a flicker of the future could've saved the cindered sister

[hardparade]

THIS IS AN ANNA POPPLEWELL APPRECIATION POST. (Mostly.)

She did a photoshoot for THAT magazine, which isn't actually out yet, but there are behind-the-scenes pictures from it which are gorgeous.


















I am much more in favour of these clothes than her NMAs dress. *gazes* CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR EVERYTHING, ANNA. Oh, there is also this picture from the NMAs, though, which is beautiful:



But sadly there aren't any pictures of Anna and Georgie together (besides those ones of them in the audience) or with James. And speaking of sad things, her new project—Brave New World—wasn't picked up by NBC, so that really sucks. :(


In other news, I've been watching a ridiculous amount of TV. I'm watching Game of Thrones and The Borgias, and generally enjoying both. Game Of Thrones, I'm less sure about—some of it really disturbs me, and I know that's kind of the point, but I just feel kind of nervous and uncertain about it. But I do like it! It gets like +1000 points for the incest and the slash. I really like The Borgias a lot—shipping Cesare/Lucrezia, obviously, and generally enjoying François Arnaud's face, and also there was consensual whipping which I approve of. I find the Cesare/Michelotto relationship really interesting. And now I want to read A Song of Ice and Fire and lots of books about the Borgia family, but I still suck at reading lately.

I'm also watching Camelot which, um, is not so good. I don't know, maybe Arthurian legend shows just don't do it for me, but it's just kind of boring, and really at this point I'm only watching for Eva Green and her OVERALL AWESOMENESS, being all crazy and powerful. (Also maybe a little bit for Jamie Campbell Bower.) What else? Baffled by the Fringe season finale, and growing increasingly concerned about the state of House (and also suddenly shipping Chase/Thirteen, where did that come from??). Rewatching the first season of The O.C., because I kept seeing stuff on Tumblr and getting nostalgic. I got so much of my music taste from that show back in the day, it's amazing—at least twice an episode, I'll be like "hey, I like this song!...oh, this is where I first heard this song."

In the past week or so I've also been marathoning Community and Parks & Recreation and wondering why I didn't do that sooner. SO GOOD, YOU GUYS. I don't actually laugh out loud that often at TV shows, and it's not like I don't find them funny, but it's more like...I appreciate the clever writing and I'm amused, but I'm not actually cracking up, you know? But both of these shows have been making me laugh regularly. Especially the flu episode of Parks & Rec. My Dad actually came in and asked me what was wrong because I was laughing so hard. "I can't go home! I have to get ready for the Chamber of Secrets!" "...Commerce." SPEAKING OF WHICH: I love Ben Wyatt. Can we talk about Adam Scott and his delightful face?

Can we talk about any of this, actually? I've basically just been sitting here watching all this TV and not really talking about it.

AND FINALLY, a meme which could be fun maybe if anyone is interested:

Mini-DVD Meme: Pick any paragraph or any passage of between 500-600 words from any fanfic I've written and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet of what I was thinking when I made or wrote it, why I wrote it, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the fic, and anything else you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

My masterlist is here but I guess if you pick something I wrote ages ago I might not remember what I was thinking at the time. :/

Comments

[alexi-lupin.livejournal.com]

THAT Magazine is like my new favourite thing lately, after it gave us some terrifically sexy pictures of Colin Morgan :D

I haven't watched Game of Thrones, but I do watch The Borgias. Cesare/Lucrezia FTW and a huge YES on enjoying François Arnaud's face. And his VOICE.

I WAS watching Camelot but I think I was just keeping up with too many shows at once and that one fell by the wayside. It didn't grab me like the others, but it's possible I might catch up on it at some stage.

Ryan/Seth ftw.

OMG you know what I only found out yesterday? Jamie Campbell Bower and Bonnie Wright are ENGAGED. It blew my mind!

Oooh DVD meme! I pick:

Harry says nothing. He slips William's shirt from its hanger, and helps a reluctant William into it, sliding each tensed arm into the cool fabric of each sleeve. He begins to button it and William does not protest. He wants to say I can dress myself, you know, but he's not sure that he can. His hands are clammy and shaking a little. Harry tucks the shirt into the trousers. William has been dressed by someone else before, all brusque and businesslike with practised hands. This is not the way Harry does it; Harry is slow and careful and deliberate, almost torturously so.

"I meant it, you know," William murmurs. He doesn't even know if he believes himself anymore, but he wants Harry to believe him, wants a reaction.

Harry won't give it to him. He doesn't speak, instead lifts up William's heavy jacket and eases him into it. It is a weight on William's shoulders. Harry straightens the sash, pulls the belt tight, steps back as if to admire his work. He is still only in his trousers, and they are unfastened, a triangle of white boxer shorts visible where they open. Their image in the adjacent mirror is strange, William thinks—he sees himself, the full military uniform bright, extravagent, official; and then his little brother, bare-chested with bare feet, trousers undone, messy—but in some ways it seems oddly perfect, right.

"You look good," says Harry. He manages to make it sound emotionless, somehow, a simple statement of fact, not a real compliment, with no hidden meanings.

He brushes the jacket down, though it's not at all necessary. The thing is spotless, but Harry wipes from it invisible dust and lint, and the slide of his hands over William's torso makes William ache. In a flash, without thinking, he grabs at Harry's arms, finds his fingers clenched tight around them.

"Stop it," he implores, and then, words falling from his lips before he has a chance to hold them back, "you're driving me crazy."

His grip loosens; his hands fall and he crumbles.

"I'm sorry." He takes a deep breath, lets it out shakily. "You're being...you're being very mature. I'm sorry. I should be thankful."

