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Mar. 22nd, 2007 07:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedlamsbardSpace: Above and Beyond makes me want to write fic, which I am going to nobly restrain myself from doing until I finish watching the series (only one season, wah).
Also, I so totally have my Washington state driver's license. Go me!
Also, I so totally have my Washington state driver's license. Go me!
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-23 02:55 am (UTC)What is this Space: Above and Beyond show and why is it so awesome?
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Date: 2007-03-23 03:05 am (UTC)There are reasons I was suddenly very inspired to start writing Spaceforce again.
Eh, the only things I failed were parallel parking, backing around a corner, and not stopping at one (1) stop sign.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-23 03:16 am (UTC)Whee, Spaceforce.
So, never parallel park or drive backwards around a corner AND WHY do they want you to back around a corner?!
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Date: 2007-03-23 03:26 am (UTC)Dude, I actually know what's going on. Drew was accidentally run over by one of the Air Force pilots he was training! The President decided to make all civilian Spaceforce personnel military while they were all in Rokasa, just so he could court-martial them if he had to. (He did not. They blamed Sherman instead.) I made the Spaceforce dress uniforms purple! (So I'm evil.) Also, the snark. General O'Neill is a creature of wonder.
It has to do with being able to back out of a parking space, although why they don't just make us back out of a parking space...*shakes head* Yeah.
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Date: 2007-03-23 03:32 am (UTC)Purple uniforms? Super evil! Drew was run over? Like, with a car? I'm vaguely confused.
Okay, I guess I can understand that. I tend to back out straight, turn the car when the front corner of it will clear the neighbouring car, and then do a hard turn, but I'd prefer to park diagonal to save myself the trouble :D
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Date: 2007-03-23 03:47 am (UTC)While McAuliffe was assigned to the UN satellite Greenwich, Drew was training Air Force pilots how to fly Spaceforce's new starfighters, the Harriers. One of the pilots he was training accidentally ran him over with a Harrier while he was on the ground yelling at the trainees (who are all experience combat pilots, but not with spaceships). When McAuliffe sees him again, he's just gotten out of the hospital and he's on crutches.
Deep purple uniforms. With silver and gold edging, sort of (you know, to simulate space and stars. Black has negative connotations. Blue is taken). And McAuliffe has to wear it, since she's Spaceforce now. And Drew. *smirks* I just wanted to put them in dress uniform, because, well, hot.
Oh, God yes. I suck at parking. Like, really, really badly.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-23 03:55 am (UTC)Man, that's still kinda ugly. Whatever happened to good ol' blue. Or forest green? I bet McAuliffe threw a fit when she saw them.
Parking is one of those things that you really pick up over time. You'll learn it slowly but surely. You just have to do the best you can, and correct yourself the first several times, and eventually you'll learn a method that works for you.
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Date: 2007-03-23 04:02 am (UTC)Both of 'em are taken. I'm not invading the other branches of the military's territory! (Although if you have a good suggestion, hit me.) Especially since Spaceforce is a hybrid made up of roughly three branches of the military already, as well as civilian scientists (and man, are they pissed). I think McAuliffe was less worried about the uniforms and more worried about the whole now a military officer thing.
Eh, parking. Good thing that's not on the test. (I got a 92, BTW)
Also, I just finished writing the scene where Luc's beat up, jailed, passed out, and doesn't hit on Belle's sister. I WIN. Why can I write the end but not the beginning or the middle?
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Date: 2007-03-23 04:19 am (UTC)What about charcoal gray? Not quite black, but maybe still dignified? I can't imagine the shade of purple... like, this shade (http://www.kog.com/Graphics/Samples/804.jpg)?
Parking is a sucky but necessary part of driving. Alas. Every place on earth should have free valet.
I thought you'd written the beginning already? And part of the middle?
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Date: 2007-03-23 04:37 am (UTC)I can't see that shade on my comp. *sad* Charcoal might work. I was thinking a really deep, royal purple, but I'm not sure...it's purple, so. *sigh* I kind of want to shy away from black or charcoal because it tends to have negative connotations, but blue and green are both taken. Maybe red? Although that's kind of weird as background color, it'd probably work better as highlights. I'm a writer, not a fashion designer! I don't do this sort of thing! I need to know this for story purposes.
