slinkling | Entries tagged with recs

First of all, a haiku:

***
Uncomfortable.
Late pregnancy kind of sucks.
Ready to be done.
***

Yeah, so that about sums up my life at the moment. I've got not quite 6 weeks left until the kid is due, I'm praying he'll come early, and meanwhile I'm surfing fic from all over the place.

norwich36 fed me a bunch of SPN recs, and one of these days I'm going to break down and buy the first two seasons of SPN so that I can fill myself in on canon. (It may be a good way to keep myself occupied once the baby actually arrives.) I'm finally reading

rivkat's BtVS series The Heart's Filthy Lesson, which is, of course, excellent, and blisteringly hot, though LONG. I'm portioning it out, reading a bit more each day. And meanwhile I followed links, I think from some comments on a recent post by

miss_pamela, to an array of West Wing fic, and now I'm absorbed in this West Wing/Sports Night crossover which is super-angsty but deeply engrossing. (Why is emo-porn so soothing to read?) AND I'm finally downloading the second half of SV's season 7, so that I can catch up on that and decide whether I want to see season 8.

Oh, and I've started getting Doctor Who from Netflix. Have seen the first three episodes so far; am entertained but not hooked. When does Jack Harkness show up?

Suggestions of further things to read or watch would be entirely welcome. Preference given to fandoms I at least vaguely know, but if you've got something great in a fandom I'm unfamiliar with, hey, lay it on me.

kassrachel has just pointed me towards Slings & Muppets, a most sensational, inspirational, goofy little vid by

pharis that blends Slings & Arrows footage with the Muppet Show theme. Go, watch. Squee. (It's her use of Cyril and Frank that really makes it wonderful.)

***

On a separate, totally random note, I was reading a NYTimes piece today about a movie that's being made of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, a hauntingly grim, post-apocalpytic novel that I surprised myself by seriously loving. My first thought was, "This is a mistake; that book cannot possibly be filmed." Until I saw that Viggo Mortensen is playing the lead, and suddenly I thought, "No, okay, that CAN be filmed. He could actually carry that off." Now I really want to see it.

It's weird; I hadn't considered myself as a Viggo fangirl before. But I cannot imagine another actor with the gravitas and humility to make that role believable.

miss_tress, your package arrived! Thanks so much! I'd actually never read Superman comics before (although, geek that I am, I was totally psyched to see that some of these were by Scott McCloud; back in the 90s, he wrote a fantastic graphic novel called Understanding Comics. I'd always been curious about his other work). And I'm loving them. I may need to investigate more...

2. I was in a crappy mood the other day and wanted mindless cheering up, so I rewatched Shanghai Noon, the Jackie Chan/Owen Wilson movie. Which is always good silly fun, between Owen's ad libbing and Jackie Chan's amazing fight scenes. I was stunned, though, to see that Gough/Millar wrote that flick. Who knew? (Honestly, I don't think they deserve too much credit; it's not the script that makes that movie fun. Still, though, they keep popping up where I don't expect them.)

3. Earlier this week, for the Fandom Exchange Program,

kassrachel and I got together and she showed me SGA eps "The Return," parts 1 & 2. I showed her "Shattered." Damn, it had been a LONG time since I'd seen that episode. I'd almost forgotten how squeefully good it is, and how good MR is in it. Earlier in the F.E.P., Kass had commented on how Lex was turning out to be quite the woobie, and I'd warned her that the woobiefication of Lex reached its apotheosis in season 3. I think she knows what I meant now.

4. This was pointed out to me by a friend earlier today, and it made my morning. I gather it would be even greater if I'd ever seen Battlestar Galactica, but even without that, it's pretty damn awesome:

A few people at the Costs of Heroism panel asked me to post my notes from that conversation. I should specify that I wasn't taking notes during the panel, but I'm happy to share the questions I used to get the conversation going:( Read more... )

Also, during this and other conversations, I mentioned a handful of fics and meta-essays which I promised to provide links for. So:( recs follow )

kassrachel and I are trying an experiment with pimping each other into our fandoms; in addition to keeping each other company while we watch current episodes of SGA (hers) and SV (mine), we're showing each other selected episodes from seasons past, and recommending fics to go with them.

