*resolving to be as normal as possible*

[sarea]

Peace and love to everyone on this day. Reading lissinthecity's post made me teary, and it's hard to believe that it's been two full years since it happened. Am not going to be sharing any 9/11 stories, as I was not at ground zero and I don't know anyone who was directly involved in the tragedy. So I'm going to leave the speaking to those the day really belongs to, and offer my quiet support to anyone who needs it. I can't forget that the things we have endured in human history goes far beyond 9/11, so I'll take this opportunity to say that to all those whose lives have been lost: You are remembered.

+++

I am so geekily excited, because my favorite actor of all time -- Christian Bale -- is apparently the new Batman. Now, I'm slightly torn because I thought the Batman franchise was dead (and after the last few, think it should be dead), and I don't want him to be part of a sinking ship. The last I heard, he was also in contention to be the next James Bond (he's Pierce Brosnan's first choice to replace him), and I think that's a role far more suited to him. While I hate the thought of Christian in that ridiculous bat suit, Christian as Bruce Wayne ... Bruce Wayne is a quasi-American James Bond, isn't he? (He'd SO fit my BBBB preferences in that role. Yum.) Anyway, I hope being involved in another big franchise doesn't hurt his chances of landing JB. What's exciting is that the new Batman is not taking off directly after the last one -- it's dealing with Batman's early years, so that might be really, really cool. PLUS, the director is Christopher Nolan of Memento fame, and with so many quality people on board, I have high hopes. Thanks to ropo for directing me to this news (because she knows of my great and t00by love for CB), which is on a temp page here: http://www.tvguide.com/news/entertainment/

+++

My friends list has gotten unruly again. I cannot keep up with you all! Thus, I have had to trim my friends list once more. I knew I had to when I started missing posts that I really wanted to see. It's so not personal, it's not you, it's me, I'm lame, etc. I basically went by how much interaction I have w/ y'all, as I figure that makes the most sense. Feel free to defriend in return, as I imagine many of you could do without my prattling on and on, about, say, Christian Bale. :D When I have more time/get a handle on my life better, I shall no doubt be adding some of you back. Just right now ... my head is spinning. All my fic stuff, as well as 99% of other stuff, is public anyway.

+++

A few discussions I've had recently have really made me interested in how my mind works and why I like the things I like. Specifically wrt ship preferences. So I'm going to start charting out what my ship preferences for various books/movies/TV shows are, and come back to it from time to time and see if there's a method to my madness. (Some of these will be from way back when, before I even knew what a "ship" was.) I don't think this will be of particular interest to anyone but me, but it might at least be mildly interesting to see whether we have similar taste or not, so I'm sharing. :D I hope I don't lose friends because of any disagreement here ... hee.

(I probably forgot some, so I will be updating this all the time. If you can think of any off the top of your head, feel free to smack me upside the head.)

