worryingly jolly batman

Before you read my pointless knitting story: caramarie made another incredible Avengers vid, this time for Loki (incorporates footage from Thor as well as from The Avengers). I am far from a Loki stan or even fan, so when I say I've watched this vid five times, you need to understand what I mean. It's brilliant. Incredible editing and timing that give a very complete and kind of terrifying character study of Loki.

( cut for a really long and kind of boring knitting story )

Things that didn't make it into this post, but I hope will soon: a more-than-140-characters version of my rant about how the Pokemon theme is the song that best describes generation Y, and a post about last week's episode of New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker, feminism and homophobia.

Three Sherlock BBC Molly-centric recs:
Harry Watson/Molly sequence by marysutherland
Molly/Harry Watson, obviously. 60k of really pretty great fslash. Content: alcoholism, lots of talk about dead bodies. I really like Molly in this fic since she's incredibly smart and good at her job and kind of great.

Other Things to Do after Buying a Cat by blackeyedgirl
Molly/Sally, pretty much what it says on the tin. Molly buys a cat.

Sustain, or, Concerto for the Famished in D Minor, by maybe_amanda
Molly/Sherlock, Molly wants to have the baby, Sherlock decides he should be the father, you guys, whatever, kidfic, you know how I roll. TOTAL DISCLAMER: I'm only like 3/4 of the way through this so it could all end horribly but it's really good so far and I like threes.

Three Sherlock BBC post-series 2 recs, spoilerific:
The Mourning Woman by m_leigh
Molly-centric, Sherlock/John

Stand Alone Among the Wreck by giddygeek
John-centric, per the summary, this is a wallow.

And you've all read this already but if you haven't and you care about Sherlock at all you must:
Minds Like Ours Dream Up by blackeyedgirl
Sherlock/John. You know how you felt after 2x03? If you felt anything like me this is what you desperately wanted to read, right then, and now you can.

I had some feelings about Fringe this week but I can't be bothered cutting to express them. Now I'm going to go to bed and watch the Good Wife. Are any other Wellingtonians going to Kitty, Daisy and Lewis tomorrow night?

ETA: Also I just realised I have to write a fic for really really soon so it would be good if the next time you see me you asked me how it was going? <3 OUTSOURCING MY PLANNING LIKE A BOSS/LEECH

I hate to be all looking-at-fandom-like-it's-a-zoo-exhibit but here are some things I learned tonight:

1. There are people out there writing 450,000-word The Faculty fic - which is a sequel to a 250,000-word fic.

2. People still write 200,000-word Harry Potter fic. Also, Queer as Folk and LOTRPS are both still things. (Seriously?!) (Although I have to say that I saw this youtube clip the other day and I was a solid foil tinhat for a good sixty seconds.)

3. There are just shedloads of fandoms out there that not only do I not know about, I haven't even heard of their source (I think they're all computer games and anime, like Kingdom Hearts and Vampire Knight. OK I've heard of Kingdom Hearts but not really. Stuff I recognise but never knew there was a fandom for: Dragon Age, Final Fantasy (many numbers), JAG (?!!!)).

3.1 Someone needs to clean up AO3 fandoms - there's a Weiss Kreuz and a Weiß Kreuz.

4. As far as I can see there isn't a way to browse the AO3 by wordcount. You can search all stories and view by wc but as far as I can tell that only gets you the most recent 1000 fics, sorted by wc - and it turns out there are a lot of Russian-novel-length fics for fandoms I've never heard of.

5. This is annoying when you're in the mood I am, viz: "I want to read something between 30,000 and 100,000 words and slashy and I don't really care what fandom as long as I vaguely recognise people but also, the writing has to be good." Any recs along these lines gratefully appreciated, and if they happen to be in fandoms with which I'm familiar, bonus! (This is a massively weird mood. I sort of feel like I could go for some Ron/Draco. um? Please send other pairings?)

