a sticky web

Clint, Natasha, Jeremy, Scarlett, and MORE. Some of this is NSFW, or at least iffy for work, so click at your own risk. Some of it is kind of schmoopy and will make your teeth hurt. But also makes me go "awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww."

( BlackHawk love from Tumblr. )

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New Bourne Legacy trailer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



*THUD*

My mind is a sticky mess from having been blown up by all the sexy images of Jeremy Renner as a super badass saving scientist!doctor!Rachel Weisz. God I hate her. And want to be her.

Must go recover now.

Matt Damon who? Jeremy Renner is unstoppable in new 'The Bourne Legacy' trailer

New 'Bourne Legacy' Trailer: Five Key Scenes

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Happy birthday to my dearest ropo today!

I finished ep 14 of Glee S3 last night. I'm just going to avoid talking about the "plot" shenanigans, as it is too crazy, incoherent, and frankly stupid to discuss. Instead, I am going to share with you my favorite cover songs from the season so far. Sadly some of the actual performances on the show aren't available on YouTube, but the songs themselves are. ( Yay fun music! )

I found this great Logan/Veronica video yesterday, and watching it reminded me of how much I'd loved that ship (the ship acronym was actually LoVe!) once upon a time... which made me pissed off all over again wrt what they did to it. F*ck you, Rob Thomas. The first season of Veronica Mars was amazing. It was so good that Joss Whedon was gaga over it (which was what made me interested in watching it), which he says himself he rarely gets over anything that isn't his own project.

The problem was, it was conceived of as a one-season show, and after that one season, things started falling apart. By the third (and last) season, it no longer resembled the great show it'd once been. One of the hugest mistakes they made was what they did with Logan and Veronica. (And maybe Logan specifically. But Veronica too. And the two together.) Logan was the Damon/Spike of the series. He wasn't intended to be the male lead or Veronica's primary love interest, or play such a big role, but he ended up doing so because the fans loved him, and loved them together. It got so that they let the other actor (the one who played her actual boyfriend) go, because, according to Rob Thomas, "it became clear that one suitor won out."

So they KNEW what the fans liked. And yet instead of nurturing that interest, they basically blew up the LoVe relationship, and not in the typical little bullshit ways to keep the viewers interested and wanting them to be together. Instead, they drove huge, gaping chasms between them in ways that were irreparable, or nearly so. I've never understood their reasoning for doing this. Were they resentful of the fact that people enjoyed Logan more than they were supposed to? Were they trying to kill the ship, which was cutting off their noses to spite their faces, since, as is the case with many shows I love, VM was a critical but not ratings darling? I just don't know if they did what they did out of ignorance, stupidity, or some misguided attempt to try and either kill the ship or keep people interested (???). In any case, what they did was destroy it, and since the show itself was faltering anyway, there was really nothing left to watch for, by the end.

Wow. I had no idea I still felt so strongly about it after all this time. LOL. Anyway, if you were ever a LoVe fan, it's a good vid that will make you nostalgic (and maybe mad when you remember the rest of it).

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I tried McDonald's sweet iced tea for the first time last night and oh my giddy god is it SWEET. I don't know how it compares to the sweet iced tea found all over the South that I read about in Jane and Michael Stern's Roadfood, but if it's anything like that, I have to tell you I cannot take it. I felt an onset of diabetes just from the one sip I had. O.o I went home and watered it down by 100% and IT WAS STILL TOO SWEET. It's like drinking syrup! Plus there was no taste of lemon, and I like my iced teas very lemony.

jade_okelani is going to be here in ONE WEEK. How is that possible?! Eeeeeee! I still have a lot of cleaning and organizing to do, for my own sanity, because Jade has already said she doesn't care.

Now that it's the end of May, all the TV shows are wrapping up, and I have sooooooooo much to catch up on. It's exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Over the long weekend I managed to finish all of Fringe S4. ( Spoilers! )

I'm also halfway through Glee S3! ( More spoilers. )

I've also seen the first 8 episodes or so of Parks & Recreation S4. ( Yep, spoilers. )

Also, of course, there's the latest Game of Thrones episode, 2x9 'Blackwater.' ( You guessed it, spoilers. )

Did I mention that I finally received The Walking Dead compendium from the library? I would have loved to have gotten it even a month ago. Now with my Avengers obsession I really couldn't care less. >< Sigh. And I've waited SO LONG for it.

