gwyn: (skinner punk)
Okay, I'm super behind on my Snowflake Challenge, but since people keep asking me--

Yes I saw the new X-Files )
gwyn: (skinner punk)
[personal profile] dorinda said: Would you talk to me about Walter Skinner? I know it's a blast from the past, but oh, he'll always be my blast.

Why, yes, Dorinda, yes I would. I will always love talking about Skinner.

Back in the early days of the X-Files, most people I knew in fandom were still pretty monomaniacal about a fandom (because honestly, there weren't a lot of them out there, and so people tended to be pretty focused on one fandom), and most were still into The Professionals, Blake's 7, Starsky and Hutch, and the like...fandoms that had been hanging around for a while. I think a lot of people liked the X-Files, but not a lot of people saw it as a fandom by that point, me included. I loved the show, but it wasn't something I saw becoming obsessive about.

Enter Assistant Director Skinner. Even after his first, pretty sure it was a one-shot only, appearance at the end of season 1, I was fascinated by him. Despite his ill-fitting suit and antagonism toward Mulder, I thought, wow, he has major slash energy with Mulder. I was ecstatic when I found out he was coming back in season 2. And he didn't disappoint -- he was way emotionally invested in Mulder and Scully, and completely compromised by the Cigarette Smoking Man, and even though over and over the show wanted to emphasize that conflict of his desires, I never believed for a minute Skinner would fuck them over to get what he wanted.

Plus Mitch Pileggi was just sexy as hell, I thought -- he had slinky hips and that broad chest and those amazing shoulders that all the suits and ties couldn't hide. An incredible ass, too. There was one episode early in season 2 where he's bitching Mulder out in his office, and the backlighting illuminates the outline of his body in his crisp white shirt, and I was totally smitten.

Unfortunately for us Skinnerphiles, that was also the time Krycek was on the show, and he was the one most fans went ballistic for. It wasn't that there wasn't any love for him, but it was definitely not as pronounced as for Ratboy, as everyone called Krycek then. And I still remember one time leaving Sandy's house after we'd been vidding, and she was on the phone to someone, and she said something kinda humorously derogatory about Skinner to them while smiling at me, and I just sighed and said, "I find him strangely attractive." She thought that was so hilarious -- and forever after she gave me anything where people used a phrase like that -- comics, fanfic, anything she could find.

It wasn't that I had a daddy kink, like a lot of people who liked him did, or was into dominance and submission, the other huge kink that led people to Skinner fandom. There was just something about him -- his intensity, his sardonic humor, his willingness to bend rules for Mulder and Scully, how wounded he'd get when Mulder would accuse him of things. You could see how desperately he struggled with his choices, and that is something I love. Skinner also hit my competency kink in a big way; you don't get to be an assistant director by being incompetent, and he seemed to always be thinking or considering stuff, which Mulder was completely unaware of. Plus I'm always a sucker for a former Marine. Semper fi, baby.

And Mitch has one of those low, rough voices that do strange things to my innards, I loved the way he growled at Mulder when he was angry, how it almost purred when he was calm. He's one of those actors who seems to give off major hoyay vibes. As the show progressed, and so did his character, he got to be more physical, had more backstory, and it seemed to deepen the character's relationships with Mulder and Scully as he became more integral to the story. One other thing was the surprise of how well he did comedy; his put-upon looks and beleaguered line delivery in episodes like Small Potatoes and Bad Blood were comedy gold.

Sandy, funnily enough, eventually came around and began to see Skinner the same way I did; she was even one of the few people I knew who embraced Skinner/Scully fandom to a small degree. I was never the SG:A fan she was, but she would always save out Mitch's appearances on that show for me, especially if they showcased what she called his "snake hips." He didn't get enough to do in either of the theatrical movies, but hey, we'll always have the show. Even when Duchovny left, Skinner carried on, sometimes surprisingly well. There was an episode where he and Doggett are dealing with a case on their own together, and it was a testosterone wing-ding, I tell you -- two gravel-voiced former Marines going head to head and hoyaying all over the place. Almost made that season worthwhile.

A funny related story from about ten years ago: I went to lunch with one of our account execs one day at the design firm I worked at, who was gay and a little bit of a fan, though not really aware of it. He told me that while he'd been bedridden for a few weeks after an accident, he had been reading X-Files fanfic. I was not even remotely out about fanfic writing to anyone at that time, but he looked at me and said, "I just love Skinner. I read everything I could get my hands on about him." I concurred that Skinner was worth reading fanfic for. Then he asked me, without any warning or buildup, if I wrote fanfiction. And did I write Skinner/Mulder slash? I was frozen in terror. It took me minutes to compose myself, and I finally admitted that yes, I had written some.