Well, yes, but it was very, very pain-staking. Writing the end is easy.
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Date: 2007-03-23 04:49 am (UTC)Also, I just found a place to download the entire series of Space: Above and Beyond. I'll download the first few, see if it's any good, and buy the series if it is.
http://www.kog.com/Samples/Single/804.html try this link, then. Dark purple, but maybe not as dark as you're imagining it? Red, though, would probably be... weird. What about brown? But, like, a nice dark shade of it? Not UPS brown :D
But you wrote it, at least, which shows that you can!
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Date: 2007-03-23 05:04 am (UTC)I can kind of see it, but it's still lingering around "darkish." Not brown. They're Spaceforce! It has to call up images of space! ...or, uh, something? I kind of like Marine Corps uniforms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PlateVIII_Blue_White_and_Drum_Corps.jpg). This is just dress uniforms. This seriously shouldn't be this hard.
But it was hard, and it's not done. Okay, so now I'm just whining.
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Date: 2007-03-23 05:44 am (UTC)If the purple is super dark, and maybe more of a redish or a blueish colour, I can see it maybe working. Maybe. Playing around with hex. colours, maybe something like #280022 or #1F0031 (if you have Photoshop or something, to pull that color up in? Otherwise, I'll upload a quick jpg for you).
*laughs* I know about writing super hard fic and hating it. The fic I'm writing now? It started off flowing nicely, and now, I feel like I'm struggling to write every word, though I did finally write out a semi-detailed outlining of the next few chapters of it. I need a concrete plot, though, which is proving difficult to find. I know what I WANT to happen, I just can't figure out how it would do so.
Writing SUCKS sometimes.
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Date: 2007-03-24 01:38 am (UTC)In retrospect, purple is probably not the best color. Since Spaceforce is kind of a bastard branch of the military -- its original Rokasa personnel was an Air Force core with Marine supplements and civilian scientists, but the new personnel include a Navy crew, Air Force pilots, Army and Marine ground troops, and civilian scientists who are now no longer civilians -- a very dark, slightly rougher than navy, blue might work better. Or a very dark green? Not straying too far away from established military colors. (No, I can't just let everyone where their original branch of service's uniform. Where's the fun in that?)
I love writing, sometimes I just have the feeling it doesn't love me.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-24 01:49 am (UTC)No, I can't just let everyone where their original branch of service's uniform. Where's the fun in that?
It might make your writing a bit easier, though ;)
Dark blue or green would work too, though, I'm sure. Blue is more space-y, I'd like to think.
I love writing, sometimes I just have the feeling it doesn't love me.
Yeah, that just about sums it up...
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Date: 2007-03-24 02:08 am (UTC)There's a thematic reason for it too, though: once you go Spaceforce, you don't go back. It's a way to tie all these disparate soldiers together, remind them that they're all part of one whole, not pieces separated from their representative parts.
Blue is much more common, though. Green's army, but if it was a different shade of green -- or a really dark red (to conjure up images of imperialism?). On the other hand, either blue or gray would work with the Civil War theme, although I don't think that's actually present in the second part, because they're fighting an outside enemy. Great, thematic reasons.
It is also how I feel about calculus. Curse you, calculus!
I am very tempted to write Space Vansen/Damphousse fic for
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Date: 2007-03-24 02:11 am (UTC)You can't go back to your military branch, once you join Spaceforce? Huh, that'd suck a bit.
Okay, maybe you're thinking too hard about this if you're trying to give them uniforms based on themes and the like. :D
Calculus sucks like great big nasty black hole. Ugh. I took differential for a semester, and bombed it.
Who/what/where/why? Who are Vansen and Damphousse.
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Date: 2007-03-24 02:56 am (UTC)Well, you can, but once you're in Spaceforce, you're in. You're not supposed to have mixed loyalties. You're not supposed to be, oh, an Army officer on loan to NASA, you're a Spaceforce officer with army experience. Or something.
