( Back from Korea/Saiyuki Event )

And I'm copying many other people and posting the exciting visitor info. map -



Create your own visitor map!

Okay, I'm breaking my extremely long lj hiatus to rec an amazing Star Trek Reboot fic. It's been out for quite awhile, so I'm sure most people have already read it, but it's AMAZING! Over 90k of h/c wilderness survival with awesome world building and a slow yet satisfying relationship build-up. Anyway, it's called The Lotus Eaters by aldora89. Definitely one of those fics that you can't stop reading.

And since I'm reccing fics, I also have to throw in a rec for this amazing 80k Sherlock post-Reichenbach fix-it fic called The Sensation of Falling as You Just Hit Sleep by greywash. It seriously kept me entertained for an entire day while I was bored during Spring Break. There are a lot of extremely important embedded images though so it's not the best fic for an e-reader. Or at least my e-reader. I just read the whole thing on the computer, and for once the fic was so good that reading it on the computer didn't drive me crazy.

Also, this amazing SPN fic where Dean, Cas, and Sam are all squirrels! Yes, you read that right. Kind of like Watership Down only with squirrels and less depressing.

I also discovered today that there is going to be a London Star Trek con in October! And William Shatner is going to be there! (Along with - Patrick Stewart, Kate Mulgrew, Avery Brooks, and Scott Bakula) Finally my dream of meeting one half of my first OTP might actually come true. XD

Song: Ship of Fools
Artist: Robert Plant
Length: 2:55
Fandom: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Size: 46.4 MB
Recipient: foomatic
Summary: Who says that no man is an island?
Download link: Mediafire
Vidder's notes: Lots of thanks to takadainmate for her helpful beta as well as her input on the song selection! Extra special thanks to Robert Plant's amazing hair for inspiration! There are a few small changes in this from the original version.



( Lyrics below the cut )

Time for another vid! This was created for freakgeeknation as part of the deancas_xmas exchange. I have a huge thing for angsty vids and this is the first vid where I've really gotten to express my angst love. Now I just need to make a vid to go along with the ending of Sherlock. XD

Title: Hurricane
Song: Hurricane by 30 Seconds to Mars
Length: 4:50
Size: 79.5 MB
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, angst
Spoilers: Up to 7x02
Summary: A look at Cas and Dean's relationship in Seasons 6 and 7.
Artist notes: Lots of thanks to takadainmate and to other people who looked over the vid and made suggestions! My prompt for this vid was the song, which I had actually never heard before, but it worked amazingly well for Dean and Cas!




It's also available for download HERE on Mediafire.

All signed up for Yuletide, although I did end up with a pairing that I don't ship. In fact, it conflicts with not one, but two pairings I like. This is going to be more challenging than expected! On the plus side, at least this gives me motivation to catch up with the source material. So excited!

In other slightly Yuletide related news - It's that time of year again! The time where takadainmate and I have the poll to decide what should be on our Christmas cards!

Poll #1797560 Christmas cards!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 25

What would you like the theme of our holiday cards to be?

Comments are screened, so if you would like a card please leave your address here unless you will be coming to the Christmas Merlin Meet in which case we will be giving you your card in person! Once again, everyone is welcome and you don't have to send us anything! (Unless you have some extra tentacles or crying faces you don't need...)

ETA: Oops, didn't realize you couldn't edit polls so I had to completely repost the entry. Sorry to those people who already voted in our epic poll! XD

Dear Yuletide Author,

Yay, we're a match! Luckily, I am fairly easy to please. I'm happy with anything from gen to smut as long as it is focused on the relationship between the characters in question. My favorite genres are probably hurt/comfort, aliens/demons/whatever made them do it, and fics involving survival in the wilderness, but it's fine if you want to do something else too. I enjoy angst as long as it's not too extreme. If it's a fic involving smut I like lots of build-up with no porn until the end. Or even just lots of UST with no porn. I also prefer first time fics to established unless the characters are already basically together in canon. The only thing I really don't like is death!fic and fic with unhappy endings. I'm not a huge fan of non-canon AUs but I'm not completely opposed if you think it would work really well for the characters.

( Specific Fandoms - Pandora Hearts, The Fades, Legal Drug, xxxHolic )

Despite Rogue Events' extreme lack of any form of organizational skills, I managed to have an awesome weekend at A7! Going to the con was a last minute decision, but I definitely think it was a good one. I just wish it had lasted a few more days! (Although I would quite possibly be dead from exhaustion now if that was the case.)

