one more miracle

I've been meaning to make a post/picspam about my newest darling, Lewis Holtby! However, my picture folder keeps exploding and he keeps doing cute things EVERY WEEK so it's just an overwhelming prospect. In the meantime, I'm just gonna leave this photo here that made my brains dribble out of my ears today. WARNING: Very close to NSFW due to EXTENSIVE AMOUNTS OF SKIN.

( Are you ready? )

You're welcome. :D

In order to distract myself from the semi-sucking black hole that is my real life at the moment, I am going to talk about the only bright spot: the German national football team. *___* I LOVE THESE BOYS SO MUCH. However in the last couple days, they have also been a source of stress, because I am so worried about Germany vs Argentina tomorrow that I could puke. Literally, I feel nauseated. The shit talking and mind games have not helped either - Basti and Lahm, I love you deeply, but please stop running your mouths. :(

So in order to re-focus myself on something super positive and excellent, I am going to picspam my dearest darling bbs and all of the joyful adorable things that they have done at this World Cup! They REALLY REALLY like to hug each other, you guys. IT KIND OF MAKES MY LIFE.

Come coo at the pretty boys with me! AND HOLD MY HAND AND TELL ME MY LIFE WON'T END TOMORROW.



( Die Nationalmannschaft welcomes you in with hugs and pounces )

Hi LJ. It is 3 AM. My fingernails are bitten down to the quick. My final assignment for my class is ~done, or as done as it will be. I'm pretty tired. Castle 2x21 tonight was amazing. ESPOSITO OMG. BOYFRIENDS OMG. As this is all I have energy for as far as posting goes, I'm going to leave you with cute boys.

( Seriously, their faces )

You're welcome. Thank you and goodnight. ♥

I just finished watching Pretty Persuasion, a movie with a crazy-recognizable cast in general, but I watched for RON LIVINGSTON and STARK BUNKER SANDS. Heeee. Overall, it's a weird, funny but disquieting film. Not the greatest thing I've ever seen, but entertaining. It helps that the star is Evan Rachel Woods, and she plays fucked up so well. (She was hands down one of my favorite things about True Blood season 2, which, incidentally, I finished but didn't post about. Oops?)

Sadly, Ron and Stark didn't interact at all, so we're left only with this:


Literally the only time they're on screen together. Whatever, FEEL THE AWESOME.

Because I thought this might be relevant to some peoples' interests, I have a few more caps of Stark as Beverly Hills prep school kid and Ron as nerdy/creeper prep school teacher! ( I approve of your life decisions, Stark Bunker and RLiv )

You're welcome. :P

Part A



( Cinematography Part B )

I think that it's evident from the wide range of images I've selected here that Band of Brothers is an incredibly diverse visual experience, but it's always beautiful. The settings range from stark and cold to warm and vibrant, and the colors and filming style so well-reflect the atmosphere and mood of the corresponding place and events. The camera also really loves to find objects and fill the screen with them, make them larger than life - I particularly love how the typewriter is shot, and images like Doc Roe's bleeding finger in Bastogne. I love the contrast of images like Renee at the aid station - as a whole, the image is bleached and desolate, but the vividness of her blue scarf, the blood on her sleeves, the red aid station banner - it's just so striking. They also managed to find some truly breathtaking times of day to film - I think the pink, vaguely haunting sky over the battle in Holland is so exquisite, just to pull out one example. I know a lot of the series is beautiful because it's portraying beautiful men, but I hope I've reminded you what a masterpiece of film the entire series is, because I really think that's worth appreciating! ♥

To all the non-BoB fans on my flist - I'd say this is well worth checking out. It's all about light and shadow and color and shot composition and is really just a feast for the eyes. No prior knowledge necessary, and I think it would brighten your day (and/or convince you to give the series a try? :D). Minor warning for one cap with a bloodied face - the rest is a-okay.



