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#scotland triptych series

scotianostra · 1 year

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Happy Birthday to the Scottish actress and director Pollyanna McIntosh born on 15th March 1979 in Edinburgh.

McIntosh grew up in Portugal and Colombia before returning to her native Scotland, where she first began performing, on stage, at The Edinburgh Festival. At 16, she left for London and soon became involved in indie filmmaking, her first paid gig was unaccredited as a stoner in the Irvine Welsh triptych The Acid House, I must remember to ask my mate Gary McCormack if he knows her, as he had a starring role in the film.

Pollyanna moved moved to LA in 2004 where she appeared mainly on stage her biggest role of note was in the stage production The Woolgatherer before she earned her first big screen role, Stacy in 2005’s fantasy horror film, Headspace in 2005.

Although there is not much about her personal life, channel hopping Pollyanna must have been in demand in both the US and over this side of the Atlantic, she turned up in an episode of Taggart in 2009, and some low key US TV movies and a small part in Burke & Hare alongside David Hayman and Simon Pegg. Her first lead role was in a movie called The Woman which won a few awards around the European film festivals.

Back on the TV front Pollyanna was back over here in Waterloo Road and appeared in five of the six episodes of Bob Servant Independent, with the brilliant Brian Cox, the same year she turned up in her second Irvine Welsh film, Filth, with James McAvoy. McIntosh also played a regular in the Children’s BBC show M I High as Crime Minster.

Pollyanna’s first major role over in America was in the excellent Hap and Leonard, where she starred as Angel in Season one, she went on to star in two Seasons of the popular series Walking Dead as Anne ‘Jadis’ and has a recurring role in comedy-drama Lodge 49.

In 2020 Pollyanna starred in the horror thriller Revenge Ride about a young woman who joins an all-female gang and seeks revenge on a group of college American football players Pollyanna turned up as Anne in 6 episodes the spin off series The Walking Dead: World Beyond

Sticking with the horror theme that she has found her niche, she has a starring role in a Western-Horror called The Moonshine Gang of Cheyenne which is currently in development, Pollyanna has also turned up in Vikings: Valhalla as Queen Ælfgifu. Miss McIntosh has a number of projects coming up one being a Sci-fi film The Primary Talent and a short Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting.

IMDB have nothing new on Pollyanna, but there is a chance that she will appear in the upcoming Walking Dead Spinoff after rumors began circulating on social media that Pollyanna has been seen on the set.

#scotland #scottish #actress #the walking dead #tv #film #history #happy birhtday

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inevitably-johnlocked · 4 years

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Do you have any fanficions that are very science-y, if that makes any sense? Like, focused on scientific things, in the writing style or actual experiments incorporated into the story itself? I hope I'm making sense

Hi Nonny!

Ahhh yeah, though a lot of the fics I read have it deep in the fic, lol. BUT!!!! Guess what?? Your ask is the lucky one that spawns a new list I’ve been waiting forever to post the next part for a tonne of new fics, LOL!

As always, gang, if you have a fic more tuned to what Nonny is ACTUALLY looking for, please add them here, LOL. Pt. 1 will have a lot more of what you’re looking for Nonny, since there’s a lot of my FFNet recs on that one, but both lists have great recs!! <3

IT’S AN EXPERIMENT! Pt. 3

See also:

It’s An Experiment!

It’s An Experiment! (Pt. 2)

The Perfect Place by SilverSmile (K+, 1,955 w., 1 Ch. || Humour, Romance, 5 and Ones, Fluff, Experiments, Bed Sharing) – Sherlock attempts to find the perfect place to sleep, but his little experiment proves to be far more difficult than expected.

A Study in Lace by KarlyAnne (E, 2,320 w., 1 Ch. || Est. Rel., Crafty Sherlock, Tiny Lace Panties / Lingerie, Domestics, Experiments, Oral, Masturbation) – “Why do you suppose he was doing that?” “Why do I suppose who was doing what?” “The room. The lace. The secrecy. He was playing with fire in everything he did, and didn’t care one bit. But he had a secret chamber, carefully concealed, solely for the purpose of making lace lingerie. Obviously for personal use. Why?" Part 1 of The Unintentional Crafts of Sherlock Holmes

Insomnia by TheSingingGirl (K+, 2,635 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Humour, Bed Sharing, Sleepy Sherlock) – Sleep is merely the next frontier in what has become the battle to keep Sherlock alive. It's because of this that John ends up in bed with a sociopath.

Undercurrents by entanglednow (E, 2,996 w., 1 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Disturbing Things, Crime Scene Fetish, Pseudo-Necrophilia, PWP, Masturbation) – “There, that's it, perfect, shut your eyes and don't move - and don't speak."

John's Missing Wednesday by PipMer (K+, 2,999 w., 1 Ch. || Pre-Slash, Pre-TSo3, Non-Con Drugged John, Friendship, Experiment) – "Now John I'd poison. ... Sloppy eater – dead easy. I've given him chemicals and compounds that way, he's never even noticed. He missed a whole Wednesday once, didn't have a clue." – The Sign of Three. This is the story of that missing Wednesday.

Museums and Laboratories by RhododendronPonticum (T, 3,004 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Angst, Obsessive Sherlock, Anxious Sherlock, Anxiety/Panic Attack, Separation Anxiety, Doctor John, Co-Dependent Sherlock) – If Sherlock's kitchen was his laboratory, then his bedroom was his museum.

Bathroom Accessories by Evenlodes_Friend (E, 3,324 w., 1 Ch. || Sex Toys, Butt Plug, First Kiss / Time, Romance, Horny Sherlock, John’s Patience Wears Thin, Humour, Bottomlock) – John discovers that Sherlock has been playing with some very adult toys in the bath.

After the Bombs by VampirePam (T, 3,337 w., 2 Ch. || THoB AU, Drugs, John’s PTSD, Panic Attack, Nightmares, Caring Sherlock, Cuddles, Bed Sharing, Angst, Hurt/Comfort) – In which the drugs Sherlock used to dose John trigger a severe episode of PTSD. When terrors old and new cause John to fall apart, Sherlock must rectify his mistake and pick up the pieces.

Experiment by Gwen's Blue Box (K+, 4,222 w., 3 Ch. || Non-Con Drugging, Hurt Comfort, Friendship) – Of course John has always known about his flatmate’s irregular sleeping habits, especially when they’re on a case. This time, however, the case is taking longer and longer, and soon John starts to worry. But there’s not much he can do, is there? Because drugging Sherlock isn’t an option. Not yet, maybe, but will it be soon? {{CW: John drugs Sherlock without his consent}}

Survival Strategies for the Domesticated British Butthole by Atiki (E, 6,183 w., 1 Ch. || Crack, Rimming, Anal Sex, Iced Lolly, Hair Removal, Depilation) – In which there’s a rimming disaster, Sherlock depilates his butt, everything goes very, very wrong and groceries are mistreated. This fic contains hair removal creme in a butthole, ice lollies in a butthole and John Watson's penis in a butthole. You have been warned.

My First, My Only, and My Forever by vintagelilacs (E, 6,220 w., 1 Ch. || Post-ASiB, Virgin Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock’s Bum, John’s Scar, Sherlock POV, Body Worship, Fingering, Bottomlock, Promise of Forever / Proposals, Misunderstanding, First Kiss/Time, Loss of Virginity, Virginity Kink, Seduction) – Sherlock narrowed his eyes. He was missing a vital piece of data, he was sure. John had been looking at him oddly ever since they left Buckingham Palace, and the ensuing incident with Irene Adler had only exacerbated his erratic behaviour. What was it? Why would he care that Sherlock was a virgin? There was nothing reminiscent of mockery or pity in his gaze. And then it hit him. John Watson was aroused.

Time on my hands by Mildredandbobbin (M, 7,179 w., 1 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-S3, One Night Stands, Mutual Pining, Virgin Sherlock, First Time, Sexual Exploration / Discovery, Desperation, Body Worship) – Virginity’s a construct, a concept—what does losing one’s virginity entail for a gay man anyway? Sherlock wants to fill that particular gap in his knowledge but John won’t, can’t, never will assist and there’s only so much desperately unspoken pining even Sherlock can take.

Speak My Language by Itsallfine (T, 7,479 w., 4 Ch. || Thanksgiving, Love Languages, Love Confessions, First Kiss, John Experiments in Sherlock) – When Mrs. Hudson introduces John and Sherlock to the concept of the five love languages, Sherlock descends into a dark mood and John’s curiosity gets the better of him. What is Sherlock’s love language, and why does the whole concept set him so on edge? Part 1 of A Holiday Triptych

Made for You by Raxicoricofallapatorious (K, 8,440 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Sci-Fi, Androids) – When John was shot in the shoulder he was decommissioned and his memory and personality was wiped. Sherlock was given the blank droid and he quickly learns that this droid is more than it seems. John just so happened to come back and no one can fathom how or why. Johnlock if you squint.

Ravish Me by amalnahurriyeh (E, 10,025 w., 1 Ch. || UST / RST, Makeup / Lipstick, Sympathetic Sally, Experiments, Pining John, First Kiss, Face Fucking / BJ’s, Cuddling) – Sherlock is experimenting with patterns of wear on lipstick in daily encounters. John is going to go insane.

You fit me, Sherlock Holmes by orphan_account (G, 10,077 w., 1 Ch. || It’s An Experiment, Bed Sharing, Slow Burn, Fluff and Angst, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Questionable Science) – An unfortunate series of events leads to John accepting being a part of Sherlock's study in physical intimacy. As the days pass by, John realizes he might be in for more than he bargained for. He doesn't entirely mind.

Fucking Cake by Random_Nexus (E, 12,965 w., 1 Ch. || Pre-Slash, Humour/Crack, Inanimate Object Smut, Frottage, “For a Case” / “Experiment”, PWP / Kinky, Mutual Pining, Fluff) – Sherlock brings home a chocolate cake, John finds him about to have sex with said cake, then exceedingly weird hijinx ensue. Part 1 of "Fucking Baked Goods" - Sherlock BBC

Division by MrsNoggin (E, 19,542 w., 11 Ch. || Coffee Shop AU || First Kiss/Time, Fluff, Barista Sherlock, Clingy Sherlock, POV John, John’s Limp, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Sleepy Cuddles, Sensuality, Touching, Virgin Sherlock, Insecure John) – John likes mysteries. And every morning he dips into the local independent coffee bar with his newspaper and ponders another... one Sherlock Holmes.

Hellfire by testosterone_tea (E, 28,596 w., 9 Ch. || Fantasy / Magic / Mages / Elementals AU || Mage Sherlock, Elemental John, Developing Relationship, Torture, Powerful / BAMF John, POV Alternating, Dark / Blood Magic, UST, First Kiss) – Sherlock is a Mage that gets involved with a case involving Dark Summoning rituals, leading him to John Watson, a man with Berserker blood. The only thing is, Berserkers have been extinct for centuries. And of course, nothing involving Mycroft and his interfering ways is ever simple. This time, even Sherlock may have bitten off more than he can chew.

Never Change a Running System by Lorelei_Lee (E, 54,246 w., 18 Ch. || Pre-TRF, Romance, Humour, Drama, Sex Toys, Anal, Rimming, Masturbation, Frottage, Blow Jobs, Public Sex, First Kiss / Time, Virgin Sherlock / Loss of Virginity, Accidental Voyeurism, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Experiments, Naive Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock, Possessive Sherlock, Straight With an Exception John, Hand Jobs) – Sherlock discovers his sexuality – with far-reaching consequences for John.

