tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (Default)
There's a meme that's been going around (I picked it up from [livejournal.com profile] isiscaughey, but I know I've seen it elsewhere) where the idea is that you post 10 fanfics that have stayed with you for whatever reason. I thought that sounded like a fun excuse to link y'all to some fics I love, so here goes.

For ease of your reading I'm linking to AO3 when possible (even if the story was originally posted elsewhere), but some of my favorite older Doctor Who stories have never been posted there, so those links are to Teaspoon.  Interestingly, it seems that many of the fics that stick with me the most are either emotionally rough reads (dark or bittersweet or just full of intense feelings) or super lightweight fluff that sticks with me because it's comfort reading I keep going back to.  Stories are arranged by fandom (Doctor Who, Sherlock, Marvel Cinematic Universe), but otherwise there is no implied ranking within this list.

-Do I Twist, Do I Fold by [livejournal.com profile] rosa_acicularis.  (Doctor Who.  Ten, Rose, The Master)  This story is so good and so intensely unsettling.  Just thinking about it gives me the shivers.  The prose is vivid.  Rose is such a BAMF even in a terrible situation.  Warnings for disturbing content, sexualized violence, and possibly ruining pineapple pizza forever, but worth the reading if that's something you can cope with.  I could honestly fill much of this meme with rosa_acicularis's stories (Days and Hours, But Broken Lights, and The Anatomist spring to mind).

-Coming Around by [livejournal.com profile] honorh.  (Doctor Who, Nine/Rose)  I am a little bit obsessed with what Nine was like pre-"Rose" and what happens to Rose after "Doomsday."  This one-shot connects those two in a bit of timey-wimey bittersweet brilliance.  Really lovely.  I read this very soon after I joined this fandom and it has lingered with me.

-Tales from the Findersverse by [livejournal.com profile] dameruth.  (Doctor Who, Ten/Rose/Jack)  This is one of the first fic series (yeah, I'm cheating a bit by having a series rather than just one fic) that convinced me that I shipped Doctor/Rose/Jack, not just Doctor/Rose, and for that it will always have a special place in my heart.  The Finders-verse series is comfort reading post-Doomsday fixit.  There's a bit of hurt/comfort and lots of fluffy romance.   Dameruth has great dialog and grasp of the characters. I don't even know if this is my overall favorite of her several OT3 'verses, let alone the many other great fics for this ship, but I think it's the one I found first so it always makes me go "awwww" when I think of it.

-Ulysses by Rheanna.  (Doctor Who. Martha Jones, John Smith, Joan Redfern)  This is a haunting "what if" story about what it might have looked like years down the line if John Smith hadn't been the one to find the courage to open the fob watch in "The Family of Blood."  It's about stories and choices and the nature of humans and Time Lords, and if you watch Doctor Who you should really read it.

-The Paradox series by wordstrings.  (Sherlock, Sherlock/John) This is one of the most-recced fanworks in Sherlock fandom for very good reason.  It's intense, immersive, gorgeous, difficult, creative, and moving.  This is the story of two very, VERY broken people who find they fit together better than either of them dared to hope, even if that doesn't make everything better always.

-The Shape I Found You In/Lay Me Down by [livejournal.com profile] irisbleufic and [livejournal.com profile] moony (Sherlock, Sherlock/John)  There are so many things I love here:  epistolary fic!  Humor!  Case solving!  Men who rarely talk about things finally talking about it!  Character parallels with well-written OCs!  Travel!  Longing and the sexy fulfilment of all that longing!  All of it is really beautifully written (irisbleufic is a published poet, and it shows) with impeccable characterizations.

-The Watches 'verse by [livejournal.com profile] bendingsignpost.  (Sherlock, Sherlock/John)  The creativity and planning that went into the two stories in this series is just amazing.  I have a huge place in my heart for Sherlock stories where John is even more extraordinary than Sherlock in a very different way, and this story about John with his consciousness jumping between alternate realities every time he goes to sleep certainly fills that craving.  Bendingsignpost is another one of those writers who has written lots of fics I could just rave about for ages.

-Bring Biscuits by wiggleofjudas (Sherlock, Sherlock/John/Mary)  This fic is like a blanketfort of OT3 happiness.  It's exceptionally sily and loving text fic with Sherlock, John, Mary, and a baby, and re-reading it (or its sequel) is the antidote to all bad feelings caused by accidentally encountering anti-Mary tirades.  Also, at one point Sherlock and John fall into a big display of sex toys and Lestrade takes pictures.

-We Were Emergencies by gyzym.  (Avengers, Natasha/Clint)  This is the gorgeous, emotionally-charged, insightful story of two damaged assassins in love.  It's about recovery from mind control (and recovery in general), subtle and intense at the same time.  I came out of The Avengers craving a story like this, and to find one that filled that craving so brilliantly was marvelous.

