Awkward Paws

Vids master list

obsessive24 — Sat, 13 Oct 2018 13:59:38 GMT

Due to increased hosting fees, I am sad to announce that obsessive24.net will be going offline from 31 January 2019. Most of my vids are available for streaming on my Youtube channel. The rest will be uploaded to Vimeo soon.

This master list links to the vid posts, which I'll update with the streaming links.

Master list by fandom

2 Broke Girls
Umbrella | 2:14 minutes | December 2012 | Two girls and a horse. Season 1.

Angel/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Don't Forget Me | 4:15 minutes | June 2011 | "But she doesn't love me." Riley as defined by Buffy.
Falling Down | 4:20 minutes | April 2011 | Angel character. "Could I find someone out there to help me?"
This is the Picture | 4:17 minutes | November 2010 | One story. Multi-fandom for Angel, Buffy, Dollhouse, Dr Horrible and Firefly/Serenity.
Bachelorette | 4:15 minutes | June 2009 | In the shape of a girl.
Cuckoo | 3:37 minutes | October 2008 | Where Lindsey ends and Angel begins.
Blindfold | 3:36 minutes | February 2007 | Angel/Fred. What it means to be saved.
Brothers & Sisters | 4:30 minutes | May 2006 | A study of Ben and Glory. Buffy season 5.
The Hand that Feeds | 2:56 minutes | March 2006 | Faith and Connor character, not a shipper vid.
Promises | 3:31 minutes | December 2005 | "Why can't you stay here for a while?" Angelus arc in Buffy season 2.
And - Kiss Me | 3:49 minutes | October 2005 | "I'm the new king, I taste the queen." Wesley and Illyria in season 5 Angel.
Emotion Sickness | 2005 back catalogue | "Addict with no heroine", a study of season 6 Dark Willow.
Zero | 2005 back catalogue | Connor character.
Oh, Jonathan! | 2005 back catalogue | Episodic for 4x17 Superstar.

Battlestar Galactica
Wicked Game | 3:41 minutes | January 2010 | Dee character. This world is only gonna break your heart.
Slow Down Gandhi | 4:41 minutes | March 2009 | The truth keeps callin' me, and I'ma live to tell the story.
Love Lockdown | 3:00 minutes | January 2009 | Gina/Cain. "I'm not loving you the way I wanted to."

Carnivàle
Jesus for the Jugular | 4:22 minutes | June 2007 | Ain't nobody ever gonna have to die.

Covert Affairs
A Girl A Boy And A Graveyard | 3:11 minutes | November 2011 | Auggie/Annie. "I don't want to spend my time waiting for just another guy." Season 1.

Damages
Damage | 2:58 minutes | July 2011 | When I'm through with you, there won't be anything left. Seasons 1-3.

Doctor Who / Torchwood
The Scream | 1:18 minutes | July 2009 | Children of Earth experimental vidlet.
OMG! | 3:21 minutes | September 2008 | "I'm just talking over this intermittently to prevent bootleggers." Or: Fun With Companions. New series 1-4.
New Dawn Fades | 3:44 minutes | September 2007 | Ten hopes for something else. New series 2-3.

Dollhouse
This is the Picture | 4:17 minutes | November 2010 | One story. Multi-fandom for Angel, Buffy, Dollhouse, Dr Horrible and Firefly/Serenity.

Elementary
Devil Wouldn't Recognize You | 2:14 minutes | June 2013 | "I close my eyes and I try to picture him. And I see someone an awful lot like you." Season 1.

Firefly/Serenity
This is the Picture | 4:17 minutes | November 2010 | One story. Multi-fandom for Angel, Buffy, Dollhouse, Dr Horrible and Firefly/Serenity.
People Got a Lotta Nerve | 2:48 minutes | February 2010 | River and the war. It will end again in bullets fired.
Climbing up the Walls | 4:21 minutes | June 2008 | Siblings. "I am the pick in the ice." Multi-fandom for Supernatural, Firefly/Serenity and Heroes.
For the Restless | 4:07 minutes | October 2006 | The flipside of Utopia. Simon POV, some Simon/Inara, little bit AU.
Post Blue | 3:07 minutes | April 2006 | Simon/River. She knows all the ways you could love her. You know what you have become.
Knock Me Out | 3:19 minutes | February 2006 | Mal/Simon. Triangle Project 3/3.
Wires | 4:17 minutes | January 2006 | Simon. River. Love. Triangle Project 2/3.
Body | 3:51 minutes | January 2006 | Mal/River. "Sometimes it feels like you don't have a body." Triangle Project 1/3.
I am the Highway | 3:52 minutes | November 2005 | "Once you've been in Serenity you never leave. You just learn to live there." Mal character.
You Only Disappear | 2005 back catalogue | Mal/Simon, AU.
Mad About You | 2005 back catalogue | Mal/Simon.

Friday Night Lights
New Slang | 3:52 minutes | April 2008 | Wherein Jason, Tim and Lyla live happily ever after.

Fringe
Follow the Cops Back Home | 3:01 minutes | December 2010 | "... and rob their houses." Olivia/Peter/B-Olivia. Seasons 2-3.

Game of Thrones
Remember the Name | 3:50 minutes | October 2012 | For those of you that want to know what we're all about, it's like this y'all. Ensemble. Seasons 1-2.
Sea Lion | 2:16 minutes | June 2012 | Robb Stark, a healthy distrust. Seasons 1-2.
Iron | 3:15 minutes | November 2011 | House Stark. I'm frozen to the bones, I am. Season 1.

