Otter's Rock

Rarewomen!

Wed, 08 May 2013 03:20:21 GMT

Hey guys, if you haven't checked out the fic written for rarewomen yet, you should, because there is tons of really good fic.

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Fic: All the Difference (The Brave New World Remix)

Mon, 06 May 2013 16:49:46 GMT

Title: All the Difference (The Brave New World Remix)
Characters: Kara Thrace, Sharon Agathon, Hera Agathon, Kacey, Nicholas Tyrol, Cally Tyrol
Pairing: Kara/Sam, Sharon/Helo, Cally/Tyrol
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: suicidal thoughts
Original Story: Liminal Fate by lunar47 . Written for bsg_remix
Betaed By: lizardbeth and leakypaintpen
Word Count: 10,650 words

Summary: All this has happened before. What if it doesn't have to happen again?

At AO3

( What if it doesn't have to happen again? )

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Fri, 03 May 2013 16:40:57 GMT

You know what is pissing me off right now? People tagging fic as "Women Being Awesome" on AO3 when, in fact, the women are secondary characters and their moments of "awesome" are mostly about getting Teh Slashy Guys together.

DUDE. NO. THAT IS NOT WOMEN BEING AWESOME, THAT IS WOMEN WHOSE ONLY PURPOSE OF EXISTENCE IN YOUR STORY IS TO SUPPORT BOYS/MEN.

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Sun, 28 Apr 2013 01:17:29 GMT

For various reasons, I have read a lot of Star Wars AUs recently. And I have many Thoughts on the subject, but here are a few.

First, I know the Prequels are huge targets of opportunity. There are so many things one could fix! And think of all the lives one could save by making Anakin not turn to the Dark Side! BUT. It would be awesome to see some Original Trilogy AUs, or more AUs that involved Han, Luke, and Leia, because dammit I LOVE THEM. And if you could get Mara and Lando involved too, that would be great. I can think of several AUs that would be awesome to read. Or how about, instead of Obi-Wan time-traveling back, you have the OT group somehow get sent to a parallel universe where Anakin never turned, and things are way different, and they have to figure out how to get back to their own universe. Something.

Second. If you are going to write something where Obi-Wan goes back in time to his younger self (there are several where his consciousness from the OT era ends up in his PT era body), please do not make him magically an idiot. He's back in time to change things, right? Instead of making up reasons why he can only make small changes for blatantly plot reasons, have him do something really unexpected that changes things so that Palpatine is left going, wait, what? and scrambling madly to catch up. All of those reasons why (for one reason or another) things have to happen pretty closely to the way they did in the movies just come across as shoddy writing. For a particularly egregious example, there is a story where he arrived back in time just before AotC started, and he was going to try to prevent the Battle of Geonosis from starting by capturing Jango Fett so he never had to go to Geonosis, but he failed! so he went to Geonosis anyway. I'm like, Dude. You know where he's going and what you're going to find there. Send the information to the Council (and maybe other information you know because you are a Time Traveler,) and capture him later! Or, if you have to go to Geonosis, don't eavesdrop on the SAME MEETING YOU DID BEFORE. Break into Dooku's office for proof he's a Sith or something!

Third. I get that Obi-Wan and Anakin have a close relationship. But if you're having Obi-Wan go back in time from Vader-era to Anakin-era, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be as easy as "oh, sob, he did horrible things, but let's forget about all of that because he's young and cute now and if I let myself love him maybe he won't turn!" Make them work for it! It would make for a much better story, and far more interesting. Anakin murdered all of Obi-Wan's friends. Personally. And then went off and did horrible things to the rest of the galaxy. It may not have happened yet in this galaxy, but in this scenario Obi-Wan remembers it happening, and has to have at least some doubts that it may happen again. Don't just sweep that under the rug!

Fourth. If you are going to have Anakin be the one to have his consciousness thrown back in time ... let us not make him completely unrecognizable as a character, mmmkay? Like, this is a dude with a wicked temper and a taste for killing helpless people he didn't like when he was a good guy. Instead of him trying to be the Bestest Jedi Evar to make up for his horrible choices in the original timeline, I'm pretty sure it would be a lot more likely for him to, I dunno, try and kill Palpatine and most of his henchmen. Or do something stupidly and shortsightedly violent and damn the consequences. It could still be all angsty and stuff! Think about how Obi-Wan and the Council would react! Think about how the Senate (which Palpatine has already been priming to distrust Jedi) would react to a Jedi killing the Chancellor!

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AO3 Top Ten

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:01:35 GMT

( Top Tens )

So, oddly enough, it's the list ordered by # of bookmarks that gets closest to what my top ten list of my own fics would be. As everyone has noted, Yuletide skews everything.

