Mizzy's RockBand!AU

She's insane, but we love her for it. Leverage AU...

and Cal's Dog Days fic. Leverage again (I do read and love my other fandoms still, honest!)

*shoo*

go. read.

Mizzy's RockBand!AU

She's insane, but we love her for it. Leverage AU...

and Cal's Dog Days fic. Leverage again (I do read and love my other fandoms still, honest!)

*shoo*

go. read.

Been meaning to do this for ages - completely random SPN recs.

*grins*

Title: God Knows I Want To Break Free
Author: unhobbityhobbit
Summary: Sam and Dean get sucked into a music video. A Queen music video. Yes, that Queen music video.
Rating: PG?
Why you should read it: Because it's crack of the highest order. Whilst Ruth may like to blame myself, monkey_matt and wenchpixie for this, no one but her could have written it so well. Go. *makes shooing motions* Read. Review.

Title: oogh
Author: glorfinniel
Summary: "If Dean actually believed in that fate crap he might even go as far as to say that they are made for each other, they look that good." (Crack of the crackiest kind. Also? Dean/Wall. Yes, Dean and a wall.)
Rating: R
Why you should read it: It's Dean and a Wall. Do you really need another reason?! (And as a companion there's the seriousness that is unhobbityhobbit's Wall Meta) Go. Read. Review!

Title: Friend Without a Face
Author: unhobbityhobbit
Summary: Sam and Dean - mostly Dean - find out that you can't always judge a book by its cover. Or, indeed, a tentacle monster by its slimy, faceless appearance.
Rating: R
Why you should read it: It's tentacle pr0n. Everyone needs some tentacle pr0n in their lives! (It also sparked a meta-esque conversation between wenchpixie and myself). Go. Read. Review!

Title: Of Pony-Shaped Sponges and Candy Shampoo
Author:smeckles90
Summary: Think you know what happened the night that Jensen slept on Jared’s couch after his birthday…think again!
Rating: NC-17
Why you should read it: If you're also on wenchpixie's flist, you might have heard a voice post which sounded like a group of hyenas on crack in the middle of the night on 20th July this year. This fic (RPS) came from that night. It amazes me how many people who weren't there and who have no idea what most of the in jokes are about *get* this fic and think it's genuinly funny. Which it is. It's just funnier when you get the context. folded into tiny boxes....

Title: Almost Nectar
Author: wenchpixie
Summary: So, Jared’s totally not thinking about how Jensen measures up to him. Totally not looking to see if he can make out his hard on. No. Not looking at Jensen, full stop. Unless Kim shouts at him. It’s just it’s really hard to concentrate, and Sam’s pants are way looser than Dean’s…
Rating: R
Why you should read it: Because it's wenchpixie's third story in her CandyVerse RPS series - the series that not only has me avidly reading RPS, but actively betareading it too. Genuinly sweet and dorky in places, laugh out loud funny in others. The Jared-in-her-head and the Jensen-in-her-head are wonderful people and will have you grinning like a fool.

Yeah... so much for the "I don't like RPF/RPS - it squicks me out completely." attitude... I still don't seek it out, but there are so many talented writers out there who are writing it in such a way that it hooks me in and makes me want to read more.

( And if you're in the mood for reading... )

And Happy 5th Birthday to my eldest nephew!! I remember driving him and his mum home from the hospital... he was so tiny... now he's a little hellion but I wouldn't change him for the world!

I changed the layout over at jefffiorellofen this morning - seriously if you've not heard his music yet then you are missing out!

And I have a question for the BtVS trivia folks amongst you - what was it that Faith's mother used to call her? a little firecracker or a little wildcat? I can't quite remember (but I think it's the first)

Been meaning to do this for ages - completely random SPN recs.

*grins*

Title: God Knows I Want To Break Free
Author: unhobbityhobbit
Summary: Sam and Dean get sucked into a music video. A Queen music video. Yes, that Queen music video.
Rating: PG?
Why you should read it: Because it's crack of the highest order. Whilst Ruth may like to blame myself, monkey_matt and wenchpixie for this, no one but her could have written it so well. Go. *makes shooing motions* Read. Review.

Title: oogh
Author: glorfinniel
Summary: "If Dean actually believed in that fate crap he might even go as far as to say that they are made for each other, they look that good." (Crack of the crackiest kind. Also? Dean/Wall. Yes, Dean and a wall.)
Rating: R
Why you should read it: It's Dean and a Wall. Do you really need another reason?! (And as a companion there's the seriousness that is unhobbityhobbit's Wall Meta) Go. Read. Review!

