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

[umbrrrayla.livejournal.com]

She is super pretty. And I like that she doesn't 'pose'. I mean, obviously she poses, but not in that ghastly "I've been recently media-trained" way. Georgie is good at posing nicely for cameras too. Plus she has awesome style. Which is unfair. She is fifteen.

Anyway, hey, we're in the same tv boat! I've been too busy watching Luther and Parks and Recs to watch last week's Game of Thrones which I'm not as in love with as I was for the first two eps. I feel let down, do you? The first ep gave a different impression of what the atmosphere for the show was going to be. Luther has scared the crap out of me and caused me to have dreams I actually remember for the first time in years. Unfortunately, they all involve a sociopathic killer who sneaks into my house and calmly makes herself a cup of coffee so that when I wake up in real life to an empty house, I have to convince myself that she's not downstairs. It's a really good show.

Camelot - I didn't realise that was a tv series because it's always mentioned along with Eva Green's name, so I assumed it was a movie. Now, I'm curious. Even if it's crap. (I trust your opinion - you know, because of your 'weirdly specific powers' *solemn nod*)

House - must buy the last two boxsets, totally lost track even though it was my favourite show, and now you've scared the crap out of me about how out of control it's got - should I be scared? Also... I think Hugh Laurie might leave the show soon. Gahhhhh :(

The OC - man, I loved that! It was shown where I live before it got big, so I loved it, and then it got huge, but then after the first two series it got crap. But it was good while it lasted. Nothing like a good bromance and Peter Gallagher's eyebrows.

Parks and Recs - oh my god, SO good! And totally not what I thought it was either. I didn't know it was an Office-y format. Which is great at helping with my Steve Carell grief. Andy running in his casts with his penis hanging out will not ever stop being funny! Plus Ben Schwartz from Jake and Amir is in it.


Ooh, cool meme - there's too many to pick from, so here's the first one I found in my favourite fic of yours. Except I'll have to post it as another comment because apparently I've wittered on for too many words.

[umbrrrayla.livejournal.com]

Skandar is the first to put his thumb to use, finding that it is in the perfect place to touch Anna's clit. He's scared of hurting her like Will did, so he brushes the pad of his thumb against it gently, watching closely for her reaction. She sucks her bottom lip between her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut, and tightens her grip on his cock. He takes this to be a good sign and does it again, slicking his finger in circles against her clit. If anyone had told him the first girl he'd be doing this to would be Anna he would've thought them crazy, but as it is now, there's no one else he'd rather. Will's thumb nudges his out of the way, and at first he's a little cross, but then he realises it's only fair that they share.

A moment later Will is disentangling himself from the two of them, and they turn to him in confusion. Anna sits up straight, closing her legs, and Skandar's cock throbs at the loss of her hand. He looks up at Will, who is standing now at the foot of the bed.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I just—I can't wait any longer. Hold on."

He disappears into the bathroom and comes back in a second later with a small box in his hand.

"Oh," says Anna. "Oh...er..."

Skandar feels very lost until Will sits down on the bed, the box by his side, and Skandar reads the writing on it. Oh.

"Oh, Anna, I'm sorry. I just assumed," Will says, all in one breath. He looks down. "You've never...?"

Anna shakes her head. "No," she says quietly. "But I—well, I want to. With you."

Neither of them ask Will the same question—if he's ever...—Skandar because he doesn't want to know the answer, and he assumes Anna's reason is similar. Anna scoots back on the bed and lays down so that her head is on the pillow. Her dark hair pools around her head, standing out against the pale cream colour of the sheets. Will is still sitting at the foot of the bed. He pulls off his boxers properly and fumbles with the box, tearing it open and taking out a shiny foil square packet.

"You okay, Skandar?" Anna says softly, and Skandar looks back to her.

"Yeah," he says, dragging a hand back through his hair. He answers the question as if all she's asked is if he'd mind if she ate the last biscuit or something. "No, no, it's cool."

She smiles at him—a wide, happy, genuine smile that makes it hard for him to be so jealous—and then looks behind him at Will, who is crawling up the bed towards them, holding a condom.

To his surprise, Will hands the condom to him, and says in a low voice, "Can you give me a hand?"

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, is that the first part of The Night Starts Here? That was so long ago I'm not sure I'm able to tell you what I was thinking. I can tell you what I think of it now, though, haha. Actually, there's a lot about the early parts of that fic that bugs me now, that I wish I could go back and change. It's nothing big, and probably nothing that anyone else notices, but I don't know. Like when I wrote the first part, I didn't know it was going to become a series, and I was just doing it as an experiment really because the thought came to me. And I hadn't written the three of them so much, so I feel like my characterisation is iffy in places, also partly because it was set ahead of time and so they'd all matured but I was writing them kind of as they were when they were younger, if that makes sense?

I also sort of regret making Anna a virgin, but I'm not sure why. It just came naturally at the time and I didn't put much thought into it, but now it feels like maybe it was a bit unrealistic, or strange for her to lose it to Will, or something. But in some ways I quite like that she was fairly casual about it, because that fits with how I see her.