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Where the names "Sherlock" and "Mycroft" come from

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 04:32:25 GMT

I have always wondered. Now I know!

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Random thoughts

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 18:55:11 GMT

So, I was just reading a fic and it was a good story, but there were quite a number of grammatical issues: misplaced commas and apostrophes, wrong homonymns, etc. There was a note at the bottom "Rewritten--grammar issues fixed!"

I don't want to know what it was like before ...

Fics what the Intarwebs have not provided for me that I would love to read.

A Downton Abbey AU where Mary got pregnant when she slept with Mr. Pamouk in season one, and she and Cora went to America to "visit" *cough*have the baby in secret*cough* and when they came back, they passed it off as Cora's child. (And if it was a boy, even told Robert that it was Cora's--after all, a son of Cora's and Robert's would inherit the title, cutting Matthew out of the succession again, and that would be Dishonerable! and Robert would object. Cora, however, strikes me as much too practical for that, and much happier with her own grandson (even if he is a bastard) getting her money and the estate than letting someone else get it.) To make things even more interesting, you know of course that O'Brien would have to go along with them--Cora would never leave her maid behind, even if she wanted too it would be too suspicious.
OuaT fic that is neither RumBelle nor Swan Queen nor about Captain Hook. There are so many wonderful, fascinating characters and events that just beg to be explored, and what do people write? 98% of fic falls into three categories. First is the woobification of Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold to make him into a Tragic Love Interest (and ignore all the things that make his and Belle's relationship interesting, and also forgetting that his number one motivation is getting Bae back and his number two motivation is power and only then does Belle come into things). I find this trait disturbing on a number of levels, not least of which is that most people I know who woobify bad guys on TV are also likely to do it in real life ("oh, he means well! it's okay because he loves me! of course he does bad things and treats me badly, but it's okay because he had a bad childhood!") Second you have the Emma/Regina stories, which do often woobify Regina but are at least less likely to be as blatant at it (because of all the hate!sex fics). And, you know, while I think their relationship (in a non-sexual sense) is fascinating and would love to see it explored, I don't much care for woobification and I like hate!sex even less, so there's most of that pairing that I have no interest in. And then you have fic about Captain Hook, who fills a role on the show but is pretty much your stock antihero/villain. I mean, there's nothing about him that I haven't seen a thousand times in other characters. Come on folks! There is so much more interesting stuff going on in this show!

And, finally, and most grossly: ( RL Plumbing woes )

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Brainstorming: What's my superhero name?

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 03:59:18 GMT

So, this summer, I am going to be visiting the awesome Cherie Renae Studios and getting a superhero picture done. I will have wings! ... but I need a costume. And a superhero name.

My color will be red. (As you can tell from my icon, it's my favorite color.) My two favorite superheros are probably Oracle and Wonder woman, though I have soft spots for Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown, Superman, and Captain America. Smarts/detective skills/computer skills would be a cool secondary power to have besides the wings.

So! What should my superhero name be? Background? Am I a mythical creature or an alien? Do I use technology or magic? Am I DC or Marvel? (Despite my yuck factor with New 52 and my love of recent Marvel movies, I am at heart a DC girl ... but if the recent relative awesomeness of the two franchises keeps on as it has been recently, that may change.)

Costume! I am a very good seamstress, so I can make anything I want. (There will be no sex-kittening.) With wings, a cape really doesn't work. It could be anything from a simple red turtleneck and black cargo pants and black boots to something more elaborate and superhero-y. (I already have knee-high black boots that I think I will wear because they are practical and look good and I think superheroines don't wear high heels.) Should I go the traditional spandex-route? Should I wear my underwear on the outside? Should I wear a mask? Should I make some kind of insignia to go on the front of the costume? (Designing and creating the insignia would be the most difficult part, I think.)

Discuss!

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All I need to know about the movie "Oz: The Great and Powerful"

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 03:09:06 GMT

I can get from the tag line in the trailer:

"Are you the great man come to save us?"

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George Hammond's religion

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 23:09:44 GMT

Hey, for all you Stargate fans out there, do we ever learn anything about General Hammond's faith/religion?

If we don't, what Christian groups are a) popular in Texas and b) do Ash Wednesday services? I mean, I know Lutherans, Catholics, and Episcopalians celebrate Ash Wednesday, but none of them are particularly big among white people in Texas that I know of.

