Lurker Central

R.I.P. Michael O'Hare

I'm one of the relatively few B5 fans who loved Season 1 and especially Jeffery Sinclair - wounded war vets trying to rebuild their lives with their scars will fresh will always have an easy road into my heart. I loved his dry sense of humor and his friendship with Garibaldi and the kind of quiet courage be brought to Babylon 5.

We are all star stuff. God speed, Commander.

For those B5 (and Grease and Taxi) fans who may have missed the news, Jeff Conaway died Friday at the age of 60.

On Babylon 5 he played Zack Allen, and one of the joys of that show was watching Zack grow from Security Guy #2 to Chief by the end of the series. Zack didn't have an epic destiny, he didn't face down gods or lead armies or become a prophet. He didn't even get the girl (although I would have liked that story for Lyta a whole lot better than the Byronic mess her life turned into.)

Zack's role was more important than that. Zack was us, the audience, the guy who went to work everyday, tried his best, and had to make all those everyday decisions that come with that. How good intentions can go south, and how much it sucks to have to stand up to your peers and coworkers and tell them they're wrong.

You were the best, Zack. When B5 was put in your hands we knew she'd be all right.

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Doing the rewatch and seeing Kosh again in all his cryptic glory really struck home for me that the reason Dean/Cas pinged so hard for me was because it reminded me so much of Sheridan and Kosh. (Which just means I have a type.) The cryptic, unknowable orders! The frustrations and misunderstandings and ~destingy~ and tragic sacrifices!

I wish Sheridan and Dean could sit down and talk. John could probably give him some good advice.

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Watching All Quiet On The Western Front on TCM, a movie that frankly is kind of a miracle. This is a war epic made one year after the advent of sound and so much of the vocabulary of modern cinema is already there. You can see so many war tropes --- the salty scrounger, the naive recruits, the corrupt, distant officers and jaded veterans --- being codified right before your eyes.

The 30's were a fantastic time for film, sheer experimentation in the beginning and subversion at the end.

* Reply to this post with ICON ME! and I will pick five of your icons.
* Make a post (including this info) and talk about the icons I chose.
* Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
* This will create a never ending cycle of icon glee...

selenak chose:



Three of my loves: Deadwood, Tombstone and Brian Kinney on QAF. So you could imagine that when Gale Harold showed up on Deadwood playing Wyatt Earp I was all a-squee. I really liked show's the dark take on Wyatt and Morgan; one of my biggest disappointments with how the show "ended" was that we never got any resolution on that storyline. I would have paid good money to have had a "The Earps and Doc Holliday raise hell in Deadwood" story.



Oh, Guerrero. I still haven't posted about that last episode, but I'm still all "oh, my heart about it. *Sigh* Needless to say, Guerrero is my favorite character and I like the framing of this shot.



Kosh. Kosh is my favorite character on B5, another in a long line of cryptic mentor figures living in my heart. ( spoilers )



My OTP! These two had me the moment she called him "Baby Doll." Fun and flirty and hopelessly head over heels for each other. This is also my general Squee! icon.



The Crow is one of my favorite movies. I saw it for the first time at 14 in an empty theater and cried my eyes out, and it still hits me every time I see it. Eric lighting up the fire crow after taking out T-Bird is such a striking visual and just a gorgeous shot.

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I discovered a new drabble comm! slashthedrabble! I belonged to a Heroes drabble comm back when that fandom was more active and always had a lot of fun with it. And the best part is that it's not just strictly 100 words; you can write a classic 100 word drabble or stories of precisely 200, 300, 400, or 500 words.

This week's prompt is the Evil Overlord list! Come play!

01. If you'd like, comment to this entry saying 'ICONS!' and I will pick 6 of your icons.
02. Make an entry in your own journal and talk about the icons I picked!

Ganked from selenak, who asked about:



The full quote: "Understanding is a three edged sword. Your side, their side, and the truth." Kosh is my favorite B5 character (not that I don't love Londo and G'Kar like everyone else.:) I have a weakness for mentor figures, especially flawed mentors dealing with Chosen Ones who just won't do what they're told, and Kosh hit all of those buttons perfectly. I love how his relationship with Sheridan builds over seasons two and three, culminating in that heartbreaking dream in "Interludes and Examinations." Inscrutable, seemingly all-powerful and all-knowing Kosh admitting to John, "I was afraid," absolutely kills me every time I see it. (icon made my curtana)



Supernatural came up at --- I don't even remember, I think it might have been fandom_rant on Journalfen --- and one of the posters made the comment that the main bone of contention with a lot of fangirls seemed to be that Bela regularly outsmarted Sam and Dean.:) The whole conversation made me go, Man, I need a Bela icon because I loved that girl. Of course in a world like Supernatural there would be a market for talismans and such, and of course there would be people there to take advantage of it. I loved how she had no interest in the boys' ever-present drama and was all about saving her own skin. I completely believe that had she been a sexy but still amoral male thief she would have been embraced by fandom instead of written out after one season --- hell, she would have been the show's Gambit. And I love this icon of her; she looks glamorous and gorgeous and with just a little bit of a smirk. (icon by ladymason)



Ah, Phantom of the Opera. POTO is one of my oldest fandoms; when I was ten I used to listen to the cast recording on cassette over and over, trying to will myself into the music. For all of the movie's flaws (Mild sunburn!) I adored how they staged "Point of No Return"; the chemistry between Erik and Christine in that scene practically ignites the film. Ah, doomed, impossible, dysfunctional love. This is the only icon on this list I actually made, and I'm really happy with the composition and especially the way the text looks.



Look at how cute Ten is here! That kitten is totally staking her claim on him; I love his smile and the curve of his head. He just looks happy and relaxed and the whole effect is so sweet. This does double duty as my Ten icon and a KITTEN! icon.



"...go out and round up everyone who knows more than they do." I'm a little bit in love with My Chemical Romance's version of "Desolation Row" from the Watchmen soundtrack, so I would have grabbed this even if I didn't like the composition as much as I do. I love how small Rorschach looks climbing up that building, about to unwittingly set off that horrible chain of events that lead to Antartcica, and the way the text seems to be pressing in on him. Oh, Rorschach. This also serves as my general music discussion icon. (icon by sarah531)



That GQMF is Jarlaxle Baenre, my favorite Forgotten Realms character. This is taken from the mass market paperback cover of Servant of the Shard and is just such a striking picture of him. Jarlaxle leads an elite mercenary group, has a magic item for every occasion (hatband of holding. For real), has so much subtext with assassin and fellow badass Artemis Entreri that they got their own book series and is generally the smartest guy in the room. I use this for fantasy and RP discussions.

So we finished off the first disc of S4 and I'm already dreaming about Castiel. Considering my history of fangirling mysterious, lawful mentor figures having to deal with chaotic Chosen Ones, this should surprise absolutely no one.

In fact so far Castiel is reminding me very strongly of Kosh, full of cryptic warnings and mysterious appearances and absolutely no idea of how humans work. Even that one flash of self-righteous anger, the "You should show me some respect," reminded me of Kosh lashing out at John in Interludes.

And I find it fascinating that Dean has warmed up to him so quickly (he calls him "Cas!"), especially since his relationship with Sam is starting to get rocky from trust issues.

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Reed Diamond was in the episode of CSI that just went off. Between that and Monk, that's the second show he's randomly showed up in the last week. I approve.:)

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I can never get over commercials advertising Dethklok concerts alongside normal bands.

ETA: Hey! Bly! That keeps CSI on.