Being John Watson-ish by elwinglyre (E, 69,902 w., 17 Ch. || Bodysnatcher AU || Author John, Cranky Sherlock, Angst, Sexual Tension, First Kiss / Time, Falling in Love, BAMF John, Past Soldier John, Feelings, Inside Someone’s Brain, Shy Sherlock, Sherlock Loves John, POV Sherlock, Switchlock, Slow Burn, Internal Dialogue, Mental Turmoil) – When consulting detective Sherlock Holmes steps on one toe too many at a crime scene, he's consigned to a desk job in an archaic office on the seventh-and-a-half floor of the New Scotland Yard. It’s in this bleak office that Sherlock discovers a portal into the mind of renowned author John Watson. Grander than his mind palace, this new wonderland affords Sherlock new vistas of experimentation. To learn more about the mystery behind the portal, Sherlock seeks out and befriends Watson. But then it all goes wrong when others find the secret portal door—including the man whose brain he visits.

Northwest Passage by Kryptaria (E, 95,157 w., 27 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Canadian AU || BAMF!John, Canadian John, PTSD, Anal / Oral Sex, Rimming, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Drug Rehab, Falling in Love, Pining Sherlock, Love Confessions, Sherlock’s Violin, Panic Attacks, Switching, Anxious / Protective Sherlock, Hugs for Comfort, Suicide Mentions, Healing Each Other) – Seven years ago, Captain John Watson of the Canadian Forces Medical Service withdrew from society, seeking a simple, isolated life in the distant northern wilderness of Canada. Though he survives from one day to the next, he doesn't truly live until someone from his dark past calls in a favor and turns his world upside-down with the introduction of Sherlock Holmes." Part 1 of Tales from the Northwest

The Adventure of the Silver Scars by tangledblue (NR [M], 142,458 w., 41 Ch. || S3 Fix-It, Post-HLV/ Post-TAB / Canon Compliant, Case Fic, No Baby, Angst, Humour, UST, Slow Burn, Angry John, Reconciliation, Not Nice Mary / Leaving Mary, Dependent Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Caretaker John, Fist Fights, It’s An Experiment, Virgin Sherlock, Dancing, Drugging, John Whump, Pet Names, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Scars) – It’s been thirteen months since Mary shot Sherlock and John finds he’s still pissed off about it. Sherlock had thought everything was settled: John and Mary, domestic bliss. But when John turns up at Baker Street with suitcases, the world’s only consulting detective might not be prepared for the consequences. A new case. Some old scores to settle. Certain danger. Concertos, waltzes, and whisky.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #my fic recs #it's an experiment #Anonymous #fic rec sunday

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contemporaryartreflectionljmu · 3 years

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Rachel MacLean: Modern Day Master

,‘Sickly sweet’ and ‘coloured with an absurdist comedy’ (Brown, 2018). ‘Tacky, kitsch and utterly repellent’ (Saunders, 2018). ‘A constant back and forth between the seductive and the unsettling’ (Couston, 2016). These are just a few ways the saccharine colour schemed work of artist Rachel MacLean has been described.

Rachel MacLean. Image: David Bebber, 2019

Possibly the most pertinent contemporary artist of our time, MacLean’s works are predominantly digital videos (Couston, 2016). Born in 1987, Maclean has gained attention in recent years, even going on to represent Scotland at the 2017 Venice Biennale (Saunders, 2018).

I first discovered the work of Rachel MacLean when she curated Too Cute (2019) at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The exhibition, alongside an explanation video by “Dr Cute”, played by MacLean, drew me in, in a way no exhibition had before.

For Too Cute, MacLean had juxtaposed ‘contemporary objects and art with those from the Nineteenth Century’ (King, 2019). The questions the exhibition aimed to raise were one factor that intrigued me. Have people always had a compulsion to all things cute and lovely? Has the idea of cuteness changed over the generations? At what point does cute cross the line into scary and repelling?

Still from Dr Cute video. Image: Art Fund, 2019 https://www.artfund.org/whats-on/exhibitions/2019/01/26/too-cute-exhibition

The other factor was the way these questions were presented to the viewer. While Dr Cute’s video touched on serious themes such as escapism from our daily lives and the excesses of consumerism, it was almost masked by the candy colours, exaggeration, reference to pop culture and satirical element. ‘Cuteness is a huge part of contemporary life: advertising, filters, emojis, memes, fashion’ and so on (King, 2019). Therefore, while MacLean’s art seemed absurd, it was, as with much of her work, ‘at once entrancingly strange and disturbingly familiar’ (Langley, 2016).

So, what exactly does Rachel MacLean do? Within her videos the artist uses green screen technology to display digitally created imagined backgrounds (Couston, 2016). Alongside digital editing, MacLean’s aesthetic is marked by a continuous reference to pop culture and mass media tropes. For example, Feed Me (2015) includes ‘X-factor style auditions, skin cream ads, Disney style sing-alongs and a soap opera’ (Couston, 2016). However, MacLean takes the merging of the real and the imagined one step further; her films are ‘collaged from found objects’ (Langley, 2016) and often contain found audio sources, ranging from Britain’s Got Talent to David Cameron’s speeches (Couston, 2016).

Still from Feed Me. Image: Frieze, 2016 https://www.frieze.com/article/focus-rachel-maclean

MacLean’s characters are distinct art works in their own right. Her characters, ‘taken from Disney animations and fairytales or inspired by commercial advertising,’ (Couston, 2016) are made up of found objects such as wigs, masks, and ‘elaborate candy-coloured costumes’ (Brooks, 2018). With MacLean a fan of caricature (Saunders, 2018), it is no surprise that her characters possess jarring features, whether accentuated teeth or melting skin. As MacLean explains in an interview, “there’s a strange power in the grotesque,” it can be easily and purposefully achieved, as opposed to today’s beauty standards that aim to keep you buying (Brooks, 2018).

Still from Spite Your Face. Image: ArtRabbit, 2018 https://www.artrabbit.com/events/rachel-maclean-spite-your-face-chapter

Among her influences MacLean counts Cindy Sherman particularly her portraits; “it feels very relevant now to the age of social media… people representing themselves in photographs as their idealised self” (Brown, 2018). Additionally, she is inspired by video artists Shana Moulton and Ryan Trecartin (Langley, 2016). Comedy has impacted MacLean’s work, evident by the satirical nature of her films; “you can talk about serious ideas without it feeling too weighty… laughing at systems of power is quite a powerful thing” (Brown, 2018). However, perhaps somewhat unexpected at first glance, MacLean’s work is steeped in Art History. A fan of Bosch’s Renaissance triptychs and Hogarth’s eighteenth-century cartoons (Saunders, 2018), the influence of the past on MacLean’s work can be seen in Spite Your Face (2017) with Piero della Francesca’s one point perspective, and the ‘crowded, flattened world of a Giotto fresco’ (Brown, 2018), and in Make Me Up (2018) in which MacLean challenges ‘the male oriented art canon’ (Brown, 2018).

Still from Make Me Up. Image: Rachel MacLean, 2018 http://www.rachelmaclean.com/make-me-up-film/

MacLean’s works encapsulate a range of themes and ideas paramount in today’s society. She ‘presents a critical and satirical view of the excesses of consumerism,’ even touching on the commercialisation of happiness and wellbeing (Couston, 2016). During filming for Channel 4’s Artist in Residence series, MacLean was able to delve deeper into this, after living inside Birmingham’s Bull Ring shopping centre. Of consumerism, she stated, “it’s an entire culture that necessitates dissatisfaction,” and thus was born a new character; the Satisfaction Bunny (Brooks, 2018). MacLean also discussed the hidden level of censorship in what are seemingly public spaces, after not being able to film in shops or interview staff; “the only way was to make art about the level of censorship around these brands” (Brooks, 2018).

MacLean outside the Bullring as the Satisfaction Bunny. Image: The Guardian, 2018 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/aug/05/rachel-maclean-artists-in-residence-channel-4-birmingham-bullring

MacLean has touched on various types of identity within her work; The Lion and The Unicorn (2012) and A Whole New World (2014) engages with Britain’s national identity and colonial past while Feed Me explores the class divide (Langley, 2016). Make Me Up, on the other hand, explores women’s suffrage and male fear at female empowerment (Saunders, 2018). The recurring presence of technology and reliance on smart phones is another identifier of MacLean’s work, with the ‘unnervingly cutesy aesthetic’ (Langley, 2016) being compared to that of social media filters (Brown, 2018). Throughout all of this, characters within the films speak directly to the camera; MacLean is confronting us, urging the audience to directly engage with issues presented to them (Langley, 2016).

Still from A Whole New World. Image: BBC, 2013 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p052dh8s

Rachel MacLean isn’t the first or only artist to analyse these themes. However, the aesthetic she uses and the continuous references to the modern day make her works difficult to ignore, and her ideas more easily accessible and understood. This is furthered by the range of influences she draws on, ‘from Baroque architecture to Korean pop videos’ (Saunders, 2018). I am fascinated with how MacLean is able to reflect modern society in her works, using satire to get us to subconsciously question it ourselves. As Frieze sums it up, MacLean ‘exaggerates pop culture in order to reveal its underlying absurdities, heightening our awareness of reality rather than providing fanciful distraction from it’ (Langley, 2016).

Rachel MacLean. Image: The Herald Scotland, 2016 https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14481256.meet-rachel-maclean-candy-coloured-nightmare-world-artist-represent-scotland-venice-20

Sources:

Brooks, L. (2018) Rachel MacLean: My month in hell as the Bullring bunny [Online] Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/aug/05/rachel-maclean-artists-in-residence-channel-4-birmingham-bullring (Accessed: 5th March 2021)

Brown, G. M. (2018) Rachel MacLean: Satire for the Age of Snapchat [Online] Financial Times. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/a6cb6d0a-bfee-11e8-95b1-d36dfef1b89a (Accessed: 7th March 2021)

Couston, E. (2016) Five Minutes on Rachel Maclean [Online] Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/rachel-maclean-art-now (Accessed: 7th March 2021)

King, J. (2019) Too Cute! What happens when sweet gets sinister? [Online] Art UK. Available at: https://artuk.org/discover/stories/too-cute-what-happens-when-sweet-gets-sinister (Accessed: 5th March 2021)

Langley, P. (2016) In Focus: Rachel MacLean [Online] Frieze. Available at: https://www.frieze.com/article/focus-rachel-maclean (Accessed: 5th March 2021)

Saunders, T. F. (2018) Rachel MacLean interview: ‘There’s a fear that if women makes jokes they’re going to start laughing at men’ [Online] The Telegraph. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/artists/rachel-maclean-interview-fear-women-make-jokes-going-start-laughing/ (Accessed: 7th March 2021)

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rekakrajnyak98 · 5 years

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Triptych

Definition: A triptych is a work of art that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open.

Few examples:

Francis Bacon: Three Studies of George Dyer

Stephen Sheffield: Smoke, Shake, Shame.

Brief:

I. Without the use of words produce a series of connected images that visually illustrate who you are.

II.Exploring the work of other photographers and/or artists will help you develop a ‘visual story’ for your own work.Give some thought to the things that are important to you. Everything you have ever done, the places you visit, the music you love, the stuff you keep, the memories and mementos carefully stored away are all part of what makes you unique. Consider how you might best illustrate who you are.

III. Produce: One A3 ‘triptych’ portfolio quality print.The three images must include: 1.A self-portrait. 2. A place you’re connected to. 3.An object significant to you.

Ideas:

I first started by listing things about me. Objects and places that are important to me as well as characteristics and flaws I have.

Object:

I chose photos of my friends as my object as they are very important for me. When it came to taking the photo I had several ideas. First, I thought of creating a kind of ‘family tree’ ( as my friends here in Scotland became a kind of family for me since my actual family is back home) by hanging them on a tree which did not turn out as I has imagined it. Next I chose different pictures, not friends from here but back home. I thought of representing the distance we have between us or maybe the fragility of our friendship. Maybe take a photograph of a photo album while I'm turning the pages using slow shutter speed

Example

Or with fading photographs

Location:

That was the hardest one for me as I have a lot of favorite places I really wanted to use and photograph for this project but for several reasons I couldn’t. I first thought of places in Hungary but unfortunately I’m not travelling back any time soon. It was the same with Isle of Skye which became one of my favorite places but I can’t go back there before the deadline. Therefore, I spent a lot of time thinking about places in Glasgow which have a meaning for me. I chose the place I first visited when I arrived to Glasgow last year, the Cathedral.