So here we go again! I decided to do something different because people seemed to be interested in this idea - a focus on the beautiful way this series is shot. I hope you enjoy! Split into two parts because, um, there's 131 images. As usual, if you want anything in super duper hi-res, please ask! And feel free to use for icons or graphics or anything. I'm gonna hold off on the commentary for this one, cause it would really just be "Oooh, pretty!" and I think you all know that already. :)

( Cinematography Part A )

PART B

Here we go again! I just want to say one thing about these spams - this really is about pulling together high quality still images, so it's not so much about recapping the whole story (which you all know backwards and frontwards, anyway). As such, large chunks of story are missing, particularly action sequences which just don't cap well (or at least don't benefit from HD). So I'm sorry if that throws you, but hopefully the pretty is worth it!

108 caps, 1000x625px. Ask if you want the highest-res version of any! (1440x900)



( To love with all my heart. With all my heart. )

This concludes our second installment! It's late and I'm exhausted, but I really hope you guys are enjoying these. :)

You can download a zip of my Doc Roe caps (all 334 of them!) HERE.

Notes: For obvious reasons, Webster sneaks in here several times. I hope no one minds. ;) This is very large - 88 hi-res images. They're big thumbnails but you can click on them for the super duper hi res version. Please, feel free to use for graphics or anything you want. That's why they're here. :)

I've uploaded a zip of all my Liebgott caps: 212 of them, ~300 MB. DOWNLOAD HERE (right click, save as)

( In German, Liebe means love. )

In all my rewatching of Band of Brothers, Liebgott has continually stood out to me. He's beautiful and entertaining, but he's also one of the most wrenching and painful characters in the whole series. I'm deeply impressed by (Scottish!) Ross McCall's performance. I hope I've managed to at least do him some justice with this catalog of his story. And I hope that you all enjoyed it. More to come. :)

I've spent the last few weeks rewatching the whole of Band of Brothers in 720p HD (unfff) and capping the shit out of it in preparation for what may be an epic picspam if I ever get my act together. I really have spent far too many waking hours on this project, but you know, it's really not hard on the eyes, so I haven't exactly minded. ;) I was talking to my best friend, who has watched the first few episodes, and she mentioned how she still doesn't know who the heck anyone is, so I offered to do a primer picspam of the characters. I was just gonna email them to her with the character names, but I started going through and realized, oh right, there are over 20 characters I love in this series! That would make for a good picspam! Before I knew it, I had 68 caps on my hands. *facepalm* So here is what may be considered several things - a primer for anyone who hasn't seen BoB (it's NON-SPOILERY), an exceedingly pretty overview of the cast for anyone who already loves it, and a simple delight for the senses because let me tell you, some of these caps are stunning. God bless 720p.

So if you like pretty men, particularly ones in uniform, have I got a treat for you. Twenty-six of them, to be precise.

Also, the caps are BIG. None of this namby-pamby shrinking and recoloring bullshit. They are big (1000x625 px) and hi-res and unadulterated. PLEASE use them for icons or whatever you want, and if you want the FULL full size (1440x900) of anything, let me know!

Disclaimer: This is by no means comprehensive. I can think of at least 6 guys I left out, and I know some of them are beloved by others. My only defense is that if I had capped every character thoroughly, I would have twice as many caps as I do now, and that's a lot. Please forgive me!



( We lucky few, we band of brothers. )

Whew, that was fun! I hope you enjoyed it too. <333 There's more to come, if there's interest! I have >4000 hi-def caps, so um. Yes. MOAR. :D

I promise you, this series is worth your time. This is a beautiful piece of storytelling and character building, simple as that. Also, though, it's fascinating and moving and educational about a very important time in the world's history. You won't regret it!

Hi flist! Hi!

I am so ridiculously behind on LJ, because it has been one nonstop weekend! My dad and my sis were here the whole time so I've been doing this and that with them, and basically had no time to keep up with the internets. In the short bits I've caught, I've seen 1) SPN fangirls being crazy, 2) Misha being a darling dork who slashes J2 FOR us, and 3) Gerard being really beautiful in a totally random JPop video. What else have I missed?

