Land of the mildly insane

I do love those initial few weeks where you've finally admitted to yourself that you've fallen for a show and everything about it is fluffy and shiny and just so damn sweet. I've no doubt the wank will arrive shortly or the dragon will be found to have kicked puppies in his youth, but for now all is good :) On that note, have three random things from Merlin that have made me smile tonight.

x. Merlin Vol. 1 DVD will be released 24th November. The description of the series is tone perfect, telling us how it's about young Merlin and 'his enthralling encounters with the young Prince Arthur'. Ah show.
x. This wallpaper from the BBC. It's just so darn cute, look at them all trying to be fearsome and serious, n'awwww.
x. FanVid: 10,000 Nights. Everything that made me fall for this show and Merlin and Arthur in a shamelessly fun and light (and pretty) fanvid.

Concise version: The Hub was f**king awesome. I'm so tired I could cry, but it was all utterly worth it. The Torchwood show really does have amazingly lovely people and they were all on sterling form this weekend.

The downside: I missed Merlin. Spoil me for this ep and I will hunt you down and disembowel you. Hopefully by Wednesday I will have caught up, but not until then.

Back to the Hub, and here be a more waffly version of the first bit of Saturday. As always I'm going purely on memory so this will not be particularly detailed, simply the points that particularly stayed with me, but don't quote me on any of this.

( Behold the Barrowman effect... )

If you do want pics and more detailed reports, here be a few more I've spied on LJ that are well worth checking out:
Pics: He's not an alien, he's a gaylien.
Pics: JB and GDL
Pics: snogging and stripteases
Pics: JB, GDL, NM.
Pic: But I need you around the back entrance!
Pics: Funny pills?
I'm not an alien...
Yet more pics.
And more pics.
JB, GDL, NM et al.

First off - FL, on the off-chance you can help, does anyone happen to have a large picture of that sign on the front of the TARDIS?

It seems The Hub has had its first cancellation. Farewell Louise Delamere (aka Diane), but hello Lachlan Nieboer (aka Gray). One thing I have learnt from cons is that you can never tell who will wind up being a fantastic guest, so I'm not too disappointed by this change (though I hope Delamere does do a signing at least at some future date).

The excitement finally fully kicked in when they announced that Barrowman and Owen (and others) would be performing in a short 10-min play on Saturday night. DUDES!! *flails* This could be so cracktastically awful brilliant :)

Aaaand the panic arrived during the drive home this evening when I suddenly realised that due to how travel plans have worked out, I have to have everything for the Hub packed and ready to go by the end of tonight. *FLAILS*

I'm just popping upstairs to check my bag, I may be a while...

Out of nowhere I've just been blindsided by a flurry of slashy, fluffy loveliness from LJ from various fandoms, some of them not actually my own. Just passing on a few links as they made me smile:

From House, House/Wilson - Isn't It Bromantic?. Utterly charming TV Guide photoshoot of Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard done for an interview they gave regarding the latest season. Thank you viciouswishes for the heads-up!

From Torchwood, Jack/Ianto - 2 pics from S3 shooting (no obvious spoilers). GDL and JB both looking ridiculously fine and possibly making me melt just a bit as I've always been a sucker for the 'eye contact' thing. Thanks this time to rivier for flagging these :)

From Merlin, Arthur/Merlin - "Next Time, I Will Remember This And I Will Say 'No'". PG-13. Manages the odd feat of being simultaneously less slashy than the show (this is scorching UST and clueless Merlin is brilliant) whilst also removing the ambiguity (Arthur may not be clueless but is possibly in denial). Regardless of pairing, the banter between the two is spot-on, nothing like constant put-downs and backhanded insults to make an OTP sail true :)

It's been one hell of a week at work. Roll on the weekend.

Anyway, I'm in need of a DVD player. Just a player, not recorder or burner. Can anyone recommend any decent brands that they've been happy with?

A while back I posted about Troy Davis who was due to be executed despite growing doubts as to the soundness of the evidence used to convict him. His final clemency hearing was September 12th and it was denied. However according to the Beeb, with less than two hours to go the execution has been halted by the US Supreme Court.

I don't know if that's it and he's permanently off death row, but I hope so, in any case it's good to have things going against your expectations every now and then.

OMG.

Lost in Austen.

Quite possibly the best show ever. One scene had me literally crying with laughter, because, honestly, if any fangirl found herself in that position she. so. would.

I have no idea now how this is going to end. I'm desperately writing and rewriting various happy endings in my head, but frankly I have no doubt that they'll manage to come up with some cracked and off the wall scenario as they have done for the past three eps. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll actually be disappointed if they somehow manage to wrangle all of it back to how Jane intended. Bring on next week! :)

I can't believe we're already a healthy distance into September. Sainsbury's are already starting to display some Christmas sweets *gags*

BUT!! October means Horbling and generally getting to geek out and catch up with some most excellent people. October also means The Hub. I am finally starting to get genuinely excited about it, I can almost smell the insanity from here... In addition to GDL we've now been promised Anthony Lewis (aka Tommy, aka Neville Longbottom's brother, aka other really hot young bloke who was at the USA con) and Louise Delamere (aka Diane, the one who got away and broke Owen's heart). I really really liked both their characters on the show so I'm dead chuffed we get to pick their brains about it - wheee!

Of course, the small downside to the reality of the Hub finally sinking it, I have yet again been poleaxed by the age-old concern that my FL should by now be familiar with: 'But... but... I have nothing to wear!' *frets*

Due to epic unfairness work expected me to actually be working this afternoon - I know, the cheek! Thankfully the Beeb twigged this might be a not uncommon problem and so provided a free download, huzzah!

Lost Souls was a rather 'lite' TW episode, but this was to be expected considering the whole day was about CERN. In the same way as The Archers often veers off into profound discussions of BSE/bird flu/hunt bans, the TW plot was frequently put on hold for the science to be explained again. And again. And again, while everyone went 'OOOOH' as if they had never heard of so much as electricity before.

Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it. It was a fun frothy, harmless 40 minutes. The main star was the accelerator, but there were enough throwaway comments from Team TW that those familiar with the past two series could take a guess as to what had been/was going on in these peoples' lives. In terms of audio acting, Eve Myles in particular came across very, very well. ( Madmoiselle, with these maps you are really spoiling us - AKA further SPOILER-Y thoughts on the ep... )

Anyway, all good fun. And once it was done I watched Lost in Austen. Again, silly but fun and I think it's got me hooked. I'm still hoping that Ms Price will wind up eloping with Jane, but that aside I'm generally content to just sit back, giggle, and generally trust the writers to come up with a good way to wrap this all up happily before Austen turns in her grave :)

First off, a song request: Does anyone have Timberlake's 'Sexyback'? For various reasons I need this song.

I have waved farewell to princess_s and esmerelda_t - thank you both for a wonderful weekend! My liver still hates me but pah! that's what it's there for *nods*

Despite the weather there was a highly fun trip to Portsmouth to explore HMS Victory and HMS Warrior. I was disappointed that they wouldn't let us scramble up the rigging, but I did get to stand up on a raised walkway and get blasted by a stiff breeze coming off the Solent. I came back with a souvenir tea-towel with a toast for every day of the week, today's is 'To absent friends & those at sea!' *raises tot of rum* I also brought myself Seth Lakeman's newest album (Poor Man's Heaven) and highly, highly recommend it to all. Some of the new songs have a definite dark, nasty edge which is fun to hear - a favourite is currently 'Haunt You', ah, nothing like angry jilted love (www.megaupload.com/?d=37AUK3QH).

The other key feature of the weekend was Hornblower, I suspect PS and Ez may be trying to tempt me into another fandom... Certainly I have rediscovered very emphatically an old fangirl crush. Paul McGann *has a moment* I am now highly fond of his Lt. Bush, and the nerd in me was also pleased to spy BBC's Prince Caspian (AKA Sam West) playing a most excellent M'Lord Major Edrington. The brits really are kings at the dry, understated sarcasm :)

I think the less said about the goings on in the Torchwood fandom this weekend the better. Suffice to say that I'm glad I was effectively off LJ for the past few days. Consequently I am still determinedly staying in my Bubble of Love. I even pass on some recs that have raised a smile:

x. Fanvid: Lt. Bush (Paul McGann) is bringing 'sexy' back to Hornblower. Shameless fun if you like this chap :)
x. Article: What I Know About Men As ever John Barrowman is frank and honest about how he views the male species and their take on sex/sexuality.
x. Article: The End of the World is Not Nigh Apparently we will survive next Wednesday, hurrah!
x. Fic Rec: Come On With the Rain. Short and sweet drabble of Jack and Ianto in the rain after FOOTR.
x. Fic Rec: Death and the Definitely-Not-A-Maiden. Thanks to killerweasel for flagging this one. Excellent, if a little sad, and funny Torchwood/Discworld crossover. Jack Harkness and his conversations with Death over the years, the reference to the Year That Never Was was particularly well done.
x. Fic Series Rec: Up To Something. Epic crack fic. All the crew get treated with the same affection, although the earlier focus is on the UST between Jack and Ianto, and everyone gets their own happy ending. Of sorts. The most random, cracked AU on series one I've read. Each section has made me laugh outloud at least once which in the current times can only be a good thing :)