Last night I showed her "Hug," from season 1 SV, and then we watched "Blue," and then she showed me the 2-part SGA pilot. Which had so much nutty exposition that I still have no clear sense of who these people are (I mean, I understand the basic roles they play, but I don't yet know them as *people*), though I've been assured that Teh Gay will soon raise its fabulous head.

Meanwhile, Kass showed proper appreciation for SV's Big Gay Love. One of my favorite moments of the evening came during "Blue," when Kass commented on how Lex seemed awfully fond of his pool cue. Which I'd hardly even noticed; I'm just so used to Lex fondling phallic objects that it barely even registers anymore. Pool cues, swords, long-necked water bottles, telescopes, guns... It'd be more remarkable if Lex WASN'T fondling a phallic object.

( And not to change the subject, but can I bitch about Blue for a second? )

Anyway, after our evening of squee, Kass sent me a couple SGA recs for fics that relate to the pilot. I sent her a link to my favorite post-Hug story: Impact, by Livia. But that's got me thinking about which other episodes I'll show her, as well as what she should read.

( Help me, SV fen. What are the essential SV fics? )

On a separate note, happy Thanksgiving to the Americans, and happy latter-part-of-the-week to the non-Americans. We have actual SNOW here. A couple inches of the stuff, that is turning to slush even now. Lucky us.

tightropegirl, also known as Doris Egan -- who is currently on the writing staff for House, and who wrote for the first season of Smallville (she wrote "Hourglass" and "Hug;" she's pretty damn cool) -- has a truly fantastic post about the WGA strike. I know a lot has been flying around the interwebs about this topic, but it's enlightening to get some perspective on the issue from one of the writers involved.

2.

kassrachel, who is just generally awesome, has written up a fascinating essay about how fandom -- fannish communities, fanfic, vids, etc. -- resembles the age-old Jewish tradition of midrash (that is, writing stories that expand on a canonical text, "explor[ing] textual loopholes or bring[ing] silent voices to life"). Fandom is just like the Talmud, you guys! Seriously. But okay, I'm not doing it justice over here, so trust me, just go and read.

3. The ever-magnificent

bop_radar has posted a gorgeous new SV vid focusing on the Clark/Lana relationship, that could make even a Lana-hating cynic feel some tenderness for those two crazy kids, who just aren't the destined couple no matter how much they try to be.

4. I've just read the most brilliant Veronica Mars fic: a virtual season 2 (or, well, 8 episodes of a virtual season 2), written by

theohara during the hiatus between seasons 1 and 2. Given that I have not yet actually seen season 2, I got completely sucked into this, and can only hope that the real season 2 is anywhere near this good. It's written in script-form and could very easily pass for actual scripts: the dialogue is snappy, the characterizations are dead-on, there's a worthy mini-mystery in every episode, as well as a longer ongoing arc that is fantastically taut and tense and engrossing. Episode 8 was posted more than 2 years ago, so it seems fair to assume there won't be any more -- which is a shame, but it does give us at least a little bit of resolution before it ends, so I was satisfied. And also, the writing is just spectacularly good.

In other news, tonight I'm heading over to Kass's to catch up on the latest couple episodes of SV, and very possibly be introduced to SGA. (It seems only fair; she's Tivo'ing my ridiculous show for me and is game enough to sit through it and listen to me squee, so the least I can do is attempt to get into hers. It's like a Fandom Exchange Program.)

I don't tend to make recs posts, largely because I feel like I came into my various fandoms years after everybody else, so everybody will have already seen the things I think are brilliant. But I promised

kassrachel and

the_star_fish that I'd find them the links to some truly excellent stories and vids I'd seen lately, and it occurred to me that these might be of interest to other folks too. The vids, I believe, are relatively recent (and I've found them through other people's recs); the fics are older but nonetheless magnificent.

( BtVS recs )

( Smallville recs )

...never wanted toooo
what am I to doooo
I cahn't help eet.

(Why yes, I am exactly like Marlene Dietrich. Down to my important role in early German cinema, and my creepily avuncular relationship with Ernest Hemingway. Couldn't you tell?)