He swears under his breath again, and Harry says "hey," takes him by the hand, smoothes soothing fingers over his skin. William feels Harry's thumb against the frantic pulse in his wrist. It adds fuel to the fire, somehow; William misses him like they haven't touched for years, misses him fiercely and hungrily. He wants to pull his hand from Harry's grasp and get as far away as possible, or he wants to push him up against the wall and fuck him, deep, slow, forgetting everything.

He does not do either. He stands and he quivers under Harry's touch, and he thinks of Kate, and wedding vows, and the thousands of people who are gathered outside, and he leans into his brother as though they're being drawn together by some outside force. Their foreheads touch. William is sweating, his uniform thick and hot. He wants Harry to kiss him, wants it with every fibre of his being. There are footsteps and chatter outside, and he doesn't even care. He is leaning in for the kiss, wanting it so badly that he doesn't even realise that Harry is still, standing straight-backed, simply waiting.

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

I didn't make the connection until I went and looked at their Tumblr, and I was like "they did those Colin Morgan pictures too?? FOUR FOR YOU, THAT MAGAZINE."

Ooh, I'm not sure I knew that you watched The Borgias. Hnnng François. Here's a cool story bro about him: after the first episode of The Borgias I was looking at the Wikipedia page for the show and randomly clicking on links from it (as you do), and ended up on François's page and discovered that I had watched a movie with him in it like, less than a week beforehand. And somehow, I hadn't recognised him at all. It was I Killed My Mother, have you heard of it? He plays the main character's boyfriend and this happens (http://likecharity.tumblr.com/post/5054320041) which is absolutely reason enough to see the film imo. (The rest of it is mostly just angry French-Canadians yelling at each other.)

Anyway. Camelot probably isn't worth trying to catch up on, tbh, unless you're in it for people's faces like me. But even then it's a challenge. :/ And yessss Ryan/Seth omg, the whole show is making me so nostalgic. And Jamie Campbell Bower and Bonnie Wright being engaged I KNOW RIGHT HOW CRAZY IS THAT. I think they're pretty cute together but it's like...she's like, my age, it's weird.

Right! Fic snippet! Mostly I just wrote that bit because the idea of Harry dressing William was really hot to me. *hangs head* But I wanted there to be something physical happening, something that wasn't overtly sexual but would cause more tension between them, and especially on William's side - like, something to make him panic a little bit. And (in my mind as I was writing it) that was Harry's plan, sort of. Because he wasn't saying anything, he was pretending things were okay, but he wanted William to really think about how it would be if they couldn't be together anymore. I don't think he ever truly believed that's how it would be, but you know - he was almost teasing him, and it was all part of his aim to try and get William to admit that, to initiate something and admit that this could never truly end. But without saying or doing anything that would seem too obvious or purposeful, because that would go against the point.

Hmm. What else? I really liked the image of William in his uniform and Harry half-undressed. I kind of wanted there to be a vague sort of eroticism to the whole scene without it feeling too much like a sexual thing, just something with a lot of tension that also gets across their brotherly dynamic underneath it all. Like, that it's not actually that strange or significant for them to be dressing together, but that it feels that way to Wills all of a sudden because things are changing. And I also wanted to flip their roles a little bit and have Harry be the one who's more calm and in control, obviously. Also, the last bit - William is basically imagining that they're leaning in to each other at that point, when really Harry isn't moving at all and it's William who's initiating it, but he doesn't even realise that because he wants it so badly. That might have been obvious but I struggled with it, it's always hard to get the point across but not make it seem like you're hitting the reader over the head with it. XD

[alexi-lupin.livejournal.com]

Well I don't really post on LJ about it so idk how many people realise I do watch it. I don't really engage with the fandom, I just like the show. Do you? Any fic recs?

I might be more inclined to keep up with Camelot if they weren't such large file sizes each time.

It IS hot. DON'T BE ASHAMED! The eroticism DEFINITELY works, it's like, palpable in the air between them, the tension. Also I think you did a great job with the leaning bit, it was clear without being like...overdone. I like the image of it too, as though Harry is the centre of William's gravity. Whiiich reminds me of that song 'Gravity' by Sara Bareilles - look it up if you haven't heard it, I love it. :)

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

I haven't really explored the fandom yet, actually. I keep meaning to, because I bet there's some good Cesare/Lucrezia fic out there. I'll let you know if I find some. :)

Are they? I hadn't noticed. That seems kind of silly.

Ooh, I'm glad! :) Gah I love that too - Harry being the centre of William's gravity, and him always being drawn back to him no matter what. And the song is pretty! It totally fits with that idea.

[alexi-lupin.livejournal.com]

They're not overly large, it's just that most shows I watch come to about 350MB an ep and Camelot seems to always be ~550MB. It's because I'm aware of slowly running out of space on my HD as well and I hate deleting things. :(

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

Oh, actually, I have noticed some of the longer shows being more like 550MB an episode lately! I think Game Of Thrones and The Borgias have been too. I'm not sure why that is, maybe they're higher quality or something? It is annoying though - I'm not really running out of space but I get really obsessive about having enough, so I try to delete things after I watch them but I'm always like "...but what if I want to rewatch a certain part??"

[alexi-lupin.livejournal.com]

The Borgias file size seems to change a lot, lol. I always hang onto thing because I may want to rewtach but part of my brain goes "But what if I want to make screencaps?" (because there are some things I have that I actually own on DVD so rewatching isn't an issue) and that is just me being ridiculous because I haven't made screencaps of anything for ages, as far as I can remember. XD

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

I just downloaded the latest episode of Camelot and it's like 620MB, what the hell?!

[alexi-lupin.livejournal.com]

IDEK. But that's massive for a TV show!