...for after many months, I've suddenly found the joys of trawling through lots and lots of icons.

This health and safety warning was provided for your own good. Carry on.

So I just watched Stardust for the second time (the first having been around Christmas time), and this is the first time since having read the book. The fact that I knew the story meant that I could spend more time recognising actors (which can take up most of your time in this movie; lots of bit parts are played by actors I know from shows I love). Generally, when I read a book and see a movie, I get cranky at any differences made in the movie from the book, even if I've seen the movie first. That didn't seem to happen with Stardust. I still think it's a lovely, charming, quirky movie, and lots of fun. I find it slightly odd that they got rid of Tristan's step-mother, and that there was a single guard on the Wall, rather than every man taking turns, and that the market didn't take place every nine years, but they were such minor aspects, so removed from the real meat of the story, that they didn't bother me.

Although it was very strange looking at grown-up Dunstan and thinking "it's Inspector Lynley!", but I just couldn't help it.

So today I spent two and a half hours poking caterpillars with a paintbrush.  And it just occurred to me how that kinda sounds all kinds of bad, but y'know.  I think this would be less irritating if I had actually managed to move all of the caterpillars from the container in which they hatched, to the containers with their food, but after the two and a half hours, I was spending all of my time trying to keep the ones already in the containers from wandering off, and wasn't actually putting any more in.  I decided it wasn't worth my sanity at that point, so the others can be moved tomorrow, along with all the others that hatch tonight, when I have two other people on hand to help keep them where they're meant to go.

On a completely unrelated note, my monitor has died.  Technically, my father's monitor has died, but I'm the only one who really uses that computer.  The top half of the screen just stopped lighting up, and there's a really bright line across the middle.  It's like all of the data from the top half is being squished into just a few pixels being shown in the middle.  Strange.

On a more cheerful note, because no one deserves to just hear me grumbling on and on with no reprieve, Nuppy (the cat shown in my userpic, and the namesake of my account) has apparently decided she no longer wants to spend lots of time in the patch of prickles next door, so there should be no more huge knots of fur, dribble and prickles forming around her neck.  Huzzah!

Also on a cheerful note, I just remembered how much I love the word "huzzah"!

So, after several months without really reading any fanfiction, I have been working my way through all of the award-winners in the
dgficexchange, and am shortly going to start on everything in the master list.  As it frequently does, reading D/G fanfic again has made me consider how very strange the nature of likes and dislikes can be.  I have never really loved Harry Potter.  I have only read most of the books once.  I adore George and Ron, but otherwise none of the characters really draw me in (except for Luna, who I once decided is a kindred spirit).  Within the books, I like Ginny, and I feel sorry for Draco, but I don't really pay them much attention beyond that.  Really, I have never had any huge desire to reread the books, except in order to refresh my memory of what last happened, and yet I have spent, realistically, weeks of my life reading Draco/Ginny fanfiction.  Possibly even months.  There are stories I have read and reread; none have come near to Pride and Prejudice in rereads, but some fanfics probably rival any other books I have reread over and over.  Given I've never really cared about the source of these characters, and the universe in which all of these stories are set, it seems insane that I've spent so much time on them.

I bought Dead Like Me on DVD on Saturday, and I was thinking the same sort of thing in relation to that.  While I love the show, and I adore Mason, it occurred to me that if I met someone like him in real life, I would try to politely avoid him.  I think it all goes back to the importance of context.  Like many 'ships, Draco/Ginny fanfiction has a community surrounding it, and that community has its own conventions and ideas, distinct from cannon, which appeal to me.  I have no idea why, but like Mason, it's the same characters, with the same traits, being presented in a completely different context.

Not that this post has really gone anywhere.  It's just a thought that periodically occurs to me, and is interesting to consider.

Edit: And have you ever noticed how within the spell check, live journal tells you that "ljuser" is a spelling error?

So, the class timetables for next semester came up today. I suddenly wish I was an Arts student only. With the four (arts) courses I am currently enrolled in for next semester, I would only have classes two days a week. When I add a third-year zoology course to my timetable, it's suddenly a 5-days-a-week timetable. Joy.

So apparently I'm sucky at coming up with things to talk about, so that's making this a little difficult. I think the main problem at the moment is that the only people reading this are the two I am currently living with. :P Maybe I'll get better at it when I'm not spending 24 hours a day with them, meaning there's actually stuff they (or should I say "you") don't know.

Well, apparently I've now given in and joined lj, primarily because when Betsy said "You should have an LJ account!" I said "Fine, if you set it up for me." It also means I now have access to good fanfic. Huzzah. And webcomic communities too. Yay!

I really can't think of anything else much to say, so I guess this concludes my first ever post.