I can't stop smiling. My face is starting to hurt! YOU GUYS!!!

Thank you! So many virtual cookies. It's just as well they're virtual, or I'd have the worst stomach ache in the world. Nom nom nom. :)

The best part is that it's so out of the blue. You will all have noticed that I haven't been posting as much lately... or at least, not newsy stuff here on my LJ. I'm still doing crack_van and flashfic-hub, and rec_room and all that. But that kind of posting feels invisible somehow. As though I'm not really here, taking part in the hurley burley of fannish passion.

I haven't minded just having this year of quiet space -- I figure I'll go back to posting more often soon, as I'm writing fiction again, and vidding and all those fun things. But even though it's been nice having this quiet stretch of time, even though I needed it, I've missed the wonderful conversations, the casual, everyday ins-and-outs of online fannish life.

I've missed all of you!

And I'm just so unbelievably touched by all the presents I've been getting today. Thank you all so much!

If any of you (not just the people leaving cookies) fancy a chat, leave a comment. Ask me questions. Tell me what you want me to talk about. I don't think I'm quite up for an LJ party yet, but maybe a bit of a love-in would be nice. :)

You know how sometimes people write, "OMG, I had this flashfic idea, and then I wrote this! So much for sleep," and they post a 20,000 word epic?

Yeah, well I pretty much just did the same thing in vidding terms. I said to Hope on Friday night, "Dude, I'm gonna make a flashvid for the Omens Challenge on Flashfic-hub. Help me pick clips!" which she did, because she's awesome like that. And then there was a frenzy of vidding that just would not stop. So many cuts! So little sleep! So hard to export from bloody MovieMaker! So many, many reboots of my computer when it spat the dummy at how many applications I had open at once. I seriously cannot wait until I get my new computer and Sony Vegas. I feel like I'm doing the vidding equivalent of charcoal scratchings on a cave wall with my current setup.

Anyway, for what it's worth, here's my flashvid, with full-colour Ianto Jones. It's my first Ianto character study vid. I'm so proud. :) Oh, and it's definitely all about the black humour, so don't click if that's not your cuppa.


Title: Creep
Vidder: cupidsbow
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-15
Music: "Creep" by Frank Bennett
Summary: Starring Torchwood agent Ianto Jones as himself.
Warning: Spoilers for CoE, and adult themes.
Note: Thanks to the awesome Hope for good suggestions and general inspiration. For the Omens challenge on flashfic-hub.

Links: Download (29.05MB at FileFront), Streaming (BAM Vid Vault).

( Embedded behind the cut )

I'm liking Brisbane so far. Caught the river cat to the south bank for dinner of Moreton Bay bugs. NOM NOM NOM. So good, and gluten free.

Conference starts tomorrow, and I'm presenting on Friday. Should go well, as my partner and I are well rehearsed and know it backwards and forwards. Touch wood.

The Saturday is for fun. Or maybe sleep. I don't seem to have done much of that lately. Oh, I could go to bed right now! Novel thought. :)

So, what's good to do on Saturday in Brisbane? Art gallery? Food? Markets? Tell me, oh flist.

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/330272.html.

Finished the first draft. \o/

And only three days after I thought I'd have it finished, although that was when I thought it would come it at 2,500 words. *laughs at myself* So much for posting in celebration of the AO3.

You should go check the Archive out, by the way. It's in open beta, and you can request an invite. It's awesome; all the hard work of the various teams involved really shows. Go OTW!

Anyway, the first draft of The Fic Of Much Self-Reflection is currently sitting at 5,500 words, so will probably hit 6,000 ish by the time re-writes are done.

I'm waiting on tenterhooks to see if betas think it makes a lick of sense. I'm too close to it; I can't tell any more. For all I know, I need to add more scenes, twizzle the sequence around some more, and change the ending (which is, in fact, par for the course with my stories. My first draft endings always, always suck to the max).

