astridv

Ugh. I've stared at this double-spread page for so long, I feel like my brain's gonna leak out of my ears. The layout and the main elements of the page are done; what's missing are a couple dozen period details and an amusing side gag or two. Think I'll call it a night. Maybe inspiration for the rest will come to me while I'm sleeping.

Now I'm in the mood for a nice, long SHIELD action/casefic with bonus Ward/Simmons to reward myself but sadly, such a thing doesn't seem to exist yet? (Or if it does and I overlooked it... please link me!)

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rydra_wong on disobey_gravity linked to this great climbing film La Dura Complete, the story of the combined Sharma and Ondra quest to send La Dura Dura (5.15c / 9b+) (~20 minutes).

Natasha vid: In the Bullpen by caramarie
Song/Artist: The Bullpen, by Dessa; Length: 2:37
Summary: Forget the bull in the china shop
There's a china doll in the bullpen

(or a one-word-summary: fuckyeahnatasha! :)

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Speaking of vids, know what would be really cool? A crossover vid starring Natasha and Melinda May. Wow, I'd really love to see how that would play out.

another great Melinda May vid from festivids:
Postpone The Bad
Music: Postpone The Bad by Oh Land
Summary: I'll leave all emotions inside, find strange places for tears to hide. (Melinda May PoV)

SHIELD fic rec:
Put a bird on it and call it art by whetherwoman
Gen; humor/mission fic/team; G; 3656 words
Summary:
“Is that an episode of Portlandia?” Skye blurted.
“Just background research,” Coulson said with dignity. “I encourage you all to do a little research of your own before we land. We want to make sure we’re correctly identifying any alien occurrences, not targeting any normal activity.”

Hi everyone and a merry seasonal holiday of your choice. I just got recced the perfect vid for the occasion, which I have to share: Captain Picard sings "Let it Snow"

Avengers fic:
ASOS by Jadesfire
Gen; teamfic; post-movie; G; 6623 words
Summary: After The Battle of New York, the whole world has seen what the Avengers can do. They've seen it in person, and on their TVs and in a thousand grainy clips taken on shaking cell phones. And now, the Avengers can see it too.

Agents of Shield fic:
(note: My virus scanner gives me a warning for the hit counter used at the link below; I suspect it might be a false positive but I couldn't find any confirmation either way so I'm mentioning it just in case. But I do like this ficlet...)
Five Secrets the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Are Keeping, and One They're Not by vikingprincess
Gen; ensemble; character studies; 429 words; spoilers through ep.1-9

And finally... ta-daaa: CRAZY NAKED GUY STREAKS AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR COURSE
Yeah. Exactly what it says on the tin.
The guy isn't even doing half bad.

Blur by storiesfortravellers
Ward/May; 1x08 post-ep; emotional h/c; rated M [though I can't see why]; 1083 words
Summary: Ward tries to remember what happened that night between himself and Melinda.

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vid rec:
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Movie Trailer
Starring: Barton, Romanoff, Fury, Coulson, Hill and others; 3:29 min
Summary: SHIELD is under attack.

The title is misleading because it doesn't feature the character from the show. Characters crossing over would've been the one thing to make this even cooler for me. But even so, it's *really* cool! The editing is so smooth and it uses such extensive footage that it feels like a real movie.

Very interesting parkour/urban climbing vid I just found: Point of Contact | Flow Lifestyle
This is kind of a documentary that analyzes and explains the movements along with the images. (Speaking of images, many of the footage was shot with head-cam from the POV of someone running and jumping across rooftops. By which I mean, it might be a bit vertigo-inducing if one is sensitive to that.) The video is about 15 minutes long and I couldn't get enough of all the beautiful movement in a cool setting.

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Shield fic rec
Sending in the Cavalry by Frea_O
Gen; Melinda May & Peggy Carter; character study/origin of SHIELD; rated G; 3356 words
Summary: The first time Melinda May met Margaret Carter, she was seven. Peggy Carter was fifty-seven. A story about mentorship in the face of a changing world.

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And a bonus ficlet rec... short, but well-written; makes me rather hope the author will write more.
Falling apart by ferggirl
Ward/Simmons (subtext at most), Coulson; 1300 words
He hadn’t wanted a team in the first place. Why does it bother him so much to see this one falling apart?

Everything Old Is New Again by samyazaz
Gen; Abbie & Ichabod friendship; G; 1633 words
Summary: It doesn't take more than a moment's thought for Abbie to realize that she's going to have to bring Ichabod home. The man can't even figure out how to unlock a car door, a hotel is absolutely out of the question. He'd probably lock himself inside and then starve to death.

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linkeage: THESE ARE ACTUAL COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY “THOMAS COOK VACATIONS FROM DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS”
(9. “Although the brochure said that there was a fully equipped kitchen, there was no egg-slicer in the drawers.”)

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vid rec: We run this city - Frankfurt
I love watching these kinds of urban climbing/freerunning vids, not just for the spectacular athletics but also for the fresh perspective of the cityscape.

Avengers vid rec:
This could be an accompanying vid to kuhori_rei's brilliant fic of the same title:
Mr. and Mrs. Barton by AvengingHolmes
It's a shame the vidder didn't bother to edit out the names in the end; still, a fun vid to watch!

Here is an interesting youtube video I found via jae's linkspam: BBC Make Me a German: British journalist goes to Germany with his wife and kids to play at the average German family, in order to find out the secret to Germany's economic success.

Of course we here are mostly busy moaning about the country's failures but it's all a matter of perspective, perhaps. Jammern auf hohem Niveau? Anyway, as a German I found the film highly entertaining, and pretty spot on overall, the joyful play with clichees notwithstanding. A humorous take on cultural differences.

(One thing made me wonder: Is it an accepted thing to do in some countries to surf the internet while at work? I would've thought that it's frowned upon everywhere, for obvious reasons.)

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Where did my rikaichan icon go? There used to be an easy-to-click icon on the upper right task bar and it went away.

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I just found out through googling that as of last year, Vibram makes a winter shoe! \o/ That pleases me greatly, because the cold wet season lasts several month here, so each spring you have to start from scratch training your feet for barefoot running. I will get me a pair ASAP. Though it's annoying that they cost over twice as much here as they do in the US. >100% seems a rather excessive import fee. I'm tempted to try amazon.com instead of .de, but I guess after customs are done with them, I'll end up at the same expense.

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And on the topic of shoes, my climbing shoes are starting to need a biohazard warning. I'll have to try pine shavings or something like that because eww.