6. Relatedly, does anyone have any recs for books with gay protagonists? I just really am in the mood to read about people who aren't heterosexual for a change. Warning, I don't usually read commercial romance novels. I could probably go chicklit if it was, you know, lesbian chick lit. Also nothing too depressing please. *bats eyelashes* ty.

7. Speaking of, a few weeks ago I read Mission Child and then China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F McHugh - shoelessgirl lent me the former and then I hustled off and bought the latter from Arty Bees. I liked them both ENORMOUSLY and I can't recommend them enough - terrific, terrific science fiction, controlled, character-focused writing and plots, truly compelling characterisation and situations. Highly recommended. I believe there may still be a copy of one or the other at Arty Bees, although I can't recommend her third book, Half the Day is Night, because I got a third of the way in and stalled unhappily. (Not enough sex, probably.)

Oh man, I so badly wanted to get these up before reveals, but JUST TO PROVE that I did write all of this stuff before New Year, here are my prelim recs!
( three YW, two TDiR, and some misc. )

I wrote two stories but they weren't very good (not being modest, I really am not pleased with either of them): Some Blessing in Disguise Nikita, Nikita/Daniel, for templemarker, which was not very good despite some stupendous beta efforts from just about everyone I know as well as two delightful Yulechat strangers, Hsifeng and someone whose Yuletide name I don't know (went straight to email and it was not obviously fannish name); and too young to know the time, Circle of Magic, Sandry/Daja, Lark/Rosethorn, for trialia, beta'd by Grevling. Darlingest Tria, I hope you had a good Christmas anyway.

On the other hand, I beta'd some awesome stories! I think this is vaguely in the order in which I read them.

What You See is What You Get (If You're Looking Hard Enough, sixth_light, The Mentalist, Steampunk AU. So like, I know nothing about this TV show, but I know that this story is fabulous. If you know the Mentalist, you probably will think so as well.

I've Got Four Voices On The Line (the only one I hear is mine, by sushiflop, Animorphs, Tobias-centric. This is as awesome a Tobias fic as anyone could want to read.

The Indian Rope Trick by dustyasymptotes, The Children's Book, Julian Cain. OKAY SO I can't really say I beta'd this because I am the worst person in the world and *forgot it was sitting in my inbox* and then I'm pretty sure she went away. So I'M TERRIBLE. But this story? Not terrible! Julian Cain, at the end of his life.

I know there are a few last-minute yulechat betas I did that I'm forgetting about BUT. I'm also going to sneak in a TOTALLY NON-YULETIDE RELATED rec for...

The Anonymous Tip Job and Professional Contacts by china_shop, White Collar/Leverage, Neal, Hardison, and then the sequel is Neal/Hardison. LOOK AT THAT PAIRING. That is one hell of a pairing, people, is what I'm saying. These were a treat to beta, and they are just exactly right.

ALSO AND FINALLY. a) I did a blog post about the books I read last year; and b) I made the DW post where I've been reading/reviewing/listing these books public, so if you're interested in my (mostly seriously mundane) commentary on more of them, have a look.

Insta-rec: A Charming Man, a Castiel-centric vid by giandujakiss - I don't get this vid at all, I need to watch it ten or fifteen more times (or read a commentary or something), but this vid is excellent, really well put together. Slight overtones of Dean/Castiel, if you're squinting, but I think you can read it as a gen vid.

SPN starts again in a few days and I'm super-excited! When was the last time I was excited for the premiere of, hell, any show? IDEK. Which reminds me: a post about what I'm watching this season! Gosh.

( New shows I'm going to try/am trying: )
Returning shows:
Supernatural
Grey's - Maybe; I stopped watching half-way through last season (Izzy and Alex break up, I break up with show), but they had a killer finale.
Brothers & Sisters - Mmmmaybe? I kind of got sucked in last season?
Community
Modern Family
Gossip Girl - Probably not, but I hear they're in Paris for the premiere and that I do want to see.
Vampire Diaries, Bones & the Big Bang Theory - I'll let my flatmate download these so they don't count against my share of the bandwidth, probs. *guilty face* I've been watching Entourage for the same reason.

