Wake the Sun

In which I watch 15 seconds of a shitty Pacific Rim cam, on repeat, in slow-mo, for fandom science.

Newt and Hermann are first up, Raleigh and Mako should follow later this week.



( ...Or I'm dead. In which case, ha, I also win. Sort of. )




( We do this... together. I'll go with you. )

Side notes x2: every time I watch this (which has been a lot) I can't help thinking god, I hope they went straight to medical after the movie ended. They're both had seizures (multiple for Newt), plus their blood pressure's elevated so high they've ruptured shit in their eyes and noses. That is bad.

Side note x3: Shitty cam is really shitty, guys. If you want to see the movie (and have access to it in theaters), go see it in theaters. I promise it's worth it.

Dad: How're you doing?
Me: Fine. Frustrated. Still haven't heard back from that job, which probably means I didn't get it.
Dad: Or that they're still making a decision.
Me: Yeah, I guess. How about you, how're you doing?
Dad: I'm fine, but I'm supposed to be fine. You're the one who should be torn up by anxiety and angst.
Me: Yeah?
Dad: Yes. You're an artist, right? Tortured artist. Anxiety and angst is the way to go.
Me: I guess I'll dig down deep, see what I can pull out.
Dad: Good.

And that's why my dad is the best.

Meanwhile! I've been reading kaigou's posts on Mouretsu Pirates and then Okazu posted about it and then I got decent internet and, well. It was time to check things out.

Short version: Mouretsu Pirates is amazing and you should watch it.

Slightly longer version: Girls! Smart, clever, competent girls! And women! Awesome, badass women! Non-trope-y characterizations! Space pirates! Actual science, like what you'd get in medium-hard scifi! Which makes sense, seeing as the author of the original light novel is a Seiun Award winner. Mother-daughter bonding over firearms! Multiple femslash pairings! The Bechdel test being passed all over the place! No panty shots! SPACE PIRATES.

I'm on episode 6 out of the 8 episodes currently aired and it keeps getting better. It's on CrunchyRoll for free, for folks who can access it, or you can get the torrents here.

I've also started watching Gintama, thanks to pseudo_tsuga, and it is also amazing.

Making me the latest to the party ever but I can't even care because oh my god my babies. I only have room for love**.

Just, Aang. And his face, and his choices. And Sokka's smarts and love of shopping! And Suki's badassery and Katara's courage and strength and fussiness and Toph's everything. And Iroh's everything. And Zuku wasn't my favorite, exactly, but he was the one I kept talking to because oh, baby, no, what the fuck are you doing.

I've been holding off on the fic for years and now I'm not sure where to begin (aside from trawling the Ao3) - does anyone have favorites to rec (I don't have shipping/lack of shipping preferences)? I'm especially interested in Azula fixit fic, that girl got a raw deal.

* I'd never made it past the first season.

**The regret will come later. What was I thinking, putting this off?

A couple of links:

* Al Jazeera's 'Disaster in Japan' live blog for March 15th (previous days linked in the post)

* On Good.is: Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan: How to Help

* Nuclear energy 101: Inside the "black box" of power plants. Also, Fukushima Nuclear Accident – a simple and accurate explanation.

* Al Jazeera's spotlight on Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Egypt, and Algeria.

~*~

There's more - sweet baby bunnies, there's more - but I'm not in a good headspace for going over it right now. Let's talk about TV instead.

I've been faithfully watching Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko) since Crunchy Roll started airing it and folks, let me tell you, this show is amazing. Amazing. You should click on that link and watch it (it's free!).

Wandering Son's a lovely, slow, slice of life story about trans kids in Japan - growing up, struggling with identity, and love, and family, and friendship, and puberty. It's gorgeous, beautifully animated and acted and full of sympathetic characters and, just [flails].



Let's move on to something I can talk about coherently, shall we? My roommate D and I spent Saturday afternoon burning through both seasons of The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers and, well. Never have I seen that much Awesome and that much Fail packed into the same space.