Self-Portrait:

For the self-portrait I wanted to represent my anxiousness, my shyness and my really bad habit of overthinking everything.

Examples:

Shooting

I started with my self portrait. I tried different approaches, most of them turned out to be very similar to the ones above. But I wasn't happy with them because of too many similarities and I wanted to be more creative and create something that would truly represent me.

First attempt

After deciding to shoot a more creative and original self portrait I started thinking and overthinking a lot. I came up with lots of different ideas but none of them seemed to work as I had imagined them. After a long talk with one of my friends about how we feel here in Scotland, I came up with an idea (my final one) for a self portrait so I ran home and started shooting it, this time without overthinking it.

I wanted to show one side of how Scotland, the culture and people make me feel here. I wanted to represent confusion, isolation and anxiety caused by the cultural/language barrier. After the feedbacks I got from the class, I achieved, more or less, to deliver this message.

I had a second idea that I wanted to represent on this photograph but it didn’t come through. We have a proverb in Hungarian, “You are as many different people, as many languages you speak” (not sure about the translation). It basically means that when a person learns and starts speaking another language their personality and the way they think changes. I find the fact that language can influence and define one’s personality very powerful and confusing. So, when I was thinking about who I am felt utterly lost. I’m not sure if my English-speaking self or the Hungarian one the true me. Or it might be both. I might try and take some other shots in order to deliver this message clearly.

After photographing my self-portrait, my idea for the object seemed to clear up as well. I wanted to create the same ‘spherical’ approach that my self-portrait had. For this, I had to look for something spherical that I could put in front of the lens. As my object I had decided to use my old friends’ pictures.

I used a disc in front of the lens trying to create an ‘unapproachable’ feeling in order to show how I feel about these memories now looking back at them. I wanted to show the distance between us and the distance between the time they were taken and now. It seems very far away when we made these memories although it was only about 2 years ago. They aren’t necessarily good memories, but I keep looking back at them to see how much we and our life changed. Looking at this photograph makes me feel the distance, sadness and grief of the loss of friends and I hope it gives a very similar message to everyone else as well.

I struggled a lot with my location as i couldn't find a place in Glasgow that was really important for me. I went to the Cathedral as i previously planned.

I found this cage next to the Cathedral and I started shooting it. For me, these pictures represent isolation and the distant feeling from people. However, after getting feedback from the class, it didn't come through at all. The fact that we can clearly see the cemetery gives a very different message that I didn't intend to represent. Moreover, I feel like these images give the same messages that I’ve already shown on the first two photographs ( self-portrait and object).

If I come up with a different location that actually has some meaning for me, I would very much like to shoot that for my triptych.

#whoareyou

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the-paintrist · 6 years

Photo

Thomas Millie Dow - Moonlight In The Alps -

Thomas Millie Dow (28 October 1848 – 3 July 1919) was a Scottish artist and member of the Glasgow Boys school. He was a member of The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour and the New English Art Club.

Dow was born 28 October 1848 at Dysart, Fife. He was educated for the law and was expected to follow his father and brother into the family law firm in Kirkcaldy. Deciding against a career in law, Dow went to Paris in 1877 and enrolled for classes at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts under Jean-Léon Gérôme. Later, in 1879 he registered with the ateliers of Rudolphe Julien and Carolus Duran. Of his earlier instruction in painting and drawing little is known except for the encouragement he received from his uncle Alexander Millie, an amateur artist.

Two young men among the many young British and American students registered for classes in Paris in the late 1870s became Dow's particular friends. They were the Englishman William Stott of Oldham and the American Abbott Handerson Thayer. Both men were to remain important figures in Dow's personal and professional life and, as both had strong personalities and strong ideas about art, they came to exert a considerable influence over the artistic choices he made. Among other friends studying in Paris at the time were the Glasgow-based artists John Lavery, Alexander Roche, James Paterson and Alexander Mann.

Dow painted in oils, watercolour and pastels. His subjects include flower studies, landscapes, portraits and decorative allegorical works. The geographical range of his landscapes extends through Scotland, the northeastern United States, Morocco, northern Italy and Cornwall. Using a subtly refined palette he chose to depict the quiet moods of nature. The subjects of his compositions range from the intense stillness of woodland to the calm before a storm at sea; and from dusk deepening on a northern shore to the lifting haze of a Mediterranean spring morning.

From 1877 to 1879 Dow spent the winters in the Paris studios and making occasional sketching excursions with fellow students Mann, Paterson, and Bell, to the villages of Barbizon and Grez-sur-Loing in the Forest of Fontainebleau. Summers were spent painting in the towns and villages along the east coast of Scotland, travelling from Dysart through St Andrews and on up to Stonehaven, Cullen, Cowie, Collieston and Forvie Ness.

Upon his return from Paris and based at home in Dysart records show Dow exhibiting at the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) in Edinburgh from 1878 and at the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Art (RGIFA) from 1879. However his letters to the Thayer family from this period reveal the degree of anxiety he felt about he direction his career should take.

On 6 September 1883 Dow sailed on the "Devonia" from Glasgow to New York. From there he travelled up the Hudson River to the home of Abbott Thayer and his wife Kate Bloede at Cornwall-on-Hudson. (Thayer had built there a studio on land owned by the Stillman family.) Dow stayed in the US into the early summer of 1884. During these several months he produced what may be his best-known landscape, The Hudson River (Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow). It is a view of the river taken from the Thayer’s house.

The US visit had re-invigorated Dow. His letters to Thayer between 1885–87 reveal his renewed enthusiasm for landscape. During this period he produced Ragweed and Crows (Hunterian, University of Glasgow), among other fine paintings. Dow traveled out of the city, south to Moniaive, for his first allegorical painting The Coming of Spring, and north for his study of birches, In a Wood at [[Forres]], which was bought by Alexander Mann. He had begun a series of commissions, the first being Portrait of John Nairn (Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery) and writes of working on a likeness in pastels of his sister Mary Lady in Black (private collection). Dow was at this time sharing the Glasgow studio of William York Macgregor and living with Mary and her husband Allan McLean, the lawyer, amateur painter and art collector.

It is for the work completed between 1885 and 1895 that Dow is most closely associated with that group of artists who later became known as the Glasgow Boys. Dow is among the 21 Glasgow-based artists whose work is assessed in David Martin's contemporary account entitled The Glasgow School of Painting (George Bell & Sons 1897). In his piece on Dow Martin wrote as follows. "His perception of colour is similar to his use of paint – keen and refined; and his observation of nature such as to give a true feeling of form, without a slavish imitation." Clearly Dow's subject matter and technique appealed to Martin. And he draws attention to what others have found since in Dow's work, that is, his "faculty of placing on canvas the essence of the abstract qualities of his subject, with a fine decorative arrangement of line and colour masses, and, let the theme be an idyllic landscape or an imaginative figure-subject, he combines in a satisfactory result the ideal with the real".

Though the Glasgow School grouping was "geographical in nature rather than stylistic" as Paul Harris makes clear in his introduction to the 1976 edition of Martin's account, it was to gain them a wider audience. Exhibitions at the Grosvenor Gallery and the Grafton Galleries in London led to invitations from Secession galleries in Vienna, Munich, Berlin in the 1890s and, later, to exhibitions in U.S. cities. Dow also joined the New English Art Club (NEAC) in 1887 and exhibited with them until 1891. Dow spent the summer of 1888 travelling in Switzerland and Germany painting in the mountains, some of the time in the company of William Stott. Stott's Portrait of Tom Dow is held in Edinburgh by the National Galleries of Scotland. He spent the winter/spring 88/89 in Morocco. Among his Tangier paintings is the pastel A Spring Day, Morocco (Kirkcaldy AG).

Dow married Florence Pilcher (née Cox) in 1891. Florence, a widow, had a boy and a girl from her first marriage. Dow’s own daughter Mary Rosamond was born in 1892. Two years later, in 1894, the family moved from Glasgow to St Ives, Cornwall where Dow joined his friends and fellow painters Louis Grier and Lowell Dyer as members of the St Ives Art Club. Though living far from Glasgow, records show that Dow continued to exhibit there and in other cities in Scotland. Among his paintings shown at the RGIFA in 1892 were The Enchanted Wood (private collection) and, in 1894, The Herald of Winter 1894 (McManus Galleries Dundee).

For several years from 1896 the Dows spent the winter months in Italy. His Italian paintings include several watercolours and pastels of Apennine valleys and villages and some well-known Venetian landmarks. For his larger pieces he continued to paint allegorical subjects: The Kelpie 1895 (whereabouts unknown), A Vision of Spring 1901 (Manchester Art Gallery), the triptych Eve 1904 (Walker Art Gallery), and Sirens of the North 1911 (McManus Galleries Dundee). Of the Cornish paintings his most frequent subject in both oils and pastels is the harbour at St Ives. This he depicts in contrasting moods, busy with boats in the sunshine and lying calm under a moonlit sky.

Dow died on 3 July 1919 at St Ives, Cornwall, England and is buried at Zennor.

#Thomas Millie Dow #uk #Glascow boys #landscape #mountains #moonlit #history

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lindsay36ho · 3 years

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A Scottish-Viennese Odyssey

When Dutch pianist Ronald Brautigam were in Sweden in September to play two piano concertos with Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra we talked with the performer in the midst of rehearsal. The concert was recorded for Helsingborg Concert Hall Play series and, according to Brautigam, contemporary Sally Beamish’s 1st piano concerto named ”Hill Stanzas” and Mozart’s 17th make a very fine musical combination in a concert program.

Piano Street: You are here in Sweden to perform two piano concertos with Helsingborg Symphony and conductor David Nieman. We are all familiar with piano concertos but not so much with one of its composers; contemporary British Sally Beamish. What has nourished your interest in her music?

Ronald Brautigam: I Met Sally in Manchester when I was playing with the BBC Philharmonic with Andrew Manze who used to be the conductor here in Helsingborg, and they were playing a premiere of a piece she’d written and I liked her music. I knew her music because a lot of it has come out on the same company where I record with, and it’s a sort of music that appeals to me and especially the fact that she is Scottish and my wife being Scottish too. I’ve always had a very strong relationship with the country. That was actually why I contacted her and asked if she was interested in writing a piano concerto for me, and she immediately said yes, and we met up. She came to Amsterdam, we met and talked about what sort of music and what kind of ideas I had and in the end we both came up with the idea of something inspired by the landscape of the Grampian Mountains which is the central part of the Scottish Highlands where I spend lots of time during the summer, and she went there and composed the piece in the middle of this nature between all the birds and the deer and waterfalls. And so a lot of that is incorporated into the music.

PS: So it’s basically nature based?

RB: It’s actually based on a book by a Scottish author, Nan Shepherd, who writes about her walk through the Cairngorms, and she incorporated this into the music. And in the third and fourth movement, we are suddenly tucked into Scottish Folk history and folk stories about ghosts, violinists and things. When you walk in Scotland and you’ve had a few glasses of whiskey, this sort of horror stories come naturally to you.

PS: Beamish has composed concertos for other instruments such as viola, cello, trumpet and flute and has herself a background as an orchestral (violist) musician. How would you describe this quality when it comes to writing for the piano?

RB: Well, apart from being a viola player, I think she’s a very capable pianist, although she would deny that herself, so she knows exactly what’s possible and what’s not possible. It’s a challenging piano part but all playable. I think she even tried to play it herself and that’s always a good sign. She knows how to write for the piano and after this concerto she has written two other piano concertos. There are three concertos which were written in quite a short time, a triptych where one is about the waters of Scotland, their storms and danger spots for ships and fishing and the way you can really go down. The other one is more about Scottish cities. So it’s a Scottish triptych, these three piano concertos. Nature, the water and the cities.

