Blogs I'm enjoying a lot right now:

A Photography Blog - collections of awesome images. I want to print them all out and surround myself with them at all times.

Bibliodyssey - collections of images and typography from old books, in hi res.


Web comics I'm enjoying a lot right now:

Hark! A Vagrant! - a history geek's hilarious takes on figures and events in history.

Small Peculiar - a bit like xkcd, but a neurotic girl instead of nerdy boy.


Fannish!

Bluebird by basingstoke - an incredibly creepy and brilliant Addams Family/Torchwood crossover. Seriously awesome. basingstoke needs to write Torchwood fic ALL THE TIME.

worn once by euclase - gorgeous Ianto fanart.


Seriously, I did a university degree in creative art, including several semesters of visual art - drawing, painting, printing, 3D - and still find myself wistfully thinking, whenever I see fanart I love, "sigh, I wish I could draw, maybe I should take an art class.." *headdesk*

Gah. I hate insomnia. On plus side, I love fanfiction, so at least I have something to keep me entertained.

I have been reading a lot of awesome Torchwood fic. Here are some I can highly recommend:

The Doctor and Mr. Jones by sam_storyteller
Crossoverish with Doctor Who (i.e. the Doctor is in it), AU but I won't elaborate because I don't want to spoil. Long, excellent story and twists and glee! Some Jack/Ianto. Ianto-centric but with excellent team & Jack stuff in there too!

W-Section by basingstoke
JACK-PREG. MADE OF SO MUCH AWESOME AND CLEVER AND FUNNY. Jack-centric, obv. It's only short. Read it!

Stranded by ceefax_the_sane
Jack/Ianto/Tentacled Alien. Also made of awesome, and quite long. Not unlike the tentacles.

Proof of Your Existence by sarcasticchick
Again, AU and I will not elaborate because it will spoil. But it is also awesome, long, and full of twists. And has lovely Jack/Ianto in it too. Again Ianto-centric, but with nice team (Tosh!) stuff too.

Negotiations by ukcalico
I had to take a moment when I discovered that Calico wrote TW fic, before I even clicked on the link. This lives up to expectations. Ianto/John Hart(/Jack). Tres NC-17.

Nemo Me Impune Lacessit by derryderrydown
Whee, vintage soldier porn and amnesia!! What better? Oh wait, 2 Jacks. BINGO! Jack/Ianto centric.

And of course, I can't NOT rec: Trying to Communicate by sam_storyteller. The Torchwood 3 Hub is invaded by a LOLCAT.


People, rec me your favourites! I really have been mining delicious, it's been quite utterly tasty. I don't know if you could combine tags before, but I never knew how to, and dear god I love it. I can just about forgive it everything else.

I am really enjoying the fic in this fandom. I think in part because I was burnt out on the pathos of Supernatural slash (not that that's a bad quality for it to have; it had its time and place in my life!). I can see how Torchwood is considered "dark" in comparison to Who, but really, it has all the permissibility of the Supernatural 'verse (more, really, with Capn Jack), but with much less guilt!sex. Be it with other humans or non-humans. So much entertaining glee. The characters are clearly enjoying themselves!*

* I have been avoiding the angsty LISAAARRR fics, though, but I do know they're out there.

Also, it's delightful to be fannish about a show that has lovely canonical queerness. Even though the lesbian plots were somewhat troublesome. Boykissing! I'll not say no to that!


Hmm, I wonder if I should do a daily posting of delicious links to my LJ?

Dear god, I have to wake up in less than 5 hours. NOOOOOOOOOOO /hammy

proofpudding made an absolutely adorable, glee-inducing samndean vid to Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours".

I have been meaning to make a Mraz pimping post for a while, esp as his new album has just come out and I'll be seeing him again in August (zomg!).

As I was saying to tvm in the comments of her rec post for the above vid, as much as I love Mraz and that song, the version (from the new album) the vidder uses is probably my least favourite. Because the thing with Jason Mraz is that he tours a billion times more than he actually releases albums. And he encourages bootleggers and "illegal" distribution of his music. So basically, having listened to multiple live, acoustic and garage versions of those songs for years, the album sounds a bit too over-produced for me.

But that's ok. The album is 12 songs, and I have on average about 4 more awesome versions of each of those songs; plus it came with a bonus disc with even more live versions. So there is plenty of Mraz fabulousness to be gorged upon :D

So anyway, to share the Mraz love (as encouraged by the man himself), I will share my favourite version of the song: I'm Yours live at Montalvo Winery, Saratoga, California (2006).

I can seriously not listen to that song without getting a huge grin and overflowing with glee. ♥MRAZ♥


And now I go to bed. See, I went to go to bed before, but then I had to listen to that track on my ipod, so then I had to get up, upload it and make an LJ post.