Gilmore Girls
Maybe Tomorrow | 3:32 minutes | November 2006 | Christopher character, Christopher/Lorelai. Maybe tomorrow he'll find his way home. Seasons 1-5.
Hedonism | 2005 back catalogue | Rory & Logan. Season 5.

Harry Potter
Right There | 2:45 minutes | April 2012 | "Harry tried hard not to moan as Voldemort stroked him. How is it possible that the touch of this evil man could feel so wickedly good?"
Disarm | 3:07 minutes | October 2011 | Draco character, Draco/Harry. The killer in me is the killer in you.

Heroes
Climbing up the Walls | 4:21 minutes | June 2008 | Siblings. "I am the pick in the ice." Multi-fandom for Supernatural, Firefly/Serenity and Heroes.
Venus | 3:46 minutes | July 2007 | "There's a river in all of us that's dry." Peter/Claire. Season 1.
One of a Kind | 2:20 minutes | April 2007 | "I am One; I am, I am, I am." Sylar character, optional Sylar/Mohinder. Season 1.

Hikaru no Go
Wonderwall | 3:34 minutes | September 2014 | Akira/Hikaru. I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now. (9 years later.)
Mysterons | 3:25 minutes | December 2005 | Ogata character, optional Ogata/Akira.
Rival | 4:00 minutes | November 2005 | Akira/Hikaru. I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now.

House M.D.
The Other Side | 3:55 minutes | June 2007 | "I still don't know what love is." Chase character. Seasons 1-2.
Strangest Land | 3:04 minutes | March 2006 | "It's not what people say, it's what they do." House/Wilson, season 1.

House of Cards (US)
Keep Your Picture Clear | 3:45 minutes | May 2015 | Do not mistake any history you have shared for the slightest understanding of what our marriage is, or how insignificant you are in comparison. Seasons 1-3.

Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple
Rabbit Heart | 3:43 minutes | September 2010 | It comes with a price. Kisara character, implied Kisara/Freya, Kisara/Miu.

Kings
The Lightning Strike | 4:41 minutes | June 2012 | Name us a king. Multi-fandom for Alexander, Merlin and Kings.
High and Dry | 4:23 minutes | November 2010 | Jack character, Jack/Joseph. The best thing you've had has gone away.

Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman
That's All | 3:18 minutes | August 2006 | Clark wants Lois, but things never quite work out. Season 1.

Mad Men
Smoke and Mirrors | 3:38 minutes | December 2012 | A temporary bandage on a permanent wound. Seasons 1-5.

Merlin
Va Va Voom | 3:06 minutes | April 2013 | Merlin/Arthur. Just hold on tight and let me do my dance.
Blinding | 4:30 minutes | March 2013 | Le Morte de Morgana.
The Lightning Strike | 4:41 minutes | June 2012 | Name us a king. Multi-fandom for Alexander, Merlin and Kings.
Effigy | 2:32 minutes | February 2009 | Guinevere character. Put your flaming torches under me. Season 1.
Red | 3:37 minutes | December 2008 | "You burn too bright." Arthur character, Arthur/Merlin. Season 1.

Misfits
I Want to Destroy Something Beautiful | 2:47 minutes | December 2009 | Simon says. Season 1.

Nikita
Twin Flames | 2:59 minutes | October 2011 | Nikita/Owen. Beginnings never end. Season 1.

The O.C.
It's Alright, It's Okay | 3:53 minutes | May 2009 | Marissa character. Don't worry cos it's over before you know.
My Way | 3:09 minutes | March 2006 | Ryan. Luke. Violence & subtext. Season 1.
A Lack of Color | 2005 back catalogue | Seth/Ryan, to 2x01.

Queer As Folk
This Is How It Goes | 2:29 minutes | September 2007 | US version. Brian/Justin, Justin/Ethan. 2x16-2x20.
Come Undone | 3:58 minutes | April 2007 | US version. Brian/Justin. It'll take a little time to come undone. Season 1 to 2x03.
Brothers on a Hotel Bed | 3:54 minutes | May 2006 | UK version. Series overview.

Rome
Virgin | 3:48 minutes | December 2011 | Vorenus and Mark Antony. We've got a long way to go.

Skins
Soil, Soil | 1:28 minutes | March 2009 | Naomi/Emily vidlet. "I won't take any other call." 3x04-3x09.
You Make Me Wanna | 2:28 minutes | July 2008 | A Tony/Maxxie AU story. Seasons 1 and 2.

Smallville
Jealousy | 3:50 minutes | December 2011 | Clark feels jealousy. Season 1, Season 4, 2x11.
Freestyler | 2:09 minutes | May 2007 | "Rock the microphone." Oliver character, canon relationships. Season 6.
Change (in the house of flies) | 4:15 minutes | December 2006 | Clark. Lex. Between the tightrope and the abyss. Seasons 1-3.

Spartacus
Your Battlefield | 3:47 minutes | June 2013 | Nasir & Naevia. I have to keep moving on.
The Love Song | 3:03 minutes | December 2012 | Do you love your guns, god(s), the Government? Season 1.

Suits
Let Me Blow Ya Mind | 3:16 minutes | July 2012 | Recruiter vid wherein Harvey is Eve and Mike is Gwen Stefani. Season 1.

Supernatural
I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks | 2:23 minutes | June 2010 | Chuck makes an observation. Seasons 1-5.
Fall of Man | 3:17 minutes | May 2009 | Castiel character, Castiel/Dean. What you don't know won't kill you. Season 4.
Climbing up the Walls | 4:21 minutes | June 2008 | Siblings. "I am the pick in the ice." Multi-fandom for Supernatural, Firefly/Serenity and Heroes.