The basics: LXD (for short) is a webseries that runs on Hulu. It's about dancers! There's a nominal plot, but mostly it's about showing off the work of some incredible artists.

The awesome: The vast majority of the characters are people of color - something like 13 out of 19 of the reoccuring characters (in the first season). Ditto for the background dancers (though I didn't go back and count, heh). Every single one of them is a fucking amazing dancer. We've got b-boying, we've got ballet, tricking, krumping, hip-hop, roboting, popping, tap... all integrated into the environment and the (again, nominal) plot. There's no special effect or wire work, everything's shot on location, the cinematography is beautiful. Also, there is Harry Shum, Jr.

The fail: The show is really, really, really bad with woman. Only 3 of the aforementioned repeating characters are female, only two of them are dancers (there are more in the background, but not many). All three are love interests/plot devices and, ugh. In the 7th episode of season 1 (S1Ep7), one of them literally has control of her body stolen by a dude in a sequence that should come with a trigger warning. The only all-female dance routine (S2Ep5) is all about how women seduce and kill men, good times. There's also some messed up race stuff (especially the Eaters in S2Ep3 - black demons, really?) and ablism (the psychiatric hospital scenes, especially in S2Ep8). There's also a weird weaponization of dance/art that I'm iffy about.

The neutral: The writing is terrible - they basically threw a bunch of Cool Stuff (chi chakra Ra! Secret organizations! Boarding schools! The occult! Love triangles! Etc!) at a wall to see what would stick. The end of season 2 is so hilariously bad it comes out into awesome. The acting's not great either, but most of these guys are dancers, not actors.

So. If you want to watch a bunch of amazing, often adorable and/or attractive dudes dance and can ignore the fail (and the plot), LXD's worth a look. If nothing else, you should catch Harry Shum, Jr's intro chapter (he shows up at 1:08, dancing starts at 2:20):



Why is there no fanfic for this, fandom? I am disappoint.

I keep going on about The Losers over on Twitter because, while Inception fandom is fun and all, Losers has eaten my brain. And then last night (while I was, heh. Rewatching the movie) bookshop told me I should give in and make a rec post. So I did!

You'll probably want the light version.

( Technically it's more of a picspam. )

So there you have it! The Losers is a fun movie with a great, diverse cast and good (if unoriginal) storytelling. The downsides are the violence, the sexualized violence, the US-centricism (is that a word?) and how incredibly, casually racist the villain is. If action movies are your bag, I highly recommend giving it a shot.

Sunday was fun - my family's not particularly patriotic so we use the 4th as an excuse to grill (we/they grill every weekend, it's not like they *need* a reason), rewatch Independence Day, and go outside to watch all the neighbors send up fireworks (rural Texas = firework shacks every two miles and fireworks going up *everywhere.* It's very different from Southern California, where You Do Not Do That Shit, and it still makes me uneasy). I ate a lot, it was fantastic.

Other awesome things:

* I was talking about this with zanzando on Twitter - Torchwood and Dresden Files fans, is Jack Harkness/Thomas Raith the best idea ever or the very best idea ever? The only thing wrong with it is, were I to plot it out, I would have to acknowledge COE's existence.

* New shoes! They are actual walking shoes and will hopefully not wear out as quickly as my last two pairs of Sketchers (six months for the last pair. That is not right).

* gallo_de_pelea's experiments in chemical free living - I've tried the grapeseed oil scrub recipe and it worked nicely, yay!

Also, you should check out her comic.

* In the same vein - I ran out of Cetaphil and have been looking for something to replace it with. Cruising the bath/body section at Central Market (a little like Whole Foods) netted me Burt's Bees Garden Tomato Complexion Soap, which has been amazing. I've had it just over week and my skin is much clearer, my skin tone's more even and everything's stopped being so oily. Online reviews say it doesn't work for everybody but it's sure as hell working for me.

