then there are blackbirds

Inspired by a recent exchange with rydra_wong, I thought it would be nice to make a list of life-giving media content that's been helping me get by! I noticed upon my latest rewatch of Nirvana in Fire that the comfort reading/media consumption I do to cope with politics these days is distinctly different from the comfort reading/media consumption I do in response to general life stress. There's a specific flavor of schadenfreude involved in the former which leads me to look for plots involving political takedowns and reforms for great justice, for one thing, though I will also settle for characters resisting and/or getting justice in a less socially comprehensive sense. *g*

My political coping list is much less extensive than my general comfort list, but here are a few things I've been leaning on:
♥ Nirvana in Fire/Lang Ya Bang - I would rewatch this show anytime for any reason because of the amazing characters, but it is especially satisfying as political coping because of Mei Changsu's beautiful takedown schemes (also, there is an explicit hierarchy of court corruptness being dealt with)!
♥ Captive Prince - similarly satisfying, but to a lesser extent. I love Laurent's plotting, but Mei Changsu eclipses him in terms of layers, let's be real.
♥ Black Panther - the most comforting parts of this movie for me are Shuri, Okoye, and Nakia, tbh. I love soft-hearted T'Challa, but those three are what I watch for these days.
♥ A:TLA - this is also a general comfort thing, but for political coping I like turning to the latter half of Zuko's character arc and, uh, pretty much every episode where Katara gets angry, because she's glorious when pissed off and never gets punished for it. I also like all the fights with Azula; they're quite cathartic for me!
♥ Kristin Cashore's Graceling series (er, I forget if that's the actual series name? but all three books!) - I like these because in addition to the various trash fires and takedowns, they don't shy away from the parts where everyone is also coping with the traumas involved during and afterward. There's a raw generosity and kindness in Bitterblue, especially, that I really appreciated post-November 2016.
♥ V for Vendetta - clearly explosions are not a solution to shitty government, but some days there's only so much bullshit I can take before I just want to watch it (fictionally) burn.
♥ The Matrix - same as above? xD
♥ The Handmaid's Tale - I started rereading a couple of weeks post-Kavanaugh, but it was a bit much then (also, I was away that weekend and got distracted by people). I think it would be good to revisit another day, though.
♥ Janelle Monae's entire discography - not only is she an incredible musician, her music videos (Many Moons, Tightrope, and Dirty Computer especially) are such amazing portraits of everyday #resistance.
♥ In the Heights soundtrack - maybe Hamilton would be more satisfying (I still haven't seen it), but literally all of this is immigrants surviving, thriving, and going about their everyday lives, and I desperately need more immigrant stories. (I would cite Allegiance too, if I owned the soundtrack!)
♥ By The Still Waters - I love and have been rereading this fic so much, because it is all about choosing and dealing with the consequences of your choices. Also OMG, what an incredible character piece! (Spoilers for Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition.)
♥ LOTR - for all those comforting Dire Moments with Frodo, Sam, Eowyn, etc., haha.

What are the things you've been turning to? Any recs?

Finished an old Dragon Age: Origins game yesterday, which is the first one where I persuaded my way into Cousland/Alistair royal power couple, almost entirely because I wanted to see Alistair's script at the beginning of Awakening if you're married and queen. Despite my completist urges about this game (ALL the origin stories! ALL the character types! ALL the fighting styles!), there are still a number of narrative choices I have trouble making because a) I can't turn my personal ethics off long enough to play through the resulting consequences, and b) I can't bring my character to act like a complete asshole. (Yes it's a game universe, but what's the point of spending so much time on a character that I don't even like?)

... Am I the only one who has these problems? *g*

Ugh... where did February go, and why didn't the cold weather start leaving with it??

Connection has been extra challenging lately! I haven't been writing much here, but it's not that I'm terribly busy- I just haven't had much to say. Life is rather horribly uninteresting outside of zouk at the moment and my fannish brain keeps running off to parts unknown unless reeled in by other people, so I've been sticking to chat, email, and Skype this past month. My one achievement was KagaNigou crackfic in which Kuroko is a Grey Warden, and that only happened because BPS chat is really good at enabling. :P (There will be more of it! I just need to think through some more KnB/Dragon Age crossover details before I continue.)

In other news: anybody have yarn store recommendations in the NYC area? Or favorite yarns? Seeing as this is the winter of my losing hats (including the one I crocheted over Christmas, sigh), I might as well go and make another one. Or two. Possibly three, if winter doesn't GO AWAY already.