-Reconstruction Site by EmilianaDarling.  (Avengers/Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve/Bucky).  This fic perfectly fits my headcanon for Bucky after the events of the movie, and does so with graceful writing and SO MANY FEELS. 
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (Default)
You know what the world needs more of?

If you answered "Siberian tigers" or "love, sweet love," you are technically correct.  However, the answer I'm looking for today is "high-quality lady-centric fanfic set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe."

With that in mind, here are a few recs for fics I've enjoyed recently.

-Breakfast for Dinner by thingswithwings.  5,636 words.  Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) joins the MCU Avengers.  (No knowledge of Captain Marvel is required.)  This story makes me so ridiculously happy.  It's hilarious, well-characterized, and bound to give you warm fuzzy feelings.  I tried to select a favorite part to quote before realizing that the entire story is my favorite part.  However, here is one small taste that takes place while Carol and Natasha are crawling through some ducts to rescue Steve:

short excerpt from Breakfast for Dinner )

-our bruises are coming, but we will never fold by liveonthesun.  3,248 words.  Peggy Carter gets a dose of the Super Soldier serum.  This is a great what-if.  I enjoyed the author's use of parallel structures, the exploration of Peggy's changing attitude about her powers, and the ending.  I really enjoyed the appearances by the Black Widow and Pepper. Here's a sample:

short excerpt from our bruises are coming, but we will never fold )


-The B-Team by twistedingenue.  40,100 words. Natasha and Clint accidentally get sucked into a parallel universe, and at first glance it seems like the darkest timeline:  all of the Avengers in this universe are dead or permanently out of the picture, and SHIELD has been very nearly destroyed.  However, the fight is being carried on by Pepper Potts, Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, and sometimes Rhodey.  Can a small team of MCU characters who aren't superpowered white dudes with films named after them cover all the work of SHIELD and the other Avengers? (Answer:  of course.  Have you seen Pepper Potts?) This story has emotional heft and an exciting plot.  The author does a great job handling a large cast, making sure every character gets an arc.  There are some tremendously fulfilling moments that i won't spoil here.

Unfortunately, this rec comes with the caveat that the fic needs a beta reader with an eye for details of spelling, punctuation, and grammar. There were numerous uses of it's when the proper word was its, plus other homonym replacements and further grammatical boo-boos.  I found these errors annoying, but they weren't quite severe enough to make me give up on a story that was fantastic in so many other ways.

There is also a sequel, For Those Who Mourn.  The sequel seems similarly good so far, but it's a WIP.  Both stories are Clint/Darcy.

Any fan works you've enjoyed recently, friends?  While lady-centric Avengers fic is my happy place, I'm also happy to receive other recs.  For example, I've been reading a fair amount of post-Winter Soldier fic with Bucky and would love to find more, and I'm always on they lookout for Sherlock fic with a sympathetic Mary.

tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (top hat eccleston)
Hello, y'all!  In an effort to be the change I wish to see in the world, I am going to try to make my LJ a livelier place by posting more often.  My flist has been sadly quiet lately.  I don't really like tumblr as a platform, but I find myself spending tons of time there because it is so lively, plus it's easy to look and reblog even when I feel too tired/uninteresting/incoherent to write a post here.  Nevertheless, I am going to try to get my rear in gear and actually post, even if it's only about the latest movie I've watched.

I saw Now You See Me in the movie theater today.  I was excited about it based on the trailers, but the not so hot rating on Rotten Tomatoes kept my expectations on the low side.  I ended up really enjoying it.  I would recommend it if you like the following:

  • magicians!

  • heists

  • twisty plots with surprises, including some of the sort that I didn't see coming but which made so much sense after the reveal

  • Mark Ruffalo

  • other attractive cast members

  • Morgan Freeman

  • Michael Caine

  • moral grey areas that allow us to root for both the magicians pulling off criminal schemes and the cops investigating them

  • a sense of wonder

  • a Robin Hood sensibility that fits well with our post-economic crash times

On the minus side, the characterization was a little thin for many of the characters, and I actively wanted the two lead cops' relationship to remain platonic despite the film apparently feeling the need to shoehorn in some romance.  That's a fairly minor gripe, though.  In certain respects, it is reminiscent of The PrestigeNow You See Me is not as good as that, but then, The Prestige has David Bowie playing Nicola Tesla, and I don't think it's possible for anything to live up to that.  I don't want to risk spoilers by saying to much, but if anyone else has seen this movie and wants to talk about it, I'd love to.