I think it's just one of those things that I make into a bigger deal in my head though, because I just read this section back, trying to see it from an outside perspective, and it's not so bad. XD I remember I wanted there to be quite a bit of awkwardness between Skandar and Anna. Plus just general getting used to the whole situation of there being three of them, which is why there are comparisons, and realisations that they need to share, and a little bit of jealousy, and checking everybody's okay with things.

[umbrrrayla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just love this fic!
I don't think your characterisation is iffy at all, but I know what you mean about writing them as they were younger because that was all you had to go on at the time, so you were only imagining their older selves. I think you got them pretty right, to be honest.

I'm surprised you regret making Anna a virgin. I mean, not that I have any opinions on whether she is one in real life or not, but I kind of think both are equally possible, and either way she'd be pretty non-plussed about it, which is why I love the way you wrote it in this fic, almost as a sidenote. What do you think is unrealistic though - her being a virgin at all, or that she would lose it with Will?

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you - it's definitely comforting to hear, because I still worry about the earlier parts sometimes.

I'm not actually sure why I regret it. It's not like it would be crazy for her to be a virgin at that age, but I guess I felt like maybe it was a bit idealistic for both her and Skandar to lose it to Will, one of their best friends? And as though, just because they're younger than him, they haven't had sex but he has. I just wrote it quite a long time ago and had a slightly different view of sex and virginity back then I guess. I'm not sure. I'm glad her feelings about it came across well/realistically though.

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean! I like that about her and Georgie, you really get the sense that they are just normal girls instead of these rich famous celebrities who are trying to give that impression.

I haven't heard of Luther! *googles* It looks interesting. Although the nightmares sound terrifying. I'm still not sure how I feel about Game of Thrones in general - I get really excited about the new episodes, but spend the whole time really nervous about how it's going to be, and I'm just like...it still feels like I've only seen a tiny little piece of the big picture and it's so hard to make any sort of judgement, not just on whether or not I like it but on what kind of show it is in general. I think just because there are so many characters and so much history and so much TO it, you know? I'm enjoying it, but in a weird way.

It took me ages to realise Camelot was a series too, I'd assumed it was a movie. I'm not sure if my opinion is trustworthy on this one because of how I think the whole Arthurian legend thing is sort of boring in any format. Like, that might be why I'm not that taken with Camelot. But I also think the acting is kind of iffy (except for Eva, of course, who is perfect in every way) and the whole thing is just kind of...ehhh.

I don't think you should be too worried about House! It definitely has changed quite a bit, but I can understand why - they couldn't really keep things the same forever. But I just feel like the writing isn't as good as it used to be, and the writers are stuck for what to do, because they can't keep things the same and it doesn't work when they change things either. It seems like the actors are losing faith in it, too - Lisa Edelstein recently quit, and Robert Sean Leonard has said he doesn't enjoy it anymore, and the whole thing just makes me really sad. I mean, if they make another season without those two, I probably won't even watch because it just won't be the same.

Oh my god yes, the first two seasons of The O.C. were definitely the best. I just never watched season 4 beyond like, maybe the first episode, because as annoying as Marissa often was, it just wasn't the same without her. Also, Nothing like a good bromance and Peter Gallagher's eyebrows should be the show's tagline.

Parks and Rec is one of those shows that you just sort of don't get until you watch it. Like, I saw quotes and stuff on Tumblr and thought it looked funny, but when I read the synopsis I was like "...really?" because it just sounds like such an odd premise for a comedy show. And then the mockumentary format threw me off because I hadn't been expecting that either, and I never saw The Office so it was really new to me. But as it went on I just fell in love with it. It's just so clever and perfect and all of the things that are slightly odd about it end up working in its favour.

[umbrrrayla.livejournal.com]

I'm on episode 5 of Luther right now (links are all on tvduck) and I really like it, but one thing I'm disappointed about is the format. I figured from what I'd heard about it and from watching the first ep that Ruth Wilson's sociopath character was the main theme of the show, and it seemed like a really interesting story. But it's actually more like she's a thread running throughout the series, but the series itself is more about a new case every episode, which is just so run of the mill. That's how every cop or medical drama works nowadays. It could have been interesting to have something that would usually be the subject of a one-off drama as a full length series. Also, I don't really like Idris Elba that much. He irritates me, though he does get the character right.

I'm the same as you about GoT. I'm pretty disappointed in it - it isn't like I thought it would be from the first couple of eps.

House :( I have a feeling it will be coming to an end very soon. Better than it fizzling out badly, I guess. I just feel nostalgic for when it first came out over here. That was a good year for tv. Man, the last Harry Potter book hadn't even come out then... weird.

Lol, YES to that being The OC's tagline! And also yes to everything about Parks and Recs - totally not what I expected. From Tumblr, I got the impression that Ron Swanson was some beer-gutted couch potato who was lovably stupid, but that's not even slightly right. I love him!