	Genre	Primary Ship	Secondary Ship	Any Others	Indifferent/Dislike
Angel	TV show	Angel/Cordy	Cordy/Connor (before they made it gross)	Angel/Faith, Angel/Darla, Cordy/Lindsey	Fred/Wes, Fred/Gunn, Wes/Lilah
Beverly Hills, 90210	TV show	Brenda/Dylan
Buffy	TV show	Buffy/Spike		Buffy/Faith, Spike/Dru, Willow/Riley, Xander/Willow	Buffy/Angel, Spike/Dawn, Willow/Tara
Confessions of Georgia Nicholson	book series	Georgia/Dave			Georgia/Robbie
Cruel Intentions	movie	Kathryn/Sebastian
Dawson's Creek	TV show	Pacey/Joey		Jen/Drue	Dawson/Joey
Firefly	TV show	Mal/Inara	Jayne/Kaylee	Jayne/River, Zoe/Wash	Simon/Kaylee
Four Weddings and a Funeral	movie	Charles/Fiona		Charles/Carrie	Charles/Henrietta
Friends	TV show	Rachel/Joey	Rachel/Ross	Monica/Chandler, Rachel/Chandler	Ross/random wife, Chandler/Janice
Harry Potter	book series	Draco/Ginny		Tom/Ginny, Harry/Hermione, Ron/Hermione, Harry/Draco, Ron/Ginny, Fred Weasley/Katie Bell, Draco/Cho, Harry/Cho	Draco/Hermione, Ron/Draco, student/teacher, child/parent
House	TV show	House/Cameron			House/Stacy
Lost	TV show	Sawyer/Kate	Shannon/Boone, Sawyer/Claire	Jin/Sun	Shannon/Sayid, Jack/Kate, Claire/Charlie
Melrose Place	TV show	Allison/Billy, Allison/Jake
My So-Called Life	TV show	Angela/Brian	Angela/Jordan
Outlander	book series	Jamie/Claire
Pearl Harbor (so bad, I know)	movie	Danny/Evelyn			Rafe/Evelyn
Party of Five	TV show	Julia/Griffin
Princess Diaries, The	book series	Michael/Mia			Mia/Kenny
Robotech	TV show (cartoon)	Rick/Lisa, Max/Miriya	Rick/Min Mei
Roswell	TV show	Michael/Liz	Max/Liz	Alex/Isabel	Max/Tess, Isabel/Jesse, Michael/Maria
Sex and the City	TV show	Carrie/Big		Carrie/Aidan
Smallville	TV show	Lex/Lana	Lana/Clark, Whitney/Chloe	Pete/Chloe, Clark/Chloe, Lex/Clark, Martha/Lionel, Jonathan/Martha	Lana/Whitney, Lex/Chloe
Sports Night	TV show	Dan/Rebecca		Dana/Casey
Veronica Mars	TV show	Logan/Veronica			Veronica/Duncan
X-Files, The	TV show	Mulder/Scully			Basically, all /Other pairings :D

Comments

[seldon.livejournal.com]

You know, as a foreigner, I feel the same way about 9/11: there's not much I can say about it, so I let those who have something to say do the speaking. I have seen some interesting reactions to 9/11 here in Mexico, though, but I don't want to speak about them today as a sign of respect.

And about your ships, you do seem to be fond of bad boys/nice girls pairings - Angel/Spike, Lex/Lana and Draco/Hermione, for example. But then again, I guess you'd have to be a fan of Krycek/Scully for the pattern to prove true. :p

And I still can't believe you ship Pearl Harbor :p

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

And about your ships, you do seem to be fond of bad boys/nice girls pairings - Angel/Spike, Lex/Lana and Draco/Hermione, for example. But then again, I guess you'd have to be a fan of Krycek/Scully for the pattern to prove true. :p

BLAH! Dude, I absolutely DESPISE Draco/Hermione!!! And I'm not into Angel/Spike, I'm into Buffy/Spike. :)) Though Buffy, like Ginny, is not exactly a good girl. I mean, she is, but they both have a streak of darkness in them as well. So there is that similarity, even if they don't fit the "nice girls" mold exactly.

Yeah, exactly, if I were into Scully/Krycek, that would really pin it on me. I tried a couple of them, but just couldn't do it. And in the XF fandom, didn't have to, either. There was a dearth of great MSR. *longs for those days*

[sydney-lynne.livejournal.com]

*giggles at OotP!Harry!Sarea, for having been accused of the horror of being a Draco/Hermione shipper*

[seldon.livejournal.com]

I just reread my post and I realized I wrote something entirely different than what I had tought. Did I wrote Angel/Spike? *ugh!* Since it looks like I was completely awake at the moment I wrote my first reply, I'll have to lok for another excuse for the lack of coordination between my fingers and my brain. Can I still blame it on Mars?

[seldon.livejournal.com]

Ah! Robotech! Now that I think of it, it is probably the first show I ever shipped. R/L, of course. Was there another ship?

I must admit, though, that I have an inmense dislike of Minmei. Minmei/whatever makes me sick... She is one of those characters that really irritates me just with her presence. And in the end of the book series, she becomes (practically) a goddess. Bleh. They should have dropped her in a Protoculture generator somewhere - her voice is all you need in a war, and she's made enough recordings, so she has outlived her usefulness. :p

And the friend/alien pair is Max/Miriya.

