there will be a fish

The smack of sound as our newspaper hits the front step around this time of morning is always a little disconcerting. As is the fact that I've been awake at this time of night frequently enough that it's become a trend.

Anyway. I've read a few wonderful fics recently, so it's recs time:

The Wrong Avalon (Doctor Who/Merlin crossover; Amy/Rory, Merlin/Arthur)
This was SO MUCH FUN. The tones of these two shows mesh incredibly well, and the characterization was great -- you can practically hear Matt Smith saying the dialogue in this. Also, Amy is wonderful, Rory is sweet, Arthur is...Arthur, Merlin is extravagantly devoted, and the Doctor is cray-cray in the best and most expected of ways. I loved reading this.

Synergy (Inception/Criminal Minds crossover, pairing that I won't spoil)
This was SO GREAT. I mean, you take Inception and Criminal Minds and stick them together, I'm so there (because hey, people's minds are fascinating, and that's a double-whammy). But if you also deliver an actual plot, really excellent characterization across the board, and bonus Spencer Reid? I AM SO THERE. This was lots of fun -- an honest-to-god casefile fic; it's what my sister calls "gen-ish", i.e. gen in all of the non-romantic-plot-prominent ways. It doesn't avoid pairings entirely, but it's really not the focus. The real focus is Spencer Reid and Eames and Arthur and the rest of their teams being brilliant together, and that's always a good time. (Also, I giggled a LOT when Eames and Reid inevitably faced each other in a game of poker. HEE.)

Guerrilla (Vorkosigan series)
I am not the easiest of Bujold-fic readers on the best of days. However, this was AWESOME -- it's an AU from Diplomatic Immunity: Miles fails rsther thsn beating the odds, and the Cetagandans invade Barrayar. Of all people, Ivan Vorpatril ends up leading the rag-tag resistance planetside. This is so good -- Ivan remains essentially Ivan-ish even while growing up remarkably fast, and the action and characterization is uniformly awesome and genuinely thrilling. I can't recommend this enough. (Note: this story is a complete, resolved entity. However, the author is in the middle of a WIP sequel -- which is already awesome; she's already brought in Mia Maz the Vervani diplomat from Cetaganda back and stuck her in the same room as Cordelia Vorkosigan, so I'm really totally in favor from the start -- but fair warning if that sort of thing bothers you.)

So I was looking at Alex O'Loughlin's IMDB profile, as you do, because Steve McGarrett, Hawaii Five-0, etc. Anyway, I had one of those amazing OH SHIT NO WAY HE WAS THAT AWESOME GUEST ACTOR moments (uh...I don't know if normal people have those, but I do).

See, do you guys remember Vincent, the serial killer in that utterly heartbreaking Criminal Minds ep "The Big Wheel" -- the OCD guy with the Buddy Holly glasses and the videotaping thing who made that odd clicking noise, with the little blind kid and the Ferris wheel scene at the end? I have always loved that character; it's one of those braintwisting CM episodes where you somehow wind up having enormous amounts of sympathy for that poor serial killer and cry at their death scene and all that. He was just so sad and likeable -- which I know doesn't change the fact that he was a serial killer, but the end of that episode always makes me cry.

ANYWAY, THAT WAS ALEX O'LOUGHLIN.

...I know, right? Go ahead, be amazed. I'll wait. :D

In all seriousness, though, my respect for him as an actor just went up about tenfold. Well played, sir.

Sometimes, I forget how much I adore Matthew Gray Gubler.

And then I find something that reminds me. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

- Okay, so. I may never take a roadtrip again. D:

- Every time I try to eject my external hard drive and get that "Device Whatever cannot be stopped right now" message, I think of the Eyes Only monologue from Dark Angel: "Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a Streaming Freedom video bulletin. The cable hack will last exactly sixty seconds. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city."

- This is a nice post about why Southland is awesome and you should all be watching it. In summation: Lydia Adams, Ben Sherman, John Cooper; but she is much more eloquent about it. :)

*sigh* Can't sleep. But at least I have TV Tropes to keep me company. I always forget how completely brain-eating that site is. It's just so fascinating.

Plus, it reminds me of fun things like this (utterly non-spoilery) scene from Criminal Minds 3.19 "Tabula Rasa," where an attorney besmirches his honor casts aspersions on the validity of profiling. Hotch proceeds to calmly dissect the man in front of the entire courtroom. One of the Tropers has dubbed this a "Hotchalanche," defined as "wherein Aaron Hotchner is made of awesome."



The scene in 2.23 "No Way Out II" where Hotch gets sick of playing Strauss' games and completely kicks her ass without moving or raising his voice is similar, but I can't find the clip on YouTube. HELL YEAH.

And just for shits and giggles: JJ, Garcia, and Prentiss at a bar. Not at all spoilery, unless you weren't aware that all three women are made of awesome and work at the FBI. :D



ETA: This interview with Kirsten Vangsness is adorable. Apparently, when she shot her scene from the pilot (which was intended to be a one-off), she had no idea who she was talking to. She didn't see Shemar Moore until the second episode -- which makes the amount of chemistry they still manage to have particularly noteworthy. Damn. And her story about the writers following them around and using their real-life banter for dialogue is so precious. <33333