[ DCU, Hanakimi, House, HMC, One Pice, Avatar, Foster's ]
Notes/Babbling: So, I got eaten by several things this weekend, all of which where genx88's fault. She made me play that Foster's Big Fat Awesome Houseparty game. She made me spend about four hours on YouTube watching AMVs and WLiiA clips. I got nothing done because of her! D:< Still, the Foster's game was sort of awesome, I have such insane love for Bloo going, "AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!" at me whenever I would click the right one of him in that mini-game. ♥
Also. Thanks to genx88 who pointed this out, I would just like to say, yes, this is about twenty different kids of, "That's a lot of what I've been trying to say for ages."
Series:
DCU (& Assort.) - 3 Fanfics
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - 1 Fanfic
House - 2 Fanfics
Howl's Moving Castle - 1 Fanfic
One Piece - 1 Fanfic
Avatar: The Last Airbender - 1 AMV
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - 4 AMVs
- Batman - Riddled by BillA1 - I will grant that this characterization is very firmly straight out of B:TAS, very much the older stuff with Batman being a bit more light-hearted, but I actually liked it for that. It's one of those stories that I could absolutely have seen in the series, a fun case with the Riddler that went along at a nice clip and was just complicated enough to work hand in hand with the tone of the story. It brang up a lot of that old affection I have for the series, since B:TAS was where I got my start with DC, lo those many years ago. *g* (No warnings/pairings.)
- Batman - Refracted by voleuse - Sometimes it's difficult to know how to label things, whether to simply put this down as B:TAS or to label it as Batman Beyond since it deals with events in Return of the Joker, but it's about Dick and Babs in current time... mrrrff, difficult to decide. Anyway. There is something very elegant about the quiet, straightford, decepitively simple writing that communicates so much emotion around the terrible things that have happened, how much weight there is between these two characters who have such history together. There's a... quiet power to the writing here that I really liked. (Sort of Dick/Babs, but it could be gen, too.)
- DCU - Probationary Member by Adrian Tullberg - I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this story, I was mostly reading based on reconizing the author's name, especially because of the lack of summary. (Not that I mind, summaries are often easily misleading.) What I found was... something that I'm not quite sure how to summarize myself. It's a story about the Justice League and a new member who doesn't quite fit the usual image. It's a story about things that aren't so neat and clean in life, that's just... completely not what I expected and sort of swept me up and wouldn't let me down until the fic was done. I read the entire story in one sitting, didn't even get up for a bathroom break or anything, I barely noticed the time going by, because the writing of it is just... the kind that sucks me in. It has this incredible flow that keeps rolling along from one scene to the next so that I couldn't ever quite put it down. And that's a lot of what I loved about it, but it's not really the main thing. The main thing is... I loved the story, I wanted to know what would happen, how they would deal with the circumstance they found themselves in, how events would play out.
Don't get me wrong, the characterization is utterly fabulous in the story, sharp and clear and good. The large cast is balanced out well, Batman is dark and scary without being inhuman, Superman is strong and caring without being bland, Wonder Woman is intelligent and strong while still being human. The interactions between them--and I'll grant that it was especially between Bruce and Diana that made me sit up straight and sparkle, you can tell the author has much fondness for them--were great, any time Batman had a scene with pretty much anyone, it was great. The way the author contrasted the almost surreal, outlandish life of superheroes against something a bit more normal (such as it is) was really nicely done, the sense of the two worlds being so different came through clearly without the author having to even mention it, it was just there.
For all that the idea is a bit of a strange one, it's a concept that was pulled off well and achieved everything the author was going for, I think. The ending could have felt very cheap, but instead hit me pretty much exactly like it was supposed to. Superman's thoughts, Batman's reactions, the little insights into the characters and what it says about them all, is wonderful. The whole piece was just... man, sometimes I despair that I'll find fic like this anymore, something that actually has a point to it without beating me over the head too much. (Bordering on graphic content for language and disturbing scenes, no real pairings.)
- Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - a foreign landscape by measuringlife - It should come as absolutely no surprise that measuringlife's Akiha/Umeda fic is fabulous and all kinds of brilliance because it's just so... them. I'd go crazy with the lack of AkiUme if not for her. And, again, as I've said many times before, one of the best things about her stories is that she focuses on different aspects while still maintaining consistent, yet layered, characterization. This time... Akiha and Umeda camping. Which goes about as well as you'd expect it to. Her writing is full of these fabulous little turns of phrase (Arctic winters have been known to be warmer than an irritated Umeda) that lend it an elegance even as Akiha is cooking over a campfire and Umeda is firmly Not Coming Out of the Tent and it's just... if they went camping, this is just about exactly how it'd go. And I love, love that... I mean, between these two, even with all the stuff underneath (that you know is there with their relationship in this fic), on the surface it's a 'war' and Akiha isn't always going to win a battle, but that doesn't mean he'll lose the war and that plays out perfectly here. Plus. AkiUme. Camping. Fabulous. (Akiha/Umeda.)
- House - Shark by Adrian Tullberg - Okay, I picked up this fic because Adrian Tullberg is one of my favorite DCU authors and I went, "Oh, he writes House? I'll give that a shot then!" and I was reading along and sort of, "....um, okay." about it because it was a little strange and then. Then there was this line. You know how there can be that one line that's so perfect you suddenly burst out laughing in the middle of the night and hope like hell the neighbors don't hear you? Yeah, that line. It hit me dead-on in exactly the right way when I was in exactly the right mood for it. Such a great little almost-meta/fourth-wall-breaking fic. ♥ (....uh. Pairings, but. Uh. I don't know how to catagorize it. *scrunches up face*)
- House - Five times Lisa Cuddy thought about doctor House and then realized it was a totally non profesional thought and WHERE had that came from? by Zau - You know what I love? It might not be the most popular pairing in the fandom, but it seems like House/Cuddy attracts a good number of fans to it or simply people who are tolerant toward it and it just... it's a little difficult to explain why a non-fluffy pairing makes me so happy. A lot of it comes from fic like this, where the author creates these lovely little possibilities that could happen, ones that I can believe because they're not fluffy, they're full of details that hurt and ache, but it's not depressing overall. Zau does a terrific job with those details, the little touches that make the fic come alive, and she doesn't back away from the kind of characters these two people are, paints this really clear picture right inside my head. This is the kind of thing that makes me happy with House/Cuddy. (House/Cuddy.)
- Howl's Moving Castle - five things howl never dared to buy for sophie by memlu - God help me, I'm pretty much going to rec everything memlu writes for this series because she is fabulous at it. It's one of those rare match-ups that's not just brilliant, but it seems somehow... destined. Like, there can be no greater match between author and subject. All that and there was a nod to the 10th Kingdom and I think I about strained something with the squee. Her sense of whimsical magic in the HMC universe, the way you can feel how much fun the author must have had with this, with these five things Howl didn't quite buy for Sophie and it's just... oh. Makes me want to dive right back into the HMC fandom. ♥ (Howl/Sophie.)
- One Piece - Sea by Maaya - Obviously, I frequently like Maaya's writing and squee about it a lot. So it doesn't come as a surprise that I liked this fic, especially being as it's more Luffy/Nami. What did surprise me is that there's a... hm. A quality to it that's elegant in a different way from her usual style, something that reminds me more of ink on parched paper (and, I know, my metaphors are terrible, shush) or perhaps that's a quality I associate with manga and this captured it. The details are wonderful here, they create a beautiful background world for the characters to move through, all these strange, quirky, beautiful little bits of a world that Oda created coming to life in this story. The characterization is, as well, something that I can barely being to describe without descending into obnoxious fangirl noises because it doesn't have to try too hard and you can just feel the pull between Luffy and Nami. The way the author writes them simply sitting together on the deck or Nami watching as Luffy and the others have a silly mock fight. The way the fic puts all these gorgeous images in my head of Nami watching the sea from the deck or the way the two of them grin at each other and it's just... oh, brilliantly right. (Luffy/Nami, some slight Zoro/Sanji.)