Speaking of things one doesn't want spoiled, I have been having far too much fun with schadenfreude while reading people's social media reactions to this week's episode of Game of Thrones.  All these sweet summer children who apparently expected characters to survive!  However, I really need to make reading books 4 & 5 a priority, because I just got accidentally spoiled about a future character death, and I'd like to keep that from happening anymore.

Also on the topic of things that can rip out hearts, I continue to adore bendingsignpost's Sherlock/John fic Bel Canto, which is a fusion with The Phantom of the Opera.  The fusion of the canons works way better and less crackily than I might have expected.  This fic is also stuffed with complex interpersonal conflict between characters who each have validity to their viewpoint, danger, insight into both the major and minor characters, powerful prose, occasional bits of humor and sweetness, and heartache.  Far too much heartache.  It's a WIP, but there are only two chapters remaining and they update weekly.
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (in a land of myth sherlock)
I'm here to rec a fascinating fanfic house of mirrors that will punch you right in the emotions and make you crave more.  There are multiple parts to this recommendation, because the last fic has prerequisites.

First, have you seen Sherlock?  If not, you must be mighty bored with my LJ.  :-P  If you have, good!  Let's move on.

All the fics in this linked recommendation are by [livejournal.com profile] bendingsignpost.  (He used to write in Doctor Who fandom as rallalon.)   [livejournal.com profile] bendingsignpost has created some amazing and thoroughly original AU fics.  The Watches verse  (link goes to the start of the first story, "The World on His Wrist") posits that when John Watson was shot in Afghanistan, his consciousness began to split its time between four parallel timelines:  the familiar one where following his injury he goes to London and moves in with Sherlock, one where he goes to London but ends up with a much more normal flatmate, one where he wasn't actually shot and continues serving in Afghanistan, and one where he never joined the Army at all and now works as a surgeon in Chelmsford, Essex.  Every time John goes to sleep he switches from one universe to another.  The Watches verse tackles the practical as well as emotional implications of this remarkable curse (which is also sometimes almost a superpower, because remembering events from the universes that are a few days ahead means that he can predict the future a bit.)  John's BAMFhood level is through the roof, and the build of Sherlock and John's relationship is really well done.

In addition to the Watches verse, you should also read [livejournal.com profile] bendingsignpost's Stranger at the Gate.  It's far more AU than I typically read, being set in a fantasy universe rather than 21st century London where Sherlock and John aren't even flatmates, but I'm so glad I gave it a try.  "Stranger" packs quite an emotional wallop.  It's the sort of fic you want to read through a crack in your fingers because you are so worried that what happens next will be awful, so you can hardly bear to look but you can't seem to stop reading because the plot is too exciting and you care about the characters so much.  There are also moments of beauty and lovely emotion mixed in with the "oh no!" moments.  The worldbuilding is first rate.  Also, Sherlock is a vampire, but don't let that deter you if vampires aren't your thing.  Vampires in this world are rather unlike any other variety you've read about; Sherlock is as vulnerable as he is powerful.  (BTW, heed the trigger warnings on this fic.)

Have you read those now?  (Weren't they awesome?)  Now we get to the final part of the fic rec:  a crossover AU of both these AUs!  Watches!John is shot in his remaining Afghanistan universe, and suddenly he finds that his universe rotation includes taking the places of the Johns in "Stranger at the Gate" and "Behavioral Modification," another of [livejournal.com profile] bendingsignpost's stories that I haven't yet read.  (I'm following the crossover quite well without "Behavioral Modification," though I'm sure I'm missing things.)  The collision of stories creates a glorious tangle of angst.  The perspective of a newcomer to the Stranger at the Gate universe offers new insights into the world and relationships we previously only saw through the perspective of that Sherlock.  This untitled AU of the AUs is currently a WIP accessible only through annoying collapsed comment threads, but if you like the other stories, it's well worth the bother.  Updates are frequent.

I love fandom for the capacity to do this sort of thing.  A series of mysteries from the Victorian era was transported to the 21st century, and from there we made it sprout into a nigh-infinite tree of possibilities that can then cross-pollinate each other.    Fandom creativity can produce infinite diversity in infinite combinations, but all founded on a common canon.  Of course fandom can also rewrite the same lousy story over and over, but I prefer to focus on the extraordinary creativity that sometimes emerges. 
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (sally donovan)
I have a rec for a Sherlock fic with an unlikely premise that manages to be magnificent.  I'm apparently a bit late on this bandwagon, but if you haven't read The Deepest Secret Nobody Knows by [livejournal.com profile] flecalicious yet, I encourage you to remedy that now. 

