Holy everything that is holy.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Producing 'The Sandman,' May Star and Direct

OMG.

I can totally get behind JGL starring, though both Trevor and I think my boyfriend would make an even more excellent Dream.

Now, how do we cast the rest of The Endless?

Tilda Swinton as Desire. TRUST.
Bearded Eric Northman as Destruction?
Carey Mulligan as Delirium?

??????????????

I die.



Fan-made and fantastic.

2:40 to around the three minute mark, I had goosebumps THE WHOLE TIME, and I don't even like Matt Smith's Doctor.

Moffat, make it so!

I am truly fascinated by slash and shippers, but also how media with this kind of fan base (Supernatural and the Twilight franchise come immediately to mind) capitalize on this phenomenon, and the resulting weirdo impact on the real lives of people who play these characters.

So, yeah...

Why is the Chinese Internet Obsessed With Writing Gay Sherlock Fanfiction?

I know there is some hardcore, super cray going on out there as far as Sherlock slash shippers are concerned, but after reading this PG take, a better question is: what makes Asia, and Asian languages, so conducive to teh adorables?

The 37-year-old [Benedict] Cumberbatch, whom the Chinese call Curly Fu, "is the reason a new wave of Chinese viewers have turned to British television." (‘Curly' describes the star's hairstyle, while 'Fu' is a shortened Chinese transliteration of 'Holmes.')

CURLY. FU.

Also: no worries about the impending Chinese takeover of the United States; we will simply harness the power of gaijin catmen.

One journalist with the Beijing-based newspaper Jinghua Times surveying viewers of the 2013 blockbuster sci-fi movie Star Trek Into Darkness found that most had gone to see Curly Fu, a villain they declared "impossible to hate" because they had "never seen a bad guy so handsome before."

As not only a fan of the Batch but a lifelong Star Trek and Khan fan, this line of reasoning is really hard to disagree with. Oh handsome brutality!

Anyway *fans self* what was I saying? Oh yeah, full circle...

Some fans cataloguing [Cumberbatch's] good traits also listed his "cute wife" Watson, whom they call ‘Peanut,' because the Chinese phoneticization of Watson, huasheng, is a homonym for the legume.

Speechless.

promotional photo from the third series of Sherlock

Oh Curly Fu and Peanut, I wish you good luck.

(original article from Foreign Policy, here.)

I really do love everything about the BBC's Sherlock -- even its implausible British fight sequences -- but there is one itty bitty thing about it that helps it along a bit more than others.

*swoon*

(can't help it, I'm a red-blooded straight woman. sorry lads.)

(photo by Ian Derry for Entertainment Weekly)

(UPDATE 9/16/2013: The transcript of The Guardian's original interview regarding Cumberbatch's views on Manning, et al has been placed on their site, and though his misguided quotes are still there, this does serve to soften via muddling his position a bit.

What to take away? The internets: never what they seem -- even this -- and designed for hits, full stop. Actors' -- even the smartish ones -- opinions: still generally not a great foundation to base your own views on, and who knows what they're actually thinking, though good on Cumberbatch for recognizing his power and reach, and/or simple need to preserve his reputation in attempting to clarify that he isn't a daft monster. Cumberbatch does truly own the internets, and damn, I wonder how much his publicist makes.

If you're still wondering about why anyone would care about what someone like Benedict Cumberbatch thinks is at all important: The Banality of Systemic Evil)

Okay, okay.

Giving 26 interviews a day, being thrust into the spotlight because of a starring role in something that tackles extremely complex issues, and being just a plain old human with human vanity and human verbal diarrhea are probably factors. But still, I hate when this happens.

Benedict Cumberbatch: Chelsea Manning Got What She Deserved

Ugh, so disappointing.

But [her] superiors might have been right to say to [her], it’s not your position to be worried about it within the hierarchy of the military organisation, which is why [she] had to be sentenced. [She] took an oath, and [she] broke that oath.

Lesson numero uno, actors: don't open your pie holes when it comes to politics unless you're extremely well-versed in your comprehension of the issue, and your name is Matt Damon.

If they are saving lives, how can we say that’s less important than civil liberties?

