King Undisputed

9 [] Rated PG-13 for violence and scary images. Runtime: 79 minutes. Director: Shane Acker Summary: When 9 first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world where all humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good. They must take the offensive if they are to survive, and they must discover why the machines want to destroy them in the first place. As they'll soon come to learn, the very future of civilization may depend on them.

My notes: BFF ordered me to watch this film 'cos she had seen a couple of scenes from it and fell in love with the visuals. So I did.

I liked it fine, especially the visual side, yes. Landscapes, the dolls, those factories and machines. If you like steampunk, go for it! I did find it very, very pleasant for the eyes. Not quite an eye candy 'cos it's all greyish-brownish and raw and dusty but it looks really nice.

I even liked the story for the most part. It's quite charming, and the story of a small individual becoming a hero in order to save the world, figuring things out, gathering courage and strength, well, it's cliché of course but it's a sure win as far as modern action/adventure goes. But at the same time, I found it annoying. I mean, if you have such a well-established heroic cliché, there's no need to make it even more cliché it by making the villain a Hitler in such a non-metaphorical way. I mean, sometimes it's OK to believe that your spectators aren't completely stupid, so there's no need to put things in their mouth and chew for them. Sometimes you can create a more far-fetched metaphor, say, as Tolkien did in LotR or as Hiromu Arakawa does in Fullmetal Alchemist, and your audience will get it. Or on the contrary: make him Hitler, no a Hitler-like something. Don't dance around trying to side-step every dangerous thing.

Another thing that annoyed me was 7 at the very end of it. The dolls are more or less sexless, more boy/men-like than girl/woman-like but whatever. I liked it that the story wasn't about love, that it wasn't about how family saves everything -- which, let's be frank, Hollywood feeds us so much as to make one want to stay single forever. But then [spoiler]7 acquired some distinctly lady-like expressions, nearly batting eyelashes. WTF? Will they now hold hand and knit baby dolls or something?[/end spoiler]

And this leads me to the following. I liked Dragon Hunters much better (my review). They are seemingly nothing alike, Dragon Hunters and 9. It's just that they both are about small people saving the world and that something in the animation looks similar to me. So, while I'm ready to rave about Dragon Hunters for ages, this review is about 9 and regretfully, I'm not prepared to squeal about it. Yes, I enjoyed it. Yes, it's a real pleasure for the eyes. But I expected more. The animation made me expect more originality from the plot, and it might be completely my fault that I was so ready to fall in love but in the end, merely liked it. But like it I did. Give it a try!

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I made Spiced Tea over the weekend, and today, I took a break from grading long enough to put together some Peanut-butter Pumpkin bread, which is warm out of the oven and goes perfectly with spiced tea. My world is a little bit better now.

This entry was originally posted at http://scribbulus-ink.dreamwidth.org/519942.html. It's cross-posted to LJ and IJ, and comments are enabled at all three journals.

Argh. It was horrible. Strong dizziness. But I'm better now.

It seems that there is a suspicion of Irritative Peripheral Vestibular Syndrome (IPVS). I have no idea what's that. I Googled and found out that many dogs seem to have this syndrome. And old people too. It's related to tinnitus and dizziness (duh). And something strange: most papers I found on the subject were written by Brazilians.

I guess I'll have to wait until next week, when I have an appointment with the ear doctor, to find out.

I think it's very nice that Livejournal is offering a free virtual gift, and I've even sent a couple of snowflakes myself. I'm also amused that snowflake mania appears to have taken over my flist, but I'm still not tempted to enable virtual gifts for my journal. Sorry about that!

Meanwhile, I've been pushing exceptionally hard to finish grading the last set of papers for my comp classes so I can have a tiny respite before final exam material starts coming in later this week, and if I see one more comma error, I may well scream.

This entry was originally posted at http://scribbulus-ink.dreamwidth.org/519853.html. It's cross-posted to LJ and IJ, and comments are enabled at all three journals.

Kristmas Wish Fulfilled for: leni_jess
From: An Amazing Member!

Title: Fleur-de-Lis
Characters/Pairings: Lucius/Harry
Rating: NC-17
Kinks/Themes Included: D/s, hair kink
Other Warnings: None
Word Count: ~4,000
Summary/Description: When he'd left the Manor five years earlier, Harry hadn't planned to return. He'd only dreamt of it.
Author's Notes: Happy Kinky Kristmas, mystery prompter. I hope this story makes at least some of your kinky dreams come true.
Thanks to my betas: M, F, and R.

( Fleur-de-Lis )

Kristmas Wish Fulfilled for: ceria
From: A Magnificent Member!

Title: You're As Sane As I Am
Characters/Pairings: George/Luna (with Fred. Sort of)
Rating: R
Kinks/Themes Included: Blindfolds (Prompt: Invisible)
Other Warnings: Voyeurism, if you squint. Sort of a strange take on the afterlife, inspired by the movie Always
Word Count: 3513
Summary/Description: George has been waiting nearly two years for his brother's ghost to make an appearance. It took someone like Luna Lovegood to show him that he never really left.
Author's Notes: Wow. This got way heavier than I planned. I hope it is what you had in mind, dear recipient. Big thanks to my beta, who is all things wonderful and knows who she is.

( You're as sane as I am... )

Title: The Space Between, for rudika

From: Your Secret Snupin Santa

Summary: Prompt: AU/AR Remus is a college student majoring in Physical Anthropology. Snape is in the medical program, studying phlebotomy. They begin meeting in the cafeteria every Wednesday (the day when Remus' rowdy friends are usually in classes without him). But when the next semester comes around, Remus and Snape are in the same Anatomy class... along with Remus' annoying friends.

Rated: Gingerbread & Cocoa (PG)

Warnings: AU/AR, some not-so-nice language/attitudes on the part of Sirius and James (homophobia and gay bashing), SERIOUS Sirius bashing ^_^

A/N: Erm, the story is not 100% correct because the University that I chose does not offer the program that you wanted, but I wanted to stay true to the prompt. Remus and Severus are Americans in this story for purposes of plot and because all I am familiar with is American college culture. This story took me many places that I had no idea about. I hope that I have lived up to your original prompt well enough, while adding a little bit of me into it.

Betas: The wonderful D and B who came through at the last second when I needed them most. Thanks girls ^_^

Word count: 6411

Title: Terms of This Conflict
Author: Santa Claus-in-fishnets
Giftee: serpenscript
Word Count: ~20,100
Rating: R
Pairing: Severus/Harry
Warnings: *Slavery*
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Left angry and bitter after the war, Harry’s whole focus is now on exacting due punishment on the guilty. Unfortunately, only one man is within his reach, and Harry is intent on making Severus Snape pay.
Author’s Notes: Some dialogue taken directly from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It’s safe to say I wouldn’t have even attempted to write this story, much less finished it, without the wonderful hand-holding of my beta. Thank you so much. Also, thanks go to my nameless friends for encouragement and a final read-through. serpenscript, I took your second prompt and kind of ran with it, I hope you enjoy it. Happy Snarry Holidays!

(Terms of This Conflict)

Hey everyone!

We're not in a dire need of pinch hitters, but I do need one fic written in the next week. If you can pull together something good and possibly porny in short time, email me at bewarethesmirk@gmail.com.

This ficlet is for leela_cat, whose Luna prompt spoke to me most loudly.

Seeing Fairies (G; Luna, Lily Luna; 683 words): ( Aunt Luna provides her partial namesake with a jollying perspective. )

Title: Saying It Without Flowers
Author: joanwilder aka RaeWhit
Pairing: Harry/Severus
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Word Count: 269
Disclaimer: It all belongs to J.K.R. and her book and film companies.
Summary: The flowers aren't the most important thing...
A/N: Written for aislinntic for her correct guess of my drabble in snarry_ldws.

( Saying It Without Flowers )

The following story was added to Moonshadow, the Snape/Lupin archive, during the past week:

"Standing Outside The Fire" (126 K) by azurerosa

The following art was added:

"Snupin" by Mun 2513

The archive is located at http://www.ssf-moonshadow.com

Before I'd even started making a weekly wrap-up for this week, the lovely sev1970 had beaten me to it. I've altered some of her original formatting, but much credit goes to her for the hard, dirty work. ;-) Thanks, hon!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Week One

( Art )

( Fic )

Well, not real ones here, although I know some of you are seeing snow or have in the past couple of days. But many snowflake cookie gifts on my profile page, so thanks to all of y'all who have sent them! (Am totally not going to even try to list everyone by name, because even as I was writing this two more arrived.) I then had a blast sending out a bunch myself. *g*

( Wot I done today )

( Wot I will do )

Double drabble today:

• Win-Win-Win [Kirk/McCoy/Pike, general]: Oh, the games people play. Here at IJ.

Title: Best Seat in the House
Pairing: Kirk/McCoy
Rating: PG
Words: 400
A/N: One of today's Bridge2Sickbay teenyfics. Prompt was Best seat in the house.

( Best Seat in the House )

I originally posted this at http://florahart.dreamwidth.org/1009581.html. Comments may be left here or there; you can comment there with OpenID even if you don't have an account.

Hello and welcome to today's issue of snapenews. Thank you all for your continuing support and useful links! Feel free to comment (either below or at snapenews@gmail.com) and let us know how we're doing!

COMMUNITIES
•sshg_awards posted the results for round 4

•iulia_linnea posted poll and a question about the snuna_exchange rules

•hds_beltane posted some banners

•lovedraughts presents the SSHG ultimate holiday reading lists

•severus_lucius had a mod post

NEWSLETTER/ARCHIVE UPDATES
• hgss_digest posted an update

•sshp_prophet posted an update for November 29-December 5

META/DISCUSSION/RANT
•territesting discusses Severus and the Dark Arts

CHALLENGES/CONTESTS
• grangersnape100 posted Week 48 results, week 49 challenge

•snape100 posted Challenge 311: Song

TODAY IN FIC

Slash
•By the Clock by anon in snapelyholidays (Snape/Dumbledore, R)

•Happy Anniversary by anon in snapelyholidays (Severus/Regulus, Severus/Sirius, NC-17)

Threesome/Moresome/Other
•The Definitive Guide to Achieving Your Desires by anon in smutty_claus (Snape/Hermione/Lucius, R)

RECENTLY RECOMMENDED
•Terrific Two's Summer of Mystery! by anon in Snupin Santa (Snape/Lupin, NC-17)

•A Picture of Success by anon in Snupin Santa (Snape/Lupin, PG-13)

•A Romance by anon in Snupin Santa (Snape/Lupin, NC-17)

DISCLAIMERS
The warnings listed here are those given by the artist/author/poet. Please pay attention to all ratings and warnings when following links.

We aim to bring you the latest Snape-centric items in the fandom but some might slip through the net! You can help to ensure this doesn't happen by sending us links via e-mail to snapenews@gmail.com). There are submission guidelines in the snapenews user profile, but for the 'Today in' sections we just require the basic title/creator/rating/warnings/link info.

Title: Beware the Power of Mistletoe
Artist: Lord Voldemort, surely!
Giftee: lovetoseverus
Media/Medium: Ink and pastels
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Snarry
Warnings: *Bare chests and a heated kiss...*
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: The boys sometimes forget the awesome powers of mistletoe, and of course, devious souls place it in the best locations to catch them unawares...
Artist's Notes: The art muses took pity on me after the Snarry Games, and decided to be very cooperative for a change. This piece came quite easily, surprisingly, and I really enjoyed doing it! It's renewed my love for using color!

camelotsolstice began posting tonight with some amazingly gorgeous Morgana/Gwen artwork. Go check it out! Go on! ^_^

We did the Troy Victorian Stroll today.

Most of the snow was still around from yesterday, but the air was in the 40's, and there was hardly any wind at all, so it was just lovely. Dominus wore his dragoon's uniform, and I, in deference to the snow on the ground, elected to wear my riding habit, which I can kilt up out of danger's way in the back, over the green walking dress, which simply WILL drag in back, no matter what I do to it.

Both of the aforementioned choices involve bustle, which I just love for this event, since I am almost always the only lady on the street who's IN one, as opposed to wearing either a hoop, or just in a long skirt, and a shawled coat. I am a vain Catt. You all knew this. Actually, now I think about it, I haven't ever seen another lady dressed in a bustle gown in any year I've gone to it. This year we did see some more period military men though. We had a Confederate officer, who looked quite sharp, and exchanged ironic hat-tips with Dominus as they passed, and a couple of saillors, both of whom were a bit too busy with their food to notice the 'foreign invader' on their streets. We did walk past an excellently done Uncle Sam though, and he gave us a pointed cough and a wink.

Oh, that was amusing as well. We found ourselves hungry, cashless, and unwilling to fight the heaving throngs inside any of the downtown bistros or cafes, so we went hunting for an ATM, and the first one we found was for Bank of America... so there stood Dominus, dressed as a British Dragoon, getting cash at the Bank of America ATM. There were several passers-by who found the irony just as entertaining as we did.

We stood for innumerable photos, but as neither of us had brought anything in which to stash a camera, we never did get anybody to take a picture FOR us. ( Next year's costume WILL include a bloody reticule, I swear it!) We did wind up our stroll at the Photo Center, where Lady Ostapeck had an exhibit up, and there we spent a nice half hour chatting about our clothes, and whatnot. (Somehow this involved me flipping up my skirts to show off the fact that I'd a properly made bustle, not just a pillow tied to my arse. Don't ask me just how, Lady Ostapeck is rather a force of nature, and talking with her is a matter of hanging on with teeth and toenails and enjoying the whirlwind tour of nonsequiturland. I hope to be something like her when I grow up, at least as far as charm and interest goes.)

Finally, we decided that it was time for biology to put an end to the lovely afternoon. (Since the idea of trying to squeeze the bustle into a public loo, let alone trying to get all the underclothes beneath it out of danger was somewhat more ambitious than I felt up to. I figured if I was going to half to get half undressed, I didn't want to do it in public, and not have anybody to help me put things right again.

And so now here we sit in our jammies, listening to OPHM, (Other People's Holiday Music) and digesting a nice meal of roast chicken, and beetroot risotto. Dominus is scanning negatives, and I am picking away at Tempus Fugitive, and in all, it's been a wonderful weekend.

How was yours then?

Title: Hot Buttered Harry
Author: alisanne
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Severus Snape/Harry Potter
Summary: Harry gets all buttered up, but it's Snape who gets slippery.
Word Count: ~1000
Genre: Erotica
Warnings: My first time writing this kink, so be gentle. Highlight to see. *Watersports. *
A/N: Written for adventdrabbles prompt #6: Hot Buttered Rum. This is part 6 in my Sexy Kinks for Sexy Wizards series, the previous parts being: Sexy Kinks for Sexy Wizards Day 1 - Candles, Sexy Kinks for Sexy Wizards Day 2 - Plum Pudding, Inexplicably Bound, A Snog and a Cuddle, and Tinsel Talk.
Beta: leela_cat. Thanks also to eeyore9990 and lilyseyes for holding my hand.
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are not mine. No money is being made from this fiction, which is presented for entertainment purposes only.

Hot Buttered Harry