Title: Friend Without a Face
Author: unhobbityhobbit
Summary: Sam and Dean - mostly Dean - find out that you can't always judge a book by its cover. Or, indeed, a tentacle monster by its slimy, faceless appearance.
Rating: R
Why you should read it: It's tentacle pr0n. Everyone needs some tentacle pr0n in their lives! (It also sparked a meta-esque conversation between wenchpixie and myself). Go. Read. Review!

Title: Of Pony-Shaped Sponges and Candy Shampoo
Author:smeckles90
Summary: Think you know what happened the night that Jensen slept on Jared’s couch after his birthday…think again!
Rating: NC-17
Why you should read it: If you're also on wenchpixie's flist, you might have heard a voice post which sounded like a group of hyenas on crack in the middle of the night on 20th July this year. This fic (RPS) came from that night. It amazes me how many people who weren't there and who have no idea what most of the in jokes are about *get* this fic and think it's genuinly funny. Which it is. It's just funnier when you get the context. folded into tiny boxes....

Title: Almost Nectar
Author: wenchpixie
Summary: So, Jared’s totally not thinking about how Jensen measures up to him. Totally not looking to see if he can make out his hard on. No. Not looking at Jensen, full stop. Unless Kim shouts at him. It’s just it’s really hard to concentrate, and Sam’s pants are way looser than Dean’s…
Rating: R
Why you should read it: Because it's wenchpixie's third story in her CandyVerse RPS series - the series that not only has me avidly reading RPS, but actively betareading it too. Genuinly sweet and dorky in places, laugh out loud funny in others. The Jared-in-her-head and the Jensen-in-her-head are wonderful people and will have you grinning like a fool.

Yeah... so much for the "I don't like RPF/RPS - it squicks me out completely." attitude... I still don't seek it out, but there are so many talented writers out there who are writing it in such a way that it hooks me in and makes me want to read more.

( And if you're in the mood for reading... )

And Happy 5th Birthday to my eldest nephew!! I remember driving him and his mum home from the hospital... he was so tiny... now he's a little hellion but I wouldn't change him for the world!

I changed the layout over at jefffiorellofen this morning - seriously if you've not heard his music yet then you are missing out!

And I have a question for the BtVS trivia folks amongst you - what was it that Faith's mother used to call her? a little firecracker or a little wildcat? I can't quite remember (but I think it's the first)

That boy is smoking some serious crack.

Really.

Time To Hunger - go, read. 420 words. BtVS crossover fic with... something.

That boy is smoking some serious crack.

Really.

Time To Hunger - go, read. 420 words. BtVS crossover fic with... something.

Been making Supernatural 2.01 centric fic recs over here at pygs_lj all day by the way - some seriously stunning writing in there. And if you're not a member of PYGS yet, why not? Multi fandom, reccing, pimping, squeeing. Go. Join.

And... voting is open for round two over at spnlims. Seriously have no clue how I'm going to vote on this one - they're all so good!

And... while I'm pimping, the White Knight Awards are open for nominations, lots of categories to fill, lots of talented folks out there who deserve nominations. Have a think about it, and nominate!

Been making Supernatural 2.01 centric fic recs over here at pygs_lj all day by the way - some seriously stunning writing in there. And if you're not a member of PYGS yet, why not? Multi fandom, reccing, pimping, squeeing. Go. Join.

And... voting is open for round two over at spnlims. Seriously have no clue how I'm going to vote on this one - they're all so good!

And... while I'm pimping, the White Knight Awards are open for nominations, lots of categories to fill, lots of talented folks out there who deserve nominations. Have a think about it, and nominate!

library is opening late today because some of the lighting is being repaired on the entry level and since there's no natural light it's a health and safety violation to let people in to work on that floor. I'm the floor above that so it's not a problem for my work area, but the thing is, and I get that it was probably the only thing they could do but, they didn't tell staff about this until 4.30 yesterday evening. With flexi time a lot of staff leave at 4, I had an appointment and had actually left just before 3, so everyone who wasn't here at 4.30 is what... just expected to work in the dark? What if lending staff (the issue desk is on the entry level) don't know about this and come in to work at nine? Where are they going to work until the place is open? (And we'll ignore the fact that my department is hideously short staffed right now because that's so not the point.) The people in charge here couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery. It's as simple as that. okay so it looks like it's all fixed now and it's not 9am yet. I'll forgive them. This time.

*sigh*

And dammit! I just saw charmax's latest vid listed on spnnewsletter - I downloaded it yesterday and haven't watched it yet! I love everything charmax does whether I'm involved in the particular fandom or not so I kinda already know I'm going to love this, but I wanna watch it now!

Okay then, I'm going to try to figure out just why this office feels like the Antartic temperature wise and then get some writing on OFWI2 done. I think it's safe to say that I am not going to get my Dark!Xander fic done, it just refuses to be written so I'm not going to stress over it. If something comes up I might just manage it but right now... nada.

(Randomly I just went to check my in tray to see if anything had been put in there since I left yesterday and the damn cleaner has lined it up with the edge of my desk. I have it an angle for a reason - so that I can reach it! Yes my desk isn't the tidiest in the world but I have everything where I need it - please, Maureen, don't move anything! (especially since she hasn't actually *cleaned* the desk, she's just lined everything up *neatly* around the dust bunnies...)

Oh!Oh! ETA I have a vidding question that I was going to email thedothatgirl about (as well as about the site, sorry I flaked on that!) but knowing me I'll forget until 6:55 tomorrow morning again. I have Premiere Pro which is what I like using, but it's on my laptop which is currently not at my house, so I was going to use WMM to pull something together in a draft format to see if the song/clips will work together (and then do it again on Premiere) but... when I try to import the .avi it tells me the codec can't be found so the file can't be imported. Now, I've played the file on the computer, multiple times actually, so does WMM need additional codecs than are required to view the file? Should I change my default programme for viewing .avi files from BSPlayer to something else? Anyone got any advice? (WMM is opening .wmv files fine, it's just .avi's it's refusing point blank to open). And... possibly connected to it, I can't open that file in ImageReady either, something about the QuickTime plugin not being available. Help?

and another edit, because my brain doesn't function right, you know this already A while ago I made this icon and others like it with similar colouring. I don't know how I did it... I do know that the original screencap was really dark and it was before I started using colour burn layers (or Overlay layers) so much, I love that colouring and want to replicate it, and it annoys the hell out of me that it's one I made and I've forgotten what I did. Anyone have any ideas?

library is opening late today because some of the lighting is being repaired on the entry level and since there's no natural light it's a health and safety violation to let people in to work on that floor. I'm the floor above that so it's not a problem for my work area, but the thing is, and I get that it was probably the only thing they could do but, they didn't tell staff about this until 4.30 yesterday evening. With flexi time a lot of staff leave at 4, I had an appointment and had actually left just before 3, so everyone who wasn't here at 4.30 is what... just expected to work in the dark? What if lending staff (the issue desk is on the entry level) don't know about this and come in to work at nine? Where are they going to work until the place is open? (And we'll ignore the fact that my department is hideously short staffed right now because that's so not the point.) The people in charge here couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery. It's as simple as that. okay so it looks like it's all fixed now and it's not 9am yet. I'll forgive them. This time.

*sigh*

And dammit! I just saw charmax's latest vid listed on spnnewsletter - I downloaded it yesterday and haven't watched it yet! I love everything charmax does whether I'm involved in the particular fandom or not so I kinda already know I'm going to love this, but I wanna watch it now!

Okay then, I'm going to try to figure out just why this office feels like the Antartic temperature wise and then get some writing on OFWI2 done. I think it's safe to say that I am not going to get my Dark!Xander fic done, it just refuses to be written so I'm not going to stress over it. If something comes up I might just manage it but right now... nada.

(Randomly I just went to check my in tray to see if anything had been put in there since I left yesterday and the damn cleaner has lined it up with the edge of my desk. I have it an angle for a reason - so that I can reach it! Yes my desk isn't the tidiest in the world but I have everything where I need it - please, Maureen, don't move anything! (especially since she hasn't actually *cleaned* the desk, she's just lined everything up *neatly* around the dust bunnies...)

