So, this is that thing where I rec a fic that I beta-ed, and have no shame whatsoever about it. (Well, OK, I have a tiny amount of shame; if I didn't, I'd be reccing it on three_settings while it's still free-swim. Someone else should totally get on that.)

Solace (I'm linking to the top of the post to give you a chance to check the lengthy warnings before you continue, but none of it's stuff that I consider sufficiently extreme to warn for here in the rec) is an awesome Handy/Rose fic of awesomeness. On one level, it's an astonishingly hot kinky porn fic of astonishing hot kinkiness, but it's much much more than that: it's a brilliant exploration of Handy, building on the ways in which he is like and unlike both the Doctor and Donna, while trying in an almost tragic way to be the Doctor, because that's what everyone, Handy included, expects of him.

It's written from an utterly believable Handy POV, and the sex elements (which are many, varied, and HOT AS HELL) are used to build a fantastic portrayal of the ways in which Handy's relationship with Rose over in Pete's World is based on being like the Doctor, but gradually evolving into its own thing, just as Handy becomes a separate individual. The whole thing has a wonderful sense of reality to it in the sense of being true to how people and relationships work in real life -- the ways the characters interact, even the fantastical elements related to Handy's Doctor-and-Donna origin (remember how I said it was hot as hell? the Donna/Lee flashback bits in particular are amazing), and especially the way things are not left too-neatly resolved at the end, are all utterly convincing. It's a brilliant piece of writing, and one of those rare fics that completely convinces me that it's written by someone whose handle on what's going on with the characters is not just as good as that of the canon creators, but better.

I'm disappointed; none of you asked anything really wanky, though I'd have been happy to tell the truth. I did consider cheating and adding the questions that would prompt the rants I really want to write, but that wouldn't really be in the spirit of it. (Free opinion, though: if Torchwood hadn't had a Who connection, I'd have given up on it in disgust after the first Day One.)

( Some discussion of third hand specials/S5 spoilers/spec, be warned )

For various reasons, not least procrastination:

Ask me anything fandom-related and I'll answer honestly in a separate post. Comments are screened so no one needs to know it was you who asked.

I have found it very hard to work out what I think of this one, and last night I felt very much as though I was being buffetted by whatever opinion I'd most recently read. But having spent a day thinking about it when I should have been working, I am currently of the belief that I liked most of the bits of it individually, but I didn't like the way the bits added together at all.

( The same thing, but tl;dr and with spoilers )

Apparently assignments are now imminent, so:

( Dear Yuletide Author )

Finally watched it via iPlayer. OMG so good. It bothers me a bit that the kids' spinoff tends to manage to do certain aspects of these things better than either the parent show or the supposedly grown-up spinoff.

( Random list of spoilery thoughts )

( Also, randomly, possible S5 spoilers )

I need an SJA icon, I think.

Just done a bit of a flist-trim. Mostly about time I have to read vs time it takes to read, but the odd bout of paranoia too. Do feel free to PM if you're perturbed in any way. And every day is Defriending Amnesty Day round these parts, in case that needed to be said.

While we're sort of on the topic, I'm conscious that I remain as useless as always at responding to people's posts in any sort of constructive way, because in the absence of telepathy actually working thinking good thoughts at you doesn't really help. *hugs* to all as need them and congratulations to everyone who's had good things and ... oh, well, you get the idea. Pretend I'm better at this than I really am, is the subtext.

I have decided that part of my malaise at the moment is that I'm not doing enough of the sort of fannish stuff I actually enjoy (i.e. writing fic); this is allied to, but separate from, my issue with feeling oppressed by the stuff I haven't done. To combat both of these, I've joined lizbee's 666words thing [plug, plug, plug] which is a 40%-of-nano-but-the-words-can-be-on-anything thing, in the hope that it will encourage me to deal with all the stuff I haven't. I will probably do boring word-count-ish posts as I go along, but they would potentially be very spammy so here is a poll (the second option on the first question is fairly pointless, come to think of it; I will only add people who opt in):

Poll #1477633 Filtration poll
This poll is closed.
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: Friends, participants: 19

Do you want to be on the incredibly dull word counts filter?

