Oh my god, I waited 3 years for this?

The bridge is nice. I also like the line "I've got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined / I check it once, then I check it twice (oh)"... winter is coming, hos.



Otherwise... she doubled down, guys, she doubled down. There's no nuance, no acknowledgement of wrongdoing, nothing. This is all the unflattering and aggressive lyricism of Bad Blood times 10. "I don't like you," OMG, woman you're 27. "But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time" who you think you fooling? I buy Stronger and I will survive because Britney sounded like she had skin in the game and actually sounded a bit hurt, and Gloria acknowledged she wasn't sure if she'd get through the breakup. I didn't buy Kelly Clarkson's Stronger because she never even sounded wounded by the "relationship" she just got out of. Similarly I don't buy Taylor's "I got smarter" because everything that happened to her sound more like annoyances than actual character-building moments.  

As for "The world moves on, another day, another drama, drama / But not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma / And then the world moves on, but one thing's for sure / Maybe I got mine, but you'll all get yours" are you sure that's a sentiment you want to memorialize in song? Everything passes, life isn't fair, and some people never get their just desserts. Maybe if you moved on and think about something other than "karma" the music would improve. Everybody else has moved on! This is all horrible, bitter stuff, and a statement-making, attention-grabbing choice for a lead single. But it sounds like arse and may affect the performance of future singles.

The chorus is worth a paragraph for itself. The minimalist chanting is an interesting stylistic choice that definitely makes an impact. "Look what you made me do" is a terrible line that absolves herself of any blame in the Kimye situation and actually sounds like something a domestic abuser would say. Was this part meant to be a bit disturbing? Well, bravo, this whole song is a disturbing look inside a troubled mind. Also it sounds like shit. If "Look what you made me do" really means "Listen to this song that you made me write" please, nobody piss her off anymore, my ears won't be able to handle it.

I don't know what role this song plays in the context of the upcoming album but hopefully the rest of it isn't in denial of the fact that she was the one who screwed the pooch. I hope I'm just getting played and this song isnt representative of the entire album, but last time I hoped that the heroine wasn't an idiot, Arya got caught off her guard and stabbed on a bridge in Braavos. I'm hoping that she's smart enough to realize that Littlefinger is playing her and Sansa but I am not really so optimistic about that. Or Taylor Swift's sixth album. 

Title: Greatly Approved
Author: damular
Fandom: Dragon Age (Dragon Age II)
Pairing: F!Hawke/Varric
Categories: Romance, humour, friendship, book clubs, meta
Length: 35k
Warnings: Subtle R
Summary: An apostate's guide to popular fiction. (Or: Hawke runs headlong into Cassandra's book club, Varric comes along for the ride.)

My thoughts:
Damular's rendition of Hawke perfectly illustrates why I can never not play Purple!Hawke. This story is fun. The characters play cards, cavort in a tavern, and read one of Varric's pulp novels.

"That's great, everyone's caught up!" said Dagna. "If we're all good with it, I thought we could start by going around in a circle and reading our favorite part out loud, just to get a feel for the rhythm of the story. It can be a scene that you thought was funny, something that struck you about the characters, interesting development of the novel's world...anything!"

...

Hawke cleared her throat and read: "'Shit shit shit!' said Knight. 'Shit shit shit, what the shit!'"

Which is not to say that it's all fun and games. The author builds tension very well, partly through the use of dramatic irony and partly through the use of these really well constructed sentences that just perfectly capture the self-loathing and misery of unrequited love without belabouring the point. I felt my stomach lurch emotionally at five or six different points during the story. It was great. I love it when the understated emotional anguish of fictional characters makes my insides contract in sympathy.

And fuck, it's so nice to see Hawke happy with someone who has their shit together. The contract scene - well, I thought that the contract-writer was being kind of unrealistically pragmatic until I read a line in it that I love - "He bent his head and ran one hand over his hair; Hawke suddenly realized that he was nervous. ". The tone of this whole fic is generally light-hearted but the blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments like that become so much more poignant as a result.

To end this rec post, I present two more of my favourite spoiler-free quotes:

"It is a masterpiece," said Cassandra. "And a clear allegory for Andraste and Maferath—"

"What?" said Dagna. "It is not! It's a radical political tract disguised as a post-imperial meditation on chance versus divine decree!"

"Excuse me," said Dorian. "If I may cut in, what is this book we're supposed to be reading?"

Cassandra shot him a black look. "It's about two elves—"

"Ah," he said. "Genre romance for the niche market, say no more."

***

"What I believe Lady Pentaghast is trying to express," said Dorian, "is her dissatisfaction with the ending."

"Why, is something wrong with it?" Varric pulled away from Cassandra and circled around to the head of the table; there wasn't a chair, but he set his tankard down and leaned against the wooden post there.

"Yes," said Dorian.

"Everything," said Cassandra, who managed to pack as much passion into that one word as most poets did into entire epics. Hawke was impressed.

Varric sighed. "Ah, fans. Always thinking they know better."

By the way I've started a Game of Thrones fantasy league. Join up before drafting on Sunday.

Join here: http://www.fantasizr.com/joinleaguelink?league=6005360961781760&key=8Fe315d3fABca1bcD4CeDC70BcDA4D ;

 I suggest turning on autodraft in Settings > Draft Rankings. Your characters get points for being awesome, getting naked, or drinking (among other actions).

Info here: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/7/15892436/game-of-thrones-season-seven-preview-fantasy-league ;

There are no more Stargate Atlantis episodes for me to watch.

But, I've figured out that I can filter out tags and pairings on AO3, so I've got that going for me now. 

And there's, like, four dozen "official" novels. 

There's something special about the first POTC movie. I'm partial to the third one (is it the soundtrack? the finality? the wedding scene???) but this guy made a whole video about it. Worth a watch.

Last week all the snacks were replaced with Munchies snack mix and the bottom flap told me to smoke weed everyday.

Also, Bioshock Infinite was not the game I needed to play last week. Its themes of american exceptionalism and nationalism are, how say, a lot more relevant now than they were in 2013. And I already knew the ending but this time I found it impossibly hopeless and demoralizing because sometimes things never change.

There are a million million worlds. All different and all similar. Constants and variables. There's always a lighthouse. There's always a man, there's always a city... I can see them through the doors. You...me, Columbia, Songbird... But sometimes, something's different...yet the same.

 - The neighbour cut down their tree in the front yard. There was nothing wrong with it. They just didn't want the roots creating lumps in the driveway.
- Gotta socialize at an industry mixer today. I don't really want to...
- Need to write several pages about machine learning techniques. I'm not qualified to do that. Profs should have hired a fourth-rate CS grad student instead. 
- Reyes Vidal. 

- Making the training set for my thesis work :(
- Finishing the minor revisions on That One Paper (... There is only one paper)
- Finishing Adam's X-Wing (why won't he try it himself?) 
- Visiting Justin and eating Justin's food
- Betaing a Solas/Trevelyan kinkmene fill (It's going to be, like, 10000 words long and it's really good so far!) 
- Climbing into probably some SEWER TUNNELS to get a D5/T5 geocache! 

Ever since Archie comics shook off the Hays comic code they've been doing some interesting things, chiefly Afterlife with Archie, but now also Riverdale. I have some small thoughts about episode 1 - river's edge:

- I like the casting! Veronica (Camila Mendes) is an excellent pick, for sure and she has the best material this episode. Archie (K. J. Apa) looks like a slightly younger Andrew Garfield and Betty (Lili Reinhart) looks like Heather Morris from Glee. I guess it's worth mentioning the cast diversity, relatively speaking. On paper everyone (except Chuck and Nancy) look white as mayo, but Josie and the Pussycats are clearly set up as Destiny's Child, Reggie and Dilton are now the Cool (douche) Asian and Asian Nerd respectively, and Veronica is now Latina. So, this is very cool! 
- That being said I still think it's very weird for actors in their 20s (... Cole Sprouse) to play 15 yr olds. Is it normal for 15 yr olds to be ripped? 
- It's also very odd that Miss Grundy looks nearly the same age as the students... and I can't believe she's in that romance subplot. Squick. What the hell? 
- the dialogue is pretty stylized, but after all, Riverdale is more Brick than Mean Girls. This is not a bad thing. 

My personal predictions, which i will update as time goes on: 
- Betty is going to go completely off the chain by the end of the season, out of stress, and... extenuating plot factors that force her to grow a backbone. Also, I can't see her accepting what Archie was up to that summer. 
- Miss Grundy is going to die. 
- It's jarring that Kevin acts so flamboyant in an adult way at the tender age of 15. IDK it felt a lot more subdued when Kurt in Glee was camping it up. I wouldn't be surprised if they reveal that Kevin did the wild thang for the first time when he was 13, is extremely traumatized on the inside, and pulls a Brandon from Easy A. And dies. 
- Cheryl didn't commit the murder. That's too obvious. But they're definitely incest twins. That's a known fact. She is going to survive and be very unhappy. 
- Veronica is going to die, because she's currently my favourite character. And she's not really reformed right now. 

Title: Scenes from an accidental courtship
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Pairing: Sam/Daniel
Categories: Friendship, romance
Length: 25k
Warnings: None
Summary: "No, not that way. We were really, really good friends." And maybe just a little bit more. Season 7 behind-the-scenes friendship and romance.

Link

What I thought:

OH MY GOODNESS, I don't think I've had so many FEELS to deal with since, like, Kirk/Spock.

This fic hits soooo many points for me. I didn't even know I shipped Sam/Daniel until I read this fic. But what do I know? When I started out reading HP fanfic I was only into canon pairings. And here, having only touched the tip of Stargate fanfiction, I thought that the SG-1 team members had the sexual chemistry of four pumpkins all spaced a polite distance apart from each other. I've tried a few shippin' fics already but none of them have really SOLD their pairings to me yet, y'know?

Well, the characterization of this fic is believable. Which makes the friendship component believable, and the friendship component of this fic is what makes it goes down smoothly. If the friendship aspects of the fic are believable, it's only a gentle slide down to being open to the romance aspects of the fic. But thank goodness the fic is only rated T because I might have not have been able to suspend my disbelief otherwise. Maybe another time, yes? But small steps first.

I also love way that Sorrel draws out the friendship aspect of the fic to add tension so that every time the romance aspect steps it up, I'm more than ready to accept it. Also, UST is delicious.

The last two paragraphs are a kick in the teeth. There is a sequel (Winter). I need a sequel between this fic and Winter in my life, but there isn't one!!!

Anyways I now find Sam/Daniel utterly obvious and natural and all other pairings are ruined for me temporarily.