Oh!Oh! ETA I have a vidding question that I was going to email thedothatgirl about (as well as about the site, sorry I flaked on that!) but knowing me I'll forget until 6:55 tomorrow morning again. I have Premiere Pro which is what I like using, but it's on my laptop which is currently not at my house, so I was going to use WMM to pull something together in a draft format to see if the song/clips will work together (and then do it again on Premiere) but... when I try to import the .avi it tells me the codec can't be found so the file can't be imported. Now, I've played the file on the computer, multiple times actually, so does WMM need additional codecs than are required to view the file? Should I change my default programme for viewing .avi files from BSPlayer to something else? Anyone got any advice? (WMM is opening .wmv files fine, it's just .avi's it's refusing point blank to open). And... possibly connected to it, I can't open that file in ImageReady either, something about the QuickTime plugin not being available. Help?

and another edit, because my brain doesn't function right, you know this already A while ago I made this icon and others like it with similar colouring. I don't know how I did it... I do know that the original screencap was really dark and it was before I started using colour burn layers (or Overlay layers) so much, I love that colouring and want to replicate it, and it annoys the hell out of me that it's one I made and I've forgotten what I did. Anyone have any ideas?

Soooo bored right now and even though I've got two Word docs open (Final Straw 3 and Nexus 2) I'm so not in the mood for writing. (And I'm trying to ignore the little outline I have for DW related stories (which have probably been written by now anyway, but I still want to give 'em a shot) - the 'captain so afraid of command' etc back stories... Really want to do them, but have way too much else on.) And of course the damn song I have storyboarded for a DW vid is now on my MP3 player, it's like a conspiracy!

Even though the sites are in a worse state than they were last week, I am actually not as stressed about them as you might expect. In fact, there's a definite lack of stress which would almost be worrying were it not for the fact that I decided last week to stop getting so damned stressed about it - and also because I'm afraid to say I haven't finalised my decision on the future of the sites yet so...

I am now being insanely random and am having deep DW thoughts, which doesn't bode well for the BtVS and AtS fics I'm supposed to be writing. I haven't done a review thingy yet for Satan Pit yet, I know, I want to marshall my thoughts about it some more before I post anything more than this ( cut for vague DW spoilers )

Other interesting stuff (to me anyway), I took liz_marcs' advice and treated myself this weekend, I bought popcorn and Budvar and I did nothing but watch TV shows I hadn't seen before which were gathering dust on my hard drive (I know, they can't really gather dust but...). I finally got to see Blackpool. I loved it! First episode was ropey - the segues into the musical numbers were in dire need of some WD40 they were so creaky, but from ep 2 on? I loved it! edit Speaking of Blackpool... booster17 has just posted this Doctor Who/Blackpool crossover ficlet. Sehr Gut. (I have no idea why I slipped into German there, that's a little... odd!) end edit

Okay, lunch is almost over so I should get back to copying four letter codes from one spreadsheet to another. 'Cause it's just so much fun...

(I really need to finish off this mood theme, really!)

a other edit... Someone really needs to kick me when zeppo_stillness stuff needs posted. I have the worst memory for that ever and again missed posting the winners and new challenge. I know, it's not like I don't have enough to do anyway, but this only really takes half an hour at most - less if I don't make new blanks... I am lame.

( and another edit )

Soooo bored right now and even though I've got two Word docs open (Final Straw 3 and Nexus 2) I'm so not in the mood for writing. (And I'm trying to ignore the little outline I have for DW related stories (which have probably been written by now anyway, but I still want to give 'em a shot) - the 'captain so afraid of command' etc back stories... Really want to do them, but have way too much else on.) And of course the damn song I have storyboarded for a DW vid is now on my MP3 player, it's like a conspiracy!

Even though the sites are in a worse state than they were last week, I am actually not as stressed about them as you might expect. In fact, there's a definite lack of stress which would almost be worrying were it not for the fact that I decided last week to stop getting so damned stressed about it - and also because I'm afraid to say I haven't finalised my decision on the future of the sites yet so...

I am now being insanely random and am having deep DW thoughts, which doesn't bode well for the BtVS and AtS fics I'm supposed to be writing. I haven't done a review thingy yet for Satan Pit yet, I know, I want to marshall my thoughts about it some more before I post anything more than this ( cut for vague DW spoilers )

Other interesting stuff (to me anyway), I took liz_marcs' advice and treated myself this weekend, I bought popcorn and Budvar and I did nothing but watch TV shows I hadn't seen before which were gathering dust on my hard drive (I know, they can't really gather dust but...). I finally got to see Blackpool. I loved it! First episode was ropey - the segues into the musical numbers were in dire need of some WD40 they were so creaky, but from ep 2 on? I loved it! edit Speaking of Blackpool... booster17 has just posted this Doctor Who/Blackpool crossover ficlet. Sehr Gut. (I have no idea why I slipped into German there, that's a little... odd!) end edit

Okay, lunch is almost over so I should get back to copying four letter codes from one spreadsheet to another. 'Cause it's just so much fun...