Leaving unlocked because Mraz is all about the free love music. And is also a giant dork (anyone needing convincing of this can friend fresh_mraz).

I STILL HAVE NO MRAZ ICON.

Okay! Here's where my Die Hard 4.0 (also known as Live Free or Die Hard, DH4, LFoDH, etc) fannish master list will be.

This isn't a master list in the sense that it's exhaustive of the whole DH4 fandom, but it will include the bits about it I particularly like, including a fanfiction recs list and links to other related media (fannish or not) that I am fond of. Not all of it is DH4-specific, but it is related in some way in that it has given me fannish glee :D

Making it a sticky post, and will add to it over time. It's basically an extrapolation of my delicious bookmarks, here: http://del.icio.us/hopeonarope/diehard

( onwards! )

This post is hereby officially declared a work in progress.

24 more items added to Super-recs.

Also, I'm going to make a 'Recs' directory page on the Super-wiki. Feel free to comment here with a link to your recs page, tag, memoried collection, etc. I'm going to list as many as I can find. Or you can just wait til I have it up and add your own. Yay wikis!

Also also, in regards to my ratings-booster post last night, a few people have said that the Amazon download service leaves a lot to be desired. On plus side, iTunes have more user-friendly episode files for download for $1.99 also. (Though again, alas, no non-US customers allowed.)

16 new recs at the Super-recs post.

I've divided the "Present" section into S1 & S2, seemed logical. Also created a 'John Winchester' section, for John-centric fics, or even fics I love because of John's part in them. *happy sigh*

So, yup. New fic recs, vid recs, art recs. Hurrah!

I've starting writing my story for ontheroadzine, and have done over 3000 words already! The limit for the zine is 15,000 words; if i keep going as I am, I have a feeling it's going to be *too* long. Ah well, I've got until October at any rate, plenty of time to decide/edit/write something else.

It's pretty good. Writing this way, I mean. I mean I've had this story kicking around for a little while; this way I *am* actually able to just write it out in my down-time, instead of hurryhurryhurry writeandpostitNOW kinda thing. I wrote 3000 words of thesis yesterday, and 3000 words of fanfic in the evening. I feel good.

Anyway, it's a John-centric story, which you wouldn't have convinced me I'd be doing a month ago. Field of Mars was really damn hard to get the voice and characterisation for - both because John is emotionally unavailable and because the trouble with writing intelligent characters into conflict is that you have to outsmart them. And that can be a delicate/difficult thing to construct.

ANYWAY.

I've been strangely excited by the idea of this gen zine, god knows why. Maybe it's that time of year again, I'm having nostalgia, a revisionist reminiscence where all I remember is the glee of getting a bunch of authors I like to write for me me meee, so I can hold all their hotass stories in my hot little hands.

So, if I were running the gen SPN zine the same way I ran Lotripping, this'd be my wishlist for authors (in alphabetical order):

- eighth_horizon
- ignipes
- janissa111
- lyra_wing
- marinarusalka
- maygra
- minkmix
- monkeycrackmary
- onelittlesleep
- poisontaster
- trollprincess

with, of course, illustrations by _audrey, blondiusmaximus and the_dean_show.

So, favourite gen authors, if you love me you'll GET CRACKING! get thee to ontheroadzine!

Super-recs updated, now with 82 83 recs including new songvid and fanart sections! Which I may or may not get around to writing review of, as I do the fic. But. It takes a lot to sell me on fanart and songvids, so possibly just listing them there for the timebeing is rec enough :D

And I'm totally feeling all obsessive today, with the strong urge to catalogue everything. But there's not really much point making a post linking to all my fan stuffs, is there? what with all the tags and fics-only journals and links and whatnot I've already got set up.

*channels urges elsewhere*

Super-recs = updated. 72 stories and authors recced there, now. The cream of the 200-odd I saved in del.icio.us, which is nowhere near as many as I read.

I'm not sure how there's enough braincells left for me to do anything else, but really, I'm not complaining.

Have updated the Super-recs again, there are now 60 stories there, including a new author-recs section. If you want easy access to that entry in future, I've put a link to it in my links list *points up* there.

Yay fic!!

I’ve become quite fond of youtube and its ilk. Embedded web videos - they’re the new digital photos! And they’re really quite wonderful. Here are my recs of goodies that have popped up around the place:

7 years of Buffy in 1 minute

The most amazing ukelele playing you will ever see (seriously)

Funniest home cat videos (every time I see this I am reduced to tears and hyperventilation. SRSLY, WATCH IT.)

AMAZING ROBOT DANCE HOLY CRAP I JUST PEED A LITTLE IN AWE

Japanese Matrix Ping Pong. Just... yeah, okay. HAH!

