to write the unwriteable wrong

Since the database crashed on my site, I've been kind of nervous about keeping stuff on there. I figure it's high time to back up my recaps to Archive of Our Own. So as not to inundate my 'works' page, I've decided to do one work per fandom, with episode recaps as individual chapters.

You have to start somewhere, so I've done the first two episodes of TS. If you want to re-read, or you've never read them but will now that they are on AO3, the info is below! I have no idea how long this will take me--probably awhile--but subscribe to me or check back periodically for updates. I'll post here when I've completed the work.

[Meta] The Sentinel: A Gratuitously Detailed Episode Guide (8611 words) by zelempa
Chapters: 2/65
Fandom: The Sentinel
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg
Additional Tags: Meta


I'm also backing up the screencaps on my reference photo tumblr, tagging them in the process for easy finding later.

I've signed up to do art for sentinelbigbang's Reverse Bang (sign-ups are going on right now if you are interested!)I've never done a Reverse Bang before, but it seems like fun, art and prompt rolled up into one! Any advice on what constitutes an inspiring illustration to start from, either from artists or writers? 

I guess it's my posting date somewhere. Time for some Sentinel Big Bang art!

My story was Baby Steps by raine. It was a pleasure to draw for! Raine is great to work with. I did the interior illustrations in brush and ink--MAYBE a kidfic was not the best time to practice my Sin City style huge swaths of black? NO I DO NOT AGREE--and the cover was a total experiment in pairing my old prisma markers with my brand new Pentel brush pen. I have decided that I love my brand new Pentel brush pen. Experiment declared a success!

Thumbnails link to full size; these are also located on my site.

alex51324: The Loft is weird
alex: I can't imagine what Blair's bedroom is supposed to be. There's no good reason for it to have windows looking out on the rest of the apartment
alex: Although the Complete Lack of Privacy does have interesting implications
me: yeah, it's like a weird office or storage area or something
me: he doesn't even have a door
alex: what effect did the set designers hope to create by having Blair's room be a fishbowl?
me: i think part of it is just to imply that it's not really supposed to be a bedroom
alex: I guess that sort of makes sense--if it is actually a loft conversion, rather than a purpose-built loft, then Blair's room could have been the foreman's office or something, and it would make sense for there to be windows so he could see what was going on on the floor
alex: but why leave them in when the conversion was done?
me: jim's room isn't exactly private either
me: it's upstairs with no walls
alex: it's this obviously jury-rigged arrangement that somehow kept going for three/four years for no apparent reason
me: right, they never go to any effort to make it any better because it's never supposed to be permanent
alex: although apparently blair gets doors at some point
alex: I haven't seen them, but the link you sent me says they are there french doors, with glass in them
me: come to think of it, yah
me: that's even funnier
me: they go to the effort of giving blair a door...
me: what kind of door do you want blair? A TRANSPARENT ONE
alex: Yeah, both in-show and on a set-design level, they made a conscious choice to put in a type of door that woud provide the absolute minimum of increased privacy
alex: I mean, I suppose with the sentinel thing, there isn't much privacy anyway
me: maybe they wanted to emphasize that? but yeah, even with the sentinel thing, plausible deniability is key. a real door being closed at least symbolically says "I don't want to be disturbed / disturb you"
alex: whereas the curtain and french door suggest, "We have absolutely no sense of boundaries."
alex: it just seems odd to me that the showrunners would want to play that up
alex: although I suppose that they intended it to be exactly as slashy as it is is really the more parsimonious explanation.
me: ha. ha.

EVEN THOUGH I'm working on a novel and an art portfolio and starting art classes and running a D&D game and working 9 to 5, I signed up for ts_secret_santa, because! Holidays! TS!

And you should too.

The "What were you doing this day in history?" meme won't mean much for this journal, as it's only about a year old. I didn't post last July 4, but on July 3, 2007 I was posting recaps for TS 3x10 and 3x11. (I started recapping with 3x01, so these are quite early. They were the first ones with screencaps!) I had just gotten my hands on the post-s1 episodes; at that point, I had not yet even seen most of TS. From vids I was under the misapprehension that Jim and Blair kissed a lot.

In case you're not following paintedspires, my first of two pieces went up there today. They require work-safe previews, which I assume means no m/m kissage, but I have made no such promise to you. Click-through for complete project.

Yay, they're doing a new round of ts_ficathons! You should sign up, and we can cheer each other on.

Only one month after the arbitrary deadline I made maxinemeyer assign me, here, finally, is my heartbreaking work of staggering angstiness.

Title: Overload [at my site]
Fandom, Pairing: The Sentinel, Jim/Blair
Rating: Mature audiences
Word Count: ~17,000
Spoilers: Sentinel, Too Part 2
A/N: I never knew how much resentment I harbored toward Blair for always being right. Here's me writing this story: (type type) "Oh, man, poor Blair. I am shattering his world. And when he tries to put the pieces together, I take them away and hide them. Oh, dear little Blair, you deserve a hug. You won't get one." (type type) You have been warned.
        Lovely beta from yolsaffbridge, keefaq and janedavitt.

Summary: It was times like these when he seemed almost there, when Blair began to think he could snap him out of it if he just tried hard enough. He'd whisper intently into his ear, sometimes for hours at a time: "C'mon, Jim. Come back to me. Follow my voice..." The good times were worse than the bad, in that way, because it always seemed--it always so seemed!--like that would work.

( Part 1 )

But if it's any consolation, cross_stitchery will be there with me. And soooo will Jim.

From cross_stitchery's Paying the Rent:

The boy barely reached his shoulder, and was slender as a girl. His long curly hair was tied back, but short tendrils framed his face like a halo. And the face was stunning – pale and delicate, with full lips and no hint of facial hair. He could have been mistaken for a girl, if not for the tight leather pants and electric blue shirt, open to the waist, that proclaimed his masculinity in no uncertain terms.

(Click for full size. Not safe for work if your work frowns on you admiring the male torso. But hey! It's Saturday!)



This was fun. I started chuckling about midway through the original sketch which I did at work, between entering in data and waiting for the antiquated software to spit back results (my work does not frown on admiring the male torso), and have yet to stop.

BTW announcement: I am (a) willing to illustrate other people's fics -- you just have to ask and (b) willing to mail the originals to the requester - message me. Art looks better in person, especially colored pencil. :)