I've always felt that the interactions between Sally Donovan and Sherlock suggested some sort of personal past between them.   This fic takes the premise that a one-night stand over four years before ASIP left Sally pregnant with Sherlock's baby.  She chooses to have the baby and raise the child alone.  It's not the sort of kid-fic that's mostly cooing over how cute little children are, so I think it's worthwhile even if you're not usually into kid-fic. 

This story has a wonderfully layered depiction of Sally that slots perfectly into canon but makes her into a complex, sympathetic (but still flawed) person.  All the other characters hit just the right notes too.  This story is full of all the messy emotions around bringing a new life into the world and around people who have ended up tied to each other without entirely choosing it.  The fic's last few scenes are just devastatingly good. 

While I'm reccing not quite new fics with unusual backstories for the characters, I really enjoyed the cracktastic kinkmeme story Captain John Watson, wherein John is the son of Captain Jack Harkness. 
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (allosaurus bitches)
One of the lovely things about Sherlock Holmes is that the original canon is out of reach of copyright laws, meaning that established authors can write fanfic and get paid for it.  The BBC's Sherlock is a classic "born in another time period" AU, for instance.  The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a book with an excellent collection of professional Holmes fic that may appeal to the Sherlock fans on this flist as well as others who have read some of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories.

The concept of this collection is that it contains a mix of genres:  some straight-up mystery stories where every bizarre occurrence can be explained away, and some speculative fiction stories where the solution to the mystery involves something like aliens, Cthulhu, or travel to a parallel universe.  In almost all of the stories I was able to tell whether the supernatural occurrences were "real" almost immediately, well before the reveal, but the variety of genres was fun nevertheless.  As in any collection of short stories, some are better than others, but there were a number of stories I absolutely adored and only one or two I truly disliked. Some of my favorites included (with some fairly minor spoilers):

-Naomi Novik does her fanfic origins proud in "Commonplaces."  She directly addresses the question of exactly how deep the connection between Holmes and Watson runs.  I squeed SO DAMN HARD, even though it's a bittersweet story.  Also, I really like Novik's version of Irene Adler.

-Stephen King's descriptively titled "The Doctor's Case," wherein Watson solves the mystery before Holmes.  It turns out that my fondness for super-competent!John in the BBC-verse translates to other versions of our detective duo as well.

-"The Singular Habits of Wasps" by Geoffrey Landis, a brilliantly unsettling take on Jack the Ripper.

-Neil Gaiman's "A Study in Emerald."  If you don't already know why this story is a dark gem, you can also read it on Neil's website.

-"The Adventure of the Pirates of Devil's Cape" by Rob Rogers.  Inspired lunacy with an albino alligator and PIRATES!  Also, BAMF!Watson fights a giant.
 
-For an example of a pro writer dipping into that beloved fandom genre of crack, I loved "The Adventure of the Lost World" by Dominic Green.  Those in Sherlock fandom may be especially amused to note that this story contains a dinosaur.  (Yes, watchalong folks, it is better than the movie with Gareth David Lloyd.) As if the prospect of Sherlock + dinosaur isn't tantalizing enough, I really must share this selection of dialog between Holmes and Watson.

[excerpt behind the cut )

In summary, if you're looking for a fun bunch of stories putting familiar characters in unfamiliar situations or you want some [mostly] gen Sherlock Holmes fanfic you can carry around in book form, I recommend The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (nice not being me)
Someday, I will make a post that is not largely about Sherlock.  Today is not that day.  New fandom has wrapped its tentacles around my brain in a major way.  Today, I have some recs for you.  Some of them are even about things other than Sherlock!

First, a piece of crack!fic that sent me into absolute fits of laughter:  Aptronyms by [livejournal.com profile] elapsedspiral .  This is a slight AU where, as the summary says, Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are the unfortunate sods named after them.   When you get to the end, I hope you'll agree with me that we have a new catchphrase!  You'll know the one I mean.

Second, a delightful vid by [livejournal.com profile] humansrsuperior starring Sherlock's Coat of Great Sexiness.  I can't figure out how to embed this player, so here's a link to the relevant LJ entry.  All coat, all the time.  The vid is free of major spoilers, so if there is anyone reading this who is (a) still on the fence about whether to watch Sherlock, and (b) attracted to men and/or long, dramatic coats, this might convince you.  Watch it swirl!

Now, a Merlin rec!  I wanted to make sure all the Merlin folks on this list have seen [livejournal.com profile] rosa_acicularis 's  amazing Merlin fic, Goose Girl.  It's got richly layered emotions, plenty of Rosa's trademark wit, and a wonderful character who is sort of an OC and sort of someone you know.  There's also a fierce goose.  It's set post-S1.

