Dec. 29th, 2011 07:18 pm
Long-awaited (?) holiday post
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aphrodite_mine~*~ SCROLL DOWN FOR FIC RECS ~*~
It's always really lovely when the people who know you, know you well enough to get you things you didn't even know you wanted. That said, there are always those who simply... don't. (Not that I'm not grateful for the bonus check, or the snack food or cookies -- they made nice regifting material!) I was surprised by a few gifts this season -- Julie gave me a fabulously functional onesie PJ, Betsy sent me a No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July which I've been aching to read in print for ages (I have the audio book). My stepbrother and his wife somehow managed to remember that I was reading a book by Maggie O'Farrell over Thanksgiving, and threw in a "Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History" magnet, which is kind of exceptional coming from two people who generally don't seem to "get" feminism.
I was really touched to be remembered by some ~online~ folk:escritoireazul sent me a lovely card, and wrote me Underneath Your Skin -- a sort of darkening and heightening of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. I love the matriarchy in place, and the style. Jordan (who I'm not sure is on DW?) sent me a card that made me dissolve into gigglefits. robotjen wrote a fabulous little Ann/Leslie fic which is probably the *easiest* way to make my day. My co-worker Angie, and my boss at TVGrapevine.com also sent me thoughtful holiday notes. And just today I got a burned copy of Childrens' Hospital season 1 and 2 in the mail from my twitter pal, Chris. <3 All of you.
As for my family, I had a better holiday at home than I anticipated (due in no small part to retreating to my dad's house and drinking and spending half of that time at the movies (I recommend both The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Young Adult, with a few trigger warnings that I'll elaborate on if you like.) My mom seems to have locked on to me having a steady relationship with only my cats as a cue for gift-giving, and made an attempt at picking out a movie because "it looked weird". She's sweet when she's not being unintentionally emotionally abusive. Sigh. Amanda gave me Black Swan (which I actually didn't have yet!), David gave me derby socks, and Stephen surprised me with new speakers for my desktop because I'd complained once about not being able to hear my game. The big non-surprise was from my dad and stepmom, a Kindle Fire, which I love but haven't quite figured out how to optimize for use yet.
On the fic front, other than the two I already mentioned, I got a truly incredible![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
yuletide fic this year. My author wrote Melancholia fic focusing on Justine (mostly), and made me shocked, joyous, and sobbing on Christmas morning. Check it out if you've seen the film: A Cage that Keeps Me. Really, I can't do it justice. There are these little nuancey moments of phrasing. And the whole concept is just so artfully rendered and unexpected that it feels like the sort of story I could read year after year and still find things to swoon over.
It's always really lovely when the people who know you, know you well enough to get you things you didn't even know you wanted. That said, there are always those who simply... don't. (Not that I'm not grateful for the bonus check, or the snack food or cookies -- they made nice regifting material!) I was surprised by a few gifts this season -- Julie gave me a fabulously functional onesie PJ, Betsy sent me a No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July which I've been aching to read in print for ages (I have the audio book). My stepbrother and his wife somehow managed to remember that I was reading a book by Maggie O'Farrell over Thanksgiving, and threw in a "Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History" magnet, which is kind of exceptional coming from two people who generally don't seem to "get" feminism.
I was really touched to be remembered by some ~online~ folk:
escritoireazul sent me a lovely card, and wrote me Underneath Your Skin -- a sort of darkening and heightening of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. I love the matriarchy in place, and the style. Jordan (who I'm not sure is on DW?) sent me a card that made me dissolve into gigglefits. robotjen wrote a fabulous little Ann/Leslie fic which is probably the *easiest* way to make my day. My co-worker Angie, and my boss at TVGrapevine.com also sent me thoughtful holiday notes. And just today I got a burned copy of Childrens' Hospital season 1 and 2 in the mail from my twitter pal, Chris. <3 All of you.As for my family, I had a better holiday at home than I anticipated (due in no small part to retreating to my dad's house and drinking and spending half of that time at the movies (I recommend both The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Young Adult, with a few trigger warnings that I'll elaborate on if you like.) My mom seems to have locked on to me having a steady relationship with only my cats as a cue for gift-giving, and made an attempt at picking out a movie because "it looked weird". She's sweet when she's not being unintentionally emotionally abusive. Sigh. Amanda gave me Black Swan (which I actually didn't have yet!), David gave me derby socks, and Stephen surprised me with new speakers for my desktop because I'd complained once about not being able to hear my game. The big non-surprise was from my dad and stepmom, a Kindle Fire, which I love but haven't quite figured out how to optimize for use yet.
