Winter Solstice, Camelot Station...

This is quite possibly my favourite poem of all time. I read it every Christmas. It makes me smile to just think of it. It is the perfect Arthurian poem. I love it so much I'm almost embarrassed to post it: medieval steampunk. It was published in Godwin Parke's Invitation to Camelot.

Winter Solstice, Camelot Station

Camelot is served
By a sixteen-track stub terminal done in High Gothick Style,
The tracks covered by a single great barrel-vaulted glass roof framed upon iron,
At once looking back to the Romans and ahead to the Brunels.
Beneath its rotunda, just to the left of the ticket windows,
Is a mosaic floor depicting the Round Table
(Where all knights, regardless of their station of origin
Or class of accomodation, are equal),
And around it murals of knightly deeds in action
( Slaying dragons... )

Writer's Block: Grab and Go

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Huh? What would they have that I would want? I can't think of an answer. There's probably something. Do they have information about the legendary Secret Vatican Archives? Who really killed William Rufus? The Secret Diaries of Henry Plantagenet?

Naw. They just deal in boring modern stuff.

Doctor Who: interview with Tennant and Davies...

Tennant and Davies talk about, among other things, John Barrowman's penis.

From The Times: I get tired of some of the Same Old Questions, but there were some delightful bits in this one - those men are delightfully funny. (A chipmunk drama? If Davies writes it, I'd watch it, god help me.) ( Highlights... )

Doctor Who and Neil Gaiman...

I just listened to an interview with Neil Gaiman on CBC Radio, which was, of course, mostly about Coraline. And Neil Gaiman, as always, was interesting and articulate, though he didn't say anything I haven't already heard.¹ The interesting part was this: they were talking about what does and does not entertain children, and Neil Gaiman talked about Doctor Who, saying that: "You may not remember the name of the companion but you love those villains."

As a kid, if I'd had a chance to see Doctor Who, I would be the opposite: I would love and remember the companion with a passion, but the villains wouldn't mean much of anything to me at all. Same as now. It isn't Davros I'd be remembering with nostalgic fondness.

Then in The Times interview, David Tennant said, "The competition winner from Doctor Who magazine was on set today, a 15-year-old girl. When I was a kid, 15-year-old girls didn’t watch Doctor Who." He was talking about the cross-generational effect, but I was thinking about the cross-gender effect. Are little girls as fascinated as little boys are by the monsters and the villains? I would argue that it's the psychological factor, the interactions between the Doctor and those around him, that brought in the adults and the women. Including the fifteen year old girls.

¹ A sure sign I've been reading and listening to too many Neil Gaiman interviews.

Supernatural: Castiel...

Perhaps I might explain exactly how explodedteabag inveigled me into watching Supernatural... with no resistance on my part. Even though I'd said, after two attempts, that I'd never watch the show again. And telling me 'it's good' didn't work; that's too subjective.

explodedteabag knows my weaknesses. The original conversation went like this:

"You know, Supernatural has a John Constantine character in it now."

This caught my attention big-time. "It does?"

"Uh-huh. Trench coat, the look, everything. He's not blond. But he's very like Constantine."

Of course that caught my interest. If you aren't familiar with John Constantine in DC comics, the character who closely resembles him is Castiel, who is remarkably like him in look, style, characterization - everything. Don't be misled by thoughts of Keanu Reeves; I'm talking about the 'real' Constantine. Though I suppose Castiel is a lot nicer, and not rough or scruffy enough. And John Constantine in the comics doesn't have wings. Still. Very close.



See also this quote from the Supernatural wiki: "Misha Collins who plays Castiel reports that "Kripke wanted to base the look of the character on the comic book character 'Constantine'". No kidding.

After we watched it, when I was enthusing over the character of Castiel, explodedteabag said, "You can't resist the power of the trench coat."

Guess not.

I have my weaknesses and they are utterly transparent.

I see people are already writing Dean/Castiel slash. Inevitably.

April Snow - The Horror...

Yesterday I was wandering around the neighbourhood happily taking photos of crocuses and springtime sunshine. Today, I got to to see this - the view from my living room window:



( and this... )

FIC: Torchwood - Unexpected Snow

Title: Unexpected Snow
Author: fajrdrako
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack/Ianto
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine, no claims, all property of the BBC.
Notes: Cross-posted to my lj, and to torch_wood. This was written to cheer me up, because we had snow today.

( Unexpected Snow )