PS: The piano concerto you’re playing today, did you make it in a collaboration or in conversation?

RB: I always find you should let a composer do whatever they want to do and don’t interfere, just play what they write. Sally knew my playing and I think she mentioned somewhere my lovely sound and beautiful touch, and a lot of that is to be found in the music, so it’s written with the performer in mind.

PS: We mostly know you in the Viennese Classical repertoire – both on period instruments and on modern. Which are your personal thoughts on the second concerto this evening; Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17.

RB: I find it being one of Mozart’s most spectacular piano concertos. It’s so beautiful. The first movement is this almost like it’s got a bit of shyness the way it starts. As if Mozart opens the door and says is it safe to come in… If you compare that to the final part of the last movement which is pure joy, and almost like slapstick throwing pies at each other. I mean it’s got all his character traits in one piano concerto, a very serious slow movement. So it’s great music to play. I absolutely love it!

PS: Is it often played, this concerto?

Not as often as for instance the big A major or the C and D Minor Concertos. Those are the war horses on stage. There’s such an enormous amount of Mozart Concertos to choose from. This was actually the same piano concerto that I played at all the premiere concerts and the Beamish Concerto in combination with this Mozart piano concerto makes a very nice combo.

Watch the recored livestream:

youtube

from Piano Street’s Classical Piano News https://www.pianostreet.com/blog/articles/a-scottish-viennese-odyssey-10789/

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zoemathersfmp2 · 4 years

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Tracey Holland

Tracey holland uses objects, paint, drawing, light, flip photography to create work. These are mainly installation pieces which over the past 24 years have been shown both in the uk and internationally. For the past 12 years she has been working with moving image, exploring the integration of the moving and still image/ still image sequences within a piece of work. she often deals in images that have an innate sense of history and contain elements of the naturalistic. But often these are out of place or askew. She combined different objects that are embodying a more personal iconography the work is layered with place, time and history.

One exhibition she did was called : Magnetic Aitals

This body of work was commissioned by 20-21 visual arts centre and funded by the Arts council. First shown at johns church, Scunthorpe, uk in January 2014. The site specific film installations ordinalia Huldra and the sleeper falls were made for the chancel and bell tower of the church. Charged vessels and infinite bodies photographic series were grouped in and around the chancel bell tower. The Magnetic Aitals was shown at Sheffield institute of arts (SIA) at Sheffield Hallam university in 2016 and toured to Grmsby minster 2017. It was also shown at comer arts centre, An Tobar Scotland in 2018.

Ordinalia - 12 ships lanterns and railway lamps were free hung into the chancel of st. John church. Three central lanterns play a synchronised film triptych exploring themes from the apocryphal miracle play ‘ordinalia’. Fragments of film portraying environments which hold an sense of the miraculous and symbolic surround them.

Huldra - A3 screen synchronised film exploring the theme of the guiding light and what can occur when we loose out way or are mislead by illusion. The film takes its title from Scandinavian folk tale Huldra she is a spirt that dwells In the winter woods and leads her victims deep into the forest until they are lost forever.

The sleeper falls - This single screen film made for the projected into the bell tower of st. johns church. Chine film still sequences and digital footage and interwoven and layered. in the work we see a dreamer move through the forest and seemingly float through a vortex of brick and trees to the top of the tower to retrieve an egg from a nest.

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imaginepirates · 9 months

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Scotland Location Two: The Isle of Sky is Meant for Hiking. And Getting Kidnapped by the Fae.

Scotland Triptych 2/?

#me #travel #scotland #photography #scotland triptych series #hiking #isle of skye #the cheat image in here is Eilean Donan Castle which was on the drive

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scotianostra · 2 years

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Happy 43rd Birthday to the Scottish actress and director Pollyanna McIntosh born on 15th March 1979 in Edinburgh.

In 2020 Pollyanna starred in the horror thriller Revenge Ride about a young woman who joins an all-female gang and seeks revenge on a group of college American football players. She reprising her role as Anne “Jadis” in the anticipated The Walking Dead Movie although it seems we are no further forward with that since it was initially first mentioned 4 years ago, Pollyanna , meantime turned up as Anne in 6 episodes the spin off series The Walking Dead: World Beyond

Pollyanna McIntosh does her bit for charity, campaigning for the Joshua Nolan Foundation, raising funds for counselling sessions for grief-stricken relatives and those at risk of suicide, she is married to Grant Show who plays Blake Carrington in the reboot of Dynasty. She is quite active on social media, on Twitter, where she wears her Scottish pride with the following; Scottish. Not crap, and Instagram, where I pinched two of the photos, the one with the red head dress she says was for an audition for Hell Boy. Pollyanna is currently on the comic-con circuit, where she has a table with memorabilia she is auctioning for charity. Pollyanna has a Gofund me page on her Insta for a friend who was knocked down in a hit and run and has brain injuries, she has also been plugging Doctors Without Borders on her twitter page.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/nialls-traumatic-brain-injury-recovery?utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1&utm_medium=chat&utm_source=whatsapp

#Scotland #scottish #Actress #director #film star #the walking dead #Edinburgh #happy birhtday

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inevitably-johnlocked · 5 years

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Hi! Can you rec some canon slow burn fics? I love that kind of thing, friends to lovers, case fics etc. I am also new to the fandom and let me tell you - your blog is amazing. ♡

Anonymous said to inevitably-johnlocked: Hi Steph, do you know of any slow build/first proclamation of love fics? Preferably told from Sherlock’s POV or a mix of both, something like “A Road Less Traveled” by verityburns? Thanks

Anonymous said to inevitably-johnlocked: do you know any really long slow burn fics that don’t have smut? sorry i really just don’t like smut cause im ace

Hi Nonnies!

First of all, thank you so much for your kind words about my blog, Nonny 1!! I’m glad you’re enjoying it, and welcome to the fandom!!

Second of all, of course I can rec y’all some slow burn fics! I’ve a lot of them! I’ll just give them all to you, and y’all can filter out the AU fics / POV fics, etc. because I always write in my tags if it’s an AU / POV fic if I remember :)

Nonny 3, just check out the fics below for anything not rated above T, and you should be good

Love you, Nonnies, and I hope you find something you’re looking for! (thought I did LOL) so I’ve added it to my MFL section!

FALLING IN LOVE / SLOW BURN / DEV. REL.

See also:

T-RATED Pt. 1: Friends To Lovers Fics || [MOBILE LINK]

Friends to Lovers [FULL POST] || [MOBILE POST]

First Time || [MOBILE]

John Will Never Forget by gelos (bia_mpinto) (NR, 244 w. || Fluff, First Time, Love Confessions) – John will never forget Sherlock’s everything.

Of Locks and Keys by Youarethelightoftheworld (G, 574 w. || H/C, Angst, Falling in Love, Friendship) – He listens to the steady beating of John’s heart and thinks of his own; weak and vulnerable, but aching to be released.

A Need To Know Basis by mattsloved1 (G, 934 w. || Humour, Romance) – As the cab door shut firmly, the DI had yelled out they were to make an appearance at Scotland Yard the next day. It was while John watched London pass by that it happened.

Moonshine by CKLizzy (T, 1,408 w. || Cuddling / Snuggling, Touching, Dev. Rel., Bed Sharing, Comfort, Touching) – Sometimes, routines changed. Sequel to “Nightfall”. Part 2 of Solace

I love you, I say by khoshekhskitten (G, 1,576 w. || Pre & Post TRF, Hurt / Comfort, First Kiss, Love Confessions) – “I love you” is a phrase that follows John Watson through his life with Sherlock Holmes.

Blanket Burrito by All_I_need (G, 1,894 w. || Tooth Rotting Fluff, Pining Sherlock, POV Sherlock, Sort-Of Love Confession) – John, a blanket-wrapped burrito of laughing sunshine in a ratty t-shirt, notices. Of all the moments for him to be observant, this is the one he chooses.

Five Times Sherlock gave John a Pebble and One Time John Returned the Gesture by grimmfairy (NR, 1,895 w. || Love Confessions, Penguins and Pebbles, Nervous / Pining Sherlock, Oblivious John) – Sherlock isn’t good with words, so he decides to tell John his feelings the way penguins do, by bringing him pebbles with different meanings. John catches on.

Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil by PipMer (T, 1,895 w. || Deaf John, Mute Sherlock, Friends to Lovers, Romance, Fluff and Angst, Character Study, Morse Code, Love Confessions) – John is deaf. Sherlock is mute. There are no two people more suited for each other.

Duvet (green) by Mazarin221b (G, 2,021 w. || Post-THoB, Mind Palace, Revelations, First Kiss) – Sherlock recalibrates and restructures his mind palace so it looks like 221b. What he chooses to put in John’s room is a bit of a surprise, and a revelation.

The Importance of Torn Papers by MyLittleCornerOfSherlock (G, 2,427 w || Pre-Slash, Love Declarations, Fluff) – Little things make a big difference, even little notes of thanks. Small reminders to show he cares.

Where You Are by Mazarin221b (E, 2,478 w. || Beach Sex, First Time, Fluff, Smut, Holidays, Pining) – He can admit he’s secretly a little glad Sherlock didn’t come with him. He needs a break. Sherlock is a handful at the best of times, and the near-constant apologizing, fixing, dealing-with, and following up on is exhausting. The near-constant unrequited attraction is a bit exhausting, too, to be honest, and John could really use a tiny bit of rest from the relentless hammering on his brain and heart.

Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down by standbygo (M, 3,282 w. || Post-S4, Five Plus One, Missing Scenes, Parenthood, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Cuddling & Snuggling, Hurt/Comfort, Declarations of Love, Fluff, Food, John Whump) – Five times when Sherlock and John ate together, and one time they didn’t. A history of the boys, in food.

A Bit of Indulgence by beltainefaerie (NR, 3,364 w. || Fake Relationship, Pride Parade, Declarations of Love, Fluff, Dev. Rel., Case Fic) – A case leads John and Sherlock to fake being boyfriends and John runs into an old acquaintance.

nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands by miss_frankenstein (T, 3,731 w. || Kissing in the Rain, Angst With Happy Ending) – In which John and Sherlock finally confront their feelings for each other - as only they would do - in the pouring rain.

Tell Me a Secret, Sherlock Holmes. by DaringlyDomestic (NR, 3,880 w. || Love Confessions, Truth or Dare, Smut, Gentle Explicit Love, Microscopic Angst) – John’s voice is low and seductive, sending a shiver of want crackling through his stomach. Sherlock’s heart beats frantically against his ribcage, and his breathing grows fast as he feels John’s lips flutter against the sensitive skin of his neck. The kiss, if it could really be called that, is so quick and so light that Sherlock is almost convinced he had imagined it. Part 9 of Tumblr Drabble Challenge

Five Times John Cooked Something with Peas and One First Kiss by 221b_careful_what_you_wish_for (T, 3,915 w. || 5 and Ones, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Cooking / Food, Sick Sherlock, Music, Domestic Fluff, First Kiss) – After John cooks five dinners that slowly reveal their hunger for each other, Sherlock and John finally share a first kiss.

Jukebox by standbygo (T, 3,990 w. || Fluff, Singing/Music, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Hurt/Comfort, Humour, Friends to Lovers, First Kiss) – After the music halls of Sherlock’s mind palace get damaged by accident, John learns that Sherlock never forgets a song. Even the ones he’d rather forget. But the random singalong brings some unexpected benefits.

The Sum of His Parts by CommonNonsense (T, 4,311 w. || Body Worship, Pining, First Time) – There are eleven major organ systems in the human body. Sherlock knows about all of them to some degree, but none fascinate him as much as the ones that make up John Watson.

Law of Reciprocals by thequeergiraffe (T, 4,377 w. || Fluff, Angst) – “Law of Reciprocals, is it? You’ve saved my life enough times. I figure, turnabout’s fair play.” Sherlock finds ways to reciprocate his appreciation of John.