Tru Calling
Devil in the Details | 4:02 minutes | August 2006 | "I am the first one I deceive. If I could make myself believe, the rest is easy." Jack character, Jack/Tru.
Faint | 2005 back catalogue | A Jack vid.
Today or Yesterday | 2005 back catalogue | Tru/Jack.

True Blood
All is Full of Love | 3:29 minutes | October 2009 | Godric's message to Eric. Seasons 1-2.

The Tudors
No Church in the Wild | 4:02 minutes | December 2013 | The One. Dieu et mon droit.
Young and Beautiful | 3:57 minutes | December 2013 | The Six. I know that you will.

Twilight Saga
Whenever, Wherever | 2:02 minutes | April 2011 | Team Edward/Jacob!
Sunburn | 3:23 minutes | August 2009 | Edward/Bella. This is not an alternative reading. Twilight only.

Ugly Betty
God Put a Smile on Your Face | 4:23 minutes | July 2010 | Daniel/Betty. When you work it out I want it too.
Steady as She Goes | 2:11 minutes | April 2007 | Marc vidlet. "You'll always feel as though you tripped and fell." Season 1.

Whitechapel
You Look So Fine | 2:04 minutes | November 2013 | Kent/Chandler. I'm not like all the other girls that you used to know.

X-Men series
No, I Don't Remember | 4:00 minutes | March 2012 | Charles/Erik. That thought would never leave us. X1 - X3, First Class.

Young Americans
The Letter | 1:40 minutes | May 2009 | Bella/Scout. Go wash your heart in the river until the water runs clear.
Girls and Boys | 2:33 minutes | April 2007 | The most debauched summer of our lives.
Think Twice | 3:14 minutes | December 2005 | Scout/Bella/Sean.
Somebody Told Me | 3:18 minutes | June 2005 | Hamilton/Jake.

Miscellaneous/movies
A Single Man | 3:58 minutes | August 2014 | A Single Man (Tom Ford 2009): One day later than yesterday; one year later than last year. Sooner or later, it will come.
The River, The Woods | 3:26 minutes | July 2014 | World Cup 2014: Germany national football team. Follow me tonight.
Who Are You, Really? | 2:18 minutes | November 2013 | Dredd (Pete Travis 2012): See me bare my teeth for you.
Freedom at 21 | 2:49 minutes | October 2013 | The White Queen (BBC 2013): The Red Queen, the White Queen, and the new dynasty.
Stop | 2:24 minutes | October 2013 | Spiceworld: the Spice Girls Movie: Caught in a craze, it's just a phase. Or will this be around forever?
Mowgli's Road | 2:37 minutes | December 2012 | Brideshead Revisited (Julian Jarrold 2008): Catholic guilt revisited.
Somewhere a Clock is Ticking | 3:38 minutes | November 2012 | The Hollow Crown (BBC 2012): Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs. Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth. Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the deaths of kings.
Future Proof | 3:56 minutes | June 2012 | Chronicle (Josh Trank 2012): "Say it, shout it out. I can fly!"
The Lightning Strike | 4:41 minutes | June 2012 | Alexander (Oliver Stone 2004): Name us a king. Multi-fandom for Alexander, Merlin and Kings.
Help is Just Around the Corner | 1:28 minutes | March 2012 | Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola 2003): Movie vidlet.
Lotus Flower | 3:19 minutes | December 2011 | Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky 1972): All I want is the moon upon a stick.
Come as You Are | 2:47 minutes | December 2011 | Universal Soldier (Roland Emmerich 1992): "Come doused in mud, soaked in bleach, as I want you to be."
Roads | 4:43 minutes | December 2011 | Another Earth (Mike Cahill 2011): That was the moment our synchronicity was broken.
Shake it Out | 3:12 minutes | September 2011 | Thor (Kenneth Branagh 2011): "I felt the Lord in my father's house." Loki character.
Pagan Poetry | 5:09 minutes | September 2011 | Womb (Benedek Fliegauf 2010): And he makes me want to hand myself over.
Animal Instinct | 2:36 minutes | May 2011 | Bedrooms and Hallways (Rose Troche 1998): "It is a lovely thing that we have." Brendan/Leo/Sally.
Weapon | 3:08 minutes | January 2011 | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) / Prince Caspian (2008): Edmund character. How it makes you a weapon.
Candyman | 3:01 minutes | April 2010 | Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart 1971)/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton 2005): Smells like children.
Einstein & Eddington | 2:19 minutes | August 2010 | Einstein and Eddington (Philip Martin 2008): Film overview. Everybody here's got somebody to lean on.
Mama | 4:03 minutes | April 2010 | Hamlet (BBC/Royal Shakespeare Company 2009): "There's rue for you, and here's some for me."
My Love is Deeper than Yours | 4:07 minutes | March 2010 | Perhaps Love (Peter Chan 2005): My love is deeper than yours. My hurt is deeper than yours.
Breathe | 2:00 minutes | December 2009 | Ong-Bak (Prachya Pinkaew 2003): Action vid featuring Muay Thai star Tony Jaa.
Red Cliff | 3:06 minutes | June 2009 | Red Cliff (John Woo 2008/2009): Introduction to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Piece of Me | 3:21 minutes | February 2008 | Real person vid: The life and times of Britney Spears.
The Fountain | 3:46 minutes | January 2008 | The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky 2006): Still trying to turn back time.
What I've Done | 3:04 minutes | October 2007 | Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Tetsuya Nomura 2005): Cloud remembers.
The Man Who Sold the World | 3:21 minutes | October 2007 | Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes 1998): Curt/Brian. "We never lost control."
Map of the Problematique | 3:34 minutes | October 2006 | The Rules of Attraction (Roger Avery 2002): No one will ever know anyone. Deal with it. Rock'n'roll.
Loggerheads | 4:03 minutes | October 2006 | Loggerheads (Tim Kirkman 2005): The many faces of love and regret. Film overview, Mark/George.
Hung Up | 3:22 minutes | September 2006 | Driven (Renny Harlin 2001): Jimmy Bly can't seem to find his edge when Beau Brandenburg is around. Or: Campy Fun With Boys In Racecars.
Cells | 3:40 minutes | August 2006 | Fight Club (David Fincher 1999): "All I do I want to do with you." The cult of Tyler Durden.
Gloomy Sunday | 3:51 minutes | August 2006 | Romeo & Juliet (Baz Luhrmann 1996): "Darling, I hope that my dream never haunted you."
All That I Am | 4:29 minutes | July 2006 | 天龙八部 (Central Chinese TV 2003): Relationship studies and overview.
Twenty Years | 3:23 minutes | January 2006 | Alexander (Oliver Stone 2004): You are the first and the last. Alexander/Hephaistion.
Slow Hands | 3:02 minutes | August 2005 | Charlie's Angels 1 & 2 (McG 2000 and 2003): Ode to the Thin Man.