Quick recap! On Saturday morning we had the Intercollegiate Student Chemists Conference here at my college, and I gave a presentation in the biochemistry division. It was actually sort of a competition, and I ended up winning first place in my division! Against only 6 other people, but still, that was pretty awesome. :) Then I had a looong dress rehearsal for choir. After that, it was in the 70s and sunny (!) so me and my dad and sis wanted to enjoy the sun. We spotted a baseball game going on near my school, and found that it was my college's baseball and softball teams playing games right next to each other! So we hung out for a few hours in the sun and it was really lovely. The girls were losing 2-0, but then they had an amazing inning in which they scored 6 runs and my friend Jess hit a home run! It was so great and a lovely way to spend the afternoon. Then we went to dinner at a local creperie and UNF UNF it was soooooo delicious. Peach mango strawberry smoothie and chicken caesar crepe and brown sugar/butter crepe, om nom nommm.

Then today, I sang in my choir's big semester performance, and it was kind of a big deal: ( The choir invasion! )

It was a really amazing experience, and a great note to finish my time with the choir. We have *the* most incredible director - he seems to live and breathe music, and the way he coaxes it out of us is so beautiful. And he's just a really sweet, caring guy. It's been a blast singing with him for the past four years. It's definitely something I'm going to miss about college!

While I'm sharing photos, I thought I'd post some really gorgeous ones I've had sitting about for a while. These are mostly from my flight back from San Francisco. It was a beautiful, sunny, clear day, so I had the most beautiful views of the Rockies and a lot of lush grassland. There are also a few pictures from around campus on the beautiful days we've had recently. I hope you like them!

( The beauty of spring )

Well that's it for now! I should do some laundry and try to get caught up on LJ. Mostly I want to read SPN fic (I know right?!) and/or watch old SPN eps and/or old FNL. I'm on a nostalgia kick.

Which! Speaking of! Me and my sister watched Hunted, Playthings, and Nightshifter this weekend. ♥____♥ Season two, you are forever first in my heart!! "We're not workin for the mandroid!!" <333333

I'm not quite sure how this wonderful boy has flown under my radar (okay, I am - he hasn't been on TV. More's the pity!) but now that has been rectified and I have fallen very rapidly completely head over heels. My new boyfriend is named Matthew Goode.



SIGH.

So now I'm going to show you how freaking cute he is. All of these pictures are snagged from Suzikane's amazing gallery. Her whole fansite is really awesomely done. The front page video tribute to Matthew is cheesy but so adorable. I'm really fond. :D

( Matthew Goode in pictures! )

Yay new boyfriend! I need a new one, since now Ewan McGregor is doing tripe like Michael Bay films and ANGELS AND DEMONS. I can't tell you how dismayed I was when I saw him in the trailer before Watchmen. Sigh, Ewan :( What happened? Whatever, I'm replacing you with a younger model who hopefully won't trod all over my heart by choosing shite roles.

ETA: ALKFJSDLFJKSDKL MATTHEW'S NEXT ROLE IS AS AN IRISH GUY IN A FILM SET IN DUBLIN. OMG. BOYFRIEND OF MY HEART ♥______♥ It's called Leap Year, with Amy Adams, who is ADORABLE. YAY.

Ahem! I hope you had fun ogling the pretty. :D

(A quick shout out to the awesome summertea, who has very kindly given me 5GB of space on her domain. This is my christening of that space, hee. Thanks Yin! <3)

Merlin Rec!

Sometimes I Forget I'm Still Awake by paperclipbitch, Arthur/Gwen, PG, 4000 words, big spoilers for 1x12
An absolutely gorgeous, quiet little story about Gwen and her sadness, her complicated fondness for Arthur, and his complicated fondness in return. I can't say more because of spoilers, but if you've seen 1x12 you know what this is about. And it's beautiful. There are some lovely Merlin and Morgana moments as well. Just a wonderful story, and I hope the show does as much justice by Arthur and Gwen.

And now, The Hot People Meme! Basically an excuse to picspam prettiness. Who am I to say no? Going with the random sixteen number because 10 just isn't enough! :) I imposed a strict 5 pictures per person rule or else this would have taken me HOURS. (ETA: Okay, so it took hours anyway. WHOOPS. Pleeeease take a look? Haha.)

( Come see the pretty! Something for everyone, I promise. )

Wow, I... essentially wasted most of the afternoon on that. *FACEPALM* Ummm at least it's very pretty? Sigh.

It's been snowing allll day, it's quite lovely but keeping me from going and doing a couple errands. Classes start tomorrow and it'll be nice to have something to do. So in the meantime I'm basically just being a blob!

