Tasha's (aka Beren) Journal

Okay, it is once again time for a pimp post to introduce those on my flist who do not know of the delights to
Merlin
Right, so first off, this is not the traditional retelling of Arthur and Merlin, it's far more fun ;)

This is Arthur:	This is Merlin:
played by Bradley James	played by Colin Morgan

So, the first clue that this isn't your normal Merlin story is Merlin's distinct lack of a beard and grey hair and just about anything associated with age and wisdom. Yep, you spotted it: Merlin and Arthur are about the same age. Slashy hearts everywhere beat a little faster :).

Not only is the slash waiting to happen, at every turn characters seem to be telling Arthur and Merlin it should be happening too. We have the Slash Dragon, okay, so he is actually called the Great Dragon, but when he tells Merlin that Arthur is his destiny and they are two sides of the same coin, the Slash Dragon he became and the Slash Dragon he will stay.

In the latest episode Merlin's mum, Hunith, also gave several lovely speeches about how Merlin and Arthur were destined to be together. Okay, so this could have been taken platonically, but we're slashers here (mostly) so let's not bother ;).

Merlin is still learning magic and magic is punishable by death in Camelot under King Uther, so that's where a lot of the tension in the show comes from. The gist of most of the eps is Merlin uses magic to save Arthur and has to hide it, or Arthur does heroic things to save Merlin, even though on their first meeting it was hate at first sight. If you like historical accuracy and inaccuracy drives you batty, then I suggest you don't watch. This is a fantasy show that has great characters, but very wooly history :)

( Other Characters )

Comms
merlinxarthur - all things Merlin/Arthur
merlin_tv - all things to do with the TV show
arthurs_chamber - all things to do with pairings involving Arthur
merlinslash - everything to do with Merlin slash
merlinfic - all Merlin fic
merlin_icons - all Merlin icons
merlin_vids - all Merlin vids
merlinadvent - a Merlin advent fic comm
merlin_flashfic - regular Merlin fic challenges

Archives
The Merlin Fanfiction Archive For all kinds of Merlin fic including RPS.

Links:
BBC Site
Merlin Eps on iPlayer

Okay, so you may have seen me mention these guys once or twice, they're called Panik and they are another pretty German band with oodles of talent. I seem to be collecting German bands these days :).If you think you've seen them before but they had a different name, you'd be right, they used to be Nevada Tan. There was an acrymonious split with their old management and then they found that the name had been trademarked without their knowledge so they had to go back to their old band name.

So who are Panik? They are a bunch of German boys who create a sound that has been likened to Nu Metal and Alternative. Basically heavy rock with some rap. Now normally I hate rap, but Timo's voice is pure sex, I am telling you (ask lirren and she will wax lyrical for ages ;)).

( Okay, so we have: )

Places to go:
UniversalPanik.com - best English site on the web (I may be a wee bit biased on this one :))
PanikFiction.net - all Panik fic
LJ comms:
panikslash (slash only), panikfans, panikfanfiction (het and gen only)

( Youtube vids )

You have Kei (Hyde)

He's a vampire of unspecified origin and age. He meets Sho, who at the time is a child and is surprsingly unafraid when he sees what Kei really is.
Sho grows up a bit (Gackt)

Now you see Kei and Sho as small time gansters with their friends. It's all going spiffingly until bad things happen that I will not spoil for you and the others see Kei feeding on a bad guy.
We skip time again and Sho has become a big man about town since Kei left

Kei is in trouble else where and Sho tries to help him, but Kei really just wants to die. He's about to get his wish when more caca hits the fan and Sho calls him for help, so Kei goes back.
More bad things happen to do with gangsters and tragic females and then we get this beautiful shot

The story is actually het with a love interest and all that, but oh the slashy undertones. Kei literally escapes from death to go back to Sho, and not for a moment does the audience doubt that he would.

If you're interested in purchasing it then it can be found here:
Amazon.co.uk for UK peeps and
Amazon.com for US peeps
and it's on YesAsia.com, but you have to search for it.

It's a great movie, I recommend it; great plot and lovely eyecandy :).