Obligatory poll option is obligatory.

ETA: Just remembered the other thing I was going to say. The idea that I'm going to have a month of "This is the Voice of Light City, welcome to your new workday; today is High Productivity Day"s kind of tempts me to sign up for Yuletide after all. Please to be dissuading me. Or suggesting fandoms. I wanna stay away from Britcoms this year if I do do it.

ETA 2: Closed the poll as I've now made the filter. I'm still happy to add people, though; just shout in the comments.

Pizza and Darkplace make everything better.

It's a long time since I properly watched Darkplace, rather than mainly listening to it in the background while I do something else, occasionally glancing up at the screen. It's hilarious enough in that mode, but paying attention to the visual side of it reveals jokes that I'm sure I saw the first time around, but which I've completely missed ever since -- things like Thornton's shovel turning into a styrofoam cup with a new camera angle and the lip synch being off and ... oh, it is a work of comic genius.

I am posting this publicly because I am utterly sick of feeling like I can't get on and do shiny things A, B and C because I've been super-faily and still not done X, Y and Z that I was supposed to do ages ago. But I am still determined to do X, Y and Z 'cos dammit I want more than anything else to stop failing. October should give me a decent-ish amount of free time so I am going to get my hands on some round tuits. Basically, by putting this all out there I will have the extra motivation of avoiding the shame of not doing the things I said I would, but a slight element of feeling free to take on new things to put on the bottom of it.

( If there are things you think should be on here that aren't, poke me )

(OTOH, if I look like I'm even thinking about even glancing at the Yuletide fandom list, KICK ME HARD and point me back to this post, k?)

From everyone ever:

Ask me my fannish Top Five [Whatevers]. Any top fives. Doesn't matter what, really!

Last one for this go round! Requested by elliptic_eye.

( Porny fic discussed below the cut )

Requested by radiantbaby.

Warnings that were too long to put in the cut text: it's an NC-17 fic so NSFW and all that, there's some minor discussion of spoilers for the upcoming specials/S5, and there's also very vague spoilers for Time Traveller's Wife, if that's something you're worried about being spoiled for.

( Wow, it turns out I had quite a bit to say on this one )

Requested by livii

( Weirdy parallel universe wibbling under the cut )

Requested by biichan.

( Romana/Duggan the long-winded way )

This is that meme where you do the first lines of your last 20 fics (which rather neatly takes me back to last year's bluesuit_fic, this year's version of which is what this is procrastination from writing), last seen with everyone. It is in order of posting-to-Teaspoon-ness, out of my laziness.
( under a cut )
(Erm, yes, I do know I haven't done any of those DVD commentaries yet, but I will do them next week. And I did get your email, biichan, and will attend to it later today. I wish I had a good excuse for being a flake this week, but the simple fact of the matter is that I reinstalled Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords on Monday and have been playing it pretty much non-stop ever since. OMGsuchanawesomegameshameabouttheendingbutnevermind)

Fic: Days Like Crazy Paving, PG-rated metatastic post-Time-War Mel/Ace fic for glinda_penguin in the femslash09 ficathon.

Meme: Now that I have Free Time once more, I'm going to do another go round of the DVD commentary meme, because I am a bit in love with rambling on at length in a pretentious and self-involved way.

Request any fic of mine and I will provide you with a commentary/annotations, like a DVD extra.

(In previous iterations, I have covered Going Forward, In All Her Beliefs, The Turn of the Universe, Hardly Moving Yet and Do You Remember the First Time?)

A picspam made entirely of pictures you have seen hundreds of times before.

( Nyssa/Tegan )

( Bonus: Nyssa/Turlough from that Terminus photo shoot )

(all nabbed from shillpages and THT, obviously)

( Long Torchwood reaction post is long and filled with my obscure personal obsessions )

Anyway, I need to go write my femslash09 fic now.

I am going to have proper thinky thoughts about the whole thing tomorrow, but briefly ( I'm going to talk about spoilers )