Ummmm, maybe I should just stop reading about your opinions and just enjoy the shiny shiny? Oh god, can't. stop. reading.

Isn’t it hypocritical to say, we should know everything about you as a government, but the government can’t know anything about us?

For the reals? Mayday, mayday, hurtling uncontrollably toward becoming un-Batched. Sad panda.

And now a word from our author:

What is heartbreaking about this set of sentences? Aside from the abandonment of the notion that individuals are obligated to the best of their ability to discover and struggle for what is right—especially as they grow up—it’s the contradiction involved in simultaneous claims to sympathy for one’s fellow humans and unthinking deference to authority. With this statement, Cumberbatch leaves us to wonder whether he understands that governments are run by groups of individuals who often use state power for their own underhanded purposes[...]America’s founders accepted a measure of mass insecurity to preserve the personal liberty they knew was essential to democracy and human dignity and happiness. Cumberbatch is not an American, but one could think that the last two-and-a-half centuries of Western fealty to this idea might have made an impression on him.

Thank you for writing what I've been thinking, Alexander Reed Kelly.

As if I need to remind you, 1) about how real men should dress, or 2) of my forever love for British fashion house Alexander McQueen and how their great accessories can make anything pop, or 3) about why Benedict Cumberbatch.

(Press photo for The Fifth Estate press conference at TIFF)

Cumberbatching aside, I write because I also love fashion and cinema; there's been a lot of jabbering about whether or not Cumberbatch's fashion choices for his full-on three film assault on TIFF 2013 are too conservative, uptight, and British.

This surprised me, because his fashion choices are clearly those of a man who has the right people in his corner to go about crafting a career and public persona based, in part, on his quintessential classic Britishness, sure, but who also dress him** beautifully while adding just the right amount of whimsy to keep the look young and current. Perfect.

Anyway, to wit: the slim cut suit in dark blue, the crisp whites with just enough cuff, and the pocket kerchief square are givens, but it's all about that tie. Isn't anyone paying attention to details?

**or, he's getting his cues himself from Sherlock as well as recycling that tie for a long-ass time. Big ups either/or.

Sure, disrupt the dealers, but it does no good if you fail to wean the addicts (or, in fact, instead encourage them).

Benedict Cumberbatch Goes to War: Celebrity and Diplomacy

Great assessment.

Cumberbatch may be dreamy, clever goodness, but he's also an army of payroll for a carefully projected persona with a skyrocketing career made possible in part by the same folks he faults. Meh, why can't we all do like Damon?

The failure Cumberbatch perceives isn’t one of supply but demand. The star should have raged at his fans directly, not at his photographers. What if instead of chastising the paparazzi, he had written “Go look at Egypt.”

Benedict Cumberbatch might have reflected on his own experience as one of the most photographed individuals in the world. He has become an image himself. Photographs circulate endlessly of him at work and at play, in public and in private. Does his overexposure mean those who have seen his image know him or understand him?

Consider again his handwritten plea over the weekend: “Go photograph Egypt and show the world something important.” If he had spared the paparazzi his scorn and skewered his fans with the imperative to go look at Egypt, what would they see? What are we to make of the images so perilously obtained by photojournalists embedded in these protests?

Getting All Up in ComicCon, First Time Styles Edition

Can you believe with all my Star Trekking and comic-booking and nerd love fangirling that I've never attended ComicCon in San Diego until this year?

A good friend who attends on industry passes invited me along this year, and I jumped at the chance to go to geek mecca.

Also, I heard a little show called Sherlock would panel this year.

Oh girl, it was ON.

We packed up and made the 6 hour trek down from the Bay to pit stop in Los Angeles for a few days prior, down Interstate 5. Usually the flats are a wasteland, we were lucky it was an unusually GORGEOUS drive. We're cool like that.

A few days of shopping and dranks and shoring up sleep in LA, and we headed to the Con.

We arrived.

It was MADNESS.

(This is like, 1/8 of the floor.)

