I had a super busy weekend (anevivi was here! I got to meet mklutz, who is awesome!), and everyone is on vacation, so it's crazy busy at work as well. That's why I decided to come in 20 minutes late so I could finish Doctor Who this morning, and why I am making this post instead answering emails. Model employee, say what.

( Merlin 2x08 )

( Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars )

With September coming to a close so is my month reccing Merlin fic over at the crack_van. Some of these have been recced in my lj before, some haven't, but I thought I'd put all the links up here in one post for my own reference. All twelve are worth a read (or a re-read) by the way!

Crack Van Recs

♥ Millions of Peaches by dsudis (Arthur/Merlin, PGish) recced here.

♥ On Swefnum, Incuthra Eorthan by srin (Gwen/Morgana, PGish) recced here.

♥ Amour Courtois by shetiger (Uther/Morgana, NC-17) recced here.

♥ Three Castles by rageprufrock (Arthur/Merlin, PG-13) recced here.

♥ Sometimes I Forget I'm Still Awake by paperclipbitch (Arthur/Gwen, PG) recced here.

♥ Be Resigned by franticsga (Arthur/Merlin, NC-17) recced here.

♥ Don't Be Sorry by sparky77 (OT4, PG) recced here.

♥ In Time of Trial by shinetheway (Arthur/Merlin, NC-17) recced here.

♥ Easy There by syllic (Arthur/Merlin, NC-17) recced here.

♥ in omne tempus by giddygeek (Gwen/Morgana, R) recced here.

♥ A Little Knowledge by bluflamingo (Morgana-centric, PG) recced here.

♥ Beltane by astolat (Gen, PG) recced here.

reel_merlin is live, guys!!!!!

My wonderful, awesome co-mod, krazykipper, who's done so much work for this round you don't even know while I've been lame and all punched in the face repeatedly by RL, kicks it all of with her Castaway-inspired fic here!

If all goes well, we should have a story a day for over a month. Woohoo!

Some day I will make a post that has something to do with something that aren't Home Depot 'verse. Tonight is not that night.

circa_eve came away from the fics feeling really really bad for Chris. And let's be honest, the entire Home Depot 'verse is basically an exercise in making Chris suffer in increasingly horrible ways with seemingly little promise of even getting into ZQ's yoga pants at the end. So...

circa_eve: MAYBE someone needs to write a little something extra from ZQs perspective. Some people might be interested in reading it. That's all I'm saying.
merelyn: YOU write it. Join the circle of shame. And you have to post it yourself because you have no one to blame but you.
circa_eve: NO.

(No Less Than Six Hours Later)

circa_eve: There! Done. Happy!?

So without futher ado, I bring you:

Home Depot: ZQ to the Future by circa_eve (Zach/Kate Pine/Evil and what we've run of out of movie sequel titles to riff on by this point geez WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME.)


On another note, reel_merlin is coming up soon! Get excited!

Lots of reccing this morning!

*I started my month driving the crack_van for Merlin. My first rec is here if you want to take a peek. I kicked things off with dsudis's Millions of Peaches, which is worth a look (or another look if you've already read and enjoyed) for sure. :)



*ALSO leupagus posted ANOTHER CHAPTER OF THE VULCAN DETECTIVE FIC, which is still rich and compelling and awesome, even though the ending of this chapter will justifiably make you hate her for leaving it there.



*Lastly, lillianloop has posted the most amazing piece of ridiculous brilliance I have read in an AGE. It's a Merlin/Harry Potter fusion fic. (YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT.) And Merlin is like some unholy cross between Neville Longbottom and Bridget Jones. But it's awesome. I'm cackling to myself even as I'm writing this. Ahaha. GO NOW.

Merlin Emyrs and the Totally Gay Triwizard Tournament by lillianloop (Merlin/Arthur, other background pairings, PG-13ish)

He takes a moment to wonder how his life came to this pass, and he can pretty much nail it down to when he turned eleven years old and came downstairs to find Gaius having tea with his mother.

"You're a wizard, Merlin," Gaius had said.

Merlin thinks he was pretty much buggered from that point on, because all he had thought in that instant between "Well, that explains a lot," and his mother hugging him, was "I am going to get made fun of so much at wizard school."

\o/

Dear Sunburn,

Thank you for the object lesson in proper sunscreen application, especially on my chest.

Ow,
Me



Dear Roommate,

Calling me "Fire Tits" is not funny. It isn't.

Okay, maybe it is,
Me



Dear Baby Laptop,

Thank you for dying for no reason whatsoever during Torchwood week. I DIDN'T EVEN SPILL WATER ON YOU THIS TIME. WHY THE HATE???

