This journal...

[valiha]

...will hopefully serve as a place to post some of my attempts at traditional art, random photos I sometimes take on my way to and from work, as well as some fandom wallpapers.

All my fandom work can be transformed. Parts of it can be used to create your own fanart - wallpapers, collages, icons and other graphics. I would certainly appreciate a link back to see what you've done with it, but it is not obligatory.

Fanart created for specific people on DW/LJ and elsewhere belongs to those users, and they are free to do with it what they want. I ask that you do not use it publicly unless you receive permission from them.

[Bookbinding]

If you'd like to help me raise money for my master's thesis defense, you can commission me - details in this post.

[Resources] [Calligraphy] [Drawing] [Photography] [Watercolor]

7 Men, 1 Destiny on LiveJournal and Dreamwidth
Magnificent Seven Wallpapers

Comments

[conjured-1.livejournal.com]

And see, just like *that*, decision made. Good on ya, mate!

[gemspegasus.livejournal.com]

Hi,

Glad we are pards.
:)

Just wanted to stop by and say hi, we're thinking of you. Wishing you and your loved ones lot of healing positive energy.

You take care of yourself.

Have a magnificent weekend.

take care
hugs
Angela

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

Hi Angela,

yes, we are definitely pards. ♥ You had me wondering where you had disappeared off to for a while, until you let us know what happened. I sincerely hope you are getting better every day, and that there are no permanent consequences.

I'll take all the healing positive energy I can get, and send some back your way.

All the best to you and your family!

[gemspegasus.livejournal.com]

Hi Aida,

Thank you pard. ♥ Finally learned how to do the heart. :) We are working on getting better with the physical therapy.

Healing positive energy is definitely good and sending some back your way.
All the best for you and your family too.

Take care
hugs
Angela

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

I am just amazed each time I see/hear Anthony as Ez how well he does the LA accent.........it is just about perfect. I think Anthony and Eric captured their characters' accents the best............
I just wish that it has all lasted longer. I think sometime had they been
ATF task force, it would probably still be on e.g. Dick Wolfe's series.........which like the Energizer Bunny, just goes on and on and on.
HOWEVER, I would never have tired of M7 as ATF task force.
There is so much they could have become involved in........
Mind you, I did not dislike the OW, I just wanted it all to last much longer.

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

:nod nod: I think that's the sentiment most of us share. I'm just thankful we got to see them for as long as we did and that we weren't left with some horrible cliffhanger. It might be a long shot, but I like to daydream about there someday being an ATF show...

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

I like to daydream about there someday being an ATF show...

***NODS***
I have been daydreaming about that for a LONG time.........
I think the new show on TNT, Dark Blue, could have fit the 7
to a 't'........................I like Dylan but he doesn't do justice to Carter
and his team are uninteresting personalities. The pilot was
enough for me.

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

:sigh: Alas, I can't watch new US shows... and depending on how our TV execs feel, I may never see it. Shame, cause I heard some good stuff about it and some other shows too.

P.S. Check my page, I have a new entry!

about Dark Blue

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

I posted about Dark Blue to my journal but in the event you did not see it, here is the text:

I tried very hard to like it last night, but there was some sort of disconnect for me.
It started with an eye popping torture scene which frankly surprised me given we are not
talking about HBO or SHOWTIME, but your basic cable........
I guess it is why it is 10PM and not earlier............
When they could not achieve the correct answers from him.....he was trussed up, feet in a bucket of
water as they zapped him with electric prods, the villain in charge told his men,
"Get rid of him".............
I believe the head villain meant, 'get rid of him' as in killing him, not just dumping him where the police might find him, yet in the following scene we are introduced to Carter, the head of the undercover squad, who arrives at the hospital to find this same man, an undercover FBI agent, in a room. ....??????
There was a lot of other violence in it also.........blood spattering on a wall, e.g. when the
head villain shoots one of his men for using his cell to call his girl friend.
Suffice to say, excessive violence appears to be the way they handle lack of decent script anymore.
The concept of deep cover is great, but the way it was handled left something to be desired.

Re: about Dark Blue

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

Hm, I actually don't mind violence that much, since I've seen sooo many "making of" features that I'm looking at it through that lens and trying to figure out how they choreographed a particular move.

I would have pegged the guy dumping the victim hurt but alive where the police could find him as an undercover agent immediately. Again, I've seen many documentaries where former agents spoke of doing shady things, to put it mildly, from hurting others to taking drugs to show they're truly part of the gang. It's a terrible job, but unfortunately a necessary one, and my hat's off to these guys and the sacrifices they must do.