Lalala.

So having expressed my frustration with the lack of normal, decent-sized capspams in this fandom, I'm doing something about it! I started with the Lancelot episode because, well, pretty.

Credit for the caps goes entirely to potthead at inadream_caps, except for a small handful I took myself. Mostly of Arthur in the red v-neck tunic. YOU KNOW THE ONE.

108 caps behind the cut! Contains all characters, but with something of a bias towards Arthur because, um. I have eyes! Enjoy!

( Merlin 1x05 Lancelot Picspam )

And thus ends the tale of Lancelot, and how he brought much pretty to the land of Camelot! (And maybe some angst and conflict, but whatever.) If you want the really full size of any of the caps (1280x704) you can either go to the comm they came from where they're up in a gallery (inadream_caps) or ask me for a specific one.

I hope you had fun! :)

XJournal seems to be incompatible with OSX Leopard - I can't use it without it crashing. Sigh sigh! I actually have to use the dumb in-browser entry writer :P

Aaaaanyway. Happy Let's Kill All The People On This Shiny New Land And Call It Our Own Turkey Day! I've never had any particularly strong feelings about Thanksgiving, but it is fun to see family and eat loads of good food. However, I am not home to do that this year! Sigh sigh. Fortunately some of the other American girls on the program here organized a dinner, and even though it was chicken instead of turkey, it was still awesome. I was pleased.

I am thankful for: my daddy (yes he deserves his own mention), my family, my Michelle and my Rob, all you wonderful folks that make my life so much brighter, Colin, my awesome Irish friends, my (almost completely returned) health, my beautiful apartment, the lovely city of Dublin, MCR putting on a kickass live show, and fate conspiring to bring me to the same corner as Gerard Way and Lyn-Z in Dublin.

:)

I decided it was time for a userinfo makeover, or at least a facelift. I made a new userinfo banner featuring the beautiful Gerard and my obsession of the moment, Famous Last Words. That song is just so uplifting and gorgeous. And it's much better to be obsessed with the line "nothing you can say can stop me going home" than "Lately I've been sprawled on these cathedral steps while spitting out the blood and screaming SOMEONE SAVE US." It's healthier, I think :P Check it out! --> exsequar

I also wrote a new blurb about myself. The tiny little bulletpoint list wasn't very satisfactory!

While I was mucking about with Photoshop I also made a bunch of new icons, like this one! Mostly featuring my newest love, MIKEYWAY. I am completely head over heels for this ridiculous boy, you guys. Actually, for both the ridiculous Ways - I'm all heartclenchy with adoration for their complete love and devotion to each other. It's so, so darling. I can date this fixation back to seeing them all over each other all night in London :D They were absolutely presh. This is my new default - oh oh. During the show, Gerard pointed at Mikey during that line ("you can't keep my brother") AND IT WAS SOCUTE. But yes, anyway, I have completely seen the light that is Mikeyway, both glasses-and-bizarre-non-sequiturs Mikey and no-glasses-and-fucking-gorgeous-but-still-bizarre Mikey. I just love him endlessly. Rach was telling me today about the interview where Gerard and Frankie are talking about how hard it is to live with Mikey because he brings a heater into the bathroom and sticks knives in the toaster - can anyone link me to that?? I might have seen it before, but oh, I want to see agaaaain. *grabbyhands*

So that picture I used in the userinfo banner is one of an absolutely gorgeous set of photos taken at the Bratislava show. Someone posted the link to them in chemicalromance. You can find the whole set HERE (toward the bottom) but I wanted to spam some of my favorites, because OH. Pretty, PRETTY Ways.

( If you are here, I'll never have a fear )

So pretty. So so pretty.

I realized I was being incredibly greedy to regret not asking Gerard the questions I wanted to. Because dude, thousands of people wait in line for signings with this guy, most of whom get disappointed, and that's just to walk by him and like, be in his presence. I talked to him for 3 minutes! By myself! He trusted me to give him directions!

Yeah. No regrets. GEEEE <333

Oh oh and one more thing! I finally went and bought a huge MCR poster at HMV. It's goooorgeous. Seeeee? Nnngh, black leather. Nnnnngh Frankie. Nnnnngh Mikey. Nnnnnngh Gee. Nnngh Bob. Nnnngh Ray. SERIOUSLY THEY'RE ALL SO HOT THERE. I don't comprehend such hotness. Mmph. I actually put this poster over all the other stuff I had on my bulletin board (SPN, Panic!, FOB, SGA, BSG, and family/friend photos) because I can't put posters on the wall and I just needed them there. SO PRETTY. *stares happily*

Wow, this was an incredibly long post almost 100% about MCR. Hahaha, um. Obsessed? Me? Nahhh.

Hee.

So I've spent a while poking at all my pictures and videos from Thursday's concert. I prettified the best shots and I'm gonna post them here - they're nothing special, really, but the colors are really nifty on some of them and you really get a sense of what the experience was like for me :) Much better videos than mine are online already though, so I'm just gonna share one video, of the Prison solo, which includes Gerard being flamboyant and priceless and basically sums up the awesome of the show in one concise clip :D

Unfortunately I managed to miss recording all of the best moments. I really really really loved Gee and Mikey's interactions during the whole thing! Of course you've all heard of Gee handing Mikey the mic and Mikey saying "Do I look like Darth Vader in this jacket?" and Gee reacting with "WTF IS HE SAYING?" Translation? My little brother is awesome and you can't have him. \o/ Also, apparently, though I wasn't close to make out the details of this, Gee fisted his fingers in Mikey's hair at one point and kind of tugged his head down, which, nnngh, hotttt. Alllso, he hugged him from behind at one point, and during one song he wrapped himself around Mikey from behind and held the mic to Mikey's mouth, but Mikey didn't sing the line, awww. Hee. Gerard is so obviously overjoyed to have his little bro back with him. I bet he felt like he was missing a LEG or something the whole time Mikey was gone! And Mikey himself was really, just, SO into it, thrashing his hair around and kicking up his little BOOTS and just right up there next to Gerard and oh oh. I HAVE SEEN THE MIKEY WAY. (U c wut I did thar?) I kind of love him desperately. Endless hearts, Mikey Way, endless hearts.

If they were this awesome with only three members, I can only imagine how much they would blow my mind with FRAAAANKIE and BOBBB in there too. Gosh! But I'm so glad I went now, even with all the suffering I went through to do it, because Gee is talking about the next album not coming out til 2009 and they obviously wouldn't tour til after that, SO. It was now or never! And having this experience is just. Yes. I kind of needed it.

So now I'll just let the photos speak for themselves! Feel free to save and do whatever if you're so inclined, but like I said, nothing special :) Except to me, of course. I won't ever be able to look at these or watch my loud, staticky videos without a stupid grin coming to my face. What a fucking amazing night.

( Spend the rest of your day rocking out )

*happysigh* Yay.

Someone at patd just posted a link to a bunch of SUPER DUPER OLD SCHOOL Panic! pics. BAAAABIES. Some of them are endlessly precious (they're all in their pajamas! They all slept on one couch in sleeping bags! HEARTS OMG.) but some of it's creepy too (who is that old guy and what is he doing crawling all over ryan and bden?! WTF IS ON THAT TV?!) Some of the gems (both adorable and creepy) behind the cut!

( Babies in the basement! )

OMG I HEART THEM. :D

My stress about spending so much money and my excitement about seeing MCR in one week are inversely proportional to each other, and the balance is rapidly swinging in favor of the latter.

(Hi, I am a geek. You love me anyway.)

In other words, MCR IN A WEEK OMFGYAAAAAAAAAAAY. As of exactly one week from now I will have just gotten my FACE BLOWN OFF and LOVED IT. Augh *keyboardmash* SO MUCH YAY.

In anticipation I have been watching the live performances on the LOTMS DVD, as well as the making-ofs. UGH THESE BOYS. I opened up my screencapping program again and ended up with 50 caps. I am far too exhausted to share them all with you, but a couple of my favorites...

( Fraaaaaaaaankie. Oh, and some other guys too. ;) )

ONE WEEK ONE WEEK YAYE.

Also a really fun thing I noticed during the Ghost of You making of was BRIAN SCHECHTER. At the end he's on screen for a moment, in full WWII gear, and he says "how about next time someplace dry, like the desert?" HAHA BRIAN ILU!! <333 He's all bitchy and adorable! And so I watched the video with my eyes peeled and you totally see him for a second sitting in front of Mikey on the boat! Endless, endless hearts.

ONE WEEEEEK.

At this moment I am extremely exhausted. I'm not sure why, but I'm gonna go to bed. I have to wake up at some ungodly hour, like 6:00, to get to the immigration bureau before the insane fucking lines form. Um, not looking forward to this, heh. But it has to be done or else I can't go to london! *flails*

(Also, it's 1 AM and my roommate is not home. She never stays out late, and I thought she would tell us if she was going to. Her phone is off. I'm worried, but I don't know what to do other than go to bed and hope she's here in the morning :( )

Things Wot I Love

• The Academy Is...! I love chair dancing and car dancing and grocery store dancing to their music, practically 24/7.
  
• Also in music, I currently love Jamie Cullum (fun modern jazz, very summery), Kelly Clarkson's new CD, Tegan & Sara's "So Jealous," and Xavier Rudd, who I swear sounds exactly like Tom McRae, who, incidentally, I also love.
  
• SHOOOOOEBOX!
  "You stole my cake?" Sirius asks. “I thought I ate it while I wasn’t paying attention.” ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
  
• The fact that James Marsters is going to be on Torchwood. The thought of him and John Barrowman on the same screen, being sexy and snarky and, I quote, "violent and horny," kind of essplodes my brain.
  
• Harry Potter in 3 days guys!! *vibrates*
  
• John&Rodney (RODNEY WORE A BLACK ZIP UP!!!1!!), John&Aeryn (o the angst!), Danny&Rusty (eyefuckery! smirking!), Remus&Sirius (puppies!), and of course Sam&Dean (!!!!). ♥
  
• This icon. Dumbledore's Army FTW!
  
• This picture. Thanks muchly to expatiates's spam of joy!

( Aw hell, I couldn't pick just one - more pretty behind the cut! )

Things Wot I Less Than Love

• Working on my presentation/paper for my summer project. I think I'm *finally* making progress, but it's still a wee bit like pulling teeth. On the bright side, my skillz in Photoshop are serving me well to make my Powerpoint super pretty.
  
• The fact that I have to leave in 2.5 weeks :( I've really gotten comfortable living here on my own, with Awesome Roomie and independence and all that wonderful stuff. I do miss my family, but. It seems like the summer's simply flown by.
  
• No Dave at work today! Everything was very slow and boring and quiet without him.

Lalala pointless LJ post! I don't know why y'all stick around, honestly. Much less why more people keep friending me! It baffles, for serious. Which, by the way, hello new people! Don't be afraid to pop in and say hi, I don't bite!

NEWSFLASH! Emma Watson's brother is just as hot as she is! Complete jailbait material just like her too. His teenage "I don't need to smile, I'll just stand here with my spiky hair and my hand in my pocket" attitude is hilarious. Oh man.

( See? )

Hee. Now on to the real purpose of this post - GEORGE CLOONEY! \o/ When I see a movie with this much eyecandy, I just can't NOT cap, so. Have a picspam! They are in absolutely no order because Flock is retarded and doesn't preserve the order you put the files in, but it doesn't really matter because the only things here are George and George's neck tattoo, with a couple guest spots by Quentin Tarantino (looking creepy as fuck) and Salma Hayek (because hellO!). Not particularly spoilery for the movie either so just come on in! Trust me, you want to. My icon is a wee preview, mmph ♥

Teaser


( From Dusk Till Dawn - 31 large caps )

Here's a brief picspam of everyone's favorite not-so-heterosexual lifemates conmen: Danny Ocean and Rusty Ryan! This is only caps from Ocean's Twelve, as that's the only movie I have at the moment. *g* But bad movie or not, these boys sure do bring the pretty. Caps are in no particular order, just what occurred to me to cap. There's kinda a heavy emphasis on Rusty because, um. PRETTY. Feel free to take for graphics and whatnot!

Warning: Not dial-up friendly! Caps are widescreen, 1024x640 px

Teaser:


( What are you doing? 5:30 day of! We gotta go! )