Finally finished reading The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. It was recced to me by K's friend C, who LOVED it, and it's also got plenty of other accolades. I was totally underwhelmed by it. It's a work of historical fiction with two tepid (to me) romances, and far, far too much of the novel is pages and pages of dialogue describing some historical event! Horrible. I don't know how a novel like that could even get PUBLISHED, much less given praise. I can't believe it's compared to Diana Gabaldon's writing, because as much as DG gets far too into the history for my taste, at least her novels are complex and full of showing, rather than telling. Nearly all the characters and the plots of TWS left me cold or rolling my eyes. I hate to tell C what I really thought of it, though. She loves everything I've ever recced to her, and I know she really wants me to like it. Siiiiiiiiiigh.

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Guess what? 13oct has posted that Clint/Natasha is her new OTP and she wanted recs.

*cue evil laugh* Mwahaha. MwahaHAHA. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ahem. No, really, it is just very exciting to ship things with one's friends. Y'all agree with that, right? This is probably the first ship since... D/G that I have found so many of my flist in agreement and it's a great feeling. laria_gwyn, akscully, and jade_okelani are just a few others. I hope I'll discover that more of you are too, or will be! <3

So! Today I have more Avengers fanworks recs. ( Enjoy! (Be warned: There are a lot of them and is graphic intensive toward the end.) )

Then, separate but related, there is my deep and abiding love for Jeremy Renner. I've recently discovered that he can SING and play the PIANO, so as adelagia knows, this means it is all over. There's no going back from this obsession now.

( A few vids -- if you like JR totally must watch. )

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Title: Lifeline (AO3 link)
Author: sarea_okelani
Rating: R
Pairing: Clint/Natasha
Author's Notes: This is fairly lighthearted in tone. I've been reading some dark, angsty things and while I love dark, angsty things, and may write something dark and angsty eventually, this is not that story. This asked (nicely) to be written first, so I did. A lot of the backstory is my headcanon. There's so much comic book canon, some of which contradicts itself, and some of which the movie has contradicted, so I felt free to deviate a bit too. :-) In the movie, I think Natasha wears her heart on her sleeve a bit – okay, maybe not her sleeve, maybe someplace a little more hidden, but the point is that she cares for Clint, she wasn't particularly subtle about it, and it doesn't take a Tony Stark to see it. :-) This story is for that Natasha. Many thanks to ropo, who brings up Very Important Points such as "In the covers, or over the covers?" and jade_okelani, who always manages to talk me off the ledge. Lyrics by Angels & Airwaves.

( Summary: In the aftermath of Manhattan, Clint tries to remember what 'normal' was like, but Natasha's not making it easy. )

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I am slowly surfacing from my Clint/Natasha coma, by which I mean I am able to once again do things and be interested in stuff that doesn't involve them. I still mostly want to spend all my time with them, but at least it's not an exclusive relationship anymore. *snicker*

I did watch GoT 2x8 'The Prince of Winterfell,' but I barely remember anything about it, other than that it's probably the last time I'll see one of my favorite characters. :/ My lack of memory is partly due to the BlackHawk haze, and partly due to the fact that I had a really bad tummy ache when I watched it. That, my friends, is the price of gluttony. I seriously thought I might have to go to the emergency room. The only thing that stopped me was the idea of telling people that I had done it to myself by eating too much. >< ( Cutting the shameful story, might be kinda TMI. )

I also finished The Good Wife, season 3. TGW is one of those shows that I shouldn't like. It's on CBS, which is like, the most boring network ever, it's a procedural, and it stars Julianna Margulies, who I don't particularly care for (and never have, even on ER). And yet. It is a REALLY good show. The case-of-the-week plots of the weekly eps are almost always interesting and well written, while advancing the non-case-based plots, and it's well acted. It helps that I love both Josh Charles and Matt Czuchry, but they're honestly not the defining reason why I like the show. The only other person I know who watches TGW is corianderstem, which is weird considering it has like 10 million viewers (if only so many people could have been cool enough to watch Community). Anyway... ( my thoughts on The Good Wife S3. )

Oh, and of course the Other TV Thing I had to shoulder this past week... Dan Harmon being fired as showrunner of Community. The first thing I did was scream and rage and call both NBC and Sony a bunch of frickin idiots. The second thing I did was very similar to the first thing. The third thing I did was feel glad that there's at least going to be a final 12 episodes at all. Here's the thing. I feel strongly that when you take a smart, funny show that appeals to a small, select group of people because they all share in and appreciate that kind of humor, to then remove the guy who brought that vision to life, in order to make it more "broadly appealing," all you're going to do is ruin what it is, alienate existing fans, and not succeed ANYway, especially if you also combine it with moving the show to Friday evenings. But whatever. They have their reasoning, and Vulture has been able to lay some of those reasons out objectively in these two articles. Because I am a reasonable person, and because it seems they're trying to retain some of the writers (like Megan Ganz), I can now see where the other side is coming from, and I will give S4 a chance. I want it to succeed. But I pretty much think that by getting rid of Dan they're changing what the show is, and I just don't know if I would enjoy Community-lite. I do hope they prove me wrong -- but again, even if the show maintains its quality and awesomeness, they're not helping it with its current slot, so in that way they're dooming it ANYway. In which case, they might as well have either canceled the show outright or brought Dan back to run the final 12 eps.