In other news, last night I went to bed at five and slept till 8:30 the next morning. It was lovely. I was late to the doctor's, but who gives a fuck? Bliss.

I just made a whole bunch of new friends, so OBVIOUSLY what I'm doing is posting another meme post. SORRY GUISE. For those playing the LJ game, I just unfriended a bunch of people and communities: people I'm following on dreamwidth who don't flock their entries, and communities that got annoyingly spammy. I really doubt I got up anyone's nose and as you guys know I'm way, way too lazy to flock, but if I defriended you and you want back on, tell me tell me. I was really aiming at consolidating, not cutting. (Also: defriending amnesty. If you've been wanting to, do it, I promise not to cry.)

So this is particularly bad timing for three vids that are all basically Issue Vids. If you have Issues with Issue Vids, steer clear! For these vids I think it's particularly important that you watch them before reading my commentary, so uh. Please do?

Day 16 - A vid that told you something new about a show/movie you already loved
My Medea, by yunitsa
Joss Whedon shows; Girls in Boxes; premise spoilers for Dollhouse; spoilers for Firefly; Buffy included but (IMO) no significant spoilers; violence against women, general creepiness.

( blah blah )

Day 17 - A vid you wish you had made
Let There Be Guns, by kuwdora
Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis; everybody has guns; tv violence, no spoilers worth mentioning.

I'm not a vidder, so this was tough for me, but this is sort of an attainable goal: I wish I was as witty as this vid. Of course it starts off with a bit of an advantage because it uses a hilarious song, but the spark of genius that first combined the two - well, I desire it! There's nothing much to this vid except wit, and I love it.

Best Bit: Definitely "naw, not me, I got me a rifle." &Vala; The timing on "we could go out and shoot things" is really good, and "we wouldn't need the police no more" is extra-good because it comes from an episode about, like, separationists so I think it's hilarious. The vid mostly depends on visuals rather than canon knowledge, so I like that that's a scene where canon knowledge makes this extra funny.

Day 18 - A vid that made you investigate that vidder's other work further
Bachelorette, by obsessive24
BTVS, ensemble, spoilers for the whole series, rapid cuts

GUISE GUISE, I know I've recced like fifteen vids which are all RARR JOSS HAS PROBLEMS, but this vid? sort of pro Joss! You should watch it!

( etc etc )

SO THAT WAS A LOT OF TL;DR. Watch some vids, guys!

I DECLARE TODAY HAPPY DAY.

Day 13 - Your 'pick me up' vid of choice
Can Delight by jescaflowne
Bring it On, BTVS (movie and TV series), ATS, Heroes; cheerleaders; dancing, flashing lights, no spoilers, watch it now!

THIS VID. I think what I love about this vid is its clarity of purpose. I showed it to my sister and she was like "It's about cheerleaders?" in the first five seconds and then, at around 0:32, she said "... who save the world! It's about cheerleaders who save the world!" Yes. Yes, it is. This vid isn't as polished as the vid most people, I would say, would know jescaflowne, Another Sunday (get it at her website), but it uses similar techniques - silly, fun, OTT 80s music video effects, lots of split-screen, etc. Fast and, I'm sure, impressive editing. The cutting from the different teams of cheerleaders and dancers is really seamless and incredible - it leads the eye really well. It's mayyyybe just a little bit long. But who cares about that shit? It's a vid about cheerleaders! Who save the world!

Best Bits: Claire's hair-flip at 2:22 is my absolute favourite bit if this vid. It says everything. It says: I'm cute and I'm a cheerleader and you think I'm adorable but not worth much and I know that. But actually? I'm totally fucking indestructible. Get the hell out of my way. Movie!Buffy's knowing look at 0:34 works the same way.
( more )

Day 14 - A mood vid you love

IDEK what a mood vid is, but I figure More Joy Day vids count. Here are a couple of my favourites:
Outerspace by kuwdora
Stargate SG-1; violence, spoilers through Ark of Truth

Smile, by charmax
BTVS/ATS; SMILING YES.

