we're all stories in the end

+ New entries over at the hug fest including fic for The Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek XI, Harry Potter, Soul Eater, BBC Sherlock and XMFC. All are lovely. <3333

+ The current challenge over at vidrecs is character studies!

+ This month's challenge at kink_bingo is super cool - themed gift baskets on a range of topics from 'all the feels' to 'supervillains', it's very awesome.

+ The winners are up for The Fourth Wall vidding awards - many thanks to obsessive24 and hollywoodgrrl for shortlisting Blue Caravan and writing such a kind review for it. :DDD

+ I am currently rolling around in the middle of ten whole days off work, it's pretty magical. Though I should try to remember that I aim to actually do things like finish my Remix story and finally make that auction vid for a very patient counteragent. Yay making things! And also sleeping, there has been a lot of that too.

I always appreciate cleolinda's posts about living with mental illness, and today's resonated: A cheerful way to start December (discussion of depression, mention of eating disorders, eta: also discusses the perceived 'legitimacy' of physical illness in a way that does not reflect everyone's experiences). This stood out to me particularly as words to live by:

Because even when you grasp the idea that depression is an ailment and not a personal failing... it still feels like a personal failing. You know you're clinically depressed, but you feel like you're just lazy, lonely, hopeless, pathetic. Or sometimes you don't realize you're ill, because those feelings of anxiety and shame and helplessness sneak up on you and feel legitimate, and that's why you don't realize you need help. I mean, I've been on medication and under quarterly medical supervision for fourteen years now and my own mood cycles still sneak up on me, over and over. It's hard to teach yourself to say, "You are an awesome person, and your awesomeness is a default, and so if you feel less than awesome, you need to get your awesome tuned up."

And this is a COMPLETELY charming story about a found family consisting of a cat and a dog, complete with pictures. The story of Shaun and Meow. <3

+ tw_unpaired, a Torchwood genfic fest, has prompts for claiming. There are many awesome things there!

+ glass_icarus hosts the first edition of Potluck, a carnival for multicultural and intersectional discussions of food, including but not limited to food discussions intersecting with disability, gender, sexuality, fat, animal rights, and cultural and racial issues. Nine posts to peruse!

+ Over at white_lotus we're gearing up for the Lunar New Year exchange (such awesome submissions already, I am so excited). Not officially participating but fancy making an A:TLA fanwork? We have a post of people's requests so you can make treats, due February 10th.

*Because that makes a change around here, of course. *g*

So, there is this flowchart doing the rounds that purportedly sets out criteria for determining strong female characters but in reality ... doesn't really do that. (When your list of people who don't fit the bill includes Sarah Connor, and also real people like Yoko Ono, your argument is invalid.)

links!

heathershaped: fuck that noise

irony_rocks: FEMALE .GIF PARTY

nextian: female character yenta meme - basically, you go and list some character archetypes you like, people tell you about women who fit the bill! I'm having a lot of fun over there.

bossymarmalade: Dear Yoko Ono

On Robin Hobb, mental illness and medication:

ignipes: why is this soapbox starting to feel so familiar?

forthwritten: it's because I'm in thrall to big pharma innit

avendya: Hey, guys? While you're saying that Robin Hobb is Wrong On The Internet, can you get off my foot?

the_future_modernes has many more links.

On race, racism and representation:

noldo: quick racial breakdown of deaths in doctor who S5

deepad: On Wiscon...

Superbowl related:

AfterEllen: Superbowl ads have a problem with the ladies
Shakesville: Superbowl ads open thread
The Sexist: Why Superbowl ads are so racist, sexist and homophobic

also:

Shakesville: Brace Yourselves, Fatsronauts

FWD/Forward: Ask Me No Question And I'll Tell You No Lies

Iowa Republicans seek to exclude LGBT students from the Safe Schools anti-bullying bill (the proposed amendment)

+ sheafrotherdon: "It's now time to tell." trigger warning for discussion of sexual violence.

