mercuriosity, posts by tag: recs - LiveJournal (original) (raw)
29 December 2009 @ 07:38 pm
So much reading to do! If I'm lucky, I may finish reading and commenting in time for Yuletide 2010! /dies a little
In a sense, reading for Yuletide is as much a project for me as writing for Yuletide. Normally, I'm a pretty selfish reader--I only read things that I think will be worth the investment of time they require. If I particularly enjoy something, I try to drop a comment, especially if it isn't something that's likely to get tons of attention; in general, the extent to which I must like something before I feel compelled to comment is inversely proportional to the amount of encouragement/appreciation I feel that thing needs. But I don't feel an obligation to hold the hand of every aspiring fic writer, to gently point out what could be done better or to give false praise; I figure the positive feedback they get from other sources (ff.net, anyone?) will be enough to keep them going--and if it isn't, oh well. Sometimes we all feel like we're shouting into the void. The question is: do you love it enough to keep doing it anyway?
With things like exchanges, though, my philosophy is a little different; I read things I would never normally seek out (if I'm familiar with the canon), I try to leave a comment on anything I enjoy even a little (no criticism or false praise, just an honest statement of what I liked). Yuletide, 
ff_exchange, &c. are special, they're community events; and participating, for me, involves more than just putting out a story and getting one in return. Not only do these exchanges often involve fandoms that don't get enough love, but they bring together fans at varying levels of skill and experience; when I get tired of reading and trying to phrase feedback in different ways, when it starts to feel like more of a chore than a pleasure, I think of the writer who worked hard to produce something their requester would like, and who will be lucky--by the very nature of the request--to get a handful of people to read their story, let alone comment on it. And I keep going.
Anyway, on with the recs!
( Princess Tutu, Samurai Champloo, Temeraire, Petshop of Horrors, The Road to El DoradoCollapse )
28 December 2009 @ 03:37 am
26 December 2009 @ 11:15 pm
25 December 2009 @ 03:02 pm
Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it, and tidings of comfort and joy to all! I dragged myself out of bed for the opening of presents with the family. My dad bought a Wii for himself and my mom, the results of which should be pretty hilarious to watch. My brother got me New Super Mario Bros. for the DS! --because I have to confront my platform phobia eventually. Other highlights include: delicious money, which will probably go towards that new camera I've been meaning to buy for ages now.
And speaking of Christmas goodies, here are some preliminary Yuletide recs!
( Cinderella, Temeraire, Fairy Tales, Homestar Runner, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, A Sex Therapist, Cable & DeadpoolCollapse )
All right, time for a Christmas nap. Opening presents is hard work!
25 December 2009 @ 02:28 am
I has a Yuletide story!
Fraught
Nightrunner
Klia & Thero
It has late-night political discussions, Klia being pragmatic, Thero sticking to his principles, and unspoken yearning! Yessss.
Going to dive into the rest of the archive now! Insofar as the servers will allow, of course.
Current Mood: excited
luzula has recorded a lovely version of my Yuletide '08 fic, which I never actually got around to mentioning here. So consider this a 2-for-1 special:
Two Birds
Princess Tutu
PG, mostly gen
~1400 words
Fakir, and two birds.
Audio version: here.
I highly recommend giving it a listen, especially for the sung verses. For myself, I've never had fic of mine recorded before, so listening to it was kind of a cool experience. Hearing the story in someone else's voice, it was a bit like I was able to forget that I wrote it, and enjoy it as something new.
And while I'm speaking of Princess Tutu, I should also belatedly rec the Yuletide story that shayheyred wrote for me, because it is awesome and broke my heart only to repair it with squee: Ordinary.
16 August 2007 @ 04:29 pm
YOU GUYS
YOU GUYS
You need to watch this vid, by sockkpuppett. I AM DYING. This is arguably the best thing that could ever happen to a Frank Miller work.
The movie is 300. The song is "Vogue," by Madonna. The vid summary is, "Bite me, Frank Miller." Do you need to know anything else?
I don't care if you haven't seen the movie (neither have I). I don't care if you don't watch vids (there's an embedded player; you don't even have to download anything). I PROMISE YOU, YOU NEED TO SEE THIS.
