Okay... my last post... let's skip over that. Oh and thanks for the late warning that taking painkillers then going to bed drunk equals stomach aches. Shut up, I'm new to this drinking game. I can still remember pretty much everything so I can't have been completely shit faced. Bit queasy in the morning but nothing I haven't had before from (my) bad cooking.

Today was the Oscar nominations and you bet I did some squealing. Up is the 2nd animated film to get a Best Picture nomination after Beauty and the Beast and since it was my favourite film of the year I'm incredibly happy. Actually, 3 of my 5 favourite films were nominated for BP - Up, A Serious Man (no Stuhlbarg sadly but that was expected) and Inglourious Basterds. In The Loop also got a screenplay nod which is fucking fantastic! All this is currently outweighing the unfortunate and inevitable shitstorm that will be Oscar winner Sandra Bullock. God, that sounds weird. The acting noms are in general pretty predictable, the only one that made me do a 'really?!' was Maggie Gyllenhaal but I love her so I can't complain. And Kathryn Bigelow is on track to become the first female best director winner. I know it's sort of counter productive for people to concentrate on that fact but keep in mind how sexist AMPAS are, she's nominated despite being a woman, not because she's a woman. As long as Avatar doesn't get best picture, I'm fine (and that bloody Leona Lewis song didn't get nominated!)

In fandom news, the hamster of inspiration has been running in the wheel of productivity for the past couple of days. For fakenews I usually write really silly crack fic with completely fantastical stuff thrown in like werewolves, vampires, superheroes and most recently Ghostbusters. Yes, really. The very first discussion I ever had on FNFF was abut the possibility of a Ghostbusters/pundits crossover so it always stuck in my mind as a possible idea to make someone else write but then I ended up writing a comment fic about it myself, then a couple of days ago I did an actual fic post (it's a take on the 'There is no Dana' scene but with Anderson Cooper. What?) I have a lot of fun writing crack fic - it's silly, it makes me smile, it gives me an opportunity to be incredibly snarky and if I make one person laugh, it's a good day. I also wrote a long angsty fic which is completely different from what I usually do. I love to read about fucked up people in love, be it in books or fic but I suck at writing it myself. Shockingly, it's harder to be serious. I was really proud of that fic, especially since next to nobody ships that pairing, and got a comment from someone who didn't like the pairing and said they liked it which made me far too happy. I've always wondered how people view certain types of fic. Is a writer better because they concentrate on angst instead of comedy? Is a fic more 'worthy' if it makes someone cry or laugh? Can you really write about spontaneous orgasm giving superhero pundits and be taken seriously? At what point do you decide to actively avoid a fic writer? I'm probably just talking out of my arse here. But that angst fic really took it out of me so I'm going to stick to vampires and Alice in Wonderland for now.

Yep, no matter how pre-occupied one gets with university, extra readings and life in general, there can always be room for TV. Of course, I'll probably still watch most of my shows on my laptop (I'm planning on catching up on Big Love, Mad Men and White Collar) but we do have Sky+ so I can also catch up onn Modern Family and even record AC360, thank you very much technology (provided by Murdoch but let's nimbly skip over that little bit.) I can't believe it's so close to Xmas already, how did that happen? Exams distracted me I guess. It's so good to be home, even though they're driving me ever so slightly up the wall. I'm completely broke (the last of my alloted money went to seeing Where the Wild Things Are and Avatar 3D with Nat in all his fanboying glory.) so it's also highly economical. Sadly my plan to work in Tescos for extra January money failed - seriously, you had no vacancies at all? How does an evil corporation stop accepting willing workers? 


I hope everybody got their cards and/or presents. My flatmate informed me that a bunch of packages arrived after I left (typical) so thanks to everyone who sent me something too! At least this way you know I'm not opening them before the 25th. Now, for lack of interesting things to discuss, more link vomit!


Bright Star Dimmed: On "Female movies" and being overlook at awards season. Since the Golden Globes were announced, I'm in full movie-buff mode and the lack of a nomination for Abbie Cornish is shocking but not surprising.
 