germany vs italy

obsessive24 — Sat, 02 Jul 2016 22:28:10 GMT

Wasn't gonna post about the Euros, but now I shall have to post.

Germany 1 - 1 Italy, Germany wins on penalties 6-5. (Actual number of penalties taken - I've lost count. 9? 10?)

I was remarkably calm for this. Very fatalistic attitude, very zen. Of course, if we hadn't won the World Cup two years prior then I'd probably be dead of a heart attack by now.

Stray thoughts:
1. People need to cut Boateng a break because he's been great throughout this tournament, and everyone makes mistakes, and he got his penalty in. Same goes for all of the other guys who didn't get their penalties in. In particular, Basti taking the 5th penalty was always going to be either heaven or hell. So it goes.

2. Neuer. So goalkeeper. Such saves. Many excellent. Wow.

3. Felt very sorry for Buffon, who's been such a great captain, so full of heart and wisdom. I've never been a fan of Italy's cynical style, but they seemed to rein it back a little this time. A revenge ten years in the making, so I'm glad it was a worthy opponent and a worthy match. (And thanks to them for knocking out Spain in the round of 16. :P )

4. Big shame that Hummels will have to miss the next match. Which I hope will be against Iceland but that's probably too much to hope for. :D

In other - much less stressful - news, I fed a couple of red pandas today. Soooooo cute!!

House of cards 4x04

obsessive24 — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 10:57:12 GMT

I had such a bad feeling going into the episode. There was way too much Edward in the last few episodes. He was barely there in s3 by comparison. I always thought he'd have to take a bullet for Frank at some point, but didn't think he would die from it. (Even though Nathan Darrow had been popping up on Billions lately, and Claire was uncharacteristically wearing red, so the warning signs were all there.) And then too much presence early this season and I started thinking, is there a gay scandal brewing here, I guess it was fortunate(?) it didn't go there.

But Edward!! :( Am so sad. I may actually need to make a vid to process all the sad.

Very much enjoying this season though.

plays, stuff

obsessive24 — Sat, 28 Nov 2015 22:58:10 GMT

This year I signed up to nanowrimo for a piece of original fiction. (I've done it before but it was with fanfic.) Finished my 50k today, it's utter shite, as one can well imagine of something that has effectively no plot and a lot of run-on internal monologue (mostly therapeutic rants about my mother), but hey, it's something. Mostly it focussed my mind on what I actually want to write for original fiction, and I think I actually want to start writing YA fiction with two gay boys in a castle in some made-up Historical Tiems. So basically Merlin.

Two upcoming plays I'm excited about:

Andrew Scott! David Dawson! (Brothers not lovers, alas. Unless this play goes somewhere unexpectedly awesome.)

Dirty hot Richard Madden and Lady Rose Lily James in Romeo and Juliet. (With Derek Jacobi as a 70-old Mercutio because that is unaccountably ~~awesome~~ ~~horrific~~ awesome.)

london spy

obsessive24 — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 23:11:05 GMT

I did not love Spectre, but I did love that Q clearly loves Bond because he always lets Bond get away with being an absolute ass.

And then: London Spy, BBC2 five-part miniseries, wherein Ben Whishaw has a doomed gay romance with an MI6 agent. Just what the doctor ordered.

theatre

obsessive24 — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 20:42:18 GMT

Just booked to see Anthony Head in Trafalgar Studios in a new play, Ticking. Reviews have not been great but hey, Tony Head! <3

Off to Stratford-upon-Avon this weekend. Seeing a new version of Euripides' Hecuba (middling reviews - Greeks are great in theory and rarely good in practice, in my experience) and then Henry V (very good reviews indeed and the lovely Alex Hassell, wahay!). Then back on Monday for the much anticipated Cumber-Hamlet. Managing my expectations very carefully indeed.

downton abbey

obsessive24 — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 19:44:44 GMT

Straw poll for Downton Abbey:

Do you think Mary and Tom will end up together, or no? I think it's a distinct possibility. But is it just my shipper heart?

Fassbender/Cotillard Macbeth

obsessive24 — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 21:57:31 GMT

Saw Macbeth yesterday.

