tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514AndrasteAndrasteAndraste2023-03-13T07:08:39Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:589017Babylon 5 Fanfic: Signa Ex Diris2023-03-06T10:29:24Z2023-03-06T10:29:24Zpublic0<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/45421756"><strong>Signa Ex Diris</strong></a> (1742 words) by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andraste"><strong>Andraste</strong></a><br />Chapters: 1/1<br />Fandom: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Babylon%205%20(TV%201993)">Babylon 5 (TV 1993)</a><br />Rating: Teen And Up Audiences<br />Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings<br />Characters: Londo Mollari, Cartagia (Babylon 5)<br />Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes<br />Series: Part 3 of <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/series/2992">Transpositions</a><br /><br /><br /><b>Summary:</b> Cartagia has many tedious things to attend to before he can ascend to power. Perhaps this visit to the prophetess of Tuwain will prove more interesting than he expected.<br /><br />(More things from Andraste's hard drive! I wrote the first two parts of this all the way back in 2004, and then stalled out because I could not work out an interesting place for Londo to be in a genderswap AU. And then I felt very stupid for not realising much sooner where she would logically be located ...)<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=589017" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:585315Babylon 5 Vid: Brothers In Arms2022-12-17T15:06:27Z2023-02-13T16:01:59Zpublic0<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/43668880"><strong>Brothers In Arms</strong></a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andraste"><strong>Andraste</strong></a><br />Chapters: 1/1<br />Fandom: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Babylon%205%20(TV%201993)">Babylon 5 (TV 1993)</a><br />Rating: Teen And Up Audiences<br />Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings<br />Characters: John Sheridan, Delenn (Babylon 5), Susan Ivanova, Michael Garibaldi, Stephen Franklin, Jeffrey Sinclair, Londo Mollari, G'Kar (Babylon 5), Lennier (Babylon 5), Vir Cotto, Talia Winters, Lyta Alexander<br />Additional Tags: Fanvids, Embedded Video, Download Available<br /><p>Summary: "It's written in the starlight, and every line in your palm." A Babylon 5 fanvid.</p><br /><br /><br />Finally, after seventeen years, this is remade into a form where the aspect ratio is not borked!<br /><br />I am <i>so close</i> to having all of my vids in a state where I am not ashamed to put them on AO3. My New Year's resolution for 2023 is definitely to remake the last three. Especially since two of them are <i>Doctor Who</i> vids and the show is having an important anniversary next year.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=585315" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:580589Well, now I KNOW we're having an Apocalypse ...2021-09-28T02:34:36Z2023-02-18T05:42:05Zpublic8Stuff that has happened over the past week:<br /><br />1. Local anti-vaxxer riots that involved people spitting on healthcare workers and pissing on the Shrine of Remembrance.<br /><br />2. An actual earthquake.<br /><br />3. RTD is returning to <i>Doctor Who</i>.<br /><br />4. Plague continues, da capo al fine.<br /><br />5. JMS is rebooting <i>Babylon 5</i> on the CW?????????<br /><br />I think that I am going back to bed before something else happens.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=580589" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:580319Weird Babylon Alternative Universe #22021-05-03T13:53:33Z2023-02-18T05:41:45Zpublic3I mean, it's really more like Weird Alternative Universe #7003 since there are so many twists and turns in this story, but the one I'm thinking of today ...<br /><br />So my rewatch just hit <i>Interludes and Examinations</i>, a particularly painful point in the canon, and I had somehow forgotten that Morden only hears about Adira and her return to the station because he's in the right place at the right time.<br /><br />Of course Morden is casting about for a way to steer Londo back into his arms, so if that opportunity hadn't arisen he'd have had to find <i>something</i> else awful to do instead. And if Adira hadn't been right where she was, there's every chance he'd have picked the only other plausible target: Vir.<br /><br />I mean, I guess he chooses Adira intsead for good reason (more plausible that Refa would pick an insignificant former slave to poison than a fellow nobleman?) but if she'd shown up a week later Morden might never have known she existed.<br /><br />Probably the universe where Adira arrives back and finds Londo completely grief-stricken and seeking revenge on Refa for his friend instead of his lover is ultimately a worse one than the one that exists, since Adira is hardly going to be a position to accomplish what Vir does in canon. (For that matter, we don't even know her position on Narn-Centauri relations and/or Centauri expansionism and/or assassinating Cartagia.) But it would certainly be an interesting one ...