Of This and Other Worlds

I blame lizzy_lyn for posting a link to the first video on this list, and starting me on a quest for all my other geeky childhood favorites. And apparently some guys named Norm Prescott and Lou Scheimer are to blame for most of them -- who knew?

First, allow me to present to you my favorite half of the Shazam/Isis Power Hour. And for completeness' sake, the other half, although I really couldn't get past Billy Batson's awful hairdo even then.

On the other hand, what could be better than two girls in dorky costumes rushing around to a funky disco theme? ElectroWoman and Dyna Girl thrilled my tiny soul. Yes, I ran around in my bathing suit and pigtails pretending to be Dyna Girl, so WHAT OF IT???

A couple of years later I had my very first crush on Jason of Star Command. Who was totally not a Han Solo clone. *cough*

Getting away from the Prescott/Scheimer horror show, I thought I was the only person on earth who remembered The Gemini Man. I still think it's a kick-butt show premise, even if the execution (like, well, everything else on TV in the 70's) was camp and cheesy.

Moving into the 80's, I would say that I am embarrassed to admit how much I loved Manimal but... okay, I am kind of embarrassed. Never mind.

Embarrassed of Airwolf, on the other hand -- never. Vex me not with talk of Jan-Michael Vincent being a scumball in real life. Stringfellow Hawke was so romantic that when he was finished blowing stuff up for the day he liked to go out and play his cello on a boat in the middle of a lake. Swoon!

Okay, I'll stop now.

And I am totally not watching dubbed episodes of Gatchaman (a.k.a. Battle of the Planets sans the stupid 7-Zark-7 bits) instead of working on my novel. Absolutely not. I don't know why you would even think such a thing.

I just watched this again to see if it was as eyebuggingly, earwormingly horrific as I remembered, and yes, yes it was. I think the cracked-out dancing girls may actually be the worst bit, because dude, the choreography. Anyway, the only way I could make the pain go away was to share it, once more, with the rest of you:

The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.

In other and completely unrelated news (unless you think that Leonard Nimoy reminds you of Snape, which is possible in a random sort of way), I have actually started writing a post-HBP Snape/Maud fic, to serve as a more canonical alternative to the now-AU If We Survive.

I've been moving toward a less romanticized portrayal of Snape for a while -- you can see it in "Cold Water" and "Bewitching the Mind, Ensnaring the Senses", both of which were written after OotP. But the "Spinner's End" chapter of HBP was, in a strange way, comforting and confirming to me: it showed that I hadn't been that far off the mark in guessing what Snape might be like, how he might converse, in a situation where he was on reasonably civil terms with the others present and his hatred of James Potter & Co. wasn't uppermost on his mind. (Plus, so totally Snape pulling the wool over Bellatrix's eyes and manipulating the situation to play out with his and Dumbledore's planned endgame, but I digress.) So while Snape is certainly not any normal person's idea of a good date, and I can no longer imagine him in a situation like the one I wrote in IWS Ch. 3 (pity, as I rather liked that crimson turtleneck), I still don't think he is hopelessly screwed up when it comes to all human relationships.

Anyway, the fic. Don't worry, it's short -- I have not completely parted ways with sanity. But the challenge of writing Snape again, given what we now know of his personality, was too tempting to resist. lizbee and cesario have seen the little bits I've written so far and seem to think they're all right, so I shall continue as time and responsibilities permit, and hope to have something to post here soon.

Summary found during my ongoing quest for Housefic:

This is the story where House and Cameron got caught making out in his office after Camerons "You just couldn't love me speech" in Honeymoon. Then Houses mom came for a visit, oh and Cameron got hit by a car too. I hope thats enough to jog your memory.

*sound of head hitting desk repeatedly*

You have peacockharpy to blame thank for this. I just dug it out of my archives, where it has resided since approximately 1987, and now I inflict it on share it with you all because I know some of you really like my writing and I am cruel that way such a generous person.

So now, in the spirit of Operation Teenage Angst Fest, I offer this fragment of immortal prose, from an unfinished urban fantasy story, for your torment enjoyment:

( Abandon hope all ye... )

Yes, there is more -- about a page and a half. I can't decide whether it's just as awful as the first part, or even more awful. Anyway, if for some strange reason you want to read the rest, let me know and I'll e-mail it to you, or post it here if there are enough requests. But I really doubt that many of you are masochists.