So the first thing that came into my mind was that, having previously seen McKellen and Stewart on DVD respectively from 1978(I think) and 2010, and McAvoy onstage a couple of years ago, this now completes some sort of young/old Xavier/Magneto Macbeth quartet. :D

4/5 for me. The film was beautifully shot, very stylised (which I like). Will make for a great vid. Some striking visual motifs over and over again, a beautifully done ending with Malcolm intercut with Banquo's son running toward their inexorable futures. My chief complaint would be that it doesn't have much variation in tone and pace. It's grim and barren at the start and grim and barren at the end and grim and barren throughout. What you see in the trailer is pretty much exactly the tone you get for the entire movie. Not that Macbeth is ever a barrel of laughs, but the original had a bit more texture.

A lot of that was due to the film script doing some heavy cutting to the play script, which was again mostly for the good, but you end up taking the bad along with the good. (Could have done with a bit more Macduff and a few more minutes of "all my children?") The witches were certainly far more effective because they are now very taciturn. I always have problems with the witches on stage because if you give them the full "double double toil and trouble" stuff it starts heading the way of inadvertent comedy, and the more they talk the more they feel like chattering crazy women rather than supernatural beings of creepiness. Which wasn't the intention back in Shakespeare's day, when witches were still genuinely creepy, and I liked that the film was able to restore the wild creepy factor.

The acting was very good, but I feel like I need to qualify that by saying "good for film". It becomes particularly obvious when you compare Fassbender's performance with the rest of the Xaviers and Magnetos because he, unlike the other three, has less stage experience, and it comes through in how he connects to the words. I don't mean to say that he doesn't internalise the words quite so well and it feels like he doesn't own them as well as the others... or maybe I do mean that? Or was it a deliberate choice? Anyway, his delivery has an interesting way of projecting inward rather than outward. I would very much like to see him live on stage just to see what he's capable of.

Cotillard, similar story. Beautiful psychological texture, very good acting for film. I don't know her theatrical background and don't know if she's done the rounds at the Comedie Francaise or whatever, but of course for her it's an extra layer of language complexity. I greatly admire what she's pulled off but I think it's fair to say she's not quite up there with the stage greats in what was brought to this particular role in English. Maybe I've become a bit of a stage snob? It's hard to compare stage and screen side by side. And this is a fiendishly difficult role, I have rarely liked anyone I've seen in it. I liked her here, but I liked her in other roles more. (The role that still sticks with me was her supporting role in A Very Long Engagement, which was when I saw her for the first time and she completely upstaged Audrey Tatou in that film. So brief, so good.)

Anyway. I think I might be getting a bit precious about Shakespeare. This is a great director/actors team and I look forward to seeing them reunited for Assassin's Creed.

Special mention to Macduff, who - I realised after the fact - was played by the same guy who played Cesare's wonderful assassin sidekick in The Borgias.

euro qualifiers: germany v poland

obsessive24 — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 21:15:28 GMT

Hadn't been watching the last couple of matchdays because one assumes Germany would win over Gibraltar (or else, the shame?!) but this one is more interesting given Poland won over Germany last time. Also I like seeing the Bayern guys play against Lewandowski. :D

Germany 3 - 1 Poland

Good first half, second half was a bit more middling but overall a pretty good match. Nice and open despite Poland keeping a very uniform, static back line to try and keep Germany out. One Müller and two Götze goals, and Lewandowski landed a pretty good header the other way.

The team looks like it's finally back on its feet now, although newcomer Emre Can didn't seem to sit well in his defender role. Poland on break looked dangerous, as would any team that has the speed against the current defence line-up. I like Hector though. Manu made a couple of really spectacular saves. Basti looked a bit slow, perhaps not yet fully fit.

Haven't been paying much attention to clubs and this summer's transfer window, but was a little surprised that Basti transferred to Man U. There was also a lot of rumour flying around at one point of United also making a bid for Müller. That together with Man-Fridge leaving Bayern and Reus also on the talks table, it felt like something of a decimation for people I like in the Bundesliga. Müller and Reus didn't happen though, so that's good. Perhaps United could find another few tens of millions quid down the back of the couch next year.

I occasionally volunteer at West Ham so may try and roster myself onto next year's United away match just to see Basti in action. :D (Although it would also mean having to look at Rooney's horrifying mug. Hmm.) Also eyeing up the United v Arsenal match in October (Basti + Mesut + BFG!) but am lazy and it does take two whole tube changes to get to Emirates Stadium. Life is hard!

Off to Paris and Rome soon with parents visiting. Rewatching Rome in anticipation, hehehe. Apparently the assassination point of Julius Caesar wasn't in the Forum as you'd expect, but rather in the Largo di Torre Argentina, which these days also happens to be a cat sanctuary. Win? I think win.

new vid - "Keep Your Picture Clear" - House of Cards

obsessive24 — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 18:42:08 GMT

Keep Your Picture Clear
Fandom: House of Cards (US)
Song/Artist: Keep Your Picture Clear by Tom McRae
Duration: 3:45 minutes

Summary: Do not mistake any history you have shared for the slightest understanding of what our marriage is, or how insignificant you are in comparison.
Spoilers: s1 - s3

Made for destina for the VVC 2015 auction.

Password: black egg

Here I go, back again, sliding off the ceiling
Was I gone for long
Did I just flick the switch?