On the fic front, other than the two I already mentioned, I got a truly incredible
yuletide fic this year. My author wrote Melancholia fic focusing on Justine (mostly), and made me shocked, joyous, and sobbing on Christmas morning. Check it out if you've seen the film: A Cage that Keeps Me. Really, I can't do it justice. There are these little nuancey moments of phrasing. And the whole concept is just so artfully rendered and unexpected that it feels like the sort of story I could read year after year and still find things to swoon over.I haven't read many other fics in the archive, but here are a few that I really enjoyed:
Parks & Recreation~
There was no Leslie/Ann this year (I KNOW) but the second best thing in this fandom is the incredible canon friendship between those two and the works that stem from it. Two stood out for me this year, 0.0109% of the Way to the Moon, in which Ann and Leslie team up to organize a joint Health/Parks initiative and Red Letter Day which I want to squish to pieces, marry, and impregnate. Seriously. It has everything I could ever want in an episode -- Ann in a starring role, interacting with everyone, and making me laugh and cry almost in the same breath.
Baby Mama~
Oh, throwback ship of my heart, Kate/Angie. Four Times Pregnancy Totally Got in the Way of Making Out (and one time it didn't) is exactly what it says on the tin, but so much more: the author makes all of this feel like canon (and let's face it, the movie wasn't so far off) with the ups and downs and feelings.
Parks & Recreation~
There was no Leslie/Ann this year (I KNOW) but the second best thing in this fandom is the incredible canon friendship between those two and the works that stem from it. Two stood out for me this year, 0.0109% of the Way to the Moon, in which Ann and Leslie team up to organize a joint Health/Parks initiative and Red Letter Day which I want to squish to pieces, marry, and impregnate. Seriously. It has everything I could ever want in an episode -- Ann in a starring role, interacting with everyone, and making me laugh and cry almost in the same breath.
Baby Mama~
Oh, throwback ship of my heart, Kate/Angie. Four Times Pregnancy Totally Got in the Way of Making Out (and one time it didn't) is exactly what it says on the tin, but so much more: the author makes all of this feel like canon (and let's face it, the movie wasn't so far off) with the ups and downs and feelings.
Big Love~
I don't normally read Nicki/Alby, or enjoy fics that take place around season 4/5, but this fic, Thistle & Weeds (which I had the pleasure of betaing, though I would rec it regardless) made me reconsider both. I was startled by how easily the narration hit some kinks of mine, and felt compelled to re-watch some of the episodes, a feeling which hasn't hit me since they aired and I rage blackouted all over them.
Black Swan~
swallow her whole star intact hit me like some kind of sex-drugs-dance freight train. Damn, what a sexy, beautiful, and intricate story.
I don't normally read Nicki/Alby, or enjoy fics that take place around season 4/5, but this fic, Thistle & Weeds (
Black Swan~
swallow her whole star intact hit me like some kind of sex-drugs-dance freight train. Damn, what a sexy, beautiful, and intricate story.
Bridesmaids~
I'm happy to see my OTP get some love, and with a really great story. Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better is a hilarious piece of fiction that makes the realistic segue from straight!Annie to really, really gay Annie seem as easy as baking a cupcake.
I'm happy to see my OTP get some love, and with a really great story. Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better is a hilarious piece of fiction that makes the realistic segue from straight!Annie to really, really gay Annie seem as easy as baking a cupcake.
Lost Girl~
I can't speak to most of the fic for this fandom as I don't read much, but my little pet pairing Bo/Kenzi had a truly sweet and naturally evolving story that I enjoyed: Countdown to the Start featured realistic voices and KISSING (sometimes I am easy to please).
I can't speak to most of the fic for this fandom as I don't read much, but my little pet pairing Bo/Kenzi had a truly sweet and naturally evolving story that I enjoyed: Countdown to the Start featured realistic voices and KISSING (sometimes I am easy to please).
Party Down~
One of the downsides to having an extensive personal canon for a character you love is that some truly otherwise excellent stories get frustratingly window-closed because of some tic that Casey-in-my-head can't quite jive with. That said, write your name on the earth in gasoline is a story I didn't expect to like but, damn, the perfectly in-character narration and wonderfully detailed relationship (on top of some hilarious and inside-jokey SNL references) won me over in a big way.
One of the downsides to having an extensive personal canon for a character you love is that some truly otherwise excellent stories get frustratingly window-closed because of some tic that Casey-in-my-head can't quite jive with. That said, write your name on the earth in gasoline is a story I didn't expect to like but, damn, the perfectly in-character narration and wonderfully detailed relationship (on top of some hilarious and inside-jokey SNL references) won me over in a big way.
I'll be back with more recs, I'm sure, when fandom_stocking and 3_ships go live.
[Quick note: I wrote two stories for yuletide, two for 3_ships, and one for fandom stocking that I may or may not have changed recipients for at the last minute because good lord performance anxiety, Batman. But I feel good about my yuletide and 3_ships stuff. And I feel good about f_s, but it's the sort of story you don't really want to give TO someone without a specific request. Pah. Exhale, babe.]
3_ships go live. [Quick note: I wrote two stories for yuletide, two for 3_ships, and one for fandom stocking that I may or may not have changed recipients for at the last minute because good lord performance anxiety, Batman. But I feel good about my yuletide and 3_ships stuff. And I feel good about f_s, but it's the sort of story you don't really want to give TO someone without a specific request. Pah. Exhale, babe.]