rionaleonhart: okami: amaterasu is startled. (NOT SO FAST)
WATERLOO ROAD WHAT

NO

THAT IS THE WORST PAIRING EVER

I GENUINELY DO NOT THINK I COULD HAVE COME UP WITH A MORE HORRIBLE PAIRING HAD I TRIED

And to think there was a scene in the episode that made me hope there might be half a chance of Tom/Karen. Alas, no; Tom/Karen must remain the baseless pairing of my heart, and instead we get the worst pairing ever. It's as if the writers went, 'Oh, hello, Riona! Would you like a piece of delicious chocolate cake? Yes, I thought so. Well, sadly we have no delicious chocolate cake to offer you, so we're going to hit you with sticks instead.' Is it absolutely necessary to bring out the sticks, Waterloo Road? I'm not entirely certain that the two things are substitutable.

Yes, all right, almost none of you watch Waterloo Road and so chances are this entry won't make any sense to you, but I had to express my disapprobation somewhere.


Oh, before I forget, I meant to make a quick note on the tennis yesterday. It's very difficult to get me to care about tennis most of the time, but dangle an Isner-Mahut match in front of me and I won't be able to take my eyes off the scores. I was so hoping they would play for another eleven hours, or at least that Mahut would win this time (he's my favourite because he looks like a porcupine), but alas no.

I want to write fanfiction set during the eleven-hour match last year, in which the world ends around them and Isner and Mahut don't notice because they're absolutely focused on playing. Isner hits the winning shot and falls to the ground in victory, and as he gets to his feet again he notices, for the first time, the eerie silence in the stands.

(Yesterday, I found out that Mahut was six foot three and went 'hang on, that can't be right, he's so much shorter than Isner'. And then I looked Isner up.

John Isner is six foot nine. How is that even a real height?)


And back to X-Men!

I'm quite amused by the way the appetite of fandom constantly expands to demand slightly more than it's been given, no matter how much it's fed. James McAvoy claims he had sex with Michael Fassbender four times, and the primary reaction I see on Tumblr is 'NOT ENOUGH TIMES'.

On that subject: James McAvoy, you massive troll. He and Misha Collins should work on something together. They'd end up competing with each other to see who could render the largest number of fans unconscious.

Here is a delightful thing I watched recently: the X-Men: First Class trailer redone with footage from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. No, seriously, it's beautiful. If you're wondering 'would that really work?', the first shot will give you your answer. Many thanks to [livejournal.com profile] nightfire_kvala for the link!

I think X-Men: First Class is officially my fandom of the moment. I wonder how long it'll be before I try to cross it over with either Silent Hill or Pokémon. Either could be fun, where by 'fun' I mean 'fun' in the case of Pokémon and 'completely devastating' in the case of Silent Hill.

...my goodness, Silent Hill was made for Erik Lehnsherr. But, then again, so was Magneton. Decisions!
rionaleonhart: kingdom hearts: sora, riku and kairi having a friendly chat. (and they returned home)
So, as I mentioned in my previous entry, my family and I have been driving around the Midlands and East Anglia! On our travels, we saw road signs pointing to places called 'Dullingham', 'Dickleburgh', 'Stonetime', 'Six Mile Bottom' and 'Swaffham Bulbeck'. Also, the following took place. Principal players are my mum, my dad, and Joseph and Fred*, my two younger brothers.


Not Very Adventurous Adventures In Middle England, 'Middle' Being Used In A Geographical Rather Than Chronological Sense. )


So that was our holiday!

I love my ridiculous family. It's always nice to spend time with them. I'm really pleased that, even though the youngest of us is now sixteen, we're still taking the occasional holiday as a whole.

* Some of you will be aware that Fred asked me a while ago to stop referring to him by name in my entries, but I've acquired his permission for this.
rionaleonhart: top gear: the start button on a bugatti veyron. (going down tonight)
I've never been a tennis fan, but I found myself strangely fascinated by the match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut over the past couple of days. For those unaware: to win the fifth set, one player needs to be two full games ahead. In the case of Isner and Mahut, this didn't happen. It didn't happen for eleven hours. They played and played and played. On Wednesday, the match was suspended due to failing light levels at 59-59. On Thursday, I watched in increasing disbelief and cheered every time the score was equalised again, but eventually Isner won at 70-68. This one set went on longer than any full match of tennis ever played. You could have watched the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in the time they were playing.

(When the set finally, finally finished, there was a little unexpected ceremony and the players and umpire all got presents. I thought that was rather sweet. Also, the audience cheered Mahut far more than they did the actual winner of the match, which was an extremely British thing to do. We do love a person who fights and fights and then loses anyway.)

So, anyway, now some part of me wants Mahut/Isner fanfiction. Hour after hour playing against each other, and eventually a sort of bizarre, exhaustion-induced Stockholm Syndrome sets in. Does either of them really want it to end?

...I'm a bad person.

(The Guardian live blog for the first day of Groundhog Set is hilarious (start from the last paragraph of the 3.45 entry). My favourite part:

The scoreboard is barely visible through the grass and weeds and trails of Spanish moss. It shows that John Isner and Nicolas Mahut are locked at 37 games each in the final set.

I'm wondering if maybe an angel will come and set them free. Is this too much to ask? Just one slender angel, with white wings and a wise smile, to tell them that's it's all right, they have suffered enough and that they are now being recalled. The angel could hug them and kiss their brows and invite them to lay their rackets gently on the grass. And then they could all ascend to heaven together. John Isner, Nicolas Mahut and the kind angel that saved them.


Also, I enjoy the fact that the highest-rated comment by far on the next day's blog is this:

I take Mahut off to them both. Just because it's been a ridiculous match of tennis, Isner reason for puns ay?)

Did I really just make an entire entry about tennis? How unusual.


Today, I find out what class degree I have.

I'm really scared.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (I APPROVE)
Sorry to members of [livejournal.com profile] derrenbrownfic, who will have seen this already, but [livejournal.com profile] moogle62 and I have started posting our Derren-as-the-Doctor's-companion cross-fandom epic over at [livejournal.com profile] andtimetravel. You can find the first section, In Which Derren Discovers That Doctor Who and Pokémon Are Not Quite As Fictional As He May Have Imagined, over here. 6,500 words, rated PG.


AND NOW FOR LESS IMPORTANT THINGS.

(Blacked out for spoilers for the fourth episode of Merlin, 'The Poisoned Chalice'; highlight to read:)

Whilst we were watching Merlin, we decided that the parts between Merlin writhing around and moaning Arthur's name (like an assless freak) were Merlin's sex dream. Of course, this means that Merlin is turned on by Arthur dangling from rock faces and being pursued by giant killer spiders, but to each his own.

And I showed [livejournal.com profile] moogle62 a bit of Final Fantasy XII. She is completely in love with Balthier. As should we all be. (She is also in love with Vayne, despite never having heard him speak. Because she is massively shallow.)

Also, she, my dad and I had a conversation about football slash. (My dad had been looking for Rooney/Gerrard.) Because my family are awesome.

REALLY, THE POINT OF THIS ENTRY IS [livejournal.com profile] andtimetravel. Derren Brown as the Doctor's companion! We have had so much fun writing it, and we hope you enjoy reading it to the same extent.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (NOOOOOOOOO)
Today, I went to watch a football game (soccer, rather than American football) and, rather to my surprise, enjoyed it. This was partially because it's much more exciting when you're actually there and watching it happening than when you're watching tiny figures running about on a screen (I never really understood the appeal of watching football on TV), but mostly because the LA Galaxy goalkeeper, Joe Cannon, was fantastic and caught my attention almost immediately. When I went in, I honestly didn't care whether Galaxy or the Chivas won, but Cannon was attacked so often and fought so bravely that I ended up supporting his team wholeheartedly and, er, may have shouted aloud at some of his particularly good saves. I CANNOT BELIEVE I ACTUALLY ENDED UP CARING ABOUT A FOOTBALL GAME.

(The Chivas won. Which is probably for the best, because approximately seven-eighths of the audience were supporting them extremely loudly.)

It seems that in football, as in most things, I'm happiest when I have a particular 'character' I can focus on.

Do you know what this means?

It means that I am almost certainly going to end up sending Joe Cannon into Silent Hill.

I apologise most sincerely in advance.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (by no means a singular case)
I'm not usually remotely interested in football, but this is quite possibly the most fantastic thing that I have ever seen. I’ve never been able to watch the birth and rapid proliferation of an Internet meme quite like this before.

Anyway! This wonderful post on Holmes and the Holmes/Watson relationship by [livejournal.com profile] squeemu (spoilers up to the end of The Return of Sherlock Holmes) reminded me of a certain quote from The Adventure of the Lion's Mane which made me incredibly distressed. If all goes according to plan, this entry should discuss Certain Aspects Of Sherlock Holmes' Later Life Which Made Me Sad and also the relationship between Holmes and Watson and not go spiralling off into discussions of Sherlock Holmes/House crossovers in which House does his best to send Holmes off on wild goose chases while Watson and Wilson roll their eyes and laugh at their insane friends and then become Best Friends Forever, although I fully intend to discuss that at some point in the future.

Spoilers up to 'The Adventure of the Lion's Mane'. )

EDIT: DID I MENTION THAT THEY ARE ALWAYS CALLING EACH OTHER 'my dear Holmes' AND 'my Watson' AND IT IS REALLY REALLY CUTE? BECAUSE THEY DO, AND IT IS.