Here's a fascinating NY Times article about a practice in Afghanistan of disguising girls as boys.  Some of them wear boys' clothes in order to work to help their families out with income, but others are presented as boys largely because of the social stigma on families without sons. Even when the child's original gender is an open secret among friends, there are still social benefits to simply appearing to have a son.  Most of these young people are supposed to revert back to femininity at puberty or when their parents arrange a marriage, with varying degrees of success and happiness. 

Now, a bit of yammering about my subconscious (you can skip if you like).  A few nights ago I actually dreamed I was in Afghanistan.  I don't remember any details, but I think it was in the context of visiting there rather than being Afghan.  I am somewhat concerned that my subconscious may be attempting to emulate John Watson in hopes that this will cause Benedict Cumberbatch to become my flatmate.  Sadly, it doesn't work that way.  At least strange dreams are preferable to a psychosomatic limp. 

Last night I had even stranger dreams.  Perhaps inspired by the lovely Sherlock/His Dark Materials fusion fic, "Theory and Practice," I dreamt about the Firefly crew in a universe where everyone has daemons*.  In a rare instance of awareness that I was dreaming, I kept realizing that my sleeping mind was assigning Mal a daemon that didn't quite suit him (golden eagle, then tiger) and insisting that the dream give him a  different one.  I wish I could tell you what brilliant ideas my brain eventually cooked up for who would have what species of daemon, but that got lost in the transition to the next dream.  (What would their daemons actually be? Mal, I think, would have a coyote.  River would be either a cat or some sort of bird, perhaps an owl.  Kaylee strikes me as an otter.  Anyone else have opinions?)

After half-waking, I transitioned to a school stress dream.  I haven't had one of those in a while, though I have teaching stress dreams not infrequently.  When I do dream about being in school, most often it's at the college level with some sort of test I didn't study for/paper I didn't write/classroom I can't find as the plot.  Last night, however, I dreamed about being in high school. I went to one of the classes assigned to me on the first day and was really upset when it was WAY too easy and beneath my level.  Everyone else in the class seemed ludicrously dumb. I was worried I was going to be stuck in that class all semester, bored out of my skull, and I had no idea where the office was or how to change my schedule.  My brain seems to think I need to do more with my life.

How about one more bit of Sherlock silliness for anyone still with me?  Sherlock demonstrates how to dance the robot.  It made me giggle like a crazy person.


*In Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, daemons are external manifestations of a person's soul, taking the form of animals.
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (can't giggle crime scene)
I finally got around to seeing the final episode of Sherlock the other day.  spoilers afoot! )

Meanwhile, it has been super foggy and cold the past two days.  If y'all are tired of summer, come on over to the CA central coast.  There's none around here.  Bring a little of it with you for my sake.
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (kaylee parasol smiles)
Last night, I had the late night urge to combine my new muffin pan with the blueberries I'd bought at the previous week's farmers' market. Blueberry cinnamon muffins happened.  Yum!  I am the Evil Midnight Muffin Maker What Makes Muffins at Midnight. (Anyone who gets that The Tick reference gets +5 points.)

Today, I did a nice hike up Bishop's Peak, ran some errands, bought more produce at the big Farmers' Market/street fair in SLO, and settled in at Linnaea's Cafe to try to accomplish a bit of work on the Jack/Doctor fic I'm writing.  It turned out that there was going to be live music, a fairly common occurrence at the cafe, and generally a welcome one.  The woman onstage tonight had a lovely voice and a "folk funk" (her description) sound that I was really digging.  Then, a few songs in, she announced, "this song is about River Tam."

I did a double-take.  Yes, she meant Firefly's River Tam.  I had serendipitously shown up at a geek concert in a non-convention venue, as another audience member more prepared than me soon proved by donning a Jayne hat.  The concert included several more songs, maybe a third of the ones she played, vaguely or not-so-vaguely referencing Firefly mixed in with the more standard singer-songwriter fare.  The non-filk songs often had a humorous touch ("You're like an avocado, baby.  You're only really good for one day.")  She also played an anthem about being a geek, featuring percussion played on a manual typewriter.  I repeat:  manual typewriter percussion. 

Her name is Marian Call, and you should check her out!  You can listen to some of her music streaming on her website.

The concert must have helped with the fannish brainwaves, because even though my fic only had half my attention, I finally managed to write a version I like of a scene that had been giving me trouble.  Hooray!