And because this would not be my LJ if I didn't include some Clint/Natasha prettiness, here we go:


From here.

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Tumblr is totally owning me right now because All of the Awesome Avengers Things Are There (so many pretty pictures). ( I love, love, LOOOOOOOOOOOVE THIS. Spoilery for The Avengers. )

Just over a week ago -- I can't believe it's only been that long -- I had lunch with adelagia, and as often happens, we talked about fandom, specifically and in general. We talked about how we enjoy many TV shows and books and movies, but we've only written fanfic for a very small fraction of those, that it takes something extra to get us to actually write for a fandom. (We couldn't articulate what that "extra" is, though.) Two days later, I saw The Avengers.

It has now taken over my brain. It's ironic, really, that I was JUST talking to T. about fandom and what it takes to get into it in a certain way, and how rare it is, and then to get "infected" two days later is just... funny. I mean, it is. This is the fastest I've ever gotten into a fandom, both reading and especially, writing. Maybe it makes a difference that it's a movie, so there's not a ton of canon to catch up on. Well, of course it is based on comic book canon, which I have familiarized myself with on a basic level, but really 99% of the fandom currently is centered around movie canon (and headcanon derived from what we extrapolate from the movie), which is an important distinction to make because the comic canon is so vast and there are so many variations, and basically fans of BlackHawk movie canon generally pretend that Mockingbird and stuff like that doesn't exist. >.> Hawkeye and Black Widow have their comic book histories up until it collides with their movie history, and then the future after the movie is treated as 'unwritten.' Anyway, the three fandoms I've written for previously, REALLY wrote for, not just a drabble or two, had tons of canon because they were based on TV shows (X-Files and Merlin) and a long book series (Harry Potter). And I barely count Merlin because after 3 stories I was kind of done with it and never read all that many stories either.

The thing with Clint/Natasha is that the quality of the fic is... amazing. It is at X-Files levels. It's wonderful and intimidating at the same time. I'm frequently amazed by some of the things I read, which makes me want to throw myself on the ground and have a little tantrum because I feel like I can't ever match that kind of quality, and how much I wish I'd written that particular passage/turn of phrase. Then I take a deep breath and get over it, and count myself lucky to be part of a fandom that has a high bar, to challenge my own writing and at the same time get to read some pretty fantastic stories.

I don't know what did it, what does it, why this universe, why these characters. I've been really, really into stuff before. BtVS was my fandom after XF, but I didn't read that much fic, and other than one little drabble I never wrote anything for it, and I loved that universe, I really did. And that can be said for plenty of other TV shows/movies/books as well. Maybe it's just that age-old thing where I'm not given what I want in canon, so I have to get it from fandom. It could be as simple as that... But that's true for so many of them! So I don't know. That's really the answer. I don't have a clue.

Anyway, all I want to do right now is spend time with Clint and Natasha. They're in my head 24/7. I resent everything I have to do that is not writing a story involving them. This weekend it was K.'s birthday and she also wanted me to come over to play board games, so I went over there both Saturday and Sunday, but mentally for me it was like this HUGE CHORE. >< "But Clint and Natasha need me" didn't seem like a very good excuse. It's how I felt, though I couldn't expect her to understand it. In some ways, though, it's exhilarating to be this into a fandom again, in a way that I haven't been in a long time and kind of doubted I ever would be again. It's fun. I actually want to write, even though I'm so rusty at putting together an actual story with a beginning/middle/end that mostly I feel like I'm just writing drivel, but at least I'm doing it. The better stuff will come in time.

Plus I get to look at super pretty graphics like these: ( Because Clint and Natasha NEED ME, or rather, I need them, all of these are just from one Tumblr. But they are of the awesome. More varied recs later. )

Oh and I've now seen The Avengers 2.75 times. :)) There is a reason it has made $1.2 billion already. >.> And I can't wait to see it again!

