give me a slice

I know I may have missed thanking people individually, but thank you all so much for the happy birthday wishes! I really needed them this year due to having a huge and stressful fight with the parents on my birthday, which turned out best in the long run but was still pretty draining to have on Christmas Eve, as you can imagine.

I hope you're all having a lovely time with however you're spending it! I have played a lot of Beatles Rock Band, eaten and drunk with abandon, tasted a princess cake for the first time, and finally seen the Twilight movie. Y'know, I expected to be uninterested in the story (I was stupid in love with Anne Rice's vampires as a teenager, and once I stopped giving a shit about them that was it for me and vampire love stories), but I didn't expect the actual movie -- like, script and filming and atrocious sound -- to be so unrelentingly awful as well! WOW.

Anyway. Have some popslash MTYG recs!

. will you be - nick escapes from his ugly childhood life by doodling a superhero, and doesn't quite grow out of it. The story starts off well-written but rather familiar, and then it turns out that you didn't see that ending coming at all, which I quite like.

. to love, to grow, to hide, to show - I confess I like older!Briahna in a story rather than baby "adorable" versions. And this one includes her in a well-chosen way, which makes sense because it's a nice gently rollicking yarn about reconnecting.

. mistletoe man - the only thing I don't care for in this story is the title. *g* Seriously, this is the year for mild romantic stories that slyly become something a little different, and I'm really enjoying it! This one is written with just the dashes of intriguing character backstory that I like, not to mention the flawless dialogue.

. hold up, cowboy. - JC is working on his thesis, and AJ is working on the rodeo. Very nice character interaction, with just enough pepper to make things really interesting. I know shit all about rodeos, but I know a wee bit about academia and JC needs to read some more Fran Markowitz and put his mind at ease, poor boo. *g*


Yuletide recs soon. But for now, go check out operation 80, a super-awesome challenge wherein we re-write classic Star Trek episodes with the Rebootverse characters. I am doing The Changeling!! Although really I should have chosen Gamesters of Triskelion, and written that green-haired Shahna chick as Lady Gaga.

because i respected me so much

I forgot to mention in the last post that Lori and I watched the 1978 teleplay of Little Women, which was inconceivably bad. They rewrote shit to concentrate more on their Laurie's whiny-ass manpain life and problems, Marmee was incapable of making a decision and yammered endlessly about how she wished Mr. March was there to lay down some patriarchal wisdom and discipline, Beth ran around like she was an Olympic athlete and talked to anybody who moved, Meg spoke at a pitch copyrighted by Nagging Fishwives Inc., Amy was a galumphing awkward idiot, and Jo had all the nuance and appeal of a handful of rancid cornmeal. When William fucking Shatner shows up and bludgeons people with the ham sausage of his "German" accent and it's the best thing that's happened in your movie, you have problems.

Now, Yuletide! I'm a bit sad I can't just go down the list by recipient anymore, because I liked getting the fandoms in no particular order, but oh well. Instead, I started at the alphabetical bottom:

gentlemen | young guns - Okay, I never expected or wanted fic in this fandom, but this one gets across the same sense of urgency and unsureness as the movies while simultaneously being more thoughtful and nuanced.

and we had to shoot it to pieces | young avengers - The whole thing is good, but the bits with Kate and Eli especially; introspective without being melodramatic, which is lovely.

casus belli | young avengers - Kate & Cassie ditch the boys and talk about Civil War(s). The patter between the girls is great, and for the bits where the boys show up it's all written very deftly and with a sense of humour.

things half seen | the worst witch - Most of what I remember of this show is the hilariously shitty movie and occasional glimpses of the tv series. And yet I loved this fic like nobody's business. Seriously, you don't even need to know the show at all; read it anyway. It's tender and tense and hopeful and dreadful, and if it's brutal in its honesty -- well, learning never goes to waste.

the play | withnail & i - Fear not, it's got a happy ending! While keeping the characters recognizable, which is quite a feat.


Next up: Yuletart!

i dunno -- i never heard of no mayor

Yuletart recs:

. hobbit wonderland | lord of the rings - it looks like felted Hobbit art, all cheery and homespun!

. what do stars do best?! | stardust - Don't know the movie, but it made me laugh!

. citadel | world of warcraft - This is just lovely -- such delicate and evocative watercolours, which I absolutely didn't expect for this fandom.

. the justice society of tadfield | good omens - a great example of how simple pencil sketches can convey so much personality and life.

. a logical solution | star trek reboot - Delightfully silly, and I like the comic-book style to it.

. another illyria | angel - You all know how I felt about the whole Fred/Wesley thing, but this art almost makes up for it. Icy and fantastic.

. batjack and captain robin | the marvelous misadventures of flapjack - Don't know the book, but both of the arts for this fandom have been adorable!

. thorns | merlin - winsome and filigreed, full of breathtaking charm.

. the final flight of the boomerang | avatar: the last airbender - I'll admit, the notes and whatnot made me laugh almost as hard as the actual and fabulous comic strip art!