If It Gives You Joy, by thedothatgirl
All Joss Whedon TV shows; ridiculousness, kittens, Giles monsterfied chasing Dr Walsh through Sunnydale. It does give me joy so THERE.

Day 15 - A vid (by someone else) that has defined a con or period of time for you

This is a bit of a cheat. But I don't really go to cons and I've never been the kind of person who remembers a time by a song or book or vid. However...

One Night Fandoms, by eruthros and thingswithwings.
Very, very multi-fandom; The Yuletide Vid; SEX SEX SEX.

The time when I feel most connected to fandom as a whole is in December, when I'm scrambling to finish my Yuletide fic and screaming down gtalk at sushiflop and messaging hippos in yulechat and dicking around writing snippets of maybe-this-is-an-extra-fill-OK-maybe-not. And this vid simultaneously manages to convey that feeling and the Yuletide Process (love, smut, agony, happy farewells...) AND ALSO the huge joyful sprawling nature of Yuletide itself. *twirls it*

So I finally finished reading Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, which I have been working on on and off since the beginning of this year. I really struggled with it, and I think at some point I'm going to work up a post to articulate why, but here are the Cliffs Notes:

- I found this book incredibly absorbing but incredibly alienating.

- I think this is because the conceit of the book - a close third person, with a POV character who seems to think entirely in metaphors and memories - is so overly clever that I'm tempted to call it conceited. (Ha ha.)

- Like, sometimes it's beautiful, and I think from a characterisation perspective this book is incredible. Not, perhaps, easy, but challenging and rousing. It woke me up, that's for sure. The point of view made me feel like I knew the people around Cromwell as well as he did, no more and no less, and I think that's pretty cool.

- And then, other times, you get half-way through the book and ( minor spoilers ) My point here is that there's challenging, and then there's opaque, and I think this sometimes went to opaque. And to be honest I think that's a flaw. Or rather, I think that I think it's a flaw. There's a concept we talked about in a paper last year that I didn't understand until now, and I wish I could remember the specific words, but it was a famous dude literary theorist who had a word for writing that isn't comprehensible. At the time I didn't get to grips with this idea at all - I could only compare it to the unreliable narrator, and the prof said that that wasn't it (but couldn't give any specific examples.) However, maybe, if I'm remembering it right, this book fits the bill in some wise.

- and then on the other hand I sort of am anti the idea of reading - surface-level reading - being a process of decoding. I don't think writing should be laboured. Perhaps this is because when I studied literature I looked at it in the context of the period it was written in and its implied sociopolitical meanings, not really at the content of the books, so much. But I don't think that's it.

- Maybe I was just offended because I'm a pretty good reader and I found parts of this mass-market fiction trade paperback to be as difficult as any fiction I've read, and more difficult than not a few academic papers. (And saying that, I don't even have this dilemma about academic papers: I'm willing to concede that there are multiple purposes for fiction, but the purposes of non-fiction writing is to be understood, and if you can't do that, you shouldn't.) So, well, I don't know! I don't know how I feel about it. We'll let it percolate for awhile, shall we?

- To get over it, today I read the last two volumes of Scott Pilgrim (AWESOME, and now I'm fully prepped for the movie which also looks awesome) and started in on Homeland, which is short stories by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver is one of my favourite novelists and earlier this year I read Prodigal Summer, the last novel of hers that I hadn't read, so I was planning on saving it for when I was really down. However, book group's theme this month is short stories, so there you go. I am enjoying them so far, but a lot of them, I must say, do feel like out-takes from her novels. But then, perhaps that's what I was looking for! They aren't like The Poisonwood Bible, so that's a relief.

- Also I saw my sister in her school musical and she was frigging rocking! She was the lead and unfortunately had strep throat but she did pretty well considering. (They did Brigadoon, a musical I had never heard of & tbqh I probably won't rush out and download it, but one of its strengths was that it was set in Scotland, so they all did dreadful Scottish accents (except for three people who did AMERICAN accents which were EVEN FUNNIER.) Worth the price of admission!

So this is the post in which I'm chronically incapable of picking only one vid. I'll try to do better next post.

