A great song, a great show...full post later

Ilene, what were you thinking?!

Far far away, in an alternate universve, Shane had sex with Bette.

And Tina. I'm so stunned that I can't even write an article. I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

The L Word Fan Wiki!

If, like me, you occasionally find yourself trawling wikipedia to check out L Word minutia, such as the name of the hot French girl Jenny got with at the end of Season Three, you'll be pleased to know that gay geekiness has reached new heights, with the L Word Fan Wiki!

There's already been some controversy, with one Shane fan editing Carmen's page to leave comments such as "raver skank", "manipulative", and "Shane left Carmen after two years abuse at her hands".

Ok, so blanking your girlfriend because you had a dream she flew away with a bird is pretty weird, but over-reaction much? And lets not forget that these are
fictional characters, ladies...

But still, who can resist the temptation to spend hours writing your own version of why dana should never had died, or why Tina and Bette have to get back together, and feel that no, you are not wasting time, you are in fact doing a service to other fans? Not me!

The L Word's Shane Parties With Paris Hilton

A suprise celebrity guest stunned the press when she showed up at the L Word Season Five premiere party in West Hollywood last sunday. I mean, who would expect Paris Hilton to be a fan of the worlds' biggest lesbian TV show?

She was snapped wearing a black wig, perhaps to hide from the 'razzi (because she's so camera-shy, our Paris), and dancing with L Word star Daniela Sea.

Marc Malkin's eyewitness report says that "Hilton and Moennig whispered to each other, wrapped their arms around each other, did shots, smoked cigarettes and took photos." The two certainly look quite cosy in these photos...

Apparently after the premiere party, Paris was seen leaving with Kate, and an eyewitness emailed Malkin at about 11:30 p.m, to say that Paris and Kate had been spotted "holding hands" and partying together at the lesbian night in Falcon, a popular WeHo nightclub.

We're all sick and tired of straight celebrities kissing girls for publicity, a trend that Paris is certainly not a stranger to, so is this just a celebrity reporter assuming she's doing her usual trick of getting drunk and hitting on women, or could Paris and Kate actually be close to each other?

And what of the rumours that Paris was spotted talking to L Word creator Ilene Chaiken at the party, before apparently "exchanging numbers"? “Paris wants to be on the show” Malkin's source said. Will there be a new addition to the cast next year? Watch this space...

Bad Fortune Cookies!

Have you ever got irritated with Chinese restaraunt fortune cookies, or am I the only cynical person who finds their unceasing optimism annoying?

If you have, then you might find Bad Cookie a refreshing breeze of psuedo-Confucius realism in a far too cheerful world...

Choice examples include "you are not one of the people who "goes places" in life", and "you will fail in all you attempt", and clicking on the cookie becomes oddly compelling, as you find yourself searching for the most hopeless fate possible.

At last, Oriental, post-take-away mysticism for the pessimists....

Fanfiction For Alice Fans!

Finally, some L Word fanfiction on Dark and Bright!

Alice's Chart

is a site dedicated to showcasing fic about everyone's favourite neurotic radio-host, and has the best 'ship names ever.

Dana/Alice is the yummy sounding Danish, Gabby/Alice stories are Galore, and Lara/Alice is fragile Lace...

It has a clean, simple layout, and unlike other L Word fic sites, isn't cluttered with annoying adverts. And the fic's quite good too!

The L Word Season Five Promo Shots

It's that time of year again: We're all eagerly awaiting the latest season of The L Word, and the tantalising promo shots are released! As I haven't even seen Season Four, posting this has been absolute torture for me...

Aw, Jenny and Shane bored at the gym...For some reason I like to imagine them as sulky teenagers at the back of the PE class...

An oddly sexy dress for Mama T...

Oh Shane, what have they done to your hair?

Although here it's a rather handy excuse for the personal trainer to get a bit more intimate...

And more bad hair! Poor Kit, she looks like one of those perky little dogs!

I was going to insert a tasteless "bench-press" joke here, but I decided not to.

"Tara's a fag-hag?" Amber Benson's new movie might be gay, but is it good?

Amber Benson, who captured our hearts as lesbian witch Tara Maclay in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, is once more in the limelight as her new movie has just been released stateside.

In Race You To The Bottom, Benson co-stars as Maggie (the role for which she won best actress honors at L.A.'s Outfest film festival), the best friend of bisexual journalist Nathan(played by Cole Williams).

Despite both being in relationships with other men, the depths of their relationship are explored, and the boundaries of their friendship tested, when Nathan is assigned to write a travel article on romantic hotspots in Napa Valley, and the film studies how their increasingly complex feelings develop.

Ms Benson seems to be carving a niche for herself in playing the straight best friend character in queer romantic comedies, such as Latter Days and the upcoming Kiss The Bride, in which she co-stars with little rich girl extraordinaire, Tori Spelling,and while it's nice to see Amber enjoy continuing success, especially in queer-themed and gay-friendly films, the word is going round that she's the best thing about Race You To The Bottom.

The New York Times bemoans the poor casting, saying that while "Ms. Benson is a lovely actress with a vulnerability that can be extremely touching...she enjoyed more chemistry with Alyson Hannigan on Buffy the Vampire Slayer than she does with Mr. [Cole] Williams."

But hey, when Amber's looking this good, who cares who's in the rest of the movie?

Music & Lyrics

Honourable Mentions: Buffy and Angel Fanfic Recs

This is the place for me to shamelessly plug the Buffy fic that I love, and boy is there a lot of it! Later I may adapt this to make it easier to navigate, but as it is a work-in-progess I am afraid that may be a while...

As always, you're more than welcome to make comments about whether you think these recs are good, bad, or just plain ugly.Or reccommend your own favourite fics, either via the comments feature or by emailing me at allthatsbestofdarkandbrightblog@yahoo.co.uk.

Most of this is slash, and more than a bit of it is PWP, but hey, I like the sexy...

Lindsey/Riley

An unlikely couple, and normally I hate Riley-fics, but Indiscretions is so hot and so well-written that it doesn't matter.

In the summer before basic training a future Marine has an encounter with a law student, and Riley's mixture of awkwardness and need is so palpable that-well, you'll have to read it for yourself.

Not completely PWP, as there is some interesting character study and some rather nice foreshadowing of the men they will go on to become.

Quote: "Riley knew he was leaning against the door, even without visual confirmation because that’s what he was supposed to do. Just like Riley’s role in the scenario was to nervously perch on the edge of the bed like the anxious virgin that he was"

Spike/Lindsey

Looking At You is my favourite of an uconventional pairing.

Cover Art By Laura Shapiro (used with kind permission)

Lindsey goes to Sunnydale looking for Darla and finds a different blonde vampire.Ooh yeah, evil, sexy, bad-ass lawyer meets evil, sexy, bad-ass punk rock vampire.They fuck, they fight, and they bitch about Angel. Again, some nice character study and a look at Lindsey's twisted relationship with Angel.I also love the little twist in the ending that reminds that even though Spike can be hurt just like the rest of us, he's still baaaad, baby.

Quote: "Christ, just like Angelus. First he buggers you, then he hits you." I froze. "What did you say?"

Spike/Andrew

Tucker's Brother

Okay, I know right now someone wants to hit me for reccing an Andrew/Spike fic,but Tucker's Brother is so good that it breaks my little heart every fucking time.

It's not set in Season Seven on their little roadtrip as you might expect, its set way back in Season Six when Spike is still messed-up over Buffy and Andrew is just messed-up over his life.

The pressure of never living up to his sibling, of being a nobody, just "Tucker's Brother", all comes pouring out onto the page.

PWP this is not.The feelings of hopelessness and self-loathing and, yes, godammit, wanting to be wanted are just so raw and sincere.Beautiful.

Bonus points for the ending that makes me want to cry.

Quote: "It makes me feel like I'm... I don't know... part of something. Like it matters if I'm around." Andrew speaks fast, the words rushing over his tongue.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm not even here. Like- like I have to make people see me or I'll just disappear."

"I get that," Spike says reflectively.

"No, you don't," Andrew snaps. "You don't know what it's like to be me."

Spike chuckles. "I *was* you."