Cam's Corner of the World

Hey Aussies, did you know you had a state called Capricornia?

True fact, according to that stellar map The Dail Mail suppplied. Meanwhile, flooding in Queensland is still bad. I have great affection for Qld after living there, so sending all the anti-flooding vibes I can. Stay safe, Aussies.

So this is 2011, starting out much like 2010 ended. Meanwhile, here in Norway, a TV personality was attacked by a moose while walking his dog and suffered serious damages. Brain hemorrage and loss of vision in one eye to mention some. Okay, one should take care near adult moose especially if they have moose kids with them, but damn. Moose aren't usually that aggressive.

The BBC has made a list of 100 things we learned through 2010, which has many cool things.

I've been nominated in the 2010 Spock/Uhura awards for the one Star Trek story I wrote last year, and in two categories even. (Best One-Shot and Best Humor.) Can't complain about that.

I've also started my post-apocalypse story and decided to make it mainly a Merlin AU set in something akin to our time. I've also decided to sneak in other characters from everything to L&O:UK and Melrose Place.

How's the near year treating you?

(What the hell is going on in Torchwood fandom, anyway? Massive implosion or something?)

(This year's traditional homemade gingerbread house.)

Wishing you all a god jul, or alternatively, a very happy end of 2010. Stay warm and merry! Especially warm, given the weather of late. (-25C here this morning. Proper winter, gotta give it that.)

The cat wishes you the same.

So, I could write reaction to the Merlin finale and maybe I would have one or two things no one else has said already, but I decided to be contrary instead and write 1) Stuff I want from Merlin season four and 2) fics I want to write as a result of the finale.

( Stuff I'd like to see in season four of Merlin. Spoilers for previous seasons )

( Fanfics I want to write as a result of the Merlin finale )

Meanwhile, it is still freezing like whoa and tomorrow I am going to the midnight launch for Cataclysm. That waiting outside will be fun, oh yes.

Cat is much better! After a visit to the vet, he's now eating again and acting far more energetic. It looks like he will be all right for now. Thanks for all the well wishes; they were much appreciated. Meanwhile, I've had an exhausting week and have another coming, which is reported might get as cold as -25C here. Oh fun.

I will also be sending out Christmas cards in the coming week, so last chance if you want one.

Here's a charmer: Cheerleader kicked off the squad for refusing to cheer for her rapist. Not in some demonstrably non-cheer way either - she just didn't want to say his name. I don't even know what to say here that wouldn't be filled with a good deal of rage, so yeah.

Here's a penis and Berlusconi: Italian PM under fire for restoring a penis to a ancient Roman statue. But for next year he's suggesting cutting 40% of the fine arts funding in an austerity package - I guess no penis is too austere even for Berlu.

Here's something cool: A planet from another galaxy has been found in the Milky Way. The Milky Way has swallowed several minor galazies in its liferun, and one day it might merge with the Andromeda Galaxy. (Merging galaxies can look something like this and later this. Awesome, no?)

Here's a charmer II: An alleged rape victim in South Africa is charged with having underage sex. What is this I don't even.

Here's naked Norwegian men: Say, is that a fire hoze between your legs? More shirtless men here. They and many more are apparently available in a calender now on sale.

Fics I want time to write, damnit:
- The Ghost of King Past (Uther after death, haunting Camelot and observing the changes that happen).
- Season 3 AU with Morgana not evil, but struggling with her darker nature.
- Five Times Merlin Interrupted Gwen and Arthur (and One Time It Didn't Matter).
- A fic where Gwen saves Uther's arrogant ass and the two are forced to work together.
- Five Good Female Magic Users That Saved Camelot (and Told Off Uther)
- Merlin runs into the Doctor in a tavern; hijinks involving Daleks and dragons ensue.

Now I just gotta figure out which to do first. Right after I figure out where I stored my extra, extra warm clothes last spring. I think I might need them.

Reasons why it's a bad idea to google yourself, #19 - coming across posts talking about shipping youin a RPF way (sorta) and feeling all weird. Can only blame myself though - curiosity is sometimes an impulse best resisted.

What's the weirdest you've found googling yourself?

In other fandom news, been a bit of a bruhaha in Doctor Who fandom over whether or not 'retarded' is okay to use in a fic title. Arguments over the original meaning of the word and all that, plus the author feeling specifically targetted (which does seem to allude to previous incidents).

Titles. Pick 'em carefully. (But man, titles are evil to find. I think the longest I've used to find one was six hours, which was longer than it took to write the fic!)

I am steadily writing more Merlin fic, as I've been infected by new fandom quite bad. It's always a bit strange to see what I actually really fall for, fandomwise. And what I like, but never get fannish about (which is the majority of stuff I watch or read, really). And because I am in a math mood, I started wondering if I could make a formula for my fandom attractions.

The closest I came was: Cute couple with potential for being Canon + interesting but flawed canon - annoyance over certain issues multiplied by desire to write fanfic for said fandom divided by fandom wankery.

... I need not to be making math tests right after I've written fanfic, probably.

( Arthur/Gwen fanvid behind the cut )

Meanwhile, a bit of scandal has hit Norway - and it involves the US. Basically, it has been uncovered that the US were spying on Norwegians in Norway, using former police officers. This sort of surveillance could very well be illegal. The US claims it was cleared with Norwegian authorities, Norwegian authorities says no. The US has stopped the surveillance for now.

Yeeeaah. If the US has actually broken Norwegian law, I'm gonna be severely unimpressed. And yet, not really surprised because the US government has said sod it to International law in the past.

Don't forget to leave your address here if you want a Christmas card from Norway or is doing a gift exchange with me.

