Resisting Everything but Temptation

Escapade panel suggestions are happening! I'm super happy with the Vikings panel ("Odin's Raven and the Cross")—thank you to whoever suggested it. Also happy about the Grimm panel. The fandoms I'd most like to talk about that aren't listed yet:

• The Musketeers
• Star Trek TOS
• Hornblower
• Highlander

Anyone have topics that they want to brainstorm for any of the above? (I'm kind of partial to any Musketeers panel that lets me talk about Anne/Constance, which so far has been my happy place this season, but my pairings in this fandom, they are legion.) ( ETA: My happy place, because I couldn't resist. )

Nicked from fannishliss, because it looked fun.

Favourite main character of 2014: Hmm, tough one. I'll go with Athos (The Musketeers). Also Clarke Griffin (The 100) and Henry Morgan (Forever)
Favourite villain of 2014: Viktor Chlodwig zu Schellendorf von Konigsburg (Grimm), Cardinal Richelieu (The Musketeers), Milady (The Musketeers)
Favourite other character of 2014: Abe Morgan (Forever), Trubel (Grimm), Bobbi Morse (M:AOS), Alphonso Mackenzie (M:AOS)
Favourite M/F couples of 2014: Haymitch/Katniss! (Technically they predate 2014, but I had a huge resurgence after seeing Mockingjay.) Ditto Jody/Sam and "Hibbing 911" (SPN). A nod to Claire/Jamie (Outlander). Athos/Ninon (The Musketeers).
Favourite F/F couples of 2014: Juliette/Rosalee/(Trubel). Grimm has been a big fandom for me this year. Simmons/Morse (M:AOS).
Favourite M/M couples of 2014: Athos/Porthos, Athos/d'Artagnan, Aramis/Porthos—you see where this is going! Also Bobby/Stigman (2 Guns). I'll add Ragnar/Athelstan (Vikings) because although Vikings predates 2014 for me, I wasn't that interested in the slash pairing until this year.
Favourite 3 or moresomes of 2014: Juliette/Rosalee/Trubel (Grimm), Juliette/Rosalee/Monroe, The Inseparables(+d'Art) (Musketeers)
Favourite Crossover couples of 2014: Trubel/Amanda(HL) ;) Lagertha/Tamsin(Lost Girl).
Fandom that you never expected to get into: 2 Guns, omg.
Most recent fandom of 2014: I think it's clear, that's The Musketeers.
Favorite Actors of 2014: Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey (for True Detective, not Interstellar), Tom Burke, Howard Charles, Luke Pasqualino, Judd Hirsch
Songs I got Fannish About in 2014: So many! Most of them silly. "Follow the Leader" by Wisin & Yandel (feat. Jennifer Lopez), "Come with Me Now" (KONGOS), "All About That Bass" and "Redemption Song" (Anita Antoinette, The Voice), "Two Against One" by Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi (feat. Jack White), "Cry Me a River" (Chris Jamison, The Voice), Someone Like You (Damien, The Voice), "Burning Bridges" (Chris Pureka), "Glad I've Done What I Did" (honeyhoney), "Timber" (Pitbull feat. Ke$ha)

For the character meme I posted the other day, here was my list:

1. William Bush
2. Amanda Darieux
3. James Kirk
4. Tamsin
5. Horatio Hornblower
6. Sam Winchester
7. Bo Dennis
8. Lagertha Lothbrok
9. Duncan MacLeod
10. Merlin
11. Duke Crocker
12. Athos
13. Methos
14. Anya Jenkins
15. Olivia Dunham

And the questions you guys came up with:

( Two and thirteen have to participate in a swing dancing contest together. How does that work out for them? )

( 1 is temporarily incapacitated and 7, 9, and 3 decide to 'help.' What shenanigans ensue? )

( Eight and nine go to the state fair. What do they see? What do they do? Who wins a giant stuffed animal for whom? )

( 7 & 8 wake up in the mountains, precise location unknown, with winter coming. Are they going to be able to make it out? Or are they more likely to kill each other, on the assumption the other person is responsible for this mess somehow? )

( 2 and 3 get into a political argument about ... ? )

( 7 and 14 are stuck in an elevator together. NOW WHAT?? :D )

( 3 and 11 get married. Who is the best man? )

( 4 and 6 run against each other in an election. What is the position? For whom do the remaining characters vote? )

( 1, 5, and 12 host a panel at Wincon. What's the topic and how does it all go terribly, terribly wrong? )

( Two manages to break both of his/her arms. Fifteen has to grudgingly help him/her around the house. )

( Which pairing would make great frenemies - fighting to the death when they're not f*cking their brains out….? )

( Even numbered characters vs odd numbered characters in a giant game of laser tag/capture the flag/whatever you fancy. How does the game play out, and which side wins? And to make things fair, which odd numbered character is the lone referee, and how does that go? )

( 5, 6 and 14 work at a strip club. What do they wear, what music do they strip to, what kind of extras do they offer, and who makes the most money? And what kind of customers (and tippers) are 12, 13 and 15? )

( 4 gets hit with truth serum/truth spell/too much alcohol and spills his/her most embarrassing secrets to 14. How bad is the next morning, when the stuff wears off? )

( 5 or 12 decides to get a tattoo: what of, and where are they putting it? )

I kind of feel like one of those characters who has something traumatic happen to them in the pilot, and then wakes up after being in a coma for a year (hi, John Kennex). If I think about the last year at all, my brain goes numb, and it's as if it never happened. At this point, I do not feel confident that this year will be better—hopeful, but untrusting. (Or UN-trust-ing, as Mike Myers would say.)

Anyway! Three fannish things. One is, I continue to be absolutely delighted and soothed by all things Musketeers. And I do mean all things. The number of books and movies I have read/watched/purchased in the past three weeks is record-breaking, for me. This show couldn't have come along at a better time—it's very nostalgic for me to be suddenly taken by a childhood love all over again, and it's also nostalgic because this show is so very reminiscent of both Magnificent Seven and Highlander, with all the charming, likable characters, the slightly schmaltzy (okay, not always slightly) stories and emotional notes, the costumes and horses, the fight scenes, and most of all, the opportunity to read lots and lots of history with a fannish flame in my heart, which is possibly my happiest place to be.

Which brings me to… dear wonderful authors who are writing all this lovely fic, I feel that we might need to have a basic class in weaponry of the 17th century. Namely, the difference between a pistol and a musket, and what they might be used for. I am no expert, and I'm not that critical when reading delicious fanfic, I must admit, but there are some points at which, well, it does seem rather integral. My friends who are much more knowledgeable about weapons, I know there are some great sites out there which go into tremendous detail, and of course I can't seem to find them at the moment. (This is actually a pretty good site, with good pictures and basic explanations. The musket page is here and the wheellock pistol page here.) The crucial thing, really, is that a musket is up to five and a half feet long. So, like about as tall as Athos if he stands up straight. :D (Yes, I know that our musketeers probably wielded slightly shorter ones, but still, almost 5 feet.) ETA: This page on the 2011 movie at the Internet Movie Firearms Database gives a lot of good images, too, including all the different kinds of pistols.

And the second fannish thing, which has nothing to do with musketeers, is there anything so happy-making as having someone podfic your work? I don't know that there is. On Sunday, I found out that colls recorded a really wonderful version of my little Sam/Jody story, Hour of Need. Dramatic excitement happened on Sunday afternoon that prevented me from finishing it, but I finally got to listen to the rest last night. It's so perfect! I love the way she reads, and the beautiful way she captures Jody's inflections. It is aces.

Finally, the third thing—thanks to a vote of confidence from alethialia and devohoneybee, I caught up on Vikings over the weekend. So happy to report that season 2 is hitting it solidly into left field. Too early to give them a home run, but so far, so excellent.

You know what Tumblr is awesome for? (Besides pretty pictures.)

( Vikings stuff )

( Lost Girl S3 finale )

( And then there's SPN )

In conclusion, Sam Winchester.

In case it's not obvious, my fannish production has dropped off drastically in the last year and a half.

( The short version of why )

ANYWAY. Long story short—out of sheer stubbornness, I finished a vid last night for the first time since November 2011. Might not be great, and it was just a movie vid, but I finished, so yay for that. That was one tough horse to remount, let me tell you, and thank you to everyone who answered my Hunger Games poll and encouraged. :) To celebrate, I watched the most recent episode of Supernatural...

( SPN 8.19 )

Can't decide whether I should try working on the Club Vivid vid idea I want to do, or take one last stab at my spn_j2_bigbang (which was mostly rendered obsolete and unnecessary by zempasuchil's gorgeous Rome Was Also Built on Ruins)—or else finally jump into writing some Haven or Lost Girl fic. The CV idea I adore, but it's far more ambitious than the little vid I just finished, and a lot more source, and the likelihood of making the deadline seems slim. RL is about to crash down on my head pretty hard, I suspect. It just feels good to have finished something, though, and it's giving me delusions of fannish productiveness. Plus, it's for Treme, and my heart is still in New Orleans.

Totally random fannish question for the day: When did Warehouse 13 get awesome? I caught an episode by accident the other day, and it was pretty great. Now tempted to go back and catch up. (I blame Tumblr for this, because I keep seeing drop-dead gorgeous and adorable gifs of Jamie Murray, and I'm only human, okay?)

In other fannish news, Grimm continues to make me super-happy with its team dynamics, and the last episode of Lost Girl was made of win. Justified went out strong, and there's a new Vikings tonight! karmenghia asked me yesterday about a very old Star Trek vid (circa 2002) that tjonesy and I made, so I found it and uploaded it. In case you're bored or want a trip down nostalgia lane:

The Man's Too Strong (35Mb QT download)
Fandom: Star Trek (TOS and TNG)
Pairing: Kirk/Spock

I seem to be very parenthetical and random today, and if I let myself, might ramble on for days. Lack of sleep and too much coffee. Hi, good morning. What are you up to today?

No time today to write up my OMG SQUEEEEEE!!! reactions to Vikings 1.05, but here, have a link to the Vikings WonderCon panel writeup:

Vikings Panel

"And we'll see how long he can resist tempation," the moderator responded, with Travis adding "The offer is still on the table George." (A reference to their characters of Ragnar and Lagertha inviting him to bed one episode and him standing fast to his morals and refusing).

Dear Vikings: why, yes, I will have a double, extra helping of hot hot hot slavefic on my TV, thank you.