And we had a great time. I could go on and on about the displays (BBC America's Doctor Who fashions over the years was stellar), or the cool orgs tabling (Kirby Museum! Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!) or the nice artists we chatted with (Brom!) but what I was really struck by was not only the sheer massive volume of geekery on display and in conversation, but at how absolutely wonderful we geeks are. It's not merely a back-patting, it's the truth. In an enormous mass of excited and sometimes bulkily-attired people, every time I was bumped I received an "excuse me" or "sorry." On several occasions we were witness to expensive electronics being found and turned in immediately. Everyone was stoked to be with their people, and I must say I was so impressed with the camaraderie and friendliness and willingness to talk about nerd love in a rational (and may I say, Vulcan-like, even!) manner that was displayed over my 4 days in geek heaven.

Ah, and alas, the Sherlock panel was not to be on my agenda as it looks like any panel of extreme note (this one had Stephen Moffat, Mark Gatiss, and Sue Vertue) required overnight campouts in line. And when it comes to that kind of fangirling, saudade does. not. play. Also of note: Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch sent their regards via video, but they did not attend -- something I was a bit surprised by given not only Sherlock, but their current roles in that bastion of geekery, The Hobbit, AND Cumberbatch's roles in both the recent Star Trek and as Julian Assange in the upcoming The Fifth Estate.

So, yeah...I was a bit taken aback at the underrepresentation of Sherlock at the Con, given there was a significant panel, A-list star profiles/projects, and a growing American fanbase (my own recent Cumberbatching may have influenced this as well, but STILL, c'maaaaan). Even the BBC America booth only had what looked like a hastily put-together and half-assed t-shirt (which, ok, yes, I attempted to buy but it was sold out in my size. What?! I am that person.)

Anyway, I'm still a bit high from the nerd love holiday I just experienced. Lovely, lovely time, and I am definitely planning on attending again next year.

O neglect

I am reminded by my recent gushy Cumberbatch fangirl post -- wherein, he is inducted officially into my man harem, in a wee bit part on rumors of his motorbike love -- that I have yet to post about my own motorcycle! Trevor gifted me with lessons a year ago and I got my license and my bike a month later. It's been super fun and exhilarating, yet also a bit scary at times, and of course very  convenient for city living. I feel both indignant and admittedly hella awesome when I'm out and dudes think that I'm carrying a helmet solely because they think I'm going to hop on the back of some guy's bike.

I also feel that I've become a better automobile driver. Once you ride, you do of course become much more aware of the perils riders face, and if you tend toward being safe and responsible (or generally not a driving nightmare), I suppose that uptick in auto safety may be par for the course.

Anyway, I hardly ever put personal photos up here, but I'm feeling saucy.

Big ups to ladies who ride.

Happy PRIDE!

Happy Pride!

P.S: That adorables gif choice is no random googling accident; I just now started watching Sherlock because it was recommended to me and it is AMAZEBALLS.

P.P.S: And ugh, file this under nerdgirls are easy -- predictably, irrevocably (and as per usual, totally late to the party): Benedict Cumberbatch's brilliant turn on the BBC as Sherlock (okay, for real, it's also those thick. black. curls.), mind-blowing performance as bizarro reboot Khan in Star Trek, Into Darkness (okay, for real, it's also that. body.), and (just in case you're insane and didn't click on that Khan link) good lord sweet jesus his baritone, sex-oozing voice (gurl, for real, that. voice.). And so here we are, hook line sinker: one more for the man harem. If he stays away from man harem lifetime member James McAvoy's odd career choices he has a shot at a Paul Newman or Laurence Olivier caliber career.

The internets also pinky swear that Cumberbatch is, essentially, perfect: not merely satisfied with being talented, and handsome in that alabaster alien meets sexy ginger Keebler elf way, he is rumored to also be highly intellectual, modest, witty, polite, charming, and kind. He claims to love both his mother and reading books. He supposedly rides a motorbike, is OK firing up the occasional smoke, and speaks Latin. Holy hot hell. He's also remarked that he desperately wants to breed, so OK, baby daddy dealbreaker aside, he's almost my perfect man harem piece. But, since I will never really know any of those more intimate details for sure, better to stick with the basics, non? Can't go wrong with possessing documented talent AND teh sex (unless you're a rumored jerkface *cough*Fassy*cough*); most signs though point to his likability and general good guy-ness as fact. Cumberbatch is first string, lifetime member material all the way.

Seriously, click on that voice link. Do it.