* I'm going to pick up one of these mechanical washing machines after my next pay check - my complex's laundry room has become the bane of my existence and we don't have hookup in the apartment. Crossing my fingers that it'll be a workable between-Epic-Laundry-Days solution.

Webcomics (not on my sidebar. yet.) that I've been reading:

* Oglaf (SO NOT WORK SAFE)

* Love Me Nice

* Manly Guys Doing Manly Things

* The Meek

One of my favorite manga is Hayate x Blade (はやて×ブレード, occasionally read as 'Hayate Cross Blade') by Hayashiya Shizuru (not mentioned in the wiki article - she's also done a lot of doujinshi under the circle name Jesus Drug). It's a shonen action/comedy with shojo-ai under(and over, and all over)tones that started serialization in Dengeki Daioh (2003-2008) and now runs in Ultra Jump, there are currently 12 volumes and 3 drama cds released in Japan (6 volumes in the US), yadda yadda boring details whatever.

The thing is, Hayate x Blade is 100% GRADE A AWESOME. And sadly, tragically obscure in English-speaking fandom.

( I'd like to fix that. (Image heavy) )

ETA 12/2/12: Here's the series page on Ao3 (with 5 whole fanworks, woo! Yes, including one by me) and FFN (21 fanworks!).

(Format=light version here)

In short, if you're looking for a fun, silly, smart, hilarious action/comedy that's female centric and has oodles of homoerotic subtext plus actual queer characters, give Hayate X Blade a try.

Next round!


Also, y'all should check out bookshop's post - The Most Influntial YA of the Decade? + Girls, yay! - for more woman and femslash awesomeness. Also books. Mmmm, books.

ETA: And resonant put out a call for YA books which has resulted in a lot of female-centric/friendly recommendations in the comments.

( Comics/Manga/Etc Series )


( Other Things )

How about you folks? What are your favorite slashy comics, books, and video games?

Dear Yuletide Author,

Firstly - Hi! Hello! It's so fantastic to. Well, to write to you - I'm really excited about Yuletide this year, thank you so much for participating! And for writing me a story <3 <3.

Secondly - If you've already started, or settled on an idea, or none of this tickles your fancy, please ignore the following. I'll be happiest with a story you were happy to write, so feel free to go where ever inspiration takes you.

So! I like stories with: adventure, happy endings, explosions, crossovers, genderbending, first times, mad science, banter, strong women (please, please, please), strong men, cats, shenanigans, goggles, magic, libraries, detailed (and accurate) settings, tea, swearing, first time sex that *doesn't* involve penetration (or heals or Makes Everything Better), frottage, superpowers, plots that make me think, or cry, or laugh, or (best of all) all three.

I don't like stories with: sad/dark/depressing endings, mpreg, soul-bonds/destined lovers, female bashing, petnames not taken from canon, romance without proper development, sex without preparation/protection, 'perfect' sex, kinks involving bodily fluids, excessive use of the words 'giggle,' 'smirk,' and 'weep' (and all variations thereof), and the word 'cum,' *ever* (unless someone's reading email spam or something).

I'm very much a slash fan but I've deliberately chosen fandoms where slash, gen, or het would make me equally happy so, please, have at. I'm also comfortable with any level of sexual explicitness and most kinks.

For the comics - I am totally up on Blue Beetle and Runaways canon, don't worry about spoiling me on anything. Ditto for the DC and Marvel universes as a whole - even if I'm not following a given title, chances are pretty good I'll know who the characters are.

If you really want to know more about me and my tastes/preferences, you can read my about me post, browse my delicious tags (♥ fanfiction here), or watch me ramble on twitter.

[dusts off hands] Right! On to the fandoms:

( 1. Un Lun Dun )

( 2. Night at the Museum )

( 3. Runaways )

( 4. Blue Beetle )

Thank you for reading this and thank you again for being my author, and just generally for being your awesome self. Woohoo, Yuletide!