And while I'm being reflective, re-writing isn't as fun as doing the first draft, even though 1) the pressure is off, so I'm not sabotaging myself, and 2) I'm good at it. I get bored, is the thing. I've already done all the hard/interesting work, and re-writing is largely tedious nit-picking. Sadly, it really does show when I don't bother with the nit-picking stage.

Apart from the boredom factor, there's the whole story circle of life thing, which is quite different to the destructive internal monologue I was writing about before. The cycle goes like this:

• I adore the story while writing it -- it's the best thing I've ever done and sheer genius, etc. etc.
  
• Once I've finished it, I very quickly come to hate it; it's drivel, every line is dull, and I can't think why I bothered.
  
• Shortly after I've finished the re-writes and sent it out into the world, I love it again, kind of obsessively. It's a bit disturbing and very narcissistic.
  
• Finally, after a few weeks I forget I ever wrote it until someone mentions it, and then I might go and poke at it, and stare at it like a strange artefact dropped from the heavens -- Did I do that? I think. That's quite a useful stage, because I have enough objectivity to see the strengths and weaknesses for what they are, without all that emotional baggage.

And so ends the circle of a story's life.

Do you have a story cycle like that? I've always assumed everyone does, but maybe not.

Okay, I'm off to bed. All that writing and reflecting has worn me out.

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/330069.html.

Hahahaha. Oh, me. I'm still writing my Torchwood story. It's now over 5,000 words, and it turns out it has a sex scene (who knew? after all that talking) that just. won't. end.

So this seems a good moment to just say that this news sucks! Apparently the rejection of a pro-gay political party is a-okay, because they would corrupt Filipino youth. I'm so fed up with that kind of homophobic bullshit. Badly done, Commission on Elections, badly done.

Lily Allen and a bunch of fans say just what I'm thinking right now, in this songvid. NSFW due to bad language. I'm embedding behind the cut.

*goes back to writing the gay pr0n*

( Lily Allen's pithy statement on homophobia )

In about two or three hours, after I've eaten dinner and had a cuppa, I'm going to write the final scene of a Torchwood story. It'll need a beta or two. It's looking to come in at maybe 4,500 words, ish. It's timey-wimey, and I need a plot-hole checker, as well as the usual pace and horrible-prose checkers.

Any takers?

If so, gimme your email addy, and I'll give you access to the google document once I'm done.


Writing Thoughts

While writing this story, I've been paying particular attention to the process of writing and how it makes me feel. I've been finding it so hard to do for a while now, and so I was genuinely wondering if I actually hated writing, and was just being a huge secret masochist or something at having chosen it as a career.

I can't tell you how relieved I am to rediscover that I love writing. I've loved most of the actual writing process on this story, and it's been typical enough. I loved turning over the plot in my mind, and making the connections so it would fit together like a logic puzzle. I loved getting inside the characters and learning more about what makes them tick. The writing itself was hard work, but I enjoyed it as long as I didn't think about what I was doing while actually doing it.

Here's the kicker, though: the minute I stopped writing, I started second-guessing myself. So I wrote the first part of the story in a white heat, and that was fine. And then the second half, I'd write a scene, and then go: "Oh, another talking scene. There should be more action and less talking heads. That's just not an efficient way to forward the plot. Also, the dialogue is clunky. Hmmm. And the sequence of the scenes is wrong. That one needs to go there, and that one needs another chapter added to it. Oh, and this next scene needs subtext. I can't just write it without having something to hang the turning point off. Also, that location I've chosen is so dull -- everyone writes Torchwood scenes on rooftops. Bor-ring. I need something fresher and more interesting. And less dialogue. No one actually does anything in this fucking story but talk and talk."

And after all that, I'm so psyched out, I can't actually write the next scene until I've psyched myself back up, like an Olympic athlete about to run the race of their lives. Even though I know I'm just writing it for fun, and it doesn't matter if no one reads it or likes it.

