Sophinisba Solis

I loved seeing Alice in Wonderland on Tuesday! I saw it without the 3D and I think that's just as well, there was so much interesting to look at I don't know how well I would have handled an extra dimension. Mostly though I loved the character of Alice and her getting to be the protagonist, in contrast to what happens with women in most of the things I've watched lately.

Okay, here is a version of a post I meant to make two weeks ago: tomorrow I might meet some people to see another movie, Shutter Island. (That other thing I mentioned is going to happen on Sunday instead.) Have any of you seen this? I can't decide whether I should go. I have a big crush Mark Ruffalo and I like Leo DiCaprio okay. More importantly I have a big kink for stories about insane asylums and such (my longest fic is about Frodo getting shut up in one omg - that doesn't even make sense but I wrote it anyway because I'm that obsessed).

On the other hand I don't usually handle horror movies well. Too scary, and I am a big wimp! I walked out of the theater halfway through I Am Legend because I couldn't handle the tension. And the gore was probably the main reason I finally quit watching Supernatural (though the misogyny and racism were also wearing!). Sometimes even the vampirism in Being Human is a bit much for me. There are a few scary movies I have liked - 28 Days Later, Zodiac (&hearts Mark Ruffalo!), Silence of the Lambs, the sequel Red Dragon even though it wasn't as good. I don't know! What should I do, f-list??

rubynye, your card arrived yesterday, thank you so much. I love that you put so much creativity and care into your gifts. ♥

I went to see the new Disney movie The Princess and the Frog on Tuesday! I'm not usually a big fan of kids' movies or cartoons but I enjoyed this. The heroine is Tiana, a black woman in 1920s New Orleans who dreams of owning her own restaurant. She is tough and hardworking and smart and loves her family. She reminded me a little of Monica, one of my favorite Heroes characters, who unfortunately never got to be a protagonist like Tiana is. I liked her and most of the other characters a lot. The songs literally had me tapping my feet and some of the jokes made me laugh out loud. Maybe next year I'll request Tiana/Charlotte for Yuletide!

kialio posted a great review at deadbrowalking aimed at people of color (and other people who like to avoid racist movies) with minor spoilers and a few bigger ones you have to highlight to read. ( A complaint about the middle of the movie, not spoilery for the end )

ETA: Nnedi Okorafor's review is a lot more spoilery but also interesting and insightful. It's just the kind of review I like to read after watching a good movie.

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you so much for signing up to write one of my fandoms! These movies are all pretty well known and accessible, and in my opinion very ripe for ficcing, but with a few exceptions for Harold and Kumar they just haven't been. I hope you're excited about the chance to write something new and that you'll go with whatever ideas appeal to you. If you're looking for extra guidance you can read my ramblings below, but know that I will be thrilled to read anything about these worlds and these characters. I go on about some more than others but I'd be just as happy with any of the fandoms, and I could go for completely ridiculous crack or something very serious about the meaning of friendship, family, or God. Just tell the story you want to tell and know that I will be delighted.

( Life of Brian )

( Harold and Kumar movies )

( About a Boy )

( Keeping the Faith )

( General )

Claudia and I both really loved the Star Trek movie despite not being Real Fans. Turns out she is a Kirk girl and I am a Spock girl so luckily we will not be in competition with each other. (And of course we are also both slashers so, honestly, we're okay with just sitting here and watching.)

I meant to come up with a bigger list of Yuletide recs before I posted, but the reveal is coming later tonight and I just haven't had a chance to read much yet, so I'm just going to post what I have now. ( Saved!, political rpf, To Kill a Mockingbird, Little Miss Sunshine, Homicide, Akeelah and the Bee )

Oh and also here is a challenge I'm stealing from oxoniensis: Six of the 2430 stories in the archive are by me. "If you guess one story correctly, I'll write you a drabble in one of the fandoms. If you can guess two of the stories, I'll write you a ficlet. If you guess three, I'll write a story. If you guess four, well, I think they used to burn people for that kind of thing." (People who betaed for me and Hanarobi are disqualified, sorry.)

Dear Yuletide Writer,

THANK YOU SO MUCH for offering to write in one of these fandoms! I was refreshing the requested fandoms page a lot last week and it was so exciting to see other people offering to write these as well as requesting them. Maybe you are one of the other people who requested the same things as me and maybe we will get multiple stories! Or maybe you are just a generous person writing something you didn't request. Either way, this is going to be awesome and I will love what you do!