Michael Stuhlbarg interview. Seriously, I love this man. He's my favourite performance of the year in my 2nd favourite film of 2009 (just beaten by Up) and since it seems unlikely that he'll get an Oscar nomination (he's got a Globe one though, don't disappoint me HFPA!) I',m just going to pimp him out so everybody can fall in love with him.

Stephen King's 10 Favourite books of the year. He's a thriller man and it shows. Not sure number 2 counts but it was a fantastic book so I'll let it slide.

Friends on the Other Side (The Princess and the Frog): Since I have to wait until freaking February to see the film everyone in America has already seen, I've been making do with the soundtrack. Dr Facillier seems like a damn cool villain, kind of like a voodoo Cab Calloway.

Rachel Maddow mixes a sidecar. Seriously, pundits and alcohol! I love watching cocktails being mixed, it's like a cooking show but with booze!   

I'm ot going to bore you with the details of my crumbling self-confidence in my studies because it's dull and you're all much more exciting than that so without further delay, here is today's collection of links I've been browsing today, officially named 'link vomit!'

Gabourey Sidibe on Conan O' Brien. I haven't seen Precious yet and even though it's not really my thing, I really want to based solely on watching interviews with its leading lady. I want to be friends with her, she's so cool! She even manages to leave Conan speechless.
This Is Why You're Fat. I've never felt so healthy in my life. Although I can't lie, there are things on this site I would try at least once. What? I'm Scottish.
A Sci Fashion Gift Guide. Because nobody does t-shirts quite like the geeks.
6 Hilarious Attempts at Brain-Washing Kids with Comic Books. Oh my god, would somebody please buy me number 4? That looks like the most hilarious shit ever. Why didn't I know about this before? Let's be honest, semi cyber Sean Hannity clearly had a bit of facial work done there as well as having a robotic arm. So much fail yet so much win.
TVTropes. Prepare to waste about half of your life on this site.

Here are my current favourite podcasts.

TV on the Internet. A TV review podcast by husband and wife team (and Awardsdily regulars) Todd Vanderwerff and Libby Hill. I don't watch 95% of what they talk about but I love a good snarky TV commentary and their show is just a great mix of interesting TV analysis and fanboying.
Made of Fail. A hilarious geek snark on many things I don't really know or care about but it's a lot of fun. Some of their episodes are hilarious, such as their most recent New Moon snarking and their musical episode which turned into a discussion on Alice in Wonderland porn.

Seriously.

Do I have to get out the Special Comment again? I can never show this clip to enough people.

day 01 | a song day
day 02 | a picture
day 03 | a book/ebook/fanfic
day 04 | a site
day 05 | a youtube clip
day 06 | a quote
day 07 | whatever tickles your fancy

/ / / The Huffington Post. / / / Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. / / / Empire Online. / / / 
 
I went to see Up in 3D today with Nathaneal and it was bloody amazing. I'm a huge Pixar fangirl but I can't stress enough how much I loved this film. It had everything in it - love, heartbreak, adventure, friendships, excitement, talking dogs, comedy, a floating house and a bird named Kevin. I seriously hope that with the new AMPAS rules in place, it can get a Best Picture Oscar nomination.

day 01 | a song day
day 02 | a picture
day 03 | a book/ebook/fanfic
day 04 | a site
day 05 | a youtube clip
day 06 | a quote
day 07 | whatever tickles your fancy

The last 3 books I read were:

Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift.
Dispatches from the Edge - Anderson Cooper.
Dog Days - Ana Marie Cox.

As for fic, I'll recommend some fake-news stuff .

Good Omens, Americana. A Keith Olbermann/Anderson Cooper fic (my OTP in Fakenews) cross-over with Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It was my introducton into the fandom and still one of my favourite stories. You don't need to have read Good Omens to get it but hell, you need to read the book anyway just because it's awesome.

Brian is in the Kitchen. Keith/Anderson/Brian Williams, pure porn and it's fucking fantastic!

