terabient | internets celebrities!

so there's this pair of video bloggers, the Internets Celebrities, that i used to watch on youtube all the time. they make, in their words, "short video essays about social justice, food, and free shit."

...which is about right. Checkmate is about check-cashing spots and America's most valuable resource: poor people. Cereal is Dope (my personal favorite) is well, self-explanatory...although some of the facts they reveal about cereals may ~~make you die from laughter~~ be UNSETTLING. And Free Shit is, um, well yeah i don't have to say anything huh?

anyway, i had stopped checking their website about a year ago because they didn't seem to be updating anymore, but i found out today they've started making new videos! their most recent one is Jean aka Scott, the Homeless Celebrity, and while it's not one of their best it still delivers some quality lulz. if you've got the time they're well worth checking out!

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switching over to nerdy meme whore mode!

Post one of my fandoms and the number of any of these questions (as many or few as you like) and I'll tell you the answer!

1. The first character I fell in love with:
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
3. The character everyone else loves that I don’t:
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
5. The character I would shag anytime:
6. The character I'd want to be like:
7. The character I'd slap:
8. A pairing that I love:
9. A pairing that I despise:
10. Favorite character:
11. What are my five favorite things about the fandom.
12. What are my five least favorite things about the fandom.
13. Who are my five favorite characters.
14. Who are my five least favorite characters.
15. What are my five favorite pairings.
16. What are my five least favorite pairings.
17. Which character are you most like.
18. What is my deep, dark fandom secret.

um, fandoms i can do most of these ?s for: Azumanga Daioh!, Chrono Trigger/Cross, Dead or Alive/Ninja Gaiden, all the Final Fantasy games EXCEPT I, II, and V, Left 4 Dead, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Phantasy Star series, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Skies of Arcadia, Soulcalibur, and...i think that's it?

asking about multiple fandoms is ok, i guess, if you want to hear me blather on forever!

Current Music: 鷺巣詩郎 - "FORM MY DREAMS"

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Soul Calibur and...all of them! Blather away!

1. The first character I fell in love with: Taki~ she was the only character i could play in SCI. i did like Raphael the second they introduced him in SCII, but still: Taki first.

2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Siegfried :0

3. The character everyone else loves that I don’t: i'm not too familiar with who fandom loves and hates, but people seem fond of Tira and i'm...not.

4. The character I love that everyone else hates: does anyone else know Setsuka exists?

5. The character I would shag anytime: INFERNO. By far the hottest of the cast, plus he...she...it...is always switchin' things up - exciting!

6. The character I'd want to be like: Xianghua and Seong Mi-Na seem pretty pulled together. also, hot. also, reasonable bustlines.

7. The character I'd slap: Hwang really has one coming. Beating women and dragging them home? Yeah. Needs a slap.

8. A pairing that I love: Raphael/Siegfried is probably the closest thing i have to an OTP, despite being crack, despite 95% of its appeal being no more than 'they're hot lol,' despite the fact that doing it right generally means bringing out the worst in each of them.

wait, that's probably why i like it. :x

9. A pairing that I despise: UM. i don't really hate pairings, but Siegfried/Cassandra leaves me COLDER THAN ICE, and i don't know why because it seems perfectly reasonable?

O WAIT, Hwang/Seong Mi-Na because of the whole beating and dragging home thing.

10. Favorite character: Raphael, even though i kinda sorta don't like vampires. that's not really Soulcalibur's fault, though.

11. What are my five favorite things about the fandom. 1. a lack of shipping wars 2. a lack of stooopid shipping names 3. it's small but not TOO small (oh Phantasy Star, with your 10+ games, 20 year history and 10 or so fans ;_; ) 4. it's a fighting game that doesn't involve a freaking tournament storyline 5. uh. idk?

12. What are my five least favorite things about the fandom. 1. there doesn't seem to be a place, like a major website/forum/LJ community, where dorks like me can inflict pages and pages of fanon theories on others. (this may be a blessing for everyone else, though.) 2. collectively, everyone seems to have forgotten about the ENTIRE ASIAN CAST. 3. i contribute to #2 :( 4. that...that's about it.

13. Who are my five favorite characters. Raphael, Siegfried, Amy, Taki, Xianghua

14. Who are my five least favorite characters. I LOVE EVERYONE

except Hwang.

15. What are my five favorite pairings. Raphael/anyone he fancies, Siegfried/whoever stops that Linkin Park CD on repeat in his head, Maxi/Kilik/Xianghua (OT3!), Taki/every other lady because she's that fooooine, and while i've only seen it in JP doujinshi and mentioned randomly in forums, Xianghua/Seong Mi-Na intrigues me. XD

16. What are my five least favorite pairings. Tira doesn't interest me that much, so most pairings involving her (i think Tira/Talim is kinda cute, though!), Siegfried/either Alexandra sister for reasons i do not understand, Hwang/Seong Mi-Na for reasons i do.

