botherd

- So, how about that X Factor autotune scandal, eh? I'm well aware of all the manipulation and general fuckery that goes into making the show - my favourite part of Saturday's episode was when they showed obvious plant Katie Waissel in the queue, asking the people standing right in front of her how long they'd been queuing - but somehow I'm still surprised that they'd stoop so low. I doubt the uproar will damage the show in any significant way but I hope they quietly stop using autotune at the very least.

- You know I mentioned the other day that I left my umbrella on the bus? Probably no one remembers. ANYWAY, today I saw a woman with the exact same umbrella as the one I lost, and while I wasn't close enough to tell if it was mine (there's a dent in the spike so it would've been easily recognisable) I think it might've been. I live in a small town and I've never seen anyone else with the same umbrella in the year or so I've had it, so basically I've convinced myself that she took it.

OH MY GOD, I'M SURE NO ONE CARES ABOUT MY LOST UMBRELLA. It was a really nice one, though.

- Reason #293484739 why Lady Gaga is my favourite ever: when she becomes the most followed person on Twitter she doesn't just generically thank her fans in a tweet, she makes an adorkable video about it. I love her; she's so ridiculous. Speaking of Gaga, this is a really good article about just one of the ways she's awesome (and is slightly more srs bsns than 'she makes lulzy Youtube videos').

- It's my birthday on Thursday. I'm going to be twenty-two, OMG I'm so old, etc. etc. Still wondering when I'm going to turn into a Proper Adult because I really don't feel like one yet.

Wow, it's been ages since I've posted anything that wasn't a Skins episode reaction. RL has been generally busy, even more so this week because I got a new job! I interviewed on Monday and started on Tuesday. It's the sort of job that isn't remotely impressive with regards to my job title or even how much I'm getting paid, but the organisation I'm working for is really great and I'm super happy to be there. So far I've just been doing boring induction stuff but on Thursday they sent me to a conference; I knew embarrassingly little, but I did befriend a lulzy old pagan lady there so it wasn't a complete waste of time. :D

And then the other reason why I haven't been posting much lately is that it's difficult to be excited about fandom when I feel like series four is, as I said in a comment the other day, the systematic destruction of everything I loved about series three. At this stage I kind of... can't wait for series four to be over and done with so I can forget it ever happened. It's had its good moments - Katie's episode was amazing - but there's been an unbelievable amount of fail. I feel like the writers have completely forgotten the concept of series-long character arcs? Last series there were a bunch of arcs that were well developed: Naomi/Emily, the triangle of doom (which sucked, yes, but at least made sense and was a consistent thread through the series), the three musketeers, the twins. And then there was the occasional fail like Panda/Thomas, but this series ALL the arcs are as badly developed as Panda/Thomas last year.

Gahhh, I hate so much about the things that Jamie Brittain chooses to write.

In other news! I saw Alice in Wonderland, which I really enjoyed. OMG, stories about 19th century girls being all independent and kickass and defying society's expectations are basically my FAVOURITE THING EVER. Add in SWORDFIGHTING, and my life is made.

- Apparently Rage Against the Machine are actually outselling Joe McElderry? Now, I'm all for ending the tyranny of the tedious X Factor Christmas number one, but a bunch of people buying a song with the refrain "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" en masse because of a Facebook campaign? OH THE IRONY. Also, newsflash: Simon Cowell still has more money than everyone who's bought 'Killing in the Name' put together. He doesn't care.

- (Just seen that Ollie Barbieri has been supporting the RATM campaign on Twitter. I ♥ him, but LOL.)

- My neighbours appear to only have their wifi on in the evening, which is strange and kind of annoying. Obvs it's better than nothing, but only having occasional internet that I can only access in one corner of my room is KILLING me.

- Who has two thumbs and no money to buy Christmas presents with tickets to see Rufus Wainwright in April? SO EXCITED. It's been entirely too long since I've seen him live. Also super excited for his new album out in Spring!

- I've managed to just about finish one of my Yuletide fics, which is a relief! \o/ It kind of sucks, but whatever, it's better than nothing. Now I just have to write my original Yuletide assignment and my skins_holiday fic, and then I can concentrate on apocabigbang. So much to do!

Ugh, busy busy busy. I'm moving house on Friday and packing is basically the most stressful thing ever. I have so much pointless shit! But aside from being all stressed I'm mostly kind of sadfacey about the move, because I grew up here and I can't quite imagine never being able to go back.

As if that wasn't bad enough, it means I'm going to be internetless for about a WEEK. D: Hopefully fandom won't implode while I'm gone.

Oh, thanks for the snowflake cookies, btw! Kind of annoyed that apparently you can't send them any more - I guess that maybe LJ made them free by mistake? Judging by LJ's past record I'd say they're more likely to fuck up than do something selfless and nice. ;)

Random poll, because I'm curious:

[Poll #1496393]

I love Katie/Emily SO MUCH (probs my third favourite pairing, after Naomi/Emily and Katie/Effy) and there's a crazy amount of subtext, but they're criminally underwritten in fic. IDK if that's because people just don't ship it or they're squicked by it or they feel like they ought to be squicked by it lest Pope Meg smite them, but I'm really interested in people's thoughts. :D