And w00t, an Allison/Billy shipper! My Melrose OTP. The death of this ship on Melrose Place opened my eyes to the fact that nothing is sacred on most "drama" series, and that everybody will hop with everybody in bed during the course of the series because producers are more worried about ratings that about staying true to character development. >_< This brutal slaying of my TV innocence made me stop watching the series right there.

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

OMG it was probably the first ship I ever shipped as well!!! Dude, I recently got the whole series on DVD. It's not quite what I remember, but at the same time I'm also amazed by the detail. I didn't know that the show was based on books! (Was it?) I've seen the books around, but thought that they were based on the show. Urg @ what happens to Min Mei. Although, she's pretty much Miss Perfect in the series, too -- until the v. end.

Max/Miriya!! Thank you!!

Hahahahaha, I love that you 1) admit to liking MP; 2) ship A/B (and I had the exact same reaction to it!!! I despised Brooke -- wasn't that her name -- played by Kristin Davis at the time, though I like her in S&tC). I basically stopped watching after they broke A/B up all heinously the way they did. I really, really thought that that was one pure relationship they would not touch. (They made Billy such an asshole that he became irredeemable, like Max from Roswell.) Shows how much we know. I find it hilarious that we had so many of the same experiences ship-wise w/ these shows!

(I also liked Allison/Jake as a really random guilty pleasure, from ONE scene in ONE episode they did early on, and never touched them again until the end. I never in a million years thought they were going to go back to it, but I guess it was a combination of current storyline/timing wrt those actors wanting to leave.)

Gawd, I didn't think I'd have so much to say about shows long dead. :))

Robotech

[jenab.livejournal.com]

I like Rick and Lisa but couldn't stand Minmey. She just got on my nerves too much. During the New Generation part of Robotech, I wa rooting for a Scoot/Rook pairing. I'm a sucker for unconvential pairings.

As for the books, they were based on the show and they are really well done. I recommend reading them because they also give more depth to the show. The author Jack McKinney, also did the novelizations for The Sentinels, the follow-up to Robotech though the show was never completed.

Re: Robotech

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info on the books! I'll have to check them out the next time I'm in a used book store, because I used to see them all the time.

Re: Robotech

[windtear.livejournal.com]

Scott/Rook?

Seriously, Scott was so screwed up that he would have been excellent at getting the wine open at parties. Rook was screwed up enough on her own, what with her gang-rape and all.

(Yes, they did leave that in. You watch her background episode. She doesn't actually say it, and they don't actually show it, but it's very heavily implied that the Red Snakes didn't stop at punches.)

But, no, I think Rook and Scott were No Good for each other.

And, yes, I like Max/Miriya too. That's one of the reasons why I like Macross Seven - it's set twenty years later, the lead is their youngest daughter, and they appear all. The. Time. It's so cool.

Re: Robotech

[seldon.livejournal.com]

I have mixed feeling about the books. They start out more than fine, but you can see how the author gets tired as the series go along. I found the final ones (the Sentinels and everything that came after) to be extremely campy and not very good sequels. They had its moments, though - for some reason I love the scene when Rick and Lisa wake up after their wedding night.

McKinney also takes some liberties with the series. There are minor changes in scenes; for example, in the series Rick is in shock and Lisa is crying when she tells him about Roy's death, while in the books he cries while Lisa comforts him. Most of the changes, though, were made to make the story more believable, but not all of them work. And in my time I've seen *huge* flame wars between the fans of the books "Mind Control" method of driving the mechas against the fans of the "Completely Manual" method suggested by the cartoon.

At the end it all comes down to a purist vs. adaptation argument - when it comes down to Robotech, I'm a purist, so I prefer the series. I bought most of the books, though, and the Macross and New Generation ones still get reread every now and then.

I shipped Rook/Rand, by the way. I find that fact amusing because the first time I watched Robotech I never thought the creators would get them together, I just thought they would be a nice couple. When I watched the series later, though, I realized that it had always been obvious, and that somehow all the signals had passed over my head. I can be awfully dense most of the time... :p

[seldon.livejournal.com]

Although, she's pretty much Miss Perfect in the series, too -- until the v. end.