17. Which character are you most like. uh...who is the laziest, most unreliable person in the cast??? that's who i am.

18. What is my deep, dark fandom secret. SOME PR0N THAT DOESN'T MAKE MY BRAIN LIQUEFY PLZ.

"does anyone else know Setsuka exists?"

I have never been able to bring myself to write a Setsuka fic; I just can't shake the feeling that she's far too cool for that.

re: Raph/Sieg - For my money, probably the all-around best-written pairing in the fandom. It may not be my favorite, but by and large the Raph/Sieg authors have their shit together. Especially the French ones—my God,

drakys' stuff is gorgeous. Take this drabble, for instance:

Un seul instant, c'est tout ce qui lui est nécessaire. Un seul instant et les lèvres de Raphael, même si elles veulent refuser encore, deviennent muettes dans le baiser. Siegfried n'a besoin que d'un instant de faiblesse pour le briser. Le rouge hautain de son regard et la moue dédaigneuse de sa bouche ne veulent plus rien dire quand il le force par terre.

Ce n'est pas aisé, il ne gagne pas sans lutte.

Mais dans un seul instant, l'insulte devient gémissement étouffé. Dans un seul instant, son insupportable suffisance devient supplication silencieuse, urgente, dans chacune de ses respirations pressées.

[A single moment—that is all that is needed. A single moment, and Raphael's lips, even though they long to refuse once more, become silent in the kiss. Siegfried needs nothing but that moment of weakness to break him. The haughty look and the scornful twist of his mouth have nothing more to say as he is forced to the ground.

It is not easy—he does not win without a struggle.

But in a single moment, the insult becomes a quieted moan. In a single moment, his unbearable self-importance becomes silent supplication, urgency in each of his rushed breaths.]

My apologies to you and the author for the super-quick and rough translation; it doesn't even begin to do the beauty of the French justice, but the strength of the writing is clearly there. Since I started writing for the SC fandom, even with the pairings I don't particularly like I've known at least one author who pulls it off brilliantly—

drakys is one of the best Raph/Sieg authors out there, and I just wish she wrote in English so more people over here could access her work.

Edited Date: 2009-08-22 03:38 am (UTC)

Setsuka is really...self-contained? i love her to bits, but her story is so straightforward, so simple, and so disconnected from the rest of Soulcalibur...it's hard for me to think of something to write about that's actually unique and interesting.

and oh god this is beautiful. *melts into a puddle of fangirlish goo*

i haven't read a whole lot of Raphael/Siegfried - it wasn't my first 'ship (i actually can't remember what was, hah) and in any case it doesn't seem particularly popular - but from what i've encountered it's hit or miss - when it's done badly it's downright painful, but when someone knows what they're doing, it's amazing.

though that could apply to any pairing involving Raphael, really.

on a 'things i'd love to write' list, a not-terrible Raphael/Siegfried fic is at the top, but tbh i'm not sure i have the writing chops for it. i've tried, but everything i've done is wholly mediocre. :| i mean, it's not a complete waste, but it's not particularly good, either - it's just kind of...there. *sigh*

(re: translation - despite not understanding French at all after 5 years of classes and having family members who speak it - what is here is lyrical, smooth and natural, and there are a lot of professional translators who aren't capable of conveying that. i think your translation is quite solid.)

Nine years of sporadic French education finally come to fruition! Thank you. :)

(I actually majored in French for a year before cutting my losses and switching back to English, ostensibly for better career opportunities. Brilliant decision, I know.)

It's been so long since I started compiling the good SC fics for my community over at FF.net, but I remember kind of informally separating the generally well-written pairings from the...less fortunate ones when I first started wading through. Pound-for-pound, Raph/Sieg was pretty good; there were a few bad fics here and there, but overall, the offerings were pretty decent, IIRC. Definitely on the higher end of the scale (on the other end, well, I'm still looking for a decent Link/Cass fic. Not because I want to read it—just because I want someone to prove to me that it exists).

Of course, the SC fandom also seems to have a fair bit of homophobia, but I guess you get that everywhere.

Also, your fifty sentences of Raph/Sieg were brilliant:

He should not feel so safe in the bed of his enemy - but there are still times when he wakes up with the memory of blood splashing on a twisted claw of an arm, and on those nights, Siegfried revels in the touch of a man who kills as easily as he kisses.

Beautiful, beautiful stuff. I love your descriptions of Raph.