MEME!

Five favorite holidays and five favorite documentaries.

Holidays:

1. Christmas for sure. I like the whole cheesy affair, being warm inside with my family while it's snowy and cold outside, with a fire going and music playing and decorating the tree and all of that. And stockings. Definitely my favourite part of Christmas.
2. Easter. I'm making myself sound way more Christian than I am.
3. St. Patrick's. Not really a holiday, but you know. Even better if it falls on a Friday or Saturday and I don't have to worry about dragging my ass out of bed with a hangover the next morning.
4. Election days. Erm, I'm strange. Again, not holidays exactly. Despite the fact that I'm invariably disappointed by the end of the night, I like the buildup to the day and everyone walking around caring about important things for a change and then going to vote (I really like doing that... not sure why) and coming home with all kinds of provisions for sitting in front of the telly all night switching between CBC and CTV depending on who's got the better interviews on at any given moment. God, I'm lame.
5. Well, it used to be last day of classes in April. But now that I've finished uni, I'll have to pick something else. My university has a two day long Beer Gardens every year with concerts and things and no matter how cold it is or if there's snow still on the ground (which happens here more than I'd like) everyone shows up and it's tonnes of fun. As long as you try and forget you have exams in a few days. *sigh* I wish I could be a student forever.

Documentaries:
1. David Starkey's series on the BBC about the six wives of Henry VIII. So good, but I'm fairly obsessed with the Tudors.
2. I suppose these count as documentaries, the CBC had a series this year to find "the Greatest Canadian". It was ten parts where some celebrity presented their case for ten Canadians and then people voted on the "greatest". I can't actually remember who won, I think it may have been Tommy Douglas (a politician who introduced our free, public health care system and who was also Keifer Sutherland's grandfather, go figure).
3. I really liked JKR's Biography. <-- lame.
4. Pretty much any to do with ancient history, but in particular, there was one about archaeologists working in North Africa and the problems they face with lack of funding and all that. I wish I could remember any names here...
5. There was a documentary on the History Channel that I again cannnot, for the life of me, remember the name of. But it was about bubonic plague in this small village in England in the 16th century that, for some reason, was barely affected despite several infected residents (people either recovered at abnormal rates or never got sick at all). And they used modern genetic analysis on people directly descended from the survivors and found this gene mutation. And it was very interesting. Before I actually studied the scientific parts of immunology and viruses and bacteria and all that, I wanted to be an epidemiologist. The science of it is boring, but the social side is really interesting.

Five Favorite International Politicians

Five Favorite Characters in Harry Potter

Five Favorite Fan Fictions (IE - rec me some stuff! ;)

It's taken me a while to think of what my favourite fics were... but better late than never, right?

Favourite Intl. Politicians (and I'm going to take a fairly loose definition of "politician"):

- Nelson Mandela.
- Sir Winston Churchill.
- Lester B. Pearson.
- Aung San Suu Kyi.
- I get a real kick out of Fidel Castro. No, really. I do. Call me a Communist, I'm okay with that. At least I'm not a fascist. (I'm looking at you, Mr Bush.)
God, there's no one on this list who is a currently elected politician. Depressing.

Favourite HP characters:
- Remus Lupin.
- Severus Snape. So not evil. Even if he is, who cares? So brilliant.
- Neville Longbottom.
- Tom Riddle. Not Voldemort, necessarily, but Tom Riddle.
- Luna Lovegood.
(Plus honourable mentions for Bella, Narcissa, Sirius and Percy.)

Favourite fics: *dies of the hardness of this question* (Also, only answering for HP fics; to involve any other fandom would be sheer torture on someone as indecisive as myself.)
- "The Lodger" by mad_martha. H/D.
- The Crush series by hackthis (H/D). "And Now For Something Completely Different", "Lemon Zingers and Strawberry Jam" and "Public Displays of Affection".
- "Summer Thing" by Halrloprillalar. Hermione/Fred/George.
- "Something Borrowed" by musesfool. Sirius/Remus. OTP, yo.
- "Transfigurations" by resonant8. H/D. You'd think that would be my OTP considering this list... but no.

Your list of politicians cracked me up! My list would also include no currently elected politicians with the possibility of Barak Obama sneaking into the number 5 spot.

And, yay, I have HP fics to read now! You've read the Shoebox Project, right? Since Sirius/Remus is your OTP? If not, you must! It's Marauder era - and funny! I haven't read much H/D though I love the idea. I'm totally reading these tonight at work. Thank yoU!

Oooh yes, there is still hope for the Democratic Party while he's around. Ah, the state of modern politics. *shakes head*

Yeah, Shoebox is entertaining. Harry/Draco is one of those pairings that, if it's done right, it's really, really good. And if it's done badly... it makes me cry. But because it's probably the most popular pairing in fandom, there is a lot of very good quality fic. Not to mention, JKR's almost made it canon in HBP what with Harry being obsessed with Malfoy and all. ; ) And I'm so glad I can contribute to the worthy cause of having people read porn at work rather than, well, work. *rubs hands in maniacal glee*