+ on Angry Asian Man: ... and Harrison Ford as Dr. Chen, in which a real person's life is getting white-washed.

+ an AfterEllen interview with Jane Espenson, writer of Caprica: "It's Time for Sexuality To Be Incidental">. Given BSG's track record of evil (dead) queers, that interview does not exactly inspire me with confidence, but, maybe it won't be so awful. We will see! And as we know, I will put up with a lot for canon queer and robots, heh.

+ in fannish news, Torchwood/Doctor Who comment!porn battle VI is a go!

+ via lazy_daze, Everybody's Free (To Be Fannish) by elizah_jane, which is SPN-specific in places but delightful all over.

This weekend's Star Trek Rewatch episode is going to be Where No Man Has Gone Before, and the consensus is that we should continue chronologically from here on out. If you have any questions or problems finding a way to watch the episode, let me know!

The 2nd Asian Women Carnival is now up courtesy of oyceter, on the theme of intra/inter/transnationalities.

I look forward to getting stuck into the above and all the other things I have bookmarked when I enter that blessed state known as the summer holiday come Thursday. \o/ Oh, I have so much fic to write. Bonus: my parents, long-resigned to my terminal geekitude, have agreed to celebrate the two decade anniversary of my entrance into the world by contributing to my heart's desire: better vidding software. Final Cut Express, soon you shall be mine, my pretty, soon. And then I will probably pass from vid farr into some kind of vidding coma while I try and teach myself how to use it in time to get a vid submitted for VVC.

Hi! Guys. I went to see Star Trek on Friday. This was a BAD IDEA. Because I loved it and so obviously I had to come running back to fandom and read reaction posts and fic and so on. So, don't mind me, I'm just popping in, hunting around for team!fic and then disappearing off again. Oh, and posting a quick something in a bit. :D

( squee and spoilers! )

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Seeing as I've snuck out and broken curfew anyway (I'm so grounded later), a few links and things:

springtime_gen reveals are now up. A lot of great genfic there! I wrote a story for chibitoaster about Ollivander and Luna, Heartstring. [G, 1750 words, in the summer after the war, they need wands again.]

magnetic_pole is hosting a couple of rec communities that will be running in the near future:

api_recs, reccing media about Asian lives outside of Asia, starting tomorrow and running until May 31st -- sign up to rec something yourself here.
lgbtq_recs, reccing queer-themed media throughout June -- sign up to rec something yourself here.

So, it's my personal opinion that Valentine's Day is by and large a crass commercialisation of romance. (I mean, how anti-romantic is it to feel obligated to pull the stops out in order to validate your feelings on some arbitrary day?) But you can either feel angry about it, or you can co-opt it.

I always enjoy a good co-opting*.

Therefore! As I am fan of telling people that you like and appreciate and love them any time, and this Saturday is supposedly about just that? I'm there.

svmadelyn has a Valentine's Day Game, open until 6pm GMT tomorrow - you go, you email her up to fourteen valentines for eljay people you like, she posts them on the 14th!

So I'm going to go take a break from the bodyswap story I'm writing** and do that.

* Speaking of co-opting. I've never seen an episode of Smallville in my life, but I've got to tell you: bop_radar's vid I Kissed A Girl is my new favourite. Every time that bloody song comes on the radio now, I shall smile loftily, sit back, and think that secretly it is all about Clark Kent and his experiments with heterosexuality. (he kissed a girl! he liked it! he hopes his boyfriend don't mind it! \o/) Also, hilarious editing is hilarious.

** This is the year in which I write all the fic cliches, apparently? I bet a million of your finest internet pounds that nobody will guess who's getting swapped, though. It's not crack or anything (ha, okay, that's a clue, it is not at all cracky in this particular fandom), but still. You won't guess. Sekrit characters are sekrit, and also remain platonic throughout, is that very odd?