I am falling head over heels for Due South. Why did nobody tell me I would love it this much? I mainlined ten episodes over the weekend, and it just fills me with glee. It's so whimsical! I'd had no idea. I need to see all the rest of this series, like NOW. I've ordered some, or possibly all, of it from Deep Discount DVD (which, incidentally, PSA: deepdiscountdvd.com is having a sale, 20% off everything in the store if you use the promotion code SUPERSALE, ends 6/16), and I'm not even sure what exactly I'm getting because the site is kind of cagey with the product descriptions, but I cannot wait for my package to arrive so that I can binge some more.

And of course there are worlds of dS fic to consume, and THAT's eating up all my free time lately (and it's trying to bleed into worktime, too, but I'm doing my best to hold it at bay). Favorites so far include:
- awesome porn by

kristiinthedark. She writes short but blisteringly hot and often very funny little F/K stories that melt your screen.
- Hanged Man by Speranza (I'm gradually working my way through her entire oeuvre, and holy cow but she can write), which is long and plotty and angsty and pushes many, many of my buttons.
- Parental Guidance, by kass and starfish and alanna (which, uh, hi guys! You crack me up, which is hardly news, but now you've done it in print), a hilarious piece in which Ray K's parents get the wrong idea, except it's maybe kind of a good idea.

And and and. I'm totally in that early infatuation stage where my new show is all I can think about, and it's just overwhelmingly shiny. I found myself a couple dS icons yesterday which make me happy, but conversations with

kassrachel have led me to want others that I just don't have the skills to make for myself -- like one which shows Fraser and Kowalski and says "Textually slashy. Liek whoa." Or another that shows them and has animated text to illustrate that "buttsex" and "subtext" are anagrams. (Thank

destina for making that discovery.) If anybody were to make such an icon for me, I'd happily repay them with fic in any fandom I'm familiar with -- because yeah, the days of my monofannishness are pretty spectacularly over. *bats eyelashes*

Whee!

It's possible that everybody already saw these while I was out of town, and I'm the last person to discover them, but the excellent

sanj just pointed me towards these thoroughly fabulous vids. Had y'all seen these? Somebody cut together footage from SV to make trailers for a non-existant Justice League movie:

Trailer 1
Trailer 2

Personally, I prefer the first one, but they're both great.

1. I've just finished reading a truly phenomenal HP fic novel, Finding Himself, by

minisinoo.

norwich36 recced this recently, and I initially ignored it, because I've really never enjoyed HP fic before. But then I had a bad day and wanted some distraction, so I gave it a try -- and I think I liked it better than the actual J.K. Rowling novels.

( Summary cut for GoF and OotP spoilers. )

I'm tempted to say a lot more, but I don't want to spoil it. I will just say,

sanj and

kassrachel, I was thinking of you both all the way through this, and I expect you'll both love it. Also, I must once again acknowledge:

norwich36 really does know all.

2. Alan Tudyk is starring on Broadway in a revival of "Prelude to a Kiss," along with John Mahoney, and I'm really bummed that I won't get to see it. I saw the original production when I was in high school, with Mary Louise Parker and Timothy Hutton, and I *loved* it. It's such a wonderful play, and Alan Tudyk would be so good in this role, and if I wasn't already traveling way too much in the next couple months, I'd be contemplating when I could get to NY for a performance. But I just don't think it can happen. Sigh.

3. DJ Arty Fufkin, one of my all-time favorite mashup DJs, has a website! This may not be a new thing, but it's been a long time since I've bothered to look for one; the last time I tried, I couldn't find anything. But now it's there! And there are many new tracks to download! To give you a taste of why I'm so pleased about this, here's the first track of his I ever heard: Close To Me, which mixes ACDC, David Bowie, Wham, Bobby McFerrin, The Cure, The Police, Prince, and Paul McCartney, and which is awesome beyond the telling of it. (Okay, the ending's a little abrupt, but still, it's a great, great thing.)

4. I watched Cold Comfort Farm last night -- probably my 3rd or 4th time seeing it, but it had been a while. God, I love that movie. Remember when Kate Beckinsale was young and fresh and interesting, and not all Hollywoodized? Plus there are fantastic ensemble performances by Ian McKellan, Eileen Atkins, Stephen Fry, and a smoldering Rufus Sewell. *happy sigh* For my fellow literature geeks, I highly recommend the book as well, which is a dead-on parody of DH Lawrence and Thomas Hardy. I might just have to read that again sometime soon.