<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=580319" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:579455Babylon 5 Fanfic: Publish or Perish2021-04-05T12:05:05Z2023-02-18T05:40:53Zpublic0<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30483639"><strong>Publish or Perish</strong></a> (3468 words) by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andraste"><strong>Andraste</strong></a><br />Chapters: 1/1<br />Fandom: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Babylon%205">Babylon 5</a><br />Rating: Teen And Up Audiences<br />Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings<br />Relationships: G'Kar/Londo Mollari<br />Characters: G'Kar (Babylon 5), Londo Mollari, Original Characters<br />Additional Tags: POV Outsider<br /><p>Summary: A future historian discovers documents G'Kar left behind on Babylon 5, and gets rather more than she bargained for. This is a problem for Narn-Centauri relations.</p><br /><br /><br /><br />(Has it really been eight years since I posted B5 fanfic? That seems absurd. Almost as absurd as this story.)<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=579455" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:578838Very Important Narn Questions2021-03-18T06:45:08Z2023-02-18T05:40:14Zpublic5Going through the Lurker's Guide JMS quotes in conjunction with my rewatch, I have been reminded that he said after <i>Parliament of Dreams</i> aired that Gilbert and Sullivan would be one of the rare subjects where Londo and G'Kar would find common ground.<br /><br />I think it's obvious that <i>The Mikado</i> is the best and the funniest if you are a Centauri who has spent as much time at court as Londo has, and equally obvious that G'Kar does not agree because when do they ever? I lean towards <i>The Pirates of Penzance</i> as his choice. But then, <i>The Yeomen of the Guard</i> is widely regarded as having the best score - not without reason - and I can see him inclining in that direction on musical grounds. Clearly <i>Pirates</i> is the most amusing option given he ends up with an eye patch, but do Narns even have pirates? I mean, they should, because Narn pirates would be cool as hell.<br /><br />... and the trouble with Twitter existing and JMS being <i>right there</i> where you can ask him questions is that I'm tempted to just go and see if there is a Word Of God answer to this, but also do not want to bother him. (And if he actually answered I know I would feel compelled to seek answers for other important B5 questions I have like 'how old are G'Kar and Londo, chronologically speaking?' and 'what year did the first occupation of Narn end?' and 'what are the Vorlons doing with that Centauri foetus?' And also 'are there Narn pirates, pls say yes?')<br /><br /><br />(Meanwhile: Delenn likes all the operettas the touring company put on for the ambassadors even though she doesn't really understand any of them, Lennier is politely baffled, Vir likes <i>The Goldoliers</i> because true love triumphs three times over, and Na'Toth just wishes that everyone else would stop humming.)<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=578838" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:578406Weird Babylon 5 Alternative Universe #12021-02-16T11:23:14Z2023-02-18T05:39:16Zpublic6The whole internet seems to be watching <i>Babylon 5</i> right now, either because it's streaming on HBO in the U.S. or because they bought the shiny remastered version on iTunes, and I am not an exception.<br /><br />First thought inspired thereby: it really is shiny and remastered! You can see the actual textures of the fabrics and everyone's fillings and even the nineties CGI looks much nicer. JMS is right when he says it looks better than the DVDs, so I'm thinking I dodged a bullet by not actually finishing that <i>Brothers In Arms</i> remaster before now because I'd just have to do it all over again <i>again</i> and that would have sucked.<br /><br />Second thought: JMS has been posting lots of B5 thoughts on his twitter, which is always delightful. Favourite story so far is about THAT scene in <i>Parliament of Dreams</i>:<br /><br /><i>Neither the director nor Peter warned the rest of the cast that he was going to climb up on the table in order to get their authentic reactions. Watch Claudia in particular as she loses it. (They also didn't warn set dec which is why the table threatens to collapse.)</i><br /><br />To which I can only say: <3 <3 <3.<br /><br />Third thought, brought about by <i>Midnight On the Firing Line</i> - there are so many tiny events that change everything that happens after them, and one of them is Londo running straight into Talia when he's getting into the lift and she's getting out. If he'd just been watching where he was going, maybe he'd have actually made it to G'Kar and shot him.<br /><br />I mean, not that he'd necessarily have succeeded in killing him - G'Kar was the revolutionary guerrilla here, after all, while Londo was busy being a hotshot pilot and presumably spending a limited amount of time shooting people with handheld weapons. Either way, though, Londo's ambassadorial career would have come to an abrupt end, and the Centauri-Narn war would probably have kicked off without Mr. Morden even needing to do anything.<br /><br />Fourth thought: gee, Kosh, how <i>did</i> that 'leave the Centauri and Narn alone and let them die out' thing work out for the Vorlons when the Shadows decided to start a war? (I mean, it seems like he changes his mind a bit later when he inspires G'Kar's new career choice, but still. He is not always right about this stuff.)