Bonus geek moment of the week:  I wandered into a local bead store a few days ago, just to see what was in there (answer:  beads).  The woman behind the counter became the first stranger to ever speak in recognition of the small TARDIS pin on my purse.  
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (death sandman)
Last night I discovered American Science & Surplus, which sells everything from laboratory beakers to brass sextants to military surplus "oxygen warning switches" to a package of 101 assorted springs.  There's not really anything there that I need, but there are zillions of things that appeal to the part of me that loves new laboratory gear, school supplies, and random weird stuff.  It's all so cheap, you find yourself thinking, "it only costs $3 for 20 five ml glass ampules!  I'm sure there's some use for them!" Plus, the descriptions are often quite entertaining (ex: Like a narcissistic fashion model, but much more useful. You get 10 feet of 3/8" wide, light-green hook-and-loop ribbon. Wouldn't our life be easier if we could say the word that rhymes with Welcro? Yes, it would.)   I'm putting together a steampunk outfit for DragonCon, and there's a bunch of stuff that looks like costume materials. 

I have a vid rec!  "You'll Be Bright" by [livejournal.com profile] diarmi is marvelous celebration of the female companions of New Who.  It's energetic and full of the wonder of exploration. Rose, Martha, Donna, and Amy all get plenty of love.  Here's the LJ entry for feedback or download, and here's the youtube version:



I think I'll finally finish off the blasted TV meme now.

Saddest character death. Cut for sadness. )

Urgh, that was depressing.  What we need now are some pictures of weird-looking animals.  There are plenty to be found on the Ugly Endangered Things blog, which highlights the plight and the coolness of endangered species that lack the charisma of giant pandas.  Some of the most recent entries are kind of stretching the definition of ugly, but the archives feature some real doozies, like the Ohio lamprey.
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (toshiko b&w)
I bring you some interesting things from around the internet.

-News that sounds like the start of a movie:  Neuroscientist who studies the brains of psychopaths discovers that he has multiple murderers in his family tree.  He tests himself and finds that both his brain activity and some genes match traits of psychopaths.  In movies, this discovery would fairly quickly lead to a murder spree.  In real life, it led to an NPR article and some thankfulness for a happy childhood, which makes the nasty inherited traits much less likely to be expressed.

-Doctor Who Series 5 Can-Can.  This is a really fun, fast-paced video putting the entirety of Series 5 to the familiar can-can tune.  Why?  Why not!



It was made by [livejournal.com profile] elderberryink , and the LJ post where you can comment or find the downloadable version is here.

-The amount I relate to this blog post is scary and sad.

-This macro makes great use of photoshop to show the most popular hangout in the Whoniverse.(SPOILERS though The Big Bang)

-Science says to drink more coffee!   There is some evidence that it might lower the risk of Alzheimer's, though the jury is still out. 
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (donna+rose bench)

While I was prowling through the Awesome Ladies Ficathon reading fics, I seem to have ended up writing something.  It's a Dollhouse double-drabble focusing on Adelle DeWitt.  It's rather hasty and unbeta'ed, but anyone interested can find fic and prompt right here. If you want to find the many other ficlets better than mine and write/prompt some of your own (you should!) , here's the shiny banner to take you to them:




To sign up to write something longer than a comment, try part 2 of the ficathon here.

TV Meme, Day 15:  Favorite Female Character

Women who rock )
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (smiling nine/rose)
AT LONG LAST, I HAVE INTERNET AT HOME AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  JESUS H. CHRIST IN A ZEPPELIN, I AM SO OUTRAGEOUSLY HAPPY! 

Happy enough that I want to do this dance:



After one of the dimwits at AT&T finally told me that the dsl service I was receiving just fine three weeks ago absolutely couldn't be restored (*shakes fist at corporate idiocy*),  I bit the bullet and called Comcast yesterday about cable internet.  It costs a fair amount more than dsl, which is not good for me right now, but it's worth it.  Ordering by phone was easy and fairly quick, and they scheduled a technician to come out and make it happen the very next day.  (That technician arrived two hours later than the end of the time window they told me, but when he arrived he was rather hot, so that was something.)  Look how easy that was. 

Now I have beautiful, blazing fast internet that I can access from my own sofa, bed, kitchen, or any other location in the house.  It's like I'm living in the 21st century or something!   I want to pet the internet and whisper "my precioussssss" to it. 

Here is one of the many shiny things that I can once again view in the privacy of my home:  a brilliant fan-made map of the TARDIS.  It's gorgeous, intricate, funny, and sometimes even poignant.  This, kids, is why fandom is awesome.

Fic rec!

Feb. 19th, 2010 11:50 pm
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (book club adventures 9/rose)
If you're reading this, you probably already know that the combination of Doctor Who and literature makes me an extraordinarily happy fangirl.  For those of similar inclination, I have a fic rec! 

