My Top Ten Fave Episodes of 'The Professionals'...

In the_safehouse, rochvelleth inquired what our ten favourite episodes of The Professionals were.

Pros is a wonderful fandom. Just about perfect, even in its imperfections. Just remembering those delicious episodes in order to pick among them was a pleasure.
My Top Ten List:

1. Hunter, Hunted
   
2. Blind Run
   
3. The Purging of CI5
   
4. Runner
   
5. Wild Justive
   
6. Involvement
   
7. Take Away
   
8. Spy Probe
   
9. The Untouchables
   
10. No Stone

This is in chronological, not preferential, order. If it were in order... I think Take Away is my #1 favourite, with Hunter, Hunted and Purging in second and third place.

Happy Birthday Isagel...

To isagel:






May you have a wonderful day, followed by a wonderful year of creative fulfillment and good times. I love your writing!

Writer's Block: Your Favorite Series: One Last Go Round

Writer's Block: If you could pick any TV show that has been off the air to come back for one more season, which show would you pick and why?

Firefly, because it was brilliant, because I loved the characters, all the characters, and because there was so much story still to tell.

And because of its viewpoint on freedom.

Johnny Crow's Garden...

From August 21, 2008: Whether you usually read off of your own book pile or from the library shelves NOW, chances are you started off with trips to the library. (There’s no way my parents could otherwise have kept up with my book habit when I was 10.) So … What is your earliest memory of a library? Who took you? Do you have you any funny/odd memories of the library?

I spent a lot of my childhood and teens in the library. Usually it was the Hampton Park Branch of the Ottawa Public Library - anyone else remember that one, tucked away behind the stores? It always felt like a second home to me. I'm sure my parents took me to a library in preschool days, but I don't remember it. By the time I remember going to libraries, they were familiar and beloved places.

My first clear library memory was of the first time I checked out a book. I was six, and in Grade One. The Bookmobile came to Hilson Avenue Public School, and each person in my class was given a library card, printed on pink cardstock with their name at the top. We were told we could each take a book, and after some careful searching I picked up Johnny Crow's Garden. I didn't know it was a classic until two minutes ago, when I googled for it; but the cover picture of the lion and the sunflowers and the crow has stuck in my head all this time, with pleasure.

I remember this event because the librarian said to my teacher, "Isn't she too young to read this?" I was worried, then. I thought they were going to take my book away, and give me something childish and dull.

Instead the teacher smiled at me and said, "I think she can handle it."

I felt very proud, all the more so because my intent had been to ask my mother to read it to me. But fortified by the teacher's faith in me, I think I read it for myself.

Most of my other library memories are from much later - early teens - and are related to specific books. For instance, there was a long row of Georgette Heyer novels with matching bindings and colourful illustrations. I looked at that row of books for quite a while before deciding to check out The Nonesuch. Even looking at that cover gives me a happy sense of nostalgia. I wasn't sure what I made of it - it was a strange new universe there - but I loved it and went back for more, reading all the way across that shelf of books.

I don't remember the day I first found The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett, but I do remember the day I discovered The Disorderly Knights, the third in the Lymond series, the one set in Malta. I'd thought The Game of Kings was a solo book by an author who'd written nothing else. Then I saw this new book: Dorothy Dunnett, it said on the cover. I wondered if I'd misremembered the author's name, so I read the book jacket. Lymond, it said. It was another book about Lymond. It also said there was a book between this and The Game of Kings, called Queen's Play, but it was checked out, and there's no way I could patiently wait for it to come back. So I read The Disorderly Knights out of order.

Then after Queen's Play, which was eventually returned to the shelf, I had to wait for Dorothy Dunnett to write the next book in the series. It felt like a long wait. (It was.) One day I wandered in through the library doors, where they had a long hallway and a display case, and there was Pawn in Frankincense on display, published at last. We're supposed to be quiet in libraries, but I squeed.

Graduating from the Children's Books to Young Adult to (a little before my proper time) Adult Books felt like important rites of passage.

Who watches the Watchmen?

Fascinating news about Watchmen, the movie based on the Alan Moore comic book, scheduled to be released in March.

Will it be released now? I suppose it's anyone's guess, but chances are they'll come to an agreement. I hope. I saw a trailer, and thought - against all expectation - that the movie looked terrific.

Why 'fascinating'? Because Alan Moore is... a phenomenon all by himself. A personality, you might say. Because Watchmen has such an interesting history. Several people have asked me recently if the comic is really as remarkable as they say, and the answer is yes, even though, in many ways, I don't even like it all that much. But I admire it tremendously.

Edited to add: Here's the trailer, if you want to see it.

FIC: Torchwood - "Friendship" (1/1)

Title: Friendship
Author: fajrdrako
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Gwen, references to Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13
Length: 2621 words
Disclaimer: Not mine, no claims, all property of the BBC.
Notes: Spoilers for Torchwood series 1. Many thanks to my beta-readers gypsylady, jadesfire2808, and justinej. Cross-posted to torch_wood, torchwood_fic, and my LJ.

( Friendship )