A preamble: I don't think I've said this stuff before, so: I recommend that you watch the vid at least once before you read my commentary. Although I hate to advise using up other peoples' bandwidth, if stuff is available for direct download (especially at MU or wherever) I recommend that you do that rather than streaming. They're around 50mb and it's the days of miracles and broadband, splash out! And remember I'm not a vidder and in fact I haven't really studied visual texts at all, so where my language is not right please forgive me. Also, just like fanfiction, vidders appreciate comments if you like their work.

Day 4 - An ensemble vid you love
Imma Be, by talitha78
Leverage; Hardison, Parker, Eliot; Spoilers through S2; crappy song but awesome vid.

I don't even have to put my comments about this one below a cut. It's not real deep, it's beautifully, cleanly cut, it's basically a romp. A romp heavy on the Hardison, which is nice because he's my TV boyfriend, and on the Parker, which is nice because she's my TV girlfriend. Eliot's also in there which is nice because I care about him! But not as much as the other two. Um, so yeah, it's a romp.

Honourable mentions: (Glad I'm) Not a Petrelli, by my besties sixth_light and lady_larla, Heroes, Claire & the Petrellis, season 1; umpteen billion awesome Buffy vids that I couldn't list if I tried all year. (Never seen a good Angel one, though. Recs?)

Day 5 - A vid everyone should see at least once
( some 'splaining )

And now for something completely different!

Day 6: A vid you've watched more than 10 times.

So I immediately went to one of my favourite vids, and then I stopped and looked at another one, and another one, and another one, and then I thought: this is ridiculous. This could be a themed post all of its own. and then I thought: but I goddamned freaking love these vids! So I'm going to talk about them and that's that.

Day 6: Women: They're Pretty Fucking Incredible

Bionic, by tallulah71; Glorious, by such_heights; One Girl Revolution, by arefadedaway; and I'm Your Man, by charmax.
Very, very multifandom; women; not specially spoilery for anything in particular; TV violence.

( I go on for awhile )

Now I'm going to finally go and watch the vids caramarie has been reccing!
Vid Meme: Days 1-3

So china_shop is running Fandom Appreciation Week - this is where, every day of the week, you do a small thing that celebrates fandom, connects writers and readers, etc. I really love this because I rarely write anything and feel I don't give much back to fandom, so it's a chance for me to participate. Consequently, I'll be playing this week as much as I can!

The challenge for Day 1 was to rec three fanworks created for a challenge. Fortunately, this is easy for me, since most of the terrific fic in the Fandom of my Heart is written for challenges. However, I decided to make it a little bit more spicy by excluding this year's Yuletide. I did so because everyone reads Yuletide and those stories, brilliant as so many of them are, should be fresh in your mind. (If they're not... go and make it so.) After some mucking around, I came up with these three, which pleased me because it's almost like a set (theme: devastating.)

Balance, by coffeebased (DW? LJ?), Yuletide 2008.
This is a really brilliant what-if that sneaks a happy ending out of a devastating premise. It's N/K-ish gen that begins just after W@W and I think it's clever and really well-written, with some wonderful ideas that are, unfortunately, mostly concentrated in the first half of the story. The back half gives the requisite happy ending although it is less thoughtful, but I personally like a happy ending on my Yuletide fic.

The Stars Will Still Remain, by semiramis, Myriadwords challenge 2005
So this is a story about Nita losing her wizardry, and I absolutely love it. Yeah, I know! I think it has a brilliant atmosphere and the writing is beautifully visual. I also love the creeping sense of oppression.

No White Flag Here, by senri, Yuletide 2007
So, this was actually written for ME by one of my favourite people ever, and it's about Joanne and Nita, so it is pretty much... my Kryptonite. Nevertheless. This is a really terrific little piece about Joanne, watching Nita, watching her mother die. Highly recommended.


And now that you're devastated - um, sorry. Here, have three of my all-time favourite Tom/Carl fics to make up for it: An Unwilling Heart; Not Enough; and Three Ways Tom and Carl Never Met.