It's four in the morning, but I don't much care, because I made it to 25,000 words. It was slow going initially, but then things just started falling into place, and I stopped noticing the word count. I love it when that happens.

Halfway there!

Current word count: 25,143.

New goal: Get to 30,000 words by the 15th.

Story based Goal: To complete Chapter 5 of the novel.

In other news, romanticalgirl was absolutely wonderful and wrote a fic for me. I think that may have had something to do with my burst of inspiration; her stories often do that to me. Thanks again, romanticalgirl ! You're awesome!

And while I was taking a break from writing to surf deviantart; I saw something that was simultaneously amusing and disturbing...



I'm not sure there's anything I can say to make this any weirder. Feel free to have a go yourselves, though.

For whatever reason (the challenge, perhaps?) I've signed up to participate in National Novel Writing Month. I have an idea that I'm sketching out in my head, and I'm just waiting for November First so I can put it down on paper. The parts I've thought through so far could probably net me about 5,000 words, which is a start, I suppose.

Anyone else on my friends-list participating as well?

In unrelated news, it's been snowing pretty hard these last two days. The skies are almost perpetually grey, and the snowfall ranges from light flurries to giant flakes, but it's practically nonstop. It's going to be fun trying to get to this weekend's Halloween Party, let me tell you.

I'll leave you with some cuteness to brighten up your day.

( Guess the theme of these pictures... )

I have been posting WAY too infrequently on here. I blame life. Since I've just finished a big project, I decided that it's high time for a post.

I'm sure most people on LJ are aware of the community fandom_secrets. Reading some of the secrets, I was tempted to post some of my own, but frankly, if there's something I like or hate about a fandom, I'm going to be vocal about it and not care who knows it (Exhibit A; the fact that I pimp out the Hornblower miniseries at the drop of a hat).

With that in mind, here are two Ioan/Hornblower "secrets" of mine.

( Trust me, none of them are inappropriate. They are, however, extremely weird. )

As with others online, I'm absolutely bewildered that Disney is buying Marvel Comics. How is THAT going to turn out? I'm picturing animated superhero movies with wise-cracking talking animals. While it's easy to come up with companions for people like Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus, and Wolverine, I'm having trouble with the Fantastic Four's sidekick. Chameleon, maybe?

At any rate, the FF remake is a little easier to handle now. Ioan got out while the going was good.

( And SPEAKING of... )

I am finally back on LiveJournal, and I'm glad to be back. I missed you guys.

I wish I could come back with great stories, but I don't really have a lot of news.

So instead, here's a little list of some semi-interesting things I did during my hiatus.

( Some ramblings, and a really strange picture )
Looking forward to talking with my friends list again!

So last Sunday I went to watch a certain film that one could summarize as "The Navy In Space", aka "Star Trek". It wasn't bad, but I felt it needed work. Granted, it is an origin story, so they have some kinks to smooth out, and maybe the next film will be better (But PLEASE, keep Scotty the way he was. He's the best part of the film.)

Anyway, I got home from the event and, in the course of letting my mind wander (It has a ten foot long leash), I remembered that I'd read somewhere that Gene Roddenberry based Kirk off of one Mr. Hornblower. That got me wondering how the Horatio we saw in the Miniseries would have reacted to the Kirk as portrayed in this Film. I don't think he'd have been overly thrilled with Shatner's Kirk, but this one would have made him blow a gasket.

From there, It made me start thinking about who the characters from Hornblower most resembled, beginning, of course with the HTHS. It didn't take that long, as the original "Star Trek" has a canon Holy Trinity of it's own.

( Engage! )
Also, Hornblower and Star Trek apparently have been connected more often than I thought: memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Horatio_Hornblower

I was surfing random LJ's last night and found a link to a dress-up game that was right up my alley...

savivi.deviantart.com/art/Regency-Dress-Up-Doll-70331521

savivi.deviantart.com/art/Regency-Hero-Dress-Up-Doll-101669291

( How I spent my morning )
Enjoy!