Check out Read Between the Lines by [livejournal.com profile] sciathan_file .  Trapped in Pete's World after Doomsday, Rose comes to the disconcerting discovery that many of her favorite books have entirely different and usually disappointing stories in the parallel world.  I love how the story explores the idea that the Doctor is far from the only thing Rose lost when she became trapped away from her home universe.  Alt!Donna makes an appearance, being her typically wonderful, sassy self.  This is a story about stories and their importance to us through both our emotional health and how we frame our own narratives.  The fic has a melancholy beauty.  Extensive knowledge of literature is NOT necessary to enjoy this fic.
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (I can kill you with my brain)
My mother likes sending me links to silly things online.  Imagine my surprise when one day she sent me a link leading to An Archive of Our Own (AO3)!  Had she discovered my fanfiction habit?  Was she coming out of the closet about a fanfic habit of her own?  No on both counts, thank heavens.  The link was for Wait Wait Don't Eat Me, a fic about NPR's news quiz show, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me*, reporting on the zombie apocalypse.  Let me say that again:  National Public Radio fanfic, with zombies.  It's utterly hilarious!  The voices for all of the hosts and panelists are exactly right, and I cracked up at the news about what various politicians and other famous people were doing in response to the zombie hordes.  A zombie calls in to be a listener contestant.  The consequences of giving too little on the pledge drive are revealed. 

Still curious about where on Earth my mother located this, I checked the Wait Wait website and found that they had linked to the fic on their twitter feed.  I know that my mother uses Twitter to follow some people (our phone conversations frequently include discussing the latest news from Neil Gaiman as if he were a family friend), so I am choosing to assume that she found the story through that tweet. 

God, I love the Internet!  (Other awesome and COMPLETELY unrelated internet stuff:  DW writer Paul Cornell's blog post the other day denouncing the perception encouraged by the media that to be Christian is to be homophobic.  Well said, Paul!  It bothers me that the most hateful strand of the Christian faith is so often the loudest, and it bothers me that the media discourse just amplifies these strident voices who do NOT speak for the Jesus I see in the Bible, nor do they speak for me.  Like Paul, I'm a person of faith, and I am in favor of GLBT rights.  Passionately so.  I know many other Christians of various sorts who feel the same.  As a more or less Quaker person, I might worship quietly, but I refuse to be silent in standing up for the rights of others.  I don't feel the need to talk about my faith a whole lot in the secular world, but I do get tired of hearing atheists and agnostics who are allies on the political and social issues I care about assuming that intelligence, logic, compassion, open-mindedness, and progressivism are antithetical to belief in a higher power.  Stop with the pigeonholing, people.)

*For those of you who aren't in the US or aren't public radio listeners, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is a weekly news quiz comedy show with a combination of listeners phoning in, regular panelists, and celebrity guests.  It's well worth checking out the podcast if you aren't in an area where you can hear it broadcast.  Even without zombie apocalpyse, it makes me laugh out loud every week.  It helps that Peter Sagal, the host, is apparently a huge geek.

Macro rec

Jan. 3rd, 2010 07:39 pm
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (evil pizza)
For all of those needing a laugh, I highly recommend that you go check out the hilarious Master macro made by [livejournal.com profile] orange_crushed . (SPOILERS for The End of Time!)  Remember:  beverages and keyboards do not mix, so set your drink aside while reading this macro.
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (prepare for awesomeness)
Doctor Who and Torchwood do darkness really well.  Many of us here in fandom like it to some extent:  why else would we be watching a show about the last survivor of an otherwise extinct people?  We create fics and other fanworks that delve to the depths of the shows' angst potential.  However, in these anxious days as we await The End of Time, I think it's worth remembering how much joy and love exist in this show and this fandom. 

With that in mind, I wanted to link to some fics and vids that fill me with happiness every single time.  I could call this a rec post, but since I'm not making any effort to stick to lesser-known works I think it might be better called a reminder post.  My goal is less to help you find something new (although you may) than to remind you of how much fun this show and this fandom can be.  Some of this stuff is sweet and entirely fluffy, some briefly acknowledges the darkness but moves thoroughly into hope, and some is just zany crack to bring you laughs.

Check out these fics and vids.  Smile.  If you feel inspired, comment with a link to whatever in Doctor Who fandom fills you with joy (or post about it in your own journal).  If you aren't feeling like fics or vids, rec something else, like a picspam, fanmix, macro, meta post, or whatever gives you the warm fuzzies and/or the giggles.  Share the celebration!

Fics )

Vids ) (Note: I've had to go back and fiddle with editing this entry's formatting and such after posting. Sorry to anyone who saw it funny looking, without cuts, or otherwise annoying.)
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (victor dollhouse)
I have a few Dollhouse-watching buddies on this f-list already,  but  I hope to convince the rest of you to join.  Why?  Two reasons.

(1) This show is brilliant and I think you will like it!
(2) Dollhouse isn't doing very well in the ratings, which is hard to avoid since it's in the Friday night doomtime that killed Firefly (*shakes fist at Fox*).  The second season has just started airing, but the word is that if ratings don't pick up then Fox won't even finish airing this season.  I will be very, very sad if this show dies in mid-season. 