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Sun, 17 Feb 2013 19:56:06 GMT

I'm feeling the need to write something different. You know what that means; fic prompt time. So. Anyone who wants me to write them a fic, comment here. Fics will be at least 500 words long. Each person should make at least two requests, of which I will write one. Each request should contain one or more characters from the list below and a short prompt (theme, quote, etc). ONE request may be for a sequel/timestamp/missing scene/etc. from a fic I have already written. (For instance, I would not be averse at all to writing something more in the universe where Maria von Trapp from the Sound of Music was a Potential.) Crossovers are acceptable, provided I am familiar with both fandoms. I do not write slash or explicit sex.

BSG:
The Cylons (including the Final Five)
Bill Adama
Laura Roslin

Once Upon A Time:
Emma
Snow
Charming
Henry

Stargate: SG-1
Teal'c
Sam
Daniel
General Hammond
Sha're
Jacob Carter

Superman:
Clark/Kal-El/Superman
Lois
Richard
Jimmy
Perry
Kon-El
Martha Kent
Jonathan Kent

Batman:
Bruce/Batman
Lucius Fox
Jim Gordon
Tim Drake
Babs Gordon
Terry McGinnis

Wonder Woman (as long as you don't mind a mish-mash of all DC canon regarding her)

Babylon 5:
Lennier
Marcus Cole
Delenn
Vir
G'Kar
Stephen Franklin
Susan Ivanova
Londo

Star Wars:
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Princess Leia
Mara Jade
Luke Skywalker
Han Solo
Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader
Padme Amidala

Star Trek:
Spock
Amanda
Sarek
Scotty
Uhura
Sulu
Troi
Geordi
Dax
Sisko
Kira
Odo
Garak

Vorkosigan:
Any

Terminator: SCC
John
Sarah
Derek
Cameron
Ellison
Weaver
John Henry

Marvel Movieverse:
Steve Rogers
Peggy Carter
Dr. Erskine
Pepper Potts
Maria Hill
Natasha Romanov
Bucky Barnes

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Gigi

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 01:04:09 GMT

You know, when I was a girl, I loved the movie Gigi. Great songs, lavish sets and costumes, an all-star cast, pretty much catnip for a girl who loves musicals, as I did and still do.

But watching it as an adult with a more critical eye, wow, is it ever a textbook example of the way privilege works to distort relationships.

It's set in turn-of-the-century Paris, and it's about a young extremely rich man named Gaston and a teen girl named Gigi, and their families. The young man's lecherous-but-cheerful uncle Honore is played by Maurice Chevalier. Honore's world is one of constant womanizing. He finds a girl/young woman he likes, he sets her up in a house and lavishes her with presents in exchange for sex until he tires of her or she cheats on him, at which point the girl is out (and now has no chance of getting married or much opportunities for gainful employment, so she's pretty much trapped into being a courtesan for the rest of her life whether or not that's what she wants). Life for Honore is pretty much an endless party with everything set up to go his way. Despite the fact that Gaston often and repeatedly says he's bored by/doesn't like that sort of lifestyle, Honore pushes him into it for the honor of men everywhere and as his patriotic duty to France. The escapades of Honore and Gaston include at least one cast-off woman attempting unsuccessfully to commit suicide, which is treated almost as a joke--what did she expect, after all?

Meanwhile, Gaston has one place he actually enjoys being. It's a small apartment occupied by a middle-aged woman (a former courtesan herself played by Hermione Gingold) and her granddaughter Gigi (played by Leslie Caron). Gigi is a teenager still in school, who receives regular lessons from her great-aunt (who was a far more succesful courtesan than her grandmother) about all the necessary social graces to capture a man's attention. How to take tea and coffee, how to choose cigars, how to eat, how to tell real jewels from fake ones, how to sit and how to stand, etc. Despite this, Gigi is fresh and forthright and honest, and although sweet she tells things like they are. She and Gaston have lots of fun playing cards and other such games in their apartment while her Grandmama fawns over Gaston. Any time Gigi says something that might upset Gaston, she gets scolded for it, whether it's true or not--and that includes sticking up for herself when he gets mad at her.

Gigi gets older, and her great aunt says she's ready to be a courtesan despite the fact that she has no interest in being one, and who better than the rich dude who already knows and likes her? So next time Gaston comes by and wants to take Gigi out in a ride in his motor car, Grandmama says she can't--she'll be labeled if she does that. Gaston storms out--how dare she point out that he has a reputation! How dare she point out that anything he likes might have unpleasant consequences for anyone else! He realizes, though, that if Gigi is getting old enough for that sort of thing to be a problem, well, she's old enough, and he loves her. So he offers to make her his next mistress, and
Grandmama is thrilled, as is the aunt. But not Gigi, and she explains quite logically and coherently why she doesn't want to be a mistress, particularly one in the public eye. Why can't they go on as they have? Well, he says he loves her, to which she breaks out in tears because how can he force a woman he thinks he loves into that kind of life? At which point he storms out, because how dare she say stuff like that? How dare she cheapen a deep emotion by pointing out the reality of what it means for her? And initially, Grandmama is on Gaston's side. (Gigi gets called backwards because she's not focused on love and men.)

Anyway, Gigi relents (we're both miserable this way, and I'd rather be miserable alone together). They go out on a public date, Uncle Honore says something crass about her, and Gaston gets mad. And then he notices that Gigi has been very well instructed by her aunt, she knows exactly what the mistress of Gaston should be like. She's just like all the other women he knows. He realizes that she was right all along about what being his mistress would do to her, and decides to marry her instead, the end.

But the entire movie, everyone except Gigi does everything in their power to cater to Gaston and suck up to him, such that he has no clue what life is like for other people or the consequences his actions have on them, and everybody thinks that is absolutely 100% the way it should be.

I still love the music and the costumes and such (though, wow, Thank Heaven for Little Girls is way creepier than I realized as a child), and Gigi the character is fun to watch, but wow do I wanna drop-kick everyone else in the movie. I would pay money for an AU in which Gaston told Honore "Look, I love you, but this is really screwed up, seeya" about five minutes into the film. Or, at least, "I'm not going to waste my time with this, I don't think toying with women and throwing away money like it's water is fun."

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Fic: A Minor Government Official

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 04:26:19 GMT

Title: A Minor Government Flunky
Author: beatrice_otter
Fandoms: Avengers/Doctor Who
Characters: Phil Coulson, Nick Fury; Canton Everett Delaware III, 11th Doctor
Pairings:None
Rating: PG
Word count: 4,173
Warnings: none
Written for: oneiriad in xover_exchange
A/N: Beta'ed by jaune_chat

Summary: Phil Coulson is perfectly happy with his job in the army.

( A Minor Government Flunky )

On AO3.

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Rec: Fifty Shades of Grey, Fanfic, Feminism, and BDSM

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:40:41 GMT

John Lennard is an Oxford grad who's taught at Cambridge, and who is also a fanfic author (bracketyjack ). He's written a very thoughtful essay on just why Fifty Shades is problmatic by explaining all the various and sundry ways the author is trampling all over fanfic, feminism, and bdsm while profiting from them. It's both readable and well-researched, and you can pick it up for a couple of bucks at Amazon.

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Away for now

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:40:16 GMT

I'm going off to a training retreat, will be back Wednesday, may or may not have internet. So if my xover_xchange fic is posted in that time, I don't know when I'll be able to read it.

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PSA: How to easily html-code stories in Word docs

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 03:00:48 GMT

As you know, Bob, using Word's internal convert-to-html widget often has ... unique and unintended results. But most places to post fics require posting fics with html for italics and such! What is one to do? I, personally, find that writing with html tags makes it much harder to read and edit my fics, and always results in a dropped tag here and there. So what is a ficcer to do?

Fear not, there is a solution. Word's search-and-replace function, with a little knowledge, can be used to code your fics! Here's how:

Ctrl-F brings up the search box. It should be on the "Find" tab. Switch to the "Replace" tab.

Clicking "More>>" brings up more options. With your cursor in the "Find What" box, click "Format" and select "Font" from the dropdown list.

If you wish to html code italics, select "Italics" under "Font Style. It will now say "Font: Italic" under the "Find What" box.

Place your cursor in the "Replace With" box. Type in the open html tag ( < em > or < i >, except without spaces, obvs.) Click "Special" and select "Find What Text" from the dropdown list. ^& will appear in the "Replace With" box to the right of the html tag. Type in the close html tag ( < / em > or < / i > ). The ^& will now be enclosed in the html coding for italics.

Click replace all. Your computer will ding and a box will appear, telling you how many replacements it's made.

Ta da! Any italics in your story are now enclosed in proper html coding!

This works just as well with bold or other html codes.

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Rec: TED Talk: Could this laser zap malaria?

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 01:59:20 GMT

Okay, this is awesome and science-fictiony! I am skeptical that it will wipe out malaria because history is full of people with awesome technical ideas that failed because it doesn't matter how great your hard science is if your soft science sucks (i.e. people don't act the way you expect them to), but now I am thinking of all those SF books with force fields that deter/kill/whatever the local wild life and how I always just dismissed that as "force fields--way more fiction than science. But! This is awful close!