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They aired the last 3 eps of S3 of Community all in a row last night. >< WHY DO THEY HATE THIS BRILLIANT SHOW. No one ever watches the good comedies, which means shows like Community and Arrested Development get undeservedly short runs. It makes me sad. ( Spoilery comments through S3. )

I had a FANTASTIC dining experience with K. on Wed night. She was invited awhile back, after being noticed at Tom Douglas's restaurants a lot, to join this special mailing list for VIP customers. Occasionally she gets invited to special events. Wed it was "Thai night" with guest chef Joseba de Jimenez (who used to own Harvest Vine). ( Cut for length. )

And finally, I bring you... The Avengers fanwork recs! I keep meaning to do this, but then another day passes and I consume more fanworks, so the list just keeps growing and it's getting overwhelming. Since not everything is on LJ, this is a good way for me to keep track of my favorites. This is a compilation of stuff I've found that I enjoyed, as well as recs from others.

( Avengers recs! Clicky this way. )

Wow, that was so fun. More to come, I'm sure.

Totally random cuz I just saw it on Tumblr: ( Look how cute Emilia Clarke is as a natural brunette!! I didn't recognize her at first! )

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Title: What She Owes (AO3 link)
Author: sarea_okelani
Pairing/Characters: Clint/Natasha (aka BlackHawk!)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 550
Summary: She can't pinpoint the exact moment her hopes were razed.

Author's notes: Just a short interlude with Natasha when she's regaining her bearings after scuffling with the Hulk.

( Read 'What She Owes.' )

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I am fangirling The Avengers so hard right now. I require all the Hawkeye/Romanoff fanfic you have. I know what you read was, "I would like some Hawkeye/Romanoff fanfic," but what I said was, "GIVE ME ALL THE HAWKEYE/ROMANOFF FIC YOU HAVE." (Bonus points if you can name what I'm referencing there... adelagia is disqualified since we just giggled about this not two days ago.) I thankfully have laria_gwyn on my flist because she has recced this story, which is several shades of fabulous.

I need to watch it again SOON. Maybe this weekend. It's one of those movies that won't be nearly as amazing watching on TV, so I have to enjoy it in the theater multiple times. I hope it's still playing while jade_okelani is here, because THAT IS HAPPENING.

Right after the movie ended and the credits were rolling, K. turned to me and said, "OK, WHO is this Jeremy Renner?!" :))))))))) HE IS MAGIC. HE IS EVERYTHING.

( Cutting for spoilers spoilers spoilers. )

I'm sure there are a billion other things I want to say, but it's 1am, I had a very greasy late-night dinner, and I really just want to fall into bed.

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Spring has arrived at last! I am LOVING the long, warm days. What I don't love so much? THE DAMN BIRDS. They're constantly trying to break into my house! Pecking at the chimney stack super early in the morning, setting Talis off, which wakes me from a sound sleep, and also they're trying to get into the attic. I hope those bird repellers I had installed hold out... I hated hearing the birds scuffling around in there in the mornings.

Had a fabulous weekend that consisted of meals and Pandemic with adelagia (though we did not win a SINGLE game). We had a great lunch at Boiling Point and a pretty darn good dinner at Rikki Rikki. It's amazing we didn't choke on our food because we started quoting Jimmy Fallon's "Downton Sixbey," and much hilarity ensued. Then there was Tilth brunch on Sunday with K. and her fam, and I'll admit right now that despite being family, being around those small children is very, very challenging for me. I'm just not a kid person. At all.

I've also been learning how to make fabulous beef roasts. I've been pretty happy with the results I've gotten so far, though I have yet to get a perfect medium rare -- that is my ultimate goal. And tonight is The Avengers with K.! We already have our tickets and everything.

Plus there is Game of Thrones. jade_okelani has now watched the first 3 episodes! Wheeeeeeee! She hates Sansa, but that's no surprise. Everyone hates Sansa at first. You'd be kind of weird if you didn't. After awhile, though, that forks into people who hate Sansa and people who love Sansa. I fall into the latter camp.

( Game of Thrones 2x7 'A Man Without Honor' spoilers. )

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Favorite Damon quote of the ep: "You know what else was her call? Everything bad ever."