I can be productive! Finished a big stop_plagiarism case (57 proven accounts of plagiarism, sheesh!), wrote another Merlin fic, made another fanvid (using a local band, hah), cleaned the back yard of leaves (oh so many leaves), watched my beloved Tromsø secure their bronze medals one round before the end of the Norwegian football league this year, read up on analytical method for teaching the letters in school, put away the bike for winter (sniff) and remembered to change the clocks to winter time.

I know several of my American flisters was at the rally this weekend, and I have to admit there seems to have been some really excellent signs there too. I think I've only been to rallies twice in my life - once as a kid when my parents took me to a 'No to EU membership' rally, and once as an adult to an anti-racism rally after the murder of Benjamin Hansen. But then, if I shared a country with some of the shit opinions I've seen come from the extreme right of the US of late, I would have been in a rally in a heartbeat. Certain things is worth speaking up against.

In any case, I hope you had a happy Halloween, Americans! (But please Norwegian commercial forces, STOP TRYING TO FORCE AN AMERICAN HOLIDAY WE HAVE NO TRADITION OF ON US. THANK YOU AND FUCK YOU.)

I am returned from the Netherlands.

And obviously, I have quite a bit to catch up on - missed episodes, girlsavesboyfic stories, Cataclysm relase date (!), fandom happenings and yes, real life. Damn that real life thing. (And thanks to whoever pointed me to and started a love thread for me at the anon love meme. Very kind of you, anon!)

Meanwhile, here are a few pictures from the trip, including Den Haag, giant clogs, many pretty houses, windmills, dikes, headless statues, sleeping cats and the proper way to serve hot cocoa with whipped cream.

( Image heavy, obviously )

I had lots of fun, yes. And how are you all?

Mirror, Mirror, Morgana
by misscam

Summary: There are these dreams Morgana has. [Morgana, Merlin, Arthur, Gwen, Uther, Gaius, Morgause, Mordred. Implied Morgana/Merlin and Arthur/Gwen and a few others, if you want to read it like that.]

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Not my characters, just my words.

Author's Note: No real spoilers for series 3, but alluding to events therein. Thanks for clevermonikerr for inspiring this through a discussion about Morgana – and for lovely beta work.

( 'Witch,' he says again. 'Just say it, Morgana. Do you not trust Uther to love you after that word?' )

Okay, is it shit-stirring post a fic to a Spock/Uhura shipper comm with implied Kirk/Spock when you're a person with such classy, classy icons like this and this and even used to have one icon calling Uhura a whore? Maybe it's just me wondering that, cynical and wary of misogyny that I am.

But then I see the poster in question also makes posts like this and makes a comm that states specifically in the rules that bashing is a-okay! Three guesses as to who she'd like to see bashed.

Why, fandom, why must we (almost) always hate so much on the females? I've started poking into Merlin fandom as well and some of the stuff said about Gwen and sometimes Morgana makes me sigh. But also made me more determined to write awesome fics about the female characters - have done one Gwen-centric and one Morgana-centric so far.

Meanwhile, I am off to Holland next weekend and will be there for four days. Anyone want postcards? I'll make a post with screened comments for collecting address if enough want.

Things that make me grumpy today:

- Power went out yesterday and then didn't come back for over 10 hours. No electricity for that long is not fun.
- It's wet, cold and depressing outside. Also, it's almost October, the month I hate the most as it is - you guessed it! - wet, cold and depressing. Bite me, Norwegian weathergods.
- It's Monday. Mondays are evil.
- Racist fuckwit party the Sweden Democrats wins seats in the Swedish parliament for the first time. Ugh. (If you're British, think of this as Sweden's version of the BNP. It used to be called "Keep Sweden Swedish", which should tell you a fair bit about it. They also hate homosexuality and anything not within their defintion of normal, basically.)

Sometimes, I wonder if not talking about issues is what gives those hateful about it so much power, because they get to pretend they're brave bringing it up. Pro-tip, haters - it is never brave to pick the "blame someone different enough that we can make them look scary" option. That's more letting fear rule. Would hateful racist fuckwit party have gotten so many votes if someone else had talked about immigration in a more sensible and, you know, sane manner? (And not disguise racism as "concerns about immigration" and hijacking conversations a scoiety should be having. Immigration does mean a society has to consider certain things. Like how to make a multicultural society in practice, how to get enough intergration of immigrants that they can participate in society on their terms but still have their identity, how not to treat white as the norm, how to ensure education with language barriers, how to deal with racism and a whole lot of other stuff.)I wonder about that, because in Norway we have parties that aren't all that happy about immigration, but go nowhere near that level of racist fuckery. Do they soak some votes that would otherwise go to the far right? (The thought of something like Vigrid getting into Parliament in Norway makes me want to barf.) And is that just a good thing? Are more extremist parties likely to attract people speaking against them, which can be a good thing too?

Either way, Scandinavia is changing as the world is. We must learn to adapt, not hide behind the North Sea and hope the waves never reach us. They do. We are becoming multicultural, and immigration is only one part of that process of change.

Then again, words are easy and adapting to change isn't always. My life and circle of friends have started to change quite a bit, and I still have angsty Friday evenings with red wine about it all, even if I know change is probably good for me. Maybe Sweden is having some angst too.

I just wish they were drinking better alcohol, because that Sweden Democrats brew burns and give horrid hangovers.

(This all reminds me I should finish the series of posts on racism in Norway I have drafted. And the Sookie-saves-Eric's-Viking-ass fic and a report on work disturbances for 8th grade pupils and this stupid Excel combution and and and. Man, I wish I had a time-turner to get more stuff done.)