( Lots and lots of Asylum pics here )

Fic title: Come Out of Your Cave Walking on Your Hands
Author name: majestic_shriek
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sam and Dean are on a case in New Hampshire, trying to avoid the angels and their determination to interfere in their lives. Dean is worried about Sam, and Sam is teetering on the verge, aided by Ruby. It turns out that avoiding an angel is harder than just going somewhere cold, and when Castiel finds them and asks them to help him with retrieving an amulet from the demons that also happens to be one of the 66 seals, Sam and Dean can't really refuse. When, of course, the mission falls apart, Castiel is forced to face up to the truth about his feelings for his charge.

Link to fic: Fic Masterpost

Artist Notes: I really enjoyed working on this vid! majestic_shriek was extremely helpful and I can only hope the vid does justice to her fic! I was trying to go for an angsty fairy tale kind of feel, so I hope I achieved that. Also, lots of thanks to takadainmate for her suggestions on this one, and to burkesl17, littlehollyleaf, and pixiequeen10thk for watching and also giving useful feedback!

Vidder: cienna
Art: Fic Trailer
Length: 1:31
Size: 23 MB
Music: Fairground by Joey Talbot from the Penelope soundtrack

Download: Mediafire + MegaUpload

Dear Festividder,

So glad we're a match! Luckily, I am fairly easy to please. To be honest, anything you want to do with these sources would probably make me happy. I'm also fine with most music choices as long as it isn't the kind of thing you would hear in a club. If I had to choose, I love slow angsty songs and instrumental music best, but I am open to pretty much anything. This is my first year participating in Festivids since I'm fairly new to vidding and I'm very excited!

( Slightly more specific fandom info... )

Title: Halo
Music: Halo by Beyoncé
Rating: PG-13
Genre and/or Pairing: Dean/Cas
Spoilers: Through 5x22
Warnings: None
Size: 56 MB
Length: 3:29
Summary: A season 4 and 5 take on Halo by Beyoncé.
Download: MegaUpload + Mediafire
Notes: I know Halo is highly over done for this pairing, but I just couldn't resist its seductive lure! Thanks to takadainmate for enduring multiple watchings and giving me helpful clip suggestions when I was stuck!

Back home at last and have been having lots of relaxing family time along with catching up on shows I am behind on. (Not to mention consuming extremely large quantities of Erik/Charles fic.) I also managed to finish a vid for the spn_balthazar fanwork exchange. Next up is X-Men!

Title: Let's Misbehave
Music: Elvis Costello
Recipient: thinlizzy2
Rating: R
Genre and/or Pairing: Humor, Mostly Cas/Bal, some Dean/Cas & Bal/Everyone
Spoilers: Through Season 6
Warnings: Sexual themes
Size: 30 MB
Length: 1:57
Prompt: "First Tastes"
Summary: From Bal's pov. If anyone can get Cas to misbehave, it's Bal.
Download: MegaUpload + Mediafire
Notes: Thanks so much to takadainmate for watching this vid over and over and giving me advice from her encyclopedic knowledge about Balthazar scenes!

Had an awesome weekend last weekend, hitting up London Film and Comic Con. takadainmate and I got up obscenely early and to get into the first of many many queues. It was lots of fun and we also managed to run into (at various points in the day) ionaonie, yavannauk and of course loki_dip who was working at the con. We ended up getting tickets to see the talks of Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred (7th Doctor and Ace) Mark Sheppard (everything), Walter Koenig (Chekhov from ST) and Brent Spiner (Data from ST:TNG). I would have liked to attend Karen Gillan's talk as well, but it was extra to get into.

The lighting at the Earl's Court venue was strangely yellow, but I did manage to get a few good pics.

( London Film and Comic Con Pics )

After the talks we pretty much just walked around and tried not to buy things. I did get some cute SPN pins to put on my bag. And we forced ourselves not to buy some adorable tentacle pictures.

The last few weeks have been kind of crazy since I signed on to several new teaching agencies in the hopes of getting a long-term job in September. I did manage to get an interview for next week, although the date hasn't been confirmed yet so I'm a little worried that it won't happen. I've also been putting off buying plane tickets home because I was waiting to see if I could work out the job situation, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon and now the prices have gone up. DX So looks like I will be buying tickets today no matter what.