Let's explore reason #1 in more detail.

Dollhouse is thoughtful, peopled with complex characters, funny, plotty, and overall the sort of television we need to encourage in America.  It provides great fodder for feminist analysis, if you're so inclined.   You should watch it.  So there.  Still want more info?  Here it is, spoiler-free for those who might want to start from the beginning.
if you saw one or two episodes and weren't impressed, click here )
if you don't know much of anything about Dollhouse, click here )

who's who picspam of pretty! )

I want to help out this phenomenal show!  How can I boost its ratings?
  you may be saying by now. Watch it in a way that counts.  If you are in the US and not in a Nielson household, that means it's better to watch it on Hulu, iTunes, Fox on demand, or TiVo than just on your TV, since all of those computer viewings count but only Nielson ratings count for actual TV screen viewing.  High ratings in these nontraditional media were what got Dollhouse a second season in the first place.  Here's more info (complete with links) from the [livejournal.com profile] blank_dolls community, which also includes a bit of info for non-US people.  If you would prefer to watch on your normal TV or need to set your tivo, it's on at 9 pm on Fridays on Fox. 

where should I start watching? )

Have fun watching!  If you have questions, feel free to ask. 
Those of you who already watch, let's pimp this show like mad!  (And then analyze the feminist implications of using the word "pimp" with regards to a show about prostitution and exploitation!)

tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (badass geek)
I'm going to Dragoncon next weekend!  Will any of y'all be there?  I'm looking forward to it, although the crowds might be even more crazy than usual due to some big name guests (Leonard Nimoy!  Patrick Stewart!  Adam Savage from Mythbusters!  William Shatner!   I'm glad I'm not in charge of crowd management.)  Gareth David-Lloyd will the rest of this sentence cut for CoE spoilers, just in case. )    I'm also thoroughly excited about the chance to see my family, who live in Atlanta and will also attend the con.  (Well, my dad and brother will attend the con full time.   My mom will probably come for a few hours one day to see Adam Savage and look at costumes.)   

I saw District 9 this week.  It was amazing!  (No spoilers in my discussion, no promises about comments.)  The premise is innovative. (Alien spaceship parks over Johannesburg, but the aliens inside are impoverished and disorganized.  They end up living in a shanty town in Jo'burg.  The movie hinges around an effort to evict them for relocation to a farther away camp.)  The treatment of social issues is complex.  The acting is superb.  The effects are great, integrating so well into the documentary-style film that you don't notice them.  This is what science fiction is for:  thought-provoking movies that can also feature a giant robot throwing a car.  Plus, I lived in South Africa for five months during a semester abroad in college, so parts of the movie were a trip down memory lane but with added aliens.  I highly recommend it, with the caveat that the severely squeamish might want to stay away.  There are some intensely gross scenes of illness and quite a bit of violence.

While I'm recommending things, I'd like to direct you to the book Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve.  It's young adult (but entirely suitable for adults) post-apocalyptic steampunk about moving cities that eat other cities.  There are also airships!  And cyborgs!  That premise alone may be enough to send you to your local book store, but it's not just a cool idea.  It's a thrilling adventure that I found hard to put down, but it's really more about the fascinating characters and their complex moral dilemmas.   The warning for this one is that I came about thisclose to crying on the Tube while reading it.  Tissues are your friends!
tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (english vocabulary showdown)
I come to rec some things that have made me laugh lately.

Four Consequences of the Unexpected and Unlikely Friendship Between James T. Kirk and Nyota Uhura by [livejournal.com profile] trisfic. Absolutely hilarious NuTrek fic that does what it says on the tin. I love the idea of Kirk and Uhura as platonic BFFs (somewhat unwillingly on Uhura's part at first, but Kirk is endearing like an ill-mannered puppy.) The scene where Uhura and Kirk have learned about pon farr is particularly priceless. Also the scene where Spock seeks advice on the arts. And Kirk's attempt to get Uhura to go shopping with him. Really, the whole fic is worthwhile. Uhura/Spock and implied Kirk/McCoy, but the focus is definitely the friendship.

Some of you may have seen the phenomenon on YouTube of Literal Music Videos, where people take music videos and replace the original song lyrics with something that literally describes what's going on in the video. The first one I was was Take On Me, and it's highly amusing. Yesterday I saw this vid for "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and it made my day. Note that you don't need to be familiar with the song or original video to end up in hysterics.

Profile

tardis_stowaway: TARDIS under a starry sky and dark tree (Default)
tardis_stowaway

April 2019

S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
212223242526 27
282930    

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios