Arctic Light

Nonspoilery, outside the cut, I wanted to say that if you haven't seen Fringe and you're thinking about watching it, I thoroughly recommend it. (I wrote this outside-the-cut part a week ago -- I just wanted to wait to post it 'til I'd seen the finale, so I'd know if I still felt that way ... and I do.)

The show wasn't always perfect, by any means. The plot ran off the rails in places, the science made Stargate's science look plausible (my husband and I semi-jokingly refer to Fringe as the place where science goes to die), and there were a few characters who deserved much better than they got, over the years.

But the show always kept me guessing, surprised, intrigued and delighted. I adored the characters, and the actors. I loved some of the things the show had to say about -- well, "redemption" is too flat a word, but the way that the choices we make determine the people we become, and the fact that you can always make better choices (but it doesn't erase what you've already done).

And it was one of the only shows I've watched in the last few years that went just long enough. It didn't end prematurely, leaving bitterness and regret for what it might have had a chance to become; it didn't limp onward to a miserable finish that made me wish it had been cancelled years ago. I had some ups and downs as a viewer, even a couple times when I thought about taking a break from the show, but ultimately, I ended the series feeling just as positive about it as when I first discovered it and marathoned the first three seasons, two years ago.

( And now onward to series finale feeeeeeeelings (and major spoilers) )

The creative part of my brain feels slightly sprained. I think I've done more art in the last two weeks than in the previous two years. It works my brain in a different way than writing does, although in certain respects it's ... kind of the same? It's been so long since I've done art that I'd forgotten the way that a painting gets under your skin the exact same way a story does, where you have the finished version in your head and there is this burning compulsion to achieve that platonic finished state by writing the next scene, or, as the case may be, apply the next color wash or batch of frisket. *g* (At least when you're writing, you don't have to wait for paint to dry ...)

And then I wrote fanfic to wind down. As one does. I seem to have whiplashed right back around into "awww, White Collar, you are the best"; hell if I know how my brain works, though I think that talking it over with everybody really did help (thanks for putting up with me, you guys! ♥), and it also helped that I took a little fannish break with Dresden Files and Once Upon a Time (both of which I'm still delighted with, btw) and got rid of (most of) the bad brain cycle that I'd managed to trap myself in. So now I have somehow written a tag for 4x10 which I will post shortly. (I've written so little fanfic in the past few months! I wrote a TON of original fiction, which I'm very proud of, don't get me wrong. But there is a sort of warm-fuzzy "eeeee" feeling that goes along with getting back into fannish headspace. Like with art-headspace, it's creative, and yet a different kind of creative than writing original stuff.)

Brief comments on tonight's Fringe: ( Spoilers )

Also, for those of you who are interested, kouredios has a fannish friending meme for people who miss all the discussion that used to happen on LJ/DW and want to find more people to chat with! DW version / LJ version. You can list your fannish preferences and then find people who share them.

Okay, Fringe has succeeded in confusing me utterly.

( Spoilers for Fringe episodes up to last night's (4x14) )

Aaaaaand I finished the Fringe post.

( Spoilers for 4x09 (that's the latest episode, right?) - largely focused on Peter and Walter, just FYI )

... also, somewhat randomly, speaking as a White Collar fan, the fact that on Fringe, Peter's mother is named Elizabeth NEVER STOPS BEING WEIRD. There are more than just 5 names in the world, TV writers! Please use them!

I haven't been online much lately - mostly I've been writing (24,000 words on my novel since last Tuesday, OMFG WTF) and doing RL stuff: working on my gardening and spring landscaping projects, and such. Hello, Internet! How are you?

And also, we've been watching Fringe - we are finally caught up with all three seasons, so under the cut are rambly ramblings about all three seasons. It's a mix of squee and not-squee; I guess I'll separate it accordingly. Giant spoilers abound, of course!

( Fringe: the squee! )

( Fringe: the unsquee )

I think there were other things, but I seem to have forgotten them. *g* Also, I've been writing this for an hour and a half, and it's gotten ridiculously long, so perhaps I will shut up. My Thoughts On Fringe: let me show you them!

ETA: ( Musing briefly on Fringe fanworks )