The Blue Shadow. Another A/K fic, this one's very long and has Anderson as a masked vigilante. What can I say, I am a damn proud geek. Actually, everything the two ladies on that community write is cool in my book, I shamelessly fangirl them both.

See, totally resisted the urge to pimp out my own fic! 

day 01 | a song day
day 02 | a picture
day 03 | a book/ebook/fanfic
day 04 | a site
day 05 | a youtube clip
day 06 | a quote
day 07 | whatever tickles your fancy

What's this I see? An excuse to post pictures I couldn't be arsed to upload earlier? Shall I take this opportunity? You bet I will!

( Boobs inside. )

Stolen from rainstar11

day 01 | a song
day 02 | a picture
day 03 | a book/ebook/fanfic
day 04 | a site
day 05 | a youtube clip
day 06 | a quote
day 07 | whatever tickles your fancy

I'm usually not a fan of Lily Allen but by god if this video and song doesn't make me want to jump up and down!

I am now in my new flat, lying on my (sadly single) bed with some cold pasta, a can of Coke, my laptop (internet isn't wireless but it will be soon) and all my books and DVDs in alphabetical order on shelves. I wish I could show you pictures of my room but I am without a camera so you'll need to make do with my description:

I have basic furniture - a set of shelves, 2 desks, some drawers, both big and small, and a wardrobe, as well as 2 chairs, one swivelly. One  desk has my English literature anthologies piled up on it as well as the many notebooks I have accumulated in recent times while the other is bare except for today's clothes, my bag, the phone, my iPod speakers and a jar of Nutella. There's a big mirror on the wall opposite me and on the same wall is a large cork board. You can't put pins or bluetack on the wall so everything is on the board - my Comedy Store ticket, a card and little letter K I got from Emma, a Chinese New Year decoration from Dara, a little welcome sign from my flatmates Duncan and Mara, the Marcus Brigstocke poster I stole from the Assembly on the Mound and an order receipt for Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper (what? I couldn't help it! Think of it as a welcome present to myself.) I also have a Moulin Rouge poster but nowhere to put it up. Am I up for breaking the rules so early into my 2nd year? Stay tuned! From one window I can see Arthur's Seat and from the other I look down onto Nicholson Street. I'm right above Tescos and opposite a 24 hour ScotMid, something that delights my flatmate. It gets pretty noisy but it's part of the joy of living in the city centre. I'm sure I'll lose my hearing at some point and it will ceas to be a problem.

Classes start on Tuesday, Celtic Literature at 10am, earlier than last year but I have the convenience of living 5 minutes from the university! Bye bye delayed bus rides passing by the tram lines. I've got my first social event organised - a cinema night out with an internet friend who moved to study here, Nathaneal. Although I sort of cheated and went to see Julie and Julia tonight.

I really enjoyed it, Meryl Streep was of course the highlight. Isn't she usually the highlight of everything? Even though I posses no cooking talents myself, I adore food, cooking shows and films where they show the preparation of food, so this film was ideal. I wish I could cook but student living isn't exactly the best place to start to learn. As one of those dull bloggers with nothing important to talk about whatsoever, I was of course excited at the Julie storyline, the idea that one thought could give you a spotlight and career path. As amazing as that would be to pursue, I don't have any great ideas of my own to try out. So if you, my friends of the internet, real life and both, could tell me what exactly makes me me and what you think would be the coolest, most interesting thing about me I could blog about to the unsuspecting public, that would be great. I think I need an outsider to tell me what I'm like, my own view is clouded by self-loathing, sarcasm and an imagination full of trivial bites.

And now for some food, non alcoholic drink and a DVD, possibly Have I Got News For You. Got to keep my comedy fangirling status somehow. Bon appetit!

I'm still sorting through the Ed Fest pics (jeez, my boobs are out in almost all of them! I may have accidentally flashed the Impro Chums!) but to tide you over and amuse you all, here is me and 1 day old Baby Lewis. Notice the terror on my face from fear of dropping him. and my banging nail polish.