Across the street, away from me
A man is singing Sympathy for the Devil
and he's getting all the words wrong

His newspaper flies desperately
but words aren't wings like gravity
they'll keep you here

It's a theory to subscribe to
but you know you're being lied to
So keep your picture clear

Stay awake, the lines are drawn
You're never right until you're wrong in the eyes of the world

And a picture tells a thousand lies
Little dots in black and white, you have no idea
The strongest will survive but it's the scum that always rises
So keep your picture clear

You talk just like a diplomat
but hide the gun behind your back
Leaders need a bloody war
Congratulations, this is yours
Looking through the history books
of liars, cheats, and petty crooks
They'll print your picture clear

Keep your picture clear

Destina very kindly bid on me for the VVC auction, and – even kinder – basically told me to vid whatever I wanted. It just so happened that high on both of our lists was some sort of Claire vid, and I had a song in mind already, and am extraordinarily lucky that Destina was so accommodating.

We agreed from the outset that we didn’t like where season 3 took Frank’s character and how that impacted their marriage, so that’s mostly passed over, including the season ending. I still have faith that things can be mended, but that depends on what Frank does next. We’ll see.

So that created a problem of, if the vid deliberately ignores what happened at the end of s3, does that seem disrespectful or dismissive of Claire’s hard-won agency? Claire giving up what she wanted for what Frank wanted wasn’t a new thing, it happened in seasons 1 and 2, but season 3 pushed it to a new level. I didn’t want to diminish her decisions in any way, but couldn’t agree with the events that brought them about. That was a particular problem with this vid because it was so dominantly about their teamwork in seasons 1 and 2, so tonally it felt wrong to try to wrangle it into a complete 180 in the last 30 seconds.

The other concern is how to communicate that her pain mostly came from feeling underutilised and underappreciated, with only a small part to do with Lady Macbeth guilt*. There’s no doubt that she felt bad for the things they had to do, but I maintain that she felt bad mostly for herself. She knew she had to break some eggs on the way and she had more or less made her peace with that; it was the lack of personal reward that made it not worth it. Again, if there was more room to manoeuvre that might have been better executed with a light hair / dark hair distinction, but the vid structure being what it is and things only really getting going by about 2:45, it just didn’t seem like the right sandbox. So just the usual problems of talky show with lots of intricacies + unable to make a vid that is anything other than a blunt instrument. That said, I think that a quintessential Claire-ness did come through. Might be better viewed as a primer rather than an in-depth character study.

* Off topic - zomg Fassbinder/Cotillard Macbeth. I die in anticipation.

obsessive24 — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 21:46:12 GMT

A couple of cool short films to watch.

The Saddest Boy in the World from Jamie Travis on Vimeo.

Stanley Pickle - FULL FILM ONLINE from Vicky Mather on Vimeo.

vvc auction

obsessive24 — Sat, 14 Mar 2015 16:31:12 GMT

I'm offering my services for the VVC auction this year here (new software this year, requires registration.)

I'm offering the following fandoms:

Angel/Buffy
The Borgias
Breaking Bad
Game of Thrones
Gotham
Harry Potter
Hart of Dixie
Hikaru no Go
House of Cards
Kings
Looking
Merlin
Queer as Folk US
Sherlock
Spartacus
Tru Calling
And most movies and movie franchises, source allowing.

If in doubt or if thinking of multi source, please contact me first. :)

Cucumber 1x06

obsessive24 — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 21:55:51 GMT

Cucumber 1x06

I nearly fell out of my skin when Lance turned around and the old woman on the bridge was Hazel. AND SHE WAS A GHOST. Oh my god the feeeeels. AND THEN THE ENDING. Jesus.

festivids recs

obsessive24 — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 22:08:40 GMT

Some of my personal favourites from this year's festivids. In alphabetical order by fandom.

The Monster, Black Swan

Centuries, The Flash

Nothing But Time, Gravity

The Girl You Like, Nicki Minaj RPF

Moves Like Yaweh, Prince of Egypt

Spectrum, Wonder Woman (2009)

ballon d'or shenanigans. and shiny shiny suits.

obsessive24 — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 18:16:18 GMT

And as a bonus, CR7's newly "erected" statue in Madeira. You can't make this shit up.

2014 vidding meme

obsessive24 — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 20:46:18 GMT

Output is declining - by choice, but still - so this is probably the last year I can do the meme. Unless I sekkritly made like a million festivids. ;)

2006 meme | 2007 meme | 2008 meme | 2009 meme |
2010 meme | 2011 meme | 2012 meme | 2013 meme

Vids premiered in 2014

February Festivids reveals
Freedom at 21 - The White Queen
Stop - Spiceworld
You Look So Fine - Whitechapel
Who Are You Really? - Dredd
No Church in the Wild - The Tudors
Young and Beautiful - The Tudors

July
The River, The Woods - Football World Cup / Germany

August Vividcon premiere
A Single Man - A Single Man

September
Wonderwall - Hikaru no Go

My favourite video this year (of my own):
A tie between The River, The Woods and Wonderwall. I think No Church in the Wild is an objectively better vid than both, but there's really no substitute for vidding what you love with all your heart.

My least favourite video this year:
None really, I guess Stop because it was the most throwaway of the bunch.

Most successful video
Maybe No Church in the Wild, or maybe The River, The Woods by virtue of timing. If the vid was late by a couple of weeks I think the sentiment may have fizzed out a bit. It was too much of a heightened emotional state to sustain for long.

Video most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Wonderwall, but then I think Akira/Hikaru is underappreciated by the universe in general.

Most fun video:
During the anon period I rather enjoyed messing with people about who made Who Are You Really? :D

This is probably not "fun" in the spirit of the question, but I absolutely loved being able to vid the entire stretch of reigning monarchs from Richard II to all the Tudors in the space of three festivids (Somewhere a Clock is Ticking the year before, then Freedom at 21 and No Church in the Wild).