- Avatar: The Last Airbender AMV - Kung Fu Fighting - I have been waiting for an Avatar AMV to use this song well, it's practically meant for the show! There are tons of great little moments in this one, both upbeat and the slower moments, tons of different clips, nearly all the characters getting their moments in, great clip choices, all the things that were needed for a high-paced video like this.
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends AMV - Ordinary Day - This is one of the first Foster's AMVs (not really sure you can call them that since it's not anime, but it sounds best in my head, let's just pretend it stands for "animated") that I found that was actually really sort of cute, clever, and got the feel of the show's weirdness while still being so cute and adorable. The use of Frankie and Wilt as central characters also helped since I have much affection for both of them; and the synching isn't perfect, but there are some really cute moments and the chorus of the song just... fits with the footage, so it has this great all-around solid quality to it.
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends AMV - The Internet is for Porn! - Noel found this one and it's just... asdl;kfjalsasldf, holy crap. It's not perfect, the synching could use a lot of polishing, but there are moments (Eduardo skipping along and singing the chorus, "The internet is for porn~ the internet is for porn~" had me giggling out loud because it's a great combination of footage and lyrics or Frankie's "Ewww!" expression being just about perfect. It's one of those videos that should be scary because Foster's is this cute, sweet cartoon, but somehow... yeah, still funny.
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends AMV - Holding Out For A Hero - It sort of shocks me how well-done this AMV is. It's really quite well put-together, the kind of AMV that I could almost see being put together by an official source if they were going to do that sort of thing. The clips are used brilliantly, both in terms of context and pace, the artist has a sense of the dorky adorableness of the show, but still actually makes something that's really kinda genuinely cool. I mean, even knowing the original context of the clips, I'm still going, "Hey... that actually fits...." Quite possibly the best Foster's AMV ever. ♥
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends AMV - Love is a Battle Field - The first time I saw this AMV, I laughed and laughed and laughed. Foster's. Mac. Bloo. Berry. Pat Benetar. So, so, so, so brilliantly hilarious. Even if the editing isn't perfect and could stand a lot of tightening up, there's something about this video that just endlessly entertains me. The Mac/Bloo vs Bloo/Berry! Shipper videos! Shipper videos for Foster's. Omg. Awesome. The clips are actually pretty well chosen and I just... endlessly entertaining, yo.
GOAL: 1162/1200
Also. Thanks to genx88 who pointed this out, I would just like to say, yes, this is about twenty different kids of, "That's a lot of what I've been trying to say for ages."
Series:
DCU (& Assort.) - 3 Fanfics
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - 1 Fanfic
House - 2 Fanfics
Howl's Moving Castle - 1 Fanfic
One Piece - 1 Fanfic
Avatar: The Last Airbender - 1 AMV
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - 4 AMVs
- Batman - Riddled by BillA1 - I will grant that this characterization is very firmly straight out of B:TAS, very much the older stuff with Batman being a bit more light-hearted, but I actually liked it for that. It's one of those stories that I could absolutely have seen in the series, a fun case with the Riddler that went along at a nice clip and was just complicated enough to work hand in hand with the tone of the story. It brang up a lot of that old affection I have for the series, since B:TAS was where I got my start with DC, lo those many years ago. *g* (No warnings/pairings.)
- Batman - Refracted by voleuse - Sometimes it's difficult to know how to label things, whether to simply put this down as B:TAS or to label it as Batman Beyond since it deals with events in Return of the Joker, but it's about Dick and Babs in current time... mrrrff, difficult to decide. Anyway. There is something very elegant about the quiet, straightford, decepitively simple writing that communicates so much emotion around the terrible things that have happened, how much weight there is between these two characters who have such history together. There's a... quiet power to the writing here that I really liked. (Sort of Dick/Babs, but it could be gen, too.)