Grrr. It looks like the embed code for TED doesn't work. So here is a link instead: Could this laser zap malaria?

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Getting to know you, getting to know all about you ...

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:19:22 GMT

I know very little about some of the people on my friends list. Some people I know relatively well. But here's a thought: why not take this opportunity to tell me a little something about yourself. Any old thing at all. Just so the next time I see your name I can say: "Ah, there's Parker ...she likes money and cereal." I'd love it if everyone who's friended me did this. (Yes, even you people who I know really well.) Then post this in your own journal [only if you feel inclined]. In return, ask me anything you'd like to know about me and I'll give you an answer*.

*Providing it's answerable/suitable for public posting.

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You know how you don't find the good meta without metafandom?

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 04:58:18 GMT

melannen is considering creating a meta recs community that would function like a cross between crack_van and poetry (i.e. different people sign up to rec different weeks to make sure that there's a constant stream of meta recs coming out, but anybody can post at any time so if you see something that should be shared, you don't have to wait). It would hopefully give all the good parts of what metafandom used to do without the bad parts. It's an awesome idea, but she's just working out details now. So: go check it out and tell her what you think.

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Song for a Stalker

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 01:37:14 GMT

If ever you need a song for a creepy-stalker guy who does not get that he is totally Creepy Stalker Guy (vid? ringtone? fanmix?), "Such A Crime by Tory Cassis would be perfect.

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Meta Rec: We are the 95%

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 21:46:20 GMT

There's one big lie that rapists tell. Most of the other lies are just part of it. "Consent is complicated and confusing and there are a lot of gray areas." "She dressed/acted/talked like she wanted it." "She never said no; how was I supposed to know?" "She just regrets having sex." "We were both drunk and the alcohol muddied things." "He sure seemed like he was enjoying it." "I guess I just got caught up in the heat of the moment." "People do this all the time and only paranoid feminists call it rape."

The one big lie at the center of all these little lies is: "If you were in my place, you could have done the same."

Great article with an important point. I collect links to articles like this so when conversations about rape and such come up on Facebook or wherever (as they do), I don't have to argue it myself I can point and go: here, this!

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Fic: The Price of a Favor

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 23:31:04 GMT

My last and quickest-written Yuletide fic, another treat. And the one that got far and away the most comments! I guess people really love Timov.

Title: The Price of a Favor
Fandom: Babylon 5
Word Count: 1922 words
Written For: amatara
Summary: All Timov wants to do is live quietly. With Cartagia on the throne, that may not be an option.

( When rumors began to spread about Cartagia's madness, Timov discounted them. )

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Fic: In Which Daystar Learns Magic and Asks A Question

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:29:55 GMT

My second Yuletide fic of the year, this is the first Enchanted Forrest fic I've ever written. I wrote it as a treat a day or so before the deadline; I had to re-read the last Enchanted Forrest book, but that was no hardship ;)

Title: In Which Daystar Learns Magic and Asks A Question
Fandom: Enchanted Forrest Chronicles
Word Count: 1891 words
Written For: silencedancer
Summary: A little vignette set immediately post-Talking To Dragons

( The castle was large, and impressive, and didn't feel at all like home. By the time he'd been lost five times (which only took until noon, the day after the battle), Daystar would have liked very much to go back to the cabin he was raised in. )

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Fic: Learning Curve

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:20:56 GMT

The first Yuletide fic I wrote was for shobogan, who wanted Dana and Max learning to be superheros from Barbara Gordon.

Title: Learning Curve
Fandom: Batman Beyond
Word Count: 6,431
Written For: shobogan
Beta: sinesofinsanity
AN: I couldn't figure out how to fit Damien in to a canon where Bruce and "Talia" interact and neither mentions or even hints about him. So in this continuity, there are only four Robins.
Summary: Dana knows who she is. What she doesn't know is who she's going to be.

( Dana stared at the costumes in the cases, coat wrapped firmly around her. )

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Yuletide Recs--just under the wire pre-reveal

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 07:27:20 GMT

( Babylon 5, Back To The Future, Ballet Shoes, Batgirl, Blue Beetle, The Bodyguard, The Bourne Legacy, Calvin and Hobbes, Caprica, Cinderella, Downton Abbey, Dune, Elementary, The Enchanted Forrest Chronicles, The Incredibles, James Bond, Kings, Mansfield Park, Much Ado About Nothing, Robots (Isaac Asimov), The Sarah Jane Adventures, Scarlet Pimpernel, Sharpe, Singin' In the Rain, Sleeping Beauty, Starfire Series, The Thin Man, Twelve Dancing Princesses, Twisted Princesses )

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