( What is it about this kid that turns me into a dribbling moron? )

This is a bit late but I've been working and doing nothing so my apologies.

The amazingness of the Edinburgh festival was multiplied by about 125 this year because the lovely Liz was with me! She arrived on the Saturday in Dundee and me and my sis went to pick her up. It's always amazing to meet up with JL friends, even if I've only done it a couple of times, but it was stranger this time because she was the visitor and she was going to be subjected to the ordeal of meeting my entire family! My gran, who was letting Liz and I stay with her for the visit, was inviting all of my family up that night for a sort of get together. My cousin's fiance, her little sister and baby Lewis were also staying, and Daz camped out on the couch too so it was a full house. And ym lightweight tendancies kicked in after one piddling glass of wine. Seriously. So it was an early night.

Sunday was lazy day at grans with mocking of America's Got Talent, purchasing of junk food and listening to hymns in the park. Since money was in short supply we kept the festival madness for the next day. And boy did it rock!? 

Accompanying me and Liz were my sister and our friends Alana, Laura and Corinne, who all came to the festival with us last year. I don't have any pictures up yet so that post will come later but some of the epic sights included a topless Mr Tumnus, a Mexican Shakespeare troupe singingMuch Ado About Nothing to the tune of La Bamba, said actors getting a kiss on the cheek from Liz and Daz, a sign we made saying 'Give us a leaflet and we'll give you a hug,' a leaflet collecting competition (I think I won), several street performers and lunch at my regular spot where they still remembered me! There were so many other sights but my mind's drawing blanks right now. While the other group went to see The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Sweeney Todd, Liz and I went to see my first ever live impro experience, Paul Merton's Impro Chums! Front row seats! And yes, it was freaking hilarious. I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was. It was even better afterwards when we got autographs! I freaking love Pleasance! Thanks to Emma, the notebook you got me has gone to good use. Liz got a hug from Lee Simpson, who then recommended a pub for us to go to. We ended up going to Cafe Habana in the end though. It had poured down earlier, leaving 6 of us under one umbrella, but by the end of the night it was much nicer. A truly epic day.

The second day, just me and Liz, didn't start out so good. The show we had tickets for, The Early Edition with Marcus Brigstocke and Andre Vincent (who Mike McShane calls The Big A.V.) was cancelled. I was quite annoyed by that, not just because I wanted to see the show, but because it was inside the Udderbelly and I wanted to say I'd been inside the giant purple cow! So we decided to look for another show, the extra money kindly provided by my mum. While waiting in the huge queue to buy tickets, more leaflets were handed our way and one was for a free comedienne called Iszy Lawrence. She handed out the leaflets herself and said it was free because we'd never heard of her. She was really sweet and the quote on her leaflet said she was like the long lost daughter of Marcus Brigstocke so of course we went. We sat right at her feet, Liz on the floor, in the pub where she was performing and she was great. She was very funny, very sweet and didn't mind making silly puns that made the audience groan. I felt really bad that I couldn't give her more money (most free acts ask for a donation afterwards) because I genuinely would have paid to see her if I'd known how good she was. So if you're in Edinburgh over the next few days, check her out. Liz and I will be pimping her out to the max! We also saw Sue Perkins walking down Waverley Bridge with her girlfriend, very sweet. We ended up getting tickets for Marcus Brigstocke's stand up that night - only 5 tickets left! Front row again (Liz is a professinal queue expert) and it was again brilliant. His show was called God Collar and talked about religion and belief in God. Typical Marcus, it was very biting, witty, surprisingly heartfelt and of course hilarious. But sadly the show started late, so finished late and we missed our bus. Luckily there was one more bus home but it wasn't for an hour. We were lucky to get home, I had visions of my dad driving to Edinburgh to come and get us! Boy, we were exhausted by the end of the night! Sarah and Pippa were phoned many many times for updates of the day and just general rambling.

The final full day was another lazy day, mostly because of lack of funds. We lay on the bed eating food and watching Have I Got News For You and making grabby hands at the screen everytime someone we fancied came on. We have pictures of that too, and we are hugging the TV too.