It has been snowing non-stop today. For awhile, it was light flurries; enough to stick to the ground, but didn't really stick to the pavement/streets. I went to watch a movie, and when I got out, it was sticking to everything and was several inches deep (enough to call out a snowplow). And it doesn't show any signs of stopping.

This is ridiculous. It's APRIL! The poem is "April Showers Bring May Flowers", not "April Snow Helps May to Glow".

Fortunately, my room is warm and I have a nice view of snow covered trees to make up for it. But it's getting dark, so I guess I need to find something pretty to take its place...

( You knew this was coming. All threads in this journal lead here. )

You know there's something weird going on in your brain when you're listening to Chicago's "Cell Block Tango" (Which you've been listening to for ages), glance at a Hornblower story...and suddenly start imagining Horatio and company singing it at their trial in "Retribution", complete with dancing.

That is all. I'll try to be less insane later.

( THIS is why I shouldn't use Roflbot. )
Edit: Guess what I just found on DeviantArt?


Creepy coincidences are awesome.

Thank you to my friends list for all their support during my little fangirly breakdown. I'm better now, but I won't be completely healed until Ioan does something new (or I get my hands on something older).

I was hoping to make a less depressing post after all the emo from two days ago, and I found just the thing...

( It's like they were catering to my needs )

Ah, the strange things that go on in my brain...

( Enter...if you dare )

By semi-popular demand, You can now see Horatio angsting over a moment of drunken stupidity over at hh_macros . Comment there or here, I'm not fussed.

And something I've been mildly concerned about for awhile now...does anyone know where scaryfangirl is? Her last post was last year, and then she vanished. Does anyone on her friends list know her whereabouts? Or has she given up on LJ and is now dedicated to her website? Or (god forbid) is she no longer a scary fangirl?
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Cruising around Deviantart for interesting Ioan pictures, I came across a pretty picture of a Welsh castle. In the "Artist's comments" section, the artist (celtes) started off with the following:

"Penrhyn Castle is a country house in Llandegai, Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales, in the form of a Norman castle. It was originally a medieval fortified manor house, founded by Ednyfed Fychan. In 1438, Ioan ap Gruffudd was granted a licence to crenellate and he founded the stone castle and added a tower house."

I am now picturing Horatio Hornblower giving orders to his crew about being careful on the scaffolding.

Or, you know, this picture.



(Anyone know what "crenellate" means, by the way?)

Every few days, I go onto Roflrazzi and check their "Upcoming" archives in the vain hope I'll find more Ioan macros (as of this post, I've only seen two on that site). I don't really mind; the site's good for a laugh.

And then I had my whacky adventure on Monday...

( and I was reminded of something to boot )
In a more serious vein, now...anyone interested in doing a holiday gift-fic swap?

Several odd things happened over the last week, and I figured you would be mildly amused by them.

Being a HUGE fan of the site I can has cheezburger? I was, of course, very happy to see that they had branched out into celebrities as well. (Roflrazzi, I believe they call it).

So here I am, surfing the "upcoming" section of the new site, and what do I find...?

( THIS. )

I've found a few things I would like to share with you.

( Squees and Giggles under the cut )

Yesterday, I was looking at the "Dark Knight" trailers and remembering how awesome the movie was, when the following, creepy thought went into my head...

"What if someone made a Hornblower trailer with the Dark Knight audio? Who would play who?"

And the final results? (Trust me, you don't want to know what I originally was thinking).

Horatio: Batman/Bruce Wayne

Archie: Rachel (yes, that means he has to die again. I'm sorry.)

Pellew: Alfred

Simpson: The Joker

Now comes the tough part. All I can think of for Bush is Harvey Dent, but certain fans will have my head on a platter. So I ask you, my friends list...who should play Harvey, and what position would be most appropriate for Bush?

...Damn, I want someone to make that trailer now. I would, but I wouldn't even know where to begin.

I had this dream last night which involved me somehow having both Ioan AND Matthew Rhys on my LJ friends list. Not only that, but somehow I knew them in real life.

I woke up from it with a grin on my face. Unfortunately, I can't remember their user names. All I know is that they weren't obvious giveaways to their real identities, and I think Ioan's started with 'L'.

Wonder if this means anything...