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?

My free time/fluff-brain entertainment has basically consisted of nothing but fic for... I'm not sure how many months now? It's been nearly a year since I last posted any recs, so have an incomplete list of things that have given me great glee:

» YOI:
The requisite Victuuri:
- talk crap get smacked - sly prankster Yuuri is one of my FAVORITE YUURIS
- crust and sugar over - asdf;askdj;lk the Yuri/Yuuri friendship here, omg!!
- on growing; - the Yuri's-two-dads trope will never stop being ♥ ♥ ♥
- destiny knot - a Pokemon AU series I loved without actually being in Pokemon fandom
- The Viktor Nikiforov Affair - ahaha omg has anyone else watched The Thomas Crown Affair??? ART THEFT SHENANIGANS that I loved before the Shadow of the Templar series existed!
- I think you'd look pretty good on me - oblivious heartbreaker Katsuki Yuuri vs. probably-Chad
- a dime a dozen - annnnd probably-Chad is a thing I will apparently laugh myself to tears to, every time! Can we call the Chads a trope yet???
- Fated - LOVELESS CROSSOVER OMG!!! I never did finish reading Loveless back in the day, but this does such an excellent job of worldbuilding/dealing with the fucked-up-ness of the Loveless world.
- Collector's Edition - Victuuri fanboying each other + social media = two great tastes that taste great together!
- name is a four-letter word - Viktor's epic pettiness about JJ gives me such life

Otayuri:
- one thing I could save from the fire - Pacific Rim fusion! :D
- Otabek and Yuri Find a Baby - I find an extra layer of hilarity in baby-fic with these two, even out of Yurio's awkward teenagerhood *g*
- he's beauty, he's grace, he'll punch you in the face - if you suspect I first read this without looking beyond the title, you'd be 100% correct
- Work Even to the End

» Nirvana in Fire:
- Handfast - MCS-as-MCS/Nihuang arranged marriage fic :D :D :D
- But Everything Changed - a MCS/Jingyan/Nihuang A:TLA AU! ♥ ♥ ♥
- for every atom belonging to me as good as belongs to you - SUPER satisfying MCS/Jingyan HDM-daemon fic (as the AO3 summary says, a fandom can never have enough daemon fic!)
- New Spring - also MCS/Jingyan; even if you dislike ABO, the amount of family feels in this series (not to mention its integration of ABO dynamics into politics!) makes everything worth it

» Black Panther: I think it was kate_nepveu who pointed me to home training, but the entire erik stevens, prince of wakanda series is GOLDEN. ♥____♥

» Dragon Age: Inquisition: Probably everyone who's into this fandom/the adoribull ship has already read these, but since I'm doing this I may as well include them anyway...
- Titanomachy, a Pacific Rim fusion (I can also never get enough of these!)
- Seven Habits of Highly Effective Dragonslayers, aka adoribull old marrieds with a new generation of ducklings

Last night in my browsing for Poirot videos, I ended up finding and watching David Suchet's documentary on Being Poirot instead. :D It's actually quite warm-and-fuzzies inducing, if a bit spoilery on various plot points for various stories. David Suchet talks about figuring out Poirot's character, method acting, sets, his other film references, Agatha Christie herself, international audiences, etc. If you're an Agatha Christie fan and haven't already seen it, I think it's quite worth it!

I submitted it! Comp #1 is officially out of my hands as of ~2 hours ago, THANK GOODNESS. I returned all my library books afterward in a haze on the tail end of my coffee energy, hahaha.

S anticipated my need for a massage and got me a gift certificate, which I'm gratefully taking advantage of tomorrow. Taking the rest of today to wind down and relearn how to human again, so: ask me anything, fandom version! Any fandom, any character/s, any situation. I want to celebrate by thinking about ALL the trivial, fluffy things. :D

So would you call this Ghost in the Shell whitewashing bullshit Dolezal, or reverse-Dolezal?? Inquiring minds would like to know.

(Sidenote: I can't believe Dolezal is what passes for plot twist these days. Thanks, Hollywood.)

