sailing the fingers of the dragon

I caught up on the last half of season three and the first episode of season four of White Collar this week (why yes I am being procrastinatory) and oh man, I still love this show. I love it like El and Peter and Neal love each other. Which, for those of you not watching the show, is a lot.

Okay, it grinds my gears almost every episode that it fails the Bechdel test probably 95% of the time. It includes women in every sphere of the show, it just so rarely lets those spheres cross that they almost never get to engage in conversation, and when they do it's usually about Neal. I was particularly incensed at one moment in 4.01 where (not to be too spoilery) El does something particularly awesome and we see the end result of that awesomeness, but we don't see her doing the awesome thing despite the fact that seeing it would have allowed her to a) pass the Bechdel and b) show us her awesome rather than us being told about it.

That said, season three gave us self-rescuing El twice! And generally El just being really fierce in a lot of awesome ways, and refusing to give in when she knows she's right and all sorts of delightful Mozzie-El interaction. Love her. And I just love her and Peter's relationship and the fact that Peter is constantly aware of her awesome.

Plus I have to admit that I absolutely adore that, while their whole "now that New York has gay marriage we can do a background point about that" bit was a little heavy-handed, they went with Diana not being entirely certain about it rather than falling all over herself to get hitched.

And they really just wholeheartedly embrace the fact of the OT3 on this show. So, so canon, you guys. So canon. :P

As for the actual plot? Ha, well, it's entirely servicable and rarely terribly original, but it's always loads of fun and they put an entertaining spin on it and the dialogue, in particular, is always cracking. Tey're not trying to do anything particularly earth-shattering with the show, but they're aware of that and instead they just make it a particularly stellar example of its genre. In my opinion.

Also, goddamn but Matt Bomer is a pretty pretty man. I really have to go see him play a stripper in Magic Mike. Not that we don't get half-naked Neal more than often enough.

On the other end of the spectrum I really love every choice the costumers make in terms of El's clothes. Jesus but she gets poured into some amazing designer outfits. There is some delightfully equal-opportunity eye-candy on this show.

And if you're not into either of those options, the architecture porn of New York is there for you, similarly beautifully shot. :P

I don't know if I will ever feel the desire to create more fanworks for this show, but I'm really happy it's around and I'm going to try and keep up with it this season.

SO TIRED, goddamn. Trying to catch up on sleep after like two weeks of busy-stress-ness. I was probably not actually awake enough to watch this week's tv, but I did anyways, and in brief: yay!

( the good wife this week )

( white collar returns! )


In other news, comics fandom is being so good to my queer little fangirl self! Okay it, SUCKS that Batwoman #1 has been pushed back to April. Sucks a LOT. But I guess I'd rather have a long wait for #1 than deal with long waits between issues. Still a little cranky about that, but could be worse. (Also, JH Williams says that they have two years of ideas/plans, so I like the sound of that.)

I am super thrilled that Anne Hathaway will be playing Selina Kyle in the third Batman. There are not a lot of people who could replace Michelle Pfeiffer in my Selina-loving heart, but Anne is awesome, we've seen in Get Smart that she's decent at action stuff, and I am holding out hope that this means there will be a female character who is not evil or dead by the end of the movie. I still haven't seen Inception so have no opinion on Tom Hardy, but I am pleased that Bane will be included because maybe some of the attention will trickle down to Secret Six...?

Also, stills from X-Men: First Class look promising, especially January Jones as Emma Frost. Little-known fact, Emma Frost was named after Emma Peel and had her original costume based on one from The Avengers, and so I have been particularly enjoying all the commentators saying that her outfits in this film are reminiscent of Diana Rigg. (No, I have not yet figured out a way to work this fact into my thesis.)

Last but not least, I was over at some friends to play the new DC Universe Online game the other night. LOVE.IT. My character design is based off Spider-Woman, which feels kind of silly (because she's a Marvel heroine) but is highly entertaining to watch. I am a villain entirely 100% solely because as a villain you can choose to be mentored by Circe, and Circe is voiced by Michelle Forbes. I'm pretty terrible, but it's fun times.

Aaaand now I have to go write. But this was fun while it lasted. ;)

HEYYYY WHITE COLLAR.

( first, the things I didn't like about the finale )

That said, the did-not-want list is MUCH, MUCH SHORTER than the ( that-was-awesome list )

Although, man, how am I supposed to get through the next several months without new White Collar? That is just cruel.

You guys, this CAST, how EVEN.



(although man, whoever dresses Tim DeKay should... not be allowed to)

( one more for good measure )

RIGHT, errands to run.

YOU GUYS, HOW PRETTY IS TIFFANI THIESSEN. REALLY PRETTY, IS HOW PRETTY.



*flailyhands*

Ugh I need those photos, please tell me they're coming out at some point soon.

I love how this cast loves each other so very much. (And how the promo materials ship the OT3 for us. I just do not get tired of that ever.)

Title: The Only Ghost I'm Haunted By
Fandom: White Collar
Pairing: Elizabeth/Peter (/Neal)
Rating: R
Word Count: 2500
Thanks: To the lovely entropical87 for beta.
Notes: Written for villainny's Sex is Not The Enemy Fic/Artathon, with this (NSFW) prompt. Also, the depiction of the New York-D.C. train service in this fic is entirely a work of fantasy and should not be seen as a reflection of reality in any way.
Warnings/Spoilers: None.
Summary: "Elizabeth, it's about Peter," Neal says slowly, and oh god, the mob put a hit out or terrorists bombed the courthouse or he got run over crossing the street...

( The Only Ghost I'm Haunted By )

If That's All We Have
White Collar, Elizabeth (Elizabeth/Peter, Elizabeth/Peter/Neal)
No warnings; no spoilers; rated G.
10 x 100 words

( Time enough for life to unfold: ten loosely interconnected facts about Elizabeth Burke. )

Let me tell you, it is a good thing that this show has Elizabeth. Why? Because otherwise I would be really worried that Neal has stolen all my gay. (soupytwist says he is keeping it under his hat; that's just cruel, isn't it?)

( WC 1x10: Vital Signs )

In conclusion:


That made up for allll of the rest of the day.

In case you have not seen this, I feel obliged to rec now the festivids reveal has come. greensilver did a FABULOUS White Collar vid to "Let's Misbehave" - it is gleefully OT3 and fun and encapsulates all the squee I have about the show, particularly the Neal pretty and El awesome. I strongly, strongly recommend you go and download it - I only wish I could embed, but I can't, so you'll have to trust me. ;)

Aaand the last no really the last one for Porn Battle IX (Dressed to the Nines).

entropical87 beta'd above and beyond the call of duty. ;)

No spoilers, no warnings, 2200 words.

( It Isn't Even Spring, Elizabeth/Neal/Peter, prompts: old jazz, dance, birthday )