Overture by Kate_Lear (M, 4,435 w. || First Kiss / Time, Friends to Lovers, Angry John, Introspection, Dev. Rel., Embarassed / Insecure Sherlock, Morning After, Bed Sharing, Cuddles / Limpet Sherlock) – A short snippet on how John and Sherlock might have got together.

A Quiet Murmuration by cathedral_carver (T, 4,684 w. || Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Kissing) – Just pay me back with one thousand kisses.

Confessions by crimsonwinter (T, 4,711 w. || Love Confessions, Fluff) – John and Sherlock finally confess their love for each other.

How Will I Know? by eragon19 (E, 4,895 w. || Pining, Love Confessions, POV Sherlock, Fluff, Sherlock’s Imagination, Papa Lestrade) – Here was the problem: Sherlock Holmes was completely and irrevocably in love with John Watson, and he had absolutely no idea how to tell him.

Laid Bare by esplanade (T, 6,529 w. || Romance, Fluff, Pining, Angst) – “I suppose it comes as no surprise that I always rather detested grand romantic gestures. They struck me as unnecessary and contrived, feeble attempts at desperately holding together relationships, most of which should have been allowed to fall apart.”

where the good things grow by anchors (M, 7,066 w. || Alternate First Meeting, Magical Realism, Gardens, Tea, Friends to Lovers) – “I have a magic garden.” As come-ons go, John’s heard worse.

Speak My Language by Itsallfine (T, 7,479 w. || Thanksgiving, Love Languages, Love Confessions, First Kiss) – When Mrs. Hudson introduces John and Sherlock to the concept of the five love languages, Sherlock descends into a dark mood and John’s curiosity gets the better of him. What is Sherlock’s love language, and why does the whole concept set him so on edge? Part 1 of A Holiday Triptych]

Unwasted by patternofdefiance (E, 8,966 w. || Post-S3 / S3 Fix-It, Developing Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Angelo’s, Fluff, First Time, Anal, Cum Play, Flashbacks to ASiB, Mutual Pining, Love Confessions, Bottomlock, Cuddles, Multiple Orgasms, BJ’s, Bed Sharing) – John finds it three months after he’s moved back. He’s on the hunt for something to make for dinner, is scrounging through the cupboards, when he happens upon the graveyard of pasta boxes Sherlock still seems to create when left to his own devices. Behind seven boxes of pasta, all almost completely empty, is a dark-glassed bottle, with a paler coat of dust.It’s unopened. John’s face falls slack when he sees it, instantly recognises it, and for a long moment he just stands and looks at it.

Inked in Memory by 221b_hound (E, 9,716 w. || Post-HLV, Tattoos, First Kiss / Time, Anal, Cuddling, Scars, Captain John, Kissing, Switchlock) – John has been back at Baker Street for a year, following the debacle that ended in Mary’s death. Things are good. Back almost to what they used to be. Sherlock might wish they were something else, now, but he only has himself to blame, he thinks. It’s too late, now, for the things he first denied before he’d ruined any chances he might have had. Sherlock also thinks that people who get tattoos are idiots. But perhaps he’s about to learn a thing or two, not least of which might be it’s not as late as he thinks it is. Part 1 of Lock and Key

Ravish Me by amalnahurriyeh (E, 10,025 w. || UST / RST, Makeup / Lipstick, Sympathetic Sally, Experiments, Pining John, First Kiss, Face Fucking / BJ’s, Cuddling) – Sherlock is experimenting with patterns of wear on lipstick in daily encounters. John is going to go insane.

You fit me, Sherlock Holmes by orphan_account (G, 10,077 w. || Fluff, Slow Burn, Idiots in Love, Experiments) – An unfortunate series of events leads to John accepting being a part of Sherlock’s study in physical intimacy. As the days pass by, John realizes he might be in for more than he bargained for. He doesn’t entirely mind.

The River Variations by withoutawish (T, 11,619 w. || Soulmates, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Three Garridebs, Romance, Light Case Fic, Near Death Experience, Angst and Fluff) – John Watson never knew that he wanted a ‘no toast in the mornings’ normal until he realized what an honor it is to be destroyed by Sherlock Holmes.

The Nutcracker by Odamaki (T, 13,758 w. || Nutcracker AU || Christmas, Dark Magic, Dolls) – Sherlock is unimpressed with Uncle Rudy’s present. A doll? What does he want with a doll?

Pattern Behaviour by SilentAuror (E, 14,835 w. || POV First Person Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Introspection, Stroppy Sherlock, Light Humour, Friendship, John Takes Care of Sherlock, First Kiss/Time, Wall Kisses, Fluffy Angst, Happy Ending) – Sherlock doesn’t even know why he resents John’s dates so much. Until the day he does know. Slight angst, unrequited feelings (but don’t let that scare you off!)

Merlot by Itsallfine (E, 14,844 w. || Christmas, Pining Sherlock, Wine, Slow Burn, First Kiss / Time, Love Confessions, Wine, Holmes Family) – Sherlock and John work toward becoming something more as they prepare to host the Holmes parents at 221B for the holidays. Part of 25 Days of Fic-Mas 2015.

Twelfth Night by yourdykeinshiningarmor (E, 15,139 w. || Fake Relationship, Christmas, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers, Angst & Fluff, BJ’s, Anal) – John is invited to his aunt’s Twelfth Night ball. Sherlock offers to attend with him as a friendly face among strangers, but John’s family force him to address his true feelings for Sherlock.

Everlasting by cypress_tree (M, 16,884 w. || Magical Realism, First Time, Immortality, Angst & Fluff) – Most lives end. A Tuck Everlasting fusion, in which the Holmes brothers have lived for a very, very long time.

Uncharted Territory by J_Baillier (T, 19,603 w. || Dystopian Future / Black Mirror AU || Angst, Drama, Homophobia, Bisexuality, Technology, Humour, Romance, Near Future, Happy Ending) – The System puts people through a series of assigned relationships in order to determine who their Perfect Match is. John believes that it works; Sherlock really, really doesn’t. One of them is probably going to be wrong.

At the Heart of it All by SilentAuror (E, 19,812 w. || Virgin Sherlock, Post S3, POV John, Domestics, First Time, Kissing, Romance) – John has been back at Baker Street for four months now and thinks it’s about time they had the Talk to see whether or not they could be more than friends. Sherlock has a lot of uncertainty about this concept for multiple reasons. Unabashed romance.

Through the Clouds by Mazarin221b (E, 20,004 w. || Retirement, Sussex, Bees, Home Improvement, First Time, Romance) – Sherlock takes a remarkably early retirement at 47, and convinces John that a change of pace would do them both good. They buy an old cottage on the South Downs, and exchange their nonstop life in Baker Street for quiet contemplation, bee studies, and book writing. They might go completely insane, but sometimes it takes stepping outside of the life you’re living to find the life you want. Part 1 of Through The Clouds

A Life Well-Lived by Kate_Lear (E, 20,121 w. || Original Male Character, Sherlock Woos John, Jealous Sherlock, Reluctant Bi-John, Past Abuse, Insecure John, Reassuring / Caring Sherlock, Protective Sherlock, Understanding Sherlock) – John got scared off men by an abusive past relationship. Sherlock has to try and woo him while not scaring him off with protective possessive rage.

whiskies neat by Ellipsical (E, 20,660 w. || Alternate First Meeting, POV Second Person Sherlock, Slow Burn, One Night Stand, Rimming, Blow Jobs, Anal, Soldier John, Crying, Emotional Lovemaking, Switchlock) – Home and hearth and whiskies neat, or, alternatively, Sherlock Holmes falls in love.

Ghost Stories by SwissMiss (M, 22,256 w. || Pining, Holmes Family, Christmas, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, First Time) – Sherlock’s parents think he and John are a couple. They might be onto something.

Sonatina in G Minor by SilentAuror (E, 22,574 w. || Case Fic, POV Sherlock, Angst, UST, Sherlock’s Violin, Post-S3, Romance) – John has come back to Baker Street, but Sherlock doesn’t understand the strange tension between them, even after he begins teaching John to play the violin at John’s request.

Maintaining A Personal Life by Gingerhermit (E, 24,284 w. || Alternating POV’s, Bisexuality, BAMF!John, Romance / Drama, Sort-of Case Fic, Peril & Angst, Love Confessions, Toplock, Soft Idiots in Love, Post S3) – Sherlock and John discover some interesting revelations about each other’s sexuality, which lead them both to question the assumptions they’ve made about one another for years. In the midst of their mutual discoveries, a dangerous psychopath looms on the side-lines who threatens to destroy their new beginning.

Tomorrow’s Song by agirlsname (M, 24,645 w. || Post-TRF, POV Sherlock, Angst with a Happy Ending, Virgin / Repressed Sherlock, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, Pining) – How can he think a relationship with me would be a good idea? I am the sort of person to take a break from my life and when I come back after two years, I expect to find it exactly as I left it. In reality I find it shattered to pieces. (I actually equate you with my life. When did I start doing that?)

State of Flux by Atiki (E, 24,655 w. || Sherlock POV, Slow Burn, First Kiss/Time, Friends to Lovers, Frottage, Cuddles and Snuggles, Awkwardness, Insecure/Virgin Sherlock, Romance) – John’s marriage is over and he is finally back home (i.e. at Baker Street, where he belongs). Sherlock is awfully insecure and John is awfully hesitant, and they’re both awkward idiots, of course, but they figure it out. Many First Times happen.

Dropping the Act by jadztone (T, 27,258 w. || Parentlock, Fake Relationship, Mary’s Family, Post-S4, Cuddling & Snuggling, Bed Sharing, Pining, Christmas) – Sherlock and John are quite happy living together with Rosie in Baker St. They might be even happier if they didn’t act towards each other like their love is only platonic. Mycroft brings troubling news in the form of Mary’s parents wanting to know just what their grandchild’s home life is like. The boys decide to spend Christmas pretending like they are in love in order to seem more like a “normal” family. It’s easy enough to pretend when all you’re doing is dropping the act.

Don’t Leave Anything Out by lookupkate (E, 27,422 w. || Epistolary, Falling in Love, Misunderstandings, Alternate First Meeting) – The first letter John writes home from Afghanistan is meant to go to a woman he went on only one date with. How it ends up in Sherlock’s hands is completely innocent. What happens next is not. What do you do when you find out the person you’re in love with has been lying about something as monumental as who they are? What do you do when you’re the one who lied? How on earth do you put the pieces back together?

Hellfire by testosterone_tea (E, 28,596 w. || Fantasy / Magic / Mages / Elementals AU || Mage Sherlock, Elemental John, Developing Relationship, Torture, Powerful / BAMF John, POV Alternating, Dark / Blood Magic, UST, First Kiss) – Sherlock is a Mage that gets involved with a case involving Dark Summoning rituals, leading him to John Watson, a man with Berserker blood. The only thing is, Berserkers have been extinct for centuries. And of course, nothing involving Mycroft and his interfering ways is ever simple. This time, even Sherlock may have bitten off more than he can chew.

Another Auld Lang Syne by DiscordantWords (M, 30,234 w. || Post S4, Mutual Pining, Alternating POV, Introspection, Parentlock, Christmas, New Year’s, First Kiss, Past Drug Use, Angst with Happy Ending, Drinking, Sherlock Whump) – There had been years of missed chances.

The Kissing Disease by cottonballz_of_death (E, 30,856 || Sickfic, Angst with Happy Ending, Case Fic, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, Jealous Sherlock, Body Image Issues, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional H/C, POV Sherlock, Oral / Anal, Thong, Frottage) – John brings home a boyfriend, shocking Sherlock, who long ago gave up hope that his straight flatmate would ever take a romantic interest in him. In a bid to reconnect with John, he tries to infect himself with a “harmless” virus. Neither of them is prepared for the emotional fallout that results.

