last updated 1/26/09

( Carnivále [1] )
( Dead Like Me [2] )
( Doctor Who [1] )
( Due South [3] )
( Merlin [1] )
( Miracles [1] )
( The Pretender [1] )
( Queer as Folk [26] )
( Supernatural [5] )
( Veronica Mars [2] )

last updated 2/17/09

( COMPLETE (ish) LIST OF VIDS BY SWEETESTDRAIN )

Why did no one show me this trailer for Paul Gross's next work? It looks deeply moving. In fact, it might make me cry.



ETA: It has been brought to my attention that actually greensilver did link to this trailer in a post a couple of weeks ago. A post which I even read (mostly?) and commented on--all without seeing the link. Because I am AMAZING. Like Paul Gross.

If there is a vidder on my flist who has not yet signed up for festivids, you should do so! I believe the deadline's tomorrow. I haven't been able to even touch my vidding software in three months -- although I've been collecting quite the backlog of vid ideas -- but I'm excited to have a rare fandom project to tackle during winter break. I can't wait.

Speaking of vids, I completely failed to link the amazing, hilarious vid commentary on West of Her Spine that braver_creature created a few weeks back. I love it, and it's not only smart, it manages to make my vid sound smart, too. Yay! (I wrote up my own screencap-heavy commentary on WoHS here, and apparently I can write quite a lot about very little.)

And a rec! From the minds of sisabet and Cappy: Merlin is Crazy In Love. And Arthur? Yes sir, he's cut from a different cloth. A genuine article -- he don't sing though, he slings though, if anything he blings yo. History in the making! Go watch now!

(Have I mentioned that this season of Merlin now officially owns my soul? Just so y'all are updated.)

Another rec, again from weeks ago: vagabondage's lovely Highlander vid Whatever's For Us. I actually have a lot to say about this vid and how I love that it portrays the Duncan and Methos relationship in a quiet, struggling, dudes-in-love way rather than an epic dudes-with-swords way, but my brain is slowly leaking out my ears in an attempt to escape from all the homework I have to finish tonight, so that'll have to wait. In the meantime, you can download the vid!

Oh life, why so busy? On the minus, I still have to write a reading response that is due in... seven and a half hours. On the plus side, I drafted five new poems this weekend and baked Amazing Things such as cranberry-nut muffins and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. It's all about the priorities, right? And food is a priority.

TV is apparently also a priority. Whoever invented Hulu should be shot. I am now watching more TV per week than I ever did in undergrad, which is just... sick and wrong. But very fun, and good for avoidance. I am suddenly loving Eastwick (not even in an ironic way! I tried!) and How I Met Your Mother (BARNEY MARRY ME), and have tried out a few other shows with varying degrees of success. Another inventor that should be shot? The person that thought NETFLIX was a good idea. I mean, did he or she ever even MEET a procrastinator?

In other news, hi! How is everyone? Here, have a song I love and spent a nostalgic weekend with: "Jesus and Elvis" by Greg Brown. Sigh. (Not explicit, but one line might not quite be work-safe. Actually, by some standards, even this man's voice isn't work-safe.)

Now, back to washing my hands and scrubbing the doorknobs before giving this reading response a go. I will not catch my roommate's flu, I will not catch my roommate's flu...

So, I decided to tally up the votes from my epic Merlin pairings poll, and it actually ended up being pretty interesting! (...Although not in any way scientific, of course. Let's just pretend that a good representative sample of Merlin fandom consists of my awesome flist.) Lots of love for the OT4 and OT5, and the OT3 of Merlin/Arthur/Gwen is on the rise. I approve. Most startling for me, although pretty great to see, was the fact that Morgana/Gwen came close to challenging Merlin/Arthur for top spot. Man, I love that we love the girls.