Speaking ill of the dead,
Me



Dear Flist,

Since I've only seen the first episode of Torchwood due to the above technical difficulties, thank you for not outright spoiling me for the rest of Children of Earth. However, I think I've reached my limit with all the mood spoilers (YES THE COLLECTIVE D FACE YOU ARE ALL MAKING- WHAT HAPPENED? NO WAIT, DON'T TELL ME. NO WAIT, I WANT TO KNOW. NO WAIT, SPOIL ME AND I WILL END YOU) so I've been absenting myself. See you on the other side after I get to watch them this weekend.

D:,
Me



Dear krazykipper,

You are sweet and awesome and I love our brains too and thank you for the virtual gift! *squishes you* There's a brain in a jar on my profile!

Braaainz,
Me



Dear People On My Flist Who Like Their Fanfic With a Side of Hookers,

In case you, like me, have lamented the lack of Hooker!Fic in Merlin fandom, lament no more! rageprufrock has your MFing back.

Hookerifically yours,
Me



Dear Shakespeare in the Park Management,

Next time it would be cool to list *both* limited distribution days on your website (which, for the record, is also shitty to navigate and generally uninformative) so people don't end up taking the day off work and waking up at 5 am to drag their hungover ass to Central Park to camp for tickets only to be told that there's no hope after the fact.

Still grumpy, DIAF,
Me



Dear Universe,

After three times of trying and failing to see Anne Hathaway and Raul Esparza in Twelfth Night, I FINALLY GET THE MESSAGE. IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHY DON'T YOU RUN OVER MY DOG NEXT EXCEPT I DON'T HAVE A DOG BUT IF I DID I SUSPECT IT WOULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED THIS WEEK.

BOO YOU WHORE,
Fire Tits



DEAR lillianloop,

WHY AM I AT WORK AND WHY ARE YOU NOT HERE ALREADY???

ILU, KEYBOARD SMASH,
Me

Because krazykipper and I are clearly insane, guess what?

reel_merlin is back! Round 2 sign ups are heeeeere!

Yes, just in time for you boxofmagic peeps to catch your breath, because we're also evil.

Sign ups close on July 1st, and you can do any movie ever basically, even if it's not on the list (as long as it wasn't done last round). Yay. \o/

PIMP THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS.

(And please ignore the part where Kip twisted my arm into writing Titanic fic, okay? OH MY GOODNESS, LOOK OVER THERE. *points and runs away*)

It's been a very exhausting weekend of moving and packing and cleaning and unpacking and more cleaning and schlepping and seriously people: DON'T MOVE. DON'T DO IT. STAY WHERE YOU ARE UNTIL SCIENCE FINDS A WAY TO TELEPORT SHIT.


That said, I'm ducking in to say that wordsindreams has an
amazing Katie McGrath picspam up on her lj! New pictures I hadn't seen before! I stole a sample to entice you:



STILL THE PRETTIEST. YES.

(ETA: Whoops, it's flocked, sorry guys. But friending wordsindreams or stalking katie-mcgrath.com would not be a waste of your time.)

(ETA2: Unlocked now, by the awesome wordsindreams! GO. DROOL. EVRYONE. *shooes*)

1. Grinned like a idiot to find this review of Merlin on NBC in my copy of EW:

NBC's new medieval adventure poses a question that has no doubt been puzzling Athurian scholars for centuries: What if Merlin, the bearded old wizard, was actually way hot? This rollicking U.K. import is more O.C. than Camelot, reimagining its hero (Colin Morgan) as a young undercover warlock working as a manservant for the cocky Prince Arthur (Bradley James). Cheesy? Sure. But there's enough sword-clanging action- not to mention homoerotic tension- to keep viewers happily entertained for a spell. Grade: B+

Bwahaha! Also, is Merlin really that much like the O.C.? Eeeh, I dunno, I don't think it's that soapy. Still yay, one more week! \o/


2. Kate Hewlett (*waves at icon*) has some songs up on ReverbNation, and they're not bad. She sounds...a lot like her, if that makes sense. Worth a listen! The first song is really growing on me.

Mostly though, it made me think of a incredibly weird but shiny SGA RPF AU fic where Kate, Jamie Ray Newman (she sings too and I have some nice covers by her from god knows which fangirl) and Rachel Luttrell were in an awesome mellow jazzy indie girl band together. And maybe the Flan could be their roadie who plays guitar sometimes because he has nothing better to do. I bet the Flan always wanted to be a roadie. THANKS, BRAIN.


3. I'm finally moving this weekend! It's a great apartment in a great location, but it's been a bit of a...challenging experience all told. My first experience finding an apartment in New York was surprisingly painless. This experience has been more like what painless would be if we lived in OPPOSITE LAND where painless means SUCH A SOUL-KILLING PAIN IN MY ASS THERE IS NOT ENOUGH CAPSLOCK IN THE WORLD TO EXPRESS IT. Basically, to detail the various trials, tribulations and sheer WTFery of actually getting this place and moving in would require its own post that would probably reach whining critical mass.

SO. Focusing on the positive instead and only saying yay for my new cute apartment and I can't wait to get settled. \o/

SO. I was too exhausted to post anything yesterday after I got home. But:

PEOPLE WHO ARE AWESOME IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER (THE MINIMERLIN EDITION)

solar_cat is awesome for organizing the con and not going completely crazy and for just being an adorable ball of fangirl glee.

ras_elased and bekkis are both awesome for being great roomies, i.e. the kind who don't snore and/or kick me in their sleep. (I'M A LIGHT SLEEPER PEOPLE THIS IS IMPORTANT.) Seriously though, ignore my self-involved blathering- it was lovely to meet both of you! <3

ras_elased also made paper dolls. Paper Dolls FTW!

mariamme is awesome even though she wasn't there. <3

thisissirius is awesome even though she wasn't there because she sent us a con book.

libitina is awesome for getting there before me so I didn't have to awkwardly hang in the lobby by myself on Friday, and for taking me to an awesome Tapas restaurant. Also, can we nominate her for Fangirl Sainthood for cleaning up the con suite on Sunday?

ocelotspots is awesome for being a fast walker who walks fast like me. :)

Fangirls are awesome for making out.

ink_n_imp is awesome for reading porn.

puckling is awesome for reading porn while sober. (How do you do that?) Also, I feel like she would have been good to have around if we had been busted by security.

Speaking of which, the security staff of the Courtyard Marriott are awesome for not kicking us out onto the streets of Philly. But honestly they also fail at their jobs for lo we were loud and obnoxious.

cherrybina is awesome for being a doll and the alcohol fairy and having a king-sized bed in her hotel room.

leupagus and rageprufrock are awesome for many things, the least of which is living in New York and giving me a ride home.

<3<3<3

I've been so AWOL from LJ lately (sorrysorrysorry), but I'm just drive-by posting to say that:

MINIMERLIN IS TOMORROW IN PHILADELPHIA OMG

So excited to meet everyone who's going!! Yay! And I already have the important stuff packed (read: bottles of wine).

1. reel_merlin is finished! THE MASTER POST IS HERE. We ended up with 2 pieces of art and 19 fics and even though RL has kept me from reading a lot of them, everything looks great and I AM GOING TO CATCH UP THIS WEEKEND I SWEAR. (Also, I still can't believe I modded a fic challenge comm. :)

2. For the SGA fen on my flist who haven't seen it yet, sheafrotherdon is having a John Sheppard love post. Just look at his sad wibbly face in my icon if you don't go and check it out! OH JOHN. YOU ARE MY FAVORITE FOREVER.

3. I got sleep last night! And work should be fairly light today and tomorrow, yay.

1. I had an a weird but awesome dream.

2. bookshop posting and then, randomly, there was a STARGATE: ATLANTIS Fandom Primer on your flist which is a must read for anyone who is or has ever been in SGA fandom, and anyone who's not but craned their head over the side of the fandom fence once and wondered what the HELL their neighbors were doing over there. BEST FANDOM EVER THE END.

3. Merlin vid rec!! I watched this too late (see: previous post about failing at lj, etc. etc.) to put it in my attheroundtable post, which is a shame but OMG YAY.

As The Day Is Fading by lovestories (Merlin OT4 vid okay maybe OT5 with Lancelot, PG)

I love "White Houses" by Vanessa Carleton. And I love me some Merlin OT4. This vid is the perfect intersection of those loves. Seriously, though, it's beautifully edited, and the song is all about this bittersweet but hopeful loss of innocence and a group of friends, which is why it's utterly perfect for making a Merlin vid. GO SEE IT NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY.

I've been totally failing at livejournal lately. I have so many "to read" tabs open in my browser at the moment that I've stopped counting them. *weeps, rends clothing* I'm going to try to be better at commenting, but I have to devote more of my work time (normally my prime livejournaling hours) to you know, work, so we'll see.

As for TV, I've also been failing at watching shows. (So what have I been doing instead? Honestly I have no idea- I went to the Dentist?) In fact, the only TV I've seen lately is Season 2 of Skins. I'm catching up! Overall I think Season 1 was a little tighter, but it was still v. enjoyable and awesome. Also, I can already tell that I'm going to be the only person in the world who freakin' LOVES Pandora. (Anyone? Anyone?)


On the bright side, I have managed to (very belatedly) post some Merlin multishipping recs over at attheroundtable. They're here if you want to check them out.


How's everyone doing? ♥

I am so bad at keeping up with vids. This is mostly due to the fact that I can’t watch anything at work and my internet at home was, for the very longest time, so crappy that I could barely stream anything. It's much better now so I can watch whatever I want and lookit!

Exit Music (For A Witch) by heyiya

I watched this three times this morning and it only gets more and more awesome. One of my favorite Merlin vids of all time at the moment. I don't want to spoil it, but it's half AU, half commentary, all awesome.

Basically this: Morgana. Nimueh. Magic. And a revolution. GO WATCH.

I've decided to try this as a list this time:

1. I am behind on soooo many things, including my flist, my Netflix, my laundry, and my plans for catching up on BSG before the finale. I also somehow haven't managed to watch the last half of Being Human 1.02, despite having watched the first half days ago.


2. I have, however, managed to watch 1.01-1.08 of Skins. Loving it so much so far! Where does the fandom hang out? (Also, is it just me or is Tony/Sid/Michelle a fucked up OT3 of awesome?)


3. I got a new layout! And a paid account, with more icon space than I can handle. (There is a disproportionate amount of Merlin ones. Especially Morgana icons. I NEED HELP.)


4. On an unrelated note of TOTAL FAIL: Seriously???? Normally I can put PeTA in the "well intentioned but kind of crazy" box, but that totally crosses the line.


5. There's another addition to the discussion about that thingswithwings post over at mecurtin's here that's worth checking out if you're following it.


6. reel_merlin posting week is coming up really soon! (And since I'm not writing anything I can say that without a trace of panic or OHGODWHATWASITHINKING??) *bounces* (ETA: Posting is extended!)



Also, as per usual, a Merlin fic rec at the end, in shiny new blockquote format for emphasis!

That Which Binds by lavvyan

This is lavvyan's entry for today for 14_valentines. I read it early this morning and it's still sticking with me. lavvyan takes the (perhaps?) inevitable fall of Camelot and turns it on its head in a way that's brilliant and wrenching and somehow still hopeful all at once. (Also, her Merlin totally deserves the Rodney McKay Brave Little Toaster Award for this. Oh, Merlin.)

I feel like I haven’t been around much lately. I’ve been feeling a little…quiet, I guess, and I've gotten wrapped up in reading a lot more meta/RL stuff than fic, which is unusual for me.

(What have I been following?

--The latest round of femslash meta

--The Great Elizabeth Bear Race/Cultural Appropriation Imbroglio

--A more RL discussion of where we should locate fertility treatments in the Reproductive Rights debate vis a vis the Octuplet woman

--Most recently: solar_cat’s response to that by-now-probably-infamous post by thingswithwings on fandom migration and problematic texts with a side of Merlin!hate.)

Lots of heavy, thinky stuff, and it does make one appreciate how, whatever else you can say above fandom and livejournal, it’s not always all about the porn and the wank. (But only on alternate Thursdays.)


On a slightly happier note, Gwen/Morgana!

in omne tempus by giddygeek (Gwen/Morgana, R)

This piece is short but packs a hell of a punch. giddygeek manages to say quite an awful lot about women, sex and power in Camelot. It's gorgeous and a little sad but no less awesome for it.

I'm going to MiniMerlin in Philadelphia!! It's the weekend of March 27-29, and as far as I can tell seems like some sort of unstructured extended sleepover where people just hang out and talk about Merlin. (A-OK with me!) I hope that lots of fangirls show up. Registration (only $20!) ends on 2/13, if you're considering it.

I haven't been to a con since the first Con.Txt, and I spent most of that being awkward in the corner with circa_eve, so WHEE! So excited!!

ALSO, if you're coming (AND YOU SHOULD IF YOU LIVE ANYWHERE NEAR PHILADELPHIA) and would like to room with me and ras_elased and mariamme, give us a holler, okay? We can still have one more person.

I had a pretty busy weekend- I went out a lot and only did about half the things I intended to do. I also had the fun experience of buying a much-needed new pair of jeans, wearing them later that night, and almost immediately ripping a GIANT HOLE in the knee when I brushed past some person's inexplicably spiky license plate holder while walking in front of their parked car. (BOO.)

HOWEVER. I also went here on Sunday:



( Yes. I did go to the Medieval Times in New Jersey. More pictures of me and this Renaissance Faire/Dinner Theatre Extravaganza under the cut. This will probably only be amusing to the Merlin fans on my flist. )


Overall, it was a pretty awesome time. Also, my brain definitely went to the Merlin AU place where Arthur is a struggling actor who's trying to make it on Broadway and is working at the Medieval Times while waiting for his big break and Merlin's his roommate who makes fun of him all the time for it.


Also, Merlin rec! syllic is writing an Oxford rowing AU that is awesome and I'm totally reccing it even though I have an aversion to WiPS:

Easy There by syllic (Arthur/Merlin, Rated NPY for Not Porny Yet)