Discourse and Desires

Several people from my flist have done this... so...

MAH ICONS.

default	oldest	newest
saddest	happiest	angriest
cutest	sexiest	funniest
fave ship	fave fandom	fave animated
best quote	best textless	best stolen idea
use the most	favorite

My fave is actually one that I made for enchanted_jae. I'm glad it didn't send a flurry of people asking for icons, because while I think I'm good at doing icons, I'm only good when I have a good idea. The rest of 'em are shite.

HOW MANY ICONS DO YOU HAVE: 34 [I mean, I have tonnes that I've made, which are on my hard drive.]

OUT OF HOW MANY AVAILABLE ICONS SPACES: 35

IF YOU COULD BUY SPACE FOR MORE, WOULD YOU: No.

DO YOUR ICONS MAKE A STATEMENT: Sometimes. I only wanted to have icons that embodied the types of comments I made. But I long since abandoned that. Plus, I have icon-randomizers on just about everything when I comment, so unless the randomizer picks the appropriate icon, it usually has nothing to do with what I'm saying in my comment.

WHAT FANDOM DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: HP

AND THE SECOND MOST: None.

WHAT SHIP DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: Colin/Oliver

ARE YOUR ICONS MADE MOSTLY BY OTHER PEOPLE: Nope.

DO YOU MAKE ICONS: Yes.

ARE THEY ANY GOOD: I think so, yes.

ANIMATED ICONS ARE: Difficult to get under the LJ 40k minimum.

And of course, the obligatory...

DO THE MEME!

Not like you need another list of 2008 greats, but here are my picks!

Best Film: Tie. Both British. Boy A, and Son of Rambow. Seriously, two excellent movies, never mind that the Brit exchange kid in my writing class basically ripped this premise of Boy A for his short story... I didn't say anything in class, but I did let him semi-have it at some house party we were at. I couldn't be too mean, tho', because he's British and adorable, which means he can get away with an awful lot...

If Britain didn't exist, it'd probably have been Let the Right One In, a vampire movie that puts Twatsuck to shame—not that it's that difficult to do, mind. Trailer below:

A fragile, anxious boy, 12-year-old Oskar is regularly bullied by his stronger classmates but never strikes back. The lonely boy's wish for a friend seems to comes true when he meets Eli, also 12, who moves in next door to him. But Elis arrival coincides with a series of gruesome deaths and attacks.

Best Documentary: Also a tie. Dear Zachary or Planet B-Boy, both documentaries and both with a bit of jaw-dropping moments—the former in the guise of a 'plot twist' and the latter in the form of dance moves that make you wonder if these dancers are actually human at all!

[In other words, Gabe can't make up his mind.]

Best Album: Tie. Fotos, Nach dem Goldrausch and Johnny Flynn, A Larum. ( Who? you ask... )

And no, he's not Draco... or Scorpius! :wags a finger at everyone thinking it:

Okay, maybe a little.

As for Van She? ( WHO?!?! you again ask... )

And no, the bassist is not musician!Draco... or musician!Scorpoius! :wags a finger at everyone thinking it:

Okay, well... maybe a little.

Best Book on Writing: Er... it's basically a rip on Stephen King's On Writing in that it is half memoir–half how-to-not-fuck-up-your-first-manuscript. Damn the Rejections; Full Speed Ahead! The Bumpy Road to Getting Published by Maralys Willis. Apparently, her son died awhile back, and she alludes to it—or out-right mentions it—in almost every chapter. After awhile you start feeling a bit like... "Ok, we get it"... or maybe that's just my cold, black heart? But still, she manages to pack some solid examples, excellent ideas, and true-to-life warnings about the 'mistakes' many first-time writers make when sending their first manuscript. She delves not only in the world of publishing, but also in film and theatre, and she also points out exceptions to the 'rules', positing why it worked, and giving due warning should you choose to go against the 'rule'. pir8fancier had recc'd 2006's Don't Murder Your Mystery, by Chris Roerden and, I think, between Roerden's and Willis' books, a beginning writer would be well underway to getting their first manuscript through the door!

Best Novel: Tie. [No, you don't say!] Winkie, by Clifford Chase; and Anathem, by Neal Stephenson. ( You mean, the dude you always complain about? you ask... )

Close second for me was So Brave, Young, and Handsome, by Leif Enger.

Best Graphic Novel: The Death of Captain America. ( Uh-oh, you say. Here's Gabe showin' his Inner Geek...! )I haven't really cried at a comic book since New Mutants #45—heart-fucking-wrenching story about suicide—but I came close with this little saga.

Best Short Story: "Darkness", by Andrew Sean Greer. It's everything a short-story should be: captivating, deep, menacing, peppered with moments of brilliance, and, for me, open-ended. The world is plunged into darkness, literally, and we have two lovers--Helen and Louise--trying to deal with this new fact: that light is never returning to the world.

( Excerpt, Cut for Length... )
Best Concert: For me, it was the weekend-long bender of MOVEMENT: The Detroit Electronic Music Festival. ( What the fuck is that? you ask... )Even if DEMF doesn't happen, we can still shoot up to Windsor and lose our shirts gambling!

Best Fake Celebritiy Feud: This was a tough one. I mean, the Colbert-O'Brien-Stewart threeway showdown started strong, but ended kinda flat. Colbert is good with the faux-feuds [feuxds?], and the Kanye-Colbert feud has the makings of interwub greatness, but it was the Silverman-Kimmel feuxds that had everything, from Silverman's shocking start to Kimmel's seen-coming-a-mile-away-yet-still-funny comeback. Still, it was the one I liked the most.

( Youtubery Under the Covers... )

Best Youtube Video: Hands fucking down. Remember the "wassssaaaaap" commercial when it first came out? Well, this is the 2008 remix with, I believe, the original cast from that commercial.



Because that's how 2008 felt as it ended. Even now that gas prices have shot up to nearly $2/gallon, it still doesn't seem that bad.

And so I end Gabe's Best of Oh! Eight! mini-list and hope that Oh!9 starts off strong, grows steadily, and ends with a bang!

♥ to you all!

Any one need a beta for anything? Or is everyone fest'ed out?

Also what the fuck happened to hapendfro?

Finally, I wanna read some Neville fics, but I don't know what I'm wanting from it... like... do I want skittish!Neville...? Or maybe growing-into-his-self-confidence!fic? Or maybe suddenly-badass!Neville... genfic? slashfic?

GUH!

And as much as I like the Seventh Year story with Neville and the DA, I can't get into it as much simply because I hate the seventh book! You'd think such a fine piece of writing would be able to convince me, actually, to like the seventh book; instead, the seventh book stops me from truly enjoying that fanfic!

DAMN YOU, ROWLING!

Anyway, rec away, please. Neville stories. No 100-wordie things, tho'. It doesn't have to be novella-length, but something with some meat on the bone, please.

Thanks!