- DCU - Probationary Member by Adrian Tullberg - I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this story, I was mostly reading based on reconizing the author's name, especially because of the lack of summary. (Not that I mind, summaries are often easily misleading.) What I found was... something that I'm not quite sure how to summarize myself. It's a story about the Justice League and a new member who doesn't quite fit the usual image. It's a story about things that aren't so neat and clean in life, that's just... completely not what I expected and sort of swept me up and wouldn't let me down until the fic was done. I read the entire story in one sitting, didn't even get up for a bathroom break or anything, I barely noticed the time going by, because the writing of it is just... the kind that sucks me in. It has this incredible flow that keeps rolling along from one scene to the next so that I couldn't ever quite put it down. And that's a lot of what I loved about it, but it's not really the main thing. The main thing is... I loved the story, I wanted to know what would happen, how they would deal with the circumstance they found themselves in, how events would play out.
Don't get me wrong, the characterization is utterly fabulous in the story, sharp and clear and good. The large cast is balanced out well, Batman is dark and scary without being inhuman, Superman is strong and caring without being bland, Wonder Woman is intelligent and strong while still being human. The interactions between them--and I'll grant that it was especially between Bruce and Diana that made me sit up straight and sparkle, you can tell the author has much fondness for them--were great, any time Batman had a scene with pretty much anyone, it was great. The way the author contrasted the almost surreal, outlandish life of superheroes against something a bit more normal (such as it is) was really nicely done, the sense of the two worlds being so different came through clearly without the author having to even mention it, it was just there.
For all that the idea is a bit of a strange one, it's a concept that was pulled off well and achieved everything the author was going for, I think. The ending could have felt very cheap, but instead hit me pretty much exactly like it was supposed to. Superman's thoughts, Batman's reactions, the little insights into the characters and what it says about them all, is wonderful. The whole piece was just... man, sometimes I despair that I'll find fic like this anymore, something that actually has a point to it without beating me over the head too much. (Bordering on graphic content for language and disturbing scenes, no real pairings.)
- Hanazakari no Kimitachi e - a foreign landscape by measuringlife - It should come as absolutely no surprise that measuringlife's Akiha/Umeda fic is fabulous and all kinds of brilliance because it's just so... them. I'd go crazy with the lack of AkiUme if not for her. And, again, as I've said many times before, one of the best things about her stories is that she focuses on different aspects while still maintaining consistent, yet layered, characterization. This time... Akiha and Umeda camping. Which goes about as well as you'd expect it to. Her writing is full of these fabulous little turns of phrase (Arctic winters have been known to be warmer than an irritated Umeda) that lend it an elegance even as Akiha is cooking over a campfire and Umeda is firmly Not Coming Out of the Tent and it's just... if they went camping, this is just about exactly how it'd go. And I love, love that... I mean, between these two, even with all the stuff underneath (that you know is there with their relationship in this fic), on the surface it's a 'war' and Akiha isn't always going to win a battle, but that doesn't mean he'll lose the war and that plays out perfectly here. Plus. AkiUme. Camping. Fabulous. (Akiha/Umeda.)
- House - Shark by Adrian Tullberg - Okay, I picked up this fic because Adrian Tullberg is one of my favorite DCU authors and I went, "Oh, he writes House? I'll give that a shot then!" and I was reading along and sort of, "....um, okay." about it because it was a little strange and then. Then there was this line. You know how there can be that one line that's so perfect you suddenly burst out laughing in the middle of the night and hope like hell the neighbors don't hear you? Yeah, that line. It hit me dead-on in exactly the right way when I was in exactly the right mood for it. Such a great little almost-meta/fourth-wall-breaking fic. ♥ (....uh. Pairings, but. Uh. I don't know how to catagorize it. *scrunches up face*)
- House - Five times Lisa Cuddy thought about doctor House and then realized it was a totally non profesional thought and WHERE had that came from? by Zau - You know what I love? It might not be the most popular pairing in the fandom, but it seems like House/Cuddy attracts a good number of fans to it or simply people who are tolerant toward it and it just... it's a little difficult to explain why a non-fluffy pairing makes me so happy. A lot of it comes from fic like this, where the author creates these lovely little possibilities that could happen, ones that I can believe because they're not fluffy, they're full of details that hurt and ache, but it's not depressing overall. Zau does a terrific job with those details, the little touches that make the fic come alive, and she doesn't back away from the kind of characters these two people are, paints this really clear picture right inside my head. This is the kind of thing that makes me happy with House/Cuddy. (House/Cuddy.)