<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=578406" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:576282Well, half of it works ...2020-12-06T11:44:36Z2023-02-18T06:02:55Zpublic3I saw a thread on meme today where you take your two favourite pairings and swap the partners and see if the results are still pairings you would like. This brought me to the realisation that G'Kar/Magneto is a perfectly cromulant pairing of freedom fighters bonding over REVOLUTION and I would certainly be into it.<br /><br />On the other hand, Charles Xavier and Londo Mollari would just would not work as a pairing on any level. Charles would find Londo fascinating and entertaining in small doses, but also exhausting, and I just can't see Londo being interested at all. Besides which, if Charles was in the B5 universe somehow he would be far too distracted taking over the Psi Corps to date anyone from there. (Obviously he is intending to run it in the best interests of the telepaths rather than EarthGov! Which I'm sure would work out for the best with absolutely no negative consequences at all ...)<br /><br />Meanwhile, I do not think Jean Valjean and/or Javert have done anything to deserve being anywhere near any of these people. (Javert deserves lots of things, but being dragged into the complexities of mutant rights and/or a very confusing space station is not it.)<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=576282" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:567427"In a hundred years it won't matter who we were. They probably won't even remember."2019-05-26T09:35:10Z2023-02-19T08:13:00Zpublic5I don't really have any interest in <i>Game of Thrones</i> - I never watched an episode of the show, and after reading an from one of the books decided that <i>A Song of Ice and Fire</i> was very much not for me. (It wasn't all the rape. It was the thing with the puppies.) This week I found that I have been pronouncing 'Arya' wrong for years.<br /><br />However, it turns out that I am still forced to have some kind of opinion about it this week, to whit: I don't know if I am more annoyed with a) the people claiming no show with a big ensemble and lots of ongoing story threads has ever pulled off a satisfying ending, thus indicating they've never heard of <i>Babylon 5</i>, or b) the people responding to the question 'but what about <i>Babylon 5</i>???' by saying that the fifth season sucked so it doesn't count.<br /><br />I don't even know where to begin with the first argument - <i>Babylon 5</i> might be my favourite novel on TV, but it's hardly the only show that's pulled it off at this point even if it's the earliest live action example I've watched. I know we were all disappointed with <i>The X-Files</i>, but not every show runner is Chris Carter. I mean, never mind B5 or its cousin DS9, <i>Transformers: Beast Wars</i> managed to do it! But also I just cannot cope with genre fans who don't acknowledge how important B5 was. (People who don't like it? Fine. People who don't want to watch it for whatever reason? Also fine! There are lots of things that are important that I don't want to read/watch/listen to. But you will not catch me walking around claiming that <i>Sons and Lovers</i> isn't a significant book because I hated it, or that <i>Last Year at Marienbad</i> doesn't matter because I haven't seen it.)<br /><br />As to the second group - I find them even more baffling. Yes, the pacing of the <i>first half</i> of B5's fifth season sucks because of the whole cancelled-then-uncancelled drama, and I won't argue that there aren't a bunch of other problems with the telepath arc. But then it course-corrects once JMS gets back to the original outline and the second half is as good as any other part of the show. (Frankly better than some. I would definitely rank it higher than the first half of Season One.) I mean, I know I am biased because the second half of Season Five has a lot of my favourite elements brought to the fore, but how does anyone watch the war the <i>entire show</i> has actually been leading up to and then tell people they shouldn't bother watching the season because there was a stupid song in it???<br /><br />I do sympathise with the people who hate the ending because of Lennier, though. (I mean, I disagree with them entirely - I think what he does is entirely in character and the logical end of the story of his life on the station. But I do sympathise.)<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=567427" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:564998A Revelation2019-02-10T11:34:27Z2023-02-19T08:19:26Zpublic2So, this week's <i>Star Trek: Discovery</i> got me thinking about moments when you realise that your favourite character is your favourite. Because, at least for me, with some characters it's practically instantaneous, and with others it takes a while, and sometimes I don't figure it out until later.<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://andraste.dreamwidth.org/564998.html#cutid1">Spoilers for this week's Disco. And also for who my favourite Disco character is, I guess.</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br />This is not the first time that this has happened - believe it or not, it took me until I got on the internet and started looking for fanfiction to realise that Charles Xavier was my Best Beloved. (Keep in mind that this was 1996 and there was basically no fanfic about him at the time. Had I a time machine, I would love to pop back to my annoyed teenage self and reassure her that this was not going to be a problem for her twenty years down the road ...)