Land of the mildly insane

Taking a quick break from the FL exploding over the 11th Doctor news, let me helpfully inform you, dear FL, that New Year's eve chez LB was great fun. Thank you princess_s for being generally all round made of win :) There were friends old and new, plentiful drinks, games, music, dancing and of course fireworks courtesy of the local pub. Good stuff.

There was also the obligatory time out to inspect Merlin yet again. PS and I have decided that our official mantra for this show is 'We're going to hell', and Colin Morgan, though utterly lovely, is most definitely demon child *pets* Passing on some more vid recs that entertained during the twilight hours:

Something in the Wind - nicely done, if rather sad, vid to a cover of Sally's song from Nightmare Before Christmas. Basically it sucks to be in love with Arthur if you're not Merlin, because up against that you really don't have much of a chance.
The Adventures of Arthur (prince) and Merlin (boy wizard) - done to Stuck in the Middle with You. Silly and fun, a fluffy, harmless look at how the boys work together.
Night at the Opera - not so much a vid as a 'taster' or 'sampler' vid. The argument is the someone needs to fanvid Merlin to a Queen song, and the argument is made with a series of snippets of songs for various characters that include some priceless moments.
If You Were Gay - I think every fandom has at least one version of this, but this is the first I've seen for Merlin. Not the most skilled, smooth job, but the matching of expressions to parts of the lyrics are just too perfect for this not to be fun.
So Macho - shameless Bradley James fanvid, drawing from all his TV roles so far (warning: yes, this does include that scene from Dis/Connected). If you think he's pretty and would just like to relax for a few minutes, this will do the trick :)

And finally: I am still happily excited about the next Doctor. The first promo pics are looking good.

So that was Christmas. Love my family as always even if, as always, they leave me wiped out. In any case it's back to work tomorrow - oh joy - wherein I shall try to be full of festive cheer and general optimism. Something I am, so I'm told, rather good at. Anyone who knows me will understand why I find it slightly alarming that I'm considered the optimist of our group.

I've been told to look into a digital camera. My knowledge of digital cameras is rather minimal, at the moment I'm guessing that optical zoom is good, as is more than 6 megapixels, and a good battery life (I'm looking at the small compact ones). Any other pointers or recs/warnings would be much appreciated!

Finally, I've been keeping my spirits up with Drastically Redefining Protocol, a Merlin AU WIP. Suffice to say the latest part included mention of the Delicious bookmark 'Prince Arthur/Merlin comment thread: It’s not RPS if it’s REAL', of course it's perfect post-Christmas fare :)

Spent a pleasant chunk of the weekend with princess_s wherein we duly watched the Merlin finale and proceeded to spend alarming amounts of time talking disturbingly large quantities of meta about the whole series. At what point exactly did Merlin become a show that required meta? In any case, I miss it already *sniffle*

One thing I can't forgive the show for is making me really care that ultimately the story of Merlin and Arthur is a bit of a tragic one. I can't remember exactly what happens to Merlin but he does vanish one way or another, and Camelot ends, and Arthur of course is very famous for tragically dying in his prime (after feeling generally betrayed and let down by Lancelot and Gwenivere). The characters have always been legendary/heroes/etc for me since childhood, but... but... well, the final ending has a new sting now.

To that end! Have some vid recs.

Red by obsessive24: basically what I just said above. Arthur, Gwen, Merlin, Lancelot - all tragedies about happen.
The Choice by nel_ani: nice little instrumental to go with The Beginning of the End and Merlin's final decision.
And moving away from angst with a vengeance...
The Bitch Prince by wistful_fever. Yep it's THAT song we all sang along to back at school. And god but it does actually suit Arthur to a T. He may be a royal prat and a half at time, but he wouldn't have it any different and neither would Merlin. Aww.

I don't have a digital camera, just an old-fashioned film contraption and one of those CDs where they scan in your photos. Still, it's better than nothing and it's nice having them online in some form so I can reminisce :) The full text/story of the trip to Refugios Amazonas is here.

( A few pics of the Amazon rainforest... )

I have to say that vids like this one are really not helping with any highly inappropriate slight crush I might have on one Bradley James. Though watching him and Colin Morgan cheerfully chant 'We're going to die' as they face up to the next rollercoaster is awesome, as is watchin ASH just laughing at the lot of them. (Oh, and apparently Bradley has all the BtVS boxsets, ♥♥♥)

On another tack entirely - OW. Last gift from the family turns out to have been the ever faithful travelling companion: Food Poisoning. Which sucks just a bit as I'm meant to be finishing some last-minute shopping for the gringo family and quite frankly fat chance now. I'm going to retreat and make some more sugared tea.

ETA: MWHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, I knew bad pics of these boys had to exist somewhere. Bradley is positively skinny and looks like someone trying to go cold-turkey from god-knows-what, and the sideburns and moustache do vaguely make Colin remind me of a Mexican pimp... I love this show :)

Yes this is still me sticking my head in the sand, don't worry I am actually about to vanish properly in a day or so. In the meantime however... oh I love this show, more specifically I love this cast. My fannish heart swells and my world is currently draped with fandom rainbows :)

x. VID: BBC Points of View: Behind the Scenes of Merlin - ASH is awesome as always and made me laugh, the boys were lovely, and it was great to finally hear something from the girls (Katie McGrath continues to be unbelivably gorgeous, seriously, dude). Also I'm coming to the amusing conclusion that Arthur may be a bit of short-arse, he definitely looks shorter than Merlin, heh. In conclusion, oh ASH, you are the man.
x. PICS: Merlin Cast Support Children in Need - The pic of Morgan, ASH and Pudsey may be one of the most adorable pics I've seen in a while. There've already been some great icons made here.

Am off visiting land of my fathers for the next three weeks. If anyone notices my absence, that will be why.

Please do not spoil me for Merlin unless it´s just to reassure me that I´m not imagining the slash and/or that various characters are looking particularly lovely.

Ditto SJA.

See folks on the far side :)

Well that was surprisingly het. Also not as traumatising as I'd feared given that I still have Dis/Connected in my mind's eye. And ooh - is that character development I spy?

( SPOILERS for ep... )

Just a few pics from the London Expo. These are mainly so I can come back and bask in the memories more than anything else since there are photos of far superior quality on LJ in various other reports.
( Read more... )

Ah Alexis Denisof, wherefore art thou Alexis Denisof...

It seems he is actually still somewhere on the face of the planet. Not only are he and Alyson expecting their first child (finally, they took their time), but he is actually going to appear on TV. As in, a real actual TV show. He may appear on screens and be seen to utter real actual words. DUDE. Admittedly it's only a guest-star one-off spot, but still, I feel this moment should be noted nevertheless.

In other news, there are many adjectives that should not be used when trying to describe any aspect of the next episode of Merlin. 'Throbbing' is most definitely one of them. Yes I do have the sense of humour of a 12 year old. Thank you Digital Spy for that :)

And finally - only 40 mins till new Spooks! With Richard Armitage! I need to learn how to give these exclamation marks a break...