Anyway, today is the merlin_london meet up and expedition to the Sci-Fi exhibition at the British Library so I am very excited!

Thanks to yavannauk for the highly amusing lj v-gift!

Fic title: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road...
Author name: electrolitestar
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Season 6 AU. Story picks up directly after 5.x22. Devastated and tortured by the loss of his brother, Dean Winchester begs Castiel to put an end to his misery. With the help of God himself, Castiel follows Dean into an Alternate Universe where Sam Winchester was never born. Dean gets his normal life with his parents alive, a loving relationship with his girlfriend Anna, and good times with his best friend and roommate, Castiel Novak. But soon Dean is haunted by visions and memories of a man he's never met; a man somehow linked to his life but he is not sure how. Dean's mind begins to unravel, as does the universe around him and it is up to Castiel with the help of Sam, who is now back from Hell, and Bobby to help put the scattered pieces of himself back together.But sometimes being someone else for a while reminds you of who you really were to begin with.

Link to fic: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7132610/1/

Artist Notes: This was an extremely fun vid to work on since the fic it is based on contains large amounts of angst, which I love, and is also an AU, which I have never done with a vid before. I also appreciated the fact that all of the boys got a strong showing. Go Team Free Will! Thanks to takadainmate for enduring the vid so many times and to electrolitestar for her helpful suggestions on the rough draft. Also, thanks to the mods for their amazing organizational skills!

Vidder: cienna
Art: Fic Trailer
Length: 2:23
Size: 40 MB
Music: Soap & Skin by Mr. Gaunt Pt 1000

Download: Mediafire + MegaUpload

( Important and critical question about the SPN finale and all of season 6 )

I've been watching a lot of vids lately (because I am a sucker for angsty and depressing SPN vids) and there are some really amazing ones that came out of 6x20!

My favorite 6x20 vids -

White Blank Page by ILoveThesePeople

This is Life Without You by LonesomeMarsAngel

The Man Who Would be King by Nyah86Production

Little Lion Man by MMichelleMaBelle

And a really amazing Team Free Will vid that I missed the first time around -

Cosmic Love (Team Free Will Versus the Agents of Fate) by aquaenumen

It is my new vid love. <3

Ack, it's SPN finale day! I have to actually update or the season will be over!

( SPN 6x20 )

( Speculation on the finale - SPOILERS )

( Season 7 Speculation - SPOILERS )

In slightly less SPN related news -

*Attended my first Eurovision party last weekend, and it was awesome! I still think Russia with their stalkery song should have won, or Moldova with their amazing hats.

*After an extremely slow April with millions of holidays, I worked everyday this week! Looks like things with work are back on track!

*I am scared to watch the H50 finale.

*I am doing a vid for the SPN big bang and am very excited! Also trying to finish another vid that I've had in the works for quite some time.

*Tiger & Bunny continues to be awesome! I particularly love this adorable set of comics! (Just click on the picture and then scroll down.)

*I caved and got a tumblr account. It's over here! I don't really understand how it works so far, but I'm enjoying the pretty pictures.

And now to count down the hours till I can watch the SPN finale and stop freaking out. As long as the Rapture doesn't come first... XD

Have been enjoying the nice weather these past few weeks although I fail at updating as usual. Nothing too exciting on the job front. My last two trial days for long term positions have been dismal failures so I've kind of given up for now. I'm definitely going to do my damnedest to get a job for September though so I don't have to deal with supply teaching for another year.

On the plus side, this is Spring Break for schools so I have two weeks off which I am trying to enjoy despite the fact that I also don't get paid for time off so no traveling for me. Since the weather has been so awesome we hit up a lot of parks last weekend.

( Hampstead Heath )

( Regent's Park )

( Hanami )


takadainmate and I also went to see Frankenstein at the National Theatre on Wednesday,which was amazing despite the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch was indisposed that night and his understudy was on. Very disappointing, but these things happen. I later found out that he had completely lost his voice, which isn't surprising considering that the role seems pretty demanding.

This weekend is the end of hiatus for Supernatural and I don't think I realized it until today, but I AM SUPER EXCITED! I don't care if the episode sucks, I'm just happy to see it again after such a long break. I've also really been enjoying the new anime season. Tiger & Bunny is adorable and has epic slash potential. I can't wait to see where they go with that. I'm also loving the new BL entry Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi. Very original and unexpectedly meta. And even though I absolutely couldn't stand Hawaii Five-0 in the beginning, I must admit it has grown on me. I think you have to watch quite a few eps to really care about the characters since the plot doesn't interest me at all. I'm up to episode 12 now so I'm hoping to catch up to where everyone else is soon so I can join in the squee.

Feeling a bit shell-shocked this weekend after the whole Japan thing. I felt a bit conflicted celebrating my birthday when so many people that I know are having such a bad time of it. Like takadainmate pointed out here, we both lived for three years in Fukushima-ken and know quite a few people who are still living there. Luckily, the area of Fukushima we lived in, Aizu, is not on the coast so people there didn't have to deal with the tsunami at least. Likewise, I know a lot of people in Tokyo, but everyone there seems to be okay, just dealing with inconveniences and worry about aftershocks and the nuclear meltdown situation.

One of my former students in Japan instant messaged me on Facebook today. She was 7 when I taught her at international school and is now 9 and in 4th grade. She was telling me how everyone at the school I worked at had to be evacuated and how lots of kids in her class were crying. One of my former co-workers also posted pictures of the kids I taught in the gym with their earthquake helmets on. A lot of them ended up spending the night there since public transport was down on Friday. It made me feel kind of guilty that I wasn't there for them, even though when I was living in Tokyo having a major earthquake happen while I was teaching was one of my biggest fears. Of course I am very thankful that they are safe, though.

Despite all the traumatic news we did end up going out on Saturday and having a very nice time. First we went to afternoon tea at the Haymarket Hotel which was lovely. Scones, fresh strawberries, sandwiches, cakes, lots of tea, and a glass of very good champagne. It was very reasonably priced for afternoon tea too. Then we went to the awesome Japanese-style karaoke place in Soho and hit up some pubs. Today was my actual birthday and I ended up not having to work which was kind of nice. Went out for lunch and then hit up the Lush at Liverpool Street for some nice relaxing bath products.

I'm hoping that tomorrow this nuclear reactor thing will be under control so that people there don't have to deal with that on top of everything else.

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes and to burkesl17 and februaryfour for the lovely cards!

Just got back from a slightly last minute trip to Gibraltar with takadainmate for another Master and Commander pilgrimage! It was definitely a very memorable trip. We managed to both walk for about five hours without stopping and climb a mountain in the pouring rain. (Not on the same day though). It was a very pretty place, although going at this time of year we really ended up in the middle of the rainy season. I think we were lucky with the weather overall.

( Adventures of a small tentacle monster in Gibraltar... )

So all in all a great trip, although I now have a massive cold, no doubt not helped by wandering around in the pouring rain all day on Sunday. Luckily I have tea and meds to see me through! Not sure what is going on the rest of the week although it looks like I may be up for another semi-permanent teaching position sometime soon. It would start after Easter and go until July. It's with a Reception/Kindergarten class which I generally like, but we'll see how it goes!

Also, the Supernatural anime is finally out subbed up to episode 6! And it's highly amusing so far. I haven't heard the dub with Jared and Jensen yet, but I'm very curious to hear that too.

Yay! Balthazar comment fic meme is up! Go and write beautiful Balthazar stories! And I certainly wouldn't mind if there was some SHAZAM thrown in...



Lovely meme is over here at spn_balthazar! Thanks to mewtopia for helping me out with the banner!

Also have to belatedly rec my beautiful and amazing Valentine's Day fic from takadainmate. If you are at all into Silver Diamond you should definitely check it out. It's not bestiality, really... And now off to pack for a slightly spur of the moment weekend trip to Gibraltar!

And I finally have another vid to post! This was created for emerald_embers as part of the deancas_xmas exchange. It was inspired by a night of karaoke when we discovered just how many 80s power ballads seemed to fit Dean and Cas's relationship perfectly. XD

Title: 80s Power Ballad Medley
Songs: Holding Out For a Hero by Bonnie Tyler, I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner, and Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx
Fandom: Supernatural
Characters/pairing: Dean/Castiel, Cas-centric
Size: 76 MB
Length: 4:17
Spoilers: Up to 6x03
Rating: PG-13ish
Lots of thanks to takadainmate, burkesl17 and littlehollyleaf for giving me feedback on one of the earlier versions of this vid!



It's also available HERE on MegaUpload.