So, out of 28 votes:
1. Merlin/Arthur (27 votes)
2. Morgana/Gwen (23 votes)
3. Colin Morgan/Bradley James (21 votes)
4. Gwen/Lancelot (19 votes)
5. Merlin/Arthur/Morgana/Gwen (18 votes)
6. Merlin/Arthur/Gwen (16 votes)
7. Merlin/Morgana (14 votes)
8. Merlin/Arthur/Morgana/Gwen/Lancelot (14 votes)
9. TIE: Uther/Morgana & Arthur/Merlin/Lancelot & Merlin/Lancelot (13 votes each)
10. Arthur/Gwen (12 votes)

Of the random crossover pairings, the most popular was Arthur/Jack Harkness with nine votes. Hot. Coming in soon behind, Merlin/Arthur reincarnated as Rodney/John (SGA). Y'all have read that fic, right? Also, eight people thought Merlin and Arthur should be reincarnated as Lex and Clark, respectively -- only five (although there was some overlap) thought they should be reincarnated the other way around. And, neither here nor there, but five people apparently agreed with me that Gwen/Mal Reynolds would be AMAZING.

And! Don't feel alone -- at least one person out there also enjoys the following obscure pairings:
Merlin/Edwin
Nimueh/Dragon
Morgana/Merlin/Uther (oh wait, yeah, that was me)
Arthur/Owain
Will/Nimueh
Merlin/Excalibur

Winner for "I can't believe I forgot to include that in the poll!" was Uther/Gorlois, also known as Uther/Morgana's daddy. YES. That's true love, folks.

Hope you had fun! Feel free to continue filling out the poll! (I secretly hope a few of the crazier pairings listed will inspire fic or other creative works... the world needs more time-traveling Merlin/Merlin.)

ETA: 900th post! And that only took seven years!

Because you can't choose just one. Hello, Merlin fandom. This is for you: an epic poll filled with MAGIC and DESTINY.

( this poll is TOO LONG to be WITHOUT A CUT TAG, Merlin fandom! )

Thank you kindly for your time.

ETA: A few BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS pairings I neglected: Arthur/Excalibur, Merlin/Excalibur, Igraine/Nimueh (which I could have sworn I listed, but it's not on the poll!), and Merlin/Arthur/Gwen/Lancelot. Oops? Feel free to include these on the write-in!

I think I may've just found my Methos vidsong. Except I have no time to vid. (And there's also that part where the vid idea requires approximately five thousand years of source that doesn't exist, but -- I could fake it!)

In other news, today I have consumed:
- one (1) nonfat pumpkin spice latte
- two (2) McDonalds pumpkin pies
- one (1) Blue Moon pumpkin ale

and some other stuff. But you see the theme here. It's only just October! There are two or three more months of pumpkin goods to go! AGH. My life is so hard.

And because my life is so hard, here's that meme where I open up my iTunes playlist, hit random, choose my favorite lines from the first twenty songs that pop up, (while attempting not to reveal the title of the song in the chosen lyric), and then you guys guess what they are! ( lyrics! )

Someone needs to give me vidsongs for the following Merlin pairings:

- Merlin/Morgana
- Merlin/Gwen/Arthur
- Merlin/Gaius

Thank you and have a nice evening.

a) I have a pipsqueaky!!! She is in my apartment, sleepin' on my floors!

b) We had chocolate croissants made by my roommate, who has the lovely compulsive habit of cooking when she is avoiding homework. Nice.

c) Ben Vanstone, he of "Moment of Truth" awesome, wrote today's episode of Merlin and caused me and Pips to have seizures of "OMG AMAZING DID THEY REALLY JUST DO THAT." I think I am loving this season now, folks.

...you got it! Procrastination time! Er, I mean -- a meme for when I take some brief breaks from all my work tonight. From the ol' flist:

Ask me a fandom, and I will tell you:

+ OTP
+ Runner-up
+ Honorable mention(s)
+ Crack pairing(s)
+ Ship everyone else seems to like, but I don't

I will reply as needed for my sanity! And I'll also warn you in advance that for some fandoms, the lines between those categories get pretty blurry... Crack? OTP? Who knows! (And thanks, sisabet, for outing me to LJ as a Merlin/Gaius shipper yesterday. They didn't need to know I was THAT far gone.)

So, it seems to me like there are a couple of themes running through the second season so far. (I am pretending that these thoughts are in any way thinky. You will find out after the cut that they are not.)

( spoilers for 2x01 and 2x02 )

I just received this LJ message:

was checking around for ppl like me, & i noticed your place. u seem to be a reasonably noticeable dude, although I'm sort of new at this sorta thing, & dont really know where to go on this site. Don't they have a chat thing here?? I hate sending messages to ppl, & sometimes not receiving anything back. Well, if you wanna chatting with me, u can catch me over [blah blah skeezy links I'm not clicking].

So, ya, hope to see you there. always lookin' to meet more ppl.
Chantel Minkoff

I am a Reasonably Noticeable Dude. This makes me very happy.

So, I am in grad school. It is... insane. Tons of reading. I have an associate instructor position and have to grade and give feedback on dozens of pieces of student writing every week, then give detailed comments on about a dozen peer drafts for workshop every week, and then, and then... my editing pencil and red (well, purple) pen are getting a workout. But in other news, ask me about abstractions! Specifically, about the difference between an abstraction and a metaphor, because that's apparently what I need to go over in class on Friday. Oh, students ILU.

If I've defriended you, it's not you, it's me... and the huge mound of coursework I'll be tackling over the next three years. Ack. Soon I will be exactly like Draco Malfoy in my icon, just you wait.

(Maybe without the bleach kit addiction, though.)

So, it turns out there is this show you guys should be watching? It's called Legend of the Seeker. Yeah, that shiny fantasy show that you've heard about, and maybe you've seen the vids, and maybe you thought oh yeah, I'll watch that eventually after I finish my epic rewatch of World's Deadliest Sharks and cut my dog's toenails or whatever. Except, as it turns out -- as greensilver is my witness -- you actually have to watch it RIGHT NOW.

These are the things you are missing out on:

• Fight scenes that are as awesomely choreographed as they are completely implausible.


• SPARKLES. VERY IMPORTANT MAGICAL SPECIAL EFFECTS.


• The UST-iest OTP since... well, no one is UST-ier than Mulder/Scully, but they are totally trumping Max/Logan from Dark Angel what with the being adorable and totally acknowledging their love for each other while being NOT ABLE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. To say why is spoilers.


• Because this is another show by Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi -- although apparently they are being "serious" this time and not tongue-in-cheek a la Xena: Warrior Princess -- there are equal opportunities for ogling. The women are hot and dressed in leather, the men are buff, sweaty, and shirtless, and the old wizard dudes actually get laid.


• While this show never actually passes the Bechdel Test, all the female characters are rather universally awesome and badass. Sure, there are a couple episodes where a woman gets tied up and tortured, but there is also an episode or dozen where the main hero gets tied up and tortured and made to like it. See above re: equal opportunity.


• Fun fantasy-land fashion, including the awesomest robe sleeves EVER that twirl prettily as the main female character totally fucking kills bad guys with knives.


• An amusingly high body count.


• Gorgeous New Zealand scenery.


• About seventy percent of the time, the characters are actually intelligent, and not simply fumbling their way along as slaves to formulaic plot. Not that there is a lack of formulaic plot -- we loves our formulaic plot. Without it, we would not have magical bonding rituals, sexy dream sequences, or SPOILER and EVEN BIGGER SPOILER.


• There are CUTE CUDDLY KITTENS.


• The main villain is actually rather creepy and completely awesome.


• Whenever Michael Hurst (Iolaus from Hercules) directs an episode, crazy amazing things happen. Think BDSM-tastic bondage fun.


• And next season, ( SPOILERS FOR NEXT SEASON ) See?? Why are you not watching this show!

Apologies for the incoherence. I just watched all twenty-two episodes in three days. AND SO SHOULD YOU. If you do NOT watch this show, you will have to explain yourself to me and greensilver and we will totally judge you and cry over the sad lack of sparkly sword-fighting BDSM fantasy in your life.

In conclusion, see icon. How can you pass that up? And you have NO EXCUSE not to watch -- all the episodes are available streaming on Hulu and Netflix.

Hee. From a few minutes ago:

greensilver: why do I clink on anything you lick me to?!

---

Now, to go get clothes and stuff set out for the morning, for tomorrow I start GRADUATE SCHOOL ORIENTATION AGH.

*breathes*

I am doing my best not to get terribly involved in the recent post-VVC discussion -- it helps that I have been struck by con crud and am too busy blowing my nose to think coherently. However, I think it is important to remember a couple of things.

1) VividCon is subject to the same prejudices, accessibility problems, and other shortcomings as the rest of the world. However, it also has an awesome concom. I've read several first-hand accounts over the past few days about the concom's ability and willingness to assist congoers with mobility issues, and their efforts to make the con enjoyable and successful for everyone. There has been a lot of good discussion about further steps that they could take -- and I certainly hope people have been emailing the concom directly with their suggestions -- but it seems to me that a lot of this discussion could have been more productive at the con itself.

You or someone you know has problems finding comfortable seating in the vidshow room? Talk to the concom.

People are taking pictures on the dancefloor and you don't feel comfortable approaching them directly? Talk to the concom.

This is what they're there for. When possible -- and I understand that it isn't always -- it is probably better in the long-and-short run to address problems as they happen than stir up a giant can of bad feelings post-con.

2) VividCon is fun. Most of the people I have spoken with or read reports from -- which included several newbies -- had a great time. I think most of us can agree that of most cons, VividCon, with its relatively small membership cap, is one of the most likely to pay attention to the individual congoer and help them with any issues that arise. I think that's pretty nifty.

Anyway. Let's talk about VIDS! (With the amount of stuffiness in my head, this should be interesting.)


( reviews: Premieres disc 1 )


( reviews: Also Premiering )

Song: "Naughty Girl" by Beyoncé
Source: Excalibur (1981)

"One day, a King will come, and the Sword will rise again." (Double entendre totally intended.)

Download: right-click and save, please. [~41mb, xvid codec]
OR watch ( the streaming version here. )

Notes: Premiered at Club Vivid during this year's VividCon. Thanks to the usual folks, who tried and failed to stop me from vidding this, and yet still like me anyway!

( lyrics )

Comments and feedback appreciated! Um. Not that there is much more to say. *grins*

Like I said in my post of a few minutes ago... head hurt, missing codec, agh, sorry, will upload smaller version later! In the meantime, young medieval manwhores really can't wait.

Song: "Beast of Burden" by the Rolling Stones
Source: Merlin BBC

Am I hard enough?

Download: right-click and save, please. [~65mb, watch with VLC player]
OR watch ( the streaming version here. )

Notes: I hadn't listened to this song in ages, but the moment it popped up on iTunes, this vid sprang fully-formed from my brain to the Adobe Premiere project timeline. Be afraid? Thanks to greensilver for suffering extensive mental trauma and yet agreeing to beta anyway. This vid premiered in the Also Premiering vidshow at this year's VividCon.

( lyrics )

Comments and feedback always appreciated!

My laptop is apparently missing some codec and my brain is too stuffed with con crud to deal with it right now, so this file is not encoded in xvid. Thus, it is slightly large. Sorry! Will update with a new link in a few days once I get things straightened out -- in the meantime, enjoy the slightly larger, prettier version?

Song: "Lead Balloon" by Liam Finn
Source: Doctor Who

He knows what he's looking for.

Download: please right-click and save. [ ~74mb, watch in VLC media player]
OR watch ( the streaming version here. )

Notes: Because Mickey is awesome. This vid unofficially premiered in the Nearly New show at this year's VividCon. Thanks go to fan_eunice for being basically one of the coolest people I know, and to everyone else who joined me in my squeals of "OMG MICKEY" when I showed them drafts.

( lyrics )