Once I'm writing again, it's all fine. But then I stop for lunch, and the whole thing happens over. And each time it happens, and the closer I get to the story's climax, the more intense the internal conversation gets: "This is a stupid climax. No one will be surprised by this twist. Except I've probably not put in enough clues, so it'll feel like a cheat rather than a twist anyway. Also, the story isn't really building up to the climax very well. There's still too many talking heads. A climax should have some action. God, I suck. Why can't I think of a better way to do this?"

I can't believe I do that to myself. But it explains so much, including why I have so many novellas in my Works in Progress file, which are stalled at 40,000 words, right before the climax. The pressure, with so much riding on the turning point, is just too much for me. And no wonder! No story could ever live up to that!

It's been interesting going through this process, though, because as I realised what I was doing, I told myself to just write the bloody dialogue scenes and stop worrying about it. And now here I am, with the climax written, and just one scene to go. O_o

And the stupidest part? I know I'm a shitty first draft writer, so it doesn't even matter that it's all wrong. Any talent I have is in editing a first draft into reasonable shape. So even if the criticisms are valid (they are, that's what makes them so poisonous), the whole self-sabotaging cycle is just redundant and pointless, because it can all be fixed in re-writes anyway.

In short: I am an idiot. The end.

*goes to have a soothing cup of tea*

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/329533.html.

I know I'm spamming tonight, but I have a very important question and I need your honest opinions.

I'm seriously, seriously tempted to sign up for festivids, which is basically Yuletide for vidders. How cool is that?

*stares at the shiny fandoms on offer*

But here's the thing. I'm such a baby vidder, and I'm not that good yet. Would it be crappy for someone to get me as their vidder? I mean, I know it's not a competition, and it's all about taking part and all that. But seriously, would it be crappy to get me as a vidder?

Take the poll, or leave a comment. Anon posting is screened (to stop spambots) but on.

ETA: Okay, you've convinced me. I think I'm going to do it. :) /eta



This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/329304.html.

My website used to be on Geocities, but since that's now defunct I need to set up somewhere else.

ETA: I'm talking about my real-name website, not a fan site. But thanks for all the good fannish suggestions. If I decide to put together a fansite I know where to go now. /eta

So where's the reliable free web hosting happening these days? I've googled it, but there doesn't seem to be a clear winner. Are they all much of a muchness?

Help me, oh flist.

In other news, this week I needed to put together a quick online bio and link list of stuff under my real name. It's been ages since I googled myself; it was a bit of an eye opener. There were all the usual hits -- many of them to the defunct Geocities site, as it had been around for so long (since about 1997, I think!). Plus quite a few new people talking about my essays, which I hadn't known about.

But the best part? I discovered that I've been cited as an expert on Wikipedia! And under the most *perfect* topic too. Hahahaha. It made me LOL.

Fame at last. ;)

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/329097.html.

Okay, guys, I have 8 invitations to Google Wave. This is your big moment to let me know if you want in!

You need to leave a comment with your email address. Pick the address carefully, as that will define your Wave username (real-name email address will equal real-name Wave account; fannish pseud will give you a fannish Wave account).

Comments are screened.

Because I want to try out the functionality of Wave, I'm actually going to pick and choose who gets an invite. I kind of hate to do that, but at the moment I might as well not have Wave as there's barely anyone to play with. I really need a network of fellow fannish Wavers in order to test it out, which is the whole point of being a Beta Tester, after all.

So here's how it's going to work: first, I'm going to invite people I'm likely to collaborate with on a story, or project, or beta or something of that nature. So if you and I have ever done storytime, betad each other's work, talked vids, or worked on some other fannish project together, like OTW, you have a good chance of getting an invite.

Then, if I still have some invites left after that, or once I get the next batch of invites, I will go through and give them out on a first-come, first-served basis to anyone else who puts their hand up.

That's the plan. So leave a comment if you want to go on the list.

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/328944.html.

Okay, I've made the most ridiculous Torchwood songvid of all time... or this week, anyway. It has kissing, fist fights, murder, true love and weddings. In short, it has melodrama cranked to eleven.

I kind of love it to death, but I'm not sure I want to put it out into the world. I need a second opinion, and also a critical eye, because I think some bits might be too over-the-top even for this complete soap opera.

