, that her career will begin to mean nothing. After that audition, she vows she'll never be "that girl": the one with kids and pets and a crappy dead end job who depends solely on her man. And the quote on the icon is my favorite lyric from that bit, because it's a sentiment I absolutely support.

[canadian-kazz.livejournal.com]

iconssessss, precious!

Even if I already have one of these to do. Oh well. I'll see if you pick the same ones. ;)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

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[--kali--.livejournal.com]

Oh Ian McKellen, you are quite brilliant! :D

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Ian McKellen is awesome. The person who asked that question is a bit too stuck in RPF though. At least he didn't go WTF are you talking about you loony, and answered the question gracefully.

ICON!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I sometimes get a bit iffed out by how fast people move from liking a fictional pairing and then get into RPF for the actors playing them. I mean, actors are not the characters they play, yeah?

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[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I think that's one of the reasons why RPF squicks me so much.

I had a dream about you last night. You were defending canadianevil's honor when she corrected my miss-use of a word which invoked a fanbrat flame war over how she was picking on me and my greatness.

You were awesome.

[klose.livejournal.com]

Oh, I didn't realise Nemi was a Norweigan strip - I've seen it in one of the free newspapers. Good stuff.

By the way, speaking of UK stuff... I don't know if you've heard of the Channel4 show, "The Friday Night Project"? David Tennant guest-hosted reently, and the usual hosts read him snippets of Doctor Who porn from the web - I'm not sure why, I thought of you immediately. (Not that I associate you with porn, mind, much less the bad porn they excerpted - just Doctor Who and romance. *g*) David looked traumatised, LOL.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Nemi rocks and I love her muchly.

I hadn't heard of it before, but yeah, half my flist was squeeing all over his appearance there. And trying to find the fic they were reading from. Knowing what gets written in this fandom, I'm not surprised David would be a bit horrified, heh. It's a porny fandom in some places, yesh.

[preachelectric]

Ah yes, I know that bit of bandom wank. It was mentioned elsewhere on my flist.

Ian McKellen is fantastic!

And icon meme for me?

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I saw only some brief mentions, but it sounded wanktastic.

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[preachelectric]

It was. The author is mental, thinking warnings spoil fics and that it was everyone's own fault for not understanding her vague disclaimer.

I'm going to reply to the meme here:

'Kouhai' is Japanese for underclassman ('Senpai' is upperclassman) and it's an honorific. It's a personal joke about goldie's kouhai army - she's older than quite a few of us so we call her our senpai, and she calls us her kouhai.


I think this was just a random icon I found. I don't know if it's a quote from anything in particular. I just like it.


Meet The Robinsons! The Bowler Hat is trying to give the villain tips, so has a sign which tells him what to say. I really love that film, it's very cute.


A quote from Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Edward drives a Volvo, and he annoyed Bella, so she said this. It reminds me of the ads we've had here in Australia in the past for Volvos: "Bloody Volvo driver." You can see the other versions in the same user's channel.


A t-shirt slogan... I don't really use it that much. I think I uploaded it to use when certain people on my flist are being smartarses.

[greyladybast.livejournal.com]

iconssessss, precious!

[joraina.livejournal.com]

Oh, Ian McKellen. That Q&A is made of win. (Thanks for sharing!)

[spaced-oddity.livejournal.com]

Comments? :D

That Cardiff post in tennant_love made me raise my eyebrows slightly, too. Sometimes people really stretch the definition of 'on topic' when they post there.