Lack of funds also saw us getting a lift to the train station from my friend Pam who has the same sense of direction as a blind squirrel. We drove right past the train station and ended up about 13 miles outside of Dundee! Seriously! Pam also interrogated Liz a little but we just fought back by talking loudly about being left wing Guardian readers. I was so sad to see Liz go, 5 days wasn't anywhere near enough. But hopefully I'll get down to London before I go back to uni. And that was the brief, rambling description of Edinburgh Festival 2009! Bring it on next year! 

Night shift and subsequent sleeping through the day is eating up a lot of my time but I'm not dead! Most of my LJ time ends up being commenting on other posts and reading fic. Fic is a nice way to relax after a night of tearing open boxes, stacking shelves and putting up with the awful music they play on the radio at 3am. I freaking hate that new Lady Gaga song.

I'd give you a big long description of my job but it's really not exciting enough to warrent such a post and I'm sure you're all far too exciting to care about what happens in Tesco after dark (it does not turn into a gay bar like Alan Carr says!) I work from 10:30 until 7am, ouch. It's really not so bad but getting into the routine was tough and very tiring. I get home in time for the repeat of Shepard Smith's show which is nice (yes, I feel like a dirty hypocrite watching a Fox show but he's so sassy and has a lovely voice and I'm waiting for the day he snaps on air again and does another 'fucking' rant. Plus he's pretty in a serial-killer-eyebrows way.) I've got 4 more weeks to go of my contract and by then I'll have enough money to pay off my overdraft plus festival money! 

I honestly have nothing else of interest to talk about, I am that boring! So go back to your normal schedule. Or go and read my fakenews fanfic entries! Yes, shameless pimping but I'm just sleep deprived enough to get away with it.

Yay!

I had an interview at Tesco on Thursday for a night shift job and I was pretty down that they hadn't called back because I was convinced I'd been successful. I was right. I'm so happy now, the depleting funds in my bank account were beginning to terrify me, now I'll be able to push the funds up a bit and maybe have some extra for a bit of a wilder time at the festival! It's just shelf stacking but it's a well paying job (£7.50 an hour after midnight) and snce I barely sleep these days it works to my advantage. The best bit is they leave the job available for you if you want to go back to it next year! So if my sketchy dreams to work in America next Summer fail, I have a back up plan. I just need to call them tonight and sort out some details. Hurray for employment! 

In more exciting fangirl news, I'm finally contributing to fandom for the first time in ages. Yay to fakenews_fanfic and the demented OT's for inspiration. I'm surprised I got as many comments for one story as I did - bringing love to the obscure pairings has it's perks. I also contributed to the pundit kink meme but not telling you which one is mine. That would defeat the purpose of anonymous porn! 

I'll leave you with some US Whose Line, one of my favourite games! Enjoy!

 

Dear Russell,

I don't often rant about my fangirl loves. I try to leave that to the craizer people or the more eloquent ones who can display their disappointment in a thoughtful and well planned way. However, I have to say this...

( Spoilers ahead... )( Spoilers ahead... )

Yep, my life is boring.

Although I did get an e-mail from Murdo Fraser - deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives and my boss for 5 days when I was 16 and doing work experience. He'd asked me to e-mail him when I started university to give him an update on my life (he even sent me a birthday card when I turned 18.) and I only got around to doing it a few weeks ago. I got a short reply wishing me luck and an offer to meet up and have coffee with him at the parliament whenever I was available. My parents take this as the first sign of my impending political career, even though I show more interest in US politics (Palin's resigning - oh happy day!). So if any of you want to meet the smoking hot Scottish tories, drop me a line and we'll organise it. :P

...and the fact that Liz is coming up to stay with me during the excitement and we're going to see Paul Merton's Impro Chums, here are some pics from last year's amazing day chatting up actors, hugging kangaroos and having stalker t-shirts made!

( Read more... )

That's how long I lasted in my Summer job berry picking.

Two fucking days.

Strawberries are now on my enemies list, right next to Glenn Beck and whoever cancelled Carnivale. Bending down in the mud to pick those things gave me back spasms, leg pains and dizziness and I couldn't physically cope with it after two fucking days. So I quit. And now my dad thinks I'm a failure. Last night he did this whole 'disappointed dad' routine and basically said I was lazy and stuck up and that I thought the job was beneath me. Believe me, I wouldn't have quit the job if I thought I could physically cope with it. But I just couldn't stand the pain. After one night, I woke up at 4am with a shaking back. Your back isn't supposed to do that! I know I'm not designed for physical stuff, I've always known that. Yes, I need the money but I value my wellbeing higher than money. So my dad thinks I'm a failure. He didn't need to tell me that - I don't think highly of myself anyway, he didn't need to inform me of something I already fucking knew.

After I went to bed, I lay in bed watching Eureka with Daz and working over a few things in my head. I needed some water so I went back down and ended up snapping a little, I told my dad if he thought giving me a huge speech on my misdeeds would improve things or make me feel better about myself, he was wrong, and I might have let it slip that I've always secretly felt like a failure. It's true, but it ended the conversation there and then. He didn't reply, he just stood there. To be fair, I was crying by this point and he's a guy that can't cope with tears. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to wash the dishes. I just felt like since I was such a failure and incapable of doing anything right, the least I could do to contribute to the household was wash a few plates. Stupid logic, I know. So, a bad day for Kayleigh.

I've got a ton of C.V.s to print off now and places to go begging for jobs tomorrow - great way to spend my 19th birthday. It's stupid of me to complain anyway. Yesterday, I was posting in the huge Iran live post on ONTD_Political and I've never felt prouder to be a part of something. I just wish I could get involved more with this. I'll leave you with a sight that gives me hope. No, not half naked comedians. :P

I'm back from the trip I shall now refer to as The Most Amazing Trip Ever (registered trademark) in London with madeluxx  (Maddy), fantasy_bubbles  (Caz) , nutellahostage (Sarah) and moomintroll_x  (Liz). It was totally worth the combined total of 22 hours on a smelly Megabus next to a grumpy chav with her legs wide open (darling, nobody was interested) with nothing but an iPod, two books and my own slowly slipping sanity for company!

The first night down there Caz, Maddy and I went to see Sarah perform in her acapella choir. They were awesome and Sarah did a fab solo on Back to Black. Drinks were also had, I'm happy to say, including a free shot we got from the barmen that went straight to my head (thank you for the free glass of water needed to take the edge off.) I honestly can't go into enough detail regarding how great it was just to be with everyone. The net gets a lot of bad press for stuff like meeting people but I can honestly say I loved every second I spent with these girls. They were too awesome for words. Just listening to them talk and fangirl was great fun, not to mention all the laughs we had.

Some of the best laughs came the next day when we went to my first official comedy fangirl experience, a recording of Have I Got News For You. Liz joined us there and I got to give her a massive hug. The recording itself was so fab. Lee Mack hosted and the guests were Shappi Khorsandi and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I got to comedy fangirl second base too (the first base being going to something comedy related, the second base being talking to a comedian). During the warm up, Jo Caulfield asked if anyone had had a tough day and Maddy and Caz were oh so kind enough to point at me. I told Jo about my 10 hour journey and she got the audience to applaud me. Slightly embarassing but also amazing. Bring on third base - hugging a comedian! The episode was great. We all squealed with delight at Ian's elbow patches. If you watch the episode and hear someone cheering wildly and wooing at the sight of those elbow patches - it's us! Paul even looked baffled in Maddy and Caz's direction! 

I've got so many clips to watch and fics to read now. We watched a bunch of clips mainly involving Richard Vranch in a bikini (there was squeeing, I cannot deny that) and I read some very interesting fic with some very interesting pairings - both gorgeous and cracky (you know who you are!). I just wish I could have spent longer there, 2 days was nowhere near long enough. So the next time a trip is suggested I will be down there faster than you can see it happen. I'll be booking a plane too!