Beta? Anyone? Bueller?

Also, I'm off to bed now, so if there's a sucker taker, you'll hear from me some time tomorrow. <3

omg, i can't believe i made that... *facepalm*

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/328598.html.

Um, I've kind of... set up a Torchwood end-of-year fest for stories, art and vids.

I know, I know. I'm not quite sure how it happened, either. But it's going to be awesome. You should come over and play.

Here's the blurb...

You are all cordially invited to come along to the Torchwood solstice party and snog madly have some fun under the mistletw!

mistletw is an end-of-year fest for Torchwood fans, so that we can give each other presents of fan fiction, art and vids.

The fest isn't run like a story exchange; it's a promptathon, which, in a festive nutshell, works like this:

1. You comment on the master post with your request (aka prompt!), using the handy format provided
   
   
2. You browse the other requests made and claim one by replying to the request in question (anonymously, if you wish for it to be a surprise!)
   
   
3. You post your story/art/vid to the community between January 1-10, and gleefully receive yours in the same manner!

Everyone who posts a request must also claim a prompt and write a story, or make art, or a vid for another participant. We're not policing this, but Myfanwy will poop bad karma on your head if you don't follow through.

That said, the more the merrier! People can write more than one story as stocking-stuffers, or make extra art or vids; you'll be able to post requests up until the 24th of December, and claim them until the 31st of December.

You can find more fine print rules and all that jazz over here. All pairings and preferences welcome.

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/328361.html.

It's been a good weekend. I got my crack_van rec set all done for Torchwood, read some fic, listened to music, ate fantastic food and made a vid. Who could ask for more.

And how much do I love vidding right now! I'm really pleased with how my most recent songvid turned out. It's actually very close to the idea in my head, which isn't something I expected to happen for a while yet.

The few quibbles I have with it are more to do with Movie Maker than my choices: for instance, the ending should really finish with a close up on the words "Order to Kill" but that requires playing the clip backwards (or an awful lot of fiddling around with stills and stuff), and there's no facility for reverse playback in Movie Maker. It'll be nice to upgrade my computer (this month, my pretties!) and get proper editing software so I can do that kind of thing.

I don't really think of myself as a 'vidder', but I've done three Torchwood vids now (you can find them at BAM and FileFront), and it's becoming apparent that I have a style already. Who knew? I thought I was just playing around!

This is what is clear so far:

• I love making short vids, under 2 minutes.
  
  
• I love choosing music samples without a lyric. That's really not the fannish vogue, is it? But now I think of it, several of my absolute favourite songvids are like that, plus they're short as well. (Note to self: I should put together a rec set next weekend.)
  
  
• So far, I've manipped all the music tracks I've used -- although at a very basic level. Mostly just snipping and doing fade-outs and stuff. That said, I'm seriously thinking of making a vid to a track I've laid down myself, but I just don't have the skills yet. It's a project for the future. I also need to find music composition software first. Anyone know good freeware?
  
  
• I tend to make character studies, although they all have a plot too.
  
  
• I'm in love with visual refrains and repetition, although I haven't even come close to mastering this yet. A well chosen repeating image gives me shivers!

I wonder what else I'll discover about my visual and musical tastes as I continue to vid. It's making me watch vids with new eyes too -- no wonder I love kiki_miserychic's work so much. She does all of the things I love.

Who are your favourite vidders? Is there something in their style that you particularly love? Or do you follow fandoms rather than vidders?

Okay, I'm off to bed now -- work tomorrow. Speaking of which, I'm actually editing a video for work at the moment. It's odd how synchronicities like that happen, isn't it?

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/327915.html.

Title: Attachments
Vidder: cupidsbow
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13
Music: Scapala (direct link)
Summary: One click of a button, and everything changes. For the Documents challenge on flashfic_hub.

Links: Download (5.93 MB at FileFront), Streaming (BAM Vid Vault).

( Embedded behind the cut )

Do any of you live in Brisbane and fancy a coffee?