(I really need to finish off this mood theme, really!)

a other edit... Someone really needs to kick me when zeppo_stillness stuff needs posted. I have the worst memory for that ever and again missed posting the winners and new challenge. I know, it's not like I don't have enough to do anyway, but this only really takes half an hour at most - less if I don't make new blanks... I am lame.

( and another edit )

A few months ago, liz_marcs announced she was compiling a soundtrack of music for Xander's experiences in Africa. She asked if people would like to create cover art for the disks and I gave it a go - as a result I got to hear a rough cut of the soundtrack to get a feel for the kind of graphics which would work with it. It blew me away. The collection is amazing and covers two disks - the first has been posted over at Liz's journal and features mostly English-language songs/music with an overall feel of overwhelming obstacles running through it - although there are hints of optimism and determination there. Liz is hoping to post the second disk this weekend, and this contains more World Music and has a more uplifting, optimistic feel to it - and the rough cut version is regularly in my car's CD player.

What are you waiting for? This is a unique soundtrack and is so thoughtfully put together. Go - check it out now!

Oh - and about the graphic, I orignially started out with the one good quality "Xander with eyepatch" image I had at the time (the same one used in this icon) and started playing with the colouring a little until it seemed more fitting with the title "World on Fire". Then I found a fantastic stock picture (on Morgue File I believe, possibly Stock Xchnge) of a Kenyan desert sunset and placed that as a background image. Blended the images together but still felt something more was needed. (I used a few exclusion and gradient layers in here as well - I still have the .psd file if anyone's really interested in how I did it) So, I looked through some of my own photographs from Morocco and found some tile work which was just an amazing pattern and scanned that in as a texture. Placed it over the top of the whole picture and erased the parts covering Xander (I know it looks a little more like rattan than tiles, but trust me - it's actually wall tiles from the royal burial chamber in Marrakesh). Still wasn't 100% happy with the graphic so I took a merged copy of the whole thing, duplicated it and set that to screen. Duplicated it again and set it to difference (this was actually semi-accidental this part) and duplicated the 'difference' layer. All of that ended up with the kind of 'inner fire' colouring that is the end result. Put the text in using Papyrus font and voila - a cover for the first CD!

A few months ago, liz_marcs announced she was compiling a soundtrack of music for Xander's experiences in Africa. She asked if people would like to create cover art for the disks and I gave it a go - as a result I got to hear a rough cut of the soundtrack to get a feel for the kind of graphics which would work with it. It blew me away. The collection is amazing and covers two disks - the first has been posted over at Liz's journal and features mostly English-language songs/music with an overall feel of overwhelming obstacles running through it - although there are hints of optimism and determination there. Liz is hoping to post the second disk this weekend, and this contains more World Music and has a more uplifting, optimistic feel to it - and the rough cut version is regularly in my car's CD player.

What are you waiting for? This is a unique soundtrack and is so thoughtfully put together. Go - check it out now!

Oh - and about the graphic, I orignially started out with the one good quality "Xander with eyepatch" image I had at the time (the same one used in this icon) and started playing with the colouring a little until it seemed more fitting with the title "World on Fire". Then I found a fantastic stock picture (on Morgue File I believe, possibly Stock Xchnge) of a Kenyan desert sunset and placed that as a background image. Blended the images together but still felt something more was needed. (I used a few exclusion and gradient layers in here as well - I still have the .psd file if anyone's really interested in how I did it) So, I looked through some of my own photographs from Morocco and found some tile work which was just an amazing pattern and scanned that in as a texture. Placed it over the top of the whole picture and erased the parts covering Xander (I know it looks a little more like rattan than tiles, but trust me - it's actually wall tiles from the royal burial chamber in Marrakesh). Still wasn't 100% happy with the graphic so I took a merged copy of the whole thing, duplicated it and set that to screen. Duplicated it again and set it to difference (this was actually semi-accidental this part) and duplicated the 'difference' layer. All of that ended up with the kind of 'inner fire' colouring that is the end result. Put the text in using Papyrus font and voila - a cover for the first CD!