I am pretty easy in that I like gen, boyslash, girlslash, and het, and I don't have a lot of squicks. So if you have a different idea from what I wrote in the details you should go with that! Last year (my first Yuletide) I wrote a longish letter about my general tastes in fic and that stuff all still holds.* This year I am just going to talk a little more about the fandoms I requested. They are all movies that are pretty easy to find so if you feel stuck on the one where we matched maybe you will feel like trying something else. ( Children of Men, Akeelah and the Bee, The Lookout, and Harold and Kumar )

I watched Day Zero last week. Didn't really care for the movie but I seem to be writing a drabble set about it, so that's fun. I'm not finished with it yet but let me know if you'd like to beta five or six hundred words for me.

Also finished watching season three of the new Doctor Who. Now that I'm mostly caught up with the new episodes I'd like to check out some of the classic ones but not, you know, all of them. Can any of you recommend some really good serials from the old days (especially Tom Baker era)? The only one I've seen so far is City of Death.

What about fic recs? I'd really like to read ( vague season three talk )

I've reposted my Yuletide fics and updated my fic index with everything I could find (even the haikus omg), plus a little reorganizing that I think is helpful. I've also been messing around with my journal's tags, though there's still a lot more to be done there (especially fixing those dumb links that I put in fic entries).

I signed up for remixredux08 earlier tonight and I'm hoping that when my remixer gets here they'll have an easy time finding things. If you were thinking about participating, remember that sign-ups close tomorrow night! More info here.

I've also just edited my LJ profile a wee bit – went in there to fix the tag links but ended up adding a few interests and other things. I like that it's now possible to choose who can see your birthday and your location. I've never had a problem with sharing that stuff with other people in fandom, but I didn't like the idea that someone who knows me from RL being able to recognize me just by glancing at my profile. So I've set that info to friends-only.

Speaking of LJ, I'm letting my paid account run out at the end of the month. I'm a little bummed about giving up the extra userpics, but otherwise it shouldn't be a big deal. I decided last summer that I wasn't comfortable giving LiveJournal money anymore, and since their policies haven't improved I don't want to go back on that now. Likewise, I'd feel silly and hypocritical having my friends giving them money on my behalf, so please, no gifts to this account, though I appreciate the thought and am thankful for the LJ gifts some of you have given me in the past.

I probably won't be around until Monday. I'm planning to see the movie Definitely, Maybe tomorrow and very much looking forward to watching the Oscars Sunday night. I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

On Wednesday my mom and I went to see Atonement. I suppose it won't be to everyone's tastes, but for me it was absolutely wonderful, and I recommend it very highly. Here is a non-spoilery review that we pretty much agree with. We especially like the part where the reviewer says that Joe Wright did a fine job with Pride and Prejudice but that this material is even better suited for his style.

My mom thinks it might be her favorite movie ever. She read the book last year and this was her third time seeing the movie. As soon as we got done watching I told her that I wanted to read the book and then see the movie again too so I could appreciate it better. I'm about a hundred pages into the book now and it's awesome in all kinds of other ways than how the movie was awesome. I am just thrilled with both of them.

I don't suppose there will be fic since there are no magical creatures, spaceships, or pirates, and it's not especially slashy. But I do think there ought to be fic for many reasons which include
+a precocious young girl with an overactive imagination who writes part of the story
+James McAvoy
+Keira Knightly
+James McAvoy With Scars
+Keira Knightly Practically Naked
( Mild Spoilers )

( One of the kinds of fic that I think should exist is Atonement/Narnia crossover! )

Pan's Labyrinth fans! There are two fics in the Yuletide archive. This is another of the fandoms I requested so it's almost like they were written for me. I missed the summary for Dream's Labyrinth so I read the whole thing and left a comment without realizing it was a crossover with The Sandman. *g* Very cool story though, dark and creepy adventures for Ofelia's little brother. Given and Won is a great fairy tale style story that talks about Princess Moanna from the Faun's POV.

There are quite a few fics based on the Hebrew Bible and all the ones I've read have been very good, but my favorites so far have been Tales Told in Egypt, in which Joseph tells his fellow prisoners stories from his family history, and Sweet, Salt, and Bitter, a surprising piece of Rachel/Leah femslash.

( More recs: Oscar Wilde RPF, Dead Poets Society, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Smoke Signals, and Pushing Daisies )