I'm going to be there in late November for a conference, and I'm wondering whether it's worth staying an extra day and doing something fannish on the weekend.

So, how hopping is the scene there, oh flist? :)

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/327399.html.

I went to see Julie and Julia last night with the folks. The film was delicious. Meryl Streep is so much fun right now -- she always did light up the screen, but now I kind of fall in love with her a little every time I watch one of her films. She's just so full of life-well-lived. You know?

It's such a pleasure to watch stories about women living and being passionate and witty. Why do we not have a zillion more stories like that? The world is a very odd place sometimes.

But anyway, now I have an almost irresistible desire to cook. I'm thinking pancakes. Yes. With fresh mulberries.

What are you eating today?

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/326931.html.

$10,000 prize money for remixes

Yes, you read that right! The Aussie government and Creative Commons have got together and put up prize money for remixes of open resources from government archives. You can find all the details right here.

I have to say, I'm tempted to make a collage or vid -- some of the photo archives and maps are kind of neat. And with that kind of prize money, some of you should definitely give it a go! You're talented enough to have a good chance of winning.


OTW Donation Drive

And speaking of the awesomeness of fannish remix culture, it's fundraising time at the OTW. They've just bought the shiny new servers for the Archive of Our Own, which is about to go into open beta. So it's time to refill the coffers to fund more projects and keep the established ones ticking over.

The online donation form is right this way


Google Wave is here

I feel quite smug, as I now have a shiny new Google Wave account! \o/

Sadly, I only have 3 people on my contact list so far, which makes it a bit hard to wave, and the account is under my RL name so I'm not posting the name here. But if you have a Google Wave account too, let me know via email and we can Try Stuff Out.

I haven't figured the bells and whistles out yet. I keep poking at things, and some stuff is awesome, and some is not at all intuitive, and some is not working yet. Typical open beta, in other words. Exciting though. I really want to try writing a multi-media storytime in it. HOW COOL WILL THAT BEEEEEE???


What's going on in your neck of the internets?

So. Cardiff was awesome.

My experience of it was really weird, as I kept seeing it with a kind of double vision. On the one hand, it's a fairly small city, poorly planned, ugly buildings, and very much in transition from a working town to a tourist town, with all that implies. I can easily see how people would hate living there. On the other hand, I loved the Taff, and the Bay, and the touristy stuff like the castles and the Armadillo. And, of course, the Torchwood connection made everything interesting, even the corner shops and street names and dearth of drinkable coffee. Although to be fair, I had two drinkable coffees in Cardiff, which is one more than London, and a 200% improvement over both Tynemouth and York.

Anyway, I ended up loving Cardiff in all it's tacky glory quite a lot. Even the tourist junk was funny. I have a mood ring from Caerfilly Castle, and 'I <3 Cardiff' underwear! Hahaha.

I kinda missed out of updating about a few of the other highlights of the trip, so here's the abridged version.

First, Hope and I met up with rahael for afternoon tea in London, and it was huge fun. Not only did I get to eat a gluten free banana cake, but Rahael is smart and funny and has a large store of anecdotes, ranging from the fascinating to the hilarious.

Then, continuing the theme of fangirls who are good value, we went to connotations in Tynemouth. There I got to put faces to several LJ handles I'd seen around the traps, catch up with the latest fannish gossip, play games, and I'm sure you can imagine the other shenanigans a bunch of fangirls might get up to. :)

However, the real star of the show ended up being the hotel. It looked just like the one in Stephen King's The Shining. Other features included showers with water that unexpectedly cycled between hot and tepid, until the final day of consistent almost-warmness, and, of course, the wait staff, who were the surliest I've ever encountered. One of them actually flung a bowl of soup across the table at poor Derry. Another could not both fill a request for cutlery and take a food order at the same time. Taking food orders in general was clearly an extremely trying task. Fortunately, the Connotations crew just LOLed and considered it part of the ambiance, but I'm not at all surprised the con is going elsewhere next year. Hope and I dealt with it in the time honoured fashion of Aussies everywhere: we got shitfaced (but as we are high-class, we did it on Pimms and lemonaide. Mmmmm. Tasty.) ETA: Hope's comment fic captures the Park Hotel experience perfectly.