Current Mood: dying, dying, DEAD
Current Music: GUESS
Thinking: I don't often analyze my happiness. But when I'm feeling low, I get a strange sort of...enjoyment? from analyzing and poking at it and going, "Huh, why is this here?" The lower I get, the more it becomes like an out-of-body experience for me. This sometimes leads to weird layers of feeling: like, the other day I was rereading some FMA, and going "eeeee" under my breath and flailing a lot, and it made me so happy, but it didn't make me un-depressed. If I paused for a moment to check on my crappy mood, it was like, "Nope, nope, still there"; almost comforting in its reliability.
I suppose it's preferable to being so low that it sucks all enjoyment out of everything, but it's kind of a surreal feeling: an overlay of squee against a background of malaise.
...that said, a lot of fandom things are making me happy right now. The aforementioned FMA continues to BLOW ME AWAY with how freaking good it is. I really need to make a whole post about why FMA is awesome and why it totally took me by surprise when I finally started reading it (AND WHY ROY/RIZA IS THE HOTTEST THING IN THE HISTORY OF EVER), but I just- you guys are reading this, right? Right?
Believe me, I adore a lot of series that aren't that good, objectively speaking--it's the characters and the fun and the fandom that draw me--but FMA is on a whole different level. It and Avatar are the same that way: no matter how much I watch/read, I can't quite get over how genuinely, consistenly good they are. (It's kind of a sign of how far cartoons and comics have lowered my standards that when a really high-quality one comes along I'm all like, "WHAT. WHAT.")
I'm just- so incredibly excited about the plot, and what our heroes are going to do next, how they're going to surmount each obstacle that's thrown in front of them. I don't think I've ever had a bigger "OHHHH SNAP" moment than when ( spoilerCollapse ). POLITICAL INTRIGUE FTW. The cliffhangers genuinely grab me, but not in the "Ohshit please don't disappoint me" way; rather, I have confidence that whatever Arakawa-sensei does, it's going to be delicious, so I just sort of float along in a cloud of pleasurable anticipation.
In sum: ASDFLKJA;DLFJA;SDLFKJ;;;
Second: HOLY CRAP SAMURAI CHAMPLOO FAN ANTHOLOGY. Was anyone going to tell me about this?? What the hell. It has fanart and fic and, OK, not all of it is my cup of tea, but I do sort of love it all just for existing. There is quite a lot of Fuu-love, which is very happy-making, and trio love just by virtue of their being all together. Some of my favorites: pic (AAAHHHH FUU), fic (in which Jin has a foot fetish, IT IS AMAZING), fic, pic (YOJIMBOT!), pic (HOLY CRAP LOLOLOLOL), pic, and pic.
If you look at nothing else, read this comic (♥♥♥♥). AND LOOK AT THIS. JUST DO IT. I SWEAR TO GOD, YOUR LIFE IS NOT COMPLETE UNTIL YOU DO.
Finally, I followed a link from daegaer to The Advertising Slogan Generator, where I amused myself by putting the names of Final Fantasy characters in. Some of them were rather good.
Wouldn't You Rather Be Sephiroth? - This was the first result I got for Sephiroth, and it was so perfect I just left it at that. I mean, really. Wouldn't we all?
OK, that's it. Clearly, what I need to do is find a way to live entirely inside fandom when everything else sucks. Anyone know how I can exchange my current reality for an anime one?
Current Mood: indescribable
08 January 2006 @ 02:34 pm
Some more that I've particularly enjoyed reading.
05 January 2006 @ 12:24 am
All right, so possibly I've missed the recs boat for Yuletide--I don't necessarily think anyone's going to read my comments here and go read something they haven't already...but recs are always more about the person reccing than the audience, anyway. Right? I mean, I know I don't rec out of a sense of civic duty or moral obligation, but simply because I want to blab about things I like. So. Think of this less as a list of recs, and more as squee about things I've enjoyed reading.
My reading method is far from scientific, so this is a fairly random collection. I'll post more as I find more.
And it's past my bedtime. Argh. Why are there not more hours in the day (specifically, hours in which I do not have to be in class or doing homework)?
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: david bowie: the man who sold the world