I think this Miss Perfect stuff is what I dislike the most about Minmei. Even at the end she doesn't admit to herself she is not perfect - I find her "sacrifice" and her speech about knowing all along that Rick was in love with Lisa to be more about saving face that about accepting she had lost Rick. Bah. As I said, I find her extremely irritating just by existing.

And as for Rick/Lisa.... I loved that they didn't force their relationship, but the writers let their attraction grow up at its own pace. They disliked each other at first, but it had more to do with severe misunderstandings and stubbornness from their part than with a true disliking of each other's ways. And when they got trapped together in that episode and, for the first time, they really *listened* to each other... it felt natural.

Unlike Minmei/Rick, in which Rick gave everything and Minmei just took and took and took... it was doomed since the very beginning.

God, I love that show.

I love that you 1) admit to liking MP;

Well, we all made some shameful things in our youths... =P

They made Billy such an asshole that he became irredeemable, like Max from Roswell.

I never watched Roswell, but I understand what you mean. Billy suddenly became this bizarro version... I couldn't swallow it. I know people change, and that they make mistakes, but one thing is to make characters behave like people and something entirely different is to make them act entirely OOC just to introduce conflict. Oh, well, at least we got some nice B/A chapters out of the deal - I rememebr the one where a friend of theirs has to stay with them for one reason or another, and the morning after she politely asks them to keep the noise down. *g*

But I didn't know about Allison/Jake. They ended up together? o_O

And to see if we can make that shipping grid grow bigger, did you watch "The Wonder years"? "Boy Meets World"? "Doogie Howser"? Or, guiltiest of all pleasures, "Saved by the Bell"? ;)

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

I find her "sacrifice" and her speech about knowing all along that Rick was in love with Lisa to be more about saving face that about accepting she had lost Rick.

Hmm, that's a good point. It's not like she ever says that she was wrong for treating him the way she did (which was really terrible), or that he was a great guy and she threw a great thing away. Er, or did she?

I loved that they didn't force their relationship, but the writers let their attraction grow up at its own pace.

Yes! It was wonderful. The slow development that led to something very natural. At the end you feel satisfied by those results.

Billy suddenly became this bizarro version... I couldn't swallow it.

Yes!! They did the same thing w/ that doctor guy. He seemed like a perfectly normal guy, married to Josie, etc., and then suddenly it turned out he was a total jerk. I'm sure his nice-guyness was v. boring for a soap like MP, so he either had to change or get axed, but honestly. They should have kept Billy pure; we needed one good guy. Sheesh.

But I didn't know about Allison/Jake. They ended up together? o_O

I wasn't watching by this point, but I followed it through weekly previews and such, and might have caught the last 5 min of this episode, because I was intrigued. But yes, they did.

And to see if we can make that shipping grid grow bigger, did you watch "The Wonder years"? "Boy Meets World"? "Doogie Howser"? Or, guiltiest of all pleasures, "Saved by the Bell"? ;)

Hahahaha, oh believe me, I shipped plenty of other shows/books/movies that aren't on that chart, but left off the ones where it was totally obvious. I mean, I loved "The Wonder Years," but was there really another ship other than Kevin/Winnie? Or Doogie/Lisa? I didn't really watch "Saved by the Bell," so that's one guilty pleasure I can't claim (but I have so many others to replace it with :D), but I think of the 3 or 4 eps that I saw, I wanted Zach (Zack?) to get w/ Jessie. Z/Kelly was just so expected and boring.

[seldon.livejournal.com]

It's not like she ever says that she was wrong for treating him the way she did (which was really terrible), or that he was a great guy and she threw a great thing away. Er, or did she?

She never did in the series... and I am not sure if she ever did in the books. She was longing after him on "Robotech II - The Sentinels", but even then it wasn't as if she had recognized Rick's worth as a human being.

They should have kept Billy pure; we needed one good guy. Sheesh.

Amen to that. A honest to goodness good guy (or even better, a stable couple) can do wonders for drama - what is drama or comedy without a straight man? Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the producers of MP understood that.

I looked for a couple of MP sites after reading your post trying to find out the final fate of some characters and I found out that apparently we are not the only one who dislike what happened to Billy...