Next up was York, which was chock full of Historic Things. Vikings and Romans and whatnot. I enjoyed it immensely. A highlight was the 'Ghost Tour' we went on. Now, I know the look you have on your face -- yes, it was an utterly hokey tourist-gouging affair. But here's the thing: it was basically live theatre, as a slightly disreputable guide took us on a walk and told us tall tales of the city's gruesome history. This could not have suited me better if it were tailored for me. In short: AWESOME SOCKS. I love tall tales, especially when told by disreputable rapscallions. Throw in a spot of murder and plague and I'm in heaven. Four pounds well spent, if you ask me, and I'd recommend the tour to anyone in York for the evening. The tour guide in the top hat and tails is the one you want.

After York, it was off to Cardiff, where we met up with emeraldsword. She whisked us off for lovely Indian food, and we shared tales of the surly Connotations wait staff, and of deadly Aussie fauna. That ended up being something of a Theme. :)

While in Cardiff, I also got to catch up with Q, which was lovely, but far too short. Clearly, I will have to go back to Britain next year! Q had the 'honour' of going with us to the tackiest mall in world, which houses the Doctor Who exhibit. Seriously, the mall had no toilets, four restaurants, a cinema, an electronic games hall and a radio station, but no shops. It had frescoed walls, moulded to look like York. Also? The Doctor Who shop had daleks in every shape and size, but no K9s or scarves. It also had hardly any Torchwood stuff.

Seriously, the level of marketing fail exhibited in that one mall was astounding. I was ready to fling my money at them, at the merest hint of anything even marginally cool, and I ended up with one dalek drinks coaster and a pack of Torchwood playing cards. I only went back and bought a dalek because my brother asked for one (admittedly, there were two cool daleks -- the radio controlled one I bought, and an inflatable one, which I was tempted by... but resisted on the grounds I have nowhere to put it. Keeping such a thing in its box would just be sad).

Cardiff! I tell you, it fascinated me with its stunning about-faces from utterly naff to utterly cool. The Armadillo is so cool. The Doctor Who exhibit, which is right next door, is totally not.

My fascination led me to undertake a brief scholarly study of the Cardiff population. I can tell you now that it's made up as follows: 20% Welsh, 40% English, 20% assorted tourists, 20% Australians. The Welsh, of course, blame the English and Australians for the level of naffness in the city ("fucking tourists," I heard several of them say as they walked by Hope and I looking at our map), but honestly, the locals have the matter well in hand -- the astonishing glories of Cardiff Castle being a case in point. :)

On the truly glorious side, Hope and I went for a day trip to the Boeshane Peninsula (I would look up the spelling of the real name, but I'm so jet lagged, I can barely move. ETA: Merthyr-mawr Warren; and it really is glorious). We did it cross country, using the survey map, and it was gorgeous the whole way -- winding lanes, tiny old churches, ruined castles, the river, the forest, horses in fields, old stone bridges, kissing gates, stiles, and of course, the golden sands and twisty trees of the coast. So beautiful.

I'm definitely going back to Wales.

Best holiday ever! Can you believe that it didn't rain once? It was like the holiday gods were smiling on us.

And now, I'm off to bed in an effort to sleep off this jetlag before work tomorrow.

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/326483.html.

Help me, oh Flist.

I'm being spammed through an automated archive that seems to have been abandoned by the mod, as I'm getting bounce messages from the support email address.

It's driving me crazy. I've blocked the spammer as much as I can, but now they've created a bot to autogenerate email addresses.

How do I block them, or block all email from the site? It's coming in through Yahoo.

*tears out hair*

ETA: I'm currently blocking it through a filter, but I'd rather stop it.

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/326185.html.

London ended up being show week. In addition to La Cage au Folles, we went to Chicago and The Mousetrap.

