Doctor Who fic - "Companions"

Title: Companions
Author: Gwynnega
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: For LJC. She requested Tegan Jovanka, Rose Tyler, the Brig, Ace, and OMG STUFF THAT BLOWS UP REAL GOOD. Takes place immediately after "Battlefield," but spoilers through "The Parting of the Ways." Thanks to Doyle for the beta read.


( 'Just a small explosion?' Ace held up the canister of nitro-9... )

more shopping, plus Halloween content!

If there were ever a time when I needed an extra hour, it's now - and I felt oh so virtuous getting up at 9:30 this morning. However, I've thus far done almost no schoolwork today (but I got tons done yesterday, and I'll do more before today is through!). Instead I went on a shoe expedition, after discovering that neither of the pairs of brown flats I recently bought at Payless looked right with my new sparkly brown skirt. In fact, both pairs made my legs look short and my feet look like canoes. Therefore I returned said shoes to Payless, then headed to Aerosoles and bought tall brown faux-leather boots with chunky heels - comfy and fashionable (and on sale!), and they completely work with the sparkly skirt. Yay. On my way out of the mall, I stopped at Clinique to buy foundation and concealer, and the saleswoman gave me a bunch of free stuff! Lipstick and moisturizer and an eyeshadow/blush/gloss palette. Few things in life make me happier than free makeup. (I couldn't really afford to buy the boots or cosmetics, but what the heck. As of January I'll be working more hours, and money should be less tight. Unless I end up needing surgery, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.)

Last night, in honor of Halloween, I rewatched Doctor Who "State of Decay," because doyle_sb4 reminded me how much I love it. Four/Romana II at their most lovey-dovey, plus vampires! ("The blood of the dead is stale and flat! I need the blood of the living!!!") Then I watched my DVD of the Bela Lugosi Dracula, which I haven't seen in awhile. When I was nine years old or so, I was a huge fangirl of 1930s horror films - encouraged in this pursuit by my screenwriter dad, who liked the fact I was engrossed in film lore. He knew the guy who founded Famous Monsters of Filmland, and had a stash of early issues of it, which he gave me - including the ultra-rare and pricey issue #1 - and, to my ever-lasting horror, I ended up CUTTING UP the magazines to keep my favorite pictures! ::headdesk::

Later tonight I think I'll watch Dracula's Daughter, or maybe the Spanish-language 1931 Dracula. (Also more of Doctor Who "The Invasion," with Zoe in the world's shortest minidress and a feather boa, posing femslashily for a girl photographer.)

Doctor Who fic rec: Look and Remember by cadhla. A gorgeous odyssey through several incarnations of the Doctor and a number of his Companions. I laughed, I cried, I marveled at all the marvels (as well as killer fungus and rubber monsters) this fic contains. Go read!

another zinger from Philip Larkin

I'm still plugging away at the Larkin letters. He does get ever more misanthropic as he gets older (and, sadly, more right-wing and racist as well). But he does come up with some great stuff. the_red_shoes, I thought you'd especially appreciate this one, from 1975:

"Ted Hughes was here [in Hull] last week, giving a reading - the first time since about 1962. He filled our hall and got a great reception. I was in the chair, providing a sophisticated, insincere, effete, and gold-watch-chained alternative to his primitive forthright virile leather-jacketed persona. Perhaps I can send you a photograph in due course." Hee. (Unfortunately, if there was a photograph, it's not reproduced in the book...)

ETA: And on the next page: "At Ilkley literature festival a woman shrieked and vomited during a Ted Hughes reading. I must say I've never felt like shrieking. We had the old crow over at Hull recently, looking like a Christmas present from Easter Island. He's all right when not reading!"