- Howl's Moving Castle - five things howl never dared to buy for sophie by memlu - God help me, I'm pretty much going to rec everything memlu writes for this series because she is fabulous at it. It's one of those rare match-ups that's not just brilliant, but it seems somehow... destined. Like, there can be no greater match between author and subject. All that and there was a nod to the 10th Kingdom and I think I about strained something with the squee. Her sense of whimsical magic in the HMC universe, the way you can feel how much fun the author must have had with this, with these five things Howl didn't quite buy for Sophie and it's just... oh. Makes me want to dive right back into the HMC fandom. ♥ (Howl/Sophie.)
- One Piece - Sea by Maaya - Obviously, I frequently like Maaya's writing and squee about it a lot. So it doesn't come as a surprise that I liked this fic, especially being as it's more Luffy/Nami. What did surprise me is that there's a... hm. A quality to it that's elegant in a different way from her usual style, something that reminds me more of ink on parched paper (and, I know, my metaphors are terrible, shush) or perhaps that's a quality I associate with manga and this captured it. The details are wonderful here, they create a beautiful background world for the characters to move through, all these strange, quirky, beautiful little bits of a world that Oda created coming to life in this story. The characterization is, as well, something that I can barely being to describe without descending into obnoxious fangirl noises because it doesn't have to try too hard and you can just feel the pull between Luffy and Nami. The way the author writes them simply sitting together on the deck or Nami watching as Luffy and the others have a silly mock fight. The way the fic puts all these gorgeous images in my head of Nami watching the sea from the deck or the way the two of them grin at each other and it's just... oh, brilliantly right. (Luffy/Nami, some slight Zoro/Sanji.)
- Avatar: The Last Airbender AMV - Kung Fu Fighting - I have been waiting for an Avatar AMV to use this song well, it's practically meant for the show! There are tons of great little moments in this one, both upbeat and the slower moments, tons of different clips, nearly all the characters getting their moments in, great clip choices, all the things that were needed for a high-paced video like this.
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends AMV - Ordinary Day - This is one of the first Foster's AMVs (not really sure you can call them that since it's not anime, but it sounds best in my head, let's just pretend it stands for "animated") that I found that was actually really sort of cute, clever, and got the feel of the show's weirdness while still being so cute and adorable. The use of Frankie and Wilt as central characters also helped since I have much affection for both of them; and the synching isn't perfect, but there are some really cute moments and the chorus of the song just... fits with the footage, so it has this great all-around solid quality to it.
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends AMV - The Internet is for Porn! - Noel found this one and it's just... asdl;kfjalsasldf, holy crap. It's not perfect, the synching could use a lot of polishing, but there are moments (Eduardo skipping along and singing the chorus, "The internet is for porn~ the internet is for porn~" had me giggling out loud because it's a great combination of footage and lyrics or Frankie's "Ewww!" expression being just about perfect. It's one of those videos that should be scary because Foster's is this cute, sweet cartoon, but somehow... yeah, still funny.
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends AMV - Holding Out For A Hero - It sort of shocks me how well-done this AMV is. It's really quite well put-together, the kind of AMV that I could almost see being put together by an official source if they were going to do that sort of thing. The clips are used brilliantly, both in terms of context and pace, the artist has a sense of the dorky adorableness of the show, but still actually makes something that's really kinda genuinely cool. I mean, even knowing the original context of the clips, I'm still going, "Hey... that actually fits...." Quite possibly the best Foster's AMV ever. ♥
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends AMV - Love is a Battle Field - The first time I saw this AMV, I laughed and laughed and laughed. Foster's. Mac. Bloo. Berry. Pat Benetar. So, so, so, so brilliantly hilarious. Even if the editing isn't perfect and could stand a lot of tightening up, there's something about this video that just endlessly entertains me. The Mac/Bloo vs Bloo/Berry! Shipper videos! Shipper videos for Foster's. Omg. Awesome. The clips are actually pretty well chosen and I just... endlessly entertaining, yo.
GOAL: 1162/1200