Chicago was slick and entertaining, as we expected given the tunes, but it was easily the most soulless of the three shows. The theatre was large and the performances practiced but kind of going-through-the-motions. Still worth a look, but it does make me wonder if the price of so much variety in live entertainment is that it can get stale. Or maybe it's just what happens to a show when the chief audience is tourists rather than locals.

The Mousetrap, on the other hand, was utterly charming. The performances were sharp, and the actors brought each character alive in the way Chicago did not. No wonder it's run for 57 years! I'd recommend the play to anyone visiting London.

We had such an odd moment during The Mousetrap. The people sitting in the seats next to us were also tourists, from America. And we got to talking about places we'd been and comparing the shows and sites we'd seen. To my immense surprise, the very first thing the woman asked, after we'd covered the good shows playing, was, "Did you go to Canary Wharf?"

Hope and I rather boggled at this. We had spent many happy hours speculating about how Ianto and Lisa had escaped the Battle, and our solutions ranged from the James Bondian to the ever more ridiculous. So we both rather gave the woman the hairy eyeball! What? we were both thinking, almost in unison, Does everyone go on a Whoniverse adventure while in London??? I half expected her to say: "Ianto was a helicopter pilot, you know. He flew her out via the helipad on the roof!" or "The pyramid on the top is a spaceship! That's how they got away! through the emergency beam-out technology."

My response was a tentative, "Yes." To which the woman said, "Did you eat at Jamie Oliver's? Was it as good as everyone says?"

Jamie Oliver! Hahaha. Mystery solved.

Needless to say, Hope and I LOLed oer this later: the utter bizarreness of normal touristyness coinciding with our fannishness like that. In case you are wondering, no, we didn't eat at Jamie Oliver's. We hadn't even realised it was there!

All that said, the most charming of the three shows we saw was actually La Cage, to my endless surprise. It was intimate, fresh and had a heart that I wasn't expecting. If you get a chance, it's the pick of the bunch.

The only other Whoniverse adventure we've had since I last posted was Thames House. I have photos of it too. You know what surprises me most about the locations we've seen so far? How little use they make of the actual surrounds, like the river (which is awesome). No doubt it's because it's too hard to shoot on the Thames, but it's right across the street from Thames House, and it would have been so awesome for the T3 team to use the canonical underground Torchwood tunnels or boats to get there. So many missed opportunities! Oh, well. I'll fix it in fic. :)

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/325922.html.

I love it here! Wow, that totally blindsided me. I was expecting to have lots of fun, and Hope and I really are! But it's also gorgeous here, and the weather has been fantastic. *crosses fingers not to jinx it*

We're about to go off and do more stuff, so the highlights while I drink tea.

First stop on our Whoniverse Adventure was Canary Wharf. My god, people. Why has that location not been used for a thousand fics! I can now see why Ianto has a rich James Bond fantasy life. Never fear, I will fill this stunning lack of fic on my return. Also, I have photos.

We have also done Tescos and Debenhams. Hahaha. Debenhams is like Myer, but tackier, if you can believe that. Tescos I need to explore further, but it seems completely ordinary.

On the food front, Hope has been doing all the hard work eating Welsh Cakes from M&S, and drinking Pimms. Having done in-depth reseach on the intertubes last night, I am now assured that Pimms is made largely of gin, so I think I will try some next time we go drinking.

The Grande Event so far on our Adventure was going to La Cage au Folles last night, in which John Barrowman played Zaza. I was, I admit, a bit apprehensive about this, as the movie adaptation was so cringe-worthy. My fear was completely unfounded! Yay. The stage show was delightful, with no cringe in sight. And, as I had suspected, John Barrowman is a good stage actor; he acted and sang his heart out and had the audience in the palm of his well-manicured and very large hands by the end. It was pretty awesome, very gay, and everyone had magnificent legs. Who could ask for more from musical theatre?

In short, the trip so far is made of win. And now we're off to take in some culture at the Tate and the Museum.

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/325794.html.