<br /><br />On the other hand, I knew that I loved Magneto basically as soon as he appeared and began talking. There's also the time the Twelfth Doctor was talking to a tramp about his face and I thought 'he is my favourite Doctor.' (I then told myself I was being ridiculous because it was far too soon to make up my mind after less than half an episode, but my love never wavered after that.) With Londo Mollari it took until he told Adira was his password was, and with G'Kar it was the singing to his lunch, so both of those happened pretty early. I think Merrill became my favourite <i>Dragon Age</i> character somewhere during that first hilariously awkward conversation with Hawke, but I don't think I knew that until at least the second time I played the game. I don't even <i>remember</i> a time when I didn't love Starscream - I definitely did by 1987 when I was distressed by his death. (Little did I know that he would end up dying and coming back in most versions of the canon to the point where I would become completely blasé about it.)<br /><br />... all of which to say, if there's a pattern in any of that, I do not know what it is. But sometimes you really don't know you love a thing until you think it might be gone. Or you cannot find any fanfic about it.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=564998" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:538223Confessions & Lamentations2015-04-15T22:29:01Z2023-02-23T13:35:45Zpublic14So, I finally finished updating those notes.<br /><br />*falls over and becomes one with inner self*<br /><br /><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/3716608"><strong>Confessions & Lamentations: A Babylon 5 Soundtrack</strong></a> (13216 words) by <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/Andraste"><strong>Andraste</strong><p></p></a>Fandom: <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Babylon%205">Babylon 5</a><br />Rating: Teen And Up Audiences<br />Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings<br />Summary: The story of thirteen prophecies, eleven tragic romances, eight wars, and one very special space station.<p>A fandom soundtrack for <i>Babylon 5</i>, originally made for the Fandom Soundtrack Project in 2005. Now 'remastered' and available on 8tracks.</p><br /><br />Irony alert: the notes for this FST are almost twice as long as the longest story I have ever posted to the AO3. But hey, <i>you</i> try explaining all of <i>Babylon 5</i> in less than 13,000 words with musical accompaniment. Especially when you've made a net addition of twenty-three tracks since the first time you did this.<br /><br />I have no idea if anyone will ever read any of it, but I restrained myself from making notes like UGH, LORIEN and LONDO AND G'KAR HAVE A DRINK AND IT IS THE GREATEST THING EVER and LONDO IS SAD AND IT'S JUST AS WELL BABYLON 5 DOESN'T HAVE KARAOKE NIGHT anyway.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=538223" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:536966In Sight of the Finish Line2015-01-24T11:50:36Z2023-02-23T13:31:36Zpublic3Dear Past Self,<br /><br />In future when you make fannish projects of any kind - be they fiction, vid or fanmix - I would like to request that you keep intact copies and do not lose them while transitioning between computers. It would save so much confusion!<br /><br />For example: according to the description, you used the third movement of Sibelius's second symphony. So far so good. Except that as you very well know, the second movement runs straight on into the third. Did you mislabel the track in the notes, and actually just use the fourth movement? Did you fade out the third movement at some point? Did you edit the two together and let <i>The Fall of Centauri Prime</i> take up twenty whole minutes of your FST? (I have to admit that this sounds like something I would do.) It is a mystery!<br /><br />Love,<br /><br />You, ten years older and unsurprisingly still in love with <i>Babylon 5</i>.<br /><br />If anyone out there *cough*wychwood*cough* knows how long the track between <i>Stars</i> and <i>Berceuse Pour Un Lion</i> is, I would love to know.<br /><br /><br />In other news, I have moved on from re-watching the condensed version of Season One to the probably rather less condensed version of Season Two. (Season One contains much material that is excellent and also vitally important, and I think everyone should watch all of it once. I feel no particular need to revisit the likes of <i>TKO</i> right now, though.)<br /><br />I am somehow amazed all over again at Londo Mollari's ability to make me want to hug him and slap him simultaneously. And also to yell 'this is a terrible idea and you know it, why are you doing this to yourself?!' at the screen as if he were a character in a very grim space opera pantomime.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=536966" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:536647A Voice In The Wilderness2015-01-18T13:50:10Z2023-02-23T13:30:38Zpublic3So obviously more tracks for the great <i>Babylon 5</i> soundtrack project means even more notes and quotes, which means some selective rewatching. So I saw <i>A Voice in the Wilderness</i> today for the first time in I can't remember how long. I had somehow managed to forget that this was the episode where Londo Mollari spends seven days trying to work out the deeper meaning of the Hokey Pokey. I had also forgotten that it's the episode where he says this: <br /><br />"As a young and foolish Centauri I swore I would die on my feet doing something noble and brave and futile. Perhaps it was not so wild a dream as I thought. Or as foolish."<br /><br />Oh, <i>Londo</i>. More proof that you should be careful what you wish for on this show, since he achieves three out of four in the end. (And is probably quite pleased that his death is not futile after all.)<br /><br />It occurs to me that somewhere in the multiverse, there is a reality where Londo ended up in the machine. Had Draal not been conveniently on the station at the time, it would apparently have come down to him or Sinclair. (We don't know for sure that the dying guardian didn't talk to other people, but if he did then it seems none of them were in a position to go down there and do anything about it.) While I'm sure Delenn is right when she says that Sinclair would have tried to throw himself in, he might not have got the chance in between all the shooting going on. While I doubt Londo would have gone to his destiny as eagerly as Draal does, that would have been a much happier fate him personally that what eventually happens to him, if not necessarily for the universe at large.<br /><br />How to tell I am back in <i>Babylon 5</i> space: last night I dreamed that Londo and G'Kar travelled in time from Season Five back to Season One, pre-<i>Signs and Portents</i>. Naturally they set off to stop either of their past selves having anything to do with a certain Mr. Morden. I suspect the major question there would be 'how long will it tale Post-Enlightenment G'Kar to punch Pre-Enlightenment G'Kar in the face?'<br /><br />(Not that Season One Londo wouldn't also drive both of them up the wall, but I suspect that they'd have a much easier time getting him to listen to their crazy story. Londo has three magic words that would force him to pay attention: 'Adira is dead.')<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=536647" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:536363Babylon 5 Soundtrack2015-01-17T13:24:20Z2023-02-23T13:29:10Zpublic10So, I was wondering: is there anyone, anywhere on the internet, who happens to have kept a copy of the <i>Babylon 5</i> soundtrack I made a decade ago? It turns out that between moving computers and getting rid of many of my physical CDs, I have managed to lose a couple of tracks. The things I'm missing are <i>Berceuse Pour Un Lion</i> by Daniel Lavoie and <i>Gracias a la Vida</i> by Mercedes Sosa. (I would cheerfully buy them, but Australian iTunes doesn't have them and I don't speak either French or Spanish well enough to go looking for them somewhere they might actually be.)<br /><br />I ask because I am <i>finally</i> getting around to putting it up on 8tracks and the AO3 along with the <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works?utf8=%E2%9C%93&work_search[sort_column]=revised_at&work_search[other_tag_names]=Fanmix&work_search[query]=&work_search[language_id]=&work_search[complete]=0&commit=Sort+and+Filter&user_id=Andraste">rest of my fandom soundtracks</a>.<br /><br />Of course, since it has been almost exactly ten years since I first posted it, I decided that I had to do a Special 10th Anniversary Edition. And since I am no longer trying to jam things onto actual CDs (was that really only a decade ago?) I decided I could make it longer! And now it is sixty-five tracks. (It was going to be sixty, but then I had to sneak an extra song into Season Four, and then it looked unbalanced so I tossed in a few more to even it out.) Naturally I'm going to be dividing it up into five when I post it to 8tracks, or nobody will ever get past the John Cage track in Season One.<br /><br />I quail at the idea of expanding the notes - they're already so long that they broke livejournal when I first posted them. It's nice to finally have songs for all the people and things I left out the first time, though, like Na'Toth and the Mars Resistance.<br /><br />It also gave me an excuse to watch <i>Parliament of Dreams</i> again and relive the moment when I fell in love with G'Kar. (He was singing to his dinner. I couldn't help it.) Also Londo becoming one with his inner self, and Na'Toth's introduction, and the parade of faiths, and all the other things I love about that episode. ('You will know pain.' 'You will know fear.' 'And then you will die. Enjoy your flight!')<br /><br />I am not rewatching any of the Season Five telepath arc just to make notes on Byron, though. Finding him a song was bad enough. (I already had one for Lorien, whom I hate far more, but it got cut for space on the original version.)<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=536363" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:521244The Unexpected Difficulties of Vidding2013-08-20T10:59:20Z2023-02-24T12:34:36Zpublic0Having finished my Vividcon premiere a while ago, I have been back working on the remaster of <i>Brothers in Arms</i>. This is taking far longer than I expected, for three reasons.<br /><br />1) It's a more technically complex vid than it appears to be. I think I can do a better job of the insets this time, but I'm not happy with the effect yet. (This is actually the part that I knew would take forever.)<br /><br />2) I kept terrible notes back when I made it, and finding some of the clips in five whole seasons of show has proved challenging. For example, apparently the clip of the Battle of the Line that I thought was from <i>And the Sky Full of Stars</i> is actually from <i>The Beginning</i>, and my DVD of that hasn't worked in several years. (I guess it's time to buy the movie collection ...) And Google doesn't always help as much as you'd expect. At one point, I searched for 'G'Kar, writing, prison' to figure out exactly what episode something was from, and the top result was <i>my own tentacle pr0n</i>. Which was amusing, but not very useful.<br /><br />Also, I have <i>not the faintest idea</i> where the external shot of the station I used is from. I mean, I guess I can use any shot, but it irritates me that I lost it. I liked the angle.<br /><br />3) It is really hard to vid and cry at the same time. You would think that having stared at the thing for hours and hours when I first made it would have rendered me immune, but no.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=521244" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:515820More Memeing2013-04-28T17:31:21Z2023-02-24T12:24:27Zpublic2Another response to my 'shipping meme from the other day.<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://andraste.dreamwidth.org/515820.html#cutid1">This time Londo/Timov.</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br />And because I was thinking of doing it anyway and <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://amatara.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://amatara.dreamwidth.org/'><b>amatara</b></a></span> already nominated G'Kar, a character meme as well. Give me a character, and I will tell you:<br /><br /><i>1. Do you love/hate/don’t feel strongly about this character?<br />2. What’s your favorite trait of this character?<br />3. What’s your favorite moment/event involving this character?<br />4. If you could have one power/attribute/etc. of this character, what would it be?<br />5. Have you ever pictured this character naked?<br />6. When did you fall in love/hate with this character? I you don’t have any strong feelings toward them, why not?<br />7. Who’s your OTP for this character, if any?</i><br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___2" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://andraste.dreamwidth.org/515820.html#cutid2">Answers about G'Kar below the cut.</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___2" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=515820" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:515371Londo and G'Kar: Shipping Meme2013-04-26T15:53:55Z2023-02-24T12:24:01Zpublic4For <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/'><b>selenak</b></a></span> because this got far too long to be a comment.<br /><br /><i>who cooks normally?</i><br /><br />Vir.<br /><br />Oh, you mean it has to be one of them? G'Kar, obviously. Because I cannot imagine Londo has ever had reason to learn, and he could probably burn water. G'Kar, on the other hand, seems to like cooking. I think Londo would really prefer it if Vir did it, given what Narn food is like.<br /><br /><i>how often do they fight?</i><br /><br />Ahahaha. I think a better question would be 'how many conversation do they manage to have that <i>aren't</i> fights?' And they wouldn't have it any other way.<br /><br /><i>what do they do when they’re away from each other?</i><br /><br />Well, Londo becomes Emperor and is miserable for a couple of decades. G'Kar roams the universe and is happy but has to appear in <i>Legend of the Rangers</i>. Clearly they are better off together.<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://andraste.dreamwidth.org/515371.html#cutid1">This is also too long for a post. Rest of the questions below the cut.</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=515371" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:511007Babylon 5 Drabble2013-02-18T15:54:49Z2023-02-24T12:14:18Zpublic0The first of the ficlets I promised for the <a href="http://andraste.dreamwidth.org/510811.html">Valentine's Day</a> quotes! (There are still quotes un-guessed, by the way, so if anyone else wants to try their luck ...)<br /><br />I picked G'Kar's line from the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j5KbvBL9T4s">greatest scene ever on television</a> the other day, but this is set during Season One and inspired by the very first time I thought Londo and G'Kar were slashy, way back in <i>Born To the Purple</i>. Because however you slice it, their body language in Season One is weird for two people who hate each other.<br /><br />Were they played by lesser actors, I'd think it was by accident, but we have plenty of evidence that Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas knew exactly what they were doing, from the way it changes after <i>The Coming of Shadows</i> and then keeps changing based on what Londo and G'Kar think of each other at any given time.<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://andraste.dreamwidth.org/511007.html#cutid1">Anyway, there is an entirely G-Rated drabble in here.</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=511007" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:509914Babylon 5 Ficlet: Unconscious2013-01-30T18:07:59Z2023-02-24T12:08:26Zpublic8... aaaaaaaaand insomnia is the perfect excuse to write another thing for Porn Battle before the deadline. At least I have used the time productively, if not wisely. (I am going to blame G'Kar for my sleeplessness and he can blame me for his.)<br /><br /><b>Contents:</b> Alas, not actually very porny. There are tentacles, though, so if that is not your cup of brivari you should probably go elsewhere.<br /><br /><b>Pairing:</b> Londo/G'Kar<br /><br /><b>Summary:</b> G'Kar's dreams about Londo are not the same as Londo's dreams about him.<br /><br /><b>Continuity:</b> Set at some indeterminate point in Season One.<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://andraste.dreamwidth.org/509914.html#cutid1">Read on ...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=509914" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:507747Argh!2013-01-06T12:40:55Z2023-02-24T12:03:58Zpublic5Simple thing that is not simple when writing <i>Babylon 5</i> fanfic: character ages.<br /><br />There is practically no information about the ages, relative or chronological, of the Narn and Centauri characters. We have two data points: G'Kar was old enough - just - to fight in the first war of liberation, which would be useful if the date of the end of the occupation were given consistently. (Some sources imply around 2209 and others around 2229.) We also know that Londo's Ascension Day was thirty years before <i>Soul Mates</i>, which would let us work out his age if we only knew how old Centauri are when they have Ascension Days.<br /><br />Now add in the fact that when characters talk about years they rarely specify whether they mean Earth years, Centauri years, Narn years or years in some intergalactic universal calendar. Even JMS does it - there's a newsgroup post where he says the average Centauri lifespan is around one hundred and fifty years, but he neglects to specify if he means Earth years or Centauri years. Not that we know how long a Centauri year is. (I've seen more than one chronology that assumes that Londo's Ascension Day took place thirty <i>Earth</i> years before his party. It seems unlikely that Earth years and Centauri years are identical in length!) Further confusing things, in one of the short stories Londo encounters a girl of 'sixteen seasons' who seems to be the equivalent of an Earth teenager, except we don't know how Centauri count seasons or how many they have in a year. And we can't really draw any conclusions about lifespans based on how much Londo ages in the two decades between Season Five and his death, given his, um, circumstances during that time.<br /><br />You would think that after all this time I would have learned not to bang my head against this particular wall, but no. I think I'm just going to have to cut the offending paragraph out of the story *g*.<br /><br />Possibly it's just as well that JMS didn't end up coming to Melbourne last year, because he probably doesn't need crazy fans getting up during his talks to say 'BUT HOW OLD IS G'KAR AND ALSO WHY DO THE VORLONS HAVE A CENTAURI FETUS AND DID THE CENTAURI GET THEIR PRECOGNITION FROM THE SHADOWS???'<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=507747" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:483712Funniest Spam Ever2011-09-11T13:09:35Z2023-03-02T11:08:37Zpublic1Well, probably not in the history of the internet, but:<br /><br />A spam bot just responded to some old Londo/G'Kar fanfic of mine with 'Get A Job'. I wonder if it meant to indicate that I was wasting my time writing tentacle pr0n, or if it thought I should turn professional? Sadly, I don't think anyone will pay me to write Londo/G'Kar bodyswap fic all day. (Well, uh, not officially. Given that I'm technically at work right now ...)<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=483712" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:469607Vid Index Post2011-05-09T07:48:31Z2023-02-14T01:58:32Zpublic5These are all the vids I have released. All of them are currently available in zipped files that you'll need to download and unzip before you can watch them.<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://andraste.dreamwidth.org/469607.html#cutid1">Vids await you below the cut</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=469607" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:449133Why Babylon 5 Season Five Is Awesome2010-07-27T02:51:20Z2023-03-07T07:59:28Zpublic2I realise I haven't been posting much lately - RL has been kicking me repeatedly in the head, I'm afraid. In the last week alone, I found out I failed last semester's exams, my grandmother was briefly hospitalized and my toaster broke. However, talk of my favourite TV show will usually summon me back to fandom. (For the record, <i>Babylon 5</i> is my favourite TV show. <i>Doctor Who</i> is my favourite multi-genre multi-medium ... thingy. I can't just count the TV show when there are so many awesome audios and books and comics.)<br /><br />Now, someone on my flist was asking what TV show she should watch next. Many commenters recommended <i>Babylon 5</i>, but with the caveat that the fifth season wasn't as good as the rest. This is one of those statements that makes me grind my teeth <i>every single time</i> I see it, and I see it a lot. Because while it does have some weak points, Season Five of <i>Babylon 5</i> also contains many of my favourite parts, and I don't just mean the ones involving the people in my Dreamwidth icon. So I decided to make a list.<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://andraste.dreamwidth.org/449133.html#cutid1">Full of GIANT SPOILERS for the end of the show. Seriously, you do not want to click this unless you've already watched the whole thing.</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br />So with all the above, I just can't accept that Season Five is the weak point of <i>Babylon 5</i>. It has its flaws, but on the whole it's a triumphant conclusion despite the circumstances under which it was written and made.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=449133" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:439214Random Crossover Thought2010-02-20T11:38:54Z2023-03-06T15:01:08Zpublic0So I am trying to work out which character to choose for <a href="http://sabinetzin.dreamwidth.org/208570.html">A Ficathon Walks Into A Bar</a>, and I have been struck by a random plot bunny of the breed that brought you the thought 'Ray Vecchio and Helena Bertinelli should totally hang out!" <br /><br />Because you know which characters should walk into a bar together? Londo Mollari and Charles Emerson Winchester. They would start out by insulting each other, because Winchester [1] would be in a bad mood from finding himself in the future where all his his medical knowledge is a couple of centuries out of date. Insulting is really his default mode anyway, and Londo would be happy to respond in kind. However, after a drink or two they would get onto the subject of MUSIC and then Winchester would find out that he's arrived in a time where you can put all you favourite recordings on a device that fits in your pocket and then there would be Centauri opera, and Earth opera, and they would probably get thrown out of the bar for abusing the piano.<br /><br />And after quite a few <i>more</i> drinks they might discover that they have problems as well as interests in common, as the only reason Winchester's <i>noblesse oblige</i> weighs on him less than Londo's is that he isn't going to be an emperor and his life-or-death decisions are thus strictly on the medical side of things. He would grok completely the story about Londo's first wife, for example. By the end of the night Vir and Radar would have to pick Winchester up of the floor, as he lacks the alcohol tolerance of the truly dedicated drinkers he bunks with, but I dare say a fine time would ultimately have been had by all.<br /><br />(I think it is safe to assume Hawkeye would be off somewhere being repeatedly slapped in the face by Talia Winters/Lyta Alexander depending on what season this was ...)<br /><br /><br /><br />[1] Whom I tend to refer to by his surname to avoid confusion with an entirely different bald aristocratic New Englander.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=439214" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-01:143514:428623Babylon 5 Not!Secrets2009-09-03T13:58:45Z2023-03-13T07:08:39Zpublic1I swear, half the reason I keep reading <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='http://fandomsecrets.livejournal.com/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif' alt='[livejournal.com profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='http://fandomsecrets.livejournal.com/'><b>fandomsecrets</b></a></span> is because every now and then someone bashfully confesses to 'shipping Londo and G'Kar and I get to point and laugh. (Not in a mean way, I hasten to add, just at the whole idea of fandom shame. We all know I have none.)<br /><br />Anyway, this time there's a comment thread about it, complete with incipient wank, <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/fandomsecrets/344319.html?thread=181515775#t181515775">over here</a>. Some anony-mouse makes that argument about slash I always find rather confusing: <i>Believe it or not, no matter what our sex-obsessed culture tries to tell us, men can have extremely close and--*gasp*--even physically affectionate friendships that are COMPLETELY PLATONIC. It's beyond sad to me that people constantly feel the need to warp them into something pervertedly sexual.</i><br /><br />First of all, I don't think Londo/G'Kar tentacle sexorz is perverted in anything but the 'hooray! perversion!' sense, although I don't expect everyone to agree with me on that. Second of all, there's a flaw in this logic that's especially obvious in this particular case. I think most people who ship Londo/G'Kar are well aware that men can have close friendships that are platonic, because <i>Vir is standing right there</i>. Most Londo/G'Kar 'shippers I know are also very invested in the Londo & Vir relationship, and don't see it as sexual. Many of us write fic about it! Moreover, I haven't noticed anybody slashing either Londo or G'Kar with Garibaldi, whom both of them are close friends with at different points in canon. They both have other important bonds with members of their own gender: Londo with Sinclair and Urza Jaddo, G'Kar with Ta'Lon and Marcus Cole. (I did write a story where Londo and Urza were friends-with-benefits during their youth, but it's hardly the only way to interpret things.)<br /><br />Slashers do acknowledge that men can have platonic relationships with each other. Yes, even those who don't also write gen. Sometimes I want to write ampersand about platonic relationships between guys, sometimes I want to write slash. Sometimes I put both in the same story! The two are not mutually exclusive.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=andraste&ditemid=428623" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments