I went to see 'The Muppets' today with my baby brother. It was awesome. I don't think the kids in the audience understood half the jokes, but all the adults had this dewy-eyed look of youth sentiment about them. And I have to say, when they all started singing along to the Muppet Show theme tune and 'Rainbow Connection' and 'Mana Mana', I had to blink a few times, too.
Go see it if you're a child of the 70s/80s and grew up on the Muppet Show!

Onward now to fic. The Supernatural hiatus has been extended to 4 weeks, no pickup yet, and ontd_spnparty , my go-to for everything SPN, has been suddenly shut down. I feel I could do with a pick-me-up, so I will go now and re-read Your Apple Pie Suburban Hell Happily Ever After by everysecondtues. You should, too!
The Story: AU from episode 5.22 Dean is called back from retirement by Becky when she discovers Chuck has gone missing. She puts the band back together to find what took him, and they find more than they bargained for.
The Love: Hilarious, heartwarming, and feel-good. Best characterisation of Becky ever. I love how grumpy and exasperated Castiel is about his new job, and Dean's general confusion throughout the entire story, and that Becky basically runs the entire show (she has Dean barefoot in the kitchen making sandwiches!).

Tags: castielicism, dean winchester feels stuff, fic of the week, films, nostalgia
Current Mood: chipper

Okay, so maybe this Fic Of The Week thing is turning more into a Fic Of The Month or a Fic Of Whenever The Mood Strikes, but whatever, because I found a fantastic Destiel fic that everyone in the whole world ever should read right now.

Of Storms & Sanctuary by bree_black
The Story: AU from Episode 5.22 Dean becomes almost suicidally reckless after losing Sam, and one day a hunt goes wrong and he ends up in hospital in a coma. Castiel enters Dean's dreams and is surprised at the peaceful little world he finds there.
The Love: The prose of this story sucks you in straight from the beginning, and I love the juxtaposition of the peace and tranquility of Dean's dreamworld and the chaos of reality, because you honestly begin to feel sort of okay with him possibly not waking up and staying in this sanctuary of his own creation. And all the symbolism is so well done. And SAM. And the intimacy between Dean and Cas. And... and... just read it.

Tags: castielicism, dean winchester feels stuff, fic of the week
Current Mood: calm

I hope everyone had truly happy holidays!

Me, I spent Christmas Eve with my new in-laws as planned. What wasn't planned was me getting suddenly very sick during the soup course and subsequently spending the rest of dinner alternately in my boyfriend's childhood bedroom with the lights off, and on my knees in the upstairs toilet. Fun times all around, what a great first impression that was.

Christmas Day we spent at his house watching all the Doctor Who Christmas specials back-to-back. He also got me a Kindle for a Christmas present, which I almost immediately loaded with all the Dean/Castiel fics I could get a PDF of. Why read literature when you can read fanfic? ;)
I got him a Tenth Doctor Limited Edition Sonic Screwdriver. It has the light and the noise and is not of any use at all. It's awesome.

Boxing Day we had dinner at my Mum's with her and my newly single again younger brother. They got me a new camera. My next New Zealand pictures are going to rock.

Christmas television was pretty okay. I very much enjoyed the Doctor Who Christmas special. The Merlin season finale had some great Merlin/Arthur moments but was oddly underwhelming in terms of plot development (seriously guys, "Keep The Magic Secret" has had its day now, honestly). And why do none of the bad guys have any motivations beyond "muahahaha, I is evol!"?

Anyhoodle, I leave you with a lovely festive feelgood Fic Of The Week in the shape of Good Things Do Happen by trinityofone. As the summary says: Best Zombie Christmas Ever!
The Story:Set at the end of season 5 During the final battle of the Apocalypse, God interferes and saves the day. As a reward for the Winchesters, he grants them a wish. This is the story of Christmas, one year later.
The Love: Well written and very funny but also real and poignant in places. I love Sam's POV and all the secondary characters are amazing. And the wish is so very Dean. Usually happy fic doesn't really suit these boys, but their joy in this is just so heartwarming.
The Rest: Go on! It's Christmas! :)

Tags: christmas, doctor who, family, fic of the week, merlin, telly
Current Mood: thankful

December is looking to be a busy month for me! Next weekend is my company's Christmas party, which has a theme 'Smooth Criminal' and a dresscode 'dangerously sexy', which, I don't even know what to do with that. Then the next day the Midwinterfair, which my brother and I always visit together. This year my boyfriend will come along too for the first time.

Then the next weekend my older brother is getting married. Why on earth anyone would want to have their wedding the weekend before Christmas when everyone is busy and stressing out over everything is beyond me, but okay. Personally I'm just hoping the castle the reception's at has central heating.

And the weekend after that: Christmas! The boyfriend is taking me home to meet his family for the first time and we're spending Christmas Eve with them. At the moment I'm more dreading it than anything else, because none of his family speak English, and I don't speak French. That's bound to be an interesting experience for all involved. :/
But at least that leaves Christmas Day open to watch Doctor Who, so hurray for that! ;)

Back to the present for the moment: it was a great week in two of my fandoms. Both Supernatural and Merlin delivered a cracking good episode this weekend. It was a good week for secondary characters to shine, but the leads got some great dramatic acting done as well. I won't spoil the episodes for anyone who hasn't seen them yet, but I would advise to bring tissues. Sniff.

But because I am still missing him like crazy, my Fic of the Week is all about Castiel: Ghost Dance by omphalos.
The Story:Set after season 5 In the aftermath of another averted Apocalypse, Dean has lost all his faculties and memories, and in the care of Castiel he slowly re-learns himself. But there are things in the dark that he may not want to remember.
The Love: This story is so beautifully done. I like especially the choice to see the world through Dean's eyes from the start, and how the reader has to find out what happened together with Dean, but still somehow a step ahead of him. And I adore caring, protective Castiel.
The Rest: Some pretty dark themes in this story, so proceed with caution.

Tags: fairs, family, fic of the week, merlin, supernatural
Current Mood: tired

I have been a bad fangirl and have not been posting as much as I ought to. Allow me to rectify by posting this list of awesome Supernatural stuff I have come across since joining the fandom.

This took me ages because I kept re-reading everything. *facepalm*

( On to The List! )

Let me know what you think and/or if you have any additions! :)

Tags: castielicism, fic of the week, recs, supernatural
Current Mood: accomplished

Stole this little meme from samena.

Set your iTunes to shuffle play and post the first lines of the first 25 songs that come up. Have your flist guess from what songs they are.

(I should warn you that I have a very eclectic taste in music. It took me ages with iTunes on shuffle to even come up with 25 songs that have lyrics at all/lyrics that don't entirely consist of "ooh", "aah" or "la la la")

1. Come ye over frae France.
2. Who can say where the road goes? Enya: 'Only Time' - guessed by samena
3. Smile though your heart is aching. Josh Groban: 'Smile' - samena got the title right, but not the artist.
4. This ain't a song for the broken hearted. Bon Jovi: 'It's My Life' - guessed by moffel83 and lhazzie
5. Vedi le fosche notturne.
6. A beautiful and blinding morning.
7. Carry on my wayward son. Kansas: 'Carry On Wayward Son' - everyone. :)
8. I saw him dancing there by the record machine. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts: 'I Love Rock 'n Roll' - guessed by samena
9. Will I keep my dignity? Cast of Rent: 'My Dignity' - guessed by flexible_k
10. Let me fall, let me fly.
11. At the edge of darkness hope is whispering still.
12. Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time. Queen: 'Don't Stop Me Now' - guessed by samena
13. They told him don't you ever come around here. Michael Jackson: 'Beat It' - guessed by samena
14. Báidín Fheilimí d'imigh go Ghabla.
15. On this half lit day with your crown beneath your wing.
16. There were three old gypsies came to our hall door.
17. Dum inter homines.
18. One day, one night, one moment. Enya: 'Book Of Days' - guessed by lhazzie
19. Ope kondroman oen opo.
20. Is this my past here before me?
21. Ma's ann 'gam mhealladh.
22. Down around the corner half a mile from here. Doobie Brothers: 'Long Train Running' - guessed by samena
23. Hey pretty baby with the high heels on! Michael Jackson: 'The Way You Make Me Feel' - guessed by samena
24. We had the chance to turn the pages over.
25. I know I stand in line until you think you have the time to spend an evening with me. Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman: 'Something Stupid' - guessed by samena

Wow, that selection alone spans 6 languages (none of them my native one) and at least a hundred and fifty years. Isn't music awesome? Rock on. :)

Tags: meme, music
Current Mood: bored

Stole this from samena:

Go to Wikiquote.
Load a random page.
Pick the third quote.
That's the tagline on the movie poster about your life.

I'm being attacked by a madwoman! She's got crayons!

LOL forever. The movie about my life will clearly be legendary.

In other news, I went to Ring*Con this weekend. Here's my report: http://mringerjourneys.livejournal.com/7000.html

Also I watched Merlin, and it was EPIC OMG. I expected a funny episode and instead I sobbed my eyes out more than once. Bradley and Colin were wonderful! And yes, my hatred for Morgana's character arc still burns with the fire of a thousand suns. In case you were wondering.

Tags: cons, meme, merlin
Current Mood: cold

Ganked from samena


You're Leon!
Take What character from "Merlin" are you? today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Personality Test Generator.</p>

Tags: meme, merlin
Current Mood: blah

My brother and I went to see the new movie in blessed 2D. None of this horrible headache-inducing gimmicky 3D for me, thanks. The only problem with this was that we obviously got stuck with the crappy theatre, because the center speaker was not working properly so the soundtrack was louder than the actual dialogue. This was tolerable in the talky bits with no music, but as soon as there was background noise, the dialogue became hard to understand and I had to revert to (gasp!) actually reading the subtitles.

I really liked the movie, though, and this has mainly encouraged me to go see it again with proper sound.

( Spoilers ahead! )

But the book is still better. ;)

Tags: films, harry potter, reviews
Current Mood: chipper

 So I just wrote a long rant about how Evangeline Lilly and her bloody character they made up for equality will totally ruin The Hobbit, and then LJ ate my entry. 

As if it wasn't bad enough already.

Bottom line: the fans disliked Movie Arwen, so they will hate an original female character not written by Tolkien even more. Even if they would have cast an actress who could stand up to all the great names already cast.

I've already wasted half an hour of my life writing and therefore thinking about this, and I'm going to go sulk now. Peace out.

Tags: complaining, epic fail, the hobbit
Current Mood: angry