( The Vampire Diaries 3x22 'The Departed' spoilers. )

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Soooooo I finished City of Lost Souls. It's one of the best "middle" books I've ever read... and in YA, potentially the best. Middle books -- or maybe I'll even say, second books in a series -- tend to be some of the weakest. It's sort of treading water in between the beginning and the end, and consequently not much happens. TOTALLY not the case with CoLS. :D ( Major spoilers! )

Last night I went to a PCC Cooks class... except it was less a cooking class than it was that they served us dinner. It's the first time I've ever done anything through PCC Cooks (which K. loves), so I didn't realize the distinction, I guess. It was good, but not worth the $50 I paid, even with the recipes they gave us. :/ I mean, the theme was "Madame Butterfly," the cuisine was Japanese, and it was REALLY simple. Nothing I couldn't have looked up how to make elsewhere, and with it being so simple, there wasn't a ton of technique to learn either. We started with a lovely dashi soup, followed by seared ahi tuna and shrimp tempura, followed by teppan-style filet mignon (TWO CUBES, so it's not like the portions were all that generous), followed by cherry sorbet and an almond pirouette. Each course was also accompanied by a wine pairing, a teeny amount that was just right for me. When I realized there would be wine I took a Zantac, which helped me not turn into a total lobster. (There's a tip for those of you who tend to get the "Asian flush"!) In a way it was a good thing that there wasn't a lot of hands-on stuff involved, because I wasn't really feeling up to it. I've been dragging a lot lately. :/

Awesome news... Community's been renewed for 13 episodes. I'm trying not to be bummed that it's only 13 eps, but imho they'll only order more eps if ratings improve, and there's no reason to suspect that they will. Sigh. Everyone should be watching this fantastic show!

If all goes well, tomorrow there will be Boiling Point with adelagia, Tilth brunch on Sunday, and hopefully The Avengers w/ K. sometime during the weekend. Wheeeeeeee!

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You guys, there's this guy who rides my bus (well, uses the same stop) who is SO good looking. He's totally my bus crush. I've mentioned him before, but I realized the other day who he reminds me of -- Joel McHale. It's his height and his looks. Except he's even better looking than JM, because he doesn't have JM's big forehead. He's just ridiculously attractive for a non-celebrity. I wish there was a way for me to surreptitiously take his photo so I could share it with y'all, but there's really no way of doing it without looking like a total freak. >< He's sat next to me TWICE, and one of those times I fell asleep and did not adhere to my personal space. He was cool about it, though. Sadly he's totally married and has kids, so there's no chance for anything. My heart just flutters a bit when I see him. :D

So yesterday someone once again assumed that I had fake nails. :))) I'm used to this by now because it's happened ever since I was in junior high. Since it's one of the few bits of me that I feel really good about, I'm not going to be falsely modest... I have attractive nails. Or maybe I should stop taking it as a compliment that people think my nails look fake? >< I can never decide. Anyway, when I was in junior high girls would think I had Lee Press-On Nails (*snerk* because that's what teenage girls would more likely have back then, rather than acrylics). As an adult, I always get asked if my nails are real (usually from other women, but once, a guy asked me!). At nail salons, the person doing my nails always remarks on how nice they are. It happens so often that at first I thought they just said that to everyone in order to get a better tip... but then I started noticing that they didn't say it to everyone. On the weekend when I was getting a manicure, not only did my manicurist compliment me, the woman doing the nails of the lady next to me started complimenting me too, reaching over to feel my nails, asking if I used vitamins on them to make them so strong (no), etc. Then yesterday when I was buying a Mother's Day card, the saleswoman asked me where I got my nails done, how much I paid, whether that price was just for a fill. And I was like, oh I don't know how much a fill is, these are my real nails. And a couple of times in the past, the person didn't even believe me! They asked to feel my nails to be sure!

Haha, wacky huh?? When my nails are short, they're nothing special. But when they're long, they look really nice. And I like having nice-looking nails. The problem is that I can't stand them for very long. Typing gets harder and I start missing letters, which gets super annoying (especially given how much I type). So I always end up making them short again, and the cycle starts all over.

But the thing that my nails have taught me, the thing I realized a few years ago, is that... there's no point to me trying to look like celebrity A, B, or C based on makeup, diet or any other products they might be endorsing. We're all born with what we're born with, and there's very little we can do about it. I don't do anything to my nails to make them the way they are, yet there are products out there that would purport to do so. That just makes me realize that the same is true of all products claiming to do anything. I can't have Nina Dobrev's body no matter how much I starve myself or work out. I can't have Connie Britton's hair even if I were to use her exact same hair care products or try to style it the same way. I can't have Alison Brie's eyes no matter how much mascara I use. I'm just me, you're just you, and it's totally cool. Knowing that is really freeing, in a way. I can only be the best me I can be. Which I'm not, most of the time. But at least I'm not trying to be the women I see in magazines, because I know it's not going to happen and I'm okay with it. If only other girls out there could realize the same. :/

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