piecesofalice

I have only decided to 'ship things that are a) impossible b) problematic and c) obvz. going to end badly! *insert Dawson crying gif here*




( UNTIL THE TIDE I WILL WAIT | A Sansa Stark & Sandor Clegane Mix )

Do you guys remember Murder Call? Australian cop procedural with a noir kick that ran on Channel 9 from 1997-2000? No? *proverbial crickets*

Welp, I do. Based on the Tessa Vance novels by Jennifer "Emily Rodda" Rowe, it was the sister program of sorts to Water Rats. Rats was, at the time, an exceptionally popular cop show that was pretty much responsible for shaking up the Aussie TV industry's perceptions of what an Aussie procedural could be, as it was as slick as American shows (well, kind of) - but with a home-grown edge. Murder Call wasn't a direct spin-off; instead it was a strange mish-mash of genres that, at it's best was excellent, and at it's worst? Kind of bad, actually. But Lucy Bell and Peter Mochrie as Tessa and Steve - the city girl and the country boy - have such good chemistry that it's worth staying for the whole, odd, bizarre ride.

I loved both Water Rats and Murder Call, with Murder Call easily being the one I had the softest spot for as I grew up. But, like anything in the Aussie TV industry, the show was either too ambitious or not ambitious enough - take your pick - and was cancelled in 2000 only to disappear without a trace. No DVDs, nothing.

Luckily, it's hugely popular in Europe and has been rerun on 13th Street, Universal's pay-TV crime network. I just managed to get my hands on the whole series and yep, detectives Tessa Vance and Steve Hayden are still Baby's First Partnerz OTP. Because, partnerz.

You guys know that means fanmix and bad fic, right? Right.



( WAKE AND BE FINE | Songs for Tessa and Steve )

As I would recommend you all watch this for the cultural experience and the partnerz aspect, I shall facilitate the procuring of said procedural if need be. *knowing look*

...I really love partnerz, guys.

Fashion 70s goodness (including the return of Ugly Hipster Jumper and a scuba suit) tomorrow - cutselvage has been here this weekend, so we had a good ol' time that sadly wasn't seventies related. Don't be too sad, guys. I promise you paisley!

Anyway, in lieu of fashion polls, I offer you a fanmix I've been sitting on for a while. I wish I could put "making really good fanmixes" on my resume, as I'm sure I'd be the CEO of Fandom Music Inc. easily. Here's one about my new favourite set of partners - Toma and Sebumi from Keizoku 2: SPEC (PARTNERS GUYS).




( THE WEIGHT OF SMOKE | A {SPEC} Mix )

They're the genderswapped Dani and Charlie. They really are. <3

There's a Japanese drama called Trick. If we've talked in the past six months, I've probably mentioned it or you've seen the 2389298392 posts I've made about it on Tumblr. We discovered it whilst in Japan over the New Year, and something - whatever it is - called to me, and I now easily rank it in my top 5 shows of all time.

I can't be eloquent about it, guys. I just really fucking love it.

It's not an easy show to watch - I often don't suggest it when people ask for drama recommendations, because it really runs between the absurd, to the emotional, to the whatthefuck and back again. It can even be hard work in places, especially in season three - but I'll talk about that in the actual post.

But, for all it's faults; for some reason, it just clicks with me. It's got all the things I love in a drama - odd couple, banterin' and bickerin', bizarre events that have nothing to do with anything, a car that acts like a pet, a female character who possibly could be based on me and chemistry that's hits it so far out of the ballpark, it's practically in the next postcode.

I'm going to make a vlog for Lost in Omo! this weekend, and a proper pimp post - but until then, enjoy a selection of music about my favourite out of work magician and repressed physicist.




( SOME OLD-FASHIONED WAY | Songs For The Magician & The Physicist )

That's basically how I feel right now.

As you've probably noticed, I've recently become quite enamoured with Korean pop culture. A lot of this piggy backs on my ~life decision~ to learn another language, but there is a fair amount of LOLZ involved as well. Natch.

Korean pop music - kpop if you're nasty - is. How do I say this...manufactured. Cheesy. Sweet. Amazingly produced. Different. On the curve. Off the curve. A million other adjectives that all lead to one acronym - and say it with me - LOL. It doesn't take its self seriously, which I like. And it's really, really pretty.

A good majority of kpop is shit, but under the crap are great examples of the Hallyu Wave, a cultural phenomenon that helps to highlight Korean pop culture as something more than just that stuff tweens buy. Genuinely interesting production and bubblepop-electric styling help kpop to stand out from the crowd - and I thought I'd make a little mixtape to showcase some of the music that is contributing to the Wave.

Some of it are the idols - miss A, TVXQ!, the YG Family, Brown Eyed Girls et al - some is K(orean)indie, some is undefinable. But these are the tracks that made me sit up and take notice of an industry that has its faults (and how!), but is trying to push the envelope in its own brightly coloured way.

You're not going to find a helluva lot of depth here. But you're sure going to have fun.



( A BRAND NEW SCENE | Kpop For Discerning Adults )

Not deep, and probably not for discerning adults, but that's pop at its finest, right? Put it on your stereo, turn it up and have fun.

My darling firthgal has had a hard couple of days, so I thought I'd make a little fanmix to cheer her up. Except most of the music is wistful and bittersweet and kind of depressing - but if that's not our favourite North Koreans in a nutshell, I don't know what is.




( THE DARKNESS DEFINES WHERE THE LIGHT IS | Songs for Sun Hwa & Chul Young )

Man I love making fanmixes. I hope you feel better, firthgal! <3333

(This one also goes out to my watcher-in-crime, suburbannoir, who probably will kick me for using The National.)

And everyone else? Just enjoy the two BAMFiest BAMFs who ever BAMFed:



DAMN STRAIGHT.

Now with 100% more GaGa! It's...



( WE'LL CONQUER THEM ALL. | More Songs For Shosanna & Fredrick )

Exactly.

Hold on to your bindles! It's another sign I have too much time on my hands and thank god I go back to work soon - a Hobo!Lynley mix!



( The Only Difference Between Lord & Hobo | Vagrant Songs For Hobo!Lynley )

Next week - The Great Manpain Compilation of '09 (featuring Goren, Lynley, Gaius Baltar, Jarod and many, many more)!


_{I really need to stop making myself laugh so much. But I just love hobos and manpain so damn much!}

Christmas present time! jesshelga asked for her "scrappy three-song [Goren and Eames] list" to be completed, and I complied.

Probably not with as much soppiness, but eh. It's Christmas! Note about the ~wanky~ format: with Goren and Eames, I often find the dictionary and one-word sentences sum them up the best - thus the collaboration with Merriam Webster's website. That, and I like words, yo.

Merry Christmas, J.Helg! Enjoy it, or else. Scary music plays




( Everything Is Simple Now | A Modern G&E Mix )

Who else hates the dictionary and me now? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

A couple of weeks ago, I put up a poll asking who I should make a fanmix for. Many days, changes of track listings and picspams later, I present the winner.



( Puzzle With Missing Pieces | Songs for Charlie Crews )

Did you get it? Charlie's free, Zen and zany! BUT. With a dark side. Oh, Charlie.

Permission to collapse into bed with a bung knee? Permission granted!