Re: about Dark Blue

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

Violence for the purpose of violence, because there is a lack
of storyline is what I speak of.........
If it is part of a storyline, I don't mind, but when it is gratuitous,
and they do same with sex, I don't care for it as it is just cheap thrills
IMO.
When their boss told them to get rid of him, it was said in a tone,
and body language supported it, it meant to me get rid of him, not
dump him somewhere.......
I also love how they depict ICU in films and tv. It is not like a hospital
room where anyone can stop by. Having spent time in ICU and
CC (one step down from ICU), it is very very controlled, yet in this series, the FBI agent who had been dumped is in a room with glass surrounding it where anybody and everybody can stroll by and see him; no nurse present........Nurses are present at all times when a patient is in ICU............My friend who is a retired ICU nurse also complains
about the depiction.........

Re: about Dark Blue

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

When their boss told them to get rid of him, it was said in a tone, and body language supported it, it meant to me get rid of him, not dump him somewhere...

Yes, I got that "get rid of him" meant "kill him", but obviously the undercover agent who got the order wasn't going to actually kill his colleague. Unless there was something in the depicted action I'm not taking into account since I haven't actually seen the scene in question. Were there more people who were ordered to "get rid of him" or just the UA?

Oh I know about ICU, I spent four years in a secondary medical school so I'm very familiar with it. I never practiced as a nurse though; went on to study and teach English. I laugh at how little research they actually do on med-related stuff (or any kind of stuff, really) if it doesn't mesh with what they think of as appropriate for their stories. I've learned to let it go.

Re: about Dark Blue

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

The agent who was part of the task force, and undercover, had little to do with it as there were three others, if I recall correctly.......It also made me wonder how Carter could react the way he did. His man was NOT alone, he was accompanied by three others and earlier when they were torturing the undercover FBI agent, he had little to do about it.
I will probably watch it Wednesday again, to see if it has improved.
I am impatient when it comes to films, tv, books, and even ff. If it does not grab my attention in the beginning, as far as storyline goes, I am just not interested.
Also the other members of the undercover task force lacked interest for me.
I really don't care about somebody's private life and anymore they drag it around excessively, e.g, in Dark Blue one of the undercover agents receives a visit from Carter. His wife begins nagging him about having to leave. She married him knowing fully well he is a cop..........Like the military, that is their life. If you cannot deal with it, you should never have married into it. I saw this too much when I was military. I guess I have an intolerance to it. I grew up in the military and never witnessed mom nagging dad about his profession. She realized it when she married him.
In another series called In Plain Sight, we are constantly subjected to Mary's private battles with her mother and sister. I no longer watch it for that reason. Her partner is very interesting and yet there is nothing of him other than a sort of 'and Marshall', an after thought.
I don't mind a little of the personal life, but the writers don't seem to know when to quit.

Re: about Dark Blue

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

I spoke to winks about this show since she has seen it too, and she pretty much agreed. I told her, "...this is why there's really no point in talking details about something you haven't seen, is there? :) I read that he was electrocuted but didn't think he was that critical (I kind of envisioned a situation where the UA was given an order to kill off his colleague, loaded him up in the car with other goons but lead him out on his own and "shot" him, leaving him where he would be found)."

Lack of time I can set aside for watching/reading is making me less and less patient, which is terrible because there's no way a series can show everything it's got within the first couple of episodes. It took TNG at least two seasons to become really good, and I hate that good shows are not getting enough time to come into their own (Sarah Connor Chronicles, anyone?).

The premise for this show sounds really intriguing though, (I love the whole idea of undercover agents and the choices they have to make) so if it ever shows up here I'll watch at least several episodes to see how they deal with things. I'm not familiar enough with law enforcement to judge Carter other then what I saw on TV, and we all know how accurate TV portrayals are, don't we? (BTW, is there anything you can recommend as a good take on how law enforcement operates? My sister's been watching Wanted and she likes it.)

Oh and cop/soldier wives? I hate that too. I'm pretty sure that's not how realistic marriages are, and that they need to show conflict and such, but man, just once I'd like to see a marriage where both sides are fine with it.

Re: about Dark Blue

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

Lack of time I can set aside for watching/reading is making me less and less patient,

***nods***
That is exactly what I meant in my former entry..........
I do not expect they will show everything in first two episodes, but what I DO expect is something to hold onto as a beginner, e.g.
in M7 I was immediately drawn to it............and it was just the pilot and same with SGA. Of course, Flanigan helped it along immeasurably as did Close and Starke in M7.....................I still recall Ezra's word "day-bree" which sent me into fits of laughter...........