I think I'm probably going with a dark red, because it's not one of the other branches' colors (Navy white, Army green, Marine and Air Force blue). Also, imperialism! No, actually, I just like red.
I like calculus, it just doesn't like me. I've spent the past week trying to do the same damn problems and it ain't working. It destroyed my 4.0.
Shane Vansen and Vanessa Damphousse are the two chicks from Space: Above and Beyond. Both are utterly kickass (see: "Choice or Chance." Guh) and awesome. And this is unusual for me, because I tend to not like female characters.
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Date: 2007-03-24 03:07 am (UTC)Yaye for imperialism. Or for dark red, at the least!
That sucks... good luck on the Calc, then! I was always a Trig person, myself.
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Date: 2007-03-24 05:41 am (UTC)Burgundy'll work. *still dubious* I'm a writer, not a bloody fashion designer.
Fortunately, the calc AP test is the first of the three I'm taking. After that's done, then I can concentrate on history and English, which I have a better chance of getting a four or a five in.
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Date: 2007-03-24 05:50 am (UTC)AP tests are early May, aren't they? Getting close!
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:04 am (UTC)DON'T REMIND ME. I'm still mad that my AP English test is on the same day as my cousin's graduation, so I don't get to go to Pennsylvania and look at colleges (three of which on my potential list are in Penn).
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:07 am (UTC)Ah that sucks... missing the graduation, and the chance to look at schools. Can you fly out over the summer to look at schools?
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:16 am (UTC)And Berin's such a loose cannon anyway that the Empire might even be glad he's gone. (Also, Ke'ane is not aboard the ship they sent to Earth.)
I'm at Brown University this summer, and I'll be doing some looking at schools while I'm there, through the summer program I'm going to. Otherwise, I can't afford to fly out, although if I get accepted to a bunch of schools I'll probably be able to check 'em out then to narrow down the choices.
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:19 am (UTC)Ooh, so where is Ke'ane, and why is he NOT doing whatever he can to get Berin back?
You can always check out the LJ communities for the schools... most schools have one, and the people on them will totally tell you EXACTLY what the school is like, and tend to be very truthful in answering any questions you have. Better than a brochure from the school, which is full of propaganda.
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:27 am (UTC)Okay, so all the Vira have mental problems.
Ke'ane's either on the Outer Rim somewhere, or he's still with the New York. Haven't decided which one yet.
Ooh, good idea, hadn't thought about that.
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:30 am (UTC)I love the Vira. Most awesomely messed-up people EVER.
And I miss Ke'ane and Berin. Especially Berin and his utter insanity.
I love the LJ communities. I'm on my university's, and it's such a great resource...
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:36 am (UTC)Even better: he and Drew spend the first five minutes or so of their reunion insulting each other's planets. Muurien has a point when he calls Earth a tiny backwater planet, because it is.
Yeah, I have no idea what to do with them now that they've been created. And I need an excuse for the U.S. to ship out Spaceforce again. *sigh* This plot thing. It's hard. *nods firmly*
I'll have to look into that.
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:39 am (UTC)Wouldn't the Big Bad be sufficient enough reason to send Spaceforce back out?
Plot sucks. Well, plot doesn't suck, writing plot does.
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:44 am (UTC)Maybe. If the government believes that they're really out there, and that they pose a threat to Earth. I think it'll probably be a combination of the Big Bad and going after the New York, because Muurien's going to let that little secret spell. If Sherman makes it back to Earth alive, he is so screwed, because the President would really like someone to blame and he can't blame the first Rokasan mission.
YES. YES IT DOES.
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:46 am (UTC)I need to go re-read the original Spaceforce 'verse works.
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:51 am (UTC)I'll post the new ones when I finish this scene. I'm just trying to decide whether or not I should have Drew and McAuliffe go out drinking in dress uniform, and if they're in Texas or Colorado. (I'm also very tempted to write the scene where they go to McAuliffe's high school reunion and she and Drew beat up a school shooter who's twenty years too late.)
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Date: 2007-03-24 06:55 am (UTC)Looking forward to it!
If you have questions about random Texas geography, lemme know, because ugh, if there's one thing they
brainwashedtaught us in school, it's All Things Texas.Hee, the McAuliffe and Drew high school thing would be funny.
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Date: 2007-03-24 07:02 am (UTC)Okay, what are the Air Force bases in Texas? And are they near a vast amount of empty space that could conveniently house a couple of spaceships? (My Pacific Northwest History class sucked, so all I can tell you about Washington is that when I got in a friendly argument with a couple of friends at Stanford about whose state was better, Washington totally kicked Texas's butt. Cali, Idaho, and Virginia weren't even in the running.)
Especially since they show up in dress uniform, and everyone's like, "Shelton. You joined the military?" (She went to a high school for gifted children.)
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Date: 2007-03-24 07:14 am (UTC)You mean Sherman? Well, Drew too, maybe? *blinks*
Um, honestly, I don't know. *looks it up* There's one in the south-east corner of San Antonio.. Brooks AFB. Which, yeah, big city, but it's on the far corner of the city, so it could probably go out into the boonies. The thing about Texas? There are lots of big cities, but they're surrounded by TOTAL EMPTINESS for miles and miles until you hit another big city. Then there's one in Abeline (which is in the panhandle), called Dyess, and that one definitely looks to be closer to the boonies. It's also frakking HUGE (6000 + acres).
There are a few others. One in Ft Worth, which would be too close to a big city for you (this is, I think, the one that deployed planes when the Columbia exploded over us a few years ago). Um, one in San Angelo, which is... not very big, and also very close to a city.
I think Dyess is your best bet. That or Laughlin, which is really close to the Mexican border.
Huh. There are a LOT of AFBs near San Antonio. I wonder why?
Is the Rokassa mission confidential? Or do people, like, know that all of this happened?
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Date: 2007-03-24 10:46 pm (UTC)I don't ask the easy questions. Thank you! I was figuring Texas was better than Colorado because it's closer to NASA, and Spaceforce was originally a part of NASA.
That's one of the things I've been trying to figure out. I'm almost certain it's not, but it's -- sort of -- like Iraq (not a political statement, not a political statement!). After the first few years, it got really, really controversial, and the President got elected on a platform of calling the troops back. When they didn't come, it was quickly hushed up. So, three years after that, it's common knowledge, but it most of it is classified. It's also become largely a non-issue, I think.
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Date: 2007-03-24 10:51 pm (UTC)I love the NASA in Houston, but the one in Tittusville, Florida is definitely better. I wanted to go into astrophysics for the longest time, so I used to spend all of my time looking stuff up about all-things-NASA.
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Date: 2007-03-25 01:40 am (UTC)So, going back to your initial question, nearly everything except "We went to help our allies, soldiers died, the new president tried to pull our troops out but the wormhole failed and we were unable to make contact with Rokasa for three years." Yeah, the White House totally lied to the American people.
I know next to nothing about NASA except "spaceships. Oh yeah, and that astronaut who was just arrested for stalking and kidnapping."
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Date: 2007-03-25 01:44 am (UTC)I heart NASA. Lotsa big shinies. Also, I have a curse with them, since both the Challenger and the Columbia blew up over my head (one in Florida, and the other over Dallas). I'm just waiting for it to happen over Ottawa.
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Date: 2007-03-25 01:58 am (UTC)...I could have one of the Spaceforce/Imperial/Big Bad ships blow up over Ottawa. If they ever get to Earth.
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Date: 2007-03-25 02:01 am (UTC)(OMG JOKE, any Canadians who are reading this. Really. Well, mostly...)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-25 02:46 am (UTC)Typical American superiority complex. Yay us! Or should it be, Yay US!?
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Date: 2007-03-25 02:51 am (UTC)LAME. And yet awesome.
But it's kinda true. Even Canadians make fun of their own military. But they still like to hold it over the Americans that they burned our White House down in 1812.
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Date: 2007-03-25 03:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-25 03:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-24 07:14 am (UTC)