BROKEBACK BUNNIES

talking cats. WHAT THE SHIT!

Laughing babies. THEY ARE GOING TO EAT MY SOUL.

Weapon of Choice - Fatboy Slim filmclip. Christopher Walken. Gettin’ down wit his bad self. AWESOME.

I just updated my Super-recs list with about 10+ more stories (marked with * a red asterisk). There are now 50 recs over there. And a bunch of the WIPs linked there have been updated too, so if you liked them, don't forget to go check for more!


While I'm here, let me take this opportunity to stress HOW GOOD TAGS ARE for the fanfiction afficionado. Srsly, and I don't care how many times I have to say this, it's not going to stop being true: tags are a godsend for journals with fandom content. Whether you are an out-putter (a writer, a picspammer, a meta-ist, anything you want people to look at to do with fandom) or an in-taker (reader, fan of fen, feedbacker, lurker), they are just so invaluable for organising and finding things.

So if you want people to read, rec and feedback your fic? put a tag on it. it can say 'fic' or 'supernatural fic' or 'title of series' or anything else that I can click on and find the rest of your stuff through. Really, really frigging handy. Especially for those of you who write multi-part WIPs.

You don't even have to have a link to all your tags at the top of your journal or anything like that. They're handy enough just popping up on a random entry of yours I've come across. That's why they're good! They let me say "I like this, now show me more!"

*stands down from soap box for another day*

... or not. ahem. If you like Supernatural (or even if you don't, and you just like me!!) Go to this entry and follow instructions!!

In alphabetical order and organised into categories because I RULE like that. Slash mixed in with gen, but marked accordingly.

Quite possibly I’ll add more as I get to them (will *asterisk new ones or something, and put a note at the top). BUT GO NOW, FROLIC JOYOUSLY AMONGST THE AWESOME FIC THAT IS THE SUPERNATURAL FANDOM!


* 174 recs as of February 18, 2007


( Author recs )


( Pre-Stanford )



( Present - S1 )

( Future )


( Crack, AU & Crossover )


( John Winchester )

( Songvids )


( Fanart )

There is a new community for wee!Winchester fic - sn_flashback!

I celebrated by making a giant recs post to it, which you can find here. Yes, sifting through my del.icio.us SPN bookmarks for an hour was my reward for doing all my homework.

I’m tempted to re-post them here as the first lot in my recs post, but I want to narrow them down some more, and put in some quotes/comments. What I posted there was just a raw list of all the “Whee, that was fun! *deliciouses*” that I’ve done that fit that criteria.

hoo boy. I’ve got like, 120 fics to go through and ‘narrow’.

It’ll happen eventually :D

Since I started using del.icio.us, I went a little bit mad with the power and gobbled up oodles of fic at once. I am keeping track of the stuff i enjoy here, but so i feel more productive, here is a list of stories you ought to read:

Her Majesty by executrix (Wash(/)Simon, crew)
jolly good fun. executrix has a wonderful turn of phrase, makes me chortle out loud in glee.

White Rose, Silver Needle by Polly Burns (Mal/Simon, Mal/Jayne, Wash/Simon, Zoe/Inara, Kaylee/Inara, Kaylee/River)
excellent use of language - to manipulate, not just ornament, if that makes sense. very clever.

A Quiet Game by Runaway Scrape (Wash & Simon)
a lovely short story that comes together beautifully. very perceptive.

A Good Walk Spoiled by executrix (crew)
see above comments about the author's cleverness. this is so much fun, it really captures the benny hill-esque but also snarky humour the show really glowed with. I love it.

Like Describing the Alphabet by Mosca (Jayne/Mal)
possibly this story should go at the top of the list. jayne/mal isn't even a pairing i usually favour, but the characterisation in this is just *excellent*. it makes their relationship not merely believable, but quite strong with the way the author constructs and remains faithful to it. a fabulous read!

jayne/simon fics:
Time to Dream by scribewraith
It's Just A Diary, It Doesn't Mean What You Think by claireweasley
I Told You So by linaelyn
What About Tomorrow by simmysim
Wake by monkeycrackmary
Sometimes, things just go down smooth by ana_grrl
Error by claireweasley
Lifeless by ana_grrl
Euphemisms of the Rich and Fancible Exhibitionist by ana_grrl
Tacky by ana_grrl

and I’m sure there are more of those, but gah, too many to keep track of. other links:

Serenity gag reel
What Would Jayne Do? teeshirt (omgwant)
Serenity wallpapers in the same style as the promo poster (aus), but with more characters: here and here (and, of course, my shameless ‘ship-‘manip’ in that style is here).


Anyhoo.