World Enough and Time

From LJ's fannish5: Name five characters whose fashion sense you admire.

Thank you, fannish5, for giving me the opportunity for picspam.

I decided that to make this list manageable, I'd pick characters from TV shows. There are many whose look I don't like: I don't generally like the Doctor's fashion sense, for example. Eleven almost had it, but blew it with the blow tie. Nine looked good, but not striking - no, that's wrong, he was striking, but it was his presence, not his clothes, and not the way he wore them. Clark Kent's farmboy fashions didn't impress me. Dean Winchester's cowboy non-chic has a certain charm. Then there's the Trenchoat Brigade: John Constantine, Castiel, Columbo - what, do they all start with a C?

( Without further ado... )

I saw Castle episode 2x06, "Vampire Weekend", and of course I loved it. Mal Reynolds! Buffy! Vampires! Frank Miller - especially with Becket's savvy riposte about him. Wonderful, just wonderful.

Anybody know who drew the art in the comic book that Matthew/Crow produced?

I have a terrible problem with Mark Sheppard's name. I know his name well. The problem is, there's a comic book creator named Mark Badger and the first role I knew Mark Sheppard in was that of Badger on Firefly - a role I loved.

So when I was scribbling my notes on what Mark Sheppard had to say at Torchsong I found myself referring to him as "Mark Badger". How... embarrassing. Esepcially when I looked at my notes, saw that my notes on his talk were all upside down, and credited to "MB".

From Mark Badger's Sheppard's talk at Torchsong:

• Fan: The other night at the cocktail party -
  Mark: I didn't do it.
  Fan: I thought you did rather well.
  Mark: That was my audition for Torchwood.
  
  
• He said how much he wanted to be on Torchwood and someone asked, "Do you want to be ab alien, a villain, or a hero?"
  
  Mark replied, "I'm not going to tell you. I'll just sweep the floor."
  
  Someone in the audience suggested, "You could clean up after the pterodactyl."
  
  
• Mark told a lovely story about his young son, aged four. They were at a party - in Hollywood, I think. The kid saw Ioan Gryffydd across the room and made a beeline for him. "Excuse me," he said, "Are you Mr. Fantastic?"
  
  "Yes, I am," replied Ioan Gryffydd.
  
  "Pleased to me you," said the boy with polite seriousness.
  
  
• Mark talked at some length about the reaction of children to acting and to having an actor as a father. He said his father was an actor, and he never wanted to be one. He wanted to be a musician, but was able to get acting jobs. "I got a part and it was downhill from there."
  
  
• He said that his children have no trouble telling the difference between his identity as actor and father, and the roles he takes: "Kids know the difference between reality and stories."
  
  
• Someone asked about Christian Kane and working on Leverage. He said, "Christian Kane is the most gentle guy in the world. So nice, warm... When he drinks he's dangerous. No, he's kind of shy, really." He told a story about going to Timothy Hutton's place to celebrate his birthday. Mark did almost all his own stunts on Leverage.
  
  
• He cited Richard Burton on acting: "It's easy. You give the other person your whole heart. If they don't give it back to you, kick the shit out of him."
  
  
• He said that his last work on Battlestar Galactica was exhilarating and exhausting. Re James Callas: "We had so much fun." He said the end was "fantastic, it blew my mind. Twenty five years from now people will still be watching it... The worst thing was not being able to talk about it for nine months."
  
  
• He ended his talk: "Thank you so much, you made this a joyous experience. I love you all."
  
  
• Later, I saw him at the autograph session. I his autographing table was the next after Gareth David-Lloyd's, and the line had stopped at Gareth because fans were talking to him. And talking more. I simply crossed the room to Mark and asked for his autograph because he looked bored. I said, "What, the line comes to a dead halt at Gareth?"
  
  "Thanks for coming over," said Mark. "Just for that, I'm signing you lots of love." And he did.
  