I mean, I loved "The Wonder Years," but was there really another ship other than Kevin/Winnie? Or Doogie/Lisa?

Well, you have a point there. Although I know a person who is a rabid Kevin/other shipper. She is the only person I know who *really* liked the ending, BTW. I know real life is like that, and that not every ending is happily forever after, but this was one instance where I would have liked art not to imitate life. I feel somewhat cheated after they gave us such a wonderful reconciliation scene and then they kept Kevin and Winnie apart...

[chrismiss.livejournal.com]

Sorry for super late post...seem to have lost this one in the mass of friends posts that appeared on 9/11. :( Sowwy!

On your Pearl Harbor ship...I totally agree! Why oh why did they have to kill him?! *sobs*

I <3 Angel/Cordy!

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

W00t, C/A!!! Too bad they've ruined it forever. :-l

I'm so glad at least one other person shares my t00by preference wrt PH. I even started writing a story re: D/E, but never finished yet. Plan to finish it some day ... perhaps knowing that there's at least one other person out there who might possibly read it is the motivation I need. :))

[chrismiss.livejournal.com]

Danny was played by Josh Hartnett right? I am getting this pairing right aren't I? Grr...just wish they kept the damn boy alive like they did for Rafe! Rafe looks like he's gonna get killed, and then "bam!" he comes back when D/E are all happy and shit.

As for A/C...well it is just so sad! Why couldn't they have gotten the pairing right!? Of course if they gave it to us, it would have ended up sick and perverse like B/S...but I like sick and perverse! Plus it was all Buffy's fault as she was in denial. I mean he freaking sacrificed himself for her! BUT Spike is going to be on Angel! W00t!

[chrismiss.livejournal.com]

P.S.- Your icon is so Pretty! My preciousssss....*pets Sarea's icon*

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Oh, you knew there was no way Rafe was really going to die 45 min into the movie, when he's play by stupid Ben Affleck. And yeah, Danny was Josh. I harbored a crush on JH for a little while after that, but thankfully I've gotten over it.

Actually, if they had really done C/A, I don't think it would have had to be sick and perverse like B/S. Angel has a soul, and Spike didn't when he was involved w/ Buffy. B/S was always meant to be destructive, whereas C/A was the opposite. However, the problem is that I'm convinced Mutant Enemy is just one big B/A shipper, and that's going to be the end result. B/A is their OTP.

[chrismiss.livejournal.com]

NOOOOOOOO! Spike has to be with Buffy. Theirloveissoangsty! And Cordy has to be with Angel. Theirloveissopure! *sigh* Sorry, had to get that out...but you're right, A/C could have worked out without all the angst and woe. At least we get Spike with a soul on Angel this year. When is the first episode for Angel anyway?

*kicks* Ben Affleck. Danny should have lived. *sobs*

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

I'd almost rather have Spike w/o a soul. :D He was so hot then. And funny. I'm interested to see what they'll do w/ his character on AtS.

The first ep is either Oct. 1 or Oct. 8. I'm 99.9% sure that it's on Wednesdays this year.

[chrismiss.livejournal.com]

I'm happy with any Spike though...I'm very easy to please. ^_^

Can't wait for hte first episode!

[schuywriter.livejournal.com]

I saw a special on PBS about 9-11 and it was brutal The news reports that had been shown all through these past 2 years were nothing comapred to the horror on that one PBS show. I don't know why I watched it but it was really sickening. They actually showed people jumping from the buildings which made me so numb all over. I didn't realize so many jumped. I've never seen anything like that and I guess when you hear news reports you don't realize that it's actually happened. Seeing it makes it very real and I think I kind of woke up to 9-11 after seeing it. I've been in denial for 2 years.

Re: ships -- yay on Mulder/Scully! I saw the one last night where they're in a bubble bath on the phone with each other and Mulder tells her he's on the computer. Then Skinner calls and sdays he's in a bubble bath. HA. It had Tea Leoni and Gary Shandling as M/S in the "movie" and Tea/Scully was telling Gary/Spooky that she was in love with Skinner because he has a bigger flashlight. LOL:)

Go on the Mia/Michael ship -- I'd like to read more Princess Diaries stuff about when Mia's older.