Two weeks later...

[delphipsmith]

Yes, I am still alive. Real life has been ver' ver' busy of late, what with freelance editing clients, getting my minerva_fest entry in, trying to get caught up on hp_silencio (which posted a stunning and heartbreaking Minerva-centric entry on Saturday, thanks to teddyradiator for pointing me to it), birthday parties for nieces and nephews, and to top it off my online fantasy/sci fi writing workshop (which I'm now co-modding, and yes we would love to have new members) is running its twice-a-year short story in a week during the month of October.

Whew.

I have managed to cram some reading in here and there: a YA post-apoc novel about seven young children trying to survive alone following a mass epidemic (Fire-Us #1: Kindling), a highly unusual, meditative and thoughtful post-apoc tale of perhaps the last woman on earth (The Hauntings of Playing God), a mediocre suspense/horror story about a missing Karloff/Lugosi film and a few too many other things (Ancient Images), a beach-read Gilded-Age romance (American Heiress), and a somewhat disappointing Angela Carter novel (The Magic Toyshop) about orphans and creepy puppets. (Links go to my reviews, if I've done one.)

And I'm currently a third of the way through Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (HPMOR), which is quite fun: what if Harry Potter were a child prodigy raised by a physicist and tried to apply the scientific method to magic? Very much AU; all the familiar characters are there with essentially the same characteristics (Dumbledore twinkles and is a bit mad, Hermione is brilliant, McGonagall is proper yet with underlying affection) but everything else gets twisted round in new and interesting ways. The author must know quite a lot about the fanfic world because he works in a lot of inside jokes about various fandom habits and oddities (e.g. the Harry/Draco pairing), but it's all done very affectionately.

I intend to follow it up with Hogwarts School of Prayer and Miracles, mentioned by kellychambliss, a spoof of the series as fundamentalist Christian. Promises to be amusing.

Ah, and last night we saw Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which was fabulous. I sympathized hugely with Vanya's rant about how we used to lick stamps and have typewriters, and the actress who was Nina (over)played her like a young female William Shatner parody, which made me and Mr Psmith laugh immoderately. A good time was had by all :)

So there you go. What's new with you, flist?

Comments

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

This week i have seconded onto a course which ends on Friday. Then on Saturday i shall be at the Eastbourne Beer festival with my brother.

[delphipsmith]

Any festival involving beer gets my vote!

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry things have been crazy, but I'm so happy the crazy has included writing, reading, doing things you love, and fun plays!

I'm so glad you liked V&S&M&S! And brava to your Nina for being terrible- ours actually seemed to be reasonably talented, which put her a little out of phase with the rest of the other ridiculous characters (I say "ridiculous" with great affection). It's the most human Durang play I've seen, and one of the most human takes on Chekhov I've seen, and I absolutely adored it.

What's new here? Work is worky. Music is magic. Daily writing is being written. Mr. 42 is love. Same old same old :D

[delphipsmith]

Yes, we loved it -- they were all, as you say, lovably ridiculous. Masha was full of melodrama ("I NEVER HAD A LIIIIIIIIIFE!") and her over-the-top Maggie Smith at the Oscars was hilarious. And yet there's a sadness at its core too (which I guess is classic Chekhov, yes? I don't know his stuff very well, so I probably missed a lot of "in" jokes).

[haruhi-fan.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! I made mention of you in my last blog's meme so to keep you noted on LJ. :) Busy times is totally understandable. Going to blog my own update of things too. Take care!