I went home wondering, do I have a freakin' neon sign on my head? Why would he ask me that without knowing that I had even ever heard of fanfiction? I still don't know to this day. But I guess I must have worn my Skinner love on my sleeve even then.
gwyn: (mulder scully love _jems)
ETA: Found! [personal profile] elz pegged it exactly from Orison in S7. She wins at the internets.

I need help from my old X-Phile friends.

We're trying to remaster an old vid, Hair, and I have an X-Files clip I simply can't remember where the hell it appears. I've managed to identify all of the other XF clips, but not this one. It's Scully's season 4&5 hair, but I can't remember where this would come up. Scully is facing Mulder and slowly turns around and looks up into a corner, I think, but the clip is so short I have no idea. Could it be the ghosts in the bowling alley episode? I don't see it on a quick scan but maybe I haven't looked hard enough.

Here's a frame:

gwyn: (mulder scully love _jems)
ETA: Found! [livejournal.com profile] elz for the win!!!

I need help from my old X-Phile friends.

We're trying to remaster an old vid, Hair, and I have an X-Files clip I simply can't remember where the hell it appears. I've managed to identify all of the other XF clips, but not this one. It's Scully's season 4&5 hair, but I can't remember where this would come up. Scully is facing Mulder and slowly turns around and looks up into a corner, I think, but the clip is so short I have no idea. Could it be the ghosts in the bowling alley episode? I don't see it on a quick scan but maybe I haven't looked hard enough.

Here's a frame:

gwyn: (nikita fatale sinecure)
It is more joy day! Yay! I have a very meager entry for more joy, and it's probably only going to give me joy because these are some of my favorite grrls out there. BUT. I have long enjoyed other people's Fights Like a Girl icons, and have wanted to make some for my favorite ladies, many of whom have sadly been kind of forgotten these days. I have some more I want to make a little later, but my arm is killing me at this point, so here are just 8 girl fighting icons with some current and distant faves. Take, share -- I'm not the best artist in the world and not very skilled with p-shop, but I love playing around anyway.

Fight like girls )

Aw shucks

Dec. 6th, 2009 09:46 pm
gwyn: (panicbutton wizzicons)
Why is it I can never write short? It would make Yuletide so much easier if I could just do the 1,000 words and spend time recrafting it over and over until it shines. But noooo. I have to be one of those people who can't just write something short and simple. I go on and on. I'm almost at 3,000 words and have no hope of ending this thing quickly. There are only two more weeks, though! This is bad. And it's nowhere near as cool as the source material and I don't know how to be that witty. Arrrrrgggg.

Yuletide is the craziest self-inflicted torture ever.

--------

So, any old XF fans out there, particularly Krycek fans? I know there are some Nic Lea/Krycek babes on my flist, but I can't remember who, and I wondered if any of you had some personal scoop on him. I've been enabling Belmanoir in her new crush on him, and I mentioned offhandedly something I'd heard about him having some kind of charge for assault, but I can't find anything about it and I really wonder why the comment was made about it (this was back when XF was moving shooting to LA) in the context of him not being able to leave Canada until it was settled, but he clearly did because he was on the show once it relocated in Hollywood. It's really bugging me!

Anyways, yesterday we watched some XF episodes and vids, and it cracked me up, watching it all again. How quickly it went from being this kind of low-budget operation to something that clearly was a top-tier show with money and being a cultural phenomenon. Yet still, it made no sense and at the height of its popularity was getting dumber all the time. I stuck with it till the bitter end and I will never get those hours of my life back, but man, when it was good, it was so good.

Bel loves that Krycek is always terrified and seems to always be choking on his fear, which cracks me up. Because it's so, so true. It's like he probably lies awake at night hyperventilating over everything. I can't wait to show her Soccer Mom for the Consortium!Krycek at some point soon. Oh, Ratboy, you were so fun to kick around.

-----

Thank you so much to everyone who sent me virtual snowflake cookies -- sdwolfpup, anonymous person, sol_se, and tavella! Wow, that was such a surprise, and I am really touched, and thank you belatedly also to sweet_ali, who gave me the beautiful virtual birthday bouquet (the bouquet being virtual, not the birthday, unfortunately). You guys are all so sweet and boy do I wish I could actually eat one, they look good! Nom nom nom.
gwyn: (vids)
Last Friday I got a wild hair and decided to sit down and remaster an older vid. I have no idea why; maybe just that it was pouring rain and windy, brutally cold, and all the things I'd planned to do that day didn't seem appealing, so in the afternoon I sat down to capture clips. It's the easiest vid to capture for -- it uses only three episodes of the X-Files, so you can whip through that pretty fast, and since it was a remaster, there was a template to work from. But I wanted to make a slightly different vid. This is it:

Fall in the Light
Fandom: X-Files
Song by Lori Carson and Graeme Revell (from the soundtrack to Strange Days)
QT Divx avi, 25.3MB


This poor vid was just ahead of its time )

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