Love or What You Will by miss_frankenstein (T, 31,987 w. || College/Uni AU || Professor John, Ph.D Student Sherlock, Pining John, Poetry, Falling in Love / Slow Burn, Light Angst, Happy Ending) – John is an English professor who specializes in War and Post-War Literature and Sherlock is the brilliant yet impossible Ph.D. student assigned to be his TA because no one in the Chemistry Department is willing to put up with him. And - somewhere between Waugh and Plath, e-mails and takeaway, novels and villanelles - they fall in love.

Five Times They Kissed for a Case, and One Time They Kissed for Real by fleetwood_mouse (M, 32,406 w. || 5+1, Slow Burn, Fluff / Angst, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers) – A stolen ring! An artful blogger! And many more adventures for your enjoyment.

Chaperones by MissDavis (T, 34,114 w. || 11 Years Post-S4, Fake Relationship, Parentlock, Disney World, Bed / Room Sharing, Friends to Lovers, Fluff, First Kiss, Obsessive Sherlock, Insecure John) – Right. Of course. Everyone assumed they were a couple and no one would question it. John put his elbows up on the table so he could rest his head in his hands. “You want to pretend to be a couple so we can chaperone a trip to Disney World with Rosie’s class and you won’t have to share a room with a stranger?” “Exactly.” Sherlock beamed at him. “Don’t worry about the cost. The Birmingham case last month paid more than enough to cover expenses for all three of us.”

Bedtime Stories by Liketheriver (M, 34,388 w. || Emotional H/C, Romance, Angst & Humour, Bed Sharing, John First Person, TRF, John Whump) – John’s POV during Season 2 and beyond when Sherlock takes up semi-permanent residence in his bed. A collection of codas and missing scenes wrapped up into one long fic and topped with a bow that takes the story beyond Reichenbach and into happy territory once more. Part 1 of Bedtime Universe

Classified(s) by blueink3 (E, 36,153 w. || Wedding Date AU || Fake Relationship, Jealous, PIning, H/C, Idiots in Love, Happy Ending, Mary is not Nice) – Clara’s American father is the ambassador to some such territory that Great Britain probably used to own, but she (and Harry’s undying love for her) is the reason John is getting on a flight at 12:30pm, flying across the second largest ocean in the world, and pretending to be in a perfectly happy, healthy relationship with an undoubtedly perfectly coiffed stranger. See, Clara is not only American (and wealthy to boot), she’s also best friends with John’s ex-fiancée. Whom she’s placed in the wedding party. As Maid of Honor. And John just happens to be Best Man. Bloody brilliant.

The Boy Who Drank Stars by kinklock (E, 36,157 w. || Howl’s Moving Castle AU || Witches and Wizards, Slow Burn, Magic, Jealous John, Happy Ending, Bed Sharing) – “I’m looking for a castle,” John informed the scarecrow. “A moving one.”Except that, as it turned out, it was not a moving one at all.

Nothing to Make a Song About by emmagrant01 (E, 36,833 w. || Post-TRF, First Time, Reunion, Jealous John, Pining Sherlock, Romance, Angst with Happy Ending) – When Sherlock returned from his faked death, John could not forgive him for the deception and broke off their friendship. Ten years later, John returns to London in search of yet another new beginning. Sherlock, not surprisingly, is waiting.

(Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea by DiscordantWords (M, 39,968 w. || Post S4 Fix It || Grief / Mourning, Victor Trevor, Friendship, Sherlock is Not Okay, Nightmares/Flashbacks/Panic Attacks, Parentlock, Pining Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, John Comes Home) – Baker Street is very much the same. Only different. And Sherlock is just trying not to drown.

Act IV by SilentAuror (E, 39,707 w. || First Person POV Sherlock, HLV Fix-It, Indifelity, Angst, Drama) – After Sherlock is shot, John moves back into Baker Street. They spend the autumn together as John tries to make sense of his life and make some important decisions about both Mary and Sherlock. Canon-compliant, excerpts from His Last Vow.

In the Still of the Night by SilentAuror (E, 42,234 w. || S4 Fix It / Post-S4, Sherlock POV, Angst, Drama, Romance, Virgin Sherlock, Awkwardness, Misunderstandings / Miscommunications, Case Fic, Travelling, Pining) – As locals on the Northeastern coast begin to report UFO sightings, life at Baker Street becomes significantly awkward as John brings up his desire for more than friendship and Sherlock refuses him. They embark on the investigation from the confines of the tiny cottage Mycroft has rented for them, attempting to navigate both the clues of the case as well as their own inability to communicate…

The Soul Remembers by i_ship_an_armada (E, 43,636 w. || Oblivion AU || Post-Apocalypse, Movie Fusion, Science Fiction, Action/Adventure, Angst, Dreams, Bittersweet Ending) – John Watson is the lone security repairman stationed on a desolate, nearly-ruined future Earth. His dreams are plagued by a tall, dark-haired man, and when his dreams meet reality, he will be forced to question everything he believes is the truth about his life.

Sentenced by SarahKnight (T, 44,777 w. || Dev. Rel., Alternate S4 Canon, Drama, Angst, Pining, Feelings are Hard) – Virtual series 4 opener. Sherlock’s in prison being targeted by a murderer, John’s married to a pregnant assassin and Moriarty’s back.

The Real Great Perfumers by shelleysprometheus (E, 45,355 w. || Case Fic, Alternating POV, Gay Sherlock / Bi John, Canon Compliant with Divergence at TRF, Friends to Lovers, Oral / Anal, Pining, First Kiss / Time, Dev. Rel., Drugging, Body Worship, Bathing, Love Confessions, Travelling, Bottomlock, Cranky Sherlock, BJ’s, Alternating POV, Jealous John) – The case, this case. This extraordinary, fascinating, scintillating case. A house. Designed entirely by its eccentric owner, built by no less than five hundred expert tradesmen in the heart of Marrakesh. A house that had, seemingly not only driven its owner out, but also to his quite unpleasant death. And a perfumer, a chemist no less, the very thought of the secrets that house could reveal, would reveal was irresistible. Sherlock had to have this case … and it seems, he also had to have John! Part 1 of the Forethought and Fire series

The Norwood Love Builders by flawedamythyst (T, 47,798 w. || Fake Relationship, Slow Burn, Post TRF Angst) – Sherlock and John go undercover to solve the murder of Joanna Oldacre, but things are complicated by the many feelings John has been repressing in the wake of Sherlock’s faked death and return.

The Pieces That Fall to Earth by Itsallfine (M, 49,513 w. || S4 Fix-It, Epistolary, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, Parentlock, Past Abuse, Coming Out, Questioning Sexuality, Mental Health Issues / Therapy, Angst, Happy Ending) – John and Sherlock have hit rock bottom, but with all their armor stripped away, they can finally speak honestly, seek healing, and find the truths that matter most.An epistolary post-s4 fix-it fic. Now complete.(This fic is rated T except for one very clearly marked and easily skippable chapter, which is rated M.) Part 1 of The Pieces that Fall to Earth

Triage by scullyseviltwin (E, 51,612 w. || Character Injury, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Falling in Love, Slow Burn, Sherlock POV) – Sherlock’s mind goes exceedingly, devastatingly quiet and gray-blank. When he speaks it’s through a thick haze, it’s through molasses, he’s so disconnected from the words that it may as well be the unconscious shooter speaking.

Spare Change by Ermerness (E, 51,966 w. || Rich Sherlock AU, Virgin Sherlock, First Time, Alternate First Meeting) – The Holmes family is one of the richest and most powerful in England. Sherlock spends his time flying around the world on the family’s private jet drinking a lot and shopping at expensive boutiques as a way of trying to alleviate his endless boredom. His mother decides it’s time he settles down with someone powerful, wealthy and well connected. John Watson happens to be none of those things.

Coventry by standbygo (E, 52,020 w. || Dollhouse AU || Case Fic, Slow Burn, Sci-Fi / Fantasy, First Kiss / Time, Attempted Rape, BAMF John) – “Let me get this straight,” John said, wondering when his life had become a science fiction film. “Some guy orders up a personality, a person, to his specifications, and they program this into a real live person, who has consented to do this, and she goes to this person and acts as his wife, or lawyer, or Royal Marine, or Navy Seal or what have you, and she has all the skills, all the knowledge, everything? Then you say the magic words, and she follows you back to The House, and they erase it all until her next appointment?”

Never Change a Running System by Lorelei_Lee (E, 54,246 w. || Pre-TRF, Romance, Humour, Drama, Sex Toys, Anal, Rimming, Masturbation, Frottage, Blow Jobs, Public Sex, First Kiss / Time, Virgin Sherlock / Loss of Virginity, Accidental Voyeurism, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Experiments, Naive Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock, Possessive Sherlock, Straight With an Exception John, Hand Jobs) – Sherlock discovers his sexuality – with far-reaching consequences for John.

A Hundred Crimson Sols by elldotsee (E, 55,536 w. || Astronauts AU || Mars Exploration / Space Travel, Slow Burn, Shy Sherlock, Scientist Sherlock / Biomed Engineer John, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, UST, Angst with Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injuries, Suicidal Ideation, Zero-G Sex) – Will Holmes is a chemical researcher recognized widely for his contributions to the new Mars exploration program. Thanks to his ground-breaking developments, the IMMC (International Mars Mission Corporation) is one step closer to Martian colonization. Will and his team of scientists are headed out on the first of three manned missions before the first group of settlers arrive. Three days before launch, one of the crew has to be replaced. Will panics because��new people. The replacement is of course one John Watson, biomedical engineer and space hottie who was pretty sure he had retired from actual space exploration and was now content to work in the nice, quiet research lab. Can the crew survive this TOTALLY ROUTINE trip? Will they be able to endure each other for the looooooong trip in close quarters? Gonna be a wild ride… prepare for blast off. Part 1 of the SpaceBois go to Space series

One Little Change by jadztone (E, 58,312 w. || ASiB Divergence, Fake Relationship, Bed Sharing, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers, First Kiss / Time, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Bi John / Gay Demisexual Sherlock, Switchlock, Alternating POV, Jealousy, Misunderstandings, Case Fic, Angst with Happy Ending, Emotional Love Making, Butt Plugs, Cuddles) – Our story begins right after John and Sherlock’s first meeting with Irene Adler in September. It splits off into an AU that imagines them taking a case where they act as bait to hook a killer targeting closeted gays in secret relationships. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, many things happen that have our boys wondering if maybe they have a chance with each other. Then Irene fakes her death on Christmas Eve, and things get a lot more complicated - especially since they still have a killer to catch.

floating through a dark blue sky by Lediona (M, 58,966 w. || Notting Hilll AU || POV John, Celebrity Sherlock, First Date / Time / Kiss, Past Drug Addiction, Angst with a Happy Ending) – Of course, I’d seen his films and always thought he was, well, brilliant – but, you know, a million miles from the world I live in. Or, when John is the owner of a travel book shop and the famous Sherlock Holmes stops in one day.

The Progress of Sherlock Holmes by ivyblossom (E, 62,006 w || First Person Sherlock POV, Pining, Angst, Slow Burn, Infidelity, Sherlock Learns About Himself, Happy Ending) – Sherlock struggles with his feelings for John, makes a mistake, and learns just how important he and John are to each other. Non-BBC Mary / John, but it’s a *complicated* relationship.

This Thing All Things Devours by cypress_tree (E, 63,844 w. || In Time AU || Science Fiction, Dystopian Universe, First Meetings, Action / Adventure, Romance) – In 2169, time is money—literally. Humans are genetically engineered to stop aging at 25, when the numbers on their arm start counting down from one year. When that time is up, they die. The only way to get more time is to earn it, borrow it, or steal it.John Watson lives day-to-day in the crowded slums of Zone 13. He never imagined living any differently—until he meets the practically-immortal Sherlock, and helps him on a case to track a local time-thief…

The Bells of King’s College by SilentAuror (E, 64,019 w. || Post-S4, Missed Opportunities, Angst with Happy Ending, Fake Relationship, Case Fic, John POV, Jealous John, John in Denial, Travelling / Holidays, Virgin Sherlock, Wedding Proposals) – It’s only been two weeks since Eurus Holmes disrupted their lives when Mycroft sends John and Sherlock to Cambridge to pose as an engaged couple at a wedding show in the hopes of solving six unsolved deaths…

Summit Fever by J_Baillier (M, 78,802 w. || Mountain Climber AU || POV John, Angst, Tragedy, Suicidal Ideation, The Himalayas, Mountain Guide / Doctor John, Mount Climber Sherlock, Loneliness, Drama, Suspense, Slow Burn, Injured Sherlock / Sherlock Whump, Pining John) – After graduating from medical school, John Watson followed his heart to the Himalayas. Ten years later, he’s a haunted cynic working for his ex-lover’s trekking and mountaineering company. Will leading an expedition to Annapurna I—the most lethal of all the world’s highest mountains—shake John out of his reverie, and who is the mystery client added to the group at the last minute?

A Case of Identity by jkay1980 (T, 91,009 w. || Fake Relationship, Post-TRF, Case Fic) – John and Sherlock have succeeded in rebuilding their friendship after Sherlock’s fake suicide, but an unusual case puts their relationship to the test. They pretend to be engaged and attend a marriage counseling workshop. Under the pretext of the case, Sherlock turns out to be a master of seduction, and John finally learns he might like Sherlock more than he thought. Slowly, John discovers that he loves Sherlock not only in a friendly, brotherly way, but both men have to fight their own demons before they can think of taking their relationship to a new level…

The Cost of a Wish by slashscribe (E, 102,493 w. || xxxHolic Fusion || Spirits / Ghosts and Magic, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, Soul Mates / Fated Lovers, Adventure, Immortal Sherlock, Powerful John, POV John, Frottage, Wish Granting, Angst with Happy Ending, Nightmares) – John has been plagued by a secret his entire life that has made him feel hopeless until he meets a mysterious, seemingly omniscient man named Sherlock Holmes who owns a wish-granting shop. Their meeting sets off a series of inevitable events that will change the course of both of their lives forever.

The Wedding Garments by cwb (E, 105,390 w. || Alternate Future AU || , Alternate First Meeting, Dating / Arranged Marriages, Romance, First Kiss/Time, Heavy Petting, Cuddles, POV Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn / Falling in Love / Dev. Rel., Nervous/Anxious Sherlock, Jealous/Cranky, Hiking, Vacation Homes / Honeymoon, Sherlock’s Family, Horny John/Sherlock, Patient John, Massages, Hand Jobs, Assassination Plots, Hand Jobs / Oral Sex) – This is the story of a young consulting detective who wants nothing to do with marriage and an army doctor who wants to find true love. It’s 2020 post-Brexit England and the British government is encouraging arranged marriages. Candidates meet through state-run agencies and date in hopes of finding love (and tax benefits). Sherlock doesn’t need or want a spouse, at least not until John Watson shows up. Hesitant to give in to his more carnal urges because of the way they derail his mind, how will Sherlock progress toward the more intimate aspects of a relationship? The answer lies in a very special wedding gift.

A Study in Winning by Jupiter_Ash (E, 106,658 w. || Tennis AU || John POV, Dirty Talk, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings, Happy Ending, Sherlock Speaks French, Switchlock, Wimbledon) – John and Sherlock are professional tennis players and it’s Wimbledon. One is a broken almost was at the end of his career, the other an arrogant rising star tipped for greatness. It should have been a straightforward tournament. It really should have been. How were they to know that a chance encounter would change everything? Part 1 of Tennis

Eyes Up, Heels Down by CodenameMeretricious (E, 107,845 w. || Sports Equestrian AU || Fluff, Angst, Humour, Rider!Sherlock, Groomer!John, Show Jumping, Slow Burn, Happy Ending) – Sherlock is a top eventing rider currently training at Baker Farms. John is the new groom who’s been told to steer clear of the surly rider and his horses. Part 1 of Baker Farms

A Further Sea by i_ship_an_armada & ShinySherlock (E, 125,492 w. || Historical Pirates AU || Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Doctor John / Pirate Captain Sherlock, Sailing, UST / RST, Masturbation, Action / Adventure, Mild Angst & Peril, Romance, Shaving, Molly/Janine, Bottomlock, Hand / Blow Jobs, Past Drug Use, Slow Burn, Mild Violence, Happy Ending) – Here be a tale of adventure for both body and soul, but beware if ye be not of stout heart, for this be piratelock, ya savvy? Luckless ship’s surgeon John Watson takes a chance, and finds himself eye to eye with The Ghost, the scourge of the seven seas and a definite thorn in the side of the blaggard, James Moriarty. But when John finds there’s more to this most cunning pirate than be meetin’ the eye, he has to choose… is it a pirate’s life for him?

To Light Another’s Path by BeautifulFiction (E, 128,654 w. || Post-TGG, Sick Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Drug Addiction / Recreational Drug Use, First Time / Kiss, Case Fic) – Teaching John to observe seems to be a losing battle, but when Sherlock falls ill and submits himself to John’s care, will he realise that there is more to life than the science of deduction? Meanwhile, there is a murder to solve, and John must try and convince Sherlock not to sacrifice his own health for the sake of the case.

Colors by Quesarasara (E, 140,537 w. || Pleasantville-Inspired AU || Soulmates, Colour Bonds, Alternating POV, Angst, Fluff, Pining, Case Fic, Medical Procedures) – Everyone on earth is born with eyes that see in black, white, and an endless series of greys. When you meet your soulmate, you finally see the world in color. We’re all searching for the person who brings color to our lives. John and Sherlock are no exception. Part 1 of The Colors ‘Verse

Mise en Place by azriona (M, 161,004 w. || Restaurant (Kitchen Nightmares) AU || Sherlock is Gordon Ramsay / Celebrity Sherlock, Restauranteur John, Harry Plays Prominent Role, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, Cranky Sherlock, Bed Sharing, Slow Burn) – John Watson had no intentions of taking over the family business, but when he returns from Afghanistan, battered and bruised, and discovers that his sister Harry has run their restaurant into the ground, he doesn’t have much choice. There’s only one thing that can save the Empire from closing for good – the celebrity star of the BBC series Restaurant Reconstructed, Chef Sherlock Holmes. Part 1 of Mise en Place

The Gilded Cage by BeautifulFiction (E, 326,887 w. || Omegaverse || Omega Sherlock / Alpha John, Friends to Lovers, Dub Con, Reproductive Rights) – In a world where Omegas are the property of the elite Alphas, locked away and treasured by those wealthy enough to buy them, John never questioned his flatmate’s secondary gender. Sherlock Holmes was an Alpha through-and through. Wasn’t he? A chance discovery turns the world on its head, and John is left grappling to come to terms with Sherlock’s past as events conspire to threaten their future.

MARKED FOR LATER

(these are fics I have in my MFL list for future reading and have not read them yet. Read at your own discretion).

And Then There Were Two by NimWallace (T, 10,194 w. || Post S4, Mutual Pining, Case Fic, Slow Burn, Angst, Grief / Mourning, Mystery, Cults) – It’s quiet at Baker Street. Too quiet. It’s been a year since Mary died, but only a few months since the events of the Final Problem, and Sherlock and John have fallen into a state of despairing and monotony. So when a case involving a vicious cult on the English Country side appears, they quickly jump to go undercover as Sean Harmony and John Wales. But how can Sherlock keep a delicate John from breaking? And how can John come to terms with his love for his detective? Most importantly, what really happened the night of the Final Problem?

Out of the Woods by SilentAuror (E, 20,471 w. || Post S4, Romance, Slow Burn, Flirting, Drunk Sex, Practical Jokes, POV Sherlock) – Sherlock is fairly certain that John has taken to flirting with him of late, but can’t be entirely certain of it. At least, not until a case takes them into a forest, along with Lestrade’s team and something happens that will change everything about their lives…

What Friends Do by agirlsname (E, 23,177 w. || Post-ASiP Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Jealous Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Infidelity, First Kiss/Time, Fluff and Smut, Cuddling and Snuggling, Platonic-to-Not-Platonic, Blow/Hand Jobs, Angst With Happy Ending) – Sherlock has never had a friend before. He didn’t even know he wanted one until John moved into 221B. But John quickly becomes essential to him, and their friendship turns more and more intimate. It’s all platonic, of course. All perfectly normal for close friends. Part 1 of the Friends series

carrying up his morning tea by darcylindbergh (E, 34,505 w. || Minor Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Wakes & Funerals, Angst, Estranged John, Pining Sherlock, Depression and Insecurity, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort) – His fingers tremble as he dials and he can’t force them steady. Familiar number, even though he hasn’t used it in two years. He isn’t even sure he should be calling it now, but she’d asked. She’d made him promise.

Anchor Point by trickybonmot (E, 49,856 w. || Truman Show AU || Psychological Drama, Suspense, Slow Burn, Dark Characters / Fic) – The world tunes in nightly for Sherlock, the ultimate in reality TV: Sherlock Holmes, a real person with a legendary name, unknowingly lives out his life in a staged setting contrived by his brother. Things get complicated when a retired army doctor joins the show to play the part of Sherlock’s closest friend. This fic borrows its concept from the 1998 film, the Truman Show. However, you don’t need to have any knowledge of the movie to enjoy this story.

Focal Point by PuffleLock (E, 60,913 w. || Post-TRF Divergence / Different Reunion, POV John, Slow Burn, For a Case, Friends to Lovers, Suicidal Thoughts, Sad Wank, Sherlock in Makeup, Dancing, Mentions of Torture / Depression / PTSD, Love Confessions, Idiots in Love, Frottage, Blow Jobs, Scars, Rimming, Anal, Toplock, First Kiss / Time, Gay Sherlock / Bi John) – John comes home early from a medical conference to find that every once in awhile, Sherlock can surprise the hell out of him. Can John surprise him back?

First and Only by crimsonwinter (E, 68,390 w. || Kid/Teen/Unilock, Family Drama, Romance, Alternating POV, Slow Burn, Angst & Fluff, Rimming, Anal, Fingering, Grinding/Frottage, Sexual Tension, Oral, Virginity, Switchlock) – Sherlock and John have been inseparable since birth, working through life as neighborhood best friends, attached at the hip. Unfortunately, reality can break up even the closest of us, and John and Sherlock struggle through all that growing up entails. But first loves are unforgettable, and the boys come to realize that their love is the first and only they’ll ever have.

The Vapor Variant by 88thParallel (CanadaHolm) (M, 72,684 w. || Post-THoB, John Whump, Protective Sherlock, Guilty Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD John, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Suspense, Virus, Sickfic, Big Brother Mycroft) – They stood face to face in the middle of a clearing. The dim light of the moon barely allowed Sherlock to see the glassy terror in John’s eyes and the sweat that glistened off his forehead. His nose was bleeding again, blood dripping in a slow stream from his right nostril. They were both gasping for air, John’s eyes locked on Sherlock’s. There was no recognition there, just wild animal fear. Time stood still for an eternal few seconds, and Sherlock took a shaky breath. “John—”Spell broken, John spun and bolted back into the woods. Still heaving for air, Sherlock took off after him.

The Road Less Traveled Series by verityburns (M, 75,130 w. across 3 works || First Kiss / Time, POV Sherlock First Person, Angst & Fluff, Romance) – Sherlock realises that John’s dating habits involve an unacceptable level of risk… what if he meets an unusually tolerant woman and ends up getting married?

Philia and Eros by distantstarlight (E, 84,660 w. || Historical AU || Friends to Lovers, Time Travel, Kilts, Possessive Behaviour, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, Implied Rape/Non-Con) – Love is timeless but time isn’t necessarily linear. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes are about to embark on an unintended adventure that will take them far away from the comfortable confines of 221 B Baker Street. Part 1 of Strange Paths

How Long? by TheBritishBourbon (M, 111,010 w. || Kidnapping, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Sherlock, Protective John, PTSD Sherlock, Flashbacks, Dark Themes, Implied Torture) – Sherlock never got to jump off the roof of St. Barts, he never got the chance. Sherlock was abducted and held for 5 years, but now he has escaped. What awaits him as he returns to reality? Part 1 of How Long Universe

Did you feel it? : A soulmates AU by MorganeUK (G, 126,783 w. || Soulmates AU || Kid/Teen/Unilock, Protective Greg, Angst, Big Feels, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Mystrade, Injuries, Slow Burn, Anxious John, BAMF John, Protective John, Est. Rel., Happy Ending) – In a world where 0.01% of the population have a soulmate with whom they share pains and violent emotions… what are the odds that an ex-army doctor and an ex-addict detective open their heart and soul enough to found each others?Finally writing a twist on the soulmates trend… Hope you like it!

“Merry Christmas” I wrapped it up and sent it with a note saying “I love you” by starrysummernights (E, 136,580+ w. || WIP, chapter missing? || Post S4, Slow Burn, Mary is Not Nice, Christmas, Fluff, Smut, Angst, Parentlock, Past Torture / Rape) – John has moved back into 221B with his daughter Rosie after Mary was killed, but things are not exactly comfortable between him and Sherlock. After everything that has happened, they are trying to become friends again…and maybe something more. What better time than the Christmas season?! Takes place after TLD.

The Bang and the Clatter by earlgreytea68 (M, 137,049 w. || Baseball AU || Slow Burn / Dev. Rel.) – Sherlock Holmes is a pitcher and John Watson is a catcher. No, no, no, it’s a baseball AU. Part 1 of Baseball

The Jewel in the Tower by PoppyAlexander (E, 207,079 w. || Dystopian AU, Violence, Rape/Non-Con Elements, Mild Dub Con, One World Government, Class Issues, Assassin John / Geisha Sherlock, Self Esteem Issues, Slow Burn, Espionage, Miscommunication, Sexual Fantasy, Masturbation, Letters/Texting, Phone Sex, Infidelity, First Time, Blow Jobs, Dirty Talk, Injury Recovery, Panic Attacks, Frottage, Scars, Misgendering, Happy Endings) – In a contemporary dystopia, Unity is peace – despite the fact unsanctioned information, illicit currency, and every sort of danger flows unchecked in the world’s pleasure districts. John Watson, a weary hired gun, is assigned by the mysterious Mentor to investigate a subversive element lurking in the Icehouse, the world’s most famous House of Repose. As accustomed as he is to dealing with the unexpected, John is nevertheless woefully unprepared to meet the gem of the Ice house, Xie, the world renowned “drashaskaya,” the living work of art after which all other drashas are modeled. In sumptuous suites, amid trailing puddles of silk and fervent whispers in the night, John soon learns that nothing is as it seems in the floating world of London’s pleasure district.

You Go To My Head by 7PercentSolution and J_Baillier (E, 257,765+ w. across 8 Stories, WiP || Surgeon AU || Medical Realism, Doctor John / Doctor Sherlock, Friends to Lovers, Pining, Addiction, Angst, Slow Burn, PTSD, Pining, Insecurity) – This series is an alternate universe one, featuring the exciting medical and romantic adventures of doctors Watson (senior neuroanaesthetist) and Holmes (neurosurgeon).

Radioactive Trees In A Red Forest by Maribor_Petrichor (E, 280,251 w. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-S4, Suicidal Ideations, Alcohol / Rx Drug Abuse, Coming Out / Bisexual John, Seizures, Past/Referenced/Implied Child Abuse, Hallucinations, Rehab, Celibacy, Sobriety / Relapse, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Grief/Mourning, Psychological Trauma, Nice /Not Anti-Mary, John’s POV, Parentlock, First Time, Angst, Switchlock) – John Watson is what happens when a man can no longer see a reason to go on. John Watson is what happens when a man starts to let go. “It is what it is.” John Watson is what happens when what “it is” becomes too much to bear. This is a story of the life, death, and resurrection of John Hamish Watson.

The Men Who Talked Between the Words by Odamaki (E, 463,024 w. || Parentlock, UST/URT, Pining Sherlock, Grieving John, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Past Abuse, Slow Burn/Build, Case Fic, First Kiss / Time, Implied/Referenced Suicide & Drug Use, Slow Burn, Sherlock Whump, Panic Attacks) – John expected to be a father some day; he expected to have the house, and the wife and the nice suburban job. Sherlock never expected to have children, in part because he never expected to make it past 30. As it turns out, you don’t get a choice. Crammed into Baker Street with a baby, John struggles with single-parenthood and his own fears, while Sherlock treads the fine line between doing too little and saying too much.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #my fic recs #slow burn #long post #developing relationship #falling in love #Anonymous #fic rec sunday

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whiskytastings · 7 years

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Review #176: Kilkerran 12

46% ABV, natural colour, non-chill-filtered Producer: Glengyle Distillery, Campbeltown, Scotland Owner: J&A Mitchell & Co Ltd. (via Mitchell's Glengyle Ltd.)

The original Glengyle distillery was founded in Campbeltown 1872 by William Mitchell. Prior to founding Glengyle, William and his brother John were the owners of Springbank distillery, which they had bought from the original founder, their brother-in-law William Reid, in 1837. But the two brothers, who were also farmers besides managing the distillery, had a falling out, allegedly over a disagreement about sheep, and William decided to leave Springbank in 1872. He briefly joined his two other brothers Hugh and Archibald Mitchell at Riechlachan distillery, but shortly after founded his own distillery, Glengyle, just a few hundred metres down the road from Springbank.

William Mitchell sold the business in 1919, but due to the downturn in the Campbeltown whisky industry during the early parts of the 20th century, the distillery was closed permanently only six years later, in 1925. However, unlike most other closed-down distilleries in Campbeltown, that were demolished over the years, the buildings of Glengyle distillery remained standing throughout the 20th century. The building was used for many different purposes over the years, including as a farmer’s cooperative and as a rifle range for the local rifle club.

In 2000 the distillery was bought back by the descendants of William and John Mitchell, the owners of Springbank distillery, J&A Mitchell, and over the next four years the buildings were turned back into a working distillery. Since there was no distillery equipment left from the old Glengyle distillery, new equipment had to be brought in however. Most of it was bought new, but some equipment was reused from other distilleries. For example the stills, condensers and spirit safe were sourced from Ben Wyvis distillery, a former malt distillery that operated inside the Invergordon grain distillery in the northern Highlands between 1965 and 1977. The stills were modified slightly for Glengyle, the shape was adjusted slightly, and the lyne arms at the top of the stills were slanted upwards. This was done in order to achieve more reflux inside the still, which increases the amount of copper contact of the spirit vapours, and in turn results in a lighter, more delicate spirit.

The new Glengyle distillery began production on 25 March 2004, and became the first new distillery to open in Scotland in the 21st century. The barley malt comes from the floor maltings at Springbank and is lightly peated, to the same level as the malt for Springbank single malt. The peat is harvested from bogs in the Campbeltown area, and some of the barley is also grown locally. Glengyle distillery is operated only part-time of the year, by the staff from Springbank distillery. The first bottling of single malt from Glengyle became available in 2007 under the name Kilkerran. Reason for the different name is that the name ‘Glengyle’ is owned by the neighbouring Glen Scotia distillery’s parent company Loch Lomond Distillers, and used by them for a blended malt whisky. The name Kilkerran comes from the Gaelic name of a settlement of St Kieran, that was in the area where Campbeltown stands today. Following the initial release, Glengyle launched a series of limited Kilkerran “Work In Progress” bottlings for the following 7 years, with each release being matured and finished in a different type of oak cask.

Last year, in 2016, the first of Glengyle’s whisky reached the age of 12 years, and finally the long awaited first ‘regular’ distillery bottling was made available, the Kilkerran 12 year old. Released on 12 August 2016, it is the first of the distillery’s core range, and as such should be available, albeit in limited quantities, for the foreseeable future. It is made from 70% whisky matured in ex-bourbon casks and 30% in ex-sherry casks. It is bottled at 46% ABV, is not chill-filtered and of natural colour.

Eye: The cardboard tube and bottle feature the same striking Kilkerran design, established by the “Work In Progress” series, with bold lettering around the Kilkerran Church Tower triptych. The whisky has a lovely yellow gold colour and develops a lovely bit of scotch mist when diluted. Nose: Earthy and herbaceous, with heather, sorrel, hay and yeast, then some fruity aromas with lemon zest, overripe apple and peach, sourdough bread, walnuts, vanilla and ginger all with a backdrop of salty sea air and gentle peat smoke. Palate: Full flavoured and mouth coating, with the peat influence much more noticeable than on the nose. Sweet honey and malty cereal, ripe pear, zesty lemon, grapefruit, vanilla, black pepper, soft mint, nutty oak, pine cone, brine, some medicinal flavours and gentle, yet very present peat smoke in the background. Finish: Medium to long with soft ashy smoke, bitter almond, cocoa, and a gentle spicy heat. Verdict: Wonderfully complex, flavourful and extremely moreish, with a simply superb balance between sweet, tart, salty and peaty flavours. A masterpiece of whisky making. 89/100

Further reviews:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3U69EOtqaY

https://thewhiskeywash.com/reviews/whisky-review-kilkerran-12-year-old

https://thewhiskyphiles.com/2016/12/07/kilkerran-12-years-old-46-j-a-mitchell

http://maltandoak.com/kilkerran-12-years-old-46-and-a-visit-to-the-distillery

http://www.divingforpearlsblog.com/2016/09/single-malt-report-kilkerran-12-year.html

#scotland #campbeltown #kilkerran #glengyle #j&a mitchell #single malt

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todaynewsstories · 6 years

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′Rolls Royce′ of whisky fetches record $1 million at auction | News | DW

One of the world’s most in-demand whiskies has been auctioned off in Edinburgh, Scotland, with the buyer shelling out a record-breaking £848,750 ($1.1 million/€957,800) for the distilled spirit.

The Scotch whisky, a Macallan Valerio Adami 1926, was one of just 24 bottles produced by the Macallan distillery in 1986. Distilled in 1926, the whisky spent 60 years aging in a cask before being bottled.

“It’s the Rolls Royce of malts,” said Martin Green, the whisky specialist at Bonhams, the luxury auction house that offered up the bottle on Wednesday.

A private buyer from Asia placed the winning bid on the bottle via phone, Bonhams said.

Bonhams drink expert Richard Harvey told the Agence France-Presse that interest from Asia in whisky is booming.

About “a third to 40 percent of our sales go out to buyers in the Far East,” Harvey said.

Read more: Japan’s whisky stocks run dry as global demand soars

Label by famous artist

Macallan, one of Scotland’s most renowned single-malt distilleries, commissioned pop artists Valerio Adami and Peter Blake, best known for co-designing the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album sleeve in 1967, to create the labels for the 24 1926 whiskies.

The bottle auctioned Wednesday featured a label designed by Adami, known for his flat forms and thick black lines.

It had been bought by the vendor directly from Macallan for an undisclosed sum in 1994.

Another bottle featuring an Adami label was auctioned off in Hong Kong this past May for just over £800,000.

The record-breaking bottle was bought via phone

It’s unknown how many of the 24 bottles from the 1926 whisky series still exist. One is believed to have been destroyed in an earthquake in Japan in 2011, and another is thought to have been opened and drunk.

Bonhams whisky expert Green doesn’t expect the record-breaking bottle to be decanted.

“Obviously we don’t know what will happen to it, but anyone who can spend around a million pounds for a bottle of whisky could afford to drink it. But it’s an object of beauty in its own right — almost a museum piece.”