I got this from _medley_: Letter meme

1. Comment on this post.
   
2. I will give you a letter.
   
3. Think of 5 fictional characters and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ.

So:

1. Magneto, Master of Magnetism from X-Men comics. Magneto was the villain in the very first issue of X-Men - one of the greatest anti-heroes of Marvel comics: a mutant who suffered in a concentration camp in his childhood because of his powers, who wants to ensure that mutants need not suffer again under the control of Homo Sapiens. He has been both hero and villian, and White King of the Hellfire Club (not to mention ruler of Genosha). I loved the period when he was Headmaster of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in New Mutants. I've written both Magneto/Gambit slash and Magneto/Cannonball slash.
   
   It does no harm that one of my favourite actors has played him in movies - Sir Ian McKellen. They're promising another movie called X-Men Origins: Magneto, but nothing much seems to be done on it yet. I'm not holding my breath.
   
   
2. Martha Jones, the Doctor's companion in the 2007 series of Doctor Who. Smart, beautiful, romantic and sharp, Martha was just about the perfect action heroine. Now she's Doctor Martha Jones in both Doctor Who and Torchwood, and I hope we see more of her.
   
   
3. Methos, the oldest living man, born c. five thousand years ago and going strong, from the TV series Highlander. One of the best TV characters ever; and his meeting with Duncan MacLeod in the episode "Methos" was one of the best scenes in the series. I always wanted to see more of Methos. Much more. So much story to tell... He was Death of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; he married 68 times, but all his wives were mortal; and though he refused to admit to being a hero, he showed over and over that he was one. He had a great talent for avoiding danger and keeping himself alive.
   
   
4. From the gone-but-not-forgotten TV show Firefly: Mal Reynolds, captain of "Serenity", a man who fought for the Browncoats in the war against the Alliance, and lost. ("May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.")
   
   
5. Miles Vorkosigan, in the SF novels of Lois McMaster Bujold. Son of a powerful aristocrat on the planet Barrayar, he is a youth with military ambitions, an ingenious midget on speed, a 'hyperactive git' who might be the salvation of his planet. He combines wisdom and recklessness, his life built on forward momentum, or perhaps desperate gambles. The mind was the first and final battleground, the stuff in between was just noise.

From the Aug. 10 fannish5: Name five of the funniest lines of dialogue.

At first this looked impossible. I never remember humour. Some shows like Doctor Who and Veronica Mars are full of bits I think brilliant witty, but can I remember the funny bits? Never. And my favourite books - like Lymond's line about Philippa and the weasels, or Miles Vorkosigan pretending to be someone or something he's not - can I remember this sort of thing? Almost never.

Then last night I watched the Firefly episode "Objects in Space" - which I think is possibly the best-written episode of a show with generally brilliant writing, so that's saying a lot. All of the carefully crafted characterization and world-building came together in that episode, which is suspenseful, scary, and incredibly funny.

So I'm picking all five of my 'favourite funny dialogue' choices out of one episode of one show.

1. [Dr. Simon Tam is talking to Mal Reynolds about the condition of Simon's sister, River.]
   Mal: I want a lot of medical jargon thrown at me, I'll talk to a doctor.
   Simon: You are talking to a doctor.



2. Mal: We're at the corner of no and where.



3. Wash: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
   Zoe: We live in a spaceship, dear.



4. Jayne: If wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak.



5. Simon: You're out of your mind.
   Early: That's between me and my mind.

maaboroshi had some interesting observations, which set us speculating in a certain way. Of course, the bright minds of Firefly fandom may have discussed this for years already. Looking at the way ( the story is structured... )

Coming back to this show after a year or two without watching, it seems better than ever.

SFX Magazine is having a poll for the five most attractive men and women in SF movies and television.

Of course I can never resist making a list or meeting this sort of challenge. My choices, in alphabetical order:

• John Barrowman (Torchwood)
• Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who)
• Nathan Fillion (Firefly)
• Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville)
• Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes)




• Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who)
• Claudia Black (Farscape)
• Eve Myles (Torchwood)
• Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica)
• Gina Torres (Firefly)

I got this from taraljc. ( Questions about Firefly. )