First dive into the archive today! :D (Still not returning to Yuletide writing, but devouring all the fic remains one of my favorite things about this time of year.) Kicking things off with my year's-end nostalgia fandoms, by which I mean (for now, at least) the stuff still withstanding my Arthurian-legend burnout: The Dark is Rising* and GGK - someone wrote Fionavar this year! And Kim/Dave, no less. (I always get a kick out of seeing GGK fic written by NOT ME, as I don't really know other people who have written multiple GGK stories, lol.)

*Favorite of the lot: Wherein was bound a child, because... well. Because. asdkfja;sldkgj *_________* ♥

So excited to see Riddle-master fic this year omg!! McKillip's trilogy is one of my oldest favorites, and Like Petals from the Bough is basically heart-exploding.

Also, this year I can appreciate Georgette Heyer! Like this Inconvenient Marriage one: Inconvenience- a perfect non-textual love-triangle resolution if there ever was one, hah. And this Devil's Cub one: a thing with feathers- a modern AU that works surprisingly, hilariously, well.

And Bel Dame Apocrypha fic: The Ending is the Same Every Damn Time - Rhys/Nyx, pretty much the way I'm convinced that would go.

And Matrix fic! Ahh, I never realized I needed a fic like Parking in places with girls until I read it. Dorky Neo and awkward Trinity!! Heee. ♥

Also, Queen's Thief, eeeee :D for sins and false alarms is a great look at Gen's attendants, and you got me begging, begging, i'm on my knees is... exactly what it sounds like, heh.

Also excited to see a bunch of stories for Captive Prince and the Imperial Radch! And Gangsta. fic, which reminds me that I mean to read it at some point when I actually have time to spare... And good lord, 57 Hamilton stories (59 if you count the RPF)?! I haven't watched the show or really been particularly tempted to do so, despite my general appreciation for Lin-Manuel Miranda, but at this point I might just have to.

Finally blocking out some writing time this summer! I've been missing the inspiration and creativity of fandom for... a long time now, really, and I'd like to jump back in while I have the chance. So! Give me a prompt, any prompt, for any of my fandoms, and I'll attempt some sort of drabble. Chances of fills are greater for the fandoms I've written before, but really- you name it, I'll take a stab at it. Let's see what/how much I can come up with by tomorrow.

Trying to get back in the habit of posting, so I'm reverting to lists/assorted randoms while I wait for today's paper comments.

+ Apropos of today, I think I forgot to mention that I finally watched a Star Wars movie a few weeks back? Can't say I found it particularly exciting, but it was entertaining to watch with zouk-geek friends. I'd much prefer a proper LOTR marathon, though (we did a Matrix one already).

+ FINALLY got my hands on An Ember in the Ashes! I put in a request at the library nearly two months ago, hopefully it's worth the wait. :9 *excited*

+ Speaking of books, I haven't been reading as much this year, which is something I should fix as I will be back in the grad school grind soon enough. Does anyone have recs for shiny things to hunt down? So far my list consists of the rest of the God's War series, but that's about it. Anime and manga recs are similarly welcome!

So one of my goals earlier this year was to write moar things, and, well, I haven't managed to finish or start anything fandom-related yet. /o\ So! Toss me a prompt and I will write you a drabble! Any fandom goes. :D

♣ Check out these language maps of the US! So interesting!

♣ I am currently reading Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice, so my face is pretty stuck like this: *_______* I think this is the first SF/F book that I've actually slowed down to savor on the first read, rather than my usual reaction of FULL SPEED AHEAD OMG MUST DEVOUR [/finishes in 3 hours or less]. It's kind of an interesting change, though commute-reading probably helped the slowness a bit?

♣ I caved and bought some yarn off Knitpicks, and my new project has grown a lot in the few hours since it began: ( beginning phase here )

(Okay, it has also grown crookedly somehow- the cloth doesn't lie flat and there's something a little one-sidedly wobbly looking about the starfish arms and I am trying to decide whether I want to redo rounds 3-6, sigh. But stitch-counting practice is good for me!)

♣ such_heights! I watched your Flyweight Love vid last night, despite only having watched 30 minutes of Thor! ♥ And then promptly got suckered into the rest of the Aims video album, hahaha... Anyway, that was an excellent video vortex, even though I don't know most of the fandoms. :D (I am also super tempted to watch Sleepy Hollow now- THOSE VIDS OMG.)