Video with single sexiest moment:
The River, The Woods 1:07 as Lahm kicks off the Brazil semi-final; and Wonderwall 2:08 as the wind starts and Akira rejects Hikaru and it's such exquisite paaaiiinnn.

Biggest vid fail:
Didn't intend at all for PoV to shift to Henry at the end of Young and Beautiful, but once it was pointed out, it seemed definitely possible, which was annoying because if that was the apparent narrative, then it was some very shitty construction. In hindsight a rather elementary mistake to have made. It was festivid #6; I ran out clips and was tired and made do with the last clip. :-/ Just goes to show that one should never take eyes off the ball.

Hardest video to make:
You Look So Fine. The narrative didn't want to fall into place. (It probably never did.) isagel later wrote that this vid knew that it could have been Kent-the-serial-killer's origin story; I wish the vid was self-aware enough to know that at the time.

Most unintentionally telling video:
No Church in the Wild. In the sense that it was (apparently!) easy to guess as one of mine, and also in terms of content.

For 2015: Probably not a lot of vids unless I desperately fall in love with something.

Happy holidays all! In my grand Christmas Eve tradition it'll be nothing but champagne and Pringles tomorrow. (By the by, Mireille Guiliano - ex-CEO of Veuve Clicquot - in her book recommends pairing champagne with pizza. Who knew!)

the christmas truce

obsessive24 — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 18:42:18 GMT

Lahm, Bale, Basti and Rooney in Christmas truce video

This is gorgeous. A zillion times better than Sainsbury's Christmas truce ad which I found really manipulative and distasteful.

ballon d'or - the really short list

obsessive24 — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 20:36:56 GMT

Last three announced for Ballon d'Or:

1. CR7.
2. Messi.

3. Some guy, can't even tell what position he plays. :P

champions league - bayern v man city

obsessive24 — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 22:58:53 GMT

I haven't actually watched the match yet. (Every second Tuesday is volunteering night - today, a couple of freezing hours standing around in an ambulance getting introduced to all the equipment in painstaking detail. Which was mostly interesting but seriously, if a cabinet says "blankets" you really don't need to open it up and take 5 minutes to introduce everybody to... drum roll... blankets.) So I just checked the stats cos I knew I'll see the result in the English papers before I get a chance to watch anyway.

City 3 - 2 Bayern with a '85 equaliser by City and a 90+1 goal. Bayern playing most of the match with 10 men after an early red card. For fuck's sake. Do I even want to watch this? As soon as Basti is fit again Lahm is off with a broken (fractured?) ankle. Cannot. Catch. A. Break.

Couldn't watch the Spanish friendly last week as I was in Italy and the TV over there chose to show Italy vs Albania rather than Germany v Spain. Which, okay, fair enough since we were in Italy, but still. Fucking Albania.

Very glad that Kroos was the one that scored the only goal very late in the game. I have to say I barely recognised any of the Spanish players though.

euro qualifiers: germany v gibraltar

obsessive24 — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 18:04:00 GMT

Freaking Gibraltar. This should be a cakewalk, but of course after the last two Euro qualifier outings it's like, best not to promise a damn thing ahead of time.

Germany 4:0 Gibraltar.

Thoughts as we went along:

German side is 3-5-2, wut.

LOL, Gibraltar side is 5-4-1. A tad scared, are we?

Didn't see the full squad list but assume Reus and No Eyebrows Shirley are on the bench. Yay, Sami is back! Can't wait until we get Basti and Özil back too. (Sami gets subbed off at '60 for a #8 shirt, a "Volland", me no likely. All these numbers are so messed up!)

Why is Kroos wearing what looks like adorable blue mittens? :D He did fine in midfield but I was disappointed that he had a number of shots and kept booting it well over the bar. What have they been doing with the boy over at Real Madrid?

'11 Mueller scores with a small smile and quick handshake with the nearest guy. It's like the least amount of celebration I've ever seen Germany have for a goal. But anything big would be kind of unseemly. :D

You know what was unseemly though? There was a shot of the big board at HT, which had a list of the national team's biggest margin victories of all time. Seemed a little disrespectful when the other team is right there.

Boateng is getting all up in the front. Two attempts in the first 20 minutes!

'44 some weird freak phenomenon saw an actual Gibraltar shot on target and Manu had to react freaking fast to punch it out, LOLwut, and Jogi's WTF face was awesome.

(Can you imagine Manu's fury though if he'd let one in against Gibraltar, haha.)

Bellarabi is not impressing me. I do not like that he is wearing Klose's number. :-/

Is it just me, or is Poldi feeling increasingly irrelevant? :-/ I mean, he got the 4th goal (well, "assisted" an own goal), but it just doesn't feel the same. He really needs a Klose-style poacher friend right in front of the net.

champions league - bayern v roma

obsessive24 — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 20:47:17 GMT

Not much to say about this match since Pep rested almost everyone that I like to watch. But at least there was this. :D

The league match against Borussia Dortmund in the weekend was fun to watch because I was rooting for both sides. M was like, doesn't it feel like civil war? But I thought it was terribly good fun, like a national team training match or something.

ballon d'or shortlist

obsessive24 — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 21:14:20 GMT

Ballon d'Or shortlist:

Gareth Bale (Wales)
Karim Benzema (France)
Diego Costa (Spain)
Thibaut Courtois (Belgium)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Angel Di Maria (Argentina)
Mario Götze (Germany)
Eden Hazard (Belgium)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden)
Andrés Iniesta (Spain)
Toni Kroos (Germany)
Philipp Lahm (Germany)
Javier Mascherano (Argentina)
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Thomas Müller (Germany)
Manuel Neuer (Germany)
Neymar (Brazil)
Paul Pogba (France)
Sergio Ramos (Spain)
Arjen Robben (Netherlands)
James Rodriguez (Colombia)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany)
Yaya Toure (Côte d’Ivoire)

I don't usually watch La Liga but caught last week's Real v Barca game, mostly to watch Kroos and CR7 and James Rodriguez come up against Neymar and Messi and that villain Suarez, but it's an all-star cast all around, innit. It did seem like a particularly sparkling match, which I attribute to the flair of the many South American players. Fun, fun.

champions league - bayern v roma

obsessive24 — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 20:29:07 GMT

I always seem to be out on Tuesday nights, boo. Only got around to watching this now. Usually the English press is pretty safe for spoilage (for non-English team Champions League, anyway), but unfortunately I read an interview with Robben today which accidentally spoiled the scoreline. Bloody shame.

Bayern 7 - 1 Roma :D

5 goals in the first 35 minutes, it's Brazil all over again, albeit with a better team defending. What an amazing 45 minutes of football. Total domination, fluid and beautiful and incisive. This is Germany as it should be but clearly isn't right now. What a difference ~~Lahm~~ a proper midfield makes.

As to be expected, the second half was a little less awesome. There was a particularly bad offside call in Bayern's favour at '68, but bad ref calls are in nobody's interest. Got very interesting at '53 where Roma had a one-on-one clear shot and the shot bounces off the sidebar, and you think, it's one of those nights. Seconds later they had another attempt on goal but Manu cleared it with a (somewhat usual, now) one-hander. Then at '60 Roma hits it point-blank from a free-kick on the corner of the 18-yard box and again Manu manages to somehow keep it out. This guy has had some great saves this year but these must have been among his best. He really deserved to keep a clean sheet, but eventually even the best keeper in the world, as it turns out, couldn't save a bullet header from 3 yards out. So it goes.

If I had one gripe - well okay, two - I wish Kroos were still here, and that I wish Robben were German. Can you imagine the national team then. (Well, okay, still doesn't solve the defence problem, but would the ball ever get past the halfway line anyway? :P ) This is as close to fantasy football as real-life teams go, surely?

I like Alonso well enough but can't bring myself to talk about him yet. I still can't quite reconcile the idea of a Spaniard crashing the national team party, wut.

Haven't really paid attention to Lewandowski prior to this but now he's on my radar. The header in the first half was proper Klose-style poacher stuff.

I laughed very hard when I first read the Telegraph describing Shaqiri as "Man-Fridge". The name has stuck. Come '78 where Goetze comes off, it's all \o/ \o/ "MAN-FRIDGE!!" \o/ \o/

Look at him, though. Have you seen anyone more... rectangular in football. I don't generally like this term, but that man is built like a brick shithouse. There's just no other description more apt.

Just for the lulz.

scarf post - robert dallet #1 - big cats

obsessive24 — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 20:15:02 GMT

Scarf post. I was reminded of this - very obliquely - because anoel told me to watch yesterday's Bayern v Werder Bremen match. (And I did and it was awesome :D )

Robert Dallet is my favourite scarf artist and probably half of my scarf collection are designs from him. I felt like I needed to split his contributions into separate posts, and thought I'd start off with his signature, big cats of various types.

There's not much story behind these, but I just adore the level of detail. It is said that Hermès gave Dallet a picture slide of every single animal from the archives of the French National Natural History Museum.

Guépards - 2013

(I'd always thought that the word guépards meant "leopards", but after getting the scarf, soon realised they are in fact cheetahs. M helpfully notes that "cheetahs are crying because they've been caught cheating".)

Coming back to that Bayern comment - the little guy in the corner, being the tiniest and the cutest, is named Philipp after a certain footballer. :D

Tendresse Féline - 2012

This guy is named Miro, after another certain footballer!

As much as I love Dallet, after a while you feel like he is recyling material. Say from here...

Les Tigreux 2012 (pocket square)
... to here:

These two are called respectively Tiger Woods and Stripers. They are not footballers as far as I know. :P This is my very first H scarf and I like the vaguely Chinese feel of the painting style. A little different from Dallet's usual.

euro qualifiers: germany v ireland

obsessive24 — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 20:44:10 GMT

Germany 1-1 Ireland.

Oh jeez. We needed a win after Saturday's defeat and it seemed like a win was coming, but Ireland managed to claw one back in the final minute of stoppage time. Bleeegggh.

Was out in the early evening so only caught the second half. Heart sank a little when I saw the 0-0 scoreline. The story seems the usual one - Germany absolutely dominates possession and attempts but just can't seem to get one in. I also think there were some rather shitty ref calls on blatant tugging in the penalty box.

And then Toni Kroos gets a bit of space to run the ball straight down the middle to the edge of the box, with a wall of green closing in on all sides, and I'm yelling "just shoot, just shoot!", and he does through the narrowest of openings, and it bounces off the sidebar and I'm like D: and then I realise it's bouncing in and I'm like :O and then it bounces against the interior side net and I'm like :D :D :D \o/ \o/ \o/

And that's where this post should have ended! But somehow the Irish managed to get a goal past Hummels and Neuer. In the immortal words of Xander, "How? Why? How??"

Couldn't see enough to really comment on formation. But my lament is always the same: bring back the injured midfield already. :-/

(Alternatively in wishful-thinking-land, maybe if we suck hard enough, Lahm will come back out of retirement?)

All this drama against the fecking Republic of Ireland, for shame!

The Irish keeper has a shade of Neuer about him. Very pro-active.

Why is Rudy still wearing #7 whyyyyy D: D: D: