Vid Rec: Arrival of the Birds

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Title: Arrival of the Birds
Music Title & Artist: "Arrival of the Birds" by The Cinematic Orchestra
Vidder: amyyam on tumblr, aka Amy Kinley
Pairing or Character: Sherlock + John
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Link: Arrival of the Birds on vidder's tumblr page

Reccer's Comments: I am always struck by the sheer visual beauty of this vid. It is delicate and lovely. At times images of John and Sherlock are overlaid on top of each other in interesting configurations; at other times the vid glides between color and black and white, and there is just something about the light in these shots that seems to linger. The vidder juxtaposes material brilliantly (in the first few seconds we hear Mycroft ask "How many friends do you imagine he has?" while we see the wild moors and stormy skies of Baskerville, its rusty, barbed "KEEP OUT" sign juxtaposed with Sherlock's backlit face). The instrumental music and carefully extracted dialogue work with the visuals to build up a portrait of Sherlock's unspoken but overwhelming connection with John, so that when we reach the final question - "What might we deduce about his heart?" - we realize that the images have already silently answered.

This is a really lovely work of art.

Fic Rec: Fly Very High

[swissmarg]

Title: Fly Very High
Author: yalublyutebya
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 46,533 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings:
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: John Watson was born to be a racing driver, and even a crash isn't enough to keep him out of a car for long. But coming back is not that easy, especially when he meets his new teammate, Sherlock Holmes.

Reccer's comments: In the honored tradition of sports AU's, this one shines right up there with the best of them. In this incarnation, John and Sherlock are Formula 1 racers, competing both with and against each other in a high-powered season that takes them around the world.

Part of the fun of this story is the introduction to F1 racing, from the technology to the strategy to exotic venues including Melbourne, Malaysia, Monaco, Bahrain, Shanghai, Barcelona, and Sochi (where Putin is in for quite a shock!). The fic is also peppered with real people from the racing world like Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton, giving it an extra layer of authenticity.

The author is a self-proclaimed fan of Formula 1, and that enthusiasm comes through in the emotional investment of the characters as well as every exciting race commentary. Don't be put off, though, if you don't particularly like racing or cars; the technical stuff isn't overdone and never detracts from the insanely intense relationship between John and Sherlock as their on-track rivalry spills over into some of the hottest sex this side of Silverstone:

( Excerpt... )

What starts out as just a bit of fun eventually turns into something much more complicated, as these things tend to, and the path to victory is fraught with more than a few pitfalls. Reading this fic is like watching a race, in fact, from the nervous anticipation at the start to the nail-biting moments when things get shaky in the middle to the fist-pumping celebration at the finish line, complete with champagne showers.